"At this time I doubt that they were from Torun, as well. Or, sent to cause harm, at least." Bayer says, shaking his head dismissively. "Not after breaking contact from an ambush like they did." he adds, referencing Jan's report. "We will continue to cooperate ja, but radio them to wait another hour. Tell them it's for, ahhh, to secure the work area, which is partially true."

He then glances out the window at the treeline, then to Jan, "Gather up Lt. Sutherland, Minh, Larue, Mariusz, and two of the prisoners right away. Tell Minh to bring that PKM along too, as well as whatever tools are available for cutting wood. I will accompany you once you're ready. The prisoners picked will be compensated with something to eat."

Bayer then toggles his radio and after conducting a radio check with Tuck, he informs the Amerikan that friendlies will be coming back ashore behind them to complete what they hoped to accomplish earlier.

"We'll bury the fallen after we're ready to leave here for Torun. Until then keep them covered and out of sight of the prisoners." Bayer says lastly.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:15, Mon 06 May 2013.

Jan nodded in response.  "Oui mon Capitaine," he said as he departed to organise everything.

He went firstly to find Craig, Minh and Mariusz.  "We are forming a new shore party to get the wood.  You three are coming and we are not taking any chances so bring full combat loads.  Minh, you are to bring the PKM so get that from the weapons locker.  I will come with you as I want to take a couple of things.  Craig.  Mariusz.  Also find what axes and saws we have for chopping wood and bring them.  We are escorting two prisoners to do the work.  There is certainly the axe Jay retrieved.  Gather on deck ASAP with all your gear."

---

After finishing with the weapons locker Jan then made his way to the small infirmary where Danny was tending Thijs' wounds.  "Danny, when you are finished here meet me up on deck with a full combat load.  You are coming in the new shore party to gather wood."

Lastly he made his way down to the improvised brig and explained to Mac and the prisoners what was going on.  He picked two of the youngest, unwounded men who looked nervous, explaining what was going on in Polish.  "You two are needed for a work detail.  You will get fed if you work hard."  He then escorted the two men up on deck to where the rest of the shore party were congregating.

Back on board, Thijs waited as Danny finished his ministrations and took the Tetracycline Larue handed him, thanking the PJ.  He went to his bunk and took out another set of the secondhand (or third, or more) fatigues he had recently acquired, as well as additional underwear.  He removed the bloody pants and underwear Danny (and the bullet) had cut, as well as the upper clothing that had gotten wet when he went prone in the snow.  He got into the dry clothes and spread the old ones aside to dry for later laundering and mending.

After changing clothes, he set about transferring 30 rounds from the snail drum he had used today to the one he had used in Plock, jacking the now-full magazine into his weapon, and putting the nearly-empty drum back in his butt pack.  Considering the dwindling amount of 5.56mm NATO ammunition he had, and the lack thereof in the tug's stores, he knew he was going to need to obtain a new weapon sooner or later.  Barring the acquisition of more 5.56mm, he would need to find a Warsaw Pact automatic rifle.  He'd seen the RPD in the armory, but it was much heavier than his LSW, and had even less ammo available than he did now.  No, his best bet would be to find an RPK-74 somewhere.  One of the older, more numerous RPKs would do, but only if more of the 7.62mm Kalashnikov ammunition (which he heard had been given away earlier) could be found, as well.  If an automatic rifle could not be found, he would have to settle for one of the dozen-and-a-half AK-74s in the hold.

Finishing the reloading, Thijs came back on deck and spoke to Konrad.  "I am ready to return to duty, Kapitein," he said.  "Shall I man the starboard Dishka again, or would you rather have me someplace else?"

Danny slaps Thijs on the shoulder.  "No problem, man.  Take it easy.  I'll check on you when I get back."

He turns to Jan and snorts ruefully.  "Dude, this is my full combat load.  I let you guys carry the heavy ordnance.  Gimme five minutes to wash up and top off my consumables and I'll be ready."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Tue 07 May 2013.

Connolly nods to Bayer and keys the microphone.  "Torun, Queen, we apologize for the delay.  We're deploying a patrol to secure the area.  We estimate one hour to establish a perimeter.  Please continue to hold in place.  Our personnel will not approach your current position.  If you see anything suspicious, don't hesitate to fire.  Acknowledge, over."

She releases the transmit key, then waits for Jan to emerge on deck and slides open a window.  "Jan!" she calls.  "I just cleared the Torun salvage crew for defensive fire.  Don't go too far north."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:33, Tue 07 May 2013.

"Are you alright then van Lincklaen? Not banged up too bad then, ja?" Bayer asks first, trying to look over the Dutchman without being too intrusive. Then when told his injury, he nods and says, "And Mr. Warren... was quick?" Regardless of what Thijs answers, Bayer says nothing more on the matter.

Bayer then gets back to the man's original question, "Yes, the gun. We are just going ashore to cut wood, but I could use you here."

Konrad then heads down to the main deck where Jan has the shore party assembled. He then clarifies that everyone will be cutting wood, not just the prisoners, and that included him as well. In addition to the manned LP, one member of the work party will rotate as a local sentry at all times, geared up with the PKM. "That puts us at six cutting and hauling wood at all times... and three keeping watch from two different positions."

"Clear?" he asks the group, before motioning for everyone to load into the launch.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Wed 08 May 2013.

In reply to Konrad Bayer (msg # 608):

"Yes," replied Jan as he made sure that they had enough wood cutting tools.

Tucker keeps watch on the area that the troops retreated to and scans around with his binoculars on other approach routes to the area.

Once again, there is a pause of nearly 30-seconds before the crew of the pilot boat responds.

"This is Torun Salvage to Queen. We acknowledge your last transmission and will stand off until we receive word from you. Over."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:24, Thu 09 May 2013.

A reinforced woodcutting party returns to the west bank while the LP keeps an ear out for renewed hostile activity in the woods. Neither Tucker nor Jay detect any continued enemy presence in the immediate area. Jay is confident that he can track the ambushers through the thick snow, but doing so could result in running into another ambush and Jan and Konrad decide against risking it.

Both the enemy and friendly dead are stripped of anything and everything useful and prepared for burial. This last bit is going to be very difficult, however, due to the 3-4 inch-thick snow cover and about the same amount of frozen topsoil.

(The ambushers' white oversuits are spattered in blood and gore and are probably no longer effective as snow camouflage. Thijs recovers a pair of brown Soviet winter weight trousers to replace his perforated cammie pants.)

The woodcutting party sets to work. There's plenty of dead wood to harvest. Much of it can be broken off of larger branches and deadfalls without the need for an axe, but the tool still helps with some of the more stubborn bits and pieces. In about an hour, enough wood for a day's worth of travel at cruising speed has been collected. Getting it back to the tug will take several relays, though, both from the wood to the riverbank, and thence to the tug and back again.

Those remaining on board the tug are extra vigilant. From their elevated perches in, around, and atop the bridge, the crew scans their surroundings for signs of another attack. None are forthcoming. The AO appears quiescent, but you've all been in Poland long enough now to know that such appearances can be deceiving. You'll probably going to be here a while, while the Torun salvage party works on making the beached monitor tow-worthy.


Next Moves?

Having an axe in his hands again and chopping wood brought back many happy memories working with his Grandfather on the Scottish hunting estate where he worked.

It is Craig's intention to make his way back there if he can make it back to the United Kingdom. The estate was vast but isolated and at its centre it had a large Scottish castle only used for a couple of months each year by the owner in London. It was moated, well provisioned and had a large walled vegetable garden and greenhouses.

He was lost in though for several minutes as he again ran over the plan in his head. If time allowed he would try to fashion some tiles or dress some other wood as a covering for the weather deck to replace the tarpaulin.

Jan took his turns chopping and collecting wood and then manning the PKM and standing watch.  He tried to keep alert at all times, even when he was hefting the axe, but it was almost impossible to swing an axe accurately without concentrating fully on what you were doing.

As he worked however he made a mental list of other things they needed to trade for, should the opportunity arise.  More tools like axes and saws seemed like a good idea now that they didn't have enough.  He just hoped that they would find someone vaguely friendly somewhere along this damn river.  If nothing else they needed to trade for food, even though they now had two less mouths to feed.

"How much wood do we need?" he muttered to the others.

Quyen takes her share of the cutting and hauling the wood to the shore as well as talking watch. While leaning up against a tree and smoking she observes Jan on the ax and makes an audible scoff. When he looks in her direction she takes a long drag on the smoke and says afterwards "Remind me not to ever go camping with you Paul Bunyan." Her face doesn't reveal it but her tone is obvious that she is just chidding him.

Wood is gathered and shipped to the tug, equipment salvaged and inventoried, and the watch schedule redrawn to account for two fewer live bodies. The dead, now nearly frozen, are set aside to await a thaw; burning is probably an easier option, or a water burial, if enough ballast can be found to weigh them down properly. The sky is mostly clear, the sun bright, though its rays feel feeble in the enduring cold. Still, water drips from branches under the dead forest, and the tug's decks are slick with icemelt.

An hour and more has passed and the Torun Salvage crew request permission to approach the crippled monitor. The Kommandos on shore and on board the Krolowa are vigilant, watching the arriving salvage team with an interest bordering on suspicion. The team is larger than you expected, eight men excepting the pilot boat's three-man crew. The Crocodile's skipper and chief engineer, both paroled from among the Kommando's Torun hostages are among the salvagers. The slavagers are all armed with AKs, but the magazines have been removed in compliance with Connolly's earlier request. A pistol or two are spotted poking out of belts and wastebands beneath jackets.

They work through the day, watched carefully at all times by at least a couple of the Kommandos*. Kellerman, a skilled aviation mechanic, offers his services and Gryzych, despite his loathing of Russians, joins the American, curious to examine the monitor's rebuilt propulsion and steering systems for himself. The tug is now anchored alongside the monitor, their hulls about 20m apart, the Princess between them, moored close to the tug's side. A fire hose snakes connects the two larger vessels, and the Krolowa's pumps throb and thrum as water is sucked from the monitor's sodden bowels and spat over the tug's opposite side. The pilot boat anchors off the Crocodile's slightly crumpled snout, its crew keeping one eye on the monitor and another split between the woods and the tug.

Most of the salvagers don't really look like they know what they are doing. They simply follow the increasingly impatient orders of the Crocodile's captain and the chief engineer. The worker bees look like hardened fighters rather than grease monkeys and tinkerers. One of the pilot boat crewmen joins the work team when a skilled welder is needed, but they have to use the tug's welding equipment since they apparently failed to bring along any of their own.

The sun is sinking closer to the western horizon, and the tug's floodlights illuminate the work space. It's going to be hard to work in the dark, and it's growing increasingly cold as the sun makes its retreat. Much work has been done, though. There's only a little more patching to be done- most of the water has been pumped out of the monitor- and then the Krolowa can begin the tricky process of pulling the monitor off of the mud bank. Safe passage through Torun is the promised payment for the tug crew's assistance. It's a strange marriage, considering that the Kommando stranded the monitor here in the first place.

The salvage team stops work when the sun dips below the western horizon and prepares to bed down aboard the monitor for the night. The pilot boat departs for Torun, intending to return the next morning with more fuel for the Krolowa's welding equipment. There's been no sign of the party that ambushed you at dawn. Nonetheless, a palpable tension permeates the chill gloom, making for a likely restless night.


Next Moves?

OOC: In this next turn, I need to know where each of the Kommandos is posted, either on land or aboard the vessels, and what they are doing for most of the night.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:23, Sat 11 May 2013.

Jay took his turn with the work detail, cutting wood and shifting logs as required. When an opportunity arose he ensured that the enemy corpses were completely stripped naked. Their clothes may have been damaged, but even torn material could be repaired or butchered to patch other clothing.

There was also another reason. If the ambushers returned he wanted them to find their comrades' bodies, naked and bullet-ridden. Hopefully it would serve as a warning not to fuck with the Kommando.

When the salvage party arrived he kept watch, trying to observe them from his hidden OP. He was keen to establish whether or not there were any similarities between the salvage crews equipment and those of the fallen ambushers. He suspected a double cross, but didn't yet have any proof.

As the sun fell in the sky he returned to the Queen to get a hot meal, intent on returning to shore to man a nighttime security detail.

OOC - Happy to volunteer for the land-based sentry team but will take any post if ordered.

From his position at the top of the wheelhouse Craig watched the salvage going on around him. He kept his rifle close but he was positioned behind the grenade launcher.

Once the sun slipped below the horizon he got some food and sleep if he was not on one of the first watches. When it was his watch he lay on the wheel house roof again but this time behind his G3. He used his sniper scrim to break up his outline and tried not to freeze to death.

Thijs remained on post at the starboard DShK until relieved.  He then got some chow and slept (on his stomach, per Danny's orders) until roused for his next watch.  The process repeats until anything happens to interrupt.

During one of the off-watch periods, he went below to the armory in the hold to examine the AK-74s with the intention of picking the one in the best shape.  While there, he spotted the newly-added RPK and picked it up.  There is not that much ammo for it, but 7.62mm Kalashnikov rounds are easier to come by than 5.56mm NATO rounds (OOC:  Did Warren and/or Carlisle have 5.56mm ammo to add to the hold?  If so, I'd like some of it to extend Thijs' supply.)  Foregoing the AK-74s for the time being, he lays claim to the RPK and its ammunition, taking the lot to his bunk for storage while he cleans and zeroes it for use when the C7A1 LSW runs out.

Before it gets too dark, Bayer toggles his radio and after raising Tucker out at the LP, he says, "Shut it down for the night and come on in. I'll send the launch to pick you up."

Bayer then moves into the galley, which has become part of his nightly routine before bunking down. Finding Jan there, he says, "We'll maintain fifty percent tonight. That will be eh, five, stood to throughout the night." He then glances over at Griet, "You can anchor us a safe distance from the shore, ja? I'm pulling in the LP for the night."

Quyen's comment initially caused a perplexed look on Jan's face as the name she mentioned meant nothing to him.  He quickly realised that she was joking with him and he smiled in response.

"Camping is good.  I enjoy it lots and had many good vacations as a child in the Dordogne.  They were happier times."

---

Jan nodded in agreement, doing a mental check of the roster. "Oui mon Capitaine.  I will organise that.  How does Boots, Craig, Minh, Mariusz and I doing the first half of the night and then Anders, Tuck, Jay, Danny and you doing the second half sound to you?  It leaves Thijs, Kel and Mac unassigned as they are all recovering from wounds.  Additionally everyone can be stood too thirty minutes before dawn as well, just in case."

"Yes. That is fine with me." Bayer answers Jan. He then says aloud for anyone to volunteer, "Perhaps we can get something hot to drink or eat, put on through the night as well."

Bayer then says, "I plan on revising the stand to positions. If anyone has suggestions, I'll take them. I don't want anymore hesitation or confusion during emergencies."

Then after a moment of thought, he adds, "We lost two people. Sending out a party from the same location should not have happened. That was a lack of vigilence on my part."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Mon 13 May 2013.

Robert breathes a sigh of relief when he gets the call from Bayer to secure his post for the evening.  He replies back, "Good copy Boss.  En route back to extraction point.  Out."  Tucker takes one last scan from his position with his binoculars before motioning to Jay that they were to extract back to the waiting work crew (if Jay was still with Tucker).  He still can't believe that they lost two more people today and wonders when his turn is going to be up.

Griet nodded, "We can anchor well away from shore. The weather is so cold that we can be reasonably safe from swimmers but a good watch will still be needed. Those workers on the Crocodile look pretty nasty to me, do you think they're planning a double cross or have they just sent good troops to make sure we don't look for more hostages?"

Connolly allows herself a tight smile.  "You mean, do they trust us as much as we trust them?" she asks rhetorically, then turns to Bayer.  "Captain, I'll own part of the circle-jerk from this morning.  I didn't think about prisoner security during a stand-to when we were handing out assignments yesterday.  But that needs to be an assignment now.  Until we get those guys off the boat, we need one full-time warden and a second person doing periodic checks.

The night passes cold but without incident. The decks and railings are refrozen, but the sun rises to a mostly cloudless sky, promising another thaw. The salvage crew, camped out on the beached monitor, did not appear to concerned about security, setting only a single visible sentry through the hours of darkness, despite the monitor's proximity to the riverbank and the wooded area from which a still unidentified party ambushed the tug's woodcutters early the previous morning. Perhaps the presence of the heavily armed tug nearby has them feeling safe and secure.

Repairs resume after breakfast, with the pilot boat returning an hour after dawn, bringing a second welding torch and fuel for both it and the tug's welder. After about four hours, the monitor is declared watertight. The snowmelt draining into the Vistula, transmogrified remnants of the blizzard of two days ago, has raised the river a couple of inches, and the once-again buoyant former landing craft strains against the pull of the sucking bottom mug. In theory, at least, this should make it easier for the Krolowa to pull the Crocodile free from the mudbank. The princess is used to transfer a pilot line from the tug to the monitor, with which thicker, stronger mooring cables and chains are drawn across and made fast. Several of the Soviets in the work crew notice the shaped charges fixed to the tow chain and the negotiator for the Torun garrison, the English-speaking Red Army captain Leonid Grinkov, comes aboard the tug to complain.

"It appears that there is an explosive charge attached to the towing chain. Would you care to explain why this is necessary?"

All but a couple members of the Torun work party stay on board the monitor. They've got their rifles with them, which, for the time being, remain unloaded. The pilot boat, with five or six on board, stands off to respond to any emergencies that might arise once the extraction process begins.

Once the Crocodile is under tow, it's a few hours, at a safe towing speed of between 5-10kph, to the heavily garrison cantonment core of Torun. Barring any mishaps or unforeseen issues, you should arrive there shortly before sunset.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:02, Tue 14 May 2013.

"Our charts show some deep channels here," Connolly replies smoothly, pointing at the offending notations that support the rehearsed half-truth.  "We don't want to capsize if our repairs fail and the Crocodile sinks rapidly."  She shrugs.  "I'm not happy about the potential for collateral damage.  A quick-release shackle for the chain would have been better, but we don't have one."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:12, Tue 14 May 2013.