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The Piggy Palace.

Posted by helbent4For group 0
helbent4
GM, 1583 posts
aka Tony
Sun 6 May 2012
at 09:47
  • msg #1

The Piggy Palace

Monday 21 May 2001
1200 Hours

Forward Operating Base Cariboo

The month since the defeat of Jagelis and the New America cell at the Ioco refinery, and the subsequent recovery of a partially intact Soviet nuclear warhead, had been a busy one.

Freak warming weather had caused a snow melt on the mountains and glaciers that fed the Fraser River. This, combined with a steady increase in rainfall, had caused a "freshet", a fresh water surge down the length of the river. The water level in the river to rise 8m, flooding the low lying areas that were protected before the war by an extensive but now compromised flood control system.

With no way to warn them and with few possessing any means of transport, perhaps tens of thousands of survivors living along the river were affected. There was no way to know for sure but perhaps hundreds or even thousands had died. The dikes protecting YVR, the airport, had breached, flooding the man-made island at the mouth of the great river.

The team had been busy with evacuation efforts around Vancouver and the mouth of the Fraser. As well, a hurried salvage effort at YVR to scavenge materials to rebuild the city's telephone and communications infrastructure.

More than just telephones had been discovered at YVR. Koldan, the Soviet pilot defector, had salvaged a light aircraft but hadn't had the time to make it operational. They had also found the Coast Guard's two decommissioned SN.R6 hovercraft in the hangar near YVR, along with a quantity of spare parts to (maybe) restore one to operational status. A team of navy technicians from the provisional base at Ladysmith were working on it at the native-owned Celtic Shipyard with no success so far.

Despite or perhaps due to being so successful, the team had been reorganised a couple times over the last month, gaining and then losing personnel and equipment. The river was still in a state of crisis and the team represented the largest pool of unassigned trained personnel in the Lower Mainland who could be loaned out by the federal government to assist the fledgling civil governments of  Vancouver, New Westminster, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, and parts of devastated Burnaby and badly-flooded Richmond.

The B Detachment of the reorganised Team URIEL had been assigned relocated from the government enclave at UBC to their former forward base on the northern border of New Westminster: Cariboo Hill High School. The high school had been damaged in the nuclear attacks on the refineries on and around Burnaby Mountain, but still possessed a functioning gymnasium building. Further, the water supply was fed from a nearby emergency reservoir that was still functional.

B Detachment had the LAV assigned, as well as a Zodiac tied off at the riverside wharf in New Westminster. There was a quantity of bio-diesel available from the UBC labs. They had some electronics gear. Personnel-wise, most of the rest remained at UBC (for now). Assigned to Detachment A after the move to the Cariboo Base were RCMP Staff Sergeant Taras Shevchenko, Master Sniper (WO) Andy McRae, Sergeant Kelsey Champlain, USMC Sgt. Keith Tremblay and Master Corporal Chris MacDonald.

It was morning. Belanger, de facto head of team intelligence, had arrived via Land Rover from UBC to give you a briefing.

The last month was a blur, too much time had been spent along the lower reaches of the river, helping warn and then evacuate hundreds, thousands of flood victims. People who'd lost so much in the war, and now were losing what little they still possessed.

The team had been reorganised into different sections, covering different areas. Assisting them were support personnel based out of UBC, a new base in Burnaby (Cariboo) and another two others that were yet to be established.



The concept calls for the leadership of Clarke as an overall Commander of the unit. She is supposed to create teams, coordinate efforts and forward intel to the Government, RCMP and militia as well as HQ.

This new unit is composed by 6 Detachments one of them with 2 special "Elements".

# A Detachment: Deals with HUMINT and is organize considering regions. Agents that are operating within a city (i.e. Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond, etc.). Is purely administrative.

# B Detachment: Deals with strategic intelligence and is divided in 6 tasks:

1st task: Tactical level recce.
2nd task: Agent recruitment and development of networks.
3rd task: Special Operations.
4th task: Intel collection, management and analysis.
5th task: SIGINT and ELINT.
6th task: Ciphers and comms security.

# C Detachment: Deals with operational intelligence collection along the US border.  Not yet formed.

# D Detachment: Deals with operational intelligence collection in the lower Fraser Valley. Not yet formed.

# E Detachment: Deals and manages operational intel and intel organisations within cities, fleets and operational fronts. Includes aerial and naval intel. Not yet formed.

# F Detachment: Deals with ELINT. Mostly radio signals. Not yet formed.

We have also 2 "fleets".

* "Air Element". To be created based on a light aircraft salvaged from UBC and the possibility of use of homemade blimps and UAVs. Not yet formed.

and

* "Riverine/Marine Element". Initially divided between the assets available in each city. Therefore (and so far)we have: New Westminster Detachment with 1 Zodiac. "Vancouver Detachment" with all the naval assets in UBC marina and also "North Shore Detachment" with whatever is made available to the team. The idea is to use fishing boats, trawlers, whale watchers, etc as intel gathering platforms. Equip the platforms, staff and conduct operations. In this case both Elements are under E Detachment. Not yet formed.

Initially the staffing is limited and there are several crossovers. For instance a radio operator like Champlain can be working initially in E Detachment as ELINT and SIGINT gatherer but also can be requested to work in a tactical level and be under B Detachment for the limited time of an operation.

As the territory under control of the Council expands so does the intel flux. This structure allows for increasing numbers of operatives that will be reporting, mostly in a part time basis to the intel unit.


This message was last updated by the GM at 10:37, Sun 06 May 2012.
Alain Belanger
GM, 125 posts
Provost
UBC
Sun 6 May 2012
at 10:14
  • msg #2

Re: The Piggy Palace

"Good morning everyone. Good to see you again. I hope you all had a good couple days off?"

"As you know, we have many ongoing areas of concern. Not that you've been resting on your laurels! The good news is we finally look like we will soon have replacements assigned, our old personnel reassigned, and we'll finally be filling out that org chart that Taras and I worked so hard on and then was completely ignored. Plus, Koldan might be able to get a light aircraft up, and the navy pongoes are working on restoring one of the old Coast Guard hovercraft we found out at the airport while we were scavenging materials to rebuild telecommunications."

"At least the phones are working!"

"We have bikers running around in Surrey and throughout the Fraser Valley, doing God knows what, now they've become more organised. The border is still uncontrolled and drugs and weapons are flowing freely across it. Our renegade US Army sniper, "Mr. Brownstone", remains unaccounted for, along with his personal army of deserters and mercenaries. The neo-Nazi New America is operating here, now, as you found out the hard way.

"At there's the notorious "Pig Farm". Who runs it? For what purpose? We don't know. Allegedly, several women and girls were kidnapped or lured to go there in exchange for drugs, food or medicine. Then murdered. Their bodies... well, it's a pig farm. Meat is an expensive commodity, nowadays. I don't want to imagine any further. We thought it was located somewhere in Surrey as that's where the missing were apparently taken. There were rumours of Hells Angels involvement as well. All unsubstantiated, of course.

"Further rumour has it disappearances of sex trade workers from the roughest parts of downtown Vancouver had been going missing for years even before the war. It stopped during, and then resumed after the nuclear attacks ended most government and policing. This I was able to piece together from surviving records and information, with a lot of trouble before the flood hit.

"By chance I was able to talk to a member of the New Westminster police. He said in 1999 a refugee (a prostitute from Vancouver) told him about a "Pig Farm" where she'd seen a woman's body hung up in a barn and being butchered like a hog. She escaped. She also said it was located in Port Coquitlam, not Surrey. On Dominion avenue. She remembers it was the only occupied farm around. She told her story, but when he went back to find her she was gone from the refugee camp. No name, so far.

"I want you to take the detachment and see if you can find out anything more. No exact address. And the location is not far from the river. It's likely to be partially or even fully submerged."

This message was last edited by the player at 10:43, Sun 06 May 2012.
Andrew Montgomery McRae
player, 421 posts
1/CAR - DRI
Master Sniper (Sergeant)
Sun 6 May 2012
at 11:49
  • msg #3

Re: The Piggy Palace

Andy listened grimly to the description of the HA activities. He was a sniper and naturally drawn to independence and a wide-ranging remit, but he'd always known that he wielded death only as a means to keep people safe. Using violence to oppress the weak went against the grain and the suggestion that anyone was feasting even upon the flesh of the weak that they should be protecting made his blood boil.

the Master Sniper hoped that they would find the perpetrators and that they would resist apprehension, however, despite his thirst for the deaths of such degenerates he knew that he represented the law out here and that if the law began to play fast and loose with the rules then there was no hope of bringing civilisation back to the shattered land that he loved.

He looked over at Belanger and said, "Sir, the environment out here is likely to be more fluid than our UBC Ops, do the same rules of engagement apply or do we have different parameters?"
Kelsey Sarah Champlain
player, 839 posts
3/RSR - DRI
CF Sergeant
Sun 6 May 2012
at 19:54
  • msg #4

Re: The Piggy Palace

Kelsey had woken up that morning early to keep up with her physical training regime, calesthenics, push ups, chin ups, situps done by hanging from her knees on the chin up bar followed by several miles circling the compound at a brisk pace.  She didn't do the 'Airborne Shuffle', after all she wasn't an 'elite' soldier.

Her hard work on keeping in shape paid off, her body was hard and focused. She moved with a powerful efficiency that reminded others of a jungle cat at times.  Other times a softness showed through she was unable to completely stamp out, her lovers knew that side better, which meant no one knew it well these days.

She was something most nations didn't allow, but Canada did.  She was a real assault class infrantry soldier, and a woman, pre war.  She was proud of it.  She was also proudly a lesbian, which didn't present her with many prospects lately, she concentrated on work instead.

She had a college degree that said she knows electronics, and a lot of hard tours with a front line infantry unit as their radio ops person.  She'd learned as needed to fix things along the way, and discovered that in an infantry unit that being infantry came first, 'but do bring that radio, private'.

She focused on Andy as he spoke, her blue eyes glinting dangerously from what she had heard.  She hated it when women were victimized, it was one of the reasons she was the way she was.  She fully intended to never be a victim.  Her motivations behind that were never discussed.

Andrew Montgomery McRae:
"Sir, the environment out here is likely to be more fluid than our UBC Ops, do the same rules of engagement apply or do we have different parameters?"


She pushed down her disgust, this was like something out of some stupid horror movie.  She didn't try to fool herself, though.  People given a chance were normally good, but some were just bad to the core.

"Oignez villain, il vous poindra. Poignez villain, il vous oindra."  She looked for a moment like she would like to spit, Kelsey obviously is very fluent in French, and apparently might think in it, at least sometimes.  (translates as:  A villain will repay kindness with betrayal, but will flatter those who beat him.)  "Animals like these should not be treated as people.  A person who has treated a person as.. as.. Meat should be slaughtered, not given the civility of our laws.  Treat these villians with respect and they will turn it against you."

She swallowed hard.

"Given those thoughts, I'd like to operate at an elevated pose, but with only orders to defend.  If this place is flooded, likely it is not operating.  We could run into anyone there, I'd be willing to bet our bad guys have already left.  I say elevated because we might run into normal looters, not for our bad guys.  I have a feeling our pig farmers are either cowards, or will try to talk their way out of things."

She frowned a moment, her eyes flicking over her papers.  The last big combat op has seen her as a Master Coroporal sitting in a brevit Warrant position taking command of the op and seeing it through to the end successfully when her commander was killed in the opening salvo of possible ambush.  They'd won, but the cost hadn't stopped there.  Her role in the operation had earned her a permanant promotion to Sergeant, the highest pure NCO rank in the streamlined Canadian Forces Army.  The adrenaline and pace of combat was almost preferred to the agonizing slowness of trying to save people's lives during something like the flooding.  She knew very well, deep in her heart, what was more important.  She also did her best to act and talk that way, instead of dwelling on combat.

"The LAV and the Zodiac can do operations on this at the same time, I know the Spoonful's ready to float if she needs to, and she has the comms, we use her as the Command and Control.  The Zodiac can move more swiftly, and manuever far better in water so that is our assault force.  We might also want to prepare for SCUBA if the commander wishes to gather evidence and investigate.  Has any thoughts been given to teams and assignments sir?  I also am wondering where we can fit in our new personelle?"

Although she was not an officer, Kelsey and her buddy Mac were two of the longest lasting members of this task force.  It was like her family and she had a high personal stake in keeping everyone alive.  She also had a huge respect for their mission, or she wouldn't be here at all.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:41, Mon 07 May 2012.
Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko
player, 727 posts
Fmr. 62nd MRD
Senior Lieutenant
Sun 6 May 2012
at 22:34
  • msg #5

Re: The Piggy Palace

There is this famous old story about an Austrian military spotting a Russian intelligence man by the way he drank tea without taking a spoon out of it. A lot has changed since that time, paper cups, plastic spoons... Traditionally, it was only black tea that was favored in the Rodina. Now the black tea was having a tough time competing with instant coffee on the one hand and green tea on the other in post apocalyptic Canada. In former times there was a samovar, a kind of kettle for boiling water and keeping it warm and special glasses (not cups) used for serving hot tea. As china cups came to Russia much later than to other countries, Russians used to drink tea out of glasses with metal glass holders, rare examples can still be found in grandmothers’ cupboards. Most Russians drink their tea with jam, honey or condensed milk. You just cannot do without a spoon. What a pleasure it is to drop the spoon in a small bowl with jam, taste its sweet blending with tea on your tongue and after that put the spoon back in the glass. If you have never tried it, you will not understand that Russian intelligence man…

What a bunch of sons of bitches! Three clinking sounds against the mug accentuated Taras statement.

http://soundbible.com/1967-Clinking-Teaspoon.html
helbent4
GM, 1594 posts
aka Tony
Tue 8 May 2012
at 13:58
  • msg #6

Re: The Piggy Palace

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #5):

Some of the "new personnel" were there with them in the cavernous gymnasium where they were setting up the new base for B Detachment.

Everyone was sitting on folding chairs in front of a portable white board. Light was actually from the flourescent tubes overhead. The miracle of electricity and a portable generator! There was also a telephone.

Able Seaman (AB) Lo was an experienced sailor with UDT training. He would be the LAV's new driver. Able Seaman Lo had just arrived via Zodiac from Vancouver Island with the Navy detachment that was attempting to get the old SN.6 hovercraft operational out at Celtic Shipyards by UBC.

As a sailor, he had also been taken aback by the presence of the submarine, an Oscar II boat, although he'd already heard rumours about it back on the Island. It was a nuclear-powered vessel and he heard it would need drydocking to repair battle damage to the bow and later collision damage to the propellers and rudder. The Kursk was not flying the Soviet Union's flag or the Soviet Navy flag, but the pre-Revolution tricolour and naval ensign.

A talkative Russian had said they were no longer obeying Soviet orders but by the same token hadn't quite defected yet. They had been damaged in a battle in the Barents earlier last August with a "loyal" Soviet boat and had hid in the Arctic for months. As the Kurk was too damaged to slip by the loyal boat undetected and their torpedo room was flooded leaving them defenceless, they decided to try the other direction and had slowly made their way to Canada, seeking a safe haven that was far from the Soviet Union but wasn't the USA. Australia was the other main option but the one limiting factor for nuclear submarines was (of course) not power but supplies, and they were almost out.

Corporal William Hawk was a Royal Commando, and a medic with CSAR training. He'd actually been in New West over the winter, working at Royal Columbian Hospital in Sapperton. He helped treate the scavenger who discovered the intact nuclear warhead at Ioco Refinery. That man, suffering from Radiation sickness, had been picked up by the KGB mole, Jagelis, supposedly for transport to UBC Pavillions hospital but instead "died en route" to silence him.

One thing Hawke really liked about New West was the fact that many key buildings had electricity, including the hospital. This was formerly courtesy of the nuclear submarine docked at the wharf. The Russkies were running one of the two "teakettles" and this provided electrical power far in excess of their current needs, so they shared the excess with the city as a form of "rent". Within the last couple weeks the federal government (in UBC) had defeated some New America neo-Nazi wankers out in Port Moody and while they were doing so, salvaged the ancient hydro plant at nearby Buntzen Lake, getting it operational. Within days they would have full power for all occupied buildings in New West and much of Vancouver. The federal government had also repaired the telephone exchange, so communications was so much simpler now!



Their team leader, 1st Lt. Matthew Stone was a grizzled outdoors type. This was his first visit to New Westminster. Riding his ATV up south from "Indian Country" over the Skytrain bridge to cross the swollen Fraser River, he was very surprised to see a massive Soviet submarine (K-141 Kursk) docked at the river wharf. Russian Navy personnel swarmed around it, making serious repairs on the bow (old damage) and stern (new damage).





GM Note: in the 90's an actual Soviet submarine was tied off at the river dock in New Westminster, a surplus Foxtrot-class diesel electric that was open for tours. Now imagine a submarine over 2x larger, with obviously damaged bows, Russian navy personnel, etc. Stone is crossing the bridges in the background, from R. to L. (North is on the left, he is coming from the south.

Exiting the light rail transit bridge (the nearby Patullo Bridge being put out of action by damage in the flood) onto Royal Ave., he stopped in at the armoury of the local Militia  unit, the Royal Westminster Regiment, by city hall as instructed to check in and receive new instructions. He was informed that his contact, "Captain Belanger", was further up the hill, conducting a briefing of some sort with a unit that was moving into a pre-war High School.

Stone guessed he should be there for that and remounted, heading further up Cariboo Hill. His directions were simple, continue up 6th St, take a right on 16th. Ave.

He quickly passed through the Militia checkpoint on 10th Ave, the boundary of New Westminster and Burnaby, and continued up the hill. The neighborhood surrounding the school was abandoned residential, showing some signs of fire damage that increased the closer he got to the school (which was just over the crest of Cariboo Hill). When he crested the hill, he saw across a small valley where two Soviet airbursts that had taken out the Chevron and Shell refineries and tank farms that were around the base of Burnaby Mountain. Cariboo Hill Sr. Secondary was right on the edge of the zone of devastation. Trees were knocked down, houses collapsed, fire damage everywhere.

The school itself (Cariboo Hill Sr. Secondary) was mostly collapsed but the separate Gymnasium seemed to remain intact, if badly scorched on the north side.




OOC: As your base is on the edge of "pacified" territory, sidearms are appropriate and while you probably shouldn't need to go around in full battle rattle, longarms can be relatively close to hand. Hats are off indoors. (Lo wears a dark blue beret, Hawke a green beret. If Stone wants to make a slightly late entrance for effect, then that would be cool.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:27, Wed 09 May 2012.
William Hawke
player, 8 posts
Tue 8 May 2012
at 16:17
  • msg #7

Re: The Piggy Palace

In reply to helbent4 (msg #6):

William sat there with a cup of tea going cold in his hand.

"So this is 'sneak and peek' and 'find what you can, kill anybody who disagrees with our poking around?'"  He frowned.  First off, the tea was horrible, even for Americans.  He couldn't understand why the colonies never got the hang of it.  At least it wasn't the Russians with their black tea.  That would eat the plating right off a spoon.  Turks wouldn't even wash the glasses between customers.  He'd stopped at a Turkish tea vendor in Marakesh, and watched as when he handed the glass back, the vendor had wiped it out with a cloth and put it back into service.  He hadn't gotten tea from a street vendor again.

Secondly the ROE were fuzzy, and that bothered him some, too.  Not a lot, as he was accustomed to acting solo.  He'll need to take a closer look at the rules and the terms of the mission, when he had a moment.
Kelsey Sarah Champlain
player, 849 posts
3/RSR - DRI
CF Sergeant
Tue 8 May 2012
at 22:36
  • msg #8

Re: The Piggy Palace

Kelsey was a taller than normal woman with dark blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, and brilliant shade of blue for eyes.  She was in her 'combats' with the sleeves rolled up, showing off some heavy tribal style tattooing on the exposed skin of her lightly tanned and noticeably muscled arms.  She currently had her Hi Power holstered on her web belt, a magazine inserted, and two noticeable bulges on in the spare pouches of the belt indicating reloads.  A glengary was set on the table in front of her, and CF Sergeant rank was cleanly sewn onto her uniform in the center of the upper sleeves, as well as a tab at the seam of both sleeves, right below the epaulette marked 'Royal 22e R', a subdued olive-drab Canadian flag, worn on the upper left sleeve below the epaulette.  Over the slanted right breast pocket was a name tag reading "Champlain".  The uniform itself was clean and servicable, if a bit worn and patched.

She glanced at Mac, waiting to catch his eye, and winked, nodding to the new folks, eyes running over them appraisingly a moment before raising her own cooling tea in a small salute to Taras and his comments before taking a sip of the thick bitter stuff.  She wondered about the new commander, they'd gone through a lot of those of late, and she had a hand in killing one personally, after he turned on them.

She felt a shiver that went up her spine, a pushed her feelings about what she heard into a corner of her mind to deal with later.  She'd want to hit something, or better yet shoot something later.  Later.

She steeled herself, smiled, and moved to professional talk and her speciality.

"Right.  Sounds like communications will be critical, foot scouting.  Maybe take a jeep in for relay, or the master set on the Spoonful but that big lover is obvious.  I'm the Comm Chief, Sergeant Champlain.  I'll need all new radios checked in before we op, the sooner the better, so I can set them up for my TACNET.  I like to do a radio check before any major op as well, especially considering the old equipment we are using."

She dug into her left breast pocket a moment and fished out a battered looking pack of Players, shaking one out and putting up her pack before striking up a battered looking zippo with the worn logo of the Van Doos on the side, she glanced at Belanger and perked a brow, smirked and set the lighter down on the table in front of her, closed, leaving the unlit cigarette perched in the corner of her mouth.



She looked around a moment again.  "So, I guess the new team lead is fashionably late?  Want to take the floor Andy, you outrank me."  She took the unlit cigarette out of her mouth and played with it a moment, looking to Belanger.  "We got one, right, Captain?  Or did we use up the supply?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Wed 09 May 2012.
Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko
player, 733 posts
Fmr. 62nd MRD
Senior Lieutenant
Wed 9 May 2012
at 07:15
  • msg #9

Re: The Piggy Palace

Taras deposited on the table his Soviet officer map case:



Then he took the Lower Mainland map and folded it to display the Area of Operations:



Then he took the Lower Mainland map and folded it to display the Area of Operations: "Port Coquitlam" being at the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the West, and the cities of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows lie across the Pitt River.



He didn't like it a bit. As a Combat Engineer his specialty was dealing with geographic matters and this was going to be complicated. Cartography could be deceiving. For once he found "Western" availability of precise maps to civilians quite surprising yet he missed the intrinsec quality of the Soviet school of mapping, so rich in detail. His roadmap wasnt military grade of course but some elements were disturbing enough. Taking his bearings he found the length of Dominion Av. and tried to locate the mentioned farm. There was plenty of agricultural land, railyards... even a golf course. Then there was the flooding of the area.

For the look of things... The ukrainian lifted up his chin and directed his speech to Belanger. I would go for a recce patrol with a similar composition as the last operation. The zodiac shouln't have any problem from the water but the flooding of the river banks could turn them into a trap..."
Alain Belanger
GM, 126 posts
Provost
UBC
Wed 9 May 2012
at 09:32
  • msg #10

Re: The Piggy Palace

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #9):

"Corporal William, by your frown I see you don't seem very impressed by much! Perhaps it's the tea? Most Brits seem to like Red Rose fine, but it's been prepared Russian-style and all."

"We could always just put a bullet into these people at long range. The objective, however, is to bring in live people to question and hopefully try. Justice needs to be seen being done, and all that. You always have the right to use deadly force to protect yourself or someone else. A warning is not necessary, nor is there the requirement of withdrawing, or prior permission from HQ."

"Kel seems to have the gist of it, normal ROEs with elevated threat posture.

"Under the law we can hold people for six months without charge, so no worries about people taking a walk the next day. (Use the New West lockup for now, we don't have secure facilities here, yet.) You can also confiscate pretty much anything at any time if it's restricted (weapons), or anything involved in illegal activity. Looting, hoarding and black marketeering is illegal, so pretty much anything is fair game. Guns like fully automatic weapons, vehicles that can be used to transport illicit goods.... you get the picture.

"If that's not clear enough, then please, throw some hypotheticals at me!"
Kelsey Sarah Champlain
player, 851 posts
3/RSR - DRI
CF Sergeant
Wed 9 May 2012
at 14:39
  • msg #11

Re: The Piggy Palace

Kelsey looked over Taras' shoulder to check out his map, she clucked her tongue softly as she did.

"Good news on communications, the river and the geography there should make it easy to bounce signal back as far as need.  I'll measure it out to verify I don't need to position a relay."

She toyed with her cigarette a moment, then looked to Belanger again.  "The Spoonful is ready to swim, so I see no issue with that, just be careful how you float it."  She watched Belanger a moment, biting her lower lip enough to make it turn white, but she held back whatever else it was she was going to say.

She held his gaze for a few more moments and then dropped it on the cigarette she was holding, finally putting it down next to her Zippo lighter as Belanger spoke.  She glanced over at William, gauging him by his reaction.

"And if we can confirm they have been kidnapping women and feeding them to pigs, Captain?"  Her icy blue eyes didn't meet anyone's gaze when she said that, but she was watching William, still.
William Hawke
player, 9 posts
Wed 9 May 2012
at 14:45
  • msg #12

Re: The Piggy Palace

Alain Belanger:
In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #9):

"Corporal William, by your frown I see you don't seem very impressed by much! Perhaps it's the tea? Most Brits seem to like Red Rose fine, but it's been prepared Russian-style and all."


The water tastes funny here, that's all.  I'm from the northern end of the kingdom, and the water always affects the quality of the tea.  Red Rose isn't bad, but it's not Barry's.  Most of us are too polite to complain."  He grinned, then sobered his demeanor quickly.

"If we're going in on a hunt and kill, we're acting as judge, jury and executioner.  I want to be clear on our Rules of Engagement.  I don't want some civilian court looking at our actions at some point down the road and determining we were out of line."
Kelsey Sarah Champlain
player, 852 posts
3/RSR - DRI
CF Sergeant
Wed 9 May 2012
at 16:01
  • msg #13

Re: The Piggy Palace

William Hawke:
"If we're going in on a hunt and kill, we're acting as judge, jury and executioner.  I want to be clear on our Rules of Engagement.  I don't want some civilian court looking at our actions at some point down the road and determining we were out of line."


Kelsey eyed the former commando and a tight grin hit her lips a moment, and with a lilt of sarcasm in her voice she replied to him.

"So, Corporal Hawke.  Your issue is not with the possibility we might decide to simply eliminate this problem, but being held responsible for it?"

Any trace of smile left her face and voice, the temperature in the room might even have seemed to drop.  "I assure you, I have no issue with that."  Although... she didn't specify what she had no issue with, eliminating, or being responsible.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:31, Wed 09 May 2012.
William Hawke
player, 10 posts
Wed 9 May 2012
at 17:38
  • msg #14

Re: The Piggy Palace

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #13):

"I have spent all my career risking my ass for others.  I don't want some bench-warmer, or worse yet, a politician, to come along when we're done and convince people we were operating outside our Rules Of Engagement.  Despite the problems in governance created by the bombing of our government buildings, and the death of the Queen, I am still responsible to follow legal orders."
Andrew Montgomery McRae
player, 422 posts
1/CAR - DRI
Master Sniper (Sergeant)
Wed 9 May 2012
at 18:33
  • msg #15

Re: The Piggy Palace

Andy thought back to the killing of the New American RPG gunner and the way he had hesitated before acting pre-preemptively. He fully understood the Royal Marine's reluctance about being hedged in by rules.

"I can see your point," he said, "and I understand fully that you want a full run down of our ROEs before getting into action. I'd prefer to be more in my comfort zone when it comes to initiating combat but we're playing a different game here to the one I'm used to. From my time in Aldershot and Catterick on exchange courses I'm pretty sure that we're close to the ROEs you were used to if you pulled a shift in Northern Ireland. We aim to apprehend perpetrators alive and minimise combat but if things get bad we take the gloves off. There's a grey area when it comes to pulling the trigger first," he frowned, remembering his own quandry, "personally I have taken the first shot recently because I felt it was in the best interests of the team. I was lucky that I guessed right, next time," he shrugged, "next time I'll make the call based on the circumstances and my interpretation of the ROEs. I'm pretty sure that we can get you a copy of them if you want to study them."
Kelsey Sarah Champlain
player, 853 posts
3/RSR - DRI
CF Sergeant
Wed 9 May 2012
at 19:21
  • msg #16

Re: The Piggy Palace

William Hawke:
"I have spent all my career risking my ass for others.  I don't want some bench-warmer, or worse yet, a politician, to come along when we're done and convince people we were operating outside our Rules Of Engagement.  Despite the problems in governance created by the bombing of our government buildings, and the death of the Queen, I am still responsible to follow legal orders."


Kelsey smirked a moment and picked up her cigarette again, looking at it for a moment before looking back.

Andrew Montgomery McRae:
"personally I have taken the first shot recently because I felt it was in the best interests of the team. I was lucky that I guessed right, next time," he shrugged, "next time I'll make the call based on the circumstances and my interpretation of the ROEs. I'm pretty sure that we can get you a copy of them if you want to study them."


She listened to Andy talk, and nodded.

"Andy's right, it's a little nervous, but the real rule is you do what is right, and what is right for the team."  She paused, remembering the last action they saw, if only she had shot Jagelis on sight, like she wanted to, but she did the 'right' thing, instead.  "You don't have to wait on them to shoot first, unless we are under that rule, which we won't on this action.  You do what is right, and let the chips fall where they may.  Remember, you aren't alone out there, and folks are on your team.  We will trust your judgement in the field, and you might get asked some questions.  Just be honest.  Some people will probably die that shouldn't have to, but they were in a very wrong place if they do.  Not a lot of real innocents going to be where we are going."
Alain Belanger
GM, 127 posts
Provost
UBC
Wed 9 May 2012
at 20:19
  • msg #17

Re: The Piggy Palace

William Hawke:
The water tastes funny here, that's all.  I'm from the northern end of the kingdom, and the water always affects the quality of the tea.  Red Rose isn't bad, but it's not Barry's.  Most of us are too polite to complain."  He grinned, then sobered his demeanor quickly.

"If we're going in on a hunt and kill, we're acting as judge, jury and executioner.  I want to be clear on our Rules of Engagement.  I don't want some civilian court looking at our actions at some point down the road and determining we were out of line."


Belanger laughed.

"Yes, that's pure glacier water you're drinking. Gravity fed from reservoirs up in the mountains. Best in the world. Better than whatever pond scum you're used to in the UK. I can urinate in it if you want?"

"The ROEs haven't changed. No "hunt and kill". Everyone: pay attention. Recce. Reconaissance. Gather information. Get suspects for questioning."


He pointed to a list.

"Read that, please."

"You are not Judge. You are not Jury. Nor are you executioner."

"The Crown probably will look at your actions later, so act accordingly. The civilians are back in control here, that's how they like it and personally, that's the way it should be. Oversight not to your liking? I do understand. It's a real shift of perception from when it was the men with guns who made the rules. Plenty of other work to do, there are loyal Soviets over on the Island, still real fighting to do there."

"Again, I'm hearing some doubts but you must be clearer about what you're asking.  Please, give me examples. Can you shoot first? Yes, without warning, if you or anyone else is under the threat of deadly force.

"Can you execute this butcher in the field? No. Can you just shoot someone for being a biker? Not unless they are threatening someone or threatening you, which is a loose definition. Can you shoot a Soviet without warning? Yes, we have seen there are loyalist KGB and GRU agents operating in the Lower Mainland. We'd like you not to shoot any Soviet that's defected, as there's an "open arms" policy, but Soviets under arms and acting in an unlawful manner are fair game.


OOC: ROEs are posted in the Reference Thread.
Kelsey Sarah Champlain
player, 854 posts
3/RSR - DRI
CF Sergeant
Wed 9 May 2012
at 20:38
  • msg #18

Re: The Piggy Palace

Kelsey plays with her lighter while Belanger talks, turning it in her hands.  Her face gets a little tense when he talks about Soviets, but somewhere in there she glances at Taras and she relaxes, lips picking up a faint smile.  She liked Taras, and trusted him.

When Belanger finished she flicked the lighter open a few times and waited a moment before speaking.  "Like I said, it's your judgement.  Look out for the team.  If there is a clear threat, you can kill.  No executing folks, but if they pose a danger to us, we eliminate."

She gripped the Zippo in her hand and gripped it tightly a moment.  "There will be times that the hesitation causes your comrades to die.  We try to avoid that."  She eases up her grip on her lighter and smiles, looking at the logo on it.  "Try to be understanding of some folk for not trusting us, try not to kill honest people for posing a threat.  Try not to be an overt threat yourself, aiming at someone openly will make honest people fit the category of threat.  Judge honestly those who you are certain are a real threat.  Try to err on the side of generosity, realize that same thing can cost you your life."

She lights the lighter and stares at the flame flickering a moment before closing it again, snuffing out the flame abruptly.  "Believe in the mission, and our country.  Believe that people are innately good.  You might be justified in killing someone that we might have saved, but if you can sleep well at night afterward, you don't belong in this job."
Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko
player, 735 posts
Fmr. 62nd MRD
Senior Lieutenant
Thu 10 May 2012
at 06:15
  • msg #19

Re: The Piggy Palace

Well...somebody said "You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs". The truth is that we have plenty of enemies out there that they don't like the idea of returning to normal life and having Law Enforcement around to screw their profit business. To protect the local population is very important then. We need to gain their confidence. I believe that is being working so far...

Changing tune, Taras again addressed Belanger

Before we move in "in force" I will like to have a sniper element forward deployed in the area. Somewhere in high ground with good comms. We can insert a two man team with the zodiac and then move in the ground element. How about a jeep and the LAV III as a fire support? The zodiac can be used to cover the flooded area. Belanger, I need a topographic chart to get a better idea of the terrain...

Alain Belanger
GM, 128 posts
Provost
UBC
Thu 10 May 2012
at 06:41
  • msg #20

Re: The Piggy Palace

Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko:
</Red>Changing tune, Taras again addressed Belanger

Before we move in "in force" I will like to have a sniper element forward deployed in the area. Somewhere in high ground with good comms. We can insert a two man team with the zodiac and then move in the ground element. How about a jeep and the LAV III as a fire support? The zodiac can be used to cover the flooded area. Belanger, I need a topographic chart to get a better idea of the terrain...


"I don't like that "omelette" expression, because it implies that a certain amount of waste and destruction is unavoidable, and we know that's not true. We've been able to operate on occasion without causing or receiving casualties."

He pulled out some topographical maps:

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/topo/map

"These are badly out of date, from the before the war and the flooding. Yes, yes, definitely looks like the farm would be underwater, that close to the river and on the flood plain. Still, you may as well go out and see perhaps if there's someone in the area that's seen anything. That much vehicle traffic can't have gone unnoticed.

"For a sniper detachment, Andy and Mac would be your go-to men. Can't say where they'd be able to set up an OP."

Christopher Little Hawk MacDonald
NPC, 152 posts
1/RMR - DRI
Rifleman
Thu 10 May 2012
at 06:45
  • msg #21

Re: The Piggy Palace

Kelsey Sarah Champlain:
She glanced at Mac, waiting to catch his eye, and winked, nodding to the new folks, eyes running over them appraisingly a moment before raising her own cooling tea in a small salute to Taras and his comments before taking a sip of the thick bitter stuff.  She wondered about the new commander, they'd gone through a lot of those of late, and she had a hand in killing one personally, after he turned on them.


Still a little hung over, Mac returned her look and smiled in return. He was an easy-going guy, Native, in OD green CF combats.

"Quit playin' with your damn lighter, Sergeant. Givin' me a headache!"

Sighing, he fixed himself some tea and sat back down.
Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko
player, 736 posts
Fmr. 62nd MRD
Senior Lieutenant
Thu 10 May 2012
at 07:16
  • msg #22

Re: The Piggy Palace

quote:
"I don't like that "omelette" expression, because it implies that a certain amount of waste and destruction is unavoidable, and we know that's not true. We've been able to operate on occasion without causing or receiving casualties."


Well my friend! I guess that "Groceteria" is going to be in need of some serious carprenty after all! But yes, I know what you mean...Is the sniper element a good idea then?
Alain Belanger
GM, 129 posts
Provost
UBC
Thu 10 May 2012
at 07:54
  • msg #23

Re: The Piggy Palace

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #22):

"I like it. Let me get this straight:

1) Deploy snipers by Zodiac.

2) Move LAV and Jeep into position where they can provide fire suppression over the farm and block Dominion St. if needed.

3) Then a foot element goes in to investigate?"

He thought for a second. "Why both the LAV and the Jeep? Why not deploy a dismount detachment straight from the LAV? Less vehicles."

Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko
player, 737 posts
Fmr. 62nd MRD
Senior Lieutenant
Thu 10 May 2012
at 08:05
  • msg #24

Re: The Piggy Palace

The jeep can go first and do several things for us...Basically is a discreet way to approach the area. It can move fast and turn quickly. It will be doing the recce of the road and select the best position for the LAV to provide cover. We have reports of antitank weapons out there and I don't like to send our "Queen" by herself occupying the center of the chessboard without at least a knight to support the move. The farm is going to be a big place and I suspect that we need a vehicle to move around fast and use it to collect whatever necessary while the LAV is keeping an eye for us. More a surveillance and fire support rather than an battle taxi if you know what I mean...
Alain Belanger
GM, 130 posts
Provost
UBC
Thu 10 May 2012
at 08:08
  • msg #25

Re: The Piggy Palace

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #24):

"Huh. So the LAV moves into position, scans the objective with thermal and so on. The Jeep does it's bound and if makes hostile contact, the LAV and snipers open fire.

"If Lt. Stone is in favour of a sniper detachment/LAV/Jeep configuration, then I guess they will deployed where they and the LAV can put the farm in a crossfire, cover each other's blind areas. Could be some high ground to the rear, towards the mountains."

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