Don managed to get the list of inventory made by putting his helper to work while resting himself. He told the helper who to speak to, so there wasn't too much work on his side either.

When waking up, he asked for Michelle', or rather Tanya's little gun after.

"Well, lass. This is the last time in a while that we share beds, Michelle. I'll get back to Scotland, then I'll send a 747 to pick you up here. So ask Bernie to build an airport here, hehe"

Once seated he makes his best to drive forward.

As they reach the outskirts of Krakow, he looks at the devastation and gets moody, but as the girls starts to talk he just answers Tanya with a smile. A girlfight is never bad, even if it is not regarding himself.

Tanya will poke her head out through one of the hatches and take in the environment that was once and still is Krakow.  She see's the people working in the rubble that look like they're undernourished and probably overworked.  Maybe they are a prison work detail or maybe they actually work for somebody that pays for them to do this.  "Some free city," she says.

"Ma'am, you should probably take over here," Virgil called Mary over the intercom everyone was plugged into.
"I'm better used as infantry and I'm a crap navigator."
Sure she was green on land, but Virgil was betting she knew a few more things than most.

"We're in Krakow for a number of reasons, the main one I'd say is that the locals aren't likely to shoot us on sight as enemy combatants. Secondly, we've got that trunk full of tech papers and blueprints back there we pulled off of a dead special forces unit. Only survivor mumbled something about "Operation Reset" before he died and that everyone'll want to get their hands on it. we play our hand right and we could come out of this just a little richer."
Or the KGB would track them down and kill them like dogs. Whatever...

Katka looks over to the trunk a little curious. "Do you think that it is important enough to kill us for?" She leaned back keeping her eyes on the trunk for a few minutes. "May I look?

"I reckon so. Somebody wiped out an entire spec forces B team. Strange that they took the prototype and not the papers though..."
Maybe it was just a marauder band that ambushed the American team, who really knew? But Schaeffer had said there'd be a lot of interest if they got it to Krakow - whatever it was...
"Go to it. Maybe you can make more sense of it than anyone else has."

"I'd say that that is an affirmative!  If someone went out looking to knock off this group of Green Beanies, I'd say we're a bit below them.  However, if we can get the right person, I'd say we could get a decent reward out of it.  We'd have to be very careful around here though.  No telling who's who around here.  If it's that important we could be in as much danger as those Green Berets.  We can't go blabbing around we've got the plans for this shit," Tanya says to Katka and Virgil's remarks about Operation Reset.

She squats down and pops the trunk, not quite knowing what to expect.

OOC: Whats in here?!

See the "Notepad" thread

William didn't say to much trying to keep an eye out through the periscope to make sure none of the locals got to close to the vehicle. He listened to the conversation going on over intercom.

"It will not be easy to get those papers out though. First we have to locate who to deliver it to and when we do, we probably have to convince them we didn't wipe out that Spec Ops team ourselves. I think we better be very carefull and political about this...How's your head Lieutenant, because I think you are going to need a clear head very soon"

Katka thumbs thru the various pages of scribble without a clue. "You should have asked the men at the castle. You can not milk a pig. How will you know what it is worth unless you know what you have, yes?"  She tosses them back in the trunk and shuts the lid.

Virgil's suggestion was eminently practical, so Mary went through the contortions of swapping out her seat for his.  Thankfully the less than full vehicle made that a bit easier and before too much longer she was up front next to Don.  She used the excuse of fiddling about getting plugged in to commo gear to avoid looking at him.

The view was definitely restricted.  A large, rectangular viewing port in front of her with a steel shutter raised, and a series of thicker, smaller ones set at angles above it allowed for some vision but it was still confining.  Mary was used to having an enormous bridge window to stare out of, or at least a great repeating screen from the radar and a plot board to make sense of things.

A hatch beckoned to be opened, but she knew that would put her in the way of Brown's turret if he needed to slew it to the side so she kept it buttoned tight.

"She's right," Mary announced.  "Not one of us has a clue as to what these are, save they are important enough for an American special services squad to die for them.  They will not be handed off until we know what they are."

And they won't be bloody sold at all if it's something important to NATO. she added to herself.  Duty was duty, even in the absence of legitimate higher authority.

"Krakow, historically, has been a center of education.  Even the Soviets have not managed to ruin that.  We're going to recce for one that is still standing and in some semblance of operation.  Or, failing that, we'll find someone who's qualified to interpret these plans and tell us what we have.  An electrical engineer or a physicist of some sort.  Let me see the map."

Mary began searching the map looking for anything marked as a university or such.

"There's a lot of things we could've done yes but, we don't want everyone to know what we've got if it's that important.  Everyone will be looking for us and trying to do to us like what happened to that B-Team," Tanya says back over the comm.

Tanya rolls her eyes when Finnegan gets on and starts spouting out about not handing them over until we know what they are.  "You're correct to some degree ma'am but if I may, if we go around Krakow looking for people to try and decipsher what we have, news is bound to get around to the people who may know what the hell this is and could be very hazardous.  I don't mind hazardous duty but, hazardous pay should follow!"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Thu 28 June 2007.

Credit me for not being as stupid and clueless as you seem to think, Mary thought to herself when Tanya spoke.  Without turning around or raising her eyes from the map, Mary addressed Tanya's concerns.

"That's a very sensible observation, Sergeant.  I'm glad we're thinking along the same lines about security.  Under no circumstances will we reveal either or possession of the documents nor show them to anyone outside of this immediate group.  We'll need a cover story as to why we're seeking out a scientist to help us, one that will withstand scrutiny and point away from any involvement with the plans.  Do you have any ideas along those lines, Sergeant?" she asked, trying to show Tanya that she valued her opinions.

"Well Snow White, since you're asking," Tanya thinks to herself before replying to Finnegan.  "If we were to be goin' around looking for scientists, professors, or computer specialists for this crap I'd say we start lower in their food chain and work our way up to see who's around.  Maybe we start out asking to see if there's anyone in the agricultural field since farming is a very big part of food production now since the major food stores have been offline for a couple of years.  Once they give us a name, then we try and go further up the chain by looking towards other fields that might be available and hopefully, if we're lucky, we'll find someone in our field that we need.  How's that for starters?" Tanya says over the intercom.

"I'll take your suggestion into consideration, Sergeant."  Finnegan folded the map to a more manageable size and continued to try to work out their location.

"If anyone sees a good landmark, sing out."

Katka peeks into the trunk one more time "All of the folders are labled. If you had a polish dictionary, you can read what they say. Maybe, find out what it is, yes?"

"That's a good suggestion, Valechzev," Finnegan answered, only stumbling a bit over the name.  "When we stop for the day, I want us to go through everything as a group and see if there's any more sense we can put to things.  First though, we have to find a safe position."

"Call me Katka, please."

"Maybe we could trade for a Polish to English guide to help decipher some of this crap.  It all looks Greek to me!  If it's something to do with engineering, I may be of some use, once again, if we get it deciphered," Tanya says.

"That is easier, isn't it?" Mary responded to Katka.  "You'll have to teach me how to say it properly when we've the time."

"I've no doubt your future contributions will meet or exceed your past accomplishments, Sergeant.  We'll add a dictionary to our resource requirements."

"Well laddie. If it is getting political, you've got the right guy here. My head is way better than last couple of days, thanks for asking, even if I guess my hats still fits bloody bad."

Don just had to loosen up a little on the gaspedal as Mary came over and started fiddling in his area. He changed his tiresom view from the road, and onto the curvy backside of the officer.

"Just so you know it, lass. I speak Polish, and if you'd like it we could have a tête á tête about the blueprints. I can read it, even if i haven't a clue what it's all about. I have to continue driving, but I have no problems with you standing there. None at all."

Tanya smirks at Finnigan's comments, "You're too flattering Commander!  That'll keep me goin'," Tanya says and then puts her head back against the side of the vehicle closing her eyes with a grin on her face.

Finnegan took a seat, abandoning looking for a landmark in favor of removing a distraction from Don's line of sight.  Absurdly, she found a hand trying to pat her hair into place and a flush on her face at Don's words.

Stupid, stupid useless gel.  Whack yourself on the head instead of fussing with your hair and get back to reality, she chided herself.

She couldn't decide if Tanya was going to be a problem or not.  Tanya was probably one of those Old Guard soldiers, some of the first women to break into the combat arms, and considered anyone younger who hadn't fought as hard as she had a feather merchant.  Add that to the usual disregard in which Americans held their officers and it was a recipe for insubordination.  Well, she'd have to find a way to win her respect.

"Leftenant you and the Sergeant will have a look through the documents when we're bivouacked.  I wasn't part of the Black Gang so I won't be of any use but I've full confidence in the two of you sorting it out."

She had to wonder why they hadn't before?  Had they been too busy, or had Major Finnegan been more intent on simply passing the documents along than in what they contained.  She made a note to skirt around the subject with Brown and see what he said.

"Roger that," Tanya said back into the headset while her head rested on the armored bulkhead of the BTR.

Katka moves over and pokes her head out the top left hatch. maybe she can help navigate by looking for landmarks. Church steeples, road signs, something.