“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.

Sunday, October 1st, 2000 -0830hrs.
On the western outskirts of Nowy Huta, Poland
55 F
Clearing Fog, Visibility 75-200m

The Ural slowly and cautiously pushes east along the road. The trees that bordered the road for the past three kilometers have thinned out considerably, giving way to the abandoned, burned out remains of suburban sprawl. Up ahead the cracked and twisted concrete and steel carapace of the once proud industrial city of Nowy Huta can be glimpsed through the thinning mist, bearing silent testament to the horrors of modern nuclear war.

The Ural slows and turns right on to an unmarked dirt road. This road is even more poorly maintained than the last, with alternating stretches of washboard ridges and deep, water filled chuckholes. The fog is a bit heavier here, further from the highway. You pass through a stretch of fire-blackened woods, victims of the flash fires that followed in the wake of three 20 kiloton nuclear airbursts that leveled most of Nowy Huta. After five or so minutes of bone-jarring progress, Uller points towards the chopped-off stub of a medieval looking spire thrusting out of the fog.

“That is the Abbey. We are close.”

As you near, you can make out the gothic lines of a decrepit Cistercian Abbey, Adam’s base of operations for the last several months. An armed man can be seen keeping watch from under a tarp in the remains of the Abbey’s low bell tower. He gives the truck a curt wave as it drives by. The truck continues on past the Abbey and winds its way south towards a low hill atop which can be seen a crude and poorly camouflaged watch tower. Uller waves again, presumably at whoever is stationed there. As you round the edge of the hill, he speaks, “This hill is called the Tumulus of Wanda. There is a legend that a Polish queen drowned herself in the river here instead of marrying a German prince. Stupid bitch…”

The truck passes the hill on the right and the landscape begins to drop steeply. The track passes through more bare trees, although these were spared blast damage since they lay in the shadow of the hill. Looking down over the railing, you can see the Vistula below, gray in the diffuse morning light. The truck descends slowly along the narrow and muddy path winding its way through the trees before finally pulling to an abrupt halt in a flat, open space, close to the low bank of the river. The clearing has been denuded of surface vegetation by the passage of many feet and vehicle tires. Currently, it is a bit soggy due to the recent rains.

A large camouflage net is hung high in the naked trees, presumably to hide the tug from the shoreward side. Various tools and crates lie among piles of filled sandbags under a blue tarp set up on the edge of the clearing. A small pier, constructed of plywood and two-by-fours laid over floating 55gal. drums protrudes from the shore line. And there, black hull and white superstructure rising proudly up from the swirling, brown river, is your new home and place of business for the foreseeable future…

Adam pops from the driver-side door and says proudly, “There she is! The Wisla Krolowa- my Vistula Queen. She is beautiful, no?”

OOC: This is the time to begin discussing modifications (up arming and armoring) to the Queen, berthing arrangements, watches and duty stations, what to do with the prisoner, etc.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:25, Thu 14 June 2007.

As they walk back toward the truck after the call to bring to it, John will speak in low tones to the gunny.


"Guns, Cpl. Yazzie, 5th Mardiv, 5th Recon Battalion, Company A, Direct Action Platoon. I have your back. Us Marines have to stick together."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:55, Thu 14 June 2007.

Tucker is a little embarrassed that he has to lay down on his stomach for the remainder of the ride to the ship but, he knows that he'll catch hell from Anneka is he doesn't comply.  He makes the most of his duffle bag and MOLLE pack to make the trip as comfortable as possible until they reach the Vistula River and Old Adam's boat.

Upon hearing Uller make his comments about the abbey and wave to his fellow companions, Tucker disregards his comments and just wants to get out of the back of the Ural feeling a bit more uncomfortable after the slow, bumpy ride.  Tucker happily slides out the back of the truck as easily as he can once the persons in front of him have gotten out as well.  He slides his pack and his duffel bag to the rear of the vehcile and leaves them there for the time being until he's told where to stow his items.

"She's a welcome sight Captain!  She looks like she's in damn good shape too," Tuck says to Adam when he comments on his boat.  "Where would you like us to stow our gear Captain?"

Hopping out of the truck and looking at his new temporary home he smiles.  Cleaning off the lens of his camera he levels it up and takes several pictures, one of which being a close up of the name of the boat.  Then he takes a couple of the abbey and a couple up the river.  Looking at the counter he notices he only has three pictures left on the roll so he spins around and takes the last three of the group of soldiers of the security team and the Captain.  As he begins to rewind the film in the camera he walks back to the truck,  "Let me know if I can help loading the Krolowa."

[NPCed]

"Thanks Cpl. Semper Fi. I'll do the same for you. Remember though, we're all gonna need to get along and work well together to survive this little cruise. You should probably start to get to know some of the others. I think some of 'em don't even know your name."

After a moment he adds, "And Cpl., what's the deal with keeping those teeth? I thought you Ind... -Native Americans- had a thing about the remains of the dead."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:57, Thu 14 June 2007.

"Thank you." Adam responds, beaming at the Queen. "You can leave your personal gear in the passageways until we know where you will be. But, you Mr. Tucker, should not be carrying your own baggage with that injured leg. I will get someone to carry it for you. Uller!"

Uller scowls down from the back of the Ural.

"Ha-ha-ha! He does not like the jokes, sometimes." continues Adam, ammused at his own.

Then he shouts something in Polish towards the tug, presumably to the crew at work there. Several heads pop up from hatches and doors, surveying the newcomers wearily.

"Those are my crew. They are good men. I will introduce you." he says, addressing everyone.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Thu 14 June 2007.

Snowy's spent the ride watching the prisoner, he's swapped his weapon over for an evil looking tactical remington 870P shotgun, and good naturedly hassling Bluey about leaving the UAZ 469 behind.

"Honest mate, it was the pimp-mobile from hell, we shoulda kept it. Even you could score with that cool looking truck! That is, of course, if the girls couldn't see in."

When they arrive, Snowy stows his weapon and helps the prisoner to the ground. He looks around and says to the man "(Polish) Sit over there. Do not move. You will not be harmed." He cuffs him to something large and immoveable with his other cuffs, and ensures he's comfortable. Then he moves anything remotely useful in an escape from his radius of reach.

Going back to the truck, he slides his pack out and sits it next to Bluey's and Max's packs. Keeping an eye on the prisoner, he says "Awesome! A tug!"

In low tones to the gunny as they walk.

"All tribes are differnt. We respct our dead. But we have and will contiue to take parts of others dead. Scalps and other things. Iam using this to eat.When times get hard gold pays the bills. Yea i might say hi but i dont or wont talk unless i have something good to say."


On the truck ride to the tug John will keep watch with his weapon outboard. Once they reach the camp he will dismount and follow the gunny's moves and actions.

The throbbing roar of the Ural echoed loudly in the quiet as it came into view.  Black smoke from the alcohol-burning engine belched out the exhaust stack into the morning sky as the truck down-shifted through some boggy patches.  It finally came to a shuddering halt in the muddy clearing, Vaailek

Dressed in Polish battledress green beret, Dawid stood up from where he was huddled on an ammo crate, smoking.  Beside him was a camouflaged Polish Army pack and beside that a PKM GPMG resting on its bipod.  He sauntered over to the truck, noting the bullet holes in front and the towed mortar in behind.  Smiling, took a drag from his cigarette and then called out in Polish,

"Adam, you old river rat!  A Vasilk!  I told you you'd find something good if you looked hard enough in Krakow, but this is great!"

He walked around to the rear of the truck to get a better look at the towed mortar, also eying the foreign mercenaries, then stopped short when he saw the prisoner.

In good English he said, "I'm Dawid.  I'll be running that beast you got there.  Who's this guy?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Thu 14 June 2007.

[NPCed]

"Fair enough, Corporal." Gunny replies, unloading his own gear from the Ural.

Snowy looks him over and nods. "I'm Snowy, this is Bluey and Max. And this here is an EPW who met us with a hasty ambush on the way. We're trying to think of some way of processing him properly without doing him a disservice, he was only doing his job and bouncing NATOs."

"That's an offer I can't pass up Captain!  I appreciate it," Tucker says to Adam as he waits for his gear to be taken to the ship and stowed away.  He gingerly limps over to where the Aussie's are with the EPW.  "So, what's our friends deal here gentlemen?  He got anything good to say about why he attacked us?"

In seeing the Polish soldier come forth from the boat, "I'm Tucker.  Nice to meet you Dawid.  You're English is pretty good, you've been to the states before or did you learn it here?"

"Dunno Tuck, says he was an an anti-marauder patrol. Adam says he tried to bounce him a few days ago, but I dunno if he saw the guy's face or anythin'. Looks like he's a bona fide EPW, maybe we could run a swap with a Polish unit and get one of ours back."

He grins, and adds "they probably wouldn't wanna come with what we're up to!"

"Anti-Marauder patrol?  Are you shittin' me?  This guys supposed to be protecting us yet, he thought it would be wise to attack honest business people, well as honest as you're going to get in this day and age at least!

I don't know Snowy, whataya think?  You believe his story?  Ask him what he thinks we should do with him," Tucker says to one of the translators.

"Nope, I think he's feeding us a line of crap. The fact is though, we're close enough to NATO that he was in fact doing the right thing by shooting us up, even if it was for their own reasons. There's been no official cessation of war and they're under no requirement to check IDs before firing. I can't think of anything wrongs he's done, and he even shot me mate in the head."

Parks grabs his gear and stows to part way to the tug for now. Turning to Yazzie, Parks looks him over a second. "You still have my spotting scope. Right?" Parks raises an eyebrow in mock suspicion, then takes the clip out of his SVD and reloads the single round he expended. Slapping the full clip back into place he carefully leans the rifle against his pack.
   Motioning Yazzie to follow, Parks walks back to the truck to see what's going on at the mortar. Parks looks over Tuck "How's the leg? No disco night for you for a while." Parks says with a half grin that leaves his face as soon as he turns to look at the prisoner. "We need to cut him lose or dump him. I don't like him hanging around for no reason." Parks grabs a canteen from his belt and offers it to the prisoner then looks around at the scattered gear. "Lets get our gear aboard and stowed then have a look see. We have alot to go over before we're underway. Anyone know when the Captain plans to launch?"

Snowy turns to Parks "It'll be a while yet. Bluey and I wanna weld up a naval style barbette for the vasilek to give the gunners some cover. That'll take a day. I do notice there's a lot of empty sandbags gere too!"

Grinning and shaking hands, Dawid dug out a crumpled packet of cigarettes from a breast pocket with the name Jablco and the picture of an apple on it, offering it around.  The one he was smoking was filter-less, with a strong evil-smelling tobacco.

He answered Tuck's question, "I learned English from my grandfather.  When I was a child, we wanted to go to the west because things were so bad here before the war.  Now, I don't think it makes a difference where you are."  He smiled and shrugged as if to say, and so it goes.

Listening to the debate on the "EPW", he walked over to squat down beside the prisoner, carefully placing own his cigarette between the man's lips.  The man gratefully drew a lungful of smoke, then exhaled.

"Gentlemen.  I have three things to say.  One, there are no NATO soldiers operating around here and thus there are no patrols looking for them, so that part of his story is completely false."  He spoke with emphasis,  "Two, he was part of a recent bandit raid that I helped fight off.  I got a good look at his face and I personally recognise him.  He is a vicious murderous criminal, nothing more.  He's also not Milicja or Army, so he is not considered an "Enemy Prisoner" under the Geneva Conventions of War, and the Army will not make a trade with you because you're Americans.  I know this."

He seemed completely sincere and concerned.

Still squatting, he continued, "third, with all due respect, if he's let go in any way he will lead whoever he can back to this settlement, raping and killing everyone here.  Other bandits, the Army, the Milicija, even those ZOMO fuckers.  It won't matter, he'll find other rats just like him and they will come and they will kill everyone."

With that, he quickly drew a Tokarev pistol from a belt holster, charged it, placed the muzzle against the man's head and pulled the trigger.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:56, Fri 15 June 2007.

Seeing the Pole pull his weapon and shoot an unarmed prisoner, Blue pulls grabs his rifle and levels it at him. "Drop the weapon, mate.  I'm no murderer but I'll shoot you if you don't drop your gun and put your hands behind your head." Blue says in a low quiet voice.  "Snow, you're the expert- what do we do now?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:47, Fri 15 June 2007.

Snowy's standing next to the prisoner and is probably splattered with brains.

"You FUCKER!" he shouts and wrenches out his pistol.

"DOWN! NOW, DOWN, on the ground! Talk, move, do anything and you're a dead fucker! Lose the gun."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:09, Fri 15 June 2007.

The man's explosive dying breath propelled the cigarette out of his mouth, and it landed in the mud in front of him.

Staring at the man slumped beside him, Dawid paused for a moment, seemingly shocked at his own actions.  Finally hearing the yells and comprehending the guns pointed in his face, he threw the Tokarev off to the side, then lowered himself down on the ground and crossed his hands behind his neck, not offering any resistance.

On the ground, he couldn't take his eyes off the cigarette butt smouldering centimetres away from his face.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:53, Fri 15 June 2007.

Konrad had patiently waited for the rest of the group to exit the rear of the Ural and was just dropping to the ground when the prisoner was shot.

"Holy shit, what the fuck was that for??"

Following the lead of Blue and Snowy, Konrad quickly brings his rifle to bear on the Polish soldier.

"OK guys, lets get Adam up here, he seemed to know this guy"

Always one to assist a team mate in need, Joost had grabbed Tuck's ruck as well as his own sea bag and proceeded to load their gear aboard the Krolowa.  He hadn't figured out where to stow it quite yet, but figures the posturing over accomodations would pick up right where it left off before the ambush in short order.

After conducting a cursory inspection of the stern in the area of the rear cargo hold hatch, Joost reaches into a shirt pocket under his open flak jacket and produces a slightly bent hand-rolled cigarette.  He places it between his lips, then pulls a dulled chrome Zippo lighter from the same pocket.  He cups his hands close to his face to shield the incipient flame against the light breeze as he achieves ignition.  He takes a long, slow drag from the cigarette as he replaces the lighter in his breast pocket.

Joost stands on the deck of the Krolowa facing the shore and observes the fresh-faced Polish artilleryman as he lectures the Aussie contingent on the relative merits and applicability of the Geneva Convention.  He rolls the sleeves of his fatigue blouse up past his elbows and eyes the pile of empty sandbags stacked on the makeshift pier.

Having been detained, beaten, interrogated and tortured in enough long forgotten military prison cells in more dank and desolate hellholes than he cares to ever remember, Joost knows the Geneva Convention to be a contrivance of a supposedly enlightened society designed for the benefit of its politicians.  Over the course of his career in mercenary service to the French government, Joost grew to understand the importance of letting the diplomats and statesmen feel better about themselves as they made their preparations to send guys like him off to fight their battles in the barren windswept deserts and steaming unnamed jungles of distant shores.

Although he was always eventually repatriated, he logged far too many months as a prisoner of war - as soldiers in that situation were referred to in his era - to question that the so-called international laws of combat were as optional as they were illusory.  He appreciates the sheer irony of debating the "rules" of war against the looming backdrop of this former foundry town - now reduced to a molten slag heap due to a trio of low-yield thermonuclear detonations.  Rules indeed.

His mind had begun wander and he considers his accumulated radiation dosage as he imagines the background count wafting off the still smoldering crater that looms beyond the docks.  His calculation of radioactive half life, strained even with the use of his fingers, is suddenly interrupted by the execution of the prisoner.  A not entirely surprising resolution to that encounter, Joost smiles to himself and nods in silent approval.  The Mexican stand-off now brewing between Team Oz and Dave the Pole was somewhat less expected.  Joost assesses the tactical situation and opts for a defusal.

He takes another long drag off the cigarette pinned between his teeth and struts with a purpose toward the pile of empty burlap sacks.  "Alright ladies," Joost commands as he claps his hands and grabs a shovel, "These bags aren't gonna fill themselves!"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:29, Fri 15 June 2007.

Hearing the shot Wayne reflexively ducks dropping his pack.  He spins around to see the prisoner slump to the ground having been executed.  All that could come out of his mouth was a simple but quiet, "Holy shit."

Somewhat catching his composure he grabs his camera and finishes reloading it with a fresh roll of film.  He brings it up and snaps a couple of shots of the stand-off between the men he had seen fight in combat and the executioner.

John watches the stand off and then the shot. He will shurg his shoulders and walk towards the sand bags that need to be filled. He will drop his pack next to them and place his AK-47 on top of it with the muzzle to the sky. Not caring about the arguement and the gunplay he will start to fill sand bags with the African.

"John's my Name , Marine Corps. Do you want me to hold or shovel? I dont see a sand bag table so we will do it the hard way I guess. "

After a few seconds, John faces the Gunny.

"Guns, what's our play in this? I will follow you, just say the word."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:45, Fri 15 June 2007.

"Don't feel too bad, he shot me in the ass!  I don't buy his story for shit.  Let's keep him under wraps at least until we leave.  We could always take him with us and drop him off up stream at some point," Tucker says to Snowy.



"Nah, no dancing for a couple of days I guess Gunny.  I suppose I'll just have to work on my Fall tan," Tucker says jokingly back to Parks.

<quote Joost van den Haas>Always one to assist a team mate in need, Joost had grabbed Tuck's ruck as well as his own sea bag and proceeded to load their gear aboard the Krolowa.  He hadn't figured out where to stow it quite yet, but figures the posturing over accomodations would pick up right where it left off before the ambush in short order.
quote>

"Thanks Joost.  Hey, do you mind if I borrow your lighter for a minute?  I was saving this for when we got here and now seems to be a good time," Tucker says as he produces a cigar from a pocket from one of his packs.  He cuts off the end of the cigar with his knife and lights it up with Joost's lighter, handing it back to him when he's done.  "Thank you my good man!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:44, Fri 15 June 2007.

Tucker nods his head to the Polish soldier, "Nope, I don't think it does matter anymore where you are.  I hear it's pretty shitty all over the world right now," he says waving off the offer of a cigarette from Dawid.



Tucker listens to the Dawid go on through his evaluation of the subject on the EPW/non-EPW and before he can get out the comment of how does Dawid know this guy is a bandit and does he have any proof, the Tokarev pistol comes out and drills a hole into the prisoners head, dropping him like a sack of dead weight to the moist ground.  Tucker stands back and looks at the still smoking gun and his companions weapons come to bear on the Pole telling him to drop his weapon.  He can see that the two Australians are not happy right now and more bad feelings might be soon to follow.

Tuck walks over to the Russian pistol laying on the ground and secures it by removing the magazine and stripping the round from the chamber.  He looks at Dawid with some disdain, "Umm, not for nothing but, that wasn't very cool, stupid!  I don't know how you're used to operating but, if you haven't noticed, that's not how we're gunna do shit!  You say he was a bandit, fine!  Show us some proof and I'll give you the bullets for the gun myself!  I wanted to shoot the asshole myself for shooting me but I, we, could've came up with a little more creative shit than giving the guy's brain an air conditioning unit!  Follow what I'm saying here?"

Tucker thinks back to when he told Milks in the field that if he had to kill any wounded to do it and move on just after the ambush.  Was he any different than this Polish guy?  Hell yeah!  The Polish guy beat him to it!
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:40, Fri 15 June 2007.

Old Adam jumps as the unexpected pistol shot shatters the still morning air. He turns to see the ZOMO prisoners drop heavily to the ground. The smoking Tokarev in Dawid's hand told him everything he needed to know.

He walks over to where Snow and Blue are securing Dawid in the mud and shouts at his prone countryman in Polish,

[Private to Anneka Soleblume; Dawid Waldus Piotrowski; Joost van den Haas: "WHat in the hell did you do that for?!? This is all we need right now. Do you know how difficult it was to find these people?!? For God's sake man, that was foolish. Just cooperate with them and don't do anything else foolish; I will try and get you out of this."]

Then his turns his eyes to the two Australians and addresses them in placating tones,

"Gentlemen, please! Do not do anything hasty, as my countryman here has done." He gives Dawid another cross look before continuing, "That was a wrong action, yes. But that prisoner was a bandit. His group attacked the abbey just a few days ago. They attacked us on the road too, without warning. They could not have known for certain you were NATO. We could have been ORMO, Polish Army, Russians, or civilians- they would have attacked us still! That does not excuse the killing, of course, but this situation is not the... 'normal' course of lawful war. Please, we need him- he is my expert on cannons. I will take personal responsibility for him. He will be punished somehow but please, release him."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Fri 15 June 2007.

Dawid lay there, waiting.  In light of Tuck addressing him directly and Adam's getting involved, Dawid decided to chance punishment by asking, "may I be allowed to speak, please?"

Finished with his shots Wayne grabs his pack and tosses it over his shoulder.  He takes a couple more of the tug and the men standing around.  "Seems the Captain needs a murderer as part of his crew.  I haven't been paid to be here so I think I'll take my leave and head back to Krakow.  I'm not going to step foot on a ship that needs a cold blooded murderer as part of it's crew."

Wayne will turn and start past everyone and toward the road.  As he passes the situation he'll give his two cents not that it's worth much these days, "Doesn't matter to me if you killed him too.  He's no different than the guy he executed.  Good luck to you guys and watch your back around the Captain and that piece of trash."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:31, Fri 15 June 2007.

"Hold up Wayne," says Snowy, still staring owl eyerd over the sights of his glock at Dawid's face. His face is white with anger. "We'll see how this goes. Have you got him Bluey? I have to take the cuffs off this bloody corpse."

Stepping back, Snowy ignores everyone but those involved in the arrest. He does spare Adam an opaque glance that says nothing. He holsters his loaded weapon and quickly strips the cuffs off the dead ZOMO. Stepping up to Dawid, he roughly grabs his hands and snaps the cuffs on him behind his back.



"I don't care if he just snuffed Adolf Eichmann," barks Snowy. "Judge Dredd here just decided that he has the sole power of guilt and innocence in the world, right in front of my eyes and on MY prisoner." Snowy finishes cuffing him and casts a baleful stare at the soldiers ambling off to the tug and spits on the ground, then turns back to Adam. "What's the difference in that if he decided that rape and slaughter is a cool hobby? Nothing. That was murder sunshine, plain and simple. That EPW was looking at a bullet from the Krakow ORMO anyway, but he would have had the circumstances of his crime investigated. Just because he was a 'bad guy' is crap. I'm very suss about people who shoot wounded, restrained and unarmed men. They fit the description they projecte on their victims pretty well."



"If you do, you'd better realise that I'll be recording everything you say for later when you get the justice your victim didn't get."

Clarence was walking along the rickety makeshift pier carrying his pack and his duffel when the pistol shot rang out. He flinched at the sound, almost dropping his gear in the drink. He deposits his bags on deck, and then returns to be part of the 'jury' gathering around the Polish soldier who'd been sitting under the tarp when they'd arrived. It's not hard to guess what just happened.

Man, this is one fucked up morning- and I aint even had breakfast yet...

He stands nearby, listening quietly to the debate that's developing within the party. After Snowy finishes his piece, Clarence speaks up. He's hesitant to become another cook in this messed up stew but he feels he has a responsibility to share the information with the others.

"I don't know if this will make any difference to anybody but when I was searching one of them ZOMO bodies, I found a pair of pliers and few teeth in the dude's ammo pouch. I doubt  he was some kind of dentist. Just thought everybody should know."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:08, Fri 15 June 2007.

From his position Dawid looked over at Snowy, raised an eyebrow, then turned and addressed Adam.  "This jackal was with the ZOMOs that attacked us.  I recognise him.  They had a jeep, a ZOMO riot wehicle, wery distinctiwe.  Soldiers don't take gold teeth.  Police don't take gold teeth."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:18, Fri 15 June 2007.

Snowy shakes his head and looks skyward.

"You just don't get it, do you?" He looks down at Dawid and says slowly "didn't your officer ever say anything to you like 'mate, don't go around killing unarmed, restrained prisoners? It's just a bad idea'? If you'd just shot Hitler it wouldn't matter, the matter is that you have murdered someone. An illegal killing. If you're not a soldier, and you're dressed like one, then you're a civilian. Civillians have no right to kill people, that's what soldiers are for. If you're a soldier, then you cannot shoot prisoners, whoever they are or whatever they've done unless it's been sanctioned by a proper military court. There's a bloody court a few klicks up the road in the Krakow rynek. Don't you understand?"

Dawid looked from Adam to Snowy, endured the lecture with a look of blank incomprehension on his face, then turned back to Adam without saying a word.

Wayne stops and turns around when he hears Snowy's call to hold up.  Then after hearing some of the others talking he chimes in yet again, "And I guess pulling gold teeth justifies a bullet to the head here in good ole Poland.  To me what he just did justifies a bullet more than what the dead man ever did."

Wayne sighs then continues, "If the Captain didn't need this piece of trash I'd say put a bullet in his head and we move on.  However, the Captain says he nees him and the Captain is ultimately the man in charge here as you all are under his employ.  And as much as I hate to say it,  I don't think anyone here really has police authority in this country.  So what you are doing you are doing of your own accord."

Shrugging, "This might be one of the situations where we'll have to suck this up and just keep one eye on him until he gets himself killed.  Cause I seriously doubt that any of us are going to be watching his back."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:51, Fri 15 June 2007.

Listening intently to the ensuing debate, Joost leans against his shovel and pipes up to the Aussie with the handcuff fetish, "Hey, Snowcap, what do you care about a little Pole on Pole revenge killing anyhow?"

He points to the corpse lying in the mud.  "Seriously.  That was no choirboy who was shooting at us back in that pasture.  And knock it off with all that Dudley Do-Right 'rules of war' crap, won't ya?  Take a look around.  This isn't a war anymore, mate - war's been over for a while.  This is survival.  And who are you, the fucking United Nations?  Are you the tribunal?  Are you the law?  I don't recall the Poles inviting any peacekeepers in to help them mop up."

Opening his hand and gesturing toward Dawid, Joost continues to chide the Australian policeman.  "Look mate, this simply isn't your fight.  We just work here.  I think you need to remember that.  We're guests in this man's country." He then points in the direction of the twisted and melted landscape beyond.  "Or at least what NATO was kind enough to leave of it."

He shakes his head, mutters something to himself under his breath and goes back to his shoveling.

"Bullshit"

Snowy looks over at Joost with disgust written on his face.

"Just because you're a French baby killer doesn't make you tough Joost, it makes you weak. Because we're out of contact with command doesn't mean we're out of control. Guest? Crap, you guys have this whole thing arse about. And if you think killing prisoners is making this place better, you're dumber than you sound. Losing control makes the place worse."

"If you wanna opt out of the war, civillian, do so. But remember, you're not a soldier any more, you're just security guard and you don't get input into big boy matters. If you want to stay a soldier, try and act like one."

He raises his voice and says loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"Here's the question, and then I've said my peace. Who here still considers themselves a soldier? If an officer of your army was to turn up right now, with contact to command, and gave you a valid order -  would you obey it? That's the line in the sand, you're either still in or you're out. I'm still in, and I follow the rules of war. If you lot wanna go downriver killing and looting, do it without me."

"Soldier?  No.  Not anymore you're not."  Joost stops shoveling again to quietly and deliberately respond to the Australian.  "You and the rest of your rugby team here didn't sign on to this cruise for the chance to float the Australian flag downriver for Queen and country.  You're a hired gun now - a fucking mercenary.  Just like everyone else standing on this beach.  Get over yourself, mate."

Joost pauses to reflect and scrubs a leathery palm against his three-day beard.  "It hurts less if you don't fight it.  Trust me on this."

"Mate, shut the fuck up. I for one haven't betrayed my oath.  I'm still a soldier and will be until I turn in my stripes.  Ol Adam here is a means to an end, not the other way around."  says Bluey having kept silent up till now.  "Even if the whole world's gone to shit, doesn't mean I have to sit on my arse and let it stay that way."

Nods as he listens to the arguement then asks to no one inparticular, "Anyone mind if I take one of the AK's with a couple mags?  I definately ain't sticking around this bunch."

Then waving a hand he changes his mind, "Never mind, safer going unarmed... unless I run into the likes of our executioner.  Then I might get shot cause I look like some guy that raided some abbey.  The Aussies are the only one's making any sense.  We have a murderer and some wanna be merc who probably never had a loyalty to anything but his own ass.  Screw this, I am safer on my own."

With that Wayne starts past the truck not caring to listen to any more, then he stops.  "Awe, fuck it." He turns and heads along the shoreline in the direction the tug would head eventually when the circus ended.

Tucker sticks the unloaded Tokarev pistol into his web belt and pockets the loose round and mostly full magazine.  He looks for something to lean on or for something that will support him while he smokes his cigar and watches WWIV get ready to explode on the banks of the Vistula River.

He waits for a break in the conversation (I guess after Bluey speaks his mind to Joost) and then puts in his own two cents, "This is great, just great," he says loudly and obviously irritated at the way this whole conversation is going.  "We've been together what, twenty-four hours and we're looking to kill each other already?  Let me tell you all something and take it for what it's worth, the Pole, he ain't coming back, he's fucking dead!  Did he desereve what he got?  Probably but, it should've been handled a lot differently!  You," pointing to Dawid, "What gives yo the right to just go and cap someone in the god damned head without being heard?  If you had maybe, just maybe, given Captain Adam here a chance to speak up and to confirm your story before you shot him, than maybe, more people could be a tad bit more supportive of your view!  Captain Adam is the boss, it's his choice on what to do with you," Tucker says taking a strong pull off of his cigar.

He adjusts his body so he can address the Australians, Joost, and Freeman (and basically whoever else cares!), "As far as this military thing goes about who's in and who's out, I look at it this way, if we still wanted to play soldier with our countries armies, we wouldn't be standing here on the banks of this river getting ready to board a boat that's owned and operated by a civilian Captain!  Nothing personal Adam," Tucker says to Adam hoping he doesn't get miffed about being just a civilian.

"We're our own army now!  We can all carry ourselves as professional soldiers just fighting for a different cause right now, to live.  All we have is each other to back us up!  There's no calling for fire missions to HQ for 'arty' or to SAC for a 'sortie' in this area!  We're all we got!  I'm speaking for myself now, not for the other Americans here.  I'm pretty sure that we're doing here is pure survival.  I'm sure it's no different in the United States, or Australia, or France or Germany for christ sakes.  The SITREP sucks no matter where you go right now and there's no easy way to get there.  Blue and Snowy, if you guys want to look at this for a way to earn some passage back to your units and continue to serve your country, God bless you both then!  Joost, you wanna make some money to make your life in this world comfortable, I'm with you too.  Wyane, I know you'd love to be able to buy something to develope those pictures of yours, wouldn't you?

We're going to have to start to put personal differences aside and start to learn how to co-exist with each other or this good man," Tucker once again motions to Adam, "Might as well kiss his ass, boat, and crew goodbye because we're not going to accomplish shit like this!  I could give a fuck with what you people decide to do, I'm staying on despite me thinking this asshole here," indicating to Dawid, "made a bad judgement call without consulting the boss first.  We're hired hands now boys and girls, that's the bottom line but, we don't have to be animals about some things!  This isn't a sceninc world anymore.  Everyone is fighting to survive this upcoming winter coming upon us and it's going to be messy enough without bad feelings towards one another.

My ass is really starting to hurt and I want to lay down.  I guess I'll see whoever is staying below decks, to the others, best of luck to you," Tucker says as he takes his leave of the item he was leaning on and hobbles away to finish his cigar on deck.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:42, Sat 16 June 2007.

Adam looks skyward and says in Polish, "Mój Bóg, kiedy dzie ten koniec?"

[Private to Anneka Soleblume; Dawid Waldus Piotrowski; Joost van den Haas: Roughly, "My god, when will this madness end?"]

Then he turns and addresses the prisoner (Dawid) and those clustered around him.

"You shame me! I do not approve of this killing!" Adam's face is red, veins bulge on his forehead. He wipes his eyes with his sleave before continuing,  "Mr. Snowy, what would you have me do? Are you going to take him back to Krakow? What then?  What will the ORMO do when U.N. soldiers present them with a Polish deserter who says he killed a bandit? What am I to do if you do not return? I have just lost three, four men? So be it! I shall go to Warsaw alone if necessary. Saints preserve you all!"

With that Adam stomps off towards the pier, clearly distraught.

Uller calls after Adam from where he sits on a crate, wounded leg outstretched, "I told you hiring foreigners was a mistake." Saying this, he looks very pleased with himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:58, Sat 16 June 2007.

Parks stands by while all the shouting and bickering goes on. Anyone looking can see that he's getting red in the face which makes his weathered and wrinkled skin look all the more odd. At the Captain stomping off Parks lowers his head and spits. When his face comes back up his tone and mannerisms make it clear, he's not asking." Snow.. Blue..  If you're still soldiers, then follow a direct order.  Stand tha' fuck down! Now! Parks steps infront of the cuffed Pole and steps right up to the barrel of Blue's weapon. The look on his face is somehow akin to an old starving dog looking at the man that just stole his kibble. Looking straight at the big Aussie, Parks continues."Secure that fuckin' weapon or I am gonna shove it so far up your ass you can pick your teeth with the front sight! Am I clear Blue?" Parks shouts, spitting a little with the effort. Without taking his eyes off blue, Parks continues in the same tone. "Tha' rest of you bastards get this fuckin' gear on board! I just took over the complaint department of this little cruise. If you got a gripe, bitch, or just sand in your clit then come see me. I gotta' 45 that solves most issues on the first try. Otherwise, get your asses to work!" Parks waits for some move from Blue or Snowy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:57, Sat 16 June 2007.

Dawid replies in Polish, "JA głęboko przepraszają za ten.  Byłby wy ma ten człowiek żywy, ale wszelki tutaj martwy?"

[Private to GM: "I deeply apologise for this.  Would you have this man alive, and everyone here dead?]



Dawid nodded heartfelt agreement to this.  To Tuck he finally answered, "you are right, my action was rash and unwise.  But this jackal didn't deserve anything better, because bandits and marauders really are put to death here and usually without a formal trial.  The authorities here are either corrupt or absent, so the people cannot rely on them to provide justice and protect them.  Even worse, like Adam said, involving them would mean death or suffering for everyone here.  Therefore, we must do it ourselves."

"I am Polish.  These are my people, and this is my country, although you have hurt them both so much."  He looked pointedly at the thermonuclear-blasted ruins of Nowy Huta.  Pain in his voice he continued, "whatever it takes to keep them safe and protect them, I will do.  If I must trade my own life for theirs in consequence, it is a fair trade."

He sighed, and having gotten that off his chest he looked a little better.  "Either take me to the "authorities" so they may murder me, do it yourselves if it will make you feel better, or release me like Adam wants so I can do my job.  I take full responsibility for my actions and will accept whatever happens."
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:00, Sat 16 June 2007.

Joost nods in approval at Parks' assumption of command.  "Best idea I've heard all morning," he quips as he turns to face Yazzie.  "You can always count on a United States Marine to step up and take charge."

He spears his shovel into the dirt and then claps his hands together sharply three times as he circles around the participants in the stand-off.  "Alright, ladies - you heard the Gunnery Sergeant.  Ol' Adam isn't paying us to stand around and debate the Geneva Conventions.  We've got a boat to load, so let's get at it.  There's a job to be done and no doubt some filthy work ahead.  Boy Scouts need not apply."

Joost takes one last long drag on his cigarette before flicking the butt to the ground and moving toward the Ural.  As he passes Piotrowski he winks, points at the shovel and advises, "Także będzie mijać. Teraz wy grzebiecie jego. * "

As he climbs up into the bed of the Ural to resume unloading, he turns to Konrad and growls, "Fritz, I hereby nominate you our quartermaster and logistics officer.  Congratulations.  Now, how 'bout you make yourself useful and get us an inventory going?"

[Private to 'Old' Adam Rataj; Cap'n Rae; Anneka Soleblume; Dawid Waldus Piotrowski: * Rough Translation: "This too will pass.  Now bury him."]
This message was last edited by the player at 07:31, Sat 16 June 2007.

"Gunny, get out of the way.  I don't want to shoot you but you go for your piece and I will.  Besides, I don't have to take orders from civilians or are you still a soldier and if you are a soldier then that puts us at equal rank so I still don't have to take orders." He takes two steps left to get the gunny out of his line of fire. Besides mate, I don't think you could take my rifle off me, so calm the fuck down.

As Joost dances around the group clapping, Blue is finally getting irritated "Listen Dutch, fuck off. You're about as helpful as a fart in a spacesuit.  You ain't paying me either so keep your amateur theatrics to yourself or else." exclaims Blue at the South African.

"Well Snow, what do you want to do?  If we start walking now it's going to be a while before we get to Krakow.  Personally I got no problems heading back, the ORMO seem to be less objectionable than some of the wankers around here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:19, Sat 16 June 2007.

Once Snowy has put the restraints on the new prisoner Konrad lowers his rifle.

"Careful guys, let's not let this get out of hand."

"What he did was wrong, I dont care what motivation he had for it. Once we start killing out of hand, especially an unarmed and restrained prisoner, we become exactly the same as any of the marauders out there."

"I still consider myself an officer of the Bundeswehr and that behaviour,had it come from one of my men, would have had him on charges and likely executed after a court martial. In the field he probably would have been shot by me."

Konrad pauses

"As he and we are nominally under the command of Capt. Adam, I am thinking that we need to follow his lead on this one, but by all means keep him restrained until we decide what to do."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:21, Sat 16 June 2007.

Konrad looks towards Joost and growls

"Who died and put you the fuck in charge? I aint no fucking quartermaster and I certainly don't answer to Fritz."

"Why don't you be the quartermaster and make yourself useful Joost?"


Konrad still considers himself a Hauptmann and while he doesn't try to throw his rank around he will not be bossed around either.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:23, Sat 16 June 2007.

Smiling a little at Joost's passing comment and gesture, Dawid twisted to show his cuffed hands and replied, "Być może mógłbym używać mój chuj?"

Translation: "Maybe I could use my penis?"

The group has reached an impasse. An honest debate has descended into an all-out pissing match. What began as a clash of ethics has largely become a clash of egos.

Wayne Freeman has already decided to take his leave of the group, beginning a long, lonely walk back to Krakow along the riverside.

Gunny has attempted to step up and take charge of the group but has been soundly rebuffed by Blue.

Snowy continues to demand justice for the prisoner; just what exactly that entails has not been clearly established.

Several people have suggested that Dawid deserves a bullet for what he's done. A bullet for a bullet for a bullet, in effect. Where will it end?

Joost has made known his opinions, much to the displeasure of several others.

Clarence, Yazzie*, and Max have stood by quietly- observers rather than participants. Their opinions on the matter have, so far, been kept to themselves.

The wounded Tuck has said his piece and gone aboard the tug, followed by Anneka. She intends to stitch up his wound as soon as possible.

Adam has requested that Dawid be released into his custody and Konrad, the ranking officer, has suggested the same. It now remains to be seen whether the members of this group can accept this erstwhile solution, put aside their differences, and begin to work together as a team.

*Yazzie has managed to fill a few sandbags during all of this.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:52, Sat 16 June 2007.

Clarence has stood by quietly, shaking his head periodically as the situation has taken one ugly turn after another. He's got a job to do and he won't be able to do it if this boat doesn't set sail soon. He walks into of center of the fracas and stands astride the prisoner, placing himself between Blue and Gunny.

"Everybody, just chill the fuck out, please! We're acting like kids here, not grown men. Come on now! We just survived an ambush together and now we're at each others' throats? That's not right. Let's all just calm down.

Clarence adjusts his tone, trying now to project an air of calm and rationality.

Instead of talkin' 'bout what's right and wrong here, let's figure out a solution to the problem. The problem is, we got a killer here and we can't get to work until we figure out what to do with him. Adam wants him released. Snow and Blue, you guys want to take him back to Krakow, right?

He turns to face the Australians, addressing them directly now.

So, what do we do? We got an officer here, right? Konrad? You want him to decide? You want to put it to a vote; set up our own little military tribunal? Will you respect its decision? What'll it be?

Clarence raises his voice a bit so that everyone can hear. This is meant for the entire group,

"Come on people. We got work to do. We can't stand here all day trash talkin'."

OOC: This is meant as one long, unbroken speech. Please don't respond to it piecemeal. Thanks.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Sat 16 June 2007.

Parks whole demeanor changes as his bluff was called. Still angry but not puffed up like a toad anymore he turns to Konrad. "I will leave it in your hands then. But before I get back to work, Am I gonna get carted off to the locals the first time I put a 7.62 into some poor unaware bastard's head? I am an assassin. Nothing more, nothing less. Most of my prey don't have any more of a trial or chance then that bastard there. Do I think it should have been done? Hell no. But it's done. I don't know if you noticed but we aren't in Oz or the states anymore. This was a local on local issue. We have no authority to get involved. But if you insist on deserting your team for this dipshit then get it over with. We got a boat to prepare."
With that, Parks walks over to get his pack and rifle and heads to the boat.

Clearing his throat, Dawid said, "not meaning to cause trouble here, but I am unsure what authority or jurisdiction you hold as foreign soldiers occupying Polish soil.  Perhaps it would be best to be turned over to nearest authorities in Krakow.  Under guard by these two men," he nodded towards Snowy and Bluey, "in Adam's van with someone as a driver."

Snowy clears his throat in the pregnant pause, he's still hovering protectively over Dawid like a mother bird.

"First smart thing anyone's said so far."

"The situation is, have we got a crime or not? This guy's right, we drop him off at the Krakow ORMO and just ask them. We give 'em the bag of teeth, statements and all the crap, and they decide. If they think he's done the world a favour, and everyone says they were bandits, then he comes back and I'll buy him a bloody beer. What I reckon doesn't mean squat, it's up to the local powers, who are the Crakow Ochotnicza Rezerwa Milicji Obywatelskiej."

So, we drag laughing boy, the teeth and whatever back and get our arses back here to do some bloody welding. What's your bloody problem?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:06, Sun 17 June 2007.

Satisfied with the German's response, Joost grins and snaps a mock salute. "Aye - now that's talking more like it, Hauptmann."

[Private to John Yazzie; Cap'n Rae: If the Aussies are still acting like they are going to shoot Clarence, the Gunny or any other party member, Joost will attempt to privately signal Yazzie to manuever and cover them from behind in case it goes sideways.]
This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Sun 17 June 2007.

As Tucker walks to the boat with Anneka, he turns to her en route, "You're awful quiet about this ma'am. Staying out of it, if you don't mind me being nosey?  I don't want those stitches to hurt either!"

Once they get to the boat, Tucker will stop at where Adam is for a moment and reach into the waistband of his MOLLE gear and take out the Tokarev that belongs to Dawid that he picked up off the ground.  He hands it over to Adam only saying, "Your ship skipper." and then continues on so he can get his wound properly attended to by Anneka.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:55, Sun 17 June 2007.

"Ok guys, this has gone far enough- our job has barely begun and already we stand here at each others' throats. Dawid did a stupid thing, yes, but he did what he thought was right."

"This piece of shit has already tried to ambush us on the road and both Dawid and Adam confirmed they recognised him from a bandit attack against them a few days ago."

Konrad pauses

"We need to remember that the majority of us are behind enemy lines. I would say that if you return Dawid and the corpse over to the Krakow Militia with his and Adam's story, they would likely clap Dawid on the back and let him go."

"So while I don't agree with his actions, I recommend releasing him into Adam's custody and we just keep a close eye on him. If you like, I will take responsibility for any further actions on his behalf against our rules of conduct."

After saying his piece Konrad glares at Dawid,
"If you step out of line like that again I will fucking shoot you myself, you understand me soldier!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:15, Sun 17 June 2007.

Struggling to stand up and come to attention while handcuffed is never easy, but Dawid accomplished it in record time.  His farm-boy face had shown a lot of emotions in the last while, mainly horror at his own actions and no small measure of bafflement at the subsequent fallout.  This was the first time he'd shown fear.

Staring wide-eyed and straight ahead he replied without thinking in Polish, "Zrozumiany, pan!  wyrabiam żadnego wybaczenia dla moich czynów! One przynieśli hańbę na mnie i mój rodzinny!  Wy macie moje słowo przed Bóg i Czarne Wyspy Dziewicze Czestochowa to nie będzie zdarzać się znowu, pan!"

Those that were standing near him saw that he was actually trembling.


OOC Note: I leave it to the GM to translate for those who are fluent in Polish or make their skill rolls.  If not actually allowed to stand, well, he'll say the same thing on the ground attempting to be as erect as possible!

[Private to GM: "Understood, sir!  I make no excuse for my actions!  They have brought disgrace upon me and my family!  You have my word before God and the Black Madonna of Czestochowa it will not happen again, sir!"]
This message was last edited by the player at 05:36, Sun 17 June 2007.

As Gunny turns and walks away, Clarence, satisfied that inter-party violence has been averted, moves aside. He listens in turn as Dawid, Snow, and Konrad each speaks, wincing a bit at Snow's "first smart thing..." comment.

When Konrad finishes his pronouncement, and Dawid his reply, Clarence speaks up again,

"There, the ranking NATO officer's spoken. Get the kid here a shovel and let him bury the ZOMO. I'll even supervise his dumb ass; make sure he does a good job. It won't make up for nothin' but it's a start. There ain't no need for anyone to risk the danger of goin' back to Krakow now. That place aint safe for any of us no more."

He looks directly at Blue and then at Snow.

"Are we cool?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:36, Sun 17 June 2007.

"Milk mate, if Snow's happy I am, if you didn't notice I'm not the one filled with piss and vinegar.  Gunny we need to have a chat at some point OK.  Hauptmann, your the senior here so I'll stand with your decision.  Snow you OK?" Blue says lowering his rifle "Jesus what is it about you yanks and standing in front of loaded weapons?"

Snow's looking hard at Dawid, and says softly. "I'm gonna let you go you stupid bastard, but before I do I'm going to ask you one question. If that ambush had gone wrong for us and the other guys had caught us, I reckon they'd take it a lot bloody differently if they shot one of our wounded who was restrained. Now the question I'm going to ask you is; what would you have done if they'd shot one of yours for being a 'bad guy', would you let him go like I'm about to?"

"I hope you don't blow that question off, because I'm trying to show you that you can never be sure. If you've just shot a compatriot who found those teeth under a log, it should haunt you forever."

Snowy reaches down and turns the bloodstained key in the cuffs, removing them from Dawid's wrists. He steps back, looking at him with a face carven from stone. Reaching into his holster, he draws his glock and removes the round from the chamber before reholstering it. He gathers up his equipment from the sprawled corpse and wipes it off, before realising that he has blood all over his face. He shakes his head grimly and walks over to Konrad.

"Boss, I just witnessed a summary execution and then let the perpetrator go on your orders. I'm not happy. I want to know now what the situation regarding the rules of land warfare is on this trip, and if you require the security element to follow them. If you can't get an agreement out of these other bastards, I'm walking back out of here because I will not be a party to atrocity and war crime. Edmund Burke is said to have uttered "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing". Well sir, I await your answer."

Konrad watches as Snowy releases Dawid from the cuffs and comes over to speak with him. Waiting until Snowy has said his piece Konrad then speaks to the group near the Ural, raising his voice so it carries to all.

"Snowy has a valid point and one I agree with, on this trip I guarantee you there will be no more shooting or torturing of any prisoners that are captured by ANY member of this group. This also falls to the enemy wounded. Anymore actions like this will not be tolerated, my warning to Dawid stands to all members."


Konrads voice becomes stern and forceful.
"If anyone has a problem with this I want to hear about it now, otherwise I will be holding everyone to these rules" Konrad looks around at the group.

"Clarence, thanks for the offer, grab Dawid a shovel and you can stand overwatch while he digs a grave for this individual. Pass me your gear and I will stow it on the tug while you do"

"Ok everyone else we have gear and weapons to get on board so lets get moving. Personal gear first and then we will all assist with the rest."


Konrad will then grab his backpack and Clarences gear and begin to move towards the tug.

(Konrad will also speak with Yazzi and Anneka and any other characters that did not hear him speak to advise them of the rules regarding the enemy prisoners and wounded)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Sun 17 June 2007.

Tucker will drop his gear and prepare himself to be stitched up by Anneka wherever she tell shim to get comfortable.  When Bayer does come over to speak to them, he listens and adds his comments.  "I got no problem with you runnin' the show Bayer.  I'm still a soldier but, just under a different flag.  I still know how to take and follow orders so you'll get my cooperation as long as yer willing to take suggestions and trust some of us use our best judgement in certain situations!  You treat everyone fairly, I don't think you'll have too many problems.  Just let me know what you need me to do once I get done with getting my ass sewn back together!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:17, Mon 18 June 2007.

"You got it Hauptman."

Still looking at Snow and Blue, Clarence declares,

"I'm down. Rules are rules, even in this fucked up place."

"Remind me of the old days." he adds in almost a whisper to himself.

OOC: If Dawid responds to Snow's question, it would happen here. Milk will wait while the kid has his say and then continue.

Then, Clarence puffs himself up and addresses Dawid directly,

"Alright kid, I'll get the shovel. You grab your extra-sleepy buddy over there and let's put him in the ground. He can kick it with that Polish Queen under this here hill."

Clarence slings his AKSU and grabs a shovel from where Yazzie is still quietly filling sandbags.

"Come on." he says to the muddy and stunned looking Pole.

He escorts Dawid about into the woods a ways, a little up slope, before stopping.

"Here's a nice spot. Good view. Dawid is it? Get digging. Six feet deep and two feet wide."

Clarence sits on a rock overlooking the grave plot, removes a greasy towel from his pack, lays it on the ground, and begins cleaning his carbine. He's still got his SOCOM .45 if Dawid becomes uncooperative.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:12, Sun 17 June 2007.

Still standing at attention, Dawid looked at him with a look of concentration on his face, as if trying to understand what he was being told but having a little difficulty following.  When Snowy asked his hypothetical (but not rhetorical) question, the meaning suddenly became clear.  Then he looked off into the distance, as if asking himself, "yeah, just what the fuck would I do?" but still not answering.



After a moment of intense reflection, tears grew in his eyes.  He took a breath and stammered, "I... I... I don't know!  May the saints forgive me, I don't know what I'd do!"  With that he covered his eyes and commenced weeping silently.



Trying to get himself under control, Dawid avoided meeting the fearsome gaze.  When he saw out the corner of his eye that the man turned to addresse the officer, he bent down and grabbed his beret from off the ground, then after a pause snatched the cigarette butt and empty cartridge case as well.  Beret went on his head, butt in one blouse pocket, empty shell in another.


OOC: The colour coding is going a little wonky and making all my text blue.  It's happening even if I take out all the coding.  Weird.  Should be working now.

Finally being given a concrete task that he knew he could accomplish, Dawid took the shovel with a grateful look and accompanied the man.  The walk in the woods did wonders for his composure.  After a little ways, he stopped expecting the traditional bullet to the back of the neck.  If it came, it came.



Nodding in agreement, he replied, "It is a good view...  This is an odd way to do it.  Did you know that here we traditionally place the body standing straight up, standing on the feet?  But you're the boss."

He removed his tunic, and rolling up the sleeves of his blouse he started digging.  Often, the shovel clanked on a large stone which he balanced on the blade and dumped out with a thump beside the growing pile of loose dirt.  Almost as often, he hacked and chopped at matted roots.  But he was in good shape and no stranger to digging, and the work progressed quickly.  Even in the chill morning air, he was soon soaked with sweat.


This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Sun 17 June 2007.

From his perch Clarence replies, "Suit yourself kid. It's your country."

He smirks before adding, "Make sure to give him a couple of feet of head-room, though."

He returns to cleaning his weapon while the kid digs. He's not worried that the Pole will take a swing at him with the shovel or anything and if he does, Clarence believes he can draw and shoot before the kid can climb out of his hole and close the distance between them. After a couple of quiet minutes, Clarence querries,

"So, what's your story kid?"

[Private to Dawid Waldus Piotrowski: BTW, Clarence carried the shovel from the shore while Dawid dragged the body. That was Milk's instruction, anyway.]

Max has been in the background all this time, leaning against a solitary tree that leans at an angle, a small distance away from where the group has been arguing, though he has been close enough to hear all that has been said.  There's been claim and counter claim, bets raised and bluffs called, finishing with all the chips being dragged off the table.  While many of the points of view have some validity, it all - all- comes back to each person's view of the world as it exists today.

Still, Max remains silent.

The tension seems to have passed.  Max straightens himself.  His first few steps are stiff and awkward, as he wanders over to stand behind Snow and Blue.
"I'd be military if military turned up.  But I aint seen any formal forces for a while, now.  A long while.

For now, Old Adam's in charge, I guess.  It seems to me he's the highest ranking here while we choose to travel with him."

In a quieter voice now, but not hiding the statement from anyone listening.
"We're on our own."

Looking up, along the river.  Dissappearing from view is the camera man.
"If we're sorted, I'll go see Kodak before he dissappears too far into this mist.  I doubt he knows how to get back to the city on his own.  And the busses stopped running some years ago."

Max will walk briskly after Wayne, and relay the latest developments when he catches up to him.
After relaying the current situation, Max will put it to Wayne.
"If it's adventure your looking for, it's back at that boat.  A multi-national force heading down steam through hostile waters.

If it's photo ops your looking for, none beat the oppoertunities a meandering river scene presents.

If its warmth and comfort you seek, well, maybe Old Adams crew isn't for you.

What do you say?".

Max waits on Wayne's response before saying or taking any other actions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:08, Mon 18 June 2007.

"Don't worry mate, you got us now.  You let old Sarge look out for ya, and she'll be apples digger." Bluey replies laconically "So who were you with, before the shit started to fly?  I'm with the engineers and Snow well he was with customs of all people, fucking bureaucrat, now he's an MP." he looks towards the heavens.

"As you may have noticed he's a bit of a stickler about the Law." he says with a smile at his little buddy.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Mon 18 June 2007.

Joost finds something to write with and conducts a cursory inventory of weapons and ammo then hands it off to the Hauptmann.  Then, once he has loaded the remainder of his and Tuck's gear onto the boat, he checks in with Anneka to inquire as to whether he can be of any assistance with Tuck or his treatment.  He knows full well that, since his idea of first aid involves nothing more than a fifth of bourbon and a roll of duct tape, she will respond in the negative.  Joost gives Tuck a few words of encouragement then hikes back out onto the beach.

He finds another shovel and approaches the American standing watch over Dawid as the Pole prepares a grave for the executed bandit.  "Clarence, was it?  In my old unit, kangaroo justice notwithstanding, when one man fucked up the unit suffered as one.  So, if you won't mind covering us ... "

And with that, Joost doffs his flak vest and webbing, strips to the waist, spits once in each hand and begins digging.  "Welcome to the unit, Davey."

Once Parks is on the boat and found a somewhat safe spot to stow his rifle and pack he starts asking and looking for the Captain. After a little searching, Parks finds him. Captain, if ya got a few, I wanted to ask you about these raids you spoke of. Against some abbey I think ya said. Is that here or somewhere nearby?. I noticed you have a few sentries posted but could they use my help for a while? Anyone getting a look at that cannon we're dragging will be coming to get it or telling those that can. That things prolly worth enough to feed a small village for a good while." Parks waits for the details.

John will watch the actions with a smile on his face. He will make a few thoughts in his head and rise to his feet when the gunny has a weapon pointed at him. When the weapon goes down he will also go back down to fill sand bags. John will look over to the South African who is filling sand bags with him and ask a question and talk in a low voice so other cant hear.

"So are you a French 'baby killer' or a Dutchman? You have been called many things. What are you? I'm a Pima from Southern Arizona."

He holds out his hand to shake.

"I Have the gold teeth; It makes no difference to the Aussies. They are U.N., not NATO. Their rank and orders don't cover me or us here. Plus, last thing I heard over the radio was that we were alone. So if the higher headquarters has gave up on me, I spit on them. I follow my rules now. Those rules are, I eat every day and I stay alive. All I want to do is get back to the Baltic and catch a ride home. From there, who knows. I know that my farm in Arizona is still there. No one nukes goat herders in the desert unless they have oil and we dont. My brothers and family are still there and we will take care of us and our people."

With those words said, he will continue to fill sand bags and mind his own manners.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:04, Mon 18 June 2007.

Max to Blue
"Well, funny that.  Same Division as you and Snow.  Only I never seen you blokes around.  Probably because I worked permanent nights on the transport trucks.  We would leave camp at sundown and take UN rations out to the smaller communities.  Then use the trucks to bring back in items that needed work done on them before the sun came up.  I pulled security detail.  Either way we travelled, we were a juicy target.  We either had food and other necessary items on the way out, or we had guns or other equipment that needed fixing by specialists at the camp on the way back.

Hairy times.  I pulled permanent nights because I never felt safe sleeping at base during the night.  Just in case those on duty also fell asleep.  So I was happy to sleep during the day when the base was less likely to be attacked and travelled at night.  I know that's not everyone else's cup of tea, but it worked for me.

And, it's got me this far."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:28, Mon 18 June 2007.

When Gunny finds Adam, the old man is still visibly upset. He listens, but it's obvious he's somewhat preoccupied. When he responds, he speaks quickly and his accent thickens.

"The abbey? Yes, yes, the one we passed coming here. A group of civilians lives there. They have a garden and some animals. A few have some military training. They are good people. Few others come here because they fear the radiation from Nowa Huty. They could use a sniper, I suppose, but none of them speak much English and can't spare a man to translate.  Do you speak Polish?"

Before Gunny can answer, Adam cuts to what's really on his mind, "What are they doing with Dawid, the Pole?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Mon 18 June 2007.

"Thanks, I like "Davey", or "David" is fine." he replied to Joost.  Warmed up now, he unbuttoned his blouse, and a gold cross glinted on his chest.  He reached over to his discarded jacket and took out his battered filterless cigarettes and dented Zippo.  His pistol belt with empty holster and sheathed bayonet lay beside it, next to Clarence.   Lighting up with grimy hands, he offered one to Joost and Clarence.



Leaning on his shovel while smoking in true city road worker fashion, the young man replied to Clarence's question.  "Clarence, I think, yes?"

"I grew up on a farm in small village of Grzybów, not too far from Warsaw.  Times were very tough.  In 80's military took over government, country always in economic crisis.  My sister Urzula went to school for Doctors in Warsaw, paid for by government, otherwise she would not be able to go."

"Under communists the farm could not be taken away from us.  But still, we were so poor!  There was no money.  We thought about escaping to West.  My brother Wiktor helped my father run the farm, so I decided to get job to earn money, to help my family.  But there was no work in Poland before war.  So I join Army."

"I fight your army when you invade my country."  He smiled to show there was no hard feelings.  "During siege of Warsaw, I was trapped in city for many months, before counter-attack relieve us.  I admire NATO soldiers for trying not to harm citizens, even allowing aid in.  But NATO army destroy country as they retreat.  Then so many die in atomic attacks!"  His face clouded with sorrow at the thought.

"As our guns wore out and ammunition became less, we were pulled from line.  We performed rear-area security and anti-bandit duty.  We do many hard things in name of preserving law and order.  Shoot many criminals like him, over the years.  Is no big deal in our army."  He indicated the corpse.

"In our last battle with Americans at Kalisz, my company was given one gun : an old WWII piece from army museum at Warsaw, drawn by horses!  I use horses on farm (we were that poor), so I knew how to handle them.  All my unit died, so I head towards home.  I think I will see if farm is there.  Because of bandits and army patrols, I circle to South of Kracow, meet Adam when crossing the river.  I have been here since.  I am AWOL... I guess I am deserter."

"I do not think being soldier in Polish Army is same as in your army.  Not the same values.  Especially police like ZOMO, who even before war do what they want and are not held to account.  I am interested in what your friend Snowy was talking about, although I did not really understand him.  I should like to talk to him some time.  Perhaps these are values that the people of Poland can share, one day."

"Okay, I will work now as we talk!"  With that, he ashed his cigarette, put the butt in his blouse pocket, and commenced digging again.  "You tell me about yourself now, yes?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:26, Mon 18 June 2007.

Parks looks at the ground a little as if in shame then looks back at the Captain. "I couldn't rightly say Captain. When it came down to stepping aside or drawing down on my own team, I stepped aside. I am sure no harm will come to him though. Konrad assumed command and I left it to him since they seemed more willing to listen to him. I sure don't know about this crew you picked out. That man needed to die. Not for the reasons Dawid or you stated either. He know our numbers location and firepower. That's to much of a threat to me." Parks pauses a second then continues in broken Polish "JA puszka metalowa mówić wystarczający stać się przy.(I can speak enough to get by.)" Parks grins a little knowing his polish isn't great. "I can check on Dawid and the situation if ya want. I need to check with Konrad and see if I can help the locals watch our six for a while. Maybe win a free meal for my trouble." Parks stands by to see if the Captain has anything else to say.

Sunday, October 1st, 2000 -1000 hrs.
On the south bank of the Vistula river, just west of Nowy Huta, Poland
60 F
Overcast; light ground fog: Visibility 100-200m

The rest of the morning passes without incident. The security crew's baggage is loaded and temporarily stored in the passageways on board, pending berthing assignments. The Australians and Konrad begin to unload the crew-served weapons and ammunition crates from the Ural while Yazzie fills sandbags by himself. Tuck spends the rest of the morning on his stomach, pants around his knees, while Anneka expertly stitches up his entry and exit wounds. Fortunately, Old Adam's medicine chest is well stocked and an injection of local annesthesia makes the process relatively painless. After Tuck is patched up, Uller is next on the butcher's table. Anneka removes the core of a rifle bullet from his leg and sews up the wound. Blue's wound requires little more than a very large band-aid. Gunny roams the boat looking for good sniper positions, nodding in the universal masculine gesture of greeting to the Polish crew as he passes. Clarence returns to the boat along with the grimy Dawid and Joost, the body of the slain bandit having been given a proper, traditional Polish burial.

Adam gathers the entire crew on the foredeck of the Queen. In his booming boat captain's baritone, he addresses the assembled group.

"Gentlemen, I deeply regret what happened here this morning. I have given this much thought and I want to be very clear with you before we begin this journey together. I will not have anyone aboard my ship behave like an animal. If you are not willing to follow the spirit of the Geneva Convention, then there is no place on board for you. You may leave now- I will personally drive you to the crossroads. If anyone decides to commit an act of barbarism during this voyage, they will be put ashore with ammunition, food, and water, and left behind. Am I clear?"

He looks pointedly at Dawid before continuing,

"Good. Now let me introduce to you my boat crew. You already know my first mate, Karl Uller. This is Jozef Grzyech, my chief engineer. Over there is Tadeuz Roszkowski, the senior deck hand. The other deck hands are Walter Matusiak, standing to Tadeuz's left, and Luboslaw Kaminski, the young man right there. Luboslaw will be working with Jozef in the boiler room. These good men will run the boat. They know her quite well. We've been living and working on the Krolowa for weeks. Jozef has completely rebuilt the engines.

Grzyech is a compact, grizzled man, probably in his late fourties, with tufts of long brown hair poking out from underneath a rather piratic looking head-cloth. He wears a sleeveless undershirt with a red hankerchief around his neck. Both his clothes and his hands and are filthy with oil stains and coal dust. Roszkowski is older, probably somewhere in his mid to late fifites. He has a creased, ruddy face rimmed by long, grey sideburns. He looks strong though, veiny biceps bulging from rolled up sleeves. A dark blue watch cap is pulled down to just above his bushy grey eyebrows. Matusiak is a solidly built, dark haired man in his early thirties. He's darker skinned than most Poles you've met. His button down shirt is open to about mid-chest, revealing a tuft of thick, dark hair. Kaminski appears to be in his mid teens. He's tall and slight for his apparent age but he's more wiry than thin. His T-shirt and jeans are the same dull black as Grsyech's clothing.


"I have hired you to provide security. I would like your recommendations for making the Krolowa strong and ready for a fight. The river is a dangerous place. There will be more bandits. The Russians still control parts of the River. They and the Lublin government may not approve of this boat, its mission, and most of all, its crew. And, there are pirates. They have many boats and powerful weapons. They roam the river north of Annapol but are growing bolder. Not even the government has the power to control them.

"We are carrying a load of bicycles built in Krakow for sale along the river. You will split my 3/8 share of the profits as Captain. Your payment will include food, shelter, ammunition, medical supplies, and transportation as well.

"That is all. Are there any questions? If not, I am ready for suggestions for how to prepare the boat for battle."

OOC: Now is the time to begin discussing modifications to the Queen and other items relating to the functioning of the security element.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:09, Tue 19 June 2007.

"If I can butt in Skipper," says Snowy, "but we really have only just introduced ourselves. We don't really know what each other's skills and capabilities are. I think if we give a brief rundown on our skills and experience, then our ideas on armouring and arming the vessel, it would be a good idea. I'll start if I can."

"I'm private Trevor White, as you probably know. I have a NATO rank, under the German army and my nation is linked by the ANZUS treaty to the US as well. My former standing and rank in the navy means nothing here. I've been serving in the Military Police before we were overrun at Eberbach by French armoured forces. The survivors were incorporated into the 5th Infantry, US."
"I'm trained in heavy automatic weapons, deployment of personal chemical munitions and my specialty is close assault onto naval vessels for search and seizure. I have both a watchkeeper's ticket and marine engineer ticket. SO my specialties are autoguns, driving ships and making stuff. I can do a lot of other stuff too, but that's the main things."

"I reckon that we're all agreed on the vasilek being mounted forward, as we'll be nosing into trouble and that's where we'll want our big hammer. As to the AGS and the GPMG, well I suggest that we make a series of armoured barbettes for these weapons as they're light and easily moved about the vessel. Blue and I are hell on wheels with a welder, but we'll need armour plate for that. Luckily, recent events has seen fit to strew Poland with ruined armoured vehicles for us to chop up. The problem is, how do we get the hulls down here?"

David addressed the crew, "I would like everyone to know I will abide by your rules.  Please bear in mind that I may not be familiar with your ways.  I am willing to listen to instruction."

"Although Adam is our employer and the master of the boat, as part of the security crew I will follow Captain Bayer and whatever NCOs he appoints because there can not be two parallel lines of command."

Dawid listened to Snowy's suggestions.

"Mr. Snowy, this sounds good.  There are several locations that we can fortify on the ship.  I do not know of any armoured wehicles around here that we can salvage for armour, or how much time that will take."

"I propose this: in addition to your suggestion of fortifying several firing positions around the ship for the portable weapons, we place the Vasilek fore and the third Dushka aft."

"Also, it looks like there is enough room for a firing position on the wheelhouse.  Perhaps we should emplace the Plamya grenade launcher up there.  A gunner and assistant can cover almost the entire 360 degrees.  The PKM and RPK-74 can be moved around on the decks, or taken off the ship by shore parties.  I should mention that I also have an RPG-76 Komar single-shot rocket we can use."

"That way we have the mortar covering the bow quarter to engage targets and blockages in front, a Dushka to either side of the bridge to cover both the front and sides, and a Dushka to discourage pursuit and the Plamya covering all around.  We should only need worry about small fast lightly-armoured craft from that quarter, anything heavier will not be able to catch up.  If the Dushka cannot handle something, there is the Plamya and the RPG rocket."

"As for skills and abilities, I am familiar with all manner of heavy weapons and guns, like the Dushka and PKM machineguns, the Plamya, and the Vasilek in all of it's fire modes.  As an Artillerist I can also fire the Plamya and Vasilek indirectly."

"My other skills include some experience as a mechanic, and I can disarm explosive devices, although most of my experience is with clearing faulty ordnance failing to ignite in the tube.  I can also ride horses and handle a small boat to a minimal degree."


This message was last edited by the player at 01:56, Tue 19 June 2007.

He added, "and another thing.  We should have a spotter up top, perhaps a sniper or sharpshooter.  To act as a Forward Observer for the Vasilek and Plamya if needed.  There should also be a radio and maps by the mortar so FOs on shore can direct its fire."

Old Adam finishes and opens the 'deck' to evreyone for questions and comments, Tucker waits his turn and then throws in during a lull in the conversation.  "I think what you're offering us Cap'n that is more than we could hope for anywhere around in these parts.  I'm sure that we'll earn our keep and satisfy that you picked the right bunch of crew for the job.  Once we get done with the meet and greet here, I think we should also look at these hot spots you pointed out where we might find some resistance from Russians and Pirates!

Tucker uses the railing to steady himself getting himself comfortable enough so he doesn't risk ripping his fresh stitches.  "For those that haven't been properly introduced, my name's Robert Tucker, Platoon Sergeant, US 10th Infantry Division.  I was badly wounded in Norway right before the redeployment in '97 and evacuated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. When I was well enough to get back into the action, I was assigned to a general replacement pool and transferred to the 5th I.D. which we all know was later destroyed at Kalisz, that's how I got here.

As far as what I can do, I've been hauling around my 'sixteen and 203' since I got out the hospital in '97.  I'm a ground pounder bascially and I'm a little more useful in the winter with my training.  I've done a lot of climbing in skiing before and after I joined the army too.  As far as the boat and weapons placement goes, I think we should mount the main weapon forward supported by the heavy machine-guns on each side of deck, once or two spotters, I'd suggest the Gunny and Yazzie for that.  Maybe a couple of emplacements on the barge as well in case we get company from behind us.  Definitely fortify the mortar and the DShK positions.  I think someone also mentioned putting a PKM or an RPK on deck too?  Might not be a bad idea because it might just shy some people away from attacking us if they see what we've got!  Don't forget, we've got about four grenade launchers too and oh, I've got some spare rounds in my duffel that I don't mind sharing if needed."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:54, Tue 19 June 2007.

Parks steps forward slightly. "I can handle that, though I have never spotted for arty before. I have none of the mechanical skills that some of you have. I have been a sniper most of my life with only a brief civy job as a PI. As  I see it, my main job will be scouting on shore and spotting and taking out enemy gunners from here. For that I would like to have a high covered position and a spotter if possible. John here will do, since we know each others general tactics. Aside from being a sneaky old bastard that can shoot, I speak a bit of polish and Russian and can handle most man portable weapons. I will help out where ever." Parks stops for a second and looks at Konrad then to Adam. "As far as the Geneva Convention goes, I will follow it as I always have, until it's going to get me or these men killed." Parks changes the subject but allows that to sink in a second.
   "I think we have a more immediate threat to deal with. This town has been hit recently by, it would seem, the same bandits we met this morning. If anyone saw us dragging that cannon into here then we are a juicy target until we are moving. I say we add a few of our members to the town's defense until we are underway. That also might give us a leg up on finding that armor you spoke of Snowy." Parks steps back to say he's done.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:05, Wed 20 June 2007.

Dawid shook his head.  "I really don't recall any hulls, destroyed or otherwise, lying around.  There were no battles fought around here for over many kilometres, aside from the usual bandit ambushes and security sweeps.  There could be some, but it might take some time to search and locate them."

"Is anyone here actually an artillery spotter?  A Forward Observer, as you call them?  If not, then it of less importance."

"Lastly, I forgot to mention that I am fluent in the Russian language.  Also, my unit was the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Artillery Regiment, attached to the 10th "Sudeten" Tank Division."


OOC note: anyone with knowledge of the Polish OOB might remember this unit was involved in the destruction of the 5th ID at Kalisz.

[Private to GM: OOC Note: There could be hulls, he just doesn't know about them.]
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Tue 19 June 2007.

Clarence waits his turn patiently, listening thoughtfully to each of his new companions' backgrounds, thoughts, and opinions. Competence wouldn't be an issue with this bunch; character just might...

"Ahem. I guess it's my turn then. Clarence Milk, Sergeant if that makes any difference. Infantry. I was with the 5th too when the shit went down at Kalisz. We'll have to compare notes some time." he nods at Tucker "I've called in mortar fire missions a few times. And, I'm a pretty good shot with a rifle. I can fire an MG, but I haven't had much practice. I'll go wherever you need me and Captain, I aint got no problem with following the rules.

"As for my two cents on the boat, I think the big gun should go up front, on the tug. The RPK-74 could go on the walkway right in front of the bridge. If we put the PK on top of the bridge, we can fire over the riverbanks if we have to. The other big MG could go on the superstructure behind the stack. It'll be able to sweep the whole back 180 from there. The Russian grenade launcher We can put on the rear deck. That'll let us lay down some serious supressive fire as we float by and should make anybody think twice about following us. If there's anything left over, we can stick it on the barge. Hey, but just for the record, I don't like that barge thing. It's just gonna slow us down and make us a bigger target. That's it. Thanks.

"Your turn." he says to the person next to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Tue 19 June 2007.

"Sorry, if I may interrupt, it is good that you can call in mortar fire, that will help a lot!  I agree, the barge is something I also do not quite see the value of."

"My only disagreement is that if the PKM is dismounted and used for shore parties, then we lose our weapon with 360 degree coverage if it's the one mounted up on the roof.  I do think your suggestion of the placement for the RPK and the third Dushka is clearly superiour.  Thank you."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:03, Tue 19 June 2007.

Staff Sergeant Bruce Thompson, 3rd Combat Engineers, Royal Australian Army.  More recently US 5th Infantry Division with whom I held the NATO rank of Sergeant First Class.  I was with the UN on Cypress before the shooting started and when the UN pulled out, we got bounced around Europe, ended up in Germany, and got shafted by the frogs." He looks over at Joost for a moment before returning to look at the rest of the group.

"I'm good with my hands, demolitions, construction, a decent mechanic, machinist and gunsmith.  I shoot Marksman level with a rifle and hold a black belt in Karate.  I like walks on the beach, romantic dinners, and small fluffy animals; one day I hope to be able to work towards world peace. He grins.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:06, Tue 19 June 2007.

Max is standing off to the side of the group, listening to the run down of each member of the party.  He has steel cap work boots rather than army issue, and the rank tabs and name tags have been ripped off his shirt.

After all are done, he speaks up.

"Max" - some are left with the impression this may not be his real name.

"5th D also.  Night security on the trucks.  That's about it.  Yeah, I can shoot.  Work a grenade launcher.  The mortar.

This'll be my first time on water."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:07, Tue 19 June 2007.

FLASHBACK TO THE GRAVE DIGGING EPISODE...



Clarence almost laughs. "Sure kid. My life story ain't too exciting, though. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Managed to stay outta trouble, mostly, as a kid. Joined the army right outta high school. I'm what's called a 'lifer' since I pretty much been a soldier my whole life. I retired from active duty a few years back; started a construction company with my an ex-army buddy. When the war got going, I was recalled to active duty. I got stuck with the 'Black Diamond'. At Kalisz, my platoon pretty much got wiped out. Me and some others drove our Humvee night and day to get outta there. We met some folks that told us about Krakow. At a town just east of there we got ambushed. I was separated from the others but I managed to leg it the rest of the way by myself. I met some people in Krakow who took me in. Hey, Krakow's a nice place to visit but it's not he most diverse city in the world. I heard old Adam's story at the bar and decided it was time to leave. Here I am!"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:19, Tue 19 June 2007.

Tucker nods to Milks, "I'm sure we're gunna have plenty of time Clarence to swap some stories," he says returning to the conversation around him on deck.

To the group,


"Well, I guess I am next here for the family reunion. Cpl Yazzie, USMC. Ive done a lot of shit, just like the rest of you. I'am no better, no worse. I don't like to talk a lot but when I do, it's the truth and its for the betterment of the group. I have done a lot of ship-board stuff for the Marines and Navy and I'am about to rain on all of your's parade. First thing we need to do is set up a battle chain of command- something we can follow when shit hits the fan. Outside of battl,e we can set up these pow-wow's and make choices as a group. This is my opinion on the battle field command."

"Officer in Charge: the German Captain Bayer.
Staff NCOIC: Tucker
Doc: Anneka
They will form our HQ Section. On ship, the Doc will man sick bay, the German controls fires on the Upper deck, and the Sergeant controls fires on the main deck.

Team number 1. Its leader is Milk- they control the main deck's guns. Joost on the forward AGS-17 and David and Milk man the Mortar on the main back deck.

Team number 2. Its leader is Bluey- he mans the rear facing DSHK. Max and Snow man the side mounted DSHK's they will man the guns mounted on the upper deck as a team.

Team 3 will be lead by the Gunny. I will be his spotter. We will be in place above the bridge. We will be a Spotter/Killer team. I can call for fires and spot for any weapon from there."

"Now lets talk about weapons and their emplacement. We should not mount anything on the barge we should not be able to part with. If we make contact, we should be able to cut free and move faster and turn sharper. We can't mount the mortar  on the front due to the hold opening being there. The recoil of the weapon will send the weapon down about 2 decks. Also there is not alot of room up there. So we must mount it on the back. Remember, this is a tug- it can turn on a dime so bearing the rear weapon should not be a problem in a fight. Also back there the deck is stronger and it also gives us about 280 deg's of fire to the front's 160 degs. Now here is my ideas on weapons. On the main deck forward, the AGS-17 manned by Joost. This will be our front-firing weapon. It can blow us through any job. We must make him an armored shield to protect him against small arms. On the back main deck the Mortar manned by David and Milk the team leader. On the upper deck, we should man the 3 Dshk's- one on the port and one on the starboard side; we should also make gun shields here to protect aginst small arms. Rear on the upper deck should be the last Dshk with a gun shield- this protects our rear. We should keep the RPK in the hand-held mode. This will be used by the German officer to act as a clean-up on the upper deck. He can move to whatever side needs him the most. Our personal weapons should be used as a last resort due to range and firepower limitations."

"These would be our General quarters positions on ship."

"Now to talk about work and a schedule. we must get orginized and fast so here are my opinions. First thing, a schedule."

"0600-0800 Revele and personal cleanup and actions.
0800-1100 work and fortification of tug.
1100-1200 Chow
1200-1600 work and fortification of tug.
1600-1800 Classes on the weapon systems that we have that we arnt skilled with.
1800-Revele Personal actions."

"Orginization of work.
Bayer and Tucker supervise and help where needed.
Doc set up sick bay
Team one work on main decks emplacement of weapons and fortifications.
Team two work on upper decks fortifications and weapons.
Team 3 assists team one -for they have the bigger job- and build crow's nest over bridge with sand bags."

"Now my opinions for you Adam. You and your crew already have positions to man as we see now. But in a fight this would help us help you."

"Adam, you command the ship and stay in the pilot house which we will armor the windows and walls. Uller Pilots the ship. Grzyech and Luboslaw stay below and man engines and do below deck damage control. Tadevz and Walter do above deck damage control. This will help us knowing were you will be when we are fighting."

"Remember guys, this is just me trying to help and I don't want to take over or be in charge. I have been to school for this in the Marines so my opinions should help. I will follow whatever the Group's rules are and will place myself in your charge and care. I will follow your orders as if they were the white man's god talking."

OOC: John will use all of his Leadership and Persuasion skills to the max here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:20, Tue 19 June 2007.

John will move over to the Gunny and hand him back his spotting scope.

"Here you go Guns- good as you gave it to me."

To the group,

"Also guys, I am a gunsmith. If you have any weapons problems or issue's that you need fixed, come to me at night and I will help you. I.E., I can do trigger and action jobs on western weapons. Eastern weapons, well, it's a waste of time due to how solid they are built and with their open tolerences. I can work on Eastern sniper weapons, though."

With that, John wait for what the other have to say.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:22, Tue 19 June 2007.

Adam briefly raises his hand and commences to speak to the assembly,

"If I may answer a few of your questions before we continue. Unfortunately for us, there are very few wrecks of armored vehicles on this side of Krakow. We passed a few right outside the city but they are old and terribly rusted. And, they are on government farmland. There really was not much ground fighting here. There is though, an abundance of boiler plate, sheet metal, and other such things in Nowy Huta. The problem with getting it, of course, is the radiation there. There are people who make a living by going into the city and removing useful items for the factories in Krakow. Perhaps we could make a deal with them.

"If the hatch is a problem for mounting the mortar in the bow, it will be a problem on the afterdeck also because there is another hold hatch there. Since most of our cargo will be carried in the barge, we don't need to be able to open both hold hatches. Perhaps we could seal one and strengthen it to hold the Vasilek. If we need to, we can remove the boom crane after the Vasilek is loaded.

"Mr. Parks, the refugees will probably be glad of help- thank you for your offer. There are five or six men with military training and two women who can handle a Kalashnikov defending the abbey. They have done well for themselves.  Also, the ZOMO marauders are now fewer in number by at least three -er, four-" he adds, a bit uncomfortably, "thanks to you. But, you raise a good point. The weapons you brought here are a large prize. It is possible that someone could follow them here.

"Mr. Yazzie, it is if you read my duty list! My crew will act as you suggest. They have already made steel gun shields for the two Dushkas but they have not been mounted yet. Unfortunately, I don't have any more sheet steel for more such shields.

"There are several other matters we will need to discuss before we shove off, but I should not delay your discussion any longer. Please, continue."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Wed 20 June 2007.

"Adam mentioned radiation hazards.  A Russian in a radiological reconnaissance unit traded me some rations for a spare Geiger counter he had.  We can check any materials for contamination.  That should help, yes?  Also, he traded me a pair of night-vision goggles."

"Overall I agree with Sergeant...(?) Yazzie's suggestions regarding command, teams, watches and weapons placement.  I have some suggestions of my own, but I will wait for others to speak.  Bear in mind that the Vasilek has a traverse limited to 30 degrees."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:03, Thu 21 June 2007.

Snowy adds "You're almost right mate, but this is a pusher tug. While she's got a strong rear deck for towing, she's also got a reinforced bow. That mortar'll be no problem up forward- that cargo hatch is five mill steel. The reason I'm saying this is that the tug can't turn easily, not with that barge. It's a serious job removing those lines; it's not something you can do in combat, and if you cut them they're pretty mush stuffed if you ever want to use them again. So, if you nose into trouble and you want to direct fire the vasilek, it's either on the front deck or the barge."
"Also guys, try and keep your weight down on the upper decks in your calculations. This tug has about as much keel as a running shoe. If we do pull a sharp turn with a couple of ton of sandbags up top, she'll roll over and we can merrily drown until the cold water hits the boiler. So think wood and steel up top, sand down on the main deck."
"Finally, as I said before, the AGS only weighs eighteen kilos. I can make positions for it fore and aft. That way it can be moved to where it's needed. Same with the GPMG. If we get a few more, I can spend the time to make wizz-bang multiple emplacements but until then we can have positions bult for it at various points and the weapon moved as required."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:26, Wed 20 June 2007.

FLASHBACK TO THE GRAVE DIGGING EPISODE...



Dawid stopped and looked at him in mock incomprehension.  "No diwersity?  Nonsense!  In Krakow there are Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Catholics..."  I can see your point.  Well, wherever you go, know that there will be much to rebuild.  Just like I am farmer, and people will always need food to eat."

He stopped again and looked around.  "You are right, this is a good view here.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:01, Wed 20 June 2007.

Konrad has stood quietly watching the groups interaction after Adams speech. Some of the tension that had been developing seems to have dissipated.

Once there is a pause he will speak up.

"Guys, as you all know I am a Hauptmann in the Bundeswehr. I served as a company commander in the 6th Panzergrenadier Division until the division was reorganised in 1998 and I was assigned to a liason position with the U.S. 5th Mechanised."

"I am rated marksman level with rifle and am better than fair with my grenade launcher. I am also a trained forward observer along with a few other skills."

He stops and looks at the group.

"With the weapon placement I definitely think that we need the mortar up forward so we can use it in the direct fire role as well as indirect. I like Snowy's suggestion about multiple positions for the grenade launcher and GPMG."


"Yazzie, looks like you have put a fair amount of thought into organisation and I couldn't have put it better myself. Anyone have any objections or suggestions to add to it ?"

This message was last edited by the GM at 14:15, Wed 20 June 2007.

Tucker will raise his hand when Bayer asks for suggestions or comments, "I'll agree on the points that Yazzie and Snowy made sir, they're right on the money.  I don't have any maritime experience so I would automatically defer to those who did!  The schedule and weapons positions are excellent as well as the schedule and the duty stations.  My only thing is that am I the ranking NCOIC on the ship right now?  I don't mind taking it and look, I'm a team player so if you want to go by ranks, am I the one for this spot?  Maybe Bayer should make the decision on who he wants?

"One last thing, can we establish a chain of command without saluting and being so proper when it comes to ranks?  It shouldn't be as formal- maybe like in the Israeli military, right Anneka?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:17, Wed 20 June 2007.

Old Adam interjects again to clarify a point raised by Snow.

"Yes, I'm embarrassed that I did not mention that, Mr. Snow. The Krolowa is indeed a pusher tug. She can turn quite easily but with the barge attached, this will not be possible. We are likely to approach the greatest dangers ahead of us, so it makes much sense to place the mortar in the bows. It should not be a problem to do so.

"As for construction materials, we have helped the refugees assemble a large supply of wooden beams, nails, wire, and other simple building materials. The boys have filled over one hundred sandbags and we have more empty bags as well. Metal, as I mentioned, is not available at the moment but could be acquired by, or from, anyone willing to brave the radiation in Nowy Huta.

"We have many tools. Jozef has finished with the boiler so they should be available to you. Just ask if you can't find a tool you need." OOC: a fairly complete tool list can be found in the Vistula Queen notice.

"There is one more matter to add to your consideration. The river is not safe for travel at night. Since it has been unkept for several years, there are many obstacles- sandbars, mudbanks, floating and submerged debris- to beware of. These are difficult to see at night. Travelling with the spotlight on only invites attention. I have found that people will shoot at a spotlight for no other reason than it is on! So, we must stop the boat when the sun goes down. There should be a night guard duty schedule as well, no Mr. Yazzie? Also, there is not enough space for quarters inside the boat. So, you may have to sleep outside on deck. I have extra tents and blankets if you need them. I apologize for this inconvenience."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:53, Wed 20 June 2007.

FLASHBACK TO THE GRAVE DIGGING EPISODE...



Clarence laughed, "I hear ya, kid. I meant no disrespect. Krakow's still a nice city- what I saw of it, at least- especially compared to what's become of a lot of your other cities 'round here. I saw some of what happened to Kalisz..." A guilty look spreads quickly across his face to be just as quickly replaced by Clarence's easy smile.

"Anyway, I'll see your Poles, Russians, Ukranians, Jews, and Catholics and raise you Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Arabs, Hindus, Sikhs, Mexicans, Columbians, Dominicans, and all kindsa Africans. Chicago had a different 'color' to it, if ya know what I mean. I mean, you can't exactly pick out a Ukranian walking down the street from a block away in Krakow. I couldn't quite blend in there. That's what I meant. It started to become a problem so I decided I'd seen enough. Adam came along at the right time.

"Speaking of food, all this watching you two dig is making me hungry. Hurry up and let's get back to the boat, see what kinda chow Adam's got for us."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:15, Wed 20 June 2007.

To the Group,

"Snow, I did not know about the front hatch being so strong! If Adam lets us take down the arm, then that settles the issue on traverse. So I vote to mount it up front. We can mount the AGS and GPMG upon the back quarters to give weapons back there. For a guard schedule we will work by teams doing 4 hours on and 8 hours off- this is standard in the Marines. You will always be up with your team. This also allows the tug's crew to sleep. They will work hard during the day so this will keep them fresh. The OIC and SNCOIC will not stand watch but be a react force at night that is ready to aid us."

"So the vote is in for the teams and duty for guard during movement and in the rear schedule is good also?"

"And, we will set up weapons as follows as a group:

Main deck
Position #1 Bow mounted Mortar
Position #2 Aft port mounted AGS-17
Position #3 Aft Starboard mounted GPMG (Davids gun)

Upper Deck
Position #4 Port mounted DSHK
Position #5 Starboard mounted DSHK
Position #6 Aft mounted DSHK

Roof of Pilot house
Position # 7 crow's nest sniper/spotter position.

"All positions will be reinforced with sheet metal, plus pilot house walls/windows I.E. Sand Pebbles movie type flip up and down windows for general quarters. All lower positions will also have sand bags.

For sleeping, we should sleep outside near our general quarters positions in whatever we have. Let the crew stay in their areas. The upper deck guys have a awning and the main deck guys can set up poncho hootches."

"Also the informal command type is good- you salute, you make yourself and the other a target- but we must go with a good combat command chain."

"As for a boarding party, we should use team OZ! they have the experience and the training. Their weapons could be manned by the HQ cell when they do their missions."


"One last thing- if I have no weapons work (gun plumbing), I will work out at night. A little hand-to-hand and kinfe fighting. If your skills are lacking, I can and will help you. You being better means the group is better and I get home.

"So what do you say Men shall we begin to work?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:59, Wed 20 June 2007.

"That sounds excellent!" Dawid exclaimed.  "May I congratulate you on a sound plan, and again I concur with your suggested posting and schedules.  Adam is lending us blankets and pillows, so even out-of-doors we will be comfortable indeed.  I will leave the RPG-76 rocket in the stern so that there is a heavy weapon there.  Whoever is going to look for sheet metal, feel free to borrow my Geiger Counter."

"I will take you up on the offer of instruction when we are at anchor.  For now, I am ready to get to work."

"However, I would ask Adam that if he has any knowledge of conditions or threats upriver, that he share them with us, or at least Hauptmann Bayer.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Thu 21 June 2007.

When convenient, Dawid rummaged through his gear and pulled out the Geiger counter for anyone to use if needed.  It was basically a black metal box the size of a shoebox with a carry handle, a speaker grille, headphone jack (headphones missing), red warning LED and a back-lit colour-coded analogue dial (Green-Yellow-Red ranges) and small LED dosimeter readout (continual cumulative dose after 60 second warmup time).  There were two selector switches (one marked with a Beta and Gamma symbols and the other for two different levels of sensitivity: x10 and x100), a "dump" switch for the dosimeter, speaker mute switch and an on-off switch.  The unit had various Cyrillic markings, some obvious, some inscrutable.  The brand was "KVARTS" although in Cyrillic lettering it looked like "KRAPU".

When switched on, the speaker clicked, the LED flashed and the needle twitched a couple times a second due to the normal background radiation count.  It looked like it might date back to Chernobyl, but well-made.

He also pulled out the RPG-76 Komar, a one-shot rocket that for all the world looked like a slimmed-down WWII-era German Panzerfaust with a flimsy-looking wire stock attached.  This similarity was natural, given the RPG-76 was developed from the RPG-2, itself based on the Panzerfaust.  In a sense, the design had simply come full circle.  He placed this by the proposed stern weapons stations, in case there was something that the Plamya and MGs couldn't handle.

Also, when getting out his other gear, he placed 4 metal ammo cans (each with a 100-round non-disintegrating link belt) and a case of 600 7.62x54mm rimmed rounds for the PKM/Dragunov in the ammo stores.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Thu 21 June 2007.

"I'm down with your plan, Yazz-man. I do still think the PK would work best on top of the bridge. It can fire over high banks if we need it to and there may be times that an SVD and an AK just won't get the job done up there. Otherwise, I'd say it's a solid plan."

Clarence looks around the assembled group, picking out the folks who have yet to weigh in.

"Joost, Anneka- you all been quiet. What do you two think 'bout all this?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:39, Wed 20 June 2007.

Snowy nodded grimly. "It's gonna be more like scrambling up a climbing track than walking up a road, I'd say we'll be going sideways a lot of the time. Every metric ton of shipping on the river at the start of the way is still there, either on the bottom, sticking out of the water or rusting on the banks. This was the WTO's main line of defence, and we're travelling down the old front lines. There must have been over twenty bridges before the war, big buggers, and they'll all have been hit at some point or another so there'll be thousands of tons of crap in the water." He speculatively looks down at the river, "we'll probably be in small boats most of the time, scouting stuff out and blasting or cutting our way through. Who knows? The river may be blocked at some of the barrages* and we'll have to turn back, or hold them and try and repair the locks which could take weeks. If a large enough ship was hit and turned sideways before sinking, it could block the channel entirely. The Vistula flows through flood plains for much of its way, and all the levees were subject to serious artillery. We may find ourselves sailing down the streets of flooded towns or through flooded factory complexes. Yeah, we'd better work out some combat drills for boarding vessels, clearing lock stations and manning boats in a hurry."

"Do you have a map or a general idea of where these obstacles are Cap'n?  It would sure help out if we knew what we could possibly expect when we get to certain areas.

Hitting the nails on the head here today, aren't we?  Just think a few hours ago," Tucker stops in mid-sentence and decides to take the conversation away from what transpired with the bandit EPW just a short time ago.  He continues, "We need to establish our crews for the weapons, battle stations, boarding and repelling boarders, shore parties, and clearing obstacles to start with.  Like I said, I'm a ground pounder so I'm going to have to learn some new shit about crewing a ship here.  If we're going to be successful, I'll learn and help out anyway I can.  I might be be better used as a shore party or boarder but, I need to learn other aspects of the game!"

"One final thing before we start off, although I'v gotta see to my weapon before I get into it, is about the sniper. I agree we should have a spotter aloft, but he's going to have about a foot's sideways movement under way normally and about a metre if we manouvre. It's going to be very hard to aquire and engage with all that swinging around up there. I think having a sharpshooter is going to be vital to the mission, but he'd be better off down on the deck near the centre of gravity."

FLASHBACK TO THE GRAVE DIGGING EPISODE...



"I understand.  Not just Kalisz, but Krakow and Warsaw, and of course Nowa Huta and a hundred other towns and cities.

"Your presence here is... complicated.  If it makes you feel better, individual western soldiers, even the Germans, seem to treat people well and are humane.  But once again our cities have been destroyed and our people slaughtered  for reasons that no one seems wery clear about.  For too long we Poles have been the battleground for other peoples' ambitions, even if those ambitions have been to "free" us from communism or capitalism or Nazism.  Rather like repeatedly destroying a village to save it, I should think."



"Surely You are joking!  You can tell an Ukrainian a mile away from the smell alone."  He grinned to show he was kidding.  "Not really, my mother's family comes from the Ukraine.  But you can tell from the accent, they tend to blend their "w" with their "v" sounds.  Again, Clarence couldn't tell if he were joking or not, because to his ear it sounded like Dawid was doing the same thing.


Perhaps it is well you are thinking of moving on.  It is said that once a man of your race sexually pleasures a woman, they cannot be satisfied by anyone less!  I have no idea if this is true or not, for I have never seen someone of your colour before now.  Not that I want to find out personally, you will understand."



"I know, I know, less talk, more dig.  Say, I wonder if that Tuck person will return my pistol?  Or perhaps I may ask him."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:44, Thu 21 June 2007.

FLASHBACK TO THE GRAVE DIGGING EPISODE...



Clarence responds with a sincere belly laugh. After a few moments, he recovers his composure enough to respond, "Man, kid, you crazy. I just wish you could dig as good as you talk!"



Clarence is suddenly serious again, "I wouldn't push my luck with that if I were you kid. I don't even think I'd want to see that pistol again. Now just dig."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:52, Thu 21 June 2007.

"And, at least with the shore parties, we're going to have to come up with some immediate action drills so everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing, or at least have the knowledge, of what they're supposed to be doing when the shit goes down!  We've got a lot of different people here from different armies and branches that teach different things.  We'll need to pull the best from all and use them how we want or how we see fit," Tucker says.

[NPCed]

Anneka, at Clarence's prompting, finally speaks up, smiling somewhat sheepishly,

"I've been quiet because I don't really know much about these things and it sounds like to me that you guys have already come up with a good plan. If you really want my input, the only thing I can think of is to add a machine gun set up to fire forward. There may be some jobs up front for which the Vasilek would be overkill. We could stick the PK up on the bridge as Clarence suggested. It could almost cover the whole boat from there."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:15, Thu 21 June 2007.

Dawid looked like there was something bothering him.  He added some numbers in his head,

"So, Clarence and I will be manning the Vasilek in the bow.  Although on the roof would be the best place for the PKM, I think we should place it near the bow so that we can man it when the Vasilek would be... overkill? Is that the word?  At any rate, placing the PKM on the roof means either pulling a gunner off Team 1 or Team 2 to crew it, or leaving it to, uh..." he struggled to remember the names, "Gunner and... Yazzie to use it when they should be engaging targets with long-range precision."

"We don't have enough people that we can afford to let skilled gunners go idle.  I say mount the PKM on a pintle with a gunshield near the bow.  Probably on he starboard side opposite where the barge is secured."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:02, Thu 21 June 2007.

FLASHBACK TO THE GRAVE DIGGING EPISODE...



Dawid sighed, stopping to chop at some roots with the blade of his shovel.  "I understand.  But is still my property, although in communism, property is theft, so there you go."

"If no one objects, I will use one of the rifles that you brought, but a sidearm is handy for an artillerist or machine-gunner like me.  Either I am to be trusted with a weapon, or not."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Thu 21 June 2007.

"Hey Snow, my friend, don't worry about us shooting targets with the sniper rifle. We are trained to shoot from ships and their riggings and, as U.S. Marines, we have been doing so for 225 years. I will only be a spotter. My AK would not do crap anyway- too far to shore to be accurate. I should not be firing but spotting- my weapon will be you guys going off my fire commands. "

"But, I enjoy your input and hope you can help with my welding skills. Took a class in community college a long time ago when I was doing gunsmithing. I am real rusty and could use some tips!"

"Well guys, we are burning day light and we should get working."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:57, Fri 22 June 2007.

SNowy nods to Yazzie, now all business.
"Okay, well I have a shopping list; I'll need about two metres of gas, water or oil pipe in about six hundred mill diameter - it's not critical - for the Vasilek mount which has to be lifted above the gunwale. I need some ten mill steel plate for flanging and armour. I'm going to need a lot of this, as I'll be trying to box up the weapons and create bolt down deck mounts."

He looks speculatively at the DShKM and the Vasilek, designing mounts in his head.

"As for tools, we'll need grinder discs, welding rods and ten mill drill bits. I need you guys to scavenge any bolt, nut or screw you see. Carry a shifting spanner with you. I need you to look out for any APC hull you see, we'll chop the hatches out and put them over the pilot house. Yazzie and I seem to think alike."

"The sandbags will be probably have to be wired to wooden mounts, we can't box them because they create splinters when penetrated. Sorry guys, it's gonna be a crap job wiring them up. Keep an eye out for fencing, telephone wire, house wire and so on. Talking about telephone wire, if we scavenge telephones we can make a telephone system to each position. Beats shouting."

"If we need a salvage party to go into Nowa Huta, I will volunteer.

"Within 2 weeks of nuclear attack, radiation drops to a safe level.  After 3 years, the radiation level should be quite safe as long as we stay away from the epicentre or blast crater, and any metal near it like building skeletons, cars, and so on.  The fallout around has either washed away or is no longer dangerously radioactive by now."

"We'll need to check all metal we scavenge for contamination or Beta emission, but that's what the Geiger counter is for.  There are no APCs around here, but we can see what tools are available."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:15, Fri 22 June 2007.

"Yeah mate, there aren't any APCs around here, but Nowy Huta is huge. Keep an eye out, there's been a lot of war around."

"It sounds like a salvage party to Nowa Huta will be required if we are to get any decent quantities of steel plate, not to mention some of the other stuff that Snowy wants to do a good job"

"Due to the radiation danger Im going to ask for volunteers unless anyone has a better idea ?"

Konrad grins

"And as Ive got a geiger counter in my pack as well, I will be one of those volunteers. With Dawid and myself I would say we need atleast two more"

He looks around at the group

"Snowy might be best if you stay here and get this organised and started if you can. Any chance we can get the Ural fixed to use ?"

"Yes boss, although I think you'd do better on the other side of the river. It's just as industrial and didn't get nuked."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:53, Fri 22 June 2007.

"To search there, we would have to load the Ural on to the barge and transport it across the river. We would have to find a landing area there and security would be more of an issue. I'm willing to try this if you wish. But first, my friends, we must eat. All of this debating has awakened my appetite. The refugees have invited us to dine with them this day. They are, I'm sure, very curious to meet you."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:03, Fri 22 June 2007.

With the armament plan for the Krolowa more or less decided, Old Adam leads the party, on foot, up the path around the Tumulus and towards the Abbey. The Polish crew remain behind to continue their work. As you emerge from the trees that border the burial mound, the grey sky is fully revealed, hinting strongly at rain later in the day. You approach the abbey from behind. The medieval building is ominously beautiful, despite the obvious shelling (or airstrike) damage. In it's lee, a small wooden building- which Adam identifies as a smokehouse- has been erected. Nearby, the refugees are in the process of spreading clear plastic sheeting over a wooden frame to create a greenhouse. Goats roam through corn stubble in a small, cultivated field bordering the abbey. A large pig pen and several chicken coups are built right up against a roofless portion of the main building. It is apparent that a nearly independent community has arrisen here in the shadow of nuclear devestation.

A figure approaches- civilian, but armed with a slung AK. Shouted greetings reveal the figure to be a woman, one of two, Adam quietly explains, that help make up the Abbey's nascent security force. She leads you towards a low-roofed building which still serves as the communal eating place. Maybe three dozen people are assembled there. Men, women, and children of almost all ages are gathered on benches at wooden tables. They greet you warmly, speaking mainly in Polish and spurts of broken English. Although their words are largely foreign to you, their meaning is clear. The refugees obviously have a very high opinion of Adam, so much so that it carries to all of those that he cares to associate with. You are led to a table piled high with food, steaming plates of various meats and sausages as well of dishes made of potatoes, turnips, and corn. To drink, pitchers of water that the civilians assure you- using hand signs- has been filtered and is safe to drink. And, for the adventurous, a powerful homebrew that the locals loosely refer to as Vodka.

After an hour's feasting and chit-chat, Adam stands, makes a final toast to your hosts, and indicates that it is time to return to the boat. You stand, make your goodbyes, and begin to waddle back to the anchorage, stuffed to the gills. It's the best you've eaten in months, if not years. Adam carries containers of food and bottles of liquor for those who remained on the boat.

After a few minutes spent sitting around the clearing, recovering from the glutony of the feast, the subject of preparation for the voyage comes up again.

OOC: Now it's time to post what you'd like to do for the rest of the afternoon. It's about 1pm, game time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:41, Fri 22 June 2007.

Feeling sated but knowing there was much work to be done, Dawid shook off the effects of the Wodka he's sipped.

"Uh, so where were we?" He lit a cigarette.

"First, Snowy, I think most of the tools you mentioned are available in the boat's machine shop, like welding equipment and a grinder.  Which makes sense to keep this beast running."

"Second, the radiation hazard for Nowa Huta is minimal.  Only if we pick up metal that's irradiated, and only if it's at the epicentre.  There shouldn't be any dust, unless this part of Poland is a lot dryer than any other, plus it washes off.  The exception is if the weapons used were designed to "salt" the Earth with long-loved isotopes, but that's what Geiger counters are for, and we can wear our gas masks to limit ingestion."

"At least we can perform some radiological reconnaissance, see what the hazards are like before we commit ourselves."

"Last, I say stick the darn PKM anywhere, if that's what's holding us up!"  He grinned.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Fri 22 June 2007.

Snowy shakes his head quietly, responding with "I'm not being clear. Because we'll be fabricating so much stuff, I'll need way above the normal consumables. I'll go through about ten grinding discs easily making the Vasilek mount alone. I'm not saying they don't have them here, I'm saying keep an eye out for them. Nowy Huta was the Soviet Bloc's largest metalworking centre, there's no way they can all be gone."

In a more general tone, he continues. "I'm gonna clean my weapon and start in on it. I've gotta inventory the tools we have to work with and what materials are stockpiled, then come up with some plans for the jobs. The main tasks identified so far are four weapon positions and armouring the wheelhouse. If there's enough stuff to go onto the mounts I will, but I think it'll be the wheelhouse first unless I strike it lucky with the stockpile. I reckon you'll be lucky to find anything on this side of the river, that looks like a groundburst to me - you won't catch me wandering around near a groundburst site."

Dawid nodded in response.  "I guess we can ask Adam if he has these supplies or not.  You never know!"

"You're correct, if that's a ground-contact explosion then radioactivity could still be a problem.  We can detect these harmful rays, and I'm still volunteering."

"I'd also like to use one of the rifles you brought, if no one minds."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Fri 22 June 2007.

Karl Uller sits against a crate nearby, with his wounded leg outstretched. Between mouthfulls of roasted pork brought back for him from the feast, he interjects,

"The other side is fucked too. One of the bombs hit there as well. The bombs exploded in the air, by the way. So I've heard at least. Anyone who really saw them explode should be blind now anyway, so who knows who is telling the truth." Uller adds, chuckling to himself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:14, Fri 22 June 2007.

"Well guys, like I said I don't have much skill in metal so I will go back and fill more sandbags."

"Remember Snow, when you get metal you said you would give me a class- just yell when you're ready buddy."

"OK guys, if you want to help me, I will be out here !"

John will leave the tug and go back to the beach with his gear and fill more sandbags......
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:58, Sat 23 June 2007.

Konrad knows only limited Polish but he manages to get across his appreciation of the first good meal he has had in a while.

Once everyone from the team has finished eating Konrad speaks.

"Well I think a trip into Nowa Huta is the best option for us at this stage. If we take 4-5 of us and the Ural and see how much we can get in one day. The rest of the team stays here and helps Snowy with the prep work, agreed ?"


"We keep the geiger counters on and avoid any hot spots we find, so who is joining myself and Dawid?"

Tucker looks over to Dawid, "The PKM can be used as a back-up if one of the Dashka's go down or we just need some more firepower on one side than the other.  No sense in mounting it anywhere just yet, it might come in handy somewhere else!  I know that I can use some hands on re-training on these big suckers here," Tucker says pointinf to the DsHK's.


Tuck will raise his hand when Bayer looks for volunteers, "As long as I get clearance from medical sir, I'll go along with you!"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:43, Sat 23 June 2007.

Tucker will clean his plate of the first sit down meal he's had in probably years.  He will belch after he tries to repectfully finish everything on his plate and glass without being to obvious that he hasn't had a meal of this quality in sometime.

He will sit and try to communicate with his limited knowledge of the language with the locals when he can but, certainly feels more comfortable with his new group and in English.  Tucker will join Adam in saluting his guests with his toast and drinking down the home-brewed alcohol and then depart with him, thanking his hosts with handshakes and smiles walking out the door.

Walking out of the building, Tucker reaches into his shirt pocket for another cigar and his lighter.  He cuts off the end of the cigar and then lights it, puffing on it so it burns evenly, and then sits to enjoy it for a few minutes.  "I swear, I don't remember the last time I ate a meal like that!  And to top it off, some good old fashioned vodka and a cigar.  That was an excellent meal Adam, best most of us had in months, maybe years!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Sat 23 June 2007.

As John fills the first few sand bags he feels a knot in his stomach and then pain. Without talking to others, he will run behind the nearest cover and pull down his pants and let the river flow. After not eating a good meal in 3 years, this one hits his stomach hard and it wants to be free. But this is a good sign: it means he is healthy.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:00, Sat 23 June 2007.

Parks sits back with a grin after eating his fill, which isn't much. Avoiding the alcohol, he instead drinks water from his canteen and thanks his hosts as best he can in polish. As the feasting subsides and Adam departs, Parks gives a final thanks and  heads back to the ship to inspect the top of the wheel house. After looking it over and getting a general idea of the best means of providing cover while still allowing a decent field of view parks heads down to help Yazz with the sandbagging.

" Well it's been a while since I did this shit." Parks says with an effort and a smile. "Can't say I've missed it." Parks jokes. Seeing Yazz run off into the bushes unexpectedly has Parks ducking instictivly and looking for a threat for a second. Hearing the sounds that follows, Parks starts laughing harder then he had in years. Trying to compose himself somewhat, Parks half blurts out. Well it's good to be around Marines again. Upwind atleast. Parks goes back to his work but can't seem to stop chuckling to himself for a few minutes. Knowing it will probable be his turn in the bushes soon, Parks makes note of Yazzies general position to avoid at all costs later.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:07, Sat 23 June 2007.

"That I will be happy to do."

"My last suggestion regarding the PKM is a pintle mount with gunshield mounted on the cupola behind the Vasilek.  That way we have the best of all worlds: flexibility for the forward gunners, the ability to dismount it quickly and move it around the ship or on shore because the bipod is always attached.  Neither gun fouls the other."

"But first, let me propose a toast to our hosts."  He raised his glass of wodka.  "To the good people of the Abbey.  With the help of God and the Holy Black Madonna of Częstochowa we shall endure this latest Deluge and let these fires temper our people, so that one day Poland shall be free."

He raised his glass higher to include the people around him, "Na Zdrowie!"

OOC: "To your health!"

At some point after lunch/dinner, Dawid takes the AKM and AK-74 in stores, smokes a cigarette while he unloades them and strips them down, cleans and oils them, then reassembles them.  "These Izhmash-made Russian rifles are garbage.  Nothing like the Polish Wz88!"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:20, Sat 23 June 2007.

Equipped by Adam with schematics for the Wisla Krolowa, a pencil, and some paper, Snow begins to draw up plans for the militarization of the tug. Yazzie returns to filling sandbags wtih Gunny Parks. After warning Tucker not to do any heavy lifting or move around too much, Anneka gets settled in the Krolowa's tiny sickbay, taking inventory of the ship's rather generous stockpile of medical supplies. Clarence, meanwhile, begins tinkering in the boat's radio room, long since stripped of most of it's equipment by government forces.

The remaining team members collect what MOPP gear they can for the foray into Nowy Hutna. It's been over two years since the city was blasted by three nuclear airburst devices- for the most part, radiation levels should be relatively managable for short periods of time. The rain of the last few days should also help reduce the quantity of any floating, radioactive dust. As long as they stick to the outskirts of the city and avoid lingering directly under the detonation zones, they shouldn't pick up too many rads. At least, that's what Adam says...

With Snowy's "shopping list" in hand, the away team loads aboard the Ural, repaired while they were away at the Abbey. Adam's engineer, Grzyech, somehow was able to find a serviceable replacement tire on the bows of the Krolowa, transfering it from boat's bumper to the Ural. Aside from the multiple holes in the windshield and cab, the truck has been restored to its previous running condition.

With Max at the wheel and Tuck, Konrad, Joost, and Blue aboard, the truck climbs the path up the banks, around the tumulus, past the abbey, and pulls onto the road running into the outskirts of Nowy Hutna.

OOC: Those staying may, of course, continue to RP and do things around the boat. I'm going to create another group for the folks going into town.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:36, Sun 24 June 2007.

John will work hard and continue to fill sand bags until the time (as stated in the schedule) for him to go and have alone time. He will fix a bed on the deck of the ship and sleep once it becomes night fall.

Dawid took the recovered AK-74, loaded it and placed the 2 spare magazines into his 5-pouch chest ammo harness.  Before arming himself, he sought out Cpt. Bayer.

Saluting, he asked, "sir, as I will be under your direct supervision, is it permissable that I be armed?  If so, unless my pistol is returned, I should like to take a rifle, as the machine-gun will be too bulky."



Before putting on his gas mask, Dawid advised the men with him, "there is little danger from fallout in most locations.  However, there will be "hot spots" where actual fissionable material like Plutonium and Strontium-90 from the bombs themselves have collected.  These will still be wery dangerous, and breathing or ingesting these particles in will be harmful or even fatal, if not immediately then eventually.  These dust particles cannot penetrate our skin (although Beta and Gamma rays can).  Therefore, we need little in the way of special protective clothing other than the masks, but we should be prepared to wash our clothing afterwards and take a bath in the river."

Instead of the insect-like Russian gas mask, his Polish-made MP-4 gas mask looked a lot like the old US-style M17 gas mask (sans water tube).

http://www.geocities.jp/utr198...to/polishotafuku.jpg

Edit: Dawid was originally going to take one of the rifles, then it occurred to me that it would be proper to ask the CO first.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:37, Sun 24 June 2007.

Tucker goes through his duffel bag and finds a couple of bottles he had burried in there.  He pops the lids on two different bottles and takes two different types of pills (one mild pain reliever and one antibiotic) for his wounds.  Obviously favoring his leg slightly, he gingerly walks over to where Bayer is, "I'm ready to go sir!  You want the front seat or the back?  With all due respect, I wouldn't normally even ask but, I'm not trying to get re-stitched when I get back Cap'n.  I'll get the men lined up and ready to board," he says to Bayer.

Tuck will turn to the people going on the excursion into town.  He says with some authority in his voice, "All Right!  Everyone on this expedition, on me!  Front and center!"  Tucker will let everyone get there, "OK everyone, at ease!  Anyone got anything before we pull out? [letting Dawid give his information]  If that's all, lock and load and let's get this over with.  Make sure you check your targets and beyond if we have to engage!"

Clarence finds his duffel in one of the tug's passageways and changes from his civilian clothes into an set of insignia-less American BDUs. Then, with a crewman's help, Clarence locates the tug's one-time radio room. Although it's been stripped bare of anything remotely useful, Clarence searches for anything that could help him boost his radio's range.

Snowy didn't eat or drink much at the little settlement's feast, as he's still feeling very shaking after the morning's confrontation. While it means he misses out on the best meal he's going to get for months, at least it saves him from Yazzie's result.

While Adam is off getting the plans, he goes down to the riverside and methodically cleans the chunks of brains, skull and hair off his person, uniform and equipment. He looks out across the river and exhales, letting the tension out. Replacing his kit in the correct pouches, he looks around and then heads back to the tug's foredeck. There, he removes his shotgun from the pack and lays it close at hand. Then he methodically cleans the M4 carbine, scrubbing the gunk out of the action the post-nuke 'glow worm' rounds have left in the bore and guts of the gun. That done, he goes and fills sandbags until Adam is ready for him.

Reclaiming his weapons, he looks at the under deck stress members on the plans and clucks his lips, trying to find a way to mount the weapon while allowing the hatch to open. Unable to find a solution, he settles on a modified and simplified Mark 46 mount that he is familiar with from his days at sea. He'll cut a hatch into the cargo hatch to allow for ammo to be handed up to the gunners, and use the hatch as the basis for the forward mount. He plans on a serious bit of protection here, knowing that the Vasilek and the pilot House will attract most of the incoming fire.

Finishing up inventorying the treasure trove of medical supplies, Anneka wandered back up on deck to see what help she could give. Poking her head into the radio room she spotted Clarence.
"Need a hand with anything? I'm done for the moment."

Approached by Dawid as they board the URAL Konrad stops and speaks.

"You would be a liability to the group if you werent armed Dawid so I have no problems with you taking a spare rifle. Just make sure you use it well and you make may it back into my good book"

With that comment Konrad grins and claps Dawid on the back

"Now lets get this show moving"

Saluting he replied, "at once, sir." and left.

He retrieved the worn AK-74 and its three magazines from the armoury.  It was one of the earlier copies, with a brown-red plastic magazine and pistol grip, with a worn wooden stock.  He seated the one mostly-emptied magazine into the weapon with a click, pulled back on the charging handle and set the safety-selector switch on single shot.  The AK-74 shared the truly poor design feature of the AK-47 where the large safety handle on the right of the receiver had an up position where it would inhibit the travel of the bolt, a lower setting for single and full-auto being in the middle.  In the excitement of reading the rifle for combat, it was not unheard of to accidentally push all the way down and set the rifle to single instead of automatic fire.  The Polish Wz88 had solved this problem with a separate selector switch on the left hand side above the trigger.

He called out, "Firing!" in English and Polish.  Then laid down and zeroed the sights by carefully aiming and firing the rest of the magazine at a rusty tin can a couple dozen metres away, stopping to adjust the sights every few shots.  Satisfied, he stood up and replaced the empty magazine with a full one, then placed the empty and the one full spare magazine in his 4-cell ammunition pouch.

Upon hearing or observing Foster lacking basic NBC protection while heading into a contaminated zone, he resolved to beg, borrow or steal a mask for him to wear.  He wouldn't leave without doing this, that would be criminal!

After hours of veiled but ulimately empty threats, the grey sky makes good and a light rain begins to fall.

The team have been at work for about an hour when their various tasks are interupted by two faint but distinctly audible whistle blasts that seem to have eminated from the crest of the tumulus, in the shadow of which the Krolowa is moored. Uller, who hasn't been doing much of anything much but grumbling this afternoon, calls out from the open bridge door to anyone within hearing range, first in Polish, then in English. His tone is urgent but not panicked,

"A boat is coming! A boat is coming!"

From around the trees bordering the riverbank, a small, open, Boston Whaler-type boat can be seen motoring downstream through the light mist on the near side of the channel. It's difficult to make out any detail, given the current weather conditions, but the boat appears to be carrying three occupants.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:39, Tue 26 June 2007.

Parks looks toward town as the whistles blowing starts. Grabbing his rifle, he prepares to head into town when he hears Uller's call. Parks looks to the River and sees the boat moving thru the mist."Boat!"Parks repeats for those on shore. Looking over to Yazzie, Parks goes prone behind a pile of already filled sandbags that they had just completed. Parks sets the bipod on his rifle and sights in on the driver of the possible threat. Parks starts estimating the range while waiting for some indication of intent from the new vessel.



Parks
On shore behind pile of sand bags
SVD [10] + 3x 10rnd mags
Sighted in on the boat driver, waiting for some sign of intent.



[Private to 'Old' Adam Rataj: I have no clue how far the sand bagging area is from the tug or if i have line of sight. I will adjust my post as needed if my guessing is wrong.]

John will pull out his binos and start to scan the target area of the boat as he lies prone behind the sand bags next to gunny parks. (Observation check) He will then start to make range estamations and call out the range of the boat for the gunny to set his sights. He will also make a windage call and say it out loud to the gunny.


"gunny the targets on the boat are?"

"gunny the range to the boat is?"

"gunny the windage call is?"

John will stay in position and spot targets for the gunny.

Clarence almost starts as Anneka appears, quietly cat-like.

"No, ma'am. They cleaned this place out real good. Thanks for the offer though."

Hearing Uller shout from up ahead jolts Clarence into action. He twists around in the cramped quarters, grabbing his helmet, vest, and carbine from near his duffel. He quickly wriggles into his protective gear as he heads towards Anneka in the doorway.

"Let's go see what's goin' down out there."

Snowy's head snaps up, and while he's trying to work out what's going on he's reflexively scooped up his rifle.
At Uller's and Park's call, he lopes aft down the starboard side to the companionway up to the wheelhouse, dragging on gloves and fastening his helmet. Springing up the stairs, he runs to the riverside DShKM and grabs the belt on the left side of the weapon. He feeds the belt tab through the feed guide and the first round is over the stop pawl. Reaching over, he grabs the cocking handle and retracts it fully, loading and cocking the weapon. Glancing up to where the boat is, he lets loose the friction clamp and elevates the weapon fully, before traversing the weapon towards the boat, He's now looking past the barrel, elevated fully to signal non-aggression, but ready to drop the muzzle and engage.

Hearing the cry, Anneka cut short what she was about to say and dashed for the weapons still to be installed. Although the mortar, AGS and third DSHK were still unusable, the RPK-74 was something that would add immediate firepower.
Snatching up the smaller weapon and ensuring she had at least two extra full magazines, she took to cover and aimed the weapon at the other boat.
Unlike some who still lived in this war-torn world, she had long since learnt to never allow a potential enemy any unnecessary advantage. If they turned out to be friendly, then appologies would be in order.
Until then...
[Private to GM: Yes, I'm aware it'll probably take time but in her mind it's the best she can do. The only heavy weapon capable of firing into that arc is claimed and her Uzi is next to useless.]

The team takes up defensive postures on ship and shore. The small boat continues along downriver until it is roughly even with the tug. The figure in the bow suddenly points towards the Krolowa and the small boat swings around and heads towards the near shore without altering is casual cruising speed. Through their scopes, John and Yazzie can clearly see the three occupants. All three wear various Polish military uniforms with the addition of the dark blue Krakow ORMO armband. The man in the bow and the tillerman are both clearly armed but neither are brandishing their weapons in a threatening manner.

Adam steps out from the bridge onto the companionway and lifts a pair of binnoculars to his eyes. Uller limps up behind him. Seeing the boat, Uller mutters loud enough for Snow to hear,

"Oh, it's this asshole again."

Adam adds emphatically in his booming captain's voice, "Don't shoot! These are friends." This last statement lacks a genuine ring of sincerity.

The boat continues its approach until it runs up on the mudflat against which the Krolowa is nestled. After scolding the tillerman, the foremost occupant climbs over the gunwhale and begins wading the short intervening distance through the muck towards the side of the Krolowa. He's followed by a woman.

[OOC: Snow, Clarence, and Anneka are standing near the rail. They can see and speak to the new comers. The tug now blocks Gunny and Yazzie's view of the small boat and it's occupants. Actions?]

[Private to Griet Niewiadomski: You are now in play. Welcome aboard.]

[Private to Anneka Soleblume: OOC: That's fine. It's a perfectly reasonable action.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:48, Thu 28 June 2007.

Griet advanced slowly through the mud, taking care not to fall.  The AKR banged against her hip until she shrugged it to lie across her back and butt on its sling.  The stock was folded so that it was virtually invisible from the front, though the holstered pistol at her waist still proclaimed her to be armed.

Any woman who wasn't armed was a target in these desperate times.

The mud sucked and squelched, smelling of decaying plants and rotted fish.  Griet largely ignored it.  Those smells, bad as they were, didn't hold a candle to the charnel house of a ruined city full of corpses in states from freshly dead to maggot writhing to so many charred shadows outlined on nuclear-melted concrete walls.  That did something to you after a while.  You simply stopped worrying about it and turned your nose off.

As they grew closer, the angle of the sun and the brim of her cap worked to keep her face partially obscured in shadow.  Griet's having to look down every few steps to check her footing also worked to keep her face hidden except for occasional glimpses.

As they neared the side of the Krolowa, Griet looked up and scanned the tug from one end to the other.  Those watching saw her eyes meet theirs briefly, the run over their visible weapons before continuing on from bow to stern.  She stopped walking when the man did and waited, face empty of expression.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Thu 28 June 2007.

Equipped for battle, Clarence exits the superstructure ready for the worst. Seeing Snow's alert yet relaxed posture and hearing Adam's shouted reassurances, Clarence experiences a marked but not unwelcome unpuckering sensation. Weapon lowered in a ready but unthreatening position, he  makes his way along the companionway to the HMG mount.

"What do we have here?" Clarence asks, keeping an eye on the man and woman slogging towards the tug.

"Is this guy a problem?" Snowy answers Uller quietly, the muzzle of DShKM is still skywards. He looks at the two with hard eyes, at this range the heavy machine gun would blow them into pink rags, he then applies the friction lock leaving the weapon pointing up.

Snowy transfers his hands to his carbine. Wierdly enough - Snowy realises your mind does funny things at times - he thinks of the magazine with five rounds short in his cargo pocket.

Parks watches as the boat slides out of sight behind the tug then lightly taps Yazzie. "Moving up. Cover" Parks says in a hushed tone. Parks stands with his SVD at the ready. With a surprisingly fast crouched run,Parks move toward the gangplank. A few feet short, Parks stops and covers for Yazzie.

The call goes thru Parks mind again as he scans the boat. Some of the past conversations he'd heard makes him wary of Adam's bestowed title of friend. Better safe then sorry. I need to see how the Corporal reacts and operated anyway. Parks thinks to himself.

Uller, leaning against the hatchway to the bridge, answers in a low voice. His tone is particularly sour,

"He was an over-aged corporal in the Wojskowa Sluzba Wewnetrzna- the Army Internal Service- before the mutiny. Now he is an officer in the Krakow ORMO. He's probably decided that his 'commission' wasn't big enough..."

Old Adam squeezes past Snow and Milk and clambers down a short exterior ladder to the main deck. The male ORMO officer stands impatiently, fists on his hips, ankle-deep in mud. Adam picks up a rolled up rope ladder with wooden steps and unfurls it over the side.

The male officer is dressed in an old style, but well maintained, Polish raindrop pattern camouflage field uniform with high-vis Krakow ORMO insignia. An ancient PM-63 submachine gun is stuffed into an oversized holster hanging at his hip.

In Polish he quips, "Nie przyśpiesza albo coś..."

[Private to Griet Niewiadomski; Anneka Soleblume: "Don't hurry or anything..."]

Adam snaps back,"Utrzymują wasz krótki na, wasze wygórowanie!"

[Private to Griet Niewiadomski; Anneka Soleblume: "Keep your shorts on, your highness!"]
This message was last edited by the player at 06:04, Fri 29 June 2007.

Anneka relaxed her grip on the RPK and let out a small chuckle as the two Poles exchanged quips. There was obviously no immediate threat here although who really knew anymore? Friends, even family had turned on each other since the war began for the smallest of reasons. She had to admit though, survival was usually high on that list.

When the gunny gets up to move John yells out    "covering"

When the gunny gets into place John yells out     "moving"

As john runs he hears his old instructor of infantry in his head "I'm up he see's me i'm down" after the saying is over he gets down to the closest piece of cover. He the yells out    "I'm set, covering you"

Griet ignored the less than pleasant exchange of words.  With none of the awkwardness a landlubber would have shown, she swarmed up the ladder, even in muddy boots, and stepped onto the deck.  Facing aft she made a quick salute, then turning back to Adam she made another and held it.

"Zezwolenie wobec przyjść na statku?" she asked politely.

[Private to Anneka Soleblume; Dawid Waldus Piotrowski: Polish "Permission to come aboard" or at least I think so.  ]

Adam, seeing that the second ORMO officer is an unfamiliar woman, performs a shallow conciliatory bow and responds,

"Oczywiście. Witają na pokładzie królowa. Niech wychodzić tego deszczu, będzie my?

[Private to Anneka Soleblume; Griet Niewiadomski: Roughly, "Of course. Welcome aboard the Queen. Let's get out of this rain, shall we?"]

Adam makes an "after you" gesture towards the bridge.

Griet let herself be steered towards the bridge.  She stopped and considered her muddy boots for a moment but since Adam didn't seem to object she went ahead onto the bridge.  Once inside, she put herself up against the bulkhead, staying out of the way of the wheel.

It wasn't much of a bridge, certainly nothing like the last ship she'd been aboard, but it was more of a ship than she'd seen since the Twilight War.  Griet's eyes began flicking around, taking in the layout of the controls and the state of the visible machinery.  It also allowed her to look out through the windows of the wheelhouse and survey the deck layout.

She waited for the other ORMO to join her and Adam on the bridge.

Old Adam and the male ORMO officer follow Griet into the bridge leaving the door open behind them.

OOC: The other PCs may follow them into the bridge or remain at their posts. If they stay, Snow and Clarence will be able to hear bits and pieces of the conversation that follows. Either way, Uller will provide translation of the exchange, either in real-time or after the fact, depending on what your PC chooses to do. Feel free to jump in if you want. Uller will translate for you as well.

Old Adam removes his hat and addressed the male ORMO officer,

"Well Porucznik* Zewlakow, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Zewlakow reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a crushed pack of cigarrettes. He casually removes one and lights it, failing to offer one to anyone else. After a couple of quick puffs, he replies,

"Why are you still here Rataj?"

"We are preparing the tug for the trip." Adam responds matter of factly.

"You picked up the bargeload of bicycles and sewing machines a week ago, Old man. The Rada are getting impatient. They made a significant investment in this boat and they're starting to wonder if they'll ever see a return. It's no secret you picked up a load of foreign mercenaries this morning. People are talking. This is beginning to look less and less like a legitimate business trip and more like a private... adventure."

He takes long drag on his cigarette while Adam responds,

"The foreigners, they are security. I only wish to protect the Rada's investment. Surely, that is not hard to understand."

"Perhaps. But some are saying that you're ultimate destination is Warsaw. That was not part of the agreement."

"Well..."

"So, Old man, the Rada are sending someone along with you to make sure you do your job, and nothing else. This is Chief Petty Officer Griet Niewiadomski, formerly of the Polish navy. She is to act as an 'advisor' and agent of the Krakow ORMO on behalf of the Rada. She has been authorized to take command of this vessel should you deviate from the agreed upon mission. You will go no further than Sandomierz and you will proceed with dispatch. Do I make myself clear?"

"Of course, Porucznik Zewlakow."

"Good."

Uller mutters in English, "This is fucked. The only thing the Rada did was grant us a 'permit' to salvage the engines- and we had to pay for that..."

Zewlakow replies sharply, "And those engines belong to Krakow. The ORMO will come here in force and take full possesion of this vessel if my instructions are not obeyed to the letter. Your mercenaries won't be able to protect you."

Seeking to defuse the situation, Adam speaks up abruptly, "We will depart tomorrow, as soon as it is light."

"You'd better. No more delays old man. If I have to come back here, it will be at the head of 100 men. See to it that you're gone in the morning."

Zewlakow finishes his cigarrette, dropping it on the floor and stubbing it out with his boot. Uller balls his fists in response only to receive a stern warning glance from Adam. The ORMO lietenant turns on his heel and, without so much as a goodbye to his female colleague, exits the wheelhouse.

*Lieutenant

[Actions?]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:45, Sun 01 July 2007.

John will continue to bound for cover to cover with the gunny until they have eyes on the target.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:15, Sun 01 July 2007.

John and Gunny move about two dozen meters obliquely through the the woods until they can reacquire the target. A lone man with a slung rifle sits idly in the small boat, the bow of which has been run up on the the mudflat against which the tug is moored. The other two occupants are gone. He doesn't seem to have noticed the sniper team.

From the cover with Gunny nearby:

"Guns, we have one target in the boat. His weapon is slung. Can't see where the other targets went. Range 100 meters with a 10 mph cross wind from left to right."


"I say we hold fire until we see hostile act; what do you say?"

John
prone behind cover
scanning targets with bino's
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:57, Sun 01 July 2007.

Snowy follows the crowd into the wheelhouse, and although he has his hands on his weapon his finger is on the triggerguard. He watches Zewlakow's antics but is unable to understand the rapid colloquial Polish. He raises his eyebrows as Zewlakow fouls the bridgedeck though, and leans over and picks up the cigaerette butt. As he flicks it out the pilothouse window, he looks at Zewlakow and says "Ignorant bugger."

He then transfers his gaze over to the Polish woman who saluted the flag and says "I trust you're better behaved than tha?"

(OOC: All in English I'm afraid, Snowy hasn't the greatest facility with languages.)

Griet's eyes dropped to White's weapon and lingered on the finger he had alongside the trigger guard.  Her submachinegun was still slung across her lower back.  They flicked back to his face as he spoke, and remained there for several long seconds, her face blank and unreadable.

His accent was strange, and taxed her limited English.  Parts of it sounded like the school teacher she'd learned it from, an ex-British woman who'd abandoned Queen and Country to embrace the idealogical beauty of Communist rule.  But other parts of his accent were very different indeed.  She waited to speak, both to give her time to decipher what he meant and to allow Zewlakow to get out of earshot.

"I am sailor," Griet said slowly, her English heavily Polish-accented but with odd traces of Britain in it.  "Zewlakow soldier in WSW.  He hear much so tongue watch," she advised.  Or was she threatening?  With no obvious change in facial expression it was hard to say.

"You English yes?"

While Snow and the new addition get acquainted, Clarence sidles up beside Uller and asks for a breakdown of the exchange between Adam and the ORMO officer. Even with his limited profficiency in the Polish language, it was clear to Clarence that the conversation had been tense and fairly one sided.

When he detects a break in Snow's conversation with the new girl, Clarence steps forward and offers his hand,

"Clarence Milk, U.S. army- Milo mi*. So, you're our new babysitter?" he adds in a friendly tone.

(OOC: *It's nice to meet you.)
This message was last edited by the player at 17:26, Sun 01 July 2007.

Parks keeps his eye at his scope and speaks in low tones as if to himself.
"Roger range and wind. No joy so far. We will watch and wait. I got boat boy. See if you can find the other two."
Parks slowly scans the boat for anything he see's is vulnerable. Uncovered engine parts, fuel tank, anything a 7.62 can play hell with. Taking note of anything that looks promising, he slowly scans back to the target. Parks takes his eye off the scope starts to slowly works the natural concealment around him to their favor. Once this task is done as best as his quick hide allows he leans slightly to his side and pulls out his handheld and slowly slides it over to lightly bump Yazzie's arm.
"See if you can raise Snow or Milk and see what's going on." Parks says quietly.


Parks
In the underbrush 100 meters from the whaler.
SVD(10)
Getting "comfortable" while watching his target.

"Milk this is John sitrep over"

"we are in position to affect the boat and its rifleman"

Hearing his radio crackle to life, Clarence momentarily excuses himself from the conversation to take the call,

""Scuse me, folks."

Clarence fumbles over his shoulder  for a moment before grasping hold of the radio's handset. Bringing it to his ear, he squeezes the transmit button,

"John, this is Milk. The boarding party is not hostile- repeat, not hostile. Two subjects are leaving in the boat; one is staying behind. Keep an eye on the boat until it departs. Over."

Clarence now has one ear on the discussion in the wheelhouse and one on the radio.

"It is pleased to meet you," Griet replied and shook Milk's hand.  Her hand was confident in his, and the roughness of it spoke of a woman who'd not spent much time being pampered.  It was almost a farm girl's hand, only without the pig shit.

"I Name Griet," she continued after letting go of his hand.  "Milk?"  She seemed puzzled then spoke her first genuinely correct English sentence so far.  "The cow is of the bovine ilk; one end is moo, the other is milk.  Yes?"  It was obvious she'd learned the phrase by rote and had no inkling of its true meaning.

"Guns, targets are friendlies- Will try and find other two. I think we should track until they leave."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:58, Wed 04 July 2007.

"Nah, not even close. I'm an Aw-Stray-Lien, so we're on the other side of the planet from the Poms. So, you're our baby-sitter? Sounds like you are set up to keep us doing that charming bloke's wishes. Sorry if that doesn't fill me with joy."

Gunny and Yazzie pick up the second target as he slogs back across the mud spit towards the small boat. When he arrives, he pauses for a moment to yell at the tillerman before pushing the boat off and hopping awkardly in, almost tumbling backwards over the prow. Gunny and Yazz track them through their scopes as the two targets head back into the channel and turn back upstream the way they came. The two interlopers never knew that they'd been in someone else's crosshairs during most of their unannounced visit.

One of the refugee militiamen arrives in the muddy clearing, breathing hard, having run down the track from the abbey. He stands there looking around, trying to assess the situation. He has not seen the sniper team hidden in the trees bordering the bank to his right.

Meanwhile, on the Krolowa's bridge, Anneka enters after having watched the boat leave. She hangs back in a corner, wiping rainwater off of her face and  resting the borrowed RPK-74 butt-first on the deck. Quietly, she listens in, trying to make sense of what is going on.

Uller is the first to speak,

"Remember Miss Newiadomski, you may be here to watch us, but I'll be watching you."

Adam cuts him off before he can continue, "I apologise for my crewman's poor welcome. This is- how shall I say- an unexpected turn of events. I am not sure that we will be ready to leave tomorrow..." his last statement trails off expectantly, inviting the newcomer to either confirm or refute Zewlakow's threats.

Actions? Dialogue?
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:19, Wed 04 July 2007.

Beset on all sides.  Griet knew she was in a tense situation, made the worse by Zewlakow's tactless dealings with the Captain.  He really was an ass, bot that she'd ever give voice or even body language to indicate such.  He didn't understand that, for all it was just a tug to him, to the Captain it was his ship.  His responsibility, his fiefdom.  There would have been a better outcome if he'd treated the Captain as a respected man, and not someone just to be bullied.

"Is not joy or not joy," she said.  "Is to be done and by morning.  That is will of people."  It was always safe to say things were the will of the people; that was a basic precept of Communism and she'd been raised as one, albeit a second-class one.

"Morning come, Krolowa still here, bad news you, me, everyone.  We go."

Switching to Polish, she addressed Old Adam.  "Captain, we will be underway by first light.  Zewlakow does not make idle threats," she stated firmly.  She turned to Uller, gave him a cool look, then switched her attention back to Old Adam.  "I will work alongside your crew to make us ready.  What needs to be done, Captain?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:32, Wed 04 July 2007.

Anneka continued to look on quietly, waiting to speak with the captain in private for a few moments. The heavy (to her) stock of the RPK rested against her foot, oversized magazine extending out before her shapely leg. Her hands casually gripped the thick metal barrel just below the foresight.
The new woman worried her somewhat. As a representative of what could probably be termed one of the few remaining "enemy" units in any shape to cause trouble, Griet would require careful watching.

"New target getting into boat, Guns- same distance and wind call..... They are now leaving."


"Awaiting your orders..."


John
prone behind cover
spotting scope to eye
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:46, Thu 05 July 2007.

Parks follows the boat until it's out of sight again then rolls to his side slightly to face Yazzie. "Not bad Corporal. See you've done this or seen it done before. I have to warn ya' though. Every spotter I've had in this smelly ass of a country hasn't made it. If you want to help me break that streak, welcome aboard. If not I'll understand." Parks rolls back slighly and resumes his position. We'll wait here a bit and watch to see if the boat or anyone else returns. I am in no hurry to get back to baggin'. Go ahead and call Milk and tell him one of the locals is outside." Parks gets back into position and relaxes. Resting his cheek on the butt of the weapon like most would rest their head on their arm. After a brief period of silence Parks lulls his head to the side slighly to face Yazzie. " Keep and eye out for some burlap or other course cloth. I will help ya make your first gilly. I am hoping we get some shore duty somewhere along the line. That boats gonna get awful small for my liking after a day or two."



Parks
Underbrush/makeshift hide
SVD(10)
Watching the area for a while.

Adam responds in Polish. It's obvious that he is unhappy with Griet's response, but his tone makes it apparent that he does not hold her personally responsible for this latest, unfortunate development.

"Much, I'm afraid. Part of my security party has gone to Nowy Huta to bring back metal plates for armoring  parts of the ship. They should be back before nightfall, I am sure. However, I'm afraid that we will not have time to do much with whatever they bring back if they are successful."

Adam switches to English and addresses Snowy directly,

"If the others' mission is successful, what will we be able to accomplish by morning?"

OOC: Snowy noticed some portable flood lights outside amongst the other tools underneath the tarp.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Thu 05 July 2007.

Snowy's eyes unfocus. "Blue cuts and I weld; two hours for the pedestal mount for the vasilek, no armour and gun not mounted. Weapon mounted on pedestal; two hours for four men. Barbette mount for barbette; Blue cuts and I weld, four men help move plates and hold them in position. Four hours. This still means no gun shield but the weapon will be protected from the fragments of near misses."

He scratches his jaw, and starts counting off on his fingers. "DShKM mount; if it's a wheeled carriage mount it'll be one hour to mount for one man, they're reversable for AA mounting. I didn't see if it was the wheeled carriage or if it was, if it had the gunshield. Gun-tub for DShKM; four hours for two men, maybe three hours for four. Sandbagging; we need a two man crew for building frames and another two men for cutting and shaping. For all four; maybe four hours to do the tub and another eight to do the barge. Adding sandbags and wiring them in; depending on the availability of wire and full sandbags a guy should be able to do four metres in an hour, easy."

He then looks at everyone and says "This doesn't factor in unloading and loading steel, cooking, getting steam up on the tug, stowing final gear and so on. To armour the pilotshouse; I haven't even planned the job yet."

Clarence chimes in from his corner of the bridge, "We can start with the sandbags right now. The Captain's crew already has heaps filled and the Marines have filled heaps more. Just tell me what you want me to do and point me in the right direction, Snow-man. I get the feeling, the sooner we're on our way, the better."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:39, Fri 06 July 2007.

"Right." Answers Snowy. "It's kinda pointless us working on the metalwork with no material, but there's enough wood here for us to make a lattice framework to wire sandbags to. Let's go, we'll need everyone to form up into two man teams. How about Milky and I start constructing them and the marines mount them. Everyone else apart from the security element can get to wiring sandbags, a bitch of a job." Snoy smiles as only those who've avoided a crummy job can.

"We'll make little sandbag box-barbettes for weapons and replace them with steel as the voyage goes on. I reckon we can have most of the frameworking done by the time the lads get back and be ready to sail. First off, we should man pack on everything in case we have to do a sudden sailing, we can work from the barge. We're using the barge power anyway so it's no big deal."

"On a final note; throw nothing away. Sawdust can be used to make primitive space heaters. Offcuts can make fragmentation jackets and swarf can make welding rods. We reuse everything."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:36, Fri 06 July 2007.

"Tadeuz, Walter, and Luboslaw can help you as well. Grzyech shouldn't be needing them until it is time to fire the engines." Adam offers. "I will assist you myself. Uller, prepare the bridge for departure tomorrow morning."

Uller responds with his usual lack of enthusiasm, "Of course, Captain."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Sat 07 July 2007.

OOC: OK, it now remains for someone to inform Gunny and John of the developing situation and the plan.

Also, there is a befuddled militiaman standing in the clearing on the riverbank.

Let me know what your intentions for the immediate and near future are somehow, IC. Feel free to converse and RP with one another as well. Hopefully, the salvage team can resolve their predicatment soon. Once the teams are reunited, I'll whip up an A-Team style montage, and the boat will be ready for departure.

She'd listened to the Australian speak at length.  Griet didn't understand all of it, but she recognized the tones of a craftsman comfortable with his tools and his work.  He'd do what needed to be done, and do it well she felt.

"Porucznik Zewlakow will be pleased," she told Old Adam in Polish.  "Once supplies are loaded, most refitting can be done underway.  I am going below to inspect the engines.  Captain," she added at the end.

With only a nod to the others, Griet turned and began to make her way belowdecks to the engineering spaces.  She kept the submachinegun across her back, out of the way.  She began to walk about, poking in here and there and generally getting an idea for the state of the machinery.

Griet makes her way through the cramped innards of the Krolowa. Along the way, she runs into a teenaged boy who steps aside for her whilst eyeing her suspiciously. She proceeds a short distance to the engine room proper. A coal and grease blackened man turns to meet her, a large wrench held menacingly in his large, calloused hand.

"Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in my engine room?"

Clarence gets back on the radio as he exits the landward side bridge door to brief Gunny and Yazzie on the new plan. Instead of the familiar faces, he sees one of the militiamen standing in the clearing. From the companionway, he gives the man an "everything is OK" wave with one hand while he transmits with the other.

"Sniper team, this is Milk. Come on out. Our ETD has changed. Will brief off air. Over."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:34, Sun 08 July 2007.

The tug team reassembles, and after a quick conference, work gets underway properly sandbagging the Krolowa.

At around four in the afternoon, the salvage team arrives with two 6x6, 1/2" metal plates in the bed of the Ural, which looks even more battered than when it left. Another conference is held and Snowy outlines his plan for completing the up-armoring of the tug by the next morning. Work gets underway immediately, with only a brief break for a catered dinner of smoked ham and potatoes. Floodlights are set up and the project continues through the night. The steady, white light is punctuated by flashes of blue sparks as Snow and Blue fashion a crude but effective metal barbette for the Vasilek and a gunshield for the aft Dushka, while the rest of the team completes sandbagging the bridge, the sniper's nest, and the MG postions. Adam's deckhands assist in loading the Vasilek with the forward crane, lowering the big automortar into its barbette. Before dawn Grzyech and Luboslaw fire the boiler, working up a head of steam.

When the sun rises, you are exhausted, but the Queen is loaded and ready to go.