Arrival on Oleksi, Fight at the docking facility, Meeting the rebels
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Session Notes
Bjorn's Notes
Session of Friday, July 10, 2010
Sunday, October 22, 2519
Jason & Bret work on the weapons. It takes two and a half days to set up a VR rig for the 20-pounder. It would have taken an average team a week to do this.
Jason & Bret try to track down Jason’s friend Marty Applewood. He’s gone missing. (The rest of the crew doesn’t know about this yet.) They find this guy all over the Cortex – to the point that he may have been trying to be obviously noticeable. A couple weeks ago, he just disappeared. They find an incomplete post to a forum – spelling error, ends in an incomplete sentence, and normal signature line is replaced by a Blue Sun symbol. This was on a tech forum. He worked on ships’ material – stealth & such.
Nic asks Bret about not getting off the ship if we happen to go to Bellerophon. She had a run-in with a Jacob Fleming.
Emilio Morenas - collector of Earth-that-was artifacts on Bellerophon. Cecilia verifies he’s spent tens of thousands of credits on it. He’s the one who hired Cecilia to retrieve some books for him.
Travis Berkley – believed to have current possession of the books, stole them from Pastor Smith
Passing through the asteroid belt (Grigorii Debris Field) – Seren has set up a couple exercises
Fu is currently Xiaoli. Her medical records came with a song file….
Nic fires up some asteroids. Initial run, then moving away
Seren has Soren assist on the sensors – INT + tech engr (9).
Faster approach (4, 9 (shot missed, though), 2 (spend PP))
Soren on comps to turn on one-pounders, Browncoat one-pounder fires & brings down the target, 2nd one gets its info later, Seren rolls to bring Alliance one-pounder around, which double-taps the target
Two more targets, time for three shots (7 on targeting & Nic blows that asteroid up a bit), 4 on targeting, 5 to hit) and Seren hits the alarm (9 to target, Nic 14 to hit) – really killed that one
Seren recommends more training in simulations, live fire not necessary
Jason finds a minor hitch in one of the one-pounders auto-feeds.
From Oct 23 - Nov 3, Soren spends part of each day working out. This is rehabbing the wounded leg, general flexibility & stamina, sword katas, breakfalls.
Friday, November 3 - We enter the Kirill system & arrive at Oleksi.
Bret finds that the Palomino is a light transport – relatively fast, moderately maneuverable. Basic version is unarmed. Cheap design, above average specs, lower than average reliability. Not well armored.
Ships’ life support systems, nav, and engines are more or less unhackable. Sensors, data systems, some non-manual controls are hackable. A hacker could probably make a ship fly blind but it would take a really long time to keep it from flying altogether. Obviously military ships have higher security.
Jason researches the Brazen Bay. Not clear what class it is. Cited in a lot of incidents – thefts, hitting an Alliance envoy – Bret memorized a list. Bret did find the picture of Jeannie with the Brazen Bay so we know the basic shape.
Soren 9 (INT + cortex research) to see if the Ambrosius was ever associated with the Brazen Bay or the Palomino. Finds nothing.
We land at a strip several thousand feet long with more of a control tower. It’s large enough for the huge freighters.
Sensor check (3): INT + tech engr
There are a couple porters with a mule to do the unloading. There is a large warehouse there, with a pile of rocks to one side.
Bret tells Hath we’re 12 days from Bellerophon & they need ore.
Pallas get a wave from an intense-looking man who addresses “Captain Skilling of the Pallas”. It’s Travis Berkley who says he is our employer. He gives us 1 minute to surrender before he kills us. Offers to put to work in the mines.
Sensor roll (INT + cortex research) – somebody’s got a target lock on the ship.
We’re locked down (PP all around) – signal from admin building, maybe bounced. Seren localizes it to a ridgeline.
Bret asks about hitting the SAM missile battery that’s got us locked up. Seren says she couldn’t. But Nic might with the 20-pounder.
Bret is on the 1-pounder comps, Seren on piloting, Jason bringing engines up quickly. Nic on 1-pounder. Soren locking hatches & using sensors to monitor anyone approaching on tarmac. (PP)
Bret: Goal: Survival – 2-step bonuses.
Jason – 27 to “do things with fuel lines that man was not meant to know”
“not happy sound from the underbelly of the ship” – landing gear is taking damage & might be gone altogether
Nic rolls a 17 on the 20-pounder – shaking gun mount, evasive action, heat plume as SAM is ready to launch, nails it!
Sensor check (8) Ghost of something looking for us, no lock.
Bret opens up. The one-pounders tear up the admin building.
Bret: “Pin it down!”
Sensor check 11 – something trying to lock us up from orbit but the mountains are interfering.
Seren: “How low to you want us, Captain?”
Bret: “I want to flip us over so Nicole can take out the admin building with the main gun.”
Seren rolls 21 on piloting – flying with a wingtip almost on the ground, circling the admin building. Nic opens up. 6 (hit), hits with a 3-round burst – structure supports are going, 9 (hit) (unarmored buildings defend with a 3). The admin building lost at least a story.
Seren is flying us through the mountains, really low.
Jason gets on the sensors from the engine room & rolls 26 to localize whatever’s searching for us from orbit. The ship is 4-5 times the size of the Pallas. They’re trying to target with four arrays, probably for heavy ship cannons.
Weak comm. Signal – Soren (5)
Jason 26 to find SAM sites. Nothing showing up.
Jason 25 on comms roll. Soren 10. It’s a wave for Pallas, from Uijanov. Jason 25 to clean up the signal. “They have a devil of a gunship up there. If you can make it to these coordinates, we have a protected site. Their guns won’t hit there. Welcome to the Resistance.”
Bret can’t hold the signal but if it weren’t cutting out in the mountains, he could at a minimum mess with their coms. He connects long enough to ID the ship as the King of Clubs.
Bret asked Jason to lower our profile – Jason turns down the transponder & other things.
In 9000-ft peaks, we see a couple buildings and a large mine entrance with a blast door opening. Com signal from buildings. They’ve got mag gtaps – our landing gear is trashed.
It’s a big hanger inside, carved from stone, metal catwalks along the walls. Could hold three Pallases. They’ve got some shuttles along the side, some further tunnels with blast doors. Armed people with guns not quite pointed at Pallas. One stern-looking young man standing with his hands behind his back.
We disembark.
Lieutenant Haven Wym, of the 1st Colonials (Browncoat regiment), now commanding officer & lieutenant commander of the 103rd Miner’s Union
Light on food & water, lots of metal & welding tools
Bret offers payment. Wym says they could use food. Or killing pirates.
On our first trip, our distraction enabled Captain Uijanov to get the children out of the orphanage.
Of the three shuttles, one looks non-flyable, one mount, empty. Jason isn’t sure how it got back. Another has minor damage and a ten-pounder. Third one is fine and looks unarmed. There are a couple .50s near the shuttles and a weapons locker.
Wym sets up a conference call with Uijanov on a flat screen.
This is their secondary mining facility. The primary hit a rich vein a few months ago.
Uijanov brought sympathetic members of Jones’ crew into the mines, along with some townspeople. When Jones tried to hit us, Uijanov executed a plan to free the children. He got them out without casualties, but wears an eyepatch now. The miners took fairly heavy casualties in the mines. Most of their fighting force is locked in the primary mining facility under siege. Those in this secondary facility overthrew Jones’ understrength men here. The children have been moved into smaller pockets in the foothills. Fighting strength is concentrated near the primary mine.
They’ve been exchanging large amounts of ore for small amounts of food & water. Jones still controls the town & has the cortex satellite overrides. No Navy, no air support. They can’t operate outside the mountains.
Jones has two ships in orbit – Palomino – light vessel, converted passenger transport, 2-3 light cannons, possibility of single use missile pod; King of Clubs – Jones’s own ship, at least 4 twenty-pounders in each broadside, 20-pounder chase armament (rear) & two lighter guns, one energy weapon in a top mount but haven’t seen it fired yet; Jason ID’s it as a plasma weapon, big but inefficient
They have a few dozen short-range radios and a half-dozen sat phones. Both sides need the satellites. Jones tries to shut them out but doesn’t have the codes.
Uijanov has a portable terminal & a generator. There are terminals in the working shuttles. One shuttles stayed up a little too long.
Jason: The Mantis has covert capabilities.
Bret will be helping with communications control.
The town is hostile to Jones’s men.
Travis Berkley has barricaded himself in the mayor’s building. They’ve taken casualties.
90 miles of open ground to the city – ships can get a target lock by then.
Jones’ men have them in a bad position – that’s why Wym thinks they haven’t resorted to mass killing.
Soren asks how many men Jones has. Before the captain freed the orphanage, Jones kept no more than 70 on the surface – 15-20 in town, 15-20 in the orphanage, rest in the mines & mine transport facilities.
After that, Jones transferred more of his crew from ship to surface. Scouts indicate Jones has about 50 men at primary mining facility, 30-40 in town (those numbers could be off), 2-3 dozen more scattered around in patrols, some more on ship – he seems to rotate in & out
Jones’s men made one assault on the secondary mining facility. “They won’t be trying that again.”
Jones has 100-120 men.
Bret tells Wym about the sealant. “Nitium gunk!”
The sealant is banned in modern mines – mixes with certain minerals to create toxic gas. Of course the planet is lousy with those minerals. They’re available in both mines. Wym would rather not use gas warfare.
Nic asked about mining explosives. Oh, yeah, plenty. “Exploding things has not been an issue.”
Jason asks what Wym’s engineer is working on in the mine. He’s jury-rigging deep penetration radar. The original survey team believed there is an underground river. They’d like to locate it & enter & evacuate the primary mine that way. It’s not working so far.
Nic – Could we capture a shuttle and send it up to the King of Clubs with explosives?
Bret – Or disable the ship without blowing it up
Bret offers the Pallas’s medical facilities.
Wym says they’ve got only first aid & mine safety courses.
Xiaoli and Seren prep the med bay. Wym has a few they can move easily. Two he can’t move – one spinal, and the other a head/neck wound. Xiaoli & Seren can go check on them.
Uijanov says John & Stacy could be to the pad in an hour but transports are inbound from the King of Clubs. John wants to take out the sealant regardless.
Put explosives in a few barrels, try to take the shuttles, if fail – blow the shuttles
King of Clubs probably would need 5-10 for a skeleton crew, plus whatever weapons are manned
Wym has 25 combat-capable & 10 wounded too badly to fight
The cargo shuttles are much bigger than regular shuttles.
The weapons locker has three single-use RPGs. Wym thinks they’ll all work.
There are caches left from the Browncoats. That’s where they got the .50s, and some grenades.
Wym served under Gronberg. He was off-planet at the time of the surrender.
Most landlock systems are built under the platforms. The controls were in the admin building.
2 AP @
Next session: Friday, July 30, planning to end by 11:30 because Dave has duty the next day
Dave's Notes
Nelson's Notes
Session Notes on Chief Engineer's Log
In-Character Logs
Brett (Dave)
Cecilia (Jenni)
Fu/Xia (Kate)
Jason (Nelson)
Chief Engineer's Log: 11/03/2519
