Appreciating that was able to get a volunteer, Bayer nods and expresses his thanks, "Very good... thank you."

He then thinks over what Craig had told him, and says, "I see. Okay... well we will try to make sense of that warning as we move on. You two get moving though. Once you've dropped him off at the boat, radio to me so I can let you know how to link back up with us. Good luck."

With that, Bayer turns to Jan and says, "Time to move."

Jay accepted Craig's offer of a hand. With no rifle, body armour or helmet (all left on Queen) it would be easy for Craig to support him, although the sodden clothing would weigh him down.

The state of Jay explained fully why the normally stealthy Gurkha had been making so much noise.  Because of his medical training Jan briefly considered volunteering to take Jay back to the Queen but in the end Craig beat him to it.  Anneka would be able to look after him and Jan was sure that Craig would get the Gurkha there, even if he had to carry the little man!

"Craig, there is spare dry clothing in my backpack if you need some for him," Jan commented to Craig and Jay before turning back to the path that Jay had come along and focussing on finding the others.  From what Jay had said it sounded like the others had been taken prisoner by some armed locals rather than a military unit but Jan wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not!

Nodding at Konrad's instruction Jan asked a quick question before setting off.  "Jay made a lot of noise coming here so can we take the risk of moving quickly for a little while?"

Whatever the answer from his commander Jan set off at the prescribed pace, trying to follow Jay's muddy tracks initially, unless they started to deviate from the main path that ran parallel to the riverbank.

"Yes." Bayer replies. "Just keep alert."

"Oui mon Capitaine," replied Jan as he set off at a good pace to start with, the now slightly smaller patrol trailing after him.

This message was deleted by the player at 18:01, Tue 19 June 2012.

With the arrival of the nearly hypothermic Jay, the already-small recovery team is forced to diminish itself. Craig puts Jay's arm around his shoulders and starts back for the Queen. Jan takes the remainder of the team and starts following Jay's fresh tracks back towards the reported camp site.

Jan's gone about 200m when an AK barks from the darkness up ahead. A bullet passes millimeters from the left side of Jan's head, close enough that he can feel it. Someone's opened fire on the recovery team at a range of about 50m.

Back on the Queen, Dawid sees movement in the dark off the port bow. A few seconds later he hears the report of an AKM firing on full automatic.


Next Moves?
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:19, Wed 20 June 2012.

"Kover! Kover!" Bayer shouts, stepping to the side and dropping into the prone.

With his options limited by the fact that their own people were stumbling around out here, Bayer opts not to immediately seize the initiative and counterattack the unidentified shooter. "Jan! Break contact! Fire and movement... withdraw now!"

Then while Jan coordinated his small team, Bayer depresses the transmit switch on his radio and reports, "Bravo! Alpha! Contact... standby... over."

Bayer
G36/HK69 (30/30 + 1 ILLUM)
Going prone

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg # 208):

Dawid heard the pops of distinctive AK fire. It could be their own personnel, perhaps hostiles.

Getting down behind the gunshield, he aimed the Vasilek in the direction of the movement but held his fire pending instruction, which he assumes will be forthcoming soon.

"Griet, contact off port bow. Spotlight? Also, can you have someone find the spare radio from ship stores and tune it to the team channel? Thanks!"

"McClurg, hold position on starboard for now!"

OOC: It occurs to me we have a spare radio that we can use put at the bow weapon station for fire mission requests. Also, do we want to dispense with the Konrad-Griet-Dawid "telephone" and assume she's relaying instructions back and forth?

Craig made sure to radio ahead so there was no "Blue on Blue" action once they where closer to the tug. He still held the shotgun in his right hand as he moved forward with Jay.

He heard the gun fire but decided he was in no position to help so he kept a fast pace while looking for enemy soldiers trying to sneak up on the groups rear.

Rescue Party
Moving Jay to boat


L32A1 (Browning A5) 10" Barrel [4/3] 00 Buckshot

Jay stumbled along, grateful of the support given by Craig. As he moved he vaguely heard gunfire, but couldn't be certain what was happening.

Jeff ducks off to the side and drops to a knee.  He flips down his night vision and scans the last position of the enemy.  He counts on his own ability to blend in to keep him safe.

Griet turned the spotlight to try and pick up the movement and then got on the intercom and said, "Anneka, can you bring up the spare radio from the stores please?"

Hearing the crackle of Konrad's voice over the bridge radio, but unable to make out what was said, Dawid called up from the bow, "hey, what's going on with Alpha?"

OOC: Just a reminder that Alpha (Konrad) is calling Bravo (Dawid). Until there's a radio at the bow, we kind of have to work together on radio transmissions.

"Pull back!" Jan yelled as he quickly dropped flat to the ground, just off the left hand side of the path.  He then flicked the selector switch on his AK to Full Auto and fired two five round bursts in the rough direction of where the shooting had come from.  He wasn't really concerned about hitting anything, more with just putting some rounds down range in the rough direction of whoever had been shooting at him!

He then started backwards crawling, trying to get into some cover before pulling back fully away from the contact.


Jan
Lying prone on the landward side of the path.
Dropping prone, firing 2x 5rnd bursts (suppressive fire) in the rough direction of the attackers and then backwards crawling away from the contact
AK-74 Assault Rifle (30/30 - 30rnd mag x11) - carried
BG-15 Grenade Launcher (1/1 HE - HE x19) - underslung on AK-74
P226 Pistol (15/15 - 15rnd mag x4) - holster
Frag grenade x2 - webbing pouch
Smoke grenade x2 - webbing pouch
AN/PVS-5 NVGs - worn

"They've had a contact too," Griet replied to Dawid.

He replied through the intercom, "understood. Are they saying anything? If they are calling for "Bravo" they are calling for me. You are going to have to reply for me for now and relay any messages, until we get the other radio set up."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 00:46, Fri 22 June 2012.

While the rest of the patrol hits the cold earth, Jan drops and fires a couple of bursts at the likely source of the hostile fire. He's answered by another burst of fire. It's impossible to tell whether it's from the same shooter or another. It's well over the heads of the recovery team. Considering the hostile force's poor marksmanship and the darkness which envelops the area, it shouldn't be too hard to break contact and pull back towards the tug. (Jan -10 rounds)

As the recovery team prepares to withdraw, a light comes on from the riverbank well behind them. The team is on the very edge of the area illuminated but, should someone rise, he or she would be backlit nicely for whoever is shooting from the treeline to the north, northeast.

Griet turns on the tug's spotlight and directs the powerful beam towards the area indicated by Dawid. Two figures, one supporting the other, are caught in the wash of light. They pause and one of them holds up his hand to shield his eyes from the powerful light. After a couple of seconds, Dawid and Griet positively identify Craig; by the size of other fellow (draped in a poncho) Craig's companion is most likely Jay.

Despite being focused on the area illuminated by the spotlight, David eyes are drawn to something on the river to the north. Whether it was movement, a shadow (a relative condition in the darkness), and/or a brief flash of light that catches his eye is moot- there's another boat on the river. While Dawid tries to get a grip on the dynamic tactical situation, Anneka arrives with the spare radio.


Updated tac-map: https://maps.google.com/maps/m...7&mid=1340318965


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:02, Fri 22 June 2012.

"Queen! Alpha! Turn off the light! Over!" Bayer calls into his radio. Then as soon as it goes out (if it does), he will fire a short burst towards the unknown shooters (aiming high) and shout to the Kommandos, "Move now!"

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg # 219):

Dawid thanked Anneka for the radio, while making a note of Craig and Jay's position.

He then transmitted, "this is Bravo calling Alpha. Have taken a bearing from two friendlies on shore. Direct us onto your target using a bearing from them, or ."

Realising they didn't need the light off so much as it could be directed to another use, he used the bridge intercom. "Griet, we have a boat on the river. North of us, azimuth approximately 350 degrees. Direct the light onto that."

"McClurg! I need you to man the port side weapon!"

He used his NVGs to try and spot anything on the new vessel approaching.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:11, Fri 22 June 2012.

"Keep moving Jay one foot after the other, we are nearly there."

He sighted the tug or they sighted them first either way they knew they were coming in so the chance of a DShK hair cut was lesioned. Once they had been IDeand the light was off them Craig continued forward to the bank. There he waited for some sign from the tug or a way to cross.

Jay stumbled on. It was dark, then bright light, then dark again. He just kept going in the direction he was being guided in. He tired to speak, but couldn't get any words out.

After firing his bursts Jan ducked down low again and continued crawling backwards until he reached a solid looking tree.  He then squirmed behind the tree and pushed himself up into a crouched position while hoping that the tree was solid enough to stop a round.

As Konrad continued barking orders, and then fired a burst himself, Jan used the opportunity to quickly run back a little further, aiming for a tree off a few paces to one side of Konrad, and running at a crouch, trying to stay as low as possible while he moved.  Once there he ducked into cover again and then turned to face the enemy shooter.  He studied the area though his NVGs, trying to spot the man, ready to fire a couple of double taps at anything that looked like a clear target.


Jan
Moving further back away from the contact and then getting into a firing position about level with Konrad.  From there he will scan for the shooter and fire 4x single shots (the first one aimed if possible) at a clear target
AK-74 Assault Rifle (20/30 - 30rnd mag x11) - carried
BG-15 Grenade Launcher (1/1 HE - HE x19) - underslung on AK-74
P226 Pistol (15/15 - 15rnd mag x4) - holster
Frag grenade x2 - webbing pouch
Smoke grenade x2 - webbing pouch
AN/PVS-5 NVGs - worn

Griet turned the light out as Bayer had instructed and then used the radio to say, "Alpha, this is Queen, we have something in the water 350ms down river, should I illuminate it?"

"Alpha... Yes." Bayer replies over the net. "Use how you need but don't illuminate the shore. Over." He then rises and takes a quick, low crouched bound back the way they came.