Quyen hangs on, clutching the RPG and her rifle. Over the excitement she had forgotten how cold she was. She wondered if everyone was ok, but kept her mouth shut about the events in the squad carrier.

Mariusz blinked the tears away and coughed harshly, "Balls still intact, thanks. The gun's mount is broken though, I'm calling it in in more detail, get us level with the Honker if you can."

"Kaptain," he said on the radio, "the weapon appears intact, only the mounting is U/S. We can use it if we dismount." he checked the gun truck again, "Dawid is trying to wash his face, I still can't see Griet. We're going to pull up parrallel to you. Is that OK?"

Bayer replies to Anneka into the radio, "Sunray, roger. Keep moving until we find cover to inspect the damage and setup a tank hunting party for security. Out."

Looking back towards the rest of the team's vehicles and says, "Roger Mariusz. She didn't fall off did she?" After he said it he wondered if she could have been hit instead, but he left his question as it was.

Aloud he asks, "Where's the heavy tripod?"

Then banging on the cab again to get the driver's attention, he says, "Jan, find us some cover and pull over. Like trees or a farm."

"I didn't see her on the road, Sir, but my eyes were smarting from the gas, must have been an interesting SNAFU, there." he said, mistaking gas grenades for smoke was pretty amateur after all, "I'll pull up by the guntruck and see if she's hiding somewhere. If not, do I have permission to go back and look for her?"

Jan shouts over the sound of the Honker's engine and the crunch of the gravel under its tires.

"It looks like the road curves to the right up ahead! We'll be headed into the woods soon!"

(NPCed)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:21, Sun 07 Dec 2008.

"Keep it going Walter," Anneka said calmly to the Pole behind the wheel, glad the darkness hid her deeply furrowed brow from view.
"You're doing great, just a bit further."
The slow progress greatly concerned her, if they didn't pick up speed soon, somehow, the enemy were certain to catch up.
Once again she lent out the window, this time not to seek their pursuers but in an attempt to see just how much damage to trucks suspension had suffered.

October 12, 2000
0430 hrs.
40F
Scattered clouds; full moon
Approximately 8km southwest of Kozienice

The convoy continues down the crushed-rock road, following it as it curves towards the northwest. The road appears to be intended for touring. Seemingly without purpose, it winds its way through copses of bare-limbed trees, around small hills, past a quaint little pond, and over a stream by way of a picturesque stone bridge. Mariusz recognizes this as part of the system of national "wilderness" parks which more or less surround the small city of Kozienice.

When last anyone saw the pursuit force, it was stopped south of the road turn off. Men were struggling to replace the tire of the armored scout car. The lingering cloud of tear gas and colored smoke seemed to be making their task more difficult, buying the party more time.

As the western sky grows brighter, the party enters the wood proper. The trees here grow thicker but there is very little underbrush. Visibility with NVGs is good and the sun will be up in a couple of hours or so. The road continues north-northwest and will likely bypass Kozienice to its west.

Up ahead, off the track to the right and down a small path is a small, solitary cottage. It is the only man-made structure anyone has seen since Zwolen. A small eastern-european car is parked beside it. Various other odds and ends in the "yard" suggest that the cottage is currently occupied although there are no obvious signs of life.

Both Dawid and Griet are recovering their sight and the retching has stopped. It is easier now to breath, but still uncomfortable.

Actions?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:56, Wed 24 Dec 2008.

Tucker maintains his watch at the front of the convoy as it crosses the stone bridge and approaching the small cottage with a car parked out in front of it.  He keys his mike for the radio, "Knife, all radio units.  We got a structure and a small civilian vehicle ahead of us.  Possibly occupied.  Copy?" Robert swings the AGS-17 to cover the cottage and vehicle as the convoy approaches.

Tucker
AGS-17
Squad Carrier covering cottage and vehicle

Bayer bangs on the cab for Jan to stop. He then climbs over the tailgate and jumps down.

"McCoy, Tucker, Ondar... check the home. Don't kick the door in yet."

"Drivers... inspect your vehicles and report in 5 minutes. Jason, get your ride outfitted with a new weapon."

"Quyen, Mariusz, Milk... go back down the road and setup an OP."

"Doctor... check on the flak gunners, Dawid and Griet."

"Stoner... help where you can."

Bayer loads an HEDP round into his HK69. He'll then collect one of the disposable RPGs and wait around the vehicles. In less than three minutes he figured they'd know their next move - stay and ambush, or leave without the damaged truck.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:26, Tue 09 Dec 2008.

Anneka sprang from the cabin like a coiled spring, leaving the RPK-74 behind and only taking her medical bag. Glancing at the rear of the Kt-I as she passed, she was soon attending to Griet, Dawid and Adam.

"Looks like some idiot gassed you but fortunately you'll all be ok."

Until that moment she hadn't known the cloud was anything more than smoke. Now she was begining to have suspicions that perhaps there was another traitor in their midst - why else would gas have been used to eliminate their most potent defensive weapon?
Of course it could have been purely incompetence, but after Maddock's recent exposure as an enemy agent and Hicks before that, it seemed rather unlikely.

"Is the weapon ok?"

Although occupied with calming Walter while they were underfire, she had noted the short burst of fire from the ZU. There were only two reasons why Dawid would have ceased firing before the targets were destroyed - he'd been overcome by the gas at the first sniff, or the weapon itself had failed somehow.

"Odnar take rear man if you please? Tucker take cover man if you please? I will take entry."

Sam slings his rifle to his back and draws the trust H&K Pistol.
Sam also hands his RPG-18 to Konrad.

"On you mark Hauptman we will enter. Tucker I will take the right and the corner then shift to middle. You do the same but on the left. Odnar you come in get out of the funnel and take left center! this good guys???"

Sam
Stacking Up!
H&K
This message was last edited by the player at 05:02, Tue 09 Dec 2008.

Ondar crawls out of the Honker and looks to Milk.

"Let me guess," he shrugs, "Still no pistol?"

The deserter shoulders his rifle and moves out.  He quietly circles around to the north side of the structure, looking for any signs of life or recent occupancy.



[Ondar]
North of the cottage
SVU-AS (10/10)
Sweeping the area

In reply to Anneka Soleblume (msg #76):

Eyes still streaming freely, Dawid blew out strings of mucus from his nose.

"Ah... how pleasant."

He wiped his face on a clean cloth that Anneka passed to him. With some effort he gathered his thoughts.

"The gun? Got a few nice hits on the lead vehicle. Don't know if it stopped or not. Piece of shit gun jammed. I'll have a look at it later. Then some fucker let off riot gas and.... Fuck. Could have been a canister launched from one of our pursers, I suppose."

"Still, we are alive, always a commendable state! No rest for the wicked."

Mustering a weak chuckle he looked around, noted the figures moving towards the farmhouse. He raised his eyebrows quizzically, but said nothing. If the people there weren't halfway to Poznań by now, they certainly wouldn't open the door for love nor money.

As the effects of the gas had primarily worn off, through sheer force of will Dawid got his ass in gear moved down the line of vehicles, visually checking to see what was going on, if there was damage. Curious about the condition of the mortar he looked at the bullet holes and shredded tires on the Ural and clucked disappointedly at the lost mortar shells, then quickly moved on to the sheared bracket on the Motorcycle. He smiled and shook his head, but didn't say anything.

With a grunt he lifted the Mk. 19 to his shoulder and staggered back to the Kazan.

Wheezing as he reached the truck he put the Mk. 19 in the back. Then grabbed the RPK-74 and ammo pouches, transferring them to the motorcycle. On his way back to the Kazan he pulled the mount for the Mk. 19 to set up the grenade launcher to fire to the rear.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:00, Wed 10 Dec 2008.

"Hey man, lets go." Quyen says to Mariusz in the darkness. "I've got a RPG here and a reload." Letting Mariusz and Milk take the lead, Quyen follows behind with the launcher resting on her shoulder.

"OK," Mariusz agreed, he unslung his G3 and trotted forward, using the night vision goggles he still wore to search out a suitable OP.

Griet finally managed to breath again when the gun truck rumbled to a halt. She looked up and saw the vomit coating her jacket and felt the cold wetness in her pants. She couldn't smell anything yet. That, she decided, was probably a good thing.

She looked in her pack and brought out the last of her clothes, there wasn't much left now after getting through her second set of the night. All that was left was her PT kit and an old navy sweater. She stripped off her soiled clothing and shivered violently as she put on the running shorts and T-shirt. The man's sweater came nearly to her knees and she hitched it up slightly with her combat webbing, she spent a few moments scraping the last vestiges of sick from her webbing and then pulled her boots back on.

She looked around blearily and saw Dawid moving off to inspect the other vehicles. She turned around and checked her AKSU, she rested it on her lap and waited for her vision to clear some more. The Americans obviously thought she was expendable so stuff their vehicles.

She blinked more tears away and hugged herself, trying to ease the horrible ache of her ribs and chest. She was tired, gassed and bitter and reaching the limits of her mental endurance, her physical limits had been reached so long ago that she couldn't remember when she'd last felt rested.

As she saw Anneka approaching she said snappily, "Do you have any idea who's brilliant plan it was to gas us?"

Tucker hops down from the squad carrier and draws his Browning HP from it's holster on his MOLLE rig.  "On it boss," Robert moves away from the vehicle and advances towards the structure with Sam and Ondar.

Setting himself to the left of the door opposite Sam. He nods to Sam that he understands his orders and brings his Browning pistol to a low-ready keeping the safety on just until before he enters behind Sam.

Tucker
Browniung HP [13/13]
Stacking at door {left side entry}

Jason examines the weapon mount on the sidecar.  If the damage is limited to whatever addition Hicks had made, he might be able remove said addition, leaving the original mount able to support a smaller weapon as designed.  If, however, the original mount is damaged as well, someone with more skill as a machinist than he would have to see about fixing it.

Hearing Dawid wheezing as he takes the Mk-19, Jason says, "Sounds like you caught more of that tear gas than I did.  You feeling okay?  How's everybody else?"

The look of disgust on her face showed she shared Griets anger.
"Had to be somebody in the Honker. I'll have a word with the Hauptman as soon as I can."

She mentally ran down the list of possibilities. Her first choice was Ondar, the Russian, but he'd been thoughly searched and nothing of the sort found on him.
Jan was also high up on the list, but as he'd been busy driving at the time and as he didn't possess a couple of extra hands (though some ladies might disagree), she felt confident she could rule him out.
Stoner for some reason she trusted implictly. He'd done far more than was required of him to keep them all safe, risking his own life in the freezing water to destroy the tank back on the river.

Likewise Tucker seemed an unlikely candidate. As one of the few original members of the unit, he'd had plenty of opportunities to betray them all. His performance at critical times however had shown him to be trustworthy.
Milk had Reset to keep safe so she could eliminate him and Minh, like Tucker, had proven herself time and again.

That left just McCoy, the surly sniper so very recently come into their company (but vouched for by Milk) and Hauptman Bayer himself.
A week ago she'd have considered him a prime candidate. The only people following the honker were four Poles and a Jew and it was common knowledge there was no love lost between them and Germans, but his actions and leadership indicated that was perhaps a view held by his grandparents generation. Bayer himself seemed fair minded and compassionate, not to mention aware of just how much the unit as a whole needed the skills of those gassed...

"You'd better get my spare trousers from my pack. They'll probably be a bit short, but have to be better than those things."
Gym clothes were all well and good in the summer, but with snow falling regularly Griet would soon be suffering from exposure.
"Your blanket or sleeping bag should help too once we're moving again."

" Hauptmann Did the pole boy tell us this was hostile or good guy area...what I 'm try to get to is do you want me too do a knock and talk or a kick a clear here on this house."

"what do you want me too do"


Sam
H&K
Talking
This message was last edited by the player at 06:52, Wed 10 Dec 2008.

Bayer wanders over a few meters towards the house. "No. He didn't." he replies to McCoy. "See if there is a response... if anyone is home. If not, then try the door and go in." He was mostly concerned about any potential threat that may be inside while the group sorted themselves and the vehicles out - without kicking in the door and forcing a frightened civilian (if it wasn't abandoned) into a shootout.

"Going in Hauptmann.... Ok Team Here we go."

In Polish sam in a calm voice calls out from the side of the house; not in front of the door.

" We come in peace...we are hurt and need help. We will trade for your help."

Sam will say this three times and await a response.....




Sam
H&K
Talking
This message was last edited by the player at 06:53, Wed 10 Dec 2008.

Seeing Bayer and company were occupied and thinking that wasn't such a bad thing, Dawid hopped up into the cab of the idling Kazan.

Making sure Adam wasn't beneath the undercarriage, he engaged the clutch and put it into gear, carefully moving it up beside the Ural to more easily transfer weapons and gear.

Getting out he asked Adam and Walter to assist him in moving the mortar, ammunition and other supplies from the Ural to the Kazan. It should be easy to accomplish, as the beds were more or less even, and the side panels of the KAZAN folded down for easier access.

"Adam, Walter, please help me transfer over everything we can."

He then got Anneka and Griet, speaking earnestly.

"Major, Griet, if you please, transfer the fuel from the Ural's tank to the trailer. We have little time, so let's make the best use of it."

He gave them a length of hose, explaining how to steal gas, if they didn't already know how. The then climbed up on he Ural's tailgate to begin transferring over the mortar tube, bipod, base and carriage.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Wed 10 Dec 2008.

Her medical duties complete, Anneka nodded acknowledgement to Dawid and proceeded with draining the Urals tank back into the trailer. Although it was unlikely they'd be able to get it all, every litre they salvaged was another half mile down the road.
"We'll hook the trailer behind the gun truck I think."
It only made sense since the T-H was far more likely to get in harm way.

In reply to Anneka Soleblume (msg #90):

"Thank you, Major. Also, perhaps see if you can rig a quick-release we can pull from inside the bed? If we leave the trailer behind and then shoot it with the grenade launcher or incendiary rounds or a rocket..."

Dawid gave her a feral grin, then looked over at Griet, noticing how fagged-out she seemed.

"My friend, have strength. I think we Poles have suffered more than others in this war we didn't start, yet somehow we must all find the strength to carry on, to fight. Never surrender, even if it's only to yourself, yes? Do it for your father and mother, do it for the freedom of the people of Warszawa or the people of Poland, even do it so that Mariusz grows up with a book in his hand, and not a gun. Whatever works, just do it, because in the end that's all we can do."

He clapped her on the shoulder, then when he hopped up in the bed of the truck tossed down his spare pair of fatigue pants to put on over her shorts. "Here, wear these in good health!"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:17, Wed 10 Dec 2008.