Milk is working up a sweat trying to heave mortar pieces up out of the pit.

"Boy, you talk too much. Shut up and help me load this stuff on the truck."

As they haul, lift, and push the pieces towards the truck, Clarence adds between heavy breaths,

"Setting an ambush on our back-trail aint a bad idea, kid. I'll take it up with Konrad when we're back on the road."

Dawid laughed.

"Of course. It is only nerves. And thank you for the compliment."

He finally spotted a half-excavated pit several metres away.

"I see where the magazine was supposed to be dug. No surprise, all gunners are lazy buggers."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:28, Sun 16 Nov 2008.

Once everything was loaded up and the Honker was ready to go, Mariusz looked over at the Major and said, "Major, what do you want us to do with these two? The Kaptain told us to bring them with us, so we did. I'm just not sure why."

Griet kept scanning the area for potential threats, she couldn't see anything untoward at present, but that didn't mean something wouldn't turn up soon.

Dave glances over at Jason and asks "What's with the prisoners? I didn't realize we started taking them."

Bayer stands next to the waiting jeep. He looks at his watch, then at the tail end of the tow truck over at Milk's position. Getting Griet's attention in the the ZU gun, he says, "Stand by. Be ready to engage targets in those buildings."

Toggling his radio he says, "Milk, Sunray. How are we doing? Time's running out. Over."

"These two were among the guys we captured at the garage.  Bayer told me and Mariusz to bring them along.  He didn't say why."  Jason turns to Anneka and echoes Mariusz's question, "So, Major.  What are we going to do with them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:43, Tue 18 Nov 2008.

As the American sniper, the Hauptmann and the pretty Vietnamese interrogator pile into the jeep across whose hood he had been bracing his rifle, Ondar un-deploys the weapon's bipod and hustles to reposition.  He climbs into the cab of the idling KAMAZ AA truck as directed and shouts to the Captain's daughter, who is manning the artillery unit on the flatbed behind him.

"You hang on now!"

He tosses his SVU-AS on the bench seat beside him and stands on the clutch as he slams the brute into reverse.  He backs the vehicle up and, cranking the wheel hard, maneuvers it to fall in behind the jeep then grinds it into forward gear as he waits for the command vehicle to take the lead.

[Ondar]
Aboard the KAMAZ
Unarmed
Grinding gears

Jan double checks the tanker trailer and makes sure the hitch is secuer to the tow truck. As Tucker comes running up and hops in the drivers seat he shrugs and hops over the hitch to get to the passenger side. Colapsing the stock on his AK he sets that on the seat beside him and puts his machine pistol in his lap in case things get hot.
"I think we have pushed our luck enough tonight, lets get this beast moving and get out of here, us!"

One of the 120mm mortar's best design features was that it could be quickly limbered. They lowered it and quickly stowed it for carrying. Presumably a truck was coming out to them with the carriage, and if so they could just load it on.

Hearing the radio he reminded Milk, "ask them to bring a telephone from the motor pool."

Dawid collected the 120mm shells and the field telephone.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:15, Wed 19 Nov 2008.

"Major?  Major?" Jason asks when the Israeli doesn't answer.  He goes on to add, "Maybe we'd better ask the Hauptmann."  Going to the radio which had been set down in the front seat of the Tarpan-Honker, he goes on the air.  ["Sunray, Hawkeye.  Ready to move out.  Please advise disposition of EPWs.  Over."]

Tucker gets out of the truck and quickly moves towards Milk and Dawid and the dissaembled mortar and ammo.  He leaves his rifle(s) in the truck as he heads to help load the vehicle.  "Hey.  Let's get this shit loaded in here and get the hell outta here.  He told me we had ten minutes toload up and scoot before we left the garage area."

Tucker
Holstered Browning HP
Helping load whatever he can in under 10 minutes

South of town, the crack of another rifle shot signals a sniper's third attempt to disrupt the loading of the Tarpan-Honker. The unseen marksman scores a bittersweet victory. One of the prisoners pitches backwards, shot in the chest. A dark red stain spreads down the front of his dirty white shirt as he gasps for breath. In a few seconds, he stops breathing altogether.

The near miss snaps Anneka (NPCed) out of her stupor.

"Er, release them. We don't have room for them and they'll just get in the way. We need to get moving now."

The surviving prisoner runs barefoot into town shouting "Don't shoot!" Dumping his unfortunate companion to the pavement, everyone save the motorcycle driver piles aboard the Tarpan-Honker and Jason pulls away as quickly as prudence allows. A fourth shot rings out in farewell. Fortunately, no one is hit.

At the garage, most of the convoy stands ready to move. With help from Tucker, the three component pieces of the mortar are loaded onto what little space is available on the bed of the truck around the large tow-hook. Three boxes of 120mm mortar rounds are also hastily loaded, along with the useless* limber. The trio rushes to secure the windfall in place as firing from the buildings across the field to the east errupts anew. Bullets thwop into the muddy earth and a few imbed themselves in the body of the truck. The fire is more accurate now. Without the threat of the ZU-23-2, or the mortar, the garrison appears to have grown a little bolder in the interval. Most of their fire is focussed on the Ural, although a few rounds hit the other vehicles a couple of hundred meters to the west. Milk whinces as a bullet takes a small chunk out of the top of his ear. The group board the truck, the four men squeezing into the cab. A bullet spiderwebs the windshield.

Actions?

OOC: *With the tanker-trailer currently hitched to the tow-truck, the mortar can't be limbered at the moment. It can, however, be reassembled, limbered, and towed by another vehicle as soon as that can be arranged safely.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:57, Tue 18 Nov 2008.

Dave duck involuntarily as the rounds come in. He looks over at the dead prisoner and mutters "Whoopsie", and looks for a source of the incoming fire.

"Jason!" Anneka called as the shots started again.
"You're on the motorbike."
"Walter, do you know how to drive this thing?" she indicated the Honker they'd just loaded the bicycles into.
"I want you, Adam and Stoner to follow us." Tossing a few last bulky items (including the recently reloaded AGS-17) out of the sidecar and into the Honker, she climbed in and settled herself behind the Mk-19. The AN/PRC-119 radio was wedged between her knees, handset clipped to her shoulder while belts of spare 40mm grenades pressed uncomfortably into the backs of her legs.
"Sunray this is Starlight. My callsign plus Molar enroute to first waypoint. Over."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she nudged Jason gently and indicated in a westerly direction.
"Lets head out."

Detailed to drive the motorcycle, Jason shrugs his shoulders and swings his leg over the saddle.

"Nothing, Ma'am.  Yes, Ma'am," he replies, then kicks the starter, revs the engine a couple of times, and moves off to the west.  He goes slowly at first, to allow the Honker time to turn around and follow.

Mariusz swore as he gently lay the dead prisoner on the ground. He switched back to his G3 rifle as he sat in the back of the little truck and wondered what would happen to them now.

As the garrison got bolder, Griet swung the gun around as best she could to cover their companions, she shouted, "Do you want me to fire again?"

On the way to the tow truck, Tucker yells out to Jan, "Jan!  You got the wheel.  Everyone else pile in where you can and safe your weapons before you get inside!"  When they're all in, Tucker is the last to enter the vehicle as he reaches for the handset on the radio he's been carrying.  Keying it, he calls to Konrad, "Sunray. Knife. Package and team recovered.  Leaving now. Copy?"

Robert then enters the tow truck where he can (even if he has to hop in the back somewhere if he has to) and gets set for the ride out of the town.  He tries to keep low as he can while the OPFOR fire increases.

Tucker
Holstered Browning HP
Getting in tow truck and leaving

"Wait Griet." he calls. "Hold it unless it gets worse."

Toggling the radio he replies, "Sunray roger to Knife and Starlight. Security element moving now. Out." Bayer then seats himself in the passenger seat of the jeep.

When the tow truck returns to the motorpool, he'll give a minute for everyone to shake out into suitable seating positions. Then indicate for the small convoy to withdraw to the linkup point.

Ondar stands hard on the brakes and taps rhythmically on the KAMAZ flatbed's steering wheel in anticipation as he watches the game of musical chairs unfold before him.  Patient, yet eager to be on the move, he waits for the go order.



[Ondar]
Aboard the KAMAZ
Unarmed
Waiting

In order to cover their pickup, Dawid took out his 2 RDG-2 smoke grenades. He pulled the striker from the top of one and struck the strike plate, then tossed it towards the town. He did the same with the other. By the time the truck arrived, a thick cloud of obscuring smoke would cover the area.

Quyen waits in the back of the jeep. The RPK rests across her lap but held ready in her hands. When the firing resumes she squats down further into the small vehicle. There is little else she can do but wait.

Just outside of the garage yard, the headlights of the Tarpan-Honker appear to the southeast, signalling the approach of the recently arrived supply element.

The Ural tow-truck returns from the mortar pit with its prize, to join the waiting jeep and KAMAZ gun-truck. Fire from the garrison has picked up, but it no more threatening than it was before. At 300 yards, the enemy marksmanship is terrible and not one of the party is hit. The vehicles, however, are slowly taking a beating. A lucky hit could sever a belt or a hose and necessitate a "Chinese fire drill". In this hostile environment, leaving the perceived shelter of the vehicles would be dangerous, to say the least.

The Tarpan-Honker arrives and the party is made whole again for the first time in several tense and eventful hours.

Actions?

OOC: You're PCs are all conventiently near the garage on the western edge of town. Let me know which way you'll be going in your next IC or OOC posts. Thanks.

As poorly aimed bullets whiz and pop past the KAMAZ in the crisp night air, Ondar begins to shiver.  Still damp from his tromp through the drainage ditch, he reaches toward the dashboard and turns up the truck's heater.  As his feet begin to warm, the foul stench of fresh raw sewage quickly overtakes the cramped cab.  The smell triggers an involuntary abdominal contraction and he begins to retch.  Forced to pick between hypothermia and odor-induced nausea, he chooses the latter.  Cranking down the driver's side window, he rolls his eyes and shakes his head, hoping to be underway soon.



[Ondar]
Aboard the KAMAZ
Unarmed
Waiting