ic IC - Cyberpirates of the Atlantic Basin

[The Sailor]

GM

February 28, 2015, 10pm Eastern Time

 

It was quiet at Claremont Academy. The students were either a quiet Saturday night in Freedom City or resting snugly in their dormitories. Some were preparing for their routine "patrols" and others were working out in the simulator room. Headmaster Summers had discovered a strange uptick in bandwidth usage reported from his IT support at the school, and it was beginning to become worrisome. Worrisome as the FBI had sent an agent to investigate a large uptick in illegal downloading and uploading centered on the school. After a thorough investigation of the student activity over the network discovered nothing, not even a scrap of what was reported in the FBI investigation. This was going to not be a easy solution, but the Headmaster had an idea of how to start...

Edited February 8, 2015 by The Osprey

[The Sailor]

Endeavor

Sakurako was a bit curious as to what could be using the school's bandwidth... with Headmaster Summers' prompting she looked into things. What she discovered would be troublesome indeed. Someone had managed to get in through a security flaw in the firewall of the school. Of course Sakurako took the opportunity to see where the bandwidth was being sucked from, and with cross-referencing the sattelites, the trail ended with what at first seemed like a dead-end, but...

 

Sakurako looked up what students were availiable or on campus...

 

Sakurako looked over the list... "Okay, these guys should be just the right set up for this." She said, checking the weather in the spot on the Atlantic where the trail went cold. "Hmm, the water's sorta brisk, I better get permission to requisition any safety equipment the team might need from the sailing club." She said, opening up the steel case where she kept her suit to check her gear. "Didn't think I'd be going back out there so soon. Looks like a superheroine's job is never done."

 

She sighed. "Momma said there'd be days like this."

 

She closed her case and stepped out while formulating a text message with her smart phone.

To: Casey, Bloduwedd, Rampart, Samaritain
From: Endeavor
 
I'm going to require your assistance. Meet at these coordnates in 10 minutes.

She sends coordinates to a small wooden dock that at one time was used by the school for it's sailing club. Sakurako had been wanting to revive it, if she could only get some interested students to join her. But no matter, it was a dream for another time. Something needed sorting out, and she was gonna sort it! She takes off her usual, and starts putting on her suit over a skin-tight blue garment that looked one part swimsuit, one part wicking to draw away sweat as her authorization to get whatever kit she needed from the boathouse came down. She waited in there for the rest of her team.

Edited February 7, 2015 by The Osprey

[Heritage]

Casey was rereading Harry Potter again...the entire series at a go, when she got Sakurako's text, which elicited an eager grin. "Oh cool, mischief!" She set Order of the Phoenix aside, rolled her neck as she sat up in bed, and then there was the usual burst of wind as she changed out of her sweatpants and Colorado Rockies jersey into her Claremont uniform; it was her first time taking it off-campus, which she hoped was okay. Hovering in the air, she checked her reflection in her mirror and shrugged.

 

"Not bad; still need to come up with something a bit more personal, though..."

 

Then she flew out the window and banked towards the dock, careful as always to avoid the flight paths into Freedom's airports. Landing gently near her classmate, she politely cleared her throat, then bowed. "Konbanwa, Sakurako-san!"  Any chance to practice her Japanese! Looking around the dock, she casually ran her fingers through her hair. "So, a maritime adventure, eh? Need any knots tied? I've got the merit badge and everything." She mimed tying a ridiculously complex knot that could never exist in nature, then winked.

[Tiffany Korta]

A dark shape stood crouched in the corner of the boathouse near the roof if she'd wanted Blodeuwedd could have spent hour up there without being noticed. Whilst she enjoyed the challenge they had more important thing to deal with tonight

“So what exactly have you asked us all here?†he voice was clear, with a slight hint of her Welsh accent.

 

All that was visible of her for now was the soft green glow of her circular goggles, she still wasn’t going to make it that easy on them.

[The Sailor]

ENDEAVOR

Sakurako quirked an eyebrow to Cerys. "Simple..."

 

She held up her smart phone with a map on it to the two girls, of course they would have to come in close for a full measure of the map she had pulled up. "Every person I have taken this to has stated that this location is a red herring. I assume you two girls are aware of the accusations that were leveled on us for a time that we were running a sort of cyber-piracy network, correct? Even though the FBI was satiated with the fact we were clean, I have still been picking up someone leeching off of our networks."

 

Sakurako looked over Casey's suit, and changes the colors of her suit and vest to the Claremont standard. "At this point with the consistant GPS register of something out at 100 miles from this spot somewhere in the Atlantic, out past the continental shelf. I just can't let this go unchecked."

 

"I suspect it's a bouy but..."

 

She adjusted her suit as she sat on a table, a couple yellow yachting drysuits and some life preservers were on the table next to her. Her phone shook from a inbound text message. "Ah... we can use everything at our disposal here in the boathouse." She said, noticing the small RHIB-like boat. She started messing with the engine and the battery. "Electric powered but this battery... ugh, looks like we won't have the range unless someone doesn't mind towing while flying. We can get out there, but not back. We'd be past bingo battery." Then she spots a spare battery under the table she had sat on. "Nevermind... although it'll be cutting it close..."

 

Closing things up, she knew what Casey could handle, although Cerys was a bit of a blank. "It should be advised the water temperatures are a brisk 40 degrees, and I'm not sure what, if anything is out there. Might be a good idea to wear something warm."

 

"I'm going to wait for Rampart and Samaritan to show, before we push off."

[RobRX]

There was a short whistling sound in the air and something came racing down, before trying to halt it's dash by sliding and slowing itself down. Manually. With it's arm. The whole thing leaving a massive gash into the ground and leaving behind a trail of smoke. Shortly after, someone could be heard saying: "Right, okay, that's still less collateral damage than a landing..."

 

Someone approached the group, face hidden behind it's helmet. It stood there, for a moment, before going 'oh right' and tapping the side of it, a brief glowing ripple appearing on the hand and arm as the face-concealing helmet simply vanished. "Allright, I'm here now." She looked at Sakurako, Blodeuwedd and Casey.

 

"I...don't think we've met."

[EternalPhoenix]

“I don’t think we have, either. I’d remember a meteor girl.†Samaritan swung in out of more or less nowhere. “Got some hero stuff to do, ‘Rako?†Vonnie wasn’t one to pass out nicknames indiscriminately, but both Sakurako and Endevour were a mouthful, and he was a linguistically lazy city kid at heart. He grinned cheekily. “You misspelled my name, you know. That last I doesn’t belong.†His spatial awareness informed him that all four of the others were girls. I feel so token lately, and not in the “marchin on Selma†kind of way. Of course, when your only expected option is, well, Errant…being the token male ain’t so bad.

[The Sailor]

ENDEAVOR

Sakurako smiled, acknowledging Samaritan and Rampart. "Thanks for showing up. To be honest I didn't want to investigate this without a full team with me. After my last encounter with a homicidal robot crab one on one I've been... a bit leery in regards to heading out on the ocean without backup." She said taking a couple bags with her into the large motorboat. Sakurako liked the fact it was a surplus thing with very high-tech battery-powered engines, but she wasn't a fan of taking a boat like this as far as they were. "Okay, take what you think you need, and we'll be underway. If you fly, might be nice to have a flying escort. I know Samaritan isn't a flier, so I think he'll keep me company. Try to stay with the boat as we head off... this will be a bit of a trip. 3 hour tour in fact, over and back. Hopefully we'll be back by sunrise, and Luckily it's a Saturday night, so there isn't any classes tomorrow. I've already logged my intended rout with the school, and if anything does happen, I wager the Coast Guard will be on the scene in no time."

 

She started some final examination of the engines, letting everyone get on board. "Of course at this point, knowing the fact this might be a heck of a lot of nothing, and the fact the waters out there aren't exactly summery, I think it's a fair thing to let people who aren't interested in what's out there to stay behind. In one way I don't know what's out there, but I'm not going to risk anyone for a wild goose chase."

 

She looked at everyone. "If you refuse, I apologize for wasting your time, I made my picks based on the risk to who I ask escort me, and I didn't expect everyone to answer my text. Accepted or not, thank you." She said, resisting a bow... her habits from Japan were slow to fade. Instead she smiled. "Besides, worse comes to worse the location is at the edge of the continental shelf, there might be some decent fishing... maybe..." She said, pointing to a couple fishing rods... "If I got fooled at least this won't be a waste of time."

 

OOC: This is the boat... without the gun, of course. A surplus Navy RHIB, the outer air chamber has been painted orange. The school picked it up for use as a tender, or for rescues if a Student needed it.

Edited February 8, 2015 by The Osprey

[RobRX]

"Well, I'm here so yeah, that mean I'm in here for the ride so we should get going as soon as possible!" Cho said, wondering just why the heck Sakurako seriously thought anyone who showed up here, having answered the call, would suddenly decide to simply walk away and go back home. It just wasn't something you'd see. Generally speaking, Claremont students were rather comitted.

 

"I'm pretty sure we're all just about ready and willing to go! And I don't fly, well, not yet. Um, anyone here fly? 'Cause that could be useful."

[Heritage]

Casey was visibly impressed by both Blod and Rampart's entrances, but somewhat moreso by the taller girl's impact; she looked her upand down, a fellow athlete's appreciation. "Wow; looks like I need to kick my workout up a notch!" She offered a firm handshake; it was clear that while she was indeed quite strong herself, she was not yet in Cho's league

"Casey Blankenship, aka Miracle Girl; nice to meet you. If you dont mind me asking, how much can you bench? I can only handle a few tons." She didn't offer to shske Blod's hand; her experience with Terrifica taught her sneaky people weren't usually very touchy, so she simply smiled and nodded politely in the Welsh girl's direction. The sole male student's arrival earned a friendly wave and a "Hey, Sam!"

After looking at the coordinates and thinking it over, the blonde powerhouse shrugged. "I'd be happy to tow all of you, if you want; heck, I could probably just pick the boat up and fly you all out, but then they'd probably see us coming, unless I kept us pretty low."

Edited February 9, 2015 by Heritage

[Tiffany Korta]

Doing a quick mental calculation one she was very use to after staying in the states for so long

“My suit is fully insulated and can handle temperatures down to freezing.†she resisted calling it 0oC “Unlike some I don’t have any powers, but I manage despite all that.† 

 

She dropped down silently and joined the rest of the students as general introduction were made. Technically as the senior student she could have made a case to take over control of this little endeavour, if you pardoned the pun, but she was curious as to how this would all play out.

[The Sailor]

ENDEAVOR

Sakurako had a moment to think. "I'm not... that best in command. Cerys, if I remember correct you're a senior, I think I will defer to your judgement in a crisis. I'll stick to the technical aspects of this investigation. Casey... perhaps you can keep an eye out for us. Your scout experience might not be well suited to the environment we're heading into, and we can use a flying scout in front."

 

She pulled out small radios for everyone. "Not really tactical or fancy... I don't recommend using these during a fight, but you can call down here from your height without shouting at least. before we approach anything suspicious."

 

Smiling she invites Rampart, Blodeuwydd, and Samaritan aboard. "Okay, this should be a fairly easy boat to control, it uses a steering wheel and your throttle is the stick on the right."

 

"I and Miracle Girl will fly out at an altitude of 500 feet while being 500 feet from the boat. Casey can lead the triangle formation in the Forward arc, I will take the Aft, 100 feet lower so I can respond faster to anything happening on the boat."

 

Will be making a GM post moving things forward, please wait with posts until I also post in the OOC, there will be rolls being made shortly.

Edited February 10, 2015 by The Osprey

[The Sailor]

GM

The group embarks out. It seemed unusual to use nothing more than a RHIB to head out into the deeper portion of the Atlantic, but the boat Rampart, Cerys, and Samaritan were using seemed to be designed with more than off-the-shelf parts, even if it was a military surplus boat. It seems the academy made many upgrades, that even Sakurako didn't notice completely, or that anyone were aware. It handled fine, better than expected

 

The 3 hour trip was long, but the radios the group had kept everyone company as the hours into the dead of night progressed. It was a Waxing crescent moon, near full, in fact, so there was some light to work with. The group approached near where the mark on the map Sakurako showed everyone was situated.

 

Although the fog rolling in was starting to be an issue...

 

OOC: There has been a major change.

In the air: Casey and Sakurako

In the boat: Rampart, Cerys, and Samaritan.

Edited February 10, 2015 by The Osprey

[Heritage]

Casey liked flying over the ocean; the salt air was bracing, and you typically had good visibility for miles. During the journey, the blonde flier used her radio to point out approaching ships and the occasional pod of whales to her classmates back on the boat; she sometimes also broke into song or tried out a few impressions to break up the monotony.

But as they approached the coordinates Sakurako had provided, she slowed her air speed to a halt as she reached for her radio. "Claremont Team, this is Miracle Girl. Are you seeing this fogbank? Visibility is pretty much down to zero. Please advise. Over."

Edited February 10, 2015 by Heritage

[Tiffany Korta]

Bloduewedd didn’t have any affinity with boat and water, but she didn’t particularly have a problem with them either. And if things went wrong, well she was a pretty strong swimmer and well most of the others could fly in some way.

So she spent the journey scanning the area looking for potential trouble in the area the goggles that she wore cutting through the darkness and to some extent the fog that currently enshrouded them.

“There in the distance...†her voice was steady and calm as usual “...it’s a light around half a kilometer away.â€

 

Once she thought she had people attention she pointed toward where the light was coming from.

[RobRX]

"Hmmm. It is a little foggy." Cho said, waving her arm around at the hint and wisps of smog.

 

"Well, nothing too dramatic so far. Beside, I'm starting to understand that there just is no such thing as an 'easy' day in all this. There always need to be somekind of annoying thing or setback so if it's fog then sure! Let's go with that, can't be that bad!" She said, reasoning and thinking out loud about the 'expected' in the life she now had, or rather how the unexpected was the unexpected. So all in all, if all life could throw at them so far was bad weather then it was a good day. Or maybe Cho was simply shooting herself in the foot saying that and it would backfire on all of them.

[The Sailor]

ENDEAVOR

Sakurako looked about. She saw something before the fog rolled in. Scratching the top of her head before landing in the boat, she had a look of one part puzzlement and one part concern. "Okay the fog's getting thick, but I got the message on that buoy out there. I saw it too. I think I saw something else before the fog rolled in."

 

She sat down on one of the sides of the boat. "It was a small cargo ship. One of those types that could have cargo containers on the top, but it was too far out for a real look. Thing is I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the buoy or not."

 

"Bloduewedd, suggestions? I'd like to get to that buoy while we can still get to it, from my vantage point the fog was really coming in."

 

She held up her radio's mic. "Casey, you should come in to the boat."

Edited February 12, 2015 by The Osprey

[Heritage]

Casey toggled her headset. "Copy that, Miracle Girl out." She dropped down to just above the caps of the waved, then circled back towards the boat. She landed lightly in the compact deck and raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey. So can any of you make anything out? I'm blind as a bat in this fog. I can scan for radio chatter, but we can probably use the boat's radio for that, too."

[The Sailor]

Endeavor

Sakurako held up her hand. "Might be a bad idea. This fog is giving us cover right now, and I don't know if that Buoy can pick up on us. That and any radio signals might interfere in checking on if that buoy is some part of network. I'm just wondering why it's just one buoy if this is the real McCoy."

 

She leaned against the station where the steering wheel was. "I can take a look at that buoy while you guys keep watch. someone might want to pull the covers over the sides of the boat, They're a darker color that should work in these conditions. They're stored in those rolled up fabric tubes along the inside of the boat." She said, pointing to said pouches. They contain a dark midnight blue cover for a section of the RHIB. "Maybe one of you can get that deployed while I get my computer gear set up to check the buoy out?"

 

Sakurako started to get her tools out...

Edited February 13, 2015 by The Osprey

[Tiffany Korta]

Bloduewedd spent a few seconds considering everything that they had found out in the last few minutes. It could all be coincidence but it wouldn’t hurt to investigate both just in case.

“Okay we’re split into two teams, Endeavor you go check out the buoy, I’ll take a team onto the boat. I want you to have air support in case trouble starts and keep on the comm’s.â€

 

They might be younger than her but she knew they would all be fine, Claremont trained them to be very competent.

[EternalPhoenix]

“Wait a minute, will you? Some of us have more than eyes and ears to work with.†The fog, while limited what eyes could see, did absolutely nothing to stop his spatial awareness. It was like…seeing everything within a certain distance at once, only without even the concept of color. It was hard for him to explain to himself, much less anyone else. That said, it worked so he had no complaints. There. “There’s another boat out there, a lot like ours. It’s coming this way. Five people. Bulky clothes. Fancy SCUBA gear, I guess?†Toward the buoy, maybe? Weren’t too many people with the power to see through this fog, and what were the odds on one of them being over there, anyway? Hmm. “Maybe armed, maybe not. The clothes again. I don’t like it, not one bit.†His “This is a job for Samaritan†sense was beginning to tingle.

[The Sailor]

ENDEAVOR

 

Sakurako's eyes widened. "I got an idea... we should back out of visual range because of this dense fog. But that won't muffle sound. We gotta get the covers over the sides of the boat as a precaution."

 

She kneeled down looking at the buoy. The body of it wasn't visible but the light was. "Once we're sitting quiet, we wait. Listen to see who these people are. Miracle Girl, once they leave you can tow us. You fly real quiet-like and won't stick out like the outboards. We sit out of view of the large ship I saw until the people in that boat are back aboard. Then we go on."

 

"Casey might want to tug us backward  a few feet right now to be on the safe side."

Edited March 8, 2015 by The Osprey

[Heritage]

Casey tensed up at the mention of the inbound boat; she was pretty tough, so she was less worried for herself than the rest of the team. She didn't know everyone's capabilities, but she was fairly sure most of her fellow students weren't bulletproof. The powerful blonde tilted her head thus way and that, hoping her sensitive ears might pick up some stray radio chatter.

Sakurako's plan sounded solid enough, so she would help anyway she could. As tempting as it was to use her super-speed to cover up the boat, all the noise and wind it would create would completely defeat the purpose of the exercise. So instead, Casey gave her classmates a thumbs up and quietly slid out the back of the boat, being careful to stay low and not silhouette herself or contact the water and make a splash. Reaching back, she found a nice firm handhold on the boat and began to quietly drag it backwards as she floated just above the waves.

Here's hoping this works.

Edited March 9, 2015 by Heritage

[The Sailor]

Endeavor

 

Sakurako grinned, looking over to Blodeuwedd. "Actually... your plan has some merit... I know you can make yourself unseen. If you can fly quietly hover above that Buoy... about 25 feet or so." She said, handing over a Smart Phone. "Put this on record. Whatever they say we might be able to use as evidence. It's real quiet out here so sound carries. Once they leave come back and drop off the smart phone and start scouting out the ship like you intended originally. You have a smart phone of your own? Might need to trade phone numbers so we can use these like walkie talkies. If the deck on that ship looks clear we will approach."

 

She nodded. "Sound like a plan?"

[RobRX]

"Well, any plan is better than no plan." Cho added as the others prepared to move based on Endeavor's plan. Having nothing better to add or think up meant that she didn't really have much to add or contest about the whole thing. Whoever has the sensible plan is the leader for the moment, at least that's how it worked for her. "So what about me?"