Up the Tower

Log Title: Up the Tower Characters: Blades, Dust Devil, Riposte, Scales, Tonka, Upshot, Vigil Location: Stanix Date: January 30, 2019 TP: Summary: The CAT team sneaks through Decepticon territory to hack a communications tower. As logged by  Scales

Log session starting at 18:23:17 on Wednesday, 30 January 2019.

'''Its only been an astrohour since the team had arrived at the nameless base in Stanix. It was cramped and dank, wedged as it is between thermal conduits. At least it was warm. Right now, it was prep time before the tower mission. Riposte uses a small circuit welder on the mission item receiver. Once this got planted up on the GPS transmitter, the Bots would be able to get the navigational data they need to help find Payday...and learn more about his plans perhaps.'''

Scales has already inspected everything around her, looked up the maps for the situation, and decided to use her downtime in her usual fashion when between important jobs- she's curled up, napping, her wings tucked around herself.

'''So it is quiet right now, as the troops gather and recharge themselves as best they can. Occasionally, the neural node that Delcom is wired into will spark or make a whining noise, or a thermal pipe will shudder, but aside from that, it is the sort of quiet that only field professionals do not find unnerving.'''

'''Tonka has found himself a spot to sit and take stock of his equipment, which he has laid out at his feet: micro grenades, timed charges, wire tap devices, laser scalpels, and a full size energon grenade. Carefully he picks up each and inspects it, before returning it to his trailer which he has set up beside him.'''

'''Blades is watching everything from his place against the wall. The rescue chopper/street fighter shifts a bit, just keeping an eye on everything around him.'''

'''With a quiet motion, Riposte clasps shut the receiver. Her tone is soft, "Its ready. We haven't much time. Ready to ruck up and out in 5." With that, the femme draws some radar netting off of the wall nearby, and begins to drape it over herself.'''

City State of Stanix

'Stanix is a region of equatorial Cybertron. '

One of the first areas conquered by the Decepticons, it remained isolated from the ensuing civil war up until the Ark's departure.

It contains the town of Yuss, Fort Scyk and the Acid Wastes.

The Nav-Tower Transmitter radio..

A rather small tower system with fencing and surveillance in the shadow of Fort Syck, but man that is a taaaaalll tower.

'''The sliding door opens, leading back up into the night sky in Stanix. The fumes coming from the wastes reach this far, and taint the surroundings. It is a rather corrosive and disgusting place, but it must still hold some tactical advantage. Only 35 metayalms from the hidden base lies Fort Syck itself, but for now the Autobots need information, and to do that, they need to infiltrate a Nav-Tower's security system and plant a receiver on the top of the tower itself.'''

'''Holographics of the area show that the tower is a basic structure, much like an Earth radio tower. There's a small comms room for relays next to it, but the tower itself is just built right atop the ground instead of from atop anything more. Fencing surrounds the tower, as do multiple cameras and sensor arrays. Not to mention the multiple patrols that pass by the area. The sight of any of those could lead to serious trouble if a mistake is made by anyone infiltrating....'''

'''Riposte silently hands out several polarized lights. Not much good for actual lighting but not bad for getting other people's attention quietly, especially since your optical system has to be adjusted to recognie it.'''

'''Tonka slides on a radar absorbing poncho that covers him up pretty well, pulling the hood over his head. He sets out, sticking to shadows as much as possible and using available obstacles to shield him from visual sensors as he heads for the small comm relay building.'''

<> Tonka says, "Heading to the relay building to set up some overrides to their comms and surveillance relays."

[CAT] Riposte says, "Understood"

[CAT] Riposte says, "I read you, Tonka."

GAME: Tonka FAILS a DEXTERITY roll of Very High difficulty.

GAME: Tonka FAILS a DEXTERITY roll of Very High difficulty.

'''Upshot doesn't have the option of the nice tech toy like Tonka does; instead he stick to the the shadows as best he can, utilizing the terrain to his advantage to get close. HE has his sensors set on passive for the time being, so as not to alert the Decepticons in the area.'''

GAME: Upshot PASSES a DEXTERITY roll of Very High difficulty.

'''Scales eschews the ground entirely, in favor of silently gliding along ground currents towards the base of the tower. She rolled in some mud to dull down her usually bright scales. Hopefully, she can slip through the shadows without needing to disturb anything that might give her away.'''

GAME: Scales FAILS an AGILITY roll of Above Average difficulty.

'''Vigil vanishes from sight with the quiet buzz of a cloaking device activating. He heads off for a cozy, secluded place, where he gets comfortable - or about as comfortable as someone can get, in hostile territory. '''

The invisible Autobot hunkers down, keeping a close watch on the area.

GAME: Vigil FAILS a DEXTERITY roll of Above Average difficulty.

'''At this point the goal as Dust Devil understood it was to get to the preassigned coordinates as quickly and carefully as possible. His light blue coloring has been hidden under a layer of the local dust and debris to help conceal and breakup his pattern. Optics to the sky, and feet carefully padded for quiet movement, he begins the rapid dash toward his checkpoint, carefully utilizing buildings and the terrain to try and get there unnoticed if he can.'''

GAME: Dust Devil PASSES an AGILITY roll of Extreme difficulty.

[CAT] Riposte says, "Be warned, incoming aerial units detected."

'''Tonka's poncho is a useful trade tool, and it helps protect him from the corrosion. The tiny mech approaches the gate, and surveys the situation, but notes an initial problem. There's too much open ground between him and the comms room. With the camera's pan speed, he knows his small frame can't outrun it.'''

'''Upshot maneuvers in on the side. following in the beaten footpath of the patrol that cases the area, no doubt on the far side at the moment. He slips up closer to the building,able to hop the fence, landing in a blind spot of the sensor systems.'''

'''Scales muddles up a bit, and finds a similar problem as Tonka, especially considering the gear needed to make the climb. The camera layout is pretty good, it overlaps, and has few blindspots until you get near the building itself. The timing hasn't presented itself to allow her access.'''

'''Vigil disappears, one of the most handy traits for an infiltrator to have. Right now the patrol is on the far side of the route,, there's little to report that he sees, at least, and that is a small mercy.'''

'''Dust Devil has it down though, crossing the distance without much issue. The radio tower comes up quickly to him, and with his speed he can hurdle the fencing, and duck inside among the base structure itself to avoid detection...'''

Vigil suddenly vanishes with a slight whisper of sound.

[CAT] Riposte says, "Two units. Large craft. No further ID at the moment."

'''Tonka frowns a bit, but he's been in this situation before. Staying in the shadows, he pulls out one of his interface devices and switches it to long range mode, starting a scan for network protocols. He picks up several, and after a few adjustments narrows in on one that appears to be the video signal of the security camera. "Allright Mr. Camera, let's see how you handle some serious packet loss..." He activates a routine that will flood the camera's output with thousands of junk packets, the end result being that it would appear to be atmospheric static.'''

GAME: Tonka FAILS a TECHNICAL roll of Extreme difficulty.

[CAT] Riposte says, "Tonka"

[CAT] Riposte says, "do you read me?"

[CAT] Tonka says, "Loud and clear."

[CAT] Riposte says, "I register your move here, you're using old patch codes. Update to 333.21"

[CAT] Tonka says, "Copy, adjusting now."

GAME: Tonka PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of Extreme difficulty.

[CAT] Tonka says, "That did the trick, reading massive interference on the camera network. Whoever's watching that feed is going to get an optic full of static."

[CAT] Riposte says, "excellent. Make the move."

'''Once past the fence Upshot turns back to survey the team's progress forward; a momentary frown crosshis mouth before he goes back to the task at hand. He quickly unslings his case and opens it to pull out his free climbing gear; before the case gets closed and placed on his back again. The mech leans back to look up before jumping up to gab the roof and being his ascent.'''

GAME: Upshot PASSES an AGILITY roll of High difficulty.

'''Scales studies the open space in front of her carefully, memorizing every inch, then closes her optics and skitters forward like a lizard, mentally aiming herself at a specific target. When she gets there, she freezes in place, counting in her head until the camera would pan past, then moving again. She has to keep her optics closed to keep them from giving her away, but if she does it right, she'll end up snug in the hiding place by the tower she picked out from the beginning.'''

It's a good thing the cameras are already suffering- one more dirty bump in the road is more likely to get overlooked.

GAME: Scales PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of High difficulty.

'''Vigil ensures that his sniper rifle is loaded and ready upon hearing about incoming aerial units. He turns his attention to the skies.'''

GAME: Vigil PASSES a DEXTERITY roll of Average difficulty.

'''The night silence is broken by the loud roar of engines coming in, and large figures transform and smash onto the ground, sending a shudder through the area. Astrotrain peers about, "I think you're full of diesel, Octane..." Octane waves dismissively to his peer, "Just you see. These guys got the best still." Astrotrain grumbles, "Why can't we have a bar?"'''

Upshot fades into the shadows without a sound.

Octane laughs, "You'd complain if you had a new lube joint installed. Come on, they're on patrol here somewhere."

Astrotrain protests, "Would not."

'''Tonka's packet loss protocol isn't really seen on this end of things, but the static shows up way back in Ft Syck. A bored Con moniotor watcher raises his head from his holonews, and taps the monitor a few times. He shrugs, "Not my job." and settles back in, even as Autobots sneak past him on fuzzy screens.'''

'''Upshot has no problems getting his gear in order, he's a professional after all. Upshot gauges the climb itself as he draws out the microcable and other tools. He hefts himself to the roof without issue, and now only has the exhausting climb ahead of the actual radio tower. Its bound to be exhausting, but splitting up the tasks between multiple people will ease it up greatly.'''

'''Scales meets up with Upshot silently, with some of the climb gear already in place, between the two working together, the broadcast device can be passed up via the cables they're using without having to be held. Useful, as long as it isn't dropped.'''

'''Vigil peers up into the sky, noting the two jet figures moving in. His scope zooms in, spotting faint signs of purple, grey and white between the two. They're big ones too. His scope pans down to the ground, there's that ground patrol on the move too! There's bound to be a lot of Cons nearby very shortly! In fact, they're already here…'''

'''Dust Devil freezes when the cons show up. He glances at the tower and then back at the cons. Hopefully his friends and family plan don't allow the cons to reach out and touch them. He is about to see about moving to get a better look when the winds shift and he is almost forced to make a sound. He has no idea what exact chemical process is occuring out here, but that one needs to stop. His first reaction is to close his vents which doesn't work for very long as he begins to overheat. Then a brilliant idea comes to him. He changes his hands out for the system he uses for his air blast attack and begins to gently send that delightful scent towards the cons...and AWAY from him.'''

[CAT] Vigil says, "Hope I'm not interrupting, but we've got 'Cons incoming. Lots of 'em. Two in the air and... a bunch on the ground."

[CAT] Riposte says, "Stay sharp. No sudden moves, no mistakes."

GAME: Dust Devil PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of High difficulty.

'''Tonka keeps the interference going, and decides to perhaps create a distraction and disable the surveillance at the same time. Continuing his scan, he locates the feed for the sensor net around the tower, and he inputs commands to increase the power flow to them well above factory standards. With some luck, they'll short out, and possibly spark, drawing the con attention away from teh tower, at least he hopes.'''

GAME: Tonka PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of High difficulty.

'''Upshot works his way up the duracrete section of the tower carefully finding handholds, and in some places just reaching out and hauling himself up by brute force. He does let Scales take the weight of the transmitter as he advances and returns the favor as they alternate who's higher up as they go.'''

GAME: Upshot PASSES a STRENGTH roll of Very High difficulty.

'''Scales braces herself at the bottom as Upshot takes the first leg, then leaps up the duracrete like a cat going up a tree trunk, her claws easily bearing her light weight for the time she's in contact. Once past the difficult part that has to be taken fast, she picks her way up the lattice, taking her turns to steady the gear so Upshot can get past.'''

GAME: Scales FAILS a DEXTERITY roll of Above Average difficulty.

GAME: Scales PASSES a DEXTERITY roll of Above Average difficulty.

'''Vigil frowns, resisting the urge to try and snipe one of the Decepticons out of the air. He doesn't want to give away their position just yet. For the time being, he continues observing, this time trying to figure out where the enemy patrols will go next.'''

GAME: Vigil PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Little difficulty.

'''Astrotrain raises his hands, "Phyah! Ugh I hate Syck duty. Can't stand this place." Octane covers his faceplate, "Remind me next time to shut off my intake systems." Astrotrain grumbles, "Why don't you do that now? You were late to that shootout last cycle. You're always late." Octane shrugs again, "I was busy." Astrotrain continues, "And you make me waste..." Octane finishes his words, "Yeah yeah, waste all your energon getting to places. Well you got to fight that time right? So what're you complaining about?"'''

'''The patrol of two ground Cons meet up with them, both carrying rifles. Octane points, "There, these are the guys I was telling you about. This guy studied under Mixmaster." Astrotrain seems piqued, "Really..."'''

'''Dust Devil grins a little as he manages to keep the awful stench away from his own vents. He glances up at the tower and begins to move carefully back toward the tower. He tries to keep the wind blowing in the cons direction to keep them occupied.'''

'''Tonka chooses the classic spy tactic of overloading consoles. He remotely orders the systems to drop their limiters. While the systems are running still, shortly, they'll be running out their motors and sparkling like they were in a 70s sci-fi show...'''

'''Upshot continues his climb. The climbers are now halfway up the tower, and the structure starts to sway slightly on its own accord. Down below only the faint sounds of the Triplechangers are heard, but right now, the two are quite vulnerable if they /were/ to be spotted.'''

'''Scales maneuvers inside and out of the latticework of pipes. A simple task for an S&R operative. One of her feet lands on nothing for a moment as the tower sways, but its nothing that can't be handled. The two are almost to the top, and with it, the intelligence they need!'''

'''Vigil reminds himself of the mission, and doesn't waste Octane where he stands. Vigil extrapolates where the quartet are heading, and figures they're going indoors, probably up to that guard station. He can easily move position to avoid bumping into any of them, and let sleeping petrohounds lie…'''

GAME: Dust Devil PASSES a DEXTERITY roll of Above Average difficulty.

'''Tonka meanwhile has been putting his technical skills to use in preparation for the comm equipment, and puts the finishing touches on a virus that will open a back door for him to access this comm relay station computer when they need it. "This ought to open up a hole big enough to throw Metroplex through..." he says as he starts the upload.'''

GAME: Tonka FAILS a TECHNICAL roll of Very High difficulty.

'''Upshot pauses in the climb to asses thier progress and what's left. After a bit he says something almost to himself, "Survival requires movement." With that the explorer turn Autbot resumes his upward journey to the slowly shifting top of the tower.'''

GAME: Upshot PASSES a COURAGE roll of Very High difficulty.

'''Scales works her way up to the insertion point at the top and turns to getting it ready, breaking into the connections so the Autobots' spy gear can be attached like it's supposed to be. Her nimble paws work quickly with the convenient, built-in tools, and she keeps her tail wrapped around a bar to stay steady. She'd be a lot more nervous if she didn't have wings.'''

GAME: Scales PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of Below Average difficulty.

[CAT] Riposte says, "I'm getting a reading."

[CAT] Riposte says, "Begin preparation for extraction."

'''Tonka starts his virus upload, but gets some resistance. The trick right now is to do it without it being pinpointed, and by checking the systems, and analyzing code, Tonka's not seeing his opening just yet.'''

'''Upshot continues working vertically, his pistons start to ache, but the mech keeps moving, up to a dizzying height. The radio tower itself is hard to see at the distance he and Scales has moved to.'''

'''ANd then Scales attaches the simple jumper to the broadcaster. There's no light, no sound to signify connection, but the coded message in response is enough. The two had made the exhausting climb, and the teamwork had been invaluable in getting this intelligence mission underway. It wasn't flashy or deadly, but the intel garnered here would steer them in the right way very soon…'''

'''As the Triplechangers move on past, more interested in their illegal still, Dust Devil adds a bit of spite to them, sending those toxic fumes in their wake. Octane ends up letting out a nasty cough before he gets out of range, and its obvious that the pace of the four has increased.'''

'''Upshot braces himself aginst the structure of the tower and waits for Scales to finish installing their gear. Once she has he motions a hand towards her, "Time to leave and, hopefully, not get spotted. Which is easier for one then two. Hop on and keep an eye out for 'Cons, just in case, and I'll see to the descent."'''

Scales hops onto Upshot's arm and settles in on his shoulder, optics alert as she clings.

'''The descent down the tower is still a careful affair, at least for the most part. Upshot does make some, strictly speaking, unecessary leaps and maneuvers reminiscent of Earthly Parkour as he goes.'''

'''With the tower scaled, the security shut down, there's nothing that stops the Autobots from a retreat into the night without further provocation. Soon Upshot and Scales have reached the ground, and can regroup with the others. This nighttime operation has succeeded.'''

'''Tonka decides not to push his luck, and saves the virus for a later attempt after creating a login profile that will allow him to connect again. Packing up, he slips back towards the base, a grin on his tiny face.'''

'''Dust Devil works on getting back with the others. He is still making a face from the scent that he's sure is clinging to him now.'''

Scales says quietly under her 'breath', "I'm not sure which is worse.. stayin' in the creepy room, or bein' out here so close ta th'Cons."

Upshot shrugs, "At least out here we have a better view..."

Log session ending at 21:46:25 on Wednesday, 30 January 2019.