Dawid looked over at Tuck. "You've got it too? Lord preserve us!"

"If you do, you should get below as well."

Tucker waves a hand at Dawid. "I was ordered to man this post!  When I am properly relieved, I will go back below!  The fresh air helps me breathe better anyway," he says to Dawid with a wink.

Jason rises then hunches over. "Take me to the infirmary." he states. It won't be long now till I expire." He doubles over coughing, spit dripping from his lips.

Whispering, he says to Dawid, "Tell Milk to move RESET to the weapons locker. Secure me inside, I'll lock the door with my body. Grab my AK74 as well friend."

He reaches across his chest and draws his knife. He cuts a straight line across his left hand, and replaces the blade. Placing his bloodied hand to his mouth, he performs another coughing fit, the blood spilling tothe deck and down his uniform.

"I'll mark the door with my hand. Just tell Milk to hurry."

Prodding the other man with the barrel of his pistol, he guided Kasparov to the hatch inside. "But I do not know which rifle is yours, my friend! Just take this and detonate it if they get through the door. Next to the explosive shells should do nicely." He handed Jason one of his RGD-5 grenades.

He went up and aft to find Clarence at his post. "Jason said to give him the RESET papers. He is in the paint locker, ready to give his life to protect the secret. He wants a rifle, but I figure if it's come to that the game is lost. I better go."

Putting his mask back on, he returned back to his post at the Vasilek. If Jason below him in the paint locker asked for a rifle, he could always lend him his.


Vasilek (5 WP)
Tantal (30)/BG-15(1 HE)
Stechkin (21)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:13, Sat 15 Mar 2008.

Dave glances at Milks, making sure he's paying attention to the oncoming boat*, then heads to the starboard side and lokks out over the river and up the port side of the tug. He thinks This would be a prime time for someone to come from a different direction and shaft us


Dave
Aft Deck
M240, 100 rnd belt
AK-74, full mag, across back
BG-15, HE leaded

Quyen remains motionless, watching the boat approach. She listens as they hail the tug and Konrad's response. Ad they talk she looks along the shoreline, she will try to locate any heavy weapons.

Quyen
Ak-74 on the deck
Mortar Position
Looking for heavy weapons on the shore

Minh scans the shoreline, searching for heavy weapons. Aside from the old bunker almost directly across from the Krolowa, there is a sandbagged emplacement on the town pier ahead. Through binoculars, armed men can be seen in the second story windows and on the rooftops of the taller buildings abutting the pier. At just under 200m, the Krolowa will be well within range of small arms fire from the shore, as well as whatever heavy weapons the IPAT possesses.

The Czech in the bows of the small boat watches Jason collapse to the deck. At first, he seems slightly bemused by the performance- like a neutral observer at a high-school drama club play- but when Jason rises "coughing" blood, his expression changes to one of barely masked alarm. Dawid's charismatic turn as the pragmatic quarantine enforcer seems to add the IPAT spokesman's unease.



The man settles back down into the bows of the boat and, lifting his gas mask, raises a small handheld radio to his thin lips. After a couple of minutes of animated back and forth, he clips the radio on to his harness and cups his hands around his mouth,

"I am under my orders, sir. The Hetman of Tarnobrzeg has decreed that no vessel shall pass without submitting to an inspection. Furthermore, the Hetman wishes to deal with your vessel specifically. Now, considering your current... health issues, you may forego the inspection and instead send a representative- a healthy representative subject to medical inspection, of course- ashore with a full manifest of your vessel's cargo and armaments. And, we must insist that you recall the shore party posted on the far bank. Their presence there could be interpreted as an act of aggression. I must inform you that any such act of aggression or failure to comply will result in a swift and overwhelming response."

Actions?

Griet looked at Bayer and said, "If you like, I'll go ashore. Alone if they insist. There's a list of the cargo manifest in the Captain's desk. It will take a little longer to write up the visible weapons we have taken on. We might get away with the other stuff."

Mariusz continued to wait, scanning the opposite bank carefully. He carried his rifle, ready to rush to anyone's aid should they be outside his assigned weapon's quadrent.

Viktor will continue to scan the far shore for emplacments and start to make a target list in his head. The pier looked to be #1. It was something he could kill and have some effect. Then, the men in the buildings would be next. The API rounds start fires so they would either leave or burn. Then he started to look for targets for his MG3- he had limited rounds so he will scan for them now. He saw the old RPG-16 in the hold with 2 rounds; he was going to move that up front with him when he got the chance- more firepower for the forward mount.

He will smile to himself when the men in the boat leave. This will give him another day of hot food and water. Another day alive.


Viktor
MG-3
scanning shore
Zoo-2

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:04, Sun 16 Mar 2008.

Switek lies on his belly against the dirt berm along the western bank of the river.  From this vantage point, with the favorable weather conditions and his 8x32 Soviet field binoculars, he maintains a commanding view of the action unfolding on the river.  Having helped Chopper wrestle the grenade launcher into position was work more grueling than he had anticipated, but he was now ready to assist with the task of spotting.  It looked like they could hit anything from there.

He keys the mic on his radio and contacts the tug.

"Buddha is in place and ready.  Awaiting instructions.  Please advise your situation."



[Switek]
On the western berm
RPKM + drum 7.62mmS (75/75)
Relaying SITREP

After looking over the port side and the river, Dave heads back to the starboard rail where he can take the boat on in enfilade fire if need be. He shrugs his shoulders, trying to seat the sling of the machinegun better. Christ he thinks to himself. I feel like Rambo with all this weaponry on me


Dave
Aft Deck
M240
AK-74 1 loaded mag (6 carried_
BG-15 6 40mm HE (Soviet)  1 40mm Illum (Soviet)

Jason sits on the floor, his back against the door, wrapping a scarf over his bleeding hand.

"Blow myself up? What did he mean by that?" he mutters recalling Dawids statement. He just wanted the man to collect his AK-74.

Hopefully his ruse would be worth it. His hand hurt like all hell.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:15, Mon 17 Mar 2008.

"Anyone who goes ashore will surely be used as collateral. As a hostage who would be as good as dead unless we gave them whatever they want." Bayer replies.

Looking over his shoulder he calls up to the to the men manning the DSHKs, "I need one of you down here quickly." When one of them arrives he passes on a message "Get Milk to relay to shore party... they may be compromised." Bayer wasn't sure if the Czech was bluffing on speculation that the tug would take such a measure, but perhaps not.

He looks among the faces of the team. Tarnobzreg was calling all shots, and he was without any ideas.

"Kaptain Bayer," Griet tried again, "you may well be right about anyone going into the boat being a hostage but there is a slight chance that you may be wrong. They don't know how low we are on ammunition for our heavy weapons and they may well be planning to fleece us with punative taxes rather than risk losing troops and equipment in a tough fight. I have papers proving I am a representative of the Free City of Krakow and I might just be able to strike a deal with them." she looked him in the eye, "If we just start a fire fight, many of us will die. I am willing to risk my life to try to avoid that. If they take me hostage, you have lost a trooper who cannot contribute to the boat's defence at present anyway and you have my permission not to negotiate and let them do whatever they wish to me, it's my call. If we refuse to send someone, that's it, we're almost dead in the water speed wise here and their weapons have been aiming at our key points for a few minutes. We'll be lucky to survive long enough to fire off our heavy ammo."

"Nobody goes ashore, especially you," Anneka stated firmly, shooting down Griets proposal.
"Look at you. You can't even walk without help which means at least one other person would be required to go with you. Even then, what's to say they'll even take any notice of a scrap of paper you just happen to have?"

Even if the IPAT were "legal" in the loosest of meanings, there was a strong chance that they might look upon the forces occupying Krakow as potential adversaries. If they were bandits as Anneka strongly believed, then Griet would be in for a hellish time before death finally released her.

"Hauptman," she continued, but this time speaking in German directly to Konrad.
"It might be best if we were to withdraw upstream, or at least look like we are before trying to run their defences."
"Might also be an idea to try convincing them that the two on the bike have parted ways with us."

Their options were simple. Give in to their demands and potentially loose everything, or at least so much that it might as well be everything.
Try and withdraw upstream, but that would mean Adam's trading mission, not to mention Milks, would be a failure.
Or thirdly, fight through and hope damage to the tug was kept to a managable level.

"Information is key. They know far more about us than we do about them. They know where we are and approximately what our strength is. They also know that we have only two choices - forward or back, and neither at a very fast pace."

"So what do we know about them? They virtually destroyed Hicks' PBR and crew. They must number more than the group seen last night, and they're dug in."

And then there was the undoubted mobility the IPAT must possess. Even on foot, they could catch up to and overtake the tug. It would be a simple matter for them to set up an ambush at some point in the future.

HP-35, 3 mags
Talking while keeping a close watch on the visible IPAT people and wishing she'd had the time and resources to have produced some chemical weapons before now....

Quyen keeps watch downstream. She notes the newly sighted position and relays the targets location and distance to Dawid.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:14, Mon 17 Mar 2008.

Bayer nods to Griet, "Fetch that manifest please. Lets see if he'll accept it without one of us going ashore."

When she leaves he says to Soleblume, "Ja. It would be very interesting to see their response if we suddenly decided to not to continue ahead and head back. We'd see just how bad they want to trade to take from us."

Bayer moves a few feet towards the upper deck and as quiet as it takes (so the Czech cannot hear) he talks to the DSHK gunners... he fills them in on whats happening. "If they don't accept the manifest, we might try to reverse and head back upstream. Tell the helmsman to be prepared to haul anchor and head in either direction."

When Griet returns Bayer will attempt to persuade the Czech to accept just the manifest. An attempt to prevent a fight without giving a hostage or parting with much of their possessions.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:26, Mon 17 Mar 2008.

Griet nodded and stumbled back to the deck house. She got the cargo manifest from Adam and paused for a while to write down the heavy weapons that were present along with an accurate estimate of the ammunition. She also included about half of the PACT weapons in the locker along with a quarter of the ammunition.

[Private to 'Old' Adam Rataj: Quietly, Griet spoke to Adam,"This is madness, these Westerners will see us all dead before this trip is out. We are sitting ducks here and their and only option is to go in all guns blazing. Fucking John Waynes. I will try to make them see sense but I can't garuntee it. If I can negotiate with this Head man, I might be able to cut a deal, but it's uncertain. I'll do what I can."]

Griet finished her work, grabbed the briefcase with her Krakow credentials in and hobbled back to the deck.

"This is a very bad idea," she shook her head slowly.
Admittedly they were in a difficult position, but there were other options.
"Who are you sending with her?" she asked, resigned to the fact that no matter what she said, Griet was still going to give up most of their secrets probably along with her life. Unable to walk, and barely able to hop from one place to another, there was no chance of her managing ashore alone.
"And what are your plans for when her "negotiations" fail?"

Before handing it over to the Czech he says to Griet and Anneka, "Do we need to declare the captured weapons and goods? I am not sure. What about just our primary cargo from Krakow - the bicycles, and maybe some food?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:48, Mon 17 Mar 2008.

"Technically it should be part of our manifest," Griet replied, "They probably know we've picked some stuff up. It's better to use a little lie to cover up a bigger one, like in confessional, you cover up some of the things the Priest would disapprove of by tagging on a few lies to the end of your tally. Also, they might be more tempted to leave our heavy guns where they are. I also planned to use the mutual benefit card, play on this semblance of legality. I might be able to convince them that leaving us effective to carry on trading would be good for them, links with Krakow, getting weapons and arms to them if they need them and so on. If it works, we could get off lightly. The last option is the threat of total destruction of the boat and it's stuff. If we fight we will kill some of them and our last survivor will destroy the boat and it's contents. I might be able to persuade them that getting a little now with thge promise of more later might get us through this. If we can get them to think we're the goose that lays the golden eggs, they might let us live to give them more later."

"Giving in to demands is a sign of weakness," she muttered, very worried about the probable outcome.
"Give an inch....."

"True, or we can stay firm to our principals. How many of us are you willing to sacrifice to save materiel? I'd rather see if we can negotiate our way out of this before sacrificing my comrades." Griet replied.

Bayer looks at the manifest again and then down at the Czech in the smaller boat. "Were not going to give in to all of them." he assures Soleblume.

Calling over to the Czech he yells, "You there. Come alongside. Take this manifest ashore to whoever wants it. None of these people are going ashore, and there isn't  an absolute need for it no matter what procedure goes on here. You want to trade? Well lets go... take the manifest and lets get on with it."

OOC - I'm trying to go along with everyone's suggestions here.