Red Dawn[open, mt]

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

[ooc: if you've ever played the old PC game 'Operation flashpoint, you'll know the island. It's a little bigger now and larger population for obvious reasons. Since it's a surprise attack, your country could find out by a diplomat at the embassy or a vacationing civi]

President Kadyrov was attending a meeting with his Generals and cabinet. A few weeks ago a penal island out in the ocean was raided by naval forces, presumably form the island of Nogova just days before the facility was shut down. They obtained this information via several GRU operatives who were currently on the island, and were constantly providing them with information. He had decided that their best course of action was to retaliate on the small island, and to free the captured guards who were presently in a prison on unknown charges.

"General? You said you had a operation plan to show us." Kadyrov said, looking over the the older man who was currently the highest raking person int he military.

"Yes, here is what I came up with." he presents a slide show, while talking.

"Based on the information obtained by our GRU elements in country, along with satellite data, the island could be taken quickly, and by surprise. The radar station is situated close to the airfield, and is of an older type that's easily jammed. Their air force is small, and consists of old MiG-21's and a few Su-24's. As for a ground army, it's small and built mainly around defense. There are many reservists, so it could easily double or triple in size. Equipment wise, mostly post WWII equipment. M-50 Super Shermans,T-55's, BTR-50's and ZSU-57-2 AA guns. Most of them are in disuse, and the crews have little training.

Kadyrov looked over the report for some time then said: "prepare for the operation, then put it into action. Once it's under control, bring in fresh troops and equipment to reinforce them for occupation"


Preparation for the assault took less time for the VDV then the Marines; for the latter, this would be their first real operation since they were reclassified from Motor Rifle Troops to Naval infantry following the creation of the Navy. The submarines had left some days ago and were sitting outside territorial waters for the time being. Once the GRU operatives started their new assignment, they would move in.

ORBAT:
elements of 76th Guards Air Assault Division:
* 23rd Guards Airborne Regiment [north group]
* 104th Guards Airborne Regiment[south group]
* 656th Engineer Battalion
* 242nd Military Transport Aviation Squadron[IL-76]

Separate air squadron of Su-34

The aircraft approached their airspace within a few hours, and the light signifying to prepare for jump was on. At around the same time, the GRU operatives on the island put their operation in motion. They disabled the island's radar with BS-1 silent grenade launchers from their AKS-74U's, along with a Patriot missile battery that was yet to be activated. The base was in a panic, as things randomly burst into flames or exploded. A civil guard convoy was ambushed on a hill en route to the capital and lost a number of trucks and personnel before the assailants disappeared.

The escorting Su-34's hit the airfield as aircraft were being taxied onto the runway just in case; they knew they were under attack, but not by who. As the missiles struck a hanger they were told to take off when they could. A burst of rockets destroyed an airplane and damaged the run way, making them the others sitting ducks to the Su-34's who destroyed them in a matter on minutes. They then proceeded south and hit a motor pool with rockets and then peeled east to hit the port.

The first paratrooper deployments were in a field 2.5km from the airfield.

"1st Company proceed to meet and engage hostiles on the way to the airfield, regroup with 2nd Company and take the airfield and the nearby town. Assume all armed targets hostile if not one of ours. Out."

Following the seizure of the airfield, reinforcements and heavy equipment as being flown in so that they could begin combat operations against the Nogovan military [the VDV as assigned to take and hold areas of strategic importance.]

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

Because the sun had not yet come up, IR goggles were used to good effect in navigating and assaulting positions near the airfield. As the 1st and 2nd companies closed in on the village they saw that it defenders were gong on site to protect it. Once they were close enough, they engaged the villages defenders with suppressing fire and advanced by squads, once they were coming from 3 different directions. 2nd company advanced onto the airfield supported by BMD-4's and entered the control tower, meeting some resistance but inevitably took control. The nearby village had now been occupied with VDV commandos, who had entered houses and apartments to use as a vantage point on incoming Nogovan reinforcements. It was several BMP-1's and a platoon of T-55 tanks that arrived, along with some Tatra T815 6x6 trucks. Using their knowledge of urban combat, they trapped the column when it was close, keeping the infantry pinned down while hunter-killer teams destroyed the armored vehicles. One of the T-55's were killed by an ATGM fired from a BMD at the airfield at it's own discretion. As the remaining soldiers of the failed attack pulled back and regrouped, the VDV did much the same.


----


A company of paratroopers who had landed in the wrong area had now begun to seize the town where foreign embassies were located. They'd so far ambushed a lone enemy motor rifle platoon and commandeered their trucks, then followed the road to the town. It was still early in the morning, but so the streets were relatively empty allowing them to use the trucks as a sort of disguise to roll right up to the city hall. The pair of BMD-4 laid in wait nearby, camouflaged. Most of th islands population was unaware of what was going on, and thought it was due to a prison riot that got out of hand. The local television stations were down as a result of an accidental air strike.

As they entered the city hall, forcing security to surrender their arms as they were heavily out numbered, the moved up the stairs to the central office. They told the mayor via a translator to relay the message over the city's PA system

"The island is now under control of the Soviet Repubic of Chernobyl-Pripyat. All foreign embassy personnel are advised to remain in their buildings until the situation clears, then we will allow your transport off the island. Do not attempt to assist the local paramilitaries, or we will use force."

The Captain of the unit used the RTO's set to contact command.

"This is 6th company, we've taken the embassy area, awaiting further orders, out"

he then turned to some soldiers who were watching the restrained security. "Secure all firearms you can find, and use the local police station as a holding cell. anyone tries anything funny, waste them."

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

At the captured airfield new equipment and personnel were being flown in. Within hours, an elite Motor Rifle Division was brought in to secure the rest of the island and relieve the paratroopers. They moved several kilometers inland and established an operations base quickly.

A tank platoon consisting of a pair of T-90A and a T-100 as the command tank moved out with a group of BTR-80A to engage a large concentration of Nogovan troops who were preparing a counter attack.


The T-100 began issuing commands once they were in range.

"All infantry dismount, Vampire-2 load Hunter ATGM and engage target at 013, range 4000.

After that, the commander targeted a moving tank, turned on the missile guidance radar and fired a 9M123 missile from the missile pod on top of the turret, which hit the tank within a few seconds. Following that, he stated "All units engage at will."

The tanks began firing HEAT-T rounds at the enemy, who's T-55 tanks stood little chance. It was soon realized that whenever they used their laser range finders, it not only gave them a false reading on the SRChP tanks due to the Shtora system, it gave a range and location to the T-90 and T-100 tanks. A round had hit the T-100, startling the gunner due to the sound of the ERA brick going off. He located the target and fired another round which was a total kill.

After a 30 minute exchange of fire, they advanced on the positions of 7 burning T-55's and 3 Super Shermans. Because of the number of enemy troops dug in, Mi-28 gunships were called in to soften up the hill. After an RPG had blew up pretty close to the troops, the BTR-80A's began firing upon the church tower of the village about 600m away. one of the T-90A's fired 2 HEAT rounds, which combined with the 30mm cannon rounds that had hit it, collapsed the upper tower causing it to tumble down. The commander of the T-100 opened his hatch to use the NSV machine gun on an apartment building, firing a few bursts at where he suspected another AT team could have been. It wasn't a major threat due to their range, but it never hurts to be safe. He checked the remaining missles in the launcher; two AT missiles and a thermobaric missile. After getting back in the turret to use the optics, he fired the thermobaric missile at that same building. It streaked through the air, breaking through the room before detonating, with the blast blowing out the windows and structure of the apartment building.

[will add more later to this one, writers block]

[Hurtful Thoughts]

[ooc: if you've ever played the old PC game 'Operation flashpoint, you'll know the island. It's a little bigger now and larger population for obvious reasons. Since it's a surprise attack, your country could find out by a diplomat at the embassy or a vacationing civi]

OOC: Well, I do believe I owe you an RP... So I'll do one on the beta forum*...
And besides, it gives me a reason to use my refreshed orbat, aircraft, and government...
BTW, nevar played OP:FP, so I'll just, uh, see where this takes me...
*Being my first RP here, I suppose I'll have to give the obligitory remidial bio of all characters used...

IC:
A bleary-eyed official awoke to a disturbing noise, the PA system...

But this time, it wasn't that sexy jailbait intern across the hall, nope, it was someone with a deep Russian accent explaining that they were all under house arrest, and that some of the locals were putting up a valiant yet futile defense against superior numbers.

John Staska knew enough about this sort of warfare, that at some point along the line, terror tactics will be used against those who choose not to look out for themselves, the weak and defensless, them.

He quickly decided to dial through a list of highly militarized governments in order to seek political asylum or some means to escape the island before things went out of hand.

Sadly, the first place got through to was the People's Republic Of Hurtful Thoughts, real dickass move there, John... Now you've doomed us all...

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

As Motor Rifle troops arrived to assist in securing the city, a dozen or so policemen were marched to the city hall and told to sit and not move; a few soldiers were watching them.

"6th, have you secured the area, over?"

"We copy Command, area is secured, securing weapons. We've got everything under control."

"Understood. MR squad is inbound with engineering team"


At one of the embassies several Nogovan officials attempted to enter to apply for asylum, but the VDV brushed them away with rifle strikes before the guards could authorize it. checkpoints were set up along the main road, one of which was between the town and the local school building. Sparking an outrage was the search of said building by a squad, who broke all the televisions and radios in the building before leaving. The arrest of the Police Chief was quickly overshadowed by the desecration of a historic church, after a BMD rolled though it's backyard over many grave makers. The occupants were also detained and the building searched[they found an old .32 revolver that they kept for security].

"Sergeant, we found a list of registered arms owners."

"Okay, what's the problem then?"

"All are accounted for except one, we can't find him."

The Sergeant approached the crowed that gathered and found someone who spoke Russian. He told her to tell ask the crowed if they knew where he was. After receiving no response, he pulled a child over by him and shot him in the foot. The crowed grew furious, but was not about to charge the group of soldiers, save for one who took a nasty blow from a rifle stock

pointing the rifle at the same child, he said to the women "Tell them that if they don't tell me where this person is, I will start shooting every child on the island until they lose a generation."

After she explained the severity of the situation, a man stepped forward. He was arrested and a doctor was allowed to patched up the child's foot.

They found the weapons the man had stored according to the list, but also ones he didn't register as he was referred to by the locals as "that tin-hatted conspiracy theorist".

The Motor Rifle troops arrived shortly after, along with a T-55 they found abandoned on the side of the road. They used the tank to roll over the weapons recovered from the safes and police station armory.

"This is 6th, the MR squad arrived, proceeding to process the locals before letting them return to their homes and enforcing a curfew."

"Copy, round up all city officials and prep them for transport to a detention center. The GRU team freed our prisoners and ones who voluntarily agreed to work with us. We're gonna allow them to operate under a close watch. Command out"

a half-squad of motor-rifle troops searched through the city hall again, suspecting the VDV might have missed somebody..

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Embassy life
Taking of the people's registered -and some unregistered- firearms was expected, as the embassies had the paperwork in good order, and didn't have much in order to resist with due to political limitations.

However, documentation on ammunition was sparse, if any was available to begin with, and the ammunition itself was quite plentiful and extremely easy to hide.

This left the beleugered staff and security personal with a ton of ammo, a small handful of sympathisers to the resistance, and even fewer guns on hand, usually some forgotten, tiny, and mechanicly simple firearm (pump action shotgun, breack and bolt-action rifles) or something of a more improvised nature (.22 caliber zip gun /w/ silencer). Nothing fancy, and nothing 'heavy' enough to deal with the BMD parked out front.

They barely had the makings of an underground resistance front, but were heavily watched. They'd need one hell of a diversion and a very glib tongue to coax them back into the fight.

People's Republic Of Hurtful Thoughts
A report had arrived some time ago about the swift invasion of Nogova.

The brass knew the people where likely being treated as cattle, and either responding cooperatively or dying en-masse, making occupation simpler for the Soviet army of Chernobyl-Pripyat.

Military enthusiasts and tacticians were attempting to figure out how they managed to mobilize and invade so swiftly and successfully, others looked for a flaw in the grand-plan, a minor oversight, a chink in their perimiter.

Ultimately, it was agreed that they utterly had no idea at what stage the Soviets were at, nor the direction the conflict was going in, or in who's favor. All they knew is that there was an invasion, that X amount of ships are here, a BMD or two in a town there, and a forward operating base being set-up someplace, but not what they were doing, their effectiveness, or their moral.

Signal intellegence had gathered quite little, just that they were rounding up weapons and had met little resistance, nothing specific. A few unit names/designations were given, but could've been in code, using 'MR platoon' could designate either a mech or motor platoon, or something completely different, cross-refferencing them with satallite imagery was seldom available, and only proved that they were still loosely enforcing radio discipline.

They needed to get some quantifiable information, they needed a snitch.

Airfield in The World Soviet Party:
A man wearing a trenchcoat and smoking a smoldering cigar stub was leaning against some crate and watching the sunrise, a small long-ranged business-plane was sitting on the tarmac warming its engines.

Another man, a bit older, wearing ill-fitting military fatigues, and carrying a pair of overloaded duffels approached the plane and loaded his gear onboard, others were doing likewise a short distance away, some Soviet military advisors were being deployed to watch a weapons test or something...

Marcus Gable wasn't some goddamn soviet officer...

The man in fatigues and the man in the trenchcoat met, they knew each other...

"So Hans.. er 'Johnnie', posing as a front for the Republic of the Red Islands these days?"

"Yeah, going to see if me and these Ruskies can get past security and see how our good friends are doing at countering our latest gadgets."

"Clever, so what does the director want from me now?"

"The Major wants you to do some basic recon, since you're well past retirement age and familiar with Soviets, we're pretty sure you can get in, mingle, and report back without getting killed..."

They started walking towards the plane, getting caught in the propwash as Hans remembered a minor detail.

"Oh, right, the name of the island is Nogova and there's a contact there named John Staska, somehow we believe he's the de facto leader of Nogova's resistance front."

"You know, I'm getting too fucking old for this..."

"That's the point."

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

As quickly as humanly possible, Soviet engineers had the power grid working again along with radio and television up and running [relatively] smoothly.

At the port a few submarines with the supplies that weren't flown in arrived, along with a number of marines who paced back and forth moving crates.

At the embassy center/capital a few Ural truck and a GAZ-25961 escorted by a pair of BMP-3 arrived at the checkpoint and halted in the center. One of the troops, approached the commanding officer of the VDV, who again had to find a translator. He located the women from before, and told her to say over the PA system that the airport was now operational, and foreign diplomats could now arrange for transport out of the country. Other then that, the trucks the pulled up were empty and probably for that purpose if there wasn't any vehicles on site. From the GAZ truck an General exited and entered the government building to meet with the president of the island.

Nearby some VDV commandos were chatting while keeping perimeter.

"I heard the marines showed up, brought the General and supplies and stuff." One of them said, retrieving a cigarette from a pocket.

"Power seems to be back up too. The other regiment is pulling out tonight, and more motorized troops are gunner show up within the week."

The third one sneered. "Typical, after we did all the hard stuff in the middle of the night.."

They heard over their radios about a disturbance, and were told to mount up on a BMD and calm it down. before they were even halfway to the vehicle, they heard another voice over the radio

"Command, the situation is normal. Why are we using the police radio's again, over?"

"We need to act as them for the time being, remember that channel '9' is the police one and not secure, so anyone can respond to it. Command out."


Airport


with the debris off the runway, small commercial aircraft began showing up after the embassies power was turned back on. The televisions were broadcasting news and television from the SRChP; it was easier to set up extended range receivers then fix their station at the moment. The BTR's, often called 'Armadillo''s by the people associated with them patrolled the streets near the town by the airport. There was a checkpoint between the town and the airport, which was told to only stop people entering the island.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

3 miles off the NorthEast coast of Nogova:
Water-landings were always a bitch...

Sneaking into the cargo-hold and making the jump itself was easy.

Now he was adrift, spluttering and treading water while attempting to detach his chute and inflate a lo-viz rubber boat, with motor...

After getting into the relatively dry dinghy, he gathered up his parachute, which would be quite useful later, and stowed it.

Now came the task of reconoitering the coastline and finding a gap...

For weapons, he had a watertight-sealed break-action survival/flare-gun (combination rifle/12 ga), a knife, bayonet, 2 incindiaries, and a shovel. Other than that, he had a haversack with a stallite-radio to carry it all inside and share space with a set of winter clothing, a IR spotlight, and a GPS.

Nogovan Embassy
The delegates breathed a sigh of relief as they prepared to leave the island, others had decided to immediately recognize the new government position, and rather than re-submit for a bit of office-space, stayed behind in order to ensure they were grandfathered-in.

A few had other reasons for staying behind.

John Staska was from a family of political exiles that took refuge in Nogova to escape the Undershi inquisition. Here, he had a life, a family, and a job. This was his home. And he was determined, that someday, he would return.

Besides, the que for boarding was already full of foriegn diplomats...

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

The last of the Nogovan Defense Forces held up in a small town in the north west of the island. They'd lost communications; though if it was because their stations were occupied or those units were dead was unknown to them. They were now under under assault by VDV commandos, gunships and tanks, along with most of the town. The first attack was repulsed by volume suppression fire from the school building, and sporadic bursts of fire from ground level. The gunships were called in to soften up the area; the school was destroyed with an unknown amount of people inside, and streets were strafed with cannon and rocket fire. Shortly after that, the VDV moved in again, with a handful of T-72B spearheading the attack. After a few hours of fighting, by the Nogovan presidents order, the remaining defense forces were to lay down their arms and surrender. The units in this town, however had no communications equipment and were wiped out after a while along with a number of armed citizens. The Soviet forces, after sustaining 23 casualties and losing 3 tanks[one of which had simply fallen into a basement and would later be towed out] secured the town.

The news about the battle spread around, and citizens were outraged that a once nice town was nearly empty and many of the Nogovan dead had yet to be collected. Small groups of people had gone to collect whatever weapons they could fins and stash them. They'd found a few HK 33 assault rifles, and some hunting rifles, but ammunition was scarce.

----

Northern coast


"Desant 3 what's your position, over?"

"Desant 1, this is 3, we are about 2 clicks up the road, over."

"Copy 3, we're approaching the checkpoint, out"


The BTR-80 rolled along the road passing the occasional car. They were on patrol, watching for suspicious activity in any of the small farms in the area. One of the privates looking around through a PSOP he had borrowed from the guy next to him.

"There's a boat out in the water."

The Sergeant turned and looked through his binoculars, eventually locating what had been seen.

"Probably just a fisherman, but I don't see anyone in the boat.. must have fallen off of a ship or something, since the port is way back there."

They turned their attention to the upcoming checkpoint, and would turn in some people they deemed suspicious and had apprehended; currently inside the vehicle with a sack over their head and hands tied up.

Embassy area

As the last of the trucks were being loaded, The translator and some soldiers made their last rounds around the embassies to make sure nobody who planned to leave got left behind. Some middle-aged businessman was yelling obscenities at the soldiers, but they didn't understand a word he said. One of them looked at the others, then struck the man with his rifle, the man dropping to the ground like a rock and breaking his rather expensive glasses.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

OOC: I was hoping the distances involved would cause a dawn departure and arrival sometime around dusk to prevent just such a discovery. Well, nothing definitive yet...

IC:
Coast: Sometime later
Mr. Gable at some point had flipped the boat over, hiding himself and his equipment underneath the overturned boat as he treaded water towards shore.

After what seemed to be an eternity, it bumped into something, ground.

Knowing fully the severity of the situation, Marcus slipped beneath the water-level and stared up, hoping not to see any spotlights.

After checking several times and seeing only darkness, he slowly let his head out of the water beside the boat to take a look around.

after about 50 meters of exposed beach was a sea-wall, some light brush, and a road. Roughly 2 km to the south was a well-lit building. Nobody appeared in the immediate area, although he smelled diesel-fumes indicating this road was traveled heavily quite recently by what he hoped were not tanks.

Anyways, he was quick to deflate the boat and hide the equipment, now he merely had to cache the boat in a hole dug by shovel.

The rain wasn't very comfortable, but it helped disguise the fact he just came from the sea. He occassionally checked for any IR emissions from the building in the distance, or along the road. A patrol using night-vision could prove quite formidable.

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

A Naval Infantry patrol unit was pretty miserable on their way to the checkpoint, as their winter uniforms soaked up rain and soon weighed twice as much. The truck they were using broke down after some vandals put bleach in the gas tank. They were on the end of their patrol, so they turned off their IR goggles as they walked to the outpost, guided by the lights of the town. Halfway, they were met by a Motor Rifle squad with a BTR-80 and chatted for a bit. After some time, the APC left down the road and the squad continued to their destination. Once they were there, they checked in at the outpost building and continued into town, entering a pub that had since been receiving lots of customers from the occupational forces. At this late hour, most people were sleeping or at said pub, but there were still patrolmen in the streets. On the roof of a small store, they'd placed a ZU 23 overlooking the nearby hills, though it could easily rotate to cover a number of surrounding areas at range. It mostly sat unoccupied, as it's operators just hung around the store.


A civilian car drove past the APC, nearly colliding because it was on the wrong side of the road[in Nogova people drive on the left]. After a bit his car started overheating and broke down along the side of the road. He lit some road flares and tossed them on the side of the road before muttering "fucking Yugos.." and proceeded to check the engine. From the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw a figure in the distance...


Nogovan capital..

Lt. General sat in his officer listening to the record player he'd arranged to be delivered. Overall, he believed that this operation was a success since they had tings under control within 48 hours. There was only about 100,000 people on the island, currently there was around 12,000 troops in total on the island, from different branches. By the end of the week, it would be reduced to about 9,000, as the Marines depart, leaving his Motor Rifle troops of the 14th Army and the VDV regiments from the 76th VDV to occupy the place. If needed, he could surge the place with troops and armor, but why they needed to invade the island was a mystery to him. Perhaps the President planned to annex the island? He wasn't sure if that would bring an international response, due to the fact that Nogova had been aspiring to join the EC[on the map that I'll -eventually- finish, it's my fictional regional organization like NATO or something] or the WA. It was a total possibility that the world didn't even know, because of how swiftly they'd taken the island. He did know that the island could be used as a launch point for a possible invasion of his country, because it was relatively close, and the airport here was decent for military use..

[Tolvan]

HMFV Seagull
26 nautical miles southwest of Nogova

The battered old fishing trawler had recently arrived off Nogova and promptly began "fishing". Of course the charade was unlikely to fool anyone, the Seagull was much too far away from any friendly fishing port to off load its catch before it spoiled, however one must keep up appearences. Buried deep within the Seagull's hull was a CIC that rivaled the ones aboard the Royal Navy's vaunted County class destroyers. The trawler was fitted with every piece of Electronic Support Measures (ESM) and passive sensing technology in the Royal Navy's aresenal, and some that weren't. The trawler was unarmed, except for some small arms and a couple concealed .50 caliber machine guns mounted on top of the wheelhouse. For now the ship would ply international waters near Nogova and listen in on the plethorea of electronic signals emanating from the island and report back to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). It was unlikely the Commonwealth would take more than a passing interest in the invasion, but it never hurt to be well informed.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

OOC: ^Nice, a newcomer. LoL, Moewe = Seagull...
Sry, minor footnote of WW1 history there...

IC: 2 km north of [Varta/Madrava?]
The flares where first to alert Gable to the presence of a vehicle. Flares have a tendancy to spew visual, UV and infra-red light in copius amounts. This allowed a detailed investigation of the surroundings both with his naked eye and passive IR riflescope.

The vehicle appeared civillian, with only one person moving around outside and inspecting the engine, possibly more remaining inside to stay out of the rain...

He readied his rifle by removing the watertight plugs, making sure the integral silencer had properly drained of seawater. With that acomplished, he began to head elsewhere.

After what he believed was a successful crossing of the street, he found extensive cover amongst the rolling hills densely covered in pine-trees. He also decided it prudent to wear his raingear -a shelter-half covering him and his gear- before continuing further. In this attire, he looked very much like any other soldier with more years in service than bullets remaining.

He decided to continue nearby the road towards a curiously disabled and uniluminated vehicle, it was a truck. Not much later, he heard the unmistakenable rumble of a BTR, and was promptly in their headlights.

Calmly, he waved in an effort to flag them down and request assistance with the truck, and possably a stiff drink or fresh uniform while he calmly produced a clove cigarette he palmed from 'Hans' earlier.

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

As the BTR came around the bend, the driver saw the man on the side of the road and slowed, saying to the commander "Isn't this the truck they left behind?"

He looks over a map then replies "Appears to be the one.. they must have left someone behind to watch it." They didn't think much of his rain gear, since a lot of soldiers just used whatever they could get their hands on. 3 of the soldiers were sitting on top with IR goggles, wearing 'Sklon R-1' rain suits which kept them relatively dry, and inside

Opening the hatch, the commander stood up and said "HQ said to scrap the truck, well drop you off at Madrava. Where'd your rifle go? Get on back, the inside is full."

Shortly after, one of the soldiers on back would fire a VOG-25 at the truck once they left.

"Desant-8 to Kombat, we've disposed of the truck, returning to refuel"

"Copy 8, be cautioned that over the hill there's a meter or so of water, out"


------------

Occupied port control

"There's a contact to the south, matches cross section of a trawler"

"Not of real importance, but if it looks suspicious send over a chopper to check it out"

[Hurtful Thoughts]

OOC: I rec'n Gable is ~60 yrs old...

Roadside assistance, better than AAA:
Gable gave an accusing glance towards the officer who asked what happened to his rifle, without saying a word, he clambered atop the BTR with little difficulty in spite of his fatigue.

Even upon closer examination, his wet generic military fatigues were pretty generic with no identifiable markings. The warm exhaust kept him warm, albeit with the nausiating smell of diesel fumes.

He continued to calmly smoke his drenched clove cigarette in the rain, grateful for the free-ride and intel.

They soon passed the broken down car, and gable noted that there were no military personel on board or escorting it through these torrential rains. Gable attempted to calmly contemplate their standard operating proceedures, so as to exploit them later.

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

As the BTR passed the car, and approached the road, most of the soldiers were silent as they scanned with the goggles. The vehicle halted behind a UAZ van that was being searched. After the patrolmen were done using the oversized dentist mirror under the vehicle, it went through and the BTR followed, not needing to be checked for obvious reasons..

With the light from the town, there was no need for the IR goggles, so they were taken off pretty quickly. Once they were further in, the vehicle halted, and one of the soldiers said "get out here, we're still doing patrol runs."

Where they stopped, it looked to be a local inn just off the town center. Aside from the guys with the BTR, nobody else knew about his presence; He might have been a little old, but he could have been a mechanic for all they knew or cared. They went down the street to refuel at a local gas station the had a diesel pump, then would double back in the direction they came from.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

OOC: Sry about the short post here, but at this point I'm starting to tread lightly for fear of overstepping my bounds.

IC:
The Great Madravan Tavern, I'm gonna get drunk or die trying:
Gatsby trundled off the back of the BTR with a thud, being careful to bend at the knees as he learned in his younger days as a para, turned, tipped his hat to the soviets, and went off to the inn to collect a bit more of the local 'culture'.

Inside, he met pretty much what he expected, a bunch of bored and/or tired soldiers shooting the breeze while consuming various beverages and other substances.

He calmly walked up to the bar and asked for a bottle of whatever was nearly empty and have it shared amongst the fellows next to him. He had an idea to have some 'fun'.

He kept his voice down so that only the fellows next to him could hear...

He told of an abondoned luxury-car he saw on the road, in perfect condition aside from needing a bit of new oil, coolant, and a patched radiator, and the car would be a write-off in the next few hours anyways due to the flooding. So why not go out and patrol in style in a 'liberated' BMW?

He then promised that the first one to get demobolized first gets to keep the car, and went on to mention that he just had his tour of duty renewed this quarter.

OOC2: Kudus if you know where I'm going with this idea...

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

One of the shoulders shrugged. "There's no way to get it back, unless we had our own transport...Then again it doesn't hurt to check, eh?"

A different soldier noticed that mans age in the light of the room, then got a little suspicious. "Which unit are you from? Shouldn't you still be doing patrol runs?"

Suddenly their radio sets crackled to life, and they had to report a few blocks away before the man could reply, where they were about to storm a house and arrest everyone inside on suspicion of operating a radio station. Shortly after the soldiers left, several Nogovan youth entered and sat down at a table. The barkeep/innkeeper asked the man if he wanted a room.

Dawn

The rain had let down to a mild drizzle, and was expected to clear up within a few hours. Sometime over night several Mi-24 gunships had arrived to supplement the pair of Mi-28's that were already present. The Mi-24 was better suited for counter insurgency operations, and it could also deliver a squad of troops where a BTR or BMP couldn't.

A pair took off shortly and flew over Madrava to drop of some spetsnaz troops and pick up the general at Lipany. They would subsequently drop him off at the airport, then patrol the island.

"Falcon-1, This is Falcon-2, fly low then prepare to land, over"

"Copy Falcon-1, out"

The Mi-24 descended to tree top level and proceeded to the landing site. It opened it's doors and the commandos exited and met with some paratroopers nearby and the General. After he entered the first hind with the GRU agents who had helped in creating a diversion enabling the invasion, the other landed and unloaded. Both choppers to the airport and dropped the general off, before returning to fly along the roads, occasionally flying over a convoy or patrol

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Gable was slightly thankful that he wouldn't need to lie through his teeth quite yet, and the fact someone was intersted proved somewhat promising, but the diversion prevented his potential captors from questioing him as much as it prevented him from phishing for hard intell and free supplies.

Then the bartender asked a curious question... He responded:

"Ah, no, I'm just passing through. Do you mind if I keep the bottle? I'd also like it filled with water for the broken radiator. Anyone here want to distract the checkpoint while I slip out?"

He took the now filled bottle, thanked the bartender, and continued. He was sure the new locals in the bar were wondering about this old man's strange behavior.

"Because I'm pretty sure there's something written somewhere about stealing supplies without the proper paperwork is a big no-no."

As he walked out, he grabbed a loose rifle and some web-gear that had been set by the heat-register to dry-off. It was a fairly standard kit, which he proceeded to put on over his poncho.

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

Outside there were soldiers running back and forward. A band of rebels had begun to advance on the town to try and take it back, moving from the main road and a nearby hill. They had ironically called themselves the "Wolverines", as apparent by a flag they had.

A pair of BTR-80 started up nearby, and once the soldiers had got in sped past the inn, wrecking a small car as it went by. The checkpoint was under heavy fire, keeping most of the soldiers pinned, but because of the limited tactical knowledge of the rebels, when they weren't shooting they were moving. The soldier in the guard tower quickly learned this and began firing the PKMS at them, cutting down a few before they moved to cover. When the BTR's arrived, the soldiers exited and used the vehicles as cover, seeing there was little in the relatively open ground. Soon an OG-7V round was fired at the rocky outcrop where they were hiding, sending chunks of debris into the air, and they began advancing behind the BTR's at the location.

The rebels on the hill had fired a few grenades and some rockets at the town, trying to hit parked vehicles and the barracks. They'd succeeded in destroying a few parked cars and putting a hole in a bakery, along with injuring a lot of people from the grenades. The ZU-23 on the roof of the store turned, and with help from the spotter shredded a young rebel who was 'aiming' an old M79 grenade launcher. It was apparent that the rebels had no idea what they were doing, and would continue to get themselves killed if nobody trained them at least basically.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Gable had now seen what he came to see, there was resistance. This would give sufficient clout for the Hurtians to actually get involved and do some 'liberating', but not until after letting the small-scale slaughter wear the factions down.

In the meantime, now looked like a good time to go out on 'patrol' and see about finding these 'rebels'. It would b a touchy matter of course, but worthwhile.

If he survived the day, Hurtian ELINT would be sweeping the area for any word from him.

But to do that, he'd need to either find a non-secure long-range radio, or a runner...

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

[Since in the day time, your guy would easily be noticed, he should really start looking for that Staska guy or introduce himself to the rebels. They're scattered around and not very organized, so the group that got slaughtered may or may not know any others. They're based more around the towns.]

The OG-7V that had hit the rocky outcrop hadn't killed anybody, but there were serious injuries among the rebels. The rebel medic popped up and started blind firing a pistol in the general direction of the advancing soldiers, giving away his location and the position of some of the wounded. Seizing the opportunity given by the low magazine capacity of the handgun, they stormed the rocks, letting loose a burst into a different rebel with a shotgun, who had jumped up and fired at them, knocking the wind out of one of the soldiers as the shot hit his vest. The medic and the wounded were mercilessly gunned down and one rebel taken captive, and would be interrogated once they got back.

In the forest the rebels were pursued for some distance, taking casualties until the pursuers ceased to follow them. Out of the 12 rebels on the hill, only 3 remained.

Some time later, a few kilometers from the town, they saw a lone patrol. They figured they could possibly use him to get their own captives back, so they planned to ambush and capture him alive.[feel free to write the conversation, after this the rebels will be under your control]

---------------

On the road, the BTR patrol had stopped a car that matched the description of the one the man in the inn had mention. One of the soldiers was arguing with the owner while the others watched, laughing to themselves.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Gable, upon 'capture' by a lone insurgent, couldn't help but laugh. Much to everyone's confusion...

After some questioning/explaining, it was discovered that Gable was more or less on their side, and had brought them an AK-74, some assorted military equipment, himself, and a promise.

Pretty much, if they did as they asked, they wouldn't ever have to worry about getting run over by a BTR. But first, he needed to get word of a "Joe Staska", and to establish some means of communication.

He leanred soon after that the little firefight he witnessed was due to the discovery of their only existing radio, and the subsequent destruction of their cell.

So that left smuggling the messages out, somehow... In return, he'd teach them basics of guerrillia warfare, and informed them flat-out that they'd best cache all their weapons in small increments for now, then find and gather sympathisers (but never more than 15 at a time) before continuing any further.

Gable then traded his soviet military fatigues for some local garb, and had the uniform hidden as well, as the group could find it useful for infiltration.

For now, Gable chose to bivuoc in the mountainous forests...

He woke up to the unmistakenable sound of Mi-24s...
Thankfully, they were still being ferried into the countryside, and weren't searching, yet.

[Chernobyl-Pripyat]

The stranger had picked the best time to disappear; the missing rifle and equipment was noticed, and the security level jumped.

After a teleconference between the Soviet president, and the Nogovan president an agreement was made; they would soon get control back, but they would report directly to the main Soviet government. For the first time in a few days, Nogovans were able to get television from their own stations. The President made an address, explaining the situation, and that they shouldn't take arms against the occupiers, as it "would bring unnecessary death to our island's populace" as he put it. it was quite apparent that he was not in charge of things, as there was visible spetsnaz operatives in the room replacing the usual presidential guard.

Once this was done, counter-insurgency op's were to begin within the next few days. Still, spetsnaz and VDV were to locate rebel positions and call in the gunships. There was no serious artillery available at the moment, so they had to do it this way. It would be arriving within a few days.. mostly BM-27's and 2S3's.

sometime that night,elsewhere on the island...

A spetsnaz squad stalked through the woods in the dark. They made little noise, as they inched their way to a cabin where they had reason to believe it was where another rebel cell had a printing press set, and maybe a recruiting center. They took positions around the house, camouflaging themselves into the terrain. Because they wanted to be sure of this, they would lay in wait until dusk and either attack or pull out then.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

OOC: Mind if I pause the train to ask if I'll be RPing the cabin as occupied by the 3 rebels?
^Won't be quite like that.