The Colonel nodded. "Allright, stop the vehicles here. Jason, you take the right, I'll take left. We need to do this smooth and silent." Schaeffer did another brass check on his silenced M4, quickly put on his ghillie suit and kissed Rowan twice. One for luck, mein Schatz . And the other to remember what I'm coming back for." Then he signalled to Jason to move out.

In reply to COL Kurt L. Schaeffer (msg # 709):

Buck turned to Peter. "Sorry I didn't take your advice, chief. Like I said, I don't think what the Moorlocks want is a factor right now. And I was in the Army. What the Colonel says makes a lot of sense, when in doubt do some recon. It's nothing personal."

Peter bristled at being called 'chief' but decided to let it slide for the moment and not make an issue out of it. "No need to patronize me, Masterson. I am clearly not the leader here despite having been the lone voice driving the group on several times. We are on a tight schedule to catch up to people retreating with a hostage, and stopping to scout ahead is foolish right up until it prevents a disastrous ambush and then it was good thinking." He gave an angry shrug. "Less talking and more alert watching would be my advice."

In reply to Peter Firecrow (msg # 711):

Taking a drag of Buck laughed.

"Ha ha! Don't let your nose get out of joint, Geronimo. I'm sure you get to call the shots most of the time, and if we could we'd sit down and take a dang vote. But down here it can't always be a democracy and I just plumb like the Colonel's idea better on account of I was a soldier and all. We got to go quickly, sure, but it's not just your ass on the line but mine and my people's. Safety first."

In reply to Buck Masterson (msg # 712):

"I can give a pretty accurate idea of who's about with my sensors, but you probably want to get eyes on what is about." Trask waited for a decesion to be made so they could get moving.

Peter slowly turned to look at Buck with an cold stare. "One: Stop with the racist names." Small pause. "Please. See? I was even polite about it. You don't see me calling you Paleface or White Man or any of that shit."

His let out a sigh, letting the anger flow out as well, and shook his head. "Two: I neither need nor want to be the leader of a group. I don't have that kind of drive or ego. So long as I have a vote in direction, that's fine with me. If I don't like the direction I can always leave the group. That hasn't happened yet. Sometimes this group has trouble moving, so I have pushed, but that's all."

In reply to Peter Firecrow (msg # 714):

Buck looked taken aback. "Racist? Who said anything racist? President Geronimo was a great man and a respected statesman! I meant that as a compliment, or at least not an insult.

"Sure, we're all down here together. If you got an idea, I'll listen to it as long as you're in my vehicles. Once you're as far as I go it's your show."

Jason isn't exactly trying to be stealthy, but he isn't exactly trying to be loud either. He is being obvious and drawing attention to himself in a bid to make the Colonel's attempts easier. It's an old tactic, but an effective one. He is trusting the team to do what is needed to either get him out or put him out of misery.
This message was last updated by the GM at 18:56, Wed 30 Sept 2015.

Not really sure what to make of Peter's outbreak, Buck shook his head a little and then moved off to make sure everyone was ready to move. Jason and the Colonel moved out. At this time, the feeling was that Trask was to stay with the idling vehicles. This was good, as his jury-rigged radar set seemed to be acting up. The thermal and low-light was functioning well, fortunately.

The tunnel/offramp leading towards the new City Hall was a narrow 2-lane passage with sidewalks on either side. After about a block it widened into a parking area chamber dotted with support beams and planters holding dead shrubbery. There were no vehicles parked here and the space was open and trash-strewn. Every surface and even parts of the ceiling was covered with graffiti. A few smashed-in doors to the right led into what was probably the old Civic Center. On the left was the entrance to a shopping mall, also long-broken-in. Ahead were the sealed blast doors to Hellstromme Industries HQ's sublevels. It looked like those reinforced metal portals had been blown out from inside, likely by the exfiltrating Combine infiltrators.

Peter let out a long breath. He opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it. The names may not have been intended as racists, but Peter had taken them that way. And even if they weren't, he didn't want to be compared to President Geronimo! Peter knew his limits, and he was no great leader.

He shook his head and tried to banish the thoughts as he waited with reluctant patience for the return of the scouts or screams and gunfire as the per-arranged signals that there was trouble.

Rowan stands their quietly listening to the sounds around her. her mind runs over the events that have led her her the feel of her mans kiss and his body, bring a ghost smile to her face.
Why does he seem like two people some times, she sighs, time would answer or not as it saw fit.
mean time Oaths she had taken now she must forefill them or die trying

Jane walked over to be by Peter and gave him a quick smile and hip bump.  It was a little gesture but she knew that he'd appreciate it. It was something she did to show her support for him without being overly demonstrative in public.

With the radar playing up Trask just turned it off with a flick of his eye. He should be alright with the heart beat sensor at this point and there was no way to fix the radar down in the dark. he began to hum to himself as he waited for the all clear to move or the bloodletting to begin.

Seemed to him these morlocks had just buggered off when a superior force rode through and haven't reappeared yet. With no bodies or shell casings he thought it safe to assume no fighting had taken place.

 Jason looks around after seeing the blast doors ripped open and says "Well I guess this the way they went. Which has me a little worried. Junkyard's very own HI compound. Could be worse I guess. Buck if I'm wrong please let me know."

In reply to Jason Sinclair (msg # 722):

As the old HI Headquarters was the new City Hall, it seemed clear that the Combine had exited out through this formerly sealed portal to the Down Under.

From his position on overwatch, Schaeffer could tell there was no one waiting in ambush, but it looked from this angle that someone had set up a Claymore mine on a tripwire in the parking lot to blow up in the face of anyone coming in pursuit from the direction of the new City Hall/old HI HQ.

As Trask took the radar offline, it shorted out completely. Fixing it would take serious downtime, if it was repairable at all.

OOC: You can make Tracking rolls to determine where the Combine went. TN5, it's not very difficult.

The Colonel signalled to Jason to stay in place, the he very, very carefully marked th tripwire. He would have prefered to either disarm the mine or to blow it in place. Alas, he didn't kow squat about demolitions and he did not want to alert the Combine that they were being pursued.
Done with the Claymore, Schaeffer looked for tracks, to see where the Black Hats had moved to. Of course he took the time to radio to the others to come and to be very careful with the mine.

In reply to COL Kurt L. Schaeffer (msg # 724):

After marking the Claymore's tripwire, Schaeffer examined the area, looking for where the Combine must have gone.

It seemed the entire group had gone into the shopping mall entrance. Dust and debris was obviously disturbed, there were both boot prints and markings from the surviving Automaton and Combat Drone. There were also a couple blood trails along with the footprints.

In reply to The Marshall (msg # 725):

Using a radio on the posse's team channel, Buck asked for a SITREP. "What damn hell ya'all seein' up there? Over."

In reply to Buck Masterson (msg # 726):

Blasted bomb doors, blood, bootprints, and claymores. Come on forward. Watch the trip for the claymore. It's marked." realizing he was rather terse and left off the most important part "Other than the claymore it's all clear."
This message was last updated by the GM at 18:50, Fri 09 Oct 2015.

In reply to Jason Sinclair (msg # 727):

With the call it was all clear Trask moves forward. He spots the trap and makes his way over it as he approaches the blast doors. here he stops for a couple of seconds to inspect the damage before continuing forward. He was unsure as to what the stranded operating procedures were for this group and if they were going to scout forward as the rest followed behind or if they just move as a group. Either way he let them make the call and just followed the others.

As the other start moving forward, Vundra stays back near the truck, not si certain with his ability to walk pass a mine field. He starts looking around for .... something.

Rowan stays with him close to the truck and ready to hop back on board to carry on

Peter glanced at Jane when she walked his way. He gave her a quick, small smile at the hip bump. And then it was gone and his face was stone serious once more. He listened to the report that was given once Buck asked for it. He gave a nod. That seemed to line up with what little they knew so far, and the claymore made him glad they didn't try to directly follow the Combine force. He gave a nod to Buck at the mention of moving forward.

In reply to Peter Firecrow (msg # 731):

Jane didn't say her thoughts out loud because most of the people wouldn't understand.  She didn't like who they had to hunt but sometimes she had to admit they were effective.  She tried to learn from each encounter with them.

In reply to Jason Sinclair (msg # 727):

"One little directional mine on a tripwire? That's nothing. Oberst, cover me, if you please."

To Laurin, a Pioneer, a simple booby trap was no big deal. As a combat engineer she had disarmed, and set, far more destructive devices. She slung her G22 across her chest and moved up to where the Claymore was marked. Taking out a tool set from her demo kit and a torch she briefly examined the mine and tripwire, then deftly disarmed the trap using a pair of pliers and cutters. She then put the mine away in her demo kit.

"All safe. And look! Free Claymore. You may move up, Mr. Masterson."