While you are looking up information on the Sanatorium, the computerized alarm system is activated.  It indicates there is decompression in one of the passenger cars and asks everyone to return to their chambers and have a breathing apparatus ready.

Just then, a fragmentation grenade explodes in the corridor, one car down from you, followed by the sound of automatic weapons fire.

You are currently in the restaurant car.  The explosion occurred in the corridor of the sleeping rooms car, which is one over from where you are at.

The people in the restaurant car are starting to go into a panic.

Mumbling, S'Krllk remarks, "it's about time, I thought the universe had forgotten me."
Then he proceeds to secure a breathing device before attempting to do a structural scan on the sleeping car to assess the damage.

Orvo says, "Weren't there emergency kits around here?  Let's find one of those if we can't make it back to our room."

"Emrgency kits are stored in between cars.  Let's get to them and get these people to some relative safety.  I'm sure we're going to have to deal with this mess that's found us," Deiraye says as she goes for a set of the brething appartus between the cars then drawing out her K-Pulse pistol when it is in place.  Before moving any further, she activates her Albedo screen as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:17, Tue 04 Nov 2014.

As the party is getting emergency breathing apparatus and putting them on, they see what happens in the next car over.

You see one of the RIK guards collapse as a burst of automatic fire rips into her. Standing next to the ladder up to the roof, is a KLC commando.  He is wearing breathing apparatus and has a folded glijet on his back. He is pulling out a fragmentation grenade, and you see other KLC commandoes on the roof above.  Somehow, a hole has been ripped into the roof of that car, causing the alarms and depressurization.

Those in the sleeping car with him are running into their rooms to escape the violence.

OOC: How soon before we can start engaging???

Porter feels a bit unprepared for combat without his full military kit, but since he's now working for Star Law and out of his jurisdiction at that, he'll have to do the best he can.

He draws his automatic pistol and releases the safety.  He moves towards the door connecting the cars, taking cover behind the bulkhead with his weapon aimed at the attackers.  He won't risk firing and depressurizing this car of the train yet, but he's ready to face the assault.

You can start engaging at any time.  You simply need to open the door between the cars and engage.  Do you all have a breathing apparatus on?  You can survive without one, but there will be penalties due to lack of pressurization.  Having the apparatus on, on the other hand, slightly inhibits your use of guns, in that it is harder to aim down the sights with a gas mask on.

OOC: Not to be a rules lawyer but, if we were using long arms (rifles and SMG's with stocks), I would agree 100%.  However, if I may offer a little input and please feel free to tell me to buck off if I'm out of line.  If you're using a regular pistol or SMG (stock not extended) you would still have clear line of sight (LOS) with your sights because you head and your sights should be directly out in front of you with your arms fully extended.  If your head was tilted to your dominant eye to look through your sights because of a stock, then a gas mask or SCBA device would certainly impair you sight picture.  I'm not trying to undermine your GM authority sir it's just that I've been a firearms instructor for over five years.  You're the boss here and if you say there are penalties, then that's what it is.

My intentions were to do this:

-10% handguns
-20% rifles.

My reasoning is that the apparatus has a glass cover that slightly skews vision, as well as making it harder to "squinch" your shoulders when you fire, and has the additional issue with longarms as you discuss.

I also do not want it to be a simple foregone conclusion that everyone takes a breathing apparatus.  This gives them something to consider going either way with the apparatus.  If there's no penalty, no one will hesitate to "not" use the apparatus.

No problem at all.  I don't think anyone of us have rifles anyway so, let's move on...

BIC: After securing her face mask for her breather unit and turning on her albedo screen, Desiraye draws he K-Pulse pistol and fires three [3] rounds at the commando pulling out a grenade wearing the glijet and opens fire trying to also use a wall or bulkhead on the train for some cover.

CURRENT STA: 62/62
Beam Weapons: 6
Skill: 90% [-10%] for wearing breather
Weight: 2 kg
Damage: 3d10
Ammo: 20 SEU PowerClip
SEU: each shot drains 2 SEU
Rate: 3
Defense: Inertia
Range: 5/10/20/40/80
Skill: Beam Weapons
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Thu 06 Nov 2014.

Orvo puts on his breathing apparatus, sets his laser pistol to 3, and follows Desi into the fray, ready to shoot on the man holding the grenade.

OOC: What are the penalties for not having the apparatus?  Porter will put his on before we engage, but I'm curious about the trade-off.

Let me clarify now that I've reread the description:

With the tank, the apparatus has two tanks which weigh 5 kilograms each, so it is not negligible in weight, and is bulky, similar to a SCUBA setup, though not quite as bad.

Dralasites have to completely enter a bag, which gives them a greater disadvantage when fighting (an additional -10%).

Vrusk ones only cover the abdomen, so they get a 5% bonus against the attack penalty.

Screens and suits work fine with the apparatus on.

They are not pressurized so cannot be used in a vacuum.

Without the apparatus, you lose 1 temporary point of stamina per turn you are outside the pressurized area.  (It is regained at the rate of 1 stamina per hour.)

With the breathing apparatus in place, S'Krllk begins to do a structural scan on the damaged car while preparing his needler with anesthetic darts.
"Don't know why I bother with this thing, I hardly ever hit what I aim at. It's just that there's a measure of psychological comfort in shooting back."

"You step up and start shooting when one of us has to reload S'Krllk!  When we're back in the fight, duck back out, reload, and continue to do the same thing."

Desi hits the man holding the grenade, but just a moment too late.  You all jump back as he drops the fragmentation grenade backwards, it hits the door behind him, and then explodes, killing him and sending splinters all around.  The ladder wobbles and slides but still remains there, having been clipped on somehow, leading up through the hole in the ceiling to the roof.

For the moment the area looks clear.

OOC: Sorry for delays.  There always seems to be a work emergency pop up...

"Orvo, Sarge!  Move up to the breach and have a look and secure it.  Any threats, engage and make them less threatening!  I'll trail with S'Krllk.  DOC, Check the RIK guard.  Communicate with each other," Desiaraye calls out to the others so that they can begin moving forward to the ladder and hole.

Getting shot at finally makes Porter feel, in an odd way, comfortable - or at least in his element.  This is more like it, he thinks as Desi starts bellowing orders.

Porter moves up to the passage between cars, then covers the gap until Orvo comes up on the other side.  He scans for other hostiles with his finger hovering over the finger-guard of his weapon, ready to aim it at anyone else threatening the passengers and fire off a concentrated burst of lead.

Orvo will climb up the ladder and yell back down to the others what he finds.  His laser pistol is ready, just in case.

S'Krllk divides his attention between attempting to scan the structure ahead with his bodycomp's sensors and attempting to watch the human's back. The poor things are a bit soft and squishy, after all.

Orvo climbs up the ladder.  On top, he sees four commando style men at the front of the train.  Three are watching the hole in the roof while the other is doing something to the train itself.  They all wear glijets.

The three instantly open fire on Orvo, and he ducks back down into the train just in time to avoid the burst of automatic fire overhead.

You notice that the train/monorail has just gone over a large mountaintop, and is now going down a very long descent.

Examining the commandoes shows the following equipment:

The one on the ground who is now dead:  Laser pistol, Civilian skeinsuit, Albedo screen (Beltpack 50 SEU), Incendiary grenade.

The four up top (three male and one female):

#1 (M) - Automatic rifle (5 Bulletclips), Fragmentation grenade x2, Civilian skeinsuit, Albedo screen (Beltpack 50 SEU).

#2 (M) - Laser rifle, Smoke grenade x2, Civilian skeinsuit, Albedo screen (Beltpack 50 SEU x2).

#3 (M) - Laser pistol, Civilian skeinsuit, Albedo screen (Beltpack 50 SEU), Incendiary grenade.

#4.(F) - Gyrojet rifle (3 Jetclips), Albedo suit, Inertia screen (Beltpack 50 SEU).

They all have glyjets as well, so a fall from the speeding vehicle through this mountainous region is unlikely to kill them.

You also notice inscribed in the shoulder of the commando's uniform are the letters "KLC" formed like a sigil of their membership.

Porter moves up to the dead KLC commando and takes the incendiary grenade.

OOC: how long would it take for me to remove his power beltpack/albedo screen and put it on myself?  Feeling kinda defenseless here, but not sure if the party could stand to have me out of action for too long.

It would take basically two rounds per item--one round to remove each item, and one round to equip each item.  (This does not apply to grenades.)

The fallen RIK guard (female) assigned to the train holds a laser rifle, vibro knife and a tangler grenade.  She was obviously a beams weapon specialist.  She has a military skeinsuit on.

You recall the other RIK guard you saw was a gyrojet specialist who was carrying a gyrojet rifle, vibro knife and grenade.  He is nowhere in site at the moment.

Per the norm, both RIK guards are Vrusk.

Porter will remove the albedo screen this round, and the beltpack next.  If things get hairy, he'll jump into the fight but for now he'd rather be better protected before people start shooting at him.

Orvo will climb up top if he deems it safe, finding cover and bending low to get out of the way of the shots.  "I think we will need to stop them from doing whatever they are doing.  They could be sabotaging the whole train, and we could all die!"  He will try to move out of the way to let Desi and the others up to help.

OOC: Thank you Heath...

BIC: Desiraye holsters her pistol and goes for the dropped laser rifle on the ground from the RIK guard and tries to formulate a quick plan of attack against the KLC commandos on top of the train car.  "OK look.  We lead with a grenade , then I'll lead with the laser rifle trying to take one of them out at a time.  When I reload, next person takes their shots and so forth.  Sarge,  follow me, then Orvo.  I should be reloaded by the time Orvo has to.  S'Krllk and Doc, you guys have inside the car security.  Watch our backs and try to flag down security so they don't shoot the hell out of us!

Lead with the Tangler grenade, and then I'll start the attack."

OOC: Whoever has the best Thrown Weapons can do the toss then Desi will begin the attack.  Thoughts or concerns?  Desi has TW:1.

Throwing a grenade into the wind, eh?  LOL

OOC: I should ask which direction the KLC were.  I was assuming that they would be down from the hole so we weren't throwing it into the wind.

Porter does his best to get the commando's defense screen and powerpack on before Desi will need his support.  "Keep your heads down, and if you can, focus your fire on one opponent at a time," he calls out.

OOC: Desi, the round before you need to reload, call me and I'll be there whether I've got this screen on or not.

Sorry for the delays.  Emergency travel followed by Thanksgiving holiday took me away a little sooner and longer than expected.

The KLC commandos are toward the front of the train at the engine area.

Whenever you poke your head up through the hole, one of the commandos takes a pot shot at you.  You can see one of them intent on doing something near the engines, and he appears to be working with a device of some sort.

OK, since the commandos are not in the first plan to throw a grenade, Desiraye will pick the next one with the laser rifle and engage him with the laser rifle she just picked up, [2] shots at SEU 10 and then ducking back down into the car so she can reload.

CURRENT STA: 62/62
Beam Weapons: 6
Skill: 90% [-10%] for wearing breather
Weight: 2 kg
Damage: 3d10
Ammo: 20 SEU PowerClip
SEU: each shot drains 2 SEU
Rate: 3
Defense: Inertia
Range: 5/10/20/40/80
Skill: Beam Weapons

Using Laser rifle stats please at SEU 10
This message was last edited by the player at 22:48, Tue 02 Dec 2014.

Orvo tries to climb toward the commandos to stop them physically, clinging close to the top of the train.  He will fire his laser pistol if he gets a good line of sight.

S'Krllk waits his turn at a shot. In the meantime, he thinks and says, "maybe we should stay inside the train and shoot at them through the roof of the car."

Desi and Orvo each fire twice at the nearest commando.  Desi hits both times and Orvo hits once.  The commando staggers back on the quickly moving monorail and then topples over the side, taking his glijet with him as he screams and crash down into the mountainous terrain below.

The other two quickly take cover behind the large pylon that connects the monorail train to the monorail rail above.  The last commando is leaning down, and you see that whatever it is he is working on is at the point of the pylon.  Unfortunately, the pylon also gives him complete cover, whereas his two companions only get partial cover from the pylon.

The passengers below are panicking and crowding into the passenger car, which will soon making going above much more difficult.

Porter gets the equipment.

S'krllk is at the bottom of the ladder waiting to go up, but Desi is blocking his exit.  He has to grab onto the ladder to avoid being swept away by some panicking passengers.

Orvo continues forward toward the next car, hugging close to the bottom of the roof to avoid shots from the commandos.  He fires at the nearest one again as he goes.

Seeing how S'Krllk can't climb up the ladder because Desi is in the way, Porter starts moving up to the next car, attempting to strap the power belt on as he makes his way forward.  "I'll see if there's another way up further front," he calls back.

(The next place to climb up would be the space between train cars.  He will need to push through the panicking passengers and climb up.)

Desiraye begins to move down the ladder and yells into the car, "RELOADING!  S'KRLLK, YOU'RE UP!"  Desi moves herself to reload the laser rifle and get back into the fight.  "Sarge!  If you can get through the crowd and get on the other side of them it might make a difference.  They're doing something and we don't have a clear shot from here."

Desiraye will pull all of the spare power clips (power sources) from the Fallen RIK guards' laser rifle, reloads, and then goes back up the ladder to continue firing when S'Krllk comes back down.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:46, Mon 08 Dec 2014.

Technically, they're on the first car, so climbing up between the front two cars would put you about 15 feet away from them, but they would still be behind cover.  There is no way to sneak up behind them.

EDIT: I marked up the map below so you can see you are the third car behind the pylon.  There are ladders going up between each car (the two in front of you being cargo cars, which you have never entered and do not know about yet).  With each square being 2 meters, the closest ladder would place you at about 15 feet away if you can get that close.  Otherwise, the ladder between the sleeping car and cargo car is the easiest to climb.

There is also the ladder put down the hole in the ceiling by the commandos.


This message was last edited by the GM at 22:49, Fri 05 Dec 2014.

Correction: I read the map wrong, so ignore my positioning of the ladders.  The ladders are in the bottom left corners where the dark stars are at.  Those represent hatches that go up.  The ladders are NOT between the cars themselves.  Sorry!

OOC: thanks for the map, that clarifies things a lot.

Porter summons up memories of his boot camp days, and Drill Sargent Yazrab, a big, ugly, bald Yazirian with the personality of a Prenglar swamp-prowler.  "I AM A STAR LAW AGENT.  MOVE TO THE BACK OF THE TRAIN FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY.  CLEAR THE WAY.  MOVE NOW!" he bellows.

The marine moves through the hopefully thinning crowd toward the cargo car door, praying that it isn't locked.

S'Krllk stops messing with his computer, surrenders his desire to sire a brood, and climbs the ladder. At the top, he pops up and shoots at whatever biped-shaped mass first presents itself and drops back down.

ROUNDS 3 and 4 (reloading, moving into position, and firing)

Shots are fired again.  The two commandos duck behind the pylon to avoid the shots, and no one hits them.  They fire back but also miss.

S'krllk, Desi, Orvo, and Porter are all now in a position to fire at the commandos, but the commandos have heavy cover.

Below you down the first ladder from Desi and Orvo, two RIK officers appear.  They begin yelling, "Down, you terrorists!  Drop your weapons!"

Porter and S'krllk have climbed up the ladder in the next car forward and are not seen by the Vrusk RIK guards.

It takes a moment for Desi and Orvo to realize that the RIK guards are yelling at them, not at the real commando terrorists.

Porter surveys the situation.  The commandos are about 50 meters away behind cover, and he's armed with a pistol.  "S'Krllk, try to keep them occupied with some suppressing fire.  I need to get further forward."

Porter slides down the ladder and starts running forward.  He'll try to get to the very front hatch as fast as possible.

OOC: sorry I haven't been fighting yet this combat.  I'll be more effective at closer range though.

Desiraye lifts one of her arms off of the laser rifle and puts it out towards the approaching RIK guards and tries to reason with them and hopefully explain what is going on.  "No, no no!  We're trying to help you!  There are three more terrorists on the roof of the farthest car behind some pylons trying to do something there!

We're also working for Zzik'Ti and we helped the Vrusk TV tech before who died earlier." 

ROUND 5

"Just the thing a human terrorist would say," one of the Vrusk RIK guards says as he opens a door to a room and squats down for cover so he can aim the gun better at Desi.  The other is also getting in a firing position.

The other riders are clearing the area and going into their rooms or back deeper into the train.

Desi only has her lower body exposed to the RIK guards.  The upper part was over the train room to fire at the commandos.  She can easily climb up out of the way of the RIK guards, or deal with them from where she's at with soft cover.

Porter begins moving closer.

Orvo's pistol jams, and he has to reload.

S'krllk fires again but misses.

The commandos are firing back.  One shot comes close to Desi's head, but they otherwise miss.

Porter keeps moving forward as fast as possible.

Not wanting to leave her team members down in the car with the responding RIK security and trying to explain they're trying to help (which didn't work right away), Desi decides that the main threat is still on top of the train car.  She pulls her body up and out, like Orvo, and decides to crawl forward with him pushing the assault towards the commando team behind the pylons.  Desiraye, seeing that Orvo had to reload, yells out to him, "HANDLE THAT AND KEEP PUSHING ON ORVO!  I GOT YOUR BACK!"  Desi is going to wait for the first commando to pop out and take an aimed shot (if possible) at that person.

Orvo keeps pushing forward, lying low to the roof of the train car, feeling the wind of the rushing air ripple through his gelatinous skin.  He will fire at a commando if he gets the chance, but his main goal is to safely get to them to stop them.

ROUND 6
Desi fires, taking out a commando.  The commando flops against the roof and then down into the mountainous region below.  The return fire misses.  No other shots hit.  Porter pops up his head.

But it is too late.  The commando in the back signals, and they all jump from the train and the pylon area, extending glijets as they quickly fall out of sight and range.

From below, the RIK soldier is climbing up after you, firing at Desi but missing.

You start to realize what is wrong.  The train is accelerating downward, now going over 300 kph, and going faster.  They have sabotaged the brakes!

In fact, in just 5 rounds, it will be traveling so fast that you will not be able to continue standing on the roof without being swept off.  But you will need to reach the pylon where the breaks are at to see if you can repair them, which means braving the fast accelerating roof and the rushing wind that threatens to rip you off.

(Repairing the brakes takes a technician skill and successful check, minus any modifiers.)

It will take you 50 divided by your reaction speed (rounded up or down) to go each car length per round.  So, for example, an RS of 50 means it takes 1 round to go each car length safely.  An RS of 60 is also 1 round.  An RS of 75 means you can go two car lengths.

A technician can try to fix the brakes once per round.  Only one technician at a time can try to fix them.  They can ONLY BE FIXED FROM THE ROOF, NOT FROM WITHIN.

You can double your speed crossing the trains but must make a Reaction Speed check each round.

At the pylon where the commando has sabotaged the brakes, there is a piece of equipment in which up to 3 people can attach themselves safely (used by mechanics to safely work on the roof).  They are latches that go around the waist.  ATTACHING THEM TAKES ONE ROUND.

There is an exit down to the engine room next to the pylon.  (See dark star in bottom left. Again, ignore my mistaken arrows point to "ladders." The ladders are where the stars are at.)

The technician check will be at a -20 modifier for fixing the brakes.

The lives of many may depend on this being a success.

S'Krllk watches the terrorists fly away, tracking them with his pistol, for just a moment. Something seems to click, and he snaps his gaze to the pylon and the downward slope along which they rush. "CrSSkSShhhhttttt!!!!"¹
Scrambling to the roof of the train, S'Krllk starts toward the pylon. "They took out the brakes! I'm fixing them!" he shouts into the mounting wind. He uses all his locomotive power to move to the pylon and strap himself into the work harness.

¹A disgusting parasite that grows inside Vrusk eggs.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:23, Wed 14 Jan 2015.

Porter moves up the ladder too late, arriving at the top of the train just in time to watch the commandos make their getaway.

He moves up to the front of the train to see what they were doing, expecting a bomb.  Unfortunately, he's got no training as a mechanic, and whatever they were doing looks like simple mechanical sabotage to him.  Latching himself securely to the pylon, he prepares another tether for S'Krllk as the Vrusk makes his way forward.

S'krllk makes it to the pylon, and Porter begins strapping him in.  S'krllk begins looking at the brake machinery to see what he will need to do.


This repair is a Repair Machinery check (which is 40% plus skill level), and carries a -20% modifier.  Given his technician skill level is 2, S'krllk must roll a 60% or lower (40% repair machinery base + (2 x 20% skill level) - 20% modifier = 60%.)

Go ahead and roll if you want, or I can roll for you if you prefer.

EDIT: For those of you who don't reference the rules much, I like to post the rule as a refresher once in awhile to get those game thinking juices flowing:

REPAIRING MACHINERY
Success Rate:
40% + skill level

Technicians can repair vehicles, large and small
machines, and electrical equipment (including video
and communication devices). They can not repair
computers or robots. Technicians use the standard
repair rule.
Besides repairing vehicles that have been damaged
in combat, the referee can include mechanical
breakdowns on random encounter tables. This is
recommended if the characters are on a long cross
country journey, where a breakdown is likely and
the nearest repair shop is several hundred
kilometers (or light-years) away. When a vehicle
breaks down, roll 2d10 on the following table to
determine what has happened:

VEHICLE BREAKDOWN TABLE
Roll  Vehicle Breakdown
2     broken axle or hoverfan*
3-5   broken driveshaft or transmission*
6-10  minor engine failure
11-15 minor drive train failure
16-17 broken suspension
18-19 major engine failure, repairable*
20    blown engine, unrepairable**

* This breakdown takes twice as long to repair as a
normal breakdown.
** A blown engine can not be repaired in the field.
In a shop, it takes four times longer to repair than a
normal breakdown.

This message was last edited by the GM at 17:19, Tue 13 Jan 2015.

Desiraye finds herself in a tough position where she is.  On one end, is the pylons she needs to get too and the dangerous route she needs to take to get there and to try and stop the train with her limited technician skills.  Second, there was a security officer who wasn't trying to here their side of the story about the commandos being the bad guys here.  They were called a team for a reason although, they hadn't been working together for long, she needed to trust her team members.  She knew she wasn't the person for the job to fix the brakes so, best thing for her to do would be to slow up the security response by buying them the time to get there and repair the brakes to stop the train and save everyone.

Trying to maintain control, Desi looks back at the security guard that had just fired at her and raising her hands and yelling, "I surrender!  The brakes are failing on the train and we're going to crash if they're not fixed!"

Orvo will go to the next train down and climb down the ladder to safety, away from the danger of the roof and the crazy RIK guard.

OOC: I will take the silence as an indication that you want me to roll."

S'krllk gets in there and quickly tries repairing the brakes.

ROLL: 09:36, Today: GM Heath rolled 21 using 1d100.  SUCCESS!


S'krllk successfully activates the brakes, and the train begins to slow down.  It finally comes to a stop.

The RIK officer is peaking his head up, finally understands what is going on as he sees S'krllk fix the brakes, and he lowers his pistol. (You mentally note that this could be because he sees other Vrusk -- i.e., S'krllk -- up her on the roof with you.)

After the train comes to a stop, the crew begins inspecting and trying to figure out what is going on.  The RIK guards interrogate you, and the technicians determine that the monorail can go no further.  The passengers are ordered to gather their belongings for a rescue operation.

About four hours later, the rescue train arrives to carry you to Quazzt's Depression.

OOC: For your amusement, here are the results for a failure on the brakes:

Once at the top of the pylon, a technician needs to make a repair machinery check (at -20 due to the adverse conditions) to stop the train. A successful check activates the brakes and the train begins to slow down and shortly stops. Full repairs can now be made. With a failed check the brakes only work partially, the train is slowed down but leaps from the rail at the bottom of the mountain where the rail bends sharply. The speed of the train equals the number the check was failed by, multiplied by 6. For example, if the check was failed by 20 the train is doing 120 (20x6) kph when it crashes.

Each carriage of the train is protected by a huge inertia screen. This is automatically activated by impact sensors in the front of the train and absorbs half of the damage each character suffers in the crash. Inertia screens worn by characters are not added to this, but inertia suits are. See AD p31 to determine the damage caused.


Also, your characters managed to avoid being pickpocketed during the trip, and managed to avoid the RIK guards making you suspects in the sabotage.

EACH OF YOU GAINS 3 EXPERIENCE POINTS. PLEASE UPDATE YOUR CHARACTER SHEETS.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:47, Tue 20 Jan 2015.