Got it.  PocSec updated

Kaufmann is an apt pupil and he responds well to your leadership style.  Turns out, despite your rough upbringing and imposing appearance, you're a natural leader.  You keep your cool, assess the situation, find a weak spot and lead your team onto the objective.

Kaufmann is a good kid thrust into a bad situation.  Not that there was much anyone could do about it.  Recruiting numbers were way down and nobody was volunteering to ship off to Bug City and fight their own people.  This whole thing was a real shit show, but there was no helping it.

You find Chernik still crouched at the tracks he has found.  With no earth to disturb to mark something's passage, the prints are dark red-brown.  Mud maybe, or something much worse.  "Big strides, bossman, and there's two of 'em" the elf says, spitting a wad of dark juice from his mouth. "Critters or fleshforms maybe.  Looks like it headed off to the southwest.  Airport's down that way.  Didn't the Air Cav guys set up a FARP over there?  Whatever this thing is, those REMFs won't have a chance."

@Kord Feel free to retcon the inaccuracies in Chernik’s dialog or smack him on the helmet for being geographically challenged... all good either way

"What you talking about?" replied Jared, clearly confused about something Chernik had said. "The airport's our base choomba. I know that there's that FARP on this side of the base but there's a frag load of sentry posts in a ring around it." With just a metal mesh fence and some strings of barbed wire between them. Lots of space to be turned into gaps and the sentry posts were on the look out for refugees looking to escape the city, not giant bugs.

"We can't take no risks though," he continued to his lead scout. "Follow them for about twenty paces to confirm the direction they're headed while I call it in."

He then pulled out his phone from his pocket and took a photo of the tracks Chernik had taken. Jared had heard rumours of some UCAS Army units around Chicago being issued helmets with inbuilt cameras that transferred everything that each soldier was seeing to their commander but their battalion didn't have anything that crystal tech yet so he had to improvise and go a bit old school. Transferring the photo to his helmet HUD he then activated his radio. "Bull Pen, this is Mike Kilo One. We've found some interesting tracks at our current position. Am sending you an image now. The stride pattern means that they're big. Too big to be a normal metahuman. We count two targets and they appear to be heading south west towards the airport. Request a drone overfly between our current position and the camp. Also do you want us to continue with our patrol objectives or follow these tracks instead? Over."

Jared was unsure how he wanted his CO to answer that question. Continuing with the original mission was probably safer but meant that they might well run into something with some refugees and he was hating playing bad cop to other people's misery. Following after the tracks was more dangerous but they might get to frag a bug or two and that was something that would give him and his team a lot of satisfaction. As long as they initiated the attack and had drone support to ensure that no bug got amongst them with their viscous claws that could easily rend a man in two. Range was the key, particularly with someone as green as Kaufmann to be looked after.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:09, Sun 16 Feb 2020.

Corrected, but not cowed, Chernik shrugs off your rebuke.  “Still a bunch of REMFs,” he replies before jogging out beyond the all around defense to see if he can locate the two creatures or get a better idea of their heading.  Ego bruised, but no worse for wear.  He`ll live.

Following Jared’s report, bull pen replies ++Sentry point north reports no visual, we're putting a hunter-killer onto it now.  Hold in location until we take over the contact.++

The moments tick but in slow time.  A few minutes waiting out here in no man's land seem like an eternity.  Distant smoke continues to rise on the horizon, but otherwise all is quiet.  ++Can't get a visual Mike Kilo One...it must have moved off somewhere else...++ bull pen replies. ++We'll keep the HK airborne and can vector it your way if you run into trouble.  Carry on with your mission.++

With bull pen's blessing, you're clear to continue the klick, maybe klick and a half, up to the engineer battalion's bulldozers working diligently to improve the wall.  The shadow already looms off to the west, but up ahead construction is still ongoing.  In this sector, it's less a wall then it is a pile of rubble from demolished buildings bulldozed into a berm of broken concrete and steel.  Its silhouette marked at irregular distance by makeshift towers housing sensor pods and closed circuit cameras that provide HQ with patchy but persistent surveillance.  When finished, at Lake Michigan it will extend about 500m beyond the shoreline, guess Division is concerned that some bugs may have learned to swim.

Your hunt for escapees begins in earnest at the wall.  Back a battalion HQ, the Major had said they were concerned about runners using boats or makeshift rafts to skirt around the south eastern edge of the quarantine zone.  Should be easy enough to patrol the shoreline following Indiana harbor north to the berm, checking for signs of breech, setting up an observation post for a few hours and installing the additional thermo sensor remotes that Hoop is carrying.  With luck, by this time tomorrow you'll be headed back west along the wall where 115 Street used to be before the government declared war on the bugs and locked the residents of the Windy City in behind the wall.  Once you're done on the shoreline, a short patrol over to the manned guard tower at Wolf Lake will confirm the physical integrity of the new wall construction in this sector, and, with luck, you'll be able to hop a VTOL or hitch a ride on an engineer ground convoy back to base.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Wed 19 Feb 2020.

In reply to Mr. Johnson (msg # 12):

Sorry, I'm a little confused as to where I should post Jared etc being next? Do you want me to continue with the waypoints that I originally outlined for the patrol or advance them up to the wall?

Apologies if I'm being dumb.......

I think it’s the same direction in terms of narrative, but feel fee to fast forward the patrol to the wall if you want.  Part of the ‘getting to know each other’ dynamic in prelude is getting a feel for how we play together. I’m a believer in the PbtA system that gives a lot of power to players to influence thier environment.

Thanks for clarifying.

---

The next couple of hours had passed fairly uneventfully as Jared's patrol progressed along its assigned route, checking each location in turn. The only place they had found signs of recent activity was in one corner of the Indiana Harbor. It looked like several people had been picked up by a little boat, one small enough to cause them to abandon their luggage. Five bags, most of them trolley dolly style with a collapsible handle and wheels, had been left on a small dock, next to some stairs that led down to the water. Jared's guess, that he had reported to Ball Pen, was that a zodiac had be there at some point during the previous night. Ball Pen had instructed them to set up a couple of observation cameras, really just simple drones with a camera and very limited mobility, to leave behind, watching the dock in case someone was stupid enough to use the same extraction point a second time. They had had a quick search of the cases before they set the cameras up though but failed to find anything that Command would be interested in. Just a fashionable RedTec T-shirt that made it into Scherwinski's pack and a couple of cred chips that went into a pocket on Szeto's BDUs for sharing later, all just the spoils of war.

The Staff Sergeant had taken that opportunity to check in with Kaufmann again, ensuring that the latest recruit took a few moments to eat and drink something to keep his blood sugar up and, more importantly, his concentration focused. Jared had had to wait several years before being granted a transfer to Recon but Kaufmann had been sent straight there after boot camp. Manpower shortages were clearly getting really bad, though at least Kaufmann had a lot of potential. He just hoped that he could keen the rookie alive long enough for him to learn something, to get some actual experience rather than what had been simulated during training. Simsense combat simulators were useful but they were no substitute for actually getting your boots dirty and having to reload in the middle of a firefight.

His HUD was now reading 08:58 and Jared could see a couple of watchtowers observing the engineers building the wall ahead, though a series of icons marking various positions had been appearing on his systems for a while now. Noting the position and call sign of the Company CP he checked in with them, ensuring that all of the defenses were aware of his patrol, even though Ball Pen should have alerted them already and icons for each of his team members should be registering on Bravo Company's secure systems.

"Mike Kilo One to Bravo Echo One," he transmitted. "We're just approaching up from the south and are about to turn east to continue with our patrol. Any sightings you need us to investigate? Over." He wasn't expecting any as Bull Pen would have added that onto their mission objectives already if they had reports but it always paid to check things out. And from the tracks that they had already found something had gotten out of the zone recently anyway.

++Actually, we just picked up some movement in the QZ++ the CP operator replies.  ++I'm tracking three individuals moving south east away from the engineers and toward the shoreline... looks like refugees maybe... we'll spool up a field verification team and get them out your way, if they scan bug free we can send them off to the checkpoint west and clear them into quarantine++

That is assuming they want to go into quarantine.  The Ares Macrotechnology hospital lab research facility out in Aurora had developed a bad reputation.  The battalion's intelligence officer had briefed your team that the people in the QZ believed pervasive rumours of experimentation on quarantined refugees.  Stories of magical experimentation at the quarantine facility had spread through the city like wildfire.  Many folks were obviously trying to escape and avoid going into Ares' black box.  The bags you found earlier were a sure sign of an escape route out through Indiana Harbor.

The patrol makes the short hike quickly, following the wall back toward the harbor.  A few hundred meters from the shoreline, you spot them.  There is still no sign of the field verification team.  A man, hunched over under a heavy bag.  A woman at his side, trailing behind her a child holding her teddy bear.

"Mike Kilo One to Bravo Echo One. What's the ETA on that bug checking team? Over," Jared transmitted as he studied the three refugees. The Company CP didn't reply straight way though so Jared presumed that they didn't know and that the Field Verification Team was either slacking off again or busy checking some other escapees. Either way there was going to be a delay before they arrived.

"Marko," he said to his assistant team leader Sergeant Szeto, "I'll take Kaufmann to check them out. You organise the others to cover us and keep a watch out for anything weird."

Tapping Kaufmann on the shoulder and indicating that he was to follow Jared, the Staff Sergeant then moved out from cover, into the open. "Hey," he called loudly to the three refugees, his voice very loud when he wanted it to be. "UCAS Army. Stop moving and stay there. The bug checking team is on the way to verify you and pass you on to quarantine. I repeat. UCAS Army. Stay there and wait to be verified."

As he yelled at the three refugees, the sound of him immediately scaring the small child, he kept moving forward, rifle slung low and with Kaufmann on his left. Quietly he spoke to his companion, taking the opportunity to continue training him. "If something happens head left for cover. Don't head right as you'll run across the LOS of the rest of our team. Got it?" Kaufmann responded with a nervous nod and then returned to studying the refugees, trying to work out if they were more than they seemed. Jared was doing the same.

++Bug inspection team is inbound++ comes the reply from HQ ++You should see them approaching from the southwest along the edge of the CZ.++

While the civilians are clearly startled and the little one emotionally overwhelmed, they halt and wait for your approach.  Behind you, Scherwinski snarls something about roasting these Zoners and getting it overwith, but fortunately he had the sense to keep it on the patrol freq.  You'll need to keep an eye on him and are a millisecond away from giving him a dressing down when the command freq opens up again.  ++Mike Kilo One, bird's eye has spotted a panzer inbound to your location, moving in from the harbor++

Another voice crackles onto the command freq, this time a woman's ++MIke Kilo One, this is Eagle Bravo, inbound field verification team.  We've got eyes on the panzer, but we can't close unless the LZ is secure or we wait for attack aviation to push him off.  Advise?++

Pushing along the story in Mayhem and Mistletoe, I've included Kord in the meeting to set-up the run. Please join us there.  Happy to continue to play the prelude scene too, just don't want you to have to sit out the opening run with the other PCs.

"Mike Kilo One to Eagle Bravo. Hold your position until we advise otherwise. Out," Jared answered across the radio net. Field Verification teams were a valuable asset that had to be kept nice and safe, unlike Recon teams. They certainly weren't expendable but Recon teams were equipped and expected to engage most threats, though a panzer was right at the top end of their capabilities. A conversation with the Battalion supply officer about his team being issued with SAMs flashed into his mind, a memory of being told that they wouldn't need them making him grimace ironically.

He then turned to his team quickly. "Marko and Scherwinski, reload your grenade launchers with AT rounds, there's a panzer inbound." As he spoke he swapped the HE one in his launcher for an AT himself. "You two are with me." Scherwinski might get to vent some frustration on the panzer, a much more suitable target than some random zoners who were just annoying rather than threatening. "Hoop and Kaufmann. You two cover the rear. There's frag all you can do against a panzer. Joel, you keep the three zoners covered. You know the orders. They don't get to leave without being scanned and put through quarantine. If it comes to it then I'll join you." Chernik shared a nod of understanding with Jared. It was an awful job but if the zoners were on the verge of escaping then all the UCAS soldiers, not just Jared's recon team, were ordered to shoot to kill. Not authorised to but ordered to. If they let anyone escape then they would face an inquiry at least and probably a punishment of some kind.

Instructions to his team issued, Jared moved behind a low wall, using it for cover as he waited for the panzer to arrive, Szeto and Scherwinski joining him. The panzer was already registering on his helmet's HUD, information relayed by Ball Park from whatever drone or satellite had spotted the incoming vehicle. "Ball Park, what's the readings on this panzer. Are our AT grenades enough to penetrate its armour? Is it a military grade panzer or just an up-armoured civilian VTOL? Over." If their AT grenades lacked the capability to damage the vehicle then the three of them would need to concentrate their grenades on the engines in the hope that they could immobilise the panzer, buying time before something arrived with sufficient firepower to knock it out.

++Profile matches a Patroller, might be a modified Vacationer, we don't have a positive ID, either way your AT should make him think twice++ comes the reply from HQ.

The moments tick by in slow motion while Chernik hustles the zoner family into some cover among the nearby debris.  The team is tense as the hover moves closer and closer.  So far, it doesn't seem like the pilot has noticed your recon team.

What do you do once the hovercraft is in range?  Warning shots?  Open fire on the cockpit?

"Ball Pen, are we cleared to engage the hovercraft?" replied Jared to his HQ. "Or only if we're fired upon?" He wanted to be absolutely clear on what his rules of engagement were as he'd heard rumours of grunts doing their job and then ending up in court because some zoner fleeing Chicago turned out to be a rich asshole with connections in the government or the right corp and had litigated once they were safe. There was no way that he was putting his team or himself in any danger though, not over three zoners trying to get picked up and spirited away to a new life.

One thing was clear however. The hovercraft was somewhere that it shouldn't be, inside the exclusion zone that ringed the containment zone, and that made it a viable target, though shooting to kill straight away might well be overkill, regardless of their orders.

While he waited for his Commander to respond, Jared outlined his plan to Marko and Scherwinski. "OK, unless the cake eaters* say otherwise, if the hovercraft lands we move forward and secure it and anyone inside. If it doesn't land then I'll try to take out its engine to force it down while you two cover me. If anything or anyone starts shooting at us then we each put two AT grenades into the hovercraft. If it's still moving after that then we figure out if we continue engaging or whether we need to get the frag out of here. OK?"


OOC:
 - Please note that I am presuming that the description of the vehicle indicates that it's a civilian vehicle that's potentially been upgraded. Please let me know if that's incorrect.
 - *Cake Eaters is current US Navy slang for an Officer I believe - I've assumed that that phrase has spread wider by 2055.
 - Just to clarify Jared's reaction, he intends on disabling the hovercraft rather than bothering with warning shots and will only fire on the cockpit if the hovercraft or someone in it is actively firing at them.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:45, Wed 11 Mar 2020.

++Mike Kile One, this is Iron Duke Six... if that hovercraft breaches the CZ, you are clear to engage.  Combat air support is inbound to help you out.++ comes a new voice over the command channel.  Steady, firm with resolve, you immediately recognize the voice of your battalion commander.  ++Deadly force is authorized to prevent entry into the CZ and to prevent the exit of those zoners.  I know this is hard to hear Mike Kilo One, but if those people are infected or if they try to escape without the mandatory quarantine, there is no option other than deadly force.  I know you will do all everything you can to ensure it doesn't come to that.++

Rock & Roll
13:55, Today: Mr. Johnson rolled 13 using 2d6+1 ((6,6)).
Boxcars something good happens.

Once the fire order is given, the squad opens up on the hover in unison.  In the first volley of AT grenades, a few splash harmlessly into the bay, but a couple hit home.  Smoke and fire erupt from the hover's engine cowling and the speed drops dramatically.  From the skin behind the cockpit, a microturret pops up and begins traversing it's LMG toward the squad.  The gun barks to life, spitting supressing fire harmlessly across the debris where your squad has taken cover, but it's more than enough to make you duck down.  While you're under cover, the hovercraft executes a limping about face and begins to flee back out into the bay, it's LMG firing successive bursts to ensure you keep your heads down.

Patroller [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] - Engine damaged
Fight continues

Let it go, fire blind or risk that LMG fire to get another accurate volley on target?

They had damaged the hovercraft's engine but it's LMG was still firing while it bugged out without the passengers it had been intending on picking up. In Kord's book that meant that they had done their job and exposing themselves to further incoming fire made no sense, not in his judgement anyway.

Keeping his head down he started to transmit. "Iron Duke Six, this is Mike Kilo One. We've damaged it's engine and it's now limping back out across the lake. It still has an active LMG so we'll leave it to the combat air support to finish off." Some flash flyboy would soon be notching a hovercraft to their kill list, probably claiming that it was fully operational and heavily armed when they shot it down. "We have the three zoners in custody and are waiting to had them over to the bug inspection team."

He glanced over at the three civilians and his man guarding them to check that everything was ok.

The voice of the battalion commander responds ++Good shooting.  I'm sending a dalmatian your way to track him and try to figure out where he came from.  We've got a chance to disrupt the whole ring here, that's great work you're doing out there++

With the squad hunkered down in an all around defense and the zoner family secured, the VTOL carrying the field verification team lands in a swirling cloud of debris and dust.  A captain, a raven haired human woman disembarks with her SMG at the ready.  Following her is a short squat man.  His uniform hangs off of him, ill-fitting and in disarray.  He wears a heavy pistol on his belt and carries some kind of sceptre adorned with all manner of crystals and carvings.  Obviously this is the mission specialist; a dwarven mage.

“Heard ya got some zoners for Friedman here to check out,” the woman says matter of factly, “Where you got them squirreled away?”

"Sure Captain," replied Jared with a nod as he turned to where the zoners were secured. "Chernik, bring them over here." He then stepped back to let the Dwarven mage do his work. He wasn't entirely sure what the man would do but he was keen to watch. Magic had always fascinated him as a kid and, though his experience of guarding the zone had been very different to the trid shows he'd watch when he was younger, he was still interested. It wasn't all funky explosions like they showed in Raff's Renegades, his favourite programme as a child, and seemed to be more about standing round staring at people. Well, that was what he'd seen a mage with a bug inspection team do previously. Assensing he'd called it.

While he was watching the Dwarf do his thing, Jared kept an eye on the zoners as well. If one of them wasn't on the level he thought that it would have revealed itself as a bug already but there was always the risk that he was wrong and it had kept itself hidden until the last minute. And the appearance of a mage might well prompt that.

He adjusted his position slightly so that he had a clear field of fire at the zoners, ensuring that Chernik, the Dwarven mage and the raven haired Captain weren't in the way. If something occurred then he was ready to deal with it.

Chernik brings the distraught family out from under cover.  Up close, through the dirt and dying light, you notice how young they are.  The parents are late-20s, early-30s tops.  Probably had a nice thing going with some corp, looking forward to the little one starting school this fall, before the bugs broke loose and everything fell apart.

While they stand there a bit dumbfounded after the brief but intense firefight, the mage does his bit.  It doesn't look anything like the trids with dramatic finger wigglin' and a mystical light show as he is working the mojo.  About twenty long and underwhelming minutes later, he opens his eyes and reports that the zoners are cleared of bug infestation.  The mage even gives the little girl a lollipop he produces from his pocket.  It's a nice human touch in the middle of all of this insanity.

As the mage is finishing up, the Captain calls down from the ramp of the Eagle. “At least that's good news.  Battletrac shows the nearest processing centre over at the 111th station on the Pullman line.  That's gotta be at least 5 miles walk along the wall.  Null persp, we wouldn't make you guys hoof it.  If you load 'em up and we'll give you a lift.”  From upfront there comes a half-hearted objection from the rigger pilot, but the Captain only rolls her eyes.  “It's a god foresaken bug infested combat zone, Zeke... you wanna send that little girl out there to be spider bait?  It won't take more than a few minutes then we're back to base.”

Turing to Jared she asks: “You guys need a lift?”

As the Dwarven mage handed the little girl a lollipop Jared half smiled to himself, wondering if they were part of some PR recording to boost the image of the UCAS Military. He almost looked around for a surveillance drone. Then he remembered that the bedraggled corps were rich enough to pay for some hovercraft to come and pick them and their daughter up and get them out of the zone illegally so the look on his face changed back to one of brooding silence.

When the Captain made her offer to give him a lift, Jared paused briefly before answering. "My orders were to continue with our patrol Captain," he replied with a shrug indicating that he'd hoped that she would be taking the prisoners off his hands. "Let me check with my command and see what they want us to do." As far as he could gather his commanders expected the field verification team to take the zoners to the nearest processing centre so he needed to cover his ass.

Moving a few steps away he initiated a transmission over the comms net. Unsure whether he should be contacting his HQ in general (Ballpen) or the Battalion Commander himself (Iron Duke Six) he plumped for the latter, figuring that that was the last cake eater who had given him an order. "Iron Duke Six, this is Mike Kilo One. SITREP. Field verification team confirmed confirmed no bug infection. Zoners need an escort to a processing centre. Do you want us to do that or leave it to the field verification team? They can give us a lift there but we'll be way off our patrol route if we do so. Over."

That was the way of the military. When you weren't sure on which way to go with a decision, and didn't need to make it instantaneously, then you just passed it up the line for someone else to make. Give them the responsibility to make the wrong one. Taking orders could be frustrating at times but it made life easier in other ways. Jared wondered sometimes what it would be like to be an independent without any commanders or, unfortunately, any backup. Probably god damn scary as well as liberating.

++Every zoner we save is one for the win column++ comes the battalion commander's reply.  ++You are authorized to deviate from your planned patrol as you deem necessary to facilitate the transport of those people to a processing center.  If you feel the field verification team can't handle it, you make sure they get there safe.  You read me son?++

"Understood," replied Jared. "Will contact you once we've handed them over to the processing centre. Mike Kilo One out."

Finishing his transmission he then turned to the raven haired Captain. "We'll take you up on that lift Captain," he said as he gave a sharp whistle to pull his team in to the Captain's vehicle. "On me," he added, pointing inside as Chernik started to usher the zoners aboard.

"All right!  Let's get this crate airborne." the Captain says into her headset as the zoners and your patrol get settled in.

Through a cloud of dust and debris, the Eagle lifts off and makes an easy turn over the CZ traveling long the wall toward Pullman Ave.  A few moments into the short flight, looking out the side windows, you notice something is amiss...

Check the Situation
16:12, Today: Mr. Johnson, on behalf of Kord, rolled 10 using 2d6+1 ((4,5)).
Strong Success

@Kord: Tell me one thing you notice that seems out of place and I'll tell you two more...

How does the lead elements of a swarm of bugs heading for a construction crew (building the CZ wall) and their guards sound to you? If that works then are the construction crews purely military combat engineers or are some of them corporate contractors? Essentially did the UCAS government keep the construction in house or contract it out to the private market?

Alternatively how does a spluttering engine on the Eagle sound? It might not crash but it might well have to set down somewhere, though hopefully not inside the CZ!

I like both of your ideas... **evil grin**

(1) The starboard engine sputters and the VTOL shudders violently...
(2) Over the coughing engine you can hear a loud buzzing sound...
(3) Outside the window you spot a blur of movement flying past. Then another. And another.

Wasp spirit flesh forms are swarming your aircraft.

The good news is that this all happened in the past and you somehow survived.

Let’s play out a few posts of combat to work out the mechanics and that should pretty much close out the prelude scene.

How is the VTOL set up? Is it essentially a flying APC with gun ports/hatches for the infantry inside to fire through? Or is it just a case of the crew firing the weaponry mounted on the VTOL? Essentially how does Jared engage to personally influence this combat?