Sunny Day at the Solar Farm - RPLOG
Participants
Date
11/2/2017
Log
Camped at the entrance to the highway is a human male dressed in overalls, the telltale Promethian illuminated helmet on his head. He leans against the cab of what looks like a salvaged pickup truck and trailer, quite a few panels of it looking like they were eaten through by nanites. "I'm Smithson, and I'm here to drive you to a solar farm far outside the Fairhaven bubble, where you can dismantle some of the solar panels and bring them back with this." He motions to the trailer. "I couldn't get a heli for you but this truck is fueled up and shouldn't break down. I want to get back by dinner so we should start as soon as possible. any questions?"
Firecracker,the pint-size pale pink pegasus hovering at about normal head height, quickly raises a forehoof into the air. "Oh! Me! Me!" she says, continuing without waiting to be called on, "What if we don't make it back before dinner? Didja bring any snacks? Didja bring enough to share?!" She looks around the area quickly, scanning for snacky goodness in the event of the mission lasting too long and running passed dinner time!
Standing over upon the far left of the mass of people, Kip simply glanced back to the apparent hirer and shook his head. The only question he had was for himself. Why on earth had he agreed for this? Being bored is bad, sure. Being dead is obviously worse. So, shifting from foot to foot, he simply sighed and resigned himself. Already this far...
Arris nods, leaning a little to peek into the trailer. "Sounds straightforward enough. Are there any kind of obstacles we can expect to see at the solar panel area place?" Sie adjusts a Triage Kit attatched to hir back waist via the belt, having ditched any nanite-reliant equipment save for hir healing pistol.
Garbed in his basic combat attire and toting his usual array of armaments, submachine gun, blades and mastercrafted bow at the ready, Otto was more than ready, willing and able. He was excited! A trip outside with several other brave souls for the betterment of their lives in Fairhaven, potentially facing armed resistance along the way? Nothing like the threat of death looming over one's head to stir the blood and get one's heart racing! He listens to the human attentively and feels for his toolset, tucked away in the small pouch at his side. No doubt hose panels would need dismantling, and Otto wanted to be ready for that.
The coyote had been beyong the bubble before, and wasn't particularly looking forward to having that obsesive compulsion to want to immediately turn tail and return to the bubble, but he had dealt with it once before and he would do it again. He did have a question though, and once the others had finished asking theirs, he raises one hand and politely asks "Now, I am very much loking forward to this, and am all for the betterment of our society, but come now... what's the payout gonna be, eh?" he rubs his index and thumb together "A coyote's gotta make a living after all..."
Raika has been idle for a bit too long lately, so when a mission to gather some solar panels from outside the bubble comes up, she's quick to sign on for a chance to do something useful again. She's near the back of the group, largely just being quiet and letting the others ask questions while she does gear checks to make sure she's got everything she'll need.
Smithson aswers Otto, ignoring Firecracker: "I suppose you can get anything else we find at the instalation, maybe even scrap from broken solar panels." He then gets in his truck. It roars to life, almost in defiance of it's delapidated appearance. "Well get on then!"
Firecracker gets on then! And as she gets on, she continues to roam around a bit in the back of the truck, sniffing for snacks. When she doesn't find any and it becomes apparent none are to be found, she plops down on her rump and starts digging around in her mane with a forehoof. "Well that's okay, I got some snacks in here somewhere!" she says aloud as she searches for tasty treats.
Kip shuffled his feet forward, almost pausing as he looked back to the assembled group. Most looked... armed. Dangerous. Vicious, dare he say. Well.... /most/. Rearing briefly before hopping on upward into the truck, a mute sigh fell from his lips, an almost silent pleading hope. "Please let this go smoothly... They'd kill me if I wound up dead..."
Smithson then realizes he missed Arris's question, and turns to reply: "I don't know what we'll find out there. I only know where the solar farm is."
Arris nods. "Well, we're going to find out then." The gator hops into the back of the truck, bringing hir equipment with hir. Sitting down near the back, sie pulls out a package of saltine crackers, a plastic container of herb and cheese spread, and a butterknife. "Heads up, Fire." Sie breaks a corner off a cracker before tossing it to the pegasus.
Alas, no time to socialise, it would seem. Duty called and Otto answered. Hand resting lazily on his submachine gun, he steps after the others and hops in through to the back seats swhere Firecracker was seemingly spazzing out. Snickering quietly to himself, Otto settles into his seat and starts to double-check and tripple-check his inventory. Everything SEEMED to be in order, and he was prepared to tackle any enemy at either short, medium or long range, though he did seem to be missing medical supplies...but oh well. The coyote was as much a doctor as he was a ballerina. "Say, chaps... I don't suppose anyone here has formal medical training, eh? Would be a right mess if someone got shot and we don't have the means to patch up the wounded, right? Not saying you should get shot or whatever, I'm just saying, a medic would be right useful, they would!" he addresses everyone within earshot, his tail wagging excitedly behind him as he speaks.
Raika falls into that group of 'armed and dangerous'. Vicious... maybe, maybe not. She's got her halberd and her pistols, at the very least, and some light armor, among other various devices. Hopping up onto the truck with a little help from her halberd as a pole-vaulting thing (because why not), she scoots into whatever seat is left for the duration of the ride. Otto's question gets a raised hand that turns into a handwobble in response.
Once everyone gets into and onto the truck, Smithson makes his way across the highway, following a rugged map on his steering wheel. A few hours out from Fairhaven with no problems and the truck crests a hill, the solar farm just a minute away. Suddenly Smithson stops. "Um, you better take a look at this." Just a few feet ahead of the truck is a large scorch mark... and another, and a few more... There are searing holes all over the landscape, between everyone and the solar farm.
Ah that familiar feeling of utter gut-wrenching despair as the nanites freak out in the absence of their connection to the main server. Otto felt compelled to just jump out and go home, but he knew better than to act upon that desire. THERE WAS LOOTING TO BE DONE! It was a fine day for a mission, not a sigh of any rain and once he'd dealt with the crippling anxiety of being away from the comfort of the bubble, he was back to his old self. "Never gonna get used to that feeling, tell ya what..." he shares with the others, and flashes a smile at Raika, nodding once he sees her hand raised. Fantastic,
"Seventeen bottles of rootbeer on the wall! Seventeen bottles of rootbeeeeer! Take one down, pass it around, Sixt- Look at what who where now?" Firecracker asks, suddenly pulled out of her rendition of a timeless classic to flit up on top of the truck, looking out at the scortchmarks in the ground ahead. "Well that's a weird way to paint the ground," she says, munching away the last bit of the saltine graciously gifted to her.
Kip shivered for the last few minuets, a strange sinking feeling having rested in the pit of his stomach. That familiar almost dull humming that sounded in his mind was... empty. Perhaps it was just being droned out by that blasted pegasus next to him. Or... perhaps that is what outside the bubble was like... What a terrifying thought. Idly rubbing along the length of greyish steel of his 'rang, he desperatly tried to avoid glancing back at Otto after their question. Healing was not in their arts in the least. Glancing over up to the road ahead, he let a small smile rise to his face. "Oh, joy... Blastmarks. Hopefully not mines... That... huh. That would be unpleasant."
Arris hops out from the vehicle, looking over at the at the scorch mark. "Wow. That's... I'm not sure what to make of that." Sie readies hir bolt action rifle. "What do you guys think happened here?" Peering through the scope, sie begins surveying the area between the truck and the solar farm while keeping hir distance from the scorch mark.
Ah that familiar feeling of utter gut-wrenching despair as the nanites freak out in the absence of their connection to the main server. Otto felt compelled to just jump out and go home, but he knew better than to act upon that desire. THERE WAS LOOTING TO BE DONE! It was a fine day for a mission, not a sigh of any rain and once he'd dealt with the crippling anxiety of being away from the comfort of the bubble, he was back to his old self. "Never gonna get used to that feeling, tell ya what..." he shares with the others, and flashes a smile at Raika, nodding once he sees her hand raised. Fantastic, they had a medic!
The remainder of the ride was quiet and uneventful, and while the coyote was eager to start up a chat with the others, he felt it best to just let the bubbling with energy Firecracker sing her merry shanty. Eventually though, they reached the scorch marks, and Otto was not so happy to see them. He hops out of the car with the others and moves over beside one of them, crouching down before it to have a good look. "They might be mines that went off, but you'd expect to see the wreckage of what made them." he ponders out loud and drags one finger over the outer rim of one to sense if it was still any warmer than the rest of the terrain. "Think someone just chucked some nades over here? But... why?"
Raika actually hasn't been out of the bubble before, so this is... new. She's heard about why it might be bad for her, but feeling it for the first time is something else. It's gonna take some getting used to. When the driver mentions something that should be looked at, she stands up from her seat to try and get a better view... though she's slightly shaky in the process of doing so. "If it's not an explosive, I'd guess an energy weapon... but aren't those supposed to be incredibly inefficient outside of a bubble?"
In the distance a few small buildings can be seen in the middle of the solar farm, one quite a bit taller than the others. Suddenly a bright flash comes from the center building, and an instant later another scorch mark appears right where Otto's hand used to be.
Firecracker blinks a few times, as if just noticing the feeling of being out of the bubble, possibly distracted by her own singing. "Oh yeah! It does feel weird!" she says, then a few moments later, it stops feeling so weird as she activates her Regulation Nanomagic, creating a bubble in an 80 foot radius around her. "And now it doesn't!" she says as a flash of light appears in the distance, followed closely by a new scorch mark in the ground by Otto. The little pegasus directs her gaze to the building in an attempt to spot what it is that flash came from.
Kip widened his eyes, the flash if nothing else catching his attention. Leaping, err... tumbling out of the vehicle, he gazed back over the brief moment of activity and began to try and hash together thoughts, the scorch mark looking startlingly fresh upon the ground. "Okay... Don't touch the scorch marks!" Idly unlooping his 'rang from his belt, he began thinking aloud. "Okay, scorch marks are violent. How violent, doesn't matter. Don't touch em. Why? Things hurt there. Why only there? Dunno, maybe projectile? Had it been physical would be a tiny blast spot though. Lasers? Maybe, but that wouldn't explain delayed flash and then bang. Wait... there are several of them..." Sweeping his gaze around, idly glancing behind and around them. "If they can shoot the ground there, why can't they shoot us now? People would shoot us. Or at least, I would try and shoot armed people approaching... So if not people... Systems? But why these random spots... And why only so far out? And why everywhere? Maybe a sweeping scanner-thing..."
Arris glances up from hir scope just before the bright flash comes from the building. "Wow. That's some Sigmund Freud stuff right there. Burning down the Roman fleet with his giant mirror things." Sie squints a little at the building. "Hey, guys, can you not cause any more light beams for a moment? I want to get a closer look at this without being blinded." Sie peers into the scope again, focusing on the centre building.
"B'lyad!" Otto screams out as he jolts backwards in the nick of time to save the entirety of his arm. "Eto piz'dets!" he adds in that same foreign language as he looks over his paw, as if still believing he'd lost it. "OKAY, this might be a problem." he gulps down dryly and looks over towards where the attack had arrived. "We cross this line we get fried, then? If I could reach the bloody thing I could probably have it offline in seconds, but..." he exhales deeply and motions towards the scorch marks "That!" looking over at Kip, Otto nods and holds his thoughts to himself... for now.
Raika stops having the shakes when Firecracker's bubble goes up again. It was a weird experience and not one she particularly wants to experience again any time soon. Looking around a little as she gets out of the truck, she examines the scorch mark pattern. "I'd assume its maximum detection range is somewhere around here." Using her halberd, she traces a line maybe a meter behind where the scorch mark arc indicates its firing limit likely is. She could trace closer but it's good to be safe. "...anyone got something that could match that kind of range?"
Smithson is in his truck, his fingers tight to the steering wheel. "I... I'm just going to stay in here. Singal me when it's safe to drive up." He then turns the truck off to conserve fuel.
Firecracker spots the little buggers on the roof making shooty blasts at the group. She gets a wild grin on her face as her demeanor completely shifts from the bubbly little pegasus a moment earlier. "Alright then! Mirrors on the roof? We'll fight mirrors with mirrors!" She looks to the sides of the truck before spotting the driver's side mirror. "Hey, one of you guys take this mirror, aim it at the top of the roof up there, and reflect the shot back! There's a bunch of rotating mirrors up there just waiting to get a taste of their own medicine!"
Kip turned back to the truck at large, quickly trying to hash through possibilities. Alright... Seems the pegasus saw some mirrors on the roof! Great. Still doesn't explain what the heck is going on or what is shooting. Though, lasers would make sense. Mirrors bounce... But wait. Rotating? "You certain it was rotating? Because... That wouldn't make sense. It shot Otto at the same spot as the mark before... If it was rotating it would automatically target different spots every moment. Sure, it could pick that spot again, but the odds are bad..." Humming briefly, he frowned and looked further into the field, noticing a few marks further yet in. "And as there are marks further... Things got through the outer bit. So it can't really be targeting a different area each moment. If that was true, there would be exceptional grouping on the outer edge simply due to wandering things..." Glancing back to the group, he snapped his fingers towards Raika. "Ah! A halebard. Could you attach the mirror to the end of that and try the spot and other not hit spots? Want to check something...."
Arris lowers hir rifle, still looking over at the buildings. "Well, the light beams are coming from the top of the tower. Can't see where exactly, but it's up there for sure." Sie looks down at the scorch marks. "If anyone thinks they can see and shoot the laser emitter at the top of the building, come up and test your luck." Arris stands up again, resting the butt of hir rifle on the ground.
Otto nods and clasps his paws. "I'll take a shot at that, but my eyes aren't the keenest here." he moves over to where the rifle was and picks it up, pausing to thank Arris for lending it before turning to Firecracker "See if you can spot for me, I am gonna take a shot, but a steady hand isn't all that's needed. I'll have to know what I hit... if I hit at all." he explains, before falling to one knee on the ground and assuming a firing stance. His breathing goes slow and deep as the rifle goes perfectly steady in his hands, the coyote biding his time, finger gently sliding over the trigger as he takes aim and tries his best to land his crosshairs just right. One... two... three... and *BANG* The rifle recoils lightly in Otto's arms as the coyote lowers it and grumbles. "Fucking hell... I think it made contact but the glare, uuuurgh. Fire, what do you see?" he asks, curious as tomwhat he'd managed to hit.
Raika gives Kip a bit of an odd look, clinging to her halberd protectively, but she does answer hesitantly. "I can... try?" She tries to see if she can remove the mirror from the car in a manner that it can be put back in later hopefully rather than having to just rip the mirror's holding thing off the car entirely. If she can manage that (or if she can't but can get the driver's permission to be a little more violent about extraction), then the mirror gets attached to the halberd's blade for a bit of testing. Repairing it is going to suck if they're wrong about the nature of these laser things, though...
The truck's sole mirror comes off with little effort, but without some way of attaching it, it won't stick to the haliberd. Smithson doesn't seem to mind too much about missing that mirror, but does add: "Don't take too much off the truck. We need this to get back home."
Firecracker watches with a grin as Raika prepares to put her action into plan, even without the possible loss of a hand! Probably a bit safer anyway. After the crack of the rifle goes off below and the coyote asks for her vision, the pegasus looks up at the building once more. "That's one down, half a dozen to go!" she confirms. "Less fun, but I guess that works too," she finishes with a shrug as she stands up on her hindlegs, shading her eyes with a foreleg.
Kip offers a wane smile in return towards Raika as they clung to their weapon of choice. "Pardon, tis just-" he cut's off, wincing at the sound of the shot going wide echoing. "...ow... Ah... Tis just that if this is correct, then we simply can walk between the marks, probably putting forth something in front of us to check to make certain that there aren't un-procced marks. Then we can disable, or even take it apart from the inside. Who knows what RSX would be willing to by that tech for?" Looking at the unattached mirror... a faint smirk rises to his maw. "And... you don't even actually have to attach it. Just sorta... push it into the spot. If it fires, success! If not... Well, we keep firing."
Arris sits down on the ground, looking over to Raika. "Hey, if you need to attatch the mirror, I think this triage kit should have some tape in it. Could use that." Sie slings the kit from hir back onto hir lap, opening it and fishing out some medical tape. "Still need it there? I'd reccomend we not lay the mirror's surface parallel to the ground, else it reflects into our face. Would be safer to keep it perpendicular and adjust after that.
"Half a dozen..." Otto growls and sqjeezes the rifle. "Great..." he mutters and assumes a firing stance once more, though moments before actually letting loose another round, he does have a thought... "Hold on now." he lowers the rifle and turns to his allies, "Maybe one was enough, we should test it... like..." he looks around and manages to find a fist sized rock near his feet. Tossing and catching it again, Otto says "Let's see if these things still work. If we can sneak in there without damaging the rest, more for us to salvage!" he exclaims and wags his tail excitedly at the notion of more profit. Moving over just behind the safety line, Otto tosses the rock right onto the very same scorchmark that he'd nearly had his arm taken off in earlier.
Raika accepts the tape from Arris, attaching the mirror to the flat of the halberd's blade with it. She then angles the halberd so that it's perpendicular with the ground... so in theory the 'laser' should just make a scorch mark a little closer to the origin point if this absurd theory is correct.
With the rock and the haliberd enter the firing range of the weapon, nothing happens. Just a soft thud as the rock hits the ground.
