Clarence takes a quick peek at the shore and sees nothing alarming. Regardless, he passes Dawid's message along like a good warrant officer.

"Yo, major! Dawid needs you up front. He says somethin's goin' down on shore."

Having played his modest part in the tug's chain of command, Clarence returns to scanning the area downstream for potential surprises of the nasty variety and hoping that the rest of the crew is alive and well.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:06, Fri 06 June 2008.

Bayer continues an on edge stance with his weapon pointed only slightly down. He eyes them suspiciously with little trace of trust. "Ja. We are leaving as soon as we collect the part of our agreement." he assures them.

Then speaking softly to his companions adds, "What do we have so far? Lets keep looking."

Nudging the hobo pack with his boot, Dave replies, "Half a dozen loaded 5.45 Bloc magazines and grenades, three loaded 7.62 S magazines. Some miscelanious jusnk, ciggarettes, knife, canteen."

"Maruisz, how much time we have before they torch the place?"

Lacking information on what was happening on shore, and indeed elsewhere on the tug, Dawid continued to aim at (what looked to him) like a group confronting the shore party.

He also wondered if this was some kind of double-cross by Sandomierz, and if so was he going to get plugged by the ORMO beside him. Oh well, he would trust to God and his comrades to see things worked out.

Breathing to calm himself from the effects of the last the fight receded and now from the new tension he felt rising, he made sure he wasn't going to open fire until someone did something to warrant an action.

82mm Vasilek (3/5 HE)
Aiming for Opportunity Fire
[Private to Anneka Soleblume: No problem, Dawid just gave the SITREP  and then hung up. He probably didn't even wait for an answer and certainly didn't know who would be on the other end when he started speaking.]

Mariusz looked over at the Russians again and asked, "How long before you need to torch this section? If you want you can go on and do another area and we'll burn this lot down when we've finished here."

Griet checked the Dushka once more and then continued to check the area for potential enemies.

On the barge, Minh's caution pays off. She takes her time working from the outermost barrels towards the center of the cluster, searching for booby traps with her eyes and hands. She has to climb atop and across several of the barrels to check them all and the manouver is incredibly nerve fraying. Peering down, between the two of the innermost barrels (they're clustered together in a tight-packed bunch), she finds a dead-man's trigger*- a pressure release activated detonator, attached to a small block of plastique. It works like the spoon on a hand grenade- as long as it is depressed, the grenade will not detonate; as soon as it is released, however, it will explode. This make-shift bomb, however would do a whole lot more damage than a hand grenade, no doubt immolating any vessel attempting to help itself to the gasoline.

[Private to Minh Quyen: +1 XP to observation.]

On shore, the Sando-ORMO squad-leader responds,

"Hell no. We have our orders and there's no time to muck about. We're firing the dockside buildings now. Check the hovercraft. If you can get it to run, good; if not, we'll torch it too. Let's go.

At Mariusz's mention of gold, the squad-leader does not respond directly but instead mutters, <i>"Fucking capitalist mercenaries..." under his breath as he turns and walks back to the warehouse.

Besides the 52 rounds of 12.7mm ammo, the team finds nothing else of value along the shore. They reluctantly follow the Sando-ORMO squad back to the warehouse and enter its large, open interior. The hovercraft sits low on deflated skirts in the middle of the concrete floor like an overweight and sickly toad. Spare parts and tools lay strewn around it. The air is heavy with the smell of oil and gasoline. The hovercraft appears to have sustained enough damage in the last fight to have been held out of this one, although, aside from a little scoring and scorched paint, there's no obvious external damage.

Actions?

OOC: *I don't know if this is a correct name for the triggering mechanism I've described. I just remember seeing it in a G.I. Joe Special Missions comic book when I was 11 and it's stuck with me.

Watching with extreme caution, Jason stands back as Minh searches for traps.

"Sorry I dont smoke. I might take it up after this, however".

As Minh finds the deadmans trigger, he inches a few steps closer.

"What do we do?"

Although Minh and Jason were without a radio, it was evident from their body language that they'd at first found something very, very valuable, and then very, very dangerous. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure either one out either....
More than a little concerned about the potential for catastrophe, Anneka called out a suggestion for Milk to relay through to Adam.
"Better back away from the barge another hundred yards or so. Looks a little dangerous over there."
[Private to Dawid Waldus Piotrowski: Not to worry. I won't bother replying IC now as the situation is well in the past.]

Quyen holds up a hand while staring at the trigger, "Wait. Could be more." she cautions. "Keeps us occupied with this one and trip another carelessly."

She didn't have a radio, nor did Jason. "How about this. I look for more booby-traps while you report back to the tug that we've a goldmine here. If we take it, we should load up a soon as possible before someone else stakes a claim."

Pointing at the device she adds, "Tell the major we've two options. Try to disarm this or not. Leaving it be means that we are guaranteed to get all but two barrels. Disarm it means we get it all, but I might die. Up to her and Bayer. If they want it though, I'm going to need the demo kit."

Assuming Jason agrees and leaves, Quyen will continue to check the remainder of the barrels for additional traps. She uses the same, careful search technique.

Bayer points at the craft, "Stoner. you know boats, see what you can do. Tuck, check the craft for 30mm ammo or anything else of use. Mariusz, check the rest of the warehouse."

He looks back over his shoulder at the ORMO. He wasn't happy. News from the tug reported casualties, and the shore party had come up with a pitiful collection of booty. This battle was suppose to bring the team out ahead, with more than just gaining a friendly (or neutral) base on the river... they were suppose to replenish their mortar ammo and trade stores.

"Anything?" he asks impatiently (not with the team, but the situation). "Can this thing be towed or will it sink without being inflated."

Mariusz moved carefully around the warehouse looking for booty.

Dave climbs in the cockpit of the hovercraft and studies the controls.

"Give me a minute, boss. This thing's half boat and half aircraft, and everything is in Russian. I'm going to puch some buttons and pull some knobs, please keep you're fingers and toes and any other appendages you value away from any moving parts."
With that, Dave start trying any buttons or switches that might be a starter switch, thinking about what he knows about boats, and what he's seen of cockpit operations from his numerous helicopter flights.

"You can speak Russian ja? Can you read it too?" he asks the young man. "If there is nothing here worth taking, get in and help Stoner please."

Mariusz heard Bayer's suggestion, tt probably wouldn't be tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, but it would probably be shorter. He finished his turn around the warehouse, picking up anything he thought might be useful, dumped it in a crate and jumped into the cockpit to translate the instructions.

As Mariusz climbs in the cockpit with him, Stoner tells him "Look for something that says Power, then Fuel, then Ignition or Start, and we'll see if we can make this baby fly."

Milk dutifully relays Anneka's message to the bridge and, within a few moments, the tug begins backing further away from the barge. From the various bits and pieces he's overheard, Milk puts two and two together- the mysterious barrels probably contain fuel of some kind but, considering Anneka's request, they've probably been tampered with in some fashion. Seeing as it's been quiet for some time now, he decides to exchange proper SITREPs with the ground team. Momentarily releasing the handles of the Dushka, he lifts the handset of his radio and places a call to Konrad.


Sunray, Pitchfork. We've found a stockpile of juice but it looks like it's been booby trapped.
We have two casualties- Buddha and Chopper- plus a couple of local ORMO, all KIA. Looks like Chopper was playing for the other team. What's your SITREP? OVER

As Griet heard the situation with the fuel in the barrels she turned to Anneka and said, "If they can get all but two barrels off without causing and explosion, they should, as foe the last two barrels if we have enough containers, we can just siphon the fuel off and have done with it. Do you want me to track something down we could use?"

Tucker slings his rifle and makes sure his Browning HP is in hand and ready to go as he moves into the hovercraft after Stoner.  He begins his search in the obvious weapon stations and then works his way back to the smaller compartments.

Tucker
Browning HP
Checking the hovercraft for 'goodies'

Bayer toggles his radio, "Sunray SITREP. Located in large warehouse near river. All ok. Collecting supplies and inspecting hovercraft. No enemy around... some Sando Russians though. Will be moving out shortly back to tug. May need tug to tow hovercraft, will confirm. Out"

In reply to Griet Niewiadomska (msg #384):
"No, stay at your station until further notice."
There were few enough of them on watch as it was with the sounds of battle still echoing around them. Although the Sando forces were apparently victorious, there may still be a few diehard defenders holed up ready to snipe at the unwary.

"Let the Hauptman know that we're unable to assist at this time please Milk."
The extremely dangerous situation on the barge had to be dealt with before they could risk travelling any further upstream. The bow wave of the tug might be enough to set off the booby trapped barrels if whoever had set the charges had been sneaky. Until they heard exactly what the set up was, they had to assume the worst. Pressure & tilt switches, command detonation, timers - all were options until ruled out.
[Private to Cap'n Rae; Jason Kasparov; Minh Quyen: With a US SF soldier having been in command of the town and it's defenders for a while, and the value of the fuel, I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of the booby trap being booby trapped!
Provided there is no provision for command detonation, or it's on a timer of some type, it shouldn't be too difficult to recover all of the fuel with an investment of time and plenty of patience. With a little luck, it's just the pressure switch which is relatively easy and quick to disarm.]

The hovercraft's cockpit is cramped, dimly lit, and musty, and blood stains can just be made out on the dark, cracked leather of the pilot's seat. Stoner, with Mariusz's linguistics help, presses buttons, turns knobs, and flicks switches, all in an attempt to start the hovercraft. They succeed in getting a few warning lights to blaze brightly and several needles on gauges to swing slowly to life, but nothing much else. In fact, most of the lights and dials seem to indicate numerous systems malfunctions. It's likely that the old skimmer was in the midst of a bit of an overhaul when the attack on the town began and that several key components were disabled in order to effect repairs. So, the hovercraft will not be leaving the warehouse under its own power any time soon.

Tucker finds little in the way of weapons or ammunition on board. From several spent cartridges and disintegrating links he finds in various nooks and crannies, it appears that the hovercraft at one time housed a veritable arsenal. By the starboard gunner's seat- just to the right of the pilot's station, Tucker finds blood- still sticky- splattered on the walls and ceiling, likely evidence of Dawid's good shooting with the tug's own AGL. The skimmer's smaller weapons (LMGs and AGLS) were probably removed to be used elsewhere during the hovercraft's convalescence. In the main turret, just aft of the crew compartment, Tucker finds that the gunner's sights have been dismantled. The coaxial PKT has been unloaded and the main 30mm gun is empty as well. Everything armaments-wise that could have been used elsewhere has been removed and taken away leaving the hovercraft without a sting.

The Sando-ORMO squad leader reenters the buidling from the landward side, a thermite grenade in his hand. Finding Konrad he demands impatiently,

"Well, can you get it started or not? The town is burning and the militia is pulling out now. I have my orders."

On the barge, Minh continues searching for additional booby traps while Jason* heads back to the Krolowa in the Zodiac. He successfully makes the short journey without incident and relays Minh's message to Anneka. As the involuntarily grounded pilot describes the situation to the Israeli medic, the Sando-ORMO liaison officer pops his head out of the bridge and shouts [in Polish],

"The attack commander orders an immediate general withdrawal. We leave now!"

Those still on board the tug can clearly see that most of Tarnobrzeg, despite the steady, cold rain, is well ablaze. Large clouds of thick, black smoke hang ominously over the town and those on the tug can smell the burning.

Everyone on deck is soaked through and chilled almost to the bone. It is around 1630 hrs and, on a day like today, it will be getting dark soon.

Actions?

*NPCed for this round
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:10, Sun 08 June 2008.

Dave crawls out of the destroyed craft. "Hey, Captain" he calls out, "Either this things deader than shit, or I just ain't pushing her buttons right. We can't get her to fire up."

"No... very well." Bayer says to the NCO. "My comrades cannot help tow this machine at this point anyways*."

OOC - Assuming Milk relayed Anneka's call.

He then nods to Stoner and Mariusz to exit the hovercraft. "Good try men." he says quietly. Bayer then leads them out of the warehouse back towards the shore. He is clearly disappointed by their lack of weapons and supplies. A street thug's knife is all we got... he thinks.

"Starlight, Sunray. Returning to shoreline. Request pickup, over." he says into his radio.

OOC - Can the shore team see Quyen?

Quyen sits atop one of the cleared barrels of fuel and watches the Krolowa in the distance. She hoped her search was complete and she didn't missed any second traps. Here she will wait until the inflatable returns.
[Private to Anneka Soleblume; Cap'n Rae; Jason Kasparov; Konrad Bayer: Sure disarming is relatively easy to narrate, but in the end it works with the role of the dice. Quyen made two choices because thats how she see's it... not risking her life over two barrels is an option to her. She mentioned it as she hopes those who will make the decision take it into consideration - as in, what is it worth?]
This message was last edited by the player at 10:58, Mon 09 June 2008.