Jeff remains silent as the bodies are loaded.  Dead friendlies are never a pleasant experience, even if only just met.

When the group meets in the middle, Jeff addresses the Captain.  "Sorry about your man.  The General and Johnstone are wounded but not bad.  Your medic has treated them well, and they will live.  Shall we continue at an increased level of security?"

Bayer nods and says, "I'm sorry too." He adds, "We leave in a moment. My team has some unfortunate matters to address first though." Bayer then waves to the Dawid, Jan, and Tucker.

While the NCOs respond, Bayer motions for Piotr to join him and Warren.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:01, Mon 14 Feb 2011.

Warren only nods at Bayer's remarks.  The cold look in his eye shows he knows exactly the situation.  He turns to Piotr and says in English. "We will watch the Northeast and Northwest.  You and your people cover the rest."

With Piotr's acknowledgment, Jeff heads to the waiting Sedan, and speaks to the driver. "Сержант Бодняк, выйти за пределы на мгновение и мне помочь покрыть наши северном фланге. Вы будете смотреть на северо-восток, и я северо-запад. Не обращай внимания на остальных членов группы и следите за своим сектором, как солдат, а. Я знаю только лучшее иметь привилегию охраны генерал."

As the driver does what he is told and gets out, Jeff adds to the General and Johnstone in the back "Генеральный другие серьезные бизнес принять участие в рамках этого блока. Лучше оставаться в машине."

Piotr listens to what Konrad has to say. Only a worried look betray his inner thoughts. When the captain finishes his only word is ”Understand”



“Alright we focus on Southeast until Southwest.”

After that he calls out to his people in Polish.

”Alright protective perimeter to the South, Lech...Southwest, Teo, Matias...South, Mariusz please take Southeast. Stay alert folks those fools might decide they want to become heroes.”

Keeping an eye on the deployment Piotr walks over to Vita telling her to stay behind the wheel of the truck, for now. After that he will join the perimeter guard.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:14, Tue 15 Feb 2011.

Craig limps along with the others to the meeting with the truck. Once there he takes a seat on the rear of the truck, having let down the tailgate. When he spots Monika he asks her to have another look at his leg:

"Looks like I have popped one of my seams."

Once the rest of the team have assembled he asks:

"Did anyone get a look at any of the bodies ? What they where wearing ?"

It was at this point he noticed Dieters body on the hood of the car. He tried to remember at what point he had last seen the German, but could not place him during the ambush.

It was a great lost to the team and to the over all mission. He would be missed.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:03, Wed 16 Feb 2011.

Matias is walking out to watch the south side of the perimeter when Sutherland asked his question.  He stopped and said "Russian uniforms.  American boots.  Carried AKM."  He wasn't really sure why Sutherland would want to know that, but he had seen the bodies and his description was accurate.

Assuming no further questions, Matias went out to watche the perimeter with Teo.

After her startling discovery, Quyen rolls Dieter's body over to one side, effectively altering the physical evidence that he was accidently killed by their own side. When Tucker and Matias return, she doesn't say anything about how she found him or what she'd discovered.

"I cover." she says quietly as Tucker and Matias carry his body back to the waiting team.

Once back at the truck, Quyen looks to take a up a sentry position while the group gets organized for resuming the drive to the General's camp. Seeing the Poles covering to the S, SE, and SW, Quyen positions herself watching the north from the bed of the truck, using it as a height advantage.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:33, Tue 15 Feb 2011.

Mariusz took his assigned sector to the south east and knelt down to make a harder target. He kept a careful watch whilst the unit reorganised.

Robert walks back to the rest of the group in silence as he & Matias carry the body of their fallen comrade.  "Poor bastard got it in his back!  The headshot shold've done him in quick enough so hopefully he didn't suffer," Tucker thinks to himself until they gently put the body down and then moves off with Konrad, Jan, & Dawid.

Jan ensured that all of the motorbike outrider's gear was also loaded onto the truck.  It was a brutal reality of the life they were currently living that both Dieter and the dead outrider would soon be stripped of anything valuable.  As he joined up with the others he muttered to Dawid, "You should check that motorbike before we leave in case it is worth salvaging."

Jan then moved off to check on the positions everyone had taken.

As Jan moves off, Tucker moves with Dawid off to his (Dawid's) r/h side.  Roberts hands are across his chest .

Ignored once again, Thor watched the enemy until they disappeared, fearing they would pop up again as a thorn in their side at some point in the near future.

"Bring all body. Intel," he radioed once it appeared those on the ground were getting ready to move.
"Maybe Russian deserter. Maybe recognise."

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #152):

Dawid's face screwed up with real grief when he heard of Dieter's death. Why him? Dieter was a good man, a German, true. Even then a brave and gentle soul, an intellectual. One by one the best of us like him fall, until it is the unredeemed like me that are left.

It didn't make sense, yet somehow it did. A matter of fate or chance, the result was the same. He crossed himself and said a short prayer for Dieter and the others that had been lost in the short brutal fight.

"Piotr, good man for getting people organised into a perimeter. Trust that your actions do not go unnoticed by the Kaptain and myself." he said in Polish.

After the discussion with Konrad, Jan and Tucker, he wandered with a heavy heart towards Thor, setting down the GPMG on the pavement. When he heard Thor muttering over the radio, Dawid actually thought he had a point about the Russians. Nevertheless, there were other equally or more important matters to attend to. He closed the distance with a firm tread, stopping a couple metres in front of him.

"Thor, never mind that now. It is vital we talk, my friend."

He stood in front of Thor, hands empty and unthreatening, trying to think of how to put this in words that Thor understood.

"You broke your word to obey Kaptain Bayer, uh, "Haptabeiðir" as you call him. For this, you are no longer welcome in our company. You must gather your things and leave immediately. This is not open to discussion, or negotiation, or compromise.

"The Kaptain has decided as you no longer follow, you are not a member of our company. I count you as a friend but you have broken your oath to faithfully serve our agreed leader, the Kaptain, and for that breach of trust we will no longer fight at your back, nor you at ours."

"Go with God, go with Peace. Go however you want, but just go."

He looked meaningfully at Konrad to indicate to Thor he had his blessing, then at Tucker and Jan who were there in clear support of this action.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:14, Thu 17 Feb 2011.

    Monika made sure that her charges were as comfortable as possible, then left the General's vehicle to see if anyone else was hurt in the ambush.  She found Craig by the truck.  She took a quick look at his leg to find that he had injured it again.  She smiled at him as she cleaned the area and replaced the bandage.  "My work good.  You not break."

Thursday, October 26th, 2000
0800 hrs.
32F
party cloudy skies; slight breeze from the north
Wyszkow, Poland


At morning stand, you are awakened by the shouts of Russian and Kazakh non-coms rousing their own men for muster. With the men of the 10th TD providing security during the remainder of the night, you were all able to get some sleep after arriving at your village billet. Before turning in, the division's own medical officer, a proper Muscovite doctor as it turns out, successfully removed the bullet from the general's hip and repaired some of the damage to Johnstone's face. After stand-to, and using some medical supplies "borrowed" from Monika, the doctor also sewed up Jan and Craig's wounds. Despite some recent wear and tear, both men are feeling much improved. You could all use some more sleep, and everyone is longing for a hot bath.

Morning muster revealed 16 men, all Kazakhs, missing (not including the two men killed in the ambush). They could have left at any point since that last head-count at 1800 hours the evening before. No one has seen them since. Perhaps the Baron's loudspeaker unit convinced them to head for greener pastures; perhaps they just struck out on their own.


Adam's Irregulars have also lost a man. Thor, the strange, powerful, and socially inept nordic warrior, was banished on the road from Jackowo Gorne. He didn't take the news particularly well, but his reaction was not as bad as had been feared. After a brief flash of anger, and reminders of his combat prowess and loyalty, Thor acquiesced. His mood quickly changed from anger to deep sadness and several of you started to feel guilty for the decision to exhile him in the middle of nowhere. After handing over his weapons, he stood forlorn on the roadside watching you drive away into the dark in your new old Ural truck. You left his weapons in the road a couple of hundred meters away, as you promised you would, and continued on to Wyszkow, leaving him to face his fate alone. You wonder if you've seen the last of him.

Vita, with Piotr's tacit approval of the Irregular's ultimatum, relinquishes her weapons. The understanding that has been reached as that her weapons will be returned to her once the recently augmented unit has had a chance to clarify it's command structure. She looks none too pleased with her lot but she does not resist. As a remarkably attractive women, being unarmed must leave her feeling rather vulnerable. Before leaving the ambush site, Dawid recovers the 10th TD's motorcycle. It appears to be capable of running again, but the left-side foot peg has been shorn off and the front wheel/handlebars are out of alignment. Some minor repairs should get it operational again soon. When the sedan section reunites with the truck section, the bike is loaded aboard the Ural for the trip to Wyszkow.

This morning, you've met a couple of new misfits- Mrityunjay Byanjankar, a Ghurka straggler adopted by the 10th TD, and Robert Flemming, another CIA "liaison" officer. The Ghurka, in particular, seems eager to attach himself to your group. Both Byanjankar and Flemming arrive with Warren to join you for your morning repast.

Sitting around the kitchen table in a your village billet (the mayor's guest house), you enjoy a meager breakfast of bread and butter and some hot, bitter herbal tea (you surmise that the "herbs" are probably some sort of local tree bark or some such). The fare is not particularly tasty or filling but it's better than nothing. It's time to talk.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:20, Sun 20 Feb 2011.

Mariusz watched the huge, dysfunctional Norwegian standing forlornly by the roadside as the truck pulled away from him. He felt his eyes prickly with tears as he thought about abandoning such a comrade, "Now I'll never get to have his gun when he dies," he thought, shaking his head slowly and sadly.

Craig recognised the ethnicity of the Gurkha solider almost instantly he limped slightly as he approached the new arrival:

”Namaste, Mero naam Craig ho. Ma ali-ali Nepali bolchu.”*

He had trained and served with the Gurkha battalions and was gifted one of their large knives. He proudly wore it attached to the strap of his PLCE. He knew it would be a good story as to how he ended up attached to a Russian tank division nearly as good as his own....


*Hello, my name is Craig. Sorry I only speak a little Nepalese.

Jeff walks into the billet feeling very refreshed.  He had slept away from the unit in the night, instead staying with Flemming and Johnstone.

"Good morning.  I hope everyone is well rested.  Busy day ahead.  May I introduce Mr. Byanjankar and Mr. Flemming.  Byanjankar will be working with your unit as he doesn't exactly fit in with the rest of the Russkies or Kazakhs, and Mr. Flemming here is going to help with the wider picture, and analysis of our situation."

Jan had felt a degree of tension lift from his shoulders when they had driven off, leaving Thor behind in the road.  Thor was a good soldier in a fight, very much the warrior he desired to be, but he had created so many problems for the unit in the short time he had been a member that he had become a liability.  Attempting to countermand Konrad’s orders in the middle of an ambush had been the final straw and Jan had no doubt that leaving the Norwegian behind was the right thing to do.  He was also confident that Thor was able to look after himself in the wild and, assuming that he steered clear of people and lived off the land, he expected a highly trained Marine such as Thor to make his way back to his homeland.

It was when he tried to interact with people that Thor seemed to have problems!

---

Jan had slept for as long as he could as they had a roof over their heads for once.  He had also been very grateful to the Russian doctor who had checked over his arm, though he continued to favour it to avoid putting any further strain on the wound.

Over the meagre breakfast Jan listened to Jeff’s introductions and noted that Craig was taking the initiative and speaking in some strange language to one of the new arrivals.  Jan had a couple of questions for everyone.

“Does the attack on the General change our timetable at all?  When are we planning to leave and what route back into Warsaw are we taking?”

Jan also had a question for Jeff and his colleague Flemming.

“As well as the weapons we can donate to the 10th I am keen to trade for some clips for my PM-84 SMG.  Who is the best person to talk to in the 10th to see if they can help?”

"I just had to remove one member because he didn't fit with the rest of my team." Bayer says dryly. "Before people here go deciding between themselves about sending their people to us to deal with, I want to talk to them first."

Bayer then turns to Dawid and says, "In addition to any normal admin needs you are able to sort out this morning, don't forget to get all batteries recharged." He then hands him the batteries from his NVGs and radio.

Bayer then waits for the General and his aides to answer Jan's questions on their intentions.

Before going to bed, he assigned Vita the job of maintaining the truck, while he looked at the motorcycle. Not too bad; the forks could be straightened by hand and a new foot-peg made from whatever was at hand, even wood.

He also detailed Minh to examine their billet for possible safety and security problems. "As a military police and engineer, I trust you are well-knowledgeable about how to secure a structure. Also, Vita seems uncomfortable with being disarmed, which is understandable. I am going to suggest she comes to you with any personal concerns if she feels she can't discuss it with a man. Thank you."

Everyone else was set to cleaning their weapons, and he made sure they had something to eat.

---

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg #170):

"Yes, Kaptain. I'll see if Vita can hook up the batteries for charging to the truck engine, although if it's from the alternator it's most efficient if we do this while moving, of course."

He collected all run-down batteries for charging. If nothing else, maybe the Russians had some way of charging them while they fashioned something on their end.

Dawid addressed the newcomers, welcoming them with an offer of cigarettes. "Good to meet you both! I hope we can find a place for you here, should we decide to include you in our unit."

"Piotr, my friend, I heard good things about you and of course we fought well together at the ambush. I'm going to reorganise our little unit soon, I'm going to put all us Poles together if I can so we'll be working together. I trust you don't have a problem with working under someone of lesser rank, at least while working with us?" He spoke in Polish, to keep the other man at ease.

Moving along, he addressed Vita, keeping a gentle tone with her, mindful of last night's talking-to.

He said in Polish, "Vita, would you please fashion a battery charger from the alternator with the leads going into the cab of the truck? Thanks. I tried but failed, you may have better luck than I. Rest assured that you are not helpless. Should anyone harass you or do or say anything unwelcome towards you, they will answer to me. Or if you prefer talking to another woman, let Minh know and we'll deal with it."

"Also, do you prefer Polish or Russian?

He addressed everyone:

"Once we have finished our business with the new folks and I'm clear what we have available, I will be assigning people into teams."


OOC: If Vita can't make a charger, Dawid is going to ask the Russians' quartermaster if they can charge their batteries. Also, regardless, if the quartermaster has anything to trade. Finally, if they have any backpacks, enough for the team?
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Mon 21 Feb 2011.

In reply to Dawid Waldus Piotrowski (msg #171):

Rob took an old mug filled with tea. Although he loves tea, he hates this poor quality. Nevermind, its wartime-tea.
He took a place at the table and nodded to all the other guys.
"Thanks Mr. Warren. My name is Robert. I'm working for CIVGOV as polad*. Glad to see you here."

He turns to Jan Cerny.

"I think the quartermaster of the 10th can help you. Which caliber does it have? 9x18 or 9x19?"


*political advisor

Naik Mrityunjay Byanjankar stood naked in the stream. He quickly washed himself all over, ignoring the coldness of the water and the northerly breeze. There seemed to a lot of excitement in the camp, as a large group of newcomers had arrived during the night. He had asked one of the NCOs who spoke a little English, who had told him that a group of Americans and Poles had come into camp.

He finished washing and shook himself dry, the water flying off his smooth skin. He jumped up and down to remove the last of the water, before quickly dressing in his British Army fatigues. Grabbing his old Mosin Nagant rifle, he ran over to the billet where the newcomers had been stationed. Peering through the door, he tried to make out some faces. They seemed like a strange bunch, with a rag-tag collection of equipment and uniforms. He tried to spot insignias, but couldn't make any out. He then spotted a strange sight in the room; a woman. Was she Chinese, Korean, maybe Vietnamese? He couldn't be sure.

Suddenly behind him two faces appeared. One he recognised as an American named Flemming, who he had seen around the camp. The other was unknown to him. Flemming gestured to him to follow, and they entered the billet.

Upon entering he listened as the new man introduced him and Flemming to the group. He smiled awkwardly, looking around the group and bowing politely to each member. One man, a British officer from the look of him, stood gingerly and spoke.



Mritjunjay's eyes widened. It had been many months since he had heard anyone speaking his native tongue, and he certainly hadn't expected to hear it any time soon. A wide grin split his face. Excitedly, he replied, "Subha prabhat Craig-ji! Mero naam Naik Mrityunjay Byanjankar ho! Tapaaiilaaii bhettera khushii laagyo."

Looking around at the blank faces of the other members of the group, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. My name Mrityunjay Byanjankar. Please to call me Jay. I am Gurkha Rifle. Nice to meet you."

Jay waited for a response from the team. From what the American with Flemming had said, they would be his new colleagues. He stood there in his battered but clean uniform, complete with boonie hat, webbing and canteen, his kukri proudly strapped to his belt. Besides the WWII Mosin Nagant rifle on his shoulder, and the gurkha knife on his belt, he appeared to have no other weapons or significant equipment.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:28, Mon 21 Feb 2011.

Jan nodded in greeting to the newcommer who called himself Jay but left Craig to take the lead on evaluating the man.


"It is 9x18mm Makarov," Jan replied, "so hopefully it will not be to hard to find.  I need clips though and not just rounds."

He made a mental note to ensure that Flemming introduced him to the 10th's quartermaster but left it for the moment.  They needed to work out the current timeframe for the plan and that was partly dependent on Jeff and the 10th.  The bits of organising he wanted to do would have to wait if they needed to leave promptly to return to Warsaw.

Piotr still looked tired when they gathered around the table. Only when he was sure Janek’s body was well taken care of  after they arrived in town he had been able to get some sleep. He was just savoring his mug of bark tea, personally greeting the new faces, when Dawid addressed him.



Piotr looked at Dawid, holding silent for a moment making his junior countryman wait just long enough for his response while he also considered the talk he’d had with the German captain in this matter before he answered.
“Depends if that someone is just as wise as the commanding officer and also knows when the listen to recommendations" Although the words were said with a big smile there was definitely a serious undertone. “You and the captain have worked together for a while, so it makes sense.”