Blood in the Water: IC Thread, Fun on the High Seas! Options

[Whizbang]

My Fedallah, 2200 EDT
Melisandre the Red

Melisandre listened to the information and pondered. She wondered if Lewis might be able to dig up anything further. She needed to get with him on her own issue as well. "If you're confident they won't recognize you, that sounds like a good way to get back into the organization.My dad's folks think I'm just some ditzy kid with skills, but I keep my ears open."

[budoka05]

With a mischievous smile, John replies, "I would be dead surprised if they could recognize me. I was only involved with my father's associates down back in the Caribbean & Amazonia, not the ones in UCAS proper.

You know what, I haven't talked to these guys in a while. Would you mind doing a Matrix search with me? I can recall some their info for the search. Hopefully that would give me a heads up before going in personally."


Addressing Iago, "Iago, do you thing you might know anyone who could help us with the information search?"

[Marwynn]

Iago cricks his neck to the left. "I can ask someone I know back in Miami, if your father had any dealings or shipments there. Gimme a name and I'll give him a call."

He breathes in the sea air. "In the meantime, anywhere we can go on foot?"

[budoka05]

"His name is, well was, Takeshi Nobunaga, Nobunaga is the family name. He used to go by Beat Takeshi as a professional name. In addition to his name, I can give you a trid recording of his face."

"Although there are a quite a few organized crime outfits here in Jersey, I need a minute to recall someone who works around here or a smuggler hangout"

[ Spoiler ]

Knowledge roll, Commodities Trading with Black Market
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2289174/
8d6 → [6,6,5,6,2,4,1,4] = (34)

4 hits

[Whizbang]

"Not a problem. Just let me know what you'd like to find out, and I'll see if it's out there." Melisandre said with a bright grin. She enjoyed being helpful.

[budoka05]

"While I'm thinking of some potential local contacts, let me send you the data I do have."

John sets his Commlink to Active and Sends a secure FTP Request

"Let's start with my dad. I have some general news information about his death, and a copy of the police report. I didn't glean any leads from it, but it should be helpful for the search."

[budoka05]

"Alright I got a lot in a few minutes of recall. The first place to start is to look up affiliates of Cuban and other Latin American mobs. My father worked with them frequently."

With extensive number of memory successes, John directs Melissandre on some search terms for Latin American commodities affiliates. Specifically, these are Italian Mafia outfits with ties to the Batista and Gambione.

[Karoline]

The near week long training montage was a mixed bag for Jane. Intel training could have gone faster if she'd been alone, and she somewhat lamented the fact that she couldn't have done so, but it was still quite a fair amount to learn.

During the party, she socialized mostly with her target, asking often about the woman she worked for, whom she felt a sort of kinship with. She of course remembered to get a fair bit of info on her actual target, and the round-about approach allowed for a fair bit of questioning to ensue, often without her target even realizing she was asking somewhat personal questions. While she may not have gathered the most information, she did take the time to apply every Intel related tip she had just learned, already knew, and could find on the matrix.

By the time she walked into class the next day, she mailed a report that would have made a bureaucrat groan. It included directly gathered information, including cross references of other questions that had been asked that helped support or counter the information. It also included long lists of inferred data, everything from speech patterns, accents, how her target held herself, to believed associated data based on the Intel already gained. Had it been put on paper, it likely would have been about a dozen pages. A large chunk of it was useful, but a fair bit was largely speculation, though the report of course made it very distinct which was which.

After another day's worth of Intel training, Jane could finally get to the other subject matters to be covered. Swimming went over well enough, though she was fairly winded by the end of it. She wasn't built for much physical activity. Firearms practice was dull, and she was barely passable, managing to hit the target slightly more often than not. She participated less than directly in the assault training, instead providing backup with drones, her own weapon only going off as a last resort. Still, her drones more than made up for her own lack of ability. They were more accurate than her, more plentiful, more expendable, and fired far more bullets. The only real problem with her drones was they were poorly coordinated for assaulting a ship, something that she assured everyone would improve rapidly when she had the time to write up new routines for the drones.

Though the other crew members might be hard pressed to notice it, where she really shined was in the classes with the instructors. She kept up with the instructors, often pushing them to go faster, always able to keep up easily, absorbing information as quickly as the instructors can throw it at her. Within half an hour she is stringing together simple sentences in Spanish and Portuguese. Her accent is horrid, but she uses the right words in the right order, and by the end of her shortened session, she is already holding her own in basic conversations with the instructor.

She is similarly impressive in any other class she takes that involves mental capabilities, quickly figuring out strategies that impress her drone tactics instructor. She avoids the more physical classes, like the self defense ones, any additional weapons practice, as well as the leadership class, not being the most social type. Still, she wasn't hired for any level of physical prowess, but anyone who notices this might be worried about her ability to hold her own if she gets into trouble.

During meals she is mostly only social with Melisandre and Benitez, as well as some of the other personal on board the ship, not mixing much with the people who will soon be her actual teammates.

Finally the shore is in sight, and Jane has managed to cram of semester or two worth of learning into the short time she's been on the boat. Dreck, if only school had been this fast, maybe it would have been a bit interesting.

She is distant during the meeting off shore. She is more focused on writing some new programs for her drones than the incidentals of the cover plan. She may be smart, but she doesn't know much about espionage, and doesn't really know what would or wouldn't pass for proper cover, and so decides to devote her time to more useful things.

Finally the meeting is over, and Jane is left with deciding what she is going to do with her three days of free time. As much as it might be fun to try breaking into a corp and steal something, she figures it is best not to risk it in an unfamiliar area, and with her being needed on the ship. She considers asking Melisandre what her plans are, but decides against it I need to build those shelves anyway

And so her shore leave is mostly spent on the boat. She starts by building shelving in her cabin, her drones resting on the shelves so that the main floor is basically clear, giving her much more room again. Next is an inspection of the engine and most of the moving parts of the ship. She wants to be extra sure that she knows every nook and cranny if she is going to be in charge of keeping the ship running.

A trip to the local junkyards nets her... well, a bunch of junk, but junk with the potential of becoming nifty things for her drones, not to mention something that just might act like a spare part for the ship in a pinch. She then goes about claiming the mechanic shop as her own, and it doesn't take long for her to have her pistol spread out on the bench in tiny little pieces. She'd learned a fair bit about basic weapon care, and was interested in some of those upgrades she'd heard about. Plans from the 'trix and the right junk parts might eventually become something useful, but right now, new programs for her drones are more important, and so most of her shore leave is actually spent reclining in one of the deck chairs, working on programs via her DNI.

[CollateralDynamo]

Miami: 8 June 2072, 2200 EDT
[Robert "Zalermo" Bennicimo as Willard Dermott, PI - Hidden]
Cape May: Pier

Robert made sure he had whatever contact numbers the crewmen were willing to give. In case of emergency, or a required in with the UCAS navy, it would be nice to have a few points of contact. He then listened to all the chatter about what his crew wanted to do on their leave. It seemed like far too much work for something that was supposed to be time off. But Robert could understand the pain of missing parents and would begrudge them nothing. He briefly considered lending a hand to whatever John was planning, but thought better of it. Your one of the bossmen now, Bobs. You can't go horning in on everyone's good time. You can't go out on leave with any of them, you might make them uncomfortable. Or worse yet, you might lose their respect. You need to keep that separation, that fear of you...if you actually managed to get it in the first place. So, instead, Zalermo decided to go his own way.

"Sounds like you kids have some fun sleuthing ahead of you. Me, I have other business that will keep me busy this shore leave. If you need any help, a fresh face, or unbiased eyes on anything, feel free to give a holler. Remember, don't do anything foolish, and our mission comes first. I don't want it known that an enemy can just make up some story about a father of our crew member and have him turn on us. You are here to do a job, if I deem that you can't do that job, we'll have words and we'll have them fast," Robert gave a bit of a grin to try to take the edge of what could be seen as a reprimand, "I'll be fairly busy, see you here in 72, don't be late, or Cap'n Rusty will leave without you. If you kids get into too much trouble, give me a call."

With that, Robert left to check out the local bar scene. He needed to find some nice cheap places to stay for a few nights. Already he was prepping his pheromones to "fun".

Well after he left he sent John a private message, <I have connections up and down the coast, all the way to Caracas. If you can give me information on your father, and what he was caught up in, I might be able to get more information for you before we make port again.>

[budoka05]

Miami: 8 June 2072, 2200 EDT
[Robert "Zalermo" Bennicimo as Willard Dermott, PI - Hidden]
Cape May: Pier

Well after he left he sent John a private message, <I have connections up and down the coast, all the way to Caracas. If you can give me information on your father, and what he was caught up in, I might be able to get more information for you before we make port again.>

While Melissandre and Iago did their information gathering, John finanlly noticed he had a message from Zalermo. John. Grateful, John replied with an encrypted message, <Thank you so much Zalermo. I really appreciate your help! I've attached the information about my father, including a trid file. His name was Takeshi Nobunaga, Nobunaga family name, and professionally he went by Beat Takeshi. He was a commodities trader/broker up and down the Americas except for Aztlan. He never did business there, but I'm not sure why. My hunch is that he just didn't like the nasty stories about that messed up blood soaked nation. No enemies to speak of, but he frequently did business with organized crime. Last I knew he was working with Caribbean and Amazonia cartels.

If you need more info, just send a txt. Much thanks again.

It probably goes without saying, but please be as discreet as possible with this. My gut tells me he was the target of an organized hit.>

Seeing the sent confirmation icon in his AR, John leaned back. Warmed by his crew's interest and help, John became hopeful that this crew would gel together and become a tight unit. His last group didn't turn out so well, and John had his hopes dashed when he discovered his last team was a bunch of sociopaths and nut-jobs working a nice veneer.

[Whizbang]

Shore Leave Day 1
Melisandre the Red

After getting the information from John, Melisandre got right to work on her searches. The magic of the digital age compressed what would have been days of legwork into the span of five hours. She couldn't say that there was anything particularly interesting to all this, but gems needed to be polished before they would shine. Perhaps all that intel training had paid off after all. She sifted through her work before getting back to the others.

"I wasn't able to dig up anything professionally on Beat Takeshi. But I did manage to round up comm codes for the detective that worked the case and the doctor that did the autopsy if someone wanted to give them a ring." She was good at information and machines. She acknowledged that her people skills needed work, and she should probably let others do the talking.

[Penta]

<OOC: Some godmodding. I hope you all forgive me for this - normally I'll try to let you control your own characters during "cut-scenes" like this. - GM>
12 June 2072, 0600 EDT/1000 Zulu: MY Fedallah: Docked, Cape May, NJ

It was an early day for Fedallah's crew, as they rose with the seagull's cry and the sailing of the fishermen heading out to sea. Shore leave being complete, the team members who'd had stuff to do over the previous 3 days boarded and raised the gangway, within 15 minutes releasing their lines from the dock (where they'd gotten a free refill of their fuel and water tanks and free reprovisioning, courtesy of a "Mr. Jones" according to the marina), weighing anchor, and slowly pulling away from the pier where they'd been berthed.

Their first destination was a point 30 kilometers southeast of Cape May, well out into international waters. Upon reaching that point 2 and a half hours later, a brief burst transmission, encrypted, was made by the comms officer to a satellite orbiting overhead.
***
12 June 2072, 0830 EDT/1230 Zulu:

In Suitland, Maryland, this transmission caused a comm terminal to beep with an incoming message.

A Navy Petty Officer tore the printed message off the thermal printer (where it was printed on flashpaper) and brought it into the office next door after knocking on the doorframe (the door was open).

"Captain," he announced, "New message traffic from crew Alpha-One on project ALFRED. They report themselves to be clear of port and posted at Waypoint Alpha, eager and ready to proceed with their assigned orders. Authenticator is Alpha Whiskey X-Ray One Niner Lima Oscar Foxtrot. Authenticator matches the posted daily sign, sir. I confirm the message as authentic."

The Captain took the message. "I read the authenticator as Alpha Whiskey X-Ray, One Niner, Lima Oscar Foxtrot. I confirm the message as authentic. Note it in the comms log, Petty Officer."

"Noted in the log, sir."

"Understood," the Captain replied. "Alert Lieutenant Commander Roberts, and begin setting up a videoconference from Conference Room 1 for 15 minutes from now with Crew Alpha One."
The message was then burned in a small ashtray on his desk, and the ashes were dumped in the classified waste basket.
***
12 June 2072: 0845 EDT/1245 Zulu:

Fifteen minutes later, the conference room's blank wall appeared on the holoprojector on the Fedallah's bridge. Lieutenant Commander Roberts sat at the table in service khakis.

"Greetings, Fedallah. I hope you enjoyed your shore leave. Now, for your latest intel brief. Chantico's Bounty is currently steaming in the mid-Atlantic, under the discreet observation of Submarine Force Atlantic assets. Satellite take and latest positioning info as of 1200 Zulu is being downloaded to you now, along with any analysis from SUBLANT. The Cipher is Psalm 18:39.

"Our best guess right now is that she'll be passing between Antigua and Montserrat in one week. At that point, SUBLANT will cease tracking her - I advise being in position to shadow her by that point. You may use your discretion so far as the shadowing and attack process goes, consistent with your orders. Keep in mind that Montserrat is owned by Wuxing, and Antigua by Horizon - both maintain small surveillance posts on the islands along with their other operations, and both are considered to have decent relations with Aztlan and Aztechnology. In public, anyway.

"Are there any questions? Please, for the sake of transmission time, keep it brief."

If there are questions, Roberts will attempt to answer them. If there are not (or when the question-and-answer is done), you hear the following:

"Further briefs, to save transmission time, will work like this: At 1200 Zulu each day, we'll drop the brief in a Matrix dropbox. It'll either be text or video, and may or may not include attachments - it will always be password protected, openable with the day's authenticator. The cipher is used to provide an extra layer of security to the attachments, and the day's cipher will be mentioned in the message. I suggest being quick about getting to it, as unopened messages will self-destruct 30 minutes after being left. Other matrix drops will be used for communications to us. The authenticators are the cards in the individual foil packets in the safe, marked with dates. They cycle daily at 0800 EDT, as does the cipher for any attached information. After the authenticator's day is up, shred the card it's on, then burn the remains.

"You've got enough authenticators for a month. When they're close to being used up, let us know. If you're in danger of capture, destroy the authenticators.

"With that? Good luck and good hunting, Fedallah. Roberts clear."

And then the transmission ends.

---
OOC notes, trivia, etc:

Trivia:
Psalms are numbered differently in the Septuagint (Greek) and the Hebrew versions. Here's the text that is the cipher, at least as it's rendered in the King James Version: "For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me." The exact rendering is unimportant OOCly, but I figured it'd be neat trivia.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

ALFRED is the name of the first ship commissioned into the Continental Navy. Its first Master was one John Paul Jones. No, you do not know that that's the project name.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
---
Notes:

Trying to trace this transmission back to source, by the way, would fail miserably: The lag alone suggests it's being routed through multiple satellites so as to hide the source of the transmission.

[Marwynn]

12 June 2072: 0849 EDT/1249 Zulu:
[Iago, Hidden]

"Sir," Jonas started firmly but quietly. "Will there be any magical support in the area in one week's time?"

The shoreleave was not quite what Jonas had feared or expected. A few late nights out, with good but serious moments between his fellow team--crew. It was definitely better than what he had planned for himself.

Self-deception's a Francis family tradition after all. So I'm running away from them. Again. It's not like they've bothered to send me a message all this time.

[Penta]

"We're working on mobilizing a team out of Guantanamo Bay, which we lease to Ares, to get an astral fix on the ship once it passes Montserrat. I'll let you know over the coming days how that goes. Chances are that they'll only be able to get brief looks at it, though."

[Marwynn]

"Fair enough sir, thank you. I hope to send in Concealed spirits myself once we're closer in. Any areas that may be blocked off from Astral could be transporting the 'live cargo'. I have no further questions."

[budoka05]

"Any new information about the security? Sailors with combat skill wires, security guards, critters, etc? Assuming the ship's capture is successful which port shall we take the ship to?"

[Penta]

"We've observed a security detail, but haven't been able to stare long enough to get an accurate count. Normal crew for the class is 12. We're suspecting they have more aboard than usual, but can't peer belowdecks with our currently in-position assets. We're still deciding on which port to take it to ifn you find what we suspect is there....I feel no shame in saying that the UCAS Attorneys of virtually every city on the coast are likely to engage in vicious fights to make sure that they get the case by you pulling into their port."

[budoka05]

John took a moment to mull over the data. While certainly the team was outnumbered, a quick insertion and strike would lock down the vessel and give time to mop up the crew. However their unknown strength concerned him...

There maybe another way to go around this. "Roberts, are their any reports of how the ship has evaded pirate raids? Perhaps that give a glimpse of what measure they've gone to protect the ship."

While John listened to Robert's response, he grew concerned about how only a fraction of the crew was actively participating in the briefing (OOC: Hint Hint).

[MusicMan]

Alexander had spent most of his shore leave working over the plans of the ship and the available data as such, he brought up the schematics and took a made a few notes. After thinking for a few moments, Alexander jumps in on John's question.

" I spent most of my leave looking at the available intelligence, and I do not believe that they have modified their ship for sea-born combat. From my limited knowledge, I am not sure that their ship is capable of carrying weapons. I think that any resistance we will encounter will be in terms of small arms combat... Furthermore, it is my belief that they are avoiding piracy by, 'flying under the radar,' as the idiom goes. If they are transporting slaves, they will have had to devote a significant portion of their resources to internal security. They are most likely relying on OPSEC protocols for external security. I suspect that we will find a large amount of less-lethal weaponry onboard the ship, and that most of their attention is geared towards keeping their cargo alive, well, and under control. "

Alexander then brings up the notes and plans he had made while on leave. He illustrates his plan in AR for anyone looking in AR to see.

" As tactical officer, I have come to the conclusion that trying to approach them from visual range in the Fedallah will cause alarm and be highly counterproductive. My research has determined that our best course of action will be to make a fast, nighttime insertion using the zodiac boats. Our main force will come to the target from the aft, starboard of the target. They will board on the starboard side, one-quarter up the length of the target from the aft. The first objective will be the bridge, entry and control will be made by stealth entry. Our rigger will proceed to jump into the ship and provide tactical support through the ship's own systems. The rest of the team will divide into two-man units and proceed to secure the cargo holds. Once the cargo holds are secured, we will regroup and sweep the ship for remaining OPFORs.

I will reiterate in text..."

Alexander begins to summerise his plan according to the following outline:


PHASE I
Objective: Board "Chantico's Bounty"
Priority: Maintain stealth
Notes:
- Approach from starboard/aft
- Nighttime insertion
- Board 1/4 length
- MTO to provide aerial over-watch

PHASE II
Objective: Secure Bridge of "Chantico's Bounty"
Priority: Maintain stealth until bridge is stormed
Notes:
- Bridge is amidships, to the aft
- Take bridge and secure ship
- Rigger to take direct control of ship
- MTO to provide aerial over-watch and fire-support

PHASE III
Objective: Secure cargo area
Priority: Determine/Verify nature of cargo
Notes:
- MTO to land and join team
- Rigger to provide over-watch and close-support through in-ship systems
- team to disperse to designated target areas in two-man units

PHASE IV
Objective: Secure ship
Priority: Maintain integrity of cargo
Notes:
- Team to reform and disperse as needed
- All sections of ship to be searched and secured
- Rigger to provide over-watch and close-support through in-ship systems

PHASE V
Objective: Return to Fedallah
Priority: Maintain integrity of cargo
- Team to either loot and demo Chantico's Bounty; or turn over Chantico's Bounty to non-combatant occupants as determined by orders
- Return to Fedallah using zodiac boats
- If needed: escort liberated Chantico's Bounty to designated port of entry

Alexander leaves his schematic and plans up, along with his tactical outline for review by his teammates and commander; and holds his hands up in a non-committal gesture.

[budoka05]

"I like the plan. It covers all the bases and objectives. Only thing I would suggest is securing the engineering room. In case the sailors wish to wrest control, there is no better way then to take manual overrides on everything from engineering."

[Knight Saber]

"That's a good thought" Rusty chimes in, having been standing in a corner of the room, observing and letting people make their own ideas known. She's standing "at ease," with her hands at the small of her back. "Engineering after the bridge, then the cargo holds after that. If they have slaves aboard and if they've rigged the holds, the master controls will be in one of those two places, or both."

"And that's a good plan... for a plan A" she says to Alexander. "What happens if there are more security forces than intelligence has shown? What if there are claymores on the hull six feet above the waterline? What if the cargo holds are rigged with nerve gas? What if there's a spirit on the ship? I want a 'go to hell' plan meant to keep the crew alive and accomplish the mission even when everything goes straight into the toilet. Which it will." She states that with a tone suggesting hard-won experience.

"I'll take the point on the boarding. I do have some small experience with this" she says, smiling slightly. "Who's up for being right behind me?"

[budoka05]

I'll have your back Capt'n

[Marwynn]

Iago stretches a bit and goes over the plan several times. He nods in appreciation of it. "Very thorough. Though I would like some prelim magical assessment first. It only takes one lowly Watcher Spirit to ruin this... "

"Astrally we'd stand out, so before this hits I'm going to summon a Spirit to Conceal us. That's just us, not the 'zodiac' itself so we won't stand out so easily physically or astrally. I figure that's better than casting one of my Illusion spells and wrapping us all in a spell's aura, glowing like a bonfire." He pauses for effect. "I can also change the appearance of the zodiac boat. Make it look like something much smaller, with a lesser signature."

"The thing of it is, if we split up the Concealment must stay with just one group. The Bridge and those that stay inside will be the most vulnerable so being harder to spot might be a good thing: it should provide some confusion while we mop up. I can leave the Spirit to follow orders from those there. Once we know if there are any wards or barriers aboard, through a preliminary and equally Concealed astral recon, I can maybe advise on what the opfor is packing; how heavily cybered, magical assets, and so on." He looks slightly stiffer as he mentions this again, the bravado of an earlier briefing echoing in his mind.

Glancing back to the plan he focuses on the bridge section. "You know, we can also create some confusion by Influencing the captain or another officer. It'd be delicate, but we can get the upper hand immediately. I don't even have to be there physically, sending in a Spirit of Man to implant such suggestions to wreak all sorts of havoc. It's fun at parties, trust me." He adds with a wink, though you're not too sure if he's joking.

[MusicMan]

Alexander shrugs at Iago,

" I am not counting on stealth to last beyond our initial assault on the bridge. To an extent, I am hoping that it does not. The more the enemy comes to us, the less of them we will have to hunt down. If we can bunk down into defensive positions in the cargo hold, they will be forced to dislodge us, and--in combat--the first advantage always goes to the entrenched defender. My plan relies on speed and surprise to secure the bridge, and then a combination of manuver tactics and... as they call 'turtle-ing' to clear the rest of the ship."

[budoka05]

"Iago, I like the idea about influencing the commanding officers. Since influencing them before we board the ship might tip them, it would probably best to influence them once they're aware of us or the fighting starts. Can you time one of your Spirits of Man actions?"

"Besides that I think the plan we have is solid. So, are we going to put this to a vote or go by good old military hierarchy?" John looks in Captain Rusty's direction.