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.