Craig takes the rifle when it is pasted to him. He did'nt really catch on to what Danny was about to do until he was up on the edge. Once he was in the water Craig started to look for a rope of some kind to throw off the rear of the tug.

"Mariusz, go, assist with the boat. I will continue with keeping watch and can handle the Vasilek myself."

Dawid continued scanning the water using his NVGs. It was unlikely someone from town would investigate until morning unless they were really sharp and aggressive.

In reply to Robert 'Tuck' Tucker (msg #75):

Jay took Tuck's weapon and slung it over his shoulder. The sweep they had conducted seemed to be clear, but he maintained his vigilance just in case. He continued to scan the boat and the bank for any signs of movement.

When Danny plunges into the cold water of the Vistula, it feels like his heart stops beating for a second or two. Adrenaline will help him avoid going hypothermic for a little while, but the water temperature is not too far above freezing and the longer he stays mostly submerged, the worse his body is going to function.

He's a strong swimmer, and comfortable in the water, despite its temperature. With several powerful strokes, he reaches his comrade. She's semi-conscious and barely keeping her own head above water. Danny secures her with one arm and uses the other to keep them from sinking below the surface. The current is too strong to swim against. He can probaly move laterally, though, albeit at a fairly slow pace. Right now, it's a question of endurance- can he make it to one of the river banks before his body shuts down and they both go under.

Jan prepares a life ring and tosses it in the direction Griet indicates LaRue is headed in. Unfortunately, the attached line is not quite long enough for the ring to reach him before it is out of range. It's doubtful that he could have noticed it in the dark anyways.

Griet [NPCed] does her best to keep the Queen's spotlight fixed on the rapidly diminishing figure of the American pararescueman as the current sweeps him away from the achored tug.

Tucker and Mariusz [NPCed] prepare the tug's trusty zodiac* for deployment. They are fairly practiced at it by now and it only takes a minute or so for them to get it from the deck into the water where it awaits a crew. [Who's going to board it and set off after LaRue?]. The slowly sinking pirate boats lashed to either side of the Queen are in the way, but, once the zodiac's engine is running, it shouldn't be to hard to get around them.

The security force keeps watch for additional attackers. As yet, none have arrived. Circling the Queen's superstructure, the patrollers periodically have to step over one of the nearly half-dozen pirate corpses still littering the lower deck. The smell of blood occasionally registers over the stronger scent of the river. It's difficult to properly search the bodies in the weird, shifting light that ripples over the tug, but several folding stock and/or short-barreled AKs and an automatic pistol are recovered. The most obvious and unusual find is a very old-looking cavalry sabre. You wouldn't be surprised to see it in a museum; on the deck of a river-tug in the year 2000, it certainly is out of place.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:14, Thu 10 May 2012.

With the current situation in hand Craig does a quick reconnoiter of both pirate boats. Starting with the zodiac he retrieves any weapons or other equipment. He will then do the same to the wooden vessel, pistol in hand.

Crew
Looking through boats

Browning HP-35 (w/ silencer) [20/20] w/2 magazines

Jeff is not going to get in the zodiac, but he gives a nod of good luck as it prepares to depart.  He even goes so far as to cast off the line for them.

Instead, he turns to the others  "While they're out lets grab what gear we can and then dump these bodies.  They'll stain the paint."  On his way back he'll strip any body in his way

Jay headed towards the small boat. Whilst no Marine, he was keen to help out. "I go, I go!" he called to whoever was in charge of the vessel, before quickly dropping his body armour and helmet and placing them out of the way for later retrieval. He moved forward to help with lowering the boat into the water, following any directions given by those more practised in the art, before preparing to climb in. As he did so he had a thought. Turning to whoever was closest of those staying aboard he shouted, "Get blankets!"

Having missed with his first throw of the life ring Jan quickly pulled it back in and looped the rope again for another cast.  It was probably going to be unnecessary as it would require an almost direct hit for them to spot the ring but he got ready just in case.

He kept his eyes fixed on the two people in the water while he worked, making sure that someone on board didn't lose sight of them.  "Danny has reached her!" he called out, keeping the information flowing.  "He is keeping her head above water!"

Mariusz leapt into the zodiac with the others and rushed to the front, "I'll try to help them in," he called to the helmsman.

This would be a bad time to be surprised from the town.

He didn't think these losers were from Plock. If anything, they seemed to be holdouts from the Baron's Black Guard. Still, if anyone approached he thought it was good to see them before they contacted the tug


Dawid Piotrowski
PKM (90/100)
Bow Weapon Station
Keeping a lookout towards the town

"I will get on a gun." Ferro says to Bayer after deciding that there was enough attention being directed at the water emergency. She then moves to the upper deck and took hold of one of the DSHK machine guns. The metal felt cold to the touch but she worked the action and tested around with the swivel.

Dawid was keeping watch at the bow, so he directed Minh to station herself at one of the stern-facing MG positions.


OOC: The idea being they maintain coordinated 360-degree coverage. I'm not sure where the Dushkas are, I think there is one up there pointed to the rear. This makes the most sense.

At first, the water is almost too cold to hurt.  Danny surfaces, orients on the searchlight beam, and starts swimming with the current.  He's halfway to Boots before he realizes he's lost the life ring he grabbed when he went over the rail.

Connolly is barely conscious, which is a mixed blessing – she's not going to be any help, but this would be nigh-impossible with a conscious but panicked victim.  Danny gets an arm around her from behind and clasps her to his chest, keeping her head above water.  A look around shows little other than the Queen's spotlight, the silhouette of the vessel beneath it, the shadows of the Vistula's banks, and a twinkling constellation of more distant lights.

Danny's extremities are already numbing and he can feel his muscles starting to tighten.  He's not sure how long it's going to take the team to get a boat in the water.  Getting to a riverbank won't do a damned thing for incipient hypothermia but at least he won't have to worry about drowning.  With his free hand, he fishes his small flashlight out of his pocket, twists it on (hoping the O-ring seals haven't dry-rotted over the last few years), and loops its lanyard around the wrist of the arm holding Boots.  It's not much, but in a night largely devoid of artificial illumination, it may be enough of a beacon for the team to find him if Griet's spotlight loses him.  With that accomplished, he starts making for the shore opposite the lights of Plock.  No one from the town is going to arrive in time to help, even if they were so inclined, but they might well interfere with rescue efforts if he and Boots landed on their side of the river…

Tucker, and whoefver is helping him, yells to the others, "Get the damn boat out of the way so we can cast off!"  Hopefully they get all of the stuff they need out of the boarders' boats but, if they want Daniel and his boss back before they drown or die of hypothermia, they need to go now.  When it's ready to go, Tucker screams out, "CASTING OFF!  CASTING OFF!"

Bayer helps Tucker get the boat in the water, but remains on board. Then once the boat was off and the rescue in Robert's hands, he inserts an ILLUM paraflare into his launcher and moves to the upper deck. On the way then nods to McClurg to follow Quyen and Dawid, and get on one the guns.

Dawid was covering the bow arc, Minh the rear.

Subsequently, he directed McClurg to man the Dushka that was pointing most towards the shore. It was unlikely more boats would show up and if they did, they would see them from a ways off. A party could sneak up on shore, even maneuver a heavy weapon into position, so that to him was the direction of most potential threat. He also oriented the Vasilek so that it was pointing as shoreward as possible.

Fighting the creeping numbness in his arms and legs, Daniel swims cross current towards the southern shore. His passenger neither helps nor hinders his progress. She is, however, somewhat of a burden and Daniel has to work twice as hard to propel them both through the icy water.

Meanwhile, Tucker, Mariusz, and Jay, with the help of a couple of others, manhandle the Zodiac over the stern of the tug (facing downriver). The Mountain soldier, the Ghurka, and the teenaged Polish partisan hop on board the Zodiac, struggling to keep their balance in the small boat. Tucker tries to start the engine but can't get it to turn over, no matter how hard he pulls the starter chord. Mariusz offers to give it a go and somehow manages to get it coughing to life with one good yank. Once the engine's running, the trio shoves off while the rest of the security crew guards the tug against further hostile action. Tucker expertly steers the Zodiac along the line pointed out by the spotlight. The spotlight, currently unmanned, is aimed at the swimmers' last known position. Jan, watching from the lower deck, loses sight of LaRue and the woman in the inky darkness that lies outside the spotlight beam.

Craig and Jeff loot the pirate bodies before tossing them each over the side unceremoniously. Hopefully, the floating corpes won't interfere with the rescue operation currently underway.

As they motor downriver, the small boat crew fails to locate LaRue and Connolly. They're currently about 200m downriver from the Queen.

LaRue's strength is fading fast by the time his knee strikes the soft mud of the submerged foot of the riverbank. He struggles mightily the last few meters through glutinous muck to more solid ground. He lies panting on the shore, spooning his semi-conscious companion in an almost futile attempt to share warmth.

At the bow of the tug, Dawid keeps watch for any follow-on boarding parties. It's been several minutes now since the last of the pirates was gunned down and Dawid is confident that the attack is over when he spots something long and low to the water coming straight at the reinforced bow of the tug. It's about 75m out and appears to be moving with the current.


Next Moves?

Updated Tac-map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms...pn=0.083261,0.264187
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:39, Sun 13 May 2012.

"Alert! Kapitan Bayer, unidentified object closing from the south, bearing zero degrees, range 75 metres. Drifting with the current, no sign of life."

"Griet, please direct the spotlight to bear forward so we can identify the target." He didn't like directing the skipper, but someone would have to get on that light and bring it to bear to forward so they could see what was going on. Either her or one of her crew, it didn't matter.

"Minh, on me. Orient the Vasilek forward.

"Sutherland, man the port Dushka. Warren, starboard Dushka. Cover the bow plus the side arcs. Sutherland, that means the island, Warren, the shore."

"McClurg, shift position to cover the rear arc. Man the rear-facing weapon and maintain observation of the river and town.

"Kellerman, report to the Captain so he knows where you are. Jan, you too, when you can."

He manned the PKM, facing forward.

Dawid Piotrowski

PKM (90/100 + 2 spare belts)
Bow
Manning PKM
This message was last edited by the player at 09:50, Tue 15 May 2012.

On board the small dinghy, Jay crouched at the bow, scanning the water. It was murky, and he couldn't see anything. In his frustration he pulled out his flashlight and swept back and forth from bank to bank, looking for any sign of the medic or the unconscious pilot.

If he spots anything he will call out to Tuck and guide him towards the pair. Otherwise, he will keep looking.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:36, Tue 15 May 2012.

Jan gave up in frustration with the life ring when he lost sight of Danny and Boots.  Seeing what was going on was more important so he turned to go and take charge of the searchlight.  As he made his way there though he heard Dawid yelling something about an unidentified object in the water and other instructions so he changed his mind.

"Capitaine, I get my gear," he called out.  "Back soon!"

He then quickly made his way to the cabin where he slept and retrieved his body armour, helmet, boots and NVGs, putting them on as quickly as possible.  Once he was fully dressed he then went back on deck and reported to Konrad.

Mariusz stared out into the night, desperately trying to find the swimmers. He called out, "Can you hear us?!"

Griet switched the light around to pick up the mystery object, "Identify and deal with it quickly," she said, "we need to use the light to find the swimmers."

Tucker continues to steer the zodiac around at a slow pace on where he thinks the two in the water should be.  He calls to Jay and Mariusz, "They've got to be here!  Keep checking with the light and maybe towards the shoreline if you don't see them here."

Connolly is a slight woman but half the Vistula seems to have soaked into her clothes and the other half is weighing down Danny's own limbs.  He forces numb hands to close around her sleeves and hauls her onto the riverbank, then collapses.  "Okay, Boss," he mutters, "at least drownin's off th' table now."

Connolly makes a noise that might be agreement, protest, or hallucination.  Danny shakes his head, spraying droplets of muck in every direction, and captures his flashlight between fingers that are turning to flippers.  In the faint blue glow of the filtered lens, he tries to examine Connolly for any obvious trauma.  He can't see any obvious injuries  but he's still not sure exactly why she went into the water in the first place.

The sputter of an outboard motor belatedly grabs Danny's attention.  He can't identify the Queen's Zod by sound but anyone else on the water tonight would already have earned himself a salvo from the deck guns; ergo, this must be friendlies.  "Hey!" he calls weakly.  He horks a gobbet of muddy phlegm into the shallows, coughs, and tries again.  "Yo!  Mari!  Over here!  West bank!"  Breaking off his attempted assessment of Connolly, he pans the flashlight's beam back and forth across the water.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:54, Wed 16 May 2012.

Already perched up top on the bridge deck where he was observing the man overboard situation, Bayer focuses his attention upriver, upon hearing the warning. Then turning on his image intensifiers, he'll use them to help identify whatever is heading their way.