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Mission 2

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:38 pm
by Lars Porsenna
Even at a 1.5g acceleration burn, it still takes Bun-bun a few days to reach the nadir jumppoint below the star's south pole. Nonetheless, the Union-class dropper is met by an old, weathered Scout-class jumpship, with a conspicuously empty dropship docking collar. Jack informs you that their original jumpship is nearby, but not fully charged. But the new jumper opens a channel, and hails your ship.

Jack listens intently for several minutes, smiles, and turns to you. "Weeeellll," he says, drawing out the word as he rubs his hands together. "Looks like we have a new job."

He waives you over to the ship's holotank. He fiddles witht he controls for several seconds, frowns, and gives the unit a swift but pronounced kick, which causes him to hop up and down in pain. Meanwhile, the empty air above the unit fills with an obvious stellar cartography map of the local neighborhood. "Here we are," he says, pointing at an insignificant looking star outside the Successor States. "And here is our next job," he points at another insignificant looking star within a purple shaded boundary, which you guess must be within the Successor States. "Apparently, some schmuck took out a 'loan' to pick up an Ostscout. They defaulted on that 'loan.' We're here to 'reposess' it."

He waives a hand, and a schematic on the Ostscout comes up. It's a very rare mech, and unfamiliar for many of you. Long legged, with a strange pod-like torso, its arms end in a pair of sensor wands, giving it a very inhuman appearance. Looking at the technical data, you see that it is also very fast, over 120kph running. A mech like that can't have much armor. "But these things are so rare, and the sensors package so good, they sell regularly at perhaps 3 times the normal cost for a mech of this size. And we're gonna take it back..."

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:14 pm
by erilar
Lenny pipes up. "Will this be a ground operation then, sir? I mean, I assume it will be easier to storm the 'mech bay and neutralize the crew rather than catch the thing when it's actually got a pilot in it, right? What kind of facility is the thing housed in anyway?"

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 5:01 pm
by NukeHavoc
erilar wrote:Lenny pipes up. "Will this be a ground operation then, sir? I mean, I assume it will be easier to storm the 'mech bay and neutralize the crew rather than catch the thing when it's actually got a pilot in it, right? What kind of facility is the thing housed in anyway?"
"And by "we", you mean "us" right? Because that whole friendly fire strategy of yours isn't going to work if we're trying to catch this thing intact..." -- Nigel

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:31 pm
by Lars Porsenna
Jack looks at the two of you, clearly trying to come up with a come-back. After several seconds, it becomes apparent he doesn't have anything, so instead he belches loudly. "That's the plan...

"We're going to hit the world of Sierra. It's a little crapsack world on the edge of the Periphery. Now our vic...er...debtor has been hiding out here for several months, along with the 'package.' It's our job to get it.

"That's where you all come in.

"All you've got to do is sneak in there, find out where the mech is, and I'll come in and pilot it out. You guys can provide close escort, to make sure no other, umm, 'interested' parties try to interfere. Any questions?"

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 5:53 am
by NukeHavoc
Lars Porsenna wrote:"All you've got to do is sneak in there, find out where the mech is, and I'll come in and pilot it out. You guys can provide close escort, to make sure no other, umm, 'interested' parties try to interfere. Any questions?"
"Just about the part about you driving a hideously expensive mech to the rendezvous point. It seems to me it would be best if you waited at the dropship for us, and we drove the mech out. We get the mech out in one piece, you get, what's that phrase again -- oh, yes -- plausible deniability." -- Nigel

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:33 am
by erilar
Lenny taps his nose with the pointer finger of one hand while pointing at Nigel with the other.

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:13 am
by Lars Porsenna
"Plausable deniability, eh?" he seems to mull this over. "Hey Fred! What sort of booze does Sierra have?"

One of the bridge crew, who you assume is named Fred, taps some buttons and then replies, "Some microbreweries, and a small but lively moonshine business. Local government turns a blind eye to it, so it's fairly available. But the major alcohol producing industry seems to be centered around various fruity wine coolers; the Sierra Mountain brand is well known in the local systems around them..."

"Wine coolers!" Jack exclaims, "That's for girls. Still, booze is booze. I think we have a plan here!"

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:40 am
by erilar
Lenny snickers. "Moonshine... blind eye... get it - heh!"

Noticing all the blank stares from Jack and the bridge crew, Lenny ventures, "See, if they don't distill it properly... Ugh, never mind...", and walks away sulking and shaking his head.

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:01 am
by Lars Porsenna
The Bun-bun settles into the docking collar of the Scout-class jumpship with a number of metallic thuds as the coupling gear secures the ship. Within an hour, the jumpship makes the translation from Hardisey's Haven to Sierra almost instantly. Yet, during the translation, your universe is compressed down to a 2-dimensional one that is always disconcerting to someone who does not frequently engage in space travel. Nonetheless, the 20.6Ly journey is accomplished with no expenditure of time, and the Bun-bun de-couples several AU from the northern pole of the tiny yellow sun.

The burn in-system is much more leasurely than the last mission, with the dropship making 1G accelleration. You are more comfortable under normal gravity, and are able to get quite a bit of maintenance done on your mechs. Traffic is sparse, but nonetheless, you encounter a Mule-class cargo dropper on its way out to the jumppoint -- relatively speaking a close call at 60,000km.

Within a week, the 3,500t Union-class dropship settles outside of the capital city of New Nevada at the planetary spaceport. Terrain here is relatively dry, though not nearly as bad as the terrain back on Galatea. Mostly it is scrubland, broken up by the occasional rolling hill or rain gully, with mountains and the capital off in the distance. Lowering the cargo door, you and Jack drive out in a couple of ground cars. Jack doesn't even wait to say farewell, but instead heads off at a fair speed towards town. You do as well, but at a more reasonable velocity.

New Nevada looks quite a bit more upscale than your previous port, with ferrocrete roads, and buildings constructed from a combination of brick and sheet metal. Flags fly from poles, and the population looks well scrubbed.

What do you do now?

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:18 am
by NukeHavoc
erilar wrote:Lenny snickers. "Moonshine... blind eye... get it - heh!"

Noticing all the blank stares from Jack and the bridge crew, Lenny ventures, "See, if they don't distill it properly... Ugh, never mind...", and walks away sulking and shaking his head.
OOC: I love this campaign. :)

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:19 am
by NukeHavoc
"Sooo Jack, who's the owner? An individual or a consortium? Who are we looking for here?" -- Nigel.

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:33 am
by Lars Porsenna
OOC: I'm assuming you're texting or calling on a cell?

Jack replies back: "Ummm, some dude name Christophos Tsaka-laka-yabba-dabba-doo. Can't pronounce the name, too complex. Mech jock. Maybe try the local hang-out?"

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:47 am
by NukeHavoc
Lars Porsenna wrote:OOC: I'm assuming you're texting or calling on a cell?
OOC: I wanted to ask that before we got off the ship. Not point talking in the clear if we don't have to.

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:54 am
by Lars Porsenna
NukeHavoc wrote:
OOC: I wanted to ask that before we got off the ship. Not point talking in the clear if we don't have to.
OOC: OK, you manage to corralle him before he takes off. He looks really anxious though . "Anything else?"

Damon.

Re: Mission 2

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:06 am
by NukeHavoc
Lars Porsenna wrote:"Anything else?"
"Why so nervous Jack? We're doing good works here, re-uniting property with its rightful owner, right?"

ken