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Author Topic: Space Cowboys for Hire [Month 7] (New Blood Welcome)  (Read 39127 times)

m1895

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #255 on: May 08, 2020, 10:16:46 pm »

Fireteam Leader
The Fireteam Leader is a NCO or senior soldier trained to lead the smallest military subunit in use. Their job is to direct the fire of the 2-4 men under them, whether that be in room clearing, pulling security, or what have you while following the orders of our resident squad lead, though taking after the marines, so a bit more initiative is expected than normal.
We have decided to train Vega in this role, as he shown a level of competency and camaraderie in more... direct and less subtle roles

Here's a more well-rounded specialization, that hopefully won't cause our boys to chafe against each other, like having two equal ranks might. I'll continue working on it tomorrow.
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Kashyyk

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #256 on: May 09, 2020, 02:10:45 am »

Of the missions we've seen, a Wheelman would've been useful on the Anghabar Strikebreaker and the IRC extraction jobs from our first month as well as the Anghabar CI FA extraction and IRC courier jobs this month.

Quote from: Specialist Votebox
(2) Ethan the Wheelman: OpsChief, Kashyyk
(1) Victor the Breacher: SC777
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King Zultan

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #257 on: May 09, 2020, 04:14:43 am »

Quote from: Specialist Votebox
(2) Ethan the Wheelman: OpsChief, Kashyyk
(2) Victor the Breacher: SC777, King Zultan
(1) Fireteam Leader: m1895
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Naturegirl1999

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #258 on: May 09, 2020, 09:43:01 am »

Quote from: Specialist Votebox
(2) Ethan the Wheelman: OpsChief, Kashyyk
(3) Victor the Breacher: SC777, King Zultan, NG1999
(1) Fireteam Leader: m1895
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Powder Miner

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #259 on: May 09, 2020, 12:26:01 pm »

Quote from: Specialist Votebox
(2) Ethan the Wheelman: OpsChief, Kashyyk
(4) Victor the Breacher: SC777, King Zultan, NG1999, Powder Miner
(1) Fireteam Leader: m1895
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m1895

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #260 on: May 09, 2020, 12:43:00 pm »


Quote from: Specialist Votebox
(2) Ethan the Wheelman: OpsChief, Kashyyk
(5) Victor the Breacher: SC777, King Zultan, NG1999, Powder Miner, m1895
() Fireteam Leader:
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ConscriptFive

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #261 on: May 14, 2020, 10:29:03 am »

Quote from: Victor the Breacher
Breacher: A breacher is an individual dedicated to the sole purpose of breach and clear maneuvers on entry positions from doors, windows, etc and being able to command a small fire team to efficiently take down hostile targets in a safeguarded position and utilizing all of their people at their command to cover adjacent entryways and using other vital military and police tactics to be able to protect our team from returning fire, managing pointman, and other such-known tactics. This training will also include an raiding or rather assault doctrine based on the clearing of fortified positions or buildings, being able to manage their team to clear room to room in an effective manner.

Victor Vega will be trained for this role, as he’s been in a firefight before and has shown camaraderie when he is the designated leader of missions.

"A bit of an exhausting opening sentence there Ma'am, but seems to cover all the bases: less of a generalist light infantry rifleman, more of a pure door-kicker.  Turning Vega into a CQB assaulter TL is a great idea."

Close Quarter Battle (CQB) is technically defined as any battle within 50 meters.  For most practical purposes, this usually refers to assaulting a structure and the ensuing "room clearing."  With the increasingly urbanized combat of the 21st century, light infantry CQB became increasingly common.  Almost fetishized in some circles, operators billeted in full-time direct action units were known as assaulters.  Highly aggressive by design, the common slang for assaulters were "pipe-hitters," based on a misunderstanding of memorable line in the film Pulp Fiction.  Victor "Mr. Blonde" Vega, already a Tarantino fan, gets the reference immediately and latches on to this moniker.

Ops Chief Neil MacCauley is a former US Army Green Beret and is already prepared to give this kind of training.  He first lectures Vega the "Three Principles of CQB:" speed, surprise, and violence of action.  Speed is obtained through meticulously choreographed movement through a building, relying on pre-planning and standardized room clearing manuevers to resolve the mission before the defender can react.  Surprise is obtained by keeping OPSEC and using low visibility techniques (camouflage, light/noise discipline or even disguises) to get as close to the objective as possible before the defender can react.  Violence of action is gaining and keeping aggressively overwhelming physical and psychological momentum ("Shock and Awe" in Cold War terms) to "dominate" and suppress the objective before the defender can react.

In case you didn't catch the theme, the goal of CQB is to accomplish the mission without anyone shooting back or running away.  Failing any of those three principals will result in an ambush and/or a "dry hole" empty objective. 

Vega is initially put off by all the classroom instruction, but perks up once he hears about all the violence and domination.

As the first stage of his practical training, Neil builds a "glass house" by outlining a 1:1 floorplan with masking tape on the deck.  Vega can't help but feel a little silly mime'ing room clearing like this, but it's a dirt-cheap and versatile way to get coached in basic room clearing choreography.  Once Neil is satisfied with Vega's glass house performance, he takes him to the "killhouse," so he can practice CQB in a more realistic setting.  With Neil standing in as a teammate, it's not long before they're going room to room, reflex shooting targets.

Confident in Vega's skills as a CQB operator, Neil moves on to the more advanced components of Mrs. Ocean's request.  Realizing the peril of teaching an operator how to break into his office, Neil has the techs build some practice doors onto the killhouse for forced entry training.  While all of the operators received a rundown on how to use the newly acquired Blackhawk! dynamic entry tools, Vega gets extensive tutoring on how to analyze a locked ingress point, to apply the right tool, in the right place, with the right technique.

Vega absorbs all of this well, and Neil decides to squeeze in training module on handgun & flashlight techniques.  While tricky to do with a large revolver, Vega picks up the classic 20th century "Harries" technique of holding a flashlight in a crossgrip under a pistol.  He'd still be firing the Magnum revolver one-handed, but it's better bracing than nothing.

As the capstone of his specialist training, Neil is assigned a handful of tech volunteers to test his capability as a CQB Team Leader.  Returning to the glass house, he briefs them the plan of attack and walks them through the mock room clearing.  The non-combatants are as clumsy as you'd expect, but Neil is impressed at how well he teaches them how to stack on an door and then move to their "points of domination."  It's time to try them out in the kill house.

Vegas barks out his orders, "Fellas, the moment that door pops, everything in that room needs to be dead or compliant within three seconds.  It's not called a 'killhouse' for nothing."

Neil would never trust POG's with live ammo in the killhouse, but regardless, they storm and clear each room with speed and violence of action.

Vic the Pipe Hitter
A small-arms focused CQB assaulter.  A master of room clearing.  Proficient in breaching techniques.  Can lead a team-sized element on a CQB assault.

Spoiler: Roll (click to show/hide)

Operations Phase

"Well Ma'am, these are the kinds of ops your husband lived for.  We've got some big shoes to fill in that regard, but at least we've done a helluva job rebuilding our capabilities this month."

"We have two distinct objectives from two different clients: save the princess and demolish the castle.  The basic CONOP is to embed Anna as an insider to pinpoint the VIP and her schedule, Templar's team snatches the VIP at a vulnerable time/location, Vega's demo team is then cued to hit the castle, demo team exfils before the demo charges go off and the CERT/QRF makes things too ugly."

"If Anna nails the intel part, she can really pave the way for the two combat elements.  Something we should start doing with our ISR tasks is to start giving them explicit 'Priority Intelligence Requirements' (PIRs).  PIRs are a handful of key questions an ISR asset is explicitly ordered to find answers to.  Anna has pretty solid instincts on what to collect, but it wouldn't help to tell her what intel we really need.  Our operators doing other recon definitely could use better guidance though."

Flossmore Resort Rescue and Demolition
All nine available operators will deploy to rescue the "Princess Elsa" (AKA Lise Schubert) from enslavement by Flossmore PCF, and demolish "the castle" at their center of their newly built adults-only resort.

To complete the intelligence picture, Anna the HUMINT Collector will be embedded undercover at the resort.  Posing as a former hotel manager from Anghabar, she should obtain employment on the resort.  Likely unable to safely rendezvous with the assaulting element(s), Anna should skip work and get shipside before the assault.  Either directly through her work or through elicitation with her co-workers, she should focus on the following Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIR)'s:

(PIR 1)  What is "Princess Elsa's" schedule?
(PIR 2)  What prevents individual PUC's on the resort, like "Princess Elsa," from escaping?
(PIR 3)  What emergency procedures does the resort have?

While Anna is performing her undercover work, all other operators will organize shipside into two distinct elements: Templar's Snatch Team and Vega's Demo Team.  Each team will prepare for their respective mission, integrating Anna's intel as it comes in.  As Templar has no familiarity with the Flossmore area, Templar will deploy planetside ahead of his team to get firsthand recon before the action kicks off.

Confirming that Anna is away from the resort and otherwise safe, the two combat teams will travel from the unlisted spaceport to their objective area(s).  Upon snatching the Princess, Simon's team will cue the demo team and evacuate back to the unlisted spaceport in a Landrover.  On cue, Vega's team will rapidly storm the castle and find a low interior space with loadbearing structures.  Redbrick will emplace Semtex charges on a timer, and then the demo team will exit the castle and evacuate to the unlisted spaceport in a Landrover.

As this will be a high profile and highly kinetic extralegal strike against a supposedly lawful entity, balaclavas and callsigns are a must.  All combat elements should wear the new body armor and have the dynamic entry tools available.  Bloodshed is likely, so wear those PFASK's and get re-familiarized with them.


Undercover Personnel:
Anna the HUMINT Collector

Snatch Team Personnel:
Team Leader Simon the Tactician NCO
Nikita the Scout
Evelyn Salt
Erik Heller

Snatch Team Hardware:
Landrover Defender SUV (1)
AS Val Carbine (3)
FLIR Binos (1)

Demo Team Personnel:
Team Leader Vic the Pipe Hitter
Redbrick the Demolition Expert
Ethan Hunt
James "Hoxton" Hoxworth

Demo Team Hardware:
Landrover Defender SUV (1)
AS Val Carbine (3)
FLIR Binos (1)
Semtex Brick (4)


Quote from: Operations Plan Vote
(1) Neil's Plan: Ops Chief

"Also Ma'am, we're coming up on last call for that little monster there.  Have you decided on that yet?"

Quote from: Velociraptor Vote
(3) Pay 30-50k to keep and care for "Sid" the Velociraptor: Stirk, m1895, Kashyyk
(5) "Thanks, but no thanks Hox:" Ops Chief, Powder Miner, Pokeboss44, King Zultan, NG1999

Stirk

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #262 on: May 14, 2020, 09:21:02 pm »

Plan "Punisher"

While insider information is necessary, there are faster and safer ways to get to it. Fortunately the facility is filled with insiders jut waiting to give us information!

The first step is to identify if the workers and guards live "on-sight" in facilities at the location, and if they ever go into town for off-time. First this is done by asking our agent what he remembers of his trip and reviewing the video footage. Did they have a parking or garage filled with cars? Was the road well used compared to the number of "clients" we saw (it should be relatively simple to tell thanks to the snow)? Was there any obvious on-sight housing for the not-being-forcibly held staff?

If we're lucky, the workers don't spend all their time in the facility. This will allow us to apprehend one for questioning. A guard would be ideal (as it would allow us to better know their defensive capabilities), the owner/operator would be even better (as he would both work as a hostage and be able to give orders to the workers - capturing him would essentially make the mission a cakewalk.), but anyone who would plausibly know the location the hostage is being held and the layout of the facility would work. A janitor would be acceptable, while the delivery truck driver would likely not be.

If we determine that they live or are allowed "off-sight", then we will plan to forcibly obtain the target asset while they are off-location. We will first attempt a good-old-fashioned "Dox" of the enemy who's name and face we know, Oglivy. As the assistant warden he is liable to be a valuable intel asset and hostage, and we have enough information to do basic search engine and social media investigating to find out basic information such as where he lives, what his car looks like and its license plate, and his favorite hangouts. Should that fail and we are unable to discover any practical information, we will resort to the more low-tech methods of setting up a watching post in the woods along the roadside and having rotating operators keep track of license plates, cars, and their timing, and taking pictures with their phone for later review.

Operators will have operational freedom for how they obtain the target based on the information gathered up to this point. One example would be to fake a car crash with the two vans blocking off the road, filling the van with armed operators. Have a third vehicle tail the target to block off the obvious escape vector. When the target approaches the roadblock, launch the ambush and apprehend them before prying eyes arrive. The subject can then be detained with (free!) duct tape or other restraint devices that we're too cheap to pay for. Once again this is only a possible suggestion - it would be much better if we could just "I'm your Uber driver" one of the workers as they stumble home drunk or something.

If we determine that nobody is going to leave the facility in our operational time frame, we can attempt to lure the target to a location of our choice. Once again Oglivy is an obvious target - we have access to some of his information and are aware that he is crazy about "closing the deal". We can have Rodrigo make phone contact (finding his phone information before hand if needed. A call to the prison facility should suffice if we don't get it from the dox), introducing Anna as a business associate allowing her to finally use her acting skills. She will then set up a business meeting at a suitably fancy restaurant, one that is within our "emergency fund that we put in the medikit" budget. Acting as an agent of an investor or company (possibly one from the Leviathan, in order to reduce the intel we need to make a plausible cover), she will attempt to get him inebriated on within-our-budget alcohol to the point it is unlikely that he can drive himself home, then offer to "call a ride" once the meeting is over. Should have have a driver, the car can be sabotaged to allow a similar plan (such as by using the breaching kit to make suitably pointy metal from available supplies, or by knifing the tires if the driver turns his back) to similar effect. One man who has never been to the prison facilities will act as the "driving team", coming in once Anna calls to take the prisoners captive. The others will be in an armed-and-ready "Raid Team", in a suitable ambush position to capture the objective should plan A fail (hopefully close enough to provide backup if it fails in a more disastrous way). Once again operational flexibility is encouraged, so long as the end goal is met.

Once our Intel Asset is obtained, they will be brought to a per-established safehouse or base-camp in the woods. Preferably somewhere that we can get away with pulling a hogtied man around. Naturally any communication devices will be stripped from the asset. They are to be treated as humanly as possible under the circumstances during this phase. Anna will perform basic interrogation under the assumption that the enemy loyalty and camaraderie is low. She will first explain that we are performing a hostage rescue operation, showing images of the asset our rescue target. She will explain that we will launch an assault to recover that asset, and will naturally attempt to minimize contact with the enemy to limit the risk to our own assets. The more information the hostage gives us, the better we can avoid the workers and the less we will have to kill. You don't want your coworkers to die over some prostitute right? Then give us the guard schedule, building layout, her location at varying times of the day, emergency/defense/escape procedure, any passwords you remember, the location of security cameras, and whatever other information the teams decides they need to pull off this operation. Milk them dry! Promise them that they will be released after the mission is accomplished, so long as they cooperate. Enhanced interrogation will be allowed should the subject prove harder to crack than expected. While she is not an expert Salt has experienced several of such techniques first hand, and should be able to apply them effectively and enthusiastically under the circumstances.

After the intel is obtained, troops are to strike as above with the caveat that Salt remains at base camp to guard the hostage until the all-clear is given. Basic intel is to be confirmed to ensure that the asset was truthful - with Salt managing communication between the two teams and grilling the hostage if any additional questions come up in the field. Our operators will be ordered to inflict maximum damage to the facility and its personnel. Should any enemy show the slightest hint of being a threat, they are to be eliminated. Any non-target prisoners are to be freed as we come across them (including destroying any necessary tracking infrastructure as possible). If we receive such information from the asset and are otherwise unbusy, the strike teams may hand smart phones to the liberated prisoners allowing Salt to provide viable escape routes without the operation teams spending valuable time explaining the situation. Optimally we will be able to direct them to the prison's vehicles and keys, removing the asset necessary for the enemy to peruse us while removing noncombatants from the battlefield. Salt can then release the prisoner in a way that allows her time to escape (assuming they where cooperative), evacuating at the traditional space port. (For example unbinding their feet and not their hands while pointing them in the direction of the nearest road, or leaving them in the safehouse but calling a pizza delivery to the location). Non-target prisoners can be brought along and evacuated up to our starship's capacity, but they will not be directed to space port until after our troops are safely in position to leave if they are escaping independently to prevent the enemy from knowing our escape route.
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King Zultan

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #263 on: May 15, 2020, 06:05:36 am »

Quote from: Operations Plan Vote
(1) Neil's Plan: Ops Chief
(1) Plan "Punisher": King Zultan
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Kashyyk

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #264 on: May 15, 2020, 10:16:26 am »

This plan started as a modification of Plan "Punisher", and then evolved. Critique welcome.

Quote from: Plan 'Precision Violence'
The team will arrive at the unregistered landing site.

Even if all the staff live and work on-site, they'll no doubt want to escape to the local town occasionally. This should thus give opportunity for HUMINT work led by Anna Chapman. She should frequent any bars/clubs/whatever the staff visit and pump them for information. As we've learnt our lesson from last time, she'll have Erik Heller in civvies with a sidearm present at whatever location she visits, whilst Simon Taylor will keep watch on the building from a convenient location outside.

Meanwhile, Nikita Taylor, Hoxton, Mr Blonde and Redbrick will set up a location to observe the Resort, working in pairs with the Thermal Binoculars.

Once the HUMINT and Direct OBs teams have decided they have acquired all the information they can, a high-ranking Resort member should be detained for questioning. This could be 'Assistant Warden Oglivy', leveraging Mr Blonde's connection/cover to arrange a meeting, or it could be another higher-up that Anna encounters during her HUMINT work. Either way, this individual should be lured into a situation where they can be captured and taken to a safehouse. Anna, and a second operator (whoever is feeling up to it), should work together to interrogate the Asset. Whilst some violence is probably inevitable, they should limit themselves to non-permanent harm. Anna would likely work best as Good Cop in this scenario, leveraging her HUMINT training to gain the target's confidence and advising her interrogation partner on Bad Cop tactics.

By the end of this phase, The HUMINT, Direct Obs and Interrogation should answer the following PIRS:

1) What is "Princess Elsa's" schedule?
2) What prevents individual PUC's on the resort, like "Princess Elsa," from escaping?
3) What emergency procedures does the resort have?
4) What standard security measures exist to prevent forced ingress/egress?

Once as many of these have been answered as possible, Simon Templar should plan the assault, using the acquired Intelligence and Mr Blonde's advice as a Door Kicker where appropriate. The specifics are left to Simon's judgement, although it is suggested that both teams enter together, rescue the princess/rig the explosives simultaneously, then use the detonation to cover the joint exfiltration. Side objectives include:
 
- Destruction of other Resort Facilities
- Release of other inmates
- Neutralization of Security Forces

There's no money in them, but each of these objectives will increase the amount of harm dealt to the Resort, making the target less able to successfully respond to the team's presence. It will also be a bit of payback for their actions against Evelyn Salt, Princess Elsa, and numerous other inmates.

Whilst the strike teams are on site, Anna should manage communication between the two teams and grill the hostage for any additional information as and when needed. When the teams have exfiltrated, she can release the captive whilst giving herself time to escape on one of the ATVs. (Such as calling a pizza delivery to the safehouse for after she's left, or freeing their feet, pointing them towards the nearest road and telling them to start running).

Deployment

Intelligence:
Anna Chapman (HUMINT Collector)

Intel Hardware:
John Deere Gator ATV x1

Team Princess Rescue:
Simon Templar (Tactician NCO) - Team/Operation 1IC
James "Hoxton" Hoxworth - Team 2IC
Nikita Taylor (Scout)
Erik Heller

Princess Rescue Hardware:
Thermal Binoculars x1
AS Val Carbine x3
Land Rover x1

Team Castle Destruction:
Victor "Mr. Blonde" Vega (CQB Team Leader) - Team 1IC, Operation 2IC
Redrick "Redbrick" Batiste (Demolitions Expert) - Team 2IC
Ethan Hunt
Evelyn Salt

Castle Destruction Hardware:
Thermal Binoculars x1
AS Val Carbine x3
Land Rover x1
Semtex Bricks x4

Teams should use their standard issue gear as appropriate (armour, first aid, Dynamic entry kits, firearms, etc).
« Last Edit: May 19, 2020, 12:21:46 pm by Kashyyk »
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King Zultan

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #265 on: May 16, 2020, 09:48:24 am »

I'm kinda liking the sound of the 'Precision Violence' a little more than the one I voted for.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

ConscriptFive

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #266 on: May 19, 2020, 11:37:21 am »

Event Resolution

Hoxton lugs an animal carrier through the crowded marketplace aboard the Mothership Leviathan.  He double-checks his smartphone as it navigates him to an obscure address he's never been to before.  A storefront decorated with faux bamboo and foliage announces itself as the Center for the Proliferation of Exotic Trainable Animals.

A provocatively dressed safari girl greets him, "Oh, such a cute little fella you got there.  What's his name?"

Hoxton puts down the carrier with a sigh, "Well, this is Sid.  I have to bring him back."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but our policy here at PETA is that we don't do refunds."

"Well about that... He was a personal gift from Doc Jack Barbera.  My landlord won't let me keep it."

"Oh wow, I didn't know you were a friend of Namata.  I'll call him right away."

After a solid fifteen minutes, Doc Jack "The Raptor King" Barbera enters through the front door, "My dear Hox, I'm blessed to see you again."

The Raptor King takes Hoxton off the girl's hands and leads him to a back office.  Hoxton places Sid on the floor as they sit next to each other on a small couch.

"I'm sorry to do this Doc, but the boss won't let me keep him."

"As they say, pearls before swine.  I told you those kind of people don't understand radiant souls such as us."

Hoxton fights back tears, "I just thought they'd love him as much as I do."

He places his hand on Hox's shoulder, "Their intellectual shells are holding them back.  They cannot experience love like we do."

Hoxton begins sobbing, "I'm going to miss him so much."

Doc holds him, "It's okay.  Let it out.  Just let your radiant soul do the talking."

"They just...  I thought-"

"Stop thinking and start feeling, Hox."

"I just want-"

"Embrace your desires, Hox."

"I have so much love to give, Doc!  I just can't handle it sometimes."

"That's your radiant soul speaking, Hox.  Some more meditation will help."

He calls in the safari girl and tells her to close up the shop.

***

Neil reports in, "Well Ma'am, I just confirmed with Hoxton that the little vermin is gone."

"Getting back to business, I looked over some of the draft plans you sent me.  Looks like you're really stepping into Danny's shoes now."

Quote from: Operations Plan Vote
(1) Neil's Plan: Ops Chief
(1) Plan "Punisher:" Stirk
(2) Plan "Precision Violence:" Kashyyk, King Zultan

ConscriptFive

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #267 on: May 24, 2020, 05:05:57 pm »

Mission Report Part (1/9)

Flossmore Resort Rescue and Demolition

Quote from: Plan: Precision Violence

The team will arrive at the unregistered landing site.

Even if all the staff live and work on-site, they'll no doubt want to escape to the local town occasionally. This should thus give opportunity for HUMINT work led by Anna Chapman. She should frequent any bars/clubs/whatever the staff visit and pump them for information. As we've learnt our lesson from last time, she'll have Erik Heller in civvies with a sidearm present at whatever location she visits, whilst Simon Taylor will keep watch on the building from a convenient location outside.

Meanwhile, Nikita Taylor, Hoxton, Mr Blonde and Redbrick will set up a location to observe the Resort, working in pairs with the Thermal Binoculars.

Once the HUMINT and Direct OBs teams have decided they have acquired all the information they can, a high-ranking Resort member should be detained for questioning. This could be 'Assistant Warden Oglivy', leveraging Mr Blonde's connection/cover to arrange a meeting, or it could be another higher-up that Anna encounters during her HUMINT work. Either way, this individual should be lured into a situation where they can be captured and taken to a safehouse. Anna, and a second operator (whoever is feeling up to it), should work together to interrogate the Asset. Whilst some violence is probably inevitable, they should limit themselves to non-permanent harm. Anna would likely work best as Good Cop in this scenario, leveraging her HUMINT training to gain the target's confidence and advising her interrogation partner on Bad Cop tactics.

By the end of this phase, The HUMINT, Direct Obs and Interrogation should answer the following PIRS:

1) What is "Princess Elsa's" schedule?
2) What prevents individual PUC's on the resort, like "Princess Elsa," from escaping?
3) What emergency procedures does the resort have?
4) What standard security measures exist to prevent forced ingress/egress?

Once as many of these have been answered as possible, Simon Templar should plan the assault, using the acquired Intelligence and Mr Blonde's advice as a Door Kicker where appropriate. The specifics are left to Simon's judgement, although it is suggested that both teams enter together, rescue the princess/rig the explosives simultaneously, then use the detonation to cover the joint exfiltration. Side objectives include:
 
- Destruction of other Resort Facilities
- Release of other inmates
- Neutralization of Security Forces

There's no money in them, but each of these objectives will increase the amount of harm dealt to the Resort, making the target less able to successfully respond to the team's presence. It will also be a bit of payback for their actions against Evelyn Salt, Princess Elsa, and numerous other inmates.

Whilst the strike teams are on site, Anna should manage communication between the two teams and grill the hostage for any additional information as and when needed. When the teams have exfiltrated, she can release the captive whilst giving herself time to escape on one of the ATVs. (Such as calling a pizza delivery to the safehouse for after she's left, or freeing their feet, pointing them towards the nearest road and telling them to start running).

Deployment

Intelligence:
Anna Chapman (HUMINT Collector)

Intel Hardware:
John Deere Gator ATV x1

Team Princess Rescue:
Simon Templar (Tactician NCO) - Team/Operation 1IC
James "Hoxton" Hoxworth - Team 2IC
Nikita Taylor (Scout)
Erik Heller

Princess Rescue Hardware:
Thermal Binoculars x1
AS Val Carbine x3
Land Rover x1

Team Castle Destruction:
Victor "Mr. Blonde" Vega (CQB Team Leader) - Team 1IC, Operation 2IC
Redrick "Redbrick" Batiste (Demolitions Expert) - Team 2IC
Ethan Hunt
Evelyn Salt

Castle Destruction Hardware:
Thermal Binoculars x1
AS Val Carbine x3
Land Rover x1
Semtex Bricks x4

Teams should use their standard issue gear as appropriate (armour, first aid, Dynamic entry kits, firearms, etc).


With so much work scoped for the Flossmore op, your nine operators spend minimal time shipside after the formal briefing.  After dropping off Anna the HUMINT Collector and her two man support element at the Flossmore spaceport, the shuttle flies through a snowstorm to the northwest.  Flying in whiteout conditions over evergreen forests, the pilot breaks radio silence to contact the unlisted spaceport.  The spaceport answers the call and confirms their planned arrival, "Please report immediately to security upon disembarkation." 

After touching down, they're met on the tarmac by two men with assault rifles in heavy snow camo parkas.  Their faces are entirely covered in balaclavas and ski goggles.  As they get closer, they see the drop leg holsters with HK USP .40's and embroidered Greywater Solutions PMC insignia on their parkas.  Unable to speak in the howling wind, they wave your six operators to a nearby quonset hut.

Once inside the pre-fab shelter, everyone strips off their outer layers and makes introductions.  Team Leader Vic and Salt immediately recognize the younger of the two bearded Greywater men as "Jack Ryan," back from their first op on Anghabar.  Only Ethan recognizes "Jack Bauer," who he met under less than ideal circumstances on his previous op.  Bauer recalls Ethan as well, and makes an effort to speak with him informally first.

Bauer shakes Ethan's good hand, "Glad to see you made it out of New Dublin in one piece."

Ethan wordlessly removes the glove from his prosthetic.

"I guess I spoke too soon.  It comes with this kind of work though.  I once had my jawbone shot off.  Wore a mask and ate all my meals through a straw for three months.  Thank god for TI implants and cloning, right?"

Ethan gives him the cold shoulder and their interaction ends.

Bauer addresses the group, "Now that we're all comfy, welcome to Cooper Point Spaceport, a private spaceport owned/operated by 7D Prospecting.  I am Jack Bauer, the Head of Security for this spaceport.  Over there, is Jack Ryan, my second.  No secrets between either of us."

The bearded Jack Ryan nods in greeting.

"Speaking of secrets, why you're here and what you plan to do is none of our business.  I think it's best for everyone if it stays that way.  7D has also ordered us to inform you that 'Safe Harbor' laws apply, and you are not authorized to stay in any areas associated with Cooper Point Spaceport either.  Do you understand what that means?"

Team Leader Vic answers for the group, "Of course we know what Safe Harbor is.  What's it to you?"

"As anyone in the business knows, unarmed spacecraft and their spaceports are explicitly and implicitly protected by interstellar law.  Naturally, this includes personnel and property within the interior of the spaceport.  However, this only applies in transit.  I'm under orders from 7D Prospecting to keep you from compromising this spaceport with your extended presence."

Salt speaks up indignantly, "So you're just going to kick us out in a storm like this?"

Bauer scoffs, "Well legally, you still have roughly an hour.  But they ain't exactly big on timekeeping out in the boonies, if you catch my drift.  In the meantime, if you want to warm yourself up in my bunk, sweetcheeks, I might really lose track of time."

Salt is not amused by this, and in growing solidarity with the sisters in arms, none of the other five operators are smiling.

"Jesus, guess you guys can't take a joke," Bauer looks over to Ryan.

"Gorram snowflakes," Jack Ryan affirms.

"Anyhow, as they say: you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.  So God bless and stay safe out there."

As the pair from Greywater head off to the their duties, Team Leader Vic turns to Salt, "Guess we'll be sleeping in the woods again."

"Probably for the best, cowboy.  That duvet was some bad luck."

***

Back in town,  Team Leader Simon the Tactician NCO, Anna the HUMINT Collector, and Erik Heller try to figure out their own shelter issues.  With the team in the woods needing both SUV's for transportation and storage, they're limited to only what they can reach in the Gator ATV.  Anna also needs ready access to the townsfolk, and enough creature comforts to not look homeless.  While there are plenty of shuttered industrial facilities from Flossmore's heyday as a mining boomtown would make great hideouts, Anna's not going to make a lot of friends with her face chewed-up by frostbite.  Under these conditions and requirements, formal in-town accommodations will be a necessity.

The clerk at the spaceport information desk is surprised to see your party of three.  A rural sub-arctic community doesn't get a lot of visitors in the dead of winter.  Their plan didn't state a cover identity for them, but they decide to pose as middle-class migrants looking for work.

"Welcome, but this far north, we all kinda hibernate until Spring.  Y'all picked a bad time of year to migrate."

Erik speaks, "Well with how bad things have gotten on Anghabar, we just had to get out of there.  Everyone else is heading to Harad, but we heard there was work out here in Flossmore."

"Well I'm glad you got out of that nightmare in one piece then.  Obviously y'all heard of Flossmore PCF, or you wouldn't be here, right?  They just wrapped up some major construction work before winter hit.  They built a resort that's really going to change everything for this community.  They plan to be open year-round and are already getting bookings.  They might have something for y'all there."

Team Leader Simon responds, "Thanks, I think we'll do that.  Any recommendations on lodging?"

"Well there's that hotel for those visiting the PCF, but you need to reserve that through the PCF and they're pretty pricey anyways.  I know a few folk with rooms to rent, but they want you to already have a steady paycheck.  There's a motel that truckers use and y'all could probably get a cheap weekly rate."

With not much of a choice, they set themselves up in the motel.

***

Back in the woods, the snowstorm lets up, but not by much.  The two Landrover SUV's must travel slowly and deliberately over the unplowed roads in the wilderness.  After getting stuck in the snow repeatedly, they don't make their planned campsite by nightfall, and end up sleeping in the vehicles their first night planetside.

Making use of the Blackhawk! tools to shovel themselves out the next morning, they get back to traveling and make it to their abandoned mineshaft camp site.  Nikita the Scout, reconnoiters it briefly to confirm no fresh tracks in the snow or other signs of recent habitation.  A padlocked gate seals off the shaft, but is no match for the Blackhawk! bolt cutters.  Rather safe than sorry, Pipehitter Vic leads the team to hastily clear the mine shaft.  Other than stirring up some hibernating bats, your team's search finds nothing of note.

All six operators make themselves at home fairly quickly.  Supplies are unloaded from the SUV's and stowed appropriately within the mineshaft.  They don't have a construction or combat engineering specialist, but within a day, they manage to build a short-term camp for the six of them.  It's not well camouflaged, or explicitly defensible, but it'll provide shelter and general living arrangements against the harsh winter weather.  It's also roughly halfway between Flossmore resort and the private spaceport, and thus not a terrible location for a rural safehouse.

Settled in, Team Leader Vic makes contact with the in-town element, "Greybrush, Greybush... this is Pipehitter.  How copy, over?"

Team Leader Simon Templar groans over the phone, "I thought we get to pick our own callsigns."

"Well, you did just answer the call.  So I guess you did pick it, right?"

Simon returns silence.

"So we finally made camp.  How goes your side of the op?"

"Well..."

***

The 'Oasis Motel' is rundown, poorly kept, and its clientele walk on the dodgier side of society.  The rooms don't have indoor plumbing, but at least their space heaters work.  The pay cash for a pair of connected rooms, and the front desk doesn't even ask for photo id (which could've been a problem).

Luckily, Simon and Erik let Vic's team carry their tactical hardware, because the door locks on their room are unimpressive.  A generic mechanical lock, you never know what past guests may have copied or simply 'lost' their key.  Of course there's no safe either, and the Gator ATV doesn't have an enclosed trunk or interior cabin.

As situated as they're going to get, Anna tries to go fishing for leads that same night.  A nearby dive bar, "The Klondike" is in walking distance.  It seems like as good a place as any to start.

Erik goes in first, and the doorman doesn't seem to mind him open carrying the Magnum revolver.  Turns out all the men in the bar seem to be open carrying in one way or another.  Not a lot of women are carrying, but he assumes they're all packing protection in a more discreet manner.  Erik takes a corner booth and signals Anna to proceed.

Much like back at the Shamrock Tavern, Anna makes her entrance.  She poses in the doorway, unzipping her faux fur trimmed jacket to reveal her animal-print clad body.  Having announced herself wordlessly, she gets to work.

Now as for Simon, things don't go as planned.  Without an SUV, he doesn't have a mobile concealed hide site anymore.  Furthermore, no other nearby buildings are open at night.  Other than risking the winter weather and suspiciously loitering on the street for hours, he can't fulfill his assigned lookout position.  Short of retreating back to the motel, he decides to move his position inside the dive bar.  After texting Erik about his difficulties, Simon takes up a table with a good view out the window.

As planned, Anna gets plenty of interest, but keeping her "Priority Intelligence Requirements" (PIRs) in mind, she hasn't found anyone worth thoroughly developing.  The dive bar's clientele are distinctly low-income: most being seasonal labor like construction and logging.  Almost everyone seems to have done some kind of work at the construction site that became the resort, but none are presently working there.  Several have not so subtly propositioned her, but she has to keep brushing them off, hoping to find anybody worthwhile.

A shotglass of vodka is placed on Simon's table, and a Slavic man stands over him.  He says something that sounds Slavic and appears to want a toast.  Simon confusedly raises the shotglass to him and downs it.  The Slav takes a seat at his table.

"Gastralyor?"

Simon shakes his head, not knowing how to respond.

The Slav speaks English in a heavy accent, "The girl.  She's nice.  Yours?"

Simon shakes his head, "Naa, I don't know her.  She's sure something though."

"So you don't mind if I change her up abit?  She'd make a nice blonde.  I know someone who'll pay big money for a nice blonde."

"Hey buddy, I don't know what you're thinking..."

The Slav drops the accent, "Drop the act, ginzo.  I don't want to make a scene here, but the Pakhan has an agreement to keep your kind out."

Simon catches on what's happening and has to think fast, "Whoa, I swear I'm not Casa Nuova.  The girl's mine, but we're unaffiliated.  Neutrons, my friend.  We're neutrons."

"Neutrons, you say?  No such thing in the New Worlds.  Everything belongs to someone, and now you belong to me."

While the rest of the bar is enraptured in Anna and their drinks, Erik sees the scene with Simon and the Vor unfolding.  He leaves his position and goes to Simon, "G'day, mate.  My name's Dingo.  I'm new in town and looking for work."

The Vor looks to Erik and then back to Simon, "He yours too?"

Simon shrugs and puts his hands up in surrender.  He then motions Erik to step back.

"Smart, what's your name?"

Simon blurts out the first ethnically Slav name that comes to mind, "Roman... Roman Polanski."

"Ah, good name."

"There's Polish heritage on my father's side."

"Well Roman, you owe me dan for the krysha.  As my welcome gift to you, it won't be due today, but at the end of the month."

Simon holds back a smirk at the due date, "That's very generous of you.  I'm afraid I didn't get your name though?"

"My friends call me Deniska, are we friends now?"

Simon spends the rest of the night hashing out the details of their protection payment to the Vor, followed by some general male bonding.

At the end of the night, all three return to the motel and share their findings.

Anna kicks it off, "Sorry to break it to you guys, but that place was a dry hole.  We gotta find somewhere else tomorrow."

Erik jokes, "Really?  None of those guys did anything for you."

Anna rolls her eyes, "I have standards you know.  By the way, what was the deal with you guys and the Russian?"

Simon answers, "Maybe we should have noticed the babushka running the motel, but this corner of Flossmore is Slavic Vor turf.  Now I'm a Vor-affiliated pimp named Roman Polanski."

Anna laughs, "Ha, that was the best you could come up with?"

"Hey, this Deniska guy thought we were low level Casa Nuova.  Had I not, you probably would've been trafficked offworld by now."

"Touche, boss."

Simon looks over to Erik, "...and you're Australian now?"

"They really ate it up on the Smilodon hunt."

Simon shrugs, "Well okay, I just didn't see that coming."

Anna probes Simon, "You spent most of the night with Deniska.  Surely he at least gave you the lay of the land."

Simon explains what he learned from Deniska.  He wouldn't discuss the rest of the Bratva, but both the Klondike and Oasis Motel are his personal racket.  He wouldn't confirm it, but it's likely the motel reported your operators to Deniska right off the bat.  If any other Vor give them trouble, they can tell them they're already under Deniska's krysha (literal translation: roof).  As long as they don't disrespect anyone, they should be fine.  They owe Deniska dan (tribute, literally 'gift') for this, but they should be long gone before it's due.

***

"But a girl named Masha brought some complementary smoked fish to our motel room this morning, so we got that going for us."

"Roger that, Greybush."

"Wow, are we really going with that callsign?"

"Roger that, Greybush.  Pipehitter, out."

First thing in the morning, the woods team starts their reconnaissance mission.  Pathfinding in the snowy woods is difficult, but they manage to chart a primary and alternate route between the resort and their spaceport by the end of the day.  With their routes mapped, they set up a two-man observation post overlooking the resort and the two-mile road connecting it to the main prison facility.  The two pairs of FLIR binoculars and well-manned rotating roster enable your team to pull 24 hour surveillance from a safe standoff distance.

They first sketch a basic layout of the resort.  A village like cluster of buildings surrounded by wilderness and three miles north of town itself, the resort doesn't have a clearly delineated outer boundary.  With the wilderness to keep captives in, the resort apparently opted not to build a perimeter fence.  As Vic reported last month, the front customer-side of the resort is designed to resemble a wood-shingled European Alpine village.  With the obvious exception of the castle, most of the buildings are small single story affairs.  From their vantage point, they can see that behind the castle are several less picturesque buildings, intended for the un-glamorous maintenance of the resort.

No one on your team has a construction background to really break down what the function of every service building though.  The trash dump and incinerator is an easy make.  Nikita the scout deduces what must be the main kitchen based on the movement of incoming groceries and outgoing food carts.  The laundry facility is identified by similar pattern analysis of maid carts.

As far as the centrally located castle goes, it remains something of a mystery beyond what Vic already reported.  It appears to be a sturdy multi-story building with five blue-capped towers.  Customers visit one-at-a-time through the storybook drawbridge gatehouse out front.  (As you would expect, the moat is just for show and doesn't fully encircle the castle on the rear service side.)  Except for costumed Royal Guards and the occasional costumed French maid visiting the guest rooms, no one else seems to use the front door of the castle.

Accordingly, the castle's rear service entrance sees traffic at all hours, by all kinds of resort personnel.  Employee and prisoner buses travel directly to a small parking lot immediately behind the castle.  Roughly half of both employees and prisoners go into the castle.  The other half disperses among the other service buildings.

Nikita notes that none of the prisoners are costumed in transit.  The only costumed pucks they can see are the French chambermaids, and they seem to only move between the front castle gate and the guest rooms.  Your team comes to the conclusion that the dressing rooms must be inside the castle, and that the fantasy costumes aren't worn in the service areas of the resort.

After a few days of surveillance their mission hits the point of diminishing returns, and your team puts their findings together.

Team Leader Vic the Pipehitter presides over a round-table meeting of the five other operators, "Alright guys, let's get the easy part out first.  Redbrick, can we blow that castle?"

Redbrick answers confidently, "Get me inside of that thing and we're good."

Salt chimes in, "Where exactly, and how long do you need?"

"Well shit, interior ground floor or lower?  It's not like we got any intel on how that thing is built.  Rig all four timed charges in what, five minutes?"

Vic beams, "Exactly what I hoped to hear.  Get in, hit it, get out.  Cake walk-"

Nikita interrupts, "Excuse me, what about the guard force?"

Vic laughs, "I don't think the needle-dick at the castle gate knows how to use that spear.  Besides, that's what we have guns for."

Most of our operators laugh at the punchline, but Salt takes Nikita's side, "She's right, just because we didn't see anybody armed, doesn't mean they're not there.  We saw guards escort prisoners into the castle.  I'd be surprised if they didn't have some kind of security room in there.  Probably even an arms locker."

The room goes quiet in sober acknowledgement.  Ethan hunt makes a point, "Plus, it's a gorram prison.  They throw some kind of facility-wide lockdown switch, and we get stuck inside the castle; wondering whether the CERT or our own Semtex is going to kill us first."

Salt follows-up, "Great point.  Despite freezing out asses off in the snow, we're still weak on answering the PIR's.  Is it time to talk about the rescue mission yet, cowboy?"

Vic glances around the gathered operators for objections before motioning Salt to continue, "Keep it coming, girl."

"We've still got nothing for the hostage rescue.  Try what we can out here in the woods, I don't see us locating Lise Schubert in a way that we can reliably isolate and extract her.  Guys, we need to take some risks here."

Salt is met by mixed muttering.  She has a point, but going for a spontaneous infiltration is both high risk and against their planning.  Missing the hostage rescue would be a major disappointment, but the castle takedown would still be a respectable payday.  But alerting the resort beforehand could spoil both ops and they'd end up bringing home nothing but bodybags.

Among the ruckus, Ethan raises his prosthetic hand in the air for attention, "If anything guys, I guess this means this is all on Anna right now.  For better, or for worse."

Team Leader Vic agrees, "That's what's in our plan everyone.  We'll just have to see if she's going to bring home the bacon."

***
« Last Edit: July 28, 2020, 05:33:01 am by ConscriptFive »
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ConscriptFive

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #268 on: June 02, 2020, 06:20:26 pm »

Mission Report Part (2/9)

Flossmore Resort Rescue and Demolition

With "The Klondike" lacking the HUMINT leads they needed, the in-town team decide to take a daytime drive around the town of Flossmore.  With formal seating for only two on the Gator ATV, Simon and Anna head out for town, while Erik hangs out at the motel.

A relatively small town, most retail businesses are arrayed along two blocks of Main Street.  Thus your two operators find the "Fat Mammoth Pub" fairly quickly.  From the outside, it looks like a relatively upstanding bar and grill.

Anna looks over to Simon coyly, "So, would you consider this place for lunch?"

Simon shrugs, "I mean, looks clean.  They got lunch specials.  With a name like that, I bet they got some good burgers.  Maybe come back for dinner and get a nice T-bone?"

"So you're saying that a straight middle-aged male in paramilitary work would love this place?  Thought so."

Deciding to pull a working lunch, they make their plans for an initial daytime casing of the Fat Mammoth Pub.  Planning only passive recon, they decide it's easiest to leave Erik back at the hotel.  Who would pick a fight with a couple eating lunch on Main Street at noon?

As the pub opens for lunch, the two loiter in the Gator ATV for a few minutes to people watch first.  Sure enough, a clique of prison guards, still in uniform, stop by for lunch.

Anna smiles at Simon, "Jackpot."

"You called it.  But could you really work a group of guys like that on their lunch break?"

Anna pauses, "Honestly, probably not.  Too much of a group, not enough time, and zero prep work.  I'm even wondering now if I should hang back and save the first impression for tonight."

"I defer to your expertise on this one."

"Okay, how about this?  You go in, grab some lunch to go.  That should get us fed and more importantly, get you some basic casing of the interior."

"Sounds like a plan.  I'll grab something for Erik too.  What did you want to eat?"

"Eh, some kind of salad?"

***

Back at the motel, Anna munches disappointingly on her wrap.

Erik savors his burger and comments aloud, "Damn, I'm going to miss all this red meat when we leave the Thiel Planetary System."

Simon agrees, "Hard to beat that Old World flavor.  Anna, how's your wrap?  They said salads were a seasonal item."

Anna shows her disgust, "Damn hicks can't even manage hydroponics out here."

Powering through lunch, they make plans to work the Fat Mammoth Pub tonight.

***

As the sun sets early in the winter, most of the town of Flossmore shuts down after dark.  The Fat Mammoth Pub is an exception to this.  The pub turns out to be a pretty happening hot spot, full of relatively clean cut folk looking to gather and unwind.

None of the prison personnel are wearing a uniform off-duty, but Anna recognizes a pair of guards from earlier and makes her approach.  Anna hits it off with a guard named "Jeff."  A good-looking physically fit 20-something, Anna doesn't feel particularly debased flirting with him.

Anna playfully strokes his bicep, "So with muscles like that, I bet you're real good with your hands.  What kind of work do you do?"

Jeff brags, "Well girl, I'm with the CERT!"

Anna giggles, "Sounds important."

"Oh, you never heard of us?  We're the guys the guards call for emergencies.  Some people call us heroes, but I say it's all in a day's work."

Anna leads him on, "Oh wow!  That must be so dangerous!  No wonder you're so tough.  I bet they give you lots of guns and stuff though, right?"

"Oh yeah, we get all the fun toys the regular guys don't."  He gets out his phone and pulls up a picture.  It's Jeff in dark blue SWAT-style gear, posing with a tactical shotgun against a marked SUV.

Anna leans in close to see the picture and compliments it, "Oh, that's a cool picture.  Can I use your phone to send it to me?  You might want to save that number for later you know"

"Oh... okay!" he hands over his phone to Anna and sends herself the picture of the CERT operator and his hardware.

"There, I went saved my contact as 'Mariana.'  I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all.  So, you doing anything later tonight?"

Mariana patronizes him, "Aww, are you asking me out?"

"Well, I mean, we are out already.  But yeah, I'd like to see you again."

"Aww, you're so cute.  I have to see some friends tonight, but you never know."  She playfully gives him a light spank on the hip before darting off into the crowd.

Breaking away from her mark successfully, Anna can't wait to report her success to Simon.  Switching over to the secure app, she messages him:

"Greybush, Greybush.  Guess who just hooked a CERT piggie?  Forwarding you a reference photo.  Back to the hunt.  Nightmover, out."

Simon is seated inside the pub at the window.  Looking at his phone, he rolls his eyes, "Gorramit, her too?"

Still, he's happy their HUMINT mission is back on track.  He fights the urge to message her back some encouragement, breaking radio silence for trivialities is bad OPSEC.  He's also glad he's not forced to drink all night with a Vor who'd happily leave him dead in alley for a C-note.  So far, so good.

Deciding to leave Jeff in a tantalized state, she scans the pub for a second target.  She already has an in with the CERT, but could only elicit so much sensitive intelligence out of him before he gets wary.  She could also use someone familiar with the day-to-day of the resort and its PUC's.

She flits about the room, making casual contact before always running off to "find her friend."  Most of the men she approaches work within the prison itself, but not in a way that would know much about the political prisoners or the resort.

Marianna playfully strokes a bicep, "So with muscles like that, I bet you're real good with your hands.  What kind of work do you do?"

The middle-aged-man blushes alittle, "I'm just rocking the dad bod as a Laundry Supervisor over at the PCF right now.  I used to be a guard until I took an arrow to the knee."

Marianna is caught off guard by this and nearly drops character, "An arrow to the knee?"

"Yeah, freak crossbow accident.  Drunk teens doing stupid shit."

"Oh wow!  You must be a pretty tough guy...  Well, it's been nice talking-"

The man catches he's lost her and interrupts her exit with a desparate boast, "I mean it's good money you know.  I just started landing some overtime shifts up at the resort."

Mariana's newfound interest in this unassuming man has her quickly reversing course, but not for the reasons he wants, "A resort?  Up here?  That sounds fancy!"

"Oh, it is.  Let me buy you a drink..."

***

Back at the motel room, Anna takes a literal bow in front of Erik and Simon, "And that, gentleman, is how I get shit done.  You're welcome."

Erik doubts her, "Seriously?  I was watching you all night and see anybody go particularly deep with you.  Or should I say on you?  In you?  Maybe-"

Simon stops him, "Geez man, slow your roll and show some gorram respect."

Erik shuts up and Anna starts briefing her findings.  She first talks about Jeff from the CERT, and together they pore over the photo.

Simon tries some photo analysis, "Looks like a semi-auto shotgun, probably 12 gauge?  There's a sidearm in drop-leg holster but I can't make it from that angle.  You can see a PTT radio and a handcuff pouch on his chest rig.  There's some kind of canister grenade clipped there too?  He's probably got some plates in that body armor obviously.  The truck is probably a civilian model they just painted in company livery."

Erik nods in agreement, "Good breakdown, boss."

"Thanks, I'll get this to the others tonight."  Simon looks over to Anna, "Alright, what else?"

"Well I worked the room for abit, but found nothing I could really work.  But-"

Erik interrupts, "Weren't there two CERT guys?  Couldn't you've chased the other?"

Anna manages to hide her annoyance at the interruption, "They looked close and I would've been hitting on him practically in Jeff's face.  You know what they say, bro's before hoe's.  That could've backfired fast."

Erik looks to Simon and shrugs in concession.

Anna resumes her briefing, "As I was saying, the second subject, Stanley "Stan" Wellmark, kinda looked like a complete nobody.  Yet another middle-aged man, well past his prime, resigned to toil in obscurity in the frozen ass-crack of Arctic Lossarnach.  But thanks to my trained HUMINT'er instincts, I could immediately tell he was the man we were looking for."

Anna explains that Stan works as a Laundry Supervisor for Flossmore PCF.  He normally supervises the prisoners working the Laundry Room at the prison, but has recently been working part-time at the Linen Room on the resort.  The Linen Room is "behind the castle," and he supervises a minimum-security five-man work detail there on an eight hour shift.

He doesn't know his usual prisoners well enough, so Anna couldn't push for any details there.  But he did complain how annoying it was for him to pick up his assigned workers at the bus stop at the beginning of his shift.  The employee and prisoner buses travel separately, and supervisors just have to hang out in the parking lot behind the castle until the prisoners arrive.  Then they have to sign with the guard sergeant for their detailed prisoners, and wait for an available guard escort to walk everyone over to their place of work.  This system was probably more tolerable in warmer months, but doing this all in an unsheltered parking lot is getting untenable.  Stan recently signed a group memorandum to Assistant Warden Oglivy to move this process inside the nearby castle, until something resembling a sheltered bus terminal can be built.

Simon congratulates Anna, "Nice work.  The prisoner bus seems like their most vulnerable point in this system."

Anna follows-up, "Plus the whole process suggests all of the prisoners still live back at the prison.  They wouldn't need to freeze their ass off in the parking lot waiting for the prisoner bus if there was on-site prisoner housing."

Simon looks to Erik, "Any insights?"

"I mean, you're assuming PUCs are handled the same as regular prisoners.  You can cite any prison flick to know special prisoners get special housing and special procedures.  Is there a way PUCs can be identified on-sight?  Probably not full costumes, but at least a special badge or different colored jumpsuit?  I'm assuming this guy would've mentioned if he saw a Disney Princess walking off a prison bus."

The three laugh together, and Anna concedes, "Yeah, that would be quite the sight.  In that regard, he also didn't seem particularly ashamed or anything about the resort.  Maybe he thinks it's a fully legal high-end brothel featuring well-paid escorts?"

Simon snorts, "Or maybe his paycheck depends on him not thinking about that at all?"

An awkward pause quickly becomes an awkward extended silence.  Thankfully, the silence is broken by the chirping of Anna's phone.

Anna hold up her phone showing new messages, "Well guys, looks like I've still got some work to do.  I'm going to need the other room for some 'feeling frisky' texts.  You guys need anything else from me, or am I good?"

Simon laughs, "I think we're set for the night.  Do what you gotta do over there and keep up the good work."

***
« Last Edit: July 28, 2020, 05:32:49 am by ConscriptFive »
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ConscriptFive

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Re: Space Cowboys for Hire (A PvE AR-like) [Turn 4]
« Reply #269 on: June 07, 2020, 06:42:49 pm »

Mission Report Part (3/9)

Flossmore Resort Rescue and Demolition

"...solid fraking copy Greybush.  Pipehitter out."

Team Leader Vic Vega gets off the phone and addresses your assembled personnel in the mineshaft hideout, "The Golden Child sure did her thing."

Ethan rolls his eyes, "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

Vic is unfazed by this and carries on, "We've got new orders, folks.  Let me break down the situation first..."

Vic briefs the intelligence picture to your personnel.  The observation post had indeed witnessed a lot of activity in the parking lot, but without the HUMINT context, couldn't piece together what they were watching until now.

Nikita speaks under her breath, "That makes a lot of sense now."

Vic wraps his brief, "So that means one of two things.  Princess Elsa still begins her day stuck in the parking lot waiting for someone to grab her and walk her into the castle.  Or, there's going to be so many random people going in and out of the backdoor of the castle, it's going to be left unlocked."

Salt responds, "I mean, that's progress.  But we're still short on PIR 1.  And, we're still assuming Lise Schubert doesn't sleep overnight in the castle.  We could end up storming a bus she's not on, and then blowing up a castle she's still in.  I don't know about you cowboy, but I didn't sign up for that kind of shitshow."

Vic agrees, "I hear you girl, and that's exactly what we gotta work on now..."

Cue'd in on the prisoner movement and their buses, they were going to establish a second observation post, able to watch prisoners loading at the prison itself.  Meanwhile, the observation post at the resort would focus on the parking lot behind the castle, watching prisoner unloading and how access to the castle backdoor works.  It'll be double duty, but they should have just enough bodies, vehicles, and binos to run both simultaneously.

***

The tightened collection emphasis and the new observation post bear fruit almost immediately.  The buses run on a regular schedule, and the prisoner buses are visually distinct from the employee shuttle buses.  Upon thorough examination, the prisoner buses always have a metallic screen mounted on the passenger windows.  When the buses aren't running, the new observation post monitors other traffic going up and down the road to the resort.  Besides freight trucks and the occasional spaceport taxi, one other vehicle stands out: a white Porsche Cayenne luxury SUV.

Unlike freight and prisoner traffic, it uses the western employee gate of the main prison like the employee buses do.  It also irregularly travels to both town and the resort at unusual hours.  It also never stays more than an hour or two at the prison.  Far too flashy to be a shared company car, whoever rides in the Porsche Cayenne must work primarily at the resort.

Passing this lead to the resort-based observation post, they keep an eye out for the Porsche Cayenne.  Despite their best efforts, the luxury SUV eludes their gaze.  Deciding it must not use the main parking lot behind the castle, they ask the other observation post to call them when the luxury SUV is on its way to the resort.  Temporarily shifting their field of view to the road, they finally see the elusive white Porsche Cayenne inbound.

Much like the spaceport taxis, the Porsche indeed does not go behind the castle.  Instead it goes to the guest reception desk upfront.  Not expecting that destination, they don't get an appropriate angle to see who exits the vehicle under the sheltering awning of the guest loading/unloading lane.  With no idea when to catch its departure, they never know when to watch the white Porsche upfront for when it loads its mystery rider(s).

The next day, Vic orders that positively id'ing the rider(s) of the Porsche is their immediate priority and that the resort observation post needs to be moved accordingly.  Smelling an opportunity, Vic personally mans the first shift of the newly relocated resort observation post.  After receiving the call from the other post, he eagerly watches the arrival of the luxury SUV.  As he watches the driver and passenger dismount outside the reception desk, he immediately knows he made the right call.

To "Rodrigo Lopez's" experienced eyes, the driver is unmistakably Assistant Warden Calvin Oglivy.  The passenger is a familiar chipper young blonde in a retro-chic hotel clerk uniform, Cyndi.

"Frak me," Vic says to his partner in the observation post.

Salt gives him side-eye, "Cowboy, that better not be an order."

With the identity of its users and the construction of a time-event chart, the Porsche's movement become more predictable.  Oglivy may be a workaholic with an erratic schedule, but Cyndi adheres to a predictable work schedule.  Despite Oglivy's numerous other errands, Cyndi is always dropped off at the resort in the morning, and picked up at night.

Vic the Pipehitter practically salivates as he looks forward to the more violent aspects of their plan.

***

Back at the motel, Team Leader Simon is eating breakfast when he receives a text from Anna.  He nearly spit-takes as he opens an unsolicited dick pic.

Anna walks in from the other room, wrapped in a bathrobe with a toothbrush stuck in her mouth, "So did my message go through?"

"Yeah, thanks for that.  I was eating breakfast."

Anna shrugs, "Welcome to my world.  CERT wonderboy Jeff just sent me that."

"Yeah, that's what I figured."

"Did you look at it though?"

"I mean, I tried not to."

Anna rolls her eyes and motions for Simon to hand over his phone.  She deftly brings up the dick pic again but then zooms in on something in the background, "What's that?"

Simon takes the phone back and squints.  It's a tubular black carbine-like weapon.  Simon shakes his head as he recognizes it, "Man, you got some eyes on you.  Looks like a Milkor 'Stopper' riot gun.  Probably the old school 37mm/38mm law enforcement version."

Anna casually gesticulates with her toothbrush, "Yep, thought so.  Makes perfect sense the CERT would have those.  Figured you'd appreciate the heads up sooner rather than later, boss."

"Good catch, I'll be sure Vic sees it."

"The riot gun or the dick?"

Simon gives a wink, "Why not both?"

***

Despite a strong start with Jeff the CERT trooper and Stan the laundryman, Anna soon hits a wall.

Despite some hormonally-fueled slip ups, Jeff knows better than to share detailed security procedures, and presumably has some basic 'loose lips, sink ships' training against more obvious HUMINT collection.  As successful as sexting was, it's not something you can elicit dry detailed intelligence with.  ("Oh yeah baby, you know what really makes me horny?  Commo frequencies.")  She doubts she can get much more from him in the remaining time she has.

Stan is a similar situation, but for entirely different reasons.  As a civilian, he wasn't hired because he was particularly OPSEC savvy.  He claims to have been a guard in his more virile years, but he seems to have left all that behind psychologically.  Furthermore, an older man like that isn't exactly a chick magnet, and he knows it.  He's eager to demonstrate value to an attractive younger woman by talking up his middle-management role at the resort, but he really doesn't have that much vital intelligence to leak.  She suspects she could possibly manipulate Stan into more flagrant acts of espionage, but that's far outside the time and resources she has at her disposal.

As far as PIR's go, Jeff only provided some fragmentary insights on the CERT that may apply to PIR 3 (resort emergency procedures).  Stan, on the other hand, the covered a bit more ground.  Feigning girly concern for his well-being, she asked repeatedly what kept him safe from reckless debtors who didn't even care how badly their laziness strangled the economy?  Stan explained that all his 'workers' were classified as minimum security and shouldn't pose a threat to a strong man like him.  When she asked about 'some kind of riot or something,' he explained that a mimimum security population would never do that, but they still practiced lockdown drills at least once a month.  For Stan, lockdown meant literally locking the Laundry Room doors, while waiting for guards to issue an all clear.  Anna pushed on this, and Stan clarified that guards from the main prison would be dispatched if it was really serious situation.  Did Stan ever worry about losing his job if one of his 'workers' escaped?  Again, impossible, as minimum security population would never do that.  Even if they tried, the prison and resort are miles from the town of Flossmore.  The sub-arctic town of Flossmore is hundreds of miles from anywhere else.  Where could they possibly escape to?  Then again, they wouldn't be debtors if they weren't dumb, so for their own safety, all of them wear "Chirper" anklets in case they get lost.  When tampered with or remotely signalled, the Chirper anklet would strobe and beep like a fire alarm.  With their Chirper activated, hopefully the guards would find them before the lost idiot froze to death in the woods.

Unfortunately, as much as she baited him, Stan never mentioned anything about the princesses.  All the mentions of fond childhood memories went nowhere.  She finally went hard, asking if he thought she should cosplay The Little Mermaid or Princess Merida from Brave.  That last bit really got Stan going, but it didn't lead to answering PIR 1 at all.

Ideally, she could keep fishing in town for new HUMINT sources, however Flossmore was too small a town for her to keep pulling the same act indefinitely.  She burned either Jeff or Stan, and they could turn the whole nightlife scene against her fast.  She would've liked to play the field more, but it just wasn't in the cards.

At the end of day meeting, she reports her conclusions to Team Leader Simon, "Boss, it's time to move to the next phase."

Simon strokes his chin, "Sure sounds like it.  I wish we didn't have to do this next part, but it's finally come to this.  Which one do you think we should take with us to the woods?"

Anna winces, "Ehhh... that's a tough call.  You can't interrogate someone about something they literally don't know about it.  Jeff has probably got more to cough up, but not anything that would help us find Lise Schubert."

Simon sighs, "Agreed.  I'll talk with Pipehitter tonight.  See if he has any recommendations."

Pipehitter had one hell of a recommendation.

***
« Last Edit: July 28, 2020, 05:32:38 am by ConscriptFive »
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