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[5e IC] Circus Tricks [2075 Game Thread]

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Zweiblumen

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« Reply #30 on: <09-11-14/1813:00> »
Ghost, his voice a little rough as if it doesn't get much use, replies in a slight spanish accent, "I agree, we need more information. Any and all threats does not give us much to work with, especially since this convoy is so ill-equipped. I would rather we not lose all the circus performers one by one, but grouping them together is just asking for trouble. I assume you all have seen the AROs I sent you? It looks bad, and that's putting it mildly. I'll have to ask Seņor Oblique if he has some sensors we can rig up for real time connection. Even bad security should give us some notification so we have time to react. I'll be honest, I'm paranoid enough that I can figure out this security thing, but technical stuff? I'd rather leave that in the hands of someone who can actually rig that drek correctly. Any volunteers?"

Bittorent listens as Ghost runs down his list, and chimes in. "Oblique mentioned the limited sensor mesh saying they prefered using bodies to machines for watching the trains.  He also arranged for Morgan and I to have access to it.  Looks like we'll want to add at least Harrier to that list, otherwise we can provide AR feeds as needed.  As for getting some more information out of Oblique, I can help with that.  I'll have a sit down with him once we've wrapped this up.  Then catch up with Morgan to go over security once I've gotten some more information about what we're expecting."
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« Reply #31 on: <09-11-14/1816:39> »
Morgan nodded at Ghost
I'll have to borrow some tools from maintenance but I'm more than capable of rigging up some sensor nets
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« Reply #32 on: <09-11-14/1842:01> »
Al watched the dwarf dismount and secure his bird. Then, hell, his whole flock.

Al figured he must be who he said he was, or he wouldn't ever have landed, just blown things up. But he'd seen some loco plays in his day, and as he puffed on his cigarette he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was tracking on the goateed pilot with his shotgun during his whole time on the roof.

He gave things thirty seconds to see if they went crazy once the dwarf went down the hatch, then when all stayed quiet, he followed down after him.

Settling his butt down on the floor in the furthest corner of the room, a fresh Lucky appeared between his burn-scarred fingers and he lit it with a big stainless steel Zippo that had suddenly materialized in his other hand.

Watching the team talk shop, and trying to care about such details, he sized up the group. In a gravelly rasp just loud enough that maybe people could hear it, he mused, "Hell, we git any more half-pints in here, we gon' have ta start callin' vat-girl Snow White."

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« Reply #33 on: <09-11-14/1843:06> »
[14SEP2075 0950 | Cirque de l'Ombre Caravan| Tarislar]

"Do you have anything proving Torrent sent you?" The challenge came from a tall and wiry elf who, if Harrier were going to be honest, somehow felt soulless.

Nodding, the dwarf forwarded the message Torrent had sent him less than an hour ago and slowly lowered his hands. "I can help out with surveillance if you need more eyes." Pulling the black vinyl sleeve off his back, he slowly loosened the drawstring and turned the sack upside down. Five baseball-shaped metal objects dropped out of the bag. Before hitting the ground, each of the balls of metal initiated small thrusters and hovered, taking up an evenly-spaced elliptical orbit around Harrier's head.

"Mitsuhama Spy Eyes, the Horizon model is rubbish," the rigger said with a note of pride in his voice. "I was planning on setting them up to monitor any threats coming from outside, but if you chaps think we need more security inside, I'd be happy to deploy them where you see fit. They're kitted out with atmospheric sensors, cameras with low-light and thermographic, directional mics, laser range finders, motion sensors, omni-directional mics, olfactory sensors, and radio frequency finders. The feeds can be added into the sensor net. If necessary," he finishes with some reluctance, "I can invite MARKS to anyone who wants to issue them commands."
« Last Edit: <09-16-14/1622:26> by JackVII »
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« Reply #34 on: <09-11-14/1930:11> »
@Ghost:
Well I was being facetious, but I'm glad you're not expecting an invasion force haha

What the hell does facetious mean?

Ah, I sometimes miss the ... subtler parts of conversation. I blame my upbringing, but that's not a conversation to have right now.

Bittorent listens as Ghost runs down his list, and chimes in. "Oblique mentioned the limited sensor mesh saying they prefered using bodies to machines for watching the trains.  He also arranged for Morgan and I to have access to it.  Looks like we'll want to add at least Harrier to that list, otherwise we can provide AR feeds as needed.  As for getting some more information out of Oblique, I can help with that.  I'll have a sit down with him once we've wrapped this up.  Then catch up with Morgan to go over security once I've gotten some more information about what we're expecting."

Ghost mutters to himself
Prefers using bodies to machines; I cannot tell if he takes security seriously. Supposed to have machines and bodies.

In reply to Bittorent,
All right, well that helps us somewhat, but there still are quite a few holes in security. If you can get some extra gear out of him, all the better. While you're doing that, I'll try to ask Torrent about our ... situation.

I'll have to borrow some tools from maintenance but I'm more than capable of rigging up some sensor nets

Good, let's hope that Oblique can deliver on some sensors.

"Hell, we git any more half-pints in here, we gon' have ta start callin' vat-girl Snow White."

With his augmented hearing, Ghost easily picks up what adamu says. However, he has no idea what the human is talking about, so he just ignores his mumbling and focuses his attention on the new arrival, Harrier.

Speaking calmly, the rigger said, "Name's Harrier. Torrent sent me, he thought I'd be helpful to the effort here. Sorry for showing up unannounced. I appear to have been a last minute addition."

Figuring the group would want to confirm his statement, he queued up the message Torrent had just sent and prepared to forward it to whomever asked.

All right, your message from Torrent seems authentic. Welcome to our group. Here's what you've missed. We're here to provide security on this convoy, which is moving slower than a snail, has absolute drek for security; we know none of the people we are supposed to guard, and we have no idea what we are defending against. If it sounds like fun, you've come to the right place.

Shrugging and slowly lowering his hands, Harrier flagged the message he was planning to forward for his bona fides for quick recall in case someone asked for it. "I can help out with surveillance if you need more eyes." Pulling the black vinyl sleeve off his back, he slowly loosened the drawstring and turned the sack upside down. Five baseball-shaped metal objects dropped out of the bag. Before hitting the ground, each of the balls of metal initiated small thrusters and hovered, taking up an evenly-spaced elliptical orbit around Harrier's head.

"Mitsuhama Spy Eyes, the Horizon model is rubbish," the rigger said with a note of pride in his voice. "I was planning on setting them up to monitor any threats coming from outside, but if you chaps think we need more security inside, I'd be happy to deploy them where you see fit. They're kitted out with atmospheric sensors, cameras with low-light and thermographic, directional mics, laser range finders, motion sensors, omni-directional mics, olfactory sensors, and radio frequency finders. The feeds can be added into the sensor net. If necessary," he finishes with some reluctance, "I can invite MARKS to anyone who wants to issue them commands."

Sounds good, we'll need it. If you want to take a look at our convoy and figure a few things out, go ahead. We still need a little time to get information out of our employer and the owner of this circus, although I hope that they will not make things difficult for us. I don't give a damn what model your drones are, I just care about if you can pilot them well, and help out. Anything you need with technical applications, I'm not the one to talk to. Those two would be better suited to answer your questions. Ghost motions in Morgan and Bittorent's direction. I'll send you some AROs that may be of use to you.

Recipient: Harrier
Sender: Ghost

Attachment: Security_is_awful.ARO

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« Reply #35 on: <09-11-14/2030:06> »
[14SEP2075 0950 | Cirque de l'Ombre Caravan| Tarislar]

Harrier chuckled and responded to Ghost. "If you don't care what model of drones I'm running, you don't have to tell me you don't know drek about tech. Thanks for the file!" What a wanker... the rigger thought to himself as he walked away.

Calling up the ARO file, the dwarf introduced himself to Morgan and BitTorrent and said, "Greetings, chaps. What's the play?"
« Last Edit: <09-16-14/1622:06> by JackVII »
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« Reply #36 on: <09-11-14/2245:50> »
Watching the team talk shop, and trying to care about such details, he sized up the group. In a gravelly rasp just loud enough that maybe people could hear it, he mused, "Hell, we git any more half-pints in here, we gon' have ta start callin' vat-girl Snow White."

"I'm no vatjob amigo. That's just replacing weakness with better weakness." She ran her finger down her torso, "This is all hardware...and I am not white"

"Greetings, chaps. What's the play?"

"The play is that we let the performers spread out and we play zone defense; recommend you don't let your drones wander out farther than 150 meters. We need front, rear and flank security, as well as ground vehicles in the front to trigger any IEDs. A smart attacker with numbers will hit the first and last vehicles and try to trap us before moving in. Those with small numbers will just keep hitting the rear vehicles."

She paused,Watch for ambushes; normally, if we hit one, you get out of the kill zone as fast as you can. If you can't get out, turn into the attackers and run them down. These trains are too slow and big to do that. So we'll just have to rely on firepower - don't hold back."

We also need to keep the drivers of this convoy from trying to crawl up each other's culos, make sure they leave enough room in-between that one blast doesn't take out two. We might also want to use the faster vehicles to secure intersections while the trains cross."

Luz cursed to herself, "We need our employers to detail the route. We need them to tell us a lot that they have not yet. That is bad business amigos."
« Last Edit: <09-11-14/2250:57> by Lusis »
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« Reply #37 on: <09-12-14/1641:50> »
"I'm no vatjob amigo. That's just replacing weakness with better weakness." She ran her finger down her torso, "This is all hardware...and I am not white"

Seated on the floor with his forearms on his knees, Al winked, his cigarette clamped between his yellow teeth in the very center of his huge grin. Then made a peace sign for good measure.

After the woman finished speaking to the rest of the group, he said "I'll second the zone dee-fense idear, an' I done already called muh zone. Headed back up ta the front cab, keep an eye on things that end. Y'all work out the finer points with ol' Al's blessing."

Heading back up the length of the train, he linked his comm to his earbuds, and set texts to translate to voice. Once he got settled he'd look at the graphics they'd sent on the screen.

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« Reply #38 on: <09-12-14/1703:01> »
Morgan shook harrier's hand. hey, not entirely sure on the trix side, literally just.got my clearances now. as the physical is in such a poor state I'm not exactly holding much hope for excellence. How was the flight in? Can you talk us through what you've got and what you can provide? Wish I could say you've joined a decent outfit but we've got some Fucking work to do to make sure we see our pay day without too many holes in our bodies.
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« Reply #39 on: <09-12-14/1706:42> »
"The play is that we let the performers spread out and we play zone defense; recommend you don't let your drones wander out farther than 150 meters. We need front, rear and flank security, as well as ground vehicles in the front to trigger any IEDs. A smart attacker with numbers will hit the first and last vehicles and try to trap us before moving in. Those with small numbers will just keep hitting the rear vehicles."

She paused,Watch for ambushes; normally, if we hit one, you get out of the kill zone as fast as you can. If you can't get out, turn into the attackers and run them down. These trains are too slow and big to do that. So we'll just have to rely on firepower - don't hold back."

We also need to keep the drivers of this convoy from trying to crawl up each other's culos, make sure they leave enough room in-between that one blast doesn't take out two. We might also want to use the faster vehicles to secure intersections while the trains cross."

Luz cursed to herself, "We need our employers to detail the route. We need them to tell us a lot that they have not yet. That is bad business amigos."

Bittorrent listens to what Luz has to say and then pipes in with, "These are all good points, and I will go speak with Oblique shortly to get some more information for us.  One thing I'd like to caution against is assuming our clients are professional military, or even remotely used to dealing with such.  Its possible some of them have had some experience like this, but this is mostly a troupe of performers, actors and con artists.  There's obviously something heavy they are hiding/protecting and expecting a fairly major show of force as they hired a rather large heavily equiped set of body guards, but I doubt they know anything about unit cohesion or running interference or co-ordination.  I think it is much safer to assume this motely crew will react as individuals."

He takes a deep breath, and realizes he's far from the local expert on these types of tactics.
"Sorry, I should probably stick to dealing with people and the 'trix.  You three obviously know more about this than I do.  Lemme go chat with Oblique, ney?  I'll get all of you the data I get back via ARs."

BT walks over to Harrier and Morgan to chat.  "Please to meet you Harrier, I go by Bittorrent, BT for short.  I've done a quick once over for how things are positioned around here, and Morgan is about to take a deeper look.  I've some friends that can help with your toys when the heat comes in."  Raising his hands, large palms outward in a show of aquiecence.  He continues, "No offence, I'm sure you're the best at your job.  But freebies help everyone."

He then excuses himself and goes off to find Oblique.
« Last Edit: <09-12-14/1730:02> by Zweiblumen »
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« Reply #40 on: <09-12-14/1751:40> »
[14SEP2075 0950 | Cirque de l'Ombre Caravan| Tarislar]

Returning the other dwarf's handshake, Harrier nodded. "Sure thing, mate." Before he could list off the assets he had brought with him, the two were interrupted by a very large, very black troll. Listening as BitTorrent introduced himself, the dwarf couldn't help but stare at the gold accents on the trolls horns and his gilded teeth. All told, it made the troll even more menacing. Glad we're on the same side, he thought to himself.

"Two deckers? Aces! Nice to meet you BT, I'll take all the help I can get."

As the troll departed to speak to the mysterious Oblique, Harrier returned his attention to Morgan. "Like I was about to say, the flight in was rubbish, but that's not a surprise out here. The ash, updrafts, and the on-and-off threat of volcanic activity make flying around here a little choppy, but I should be able to handle it if I need to get up in the air." Pulling up the ARO-laden file Ghost had sent him, the rigger frowned as he scanned through the image files, "Well that's bollocks... I'm almost more worried about this thing making it to the other side of Puyallup without even considering anyone actually trying to stop it. Maintenance doesn't seem to be a big concern here."

Sighing, Harrier continued, "Oh well, nothing much to be done about that for the moment. You asked what I brought to the party? Right-O. For discreet surveillance, I've got five brilliant Mitsuhama Eye Spys with a full sensor package including  atmospheric sensors, cameras with low-light and thermographic, directional mics, laser range finders, motion sensors, omni-directional mics, olfactory sensors, and radio frequency finders." The rigger ticks off each sensor as he names them. "For fire support, I brought along three MCT-Nissan Roto-Drones with an adequate sensor suite armed with M23 assault rifles. Finally, if the drek really hits the fan, I've got the Wasp up top. She's loaded with an advanced sensor suite and a recessed LMG for whenever someone wants to really be a twat." Reaching over his shoulder, he tapped his RCC. "Everything is slaved to my Liegelord here for protection and remote operation."

"...and that's about the lot of it, I think." Harrier finished. At this point, it dawned on him that he didn't even know the other dwarf's name. "So, what can I call you?"
« Last Edit: <09-16-14/1621:36> by JackVII »
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« Reply #41 on: <09-12-14/1804:36> »
great stuff. Nice accent man, you from Britain? That sounds excellent. We can definitely make use of that. How you fixed for fuel? We could really make use of regular patrols and scouting runs. Once I get this thing secured I'll extend the security to your broadcast kit, don't want our eyes and ears getting subverted.
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« Reply #42 on: <09-12-14/1817:50> »
Luz looks at Morgan, "Can you do the same for my PAN?"

She looks at the remaining group, "I know this is just the circus; but they paid for security. If all we have to worry about is wildlife and lowlife scum, muy bien, otherwise, we prepare for the worst. We've all have been double-crossed by a Johnson before."

She turns and leaves, heading towards the driver.
« Last Edit: <09-12-14/1820:07> by Lusis »
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« Reply #43 on: <09-12-14/1828:50> »
"The play is that we let the performers spread out and we play zone defense; recommend you don't let your drones wander out farther than 150 meters. We need front, rear and flank security, as well as ground vehicles in the front to trigger any IEDs. A smart attacker with numbers will hit the first and last vehicles and try to trap us before moving in. Those with small numbers will just keep hitting the rear vehicles."

She paused,Watch for ambushes; normally, if we hit one, you get out of the kill zone as fast as you can. If you can't get out, turn into the attackers and run them down. These trains are too slow and big to do that. So we'll just have to rely on firepower - don't hold back."

We also need to keep the drivers of this convoy from trying to crawl up each other's culos, make sure they leave enough room in-between that one blast doesn't take out two. We might also want to use the faster vehicles to secure intersections while the trains cross."


Shaking his head, Ghost replies, "I disagree, we don't have enough manpower to spread out the people we were hired to protect. We need to get them into an easy to defend position that we can guard; otherwise I see no way to cover the entire train. If we are all trying to defend our respective zones, we will get picked off one by one while we are too far away for others to help. Once they get rid of us, this circus has nothing to guard it; if it did, why would they hire us?"

Ghost nods when Luz mentions ambushes.

At the mention of the drivers, he says, "I doubt they can move any faster than they are. They most likely want to get out of here as quickly as possible, and I cannot believe that they would go at a slower speed than they have to."

Luz cursed to herself, "We need our employers to detail the route. We need them to tell us a lot that they have not yet. That is bad business amigos."

Bittorrent listens to what Luz has to say and then pipes in with, "These are all good points, and I will go speak with Oblique shortly to get some more information for us.  One thing I'd like to caution against is assuming our clients are professional military, or even remotely used to dealing with such.  Its possible some of them have had some experience like this, but this is mostly a troupe of performers, actors and con artists.  There's obviously something heavy they are hiding/protecting and expecting a fairly major show of force as they hired a rather large heavily equiped set of body guards, but I doubt they know anything about unit cohesion or running interference or co-ordination.  I think it is much safer to assume this motely crew will react as individuals."

He takes a deep breath, and realizes he's far from the local expert on these types of tactics.
"Sorry, I should probably stick to dealing with people and the 'trix.  You three obviously know more about this than I do.  Lemme go chat with Oblique, ney?  I'll get all of you the data I get back via ARs."

I intend to get as much information out of Torrent as I can; hopefully BT can get something out of Oblique. I doubt he will cause us any troubles, because as he said, no fragups. Until then, I do not think we can do anything else.

He sees Luz walk off.

God damn, things were so much easier during the war. Sure, you didn't know who was going to do what next, but at least you had a clear objective. Torrent better give me some information or we are seriously fucked.

Kind of sad that I'm finding myself enjoying this thrill...


I believe this meeting is over, we need more information before we can do anything, everyone coordinate as necessary. I am going to go have a few words with our employer.

Ghost walks off and pulls out his commlink.

Recipient: Torrent
Sender: Ghost

This is Ghost, one of your runners. I'll just be honest with you. I need a hell of a lot more information than you've given us. I already thought it was a little extreme, but then I found out you sent in god damn air support? What the fuck are we defending against? Judging by the size of our team, this circus must be a lot more valuable than we thought, so who are we suspecting will attack this? We cannot do anything but the most basic of security, because we have no idea what we have to be able to stop. I would rather come out of this alive, and I'm sure the rest of my team would agree with me, so if you want no fragups, better give us some more information, or I don't think this circus, or us, are going to get out of here alive. This is not a threat, but if you want your reputation to remain untarnished, you got to give your team a little more info to protect our charges. Otherwise, I have no choice but to conclude we are sitting ducks out here.

Adios Seņor Torrent, I expect to hear from you soon.


Ghost puts his commlink away and calmly loads all of his guns, expecting the worst.

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« Reply #44 on: <09-12-14/2016:26> »
Back on the running board of the lead cab, Al had looked over the information that had been sent to his commlink for a while, but before long it bored him and he redirected his attention to the ash wastes. Their surroundings were growing more barren as they pulled away from the elven community. Why all those keebs would want to live out here was way beyond him. But then, he'd recently set up housekeeping here as well - he reckoned everyone had their own stories to tell.

Time to get Frank's.

He coaxed the teamster to lower his window a little and started making small talk. The door on the shotgun side of the cab was open as Tyrone leaned out to take a piss.

Frank opened up pretty well once he saw that Al was familiar with these sorts of rig, and they traded notes on this model vs. the machines Al had handled in North Africa. Al asked a lot of questions about the filtering they were using here, where the particulates were a lot smaller, as well as about Frank's shifting strategies. It wasn't hard from there to ease into what he really wanted to talk about.

"Seems like a helluva lot o' headache fer a one day run. What genius done picked this route anyway?"