Jason fishes out two packs of the Marlboros and hand them to Dawid.  "I wouldnt want to 'buy the farm' for these, anyway," he says with a twinkle in his eye.  "I suppose some marauder might try to make me do it, if he knew I had them.  I guess that's why Hicks kept them hidden," he says, tapping the side of the can.



"You are both welcome.  Sure, Minh has the pretty face," he says, stealing a glance at her, "but you're the one with the Vasilek.  It pays to be nice to the guy with the superior firepower."  He says this with a mock-frightened expression on his face.  A pause, and then his expression goes back to normal.  "You've saved our butts with that thing so many times, it's hard to keep count."
When Dawid mentions returning to his post, Jason follows him outside with a half smile, lugging the ammo can back to his sleeping area on the barge.  There he stows it with his gear, then rejoins his 'little brother' in the bunker, keeping Mariusz company.

1100hrs.

Maintaining its cautious but agonizingly slow cruising speed of 5kph, the Krolowa approaches the town of Jozefow. Those with binoculars or image intensifiers get the first up-close glimpse of the settlement.

From a distance, at least, Jozefow appears to be a ghost town. Most of its structures look abandoned. Water stains a meter high mar the lower stories of buildings and the streets are paved with a thick layer of debris-strewn effluvial mud. Above, shutterless windows call to mind dark, empty sockets staring out from off-white human skulls set in neat rows like those of some grizzly Aztec trophy rack.

Alone among these likely empty structures are a pair of multi-story buildings, the windows of which have been bricked or boarded over. Small loop-holes set therein suggest primitive attemtps at fortification. No movement or any other signs of human habitation are present.

Actions?

As the tug pulls closer to Jozefow the deserted look of the town brings a feeling of desolation and depression with it. Looking out and seeing no activity among the buildings Jan goes and locates Konrad.
"We will be stopping here for repairs, yes? Will we be putting forth a shore party to provide cover for this fine tug, or will we be staying aboard? "

Bayer shakes his head, "No. Pass it on... maintain best speed and continue onwards."

Looking back at his companions, his advisers, he says, "Ok, we all agree distance between us and Annapol is necessary. It also sounds like the for the most part we agree the repairs need to be thorough. Could be fatal either way, I suppose. Anyways, I'll pass on the Captain Rataj the recommendation that we halt at the last community for as long as we need."

Remembering something as Jan leaves, he asks, "Has anyone checked to see what equipment he is carrying?"

If there are no arguments to the matter he nods his thanks to their help and exits the engine room. Heading up to the bridge he suggests to Adam to stop only at the last village.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:57, Thu 07 Aug 2008.

Mariusz welcomed Jason back to the lookout post, "The river's still there." he said, stoically.

Griet listened to Bayer's decision and nodded. She said, "I'll need to stay below and monitor the temporary patch, if you'll excuse me."

She left the bridge and clambered back down into the bowels of the boat. She nodded to the engineers and monitored the patch closely.

"Yes, it is," Jason says, then sings, "He just keeps rolling along."

After recieving the word on when they were stopping Jan headed back up on deck and made a point of walking all the way around to inform the watches of Konrads decision and introduce himself. It also has the advantage of starting to familiarize himself with the boats layout.

"I am Jan, Konrad says to pass on the word. We stop at third village for repairs."

once he has passed the word on he looks for a place to stash his gear where it is safe and out of the way. Then, it having been a long night hr will find a spot to sit down and take a short nap.

"Jan!" Anneka called once the immediate issues of Stoner's health and the repair of the tug had been dealt with.
"I'm Major Soleblume and we need to sit down and have a chat for a while. It's one of my roles aboard to interview new arrivals and see where best to fit them into our existing crew."
She guided him to the wardroom where hopefully they could find a bit of quiet for a while and withdrew her everpresent notepad and pencil from her pocket.
"Coffee? Tea? I think we might have some soup on the stove too if you're interested."
Once they were done, Anneka intended to have Mariusz relieved so the young cook could prepare breakfast. The lad seemed to have a real knack for creating delicious meals from what was just ordinary supplies.
"Now, what can you tell us about yourself? Where have you come from, what skills do you have that could prove useful in both operating the tug and defending it from attack? Do you have any technical or craft skills such as metalworking?"
The questions went on in a similar vein until she had a good grasp on his abilities....
"Oh, and while I'm asking, is there any equipment you have that may be useful to the group as a whole?"

"Of course Major. I am at your disposal."
Following Anneka to the wardroom he gets himself a cup of the offered coffee and sets down.
"I am a senior Sergent in the 2nd Parachute Regement of the Legion. It would I suppose match up to your rank of Master Sergeant. I am originally from what was Czechoslovakia, though I and my parents fled when I was a child. We ended up in France and eventually I ended up in the Legion. I am a French citizen for what that is worth these days."
Sipping the coffee for a moment he gathers his thoughts  and continues on.
"I have served in several places although the headquarters for the 2nd is in Corsica. Rowanda, Cote d'Ivoire, and Chad mostly. For a time I was an instructor in savat and unarmed combat for new recruits and am rated as a marksman. You may safely assume I can at a bare minimum use any weapon you may have that does not involve heavy artillery. Saddly I have no great technical skills, but I have quite the talent with languages. I speak Czech and Slovak as a native, and am fluent in both French and English. I Speak Polish quite well in addition but am not yet fluent."
Finishing the coffe he stands up and walks over to the washbasin and quickly cleans and rinses it before returning it to the rack.
"As for gear, I was seperated from my platoon and on foot so I have no great stores. I do have a few rations though they are of the sort designed for long range patrols and as such are quite nasty. I do have a set if IR goggles and a radio. Other than that I have my weapons and personal gear and a few oodds and ends. One is limited when on foot."

1200hrs.

The tug continues on its plodding journey, recently battered but currently unmolested. An hour or so after leaving the apparent ghost town of Jozefow behind, the tug arrives at the next riverside settlement, Piotrowin. This town too, appears to have sustained significant damage from recent flooding. Several structures in the town have collapsed and others appear to have been torn off of their foundations and deposited elsewhere within the town and on its outskirts. Several crudely built shelters made of scrap wood, tin, and cloth lean against some of structures that are still standing, suggesting their poor internal and/or structural condition.

From afar, several people are seen moving among the ruins. They scatter as the tug creeps nearer, seeking shelter or concealment among the shanties and piles of debris that litter the streets. They all don civilian attire, although some of them appear to be carrying small arms. Before the war, this small town would have been home to several hundred people. In its current condition, it's hard to imagine more than a couple dozen survivors slinking aroudn in the ruins. The current inhabitants of Piotrowin are either incredibly brave, incredibly persistent, or incredibly desperate.

Actions?

Mariusz has been relieved of river watch and is off in the galley preparing lunch.  Unable to stand being cooped up inside the bunker anymore, Jason decides to go for a walk around the boat.  On an impulse, he climbs the ladder to the deckhouse roof, then sits down, looking to the skies with a wistful expression.

Relieved from his post, Mariusz returned to his true element, the kitchen. Sure, firing big guns was fun, it was his job after all, but this was his true calling. He looked at the food they had, some nice recipies came to mind after the rough and ready breakfast they'd had.

Before doing anything else, he hoarded his grease again, deciding he'd have to make the SEAL a special soup to warm him since he'd risked death to save the lard. A sentiment Mariusz agreed wholeheartedly with, but such bravery needed to be rewarded. His mother's secret Beetroot soup would do, he started that off and then made some pastry, he made two lots, a sweet shortcrust and a savoury shortcrust. He reserved the sweet shortcrust and put some apples on to bake whilst mixing some cream and sugar he'd scrounged and put it into the freezer, moving some of the medicinal stuff safely to one side.

He rolled the savoury pastry out and cut it into individual portions. Then he put the large and smal frying pans on the range and fried up a small amount of chicken in one and a larger amount of smoked ham and bacon in the other. He put potato and onion in to cook with it as well and once the mixture was cooked in it's own savoury gravy he wrapped some of it in the pastry and put them in the oven to crisp up.

That done, he checked on the soup and took the off cuts and giblets of the chicken and put them through the mincer. He added some breadcrumbs to the mixture and pumped it into the scrounged sausage skin he had. He placed these chicken sausages in the fridge for dinner and took the soup down to the sickbay in a thermos flask, as he went out of the door, he nabbed a bottle of the vodka.

Down in the sickbay, Mariusz poured out the soup, mixed a stiff shot of vodka into it and added a drizzle of sour cream, "That's for the lard," he said, smiling and returned to the galley.


He checked on the pasties and apples and pulled out the apple mixture. He lined a deep pie dish with the sweet pastry, filled it with the apple mixture, topped it with pastry and left it to cool.

That done, he stirred the creamy mixture that had been in the freezer to break up the ice crystals and maintain a smooth texture. He replaced it in the freezer and removed the pasties from the oven. He didtributed them to the crew, making sure that Sanjay and Major Soleblume had the chicken pasties.

That done, he started boiling the chiken carcasses for stock and made sure that the laundry was up to date. He had several clean sets of clothes now with various rips and tears in them. As he watched the pots, he decided which was the worst and used that to patch up the others. He put the result into a cupboard. The pile of discarded clothes, the off casts of the dead and missing was getting depressingly tall...

Shivering in the October cold and the damp river air, Dawid sipped his tea and kept watch on the Vasilek. It was loaded with the 82mm HEDP, which would have made short work of the fortified building they passed.

He noted the people scurrying around in the devastated town. Finishing his cigarette, he had an idea. On his own initiative he tied a white T-shirt on the end of a broom handle.

Dawid looked at Minh and shrugged. "Maybe they need some reassurance?" He started to wave it around.

Clarence finds Konrad and Anneka and shares a few of his concerns,

"Major, Hauptman, we need to get the weapons and crew dispositions sorted out soon. If the Russians mount a pursuit, I don't want to get caught with our pants around our ankles."

After confering with the tug's leadership element, Clarence heads down to the galley to grab a quick bite. Aside from the ever present aroma of machinery oil and woodsmoke, the tug's innards smell like the kitchen at a four star European restauraunt. He finds Mariusz hard at work over hot pots and pans.

"Damn, son, you got some skills. This is some outstanding chow. Hell, I haven't eaten this good since home..."

Clarence goes quiet for a moment, trying to re-file the inadvertantly exposed memories of peaceful and contended times, back in the Windy City with his wife and daughters.

"Seriously, when this damn war is over, you really need to have your own restaurant. Mmmmm. Oh, and thanks for doing all the laundry too. You make this tug seem more like a cruise liner sometimes."

When he's done in the galley, Clarence gives the kid a hearty pat on the shoulder and heads off to find the new party member.

"Jan is it? WO2 Clarence Milk, United States Special Forces. So, if you don't mind my asking, how in the hell did a Foreign Legionnaire come to be smack dab in the middle of disputed Poland? Last time I checked, this wasn't your war."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:01, Sat 09 Aug 2008.

Watching the village and its inhabitants, Quyen momentarily thinks back to the village she was a part of, prior to meeting Adam and his team. Hearing Dawid, she responds quietly, "Maybe."

She leans back against the mortar and continue watches the inhabitants. "You know? If I am not needed for repairing duties, or security... I am going to try to catch some fish for us." she says. "Remember I asked you if it would be safe to eat? I have a portable fishing set in my gear. When we stop."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:30, Sun 10 Aug 2008.

Mariusz smiled happily at the praise, people liked his cooking that was good, they even seemed to forget his abysmal shooting. Just let them taste dinner tonight, he thought, they'd really like that.

He carried on working dilligently, trying hard to prepare stocks and bases from the carcasses and of cuts while he had the time. Peasant cooking was always the best, his mother had told him, rich people have the best ingredients and hardly haev to do anything to it to make it taste good, when you have the dregs to deal with, you have to be really good to make it nice.

He aimed to get as many bases and stocks prepared as he could, then he'd reduce them down to thick liquors and freeze them, people praised his work, but much of it, he knew was his facilities, the tug had fridges to keep food fresh, a freezer to do speciality work with and the best range he'd seen since the war began, with this kit, even a child could cook nice food.

Griet clambered up to the deck to get some fresh air, the work below decks was going well without her and she was just in the way most of the time. She went up to the deck house and spoke politely to the Kaptain.

"I've had a good look at the damage and I'm worried by it, it's not just the hole. From my experience, and admittedly it's very limited, shaped charged rounds don't just make a hole, they stress the metal around the whole and damage it's integrity. Now, that might just be what happens to armour plating but I'm worried that the hit has weakened the hull's structural integrity. The sooner we patch it properly, the happier I'll be," she grimaced, "I don't envy you having to make the decisions of this balancing act, Sir, if the enemy have sent chasing forces and they hit us when we're at this speed with a damaged hull, we're screwed and if we stop too near the scene of the battle, we leave ourselves open to being found and hit whilst we're incapable of easy manouvre. It's the devil and the deep blue sea. I have a suggestion to make, more balancing, I'm afraid, Sir. When we shift the ballast, the screws will come out of the water and the tug will not be able to move and the weapons will be in awkward places. When we do stop, I'd suggest dis mounting some weapons, those we can move easily, to cover the tug. It means more time, but it might pay off if we do get hit."

In reply to Clarence Milk (msg #349):

Anneka nodded her agreement. They needed to sort things out as soon as possible and now that she'd spoken at length with the new man, Jan, she had a few suggestions to make.

Pulling out her notepad, she sat down in a quite spot and discussed the options with Hauptman Bayer.
"Anything you'd like to include?" she asked Clarence before he moved away.

"Yes, having options is supposed to be an advantage." he replies quietly to Griet. "But all of ours present equal disadvantages and dangers. There is no correct answer, but your suggestion is noted and we'll have to do it I suppose. Consider it your charge... when we arrive you can assume responsibility of adjustments."

Waving his hand he adds, "Here. Help me. Muster all the men but the sentry. If they are busy, tell them it will be just a quick coordination meeting and they can get back to what they were doing."

Once everyone but the sentry is gathered he explains their latest 'adjustments'. That usually meant rotating duty stations due to casualties. "Listen up... latest changes are minimal, but this confirms things as follows..."

---

Barge
Position #1 (Bunker) - Kasparov/Mariusz
Primary Weapons - AGS-17 & M240
Secondary Weapons - L86 LMG & F88/M203 GL

Main Deck
Position #2 (Mortar) - Dawid/Quyen
Primary Weapon - Vasilek
Secondary Weapons - Mk19 AGS
Tertiary Weapons - 2x RPK LMGs

Upper Deck:
Position #3 (Port PKM) - Griet
Position #4 (Starboard PKM) - Soleblume
Position #5 (Roof) - Milk/McCoy
Position #6 (Port DSHK) - Stoner
Position #7 (Starboard DSHK) - Jan
Position #8 (Aft mounted DSHK - Tucker

-3rd RPK-74 is to be stored in the bridge in case one of the DSHKs go down.
-All weapons shown above are in addition to personal weapons.
-All spare ammunition for a particular weapon would be co-located with it or shared between like weapons - eg. All 7.62mmN belted kept with the M240, 50% of 7.62mmL with each PKM, all 40mm grenades excluding HV types stored in the bunker.

---

After reading off his notes, compiled mostly by others, he adds (mostly for Jan's sake), "Any questions or disputes? Now is the time to tell me if you see flaws."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:00, Sun 10 Aug 2008.

"How about putting Stan's RPK up on the roof with Milk and McCoy? Give them something a little heavier than their rifles?"
It seemed like a solid plan. Each weapon had an operator skilled in it's use and if that operator wasn't the best with the weapon, then it was simply because the best was better utilised elsewhere^*.
"What about Adam's crew? Can we use one or two of them in combat to assist with passing ammunition up for the mortar?"


^* Dawid for example is an awesome machinegunner but as the Vasilek is a more potent weapon and we've really got nobody else to fire it....

"Fine by me... the RPK." he answers. "The one named Lubislow is available. Originally Tucker was free to move to where ever the threat is... a reserve really. We can't spare a reserve now, even though I believe every group should have one no matter how small. However, Lubislow can man the aft DSHK if we need it. Otherwise as you said, he'll support the ammunition needs of the mortar... what little there is left."

"Yes," Anneka grimaced as the ammunition status was mentioned.
"How many rounds is that left Dawid? A dozen?"
In the light of the limited mortar rounds, Konrads decision to leave the Mk-19 on the bow was probably for the best. Although Dawid and Minh had a couple of light machineguns as backup, they were as nothing next to high explosives.
Leaving the grenade laucher there gave the group the option to save the valuable mortar if fire support was needed yet the target didn't justify obliteration.

Forst opportunity he gets, Tucker will introduce himself to the new guy who brought Stoner back with him after the assault in Annopol.  "Hiya doin' Jan!  Bob Tucker, everyone just pretty much just calls me Tuck around here.  Nice to see another friendly face still lurking about this country side!"

Tucker takes his plate of food and sits down to eat on the main deck.  The smells coming from the plate (and the kitchen) are one's he hasn't smelled in years with the war.  He takes his time and enjoys every last bite!

He then musters over with the rest of the team and listens to Konrad go over the new/adjusted assignments adding Jan to one of the weapons positions.  Robert raises his hand for a question for Bayer.  "We're putting a shore party out correct?  I think we noticed some of the locals were all armed running in and out of the ruins.  We're also looking to take some of the weapons off ship too?"

"I think we should keep moving for now," she said warily in reply to Tucker.
"We've potentially got a Russian division on our heels and the locals don't seem to friendly..."
Or sane for that matter. Who in their right minds would choose to stay on in flood ravaged villages like these? Europe, Poland in particular had been seriously depopulated by the war, some areas almost down to the last person. Surely there were other places they could go, better places away from the risk of flooding?
"But you do raise a good point. We should start thinking about security for when we stop for repairs. Who goes ashore if anyone, what weapons they should take with them, how they should deploy. That sort of thing."
Her eyes moved between Konrad, Milk and Tucker as she spoke, inviting the most senior of their infantrymen to comment.