Flash Bang looked at  Buzz Pilot Weartoo a moment, blinking, before realising his own introductions were expected,
“umm, Flash, clinically reckless, toilet“, he replied ... because he realised he was busting for a _{never mind}.

Still blinking the sleep from his eyes, Flash turned to head for the lavatory ... and fell face forward, because the sheet was still wrapped around his legs.

M-barrassed, he untangled himself as Buzz watched on bemused ... then crept off sheepishishly.

Buzz leaned back and shrugged.  She turned toward the giant in the doorway, while she waited for the results of "clinically reckless" toileting.  "What do they call you?  What do you do for DP?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:20, Sun 17 Nov 2019.

"I possess a particular understanding of the criminal mind." He takes a puff and blows another ring of smoke. "I helped take down some syndicate thugs working out in the asteroid mining colonies."

Walking in and taking a seat without all the usual swagger and exaggerated attitude, Denton angles the smoke away from the others and speaks without bravado, "I grew up out there. When it came down to them or me, well the Patrol gave me a second chance. I gave them my loyalty."

Lean forward in his chair, "I can fly a little, and I know my way around a space station, a laser, and a library. But, where I excel is at the sharp end of the spear."

At around this point, the good doctor joined the others, acrid smoke still billowing from her rune-embroidered labcoat from some experiment or ritual she'd been conducting in the med bay- or at least saying so would be less embarrassing than explaining her attempt to cook toast on a bunsen burner-as she gave the assembled squad a quick once over.

"A spear eh? Primitive, but no doubt effective. Sometimes the old ways are best. Of course, perhaps the spear could be made to shoot lightning or damage souls..." She began muttering calculations and incantations to herself and trailed off for a moment before snapping back to attention, realizing she never finished her introduction as she gave them all a flourish of her coat that's half bow half curtsy.

"Cleopatra Cagliostro, at your service! Holder of various PhDs and greatest sorceress in the solar system! You'll find no knowledge beyond my grasp and I'm happy to put the secrets of the universe to work for the Danger Patrol, as long as they allow me to continue my research!"

She grinned, very pleased with herself for not bungling her little speech.

Flash returned from the lavatory.   His two left hands drying each other with a paper towel, while his two right hands were simply wiping themselves on his uniform pants.

Hearing the discussion, he said, “Good to meet you, Doc Cagliostro.  Say,” with a mischeivious grin, “What do you get if you cross a Hyblivic Octopus with the common Saturnic Bullcalf?”
And before she, or anyone, could roll their eyes at the oldest joke on Jupiter, he laughed, “An immediate cut to your research grant, and a formal investigation by the Ethics Committee”.


Joining the small gathering, three of his hands shot out ... one each towards Cleo, Buzz and Denton ...
“Pleased to meet you all, I’m Flash”.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:53, Sun 17 Nov 2019.

"Still Buzz.  Corey," she adds, shaking on of the left hands, then wiping her own hand off on her uniform pants.  "Still damp.  Cheap towels.  When's the mission briefing?"  Buzz was itching to do more than ferry cadets from planet to planet for various training exercises.  The most recent crop she brought with her to Mercury were here for subterranean maneuvers.

"Good to meet you all." Denton said. He stood stretched his arms cautiously so as not to poke someone unintentionally, yawned, and said "I'm off for a cuppa-joe and little rack time. Could someone chime me for the briefing?"

Denton strode to the doorway, stopped, and turned to look back at the collection of fellow patrolers.

"This must be one hell of a mission." Denton said as held his cigar poised near his mouth. "Because we're one hell of a ragtag group."

Turning, he walked out and made his way to the nearest coffee dispenser.

Buzz stares toward the empty doorway that the muscled smoke machine just left through.
 "I think he said his name is Possessed.  Or was it Criminal?  Maybe 'ragtag' isn't the thing we need to worry about," she said, loud enough to be heard in the hallway.  She couldn't keep a joking smile from her lips.

"Wow, complete sentences." Denton replies. "You honor me beyond measure."

Sipping his coffee Denton went down to the lobby and stretched out on a sofa. He would be asleep before the coffee would be finished.

Flash watch the dynamics of play among the new Agents he was meeting.
It was obvious that Buzz wasn't a regular here, any more than Flash was (he'd arrived just this morning, himself).
But he wondered if Doc Cagliostro and Quade were stationed here.

He shrugged at Buzz, and said, "I can fill you all in now, if you like?", following Quade out into the Rec Lounge, and hoping the ladies would follow suit.

Flash was still pretty banged up, with several gashes in his torso and leg, and heaps of scratches, burns and bruises.  But he seems to be rolling with it all pretty well.

"Assuming that none of you have read my report ..." he began.   Because, lets be honest, Flash wouldn't have unless under duress, "A few weeks back, a terrorist cell who planted an explosive at the Venusian World Fair.  My partner and I managed to deal with it, before it blew.  And all the evidence pointed to this planet as their base of operations.

From what we can tell, a group loyal to an immortal, but now dead priestess called The Flame Witch are responsible.
It seems that they have somehow found, or created, a new strain of The Silver Plague: which is a robot only virus that sends any electronic being insane and violent upon contact with the virus.

And for some reason, this organisation is insistent on bringing back said Silver Plague ... maybe they want to see all electronic beings wiped out?  or start a war between electronics and fleshies?   I dunno".
He halted a moment, to let all that sink in, then continued,
"This Flame Witch was a priestess of an ancient religious cult here on Mercury.  Apparently Immortal while the magic flames in her temple exist ... its believed that the flame, and the witch herself, died long ago.
But somehow, this new cult is reigniting," he said, grinning at his own pun, "her name and image, at the least, in this desire to return the Silver Plague into the Solar System.

My partner has gone missing, as we split up to follow some academic leg-work.
But I've found a teleporter that some of the Flame Witch flunkies used earlier today to escape after some releasing some Silver Plague in the city here.

The corresponding coordinates for its paired teleport pad are on the other side of the planet.
Which, funnily enough, is apparently where the Flame Witch temple city is supposed to be".
Again, he paused, before continuing on.

"So my thoughts are to make my way over that away, one way or another, and take a look at what is going on, on the sunny side of Mercury".

"Sounds like as good a place to start as any." Quade said as he got from the sofa. "Do we have any idea of how extensive this Witch's following could be on Mercury? You called them a terrorist cell, but do we have any idea of how they view themselves? You know, do they think they are saving us all from ourselves or something?"

"Nope" was the simple answer to that question.
Flash and CID had arrived here this morning, and were only just beginning their investigations.

Buzz had followed Flash into the rec room for his briefing.  "Are you planning to come in airborne, or do the tunnel systems connect that far?  Flying would be faster, of course, but a solar flare could make the trip mighty uncomfortable, even for Mercury."

A Danger Patrol tech came into the room holding a clipboard. "Mr... Ban... Mr. Flash-Bang? And Pilot Corey? Good, you're all here. Mr. B-- Mr. Flash-Bang, we read your report, and we've got a ship ready to take you to the coordinates on the other side of Mercury... with the appropriate safety gear, of course. Stellar weather reports state that it should be mild today, though, even there... Are you ready to leave right away, or do you need more time to prepare...?"

"I just need enough time to pack a couple of ham-n-cheese subs, a pickle, and a thermos of coffee." Denton said to the gathering at large. "Do you figure we need to carry any of that fancy Patrol kit? I'd hate to give the wrong impression."

"If you're asking my opinion, I'd say yes, take your gear," said the tech, "but what do I know, I'm just a corporal..." The corporal (Tech division) sighed a small sigh. "...Anyone got any other questions for me, before I go back to my own department...?"

To Corporal Whiner, she asks, "Is the provided shuttle big enough to carry surface or subsurface vehicles?  A tunnel cruiser with a shock cannon on the top might be handy against a swarm of cultists.  The tracking transponder in it would also be strong enough to relay to the shuttle and then Mercury base, so our position would be easier to triangulate if something goes wrong."

To Denton she says, "Is the coffee here as strong as they have on Ganymede?  I don't want any of that Venusian crap.  It's weaker than skim milk!"

"I'm just happy that it is real coffee and not some soy-protien imitation." Denton said. "I once got busted smuggling chicory grown on Earth as a coffee substitute. I paid four thousand for a ton on Earth and sold it for forty thousand in the belt. It was a damn sight better than the soy stuff. But, real coffee. It's nearly as valuable as the water that goes into it."

Denton smiled. Looked back over his shoulder at the others and said, "Well, actually, I got busted for tax evasion. Evidently, a ton of chicory has a tax assessment of two hundred per quarter ton. Remember to pay those import taxes kiddies."

Buzz just smiles.  "Real coffee.  Excellent.  Necessary and excellent.  Follow me, corporal.  You can finish answering my questions as we go."  Buzz follows Denton until the smell of dark roast leads her even faster.

“Agreed”, said Flash, “We have no idea what to expect when we get there.  So let’s be ready”.

When they got to the SPORT (Suborbital Planetary Operations and Recreational Transport), Flash provided Buzz with the coordinates he had been given at the library for the Temple City of the Flame Witch.
As the engines hummed to life, ad have the SPORT it’s trademark throb, Flash took a seat nearby the controls, for maximum vision out the front windscreen ... without getting in Buzz’ way.

"No, sorry, no room for that sort of thing..." says the corporal. "The craft you've been assigned is more designed for stealth, so that there's a chance-- probably better than a 50% chance-- that they won't know you're coming..."




(08:16, Today: The GM rolled 8 using 2d6 ((5,3)).)

The surface of Mercury is extremely rocky and looks barren to the untrained eye. There are a few species of native life forms, but they're well-camouflaged, and quite rare, anyway.

When Buzz pilots the craft to the coordinates (or, you know... above the coordinates, at least), Buzz notices something odd-- the dust down there has been disturbed. Not just in one spot, but here and there around the coordinates...

Flash-Bang theorizes that not only has someone been landing vehicles around that area in the last year or two (and taking off again, since none are visible now), the same someones have also driven away any local wildlife (probably the Mercurial Carpet Flapper, a sort of super-light non-aquatic flounder/catfish-like creature that is able to get airborne for short distances even in Mercury's very light atmosphere. They're not carnivorous to anything as large as a human, but their sides are sharp and can cut open a human's environmental suit, so they're a bit dangerous anyway)...

Buzz scours the landing area through the windows and monitors.  "Should I land in a new spot, or one of the places they've used before?"

She's also trying to spot the entrance to the underground complex, planning the best way to align the landing position so they can minimize time on the surface, and she can get the SPORT sky-borne as quickly as possible.

"As close to the door as possible, with the SPORT pointed in the right direction for a hasty hop out of here if things get dicey." Denton said. He stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray in anticipation of suiting up. "Besides, if we get in without being detected it would be good it we didn't have to waste time walking from several miles away to get into the place."

So far, Buzz doesn't see any such entrance. If there is such a thing, maybe it's somehow camouflaged from aerial observation...?

Doc Cagliostro looked up from her meditations as they approached and checked over her equipment and suit to make sure everything was in order. "I agree. If we can find the entrance, a quick extraction is always best. But how to locate the appropriate spot..."

the Doc moved closer to Buzz and peered over her shoulder. "If neither you nor the ship's instrumentation can spot our complex, perhaps it would help if I realigned the ship's equipment to function in tandem with my omni-scanner." She produced the shiny chrome device from her suit with a flourish along with a multi-tool, but resisted the urge to begin hotwiring it in immediately. The pilot was in charge of the ship after all, as much as the Doc was in charge of her lab.