2156.11.6:1600 MILLION CREDIT COMM JOB

[atpollard]

Is any HE available in 12mm? Of course, it would have to fit the chamber of a X-2 12mm bolt action or revolver…tougher to do than with a break open shotgun…

Yes (HE) in 100 round boxes.
No (HEAP) which is a Military Only round found at something like Law Level 0-2. Saint Oyland is LL 4 ... banning people from walking around with SMGs.

12mm Shotgun (HE) = Box of 100 = Cr 142; 1.8 kg
12mm Pistol (ball) = Box of 100 = Cr 142; 3.5 kg
12mm Rifle (ball) = Box of 100 = Cr 212; 5.3 kg

The 12mm bolt action will fire all three (it is a cartridge length thing, but they are designed like the .454 Casull/.45 Colt/.410 Shotgun for downward compatibility).
The Pistol will fire Pistol or Shotgun cartridges.
The 12mm Shotgun is primarily a "varmint" round, but the local HE slug variant gave it some teeth.

So for your purposes, the same 12mm HE SLUG round will fit any 12mm weapon ... even a 12mm SMG or AutoRifle if you had one.
[I figured that by TL 10, they have no reason to maintain Black Powder round dimensions and can standardize such things ... go 12x75mm chambers! ]

[atpollard]

First, allow me a bit of a digression.

The Tracked ATV from X-2 was in the lead position. With 4 seats and a 1 tonne cargo capacity in the back, it was the smaller of the two vehicles, but it was more easily transported in a cargo plane and it was Arctic Hardened (to the extent that any vehicle could be, these were harsh conditions that took a toll on machinery.) While smaller, the X2 crawler was actually the slightly more capable vehicle for both speed and cross-country travel, being TL 11 to the Saint Oyland TL 9. With that capability came a lot more ELECTRONICS to repair compared to the more MECHANICAL second ATV.

Val [NPC: Pistol, Computer] was driving the lead ATV (she just drives where you tell her … she is an NPC at this point.) with Mick acting as ‘de-facto’ vehicle commander. The GUIDE [NPC: Arctic Survival, Hunting/Recon] from Saint Oyland rode in the first ATV and directed Val as Olivia [NPC: Rifle, Mechanical] rode in the back and scanned for danger with her rifle. Most of the Food and extra Cold Weather Clothing from X2 was in the lead ATV.

The Tracked ATV from Saint Oyland was in second position. With 6 seats and a 3 tonne cargo capacity, it was the larger of the two vehicles. At TL 9, it was the more “MECHANICAL” vs “ELECTRONIC” of the two. Its size and weight made it a little slower and heavier off-road, but it was more than adequate for the present task and the extra capacity might come in handy if you needed to pull a vehicle out of a snowdrift. DJ was driving with Herbie trading off as an alternate (both have wheeled/tracked vehicle skill). James [currently in NPC mode: Recon, Pistol, Engineering] was riding along and Joe [Navigation] was traveling in the second vehicle as insurance in case the ATVs got separated. Most of the extra weapons and Ammo from Saint Oyland was in the second ATV.

[OOC: If you want to change anything, the stop at 1110 is an opportunity for a “chinese fire drill” and swapping seats. I just wanted to establish a baseline with minimal fuss.]

[edit to add]
Oops … I missed something. Not critical, but stepping back to the crash site for a moment:

2156.11.7.1130 Arctic Wilderness (39 km from Comm Tower)

Herbie grabbed the box from the center console and hurried back to the second ATV. He was unsure about leaving the poor man back there, but Mick had marked the spot and the plan to come back did make sense. A tired DJ was happy to swap driving with Herbie, who completely forgot about the man and the case and everything except the excitement of driving the big ATV in the snow. It was bigger than a tractor, as large as any Combine on any farm. Herbie felt powerful behind the wheel.

So it came to pass that the case went unopened for a while. Eventually Joe noticed it just sitting there, and since “Navigating” by following the vehicle in front of you was fairly boring for a Navigator, Joe asked Herbie if he could open it. Herbie agreed and Joe explored the contents of the case.

Joe: “DJ, I think you need to see this.”

DJ was hoping for Parts and Tools. The thought that they might be missing a critical component nagged at him as much as VET’s unwillingness to help. Inside the box were binders of photocopied pages. DJ started flipping through the pages … They all bore VET logos and watermarks. Many were labeled “CONFIDENTIAL” or “RESTRICTED”. Skimming through a few random binders, DJ and Joe discovered “Security Codes” and detailed Technical Schematics for various sub-systems, including “data Encryption” and “predictive algorithms” and “signal compression”. Whoever the dead man was, he had hacked VET before heading up here to freeze to death.

[end edit to add]

2156.11.7.1230 - 200 meters from Comm Tower

The towers were the first thing you spotted. The snow had nearly stopped falling completely and the wind had died down to a 16 kph Gentle Breeze. The temperature had risen from -40 C to -35 C in just the last hour.

Rounding a curve, you arrived at an intermittent chain-link fence. The fence itself was probably intact, it just had sections visible above the snow and sections buried beneath wind-blown snow drifts (some almost 6 meters high). The guide called a halt at an open double gate in the fence.

GUIDE: “This is where I get off. We don’t trespass on VET property and they don’t trespass on our hunting. It keeps the peace. However, with the wing dying down and the dangerous cold letting up … animals will start to emerge again. Keep an eye out for foragers. When you spot them, predators can’t be far behind.” The guide climbed off with a backpack containing a shelter. “I might try hunting around here for a while. We never come this close to the Station. Perhaps I’ll get lucky. Either way, just radio when you are ready to head back and I’ll meet you back here … outside the gate.” He just walked off into the snow and quickly blended with the background.

Up ahead, there were several buildings clustered together near the antenna and rising above the snow drifts on stilts. You counted five buildings in front of three giant antennae. The level ground indicating the road seemed to circle around and approach the buildings from the antennae side. As you drove around the buildings in a large arc, you spotted an ATV parked between the Antennae and the buildings.

Arctic Station Image.jpg (91.94 KiB) Viewed 442 times

[atpollard]

[Thumper]

Having had a nap followed by some time in the cold
And sun, Mick is reinvigorated. He spends the last hour of the drive providing whatever direction is required and chatting with the guide about the habits, habitat, and living and feeding patterns, and behavior of the grazers here. He then pivots to the hunting behaviors of the predators. What are their weaknesses, how they stalk, how they attack, etc. How do the St Oylanders hunt both? Are behaviors different in darkness vs daylight?

When the site comes into view, he raises Joe on comms and asks him to make a position and status report to Bart on the stand-alone long-range planetary comm unit.

He steps out of the stopped vehicle. Assuming the buildings are roughly equal in height, he says to Olivia, Joe, and Herbie:
What d’ya think? Shooter teams of two on on Building 1 and building 3? Perfect observation vantages with one of us essentially at each of the corners.

Perhaps first we ought to explore and investigate the ATV then each of the buildings? Make sure it’s safe for repair work, then take our overwatch positions?

Question is, stay together for security or split up for sake of time? Where d’ya want to start DJ. This is your operation.

The VET ATV looks intact from here. Wonder if it works still.

He’s trying to correlate the images of the blood stains and grainy video with what he sees now. Can he discern which building the blood was in?

He loads his X-2 18mm pump action with St Oyland 000 buck shot, his Howdah with #1 shells. HE is in loaded in everything else. Straps his arsenal on. Kinda looks stupid with the large number and assortment of weapons. He doesn’t care…just wants to be ready for anything.

[shaidar]

DJ

DJ exits the ATV, bringing with him his revolver, shotgun and electronics kit.

He shades his eyes from the sun as best he can and looks over the three buildings, looking for signs to indicate what each building houses, or tries to deduce it from the various cables to the masts, etc.

"The obvious place to start would be the largest building." he gestures towards building 3 "I heard there was a store room of some kind, that might be it. It's got an obvious way in and we can check out the ATV on the way."

[atpollard]

The buildings were all of modular construction and set on pilings high above the frozen ground.

BUILDING 1: the largest and tallest of the structures was completely elevated with three distinct levels above the ground level. Access was gained through a metallic grate platform to the second level that was itself accessed via a very tall metallic grate stair. There was an external balcony on the third level that offered ladder access to a small platform at the roof level. Although there was no intentional external access from the second level platform to the third floor balcony, a large piece of equipment mounted to the platform appeared to offer the opportunity to climb to the balcony. At one end of the First level, the wall was recessed from the edge of the floor creating a ledge around a portion of the building. This recess extended through the second level creating a two story external alcove sheltered from above by the projecting third level.

BUILDING2 and BUILDING 5 were similar, but not quite identical. Both contained a small room with a door on the ground floor (currently blocked by snow drifts) and two levels above that with no external openings visible.

BUILDINGS 3 & 4 were absolutely identical except for orientation. Each consisted of a single level raised on stilts with a single door accessed via a long, metal stair. The bottom of the stairs were buried in snow drifts, but easily accessed by walking over the snow with snowshoes. The doors were visible, clear of snow and painted bright red [Anyone with ENGINEERING-0 or higher will identify these as modular power units ... like mini-"Starship Power Plants"].

DJ: (Comm Roll = [10]) From the position of the buildings and the differences in the antennae. Your best guess is that T1 is the Broadcast Antenna that relays the signal to Ville d'Esploir and T2 and its matching T3 (equidistant and further north of Building 5) are the Receiving antennae from the Satellite. That would make Building 5 the Receiver Station that processes the incoming signal from T2 and T3, with Building 4 powering the Reviving half of the station. Building 3 would be the power for the Broadcast portion of the station with Building 2 being the Broadcast Station with the signal processing transformers that send the signal to T1. That just leaves Building 1 as the Command Center for processing and monitoring everything between Building 5 receiving data and Building 2 rebroadcasting it.

[shaidar]

DJ

In my previous post I meant to say he gestures towards building 1

DJ nods to himself as he works it through in his head.

"Yeah, the closest building is where we want to be at. If it's the command centre, like I think it is, it'll be able to tell us where the problem is."

[atpollard]

Adding data to help ...



I will correct the labels with the next revision to clarify; the "Ground" floor of Building 1 is an elevated level, so I renamed the floors in the description. you can walk under it as indicated in the overall "Ground" plan.





... obviously, no interiors are visible until you enter a building.

[Eris]

Joe places a call to Bart, "We have arrived, beginning explorations prior to repair."

He then buttons up his vacc suit, takes the weapons Mick advised him on, and exits the ATV. Joe climbs atop the ATV and scans the area. He'll use this as a vantage point for overwatch until the group decides on their next moves.

"Mick, I've got overwatch from atop the ATV." comms Joe on short range, "When you and Olivia set up an overwatch closer in I can move forward into the first building and start a security walk through to make sure it's safe. Herbie, how about you and Jim joining me on the walkthrough. We need to keep DJ safe as he's the repair man, so you stay behind us."

"Agreed?"

[Thumper]

MICK:

Gotcha DJ.

Ok Joe, Olivia and I will give a cursory inspection of the VET ATV to make sure it’s safe on our way up to Building 1. We’ll set up on the platform before the front door and take overwatch from there. Once we take a peek at that ATV, perhaps Val, Jim, and DJ can look at the abandoned ATV a little closer for anything useful..

Val, DJ, and Jim…if you’re ok with that, we’ll signal ya when we clear ya in.

Olivia, shall we?

He’ll snowshoe it over to the abandoned ATV … the pump shotgun at shoulder ready as he moves. He gives Olivia an appraising look as the two work together and grins. Army tactics are Olivia’s specialty so he’ll follow her lead with approaching the vehicle.

[Hvalreki]

"."

"Herbie, how about you and Jim joining me on the walkthrough. We need to keep DJ safe as he's the repair man, so you stay behind us."

"Agreed?"

"You got it Joe!"

While Mick and Oliva snowshoe to the parked ATV, Herbie gets ready to move. He takes one of the new scoped rifles and holsters a shot pistol for a side arm next to his bayonet and entrenching tool. He checks magazine pouches to confirm they are loaded and for good measure puts a box of HE shot in the medical pack.

"I'm bringing the box we found DJ 'case you need it." This Herbie tightly lashes to the bottom of his pack with adjustable straps to keep it secure.

He clicks the headlamp on to make sure it works, then quickly off again and flashes a thumbs up to Joe and awaits for the word to go.

I'm retconning the purchase of magazines and cleaning gear for the new weapons. Herbie has 8 mags, 1 in the weapon but not charged yet, (just like they taught him in basic), 6 in web pouches and one holdout mag in a zippered pocket inside his cold weather jacket.

I'm not entirely clear on the shot pistols, are they breech loaded? If so do we carry shells in bandoliers or on the belt?

[shaidar]

DJ

DJ grins under his mask, finally starting to feel the adrenaline "That all sounds good to me, let's do this!"

DJ has 12 spare rounds for the revolver plus the fast loader in one pocket of his coat, the other pocket has 12 HE rounds for the shotgun. It's pump action, so it also be loaded with 6 (?) rounds

[atpollard]

DJ

DJ has 12 spare rounds for the revolver plus the fast loader in one pocket of his coat, the other pocket has 12 HE rounds for the shotgun. It's pump action, so it also be loaded with 6 (?) rounds

Spoiler alert ... read at your own caution:

I think so, but (HINT) ... anything you shoot in the next hour, you will just need to fix, so 5 rounds vs 6 rounds vs 10 rounds is not critical. It may become important later, but first you need to figure out what is broken. I'll look it up before it becomes important.

[atpollard]

2156.11.7.1240 - Arctic Complex “VET” ATV (20 meters from Building 1)

Joe was perched on the roof keeping watch. Without the wind, the little sunlight received from low in the southern sky felt good on his back … and nicely illuminated his field of view in every direction except due south (which was partially blocked by your ATVs making it safer than the unknown of the buildings.

Mick and Olivia trudged over to the ATV. For all their advantages, one simply cannot “hurry” in snowshoes. However they were far preferable to attempting to plow through the snow from point A to point B which would have been both dead slow and exhausting. Arriving at the ATV, you discovered it securely closed up and in excellent condition. The original crew had left the vehicle in an orderly manner and followed protocol to secure their vehicle. It was unlocked (who would steal it in this remote wilderness and quick access might mean life or death in an emergency).

Inside it was still stocked with food and cages of parts. Mick had no way to know what might be missing, but nothing appeared out of place and everything seemed neat. It looked like they might return at any moment and drive back. Certain that there was no danger, Mick and Olivia moved on to Building One.

Mick had studied the images to try and locate the blood stain. It was certainly located at the bottom of a metal stair. The problem was that all the stairs were identical industrial stairs, probably purchased in bulk, and nothing from THIS angle and sunlight looked like the week-old images. The sun and snow had both changed significantly.

DJ watched from the ATV, eager to get started. Joe scanned from the roof constantly … expecting a threat to leap from long shadows, but the threat never came. Just Mick and Olivia, slowly trudging over the snow and constantly scanning for trouble.

Mick arrived at the foot of the stair up to Building One. As he approached, he suddenly started to recognize the shapes and shadows. THIS was the stair with the blood. As Olivia took point up the stair, Mick stopped at the bottom long enough to clear a patch of snow from the concrete pad at the foot of the ladder and visually confirm the blood stains from the video. This was the spot. The team from X-2 must have approached the buildings from the opposite direction. Straight from the gate rather than following the curve of the road. The video was shot from the opposite direction.

Mick removed his snowshoes and buried up the ladder to catch up with Olivia. Once Mick was on the Platform, Olivia signaled that she was heading “UP” and began to climb. There was an equipment box on the platform [Mick suspected it was part of the air filtration system … it looked like a giant version of his “Tent” Filter.]. Olivia climbed the equipment boz to the balcony above and disappeared briefly around the side of the building to reappear on a small platform at the Roof Level. She set up a sniper roost overlooking the area between the ATVs and Building One. Mick scanned from the platform where he had a better view under the buildings.

At the signal from Mick, Joe climbed down from the roof of the ATV and Herbie led DJ towards Building One as Joe and Jim covered the rear. Val secured the ATVs and listened to the COMM for instructions.

2156.11.7.1300 - Arctic Complex - Building 1
Mick, DJ, Joe, Herbie and Jim were gathered on the platform [S1] outside the heavy door that marked the entrance to the building. Olivia was on the Roof platform [R1] keeping watch.

[OOC: There was a little confusion about a cursory sweep of the building and a detailed search of the ATV … so I will pause here for clarification.]

Condition of the VET ATV - Roll = [10] … very good.

[Thumper]

I had envisioned Mick and Olivia just checking for security of the ATV then letting the techies get a closer look at inventory while Olivia and Mick repositioned to the building.

Mick will point out the blood stains at the bottom of the stairs. Best be prepared now. Olivia, can you hold the crows nest while I work my way through the building to you?

Turning to Joe and Herbie he asks: I think two of us outta lead the group into and through the building while one of us provides a rear guard. What position do ya want?

Intent is to enter and clear the building as a group.

[Eris]

I had envisioned Mick and Olivia just checking for security of the ATV then letting the techies get a closer look at inventory while Olivia and Mick repositioned to the building.

Mick will point out the blood stains at the bottom of the stairs. Best be prepared now. Olivia, can you hold the crows nest while I work my way through the building to you?

Turning to Joe and Herbie he asks: I think two of us outta lead the group into and through the building while one of us provides a rear guard. What position do ya want?

Intent is to enter and clear the building as a group.

"Either way." Joe shrugs and as he speaks first says, "I'll cover our six while you and Herbie take point. Just be careful. Something in or around here is a killer. Let's not add it its body count."

[atpollard]

I had envisioned Mick and Olivia just checking for security of the ATV then letting the techies get a closer look at inventory while Olivia and Mick repositioned to the building.

Oh, the inefficiencies of an egalitarian democracy command structure.

[atpollard]

2156.11.7.1310 - Arctic Complex - Building 1

The main entrance was a purely mechanical door with a giant lever in the center of the door that rotated to unlock it. The handle itself appeared to be made of some advanced ceramic, probably to resist embattlement in extreme cold, and its length made it easy to grab while providing leverage for turning. As the lever turned, mechanical noises could be heard from inside the door until a loud lock announced that it would turn no more. Then simple force pulled the door open as ice popped off the giant hinges and it creaked open revealing its thickness and the mechanical restraining bolts mounted to its inner surface (currently withdrawn).

Mick stepped first through a short tunnel-like passage, followed by Herbie, DJ, Jim and Joe bringing up the rear. The interior was dark. As Mick cleared the short tunnel, he felt the floor change from solid to an open grate. It took about 30 seconds for the lights to slowly power up to full brightness and a warm breeze began to blow up through the metal grate of the floor. Joe closed the door behind him and turned the lever on the inside of the door. The mechanism must have been spring loaded or weighted in some manner because as soon as Joe got the lever past a quarter turn, it continued on its own fully seating the eight bolts around the perimeter of the door.

Everyone was gathered in some sort of airlock or vestibule [S2] and looking around, the entrance “tunnel” was clearly some sort of security scanner. The snow melted off of you and dripped through the grate as the warm air thoroughly dried you off. Directly ahead was a glass wall with sliding doors that led to some sort of office [S3] with a side door visible through the glass. To your right was a wall of fixed glass with a room full of “racks” of electronics beyond it. There were three tall lockers along the right wall of [S2]. For ten minutes, you searched in vain for anything that might open the glass doors to the office, but there were simply no controls in this room.

[atpollard]

2156.11.7.1320 - Arctic Complex - Building 1

The wind from the floor stopped as abruptly as it started and a mechanical voice announced “Decontamination complete.” The lighting intensity lowered slightly and lights began turning on in both the Office [S3] and room past the glass wall [S5]. This time, as Mick approached the glass doors, they automatically slid open.

As the goal was a quick recon rather than a thorough search, the group moved quickly from room to room scanning general contents and looking for trouble. The side door in the office slid open with a simple push button control to reveal a short corridor [S4] with a door at one end and a ladder up at the other end. Joe and Jim stood watch at the base of the ladder as Mick and Herbie pressed forward into the Second Level. [S5] contained racks of servers with an open grate covering part of the floor. The door to [S6] contained a keycode security lock, but there was a piece of paper taped above it with the word “CODE” followed by a 6 digit number. Entering the number unlocked the door allowing you to access a Workshop [S6]. A second security door within the workshop led to [S7], but that door was locked and the security code from the first door was “INVALID”. At the far end of [S5] was a glass door and a fixed glass panel with a security keypad. You couldn’t open it easily, but you could see through it that room [F3] contained some control panels and a supercomputer [Starship Model/1]. Conduits ran under the floor from the computer and into room [S5] (visible through the grate with a flashlight). You noted that spaces [F4/F5] were only half a level deep (1.5 meters) with space [F3] extending 4.5 meters high (levels First and Second). Note that [F2] is an exterior space.

[atpollard]

2156.11.7.1325 - Arctic Complex - Building 1

Returning to the ladder and popping up into [T1] … feeling very exposed as you did so … you entered another short corridor. The door to the north opened into a tiny “stateroom” with no sign of any occupants or recent use. To the south, a glass wall with sliding doors separated the corridor from a room with control panels [T3] and a second glass wall with sliding doors. Beyond those doors lay a room full of electronics in racks [T4] plus a few specialized racks in cabinets of a different color. The entire west wall of [T4] was glass and glass doors with more components in racks [T5] beyond. At the far end of [T5] a glass wall with sliding doors separated off a room with RED component racks. In the west wall of [T5], a door with a mechanical latch labeled “EMERGENCY USE ONLY - ALARM” was located in the exterior wall and led to the upper balcony and roof access. (FYI: the door to [T8] is exterior and locked.)

Given the completely abandoned “feel” of the structure, and recognizing several areas from the original “search video” … you speculate that the original search party headed straight for this building, saw the blood, scanned the inside even faster than you just did and ran back to X-2 reporting everyone disappeared without a trace. Who knows what really happened or what evidence is now buried under the snow …