Avastan: Planetfall

[shaidar]

Frank

"How about we configure the comm to send a short burst of a piece of music, either unencrypted or a low level of encryption, whichever is less suspicious. If it works for the Vagr... "

[BackworldTraveller]

(OOC: I was quite staggered to discover that in late WW2 SOE had mobile phone tech that they were using to contact their agents on the ground in Europe. If you re-imagine the opening scene in Narcos but insert a mosquito you're there! I suppose it shows that a given tech level shouldn't be assumed to be universal and how useful it must have been during the Cold War before the tech finally got out into the civilian market).

VHF radio works a treat! Don't underestimate the low of tech.

[The Bindoner]

Frank

"How about we configure the comm to send a short burst of a piece of music, either unencrypted or a low level of encryption, whichever is less suspicious. If it works for the Vargr... "

How 'bout this? From Mirage, it'll stand out from the local. Kind'v appropriate, in a way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXpJmlIG_nk

[Tiglath]

All in the Away Team

The team's two vehicles head through Startown and into the cold heart of Avastan City. On board comm arrangements are made. The journey is uneventful and with little trouble save a minor collision with an apparently drunk local (who ended up in a snowdrift). The ground vehicles finally park up in an alley leading onto a modestly sized open square. The entrance to Club Zoo and the club itself are on one side of the square. The square is occupied by numerous high end ground vehicles and even more Imperial made mid tech military ground vehicles but all in civilian luxury spec. These milspec/luxury transports appear to be a "must have" accessory. Each is riding low enough to indicate the inclusion of onboard armour and almost every vehicle has a couple of security contractors guarding it in addition to the chauffeur. The contractors seem to mutually ignore each other but tolerate normal citizens far less forming something of a “gauntlet” for prospective club goers.

It is apparent that masks are not a necessity this far under the air scrubbing dome over the City centre.

At the edge of the square what must be a City medical vehicle is parked in a designated bay. The careworn crew, distinguished by a beanie hat and glasses respectively philosophically smoke poor quality Avastan cigarettes as they huddle in their medics' cold weather coats. The vehicle's markings seem to mistranslate as “Coroner's Ambulance”.

In the team van Polly says “She's going to check the rear for access” the empty parka and open rear door indicate Sazanami has already left. She turns to Liv and asks “Ready?” Liv nods. Sugar eyes the humourless door staff outside the Club and states “Bin 'ere. It's all a matter of front”. She throws off her greatcoat and makes to exit the van. From the driver's seat Abel manages only a strangled “Fffnuurp!” Baker chokes on “Ygurl!” Painfully elbowed by Easy he artfully recovers with “Ygurl... catch yer deff goin' aht like that!”

Meanwhile Sugar points out Kit and says “You're wiv me. Just say you're me manager. Pay where you 'ave to and otherwise act like a thievin' git at every turn. You'll need to carry cash - Imperial and in 'andfulls. I'll call you Gel cos of yer syrup”.

At least half a plan seems to have been formed...

[Tiglath]

Freya

Please make a Sensor Ops roll

[BackworldTraveller]

Freya

Please make a Sensor Ops roll

Ooh! That could be something!

[Tiglath]

Ooh! That could be something!

(OOC: Not many! Check the OOC below for more... Can't get the staff... )

Freya is a sharp cookie and catches a burst of avionics ladar (her best guess – Imperial standard, very fast and very low) illuminating Avastan's city centre buildings (actually she caught the “scatter” north through the skyscrapers at the starport). This is just as at least three airborne objects decelerate from a hundreds of kph “sprint” from atop the 2200m high Sher Dawaza heights to the south of the City to then skirt the Old City and fly through the mid height hab blocks towards the much higher blocks of downtown's business centre. Freya is catching "sight" of them through gaps in the city's skyline. She notes that outside visibility is appalling to zero due to snow flurries. They are now moving at near 200kph.

Scroll down for city map: viewtopic.php?p=543126#p543126 NB Starport is North of the city.

Immediately focussing her efforts in that area she manages to retro decrypt:
“..ve to overwatch”.
“Copy One”
“Two”
“Three”
“Four”
“Move, move”

She then loses the ladar but is further able to pick up the following transmission:
“One. In position”. Then “Two get set. Little buddies out and standby”.
“Hawkeye to One you are ghosted on local security”.
“Copy. Will switch to lascomm once this crap clears. Standing by”.

The speakers are entirely calm and professional speaking standard Galanglic with "Imperial / neutral" accents.

(OOC: Due to exceptional success Freya has (at least temporarily) broken the encryption on the inbound comms. She has more options. The primary choice being to further prosecute the contact with an active search or continue passive monitoring.

And, although some things should technically remain hidden behind the GM's screen, it's always a comfort to remember that everyone can roll:
[2d6]=2 ).

[joertexas]

Prerna steps out with her date. "Keep your eyes open."

[BackworldTraveller]

Ooh! That could be something!

(OOC: Not many! Check the OOC below for more... Can't get the staff... )

Freya is a sharp cookie and catches a burst of avionics ladar (her best guess – Imperial standard, very fast and very low) illuminating Avastan's city centre buildings (actually she caught the “scatter” north through the skyscrapers at the starport). This is just as at least three airborne objects decelerate from a hundreds of kph “sprint” from atop the 2200m high Sher Dawaza heights to the south of the City to then skirt the Old City and fly through the mid height hab blocks towards the much higher blocks of downtown's business centre. Freya is catching "sight" of them through gaps in the city's skyline. She notes that outside visibility is appalling to zero due to snow flurries. They are now moving at near 200kph.

Scroll down for city map: viewtopic.php?p=543126#p543126 NB Starport is North of the city.

Immediately focussing her efforts in that area she manages to retro decrypt:
“..ve to overwatch”.
“Copy One”
“Two”
“Three”
“Four”
“Move, move”

She then loses the ladar but is further able to pick up the following transmission:
“One. In position”. Then “Two get set. Little buddies out and standby”.
“Hawkeye to One you are ghosted on local security”.
“Copy. Will switch to lascomm once this crap clears. Standing by”.

The speakers are entirely calm and professional speaking standard Galanglic with "Imperial / neutral" accents.

(OOC: Due to exceptional success Freya has (at least temporarily) broken the encryption on the inbound comms. She has more options. The primary choice being to further prosecute the contact with an active search or continue passive monitoring.

And, although some things should technically remain hidden behind the GM's screen, it's always a comfort to remember that everyone can roll:
[2d6]=2 ).

As the team are still aboard I'll pull up internal comms, including the ship's officers, and announce 4 imperial-style grav craft with ECM support making and operational pass. They appear to be out of NOE and approaching rapidly. Something's happening guys!

I'll also see if we can get a visual on whatever is transmitting - though that is likely to be fleeting.

[Tiglath]

(OOC: I'll add a little more detail to my last - due to exceptional exceptional success! )

Freya

Freya gets sufficient of a "sighting" to get an idea of size of the inbound objects flitting between the high buildings of downtown Avastan. Interestingly they are effectively flying NOE in and around the skyline but are seemingly able to fly faster than the standard 180kph. They are very small for grav vehicles so maybe sized for one or a most two man crews by bulk. However, the characteristics of their emissions match those of Imperial manufactured avionics (terrain avoiding ladar/radar).

As to the timing of the sensor sighting (although its actually a compilation and interpretation of a pile of data) it occurs as the away team are leaving Startown for Avastan City. However, at this range Freya is still able to place a laser comm call through Avastan's "dirty" snow to advise the away team of her findings. She notes that laser comms will be unreliable downtown due to the clutter of both buildings and snow.

[shaidar]

Frank speaks to Gaughan about a recovery team just in case and getting a g-carrier prepped for exit. "Trying to blend in as much as possible will be key"

[gurusql]

Meanwhile Sugar points out Kit and says “You're wiv me. Just say you're me manager. Pay where you 'ave to and otherwise act like a thievin' git at every turn. You'll need to carry cash - Imperial and in 'andfulls. I'll call you Gel cos of yer syrup”.

Kit

When the team exits the car with his sunglasses still on, "Gel" walks two paces behind Sugar. At casual glance it is him giving his talent some respect, but the core reason is that is the distance that he can still grab her on the shoulder. Gel is also looking around looking for the next important person that he can brag about her talent, but other than that only speaks when spoken too.

It might be nice to know what talent Sugar has for when I have to talk about it.

[The Bindoner]

by gurusql » Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:15 pm

It might be nice to know what talent Sugar has for when I have to talk about it.

She's an actress/model. Really. This is a career break.

[Tiglath]

It might be nice to know what talent Sugar has for when I have to talk about it.

(OOC: Ah, now, about that... It would seem that Sugar is "dual classed" splitting her time between soldiering (when she's broke) and having some small reputation in Collace's media firmament as a holo vid star in the rather more "racy" end of market. To borrow from Kenny Everett "It's all done in the best possible taste!" Being art... er... apparantly... )

[Tiglath]

Frank speaks to Gaughan about a recovery team just in case and getting a g-carrier prepped for exit. "Trying to blend in as much as possible will be key"

Gaughan nods and sets about gathering his rangers. They remove the G Carrier's pintel mount and external military stowage giving it a more "civilian" look - at least at first glance.

He replies to Frank "We'll be ready if they need us, sir".

[shaidar]

Frank

"Thank you Sargent, now let's get some comms organised"

Frank heads over to Freya and her team.

"Chief, can your team set up a laser drone relay to support those in the field? RF at the urban end and then a couple of laser relays back to us. Dubs can help if an extra pair of hands will speed things up"

[BackworldTraveller]

Freya
I'll try. This snow means the comms will be patchy and keeping the drones on-station will be a full-time job. For emergencies, old-fashioned radios will be more reliable!
And with this she gets Dylan and Florence to to put up the relevant sub-craft. Camp-Freddie gets to make hot-drinks and carry messages. Dougal, keeps watching the incoming raid.
What is the status of the incoming "Raid"

[Tiglath]

Freya (via Dylan)

As he monitors the sensor feed Dylan nervously reports a "temporary loss". The "raid" believed containing three or four "elements" was lost to sensor detection in the vicinity of Avastan City centre (avionics ladar/radar ceasing as they transited a cluster of larger city blocks). There has been no more radio traffic with that "signature" traceable from that locale. He comments "Hey, like, they're within a klik of our teams going clubbing - maybe one of them could take a look?" he then awkwardly adds "Sir" and then "Ma'am" in an effort to sound more military.

(OOC: You have your repurposed comms drones in flight escorting the away team vehicles. If you are going to use laser comms they will have less mission agility as they have to trace LOS back to the ship. However, they still retain their original onboard optics with IR so could be re tasked in the direct surveillance/recon role).

[shaidar]

Frank opens a channel to Prerna

"Major, a group of small vehicles trying to avoid detection has landed within a klick of your location. Do you fancy taking a look?"

[joertexas]

Frank opens a channel to Prerna

"Major, a group of small vehicles trying to avoid detection has landed within a klick of your location. Do you fancy taking a look?"

"I'm almost certain they are supporting me, er, us, Colonel. I can go look, if you like."