Episode 3 - The Marik Contract

drkrough · Oct 4 '12, 4:55pm

Briefing
The Security Manager looks uncomfortable for a moment at the mention of air power. He thinks for moment, and then says, "Lord Ferrance feels that the cost of airplane fuel is greater than the need for air cover." He looks rather hopelessly at you.

sneakybastard · Oct 4 '12, 5:44pm

Sergey had to ponder on what course of action they'll be taking. He rubbed his chin and finally turned towards the security manager.

"You don't happen to have any active probe lying around here? Right?"

streetwise:
Dice Roll: 1d10+4
d10 Results: 9 (Total = 13)

drkrough · Oct 4 '12, 5:47pm

What are you trying to get with the streetwise? A route? Or stuff?

drkrough · 9:55pm

Success on the roll.

Briefing
The Security Manager makes a few calls. Later, just before you leave, he says, "There's going to be a scout car going with you. The Swift Wind driver goes by the callsign, "Eagle". He'll scout the route ahead of you and try to spot an ambush."

The Security Manager heads off to take care of whatever it is security managers do when they're not briefing.

Interlude
That evening you head out, arriving early at the meet up side. It's a bare stretch beside a two-lane highway. The Swift Wind is already there, and you get a chance to meet Eagle. He's Sergey's age, but lacking the accent in exchange for having more hair. Pleasant enough, he's done this quite a few times. He shares a few stories about rebels, and is dismissive of the notion that they might have Atlases or Stalkers. He seems to believe they might have a few light 'mechs, or some converted industrial 'mechs.

On schedule, the convony arrives. Twelve heavy-heal vehicles, big affairs, they're based on the old Suns design for land travel. GESVs, though the crew just call them the trucks.

GESVs

The Swift Wind immediately leaps out ahead, driving about 15 minutes ahead of the convoy.

The GESVs make room for you to join up.

Day Two, Afternoon
The first day passed uneventfully. The convoy moved along the route, and civilian traffic generally went out of their way to avoid getting in anyone's way. Local law enforcement tries to help as they can.

By the end of the first day you've largely passed "civilized" territory and moved into the outland areas. The road is still solid, but conveniences like... anything really... are far between.

Midway through the second day, and its generally a couple of hours between signs of life.

Around 4pm, Eagle chimes in, "Hey, there's a river crossing I'm passing over now. I didn't spot anything unusual, but damned if I didn't get the heebie jeebies there. No vehicle tracks spotted along the sides of the road, so I don't know. Still, the bridge would be a great place to set up an ambush. Moving on ahead."

Map Update

I have not placed you on the map yet, but you will be on the south side (bottom).

Need to know the order of mechs/vehicles.

diremage · 1:27am

ThorJennifer, I'd like you to take the Firestarter ahead for a quick peek under the bridge please. Take Kasumi with you and secure both ends before the convoy arrives. I'll guard convoy head, Sergey guards the convoy tail. Ceph, you've got convoy mid.

Thor quickly laid out a strategy that put his fast jumpers into a scout role, with the slower mechs keeping pace with the convoy. Each of the convoy guards could cover the other two, and with his jump-capable Panther crossing first in the convoy, it would be more likely to survive a passive trap.

kbrn62 · Oct 6 '12, 4:16am

Kasumi listens to Thor's orders.

"Roger, Dog Leader! Dog 4 is moving with Dog 5 to secure bridge. Dog 4 out."

Kasumi makes sure that her lasers are at full power and charged. Her LRM's are primed and ready.

drkrough · Oct 10 '12, 4:00am

Explosives
Moving forward to the bridge, Kasumi and Jennifer see that it's an old bridge, solid but unspectacular. It probably wouldn't hold the weight of heavy or assault mech, but will be fine with the convoy.

They use their jump jets to land on each side of the bridge. Looking under it, they spot that the bridge is, in fact, rigged to blow. There are no wires visible running from the explosives, so it's probably wired remotely.

Suddenly, upstream and downstream there are active signals. Four hovercraft from each direction, as yet unidentified.

Map Update

Icons are not to scale. Hover icons represent 2 vehicles each. Truck icons represent a couple or few vehicles each. Everything is more for visualizing than scale.

sneakybastard · Oct 10 '12, 5:30pm

"How's your end up there?" asked Sergey on the comm channel.

kbrn62 · 2:23am

Kasumi turns her Valkyrie to the left.

"Dog 4 to Dog Pack. We are hot. Repeat we are hot. 4 incoming hovers each from downstream and upstream. Bridge is remotely rigged with explosives. DO NOT let convoy advance. Dog 4 out."

Kasumi targets the closest hovercraft with her weapons. Her thumb resting on her LRM firing stud.

drkrough · Oct 13 '12, 5:22am

Sensors to pick up what they are and get some sort of advantage on them. Roll Perception.