Sensing the tension, the Count says, "If anyone here is at fault, it´s me, Ms. Blue had been hired by me to keep us informed of potential jobs and to send me any information/data that we might find useful."

Trying to restore a sensible decorum...

"It was in this capacity or better put, in our behalf, that she came to us. There are others that might be able to accomplish this mission, but, she rightfully thought that since we have been successful and she was being paid to notify us...she did the right thing by contacting us."

Getting the feeling that things have somewhat eased(?)

"Other than the ethics of it, as Sir Walter mentioned...the reward of 2% ship value, 10% cargo value, and the possibility of seizing the hijacker´s vessel, for a complete claim...The financial aspect of it, we´ll have a significant nest-egg to apply towards the purchase of a ship and/or cargo... "



"I´m in agreement, we knock this out and evaluate where we´re at after it´s done."

As he gets ready to leave for the scout base...

Giving it some thought, there were a number of questions that might help the group...It´s in the details where all mysteries are resolved. Keep in mind, the only limit to figuring things out...think detective mindset....what, when, where, who, why, how, and the matching details that makes sense of all of that. Actually if everyone were to think logically/reasonably/practically....

Switching to comm mode and database info, connecting to certain organizations...

Imperial/Client state database(Classified for Imperial Court officers (SOC:E). IE...Scouts, Military, Diplomatic Corps, Industry, Merchant Marine, "Nobility", and finally the unofficial Others, etc...

Informal or extraordinary sources: Leaving that to the GM´s purview.

Note: I suppose now is the time to say, Count Darrel Cromwell spent a huge amount of money/effort developing these resources. As a personal note...he realized a long time ago, he wasn´t an Imperial marine, he wasn´t a fancy pilot, he wasn´t the tech-whiz or a super spy...He was smart, could persuade people and gathering info/knowledge compensated for all those failings.



Sends out the following request for information/data, then pushing forward and/or action; Going through the appropriate organizations/institutions.

1. Any recent pirate activity, especially any criminal organizations that have been seeking information on mining operations.

2. Arrival of any persons/ships/organizations that stand out as potential hijackers, if this is not a normal occurrence, then obviously there should be some indications of an outside source.

3. All fences for illicit sales of ores are investigated, any of them with a sudden surge of credits, meaning getting ready to purchase a large illegal cargo..should be shut down for "inspections".

4. Initiate a governmental "Quarantine for health services", incorporating any new vessels approaching the planet.

RL OOC: Storm approaching, need to go offline.

  Kaengarr's gear was in storage at the starport, and he certainly wasn't going to engage in a spacebound boarding action wearing ordinary clothing, so a detour was in order.

  His Olok - a lightweight, Vargr-made, tailored vacc suit - might not be a match for proper battle dress, but it was only slightly heavier than ordinary clothing and offered some protection against blows and gunshots. While the styling was clearly Gvegh, the markings were reasonably sparse; insignia on each shoulder, an abstract design running from the left ear to the jawline, and another on the right knee, all a mix of yellow and green. It was downright plain compared to the one that Vonon had worn in the dome, although the ribbing along the forearms and elsewhere suggested that it could provide a hidden surprise or two for an enemy in close quarters. Two blades - a curved, hooked sword and a serrated knife - joined the stunner as his armaments, along with an articulated shield offered some additional protection against incoming fire.

  It wasn't a grand arsenal, but it would get the job done.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:31, Sun 11 Oct 2015.

Still fuming because of the insolence displayed by Ceruleanne Khea joins the others on their way to the starport, avoiding to speak or even look at her companions so that they don't enrage her even more.

At the starport she gathers her meager belongings, most importantly her toolkit, dons her armored vest and goes to the meeting place for the liftoff.

The command codes for the Long Shot aren't available. It's a security system that Blackwood set up to prevent hijacking. The captain would have set them when he launched, and if he got the chance when the hijackers started to board, would have set them to random delay... which is the minimum 12 hours. The hijackers can't torture the information out of him as he doesn't have it.

Getting to the Scout base is easy enough. Everyone going will need their vaccsuit. Option is to crowd into the Scout ship and then do an EVA once you get there, or man the shuttle on top of the Scout ship now. There are 8 passenger seats plus the pilot seat.

Who is going to pilot the shuttle?

The plan is to approach the source of the Long Shot's signal by keeping asteroids in the way of sensors. Then the shuttle will continue the rest of the trip solo--easier to hide behind asteroids.

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 42):

As the group(?) readies itself for the mission, Darrel decides that given the way things worked out, he calls for a separate vehicle, in other words, enough that the group has transport, but, he wants to be alone with Khea while traveling to the scout base.

NOTE: Khea and the Count will be alone in transport.

"I guess then I need to get a new vacc suit and other gear for this trip, just in case. Vonon, You want me to pilot the shuttle or do you have someone else in mind?" he said as he fired up the hand computer and placed an order for him to pick up on the way to the vessel.

Sharik stood and greeted Pablo warmly when Vonon brought him back to the table.  "Pabs!" the diminutive brunette smiled, her tone light and casual - and since she'd used his real name, Shar was pretty sure that he'd pick up on it and know that there weren't any cover stories involved here.

Her raised eyebrow gave him a silent quizzical query that they would have to catch up later, as ex-corporate operative knew that very little in this great, big universe was entirely predicated on pure chance.

Her p-comm chirped in her ear, as she turned her attention back to the rescue discussion.  Sharik pursed her lips, though she hardly needed a translator for the Trohk words spoken, given tone and demeanor that Kheaiftouaw was adopting.  But Walter's friend seemed to be trying to smooth things over; so, Sharik simply tried to get out of the way.  Literally and figuratively.  Having already stood up, she simply stepped off to the side, moving closer to Pablo and Vonon and shading her position a bit.  If there was to be any violence, she'd be well situated to avoid it.  And she kept her mouth shut - mostly, and what little she might say would be in hushed tones.

She'd already called for a cab, as she'd need to get back to the TAS hostel to pick up her equipment.  The crew was already aware that Sharik had her own customized vacc suit; which, of course, she wasn't wearing to an outing at a restaurant.  So, that would need to be picked up at minimum.  Naturally, there were some other items that'd she'd likely want as well.

As the meeting dispersed, she gestured to Pablo and Vonon to accompany her, though any others that were heading back to the hostel were welcome to join her.  She was pretty sure that Vonon needed to retrieve his suit as well.  And the ride would give her a chance to catch up with both of her old friends.  Tossing a few extra credits onto the table for a tip, she settled her bill with the waitress and then moved with pace towards the waiting transportation.  The others were right, having accepted the job, they were on the clock.  And that crew wasn't getting any safer as time dragged on...

Pablo followed the team from the restaurant, making his way to a secured locker at the hostel he'd been staying at, and getting his gear bags. Catching up with Sharik and Vonon as they were driven about was a pleasant way of passing time.

As they prepped for the mission, the mercenary stepped into a cubicle and stripped out of his street clothes. He then pulled on a body pressure sleeve, followed by his vacc suit. It was nice, and comfortable, tailored for him, but he didn't like the idea of going into close combat wearing it. It would feel like wearing tissue paper compared to a boarding suit or combat armor, let alone battle dress.

Still, a job was a job, and his nerves settled as he geared up, tucking a variety of grenades, equipment, and explosives, as well as extra magazines for his weapons, into their places, checking each item to make sure it was both secured and reachable. A familiar and calming pre-mission ritual. A pair of knives, one a conventional utility blade, the other a monofilament bayonet, completed that part of things.

Turning to his weapon cases, he opened them up, pulling out his long-barreled gauss pistol, giving it a spot check,and sliding it into a thigh holster. The gauss assault weapon with the folding stock came next, and was clipped across his chest, paratrooper fashion, so as to be out of the way during EVA maneuvers. Lastly, he pulled out his wrist launcher, and wrapped it around his right wrist, checking carefully to make sure it wouldn't interfere with a smooth draw of the pistol.

He glanced at his image in the cubicle's mirror, and chuckled. "Well now, aren't you the dangerous looking rock rat?"

After taking a moment to lock away the remaining gear, and make sure all the HUD connections were up and good, he headed back out to rejoin the team, the visor of his helmet up. He looked at them, and didn't really speak to anyone specifically, when he said, "Good to go."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:41, Thu 15 Oct 2015.

Sam asked Ceruleanne before leaving "If we have further questions en route are you contactable? Or once we leave are we on our own"

After she answers Sam will follow the others out, heading back to the TAS to pick up her gear before rendezvous ing with the others at the ship.

ooc
kinda busy in RL so might be more intermittent in posting

In reply to Samantha Kilgore (msg # 48):

OOC: sorry...last several days have been...odd

Vonon chats with his old buddy Pablo for a few moments, then decides to bring him into the current scheme.  After all, an ex-Space Marine who grew up in an Asteroid Belt could only be helpful, right?

Bringing Pablo over to the table, Vonon isn't really surprised to find that Sharik also knows Pablo -- who doesn't she know?

In answer to Sir Walters question, Vonon responds, "You do the piloting, Sir Walter. If these thugs actually had significant ship weapons, they would have threatened the Logshot with them. No, you pilot, I'll use my Patrol experience on sensors to keep us off their scanners."

While she felt really awkward doing so after the, completely justified, scene at the restaurant Khea asked Count to make a small detour to the shop they visited a few days ago to try to find an Aslan Vacc Suit. Luckily Khea found a mostly fitting one, even though it was a older, bulky model.

With that taken care off she made sure to still take her other armor and of course her tools with to the meeting place.

Everybody is able to run their errands and get to the Scout base within the hour. Seeing the launch perched precariously atop the Scout ship is a bit disconcerting, but the pilot greets you at the hatch and reassures you that it looks worse than it is. The grav thrusters don't generate the same kind of force that rocket thrusters do, so no high grav take-offs are necessary. It takes a few minutes longer to get to orbit with gravs because the thrust is uniform over a longer period of time rather than lighting a rocket under your ass.

"Captain Kenner here. Do any of you want to make the trip in the launch, or are you all comfortable with boarding it via EVA when we get there?" the pilot of the Scout introduces himself and asks.

  Kaengarr was accustomed to launches being carried within their ships or at least connected via a proper docking mechanism and airlock, and he took a good hard look at the arrangement before concluding that it was workable if inconvenient. Well, except for the one scenario that would derail their mission regardless.

  "We won't be doing any EVA if they have an armed ship of their own in the area, but we won't be able to board at all if there is," he responded with a shrug.

Looking at the launch, Pablo smiled, and clambered up towards it. He could at least fly it, and while that was not going to be his job on the mission, somebody needed to be aboard the launch.

If only to cast off and pick up anybody who managed to fall off the ship while doing an EVA transfer from the scout once they got to the target.

Once he got to the launch's hatch, he said, "Never rode piggy back into orbit before. It's gotta be fun, right? I at least want shotgun on the ride up."

Sam headed for the launch an tries to work out how to get in

"Times an issue, so wasting it on an EVA when we don't have to doesn't seem smart to me"

  Kaengarr turned his head toward Samantha. "Good point. We'll ride in the launch."

  As for who sat where, he didn't really care about that as long as they were all ready upon arrival.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:16, Sat 17 Oct 2015.

You can get up to the launch one of two ways: either by the ladder that's in place or by entering the Scout and climbing up through the dorsal hatch. Either way puts you at the back of the launch where the entry hatch is.

Entering, you can see two rows of four seats, one row to either side of the center aisle. There is only a single pilot's seat. Sensors on the shuttle will be minimal; it has a limited operational function--orbit to surface and back.

None of the 8 passenger seats have any access to controls. Only the pilot does.


OOC: I'll give players another day to post here before launching the Scout ship.

Upon entering the launch, and seeing the arrangement, Pablo shrugged, and took one of the seats nearest the airlock. It might not matter, but then again it might, if they had to come out of the launch under fire.

If the team was going to travel aboard the launch, there was no point in getting in the way of the mission pilot, and with the single seat forward, "shotgun," was no longer relevant.

After making a stop to get a new vac suit as his old one had not been used in over a decade, Sir Walter did a preflight check of the vessel while the others were getting settled in.


"If anyone can use it, I have a laser rifle, still in its original case that I got as a going away present from Delgado." he said, lugging a case with him up the scout ship. "You will have teach me how to use it when we get finished with this task." he said after taking the pilot's seat on the launch and continuing the check.

  Kaengarr eyed the rifle case that Walter had brought on board. He wasn't used accustomed to long rifles, but the thing would almost certainly outperform his stunner if taking the hijackers alive wasn't a concern. Still, there was no benefit to claiming it if someone else could put it to better use.

  "I won't pretend I'm a marksman, but I'll take it if no one else does."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:30, Sun 18 Oct 2015.

Sharik had changed at the hostel into her vacc suit.  Under it she wore her body pressure sleeve and strapped to her left thigh was her laser pistol, while on her right was her stunner.  Strapped to her back was a light thin, long blade seemingly forged of a single large crystal and the handle wrapped in a tight, light blue-dyed leather.  Tucked into a boot sheathe was a cunningly shaped scavenger tool, a custom fitted 'wrecker' that had been cold-worked from mono-crystalline titanium and appeared to shaped and fitted for Shar's relatively small-sized hands.

The thin cosmopolitan operative still had on her array of electronics; her dataglove and p-comm continued to be active and still pushed a constant stream of augmented reality to the HUD displays on her datashades.  The only hardware that didn't seem to be tied into her own personal network was the precision analog timepiece that she always wore on her right wrist.

She settled into the seat next to Pablo and winked at the ex-Marine, an easy smile settling upon her burgundy lips.  "Glad to have you here, Pabs." the auburn-haired dilettante noted with genuine affection.  Sharik was well aware of Ryzov's specialties and knew that he was a great person to watch their backs; and she trusted him implicitly having known him for a while.

Sharik shook her head to Walter's offer to use his laser rifle, gesturing to Kaengarr to use the weapon if it suited him.  Her facility with longarms was no better than the basic training course - so, she'd neither be able to make good use of the energy weapon nor would she be able to help train the gentleman merchant in its use.

Though, he seemed to be ready to help Walter as co-pilot, Shar caught Vonon's attention before he settled into the launch's bridge for the pre-flight checklist.  She conferred with him for a moment, knowing that while her astrogation skills would not be needed on this flight, her sensors operating acumen might come in useful.  In any case, she offered to help out, though was not pushy about it since Sharik knew that her vargr friend had had just as much experience (if not more) with electronic countermeasures.  Still, she never found that it hurt to offer (at least, when friends were involved).

---

[OOC:  Sharik has Sensors/1, as well.  And also has a +2 Int DM and an Expert/1 program in Sensors (which for basic tasks could add a +1 DM as well, potentially).  So, if Vonon would prefer her to operate the ECM suite she can.  This might be preferable, as her combat skills are not that great - so, Vonon and Pablo (and Sam) can lead the physical charge on to the Long Shot, which might be better.]

Sam gets into the shuttle, then begins to gear up - getting into her vacc suit first, and then checking her weapons and stowing them.

As the other board she talks out loud "Excuse me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but we all should be in vacc suits before we approach the vessel, in case we get engaged and holed. In terms of weaponry, I would say stunners are better. Lethal weaponry also makes holes in spaceships - and we're being paid to recover the ship. Each hole will affect our pay. Walter, if you need any help piloting, give me a shout, otherewise she's all yours."

ooc
Actually Sams piloting is Spacecraft and I think this would count as small craft? So Limited help from her.

Also not sure what you can wear over/under a vacc suit, or how much stowage there is on it.

Pablo looked up from another quick check of his gear, returning Sharik's smile, because who could resist returning one of her smiles? "Thanks, I've missed this," he answered. He wasn't by nature very gregarious, but her sense of fun was infectious. It was one of the reasons he liked working with her.

When Samantha spoke he listened, and when she finished speaking, said quietly, "Ma'am, I am not going into this mission looking for scalps." He frowned a little, pushing down that little voice saying otherwise in the back of his mind. The Peacekeeper Marines, name non-withstanding, weren't encouraged to take prisoners, generally speaking.

"But I'm no good with a stunner, or with any energy weapon smaller than a plasma gun, if the truth be told," he continued. "With this, though," and with that, he touched the receiver of the blocky assault weapon clipped to the front of his vacc suit, "I will do my best to avoid unnecessary carnage, especially to the legitimate crew of the Long Shot." After a beat he added, "I do have stun grenades and tranq gas, if it eases your mind any."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:09, Sun 18 Oct 2015.

In reply to Pablo Esteban Ryzov (msg # 62):

Vonon finally clunks aboard -- having climbed up the outside ladder -- wearing his garishly painted black Boarding Spacesuit. Like Sharik he has a weapon at each hip -- heavy autopistol at the right, Blade at the left, and a pair of stunstick handles sticking up in easy reach behind each shoulder, as well as several obvious grenades hanging from various places on his armor. He stalks forward, stopping behind the single pilots seat, looking over the controls.

"Frack! Orbital boat." he mumbles, turning around to look back at the passenger compartment. Finally his roving eye settles on Sharik.

"Okay. New plan." He says, stepping over and settling his bulk (normally Vonon is a trim 5-foot-6, but in this heavy armored spacesuit he's gained a few inches in every direction) into the aisle seat, opposite Sharik and Pablo.

"Shar'r, that fancy do-hickey you wear on your arm, there," Vonon points at her dataglove and p-comm, "Can you interface with this boats limited sensor systems and take control? You may have to take on the role of ECM Officer for this operation."

"While I trust any of these folks..." Vonon indicated the rest of the group, "...at my back in a scuffle, I'm not sure how much boarding action they may have seen. So, Pablo, it looks like you and I will be the shock troops, everyone else can follow us in."