Jingo Driver
BACKGROUND: The PC's have made it to their respective homes without incident, hoping to pick up with their lives. They haven't much time to reflect on the odd situation they were recently thrust into, though. The call from Controller that they've each been dreading comes soon enough. After only three days they wake to receive early morning orders to travel immediately to Patagonia, Arizona and rendezvous at the Sand Castle Inn on Harshaw Road. They have eight hours to arrive.
During their time recovering from their first mission the PC's haven't made many changes to their gear. Each of them have taken the precaution of purchasing Light Duty Vests and securing the proper licenses, however. (They've also managed to level up to 2 in the interim as well.)
August 18th
[6:00am to 10:00am]
Without enough time to drive themselves down, the PC's each decide to fly in and rent vehicles. They spend this segment traveling.
[10:00am to 2:00pm]
The PC's arrive within two hours of one another at the Sand Castle Inn. They only have time to exchange greetings before Controller, through auditory communication, informs them of their mission. Some time in the next four hours a navy blue Mercedes, containing one adult male and one adolescent female, will take the East Patagonia Highway toward Nogales. The PC's are to watch for the vehicle and follow it without being detected.
The PC's confer and decide that "car trouble" on the side of the Highway might be the best way to watch the traffic without being made early. They move quickly taking all three rentals down to the East Patagonia and find a spot that fits their needs. There they position Olivia's mid-sized rental on the side of the road with the hood up and she gets busy pretending to work on the engine. Jack and Georgia meanwhile have hidden their vehicles out of sight awaiting her call.
[2:00pm to 6:00pm]
Around 5:00pm Olivia spots a navy blue Mercedes with a adult male driver and a young female in the back. After it passes she calls the others on her cell phone. They quickly scramble onto the Highway and pick up Olivia, leaving her vehicle roadside. They head down the road, trying to remain inconspicuous while searching for the Mercedes on the nearly deserted desert Highway.
In short order they spot the Mercedes ahead and hang back, remaining only just in sight. Little more than a mile further down the road, however, they witness the Mercedes suddenly come under fire from several heavily armed men who spring up from the side of the Highway. The PC's quickly pull over, still just within sight, and watch.
Even almost a mile away Georgia and Jack are able to follow the action closely via binoculars. From their vantage point they can see the Mercedes vault from the edge of the Highway to run aground in the desert. Both the driver and the young girl, they note, are quick to dive from the vehicle and return fire from cover with what look like submachine guns.
With still no communication from Controller, Georgia and Jack seem willing to simply wait and watch, having no particular concern towards anyone involved in the action down the Highway. Olivia, however, is livid and insists they intervene if only for the young girl's sake. An argument ensues between the two PC's occupying the lead car, with Georgia quick to remind Olivia of the young girls on their previous mission who made such serious threats and seemed to kill people with a nod. Jack, meanwhile, exits his vehicle and gets his Winchester from the trunk, figuring the two will soon agree to get into the fight down the road (which he finds ironic consider his last confrontation with Georgia). He props the rifle on the roof of his car, watching the gunfight play out through the scope.
Down the road, while Olivia and Georgia argue, the driver and young girl suddenly eliminate half their attackers with a couple of well-thrown fragmentation grenades. This causes the PC's some pause and they quickly decide to stay out of the fight. The driver, despite lying prone behind cover, is hit in the shoulder and apparently out of the action. While Jack watches through his scope and Georgia shares her binoculars with Olivia, they witness the young girl suddenly break cover and throw her hands up in surrender.
The four remaining gunmen down the road quickly dart forward to grab the girl and begin to shove her toward one of their trucks. As she is thrown into the back and they prepare to drive away, the PC's decide they should follow. As their target begins to move away they again begin to tail them at a distance, keeping them in sight.
[6:00pm to 10:00pm]
Over the next two hours the sun has set and the PC's are still tailing their targets, driving with their own headlights off. Soon the vehicle pulls off on a side road and continues on for several miles. Still there is no indication that they have been noticed nor any change in orders from Controller. After only a few miles the vehicle arrives at a old ranch set back off from the main road.
The PC's continue on a short distance before ditching their cars and heading back to the ranch on foot. At what they assume is a safe distance they send Jack ahead to spy the place out. He manages to approach the edge of the grounds without being detected and sees two men armed with assault rifles on the front porch. The lights are on in the house and even from his position he can hear sounds of men yelling and the captured girl crying hysterically. He reports back to the others.
Georgia and Olivia immediately decide to effect a rescue. Jack agrees though he's a bit ambivalent. The PC's head back to their vehicles, grab their weapons and gear, then hoof it back toward the rear of the house as it seemed unguarded when Jack reconnoitered it.
Arriving at the back door of the place unopposed, Georgia and Olivia spot one of the thugs rooting around in the refrigerator through the kitchen window. Jack quietly checks the backdoor and finds it unlocked. The PC's decide to storm into the place.
Initiative:
Thugone 18
Jingo Driver (turn 5) 14
Jack 9
Thugfour 9
Georgia 7
Dove (Valkyrie Soldier) 7
Thugfive 7
Olivia 5
Thugtwo 2
Thugthree 2
Surprise round:
Jack opens the door and enters the house.
Georgia enters the house and fires on Thugone with her Beretta M3P: hits (12).
Olivia enters and fires on Thugone with her Desert Eagle: miss
Round one:
Thugone, startled and wounded, fumbles his Uzi to a firing position and lets off a stream of auto fire at Olivia at point blank range. He hasn't the first clue how to use an automatic weapon, however, and he only hits once (4-2armor).
Jack fires his Desert Eagle at Thugone: misses.
Thugfour hears the gunfire, opens the door and enters the house.
Georgia fires on Thugone: hits (12), dropping him. She moves through the kitchen to the living room to engage the other thugs.
Dove hears the gunfire downstairs and finishes off the man she's "interrogating" with her psi-blade.
Thugfive follows his partner into the front doorway of the house.
Olivia moves into the living room and fires on Thugtwo: hits (12)
Thugtwo, hit and wounded, staggers to his feet and grabs his Uzi from the coffee table.
Thugthree follows suit, standing and grabbing his Uzi.
Round two:
Thugone croaks.
Jack moves into the living room and opens fire on Thugtwo: hits (11), dropping him.
Thugfour fires on Georgia: hits (7-2armor)
Georgia drops back to take cover at the corner of the kitchen, fires back at him: hits (9)
Dove moves to the dead boss thug and grabs his AK47.
Thugfive fires at Olivia from the front doorway: hits (3-2armor).
Olivia drops back to take cover at the corner of the hallway and fires on Thugthree: misses
Thugtwo (who is unconscious) loses a life point.
Thugthree tosses over the coffee table and takes cover behind it.
Round three:
Jack crouches down and fires on Thugfour: his weapon clicks and he realizes he's out of ammo. He swaps the Desert Eagle to his other hand and grabs his sawed off shotgun from where it hangs on it's sling.
Thugfour runs to the stairway and crouches beside it for cover.
Georgia fires on Thugthree: hits (11)
Dove exits the upstairs bedroom and moves to the top of the stairs.
Thugfive crouches down behind the chair in front of him for cover and fires on Georgia: he hits (5-2armor).
Olivia fires on Thugfour: misses
Thugtwo stabilizes.
Thugthree fires on Olivia but fumbles his weapon and drops it.
Round four:
Jack unload both barrels at Thugthree: hits, critical (24) and kills him.
Thugfour fires at Georgia: misses
Georgia fires on Thugfive: hits (13)
Dove moves down the stairs and arrives at the action. She activates her psychic shield.
Thugfive, badly wounded, runs through the front door and bugs out.
Olivia fires on Thugfour: misses
Round five:
Jingo Driver slides into the gravel driveway in his Mercedes, spots Thugfive and veers to slam into him. Thugfive is armadillo paste.
Jack drops his shotgun back on its sling and dives for the side bedroom to reload from cover.
Thugfour fires on Georgia: misses
Georgia drops back into the kitchen and drops a shell into her empty shotgun.
Dove steps into the room and unloads a burst from her AK47 at Thugfour: hits (24), killing him.
Olivia yells a warning to Dove that one of the thugs escaped out the front door and to take cover.
Round six:
Jingo Driver slides to a stop and kills the engine.
Jack reloads his Desert Eagle and takes cover at the bedroom door. He spies Dove standing over Thugfour with an assault rifle and Delays to see what she'll do.
Georgia drops two more shells into her shotgun.
Dove cocks her head at Olivia's warning then unloads a burst at her: hits (19-2armor), dropping her. Dove heads out the front door.
Jack fires on Dove: misses.
Olivia spends an Action Point and stabilizes.
Round seven:
Jingo Driver spies Dove and restarts the engine, preparing to evacuate her.
Georgia reenters the living room, sees all the dead thugs and spies Dove out the front door heading for the Mercedes there. She runs and takes cover at the front doorway.
Dove moves to the passenger side door and unloads a last burst of auto fire into the doorway at Georgia: hits. She drops the rifle. [Georgia makes her Reflex Save and isn't hit.]
Jack checks Olivia over and decides she's stable. He moves to the front door and takes cover there with Georgia.
Round eight:
Jingo Driver Delays until Dove is in the car.
Georgia fires at Dove: misses.
Dove enters the car.
Jingo Driver backs rapidly out of the driveway and onto the Highway.
Jack fires at Jingo Driver: misses.
Round nine:
Georgia moves into the front yard and fires at Jingo Driver: miss
Dove stares menacingly out the window of the vehicle but takes no action.
Jingo Driver escapes down the road.
Jack moves into the front yard and fires at Jingo Driver: miss
Jack and Georgia go to check on Olivia. They each attempt a Treat Injury check to restore some hit points to her but fail. While Georgia keeps working on her Jack, volunteers to check the upstairs room for any more thugs or potential threats. He spends the next several rounds looting the corpses upstairs (in keeping with his character goals). When Georgia finally rouses Olivia and comes looking for him, an argument ensues.
Once things settle down (though Jack is unapologetic) Georgia goes out and brings her rental car in to pick up Olivia. Jack, meanwhile, loots the corpses downstairs and discovers that Thugtwo is still alive. When Georgia returns the two of them attempt to rouse him. Once awake, Jack successfully Intimidates him and Thugtwo spills his guts.
From him the PC's learn that their targets are on their way to meet in Nogales with a rival gang of slave runners out of Mexico. All the thug knows is that he and his men were ordered to take them out as part of a strike against the rival gang. The level of resistance they met was far beyond what they expected and they brought the girl here hoping to find out who those two were. He doesn't know anything else as he was lounging downstairs when the PC's burst in and started shooting.
Once they get the location out of him, they leave him and carefully load Olivia into Georgia's rental. They both then drive back out to East Patagonia heading for Nogales. En route Jack turns on his radio hoping Controller will communicate. To his surprise she does and orders he and Georgia to go to the meeting and observe. According to her they won't require surveillance equipment and need only get within a couple hundred feet for her to be able to overhear the meeting through them. Getting nothing further from her, Jack phones Georgia and carefully relays Controller's orders (in such a way as not to violate the rules).
[10:00pm to 2:00am]
The PC's arrive in Nogales without any difficulty. They drive straight on through to the warehouses on the other side of town and park two buildings down from where the meeting is already taking place. Georgia is reluctant to leave Olivia in her Disabled condition but Olivia makes a heroic speech and sends her on her way. She and Jack carefully move closer to the warehouse and find a suitable position near another building's loading platform where they can observe. Though they can't hear anything they can clearly see the Mercedes driver meeting with a small group of men within. The young girl is there as well, though she stands to the side and doesn't seem involved in the negotiations.
With no communication from Controller the PC's can only assume they're within range and so they wait.
After nearly an hour watching and waiting they see the meeting breaking up and the gangsters leave in a limousine. Jingo Driver and the young girl pile into the Mercedes and drive away soon after. Controller then speaks to Olivia and relays her orders to the group. They are to lay low in Nogales overnight and prepare to intercept an eighteen wheeler on the Highway tomorrow afternoon.
On returning and receiving their orders via Olivia, the group heads into town to get a hotel room. Jack offers to seek out some underworld medical help (the kind that won't report gunshot wounds to the authorities) but Olivia waves him off. Once Georgia has a hotel room for the lot of them she immediately takes to bed in an effort to recover enough to be of use tomorrow.
August 19th
[2:00am to 6:00am]
[6:00am to 10:00am]
The PC's rest. Olivia recovers a few hit points from bed rest and self-treatment. Georgia rests and tends to her own injuries as well. Jack attempts and fails to locate a spike-strip on the local black market.
[10:00am to 2:00pm]
While Georgia and Olivia rest, Jack takes orders and head to town to pick up some assorted gear for the team. He gets cash from both (neither willing to trust him with their credit cards) so, naturally, he doesn't bring back any change.
[2:00pm to 6:00pm]
Though still in bad shape but able to function, Olivia is ready for action and the team heads out for the Highway to make their intercept. Their orders are to disrupt the transportation of whatever "merchandise" the eighteen wheeler is transporting and to get at least a peek at what it is before it crosses the California state line.
After batting several ideas around they decide they'll try hijacking the truck first and then try shooting out some tires if that doesn't work. A quick peek is apparently all that is required so they should be able to get in and out before the police respond.
The PC's simply park alongside Highway 8 and wait for the truck to pass. Olivia's vehicle is still back on the Highway outside Patagonia so she takes over driving Jack's rental to free him up for any gunplay that may be needed. Georgia decides to more or less run interference if needed.
After waiting less than an hour the truck drives by, right on schedule. Pulling onto the Highway Olivia and Georgia quickly spot two mid-sized cars pacing the truck, clearly providing escort. The PC's decide to engage them first and take them out of the action quickly.
Georgia manages to maneuver casually alongside the rear guard vehicle but Olivia is spotted. Jingo Driver and Dove, the Valkyrie Soldier hang back several car lengths to observe. The PC's don't Spot them.
Surprise round:
Georgia attempts a sideswipe against Thug Car 2: success. ThugDriver1 fails to reduce the collision damage.
Round one:
Georgia attempts another sideswipe against Thug Car 2: fails, but maintains control of her vehicle. Their speeds are both reduced to Alley.
Jack fires on ThugDriver2 with his Winchester: misses
ThugDriver2 has lost control of his vehicle from Georgia's surprise sideswipe. He spins ahead one space and comes to a stop.
ThugGunner1 draws his pistol.
ThugDriver1 pulls into the outer lane and slows to Street speed.
Olivia maintains Highway speed.
Truck Driver maintains Highway speed.
ThugGunner2 draws his pistol.
Round two:
Georgia increases her speed to Street.
Jack fires on ThugCar2: misses
ThugDriver2 is struck by the Civilian Car on the road behind him when he fails to avoid. He and ThugGunner2 are out of the chase.
ThugGunner1 fires on Georgia's vehicle: hits (4-5DR, no damage)
ThugDriver1 maintains Street speed.
Olivia spends an Action Point on her Drive check and barely avoids Georgia's vehicle with a Slideslip.
Truck Driver maintains Highway speed, pulling alongside ThugDriver1.
Round three:
Georgia increases to Highway speed and maintains course.
Jack fires on ThugDriver1's rear tire: hits, blowing it. ThugDriver1 will lose control of his vehicle next turn.
ThugGunner1 fires on Georgia's car: misses
Olivia maintains Highway speed.
Truck Driver maintains Highway speed.
Jingo Driver avoids the pile-up occurring around ThugDriver2.
Round four:
Georgia attempts a Slideslip to avoid the imminent collision with ThugDriver1's vehicle: success. She pulls in ahead of Olivia.
Jack decides he'll trying jumping onto the side of the truck and tells Olivia to pull alongside.
ThugDriver1 spins out of control and stops in the Highway. He fails to avoid oncoming traffic and another huge pile-up occurs. He's out of the chase.
Olivia pulls alongside the truck.
Truck Driver attempts to Sideswipe Olivia: fails.
Round five:
Georgia maintains speed and stays a couple of spaces behind Olivia.
Jack climbs through the window of the car and spends an Action Point to insure he makes a DC20 Balance check to perch, ready to jump.
Olivia maintains speed, maneuvering into position for Jack's jump.
Truck Driver attempts another swipe against Olivia: fails.
Round six:
Georgia moves around the other side of the truck, preparing to take action if Jack's attempt to board the truck fails.
Jack jumps, spending an Action Point on the DC 15 jump: success. He makes a DC20 Dexterity check as well to get a grip on the door of the truck as well.
Olivia reduces speed to Street and pulls away from the truck to avoid any more Sideswipe attempts.
Truck Driver attempts to shake Jack off (Truck Driver's Drive check vs. Jack's Balance + Jack's Action Point): fails (16 vs. 19)
Jingo Driver avoids collision with ThugDriver1.
Round seven:
Georgia maintains direction and speed.
Jack pulls opens the door of the truck and scrambles in.
Olivia maintains direction and speed.
Truck Driver drives and attempts to strike Jack: miss
Round eight:
Georgia maintains direction and speed.
Jack pulls his Desert Eagle and forces the Truck Driver to pull off to the side of the road.
As soon as the 18-wheeler comes to a halt, Georgia and Olivia come to a halt near the truck's rear end and pile out. Jack holds the Truck Driver in check while Georgia pops the lock on the cargo door and opens it up. Olivia looks around for any further trouble but doesn't Spot Jingo Driver who's pulled off the Highway a ways back to observe.
Georgia swings open the rear of the truck and finds well over four dozen Mexican illegals in the back, huddled up and quite anxious over all the excitement. Satisfied she's gotten the "peek" that Controller demands, she jumps back in her vehicle and yells at Olivia to do the same. Olivia pulls up alongside the cab of the truck to pick up Jack and the PC's flee the scene.
As they pull away everyone finally makes a successful Spot check and they notice the navy blue Mercedes pull ahead of the 18-wheeler behind them. They spy the girl from the ranch house exit the rear of the vehicle and spray the cab (and the Truck Driver) with an entire clip from her submachine gun. The PC's debate going back and engaging the two but with Olivia still recovering from their last fight with them they decide against it. They continue down the Highway.
Jack monitors the police scanner while Georgia leads the team off the Highway at the next exit and doubles back toward Patagonia (to pick up Olivia's rental, which they hope hasn't gotten towed.) En route Controller contacts Olivia to dismiss them and inform them of their pay deposit. The team return to Patagonia, pick up Olivia's rental and go their separate ways back home.
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