DAY 15 – MAY 2nd 2000
SW of LUBLINIEC, POLAND – NIGHT
The group travels quickly in the dying light. BIANKA, who’s in front, doesn’t say much, rather points at where to go any time there is a change in direction. ALEX is right behind her, ready to translate what few words she utters, then LED, DONNA, and NASCAR closing the column.
Once they leave the trail and move through the forest, they close the distance between one another, so they can see where the previous person’s feet are and follow their steps.
Despite the growing darkness and the irregular terrain between tall trees and low bushes, BIANKA proceeds with confidence, as if able to project a beam of light in front of her. More than once someone in the group has to ask her to slow down, usually right after narrowly avoiding a fall.
Eventually, BIANKA stops, turns and briefly talks to ALEX.
“She says we are close, and this is a good place to show us what’s ahead”
They hear her rummaging in her backpack “włączam latarkę”
“She’s turning on a flashlight”
A small, yellow light appears close to the ground, partially masked by BIANKA’s hand. With the other hand she produces two pencils and a piece of paper from her pocket, unfolds it and puts it on the ground. It’s a hand-drawn map of the rocket base, which she proceeds to describe, closely followed by ALEX’s translation.
“This is where the Russians have their quarters, and we are approaching from the North, North-East. Metal fence all around, in bad shape, with multiple holes and points where it has collapsed”
“We’ve been told openings are mined” says LED.
ALEX reports the observation and then translates the answer “only the ones to the South, close to the main buildings. They didn’t have enough explosives for all of them. Here, here and here” he says as she points at three spots on the perimeter “we can enter”
LED takes one of the pencils from the ground “mind if I mark this?”
BIANKA nods and proceeds with her report.
“There are guard towers, but never manned at night, except the one to the South, which is next to an opening in the fence they use for entering and exiting the base. That is guarded at all times. At night there are two sentinels there, plus another in the tower”
“How do they get vehicles in and out?” asks LED.
“She says the main gate is always closed with a chain” translates ALEX “there is only one vehicle in the base, but they never move it and in the past week she has seen soldiers getting inside it only once”
“Good” comments LED, keeping the rest of his thoughts to himself.
“Three rocket silos on our side of the base, all abandoned, all un-guarded. Berms around them, good for hiding. On the far side are a depot, the barracks, where soldiers sleep at night, and the radar dish, which has been destroyed. Also an office building. Captain WALICH is held in a room on the first floor”
“How does she know?” asks NASCAR.
“Byłem w środku” she says after ALEX asks her in Polish “dwa razy”
“She’s been inside the base… twice”
All eyes are on BIANKA now, but she keeps her gaze on the map and proceeds. ALEX is quick to follow.
“At night they light a couple fires in front of the main buildings, have one sentinel on the roof of the barracks, and a two-men patrol going around the perimeter every two hours or so. The patrol walks close to the fence, and if they see anything suspicious, they report it on the radio”
“Report it to whom?” asks LED.
“She doesn’t know. Her guess is someone inside the barracks or office building”
“What makes her think that?”
“The other guards in the open don’t seem to carry radios, must be someone inside” translates ALEX.
“How long for a patrol to go around the perimeter?”
ALEX translates the question and BIANKA ponders briefly “piętnaście, dwadzieścia minut”
“Fifteen, twenty minutes” LED nods while processing all the intel “so we got one guy on the roof, three guys at their entrance of choice, one of whom is in the tower, two guys going ‘round the fence and possibly more inside”
“The Russian prisoner said there were 23 of them, including him” remembers ALEX.
“So there should be 22 here. Having seven or eight up at night is a bit much, but not unreasonably so”
“But if they raise the alarm the number goes up to 22, and fast” comments NASCAR.
“Yeah, we need a contingency in case that happens”
“So what? We get in, sneak to the building on the other side, snatch the guy and get out?” asks NASCAR a bit incredulous.
“You make it sound easy” says ALEX.
NASCAR points at BIANKA “no, she does. And why hasn’t she done it herself?”
ALEX looks at LED, who nods towards the woman, so he proceeds to ask her.
“Bo jestem sam” says BIANKA “I był księżyc”
“She was alone, and there was the moon”
“Was that Sinatra?” asks DONNA “is that from a Sinatra song?”
LED and NASCAR slowly turn towards the doctor “nah” they both say laconically after a brief pause.
“Dziś wieczorem jest ciemno” adds BIANKA.
“She says tonight is dark”
“Right” says NASCAR “and in about twenty minutes we won’t be able to see s**t”
“She said darkness would not have been an issue” says LED, and ALEX translates right after.
BIANKA lifts the flashlight just slightly and deposits the yellow bag in front of LED, then gestures at him to open it.
LED unzips the bag and from it produces two black boxes made of sturdy plastic. Opening the smaller one reveals a pair of Night Vision Goggles (NVGs). “Polish Army, standard issue” comments LED “and in good condition. Can only mount them on a Polish army helmet though” he adds looking at ALEX “guess it’s your lucky night”
ALEX knocks twice on his steel helmet.
The larger box contains an infra-red light, a boxy battery needed to operate one, a bag with a shoulder strap to carry said battery and the necessary cables.
Finally, from the bottom of the bag emerges a PM-84 submachinegun with its stock folded, two mags, and a knife. “So” says NASCAR “those are for seeing the enemy, and those are for making sure you’re the last thing he doesn’t see”
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
According to the Player’s Manual, page 129, NVGs allow night vision out to three hexes (30 meters), or up to five hexes (50 meters) when using the attached light, eliminating all modifiers to Ranged Combat and Recon due to darkness.
That’s going to come in handy.
I have already rolled a D6 for the weather during the night’s shift: fair weather persists. There will be no moon out, so the only source of natural light will be the stars. According to the table on page 60 of the Player’s Manual, a starlit night offers visibility up to 10 hexes (100 meters) with a -2 penalty for all RANGED COMBAT and RECON rolls.
Of course, if your target is actively illuminating himself, say by carrying a lit torch, there’s no RANGED COMBAT penalty when firing on him.
The PM-84 submachinegun is there to expand the variety of weapons my players have found so far, but I doubt they will employ it in this particular situation.
Looks like BIANKA has provided both the intel and the means to execute a night operation. Her recon and the NVGs can allow the players to side-step a few obstacles, and avoid going in blind (literally).
From a Referee’s standpoint: my players have already been in a hostage situation before, so the idea at play here was to make it different. Instead of punching through the enemies as quickly (and sometimes as loudly) as possible, they can now take the quiet approach, try to be nimble enough to remain unseen, and get out with the prisoner.
Yet the risk factor remains high, with the group facing 20+ potential hostiles inside their home. A careful approach will be preferable; we’ll see what enemies and dice have to say.