Lee nods as the Ukrainian talks. When she hears contractor she says in an accusing tone - "Security contractor... in other words a mercenary, right?" Then in a flash she holds up her hand in a halting or defensive fashion - "Forget it. I'm not looking for a fight here. Perhaps you are doing good here. You no doubt understand how most people will react to you being here. Pretty much everyone here has lost people because of the war."

Changing the subject she says - "Your telecommunications. How far can you communicate out to? Anything further down the valley?"

Looking over her shoulder she looks to see the progress of unloading the LAV. She was anxious to get moving.

On the ground, Khandola excused himself from the conversation, coordinating the arrival of UBC's Reaction Team via radio.

The yard's security guard, Dennis and Desnnis' children retired from the scene, going off towards the western entrance to the yard.

McRae could see quite a ways north up Balaclava, almost all the way uphill to SW Marine.

Khandola reported to Lee the immanent arrival of the Reaction Team.

"Two of the elements are arriving. One will secure the intersection of Balaclava and Southwest Marine, the other at Celtic and Balaclava. Your lookout should be able to see the latter any moment."

Within another few minutes an RCMP SUV (a Suburban like the one already parked there) drove down Balaclava towards the shipyard's east entry.

It stopped short of the access road that led right past Fo's OP, and the SUV parked blocking Celtic drive from anyone approaching from the east. The driver, a uniformed RCMP (daily patrol uniform plus vest) carrying a shotgun got out. So did the passengers, all wearing vests over surplus US camouflage, black ball caps and carrying either shotguns or C7/AR-15 style assault rifles.

The Mountie directed the other members of the element there to deploy spike belts to further block Celtic Dr. to the east. A couple of members were detailed to watch the western approach down Celtic as well.

As the presumed route-of-travel would be noth along Balaclava, this still left their route clear for travel.

Meanwhile on the ship, Captain Kirsch waved at Taras in passing, but was otherwise occupied with the unloading operation, which to Fox seemed to go smoothly but a little slower than planned.


Edit: changed line of dialogue regarding Lee and her liaising with Khandola.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:48, Thu 31 Jan 2008.

Mercenary?

Taras was somehow surprised by that word. A few months ago he was a senior Lieutenant commanding an engineer unit supporting the mechanized regiment. Then he closed his eyes and moved gently his head from shoulder to shoulder with pressed lips conveying an almost peaceful smile.

No. Not at all. There is no war here. There are obvious security problems that have to be addressed and the people living here need advice and much help. The enemy that we face here is more on the criminal side, you see. There are armed gangs and other bandits ready to take advantage of the law vacuum. The limited RCMP force can't do much but protect the Western area. The militia also helps a lot.

For a moment he stopped to catch some breath and looking towards the bridge of the GB "Church" waved his arm, gave a big smile and a "thumbs up" to Capt. Kirsch that appeared to recognised him. "Church" he thought, what an appropiate name for a place to find sanctuary...

And yes. We have a basic land line telephone connexion that links the security posts and the native community in this area. A bigger project is going on to set up a wireless tower that may give us reach to the entire valley. The problem is to reach the far away communities and provide radio equipment, frequencies and operation hours to keep constant link. As you can see there is only that much that we can do from here but we need to reach out for them. We need to identify community leaders. A challenging task.

Khandola listened to his radio, then informed Lee of the transmission.

"we have elements in place covering the east and western entrances to the shipyard."

He then reminded Taras that his vehicle was parked elsewhere, a short walk away.

"Taras, your jeep is still parked a little ways away. You can walk there now to bring it here, or I can drop you off to pick it up when we start moving."
It was still quite peaceful, with birds chirping in the trees and insects buzzing near the river's muddy edge.

Near the wharf, trash like a white plastic pail and truck tire was partially sunk into the black mire.

The ground was still metaphorically shifting under the team's feet. They had landed not unlike like the Canadian troops at Juno Beach in Normandy, prepared if necessary to wage immediate and bloody war in the ruins to restore order from chaos.

It started dawning on them that their mission had taken on a somewhat different slant. Instead of a black and white struggle to oust an invading faceless enemy, the conflict would be what was called after Gulf War II and before the Twilight War "Military Operations Other Than War" or "Effects Based Operations".

They had been briefed along these lines before leaving, but sometimes old habits and mindsets die hard. Of them all, Lee's experience in wartime policing had the most experience dealing in the uncomfortable interface between civilian and soldier.

Simply thinking in terms of firepower and maneuver would be insufficient, and conducting diplomacy down the barrel of a gun highly counter-productive. There would have to be an emphasis on "hearts and minds", non-violent conflict resolution, even working with their former enemies where it served their purpose.

Speaking of that, even the "Russian" guy wasn't actually Russian! Another element that wasn't quite as clear-cut as expected.

Another 10 minutes or so passed as the LAV was winched over the end of the wharf, then gently lowered to the wooden planks. The weathered timber squealed in protest as 16 plus tons settled on them. Next was the trailer, and the crew began preparing that for relocation to behind the LAV.

Up on the roof, McRae came alert as he spotted a blue Chevy van driving south down Balaclava towards the reaction element blocking the intersection with Celtic. The vehicle and occupants seemed to be familiar to the Mountie and the militia waiting there.

The Mountie stepped into the road in front of the van. It stopped so he could talk to the driver, then motioned the van off to the shoulder so that it wasn't blocking the road.

On the hood was the well-known symbol of Canada's public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, aks "CBC" aka the "Mother Corp.". It had been over a year since any one of the newcomers had seen or even heard of the like.



McRae saw what looked to be a woman, an honest-to-God reporter accompanied by a cameraman get out the side and passenger door of the van. While the reporter asked the Mountie some kind of question, the cameraman put his video camera on his shoulder and commenced videotaping the scene. The sound man/driver maneuvered a boom microphone out the window above the reporter's head.

In the yard, again, Khandola listened to his radio.

"It seems the local media has arrived. They are volunteers, mostly former CBC employees and telecommunications students. Their work is supposedly for posterity, and they are fixing up one of the television transmitters here on campus."

"Apparently, this is a historic occasion. They wish to get a statement from your spokesperson regarding your mission, if you have one."

"I have had much experience in dealing with these people, and trust me, telling them "no comment" or ignoring them only whets their appetite and sharpens their persistence."

It seemed there was a note of amused resignation in his voice over the situation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:31, Sat 02 Feb 2008.

Still manning the Mk-19, Fox rotates it towards the oncoming vehicle. As it nears he releases his grip and lets the barrel slowly angle upwards. "What in the hell?" is says slowly aloud to himself.

Still perplexed and amazed by the sight unfolding, his mouth drops a little when one of the men actually puts a camera on his shoulder. He feels weird but cannot explain it. Maybe everything was normal on the mainland, and everyone on the island had been living in some Twilight Zone. It was surreal, he wanted to laugh but couldn't.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Sat 02 Feb 2008.

Lee just says - "Media? Ahh... ok. Just a second."

Toggling her radio she looks at Ben supervising the offloading the LAV. "There is um... media here. They want to talk to somebody. I guess our operation is pretty public knowledge. You want to give a statement." she pauses uncomfortably, "Or do you want me to do it."

OOC - I'll assume Ben says for Lee to go ahead. I suppose if he also wants to be on TV he can talk after.

"Ok." she says to Khandola. She then makes her way over to his RCMP SUV and inspects herself in the reflection, and side mirrors. Even after a couple years of war, the feeling of not wanting to look awful on camera prevailed. It was completely unavoidable.

"They coming here? I'm ready." she asks. In actuality she wasn't. It was so long since she had to deal with the media she almost forgotten how. Even her last years before the war she was never really in a position having to speak to reporters.

The news team was out of direct line-of-sight from the people on the ground, blocked by the buildings and then the trees at the edge of the property.

However, from his vantage point on the superstructure of the ship, Fox could just make the people in question out through a break in the trees. He peered through his binoculars at this apparition that seemed to be coming from another planet.

As if on cue, the distant cameraman finished getting footage of the reporter and Mountie waiting for an answer, and turned the camera on what little of the ship he could see, including Fox.

This isn't happening...

Andy watches the somewhat sureal scene unfolding on the road towards the docks through his binnoculars. The mountie had already called it in so Andy didn't bother cluttering up the airwaves with a duplicate report.

Why the hell did they pick me for this job?

Thoughts bred by years of surviving countless attempts on his life- instinct or habit- automatically kicked in.

Spies?

Terrorists?

He remembered reading a report in the Economist prewar about an Islamic suicide bomber assassinating a rival using an explosive device hidden inside a functioning TV camera.

After a few minutes during which no one had exploded yet, his brain down-shifted. He exhaled a deep breath and continued to sweep the surrounding area through his binos.

Anyway, even if these folks were legit, they're presence certainly didn't help the team's mission- at least as Andy understood it.

Might as well send the town crier out to announce the arrival of the recce team...

Fucking media.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:53, Sat 02 Feb 2008.

...and here comes the 5th state so the soldiers can have an Iwo Jima moment...

Or the Reichstag flag planting if they were Red Army soldiers...In any case Taras decided to get out of there quickly. He tried to keep a low profile. Not an easy world for a defector. He knew that the footage will be incriminatory for better or for worst. In any case he will not mind leave all the protagonism to the visitors. Waving the crew a smile turned to the trim bearded, turban wearing man:

Sgt. Khandola! I'm going to the entrance and have a chat with the security guard to prepare my jeep. Is a short walk and I need some fresh air and a cigarette. I'll be waiting for you when the interview finish and everybody is ready to go.

Smokes were a luxury. One that he was willing to share with the native and try to barter some for the scrumptious "indian candy" that was prepared in the reservation. The perfect appetizer!

Khandola transmitted a command to the roadblock on Balaclava.

The van was waved through and passed out of sight from Fox behind the buildings and trees, although McRae kept it in sight all the way.

It traveled south down the short rutted tree-lined service road from the intersection of Balaclava and Celtic to the eastern gate of the shipyard. The guard rode over on his ATV, then unlocked the gate. The van drove down between the buildings.

Parking at the foot of the wharf off to the side, the news crew deployed their equipment. The cameraman was an older casually-dressed black man in a safari vest bulging with gear, and he immediately began videoing the shipyard, ship and crew, LAV, and military personnel. The driver/soundman was a young man with glasses, long hair and unkempt beard.

The reporter was a young woman with red hair tied back in a pony tail. She spent a minute or so getting her makeup ready and fixing her hair, then got out to talk to Lee.

Khandola offered some advice to the younger Mountie, going over the basics on dealing with the media. It boiled down to don't treat them like the enemy, cultivate a good relationship with them, and give them what information you can or they will go to other, less reliable sources.

"The reporter is Tricia Todd. Her cameraman is Curtis Forbes and the soundman is Damien Sparkle.

"As I have said, I personally know and have dealt with them many times. They are not adversarial and try to be neutral in the best journalistic tradition. They also wish to see this effort succeed as they have nothing to gain and everything to lose by its failure."

They were expecting the reporter to film some kind of introduction but once the camera and sound equipment was set up, the reporter immediately came over.

Introductions were made. Lee found the young woman to be cheerful, intelligent and perceptive.

"Hi! It's great to see you guys. There have been a lot of rumours for months about something like this. People are really excited that finally the government is sending someone! Hopes are high that we can finally fix things around here."

"Well, let me know when you're ready."

The interview itself was a little anti-climactic.

Lee was simply videotaped giving a statement. Absent any instruction or restriction from Jagelis, she outlined the mission in basic form.

Namely, the federal government was planning on restoring control over the lower mainland. They had sent a task force to survey the area and negotiate with the community at UBC towards that end. This was an ongoing mission and would be based out of UBC, with no timetable set as of yet for the arrival of additional personnel or the conclusion of the mission.

"Thank you, Sergeant Lee, you've been very helpful."

The news team moved down the wharf to where Jagelis was standing by the LAV, helping unload the vehicle and equipment.

"Lieutenant Jagelis, do you have any additional comments about your mission and what you are attempting to accomplish here?"

The blood drained from Bens face as the report came in that the media, of all things, had appeared on the scene. Didn't anybody realise that they were supposed to be sneaking in without attracting attention?
"You have got to be kidding!" he said, white faced and wishing he was somewhere else. Anywhere else, even back on the lines holding back overwhelming odds would have been preferable.
"How the hell am I supposed to deal with this?" he mumbled to himself in shock, forgetting his words had been carried across his small units radio network.
Never one for public relations exercises, Ben initially tried to hide himself amongst the bustle of preparing the LAV to move. Two years before, when he'd had a full plattoon to work with, he might have suceeded. As it was, it was impossible to blend in when you were one of only two actual soldiers on the wharf.

"Ah, no, not at this time," he began, glad not to have started off simply stammering.
"Sergeant Lee has covered everything fairly well for now." And given him the few vital minutes he'd needed to compose his thoughts and not appear completely witless.
"We'll issue further statements once we've been properly briefed on the situation and had time to settle in." Perhaps in a day or two, maybe a week if he was lucky...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Sun 03 Feb 2008.

The attractive young woman's expression didn't change, but Ben could tell she was more than a little disappointed.

However, she also impervious to his suggestion. Ben caught a whiff of perfume and suddenly found it hard to think.

"Oh, that's too bad."

"Well, at any rate, I look forward to working with you and your people! It will be an interesting experience for all concerned, I'm sure. One for the history books."

"Thank you for your time, Leftenant. We don't want to get in your way!"

Already off-balance and starting to feel aroused by her, Ben wondered that meant. He had a sinking feeling he would find out soon enough.

Cameraman in tow, she headed back to the van. Once there, she and her crew did a few intro segments that would be edited in to the beginning of the piece.

Over at the guard house, Taras shared a bottle of beer cooled by the river's water. Pete, the guard, had one himself, and speculated about the newcomers. Taras watched them through binoculars, waiting for the news crew to depart or at least stop filming before he returned.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:10, Sun 03 Feb 2008.

Ben watched Tricia's extremely cute rear wiggle back down the wharf, finally shaking himself free of her spell as she disappeared from sight.
"Right," he called across the radio, trying to take chage of not just the situation but his own thoughts too.
"C-6 and '19 to move to LAV now. Lee, McRae, meet the LAV as we drive past your position."
Finally they were getting on the road, even if they had an entourage they'd not planned for. All they needed now were crowds of school children lined up along their route waving flags as they passed!

"See you at the university." Lee says to Khandola with a small wave. Walking over to the wharf she climbs aboard the LAV. Placing her crew helmet on she turns on the I/C and starts the engine. As the others climb in she puts on her sunglasses and does a final familiarization of the controls.

Starring ahead, she waits until she's told everyone is in and the rear door shut. "Rolling." she says over the I/C. Hatch open, she advances the LAV down the wharf. Slowly at first, but once she gets onto firm ground, Lee guns the engine until its next to the McRae's building then brings it to an abrupt halt.

Once Andy is on board, and the go ahead is given, she'll drive behind Khandola's RCMP SUV.

Fox spends his last few minutes on the Church helping move the heavy Mk-19 to shore. Once everything is offloaded and the LAV is ready he makes a check - the trailer is properly and sufficiently attached, and outside gear is well strapped down.

Climbing up onto the turret he enters the gunners hatch and activates the turret. He looks through his aiming apparatus and selects several random "targets" swinging the main gun onto them. As Lee begins to drive the LAV forward he moves up and goes crew-exposed.

With his upper body through the commanders hatch, Ben assisted in mounting the heavy automatic grenade launcher on top of the LAV. His own C-9 had been secured in the rack behind his position, and hopefully wouldn't be needed at short notice with the '19 and it's awesome firepower at his fingertips.
Checking one last time that everything was in place, he gave a farewell wave to the Church and it's crew before ordering the vehicle forward. As Lee guided the heavy LAV to a halt near McRae, he couldn't help wondering when the brass band would appear - they'd had just about everyone else show up!

There was a flurry of activity as everything got straightened away for transit.

Seeing the show was about ready to hit the road, the news crew ceased filming and climbed into their van, then headed to the far entrance at the western end of the yard.

All business, Tricia spared a second for a quick wave to Ben.

Fox reported that the vehicle weapons all checked out. Kelsey and Chris mounted up. Inside the cramped passenger bay, the closed-circuit TV monitor was switched on, so that those riding inside could see what the turret was currently pointed at outside.

The ship's captain waved back at Ben, although the rest of the Church's crew seemed hard at work, preparing to cast off and start the trip to their next port of call.

At the other, western entrance, the guard opened the gate to let the news crew through, as they were going to travel a slightly shorter route. The driver, Damien, nodded at Taras as he got into his jeep and started it up. He quickly drove back over to the eastern end of the yard area, where the LAV was stopped so that McRae could climb down the metal ladder from the building roof to mount up. The security guard followed on his Honda ATV.

The RCMP Suburban was waiting at the closed east gate, LAV stopped behind it. Taras pulled in behind the armoured (relative) giant. Ben could easily look back and down into the open-topped vehicle, and noted the radio set in back, and AKS-74U, pack and ammo chest-harness sitting in the front passenger seat beside the driver.



The guard pushed open the chain-link gate. Khandola got out, leaving the SUV to idle with the engine running.

He looked up at the LAV's driver, standing on the seat so her head was out the driver's hatch, goggles and CVC helmet on her head. The preferred driver's position was sitting down and looking through video screens (or periscopes if all else failed) but she wasn't quite that familiar yet with this monster.

"Now Sergeant Lee, we are going to go straight north along Balaclave to South West Marine Drive, then turn west down Marine to the roablock we call "Checkpoint Charlie"."

"Once through the roadblock we continue to proceed directly to the UBC campus. You must have been there some time in the past!"

"We will meet 2 RCMP-marked Suburbans and 4 motorcycles waiting along the way, the route security elements. They will fall in, in front and behind as we meet them."

"We will travel between 40 and 60 km/h. There should be no reason to stop. Please have identification ready when we get to the perimeter checkpoint for verification."

Any questions?"

They exchanged radio frequencies and call-signs to ease communications between the three vehicles.

[OOC: Should no one have any input, I will move things along ASAP.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:11, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Lee stops and takes her sunglasses off, cleaning them on her shirt as the other Mountie explains the road move. "No questions here. We're ready."

The heavily laden LAV together with the trailer dwarfed the Ulyanovskiy Automobilnyi Zavod (UAZ) jeep. First close encounter with this type of combat vehicle for Taras and this time it will be not only in front, but also on his side .

Reminds me of the BTR family in its 8x8 configuration. But this one sure packs a good punch with that automatic gun.

The roar of engines and the plumes of smoke came to fill the atmosphere of the shipyard. A few curious seagulls were circling above. The clouds were making their appearance. A common sight in the city of Vancouver has learnt Taras.

Hopefully will make it to the Faculty before the rain. The red haired Ukrainian was not as happy with this first encounter as he expected. The strange behaviour of the Canadian Forces members in their arrival left him puzzled. There will be time to find out more about this. A chirping bird distracted his thoughts for a moment...

Great, a motorcade, Ben thought to himself as the details of their move were yelled up to Lee. It amazed him that indentification papers were required. Weren't they supposed to be representing the Canadian government, come to bring this small enclave of knowledge back into the fold?

With a small nod to indicate he understood, Ben turned his attention to the surroundings, careful to keep the '19 pointing in a different direction to the main gun.
"How's everything travelling back there?" he called to the three passengers over the intercom. "Nothing shaken loose during the boat ride?"
He spared a quick glance down to the rear deck to confirm one of the passengers had the C-6 in hand and watching a flank. Probably MacDonald, although he wouldn't have put it past Champlain - she seemed very keen to show her masculine side as often as she could....

Champlain gave him a thumb's-up. She was behind him on the right, C7A1 in hand.

"Ready, LT!"

She tied her camouflage bandanna around her neck in case dust got kicked up.

"Ready to go!"

Chris worked the C6's bolt, making sure he was loaded.

"What are the Rules of Engagement? Weapons loaded (round chambered)?"

Were this a peacekeeping type mission, they would have their rifles unloaded (no bullets chambered save the GPMG/vehicle weapons, but not magazines removed) to give them a margin of safety when it came to escalation. However, in some sense this was a recce.

In truth, they seemed to be in some uncomfortable place in between.

"Weapons at the Action^* condition for now," the order was relayed over the intercom. "We still don't know what the true situation is around here."

^* Magazine/belt attached, weapon cocked, sights raised (for those with folding leaf sights), safety catches engaged.
From this condition, firing is a simple matter of flicking off the safety/burst selector with the thumb (or whichever digit is closest) and squeezing the trigger.

In one motion, Kelsey simply thumbed the bolt catch on her C7A1, chambered a round by stripping one off the top of the magazine with a metallic "Clack!", then switched on the safety.

"Loaded and locked!"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:20, Wed 06 Feb 2008.

There was a louder metallic "Ka-CLACK-ping!" as Chris pulled back the C6's charging handle.

"SIXTEEN IN THE CLIP AN' ONE IN THA HOLE!"

He held the GPMG's butt against his shoulder, keeping it firm with his left hand on the bottom of the stock.

Looking at McRae he joked, "any commie squirrels we meet are gonna be dead socialist nut-gathering motherfuckers!"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:23, Wed 06 Feb 2008.