7161/Operation: Crowd Control E-0(Scouting Party)

Operation: Crowd Control E-0(Scouting Party)
Date of Scene:	10 April 2020
Location:	The Great Ocean
Synopsis:	Several people head out to scout the Malacca Strait to see if they can find out anything about this new threat.
Cast of Characters:	Shigure, Gaonoir, Haguro, Leyanne Mace, Neuroi Girl

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Shigure has posed:
    Current Time: 0936 local time.

    It's morning, not so early that common folk won't be awake, but not so late as to be the busy period for most. Scout teams have been gioven locations to investigate and gather intel from local sources.

     There are several places but a limited window of time to get to them.

    A PORT TOWN that acted as a stop-over for frieghter ships on long haul journies, a FISHING VILLAGE that sends boats out into the strait on a regular basis, what looks like an ABANDONED AIRFIELD that might be worth looking at and currently a FLOATING NOMAD TOWN, several large ships and other floating vessels strapped together into a slow-moving nomad colony.

    The TOWN is located on the MAINLAND. The VILLAGE on the ISLAND that makes up the other half of the strait's landmass. The AIRFIELD is on the ISLAND and the NOMADs are moored near the mouth of the strait.

    Shigure is on hand to coordinate and collect any information, her shipform acting as a mobile command center for the teams.

Gaonoir has posed:
Being able to fly himself just makes the airfield a natural choice right? Though Gaonoir is more considering that even an abandoned airstrip might have had supplies or such around it still, or could be useful as a staging ground, a umaking it a possible location of interest. Erika agreed with the hunter's logic, so that's where the duo take off for. Flight not necessary, but it does make traveling the island inland a bit more convenient for them to get there.

That Gaonoir still prefers to stay away from larger crowds in urban settlements doesn't have anything to do with it (it totally does but edgedoge isn't going to talk about it).

Haguro has posed:
Since their last meeting, Haguro's been hard at work on... Not this matter, but others that have continued contributing to her ongoing concerns following the strange attacks. She doesn't look like she's at 100, either, with bandages peeking out from one sleeve and making her legs look chunkier than they normally are. She's not going to let things like near-amputations stop her from scoping potential points of interest, though, especially considering that some of them might be relevant to her own projects sooner rather than later.

Today's first target: the FLOATING NOMAD TOWN. She's pegging them as ideal targets for a sea-based raid, so she's going to check that out before she goes for anything else.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
A boat approaches the FISHING VILLIAGE, at speed, bouncing across the water - with a new sound to his engines, not unlike running a finger around a wine glass. Once she gets close, Leyanne throttles Tubthumper down, not wanting to spook anyone at the town. "Yo, make sure all the guns are aimed away from people." Leyanne warns her crew.

Following orders, Leyanne's crew point all the little PT boat's guns skywards, and keep the covers over the front of the tubes closed. Slowly, Tubthumper approaches the dock, with Leyanne on the bow ready to either anchor a line, or talk to anyone who approaches...

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline is also able to fly, but with limited time and the airfield already covered she heads to the Port Town. Dock workers in a busy port should be a good source of information for Abyssals, right? So, she floats about the docks just a few inches off the ground and approaches both dock workers and those disembarking, asking them if they have seen any strange pale girls by themselves in the water in the shipping lanes.

     And of course her radar and other scanning senses are going, looking for signs of the Abyssals.

Shigure has posed:
    The Airfield proves to be as ramshackle as one might expect from something abandoned for so long, but there's signs of recent occupation, a door to one of the smaller buildings is open and propped by some boxes, and there's footprints in the dirt. Human it seems. They seem to be fresh and are headed out of the base perimeter and into the nearby wooded area.

    The Nomad town signals Haguro as she appeaches, perimeter towers swiveling turrets to track her. "State your intentions, we will open fire if you prove hostile." The turrets show signs of Abyssal workmanship, the deep black metal and fragments of horror teeth, as well as more common human work as well.

    The Fishing village sends out a trio of young, strong looking men to greet Tiny and the Thumper. The wave the Elco in and help moor it in place before an older man, the village chief, approaches. "Greetings travellers... what brings you to our little corner of eternity?" he asks, his voice a little wheezy, but strong.

    Evangeline would earn some looks of concern as she approaches, a few security raising weapons but not firing on the strange looking creature. The dock chief uses the intercom, her voice echoing across the docks. "Stand down, if she was one of those freaks we'd all be dead by now... You. Up here. Now." There's movement at the top of the traffic control tower, a middle-aged woman with ram horns waves the Neuroi over.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline comes to a stop as the weapons are raised and just floats there motionless until the voice comes over the intercom. When it does, her head slowly lifts toward the tower before she floats that direction silently. She doesn't even look at the security personnel as she passes them, probably not detracting from their suspicion or worries at all.

     She comes to a stop at the door of the tower, then slowly raises a hand...then knocks entirely too hard. She doesn't have amazing strength or anything so the door isn't damaged, but the clang of metal-like against metal or wood can probably be heard a decent distance away. "...you wanted to talk with me...?" the little Neuroi asks, her meek and barely inflected voice in complete contrast to her strong knocking.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne helps moor up her boat with the help of the three young fishermen. Once the boat is moored up, the engines shut down -and that glass-line ringing is the last part of the engine note to fade. "Ello mate, I'm Tiny." She introduces herself to the chief, smiling broadly.
"Two things - first, and least importantly, you got any diesel for sale? We've got enough to get to the nearest fuel stop but it's at a big city and you know what their prices are like. Second... you guys heard any freaky shit going on around here? Monster-boats attacking people, that sort of deal. I've seen some of the scars on the way up here, you've got what we call Abyssals in the area. I'm part of a group that takes care of that kind of threat, and we're scouting out the area to see what exactly it is we're dealing with, so we don't go off half-cocked. Can we get you a beer, by the way? We've got a cooler on board, consider it a down payment on the docking fees, eh?" SHe grins, cheerfully.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir sets Erika down on the ground once he lands, snorting softly. "This place is only mostly abandoned." It doesn't take long for him to notice the propped door, motioning towards it. "Someone has been here."

"Yeah." Erika kneeled down to take a picture of the human looking footprints with her phone camera. "Do corrupt ship girls even have feet? We don't see them out of the water often." Taps the screen with her fingertips to expand the image. "It looks human, but this is the Multiverse, appearances only go so far." She flicked a few bangs out of her face as she looked to her partner. "What do you think?"

Gaonoir looks at the door, then the footprints, then off in the direction they're heading. "Looks like it goes off the compound. Whoever it is may of seen something, or found something of interest." He starts walking that way with human partner following after him. They could check the rest of the airfield later, best to check this trail out while it's still fresh and the person hasn't gotten far.

Haguro has posed:
The Cruiser keeps her expression neutral as she watches those turrets turn, sighing lightly while keeping her hands at her sides. She isn't drawing any weaponry, but her own turrets are twitching slightly as though ready to return fire at a moment's notice. "Haguro, Vice Admiral of the Luthan Fleet."

Would they recognize her name? Throwing it out there might not be the smartest thing, but it'll certainly help her decide on the next course of action sooner rather than later. "I'm here to investigate Abyssal movement in this area." She keeps her tone even, but she's not trying all that hard to hide her own suspicions at the sight of the black metal already decorating the turrets. "Have you noticed any odd movements or... Salvaged anything of theirs recently?"

Shigure has posed:
    The door opens as the Neuroi knocks on it. The woman quirks a brow incredulously at the meek sounding voice. "You're an odd one ainchya... anyway, I'm Maribeth, chief of this dockyard. You here about those horror show freaks attacking the cargo lanes?" she asks, gesturing the Neuroi inside.

    The chief chuckles a little. "We use biofuel for our boats, but we have a few barrels of diesel for the old trasnsport we used to take our catch to the town for sale, we could part with one." He says, then nods a little. "Our fishers have seen these creatures, yes. They seem to not see us, or we're not important enough for them." a roll of his shoulders and a little grunt. "Little Hawkson saw a large one surface near the crab grounds... you should ask him for the details."

    Following the trail of footprints leads the tamer and partner pair out to a campground. They're greeted by three people with rifles. "Who goes!? We have a salvage license, we're allowed to be here!" The camp has a large container that's partially open, showing various scraps of metal, some old parts of computers and other useful salvage.

    The voice gains a face. An imposing looking man in a faded and slightly ratty looking captain's uniform. "We fought off a small group of those little bastards on the way here. We used their carcasses to reinforce our defenses. So yes. We've seen /and/ salvaged them. What of it, ~Vice~ Admiral." he sneers, quirking a brow as the turrets remain trained in.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline tilts her head slightly at the chief of the docks before nodding lightly. "...yes...I am Evangeline...part of the Paladins and the Hikari Defense Force...we investigate instances of Abyssals or other shipping trouble..." She pauses a moment before floating fully into the room and closing the door again. Well, slamming it is more accurate. She pauses for a moment again before looking at her arm (which are sans hands at the moment) before floating closer to Maribeth. "...please...describe them and give coordinates where we might encounter them...and if they have said anything to any of your sailors it might be helpful to know that, too..."

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne grins "Biofuel? Even better, Thumper's engines love that stuff, diesel's just easier to find. I'll take a few barrels, if you can spare 'em." Leyanne says, cheerfully. "Cash, trade, or work? We're all mechanics, so whatever's easiest for you guys."

She listens as he describes the creatures, nodding. "You're lucky. They can be vicious, when riled. You mind if I talk to this Hawkson dude - or anyone else who's seen them? I'm happy to do anything to help you guys out in return - I live in a place not unlike this in Alaska, I know there's always shit that needs fixing."

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir immeadiately holds one gauntlet clad arm out protectively over Erika. "We noticed," the digiwolf remarks dryly.

Not that it does much to deter Erika's curiousity, as she just glabs Gaonoir's arm and leans over it with a scrutinizing gaze towards the men. "If you have a license, why are you sneaking in and out of the woods for it?" Though in fairness she's asking out of honest curiousity and not accusation. At least not yet.

Haguro has posed:
"A simple question, nothing more." Haguro replies in that same measured tone, crossing her arms after a moment. Internally, she's regretting that immediately at the slight strain on her arm, but she can bear it easily enough. Her gaze is still focused on the speaker, but her expression doesn't betray a hint of intimidation on the part of those turrets aimed at her.

"By using their gear as your own, though... You're not worried about becoming higher priority targets, are you?" There's a defiant, yet amused tone coming into her voice at that last part. "Draw their forces in, shoot them down, salvage more weaponry... You'd be doing the locals a favor."

Haguro taps her chin in thought, glancing past the nomads' ships towards the more open parts of the sea. "Or even fine something interesting to pull up... Any luck with that?"

Shigure has posed:
    Maribeth winces a little at the slam of the door. The steel slab clanging resonantly as it locks back into place. "I've heard about the Paladins and the Defense guys. Never seen either, or the Abyssals for that matter. We've not gotten any transports come through outside of the fisher folk across the strait. Last one that got through was shot to hell, said there was some kind of half-submerged satructure at the center of the strait." she shrugs. "We sent a team to investigate, but they never returned."

    The fisher chief chuckles. "If you're willing to help, we could use someone to look at the engines on our boats. We can maintain them well enough, but there are things we can't do." He then gestures to the village. "Hawkson is in the village hall, you can see him if you need." The man in question is rather small, and hawkish. he has feathers for hair, and an angled face, some kind of hybrid. It's the Multiverse after all.

    "We're out here, because of those horrorshow freaks. They come out of the water at night like some kinda weird zombie shit. they don't come into the woods." replies one of the men. "Christ sake Jacob, shut up! We don't have to answer to these guys."

    "We use what we must to survive. If we had to use their guns, so be it." The Captain leans on the railing, and casually waves the turrets off. "As for other salvage? Nah. We only salvage from those stupid enough to attack us." he says. "Besides, we don't have sonar strong enough to track stuff on the ocean floor." he makes a gesture. "You wanna come aboard and confirm? Or are we done with the veiled threats?"

Gaonoir has posed:
"No, but the answer is appreciated." Gaonoir turns his to look back towards the airfield and the ocean beyond it. "Investigating that 'weird zombie shit' is why we're here." Then turns his attention back to the group, and their crate. Squints behind his visor. "That's.. mostly scrap electronics, isn't it?"

So the Abyssals have been sited in the area, and they don't like to come very far onto land. If it's an adversion to dry land or just because of the poor shape they're in is up for debate, but Erika checks them off her list all the same. Then looks up as Gaonoir asks his question. "You haven't found anything like munitions or fuel?" She quickly holds up a hand to hold off any questioning. "We're not interested in taking the salvage ourselves. The 'sea zombies' are looking for a specific type of resource."

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne laughs "Tell you what, for whatever biofuel you can spare, we'll stay here for, say, two days, have a look at every engine here, give 'em a tweak and tune... anything critical we can't fix with what we've got on Tubthumper, we'll take back to the shop with us and put it through all our milling machines and bring back in a week. How's that sound? Work out the details with Igor - he's the big piebald guy, you can't miss him - and I'll go talk to Hawkson."

Igor looks up at the mention of his name. He's a truly massive ogre of a mouse, with a slightly angular - dare one say it possibly even rat-like - head, and white fur blotched with ginger. He's quite casually carrying a crate of parts under one arm.

Once the chief is talking to Igor, Leyanne heads off in search of Hawkson in the village hall...
*THUD*

...completely forgetting to duck on the way in, announcing her presence to everyone in the hall by nearly braining herself on the doorframe. "Ow... fucking... twat... low bridge..."

Haguro has posed:
"Veiled..? Oh. No, if I wanted to threaten you, I'd do it directly." Haguro states bluntly, tapping one of her own turrets before it lowers following the lowering of the Captain's. "Salvaging in self-defense? That's fine, then. If you were capable enough to sink and reuse Abyssal technology, though..."

She starts sliding across the water towards the Captain's ship at a leisurely pace, just going straight towards the side as if she was going to glide into it with her face. Before impact, though, she raises one foot and just phases right through the entire boat, appearing besides the Captain and stopping herself with one practiced step. To an untrained eye, it would look like she just took a single step from sea level to the deck in defiance of common sense and physics!

(In reality, she's practiced with her thrusters and ability to phase in and out of existence way too much.)

"... Surely you're on someone's payroll. How much are they paying?" She doesn't even bother looking around the ship at what else might be on deck, taking the Captain's words at face value for the time being.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline listens to Maribeth motionlessly until that half-submerged structure is mentioned, at which point she tilts her head. "...half-submerged structure...that could be their stronghold...you should advise any ships take an alternate route if possible...if not, then they should not venture into the strait until we have cleared it...or at least not without a heavily armed escort...the Abyssals will destroy anything they can for salvage and supplies..."

     She bows at the waist in a Japanese fashion, then rotates in place before floating toward the door. "...thank you for the information, Maribeth, chief of the dockyard..." she says, then pauses before turning back toward her. "...I will provide you the Hikari frequency...if any of your ships come under attack...they can use it to call for aid...and we will respond if at all possible..." she says. She provides the radio frequency, then pauses. "...is there anything else you need...? ...and...may I see the ship that made it through...?"

Shigure has posed:
    "First thing we looked at was the armory. Someone got there before us and cleaned it out." says Jacob, completely ignoring the glares of his companions. "Fuel stores too. We just started taking anything else. They didn't look at the old computers or anything."

    The thud of a large mouse hitting her head on the doorframe alerts the young man, and two other fisher folk inside the hall. They stop their meal and look over. One, a young woman with mouse ears of her own, asks, "Are you okay?" Hawkson himself stands and gestures. "Come, join us... you're here about the sea ghosts, right? I saw them... two, black hair, some kind of platform. The one with long hair looked right at me before being pulled along by the little black metal ones."

    Haguro earns a grunt of surprise as she appears on the deck in such a manner. "Lady, we're nomads, we don't answer to anyone but ourselves." he asserts. "When you live like we do, you either live, or die by the ability to fight." He shrugs a bit, straightening up and adjusting his cap.

    Maribeth nods a bit. "We appreciate it. We've already warned off any other transports from the area until these things are dealt with." the ram-horned woman waves in response, before tilting her head. "We've already sent it on after affecting repairs... I can offer the pictures we took and copies of the repair reports. It's rather dry reading though."

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir and Erika look at each other for a moment at the recount. That lines up with what others are finding out. Erika adjusts her glasses to maintain some semblence of a professional appearance. "Thank you gentlemen, for your assistance." She half turns and pauses. "Oh, and don't worry, we won't send anyone else out here after you. Your salvage operation is not the matter we're concerned with. You'll want to continue keeping your distance and avoiding nocturnal activity if you go near the shores until this matter is completely sorted out though."

She starts walking back towards the airfield, Gaonoir following after her. "I have my doubts they're fully or appropriately 'lincensed'... But you're right, that's not what we're here for."
"Look at it this way," Erika replies. "If they're here, where we know the Abyssals have been already, they're not at risk and less likely to get in someone else's way. Besides, you saw the state of those computers. Too old or broken up to be much use outside collecting the valuable metals inside the components."
"Good point. Good eyes, too."
"I've had a good example."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline nods lightly as she listens to Maribeth, then holds out an arm. A hand extends from it where before it was a flat sleeve-like end. "...they could be helpful in determining what sort of weapons we will be dealing with...and perhaps what sort of numbers the enemy has. Once she has the pictures in hand, Evangeline heads toward the door. But, before she goes she turns to Maribeth again. "...I like your horns..." she says before departing.

     From there, she starts toward the strait. She intends to do a recon run, to see if there is any enemy activity visible from the air and to get exact coordinates on the possible stronghold.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne grumbling and complaining, Leyanne ducks through the door. She nods to the mouse-eared lady "Yeah, I'm fine, kinda used to that, to be honest. I've been this tall since puberty, you'd think I'd have learned by now." She gives a bashful grin, starting to make herself some tea. "Yeah, I am. I'm part of the Hikari Defense Force - we protect anyone who uses the water for peaceful means, as best we can. We call them Abyssals, they're... dead ships, I think. Echoes of the moment they sank? I'm here to find out what they're doing around here... tell me everything. There were two of them, one with long hair, one without. Where were they going, what was on the platofmr and such?"

Haguro has posed:
"Really? That's admirable, then... I don't see many self-sufficient fleets these days that don't rely on a government to bankroll their existence." Haguro actually sounds somewhat impressed as she smiles slightly. She heads back over to the edge of the ship, looking out towards the sea again for a few moments before turning her head to the Captain once more.

"I have an offer for you, then. Mercenary work, so you can stop whenever you'd like or your services are no longer needed." She gives that reassurance first, then turns back to the Captain. "You wouldn't have to change anything about what you're doing now, either. All I need is for you to report any strange Abyssal activity in whatever region you happen to be in at the time."

She pauses, then adds. "Or... Anyone diving in to salvage things from the deep. In exchange, your people will be paid a weekly salary to use as you wish." Haguro pauses again to let that thought circulate, then speaks up once more.

"Yes, you could live and sustain yourselves entirely, but it wouldn't hurt to afford repairs easily. Ammunition. Local comforts wherever you go."

Shigure has posed:
    "Guns, and... teeth. It looked alive, like some kind of monster." says Hawkson. The third member pipes up. "I managed to take a picture with the old camera father gave me..." he says, showing a polaroid picture of two women with alabaster skin, one with long hair wearing white, the other with short hair wearing black. The one in White is looking directly at the camera, the one in black looks off into the distance, like most Abyssals that aren't Flagship-class or one of the Demon or Princess types. Black has burning red eyes, White has ghostly pale blue. The 'platform' is clearly an Abyssal Parasite rig, lots of big Battleship guns, and a flat deck with catapults to launch seaplanes. An Aviation Battleship-type.

    Gaonoir and Erika arrive at the arsenal and find it indeed cleaned out, clawmarks on the concrete showing where the animalistic Abyssals broke restraining brackets out of the walls to get at the munitions.

    Haguro's offer is mulled over, the Captain tapping his chin in thought. "I'll have to talk to the crew. We don't do anything that affects the flotilla without a consensus from the council... we'll contact you when we reach a decision." he says, leaning back on the railing. "Illegal salvagers are the bane of everyone that does it legitimate. We shoot those bastards when we find 'em on principle. Noone should disturb the resting place of a ship and 'er crew."

    Evangeline's flight is largely uneventful, until she suddenly starts taking ground fire from flak shells. Rapid fire ones at that. Through the smoke and shrapnel, a figure can be seen reclining on a throne made from teeth and guns.

    It's Davao.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne listens and nods. "I know the look, not pleasant, is it?" She agrees. Then gets a look at the picture. "You beauty..." She peers at the photo. Her left eye whirrs quietly as she zooms in on the picture. "Jackpot, we've got a Parasite rig... looks like a carrier, and... I don't know what class those two are, but the guys back at base will, this will tell us quite a lot. Do you want to keep this, or get a copy of it? Shigure and the guys are going to want to see this."

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir rubs his metal clad fingers over the claw gouges while his visor scans them. "They've been here alright. Animalistic but smart enough to break containment to get the weapons intact."

"Probably trained to do so, with how often they've been doing this." Erika takes a few pictures as well, though it's all just confirming data at this point. "Let's meet back with the others to start planning the next step."

"Right." After they exit the armory Gaonoir scoops her up in his arm, ignites his jets and takes off towards Shigrue's holding position.

Haguro has posed:
"That's fair. Glad that we see eye to eye on that much, then." Haguro chuckles softly, actually sounding genuinely pleased for a moment before clearing her throat. She slips a business card out of a pocket, scribbles some coordinates down on it, then hands it to the Captain with that usual Japanese panache.

"A bonus, if you and your crew find out anything about salvaging operations that happened in this region specifically." There's several zeroes on that card. It's where Haguro's wreck was located, after all.

"Since our business is concluded, then... I won't keep you and your flotilla any longer, Captain. Take care, and do give the illegal salvagers my regards." Haguro gives the Captain and the visible crew on deck a salute, then turns towards the edge of the ship. Once again, she goes for a flashy exit in the form of just walking right over the railing, landing on the water with in a practiced crouch, then starts skating along the surface once more.