Just Another Day of War

[alertcommando]

The door takes them to the main area of a ruined church: pews and benches are missing, the altar is empty and dusty, ruined by time and weather. Outside a broken window nearby the sun is setting, a gorgeous orange ball at which they can look directly. That night, the wind would blow in to add another layer of dust to what had been burying the small dead city for the last three years.

The whitish dust lay over everything, covering the streets and the open spaces, starting the work of hiding the small houses that had been crushed and made into rubble by soviet artillery and their massive tanks.

It is quiet. Like a cemetery. "And here we are."

Comments

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Ryan listens politely as well and even has a go at the rations because he knows it isn't the best of ideas to wander off alone.

But the rations leave a lot to be desired for.

"North woods, you said? Any passwords I should know before heading out?"

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods, and thanks the young man for his advice. She's wondering if she might be able to kill the engine in a single shot, but finding that out can wait until tomorrow.

If anyone seems amenable, Annabelle may end up telling slightly modified stories of her adventures until it's time to catch some sleep.

Annabelle's a light sleeper, especially when she's in a situation like this.

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

Petra stays just long enough to watch the demonstration, thank the young man and then hook up with her group.

Once again she faces strange looks and sighs inwardly. She asks them to enumerate their talents, encouraging the other group members to pitch in if one is overstating or understating their abilities. She then gives them their positions and explains their role in the fighting from a commanders position.

[alertcommando]

Tanya gives Ryan the pass-codes he needs to leave and return safely. The War seems to have gone well for wildlife, since deer are rather plentiful, making the quest for fresh meat an easy endeavor.

Annabelle will discover the bedrolls are very comfortable, considering how it is a temporary camp.

Petra finds out that past the initial shock, her unit listens closely, recognizing a skilled and confident commander. She has available a mix of close combat and long range, competent but rather basic guerrilla fighters who know to follow orders and able to keep their cool under fire.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

We could be dramatic and say Ryan disappears into the night, but, really, he just walks north away from the camp and into the dark.

Which is how he ends up being the first one with blood on his uniform. At least the material's black so the stains don't show. He comes loping up out of the dark a few hours later, a misshapen silhouette. Once he's called out the pass-codes to the guards, they realize this is because he is carrying the majority of a deer over his shoulders, cleaned, with one leg missing.

What, you didn't think he could eat a whole one by himself, did you?

"Leftovers for whoever wants them," he says quietly so as not to wake the rest of the camp. That might be a speck of blood at the corner of his mouth, but it's hard to tell in this light. "I'm headed for my cot," he informs them as he sets the carcass down.

There's nothing like a good night's sleep after a big meal.

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

Petra happens to not see Ryan come in because she is finishing up with her group. They understood their orders and strategy, and had spent an hour-or-so getting-to-know one another. With what could only be called a cheerful farewell Petra waves the squad off to sleep, and makes her way to the edge of camp- a place where the light hit her back, but then began to fade.

She finds a dry spot and sits herself down, staring into the blackness to wait for the next day.

[aeons_crackshot]

The bedroll is comfortable, but Annabelle never sleeps well in potentially hostile territory. She's up and awake well before she needs to be.

[alertcommando]

One hour before sunrise, they can take off. The road is not far, and the group has a half hour to set explosives, take up sniper positions, hide for the ambush...

And then, 'long' 15 minutes of wait until the convoy is seen approaching.

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

A perfect calm settles over Petra as she and her squad fade into the brush on one of the small escape holes marked on Tanya's map. She watches the road, the smallest smile on her face.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Without the scope, Ryan can barely make out any details at all along the road. With it, everything is crystal clear.

He can feel the cold ground underneath him starting to warm from his own metabolism as he waits for the convoy to appear. And even then, he has to wait till they reach a certain point before he starts shooting. He also has to make sure the sunlight doesn't shine off his lens and give his position away. Not his first time doing this, no.

Doesn't mean he can't start taking aim now.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle and her spotter are in position. The scope on the rifle gives her a far greater visual range than she's used to, so she waits with predatory eagerness until her targets reach the right position. When they do, she'll finally find out if she can take out their engines in a single shot.

[alertcommando]

The convoy approaches, at a regular speed of 45 miles per hour or close to it: The guards seem alert, holding to their weapons in a relaxed but not lax stance. Everything seems to be going well...

Until the moment the road flies to pieces ahead and behind, and the hummers, armored cars and trucks have to slam on brakes, barely avoiding collisions. That signals the second stage of the attack, the groups armed with RPG's firing the explosive warheads at the APC's tracks to disable them.

Caught by surprise by the violence of the attack, the soviet guards react slowly, too late to prevent stage three: the four assault groups strike with concentrated, close-range gunfire... under the cover of the snipers.

Prime targets are hummer engines and hummer gunners who will try to turn the light machinegun of the vehicle against the assault groups. The assault groups under the command of Tanya, Petra and the two other german commandos have to tangle with the guards on the trucks and the soldiers leaving the APC's.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle smiles as the explosions go off and stage three begins. The first bullet will be headed towards the center of a Hummer's engine. With a Daredevil's luck, that may be enough to kill it. The next shot, as fast as Annabelle can manage it, will either go towards killing the engine or the unfortunate soul who is manning the gun on top of the Hummer.

It's going to be a very bad day for anyone wearing a Soviet uniform.

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

Petra waits for the most opportune moment, then signals her troops. They stay quiet until they reach the convoy then pause at the edge of the fight. Calmly and coolly they fire upon the soldiers as they leave the APCs, only a few managing to get out from the targeted vehicle un-dead.

Petra signals her troops to spread out more, and advance to take advantage of cover a few abandoned tanks nearby offer.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Ryan aims for a Hummer engine of his own to destroy. He doesn't rush, merely takes the wind into account and fires twice to be certain the car is dead.

Then he's moving on to the people scurrying about, taking out whoever looks most dangerous first.

He's finding his time at the RED base is proving useful.

[alertcommando]

It is a bad, bad day to be a Red Soldier.

The environment is target-rich; the only coordinated opposition comes from the armored vehicles and the surviving soldiers from the hummers, and even those can not resist long while under crossfire.

The technicians and drivers, non-commissioned personnel, display an astounding level of strategic awareness and tactical guile, jumping face down to the ground and putting hands behind their heads: survival instincts at its best.

It is over in less than a minute, all the soldiers who tried to fight are dead, perhaps a dozen surrendered and were not shot.

A quick and clean job, Charlie did not come dance the foxtrot, Murphy was not invited to the party and the plan survived enemy contact unscathed.

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

Pet's group spreads out tying up those who surrendered, making sure the dead are dead, and doing general post-battle mop up. She herself helps, but makes sure to drift by all of her soldiers with a quiet word. Other then that, she says very little.

No reason to make the enemy think she is anything different from what she claims, yes? And that Armenian accent still does not come naturally.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle grins and says a word or two of thanks to her spotter when the shooting is over. It will take a bit of time to move from her sniping position to where the ground troops are at work.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

"Let's go and have a look, shall we?" Ryan says to his own spotter, quickly leading the way towards the convoy. He wouldn't be surprised if one of the troops got off a distress signal. It'd be wise to finish this quickly.

[alertcommando]

Tanya and the other commandos are already in action. With Petra and her squad doing clean-up, the others are opening the trucks, checking the materiel and supplies, sorting what they will take and what they will blow up. "Feel free to pick anything you want, whatever you do not take we will blow up to nothing."

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

Petra's knife is wet with blood as she finishes a sweep of the camp. Off of a body she tears a piece of cloth and begins to clean it as she and her squad regroup. They report on their individual sweeps and Pet nods motioning them to help set up the explosives. For herself, she watches first, then goes to set some up herself.

[aeons_crackshot]

When Annabelle reaches the piles of supplies, she is most interested in rifles, ammunition, and hand grenades. However, that doesn't mean that she won't pick up anything else that's unwanted and looks interesting.

[alertcommando]

There are plentyof anything one could find at a military surplus store, and then some: guns and ammo, radios, uniforms and gear, armored vests, filter masks... the trucks carry way more of everything than the resistance can haul away.

The combatants gather large packs that will sustain the covert war effort for weeks in the area, but barely scratch the bulk of supplies: plenty of everyhting for everybody.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

The real trick, then, is carrying back everything he'd like to keep. Ryan scrounges around for a duffel bag to stuff a couple of rifles, plenty of ammo, an armoured vest or two, quite a few filter masks (silly sensitive nose), and finally more ammo because that's what he has the hardest time keeping himself supplied with.

Once Ryan feels he has all he wants, he slings the bag over his shoulder. He's tempted to grab a box of explosives as well, but he's not sure he's comfortable with being that laden down.

[petraarkanian.livejournal.com]

Petra keeps her choices simple. A nice set of pistols to replace that which she lost, quite a bit of ammo, slips a knife into her boot, and then recovers some medical supplies. After a moment of thought she rescues some powerful explosives. She might have a buyer for it. Like Ryan, she finds a bag to put her treasures in.

Her squad finishes rigging the explosives then gathers back with Petra on the edge of the camp.