Approximately twenty minutes after the Polish soldier leaves and ten after Marcus, Virgil and Dons observation team, Christian (and anyone else out the front) spot three men approaching on foot. All three wear spotless Polish Army uniforms, two are armed with AK-74s and the third, obviously an officer sports a holstered pistol.
Their destination is clear - at first sight of your doorman, one raises a hand a points directly at them, saying something to the officer who leads the way forward....

As the three Poles approach, Christian continues holding his G-41K in both hands across his body with the muzzle angled toward the ground.  Smiling, he politely greets them with a few of the first phrases of Polish he has learned.  "Dobry poranny, panowie.  Jak majowy pomagam wam?  Udają się wy mówicie Niemiecki?  Prawdopodobnie język Angielski?"  [Private to Nuked: "Good morning, sirs.  How may I help you?  Do you speak German?  Perhaps English?"]

The Officer winces at the mangled Polish phrase and quickly replies in lightly accented German.
"Deutsch. Gibt es irgendwelche Offiziere darüber? Mein Kommandant hat Bedürfnis, mit ihnen dringend zu sprechen."

[Private to Christian Bader; Devlin Mitchell; Luke LeFramboise; Plt Sgt Tanya Redgrave; Steven Fenris: "German. Are there any officers about? My commander has need to speak with them urgently."]

With a sigh of relief that he does not need to speak his near-exhausted Polish, Christian replies, "Kommen Sie bitte innen und warten Sie. Ich werde einen Offizier finden." [Private to Nuked: "Please come inside and wait.  I will find an officer."] He escorts the men into the waiting room and and says, "Setzen Sie sich bitte, wenn Sie so wünschen. Ich werde mit einem Offizier zurückkehren."  [Private to Devlin Mitchell; Luke LeFramboise; Nuked; Plt Sgt Tanya Redgrave; Steven Fenris: "Please sit down if you so desire .  I will return with an officer."  This is, of course, assuming there is a waiting room and it is separate from the room where our people are.]

He goes into the other room where Mary is, and tells her, "Korvettenkapitän, we have visitors in the waiting room.  Three Polish soldiers, one an offizier.  He says his kommandant wishes to speak with our offiziers."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:18, Mon 08 Dec 2008.

Mary had seen the men coming while looking out the window. So she wasn’t really surprised when the German came looking for her.

“Let’s not keep him waiting.”

She sais straightening her uniform before walking into the other room to see to the newly arrived guests. On entering the room she welcomes the men in English. The only language she knows.

“Welcome gentlemen, I’m Lieutenant Commander Finnegan, ranking officer. How can I be of assistance?”

"You may wish to have Tanya, Luke or Steven here to translate, Korvettenkapitän, or someone who speaks Polish.  I am not certain these gentlemen understand English.  I can stay to translate German, but if I do, you might want to have someone else mind the door in my place."

While waiting for his replacement translator or for someone to be found to relieve him at the door, Christian tranlates Mary's words into German.  "Begrüßen Sie Herren, ich bin Korvettenkapitän Finnegan, Offizier mit dem höchsten Dienstgrad. Wie kann ich behilflich sein?"

Seated within the "waiting room" everyone gets a good look at each other.
The officer, who bears the rank insignia of a Podporucznik (junior Lieutenant) appears to be in his early twenties although his eyes show great experience and anguish - not uncommon for survivors of the war. Closer view of his uniform reveal that it's not of prewar manufacture but of more recent make. Although the cloth is of a fairly average weave whoever the tailor was is must be a master craftsman.

The second man, aged in his mid twenties is wearing a prewar uniform, and although it's seen some hard wear, the repairs are almost invisible. An ugly bullet scar traces it's way across the back of his left hand disappearing up his sleeve. From the way he holds himself, he's probably earnt his rank of Plutunowy (Sergeant) the hard way.

The third is barely old enough to shave and holds his AK-74 nervously. His uniform is both cheap in material and tailoring, making him resemble a sack of potatos more than a soldier. The lack of insignia and his young age make his rank almost without doubt Szeregowiec (Private/recruit).

"My commander wishes to speak with you," the officer responds through Christian, still speaking in German.
"As you would be aware, Krakow possesses a mighty army numbering in the thousands. However, there is still need for....shall we say "contractors", from time to time."
His emphasis makes it clear. Mercenaries or thugs would be closer to the mark.

"I am not privy to the details, but I believe my commander has need of such a unit for a special mission."

The Plutunowy shifts in his seat slightly and raises his right hand to his mouth. Dark ink stains his fingertips.
Quickly he speaks, the tone indicating a question while the words, even the language go unknown.
[Private to Elena Chatwin: You believe it's Polish although he spoke to fast and too short to know for sure.]

Listening how Christian translates the German, Mary observes the three men for a moment before deciding. Responding in English again.

“I can go and meet your commander, but my translation officer  is currently not here and as you might notice my Polish is close to non-existent. So it might be a bit difficult to go and talk to him right now.”

Tanya will gladly stop her work and enter the room where the meeting is taking place between Mary and the Polish soldiers.  From what she can make out, they're looking for mercs and merc work should pay!

Though quiet and easy going, Luke is sort of mistrustful of strangers, especially these three. He has wandered over with his rifle held loosely. He frowns at the comments about "contractors", be they thugs or mercenaries. The run in with the enforcers earlier was bad enough. He looks at the clinic group, never letting his attention stray far from the guests.

The officer exchanged glances with the Plutunowy after Mary entered in her dress naval uniform. Obviously he'd not expected a woman to be the commander, let alone a naval officer so far from the sea.
"You have people who speak German," he indicated Christian and took not of those who seemed to understand his words.
"That will be sufficient."
"You might wish to bring along some of your combat troops as the job will probably involve them more than any others."
It was clear he'd offered an open invitation to any who wished to tag along.
"Can you come now?" he said as he stood. "Time is of the essence."


OOC: Those who haven't logged in lately can be left behind (five I think) while the rest go to meet the commander.

NPC'd
Devlin had overheard the conversation from the next room where he was attending to the most recent patient.
"I can stay and watch over things here if you like," he said to Elena.
"I'm sure there's a few others who can also stay to keep watch with me."
Steven, John, Katka and William all sprang to mind as ideal candidates.

Tanya leaves the room to go and get her gear and her weapon.

Still feeling a little bit uncomfortable about letting Devlin take care of the clinic all by himself Elena nonetheless sees the offer as a unique opportunity to get in contact with some of the local powers and thus eventually a step further to home.
"That's a good idea. I'll make it quick so you don't have to deal with too much of the administrative stuff" she replies to him before standing up.

"I'm good to get going"

“Ok we can come now. Let me get a group of my people together and then we follow you to your commander.”

Mary went back looking for the other, informing them of their guests request. When the group was formed she talked to Brown. He was going to stay behind with some of the others to make sure nothing bad happened to the clinic while they were gone. Mary also told him to inform Don and the others of their actions.
Minutes later she returned to the waiting room, carrying her weapon.

This message was deleted by the player at 18:36, Tue 10 Mar 2009.