I got 2 hits for the language check. What can I do?

You can just sort of puzzle out the Spanish used. Not very poetically, but enough to figure out what buttons *not* to press.

Anything that says hatch or door? How about guns and weapons? Can I find a lock down button?

Non on de dakka, senor.

Si on hatches.

You can pick them off a map, even. (Warning: There are hatches that lead from the cargo holds to what in this case would be the sea.)

Common Sense edge: It might might might help if you made the ship stop, by the way. It's currently proceeding merrily at 10 knots.

Alright, with my previous command roll, I lock all doors and hatches other than the bridge and engineering.

That locks everybody where they are. 2 people in the armory, others in the corridor outside, Zalermo and Simon where they are (except for the ladder).

Done.

Ohh, locked in a ladder well with 5 bad guys. Mai dreams have come true!

Really thats a pretty good idea though Bud, as long as Zalermo survives he will support your action.

And most of them aren't armed!!

Correct. Only 6 (plus the sec team on duty) are. So 11 of them are.

Let's see what I can do to even the odds a little bit.
I'll attack two different enemies at random, let's just hope one of them is the mage.

first (long, narrow) burst at first sucker: 3 hits

that makes it 6 (weapon) + 2 (gel rounds) + 5 (narrow long burst) =
12 Stun + 3 net hits to resist with body + impact armour + 1 (weapon's AP = -1, AP due to gel = + 2 -> +1)

second (short, wide) burst at second sucker: also 3 hits

that makes it 6 (weapon) + 2 (gel rounds) =
8 Stun + 3 net hits to resist with body + impact armour + 1 (weapon's AP = -1, AP due to gel = + 2 -> +1)
and he/she has to subtract 2 from his/her attempt to evade

Hell. had I known that the second roll would score another 3 hits, I'd have made that burst a narrow one, as well.

Lest I forget it: 9 shots fired, 41 in the clip.

I'm without my books (at school), so in the interests of time will say that you knock down both targets. Neither is the mage, but they're both unconscious after their heads hit the very hard deck.

Targeting one goon and then the next, recoil fully compensated. Roll is 7 agility + 4 for skill (and specialization) + 2 for smartlink.

And the result? 4 hits and 5 hits!

Making my total damage code 10S(e) on goon one and 11S(e) on goon two.

Subject resists with body + half impact armor (round up). Must also succeed at a stun check of body + willpower + half impact armor (round up) with a threshold of 3.

This includes the standard rules for electrical attacks. If they have non-conductive body armor, their rolls would change.

And down go two more. This time, goon 2 is the Mage.

Penta just told me he's off to class, but the fifth guy is apparently surrendering Ears...want to shoot him anyway? I don't want to have to deal with conscious prisoners right now...

I suppose there is some value in questioning him, but I'll leave it up to you if we knock him out or not.

A. Live (and conscious prisoners) are a lot of trouble. So far all my characters (no matter what gaming systems) had much more trouble from keeping 'em alive than just killing them and posing nice and friendly questions to another feller at a later time.
B. Questioning takes time that we have to spend at one location while further hostiles close in or might attack our comrades or do not so nice things to the captives.

So, down that one goes.

12 bullets expended, 38 remaining. Just in case you want a roll to hit an immobile target (wasn't there a mod for that somewhere?): worst shot, so far: 1 hit

It's still 11 Stun. If he stays conscious, I'll just have Simon kick him first and not lightly at all.

Boy, their lawyers are gonna have a field day with you guys...

On the stand:
"And what were you doing when you were shot and beaten by these people?"
"Um... slaving?"
"What was that?"

The combat part of the game seems to be running smoothly, but I'm not sure what Rusty can do right now, since the bridge was seized fairly quickly and easily.

Forgot her init... 9d6.hits(5)=5

And to help John translate the engine controls, 6d6.hits(5)=2

John definitely needs help shutting down the alarm, turning off extra security, accounting for all personnel, etc.

Yeah, I'm going to say the combat phase is done.

You could, say, go on the PA and demand surrender.

"Surrender and be shot with gel rounds! If you do not surrender, we will shoot you with live round!"

..What that won't work..?

Sounds a lot like "Surrender now and your death will be quick and relatively painless".

Depending on whom exactly at Aztec they failed by getting stopped by us, that might actually be an appealing offer...

Glitch on the Spanish test and instead of saying "Surrender and Live!" you said "Surrender and DIE!"

Okay, in all seriousness:

1. I'd like folks on the main thread to go about with post-combat stuff soon - securing your captives, etc, etc. There's a reason you brought zipties, after all. In case you're wondering, nobody but the riggers are cybered, and only then with a control rig and datajack and the like. Oh, by the way: Yes. In case you forget, your mission includes caring for the slaves, humanely. As well as treating your prisoners properly.

2. Do not move for the slave holds until after dealing with the crew - I'd like some time to finish the reveal scene for the holds. It's mostly done, but still.

3. Do plan here for how you're going to get both the Fedallah and the Chantico's Bounty to port and stuff.

4. Newbies: After the main thread folks are set and stuff, I'll post up what happens on the 18th to your thread, for you to integrate into your day 4 posts.

I'm still soliciting ideas as to week 2 - which it looks likely you'll have to undergo. I'm still working out the timing, but I think it'll take a week or so for Fedallah and the target ship to be brought to the port they'll be directed to by your employers.

Also...During the assault, Iago was dumb and looked in the direction of the flashbang. He now has ocean blindness - IE, he can't see all that great. It's like snow blindness, as we discussed. Kindly RP accordingly. Jane, you'd know he needs ASAP treatment on the Fedallah to prevent permanent injury, followed by treatment on shore by an ophthalmologist.

Oh Great GM, give me guidance on what commands I can issue the computer!

I.E. Turn off the noise alarm, disable distress signals, check inventory manifest, pull up biomonitor status?

Basically, you can do everything from the bridge.

Alright, I turn off the distress call, the internal alarm, pull up crew manifest, pull inventory, and the latest schematics. Once I have the information, I provide that info for the team network via a link.

The inventory is so obviously false it's not even funny: It lists 10000 TEUs of assorted Stuffer Shack products. Schematics - done. Alarms - off. Distress call had not yet been activated - aren't you lucky. Crew Manifest - done.

Fantastic! Hopefully Simon and Zalermo will have no trouble with the two in the armory, and we'll be able to see what the cargo hold really has.

Also, I would like to pull the course charts for the Bounty

What do you mean by course charts?

Are the locks in Zalermo's area off? Or should I put up a post about being locked in a ladder-well.

The navigation log? Where it started from, any stops or meetings with other ships on the way and where it's making port... that information will surely cause a great many SWAT teams to descend on the location.

Bingo, navigation log.

LOL, that's right! We've locked Zalermo in the corridors! Yeah we'll let you out. Just radio up.

The nav log is a good idea - unfortunately, it's encrypted. Looks like a job for NSA.

Rusty: It could be run by one person, more people provide a safety mechanism.

Idly: I posed the question of "How many people for the prize crew" over on the main forum, thank you for not looking...

A better answer than above:

You should have at least 1 person in the engine room and 1 on the bridge at all times.

However, it is possible to slave one ship to the other and sail that way, leaving one ship unmanned, for short periods - up to 4 days.

By 2070, some newer freighters can sail completely unmanned - however, this only arrived with the newest generation of freighters - it's still very expensive to do, and not done with hazardous or valuable cargoes in any case.

I don't know about you guys, but after the two people in the armory surrender, I'm ready to pillage the supplies from the ship and see what they have.

Here's rolls for Yinglong on the newbie thread:

First roll casting Increase Reflexes, 2nd roll resist drain (4 stun) (9d6.hits(5)=3, 9d6.hits(5)=0)
So +2 Init and +2 IP for as long as she sustains with her focus. 4 levels of stun damage taken.

Recovering from stun (7d6.hits(5)=3)
Healing over breakfast, 1 hour rest, healed 3 levels so only 1 stun left, head mostly cleared.

Recovering from stun (second run) (7d6.hits(5)=3)
During leadership 101

Okay, then...*eyes you all* Go round up the folks in the armory.

(For the record, you may want to hold off on pillaging the supplies.)
---

How the next bit will work:

1. As you guys encounter people, they'll surrender. Even the security crews. They can safely be ziptied and left where they are, or marched back to their quarters (each person had effectively a single room, though tiny) - no particular need to knock em out or shoot em or anything.

2. When you're ready to check the holds, I humbly suggest the whole group that is on the Chantico's Bounty be gathered. You can gather from the cameras (which are of sucky quality) that what's in holds 2 and 3 ain't what's listed on the manifest, but not what it is.

3. I will describe all holds in one post. Whizbang, Melisandre will probably need to have the situation described for her by team members.

Bah... I'm afk for a few days because of testing and I miss ALL the fun...

I suppose we could get by with (ahem) slaving the freighter and having Jane's drones patrol to make sure that the crew isn't getting up to anything.

Logically, as the first mate, Zalermo is the one who should take command of the prize, while Captain Rusty stays with her ship. Rusty can stay up running things much longer, but that'd be against naval tradition. Hrm.

Simon'll volunteer as engineering/guard duty for the freighter anyway just to get onto a more spacious ship for the trip back.

Since John is the best in CQB, I volunteer him to stay over on the Bounty.

Just a brief note: Remember, your orders included the provision to contact Roberts/Walker immediately after finding out what was in the holds, if there were slaves.

This could be just Zalermo speaking, but Roberts can probably wait until we get the full story here. The fact that one of our mates happens to speak the same language as the slaves seems...more then coincidental. We need info!

Also, Zalermo sort of thinks that we should speak to the slaves and find out what they want. If some of them want to go for a new life in the UCAS as opposed to being deported he thinks we should try to smuggle them into the country, thoughts?

Well, immediately means immediately. But who's to say we weren't all far too concerned for the health of the slaves to remember that clause...

Smuggling people into the UCAS sounds nice but with between 1000 and 1500 slaves every single percent opting for that equals 10 to 15 people to get ashore undetected. Let's make it 5% and we probably can't even "store" them on our yacht under conditions as bad as in the holds.

That said, if we can pull it off I'm all for it.

Something else that bothers me: What are we going to do with the mage (once we've found out ICLy there is one; he didn't get time to show off his skills before getting knocked out )? Keep him drugged for the journey home?

You guys should know by now how much of a realism freak I can be. Well...This is one of those times.

I will say that the UCAS has immigration policies no more restrictive than the United States.

For the mage, I don't know, keep him blindfolded in a dark cell? You can only cast magic on something you can see right? Not sure if that works, its just the first thing that comes to mind.

As to Penta's comment on immigration, I'm no immigration law expert (so maybe someone can fill me in) but I was of the impression that if someone was "trafficked" into the country illegally and discovered they would be immediately deported to their nation of origin, no "ifs" "ands" or "buts". The thought process being that, "if they want to come into this country, they can try to do it legally when they get home."

The truth of the matter (in todays world at least, and I don't see it getting better in the sixth world, is that people who are in a bad position in their home countries are unable to secure the rights to move in. Some here in the US might see it as a good thing that we aren't letting people who are seen as a "drain on resources" into the country, but that is really a philosophical debate that should be handled elsewhere most likely.

Zalermo's opinion, however, is quite simple. If these people were in a crappy enough position in their home country to get press-ganged into slavery, they may prefer a chance at life in the UCAS as opposed to going back to their failed lives in (Chad was it?). Zalermo has contacts with an organization known for smuggling people across borders, they generally deal in small volume though, and their cost is non-negligible.

Also, I am hearing two different numbers for slave's headcount. Is it 500-750 slaves total or per hold? I ask because if say 20 people want to get smuggled into the country we might be able to manage, if that number doubles to 40, then it is likely impossible.

Per hold.

And, okay...CD, you're wrong re current-day situations. I have the evidence in another window, but will not reveal it yet.

D'oh, I hate being wrong...

I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.

Ok, for my post, I want to wait until I get his responses before assuming I beat the carps out of him. I can't do the rolls right now, I can when I get out from under this firewall, but my dice pools are as follows if someone wants the results before I can get them to you:
Intimidation:16 Dice = 5(Charisma)+2(tailored pheromones 'ware)+3(Kinesics Power)+5(Intimidation Skill)+1 (Improved Skill Power)
Negotiation(Sense Motive):11 Dice = 5(Intuition)+5(Negotiation Skill)+1 (Improved Skill Power) (I did not realize before how large the disparity is, not using Charisma in the check immediately removes five dice from my pool . Oh well, 11 Dice ain't shabbay)

For future rounds I might need to go into my combat skills, but it seems like damaging to interrogate would not be a combat skill so much as an interrogation skill with a dice pool bonus...perhaps I should look at those rules closer when I am not AFB.