Not an expert on sensors, Ingrid focused on running her diagnostics and taking in the astonishing sights of the shattered city. In some ways, seeing that made her own quest feel almost petty. She felt she understood the Drinaxi in a way she hadn't before. She remained quiet, lost in those thoughts.

Teddy is flying along, and runs into a bit of trouble when the ship got hit by a couple of bolts of energy. "Lend a hand Kira! A little rough here!"

04:44, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 6 using 2d6+4.  pilot.

04:44, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 10 using 2d6+4.  pilot.

04:43, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 6 using 2d6+4.  pilot.

04:43, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 12 using 2d6+4.  pilot.

04:43, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 12 using 2d6+4.  pilot.

04:43, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 12 using 2d6+4.  pilot.

[Aboard Vultan, Portside Countermeasures.  Planet Drinax.]

     Varca is intently focused on his work, when--just a few minutes into the search--Zhouth calls him from Starboard Countermeasures and downloads some pretty accurate data revealing just about everything they are looking for.

     "What?!!  You can't...!  How did...?" Varca exclaims, trying to process it all,

     "What Hawkman?!!"

     After getting this surprise out of his system, Varca double checks the data and gets it.

     "Oh, right.  Early reports said that one of the Hawkmen flying with Oleb followed him down.  That Hawkman.  Umm, okay.  Again, Zhouth, all that high-falootin Imperial training of yours pays off!"

     "Jesu Kristi, but you gathered all that data in what must be record time!"

     Varca opens a circuit to the Bridge,

     "Countermeasures to Bridge.  Sending you location of two--repeat two--likely search targets.  Designated Hawk-One and Hawk-Two.  Indications are that Hawk-One is most likely Oleb, hold up in a cave.  Hawk-Two is likely the Hawkman bodyguard who followed him down.  Sending you map coordinates...now...along with early topographical sketch of entire area.  We'll keep refining that, but it should be enough to find the general location, where you can spot your own landing site."

     "Be advised, other activity has been detected in that area.  A Hawkman patrol is close.  And we're pretty sure we've identified movement from that Vole-critter and its stalking Hawk-One.  Also, more movement that looks to be a hunting party of Vespexers who look to be stalking the Vole."

     "This data looks pretty firm, Captain.  Recommend making for Hawk-One location, immediately.  Also recommend hailing the Hawkman patrol--send following message--'Vultan to Hawkman Patrol Lead.  Your son is within one-hundred meters of map coordinate AA degrees, BB minutes and CCCC seconds, north by XX degrees, YY minutes and ZZZZ seconds east.  Advise immediate extraction'."

     "Send that message exactly, Theo, and it'll keep those Hawkmen off our backs."

     "We'll keep refining the sensor data of the terrain around Hawk-One--you should have enough, now, to find us a landing spot somewhere close."

     "Countermeasures to Bridge.  Over To You."

Teddy sends the exact message to the Hawkmen that were searching for the King. Then he located a flat spot a hundred meters or so from the cave entrance and set the Vultan down perfectly!

11:28, Today: Theodore McFarlane rolled 12 using 2d6+4. Land

Teddy climbed out of the Pilot's seat and went to get his Gauss rifle. He called over comms, "Who we got for an away team Varca. We need to get to him quick. We need Ingrid to keep the engines warm and someone to stay on comms to coordinate between us and the Hawkmen. We have to have enough men to defend against the Vole too, and the Vespexers if necessary!"

In reply to Theodore McFarlane (msg # 16):

     Varca had gone to Portside Countermeasures immediately upon stepping aboard Vultan, back at the Palace, so was still dressed in his polished-up Hazard Suit.  Now that Vultan had landed (hopefully) near to The King, Varca switched control of Portside Countermeasures up to the Bridge and went to change into his Raider suit.

     "I'd like to keep at least three people on board, Theo." Varca answers, as he steps into the portside lift, "I think Chief Engineer Ingrid is an excellent choice to leave in charge--let her get a feel for The Big Chair, eh?  I'd also like to have someone monitoring both Comms and Sensors from the Bridge, keeping an eye on the air and ground.  One person can double-up on this or assign one person to each job--because I think we also need to leave someone sitting at the Gunners Station, with the Particle Barbette charged and ready to fire."

     "If we're correct and that is The King in that cave, then we are responsible for the safety of the Monarch.  So, let's enact--and enforce--a No Approach zone around the ship."

     Having reached his quarters, Varca starts to quickly change into his Raider suit,

     "As I've been saying for the past week, Theo--nobody goes outside this ship, here on Drinax, unless they are wearing spacesuit level protection, or a Vespexer-grade Hazard Suit.  Rejji and myself will be going outside, of course.  Both you and Aaron have experience out on the surface--and I want Rejji to glue himself to Aarons side!  Aaron will need to focus all his attention on Oleb, so Rejji will need to focus all his attention watching out for Aaron."

     Varca slides into the torso section of his suit,

     "Computer.  Open intercomm to Zhouth.  Zhouth?  I'm assuming that you just can't wait to step outside and enjoy the refreshing Drinax environment..." Varca jokes, "Am I correct, or would you rather stay aboard--where the weather is sane?"

     While waiting for an answer, Varca pulls the suits helmet over his head and has the onboard computer begin a suit seal check.

Since the previous was all being said over general ship comm:

"I lived in an asteroid!" he exclaimed back. Drinax isn't so bad, environment-wise. It's all the other things that want to eat you that worry me out there. But, umm, if we're leaving three then they should be comms, pilot, and guns, right? Ingrid can handle comms but not so much the other two, so if you and Theodore and Aaron and Rejji are already heading out, that means that the other two jobs are between Donio, Kira, and me; and, well, Kira is the only one who is any good at those."

"I know that you won't like this, but if Theodore and Aaron are both critical then you're the next-best pilot among the people that weren't sent off at the palace, and by next-best I mean that you actually know how to operate the controls and not send the ship straight into a pillar, so maybe it should be you and Kira staying with Ingrid?"

In reply to Zhouth (msg # 18):

     While waiting for his suit to finish the seal check, Varca started strapping his snub pistol and holster to the outside of the suit's right thigh--when Zhouth suggested that it would be beneficial for him to remain aboard.

     "WHAT?!" Varca exclaimed, then thought it through and realized Zhouth had a point.

     "No-no-no-no, Zhouth--No!  I can't be the Drinaxi--the Vespexer!--who doesn't rush to The Kings aid!  It...it just... it wouldn't look good!  There'd be whispers questioning my loyalty.  Technically, Theo should stay aboard--both because he's The Captain and he's a pilot--but he has to go after Oleb, for the same reason!"

     "Okay, wait-wait-wait!  Lemme think about this!  You and your fracking Logic...!" Varca mumbles, "Right.  Kira is the best pilot after Theo--but until we lift off, she'd just be sitting there.  How about this..."

     "Kira stands ready to fly, but until any actual lift off, she runs the Guns and watches the sensors.  We'll keep Donio aboard to back her up on sensors."

     "Ingrid has the Conn--and while she keeps an eye on the engines, keeping the ship prepped for lift off, she can also monitor Comms."

Since she was neither the primary Pilot nor the primary Sensor Op, it was a bit easier multi-tasking the two tasks. She wanted to be the best Pilot, but realized she might never be able to surpass Teddy simply due to the  logistics. Of course, once he got married, that could change things.

And nobody was perfect. Constantly dodging the flashing and rebounding lightning bolts while fighting the buffeting winds and compensating for the ionizing distortion took its toll--Teddy missed one!

That was the very reason she sat in the Co-Pilot's seat. When Teddy was a bit slow in jigging away from a lightning bolt, Kira attempted to jink the ship the other way to avoid it.

03:17, Today: Kira Cerise O'Neill rolled 14 using 2d6+3 ((6,5)).

WOW! That may have actually done it!

The second one came when he was landing the ship... she may not have dodged that one, though, but it was close.

03:18, Today: Kira Cerise O'Neill rolled 12 using 2d6+3 ((4,5)).

Does she get another cigar?

Teddy works his Piloting mojo against the storm as he weaves in, out, over, under, and around the blackened grasping girders of the old devastated arcology. If he was flying strictly by sensors, he'd probably have crashed the ship several times. It was only looking through the forward observation port (window) that he was able to turn the ship on its side to squeeze between two jagged beams at the last second since the momentary sensor glitch said it was 10 meters to the right.

He still managed to get hit by one lightning bolt out of a rapid-fire bundle that was more like ball lightning. Fortunately, Kira was able to pick up the slack and jink the ship out of the path of the lightning bolt at the last second.

The Vultan's wings made finding a suitable landing spot where they needed it a bit harder than normal, of course, lightning and winds and ionizing radiation notwithstanding.

Once again, Teddy reacted a bit slower than needed and overcompensated. A wingtip clipped a girder, skewed the ship into another bolt that rebounded off another beam that was only a meter away.

03:35, Today: StarMaster rolled 6 using 2d6 ((1,5)).

The Vultan takes 6 points of damage.

But the Vultan has landed.

The closest spot Teddy can find is about 120 meters from the spot where the sensors indicate King Oleb might be.


When you comm the Hawk Warriors, you receive a scratchy reply:

"This is Commander Brie Toller of His Majesty's Royal Hawk Warriors. I don't have a son. If you are referring to our missing comrade, then I thank you for the intel."


A moment later, you receive another comm:

"Milo Merrill here. That would be my son, the Hawk Warrior. Do you know if he's till alive?"

Sensors are barely able to register the rockhopper moving to that location.

Teddy, finally ready to disembark, answers the last comm before he departs the ship with the others. "Roger, it looks like they are both alive, sensors show lifesigns. The Vole is fast approaching, as is a vespexer hunting party. We are 120 meters away and on our way to secure. Please get there as fast as you can, you mat be desparately needed." He turns to Ingrid, "You have the con dear, keep us all in contact, and keep an eye on the vole and vespexers."

"Okay, alright, that should work. I just hope that we don't need it, and remember that there's some bad-intentioned person roaming around out there too." He paused for a moment, as if to gather his thoughts, before quietly adding, "I guess this means that I'm on the away team, doesn't it?"

He departed the sensor suite, took a brief detour to the medbay and was soon presenting himself in boarding gear at the airlock, along with a small bundle of medical gear and supplies.

"Varca, take over on the surface, you know the place a bit, we don't." Teddy says as they enter the air lock to exit to the surface.

OOC: sorry I got to this so late...



     "What?  No..." Varca exclaimed, "I mean, if you don't want to go outside, Zhouth, you don't have to.  It's frelling dangerous out there!"

     "If you prefer, please stay aboard and run sensors, directing us to the objective--that frees up Donio to come help carry Fat Oleb!  I just thought you might enjoy walking through a storm as powerful as most industrial sandblasters."

"I'm okay with that as long as there's actually an atmosphere," Zhouth's free hand flitted from one side to the other in imitation of a wind-blown leaf, and then swirled about near his face-plate. "And actually, even in the case of atmosphere-covered planets, the one that you have here? It isn't the worst one that I've spent time working in." His fingers wiggled about and then his hand returned to his side. "We wouldn't be looking for him there, not just because he wouldn't go out flying in it but because he'd have been long-dissolved by now."

In reply to Zhouth (msg # 26):

     "Heh--Yeah," Varca snickers, "Fluorine atmospheres do tend to get a little itchy after the first few nanoseconds..."

     Varca arrives at the airlock fully kitted out.  He's wearing a Raider Suit, with a thick, heavy bracer slid over and linked to the right forearm.  The bracer is a Snub Machine gun attachment, now attached and linked to the Suit (same capabilities as a P90, including a top loading magazine, holding 50 Snub ammo cartridges).

     In his left hand he's the carrying the same gunmetal-gray staff that he usually has magnetically clipped to the back of his Hazard Suit (and nobody has ever seen him actually use...for anything).  Two ammo pouches dangle from connection points at his suit's waist, each holding 3 spare clips. (4 of the clips are marked with a wide black stripe on top (AP Rounds) while two others are marked with a wide red stripe (HEAP Rounds).  Another black striped clip of Teflon-coated tungsten armor piercing rounds is already loaded in the forearm weapon.

     "Comm check--comm check." Varca transmits, "All open suit-to-suit comms will be on Channel Seven.  Repeat.  Suit-to-suit open comm on Channel Seven.  Ship-to-suit comm on Channel Five.  Everyone going outside, double check someone else's suit seals.  Nobody goes outside wearing a suit that doesn't fully seal."

---

OOC: Obviously, Varca can see what everyone is wearing & carrying, and wouldn't need to ask after this--however, I cannot see it, so I must ask for this answer!  What is everyone who thinks they are going off ship to look for Oleb actually wearing for protection and carrying for defense?
   Also, note that most Vacc Suits and/or other airtight protection suits generally have a default of 6 Hours of Life Support duration...

Teddy, having fully donned his raider suit, checks his radio comms between each other and the ship, carrying his Gauss rifle, checks Varca's suit to make sure he was properly sealed, then turned so Varca could check his as well. Then he readied to egress from the ship and find Fat Oleb. Maybe they'd be made nobles by the king, as a few were about to be tossed from the palace for treason.

In reply to Theodore McFarlane (msg # 28):

[Night Pillars ruins, Planet Drinax.  Aboard Vultan.]

     "Aaron Comm Check." Aaron chimes in on channel 7, "One.  Two.  Varca's an Ass.  Three."

     "Rejji on seven." Rejji adds in, standing over a pair of linked polycarbonate poles which will expand into an airtight medivac stretcher, "Assigned to playing Meat Shield for the Doc."

     With the ground search party all geared up, Varca makes one final check, before heading outside,

     "Ground Team to Vultan.  Ship-to-suit comm check, Channel Five.  Are you reading, Vultan?"

^COMM-> "Loud and clear, Ground Team." Ingrid responds from the Bridge, "Since you are all still aboard the ship.  You got any final warnings about keeping in touch through that storm out there, Varca?" ^<-COMM

    Varca considers for a moment, before answering, "We're only going one hundred twenty meters, as long as we're outside, the signal strength should stay steady, but the storm will likely mess with the clarity.  We can expect to be asking to repeat things kinda often.  Surface wreckage likely won't provide enough signal blockage of any significance--but if Oleb has crawled into a cave of any depth, we could have signal loss with the ship once we go in."

     "Maybe one of us can stay at the mouth of the cave, to act as a comm relay.  We'll see what's what when we get there."

     "Okay.  Ground Team heading off ship." Varca sends over both channels, as he opens the inner door of the starboard airlock.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:09, Tue 16 May 2023.

"I'd appreciate the relay, but don't prioritize it over having enough people to make a proper rescue. Be careful down there. If you're out of contact for a while I may go mad with power. Hey, it's not every day I get to be in charge up here" Ingrid joked, trying to keep things light to cover up how much it would worry her if they lost contact..
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:10, Tue 16 May 2023.

Teddy follows right behind Varca heading toward the king. He watched his footing, not wanting to fall.

With suits on, the airlock isn't large enough for all of you to fit in at the same time, so first cycle puts Varca and Teddy in. Even as the outer door begins to open, the swirling, howling winds inject storm fingers into the airlock just to let you know it's still there. Although there isn't much debris left, the storm sucks it up from outlying areas and deposits it here.

As Varca cycles the airlock closed for Aaron, Zhouth and Rejji, a section of girder slams into the Vultan's hull only about a foot from Varca's head. The winds aren't as strong down here at ground level, but with the ground as a barrier, it produces more powerful gusts diverted and broken up by the girder wreckage of the arcology. Now deep within the ruins, sensors indicate the winds are stronger out on the periphery. Here, it never gusts hard enough to knock you off your feet, but it's touch-and-go for a bit.

And then Rejji, Zhouth and Aaron join you. Small pieces of debris slam into your suits, but none of it is sharp enough, large enough or strong enough to penetrate.

With all five of you outside now, you start moving in the direction of Oleb.


Back inside the Vultan, Ingrid is in command, Kira is at Helm/Comms, and Donio is on Sensors/Gunnery.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:25, Tue 16 May 2023.

As they walked, Zhouth wrapped his arms protectively around the medical equipment that he was carrying, presumably in an attempt to shield it from those same bits of flying debris. The medkit and other containers were reasonably sturdy, of course, but nowhere near to the degree that boarding armor plates were.

While that kept him from applying illustrative hand gestures, he nevertheless managed to mutter over their group comms, "If we see the vespexers, the creature is ahead of us and probably already eating Oleb. If we see the creature, maybe it will try to eat us instead of him, but stalling it until the vespexers show up to eat it is better. If it's the other person, well, they probably won't try to eat Oleb, unlike the others, but we still don't want them to find Oleb, you know?"

Teddy pushed forward behind Varca. The storm was a lot more violent and charged than he expected. The world did not look like it would ever even begin to recover from the bombardment. The world was a huge scar. "We're getting close now, the cave should be just ahead."

Even though you might have line-of-sight to the cave where Oleb is, the actual route is more twisted... moving around bent and twisted girders, stepping over or around pits and crevasses, ducking under cross beams, even retracing your steps at one point when you run into a wall.

And that's when the excrement hits the rotary oscillator. One moment it's not there and the next it is! A section of girders suddenly moves and attacks! It's the vole! Sweeping in from the rear, it slams into Rejji and then Varca and finally Teddy at the front. Aaron and Zhouth were a bit off to one side as they picked their way around girders.

14:25, Today: StarMaster rolled 18 using 2d6+7 ((5,6)).
To hit. With surprise and attack from the rear modifiers, that produces an Effect of 6!

That, of course, hits all three of you.

14:47, Today: StarMaster rolled 19,20,22 using 4d6+6,4d6+6,4d6+6 ((3,2,2,6,4,2,6,2,6,4, 4,2)).

The AP5 claws deliver 19 points of damage to Rejji, 20 to Varca, and 22 to Teddy.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 18:58, Fri 19 May 2023.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 35):

     Upon stepping outside Vultan, Varca almost immediately determines that the conditions are so bad that he'll be totally blind if he tries for any kind of direct vision.  So he opaques his helmet's faceplate and has the suit's PRIS system generate a multi-spectrum CGI image of the surroundings.


     While doing that does produce a more usable view of the surroundings, between the charged dust particles in the air and the elevated EM radiation being caused by the storm, his vision isn't much better than seeing through a fog.

     At least, with the sensor data that Zhouth gained, back aboard Vultan, Varca's faceplate display was putting up a small diamond-shaped image showing the location where King Oleb is supposed to be. All he has to do is walk towards that icon--and manage not to walk into or trip over anything along the way.

     After walking towards the display icon for several meters, Varca thinks he's detecting the presence of a wall of rubble, just ahead--when he hears a grunt of pain from someone over the open comm channel.

     As other voices start shouting over the channel, Varca quickly turns around to see what's happening--and is startled when a large, shadowy form comes charging out of the electronic fog that's hampering his eyesight.  He is starting to raise his snub-machinegun equipped right arm when he's hit by a terrific blow which spins him around.

     Managing to keep his feet as the large beast--Varca assumes it's the Vole-critter that Fat Oleb imported for hunting--which had hit him races past, he struggles against the pain and brings up his gun arm and fires Full Auto after the speedy shadow.

---

OOC:
After Attack:
   Took 9 Damage
   New Stats: STR 3 [-1] | DEX 5 [-1] | END 5 [-1]

Attacks:
   Snub-Machinegun -- Auto3; AP1; Rng: Short 7m (+1) | Close 25m (+0) | Long 50m (-1) | Extreme: 100m (-4).
     Assuming Short Range.
     Auto3 = 3 Rounds Fired.
     AP1 = Teflon-coated Tungsten penetrators = -1 Protection.

   Round #1: Varca Lexand rolled 10 to hit using 2d6+1 ((6,3)), & rolled 14 damage using 3d6-3 ((1,5,6)) and +2 Effect.
   Round #2: Varca Lexand rolled 5 to hit using 2d6 ((2,3)).  That's -3 Effect.  Clean Miss.
   Round #3: Varca Lexand rolled 5 to hit using 2d6 ((1,4)).  That's -3 Effect.  Clean Miss.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:39, Sun 21 May 2023.