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