Traveller Writeup!
Feb. 7th, 2009 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
realsorienWow. I got it done! I know this isn't my best work, but my notes were scantier in places than usual. I also know that some of the players got shorted on quotes and actions, and I do apologize for that- I'll add stuff if you all let me know what I missed! Anyway, here it is. :)
We return to the crew of the Silhouette in flight, having left behind the events within the XX system- there was little else that they could do, and the actual threat of the insurrection was thoroughly defused. However, the event has left Deyn even more concerned about their repeated contacts with the agencies of Pelinoboc, and he spends much of his time in research and analysis. He has a theory, and he truly hopes that he's wrong.
Their heading once again coreward, returning to whence they came- four months go by as they jump from system to system, each of the crew pursuing their own agendas. Deyn has his research, Maddox being reclusive and mysterious as usual, Luke working on booby-trapping his weaponry and Keisha learning the finer points and techniques of Astrogation... The Naval Way. In other words, Maddox and Deyn put her through hell to make SURE she can do what she needs to!
They eventually arrive at the Rax system, where there are hundreds of thousands of ships! The volume is so high that even the lanes about the gas giant are controlled. Maddox requests that they go in and spend some 'leg stretch' time onworld; he's thinking a day or so, Deyn is thinking a week or so... Maddox doesn't seem to grasp this whole 'shore leave' concept. Regardless, Keisha agrees, and System Control is contacted.
Things are a lot tighter than they're used to- they are assigned a lane at the gas giant to refuel, and get hailed as they continue past what would be a normal load for a ship of their size. They explain that they have expansion bladders aboard, and their route is extended. Eight hours after this finds them docking at Station. "Isn't this a Celebrity-class station?" Says Deyn. "I think so..." Replies Maddox. "Ah. It is," Deyn continues. "But they've expanded it tremendously. You can see the modification lines... Didn't one of these get blown at Karissa?" "I think so- That was spectacular!" Maddox says this and Keisha rolls her eyes at the pair.
Everyone debarks to follow their own paths. Four months of travel in cramped quarters is enough to fray the most ironclad of nerves, after all. Luke heads for the TAS (Traveller's Aid Society) partly out of habit, as even though he no longer want's for cash, old habits die hard. His plan is to spend as much time as possible in the pool and water-park facilities.
Deyn heads to the Rows, the portion of the station (or one of- the station is huge!) where the bars and restaurants are located. His first stop is a place called the 'Floated Boat', a nautical-themed bar- his plan is to barhop the evening away and spend the night somewhere not onboard the ship!
Keisha decides that it's once again time to go shopping! She's after 'proper' Aslan clothing. Initially she has some trouble finding what she's after- most of the retailers here deal with replications of Aslan fashions and aren't what she's after. However, she eventually encounters a human male who offers her assistance. She's a bit leery, getting some 'creepy' vibes off the man, but he takes her to what is called the 'Tin Tailor'. It seems to be a form of Fabricator, similar to that aboard the ship, but restricted to textiles. Despite her suspicions, the device does produce an acceptable array of outfits for her.
Maddox, not being told otherwise by the rest of the crew goes to the military supply office to resupply the ship. He makes his order, but finds that he has to wait two days for the Leurani drugs he needs for Luke (If Luke were to be injured or ill). He's not happy, but accepts it. He then asks the corporal at the desk where he should go for GOOD food, money not being an object- Sandbornes is the place. He knows, being as this IS a military controlled facility that he's being monitored; he tries to spot the monitor, but utterly fails and ends up talking to the wall.
A few hours pass and Deyn moves on to another bar. This one is Vargr, comically named 'Tags & Wags' in Galactic- Something totally different in Vargr of course. He feels comfortable there, not having been in a Vargr establishment or around more than a scant few Vargr for a VERY long time- like years. While he doesn't interact heavily, the fact that Vargr communicate nearly as much in bodymotion and scent, he enjoys the evening and eventually finds that the entire day has passed. He finds a decent hotel for the night, and rests.
Luke has little trouble finding the TAS facility. Like most everything else here it's a huge installation, with all the amenities a traveling person could ever desire. He checks in, then heads for the water. LOTS of water. Being Leurani, his second home is in the water, and he thoroughly enjoys himself. He overhears a human bragging about his swimming prowess, and while the man goes on he notes a woman watching him dive, flip and cavort, and sees her look of amusement at her companions braggadocio. His time passes far quicker than he'd have liked.
Maddox finds his way to Sandbornes, which turns out to be a restaurant supply retailer. He is greeted by one of the staff, a rather unctuous man who looks at his dress, basic coveralls, with some disdain. He asks about food for shipboard use, of high quality. and in return is asked how much he plans to spend. When he tells the man to 'try to keep the charges under two million', he becomes INCREDIBLY friendly and helpful! Maddox stocks up on gourmet food, orders luxury cigars and then waddles his way back to the ship, packed full of the gourmet samplings they offered him. He's greeted perkily by Percy, and heads straight to bed after a glass of water provided by the disturbingly-cheery robot. The night ends for all with no disasters... For once.
In the morning, the three wayward crewmates in turn return to the ship, being greeted by Percy- the robot is decidedly becoming disturbing in its cheery mannerisms. They learn of the delay, and Deyn, remembering that they're down two gravbikes, goes off to obtain replacements. He chooses a pair of 400 kph custom units for 120,000 credits total, and has them delivered to the ship; thereafter, he proceeds to the station library and records office to get data-dumps of transit records and historical events to add to his continuing research, returning to the ship thereafter.
In the meantime, Keisha heads out with the intent to dance and while the night away enjoying herself at a place called Emeralds. She has an excellent evening, this time returning to the ship rather than using a hotel.
Upon his return, Deyn drags Maddox away from the ship a ways. He explains his suspicions to Maddox, asking him to consider possible connections with the events of his career. Maddox is dubious, but agrees to think on the matter; shortly thereafter the Corporal from the military supply depot arrives with the goods! They bring it all in, stock it, and Maddox has Deyn fetch something special- Some of the cryostored cigars! Fine scotch is shared, and after the corporal leaves the food delivery arrives, along with the unctuous sales rep from Sandbournes! He also is treated to a cigar, and tells them that they will be welcome at any of their facilities.
Maddox decides to do something nice for the corporal. he arranges for a for a full-course banquet to be arranged for him 'and a guest', to be held at the Sandbournes facility as they do have dining rooms. The event is set up, and Maddox makes plans for the next day- as he knows the corporal will be manning the military side of the depot, he's going to look into more unusual supplies not available to civilians.
The next morning comes and Maddox prepares to head to the depot. Unlike the previous visit, he dresses in full-blues and insignia to make it less likely that problems will arise for his presence there. Deyn asks if Maddox wants him to tag along- he demurs, as it might be pushing things as-is.
However, the full-dress option backfires when he gets there- the corporal, who recognized his name earlier has mentioned his presence to his fellows, and the gawkers are thick as fleas! He's rapidly pushed well past his comfort limits by the well-wishers and hero-worshippers, and completes his business as rapidly as possible; however, it takes the corporal shooing off his friends and compatriots to even get to this point. Maddox departs rapidly, and without the go-ahead from Keisha starts prepping the ship to pull out of station.
Fortunately, everyone IS aboard at the time, and Keisha decides, once she sees the look in his eye, to let it go. However, he doesn't complete the sequence, leaving the bridge and holing up in his room to avoid contact with his crewmates. Deyn ends up taking her out. With nothing untoward happening in their transit, the Silhouette jumps away towards their next destination: Ontar. This is another Class-A starport system, with a naval and scout base both.
For the entire time in jump, Maddox stays sequestered in his room. The rest of the crew take it in stride and go about their usual activities, Deyn in particular incorporating his newest data into his research. Eventually the familiar sensation of jump-exit is felt, and they return to realspace at Ontar.
However... Something is VERY wrong. Ship sensors and the UAT's indicate that there are only 30 ships insystem. Deyn scans the comm bands and finds that the most recent transmissions are days old, barring some static-laden, unreadable bursts. "Commander?" He calls over comm. "What?" Maddox growls back. "You'd best get up here. We have a Situation." Maddox reluctantly drags himself to the bridge. Continuing attempts at contact, Deyn gets nothing but ancient static from the starport, no response at all to his hails. "I'm bringing the weapons live." Deyn states.
He continues checking for transmissions and weapons signatures and finds that nukes have been used. "I have nuclear weapon's signatures, Captain. There has been fire exchanged here. May we go live on the nukes?" He asks. Keisha agrees, as they round the gas giant and come into position on the naval base. To their horror, its gone- just an expanding debris-field. The scout base and starport are likewise gone. Deyn registers a ship coming into their sensor view, fortunately at a great distance, the image lagged by lightspeed- suddenly, the vessel is blasted from some form of energy weapon from the surface of the system's inhabited world!
Neither Deyn nor Maddox have seen the like before- however, Luke has. "Good. There are some left..." He says, and refuses to explain further. He takes his position in the turret as the nukes go live, the Silhouette diving deeper insystem. Maddox cuts the transponder transmission to lower their chances of being targeted as well. Keisha makes an attempt to contact Jeff on the Pioneer, but is unable for whatever reason to make contact. For now, they're alone.
As they move in, they gain more and more information- the 30, now 29 ships insystem range from 200 to 800 tons, which to Deyn's mind reflects a military-range of size. All of them are of unknown configuration, and all of them are in varying orbits about the inhabited world. Deyn says, "Captain, A battle has occurred here. We may wish to get out of the system and inform whom we can..." Keisha doesn't agree, wanting to get more information, but does decide to contact the Pioneer.
Before this happens, another ship is blasted from orbit, then another- however, there is retaliatory fire... "That was a 200 megaton impact, Captain," Deyn states, and another ship is destroyed. This is soon followed by another nuclear strike. The numbers are dropping though- there are now only 23 ships left! "They're going to burn down the planet..." Deyn says, almost resigned. "We're moving as fast as we can!" Maddox snaps back. They've committed to do what they can, now knowing that there ARE survivors!
Deyn starts receiving tight transmissions from the planet, but it takes some work to get a clear transmission. Finally, he has it: "Unidentified Imperial ship, this is Commander Graves of the Imperial Marines- what forces do you have? How many ships?" "This is the Ardith's Silhouette, Commander. I'm afraid we're alone." Deyn replies. "Well, get done here- we need all the help we can get!" "We're en route, Commander. How many do you have to evac?" The answer is not what Deyn is expecting, though it IS heartening: "6.2 billion, Silhouette. We're not going anywhere."
They discuss attacking the enemy vessels, but no way can be determined to do it- contact is made with Commander Graves again, and they plot out how to reach the surface. They're given coordinates, and the Commander will provide covering fire as they hit the atmosphere! Maddox at the helm, they come in hot, and right at the edge of the Silhouette's capabilities; as they do, three more of the enemy ships are burned out of the sky! They're guided in to what looks to be a blast site, and land, going cold (shutting down everything short of the main power core) when they do.
They all don armor, Luke getting into his Battle Dress and gather the weapons and gear they might need, and wait. Soon they start feeling... Tremors? And the forest seems to shake; trees start to fall, and then the biggest land-vehicle that any of them save for Luke has seen breaks into view- a BOLO. What a BOLO is, is a siege-tank taken to the extreme; its what was shooting down the enemy ships, and it is a truly colossal weapon-system. Both Deyn and Maddox are left near-speechless.
The vast machine levels weapons at them, and shortly thereafter a large tentacle-device swings down towards them, looking them over. A hatch opens in the main hull, and they get their first view of Commander Yisilia Graves. her uniform is simple, showing only rank, and she drops down to meet them.
They discuss what's going on, and introductions are made. Keisha identifies the crew as Imperial Secret Service, eliciting an unseen wince from Deyn, but the Commander seems to be unimpressed. She presses them into service, utilizing them as best as she sees fit- Deyn, Maddox and Luke are to act as forward observers, while Keisha, due to her psychic abilities will be in the BOLO, named Benji, with the Commander. The new grav bikes are taken out, with Luke simply using the grav-features of his Battle Dress. Their formation is a wedge ahead of the BOLO, Deyn to the port, Luke up the center and Maddox, starboard, all running kilometers ahead of the huge war machine.
During this deployment, Deyn manages to spot four targets, two tanks, an LAV and a heavily armored transport- All are eliminated as Benji, who has uplinked to Deyn's cybernetic eye via his wristcomp. The transport is destroyed last via lasers, the rest by the main gun of the BOLO. Maddox spots troops, and when they're taken out, Maddox can identify their species- Human and Vargr! He relays this, Commander Graves being taken aback by the data. Deyn says, "Commander Graves, did you see on any of the enemy forces a symbol similar to this?" And he describes the Pelinoboc symbol. Benji replies, "There is an 89.6% chance that we have encountered this." "Damn. DAMN it." Growls Deyn. "We'll have to talk after this, Commander."
In the midst of all this another troop manages to approach Luke, but his FGMP-15 fries the lot. While all this occurs, Keisha tries again to reach Jeff telepathically. She succeeds, but the connection seems broken and tenuous: "... Yes? Who is this?" Jeff says. "This is Keisha- We've run into a situation. Ontar system is being invaded!" "You're where? Oh. Yes. Yes. I'm rather busy. We're in it too. This seems to be Empire-wide... I have to go." And the connection is broken.
Then, Deyn spots a building, the symbol of Pelinoboc on the side of it. "I may have a command center." He says. "All observers to the rear," orders Benji, and as they retreat, fire comes in on the BOLO- force screens start some of it, but he is hit, just a bit. Benji returns fire and the installation is leveled. Shortly thereafter a second BOLO links up. They discuss the matter, with Keisha passing on what little she got from Jeff. Expressions harden all around as the enormity of the situation sinks in, and the plan becomes this- find the lead ship to take out the leaders of the force, and see if the same weakness exists with the invasion force as with their last up-close encounter with the enemy.
And we leave off there, until the next episode!
We return to the crew of the Silhouette in flight, having left behind the events within the XX system- there was little else that they could do, and the actual threat of the insurrection was thoroughly defused. However, the event has left Deyn even more concerned about their repeated contacts with the agencies of Pelinoboc, and he spends much of his time in research and analysis. He has a theory, and he truly hopes that he's wrong.
Their heading once again coreward, returning to whence they came- four months go by as they jump from system to system, each of the crew pursuing their own agendas. Deyn has his research, Maddox being reclusive and mysterious as usual, Luke working on booby-trapping his weaponry and Keisha learning the finer points and techniques of Astrogation... The Naval Way. In other words, Maddox and Deyn put her through hell to make SURE she can do what she needs to!
They eventually arrive at the Rax system, where there are hundreds of thousands of ships! The volume is so high that even the lanes about the gas giant are controlled. Maddox requests that they go in and spend some 'leg stretch' time onworld; he's thinking a day or so, Deyn is thinking a week or so... Maddox doesn't seem to grasp this whole 'shore leave' concept. Regardless, Keisha agrees, and System Control is contacted.
Things are a lot tighter than they're used to- they are assigned a lane at the gas giant to refuel, and get hailed as they continue past what would be a normal load for a ship of their size. They explain that they have expansion bladders aboard, and their route is extended. Eight hours after this finds them docking at Station. "Isn't this a Celebrity-class station?" Says Deyn. "I think so..." Replies Maddox. "Ah. It is," Deyn continues. "But they've expanded it tremendously. You can see the modification lines... Didn't one of these get blown at Karissa?" "I think so- That was spectacular!" Maddox says this and Keisha rolls her eyes at the pair.
Everyone debarks to follow their own paths. Four months of travel in cramped quarters is enough to fray the most ironclad of nerves, after all. Luke heads for the TAS (Traveller's Aid Society) partly out of habit, as even though he no longer want's for cash, old habits die hard. His plan is to spend as much time as possible in the pool and water-park facilities.
Deyn heads to the Rows, the portion of the station (or one of- the station is huge!) where the bars and restaurants are located. His first stop is a place called the 'Floated Boat', a nautical-themed bar- his plan is to barhop the evening away and spend the night somewhere not onboard the ship!
Keisha decides that it's once again time to go shopping! She's after 'proper' Aslan clothing. Initially she has some trouble finding what she's after- most of the retailers here deal with replications of Aslan fashions and aren't what she's after. However, she eventually encounters a human male who offers her assistance. She's a bit leery, getting some 'creepy' vibes off the man, but he takes her to what is called the 'Tin Tailor'. It seems to be a form of Fabricator, similar to that aboard the ship, but restricted to textiles. Despite her suspicions, the device does produce an acceptable array of outfits for her.
Maddox, not being told otherwise by the rest of the crew goes to the military supply office to resupply the ship. He makes his order, but finds that he has to wait two days for the Leurani drugs he needs for Luke (If Luke were to be injured or ill). He's not happy, but accepts it. He then asks the corporal at the desk where he should go for GOOD food, money not being an object- Sandbornes is the place. He knows, being as this IS a military controlled facility that he's being monitored; he tries to spot the monitor, but utterly fails and ends up talking to the wall.
A few hours pass and Deyn moves on to another bar. This one is Vargr, comically named 'Tags & Wags' in Galactic- Something totally different in Vargr of course. He feels comfortable there, not having been in a Vargr establishment or around more than a scant few Vargr for a VERY long time- like years. While he doesn't interact heavily, the fact that Vargr communicate nearly as much in bodymotion and scent, he enjoys the evening and eventually finds that the entire day has passed. He finds a decent hotel for the night, and rests.
Luke has little trouble finding the TAS facility. Like most everything else here it's a huge installation, with all the amenities a traveling person could ever desire. He checks in, then heads for the water. LOTS of water. Being Leurani, his second home is in the water, and he thoroughly enjoys himself. He overhears a human bragging about his swimming prowess, and while the man goes on he notes a woman watching him dive, flip and cavort, and sees her look of amusement at her companions braggadocio. His time passes far quicker than he'd have liked.
Maddox finds his way to Sandbornes, which turns out to be a restaurant supply retailer. He is greeted by one of the staff, a rather unctuous man who looks at his dress, basic coveralls, with some disdain. He asks about food for shipboard use, of high quality. and in return is asked how much he plans to spend. When he tells the man to 'try to keep the charges under two million', he becomes INCREDIBLY friendly and helpful! Maddox stocks up on gourmet food, orders luxury cigars and then waddles his way back to the ship, packed full of the gourmet samplings they offered him. He's greeted perkily by Percy, and heads straight to bed after a glass of water provided by the disturbingly-cheery robot. The night ends for all with no disasters... For once.
In the morning, the three wayward crewmates in turn return to the ship, being greeted by Percy- the robot is decidedly becoming disturbing in its cheery mannerisms. They learn of the delay, and Deyn, remembering that they're down two gravbikes, goes off to obtain replacements. He chooses a pair of 400 kph custom units for 120,000 credits total, and has them delivered to the ship; thereafter, he proceeds to the station library and records office to get data-dumps of transit records and historical events to add to his continuing research, returning to the ship thereafter.
In the meantime, Keisha heads out with the intent to dance and while the night away enjoying herself at a place called Emeralds. She has an excellent evening, this time returning to the ship rather than using a hotel.
Upon his return, Deyn drags Maddox away from the ship a ways. He explains his suspicions to Maddox, asking him to consider possible connections with the events of his career. Maddox is dubious, but agrees to think on the matter; shortly thereafter the Corporal from the military supply depot arrives with the goods! They bring it all in, stock it, and Maddox has Deyn fetch something special- Some of the cryostored cigars! Fine scotch is shared, and after the corporal leaves the food delivery arrives, along with the unctuous sales rep from Sandbournes! He also is treated to a cigar, and tells them that they will be welcome at any of their facilities.
Maddox decides to do something nice for the corporal. he arranges for a for a full-course banquet to be arranged for him 'and a guest', to be held at the Sandbournes facility as they do have dining rooms. The event is set up, and Maddox makes plans for the next day- as he knows the corporal will be manning the military side of the depot, he's going to look into more unusual supplies not available to civilians.
The next morning comes and Maddox prepares to head to the depot. Unlike the previous visit, he dresses in full-blues and insignia to make it less likely that problems will arise for his presence there. Deyn asks if Maddox wants him to tag along- he demurs, as it might be pushing things as-is.
However, the full-dress option backfires when he gets there- the corporal, who recognized his name earlier has mentioned his presence to his fellows, and the gawkers are thick as fleas! He's rapidly pushed well past his comfort limits by the well-wishers and hero-worshippers, and completes his business as rapidly as possible; however, it takes the corporal shooing off his friends and compatriots to even get to this point. Maddox departs rapidly, and without the go-ahead from Keisha starts prepping the ship to pull out of station.
Fortunately, everyone IS aboard at the time, and Keisha decides, once she sees the look in his eye, to let it go. However, he doesn't complete the sequence, leaving the bridge and holing up in his room to avoid contact with his crewmates. Deyn ends up taking her out. With nothing untoward happening in their transit, the Silhouette jumps away towards their next destination: Ontar. This is another Class-A starport system, with a naval and scout base both.
For the entire time in jump, Maddox stays sequestered in his room. The rest of the crew take it in stride and go about their usual activities, Deyn in particular incorporating his newest data into his research. Eventually the familiar sensation of jump-exit is felt, and they return to realspace at Ontar.
However... Something is VERY wrong. Ship sensors and the UAT's indicate that there are only 30 ships insystem. Deyn scans the comm bands and finds that the most recent transmissions are days old, barring some static-laden, unreadable bursts. "Commander?" He calls over comm. "What?" Maddox growls back. "You'd best get up here. We have a Situation." Maddox reluctantly drags himself to the bridge. Continuing attempts at contact, Deyn gets nothing but ancient static from the starport, no response at all to his hails. "I'm bringing the weapons live." Deyn states.
He continues checking for transmissions and weapons signatures and finds that nukes have been used. "I have nuclear weapon's signatures, Captain. There has been fire exchanged here. May we go live on the nukes?" He asks. Keisha agrees, as they round the gas giant and come into position on the naval base. To their horror, its gone- just an expanding debris-field. The scout base and starport are likewise gone. Deyn registers a ship coming into their sensor view, fortunately at a great distance, the image lagged by lightspeed- suddenly, the vessel is blasted from some form of energy weapon from the surface of the system's inhabited world!
Neither Deyn nor Maddox have seen the like before- however, Luke has. "Good. There are some left..." He says, and refuses to explain further. He takes his position in the turret as the nukes go live, the Silhouette diving deeper insystem. Maddox cuts the transponder transmission to lower their chances of being targeted as well. Keisha makes an attempt to contact Jeff on the Pioneer, but is unable for whatever reason to make contact. For now, they're alone.
As they move in, they gain more and more information- the 30, now 29 ships insystem range from 200 to 800 tons, which to Deyn's mind reflects a military-range of size. All of them are of unknown configuration, and all of them are in varying orbits about the inhabited world. Deyn says, "Captain, A battle has occurred here. We may wish to get out of the system and inform whom we can..." Keisha doesn't agree, wanting to get more information, but does decide to contact the Pioneer.
Before this happens, another ship is blasted from orbit, then another- however, there is retaliatory fire... "That was a 200 megaton impact, Captain," Deyn states, and another ship is destroyed. This is soon followed by another nuclear strike. The numbers are dropping though- there are now only 23 ships left! "They're going to burn down the planet..." Deyn says, almost resigned. "We're moving as fast as we can!" Maddox snaps back. They've committed to do what they can, now knowing that there ARE survivors!
Deyn starts receiving tight transmissions from the planet, but it takes some work to get a clear transmission. Finally, he has it: "Unidentified Imperial ship, this is Commander Graves of the Imperial Marines- what forces do you have? How many ships?" "This is the Ardith's Silhouette, Commander. I'm afraid we're alone." Deyn replies. "Well, get done here- we need all the help we can get!" "We're en route, Commander. How many do you have to evac?" The answer is not what Deyn is expecting, though it IS heartening: "6.2 billion, Silhouette. We're not going anywhere."
They discuss attacking the enemy vessels, but no way can be determined to do it- contact is made with Commander Graves again, and they plot out how to reach the surface. They're given coordinates, and the Commander will provide covering fire as they hit the atmosphere! Maddox at the helm, they come in hot, and right at the edge of the Silhouette's capabilities; as they do, three more of the enemy ships are burned out of the sky! They're guided in to what looks to be a blast site, and land, going cold (shutting down everything short of the main power core) when they do.
They all don armor, Luke getting into his Battle Dress and gather the weapons and gear they might need, and wait. Soon they start feeling... Tremors? And the forest seems to shake; trees start to fall, and then the biggest land-vehicle that any of them save for Luke has seen breaks into view- a BOLO. What a BOLO is, is a siege-tank taken to the extreme; its what was shooting down the enemy ships, and it is a truly colossal weapon-system. Both Deyn and Maddox are left near-speechless.
The vast machine levels weapons at them, and shortly thereafter a large tentacle-device swings down towards them, looking them over. A hatch opens in the main hull, and they get their first view of Commander Yisilia Graves. her uniform is simple, showing only rank, and she drops down to meet them.
They discuss what's going on, and introductions are made. Keisha identifies the crew as Imperial Secret Service, eliciting an unseen wince from Deyn, but the Commander seems to be unimpressed. She presses them into service, utilizing them as best as she sees fit- Deyn, Maddox and Luke are to act as forward observers, while Keisha, due to her psychic abilities will be in the BOLO, named Benji, with the Commander. The new grav bikes are taken out, with Luke simply using the grav-features of his Battle Dress. Their formation is a wedge ahead of the BOLO, Deyn to the port, Luke up the center and Maddox, starboard, all running kilometers ahead of the huge war machine.
During this deployment, Deyn manages to spot four targets, two tanks, an LAV and a heavily armored transport- All are eliminated as Benji, who has uplinked to Deyn's cybernetic eye via his wristcomp. The transport is destroyed last via lasers, the rest by the main gun of the BOLO. Maddox spots troops, and when they're taken out, Maddox can identify their species- Human and Vargr! He relays this, Commander Graves being taken aback by the data. Deyn says, "Commander Graves, did you see on any of the enemy forces a symbol similar to this?" And he describes the Pelinoboc symbol. Benji replies, "There is an 89.6% chance that we have encountered this." "Damn. DAMN it." Growls Deyn. "We'll have to talk after this, Commander."
In the midst of all this another troop manages to approach Luke, but his FGMP-15 fries the lot. While all this occurs, Keisha tries again to reach Jeff telepathically. She succeeds, but the connection seems broken and tenuous: "... Yes? Who is this?" Jeff says. "This is Keisha- We've run into a situation. Ontar system is being invaded!" "You're where? Oh. Yes. Yes. I'm rather busy. We're in it too. This seems to be Empire-wide... I have to go." And the connection is broken.
Then, Deyn spots a building, the symbol of Pelinoboc on the side of it. "I may have a command center." He says. "All observers to the rear," orders Benji, and as they retreat, fire comes in on the BOLO- force screens start some of it, but he is hit, just a bit. Benji returns fire and the installation is leveled. Shortly thereafter a second BOLO links up. They discuss the matter, with Keisha passing on what little she got from Jeff. Expressions harden all around as the enormity of the situation sinks in, and the plan becomes this- find the lead ship to take out the leaders of the force, and see if the same weakness exists with the invasion force as with their last up-close encounter with the enemy.
And we leave off there, until the next episode!
