Sep 8 107 PA - Naval Positioning

From Chronicles

To the group chosen to continue with the second recon mission to Quebec a message was sent. Be at the landing strip by 9am today, your ride will be waiting. Arriving thev ride as it were looks to be a recrafted 21st century helicopter. Quite the unit really, tons of carrying capacity and clearly obvious range. A pilot and gunner wait inside for the time of departure and their cargo.

It's getting closer to the time to gather for the next outing arranged by people who wanted to spy on a fight between the Free Quebec and Iron Heart forces. As Sage finds her way towards the gathering point, she looks around for familiar faces. A thoughtful expression comes to her features as she doesn't spot any of the previous group that departing. She makes a quick glance behind her, before she finds a place to settle as she waits.

From the gates, and the lands beyond, Daeni enters the landing field. The bustling noise of flesh and machine is not her likely destination, but rather the gardens and greenhouse nearby. She gives the more active portions of the field a wide berth as she walks, a scowl upon her features until she passes much of the annoying noise.

To be bluntly honest, Gabriel is wandering around like an octogenarian on a topless beach. He likes what he sees, but he doesn't know what it is that he's looking at. The helicopter is obviously a helicopter, but much different than the personnel assault 'copters that he'd take up riding, the UH-1 Iroquois, which everyone called the "Huey" even though it looks like they flip the "U" and "H" around. At any rate, the man is clad in armor. Battered armor. Armor of the type that it looks like you really shouldn't be wearing on a combat patrol. Noting the other people coming into the area, particularly the elf-woman Daeni, he finally picks a direction and aims for her.

The whine of barely ticking over hovercycle engines can be heard, and the sound only grows louder. After a long moment of noise, the offending cycle crests over the buildings and swoops in for a gentle landing, Jackson astride his mighty mechanical steed. "Can't go on a recon without a little psychic edge. Plus I'm a medic so that's handy too." He announces to noone in particular, just to everyone present. He sets the cycle down next to the waiting chopper, and helps to load it.

Nemain returns to the scene of the crime? Ohh, wait, she's probably just showing up as she spotted the chopper returning. Her helmet tucked under one arm she looks over thoe rest of the folk who have gathered. "Another scouting mission?" she asks whomesver is closest to her as she eyes the chopper.

With everone present on time the chopper opens up to get everyone aboard without further wait. Its a blackhawk assualt helicopter thats been refitted for recon. Notably range and stealth. It could cary 2 dozen people around so fitting five is certainly not a squeeze. Once everyone is seated the pilot comes back to to the initial briefing. "Ok folks, I see two of you where here last time so I'll let them fill you in on the basics. Specificly we're heading out to the southern side of the St lawrence waterway where the Coalition Navy has things locked tight. Tolkeen has a plan to break this up with an elemental strike that will help them and Quebec. But in order to do that you four are tasked with getting accurate ship positions and movements. The trip will take us about 9 hours, I suggest you use it to plan." He briefs before making his way to the cockpit.

Not being a fan of the commotion of the area near the landing strip, Sage has lightly settled as near to her garden as possible while still being able to notice when the chopper arrives. For her part, she's brought smaller weapons to be able to have some versatility... and fortunately she has an inkling about the type of environment they were going to as she has left her laser weaponry stored away. She greets the others as they arrive. Once the chopper arrives, she'll move towards it as they tend to give verbal instructions. "Well, hopefully we don't need to do anything fancy in the water." She murmurs to herself, before she makes her way for the helicopter to climb into it.

Daeni is dubious of the flying machine and displeased at the noise, yet she is a scout and hunter. Her participation seems appropriate and the challenge potentially suitable. "Find enemy easy in this," she calls loudly, "when attack. Hear us far away." If the aircraft is modified to be stealthy, she does not presently agree.

Gabriel climbs into the helicopter as if he understands everything, which it's possible that he might at this point. The women receive polite tips of the hat - a floppy, larger brimmed, jungle-style green-black hat that at the moment really does exist. His voice is raised enough to be heard, "Don't get me wrong, but I hate the fucking French! Second only to the fucking Italians! But I hate Nazis even more, and the Coalition sounds like Nazis to me. Please don't correct me, I think that I'm close enough in my analogy. There's a moment of silence as he glances around, then he shrugs. "Honestly, I also heard that there might be money involved, and money is something that I need at the moment." He taps his armor, which is neatly pockmarked with three solid burn-marks across the chest.

Nemain's lips quirk as she looks around the gathered folk after boarding. She settles close to Sage if availible. "What do you think the chances are we'll be getting wet at?" One armored finger tapping lightly at the pattering along one thigh of her armor. "I didn't get a chance to finish up the water adaptations."

Jackson climbs into the chopper as well. He settles into a seat next to Gabriel and buckles himself in. Powers or no, he's not about to fall out of a moving helicopter. Not without his cycle at least. Besides, catching himself would be exausting, and he'd rather not land behind enemy lines low on power.

The briefing done and everyone settled the helicopter silently lifts into the air to commence the long trip north east.

When Nemain settles near her, Sage glances over with a small smile. "Nice to see I'm not the only repeat visitor." She comments before glancing over towards Gabriel, "There'll be money." She comments simply before pursing her lips. "Alright, I think what we need to establish is what we have available to us right now. Who can swim, what any vehicles brought along are capable of... since we may need to break into teams." She comments, before glancing to the others. "We're probably going to be spying on tactics of the Coalition and Free Quebec forces..." She adds, "Hopefully we get a good look at the terrain and what not... and whatever else they intend to tell us once we get close." She gestures towards the cockpit.

Daeni is forced to reconsider he assessment of the machine. Perhaps it was the other aircraft that were excessively loud. "Maybe not loud. Get close, but enemy still see." Her focus now pans to her fellow passengers, all of whom she is familiar with, at some level. "Get wet if rain, if go in water. Can swim." Daeni answers Nemain and Sage, respectively, before asking a question of her own. "Why only scout? If find boats, can sink. Not need wait for others.

Seeming to have no problem with setting out a military plan starting with logistics and intelligence, Gabriel points to the large black backpack that he's taken with him. "Flares, various field equipment, rations, compass." He then shrugs. "Basically the bare-bones that any one person needs to survive for a week. I can take care of everyone to a certain extent, but it won't be fun, that's for sure." After another glance around the cabin, he adds, "Back in the forties I could swim the Pacific with 50 pounds on my back and not even notice it. But I'm afraid that I'm rather rusty at this point." Be bangs his chest armor. "Especially in this stuff." Then he turns once more to take in the entire helicopter cargo bay, adding to what he hopes is all who will listen, "This choppers are great for getting men where you want them to be, but if you haven't secured an LZ and eliminated enemy presence for a distance, you're fucked. We need to do some hiking."

Nemain hmms soflty as she listens to the chatter, then glances towards the cockpit and purses her lips. A small shake of her head finds that her hair's come loose again. A soft growl of frustration and she's back to braiding it back while still gloved. "Have we seen any tactical maps of the area? Last time we were on a mountainside looking down into a gorge. Are we cliff bound again this time? Or are we getting dumped into a dingie and left to float around the waters for a week or so?"

Jackson pipes up at that. "If we have maps or even old photo's of the place. I might be able to give us some quick recon of the place. LZ defences, troop emplacements.. depends on what I see. Might be able to give us an edge before we land." He tells everyone, looking around for the general consensus.

With the mixed answer or lack thereof, Sage just tries to recall what the others brought on board if was visible. "Alright, we have one swimmer and a person with a hovercycle. If we need to split, the two of you get split between the groups." She comments, "But, since we know little of where we're going... I'm not sure I see much of a point to doing much planning at this point." She comments before glancing over to Nemain as she takes out a traveler's game package and raises a brow.

"Can swim," Daeni reiterates, adding, "take others not swim. Not much plan until see where go. Plan blind, plan wrong." She nods to Sage and subsequently closes her eyes. If there is nothing to do but wait, she can make some use of the time.

Gabriel seems to be finally sliding into a role in which he feels comfortable. Not roaming the city looking for work, or guarding a fat woman with more money than brains. Seems as if perhaps, just perhaps, he might be a professional, albeit obviously from a different age. There's a morbid chuckle as he asks a rhetoric, "The Army sent Explorer 1 up in January of '58. Don't suppose it's still sending photos." He moves on immediately, poking his finger authoritatively against the floor of the cargo bay, as if in a better situation, there would have been useful information there. "I'm obviously not familiar with Quebec in this world. I think we can probably agree on that. But a mission is a mission, you do things right, or you go dead, and as a Catholic, I know that Satan has a room waiting for me, so I'm trying to put off dying as long as possible." His eyes scan the room again. "I think we need to leave all of this heavy shit behind -" a thump on his armor "- put on some real recon gear, move fast, move quiet, get the job done, and leave the job of blowing shit up to those who are ready to do it."

Jackson goes quiet after seeing that they have no intel on the area. Figures.. they are going in to GET the intel. "I'm good with whatever. I have a few useful abilities tucked away,, so just ask if you want to." He informs the others and settles back to rest as well.

Nemain inclines her head to Sage's invite. Her lips quirking slightly as she answers, "We're not playing strip-poker this time. I still think someone was cheating last mission." Gabriel gets an odd look at his rant of 'catholic' And 'satan'. A small shake of her head follows, before she glances to the rest of the collected folk. "Anyone a good cartographer here?"

Nine hours later its firmly into the evening as the chopper sets down in a small cliff surrounded bay for the mission. There is a light fog in the air, concealing the landing and the site looks quite bereft of signs of humanity. Out towars the water is another story. The shear number of ships and lights makes it akin to a floating city on the water. Its outer most reaches blinking red and bobbing in the waves some 20 metere from shore.

With the fun and games during the wait slipping away as they arrive, Sage is one of the first to slip out of the aircraft. She keeps a low profile as she isn't sure where they relate to everything else. "Another cliff..." She murmurs before she moves to crouch down where she can get a vantage point on the water. She gives a short whistle at the view within her helmet. She takes a moment to try to figure out what all might bear watching.

The nap that Daeni takes, if she truly sleeps, consumes barely a third of the trip. Her patience runs thin soon after, and what begins as minor movement of limbs soon becomes a rise from her seat so that she can pace about the limited confines. By the time that lights are visible ahead and below, the hunter and scout quite literally hangs partially outside of the haircraft to improve her view. It also reduces the distance she must move to disembark once they are near the ground.

Gabriel looks around the cabin as if sizing up a group of soldiers, as odd as they may be. His eyes look at his armor, he pokes at the three holes in his chest, then frowns. It appears as if he's going to say something, maybe try to reason once more, but he says nothing. Instead, he gathers his two rifles and slings them over his shoulder, securing them tightly so that they won't rattle around. He stands, or at least stands as much as you can do in a helicopter, even for a shorter gentleman, and simply states, "Well, boys and girls, we have a job to do. Let's try not to fuck it up."

Skilled in meditation and self discipline, Jackson has no problem relaxing for the duration of the trip. Once they grow near enough to see anything, he carefully unbuckles himself and moves to the opposite side as Daeni, gripping the support tightly to ensure he doesn't fall out. Turning to look at Gabriel, he smiles at the older mans sudden expertise with the mission and he moves to the back of the chopper, starting to unload his cycle. He says nothing though, volunteering nothing until asked.

Nemain drops her bucket over her head, then shifts her rifle back to a more comfortable position. Any reaction to the last statement from Gabe seems to have been hidden. Instead she fishes out a pair of binocs as it seems they are going to have a bit more distance this time than the last time she was out to watch a battle.

"Well, its pretty easy to pick out the blockading ships." Sage comments, as she gestures towards the multiple ships. "And, we have a navigation marker there..." She adds gesturing towards the buoy. "Anyone else see anything of note?" She asks, before glancing towards the others.

"See many lights in fog. Not know what ships to seek, how they look." Daeni replies as she scans the water. "If only need find, are found." Her knowledge of the Coaltion is minimal, and does not include naval equipment. "Destroy all with skulls?" That would neatly summarize her experience and intent where the CS is concerned.

Gabriel debarks the helicopter and immediately goes into a crouch position, looking through the optics of his rifle - the antique one. After a few moments, he says, "Look like ten.. fifteen... twenty.. just over twenty vessels. I can't make it out completely, there are some partially obscuring others. Whatever the exact number, they sure as hell don't want someone going one direction or the other." The rifle is dropped to his side, carrying it with the muzzle up, but still in a crouch." He looks over his shoulder, then at his immediate compatriots. "I don't know about you, but those guys probably have the same scopes that we have. Or, don't have. We need to go to ground, and get the chopper out of here, ASAP." Any politeness toward others is gone. Just efficiency.

Jackson was inside and didn't see much of anything as he was in the depths of the chopper unloading his hovercycle. The hard way as he doesn't want to start it up in case someone hears it. "Not really.. I can take a closer look if you want.. but it'll be a ship at a time and I might not get much what with all the fog, but personally.. I'm with Daeni on this one, kill'em all." He tells everyone as he drags the thing free of the cargo hold. Once it's free he starts it up and mounts up, the engine making somenoise, but not much. Especially at such distance. Thus mounted he follows rest of the squad slowly, bringing up the rear, lacking lights as he's kept his headlights turned off.

Nemain answers softly, "They probably have better scopes than what you just used. There are roughly two dozen or so." She offers over the binocs she was using. "Want a better look?" One can almost hear the smile in her voice as she offers.

"Alright, let's be clear on one thing..." Sage comments, looking over to the others. "While I may agree in spirit to your views of killing them... we're 5 people... if the Coalition were that easy to beat... they wouldn't still be blockading over there." She comments, before looking to Gabriel. "And, if we've been spotted already, we might as well get the heck of out here right now. There's a reason that helicopter isn't making much noise." She comments, "We're here to watch and get paid for what we notice... but, I'm not sure if they have some intel to say whether Quebec is planning on trying to break the blockade or not... so, if we can keep an unnoticed eye in the sky, that might help... but, let's try to see what we can learn and figure out if we can do anything next. Let's take a look around for good vantage points..." She suggests.

Daeni begins to move forward, remaining low to avoid silhouetting herself atop the cliffs. "If need go to ships, need go to water." As the water is below, the appropriate direction of travel is downward. Daeni makes a momentarily survey over the edge before she slides her legs over the drop. "Is good place here to watch, attack. If enemy smart, will look up high, to here."

Jackson chuckles a little at Sage's plan and pats his trusty steed gently. "I've got your eye in the sky right here.. I can get high enough they won't notice me against the stars.. and still see eveything they do with my powers, and more with Nemain's binoculars. Or with Nemain, I can take a passenger. I can also move quick enough on this thing that if you guys get in trouble on the ground I can come screaming back in with laser cannon screaming. Up to you." He offers, sitting a few inches off the ground.

The man crouched on the ground continues to gaze out to sea, if it can be called that. He nods an affirmative to Sage's... sage wisdom. "Boys and girls, I've been known to deviate from orders. In fact, that's why some of my superiors loved me, while others wanted to see me hang. Gabriel tilts his as-yet-un-armored head around to look to Nemain. "Thanks, but I don't need an exact count right now. At the moment, the description, 'outnumbered by a shitload' is perfectly acceptable." There's a hint of battlefield humor in his own voice. He states the obvious: "We need to get closer, but it's too far to crawl." An armored hand points to the cliffs opposite the ones on which the concealed helicopter now sits. "I don't know about you folks, but staying near rock sounds like a good idea right now." He looks back, sketches a crisp salute, states, "See you in the next life," and begins to make his way to the cliffs, keeping low, apparently unconcerned about whether or not he's being followed.

Nemain glances to Jackson with his offer and shakes her head slightly. "They have radar as well. I don't think that thing has quite the baffles system to out fox that." She shrugs as the person she was offering the binocs to heads off. "Deffinate cranial-rectal inversion." She does edge closer to the cliff's edge, but instead of looking out at the ships she instead scans the shore-line below looking to see if there are any landing craft there signifying that they might have to fret about being flanked by a shore party.

Glancing between the others, Sage considers the reaction overall in favour of her idea. "Well, against the fire power they likely have... I'm not sure it matters if we're up or down... but up does have the benefit of being closer to the helicopter and escape." She comments, "Let's just keep an eye out for something... some of you keep an eye on the ships, and others look around for what Free Quebec might be doing to counter the blockade." She comments before moving to pick out a spot to settle into. "I'll be looking for anything on the Quebec side myself." "May need rope if some not climb good." Daeni assesses the cliff face from her position, although Jackson's nomination to move through the sky spares him a pointed glance with that assessment. "Best go down when dark." She now lifts her lower half back atop the cliff and rotates herself to monitor the water and whatever waterfront lies below from a prone position.

The oddly-painted suit of Crusader armor - and oddly thought upon by its owner - stops a distance away from the gathering. He turns to address everyone again. Still with authority in his voice, and definitely not condescending, but someone clearly trying to get across what he believes is the best option. "Look, everyone these days has the, ah," his armored fingers make an unsuccessful attempt at snapping while he thinks, then, "What's that? Oh, yeah, the infrared, right? You can see in the dark? It seems to me, if we're going to be walking around, and especially on that thing - " he points to the hovercycle "- then we need to get moving now. If we wait for dark, these rocks are going to start to cool off, and we might as well be standing on a ridge silhouetting ourselves against the sky. We move now, we get to ground, we have a better shot." Gabriel remains in place this time, just waiting for any opinion or decision or suggestion to be made from the others.

Nemain hmms softly as she looks for a good spot to setting in to keep an eye on the shore as well as the nearer ships and settles in. A silent prayer sent up that this time there wont be big guns pointed at her again. "Aren't we here to just document the ships and how they more so that the Tolkeenites can use some elemental weapon on them to help break up the blockade?" She glances around to those persent. "Yes, perhaps some should head over to the far edge of the bay to confirm the numbers. But last I saw we were here for a snoop and poop, not a full on assult."

Jackson remains sitting on his cycle. "Y'know.. If we're just here for recon. We can do that just fine from here. If someone has a camera.. we can take mosaic pictures for the Quebec military, I can sketch them out if we don't. We can gt a birds eye view with my cycle, and I don't have to stay there long, just long enough to get a good look." He says, not looking at Nemain. "Dunno about the poop though.."

As she moves into position, Sage pauses then gives a sigh. "Hold on... nevermind watching the Quebec side." She comments, "Sorry guys, must have been thinking a little on the past mission and confusing it with this one." She shakes her head at herself. She glances to Nemain, "What do you know about radar? Is there a way to keep from being seen?" She asks, "Like staying low or does anyone know what they can use to interfer with it?" She comments, before looking around for a place to descend from this cliff. "I'm guessing the storm they want to brew isn't going to be pin point accurate... so if we can get landmarks to mark the space between which the ships reside... that might be good enough... so, we either have someone swim across or we use the hovercycle."

Daeni moves herself back from the edge after a few moments of observing the lights on the water. They are far less exciting a scene when there is no approach or hunt involved. Once away from the edge, she rises and looks to their surroundings away from the water. "Not have camera. Will watch for enemy behind." It may prove equally uneventful, yet Daeni will be able to react more quickly should it not. She continues her withdrawal to the rear in order to spread eyes in all directions.

Gabriel visibly collects himself before putting himself back into working mode, mumbling only, "Isn't this already what tried to do?" His anti-flash binocular are brought out of the small kit on his back, and he goes to ground, like he's been suggesting this whole time, up on the cliffs or not. Sure, his binoculars may have been made a world away - literally - but they're still good optics. "Okay, yeah, I get twenty-four vessels this time. They're starting to break up enough that I can see them." A frustrated silence before, "Unless you guys can see in the dark, we're going to lose them soon. I'll just say again, if we're planning on getting down the cliffs - IF - " he emphasizes " then we should do it now." More silence as he scans the distant horizon, maybe waiting, maybe not for anymore input from a group of people who all seem to be bumbling and pretty much doing their own thing. "We're supposed to wait, I say we wait. If I didn't know that there was some kind of massive bomb coming, I might suggest otherwise, just to piss of the bastards and scare 'em a bit. But I'm not so stupid as to go alone."

Nemain produces a small notepad and notes down the observation. She sketches out the cliffs that are visible with a technician's eye to details. "There should be no need to go down the cliff unless there is a party showing up at the beach." Once she has the details down she shifts her rifle back into place and uses the passives to scan the ships again.

Sage begins to take off whatever she might not need as if thinking of going down the cliff, but her movements become slow and unfocused as she stares at something. "They're using the buoy..." She comments after a long moment when her arms stop half-way through the process of taking gear off. "They must be using the buoy to maintain their positioning in all this fog..." She comments, "What signal does a buoy send out?"

"Better sink, not watch." Daeni voices her opinion over one shoulder as she settles into as concealed a crouch as she can manage. As if it is any surprise to those that know anything of her that she might prefer action to inaction. Sage's words cause her attention to linger upon the others. "If stay near buoy, can use track. Or can move? Move buoy, move ships?"

In the dying light, anyone who may be viewing the man from the side might see Gabriel frown. "Could just be light, could be a radio beacon, could be both. We were beginning to use them to set coordinates for the battleships when we hit Okinawa," his states as if this is all common, normal knowledge. "We can ignore it and hope it doesn't matter, we could destroy it," his eyes rise from the binoculars, then peep down through them again "which I might be able to do without getting caught." Then he removes the binoculars from his eyes and turns his head to the others, "Or we could move it. But I personally don't think that we could move it enough to make a difference. This cove has some meaning to them. Safe harbor, beach party, who knows. But I don't think that we should risk any lives." A nod to the elf woman, "Not that it couldn't be done."

Nemain hmms softly as she shakes her head slightly. "Often they are radio or simple sonic. Some are even set up for radar bounce." A soft chuckle answers as she muses. "They could use their elementals to shift the bouys to run the ships onto the rocks in a deep enough fog."

Considering the words spoken, "Setting coordinates, hm?" Sage inquires as she hears the man's comment about what they did on his world or in his time period. "Alright, let's hope for the best... anyone that can work a radio, start looking for the frequency that signal is on. Whoever finds it... say it out loud so we can record it."

Daeni lends her aid by returning her attention to overwatch. While she does know enough about radio equipment to make the numbers match and push the magic switch so that the proper people can hear her words, she does not possess one at the moment. Her helm is little more than a carved piece of chitin, and Fury Beetle antennae do not imply that the creatures come standard with a transceiver.

Gabriel is still watching the others to see what their ideas area, when his head suddenly ticks to the side, and his anti-flash binoculars are looped back carefully around his waste. There's a quiet, "Wait one damn minute," that comes out in a very thick accent that occasionally slips into his voice in situations like this. The helmet that was hooked to the side of his body is un-clatched and held up to his head. Not put over his head, but looking inside, like a kid looking into a Halloween basket. It goes on a for a moment, then there's a quiet, "Huh! Well, fuck me. I wonder if this shit actually works." The helmet is plunked onto his head, and he utters a muffled - apparently he's forgotten to put on any kind of speaker system - "I wmmder if viff wrks."

Nemain has had her helmet on the whole time. She reaches up to starts scanning the frequencies to see if she can lock in on the one coming off those bouys. Her head canting slightly as she starts getting something over the radio. "Anyone got a code breaker? It's going to be encripted anyway." is her soft answer.

Jackson pipes up after being silent for so long, deep in thought. "I' m not going to be any use in tapping in to it.. but I can boost it's signal, or shut it off completely. It's within my power to do that, but I can't do it from here, I need to get closer." He says evenly, gazing at the thing. "Or... if we have the frequencies for Quebecs military, I can change the transmission frequency to their frequency and see if they keep talking long enough to give up some nice juicey details. Of course doing that gives it away that someone is out here."

"How much closer would you need to be?" Sage asks before glancing back towards the helicopter. "Wonder if they would be able to help with intercepting." She comments, before looking to the others once more. "And, whoever can, you might as well keep trying."

"If can hear, others can hear." Daeni calls out with cautious volume from her rear watch position. "Not have soldies also listen? Not need know what say to find, only hear." She knows nothing of electro-magnetic radiation properties or propagation, but assumes that it is no different than any other sound. "Can aim on sound of buoy?"

Gabriel takes off his helmet and sets it carefully at his side, bringing the binoculars up in the dying light again, grunting a, "Well, that didn't work." Softly, as if the darkness would otherwise amplify his voice, he says, "You know, if we do anything to that buoy, even if they don't suspect that anyone's here, they're going to send someone out to take a look. I'm not going to try to convince any of you one way or another. Just pointing out what are in my professional opinion what kind of facts we're all looking at." The man rises to a much higher level, raising himself on his elbows. "By the way. How am I going to tell the French assholes from these other assholes? Is Tolkeen just dropping a bomb?" The questions are posed to no one in particular, and as he settles back into his prone position, adding, "Always met nice people from Minnesota. Good fishing up there." He knocks his helmet over once more, and fiddles inside of it delicately, utters, "Okay, fine, once more, damnit. Sometimes I hate technology," and sits the helmet on his head again.

Nemain hmms softly as she glances towards Jackson. "If you can manipulate the signal, I can probably crack the codes on it. But it will draw serious attention this way. And it's going to be a far cry from a cake walk as well.... For both of us." She shrugs slightly and chuckles, "Or I can try to crack it on my own at a serious disadvantage." She continues to fiddle with the frequencies as she glances back out towards the bouys.

Jackson chuckles and looks back at Gabriel. "Ils parlent francais." He tells the man grinning. But his attentions turn back to Nemain and Sage. "I need to be closer. I can only affect it inside a 40 foot radius of the object in question. And I can change the frequency probably easily. Shouldn't be much different than turning the power off or changing the radio station on a normal radio." He says aloud, glancing Gabriels way to see his reaction.

"Alright, that's plan B." Sage comments regarding Jackson's ability before glancing over towards Daeni. "Yes, the Free Quebec people might be able to hear it as well... but, the difference is that Coalition would see them trying to launch something... an elemental storm is a bit different. Especially if they can't see anything in this fog." She comments, "Well, does anyone have anything on the radio yet?"

Daeni abandons her watch for a moment to move closer to the others. "Not work for magic? Is weak magic." She is no more skilled in storm magic than technological magic, but the assessment seems clear enough to Daeni. "If magic not strong enough to find, should sink ships. I can see with eyes, not need magic to find."

Gabriel shakes his head, not in an annoyed way, or some kind of educational way, but in a definitive and somewhat authoritative way. "Before we turn it off, let's see if we can get anything. Just give us a few seconds. I'm getting some static here. Might be something, might be nothing. But like I said, if it gets turned off, I'd bet a week's pay, if I had any pay, that some fucker in rowboat is going to be out here to see why it's not transmitting. Anyway, hold on, maybe I can clear this up." The helmet is once again seated, but with an awkward motion, a rotate and upward twist the looks as if it could be horribly painful to his neck. Again, Gabriel quite obviously has forgotten to engage the speakers. "Mmky. Leme fibble wfh tviff ting."

Jackson shrugs at Sage's reccomendation and slumps into his pilots seat stride his cycle. "If needbe I can possibly rig it to look like a wiring malfunction. But for that I need to be standing on the buoy. Or I can just blow it up.. Lots of options. Just let me know what you need me to do." He tells everyone, content to let someone else lead and he just have to follow. ooc or after nemain since Jackson skipped her

Nemain waits for Jackson to answer as she continues trying to filter the signals. Probably a good thing to have more than one person working on the signal issue. If they can hand the Tolkeen folk the frequencies and the encription codes there might even be a bonus in the end. Then as he settles in to wait or blow it up she tries her hand at the cracking as well.

An alarm sounds across the water followed by sounds from the fleet. Looks like someone's taken notice.

When Gabriel seems to be working it out, Sage comes over by the man as she awaits the result as she takes out a pen and note paper. If she can hear the radio and anything intelligible, she'll try to copy it down on the paper that she brought with her. She tenses at the alarm. "Sounds like our queue to leave... let's try to get as much as we can as we get ready to leave." There are few cures for idleness and boredom which are as effective as alarms from the enemy. "Now plan change." She promptly focuses her attention upon the now quite noisy flotilla of ships. "Maybe send soldiers to die." Her final comment carries the tone of flat statement with a hint of optimistic enthusiasm.

Gabriel rises suddenly on his elbows again, and begins talking, muffled. But he does manage to raise a staying finger as his helmet clicks to the side a bit, then a (fortunately) quiet speaker tone comes out, "Don't turn it off! I've got it. Disposition of the fleet." Apparently unsure as to what can be heard or not outside of his helmet, Gabriel's voice comes out clipped and crisp, not a vowel or consonant being left out, and the Kentucky drawl well put aside for information gathering. He just keeps speaking out apparently in real-time exactly what it is that he hears, hoping that Sage can take it down fast enough.

Jackson jumps slightly as the alarms sound. "Ok. so much for the stealth aspect. I suggest you take notes quickly, things are gonna get pretty interesting around here real quick." He says aloud, starting his hovercycle in preparation of giving the CS hell.

Nemain winces as well at the alarm. "Crap. They are probably going to be changing the encoding if something tiped them off to someone trying to crack it." She swings her scope around to see if she can spot any activity headed towards shore.

A dozen jetskis are enrought to check out the buoy followed by a smaller patrol boat. Should be about 2 minutes getting to the buoy...

Sage writes as fast as she's able to with regards to what Gabriel is about to say out loud. For the moment, she'll rely on the others to make decisions as to their course of action.

"Fight or leave?" Daeni inquires of the general consensus following one minor preparation. It is much more appropriate to ask after an arrow is nocked, string drawn, and while sighting down upon one of the approaching watercraft.

No doubt the man has noticed the warning signal, but more than two decades of being basically in a continuous state of warfare of one kind or another seems to have allows Gabriel to maintain his cool. His head is ducked low, right on the ground, tilted up only enough to get the thinnest glimpse of activity outside of the helmet. The intelligence continues to come out as neatly as a teletype, but he does crawl backwards like a four-legged spider, obviously hoping to even further reduce his profile for anyone who might be watching the hills. Somewhat awkwardly between perhaps more important words comes, "Outnumbered. A lot. Don't -- see us yet. Maybe very bad. " A long pause, then a very quickly blurted, "Get the fuck out," as his intelligence commentary continues on.

"Our paying mission is to scout.. not to fight. I understand very well the desire to put the hurt to the Coalition, but if we reveal ourselves we risk the mission. However if we slip away unnoticed, and give our employers the information they ask for, and the frequencies currently in use.. and they remain in use. I think we can count on another mission, and more pay. Just my opinion."

One more minute and the forces will be at the buoy investigating. Clearly Gabriel needs more than that. Perhaps a distraction to buy him more time?

Nemain sighs as she counts the moving jet-skis and small boat. "Fifteen to five. About four on one odds. Too bad we can't conjure up a whale to explain some of the issues. Give them something to believe other than the truth."

Daeni maintains her aim, but only looses a small growl so far. "Is good odds. Hear all need to?" The query is ostensibly to Gabriel or Sage, although Daeni's focus does not waver.

"Hide or get in the helicopter." Sage mutters as she tries to remain focused on the task of copying down the intelligence. There isn't much she can do at the moment. If Gabriel's intel breaks off, she'll start edging back towards the helicopter. As the bearer of the recorded information, it tends proirity over anything else.

Gabriel's head begins to shake side to side as he repeats everything that he's hearing. Then, quickly, the helmet is removed, and with various dull lights still flashing inside, he attempts to hand it to Sage, his momentarily erstwhile military secretary. Head free, he whispers two questions. First, "Does anyone have a grenade, or something that will make a large bang?" followed quickly by an inquisitive to the elf woman. "Daeni, how far can you shoot that thing over the heads of those bastards? You know, put it on the other side?"

Jackson shakes his head. "No don't! I've got this. just stay down and keep writing." He hisses, and focuses his gaze on the water immediatly around the buey, and thrashes it with his mind, creating visible splashes, then creates a trail on the surface, hopefully looking like something underwater heading out to sea.

Nemain bites her lower lip in concentration as she could if need be start picking off troopers as she knows there is no flash to her shots. Nice things about a weapon that uses just concentrated froce to do the dirty work. "How close are we do having the info locked? The mock-whale might work yet though."

Indeed the faux whale has some affect, drawing half the jetskis into pursuit. The rest continue to the buoy to see what was done.

With her task of recording, Sage takes any changes in stride. Even if she has to take the man's helmet and get into a better position to listen and copy at the same time. It will be up to the others to save or spoil this development. She has a couple frag grenades slung onto her armor, handle threaded through straps.

"Go to metal bird. Listen more. Will help slow enemy." Daeni was prepared to loose, and slow the target in a potentially permanent fashion. Jackson's ingenuity, however, reduces her number of targets. She adjusts and, when the other watercraft continue, now looses at one of the exposed riders.

Gabriel cringes a little bit when the arrow is shot off of their little ledge, but it's only a cringe. Arrows are even quieter than his HDM, after all. Of course, it's all over his face that he's a tad bit annoyed that his plan wasn't at least briefly discussed, but the Marine colonel rolls with the flow. His head bobs an impressed bob. "Nice shot, Daeni. Think you can hit another guy? If we piss them off enough, they'll be throwing their own shit at each other." Wherever this nuggets of colorful wisdom are coming from is unknown, but he does add a respectful, "Not that you didn't know that already." Then, "By the way, I like the whale thing." After that, only silence, eyes adjusting to the creeping darkness.

Jackson winces as Daeni's shot goes off, assuming his ruse didn't work. But he see's that it did.. at least a little bit.. and he turns his attentions on the remainder. "Dammnit Daeni.." He mutters, slinking low on his cycle, hovering mere inches above the rock, cannons warm and ready to rock. "Ok.. lets see what you can do..." He mutters, biding his time, ready for a major league distraction and assault should things go awry.

Nemain watches the arrow arc down. A soft tsk sounding as she doesn't seem to put the target out of play. She shifts her aim more towards where she thinks the fuel cells would be and waits to see if she needs to make things into a big flare.

The forces cluster around the buoy, two looking to be techs to check it out. But when one of the other sled drivers is hit by an arrow the jig is up. A flare is launched from the hydrofoil patrol boat, bathing the area in light. Around the corner the helicopter starts up.

Taking Daeni's advise, Sage begins to make her way towards the helicopter. It is harder to listen and record. At the commotion behind her, she realizes things might be getting out of hand. "Bird's warming up to leave." She reports, as she begins to move quicker towards the helicopter and hoping to pick out any useful information left once she's able to get into the helicopter and start recording more.

"Yes." Daeni answers Gabriel while another arrow is rapidly 'reloaded.' The motion is smooth, practiced, and quick enough that she can loose a pair of snapshots. The first is not at a guy, but the airborne light source, while the second is at one of those investigating the buoy, itself. "Is time to leave."

There's a mildly exasperated expulsion of air, and Gabriel gets to his feet in a crouch, and begins hurrying toward the helicopter. The unfortunately loud helicopter. He doesn't actually address the next comment to anyone in particular, and probably only heard by those we really good ears, especially considering the winding turbines. But he definitely speaks to himself, and possibly may even seem to be talking to some invisible person next to him, "God, it's like fucking Naples. Need a proper chain of command, at worst a good democratic vote. Proper intelligence, recon, planning..." his speech abruptly cuts off, and he chuckles quietly to himself, his face warming up. "Yeah, I know you know." After coming out of whatever reverie he happened to be in, he acknowledges the extinguishing of the light with a monosyllabic grunt of "Good," followed shortly by an all-inclusive wave, and, "Come on. It's time for all of us to get out of here." He will board the helicopter if close enough to do so, swinging his L-20 into firing position, pointing out the door.

Jackson is seriously torn between racing down and giving the CS tech a mouthful of laser.. but.. His cycle doesn't have the range to get back. So instead he rises up off the ground, pausing only to pop off a shot at one of the more visible CS soldiers/techs, then racing back to the helicopter to pack his bike away. So much for advance planning.

Nemain glances over to Gabe as he mutters to himself and groans something about fucking headcases. She backtracks to the chopper, she does however keep the muzzle of her own rifle trained towards the oncoming troops. Just incase one happens to have something better than a skido.

With all but one in the copter leave time is now. Shore side the light goes out causing a pause in the impending onslaught as another is fired.

Daeni already explained that they should withdraw, and now she does so, herself. As much as she might prefer to kill the insane humans, now is not the time and the walk home is excessive. She will join those at the aircraft and position herself to hold a field of view and fire out the side opposite Gabriel.

Assuming at this point that there isn't anything useful still bring broadcast, Sage will try to give Gabriel back his helmet. He might need it if they happen to be unlucky in their escape plans. If there's a free crewman, she'll offer over the notes she's been able to make. "Here's what we got."

Gabriel offers a sincere smile to Sage and a pleasant (especially considering the situation), "Thanks, Sage. My handwriting is horrible." It's finished with a wide grin, he accepts the proffered helmet, which is then clipped to his waist for ready retrieval, then he bangs a fist on the back of the cockpit door - as if anyone is going to pay any attention to him. "Time to go!"

Jackson has his cycle stowed he moves to the entrance of the chopper, holding his hands up A sphere of protective energy snapping into place inside the chopper, protecting it's occupants from small arms fire. "That should help some.." He says then moves to buckle himself in.

Nemain shakes her head as she settles in to wait for the chopper to actually lift off. Her weapon still trained out at where they might appear from. At the popping up of the force sphere she eyes Jackson, "Warn a body before you start popping fields that could cut a weapon in half going up." Then checks to make sure all of her rifle is still with her. Once the bird has dusted off she shifts back to settle in near Sage again. "Still got the cards?" she asks as she slips her own helmet.

And everyone is off, although a little bumpy as a salvo of mini missiles hits the helicopters armored plates. No damage inside the open doors though with the added help from Jackson. "Well that was a bit too close. You guys get tired of doing math and call them for directions instead?" The pilot asks over the intercom as his crew goes over the intel. "If it werent a narrow water way the fact they got caught would probably debunk this. But thats not the case, this should be adequate to maximise th4e strikes effectiveness. Only so much water for them to sit in after all." The crew confirms as the helicopter heads back to Kingsdale.

Sage mutters under her breath as they get chastised for the messy escape, then draws in a breath and lets it out. If they didn't partially deserve it, she might give them a piece of her mind. Then she glances over to Nemain once she's settled in near her. "Hm?" She asks, at first before glancing around. "Oh... somewhere around here..." She comments, reaching out for the bundle she'd left behind in the helicopter.

Nemain glances to the cockpit's blank wall. "Makes me wonder if they had already cracked the signal and just wanted to see if we could as well." She mulls over the sophistications and range of the antenna array built into something like the choper and frowns.

Jackson chuckles at Nemain. "Don't freak out. If your rifle had been in the way I'd have made the field a little larger to compensate." He tells her, glancing back at the field, willing it out of existence. "OK job done, we're down a few arrows and a few shots in the E-clips.. but none worse for the wear. Then the pilot calls back. "We just wanted to be sure you weren't sleeping on the job!" He calls up, grinning despite himself. Not bad all in all.

Daeni settles back into her seat once they are away and clear. She looks to Nemain and echoes those concerns. "If only needed radio, have in this, yes?" A wave of her hand indicates the aircraft. "Is stupid bring many if not need."

Gabriel never relaxed his stance until they were within Kingsdale's defensive ring, rifle held not to his shoulder, but at the ready for the entire, and very long flight. He offers a "Good job, people," and all of that martial personality that was surrounding him a few hours ago is gone, and it's just Gabriel, the guy who's getting used to being in a really weird place. Well, not quite. Military matters are still clearly on his mind. His chin juts a polite indicator toward Sage. "I'm afraid that I was too busy parroting to actually listen. Did we get any useful intelligence?"

Sage's gaze shifts between the two women before shaking her head faintly before letting a faint smile register on her lips. "Maybe they needed someone to blame if it didn't go well." She comments quietly before looking over towards Gabriel, considering the man for a brief moment. "Likely enough to do enough damage... its not like they have much water to move around in." She comments before giving a shrug. She pauses before letting her gaze drift between people, "Now... who wants to play?"