"Nothing on the 3D subsurface scan, so far.  Give it a shot, Doc.  Just don't touch the attitude control equipment.  I think the best access to the sensor array is over there."  Buzz points back and to the left, to a panel of dials and monitors.

In the meantime, she continues to hover over the area, as close as she feels safe.

"Any chance those landing spots are on top of hangar elevators, disguised and cloaked somehow?"

(09:06, Today: The GM rolled 10 using 2d6+2 ((4,4)). Success.

Doctor Cagliostro, please mark off the plus sign next to your Omni-Scanner entry on your character sheet. (You can still use the Omni-Scanner, but you get no extra bonus for doing so until the plus symbol is renewed.)

Near the center of the area generally marked by the coordinates (well honestly a little ways to the north, really), Doctor Cagliostro's omni-scanner detects that the solid rock isn't really solid underneath. Probably a hidden entrance tunnel... Something that fooled the craft's scaners, but not Doctor Cagliostro's more sophisticated equipment...
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:58, Sun 24 Nov 2019.

Snoring loudly.

Denton stretched in the restraining straps a bit to the left, farts loudly, and mumbles innocently, "No mam, that wasn't me this time."

Flash joined the ladies at the front of the ship, as Denton napped.    The man's flatulance made Flash's antennae twitch ... and the Titan noticed that Denton's general pheromones were mildly tainted by the amount of caffeine in his systems.   It was a strange difference from most Earthings.

"It seems as good a place as any to set down", he said to Buzz as Doc C's device revealed the subterranean secret.
"Good thinking, Doc", he said with a smile.

As Buzz maneuvered to land the SPORT, Flash prepared to disembark.  The thrill of adventure was starting to tingle in his terbothemic ... much to Flash's excitement.

Buzz set the SPORT down adjacent to the indicated coordinates, so the rear landing ramp could open right beside it.  She also adjusted the rear turret to face the opening.  If they needed to lay down suppression fire on their getaway, it might save precious seconds.  "That's all I can do from here.  Everyone suited up?  I don't want to deliver any roast turkeys back to base," she said as she finished securing her Mercurian Exploration Gear - Advanced (MEG-A suit) and checking the ammo on her Ray Emitter.

Buzz kept the SPORT's engines and systems in standby mode, locking the controls to her bioelectric signature, with one verbal failsafe.  "I've set it so they can't move the ship or operate it without me.  If I'm dead, just speak this phrase to the ship and she'll let you run her."  The brazen pilot sent a text message into the communication screen inside everyone's helmet reading 'Buzz went for coffee'.

The four besuited-up agents walked slowly behind Dr. Cagliostro, holding her omni-scanner... but she only walked a few yards before she stopped... crouched... and wiped her gloved hand on the ground.

Her wiping revealed, under the orange-gray dust, a hatch, a sort of round-but-larger-than-a-manhole-sized thing. "I suppose that eventually--" she started to say, but then four little nozzles popped up and started spraying a fine dust back over the hatch. That answered that. Not eventually, but whenever anyone was done using it, the nozzles hid the hatch from eyes-- and there were probably baffles that also hid it from basic mass-scans, too, just not from anything as sophisticated as the omni-scanner.

More wiping, and a handle for opening the hatch was revealed...

"Very good positioning." Denton said. "Truly. You did well to locate this and land us nearby. And ride was very smooth, I slept like a child again."

Flash grinned with childlike excitement.
At times like this, he felt like a character in one of those role playing games he used to play online; which was silly, because he wasn’t.

“Ok, so who’s in first?   Let’s see hands ...”, all of his shot up, “so that’s four votes for me!”

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you used improper balloting technique. So, I will claim three of your votes and add it to my own." Denton explained. "That means Buzz goes first."

Denton laughs uproariously at his own humor, of course.

"Oh, that was funny." Denton forces himself to calm down. "Seriously, I got this."

Buzz cocks an eye at Denton's humor but is more than happy to let him go first.  She's more than happy to lead the charge when piloting space craft.  On foot, she's more comfortable minding the flank.

"Ever wonder why big strapping examples of genuine masculinity like myself are created from the cosmic matter of the universe?" Denton checks his gear, packs his lunch in as special case marked 'the stuff', and tapes an of fashioned set of brass knuckles to his forearm. "Because someone has to go first."

The open hatch leads to a dimly-lit ladder-well.

The ladder-well, after about forty feet, leads to a passageway, left and right, with a door at each end.

It's a fairly boring passageway, with no obvious cameras, traps, sensors, nor, like, people ready to kill you (nor any people at all).

There's enough atmosphere to breathe, and scans report that it's safe to do so.

The temperature is a comfortable-enough 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

So... left, right, or split up and investigate both?

Buzz doesn't remove her helmet, but immediately sets off to the left.  She's curious about the readings, though, and keeps an eye open for vents, pipes, cooling systems, or other evidence of atmospheric controls for this sub-Mercurian complex.

Denton knelt, carefully so not to disturb the ground, and checks for signs of recent passage. As Buzz sets off Denton quickly looks about for signs of security features that could cause trouble.

Denton sighs, "Women will be the death of me one day."

There are small, very narrow vents every fifty feet or so, up along where the walls meet the ceiling.

The lights are set into the ceiling, too.

There are no recent signs of passage either way... the passage seems to be swept or mopped or something ever day or two. So that tells you something, in a way.

Buzz soon reaches the left door. It's a big, thick-looking metal thing, with a button to the side to open it, but there's also a wheel in the middle of it for manual opening and closing for emergencies.

Buzz speaks in a low, insistent voice.  "Hey, big strap!  You going first again?"

Even as she prepares to storm past the doorway or lay cover fire through it, Buzz is still keeping an eye on the vents, the light fixtures, and the far door.  A threat can come from any angle.  Better to be ready.

"Sure thing, what's life without an ambush." Denton replies as moves past the woman. He was careful to allow Buzz room to move just in case there was indeed a threat. "Foolhardy, sure, but foolhardy with a gun to back you is better."

The door opens to reveal...

Hm. Another ladderwell leading down.

Buzz scans the new path for sensors and possible traps.  Even as she does so, she asks, "Down?  Or back to the other door?  If we have to run out of here, it's easier on a level surface."

(The new ladderwell seems to have no sensors nor traps.)

As Big Strapping and Buzz seemed to have teamed up to investigate one direction, Flash flashed a smile at Doc C and said, “Shall we?” ... and headed off in the opposite direction.

If he came to a similar doorway, you can be guaranteed he’d push its buttons ... when add Cagliostra was ready, of course.

"Keep going." Denton said after a moment. "Big, mean, and green can handle himself. And he has the Doc to back him up. Between her brains and his brawn I'm sure there every bit as capable of getting well in over their heads as we are."

Buzz says quietly to Denton, "If you insist on ladies first, so be it.  At this point, we're probably fifty - fifty on who would get shot first anyway."

She waves to Flash and Dr. Cagliostro before descending.  She's still got her raygun in one hand, so her progress is slow and deliberate.  The gun is pointed downward as much as possible.

(GM rolls dice:

Okay, now I know what's at the bottom of the ladder. Buzz, roll Insightful check, please...)

(GM rolls dice:

Okay, now I know what's behind this next door...)

Flash-Bang and Dr. Cagliostro opened their door.

The room that was revealed was long and wide, with lots of tables and benches-- evidently a mess hall, based on the four guys in orange jumpsuits holding trays of food.

There are exits from this room to the left, right, and straight ahead...

It takes a couple of seconds to take all this in... Which is about two seconds less time than it takes the four guys to register that there are (at least) two intruders in their midst. A couple of them say things like "Hey, what th'--?!"

All of them go for their sidearms...
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:49, Wed 11 Dec 2019.