Pursuance IC

[Ultra4Life]

After a long trip a set of transport ships finally arrive on the planet Pritus. Docking at one of the more populated cities on the planet a voice echoes from the shipboard intercom, "Now arriving on Pritus. Please take your luggage and proceed through to customs" before cutting out. Complying, the other passengers all pick up their belongings and begin to file out through the doors of the ship.

[RandomLunatic]

Luggage in tow, Yanni took advantage of all the space to do some stretches while waiting in line for customs.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yanni's erstwhile traveling companion, at least for the last few months, stood just behind her in line, towing a hefty spacer's chest and trying not to catch anyone in the face with his montrals.

"Is it just me," he observes quietly, "or have the lines at spaceports gotten even worse since the war ended?"

[Lwmons]

"Pritus, huh?" a mechanical voice spoke out, underlayed by a squaky voice of unknown tongue. "Well, with any luck, we'll be able to get some information on top of some credits here. A planet this messy is bound to be overflowing with scum." He stepped off the ship, garbed in only the robes of a Jawa, with a vaguely cylindrical device acting as a necklace. "What do you think, Straight? Cantina? Good place for information. And a stiff drink." On his back was a large leather bag, the sound of metal clanging against metal came from within. He winced slightly. He was uncomfortable without his armor on. Unfortunately, even he had to acknowledge the hostilities that come with it. Soon... Soon they won't treat him like this... A familiar beeping tone snapped him out of his haze. An HV-7 Loading droid, carrying a large metal case containing the rest of his belongings. "Yeah, yeah. Lets get going. I don't want to be out of my armor any longer than I have to."

[Da'Shain]

One droid behind Bubba flitted about on its repulsorjets carrying the Jawa's luggage. The other walked walked smoothly and relatively quietly alongside, its vertical "face" pointed unwaveringly forward but with three small green sensors doing a slow, circular sweep of the area. SR8-2L catalogued every face it could see and filed them away for possible future analysis as law enforcement agents. Based on on-board databases, probability of recognition in this location is hovering at 5.3%. It took a microsecond to sample the local comm channels and found nothing obviously pertaining to itself. Probability of arrest or capture currently 0.7%, with unacceptable margin for error due to lack of information. Connect to network at earliest convenience. It was dissatisfied with this calculation, but not overly concerned. The trip had been uneventful, and in the absence of new information SR8-2L concluded that it was relatively safe for the moment.

It took a moment to go back over the aural information from the time it spent scanning, approximately 1.4 seconds, and found that the Jawa's vocabulator had grated out a question which it might be expected to answer. A short pause, only slightly too long for normal conversation, and "Straight" replied. "Cantina is acceptable. Revision: cantina with HoloNet or other network terminal nearby is acceptable." While it could doubtless break its way into one of the numerous private wireless data connections around here, there was no pressing hurry and thus no reason to risk alerting anyone to a slicer's presence, however minimal the chance of failure might be. One of its sensors swiveled in place to keep the HV-7 in view; it found that there was a 0.34 degree wobble in the smaller droid's repulsorjets, an unacceptable imperfection which caused SR8-2L to blat out a soft warning to the other droid in Binary. <Rein in your inferior design or be scheduled for memory wipe and parts cannibalization.>

[Lwmons]

"Well then, if nothing else the numbers don't seem too bad," Bubba said, leading the way. "I'm sure whatever cantina or wherever we stop at will have some form of access to the HoloNet, don't worry. If not I'm sure there's something in the spaceport." He continued to make his way towards customs.

A single whistle of descending pitch came from the loader droid, and you're fairly certain that if it had a head it would have sunken. Nevertheless he continued hovering behind Bubba, the metal case in tow. "Oh leave the poor guy alone, Straight. He's good at what he does."

[Da'Shain]

The inner yes/no query next to "Does Bubba's translator unit understand Binary?" flipped to yes. This information was important for future communications and would be appended to Bubba's file. As there was no reason to continue wasting excess vocabulator power on speaking Basic and allowing a greater percentage of random passerby to understand its words, SR8-2L switched its primary communications to Binary.

"<'Good' implies competence. That unit is merely adequate from a biological perspective.>" As it continued moving it queried the public starport network for cantinas which either contained or were situated nearby data terminals, and as an added criteria, cantinas that had no listed problem serving droids; many biologicals retained unpleasant feelings towards even non-combat droids from the Clone Wars years.

Just querying public info, assuming there is such a network, but just in case: Use Computer [roll0].

[RandomLunatic]

"Sure seems like it. What do you think-a couple of discreet chokeholds, help speed things up?" Yanni asked, with a grin that revealed fangs.

"So far, I'm not seeing a whole lot of this jungle you were raving about. Unless you meant urban jungle."

[Lwmons]

"Even so. I got him for a good price. Can't expect perfection from a sale," Bubba replied. This elicited a sad "bwooooop" from the droid. "Oh don't worry. I'm not about to let Straight take you apart for scrap. Besides, I have plans for you in the future." As long as he doesn't break down before then, that is.

[Ultra4Life]

After what feels like hours - though in reality close to only half an hour - you reach the front of the line. A stern but obviously disinterested customs agent signals to a conveyor belt to his side without looking up from his terminal, "Please place all your luggage here so we can scan it," he says and then points to the other side and a large scanner big enough for a standard humanoid to walk through, "Then please remove any objects that use power cells or power packs and place them in the tray before passing through the scanner."


This applies to both groups just in different lines. If/when there are significant differences between what is happening to the two pairs I'll divide the post accordingly.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Taro smiles - toothily - and doesn't say a word, withdrawing his Stun Pistol from inside his clothes and calmly popping out the power pack before laying it on the tray. Hoisting his spacer's chest into the scanner, he calmly walks through...although internally, he wonders how carefully they're going to look at all the non-blaster gear he's carrying as luggage.

[Lwmons]

Bubba nodded and placed the large leather bag on the machine, and gestured for the HV-7 to do the same. He did the same with his bandolier and the trusty ion pistol he kept hostered away at his hip. "HV-7, you go with Straight to the Droid checkout. See you on the other side," he said, before removing his translator as well.

He passed through the scanner, having nothing on him but his cloak. He should be fine, right?

His gear... Not so much. Most of the mundane gear would likely be fine. The spare comlink, the took kit, the spare power packs, everything. However, his bag contained a modified SoroSuub Firelance and a Vibroblade, accompanied by several grenades of different types and a DC-15s Sidearm. On top of it all, there was the unmistakably intimidating T-shaped visor of Mandalorian armor staring right at the scanner, and it bore the all too familiar colors of the rogue Death Watch faction.

So I Went through his gear and for the most part everything he has is Licensed or Restricted. The one Military grade piece of equipment that he has, though, is his Sidearm Blaster Pistol.

[Da'Shain]

At the continued accompaniment of the defective HV-7, Straight's heuristic processor experienced a minor burst of distortion in the incoming visual and aural data, and for some reason this triggered an unqueried result from its biosocial archive, playing back a video of a human's eye twitching in annoyance. It took another microsecond to deliberate on minimal emotion and other negative side effects of being twenty years overdue for a memory wipe, before returning its attention to practical concerns.

Turning and walking slowly away from the organic entry line, SR8-2L cycled on its sensor countermeasures package and reviewed its capabilities in light of both observed and likely Pritus security scanners. In 1.62 steps it had written a new program to account for the intrusive nature of the droid check. Sidling into line with what appeared to be various other utility and service droids, it spent its waiting time powering down the various advanced systems stolen from government shipments or scavenged from licensed droids.

When its turn came up, SR8-2L shuffled forward, gave its identifier to the technician in a monotone, and presented its port for the plug. Unbidden the word "indignity" and its equivalents in three languages wormed their way onto its memory cache for a moment before Straight banished those processes.

So Straight can reroll "opposed" Use Computer checks and take the better. I'm not sure whether these are rolls vs. a DC or opposed vs. a TSA agent's Use Computer/Perception, so I'm just going to roll twice for each check. If it's not opposed, disregard the second roll for each; if it is opposed, take the better of the two rolls.

Roll(s) for concealing weapons from weapon scanners:
Use Computer (1) (2)1d20+24[/roll]

Roll(s) for concealing restricted/illegal systems from the direct plug-in search:
Use Computer -5 (1)[roll1] (2)[roll2]

(Also if this should all be just the one check then disregard the rolls made without penalty.)

[RandomLunatic]

Yanni unzipped her carry-on and dutifully laid her blaster in the tray before proceeding.

[Ultra4Life]

Da'Shain

The officer walks over to the HV-7 seven. Opening up the access panel he plugs a wire into it. The droid twitches a little bit before the officer checks the attached datapad. Nodding, he unplugs the device form the droid. "It's clear." Signaling that it was ok for it to proceed he turned his attention to Straight.

Repeating the process he plugged the device into straight and pressed a button to start the check. After a few seconds he stared at his datapad before signaling to another officer. Whispering he showed the datapad and the two conversed silently. Seeming to reach an agreement he unplugs the datapad from Straight. "You're clear, but you might want to head down to a repair shop. Some of your systems seem to be drawing a little too much power. You might short out on the streets if you don't get it fixed."


There's nothing actually wrong. You just tricked them by making it seem like you were faulty to explain power apparently flowing to nowhere, or certain areas being blacked out.



Nerd-o-Rama

As the luggage goes through the scanner a noise sounds from the adjacent terminal. Removing the chest the officer begins looking it over. After a while he turns to Taro. "I'm going to need to ask you to open this."


Lwmons

While Bubba's luggage goes through the scanners the officer at the terminal signals to another who comes to look at the screen. Several beeping sounds were coming from it. Pointing to Bubba they look at each other with a slight expression of disbelief. Seeming to reach an agreement one walks over to Bubba with the hand held scanner before running it over him. The other begins looking through Bubba's equipment.


RandomLunatic

Picking up the blaster, the officer runs a scanner over it. Placing it down he runs the scanner around Yanni's body and luggage. A noise sounds and the officer places a tray in front of her and says, "Please place all of your belongings on this tray." Finished he signals to another customs officer who picks up the blaster rifle and begins stripping it.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Damn. Backwater worlds don't usually bother with the good scanners in customs. He might have miscalculated here. Time to move from 'I don't need a plan' to 'Plan A'.

Taro spreads his hands and puts on the most vapid smile he can without baring his teeth, spreads out his hands in a shrug (that intentionally blocks as much of the line as possible), and speaks in Togruti. "<I am sorry, good sirs, but I can't understand you.>"

Untrained Deception to act like an ignorant tourist: [roll0]

[Lwmons]

Bubba begins rambling off in Jawa Trade in the hopes that someone could understand him. "What's the holdup here?" he squeaked in is native tongue, "And leave my bags alone!" Ugh. Maybe he should have opted for the vocabulator implant instead of the translator. He groaned and allowed himself to be scanned. He had literally nothing else on his person anyway.

[RandomLunatic]

"Hey, be careful with that!" Yanni barked at the officer taking her gun apart as she undid the utility belt and set that in the tray. That was followed by a security kit, datapad, a couple of credit chips, and her set of binder cuffs. Finally, she fished her IPKC out of her pocket and very carefully laid it faceup on top of the pile.

[Da'Shain]

"Yes, sirs, I shall suggest it to my master," SR8-2L grated out to the inspection officers in another monotone, before shuffling off past the security check and into the spaceport proper. After several meters, its stride became smoother and its optical sensors glowed slightly brighter. Something approaching satisfaction colored its subsequent calculations. Full systems control retained. Action Plan 2A may be resumed with no revision. It took a moment to wipe its cache of the other plans it had devised, taking into account the loss of specific systems to port security; it seemed they would be unnecessary now.

As it walked it noticed that there seemed to have been a halt in the progression of several of the organic security checkpoints, and took note of multiple checks in progress. The HV-7 floated, still with that unacceptable wobble, where one of the security lines would have ended past its checkpoint, and Straight could only assume that its erstwhile Jawa companion was being held up. Not an especially surprising development. The Jawa's incarceration would force a revision of the action plan, though, since in that eventuality SR8-2L would lack sufficient potential violent force to prevent its own capture, should situations proceed badly.

Straight clicked its internal comlink on and began cycling through the thousands of frequencies detected by its comm scanner, searching for the Pritus port control's security comm channel. It also queried public databases for the location of the nearest port information terminal.

Straight has a comm scanner which lets him detect non-tightbeamed comm signals in a 50 km radius, and gives him a +5 to his Use Computer check to decrypt such communications. (It takes a DC 20 Use Computer check to detect them, but Straight makes that without even rolling.) I actually can't find the rules on encrypted comm signals to cite them, but my recollection is that the person encrypting them sets the DC with their own Use Computer check, and then special comms with hardwired encryption can add a further +10 to that DC. So Straight's going to attempt to listen in on the internal security channel for any communications regarding Bubba and his massive pile of contraband.

Use Computer +5 (slicing into and decrypting security comm channel): [roll0]
(Again, if it counts as an opposed check, Straight can roll twice and take the better. If not, ignore this roll. Second roll: [roll1])

Straight is also querying the port's public network; basically, I'm assuming the port has some sort of public wi-fi system like most modern airports. All it is looking for is an information terminal, preferably one with a scomp link port.

Use Computer (access info): [roll2]