7160/Operation: Crowd Control E-0(Salvage Work)

Operation: Crowd Control E-0(Salvage Work)
Date of Scene:	18 April 2020
Location:	The Great Ocean
Synopsis:	Salvage operations on a military convoy.
Cast of Characters:	Shigure, Leyanne Mace, 7075, Haguro

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Shigure has posed:
    Local time: 13:42

    Location: Malacca Strait local waters, approximately 80nm south-southwest of the strait.

    Shigure floats in her shipform, alongside a dedicated salvaging rig, the SS Saint Germaine. The crew stands ready and the captain has the sonar probes out already, pulsing down at the ocean floor looking for the wreck of the latest convoy to be attacked, a military group consisting of a helicoptor carrier and its escort of three frigates, lost with all hands.

    "Shigure to salvage team... do you have anything yet?"

Leyanne Mace has posed:
There are once again Martians present, although they're primarily here to help provide cover for the salvage crew, although they're also also towing a side-scan sonar slled to help broaden the salvage rig's scans. The Tubthumper skims across the water, lazily planing a search pattern around the group and listening in on the radio, waiting to see if there's help needed, or any signs of trouble.

"Tubthumper here." Leyanne radios. She's up on the flying bridge today. "Perimiter's quiet North. No radar contacts, nothing on sonar. You getting the feed from our sled?"

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha is out on the deck of the salvaging ship. She walks up to the railing at the edge and leans over it, peering down into the deep dark of the ocean below. Of course she can't see far enough down to actually do any good.

    As Shigure's comm comes in, Nanoha goes, "Ah..." She leans back, looking behind her. Floating not too far away is Raising Heart. Suspended on those pink wings of light, several holoscreens are arrayed around her. Displaying a map of the local area, overlayed with their search pattern and current progress. Showing the results of sensor scans so far. As well as live data on the current pings.

    Taking a quick glance at what they have so far, Nanoha replies over the radio a little dejectedly, "Nothing yet..."

Haguro has posed:
Haguro is here as well! She's not doing a great deal of digging around herself, though, content to drift along the water where the convoy was reported to have gone down. Indeed, she doesn't seem that concerned at all about what's below since her gaze is focused elsewhere.

Instead of looking down, she's looking over the horizon. She keeps glancing around, almost as if expecting something else to show up. Someone, perhaps? Either way, it appears she's focusing on holding the perimeter for the time being without dedicated diving equipment of her own.

Shigure has posed:
    The salvage team take all the incoming data to feed into a large holographic map of the ocean floor in the search zone. As the Tubthumper finishes its northern sweep the crew radios to Shigure they need eyes in the east, and a second sweep out west.

    "Copy Salvage control, I'll task my assets on that." she opens wide band to the rest of the group. "Salvage crew is continuing to monitor. Tiny, could you sweep around to the east. Captain Takamachi, take the west." she transmits, before her attention focusses over onto Haguro in the distance. "Haguro... is something wrong?"

Leyanne Mace has posed:
When Leyanne hears the request to sweep east, Tiny nods. "We're moving east." She calls out. "Plot on the map, we're moving to grid square 203 mark 34 east, 104 mark 21 north." Down in the actual bridge, the course is marked on the map and the little PT boat turns and begins to scan the eastern flank north-to-south and back again in the long, straight, steady-speed swathes loved by the people whose job it is to read sonar-skimmer plots. It's dull work, but it does give the crew a chance to work on gun maintenance and the like, while Tiny concentrates on driving the boat.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha gets the request to shift the search zone. She turns around to face her Device, "Raising Heart, please plot out an updated search pattern for the probes. Directed west. And update the captain once you have it?"

    Raising Heart chimes, <Yes, Master.> Pause. <We will not use the search?>

    Nanoha leans back against the railing and shakes her head, "The conditions underwater aren't that great for the spell. I think we're better off letting the experts handle it!" She raises a finger to tap her chin, "Though perhaps it might be useful for following up on anything they find."

Haguro has posed:
"Ah, Shigure. N-no, I'm alright." Haguro manages an awkward smile towards Shigure as she snaps out of that brief daze, furrowing her brow after a moment while drifting to a stop. "I'm surprised this attack would be as... Secretive as the last one. It makes more sense tactically, but..."

She taps one of her turrets idly. "It doesn't send quite the same message as making sure they were seen." She lets out a troubled sigh, her murmuring going quiet for a moment. "Unles there's another group involved...?"

After a few more moments, Haguro shakes her head before turning back to Shigure. "The culprits, whoever they are, might still return. Shall I keep an eye on the south, then? Or do you need me on something else?"

Shigure has posed:
    As Tiny sweeps on the eastern patrol route, a picture starts to form on the bottom. The salvage team starts running data and radios. "We've got something on the eastern edge of the search area."

    They don't move though, not until all data points are in and wait for Nanoha's scan to resolve. A second signature appears on the holographic map. "West has a signal too... which should we look at first?"

    Shigure broadcasts. "We have two signals, one east at 182 mark 22 east, 89 mark 18 north. Second signal at 092 mark 10 west, 034 mark 89 south. Which should we investigate first? We will only get one today before sundown."

    To Haguro, the destroyer seems impassive. Shipforms aren't all that expressive after all. "Do you believe there are more than just this abyssal fleet involved in these disappearances?" she asks, voice ringing tinnily through the metal of her seaframe.

Haguro has posed:
"I wouldn't be surprised if there were. The last attack seemed like they wanted to send a message of power, like they were preparing for a fight." Haguro replies, starting to drift along again to help maintain a perimeter around the area. She's heading south first, slowly looping around towards the eastern contact given enough time once Nanoha calls out that contact first.

"But something about this one just doesn't feel right. It's too... Messy?" She sounds bothered again. "A convoy would have some supplies, but going after military frigates rather than a trading ship or a supply line..." There's a long pause, and then Haguro suddenly looks... Impressed?

"... Or maybe that /is/ the message they're trying to send after all. This could be a trap." Despite the vague warning at the end, she's suddenly looking almost excited. "I wonder if we'll see them at the eastern point. IF not them... Hm. I'll have to get in touch with the other fleet. I wonder if they've accepted my proposal yet..."

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne and her crew confer for a little on what to do, before a decision is made - leave this one to the salvage experts. She's just a PT boat skipper, she can't even see the data direct to make any kind of judgement. She thinks a moment, before thumbing her radio again.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha continues to lean against the railing as the search continues. She's just happy to enjoy the feeling of the sea breeze. But then the radio alert comes in, indicating that Leyanne's team has found something. Nanoha smiles, "Finally!" Of course, they're still finishing their own scans. And they come up positive too.

    So the question is, with what time they have, which should they investigate? Nanoha hmms quietly, crossing her arms as she considers. She then looks at her Device, "Raising Heart, can you calculate the probabilities of a successful find between the two options?"

    Raising Heart chimes quietly in affirmative. There's silence. Then it chimes up once more, <Suggested probability of find in eastern site versus western site. Five zero point zero zero zero zero zero zero one.> Pause. <Caution. There may be a point zero zero zero zero zero zero one drift in the calculation.>

    Nanoha just stares at her Device, before muttering, "Big help you are..." Nanoha rubs the back of her head, before shrugging and replying over the radio, "Well... The east signal was picked up first... So, first come, first served!"

    Nanoha begins walking across the deck back to the ship's bridge, saying, "Let's go tell the captain to change course and prepare the salvage operation." Raising Heart moves to float after Nanoha, the holoscreens all vanishing.

Shigure has posed:
    It takes a while, the salvage rig isn't fast or agile, but once it arrives the entire thing becomes a hive of feverish activity. Dive cranes are lowered, remote vehicles are deployed to get visuals, and a manned minisub is lowered in to supervise the cranes and help attach things in place.

    Shigure begins to patrol giving the team a wide berth so the wake from her passage doesn't knock their systems about too badly.

    Nanoha is greeted by the salvage team lead. "We will be doing a preliminary visual scan with the USVs, then if we get a good visual of the site we'll send in the manned sub and recovery arms to get a closer look... what exactly are we looking for, anyway?"

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne listens and nods, raising a hand above her head with a winding gesture. "Pull in the array!" She orders. "Action stations, action stations, we're taking perimiter guard. Let's make it happen, gentlemen, I to be in full plane in five minutes if you please." She hits the General Quarters alarm, for good measure.

On the back, the two exocet loaders trigger the winch to pull the towed array back in, man-handling it back aboard once the line is retracted because there's no crane on the little PT boat. The rest of the boat is a hive of activity as guns are readied and the covers opened on the torpedo tubes.

"Array is stowed, Kapitan!" Igor calls as he passes the wheelhouse, fistbumping Tiny on the way to his gun. "The boat is rigged for planing."

Tiny checks her clock. "Seven minutes... not bad, but we need to practice. I'd wanted five minutes. I'm afraid it's the cheap beer when we get back to port, not the good stuff." She thumbs her radio.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha nods to the salvage team lead as the plan of action is described. She offers, "We can assist with the visual inspection." She turns to her Device, "Raising Heart?"

    Raising Heart chimes, <Understood. Wide Area Search.> Several orbs of pink appear in the air around the floating gem. They then dart over the edge of the ship and down into the water. An array of holoscreens appear, showing footage from the magic probes. Though their progress slows and the view isn't the greatest as they get deeper.

    While her spell moves to assist the scouting, Nanoha proceeds to answer the lead, "There's some concerns that these attacks are not normal. And possibly being assisted by something or someone unfamiliar to us. So we're here to look for anything that doesn't fit what is expected of a typical Abyssal assault. Strange damage patterns. Unknown debris. Signs that they might have had an ulterior motive for the attack. Basically anything that doesn't belong. Or perhaps something that should belong, but isn't here."

Haguro has posed:
"Signs of humans, perhaps." Haguro chimes in after Nanoha details what the salvage teams should be looking for, keeping her tone neutral even as she keeps looking around and keep watch over the immediate area. "Although unlikely, it's possible that the Abyssals may have human cohorts. Or... That they Abyssals we're looking for aren't involved at all."

It's a big guess at this point, but she's not ready to leave that chance off the table yet. "Depending on the size of the wreck, too... It may have just been an attack rather than trying to harvest anything of use."

Shigure has posed:
    Nanoha's search probes and the salvagers USVs find the shot up hulk of a frigate-class vessel. One of the modern sleek ones. It's got obvious shell punctures, and a large rip down the starboard side from a torpedo detonation. Preliminary inspection doesn't turn up anything missing, but surface details are lacking on modern-era ships.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Nanoha looks over a combination of results from both her spell and the USVs. So far there's nothing obvious that stands out. But an underwater visual inspection is only the beginning and not likely to be very informative.

    At least they've confirmed that they have an actual wreck. And one they were expecting! Nanoha nods to the salvage team lead, "We should progress to a manned inspection. It would be nice if we can bring the wreck up too. If it's structurally intact enough... But I suppose the inspection will tell us that."

Shigure has posed:
    "Preliminary visual suggests it won't be salvagable in one piece, that damage along the starboard side may have compromized the seaframe... but yes, we'll deploy the manned sub now... care to join them?" remarks the salvager captain, gesturing to the submersible.

    Whether Nanoha joins or not, the manned sub goes down and deploys more directed cameras inside the rip in the hull, squeezing inside... the entire internal systems are stripped bare. Missle racks, the forward turret. Gas Turbines... everything but the outer shell and what's left of the seaframe. There's marks consistant with Abyssal salvaging. Large rending clawmarks on the inner side of the hull where mounting points used to be. Strategicly placed swipes that took out the mount with minimal damage to the salvage itself.

Nanoha Takamachi (7075) has posed:
    Turn down a submarine ride? Never!

    Nanoha joins the salvage team in inspecting the underwater wreck. It's not too surprising that they find the ship's equipment has been stolen. Rather forcefully at that. And the evidence points to Abyssals.

    Other than that though it doesn't look like there's anything particularly unusual about it. It's a shame they can't raise the wreck. Or find an alternative means of getting a closer inspection. But what they've found so far will have to do, "Alright. I think that's enough. Let's head back before it gets too dark."