"I hadn't put any thought into 'who'. But I'd intended to deploy a standing patrol once the tug has been made immobile." he says. "If anything, as an early warning, if manpower can't make it a fighting patrol."

"Well, if I could pipe in here I think I could help. First off, I don't want or need the RPK on the roof- it will only get in the way. Me and Milk will be up there doing precision fires and will be fighting my rifle as a crew served weapon as a sniper team does. We know each other and have been trained to do this standard. Also we left out the young Pole that we just got from the crew. I think we should assign him as the ammo man on the forward mortar position. That makes the Pole the gunner and the woman the A-gunner and now the crew member as  a ammo man. This will speed up fire missions and make better crew harmony with that team. Now as a patrol force I think we should have a group that is our shore team always ready to move and that is spread out amoung the positions as to not bring our tug security down. IE; Milk Patrol leader, Myself as A-Patrol Leader, Tucker and Stoner as riflemen/grenaders and this man Jan here to carry an automatic rifle, IE RPK, since we have so many. This light, highly trained group would work with each other and get good at their mission and set up SOP's so they could deploy in a moment's notice and provide the best asset here possible and give our employer here what he is paying for. That's all I got to say. Thanks for allowing me to speak."


Sam will sit back down and listen to his crew mates.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:46, Sun 10 Aug 2008.

Clarence listens carefully as the team develops a system for the defense of the tug- both while under way and when stopped for repairs. After Sam finishes, Clarence chimes in,

"Yeah, I like the idea of an RPK being kept inside the bridge as a back-up in case one of the HMGs goes down. I think Walter could probably handle it too, if necessary.

"If no one else wants to claim it, I think I'll grab the AK/GL combo you guys snagged from the ambush. It's been a while but I think I can handle it.* I'll be able to spot for Sam and add some bang of my own.

As for the Polish kid, I think we should start him out on loader before we assign him his own HMG. I'm not sure he's ever fired an AK let alone a Dushka. He'll need some training and supervision first."

Note on continuity: Milk will be talking with Jan after this pow-wow ends.

*I'll spend Milk's XP on boosting his GL skill if no one else wants the "new" AK-74/BG-15.

Dawid abandoned his post for a few moments.

"Hello to Jan, the new arrival."

"The roof top of the steering house isn't a very safe place ay way you slice it! It would be nice to have a heavy or automatic weapon with 360-degree coverage, like the AGS-17, which can be easily lifted up and down. But that's not really of great concern to me. If it came down to it I would rather the American 40 milimetre launcher be mounted somewhere aft then forward, where we already have the Vasilek and 40 millimetre Plamya."

"If we take McCoy's suggestion and reassign the new Polish lad (Luboslaw?) to the Vasilek, I would have no objection!"

"Thanks, I shall return now."

As McCoy wound down, Aneka murmured to Konrad in German.
Speaking softly the only words anyone standing next to them could make out were, "Tucker", "Milk" and "reset".

"No no, he wasn't left out. Luboslaw is the Pole crew hand. He is the one placed as ammunition handler." Bayer answers.



"Our shore duties work on a rotating basis. Everyone has to put in their equal time on the ground." he continues.



"We are putting the third RPK in the bridge. I was referring to Stan's RPK which Major Soleblume suggested you may want to have on the roof. You guys don't? Fine with me either way." he adds.

Nodding to Dawid he says, "Yes. the grenade launchers are perhaps an unsettled issue. We had one facing rear before, and now both forward. With only one weapon now covering that arc, a DSHK, perhaps it may be switched... manpower though."

"I don't think we need worry too much about the rear. The bunker has almost three hundred and sixty degree vision with only the tug's upper decks impeding fire back this way. I think we're adequately covered for now."
It was also a relatively easy task to move the PKMs rearward if required as Anneka herself had demonstrated just hours before.
"What if we shift the side DShKs back to the alternate positions just behind the exhaust funnel?" she mused.
"They might be able to fire more reward than they can now. The PKMs might then take over where they are currently."
It would move Griet and herself a little closer to the stairs and still within speaking distance of the bridge too...

Quyen is relatively uninterested in the weapon placement. Leaving it to the officers to sort out, she slips out of the meeting. She's had the details of her duties confirmed, and doesn't figure she is required for the remainder.

During the meeting, she eyes Jan suspiciously, and doesn't make an effort to hide it. Afterwards approaches him when he is alone. "I am Minh Quyen. American army. You are helping out aboard now huh? Hard to trust people, ya know?" she asks. She then goes on to make small talk with him.

"Ok just wanted to get my 2 cents in...I you have nothing more for me i would like to go and sleep..."



With that Sam will either stay or go and sleep...

Nodding in agrement whith Mihn he looks her over for a moment before replying.
"Oui, it is difficult to know who Is to be trusted and who is not. When I saw your friend drowning I thought only to pull him out and  continue on my way with no more contact than that. It was most obvious he had something to do with the attack I was hearing on the bridge, but in truth, I was most interested in not being where the russians were looking soon to be patroling. I had no way of knowing if you were Pact or NATO or marauders of some sort. Your officers seem to feel I check out and and you do not seem to be marauders, so perhaps it will work out for the best. It is a bad time of year to be on foot and dodging patrols."
Holding out his hand to shake he adds,
"I am Jan. Sergant in the French Legion."

"Man, we've got so many guns now, I've lost track of what we got. That's a good idea- I'll take one of the RPK-74s up top. That way, I won't need two sets of mags." [Milk will take an AK-74/BG-15 combo as his personal weapon. The RPK-74 will be compatible ammo-wise. Stan's RPK was the earlier version that fires the 7.62 x 39mm AK round.]

The tug cruises slowly past Piotrowin without incident. It's hard to tell what, if any, effect Dawid's imporivsed white flag has but, at least the armed citizens spotted earlier as the Krolowa made its approach don't take any potshots at the passing vessel.

After about an hour of uneventful steaming, the Krolowa approaches the next riverside village. The condition of the two flood ravaged settlements passed earlier in the day pales in comparison to the devastation that has been visited upon Solec. The entire hamlet has been burned to the ground. Not a single structure appears to have escaped the torch. Bleaching bones stand out stark white against the carpet of ash that covers the otherwise empty streets.

Against the west bank, low in the high water, is a small vessel, perhaps 15 feet in length. It too appears to have been burned, the outboard motor twisted by the intense heat of the fire that razed the boat nearly to the waterline. Faint on the scorched exterior of the boat's stern is painted in crude graffiti the word Cerber- "Hellhound".

In the Krolowa's bridge, Adam reflexively cringes at the sight of the boat.

"Bloody Pirates..." he spits, pounding his fist on the ship's wheel.

"About 25km north of here, the bastards sank my lovely Rzeka Ksiezna*. Uller, Walter, and I barely escaped with our lives." Adam's voice doesn't break as he wipes a tear from the corner of his left eye before continuing.

"The wreck must surely still be there... where we left her."

The starboard lookout shouts out a warning. A group of at least six armed men dressed in civilian attire has been spotted near a copse of low trees about 100m inland on the east bank, opposite the burned out town.

Actions?

*"River Princess"
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:00, Tue 12 Aug 2008.

Shaking Milk's hand and nodding he smiles at the questions.
"Yes, that is right. My name is Jan.

As for how I ended up in Poland, well that is simple. Much like I assumed you did, I followed an order.Someone in a position of power decided they needed something done. Someone else decided they would rather send the Legion off to die on that errend rather than sending Frenchmen. The irony is that I am a French citizen but so it is. I was chosen for the mission because I am fluent in several languages and because I was born in the northern part of what was Czechasovakia. This I know, what the ultimate goal was in southern Poland, the officers were to brief us in the details once we were closer. They died instead.

As for it's not being Frances war, perhaps that was so once, but several nuclear explosions changed that to some degree."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Tue 12 Aug 2008.

"We have to stop here and make repairs." That much was obvious and made all the more urgent by Adam's declaration of pirates operating in the area ahead.
"Better send out a landing party I think," she suggested to Konrad knowing that her statement was probably redundant.
"Might be an idea to issue them with anti-armour weapons too, just in case..."

Bayer nods, and whispers a low, "Yeah." while observing the ruins through his field glasses. Lowering them he looks at the faces of the group. A few hours here, he thinks.

After a moment, he says, "Dawid, Kasparov, Jan Cerny. Prepare to go ashore. We are going to do a perimeter area inspection and attempt to establish contact with the local inhabitants."

"Sergeant Tucker, Quyen, McCoy, Mariusz. Prepare yourselves as a standing patrol. I don't want the locals to think an invasion is underway. So don't expect to deploy until our return. You'll be out for a few hours."

"Major Soleblume. You and Milk. I need you on standby. If the locals are welcoming, your doctor skills may be a means to win then over. For trade, info and trust. You will come ashore and initiate productive civil affairs... if possible. I'll keep you informed on the possibility of this by radio or on my return."

"Griet, liaise with the Captain. Stoner is on your charge along with Milk... unless he deploys. Anyone else not busy should be put to work on the repairs as well, but I'll leave that to your planning."

"OK?" he asks aloud. "I'm doing this to rotate as many of you through on the the ground. I don't want us all off at once, because we're here for a long time, and don't want to frighten the people here any more than they are. This keeps a presence on the ground at all times, and keeps them fresh. The only people excluded are Milk, and the frozen penguin himself... I want Stoner to sit this one out. Griet too, for obvious reasons."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:19, Wed 13 Aug 2008.

The Krolowa anchors in the long shadow of the ruins of Solec. As the first away team departs, ferried to shore by Minh, the tug's crew begins preparations to sift ballast forward to bring the tug's stern far enough out of the frigid Vistula to effect comprehensive repairs on the recent and potentially disastrous waterline battle damage.

As the away team climbs ashore, they pass the burned out pirate skiff. A pair of partially melted AKs lay stuck to its bottom.

Solec, never home to many, has been utterly laid to waste. Every single structure in the village has burned.

The inhabitants of Solec are everywhere. Human remains litter the ruins. At least two dozen extensively decomposed corpses lay in the road, in plain sight. Charred remains can also be seen through the blown out windows and ash-pile doors of several of the buildings lining the modest main street. Everything of value has either been removed by the ravagers or been consumed by the fires they set behind them.

As the group turns to head back towards the shore, a lone, soot-covered man dressed in filthy rags emerges from the burned out shell of one of the buildings, shouting and gesturing wildly. No one- not even the native Polish speakers in the group- can make out a single word that he is saying. There is a primal, clear urgency in his guttural speech, but its meaning is beyond rational comprehension.

Meanwhile, the six armed civilians on the opposite (east) bank continue to observe the Krolowa from the long underbrush beneath a small cluster of stubby, leafless trees.

Actions?

Once he gets the word he is to be part of the shore party Jan makes sure his spare gear is stowed and then checks over his combat load to make sute everything is in order. Once he has his gear the way he likes it he heads to the deck and smokes a cigarette while waiting for the others. The short trip from the tug to shore seems to take no time and as he moves closer to Solac the sight and smells put a grim look on his face.
"This is very bad. "
As the man in soot covered rags comes out of the ruins and starts yelling at them Jan covers him and tries to make out what he is saying. Trying at first to make out what he is saying and understanding none of it he calls out to the man first in Polish, then in Czech,  "Hands on your head! Identify yourself!"

Leaving his Tantal, Dawid retrieved his PKM from the starboard companionway, making sure it was loaded and leaving one of the many RPK-74 SAW's from the Vasilek in its place.

He also grabbed 4 steel ammo cans containing spare 100-round belts and slung them around his shoulder by their canvas belts.

By way of explanation he offered, "I am an artillerist first, a machinegunner second, grenadier after! I should be of greater value with this if we meet those vicious pirates."

He checked to make sure his Stechkin was cocked and safed, stuffed the 6 spare magazines in the pockets of his NATO Kevlar vest, then he was ready to depart.

On shore, he slung the PKM over his shoulder, holding it braced at his hip. He took off his helmet and clipped it to the back of his webbing, putting on his green Polish army beret.

A crazy man came up, babbling in some unknown language. Dawid was familiar with Polish, English, and Russian, and he could recognise Ukrainian as well, although not enough to speak it. "Perhaps he is a holy man?"

Taking his left hand off the GPMG's fore-stock, he reached into his tunic and pulled out the ornate gold cross his mother gave him. Stepping forward to stand beside Jan, he said in Polish, "kind sir, we come in peace, in the name of God, Christ and the Holy Virgin Mother of Częstochowa."

He made sure the MG's barrel wasn't pointed directly at the filthy bugger.


PKM GPMG + 4 spare belts
Stechkin + 6 spare magazines
2 RGD-5 grenades, 2 Flares.

Edited to add more ammunition and to clarify his actions.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:33, Thu 14 Aug 2008.

"Dawid, make some sense of that man." Bayer says quickly. "Kasparov, Jan, cover the flanks. Move out a few meters. Look like professional soldiers... confident but not aggressive. Keep your eyes open."

He gives a quick glance back at the tug - self reassurance. Toggling the radio he makes his first report. "Tug... Sunray. If you can commence repairs without immobilizing the tug for a little while, do so. Things may not be stable here. May not be secure enough to ground the tug. Wait for developments and keep alert. Over."

He turns his attention back to the man, and watches Dawid try to handle him.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #374):

Anneka nodded acknowledgement, already running through her mind which positions had to be manned and which could afford to be empty.
"I assume there'll only be the one group ashore at a time?" she asked.
That would be her guess, although Poland was a big place, even if you ignored everything beyond the next hill. Securing even just one small part of it really required far more soldiers than any unit she'd seen in the past year had at their disposal.
"I'd like to keep four people on watch at all times, one in each direction, even towards the patrol. It's not going to leave many to help with the repairs, but it's not going to do us any good if the enemy manage to creep up on us while we're working."
And with only Dawid and Griet, besides the Indian Sanjay having any usefull skills to contribute, all the rest of them could do was provide labour. But then, shifting the stern up out of the water was going to require a lot of labour....
"You know what we really need is some way to keep the water away from the work area, a little dam around it or something," she mused.
"We wouldn't need to shift anything then, and the tug would still be able to move in short order."

Look like professional soldiers... thinks Jason.  Gee, I wonder who that remark is addressed to?  Just because I'm a pilot doesn't mean I'm not a professional... or a soldier, for that matter.  He is tempted to salute the German to indicate his displeasure, but is too disciplined to do so.  Besides, even as irritated as he is, he still would not wish for some sniper to kill Bayer -- or even wound him.

Instead, with a crisp "Sir," he moves into position as directed, holding his AK-74 at port-arms and watching his area of responsibility.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:58, Thu 14 Aug 2008.

Tucker smiles when he finds out he gets to go ashore again.  He knows he's going to have to adjust his kit for a short spell on the ground here.  "I know we'll be ready to go by the time you get back Konrad," Tucker says knowing that McCoy will make sure that everyone is ready.  Minh was a very competant soldier and Mariuusz was an up and comer with some training.


In reply to Anneka Soleblume (msg #379):
When the first shore party departs for the shore, Tucker makes sure his gear is ready for their patrol when they're up to go.  He finds Anneka and asks, "Well, Major, you seem to have us here until Konrad gets back.  What do you need me to do while we wait?"

Through a pair of liberated, '60s era Soviet field glasses, Clarence studies the six armed men on the eastern shore. They appear to be studying him back.

"Whattaya see, Sam?"

The optics on Sam's M-25 were superior to the Commie binos and the sniper's eyeballs were honed precision instruments as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Fri 15 Aug 2008.

Sam in the prone scans his sector in reverse as he was taught. Left to right not right to left how the eye would normaly go. This allows your eyes to work harder and pick up things that are different. He will scan with his Leupold scope and zoom in and out on the targets to get an correct SALUTE report on each of the six armed men on the east bank. Once he has his info he will report to Konrad in correct Salute format as the NATO officer would expect from him.

"One second on the SALUTE report boss- working it up now."


Sam
prone, scanning area
M25
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:10, Fri 15 Aug 2008.

In reply to Robert 'Tuck' Tucker (msg #381):

Anneka considered for a moment before replying.
"I think we need somebody in the bunker on the AGS watching forward, somebody in the bow with the Mk-19 supporting the patrol and one at the aft DShK watching the rear. Looks like McCoy has the other bank."
"As long as those positions are filled, everyone else should probably make themselves available to shift stores forward."
With Konrad, Dawid, Jason and Jan ashore, it seemed to make sense to Anneka if Mariusz, Minh, Stoner and McCoy remained on watch while everyone else worked hard to make their current stay as short as possible.
"Can you look after the details Sergeant?"