Urias, upon digging around the Chimera and looking at some of the electrical systems, realizes that, with some spare parts and working through the night, he can probably get the thing running.
"The Jannissaries say you are quite the unsavory character who doesn't give a damn about his fellow man. You helping me out would prove them wrong."
Now for the second roll.
WAIT. I have a tech-use tooll thing. I succeed but with zero degrees.
Iovanna looks down into the box and grins. "Yes, Yuriy. I would definitely like one of those."
Nodding at the mention of talking to the locals, Iovanna adds: "A bit more firsthand knowledge of the terrain wouldn't be a bad idea. Plus they may have spotted any recent enemy movements that we would do well to avoid."
Iovanna will give the men a bit of time to grab a bite to eat before going over to them and talking to them.
"Men, my squad is due to head out soon and we would like to ask a few questions on the nature of the terrain we will be crossing over. Have you been reconning in the forests?"
Hours of Urias yelling at Solar to lift and carry all the heavy stuff, the chimera is a rumbling engine of interplanetary mobility. Or at least, Urias hopes.
Oktyabar falls asleep to the banging of Urias and the babbling of Bataar. He wakes in the morning, checks his weapons, and shoulders his pack ready to go.
The repairs are lengthy and somewhat problematic, but you are able to get the Chimera APC up and running. This particular Chimera has a turret-mounted heavy bolter with 120 rounds of ammunition. The hull-mounted weapon looks like it was originally a heavy flamer, but it is too badly damaged to repair in a single night.
As for the locals, they are caution when Iovanna approaches, but unlike the Guardsmen, seem no more guarded around her than around any other member of the Imperial Army. Upon closer inspection the locals are wearing chainmail armor and each carry a sword. What stands out, however, is the Imperial issue lasgun that each of them carries slung over their backs.
I guess you could say we've been scouting. But we're from here, you know? So we just know the terrain. You Imperials build bases, outposts, and concrete. We've been nomads for as long as I can remember. Have to be to survive the storms, one of the men says as Iovanna questions them.
We're from the Kalanaris Tribe. I think it means something like "Sword Crossing Lightning" in your tongue. Some of us signed on to fight your war, the other one says.
Yeah. Like the two of us. Picked up these interesting shootguns you Imperials use, but we still look to the tribe first, the first one adds.
As a token effort towards his position of squad leader, Yuriy goes to investigate what happened to the captives they took from the enemy patrol, and see if they had been interrogated yet. Any information gained, particularly regarding patrol routes or frequency, could be of benefit in consideration of how blind they were operating.
It is night time, so the process of interrogation has slowed. At the moment the prisoners are primarily being stabilized through medical treatment, though some questions have been asked. What has been told so far is limited as it seems that the team was sent to monitor landings at the spaceport, but given no critical intel. You do find out that other than small squads, major Dominate infantry forces tend to move in groups of approximately 300 men, though it seems that the Dominate jealously guard what vehicles they have (the impression gotten is that they are primarily for supply convoys, protection thereof, or protecting HQ).
"I was looking for a bit of advice on good routes for getting a vehicle from here to the mountains. Also wondering how often you guys have seen the Dominate patrols as you are riding around and if you've noticed any patterns to them."
The second local speaks up in response.
We mostly have trucks and bikes. Nothing as big as the vehicles you have. The plains head out nearly straight to the base of the mountains though so you could always just ride out that way. As for us...we don't really deal with the Dominate when we can help it. Most of the time they leave us locals alone. I think they don't want a second war on our hands.
Oktyabar lounges around cleaning his rifle waiting till the squad heads out. Bataar is...less quiet, as usual.
Not a good idea to head out before morning chow. You'd think we could at least wait five minutes and get something hot. Did that banging keep you up all night too? I couldn't get any sleep. Sounded like Velmen was hovering a Valkyrie over our heads.
Dawn comes and with it, the beginning of the mission proper. As the sun just appears over the horizon, your squad collects itself to move out. The locals say their goodbyes to those that interacted with them and wish you luck while the Janissaries remain cold, but not aggressive.
Grassland - +20 to Navigate (Surface), -10 to Stealth, Full Speed
Forest - -10 to Navigate (Surface), +20 to Stealth, Half Speed
Mountain - +0 to Navigate (Surface), +0 to Stealth, Half Speed
Oktyabar's mumbled directions don't seem to be helping. Between his accent and grunts, the group seems to be getting nowhere.
For day one it seems like you are having trouble getting your bearings. You start to head out onto the grasslands, but between the chaos of other troop movements and weapons fire in the distance, your squad seems unable to make much real progress. You find that routes you try to take force you to loop back around in order to avoid moving convoys or areas of lightning storms and it seems lucky that you are getting so lost on your side of the front lines.
On the second day Oktyabar seems to get his bearings and his grunts and mumbled directions seem far more useful.
By the time they reach enemy territory he seems quite comfortable with the maps and local terrain.
Your first two days of travel are careful but uneventful. You quickly notice that you have to stay clear of certain areas and otherwise avoid the fighting so travel takes much longer than expected. Finding a relatively quiet area to cross into enemy territory, moving quite slowly to help limit detection.
Failure by 8 degrees. Modifiers=Massive-30, -10 for grasslands, and then finally untrained -20. AGI 41 - 60= welp...
"You may want to fasten your waist-locks for the remainder of the journey. Also, put your ration trays in the upright and locked position... Thank you."
I am going to push it to 70kph. The vehicle is rugged and field repairs won't be hard. Worst case scenario: we walk which was a plan from the beginning. I just want people on the Heavy Bolter and on the side mounted lasguns.
:(
Oktyabar quietly continues to give directions, but obviously has no opinions on how fast they proceed.
As you first penetrate the Dominate territory, you find that you are able to make reasonable speed. The area immediately behind the front lines is fairly empty and even what Valkyries you do see are seen from a distance. Keeping the Chimera moving somewhat slowly to avoid noise and dirt disturbances, you have to stop or move out of the way to give passing columns of Dominate forces the room to pass. Approximately 50km into the enemy territory you find an unusual sight in what looks to be a muddy area left over from a recent lightning storm.
Before you lay the battered and broken remains of a Chimera APC. The Chimera is split down the middle, its two halves sunk deep into the mud. Along the breach, the metal is twisted, corroded, and blackened. The corpses of Guardsmen litter the area, some in pieces and some still clutching their weapons. The Guardsmen appear to be loyal Imperials with standard Janissary uniforms, cognomen tags, weaponry, etc.
Oktyabar organizes several members of the squad in forming a secure perimeter to let the others search the wreckage.
Cort assists in searching the wreckage.
Iovanna also assists in search through the wreckage.
Oktyabar gives a thumbs up to indicate that security is set up and waits.
Seems weird, doesn't it Oks? This stuff just out here? Think there are mines out here? He pauses and looks around as if he might suddenly find he's lying on on. Or what if that lightning did it. You think the storms here are powerful enough to blow up our transports? They would have warned us about that...wouldn't they?
Awareness TN43:
Medicae TN90:
Yuri gives the wreckage a dismissive once-over, but bends to examine the bodies with his diagnostor and medikit much more animatedly.
Now that all the security detail is in place, Oktyabar makes his way over to the wreckage and looks around, leaving Bataar to his mumblings.
Oktyabar picks up something among the wreckage. He taps it a couple times and shrugs, making his way over to Urias. He presents a dataslate that's seen better days, but may still work. He holds it out and shrugs, seemingly expecting it to be taken either way.
"That does not look like something I should be interested in, but ahh what the hell..."
Five degrees of success. Gimme the goods.
"Here you are. Good as new."
Urias quickly fixes any of the problems with the data-slate and it flickers to life. The screen is still somewhat cracked, but otherwise it looks to be in reasonable working order. Searching through the contents you find that it contains the mission log of the squad - the previous team sent out to deal with General Harvax Scarus. Most of the data are not terribly interesting - musings about the God-Emperor, logistics reports, and simple mission details. You do, however, find a recent entry that stands out:
This is Sergeant Arus Illaran of the 37th Maccabian Janissaries, Mission Log 512.01.32. Unauthorized access of this mission log is a crime against the Imperium, the punishment for which shall be death. It is week three of our foray into Severan Dominate territory. Minimal casualties, food and fuel reserves nominal. Still no sign of our target, but our most recent recon has established the movements of a regular supply convoy that is likely refitting the General’s base. While we do not know the schedule of the convoy, our trackers have mapped what we believe to be its supply route, and we are simply waiting for its next appearance. We will ambush this convoy, use it to pinpoint the General’s location, eliminate him, and return to our Regiment as heroes.
The Emperor Protects! End of log.
Attached to the mission report is a map created by the Sergeant that shows the route of the supply convoy as discovered by the squad. It passes from the reported area containing General Harvax Scarus on one end all of the way down the length of the front lines of the conflict, remaining approximately 40km from the "front line" at its closest point.
"Fascinating..."
Yuriy pores over the bodies, taking a box from one of his many pockets and going over the corpses with a pair of forceps.
"I don't suppose anyone has seen something like these before?"
He displays the contents of the box, an assortment of blood-stained shards of crystalline material.
"Far too small to be knives, and they were driven too deep to be held by hand. Nothing in the Emperor's armories ever spat these out of its blessed barrel, but where they came from is a mystery to me."
Oktyabar shakes his head and turns back to check security.
"Never seen anything like it, but we are in enemy territory. Doubtful the Seps created this either though. Got me spook'd"
"Eh, we can take the box of crystals with us to look over later. Maybe use whatever diagnostic equipment that have back at the outpost. For now though, we shouldn't spend too much time here. We do have our mission to complete."
For anyone that looks closely at them, the shards are obviously still quite sharp and need to be handled with some sort of tool to avoid cutting the skin. Other than that however they appear not to currently be dangerous.
"I have a crazy idea... do you think we could ambush a supply convoy and try to use their vehicles and uniforms to sneak into the General's base?"
"It's worth considering. Anyone with training or talent in deceiving hostile troops charged with the security of a high-ranking enemy commander, raise your hand."
Yuriy pointedly puts both hands in his pockets.
Oktyabar shrugs and smirks, but doesn't say anything.
Iovanna tries wracking her brain for ideas of how to infiltrate the enemy camp, but apparently is not very successful.
"Problem is there is no telling when a supply convoy will be heading this way next, we can certainly keep an eye out for one though. I wonder what our odds are of creating some sort of natural disaster sort of thing to create some chaos in the camp. Like a large prairie fire or avalanche."
Reviewing the map you are able to determine a few areas that seem to be the most difficult areas for a convoy to pass through - particularly in the forest and some mountain passes. The mountains have a more natural chokepoint, but will be harder to hide in while the forests are more prone to driving off the beaten path but much easier to hide in.