076-1104 – Orsasch: The Sighlands
Lady Ada Wishart approached the party with new information, and a new request:
“Much of the data the rebels gathered about Senlis Station is from Idar and Radi, hackers who bluffed their way to an administrative position on the station. They were building a backdoor into the system but I’ve learned from my contacts that they ruptured a fuel line and got caught.
“Luckily, they survived, and they’re on Orsasch. Senlis has always liked to dump trouble here. They’re being taken from the pad at Reaching Lake to the Darkwater military base in four days. We have data, but no one knows the station like those two.
“The rebel leaders want to mount an operation against the prison convoy and rescue them. They’re hopeful you can lend you expertise. What do you think?”
The Travellers volunteered to lead the rescue mission, and set to planning. Reconnaisance of the routes between the prison complex at Reaching Lake and the landing pad Deepwater where the prisoners had arrived travelled along three routes. One had a bridge that was currently out of commission, so the party found ambush spots on each of the others. They also asked the rebels to use their TL7 workshop to build eight stinger strips to disable vehicles, as well as a ten improvised grenades, which they distributed amongst themselves and the dozen rebels who volunteered to join their mission.
080-1104 – Orsasch: The Sighlands
The prisoner transport vehicle and its normal escorts were all wheeled vehicles that would travel on the rough, tarmac roads from the landing pad to the prison complex. The party had the advantage of possessing two grav vehicles: the Grav Carrier which had been procured for the Albe heist (which, uncortunatly, had seen its armour largely scoured off by the intense dust storm that served to hide that event) and Marcus’ own Grav Bug, which he had come by during his service. These allowed the party the advantage of mobility, and they placed themselves in these between the two routes, confident that they could reach the required ambush site within minutes of discovering the route taken by the transports.
Ferric Osmund, the ex-lawman from Acrid, concealed himself in the hills overlooking the landing pad, around a kilometre from the main gate and with a clear view of each route. Unfortunately, the security forces caught a glimpse of movement and sent out an armed search party to locate him, forcing him to reposition using his grav belt. This also seemed to cause a delay inside the compound.
Eventually, however, Ferric (whose player was not present for this session) saw two escorts and a prisoner transfer vehicle head off along the eastern route. Rosa Perre suggested waiting to check for a decoy convoy, but the consensus was that Ferric join the Travellers as they headed for the prepared ambush site. With Drevil and Bilal placed on high ground with their laser sniper rifles, the rest of the crew and half a dozen rebels (armed with bows) hid close to the road. Nobody used chemical slug-throwers, as they were prone to jamming or even exploding in the phenomenally-oxygen rich air or Orsasch.
Thge ambush went fairly well, with vehicles disabled and the heavy weapons of the security forces rapidly taken out of commission and Zhana taking out the wheels of the transport vehicle. However, out of the back of the prisoner transport emerged not convicts, but half a dozen Senlisian assault troopers on combat drugs. This made for a dangerous fight for those closest to the vehicle, but the superior, higher-tech firepower of the party told in the end. Each time a laser hit someone, there was a risk that their clothing would erupt in flames: the oxygen-rich atmosphere causing violent fires closer to an oxy-acetylene torch than anything else.
At this point, the party received a crackling message over the radio from a gloating Convoy Commander Emm, boasting of how he had captured their spotter (they knew that he had not) and fooled them with a fake convoy: he was already safely on his way to his destination. He had not understood that they had grav vehicles at their disposal.
Racing to their backup Ambush Spot, at a sharp corner in the switchbacking road through the canyons of the badlands, the party arrived with only a single minute to take their positions. The half dozen Rebel soldiers already had their stinger strips in place, and trapped the vehicles as planned, although two of them tried to swerve and take a side-canyon. This lead to the prisoner transport crashing into a boulder, while the front escort was disabled by the stinger strips. The rearmost vehicle’s driver kept control, but Drevil used his laser rifle to shoot his gunner. A superb shot removed the unfortunate gunner’s left arm, which caught fierce fire and fell into the vehicle into the lap of the driver. The driver, naturally panicking as the resident of a world terrified of open flames, caught fire himself and promptly drove into the canyon wall as his priorities shifted away from watching the road.
Next, Bilal dropped a grenade into the disembarking troopers from the front vehicles, while Marcus and Zhana swooped across to lay down enfilading fire. At this point, the effect of the extra oxygen on explosives was discovered, as the grenades tripled their blast radius, killing two of the three troopers instantly – somewhat merciful given that they also burst into flames – but charring the top half of Dr Bilal’s face as it did so. Somewhat incautiously, Drevil tried to bounce a grenade into the rearmost vehicle despite it being out of range, and the grenade caught Marcus in its blast radius.
Eventually, the scene was secured and the prisoners removed from the transport. A charred and bloody Convoy Commander Emm, somewhat chastened and considerably less prone to crowing, surrendered alongside the remaining, uncooked troopers.
As well as the two rebel spies, five more prisoners were found in the back of the vehicle, and the Travellers considered their next move.
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