S&V - The Outfit (IC thread)

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Nobby-W

Not an axe murderer
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In-character thread for Scum and Villainy: The Outfit.

Welcome to Shenobi, your home turf. Shenobi is one of the rougher parts of startown, near Lovell-Darko field (casually: Darko Field). Industry, vice, cheap, shabby hotels and bars catering to freighter crews and warehousing mix with the dregs of startown.

You are The Outfit, a small-time syndicate descended from Tengoki (Smegulon) ancestory, and you've inherited their clannish ethos. Known as Tanshi, expat Smegs have come back down to ground, but you haven't forgotten your heritage. Space is in your blood.

Most of you served in a Nova Nusanatara contingent in one of the myriad and nameless secession wars. Forever skirting around a hot war, the secession wars are a campaign of brushfire wars throughout the local regions of the Commonwealth, aimed at destabilising it further. The nations of Denaspar keep a hand in the wars as they build up naval and industrial strength for a more and more credible big stick of their own. Leaning on the Aferasi and Federation less and less each year, Denaspar is a rising star in the local region and now the single biggest planetary economy.

You learned a thing or two in the wars, and now you're back home in Moseli Startown, out to make a name for yourself.



Link to OOC thread.
 

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In Media Res

Voros Voros, Séadna Séadna, Smith Smith, Fenris-77 Fenris-77, TheophilusCarter TheophilusCarter, Silverlion Silverlion -

You've pulled the van onto a side road somewhere off the A60 going through Kelley Forest. You needed a van, so Yoster nicked one, all the way from Devaki. Pretty straightforward - clean with no transponder, a nondescript van. It's annoying to be broke enough that you have to lift stuff like this but that's life.

Kelley1.png

Now you're meeting up off the main road, in Kelley forest. The rendezvous is in an old shed, labelled parks service and long abandoned. The alarm and power aren't even connected up. You've double checked the van and there are no tracers. That's a win.

OldSheds.png

Oh, this is awkward

Turns out there's a faraday cage in the back with 22 safety deposit boxes. High-end ones. Ones with sensors that will detect backscatter imaging, tracer beacons, maybe failsafe devices to destroy the contents, tamper resistant locks, remote alarm signals, integrity sensors, navigation sensors - the works. There must be something in the cage to fake navsat signals. There's no way this is a mufti security van - this is somebody's getaway vehicle.

A chirp from the news feed on your handcomp tells you something about it. There's a news bulletin about a heist that robbed a load of safety deposit boxes from Bayeux-Linden. B-L is a smaller banking firm that you've heard of. It's more of a wealth management company with offices in several major tax havens. Although you didn't know it, it seems that it also does safety deposit services.

There's also a niggle in the back of your mind that Baueux-Linden is tied up with the Keisha Meiyo, one of the major Yak clans from Vetawa. Somebody's lifted safety deposit boxes from a Yak bank.
 
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Well, shit. What do I always say? Check the back of the van, Yoster. Always know what you're stealing, Yoster. Try not to steal scores from the Yak, Yoster. Feh. I'm going to sit and think for a second. None of you yahoos open the cage until we know we can deal with the consequences. Yoster rummages in his pockets for a smoke and a much needed nip from his dented steel flask.

[Bright ideas?]
 
Sam shakes his head. "Amateurs ... This is not how we did crime in my day. Look, I don't think we want to get on the KM's bad side, you feel me? Maybe we can figure out a way to play nice ... "
 
I'm going to examine the faraday cage. Is it built into the van or could it be removed as a unit?
 
I'm going to examine the faraday cage. Is it built into the van or could it be removed as a unit?
It's quite large, but it's just sitting in the back. You can see a portable rack with some electronic devices sitting in the back of the cage. It's wired to a fuel cell pack. You surmise this is probably whatever's being used to fake the navsat signals. With all the boxes in it, the you estimate that the whole assemblage weighs at least half a ton.
 
Can I tell how much juice the fuel cell has left, or barring that do I have an idea how long I think it will last?
 
We got some time then. I see a couple of options here ladies and gents. One, give it all back. Ok, you can stop laughing, it's an option. Two, we keep it. Probably a big score with some big problems that come with. Three, we can use it to our advantage somehow but still not keep it, like using it to frame some other crew. Once the Yak take them out, we take their territory. Plus maybe wrangle some positive press with the Yak.

While people are discussing options I'm going to put on some gloves and wipe down any places I've touched the van. Gloves only from here out.
 
"That's why I always wear my dress gloves," says Sam ... "Look, if we go the 'give it back' route, I can probably make some arrangements to move things two or three times removed, so we're not in the line of fire, in a manner of speaking ... "
 
"You goons do realise that if we are giving it back, we will not be profiting off this giant waste of time?" Brun asks, leaning on old shed. "We need a score soon, do we not?"
 
"Giving it back isn't my favorite option. Mind you, there's nothing saying we'd have to give it all back, even if we went that way", says Yoster. " I kinda favor option three, maybe we keep some of the loot, and then use the rest to set a frame job to get rid of one of our competitors and score some points with the Yak.". Yoster takes another swig from his flask. "I could get behind the high-risk keep it all approach too, I like money, we just need to figure out how to un-ass the boxes without frying the contents and how to keep the loot without getting ventilated by well-paid Yak mercenaries at some future date."
 
"Hmm .. I do like money ... All right, I could be down with a frame job."
 
"Definitely keep some of it, considering somebody went to effort of stealing it, but talk about getting unlucky Yoster. When you stole this it didn't stick out in any way? Probably looked like a dream steal with no tracing features.

I'd be just as afraid of the guys who pulled this job as I am of KM"
 
"Definitely keep some of it, considering somebody went to effort of stealing it, but talk about getting unlucky Yoster. When you stole this it didn't stick out in any way? Probably looked like a dream steal with no tracing features.

I'd be just as afraid of the guys who pulled this job as I am of KM"
"Yeah, anyone who steals from the Yak is trouble. That's why I like the idea of shifting thr blame here. "

"The van was just a van. Nothing special beyond the lack of transponder, which isnt uncommon. There are thousands just like it. Speaking of which, unless we're dumping or hiding it we should change how it looks."
 
Wait, fake navsat signals? Fuck. Does that mean it transmitting right now?
 
Wait, fake navsat signals? Fuck. Does that mean it transmitting right now?
It's inside the faraday cage, but it has blinking lights on it, so it's safe to assume it's operating now. You can see a label on one of the devices in the rack: Vanevar APS-24. A bit of on-line research suggests it's a portable electronic warfare system with a range of programmable jamming capabilities, including spoofing navsat signals, mobile capture and various jamming capabilities. It's of Commonwealth manufacture and although it's an older design, software upgrades keep it current and it's fairly widely used.

Being inside the faraday cage, it signals won't get out as long as the cage is closed.
 
"So if we open it we probably bork ourselves by giving away our position. Huh. Interesting."
 
"So if we open it we probably bork ourselves by giving away our position. Huh. Interesting."
You'll need specialised kit that you don't have access to yourselves. And you'll need to find someone who (a) has it and (b) can be bribed/trusted pronto.
 
"If we want to talk frame jobs, I think either Suvarov's crew or the Yatu would make good targets. Suvarov is closer to home, but acing the Yatu would be a bigger slice for us, more territory to move into a bigger threat removed. Maybe we could broker a truce with Suvarov for now and put him out of the picture at our leisure. Or we could try to take 'em both out." Yoster thinks for a moment, then continues...

"Initial thoughts, we need the right gear to open these bad boys, but I think we could manage to fake a couple of oh shit they exploded moments to loot a couple three boxes, and then use the rest to try and put a black hat on the Yatu for doing the dirt."

"Any ideas on who might have the right kit to crack our little Christmas crackers?", he looks around at the rest of the crew.
 
"My pal Syd could probably hook us up," responds Sam. "We'll owe him, though ... "
 
"Hmm, maybe the locals aren't right for the frame. Anyone have any fancy ideas?"
 
"I have a guy, Lefty, who holds on to all sorts of junk. Just maybe he has the kind of junk we need to crack this egg? Either way, he's local, same as this Syd character. I dunno about you lot but I don't exactly have a lot of penpals outside of Mos."
 
"Hmm, maybe the locals aren't right for the frame. Anyone have any fancy ideas?"
"Why?" asks Sam. "Do you have any non-local contacts? You know what they say: don't dismiss an idea without providing one yourself ... "
 
"We could cast any of them in the role we're playing right now."
 
"My pal Syd could probably hook us up," responds Sam. "We'll owe him, though ... "
"I have a guy, Lefty, who holds on to all sorts of junk. Just maybe he has the kind of junk we need to crack this egg? Either way, he's local, same as this Syd character. I dunno about you lot but I don't exactly have a lot of penpals outside of Mos."
OOC: Syd or Lefty are quite likely to at least know someone, and can both be trusted. Syd has an electronics workshop where he works on avionics systems for starship owners. It might have a dead room.
 
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OOC: Syd or Lefty are quite likely to at least know someone, and can both be trusted. Syd has an electronics workshop where he works on avionics systems for starship owners. It might have a dead room.
OOC: That's the only suggestion Sam has, but he's open to other ideas.
 
Voros Voros, Séadna Séadna, Smith Smith, Fenris-77 Fenris-77, TheophilusCarter TheophilusCarter, Silverlion Silverlion -

Fortune roll = (6, 1).

OOC: Syd might be worth a try. He's not the sort that would kill someone for you, but he'd help you bury the body. He repairs avionics and sensor systems, and probably EW systems when he was in the Navy, so if anybody knows what to do with these he probably will.
 
"Huh, well if Syd's the guy, he's the guy. Knowing what we're dealing with sounds like a good first step regardless of what the pan is afterward. We need to get this van off the road anyway."

While the others are talking I'm going to go over van again with a fine toothed comb to make sure there are no trackers or other electronic oddities involved.
 
"Huh, well if Syd's the guy, he's the guy. Knowing what we're dealing with sounds like a good first step regardless of what the pan is afterward. We need to get this van off the road anyway."

While the others are talking I'm going to go over van again with a fine toothed comb to make sure there are no trackers or other electronic oddities involved.
You do a pretty thorough search and don't find anything. Sweeping the vehicle with a RF analyser doesn't pick up anything, either. You're a pro at this, and you're certain to quite a few decimal places that there aren't any tracking devices on the van.
 
"Alright, the van is clean. We need to get it off the road though folks, time to didi mao."

@Sam - "Does Syd have a garage or something we can put this van in? Leaving it out in the open seems like a bad idea..."
 
"Sweet, that'll give us some breathing room" says Yoster. "Aside from cracking the boxes and cage electronics, maybe we should reach out in person and online to if there are any rumors or rumblings about who might have pulled the job in the first place? IDK, not my area of particular specialty, but that we have you, Limbs and Thumper. See where we stand."
 
"Alright, the van is clean. We need to get it off the road though folks, time to didi mao."

@Sam - "Does Syd have a garage or something we can put this van in? Leaving it out in the open seems like a bad idea..."
"Oh yeah, Syd can hide a van and then some."

TheophilusCarter TheophilusCarter - Syd's establishment is 3 stories tall, but you recall he has an apartment on the top floor. You recall there is a garage door and definitely enough room to unload a van inside. He's got a basement as well, which mostly seems to be full of large dexion shelving units stacked high with electronic schmutter. There's a goods elevator. He's also got a couple of employees who he swears he can vouch for. You seem to recall that he might have a shielded dead room.

Syds.png
 
"It sounds like this Syd is ideal for the job, let's go"
 
"Oh yeah, that's the plan right there. We just need our cardboard cut-out compatriots to chime in." :grin:
 
"If he does have that dead room you're talking about things just got a little easier too. Then we can play What's in the box!"
 
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