As Jeff makes the call into the back of the Zil to try and get anyone left alive to surrender so they don't get shot anymore, Tucker goes to the other side of the truck and unlocks the tail gate and then brings his pistol up to bear in case there is still some fight left in whoever is alive.

TUCKER
Browning HP-35 [13/13] SAFETY 'OFF'
M-16A2 [30/30] / M-203 [BUCK SHOT] - {SAFE/SLUNG BACK Rt. Side)}
H&K SOCOM Pistol [12/12] (Holstered) {[1] Full 12 round / [1] 10/12 Round mag}
Slung Romanian AK-74 [30/30]
Holstered (Vest) Browning HP-35 [13/13]

Salvaged Gear:
*Claymore Mine & Pouch    2.0
Mag Bandoleer [6 MAG 30] 3.0  {5x30, 1x22/30}
5 L. Canteen             5.0
Lg Alice Pack
[16] AK-74 Mags
[2] empty 5.56 MAG 30 in outer ruck pouch

[1] M-16 mag (BDU Pocket [18/30])

*NOTE: Claymore given to Sutherland (remove upon use)

Clearing the Zil

This message was last edited by the player at 02:58, Thu 23 Dec 2010.

After re-positioning himself, Dieter scanned the building opposite again, as well as the road next to it. Seeing no obvious targets, he keyed his radio, "Thunder-2 to all units, no sign of enemy activity in the building under Tornado-2. I think those fleeing may have escaped, but cannot confirm yet. Suggest we finish up and get moving quickly before we have more visitors. Out."

Once done with the radio, he continued to scan for movement opposite.

Dieter Brandt
Security 1
Prone, using the radio and looking for targets
SVU-AS Sniper Rifle (Bipod, 4X PSO-1 telescopic sight) - 10/10

It seemed like the remaining enemy had, rather sensibly, fled.  It would have been better to have killed them all but they hadn’t taken any casualties so their ambush of the relief convoy seemed to have gone well so far.

Dawid was busy underneath the BTR so Jan reported in to Konrad.

“Hailstorm One.  Lightning Three,” Jan transmitted in English across the radio.  “No more fire coming from the enemy who fled to the lower level of Tornado Two’s position.  Do you want us to continue with suppressive fire?”

Jan then kept watch himself, ready to engage with an aimed shot from his Steyr if it was necessary.


Jan
Reporting in and then continuing to scan the lower level of the building for a target and firing an aimed shot at them if he sees someone
F88 Steyr AUG (26/30 rounds - 7 mags total) - held
 - Underslung M203 (0/1 - 8x HE, 3x HEDP & 2x ILLUM total)
AKS-74 (10 mags total) - slung on shoulder
Frag Grenade x4
Sig Sauer P226 (10/15 rounds - 4 mags total) - holster

Assault & HQ

As Craig and Tucker open the Zil's tailgate and let it drop, Warren hops up on one of the side tires and sweeps the truck bed with his pistol. Five men lie in pools of blood inside. Three of them appear dead. The other two are wounded but alive. They both appear to have been limb shot and their puffy eyes and snot-covered faces suggest that they are still suffering the effects of the CS gas. Warren calmly puts two rounds into each of their upper chests, killing them. Blood drips from the now open tailgate. (Warren -4 pistol rounds)

The HQ element moves up. Konrad, Monika, and Minh spot an enemy soldier who appears to be hiding beneath the truck, behind the rear tires on its left side. He's curled up into a fetal position and doesn't respond to verbal commands. Craig reaches underneath the truck and drags the man out by his boots. He's either dead or on the verge. Before the matter of what to do with the badly wounded man is even brought up, Warren walks over and casually shoots the man in the head. (Warren -1 pistol round)

Monika recognizes several of the dead men lying aroud on the pavement beside the truck. They're irregulars, decent fellows most of them. They must have been on their way back to barracks from the Crab outpost.

There's still no fire coming from the building across the street.

At first glance, the Truck looks OK, but upon closer inspection, it's clear that it's taken some significant damage. The front, right tire hit the guardrail pretty hard and it's now flat and canted at an angle that suggests damage to the front axle. The tires on the left side have all been flattened by gunfire, probably from the SG-43. There's a dead man in the cab's passenger seat and blood on the driver's empty seat.

Security 1

Dieter and Mariusz continue to observe the target building. Neither see any sign of living enemy.

Support

Jan, Vita and the rest of her squad keep a close eye on the target building. There's been no enemy fire for the last couple of minutes. It's looking likely that the enemy have withdrawn deeper into the ruined factory.

Dawid realizes that the BTR-70 is probably also beyond salvaging. Most of both of its front pairs of road wheels are hanging in mid air above the recoilless rifle pit. It's nose is wedged against the front of the T-86 and one of the rear tires on the left side has been shredded by a direct hit from a .50 caliber round.  Its turret is completely burned out, depriving it of any teeth. Right now, it looks like it's destined to remain a tomb for six Black Guardsmen.

Security 2

Thor waits for the guns outside to stop pounding the room beneath him before he ventures down the stairs. Stepping over the man he grenaded, he emerges into the downstairs room. A man sits propped up against the wall in a slick of dark red blood next to the stairwell entrace. His left arm is nearly severed just above the elbow. His face is a ghostly white and his eyes stare unblinking at the shredded boot where the toes of his left foot used to be. There's a doorway leading south into the buidling. Aside from a few feeble rays filtering down from the rapidly setting sun, the large room on the other side is fairly dark and appears to offer lots of great hiding places.

ALL

At the moment, it looks like the fight is over. It lasted just under ten minutes. At least 28 enemy lie dead, most of them around the Zil. Six of the dead are in the Zil, seven right beside it, and four in the road between the truck and Thor's building. Thor will soon report three more dead inside the building itself. At the BTR, there are eight more enemy dead. 2-3 enemy from the truck have probably managed to escape. The routine outpost relief operation has turned into massacre for the Baron's steadily dimishing forces.

The sun is dropping below the western horizon and it will be dark soon. With the return of darkness comes the cold, forgotten for much of the afternoon.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Thu 23 Dec 2010.

Once Warren dispatches the injured men in and around the Zil, Tucker holsters his Browning HP and then moves up to the driver's side and pulls the dead operator out of the cab and to the ground.  Once he gets him to the ground, he takes a look inside the drivers compartment for anything of use that may be worth taking.  He looks for any packs or maps that might help with some Intel or to carry some of this stuff out of here.

He looks around outside the cab and notices that the sun is starting to go down and the cold starting to start back even more.  He kneels down and begins to search the corpse for anything useful and put it off to the side  and shrugs his pack off with the loot.

TUCKER
Browning HP-35 [13/13] SAFETY 'ON' Cocked & locked
M-16A2 [30/30] / M-203 [BUCK SHOT] - {SAFE/SLUNG BACK Rt. Side)}
H&K SOCOM Pistol [12/12] (Holstered) {[1] Full 12 round / [1] 10/12 Round mag}
Slung Romanian AK-74 [30/30]
Holstered (Vest) Browning HP-35 [13/13]

Salvaged Gear:
*Claymore Mine & Pouch    2.0
Mag Bandoleer [6 MAG 30] 3.0  {5x30, 1x22/30}
5 L. Canteen             5.0
Lg Alice Pack
[16] AK-74 Mags
[2] empty 5.56 MAG 30 in outer ruck pouch

[1] M-16 mag (BDU Pocket [18/30])

*NOTE: Claymore given to Sutherland (remove upon use)
Searching cab of the ZIL and then the body of the dead driver

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #556):

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Everyone, conserve ammunition. Piotr, get back on the radio."

He checked out the BTR, wondering if they could salvage it. Probably not, but the engines were in the rear and so they might be able to back it out of the pit. Or they might be able to use the truck, too. A single shredded tyre from eight was of little consequence, there might even be a spare. Nothing else seemed to be very critical, nothing in the front suspension should have been damaged from a front collision as the front wheels were protected by the protruding nose. The burned-out turret wasn't a problem, it's unlikely any fire would have been hot enough to melt heavy-gauge steel and they might even be able to replace the gun.

Being something of a mechanic, Dawid checked for further damage and if he could stop anything from leaking.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:19, Fri 24 Dec 2010.

As he prepares to move forward to the opening in the factory wall, Craig keeps watch on the northern approach. Once the order is given he will move with his AK at his shoulder, he is also aware that Thor is in the building.

Once the all clear is given he will begin to search the dead starting with the enemy furthest away from the Zil. He is looking for ammo, intel and 40mmR grenades.

Assault Team
Covering North, moving towards the factory
This message was last edited by the player at 23:27, Thu 23 Dec 2010.

Quyen moves forward and helps check the bodies for any survivors who are still clinging to life or playing dead. While respecting Warren's no-nonsense 9mm answer, she'll conserve ammo and employ the bayonet attached to the end of her rifle on any likely candidates.

After her section the of the kill zone has been checked, she'll report, "Tuck. Good here."

The fight seemed to be over. Dieter looked down on the gore-soaked mess that the relief convoy had become. Hardly a fair fight, but it looked liked his team had come out unscathed, at least physically.

He picked himself up and went back over to Mariusz. "Good work," he said simply. "Give me the PSG. I will stay here for a while, you go and help search the bodies. Look for the usual - packs, food, ammo."

With that Dieter looked back around to survey the surroundings. He wasn't sure how long it would take for the enemy to regroup and send trouble their way again, but they needed to be gone before then. They were in no fit state to fight another battle today, especially against an enemy who knew they were there, and were looking for revenge.

Toggling his radio, he said, "Thunder-2 to all units, no further sign of movement, for now. Lightning-2 coming down to help with the clean up. I will stay here. Out."

He settled into a comfortable position and readied his rifle and image intensifiers to scour the area for signs of movement. As he did so he checked the PSG and reloaded it to make sure it was ready if needed.

OOC - Rae/Mariusz - how much ammo did you use on the PSG?

"Good Minh.  Unless you have other orders, set us up some security while we get this out of the way.  The one's that got away might try and do something heroic and circle back on us."

   The battle being over for the moment, Monika shrugs into her pack and goes out to help scavenge weapons, ammo, and supplies.  She keeps her pistol st the ready though... just in case.

With no return fire coming from the far building, Bayer is satisfied with the spec fire coming up empty. He toggles the transmit switch and replies, "Sunray. Negative. Deliberate fire only. Watch for Assault moving across kill zone. Keep support in place at this time. Over."

Bayer then calls forward to Tucker, "Robert. Sawicki, and Mariusz when he gets here, will be augmented to your Assault. Make use of them."

"Send two into the building and and help extract the Norwegian. Three more to collect ammo, weapons, and provisions... in that order.  Remainder on security."

Bayer then curses at the sight of the truck. After all the effort put into keeping it alive, he thinks. As Tuck begins to organize Assault, he depresses the transmit switch again and says, "Five minutes notice to move."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:32, Fri 24 Dec 2010.

Mariusz moved as quickly as he could to get to the bodies and pick them over for loot. He knew that they didn't have long and that all they had to look forward to was another long chase, especially as the main reason for the ambush, getting a vehicle to help them break contact, had evades them.

He concentrated on finding food and winter gear, they were going to need it in preparation for another night's long chase.

While Konrad and Tucker organize an assault team to cross the highway and enter the factory in which Thor narrowly avoided making his last stand, folks take some time to do a little scrounging in and around the damaged Zil.

Among the dead on the pavement beside the truck, Craig finds an enemy grenadier. In a makeshift harness, the man is carrying 8 40mm S HE grenades. This more than makes up for the grenades Craig and Mariusz fired during the engagment.

After searching his pockets (he finds a pack of Russian cigarrettes) and shoving the dead shotgun rider out of the Zil's cab, Tucker uncovers a map case full of papers. He can't read that much Polish but the find looks to be potentially valuable source of intel.

In the bed of the truck, slick with blood, Mariusz comes across a couple of ration bags. Inside, there are a couple [each] of cans of fish and vegetables, as well as several loaves of hard, black bread. A couple of the loaves have been tainted by blood. He also finds a large soup tin filled with what smells like potato soup, and two tall thermoses, one filled with ersatz coffee and the other with beer. Mariusz also finds a few bed rolls, each containing a blanket and a waterproof groundsheet or poncho. A couple of the blankets have soaked up a little blood already. The dead troops are fairly well equiped for the cold, but their cold weather clothing is now much perforated and covered in blood.

Monika helps liberate the weapons and ammunition from the enemy dead. In the immediate vicinity of the truck, the party recovers four AKMs, one SKS, one Uzi, one RPK-47, one RPK-74, and five AK-74/Wz88 Tantals, one of which is equipped with a BG-15 grenade launcher, each with a full magazine still in the gun. It will take a while longer to strip the dead of their additional ammunition.

In the gaping hole in the wall in the north-facing wall of the building across the street, Thor appears, waving at the group near the truck. Then, he disappears back inside the building to do a little scrounging of his own. He comes up with one Tantal (downstairs) and one AKS-74U (upstairs) and one hand grenade.

Meanwhile, at the Spider, Dawid conducts a brief inspection of the underside of the BTR-70. The liquid dripping into the recoilless rifle pit is probably hydraulic or brake fluid. He can't find the source of the leak, though. It's quite possible that the BTR will still run. The interior is a bloody, soot-stained mess and the turret, is now basically little more than a chimney, but the engine may be intact. Dawid climbs out of the hole and starts to inspect the engine compartment. He immediately notices a .5" hole in the hull over the engine area. He opens the engine hatch and looks inside. At first glance, the engine looks OK. Upon further inspection, he finds some minor damage to the radiator's coolant tank. It's punctured and just about dry but it could be patched and refilled. There's a gouge in the left engine block but it's more cosmetic than functional damage.

Jan, Vita, and the rest of her squad provide overwatch for the others as they scrounge and secure their objectives.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:45, Mon 27 Dec 2010.

Tucker takes one of the Russian smokes out of the pack and puts it into his mouth, lights it, and then puts the remainder of the pack into one of his pockets or pouches on his person.  When he gets to the map case, Robert tries to look through the papers to see if there is anything of use and then cals for Konrad to come over and hand it over to him, "Boss!  Possible Intel here!"

If that's the only thing that Tucker finds, he looks to Konrad and tells him, "I'm going to go and give Thor a hand so we can get this moving a bit."  Tuck will then move out with his Browning HP out again and move into the building Thor was/is occupying and tries to help him clear it.  He will call out loudly before entering the area, "THOR!  IT'S TUCKER.  COMIN' IN TO HELP YOU.  WHERE ARE YOU?"

TUCKER
Browning HP-35 [13/13] SAFETY 'OFF' Cocked & locked {READY WEAPON}
M-16A2 [30/30] / M-203 [BUCK SHOT] - {SAFE/SLUNG BACK Rt. Side)}
H&K SOCOM Pistol [12/12] (Holstered) {[1] Full 12 round / [1] 10/12 Round mag}
Slung Romanian AK-74 [30/30]

Salvaged Gear:
*Claymore Mine & Pouch    2.0
Mag Bandoleer [6 MAG 30] 3.0  {5x30, 1x22/30}
5 L. Canteen             5.0
Lg Alice Pack
[16] AK-74 Mags
[2] empty 5.56 MAG 30 in outer ruck pouch

[1] M-16 mag (BDU Pocket [18/30])

*NOTE: Claymore given to Sutherland (remove upon use)

This message was last edited by the player at 20:13, Mon 27 Dec 2010.

Mariusz struggled to grab all of the food and bedding that he could and then headed over to the Command Group. He looked at Bayer and said, "There's maybe enough food for one decent meal here, but I think we should try to put some distance between us and here before we rest, the Baron's forces won't be much longer in reacting."

"We're leaving in less than 3 minutes." Bayer relies. "You'll be in the lead again."



Bayer nods and takes the papers and stuffs them down into one of his parka's pockets for later. Then toggling his radio his says, "Prepare to move. Whatever is not taken in another minute, is left behind."

   Monika make a quick toss of the thug who had the grenade launcher to try to locate any more grenades, then staggered under her share of the load of loaded rifles and sub guns as she helped to take them to the Captain.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Tue 28 Dec 2010.

Good, Dawid thought one engine might be intact. The BTR-70 had twin engines and frequently had to run on one when it needed to. If one was undamaged it might be able to still run, albeit slowly. Favouring his hand, he stood up on the engine compartment and called out.

"Monika, anyone hurt? We all okay? Once that's done, start gathering what you can from the outpost."

"Jan, keep an eye to the south. Make sure those cocksuckers don't come back."

"Piotr, what's the status on the radio? Tio, consolidate the machinegun ammunition with the PKM. Lech, Janek, please clear out the BTR, the fire is out. I'm going to see if we can drive this beast."

With that done for the moment, he crawled back under the front of the BTR to see if he could stop the leaking fluid or at least determine where it was coming from and if he thought the truck might have replacement fluid.

Piotr shouts back,

"It's working fine! I told HQ that the relief detail got ambushed just east of here and then opened fire on us. I don't think they're buying it, though."

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg #572):

"Good work, don't worry about it! They're probably suspicious, anyways. Get off the air, you've done what you can, Pio."

Dawid addressed the other Poles in the vicinity.

"Anyone know anything about fixing a fucking BTR? There's a fluid leak I can't find, but I think the engine will run, otherwise! Come help me if you can!"

Coughing, he wiped his stinging eyes with his good hand, cursing as it was covered with grease from the engine casing. Shit, he was a mess, no time to worry about that now. Others might be worse off than he.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:21, Thu 30 Dec 2010.

This message was deleted by the player at 15:52, Fri 31 Dec 2010.

Jeff scrounges around for some supplies to replace his lost pack and contents .  He could always scrounge some off the 10th, but they needed it just as bad as he did.  He also keeps an eye out on security, just to be safe.  Part of his wanderings take him near the BTR, where he pokes his head in to watch Dawid for a half second.  To this he says to Konrad and the group "Truck looks fucked, and if you can't get the BTR to start then we should thermite the thing to keep it from following us."

After his picking (if others find good gear and leave some behind he'll go through that as well) he approaches Konrad.  "Things don't always go according to plan.  It's a shame about the truck.  What is our plan now? We're nearly out of the Baron's territory, so we should get out as quickly as possible and then meet up with the 10th.  Think we blew our one chance at a ride."

Responding appropriately Thor worked with Tucker to recover everything possible from the dead, one of them covering the other as they went. A few minutes later and the grenade and Tantal (plus available magazines) was added to his equipment.
Shortly after he appeared back on the street, furs spattered with blood and arms cradling the reloaded Mjollnir.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:40, Fri 31 Dec 2010.

Dieter watched as the crows scavenged over the corpse of the battlefield, looting the dead and dying for their precious items. He switched views regularly between the looters and the east road, watching for any signs of a reactionary force.

As he watched the team do their work, he noticed one of them liberating an Uzi. As he had given his bulky AK-74 to Dawid he thought the Uzi would make a good replacement as a CQB weapon, as he currently had none. Toggling the radio quickly, and forgetting to use proper radio protocols, he said quickly, "Can you see if there is some spare ammunition for the Uzi, I wouldn't mind taking that with me. Oh, and look for some rucksacks as well." Hopefully someone would have listened, and action his request. Otherwise he would have to do a quick, and messy, search before they left.