Those going on the Vultan up to The Skull should post here.


As it turns out, there is a shuttle that travels between The Skull and the Downport, but it doesn't have a regular schedule--it makes the trip (either direction) when there's enough passengers (unspecified how many that is), when sufficient fees are paid, or when the pilot feels like it... usually some combination of the three.

Heading up to the moon, it's easy to see that the Highport started as merely a refueling depot for ships and then gradually expanded outward, upward, and downward to become a full Class A starport. While there are six external docking bays open to the vacuum of space, presumably these are for special cases and overflow... probably carry-overs from the original refueling depot. A dozen internal docking bays now encircle the central hub.

The Vultan has been assigned one of those internal bays. There's no way, though, to tell from space how many are occupied.

Surrounding the Highport is the shipyards... divided into three equal and equidistant sections. You can also spot at least a dozen weapons turrets across the lunar surface with probably more out of sight beyond the curve of the moon. You guess one of them... the larger one... is probably a particle cannon.

As you approach the docking bay, its bay doors slide aside to allow access to the interior. As with any starport, the ship receives an electronic offer of services that you can accept or turn down as you wish. Surprisingly, only the standard starport docking fee is required. That includes any of the auxiliary services, though: fuel, power umbilical, oxygen resupply, water resupply and waste maintenance.

As the resident ship's doctor, Aaron spent the short flight up to The Skull making sure that the 'medical bay' was still properly stocked and everything was stored in its proper place.

For the most part, once his two guests had been tucked into their coldsleep chambers, they didn't need monitoring. Putting them in coldsleep served two functions: they healed faster and no one needed to worry about feeding them or keeping them under guard.

He was still debating with himself whether he wanted to go with the assault team and hang back or just wait here in the ship to see if anyone would need medical attention.

"I suppose I should tag along... not just to treat any of you," he said to the others, "should you decide to play target but to treat the Mercifuge's crew that will get injured."

"I understand you want their experience not only as pirates but with the ship, but I should probably do a profile on them to evaluate their trustworthiness and loyalty index. As pirates, my preliminary guess is that they value money. It's not so much 'the more money you give them the more loyal they'll be', it's that you just give them money as part of your success."

"Where am I at? Strike force or on the Vultan? I can do either so it doesn't matter too much. You got a plan Cdr. Varca? Will you be giving a clue to us?"

In reply to Collyn Ramburton (msg # 3):

OOC: I'm not certain why there's any confusion about this -- Theodore, Ingrid, Zhouth, and  Rayjaynul were selected to go see The Admiral.  Varca had also suggested that Ghent go with them, saying he/Varca believed that Ghent was well versed in Social Skills...

Ghent was told he could choose where he wanted to go.

Varca has been assuming that, except for the 4 -- maybe 5 -- people mentioned as going to see The Wizard The Admiral, everyone one else would be remaining aboard Vultan (thus going up to The Skull).

Not everyone going up to The Skull has to participate in the raid to capture Mercifuge.  Somebody does need to remain aboard ship, preferably someone with Pilot skills.

Tactically, Varca considers the advantages & disadvantages of a Small Assault Team versus a Large Assault Team to all offset each other -- so anyone who wants to come with, may do so.  Anyone who does not wish to come with, Will be doing us a favor by staying behind to secure a rapid exit, should one be needed.

ooc. Thats why I said "Strike Force" ie, Mercifuge, or am I on the Vultan as crew. Knew I wasn't in the Restaurant. :-P

All Viridian knew was that he wasn't going to the restaurant. Too many scenarios had been suggested with no one actually disavowing any of them. No doubt in Varca's mind he knew who was going where, but he hadn't actually designated who was going where... either that, or Viridian hadn't been paying attention.

"So, which one of the dozen scenarios have you decided on, Varca?" Viridian asked as the Vultan docked in The Skull.

"One-person subterfuge? Six-person assault squad? Teleporting Collyn?"

With BB having to bale on them, Taliesa knew that left her as the resident marine, so if it was an assault on the Mercifuge, she'd no doubt be leading the charge.

On the other hand, subterfuge wasn't her strong suit. Hell, it wasn't a suit at all for her! There just wasn't much subterfuge with an assault rifle.

She knew better than to ask Varca where he wanted her; he'd tell her when he was good and ready.

He might not be a marine, but he knew his way around an assault rifle. Also, being a fellow Vespexer, he was pretty tough--he could take it as well as dishing it out.

Under the current circumstances, though, he expected to be ship security.

"Guess I'll be manning the fort, then, right?" he asked Varca.

Combat wasn't his thing, either. Oh, sure, he called himself a 'mercenary', but that was only because he could be hired to do something for money... as long as it wasn't being a soldier.

"Me, too," he added. "Holding down the fort, polish the silverware, wash the windows, dust away the cobwebs, and so forth."

In reply to Donio Scarte (msg # 9):

     "Okay, to start with, we gotta take into account how we look to the locals." Varca says, "If we look like a buncha thugs looking to beat down a hexapuma, then the locals will come down on us hard and fast.  On the other hand, this is a port that deals regularly with pirate types."

     "So, the trick is to find a balance between our offensive and defensive capabilities.  My thoughts are we go defense over offense.  We wear Raider Suits -- but none of the decals and appliques we have for them.  We wear the suits with no identifiers.  This will send a subtle message that we are ready for trouble, but not looking for it.  Just, hopefully not too strong a message."

     "Next, to offset the message all the armor is making, we cut back on the weapons.  Sidearms only -- non-lethal if you got 'em -- blades and clubs.  We're gonna have to walk through the station to get to where Mercifuge is.  Wearing the Suits will already make folks nervous, so we need to calm them by not carrying an entire arsenal.  So take weapons that you can holster or hang from a belt.  Something that'll let you walk around with your hands empty."

     "All'a you figure out how you're gonna do that, while I log into the station info-net and see if I can locate Mercifuge.  I'm kinda guessing they ain't using that name -- what with the fact that they stole it from The Admiral -- but really, just how many four-hundred-ton salvage ships can there be, docked to this station?"

---

OOC: Today: Varca Lexand rolled 8 using 2d6+2 to run a Computers/2 data search, trying to find where Mercifuge is docked.

[Lunar^(?) Spaceport "The Skull", Orbiting Planet Theev. Aboard Vultan]


      "Whatever you want to do, Rejji." Varca responds with a grin,

     "I know you'll shout me a warning before you run from the Hexapuma.  So, whether you wanna have my back during a firefight crawling through a pirate ship, or if you wanna have my back making sure nobody steals our little Wunderschiff, here -- I'm good with whatever you wanna do."

     "Viridian, that goes for you, as well.  You are probably the better Pilot in this group, but you being a Native of Theev -- as much as that can be said of anyone -- you are invaluable to the Away Team, as an aide to avoiding getting entangled with Local Custom. So, I'll leave the choice to you."


      "You want the detail, you got the detail, Scartty."

     "Taliesa!  BB didn't have anything bad to say in her assessment of you -- as a Space Marine -- but then she never actually detailed your skillset to me.  I asked her if you could do the job, and she just nodded.  So, now having had a couple of moments to think over the basics of my plan, what are your thoughts? Anything from your Marine Ship Boarding experience you can add?  Also, d'you have any suggestions for who stays aboard<?i> with Scartty and, <i>maybe, Rejji?"

     "My thoughts are that a security team of three people should be sufficient to secure Vultan -- or at least, if attacked, to hold on until the rest of us can get back here.  Your thoughts?"

"Where you want me Commander Varca? Striker or support? By the way, I can shoot too, but prefer the blade up close. Want me to teleport into their ship and wait for you?"

In reply to Collyn Ramburton (msg # 12):

     "Actually," Varca responds to Collyn, "I was thinking to have you -- wait!  What'd you just say? I though you guys were kidding about you being able to teleport!  I thought you were a Mindrip--I mean--a Telepath?"

     "Um, right, like I was saying ... Collyn, you'll be on the Strike Team!  You're a good fighter, and we can always use your talent as a back-up, if Silverhands comm doesn't work out."

"Nope, not a mindripper. I can barely read print, never mind minds. If I know where I'm going, I can teleport in. I have to know the location or I could wind up in space or in a bulkhead."

In reply to Collyn Ramburton (msg # 14):

     Varca gives Collyn a thoughtful look,

     "So ... just what exactly do you mean by 'know the location', here, Collyn?" Varca asks, "We talking direct observation?  Could you, say, teleport to a target location seen in a photograph?  Could you teleport to a place seen in a real-time vid-monitor?"

     "And, if you can teleport to a spot you're looking at on a vid-monitor, what are we talking about, video definition-wise, before you can't do a teleport?  Can you, for example, teleport to a location you're looking at in black-and-white?  How about teleporting to places you've seen drawings of?"

     "Tactical uses, Collyn!  I'm not expecting you to be as tricky as a Zhodani Consular Guard but give me tactical details I can plan with, Collyn!"

     Varca suddenly flashes Collyn a rather feral-looking smile,

     " 'Cuz, if you can teleport to a spot you're looking at through an imager -- then we are golden!"

In reply to Varca Lexand (msg # 15):

"I think I'll be able to teleport with that!" he tells Varca...and automatically looks around for Zhouth to confirm that.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:49, Sun 27 Nov 2022.

In reply to Collyn Ramburton (msg # 16):

OOC: Zhouth is down on the planet.  Maybe edit that to "...and automatically looks around for Zhouth to confirm that."


     "Excellent, Collyn!" Varca exclaims, "And have you and Zhouth practiced these Teleports while you were wearing a Raider Suit?  That's important, because it's the PRIS system built into the suit that will let you see through the airlock door and generate an image of the space on the other side of it."

     "That's why I asked about still pictures and drawings -- the PRIS system uses one-hundred percent computer generated imagery to display data.  No direct, live opticals."

     "The downside is that, if we have to have you teleport through the door, it'll take several minutes of scanning through the armored door to generate that image -- several minutes of all of us just standing around looking suspicious, right outside the door."