Clarence shouts back over his shoulder, "Yeah, I think I got it major. Just don't expect me to hit anything with it." he adds wryly, spinning the traverse whell to bring the twin flared barrels to bear on the docks.

OOC: Konrad, I think your post rate is fine. It's actually quite helpful to have an additional IG director keeping the campaign moving. By all means, keep it up (as long as you're enjoying yourself...).

The prisoner drops like a sack of wet cement, his momentum sending him sliding a meter along the wet cement before his body- now carrying two 5.45mm bullets- comes awkwardly to rest in a dirty puddle.

As the young conscript's blood mingles with the rainwater, the shore party beats feet- sans Minh's cuffs- for the boat where Snowy awaits, outboard engine coughing to life.

Almost simultaneously, Gunny watches through his scope as his target's head erupts in a spray of pink before it disappears behind the rooftop parapet. One shot, one kill. His mouth hints at a smile with the grim satisfaction of a job well done.

All visible threats are eliminated. The sound of automatic rifle and canon fire from beyond the fuel transfer buildings tapers off slightly, suggesting that one on the two sides contesting the town has managed to come off on top. It is likely only a matter of minutes before one or the other of the contestants shows up near shore...

The Krolowa begins making way. Slowly, cautiously, but with a sense of urgency and purpose, Uller and Adam manouver the tug towards what they believe to be an open channel closer to the north bank. Adam says, with more than a hint of desperation in his voice,

"We need someone on the roof to watch the river. Look for odd waves and ripples, changes in the color of the water, that sort of thing. Quickly!"

He understands that if the likely hostile armor catches the Queen hung up on another obstacle, they'll make short work of her. Speed is of the essence, but so is finding a clear path ahead.

Yazzie waits downriver for an opportunity to reenter the water and- if all goes according to plan- be recovered safely by the boat crew.

Actions?

Holding position and waiting for the tug to apear.

"Hauptman Bayer!" Anneka calls after nodding acknowledgement to Adam.
"New plan. I think you, as the only one not vitally employed at the moment, should climb back up the mast and watch the river for Adam."
Damn they were short staffed. She hated asking Konrad to do it, but until the shore party were back aboard, who else was there?
A few days back she'd have asked Parks to do it, but with his injuries....

"Ja, I will do that. Have two men selected to recover Yazzie." Bayer calls after everyone (except Yazzie) is brought aboard. Climbing back up to the rooftop he sits next to Parks and lays his rifle within arms reach on the deack. He readies his binoculars and begins scanning the river ahead. He'll yell below any suspicious area of the river, as well as announce Yazzie's approach.


Konrad Bayer
G36/HK-69
Rooftop next to Gunny Parks
Watching forward for navigation hazards.

OOC - Is Bayer's task 'Observation' or would it be considered 'Small Boat'... hopefully is the first.

"Shit." Says Snowy, going for understatement of the year. "All right, everyone grab a seat and watch an arc. Mad Dog, are we clear to go?"

Quyen gets up to run with the rest but remembers her cuffs almost immediately. She whirls around and sprints over to where the dead man lies in the puddle, key already in hand. Flipping him over, she unlocks them as quickly as one with her experience could. As soon as the cuffs are off she races back to join back up with the rest of the team. "Sorry." she says to Maddock and Tucker, "Didn't want to leave my gear behind."

Quyen then takes up a free position on the boat and as per Snowy's orders, watches her arc.

Minh Quyen
AK-74 (5 Mags) + 4 Frag, 1 HC Smk, 2 WP Smk (+ Russian's Rifle)
Climbing aboard inflatable

OOC - I fired 5 rounds, yes? Thats what the Dice Roller shows.

This message was last edited by the player at 11:33, Thu 08 Nov 2007.

Maddock is the last aboard the boat, barking, "In and down, damnit, girl!" He pushes off hard, half-tumbling into the boat himself. "Go, Snowy."

He rights himself carefully, so as not to unbalance the boat.

"We'll get these back aboard and fetch Yazzie, hey?"


Landing boat
Browning High-Power

"Yup, he's actually swimming back to the barge. Man, you marine type guys are hard. I don't wanna put my pinkie in this soup." Snowy turns the throttle and brings the zodiac around, heading for the tug.
"Good idea to get your cuffs back miss. If they'd found that guy with his hands cuffed and back-shot, we might find ourselves getting a rough greeting further downstream."

Cradling his M4 as he guides the inflateable, Snowy hunkers down and says over the motor's noise "Max, Tuck, how are you guys going for five point five six? I've only got what's in my mags, and I've shot off a dozen rounds of those. Has the Old Man got any ammo for us?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:38, Thu 08 Nov 2007.

Taking her place in the inflatable, Quyen gives Maddock a somewhat guilty look.



"I suppose you're correct." she replies. She only wanted her cuffs back, but Snowy's reasoning made her feel less bad over the risk she took. She looked quickly over at Maddock to try to tell if he may have heard Snowy's comment.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:37, Fri 09 Nov 2007.

Robert curses under his breath as he watches Minh run out for her handcuffs off of the fallen soldier.  He does his best to cover her while she does that and waves Minh back to the burnt out truck next to him.  "Done now?" he says to her and then motions with his free hand to make towards the raft where the others hopefully made it to.

Tucker watches as Snowy and Maddock are directing everyone into the raft and finds his spot and fire arc as he gets in and waits to shove off.  He looks to Maddock and then back to Snowy as long as the shore party is all loaded up, "Get us the fuck out of here Maddock!

How much you need Snowy?  I got my own spares of it but, I'm not sitting too pretty.  Won't last long in a sustained fight.  I got some stripper clips back in my gear on board and I can give you some if you really need it.  Hate to say it but, we're going to have to start looking into using some local shit or something more easily available to us."

Tucker
M-16A2 [27/30]/M-203 [HE]
Covering a fire arc in the raft

As the Zodiac heads for midstream, the sound of fire picks up behind you. The battle of Ulcie Solne is apparently entering the endgame phase. Errant tracers race overhead as the antagonists engage in desperate, close quarters battle. Fortunately, not much attention appears to be directed at you at the moment. When the two boats- one large and lumbering, one small and nimble- finally are noticed, the fire sent in your direction is poorly delivered. But, the message that accompanies it is clear- you are not welcome in Ulcie Solne.

The zodiac pulls up alongside the Krolowa, and the team begins reboarding the tug. As both boats are underway, the task is a little trickier than is comfortable, but everyone makes it on to the Queen's deck safely. The Krolowa, now further removing itself from the river inlets which clogged the channel with their effluents, finds deeper water. As you look back, you can see the exhaust of an armored vehicle as it pulls on to the pavement of the fuel loading facility. The commander's hatch opens and he surveys his surroundings. He sees the Krolowa, now three hundred meters distant and pulling away at 10 knots, and pauses for a moment, appearing to consider his options. After a few seconds, he shrugs his shoulders as if saying "Oh well, I suppose this one's gotten away." The BMP-2 makes no effort to engage the tug. Clarence, for his part, decides not to tempt counterfire by engaging the vehicle with the ZU. He's pretty sure he couldn't have hit it anyway- a case of you leave me be, and I'll leave you be.

Meanwhile Yazzie kicks himself into the river. It quickly becomes clear that he and the tug are not converging at the same rate and that he is going to be left behind. Fortunately, the zodiac is still tied alongside and ready for immediate deployment. The zodiac team swoops out and lifts the soggy marine out of the cold brown water before returning to the tug for good. The team has made it out of a potentially deadly situation in one piece, sending two possibly hostile strangers to the great hereafter in the bargain. You're a bit shaken, your adrenaline is still pumping, some of you are a bit wet, but you are alive.

Actions?

John will set about cleaning his gear and weapon. he will dress down to his skivies and remove his wet uniform ( he will hag it on 550 cord) and put on his dry one from his pack. he will clean his weapon and wipe down his ammo to insure all is clean and dry. he will go to the gally and remove a meals worth of food and water and consume it there not talking to others or getting in the way. once his is done with his meal he will return to the top deck to lay out his sleeping roll and he will take a nap.



John
going about post mission duties
G3

Before most of the team heads off to take care of post-mission routines, Bayer grabs Soleblume, Maddock, Tucker, and Clarence (but he advertises it as an open invitation regardless of rank or position), and asks them to join him in the galley for some planning. He also asks Fosters and Thompson to post sentry while the meeting goes on (I think they are still away from the game right?).

Once everyone has got a seat and is ready, he begins, keeping it very informal and open for all to input their ideas. "We are still going through the expected process of organizing ourselves. I've posted a sentry watch schedule, but also need to discuss other... um, routines. What do you think of the sentry roster? What are our immediate concerns, besides acquiring some anti-armour? Also, a reminder. The next town we pass is Nowy Korczyn, a small village, we don't know much about it. But after that we have Szczucin and the collapsed bridge. Thompson, can't predict if we have enough explosives without seeing it, but figures we have enough for clearing a portion anyways. We also have the Vietnamese one... Quyen, who knows a bit about demolitions to help him. So... lets have it out. What other concerns do we have?"

As he opens up the floor for everyone to speak, he folds his map to show the area they face ahead of him, along with some markings he wrote on it with a grease pencil. He lays it out in front of those assembled. http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/5223/map3od8.jpg

OOC - What time is it?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:19, Sat 10 Nov 2007.

The crisis over, Dawid lugged the AGS-17 back to the fantail. Then he secured the Vasilek, keeping it loaded with HEAT rounds. He settled in at the bow, scanning to the shorelines to port, starboard and fore with his binoculars.

Clarence listens quietly as Bayer lays out the situation. The Hauptman is everything Clarence has come to expect from practicioners of Teutonic military tradition- calm, competent, conscientous. He reckoned their chances of survival- and his chance of completing his mission- were all the better for Bayer's presence on board.

As Konrad finishes up, Clarence speaks, "Didn't our pimp friend say somethin' about seein' a Russian chopper up 'round Nowy Korczyn? If he wasn't trippin', that can't be good for us. When my team left Krakow, we split up and headed off in all directions, each man except me carrying a dummy set of RESET papers. At least that's what I was told. As that ORMO prick back at the monastary pointed out, our departure from Krakow didn't go unnoticed."

He glances at Griet searching for a reaction and seeing a thin smile creep across her lips, continues,

"I'm sure the local KGB/GRU had to know about it. We played the race card hopin' that the Reds wouldn't take a black courier seriously- I can't exactly blend in to the local population, he, he. But, if they picked up any of the others or my handler... The Reds put two and two together and they're bound to come lookin' for this boat. A helicopter would be real good for that job and not just anybody has one, ya know what I mean? I don't like it."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:21, Sat 10 Nov 2007.

"Yes... the helicopter, near Nowy Korczyn. We must be careful on how to deal with it if we see it ourselves, especially if it was a Mi-24, you know those gunships armoured liked a tank... the Hind. If it comes in close to check us out, should we try to shoot it down? If not, it could destroy us with long range missile and gun fire. But shooting it down may be a challenge itself with what we have. Well except for the zoo-23, but its ammo is low and has a limited arc of fire on this boat. Anyway, its a good point, the sentries will have to be reminded to keep an eye up, as well as down."

As for, Nowy, Korczyn, keep in mind he only saw a helicopter flying near there. We don't know where it is based. It may not have come from there.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:01, Sat 10 Nov 2007.

Quyen sits next to Dawid, pulling the hood of her green Adidas track top over her head, covering all but small part of her face. She won't say much, unless spoken to, but will keep an eye on the river ahead. He webbing and rifle lay on the deck beside her.

Tucker lets Konrad finish before giving his input.  "We're kind of short the way it is Konrad so I don't know if a sentry roster is necessary to go along with a watch schedule unless you somehow combine it?  Other than that, I think we keep it to just a watch schedule.  If you want to throw an extra set of eyes out at night, that shouldn't be too bad.

Concern I have right now is shore parties.  I don't have a problem doing them but, I think those going ashore shouldn't be dressed in any kind of military clothing.  We've got a decent mix of it but, no need to draw any attention to ourselves.  It might seem like a minor thing to me but, some civvie clothes wouldn't be bad.  People are tired and afraid of anyone now a days in any kind of BDU's after what we've done to their country and our own.

Not only should we be looking for more explosives, I think we should be looking into getting some kind of reloading machine for our own brass.  Some AT stuff wouldn't be too bad either after what we just left behind us at the last town.  Some 40 mm grenades would be nice too.

We're also going to need to start getting some more of us trained on the DShK MG's and other weapons we've got.  Those MG's and the AGL are the bread and butter of the tug since we're limited on ammo on the Mortar and 'ZOO.'

This next town, Nowy Korczyn, even though there's been reports of a Soviet helo in the area I think we should see if we can take a look around and maybe see if we can get some trading done or at least some Intel on what's ahead of us.  We don't really know what's there but, going in as merchants not dressed in military garb, might open them up.  Who knows, maybe we can get lucky and they know where we can get some of the shit we need?"

"That may be a good idea Robert, the clothing. If anything, like how Quyen wears mixes civilian attire with issued pants. At least in this area anyways, since most most marauders it seems are apparently deserters from that Soviet tank division, and likely to still be wearing their uniforms.

For making a visit to Nowy Korczyn... what do you think? (he looks to Soleblume, Maddock, Clarence and whoever else is present) Maybe we should see what the rest of the men think as well. Each stop we make slows our progress and increased our chances to casualties, but as you said, we could use some additions to our firepower. Although we can be pretty sure trade is available in Sandomierz. Lets put it to a vote perhaps?

For trade, it seems our priority is anti-armor. Anti-aircraft and 40mm grenades should also be kept in mind.

For the machine gun training, excellent idea. We should find out who is skilled the most with them, and have them run some of the men through instructional periods with them. It'll also give them something to do... keeping busy and being productive. Well set something up once we've got some instructors who have experience identified.

Major? Sergeant Major?

OOC - Tucker, the watch schedule and sentry roster were the same thing... just referred to as by two names. One person on duty during the day and two by night. In order as per the OOC thread.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:19, Sun 11 Nov 2007.

"Far as I know, Dawid's the top guy for our heavy weapons.  Like I said, have him continue to train Clarence on the Mortar but, everyone else who isn't up to speed needs to get there, me included, on the other stuff.

Another point I think we need to work out is who stays and goes during shore parties.  We're spread pretty thin right now and can't afford to leave the tug too short-handed while we're out walking the shores.  If we're going to rotate personnel for shore details, then we need to step up the training for the tug's defenses.  Everyone's competant enough with small arms so that's not a problem.  We also have a problem with the language it seems.  We're going to need to set down with someone who is basically fluent with Polish and or Russian."

OOC: I failed to read the OOC post about the watch schedule before I posted.  Also, I think it would be better for the NPC's to stay on  board while most of the action will be with one of the shore parties?  An NPC would be useful to cover a skill needed that PC's may not have.

Maddock, having doffed his helmet and harness for a dry change and the battered beret, accompanied Bayer without complaint.

Hearing out the Hauptman and his US subordinate, Maddock scratches idly at his jaw. "As it happens, laying charges and dropping bridges are part of my package, if you follow. I have the tools but not the supplies for it; all used up in the field previous to now."

He jerks his thumb to indicate the area above deck, where the rest of the team are situated. "Mr. White and I have the small boats operation down, and plenty of experience with it. We might think to designate a prefered fast-deploy package of men and kit for the boat parties; less dickering when the time comes to go over the rail. Also, I can train or operate the AGL without trouble; I'm a little slow on the drop for keeping-up with Yazzie, though."

"Anti-tank would be a real blessing, agreed, but I'm getting the word that the men are worried about rounds for their shoulder arms. We aren't like to be able to standardize, but with Yazzie to gunny them, we might strongly consider cutting down the variation in each man's kit, and trying to bulk up the ammo supplies. Does us no bloody good to be able to swat tanks if the first farmer with a Mauser can pot the boys."

Clarence nods in agreement as each man shares his assessment. When Maddock finishes, Clarence adds,

"Well, we got plenty of 5.45mm ammo and quite a few extra rifles. That seems to be what the local rabble prefers too so it shouldn't be hard to get more if push comes to shove. We're ready to switch over anytime we need to. Now, if we're going to do any business in Sandomierz, we're gonna need stuff to trade for what we want. That pimp pretty much cleaned us out of non-military trade goods. As for what lays between us and Sandomierz, Uller told me that the pimp said its pretty much nothing but ruins between here and there. Except for, that is, Tarzanoberg or whatever it's called. Sounds like we should be expecting a fight there for sure."

OOC: Minh picked up another AK-74 today. I'll add it to the Weapons Locker forthwith. She, Milk, Griet, Dawid, and Max all already carry rifles that fire 5.45mm and we have the RPK-74 as well.

Also, I've failed to mention that Walter, Tadeuz, and Uller all have a skill of 1 in autogun, having acquired, mounted, and played around with the old Dushkas. They can all operate them in a pinch if needed.

The rain continues to fall, lightly. Blue, dry beneath the awning abaft the main stack keeps a watchfull eye on the rear arc. Max dutifully shivers away at the starboard Dushka, daydreaming about real Australian beer. Under their pup-tent on the bridge roof, Yazzie continues to push for the title of "Most Well Rested Team Member" while Gunny Parks continues to study the river ahead- a task made difficult by the rain splashing off of the surface of the murky water.

Dawid and Minh huddle quietly under the blue tarp which serves as the sleeping quarters for the Vasilek crewmen.

Uller is at the con of the Krolowa, while Adam naps on a cot wedged in tight next to the chart table. The tug steams along at a cautious 5 knots. It is approximately 12 o'clock noon, Polish standard time.

Actions?

OOC: Just in case they want to get in on the meeting, I've deliberately left Snow and Anneka's positions up in the air since neither has piped in yet. Seems like the meeting is going along pretty well so nothing much has changed this round.

"Please elaborate your suggestion, Sergeant Major. How would you recommend we go about this?