Scully doesn't correct the merchant when he implies that he and Phillips are deserters, figuring that he may as well go along with it given they were in a town garrisoned by the Red Army. If that's what all the locals thought then it might make for less attention. "Hey, you gotta know who you're dealing with these days Greg. Can't blame a guy for being careful? And yeah, a buddy of mine came from London. The Isle of Dogs. You know it? He was a Royal Marine. Millwall was his team. Always promised he'd take me down the Den one day and then on to Brick Lane. He said that was where you get a proper Ruby Murray. Mind you, that's not going to happen now. Sov sniper killed him just under a year ago." Luckily Barnesy had spoken enough cockney slang to allow Scully to follow the conversation.

"Give me a number and I'll make you a fair offer my friend. Depends on how many shells you can get me. I've got winter gear, a German Army parka, but I'll be looking for a decent amount of rounds for that. Or maybe you'd be interested in some condoms? I mean, a guy like you, with a wife and a girlfriend" Scully shrugs, grins "I'm sure you can make use of those buddy. " The SEAL is adopting a jokey tone, trying to build a rapport with the Englishman.

The conversation then giving him an excuse to do so, he turns to openly look at the sentries when the trader says he doesn't keep the calendar for the Russian leadership. "You don't, Greg? Hell, I figured a guy like you would know everything that's going on in a town like this." It's a good natured attempt to coax more information out of the Englishman.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:00, Sun 05 July 2015.

Eariler:

Jan had nodded almost imperceptibly in response to Ana's quiet comment.  He had grown up in Marseilles and knew how the game was played so he knew that she was right, though he still wanted to hurt the big Russian.

He had let it go though, particularly when Konrad announced that they were going back to the Queen.  As was their way the Kommandos also seemed to have picked up yet another straggler.  There was something about the Kommandos that attracted those who wanted to change their current circumstances and he hoped that this latest addition would prove herself a good recruit.

---

Jan glanced round the table for any seconds of the starter, determined not to let any food go to waste, particularly if the General was paying.

"How good is Chilikov's command?" he asked the General via the translator.  "Does he have the loyalty of his troops and his command staff?  If others feel as you do then perhaps he should be the one being arrested and replaced."


OOC - I'm not sure what languages are being spoken but if necessary Jan will translate (though Griet might well be doing it).

"Thank you," Robert says to Konrad as he stands up and pulls both of the cigars out of his pocket and offers one to the General.  If it is accepted, he will light his (General Zolnernowich) first and then his own before continuing.

"In your own words sir, you said, there's nothing worth fighting for any more.  Everyone seems to be content with their new borders or us Americans leaving back for the states.  I can tell that the way you carry yourself and that the way your staff and subordinates carry themselves that you have a very good structure here.  Your men will follow you no matter where you go and that they trust you.

My take is this, no matter what you do General, your men are going to be taken by Field Marshall Anton Chilikov.  Is it likely that one of the people sitting on your staff is going to let that happen if you turn yourself in, perhaps but, once again, I think they're loyalty to you shines through almost any orders from some imbecile and madman as you've labelled him.

What makes a good soldier you asked sir?  You made a promise to your men that they would be going home in the spring.  You turn yourself in, that will probably never happen and you'll certainly never see it either!  Is there a nuke threat?  Possibly.  Is he willing to waste a nuke device on your city for men he will certainly never get if he does use it?

How far are you willing to go to see that your men get home?"

You don't seem like the type of person to just give in to a mad man without a fight.  Mayber there is something worth fighting for after all sir!"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:29, Sun 05 July 2015.

"Good? Interesting choice of words. Chilikov may command a Soviet Front- an Army Group in NATO parlance, I believe- but he only has direct control over a couple of regiments' worth of Red Army troops still dug in around Gdansk, plus operational control over a few battalions of Polish regulars. Polish 1st Army is subordinate to Baltic Front HQ, but I don't know how strong that relationship is. As far as I can tell, Chilikov's staff is loyal. They're probably just as delusional as he is. His Spetznaz troops are his real power. He uses them mostly to keep his subordinates in line. I'm a bit surprised that they haven't shown up here already. That's why we can't delay much longer.

Chilikov also has control of a few operational aircraft based at the old Polish airbase on the outskirts of Malbork. And he has a tactical ballistic missile launcher. I believe that it's know as a SCUD in the West."



"Spasibo."

Zolnerowich accepts the cigar, savoring a few puffs before addressing Tucker's thoughts.

"So, you're suggesting that the 43rd Cavalry Division march on Malbork?"

He draws deeply on the gifted cigar, then slowly blows a long, thin stream of smoke towards the ceiling.

"I've thought about it. I don't think Chilikov will waste his nuclear weapon on Grudziaz to punish me for insubordination, but if his back is to the wall? That's when men like Chilikov are most dangerous."

-
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:27, Sun 05 July 2015.

When Lizzie was eight, she pushed her way into her family's Christmas evening poker game.  Her father, uncles, and three older cousins, took all her Christmas money away.  Every year.  Until she was sixteen.  Every year, after her Christmas endowment vaporized in front of her eyes, the elder Kane would offer one bit of advice that she was supposed to chew on all year when she could put it to use.  After getting wiped out at twelve, the wisdom bestowed had been: "having no tell can be worse that having false tells."

She watches the conversation unfold around her, carefully moderating her non-verbal responses to the topics, showing a little bit of interest at the question of Spetsnaz, and taking a moment to assess the evidence Zolnernowich has provided them.  "This seems elaborate for a hoax," Lizzie allows, tapping on the photo of the backpack nuke.  "But possession of a nuclear demolition charge at this state in the war seems unlikely.  Do you have any other reason to believe that General Chilikov actually acquired this weapon?"

"I actually hadn't considered the possibility that the weapon itself was a bluff."

Zolnerowich looked again at the photo, studying carefully for clues as to the veracity of Chilikov's claim.

"How would he have gotten hold of this photo if he didn't take it himself? This copy of Red Star here is only a few days old. I suppose that Chilikov could have gotten the photo from Moscow, but why would they have shared it with him?"

The General's questions aren't accusatory- he's clearly trying to work out Kane's very salient question in his own head.

-
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:04, Sun 05 July 2015.

"To be fair, General, when someone aims a nuke at your head, it does have to be taken seriously.  And Spetznaz have a way of dominating attention to detail."  Lizzie says it lightly with some humor, the bleakest kind.  "You have given us a lot to consider, I appreciate your candor."

Even if I'm curious to your choices.

Greg laughs, bemused, "As long as the one doesn't find out about the other! I'll take your Johnnies. Those'll be easy to sell- the ones I don't keep for meself, that is. The parka... that might be harder to move. I can get you the shotty shells, bird and buck shot, at least. One for one? Sound fair?"



"I try not to get involved in Ivan's business, if ya know what I mean. Live and let live, I say."

-
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:56, Mon 06 July 2015.

"No, just asking." Bayer replies with a slight shake of his head. "We've worked, fought, alongside Soviet, or former Soviet, however they become labeled, forces before... that's all."

"And I certainly wouldn't recommend declaring for NATO, even if he didn't have a nuclear option."

”Yeah, you probably don’t want that happening. I had enough hassle with one.” Scully nods. ”OK, I’ll take eight of each, so sixteen shells for sixteen condoms.” The SEAL’s right hand emerges from his parka pocket, is offered to the Englishman. ”Deal.”

"I'm not suggesting too much that you probably haven't already considered General.  If you want us to take you to your impending doom, I think we can accommodate you.

Although, maybe you're testing the waters to see if we would help you?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:57, Mon 06 July 2015.

"Got it", Jelena said, "Do you have a change of clothing at all? I want to put this stuff out for wash... when you have worn it for a week..."

"Check through the spare clothes in the laundry," Mariusz replied, "There are a selection it here and something might suit. If I do your clothes first I can have them washed and dried in under four hours, that's the bonus of hot water and boilers."

"Again, Yuri? Who kicked your asses this time?" Ken asks, knowing that Yuri doesn't understand enough English to take offense. He's seen the results of plenty of punch-ups, but seldom has so much of Yuri's gang come in so badly injured. Usually, they are the ones who've been doing the kicking.

Gilligan, Ken's teenaged Red Army minder/assistant, has been making small talk with the injured Russians in their native language. In response to Ken's rhetorical question, he answers,

"Americans or British. Yuri say they speak English, he think."

Americans!

"Where?" Ken asks, trying not to let the excitement and hope he feels color his voice.

"By docks. They come on ship, he say."

"Hm." Ken replied, sounding, he hopes, disinterested.

"Ok. This one's next. Tell him to drop trou."

"What?"

"Pull down pants."

"Ah. Potyanite shtany vniz . On khochet , chtoby posmotret' na vashego penisa ."

The Russian reluctantly unbuttoned his trousers and let them fall to the floor. The problem was instantly apparent. His left testicle had swollen to the size of a grapefruit.

"Svyatoye der'mo!"

Holy shit is right! Ken thinks, trying to maintain an air of detached professionalism.

"I'll get him some aspirin and an ice pack. You try not to stare." Ken orders, a plan already percolating. He steps out of the examination room and walks past the waiting line of remaining beat-down victims.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 17:21, Tue 07 July 2015.

Tucker will leave the meeting with the others after he had spoken his mind and looks at the others, "There's NO guarantee that if we're able to drop the General off to his death, we're going to be able to just go.  This guy we're dropping him off to sounds like he's off his fuckin' rocker.

Not only that, we're going to have to face partisans who may be out to kill this guy if they find out he's on the move."

Jelena let him depart and then moved over to the laundry, checking through the spare clothes to see if there was anything suitable for her.

Once that was done, she'd have a shower regardless - she'd not had a proper hot one in months.

"Maybe he's nuts," Lizzie answers Tucker, "but maybe not.  If we take him at his word, he is trying to trade his life for that of his men.  If we take him at his word."

The naval officer leans against the wall and squints in the noon time sun.  She wishes for a moment that she had her sunglasses on, but the designer frames scream "Westerner!" so she has been avoiding them.  And wishes aren't worth anything anyway.  She can see Scully and Philips in the distance, Mark with his sunglasses off giving her the 'secure' signal.  Rather than stare into nothing, she continues her thoughts on the matter.

"It might not even matter.  Meeting with us in public served two purposes.  One, we felt safe.  Two, he publicly tied himself to us.  If he goes into hiding now to avoid being murdered, the Spetznaz are going to show up at the boat.  The pass may be worthless, but we don't have anyone else lined up who can fix the screw.

"And I'll bet he can rearm all those fancy big guns if we ask nicely...

It wouldn't be the weirdest negotiation she's ever had to work through.  There was that nuclear engineer in Stalingrad.  The one who wanted a llama for his daughter in return for implosion schematics.  How the geek thought he was going to hide a llama Lizzie never could figure out, but a llama he had received.  And she had led her team out of there so fast the animal had probably felt the breeze.

"I was thinking about that," Griet said, "especially if we can give him a good reason too."

"I'm trying to think like my father here, wildly crazy but it seemed to work for him. I will be more than happy to have the idea shot down."

She looked around, "You can say it's crazy and point out flaws but don't laugh. What if we suggest this: he helps us rearm and fix the tug and he brings along his best shooters who we will hide aboard. We might even be able to score a barge if he really buys in. Then we let the Soviets know he's on the way. We suggest to the general that he puts out patrols to see if anyone comes out of the city looking like Special Forces carrying a suitcase nuke and if they do, his men take them and we turn around and bring him back. If that doesn't happen we "kidnap" him and tell the Soviets that we'll exchange him in a face to face meeting with the other General somewhere isolated. What we want in exchange? We can think of that, it might even be free passage along the river and we can say that we did it because we heard these guys plotting to kill the Soviet General. Even if the Soviet General doesn't turn up I'd bet the Spesnatz will. Then we kill the bastards. If the General is there great, if not we gut his power and make him vulnerable to a coup."

"What do you think, worth considering or do I need to see if the city has a shrink?"

Ana frowns in thought.  "Coupla things to consider," she inserts when the conversation pauses.  "Thing One: If the nuke isn't a bluff, then this force is a serious threat to Chilikov's power base.  If he can insert a Spetznaz team with a bucket of sunshine, he can insert those same guys for a much more covert hit.  Being willing to take out the whole garrison says he's afraid of what they'll do if he goes for the decapitation strike."

"Thing Two: Chilikov is crazy and ruthless.  Men like that assume every competent person they meet is on their level."  She holds eye contact with Griet.  "He's putting a nuke in play.  He's not going to bat an eye at piracy.  If you take this job as described, you're likely to wind up with a nine-millimeter retirement plan as soon as you hand over Mikhail.  So I think a pre-emptive double-cross in some form is only sensible."

She glances at Lizzie.  "And you're right too.  This meet is half performance art for the benefit of whatever eyes Chilikov already has in town."

"I mean no disrespect to you and your team ma'am but, we've been out of the formal military business for a bit but, the General here seems to be loyal to his men.  A trait that is a rarity in this day and age that not a lot of people have, even if he is PACT forces.  We know you and your team still maybe/maybe not working on an OP and that's fine.  In our world, now, it's something we're going to have to consider taking.  WE need our ship fixed, period!  The Queen has become our adopted home in this world that has gone to total shit.  You guys have seen that as well.  Could we make Bremerhaven to muster with everyone else they say is meeting there to get that ticket back to the World?  I'm sure some maybe considering it.  Home to what though?  More of this shit here but where there isn't so much a language barrier and a lot less Russians and Poles, no offense Griet.

Griet, and her Dad, have taken us on not only as employees but, as family.  And we've lost a lot of family on our journey here to now.  We've also gotten screwed hard by a few of your SPEC OPS community operator's along the way and we don't expect you to understand.

You may think of us a deserters.  We may be in the literal sense and I'm OK with that.  I/We were loyal in service until everything broke down and went south.  Bayer and Griet's Father gave us something to believe in again, gave us a purpose to keep on fighting for something, freedom.

It would seem likely like you pointed out that the General has tied himself to us and would seem likely that any reprisals would be after us if they follow their INTEL.

And yeah, if they could arm us to the teeth again, that would make things a lot easier on us.  When this thing is at it's full potential, we're real fuckin' good and real fuckin' dangerous ma'am!  Kind of like a bastardized version of Puff the Magic Dragon with water wings!  We got more heart than Hallmark does on Valentine's Day in their card section."

Tucker stops venting for a couple of seconds, composes himself again, and then restarts, "We're going to have to do something underhanded with this deal.  For him to make a threat of a nuke shows me that he's desperate and not afraid to show it.  Seems like a waste to use it here though."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:14, Wed 08 July 2015.

Jan listened to the discussion and then added in his own opinion.

"I like Griet plan.  Chilikov Soviet loyalist so KGB here in town give Intel to him.  Tell him General meet us and we have boat.  Russians watch river more so we need bargain for passage.  General help with passage and give us ammo and food and fix Queen.  We in gooder state for fight and try bargain passage."

He pulled on the cigarette that seemed to have appeared from somewhere before continuing.

"Travel on river in steps.  Lot of steps.  This deal sound like way to have next step."

"If we go with the suggestion and the General likes it we will ask for the following: ammo for the Zoo-2 as mortar as well as Dushka Ammo and the food he mentioned." Griet said thinking out loud, "If he just wants transport we'll settle for the food and fixing the engine and try to trade the Zoo-2 fro a ZPU-2 and ammo with the OMO as well as selling off our spare guns for whatever small arms ammo we can get."

She looked over at Kane, "No one is going to criticise you for walking away from this but I hope you'll stay. I feel that supporting the General in a way that can undermine the Soviets helps us, helps Poland and helps the US. You are the final judge of that and the fact that risking yourselves on a wild adventure could endanger your mission. We will respect your decision and try to help you on your way as best we can."

"Konrad," she finished, "what are you thinking about this?"

Jan tried to catch Griet's eye and when he did so he said quietly to her.

"We must try trade any cargo we have no use of.  This is city where we able talk to merchant and we must trade for ammo for all heavy weapons and other gear we have need."

"We've all had our war is hell moment, Sergeant," Lizzie says, pushing herself off the wall and taking half a step forward.  "I understand that murderers, screw ups, and sell-outs come in all shapes, spec-ops and not.  I'm not here to justify my choices and I don't need you to justify yours.  We're here, at this moment, to solve a Gordian Knot of epic fucking proportions and we're going to need each other to do it."  It will not go down as the most impressive moment of her diplomatic career, but Commander Kane is going to defend her people.  "We're going to have to cut a deal.  The repairs have to be done and our heads are on the block."  The aggressive body language the officer is broadcasting relaxes back to a more reasonable posture.

"Is it fair to say that we all agree that this is going to take some double cross and deception?" She doesn't really wait for an answer. "Getting the boat fixed buys us a little time to put things in motion, but not much.  If General Zolnerowich is right about the psychopathic tendencies of Chilikov, there may already be killers on the horizon.

"The problem, as I see it, is the nuke.  With nuclear fusion on the table, we're fucked coming and going.  Hand over Zolnerowich, we get shot up.  Start to win, take the battle, and we are suddenly looking at an atomic sunrise.  So how do we get the nuke out of play? We either slip in ahead of the 'hand off,' and try to get a hold of it, or we have Chilikov's men bring it to us and try to intercept.  I believe they call that 'a gamble.'

"We need a few more brains on this one.  I vote for telling the general we're in and starting the repairs quietly, but waiting a little longer for a public announcement that he is taking his leave with us.  Protect our options for deception."

Jan grinned at the face off between Tuck and Lizzie.  Something had rattled his cage again and Lizzie wasn't taking it lying down.

Instead of adding to their discussion about loyalty Jan offered his thoughts on the nuke.

"If Chilikov has nuke then he no waste it here.  Use as threat and then send Spetsnaz for shoot the General.  Save nuke for threat again."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:37, Wed 08 July 2015.