![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Company
Time: Saturday, January 29, 2011 (pre-dawn).
Place: Outside Irricana, Alberta.
Last Event: Fighting off a deadly raid on the farmstead.
With Alfred and JB dead, the six surviving Company personnel stealthily regroup in the barn-turned-armory, auto shop, and special-projects lab. Chaturvedi and Paul are in good shape, if shaken; Ben is sore and cut, but functional; Lev is slowed by a nasty graze; Klas is struggling to stay awake with a bullet in him; and Jili is bleeding and unconscious with life-threatening injuries. Everybody is careful to keep Alfred's heavily armored tractor unit between them and the front of the barn, which faces an armed helicopter and what remains of the assassins it delivered. While eight of the killers are down in the farmhouse – two verifiably dead, the other six as bad off as Jili – nobody believes for an instant that the attack is over.
After hastily weighing their options, the survivors conclude that they could do worse than to use Alfred's armored beast to escape. The problem is that there's no way it could transport six people – one of them severely injured – without a trailer. An alternative is to use it as a distraction . . . or even as a weapon. With little time for deliberation, everybody agrees to the latter and gets to work.
Lev sees to Klas' injuries, patching them up as well as he's able. The wounds need more than hasty first aid, but the team's remaining real medic – Ben – has his hands full treating Jili. Fortunately, Lev has dressed gunshot wounds in the past, while Klas has survived worse. Klas figures that as long as he stays still until he absolutely has to move, and then moves slowly, he'll be able to shoot if needed.
Ben's job is to stay in the storm cellar that Alfred turned into an armory – well-protected from the shooting that will doubtless occur when the truck moves out – and keep Jili alive. His first priority is to stop her bleeding. After that, he'll see about stabilizing her injuries. Paul helps Ben take Jili downstairs. Then Ben raids the supply lockers for medical gear. Luckily, Alfred was the prepared type; he stocked the place well, even if the equipment is mostly Cold War-era surplus.
Paul remains in the cellar in order to gather guns and ammo. He grabs two handguns for each of his teammates – figuring that nobody is going to have time to reload – and some extras for himself. He also fetches a satchel full of loaded FAL magazines that Klas and Lev stashed down there "just in case." Alfred wasn't the only one who believed in preparations.
While his Agents deal with blood and bullets, Chaturvedi gives Alfred's monster truck a quick once-over. He's no expert on vehicles or weapons, but he has been around both, and he spent months listening to Alfred talk about his project. He reports that Alfred repeatedly claimed that the tractor unit would resist battle-rifle fire, and was designed to ram barricades. It has about 25mm of hard steel armor in front, as well as armored doors, wheel guards, and fuel tanks; its weaknesses are narrow vision slits in the front and sides, and the wholly unarmored back (Alfred also said, "I need a trailer full of sand."). Other external features are firing ports in the doors, a dozen forward-facing halogen floods in armored cages, rear-facing exhaust pipes, and a powerful air horn. Inside are NASCAR-style five-point harnesses, a fire extinguisher, and an ominous red button labeled "Boost." Alfred was certainly thorough.
The decision is that Paul, being a decent driver and in good shape, will take the wheel, while Lev rides shotgun (or in this case, battle rifle). Their objective: Head straight for the helicopter, ram it if it doesn't get off the ground, and hopefully force the enemy onto the defensive. The two climb into the tractor unit and strap in. Chaturvedi passes them the satchel full of loaded rifle magazines and handguns, wishes them good luck, and then heads downstairs to see if he can assist Ben. Klas shoulders his rifle, sticks a few spare mags in his coat, and gets ready to provide sniper cover if needed.
Then Paul starts the engine on Alfred's beast, which he thinks sounds less like a prime mover than like a louder version of the FV603 Saracens he remembers from the Troubles. When he puts it in gear and hits the accelerator, the truck doesn't so much lurch into action as roll inexorably toward the barn door, which gives way like paper. Then the armored monstrosity begins its charge at the helicopter, picking up steam as it goes. Paul runs dark for the time being, figuring it would be wise not to give the enemy lights to shoot at – and to keep a blinding surprise for later. As soon as the vehicle is on its way, Klas sneaks out the back at a crawl, moving to a shooting position some distance from the barn.
It's only a second or two before the M134 in the helicopter door opens up. It spews a steady, glowing stream of fire, lighting up the truck and the barn behind it. Ben and Chaturvedi are suddenly very happy to be underground; Klas, to be safely off to one side. However, Alfred's work proves to be up to the challenge! The 7.62×51mm rounds spark like mad and make a racket like a hellish hailstorm – but while they knock loudly, they don't get in. Paul smiles grimly and floors it, homing in on the bright muzzle flash of the Minigun. With the ground frozen hard and wonderfully level, it's like driving on a highway.
Fearing that such dense fire could score a lucky hit, Klas decides to improve the odds for Paul and Lev. Aiming over iron sights at a point just above and behind the flare of the M134, he squeezes off a shot. The gun falls silent for a moment, then resumes shooting – albeit somewhat less steadily, as if the shooter were injured. Somewhere in the dark, an enemy sniper fires back, but he doesn't have Klas' position. Klas painfully relocates anyway, just in case.
Paul keeps trucking, the Minigun keeps shooting, and Klas keeps taking potshots at the gunner for what seems like an eternity, although in reality it's about a quarter of a minute. Eventually, Klas gets lucky, because all of the sudden, the door gun falls silent. The enemy sniper clearly can't locate Klas, who's staying low and displacing behind outbuildings and stumpy trees after each shot. At some point, Klas' rival either gives up in frustration or realizes that the truck is on a collision course with the helicopter, because he starts plugging away at the tractor unit. Lev picks out the telltale sound of periodic .50 Browning hits on the front left corner.
Aware that there's a heavy anti-materiel rifle in play, Lev urges Paul to step on it. That thing will eventually poke a hole in something vital – probably one of them! Paul needs no encouragement; he can see the helicopter's rotors starting to turn, and now they're picking up speed. He knows nothing about choppers, but he figures that if it was started warm and the crew is any good, it might just get off the ground and escape. After what they did to Jili, he isn't going to allow that. He hits the "Boost" button on the dash, despite not knowing what it does.
When Paul hits the button, the truck accelerates dramatically, pushing him and Lev back in their seats. With the Minigun out of commission, Chaturvedi is cautiously observing from within the remains of the barn. He sees flame erupt from Alfred's mad machine – perhaps the product of something injected into the manifold spewing half-burned out the rear-facing exhausts, or conceivably even some sort of rocket. Whatever it is, he snaps a photo for future reference.
A second or two before impact, Paul toggles the halogen lights; some are shot up, but several still work, and the side of the helicopter is lit up like day. At the same time, Lev reaches up and gives a long blast on the air horn. These intimidating measures serve their purpose – two of the helicopter's occupants leap to safety just in time to avoid the collision. Lev and Paul ignore the fleeing men and brace for impact.
The collision is noisy and dramatic! The truck plows into the chopper at between 60 and 70 kph (Paul isn't sure – he's protecting his head, not staring at the speedometer). The monster's heavy construction and armor serve it well; it stops with the engine running and the lights still on. And thanks to their harnesses, neither Lev nor Paul has anything worse than a few bruises. Then they raise their heads and squint out the vision slits to see how the helicopter fared . . .
In the glare of the floodlights, the chopper looks like it's in bad shape. It seems to have been pushed several metres and then tipped over before coming to a stop. As far as Lev and Paul can tell, the main rotor smashed into the ground on the far side, briefly bore the weight of the helicopter end-on, and then buckled. At any rate, the helicopter won't be taking off without some serious repairs, and anyone inside is certainly disoriented, and quite probably injured.
As Lev and Paul unbuckle and get ready to mop up, Klas gets back into action. Seeing two figures fleeing from the helicopter, fairly well-lit by the truck's lights, he takes a couple of shots. Both men go down. Once again, the enemy sniper shoots back across the field, but he can't find Klas.
Lev is well aware – from the earlier hits and now the shots at Klas – that the man with the .50-caliber rifle is somewhere off to the left and slightly behind the helicopter. He tells Paul to get out on the passenger side, and to keep the armored tractor unit between them and the shooter. Then Lev hops out and approaches the chopper at a low crouch, his rifle at the ready. Paul follows him, pistol in hand.
Because the helicopter is canted wildly onto one side, Lev can't simply hop in and start blazing away. He must clamber up and swing himself inside – and with a sniper watching, he has to be careful about it. In the end, he stands on Paul's shoulders, sprawls against the fuselage, and points his rifle into the vehicle. In the halogen glare, he sees two men in the passenger compartment, one bullet-riddled and unconscious (shot by Klas, Lev guesses), and the other messed up by the collision. Lev shows no mercy; he efficiently guns down the survivor.
Once the rear compartment is clear, Lev drops in and Paul swings himself up, taking care to stay flat and out of sight of the enemy sniper. Both men can hear noise from the cockpit: the beeping of alarms, somebody shouting on a radio, and the scrambling of the panicked aircrew fumbling with buckles and side arms in response to Lev's shooting. Lev motions for Paul to hang back and then turns his rifle on the bulkhead. Shooting full-auto, he unloads an entire magazine, ventilating everything forward of the passenger area.
As soon as Lev starts reloading, Paul springs into action. Leaning over the side of the cockpit entrance, now the bottom, he sees three crewmen in various states of injury – all tossed around by the collision, all clipped by Lev. He shoots one of them in the face. The others return fire but don't have much of a shot; mostly, they perforate the bulkhead. This proves to be Lev's bad luck, however – fragments of vehicle and bullet tear into his chest, giving him another injury (however minor) to worry about.
Paul keeps shooting, silences another enemy, and then drops back to check on Lev. As he does, he's grazed by a bullet from the last remaining crewman. Like Lev's injury, this one is thankfully minor, but it still hurts and will still need more of Ben's precious time. Lev, seeing Paul hit, grimaces, lurches forward, and moves to shoot back. Before he can do much, though, he's hit again. With two bullets in him, along with a collection of grazes and fragments, he can do little but slump down and fight for consciousness.
This leaves finishing the job to Paul. He ducks up one last time and plugs the last crewman, who joins the other two in a messy pile in the mangled cockpit. Then he does a quick check to make sure that the vehicle is secure. It certainly looks that way.
Paul returns to Lev and pulls him to his feet. The two slowly and painfully make their way back outside, again taking care to stay behind the cover of their armored truck. On reaching their vehicle, Paul clambers in and helps Lev aboard. Lev is in good enough shape to slam the door and buckle himself in, and tough enough to manage a twisted grin as he tells Paul what to do next: "Sniper is off to the left up there. We have to flush him out."
Realizing that Lev is entirely serious, Paul backs away from the wreck and points the truck's powerful lights in the direction Lev indicated. He doesn't see a sniper, but he does see two sets of footprints in the sprinkling of new snow on the ground. Without further ado, he hits the accelerator and drives down the trail, blasting the horn and flashing the lights in an effort to intimidate the enemy into action. Klas, who returned to the barn after seeing the truck start up again, notices the commotion and moves to support Lev and Paul, but his wounds get to him and he passes out.
Suddenly, Paul just barely catches sight of two figures in winter camouflage moving to the right. He veers toward them, hoping to run them down, while Lev fights his pain and gets ready to shoot. However, the men on foot have a head start and are moving onto the rough ground at the edge of the property; Paul spins out as a result, denying Lev any kind of shot. A second pass also misses – but Lev doesn't. As the vehicle fishtails past the enemy, Lev kicks open the door and lets one of them have it in the back with a burst from his rifle.
By now, the surviving half of the sniper team is almost to the ditch between the field and the highway. Paul knows he has one last go at the man before he escapes – because as tough as Alfred's truck may be, it won't be going anywhere if he drives it into a rocky gully. Bringing the tractor unit around for a final pass, he steps on the accelerator and takes a final run at the fleeing assassin. As the saying goes, the third time's the charm. Paul's quarry is squashed like a bug.
With that, Paul turns around and heads back to the barn, Lev now passed out in the passenger's seat. When Paul hops out, dragging Lev, Ben shows up and explains that he has Jili's bleeding under control. The good news is that while she had a close call, the two bullets didn't punch holes in her heart. The bad news is that she had a close call involving bullets passing close to her heart and aorta. She needs real surgery, and while Ben thinks he can do what needs doing, it won't be easy without proper equipment – like, say, a surgical theater. And then there's the matter of Klas and Lev, both with multiple bullets in them.
Come dawn, the butcher's bill is horrendous: Six attackers are almost surely dead (two shooters in the farmhouse, the man Paul ran down, and the three flight crew), while eleven are incapacitated (six indoors and five outdoors). Meanwhile, the Company has lost two people (Alfred and JB) and has a third at death's door (Jili), while two more are unconscious (Klas and Lev) and another two are banged up (Ben and Paul). Only Chaturvedi is basically unscathed. It's down to Ben to save lives and Paul to drive everyone the heck out of here aboard the old bus.
no subject
no subject
At this stage, the Agents' best bet would be to get word to Darmstadt and have the powerful German biomedical company intervene in some way.
no subject
The only character who has died so far (in a campign which can be quite dangerous) is that of a player who has left the campaign.
I always wonder after reading this logs how much the characters survival is down to good players versus powerful characters and if they answer is somewhere in the middle which side it leans toward.
no subject
Although that wasn't by design! Given that the group that was attacked consisted of NPCs and inactive PCs, the odds of any active PC dying in that attack were of course zero. However, I rolled the dice in front of the players for everything, including rolls for "Whose room is nearest the stairs?" and surviving injury. The odds favored JB surviving, not Jili – Jili isn't half as tough. But JB's luck ran out. :/
I always wonder after reading this logs how much the characters survival is down to good players versus powerful characters and if they answer is somewhere in the middle which side it leans toward.
None of my players are soldiers or spies, but they're all smart and good roleplayers. When they see "Guns," "Tactics," etc. on their character sheets, they ask, "Can I roll against this for a clue?", or, "What can I do with this?" The PCs being powerful, they usually have skills that apply, mostly at high levels, so they get useful answers out of me – the PCs would know this stuff. And then being smart, the players use the information to effect . . . whereupon the PCs' power level kicks in once again, because the effect is rather impressive. They have exceptional alertness (high Per, lots of Acute Senses, good Observation, etc.), stealthiness, and combat ability, and overlapping competencies (everybody has lots of secondary skills that back up others' primaries).
There's also the fact that most of the active PCs have Luck, which we view as "being good enough and cautious enough to catch errors at the last moment." Of course, Luck is usually one-shot in such situations, but it often helps blunt deadly surprises (like ambushes), and the players are unnervingly shrewd about holding Luck until it will save their bacon. Among the NPCs and inactives in the recent attack, though, only Alfred, Chaturvedi, and Paul had Luck – and Alfred still bought the farm.
Finally, our social contract is that when the PCs are far more competent than the players in some area, the group is allowed a few minutes of stop time to discuss strategy, and then we resume the action and let the PCs execute the strategy as if they had thought it up. Again, the PCs have the skills and skill levels to justify this. However, it wouldn't be a useful concession if the players weren't good at coming up with plans.
So it splits down the middle, but I'd say that the players make the difference.
no subject