"But the nomads were the terror of all those whom the soil or the advantages of the market had induced to build towns. Agriculture therefore was a religious injunction, because of the perils of the state from nomadism."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

October 11th, 2000
1400 hrs.
45 F
scattered clouds

As the team at the hide site watches anxiously, Mariusz slings his rifle and, in spite of the gunshot, continues to walk towards the farm complex with arms outstretched.

Hoping that the farm isn't under new management, Mariusz draws nearer. Two large dogs round the cattle shed and pelt towards him. His heart begins to race, slowing a few beats only when he recognizes the ugly curs. The dogs pull up short, alternating between barking and snarling. After a few nervous seconds, the dogs stop their aggressive posturing, seeming to recognize him. They nose up to him sniffing furiously before rearing up on their hind legs, paws on his chest, licking at his face. He's enjoying the reunion of sorts when he hears the voice of the farmer's wife. Looking up he sees a middle aged woman in a long skirt wielding a Moisin Nagant carbine with fixed bayonet. Her weatherbeaten face is engraved with suspicion before a glimmer of recognition softens her expression.

"Mari, is that you?"

The farmer's wife drags the dogs off of Mariusz and embraces him.

"My, look at you! I think you've grown! What are you doing here? Where's the padre? Quick, come inside."

She leads Mariusz past the cow sheds towards the farm house.

As Mariusz and the woman dissapear from view, the party at the hide site is left waiting and wondering at what exactly is going on. They are debating what to do when Minh arrives with the second wave in the boats. The second lift piles out and unloads their supplies. After a quick break to stretch their legs, Minh and Jason head back to the tug for the final run.

Mariusz is spotted returning across the field soon thereafter, dogs trotting alongside. When he closes to within shouting distance, he calls out,

"Come on out! It's safe. The family say that we can stay in the cattle sheds. Come on."

Leaving a couple of people behind to await the third load, the party hefts their packs and begins to walk, heavily laden, towards their new lodgings.

When the third and final lift arrives two hours later, they unload and hide the boats before heading off after the others with the balance of the gear.

The entire party is reunited in the cattle sheds. At one time, the long, low buildings were home to hundreds of milk cows. Now, only a few dozen remain. A majority of the stalls are empty. Milking machines, like derelict robotic guards, stand watch every several meters down the center of the passageway between the long rows of stalls on either side.

The farmer arrives, carbine slung over his shoulder, with a young, unarmed black man in tow. The young man wears a course, gray, wool outfit, with a large red P stencilled on the back. The farmer introduces himself in Polish.

"I am Andrzej Bak. You all are welcome to stay here for the evening. Friends of Brother Switek..." he crosses himself,  "...are friends of ours. I'm afraid the accomodations are not much, but the farmhouse is quite full at the moment. We have several refugees from the city living with us now, and our helper here, as well. The women are preparing food for you and we will bring blankets too. If you build a fire in here, please do be careful. And watch out for the mouser. He's a testy puss, that one."

The young man then introduces himself, speaking in American English,

"I'm Latrell Watkins. I guess I, uh, kind of work here now."

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:52, Fri 26 Sept 2008.

Ondar spent the first half of the odyssey up the tributary in silence.  The morning's activities had left him emotionally spent. He had not said three words since speaking with Adam and Piotrowski earlier, except to confirm Milk's suspicions about the hardwired landlines.  His R-143 would only be useful for picking up sporadic patrol traffic, but that was still useful intel and perhaps justified the contraption's thirteen kilograms of mass.  He had offered to personally take on some of the load and wound up with a disposable rocket launcher and a few fragmentation grenades rounding out his ruck.

The deserter eyed Milk a few times during the trip, but the American was preoccupied with monitoring the radio and maintaining situational awareness.  He examined each occupant in turn, perhaps dwelling longer than appropriate on the Vietnamese interrogator/boatswain.  He considered her an enigma, and appreciated the irony of that sentiment.  It would take time to earn their trust.  Much had been revealed already, and betrayal had seemed the order of the day for far too long.

About mid-journey he swapped out his VDV patrol hat for an olive drab synthetic fiber watch cap.  The base temperature was cool enough, but bouncing around in a fast moving boat out on the water made it seem even colder.  He would have been content to hike all the way to the rendezvous point, but certainly was not going to complain about having been offered a ride.

He began to ceremoniously remove pins, flags and other distinguishing insignia from his uniform, which he then wrapped in a velvet coin bag and stowed in a breast pocket.  He considered throwing them overboard in order to mark a clean and distinct break from his former associations, but thought twice of it since such accouterments might yet come in handy on the road ahead.

Ondar privately chided himself for his uncharacteristically rash behavior over the last several days.  The revelation (and nature) of his beautiful Irena's demise had sent him right up to the edge of the abyss and he had embraced the waiting darkness.  He had acted without a plan, let alone contingencies.

Infiltrating General Sergetov's headquarters had been easy enough.  It was precisely the kind of action he had trained for all his life.  Dispatching his sentries and aides had come as second nature.  And the hours spent torturing the General were seemingly endless and without effort.  He removed from inside his field jacket a resealable plastic sandwich bag stuffed with what, to a casual observer, would appear to be giblets of some sort.  He slid open the Ziploc seal, peered into the bag and beheld before him Sergetov's eyes, ears, tongue and testicles bathed in blood still warm enough to generate visible condensation in the cold riverine air.

He momentarily questioned the tactical wisdom of having left the General alive, but considered that a blind and mutilated deaf-mute would be in no condition to aid in the identification or pursuit of his antagonist. And death at that point would have been a sweet and most undeserved mercy.  No, that had required enormous restraint and self control.  Indeed, his actions that night were most deliberate and methodical.  Ondar still had his edge.  He left the bag unsealed and tossed it over his shoulder into the river.  There was a soft plop as the package broke the surface, quickly began to fill with water and eventually sank.

A few minutes passed and he shifted his position in order to address the Green Beret.

"I watch you long time, Milk.  Respect you as soldier.  But respect easy. Trust hard.  Someday hope I earn both."

The second half of the trip proved as silent as the first.  At journey's end, arriving at the farmhouse, Ondar queries the Hauptmann.

"Unpack or stand guard?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Fri 26 Sept 2008.

Bayer waits for a translation and then asks Mariusz, Griet, or Dawid to reply for him, "Inform him of our appreciation and gratitude. The barn will do very well. Ask him... I'd like to know if they get any patrols around here. And... if anyone here is expected to be leaving in the near future?"

Bayer nods a Ondar and says, "Rest for now. We will get a sentry detail set up shortly."

Addressing those not involved with the conversation (with the farmer) he says, "You may want to think about getting some sleep. This isn't the end of the road and some of you will be moving out soon."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:58, Fri 26 Sept 2008.

Mariusz listened to Bayer's request and passed it on to his old friend, "My new Boss wants to know if there are any Authority patrols that come out here or if anyone on the farm plans to leave shortly?"

Griet made sure that everything was packed neatly and efficiently away and then got some rest until she was called for any duty.

After Mariusz makes friendly contact with the owner's of the farmhouse, he happily makes his way with the other members of the scout team to meet the owner's.  He happily drops his gear in the barn and finds a place to sit and rest and get some rest before pulling out again.  "You need me for anything Konrad?"

Unaware of the content of Ondar's heart-to-heart with Adam, Milk's response is cautious and measured.

"You have my respect as a soldier. Trust, like you said, aint so easy. Someday, maybe. So far it looks like you're tellin' the truth. One thing I been curious about, though: how'd your people- the KGB or GRU or whatever- how'd they know RESET was with me, on the tug?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:28, Fri 26 Sept 2008.

Farmer Bak responds, maintaining eye contact with Konrad although speaking through Mariusz,

"A patrol stops by every couple of days just to check and make sure everything is alright out here. We don't go into town but once or twice a month. It's been a few weeks, though, so soon, perhaps."

Once they get to the farm Sam will speak..

"I will take first watch- 6 to 8 hours is about how far I can go. I'll set up an OP LP with my rifle and wait for friends. Anyone have a problem with this? Well then, I will be on my way..."


Sam will move away from the farm looking for a high avenue into the farm and will move away 100m to set up watch....
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:54, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

Bayer nods to the man (despite not understanding) as a sign of thanks. Once translated he says, "Tell him we won't be staying here long. And it would be appreciated if those who also lived here knew as little of us as possible. I'd also like to be informed if anyone is going to be leaving... for the protection of everyone." He then excuses himself to leave Mariusz to enjoy the company of his friends.

OOC - McCoy, did you mean - watch from 0600-0800 or watch for 6-8 hours straight?

"Very well McCoy." Bayer says. Then shakes his head, "No Robert. Rest up or do what you wish. We'll be sorting out our move on the objective soon. I'll let you know what needs to be done soon as."

Mariusz translated his commander's requests to the farmer and said, "Now, old friend I have some bad news, news about my companions which will sadden all, but, I'm afraid, surprise none."

At the Hauptmann's suggestion of rest, Quyen drops her gear in an corner of the building to stake our her turf. Dropping everything but her uniform she reaches in and pulls out a smoke from her shirt pocket. Quyen then walks over to the door and lights up, making sure the all of smoke exited outside.

Once done she wanders over to her gear again and sits with her back against the wall.

After dropping the majority of his gear off, Dawid introduced himself to the farmers.

Also, he spoke to the American EPW, Latrell Watkins, the one that seemed to be working on the farm.

He gave the man a cigarette if interested and apologised for the lack of food to offer. He asked how he was doing, how he came to be there, and so on.

Finding a spot inside the barn to drop the MMG and its ammo Jan streaches and rubs aching muscles. Once he has streached he will take a quick tour of the barn making note of where the doors and windows are and what parts of the farm they look out on. He talks in a low and soothing voice as he passes the livestock so as not to disturb them.
Once has has done his little tour he stepps outside and smokes a cigarette while thinking. Then carefully stubbing it out he goes in search of Konrad.
"Everyone seems to be settling in with no problem. The barn, it is well made and comfortable. We should keep a watch, but for now we seem secure. "

Jason comes in to the farm, nervously edging past the two Rottweiler-mixes and entering the cow shed.  He divests himself of the F88 and its magazines, plus the grenades for the underslung M-203.  Then, he finds a place to set his own gear in one of the clean stalls.

With Minh barely acknowledging his existance -- even on that last, long trip to the Krolowa and back, when they were all alone -- Jason is certain he had moved too quickly in attempting to show his feelings for her.  Either that, or she did consider him a weakling for freezing when he did, back in Solec.  In any case, she is clearly not interested.  So much for that, he thinks. She wants to be left alone, I'll leave her alone.  But first, time to clear the air...

Taking two packs of Marlboros from his rucksack, Jason moves over to where Minh is sitting and squats down facing her.  "Look, Minh..." he begins.  "If I said or did anything to offend you, I apologize.  I will leave you alone from now on."  He hands her the cigarettes.  "These are for you, just to show there are no hard feelings."  Nor any feelings at all, he lies to himself.  He then stands and walks away, returning to his gear and sitting down.

In response to Dawid's offer of cigarettes, Latrell politely declines,

"Thanks man but I'd better not- it took me forever to quit the first time and there aint no cigarettes around here."

When Dawid asks how the American came to be at the farm, he responds,

"I'm on work-release, I guess you could say. I was with the 5th ID, 3-19 field artillery. We got rounded up at Kalisz. Luckily it was you Poles that overan our battery, not the Ruskies. We spent about a week in a cage at a little town near the battlefield, no food, hardly any water. Then they started marching us east.  Ended up in Lublin. I was one of the lucky ones who made it. Spent about a month and a half in a big POW camp up there. They have us prisoners workin' on all kinds of stuff- road repair, clearing rubble, all kinds of hard labor shit. I got lucky being sent out here. These farmers are good people. I eat better here than I did I ever did in the army. Anyway, its not so bad. I work hard but my belly's always full, I got a roof over my head, and nobody's shootin' at me."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:38, Sat 27 Sept 2008.

Jason drops his about to drop his heavy ruck in the corner of one of the cattle stalls when he hears a growl and a hiss. Apparently, the spot has already been claimed by the mouser. A large but muscular, red and brown cat.

As McCoy is about to leave to set up his own little OP, the farmer, understanding the American soldier's intentions, raises a hand to stop him. Through Mariusz, he explains that there is already a lookout on the silo and that it would be best if all of the party stay out of sight.

A handbell rings out from outside. The farmer whinces and makes an emphatic two-handed "stay back" gesture, explaining curtly in thickly accented English,

"Soldiers here! Stay!"

He runs outside, leaving Latrell alone among the guests.

Peeking out from the entrance to the cattle sheds, those inside can't see what's happening on the other side of the farmhouse. They do hear, however, the distinct purr of an engine, growing louder as it approaches the farm along the dirt access road. The sound stops abruptly a few seconds later.

After several long minutes the engine coughs to life again and the sound of the engine recedes into the distance. The farmer returns looking relieved yet somewhat troubled. Through Mariusz he explains,

"It was just a routine patrol out of town. Said they'd received reports of a large group of bandits on the river a ways south. Said they shouldn't be a problem- there's a big surprise waiting for them at the bridge. Told me to keep and eye out and report anything suspicious, though, just to be safe. I said I would and told them everything was normal here. They left. I don't think they know anything... about you lot, I mean. So, er, I don't wish to be rude but when do you all mean to be leaving?"

As the farmer, clearly uncomfortable now, waits for an answer, two women enter the shed. One of them, a redhead in her early forties carries a steaming pot, while the other, a younger, very pretty blond with sky blues eyes brings with her a makeshift picnic basket. They begin laying out food on a blanket in the relatively clean center aisle of the shed.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:56, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

"Huh, I guess that you getting captured by the Poles was lucky. Otherwise, you'd be on a GULAG somewhere by now."

He shrugged, ambivalent at the fortunes of war.

"We're heading to Warszawa. Some of us have, or had, family there, and your Americas comrades have heard word they are going to be evacuated from Europe, head home. First they have to make it to Germany alive, of course."

"I can ask if you want to come along, I don't think anyone would mind."

This may invite reprisal on the farmers, and they sure probably needed the help around the farm, but he deserved the opportunity.

Being on a working farm again like the one he grew up on evoked a warm rush of familiarity and nostalgia. He wasn't sure what the plan was but he figured he might be able to pitch in around the barn as a favour to their hosts before getting some sleep.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:55, Sun 28 Sept 2008.

After the patrol leaves the farm, Robert steps up to Konrad, "When we leave, we're going to have to make it look like we threatened these people and give the impression we took stuff from them!  We need to hit that town hard and get what we need and run like hell.  Well, I'm gunna grab some chow and then some Z's sir.  Let me know what you need from me."

Tucker goes and gets something from the two women who came in with food for the group.  He gets a plate and goes and sits down to eat it by by McCoy.

Ondar nods in understanding.

"Is pretty twisted.  I tell you tonight.  When we make camp."

The Russian returns his attention to the river ahead.

More time for you to cook up another story...

"Looking forward to it."

Clarence resumes scanning his assigned defensive sector as the Zodiac motors for the cache site.

Latrell is quiet for a moment, shifting his wait nervously as he prepares his answer. His reply is rambling and noncommital,

"Thanks man, but uh...  I don't know, man. I seen what they do to dudes who try to escape. I mean, I wanna go home just as much as the next guy but, last I heard there aint no home to go back to. Things aint too bad here... I mean... And the Baks, man... if I leave here, it aint gonna be pretty for them, ya know what Im sayin'? I just don't know..."

Bayer replies, "I expect to be gone before morning."

With most of the team taking it easy, he unfolds his map.

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #24):

Dawid smoked a cigarette, judging the other man.

"Believe me when I say this my friend Latrell, I understand."

"These are good people that do not deserve any trouble, and there are worse places to stay than a farm. As long as one works hard, there is always food to eat and a warm place to sleep, if the good Lord is willing!"

"We Poles are a warm, generous people. One day we will throw our foreign masters out, and we will need good people like yourself to help us rebuild."

"Just remember the offer is not closed. As well, I shall keep in mind that a fellow artilleryman such as myself is here, for we in the Home Army resistance could make use of your talents."

He finished his cigarette and departed to see if there was anything he could do around the farm to help out before taking a nap.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:51, Mon 29 Sept 2008.

Arriving with the second "wave" Anneka busied herself taking stock of their supplies, ensuring nobody was carrying more than they absolutely had to. Her own pack, only containing the bare minimum of vital equipment, was barely light enough for her to carry any significant distance and so she was selfishly happy to see space for it being freed up on the bicycles.
"We should move on as soon as possible," she said while they waited for the last boatload to arrive.
"A team should be already scouting the town."

"Oh.  Hello, Cat," Jason says to the mouser, deliberately not speaking in falsetto or baby talk.  "This must be your spot, eh?  Fine.  One stall is as good as any."  He turns and moves two stalls down the line, setting his ruck down in the straw.  Next, he gets out the cigarettes and goes to see Minh.

Once he is done eating, Tucker will start to get his gear ready for the assault.

When the two women set out the food, Jason gets up and goes over to the blanket.  Taking a plate from the young blonde, he vaguely recalls Mariusz speaking about her while he was preoccupied in the bunker.  He speaks to her.  "Wdzięczności, młoda pani. Wy musi jest Maria. Mój przyjaciel Mariusz powiedział  mnie o was. JA jestem zadowalane spotykać  was." 

Taking the food, he sits down to eat at the edge of the blanket.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:02, Tue 30 Sept 2008.

Griet smiled at the women who had given them the food and enjoyed what was likely to be their last warm meal for a while.

Mariusz looked up sharply when Jason mentioned him, he looked at Maria and blushed, "It was all good, I swear!"

Blushing at the attention from the young fighting men, Maria leaves the shed, accompanied by the older woman. A boy of about twelve or so joins the older woman's side from where he'd been peeking through the shed entrance and the trio head back to the farmhouse. Set out before the party is a modest feast- beef and vegetable stew, freshly baked bread, butter, cheese, a pitcher of milk and a pitcher of thick, warm beer- all most certainly made fresh on the premises.

The members of the group gather from the various stalls to which each has staked their claim and takes their places around the blanket. The cattle shed, with its reduced occupancy is well kept and fresh straw covers the floor. It's the first time that the entire group has been together for a meal since... Come to think of it, it's the first time ever. Even though the party has been spoiled over the past week by Mariusz's skillful cooking, everyone appreciates the simple but tasty fare.

The communal meal offers the perfect opportunity to further discuss a course for the near future, including the suggestion of a grab-and-go raid on Zwolen's vehicle repair yard/motor pool.

Actions?


OOC: I'm still looking for a suitable bird's-eye pic of a town for you to use as a planning instrument. The images of Zwolen from Google Earth offer next to no detail. Please take this opportunity to discuss and plan for the immediate future, as best you can. Try not to be a "rider". The sooner a raid is planned, the sooner we can get to the action I sense that some of you are waiting for...
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:51, Mon 29 Sept 2008.

"I am thinking that we should send out the scouting party fairly soon. It is only about 7km to the town, it should not take long to get there even with avoiding contact. Once positioned we could watch the activity and get more intel. With that we can decide what is next. You have decided who is to go Hauptman?"

"We all here?" Anneka asked looking about the straw strewn interior of the barn.
"Obviously our situation has changed dramatically in the past half a day or so and we've lost one hell of a lot in the way of supplies."
"Although I've spoken with most of you in the past few weeks and gained what I hope is a fairly comprehensive understanding of your unique skills, knowledge and abilities, we," she nodded towards Konrad, "don't yet know what each person is carrying and how that could contribute to our combined future."
"With that in mind, I'd appreciate it if everyone could let me know what weapons you have, how much ammunition, radios, food, and anything else that may shape our future choices."
Although she had a good grasp on what was loaded aboard the three bikes, nobody really knew just how much they truely had of anything, especially when it came to items that may prove vital such as cold weather clothing, blankets, or even if anyone carried a compass!
"I realise it is a bit of an imposition, but think it's vitally important information."
"While the list is being compiled, I suggest the combat types amongst us work with the Hauptman on a plan to acquire transportation. I suggest a team of say four scout the nearby town in preparation for a night time raid. All our supplies should go with us so we don't need to retrace our steps back here and potentially bring trouble upon our hosts."

After dropping off his gear and chopping some wood, Dawid sits down to eat.

He looked Ondar's uniform over. Spetsnaz often wore the uniform and tabs of the nearest Desant comms unit. If he was VDV he would have a Guard's patch on the sleeve of his airborne coveralls. If he was Spetsnaz it would be lacking; "Guards" units like the VDV dated back to WWII whereas the Spetsnaz were formed later and therefore they would lack it. Both VDV and Spetsnaz wore the same blue-white striped telnyashka shirt, so that wasn't a giveaway.

From his story, he already had a good idea the man was Okhotniki (a "hunter", the nick-name for Spetsnaz) but he wanted to confirm that.

"So Ondar, what unit were you with?"

Regarding their overall plans, he was a machine-gunner and would likely be used in a supporting role to provide covering fire.

He addressed the group.

"I have my PKM and 700 rounds of ammunition. All belted, but only 2 belts in ammo cans. For backup I have the Tantal and 40mm grenade-launcher. As well as the RPG-76. I have some night-glasses, no radio."

"I have observed that the town is surrounded by farms, and is overlooked by low but open hills, except for the SE and East where the 2 waterways approach the town."

"The town is surrounded by over a kilometer of open farmland (including the higher ground), making an undetected approach difficult from most angles. However, there are are many trees along the streams.

"We could infiltrate a machinegun along one waterway and an assault team along the other. When the MG opens up to provide a distraction and covering fire, the assault team goes in. Fire lanes can be designated ahead of time to avoid hitting our own people. We can escape back along the same routes if need be.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:55, Tue 30 Sept 2008.

Bayer selects an open area in the barn and lays out the map. Ensuring there is enough sitting room for everyone he calls everyone over and has them take a seat around the map. He has Tucker, Mariusz, McCoy, and Jan sit together on one side and everyone else together on the other.

"Listen please." Bayer begins. He then introduces the map indicating their location, Zwolen, the streams, other locations of habitation and potentially important roadways.

"Tonight we carry on to Zwollen to acquire motor transportation to continue the primary mission to Warsaw. Everyone will be involved, either as part of the recce element or the main body/support element." Bayer says.

"Groupings and taskings... A recce det will consist of Mariusz, McCoy, Cerny and Sergeant Tucker. Robert, you are in command of this element. Your task is to proceed to Zwolen as the lead element of our unit.

Mission... You will have two objectives to complete. One, reconnoiter the enemy defenses and confirm the presence of suitable motor transportation. Two, assault and secure the vehicles for their extraction.

Execution... The concept for this operation will be in four phases.

Phase 1- move to Zwolen.
Phase 2- reconnoiter the defenses, confirm the presence of transportation.
Phase 3- maintain eyes on the objective until the main body gets into a supporting position.
Phase 4- assist in the elimination of the garrison by close assault. Secure the vehicles and move them to the release point for the withdraw.

For phase 1, your route will be at your discretion. Make the best use of time and avoid all enemy and civilian contact.

Time out will be 1800 hours (dusk?). You must have completed your first mission objective by no later than 0200 hours.

Fire support (direct) will be provided only once the main body establishes a support base during phase 3.

Infiltrate the town how you see fit... without raising the alarm. The vehicles you need to confirm need to be of suitable cargo capacity, containing enough fuel to move to a new hide, and which must at least appear to be in working order.

Administration... Robert, confirm with me the weapons and equipment you want you your team to bring. Weapons should be kept light, and preferably silenced. Support weapons will be with the main body. Rations should be sufficient for each man to get through on their own if split up until they can reach rendevous.

Command and signals... the recce det will need a serviceable radio. Your patrol will be required to report in the ongoing progress of your mission, as well as enemy and civilian forces identified. I'll leave the det's chain of command up to Sergeant Tucker to sort out. H-Hour for securing the vehicles will be made once both the recce det and main element are in position and the objective is confirmed. If the enemy is made aware of our presence, be prepare to alter the plan on the go.

Questions from the recce element?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:58, Tue 30 Sept 2008.

"Groupings and taskings... the main body/support element will consist of myself, Major Soleblume, Milk, Stoner, Quyen, Dawid, Griet, Kasparov, Captain Rataj and his companion, and Ondar. Exactly everyone else who is not in the reece element. Our task is to proceed to Zwolen and establish a support base to assist the recce element's mission.

Mission... the support element will establish a support base at a position that will be determined once the enemy positions are confirmed. In position, the main body will provide direct fire support to suppress any enemy forces encountered.

Execution... The concept for this operation will be in three phases.

Phase 1- move to Zwolen.
Phase 2- establish a fire base.
Phase 3- assist in the elimination of the garrison by providing supporting fire. Cover the vehicles as they move to the release point for the withdraw.

Time out will be 1830 hours, 30 minutes after the recce element.

We're going to be moving in a route proven clear of enemy positions by the recce element. They'll locate the objective and radio a suitable position for us to establish a firebase at. Once everyone is ready, a H-hour will be given. Then we will provide direct fire onto the enemy garrison to suppress them and to divert their attention from the recce element.

We are the last off the objective area. Once the vehicles are moving we will move to a release point and link up. Once in the vehicles we will move to a new hide to assess our options.

Administration... We'll be hauling most of the gear. We'll utilize the bicycles for cargo transport. Everything we can carry goes.

Command and signals... I'll be in radio contact with the recce element. Major Soleblume will be the 2/ic for our group.

Questions from the main element?"

"Sounds good sir. I'm worried about the bikes, though. It'll be a bitch to move 'em at night, cross-country- especially near the river. Maybe we could load the Zodiacs up again and then tow 'em from the shore with ropes. We may have to ditch the motorbike, though- it's just too heavy.

Also, I'd like the recon element to keep a look out for land lines on the way in. They're probably laid along the main road. If we can find 'em, we should cut 'em right before we make our play for the trucks."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:33, Tue 30 Sept 2008.

Jason raises his hand.  "I have a question, Hauptmann.  Did you want me carrying that Austeyr with the grenade launcher?  I have no experience with the M-203 beyond basic training.  Is there anybody who can use it better than me, that doesn't already have a grenade launcher?  If not, I can use it, but I'll have to set aside my AK in order to carry the F88 in combat.  I could barely move carrying both rifles from the river to the farm."

Quyen sits at the o-group with an unlit smoke dangling from her mouth. She massages her wound under the bandages, fortunate it wasn't worse. She glances over at Stoner's injury... he was more than lucky too. Listening to the Hauptmann's orders she traces an imaginary route from their position to Zwolen... shouldn't be that bad of a go, she thinks optimistically.

Sitting next to Griet, she whispers, "Ondar going to be armed for this?"

After the o-group she mingles with some of the group. Toying with the the smoke between her fingers, she twirls it over unconsciously, yet skillfully. She does her best to try to polite and friendly to Jason.

Dawid patiently repeated what he'd said before.

"To remind you:

"This is farmland.

"That is, generally open. With perhaps some low stone walls, the odd building.

"I must emphasise that there is no appreciable cover for at least a kilometre around the town. All the way around the town.

"With two exceptions. The only covered approaches are along the two waterways.

"Therefore, we must use those avenues, or else walk across the fields, which will have been harvested by now and thus completely open and exposed. Not even NATO supermen can do that unseen.

"Given that we will be approaching along the waterways, tt will be difficult to take bikes and all our equipment along the only covered approaches.

"I appreciate that the plan is flexible and that the support element is free to choose its route, but please be realistic. There is only two possible covered routes and they do not allow for transporting a lot of gear."

He lit a cigarette, the crossed his arms.

"Its night and we have very good odds. There are only a dozen conscripts there. They are low on the priority for night vision, and even if they have a set or two, their activities are known to be lax. A dozen men cannot watch a perimeter of an 8000 person town during the night, and police an non-supporting people at the same time, and protect their base and property. I have confidence we can cross open ground under the cover of night. Four highly skilled and experienced patrolmen should have no trouble what so ever getting close enough to confirm the main body's route as safe for porting the supplies forward." Bayer answers.

"I don't really care how we move the equipment. Bicycle, boat or on our backs. We bring what we can and adapt for any short comings in the future." he adds.

Dawid thought about his points, then smiled.

"I don't like trusting to luck, but I see what you are saying."

"It is cold comfort that your neck is equally on the line!"

"It is my thought that this plan will work as a begining. The bicicles and gear will need to be hidden at the edge of cover and the main body moving in from there. It leaves the gear vulnerable, yes? But it makes it so the main body can more easyly move and  respond. We can easyly recover the equipment on the way out. And so the problem of moving down the waterway it is lessened."

"Yes Jan. The ground will dictate." Bayer agrees. "Anymore questions or concerns?"

"Adam, Walter, Stoner and I should stay back about a mile with the equipment." Anneka commented after writing down both Jason and Dawid's gear on the list of supplies.
"We can provide fire support with the two automatic grenade launchers if necessary."
"It's probably best not to place Adam and Walter in harms way if it can be at all avoided, and Stoner is still seriously wounded. I need to remain with him just in case..."
Well, her presence with the injured Stoner wasn't strictly necessary, but in a fast moving raid situation, her limited strength and load carrying ability would probably prove more of a hinderance than help.

"I'll support that. Your position will be the release point. The recce party in the truck... or trucks and the support element will withdraw there for loading and extraction." he says. "Stoner really is that bad huh."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:46, Wed 01 Oct 2008.

Dawid thought for a moment when Anneka and Jan made mention of caching the gear.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to add that if someone does sound the alarm, one starshell or flare and anyone approaching across the field will be turned into fertiliser."

"Let's cache the gear in the woods along the waterway but away from here. That would let us make an approach via the cover of the woods and the stream-bed."

"What do people think of that? Cache the gear so we can use the covered approach? Because I want to go that route, and frankly I'm not comfortable with crossing the open fields, reassurances from the Hauptmann notwithstanding. Anyone else wants to go the way of the fields, good luck to you."

"Pardon my presumption, but going across the open fields instead of the wooded streambed only makes sense if we have to carry everything all the way. We cache the supplies and whatnot at the woods where we enter them, then there is no logical objection to taking the covered route to literally exactly where we need to go!"

His face was set, like he'd made his decision.

"As for any mortar or artillery, if there is any artillery in town, then for the sake of Christ let's try and capture it and as much ammunition as possible!"

"One last thing, I could use an assistant gunner. Griet, you've done it before and I would like you to help me again. Just don't drop the ammo in the water this time!

He smiled, making sure she knew he was just teasing her for the first time they'd landed to deal with a shore threat, and she'd accidentally dropped an ammo can with a spare belt.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:33, Wed 01 Oct 2008.

Griet smiled at the memory, "I'll try not to do that if you promise not too go stopping bullets with your head this time, old friend."

"Sir," Mariusz raised his hand, "I think I must have got my wires crossed when I reported my Intel to you, Sir. The Motor Pool has about a dozen people, but it is backed by a platoon of soldiers, true, most were conscripts when I was here, but there'd still be maybe thirty of them." he looked uncomfortable, he'd fouled up somewhere, "I'll follow any plan you suggest, Sir, I just thought you should know there are more troops there than a dozen."

"Speaking as an engineer. That covered route you mention Dawid is where you place your mines and obstacles." Quyen says. "Mines, flares, and wire are placed in positions of dead ground or covered avenues of approach. And an obstacle isn't an obstacle unless it is covered by direct or indirect fire."

"And speaking as an MP, since when did the insubordination get to be so common around here? I thought that bit of unit history is in the past."

He laughed long and hard at Minh's suggestion, slapping his thigh.

"Insubordination? That's fucking hilarious!"

Doubling over, he gasped for breath, wiping tears from his eyes.

"To, ah, clarify, I'm not part of your NATO. I'm under the orders of the Polish Home Army. Technically, you're in Poland at our request. So do try to be a better guest, eh?"

"I agreed to help Adam in his humanitarian mission. Konrad agreed to help Adam in this as well. Adam's mission is done, and so is the agreement between Adam, Konrad, you, myself and so on. So let's try to understand that and move on."

"I've done nothing more than give my opinion, when asked."

Controlling his laughter, he began breathing more normally.

"Of course I know about fucking booby-traps and the rest. In my army, it's the job of the Engineer to disarm such devices in advance of the troops. I don't know about NATO, but I would assume that's something you can do as well. I hope that little... accident with the gasoline back at Tarnobrzeg was merely a momentary slip-up, won't happen again. Right? I hope your confidence in your abilities isn't shaken!"

"Speaking as an observer of your abilities as an "Military Police(wo)man", I witnessed you beating the shit out of a helpless prisoner, my friend as a matter of fact, so the less said about your former career, the better, eh?"

"But, any ways you can't "disarm" a field of fire swept by machine-guns like you can a mine. You can't turn invisible, just in case the sentries you hope aren't there, are really in fact there."

"Not even you can do that. No one can. Not the Germans, not the Americans."

He grinned at her having made his point, tapped some ashes from his cigarette.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:32, Wed 01 Oct 2008.

Dawid sighed.

"Ah, shit."

"Well, there goes the "human wave" over open ground approach. I kid; I don't think the idea is to charge across the open shouting "Urrah Pobeida!" Still, the Russians also tried using stealth over open ground in the war against the Nazis. If there was no cover by smoke, it was a complete massacre if and usually when the Germans noticed them."

"These are fellow Poles we're talking about; don't assume they are going to be completely useless!"

"So, we have a combat Engineer, we have a covered route of approach."

"Seems that's the most sensible way to go."

"I want to hear from everyone on this."

He went around the people gathered, making sure they said something.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Wed 01 Oct 2008.

"That's enough. From everyone." Bayer says.

After a moment he says, "As I tried to clarify, a decision will be made dictated from that based on the ground. Points are valid on both sides, but without eyes on the objective no decision is made. For all we know that are is now cleared of vegetation for heating and transportation fuel. The reason we are sending a recce party ahead is to establish not only a safe route but a suitable firebase position."

"Both options are still viable. I wouldn't consider it a human wave method either. I was thinking more along the lines how the British superbly attacked much larger forces at night across open ground in 1982. The odds we have here are about the same." he adds. "Also, if the decision is made to take a covered route, and mine obstacles are found - we'll likely be going around anyways. We don't breach at night if it can be helped."

"Kasparov. Take the rifle you can handle best. I'll take the 40mm grenades if they are not spoken for. Carry your limit." he says to the pilot.

Bayer smiles a little to show that he's not angry and that the situation doesn't concern him too much. "No worry Mariusz. The rest of your info was more important."

"Conscripts or not. I don't hold their night fighting or small unit tactics to a very high degree. The increased risk of sentries is a problem... but other than that lets just deal with it like we always have."

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #55):

"Forgive my impudence, of course! I forget my place."

He winked at Minh.

"We may always ask the people who live here. They should know if the route has vegetation or not. Even if not, a depression in the ground leading to our objective is still better than nothing at all."

"That is what the terrain dictates. Some approaches are better than others, it's just that simple, and will not change if "eyes" are "on" or not."

"I am unfamiliar with the English in '82, some Colonial war fought against savages armed with spears and bows, I shouldn't be surprised. Still, we're not trained British troops, and Poles are no pushovers, even conscripts."

"Like it or not, the Krolowa was a major part of our strength and protection. It's gone, and if we try to deal with problems like we always have, we might find out we can't. We need to use our intelligence, and what scant advantage the terrain has to offer, plan ahead."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:54, Wed 01 Oct 2008.

Griet looked up at Bayer's reference to the Falklands, "Just don't end up like the leader of that attack, Kaptain, "H" was a brave man, but he should have been guiding his troops, not charging machinegun posts. I'd agree that we ask the locals about the terrain, there might be irrigation ditches or something."

"Ok. Ask the locals. See what they can update to Mariusz's information."

"Yessir." Jason replies.  Later, after the meal/meeting is finished, he retrieves the F88 and the ammunition from the community stores and takes it to his stall, greeting the cat along the way.  He adjusts the Australian web gear to fit his body, then transfers various pouches from his own webbing to it.  He then starts packing grenades into his ALICE pack, weighing it in his hand to judge the encumbrance.  Scowling, he removes his flight suit, then gives a nod.

Returning to the stores to be loaded on the bicycles, he adds the flight suit, his AK-74, and his web gear holding the Kalashnikov's ammo to the bundle containing the other clothing he had already set aside.  Going up to Bayer, he says, "Here, Hauptmann.  I can only carry about half the grenades," and hands him 9 rounds -- 4 HE and 5 HEDP.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:14, Wed 01 Oct 2008.

Adam, feeling out of his element and clearly agrieved at Dawid's disavowal of their association, speaks up from his end of the blanket in an uncharacteristically sheepish tone,

"Although it is true that none of you are under any further obligation to carry on with me to Warsaw, my mission to help the people there is by no means finished. Yes, we no longer have the means to evacutate them nor the supplies to feed and clothe them, but that does not mean that we are helpless to render aid. Your military expertise, especially- should you be willing to offer it- could be of great assistance to them in their struggle against this bandit captain that the refugees on the barge spoke of."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Thu 02 Oct 2008.

Mariusz is sent to bring back farmer Bak. They return and the farmer addresses several of the questions that have been brought up at the planning meeting.

"Mines? No. Well, there are few scattered about, left over from the fighting here a couple of years back, but no proper minefields. The farms around town are all active and the fields have been cleared... mostly.

As to the state of the vegetation along the riverbed, he explains,

"Well, yes, much of the dead wood and old growth was cut down to use as fuel by the townspeople, before things stabilized in this area. But there is still a lot of new growth along the river- especially with all the rain this summer and fall. I don't think that it is very well watched. There is sometimes a sentry posted on the bridge in town, but I have seen it unguarded at times as well."

He offers further insight into the quality of the town's garrison.

"They aren't much. It's a relatively quiet area so there's not much for them to do. Of course there's the odd truck that breaks down along the road that needs to be fetched but aside from that and the routine patrols every few days, they're pretty quiet. The government's not really very popular in town because the military convoys that pass through every week on their way back and forth between Lublin and Radom always end up taking more than they give back. So the soldiers that have to live in town full time tend to try to keep a low profile so as not to further antogonize the townsfolk."

Ominously, he adds,

"But, if they are expecting a large force of bandits to come through this region, perhaps the garrison in town has been reinforced. It was the same old faces that showed up today to check in and warn us, but still..."

"Of course, my friend. There are still people that need help."

"You are not unimportant. With the humanitarian mission over, and with no boat to captain, you are more of a... moral force."

"Helping the people in Warszawa resist the Baron is the Home Army's job. My job. The NATO people, bless their hearts, are along for the ride as long as it suits them. Indeed, none has actually said they will stay and help the people in Warszawa. (My apologies if you have and I do not recollect it."

"Let's face it, most if not all the NATO people are going to fuck off when we hit Warszawa. They have a ship to catch for home! Why would they hang around? I wouldn't!"

He smiled when Konrad suggested asking the farmers for information about the surrounding area.

"Why didn't I think of that? I joke. Seriously, Mariusz, ask them if people fish in the stream, how deep it is, is it considered safe, are there paths, and so on. That will help."

"Also remember, there are TWO streams, so either one is a suitable avenue of approach."

Bak listens to Mariusz's translation before answering,

"Fishing? Not at night! We used to skinny dip in it when I was a boy but that's another tale for another time! It's only a couple of meters deep in most places. I'm not sure if I would consider it safe. I certainly wouldn't drink from it before boiling it a couple of times. There is a bit of a problem with waste run-off from the local livestock. It's not so bad as it used to be but it's still a concern. There is a footpath along the stream nearer the town. It was a popular place for lovers... but such pleasures are all too rare these days, I'm afraid."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:41, Thu 02 Oct 2008.

Dawid spoke to him personally, in Polish.

"It looks like there are several streams leading into town."

"We want to use one to sneak in, unseen by any of the soldiers. Especially to the truck park at the western edge on the Armij Krajowj."

"Are there any that would be good for that? Lost of trees, no land mines or other obstacles?"

"Thank you, my friend!"

He asked the same question a few times, making sure he was understood and got as much information as he could.

"May I make a comment?"

"Let me and the boy recon to the town and back. I will set up an ORP and an RP for the attack and find an MSL and an FSP. This will aid in our attack and I will be able to plan a route in and out. Me and the boy can man the FSP and be your long range fires with the rest of you in the attack. I will also be able to, when I get into position, give SALUTE reports so you don't run into a trap. These are all just options-use them if you will..."

Sam goes back to eating.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:39, Thu 02 Oct 2008.

Farmer Bak addresses Dawid in their common, native tongue. Mariusz translates for the others,

"The stream behind the farm leads right up to town. The vegetation is thickest there as well and there shouldn't be any mines. A canal branches off from the stream to the west, just south of the town proper. It leads almost to the truck park but there is little vegetation along it."

OOC: It would take quite a hike out in the open to get from the farm to any of the other streams so your best bet is probably the nearest (and biggest) one.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:35, Thu 02 Oct 2008.

"Again, you have been most helpful. Poland thanks you! Also, do you know if the soldiers are out at night? Do they keep watch all around town or just at the 2 roadblocks?"

He turned to the others, looking satisfied.

"Well, that's that, as far as I'm concerned. Our "local intel" is that the wooded streambed is unguarded."

"I know (as a real live Polish soldier who grew up in a village like this not too far away from here) that poorly-trained Conscripts or Territorial People's Milicia Forces (aka "ORMO") are unlikely to guard this more difficult route but will naturally expect an approach up the road or across the fields, and that is where the mines, wire or whatever will be placed. If they are, as you say, on the ball enough to close the "back door", they are equally unlikely to leave the front way unprotected and so it's doubly unwise to go over the open ground."

Thinking a second while he pulled on his cigarette, he continued.

"As mentioned I am not familiar with the Britishers' colonial wars. I do recall something from NCO training about the Vietnamese People's struggles during the "American War". When attacking the Imperialist positions, they would always avoid the easiest route and instead choose the most difficult and therefore unexpected route. They trained a cadre of elite combat engineers called "Dac Cong" to clear the way, and they were experts in hand-to-hand fighting, climbing, swimming and so forth."

"Well, lucky for us, we have our own Dac Cong right here with us!"

He grinned and gestured at Minh, who'd just reminded them all she was also a combat engineer.

"Konrad has suggested we don't breach if necessary. If that's just because it's night, well, I don't know about NATO but our sappers could do their job blindfolded, in any weather."

"Also, one element we might make use of is what our Russian advisors called "Maskirovka" or deception. We could light a fire or create a distraction on the far side of town from our entry point, so that the sentries are looking the wrong way."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:06, Thu 02 Oct 2008.

Mariusz nodded at McCoy's suggestion, "I'd be willing to do that, if I travel light, I can be pretty sneaky, but if I do get caught, I can make out to be a local, I'm sure McCoy can be a ghost."

"Yes. When an army is willing to have a very high degree of acceptable casualties you can do that." Bayer answers. "We have one engineer, and will be following NATO tactics not Pact. Quyen will not be made to clear a mined route if it is discovered."

"The recce party will go out as planned. We can't spare time to wait. You will have a few hours and thats it. I also overlooked your position... McCoy will be first in the chain of command."

"The intelligence is fine. Adam and the other* will hold the supplies at the RP, while the support element advances. The final route will still be determined at the objective."

*Edit/clarification - Adam, Walter, Anneka and Stoner (and 2x AGLs).
This message was last edited by the player at 06:09, Fri 03 Oct 2008.

As Konrad paused Dawid rolled his eyes and interjected, "well, they do manage it without blowing up! Most of the time. Risk of the job, I hear. After all, every soldier, even NATO ones I'm sure, must be able to do their job in all kinds of unfavourable conditions."



Dawid snorted after Konrad finished.

"If we hit mines on the covered route, then they'll be in the fields too. I can't speak for NATO, but in the Polish Army if the back door is locked the front door will be too."

"This is a point I have brought up, but no one has regrettably answered. one of many, I am afraid. Not good planning, I warrant."

"That said, if our Engineer will not clear a route unless they want to, then I guess the same goes for the rest of us under similar circumstances! Thanks for the clarification, you will be certain I will keep this in mind for the future. Of course, if you were to order Minh to do it, I'm sure she wouldn't refuse, lest she be considered... insubordinate."

"Your statement of "we will do things the NATO way, not the Warsaw Treaty way" seems foolish and narrow-minded for someone as intelligent as yourself, even if you're just speaking of this one situation. May I remind you, the so-called Warsaw "Pact" just thoroughly kicked NATO's fucking ass. It is the reason why you are here trapped behind the lines, little better than refugees or perhaps mercenaries or deserters."

"I do not ask you to forget what you know, but I will simply not accept that the experience and skills of the rest of us non-NATO types are of little consequence for planning purposes. Even the fucking Russians gave us more credit than you. No disrespect meant, Comrade Alexi!"

"Also, I heard Vietnamese Dac Cong sappers were in fact not part of the Warsaw Treaty Organisation" he put emphasis on the proper name. "But they weren't NATO either, so I guess they don't count either!"

"But do not worry! Despite NATO's regrettable failures on the battlefield, I will still respect your knowledge and take your opinions and experience fully into account, in the spirit of friendship and cooperation with the Polish people and government, of whom I serve."

He chuckled at the irony, lighting another cigarette.

"Anyways, in that light, I fully agree that Warrant Milk's idea is a good one. We will be bringing the motorcycle as far as possible by raft, as well as the supplies. With luck, the authorities will never know we were at the farm."

"I shall attend to this."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:51, Fri 03 Oct 2008.

"Not if they are using the fields." she says. "My point about the mines was that if they have them, thats a likely place to put them... dead ground which couldn't be hit by fire. Likely... if they didn't have an unlimited supply."

Her orders understood, she ignored the rest of the ranting and sat next to Anneka. "Could you change my dressing and check for infection. I need it bandaged to give me unrestricted mobility. Also, I am in support... should I be issued another weapon?"

"You are most fortunate I am not only a Polish soldier, I am a farmer as well!"

He laughed, the pointed out,

"it's after harvest... no one is using the fields for anything at the moment."

"Besides, my original point stands. If the garrison is sharp enough to mine the covered approach, they will certainly keep watch on the obvious approach over the fields."

"Whether the fields are mined or not!"

"It is irrelevant. As we have heard from the locals, the stream is not mined. You are safe from having to deal with mines, my friend! Rejoice!"

"To clarify my comment about doing things the NATO way, I do not discount that you are all skilled in various areas and are familiar with a standard way of operating. When it comes to tactical theory, however, we must be more flexible in thinking and do what works. Not just the "NATO way" or "Warszawa Treaty way".
This message was last edited by the player at 08:40, Fri 03 Oct 2008.

"I know, I heard the information. It was an explanation about mine usage theory, here or anywhere. Potentially useful in the future. And as a farmer you should know that you don't lay mine fields in land that you intend on using now or the next growing season, there is no alternating mines or crops."

"If you are finished, we should get on with our battle procedure."

In reply to Minh Quyen (msg #75):

Dawid shrugged to show ambivalence at an irrelevant point.

"As I have said before, and probably will remind everyone again, I was a Polish soldier, and you were not. So I know what they are likely to do. Thank you."

"Now, maybe they will mine the fields, maybe they won't,maybe they will get someone to clear the mines later. But they haven't mined the stream, which is the best way to go, so there it is."

He shook his head and fixed a disapproving gaze on her, like an teacher disappointed in a student.

"I may be finished, but you certainly are not, my friend! A question has been asked in general, and you have done your best to avoid answering although you are obviously the only one who can. But you must answer, so I will ask directly. Please, no theory now, just practice and capabilities. That is, your capabilities."

"That is, if need be, are you capable of clearing mines? In all circumstances, not just in perfect conditions, in the daytime, with all the best equipment that NATO has to offer. Can you do it at night, with a bayonet in your hand, a flashlight in your teeth? We probably won't but we should know if you can."

"And for that matter, what of my other points? This meeting will not be finished until they are addressed. Believe it."

He laughed.

"I have all the time in the world! It is my, and others' lives on the line here."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:41, Fri 03 Oct 2008.

"Best way or not, our commander will be the one to make that decision only once we get there, as its been said." she answers.



"Can do."

"You can be smug all you want. But you don't call the shots nor should be making ultimatums. If you have a serious problem with your orders, I suggest you either wait in the rear with the cargo until its over, or be on your way."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:05, Fri 03 Oct 2008.

In reply to Minh Quyen (msg #77):

He grinned in reply.

"Smug? Oh no! Just realistic! The "agreement" we all entered into ended when Adam lost his boat. I see you have not understood this or other things, which is unfortunate. Nevertheless, it was such a lack of understanding of reality that cost us the Queen in the first place. If I can avoid similar mistakes in the future, I will, trust me."

Dawid tapped his red-and-white arm band, the colours of the Polish flag and symbol of freedom for the Polish people.

"Now, I am, as you say, the Polish Home Army and government liaison. Lucky for you, I am a native, a local expert on Poland, her army, her people, the terrain, the language, and many, many other useful things."

"Anyone would be foolish to ignore such advice, or tell them to shut up so rudely!"

He puffed on his cigarette, looking like he was enjoying himself.

"Understood? Great! That is fantastic!"

"And it is also fantastic that you can and would clear mines and so on if necessary. That is most comforting."

"I myself will contribute what I can to the most of my abilities and intelligence. As I think I've followed instructions as much as anyone, and killed more people that everyone else (on this trip), I am sad that you choose to treat me in this shameful way."

Removing his cigarette, he put his head down and shook his head in remorse.

"How shameful, my friend, just shameful. Not even the Russians... tsk tsk tsk."

"Maybe if you had more restraint with your mouth it wouldn't have come to this. If you knew how to introduce your opinions in a productive and positive manor. I treat you as you treat others, there was no reason for you to act this way."

"And if the agreement ended as you say, why are you sticking around? Otherwise the agreement seems to be still in effect I'd say."

In reply to Minh Quyen (msg #79):

He looked into her eyes without hostility or malice.

"If I have caused any offence in any way, my friends, understand that I am deeply sorry for this."

"As for why I stick around, well, we are all friends! You are all my comrades! You have saved my life many times over, I have saved yours to the best of my abilities. Plus, you NATO types can't be trusted to run around Poland on your own. Just look what you've done to the place!"

He smiled again to show he was kidding.

"Now, we have merely entered into a new agreement, as anyone can see, hopefully one that will work out better in the long run."

Dawid turned to Konrad.

"To be clear, there are still issues that need addressing, my friend."

"Your plan was a good start. You must also honestly admit it was made before we knew some critical information about the area, and so it is perhaps overly tentative. Now that we know more, we can be more decisive."

"Not now or at any time has my bringing up faults meant to hurt your feelings or make you feel defensive. I apologise if that's how you feel in any way."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:30, Fri 03 Oct 2008.

Tucker sits down with the other people of the recce team.  He listens as Konrad lays out the plan he has to attack and get the vehicles they need to transport the rest of the supplies to Warsaw.

[OOC: With my short absense, I'm going with the mention of McCoy be putting in charge of the recce element.  I'll address it from here on out as him being in charge of the mission.  Sorry again for the delay on my end.)

"I'm thinking we should be taking whatever silenced weapons we have available to us.  If we can avoid as much gunfire as long as we can, might make it easier on us.  As McCoy suggested, we can set everything up until you guys get there and then make our move.  I'm not the lightest on my feet but, I'll do what I have to when we get there.  I've got my 'thumper' and ammo and I've also got a couple of claymore's in case we need them for something.  I'm going ammo heavy in case we get into the shit there.  Even though they may be conscripts, they've got us in numbers.  If they're able to get organized or get a foothold against us, we're fucked, hard!  Between the four of us, we should be able to handle things and adjust by the time you guys move into position."

Griet listened in on the discussions, she was a fish out of water here and was a poor infantry substitute at best. She shrugged when she heard Dawid's ironic assessment of the West's contributions to Poland, it was true, but when it came to being shafted, Poland had pretty much been the village bike for too many centuries to go being too upset by it all.

Recon Team

As the only matter still up for debate is the route to be taken by the follow up group/s, the recon team is dispatched to scout the approaches to the town. They travel light, carrying only their personal weapons* and ammo, and the AN/PRC-119 bequeethed to them by the late Brother Switek.

Departing the farm, they return to the river and follow it as it winds its way northwest, towards Zwolen. The gently sloping banks and thick vegetation provide excellent cover and concealment and the small team makes good time. Hidden in the shallow, tree-lined, sunken lane formed by the river, they see no one along the way, encountering only a wayward calf which somehow managed to get past the barbed wire fence running along the east bank and apparently can't find its way back. Its pathetic lowing could attract unwanted attention so the group proceeds quickly through the area.

Approaching the junction between the river and the canal angling to the southwest and on through the town mentioned by farmer Bak, the group stops and spreads out. The sun has receded behind the horizon, leaving only an fading orange glow low in the western sky. Looking through the undergrowth at the crest of the bank on the eastern side, the main road into town comes into view. Several small building are between the team and the reported checkpoint at the town's eastern edge. There are no lights on in any of the outlying structures. In the town, however, golden lights show from between the curtains of several residential buildings. As the team watches, and as the sky grows ever darker, a couple of the lights shining through those windows go out. With the electrical grid but a fond memory, most people have returned to the daily rythyms of earlier times.

With few clouds in the night sky, the nearly full moon provides excellent illumination. NVGs are almost unecessary.

In the Barn

Back on the farm, the planning session has become tense and tempers begin to rise. Troubled by the increasingly personal and circular nature of the exchange, Clarence puts on his senior NCO cap and speaks up,

"Look people, we don't need to decide on a route in right now. We need to hear back from the recon team before we can make an informed decision anyway. Let's take this time to repack the gear, clean our weapons, and get some rest before we have to move out. And, last time I checked, Hauptman Bayer was still the tactical commander of this unit, NATO or otherwise. This aint the time for a command restructuring."

Old Adam nods his head in assent, "For what it is worth, I agree."

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:39, Sun 05 Oct 2008.

Tucker strips his gear down to the bear minimum of equipment he'll need and goes heavy on ammo, 40mm grenades, handgrenades, night vision goggles, first aid supplies, and a couple of cigars for the ride out.  Tucker takes the silenced Skorpion machin-pistol and secures it with his gear and six spare magazines.  Robert also takes all of his spare Browning Hi-Power magazines and puts them in various pouches or in his patrol pack.  He hands his Colt Python revolver with its shoulder holster and six speed loaders over to Konrad before he leaves.  "I'd like you to hold onto this for me boss.  Not sure if I'm going to need it or not since I got the Skorpion for this.  Something happens to me, Merry Christmas sir."

Tucker follows the trusty lead of McCoy and Mariusz as they get closer to the town.  Robert inches up next to McCoy and whispers to him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:59, Sat 04 Oct 2008.

Loading his spare gear and equipment into the group supplies Jan does a quick doublecheck of his weapons and heads out with the rest of the recon team. Sliping along into the night with the others he tries to match his movements to theirs.
As they approach the buildings he squats into cover and pulls out his binoculars. Even though it is dark he may still be able to see a bit depending on the clouds and the moon, nothing ventured nothibng gained after all.

In reply to Jan Cerny (msg #85):

Dawid asked Bak, "are you aware of the garrison's activities at night? Any other places around where mines or other things like flares or barbed wire are laid? How many people man the roadblocks during the day and at night?"

"Also, do you know anyone in the motor pool that might be willing to sell us a truck? Someone who's a little, shall we say, needs money? Sells stuff from the motor pool? Someone who might be sympathetic to the Home Army or Solidarność?"

From personal experience, Dawid knew that rear-area personnel sold anything that wasn't nailed down to make up for their poor rations and pay. It was one thing that kept the Home Army and Solidarność going: buying or stealing supplies from the government.

Farmer Bak considers the question for a moment before responding with half-shrug,

"I don't know about that. It's possible you could buy a vehicle but I don't see how you'd negotiate such a transaction without others catching wind of it. There are probably a dozen men who work in the motor pool. You'd have to buy them all off I would think.

"As for the town's defenses, I think I've told you just about all I know. I don't usually go into town but once or twice a month, and then only during the day, so I can't really tell you what the garrison is up to at night. The soldiers in town are mostly either very young or very old. Some of them seem nearly crippled by old wounds. So, I doubt they're up to too much mischief after the sun goes down.

"At the checkpoint on the way into town, there's usually only two or three men posted- during the day, at least. I really only use the eastern entrance though, so I'm not sure about the others. And like I said earlier, there are no minefields around the town that I know of. Barbed wire, yes- some around the checkpoints, but that's about it I think. Flares I don't know about either but, if you want my opinion, the soldiers in town really don't seem to be that on top of things, if you get my meaning."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:07, Sat 04 Oct 2008.

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #87):

Dawid grinned his usual enthusiastic smile and winked conspiratorially.

"Ah, you know how the Black Market works!"

"One doesn't need to buy off everyone in the unit, one just needs to buy off the commander of the motor pool, who is usually the biggest crook of them all! The others will get their share as he sees fit and keep quiet."

"It'll be up to him to decide how to "lose" the truck, if he's willing to deal. Usually it just "breaks down" and by the time the recovery vehicle arrives to tow it back or recover the cargo, it's been "looted", or the whole vehicle is gone. Damn criminals! We should have enough to trade for a large transport truck if we trade the motorcycle, one of the grenade launchers, a machine gun and stuff like cigarettes and booze. They're a transport unit, they should be able to move everything quite quickly to other customers."

"Do you know the motor detachment commander's name and how he may be contacted? Will the roadblock guards accept bribes to let people into town? I will go myself to make a deal if necessary."

"Although I will fight if I must, I have little desire to slaughter fellow Poles if it can be avoided. After all, these are just poor conscripts with no choice in the matter, not KGB or ZOMO."

"Plus, if we destroy the garrison, the army will know where we are and come looking with a vengeance, maybe looking here! But if a truck goes missing and simply no one reports it...."

"Even if possible my idea may still be refused by my comrades, of course! Still, I should like to present an option that is easier for us, and importantly, safer for you."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:14, Sat 04 Oct 2008.

"Well, thank you young man. I must admit that this whole... arrangement, is making me a bit nervous. But, as long as all of you are gone when the soldiers come looking for you, we should be fine. This isn't the first time we've harbored enemies of the state." He adds with a little smile, referring to brother Switek's little band.

"I don't know if a bribe would work. Although the garrison troops don't seem like much, the motor pool people are pretty sharp. If a vehicle breaks down along the road, they're on it like a flash. They must have a radio or something. You'd be taking a big chance. The more people that see you, the more likely it is that someone will start asking questions. Besides, the soldiers in town already have it pretty easy. They skim from the merchant convoys- you know, 'tolls' and 'tariffs' and the like. And they have some big guns, themselves. The motor pool has a large flatbed truck with a cannon or something on the back. I'm not sure that a grenade launcher or machine gun is going to entice them.

"Although I have no love for the government's soldiers, I don't want to see needless killing either. Perhaps you can catch them sleeping and tie them up or something." He suggests, somewhat naively.

Latrell, the American POW that works on the Bak farm, left when the planning meeting started and hasn't been back since.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:44, Sat 04 Oct 2008.

Mariusz lay down in a fold of ground as he lay close to McCoy, marvelling at the way the man harardly moved a blade of grass as he crept around in the shadows. He scanned the village below and waited for orders.

Griet looked over at the Kaptain and said, "What do you want me to do, Sir, I'll be a good donkey until we reach the contact area, after that I'll be best as an assistant gunner unless there's anything else you need me to do?"

Prior to the recce team departing...


Bayer takes it and looks it over. Such an American weapon, he thinks with both interest and respectful amusement. Stowing it securely into his utility pouch he says "It will be taken care of Robert. See you later tonight."



"As discussed will be good... assistant on the medium machine gun." he answers.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Sat 04 Oct 2008.

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #89):

"Well, thank you anyways for your information."

"I am confident that my comrades will be sure to be as non-violent as possible. It is not easy for people to remember that not everyone with a weapon or wearing a uniform is the enemy."

"That can be difficult to keep in mind, some times."

He sighed and shook his head.

"Very well, I shall inform my comrades."

He made sure Konrad and Anneka was updated on the presence of a crew-served weapon in the motor pool.

After handing the 40mm grenades to Bayer, Jason returns to his stall and stretches out to rest up before leaving.  After having had a long day, he dozes off...

Tired but satisfied he'd done as much as humanly possible to prepare for the coming operation, Dawid held off from finding a place to sleep.

He'd asked some direct questions of people but those had been unanswered. No matter, no reply in itself was a clear answer, and that was what he expected.

Yawning, he went to look for Latrell, the Black US Army soldier that had been completely ignored by his comrades the entire time they were there.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:01, Sun 05 Oct 2008.

Dave pries his eyes open and looks over at Anneka. "Wierdest fucking dream I ever had" he whispers. "Miles and miles of hi voltage power lines on the ground, poles splintered like toothpicks, transformers burned up and leaking. I swera I saw a 80' pleasure yacht, three decks tall, sitting on dry land. I wonder what that was about??"

He slowly rises to his knees and takes stock of his condition. "I think I might live, but let me tell you, getting shot in the head before you're completely recovered from hypothermia, really, really sucks." He adjusts the green do rag holding the bandage in place and smiles "Yar, and it's roight glad I yam them two battened down thier pie holes. All dat hollering gives a man a pain in his coconut."

From the river/canal junction on the southeastern outskirts of town, Sam (NPCed) radios his innitial report to those who remained back on the farm. The recon team has neither seen nor heard anything from the garrison. The river offers an unwatched, undefended avenue of approach. Konrad (NPCed), with fresh intel in hand, decides to alter his plan by proceeding towards the RP following Dawid and Milk's recommendations. The remainder of the party will follow the river towards town, towing their precious cargo of weapons and supplies from shore in the two Zodiacs like old fashioned canal barges. After briefing Sam on the revised plan, Konrad issues orders and the party makes final preparations to leave. They express their grattitude to farmer Bak for his family's hospitality and offer Latrell one last opportunity to come along.

The recon team, meanwhile, begins the second leg of their journey, cutting west along the banks of the canal towards their main objective- the motor pool on the opposite side of town. They have to cross the tributary to do so. Handing the radio off to Tucker, Sam- the tallest of the group- crosses first, holding his rifle high above his head. The water comes up to his neck. He fords the river and crawls up the opposite bank, cold and wet. He uncoils a legth of rope that he'd removed from his pack before crossing, ties his end to a sturdy looking tree stump, and tosses the other end across. Using the guide rope, the others follow, keeping their more sensitive items of equipment up and out of the water as best they can. Soaked but safe on the western side of the river, the team takes a moment to catch its breath and then enters the mouth of the canal. The waterway itself is only about two meters aross, running along a fairly steep V-shaped channel, lined partially with bricks. The team scampers along the inner slope of the bank, keeping their bodies below the small earthen berm that marks its upper edge. Passing along the back gardens of a long row of old, brownstone, row-house type buildings on their right, they crawl westward in the direction of the motorpool, too hopped up on nerves and adrenaline to really notice how cold and wet they are. The smell of the canal, though, is too pungent not to notice. From the aroma, they surmise that the locals must use it as a conduit for their raw sewage. Despite the smell, the full moon reflecting off the still water at their feet creates a paradoxically lovely, shimmering effect.

They crawl along for several hundred meters before reaching the main north-south road into town. Here, the canal enters a large culvert beneath the two-lane road.

From down the road to the south, they hear hear the unmistakable sound of human voices. They stop, edge further down the canal bank and silently listen. The voices neither increase or recede in volume. In the cold, still night air, it's difficult to judge their distance. Sam slides slowly into the canal and crawls stealthily up the opposite side. He peers cautiously over the bank and relays what he sees to the others with hand signals. There appear to be at least two sentries manning a checkpoint some 50m or so down the road, chatting merrily away, apparently oblivious to the presence of a small party of armed men in the canal behind them.

As the recon team pauses by the culvert under the road, the main body of the party- accompanied by Latrell*- heads for the river and begins prepping the Zodiacs to act as cargo barges. To keep the boats from dragging along the banks, two ropes are attached to each one. Half of the party crosses the river in one of the boats while the other half remains on the eastern side. With one person on each bank pulling one of the ropes, the boats remain more or less in the middle of the channel. and begins pulling them up the river. Pickets patrol ahead and behind the strange convoy.

Actions?

OOC: *It may seem abrupt but I didn't want to hold things up by going into detail about why Latrell decided to go along. So, I'll add more on that later. Milk donated a spare set of fatigues for him and Latrell will carry the RPK-74 & the extra ammo for it that Stoner was lugging. He doesn't have a helmet or body armor.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:17, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

Jan's movements down the canal show that this is not the first time he has done this sort of thing. Moving with care down the waterway he puts a premium on stealth since early discovery would doom the attack. As they get closer to the checkpoint he slings his AK74 and pulls out the silenced SMG.
Speaking in a low tone that won't travel he says, "Time to do the eavesdropping, Oui?"
Moving forward a bit he puts his head just below the edge of the canal and starts creeping forward in short movements designed not to draw attention trying to get where he can overhear what the guards are saying.

"We handle the mess with the silenced rifle." to Tucker, he speaks.

He will nod Jan forward and have him do the recon.

Sam will remain silent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:08, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

Jan slides into the cold, malodorous water of the canal and silently climbs up the opposite bank near Sam.

Raising to his cupped left hand to his ear like a satellite dish, he hears the sentries engaging in typical macho banter- something about the cobbler's daughter and a bottle of cheap schnapps. The sentries' inane conversation gives no indication that they have even the slightest inkling of the recon team's presence in the canal just a few dozen meters away.

OOC: Note- the canal runs roughly east to west, perpendicular to the road. The checkpoint is to the south. The town propper is to the north. The team can't get any closer to the checkpoint on which it is currently eavesdropping without actually leaving the cover and concealment of the canal. Remember, there may be a land-line connecting the checkpoint to other parts of the garrison.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:12, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

From his position as trailing picket on the east bank, Jason sees the boats being towed and can't keep from chuckling to himself and thinking of the old folk song "The Erie Canal."

Along the way, he practices bringing the F88 to his shoulder, trying to familiarize himself with the weapon as much as possible without actually firing it.  He had fired an AUG in training a few times, so the rifle was not totally unfamiliar.  Still, it had been a while.

After nearly a week on the Krolowa, being back on foot with a full pack is a little tiring at first, but he quickly grows accustomed to the weight once again.  Good thing this little hike isn't fifteen miles, he thinks.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:48, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

In reply to Minh Quyen (msg #73):

"Yes, of course," Anneka replied, setting aside her growing list of supplies.
"I could do with knowing what bits and peices you're carrying with you too. Hopefully it won't be all that imporetant once we've got transport, but it's good to plan for the worst."
So far she'd only added a few peoples items to the list. She'd have to try a little harder to get the rest to speak up and declare what items useful to their survival were being carried.
"Now, as for a different weapon, might I suggest swapping that rifle of yours with the RPK I've been lugging about since the tug? It's a much better support weapon I believe and the bipod should take some of the load off your arm."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:01, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

Dawid was happy that Latrell decided to take him up on the offer to come along. He should be with his comrades.

Grunting with exertion and sweating, Dawid pulled on the lead, towing the raft.

We might as well have just pushed the bike up the path, he thought.

When they dropped the supplies in a concealed position, he would be able to take up the machinegun and provide proper covering fire for the forward elements.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:52, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

Tucker nods to McCoy that he understands and waits with the rest of the recce team as Jan moves forward.

Remaining where he is Jan continues to listen to the guards. He doesn't really expect to get much but any intel will help. He is particularly trying to count the number of voices and figure out how many they are dealing with as well.

Looking over towards the rest of the team he uses hand signals to indicate all is well for the moment.

Mariusz held his position silently as he covered the backs of the more experienced soldiers. His nose wrinkled at the smell they all exuded. Great, he thought, now the chance of a hot bath was gone, they'd decided to go for a bath in shit. Things just got better and better, at least his lovely German-made rifle was clean and dry.

Griet huffed and puffed as she laid her burden down. She was starting to appreciate the missing boat more and more. Life was more complicated and hard work without the old girl. Still, they were still alive and that wasn't common in this corner of Poland.

Recon Team

In Jan's estimation, there are only two sentries posted at the checkpoint down the road, one young braggart and one rather bored veteran.

Sam (NPCed again) signals Tucker to bring the radio across the canal. Tucker complies and Sam quietly transmits a message to the main group, whispering behind a cupped hand into the handset.


"Sunray, this is Knife. We are at MRP 'Indigo'*. There are two tangos 50 mikes to the south of us. They seem unaware of our presence. Do you want us to bypass or neutralize the position? OVER."

Main Body

Hauling the heavily laden Zodiacs upstream is hard work and those at the ropes tire quickly. Due to the nature and freshness of their wounds, Anneka, Griet, Stoner, and Adam are exempt from the unpleasant task. All of the others- including new additions Alexei and Latrell- rotate playing draught animal, taking their turns hauling the heavy rubber barges.

The team is about halfway to the canal/river junction when Milk's radio comes to life. He relays Sam's SITREP and request for orders to the officers and stands by to relay them back to the waiting recon team leader.

Actions?

OOC: *I don't know what the proper security protocols/radio terminology would be. I figured Sam wouldn't give out any proper names in order to confuse any hostile eavesdroppers. It may be cheesy, but it's the best I can come up with in the time I've got to post.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:28, Wed 08 Oct 2008.

Dave walks a few yards in front of the teams pulling the IBS'. Every so often he'll stop and listen for any unusual sounds, or drop back and help as much as he can drag the boats over rough spots.

At one of the rough spots he closes in on Latrell. "Latrell, is it? That you first or last? I'm Dave, I missed a lot of your story. You were captured, and put on the farm as kind of a work program, and they sort of forgot about you, is that right? You just stayed on, nothing to try to get back to CONUS?" Dave is clearly perplexed by an American who hasn't tried to get back home, or at least to a NATO controlled area.

"And you," he says to Alexei. "Spetznaz trained? Yet you're here with us? I sleep lightly, comrade," he sneers.

As Konrad was busy taking his turn dragging the boats, Anneka responded to Milk.
"Tell them to bypass if at all possible. It could become a problem if their relief shows up to find them dead or missing."

"Stoner!" Anneka called in alarm the first time she saw him try to help out.
"You're in no state to do anything physical, in fact you should be flat on your back in bed! Do you want to pass out and need carrying?"

Between picket duties and taking his turns on the ropes, Jason is too busy to dwell on his problems.  On the other hand, he is also too busy focusing on the job at hand to do much of anything else.

"Understood, major."

Clarence gets back on the horn and relays Anneka's instructions to the recon team.

"Knife, Sunray says bypass and continue towards main objective. Repeat, bypass and proceed to main objective.

Latrell, used to heavy hauling from months of farm work, is barely out of breath after taking his shift at one of the tow ropes.

"Nice to meet you, Dave. Latrell is my first name; Hawkins is my last. Look man, I thought escapin' it every day but aint no way a brother is gonna sneak through Poland all by his lonesome. I seen what they do to prisoners who try to escape. Now, maybe if I was a Navy SEAL or something like that... but I'm just a red-leg."

Either Latrell is mighty observant or he's a really good guesser.

Hauling on the ropes, Jason overhears Stoner and Latrell talking, and his eyes narrow.  Later, he takes Maj. Solenblume aside and speaks to her quietly.

"Major, I'm not sure I trust that Latrell fellow.  Back on the farm, he said his name was Watkins, and now he's saying his name is Hawkins.  And why did he suddenly decide to come along with us when he originally said he wouldn't?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:37, Wed 08 Oct 2008.

"Good points all" she replied when they were out of whispered earshot of others.
"Keep a close eye on him, ask a few difficult questions and so on. Minh's doing the same with that Russian, Ondar."
Why did the world have to be so difficult. What was wrong with people being up front and open about their intentions and true alliegences?
Back home it was easy. There were those who were your friends and comrades, and there was the enemy who could be loosely classified as everyone who wasn't Israeli.....

In reply to Latrell Hawkins (msg #115):

"Latrell, as a fellow artilleryman I am glad to see you have decided to come along despite what you said earlier."

He looked over at Stoner. "It is good to see you up and around. Don't worry, I know we must be quiet and shall talk no more."

Dave gives her a sheepish grin and shrugs.

"You might have a point, there. Much easier to sneak across Europe being whitey."

Griet smiled at the conversation going on beside the boats, she didn't contribute, saving her breath for the hike. She huffed and puffed some more, even spared the heavy work, this infantry stuff was no lark.

Mariusz waited with the patience learned from his time as a partisan. He covered the rear of the scout unit and kept alert for either danger or an order, he zoned the conversation of the guards out, relegating it to the background so he could focus on anyone making a stealthy approach. His eyes, even as accustomed as they were to night work, searched the darkness almost hopelessly, if he was to discover an ambush or ambusher, it would be by sound or smell, and his nose was full of the stink from the culvert.

His G3 held in his hands, he waited.

Tucker moves across the canal over to where McCoy is and hands him the handset for the radio.  He sits low and covers while McCoy makes contact with the main body and waits to hear their orders.

Tucker
M-16A2 [24/30]/M-203 [HE]
Next to McCoy waiting on movement orders from main body

"Well, it wasn't an easy decision. My life wasn't so bad on the farm. But, I figured the soldiers would be comin' to take me back to the camp eventually so... I just hope farmer Bak doesn't get in trouble for me leavin'. Those are good people. They didn't have to let me go but they gave me their blessing. Damn good people."

Recon Team

Blood up and anticipating some action, Sam feels somewhat let down when he receives instructions to move on without dispatching the sentries. Somewhat reluctantly, he rogers Milk's transmission and signals the others to move on through the culvert beneath the road.

Jan takes point and moves silently through the brackish water. He is followed by Tucker and Mariusz. With one last whistful look at the checkpoint, Sam slips into the canal and takes up the tail gunner position.

The group moves westward along the canal, leaving the chatty sentry and his ambivalent comrade none the wiser for their presence. Here the canal begins to pass through a more built-up part of town. Fortunately for the unannounced visitors, the near freezing nightime temperatures keep the townsfolk safely indoors huddled under their covers. Aside from a fit of violent coughing from some indeterminate point not very far away, the team doesn't see or hear any signs of life on this leg of the journey. After an hour of crawling, wading, and ducking through tunnels beneath the town streets, the team leaves the residential part of town and draws to within extreme visual range of the motor pool, off in the distance to the north. Here they will have to leave the relative safety of the canal and move overland in order to get into a position where they can observe the motor pool more closely.

OOC: For reference purposes, the recon team is presently where the canal meets the southern, dead-end branch of the Armii Krakowa road, approximately 500m south of the motor pool.

Main Body

The group reaches the canal junction and half of the team is obliged to cross over to the west bank. The Zodiacs are manouvered into the canal. It's a tight fit, especially since the Zodiacs are drawing more water than usual due to their weight. The rubber sides of the boats scrape against the bricks of the sloping canal walls. One person is required to wade through the water pulling each boat while another must follow, pushing it. Even so, it is still rough going and much too noisy for comfort.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:36, Thu 09 Oct 2008.

"Well, they say you can't keep a good man down. I don't know if that applies to me, but what the hell. Just keep a low tone, we should be okay"

With the need to remain quiet, Jason cannot subtly question Watkins, Hawkins, whatever-his-name-is, but he can stay nearby, keeping an eye on the ex-POW.

In reply to Dave 'Bones' Stoner (msg #126):

Smiling, Dawid nodded. He looked around with his NVGs, seeing they were nearer than he would have liked to the town.

"I do not like bringing the rafts in so close. We should wait here."

He stopped the other haulers for a moment, then went to find Konrad.

"Captain, we should stop nearby. The plan was to conceal the supplies, and then the reconnaissance element shall locate a forward position to establish a base of fire. We are getting close to the town, within a kilometre of the perimeter I should think."

Quyen has been quiet since the operation began. Her arm was fine (considering) but the weight she was required to carry tore into her shoulders. With the chaffing, sore muscles, and intensity of approaching an enemy force, she had little to say. She overheard the comments about Latrell and huffed quietly. It should be the duty of every soldier to either escape or make it difficult for the enemy to keep control, she thought. All soldiers were suppose to do what they could to increase the amount of resources required to gaurd them. For this she glared at him in the darkness before moving on.

OOC - Quyen had followed Anneka's advice on exchanging weapons for the mission. She lugged an RPK-74 (along with her M9) - if the GM is ok, otherwise its no problem.

When the group with the zodiacs stopped, Griet paused to rearrange her kit for a moment and then moved into position near Dawid, ready to grab the extra ammo before they moved into their final position.

Mariusz moved close to Jan and breathed into his ear despite his chattering teeth, "Should we move forward in pairs using bounding overwatch or do you want some of us to head off and get a different view of the motor pool?"

"Ja. Agree. This is close enough." he answers quietly.

Bayer then says, "Alright. Doctor, Stoner, Captain Rataj and Mr. Walter... hold this position. I'll direct any fire support needs by radio for the grenade launchers. Remainder in support... prepare to move."

Thumbing the transmit switch on the radio he speaks into the mic quietly, "Knife, Sunray. Have arrived at RP. Do you have option available for support base? Over." Bayer was counting on the recce team to have determined the threat areas and would be able to position the firebase where it would be most effective (as mentioned in the orders). He waited for a response, allowing those in the support to drop their excess gear in preparation to deploy for combat.

OOC - I am a little out of the loop for the positions/locations at the moment. As Bayer posted, if the recce team can give a suitable firebase position that would be good. Their eyes-on the objective is the advantage he's looking to take advantage of. Bayer has nothing against taking the stream route either if thats the best place to advance into position. Whatever works.

Likewise, if the recce team hasn't completed their observation of the battle area, support will wait in place.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Thu 09 Oct 2008.

Tucker moves up to where Jan and Mariusz are stopped for the moment.  If he has any say, he will reply to Mariusz, "We need to get into position so that the main body can move into position to support us.  We do need to do that rather quickly so that we're ready.  Jan, you and Mariusz start the move.  Bounding overwatch if you would," Tucker says to Jan (and Mariusz).

Tucker turns to McCoy, "You wanna call the boss and let him know we're moving into position Sam?"0

Upon reaching the designated rally point, Ondar shoulders his rifle and surveys a wide arc covering the party's rear.  While commonly referred to as a sniper rifle, the SVU-AS was really more of a designated marksman's weapon - designed specifically for close-in work in a built-up environment.  The nomenclature was especially fitting as Ondar was really more of a traditional marksman than a true sniper, but he could hold his own in the latter category given sufficient motivation and time to prepare.  He estimates that the tritium-illuminated reticle in the PSO-1 telescopic sight perched atop the rifle will be accurate out to at least 600 meters in these conditions, which is just about as far as he can see anyway.

Ondar then activates the ON1x20/IR "Nighthawk" night vision goggles strapped to his head and lowers the faceplate over his eyes.  He scans the zone again before turning the unit back off to conserve battery power and flips the set back up to ride high on his forehead.  Satisfied that their rearward approach remains clear, he drops the weapon's muzzle to a low ready position and falls back silently to the rest of the team in a crouching trot.

"Behind clear," he half grunts and half whispers as he resists the urge to shiver in the frigid night air. "Ready for orders."

As per Tucker's request, Jan starts working his way forward alternating with Mariusz. At each point that he stops to allow Mariusz to move forward he scans for movement or sentrys with his night vision gear. Carefully working forward to the point where the others can follow he sets up in overwatch tosupport the recon team. Only Mariusz is close enough the hear the faintest prayer spoken as he waits for the others.

Mariusz finished his last leg as quietly as possible and finished close enough to hear the faintly whispered words of the Legionnaire. Whilst unfamiliar with the language the tenor and cadence of the words was unmistakeable. As Jan finished, Mariusz whispered the "Amen" and crossed himself before readying himself for the next step of the mission.

He shouldered the rifle and kept it on the Motor Pool. Once more the irony of prayer hit him, he was entreating the lord to make sure he killed instead of being killed. Maybe heaven was short of souls, but Mariusz wondered when it would be full enough that the Good Lord would say enough, and end this suffering and violence. Until then, he would trust in the Lord and the manufacturers Heckler and Koch.

Recon Team

After Sam apprises the main body of the recon team's position, the recon team begins moving towards the motor pool in bounds, using a shallow, muddy depression running along the right (east) side of the northbound Armi Krajowez road as concealment. Through night vision goggles, the motor pool garage building, surrounded by various large military and civilian trucks, can be seen clearly up ahead. The complex looks more like a junkyard than a military motor pool. Most of the vehicles appear to be innoperable, with various key components like wheels or engines conspicuously absent. One vehicle, though, stands out, not only as being comparitively whole but as being potentially dangerous as well. A snub-nosed, six-wheeled GAZ 66 truck is parked just south of the fence around the motor pool, facing east. The twin ZU-23-2 cannon mounted on its flat bed point west down the main road to Radom. Oddly enough, the neither the gun nor the truck itself appears to be manned at the moment.

The garage around which the motor pool is based is a modest, one story affair, built over two decades ago to cater to a town of just over 8,000 prewar inhabitants. Sitting atop its wide, flat roof is a ring of sandbags manned by a single sentry. Through their goggles and rifle scopes, the recon team observes the soldier staring off to the west whilst enjoying a cigarrette.

Off to the team's left, about 500m down a road angling southwest away from the town, is another checkpoint. A little ahead of the team and to the right, about 200m away in an open field abutting the town proper's eastern edge, stacked crates and and a low ring of dirt suggest the presence of a large mortar emplacement. As the quartet creeps north along the road, its members can make out a stubby barrel portruding above the earth-rimmed lip of the pit, confirming their suspicions. It appears that the position is currently unmanned.

The recon team is now passing between two enemy positions, one apparently unmanned at the moment, as it makes its way to the party's main objective up the road ahead.

As Sam and Tucker provide cover, and Jan and Mariusz finish a forward bound, boisterous voices echo into the night, carrying through the darkness from several hundred meters up ahead. Two very drunk men, both with slung rifles, emerge from the fenced in yard of the garrage building and begin stumbling east arm in arm along the road into town. They sing a popular Polish song, off key and much too loudly, swinging their free arms arythmically. The roof-top guard turns towards his innebriated comrades and shouts a curse-laden farewell. The drunks return the gesture- with interest- and continue weaving down the road. After reaching down and taking a swig from his own bottle, the rooftop sentry returns to his duty, myopically watching focussing on the western approaches.

The recon team is now about 300m from the motor pool, lying in the depression on the east side of the road leading to their objective. The unmanned mortar pit is approximately 100m off to their right, a roadside checkpoint 600m or so to their left and a little behind them. Sam, the only member of the recon team with a long-range, silenced weapon, keeps his cross-hairs poised on greatest threat of detection- the rooftop sentry.


Main Body

With Anneka, Latrell, Adam, and Walter guarding the cargo-laden boats in a heavily wooded hide sight near the river/canal junction just southeast of town*, the assault group enters and moves west along the canal, following the same route taken by the recon team. They move quickly but quietly, wading through the cold and foul smelling water. Sudden sound and movement just twenty meters ahead compells them to flatten themselves against the canal walls. A portly, bald-pated man in a long night shirt and stocking cap noisily pushes through a back garden gate and waddles up to the canal. Lifting his night shirt above his surprisingly large belly, he proceeds to urinate directly into the canal. His midnight piss seems to last for minutes before the stream slows to a sputtering trickle. Giving his member one last vigorous shake, he drops his nightshirt and hurries quickly back through the gate and into his home, letting the door slam behind him.

The group waits anxiously for a couple of minutes, watching and listening for any indication that they'd been seen. Satisfied that the man is not raising the alarm, they move off again. As they pass directly behind the portly man's garden, it seems as if the canal water there is just a touch warmer.

After a quarter of an hour of wading, the assault team reaches the main, north-south road from which Sam had radioed earlier, warning of a nearby checkpoint. Halting to listen carefully, they see and hear nothing. Entering the near total darkness of the culvert beneath the road, they move on past the checkpoint as quietly as possible. Once again, there is no indication that they've been detected.

Three quarters of an hour later, the assault group arrives at the Armi Krajowez road and leaves the stinking shelter of the canal for dry land.

(They are now approx. 500m south of the motor pool, 200m or so behind the recon element.)

Actions?

OOC: *Is this correct? I can't remember if Stoner or anyone else was staying.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:59, Sat 11 Oct 2008.

Dave picks an area to cover, and disappears in the shadow of an old oak tree. He drops to one knee and watches.



OOC:  Rae, Dave's still taking it easy, he's in the rear with the gear. As per Konrad's post #132
This message was last edited by the player at 11:20, Sat 11 Oct 2008.

A ways away from the recce element, Dawid nevertheless whispered his own prayer. He crossed himself, then put away his rosary, the one given to his mother by the priest Karol Józef Wojtyła.

He was lying at the top of the canal, covering the closest OP with the PKM. He had a spare ammo can, Griet had the other plus the 5 spare belts (which would need to be put into empty cans or fed by hand into the machinegun).


PKM (100/100 + 1 belt)
2 hand grenades, Stechkin (21/20)
Lying in the bush at the top of the canal
Aiming to Cover the OP.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:38, Sat 11 Oct 2008.

Griet lay close to Dawid, ready to start assisting him should he need it, she lay the spare ammo can within ease reach for the gunner and covered a different sector with her Tantal.

Griet
Tantal 30/30
Lying near Dawid
Covering the Gunner's flank.

Looking downrange through the Russian-made Kalinka PN-14 NVGs, he studied the closest target. "Griet, do not worry about firing your rifle, just keep the ammunition handy and watch for other targets."

"Should the trucks drive out this way, then we will need to suppress that position.

Also, he'd given her his 1-shot "mini-RPG" RPG-76 Komar in case they encountered an armoured target.


PKM (100/100 + 1 belt)
2 hand grenades, Stechkin (21/20)
Lying in the bush at the top of the canal
Aiming to Cover the OP.

Mariusz whispered to Jan, "Once firing starts, someone will try to man the mortar, should I crawl over ther and occupy it? If I can hold them off we could steal the mortar. If I can't I can destroy the mortar before it's used against us."

Mariusz
Scoped G3 20/20
Consulting with Jan.

Whispering, Quyen says, "Hauptmann, this the support base?" From past battles, she knew the German liked to arrange the machine guns at right-angles to maximize their firepower, but asked anyways. Before the answer is given, she assumes it to be and unhooks the RPK's bipod, resting it on the ground.

Quyen
Canal side
RPK-74
Lying prone with bipod

What is the magazine count for the RPKs? I only see 30 round ones, and not the extended type. Was there never any?

Clarence, with the team's radio, stays close to Konrad. He switches on the pair of captured Soviet night vision goggles he's wearing and scans a 360 degree arc, studying each enemy position in turn. Just as he's finishing the sweep, the green tinged images in the goggles flicker and fade out. He tinkers with them a bit but to no avail. They're quite dead.

He slips them off and lets his eyes readjust to the natural, pale white illumination of the full moon's light.

Whispering to Konrad he says,

"That mortar pit in the field to the northeast- we could send a couple people and an LMG to occupy it. They can cover our right flank and fire on any reinforcements from the town if things start goin' south at the 'pool."

Milk
Near Konrad
AK-74/BG-15 (30/30; 1/5 HE)
Covering right flank; monitoring coms
This message was last edited by the player at 18:47, Sat 11 Oct 2008.

Bayer whispers an answer to Minh, "Not yet."

Looking through his own NVGs at the mortar pit he replies enthusiastically to Milk, "If there is a mortar there. I want to use it. I am doubtful though if they would leave a tube unwatched... probably it is just the baseplate. Still... I am good with a mortar if they are sloppy and left it there. And it is a fortified position like you said." While he would rather be with the main group, the possibility of utilizing himself by lobbing HE rounds onto the enemy was something for him to consider.

"Radio the recce team. Have them move north and prepare to hit the complex straight from the east. We are advancing north. Also, give a radio check to the Major."

Speaking to the person nearest to him, he has them pass on to the next the word to get ready to move out. He will lead the group north (to about where the recce team currently is). From there he will dispatch Quyen and Milk to investigate the mortar pit.

Bayer
G36/HK69 (HE)
Main Group
Communicating/Observing
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Sat 11 Oct 2008.

Clarence whispers, "Yessir."

Depressing the transmit key on his radio handset, he quietly and consicely relays Korad's instructions to Sam and the recon team. Then, he checks in with the group back at the hide sight.*

When the support team moves out, Clarence follows in turn, keeping as low to the ground as possible.

OOC: *They have Ondar's medium range set, pre-set to the party's main freqs.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:15, Sat 11 Oct 2008.

[NPCed]

Sam reluctantly takes his rifle off target in order to answer the radio. Copying Clarence's instructions, he signals the other members of the recon team to continue the bounding overwatch approach to the motor pool, however, this time, at a crawl (literally). If any of the party- recon or support- is spotted, the whole group could potentially be caught relatively out in the open in a three-way crossfire. Stealth is the key. As the first pair moves forward, Sam puts his sniper rifle's sight reticle back on to the rooftop sentry.

Sam McCoy
M25 (20/20)
300m from motor pool
Covering first bound

When word comes down the line to be ready to move, Jason passes the message farther on and readies the F88.  When the order to move out comes, he passes that as well and begins moving north in formation, sweeping left and right with his enhanced eyes.

Jason K.
F88 GLA [30/30, HE]
With main body
Moving north

Mariusz took a few seconds to absorb the orders fully and then began the slow and painstaking crawl toward the position selected for him in the upcoming assault.

Mariusz
G3 20/20
Crawling towards OP

Any lingering regret Ondar held for not having taken advantage of the opportunity for a hot shower aboard the tug before setting out on this trek vaporized in the frigid night air as he crawled up out of the culvert, wet and reeking of other people's waste products.  Wading through a thousand meters of near-frozen raw sewage wouldn't have been his first choice as an approach tactic, but what is done is done.

He had seen worse.

He had done worse.

Hell, he had probably eaten worse.

He rolls his eyes and shrugs it off. The Russian operative pulls himself up on to dry land at the Armi Krajowez crossing and offers a hand to anyone else in the team needing assistance.  Ondar then shoulders his rifle and silently moves off several meters to cover the team's left flank.  He crouches and begins to survey their western approach, first through the amber tint of his night vision goggles then again with the reticule of his rifle.  The quiet, cool stillness of the autumn night is slightly unnerving.  He shivers as a chill runs down his spine.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SUV-AS (10/10)
Scanning to the west

Griet stayed close to Dawid as they moved to their next position. She worked hard and making sure she moved as quietly as she could and avoided any of her kit and extra load rattling or banging. She was cold, tired and nervous as well as scared, night fighting was bad even for the highly trained, she just followed and hoped she didn't screw up too much.

Griet
Tantal 30/30
Following Dawid.

Although it wasn't too bad in the night air at the moment, Dawid could see (and smell!) that things were about to get a lot worse. He steeled himself, then stepped into the cold fetid channel.

Setting the PKM GMPM on its sling he carefully made his way down the canal, following Bayer. He checked over his shoulder and was grateful that Griet was following, burdened with spare ammo and the 1-shot RPG.

PKM GPMG (100/100 + 1 spare belt)
Stechkin (21/21) 2 grenades
Following Bayer North
This message was last edited by the player at 13:37, Sun 12 Oct 2008.

Alternating his crawling movement with the others Jan continues creeping forward. The night air was cooling him off more than he liked but he wasn't stiffening up yet. Soon they would be close enough to the troops, but for now he was still out in the clear and he hated it. They would be in position soon enough though, and his luck was good so far.


Jan
AK74-BG 30/30/1HE
Out in the open
I am the Shadow

Quyen takes up the rear of the main group. She stops once in a while to observe and make sure they are not being followed. Once they arrive at their next position, she will nod to Milk and head over to the mortar pit to inspect and occupy it.

Quyen
Rear of main body
Advancing
RPK-74 (40/40)

The recon team continues their long, slow, crawling approach to the motor pool. After what seems like an hour, the four men of the recon team are in position directly across the road from the motor pool. The fenced-in yard across the road is littered with the partially dismantled hulks of almost every conceivable make of Warsaw Pact military truck- GAZ, KAMAZ, ZIL, Ural, Tatra- and even one or two American cargo trucks. Most are obviously innoperable. Parts, tires, and tools, lie in piles here and there, indicating works in progress. Some of the truck hulks are obvioulsy beyond hope and are being cannibalized for spare parts. Only a small of the vehicles appear to be in working order. Besides the heavily armed GAZ 66 parked just to the south of the motor pool fence, there is a large 6x6 Ural ARV truck parked near the entrance to the yard. An open topped UAZ is parked just in front of the heavy-duty tow truck. An M151 "jeep" is parked in front of one of the two large, open garage doors, facing the building.

Peaking over the convex arc of the paved road, the team observes a dim light showing from within the office section of the garage*. As they watch, the light is extinguished and the interior of the office goes dark. They moolight reflecting from the large windows of the office do not allow NVGs to penetrate the interior of the building. A ladder rises from in front of the office to the roof of the building. The sentry there shifts his weight every once in a while but continues looking intently west. From approx 75m away, Sam places his crosshairs on the back of the hapless man's head.

Meanwhile, the support force makes its way to the observation positon recently vacated by the recon team. Cold, wet, covered in stinking filth and mud, they settle in and take up firing positions facing the various threats that nearly surround them.

As per Konrad's instructions, Clarence and Minh begin low-crawling across the open grassy field towards the unmanned mortar position 100m or so away to the east. Both feel as if every waking eye in Zwolen is watching them. The short turf of the field offers nothing in the way of cover or concealment. Fully expecting to feel the sting of hot lead in their backs at any moment, the two finally roll over the lip and of and into the mortar pit, where they sit for a few seconds, almost overwhelmed by feelings of intense relief.

Somehow, both teams have managed to cross over three kilometers through a populated and garrisoned town without being detected. More or less surrounded by Polish soldiers, each element has successfully reached its assigned position and awaits the order to commence the assault on the motor pool.

Actions?

As Robert gets the orders from Konrad through McCoy, he begins the slow crawling movement of covering a lot of ground the hard way.  He stops every so often to look and listen to see if they've been spotted by someone or if they have spotted someone else.  He's glad their luck has held out so far and have been able to cover this much ground undetected, so far.  Tucker knew that would be over quickly when the gunfire started and they hit the motorpool.

Robert knew that once the signal was given to fire, they would have to hit hard and fast if they were going to be successful to get the trucks, get them loaded, and then get themselves out of the area.  He crept up to where Sam was and nodded to him that he was ready.

Tucker
M-16A2 [24/30]/M-203 [HE]
Waiting for the order to go

Dawid looked over at Griet and murmurred, "it looks like we have everything ready... except a plan for exiting. Well, too late to worry. Good luck, trust in God my friend."

He checked his assigned corridor of fire, choosing landmarks that would help guide the arc of coverage between which he would shoot and not be in danger of hitting their own people.


PKM GPMG (100/100 + 1 ammo can w/1 belt)
Stechkin (21/21) 2 grendades
South of Motor pool
Aiming
This message was last edited by the player at 15:41, Mon 13 Oct 2008.

Griet nodded grimly to Dawid and rested her own weapon on the ground before dropping off the ready ammo. That done she took aim at where she thought the enemy might appear.

Griet
Tantal 30/30
Aiming

Jason goes to ground by the side of the road, close enough to hear Dawid murmuring but not close enough to make out what was said.  Probably griping about something, he thinks in irritation.  The Polish artillerist was a nice enough guy, but his constant complaining of late was wearing on the nerves.

Maybe it's the Marlboros, he speculates.  Dawid's kvetching wasn't so noticeable, and Minh wasn't so cold before I gave them the ciggies.  Come to think of it, Hicks wasn't so stable.  Maybe he laced them with something.  Nah, couldn't be.  The packs were sealed when I opened the carton.  He gives himself a mental shake to get back to the matter at hand. C'mon, Jason.  Focus!  He forces himself to remain alert, ready to go into action when the ball drops.


Jason K.
Prone on east side of road
F88 GLA [30/30, HE]
Waiting

Still out on the left flank, Ondar slowly scans the western approach from south to north with the rifle's illuminated reticule, making an effort to estimate range to any prominent landmarks or viable targets.  As he completes the arc, he comes to rest with the barrel pointed at the front gates of the junkyard ahead.  He silently assesses the tactical situation and begins to calculate options for a rapid exfiltration under fire - a trigonometric exercise that yields bleak results.

Already cold and wet, crouching in the dark, he begins to feel somewhat exposed.  He hopes that his tattered poncho, while not quite a proper ghilie suit, will continue to break up any silhouette he may be presenting.  Through a tipless glove, his right thumb flicks off the saftey on his SVU-AS.  With his finger still off the trigger, he zeroes in on a likely target and prepares to cover the assault team's entry.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SUV-AS (10/10)
Marking targets
This message was last edited by the player at 06:33, Tue 14 Oct 2008.

This message was deleted by the player at 16:50, Tue 14 Oct 2008.

Mariusz lay flat in a fold of ground that overlooked the motorpool. He was cold, tired and smelled like shit, a far cry from the luxury of the boat. He smiled to himself, it was almost like being home, he only wished that Bear and Brother Switek were around to fight at his side.

Everyone in place, Bayer toggles his radio, "Knife, Sunray. Move now to secure the compound. Support will engage on my command. Over." Omitting an planned H-hour or initiating fire together reduced any potential for the recce team to wither down the garrison before the alarm was raised. So he left them to do what they could silently - fire support would await the moment surprise was lost.

"Support stand by." he whispers. (Milk has a radio so he should be aware). "Kasparov, Ondar... keep watch on the west checkpoint. Your cover the far left flank. Dawid and Griet... the compound. Hold fire until the word is given."

Bayer
G36/HK69 (HE)
Lying prone near the MG
Waiting/Communicating

From the ditch running alongside the road, covering the trio of Mariusz, Tucker, and Jan, Sam forcefully whispers "Go!"

The team rises as one and runs, crouching across the road. The pass through the open arms of the yard's perimeter fence, keeping the immobile hulks of the cannibalized trucks between them and the occupied office section of the garage. Just twenty-five meters from the office, Jan innadevertantly kicks a wrench into a 55 gallon drum. In the still of the night, the otherwise innocuous sound might just as well have been a thunderclap. Atop the garage roof, the lone sentry jumps reflexively and turns to face the front of the yard. From across the street, Sam pulls the trigger of his M-25, sending a bullet whip-cracking into the startled sentry's midsection. With a loud cough, the hapless soldier tumbles back into his ring of sandbags. A low but emphatic moaning rises from the position. Sam pops up and sprints across the road, through the yard, towards the ladder to the roof.

Before Sam finishes crossing the road, Tucker, Mariusz, and the shame-faced Jan slam into the outer wall of the garage on both sides of the front door to the office. No light shows through the office's large front window. Each man is breathing too heavily at the moment to hear anything coming from inside the buidling.

In the main body of the group, those watching the road checkpoint* to the southwest (approx 300m from the group) can see stirring at the position. It appears that the sentries heard something and are craning to see what's going on at the motor pool building. Their movements suggest anxious curiosity more than outright alarm.

In the mortar pit, Clarence and Minh prepare to repell reinforcements from the east. As yet, they see no sign of any kind of reaction force.

Actions?

*OOC: Due to a major error on my part, the checkpoint on the main W-E road to Radom was misplaced on my Tac-map. It is actually north instead of south of the motor pool. And it's a big one since it's at a crossroads. Furthermore, it's blocked from both teams' view by the motor-pool complex. When Sam reaches the roof, he'll be able to cover it for at least a while. I'll try not to penalize you guys too much for my error but it will probably make things a bit more difficult for you. Sorry guys.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:10, Tue 14 Oct 2008.

His thoughts now focused on business, Jason  acknowledges Bayer's order and scooches around to face the outpost to the southwest.  Noticing the reaction to the noise from the motor pool, he elevates the M-203 (along with the rifle) and switches off its safety, aiming toward the green-tinged images of the outpost's troops and waiting for them to get closer or for orders to open fire.

Jason K.
Prone at east edge of road
F88 GLA [30/30; HE]
Aiming GL downrange toward outpost

Upon hearing the instruction from Bayer, Ondar sweeps back to the left to cover the southwest checkpoint.  Through the 4x zoom of his rifle optics, the Soviet defector observes restlessness at the designated location.  He zeroes in on the nearest conscript, slides his index finger onto the trigger and waits for a reason.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SUV-AS (10/10)
Covering SW and zeroing in

Making sure the radio handset is secured on his person and his rifle slung, Tucker moves out when Sam gives the order to move on the motor pool, the silenced Skorpion machin-pistol in hand.  As they run through the grounds to the garage area, Robert winces when he hears the loud noise of metal to metal contact from either Jan or Maiusz.  He knows it's too late to stop now and that they need to cover that much more ground that much quicker.

Whether he hears McCoy engage a target with his rifle or not, the part about no one shooting at them yet is a huge plus on their side.  He makes for the garage with the rest of the recon team and leans on the wall to try and catch his breath and get his breathing under control.  He tries to hear what might be going on inside when his breathing slows and is less rapid form the sprint.

If there's a window near, Tucker will try to look into it or hopes one of the other two will do that.  He points (signals) to Mariusz that he wants him to open the door when he and Jan are ready to enter.  He points to himself first indicating that he will enter first and then pointing to Jan to follow him.  Not feeling to confident of the young Poles CQB skills, Tucker would prefer him to just open the door and cover their backs while they try and clear the room.

Tucker
Silenced Skorpion Machine-Pistol
Outside garage ready to try a non-dynamic entry (little or no noise or Flashbangs)

Bayer swiftly holds up a hand in the darkness and whispers loud enough for all to hear, "Still! Wait..." He focuses his NVGs on the motorpool and then crans his neck to view the checkpoint. "Still." he repeats. "If they investigate we hit them in the open." So far, serious gunfire wasn't emitting from the motor pool just yet.

Toggling the transmit switch he says softly, "Milk, Sunray. Have Quyen employ the mortar. Standby for fire direction." The girl had been a crewman on the Vasilek and was probably capable of direct fire at least. Besides, at 120mm it needed to only get so close to its target.

Bayer
G36/HK69 (HE)
Lying prone near the MG
Waiting/Communicating

Dave kneels in the dark, eyes and ears straining for any clue as to what is happening. Goddamn, he thinks. In the rear with the gear. Literally. Fuck it, with this headache, I'd be more of a hinderance than help.

Dave
Guarding boats
Ak-74, 5 loaded mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

As he moves across the open area Jan almost stumbles when his toe catches the unseen wrench and sends it moving into the drum. Catching himself and continuing forward he hears the pop as the sentry goes down. Heart pounding and the hairs on the back of his neck prickling he waits for the outcry that will come right before things go crazy but for now it doesnt come.
Moving into position next to the motor pool grips his PM-84 as he stands next to the ddor. Nodding as Tucker indicates how he wants the entry done he reflexively checks his magazine and flips off the safety. With one last glance around them to check for anything out of the ordinary he looks to the others and holds up his fingers to count down, Three..Two..One..."Go" he whispers.

Jan
PM-84 silenced 25/25 3 spare mags
AK-74:BG-15, slung, 30/30/1HE 6 spare mags 9 HE
Next to the motor pool door
Counting down the entry

Quyen kneels behind the large mortar and swings around the heavy tube until it points towards the SW checkpoint. Setting down the legs, she rotates the traverse and elevation wheels until it is set. "I can manage a slow rate of fire on my own if you want to keep watch down the east road." she says quietly to Milk. "Just let me know what I am ordered to fire at and I'll do my best."

She then opens up one of the ammo contains and begins stacking a small handful of mortar bombs near the tube for easy access. Her AK74 rests on the lip of the pit, also within arms reach.

Quyen
Mortar dugout - along with Milk
120mm Mortar / AK74 (25/30)
Preparing to provide support fire
This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Wed 15 Oct 2008.

Mariusz's heart was thumping wildly as he hit the office wall. He nooded to show he understood his part in the assault and opened the door to the office.

Mariusz
G3 20/20
Opening the door
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Wed 15 Oct 2008.

Dawid didn't hear any clang or clatter from the motor pool, but he heard the bang of the suppressed rifle shot. However, the sound was shunted out to the sides, and there was no flash, so he doubted anyone would really be panicked yet. Espectially as the local Conscripts would be unfamiliar with sound and frankly unsuspecting of a commando-style attack originating to their rear from the town!

He and Griet were in the depression on the right side of the road, covering the building. As someone else was designated to cover the closest OP on their left, they might as well be as personally well-protected as possible from attack from that quarter so they could concentrate on the target.

Dawid sighed. At 500m the buildings were too far away to see using NVGs, which had a useful range of 300m. So he flipped them up on his helmet and tried to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He knew there was a mortar pit ahead and to the right, and dearly wished he could be there to make good use of it.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Konrad raise his hand, and hoped if they opened fire no friendlies would be in the way. It was impossible to tell at this range and he trusted Konrad would give the signal at the right time.

He considered that if the danger of friendly fire was too great, he did have hand-launched flares that could provide useful light, but that would only be in the most extreme situation.


PKM GPMG (100/100 + 1 belt)
Stechkin (21/21) 2 Hand Grenades
To the right of the road, aiming at the motor pool
This message was last edited by the player at 17:09, Wed 15 Oct 2008.

Griet lay close to Dawid, her spare can placed where Dawid could easily reach it. She looked into the darkness toward the motorpool and kept aiming at a section between the garage and the gun truck.

Griet
Tantal 30/30
Aiming

Sam races up the ladder to the roof, headless of the noise that the alluminum ladder makes bouncing up and down on the lip of the garage roof. He crawls up onto the flat, concrete roof and moves quickly towards the ring of sandbags, drawing his silenced SOCOM pistol as he does so. Sliding over the top of the revetment, he lands heavily on the wounded sentry. A neat, dark hole surrounded by a spreading, glistening stain is set just below the man's sternum. The man half moans, half coughs as Sam's weight pushes down on his already punctured lung. Sam presses his pistol's silencer firmly against the man's forehead and dispassionately ends his agony. Slipping his pistol back into its holster, he sets his long gun atop the sandbags and sights on the northern checkpoint, a larger position located at the crossroads of the main west and northbound roads leading into Zwolen. Two of the guards there are standing outside the sandbagged walls of their bunker, staring right back at Sam. Inside the bunker, a third man holds a telephone receiver to his ear while a forth continues to look north, leaning over a PKM machine gun.

Down below, Tucker leans to one side and looks through the broad glass window. It's hard to see much of anything since the moon-lit exterior of the room is brighter than the pitch black interior. If anything, Tucker has nicely sillouetted himself for anyone who happens to be looking out of the window from the inside. Cursing the waste of of a couple of precious seconds of quickly diminishing surprise, Tucker gives Mariusz the signal and the boy duly pulls the handle of the door. It opens easily and noiselessly. Tucker swings around the corner and steps through the open doorway, followed a second later by Jan.

At their feet, a mess of bedding laid is out on the floor. A large, L-shaped counter dominates the far right corner of the room. Before it, a half dozen men  are stirring under their blankets. Two of the motor pool crew, clad only in their undergarments, are scrambling to their feet and a ninth is already up, leaping buck naked over the counter.

The sound of shuifting bed linens, groggy moans, and confused inquiries is overwhelmed by a sudden buzzing sound which continues intermittently. Its instantly recognizable to Jan and Tucker as the sound made by a field telephone's ringer.

Outside and down the road, the support team watches the southwestern sentries as the two men continue to puzzle over the goings on at the motor pool building to their north. The pair looks back and forth between the garage and each other, and the muffled sound of their puzzled voices carries choppily over to the watching support team. Finally, after several seconds of debate, and seemingly satisfied that nothing is amiss, the two sentries return to their uninspired vigil watching the road angling off to the southwest.

In the mortar pit to the east, Minh struggles to adjust the bearing of the heavy 120mm mortar's tube so that it points towards the southwest checkpoint. It's tough going, especially for the wounded MP working by herself with a weapon usually crewed by four or five people. She finally succeeds in adjusting the barrel so that it points roughly in the desired direction, but with her lack of experience and the wide burst radius of the mortar's powerful 120mm HE bombs, any attempt to shell the position may very well result in friendly casualties. As Minh begins to shift the heavy HE mortar bombs to a more accessible spot, Clarence chimes in from his position at the eastern edge of the pit,

"Minh, quit messing around with that thing and help me watch the group's right flank."

Actions?

Latrell appears increasingly nervous as time goes by. Leaning over his RPK-74, he watches his assigned sector, jumping at the slightest sound. His demeanor suggests that he may open up into the surrounding darkness with the RPK-74 at any moment. When he speaks, his uncomfortably loud voice quavers noticeably.

"What the fuck is takin' them so long, man? Shit, I should'a stayed at the farm. What the hell am I doing here? What the hell was I thinkin'? I must be some kinda damn fool!"

Finger still on the trigger, Ondar continues to diligently observe the two sentries manning the southwest checkpoint.  If they attempt to participate in the unfolding skirmish in even the slightest fashion, the Tuvan sharpshooter stands ready to drill either man straight through his soft palette.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SVU-AS (10/10)
Covering SW

"Dude, not so loud" Dave pitches his voice to carry the few meters seperating them. "You want to wake up Ivan? We're doing good, no noise means no probs."

Dave
Guarding boats
Ak-74, 5 loaded mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

"Wait here."

As the sentries lost interest in their general direction, Dawid qui9etly slithered over to Konrad.

He whispered, "Konrad, I can do little good here. I can't bring the target under fire with the machinegun without endangering our own people. Anyone can suppress the closer checkpoint."

"I should be at that 120mm mortar. With it I can bring both checkpoints, and even the town, under accurate fire with spotters.  It's the best weapon we have under our control, and without any false modesty I am the best we have to man it, including handling the 15-kilo shells and a 120-kilo tube.

"The checkpoint guards are distracted and don't seem to have night-vision. Leaving the PKM here for you, I and maybe Griet could be there shortly."


Stechkin (21/21 + 2 magazines)
(PKM with Griet)
2 Fragmentation Grenades
Moving and talking to Konrad
This message was last edited by the player at 14:36, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Tucker turns the corner and enters the room on the left-hand side, bringing the Skorpion up so it is ready to fire at any targets that present themselves.  "A flashbang or a frag would've made this a lot easier then this is going to be," goes through Robert's head as he sees at least three possible targets as immediate threats to him and Jan.  Tucker doesn't say anything and opens fire on the two motor pool crew in their skivvies, firing a burst at them.

Tucker
Silenced Skorpion Machine-Pistol
Firing burst at the two motor pool guys getting up

OOC: What's the recoil on the Skorpion?  I don't have my books with me...

Mariusz stayed outside, making sure no one crept up and surprised the two assaulters. He winced as he saw Tuck firing and the two soldiers, the gun was silenced so he called into the room, trying to pitch his voice enough to be heard but quietly enough not to carry too far, he spoke in clear Polish "Stay on the floor, face the ground and keep your hands on your heads, try to fight and you'll all die! For the love of Christ, Stay down!"

He hoped to save some of his countrymen from an ignominious death but if they didn't listen there would be little he could do to help them. He gripped his rifle tightly and watched his team's backs.

Mariusz
G3 20/20
Covering outside the door of the Garage
This message was last edited by the player at 18:14, Thu 16 Oct 2008.

Jan follows Tucker into the room and goes to the left. Scanning the room for targets he sees the men on the floor in the beedding and discounts them for now but the one going over the counter appears to be trying to reach a weapon or phone. Pointing his Glauberyt at him he fires a  burst from it at the man.
In a low voice he hisses in Polish to the men on the floor, "Face down! Move and die! Face down and hands on head!"



Jan
PM-84-silenced 20/25
3 spare mags
AK-74:BG slung 30/30/1HE
6 spare mags/9HE
In the room by the door
Shooting teh man by the counter
This message was last edited by the player at 13:23, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Griet held her position and kept aiming awaiting any change in instructions or circumstances. Her palms were sweaty despite the chill in the air and the long cold immersion she'd undergone. Whatever was going to happen, she hoped it would happen soon. She also hoped she would live to see the other side of it, but that was another matter.

Tuck fires a long burst from the silenced Skorpion at two of the groggy gaggle of mechanics foolish, confused, or brave enough to have risen to their feet. The man on the left skips as three 9mm rounds tear into his unprotected flesh, crumpling to the floor as the third and final bullet pierces his heart. The man on the left screams and falls heavily on his behind next to his dead comrade, grasping the bullet wound in his bare thigh.

Jan, having to curl around the open door and step out from behind Konrad, arrives too late to shoot the nude, leaping man. He is however just in time to engage the foolhardy man as he stands up from behing the counter wielding an AKMS. The naked mechanic pulls the trigger a split second too late, taking Jan's full burst at close range. The sound of bullets striking wood, plaster, and flesh in quick succession create a nauseating sonic meddly, overwhelmed a split second later by the ear-splitting bark of a full-powered rifle being fired indoors. Rounds smack into the wall and ceiling just above Jan and Tucker's heads, showering them in bits of white plaster. The man behind the counter falls backwards, his head hitting the wall behind him with a sickening thud, leaving a bloody smear running down the white background.

All but one of the other mechanics are cowering on the floor in their bedclothes. The lone exception- the nearest of those still on the floor- lashes out in desperation, grabbing at Tucker's legs in an attempt to bring him to the ground. All the while, the phone behind the L-shaped counter continues to buzz urgently.

Right outside the open doorway, Mariusz is startled and not a little appalled at the sounds of the carnage being perpetrated on the other side of the threshold. He is startled further as a man lunges out of the open garage just a few meters away, running hard for the town. The man's greatcoat billows out behind him, revealing bare feet and legs underneath.

Atop the garage roof, Sam McCoy feels as well as hears the sound of gunfire from inside the garage below. Through his rifle scope, he sees the four men at the northern crossroads checkpoint jump at the sound. They yell and gesticulate wildly, seemingly unsure of how to respond to the obvious crisis brewing just a few hundred meters away. Two of the men grab rifles and begin walking reluctantly towards the garage.

The two sentries at the southwestern checkpoint start at the sound of muffled gunfire reverberating into the night. One of the men half stands and peers through the moonlit darkness towards the garage, rifle held at the high ready. The other looks back and forth nervously between the garage and the road that he is obliged to guard.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:37, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

The devil fools with the best laid plans...

The sound of gunfire splits the stillness of the night. Clarence doesn't bother to whisper any more.

"Minh, we could be havin' company real damn soon."

Clarence Milk
In the mortar pit, facing east
AK-74 (30/30); BG-15 (1/7)
Covering the eastern approaches to the pit and garage
This message was last edited by the player at 20:47, Fri 17 Oct 2008.

Mariusz grimaced, he could only imagine the carnage ensuing inside the garage office and he was about to add to it. He braced himself and centred the big German rifle on the middle of the fleeing man's back. He breathed in and prepared to fire.

Mariusz
G3 20/20
Aiming at the fleeing soldier

[NPCed]

Through the scope of the rifle propped atop the sandbagged parapet of his commandeered rooftop OP, Sam watches the two sentries slowly approach the garage from the northwestern checkpoint. Realizing the importance of keeping them at a distance, he doesn't wait for them to come any closer. At about 250m, Sam pulls the trigger, sending a single 7.62mm steel-jacketed bullet at the trailing man.

As the rifle bucks, he recenters the aiming reticle, ready to fire again if his first target is still standing. If he hits the man with the first shot, he'll focus his attention on the other sentry, doing the same unto him.

Sam McCoy
Garage roof
M-25 (18/20); SOCOM (9/10)
Aimed shot at trailing sentry

Tucker begins to duck down when he hears the AKMS open up at him and Jan inside the building.  Plaster showers down on him as he tries to now react to the threat grabbing his legs and trying to bring him down to the ground.  With the burst of the AK ripping into the night, Tucker calls out to Mariusz as the near naked figure charges out the door into the night, "MARIUSZ DROP THAT FUCKER!"

If the mechanic already has a hold of his legs, Robert will push the Skorpion down at the struggling man and fire a burst into his body where ever he can.  If he is not on him, he will attempt to bring a knee to the man to keep him at bay from getting on him thinking head would be the best but, I'm not trying to call a shot).

Tucker
Silenced Skorpion (15/20)
Firing into the mechanic at his legs or using knee to keep him at bay

Griet kept up a frantic overwatch on the gun truck, it was unmanned at present and she wanted it to stay that way, the AA guns could really ruin their night.

Griet
Tantal 30/30
Covering the GunTruck

Ondar continues to observe the checkpoint sentries, focusing his scope on the one with rifle at ready.  He will not risk revealing his position while their attention is still diverted to the garage compound.  If one of them makes an overt hostile movement to engage, however, Ondar stands ready to end him.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SVU-AS (10/10)
Covering SW checkpoint

Hearing a rattle of distinctive Kalashnikov fire coming from the motor pool, Dawid knew time was quickly running out.

He spoke clearly and quietly. "Konrad, I respectfully ask that you let Milk know Griet and I are moving to their position. If you please, sir?"


PKM GPMG (100/100 + 1 spare belt)
Stechkin (21/21 + 2 spare magazines) 2 grenades, 2 flares
Support position 300m S of Motor Pool
Talking to Konrad

"Ok. Go. Leave the gun, listen for Milk to relay firing requests." he replies watching the compound for targets. "Griet man it for the moment." Not wanting to diminish the group's reserve he says, "Milk, Sunray. Send Quyen to my location. One friendly moving to you now. Out".

Without looking away from the compound he says, "Kasparov, any targets? If we have to move to a new position, I need you to cover our rear."

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #192):

"Thank you, Konrad."

Resisting the urge to salute, Dawid turned to Griet, divesting himself of the ammo can with the spare belt. That left her with 2 spare belts in cans and the case with 5 more belts. Enough ammunition to cause some damage!

"Good luck Griet, the machingun is yours, do not fire unless directed."

Unburdened, he flipped down his night-vision goggles and moved quickly towards the mortar pit, his destination. He wasn't too afraid of the conscripts several hundreds of metres behind him, it would take minutes for them to get their bearings in the darkness.


Stechkin (21/21 + 2 spare magazines) 2 grenades, 2 flares
300m S of Motor Pool
Moving East
This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Sun 19 Oct 2008.

Griet nodded grimly at Dawid as he left, shouldered her Tantal and took over the machinegun. She nestled the stock into her shoulder and took up overwatch on the garage complex once more.

Griet
PK MG 100/100 (2 spare cans, 5 spare belts)
Covering the motor pool

Setting the bipod legs on the parapet she says, "I'm ready."

RPK74 (40)
Mortar pit with Milk
Waiting

From the garage roof, Sam takes the soldiers approaching from the northwestern checkpoint under fire. The trailing soldiers doubles over, gut shot, and falls to the pavement. The leading soldier whinces at the sound of the bullet cracking past him, hesitates for a second, and leaps into the depression alongside the road, still in full view of the watching SF sniper. The pair's companions duck further behind the sandbagged wall of their roadside position, and the man on the field telephone starts shouting into the handset almost loud enough for Sam to make out what he's saying.

From right outside the garage's front entrance, Mariusz draws a bead on the running man. Aiming low to compensate for the recoil of the 7.62mm battle rifle, Mariusz watches with a mixture of satisfaction and dismay as his first shot strikes the man in the right hamstring area, immediately buckling his leg and sending him sprawling into the mud of the repair yard's front lot. The report of the G3 rifle seems to carry for miles.

Inside the building, a lone holdout struggles furiously to bring Tucker to the floor. The desperate man has both arms wrapped around Tucker's thighs, and is attempting to twist and drag Tucker off of his feet. Tucker places the the tip of the Skorpion's silencer between the man's shoulders and pulls the trigger. Five rounds tear through the man's torso. Several of the rounds pass through the man's body, one lodging itself just inches from Tucker's booted foot. The mortally wounded collapses to the floor to lay twitching in a pool of his own blood.

Six other men cower on the floor, either raising their hands or using them to cover their heads, some pleading for their lives. Three men lie dead, and yet another, whimpering loudly, is wounded in the leg. The garage office stinks of axle grease, cheap hooch, unwashed bodies, blood, and gunsmoke.

Three-hundred meters down the road, Dawid sets out for the mortar pit. With a whoosh and a pop, a parachute flare is launched from the southwestern checkpoint. The flare blazes brilliantly overhead, casting an unearthly light over the open filed. Dawid drops to the damp turf but he'd already been spotted. One of the two sentries props his RPK atop the back wall of his little bunker and begins firing wildly in the general direction of the support group. Green tracers zip overhead, some skipping low off of the convex curve of the road. It's hopeful and innefective fire, directed at an area target rather than being aimed at any particular individual.

In the mortar pit, Clarence had just advised Minh of the movement order when the flare ignited, casting long, rapidly shifting shadows over the newly christened battlefield. Green tracers follow shortly thereafter, sizzling high and wide of the mortar position. From a buidling to the east of the mortar pit, the sound of shouting alerts the two trespassers that the mortar crew has been roused from its slumber.

Back at the equipment lager, the distant sound of automatic gunfire reaches Stoner, Anneka, and Latrell.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:45, Sun 19 Oct 2008.

With bullets spanging off the road surface to his right, but none coming any closer than that, Jason props up the barrels of the over/under weapons, bringing the muzzle of the M203 to the estimated angle to land a grenade on top of the sentry post.  Taking a breath and exhaling halfway, he pulls the launcher's trigger, sending 40mm death downrange.  Or so he hopes...

Jason K.
Southern flank of main body
F88 GLA [30/30; grenade expended]
Firing HE at SW outpost

Ondar watches through the 4x magnification of his tritium-illuminated rifle scope as the sentry at the southwest checkpoint opens fire.  Holding his ground and standing fast against the stream of oncoming tracer fire, Ondar braces his weapon, zeros in on the bridge of the sentry's nose and squeezes the trigger.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SVU-AS (9/10)
Ending a sentry

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #196):

Fulling expecting this under the circumstances, Dawid tried to remain calm.

A bullet whizzed by over his head, un-aimed shots spraying into the darkness. The flare would just as easily show the attackers as he.

In a few seconds someone, possibly Griet with the GPMG, would suppress the position and he could continue. He looked around for any cover or concealment, even a bush or fold in the earth.


Stechkin (21/21)
2 RGD-5, 2 RGD-2, 2 Flares, 1 RPG-76 (keep forgetting!)
looking for and/or crawling to cover
This message was last edited by the player at 09:03, Tue 21 Oct 2008.

As the night errupted with bright light, Mariusz frowned, his mark was down and the big round was bound to have done a lot of damage, he called in to the garage, "My target is down but not dead, what do you want me to do?"

When he was a partisan, he would have shot the man without compunction, for the Cause, now he was a freebooter, his conscience was nagging at him.

Griet saw Dawid caught in the flare and switched the PKMG from covering the guntruck to trying to cover Dawid. She set the bipod down, shouldered the weapon and started to spray bullets at the bunker. She hoped either someone was covering the guntruck or that no one would man it against them. The 23mm shells would get a lot of them real dead, real quick otherwise.

Griet
PKMG 100/100
Suppressive fire on the bunker that's pinning Dawid

Bayer turns his attention away from the compound and eyes the SW checkpoint. Clicking the transmit switch on his radio he says, "Knife, send sitrep. Over." They were on the clock now, and he needed to know if things were progressing in the yard or if he needed to prepare a fighting withdraw. "Milk, two rounds HE on the southwest checkpoint." he adds into the mic.

Bayer
G36/HK69 (20/30) (HE)
Communicating via radio
This message was last edited by the player at 19:59, Tue 21 Oct 2008.

"We'd better get the boats unloaded and try moving forward," Anneka said after monitoring the radio for a few minutes.
"Sounds like the AGLs might be needed shortly and I think we're a little out of range back here."
Cutting the distance they had to move to link up with vehicles would probably be a good idea also as it sounded as if the locals were getting angry....

As the flair slowly descends, swinging beneath its tiny parachute, Alexei, Jason, and Griet all open up on the Southwest bunker. Alexei's shot apparently misses, being as the near panicked gunner continues to spray bullets wildly in the general direction of the support group. The 40mm grenade from Jason's M203 sails long, bursting in a spray of angry sparks just long of the bunker. The first bullet of Griet's long burst, a tracer, impacts low into the sandbag wall of the bunker while a subsequent tracer (the fourth bullet in the burst) sails high. This forth bullet is also the last, the fifth cartridge jamming inside the loading tray. The end result of this ferocious barrage is a pause in the enemy fire. The respite lasts only a couple of seconds, as both the RPK gunner and his companion reopen their fusilade on the support group.

East of the mortar pit, a group of a half dozen soldiers exits a building bordering the open field and begins running headlong across the 200m or so separating their billet from their post- the very position currently occupied by Milk and Minh.

From atop the garage, Sam steadies his aim on the second exposed sentry. The unfortunate man's companions continue to stay low within the relative safety of their sandbagged bunker. The stranded sentry begins to crawl backwards towards the imagined safety of his post.

Inside the garage, chaos reigns. Overwhelmed by the sound and the fury of the carnage they have just wrought, Tucker and Jan hesitate. The men cowering in their blankets on the floor continue to beg for mercy. Their wounded companion continues to whimper and moan.

Neither Mariusz nor Konrad receive a reply from the building entry team. The man that Mariusz winged lies in the mud of the yard, crying out in obvious pain.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:58, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

Latrell is clearly in panic mode. His voice is shrill and wavering as he responds,

"Are you crazy? Advance? The whole town is gonna be awake soon. How we gonna get from here to there without being seen? Your friends said it's like five klicks to that motor pool! Aint no way we can carry all that shit! This is all kinds of fucked up!"

He gives the impression that he's going to break and run at any moment.

[NPCed]

Sam takes his time, lining up a shot on the slowly retreating sentry in the roadside ditch. He aligns his crosshairs center mass, takes a deep breath in, releases it half-way, and squeezes the trigger.


Sam McCoy
M25 (17/20)
Trying to keep the folks at the northern checkpoint pinned down

Ondar calmly realigns his sight picture and fires another two rounds at the RPK gunner.



[Ondar]
Main body's left flank
SVU-AS (7/10)
Trying again
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

"Damn!" Jason mutters as his first grenade explodes long.  He opens the breach of the M203 and removes the spent casing, then pulls another HE round from his webbing and slips it into the breach.  Returning the rifle to his shoulder, he adjusts the angle and takes aim again.

Jason K.
South/left flank of main body
Prone at east side of road
F88 GLA [30/30; HE]
Reloading M203 and taking aim

Figuring it would be safer once the flare burned out, Dawid continued to hug the dirt and look for cover and concealment.

He also hoped someone remembered to cut the phone lines outside town!


Stechkin (21/21)
2 RGD-5, 2 RGD-2, 2 Flares, 1 RPG-76 (keep forgetting!)
Still looking for and/or crawling to cover
This message was last edited by the player at 06:00, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

"I'm engaging." she says to Milk. Steadying the RPK into her shoulder she fires three quick rounds at the center man (of the group approaching from the billet). She hadn't heard Bayer (over the radio) and wasn't yet aware of the fire request from Milk.

Quyen
RPK74 (40)
Mortar pit with Milk
Firing 3 rounds using the bipod

Tucker uses his knees to push the dead body away from him and move away from the pooling blood from it's torso.  He keeps the Skorpion pointed towards the other men laying on the floor in various state's of panic and yells out to Mariusz and Jan.  "Clear Left!  Jan, cover these guys.  MARIUSZ!  Get yer ass in here," Robert says as he begins to switch out the half expended machine-pistol magazine and drop it into one of his pockets, and inserting a fresh one into the mag well.  Once Mariusz gets in here he turns to him and tells him, "Tell them to shut the fuck up now and they'll make it through this OK.  Also tell them we want the keys to the vehicles we need and we want them now!"

If there is time this round, Tucker will finally get a chance to answer the radio call to the recon team from Konrad. "This is Knife.  Building secured.  Zero-Three Tango's KIA, zero-one WIA, zero-six EPW's.  Over," he says into the handset as he watches what's goin on inside the room.

Tucker
Silenced Skorpion (21/20)
Making calls

OOC: Once again, sorry for my delay... and, the recon element is still 'Knife' coirrect?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

Mariusz heard the call and backed into the room. He stood up fully and kept his rifle covering the men cowering on the floor. He shouldered his rifle and pulled out the heavy American pistol before squatting again, "Listen all of you. Stay down and don't try anything stupid. These Americans are devils, but they play fair. Co-operate and you'll live. Screw with them and you'll follow your comrades in death."

He looked down at the conscript nearest him, "We want the keys to all the working vehicles and we want them now. You will get up and show them where they are. Then you will show them where the fuel, tools and any other equipment is kept. Do it quickly and do it well if you value your life, the quicker it's done, the sooner we're gone."

He fixed the frightened man with his pale gray eyes, "Trust me on this, I'm not decieving you, play by our rules and you have a chance of growing old and playing with your grandkids. That is my word of honour."

Mariusz
M1911 7/7
Talking to a prisoner
This message was last edited by the player at 20:56, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

Clarence, noting the expected approach of the mortar's crew, replies quickly into the radio handset,

"Negative, Sunray. We have six hostiles inbound from the east. Am engaging with small arms NOW!"

With that he drops the handset, tucks the stock of his AK into his shoulder, and starts squeezing off single shots at the oncoming soldiers, working from left to right across the cluster.

Clarence Milk
Mortar Pit
AK-74 (30/30); BG-15 (1/7 HE)
Firing single shots, left to right
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:03, Thu 23 Oct 2008.

Dave hears the growing cacophony of combat and grows concerned about his friends. When Latrell mouths off, Dave looks him in the eyes and says in a flat voice "Latrell, the lady says we move forward. You need to buck up and do as she says. I'll take point and clear out the bad guys for you, you help carry the grenade launcher."

Dave
At the boats
AK-74, 5 full mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

Anneka was tired.

The time aboard the tug had proven far more stressful than they'd expected and had led to them now being chased across Poland by Soviet Spetznaz! Rest hadn't been anywhere near as plentiful as she'd hoped, and certainly wouldn't be common in the days and weeks ahead either.

She growled as she stalked purposefuly toward the panicked man. Her diminuative figure halted and her hand swung up and around to impact in a stinging slap on the man's cheek.

"Hawkins! I'm not about to take any crap from you or anyone else. We are unloading the boats and moving forward."

She knew better than anyone how much had to be shifted, having overseen the packing and loading of the three "vehicles" they had at their immediate disposal. Even with everyone's packs, the five of them should still be able to move the approximate half tonne a mile or so to a closer rendezvous point.

"Stoner, keep watch." Her eyes remained fixed on Hawkins as she spoke.
"Get the motorbike out first, and ensure the mark 19 is in place on the sidecar, ready for use. The bicycles once the motorbike is ready."
"Adam, I suggest slashing the boats and sinking them. I don't think we can take them and they're an unmissable connection between the Krolowa and us."

"Aye, Ma'am." Dave hesitates just a second to see of Latrell is going to reack violently to the dimuntive doctor's slap.

If there's no indication of forthcoming violence, he'll turn and do as she says, if Latrell looks jumpy, Dave will jump right in.

Dave
At the boats
AK-74, 5 full mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

Bayer had depressed the transmit switch for only a second, before he heard the gunfire break out from the mortar pit. "Roger, out." Glancing back to the motor pool he adds into the radio, "Knife, Sunray. Roger. Send eta on extraction over." As he speaks, Bayer angles himself to face the SW checkpoint, anticipating to add a shot from his own 40mm.

Alexei fires twice and, through his rifle sight, watches his target (the RPK gunner) fall backwards behind the sandbags of the southwest checkpoint. The automatic rifleman's comrade continues firing inneffectually until Jason's second 40mm HE grenade detonates with a flash close beside him, just inside the bunker. The receding smoke of the explosion, earily lit by the descending parachute flare now only twenty feet or so above the road, reveals the man slumped over the toppled rim of the sandbagged emplacement. All fire from that quarter has stopped.

Griet, meanwhile, struggles to clear the jam from the PKM. She's having trouble unlatching and lifting the feed tray.

From the cover of the sunken mortar pit, Minh and Milk engage its dispossessed crew with a rapid series of single shots. Neither of them register hits, but the six-man team immediately goes to ground about 150m from the mortar pit. They are in the open with little cover save the curvature of the earth and, as long as Minh and Milk keep firing, effectively pinned down.

From atop the garage, Sam shoots the withdrawing sentry, crawling backwards towards the checkpoint bunker, in the back of the leg. The man screams and clutches at the fresh hole in his right thigh. His two companions, apparently perfectly happy to stay inside the relative safety of the bunker, do nothing to fight back or aid their wounded friends.

Inside the garage, Mariusz orders the terrified (or stupefied) motor pool personel to hand over the keys to the working vehicles. One of the men gets unsteadily to his feet and, hands raised, stumbles towards the counter, saying

"Don't shoot. I'm getting the keys. Please don't shoot."

He reaches beneath the counter with one hand and slowly raises a handful of keys setting them down gently on the wooden counter top. His wounded companion continues to moan, whimpering,

"I'm bleeding to death! Help me! Pease, help me!"

Another mechanic vomits all over his blanket. The smell of cheap, half-digested moonshine intermingling with the sickly sweet smell of blood and the acrid smell of gunsmoke.

Back at the boats, Walter and Adam start shifting cargo to the motorcycle sidecar and the two bicycles. Latrell makes no attempt to strike Anneka, but his reaction is not the one she'd hoped for when she slapped him,

"Bitch, you crazy! You all crazy. I'm gettin' the hell outta here and goin' back to the farm."

With that, Latrell brushes past Anneka and runs into the darkness heading back the way the party came.

Actions?

The two men covering the prisoners were far better at this game than Mariusz was so he looked at Jan, "I'll see to the wounded, you two are the better fighters."

He holstered his pistol and checked the man's wounds. He opened up his firstaid kit and began ministering to the man. He hoped to staunch the bleeding if nothing else.

Stupid, flimsy Army pieces of crap, Griet thought to herself, the PKMG wouldn't even be counted as a gun on a ship. Now she had to hump it all over Poland and then spend more time fixing it than she did firing it.

Come on, she thought, work, as she frantically tried to clear the jam. She cursed the son of a syphillitic whore who loaded the ammunition in the factory. I'm glad they nuked Radom, she thought bitterly, death by radiation poisoning was still too good for the inbred moron, but it was a start.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:02, Fri 24 Oct 2008.

"Checkpoint neutralized!" Jason calls as he pulls another 40mm HE round from his webbing.  Once again, he removes the spent casing and slides the fresh round into the breech of his M-203.  Coming up to one knee, he scans the southern flank of the party's position as ordered by Bayer before it hit the fan.

Jason K.
Kneeling on south/left flank
F88 GLA [30/30; HE]
Looking for more enemies
 coming from behind

The bangs of grenades going off behind him echoed off the buildings of the town, and the woods and low hills around them.

It seemed to Dawid that the firing in front and behind had stopped, and checking in front and over his shoulder he was unable to see anyone up and moving.

Taking a risk that indeed all hostile targets were momentarily suppressed, he stood up in a crouch and gathered a deep breath into his lungs.

He stood up and called in Polish to the soldiers on the ground to the east of the mortar pit as loudly as he could.

"We are with the Home Army and Solidarność! Throw down your weapons and surrender! You will not be harmed! Surrender!"

Announcement complete, he dropped back down in case anyone violently disagreed with the offer.

Stechkin (21/21 + 2 magazines)
2 Fragmentation, 2 Smoke grenades, 1 RPG-76 Komar
Standing up and calling for surrender, then going prone
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Sat 25 Oct 2008.

Covering the prisoners, wounded and otherwise, Jan watches for any sign of resistance.
Pointing to one of the cowering POW's he barks out a command. "No Mariusz, give the first aid kit to him. He will bind the wounds. I want you up and watching."
Looking at the prisoner he indicated he speaks up again, "You will bind his wound, you will not do anything else. Do you understand? Do as we say and you live."

Mariusz nodded and gave the kit over to one of the prisoners, he was likely to do more harm than good with it anyway, hopefully the prisoner would be more skilled, Mariusz could hardly imagine him being any worse.

He took his pistol out once more and continued to watch the prisoners.

As the irate black man brushes past Anneka, Dave quickly swings the butt of his rifle at the man. "Motherfucker", he says under his breath.

Dave
At the boats
AK-74, 5 full mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

Base Camp

As Adam and Walter look on aghast, Latrell attempts to flee. Stoner steps in and takes a swing at the panicked man with the butt of his rifle. Latrell sidesteps the blow and runs off into the darkness, leaving Anneka, Stoner, and the others stunned and appalled at the new man's sudden and ignominious departure. Despite the unexpected setback, the Ural trike and the two man-powered bicycles are now fully loaded and ready to roll.


Garage

Inside the garage, Tucker [NPCed] gathers up the handful of keys from the counter top, peaking over it to see the corpse of the naked, AK wielding man, a neat red hole leaking a thin trail of blood in the center of his forehead. Behind the counter is an open door, in all likelihood leading to a back office of some sort. It is not entirely clear to Tucker which keys correspond to which vehicles.

Mariusz hands over his medkit to one of the rapidly sobering prisoners. The man clumsily starts to bind his wounded comrade's bleeding leg wound. This seems to calm the distraught man somewhat. Mariusz and Jan cover the others, still scattered about on the floor, almost underfoot.

Atop the garage, Sam [NPCed] cracks a sadistic smile as he observes the chaos that he's created at the northern checkpoint. Two wounded men lay screaming on or near the roadbed, their two unwounded comrades cowering in the roadside checkpoint bunker several meters away. With the checkpoint effectively neutralized, Sam conserves ammo. He begins to scan to the east, up the road into town, watching for any approaching reinforcements from the town's waking garrison.

Mortar Pit

With the mortar crew pinned down a hundred meters from their post, Dawid, in a noble but somewhat suicidal gesture, stands up and begins shouting demands for the garrison troops' surrender. As Minh continues snapping off single shots from her RPK, Milk is preparing to fire a grenade into the midst of the huddled mortarmen when one of them responds to Dawid's entreaty. Even the non-native Polish speakers immediately understand what the man is shouting,

"We surrender! We surrender! Stop shooting! Stop shooting!"

Support Group

With the southwestern checkpoint destroyed and the mortar position secured, the support group's raison de etre is gone. The next likeliest threat will be from  reinforements rushing to the garage from the town center. Such a threat could best be addressed from closer to the garage itself. During the last minute or so, Griet has succeeded in removing the feed tray and clearing the jam from the PKM. The belt is re-fed, the feed tray closed, and the Soviet LMG is once again ready to fire.

Actions?

OOC: Milk and Minh have each fired 10 shots in their effort to keep the mortar crew pinned down. Sam has fired twice. Alexei three times. Jason has fired 2 40mm HE grenades. Griet has fired 5 rounds from Dawid's PKM. Tucker has fired three burst of 5 shots. Jan has fired 5 shots. Mariusz has fired once. Folks, please update your personal ammo expenditures on your char-sheets. Thanks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:35, Sat 25 Oct 2008.

Finally the finicky little pop-gun was ready to fire again, Griet shouldered the weapon and spoke to the Kaptain, "I'm ready for action again, Sir. What do you want me to do?"

Until she recieved orders that told her to do something different, she covered Dawid with the PKMG.

Griet
PKMG 90/100
Covering Dawid and awaiting orders.

Mariusz, covering the prisoners with his Colt clutched in both fists, looked over at Tucker, "Check if the keys are labelled, they usually do that with fleet vehicles, although these may be so well-known that they didn't bother."

Mariusz
M1911 7/7
G3 20/20
Covering the prisoners and kibbutzing happily

Pointing to one of the uninjured prisoners Jan directs his movements. "You, I want you to keep your hands on top of your head. Slowly scoot over aginst the wall and lean back against it. Do not stand up. I want you against the wal sitting with your hands on top of your head."
Pointing at the other uninjured prisoners he adds, "Once he is against the wall I want the rest of you to move over as well, one by one. Keep your hands on top of your head and slide over to the wall and lean against it. Do it now. Do as we say and you will not be harmed."
As the prisoners move over towards the wall Jan keeps them covered.

Tucker takes a look at the keys and throws them over to Mariusz.  "Ask them what keys work in what vehicles or we start killing more of them," Tucker says to the young man as he picks up the dead man's AK and moving towards the back office.

Tucker
Silenced Skorpion 21/20
Moving towards the back room

Standing up again, Dawid yelled towards the mortar pit and beyond them the surrendering soldiers, knowing Milk at least had a good grasp of the language.

"Everyone, stop firing! Cease firing!"

"You, soldiers, lay down your weapons and stand up, hands behind your heads! They turn around and face away!"

He started off running again, in their direction.


Stechkin (21/21 + 2 magazines)
RPG-76, 2 Frags, 2 Smokers, 2 Flares
Standing up, yelling, then moving forward.

EDIT ADDED: Tac-block, actions.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Tue 28 Oct 2008.

Quyen relaxes her grip on the automatic rifle and peers over the lip of the mortar pit. She lowers the butt keeping the barrel resting on the bipod. "Milk, you ok?" she asks out of habit, following combat.

OOC - RPK74 was previously (still is?) a unit weapon. Rae, do you take care of the ammo for it?
This message was last edited by the player at 09:11, Mon 27 Oct 2008.

Mariusz caught the keys and squatted down next to one of the prisoners, "Which keys start which vehicles, make it quick man and we'll be out of here before anything bad can happen to you all. Think about it, if anyone attacks us here, you'll die with us. This way we're gone and you're safe. So, which is which?"

Bayer could hear Griet's inability to remedy the uncooperative gun's stoppage. Giving her just another moment of effort, he toggles his radio, "Milk, Sunray. Listen, I'm leaving you Quyen and Dawid. Secure those enemy and setup a PW collection point. Anchor your defense around that mortar and prepare to repulse a counterattack. I'm moving ahead to the objective with the remainder of support. Understood? Over."

Giving a glance to the SW checkpoint he calls loud enough for them to hear, "Kasparov, Griet! Prepare to move... 30 seconds on me. We're moving up to occupy the motor pool." then more quietly (and encouraging) he adds, "Get that gun ready Griet. I need you ready." Her voice, reassuring the weapon's readiness follows a moment later. "Well done."

Allowing Milk to reply and for Jason and Griet to get ready to move, Bayer will wait a few more seconds. Then, waving his two support companions forward he will run to the compound.

Bayer
Support Group
Coordinating the consolidation
G36/HK (HE)
This message was last edited by the player at 12:40, Mon 27 Oct 2008.

A little stunned Hawkins chose to return to captivity rather than attempt to head for home, Anneka missed her chance to trip the man up and make him see sense.
Looking into the darkness after him, she shrugged, accepting his decision while feeling his "escape" back into captivity would lead to problems in the days to come.
"Adam, can you push the motorcycle please? Walter, you and I will take charge of the bicycles and Stoner, I'd like you to lead the way please."
She hated having the injured man do anything, but at least she could spare him the hardest work.
"We'll take it slow I think and help each other if the ground gets difficult."
Not like they had much choice. The motorcycle should be relatively easy to move by Adam, provided there was a decent track to follow. Of course starting up the engine would solve any serious mobility issues, but would also draw the enemies attention directly to them. Added in none in the small group had admitted to prior experience with two wheeled vehicles and pushing was definately the prefered option.

Griet nodded and smiled briefly at the Kaptain, "Thanks, Sir." she replied as she got to her feet and hefted the mass of useless metal that puported to be a machine gun. She steadied her load and began to run for the motor pool.

Dave stares at the retreating Latrell, then gives a sheepish grin and shrug, as if to say I can't believe I missed.

A bigger grin appears and he replies to Anneka "I live to serve".

He grabs a full magazine from the pile to replace the empty he's been carrying around for days and takes off into the darkness. He pauses every three or four steps and swivels his head, taking in the sounds and using his peripheral vision. He doesn't expect any enemy contact since the forward elements have already passed through, but habits are hard to break, and there's always the possibility someone has moved in behind the lead elements.


Dave
At the boats
AK-74, 6 full mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

Garage

Tucker grabs the dead man's AK and walks through the open door into the back office. It is a small, cramped room dominated by a proper desk scattered with all kinds of clerical odds and ends. On the desk is a large Warsaw Pact radio military radio set.

While Jan covers the living, one of the more sober prisoners shows Mariusz which keys correspond to the motor pool's small fleet of operational trucks. The party has several choices of transportation. One set of keys starts the big KAMAZ 6x6 gun-truck parked just outside the motor pool fence, one is for the Ural 6x6 ARV tow-truck in the yard, one is for a Tarpan-Honker squad carrier, and the last key starts the captured M151 Jeep parked right outside the office.

As Konrad, Jason, Griet, and Ondar arrive in the motor pool yard, they notice a man crawling east along the road into town, his pale legs portruding from a dark great coat.

Looking east down the road, the party sees the glowing eyes of a pair of vehicle headlamps approaching from the town. The lights wink out as vehicle stops near a pair of buildings flanking the road, about 200m from the garage.

Mortar Pit

As Dawid rushes forward towards the mortar pit, his countrymen remain prone. Milk and Minh continue to cover them, ready to pour on the fire at the first sign of aggressive behavior.

Cargo Convoy

With Stoner on point, the convoy of two-wheeled vehicles heads west, pushing their heavy burdens towards the road running west along the southern margin of town. Travelling any distance with the cargo laden bicyles across country is incredibly difficult. Arriving at the road, it gets easier. The group follows the road, parallel to the canal through which the rest of the party travelled earlier. They are spotted almost immediately. In the windows of a couple of the houses bordering the road/canal, heads drop below the sills as those in the party turn their heads to face their watchers. Fortunately, it appears that those watchers are unarmed civilians. Up ahead, however, approximately 200m down the road, Stoner can see the checkpoint on the road running south of the town.

Actions

Ondar hustles toward the junkyard and immediately spots the wounded man dragging himself half dressed through the gutter to the east.  The Russian trooper braces himself against the hood of an American-made WWII-era jeep and prepares to put the poor sod out of his misery when his attention is diverted toward the headlights now oncoming from beyond his intended target.  He quickly adjusts to this new dynamic and switches to cover the driver's side of the stopped vehicle.  It appears to be parked only a couple hundred meters from his position at the yard, but his optics effectivey quarter that distance.  He attempts to identify the vehicle through the darkness and assesses whether its occupants bear hostile intent.  Either way, he stands ready to respond with his finger on the trigger.



[Ondar]
Junkyard
SVU-AS (7/10)
Covering to the east

Dave blows a quick kiss to the disappearing faces then raises his left hand, fisted in the near universal sign for stop. He fades back to the little convoy and approaches Anneka.

"Checkpoint ahead. Is that the one they were supposed to clear?" he asks in a low pitched voice. Whether it's the head wound bothering him, or the drama with that Latrell character, Dave just can't for the life of him remember what route the advance parties took.

Dave
on the road
AK-74, 6 full mags, 1 empty
BG-15, 6 HE, 1 Illum
Aid bag

Bayer points to the wounded man in the great coat with his rifle, "Kasparov, ensure he is not a threat. Then go get a look at that weapon." (indicating the gun truck). "Griet, go with him and setup the machine gun near that vehicle. Get where you have eyes on the north checkpoint. Stay in contact with each other and keep an eye on the west too... I'll be back."

Agreeing with the direction Ondar chose to cover, he says before entering the motor pool, "Shout out what we are facing Ondar."

Announcing his arrival to prevent getting gunned down by the assault team he calls ahead of him, "Friendly coming in. Sergeant Tucker? Situation? We are expecting a counter attack at any moment... where's our transportation?" He looks around to visually gather the events occurring within. Bayer also gives a rapid head count of his companions to assess for any unreported casualties.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:32, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

Griet headed over to the Gun Truck and set up the machinegun to cover the areas that the Kaptain had suggested. She waited, alert for any threats, hoping that they'd be ready to move soon.

Mariusz checked he knew which set of keys was which and then went over to Jan, "OK, I know which keys are which, shall I go around and put the keys in the vehicles? That way we can take what we need and disable the rest."

"I can handle the PWs if you want to cover me and the approaches." Quyen says to Milk (assuming he passed on Bayer's orders). Waving a hand she beckons the demoralized soldiers forward, "Come. Walk." she says in her limited Polish, then again in English. She knew just the basics of what was needed for herding PWs.

When they approach to about 25 meters she halts them with firm orders, then orders them to lie on the ground. Leaving the RPK she emerges from the mortar pit, armed with only her M9. Using hand gestures, broken Polish, or outright manhandling when necessary, she arranges all of the soldiers face down on the ground in a line.

She then goes through her usual procedures. When the men interlock their fingers over the back of their heads, she uses her own hand to grip around them (applying just a small amount of pressure would cause the leverage to either be painful or enough to break their fingers - if they were uncooperative and needed to be subdued). She also places one knee in the small of their back and would give rough jabs as well (if needed). Her free hand rapidly inspects their bodies for weapons - she avoids any modesty and without pause checks their groin area too. While conducting the searches she ensures she keeps out of the direct line between Milk and the prisoners.

After they are all checked and she is sure they are unarmed she herds them off to the side of the mortar pit and clear of Milk's eastern arcs. She arranges them so they cannot communicate, and makes an example of anyone who attempts. If there are any officers she will segregate them from the rest off to the side. In the past she'd sometimes did the same with NCOs but had little respect for PACT NCO leverage they may have on the men, so she left them intermingled... they were short prisoner security anyways.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:44, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

Seeing the mortar crew still laying down, Dawid stopped and looked at them with their NVGs.

Instructing them loudly, he continued in Polish.

"HEY, ALL OF YOU. LEAVE YOUR WEAPONS ON THE GROUND. STAND UP NOW, AND IF YOU HAVE A RADIO WITH YOU THEN BRING IT. YOU HAVE 3 SECONDS TO COMPLY. 3... 2... 1..."

He stood his ground, looking through the monochrome green display at where the prone men are.


Stechkin (21/21 + 2 magazines)
2 frags, 2 smoke, 1 RPG-76
Calling for the conscripts to stand up
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

After getting the prisoners roughly sorted and positioned against the wall where they can be covered more easyly Jan looks teme over to make sure they do not look too inclined to resist. Once they are settled he looks over to the one that gave the info on the keys and asks,
"Your fuel stores, where are they and of what kind? "

When he hears Konrad announce himself he responds,
"It is clear, my friend, come in. We have secured the mootorpool and identified which vehicles are working. Our young friend is sorting them  while we deal with the  prisoners."

Jan
In the motor pool
guarding prisoners and asking questions
PM-84 20/25 3 spare mags
AK74 slung
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

Tucker quickly slings the captured AK and walks over to the radio to see if it is portable.  He also quickly stuffs the other the clerical odda nad ends into his pockets or ruck (whatever is quicker or practical). Testing it, he tries to lift it and if it is fairly light, he will bring it out of the back room.

Tucker
Slung weapons
Checking out PACT radio

"Yessir," Jason replies to Konrad, then goes to the greatcoat-clad man.  "Ensure he's not a threat, eh?" he muses, then says, "Sorry, Mister.  I don't have time to worry about you pulling a fast one."  Raising the F88, he brings the butt down on the man's head, then drags the unconcious body back to the garage.  "Here's another one for you, I have to go back outside," he says to Mariusz.

Going outside to the truck, he hops up onto the flat bed and examines the ZU-23-2, looking around for ammunition.  He does not know a lot about the weapon, except to avoid flying over one, if possible.