Re: Ch. 1: The Wisla Krolowa
Sunday, October 1st, 2000 -1000 hrs.
On the south bank of the Vistula river, just west of Nowy Huta, Poland
60 F
Overcast; light ground fog: Visibility 100-200m
The rest of the morning passes without incident. The security crew's baggage is loaded and temporarily stored in the passageways on board, pending berthing assignments. The Australians and Konrad begin to unload the crew-served weapons and ammunition crates from the Ural while Yazzie fills sandbags by himself. Tuck spends the rest of the morning on his stomach, pants around his knees, while Anneka expertly stitches up his entry and exit wounds. Fortunately, Old Adam's medicine chest is well stocked and an injection of local annesthesia makes the process relatively painless. After Tuck is patched up, Uller is next on the butcher's table. Anneka removes the core of a rifle bullet from his leg and sews up the wound. Blue's wound requires little more than a very large band-aid. Gunny roams the boat looking for good sniper positions, nodding in the universal masculine gesture of greeting to the Polish crew as he passes. Clarence returns to the boat along with the grimy Dawid and Joost, the body of the slain bandit having been given a proper, traditional Polish burial.
Adam gathers the entire crew on the foredeck of the Queen. In his booming boat captain's baritone, he addresses the assembled group.
"Gentlemen, I deeply regret what happened here this morning. I have given this much thought and I want to be very clear with you before we begin this journey together. I will not have anyone aboard my ship behave like an animal. If you are not willing to follow the spirit of the Geneva Convention, then there is no place on board for you. You may leave now- I will personally drive you to the crossroads. If anyone decides to commit an act of barbarism during this voyage, they will be put ashore with ammunition, food, and water, and left behind. Am I clear?"
He looks pointedly at Dawid before continuing,
"Good. Now let me introduce to you my boat crew. You already know my first mate, Karl Uller. This is Jozef Grzyech, my chief engineer. Over there is Tadeuz Roszkowski, the senior deck hand. The other deck hands are Walter Matusiak, standing to Tadeuz's left, and Luboslaw Kaminski, the young man right there. Luboslaw will be working with Jozef in the boiler room. These good men will run the boat. They know her quite well. We've been living and working on the Krolowa for weeks. Jozef has completely rebuilt the engines.
Grzyech is a compact, grizzled man, probably in his late fourties, with tufts of long brown hair poking out from underneath a rather piratic looking head-cloth. He wears a sleeveless undershirt with a red hankerchief around his neck. Both his clothes and his hands and are filthy with oil stains and coal dust. Roszkowski is older, probably somewhere in his mid to late fifites. He has a creased, ruddy face rimmed by long, grey sideburns. He looks strong though, veiny biceps bulging from rolled up sleeves. A dark blue watch cap is pulled down to just above his bushy grey eyebrows. Matusiak is a solidly built, dark haired man in his early thirties. He's darker skinned than most Poles you've met. His button down shirt is open to about mid-chest, revealing a tuft of thick, dark hair. Kaminski appears to be in his mid teens. He's tall and slight for his apparent age but he's more wiry than thin. His T-shirt and jeans are the same dull black as Grsyech's clothing.
"I have hired you to provide security. I would like your recommendations for making the Krolowa strong and ready for a fight. The river is a dangerous place. There will be more bandits. The Russians still control parts of the River. They and the Lublin government may not approve of this boat, its mission, and most of all, its crew. And, there are pirates. They have many boats and powerful weapons. They roam the river north of Annapol but are growing bolder. Not even the government has the power to control them.
"We are carrying a load of bicycles built in Krakow for sale along the river. You will split my 3/8 share of the profits as Captain. Your payment will include food, shelter, ammunition, medical supplies, and transportation as well.
"That is all. Are there any questions? If not, I am ready for suggestions for how to prepare the boat for battle."
OOC: Now is the time to begin discussing modifications to the Queen and other items relating to the functioning of the security element.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:09, Tue 19 June 2007.