The call comes in.  The strike is to occur that very evening, less than 5 hours time.  Still tired after the last mission, the Talons grab some rack time, go over their plans and prepare their gear.  True to their word, the Imperials deliver eight explosive charges, complete with radio detonators.

The transport arrives shortly after.  Without fanfare, the Talons are gestured on-board.  Along with them, another two dozen people get on board.  The majority are clearly Imperial Army from their uniforms and gear.  Four off to one side, whilst clearly Imperial look more like they are special forces.

The Talons are primarily ignored, though Flash gets a large number of hostile looks from the Imperials.  The army soldiers chat eagerly to each other and occasionally to one of the human Talons.  The Special Forces men silently check their gear and then spend the time studying their datapads.

After nearly two hours, the transport co-pilot comes into the rear.  He speaks to the team commanders before moving before the Talons.  Clearly unsure who is in command, he speaks to the entire group.

"You're the second drop.  You're being dropped approximately 10 klicks south of the target zone.  You'll have to hump it from there.  You have exactly five hours to make it there, complete your task and make it to the extraction point.  You're not there, you walk home.  Co-ordinates are being downloaded to your datapads.  Good luck gentlemen."  He moves on.

Five minutes later, the first team are dropped off at their location.  Approximately fifteen minutes later, the Talons get the green light.  They quickly hustle off the transport.  Moments later, the ship has taken off, leaving the team alone.

They had been dropped in a large field, that stretched as far as they could see.  According to their datapads the target zone was 11.3km SSE.  Programming in the co-ordinates for the petrochem plant they found it was just under 400km, to the west.




OOC:  Okay, the mission is starting.  Everyone needs to supply a gear list or I will assume you brought nothing but basic weaponry.  Jamie has 8 explosive charges.  His studying of the plans tells him he can likely do the job with 6 (if he does it right), sparing 2 charges for Zenna's team.

At present the teams consist of:

Team 1:  Exilim, Jamie, Mark, Devon, Flash
Team 2:  Zenna, Daron, Bishop

Zyra's slicer contact has yet to show.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:40, Wed 29 Oct 2008.

"Five hours! Mark growled.  "That's going to make things tough.  The petrochem plant is four hundred klicks.  A landspeeder is going to take nearly 3 hours to get there.  We may have to scrub the mission.  Of course, this slicer contact has yet to show."

"Looks like we're going to be humping it to the strike zone.  In full gear it's going to take at least an hour to get there.  I'm a pilot, not a grunt."

Mark stopped growling and began assessing his gear.  Blaster carbine, heavy pistol, extra power packs, electrobinoculars, glow rod, medpac and commlink.  He'd left his field kit and armour behind, he hoped that wouldn't prove a mistake.

He flicked on his commlink and quickly checked it was functioning and he'd set it up.  Channel one for the scout team, channel 2 for Zenna's team, Channel 3 for the Imperial pickup.  Whilst he wished he could hear Zyra's supporting voice he knew the range was far too great.

"Ready to go sir."  Zenna didn't check her gear, she'd already done that on the ride in.  "Jamie, have you prepared the explosives?  I can place them in a good spot, that's about all I know how to do."

The group was distracted by the sound of an approaching vehicle.  Mark immediately pulled out his electrobinoculars and scanned the horizon briefly before picking the source.

"Airspeeder.  Civilian model.  Looks like some sort of air taxi.  Whoever it is they're heading this way."

Everyone looked around for cover, but there was little to be found.  Flash, Xil and Zenna seemed to almost vanish, so quickly and skillfully they found cover.  The remainder of the team were left flatfooted as the speeder circled and then landed less than fifty metres away.

Slinging his carbine, Mark quickly made sure his blaster was loose in its shoulder harness and set to stun before he approached the speeder.  As he approached he noticed a woman climbing out of the driver's seat.

"Can I help you ma'am" Mark asked?

The woman steps toward the front of the air taxi and looks about, possibly slightly confused, then focuses on Mark, like he might look familiar.  "I'm supposed to pick up a tour group, to tour some local industry.  My name's Masters."

She has a blaster, but it is not in her hand.  She leans against the front of the speeder and relaxesa little.  "Course, if you're it, you're missing a couple people.  I'm looking for a man named Mark."

She's wearing a well used coverall, her blond hair in a ponytail. She's about 5 ft 6. midtwenties.

"Tour group huh?  I think you may have spoken to my business partner, Zyra.  I'm Mark Sheppard."

Mark gave up on the verbal code quickly, he was a plain speaking man.

"Well I must say I approve of your choice of transport.  I was worried my group wouldn't get their 'tour' done in time.  This baby looks like she could hit two hundred klicks.  More, if you can get past those speed limiters."

"What do you think Mr Kismet?" Mark called over his shoulder.

He then turned his attention back to his guest.  "Well lets introduce you to this motley bunch.  We need to make it quick as we have a long walk ahead of us."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Wed 22 Oct 2008.

Seeing their new visitor was friendly, Zenna popped out of hiding and flicked the safety on her rifle.  Offering a simple "Hello" to their guest, she began loading all her gear into the landspeeder.  She quickly ordered Daron and Bishop to do the same.

"Greetings" Xil said as he stepped out from his hiding spot. Noting that Zenna was loading her gear, and had already instructed Daron and Bishop to do the same, addresses Sheila, "Names Xil, I run the ground based ops. The tourist are Daron, Bishop and Zenna, who as you've probably figured is the tour leader." he said as he pointed over to them. He quickly introduces the rest of the team, pointing them out as he goes along.

Addressing everyone he says "The plan is fairly simple at present. The 'Tour' group will check out the petrochem depot, see if they can get in, lay some charges and get out without anyone seeing them. Zenna will make the call to go in or not. They then need to get back here asap for the pick up." Pausing momentarily before continuing "The rest of us are going to do a quick hike to our main target and then follow the same basic plan. Get in, lay the charges, get out and back here. We'll adjust as needed. We've got just under five hours so the sooner we get moving the better. Any questions?"


OOC: Just so you know, Xil is carrying his blaster rifle and pistol, X3 spare power packs, vibroblade, macrobinoculars, secure commlink, a couple of concussion grenades from the previous mission and is wearing his light armour.

Flash emerged from cover slightly more reluctantly than the others, and only after he was sure this new person was friendly.  His skin seemed a slightly paler color, and judging by the speed with which he disappeared, you'd say getting jumped merely moments off the drop-ship isn't exactly his thing, to put it mildly.

He listened to the review of the plan, and shook his head slightly, indicating that he had none.

OOC: Flash is carrying his blaster pistol, and a rifle, 2 spare power packs, his vibrodagger, tool kit and datapad in case I need them, grappling spike launcher for much the same reason, secure comlink, and of course his all-temp cloak.

Ooc, sheila is carrying her blaster, 4 power pacs, toolkit, datapad, security kit, comlink, medipac, 4 energy cells, pretty much everything she owns except her flight suit. 

Sheila listened attentively, then commented "Zyra didn't tell me which group you wanted me with.  You want me to fly the taxi, or come with the factory group?"

Devon slunk out from where he had been lurking at the back of the group.   Finally, something he could get his teeth into and shake!  So far, his work with the group had been somewhat outside his normal areas of expertise - but this was right up his alley.

'Shouldn't be too hard - lets take a look'
Seating himself in the pilots seat of the speeder, Devon leaned sideways to peer under the dashboard and then popped a service panel open.

Within moments, Devon was stretched across the front seats on his side, working inside a service panel underneath the main controls.
'Thing is with these taxi's... he explained to anyone who was listening.  'Is they always have overly cautious safety limiters in the drive programs... more concerned with reliability than performance.  Easier to put inhibitors on the engine than design a new engine... meaning the engine is capable of more than the drive program will allow.  Someone pass me my datapad.'

Accepting the datapad, Devon plugged a thin data lead into it, the other end he connected somewhere in the guts of the controls.

'Thanks.  So what you do... is work out how to switch the inhibitors off.  He began tapping buttons on the datapad.  'Only you don't do that, cos turning them off can upset the drive program - it likes its safety limiters.  So instead, you leave the limiters on... and just reset them with a far higher allowed top speed.  In this case, 300 klicks per.'




OOC:  Devons equipment is a stun baton, blaster pistol, blaster carbine, 2 spare power packs, tool kit, secure commlink

Mark watched impatiently as Devon worked on the airspeeder.  He checked his chrono again.  Every moment wasted was a little less time on target.  After five minutes he could wait no longer.

"Mister Kismet.  Your time is up.  If you can't get pas the limiter than Zenna's team will have to make do.  We have a long hike ahead of us and we can't afford to delay any longer."

'But I just need a few more...'  Devon sighed and started to disconnect his equipment - Mark was right about time being against them...

A minute more and I'm sure I would have got it... he told himself.  Not for the first time, Devon wondered if he was failing to live up to the teams expectations of him...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Wed 08 Oct 2008.

OOC: Modified Blaster Pistol, Blaster Rifle, Padded Flight Suit, Comlink, Grappling Spike Launcher, Power pack, explosive charges (6), Scratch-built explosives (2)

Jamie bowed politely to Ms. Masters when he was introduced by Xil.
A gentleman is merely a man who says one thing while thinking another.
"Pleased to meet you," he greeted her cooly.
Blondes have been the bane of my existence since I was 13...

After passing two of the Imperial-provided charges to Zenna, Jamie began walking towards his target.
"A little less talk, a little more walk, please.  We are on the clock and we're not being paid overtime."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:55, Wed 08 Oct 2008.

Xil nodded in agreement as Mark told Devon it was time to move on too little time for what we want to do he thought to himself.

"Zenna" he called out "Make the best time you can in getting to the depot, would hate for you guys to miss the ride back." Turning to Sheila again he said "You get to come on a walk with the rest of us, we don't need any more going to the depot." Besides he thought to himself as he turned and started to follow Jamie to their target I would rather have the unknown element where Mark and Jamie can help keep an on her, even if she is Zyra's contact.

Without looking back to see if the others where following he called out "Let's get a move on."

Sheila nodded to the various members as they were introduced, then when Xil answered her question, she said. "Just a moment."  She reached into the speeder and pulled out her pack.  "OK."  She fell in with the walking group.

Flash loosened his blaster pistol in it's holster, and fell in with his group.  It was going to be a long walk, but that was nothing new to him.  He was used to the hard life.  Still, he hadn't thought to be reminded of it like this.  He thought he'd gotten away from it when he joined up with this group, but apparently it was going to be almost as bad; jumping from place to place, constantly on the move.  At least he didn't have to make new friends each time.  At least he could make any friends at all.

Zenna, Daron and Bishop piled into the airspeeder and quickly vanished into the twilight.  Exilim quickly called for the group to move out.  Shouldering their gear the group fell into line.  Jamie took point, while Mark brought up the rear.  Flash, Sheila and Devon walked together in the middle.

Exilim meanwhile, roamed out well in front of the group, serving as a forward scout.  Everyone walked a little easier, knowing that sniper's skilled eyes were alert for danger.

Depsite the precautions, no dangers presented themselves and an hour and a half later the group approached the factory.  The lass few hundred metres proved to be the worst for the sun had fully set and the group could not afford to light any glow lamps so close to their target.  It took a good fifteen extra minutes to get into visual range.

The fence was only four hundred metres away.  They were facing the northwest corner of the fence.  The main gate was on the north side, where the road from the factory connected to the main road nearby.  In the southwest corner a landing area stood empty with no lights running to suggest inbound traffic.

There was some lights running in the main facility and the sound of machinery, suggesting the factory was operational, despite the late hour.  There was a guardpost near the main gate with lights running inside.




OOC: I'm gonna use the factory ground plan from Galactic Campaign guide for ease.  Only difference is, this building has a couple of upper floors as well.  Externally the place is as I described.  The whole this is surrounded by a 10m fence with barbed wire at the top.  There is a guard house near the main gate on the northern side and a landing strip on the sw side.  From the fence to the building is about 200m of open ground.  You can't see much of the grounds due to the lack of lighting.  All you can make out is vague outlines.  The building is fairly well lit as is the main guard post.  The rest is in darkness and shadows.

Oh, and you've got 3hr 15min until your scheduled pickup

Sheila followed allong with the others as they marched and when they got into range and stopped, she peered at the factory through the dark, trying to percieve any thing about the fence, if it was electrified, or what it would take to get through it.

Exilim signaled for everyone to come to a stop as they came up behind him. He crouched down and pulled out his macrobinouclars. Intently peering through the darkness, he tried to make out as much detail as possible. "This is where the fun starts" he murmured.

Xil will look from the main gate and guard house down to the landing area.

Sheilsa whispered  "Does the fence look powered or trapped beyond the barbed wire?"

Crouching nearby, Devon a last second check of his chosen gear, then turned his attention to the compound, regarding it with the eyes of a professional thief.  If that fence WAS electrified, then there would be a junction box connected to it somewhere - probably a whole bunch of them at regular intervals...

'Well' he said just loud enough for the others to hear 'That landing pad is nice and dark, hard to spot us there - but no cover and we have to go over the fence.  Or theres the front gate; If we can get the guard nice and quiet, then we eliminate the problem of the fence.'

OOC:  Two natural 1s in a row!  the RPOL dice roller hates me!

"Can't see anything." Mark commented after scanning the area with his electrobinoculars.  "Doesn't mean its not there of course.  Seven, you or Five carrying a sensor pack?  Would have thought 'em standard fare in your professions."



OOC:  Either a sensor pack or a security kit carries basic sensors designed to detect electric currents; the former to help detect things, the latter so you don't cut a live wire.  Anyone who has either would (with a successful roll) quickly determine if the fence was powered or not.  The sensor pack could also help determine any sensors on the fence (if any).
This message was last edited by the player at 22:58, Tue 14 Oct 2008.

"I'm a demolitions expert, not a slicer," Jamie said mournfully.  "Those things are too heavy; it's like carrying your house on your back.  Sometimes I have to move quickly.  I'm thinking we should just try to climb it.  I'll check it out.  Someone have a medical kit handy, please."
Jamie removed his gloves and stepped up to the fence, locking his jaw for what he was about to do.  He held out both hands and lightly touched the tips of his little fingers to the chain links.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Wed 15 Oct 2008.