Dawid looked between the looming treeline to the north and the pursuers to the south.

If they were going to engage the chasers at range it would have to be damn soon. Better get prepared for that possibility. In the woods, the gun would be useless as it would be unable to fire at anything other than close range, suicide for the operator.

He mounted the gun and adjusted it so the twin barrels were pointed down the road. The big circular cross-hairs were centred on the following scout vehicle. Rushing wind battered the back of his helmet as he concentrated.

"Griet, get down, ADAM, HOLD HER STEADY!"

He pressed and held down the triggers, and the cannons hammered. Glowing green tracers screamed back down the road, seeking their prey. Garish muzzle flashes lit up the back of the truck.

"YEAH, GET SOME YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!"

Empty shell casings spat from the dual receivers, ringing harshly on the metal truck bed. As soon as the breech clanged empty he dove off the gun to the hard metal deck, in case there was any return fire.

2x 23mm Autocannon 49/200 rounds
Mounting ZU-23, Firing 5x 10-rd bursts at lead vehicle
Dismounting
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Wed 03 Dec 2008.

Too excited to remember radio protocol, Mariusz spoke frantically, "Kaptain, Kaptain, ambush about 400ms ahead! At least I think so, I advise you take the left fork we just passed. Do you want us to probe the ambush or join your tail?"

He waited for a reply before telling Jason to slow, any move now might trigger an attack.

Griet popped the two smoke grenades she'd been given and then rolled them off the back of the truck. She ducked behind her makeshift barricade and grabbed the RPK.

Bayer forgets all about the gas, the ZU firing, and even the trailing enemy convoy. Leaning over other passengers he bangs his fist against the Tarpan's cab. Then he yells forward - "Jan, take the next left!"

Squeezing the transmit, he says quickly, "Nein. Get back with us. What do you mean, ambush? Report, over."

Mariusz heard Bayer's order and question and yelled at Jason, "Emergency 180 now! Enemy ahead! Follow the trucks!"

After that he used the radio and said, "In the woods, 400m from my location, at least one soldier in a defensive position. Where there's one, there'll be more. Do you want us to fire on the trucks following you as we take the track? I might get lucky and slow them."

Quyen slings her rifle. Pulling the RPG out, she stuffs a reload between the straps of her webbing and holds onto the launcher in anticipation for a rapid dismount.

"What the fuck?  An ambush up ahead?  These guys can't be that good or maybe just a helmet hanging on a tree?  OH SHIT!  There goes the that crazy fucking Pole Dawid opening up on the trucks," Tucker thinks to himself reacting to the call from Mariusz and then seeing and hearing Dawid open up on the vehicles pursuing them.  Tucker turns his attention forward as Bayer calls to Jan to take the left road/path as he begins to scan for another ambush through his own NVG's.

Tucker
Squad Carrier- Gunner spot
Searching for another ambush ahead of their new route

At Konrad's prompting, Jan pushes hard on the brakes and cranks the wheel to the left, steering the Tarpan-Honker off of the blacktop and on to the dirt road paralleling the woodline looming to the north. With the loss of peripheral vision and odd forshortening effect induced by the NVGs he's wearing, the manouver is much more difficult than it otherwise would be, and the squad carrier careens off of the dirt track. Its tires spin for a few revolutions on the wet earth before regaining their purchase, propelling the truck forward witha  sudden lurch. Jan recovers and gets the Tarpan-Honker back on to the dirt road which, upon closer inspection, is actually paved with crushed rock. Everyone in the squad carrier is jostled about violently before it is back on track and heading west.

By the time the Tarpan-Honker makes the abrupt turn, two large, white clouds are forming on the road just south of the turn-off. Through his own borrowed NVGs, Walter, at the wheel of the big Ural tow-truck sees the squad carrier cut sharply left on to the bright green strip of the crushed rock road. The Ural passes through the growing cloud, causing it to swirl and eddy in its wake. Unused to both the goggles and the controls of a large, heavy land vehicle, Walter nevertheless does his best to follow the lead vehicle. The Ural's tires hiss as he slams on the brakes, trying desperately to make the sharp turn. Turning the wheel hard over, he still over-shoots the turn by a few meters, instead bumping over unpaved, uneven ground. The Ural bounces over a small hummock and a painful metalic crashing can be heard coming from behind its cab. Something has come loose.

The KAMAZ, in the tail-gunner position is in a better position to make the turn. In the bed of the gun-truck, Dawid and Griet are preoccupied with giving their pursuers pause to reconsider continuing the chase. Dawid strains to bring the twin barrels of the ZU-23-2 to bear on the nearest enemy vehicle, the OT-65 or BRDM-2. With no stabilization system, accurately firing on the move is a near impossible task. As the distant armored car enters the crosshairs of the gun's open sites, Dawid depresses the foot pedal trigger and the gun thunders into the night. Ten, glowing, tennis ball-sized orbs emerge from the huge starburst muzzle blast of the gun's right barrel and race towards the enemy convoy. Three crash into the armored car, sending massive showers of sparks cascading into the darkness. Two appear to hit the hull while the third hits near the left, front wheel. The armored car shudders, wobbles, and pulls to the left, slowing down abruptly. The trucks following behind it are forced to follow suit. The remaining seven 23mm rounds race off into the night, growing smaller and dimmer every second.

Dawid presses down a second time on the foot pedal to send off a second burst. Nothing happens.

The KAMAZ passes through the white cloud, now taller than the cab of the truck and wider than the four lane road. Adam, at the wheel, is oddly unnaffected. Behind him, in the open cab, Griet and Dawid each get a heavy dose of the gas. Both are too preoccupied with the mixed emotions ellicited by their small victory over the pursuit force and the agony of the apparent feed jam to notice the cloud. However, both are soon overwhelmed by its effects, coughing and wretching uncontrollably, their eyes so filled with stinging tears that their vision is severely impaired.

As the KAMAZ emerges from the gas, Adam almost fails to notice the Tarpan-Honker and the Ural veering off to the left. He skillfully manouvers the big 6x6 onto the crushed-rock road and follows the others, deftly avoiding what appears to be a broken crate lying on the edge of the road. His passengers, however, are too sick to even realize what is happening.

The Ural motorcyle/sidecar, heading towards an apparent ambush in the woodline, slows and pulls a U-turn, heading away from the forrest and back towards the turn off. Through their NVGs, they notice a large, peculiar white curtain drawn across the road south of the turn-off.

Actions?

OOC: Dawid and Griet both passed panic rolls but failed CON checks and will be sick as dogs for about 10 minutes. Adam passed both. All of the above PCs can post IC- I'd love to hear what they're thinking and feeling through all of this- but they can't do much other than cough, retch, and secret copius amounts of mucus.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:19, Fri 05 Dec 2008.

"Hang on, kiddo!"  Jason hits the brakes and whips the motorcycle/sidecar combination to the left through a 180-degree turn.  Back they go to the turn-off, swinging onto the gravel road well behind the line of vehicles.  Jason guns the engine to catch up to the others.

In reply to Jason Kasparov (msg #50):

Dawid lay gasping on the truck bed.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:12, Fri 05 Dec 2008.

"Wow, that shit worked better then the last time! .Holy shit! Well, I guess they won't be following us for a while..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:20, Fri 05 Dec 2008.

Holy Mother of Christ, Griet thought as she rolled up into a ball. Her eyes burned and the tears streaming from her eyes drew lines of fiery pain down her cheeks. Her nose and mouth filled with bitter mucus as she coughed and retched, the hot food she'd eaten earlier came up, adding the harsh tang of bile to the chemical cocktail and she coughed and retched more even when her stomach was empty.

She fought for breath and was unable to find any, I'm going to die, she thought, the Americans had used them as bait to draw the enemy to them and then gassed them. She hoped the callous bastards burned in the special ring of hell reserved for traitors and back-stabbers.

Rolled into a ball she coughed more, her eyes unable to open and her throat so constricted that she wondered if she'd asphyxiate first or drown on the thick mucus that streamed from her nose. As a final humiliation, she felt her bowels void and empty themselves into her last clean clothes.

As breath still failed to come, bright lights strobed and lanced across her the back of her eyes.

Mariusz saw the fork in the road and got on the radio again, "Kaptain, we are at the fork, do you want me to loose off some rounds before following?"

He looked around as he awaited orders.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the Honker, Dave listens to the excitment around him, but apparently lost in his own thoughts.

When Jan makes the left turn and everybody gets thrown about the cabin, Dave shoots him a dirty look but says nothing.

Seeing the truck is now the lead vehicle, he automatically starts scanning forward of the truck, taking over "point" duties.

Thrown about as the heavy truck struggles around the sudden corner, Anneka almost lost her grip on the RPK she'd been trying to bring to bear on their pursuers.
Seeing the stream of glowing projectiles impacting on and around the lead vehicle she quickly changed her priorities to simply hanging on and trying to work out just what had caused the sudden change in direction.
Still looking back, she'd changed her focus to trying to look through the cabin rear window in a vain attempt to see into the cargo bed.

"Sunray, roger Mariusz. Fire then link back up with us quick as you can." he replies into the radio mic. With one arm bracing himself on the canvas support bars overhead, he watches to the rear. There was little he could see, but the fact the two rear vehicles were still there suggested to him things were working out. As for where they were heading though.

"We've got no scout at the moment Tuck. Keep a good look out ahead." he says over his shoulder. "Weapons free. You even think it might look like trouble, open fire."

Thinking about the ZU ammo, the team's status, and the enemy pursuers, Bayer toggles the radio once again and says, "Eagle, Sunray. Send Sitrep, over."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:31, Sat 06 Dec 2008.

Mariusz aimed at the end of the strange cloud of smoke and fired the MK-19. He played the rounds around a little and then slapped Kasparov's shoulder and pointed down the dirt track.

Mariusz
Mk-19 50/50
Indirect Autofire

The Tarpan-Honker, now on point, leads the Ural and the KAMAZ westward along the crushed rock road paralleling the woodline. On the column's right, a burst of flame illuminates a patch of the woods for a moment and, from that point, a ball of fire streaks forth towards the tow-truck. It's flight seems to take several seconds although, in reality, it takes a fraction of that.

About ten meters from the back wheel of the Ural, the rocket detonates with a huge crash and brilliant splash of flames. In the passenger seat of the chilly truck cab, Anneka can feel the warmth of the blast as well as hear the patter of shrapnel bouncing off of the vehicle.

Those looking left, away from the woodline, and back towards the pursuit force, can see the lead vehicle- clearly a BRDM-2- still moving north up the main road, albeit at a much slower pace. The left, front tire is shredding and smoldering but it rolls on, leading the other four trucks of the pursuit force.

Jason successfully reverses course and heads back towards the turn-off. As they near the towering smoke cloud, Mariusz fires a suppressive burst high into the smoke, hoping to at least deter the enemy convoy from continuing the chase. Five grenades leave the barrel and hurl towards where Mariusz hopes the enemy will be. Usually, the recoil of the Mk-19 is manageable, but this time, the bucking automatic grenade launcher seems to break loose from its mounting, almost landing in the startled young man's lap. The last round of the five-round burst flies well wide, detonating in full view off to the right, past the edge of the smoke cloud.

Those among the convoy looking back towards the pursuit force can see a ripple of four flashes around the armored car as the grenades from the Mk-19 nearly find their target.

As Jason turns right on to the track to pull in behind his friends, now several hundred meters ahead of him, both he and Mariuz taste the bitter, stinging bite of the CS gas. Their noses run and their eyes water and both can feel it in their lungs but, fortunately, it was very minor dose and neither man is incapacitated. Somewhat preoccupied, both Jason and Mariusz don't see the smashed crate of three 120mm rounds thrown from the tow-truck near the turn.

The BRDM, wounded and assailed, slows further as it nears the white cloud. The gun in its turret turns towards the fleeing vehicles and hammers out a series of parting shots. Large tracers follow the Ural, and at least two 14.5mm rounds tear into its left, rear tire, instantly tearing it apart.

Walter screams at Anneka, "I'm doing the best I can! Shit! I think we're hit!" He struggles with the wheel as it pulls to the left.

A few muzzle flashes flicker from the darkness under the woods to the north but the convoy is well out of effective small arms range and no harm is done. The firing quickly peters out as the frustrated ambushers realize that they are wasting ammunition. Similarly, the pursuit force remains disciplined and holds their fire. It is now stopped on the road, about 150 meters from the turn.

The party has avoided being ambushed and caught between two enemy forces. Furthermore they have increased their lead over their pursuers. On the other hand, the wounded Ural tow-truck is forced to slow down, cutting the group's speed to an agonizingly slow 25kmph.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:49, Sat 06 Dec 2008.

Dave twists in his seat. trying to swing the M240 to bear to the right at the incoming fire, but before he can twist around, the truck is past the point of origin. He shrugs to himslef, and faces forward again, concentrating on wathing forward.

"Kaptain, this is Mariusz," Mariusz called down the radio, "be advised, my vehicle's main weapon is now usless. From what I can see, the enemy armoured car is still going," he paused to look at the gun truck, "I can't see Dawid or Griet on their gun. Assume it's U/S at present. What are your orders?"

As he waited for a reply he tried to see what had happened to his fellow Poles on the gun truck.

Even doubled up in pain and trying to draw in enough breath to keep alive for a few more seconds, Griet could hear the roar of incoming fire. As she writhed and wretched, she rubbed her eyes to see if she could see Dawid.

Her vision cleared momentarily and she saw Dawid doubled up in agony too. Then the pain in her eyes redoubled and she retreated into her own personal world of misery.

In the back of her mind the mantra of hatred for the ones who had betrayed them continued, stupid Americans, not only did their sly little trick fail to stop their pursuit, it had incapacitated the one weapon capable of evening the fight out. She wondered how these impulsive morons had managed to become the leaders of the free world.

  "Roger that boss!  I'm on it now," Tucker replies back Bayer as he concentrates his full attention forward since they're now the lead vehicle.

Tucker continues to scan the areas to the front and sides sweeping the AGS-17 covering the firing arcs as he searches for targets.

Tucker
AGS-17
Scanning for targets/threats

"SHIT!" Jason yells as the grenade launcher's mount fails and the weapon falls into the sidecar.  "You OK, buddy?" he calls to Mariusz.  Then they pass by the fringe of the gas cloud and catch a bit of the CS.  "*koff* Damn! *koff, koff*"

Blinking his watery eyes in order to clear them, Jason continues following the column at a distance.  Once the wind of passage has blown the effects of the gas out of his eyes and he can see fairly clearly again, he speeds up and passes by the left of the trucks, giving the wavering Ural as wide a berth as possible without running off the side of the road.

Shrapnel bounced from metalwork and tore through canvas, driving home just how exposed and vulnerable the unarmoured truck really was. And then heavy machinegun fire ripped into the rear, somehow missing the hundreds of litres of flammable fuel and tearing apart one of the trucks heavy steelbelted tyres.
Biting back a number of harsh words in multple languages, Anneka nursed her growing collection of bruises and snatched up the radio handset.

"Sunray this is Starlight. Vehicle damaged and must abandon. Over."

Now it was up to others to arrange for the defence of the area while the fuel reserves and anything else they could scavenge quickly were transfered...

In reply to Griet Niewiadomska (msg #62):

Dawid hacked his lungs out, gasping curses.

"Stupid... motherfucking... cock-sucking... imbeciles..."

He tore off his helmet and balaclava, then washed his streaming eyes out with his canteen, trying to douse the flames.

"Griet... water... use it..."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:24, Sun 07 Dec 2008.