Bhaakon's Salvage Rights IC

[Bhaakon]

The shuttle supplied by Mr. Wight, your contact, is best described as adequate. A Wanderer-class shuttle that probably rolled out of the airdock back when your parents were learning their letters (well, some of your parents, anyway). The hull is pockmarked with micro-asteroid strikes that managed to get through the shields, dents from inexperienced or inebriated pilots, and a few gouges that looks like the result of small arms fire. Of course, these workhorses were overbuilt for roles far more demanding than ferrying a few passengers to a rock, so superficial damage isn't worth losing any sleep over. The mangled upholstery in the passenger cabin and the unmistakable stink of a dead Vesk muskmaggot rotting somewhere in the environmental duct-work is enough to challenge one's ability to nap through the six hour trip, however.

But this isn't a luxury cruise, and the shuttle, indistinguishable from a hundred similar runabouts jetting about the system, is both suitably inconspicuous and big enough to suit your need. It carries you and enough spare parts and fuel in its cargo compartments to, with luck, deal with whatever has gone wrong on the asteroid you're chasing. Long-range imagery hasn't been terribly helpful in that regard. The thrusters planted on the tail end of the big hunk of ore keep pumping out plasma, and the mining complex, actually the disassembled and rearranged modules of the mining ship that come out to claim the rock in the place, is still warm to heat scopes and speckled with lit exterior lights. It sits three kilometers distance from the engine module, nestled in a dimple on the asteroid to give the structure extra protection from the fast-moving gravel and other detritus that litters the space between the Crucible and the Mess--the shattered planet this whole mining venture i based around.

Heaped around the mining complex are piles of spoils, clear evidence that the miners got fairly far in their work. This rock is enormous, after all, far larger than even the Crucible can swallow in one bite. More than that, the Administrators take a 20% cut of everything processed by their station. So all mining companies do two things while hauling their captured asteroids to be processed: they prepare the stones to be blasted into chunks small enough fro processing, and they chase down any notably dense deposits of valuable minerals (gems, star metals, and similar) to be extracted before the whole thing is sent into the space station's smelter. The Administrators, for their part, don't seem to care about such behavior. Whatever the miners extract from a few rich veins they have time to exploit is breadcrumbs compared to the value of what's left, the millions of tons of metal that the small-time ventures lack the equipment to process.

And however big the rock looks, this is a small-time outfit by the Crucible's standards. The information you've been provided--and that you've confirmed via discrete inquires on the local infosphere--holds that this complex houses 16 workers and near to a hundred drones of various class and purpose, from massive boring machines to simple camera-toting inspection bots designed to check the larger bits of kit for damage.

As for defenses...well,organized pirates and criminals know better than the violate the Crucible's neutrality, but banditry isn't entirely unheard of in the system. Those desperate enough to cross the Administrators tend to be poorly equipped. As such, it would be a surprise if the mine has more than a modest locker of small arms to augment the pair of chain cannons perched on the roof of the complex. The base's basic shielding system is designed to deal with space debris rather than any serious attack. Nothing your shuttle couldn't push through with a touch of turbulence, though if those cannons activate...

Which brings you to the first tactical decision: where to land. The mining complex has a single pad, but it's currently occupied by working vessel, little more than an engine with a complex set of tools and manipulators on the end. It doesn't even have an environmental system, instead it's design to be piloted either by remote or a person in a vacsuit. The pad would be a cramped fit for the shuttle even if if weren't occupied, which leaves a few options. You can land near the main thruster, which is a long walk from the mining complex but seems to have no defenses beyond a navigational shield. You can try and land near the complex itself, in range of its chain cannons, and hope the defenses aren't active. You can land away from either, out of range of any defenses that can't fire over the asteroid's abrupt horizon.

Or, of course, you can try to do something unpredictably clever...


http://i.imgur.com/cuNNBnU.jpg

[Hattish Thing]

Zavøx-14:

The android had not been looking forward to this particular mission. From the second the company operative received the orders from whichever mysterious, anonymous higher-up sent him this peculiar mission statement, Zavøx-14 knew something was off. The perpetually apprehensive android's doubts and fears were merely confirmed once the cybertechnician laid eyes upon the team of... regrettably biological entities he was being forced to cooperate with, as well as the rather questionable Wanderer-class shuttle he was apparently supposed to inhabit during the miserable, six hour trip ahead of him.

This would not be a pleasant assignment.

--

Once the rather cold android finishes awkwardly introducing himself to the others, Zavøx-14 vanishes to the small cabin meant for him, ensuring that the electronic lock built into the metal door remained fully operational. During the six hour trip, Zavøx-14 does not emerge from the cabin, instead deciding to spend this time reading up upon the complicated mission ahead of him, rather than wasting time attempting to socialize with the biologicals.

Once the battered, but hardy vessel finally reaches it's destination, a small alarm built into the android's complex electronic arm begins to blare, alerting Zavøx-14. And so, Zavøx-14 gathers his equipment and makes his way towards the bridge, a frown bare upon his eerily pale, synthetic face. He does not greet the others immediately, but rather moves awkwardly towards the nearest available starship computer, before sitting himself down and beginning to access the information supplied by the vessel's built-in sensors.

--

Zavøx-14 appears to be a particularly serious, gloomy-looking android with uncomfortably cold, closely-shaped eyes of pure, bright light. A pained expression, halfway between a look of resigned disappointment and unimaginable frustration can be seen upon the corporate android's eerily smooth synthetic flesh as he operates the starship's computers, while strange, blue, tattoo-like markings resembling glowing circuit-board patterns can be seen below and around the android's bright white eyes and face. The glowing, blue, circuit-like lines appear to be entirely set into his flesh, rather than worn over exposed skin, immediately giving away the annoyed figure's nature as a synthetic humanoid.

The android's jet-black hair is clipped short and slicked back, revealing a small line of strange numbers, which can be seen tattooed onto the side of his head. The incredibly tense figure maintains harsh, painfully straight posture as he sits within the spinning chair. The uneasy-looking android is clad in a simple, but precise company uniform, and complex, technological glasses can be seen resting upon his wide nose.

Once he finishes accessing the data he was after, Zavøx-14 speaks towards the others, though he doesn't bother turning to face them.

"Hmph. Computers appear to be functional, though these systems are simply archaic. At least something aboard this... "vessel" still operates within it's system's defined parameters. My scans have picked up several particularly... frustrating complications that will need to be addressed before we may safely attempt a landing. The facilities appear to be secured by a network of chain cannons. I cannot be certain whether or not these systems are currently active, not from this distance."

"However, it would be... inadvisable to attempt a landing within range of an active defensive network."

"Therefore, I recommend we land upon the asteroid itself, and simply walk on foot towards the facilities ahead. No need to risk more than we need to."

http://i.imgur.com/co2uz7z.jpg

[ylvathrall]

Kriskr spent relatively little time on the shuttle socializing, instead going over her gear, checking everything over and especially the brand-new sniper rifle her fans had raised money to purchase for her. It's on camera, of course, but the primary purpose isn't to record gun videos for them to ogle after the mission is finished. It's to make sure that everything is in working order and nothing has been forgotten, so that there will be an after the mission is finished for her.

Once she's finished with that, she spends the last hour of the trip in her cabin, playing a simple puzzle game to calm down. She's always rock steady once the job starts, but in the last moments before that, she always feels a mixture of anticipation and fear that would set her hands to shaking if she weren't so accustomed to working through stress.

Upon landing, the shirren emerges from her cabin, wearing an immaculate black suit and carrying a very expensive sniper rifle, as well as various other gear. Her insectile green eyes betray nothing of what she's looking at, and she stands almost eerily still at the edge of the room as the android goes through his spiel. After he finishes speaking, she nods once. "It would be foolish to land that close to the facility. I suggest we land just outside of visibility from the complex and walk in. Once we're within shooting range, I can cover the rest of you from a distance while you approach, and then catch up if nothing looks to be wrong on the exterior. Sound good?"

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth was more than happy to spend the few hours on the ship locked away practicing playing, using his personal comm unit and his performance tools to produce virtual drums that fed into his ears and his alone - not one to disturb others unless they wanted to be disturbed. If anyone asked to listen, however, that was a different story; crew willing, he'd fill up the entire place with drum beats and repeats of past performances. Nothing new, though - right now he was just keeping his muscle memory in place during his break.

This whole mercenary deal was his manager's idea; the bastard knew that Roth wanted to get away, so pulled some connections and made some promises that the musician wasn't sure he could keep. In exchange for the time off and the work put in for this, he promised to come back with one hell of an adventure under his belt, refreshed and on his way towards megastardom with his mates. Of course, knowing him, the knife-ear took out a life insurance policy in his name after this and expected to use his death as one hell of a publicity stunt. Knowing Green, he was already eyeballing a replacement!

Roth's stalks twitched in glee. These guns weren't just for show, and when he got back there would be an awesome story to tell.

~~~~~~~

With the call of arrival, Roth put away his toys and put on his trademarked (no, really) Armor of Flames, a traditional ringwear that had been modified into what ended up as the symbol, of sorts, of the Titans of Flame. He fell out of love with that name a few years ago, but there was no real reason to change when it suited the rest of the band so perfectly. It wasn't just for show, either; this was a fully fledged suit of armor with an attached jumpjet that let him maneuver around on stage with his hammer Firesoul. He was quite proud of it!

The last touch before he finally put on the helmet that would keep his face face was a small amulet, the symbol of the Dawnflower. He wore it at all performances, though he never pulled it out. It just had to be close at hand.

~~~~~~~
With preparations finally finished, Roth ducked out of the "private" quarters he has been assigned for the trip, pulling on his helmet and sealing it shut as he made his way up to the bridge to get the briefing. "ALRIGHT LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND OTHERS! What do we have on the menu tonight?" Other than that, he kept quiet while he received all the relevant information, listening to the android make his suggestions. Once he - and the shirren - were done, the mountain of a man shared his two cents: "Why are we even worried about landing? Each of us is bound to have at least a basic vacsuit, we should just get in close to the landing pad and jump over to knock on the front door! As long as we can get close enough to grab hold of the hull, there should be no need to go for a long hike or risk the defenses."

[Bhaakon]

The Wanderer's sensors are in good condition, though whoever owns this tub out didn't splurge on the deluxe package. The same can't be said for the console used to access the information, a screen mounting above a narrow desk which Zavøx finds to be grimy, splattered with what he hopes is just coffee, and inscribed the phrase "Ripley eats..." and a number of crude but anatomically accurate drawings around a local coms address. Ripley, if the artists is to be trusted, isn't picky about sex or species.

But the display is clear enough, spooling out the kind of information you'd expect. The asteroid is rich in iron and nickel with significant traces of adamantine and platinum, enough to make it more than worth the effort of drilling into. Of course, that also means its dense enough that the sensors can't penetrate deep into the surface. It's an unfortunate fact that the most valuable minerals tend to be naturally shielded from many means of detections. Miners often rely on more sensitive and specialized equiptment, divinations, or less sound methods like dousing.

A few minutes of effort show that the mining complex has power, though the only sign of activity is a stream of encrypted data being tight-beamed from the communication array. You wouldn't have noticed if your shuttle didn't happen to clip the stream in its approach, so clearly the target must be in the vicinity of the direction you came from, the Crucible.

No, wait, that's not right. Just as your scan is winding down, you notice movement on the optical scope. The pair of chain guns, previously resting flaccid with their muzzles tilted towards the ground, perk up and spin in your direction. The sensors screen flashes red as the shuttle is painted with a pair of ranging lasers, though at this distance the ship would have several seconds to dodge any bullets fired, enough time to make an attack pointless, and whatever is controlling the cannons knows as much. They remain pointed at you, but don't fire.


http://i.imgur.com/FUKQ1TK.jpg

Red: exterior doors
Gold: Chain Cannons
That thing in the bottom right: landing pad and work drone.

[QuidEst]

"Good mornings to all the worlds! This is Beepboop and Len, and I'm Len here with, oh my goodness, I still can't believe it,
Kriskr! She's, like, super famous. Which is weird, 'cuz I'm also famous? But you don't think about it the same way if it's you. Also,
not gonna lie, I'm pretty nervous. She's scary, guys! I'm linking to some of her sniping vids in the description below- she doesn't say anything.
But we're gonna be working together, so I'm gonna go say hi. Wish me luck!"

---

"Okay, update guys! Kriskr was actually really cool in person? Way less scary to actually talk to! I'm really excited to be working with her on this. She also said she's okay with Beepboop recording things, so you'll get to hang out with us too. Now, it sounds like we're getting close, and the pilot's kind of grumpy, so I should get going!"

---

Len was suited up in his combat gear, the orange and gray suit set to its full showy brightness while they weren't engaged in anything covert just yet. "Listen, I'm not going to stop you from doing stupid things, but… I'm gonna not knock on the front door, except in the euphemistic sense of sending Beepboop up from a safe distance and cover, and using him to hack the door controls. I'd hate to disappoint the fans," he added, flashing thumbs up at his drone's camera.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

If Roth's face was at all visible behind the orange and red reflective visor that capped off the Armor of Flames, it would be a mix between a look of disappointment and frustration at the ysoki's response to his idea. "You have your fans, I have mine. Unfortunately, my idea only works if I'm not the only person jumping so we'll do it your way." With that out of the way, the Korasha looked directly into the camera that Beepboop was using and said quite clearly, "Green, you pointy-eared bastard, I have words for you when I get off this rock!"

[ylvathrall]

It's not his fault that your approach was pointlessly risky, Kriskr says tartly into the minds of those present, not using her audible voice for this purpose. It wasn't necessary to record that particular bit of conversation. Out loud, she says, "I'll hang back with the engineer. He can act through his drone, and I'm at my best when I'm keeping eyes on with this." She pats the sniper rifle on her back. "The rest of you can approach the facility directly or from a more subtle angle, as you see fit. Sound good?"

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth replies to Kriskr directly, though, like her, he broadcasts to everyone nearby. ~Miss, the only person I'm blaming is my manager for teaming me up with people who don't share my style. We're here to entertain people; recognize that we're all being taken advantage of for what we're known for and let each of us have fun in our own ways, yea? I'm not going to talk bad about your sniping, so please don't talk bad about my brand of showmanship.~ Notably, Roth's telepathic voice was much calmer and less "loud" than his spoken one.

[Halae]

[Samantha, Paladin of Abadar]

Always willing to accept a contract in the name of commerce and and civilization, the mercenary paladin eagerly accepted this job. She's an attractive young woman (http://i.imgur.com/7B0MbX8.jpg), with black hair that has cyan streaks in it, and though she clearly doesn't have the strength of most soldiers, her suit of power armor (http://i.imgur.com/90P6u8T.jpg) is clearly meant to make up for that deficiency while allowing her free range of movement with surprisingly dexterous hands.

---

On the flight over, Samantha is friendly and pleasant, and while her focus is clearly on her equipment and prayer, she enjoys some video-games to kill time, preferring to focus on those dumb RPGs based on mythology; the one in particular she's spending her time with is based on Vesk mythology, focusing on the exploits of ancient hero Vorrag and his dealings with the gods. whenever people approach her, she'll always be willing to give their combat gear a once-over and fix little problems she finds.

---

"I'll be at the front of any engagement, pulling fire, since I have the best gear for it," Samantha says to the group, "Roth, if you want to go in the front, I'll be up here with you. But for the record, I agree with Len; it makes more sense to breach from a good distance away - preferably with cover."

[Hattish Thing]

Zavøx-14:

As the android sits down upon the tattered leather chair before the filthy computer desk, he grimaces, having apparently accidentally brushed his right hand against some mysterious, sticky fluid plastered to the thoroughly grimy counter. Zavøx-14 shivers, clearly quite disturbed by the computer console's squalid state. "This desk is disgusting. And this monitor, I can barely read anything. Gross. Brightness is at 100%, though. What in the world." The android raises a finger at this point, before gently sliding it down the computer's warm, dull glass screen, recoiling as his touch displaces several inches of grime. Mortified, Zavøx-14 raises his hand to the side, quickly retrieving a small strip of cloth from within a deep pocket. "Oh, nasty. How do people live like this?" The android wipes away the gunk collected at the end of his finger, frowning deeply as he examines the rest of the computer console.

"Oh, no, no, no. This is even worse than the outside. Ugh... that's... oh! Oh, this shouldn't be sticky, why is it sticky? Oh, and the water damage..."

The android scowls unhappily, before wincing and continuing to operate the console. For the most part, as he works, Zavøx-14 ignores the others as they bicker, growing increasingly frustrated with the relatively unresponsive computer. Eventually though, he does manage to locate what he was searching for. As he expected, the asteroid was rich in adamantine, the starmetal his anonymous employer was so eager to collect. The android begins to access more of the information dealing with the starmetal, before finishing his task and stepping away from the foul console.

--

Zavøx-14 listens to the others speak at this point, staring blankly as the rather large, and painfully loud biological begins to suggest simply jumping towards the facility. He'll continue to stare incredulously, a mildly exasperated expression on his perfectly shaped face. Rather than bother attempting to respond to such a ridiculous suggestion, Zavøx raises an eyebrow wordlessly before glancing towards his left forearm, which is thoroughly unusual even for an android. The android taps at the arm, causing two plates of ultralight metal covered in the android's smooth, synthetic flesh to open slightly. Suddenly, a section of the limb comes apart, quickly and efficiently changing positions. Afterwards, a holographic screen begins to project itself from within the small, open section of Zavøx-14's arm. The android begins to operate the holographic screen, appearing to be accessing some kind of database. Once the android taps away at a few things, the miniature screen begins to blink and let out a faint blip.

The android stares at the screen inquisitively, before speaking, impatience obvious in his voice. "Ugh. Let's just get this over with then, yeah? We don't have all day. I'll be just behind the both of you."

He gestures towards Samantha and Roth.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

Looking Samantha over and giving the woman a thumbs up in response to her exclamation of combat strategy, the Lashunta exclaimed "My armor is the heaviest thing on stage, you have no idea how glad I am that such a beautiful suit of armor is going to be put to work beside me." As he did so, he pulled Firesoul free of its clamp, the 4' handled hammer a showcase of the instrument he was known for. This one was modified from the one he used on stage; about a third smaller, with clearly better balanced weight that let him use it more effectively as a weapon. A close inspection, at this point, would show that Roth had literally not brought a single firearm with him, an obvious statement of intent from the man to not use one at all.

"In any case... I'm not sure about you all, but I'm not exactly a fan of trying to go on a mile hike through microgravity! We'll be lucky if the inside even has a half-Gee, but even then the less time we spend outside the better." Beneath the visor, the musician grinned at the Paladin's offer to jump - though he still, admittedly, came to the realization that the distances they were talking about right now would probably end in a painful impact. Worth the risk for himself, but not others. Looking over at the camera once more, he pointed his thumb towards the woman; "At least we have one person brave enough to go the fun way down. Unfortunately for me, unless we can get close enough without triggering the guns, even I'll say no. Jumping a kilometer across is by no means entertaining; it's boring, and takes too long. At that point we might as well just walk."

Putting the hammer away and walking over to the console, Roth tried to make heads or tails of what Zavox was looking at; unfortunately, the only good he was with computers was with his phone, and that was playing random games as he was taking a break between sets. "How close can we get without activating those guns?"

[ylvathrall]

Kriskr's expression tightens slightly as Roth says that she's there for entertainment, though only someone quite familiar with shirren would know it. She doesn't respond, though, instead going to the shuttle's cockpit. "I have a fair amount of piloting experience," Kriskr says. Her tone is calm, not so much bragging as stating a fact. "I'll bring us in as close as I can without risking the ship. ETA is...about ten minutes. Get your game faces on." With nothing more said she begins struggling with the ancient shuttle's controls, adjusting their trajectory to land just out of range of the guns.

Piloting to determine the safe landing point: [roll0]
Piloting to pilot the shuttle: [roll1]

[QuidEst]

Len gave the camera a nod. "All right, you heard her, folks. We're headed down, so not much commentary until things are over. If there's enough time after, I'll try'n get a post-dubbed commentary version up as well for anybody who prefers that. In the meantime, it's go time! Well, ten minutes from go time."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

"Speaking of commentary... did we do on-air introductions yet?"

[ylvathrall]

"Don't worry about it," Kriskr says offhandedly to Roth. "I already did a full introductory video with most of your personal information, at least the parts that are publicly available. For each of you."

[QuidEst]

Len shrugged. "I mean, I start everything on air with an introduction and a catch phrase. And yeah, I did the same thing!" he said, going to high-five Kriskr, but stopping part way. "Sorry, you're flying that would be irresponsible. Kids, don't high-five and fly. Anyway, my intros only used a little of the publicly available info. So folks, if you want to learn more about the crew, go check out the vid Kriskr put together!"

[Halae]

((posting for wolfy, as he is currently unable to access Giant))

Jean-Paul

It wasn't the nightmares that bothered Jean-Paul as he dozed or slept for most of the ride out here. It was that he could never remember the sounds. He could remember visuals clearly, far more than he likely should be comfortable with, but it was the lack of noise that grated upon his nerves. It was like viewing a holo-vid without the sound on, watching a scene in the depths of space where there was nothing to transmit the sound. It was...uncanny. Uncomfortable. As uncomfortable as it was though, the quietness of his dreams made him a quiet man.

Until the meeting on the bridge, Jean-Paul made no real effort to meet with the others, though he seemed to spend plenty of time in either Samantha's cabin or in a more private corner near the airlock to work on his weapon. The hardened veteran was never without the rifle, which seemed to throb and pulse as one looked at it. It was as if it were a fell and living gun, and the golden chains wrapped tightly around it seemed to barely restrain it. It was definitely an unsettling and unholy rifle, even if one didn't know what the pentagram hanging from the chain meant.

A little before the meeting was called, he'd settled in a chair against the wall and dozed. While he'd seemed content and resting while plans were made, the mention of introductions and video seemed to stir him slightly. "I would hope that you were not planning on broadcasting our faces, equipment, plans, and locations live to the general public." He says, not even bothering to open his eyes or uncross his arms from around the rifle he clutched to his chest. "It is my duty to make sure you all get out of this alive, and while I can appreciate your dedication to your livelihoods, this is going to greatly complicate things if you have fans waiting for us on the other side of the guns pointed at us."

[Samantha]

Sam looks at Jean-Paul for a moment and nods, "I have to admit, a stream delay does sound fairly prudent, if you all are insisting on streaming this." It's clear Samantha doesn't really get the point behind it, but she's not about to stop them.

[ylvathrall]

Kriskr snorts. "I never stream a job live," she says. "For much the same reason I don't intend to bring us in within sight of those guns. I prefer my targets not to know I'm there until it's too late. These vids will air after the job is done, no sooner."

[QuidEst]

Len nodded along in agreement with Kriskr. "Yeah, don't worry. I do post-prod on my stuff anyway, editing things for length and content, etc. Livestreams are for special occasions, and definitely not for missions."

[Hattish Thing]

Zavøx-14:

"Unless we all die horribly," Zavøx-14 mutters to himself, once Kriskr mentions releasing her video.

[Bhaakon]

With the chainguns active, your landing spot becomes a rather simple decision. Kriskr slips the shuttle around to the far side of the asteroid and the alarms quiet as the ranging lasers lose line of sight. The ship's...a polite way to put it might be 'trusty' or 'proven', perhaps 'experienced' navicomputer suggests a number of landing spots, but skilled as she is, Kriskr spots that one of the spoil piles is big enough to shield your ship from bullets and allow a touch down a mere 500 meters 'south' from the base instead of the kilometer-long jog it would take to land completely over the horizon.

She slips in low and keep the pile of rubble between you and the muzzles, setting the ship down light enough that the landing struts can absorb the impact without firing any thrusters down into the surface, sparing you a massive cloud of dust that would hang in the vacuum for hours, if not days, before the asteroid's paltry gravitation pull finally wrangled it back down. The shuttle doesn't need to rely on that, thankfully. it fires a quartet of anchoring lines into the surface, the corkscrew tips spinning down through the pulverized surface until the find a stable surface they can grip to magnetically, mechanically, or with quick-drying epoxy. The explosive bolts on the anchors will provide for an instant extrication if required, though less destructive methods would allow the anchors to come free long before the engine was warmed regardless.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

Roth is, happily, the first one to the airlock, waiting inside it for anyone else that might be coming in the first 'wave'. Turning to look at anyone else that was in the room, he gives a grin almost visible through his visor - and certainly audible, as he sounds like a kid in a candy store. "Ooh! Hear that? That's the sound of the ship clawing its way into this rock; the sound of micrograv. I'm gonna have me some fun, boys and girls." Nevertheless, he reaches down and double checks the traditional mag clamps would help keep him from floating away if he didn't want to.

[ylvathrall]

This spoil pile should provide a decent vantage point, Kriskr broadcasts to everyone telepathically, as she moves towards the door. I'll climb up it and settle in to cover you on the approach. Once you've reached the facility, if there are no incidents, hold and let me catch up.

[Halae]

[Samantha]

The paladin leaves her rifle attached to the magnetic clamps on her back for now, and checks the similar clamps for activation on her feet, "I'm on the vanguard with Roth; we'll take the fire if there's hostiles, so you guys move in behind us."

Sam will only be a step or two behind Roth, but allows him to take the lead, as he's a melee specialist.

[Bhaakon]

The rubble pile does indeed provide excellent cover, if someone uncomfortable. It consists mostly of chunks of iron and nickle carved or blasted out of the asteroid's metallic core, with a sharp chunks of slag smelted out of star metal-bearing material. Suffice to say, it would carve up exposed flesh or normal clothing, so it's a good thing Kriskr is clad in more sturdy material over her own chitinous exterior.

She finds a good spot to rest her weapon and peers down the sights. The mining facility appears quiet again. The chainguns have returned to their resting position, their programming or operator having lost interest once the shuttle moved out of visual range. The complex's exterior lights flood the surface around the buildings with harsh white light for a solid 50 meters in every direction. This side of the asteroid is currently spun around away from the system's binary suns, but it's been set to rotate relatively quickly to help steady its course and the "night" will only last about 10 minutes.

[QuidEst]

"Listen, we're in range for me to send Beepboop up. He's not very subtle, but it seems preferable to us finding out halfway there that the chain guns do care about us while we're on foot. I can send him out to test the waters," Len offered.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

"What good will that do? We still have to make it from here to there, and it's not going to stop being dangerous territory just because we let your drone get destroyed; and if it is, that means we wasted it for the rest of this mission. I think it's better to just save the time, move in assuming they will be hostile, and go from there."

[QuidEst]

"Couple advantages come to mind- we get a better idea before running out there, we can force it to track multiple targets,
and if they leave drones alone because of the mining operation, I might be able to shut them down, at least temporarily," Len answered. "It does kind of give us away early, though."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

Listening to Len's opinion, Roth turns and looks over at Samantha. "You're the other one that'll be putting her hide on the line if we go out first. What do you think?"

[UncleWolf]

Jean-Paul

Jean-Paul swaps charge-packs in his plasma rifle on the way out of the door, just in case the one he'd had in had a small power drain in it. The charge pack goes into a different It's a minor act but one that might tell of his experiences. His refractor suit was definitely not made for stealth missions given it was a bright metallic red and black complete with gold trim, but it'd serve its protective job well enough for his liking. A couple steps out of the airlock he taps his helmeted head and makes a quick gesture towards Samantha, causing a small pentagram to glow on her left hand. "Linked up. If you're heading to the front, I've got you covered. I'll stick right behind the Vanguard whichever way it is decided we move so I can make sure you're all topped off. The same goes for anything that requires a battery as I have a handful of extras on me." He explains over his comm to the group in general before kneeling next to a nearer slag pile to see if the surface was loose and safe to travel on at all, or whether it was vacuum welded. If the latter, it'd allow for a safer, if still dangerous, surface to travel on should it be necessary. "Do we have any sort of information on those chaincannons specs? Are they made to defend the facility on a whole or simply against the airbourne threats of piracy and debris?" He asks. "If the latter, they might not be able to angle down at us if we stay low enough."

[Halae]

[Samantha]

"I think we lose a lot on surprise if we send a drone to scout, but that extra surprise will only help us for one battle anyways, before the alarms are raised. It's the choice between not giving them time to fortify or not that bugs me."

Samantha taps her armor clad foot on the ground, clearly mulling it over for a long moment, before she finally comes to a decision, "I say if we can confirm that the guns won't fire on us, we go without the drone scout tipping off our targets. Does anybody know their make well enough to give us an accurate assessment of whether they're a threat to ground-units?"

[ylvathrall]

Kriskr finishes climbing into place as the others have their discussion, and quickly surveys the facility through the telescopic sights of her rifle. The scope on the new gun is far better than her old one, and she makes a mental note to thank her viewers for this after the mission.

For now, there's work to be done, and a quick mental prompt is enough to trip her communicator. "This is Kriskr," it says, in a soft synthesized voice, through the communicators of her associates. "The chain guns appear to be designed for tracking large objects, not as anti-personnel weapons. A manual operator could fire them at targets on the ground, but I don't think it's especially likely that there is one. Even if there is, it's unlikely that they could aim the weapons effectively at you on the approach. You can probably approach without them being a major threat."

[Halae]

Samantha

"Got it. Thanks, Kriskr," the paladin says into her comm, "Ready when you are, Roth. We'll be right behind you." She moves to the doorway, and gets ready to run the moment Roth is ready to go. Presumably, the pre-set marching order forms up behind her.

[QuidEst]

"Just in case they are manned, I think I've got something," Len replied over the comms. "They're hard-coded to not fire on any of the facilities, so even the flimsy parts of the structure are as good as adamantine for cover. Good for most of the way to the airlocks. Beepboop will get a good tracking shot of it."

[Hattish Thing]

Zavøx-14:

The Aspis Agent spends the next few moments tapping away at the small holographic screen projecting from within his forearm, his expression one of concentration. Time passes, as the others speak, before the android taps away at his arm once more, causing the holographic screen to vanish.

Within seconds, the synthetic operative's arm reforms fully.

--

Zavøx-14 glances calmly towards Roth and Samantha, before reaching for a curious firearm at his belt. The impeccably maintained weapon sparkles in the light, and upon closer inspection, a perceptive individual may be able to properly identify the small white firearm as a sonic pistol of some sort. The weapon is equipped with a stocky barrel capped with a concave resonating chamber that appears to have been designed to amplify and direct a lethal sonic blast, utilizing high-intensity sound to shake molecules apart.

The android holds the polished firearm close, muttering to the pair in front of him.

"Let us proceed. I've got your back."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Well. Figuratively."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

Whilst the others go about determining whether or not the chain guns are a threat, Roth kneels down and starts doing stretches, loosening up his leg muscles for the third-mile push towards the airlock on the other side of the field. "Basically, as long as we keep moving, and get to cover near the station ASAP, we're good. Understood. Well, ladies, gents, and others - Lets catch some Fire"

And with that, the heavily armored Lashunta takes off towards the station at full speed, using his jump jets whenever necessary to stabilize his movement pattern and keep him from flying off into nothing.

I tried asking in chat if there was anything special I needed, but no response; just tell me if I need anything and I'll roll it.

[Halae]

Samantha

Samantha is close behind, her armor making the signature whine of power armor servos as she moves right behind Roth. she doesn't have the jump jets to keep up with him completely, but shows herself to be an accomplished athlete anyways.

[QuidEst]

Len hurried along behind, keeping in the building's "shadow" as much as possible and occasionally correcting Beepboop's flight plan to keep close.

[Bhaakon]

Whoever designed the facility's defense system either wasn't thinking about ground assault or was incompetent--or both--because the coms array at the southwestern corner of the structure gives you plenty of cover from the chain cannons, which don't even wake from their idle state as you sidle up to the alloy of structure's southern wall. You only pause a moment to catch your breath from the hectic sprint...well, more like a skip between the asteroid's microgravity and weak magnetic purchase of your boots.

You round the corner and find yourself face to face with a full-sized airlock door for workers and a smaller hatch for passing tools and work drones. There's a control panel for manual access on the right side of the larger portal, but the shattered display is flashing out the word "LOCKOUT" in bold crimson letters barely legible beneath the crazed outer layer of glass. The outer door is scuffed and scratched, apparently battered by a head-sized hunk of slag discarded nearby. There are scorch marks on the door and nearby wall as well, where A laser, plasma, or something similarly hot carbonized the building's gray-white powder coating. The asteroid's dusty surface and lack of weather make it a prime environment for preserving tracks, which is curse as well as a blessing. This was a busy entrance, it seems, and it will take an expert eye to sort out the scores of overlapping tracks.

You manage to pick out one set of tracks as the most recent. A shirren, most likely, in a basic model environment suit. It looks like they approached this airlock from the north, hugging the walls of the building and moving carefully, then ran back the way they came with far more haste and less care. Given the scorch marks on the side of the structure, it seems likely they were fleeing weapon fire.

[Halae]

[Samantha]

"Len, are you able to open the door?" the paladin asks, eyeing the "lockout" indicator. She'll take up a position by the door where she has cover from attackers from within by the door frame, and then waves to Kriskr to get the Shirren to come over to the group.

[ylvathrall]

"Your position is secure," Kriskr's automated voice says through the communicators. "I'm heading across. Cover my approach."

So saying, the shirren sniper slings her rifle across her back and begins to make her way across, following the same path the others had and trying to remain out of sight.

Stealth: [roll0]

[QuidEst]

Len flashed thumbs up at Samantha. "Yeah, lemme see what I can do. It's just a matter of knowing how to ask nicely…" he replied, half-closing his eyes as he concentrated on the remote connection. Beepboop hovered nearby, gun at the ready in case of trouble on the other side.

Result of 34 to hack the system to open the door- going through proper airlock procedures if that's still possible.

[Bhaakon]

Access the airlock console is no problem, particularly since you can bypass the damaged keypad entirely to access to the root system. Poking around for a few second reveals the source of the lockdown: the keypad went into an automatic secure state when it was disconnected from the base's mainframe. There's a manual override for the airlock systems, but those controls are entirely on the inside, and whoever was pounding on the door with a rock doesn't seem to have had the station commander's master access password. Thankfully, the scant handful of circuits controlling the door aren't really designed to do more than avoid accidentally venting workers into space before their vacsuits are sealed. It's a relatively simple matter to trick it into thinking the mainframe has reestablished a connection and ordered the door open.

The only complication, it can't really be called a problem, is the half dozen mining drones stacked in the small service airlock next to the door. Someone has been tampering with their programming. The coding is a mess, but it seems they've been reassigned from their normal mining duties--in fact, most of the related programming for that has been deleted entirely--and instructed to remove biological contaminants. Including, but not limited to, people. The service airlock was wired to open and release them should anyone attempt to access to the keypad. Luckily you avoided that countermeasure entirely when you accessed the system directly.

The outer airlock pops open, ready for you to enter and begin cycling in atmosphere.

[QuidEst]

"There we go, step on in. Don't touch the keypad- it's rigged up, I believe. We'll need to be careful of any other local drones we run across!" Len said, nodding to the others.

[ylvathrall]

"A shirren came through here recently," Kriskr's synthesized voice says over the communicators. "Alone, in a basic suit, from the north. A worker, perhaps. They came this way and then turned and ran back, most likely fleeing weapons fire. I may be able to follow their tracks if we want to track them down. Or we can proceed into the complex and see for ourselves. I favor continuing; following the tracks is too likely to expose us to the same weapons they fled."

[Halae]

[Samantha]

Sam moves in, holding her gun out before her, prepared for any tricks, "At least we have confirmation that whoever it is is playing for keeps." She'll find a spot with cover by the airlock, so that if there's any ambushes set inside, she can deal with them.

Move to the side of the Airlock door, taking cover if there's any available when the door opens. Also readying an action to shoot any hostiles.

[Hattish Thing]

Zavøx-14:

The android steps forward confidently, little in the way of an expression obvious upon his face. The operative holds his perfectly-maintained firearm close as he follows behind the soldier, his synthetic eyes of unsettling, pure white light flashing about as he peers into the airlock for several seconds.

He steps past Sam once they step closer to the airlock, before Zavøx-14 stealthily creeps to the opposite side of the airlock door.

--

The android's expression hardens as the heavily armored soldier across from him speaks, his professional demeanor suppressing any feelings of nervousness as he arms his highly polished laser pistol.

"Good thinking. For a biological."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

Roth moves in position next to Zavox, tapping on the android's shoulder and communicating to him ~If there's anything in there, you'll want someone between you and them.~ He then waits for the android to move; if he doesn't, he'll press up against the wall in a way to allow for him to move inward at the first sign of movement. Without a ranged weapon to give him another option, his best bet was to surprise an enemy combatant with a hammer to the face before they knew what hit them.

"I agree with Kriskr; if need be, we can go back and check. This direction, we can prove how awesome we are against - or get better answers from, if you want a practical reason - whoever was shooting at the Shirren."

[Hattish Thing]

Zavøx-14:

With a curt nod, the android steps back, pistol held forward, although he shudders noticeably once Roth taps his shoulder.

"~Ah, good. Making yourself useful already.~"

--

Once the android finishes communicating, he ducks behind Roth, scowling slightly.

[Bhaakon]

Those heading in position themselves in the airlock and pull the charmingly analog lever to manually initiate a cycle. The out door slides closed in the silence of vacuum and the vents open, breathable atmosphere flooding into the chamber with a muted hiss that grows as the medium of transmission enters the space then subsides as the pressure equalizes. The lights over the airlock doors switch from red to green and the inner portal slides open with the slight whine of a bearing on its last legs.

The next chamber is a long hall crammed with storage. The walls are lined with lockers, all labeled with their contents. Drill bits, lenses, tanks of argon, acetylene, nitrogen, and a dozen other useful gasses, spare bedding and company-branded coveralls, nuts and bolts in every size imaginable, soap and detergent, absorbent powder for cleaning spills, special scrub brushes for the waste recycler, deodorant and mouth wash, filters of every size and description, everything a team of miners stuck together for months in a giant tin can might need. Really, more than they'd probably need, but better to bring too much than not enough.

There's not much space to walk in the corridor, just enough to move single file without having to turn sideways. There's a door at the end, another airlock judging by the red and green cycle indicator lights over the door and the word "AIRLOCK" stenciled in bright orange. The red light is currently lit, indicating vacuum. There are three doors on the left side of the corridor, air-tight emergency ports that have been sealed and locked as if there has been a hull breech. There hasn't been as far as you can tell, at least on this side of the doors.

https://i.imgur.com/0pYMuoL.jpg

[UncleWolf]

Jean-Paul frowns behind his darkened helmet at all of the chatter, not liking it too much himself, but he wasn't about to tell others how to act. He felt the urge to speak quite often himself, but most of the time he just couldn't bring himself to do so. Instead, he follows along loyally and silently, rifle at the ready while keeping tabs on who was where. The supplies catches his eye however, and he'll open all of the lockers as he passes them one by one. "Batteries and drone parts are mostly gone, consumed at a far higher rate than anything else here. I think we need to be wary of someone making use of it all. I very much doubt simple workplace accidents and fatigue would call for such consumption. If we're lucky, it's just someone storing and selling parts on the black market. If not..." He doesn't finish the thought, allowing others to fill in the blank.

[Halae]

[Samantha]

"Our best bet is likely to crack one of the doors," the paladin says, "If we can find the control room or security room, we should be able to find out more about what happened here." video logs and the like, "Just knowing out luck... it's probably at the far side of the facility. Roth, Kriskr, cover me."

Samantha will wait for the pair to comply before moving onto the first door (at I 20) and, once everybody is ready to deal with threats, will crack the door open.

[ylvathrall]

"On it," Kriskr's simulated voice says as she lifts the rifle, lining up the scope with the door.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

Roth gets in position opposite Sam, preparing to handle anyone that thinks they can come through the doorway around the paladin. "Odds that some skulls are asking to get cracked on the other side?" As he speaks, he checks a switch on the side of the hammer, making sure it was set to stun anyone within that offered resistance.



Confirming that the weapon is set to use nonlethal.

[Halae]

[Samantha]

"No bet," Sam says, amusement in her voice, before putting a power-armored boot to the door to slam it open, her gun at the ready.

[Bhaakon]

Sam's power armor latches on to the nearest hatch, servos whining and straining for several seconds before something inside the wall of the module snaps with a metallic twang. The suit sways as the autostablizers struggle to compensate for the sudden loss of resistance when the door gives way and slams open to reveal another, identical portal on the other side. The few feet of space between the hatches is obviously meant to serve as emergency airlock in case one of the connected modules is breached. It has the same manual release you saw on the proper airlock, and the door slides open with the flip of a neon yellow and black-striped emergency lever.

On the other side is a crew compartment, the rooms mostly sealed off with light latching-but not locking-door. Right side features a compact set of lavatories, showers, and laundry units then three cramped private cabins. The left side feature a pair of cramped bunk rooms designed to fit six sleepers and whatever personal effects they can fit into the cabinets above and below their racks. The final door on the left is somewhat sturdier and locked. There's another emergency pressure hatch like the one Samantha just opened on the far side of the berthing unit.

https://i.imgur.com/V3yt4X8.jpg

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

The drummer was fully prepared for hostilities to commence as soon as the door opened; instead, what he got was... nothing? Dropping Firesoul to his side, Roth looked over at Sam; even though the nearly opague sheen of his helmet's visor, it was clear that he was a little worried. "You should have taken that bet. I'm starting to get some serious horror vid vibes from this place, though..."

[QuidEst]

"Knock, knock…" Len says, looking around. "With you on the spooky. Listen, we've already come across one trap so far. We're not in any rush, so let's take this slowly, all right? I can get any automatic doors open from a safe enough distance, and Beepboop can poke his camera in first. Still be careful- he's mostly just a camera drone, so he won't spot everything. If anybody wants to find out if this is like in the horror vids, by all means, march ahead with confidence. But we still haven't accounted for any bodies, moving or not."

Checking around with the others, he set Beepboop to sweep ahead of them in the room, checking to see if they'd been left any other surprises.

Beepboop sweeps ahead for traps. Perception: [roll0]

[Bhaakon]

Beepboop goes over the dormitory with a fine-toothed sensor sweep, checking every nook and cranny over the sleeping quarters, from the cheap memory sticks stuffed under various mattresses (contents to be determined) to the damp load of socks left to molder in the washing unit. Even the lavatory stalls are checked, revealing a sad lack of air freshener, improperly arranged toiler paper (flap towards the wall, what in the hells where they thinking), a long exchange of bad poetry about various bodily functions carved into the wall, various artful drawings, and a detailed ad for a local escort named Ripley with an extensive menu of services at reasonable prices. Remember to ask about the buy two get one free deal.

The only trap of note is on one of the footlockers in the second private room on the right, and that's just designed to silently alert the owner via short-range comms and snap a picture of the would-be thief. Easily bypassed.

What beepboop doesn't find is any valuables mixed in with the crew personal effects. Someone has very obviously rifled the goods before you got here. They put it all back afterwards, but without bothering to fold clothing and breaking a number of fragile knickknacks as they were carelessly tossed back into storage units.

The locked door on the far left remains sealed, though it doesn't appear trapped.

[QuidEst]

Len waved the others in. "All right folks, good news. Looks like the area is clear of anything obvious- there's a locker rigged with something minor; I'll take care of that. Keep an eye out, though, just in case. Somebody's already been here, and picked over the area. Don't know what to make of that."

Actions: Len is going to do a search as well, to be thorough. [roll0]
Computer roll to deactivate the rigged comm- just take ten for 27. Is it possible to access the photo history and see who's set it off before?

[Bhaakon]

Len gives the place a second look, just to get an additional perspective on the place, but there's nothing else to be found that beepboop hadn't spied out first. The trap on the footlocker is easily dealt with, and there is, in fact, an image file remaining in the tiny camera. It's not even encrypted. Clearly the owner wasn't expecting the culprit to be a master thief, and, as it turns out, the pudgy halfling with the stained work clothes, stupid grin, and dilated pupils you see reaching her grubby mits into the storage container either didn't know or didn't care that her picture was being taken.

[QuidEst]

"All right, looks like we had somebody poking around the locker a week ago. Work clothes. A female halfling if we've got any sort of useful records or something," Len informs whoever's interested.

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth wanders over to where Len was looking through the formerly trapped box, looking over the rat's shoulder at the image of the halfling. Cocking his head to the side, the musician offers comment; "I know what someone tweaked out looks like, and that halfling is definitely on something. Horror sense is still tingling, but in the 'drug addicts went bonkers and killed each other' way, not the 'alien infested station' way. Do have a doctor in this crew? I'm wondering if they could make better sense of the look on her face..."

[ylvathrall]

"I have a solid grounding in medicine," Kriskr says with her simulated voice. "Let me take a look."

Medicine roll: [roll0]

[Halae]

[Samantha]

The paladin goes up to the door to the next room, simply keeping watch without a word. She doesn't know medicine, but she knows enough that getting in the way of someone doing first aid is a bad choice, and that this is a risky place to get ambushed.

[Bhaakon]

In Kriskr's professional (though, technically, uncompensated) opinion, the halfling is probably high, with large amounts of hyperleaf or a modest amount of opiates being the primary suspects. She could be badly concussed as well, but the lack of obvious injuries makes that option less likely.

[Hattish Thing]

Zavox-14:

The android follows Roth quietly, his cold, artificial eyes boring into the back of the soldier's head. A scowl forms on his perfectly shaped face as he methodically glances about the room, assessing each undoubtedly insignificant, infinitesimal detail as scans.

His eyes narrow as he acknowledges the image file, a displeased expression on his face. "A halfling? Unexpected."

"Hmph. I wouldn't worry about your "horror vid vibes", biological. After all, if the crew is already dead, our job becomes so much simpler."


"...We should move along."

[ylvathrall]

"High, probably on opiates or hyperleaf," Kriskr's simulated voice says calmly. "Unlikely we'll get more information here. Let's continue."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

"If the crew is already dead, our job becomes much less interesting; I didn't come all the way out here for an easy job. In any case, my concern is this: if all the crew is dead, then what killed them? There could be an alien virus, or some sort of insanity-causing monstrosity from the depths of Lost Golarion's oceans..." As he further explains himself, with a strangely gleeful tone to his voice, using references to holovids from the last decade, the musician moves to and mirrors Sam's position by the next door, readying himself for the door to be opened. Despite his general mirth, the man is deadly serious with his weapon, holding it with intent to push an offensive as much as defend himself.

[QuidEst]

Len had to stop for a moment, addressing the camera. "For those of you watching from home, no, I don't know how a sea creature from a lost planet kills people on an atmoless hunk of rock in a mining facility. Well, if we're ready to move on, I can knock politely again."

Remote hack, take ten for 27. Beepboop is between Len and the door.

[Bhaakon]

Unlike the exterior airlock, the interior doors of the mining complex are mostly meant for emergency breach isolation, not security. In fact, a robust security system would hamper rescue efforts in the case of a hull rupture or similar even, so sound work safety guidelines mandate that the doors be idiot-proof. Short codes, manual overrides, and any number of other fail-safes are in place to prevent an accidental lock-down from trapping everyone. Which means anyone with enough know-how to search the data-sphere for any one of a dozen override codes in general use by maintenance workers and emergency responders throughout the Pact worlds can open these doors without much effort. Len has significantly more know-how than that, but there's no need to flex ones mental muscles on such a piddly challenge.

No, the challenge is what's floating on the other side of the double doors as they spring open. The mining drones float freely in mid-air, their internal nullifiers releasing them from the mining station's half-G artificial gravity. They're simple things, little more than a fuel tanks, thruster array, and swivel mount for tools--anything from a simple camera to the high-energy plasma torches each is carrying right now. Their thrusters pop to life as the door opens, turning their limited sensor arrays towards you. A clank and rattles sounds from further down the hall, beyond your view, as something much larger than the modest drones lurches out of its sleep-state.

These simple mining drones are designed to be durable and efficient, not for killing. Their plasma torches are designed as tools and lack the range of a proper plasma weapon, but they'll produce a jet of incandescent matter that will have no problem punching through rock, steel, or armor plate within 10' or so.

https://i.imgur.com/nB9j43n.jpg

Everyone won initiative, so post first full round actions

[ylvathrall]

Kriskr watches coolly through the scope of her weapon as Len works on the door, claw resting lightly on the trigger. Only someone who was actually looking through the scope - which is to say herself and any future viewers of the PoV video she's recording - would know that her attention is split between the door and Roth, and her claw's resting just as lightly on the trigger in either case.

When the door opens she takes a bare moment to process what she's seeing before she snaps to focusing on the rear of the two drones in view from her position. A quick breath in, released slowly as she settles the scope on the drone and gently squeezes the trigger. Her armor compensates for the rifle's recoil, making it a hard nudge rather than a bruising kick. Whatever is on the receiving end of the bullet is unlikely to be as fortunate.

Shot on the drone at I8 with a sniper rifle.
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Engineering: [roll2]

[QuidEst]

Len nodded to Beepboop, and unslung his rifle, taking aim. "I can fuzz 'em for a bit if they get in too close," he said, firing off a shot at the closest one.

Move, draw weapon. Standard, shoot at J9.
[roll0] against EAC
[roll1] fire

Beepboop bonus standard, shoot at J9.
[roll2] against EAC
[roll3] shoot

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

"Well I never said it made sense," the Envoy said as an entirely different set of doors opened than he seemed to expect. Seemingly quick enough on the uptake, Roth pushes through the crowd and towards the cloud of drones, drawing Firesoul and bringing the hammer down on the closest one. "FINALLY!"



Move / Draw to I10, attack D2 as a standard action.

Hit: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] B

[UncleWolf]

J-P


Jean-Paul steps aside to let the hammer-wielder through and is about to say something to the effect of caution being preferred, but when he sees an opportunity of his own he ends up just gritting his teeth and giving a small growl as he rushes ahead as well. With his temporary comrades having already struck the first blows, he feels confident in moving up, sticking close to the wall, and getting just a few yards away from the drone. His rifle is tucked into his shoulder as he leans right up against the wall to get a proper angle, and even though Roth might feel as if it is danger close...

"Lance!" Jean-Paul warns before pulling the trigger to send a beam of plasma right towards the nearest drone and hopefully right through it into the drone that's stashed away in the corner.



Move/Draw action: Move to J13

Standard: Line Attack using Template 2(adjusted for a 40ft line instead of 30).

Attack against d2: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] E/F

If it is a hit, then:

Attack against d1: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3] E/F

[Halae]

[Samantha]

The paladin bursts into action, the servos of her power armor making noise as she moves to get a clear shot at one of the drones, before taking a kneeling position and bringing up her rifle. She should have a low enough profile like this that her allies can fire over her head without issue, "Man, I hate tight quarters."

Move to I-11, followed by moving into a crouch as a free action so as not to provide cover to the drones if someone behind Sam chooses to shoot. This should give a clear shot at d3, the drone in space K-8, so it shouldn't have cover bonuses.

Deadly Aim Attack Roll: [roll0]
Seeker Rifle Damage: [roll1]

[Hattish Thing]

Zavox-14:

Zavox-14 scowls as the interior doors open wide with a soft pneumatic hiss. The android sighs, his frown only deepening as the poorly-constructed drones begin to turn and face the group, faulty plasma torches aimed in their general direction. Despite the android's sour expression, Zavox-14 does appear to be somewhat concerned, his grip on his laser pistol tightening slightly as he hears something larger moving about from behind the drones.

In response to the drones and the loud noises, the operative holds his technological firearm close, staring ahead coldly at one of the drones before tapping at his arm. The same holographic screen he activated earlier springs into existence once more, glowing softly as he taps at the screen.

"What unfortunate construction, I barely recognize the model."

--



Trick Attack, Computers Check: [roll0] [roll1]

Attack: [roll2]
Damage: ???

I don't have access to Mythweavers, it won't load any of my sheets, and I'm receiving certificate issues.

[Bhaakon]

To first two drones don't stand much of a chance. Their industrial-strength frames are designed to resist crushing and impact in a work environment, but the high-energy rounds and focused energies of military grade weapons cut through structural tubes and fuel reservoirs with ease. One spins out of control, bouncing down the corridor as its punctured gas reservoir vents uncontrollably (probably because Kriskr put a slug through its main circuit board).Roth swats a second right out of the air, making it rather easy for Jean-Paul's plasma rifle to melt it down into a pool of slag (though not without a painful splatter of molten metal as its gas cylinder explodes). Sam blasts a third, knocking loose a thurster while Zavox puts a shot right through its battery pack. It drops to the ground with a loud clang.

The last of the little drones isn't about to turn tail and run, though. It burps out a ball of plasma in an ephemeral magnetic envelope. The strength of the shot isn't enough to throw the super-heated matter far before it dissipates, but then Roth is nice and close. The blast area isn't big, but it's hot enough to burn hair to ash and bubble skin on his arm even through his armor. But the annoying little ball of plasma is nothing compared to the thin twinkling of blue light that barrels down the corridor and past Roth. You might not have even noticed the track of the high powered mining laser if it weren't for all the dust and debris in the air from the brief fight, little flecks of metal and paint that explode in brilliant azure bursts as they intersect the beam. Then there's what it does to the wall at the end of the hall. Even the adamantium alloy of the facility hull can't eat that shot unscathed. The flash only lasts a second, but it's long enough to dig an centimeter deep divot in the wall of the mining station. You suspect that only the fail safes on the big mining drone that Roth spots plugging up the whole corridor, locked in place with a sextet of 'feet' reaching out to anchor the thing in all directions, prevented the laser from venting the station's atmosphere.

4 fire damage

The flying drones are made for observation and simple repairs, but the big bot blocking the next hall is a specialist, designed to dig out mining shafts big enough for even a Vesk to walk down comfortable. It business end is stuffed with hardened bits and cutting tools for gross digging, more delicate arms for dealing with more valuable materials--usually folded away for protection but now extended with tools and claws ready to rip into flesh. And, of course, the big laser cutter that just nearly holed the station.

The D20 mining drone is a workhorse, designed to burrow through adamantium ore and survive cave-ins on high grav worlds, the damn thing is nearly indestructible. Of course, it's also not really designed for fighting. The business end can tear through flesh like tissue paper, but the back has simple manual controls and no weapons, and it's not particularly fast nimble. The corridor is just large enough for the thing to turn around, but it's a process that would take the better part of a minute

https://i.imgur.com/wCDeY0a.jpg

[ylvathrall]

Kriskr ignores the flash of the laser, not reacting in the slightest to the lethal blast roaring straight past . She focuses on the remaining drone instead, lining up another shot with cool professionalism before squeezing the trigger. The rifle bucks again, the recoil mitigated by the weapon's internal systems and her armor.

Attack on d4: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Ilorin Lorati]

Roth

The impotent plasma strike does little more than cause Roth to shake his arm as if shaking off a splash of water and remark though what seemed to be gritted teeth "This is a good pain!"

Before he could really take stock of the fact that the attack hit him through Armor, however, the sniper behind him took out the last of the closeup drones, giving Roth peeks around the corner. Seeing the big baddie in the distance without missing a beat, he rushes off in the direction of the big digging drone, shouting out "Now this is what I'm talkin' about! Bring it!"


Move 35' to P9, Attack B.

Hit: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[QuidEst]

Len looks at the others, figuring there's not much he can do to convince Roth of anything. "Listen, that thing is built to take a lot of abuse. I recommend a game of keep-away. I'm going to try circling around- if I can get to the back, I might be able to perform a manual override and save us a lot of trouble." Len nodded to the others, and started back towards the hall. "Beep Boop, tag along!"

Double-move to O-22. Beep Boop moves to J-20.