Von Fischer takes a moment to think about his precious ass and then it dawns on him that there is something even more precious lying right outside in the line of fire - the satellite uplink. Scuttling along the floor of the tent, crabwise, he yells at LT. Jackson "Get the processor under cover!" He pauses for just a second, considering his options, then scuttles back a bit, pulls the .45 out of the web belt hanging from the back of a chair (OOC: I assume that we're required to carry a sidearm at all times. I also assume that I haven't spent all these hours in front of a keyboard letting the thing drill a hole in my thigh) then scuttles back towards the door.

"Kill the lights," he says (hoping Wizzo has, by now, gotten the processor to safety). Once the light or lights are doused he will dash out the door, trying to snag the portable uplink.

Wiz does as told and does his best to hide the processor and any other components that went with the satallite. He makes sure that he saves the program he was working on before finding a safe place in the building. He slips it there, the reaches up from the floor to his desk. He holsters his own gun and looks to Fischer. "We have a few of the grenades finished...care to see if they work?"

"Uplink first, then grenades," the Major says. He rises into a crouch just inside the doorway, and (assuming the lights are now out) says "Cover me," [like that can really be done in any useful way at the moment - NOT! EM], takes a deep breath, and dashes out the door towards the uplink antenna.

Wiz sighs a moment then shakes his head. "GO!" he yells and follows the Maj to save their satallite, then their own asses, then the camp's.

SSG SHERMAN and SEAN CUNNINGHAM (starting at P3) The two large men who had nearly come to blows earlier that evening, are the first to react.

Sean grabbed his pistol and rifle, chambered a round in each, and bellycrawled out of their tent, and had a look. Some gunfire prompted him to find cover in a foxhole. There was so much confusion -- gunfire, explosions, dogs and other animals making a racket...

Sherman made a fashion statement, coordinating his woodland camo kevlar vest and helmet with a nice pair of warm longjohns. A pump action shotgun completed his ensemble. He ditched out of the tent, and rolled into a nearby foxhole. Sean was there. There was an explosion nearby mortar round (maybe?) Damn! That was close...

Even though all the camp's lights were out, Sherman and Sean could both see. There was light, courtesy of a parachute flare which was slowly descending from the night sky above the camp...

Both men thought the MG fire was coming from the south of the Camp. There's also some shooting to the NW. Yes, outside the camp walls... (ending in foxhole near P3)

DOC NOVAK (starting at the HOSPITAL (the unmarked space just EAST of P6)) Had been working late, and reacted quickly by grabbing his medkit, his sidearm, and then running outside. He stopped to quiz the first person passing by as to what was going on. The man replied, "DOC! All Hell's breakin' loose -- can't you see we're under attack!!!." That said, a burst of MG fire ripped up the street where the two men were standing. The man pushed DOC down to the ground, and narrowly missed being hit himself in the torrent of bullets that whacked into the ground right where the two had just been talking. Confused soldiers begin pouring out of the barracks (P6), the tent directly to the west of the Hospital. People were running every which way, yelling, screaming, and firing at supposed targets. (ending outside the HOSPITAL, prone on street)

BROOKE WHITTAKER (starting at the WELL (W)) Brooke tried to focus, and remain calm, despite the lack of calm around her. She chambered a round, and left the rifle's safety off, so that she could react in an instant, should she need to. She sprinted south from the well, nearly plowing into DOC and some other guys chatting in the street. More MG fire ripped up the dirt, and Brooke tucked and rolled into a foxhole. (ending in foxhole near HOSPITAL) Brooke can see where the MG fire is coming from. Not the actual weapon or operator, but...

MAJOR FISCHER and WIZ(starting in WIZ's SHOP (P2)) After meeting the floor in a hurry, the good Major yells at LT. Jackson "Get the processor under cover!", pauses, and grabs his .45 out of the holster slung over the back of his chair. Again he vents on Wiz. "Kill the lights!..." Finally, he heads for the satellite uplink, and out the door.

Before Wiz can do anything about the lights, they go out anyway. His fingers somehow manage to tap out the proper sequence to save what he was working on, and then he tucks the laptop PC under himself. He reaches his own sidearm, and thinks of the newly-produced grenades, sitting on a bench in the munitions area. He asks the Major about them. A blast from a nearby explosion convinces him it would be insane to run to the munitions area, which was several hundred meters away (far enough that an accident wouldn't wipe out civilians or the camp).

The Major grabs the uplink, which is just outside. [GM - you ran cables from the PC out to the uplink. The tent would obscure the antenna from working. BTW the uplink is the size of a tackle box(12" x 6" x 6", or so), and the dish antenna folds. Think of the gizmo from "Under Seige" that Steven Sea-gull called JCS with]

A couple of explosions impacted REALLY close! Both men flattened, and were dazed by the blast. Looking around, Major Fischer sees two head poke up from a foxhole nearby. The Major's .45 goes up, but then he recognizes Sean and Sherman. He again shouts to Wiz, "Now! LT. Over here! Take cover!" MG fire slices up the street right in front of the foxhole. Von Fischer rolls into the foxhole, and is entangled with Sean and Sherman for a long moment. They both wordlessly look at him like they've done that before. Wiz comes running in a low crouch and vaults into the foxhole, PC under his arm like a football. He lands badly, (that old Gymnastics injury?...), but gently places the PC in relative safety. (ending in foxhole near P3)

The Camp is still illuminated by the parachute flare. The garrison is firing back at the attackers, although no enemies can be seen at this time. There is a familiar BOOM! from further up the hill -- Berger must have brought his cannon into action. Who knows what he is firing at...

More animals succumb to panic. The horses down in the barn must be kicking the place to matchsticks. Dogs are howling, chickens clucking away. Finally, Guiness joins the already-crowded foxhole containing Sean, Sherman, Major Fischer, and Wiz.

Doc frowned a moment. It was as he thought.

"Listen, there were some strangers who came in here about twenty minutes ago. I'll lay odds that they're behind this. If you can know where they parked their vehicles, that's probably where the machine gun fire is coming from."

Doc thought for a moment. He had seen three vehicles, not even close to enough firepower to take on the entire camp. That left three scenarios, the intruders were trying to escape and were using the machine gun to cover their escape. If that was so the MG would be a moving point of fire, and Doc didn't see any indications of this. The group is acting as a distraction for a larger force which could attack the camp... If so, there was little Doc could do about that, and he had to hope the sentries had enough discipline to maintain their posts. Third, the group is here to take out a specific target, either a person or a thing, and they were hoping to rabbit under the cover of darkness, probably using the M113 as a distraction, and the hummers as escape vehicles, or perhaps the other way around. If this scenario were true, then the possible targets would have to be something that could be easily hit or sabotaged and would have a significant tactical importance. Doc thought about this, possible targets would be himself (as the only trained MD in camp), or a more likely target, the medical supplies, the communications station, Colonel Stryfe, the cannon, the camp M113, the computer room, the still, the small munitions factory, or the generator.

Doc immediately struck himself off of the list. Whoever they were, they wouldn't risk hitting a target that may or may not be there. The only irreplaceable person who could be hit would be Colonel Stryfe who the enemy probably knew the exact location of would be Colonel Stryfe. In which case, the enemy probably were in the process of completing that mission or had already completed that mission. Doc couldn't do anything to protect the other potential targets, but he might be able to save Colonel Stryfe if this were an assassination attempt.

Doc shouted out over the din, "Stop firing until you're sure of a target. Right now we're looking at a small group who is in less danger from wildfiring than us. I think the machine gun is probably on an APC, a M113, in which case you'll probably need grenades or something to take it out. Turning to the soldiers, "Half you fan out and try to find that Machine gun, the other half try to reinforce our defenses over around the machine shop, the armory and the computer shed. I want you, you and you," Doc points to three new volunteers, "to come with me to check on the HQ tent. I got a feeling that Colonel Stryfe may be in danger. Come on."

[Brooke Whittaker] Brooke looked backward for a brief moment, just to make sure that the Doc and the other guys she passed made it to cover as the bullets seem to get closer and closer. She quickly turned back around to try to reaquire the relative position of the MG.

{Gotta at least try to hit him.} Brooke thought. {No use saving the bullets so that they can take them off of me when I'm dead.}

Brooke raised the rifle, hastily aimed slightly above the muzzle flash, and fired a single shot. Without waiting to see the results, she dropped back into the foxhole. Brooke ejected the casing and chambered another round. She slowly looked out again, this time taking better aim (provided that she wasn't being fired upon) and fired once again.

[Sherman] Sherman winces as Wiz lands, that gotta hurt he thinks. Weather or not it needs to be said Sherman looks to the Major. "Major, we got an MG somewhere in front of us (well to our south) not sure where though." Sherman will then cautiously peer over the lip of the foxhole looking for signs of the enemy or their muzzle flashes.

Remember the RISC compound p1 p2 p3 & p4 is enclosed within a chain link fence. The gate is between p2 and p3, more or less due east of G1

G1 (GROUP 1) is the foxhole between of Sean and Sherman's, and Wiz and Fischer's tents. The lowercase g represents Guiness, a 150+ lb Rottweiler belonging to Sean. Don't look now, guys, but the gunfire is scaring the S--- out of the dog. And darn, you-all are real cosy in the foxhole...

W is Brooke Whittaker, firing from her foxhole. Leave it to a woman to take action before all you testosterone-drippers... kudos, MS Whittaker!

N is Doc Novak, leading 3 troopers to the HQ tent to visit COL Stryfe for latenight cookies and milk.

I believe Edmund is out of town. I will NPC MAJ Fischer until he returns. And I'll be gentle on him.

So we pick up the action at H + 00:01:30 (1 minute, 30 seconds after the attack began. You all did several actions to eat up the intervening time. Good Luck, Don't die, but if you have to die, die well. And all that Rot...)

H + 00:01:30 / 05 MAY 03 various locations, 3/103rd Camp

G1: Sherman looks over the edge of the foxhole, searching for the MG that has been ripping up the compound. The foxhole doesn't give a great view of anything at all to the south, where he and others had localized the firing(at least with their ears...) Once he sees that he and the others are ok, he is anxious to act. Anxious to make those responsible pay...

Sean does his best to calm Guiness down, and peers over the top of the foxhole. Some bullets kick dirt up in his face, but he determines they are stray rounds. Since he can't see thru the recently-shredded tent directly south of the foxhole, then the MG team probably can't see thru it either. Unless they are just sprayin' and prayin'... or hoping to eliminate the tent as an obstacle to sight. So far they're doing a Hellofa job in either case.

Wiz curses his bad luck in falling. What he considers clumsy, in himself, most people would be satisfied to have, and call agility in themselves. Old injury. Kept him out of the Olympics. But despite it, he was alive and in cover, and the PC and uplink seemed ok. If only he and the Major had finished their late night project. Maybe they could get pictures of their attackers. Well, they'd still have to find some satellite codes, and more or less hack into to some Pentagon Retasking Program, and pull some bird out of orbit, over to a normally-boring section of PA, and then... well, shit there just wasn't time for all of that. But the thank the Gods the techno-goodies were safe -- for the moment.

Major von Fischer could've swore he saw Wiz buy it as the young techie dove into the foxhole. Thank God, at least some of the RISC Team were here and ok. No sign of Doc or Brooke yet. Just hope they're using their heads. After determining everyone is OK, the Major takes action.

[Fischer] "Sherman, Cunningham... see if you can get that MG. Keep your heads down. And good luck."

It had been a long time since the Major had to give that kind of difficult, yet necessary order. And usually he gave the order over a phone, while he sat in some air-conditioned trailer. Not like here -- face to face with those who might die carrying out those orders.

"LT Jackson, you stay here with me, and guard our "toys" with your life. Understood?"

Then the Major tried to get a handle on where that damned gunfire was coming from. The foxhole was safe, but it didn't offer a very good view of anything out past the wire...

[Major] Sherman, Cunningham -- Go get that blasted gun before it chews us all up.

[Sean] "Ok Sherman..you take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be in Scotland before ye!" With that Sean checked to make sure his .45 was securely stuffed into his waist band at the small of his back and began to belly crawl out of the fox hole, trying to flank to the left of the MG. As an after thought Sean looked back over his shoulder to his friend, "Guiness, stay there until I call for ya!"

[OOC] Shawn is making a wide flanking arc to the left flank of the MG. Goal is to find some suitable cover about 25-30 yrds to the left of the MG. I am going to make three assumptions for the sake of speed...if incorrect we can fix later. 1) I make it to cover 2) I can get into a decent, stable, rested firing position w/ my rifle behind said cover. 3) If no other lighting at all...at the very least the muzzle flash from the MG would be sufficient to be able to see the outlne of the gun and shooter.

He wanted to flank the MG, but was not able to get into a position to the left of the MG. It was more or less southwest of the MG, but it was under cover, and it was about 30 meters away from the MG. Sean felt no one had seen him move.

It was easy to see the gun and the two men using it. A paraflare was slowly descending from the sky, illuminating the camp. The gun and crew were just on the edge of the light. Sean used a crate for a rest, took steady aim for the MG itself, and fired. And missed. He fired a second time and hit! The MG fell silent.

[GM] Good idea, and good shooting. Mark off the two rnds. That should give you 8 rnds for the 30-30.

Grrr!

====================

Doc and his 3 "volunteers" made their way from the street outside the hospital, toward the command tent, in hopes of securing or helping COL Stryfe, whom he thought was in certain danger. It all seemed reasonable, Hit the Command Tent, then the Commo Tent, then scatter a few mortar rounds inside the wire, and hose the place with MG fire. That's how you took down a camp. But the first step was the COL. Hopefully Doc and his volunteers could make it in time.

The MG fire seemed to come from the south. So skirting the RISC compound to the south wasn't do-able. There was also some fire from the north, or was it northeast... So Doc went straight thru the middle of camp, using the various tents and structures for cover. It was the only reasonable thing to do.

Scattered MG fire whipped thru the ramshackle tents and buildings. The team made it around the RISC compound, and took cover under the Computer Center for a few seconds. As they rose, an explosion ripped the night air, just south of them, probably the other side of the Armory. The whole group flattened, and where violently rocked by the concussion. Looking over his volunteers, Doc saw the #2 man lie very still on the ground. Doc's quick check showed the man to be dead, a fragment had ripped right through his spinal cord.

Doc urged the volunteers up and over the sandbag wall that ringed the Main Compound, the place that was once the parking lot when the Original 3/103rd Armory building was still standing. Another mortar round impacted somewhere between the QM tent and the old Medical Triage area. A pair of soldiers appeared from the Mess Tent, shouting "Halt! Who goes there?" To everyone's horror, one of them opened up with his M16 almost as soon as the challenge was voiced...

Doc hastily identified the group, and himself, and ordered the men to hold their fire. From somewhere the words "Oh Shit" were heard...

One of the 2 remaining volunteers had been hit and went down. A pair of bullet wounds to the left arm. Serious, but not necessarily life threatening. Thank God that was all. Doc had the last of his volunteers help him treat the wounded man.

There seemed to be very little return fire from this area of the Camp toward the attackers....

================== Brooke tried to focus on where the muzzle flash from the MG was coming from. She carefully aimed, fired, ducked down in the foxhole, and chambered a new round. Apparently, she had missed. The MG still chattered away somewhere to the south.

Again she rose, searched, aimed and fired. This time the gun fell silent. Once more she ducked down in the cover, cocked the rifle, and listened. Soon the MG came to life, spraying the nearby tents, but missing her general area. She waited for the burst to end. When it did, she waited a few seconds, and looked to that general area where the gun had been. There was nothing. The the MG sprung to life, apparently firing further up the hill, maybe at the Mess tent or the Armory. She carefully aimed, and fired. The MG fell silent once again...

[GM] Brooke expended 3 rounds of .30-06 ammo. Good shooting! She topped off the magazine, and there are now 17 rnds in the bandolier.

[Brooke Whittaker] Brooke dropped back into the foxhole. The machine gun was silent now, but it also stopped briefly before the firing started again. She wasn't sure how close she was coming to hitting whoever was firing the damn thing, but it felt good having a chance to shoot back. Brooke took a quick inventory of the number of rounds she had remaining. It wasn't very much. If the siege lasted a long time, she would run out of ammo in a hurry.

Brooke risks taking a quick look around the other areas of the camp, trying to determine what was hit, but more importantly, trying to find someone in charge or maybe someone who knew what to do in these situations.

================ The parachute flare finally went out. All was dark again.

Apparently, Berger had in fact, gotten his cannon into action. The sound of the cannon became easy to distinquish from the mortar rounds that were falling into the Camp. Berger's cannon was apparently engaging something to the north....

The mortar rounds which had begun the attack were becoming less frequent. It seemed that the attack now was mostly small arms and MG fire, still from the south and northwest.

Someone aboard one of the Camp's M113's was blazing away at something to the north, outside the Dead Line.

Despite the fine efforts of individuals in the camp, people were running around in confusion, the noise was horrific, as well as the smells. Animals, for lack of a better word, screaming... Smoke, and darkness, and panic enveloped the camp. As well as death and dying...

Glaring at the two sentries as he treats his wounded volunteer, Doc will yell out, "Have either of you two seen the Colonel since all hell broke loose. I wanted to make sure that he was OK before I set up triage."

Both men replied in the negative. "No, haven't seen COL Stryfe." "Nope, me either, sir." Both men were visibly shaken by recent events.

If the answer is no, Doc will still take his wounded volunteer back to the hospital but will dispatch his other volunteer to look for the Colonel, but carefully (we've already seen that the half trained militia were currently a bit trigger happy).

Doc sighs as he looks at the carnage. Looks like it was going to be a long night.

The able-bodied man, headed off toward the HQ tent in a low crouch. Doc helped the injured man back to the hospital. The wounded guy, just a kid of 17 or 18, held it together pretty well, but Doc could see he was in pain. The journey back to the hospital took abit longer than it had from the hospital to the main compound. Doc had to assist the wounded kid.

The explosions had stopped, but the firing continued. There was an MG blazing away at the south of camp, and it was silenced twice, only to be re-manned. Berger's cannon belched forth a storm of grapeshot against the wire, somewhere 200 meters or so to the south of Doc. Just as Doc reached the Hospital, a paraflare burst in the sky, illuminating the night. The Camp looked a shambles. Injured people everywhere. Dead animals strewn throughout the farm area to the south. Yet those inside the Camp fought on...

[GM] Sean and Sherman vault out of their foxhole, and set off to get the MG. Sherman goes one way, Sean the other.

Sherman goes to ground behind some farm machinery, and notices 3 men about 50 meters away, heading toward the HQ tent. He looks again when the next paraflare goes up, and sees that they are not familiar... He issues the challenge, and they respond with gunfire. Sherman ducks back down, then pops up firing. He fires 3 rounds from the shotgun, taking 2 of the men down. The third sprints off in the direction of the HQ tent. Sean is about 30 meters west of Sherman. Looking around, he sees Brooke's head pop up a few times.

Sean went off in a wide flanking maneuver. He tried to keep out of sight, as he was a mere 40-50 meters from the MG. He peered over the top of a crate, and spotted the MG. It seemed that one person after another would man the gun when someone was taken out of action. He aimed for the gun itself, fired twice, and hit with the second shot. The gun fell silent.

Brooke realized her ammo would run out soon. She felt satisfied with at least doing *something* -- she had taken out some of the MG crew. She then looked around, and saw other enemy soldiers man the gun. About that time, there were a few shots just west of her. She looked up to see Sean fire at the MG, hitting it and putting it out of action. Sean was only 15 meters from Brooke. It was quite scary that someone could get that close without her knowing it.

It would appear that you 3 are all the camp has going for it in this area. Sherman, I guess that puts you in charge.

[Sean] I am going to aknowlege Brook (make sure she knows I'm a 'good' guy) I am going to take a look around for any other Targets of opportunity.

[Sherman] Will take a momentary respite behind the farm machinery to sum up the situation. He will look up to survey the area in front of him, gripping his shotgun with whiten knuckles. Looks like Cunningham and.... seeing the read hair popping up, that has to be Whittaker, have both silenced that machine gun.

====================

[GM] Doc had seen trigger-happy militia wound one of their own, so he helped the man back toward the hospital. But he was also concerned about the Colonel, and sent another man to check on him.

On the way, he passed MAJ Fischer and Wiz, who had pulled themselves out of a foxhole. They carefully handled some gear. Looks like a laptop PC and some thing with a little dish antenna. Guess that's the uplink thingie theyve been working on. Protecting these items was a priority for the Major. Wiz set down his load for a few seconds, and took aim at the flashes that could be seen just outside the wire with his sidearm. He was frustrated and wanted to do *something*. MAJ von Fischer thought better of drawing more fire, and ordered him to stand down. They proceeded to the hospital, looking for something heavier than a pistol (I think everyone in this group is armed solely with sidearms), should it be needed. They came up with:

An M16A2 with 4- 30 rnd mags.

the wounded man's M1 Garand rifle(.30-06), and 4- 8 round en bloc clips.

a .30-06 hunting rifle(5 rnd internal mag) and a total of 12 rounds.

The group of RISC people, plus the injured man, made it back to the hospital without further incident. This seemed to be the safest spot in camp at the moment. At least the walls were sandbagged. Sampson Saunders was here, treating 4-5 people for gunshot wounds, burns, and the like. He was just a medic, but he seemed to be doing a good job. The hardest thing was doing 5 things at once. He smiled ironically when Doc entered. Doc went for the most serious case, a sucking wound to the chest. It was nasty to say the least. Doc tried everything, but it looked like he was loosing this man little by little. A few seconds later, Dirty John dragged another person into the hospital.

The explosions for the most part had stopped, but there was still MG and small arms fire. Soon the MG fire stopped. The paraflares kept going up, and the small arms fire still crackled in the night.

Wiz] Assuming we have the equipment still in one piece, Wiz heads toward the farther resesses of the Hospital. There he stores it and covers it and makes it as safe as possible. He returns to the Maj. "Sir," he says taking M16 in hand, "With your permission, I'd like to see what I can do about taking care of these SOBs." Wiz stands at attention, hoping he can actually do something now instead of hiding.

Doc looks at Wiz and the Maj Fischer as he helps the wounded man on to a bed. "Does anyone have any idea what's going on. I think a group came in tonight to discuss some form of diplomacy with the Colonel, but sprung a sneak attack instead. I can't figure what they were trying to attack. The obvious targets would be industrial, informational, or military, but there didn't seem to be any sort of coordinated effort at any target. I sent a search party to find the Colonel since he might know what we're up against, but otherwise this attack makes no sense."