Ed's Journal, September 7th (morning)
Captain Rataj showed us all over his dreamboat today. She's no QE2. She's made of rust, wire and smoke. He took us below decks. The damn engine doesn't even have a pressure guage! The engineer, Iosef, just snarls and spits when questioned. He built her, he knows her, and that's all you need to know. End of story. Captain Rataj, obviously know how to run the boilers, maybe a few others of the crew, but we're not going to get lessons. Trust issues already. Can you blame him?
I'm busy being baatman for our Cap. Taking notes on where to add MGs, sandbags, and stowage. The tug's already full of supplies, but we can add a couple PK emplacements to complement the Russian 50's he's already got. Cap gets her own cabin. The rest of us can share deck space.
The barge can hold tons of freight or people, but what we can't get on is the tank. The forward deck, the only place to put it so the turret could engage, is half holes and the rest rotten wood. Cap, our Cap, (I mean) Major Cap now due to the boat bump in rank, has a few ideas. We'll know tomorrow once our construction people get out here.
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September 7th (evening)
Doc's little friend Jana hasn't been around for awhile. Our combat accountant told us she's had to take care of her sick father. No more was said. We've been working our asses off geting settled back in and didn't spare it any thought. Wish we had.
Cap called me in to Doc's infirmiry just after evening meal. Jana was there and was not a pleasant sight. Dark splotchy bruises over her face and arms and that wasting look you get when you can't keep anything down. I seen it plenty before, so I wasn't surprised when Doc told me it was serious radiation poisoning. The only question was how.
Krakow is one of the luckiest cities in Poland. They hadn't caught one during the exchange and the serious ground fighting was further north. They'd had marauders, civil disorder, starvation and some fallout, but they hadn't been hurt. What a joke, this is don't well by the 21st century.
Her story was short. Dad had gotten sick, she'd stayed with him, she'd gotten sick and finally come to Doc for help. I gathered without being told that Doc Krol hadn't been able to help.
So now Leo, I and a few guys with guns were going over to their place and scope it out. We had a few MOPP suits from the POW camp and a second geiger counter. I had the training and Leo had the language skills. The other guys ould buy us some time if someone got upset with us poking around.
The apartment was on top of four flights of stairs. We're swimming in the suits by the time we reached the top. Leo knocked and yelled in. He got a weak answer. The old man was in much worse shape, further along and dehydrated to boot. My geiger was making unhappy little noises. Leo explained as best he could as I did a walk around.
I scanned the walls and fixtures not getting any spikes until I got near the bed. Fucking figures. Sleeping right in it. Got myself down on all fours and swept under the bed. Where do you hide your valuables? There's a box with some small, shiney gold nuggets. Hot little nuggets. Where do I find a lead box at this time of night?
We brought Jana's dad out with us. Left everything else behind. Leo warned the other occupants of the building. His sweaty head poking out of the top of a green rubber suit made for a convincing sight.
I gave my report upon arrival. Cap tells me back that Jana'd turned her script into gold on the black market. Really? Really? Either those knuckleheads were trading wholesale in "hot" goods or they'd traded specificly to Jana. We'd made a lot of noise in this town. It wouldn't take much work to find out who we had working for us.
For now, we're passing on the news of the shines to our friend Adom on the hill. For now, we'll let it slide. For now, we got too much work getting the men settled and going downriver. But when we come back, it won't be now anymore. I really hope some dumb fuck was wholesaling and that it wasn't personal. Cause some kid's crying her eyes out cause she's responsible for killing her daddy, slowly. Cause if it's personal, I'll feed them shiney little stones until they rot from the inside out. And there'll be a line.
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