They respond that they have one utility robot that appears to have survived more or less intact. The Sathar did a quick scavenge of items, so there is not much left that isn't attached, but there are many parts of the ship, and much of its hull is intact as well. It is about three times as large as the Moraes, and is not a scout ship, so no survey bots or other such equipment.

Bartja and Orvo help their wounds. Bogan is doing fairly well afterward, but Junior's leg will leave him limping and slow for a time.

You realize that you are only a couple hundred yards away from the edge of the EMP. Junior and Bogan ask you to help them move the explorer to outside its range.

After about an hour, you have done some healing, scavenging, and pushing the explorer in neutral to the point where its electricity is operational again. Now Junior can do some repairs and get it running.

11:00 p.m.

You are now tired. It has been a full day. Continuing will subject you to fatigue. There are bivouac units and such left from the ship. A complete inventory has not been done, and it is completely dark with no access to electric lights near the ship.

Also, to protect you from the atmosphere of the planet, the command capsule would be a place you could rest. (Don't forget about the slightly toxic atmosphere and your constantly annoying breathing apparatus that you must wear when outside a contained environment.) Bogan and Junior are about to go get some sleep so they can get ready to rescue their captain and crew in the morning.

The Notui desire to return to their village to rest. They invite you or say you can return there at any time. They also offer to return in the morning to guide you somewhere else nearby if you wish.

We will stay here for the night so we can do a quick survey in the morning and then you can guide us to the pyramid.

Any guards or watches during the night? Random encounters are...random...and may include Sathar now that you are in this area.

We will do 2 hour watches, I will take the first one.

OOC:  I'll take a couple of hours to inventory the ships equipment that we might be able to scavenge and take the robot and heavier equipment to the explorer for recovery.

"We can't very well leave these two guys here for the Sathar to find.  Do we want to take them back to the Moraes in their explorer or have the Notui lead them back in the morning?

I would like to take the explorer around the EMP field and use it to winch our aircar out of the field as well.  We'll cover a lot more ground in the aircar than an explorer, although it probably draws the Sathar to us at the same time.

Of course the shiny object isn't that much further and once we know what that is, maybe we try to disable the EMP.  Can't forget or ignore those taken by the Sathar either."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:03, Fri 20 Nov 2020.

"The aircar can wait, the EMP will always keep it at the same distance as it is until we deal with that EMP.  The shiny object, maybe, but it isn't going anywhere either.  We can give the two directions to the Moraes, as it isn't that difficult for them to get to, but the time we would spend there is not time well spent.  Just my opinion."

Note: The river will prevent the explorer from going to the Moraes since it can't cross the water. One reason I put the explorer here is so that you can use it, if needed, on this side of the river if any other transports don't work.

(OOC)
The aircar should work for them.  It is only down because of the EMP.  If we take them there, they can use it once the EMP is off.

I will do watch as Porter, Bartja, Orvo, Desi, S'krllk. That gives 8 hours sleep to each and will result in waking at 7:00 a.m. just after sunrise.  Any last minute preparations/actions before I start rolling random encounters, let me know...

Just before 5:00 a.m., during Desi's watch, she sees something and wakes everyone up.

You look out the cabin of ship and see the figures at the edge of the trees.  You watch, staying hidden behind the command module's window and computers.

They are Sathar. It appears there are 8, though who knows if more are in the trees. The 8 Sathar move in amongst the broken pieces of ship. They appear to be on a salvaging effort and are pulling items from the broken hull.

Then they move to the explorer. It appears they will attempt to steal it. They do not appear to have seen you.

Gear up, time to reduce the opposition, folks.

After Desiraye wakes everyone up as quietly as she can, she finds a position to where she can utilize the optics on her rifle.  She turns on the power for the IR option and begins to look for the leader of the group.



"Roger that Sarge.  Searching for their leader.  Stand by."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:40, Thu 26 Nov 2020.

Orvo suggests, "Maybe we hide in here? If they take the explorer, that's better than putting our lives at risk. If they come over here, we can ambush them when they come in the command module."

How about another option? I and one other hide near the ship entrance, and if they enter, we have them in a kill box.

"I'm not certain we have the firepower to destroy them, but maybe we can surprise them using doze and tangler grenades and take captives.  That would work especially well if we do the kill box.

What will we do with Sathar captives?  I'm not sure, exactly."

"Past practice for them does not allow them to be captured alive. I think our best bet is to take as many of them out as possible, and then deal with the rest."

They don't make good prisoners, and they would not hesitate to kill you.  Okay, who is will me?  He turns and heads to the door to set up at an angle to the door so he isn't shooting into it.  He will leave a couple of frag and tangler grenades with those staying behind.

Bartja loads his gyrojet rifle clips and makes sure he has a Tangler grenade on his belt.

"I'm with you and ready to rock!"

Everyone else, set up your defense in here as if your lives depend on it, because they might.

Porter and Bartja will head out to whatever cover is nearby, out of sight of the Sathar.

Desiraye tries to adjust and the controls of her scope and begins to feel frustrated.  She finally powers it off and checks her iron sights, queing her chronocom, "I'm not taking a chance with my optics here.  We're too close to the EMP and I don't want to risk it.  Call out targets as you see them!  Remember, they may retreat but, they will not surrender!  Good hunting."

Desiraye will take [1] of the Frags left behind by Porter and attach it to her gear so it is in easy reach if needed quickly.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:00, Sat 28 Nov 2020.

S'Krllk prepares to fire his needler, in the event something does get through to attack him. "If the universe is true to form, the Sathar will be shooting, as well. Best prepare personal defenses for that."

Since you moved the explorer, it is about 200 meters away, half obscured by trees. This allows you to sneak out as planned while the Sathar are exploring the explorer. But it also means the explorer is outside the EMP pulse.

Porter, Desi and Bartja get in place for their "kill box," while Orvo and S'krllk wait in the command module. (OOC: Wasn't sure about Desi, but that was the impression I got.) Porter and Bartja are at the base of a large tree (one north and one west of the command module); Desi is on her belly using some debris from the ship as cover southwest of the command module.

After a few minutes, four Sathar get in the explorer, start it up, and drive it north.

The remaining four Sathar begin heading back to the area where the ship crashed.

As they get closer, you spot that one of them has a device of some kind strapped to its chest. It blinks on and off with the EMP pulse. Another is wearing emblems showing that he is likely the leader.

You see the following on them:

Sathar 1 (strapper): A projectile rifle of some sort.
Sathar 2 (leader): Two pistols holstered, and a chest belt with grenades.
Sathar 3: A machete in hand, pistol holstered.
Sathar 4: Plasma rifle of some sort in hand, pistol holstered, long knife sheathed.

They are about 50 meters away...

We will wait for them to get in between us and then I will throw a frag grenade.

I thought Desi was taking a spot within the module, thinking that would be where they went and we would be attacking them from the rear.

That's fine too. Desi, please clarify. Any way we look at it, this creates a killbox scenario, and the main difference will be whether they are facing her or not and what happens after shooting starts, since they are approaching the crashed ship, and the others are to the side.

Please everyone state any details needed, such as SEU settings, or screens, etc.

Assuming you are going to attack by surprising them, let me know what your actions are and which targets you will take. Only those in the ship can communicate with each other, so whoever is outside the ship should state targets in a Private Line.

Desi was on watch so, she would more than likely be outside?  I think that's a fair assessment?  If not, wherever you see fit