005 - Departure from Shedezar star port

[ffilz]

Vee secures the guideline to the rock outside the cave entrance and starts in. Do you want Squee to lead or does Vee want to lead? The monitoring station install goes smoothly.

Vee is up with the monitoring team. Did she get an additional assignment?

Oops, post edited... You sure Vee didn't want to go cave diving?

[Piper]

Pongo observes the installation team drop into the water, "Tally Ho!"

[joertexas]

Vee secures the guideline to the rock outside the cave entrance and starts in. Do you want Squee to lead or does Vee want to lead? The monitoring station install goes smoothly.

Vee is up with the monitoring team. Did she get an additional assignment?

Oops, post edited... You sure Vee didn't want to go cave diving?

Uh, no.

Vee stands up straight and looks around. "The view is nice, at least. Can't say much for the heat and humidity." She looks at Foix. "Is the equipment operating properly?"

[Ramona]

Wen holds the ship steady over the island and the monitoring station install team drops down to start the install. Wen then shifts the ship slightly to drop the divers into the water. Squee glides down first with her grav belt to check out the situation in the water, she pops up and gives an ok for the others to drop in. Ana secures the guideline to the rock outside the cave entrance and starts in. Do you want Squee to lead or does Ana want to lead?

The monitoring station install goes smoothly.

Ana presses the button and the cargo door slides open, an oppressive wall of super dense atmosphere, heat and humidity fills the hold. She grins and gives the thumbs up to the others before they step out, “Don’t worry,” she yells a Vee above the rushing air,“you’ll do fine and trust me the atmosphere doesn’t get better then longer you’re in it.”

Once they’re clear of the ropes she signals the bridge and helps Gourmond pull in the lines.

Ana watchs Squee once she gets the all clear she turns around crosses her arms, grabs her mask and jumps off the deck and into the water.

We’ll let Squee lead, she’s a psionic and can probably echo locate.

[lenusmars]

After a moment of cringing from the heat, Sara steps to the edge to follow her... to follow Ana. With a big grin and a whoop she hurls herself backwards towards the water with an abandon that can only be explained by a disturbingly deep love of freefall.

[Tiglath]

Vee stands up straight and looks around. "The view is nice, at least. Can't say much for the heat and humidity." She looks at Foix. "Is the equipment operating properly?"

Foix puts a hand on Vee's shoulder and firmly presses her down into a more tactical crouch "An old habit but let's not be too ovbious - just in case?"

Seeing that the technical equipment is installed Foix replies to Vee “Well, you and Chu are the experts - but it looks like it to me. So now our mission changes to observation and you dual role as a sniper’s spotter. Keep monitoring the feed from the sensors we’ve installed and let’s get to a position with eyes on the dive site”.

He safes his SMG and unshipping both it and his binoculars hands them to Vee. He then picks himself a roost with both cover and a good view of the bay above the dive site. He then uncases his rifle and loads it. Once settled prone behind the long gun he waves Vee down next to him while trusting Chu to pick his own ground.

“Now we watch and wait”. He begins a visual survey of the area using the sophisticated sights on his rifle. He habitually lapses into a commentary listing landmarks and ranges as he notes them. Finally he ends the litany with an estimate of the surface wind at the dive site based on the sea state.

[joertexas]

Vee takes a breath, and follows Foix's instructions and commentary. She rigs a remote repeater display so she can see it from her spot next to Foix. Not having practiced much with the SMG, it takes her a moment to ensure that it is safed, loaded, and slung out of the way across her back. She lifts the binoculars and studies the whole area she can see from her vantage point.

"I take it that we wish to be bored the whole time we are here," she deadpans.

[Ramona]

After a moment of cringing from the heat, Sara steps to the edge to follow her... to follow Ana. With a big grin and a whoop she hurls herself backwards towards the water with an abandon that can only be explained by a disturbingly deep love of freefall.

Ana clips herself and Sara together with a short 3m line such that they don’t get accidentally separated in the cave she also hands Sara one of the bang sticks before checking her dive knife on her calf and the folding knife she has concealed behind her weight belt.

Ana is careful to tie the guideline off to rock outcrops every 20m or so.

The cave freaks the heck out of her but she presses on, so many horrible ways to die in here, dark and claustrophobic. So many bad memories of caves.

[Tiglath]

"I take it that we wish to be bored the whole time we are here," she deadpans.

Foix keeps his eye focussed through his gunsight "Bored is less traumatic than exciting and sniper work is almost entirely watching and waiting. It's only because we are effectively on a mountain top that we can afford to talk".

Foix murmurs "There are ways to pass the time, Legionnaire Vee. An old sniper school technique - only if you are interested of course ... ?"

[joertexas]

Foix murmurs "There are ways to pass the time, Legionnaire Vee. An old sniper school technique - only if you are interested of course ... ?"

"Certainly," Vee replies.

[Starbeard]

"Everything looking good so far," Chu mutters as he gives the monitoring installation a quick once-over.

Looking over to see that Foix has taken up his sniping position, Chu crouches low and circles the perimeter of the site, looking for possible blind spots where someone might approach them unseen, at altitude or from below. He then tries to find a concealed position that will allow him as wide a view of all approaches as possible, to the sides and behind Foix's sniping position.

[Tiglath]

Foix acknowledges Chu with a laconic military "Bien". He is now confident, based on his observations thus far, that with his SMG the Colonel will ably provide flank and rear security for the team's observation post.

He looks out at the featureless sea and, while the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile, he tonelessly replies to Vee "I pick something ... beginning with S”.

[joertexas]

He looks out at the featureless sea and, while the corners of his mouth turn up in a smile, he tonelessly replies to Vee "I pick something ... beginning with S”.

"I suppose 'sea' would be cheating, so," Vee peers through her binoculars and spots a tiny bit of flat ground at the base of the cliffs. "Sand."

[lenusmars]

Ana clips herself and Sara together with a short 3m line such that they don’t get accidentally separated in the cave she also hands Sara one of the bang sticks before checking her dive knife on her calf and the folding knife she has concealed behind her weight belt.

Ana is careful to tie the guideline off to rock outcrops every 20m or so.

The cave freaks the heck out of her but she presses on, so many horrible ways to die in here, dark and claustrophobic. So many bad memories of caves.

Sara marvels at the contours of Ana's shoulder apparent through her suit as Ana is close enough to clip them together. Also there is the expression on Ana's face, a marvel of neutrality. It's the kind of face you make when you have to deal with something you don't like. Sara's blood thrums with excitement as she takes the bang stick, gives Ana's arm a quick squeeze of reassurance, and checks her own dive knife. Then she follows Ana and Squee into the dark.

[Ramona]

They follow Squee deeper into the cave, the silt kicked up by the dolphins powerful tail is filled with the dust covered faces of long dead war-boys. Their clawed hands reaching out of the swirling sands, grasping at her throat and arms, trying to pull her back into the darkness.

Ana swipes her arm through the closest ephemeral face as she anchors the rope to another outcrop, hopefully this cave of wonders was close.

[ffilz]

They follow Squee deeper into the cave, the silt kicked up by the dolphins powerful tail is filled with the dust covered faces of long dead war-boys. Their clawed hands reaching out of the swirling sands, grasping at her throat and arms, trying to pull her back into the darkness.

Ana swipes her arm through the closest ephemeral face as she anchors the rope to another outcrop, hopefully this cave of wonders was close.

I hope to have an update sometime tomorrow - sorry, last week went crazy on me, and then this weekend hasn't been much less crazy (including apparently I will be soon returning to my old employer...).

[Ramona]

Portland so it’s either a craft brewery or the unicycle guy with the flaming bagpipes.

Are our scuba masks full face with coms or googles and a stick it in your mouth regulator?

[ffilz]

Portland so it’s either a craft brewery or the unicycle guy with the flaming bagpipes.

I have a red fedora hanging on my office door... Maybe they'll give us over sized blue ones...

Are our scuba masks full face with coms or googles and a stick it in your mouth regulator?

Hmm, these are high tech... I'll assume they come with some kind of short range communicator (long range still isn't going to work well underwater...), so you can speak to each other. Squee's rig has the same kind of communicator.

[Piper]

I have a red fedora hanging on my office door... Maybe they'll give us over sized blue ones...

OOC: I Barely Make these words into any kind of sense, but I think a REaD tHAT somewhere recently. . .

[ffilz]

The suspense builds... Squee reports something alive is ahead... I will try and post this evening what it actually is...