Griet wound her way down into the bowels of the boat and checked if everything was fine, from the only marginally long battering of invective that the surly engineer yelled at her she judged everything was OK. Before she left she said, "We're making a flat out run into Sndiomierz, it's at least 15 kilometers from here so make sure we get there without hitches. If the Queen pitches one of her fits over the next few hours, we're all dead."

That must have hit home because the spanner that followed her exit was a lot closer that usual. Griet smiled grimly and made her way back on deck. She climbed up to the bridge and reported to Bayer, "The boat is intact and functioning well, I've told engineering that we'll need full steam until we reach Sandiomierz. Kaptain, what should we do with the prisoners? Should we lock them away or let them swim for shore? I'd rather we freed them, we lied to save ourselves today, I can wear that without a problem, but these men, I'd rather not have their deaths on our hands if we can avoid it."

Bayer nods slowy and then smiles, "Intact! So far it is goot ja?" Indicating downstream and adds, "Hopefully their outer perimeter will not change things."

Thinking for a moment Bayer continues, "Lets hold onto them for now. They won't be harmed. Lets have Mr. White or someone put them in a secure place. We'll deal with them later."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:49, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

"Very Good, Kaptain." Griet replied, "Once that is done I shall return the PK to its mount and then see what else needs to be done."

Griet went to find Snowy and said, "Mr. White, the Kaptain's compliments, he would like the prisoners locked away securely for now. I'll help if you feel it necessary."

Mariusz cleared up the spent shell-casings from the fighting deck and put them into a box for cleaning and sorting later on. Then, he went back to his station and manned the Dushka.

Snowy grins again, his irrepressible smile at odds with the situation. "That'd be great Griet, it's always good to have back up when moving prisoners. Did they all make it? It was a bit hectic back there for me to monitor the. Anyway, let's get the in the bridge first, we'll tuck him in the head."
He looks over at Kasparov as he gets ready to move and says "Good luck mate, don't get too focussed on your target so that you forget incoming fire. We'd rather you lived than they died."

Snowy.
Weather deck
Swapping M4 for Remington tactical shotgun.
Helping Griet with the EPWs

On the western shore, Switek and Hicks hastily remount the Mk-19 on the URAL's sidecar and turn north to complete the overland journey to Sandomiera.

On board the Krolowa, those that make their way forward to the barge find Viktor Ritter half-slumped out of the gunner's seat of the ZU-23-2. Small but ugly wounds mar his face, throat, arms- every part of his body, it seems, has been sliced or punctured to some degree. Blood is everywhere- on the seat, on the firing and sighting mechanisms, pooling on the wooden barge decking at the base of the gun. The thought offers slight consolation, but, from the condition of his body, he probably died quickly. The gun itself has suffered damage as well. One of the ready ammo boxes sustained a direct hit from an 40mm HE grenade and several of the API rounds it countained appear to have detonated from the impact, damaging the weapon's action (and further mangling poor Ritter). Both man and gun have fought their last battle.

Snowy, meanwhile, crams both of the IPAT prisoners into the head. The Czech is still coughing and sputtering miserably, mucus running down around his thin-lipped mouth to hang in long, translucent tendrils from his chin. Snowy feels some of the burn in his eyes, nose, and throat as well. Artur, between concerned glances at his superior, shoots angry, squint-eyed looks at the Australian but offers no other resistance.

The stinging aroma of capsacin lingers on the bridge. Adam sits down for a few moments, to gather his strength for the final push north to Sandomierz, while Walter continues to push the Krolowa to her limits. Konrad does his best to monitor and direct the activities of the ship's crew, peering through gaps and oddly-angled vision ports in the MTLB armor that Snowy fitted around the bridge. The protection they offer is comforting, but that comfort comes at the expense of losing unobstructed visibility to port and starboard.

Having saluted the enemy with a parting barrage of MG fire, those aft of the Krolowa's stack watch the smoke-choked eastern shore recede slowly towards the southern horizon, serenaded by the sharp staccato tattoo of secondary explosions from the buring IPAT Humvee. Those on shore appear to have abolished thoughts of a pursuit of the tug by land.

Smoke has crawled down over the river, hanging heavy and low over the dark water. Suddenly, the smoke parts like some large circular valve has been opened, arcing gracefully up and over the water, forming a tunnel. Through the tunnel skims a broad, squat vessel, racing effortlessly towards the tug. A pair of slant eyes has been painted on the green and brown camouflaged bow just above a patched, low, black rubber skirt. Atop this unconventional vessel, just aft of what appears to be a gun turret- probably housing a 30mm autocannon- is a tall, feathered standard, somewhat resembling an eagle's wing held vertically. Machinegun or AGL barrels protrude from either side of the bow mounted clamshell doors. The vessel moves quickly towards the fleeing Krolowa, closing the range from 500m to 300m in a matter of seconds.

Actions?

OOC: Next poster gets 5000!
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:34, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

Rosary in hand, Dawid said a prayer for Viktor, and for them all.

"Holy Mother of Czestochowa, you are full of grace, goodness and mercy. I consecrate to you all my thoughts, words and actions, my soul and body. I humbly beseech your blessings and especially your prayers for my salvation. Today I turn myself to you, good mother, totally, with body and soul amid joy and suffering to obtain for myself and others your blessings on this earth and eternal life in heaven. Amen."

The simple wooden beads and Cross were well-worn. They had once belonged to the Pope himself. His grandmother on his mother's side had been a parishioner of Father Karol Józef Wojtyła's many decades ago in Krakow (before his anointment as the leader of the Holy See and the Catholic Church) and she had received them as a gift. They been passed down through the family and finally to him upon his Confirmation. After all, his older brother would get the farm and at that time there was hope he would one day enter the priesthood.

It was something of a disappointment that his friend wasn't in a mood to talk, but that was to be expected. He smoked a cigarette and let the adrenaline drain out of his system, fighting the urge to laugh at nothing and wondering if and when pursuit would happen.

He'd always thought the gun out on the barge was a death-trap, but it had served a useful purpose to draw fire from the rest of the tug long enough to engage the opposition.

Hearing the howling roar of high-performance engines and fans to the rear, he surmised the reprisal was on it's way and threw on his helmet and flak jacket. Cold fear sweat broke out as his body revved into high gear before his brain had quite caught up.

Grabbing the AGS-17 (tripod and all) he threw it onto his shoulder like a sack of grain or piece of farm equipment and ran aft to set it up there.

"Minh, bring the anti-tank rocket and box of 40mm ammo!"

Actually, whatever happened was likely to be long over before extra ammunition would be needed, but it wouldn't hurt.

We'll see if God intends for us to live out the day or not!

AGS-17 (50/50)
9mm Stechkin (21/21)
Running hell-bent for leather towards the stern
[Private to GM: Hovercraft are freakin' loud, so if Dawid can hear something like that coming up from the rear (Observation check?) he'll deploy the last heavy weapon to cover that arc ASAFP. If not, then he'll basically prepare to abandon ship because they're deeply fucked. Regarding the Rosary beads, the origin is plausible enough (after all, my sister who just passed away had a Rosary that belonged to Mother Teresa) but if it's not true, well, he believes it is as that's what he was told.]
This message was last edited by the player at 08:52, Wed 02 Apr 2008.

"SON OF A BITCH! ALL HANDS ALL HANDS!" Jason screams, then pulls the trigger on the Dushka. He takes aim at the massive fans on the back of the hovercraft, hoping to shred the blades and throw the craft off course.

Jason Kasparov
Aft Dushka
Unleashing hell on the hovercraft

Mariusz heard the roar of engines aft and immediately swivelled his Dushka to face the threat. As soon as his gun could be brought to bear on the target, he started firing long bursts from the heavy machinegun.

Mariusz
Starboard Dushka
Firing long bursts at the Hovercraft

[Private to Cap'n Rae: I'm not sure how far to the rear the Dushka can be brought to bear so I've left the actual time of firing up to you. When he can, Mariusz will let loose with the full 25 rounds every time he can.]

Griet ran from the heads back to her assigned position. Once she realised the situation, she sighed and again unhitched the PKMG and moved in a low crouch to find a decent firing position aft.

Griet
PKMG
Moving Aft

Minh throws her rifle over her back and picks up a container of 40mm grenades and with the other arm grabs the disposable rocket. Yelling up to the bridge she lets inform the command group, "Captain! Action rear. Vehicle approaching! The AGS has be moves to the rear."

She didn't think it was a good idea to leave the front as unprotected. The mortar was without operators and the AGS was being deployed aft. With little time remaining before any combat was to ,she followed threw with the instructions anyways. She runs along the starboard railing to the rear deck.

Minh Quyen
Ak74, box of 40mm, and anti-armour rocket
Running to rear deck

Anneka noted Viktor was a lost cause even before she checked his pulse. There was just far too much blood, too many wounds, too much damage to fragile flesh and bone.
All the same she began the preliminaries of pulse, breathing and so on, up until the distant roar of the turbine engine cut over the low throbbing of their own steam.

"Can you use that?" she asked Stoner, indicating the grenade launcher slung over his back and wiping blood from her hands on the sandbag wall.

"Or is the machinegun better?"

The MG-3 so recently issued to Viktor lay just feet away, barrel resting over the low sandbag wall and loaded with a long belt. Not too much further away was the F88 Steyr with it's M203 attached. Nearly a dozen grenades, mostly high explosive lay ready for use along with a good supply of the odd polymer magazines for the rifle.

"We should stay here," she declared.
"No time to make it back to the tug." Not unless they wanted to risk being caught in the open. Nearly sixty metres seperated them from the Krolowa, sixty metres inside the deckless barge, partially protected by the metal hull. Sixty metres of clambering over the internal structure and slopping back through the bilges.

Reaching over, she grasped the Steyr, slid the grenade launcher open, and slotted a round inside.

"You ready?"

The normally boyant Dave is subdued by the death lying at his feet. He had'nt known the Pole long enough to be friends, but still, in a crew this small every death hurt.

At Anneka's questions he answers "Yeah. Yeah,I can use it. I'm slightly better with a grenade launcher than the machinegun, but I can use both." (GL 9, MG 7)

He looks around and drags Viktor's limp body closer to the sandbag wall, giving them some room to manuever. Then he takes the schrapnel studded helmet and gently places it over the man's face.

Looking back at Anneka he asks "You realize the whole trauma team is up here? Since I'm more mobile than you, you want me to head back to the tug?

Dave
AK-74, 6 loaded mags,slung across back
BG-15, 3 HE, 1 IllUM
On the barge

"No time. Besides, Snowy's capable of handling anything urgent."
He was no paramedic, but he had acted as Anneka's hands during the difficult operations on both Adam and Griet. He'd also managed a fairly decent job of stitching up the bullet wound in her own arm.

"Fire a few bursts with the machinegun if you can until they get into range with the launcher." 40mm of high explosive was sure to put a much bigger dent in the machine than the almost ineffectual 7.62mm machinegun. Still, they might get lucky and deflate the beasts skirts....

Tucker just started to relax slightly when he heard the calls out of a vehicle coming up from behind them.  His eyes go wide when he sees the watercraft appraoching quickly and he then looks for the best position to move the PK MG to (unless he doesn't have to).  "ROGER THAT!  CONTACT REAR!"

Tucker
PK MG
Looking for best spot to fire on hovercraft

OOC: Post moved by GM.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:40, Thu 03 Apr 2008.

Snowy's locking the prisoners down in the galley* stores room when the shouting starts. He looks down at the two men and barks "lie flat!" He has another frantic look around to ensure there's nothing they can get into mischief with and bolts out the door to port.
Coming out on deck, Snowy's eyes widen as he sees what's coming up fast behind them. He brings up his binoculars and shouts into his radio "Boss! We have a bloody hovercraft covered in guns coming up behind us! Get Adam to pull hard to starboard! We need everything to bear on that bastard!"
He looks up and realises that the DShKM is three stories above him and there's no time. He heads forward towards the Vasilek mount and yells to the people on the barge. "Quick, get back! We may have to cut the barge loose!"

(*OOC: I've just realised we don't have a head. We must all be busting! :) )

Snowy
Deck, port of Vasilek mount
M4 +6mags
Running about like a chook with its head cut off

Alerted by the unmistakable sound hovercraft engines, members of the security team gather up their gear and head towards the stern of the Krolowa as others turn to face the approaching danger.

Meanwhile, the duel between the KvP-92 hovercraft's 30mm cannon and the river tug's aft 12.7mm HMG- a very lopsided contest, on paper at least- commences with a bang. Jason Kasparov and the IPAT gunner open up on the other almost simultaneously. A 30mm round sizzles by Jason, just a meter or two to his left and only a few inches above his head, to detonate in a brilliant splash of sparks against the exterior wall of the tug's radio shack. On the return leg, most of Jason's green tracers miss wildly, but he notes with some satisfaction that the final tracer of his innitial burst disappears into the black rubber skirt of the hovercraft, forcing its nose to dip just enough that the final round of its own innitial five-round burst catches the Krolowa just below the waterline, throwing up a misty spray and resonating with a hull-vibrating clang.

As Dawid and Minh struggle to lug the ungainly AGS-17 and its bulky 30mm ammo aft, the hovercraft unleashes its second burst. Four of the five incoming rounds detonate against the Krolowa's stern near the waterline, producing a shower of sparks and super-heated water.

Frightened but undaunted, Jason fires his second burst in response. Once again, only one round strikes home, this time against the hull front. The hovercraft, momentarily stung, swerves slightly to the left and rapidly slows to a crawl, the pitch of its powerful engines diminishing to match.

Meanwhile, Switek and Hicks begin to put some distance between themselves and their riverborne companions. They barely notice the sound of the renewed firefight over the noise of the rushing wind and motorcycle engine as they barrel down the neglected road towards Sandomierz.

Actions?

OOC: The hovercraft is deliberately staying as close to directly aft of the Krolowa as it can, in order to avoid the fire of its port and starboard mounted weaponry. If/when an opportunity presents itself, those awaiting a shot will conduct automatic opportunity fire. Dawid and Minh can set up, aim, and begin firing the AGS next turn, if they so desire.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:50, Fri 04 Apr 2008.

Snowy lopes forward and snatches up the fire axe placed there by Dawid and starts to cut through the lines tethering the barge to the tug.

Snowy
Bow
Fire Axe
Cutting lines to barge

Bayer emerges from the bridge. Taking notice of Snowy cutting the lines with the axe he pauses for a second. He wasn't sure what was happening but he figured he was doing it for maneuverability. The man knows more about boats than he does, so he doesn't question the Australian. Instead Bayer creeps along the port side towards the roar of the fans and chatter of gunfire.

Stopping at the port DSHK, Bayer uses it as some cover as he observes the hovercraft. "Long bursts, long bursts!" he yells to the gunners in action. He believed the DSHKs should shred the enemy craft granted they got the hits. Ammo was not his concern.

"Someone get onto the GPMG!" he yells down. As far as he knew, Chopper's unmanned backup station was not involved in the defense.

"Mother fuckers! I don't want to die!" Jason yells as the fear of being shredded by cannon fire grips him. Digging deep down, he sees he has struck the vessel a few times, so continues the onslaught.

The German creeps down beside him, yelling at Jason to increase his rate of fire. Taking his advice, he aims at the vessels skirt and pulls the trigger for all its worth.

Jason Kasporov
Unleashing hell full auto style
Aft Dushka

Anneka saw snowy raise the axe high above his head before bringing it down with a thud on the rope.
"Noooo!" she yelled in horror as she realised what he was attempting to do. There was little chance of Stoner reaching the tug over 150 feet away while they were under fire, let alone her.
"There's no time! Shoot them!" she yelled once more, frantically waving her arm towards the hovercraft, hoping her voice hadn't been swallowed amongst the exploding atuocannon rounds and throaty roar of the DShK.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:31, Fri 04 Apr 2008.

Quyen runs behind Dawid, lugging the box of 40mm grenades and the disposable rocket. Dawid stops ahead and after placing the AGS on the deck, Quyen runs by dropping the box of ammo next to the launcher.

Still in a full out run, and hearing Bayer's call for the GPMG to be put into action, Quyen continues without pause from the AGS to the GPMG. One hand on the pistol grip and the other bracing the weapon from the butt, she fires four bursts at the hovercraft.

Quyen
Rear GPMG
4x10 bursts

OOC - What is the range? The way I read it, it sounds like it is right behind us... like 25-50 meters or something?
This message was last edited by the player at 06:16, Fri 04 Apr 2008.

Heat and solid waves of sound washed over Dawid as he staggered forward. The deck lurched under his boots as the grenades impacted the water around the boat's stern, sending up massive plumes of spray that blocked out the weak sunlight.

Adrenaline singing in his veins, Dawid sealed the velcro front of his vest, then squatted behind the Plamya and grabbed the handle of the grenade launcher.

"Minh, go! Get out of here or you will be killed!"

A very brave woman. May Christ protect her, and may He forgive my sins before he takes me to the Father for his judgement... which could be quite soon!

Looking over open sights, he squeezed the butterfly trigger and unleashed a steady stream of 40mm grenades at the demon that was howling in pursuit!

40mm AGS-17 (30)
Stechkin (21)
Firing long full-auto bursts at the hovercraft (5x5 shots?)
[OOC: I assume Minh still has the disposable Komar anti-tank rocket on its strap around her shoulder.]
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Sat 05 Apr 2008.

Dave sees Anneka's eyes widen as she sees something over his shoulder. He turns to see Snowy with an upraised axe, about to chop through their link back to the tug. Heeyyyyyy! Wait a goddammen minute! he adds his voice to Anneka's protests. He grabs the MG-3 and all the ammo he can carry for it and heads back to the tug, taking it slow and assisting the short woman when neccessary.


Dave
MG-3, all the ammo he can carry
AK-74, 6 loaded mags,slung across back
BG-15, 3 HE, 1 IllUM
headed back to tug

Griet reached the end of the superstructure and set up her PKMG on the railing again. She saw that the hovercraft was manouvering to minimise the number of the Queen's heavy weapons that could be brought to at the ammunitbear on it.

Calmly she checked that the ammunition belt was untangled and settled the machinegun on her shoulder, her left hand bracing the stock. Direct fire with the PK wouldn't be particularly effective so she angled the machinegun upwards. When she began firing, she would walk her fire onto the hovercraft and let the bullets plunge down. The body of the craft might still be imperviuos to the bullets,  but it would give the men manning the weapons at the clamshell doors something to think about.

Griet
PKMG (194/200)
P64 (7/6)
Preparing for plunging fire

[Private to Cap'n Rae: As Griet is trying to do a very difficult thing, I'm happy for you to narrate it instead of trying to roll it out. When she starts firing I reckon it'll take her one turn of 25 rounds to get on target. After that, bullets will rain down. She has no chance of hitting so I don't think Griet should roll. What might happen however is that the soldiers in the exposed gun positions might think twice about sticking to their guns with hot lead flying about them. If they are Elite NPCs then it's a futile exercise, anything less, and they might flinch. Might, not will.]