Brian gives the thumbs up sign, and continues forward.

The team is "deployed" from the submarine and gets their bearings in the topside. In the far distance are few dim lights demarcating the shoreline.

Brian occasionally surfaces to get a fix on their position and to check any resistance on their landing point. About 2km from shore, he sees two Russian-made UAZ's idling near the tideline. Near the vehicle are four men apparently taking a smoke break.

The team pushes forward to about 200m from the shoreline. Apparently the soldiers are taking their sweet-ass time puffing on their Russian cancer sticks.

Fifteen minutes go by as another UAZ pulls offroad and stops near the other two. Brian sees someone get out of the passenger side who then begins to shout (most likely in Korean) at the four soldiers. He's not quite sure what is being said, but from his military experience the guy is not singing them a lullaby.

The soldiers immediately put out their smokes and get into their vehicles. Everyone leaves within a matter of 30 seconds or so.

Brian gives the team the go ahead and they proceed towards shore. The beach is pretty rocky with as much gravel and stone as sand...certainly enough nooks and crannies to temporarily stow any unneeded gear.

(Edited by Dieter at 9:43 am on May 15, 2003)

Having stashed everything unusable on dry land, the team presses on towards the objective.

Kyun and Artis share turns at taking point. Thirty minutes go by with nothing more than a false alarm caused by a curious nocturnal woodland creature. The team is pretty sure they're getting close since there are obvious signs of worn paths in the thick terrain made by the occasional foot patrol.

One such patrol (2 men, 2 Akita guard dogs, is spotted by Artis approx. 100m up the path from their current position. They are curiously minding a burm of vegetation that is a bit out place for the surrounding topography.

Artis notifies the team of the principles and readies a beef jerky suicide charge for the puppies.

Moments later, one of the dogs (we'll call him D1) catches the scent of smoked cured cow anus in the air. It begins barking which eggs on the other hound (D2) to do the same. The guards (G1, G2) unshoulder their rifles, talk to eachother for quick second, with one of them heading down the trail being towed by the incensed dog.

At the pace the dog is setting, they will be at the jerky in under 20 seconds.

(OOC: That's 3 rounds to you and me)

Kyun wipes the sweat from his brow and changes the setting on his glasses to NV. He readies and braces the 9mm, concentrating on where the guards should appear into view.

Soldier and guard dog approach the placid hunk of dried beef as the team prepares their silenced weapons for a little *pwip* *pwip* action from the surrounding underbrush.

The soldier's flashlight pokes around in the neighboring area, picking out a peculiar hint of pale flesh in the otherwise green and brown wilderness.

Jess looks up at the halogen light shining straight at her forehead as a bead of sweat slides down the middle of her brow and off her nose...

FUCK!

Man's best friend begins to snarl intently as the soldier immediate yells ALARM! in some sort of North Korean dialect.

The team reacts accordingly, taking shots at the man and dog...hoping to somewhat diffuse the bad situation.

*PWIP* *PWIP* *PWIP* *PWIP* *PWIP* *PWIP* *PWIP*

Bullets tear through the foliage hitting dog and master with a lethal barrage of 9mm justice. The soldier and hound slump over in pools of blood as the guard's radio comes to life.

(Translated from Korean to English)

Jang Sun? What is the problem? I'm taking a leak. I hope you haven't stepped on a tripwire...again. Over?

As the collects the pilfered gear from the soldier, Kyun scrambles over to the radio. Instinctively, he grabs what appears to be the "talk" button...instead, he hits the panic button.

Damn Russian gear...this is NOT my fault. Way to screw the pooch on the first mission.

The triggering of the panic button is responded by a ubiquitous screech of an alert siren.

(Edited by Dieter at 3:12 pm on May 27, 2003)

Ayumi yelps.

"Baka, turn it off! Turn it the hell off!"

She goes into "guard mode," scanning the trees for any movement, AK at the ready.

"Fuckit, let's just move into the underbrush and towards the base. They're gonna be undermanned sending out patrols for us."

Carla grabs a trooper's AK and skulks off into the terrain.

Jess looks like she's about to lose it any second, but for the moment, runs after Carla.

Gatac

Soldiers begin to pour out of the hidden entrance like a circus clown car. The team crouches down in the underbrush taking a long second to appraise the situation. Those with NVGs can see at least a dozen half-dressed, yet heavily armed men coming their way and fanning out across the forest.

Most have flashlights, but it appears that is the limit of their detection capabilities.

As the team makes their move away from the scene, floodlights hung from the trees above illuminate a football field-sized area around the entrance.

Brian shakes his head.

"We're not equipped to fight a standing engagement, not against regulars. Shit, we don't have a squad worth of firepower. Fall back, provide covering fire, we'll approach another way."

"They know we're here, but not where. Let's pull back a little. They'll fan out in a standard SaD pattern. Longer we wait, less support they have at every point. Silenced weapons at first. Remember that 'avoid detection at all costs' part?" Carla moves silently through the underbrush, whispering half to herself as she moves. "Oh wait, I forgot what team I'm signed on with. From what I've heard, you guys turn every mission into a damn firefight."

"Well, not every mission" Brian grinned. "It was the explosives and the helicopter that had everyone worked up last time, not the bullets."

Brian carefully checks over the rifle, seeing that a round is chambered.

"Well, if we're going to make trouble, we might as well get on with it."

The team executes a flanking manuever to the northeast as the North Korean regulars push to the west. They get to almost due north of the clearing when the subtle whiz of tracer and bullet fire halts the team's advance.

Breaking into a staggered skirmish line covering nearly the breadth of the clearing's edge, the team establishes a kill zone and does just that.

In an orgy (heh, I used the word orgy) of bullets and shredded North Korean uniforms, the first rank of soldiers fall like combine going through of wheat. The remaining soldiers and dogs (5 soldiers, two with dogs), take cover whenever they can and return fire.

The underbrush surrounding the team is cut apart by Communist retorts of Kalishnikovs, but no hits were tallied for the home team.

The battle is going decidedly in favor of the Team when something terribly unexpected occurs.

A split-second flash of light is seen over the horizon as a large mushroom cloud fills the sky. It's probably 100 miles away, but getting below ground might be a wise thing for now.

(Assuming none of you wish to have the powers of Spontaneous Tumor Generation and Super Sterility)

The Team heads inside bunker to find the interior mostly abandoned and in slight disrepair. There are a few North Korean soldiers inside, but most of them seem preoccupied with the thermonuclear explosion that just went off.