An 8-man squad of ex-Special Forces, wearing body armor, was led by Chief Warrant Officer Wellington and St. Sgt. Perrault (both retired). They entered the beach on two rafts, divided into a 6-man entry team and a 2-man support team, rocket launcher operator Sgt. Phillip and loader/medic Doc Swanson from Tallahassee. The main team was to move in when they heard the Contras fire their machine gun, and the support team was to stay on the beach unless they heard additional gunfire from the main team's position.
Off-table to the south, the leader of the three Contras drove the truck and the other two manned the gun. The storm made the driver more nervous than he was already. They came within sight of the gate and the gunner gave the signal, but then the driver panicked and stopped the truck (bad roll on a vehicle reaction test). The two Sandy sentries at the gate opened fire, and one of them wounded the gunner. The assistant gunner dropped prone in the truck bed, and the driver ducked down in the cabin. They drew their pistols.
The XSF entry team ran between the hills, but one of them, Sgt. Maxwell, wasn't keeping up. "Maxwell, what's the problem?" asked squad leader Wellington.
"Suddenly not feeling so hot." The dice said he was suddenly sick and couldn't pass more than 1 die on a fast move roll. But they needed all hands on this dangerous mission.
St. Sgt. Perrault said, "I'll stick with him, sir."
"Let's keep moving," Wellington said.
They reached the road and 2nd Lt. Senn said, "Where's the truck?" They'd heard the machine gun but there was never a sound of a truck peeling down the road. They must've failed to enter the base.
The Sandy sentries approached the truck. They shot and wounded the assistant gunner but missed the driver, who was outgunned but managed to get out of the truck and flee into the base, out of sight. The sentries gave chase down the hill, but one was seen by the XSF team and was killed by Senn. The other ducked back behind the wall, off the table again. Renjel emptied his weapon during the exchange and had to reload.
"So much for stealth," Sgt. Hussey observed. He'd been granted stealthiness on the attributes rolls.
Phillip and Doc Swanson heard the gunfire and moved in to assist. Movement was heard around the base, and the team realized they may have stirred up a hornet's nest. Time to get a move on.
Suddenly a Soviet BMP-1 rolled into view from behind the warehouse. A chit pull found it to be crewed by Soviet VGs. "Phillip!" Wellington called.
"On it." Phillip could only see part of the vehicle, but he was good with an M72. He got a glancing hit, disabling the vehicle and causing the crew to abandon it.
As the team cheered, Senn observed through his NV goggles. "Those don't look like Sandies to me."
But then a squad of Sandies appeared behind the BMP, and at the same time a T-72 tank rolled out of the woods to their north. They wondered why all this activity was happening during a storm in the middle of the night in a quiet army base outside Tipitapa. Maybe the DoD was onto something.
"Damn! Hit the deck," Wellington ordered. He couldn't be sure they weren't visible.
The vehicles had headlights but could only see 12" under these conditions. And the enemy side got a bad activation roll on turn 2 and couldn't get in closer.
Phillip said, "Doc, hit me." But Swanson was already shoving another rocket into the M72. Phillip aimed and scored another glancing hit on the tank, with the same results as before.
The rest of the team fired on the Sandy squad behind the BMP. Wellington fired at the SL and ASL and wounded the latter. A couple of others were lightly wounded.
Doc Swanson said, "Sir, I'd like to go check on the Contras. They're probably hurt."
"Ok." The rest of the team regained their feet and regrouped behind the southeast hill, Maxwell and Perrault following a little behind the others.
Suddenly the Sandy squad appeared right in front of them, firing their weapons. Wellington and Renjel were hit, and it was obvious from the leader's throat wound that he was no longer with them. Renjel gripped his leg in pain. Hussey and Senn caught bullets in their flak suits but carried on. "Medic!" Perrault called.
Meanwhile, the surviving sentry at the gate returned to the table to chase down the Contra in his base. He fired his AK but missed. The Contra had nowhere to go and went to ground. He prayed.
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