Bayer is about to follow Switek into the inflatable below. The sudden automatic fire from the upper deck causes him to duck behind the gunwale. "Was es ist?" he yells, "What the hell is it?!"

Peering above the gunwale he looks for an enemy but only sees the bicyclist heading away, "Shit! Whats happening?" He waits for a reply of incomming fire, but there is nothing to be heard but the sounds of the men taking up the stand-to.

Staying low he rushes to the bridge, seeing anyone on the way he'll ask what was the shooting. Once at his position he'll question those in the bridge room and upper deck.

Anneka spent much of the morning in the galley doing the dreaded paperwork. With several people dead and more arrived, estimates of their supplies, capabilities, duties and so on, and on, and on had to be done. Occasionally she'd headed outside to find Konrad and make a few suggestions based on what she'd done, but overall everything seemed to be ticking along fine.
Resting her aching hand for a moment, she stared out a porthole off into the distance, reminiscing about the good old days with computers and secretarys to take care of all the bookkeeping.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the call of somebody approaching but knowing she was little use injured as she was, she stayed put and let others deal with it. A few minutes later and the sudden burst of a light machinegun above her destroyed any remnants of concentration she had left.
Dropping the hated pen on the table, she heaved herself up and headed towards her battlestation forward of the bridge....

Running for her position
HP-35, 3 mags of 13

Jason nods, grabbing the tools he will need from where they are stored. As he comes back to the edge of the deck he spies  Minh in the zodiac and smiles slightly at her, until the sound of a weapon on board has him dropping to the deck.

Running from his position, he climbs the ladder to see who's shooting.

"Hold your fire! Friendlies approaching!"

Jason Kasparov
Climbing to see who's shooting
AK-74 AND M177, strapped to his back

Quyen gives an affirming nod to Jason, as he and Hauptmann Bayer wait for Switek to climb aboard the inflatable. Engine idling, she holds onto the line which ties the smaller boat to the tug. Her AK rests against the side of the inflatable, barrel up.

Pointing to the front of the boat for Switek to sit the burst of automatic fire from the tug cuts short the loading. Unsure of the situation, she pauses to try wait for orders or any sign of what was happening.

After a moment, with everyone taking up their battle positions she kills the engine  and climbs out. Staying low and holding her rifle she heads towards her stand to position at the mortar. Seeing Dawid she says in a joking manor - "Loader Quyen reporting for duty. Whats going on? And who's the target."

Minh Quyen
AK-74 (28 rounds)
Mortar
Waiting for orders
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Nonchalantly, Dawid sauntered over to the mortar and looked around.

He looked around. "Ahhh... I do not believe it is anything important. People are on edge, not liking the idea of going to Tarnobrzeg. Can't say I blame them."

"I hope they didn't shoot the guy on the bike!"

He quickly dismounted the BG-15 Mukha ("Fly") grenade launcher from the Tantal, putting it by his pack for later. Being more familiar with the Polish 40mm Pallad, he decided it was better to check with John before trusting it.

"Anyways, please don't forget to leave without me. I should like to help Clarence with carrying the sandbags and other salvage."


Tantal/6 mags; Stechkin
2 RGD-5, 2 Hand-Flares.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:22, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

"On edge? Well thats bullshit." Quyen complains. "That sorta thing can't happen... shooting at anything that moves."

She stands up from her crouch and slings her rifle. "Well, the inflatable is still ready, and I don't think the boss is going ashore to meet anybody now... I'll ask him if we may as well load up with a burial detail."

Quyen then leaves the mortar position to the bridge where she saw Bayer heading to.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:18, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Sensing that the immediate need of a shore mission was for the present averted, Switek slings his RPKM and climbs back up on the tug deck.  Earlier discussion had placed his nominal duty station as the starboard (right side) machinegun mount on the upper deck, so he trots toward that location.  He scans the riverbank with his Soviet-issue field binoculars and waits for cooler heads to prevail.



[Switek]
Starboard Daishka mount
RPKM + drum 7.62mmS (75/75)
Waiting to stand down
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Bayer is on the bridge trying to find out who fired, and why when Quyen approaches him. "Ja. I think its okay." he says referring to the situation.

"Perhaps we should get it out of the way... to put it bluntly. You can load up a work party with some digging equipment. Of course, not everyone can go... some will have to man the weapons. Don't leave without me. Once I'm finished here, I will take part."

Leaning out to look below at the front deck, Bayer calls down, "Dawid, I need a Polish speaker up here to find out what happened and why. Help me out."

OOC - I assume it was a crewman who fired?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:26, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Arriving at her post in front of the bridge, Anneka surveyed the area in an attempt to see what was going on.
"I can do it Hauptman Bayer," she said before Dawid could reply.
"I can speak the language almost as well as a native."
Besides, what else could she do with only one arm?

Bayer still leaning out, calls down, "Cancel that.". He accompanies it with a slashing motion with his hand.

Turning to Anneka he says, "Ok. Who ist the ahh... cowboy?"

Mariusz relaxed as he realised it was just someone with an itchy trigger finger. He unbuttoned his helmet and slung his rifle. Listening to what had been said to Dawid, he went to find Switek and said, "Brother Switek, when we bury Bear and the others, I would like to go along to say goodbye to the brave fool."

Switek acknowledges Tokarski's inquiry.

"I believe action on that front will soon be forthcoming, my son."

The monk continues to listen intently at the exchange between the NATO officers as they investigate the source of earlier gunfire.



[Switek]
Starboard Daishka mount
RPKM + drum 7.62mmS (75/75)
Eavesdropping
This message was last edited by the player at 09:09, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Damn good question," she replied, upset that somebody had apparently fired without cause. Back before the war, that would have resulted in the offender being put up on a charge and the possibility of a term or imprisonment. Now though a slap on the wrist and a promise to be more careful next time would probably have to suffice.
"Sounded like it was fired from behind the bridge," she said, leading the way rearward.
As far as she knew, only two light machineguns were located there - the RPD and the "Priests" RPK...

Dawid moved to comply with Bayer. Then, this was countermanded. He figured he was free to go to shore with a work party.

"Okay, Captain. I will wait for instructions."

He thought about Minh's comment.

"I agree that we need to be careful not to shoot at everyone we come across out of fear of the unknown. While it may be safer, it's simply not neighborly!"

"Perhaps some excuse this practice by thinking, "well, they are only Poles, it's not like they are real people". Of course, not like anyone here would think that. Heaven forbid!"

"Wait, there was something that I need to do."

He retrieved his Geiger counter.

"Captain Bayer, I am going ashore to investigate the boat that Hicks came in for radiological contamination!"


Tantal/Stechkin
2 RGD-5, 2 flares
This message was last edited by the player at 12:58, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Quyen shrugs her shoulders - "I dunno Dawid. But thinking about it, it might have been Walter who fired."

She then goes and lowers herself back into the inflatable. It will still be a little while before she can launch so she doesn't bother to start the engine. With everyone who wanted to go, the digging equipment, and the dead bodies, she figures it will take more than one trip. At least it wasn't far. Leaning her rifle up against the side of the inflatable she sits back and waits.

"Damn Poles, can't even trust them!" Wating for Bayer to respond, he leaned against the gunwale and lit a cigarette.

Tucker quickly falls asleep after their action the day before.  He quickly shoots up from his resting place immediately grabbing for his rifle and moving and going prone for some cover looking around.  "God damnit!  That's one helluva wake-up call!  What the fuck is goin' on?"

Tucker
M-16A2/M-203
Prone trying to figure out what is going on with the gunfire
This message was last edited by the player at 16:24, Mon 04 Feb 2008.

Hearing enough voices who seem to be dealing with the shooter, Jason backs down, opting to let the ships crew deal with the ships crew. Recovering his tools, he heads back to the Zodiac, to go ashore and bury brother Bear.

"Permission to come aboard?" he asked Minh, smiling happily at her presence. "Guess there is no shuffleboard on board here?"

Investigating the source of the gunfire, Jason climbs the ladder to the quarterdeck. There, he finds the the young deckhand, Luboslaw, his hands raised, standing over the RPD, a whisp of smoke curling from the weapon's receiver. The boy stammers something in Polish, and even though Jason doesn't quite catch everything that is said, it's not too hard to determine that the teenager is the lone guilty party, his curiosity having gotten the better of him.

With the danger having been determined to be false, a burial party is put together. Minh ferries them the short distance to the western shore to join Clarence, who his still working to load sandbags into the assault boat. Working together, 7 graves are dug in the damp soil in very short order. They're not quite regulation in depth, but the party feels honor has been served. In the meantime, Tadeuz, Snow, and Chopper weld a patch over the cracked barge seam. It's not the prettiest of repair jobs, but it will do the trick so long as the barge is handled with due care. About 1/8 of the remaining acetylene fuel is used to complete the task.

It is now approaching 1100 hours. With the barge repaired, the Krolowa will require an hour to work up enough steam to proceed with the delicate task of pulling the newly repaired barge off of the mudbank. Otherwise, she is ready to carry on with her journey. Whether the security team is ready has yet to be determined.

Actions?

OOC: If ya'll want to cut some of the MTLB's armor for use in fortifying the Krolowa, now's the time- but, please consider the expenditure of torch fuel for accomplishing this task. I believe that some of you would like to play out funeral services IC so please feel free. Let me know what else you would like to do before setting out again. The tug crew is in no rush so it's really up to you.

Quyen gives a thumbs up and says simply - "Granted." As Jason loads in she holds the inflatable close and steady to the tug with the mooring line. Slowly others begin to arrive, along with digging equipment and the wrapped up bodies. She starts the engine and after thinking about it for a long time finally lowers some of her defenses and asks - "What's shuffleboard?"

Soon the boat is fully loaded so she ferries over the first load, dropping them off at the beach, near the bridge. Immediately returning she picks up the last of those waiting to go ashore.

After securing the inflatable on the shoreline she slings her rifle and helps carry a few of the shovels, leaving the heavier task of moving the bodies to the stronger individuals.

Like the infantry fellows, being an engineer she is no stranger to digging and begins digging without hesitation. After the graves are dug and the bodies placed, she doesn't say anything. Uller was an asshole sure, but she didn't wish him dead... unlike maybe Griet did. The other fellas were responsible for helping her out that mess she was in upriver, and for that she was thankful.

Grave detail done she reported to Milk and helped with the sandbag situation. The fortification of the ZU had progressed little at this point.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:52, Tue 05 Feb 2008.

He smiles back at Minh. "Its a game they play on ships. Cruises really, well back when they had cruises."

He watches as she guides the small boat in, but remains silent. Perhaps she was opening up, but he didn't want to press her. She was the sweetest person he had encountered in this crazy war. He didn't want to scare her off.

Arriving ashore, he went about digging Bears grave. He insisted on helping dig his brothers final resting place, making it into the best of the seven graves there was. When he was finished, he helped with the unknown warriors, thinking of what he could say to help transition Bear into the next life.

He helped lower the large Pole into his final resting place, performing the sign of the cross on Bears head. Climbing out, he starts the task of shoveling the dirt back on his fallen comrade, then waits for the others to gather to pass along his final words.

Mariusz stood next to Kasparov and cleared his throat, "Bear wasn't a religious man but he pulled me out of trouble more times than I can count and what he taught me means that no one will ever get one over on me again. For those things I can never repay him, he fought the good fight and died with his enemy's heart in his hand and that's all any of us can hope for. So long old friend, prepare us a nice dugout and start marking out good ambush sites in the afterlife. We'll be with you soon enough and then we can show the devil the true meaning of hell." he pulled out the bottle of vodka that he had foune in Bear's rucksack and poured it slowly over the freshly dug earth. He gently lay Bear's hat on the grave marker, stepped back and saluted.

Relieved that it was just boyhood curiousity and not something more sinister, Anneka did her best to remind the lad that weapons were dangerous and should be left alone.
"Konrad, perhaps Luboslaw's curiousity should be harnessed? Maybe Stan could teach him what not to do, you know, the basics like making a weapon safe, unloading, and the like."
Something had to be done to avoid a reoccurance. She was just glad it hadn't been that drunkard Tadeuz.

"What do you think about cutting up that old APC for it's armour?" she asked Konrad once the UD^* issue had been resolved.
"I think it's well worth the time and fuel for the protection it'll add. What do you say it's installed around the bridge?"

^* Unauthorised Discharge

Bayer shakes his head in obvious annoyance at the situation, but doesn't say anything. He nods and mutters something (inaudible but affirming) in response to Anneka's suggestion for the crewman to receive some actual training.

Looking down at the inflatable being loaded with bodies he barely hears her second question regarding salvaging the plating. "Hmm? Ja, I don't like the amount of time we have already spent here. But I guess there may come a time when we wished we had it, the plating that is." he says waving his arm towards the damaged bridge.

Heading downstairs he waves off Quyen, "I'll catch the second run." Bayer then rounds up those also waiting to load when she returns. "Men, help with the ahh... welding equipment ok?" he asks. When Quyen motors back he helps lower the acetylene gear into the inflatable to be transfered to the salvage site and takes a seat himself.

On shore Bayer participates in the grave activity. He doesn't do much of the digging, leaving it more to those who might find it more meaningful to actually dig the graves of their comrades. When Foster's body is laid down he shakes his head.

Looking to Snowy he speaks after the affair is done, "Snowy, sort out a couple of the men and start dismantling that APC would you. Armour pieces small enough to manpack back to the rafts. We'll use them for fortifying the tug and flak gun."

Watching Minh off helping Milk he doesn't bother to delegate anymore tasks besides his request to Snowy. He hopes the others will make themselves productive by helping out with the salvage or helping him maintain security. Unslinging his rifle Bayer looks around for a suitable place to keep watch.

OOC: Hicks will not allow the two bodies of his comrades to be buried here.



Chopper lights up a new cigarette and addresses Bauer. "Hauptmann, unless I'm mistaken, there ain't enough gas left in those bottles to cut much of that APC up. And pieces small enough to carry and float ain't gonna be big enough to protect much. I reckon it to be about 150 lbs per square meter of armor. We might want to save that gas for future repairs".