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.