"It's probably from Lublin. I doubt the Czarny has gotten his hands on an operational helicopter, crew, and fuel for it. I hope I'm not wrong. Even if it's from Lublin, though, I'm not pleased that they are paying us this much attention. We shall see."

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #622):

Dawid glanced over at Mariusz and nodded his thanks, then concentrated on the man in front of him.

"Watch him, please."

He flicked the torch across the helicopter's fusilage, looking for Polish AF or army tactical insignia. It should be easy to see.

"I'm on it," Mariusz replied to Dawid and kept his eyes on the dismounted passenger. He looked at the person and smiled at them, keeping his rifle low but ready to use.

"Shhhh!" he hissed back from cover, not taking his eye from the high tech sight unit.
"There's smot. Talk later Tyr."

Tucker turns his head like a dog that heard a strange noise and wonders to himself, "What the fuck was that?  Talk to me later?  After a god damned bath maybe we'll talk!"

Robert stands by the new person as the others check out the copter and what/who it brings to the town.

"Gjemme eller du ville vekke oppmerksomhet, Tyr!"
Thor sounded a little upset, but it was hard to tell with his face buried into the Barret's sight.

Quyen collects her gear and makes her way out of the billet. She's last to arrive and not in any hurry. Favoring her good leg, she walks towards the landing site, keeping her attention on watching the team from potential harm which may come from the direction of the town.

After linking back up with the Hauptmann and Bishop, she waits in cover with them until something comes up and she's needed.

The stranger from the helicopter complies and lies down on the cold earth. He obviously understands Polish. The pilot does not move. David flashes his torch on the whirlibird and sees that it is clearly marked with the red and white checkerboard of the Soviet-allied Polish military. The pilot's slumped over in his seat, chin resting on his chest.

In accented Polish, the man on the ground yells,

"The pilot is wounded! She can't get out on her own. Please, we need help!"

The rotor blades continue to slow their spin. The engine noise has died down considerably.

On board the Krolowa, moored several hundred meters further east, Griet scans the skies for more aircraft. She sees none. A survey of the far shore also reveals nothing. Walter turns on the ship's powerful searchlight and sweeps the far shore as well. They see nothing out of the ordinary.

Next Moves?

Mariusz yelled out to Bayer and his group, "The pilot's wounded, cover the guy on the ground!"

He looked over at Dawid, "Do you want to cover me as I get her out or shall I cover you?"

In reply to Mariusz Tokarski (msg #634):

"Ï'll cover you while you check the pilot, if you please."

As he checked the man for weapons, he asked, "who are you, my friend, and why are you here?"

Checking over his shoulder at the guns that were trained on the helo, he moved to follow Mariusz while staying out of the line of fire.

"OK," Mariusz said. He lay his rifle gently on the ground, the big weapon would be unweildy in the close confines of the helicopter. Once he'd done that he went inside to see to the pilot, "Don't worry," he said, "you'll be safe her and we have a great medic, where are you hurt?"

   As he checked the man for weapons, he asked, "who are you, my friend, and why are you here?"

  In usable of not fluent Polish, the man responds. "The name is Coulter. Jared Coulter, Master Sergeant, U.S. Army.  The pilot is Irina.  As far as what we are doing here, that depends on where here is, I heard an American voice a minute ago if this is friendly lines then we were trying to get the hell out of Russia and back to friendly lines if there is any such thing left."

In reply to Jared Coulter (msg #637):

Dawid switched to English, trying to pronounce the man's unusual-sounding name (to him). He was a young man with short dark hair and spoke in fluent but Polish-accented English. He was wearing the newer-pattern Polish army fatigues with a UK-pattern Kevlar vest and Helmet.

"Jarr-red, JA-red, Ja-RED? Jared. Well, Jared, I am Dawid (pronounced "David"). That is Mariusz." He indicated the young man by the helo.

He stood up, having either found nothing or tossed away any weapons, then waved Tucker (or anyone) over for further assistance, cursing the fact he didn't have a radio.

"He's an American, one of yours! I believe. I'm going to help Mariusz, we have one wounded in the helicopter."

Dawid then continued to address the man, "Jared, please remain here on the ground. We shall see your friend gets medical attention as soon as possible. You are in luck! This town is behind Warsaw Pact lines but has been liberated by combined Free Polish and NATO forces."

If this was some crazy KGB gambit, this was likely information already known or would quickly become apparent. If not, hopefully the man would remain cooperative now that he knew he and his "friend" (probably girlfriend) was in friendly hands.

He went to cover Mariusz as he checked the pilot. "The man is American, but I think he said they flew here from Russia. I guess he means the Ukraine or Belarussia."

This wasn't out of the question, "Russia" itself was a relatively long ways away to the east but the Soviet Union started at the Belarussian and Ukrainian border much closer to the southwest (and an American could be expected to not really make a distinction) and for all he knew it was within range of the W-3 Sokol. There was aircraft fuel stockpiled there so while the story was unlikely, it wasn't impossible.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:24, Mon 22 Feb 2010.

Anneka stayed under cover, too far to really see what was going on in the predawn gloom. Frustrated, she retrieved the image intensifers from her pack and tried to make out exactly what was happening...

Craig watched the exchange between the Polish guys and the people from the helicopter through his scope. Unable to hear what they are saying he moves the scope back onto the helicopter pilot.

Everyone seem to be complying with the orders they where given, maybe they really are just fleeing from somewhere.

Dawid seemed to have the situation under control and there had been a yell about the need for a medic.  After looking around and not spotting Anneka, Jan realised that he was the closest thing to a medic nearby.

"Merde!" he muttered to himself before starting to move from his defensive position.  "Someone go and tell Anneka that we may have another patient for her.  I'm going to see if I can help."

He wasn't convinced that his help would be significant though.

Keeping his rifle ready in case something untoward happened Jan then moved to the helicopter at a brisk walk, intending to provide what medical help he could.

  For the man searching Coulter, it would seem like something from an old Mad Max movie, if he could even find all of the weapons. Coulter complies with the orders for now, as long as Irina gets medical attention.  Standing Coulter is around 6 feet. He's lost weight and is down to around 180 poounds even with the not so good diet and the running and gunning he is still in excellent shape.
  Dressed in a mismash of uniforms, Russian Spetznaz pants, US gortex jacket, inthe search the man had found one of his berets.

Dawid, Mariusz, and Jan arrive at the helicopter. A woman wearing assorted items of camoflage military clothing an a bulky, white-painted helicopter pilot's helmet sits slumped in the pilot's seat. The front of her fatigue blouse is dark and heavy with blood. The iron scent of it mingles with the smell of fuel exhaust and hydraulic fluid.

The woman is removed and carried towards the town. Coulter is escorted after, under guard.

The women is delivered to the hospital. Jan and Anneka have a look. Two neat bullet holes adorn her midsection. There are no exit wounds. She's bled quite a bit but no arteries appear to have been severed. Exploratory surgery is required immediately. Anneka begins preparations to operate.

Coulter explains that he and his companion, a Beleorussian "Freedom Fighter", hijacked the helicopter in Lublin, after making their way into Poland from western Russia via Beleorussia. During takeoff from the army airfield outside of Lublin, the helicopter was hit by groundfire and Irena was wounded. They made it this far in the dark and saw lights. It was fortunate for them because the fuel empty light had been flashing at them for two minutes and the engine was starting to lose power.

While Irena receives medical attention and Coulter is debriefed, the helicopter is examined in the early morning sunlight. It's pretty old and has seen much hard use. Several bullet holes mar the fading camouflage paint of the exterior, including two right over where the main fuel tank is located. Damp streaks of run down the side of the fuselage and away from the bullet holes. There are also holes in the lower section of the nose near the pilot's seat, confirming part of Coulter's story.

Next Moves?

The Bishop looks somewhat perturbed as Coulter's tale is related to him,

"We need to do something about this helicopter. If the Lublin army come looking for it and find it here, there could be trouble."

Dawid told Jared, "rest assured, your friend is going into surgery. I don't know her condition. We will do the best for her. We're also going to hold onto your weapons for now, until we determine you aren't a security risk. Kapitan Bayer is in command of this, ah, somewhat irregular unit, although Major Solleblum, our surgeon, is of higher rank. When we're done here, you may report to the Kapitan."

He went over the man's story again, looking for details about Lublin and other things that might trip him up. After he was satisfied, he said, "Jared, that's quite a story. You must want something to eat, yes? We have spare fatigues if you want to dress like your NATO comrades, get you out of those Desantnik pants! What is the significance of your beret colour?"

By this time, Dawid can swapped his Kevlar helmet for a green beret with silver Eagle badge. (Assuming his story hangs together) Dawid then had Jared wait while reported to Bayer and passed along all relevant information.

  Pausing a moment to consider his answer, well things were not exactly as anyone woul dhave pictured when their operation started so likely no harm, Holding up the Beret, he thought to the time years before when he donned it for the first time, a tired smile crossed his weatherd face, that badly needed a shave as his skin itched under a heavy coating of whiskers.  "In the United States army the green beret signifies a soldier who is trained and assigned to a Special Forces group, in my case it was the 5th Special Forces group and later ...another..lets say 'specialized' unit down the road from where we were based.  I was the team sergeant of a twelve man teamm, now Irina and I are all that's left of the Taskforce the went in right before the bombs dropped, now all I want to do is get back to the States if I can, and maybe kill the son of a bitch who decided not to allow our exfil, if he's still alive".
  though he is still not sure of thier safety, Coulter figures this is the only game in town for now so to speak, and though he cannot really trust anyone...or anyone except Irina, he had not been mistreated and they were being cautious with good cause in a world turned upside down and inside out.  As the stress started to abate Coulter could feel the dull ache of exaustion seeping in.
  "Lets go see your Captain, aferwards if someone could point me towards a shower, a razor, and the fresh uniform you spoke about".

Once the new comers have been secured Craig moves down the join the group by the helicopter. It had been a long time since he had seen one operable so he takes his time looking around the interior.

At the Bishops prompting Craig asks if he has a place where they could store the helicopter. If not he will ask if they have some camo netting or a large green tarp and some long stakes or cut saplings. If the village does he will begin camouflaging the helicopter. He will drape the netting or tarp and use the stakes to break up the shape of the aircraft underneath. He will concentrate on camouflaging the helicopter from airborne observation.

In reply to Jared Coulter (msg #646):

Dawid nodded when Jared explained his beret, as if he already knew the answer and wanted to know if Jared was going to give the correct answer.

"Ah, thanks! That explains it. If you wish to return home to America, there is some kind of evacuation planned for your forces in the near future. Other Americans were needing to get to Warszawa to make some kind of connection, I figure the Soviets aren't goint to stop this even if they knew about it, as it's in their interest to see the backsides of the Americans in Europe as soon as possible! But we and the people of Poland need your help in freeing Warszawa from the clutches of a warlord called "The Black Baron". And your friend will need time to heal."

"I'll leave you with the Kapitan now, and attend to your requests for a hotbath, although we do have a hot shower as well. You may borrow my razor. Anything else?"

When Bayer asks to have Jared let in, he retires to arrange for some food, hot water, and a worn but patched set of US BDUs.

  "Thanks, where do I find this hauptman you spoke of?"

In reply to Jared Coulter (msg #649):

Dawid poinetd him in the correct direction. "Your size? I'll see what we have. Also, anything other than your small arms? We've been seeing some armour lately and could use some rockets."