senior officer Mikael van Atta

Well, if it is a 4-door, we can abslutely have 3 or 4 people inside. 

5 can be a problem - even if it is a big car, US-style, and it is less a matter of passenger comfort, getting the person sitting in the middle of the rear couch out and into action ain't gonna be fast. Twice as bad if they're hauling a long gun. 

As for Zdravko (& in general) how effective would it be to use a simple camo net, like a sniper's scarf?

Of course, it works for a stationary position only, and is useless against thermal vision, but in the visual spectrum, it could be useful (and like with uniforms / load-baring kit, the better and more expensive variants might be using dyes that work in infra-red as well, I guess). Especially for a bit of kit that, folded, fits in your pocket and which could be procured from any surplus / hunting store for a dime.

Of course this brings the problem of whether would it remain of any effect once unsupressed shots are fired. I have no experience with that IRL.

Ah. I defaulted to the historical t-birds, which, as far as I was able to see, were 2-door coupes.

Yup, we have a very decent combat / support element in the Armadillo at this point. But not enough "teeth" in the lead vehicle.

The T-Bird was a fine choice when we were starting this trip, but things have escalated since then. We can try to put one more person in it, but it is a two-door, meaning deploying these people will be clunky. Should we try to put 4 people in the T-Bird, it'd turn into a sardine can (a Humvee would do much better now, but we don't have one). 

As for Zdravko choosing targets, well, there's our lack of command structure showing: someone should have told him the prorities. Either Suzy or 8-Ball. However, they were both too busy fighting to actually command... but we needed all the barrels we could in the fight (that's exactly why back in Nevada 8-Ball was waging several battles with a radio, rather than gun, in hand).

OK, so Tallahassee gig is on, and Atlanta probably as well (if it is deemed secured with guarantees). We'll play with whatever cards we're dealt, then. 

8-Ball still considers it risky, and kinda is worried sick trying to foresee what Lowdens and his people are going to pull. Sun Tzu had some things to say about Suzy (well, not personally, of course... ) in his Chapter Three, but 8-Ball is not going to tell her that. She's not a person that'd listen to such advice.

Nah, it wasn't 8-Ball championing the 6.5H, but there's little point in going back to that debate and decisions made years back now. 

Yes, we were lucky this time (save for Usman). However, what I see was we were too slow to neutralize the ends of the enemy formation, and that did not allowed us to move into flanking fire positons against the SWAT fast enough. Sure, our support made a difference there, but next time Lady Fortune might be not on our side.

At (partially) SP33, those guys were very tough targets for our 6.5mmH rifles. 

Rue with her 7,62mm FN RAL did noticeably better. 

For future reference, Whyte Hats would need to rethink our choice of weapons if we were to face opponents wearing that level of protection with any regularity in the future.

Also, while that wasn't really an issue here, rifles are, per Maximum Metal, PEN 1 weapons (whether they get to PEN 2 with AP rounds is, well, disputable). Not enough to impress the SWAT wagon (IIRC BMW 2020 has enough Armor to shrug that off), but ordinary cars are pretty likely to get eventually shredded by bullets they absorb when we try to hit people partailly covered by a vehicle (now, the question would be how well armored an Alabama Police patrol car is...).

Sounds to me not unlike we should show up at the Florida State Police en bloc, with a battalion-worth of lawyers in tow, and very politely ask if they would, in fact, like to have some words with us. If not, well, thank you very much, officers,we'll be on our way.

...yep, definitely a reason to keep a legal team ready to scramble.

I wonder what are the Feds going to make of the fact the Alabama cops shot a fully uniformed U.S. Marshall in broad daylight (and under the watchful cameras of our drone), where she obviously had authority and they hadn't, but we won't know that until J.J. decides to tell us (and she'd have to be given such information first).

Keep in mind if we are going to run into any more Alabama cops armed as heavily as the last bunch, we might not be able to deal with them as effectively as we'd like. 6.5H has to rely on copious amounts of autofire and grind-down to elliminate that kind of targets. 

Also, should we get reinfrocements from Whyte Hats, I'd like Cossack to consider having an extra man on his Thunderbird. The Armadillo is well-staffed, and has managed to hold its own in the fights so far, but the front of the convoy looks way like is has a manpower (and thus firepower) shortage. something we could amend once the new guy shows up.

As for the dirty cops of New Orleans, they'll take a moment to find out who did it. Still, I'm afraid we haven't managed to really break the ring there. What they know so far is only that:

• some quite competent crew of 5-6 individuals (nobody had a chance to see Rue, but a 6-man team is pretty typical in spec-ops forces) went through their location like a cabbage stew through a very squat crone,
• all the (still alive) girls went missing,
• all the electronics went missing, including the hidden recorder,
• but nobody got killed (save maybe for the guy who panicked upstairs and jumped through a closed window into the water, after being hit with some drug pellets, as I said, he had a very good chance of drowning).

So far, said crew vanished into thin air, and no evidence has surfaced (I mean, unless the Marshalls spilled the info, which I doubt). 

Which should make the crooked cops become scared shitless, but technically there isn't anything stopping them from re-launching whatever operation they had there.

Good point...

We need to discuss that with Nancy. Very, very thoroughly.

I think I recall it being said Georgia is aligned in Alabama in general principle only. Alabama Police patrol cars that try venturing into Georgia often don't come back, and Georgian authorities don't seem to be too keen on finding what happened to these. Implying they don't really like Alabama Police on their soil, and likely wouldn't like blackshirts from out of the state either.

I can be wrong, though.

On separate matter: what gun is Skip Hansen carrying, and would anyone feel bad about him getting a memento of Usman in the form of Usman's Militech M&P Shotgun (one 8-Ball bought for Usman half a year earlier, actually)?

We made it to Miami without further disturbance.

• the Alabama governor is screaming murder on us, for supposedly murdering his cops execution-style. Lucky for us, we have evidence claiming otherwise, but it has not been used yet.
• the Miami Police decided not to pay us a visit (probably considering the fact it might result in an acute lead poisoining for them)
• the Voodoo guys have hijacked the zeppelin to Haiti, throwing hostages out once USAF tried to force the airship down. USAF backed down.
• Nancy Chang is handling Usman's burial - and arranging for a replacement driver.

Just now, TigerGuard said:

Lost my internet. If the driver discussion is still open, Cossack has an Operate Heavy Machinery chip +3

No need, 8-Ball is actually qualified for the big rig.

Ah.

...for the entire campaign I was sure "called shot is +10, regardless where you call it to". 

I'd advise against calling the shots in that case: you've told us it is a medium-range shot, so Diff 20 to start with. Per houserules of this campaign, a called shot is +10 on difficulty, making a called shot a Diff 30. That's tough call even for someone as proficient with a rifle as 8-Ball.

Unless what you are trying to tell it is a different type of "called shot" here: "trying to hit the guy anywhere, as long as this anywhere is above the balustrade is -4 to hit"? If that's the base of the calculation for 8-Ball starting of a base of 18 vs Diff 20, that might be worth the risk, at least for 8-Ball.

Being not completely blind in the field of Human Emotions, he'd probably notice that, sooner or later. And ask J.J. what is on her mind / what is irking her. 

But that'd have to wait for a moment when we're not deep in trouble. 

Side note - it isn't likely to be equally irking Rue: they have known each other for years, and she never gave 8-Ball a glare for refering to her as "girl". Not that she didn't for other things, but that's another kettle of fish.

Wilco, three pairs. Suggestion:

#1 8-Ball on point, backed by Cossack.

#2 J.J. and Viper.

#3 new guy (kinda makes me hope the character turns out to bear the family name - or nickname - Nevsky  ) and Rue on rearguard.

This gives us a female voice on each pair that is going to end up where we expect we might find any rescues. 

Once we're done on the entry level, #1 pair will be available as reserve to reinforce either upstairs or downstairs, if situation (and Battlemapper) shows we are needed there. Otherwise, we'll get to securing captives on the entry floor, and then rummaging through thier pockets. Also, checking for breathing / pulse (I guess you can't tell an overdose without Medical Diagnosis, but being reasonably competent with First Aid should let one check if the fella is still breathing, or maybe he had just went far, far away...).

And yes, we'll be playing stupid macho games at the dock. Zdravko included. And the girls too, if they can be talked into it (Rue should know the routine by heart... and I guess J.J. isn't a stranger to it, either). Finding how fast can anyone run is not really important there, but it'll bring as much team spirit and team-bonding experience as we can get. I mean, Viper might be an old hand in this game, but he never worked with us. Zdravko wasn't under fire with us, and we haven't even seen the new guy yet. 

Definitely wouldn't harm to do some team building. Just remember, we all have to be able to pull some real work at night. So no playing hard, just pretending you do.

Yup, that's what we're counting on - the door being open.

As for arranging the team in order of MA value, the idea is neat, but @Allen1you'd have to do that. HonestIy is not like 8-Ball could go thoruogh the team asking their MA values, right...?  

Hmm, that sounds like a point towards the idea of going in trios. 

• step zero, we fire at the porch guards, hopefully taking them both down, and approach the door, forming a stack on it.
• step one, we open the door (actually, classic move would be to have someone from the other team opening it for the first group), first three go in and open fire on people on the entry floor. As you say we can't expect to have more people through the threshold in the time given anyway.
• step two, the first three either continue firing on the people on the entry floor or, if we're lucky, have the floor clear and can proceed upstairs, to clear the floor there. At the same time, second trio comes in (Rue dragging in the porch guard) and immediately proceeds towards the basement stairs. Now, we don't know if they'll find a door there or not, but that's something they'll have to deal with once they get there. Hopefully, there's no door and they are able to follow to the basement unimpeded, then start clearing it.
• step three, first trio finishes clearing the main room above, drags in the porch guard that was on the balcony, and gets ready to clear the two smaller rooms. Second trio finishes clearing the basement and prepares to open and clear any locked spaces there.
• step four, close rooms upstairs and in the basement get cleared.
• step five, proceed to cuff and bag any captives. Call pickup and get ready for exfil. 
• Step six, exfil.

Now, that's the perfect chain of events, and we know plans never get perfect. Also, while the early steps are executable in a single game round, the later may be longer.

Question to Suzy: do we grab all of the guys for questioning? None? Some (in that last case, how do we determine the right ones?).

Also, standing order: if we run into a computer (yes, the drone recon haven't revealed any. Then again, recon wasn't complete), memory storage device or a gorram black book, we take it with us. Our netrunners may be capable of getting some useful information out of it - and if not, they are easily disposable. 

OOC: 

The width of the door is of little concern. 

1. You can move two assaulters simulatneously through a doorframe (usually to cover the wall both left and right of the door), even if the door is a 60cm-wide  one. Yes, it takes a bit of practice, yes, it helps massively if the assaulters are wearing form-fitting kit like chest-rigs or vests (beltkit rigs, especially ones with lot of large ammo pouches and a buttpack are a scourge of such scenario) and no backpacks. I've trained that IRL, and it is absolutely doable. Tight, uncomfortable, but doable. I wouldn't expect the entry door to be a 60cm (that's the size for toilet door where I live, and on the narrow end of the spectrum at that!), but a 90 to 110cm. 
2. Getting the assault team past the threshold fast is critical. While it robs you of the cover a doorframe would provide, it allows you to bring all the guns into the fight. So you run in and follow to your positions, firing on the move (one of my instructors claimed that the Brits stop and fire. Very counterintuitive for me, dunno whether it is true and if they have changed their doctrine since then. Then again, Brits are a great illustration for the expression if it is stupid and it works, it ain't stupid - they have a whole lot of weird takes on stuff... that work). I don't recall how fast were we able to get a 4-man fireteam (stacked single-file) through a doorframe, but definitely well within a standard Cyberpunk 3,2s game round. And we were Joe Averages, not jacked up Solos with wired reflexes.

6 hours ago, Allen1 said:

She then turns to 8-Ball and tells him, "Rue is to be assigned to the third pair entering the house and isn't to be first through any door."

Sure, that makes sense, too. She can drag the porch guard in. Anyone wants that first-through-the-door position, or can I take it? 

It isn't a by-the-book approach to have the team leader on point, but we have been through this a number of times, and 8-Ball has no problem with taking the position. 

Besides, yeah, it is more dangerous than last-through-the-door, but given how small and cramped the place will be, the difference isn't, in his eyes, that big.

I wonder if, given the open layout of the entry floor, we shouldn't rather go from there in threes, not pairs, going upstairs and downstairs simultaneously. Or at least be able to adapt to that style on the fly. Either the entry floor will be clear in seconds, and we'll be ready to move on, or we're in deep trouble anyway. So I don't really see what a pair would be doing there, and we could perhaps use an extra gun upstairs and downstairs respecitvely. What's your take on it, Suzy?

The way I see the split would be:

1. Me on point,
2. Cossack having my back,
3. The new guy Mitzi's sending us (the new Solo)
4. Viper, ready to go downstairs, with either the new guy if we go in pairs, or the girls if we split in threes.
5. J.J.
6. Rue as rearguard.

I assume Viper, being the old hand you paint him as, would be best suited to taking over if I'm down. Though he hasn't worked with us yet, and is outside of our chain of command, so everybody needs to flow with it. - 8-Ball skips over the fact the man has his personal interest in it, too. He also expects the resistance downstairs to be likely lesser than upstairs. What do you think about it, Suzy?

I get that Zdravko has a very strong accent on his English...

Which is why we are using relatively quiet weapons, and going in fast; surprise, speed and violence of action, as CQB handbook dictates. Preemptively flashbanging the rooms is out of the question - we don't want to alarm the entire neigbourhood. 

I'm not worried about the entry floor: if we manage to take out the sentries without raising an alarm, a surprise is given. Maintaining the surprise elemnt upstairs and downstairs, well, that's gonna be a problem. Which is why we need to stick to the speed and violence of action.

As for weapons, you ran the drone recon with Suzy. From what I got from you guys, there were no long guns in sight apart from the outside guards, and there were some handguns visible inside. So we should expect concealable stuff: handguns, maybe SMGs, and melee weapons. 

Six feet above the water level? Problematic, but manageable. I assume it is similar with the front porch? 

This also increases the chances for a "basement" (level below the one we enter). From a gamer's point of view, to "certain". It would be about waist-deep under the surface of the surrounding water (may or may not be water-filled itself), and likely a damn nasty, damp place (unless someone really put a small fortune into wet-proofing it).

OK, going in pairs as Suzy asked.

Zdravko, Suzy can handle the sniper part - I've seen what she can do - and we'll have Paulie flying the drone cover - what we need right now is boots on the ground to go thorough the breach. I may promise you you won't be the first thorough that breach. 

As for arranging anyone a meeting with their creator, hold your internal Vlad the Impaler (note: 8-Ball doesn't know jack shit about Serbian culture, he took a lick of Romanian though. He assumes the reference would be close enough). We need intel to really stop the operation, and dead men don't talk. Again, I've seen what Suzy can do, and I guess Viper isn't far behind in that department either (it would be hard to tell whether 8-Ball is more resigned, or more disgusted about that. But that's the mixed feelings he has).

Shiny.

How high above water is the first floor (the one with the entry bridge)? High enough to fit a dry floor below? Can we use the back door (barred from the inside) for exfil (as in, have our escape boats dock there) once the building is secured?

Now, we have to expect the numbers and composition of people in the building may be different (13 at the moment of recon). Still, the first floor is essentially a big (more or less) open space. Four men can come in and effectively cover it with automatic (if there are many targets) / semiautomatic (if there are few targets) fire. 

I believe the last pair can then look for stairs to the basement, if there are any.

One pair has to go upstairs. Maybe two pairs? We need to do it fast. Upstairs they may or may not realize what exactly is going on, but they will definitely realize something is going on. We would want to get them before they manage to raise alarm. 

Then there's the problem of the basement. No idea what we find there (if it exists). Less targets for sure. We'll need to adapt on the fly.

Then, secure targets.

Then, check the rooms upstairs. Does the Grid Bug recon suggest these rooms are locked from the outside?

Ah. Somehow the USS Brooklyn's legacy being invoked escaped my memory.

As for the plan for storming the target - the idea was for the first and second pair to maintain the initiative going forward. While still eliminating any target they encounter on their way to the respective stairs up and down. Which should clear a good part of the first floor (the one we enter at).

The third pair would be about one round behind them to complete securing the 1st floor. By now, mainly cleared anyway. All they need to do extra is grab the downed guard by the scruff of his neck and drag him inside. Close the entry door. 

Doesn't really matter, as Suzy has another idea.

Frack, we're apparently transmitting on different waves* this time. 

* an expression meaning people can't understeand what the other person intends to communicate. Does not imply anyone being at fault for that.

Stench bombs are off, then. And once Angel is outta therapy, somebody needs to kick him in his haunches about that smart-visor for helmets and the like. Should work for gas mask visors just as well (OOC: that's one of the developments of the improved smartgoggle tech I've been talking for a while).

Do we have 6 people on the assault team? 

4 pellets (2 per assaulter) going towards each guard, then. Two more assaulters hold, in case there are some pellets that don't connect (I'd say have two really competent for that failsafe role. Realistically spreaking, we won't be able to see if the hits are taking effect, but we will be able to see if the pellets connect). And let Suzy take over if that doesn't do the job.

1. Once inside, first pair goes for the stairs to the floor above, trying to take down as many targets possible on their way. Get the upper floor guard out of sight.
2. Second pair goes for the stairs to the floor below. Again, take out as many targets as possible. Inform the rest of the team if there turns out to be yet one more floor below.
3. Third pair, after getting the front door guard out of sight, proceeds to clear the ground floor.

For the time being, ignore any spaces that are locked, especially locked form the outside (padlocks etc). 

If we run out of floors below, report that and be ready to assist on other floors. Once we have the building cleared of obvious targets, secure the incapacipated targets (cuffs & hoods) and secure the documentation. Then proceed to check and secure any locked spaces. Do it with proper backup - you never know who is inside (might be a bad guy, might be a captive who will jump at any chance of escaping. Or be on some kinda drugs, or having a psychotic episode). 

• Once again, people, the very fact someone is kept captive by those guys doesn't automatically make that person our friend. Especially since we don't have time to persuade them we are friends... that's why we wrap them all up, and sort it out later.

I'd need more data on the building, so far I was convinced what we have there is just the top floor of the building with the other guard on the roof. Plus whatever is underwater.

Even if Suzy isn't able to get us detailed floorplan, I'd need a sketch. A rough, guesstimated one at the very least. 

Having Chrome Berets as a backup exfil out of New Orleans is a good idea. However, what do we do with the band in that case - have them pre-loaded on the CB cutter or leave the city as planned - on their own? Where are we going to meet with the cutter (frack, the boat surely has a name...? I'd expect it to be named period-appropriate. Personally, my choice would be calling it after auxiliary cruiser USS Dixie...), should something go south?

Oh. Also, with special dedication to @Allen1 (this interpretation sounds strangely appropriate, given the circumstances)  

That's actually a good plan. 

Nice of Suzy to set the mission parameters clear.

Also, 8-Ball wouldn't make any secret of the fact she's running the show, should anyone on the team ask. Mitzi put it on him long ago, and haven't changed her directives since - he can't really put his foot down without making things blow.

Modification suggestions form 8-Ball:

• for room clearing, we could find some stench bombs (Chrome 2, p.49) handy. They aren't expensive, they are quieter than flashbangs, and they are certainly less illegal than frag grenades (dunno about comparison to flashbangs). Yes, everybody in the area affected are going to be retching their guts out, but the point is - they won't be shooting us. But that's just icing on the cake, lack of stench bombs won't be really keeping us down.
• from a game mechanics point of view, I have a feeling firing full-auto burst (at ROF 20) at the targets outside is going to give us potentially more pellets-on-target. At least for decent riflemen. Whether that would give us any advantage regarding our chances of bringing the targets down, that's for GM to tell (a matter of mechanics - are multiple sleep pellet hits going to be better than just a few...?)
• bring in some decent prybars. I'd expect the girls to be kept under lock, and I don't want us to waste time looking for keys. 

We need to address the (hopefully unconscious) guards issue. The one on the porch is not a problem - the last man on the attack team through the door can simply drag him in and leave him there for the time being. But what about the one on the rooftop? We'd need to take him out of there before someone notices he's slumped up there. How is the roof accessed?

We have two sentries that have to go down for us to successfully infiltrate the objective. With a competent marksman we can take them down in succession (they don't see each other), but it is of course way more foolproof if we have two marksmen. 

Two dead people, indeed. But I see no way of getting to the house without dealing with them. We don't have any snake oil salesman on the team that could silvertongue their way inside with an assault team as his entourage, carrying supressed assault rifles. Which is what Suzy ordered from the get-go. So, she meant us to go kinetic from the very beginning. 

Yes, Suzy is likely to be one of the marksmen. I'd prefer to have Viper on the assault team, since there is a chance we'll find his sister inside, but we can utilize him as a second marksman just as well. I haven't yet seen Zdravko in action - what did his papers say...? Then there's always 8-Ball, who's pretty handy with a rifle. And it is not like the distance will be that long. Not for a rifle shot.

Please note: 8-Ball is still defering to Suzy leading the operation and having the final call. Mitzi told him long ago that if there's any op involving Suzy, then it is Suzy who has authority over it. And Mitzi hasn't changed that directive. He's doing what he can to fill the gaps in the plan, but working with Suzy can really give one a headache...

He'll bring up the exfil issue. 

And point out that Suzy and Viper being really skilled in disappearing is indeed a great thing, but we'll have to disappear the entire attack team along with possibly a number of rescues / captives, while carrying long guns and wearing body armor. For which, under given mission parameters, I really don't see other options than a boat (and no, bringing in the Chrome Berets "cutter" is not an option, it would be far too high profile and easy to identify. And that's provided it would even fit there physically). We could possibly frogman in and out, for example, but we have no equipment, no intel on what is in these canals, and I'm pretty sure not everyone on the team is SCUBA-qualified. Exfil by land means "on foot" through constricted terrain - all those walkways... exfil by air would require a VTOL aircraft we don't have. And carrying away rescues / captures definitelly calls for a vehicle of some sort. 

Unless the mission parameters are "just kill all the bastards and let all captives go on their own". That's a question for Suzy, since it is her calling that mission. And her setting up the parameters. 8-Ball can formulate a plan as close to optimal as possible for him, but he has woefully little information available here.

So, options?

Noted.

The plan is to shoot down the two sentires, then rush the bridge and open the door. 

I'd stick to the fast boats as exfil. The trick is to have an option of racing away - a speedboat can always coast away in the tempo of a baby carriage - until there is a need to put the pedal to the metal. Unless Suzy - or Viper, if he's part of the planning session - have alterante propositons for exfil. I mean, we'll be quiet on our assault thanks to the supressors. We can't count on our opponents returning the favor (of course, there's then the question of how hearable to the neighbourhood would be handgun shots inside of the target building). 

Also, since Paulie, Zdravko and Suzie are flying the drone to map the neighbourhood, I'd like them to map the canals too. In case we had to get out of there fast with the speedboats (indeed, 10-years-old local knowledge of our assumed Chrome Beret helmsmen might be out of date, but if backed by up-to-date drone recon, should do).

I haven't yet figured where we would get the boats and how to prevent them being traced back to us. Is stealing the boats (and preferably returning them to where we took them from after the operation) an option?

Again, that's unless Suzy & Viper don't have other propositions. Exfil on foot doesn't seem practical if we assume we might be having rescues and prisoners with us. Unless Suzy suggests we simply kill all the bad guys on-site, and just release the rescues into the wild. But this would prevent us from following the trail and busting the entire scheme (well, or providing someone else necessary data to bust it).