"All power to the engines!" Griet called down the intercom.

She kept the Queen moving forward for several seconds to get a little space between the monitor and the Queen. The major issue was going to be the mooring ropes: she could snap them using violent manouvres but it would take time and was unpredictable.

"Queen to all stations," she said, "once the ropes are free I will head downstream at best speed."

Griet
Bridge

Mariusz snatched up his AK-74 and fired teh grenade launcher at the Pilot boat. With luck losing the machinegunner and coming under fire would discourage the boat from playing hero.

Mariusz
Vasilesk
AK-74 30/30
BG-1 1/1HE
Firing at Pilot Boat

Thijs shouted, "Verdomme!!" and began working feverishly to clear the jam.  His position at the head of the ladder allowed him to see down the aft portion of the starboard side of the main deck as he was working, but the steam obscured nearly everything or everybody back there for the present. 

Thijs
Starboard DShK [149/200]
C7A1 LSW [90/90 +(6x30)] SAFE, slung
Clearing jam
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Mon 27 May 2013.

The AIMS-74 chatters and recoils, banging its front sight post against the edge of the vision port.  Connolly curses, realizing she slapped the selector to full auto in her haste.  She flips the lever again and rolls the rifle to the side to visually confirm she's selected burst fire.  Her first target is messily down from Craig's Dishka fire, so she swings her muzzle down to the deck.  "Two boarders," she reports to Griet, returning the wire stock to her shoulder and taking careful aim at the pair of steam-shrouded Russians.

Boots
bridge, aft viewport overlooking the stairs
AIMS-74 [25/30 + 4 magazines] - ready, on BURST
M11 [13/13 + 2 magazines] - holstered, loaded but decocked

engaging boarders
This message was last edited by the player at 01:00, Wed 29 May 2013.

Danny safes Winona and slings her over his back as he clatters up the stairs from the galley.  He hooks his hand on the bulkhead to slingshot around in a hard 180-degree right turn into the armory.  Another hard clang! off the port bulkhead signals that at least one sniper is still active.  Danny yanks Warren's TRG-21 from the rifle rack and slams home its magazine as he weaves through the upper deck's compartments.  "Craig!  Comin' out!" he shouts as he cracks the hatch and works the TRG's bolt to chamber a round.

Danny
upper deck B, aft hatch, using the hatch for cover against fire from the east
Sako TRG-21 [10/10] - ready, on FIRE
Winona [30/30 + 5 magazines] - slung, on SAFE
CZ 75 [15/15 + 2 magazines] - holstered, cocked and locked
AN-M8 HC smoke grenade x2 - on vest
AN-M18 red smoke grenade x1 - on vest

acquiring a scoped rifle and looking for the eastern sniper

In reply to Cap'n Rae (msg # 678):


Everything starts to go in slow motion to Tucker when he sees the man with the AK step out in front of him.  He had slung his rifle before he started the run to set the charge so it wouldn't hinder him in getting there.  Robert immediately reaches to the MOLLE holster on his grenadier's rig and draws out the normally reliable Browning HP, swipes the thumb safety to 'off', and then will engage the first person (10 meters away) and trying to use him as a meat shield between himself and the second man that appears.

TUCKER
- Browning HP [13/13] Holstered (MAIN/Primary)
- M16A2 / M-203: [30/30] / M-203 HE Loaded (Currently Reloading)-  SAFE - SLUNG}
- H&K MK23 SOCOM (Suppressed) [12+1/12 + [(x2) 12/12 Mag pouch]] -
   Holstered

Using threat #1 as a meat shield between himself and target #2.  Firing as many rounds as needed to drop first threat then going after the 2nd
This message was last edited by the player at 02:44, Tue 28 May 2013.

From behind the gun shield Craig surveys the bridge looking for the sniper. He had been through the Royal Marines sniper school so had an idea where he maybe. The bridge was large and who's to know if the guys a professional.

When he hears Larue's call he yells back;

"Alright stay in cover"

He then continues to look for the sniper.

Port DShK
Scanning for sniper

Port DShK
HK G3SG/1 (w/ Zeiss 1.5-6 x 42 mm Telescopic Sight)[20/20] w/14 magazines
L32A1 (Browning A5) 10" Barrel [4/3]

Something out of the corner of his eye, most probably a sudden movement though it was possibly just instinct, caused Jan to turn and point his rifle back towards the stern of the ship.  He could see Tuck moving towards the rear of the boat and at least one member of the Torun salvage crew who had made it aboard the Queen.

On seeing the intruder Jan quickly dropped back into his kneeling firing position and pulled his AK tight into his shoulder.  He aimed to the side of Tuck, conscious that he didn't want to shoot his friend in the back, and if he could see a target he fired a single aimed shot at the man.  If his LOS became clear and there was no risk of hitting Tuck then Jan started firing double taps at any target he could see on the stern of the boat and identify as not a member of the crew.


Jan
Kneeling firing position, aiming towards the stern, backing up Tuck
Depending on LOS past Tuck, either firing single aimed shots or double taps at any clear target
AK-74 (38/40rnds - 1x 40rnd & 10x 30rnd mags in total) - held
BG-15 (0/1 HE Grenade - 18x HE Grenades in total) - underslung
Sig Sauer P226 - (15/15 rnds - 4x 15rnd mags in total) - holster
Frag Grenade x2
Smoke Grenade (Coloured) x1
Hunting Knife

Jay emerged from the equipment storage area on the port side. He was immediately confronted with chaos - a wall of steam from the anti-boarder device blocked his view to the front, so he glanced left and right. Seeing nothing obvious he moved towards the stern. He kept low and moved quietly with his rifle at his shoulder.

If he spots any movement he will make sure they are a threat, then fire a double tap with his AK. If multiple threats he will fire a burst at them.

Jay Byanjankar
Main Deck "O" heading towards stern, rifle ready.
AK74 + GL 30/30 & 1xHE

On his way to light the demo charge, Tucker comes face to face with two boarders. The nearest Russian spends precious half-a-second taking aim at Tucker's chest; without hesitation, Tucker sidesteps and fires instinctively, letting his training take over. He squeezes off two hurried shots, both low- one 9mmP round clangs off of the inner side of the starboard gunwale, the other lodges in the closest antagonist's upper right thigh. The man screams and stumbles, falling hard against the gunwale. His AK barks on the way down and three rounds streak just inches past Tucker's fritz helmet.

Behind Tucker, Jan is ready. Having shifted to the side to get line of sight past his American friend, Jan has a clear view of the second boarder. The Czech fires twice and hits his target in the upper right leg as well. Despite the cacophony of the firefight in which he is currently enveloped, Jan can hear the round split the hapless Russian's femur. Both Russians are down, both screaming, when another steps into the void. Both Tucker and Jan fire double taps at the new target and the third Russian drops to the deck in a lifeless heap. (Tucker -4 rounds; Jan -4 rounds)

Up above, Thijs tries to clear the stoppage that prevents his Dishka from rejoining the fight. He cranks back on the charging handle but the stovepiped 12.7mm round doesn't budge. He's about to try again when he notices movement on the deck below. Two men in Russian camouflage step out from behind the raised quarterdeck, rifles raised. Thijs releases the HMG and grabs for his Canadian-made LSW. By the time he's got the LSW up and tucked into his shoulder, both Russians, and a third that appeared in the meantime are down on deck, bleeding. He's about to try clearing the jam in The Dishka again when he notices a man's head and shoulders appear above the waist-high sandbag and ammo crate barricade that surrounds the raised quarterdeck. Rising to his tip-toes, Thijs levels his C7 at the intruder and fires a short burst. Rounds thud into the sandbags under the boarder, spraying him with bits of burlap and earth, and he drops down out of sight behind the quarterdeck. (Thijs -5 rounds)

On the bow of the Krolowa, Mariusz picks up his AK/GL combo and takes aim at the passing pilot boat. The window of opportunity is narrow and the small vessel once again passes behind the wall of steam (to port, or Mariusz's left when facing the bow). Mariusz fires blindly, estimating where the target should be in a couple of seconds when his 40mmS HE grenade occupies the same spot. There's a wet BOOM from off the port bow, but until the homer piec is deactivated, Mariusz will have to wait to see the result of his handiwork. (Mariusz -1 40mmS HE)

Over on the port side of the tug, Jay steps through a hatch and on to the main deck. He looks aft and sees the back end of the monitor directly in front of him. He begins to advance towards the Krolowa's stern, rifle raised, when a man in Russian camo steps out from behind the quarterdeck and right into the diminutive Gurkha's sights. Jay squeezes off two rounds and the man doubles over and crumples to the deck, gutshot. (Jay -2 rounds)

On the catwalk above Jay, Craig, just joined by LaRue, searches for the sniper on the highway bridge to the east from behind his Dishka's gunshield. He sees movement- several men running from the east bank towards the center of the span (from his right to his left) and then a small stationary hump about 20m to the left of the bridge's midpoint, just above the railing- the sniper. The runners are about 50m away from the suspected sniper and moving towards him.

On the Krolowa's bridge, Griet orders the engine room to give her full power to the engines. The lobster cooker is still spewing its wall of superheated steam, depriving the tug's pistons of vital thrust, but the tug starts to move forward, pulling away, albeit relatively slowly, from the Crocodile. Behind Griet, Connolly looks out the back door's view port, searching for boarder targets. The awning covering the tug's raised quarterdeck blocks most of the view, leaving only the tug's rounded poop. At the moment, however, the poop is walled off by a veil of steam, leaving only the superstructure of the monitor visible to her. Contorting her body to get a better view, Connolly spots a man's head protruding above the lip of the high helmsman's box. He's looking at the Krolowa's port HMG position, and appears to be working himself up to do something about it. [Since Griet activated the homer piec herself, from the bridge, she will need to deactivate it herself as well. I put the controls on the bridge to give the PCs direct control of the device, which will also allow it to be deployed much faster than if orders had to be relayed to the engine room over the intercom.]

The Crocodile is now about 10m aft of the Krolowa, screening the tug from the Russians on and around the dock on the east bank.


Next Moves?
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:21, Wed 29 May 2013.

Griet cut the Homer Pec's feed lines and pushed the engines forward, she eased them on until she felt either the tug of the monitor or that the lines were free.

Mariusz dropped back in to cover and then quickly reloaded his grenade launcher. He looked over at Anders and asked, "Do you want to move the mortar to face port or starboard in readiness for our run downstream?"

After dropping the unwelcome boarder, Jay continued to creep forward towards the stern, checking all around for further threats on board. As before he would fire a double tap at any target, or a burst at a group if they presented themselves. As he moved he kept low and trod lightly, like a ghost in the steam cloud.

Jay Byanjankar
Main Deck heading towards stern on port side, rifle ready
AK74 + GL 28/30 & 1xHE

Thijs paused a moment to see if any more Russians appeared, calling out to Tucker, "Tuck!  Watch your right!".  He then deployed his LSW's bipod and set the weapon down on the deck and resumed his attempt to clear the stoppage on the HMG.

Thijs
Starboard DShK [149/200]
C7A1 LSW [85/90 +(6x30)] on deck, on bipod, SAFE
Clearing jam

I hate this infantry shit, I hate this fuckin' infantry shit, runs the bitter litany in Collolly's head.  In her peripheral awareness, the steam from the homar piec is dissipating, and the soles of her feet are vibrating as the tug's engines strain - but with no radio traffic or navigation to manage, her most important task is keeping any boarders from getting access to the bridge if they get past Sutherland at the foot of the stairs.  She glances down to ensure the Brit is still in position, then returns her eyes to her sights just in time to catch a flicker of motion atop the monitor.

Drawing a deep breath, she widens her stance and braces her support hand at the side of the viewport, steadying the AK's handguard.  "Fuckin' infantry shit," she growls, not realizing she's speaking aloud, and presses the trigger...

Boots
bridge, aft viewport overlooking the stairs
AIMS-74 [25/30 + 4 magazines] - ready, on BURST
M11 [13/13 + 2 magazines] - holstered, loaded but decocked

aimed fire at the Russian by the monitor's helm
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Thu 30 May 2013.

Bayer hunkered down again below the lip of the gunwale. He couldn't see much of anything right now anyways and didn't want to get picked off by a stray round. Seeing how he had both of his NCOs on the deck handing things, he decides to make his way back up to the bridge to get a better idea on what was happening. Scurrying along the deck and keeping low, he then bolts for the ladder and passage up to the upper deck. On the way he shouts to the DSHK operators, "Gunners, higher rate of fire! Get more rounds down range."

When he arrives in the wheelhouse, he calls over to Griet, "Working on the cable. Tucker should have it lit by now. How soon can you get us out of here once the charge cuts us free?"

Bayer then looks for visible targets to engage from his new position.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:04, Thu 30 May 2013.

Having lined up the most obvious position for the sniper Craig lets out a burst from the HMG. He then watches the impacts before correcting for a second burst.

He lets Larue know where he thinks the sniper is and advises him to take out the group running along the bridge.

Port DShK
Firing at sniper on bridge


HK G3SG/1 (w/ Zeiss 1.5-6 x 42 mm Telescopic Sight)[20/20] w/14 magazines
L32A1 (Browning A5) 10" Barrel [4/3]

All the targets he could see had been put down so Jan pushed himself up from his kneeling position and started to advance forward to Tuck's position.

"Tuck," he called forward, "I am backing you up.  We can clear the deck as a team and then you can set off the charge."

He was cautious as he advanced, scanning for other borders who had made it onto the Queen and also conscious that the enemy soldiers who had already been hit might well still be alive and able to use a weapon.  If he spotted any threats as he joined Tuck he fired a double tap at them.

Jan also kept himself as low as possible as he moved towards the stern of the boat, well aware that other weapons were being fired at the Queen from other angles and that by moving in the open he was potentially making himself a target.  It was a calculated risk however as they needed to eliminate any borders and release themselves from the Monitor.


Jan
Advancing forward to join Tuck, firing double taps at any threats he spots
AK-74 (34/40rnds - 1x 40rnd & 10x 30rnd mags in total) - held
BG-15 (0/1 HE Grenade - 18x HE Grenades in total) - underslung
Sig Sauer P226 - (15/15 rnds - 4x 15rnd mags in total) - holster
Frag Grenade x2
Smoke Grenade (Coloured) x1
Hunting Knife

Griet ran the figures in her head, "It'll take about a minute to get back to full steam and then we'll be making twelve kilometers an hour, fifteen with the current. That's about two hundred and fifty meters a minute. We'll be in this fire zone for at least five minutes and it'll take thirty to be clear of Torun. After that it'll be down to what vehicles they throw at us. The major issue will be if they have heavy weapons, evasive manouvres will cut our forward progress by fifty per cent."

"Jammed!" Thijs shouts back.  "I am clearing."

"Yup," Danny drawls.  He wastes a moment trying to figure out the unfamiliar reticle on the TRG-21's scope, then mentally shrugs and guesstimates his hold-over and windage.  It's a bit like hunting pronghorn back home...

Danny
upper deck B, aft hatch, using the hatch for cover against fire from the east
Sako TRG-21 [10/10] - ready, on FIRE
Winona [28/30 + 5 magazines] - slung, on SAFE
CZ 75 [15/15 + 2 magazines] - holstered, cocked and locked
AN-M8 HC smoke grenade x2 - on vest
AN-M18 red smoke grenade x1 - on vest

engaging the runners on the bridge, starting with whoever has the biggest gun
This message was last edited by the player at 02:00, Fri 31 May 2013.

Connolly recognizes Bayer just in time to keep from reflexively shooting him in the face as he ascends the stairs to the bridge.  "Stay the fuck down, Captain," she snarls as she spins out of the doorway and kicks the door shut behind him, "there's at least one still on top of the monitor."

She adds to Griet, "I guarantee they have heavy weapons.  Question is, are they going to spend the ordnance on sinking us if they can't capture us?"

Tucker waves up for Jan to join him and keeps slowly advancing on the two wounded men on the deck who are screaming.  He points the muzzle of his Browning HP down at the wounded and double taps them both in the chest then performs an in battery magazine exchange, placing the partial mag in a pocket for now.  Tucker makes two hand signals to Jan as he approaches.  First, is one finger in the air then his second is his hand pointing in the direction where Thjis called out a possible threat in that area.

TUCKER
- Browning HP [9/13] Holstered (MAIN/Primary)
- M16A2 / M-203: [30/30] / M-203 HE Loaded (Currently Reloading)-  SAFE - SLUNG}
- H&K MK23 SOCOM (Suppressed) [12+1/12 + [(x2) 12/12 Mag pouch]] -
   Holstered

Double tapping each of the downed and screaming enemy soldiers on the deck, reloading, and then waiting for Jan to join him.

Quyen nods at McClurg and says quietly "Okay." She then gives the men a look wondering if she made the right decision and heads up to the main deck. Before climbing up all the way she takes a moment to look around to make sure she is not walking into the middle of something.

Quyen then moves along the side of the tug as close to the superstructure as possible towards the stern. When she sees Mariusz and Anders on the mortar she calls out to them and moves up. Confused by the steam she asks "I'm here to shoot people. Which way are the threats?"

"There's a boat to port that seems to be running," Mariusz said, "apart from that I'm not sure what to aim the mortar at. I've asked Anders as gun commander to make the call."