Turn 5: The Seabed

The Fifth Devil Dawgs Campaign takes the Marines to new depths.
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Corporal Hicks
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Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by Corporal Hicks » Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:21 pm

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The Marines completed their diagnostics and then loaded into their positions. First, the six volunteers were hooked onto the bottom of the minisubs with help from the others. Davros, McKenna, Hall, Grisham, Henniger, and Kelly were all stowed before the others loaded up. The others each climbed into a sub through the top hatch. They each stowed their pressure suits at the back of the small vessel before taking a seat on a metal bench. One Navy operator was already stationed in each minisub where they had been running down the checklist. It was most comfortable to wear nothing while inside the pressure suits, so unless they brought fatigues with them, they were going to make the trip in their skivvies and maybe a t-shirt.

The men and women hanging beneath the subs had a more uncomfortable time. The suits were very clumsy when exposed to only one atmosphere of pressure. In addition to this, they were advised to “lock” their suits to prevent flailing limbs or anything that might be dangerous. So, they hung there, listening to their own breathing and the radio checks coming through their headset.

At last, the hatch above them was sealed and the mini subs were isolated in their sort of swimming pool. “All clear, open outer hatch.” The lower hatch was opened and those in the suits heard the metal ticking from the pressure. “Detach one.” The first minisub detached from its mooring and sank into the depths. The white wall of the ‘swimming pool’ was replaced by darkness. A spotlight on the front of the minisub lit the water ahead, but all it revealed were specks floating like stars on a black background.

Chatter continued over the radio, much of it unintelligible jargon. The minisubs coordinated their approach to the target. “We have visual.” The hazy, dark shape of the Quantum Herald loomed before their eyes in the darkness. The spotlights slowly illuminated the immobilized starship where it lay on the seabed. It gradually became visible that the aft section of the ship was hanging over a cliff into unseen depths. “Looks like she’s perched over the edge of the Friedman Trench. Down there, she might truly be out of our reach.”

Lieutenant Harper ordered the subs to split into three groups of two. They would attempt the Quantum Herald’s three main airlocks from three different directions. The Marines on the ground were supposed to locate and interface with a functioning airlock so that the Marines on the minisubs could enter the ship. “Prepare to detach. I would recommend you keep your suits’ thrusters on minimum to avoid sinking into the silt on the bottom.” One by one, the dangling Marines detached from the hooks and sank to the bottom. They were pleased to discover that the suits were quite maneuverable at this depth. It was what they were designed for, after all.

The silt on the seabed was littered with strange bones. Everything that died in the ocean above had to leave its bones somewhere. If this had been earth, they might have found the skeletons of untold generations of sailors who had been buried at sea. The water was dark but the spotlights from the minisubs lit the area well enough to see. “Ground team, continue to the target.”

(OOC: I have marked everyone’s location on this handy map. The gray ovals are the minisubs. The green arrows are the Marines on the ground. Credit to Medic Guy for designing the Quantum Herald.)
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ImageSgtMaj. Danny Sykes - Platoon NCO
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D26/TQ6.3.48412E9
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LT_Chun
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by LT_Chun » Tue Mar 09, 2021 12:30 am

Henniger had always loved the ocean. He's surfed his whole civilian life and into his Colonial Marine career. He's surfed exotic breaks with very large waves and been held under the roiling, churning seawater for up to a minute at times. He'd never panicked, rather he'd just been fascinated and awed by the visuals and completely changed audible environment.
This had led to amateur scuba diving.
When he'd joined the Corps, being tortured in the pool by his drill instructors hadn't ever been too stressful for him.

Now, deep under the waters of another planet he felt that awe again. He clamped down on it however, and kept his attention on the Marines with him and the op.

He toggled the team channel to avoid cluttering the command and platoon channel. He knew Sykes and the LT had the absolute to, and likely were, listen in on the channel.

"Kelly, ten meter spacing." He was thinking about explosives or decompression from the target vessel.
"Head on a swivel, let's head for 12 o'clock and find a hatch or good breach point."

<tag Kelly>

He looked over to Kelly. The Marine looked like a bulky cartoon spaceman. He toggled to the squad channel which the other volunteers had been patched in to.

He toggled the squad net.

"Left to right folks, stay frosty."

<tag Davros, Hall, Grisham, McKenna>

He and Kelly, plus the subs distantly to their rear, made their way quickly to the vessels hull thanks to their suit thrusters. Henniger and Kelly made it to the hull as the others made their contact RPs.

Henniger took in the massive bulk of the vessel and studied the hull.

"Kelly close it up, watch my back."

<tag Kelly>

He toggled the Command net.

"Henniger-Kelly in place at objective. Searching for breach point."

<tag Harper/Sykes>

<awareness, perception, demolition of needed, reactive modified gun combat if needed>
ImageLCPL. J. Henniger USCM
A11/TQ2.0.22146E1
U.S.S. Chimera
Recon Rifleman, Comtech electronics secondary
3rd FTL, Call Sign Devil Dawgs.

Armor and webbing
M41A Pulse Rifle + 7 mags
M40 Grenades x 10
Hand Welder
Service Pistol + 2 Mags
Mk. 1 Combat Knife
Rations/Water
Com-Tech Bypass Device
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maxvale76
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by maxvale76 » Tue Mar 09, 2021 12:57 am

Samantha found the 'hopping' along the sea floor kinda fun, but shook her head and focused on the mission in hand as they approached the wreck. She took the lead and called over to Grisham; "Okay, look sharp mon...." as she did her best to do the same, looking up and all around as she approached the sunken vessel, keeping her weapon tucked in tight and ready to rock if needed....

<Tag Grisham>
<Roll Alertness>
ImageSGT Samantha "Sam" Hall

M41A Pulse Rifle
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Morse
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by Morse » Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:27 am

In a way Morse found the situation quite humorous. He was being allowed to sit and do basically nothing while others did cripplingly dangerous work. It was a nice switch, and he was not exactly going to get up and try to do anything to change that. He had no real interest in going on recon that deep under water to try to find something. Like many he had that disconcerting fear of what may linger out in the water and would do his best to avoid it altogether. He remained at his seat, knowing he could get the suit on with relative ease and speed. Until they had confirmation of where they were going and the next phase moving forward, Morse was in no mood to even try.

He just smiled and put a call over the radio.

"Ya'll'r doin' great. Don''t change a thing." He failed to cut off the radio before an audible chuckle came from his throat. Still it was probably obvious that he was enjoying not leading from the front on this one. That may change soon enough, but for the moment he was content where he was.
Image-SSG Allen Morse - Squad Leader
-3rd Bn, 2nd Reg, 1st Co, 8th Plt
- DEVIL DAWG
- M41A Pulse Rifle - M4 Pistol - Med Kit
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lordstrand
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by lordstrand » Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:45 pm

Davros approached the ship doing his best moon walk. Mumbling to himself "That's one small step for man." He used his hands to feel along the exterior of the ship, panning his lights up and down to look for any consoles for access. He periodically looked out into the open ocean just to make sure there wasn't anything with a lot of teeth swimming up in the dark. Not that he was paranoid or anything. Ok, maybe a little paranoid, happens when your seeing dead people in your dreams.

After what seemed like an eternity in the dark of the ocean he found the bulkhead that should be the decompression door. "Found the bulkhead door chief. Gonna pop this cork hope everyone's got a glass. Gonna try to cycle the decompression doors first, don't want to flood this sucker using explosives if I can help it."
<tag Morse, and Sykes>

He tied himself off to the nearest clamp on the outside wall of the ship. They use these to keep from floating too far away from the ship when space walking. This thing is used to a vacuum so when the doors cycle it might suck in a lot of water and he didn't want to get dragged in and bounced around on anything. Or who knows could go the other way and forcefully expel a lot of air and bash him against the bottom of the ocean. "Scouts motto be prepared." He said to the inside of his helmet "And here we go." He punched in the sequence to open in the door, vaguely reminded of the beat to funky town.
Image LCpl. Strand Davros - Medic
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: S35/TQ9.4.48100E2

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Medic Guy
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by Medic Guy » Fri Mar 12, 2021 6:57 pm

The ride below the mini sub in the expansive darkness was not easily describable. A number of disastrous events had seemed to follow the unit about over the years. The depth they were at, pressures were immense and the possibility of some type of failure in the suit would have devastating consequences for any of the marines outside. He had activated the thermal optic prior to launching but almost everything was the same dark shade of blue grey as he was pulled along under the sub. The lights on the sub were the only real contrast that he could pick up, small blobs lit brightly against the contrasting darkness.

His mind wanted to conjure up images of razor-sharp mouthed beasts lurking about just out of his view, he attempted to focus his attention and push the thoughts from his conscience. The outline of the target vessel began to come into view given the time lapse since it had struck the ocean surface there was not a great amount of difference in the surface temperature of the vessel and the surrounding ocean. The subs stopped their forward momentum and word came for the others hanging below to access an airlock or hatch on the vessel. He and Davros approached the side of the ship using their thrusters. The hatch that Davros had located was about 15 feet above the sea floor and not far from the cliff face leading down into the trench. He hooked a carabiner and line to the hull and prepared for the hatch to open.

<Awareness and Perception
ImageCorporal Clint McKenna
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: L69/EA5.2.31782M9

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Pvt. Isabel Orozco - Rifleman; formerly of the U.S.S. Shiloh Marine Detachment, currently on public relations campaign.
Private Dave Halbert - unknown location

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wargamer
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by wargamer » Fri Mar 12, 2021 9:35 pm

Darren's boots caused little clouds of sand to puff up at each step and swirl around his ankles as he bounced along ahead of the mini-subs, doing his best impression of one of the NASA astronauts walking on the moon for the first time. The lights mounted on his helmet and shoulders illuminated the ocean floor ahead and the sheer metallic wall of the hull of the Quantum Herald rising into dark above them.

LCpl Hennigers voice crackled in his earpiece "Kelly, ten meter spacing. Head on a swivel, let's head for 12 o'clock and find a hatch or good breach point."

Darren turned a little to his right and bounced towards the Quantum Heralds Bow where, according the schematics, they should find the starboard-side personnel airlock.

"Kelly close it up, watch my back."

Darren shortened his stride and dropped back to be level with Henniger as his lights picked out the rectangular shape of the airlock, about 4.5m off the ocean floor. He keyed his radio to the squad frequency.

"Hey boss, I can see a likely entry point just ahead. Seal looks intact, we might be able to dock the sub and get in without risking flooding a compartment."
ImagePFC Darren 'Doc' Kelly - Medic
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D44/TQ9.21.47645E2
Current Equipment
M-41A Pulse Rifle w/ 4 Mags
M4A3 Pistol w/ 2 Mags
K-52 Field Medical Pack
2x M-18 Smoke Grenades (Red)
6x M-94 Flares
2x K-Bar Combat/Survival Knives

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LT_Chun
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by LT_Chun » Sat Mar 13, 2021 2:11 am

Henniger looked to Kelly's position.

"Outstanding, good work."

<Tag Kelly>

He closed up on the medic with his awkward yet graceful movements and put his back to the hull, looking back at the minisub.

"Five, Six, this is Three. Kelly found a good entry point. Ping our transponders. We'll take a look at it, standing by."

<tag Sykes/LT>
ImageLCPL. J. Henniger USCM
A11/TQ2.0.22146E1
U.S.S. Chimera
Recon Rifleman, Comtech electronics secondary
3rd FTL, Call Sign Devil Dawgs.

Armor and webbing
M41A Pulse Rifle + 7 mags
M40 Grenades x 10
Hand Welder
Service Pistol + 2 Mags
Mk. 1 Combat Knife
Rations/Water
Com-Tech Bypass Device
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Corporal Hicks
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by Corporal Hicks » Mon Mar 15, 2021 3:37 am

Sergeant Major Sykes’ voice crackled over the radio. “Okay, people, let’s get ourselves inside. Do not remove your pressure suits. That is a standing order. Even if there is atmosphere inside, it could pop at any minute.”
<Tag everyone>

Davros opened the starboard airlock and Kelly opened the port airlock. Water flooded into the compartments in the time of a heartbeat. The minisubs were able to enter as well as the suited Marines. The port airlock contained a cargo transport vessel with cockpit glass shattered under the water pressure. The starboard airlock appeared to be a compartment for a lifepod.

(OOC: Sorry, It's been a very hard weekend. I tried writing the new turn but it will have to wait until tomorrow after work. For now I'm posting maps of where you breached the ship.)
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ImageSgtMaj. Danny Sykes - Platoon NCO
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D26/TQ6.3.48412E9
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maxvale76
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by maxvale76 » Thu Mar 18, 2021 12:46 am

Samantha felt herself getting a bit worn out in the suit, but she did her best to shake it off and stay alert....

Keeping her weapon at the ready, she tried to maintain eyes all around, on the off chance something was sneaking up on them, she'd prefer to know about it AHEAD of time....

<Roll Alertness>
ImageSGT Samantha "Sam" Hall

M41A Pulse Rifle
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Medic Guy
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Re: Turn 5: The Seabed

Post by Medic Guy » Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:50 pm

As the airlock opened, Clint felt the tug of the water on his body as the space filled with water. The suit felt restrictive and not quite right. He hadn't ever had issues with claustrophobia before but it seemed like that may be the case right now. He unhooked his carabiner once the pull of the water stopped and climbed inside the now flooded area. He activated the suit lighting now that they were in a more enclosed space and examined his surroundings as Davros and the two mini subs pulled up behind him. He looked up to see what appeared to be an engine system above him for possibly an escape pod. The bottom of the pod appeared to be fairly large, maybe 40 feet by 50 feet. He looked around to see if there was an access into the pod itself.

"Look like a lifeboat to you?" he called to Davros as he inspected for a maintenance hatch into the pod. He felt an itch behind his ear and his hand merely knocked at the fishbowl surrounding his head. Stupid suit he contemplated, wishing he could take the thing off knowing he would be able to scratch the itch behind his ear before the pressure would crush him.

<Awareness, Perception
ImageCorporal Clint McKenna
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: L69/EA5.2.31782M9

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Pvt. Isabel Orozco - Rifleman; formerly of the U.S.S. Shiloh Marine Detachment, currently on public relations campaign.
Private Dave Halbert - unknown location

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