Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[agustaaquila]

(OOC) Alright.  I hear we took the Pixie pilot captive. I would like to sit down and have a "conversation" with the pilot to determine if the Cows stole the mech, or if we have a defection problem.  Rob, go ahead and handle the rolls.

(IC)  Xin snapped off a quick saute to the two corporals standing guard in the make-shift brig. Firebase Rorke didn't have dedicated holding area, firebases rarely did, and so Srg. Franklin had to work quickly to get information before the top brass ordered the prisioner moved to a secure location for a formal interrogation. 

Motioning one of the corporals to come to him, Franklin handed him a stack of papers.  "These are my report so far.  They are to be turned over to a member of the command staff or myself only.  I assume we got the video recorder set up, so we are ready to begin the interrogation session."  Slightly louder so that the other corporal can here him now. "We've gone over procedure several times, but things always SNAFU in the world.  Do either of you have any last minute questions?"  Seeing none, Frankin walks up to the door, checks that the recording device is one, and enters.

"Hello son.  My name is Sergent Franklin, and I have just a few questions for you so that accommodations can be worked out for you.  I need your name, rank, serial number, for both the SLDF and Taurian forces.  We can go from there."

[Darrian Wolffe]

The man looks up at you through his blond bangs - the only hair on his head - and shakes his head slightly to clear the blood dripping from his nose.  It splatters softly on the table.  "Draper, Kris.  Subaltern, Taurian Defense Forces.  C0W-100v3R.  An' no, I'm not part of your fuckin' Slid occupation force.  An' here - I'll give you a bit of information for free.  You're all going to fuckin die down here."

[agustaaquila]

Well, lieutenant, I can see you are trying hard to fit in with the TDFers here. However, you are making some crucial mistakes.  The last Taurian I questioned swore at me six times what you are doing.  And its not just your attitude, its also your looks.  When I look at your blond hair, and your eyes, they scream to me.  Just, they don't scream Taurian, not at all.  They scream Davion.

[Darrian Wolffe]

"Davion?  Don't make me laugh - do you have any idea how hard it'd be for one of those bastards to make it anywhere?  Marshal Ney's the only one of them that I've ever heard of doing a dammed thing aside from getting his head stove in.  What the fuck makes you think I'm one of them anyway?  No monopoly on blonde hair in the Sphere you know."

[agustaaquila]

Well you certainly pilot your mech like most Davion's I know.  Rush around, don't watch your heat, blow yourself up as quick as you can.  That mech isn't suited for you.  You should try something more your style, like a Vulcan.  Stupid long range autocannon, little other weapons, impotent just like all you Taurians.

And you can't even succeed at your entrenchment tactics.  You were bunted by a light company of mechs, and we killed more than a company of your forces.  You die easily enough, but that is all you aspire to do.  So while you may be correct that I will die, I haven't seen any proof of it.  Just idle talk, and talk never killed anyone.

[Black Omega]

IC...Banzai finishes supervising the armor repairs on the LAM.  He then writes up a small after-action report of the LAM's weapon effectiveness, flight characteristics, etc. on his laptop computer.  Then a light bulb goes off in his head.

"Hey Hawker, I have an idea.  While Xin is having fun with that prisoner, let's see if we can hack into the Vandenburg equivelant of the internet and maybe find their Dept of Defence or whatever.  I'm getting tired of just waiting until I have to jump in my mech again.  I'm not sure what I'm looking for but I'll know it when I find it."

[Darrian Wolffe]

Well you certainly pilot your mech like most Davion's I know.  Rush around, don't watch your heat, blow yourself up as quick as you can.  That mech isn't suited for you.  You should try something more your style, like a Vulcan.  Stupid long range autocannon, little other weapons, impotent just like all you Taurians.

And you can't even succeed at your entrenchment tactics.  You were bunted by a light company of mechs, and we killed more than a company of your forces.  You die easily enough, but that is all you aspire to do.  So while you may be correct that I will die, I haven't seen any proof of it.  Just idle talk, and talk never killed anyone.

*Subaltern Draper glares at you and lapses into silence*

"Hey Hawker, I have an idea.  While Xin is having fun with that prisoner, let's see if we can hack into the Vandenburg equivelant of the internet and maybe find their Dept of Defence or whatever.  I'm getting tired of just waiting until I have to jump in my mech again.  I'm not sure what I'm looking for but I'll know it when I find it."

You find the public frontpage of the Taurian Defense Ministry without a problem.  Using your computer skills, you manage to crack the passcodes to allow you into the system architexture in a mere two days of light work, but there's very little - as far as you can tell - any major information to be found.  If there is a linked Taurian defense net, it's isolated from the general grid...you'd need to be at a secure terminal at a TDF installation or government office - at best - to access it.

About all you find is the public biographies of several of the prominent Taurian defense staff and command personnel.  Are there any you're particularly looking for?

[Black Omega]

OOC...I'ts been a long time since role-playing, I'm still getting back in the swing of things.

IC..."Hmmmm.  So.  We need a secure terminal.  Bummer.  Hey, Hawker, let's go look at that captured PHawk."  Banzai goes to the mech bay (hopefully Hawker joins him) and examines the PHawk for several things.
1- What model is it?
2- What frequencies do the Taurians use for their comms?
3- Is there an IFF module?
4- What freq and codes does it use?
5- Can we alter one of our IFF's to fake their's?
6- Can my LAM in mech mode pass for the normal (although 5 tons different) PHawk (with appropriate paint)?
7- Can the PHawk's comm system be turned into the secure connection into the Taurian C3 system?
8- Is any kind of remote piloting possible?

OOC...Looking for the overall defense plans for New Vandenburg.

[Riegien]

"Hmm, might have a little bit of useful information on here though. I'll catch up, I want to poke around a bit."

Looking for:
Regional garrison generals/high ranking officers of note, and their hometowns.
Defense ministry politicians of note, and their hometowns. 
Using those, do a political search for those noted for being very close/ very tied to their home districts, especially the politicians. 
Attempt to correlate those to places that are nearby. 

Also, looking at command officers, seeing if they have any strategies of note that have been in the news, 'great victories' or somesuch, just to see if I can get a rough feel for if they have a particular trick they might want to pull.

[Darrian Wolffe]

IC..."Hmmmm.  So.  We need a secure terminal.  Bummer.  Hey, Hawker, let's go look at that captured PHawk."  Banzai goes to the mech bay (hopefully Hawker joins him) and examines the PHawk for several things.
1- What model is it?
2- What frequencies do the Taurians use for their comms?
3- Is there an IFF module?
4- What freq and codes does it use?
5- Can we alter one of our IFF's to fake their's?
6- Can my LAM in mech mode pass for the normal (although 5 tons different) PHawk (with appropriate paint)?
7- Can the PHawk's comm system be turned into the secure connection into the Taurian C3 system?
8- Is any kind of remote piloting possible?

Respectively, and recalling that this was a Mech half-destroyed via an ammo explosion, CASE'd though it may be, and with other severe combat damage:

1) From the wreckage that remains, it is a Star League Royal-issue Phoenix Hawk -1b "Special".  These are issued only to Royal SLDF BattleMech units.  This one seems to have originally been issued to the 22nd Royal BattleMech Regiment - the unit which accompanied General Kerensky on his visit to New Vandenburg and is presumed missing and lost with all hands after the Taurian assassination attempt on him.
2) They use a standard range of encrypted VHF and UHF frequencies.
3) There is indeed an IFF module.  Most of one, anyway.
4) See above, probably a Taurian code.
5) Communications and IFF codes are rotated or generated anew on a regular basis (12-24 hours).  At this point, there's no way to fake one aside from sheer dumb luck.
6) It can pass a purely visual inspection from a moderate distance, but as soon as anyone uses MAD scans or seismic sensors, the jig is up.
7) C3 systems haven't been invented yet.  If you just mean basic communications, then no (see previous answers re: changing codes between ops)
8.) No.  That's a tech that's barely in the experimental stages with DropShip-sized units (Caspar drones) - remote-piloting Mechs isn't possible with current tech.

"Hmm, might have a little bit of useful information on here though. I'll catch up, I want to poke around a bit."

Looking for:
Regional garrison generals/high ranking officers of note, and their hometowns.
Defense ministry politicians of note, and their hometowns. 
Using those, do a political search for those noted for being very close/ very tied to their home districts, especially the politicians. 
Attempt to correlate those to places that are nearby. 

Also, looking at command officers, seeing if they have any strategies of note that have been in the news, 'great victories' or somesuch, just to see if I can get a rough feel for if they have a particular trick they might want to pull.

OOC: Good questions - caught me off guard and I don't have the info prepped.  I'll edit this ASAP once I've got it.

A Taurian Marshal whose name you DO recognize from Xin's interrogation records is Marshal Michel Ney, a Davion expatriate from the Outback who started his service with the Davion Crucis March Militia before defecting during a routine border operation and joining the Taurian Defense Force.  Starting from zero in a society who innately distrusted him,he has risen to command the 1st Taurian Jaegers and has command responsibility for the whole of New Vandenburg, all based solely on sheer competence.  He is a man who is proud of his heritage, but who professes to distrust the violence which the Davions routinely employ to oppress their Periphery brethren.  His bio is laced with pictures of him in both Taurian and Davion uniforms: standing at the foot of his Battlemaster, giving speeches at the Taurian War College, standing with his arm around another Davion leftenant with the unfortunate name of 'Jean-Baptiste D'Erlon' with a golden-haired woman between them, christening a school in Santa Barbara (the planetary capital), and looking pensive while overseeing training maneuvers on the Vandenburg plains while wild branth fly overhead.

[Darrian Wolffe]

Well you certainly pilot your mech like most Davion's I know.  Rush around, don't watch your heat, blow yourself up as quick as you can.  That mech isn't suited for you.  You should try something more your style, like a Vulcan.  Stupid long range autocannon, little other weapons, impotent just like all you Taurians.

And you can't even succeed at your entrenchment tactics.  You were bunted by a light company of mechs, and we killed more than a company of your forces.  You die easily enough, but that is all you aspire to do.  So while you may be correct that I will die, I haven't seen any proof of it.  Just idle talk, and talk never killed anyone.

*Subaltern Draper glares at you and lapses into silence*

OOC: Mike can't be there on the 11th and requested an IC reason not to be there.  And he has the Unlucky disadvantage.

Sergeant Xin stared at the truculent Taurian for several moments, but the man simply dropped his eyes and avoided the interrogator's gaze.  Xin sighed and turned away to face the one-way glass on the far wall of the room.  He glanced down at the noteputer he clutched in his hand and shook his head, speaking softly into the microphone pickup.

"I think I can get more out of him.  In fact, I'm sure I can.  But I don't know how long it would take, and I'm pretty sure his information would be dated by the time I got it.  I can try a few more...direct...methods, but I wouldn't give that sort of interrogation more than a 50/50 chance of success under the best of conditions.  Soldiers - especially ones motivated like him, simply don't - "

There was a sharp *snap* from behind him, and Xin turned around in shock.  The subaltern had snapped the plastic restraint snaps around his wrists and lunged at the sergeant with his large hands grasping for Xin's throat.  He tumbled into Xin with a meaty "thwack" and both men slammed back against the glass, with Xin's head leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the quarter-inch pane.  They tumbled down and out of sight as the far door crashed open and a trio of infantry on security watch hove into the room, batons at the ready.  In moments, they subdued the unruly Taurian, but the damage was done.  It took mere minutes, and a doctor and stretcher were called for the shaken sergeant.

Captain Freund received the news in his office a half-hour later.  Xin had a mild concussion and would be totally incapable of driving a Mech for at least a few days, not accounting the various bruises and abrasions from being beaten upon by the enraged subaltern.  The restraints had been rubbed through - a burr on the back of the metal chair in which the Taurian had been sitting was directly beneath where the restraints had laid.  Pure dumb bad luck - had the Taurian been an inch taller or shorter, he'd have never been able to get at them.  The offending burr had, of course, been filed down.

[Black Omega]

OOC... Sorry, I did mean basic military comm system.  Also, I was on the other side of the table and I did'nt know the details of the damage to the PHawk.

IC...Who was piloting that mech when Kerensky was here last and where is he now?

[Knightofargh]

Marshall returns from a quick trip to disarm his improvised command detonated mines.  Better to avoid accidents than risk some idiot kid from this backwater getting dead, or worse using one of those IEDs against the SLDF.  Todd oversees the repairs to his Sentinel while scrubbing out the cockpit and cleaning the sweat-stained command couch.  After scrubbing at a stain on the cockpit glass for the better part of a half hour, he leaves a note for his Chief to look into sourcing some replacement glass.

[Darrian Wolffe]

IC...Who was piloting that mech when Kerensky was here last and where is he now?

You don't have ready access to a full TO&E of the 22nd, though you could request one (it would become available sometime between this game and the next one).  Where is is now...well, that's the question, isn't it?  It's certainly not the guy in the interrogation room, being a Taurian and not a Hegemony-born citizen, after all.