Lena wasn't sure what to say to that, and she had no advice for the man either.  It was as if war was terrible and overwhelming.

"I see Herr Doktor."  She responded somberly, keeping it laconic and vague.

Graumann let out a heavy sigh.
"There's patients waiting, Fräulein. We must do for them what we can."

---

The next few hours saw more wounded arriving, many of them from other field hospitals closer to the front. Blood-soaked bed sheets would be washed in the nearby Havel river and brought back. In the early afternoon a few trucks arrived - but instead of supplies, they brought artillery, setting up two 88s facing North and North-East.
Ammunition for the artillery would be coming, soon, the drivers said and took off again.

It was getting dark here, both literally and figuratively.

Well, that worried Lena.  She sought Graumann.  She figured he couldn't do anything but she had to try anyway.

"HOLD HIM STILL, GODDAMNIT!"
Graumann bellowed at the young orderly, who was leaning down on the patient on the stretcher, as the old doctor dug deep into the shoulder blade of the wounded soldier.

The man kicked and screamed around the piece of wood that had been shoved between his teeth. Then, suddenly, he lay still.
"That's better", Graumann grunted and finally pulled a dented bullet from the wound, dropping it unceremoniously onto the ground.
Then he checked the man's pulse.
"Just fainted. Could've done that earlier. Press down here. NURSE! SEW HIM UP!". He scribbled something on a piece of paper, turned around and almost ran into Lena. "Yes?"

"Herr Doktor, they are installing artillery here.  We cannot have a hospital at the same site as an artillery position."  She figured that was obvious to him or anyone with a brain, but perhaps she was wrong.

Graumann wiped at his brow, leaving a bloody trail.
"You're right. But I got men dying here. You're the head nurse, you go and handle that." And with that, he turned around and walked off to the next man.

Lena considered that a moment.  First, Graumann was giving up, not on his patients, but on the situation and himself.  She didn't blame him though.  He'd clearly picked his hill to die on and would not be moved.

So.  Lena considered the possibilities.  She'd been trained in the use of small arms, and she knew a bit about the workings of what she called "the big stuff".  No she wasn't a trained tank operator, but they didn't send the spy out without knowing in broad strokes how the enemy's equipment worked and what it was capable of, because the spy needed to know what to report on and how to sabotage it.

That was where her thoughts turned.  Maybe something subtle could be done, simple removal of a single part...  She moved carefully looking to see if there was a viable approach to the installations that wouldn't look, well, weird.

Strolling outside to "catch some air", Lena observed the artillery site. Four Hitler Youth were struggling to put the 88's together under the auspices of a middle-aged soldier who wore his arm in a sling. Clearly, this was the first time they were doing that.

((So what do you want to do? Sneak up on them, or?))

Lena had a grisly, grisly idea. A horrible idea.  She hated herself for it, but it might work.  She took mental stock of her patients.

How many are laying on the cot dead, are there any who are having spasms and fits, is this like Civil War style where we're basically sawing limbs off and praying that saves their lives?

((There are basically three groups of patients - those that are waiting to die, those who have just been treated and have a chance to recover and those who are still awaiting treatment.
It's a lot more advanced than US Civil War era, but a lot of the wounds result in amputations, yes, and the painkillers are reserved for those.))

All right.  I asked how brutal it was because we're low on supplies, and if we're really low, well it doesn't matter how advanced your knowledge is if you don't have the stuff to do it with, but this works.  The situation is rotten enough to proceed.

Lena got an idea.  It was a longshot but if it worked, it would achieve what she wanted.  She approached the impromptu assembly crew, but not before stopping to adjust her hair and check her bust.  That nurse's uniform needed to be as flattering as possible for this.

The engineer didn't seem to notice anything, and neither did the Hitler-Youth, until one of them turned around and looked into your direction. He almost dropped the part he was currently holding, but caught it.

The harried nurse approached the crew, looking distraught.

"Oh I am so sorry to disrupt your important work here, but I fear I have no other choice, the situation is desperate."

Lena was really leaning into her damsel in distress shtick here, as hard as she could.

((Persuasion roll, please. Or Perfomance, if you got it.))

saved by the wild die!


17:10, Today: Lena Vogt rolled 2,6 using d6+1,d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5.  Persuasion.

The boys gawked at her, more or less openly. The man raised his eyebrows.
"Situation? What kind of situation?"

"We need to move the hospital so they can finish this work here, but... well it makes no sense to move many of these I am afraid, but there are enough who have to go all the same."  She fluttered her lashes just a bit, this was more for the youth than him.  "I need such strong men to help."

"Move them? Where?"

"Into triage.  The patients who would benefit the most from immediate care, over there.  The most stable patients here-"  She pointed.  "And the least here.  The nurses will have to mark them.  If nothing else it will make the installation of the artillery go much faster later."

The boy looked back and forth between the engineer and Lena, unsure what to do.

The man shifted his wounded arm uncomfortably in his sling and winced, then scratched his head.
"I don't know, Fräulein, we got our orders...."


(Give me one more persuasion roll)

05:40, Today: Lena Vogt rolled 2,4 using d6+1,d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,3.  Persuasion.

"Of course, and surely your orders include preparing the site for the installation.  Besides, so many strong young men you will be done with this in no time."  She really leaned into the High German inflection.  The ability to not sound like an American was the singular talent that had gotten her into this mess after all.  She wondered sometimes if her parents, if they ever found out what had happened, would have regretted speaking German at home.

((Want to spend a Bennie on that one and re-roll?))

11:03, Today: Lena Vogt rolled 5,10 using d6+1,d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of 4,(6+3)9.  Sure.

sure why not, down to 2 then

The engineer wrinkles his brow and looks around, then shakes his head and looks at you.
"Fine. But let's hurry."

Excellent.

"Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar!"  She left the rest off, playing up her exasperation.

Lena had a plan.  She would, in fact, get them to help the nurses triage the patients.  That part would be obvious.

But as soon as there was an opening, she would make an excuse to vanish a moment, come back to the artillery, and steal small parts, things that looked important but could feasibly be lost by mundane error.  Bolts, hinges, any small part that would impede the assembly and preparation of the artillery.  She couldn't stop them from installing it eventually, but she could make this position non-functional for several hours at least (if not longer) given how disorganized everything was.

The thought occurred to Lena she had finally crossed from spy to saboteur.  The walls were closing in.