In General

For once, things seem to be going smoothly.

No.  Really.

Bix issues an invitation to his 'partners' to join him in the Judges Booth.  The head of the audit teams will be there too, so if anything goes wrong, it might help with damage control.  At least a sudden reaction from the auditors would be a clue that things have gone wrong.

Fritz thinks its a good idea for at least either Tepha or Ledo to go.  He can handle running the programs from Tia's berth at the down port.

Silver and Rig don't get the luxury of a private party booth.  They have to be down at the racing platform three hours before hand.

The race course is pretty straight forward.  It's an old service tunnel that runs from the city's dome to their remote emergency pumping station and back.  It's basically built as a large circle between the two areas.  The race consists of five laps around the entirety of the tunnel, with the final drag through a section of the city streets.  There's a download of the course map Silver can upload to the bike's nav system and the screen on her helmet.

Nero is in heaven.  His views have hit the tens of thousands!  It's all thanks to the Pany Paws.  Their fan base is hungry for photos and vid of their vapid, behind the scenes existence.  And with enough liquor, Nero has been able to provide.

BB's daily duel with the bellhops continues as a new liquor and snack tray are delivered daily.  But what the hell. It's free grub, right?

Perine signals them three hours before the race.  She's coming with a limo (per Nero's instructions) to pick up him and whoever he wants up.  The Paws are completely up for a private party box to watch the race.

Just need to know who is where.

Silver and Rig don't have a choice.  They have to be down at the race course.

Nero doesn't have a choice either.  He's got to go to the Judges Box.

I'm assuming BB will follow Nero to the Judges Box.

I would strongly recommend either Tepha or Ledo, if not both, take Bix up on his offer of attending the Judges Box party too.  But up to you.  Things will happen as they will.

Which will be smoothly.  Very smoothly.  Nothing is going to go wrong at all.

And just to confirm, putting in a 'bet' of 1 million credits, right?

Ledo was dressed in his navy formal outfit while Tepha was in a high priced dress so the pair of them could blend in properly with the rest of the box. With the two of them they could cover one another and be each other's alibi if necessary.

Ledo was a little nervous. They had each made 50cr bets across the racers and the goal was to slip a couple zeroes after that to raise it up to half a million. Enough for a sizable payout but one that if something went horribly wrong they could still cover by dipping into the ship's funds.


OOC: FYI Leave the other thread open. I've got a big final interaction between Tepha and Ledo planned for his return but that will take time to craft.

Also I'm deducting 1,000cr from Ledo's funds to cover all the clothes/food etc.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 2):

All good.  You may add whatever you need to the first thread.  Shouldn't be closed.

Let's mambo

Nero and BB

The blonde Pany Paws...was this one Kerin?  No.  Maybe it was Styna.  Well whatever.  The blonde one squeals as soon as she enters the room and heads for the chocolate fountain. She likes to eat, that one.

Two of the other Pany Paws spot eligble looking men and make beelines for them.  One thing that's become evident in the couple of days spent with the Paws:  they seem very aware their current career doesn't have a lot of longevity.  These two seem to be shopping for an M R S to fill the eventual void.

The last two:  the original strawberry blonde and the brunette, are hanging around you Nero.

The strawberry blonde clicks her tongue, eyes scanning the room.  BB, you guess she's looking for the bar.  The strawberry blonde really likes her liquor.

The brunette...Ansley...looks around.  "Huh.  I don't know what I was expecting.  Just nothing this...corporate."

It is kind of a sedate affair thus far.  It's more like cocktail hour at a bar that caters to upper management types than a party.

Then again, the day is still young.  There's three hours until race time after all.

---

Tepha and Ledo

The security guard waggles his lips but finally passes you back the comm unit that displays your invitation.

Security here is tight.  Really tight.  It's taken you fifteen minutes and two separate weapons scans to get this far.  But it seems this guy, Mr. Lip Waggle, was the last obstacle.

He smiles insincerely and directs you down the hall to the elevator.  You will want to take elevator number four, as it is an express directly to the Judge's box.  It is the only entry for the public as well.

There are five others waiting on the elevator as well.  Two couples and a single guy.  The couples are an older man and his wife, distinguished looking but not too ritzy.

The other couple is a pair of young women.  They giggle.  One of them says to you Tepha "Excuse me.  That's a fascinating dress.  Is it off the rack?"

The girl's breath smells like joint.  Her date/friend is tittering nverously.

The single guy is well dressed, almost impecabbly so.  He nods to you Tepha, but frown when he hears the young high woman say what she did.

---

Rig and Silver

The official walks into your pit.  "Hey folks.  Sorry for the delay.  Another vehicle was havin' problems.

"I'm Kastor.  I'll be mpnitoring your pit for the officals.  Now then.  Ms...Silver?  You'll be driving, right?  Then do you have any questions for me?  The race will be five laps around the access tunnel.  Once you enter from the tunnel, you will move through the prescribed city street route.  Deviation from that route will be means for disqualification.  If you understand, please scan your retina into this box."

Nero gives Ashley a friendly nudge with his elbow. It was one thing to just get backstage info about one of them but if he could land one as a girlfriend, even temporarily, it would send him into the stratosphere. Everything was coming up Nero!

"Come on now, Ashley, the night is still young! Besides even if this place is dead you and I can at least have a good time!"

BB silently walked to a corner where she could keep an eye on Nero and the box door at the same time. She had left her chainsword at home but her pistol and knife should be sufficient for an unruly fan. Plus she had backup in the form of the Pansy Paws security team.

Thinking about them she glanced over at the nearest one, catching his eye and giving a nod of professional courtesy. She might not be part of a professional unit but she figured he would be able to sniff the ex-military scent off of her all the same.

Tepha was no stranger to catty women.

"Well when you have a figure like mine you don't need extensive alterations to look good."

A nice counter jab reference to plastic surgery and time to go in for the kill. Tepha leaned forward and gave an exaggerated sniff.

"Oh that is a very interesting perfume you have."

Silver gave a half smile and leaned forward.

"Don't you be staring at my ass while I'm doing this."

Behind her Rig just planted his face into his palm. Was there ever a situation that Silver didn't somehow make more awkward?

BB

You've gotten to know the Paws security detail some.  Of course they can't afford to be blase of you and Nero.  Just like you couldn't afford to be blase of them. But there has been some interaction.

Your overall impression is most of them are adequate.  Two stand out.  The head of the detail is Parket.  He's definitely ex-Marine and one of the better trained ones.  He can definitely hold his own.  Of them all, you think he's the only one who might be real trouble in a fight.

There is another guy:  O'Henrix.  He seems pretty on point.  Not as weathered as you or Parket.  But give him another few years.  He certainly seems the most vigilant.

So when you look his way, and see him sort of do a double take like he is right now, it seems worth nothing.

O'Henrix has taken up a position to keep watch on the elevator.  He seems to be reacting to the group that just came off.

You glance at it.  Three couples and a single guy.  One of the couples are a couple of young twits.  Party girls who are probably already stoned.  An older couple who look took banker to be of concern.  The single guy seems of average concern.

Okay.  Wait.  Last couple.  A guy in military uniform.  Naval.  And he's escorting a cute little number in a slinky dress.  Red hair.  It's the red hair that stands out.  You remember her.  When Nero and you saw Bix at the starport, there were a couple of women who came up towards Bix, waiting for him and your boss to stop talking.  The red head was one of them.

Okay.  It's not necessarily suspicious that you'd see one of those women here.  Bix is here.  So maybe he invited other friends, right?

So why is O'Henrix on his earpiece?  And why is he keeping tabs on those two as they start to mingle...

---

Silver and Rig

"Hard not to look at something so round and fully packed ma'am." Kastor doesn't blink as he responds, capturing your retina Silver on his device.

He checks some output and nods.  "Okay.  Route info should be uploading now.  Lemme see the bike."

He turns towards you Rig, but all conversation starts as a new contestant arrives on a really loud bike.  A really nice loud bike.

It's a Hevenford A-2229 Sublight Absolute Zero.  Latest in fuel processing, handling, and guidance.  Even the seat looks sweeter than sex.

A pretty boy with an overstuffed crotch parks it in the lane next to yours and hops off, his perfect hair glistening in the artificial sunlight.

"Sorry," he announces.  "Just can't help but let the beast roar."

---

Tepha and Ledo

"Don't we all know it," mutters the older woman, waving a hand in front of her nose as if to fan off the fumes.

Everyone except the party girls chuckles.

The indicator dings as the elevator arrives.  Just as the doors open, the single guy glances at the blushing party girl and says

"Really shouldn't try to mess with class honey."

He gives you a wink Tepha and steps off the elevator.

The party girls throw a murderous glance your way Tepha and storm off.  Probably going to the bathroom to have another joint and bitch about you.

As you both leave the elevator, it looks like the party is in full swing.  The room is pretty full.  Maybe forty people thus far.  Ledo, you see Bix standing by a window on the far side.

Your comms light up.  A message from Fritz.

I was able to locate photos of the auditors.  Sending to you now.

It's a bit like finding the Hivers hidden in this picture, but you spot all three of them.  Two women and a man.  One of the women is talking to Bix. The other woman is seated at a table, a holokeyboard and screen displaying in the air before her.

The man is chatting up a pretty strawberry blonde.  The blonde looks vaguely familiar, and seems more interested in getting the bartender's attention than the auditor's lines.

---

Nero

"Huh?  Oh yeah."  Ansley nods vaguely at what you just said Nero.  Though you doubt she's paying attention.

Ansley reminds you of an accountant at times.  She seems more level headed than the others.  But she's also not as fun.

She nods towards a display window.  "Let's take a seat now.  So we have 'em to watch the race."

She takes your arm and seems to want you to escort her over to the sofa she indicated.

"Sorry Nero.  Got distracted.  We haven't really had a chance to talk.  Tell me about you.  I mean, besides the vid channel.  What else about you?"

Just to recap:

BB sees Tepha and Ledo.  So does this O'Henrix (remember him?) guy.  Ledo and Tepha don't see them.

Ledo and Tepha have ID'd all three auditors present and see Bix.

Nero is coozing up to Ansley by the couch.

Silver and Rig are checking in.

We have a little bit of set up, but will be focusing on the party for a few posts.  The race will start very soon.

Thanks

BB glanced around at the rest of the guards. She wanted to give them their space to work but she didn't like being out of the loop on a potential threat. She shifted positions to get eyes on Parket and see how busy he looked. If it didn't look like he was actively listening or issuing orders she'd clear her throat to get eyes on him.

"Listen, I know you've got your job and I've got mine but with our packages so tightly mingled do you mind keeping me in the loop? If something happens I want to be an asset and make sure we're all shooting the same way..."

Rig came prepared with ear protectors. He slipped them on so he could focus on helping the inspector view the bike for registration.

Silver rolled her eyes as the kid revved his engine. She was tempted to go over there and commit a little "light" sabotage but she remembered that there was a lot of money at stake and the last thing she needed was to get in trouble for something like that.

Out of curiosity she pulled up her phone and looked up the odds on pretty boy. Maybe he could actually back up all that bravado.

Ledo gives a glance towards the guy at the bar before breaking away from Tepha to head towards Bix and the woman.

"Hello, sorry for interrupting but I just wanted to express my appreciation for the seats. I assume you two are the hosts so thank you."

He lifted a glass at the woman and Bix. Not the smoothest of entry lines but he hoped it was enough to get into a reasonable conversation with the woman.

Tepha slinked her way over to the bar where the desperate man was trying to get attention. She slipped in right next to him and then gave an exasperated sigh to get his attention.

"Ugh...what do you have to do to get a good martini around here."

She was technically talking to herself but it was at sufficient volume that even with his focus on Strawberry Blonde he might register that there was a single woman next to him on the other side.

Nero gave a shrug.

"Oh you know. My parents thought I wasn't living up to my full potential so they tried to kick me out. 'You can't just live at the estate forever...' that kind of bullshit. It's not like they earned that money either. Anyway I wanted to see the stars so that's what prompted the channel. I'm touring the galaxy and sharing the best of galaxy with all my fans. And some of your fans too thanks to a bit of cross-pollination. I travel to a system, see what is new or exciting or interesting and share it around.

How about you? What do you do when you're not doing...this? The other girls don't seem to think beyond the next bottle or pill but I think you've got a pretty keen mind resting on those perfect shoulders of yours."


That's it Nero, play it cool. Casually mention your rich family with generational wealth, express a sense of excitement but also a humanizing side of wanting to share and end with a double-barreled compliment about intelligence and looks.

Ledo

Bix smiles, maybe a little too flatly, as you approach.  But even if he's not a great actor, he's at least smart enough to go with the flow.

"Oh, no worries Ledo!  It's always great to have you around.  Do you two know each other?" He waves a finger between you and the auditor.  "Lemme introduce ya.  Nassie Collins, this is Ledo Typhin.  I met him a couple of years ago.  I-ooops."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his comm.  "Sorry.  I need to take this.  Be back in a bit."

He steps away, acting like he's got a comm line incoming.  Nassie stiffles a sigh and then turns back to you, a polite smile on her face.  "Nice to meet you.  How do you and Bix know each other?"

---

Nero

A waiter brings up a tray of shrimp puffs and barbecued eel.  Ansley smiles and holds up a hand, shaking her head at the offer.

She sits next to you on the couch.  "Well thanks.  I do try to keep my head about me.  Honestly, I lucked into all this.  Just answered an ad for a job.  Didn't even know it was an audition.  I like to sing.  Guess I have a decent voice.  And I jazzercised.  Who knew it  would lead me to stardom."

She laughs, obviously being sarcastic about 'stardom'. "You're not recording right now, right?  Well keep this off the air.  I don't think the Paws have much longer.  Our last couple of singles did okay, but not like the first five.  I've been saving my credits.  I'm going to ride this until I can't and then...we'll see.

"How long do you think you'll be able to keep your channel up and running?"

---

Silver

The guy's name is Righteous Rigs.  No. Really.  Righteous Rigs.  Stop making that face.

Whatever kind of bag he is, he's at least got press.  Apparently he's a pro at riding.  He's not the odds on favorite, but he's in the top three.

Must be the bike.  It is a good looking bike.

---

Rig

"Really?  This is your bike?"

Kastor blinks at it and shrugs.  "No offense.  I mean...'s a decent bike.  For like...recreation an' stuff.  But racing?  I hope your gal's pretty tough.  Like I said. No offense."

Kastor squats down and inspects the exhaust.  "Got no armaments, right?  If you do, they gotta come off pre-race."

---

BB

Parket checks his ear piece and glances in the direction of the redhead and military guy.

You catch his eye just after.

He siddles up and listens to you, scratching the back of his head.  Signal?  Can't tell.

He nods, leaning in enough to sotto voce.  "Don't disagree.  Here's the sit:  my guy O'Henrix recognizes the two that came in.  Red Head and guy in Naval.  You copied them I'm guessin'?  Right.  So apparently he's run into them before.  They were involved as 'witnesses' at some kind of auction heist he worked security on.

"Sounds like they were suspects of having hands in, but the cops never boggied 'em.  We're runnin' backgrounds and security checks.  I've got another one I'm concerned about. Guy who ducked inta a closet and seems to have gone ghost. Trying to get security cam footage.  But the site's security team is gettin' all territoral."

He looks at you. "You wanna play ball with me?  If you're gonna ride on my intel, I'd like some glad hand back.  Tag the redhead, tag the naval guy, or go down an' try to sweet talk the onsite security head into releasin' that footage to us.  I'll keep an eye on your boy jus' like he was my own."  He holds up an earpiece like the one his team uses.  With it, you could monitor their back and forth with ease.

But he doesn't hand it over.

"Deal?"

Just to clarify, the event has it's own security.  You and the Paws detail are just 'guests'.  The onsite security team is supposed to be running the show

---

Tepha

Mr. Desperate does a bit of a double take, eyes traveling over you like a little kid eyeing up a gum drop mountain.

Mr. Desperate waves a hand at the bartender.  The bartender must know him, because he looks up right away. "Hey Marty! Gives this lady a Nice n' Dirty, will ya?"

Mr. Desperate smiles at you.  "Local specialty.  Olives and hot peppers in vodka an' Vagarian Vermouth.  Worth a try.  Definitely a good martini."

Mr. Desperate has a name.  "I'm Keno Wellingslee.  What's your name?"

Ledo taps one of the medals on his uniform. It doesn't really matter which one as she likely couldn't tell the difference between one or the other.

"I used to be a captain in the Navy and I intercepted some pirates that were about to board his ship. At the time he promised he would make it up to me so when I was in the area on vacation I decided to cash in that chip and see the race from a nicer viewpoint. How about yourself? Are you a colleague of his or..."

He let it trail off a bit hoping she would fill in the blank.

Nero nodded along with her and when she asked he gestured that the camera was off. When she asked her final question he just laughed and shrugged.

"As long as my bank accounts hold on. At this point it's a matter of time before I get big enough for sponsorships and ads. Turn it into something proper like one of those travel channel things. And worst case if it all crashes and burns go back to the family estate and try something else.

The problem is I really want to explore, you know. I even got my degree in Astronomy and astrogation. Go out to the fringe and spend my time discovering new planets, maybe even new aliens or what not. The only thing holding me back is...well...it's so lonely out there on the edge of space. The first thing you learn about space is that it is big. Like...really big."

That's it Nero, keep it going. A couple of jokes, some more subtle references to your success with a college degree and a dream to explore the stars. Time to hook her and reel it in Nero. Just keep it cool...

Rig gives a shrug at the man doing his best to hide his embarassment. No need to reveal that this whole thing was just so they could land their ship quicker.

"Just you wait and see. There's more to racing than just hardware..."

If Rig had been a better actor he might have been able to speak about it with conviction.

Silver overheard their inspector and frowned. She was going to get smoked by a bike just like the one this guy was wasting. She fantasized about luring him to the back, knocking him out and taking his bike for a spin around the track but she had to remind herself once again that they had a much bigger score in mind. Much bigger. If she caused trouble over a stupid bike she would never hear the end of it.

With sheer force of will she turned away from that magnificent machine and looked back at her...serviceable mode of transportation.

BB gives a nod and takes the earpiece, putting it in and checking it is working.

"Alright fairs fair. I recognize the redhead. She and some woman with a scar on her face were meeting that guy Bix at the starport when we landed."

She paused and considered the situation. She really didn't want to spend her time watching Nero flirt with some teeny-bop pop star so she nodded towards the door.

"Alright you keep him from doing anything stupid and I'll see if the locals can give us some professional courtesy."

She gave one last look at the kid before heading towards the door and where local security was.

Before they had left she had pulled down a few of their cameras and they were burning a hole in her pocket. She pulled out her personal hud and synched it up to the camera feeds and then looked around where she could drop a few of them off. One she would put in the hallway leading to the room and one she was hoping to slip in the security room provided she had a good angle and a good opportunity. Locals would really not like it if she was caught spying on them...

OOC: FYI she pulled 2 cameras. Back at the hotel room the cameras are still recording the elevator and their room door just in case.

Tepha lifted her voice an octave as she giggled and accepted the drink.

"Wow you must be a bigshot to just get served that quickly. What is it you do exactly?"

She tilted her head down so she could look up and positioned herself so that while he was looking down at her eyes he could also get a clear view at the top of her dress as well. She took a sip of her martini and her doe eyes went wide as the spice hit her tongue and she started to cough, violently, completely ruining her seductive pose. Set down her drink and started frantically looking for water.

OOC: Sounds like a spicy drink and she doesn't seem the type to handle that very well..

BB

Understood. Thanks for the heads up on the hotel cameras.

He. He he. He he he he he.  BWAH-HA  HA HA HA HA!

Parket nods, grinning.  "Good.  Head of security is a gal named Trabor.  But her second is a guy named Snitz.  Snitz is a bit of a ladies man.  I'm sure you know how to handle that."

The earpiece taps into the Paws security network easy.  You can hear the banter as you head for the elevators.

"Heads up boys.  We now have responsibility for another package.  Nero Bigmouth.  He is now one a' our own.  Copy."

The others have all copied as you wait for the elevator.  A quick glance backwards shows Parket has taken up position to where he can watch the couch with Nero and the Paw he's after.

"Copy," adds O'Henrix, the last to respond.  "Hey Cap.  The two I pegged before..."

"What about 'em?"

"They seperated and seem to be chatting up other people."

"So?  Their marital problems aren't our concern."

The elevator dings and the door slides open.  The Locals Security nest should be by the main entrance on the ground floor.

"Sure. But it's who they're chatting up that's the ish.  I ran crosschecks on the attendee list copy we got.  Both their targets work for the same accounting firm."

There's a pause on Parket's end while he chews on that.  The elevator slides down to the first floor.  Parket comes back online.

"You think this might be a set up?"

"They've done this kind of thing before."

"Alright.  If they're just runnin' some kind of con, that's not our business.  But if they're gonna try to pull guns, it is.  O'Henrix, stay on the DL in case they recognize you.  Wayman, tag the red head.  Wxley, tag Mr. Uniform.  Do not approach.  Just monitor and look for signs of hardware.

"BB.  Leave it up to you if you wanna share this with Local or not.  Your call."

---

Silver

You turn to look back, feeling like a guy who's given up a date with Ms. Universe to go with Ms. Congeniality, when you notice something.  The stands at the starting line are back there, not too far from where you are.

In the stands you see Olga's security guard.  No Olga.  Just Mr. Security Guy.  He seems to be looking over the bikes and racers, looking like some average Bob having a day off work at the races.

But then he raises his hand and touches his ear.  Like he's wearing an earpiece.  His mouth moves...maybe.  You're too far away to be sure.

But it looks like he's talking to someone on an earpiece.

---

Ledo

Nassie raises her eyebrows, surprised by your tale of derring-do.  She waves a hand at your implied question. "Oh no.  No.  Sweet Buddha no.  Just a colleague I guess is the right term.  My company is doing some work for the Racing Committee.

"Have you ever been to Shrimp Fest before?"

Over her shoulder, you notice someone who looks like security moving a little closer towards you.  The guy stops scanning the room a little too deliberately.  He must be security.  He doesn't seem to be attached to you per se. Maybe where you're talking to Nassie is close to a security post.  This area does give a good vantage point to the rest of the room.

---

Nero

Ansley nods slowly, her expression changing slightly, but you aren't sure from what to what.

"Huh.  I'll be honest.  I kind of had you pegged as more of a Momma's Boy.  But I guess I was wrong.  That's actually a pretty decent dream to go after.  Sorry for judging you.

"I'd like to travel too.  I wanna see the Jewel sector.  I guess everyone would like to.  But I'd like to go deeper into the Imperium too.  Have you ever thought about going on a safari?  I'd like to.  Or maybe go skiing on an ice moon.  Any one thing you'd like to try?"

---

Tepha

The drink is more peppery than hot, but the effect is the same.

Keno seems a bit surprised, but hurriedly waves the bartender back for some water.

As you sip the water, Keno grins sheepishly.  "Sorry. Should have asked if you could handle spicy.  Let's try something sweet.  Get her an Upper Decker, would ya?"

That's more like it.  Sake and Aslan okijit buried under fruit juice syths and sweet oils.  It's mild and sweet.  Coats the tongue to help kill the burn.

But it's also got quite a kick.  You probably want to keep that in mind.

Keno's smile seems to get a little more confident.  "Better?"

---

Rig

Kastor gives you a look, like he's not buying what you just said either.  He opens his mouth to respond, but you are spared whatever he has to say by the sudden noise of an engine kicking on.

One of the riders about four rows over suddenly cranks her bike and peels off down the lane.

The track is filled with people.  Onlookers, officials, and curious fans have to scramble out of her way as she shuttles down the raceway and into the tunnel.

Kastor frowns.  "Whadda douche.  They're gonna get disqualified for that little stunt."

BB paused in the hallway outside the room, looking for someplace inconspicuous to drop her first camera and when a good spot was located she fumbled with her phone, dropping it to the floor and letting her use her body to shield her actions from the security cameras as she dropped one into place. Checking to make sure her phone was alright she took the elevator to the security office.

When she got there she knocked on the door.

"Hey I'd like to talk to Trabor. Got some matters of security to discuss."

Seducing a douche wasn't really her cup o' tea and would likely end up with he being locked up for injuring a security officer.

Silver waited until she and Rig were alone before leaning in and cluing him in.

"Looks like they took the bait. Mr. Buyer is in the stands and is definitely up to something."

Rig gave a nod and tapped out a message to Ledo.

Looks like a good day to race.

Ledo shook his head, pointing at a table near where the other auditor was hard at work.

"Do you mind if we sit down? I will probably be standing for most of the race. And no, I haven't been to Shrimp Fest before. As crazy as it sounds I'm actually sponsoring a racer."

He leaned in, putting his hand up and whispering conspiratorially while keeping an eye on the security guard. He was still trying to get in her good graces but tweaking local security was a bit too much to resist.

"Truth be told we don't plan on winning at all but it was the only way we could guarantee a docking berth with the line of ships waiting to land."

Nero cocked his head and smiled at Ansley.

"Why don't you come with me. Jewel Sector...inner core...whatever. There's no place I'm headed in particular and having someone to travel with who isn't paid to keep me safe would be a pleasant change of pace. I know you're busy with all this Pansy Paws stuff but when you're done with all that or you can't stand doing...all this..."

He waved his hands around for the whole scene. Her co-stars were all getting drunk or high or both.

"Look me up and I'm sure I can bring you along on my grand interstellar adventure."

Time for a bit of acting. Tepha continued to cough and clutch at her throat.

"Oh...oh no...where is the restroom. Please I need to..."

She slid off her stool and then tumbled to the ground continuing to cough. She reached up and grabbed the mans arm, clutching at him for support.

"<cough cough>...take me...bathroom..."

Rig just snorted.

"...but not really, right? No way they'd actually disqualify someone for something that simple, right? Wouldn't that mess up all the betting?"

Rig

Kastor glances at you before looking back at the disappearing biker.  "Oh no.  They are really strict about it.  The tunnel used for the race goes by the pumping station.  There's some kinda security check or somethin'.  I dunno.  Anyway.  No one was allowed to do a practice lap before hand.  Couple of teams had requested it.  I guess that guy wouldn' take no for an answer."

Someone buzzes Kastor on his comm.  He looks back at you.  "Your green light certificate will hit your comm in a minute.  Just reply back with any questions or concerns. Best a' luck."

He glances at your bike.

"You're gonna need it," he mumbles as he walks away.

Silver walks up as Kastor saunters off.

Insert Silver's comment and Rig's reaction here

---

Tepha

Mr. Desperate is back, looking panicked.  He helps you up and towards the back of the box.  There's a long hallway leading down to the restrooms.

---

Nero

Ansley laughs.  "That sounds fun."

She looks out the window, sipping her drink.  "Nero...you do know I'm a guy, right?"

She glances back up at you, a smile on her lips.  "Just kidding.  I've been watching some of your vids.  You're in a prank war, huh?  You want to score a big prank?  I just thoughta something."

---

Ledo

"Oh my!  That is the funniest thing I've ever heard!  Which isn't saying much since I'm an accountant."  Nassie laughs and joins you on the couch.

"That is insane.  How did you just happen to have a racing team on board though?  The odds of that seem kinda ludicrous."

---

BB

Trabor is a squat woman who looks like she's probably raised 10 boys, all of whom came out of her fully grown and all of whom are now cops.

She puts her hands on her hips and studies you up and down.  "You're one a' the private security details, huh?  Thought I recognized you.  Well?  Whaddya want?"

Things are coming to a point I promise.  We will be getting there soon.

Silver bristled but Rig put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Not worth it, remember? We're not here to win, just to race, right?"

Silver glared daggers at the departing tech but gave a nod and went back to focusing on her bike. Silver had entertained thoughts of winning the race but now looking around she realized that had been a stupid fantasy and her best hope now was to not be in last place.

With a sigh she reved her engine to test it and tried not to be depressed at the sound of her motor compared to the bikes around her.

Once they are out of the room Tepha starts walking a bit steadier but still leaning heavily on Mr. Desperate for support.

"Thanks...thanks for helping. I'm so sorry but I was not ready for that."

She continued to cough as they went down towards the bathroom. She gave him a weak smile before entering and closing the door behind her. Once inside she could lay off the theatrics but she did run some water to wash the taste out of her mouth. She didn't stay in there too long for fear he might get a different idea and wander back to the party.

Nero let a flash of panic cross his face but then he tried to play her joke off.

"Hey you know when the lights go out it's all good."

At the mention of a prank war he perked up. That really did mean she had been watching his videos. Things had just been kicked up a notch.

"Oh yeah? What? Our plan was going to wait for the bugga boys to try and prank our room and then get video of my guard over there making one of them piss themselves with her chainsword but I'm open to suggestions."

Ledo skewed up his face and shook his head.

"Racing team? Are you kidding? All we have is a bike we pulled off an abandoned smuggler port and a crew member with very poor impulse control. We don't have a racing team."

He nodded out towards the window facing the track.

"I'll be shocked if she even finishes the race. Then again she's getting the best seat in the whole planet to see the race."

He grinned and leaned in, letting his face grow serious.

"Let me tell you though the story of how we got that bike? Shocking. This smuggler had gone crazy with jealousy and basically went on a murder spree. The whole port looked like the set of a horror movie. It was full of booby traps and blood and gore and robotic assassins and the whole time there were these holo clips playing where he blamed his partner for it all thinking he was the one that was going to find it.

Then as we're packing up to leave having finally disabled all the traps and finally getting off the haunted mansion freak show do you know what drops in on us? Pirates. Two pirate cruisers drop anchor."

He raises his tone a bit as he goes on to describe the battle, using his hands to help tell the story.

"Right there in the hangar bay point blank they open up on us, we open up on them. Fuel ignites so half the hangar is burning, they unleash this boarding robot the actually called Killbot and it opens up our hull like a tin can so we've got a beam turrets and missiles firing outside the ship, inside the ship we're trying to stop this robotic death machine and the whole hangar is seconds away from exploding.

That is how we picked up that bike."

He paused, leaning back to see how well his exciting tale of carnage and derring-do was landing. He looked around and caught sight of the woman on her laptop and frowned.

"Who works at a time and place like this?"

Did you forget BB? Not that it matters.



Rig and Silver

As you prepare the bike, you notice what looks like a security team head into the tunnel. Probably chasing Mr. Test Drive.

About fifteen minutes later, things change.

There's suddenly seems to be a number of security people converging on the grounds.  Another team heads down the tunnel.  Than another...

---

Ledo

Nassie oohs and ahs over the story about Clesing's little love nest o' horrors, and the giggles at your question.  She seems to be lowering her guard.  "Me?  Well.  My firm was hired to audit the betting results of...Oh.  Sorry.  Hold on."

She takes a comm unit out of her pocket and frowns.  "Hey...uhm...is your comm acting funny?"

You glance at your comm line.  Instead of your normal wallpaper, there's a picture of a lobster eating a baby.  Under it are the words

HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Then there's the sound of breaking glass behind you...

---

Tepha

Mr. Desperate is standing across the hall, leaning on the wall, one hand in a pocket and the other looking down at his hand comm.  He is frowning.

From upside down, you can see the picture of what looks like a lobster eating a baby.

"What kinda sick prank is this?" Mr. Desperate mutters.

At that moment, the men's room door opens.  A man steps out, facing away from you.  He has some kind of headset set on his forehead.  In one hand he has a long plastic tube that he's locking into what looks like plastic base of some kind.

It's almost like he's assembling a rifle.  But like a prop one.  Since it's made out of plastic.  Which wouldn't be detectable on most scanners....

Shit...

---

BB

You open your mouth to respond when suddenly your earpiece squawks.

Parket is shouting.  "Shit!  Code 10!  Code 10!  Package 2 is renegade!  Repeat!  Package 2 is renegade!"

Trabor turns as people in the security box start getting animated.

---

Nero

Ansley giggles.  She leans in closer.  "I promise.  It will get you ratings.  Go ahead, stand up, and turn on your stream.  I need just a second."

She looks around, holds up a finger indicating Just a sec and heads over to a nearby table which has a champagne bottle and glasses.

She picks up the bottle and walks back to you, grinning coyly.  A couple of steps from you, she suddenly pivots, holding the bottle by the neck and smashing the bottom open.  She grabs you by the collar, pulling you down and towrds her while shoving the jagged edge of the bottle against your neck.

<b>"ALL YOU IMPERIAL BASTARDS BETTER FUCKING FREEZE!  TIME TO PAY FOR YOUR FUCKING CRIMES AGAINST THE OCEAN!"

---

Meanwhile...on the face of everyone's comm unit across the city of Wyltz, the picture of a lobster eating a baby is replaced by a timer counting down from 60....59....58....

Logistics:

Silver and Rig are at the race field.

BB is on the first floor.  The party is on the fifth.

Nero has a broken bottle pointed at his neck.

Ledo is aware of Ansley's little episode, but not about the guy with the plastic rifle.

Whether Ledo, Tepha, Rig, Silver, or BB know about the countdown timer at the moment is completely up to you.

Tepha is behind Mr. Plastic Rifle.  He hasn't seen her yet.

There's been a lot of interesting sychronicity in this one thus far.  The original scenario has really changed due to the choices you've made.  I'm quite interested to see what happens next.

Thanks.

Silver looks at Rig who just shrugs. He comms back to the ship, assuming those are working.

"Uhh...Fritz? You seeing this?"

Out of instinct Ledo ducks down, reaching for his laser pistol...that...isn't...there. It's a party and he doesn't even have his ceremonial sword either. He peeks up from behind cover and then ducks back down in surprise. Looking around he grabs the audit woman that he was chatting to and drags her behind cover. Locking eyes with her he speaks in a clear and calm voice.

"You need to find cover and stay down. If people start shooting you don't want to make yourself as small and flat as possible."

He turns away, scanning the surrounding to see if there are any other threats and asses the situation.

Sadly this wasn't Tepha's first rodeo at a party turned hostage situation. She was unarmed and even if she had her taser that guy had a rifle. She grabbed Mr. Desperate by the collar and dragged him into the restroom before shutting the door and slapping the boltlock in place. Looking around she moved the two of them to the side away from the door and she brought out her own phone. Grimacing at the wallpaper she tried to send a text to Ledo.

Shooter in hallway. Plastic rifle.

Hopefully it would send.

BB is honestly caught by surprise and wastes valuable seconds juts reeling trying to make sense of the command. Luckily her training kicked in...intel. She needed to know what was happening and she couldn't jam up the lines asking stupid questions. She pulled up her camera feed of the hallway outside to see if that had anything interesting that might clue her into what was happening.

Nero had his camera out and ready, streaming her action. As she popped the bottle and pressed it against his neck he flipped the camera around to frame him, her, and the bottle perfectly.

"oH nO! nOt My ImPeRiAl NeCk!!!"

Nero thought it was still a joke because why wouldn't it be so he was putting on the most exaggerated performance ever to kick the comedy up a notch. He was trying to look scared but watching the people in the party dive for cover and the security guards freak out made it almost impossible for him to stifle his laughter.

All he could think was that this was going to be another amazing stream.

Silver and Rig

Surprisingly, the comms are working.  Fritz sounds distracted.

Sorry Engineer Rig.  Kind of got problems here.

The whole low port is on lock down.  Uh...you know that gift we dropped off?  Seems someone is regifting it to every terminal at the port.  It's feeding in a Trojan to stall any lift off procedures.  That useless shit Mainframe's down.  I'm trying to reboot it while having to constantly re-inoculate the system cos the gift just keeps on getting give-

Oh hell.  It's spreading through the comm lines now.  We need to terminate.  Will ping you once I've got things under control

Fritz signs off.

Security is now pouring into the tunnel like light into an event horizon.

From where you stand, it's faint.  But you can both hear it.  That unmistakable Pow pow pow of a firefight.

---

BB

The hallway cam swivels, giving you a fairly decent view of that Ansley Pawny Paw holding a broken bottle to Nero's Neck.

Parket seems to be lining up to take a shot on one of his employers.

Then...

---

Everyone Up in the Judge's Box

Ledo your comm line dings.  Tepha sent you a message.  Nassie nods and crouches down.

Tepha, there's no bolt lock on the door to the hall.  The stalls are of course easily secured.

Mr. Desperate looks at you, stunned.  "What's goin' on?" he whispers.

Nero, you don't have to hold back your giggles any longer because Ansley breaks into laughter.

She steps back, holding up the broken bottle away from your neck.  "Whoa whoa.  Okay Parket! No worries!  It's all good! This prank brought to you by..." She grins at you Nero "Nero Madigan and the Bugg...a...boys?"

Her voice trails off and her eyes go wide as she stares over everyone's shoulders towards the back of the room.

---

BB Again

You see Ansley look shocked after starting to announce a fucking Bugga Boys prank.  Before you can cuss, you hear Trabor scream

"How the hell did that rifle get in?"

"It looks like it's plasticene!  Scanner wouldn't pick up-"

"SHIT ON TOP OF SHIT! I TOLD 'EM TO SPEND CREDS ON A HALF DAMN DECENT SCANNER!"

Whatever she's referring to, you can't see it from your camera.

---

Ledo

You see the direction whoever that is with the broken bottle is staring and turn.

She's seeing a guy coming out of the hallway to the restrooms with a rifle.  You recognize it right away:  A plasticine stealth sniper high powered assault rifle.  It dismantles easily, can be smuggled past low grade scanning tech as innocuous looking parts, and then reassembled.  For long drawn out gunfights they're a joke.  They'll jam after about thirty seconds.

But as an assassination weapon, they're the bees knees.  Whatever bees are.

The rifleman is shouldering the rifle and aiming at the older guy who rode up with you and Tepha on the elevator.

"Aldren Scott Tohmas!  Your corporation has committed crimes against the ocean!  In the name of justice for those lifeforms who cannot speak for themselves..."

Sounds like he's got a statement he's gotta get through.

---

Anyone who is looking at their comm units

22...21...20...

So.  Obviously lots to unpack here.

What I can tell you at the moment:

Ledo can tell the rifle is real McCoy.  As he noted, it's only good for a short period of time before it usually jams up.  The target seems to be the old guy who was on the elevator.  The old guy seems to be some CEO of something or other.

The rifleman isn't paying much attention to Ledo.  Ledo is about five meters away.  Your call on what happens next of course.

Apropos of nothing:  the racing grounds are two blocks north of the Judge's Box.

The racing grounds are seventeen blocks northeast of Nero and BB's hotel.

The racing grounds are on the other side of the city from the starport.  That's thirty seven blocks south of the racing course.

The tunnel leading to the pumping station starts right there at the race course, heading north out of the city and along the ocean bed pipe.

Just throwing all that out there.

Questions? Concerns?

Silver and Rig just turn and shrug at one another. There wasn't much they could do at this point but wait around and see if things work themselves out.

"Well shit. What happens if the race is canceled?"

Rig looked at the phone screens counting down>

"What happens when the counter reaches zero?"

The two shared a bit of panic and began looking for the quickest way out and back towards the ship.

Tepha puts her finger to her lips to try and get the guy to shut up.

"There was a guy with a gun. Stay here, I'm going to take a quick look..."

She crept over to the door and cracked it open, peeking out into the hallway.

Nero grinned at his phone, oblivious to the new threat that had just presented itself.

<perwinkle>"Pansy Paws Pranked! Don't forget to like and sub-what the fuck..."</perwinkle>

Nero's speech was interrupted by the assassin shouting. Acting fast Nero flipped the image around on his phone to capture the shooter. While everyone else was ducking for cover he was worrying about whether the reflection off the glass would interfere with anything.

BB bolted to the elevator then decided to skip it and went on to the the stairs. She could sprint up the stairs faster than the elevator and didn't want to deal with security chuckleheads holding the door up. Once she hit the stairwell she pulled her pistol and knife and checked the mag and slide while bounding up the stairs two at a time.

Her legs burned a bit from the sudden effort but it was nothing she wasn't trained for years to do.

"Here we go again..."

Ledo moved from cover to cover as the rifleman was delivering his speech. He just needed to get close enough to land the tackle and hopefully the rest of security would be able to help him out.

BB

You take the stairs two at a time.  There's a think trickle of people coming down them, which grows both in terms of number and their desperation to get out.  Moving through them isn't an issue for you.  As you reach the top of the fifth floor landing, you pass by two men who are standing by a door, staring at one of their pocket comms.

"Whaddya think is gonna happen when it reaches zero?" asks one.

The other guy shrugs.

Over your ear piece you can hear Parket giving orders.  As you come up to the door way...

---

Nero

You see the guy with the rifle and hear him pointing at some corporate type and shouting some shit about imperialistic seafood or something.  Ansley backs up, eyes wide.

"Brenner?  What the fuck are you doin' man?" she mumbles.

Then Pawny Paws security guys are grabbing the two of you.  One of them puts Ansley in a headlock.  The other one, the grumpy older one who runs things, pushes you behind him, getting between you and the rifleman.

You make eye contact with BB who seems to he looking in through the hall door...

BB and Nero see each other.  BB sees what just went down.  Parket is covering Nero.  Did not assume BB entered the room in case you wanted her to do something else.  She can see the rifleman, and she is also familiar with the plasticine rifle info from Ledo's last post

---

Silver and Rig

There's a main avenue, Sea Castle Street, that runs almost all the way from the race course to the Star Port.  It's the most direct route.

You can take a public transport tram.  There's a station in front of the race course.

Or you can head down Sea Castle either on foot or by vehicle if you have one.

It seems like a lot of people are getting the same idea, because quite a few are heading for the exit gates.

From out of the tunnel comes a deep THUUUUUUUMMMMM sound.  Like something blew up down the line.

---

Ledo

Rifle Guy isn't really paying you much attention.  So creeping up on him is easy...

Make an attack roll.  Rifle Guy is busy ranting so take a boon on the attack

---

12...11...10...

BB brought her gun up ready to fire but then she checks it as she sees movement happening. Mr. Uniform Conman looked to be making a nice tackle right into the gunman. Instead she started charging forward ready to secure the weapon instead.

As if out of instinct Nero moved to position his camera around his new bodyguard. If someone was going to be murdered or shot that was too golden not to capture. Livestreaming a terrorist event had to be his ticket to fame, right? It would all be worth it, right?

Silver hopped on her bike and shifted to squeeze rig on. It wasn't designed to hold two people but she wasn't planning on doing anything crazy with it. The two of them turned and started heading down the tunnel towards the starport. Nice and easy because there wasn't anything chasing them right now but neither of them wanted to be around when the countdown hit zero.

At this point given how many people he had tackled he should join a sports team. Ledo charged forward, leaping out to wrap his hands around the gunman and knock him to the ground.

<ornage>OOC:
15:36, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 9 using 3d6, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 3,2,6.  attack (str/melee + boon).

</orange>

Everyone In the Judge's Box

Ledo, you make the tackle.  The rifleman was just starting the part of his rant where he starts listing all the various species hurt by corporate imperilism.

The rifleman manage to squeeze the trigger long enough to get off a short burst.  The old guy goes backwards, blood spraying from his shoulder.

People scream and start to panic, rushing for the door.

BB, Parket is yelling for his team to secure the packages.

Nero, the old dude who got in front of you has turned and is grabbing at you while shouting for his guys to "Secure the packages!"

Tepha, you see some kind of security guy grab up the rifle and point it at Ledo.  Wait...isn't that the security guy from back at the auction?  What the hell is he doing here?

Ledo, you recognize O'Henrix as he points the plasticene rifle at you and your opponent.

"Get on the floor!  Now!"

Then...

KA-WHOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

---

Rig and Silver

Rig and Silver, you join the exodus heading for the gate.  Some are on foot.  Some, like you, have taken to their bikes.

The countdown hits zero.

Then...

For a moment there is nothing.

Then the world shakes.  Well.  Not the world.  Just the dome.  There is a loud

KA-WHOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

And then it starts to rain salt water.  Then the rain turns to a heavy downpour.  And then...

You get the idea.

Someone seems to have blown at least one hole in the city's dome.  The ocean is starting to rush in.

Ledo scrambles to secure ground control on the shooter.

"I've got...O'Henrix? What the hell are you doing here? I've got him, go check on the dude and find out what just exploded."

Ledo was putting his full weight on the man trying to pin the assassin to the ground while checking him for other weapons.

Silver sees the falling water and gives a knowing nod.

Maybe assisting terrorists wasn't the best of ideas.

"Alright I'm going to get you to the ship and then swing back and try to help the others. You'll probably need to get it prepped and ready for liftoff ASAP. Things are going to get nuts around here..."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:18, Sat 05 Sept 2020.

The Box

Ledo, your question is answered in the form of a loud, blaring klaxon suddenly going off.  You notice all the native Wyltzians go stiff.

In the bathroom, Mr. Desperate goes pale Tepha.  "That's the containment alarm!  The dome is leaking!"

BB, you get the news over your earpiece at the same time as Parket.  Site Security is broadcasting an evac notice.  The dome's integrity has been compromised.

"We need to get to the roof!" Nassie shouts.  It seems most everyone else in the room is doing that as well, rushing for the stairs up.  "That's what they tell us to do in all the flood drills!  We have to remain above water until the pumping stations can kick in!"

"Please!" the older woman...you would guess Mrs. Tohmas...shouts, kneeling by her husband who is bleeding on the floor.  "My husband is bleeding!"

Ledo, as you stand, Bix suddenly collides into you, almost knocking you over.  "You still have your ship, right?"

He is gesturing wildly to the large projection screen the race was supposed to be broadcast on.

The screen still has the remote cameras rolling.  But now it shows what looks like a firefight between city security and militia type forces.  The militia looks dug in pretty solidly before a couple of large iron doors that are labeled PUMPING STATION 1

Bix points at the screen.  "You see!  If they've blown the dome and they've got the pumping stations, we're gonna drown!  You got your ship?  Let's get outta here!"

Nero, the crabby older security guy still has a hand on your arm.  He drags you towards Bix whose shouting something at a guy in a uniform.

"You gotta ship?  We'll pay for transport!" Parket yells at Ledo

---

Silver and Rig

You have to barrel out the gate, pushing people aside, but once you get out into the streets it's oddly deserted.  There's some loud klaxon blaring and it looks like most people are rushing to climb stairs to the top of the buildings.

Rig, your comm line buzzes. Fritz isn't calling, but he's sending a text.

Engineer Rig.  Send text.  Comm lines are still infected but I can filter text.

The klaxons going off are dome integrity alerts.  Dome has been compromised.  But chatter on station lines says pumping stations are not coming online.

Hypothesis:  OLF may have blown dome and seized or destroyed emergency pumping stations.  If so, once people realize pumping stations will not come online, there may be chaos.

Still working on inoculation but port has us in lock down.

If it's an emergency lock down, the port would put 'boot clamps' on the landing gear.  They'd also have a blanket denial on all departure requests.

So in a nutshell:

Most people in the city are currently reacting like they'v been trained to act:  by going up to the tops of buildings.  The majority of the population doesn't realize the pumping stations aren't coming on line like they should.

Since you know the pumping stations are offline before they do, you have a small window of 'clear time'.  This applies to both teams:  Ledo and BB's group, and Rig/Silver.

Once the general population realizes what's going down, well. You can imagine.

The space port is on lock down.  That's not insurmountable, but either someone will have to convince port authorities to:

1)    Remove the boots on the landing gear and
      Authorize a departure or

2)    Remove the boots manually
      Leave on your own recognizance

Again.  I would guess you can imagine what resistance both those options may entail.

Ledo also suddenly has a lot of people who'd like to book passage out of here.

Nero and BB

Bix

Nassie and Mr. Desperate

The Pawny Paws and their Security Detail

Mr and Mrs. Tohmas, although Mr. Tohmas has been shot and is bleeding.

Lot to digest I know.  I can give you some options on how to start or you can dive in.

Let me know if there's questions.  Thanks.

Ledo looks around at the desperate faces and his posture straightens up. He is no longer a VIP guest or a sneaky con artist but instead he is a commander of the Imperium Navy. His voice takes on that edge of command as he barks out orders to the assembled crowd.

"Yes I have a ship sitting at the docks. I can take you all into orbit at least and we can discuss payment once we're safe but until then if you want a ride on my boat then you'll do as I say."

He points the security team at the bleeding CEO.

"Bandage him up, make sure he isn't going to die and then get him to his feet."

He points at the assassin at his feet.

"Someone knock him out and secure him as well. Someone's going to answer if they drown the whole city."

He does a quick glance around at the assembled crowd.

"Alright people get ready to move. I suggest if you don't have good running shoes then take them off now. I assume you all had some sort of transportation to get here? We need to divide up into cars and head to berth 22C. It'd be best if we can go out in a convoy so let's get going."

He shifted off of the assassin to let someone else take over and then pointed to the elevators.

"If everyone is using the stairs then hopefully those are still working, let's go."

He jogged out into the hallway ahead of the crowd towards where he saw Tepha head out.

"TEPHA? WE NEED TO MOVE, NOW! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Tepha heard Ledo calling and she ran out to meet him. She threw her arms around him thankful he was safe. He only broke stride for a moment to hug her back before continuing his march, explaining to her the situation as they went. She went pale thinking about what might happen but she drew some comfort in how calm Ledo was acting.

BB was on the assassin as soon as Mr. Captain was off of him, delivering a swift kick to the temple to put him out before hefting the terrorist over her shoulders.

She turned back to Nero who still had his camera up and recording. She barked out at the kid in anger.

"I'm not being paid nearly enough to die for you. Either keep up or drown now get moving."

Nero balked at the rebuke and lowered the camera. None of it felt real to him, surly everyone was just panicking for nothing, right?

Still he had never seen BB look worried before and she looked like she was staring death in the face so he nodded and hopped quickly behind her. He split his attention between keeping up with BB and keeping an eye on the Pansy Paws. He had really started to connect with Ansley and didn't want a little thing like a catastrophic terrorist attack and imminent death get in the way of come celebrity nookie.

Silver was busy trying to drive a severely overloaded grav-bike as fast as she could without bucking Rig off of the back. Neither of them could really talk as Silver was busy driving and Rig was holding on for dear life. In this instance texting while riding would quickly lead to their deaths.

Tepha and Ledo

The reunion is cut short as your comm lines buzz.  Incoming text message from Fritz.

Assume you know dome is filling up w/water.  Port under assault from virus.  Spreading over comm lines.  Do not send me verbal lines, text only.  I can innoculate text.

Silver and Engineer Rig on route to port.  Port on lock down.  Hope to have Tia prepped when everyone arrives.

Best of luck.

One of the security detail walks up to the two of you.  The grizzled old guy from the Paws security detail walks up to you.

"I'm Parket.  I think you know my second O'Henrix.  Her over there is BB."  He nods at the tough looking woman who kicked the gunman unconcious. "Your ship, your rules.  Got it.  Our drivers evac'd to the roof.  I sent two of my guys down to the garage to try to jack us some rides.  Here."

He holds out an earpiece to you Ledo.  "We might as well be able to talk to each other.

"Our guns got confiscated.  They're in the first floor security office.  Your call.  But I think it might be a good idea to try to liberate them.  Things might get iffy."

---

BB and Nero

BB, one of the Paws comes up and gestures at the gunman. "Lemme take him.  You're probably the better shot.  That is, if we get guns..."

You can hear Parket talk to Mr. Uniform.

You can assume BB and Nero join the convo with Ledo, Tepha, and Parket if you wish.  Your call.

Another security guy is hoisting the wounded Mr. Tohmas onto his back.

---

Silver and Rig

The bike turns out to be a little more reliable than you thought it would be Silver. Now that you are handling it outside of regular traffic, it's clunky but it moves pretty solid.  Rig's weight isn't holding it back much.  But it turns like a freighter.

You can see where the water is rushing it.  Looks like it's moving through the large ventillation system that is suspended over the city.  Water comes rushing through all of the grilles set into the ceiling, making it like a very heavy downpour.

Rig, now that you notice that, there's new worries.  That ventillation system probably wasn't built to carry the weight of sea water.  Sooner or later parts of it could come crashing down.  Whether that will make the holes in the dome worse or better, you can't say.  No telling where the hole is or how many there are.

Silver, up ahead, through the downpour, you can see what looks like the shape of a truck blocking the intersection.  It looks like the driver lost control and slammed turned into oncoming traffic.  It's a nasty pile up and you can't make out too much from this distance because of the 'rain'.

Your nav comm on the bike shows two alternate routes.  One down an alley to the left and one  by taking the first right up ahead.

Taking the right will let you hook over onto a street that parallels this main drag for a while.  You can cross back over to the main drag from there.

Taking the alley to the left looks like it's some kind of 'short cut' the locals use.  The nav comm has it mapped out, but it's kind of twisty and not straight forward.  No way you can memorize it.

Of course, you're on a bike.  You can try to scoot through the intersection with the accident.

Or whatever else you can think of.  Just giving you a few options

Ledo nodded at the security team.

”Yes guns would be good. We’ll make a detour when we’re at the ground floor and arm ourselves...just in case. Alright everyone let’s keep on moving.”

Silver considered their options and looked at the accident. Maybe the Main Street was blocked but with a grav-bike perhaps they could pop up onto the sidewalk and get around it. It’s not like she had any reason to doubt the other main street but that could be just as blocked off and she doubted her ability to navigate a narrow alleyway so if at all possible she would try and scoot her bike through the intersection and around the accident.

The Judges Box Group

The klaxon's blaring is ten times worse in the elevators for some reason.  Your group has to split up into two units to make it down.

BB sees Tahbor standing in the hallway, shouting out for her team to get loaded.

It looks like she's arming her guards with your guns...

Tahbor has ten men with her in the lobby

BB and Ledo, you're both copied on the Paws security team squawk.  The guys Parket sent to the garage have secured two vans.  They're going to bring them up to the street.

---

Silver and Rig

There's a ton of wreckage littered all over the sides of the street.  It looks like the truck took down a garbage can and some kind of sidewalk food stand.

Silver threads her way through the pieces while Rig gets an incoming from Fritz.  It's a vocal transmission.

I've set up a defensive program to innoculate.  I think it will hold.  Mainframe is ready to reboot.  But there's been a development.

Intercepted some squawks coming through the port authority channels.  Sounds like OLF is claiming responsibility for the attacks.  City Security has secured the port, but there's apparently been some skirmishes with OLF units outside.  Be careful on approach.  Sounds like they're shooting first and asking for ident second.

Trying to find you a secure route.

I have not heard from Tepha or Commander Ledo, but I sent them a text update.  Should I try to link us?

Silver manages to get them around the wreck and back onto the street.

Ahead, she can see water starting to collect in the streets.  The city seems to have a shallow drainage system, but it's already starting to back up.

I'm going to give Silver the option:

She can proceed safe and slow.  No rolls required.

Or she can gun it.  Drive/Dex check.  No boons.  The water isn't deep enough yet to really hamper.  But it's working on it.  Success gets you two thirds of the way to the port in one shot.

Ledo marches right up to Tahbor pointing at the weapons.

"Hold it! You don't get to take our weapons. Use your own. You've got terrorists to fight, don't go doing something stupid and picking a fight with people on your side. We're going to help break through to the starport because if this thing keeps going sideways people need an evac option. Hand them over."

Ledo is, of course, only pointing at his weapons. BB and the other security guards hopefully have eyes on their confiscated weapons as well.

OOC:
09:08, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 10 using 2d6+2.  diplo/soc roll.

Ledo was too busy barking orders but Tepha was able to feel the buzz of her comms and see Fritz' text message.

Trying to get to you. Bringing about twenty temporary passengers along. We're still at the judge's box, can you tap into local traffic and find us the quickest route?"

BB saw the security guards taking her weapons and scowled. With an impromptu idea she shoved the unconscious assassin into the hands of the nearest building security.

"Also we took down an assassin. Maybe you can interrogate him and find out what they're planning next."

It was a winning move all around. Handing him over might help build some credibility that they should be armed, gives Tahbor something else to focus on, frees her up and occupies the hands of one of the security guards.

Silver felt the need...the need for speed! She punched it and tore off down the straightaway. She couldn't vouch for anyone else but she sure as shit wasn't going to die drowning in a popped underwater dome.

She had been mentally prepared for a race and now found herself in the zone, feeling like she was one with her bike as she swerved through the streets. It was a shame because if she had been in the race she probably would have been doing quite well for herself...


09:31, Today: Silver rolled 12 using 2d6+02.  punch it! flyer/dex.

I rolled flyer because that's the skill associated with the grav bike. That turns into an '8' if it is a drive roll for (reasons)

You're nailing the rolls this time around, huh?  You were right of course about the flyer.  Sorry abotu that.

Ledo and BB

Tabhor glances at you Ledo. Before she can open her mouth, she gets BB's Christmas present.  Tabhor seems the type who'd walk across broken glass on her bare knees in order to tell someone across the street what they just did was stupid.

She ignores you all as she starts grabbing at the terrorist.

Parket takes advantage of her distraction to have his guys liberate their guns....

Tepha

Hi Teph!  Of course.  Problem is that the system is starting to short because of the water damage.  So I can't see detail on accidents or hazards.  But you guys need to book:  Dome Services systems are already indicating the drainage system is backing up.  Depending on the size of the hole in the dome, vehicle traffic may not be feasible in some after another fifteen or twenty minutes.

---

GO GO ROCKET SILVER!!!

Rig, Silver takes the road like a boss.  She doesn't break once for the next eight or so blocks.

From what you can tell you should see the Port in the next five minutes or so.

The road starts to circle to the right.  Normally it would lead into the final stretch, ending in a loop in front of the Port terminal.

But someone's parked trucks to block the road.  It looks like City Security, as there are a number of them on top of the trucks with rifles.  They are in a fire fight with what the two of you guess are OLFers.

The OLFers are between you and the truck.  They've tried driving a passenger bus up the road, probably with the intention of ramming the barricade.

If you want to stick to the main road, you'll have to go through the fire fight.

There are some alleys on both sides you can try to use, but they are pretty narrow and not a lot of visibility from where you are.

Otherwise, you can try going through some of the neighboring buildings, trying to find a way through each until you come out around the other side.  Possible, depending on how stealthy you are.  But you'd have to abandon the bike.  Maybe.

So here are the options I can see. You may think of some I haven't.  Also give you what you need to roll for each.

Go right down the middle through the fire fight:  Three Flyer/Dex rolls.  Failing two of the rolls won't kill you.  But it will make things interesting.

Alleys:  pick left or right and give me one Recon/Int roll.

Buildings on foot:  Stealth or Recon, your choice/Int.

Buildings on the bike:  Ever see the Blues Brothers?  Flyer/Int

Let me know what questions.  Thanks

Silver isn't quite so go-go this time around. If she had her guns on her she might be able to just park the bike and take care of the OLFers real quick but for now she just aimed for around the trucks and gunned it for the main entrance.


07:28, Today: Silver rolled 9 using 2d6+1.  flyer/dex #3.
07:28, Today: Silver rolled 9 using 2d6+1.  flyer/dex #2.
07:27, Today: Silver rolled 5 using 2d6+1.  flyer/dex #1.

While Ledo and the others helped themselves to their guns and other equipment Tepha spoke into his ear so he could pass it along to the security team.

"Fritz guesses we have about fifteen minutes before driving isn't going to be possible."

Ledo gave a nod and shouted at the rest of the group.

"Alright we need to get moving now, grab what you're grabbing and let's go."

Nero was wandering off near the Pansy Paws but BB used a free hand to grab him by his shirt and redirect him to the Captain. She was going to do her best to make sure the two of them stuck to this guy like ticks because if something happened and the vans got separated, she wanted to make damn sure they were in the one with the guy getting them off planet.

Silver and Rig

With a hey and a ho you rush into the breach.

The OLFers seem shocked, at first not quite knowing what to do but then a couple of them try to train their shots on you.

City Security just seems to be firing indiscriminately.

You both hear the various projectiles and energy bolts whizz/whirr by.  One of them swings by a bit closer than the others...

Rig just took 3 pts damage.  Sucks to be the bulky one/larger target

Silver, you slide around one of the trucks, almost losing control but pulling it out like a champ.  Ahead you can see the main entrance.  There are metal shutters pulled down over the entrance.

Hey guys! Finally hacked your bike's comm unit!  So you know:  station systems are saying there's some kind of fire fight going on at the front entrance.  And they've sealed the doors.  So probably best not to go that way.

There's a side door to the east.  They're keeping it open to supply the guard points.  I can try to hack their system right before you arrive and see if I can get them to accept you. 

Looking that way, you can see the door Fritz is talking about.  There's several groups of guards that way, and they seem to be looking your way.

Alternatively, there is a large picture window right above the shuttered doors.  It looks breakable and is large enough to get the bike through.

---

BB

As you grab Nero, Parket reaches out and grabs your shoulder.  You can tell at a glance he knows exactly what you're thinking.

He leans close, tapping off his ear jack.  He sotto voces in your clear ear. "I won't fight you.  But I'm sending O'Henrix and the girls with you.  I watched your goods.  You watch mine.  We'll run point in the meanwhile.  Deal?"

---

Ledo and Tepha and BB and Nero, Oh My!

The vans screech to a stop out front.  Besides two vans, Parkets men scored a flyer bike one of them is riding.

The situation outside is worse then you might have been hoping.  The water is flooding in through the ventilation system, pouring out of almost every open grill in the ceiling far above.  There are several waterfalls slamming into the plastic pavement below.  Lights above are starting to short out and the water is already backing up.

Worse, there are ominous rumblings from the ceiling ductwork.  It doesn't take a structural engineer to figure out that the weight of the sea water is straining the supports holding the duct work in place.

Above, on the roof tops, people are leaning over the edge, staring at you.  Several are yelling at you, but they are too far away and the thoom of the water falls drowns out their voices.

No pun intended.

Fritz squawks on Tepha's comm.  Okay.  Got vocal comm back online.  Silver and Rig are almost here I think.  Maybe.  There's going to be problems getting you inside the port.

For now, I've worked out two possible routes.  One can take you to the Port's parking garage, which seems to have laxer security at the moment.  But it goes through some of the lower level parts of the city, so you will need to fly using it.

The other will take you to the front door.  There's a fire fight outside at the moment.  OLF and City Security.  Its a longer route, but a bit safer.  I guess.  It's the one Silver and Rig took, so they may know more about what you'll see.

Let me know if there are questions.  Thanks

Silver considers the picture window but turns and heads to the side door. She zooms towards the guards but then slows to a stop.

"Rig, put your hands up. Make sure they can see we're clean."

She slows down and nods towards the side door. She calls out the guards.

"Easy there. We're specialists and we're expected. That door should be opening up for us any second now but we don't want to spook anyone so we're just going to mosey on in, okay?"

Rig responds to Fritz with a series of curses as he slaps his hand onto his wound. As they pull up to the guards he leans in to talk to the comms.

"Yeah there's a big firefight out front and some guards by the side door. If Ledo and the others are coming they might have to deal with the OLF first."

BB nods at Parket.

"Absolutely. Everyone's getting off together."

Nero keeps alternating between filming the guards arming up and his own "reaction shots."

"Listen up Nero Knights, things are getting pretty bad here..."

He holds his hand out showing the rooftops full of people.

"All these people don't realize the pumping stations aren't turning on. This is getting crazy though so stay tuned. Don't forget to like and subscribe for all your Nero and Pansy Paws updates! Let's get this thing viral so the whole galaxy knows what is happening down here!"

Nero has a bad case of ABS: Always Be Streaming

"Alright we're going in the front door. Some of those OLF assholes are shooting with port security so taking them out might just get us our ticket inside."

He checked his pistol and nodded to everyone else in his van.

"Alright everyone listen up. When we get to the firefight park the vans perpendicular to the fight and open the doors. Security will shoot out the one side and the civilians can exit for better cover out the other side. We'll have to figure out on site if we think we can eliminate the OLF or if we'll just have to pin them down and run for safety."


OOC: Time for a drive by...

Silver and Rig

City Security quickly surrounds you.  One of the guards walks over and demands to scan your comm IDs.  He then steps back, pulling out his own hand comm and making a call.

You can both hear him.

"Yeah. They say they're specialists or somethin'.  I'me belaying the shoot to kill order for now.  Can you clear them?  Their info is..."

And he proceeds to give whoever your Comm IDs.

---

Nero

Your numbers are punching through the stratosphere and bitch slapping any nearby moons!

What?  I'm on one a' these roofs man!

What the fuck!  My Mom is out there!  I gotta call her ASAP!

Why aren't the City Security bastards letting people know!  Everyone spread the word!

---

Silver and Rig

The guy on the comm glances at the two of you.  His hand wanders to the pistol hostelered on his hip.

"Uh huh....Yeah..."

---

BB

Parket nods and motions for his men.

O'Henrix steps forward.  "I guess you're the CO for now.  You want me to drive or lookout?

---

Silver and Rig

Comm Guard narrows his eyes, squinting at the two of you, still talking into his comm, free hand caressing the safety on his pistol.

"Yeah.  A little shady I guess..."

---

Ledo and Tepha

Parket and his people hit the second van.  O'Henrix loads the Paws into the second.

Ledo have any orders about who rides/drives/etc?

---

Silver and Rig

"Right.  They're taken care of."

Guard Comm hangs up and pulls out his gun.

"You two!  Go ahead to the security door and tell 'em you're the call out for Commander Fritz!  Hurry up!  We've got your six! Move like you got a purpose people!"

I love Nero.  He is like the DMs little helper

Ledo nods at O’Henrix to drive while the rest of them get seated. Ledo sits in the passenger seat while everyone else gets in the back.

”Buckle up, this could get bumpy.”

Silver nods at the man.

”Damn straight. We’ve got some more people incoming so tell the boys out front to keep an eye out for that as well, no lead on or get out of our way.”

Strutting with way more confidence then she likely should have, she moves towards the door like it should open for her. Once inside she’ll head to her bunk and start grabbing her grenades and rifle just in case security decides to second guess Commmander Fritz.

Rig starts the pre-flight checks. Making sure their fuel is topped off and working to disengage what he can. With the lockdown there were limits of what he could do but there were still other checks he could perform to ensure the ship was indeed still space worthy.

The Vans

O'Henrix pulls away from the curb.  Parket's van and the bike pull out right after.

The convoy begins to move down the street.

You head down the main drag.  After about the second block, you notice people are coming out of the buildings.  At first it's just a few strays.  But when you hit block four, the volume has started to grown.

People are pouring off the rooftops.  It's like word is spreading that the pumping stations aren't going to be coming online any time soon.

At the end of the fifth block, people are waving at the van.  Some start running after it.  People are screaming at you to stop and let them on board.

Just then the biker gets taken down.  Some bystander came up with a length of pipe and managed to swing it into the guy's helmet.  As the bike tumbles, the crowd starts to lunge for the bike, a free for all erupting.

"Shit!"  O'Henrix cusses.  Up ahead, there was an accident.  A truck passing through the intersection seems to have lost control and plowed into another vehicle.  That lead to another collision behind it.

The vans are going to be too large to squeeze through.  And you doubt they're strong enough to push those wrecks aside.

O'Henrix smacks on the nav comm.  It gives two alternate routes.

Taking the right will let you hook over onto a street that parallels this main drag for a while.  You can cross back over to the main drag from there.

Taking the alley to the left looks like it's some kind of 'short cut' the locals use.  The nav comm has it mapped out, but it's kind of twisty and not straight forward.  No way you can memorize it.

There are the sounds of shots from behind.  Parket's people are shooting to keep the crowds at bay.  The bike rider is limping forward, grabbing at the back of Parket's van.

The crowds are obviously trying to decide whether it's worth charging at the vans.

---

Silver and Rig

Welcome back.

Silver, Station Security is squawking with each other.  I think they're going to figure it out soon.

Engineer Rig:  I am working on a restore of Mainframe.  Also, there's a report of system compromise to the bug.  I think it's within acceptable parameters.

Bigger issues are those locks on the landing gear.  Those have either got to be cut off, released by Station Security, or we cut the landing gear from inside.

Another problem:  they've got a manual lock on the lift.  Once we lift off, we're going to have to find another way besides the ship elevator to exit the starport.

On the bright side, we are fueled up!

Commander Ledo's group seems to be stalled.  They hit an intersection that was blocked by an accident.

Ledo looked at the scene in confusion. How was word spreading so fast? He heard talking in the background and he looked back to see Nero talking into the camera about their epic escape into space and he cursed.

"Turn here and go along the main drag. Get ready to bounce people off the hood if things get dicey."

Ledo rolled down his window and drew his pistol, holding it up so that anyone looking at the cab could see he was armed although he wasn't threatening anyone with it yet.

"Parket, do what you need to. We're going down the side route. We'll wait for you though so pick up your man and lets get moving."

Nero was filming when the guy with the bike was knocked off.

"Oh shit things are going crazy!"

Then the shots started firing and he jerked his head back at the pops sounding behind them.

"Oh fuck! This is fucked up gang. Stay tuned for more. I don't know if I'll survive but live or die all my Nero Knights are getting front row seats!"

Rig gave a curse and pulled up the comms for station docking authority. Of everyone on the ship he probably had the most experience dealing with the bureaucracy of a space port. Tepha was just a dancer, Silver was a criminal who didn't normally use official procedure and Ledo was used to his rank just getting him through.

He took a breath to ease his voice and keep it calm. Everything was normal, nobody was about to die.

"Docking authority this is the Tiamat's Flight in berth 22C. We understand there is some kind of commotion going on outside but we do have a schedule to keep. Requesting permission for a launch window."

Start things off nice and easy, see what kind of excuse they come back with and he could work on a counter.

OOC: FYI: some rolls if it helps move things along:

Dealing with Bureaucracy: Admin/EDU:
14:22, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 11 using 2d6+2.  admin/edu.

Sweet talking for special treatment: Persuade/INT:
14:22, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 9 using 2d6+1.  persuade/int.

Silver meanwhile was strapping up in case things went sideways. Whether that meant fighting off overzealous station security or OLF terrorist or whatever she was strapped up.

She had her bandolier of grenades, a belt full of spare clips and her trust combat rifle locked and loaded.

Rig

It takes a while, but finally someone squawks back at you Rig.

"Uhm...no launch windows are authorized.  We can't...jeez."

Things must be bad.  This guy sounds like an intern or something.  If they left someone like that in charge of comms, all the people with brains must be humping on something else.

"See...the thing is...we can't operate the lift.  It's all...bugged up.  So...uhm...just sit tight.  We'll get back to you."

Fritz pops on after they hang up. It looks like whoever that is did put in a request to get a launch window.  But it has to be approved.

But I don't know that will do any good.  I'm checking on what he said.  It looks like the elevator system is infected.  It's not responding

I would recommend just blowing open the doors and flying up the shaft.

---

The Vans

Roger that.  Don't let us slow you down.  We'll be there.

O'Henrix takes a hard right as the crowds start to press in.  The side street has less bodies.  He flips another right and then another.  The main drag is up ahead about a block.

Suddenly from out of a parking garage, a passenger vehicle comes barreling out of the gate.  O'Henrix cusses, but he manages to cut around the car.

Parket's van has to stop.

"Keep goin'," Parket barks.  "What berth you in?"

O'Henrix slides back onto the main drag.

More cars are pulling out onto the road.  The water is starting to slow everyone down.

The Port is ahead in the distance.  You can see the fire fight Fritz warned you about.  It seems to OLFers are facing away from you.

Rig put in another request to the intern.

"You know, if it's computer problems we've got a couple of top rated programmers on board. I myself served nearly twenty years debugging ship's systems. It sounds like you could use a hand and we'd be happy to lend it for the first slot on that elevator."

It was a long shot but he figured he should at least try to be civil before blowing a hole in the spaceport doors.

"22C. Don't be late."

As the van pulled up to the fire fight Ledo pointed to a spot where O'Henrix could park and they could open fire on the OLF from behind in a classic pincer movement.

Rig

"I'll pass it along Sir," says Bucky Cadet.

---

The Vans

The OLFers are in a pincer already.

They've strewn a line of cars and trucks across the road, using them primarily as a wall against the Port's security team.

But the crowds exiting the buildings have caused them some problems as well.  Some of their troops have had to turn around, opening fire as Wyltzians try to make a run for the port.

The OLFers have also taken positions in a building to the left, opening up two sniper nests on the second and fifth floors.

Let me know in the OOC comments about how you'd like to proceed and we can start.

Thanks

Rig let a few minutes pass before comming the tower.

"Flight control this is Tiamat's Flight. How is that request going? Should I send my people up?"

He clicked off the comm and switched over to Fritz' monitor.

"Hey Fritz, what are the chances we can tap into the station's security and lift this lockdown? If they're up to their asses in this virus like the rest of the dome then their security systems should be shredded, right?"

Ledo motioned for O'Henrix to pull to a stop at a safe distance.

"We can probably blow through that barrier but those sniper nests concern me. We've got to wait for Parket anyway and worst case we can swim to the port at this point. Let's go up and see if we can't knock out those nests first so they don't pick us off as we're crossing the lines."

He looked around and nodded at BB.

"Alright, you're with security, right? You're with me. O'Henrix you guard the van and if we don't make it back you get everyone here on board that ship, understood?"

Ledo looked at BB's gyrojet rifle and nodded with approval.

"Stay on my six and cover me. We'll rush them fast and hard before they know we're on them and turn those guns of theirs on the next nest, understood?"

BB gave a nod and followed Ledo out of the van.

"Locked and loaded, on your six."

The sounds of combat, the screams of civilians, it was all familiar territory. Horribly familiar. The only thing unusual was that she was doing this on the ground instead of in zero-gee.

Rig

You don't hear anything from control.

Oh we have an antidote for our virus.  The virus that OLF layered under it is different.  I just innoculated against our virus and everything attached to it.  But some still got through. Hence the reboot.

It looks like our virus is the big problem.  City's IT can't seem to come up with a vaccine.  If we came up with one for the OLF, layered it into the vaccine for our virus and sent that out, we should be able to remove the obstacles.

Rig me up a Electronics Computer roll/Int or Edu, your call.  You can try again and again until you succeed.

---

BB and Ledo...sitting in a building...K...I...L...L...I...N...G...

The building is an office type.  First floor is a boutique with various private offices each floor up.

The second floor is a dentist office.  The OLFers have blown out the plate glass window and pushed magazine tables against the opening to cover the two snipers located there.

The fifth floor is a legal office.  Same set up, except there's four snipers there.

Each office is seperated from the stairs by a hallway.

As you come come up to the second floor landing, a quick recon shows one guy stationed just inside the partially open doorway of the dentist office.  He must not be on their A team, because there's no way he has a good field of vision.  You should be able to sneak up fairly close to the door, maybe all the way in if he gets distracted.

You can also head up to the fifth floor without him seeing you.

Shots fired down here are probably going to be noticed upstairs and vice versa.

Questions

Rig cracked his knuckles. He was a computer specialist for nearly a decade. This was what he was trained to do. Time to cure the plague they had unleashed.

OOC:
14:14, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 14 using 2d6+04.  edu/computers.

Ledo pulled out his pistol but BB shook her head. She put one finger to her mouth in the universal signal for "quiet" and pulled our her knife. Ledo nodded and pulled out his static blade.

He let BB go first and she quietly crept towards the guard...

OOC: Not bad not great. Opposed by guards Recon/INT. Maybe OLF has a penalty due to the firefight happening outside?

14:20, Today: BB Nova rolled 7 using 2d6.  stealth check.

Rig

Really Engineer Rig.  Your computer skills sicken me.

Me too Fritz.  Me too

I think this will work just fine.  How do you want it released?  To City Security?  You want me to hit the door right off?

---

BB and Ledo

The shots ringing out from inside do seem to distract this guy...really.  This one is pretty green.

But at the last moment he notices you...

No surprise.  He failed his roll by 1 as well.  So you guys are on equal footing.

I'm pretty sure BB has the init.  So does Ledo.  So does a turtle.  This guy is awful.

For a few minutes Rig could let his butthole unclench. This was a problem at least he had some control over.

"As much as I'd like to just release it to the world I'm worried that if we set it off too fast there's going to be a log jam as everyone else decides to lift off. We should wait until we're ready to go and hit it right when it opens.

In the meantime let's see if we can't white hat this thing so it spreads across the same network as the other virus and try and clean up after ourselves a bit."

BB charged up to the guy and buried her knife into his gut. As he looked down in surprise Ledo rushed up and hit his throat with his sword in a swift combination attack.

OOC:
22:37, Today: BB Nova rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  knife to the gut.
22:37, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 11 using 2d6+2.  sword to the chest.


22:39, Today: BB Nova rolled 4 using 1d6+2.  knife damage.
22:39, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 12 using 3d6+2.  sword damage.

Riggy Baby

Let's roll to see how well that works out.  I'll give you a boon in this case since you basically designed the virus.

Computer/Edu

---

Warrior Woman and Sword Man

The guys makes a gurgling noise then can't make much noise at all.  He slumps to the ground.

There's a large reception room.  What looks like an office is off to one side of it.  A large picture window had been across one wall of the office.  But it's blown out and the two snipers are there, plugging away at the street below.

They haven't seen you guys yet.

Rig was in the zone. Nothing like the imminent death of thousands of people to light a fire under him...


09:59, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 12 using 2d6+4.  computer/edu.

Ledo and BB gave each other a silent nod and then proceeded on to attack the snipers. BB was hauling out her rifle but Ledo figured his sword was going to be just as good slammed into the back of one of the OLFers.

Or it would have been if Ledo hadn't caught his foot on some debris and stumbled into the sniper instead of stabbing him...

OOC: Doh!


10:01, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 5 using 2d6+2.  sword stab a sniper.

Meanwhile BB opened fire, pegging the other sniper right in the back with several shots.

OOC: +1 PHUD, +1 short range

10:04, Today: BB Nova rolled 13 using 2d6+2.  shooting sniper in the back.
10:04, Today: BB Nova rolled 8 using 3d6.

Rig

Seeding the vaccine...It is entering the stations mainframe.  Station should be clear in twenty minutes.  Lift should be operational within thirty.

Getting updates from news feed.  There's some guy named Nero who's broadcasting a fire fight in front of the space port.  I've identified Tepha in the feed.  No indication of Captain Ledo.

It seems like the city's ventilation system is starting to come apart.  The weight of the flood water has exceeded structural capacity in several areas of the city.  That's going to speed up the flooding.

Looks like city security has started a death clock.  They show point of no return for the flooding to occur within 3 hours 8 minutes.

---

BB and Ledo

BB's sniper yelps in pain, dropping his rifle and trying to turn over, grasping at a pistol on his belt.

The one Ledo almost stabbed glances at his partner then flips around, quite dynamically.  He manages to squeeze off a shot that nails you BB  7 pts dam

Go team BBLedo!

Rig gets on the comms to alert Ledo and Tepha.

"I think I've got us a way out of here but it is time dependent. You need to be back here in half an hour if we want to escape while it is still easy to do so.

Also security has started a countdown. If the hole can't be patched or the pump stations turned on in the next 3 hours then it will be a point of no return."

Rig tried really hard not to think about the implications of that. The feeds had shown hundreds, thousands, perhaps even more all on top of the roofs. If something wasn't done a lot of people were going to die and it would be impossible not to think that it would be partially their fault for unleashing the virus on the station. Granted it was a small part compared to the armed militants and explosives but it still made their hands dirty in the process.

"Mother fucker..."

Luckily her flak armor took the brunt of the blast but it still hurt all the same. She continued to pour fire into her sniper trusting that Ledo would be able to handle the other one.

OOC: Flak shell is +8 protection. Let me know if there is anything else I need to do about that.

Also, lol at this now dead sniper...

10:56, Today: BB Nova rolled 12 using 2d6+2.  shooting sniper in the front.
10:57, Today: BB Nova rolled 13 using 3d6.  damage.

Ledo recovered quickly from his initial slip up and got his blade into the meat of the other sniper.

OOC:
11:00, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 10 using 2d6+02.  stabby stabby.
11:01, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 11 using 3d6+2.  stab damage, AP 6.

Rig, you and Fritz begin to get to work.

---

BB, you turn your sniper into instant pudding while Ledo works on the shish-ka-bob portion of the meal.

The remaining sniper, slides off the sword, and makes a wild swing at you Ledo. The punch fails to hit.  He's going to bleed out quick.

A quick glance out the window shows Parket has the been able to pin most of the OLFers down.  If the two of you can get rid of those snipers upstairs, he and his guys should be able to move enough to clean out the rest in quick order.

We'll assume Ledo coup de grace's his sniper.  That guy is the weakest of the bunch.

Heading up to the fourth floor?  If so let me know how/make stealth rolls etc.

Out of instinct BB strips the sniper rifle off of the dead OLFer and grabs his pistol to boot. In a situation like this more guns is better than fewer.

Like a hunter stalking its prey BB climbed the stairs to recon out the next position. Maybe they'd get lucky and there wouldn't be a guard to  take care of here...

OOC: A lady can dream!


21:39, Today: BB Nova rolled 11 using 2d6.  stealth check.

Ledo hadn't considered it but watching BB strip down the dead OLFer made him realize that bringing a sword to a gun fight might not cut it. He had left his heavy ordinance back on the ship so a rifle and a pistol sounded good to him. As before he stayed back, letting BB sneak her way up to the enemy position and he waited for the hand signals that would indicate where and what they were facing.

BB, you come up to eye level on the stair well and peek over the ledge.  Fortunately, the railing on the ledge is clear plastic.

You can see the offices.  The sniper's nest isn't visible from here. What is visible are the three guards.

Two seem to be on the doorway.  A third is saying something to them and walks off.

Beyond the door you see a corporate office type layout.  It must be a large space divided into cubicles by partitions.

These guys don't look as amateurish as the ones on the second floor.  The third guard, the one that disappeared inside, had the bearing of a military man.  At least one of guys on the door is paying attention to the hallway.

This one is probably going to be a tougher fight.

You have two guys in sight.  One is paying attention.

The third guy ducked back inside and is currently not visible. You don't know how close he is at the moment.

BB gives out the hand signals so Ledo has an idea of how many targets there are and what he is going to be attacking. She holds up three fingers...two fingers...one finger...

With a sudden burst of motion she pops up and fires off a burst with her rifle lighting up the first guard, the one who had actually been paying attention.

OOC:
15:10, Today: BB Nova rolled 9 using 2d6+2.  shots fire! shots fired!
15:11, Today: BB Nova rolled 10 using 3d6.  damage.

Ledo grips his laser pistol watching the fingers countdown. Then he too pops up and fires off a burst from his PDL. Surprising even him, his aim is perfect and he hits two shots right between the eyes of the guard burning right through his skull.

OOC: Daaayum.
15:13, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 15 using 2d6+4.  laser pistol (+1 skill +1 dex +1 short range +1 PHUD).
15:15, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 23 using 3d6+5.  PDL Burst damage.

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 113):

Ledo's target is falling to the ground, lifeless, as <puprle>BB's</purple> target pulls back from around the door, screaming in pain, but with sense enough to raise an alarm and try to get under cover.

He manages to duck around the corner.  There's no sign of activity from inside.

You have a clear approach, but Alert Guy is not down yet.  He's just ducked around the corner for cover.  No sign of Third Guy yet.

Pressing the attack BB charged up to the doorway, poking her head in and firing off some shots before ducking back from the inevitable return fire.

OOC: Fired and missed

Following her to the doorway Ledo watched as BB drew fire, noting where the shots seemed to be coming from and ducking around and firing off a shot from his PDL at one of the shooters.

OOC: Feel free to have me retcon things if there aren't any targets to fire on but if there are...
14:38, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 10 using 2d6+4.  shots fired.
14:38, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 11 using 3d6+3.  damage.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 117):

Ledo is able to blast away at the injured man, putting him down for the count.

The room beyond is large and filled with cubicles.  Of course it would be.  Why wouldn't it be?

There is a reception desk the wounded-now-dead man was trying to limp behind when </purple>Ledo</purple> nailed him.  Past that, the cubicles form five rows/hallways, each running from west to east.  Row one is the most northerly row and row 5 the most southernly row.

There seems to be a conference room in the southeast corner and that must be where the snipers are located.  You can hear them shooting still.  Sounds like two rifles firing.

You don't see Third Guy.  He must be among the rows...lurking....

Pick a row and head down it.  Or do something else.  But you have at least one bogeyman out there, waiting to pop out and say boo.

Let me know if there are any questions.  Thanks

Ledo and BB do quick silent scans down each row. They're not a big fan of "whack-a-terrorist" but it is what it is.

For lack of a better option Ledo holds up four fingers and starts that way, with Ledo taking point and BB watching his back just in case the guy was down a different aisle and tried to loop back on them.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 119):

There are two problems.

The first is:  there is more than one guy.

You find this out when the second problem comes up.

The cubicle walls are so thin, they are easy to shoot through.

On the plus side, the second guy is one hell of a lousy shot...

You get stuck in a cross fire.

BB takes 8 pts.

Ledo takes 3 pts.

You now know where they are roughly.  One is on aisle two or three and one is one aisle 5.

Thanks.

BB dove to the side, twisting around as her armor took the shot again and putting her rifle to bear, following the holes in the partitions to guess where the shooter was an firing off a shot herself.

OOC:
12:22, Today: BB Nova rolled 10 using 2d6+2.  shooting to the left.
12:22, Today: BB Nova rolled 12 using 3d6.  damage.

Ledo, still a step behind, watched BB dive and figuring out the plan he dove to the right. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her track the shooter through the holes in the walls and he did as well, guessing where the shooter probably was and firing off a snap shot in that direction.

OOC:
12:23, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 12 using 2d6+4.  shooting laser pistol.
12:23, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 11 using 3d6+3.  damage.

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 121):

The two of you manage to make the universe sick with your eagle like eyes.

You both know you've made contact.  There's the smell of burning flesh on Ledo's side.  And BB can hear that oh-so-familiar sound of projectiles striking cheap armor.  There's also a satisfying little grunt.

Neither opponent returns fire.  Then, over the wall from Row 5, a fist sized ball of plastic comes flying over the partition.

Grenade.

The grenade is being lobbed into near center of the aisle.  Closer to BB than to Ledo.

BB's obvious choices are:

-Duck into one of the cubicles and shelter under a desk. Athletics/Dex roll

-Try to scramble over the partition.  Athletics/Strength roll

-Run back down the aisle (Ledo was on point right?) Athletics/Dex roll

I'm open to any debate about types of roll.  Of course, if you can think of something else to do, good on you.

Ledo has the same obvious options, but it would be easier for him to run from the grenade.  Add a +2 to his roll if he tries to run forward to the end of the aisle.

Your call

BB considers her options and doesn't trust the desks to provide that much cover. Best to try and get as far away from the explosion as possible.

With a running leap she hurdles over the partition into aisle #3.

OOC: At first I thought it was being rolled down the aisle so she was just going to kick it but if it is still airborne she isn't going to try and bicycle kick it so she made an Athletics/Strength check so that's what she's going to do:


16:49, Today: BB Nova rolled 8 using 2d6+1.  kick the can.

Ledo goes for a run but doesn't quite make it far enough...

OOC: Oops

16:52, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 2d6+02.  RUUUNN!!!

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 124):

BB is jumping the wall and Ledo is running just not very fast. Right?

BB comes over the top of the wall.  She and the guy on aisle 3...Mr. Laser Burn...are blinking at each other.

Ledo whacks his thigh on the corner of the desk, which slows him dwn just a little bit.

And then the grenade...

Starts to fizzle.  It's not an explosive grenade.  It's a smoke bomb.

The room quickly fills up with a noxious, thick, inky smoke...



Ha ha.  Made you run!

Its basically a type of mustard gas.  It both blinds and causes you to choke.

An Athletics/End test will let you hold your breath.  If you fail it, you aren't holding your breath any longer.  You can hold your breath for as many rounds as you have END.

You have to deal with both the obscured vision and the choking.

If you are effected by both, all your rolls are at a Bane. Roll three dice and discard the highest.

If you are just effected by one of the conditions (you can hold your breath but don't have goggles that provide IR or some such) you are at a -1 to your rolls.

If you can pass both, you can move as usual.

And yes, the smoke is filling up the room this fast.

Laser Wound seems as surprised as BB when the air suddenly fills with a putrid, cloying smoke.

Ledo has just enough time to see the entrance to the conference room where the snipers are located before the smoke overtakes him.  They've blown out one of the windows.  So the smoke should clear...

Eventually.

He knows these smoke grenades.  They can put out a lot of smoke very quickly.

Questions?

BB tried to act fast, rushing Mr. Laser Burn with her knife while blinking back the tears from  the smoke she tried to bury her knife into him but she blinked at just the wrong time and he dodged to the side and she slid right on by.

"Fuuuuu..."

BB was now fully exposed to Mr. Laser Burn.

Ledo was still cursing about clipping a desk when he inhaled some smoke. He began coughing and his eyes were watering. Still he pushed to turn left to support BB, catching sight of her failed knife attack against one of the guards. Even with watery eyes and coughing he was able to find a moment of peace to line up his shot and fire with his laser.

OOC: So failed to hold breath but still hit a 9 for 11 damage
11:34, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 11 using 3d6+3, dropping the highest dice only.  damage.

11:34, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 9 using 3d6+4, dropping the highest dice only.  shooting mr. laser burn.

11:34, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 2d6+1.  holding breath.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 128):

Yeah.  BB shouldn't feel too bad.  Laser Burns doesn't have a mask.

As you rush past Laser Burns, he turns and aims his pistol almost directly at your temples BB...

and then he coughs.

The shot rushes past the back of your head as the gun jerks backwards.  The two of you turn to face each other...

He rolled a 3

Meanwhile, Ledo manages a solid hit against Grenade Boy.

And Grenade Boy manages a decent hit back.

Grenade Boy does have a mask.  9 pts damage.

BB swings wildly with her knife but fails to connect.

OOC: It seems my luck has run out...
12:52, Today: BB Nova rolled 4 using 2d6+1.  dagger attack.

Ledo draws a bead on Grenade boy, focusing through the haze and smoke to drop his target.

OOC: That should be an 8 due to aiming. He takes 4 damage to his END
+1 Aim, +1 Short Range, +1 PHUD, +1 DEX, +1 Skill
12:54, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 7 using 3d6+4, dropping the highest dice only.  laser shots.
12:56, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 13 using 3d6+3.  damage.

In reply to BB Nova (msg # 130):

It may have run out.  Sorry

BB sees Laser Burns swing the pistol.

9 damage on BB

Grenade Boy staggers from the blow and drops.  Assuming he isn't playing possum Ledo, you can yank off his mask.

BB grimaces and continues to try and stab at the wily guard but unlike all that she has faced before he continues to evade her blade.

Ledo contemplates grabbing the mask but not knowing what BB is up to he runs to the other side just in time to see her fail to stab the guard. Ledo finds himself with a clear shot however and lines up and fires his deadly pistol into the back of the guard.

OOC:
16:39, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 12 using 3d6+4, dropping the highest dice only.  shooty shooty.
16:40, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 8 using 3d6+3, dropping the highest dice only.  damage.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 134):

Laser Burn goes down.

But now shots are coming out of the open conference room doorway.  Looks like one of the snipers has noticed their six is wide open.

The shots rake across the desks around the two of you, but you are both able to get down fast enough to avoid them.

The smoke is making it difficult to get a bead on the gunners location.  But from what you saw before, there are at least three snipers in the room.  Though it appears only one is firing at you.

Questions?

BB looks at the smoke grenade and then the open door where the sniper is shooting through and puts two-and-two together. Wrapping her hand for protection she grabs the grenade and tosses it through the doorway where the snipers are located. They don't technically have to stop the snipers for good, if they can just disable them for a few minutes then the ground team with all the civilians can cross the danger zone and get to cover.

OOC:
15:12, Today: BB Nova rolled 9 using 2d6+1.  athletics - throwing.

Ledo watches BB make the toss and then understanding her plan goes back to the dead guards, patting them down to see if they happen to have another grenade. He'll also strip the one guard of his mask to limit his own exposure as his breath was starting to run low...

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 137):

The grenade bounces into the room.  You can hear someone say

"Shit!"

then the sound of the rifle fire stops.

Ledo, Mask Guard has another greande.  But this one is the boom boom type.  Not the smoke type.

Ledo gave a shrug and passed the explosive grenade over to BB.

"Time to clear out the nest."

He gave her a supporting nod and then ran for cover.

BB nodded and pulled the pin, tossing the grenade through the doorway. It was a beautiful toss landing square in the middle of the other room before she too dove to the side for cover. Things were about to get loud...


12:25, Today: BB Nova rolled 12 using 2d6+1.  grenade #2.

You lob the grenade BB.

It sails through the door, bouncing off the forehead of the sniper who was firing at you.  He says

"Ow!"

Rubs his forehead, glances down, and then says

"...oh fuck me..."

Then there's a

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM

After a moment, when the two of you can sort of hear something besides a ringing sound, you stop hearing any noise from the snipers nest.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:50, Thu 15 Oct 2020.

Ledo hops on the comms to the rest of the team.Z

"Snipers have been neutralized! Go go go!

He gestures at BB to follow him out and the pair raced back to the surface to cross over to the starport as well.

Moving along...

Parket doesn't wait.  He moves the convoy through.  City Security is too busy dealing with OLF mop up.  There's also a large number of citizens who have come down off the roof tops, pushing down the road behind you.

There's some flack getting past the check in.  But Rig and Fritz seem to have done something.  Or maybe the situation is just too chaotic for Security to really deal with.

One way or the other, Tiamat is waiting...

I will let you handle any through scene about the new extended crew getting on board, etc.

Then we'll talk about Tia taking off.

Silver was standing by the boarding ramp smoking her customary pre-flight joint.Rig had complained about the smoke so she had stepped outside to get blazed. Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw Tepha running in with what seemed to be half an art gala’s worth of upper crust socialites and bodyguards. She looked down at her joint and then back up.

”What the fuck? We running a charter company now?”

The fear in Tepha’s eyes caught her though and she stomped out her blunt.

”Alright, alright. Uhhh. Everyone follow me. I guess we’re taking you on. Get your butt into a seat or a bed or something and get ready for take off.”

As soon as Tepha got close she grabbed Tepha’s arm to snap her out of the panicked state she was in.

”Tepha! Hey Red! Where the fuck is Ledo? Who the fuck are all these people? Where the fuck are we taking these people? We can’t fit that many!”

Tepha calms down once her feet hit the ramp of the Tia. Something about being on home territory did a lot to bolster her attitude.

”Everything is fucked out there. Everyone’s going to die if they don’t get the pumps working. We...we agreed to at least take the people we were with into orbit. We can figure it out after that but at least they aren’t drowning right? Silver, we fucked up. Bad. The OLF are going to kill....”

Silver clamped her hand over Tepha’s mouth to stop her from furthering any sort of confession.

”Shut the fuck up! Snap out of it! It’ll be fine. Rig’s already figured out an antivirus and is releasing it through the city’s system. None of this is your fault. None of this is our fault, got it? Now go inside and play the happy hostess for all your rich friends. Where is Ledo? We need to get out of here!”

”He and this security guard went to take out some snipers that were pinning us down. I think he’s right behind us!”</brown>

”Alright, see, nothing to panic. Now we’ve got a ship full of strangers and remember what happened last time? Start getting them buckled down in case it’s a bumpy ride.”

Silver took the time to grip Tepha firmly by the shoulders and stare her straight in the eye.

”This was going down long before we got here. Now get your shit together and we can save some people and maybe make a few credits in the process.”

Tepha gave a nod, wiping the tears away from her eyes that she hadn’t even noticed had started watering up.

<purple>”You’re right. You’re right. Rule number one: keep your shit together. Yeah. We fought pirates and assassins and terrorists before. Yes. Happy hostess.”

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then followed Silver up the ramp. The crowd of people hadn’t waited at all for her little freak out and were already up the ramp slowly spreading out without any direction or purpose. It was her job as ship’s steward to get everyone where they needed to be.

”Alright everyone listen up. We have a lot of people here and not nearly enough space so listen up! If you’ll me to the galley we will start strapping people into chairs. After that we move onto bunks and if necessary anyone left is going to have to prep for cryopods. When we lift off everyone needs to be safe and secure just in case there are any other surprises waiting for us. Everyone...stay calm. We’re almost out of danger and it would be a real shame for anyone to get hurt because they panicked so close to the end. Alright this group here follow me...”

Nero meanders through the crowd waiting for the red-haired lady from the party to give them all assigned seats. He maneuver close to Ansley and subtly grabs her hand to get her attention. Leaning in close he whispers to her:

”You know, I think I know where an empty room is. If we have to get stuck in one spot or are about to die or something I’d like to spend that time with you.”

Never let a good disaster go to waste. If Nero could take a step back from the situation he might hardly even recognize himself but he was completely caught up in a whirlwind and everything felt like a daydream. First he was suddenly hanging out with Pansy Paws all day, then his view count shot into the stratosphere then he’s sharing drinks with this super awesome celebrity chick and then there’s a firefight and the whole city is collapsing and they’re racing through the city shooting at civilians and terrorists like its a video game. Nothing about his life felt real anymore and that gave him a certain clarity, a complete divorce of his logic from reality.. He should be terrified. He should be pissing his pants scared that he was about to be crushed by a bajillion gallons of sea water in a terrorist attack and yet all he could think about was how awesome it would be if he could sleep with Ansley. If he could convince her to join him. With her looks and celebrity status they could become professional streams easily and then the rest of his life would be set. He would make tons of money doing something he loves with this awesome girl at his side...who cares if the whole city was about to collapse when his every dream was so close to becoming reality he could taste it.

Part of him knew that making a move right now was a terrible idea and yet he was so close he figured he had to take the shot. If he waited any longer then who knows what would happen. Maybe they wouldn’t escape. Or maybe they would and Ansley’s managers would shuffle her off to the next planet and he would never see her again. Part of him knew it was stupid to pin all of his future dreams on this girl he just met, that he knew for less than a day and yet a larger part of him felt it was his destiny, that he was exactly where he was supposed to be and she was the key to unlocking the door to a life he had only dreamed about.

Plus BB wasn’t around to cock block him so he had to take advantage of that.

BB’s feet smacked the pavement as she charged through the firing zone. She had to stop a couple of times to help Ledo along as those shots he had taken were finally taking their toll but she would be damned if she left a fellow soldier behind, especially the captain of the ship that was going to save her ass and her job.

”Come on old man. I knew navy boys were soft but god damn do you think you could have hit the gym some time in the last twenty years.”

Her words were harsh but the tone was light and playful. Just some gentle ribbing to keep his mind off of the gut shot he was holding and the gasping in his lungs.

”Fuck...you...”

She glanced back and then stopped and jumped backwards, catching Ledo just as he was stumbling again.

”Oh not with that attitude you can’t. Your navy boys need more stamina to ride a marine like me.”

She flashed him a friendly smile as she helped him to his feet and slung his arm over her shoulder. She was getting near her limits and taking on the weight of another person wasn’t helping but that was why boot camp among the marines was so brutal. She had been trained to be able to move her combat armor when its power had been shot out. Moving a half-conscious body was a walk in the park compared to the training she had gone through. HAD gone through was a key operative word and she made a note to refocus on her strength training. She had gotten a bit soft babysitting Nero and she was hating herself for it. Maybe it was time to leave the cushy aristocracy jobs behind and pick up something that would keep her on her edge. She can get fat and lazy when she hit 50. Until then she was a trained killing machine and should act like it.

With BB’s help the pair of them crossed over and Ledo gasped out directions to their ship. The ramp was raised but as they approached it lowered again for him.

”MEDIC! GOT WOUNDED!”

<b>”No...medic...”

BB let out a sigh and hauled the captain up the ramp. He was barely conscious at that point but was still able to point her towards the bridge. There she met the rest of the crew and nodded accordingly. Their engineer looked like he knew his stuff and the woman with the scar could definitely handle a rifle. The red head...looked pretty? Whatever, it wasn’t her place to judge.

”Sorry about your captain, he took a couple hits up there. He should be fine just a bit out of breath. I recommend getting him a stair master to beef up those quads.”

She was still using stupid humor to try and take the edge off. The truth was she had hit that euphoric state when she thought she was already dead so her actions didn’t really matter at that part. Until the ocean was finally beneath them she figured they were completely fucked

This message was deleted by the player at 23:35, Sun 18 Oct 2020.