Lair of the Ezrala Reljdansh
Dag has called up to the Loreli for a look-down on the site where they think the gang of cutthroats are in the ruins of a city called Itsecha, about a 100km due south of the sky fortress. The red dots are where the people are, larger ones must be riding lizards. With the coming storm, they think a good part of the gang is away, probaly raiding somewhere. This is the time to get in and hit them, if they can get the hostages out, then they can hit the rest with ortillery and wreck the party forever. The only hitch is that the scanner can’t show any difference between the hostages and gang members, so the strike will have to be both recon and raid, find them, get them out and bust up any gang members they can.
Get in, get out; sounds easy enough, come in under the cover of the coming storm and take out the Ezrala Reljdansh… “Dead Skin Mask” in galanglic.
Comments
The main force is the G-Carrier and the ground squad.
The party should plan out the raid.
Kallen ponder’s over the map scratching his head, “Not many of those you see here. Basic enough for me to know whats what though.” He begins thinking a possible plan.
“Ah, What about coming from the north east swinging around to the south then moving west building by building.” Taking a wild stab in the dark, before continuing, “The ruins of the city are cratered in pretty much every street so that can provide ample cover on the streets aside from debris from buildings.”
Kallen by now has his hood and cloak draped over his shoulders, though the cloak keeps slipping over his left shoulder falling over the stump of his shoulder. The rest of the party can see his weapon belt holding a pouch next to a well made musket pistol and on the right side a small revolver that has seen some usage. His face scowled up distasteful of being inside the Carrier (if the are inside it).
“First time in one of these?” Walt asks Kallen after he see’s his discomfort, “dont worry ive driven these for years” smiling he continues “and been through much worse” “Now dont be crowding the door way people there is plenty of room for you all – nice and orderly now!”
Walt seems to be slipping into a very comfortable role, everyone can see the smile on his face, and he has this general aura of content!
“In one of these! Yes. But I have been in other things that defy physic’s. Just, hoped I’d never be in one of these, ever.” Kallen begins to remember days of trying to evade police using these or similiar, damned things.
John
John looks at the map, it seems like many he has seen before. “A strike team, a grab team, and a backdoor team to prevent them from escaping away from the strike team. We need recon to see where the central headquarters building is, that is most likely where they are keeping the prisoners. The Strike team gets their initial attention while the grab team heads in from the flank and the backup team picks them off if they try to flee with the prisoners. Otherwise just let them escape, fewer to deal with.”
“If we want to make a statement then the carrier hoses the big lizards with GMG fire. Property loss should get their attention. Main thing we need enroute is recon. Otherwise a few of us need to go in first and protect the prisoners while the rest of you deal with the bad guys.”
John stoped, and smiled. “Sorry, long standing habit. The basics have worked before and I tend to trust them.”
Kallen remarks something in his head before beginning, “Why don’t we literally go in during the storm. Viability is is,” a smirk cross’s his face, “literally nothing. They wouldn’t expect it. Nor would I, if I was in there shoe’s. Just remember if we do that, we have to get in there quickly and get out before the winds get to high. Would also increase the usage of stealth, and if we need to use gun’s, the wind will deaden the sound out.”
“The, huh, Carrier can get us in close limiting the time we a near the area and then get out the way we came.” Looks up at John before looking at the others. “To me that is easiest, and the risk is minimal. Plus, then afterwards you guys can send whatever ordnance from where ever you like freely at them.”
OOC: “Visability”, spellcheck made it the completely the wrong word, before I realised. dunno the correct spellin.
John
“Using the storm to our advantage is a great idea. We need to hit and get before it arrives though. Extraction becomes the issue. We have diverse teams and will need to pull everyone out before letting the oritllary fire. Trying to round everyone up in a storm that most of us are not familiar with is risky. If we reach our objective and return just before the storm hits we reduce their ability to follow up.”
“A small team would be the order of the day if we go in as the storm sets in. The Carrier will need to put us close enough without being seen. Idea on that, would be to slide up to the landing area upon the storm itself so as not to be seen.” Kallen takes a deep breath, “Then we can go in. No one would be patrolling the outside, these storms don’t make it easy on you so we need the best. The small group can then scout for the location of the Hostage’s, take out any guards silently and then retreat back to the Carrier. Then this,” Kallen pats the carrier, “can leave.”
“The storm itself is harsh, but the first few minutes as it sets in on their camp is all we need. Question is how small we make the group and the location where the Carrier will go to and then await for us. Just remember you can’t see much, and the only place I’d run during the storm for any reason would be a building and most importantly, stick to line of sight with at least two others.”
BTW – John, Garet and Kallen have said hello here and here
John
“Being that close to the storm puts us at greater risk and buys us nothing. Too much chance to lose someone, too much chance to get lost in the buildings, too much chance to lose the carrier’s location, and it eliminates suppressive fire from the carrier.” John replied. “The storm is a great tool if you need it, but we don’t.”
“Your call John.”
OK, so it looks like just set up the plan and then go, Dag will go along with whatever the plan is.
Jaq leaves the planning to the military types. She is ready to go along, having added her SMG to her already growing arsenal of weapons she is carrying, but she is a scout and thus the planning of such is generally beyond her. Although she does speak in favor of using the storm as cover, once the decision is made, she doesn’t belabor the point.
John
After he gave Kallen a nod, John said. “Okay, who do we have that can do what? We need two for the back door, a few of us for the grab team, and the heavy hitters for the frontal assault. Walt, you and the carrier lead the charge up front. Think the ’bots would be best with you? Anyone a sniper?”
“Good with my pistols,” Kallen taps his revolver and musket pistol with his only hand. “However, be best if I come along on the grab team. Memory serve’s me right in that my tongue will be needed. Or otherwise we’d have a problem of the hostages thinking your some other group who don’t speak bones for dinner.”
No snipers, Ty is probably the best with a rifle, but he wouldn’t volunteer that info. The robots high dex makes them good with the rifles as well. Carrier has driver an gunner who may balk at being anything other than what their contract says, the gunner did balk at quelling the mutiny on the Loreli.
So what is the plan?
Walt replies “We would need probably need at least 5, one point, one advisor (to ID hostages), and three support for covering fire, I will remain in the carrier ready to blast out of there – we only need then one more to be carrier gunner to provide cover fire and supression so all up 5 ground team and 2 air crew” Walt seems to ponder for a second, then adds “Just before the storm would be good, we can always go up when we extract”
Great, what direction, altitude and such are you coming from? Where are you going to stop, any other actions?
Jaq suggests the possibility of coming from out of the storm, either that or on a fast descent, a sort of Da Nang type landing as some Terrans called it. She is good with whatever position she is assigned on the team.
OOC: FYI, while she hasn’t really had to put it into practice, she is likely a serious crack shot with the SMG, given her skill of 3 and her high dex (if I remember my game mechanics correctly She will likely downplay this saying she is “pretty good” with it. Any function check given she will certainly be able to do handily and quickly. If quizzed, she will know more than just the basic knowledge about all the firearms she carries and if anyone wants her to demonstrate her shooting capability, they will likely be surprised.
Walt says “A high alt drop and cut the gravs in at the last minute – it will be one express elevator to hell, going down! We could use thermals and heat sensors to detect a few women and a bunch of children, i would of thought.”
Kallen comments that the Headman’s-grand daughter is a woman herself, he also knows the gang will cut her throat in a second if they think that the party is after her in a rescue attempt.
Zooming on the battle comp map box, it gives three likely spots for women and children while the imaging resolution is only so good from orbit, it could also be the gang’s women and children.
Where do you land?
Walt looks disturbed “Damn three choices, by the look of the intel I would hazard to suggest the middle location looks more like cells, and could be the location of our hostages!”
So landing right or left of the middle location?
Walt, after studying the map offers the left side as the most easily looking for access
As you are coming in, you catch a comm signal looking for a link.
So saying that is the actual sitch map, what do you do? Alarmed guards begin to shoot at the carrier with a variety of weapons.
…
-…, …-…,The same signal, faint echoes over the lines dot dot dot..dash, dash, dash, dot dot dot..Golf, Echo, Romeo, Echo, Tango..Fortune’s Choice..bound for..
John
“So much for surprise.” John said as he bailed out of the carrier. “Light ’em up! Grab team on me, we head for the middle.”
That said John put his GLMG to work as he sprinted to the middle building where they thought the prisoners might be.
Kallen gives a hard look at John, bemused of what he say’s about surpise. “What you expected?” He mutters, before listening to the Carrier’s incoming signal.
Startled by what he hear’s faintly, under the gunfire he recognise’s a pattern. A name! “What on earth is Garet doing on Nesumzar! Fortune’s Choice?!” Kallen springs close to Walter shouting, “Talk to that man, I think I know him.”
Walt opens a secure channel and divert the comms to Kallen, Walt also reminds Kallen “Keep eyes peeled, we don’t want to get caught dreaming” Walt is cycling thru all checks and keeps the bird ready to fly at a moments notice.
John can see in the middle building are the prisoners locked in. His MG is providing some suppressive fire at interspersed is the loud BRRRAP of the VRF ripping holes in the building to the left to keep fire down there, as that is where the carrier is taking a large amount of small arms fire from at the moment.
Who is my gunner? If its npc do you need a roll for return fire ?
Gunner is Lissa, from the 3rd Grav Squad wiki, fire is supressed from the building next to you, though scans show from the Loreli look down is showing that others are proceeding to your position.
“Garet, Garet! Is that really you out there?” Kallen speaks to in to the comm’s device whilst carefully checking the rear hatch ready to shoot anyone not with in the team that tries to enter.
“Okay guys we have multiple heat signatures closing on this position! do we have an ETA on securing the package yet?” Walt asks over the comms
dot,dot,dot….dash,dash,dash…dot,dot,dot..Golf, Alpha, Romeo, Echo, Tango, Fortune’s Choice out of Stella Maris..current status 10 friendlies, repeat 1-0 friendlies…count 6-0 bogies, repeat 6-0 bogies..copy?
Then a raspy voice comes over the comm to Kallen: “K-kallen?..” then a small chuckle..“About time you got here..you have any idea what the overnight rates are for facilities like this?” “Plus, they have no in room vids!? And don’t get me started on the room service!”
“Yes it’s me Garet. Stop that darn jokin’ of your’s.” Chuckling slightly. “Sounds like you are in a pickle, like myself right now. Where the hell are you?”
“Center building. Next door neighbor’s a woman. Seems to be pretty high up on the food chain.”
John
“Going in now.” John headed to the first door and kicked it open. With the GLMG up and ready he looked in.
“Anyone else with you? A female child by any chance? And are you between two cell blocks?”
Kallen turns to Waltor , “Pass on the information to the rest of the team that has already jumped the carrier, as it comes, ok?”
As John kicks open the first cell, there are three screaming women inside, terrified of him. He is taking fire from who knows where it is ricocheting off the walls of the building. Ty and Jimmy (the other MG gunner) have failed their morale checks and are cowering behind the APC, Sergeant Riikhaar Munoz, Corporal Sadarrir Tandeel and Private Ranald Dugasvili have followed John out and are in a crouch near the wall of the cell blocks. The continued fire of the VRF Gauss Gun is disintegrating the building across the street, as it is collapsing, it is raising a huge cloud of dust. The suppressive fire of the Gauss Gun and now the dust cloud seem to be keep any fire towards the team wild and inaccurate.
Suddenly out of the dust flies what looks to be a TL7 Frag grenade, landing between the carrier and the cell blocks.
“Copy that. I am in the lower most middle location and that all captives are in the middle location of the three cell like looking buildings. Yes! a young girl..she’s at my 9, the adjacent cell, over.”
John
“DOWN” Yelled John to the three men outside, right before he crouched over the three women to protect them from the blast. As soon as the grenade went off he detailed one of the men to explain to the women that they will need to move to the carrier at a very fast pace in the very near future. Hopefully hearing the women might inspire those who failed their morale checks.
John headed to the next cell. As Walter replays the information John replied. “Copy that; friendly male in far cell, child in middle cell. Tell them to keep their heads down and get ready to run. I’m heading to the middle cell.”
Garet walks up to the bars of his cell, and speaks out to the girl: "It seems like you’re being rescued. I need you to take your bedding and make a little fort in the corner..when I yell out “DOWN”, you get as small as you can in that corner, okay?"
“Then someone will open your cell. then I need you to run away from here as fast as you can, and follow the man’s direction, okay?”
Only John and Dugasvili escaped the effects of the grenade, the others are stunned, their armor protected them from shrapnel damage, however. Dugasvili doesn’t speak the language of the women, so all he can do is gesture (John and Kallen are the only real speakers of the local language, Garet knows some, but he hasn’t been here long enough). As they move towards the next cell, a man with a lever action rifle like a Martini-Henry, fires a shot into the open door of the carrier and then turns to run as the round ricochets inside of the carrier.
(Sorry I am late posting, this seems to have gone on much more quickly than I could post in a timely manner)
Jaq following through the door behind John (Jaq rolls 6+3=9) Seeing the man with the lever-action rifle, she sprays his area with a burst from her SMG (6+6=12 +2 for high dex +3 for Skill =17 total! Holy Cow!) Seeing the results, she then turns to the prisoners and starts getting them out and to the carrier. “Well I’ll be a… Jax? Garet Jax? I’m saving your bacon again?!” Jaq looks at the man in the cell, “Well, you look a helluva lot more mobile than the last time I had to yank your butt off dirtside! Don’t look so slack-eyed and silly, get a move on before one of these yokels gives you an I just bumped a treshound look.”
Garet looks up and sees Jaq; "Well, as I live and breathe! You know, every time you show up in the quadrant, I usually end up either losing something, or crashing..or..my personal favorite, getting shot down and captured by goatherders with anti ship weaponry!:
“But, besides that..good to see you, shall we go?”
As he walks by, he puts an arm around her "Oh, and it’s “slack-EYE” (he taps his eye patch)..the silly part, we’ll work on that."
He turns to the cell next to his, “is this the one you all came to spring? so, what’s her role in this desert madness?”
Kallen Bounds to the back of the carrier and fires at the closest most dangerous target to the team. (5+6=11 +1 Dex +3 for Skill=15, recoil penalty next round)
The guy at the back of the carrier falls, mortally wounded by Jaq and Kallen. Something maybe dawning on the party…with ten hostages released, the carrier only seats 14 including driver and gunner.
So how many did we bring??? And how many robots?
OOC: So far I count 5 hostages (3 women, girl, and new PC) freed. Armored team members and the bots can ride on top.
Kallen just remembers a thought and ends up saying it out load, “Why are we rescuing all the hostages? We only need the kid and her mother though Garet needs to be too.”
Jaq agrees with John that the Bots can ride on the outside. She is willing to volunteer to do the same if that doesn’t give us enough room (OOC: I am assuming that the armor is powered and therefore locking the grip down is not a problem). “We take them all if we can. If not, then a few of us can head out under the cover of the storm in the armor. We can home in on a signal from the Loreli and the carrier can come back and pick us up after they are safe, if we aren’t able to ride out on top of the carrier directly.”
Garret chimes in: “I’m a little worse for wear, but if you need someone to come back here for an evac, then I’m your duck.”
“There’s nothing I can’t fly, and very little I can’t fly amazingly!”
If one looks at the map, there are 10 hostages total (including Garet), 6 troops from the 3rd squad, two robots, the party (5). Kallen became the 13th warrior, I counted before this log post. ;)
So that puts it at nine on the roof, the carrier can grunt two tons of cargo plus it’s passengers, so it can move, though everyone should roll dex to hang on and Walt should roll his grav skill twice, once for flying in the storm, once to make it home.
But who is the urstaman?
Jaq rolls a 2+2=4 for her dex
Urstaman? Jaq hangs on. 2 = 1[d6]+1[d6] Ty is walking around like a kitty cat; no biggie for the couple of warbots; oh noes! two are falling! Corporal Sadarrir Tandeel and Private Ranald Dugasvili, somebody try to grab them quick!
In the Carrier with the hostages are Kallen, Walt, Lissa and Garet; leaves room for one more though. Dag made his dex check.
Jaq reaches out with cat-like reflexes (Roll 4+1=5) to….
(OOC: Urstaman is a reference to the movie 13th Warrior, its a transliteration of the norse for first man)
Garet reaches out to grab one as well: rolls;
4+4 for a total of 8..no dex bonus
Jaq is the hero of the day, cutting the enemy down with her SMG, hanging on and now grabbing Tandeel, so maybe she is the urstaman. Now just for Walt’s rolls… loop the sucker and everybody could be lost. – j/k
OOC: I thought urstaman was from the movie, good movie though, it was great in the theater.
Hey wait…Garet is inside the carrier…but a str roll, he’s done it, maybe he popped open one of the hatches and now Dugasvili is back inside, right where he likes to be, he’s the normal driver.
…and as a reminder to keep your head down, a stay bullet shoots through the dust and hit’s one of the warbots, damaging it’s optics.
John
OOC: DeX roll with 1 Modifier: Roll: 2d61 9 = 3[d6]5[d6]1
John hangs on while keeping his GLMG supressing the enemy. His has a single shot and three round burst capability and he’s bursting short spits at anyone who seems to be shooting at them.
Guess I had better roll, Lolz amazing what happens when I’m asleep!
Walt rolls his grav
2+5=7+2 = 9
6+1=7+2 = 9
Okay so she’s going to be rough but we will make it!
Walt gets on the horn, “We are coming in hot!!! On vector 1 by 2 by 9 provide us with a safe corridor and level that shit behind us!”
Walt adds “Prepare the MASH we have at least one wounded, and several possible shrapnel cases, women and children seem fine but will need checkup, oh and have a tech ready we damaged a bot”
Once the carrier is clear, Garet takes a deep breath, turns to Jaq..“Okay, color me curious..just what in the heck is going on on this rock?? And how soon can we clear it?”
The Loreli comms inflight back to the base: “Loreli to 3rd, over, prepare for a pickup rendezvous at your coordinates, we have locked on your beacon.” Out of the darkening gloom of the oncoming storm, the Loreli’s familiar bulk slides easily down, a scarred grand old lady of the Terrelayne fleet, the hatch on the side of the G-Carrier bay allowing easy docking of G-Carrier and its passengers. Once the hatch is closed, medical crew and bots are there to check over the hostages and any of the troops that might have injuries.
When the flurry of that activity passes and the hostages are taken to either the infirmary or the officer’s galley (see Kinunir deck plans) for a hot meal, and all that are left in the vehicle bay are the party and troops, a figure blinks into existence in a most un-real and un-nerving way. Clad in beetle black hard shell armor, it’s only insignia a Republic of Terrelay tricorne at the temple of the helmet*, nobody is heard to mutter “Zho witch”, but it is probably in the thoughts of some of the troopers . She takes here helmet off in a very smooth yet very correct manner, her face stern at first at which then a smile gently begins to shine, exuding warmth, she draws a bottle of top-shelf whisky from her grenade bag. Uncorking the bottle she lifts the bottle once in a toast to the team of troops and party members and takes a pull, as if by touching her lips to the bottle some psycho-chemical change to the core chemical composition of the liquor, she then holds the bottle out for the rest of the team. Ty steps up to take the bottle from her, saying: “mmm… poison whisky” and takes a strong pull, passing it around, this obviously being some sort of tradition of the Terrelayne military. She commends John on his combat skills, the great suppressive fire at the end a crowning touch, with Walt’s great handling of the G-Carrier; it seems she was watching in a way more than electronically and is genuinely happy with the results: a parley with the Duneraiders and quick smash and grab of the hostages. She introduces herself to Kallen and Garret, offering them the hospitality of the ship. She also promises the team free reign of the “Dregs”, the tab is on the expedition and will make an appearance there herself; not all is as it seems though, under the surface of her elation of the party’s success, the is a certain tension pulling at the frayed edges of her sanity.
*The armor is the known uniform of the Republic of Terrlay Guards Corps, called the Republican Guard normally, it was founded by hybridization of both Zhodani Consular Guard and Imperial Marine Commandos, thus combining the sublime psionics of the Consular Guard with ferocity of the Imperial Marines. Republican Guard Major Tliablzhdiliepr or Abrie (much less of a mouthful), is the official representative of the Terrelayne Military HQ and is about as close to a teleporting ninja crossed with a Jedi crossed with Bene Gesserit as is to be found.
Walt takes a swift in turn, smiles and nods
Swig, sorry phone text thingy
OOC: Oh Crap! A crossing like that is enough to give this player nightmares for the next week or so…
BIC:
Nonchalantly, Jaq, notably does not seem to be surprised or put out by Aubrie’s appearance, almost seeming to expect it. When the bottle comes around, she takes the appropriate measure, almost seeming to linger just short of being excessive. Her eyes locked with the Major the entire time of her draught, breaking only after she passes the bottle on. “Major, you’ll probably hear Garet Jax tell you just how good he is as a pilot. I assure you while it may seem boastful and full of confidence, if anything he will underplay his abilities. I’ve seen him pull off maneuvers that the Emperor’s own personal pilot would have trouble matching.”
Later, Jaq gives Garet a quick tour, ending in the Dregs. Once there, she’ll lay out the general situation and explain the mission, only really touching on the high points as they drink all the best in beverages that make you blind. When she reaches the end of her explanation, she turns and asks how the hell Garet ended up as a prisoner to those desert raiders.
John
John took a swig and passed it around, letting himself decompress a bit. He looked at Walt and said “You guys do an after action?”
Walt replies “I was thinking about one, but this is not the place or time we should settle and get our breaths back first and then see whats what after the dust settles”
OOC what laws of robotics are we following? as i want to acknowledge the unit that took a hit in the line of duty, just not sure if it is suitable in the setting?
Yes it is fine, sentinent robots are treated as people, basically everything is as canon goes, just the timeline has moved ahead. There are a few tweaks, mostly due to national differences and laws which everyone wouldn’t know all of it anyways.
Filing an AAR is SOP, if somebody wants to work it out that is fine. The Dregs: D Deck dayroom 11 and rec area 14, are a good time and place to socialize, hear rumors, etc.; sort of like a downport dive.
The Dregs:
John
Looking for a quiet room so the ground team can talk just among themselves, John grabs a hops based drink (beer) and settles in. “We got lucky.” He said.
Abrie strides up to the table, parting the crowd, not caring for the dirty looks she is given by some of the crew. She takes one of the chairs and sets a beer on the table, sitting down she loosens her black armor a bit, just in the way a vet might who had lived in their armor at the front. Kicking her combat armored boots up she takes a swig of beer, looks at John over the top of the bottle and asks: “So it is John … what? The paymaster program will put Dinsha or your pay chit if it deosn’t get an entry.”
John
“It’s ‘John Who Is Waiting To Self Critique Just Within The Ground Team’ ma’am.” He tips his beer to her in salute. “You know the way things get distorted if people who were not there are listening on the conversation or worse, trying to comment.”
His body language and tone are respectful but don’t carry any dislike. OOC: If there is mental state awareness John’s is along the lines of ‘If it’s not shooting at me or trying to blow me up then I’m not worried about it.’
“We had some ups, we had some downs. It is the Lieutenant’s job to provide the full report but if this ad hoc team is to learn it needs to be done when things are fresh in our minds and without judgement, except by those who shared the risk.”
Garet watches the reactions of Jaq and Kallen towards Abrie. Once he sees their reaction, Once the drink is passed (or is passed to him), he takes long pull.
“Ahhhh..I needed that..”
Upon hearing Jaq’s description to Abrie of his abilities, Garet stands up, walks over to a bulkhead wall on the Loreli, takes a deep breath, places his hand on the wall, holds it there for 30 seconds, then turns to the Major and says:
“She’s an Exploration Cruiser, 1.35 MTons, she”s got a J-4, actually your engineer has her up to 4.23, good job. Maneuver rating 4G. Power Plant 9, Agility 2. She carries a model 9 computer, 12 hardpoints, very nasty piece of equipment, she is."
With his last sentence, he turns and follows Jaq out to see the rest of the ship.
Following her around he listens to her, not saying much until they reach the dregs. Once there, he gets the attention of the bartender:
“Prisoner of War. please fix my rescuer up with enough drinks to float this boat! I will gladly pay once my creds are activated.”
Puts an arm around Jaq: “You ever gonna get tired of saving my hide, girl?” Sliding her drink towards her..
“What happened? we were inbound to Banderhue, standard orbit. Just making a quick drop of settlers and supplies.”
As soon as Kallen got on the ship he became agitigated. To many military types for him to concieve, let alone think about. Quickly gaining a headache after thinking of possible ways to get out he finially finds himself seated.
“Banderhue? Where’s that my good old mate.” listening to Garet.
OOC: Coldwar, do you have the sectors and gateworlds downloads for the campaign? It is here on CotI in the file library under campaigns: Beyond the Frontier
Abrie commends Garet: “Very astute Mr Jax, I am impressed.”
Abrie listens to John, downing her beer like a trooper in a couple of hits and then standing up saying: “Certainly Mr Dinsha, group time might help with some cohesion, let me assist you.” Calling on Archie to bring a holo-display over the table, she instructs the AI to playback all the feeds uplinked through the network from the G-Carrier and Combat Armor HUD’s. With and impish smile and tap to her temple with a forefinger she adds: “I don’t need electronics to see, where ever you go, I am there.”
… Abrie then disappears off into the crowd like a stalking panther, her empty beer bottle set down with a twist to leave it spin a bit like a child’s toy top.
John
His face a bit impassive, John looked at Abrie tapping her forehead and looked, well, sad. Less that he took offence to someone seeing what he saw as much as him wishing he hadn’t seen some things.
He stood as Abrie started to leave. “You have enough troopers, it seems. With some practice they will become pretty good. My woman runs her own engineering business and I help around the shop. If you have any open contracts I’m sure she’d love to talk to your Chief Grea…Engineer.” He chuckled. “I’m just the bruiser who moves the heavy stuff around. She’s the brains.”
Waiting for the rest of the team, John alternated between studying at the holographs and sighing as he looked away.
Walt arrives at the Dregs after all this has happened, he takes a seat with the men orders a scotch, leans back into the chair and just listens to the talk! at an appropriate junction he leans forward and speaks to John “So you seem pretty keen? tell me more about yourself, you speak of doctrine and procedures pray tell what military have you served in? what are you drinking, here have one on me”
With Kallen and Jaq seated with him, Garet orders another round, and finished his conversation to Jaq.
“We were in-system bound with supplies. Cap has me hold a low apogee orbit, and tasks me to perform the drop since there were heavy dust storms flaring up.”
“The last scout report we received mentioned some political instability dirtside, but we figured since we were dropping researchers for a potential dig on one of the sites, no big deal.”
“I come in about 4200kms off, level and begin looking for the drop point. after that, all fgir breaks loose. The dust clogged my thrust surfaces, and blew my port thrusters. I drop the beacon, but the captain must’ve made a behind the door deal.”
“The ‘Choice dosen’t comm back.”
“The passenger’s are freaking out, I’m keeping the pinnance up on good wishes alone. Finally, I performed a “hard uncontrolled landing” about 4 clicks out from our captors. We stayed on board long enough for the storm to pass, but after that, it was a dice roll. we had to move."
“Unfortunately, the group that found us..well..now you know.”
John
He hesitated for a few moments before responding, and then just shrugged. “I’m just the machine shop lackey, commander. It looked like you needed an extra friendly trigger finger and I offered to help. I know your boys would have done the same for me.”
He seemed to draw his beer out slowly while occasionally glancing at the hologram as it replayed the grab.
OOC: I haven’t had that file, however I’m rp’ing Kallen as not gone over 10/15 parsec’s from Nesumzar, and with little knowledge of over that distance if that is ok.
IC: Kallen see’s no interest in the holograms. Mostly because he doesn’t understand what a disciplined debrief is about, let alone military discipline. However he does show keen interest in what his old friends Garet is talking about. “That doesn’t sound good. What you thinking of doing now?”
GM: There are three, just making sure you have seen them, I am going to upload both the Fulani and Theron sectors as well soon, I have been working on them, but it is good for people to see anyways, even if things can change.
With the CO gone, Ty isn’t going to drink at the same table as Munoz, he gets up to leave, looking to see if Walt has anything to say to him.
John
Glancing at the holo, John sighs. “Sorry Walt. Yeah, I’ve jumped out of perfectly good space craft to implement whatever fragos came down. Some of them were the right thing to do, if you can find right and wrong outside of a mystic’s mumbo-jumbo.” He gave Walt a pained look. “It’s the ones that wake you up at night and make you vomit at the memory that I’m not so sure about.”
Taking the second beer offered, he added. “Mary and I have a good thing and I’m a better man because of her. I get to build things, not destroy them. You understand?”
“Check that!” I too often get caught up in what’s right and just – then again its our job we aint paid to think any more than objective achieved" Walt knocks back another smiles at the thought of actually having a wife, he finishes his drinks makes his goodbyes and retires to his quarters.