"Yeah lets send them all to Disneyland" William said under his breath. We had not enough fuel, food, or ammo for ourselves, and now the 'diplomat' wanted to help a whole crowd. I mean, aren't these the enemy for christsake he thought. A smile played across his face as he thought about leaving Don for the villagers to munch on.

  Gallin will lower his weapon and get out of the UAZ, and walk towards the man who spoke. In Perfect Polish, he speaks to him, but not close enough for the man to grab at him. " My name is Mikhail. What is it that you need? we have wounded, and not much food or fuel. I will help if I can, but we are in our own desperate straits right now." He will gaze at the farmers, assessing thier condition and especially the infants and the old. He is aware they are non combatants at this point, but also is aware of thier own current situation.

  Dimitar ceases his watch on the area to the rear of the group.  Recognising the refugees for what they are, he turns toward them.  Thinking about his lack of food, he considers the possiblity of trading his standard issue PM Makarov pistol...

I am sure they could use another gun.  It is just a matter of whether or not they have any spare food.  Unlikely.

He then proceeds to scan the possessions of the refugees, looking primarily for foodstuffs or bags that might contain food.  As he cannot speak a word of polish, his focus is one hundred percent on identifying the food carriers.

The group moves closer cautiously. The "spokesman" stops a few metres away and speaks again. [Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: We are from Lask and were driven from our homes by the army when they attacked the Americans. At first it was the bombs and guns that drove us out but when we tried to return home, we were blamed for helping the American soldiers while they were in the town. We have not eaten in two days and some of us are sick.]
You can see that they are hungry looking and some are a little unsteady on their feet.
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: He continues. We can offer you information, perhaps even fuel if you help us.]

Paranoia sets in, Cover your arcs securer a perimeter, it may be a diversion to pick up supplies from the back while we are distracted. Pass it on whispers Guido to whomever is closest.

Don walks closer to the man, relying on his allies that they will keep an eye on everything happening among the Poles, so he lets his gun hang in its strap.

"Witaj, mów wolniej"

"Proszę, daj mi więcej szczegółów"

"Przepraszam, nie bądź zły na mnie, Mikhail. Nie mogę tego zrobić"

"Porozmawiajmy"

[Private to Nuked; Sergeant Michael Gallin:
Hello, please speak a little slower, I don't understand the language from these parts that good.

I am sorry, but we don't have a lot of supplies ourselves, but Mikhail here can probably take a look at your sick ones.

Aren't there any games in the forest around here? Some of the soldiers are pretty good with the gun, and could probably get a clear shot at a moose or whatever animals are living here.

Otherwise we probably have a spare gun, for you to hunt yourselves.

We have to talk a little of the fuel, where can we get it?]

William readys his gun in one hand, strap over his shoulder, and the other holds a grenade. William will move and circle the group, stopping on a flank.

Gary, in the back of the UAZ, keeps watch on the refugees.

Colonel Nelson, perhaps we can trade with these folks for some food. We've got some firearms to spare. Give them at least a fighting chance versus marauders and bandits. Maybe even give them a bit of instruction, if they are friendly.

Gary thinks about home.... about the wife he left behind. The kids in the group remind him that he and his wife were working on a child before he left, and he doesn't even know if they were successful.

Of course, my kid and my wife too could be in equally desperate straights back home. I imagine Kingston isn't looking too good right now.

I hope they're okay.

One of Gary's eyes waters a bit, and he wipes it with the heel of his left hand, his right hand staying on the trigger of his weapon, the barrel never wavering from his chosen arc.

Finishing off his mouthful he stands watching and listening, ESPECIALLY for any MORE people hidden anywhere...

His gun remains on his back.

With a grunt of disappointment at the famished condition of the refugees, Dimitar forgets about checking them over and moves away.

They might have walked for days.  Must have come from somewhere.  Better take a look around to get some bearings.  If they are what they appear to be, a farm might have some supplies.  We need food.

With a glance back to the refugees and then to the surrounding countryside, Dimitar calls over to the group, "I take look around.  Don't leave me here."  Adjusting the weight of his pack to a more comfortable position, Dimitar heads off on a short walk.



--------------
OOC:  Walk a large perimeter around our stop, no further than a couple of hundred metres - trying to use high ground to get a look at the surrounding country, if possible. Looking for anything of interest, roads, farms.....tank columns.  Round trip of no more than 20 minutes.

William see's Dimitar head off on a scout and decides to accompany him, adjusting to suit his patterns. "Sir, checking the perimiter, sir" William calls to Lt Alfred Nelson.

Don, dumb question and you may have already asked but where are they from and what are they fleeing? [Private to Nuked: and who can we kill?] anticipating another bleeding heart session.

Don doesn't lose the eye-contact with the spokesman when he answers Dave's question.

"Sorry Dave, they're from Lask, but were accused to be collaborators when the red army came there, thus was forced out of there. They haven't eaten since the day before yesterday, so naturally they are hungry."

"He said something about fuel, so now I've asked the lad some about that and if there isn't any game in the forest"

Dimitar and William scout around the general area and find little of interest besides trees and the occasional sign of animals.

The spokesman replies:
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: I would be grateful if you would look to our sick. There is game here but we have no more ammunition for the shotgun and pistols are almost useless.
We can perhaps help each other? If you give us some food and any ammunition you can spare we could help guide you out of this area. We know roughly what the situation is in the nearby towns and who has the fuel I spoke of. A raid on one of the army supply stores could give us all what we need. Food, fuel, weapons, ammunition, medicine and other supplies. Some of us know how to fight and all of us are willing to do what we can. The soldiers came and took our lives from us, they may be Polish but they don't belong in our homes, eating our food and stealing our belongings.]
He gets a dreamy look in his eye with his next words.
[Private to Donnachaidh; Sergeant Michael Gallin: We may even get them to leave our homes if we fight back. Then we could show you real Polish hospitality! We would welcome you to stay with us as long as you wanted then.]

Gallin will ask the people to hold on a moment, and will turn and explain thier plight to the warrant officer. They are sick, hungry and out of ammo for thier shotgun for hunting. he says there is food around, and if we help tend hier sick, they can show us the way to food fuel medical suplies other supplies. Apparently the pole soldiers chased them out of thier homes and took up residence, eating thier food and effectively chasing them off." He glances back at the group of rag tag refugees. They even say some of them can fight, and will show us true hospitality if we can chase the soldiers out. Personally, I don't think we are equipped for that, but we can at least try to get them someplace."

We are wandering aimlessly at the momment, lets strike one for home. Guido suddenly becoming interested in their plight.
[Private to Nuked: Do we get to kill something?]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Sat 15 May 2004.

After a few minutes fruitless search, the screen of trees effectively reducing visibility to a few hundred metres, Dimitar indicates to William that they may as well return with a jerk of his head.

He sets off back toward the others, waiting momentarily to see if William wants to join him.

Making idle chat during the walk, he says, "You are Villem, yes?  I am Dimitar.  Do you have smoke Willem?"

Sergio watches, wondering how this group works. He awaits for the people who seem to take charge, to make a decision on this matter.

Things look a little more interesting. Joining the army was all about excitement. That's why he'd gone for the best of the best they had to offer. Now it seemed like a very good idea!

" Sorry Dimitar, no smokes, when we busted out of prison, I didn't find any" William says apologetically. " I haven't had a smoke in a while, but I still want one too".

Gary mulls over some tough choices. The world of late seems filled with nothing *but* tough choices. Still, at some point, you have to draw the line between doing what you need to survive and being one of the animals out there. Lately, the line's been kind of blurry for a lot of ex-soldiers....

Colonel, Don... I'm new to this band, I know that. But these folks seem to be just folks. I figure these folks are getting run out of their homes for no reason other than that they can be and their neighbours are too afraid to raise a fuss, as I would be if the Army is in town, even if they are just a bunch of uniformed brigands now.

We could go on ahead and leave them, or give them some minimal aid and turn them out. But the world is already too full of crappy situations. I, for myself, would like to do something to really help these folks. On the upside, it might get us some food and fuel and a place to rest/hide for a few days. More importantly, I'd feel a lot happier doing that than a lot of the stuff I've had to do the last couple of years.

In Canada, I trained to keep the peace, to help people rebuild shattered countries, and to assist people in getting back on their feet. Hasn't been a lot of that kind of work since I got overseas here on this tour. It'd be nice to do something constructive or protective instead of destructive or simply necessary.

But that's just my two-cents Canadian.

Having made his opinion known, Gary goes back to scanning the surroundings, expanding his attentions to a 360 sweep.

Alright then. Quartermaster, Alfred says to nobody in particular, Break out the blue helmets. Seems we suddenly became the UN!
Lets distribute what weapons we can spare to those who can use them. Tanya, William and Dave, I want you three to help familiarise them with the rifles with the help of Don as interpreter.
Gallin, looks like you got the medic job. See what you can do with the sick and injured without eating into our supplies too much.
Andy, Richard and Camilla, you get to go hunting. Take a couple of the locals with you as guides. Keep an eye out for a defensable spot to harbour up for the night.
The rest of us will act as sentries till we settle in for the night.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:27, Tue 18 May 2004.

Try to get the UAZ under some brush cover. See to it that our wounded are okay, have water, etc. If they need up to the loo, etc., then help them. Otherwise, walk a perimeter around the camp (sometimes reversing direction, varying the route and schedule) about 200m out every so often, using natural cover and avoiding skylining against ridge lines and such. Keep the place generally in good order until such time as the foraging party returns.

[OOC: I have a fair level of instruction... I'm not sure about the others who were nominated as instructors]

"I have a little skill in training" (instruction 1) "But I'll happily hand over to someone more skilled

Arriving back in camp with William, Dimitar soon picks up some tasks.  From the little scout he an William just performed, he knows that the immediate surroundings are clear, at least temporarily.  He desides to use a little time before returning to sentry duty to prepare his little corner of the camp and see to his equipment.


---------------------------
[OOC:   Set up my half shelter beneath a suitable patch of vegetation, lay out the sleeping roll, dump my pack under the cover, field strip and clean my weapons and ammo.  When all that is comlete, I'll go and spend my time standing watch quietly in the surrounding forest.  I will attempt to stay concealed as much as possible but change position every half hour or so.

William grabs some empty cans and places them 50 metres downfield on support so they can be seen clearly. While walking back he wonders if the Lt meant for the students to actually shoot the damn rifles or just dry run through it. Bit silly to advertise where we are, better go check he thought. William heads over to the Lt to ask.