06 MAY 2003 / 1335 HOURS Halfway Dam Recreation Area Command Center

A patrol had been sent out, heading east, to set up an observation post along RT 45. They took one of the radios, and made their way on foot. The patrol was comprised of 3 men, and would be in position in roughly one hour. They were cautioned to engage only as a last resort, but to report everything they saw or heard.

Sherman had the "little talk" with Hannah. She was at first very put off by the fact that Sherman would ask her to mislead Danvers. However, the next time he checked in on the two, Hannah was playing "good nurse" to Danvers, while SPC Tina Yates easily fell into the role of "bad nurse". Apparently, Hannah had misunderstood Sherman, she took him to mean she should "sexploit" Danvers or something another. This misunderstanding was unusual, given the fact that the two had known each other, and worked well with each other, and virtually owed each other their lives for such a long time, years in fact.

Or maybe it was something else...

Between what he already had, and what he found at the Ranger Station, Robbo was satisfied that he had nearly everything needed to construct the directional antenna. But nearly everything was not *everything*, so he consulted the available maps, searching for possible scrounge sites. His best guesses for what he needed were the State Police Barracks in either Milton, or Selinsgrove, or the Susquehanna Valley Airport, also in Selinsgrove. He remembered Sean Cunningham had said something about Selinsgrove -- apparently he had been holed up there, when CPT Tyler and his heli borne troops pulled him out during some marauder raid or another. Too bad Sean wasn't here to ask. Wonder how the poor bugger is doing, and if he had to shoot Berger? The map also listed a place called Selinsgrove Center, a regional FEMA Headquarters. Interesting...

[ooc] FEMA = Federal Emergency Managament Agency. Civil Defence, Red Cross, and Federal Police / Disaster Relief all rolled into one.

[IC] By 1600 hours MAY 6, the Patrol had been in position about 2 hours, and had seen or heard nothing along RT 45. Maintaining radio silence until something interesting is spotted.

4 people wandered into Camp during the last 8 hours or so. They all are volunteering, all have basic equipment, but are being held up, sans weapons/equipment, "for processing".

[GM] Any specifics as to how they will be handled?.

By the same time, Danvers is an exhausted wreck. Too keyed up to sleep, too tired to be coherent. Very concerned for his personal safety...

Still no word from Sean and Berger.

06 MAY 2003 / 1600 HOURS Halfway Dam Recreation Area Command Center

[Sherman] After explaining to Hannah what she could do to help with the interrogation of Danvers. Sherman thought Hannah would be ideal. Not to many people saw the diminutive girl as a threat and so were at ease when she was around. Sherman had seen Hannah use this strategy a number of times, even old Jack Martigen, Sherman's good friend and commander. Even Jack, a veteran cop, fell for Hannah's quite and persistent ways. Hannah just seemed to work her way into the unit.

Sherman thought about his talk with Hannah. She had agreed but Sherman had a feeling that she was reluctant about it. Maybe he should catch up with her this evening, they both had not really spoken to each other in a while. Things had just been so busy. Yeah that would be a good idea.

So far the advanced patrol had not reported anything. Which was good but worrying. Something was going to happen and maybe Danvers would provide our only clues. Sherman figured he would go back and check on Danvers in a couple of hours and maybe offer him a deal, the man should be ready to say something by then.

Some new arrivals had shown up all wanting to join. After last nights encounter in the wire, Sherman was becoming very suspicious. Stryfe was an ex-Green Beret these guys were right into infiltration and subterfuge. It is pretty hard to tell the good and bad guys apart we all look the same. Sherman decided he would spend some time with the new arrivals. Find out a bit about them what skills they may possess. Sherman thought back to when he joined up with Stryfe, well actually when he was captured and interrogated by Strfye and his first officer LT CDR Everett. Sherman still had not forgotten what LT CDR Everett had said about Hannah...... Yeah sure Sherman had interrogated people but Everett seemed to really get a kick out of it.

In his interviews with the volunteers, Sherman will try and gauge each person. Anything that might give them away as being more than what they say. The way they present themselves, the way they sit, walk, talk etc. Even the way they dress. What kind of weapons do they carry are they well maintained, do they have more than one. If any of them are infiltrators then no doubt they will be carrying nothing incriminating on themselves. Maybe they have a radio or signaling device somewhere outside the camp. Sherman will make sure that any new arrivals remain under supervision. What about things like physical health, the way the hair has been cut, any "De Oppresso Liber" tattoos? Sherman could even try a few old tricks like spilling coffee on them to judge reactions times.

Once the interviews are over Sherman will go and see how things are progressing with Danvers. On his way he will take some time to drop in on Bains and the others who were in the OP. And tell them that the LT was very pleased on a job well done.

Robbo heads off to see the boss, and tries to organize a small scrounging party to head down to Selinsgrove, to try and locate to last few items for his DF antenna.

[GM] 7 MAY, 2003 / 1159 hours Command Center (formerly Nature Center Building) Halfway Dam -- 3/103rd Camp

Robbo had spent part of the late evening going over some more particulars of radio direction finding with Mike Wu. It wasn't that the Oriental man was stupid -- much the opposite in fact. It was more a matter of him being accustomed to using off-the-shelf technology, rather than coming up with a low-tech substitute when nothing else was available. Mike had finally given up and laid down on the cot in the radio room, hoping to catch a few hours sleep. They had most of what they needed, and now basically had to put the pieces together and calibrate the sets. While Mike slept, Robbo was kind enough to give up a few hours of his own dreams to sit in Wu's place, bleary-eyed, in front of the bank of radios. He nodded sarcastically to himself, and considered making a sign to hang on the door which would read "Crazy Robbo's Radio Flea Market", but thought better of it. Humor was important, but someone might take offense, and, well, morale seemed pretty low, what with the new prisoner's increasing jumpiness. If that, and the earlier, terse message about "Grimace" didn't spell an impending attack on the Camp, nothing did. Hence, Robbo sat, monitoring the military radios, the civilian scanner and CBs, and the most recent addition, the ham radio Sean had used from Selinsgrove.

[ooc - I made a mistake earlier -- Sean's Ham radio HAD been brought along and HAD been fixed. It is very low tech and bulky - think 1930's-40's tech, which would fill a 6' high rack.]

Robbo thought about the big Irishman, and about Berger, and fought off the sleep that seemed like anchors attached to his eyelids. Soon the silence was interrupted by a few brief words, coming over one of the military sets...

"...Snakepit, this is Boomer. Over..."

[Robbo] Robbo stirred, and then bolted awake. It was precisely midnite. And "Boomer" was SGT Jack Berger...

The signal was pumped, 5x5, and was coming over the agreed-upone frequency at the agreed upon time. Robbo kicked Wu awake at his cot, and replied. "...Boomer, this is Snakepit. Go..."

[Berger?] "....42, Green, Green, Green, Yellow. I say again -- 42, Green, Green, Green, Yellow. More to follow... Over..."

[Robbo] "...Message received..."

From the brief interchange, Robbo was convinced that it was in fact Berger, and that he was not operating "under the gun", so to speak. The number "42" in the message confirmed that. "After all," Berger said, "Douglas Adams said 42 was the answer to all the questions in the Universe. That'll be the 'I'm A-OK' code..."

The other parts of the message (green green green) indicated, respectively, that he had reached HQ at Scranton, that the situation there was good, and that he would be returning ASAP. The final part of the message was less encouraging. Robbo took it to mean something had happened to Sean, but he was still alive. It would have been "Red" if he had been killed, so it was probably a wound or something similar. No way of being certain at this point, so no sense in obsessing over it...

Robbo turned around to Wu, with a "D'ya hear THAT!...", but all he saw was Wu moving very fast for a man using a cane, toward the place where LT Jackson and SSG Sherman slept. Wu saluted the guard, and entered.

[Wu] "Get up, get up, get up... Berger made it to HQ and he's OK!..." (pant, pant) "He sent '42 green green green yellow'... We confirmed his message was received - - he said there'd be more to follow. Any message for him?..."

8 MAY, 2003 / 0005 hours There was no time to answer. A high-pitched whistling cut through the night, and was followed by an explosion. There was a brief silence, then three more explosions rocked the Camp. All became silent. As suddenly as the attack had started, it was over, or so it seemed for the moment. Outside, a fire could be seen, down by the lake, in one of the pavillions where some of the civilians had been sleeping. If there was any other damage, it was minor...

[Robbo] "Well I think that the bad guys know where we are..."

Robbo has another quick scan around, before heading inside again. when he gets inside, he starts preparing the CP for the attack he feels may come at any time.

ooc: Stacking any documents ready to destroy them, having grenades available to destroy equipment, making sure his personal equipment isn't too far away.

Robbo wasn't about to blow up the CP just yet, but he knew that if there was an attack at short notice, there may not be time to do the job correctly. Much better to be a boy scout, and be prepared for the worst.

[Sherman] Awoken from his sleep by Wu. Shermans mind was just about to process the good news brought in by the young private. Before he could reply though. The familiar sound of incoming artilley rounds and explosions forced both he and Wu to take cover. Sherman waited but the salvo seemed to have ended. Swearing under his breath about where Stryfe could stick his artillery. Sherman grabbed his webbing and helmet.

"Wu, get the LT and come back the the Command Centre!" before rushing out the door. And once again the personnal of the 1/103rd were witness to SFC John Sherman running around in his longjohns. Heading for the Command Centre Sherman noted little damage but could see a fire down near the lake. He hoped those down there were alright....

Before entering the Command Centre, Sherman took a moment to calm himself. These attacks keep up and I'll start getting used to them he thought. Sherman then opened the door.

"Alert the camp and get SITREPS from the OP's." He ordered to the duty staff. Sherman looked around the room to see who else was present.

He saw Robbo stacking up files and documents. The normally easy going Australian's face looked serious. His pack and weapon were next to him and at this point Sherman noticed the grenades.....

OOC Sorry couldn't resist the ever suspicious Sherman misinterpreting Robbo's actions :)

7 MAY, 2003 / 1159 hours Command Center (formerly Nature Center Building) Halfway Dam -- 3/103rd Camp

[Wiz] Wu burst into the Lt's quarters as Wiz was buckling on his gun. He was already up and dressed and apparently on his way out. "What do you have for me Wu?" The private quickly began with Berger's message, then followed with the obvious fact of the recent explosion. Wiz had taken all of a second to look at the fires before continuing his trec to the Command Center. Wu hobbled along quickly behind as Wiz threw the door opened and entered. He was pissed...again. For a calm, thoughtful man he was getting upset alot lately.

As much as he disliked being in charge, he could spat off commands like none other. "Wu, tell Berger whats going down here if you've got codes for it...otherwise, hell I don't know, you can figure something out. Robbo," he said, also noticing the grenades, "Start get all the civilians together and have them start packing gear...I don't want to leave, but if Stryfe is here with his whole army, we're going to be in some shit." Wiz looked around the room and walked over to the maps, motioning Sherman to join him. "You take command of the men here. I want the parameter guarded as heavily as you can, we don't even know which direction Stryfe, if thats who it is, will be coming from. I, however, and sick and fucking tired of this! I'm taking about 5 men and if I don't return soon, I'm dead."

That said, Wiz leaves the command center, already on his way towards their makeshift armory. Along the way he spends just enough time to find five men that he knows have been with the unit since before they arrived on the mountain. He'll take out whoever is out there by himself if he has to. They arm themselves with the heaviest guns they can find, and Wiz started a circular pattern down the mountain towards the most likely area that the missles where shot from. Even as he starts the trip down the mountain, he knows it irrational and he knows he should be back at the command center...but damnit, all he wanted was a little peace and quiet! If he had to kill an entire army with only his hands, he was willing to do it.

OOC: Hey, what can I say, he can't stand it anymore. :)

Robbo looked up as Staff Sherman arrived into the CP, and gave Robbo a strange look. By way of explanation, Robbo said "Last thing we need is for the few secrets we have from Stryfe to be compromised Staff. I'm just collecting the info for easy disposal, as if he is coming, we won't have the time to do it later."

Robbo nodded, stopping his collection of paperwork, and grabbing his rifle. As he was about to leave, he stopped next to Wu.

"Mate, who is in charge of the civvies out there? I hardly know them from Adam!"

[Wiz] "Now is as good a time as any to meet them," Wiz tells Robbo with a slight smile. "If anything goes wrong, Sherman has the command, refer to him for now."

7 MAY, 2003 / 1159 hours Command Center (formerly Nature Center Building) Halfway Dam -- 3/103rd Camp

[Sherman] Sherman listens to Wiz and nods his head "Roger." Then turns to the duty staff. "Corporal Irvine take the guard squad and go with the LT (the duty squad have the camp's M60)." As Wiz and Robbo both head out the door, Sherman is unsure weather or not he should have said something about Wiz going off. Instead Sherman just says "I'll see you when you get back sir." Sherman then turns his attention back to the radio operator and getting the situation reports from the obeservation posts.

8 MAY, 2003 / 0005 hours Halfway Dam Recreation Area New 3/103 HQ

Weather: Chilly, light drizzle, visibility decreasing to 40% ( of a clear, moonlit night)

[GM] Four explosions, all within a few seconds of each other. The Camp was whirring with activity. A small fire was already becoming larger, and there was much yelling, chaos, and confusion. Hasty preparations for various eventualities were made, and often misunderstood by the cadre of experienced men and women who managed the others in the group.

Robbo completed his safeguard work, ensuring no valuable equipment or secrets would fall into the wrong hands. He then readied his gear, and walked outside to find a civilian or two through which to better assess the situation. The first civilian he saw was a child of about 3, sitting in the middle of one of the paths near the CP, screaming his head off. Robbo held the shaking child close, compassionately, until a mother appeared and thanked him profusely. She quickly scurried back to the (non-burning) stone pavillion for safety.

A bucket brigade had formed by now, relaying water from the lake to the burning pavillion. The line worked slowly, but eventually found it's stride, and was at least containing the fire from spreading.

Robbo scanned around once more, and found Delacroix and Yates helping an injured man. Apparently a large tree limb had fallen on him, and while he wasn't pinned or knocked silly, the branches had given him puncture wounds on his head and back. The two others seemed to have the situation under control, so Robbo continued his search. Finally, he came across two militiamen, both armed with Garand M1s. They were crouched down, pointing into the woods east of the Camp. Robbo got down, too, and approached. Some others had congregated nearby, and Robbo chastized them, motioning to them to spread out. He remembered Wiz's orders, and passed the word to the civilians, to start packing for exfil if it came to that...

[Smitty] "Corp, we thought we saw something moving there to the east - see the oak tree near that lil group of pines. Right in there. What'll ya have us do?..."

Elsewhere...

Sherman remained in the CP, trying to make sense of everything from the various guard posts. Wu kept hushing everyone in the CP, and finally threw the headset aside, waving his cane menacingly.

[Wu] "Look, everyone under the rank of CPL get the fuck outta here. I can't hear a fucking thing..." He looked behind himself, to see Sherman standing there, waiting for answers. He nodded to Sherman. "If that's OK with you, SGT?..." With that, he lit a hand-rolled ciggarette, and dragged away as he resumed listening.

"All clear from north, west, and east OPs. South OP sent out a man without authorization, SGT, but the guy got back after just 3 minutes, and said there's movement WAYYY down the mountain, to the south. A vehicle, and a few men spotted."

Wu tapped away on the key. Morse code wasn't in use here -- the operators just weren't skilled enough yet, so instead, pre-arranged codes were used for various situations. Some basics of information could be passed quickly, but details took abit longer...

"I asked them how far "WAYYY down the mountain was, and they said about a mile. So we've got a vehicle and men, they say like 20 or so, a mile south of us. That's just about where the mountain picks up in slope, but there's no way they can get far up the side of this mountain from that direction, not with a vehicle, anyway. Even hiking it would take a coupla hours. If they're coming, it'll be up the road, either from the east or west. The east would be closest, they're saying the west would be an hour or more to pick around and get onto RT 192. Oh, there's more. Shit! It's a tracked vehicle -- they've not spotted it, but they can hear it chewing up one of the side roads down there..."

Wiz had grown tired of it all. He hated Stryfe, he hated the War, and this, well whatever this mess after The War would be called, if there was anyone left to write about it. He was tired, overworked, and extremely frustrated. But he chose a path of action, and people would follow. First to fall in line was CPL Irvine, and within a minute or two, others were there, too. Wiz subconsciously patted his Beretta DeLuxe in it's holster, and worked the bolt on the handy little SKS he had liberated in an earlier firefight. It was brash, true, but he wasn't going to take this attack lying down. Maybe his actions were not contrived, maybe they were, but Wiz saw something in the eyes of the few men around him. Something different. It was respect. They would follow him. He just had to decide where they needed to go...

[Irvine] Irvine had seen to it that all sides were manned and reinforced, with a central "action squad" ready to move at a moment's notice. He then organized 4 remaining men, armed with an odd assortment of Garands, hunting rifles, and shotguns. They were set to go within 60 seconds. He approached Wiz.

"Sir. Word is there was movement off to the east. But the south OP picked up a vehicle and perhaps 20 men about a mile south of us. We're ready to go. Your orders, sir?...."

Robbo shook his head. This was not what he had wanted to be doing at this time of night.

[Whispered] "Right, I'll need one of you to report this to the CP. The other one will come with me as backup. I'll be heading out for a look see. Which one of you is the better bushman? I need someone who can get down there without a sound."

As he says this, he takes out his Glock 21, and readies it.

"Wish I had a hush puppy Glock 26. Ah well, this baby will have to do. So who's going with me?"

[Sherman] The command post was quiter now, broken only by the coded transmissions from the OP's. Wu's outburst certainly cleared the room. Sherman stood behind the wire operator listning as the all clear reports came in. So far the only contact being with the southern OP. And that was with at least two squads and some kind of armoured vehicle. Sherman was not keen to come up against any armour, the 1/103rd lacked any suitable heavy weapons except for the 50. cal on the M113.

Wu mentioned the southern OP sent a man down without authorisation. Sherman didn't think so, sending out the man showed initiative. Sherman wondered who was in that post. They were definately thinking smart.

"Wu inform all other OP's to keep silent unless they have an enemy siting. Tell the southern OP to keep the enemy in site but do not engage. Confirm numbers of enemy and get some identification on that vehicle."

Sherman gave Wu a moment to transmit the codes before continuing.

"Inform the LT about the vehicle, he should be with CPL Irvine and the 'action squad'."

(Sherman is assuming that they would be carry one of the 1/103rds few radios?)

Turning his attention to one of the other command staff.

"You (name?) go and find Big Jim. Tell him to start packing up the civilians and get ready to move them out. Then report back here. Got that?"

[NPC reply]

Looking at the map of the Halfway area up on the wall. Sherman tried to build up an image of the situation, putting his finger on the point where the explosions occured and then pointing to the southern approach up the mountain. He remembered what Berger told him about this place 'There's basically one way up and one way down -- easier to control with a blockhouse at either end of the RT 192 access'. "Well Jack if we come out of this we might just build 'em." Sherman said quitely to himself.

Sherman then returned back behind Wu ready to act on any more information.