You spend the next hour collecting what salvageable gear you can and corralling the prisoners. Keeping the Coalition troops from the three Altaran women proves to difficult, but not impossible. For their part, the women stay docile, mostly due to fact that they have little choice and when presented with such, they don’t know what to do with it. The soldiers on the other hand are talkative, but not in a friendly way. Insults fly, usually about mutant and D-Bee slurs and such. A quick bump to the back of their head with a rifle butt shuts them up for a moment, but they soon go back to it.
You travel for a couple of days, spending some extra time having to maneuver Elsie around some of the more difficult terrain, mostly by following the river. While there are some strange critters that show some curiosity in your group, they leave you alone, content to allow you passage. On the afternoon of the second day, the weather seems to have warmed slightly and you can see a unit of Legion soldiers in the distance. They are patrolling around the shells of a few long buildings. It isn’t long before a hover car carrying two soldiers comes driving up.
Wednesday, December 6th, 109 PA (2395CE). 1437 hours. 26 Degrees F, Sunny. Legion Outpost (Blue Eye, MO)
As the car drives up, you can see the uniforms of Legion soldiers, one Lieutenant and one Captain. Both appear human. The junior officer pulls the vehicle to a halt and stays in it as the Captain gets out. His name plate reads: Jackson. After the formalities of introduction and security phrases are exchanged, he speaks. ”Captain Deloso? It seems the top brass has a new direction for your team. Again. We’re taking the rest of your boys with us and heading back to base for reassignment. Turns out your little stunt with the walkers a few days ago caused a bit of a stir in Fort El Dorado. Dead Boys are coming out of the woodwork around these parts and that’s a little close to home. We’re pulling back troops to reinforce what we got. Ask me, we ain’t ready for no war. Not yet. Still, orders are orders. Speaking of, these are Eyes Only and for you and your team alone. I don’t know what it says and frankly, don’t want to.” He hands over a data chip to the Captain, who puts it in one of his uniform pockets.
”Not surprising at all, Jackson. Especially since they got you running the show down this way. Take care of my boys and don’t let them get out of hand. You know how rowdy they can be away from home.” He then turns to start talking to the rest of the team. Your platoon is being reassigned to Captain Jackson, but the special operators will stay as a small unit group. You take some time to give well wishes to each other and then have about an two hours of down time before Deloso briefs you.
Burgurk can't think of anything to do.
Once the good bye’s are said and the well wishes given, the only remaining part of your team is Captain Deloso, Jace, Burgurk, Jingu and Josiah and of course, Elsie. It feels odd with so few people remaining, but it seems almost surreal that there are only a few left to worry about getting killed, eaten or enslaved. The thought is humbling. Captain Deloso looks at each of you, after you have started moving back southward. He orders you to make camp in a burned out building about a mile from where you were. He then pulls out the data card he was given and puts it into a small computer to play. After scanning it, he gathers you around.
”So this is it. I realize that we have had to gain and lose some friends recently, but thankfully most of them are still breathing, so we can see them again next time we’re home. In the meantime, we have a job to do. Turns out someone that used to live in Garnet Town was also a member of the Black Market. It appears we stumbled upon their stash. Here’s the kicker. They weren’t just smuggling weapons and equipment. Those Faelerin we’ve been dealing with off an on? That’s their bag too. We have to see what is going on and work on stopping it. Our first goal is to find a way to infiltrate the Black Market and see what we can find out. We’ve got some leads, but I’m open to suggestions.”
"Anybody here know anyone in the Black Market?"
●I'm more of a covert entry guy than a connections guy. If we find out where it is, I can infiltrate, inventory, requisition, or disable as much as you like. The talking part is best left to someone that can talk...●
Captain Deloso rubs his chin, a small flame appearing in his hand, telling you that he is weighing some options. ”Alright, here is what we know then and maybe we can figure it out from there. The original source in Garnet Town was named Jonas Trent. He wasn’t among those that were rescued when we sent them back with some of our people. That means he is either dead or out there missing.” He waves his hand to indicate the great swath of wilderness around you. ”How are we at tracking dead men?”
"Do we know what he looks like? We could circulate around the edges of the Black Market, asking if anyone's seen him..."
Deloso shakes his head. ”No, but we have a description from those that survived the destruction. He was young, maybe in his 20s, dark brown hair, usually tied in a ponytail. Gray eyes. Worked at the mill, so he had flour stains all over him most of the time.”
He pauses. ”Maybe we can head back to Garnet Town and explore that cache we found. Perhaps there is something we missed. Unless you happen to know any Black Market dealers personally.”
●So, fleshy guy with darker supatious fluid cloated protein tendrals, generally arranged to the rear. Orbitals without distinct colour, and covered in grass seed particulate. Sounds unmistakable.●
Captain Deloso looks at Jingu quizzically and then nods. ”Exactly. We are looking for, as the ancient human phrase goes, ‘a needle in a haystack’. Let’s head back to the Garnet Town ruins and see what we can find. Then, we locate the nearest settlement and work our way outwards. Belleraphon, you’re on point. You can outpace Elsie, but stay within a minute’s notice. The rest off us, we saddle up in the cab and be ready for anything.”
You start making the two-day trek back towards Garnet Town, or at least the comms tower and the arms storage you had found. Again, despite the dangers of the wilderness in this part of the world, there is very little out here to accost you. At times, it seems that this would a nice leisurely journey, but you know, deep down, that you should always keep alert and stay focused, as at anytime, especially when Garnet Town is close to a nexus, something could happen.
Still, you trek on, checking in with Jace everything couple of hours. He leads you through a series of turns and twists to avoid some debris from what appears to have been a rather large fire, but Deloso’s power tells you that it happened at least a month ago. Finally, you crest a ridge where you can see the remains of Garnet Town, just as wrecked as you left it.
Friday, December 8th, 109 PA (2395CE). 0925 hours. 19 Degrees F, Sunny. Garnet Town Ruins (Emerald Beach, MO)
”Alright men, we don’t have a platoon backing us up anymore, so we gotta be careful. It’s been about 4 days since we were here last. Anything can happen in that time. Josie, park Elsie at the gates. I want a quick getaway if need be. Jace, perimeter check, and no fighting without backup. Burgurk and Jingu, you are with me. We’re going to go and check out that warehouse. Clear?”
"Got it. Lead the way, sir."
"I'll have her ready to go, sir. Question though; should I be pointen' her fore, or aft? Her gun only looks foreward, so if there's trouble, we might want 'er lookin' t'ward it. But o' course, that means we gotta turn 'round afore leavin."
Jingu nods silently, and then lifts off to get an overhead view, though only to 20-30 feet, to stay within shouting distance of the Captain.
To Josiah, Deloso says, ”I’ll trust your judgement, but I think if anything big is coming, it will be from the outside. That and as you said, it’ll be easier to exfil if we’re already heading the right direction.”
As Josiah and Jace get to their positions, Burgurk and Jingu follow the Captain towards the warehouse. When you get there, you can see that it remains the same as you had left it, including the disarmed mine. You do notice that outside of it, there appears to be a group of small rodents that have taken up residence near where it lays. As you follow their comings and goings with your eyes, you see a pair of boots sticking out from the brush by one of the burned out buildings. They are attached to tattered clothing and you spot some white substance sticking out as well.
”That wasn’t here when we left,” Deloso says. ”Was it?”
"Not that I recall, sir. Let me check it out."
Burgurk approaches cautiously, looking intently for any clues as to traps or danger :
But his attention is so focused that he doesn't actually see anything...
Jingu switches his visor to thermal, to see if the feet belong to something warm, or cold.
Burgurk approaches the boots cautiously and realizes that they are standard CS issue, though they aren't the armored kind. The tattered clothing is black and gray, also reminiscent of Coalition military. It appears that the rest of the legs and most of the body has been removed forcibly and the unfortunate soul was probably still alive when it happened. Any remaining flesh seems to have been chewed off by the small creatures staring down Burgurk.
Jingu, flying a short distance above, only notices a mass of heat surrounding the area that Burgurk is investigating, probably given off by the large number of critters that have made this their new home. The feet give off no heat at all. More than likely, the cold air has taken care of that.
"What do you have, Sergeant?" Deloso inquires.
"A dead CS soldier, violently killed by something with apparently massive strength and/or a very large mouth. I suggest we all stay very alert."
”Agreed.”, Deloso says. The Coalition didn’t wait long after we sent them back to come looking for us. That Rift must really have them spooked. I wonder if they found the remains of those slave barges.”[/b] He stands and goes over to looks at the corpse himself. ”Jingu, see if you can fly over to where those two crashed. If the Coalition took them, I want to know. Burgurk, we are going to go down in the warehouse and see what we can find.”
Opening the door again, it appears that no one reset the trap that was here before. This time, none of the holographic displays light up however and most of the gear that was here has been taken. ”Coalition found his stash. I have a feeling they might have missed something if they didn’t leave a unit behind to guard it. Let’s take a look around.”
= 8, a Raise
What do I see/find?
●Roger●
Jingu lifts off and moves to inspect the indicated area.
As Jingu takes off to investigate the crash sites, Burgurk and Captain Deloso toss the rest of the Back Market dealer’s warehouse. Inside the warehouse, it appears, as Deloso said, that the Coalition had been through here. They were very thorough, not leaving more than just a few broken wires and empty crates behind. Not even the holographic welcome machines were left. All of the racks were emptied and any open crates were turned over and cleaned out. Burgurk suddenly realizes something. There is no office. No place to keep records of transactions, no place to meet potential buyers, no place to.. wait. There appears to be a pattern to the layout of the warehouse. Following the empty racks, he notes that one rack is out of place with the rest, slightly off to the right of the wall. At first glance, it looks as if the rack was simply misplaced, but judging by the rest, it isn’t likely. Continuing his search there, he finds that there is a catch underneath the side of the wire rack that faces the wall. It looks to be a pressure catch and if released by moving the rack, it could activate something. What that something is, there is no indication.
Meanwhile, far above the warehouse and the ruined town, Jingu flies in a search pattern. It is difficult to pick out the crash zones when they are inside the destroyed buildings, but he finds that there are some mismatched burn marks in the ground and on some of the burned out buildings. What he doesn’t see is the barges themselves. They are gone, as if someone simply took them. Following the crash pattern, he recognizes the tell tale signs of a large wheeled vehicle having passed through here recently. Flying a bit closer, if his calculations are correct, he sees that they headed South.
"Captain - come and look at this. There's a catch here attached to this shelf. There's probably another room behind the shelf, but knowing this place, it could just as likely trigger a bomb. I'm for triggering it - what do you say?"
Captain Deloso nods, but you can see and feel a shimmering of heat around him as he mentally prepares for anything. ”Never know what we will find, but we do have to find something. I’d rather have a direction to go than wander out here aimlessly.”
Upon moving the shelf off the catch, a low rumble echoes through the warehouse. Soon, the shelf is pushed aside as you dodge out of the way. Underneath, a hatch slides open to reveal a passageway that leads further underground.
”You found anything yet, Jingu? We have a passageway here we are going into, we will need air cover to make sure no one catches us from behind.” Deloso says into comms.
"Want me to take lead, Captain? Your call..."
●The Splugorth barges are gone. Looks like a large salvage vehicle came through and picked them up. Tracks head south. Nothing else of note here. Do you want me to keep flying a perimeter, or should I rendezvous back at your location?●
”I copy Jingu. We’ll have to see where they went later, that’s not our mission right now. Unless they have Trent, but we don’t know that for sure. Jingu, go ahead and head to our location, then I want you to check out the body up there and see if you can figure out what killed him. After that, join us down here. Burgurk and I are going through now.”
Deloso then nods to Burgurk. ”Your senses are better than mine.”
Burgurk heads down the stairs, activating his goggles to ignore any darkness penalties...
= 10, Raise
What does he see?
Jingu flies over and lands near the rest of the team.
Jingu lands next to the body above and the small creatures that Burgurk had seen earlier now focus their eyes on the newcomer. They seem protective of the boots, or at least what the boots may still contain. Most of the body is gone, save for pieces of bone sticking out here and there.
Down below, as Burgurk’s eyes adjust to the goggles amplified light, he can see that someone was down here recently, as the dirt on the ground ahead of him is disturbed and crumbles as his feet touch it. There are also dried blood hand prints along the side walls of this small passage. It leads on for several meters before opening into an actual cave. The opening you exit from overlooks a room about the same size as the warehouse above, though the walls are natural and there is a lot more stock here, though no shelves to put it on. What really stands out though is that you are facing what you know to be a full suit of Coaliton Glitter Boy Armor. It is inactive, but the sight does give you pause. A small rope ladder leads down to the ground below. You see no one, but you can feel that you are not alone.
Burgurk whispers "Captain - I think there's something down here with us..."
= Success
Deloso nods and unstraps his sidearm, just in case. Glancing into the dark with your goggles, Burgurk can see that amongst the mess of gear is a tarp that seems to be moving of its own accord, as there is little wind in the cave.
"Boss - I don't know if you can see it, but there's a tarp ahead and to the right of us that has something moving underneath it. Do we shoot first, or call them out, or what?"
”If they haven’t shown themselves yet, they know we are here and are hiding because they have little will to harm us. Let’s call them out.”, he whispers as he puts his pistol away and stands forward, as best in he can in the cramped confines. ”It’s okay.”, he calls out. ”We won’t hurt you. I am Captain Deloso of the T…” He doesn’t get to finish as narrowly dodges a laser blast from underneath the tarp. ”Okay, hard way.”, he says as he joins you back in the cave. ”They missed a relatively easy shot, so let’s subdue him and see what he knows. I’ll try to draw his fire if you can get down there and nab him. On your go.” He draws his pistol again and nods that he is ready.
"Grab him? I'm not a hands-on kind of guy, but I'll see what I can do..."
As he approaches the tarp, he looks around for something relatively heavy that can be held in one hand.
Like a length of heavy pipe, or a big wrench, etc.
Meanwhile, Jingu lands near the body and starts to investigate further. First he hovers a ways off, using telekinesis to remove the brush and ground cover, and get a better look before getting any closer - just in case the body is booby trapped.
Burgurk easily finds a long piece of metal that looks sturdy enough to be a solid weapon. It might have been the frame to something at some point. Now it is a nice club. About 10 meters from the tarp, Burgurk can see a humanoid hand holding a laser and shooting towards where Captain Deloso is. The Captain is trading fire, but missing on purpose. It will take some effort to sneak up to it with all the gear and crates in the way, but the echoing laser fire should help.
Meanwhile, on the surface. Jingu’s telekinetic power not only clears away debris, but scatters the onlooking horde of creatures, some of whom stop in their flight to hiss in his direction. There is no trap to be found, but some of the flesh on the feet is still in the boots and has been chewed on quite a bit. Not only that, Jingu’s insect eyes spot something shiny also in the boot and the handle of what appears to be a blade of some kind in the other boot.
Surveying the area around it, he notes that there are drag marks that come from the South, as well as several indications of laser fire burns on the ground.
So he'll walk slowly and tippy-toe and hope the target doesn't notice him...
Burgurk tries to make his way through the rather unorganized gear while Deloso fires shots around the person behind the tarp. Unfortunately one blast is a bit too close and while he tries to recover, he knocks over a box of E-Clips that clatter to the ground. The tarp suddenly moves aside and Burgurk is staring at a young human male, barely into adulthood, holding a laser pistol. His eyes go wide and he starts to turn the weapon on Burgurk.
Burgurk takes 2 steps towards the boy, roaring as he does so, and swings the pipe at his head, stopping just short at his neck. "We are not here to hurt you, boy, so put the gun down and tell us your story. Maybe we can help".
= 11, Raise
A trickle of sweat runs down the side of his face and you are sure that stain on his pants is new. He slowly puts the weapon to the side. ”I..I didn’t know who you were. I was afraid the Coalition came back for me. Wait.. I recognize you, I think. Weren’t you here before.. before they came?”
●I've checked out the body. There were some local carrion eaters on it, and it has been heavily scavenged. There is some equipment left that I'll inspect shortly. There are signs of laser fire, as well as drag marks. Doesn't look like he died here. Most likely he was shot and hidden in the underbrush.●
Jingu pulls out the blade and the shiny object with his mind, placing them together to one side. He does the same pulling off the boots and shaking them out.
Jingu, not risking the wrath of the creatures, using his mind to check the boots. Taking each piece out in turn. The blade looks like it is a standard CS issue vibroknife, and the other shiny object is a credstick, but it is not CS standard that Jingu is aware of. Other than those objects and a rotting foot, nothing remains in the boots.
Burgurk stops for a moment and looks at the young man, the night goggles don't help, but in here there's enough light to see his face. Burgurk recalls someone similar looking working at the mill when the town was still standing.
"Oh, yeah, I kind of recognize you. What are you doing down here? Did you find anything useful, like weapons or anything?"
Seeing that you have things in hand, Deloso calls down. ”We good, Sergeant?”
Meanwhile, the young man looks up, still seeing the makeshift club in your hand. ”Look, I was just trying to hide. Them Coalition soldiers was looking for something in here with some intensity. They didn’t find my.. I mean, the secret warehouse.” He looks around. ”There is mostly ammunition in here, and some pretty old stuff, but it’s mostly used gear from the many mercs that have come through in the least few years. Except that big one there,” he indicates the Glitter Boy with a finger. ”That has always been down here and no one can seem to get it to work.”
"Yes sir. There's a young man down here who says he was hiding from the Coalition. And sir...there's a Glitter Boy armor down here, too!"
Turning back to the yound man, he says "They didn't find your...what, boy?" waving the end of the pipe in front of his face.
”I’m going to make sure our friend here is alone, keep him talking.” Deloso says as he starts climbing down and looking around.
”My.. stash. See, running a mill wasn’t making me much, so I started collecting some left over gear and then started selling it and then needed a place to hide it and so I found this cave, and well, it kind of grew from there.” He stammers a bit, as if he is telling you his life story.