The Rescue for Tahoe - Part 1 - RPLOG
From Flexible Survival
Participants
Date
1/7/2017
Log
The helicopter is ready to take off from Zephyr, and everyone is brought to the helipad for the mision briefing. An alpha husky herm is the pilot this time, and he stands next to his ride looking at the agents that came. "Simple pickup. I and my copilot fly you all out near Tahoe, and then in an hour or two I fly you all back with whatever you get. Hopefully we manage to save some of the crew..."
Firecracker bobs her head side-to-side, humming happily to herself as the briefing happens. The pint-sized pink pegasus hovers in the air at about normal head level as she gives a casual salute. "Find some peoples and then come back! Easy peasy lemon squeezy! I'm greatastic at Hide and Seek!"
The helicopter blades slowly bobbed violent and sharp above the assembled, each there for their own reason. But, they were all there for the mission, a rescue of sorts. Mokou, the slight fennec among the others, simply took a slow breath. Her hands slowly curled about the straps of her pack, the receptacle hanging down by her waist. Modified for her height, the canvas bag seemed handmade, roughly constructed and built, lightly packed. The slight lass simply nodded back to the alpha husky who would be their guide. Or at least, a means to reach there. "Alright... Will do what we can out there." Shifting upon her feat, she let a faint sigh fall from her lips before she quickly shot back, "But do you mean one hour, or two? Don't give us a somewhere about there answer. If we are being sent out past... If we are being sent out there, when are you coming back? And whom are we looking for? Can I get some details?"
Arris hurriedly jogs to the helipad, panting a moment before comprising hirself and taking a breath. "Alright... do we know where the truck might... might have crashed? Did it send any radio signals before it went offline?" The gator slowly walks to the heli's entrance, keeping eye contact with the husky pilot but glancing around to some familliar faces from the previous expedition to Tahoe..
Ebreus walks onto the landing pad in time to hear the their pilot's anouncement. He nods when rescuping the crew comes up, "Yeah, teh group sent to go get that semi-truck, right? I hope they didn't encounter anything like what was in the Tahoe bubble." he says. When the Fennec starts asking questions he humms a short agreement and says, "I assume pickup and dropoff locations will be the same if not we'll need to know that too."
Draken sighs, leaning on Ebreus a bit. She listens quietly, looking to everyone as they speak.
Cerl listens to the rather brief briefing the pilot gives, then starts checking her gear. Grenades, some rope, various small supplies are all packed away in her saddlebags, check. Crossbow in good repair, check. Lots of spare bolt cases packed away in easy reach, check. Nodding to herself, she boards the helicopter and tries to find a corner where she can strap her tauric half in for the flight. She listens to the others question the pilot but holds her peace. The important questions were already being asked, and she was just there to provide scouting services and backup as needed.
The pilot replies: "as far as we know, the salvage team never left where the truck is. The helicopter will just power down and wait for everyone to pack everything up when we get there, so we don't spend too much time." Then as everyone gets onto the helicopter and it makes its way out near Tahoe, The pilot turns his head to ask: "anyone been out this far? I think I heard that a few of you were there and found the truck in the first place." He's definintely just asking to pass the time, and when everyone makes their responses the helicopter is starting it's decent to the location.
"Nope! Never been out here before!" Firecracker answers happily as she looks out the window to the ground and sky and clouds and everything else there is to see outside. The moment the group leaves the bubble, she activates her Distributed Nanomagic and creates a bubble for the group ranging 140 feet in every direction. "Adventure!" she cheers happily, giggling as the helicopter continues its flight.
The slight fennec frowned faintly at the lack of a direct answer, but an implicit one was given none the less. She simply sighed, shaking her head before tugging herself up into the helicopter. Securing a seat for herself, tail wrapped about to lay upon her lap, she swiftly buckled herself in, fingers idly tapping along her bag. Patiently, she watched the others hop up on in, spending more than a few moments gazing at the assembled number. The bubbly little pegasus drew more than a few frowns as she began to... feel present. The mini bubble of sorts... she shook her head, both at such a feeling and in answer. "I've... not been out of the bubble. Not... gone out since it all happened."
Ebreus steps into the helecopter and finds a spot where he and Draken with be able to stay close together. He buckles himself in and checks his own equipment and uses his nanomagic to make adjustments while still in the bubble if he finds any faults. He double checks his supply of explosives as the pilot begins making smalltalk. "I've been there and so has Fire. We disabled the mind-fuckery field around Tahoe." he says. When Mokou confesses to not having left the bubble he turns his attention to the Fennec and says, "Stay near the hyper pegasus and we'll almost be in a bubble. Most things'll still work, or at least should."
Draken nods to the pilot, smiling at Firecracker's optimism. She pokes Ebreus in his side. "Hey, just because the mind fuckery drove me insane for a few minutes doesn't mean i wasn't /there/." She states.
Cerl relaxes during the flight to the truck. The noise of the rotors make it hard to talk to anyone, so she doesn't bother to try, leaving to those sitting closer to the pilot to make conversation. She mentally reviews what she can remember of the terrain around where they found the truck before settling back into a light doze.
Arris nods, climbing into the helicopter and peering out the window as the pilot makes chatter. "Yeah, I've been on the last mission out to Tahoe, with, euh..." Sie pauses a moment, turning around to do a brief headcount. "Ebreus, Draken, Cerl, Firecracker... and Mokou, I think. Whole gang is here, except Otto, I think. Didn't we take everything that was there to take, anyway? Why are we going back to the place?"
As the helicopter sets down, the scene is apparent. There are signs of a firefight everywhere: spent bullet casings, large scorch marks, and the semi trailer is ripped in half by what looks like an explosion. A few tents are left in disaray, parts from the truck are strewn about the ground along with the tools that were used to remove them and quite a few blood stains. And yet, not a single body can be found anywhere. The pilot turns off the rotors, and as the engines slow down a woman's voice can be heard: "Is anyone out there?!"
"Oh we did? That sounds fun!" Firecracker giggles at Ebreus's explanation. "Oh wait! I forgot to ask cause I was so excited cause I thought I never came out here but I did come out here before but I don't remember that but I'm still excited anyway!" she rapid-fires, bouncing in place as she turns to the rest of the group. "I'm Firecracker! What're all your names?!" When the copter lands and the woman calls out, the pegasus zips out to go towards the trailer it came from. "Oh! Found you already! That was the easiest game ever!" she chirps as she goes to meet the voice in the trailer.
Feeling her stomach lurch beneath her, Mokou tried to make her brief fit of hacking discrete, managing it to an extent. Looking back, a touch greener, she slowly nodded back to Arris at the question of sorts, her hands swiftly working over the buckles that kept her in the chair. A trembling shook her for a moment as she moved to stand, eyes peering back over the ruins of the fight. The air felt... weird here. Still thick with nanites from the puny pegasus actions but... off. Her feet fell to the ground, a slow breath taken, clearing her head. Her ears had flicked at the nonstop barrage of statements the blasted creature called out, before flicking up at another voice. Female... Not much else could be gathered though. Slinking forward she... Sighed, the runty flying mongrel dashing into the ruins of the trailer. "She's going to be shot one of these days..."
Ebreus snerks and says, "Hay, I was just correcting Fire. I figured anyone who wanted to would answer for themselves." as the chopper descends. He looks out the nearest window to see the state of the scene. He humms a thoughtful tone but dosen't mention anything. As the door opens and they hear a voice. He scanns the scene visually and his ears swivle atop his head as he tries to find the source of the sound, keeping his weapons ready in case the source isn't friendly.
Draken hops down with Ebreus, indicating which way the voice is coming from to him if he does not seem to know immediatly. She sticks close to him. She half-smiles at Firecracker, and nods to Mokou.
Cerl looks off across the valley at something that caught her attention, leaving the woman to the others for now. Turning to the pilot, she taps him on the shoulder. "Do you happen to have a set of high power binoculars handy?" Receiving a negative response, she asks the rest of the group if anyone has a set. When Mokou pulls out their binoculars, Cerl quickly thanks the fennec and then trains them on something she saw across the valley, trying to determine what it is.
As the chopper descends, Arris scans the distance for any possibly good sniper perches, not finding any as the helicopter lands. Sie slowly follows the others as they leave the chopper, the stock of hir rifle resting on hir chest as sie glances over to the trailer. "Careful, you all have been to Tahoe, this could... aw, nuts." Sie can only sit there and watch as Firecracker dashes over to the voice.
As most of the crew goes out, Firecracker no doubt finds the womn first: a bunny girl in bloodied Zephyr guard armor, laying against the inside of the trailer. "Oh, thank goodness. I was running out of supplies. There was a man or something, he came into the camp on the first night looking like a wandering survivor, but it didn't take him long to show his true colors! He absolutely wiped the floor with us..." She then begins tearing up and shaking.
Seeing the bloodied bunny, Firecracker instantly flies over to give the girl a warm hug, standing on her shoulder and rubbing her cheek-to-cheek. She warms her with her body and Fiery Feathers as she presses against her. "It's okay, you don't haveta cry! Just let Auntie Firecracker take care of it for ya!" She says, consoling the bunny. "What about that glinty thingy outside though? Is that the guy?" she asks.
Mokou slowly began slinking forward, her hands idly brushing the ground before her, the lass nearly doubled over as she crept towards the trailer. Brushing her feet against the pavement beneath, she slowly wrapped a hand around the edge of the trailer. Lifting her muzzle slowly, peeking into the edge of the trailer, the lass visibly winced at the sight. Swiftly glancing back out of the trailer, her eyes scanning behind her, back to the side of the trailer. The others seemed to harass the lady enough, she didn't need to speak with them... Gazing on down the side of the road... wide ears twitching, trying to catch any sound... any note of the man the wounded lass spoke of. Her hands never left the edge of the trailer though... Didn't want to let go of something yet...
Ebreus steps away from the helecopter, still prepared for a fight. He walks around the destroyed trailer as he tries to keep watch for anything that might surprize them, landmines, snipers, hostile wildlife and the like. After a short search he positions himself behind some cover in line of sight to the, apparent, Zephyr guard and asks, "One man did this? Happen to get a glimpse of how?"
Draken hums lightly to the woman, taking her hand. She looks over their injuries, trying to tell if they re in mortally wounded.
Cerl keeps the binoculars trained at whatever she is looking at across the valley, but makes a beckoning motion with one paw. "Arris, come over here a moment, please." Speaking quietly to him, so that her words don't carry to anyone else, she continues in a whisper. "Look across the valley at that big clump of bushes with your scope. Do you see the winged guy with what looks like a large laser rifle hiding in them?"
Arris nods to Cerl, stepping over and peering through hir scope. "Yeah, I see them. No worries, I'll keep an eye on them." Keeping hir crosshairs trained on the figure, sie gets into prone position between the chopper and the cliff face. "Go get the rest of the team and the survivor behind cover, preferably in a discrete way."
The bunny guard wipes up her tears, shocked at what Firecrcker said. "A-a glint? Where?! Is he still out there?!" She panics and grabs hold of the tiny pony that is firecracker, holding her against the guard's chest like a comforting doll. She doesn't say anything else.
"I dunno," Firecracker says soothingly to the panicking bunny as she tries to calm her down. "You got any other friends out here? What do they look like?" she asks, stroking the bunny's breast with a forehoof as she is held to her chest. "You don't haveta worry about anything... Just let me and all my friends take care of it for ya."
Mokou flicked those ears of hers, a few words catching her attention. Words of a glint. Words of surprise at the... Glint? She turned her head, a faint furrow upon her brow, eyes scanning about, peering back across the valley. A glint... Metallic glint. Akin from... A weapon? Her eyes slowly widened, realizing just what might have caused those scorch marks. What would likely cause the lady's injuries themselves... 'Go! Run!' Her mind screamed at her to bolt, her legs idly twitching as she shifted... moving a touch jittery behind the trailer. Crap, crap, crap....
Ebreus hearing about a glint his eyes widen and he counches a bit lower in his cover, internally cursing himself for having plate armor over just about all his body with the exception of his head. He says to the Bunny Guard, "Be quiet and be still. If they're at range they may mistake you for a corpse." He then telepathically says to Cerl, 'Fire noticed something that may be hostile, a glint, see it's cause?'
Draken stays behind the truck, with the woman. "Hmm... So long as we stay out if sight." She says, starting to pet the bloody woman. "Don't worry." She says.
Cerl lowers the binoculars after making a note of where the figure dashed off too, and after confirming that Arris still had them covered moves towards the rest of the group. Telepathically sending a warning to each team member so the bunny, who is obviously already panicking, doesn't hear what is going on, Cerl tells them quickly that there is a potential hostile across the valley and to get behind cover discreetly. Then while she is hidden from the figure's sight, she activates her vanishing nanomagic long enough to step into the trailer unseen by the unknown target. "Miss, my companions here will take care of you, and we have a helicopter ready to take you home as soon as we can find any of the rest of your team, if they still live. But I need the pony's help for a little bit, and we need you to stay right here where we can protect you." She holds out her paws, waiting to see if the bunny will let go of Firecracker.
Arris keeps hir crosshairs trained on the humanoid, speaking up when they begin moving. "We need to get the survivor to the chopper, but we need to do so while keeping her protected, or at least concealed. If anyone has earth nanomagic, I heavily reccomend building up a rock wall on the cliff face. If not... I have an alternate plan we can use."
The bunny girl slowly gives up Firecracker and then grabs Cerl's hand when Cerl reappears next to her. "O-ok..." She picks up a bag siting next to her and gets up, her shaking knees taking a bit of help to get her standing.
Firecracker is transferred from bunny to vixen taur even as she continues to looks to the bunny. "Gotta know who we're looking for though, so can ya tell us what everyone else looks like? And what's in your bag anyway?" she asks, thrusting a forehoof towards the bag as she points. "Gotta know that stuff before we can go!" she says, ready to go with Cerl once the answers are given.
Mokou winced as she felt that message run through her mind, playing across her mind. No... none of that... She'd had more than enough mental modification of her own... She shook herself briefly, slinking back towards the back of the trailer, away from the outside and range of the weapons unknown. Raising a hand to Cerl and the bunny lass, she hopped back up, slowly helping guide her to the back of the trailer, trying to shelter her. "Come on dearie... You in our safety for now... Breath. You're fine... You're safe now..." Slowly trying to guide them back, she simply... shook her head. "Go on you all. I'll take care of her. Anyone else you can find... send them back here. Need someone to prevent them from being picked off... Okay?"
Ebreus stays low, he telepathically says to Arris, 'I have Earth Nano but mini-bubbles aren't normally strong enough for it to be used.' He looks around for anything that could be used as a shield. "Anyone have somethin' that could cut metal? We may be able to make some mobile cover." he says. He thinks for a moment then telepathies Cerl, 'Do we have a good idea of what could've causes this much damage... not sure a shield will work.'
Draken stays in her place beside the bunny guard.
Cerl telepathically sends to Firecracker, "Keep silent, talk to me telepathically...I know you can, we have before. Let the others worry about getting descs of the rest of the team. That glint you saw was someone with a big laser rifle and I need your help to get across the valley so we can check him out. I'll fly both of us across while invisible, though I'll have to hang onto you so my invisibility covers you too, and then if you can shrink your bubble down to just a few feet we can sneak up on him without you bubble spooking him."
Arris keeps hir eyes through the sights. "I know the guy over there is using a light-based weapon. If we can get a shield that reflects light, that would be amazing."
The bunny guard stays put, still holding Cerl's hand. She's not crying or shaking any more. "Thanks. I feel better now. As far as I know, the man took everyone else away. I don't think any of them are left alive. But we need to get out of here."
"And my bag?" the guard adds, "It has a few grenades I was going to use for emergencies. One of them made that hole in the trailer. But the man was too fast."
"Oh okay!" Firecracker chirps as she stands in Cerl's hand. "But ya didn't haveta pretend to cry when we got here y'know! We woulda taken care of ya anyway! And we can use those thingies for the plan!" she says, motioning towards the bag for Cerl to see.
Ebreus begins to look around the trailer as he listens to the guard, "Ok, glad he didn't do that. Bodes well for shields working." he comments. After a few moments of searching he finds a piece of metal loose enough to remove and does so. He then begins to bend and shape it, metal molding easily in his paws. After a few moments of bending and smoothing it behins to take on the shake of a curved rectangualr shield just large enough to provide him with total cover while crouching behind it. Now with the shield shaped he turns it over and examines its surface area. He humms as he considers the metallic surface. Thinking for a moment on it he then turns the shield over again and says, "Ok, now I've got some cover... isn't reflective though."
Cerl carefully pulls her paw free of the bunny's grasp, pausing in her telepathic communication with Firecracker to ask, "This very fast man, did he have wings?" When the bunny replies negatively, Cerl telepathically sends to Arris, "Keep an eye out. The sniper over there is not the one who attacked the camp here." Grinning down at Fire, she chuckles, "Oh, don't worry...I brought plenty of grenades myself...but a few more couldn't hurt." She kneels to see what is in the bag that might be useful when confronting the unknown foe.
Arris keeps hir sights on the figure, continuing to watch them move around and overhearing the bunny guard speak about her bag of grenades. "Could really use a smoke grenade or something right about now..."
As Cerl goes to look at the beg, the bunny holds it closer to herself. "Smoke grenades? I have those. Are we using them to leave? Why are we just standing around?" She's starting to look visibly upset gain.
"Yeah those grenade thingies!" Firecracker says, "And I just said ya didn't haveta pretend to be sad! So you can just give us the bag and then we can get them out and use em to help! Cause now I really wanna see what's in the bag because you're being all secrety and stuff and I gotta knooooow! What's in the bag?" she nearly whines, dancing in place in Cerl's hand as she looks between bunny, bag, and Cerl.
