Log Title: Outward Bound: Search and Rescue
Characters: Hawk Temera Sinatra Scarlett Outrider
Location: Nebulos, the macrojungle
Date: September 2021
TP: Outward Bound TP
Summary: Following up the interrogation of Fewmaster Moros, the Joes search for survivors of the last remnants of the Nebulan Resistance.
As logged by The still-not-appearing-in-this-TP Imager
G.I. Joe's mission on Nebulos has been challenging so far, but they've been making good headway on the planet, admirably so. The enemy is strong, but has been defeated with arms and hard armor. So far G.I. Joe has come across one living, but beleaguered resistance member, Spoilsport, they've raided the Grax comms tower and gathered a handful of papers as well as setting up a quick burst transmission communicator meant to be received by Earth, AND if the Crusader's report holds true, an actual capture of the Space Pirate Olin Zarak, son of Mo Zarak himself. There were plenty of avenues to push for the Joes...
As part of their investigation for one of their own, Fewmaster Moros let it slip that the swampy region of the macro-jungle is where the last resistance members fell. There's two possibilities here, one that they find their missing Nebulan dead, or they find some more information that may be a benefit.
Scarlett is currently musing, "Given the way the pirates were able to appear as if they had a friendly transponder.. We might want to think about scrambling our broadcast codes and coming up wtih some new signals to identify ourselves or the local resistance members that we've made contact with and that we trust." She's got her katana on her back along with a heavy rifle, spread out while surveying. Sinatra has arrived.
As part of their investigation for one of their own, Fewmaster Moros let it slip that the swampy region of the macro-jungle is where the last resistance members fell. There's two possibilities here, one that they find their missing Nebulan dead, or they find some more information that may be a benefit.
Scarlett is currently musing, "Given the way the pirates were able to appear as if they had a friendly transponder.. We might want to think about scrambling our broadcast codes and coming up wtih some new signals to identify ourselves or the local resistance members that we've made contact with and that we trust." She's got her katana on her back along with a heavy rifle, spread out while surveying.
"Indeed. Some new IFF codes, and added Earth codewords they might not be aware of." Hawk says. "If they by chance manage to tap our comms, we could pull the same trick the Windtalkers did in WWII."
"What if, we use Earth pop culture references?" says Sci-Fi. "Like, if we say, 'Avengers, Assemble!' the other side knows it clear. For when the shit hits the fan, 'Mister Stark, I don't feel so good.' would be appropiate." Sci-Fi rubs his chin, "Who do we have up on the ship as we speak? Red Spot and Ozone? Wait, the whole 'space' team I was part of? Yeah, they know how to respond." The neon warrior smiles, "We've got this."
"We make ourselves as unintelligible to the Hive as the Junkions sound to us, we can screw with them while making headway on our objectives." Hawk says with a grin.
"Wait, you don't understand the Junkios?" asks Sci-Fi, pretending as if their language was easy...
As the Joes discuss alternative comms methodology, probably a pretty smart move on their part, the ridgeline is easy enough to find, its near the border of the jungle, in a wetland part of it that reeks of fumes. Mercury scans read high vapors in the region so gasmasks and minimum exposure are recommended.
"I don't usually carry a TV Tropes to English dictionary, no." Hawk says with a chuckle, then looks at the scan readouts. "Hmm... guess we're going to need to don our gas masks for this one."
Scarlett would glance at Sci-Fi, "Poise has been here awhile and we're aware that they have advanced communications technology. And the Junkions.. Too high of a risk of them having broad knowledge." As Hawk would suggest 'Windtalkers' she would nod in affirmation. Glancing over at the fumes, she would nod, "Yes, Sir."
"We can use some current military codes they may not be familiar with. As we know, the DEFCON system has training terms, DEFCON 1 being 'Cocked pistol'. We can use them as well to indicate danger in the area, for instance." Hawk says.
Adjusting his helmet, Sci-Fi winces. He wanted to give Scarlett and look about shooting his idea down. "But Hawk, you have me as your translator. I am well versed in Klingon..." He pauses, "Actually, that might be it. What if Scarlett and Countdown exchanged infromation and checks with each other in Russian? Red Spot and I can confirm each other's identification easily in Elvish, Klingon, Leet, JAVA..." He shrugs, "Binary as well. ROBO-JOE should be able to even run a trace-route on us to verify who we are." He shrugs, "By the way, are we share you want to turn Robo-JOE into the space ship controls?"
Sinatra laughs from the driver's seat of the Rat Bus. The rear cab has been cut open to provide access between the cab and the load bay, where seats have been provided next to the rat cages. "If you really want to confuse them, I could teach you swahili." He grins.
Sci-Fi would consider AOL but he is more of a Yahoo! Chat person.
Up ahead as the Rat Bus patrols the swamp, among the fumes and strange flora, the team spots a rockslide. Long familiar with blowing up hidden Cobra strongholds hidden in mountains, it looks like a good place to begin their excavation to find out what might've happened to the Resistance.
Scarlett would nod at Hawk, "Yes, Sir, that sounds simple." As the Rat Bus would go along, Scarlett would go to make sure that her gas mask was secure, and then go to take out her sniper rifle, setting the sight on it to ultraviolet to slowly sweep the
"Anything can work, as long as we keep it consistent." Hawk says, looking to Sci-Fi. "It's a risk, but from the sounds of it, we're going to need that gear soon, and the Crusader can't maintain orbit much longer without being a sitting duck. We have to try to bring it down."
Sinatra blinks and peers through the faceplate of his mask."Got something up ahead." He comments, indicating the rock-slide ahead. "Looks like the whole face came down."
Sci-Fi sighs, "Once we bring it down, we're still a sitting duck and bringing that down will bring more attention to us as well. We're going to need to figure out how to probably and properly handle those Exo-Squad suits they are using as well." He pauses, "Do the Nebulons need Mercury to breath the same way we breath Oxygen?"
Scarlett would glance at Sci-Fi, "Poise never had that much issue when she was on Earth.." She would consider while sweeping the area. "Sci-Fi is right. THe Crusader will paint a big target when it comes down no matter the status of it."
Blinking under his mask because Scarlett actually agreed with him, Sci-Fi takes a moment to his thoughts. "You know, they kept me away from Poise because I apparently was going to try and date an alien." He shrugs, "Not saying that I would... Not saying that I wouldn't. But that's what I was told and why I have limited knowledge." He yawns, "Granted, I'm still in love with a woman who prefers women more than men..." He shrugs, "But that's a story for another day."
General Hawk looks at the cliffside, recalling the transmissions from Poise. "It's a good place to start. We have to start piecing together what happened here."
Scarlett would shake her head, "We have other priorities now. We're investigating anything that might be indicative of a presence or.. Former presence of resistance cells. Sinatra, if the rats can do anything to try and see if there's any different smell in the area?"
Sinatra nods as he pulls up to the rock face. He looks hesitant. "Do we know how quickly the vapours take to do damage?" He asks softly. "They can't anything smell in their suits, they'd have to go out exposed." Temera has arrived.
Sinatra adds "They can still crawl through holes and use their eyes though." He looks thoughtful. "They don't have very good eyes though."
Scarlett would nod, "Well.. If they find any big openings we can possibly have them tug in a small sensor probe if we have hte equipment with us or rig it up." "I'm sure we have some cameras we can attach to get a visual on what they are seeing." Hawk says. "We don't want them in there too long but they are best bet to get in there and look without having to blast the whole cliffside down."
Taping his hovering drone, Sci-Fi shrugs, "It's a shame we can't just scout out and see what's on the other side."
Scarlett would nod to Hawk, "YOur call, Sir." She would go to then take out some.. Paper and a mechanical pencil, folding it up on a rock to rapidly start sketching.
Sinatra listens and nods. "Still... if we need to, I've disarmed enough bombs and mines that I'm fairly sure I can rig a charge to bring that down." He nods at the rock-face, stepping into the back of the Rat Bus. He motions Axlue, Foluke, and Aziza into a little glove-box attached to their sealed, filtered box, which allows him to put their little environment suits on. Then he seals off the main cage and opens up the glove-box, letting the three rats climb up onto his shoulders. "We're ready if you want to send us ahead."
General Hawk nods, thinking. "Let's blow a hole, and hope it all doesn't come down on us." he says. "Think you can rig a shaped charge?" Scarlett would nod at Hawk, moving over to the side. Starting to scout out the debris to get an idea of how solid it was to give backup positions to possibly put charges in.
Sinatra looks over at the rock-pile and nods. "Rig one?" He chuckles. "Don't need to. I've got a couple of shaped-charge IED casings slung under the rat-bus, they're useful baths for the ratties." He laughs, pulling the large casing from underneath the Rat Bus. It's the same kind of IED that's been used to take out battle tanks in current conflict zones. From an armoured box in the back of the truck he pulls out several packs of plastic explosives, fills the charge, and sets it up a good stand-off distance from the rock face.
"Depending on how thick it is, this might take a few blasts." Sinatra warns, lighting the fuse and getting back into cover.
Seymour looks back at everyone, "Are we sure explosives are the way to go with all the vapors? Just verifying before we give ourselves cancer."
Sinatra chuckles "It's mercury. Brain damage is more likely." he comments. "Just don't get a hole in your mask."
>> Sinatra strikes Collapsed Ridgeside with Demolition <Medium>. <<
General Hawk gets under cover, "Let's see..."
Scarlett would shake her head, "WE have on rebreathers, we should be fine." She's glancing over and estimating the safe distance, structural integrity of the terrain, and pieces of cover. As the explosives werebeing setup, she would watch it and then getting ready to maneuver back as they were set.
Debris is debris, whether on Earth or elsewhere. While it may be a bit obsolete, Sinatra's charge and fuse work well here. After everyone gets the all clear, the charge is lit and a restrained THUMP! noise registers against the rockslide. Rats go in and investigate, their squeaks muffled by the hazrat suits. In this situation, they have to rely on their sense of sight more than their favored sense of smell.
Eight minutes pass before Aziza returns first, the other two following suit.
"Mercury is very, very, very deadly when a vapor and I am sure the explosion could be dangerous." Sci-Fi shrugs, "If we have ammonia in the area.. we will probably have a huge problem." Sci-Fi reenacts Harold Ramis suggesting an explosion of catastrophic propotions as he walks away from the group.
Reference of his pose? https://tenor.com/view/explosion-boom-ghost-busters-run-uhoh-gif-16566841 Sinatra hands Aziza his comm unit so she can type out what she's found. In Swahili, of course. He reads her response. "Okay we've got... you sure?" Aziza Squeaks, bounces three times on the spot, turns in a circle, and squeks again. Evidently this has meaning, because Sinatra immediately runs to the rock face and begins trying to pull rocks away by hand. "She says there's one dead body... and someone still alive, pinned under some rocks!" "We've got to get in there, fast!" Hawk says. "What's the stability look like from that side?"
Scarlett would give a thumbsup over to Hawk, "Suggest we try and put in a sensor probe to it if we can. Maybe see if we could put in some small drones? That might give us a bit clearer idea unless we think it's secure to blast."
Sinatra speaks quickly to the rats in Swahili. They go through a complicated charades routine, which Sinatra watches intently, commenting in Swahili. When finished, he looks thoughtful. "The rats can pull through a sensor probe... they say it's mostly solid, but a few pebbles are falling."
GAME: Sci-Fi PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of Immense difficulty.
"Or..." says Sci-Fi as he pauses, "You set up the explosives. I can take the shot with almost perfect aim. We can be far away to avoid the exposure, collapses, and such?"
Scarlett would glance at Sci-Fi and Sinatra, "Sounds workable. Or we could dig in witht he vehicles but that will be a lot less precise. But it wil lprobably go quicker."
Sinatra looks to Sci-fi, then shakes his head. "Real explosives don't work like that." He says. "You shoot a real charge and do you know what happens? The charge gets a hole in it."
Sci-Fi looks at Sinatra, "Even if I hit the fuse and light it on fire?"
"Let's just hook up to the tow bar on this thing and yank it loose." Hawk says. "We've got to get in there if someone's alive, and they aren't going to be much longer if we debate it."
Scarlett would nod at Hawk, "Yes, Sir. You heard the General!" She's immediately jogging around to help get the tow bar setup and do as ordered. "Get the medical kits out and ready."
Sinatra nods softly and moves to help rig up the hooks. "Good thing the Rat Bus is good at pullin' things." He says. "You know when the Brits had these in service, they'd use them to pull tanks out of trouble?"
G.I. JOE SPINNY?
It takes several runs of the Rat Bus to clear enough space, but enough gets freed up that the Joes and their pouchies see the figure that was spoken about. With one leg trapped underneath the rock, there's a good chance that he'll never walk again. He's a ruddy figure of green, disheveled with a long brown mustache and a bit of extra heft to him. For some reason, he reminds you all of an old west miner.
Imager dropped Outrider, Nebulan scout.
Outrider raises his hand over his eyes as he sees the light shine in from outside in the first time in a month, "Wh...wh...who goes there?"
Axle runs up to Outrider, squeaks, then runs back to Sinatra and liberates the water flask from his belt. "What are you...?" He begins, cutting off when the other two Pouchies join in, and between them they manage to get the flask over to Outrider pretty quickly. Axle hops up on the flask, squeaks, bounces three times, runs around it in a little circle, and squeaks again. Then he hops off the flask and tries to push it towards Outrider's hand.
Scarlett would go to head along with a medical kit with her, pausing as Outrider is going to speak. This time she goes quiet, deferring to General Hawk to make the approach while quickly looking around the area.
General Hawk heads on in, kneeling down beside Outrider as the rats bring water. "We're from Earth, and friends of Poise. Are you with the resistance?" he inquires.
Bobby, the Greenshirt medic, rushes to the side of the trapped Nebulan, doing what he can to treat his more visible injuries. "I didn't get a lot of data from Doc about Nebulan physiology, but I'll do what I can," he promises Hawk quietly. Due to Hawk's presence, Bobby skips his usual SAMPLE questions and just does what he can to stabilize the Nebulan as best he can, trying to stay out of the way of Hawk's questioning.
The rats all do the squeak-bounce-spin-squeak routine. It seems to mean 'yes' or 'emphasis' or it could simply mean that they're excited and certain about something. They shove the water flask towards Outrider again. Outrider leans on his side and lays back, "Oh...so I can relax." He seems rather chill for having his leg turned into hamburger next to him, then again he's had a month to come to grips with that. He sags back onto the ground and sighs. "First good air I've had in months." Outrider says to the group wearing gas masks. He accepts the water gratefully "I am...or was. I got caught as the base came down. Bastards brought the top down on all of us." As Bobby examines the leg injury, he might be a bit surprised to find that there's no blood! There's gears and circuits there instead.
Scarlett would glance along, "How many others are with you? If so what's their state? We can hepl get them out and stabilize them." Her tone is quiet; making sure to not interrupt Hawk or sound aggressive to the Nebulan that's probably disoriented and injured. General Hawk nods. "We came when we received a distress transmission from her, and we've already had a few skirmishes with the Hive. We're trying to find her, and help out in any way we can." he says. "Was she here?"
Bobby frowns at his discovery of the Nebulan's artificial leg. "Looks like we have a cyborg here, sir," he says quietly to Hawk. Swiveling his head around, he calls out slightly more loudly. "Timmy! Do you have communications with the Crusader? We might need Captain Gears's expertise on this."
Timmy adjusts his mask and crouches down, pulling out one of Gears's inventions and setting it down on the ground. "I'll see if I can connect," he promises.
Sci-Fi remains silent as he tilts his head and looks back at the native. He then looks at Bobby; waiting to see what blood the alien might be showing. Curiously, he walks over slowly, "I do know some electronics and I did help patch up Over Kill once."
Scarlett's question most likely addresses the body nearby, a long slain Nebulan female wearing an environmental suit of some kind. Fortunate that, so decay hasn't set in. Outrider looks to her with a bit of a sad eyes, and props himself up after he drains the water offered, though he looks at the rats rather surprisedly, "All I know for sure is that the Highmaster's prison crew were here, I heard some of er call signs. Pretty good chance that anyone who DID make it out got caught, and sent away." He coughs as he tries to show contempt, "Secret prisons, all over the planet...." He looks to Hawk, "Poise you say? Can't say I know all the names of the resistance, but I've been running...or /was/ running messages back and forth between the resistance for quite a while, and never heard that one."
The rats squeak when the water is taken, scampering back to Sinatra and climbing up on him. He blinks at the leg. "If worst comes to worst, it probably won't hurt if we have to do something drastic to free him." He comments. "I'm Sinatra, by the way. These are three of my rats - Axle, Foluke, and Aziza" Scarlett would shake her head, "So you might be the only one left in your cell?" That's not a good sign. If a sweep of a large chunk of the resistance was made.. There might not be a lot to pick up. "Are any of your facilities intact down htis way? Or any equipment?"
Outrider remarks to Sinatra, "The sickliest looking gramnas I've ever seen, but darn near the politest at least..."
Outrider responds to Scarlett, "I didn't have a cell, I was a courier. Outrider's the callsign. I delivered messages since we couldn't trust the radio waves or landlines, thanks to the legs Hi-Q built for me after those bastards left me to die in a mass grave." He raises an eyebrow, "You've not been using long range comms here, I hope."
"Mainly short range, but we did manage to install a tap into their communication systems to listen in on them, and piggy back on their signals if we need to." Hawk replies.
Sinatra blinks "Gramnas?" He asks, blinking. "Oh! You mean the Pouchies." He chuckles, adjusting position. There's a crinkle of paper. "...wait, you can read Nebulan, right? I stole some papers from Grax's office. Maybe you can translate for us?"
Timmy flicks a switch after making some adjustments on the device. A flickering column of light forms over the small disc. Gradually it resolves itself into the form of Captain Gears himself. He looks around, taking in the scene from sensors built into the ring. "It works!" comes Gears' excited voice, although it emanates from the base of the projector instead of near his face.
Timmy gives Bobby a thumbs-up, and Gears gives Sci-Fi a grin before turning his attention to Hawk and the scene.
Scarlett would nod to Hawk's comments and then over to Outrider, "Thanks. I take it that any relay points you went through have been hit or abandoned already?" Relay points being where messages would be picked up or 'deposited'. Outrider stands up and eyes the group, "Well hold on now...." He pulls himself up, that mangled cybernetic leg of his working decently well as a pegleg for the moment. "You all are talkin bout taking on the HIVE?" He sounds a bit skeptical, "For one person?"
"Not one person any more... not after what we've witnessed." Hawk says. "There are some who thing we shouldn't get involved but... suffering.. starving the people... I've seen it before.. on Earth. No one deserves it." he says, clenching a fist. "Our country on Earth values freedom above all else."
Sinatra looks at Outrider. "We don't leave our people behind." He says, simply. He nods at Hawk. "I've been on the wrong side of this thing once in my life. I'm not gonna just stand by and let this happen. We came here to save one of our own. We're staying until the job is done."
Timmy and the other Greenshirts smile at Hawk's conviction. Fists clench and a low murmur of 'Yo Joe,' makes his way across the small team.
Gears watches from his holopad, although he's slightly distracted adjusting the controls on his end to increase the sharpness and strength of the transmission, seeming more concerned with the efficacy of his invention than the fate of the injured Nebulan. It's not a good look for him.
Scarlett would give a firm nod to Hawk, giving a salute as well. Pursing her lipswhile letting the medics and teh techs go on with helping the Nebulan and working on the transmission.
Outrider pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes his hands as he listens to Hawk and Sinatra. He spits in the hanky, and puts it back, and leans against the boulder, "Alright then, I'm of a mind to lend a hand, since you saved my life an all." He finally accepts the papers from Sinatra and looks them over, "Where'd you go and get these?" He questions, and scans the pages, "These are the food ration reports." Outrider says with surprise, "We never did figure out where most of it all was going. Food never was an issue here until them Deadmasters showed up...." The paper crumples a bit in his hands, his eyes raise up, "Location...it mentions the coordinates of one of Zarak's secret prisons." Anguish and relief cross over his face as he turns aside trying not to cry. He actually looks over at the body, "Aww, DeepDown...maybe we do have a chance still." After a moment of holding back, he wipes his eyes. "They're not all dead..."
Scarlett would look at Outrider, "How.. Intact are the facilities down there? At least how intact would the cave system be and anything that was buried down there?" Getting a bit of an idea.