Anneka joined the discussions after ensuring adequate guards had been posted.
"I don't trust them. Not now, not ever," she said as she entered.
"Something doesn't sit right about this."
Even without hearing from Griet that they wanted to take the tug, Anneka knew she carried grave news.

As Griet waited up at the bridge for the others to gather, she nodded grimly at the Major's wise precautions. As soon as Soleblume and Bayer reached the bridge she began, "In many ways, Anneka, you were right, the Hetman wants the boat and barge. The man claims to be ex-American Special Forces and says he wants to reunite Poland, mentioned something about Pluto, I thought Pluto was Micky Mouse's dog. Anyway, he's sugar-coating the requisition by making it look like a trade. He says he is willing to trade us some armoured cars, fuel and trucks snough to keep our cargo and haul it on the road. Now, this could still be a double cross, especially the way he was willing to throw in a csae of gold bars. In my guts I think it's a trap but I was able to negotiate the exchange to take place a few miles down stream. That way if we decide to fight and run, we won't be facing the fortifications and heavy weapons we face now, just whatever weapons the armoured cars carry and easily portable stuff the Major sends along. In my opinion, it's still a crapshoot but one that's more in our favour than it is here. He also mentioned a rivallry with Sandiomierz, so if we do decide to fight we should maybe try to run for shelter there.

So, as far as I see it we have several options:

Refuse the deal now and either try to fight our way through or turn back.
Accept the deal and switch all our stuff to the convoy.
Pretend to acceot the deal, keep these three guys on board and then pull a double cross before or at the RV.

Can anyone think of any other possibilities or what we should do? The Major has given us two hous to decide."

Bayer eyes the men in the small boat when Griet returns. After a moment he calls up Quyen. "Have these men wait on the rear deck. You and the new fellow, Stoner, keep them from poking their noses around back there OK? Milk is also on the upper rear deck to help watch over."

As Griet and Soleblume make their way to the bridge, Bayer interrupts, "Captain Rataj needs to be present I'll expect. We cannot make major deals without his presence and agreement." Leaving them, he collects Adam (assuming he is in his quarters resting). As he leads him to the bridge, he updates the Captain on the situation.

In the bridge he listens as Griet explains their options. He didn't expect Adam to give up his most valuable procession for a couple of trucks. "Those are our options  it seems." he replies to Greit. Looking at Adam he continues, "So. Are you willing to give up the boat in trade for trucks? Or should we prepare to fight during the trade."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:51, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

Snowy says flatly "It's not ours to give away. If this guy thinks he's Goofy's dog, I'm even less inclined to give him a gunboat."
He leans back against the starboard wheelhouse door, arms crossed over his webbing and his nylon helmet hanging off his belt. He pushes his ACS cap back on his head and adds "and frankly, this stinks."

Griet listened to Snowy and nodded, "He might have said something about Plato, not Pluto, but I don't know who Plato is. He said he styled himself after Cossack leaders and wanted to see Poland a multi-ethnic paradise led by inspired despots. He sounded reasonable enough but I think he's right off it, the town square looked like Disneyland for BDSM fans," Griet paused, the holiday her mother had once taken her on to EuroDisney had stayed somewhere deep within her, "He's probably dealing squarely but a clapped out armoured car, two trucks and two jeeps don't seem much of an exchange for the Queen. Still it would mean nobody died. My instinct is to fight when the odds are more with us."

Snowy nods and say to everyone "whaddaya think guys? I reckon he's gone 'Apocalypse Now' out here. Still, he's told us he's swapping our gunboat for some junkers and some cash. I can't begin to describe how offended I am. Let's rip him off."

Minh collects her rifle off of the deck and leaves the mortar position. After receiving her instructions she nods and says simply "Understood." Looking up towards the upper deck she calls out, "Stoner, meet us on the rear deck."

Looking at the tri of IPAT in the small boat she jerks her head towards the stern. "Come on. Come with me then." She leads them to the rear of the Krolowa and points to one of the inflatables. After they've sat on the edge of the boat she stands off to the side and gives a quick look up to Milk. Her rifle is rested casually across her folded arms. She leans back on the Krolowa's railing and looks at each of the men in turn.

As an MP she knew very well that fraternizing with the "enemy" was unacceptable. So she limited her discussion to simply, "Don't got any smokes do ya?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:58, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

"Give up the tug and the odds will only get worse!" Anneka almost growled in disgust at the "offer" they'd been given.
"We should fight. Take the "observers" along with us and eliminate them before they can strike from within." Which could prove to be problematic if they were to report in periodically.

"No matter what they offer, once they've got people on board and in control of weapons, there's nothing to say they'll honour their agreement. Besides, it's only vehicles and gold they've offered? What about fuel, ammunition, supplies?"
No matter how much they "sweetened the pot", Anneka would resist what was obviously a one sided arrangement.

"We should go along with them for now and once past their fixed weapons, make as fast as possible for Sandomeriz."
"Hicks and Stan will need to provide supporting fires as planned, probably indirect and spotted by Clarence or Hauptman Bayer. The motorcycle will give them superior mobility and the river, with luck, should provide them protection from immediate attack." Provided of course the IPAT didn't already have mobile forces across the river.

"In the extremely likely event of them attacking, priority needs to be given to destruction of their vehicles, especially armour."
"We've a relatively effective weapon in the ZU for the OT-65 they say they have, as well as any other light armour."
"Somebody will need to fire the AGS at any softskin vehicles and troops concentrations, while the mortar and machineguns deal with any crew served weapons."

As a medic, Anneka tried to avoid combat but the reality of life in the year 2000 usually dictated otherwise. She'd learnt that when diplomacy failed, or was simply impossible, a good fireplan was usually the only option remaining.
Walking away almost always invited an attack as most often it was seen as a clear sign of weakness.

Before Adam can answer, Konrad looks back at Griet and asks, "The warlord never mentioned our shore party did he? I think he would have if they weren't bluffing."

"Can we get the AGS up to Tucker?" she asked.
"Unobserved would be best if possible. We don't want to look like we're preparing for battle."
After the ZU and mortar, the AGS was probably their most powerful weapon. Tucker had expressed decent skill with such weapons and as Dawid would undoubtably be busy with the mortar.....

Griet answered Anneka, "Whilst I agree that we should prepare to fight, the Hetman did mention that we could take all the fuel we could haul and even offered drivers if we didn't have enough. I don't say this because I support the option but just to ensure nobody is making decisions based on partial intelligence."

You guys speak english? Dave asks the semi-prisoners. He walks close to Minh and asks her in a whisper What's going on? I've been back here the whole time, I missed a lot.

After she answers, he'll move away from her. Partly to keep from being bunched up if the shit hits the fan and partly to have something of a crossfire on the IPAT guys.

Dave
M240, 100 rounds
AK-74, 6 loaded magazines
BG-15

She answers quietly, "Griet went ashore for negotiations, I think, and she came back with these guys. She's with the officers in the bridge now laying out the deal I suppose. I don't know what these guys are. Hauptmann Bayer just said to keep an eye on them back here. I think only Griet knows their purpose at this point."

Mariusz moved close enough to the Bridge to hear the conversation. He stood with his back to the bridge scanning the West bank. Fighting a convoy two miles away from this killing zone seemed a little better than having to fight here, not a lot maybe, but a slim chance was better than none at all. He hefted the comforting weight of the G3 in his arms and then braced the barrel on the railing to scan the West bank through the scope.


Mariusz
G3
Scanning the West bank with the rifle's scope.

Wrapped in a blanket, Old Adam sits on the edge of the cot wedged between the chart table and the starboard wall of the bridge, quietly listening in to the discussion regarding whether to accept the Hetman's deal. Coughing to clear his throat, he speaks, his voice deep but thin,

"I do not want to lose the Krolowa. She is dear to me. But not as dear as the lives of my men and yours. We have lost too many already. I owe you all my life five times over. I cannot ask you to fight this Hetman and his army if you think exchanging the Krolowa will avoid more bloodshed. But, if you choose to fight, I will be here, on the bridge, doing all that I can to help. I will support whatever decision you make."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

As the IPAT men board the Krolowa forward, one of the men in Polish uniform keeps glancing questioningly at Dawid. Finally, he speaks,

"Piotrowski? Dawid Piotrowki? Is that you?"

Not daring to lift his gas mask, the man continues,

"It's Artur Jelen- from third battery. What the devil are you doing here?"

The trio of chaperones are led to the stern. The Czech, in particular, seems unnacustomed to being told what to do. His face is obscurred by his mask but his body language speaks volumes.



The Czech nods his head and replies in muffled, heavily accented English,

"Yes, little English."

Pointing up at the bridge he continues, holding up his handheld radio,

"I must go to bridge."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:16, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

Clarence is uneasy at not being included in the planning but he has the sense not to leave his battle station. He scans the shore over the gunshield of the HMG, noting what appears to be an AGS-17 "Plamya" emplaced on the roof of one of the multistory dock buildings. He wonders how many gun barrels are pointed at the tug right now. Two dozen? Fifty? More?

What the hell is going on up there [on the bridge]?

From that height, the IPAT could have directly observed the trike team's approach. Brother Stan and Chopper were well within range of that AGS...

His contemplation is interupted as Quyen marches three IPAT men past the quarterdeck and seats them on the side of one the zodiacs "parked" on the poop.
Making sure that his actions are concealed by the waist-high sandbagged wall surrounding the elevated quarterdeck, he casually reaches down and draws his HK SOCOM pistol from its thigh holster. He slowly screws the silencer on to the pistol's threaded barrel extension, chambers a round of .45 ACP, and sets the gun down in a gap in the sandbag wall, within easy reach.


Milk
Aft Dushka
AK-74M (30/30), Silenced HK SOCOM (12/12)
Getting ready for anything
This message was last edited by the player at 17:36, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

"No. Captain's holding a private meeting. If you gave me a smoke like I asked, I might have considered." Minh answers.

Still leaning against the railing, and rifle resting on her crossed arms, she adds, "You want to send a message to my commander? Thats fine. Just let me know."

"Whatever we are going to decide, I think it'll be important to talk to everyone and get their opinions. If you two want to start talking things through with Adam, I can go and inform the others and start getting feed back, if there's any more information you want, send Mariusz to get me. As for decisions, i'll go along with anything you want. If iI had a vote it would be to wait for the RV and then fight. I'll go tell the others." Griet paused only to pick up her old P64 and buckle it on.

She went to the aft quarter deck first to tell Milk. She reached the special operative and said, "Sorry I couldn't come earlier but I needed to respect the chain of command. I know you call many of the shots, but Officer Country can be a prickly place if you shake the nest too much." She filled him in on all the details and let him know she'd be back later to canvas opinion, the problem was going to be filling everyone in and planning for whatever would happen without revealing their hand.

[Private to 'Old' Adam Rataj; Anneka Soleblume; Cap'n Rae; Clarence Milk; Dave 'Bones' Stoner; Dawid Waldus Piotrowski; Jason Kasparov; Jay 'Chopper' Hicks; Konrad Bayer; Minh Quyen; Robert 'Tuck' Tucker; Stanislaw Switek; Trevor 'Snowy' White; Viktor Ritter: Griet will come around and fill in everybody that she can without speaking in front of the mooks. Milk might want to radio the away team. Instead of me posting for everyione, I suggest that you write up how Griet gets to you and roughly what she says, you can then give your reply or wait til later as she comes around again. This should keep the speed up. If you're not happy doing this, PM me and I'll write up a post.]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:25, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

Bayer listens as Adam speaks. He already knew the old captain was not a man who was going to ask for the team to fight any more than they had to... and thus wasn't going to be as completely open about the situation. I don't want to lose the Krolowa, Adam said, so Bayer thought this is what he would prepare for.

"A boat is confined to the river and is difficult to conceal. However movement by soft skinned transport will be just as difficult. On top of that, Captain Rataj is not apparently very willing or ready to give up ownership of his boat." Bayer says. "I am for betraying the deal and retaining control of the Krolowa at any cost."

Looking at Griet, Soleblume and Snowy he asks, "Before we inform the rest of the team and hear their thoughts, what are yours? Keep in mind, the IPAT may be planning a betrayal themselves and we have no reason to trust them. Do we betray the deal or hope to receive trucks and proceed to Warsaw by road."

After getting Griet's opinion he holds up a hand for her to wait. "Hold up a second please. Show me on the map where the exchange is suppose to take place. I want to move Chopper and Switek early and get them into a suitable place... as early as possible."

Bayer
Bridge
Voicing his opinion to betray the deal and keep the tug

OOC - Edited for Griet and I also forgot Snowy was in the bridge
This message was last edited by the player at 20:30, Wed 19 Mar 2008.

"Damn straight boss, Bluey died not five metres from here defending this boat . . ."

"I think that we, at least here on the bridge, are all in agreement. We betray the deal once past the town and it's defences."

"I think they should hold off on occupying their site until the last minute, but certainly should scout a few locations first. If they're under observation, we don't want to allow the IPAT mortars and heavy support weapons to have them already bracketed."
The beauty of the bike and AGL was it's superb ability to "shoot and scoot". A few dozen rounds could be fired in as many seconds and then relocated a few hundred metres away before any counterfire could be brought to bear.

Leaving the paint locker, his hand wrapped in cloth, Jason walks about looking for familiar faces. Spotting Minh, he smiles at the girl, but opts to leave her alone. He doesn't want to interfere with her and Dawid.

Noticing Milk, he walks over to the operative.

"Whats going down? Are we safe?"

Dave nods at Minh's info. Greeaat, he drawls.


To the Czech.

Sit tight for now, let the brass and the owner of the boat work things out. You know an American, Lt. Elder? You see him, tell him the corpsman he captured wants his shit back. If I catch him without a squad backing him up, his ass is mine.

Glancing at Jason coming up Hey Jason, what's the word?


Dave
Aft Deck
M240, 100 round belt
AK-74, 6 mags
BG-15 no rounds

Jason holds up his rag wrapped hand. "Maybe a stitch or two? Care to have a look?'