The group quickly dispersed to get the process of 'getting the hell outa Dodge' in motion. Thomas grabbed the offered maps and travel intel and followed the others out the door. Cecylia quickly found the medical supplies as Fedor backed the CUCV up to the nearest cargo trailer. Thompson did likewise, and backed the M1114 up to a mobile tank of gasoline with a full gauge. Hendrik didn't waste time on introductions, he merely followed the others outside and found a cargo container loaded with munitions and began piling the CUCV's cargo area and seats as quickly as he could. Seamus located a mobile machine shop and managed to bully the portable shop onto the M998's trailer hitch. Carter quickly began offloading medical supplies with Cecylia, the two used what space was available in the HMMWVs.

It was messy. It was disorganized. But, it was done in a hell of a hurry. Which was good because twenty-one minutes into their loading plan a trio of Hind attack helicopters broke over the trees to the west. The heavily armed helicopters were low, skimming the treetops, and moving exceedingly fast. Unleashing a salvo of rockets from the big, drum-like pods under their wings, the helicopters opened the battle by destroying several small positions, scattering over a hundred troops, and exploding a mortar position with a very impressive secondary explosion of ammunition.

Bursts machine gun fire from the various guns on the helicopters sent streams of fire into closer defenders within the camp. A burst of tracer laden 7.62mm bullets stitched across the ground between the CUCV and the M114, literally between Hendrik and Cecylia while the loaded supplies onto those vehicles.

A flare went up in the distance. A forward observation position had spotted the approaching Soviet ground forces. That placed the Soviets somewhere to the northwest, at approximately a kilometer away. That was less than a mile! They all stopped and several unspoken decisions were made in the moment. The body bags of their fallen were rushed to the Graves Registration station, a pair of G.P., Medium tents were tossed on top of the CUCV and quickly lashed down, and prepacked backpacks from a Connex marked with the identifier '22nd SAS only' were strapped to the outside of all three vehicles. No one was truly sure of exactly what all was packed on the trio of vehicles.

But, soon enough the Hinds broke off moments before a salvo of 122mm high explosive shells fell along the road they had driven in on near the outer defenses. More troops fled, more positions were destroyed, and there was another secondary explosion when a lorry's fuel tank ruptured and caught fire. It was time to go.

Fedor got into the CUCV and fired up the truck. By the the time he put the truck into gear the other vehicles' engines were running as well.

(OOC: you are sure you got a lot of ammo, some weapons, a fuel tanker, a portable machine shop, a bit of food and water, some electronics, the communications suite for Cecylia's new intelligence concern, piles of parts and tools, and a dozen prepacked operator resupply units in backpacks for the SAS troops. More detail to come as the game progresses. There isn't room in the vehicles for more gear and only three people in each. And that is using Crisco and a steel shoehorn.)

This wasn't the first time Fedor had exited a facility under fire with a load of someone else's gear and it showed.

He found a route west and put on some speed leading the way and keeping the NATO positions between them and the approaching Pact forces.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:05, Mon 31 Jan 2022.

Tom leapt back into the vehicle, hoping Mike was coming with them, then waited impatiently for someone to start driving, muttering "come on, come ON!"

Seamus swore that he couldn't keep putting up with the same excrement for what seemed like the seventh time this day, got into the M1114 and started it up, following Feodor out of the Hot Zone.

On their own again. And running from trouble again. The convoy moved in a winding path towards Germany. Side roads to avoid bombed out sections of major highways. Back roads to circle towns that seemed to dangerous or were burning.

The day passed until they had traveled well into the night. It was nearly midnight by the time the radio traffic had stopped. By the time they were sure they had escaped the frantic air sorties by Soviet attack helicopters chasing down those fleeing from the last battle in Poland. But, mostly, they had stopped because they were three kilometers inside of Germany.

The church was an old wooden structure with a date carved into the base of the front door of 1934. A long time ago. It was small, boxy, and cold. But it was well out of the way of traffic on the highway or the local back roads.