Longshore Crew session 6
Session 6 of the Longshore Crew campaign.
Following the attack (and then the second attack) on the sunburst poachers' camp, the Longshore crew decided to retreat into the mangrove swamp. The Marshal and his team were busy with the second wave of attackers, so the Crew were on their own. Gary was back in the plane, some distance away. They decided that Gary should tell the autopilot to ease the plane as close as possible to the rest of the Crew, who would hike overland to meet it.
Initially, things went smoothly. They trudged slowly through the tangle of roots, branches, and mud that is a mangrove swamp and eventually made their way out of the tidal region. Then they encountered a large lake, dammed at one end, with some creatures on it. A brief conversation with Gary, followed by a consultation of the GEO Ecological survey database, confirmed the creatures were water rats, and therefore harmless. The Crew decided to make their way around the lake, rather than try to swim across it.
A short while later, they disturbed a group of stick monkeys. Again, these creatures were initially unrecognized by the generally new-to-Poseidon patrol members. A comment from Gary of "Don't let them bite you" prompted Joe to shoot at them in an attempt to warn them off. The stick monkeys scattered.
When his programmed reflexes forced Joe to give a quick scan of his perimeter, he spotted three figures moving slowly through the mangroves behind the Crew. They were dressed in Native clothing and carrying rifles. Joe started shooting. He shot the first, and downed him. He shot the second, and blew her head off. By this time, the third had got into cover. During the scuffle, Gustav managed to escape.
Max and Milo took up the challenge. Milo sent a dragonfly drone to find the third person. Then he and Max slowly advanced on either side of the target to outflank him, while Joe remained on overwatch, controlling the drone. The target refused to surrender and started to shoot, so Max and Milo returned fire. Max wounded him, and Milo moved in to capture him, but not before he managed to blow himself up with a grenade.
Kalina examined the first person shot and discovered that he was mortally wounded and beyond her skills to stabilize, though she thought that Gary might have a chance. On Travar's orders, she managed to rouse him with drugs and Travar and Kalina interrogated him. They learnt nothing from him, beyond a few muttered words such as 'Despoiler' and 'Hirohito,' and the presence of a blue circle tattoo on his arm. When it was obvious that no more would be learnt, Travar shot the terrorist.
The Crew quickly found Gustav by tracking the signal from the gremlin in his handcuffs. They then returned to the plane without incident and returned to Longshore. A brief interrogation of Gustav revealed nothing more than they already knew, and they retired for a good night's sleep.
Early next morning, the Crew started their cleanup. Travar, Max, Joe, and Jamirika returned to the poachers' camp to collect evidence and bodies. Gary returned to the clinic where he processed what DNA samples they had: of the three bodies they took samples from, one was a known Blue Water Circle terrorist, one was flagged as being of interest to Hanover, and one was both; the Crew decided to inform Hanover of their finds. Meanwhile, Kalina was called to a break-in at the Rangoon Hotel in Longshore.
When she arrived at the hotel, Kalina was told that at around dawn that morning, a cleaner remote had been attacked when it entered a supposedly empty room. An unknown aquaform man had lept from the middle of the room, hit the cleaner with a chair a few times, and then fled the hotel. He left behind a few drawing pins and a vial of clear liquid.