Episode 13 - Escape

Dhamras, Howotro
165-221 through 166-221

After a brief discussion, the group realized they needed more information before making any decisions. Once Thiel had scouted the lobby area of the building and reported it clear, the group took one of the elevators to the top floor. From there, they found stairs to the roof and scouted around.

The fifteen story building was taller than most of the surrounding buildings other than the massive hotel at the convention center, and from its roof they had a clear view of the city. They could see military vehicles and patrols around the convention center, and just outside of the cordon several burning police vehicles. Elsewhere in the city they could heard the sounds of combat, and see a number of grav gunships patrolling the skies. Jordan considered ways they could either rescue the hostages, or otherwise disrupt the coup. Harim argued that they didn't have the firepower to effectively do either of these things, and that their responsibilty was to get the "civilians" out of harm's way.


Not wanting to risk the streets, they decided to return to the basement and look for some kind of underground route out of the city. However, on entering the stairwell, they heard booted footsteps echoing up from below. They quickly went down two flights of stairs, and exited the stairwell while the troops were still well below them. Harim went to the nearest apartment and was prepared to knock, when he spotted an open door down the hall. He and Thiel quietly approached the door, but no one seemed to be home. The people living here had apparently simply grabbed a few things and run away when the trouble began. They quickly ushered the rest of the group into the apartment. Jordan, thinking about escape routes, found the elevators. He managed to force the doors open and after locating a service ladder within the elevator shaft, returned to the apartment. Searching through the apartment, they found nothing much of use, but "borrowed" some clothes so that the chef's assistants might pass as locals. Harim found that none of the men's clothes would fit him, and no one else tried.


After anxiously waiting for a while, they decided that no soldiers were about to kick in their door. Jordan sent his remote drone out the window to scout around. It was fully dark now, but the drone's infrared and low-light sensors would allow them to get a decent look at the situation. Peeking over the roof, the drone sighted two men looking over the northeast corner of the rooftop. They were apparently watching the convention center, although the drone didn't get close enough to see exactly what they were doing. Jordan then brought the drone below the roof level and scouted the perimeter of the building. Using the drone's thermal vision, they spotted a few people sneaking around, but the neighboring streets were mostly deserted. They spotted a vehicle parked at the southwest corner of the building, which on closer inspection seemed to be a police van. As the probe came around the southeast corner of the building, Jordan halted the drone. He had seen men in several of the windows on the 15th floor and didn't want to cross their field of view. The men seemed to be in uniform and were watching the convention center intently and in the dark didn't notice the drone floating silently near their window. Jordan then carefully piloted the drone up to the roof and cautiously approached the men stationed there.


One of the men was still staring over the edge, but the other was talking into a comm unit. Jordan slowly eased the drone closer hoping to overhear part of the conversation. They heard the man say, "... No. The signal is too weak. We'll have to set them on automatic," just before he started to pack up his things. Jordan studied their uniforms using a night vision mode for a moment before bring the drone back to the apartment. One of the men was wearing a police tactical uniform, while the other man seemed to be wearing the uniform of a mercenary or private security force.


The group considered contacting these men, thinking that working with the police might be the quickest way to safety, but Masuman warned the offworlders that the local police had a reputation for both corruption and brutality. His distrust convinced the others that they were better off avoiding them. At this time, Jordan, Thiel, Harim, and Henri all received a short, encrypted text message. It took some effort, but they were eventually able to decrypt the message. It was a terse note from MacKenzie, "Am nearby. City too hot. Can extract from outside of town." After some discussion, the group decided to make their way to the basement using the ladders in the elevator shaft. Henri had suggested avoiding the hard physical labor involved and just using the elevators themselves, but he was voted down by the more cautious members of the group.

They climbed down to the basement without incident, and considered their next move. Jordan suggested they commandeer the vehicle they had spotted earlier, but the others were not sure of the wisdom of that plan. Thiel, listening at the door to the lobby, heard men moving around and the group decided it was too dangerous to try to get past them and to the van. He quickly improvised a barricade that would slow anyone trying to force the door open.

Searching the basement, they found a small grate that seemed to lead to a sewer tunnel. Henri at first flatly refused to consider that route, but was eventually convinced there was no other viable option. Ironically, he and the other Marquis were the strongest of the group and were volunteered to pry the grate open. Even with their combined efforts, the grate was stubborn and the group winced at the grinding sound as they slowly dragged it open. After they dropped, one by one, into the tunnel, Henri had them all swear never to reveal that not only had he been forced to enter a sewer, he had actually performed physical labor in order to do so.

The sewer tunnel ran generally north-south, and they arbitrarily chose to head north. After about an hour of wandering and any number of twists and turns, they were unsure of their progress. Thiel located a ladder leading up to the street, he cautiously looked around and realized that they had drifted slightly to the west and were only halfway to the edge of the city. A few people suggested that they would make better time leaving the sewers and making their way along the streets, but the danger of the patrolling gunships convinced them to continue underground.

After another claustrophobic hour they came to a dead end. They backtracked slightly and found another exit. Thiel once again scouted ahead and found they had reached a deserted suburban neighborhood at the north end of town. The made a break for the cover of trees in a heavily wooded park. Jordan sent his drone ahead to check out their path. He found that the park ended at small ravine with a shallow creek running through it. There was a bridge about a 100 meters east of their position, but it seemed to be heavily guarded. An abandoned factory on the other side of the ravine made a convenient landmark, and they split into two groups in order to move more quietly. None of the offworlders had much experience with climbing muddy slopes, so the the ravine was difficult to cross, but after a few slips and slides they were all able to make it to the factory. Thiel contacted MacKenzie, who told them that they could come pick them up in about an hour, but that they need to move at least another kilometer away from the city before it would be safe to do so.

The group started following the roadway away from the factory, but ran for the cover of the trees when they spotted a gunship approaching. After the gunship passed, they decided to make their way through the forest, even if it was slower. After about an hour of stumbling through the dark, they found themselves at the edge of parking lot. They called MacKenzie who confirmed that the mercenaries were on their way. The shopping center seemed to be empty, but the group decided to wait at the edge of the woods. Soon the mercenaries' APC swooped into sight, and the exhausted refugees piled in.

MacKenzie has setup a camp at a recreational airfield well away from any of the major cities, and had had no incidents yet. He handed out spare uniforms to everyone, and pointed out the showers. While Harim was busy modelling his new military look, Henri set about burning his old clothes.

They watched news feeds and discussed the situation with the mercenaries. Apparently there had been an attempted military coup against the country's civilian government. The military officer corps included a large number of the country's old aristocracy. As the civilian government worked ever more closely with the Imperium, this aristocracy was gradually losing it power. Rallying various ultraconservative groups, they had staged a coup. They had taken a number of Imperial hostages in order to keep the Imperium from interfering until they had consolidated power, at which point they would release them as part of the negotiations. Things had gone badly from the start because they hadn't been able to seize the Imperial Governor as planned, which left them with less bargaining power than they hoped. Also, they had severely underestimated the effectiveness of the mercenaries and private security forces that the Imperial corporations had been hiring to defend their property. The latest news was that the coup had fractured into several factions, and there was chaotic fighting across the nation.


Thinking they wanted to get off planet as soon as possible, Thiel remembered the free trader captain Elena Voegeli had seemed willing to help them out before. He contacted her and asked if she would be able to pick them up. She agreed, but a few minutes later called back saying that she couldn't get clearance from the Navy to make an approach. Henri quickly made a call to Marquis Sringasa's office and diplomatically reminded them who had warned the Marquis about the current situation. Not long after that, Captain Voegeli called back saying, "It must be nice to have friends in high places..."
Six hours later, the group was back on the High Port and Harim was giving his first interview to the press. He managed to mention "delicious Iskendu beef" in nearly every answer.