Virgil clambered back to where Mary had been in the rear but rather than content himself with a seat, he popped open the second large hatch and stood. His rifle rested on the roof and eyes scaned the ruined city suburb as the BTR-80 rolled between the smashed and burnt husks of a once densely populated area.
"I just remembered," he said as soon as he'd plugged back into the intercom, "One of the locals gave me a name last night. Told me he'd be a good man to look up when we were in Krakow. An "Adam Weispolski", an officer in the Warta, whatever that is, he might be able to point us in the right direction."
It was always good to have a name, even if that name could only point you in the direction of the best bars.

"Well, it's a start!  At least we have a name to go with for now and if we're able to figure some of this shit out with Reset, he very well may point us in the right direction," Tanya says to everyone in the vehicle about Virgil's comment.

Don kept on driving. He was driving rather slow for debris, but also because he still wasn't cured from his headache.

"Aye, there are more potholes in this road than on M25"

Don smiles for himself. He could've said M8, but he wasn't sure that even Mary would get it.

"So, I guess the only way is to continue"

As the BTR rolls slowly by, more and more of the ragged refugees come out of hiding and head towards the armoured vehicle. Soon a hundred or more can be seen without even turning your head.
The road, cracked and potholed as it is remains clear of rubble. Signs of basic maintenance are seen here and there - a fallen wall cleared, a tree cut and dragged out of the way - but the surface itself...
The crowd quickly becomes a problem. Word of your presence appears to be racing through the neighbourhood, probably the sound of your diesel engine contributing most - a knot of twenty or so is arranged across the way, makeshift clubs, knives and spears in hand...
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:55, Thu 05 July 2007.

Katka ducks inside quick and buttons up. She opens a firing port and readies her rifle.

With her head resting on the side of the APC, Tanya lifts her head off the side when she sees Katka come back down from outside and see her stick her weapon throgh a firing port.  She quickly snatches up her AK-74 and gets up holding on to one of the bars, "Make sure everything is buttoned up tight!  And no shooting for chrissakes!  Katka, did any of 'em have guns that you saw?"

Don peers out his little hole.

"From the looks of it, I doubt they would want to do us any harm. I would guess they are hungry. It looks like the famine from Midge Ure's 'Do they know it's christmas?'. They probably need food more than anything else. We've got a car, so they prolly think of us as wealthy. There are a lot of people here now, so it can be hard to get any information for our small supplies"

Tanya goes to a firing port and opens it herself, peering out.  "Well, let's not stop and find out Don," Tanya says to him.

The crown up ahead starts to worry Brown a bit.

He slowly moves the main gun towards the crowd. Making sure to aim a bit high. If things get out of hand he intends to scare them with a well aimed shot over the crowd. Althoug he would hate for it to come to this as it might attract unwanted reactions.

"Try and keep up the pace. Hopefully they disperse if they see we're not slowing down."

"We should really get ourselves a hand on an allied flag. At least that way we can be sure they are not just reacting to us riding in under pact collors. Maybe they just want to keep the reds out of their beloved City."

"I did not see a gun but, a hungry people will do what they must for food. I also do not suggest slowing down for them."

Ducking back down, Virgil reached for Brown's RPK.
"You won't be wanting this for the moment?"
Without waiting for a reply, he stood back up and trained the automatic rifle on the gathering crowds, ready to unleash a storm of jacketed lead should they turn ugly. He'd considered and quickly discarded the idea of buttoning up as Tanya had said. With his head exposed he could fire in any direction. Through the firing ports they were limited to the frontal arc only.
"Lt Finnegan, I suggest you poke that rifle of yours through the port in front of you."
"Just in case...."

OOC: BTR-80 firing ports are angled towards the front of the vehicle.

"I think that's trhe general concensus Katka.  I'll double check the hatches," Tanya says leaving her port so she can go around and double check the main, obvious ways into the vehicle are secured.

"Every last one of you hold fast," Finnegan said firmly.  "They're no threat so long as we stay buttoned up and the last thing we want to do is open fire on civilians."

Civilians armed with all sorts of gashy and clubby looking things, but still nominally civilians.  What could they really do against the armor though?  God, what if one of them had a Molotov?  Or worse one of those...what were they called?

"Everyone hold fast," she repeated.  "Sergeant Major?  Do you see anyone with a... a..."  Tanya's going to have a bloody field day with this one.  "Er, with a rocket on a stick?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Sat 07 July 2007.

I hope they arent TOO hungry. They might consider us to be a can of Spam. Does any of them seem to have large canopener in his hand?

Jokes aside. It might be time for a "Take us to your leader"-chat. We can do some namedropping. Anyone good enough in Polish? I still want to keep rolling the car. Otherwise I can go for the loudspeakers.

"I see nothing to harmfull, but I don't really have a clear view out of this periscope. Sergeant Matterson, you see anything more hostile?"

"I doubt if these peasants have any knowledge of a polish officer, but it might help to call it out."

"Don, whatever you do or whatever happens, keep this rig rolling. Never stop."

Just as Virgil was about to answer, something banged against the hull. A moment later another bang, then another and another. Within seconds a storm of rocks and rubble was bouncing off the armour, thrown from the crowd of starving refugees.
Up ahead, the group of twenty or so poorly armed men and women arrayed themselves across the way, blocking the road. Behind, the crowd was closing in as rapidly as options to deal with the rapidly deteriorating situation.

Talk was'nt doing here and Katka did'nt have a touchy-feally bone in her body. To her civilians were nothing more than people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and these quallified. All in all she would rather not waste the ammo but, the fastest way she knew to break up a crowd was gunfire. Directed gunfire. Let them take the high road later on, as long as she lived thru the experiance. She had done far worse in the past anyhow. So she took aim at the thickest part of the crowd her view offered and began to squeeze off bursts. Sweeping at chest level. No warning shots. No playing nice with the other children.

At the first bang, Finnegan hunched her head down and made a sharp exclamation of surprise.  The other rattles made her jerk also, head keeping an almost syncopated rhythm with them.  Finnegan opened her mouth-

The savage hammering rips of automatic weapons fire battered her ears.  Inside the vehicle the impacts were especially brutal.  "Wha-  Cease fire, damn your hide!  Cease fire!"  It was doubtful if her voice would even be heard over the weapons fire.

Tanya smiled and shook her head in disbelief, "RPG's ma'am?"

Hearing the firing from inside the vehicle and the shout from Finnegan, Tanya grabs on to one of the metal handholds and kicks her leg at Katka's hand holding her rifle.  "What the fuck is yer malfunction bitch?  You heard the commander, check yer goddamned fire!"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:36, Mon 09 July 2007.

”DAMMIT !!!  What’s going on? Who did the firing and why? Call it, where’s the threat.

In his mind the only reason for anyone to start firing straight into a crowd is when hostilities are observed or the vehicle is under direct threat..

Now you had it. The cat was out of the bag now. Well better change the rules of the game accordingly. When commander Finnegan called for a cease fire Brown made himself heard.

”hold your fire ! Conserve your ammo! Small burst only  and only at individuals taking actions towards the vehicle.”

“LT, get us out of here, quick !”

Then he starts scanning for targets moving towards the vehicle.

If the crowd was ugly before, they've now become positively hideous.

5.45mm rounds tear into the closly packed people. Blood, flesh and bone fountains in grotesque display, screams drowned out by the roar of the engine and chatter of Katka's AK-74 as the strong smell of cordite begins to fill the interior of the BTR-80.

The crowd first recoils as the front ranks collapse and then surge forward, murderous intent clear in every set of eyes. On the other side of the BTR, the sound of gunfire and screams of the wounded fire the blood of the crowd - projectiles that were at first targeted at the vehicle itself are now aimed towards the exposed upper body of Virgil. Rubble bounces around him, off armour plate and the opened hatch at his back until one jagged chunk of broken concrete catches him in his right arm, opening a shallow gash...

Ahead, the 20 or so blocking the road do not move. Clutching their makeshift weapons they appear as if ready to receive the charge of mounted horsemen, uncaring that the beast bearing down on them is 20 times the weight and virtually unstoppable by men alone.

"Ah, shit!"
Blood began to ooze from the gash on his arm aas he ducked back inside. Getting hit by a damn rock wasn't part of the plan!
"Close that hatch, quick!"
Seemed that although they had the automatic weapons, grenades and explosives, it was the rabble out there with the rocks, sticks and harsh language who'd gained fire superiority. Give them another few minutes and they'd probably have the BTR-80 on it's back like a helpless turtle.
"Floor it Don!"

After making the kick at Katka's hand/rifle, she moves over to where Virgil is ducking back down inside the APC and sits him down.  Tanya takes a deep breath before she reaches up for the hatch so she can secure the hatch.  "What the fuck is goin' on here damnit?"

Katka drops her weapon at Tanya's kick and curses her furiously in Unkrainian, rubbing her arm. "God damnit!" Was all she could frustratingly muster in English. She pulled the steelpot from her pack and put it on before picking up the rifle again. "Americans! Are you going to feed them all?" By this point she was no longer paying attention to the mob's resergence.

"Ain't nobody lookin' to feed 'em but, we ain't here to kill 'em either!  Who the hell are the local police in charge here goin' to beleive, the poor starvin' masses or the group of in an APC with automatic weapons?  You couldn't fire over their fuckin' heads or something?" Tanya says back into the APC as she tries to secure the hatch where Virgil came down from.

If she gets the hatch secured, Tanya turns to Katka, "Yer lucky I didn't kick you upside yer god damned head you stupid bitch!"