Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Rende Asam (Marine) in Main Sim - Team 1 Planet Surface - Civilian Life

Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Team 1 Planet Surface - Civilian Life
[snip]

Four buildings nearby stood out as possible shelter points as they rounded a stocky wooden frame half house-store building. The first building was a large three story metal works factory-storehouse like building. The second one next to that to the right was it seemed a housing unit on the second and third floors, and a cafe of sorts on the bottom. A ring of sandbags with flowers planted in them read a English sign saying ‘Stars Cafe’. The third building right of the cafe was a single floor building small but well constructed of metal and concrete, it appeared to be an electronics cafe of computer terminals and the like for public use. Flicking lights showed some were still working surprisingly! The fourth building was a large 10 story building likely an office commercial suite for businesses.

The woman with them seemed stunned she was alive hobbling along with the group, she was likely in shock and not yet aware of her mother’s passing. She was in her late teens maybe early 20s, Dark blonde hair and blue eyes.

GM CockRoach

As the group came level with her again, Rende turned to Black. “Thank you Lt. I appreciate your overwatch.” She noticed and honestly appreciated it. There was often friction between security and MACOs but Rende didn’t see the reason for it. They were all doing the same job, with their own unique skills, and all those skills were needed.

“I say we head for the computer cafe it is the most reinforced scratcher. When we head there we can stop by the other cafe and see if we can find any food and take it with us” he said to the group

Lt. Isaac Black (AC)

Rende agreed with Black, the computer café seemed the safest and most sound building. “It might be prudent however to check the buildings before we bring the whole party into the area. First they look stable, but looks are deceiving and the structure may not be sound. And two, if we are planning to hide there, there is a good chance someone else has had the same thought. Best to make sure we aren’t walking into anything, Lt?” Rende knew her reasoning was sound but Black was the lead security officer. She was also hoping, with his skill, they could sweep the area together.
2md Lt Asam, MACO

Ari glanced at the woman with them. She was either gonna help or hinder, though Ari hoped the former. Once they had shelter she would see what the woman could help with. Till then, she just hoped the young lady didn’t make things worse.

The talk of water had been one to give her a slight grin as well. She had considered just getting water and rations beamed down to them if needed. But the fact the others had been consider additional options as well reinforced her pride in her crew.

Ari CO

Elizabeth fell into the center of the group, closer to the Captain and just as wary as Black was in scanning for additional soldiers who may not have revealed themselves yet. As the Captain glanced at their rescued civilian, she took a couple long strides to catch up to the CO to speak softly so no one else heard. “We need to question her, ma’am. If she was running, we need to know why. And if they were stealing food and rations, that likely means we’ll need coin or similar to barter for anything we ‘do’ want in the town. We should know the details before we get their. And, my guess is, we’ll get a lot more info from her than we will in just picking up and translating street signs and old news prints.” She wasn’t going to beat the woman into submission, but Liz had a feeling that if they could get on the good side of the woman, she could prove to be the best asset they could want.

Elizabeth Security

Rachel finished her examination of the young woman She hasn’t answered yet, probably in shock She thought to herself as she followed her slowly. “Donnae put pressure on yer leg, lass.” She told her with a crooked smile “Here, lean on me” The tall Scot said.

Dr. Grey - CMO

El, following behind, was looking between her scanner, the path and the limping woman ahead of them. She had been shot. Her mother had been slaughtered. And yet she was walking. El developed a new respect for her with each block they walked. The doctor was near, though she was ready to step in quickly and help her along as well. “She took some food,” she snapped, perhaps harsher than intended. “And was nearly killed for it. You’re wanting to interrogate her now as the offending party?” At least that was how it sounded to her, that the woman was a commodity, that she was rescued so now owed them.

Ari frowned and glanced back at El. “You act like I am going to put her in a cell and beat information out of her. We need her help to survive, and to save our ship.” She paused and turned to look at the others. “We need to talk to everyone we meet, that doesn’t want to kill us. How did this war come to be? Who are the players? What are the sides? And how can we discover the power source, or lack there of, that’s creating the anomaly that’s keeping us here and them as well. Yes, she stole food, ran and we saved her. We are asking for information, that’s all. I have no plans to beat the info out of her. But if you have trouble with asking the locals for help when we get the opportunity, then perhaps you should go back to the ship. We need to find answers, and quickly. Do you have a problem with that?” She wasn’t mad, but frustration was a bit of the coloring in her voice.

El blinked at the rebuke and retreated into her hoodie, scouring her thoughts. She was not happy with the ‘tone’ that came from security and nothing from the Captain. Sure the woman could talk, but so could that newspaper that Roger still had in hand. She glanced at the woman hobbling in front of them. She didn’t look much younger than El was. Would she have had any political interest to speak into what happened? Maybe. Hopefully. It was counterproductive to pursue it, but she heard what she heard from security and it sounded more like an desire to interrogate rather than have a quiet talk with someone recently shot, could still be in shock, and likely traumatized by all of this and her world suddenly coming to Armageddon. Should she toughen up, put on her big girl pants, swallow her emotions and, like the security people push the answers out of the girl? If they wanted better answers they could have taken one of the soldiers; they’d know better and security would be in their element with one of their own kind. “No, Captain,” she said, knowing she wanted an answer, resolving to watch more and say less.

Isaac looked at Asam “I know I was thinking two scout teams we can check the building from the out side I still have my scanner and we can check for life signs” he said passing his scanner to her.

He turn to the group “Who feels up for a some recon” he asked

Lt. Isaac Black (AC)

There were whispers about structure and which to go for. El looked at each and one was as good as another, though they would likely be able to get some good information from the cafe with the computers. The fact that they survived and some still online after a nuclear attack and likely EMP effects was impressive. Sites would likely be limited but as an engineer she was good with computers. She’d let the boys play soldier. She’d do what she was there for. “Scanning for structural faults in the buildings.” She said, leveling her scanner at them checking for power, structural issues, gas leaks and the like .. not to mention a quick scan for life signs.

• El, Eng

Lt. Sanks stood beside El, now finished with his library for the language, and given to the CO. “I’ll help, however I can.” he responded to Lt. Black.

Lt. Sanks, Linguist

As they arrived at the computer building, she frowned. “Let’s see if the building is secure, first. Then see if it has the power to get us the info we need. If not, there really isn’t a reason to stop here.” They had barely been gone from the ship an hour. At this rate, they’d never learn anything before night fall. She had no desire to remain on the surface at night. Not with transporters to bring them back in the morning. But she planned to have at least something to mull over by this evening. And hopefully the XO and Intel officer would have something by then as well.

Ari CO

Looking into the computer based building they found the power was coming from a bank of small nuclear powered generators, and a small wind turbine up on the roof. Many of the systems were blown out, unresponsive or the like, but two sets in the back of the shop protected from the nuclear EMPs by case shielding were online and had a blank ? query prompt waiting entry from a mechanical primitive keyboard like setup

El was dumbfounded. She tried to parse the set up in her mind but that was so hard to gauge. A nuclear generator. A wind turbine. And DOS computers. What a mess of technologies. At first her hope of a still connected internet highway was crashed down to a flashing ?, the equivalent of a rutted dirt road. Shops don’t have nuclear generators. How does a nuclear generator run off of DOS computers? Her mind trailed back to the early nuclear power plants. Dials. Needle Gauges. Okay, old style DOS computers did help run earlier power plants, but this was so much more. Mini’s. Unconsciously she chewed on a nail, tension rising. She wheeled around looking at the blown out systems. A bank of generators? How wide an area did these power? She knelt by one, trying to make sense of any controls. If these were damaged this was more of a time bomb waiting to blow and would take out the town. Her fingers shook as she scanned it for leaks or irregular power levels and output. Someone else could figure out the computer; she could do it but it wouldn’t help if they were vaporized.

OOC: Think early 1990s DOS based PCs!! So no mouse :)

Interfacing by their scanners was possible but entry of commands from translation would have to be done manually into the computer itself. Thankfully the computers were primitive compared to their own, perhaps by about 50 odd years. No signs of security controls were present.

GM CockRoach

Rende wasn’t a computer person, she could use them, and this system reminded her of the basic computers she and Eldorin used when they lived on Earth the last time, but it was never her strong suite. Hopefully someone else could make the system work. She moved through the building making sure it was clear and there were no nasty surprises waiting for them. Dropping her voice again as she made her rounds she whispered into the earbud, “Eldorin, they seem to be using an old DOS like system. I was never much good at it, but you on the other hand…”
2nd Lt Asam, MACO

El spoke, a bit absently, but at least it was in her element. “Reference the library files on your scanners. They might have data on DOS and some basic commands you could try. With all the similarities some might work,” she called over. Her engineering instruction was all of a single class on earlier computer operating systems and that included the OS’s up to the wars.
- El, Eng