Chapter Six: All Hands on Deck

[Sherwood]

Mario replies through the Nexus, "Copy that, Professor. Ok, lets see what we can see!" He says out loud to the Sams, "I'm going to do a run around to see what may be able to be put to good use by us."

With that, he sets off at a easy jog around the docking bay, looking carefully for anything that stands out, with weapons, portable computers, or mecha at a top priority.

 

[Psychie]

Toph gives Mario a nod, and says, "I'll cover your six. Lets hope that we can find something of value here."

 

[Purr]

(Game Master here: I'm playing with time a little here for best effect. Hope you like it.)



Mario and Toph jogged across the circular hangar bay. The Cyclone mecha carried you along as if you were superheroes endowed with superstrenght and speed. You felt as if you could run forever.

The entire hangar was almost the size of an outdoor college football stadium. Their steps and the voices and the sounds of the Esper's mechanical loading robots lumbering across the way could be heard easily. The Chessel Corporation hangar bay appeared to have been completely devoid of anything resembling a weapons including mecha. There were several unmanned forklifts sitting in their parking spaces. There was what appeared to be a breakroom complete with vending machines which appeared to be off.

There were two more barricaded doors, both human-sized and on opposite sides of the hangar. The first was marked in red with the word "SALIDA," along with bright red and yellow alarm lights over it which were not turned on. The Samanthas and Sams had cleverly barricaded this door with a large load of metal panels, pylons, and one large white and black Chessel Corporation SUV (think Nissan Armada). All were welded to each other and the door. The doorway itself had been welded shut.

The second door had no markings at all. There were no indications in the room leading to it. In fact, it looked just like any other part of the hangar with one exception - the door was marked by burn-marks displaying the door's location. Two of the Esper's mechanized loaders were stationed at this door along with three Sam units all holding fire extinguishers. They were all guarding this door. Nearby, two more loaders were working together to carry a Chessel Corporation security car (think Toyota Camry/Corolla) in their large, yellow and black-caked limbs. One Sam was leading both loaders.

Mario and Toph had just finished their jog and were reuniting with the Wild Cards when the Samantha unit who had offered Mario her datacord approached Hercules. In the quasi-feminine manner that all Samanthas used in their body language, "she" indicated three consoles all arranged in a rough triangle about the hangar bay. She replied with the following statements, "Sgt. Papadopolis, each of these consoles possesses access to Outpost #5's hangar bay blast door. However, our attempts at bypassing the security system have failed. As a result, we are locked out of the system."

Samantha's reply came in Lt. Toph Kirin's voice. It was unmistakable.

Hearing this, Cera whirled toward Toph thinking the Human/Lisara-Meltrandi was the one replying to Hercules. Then, following her ears, she turned to Samantha in surprise. Cera then shot Toph a shocked look that to Toph's military-trained senses could have easily amounted to the very old military acronym, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!"

What do the Wild Cards do?

(Image credit: Pinterest.com)

STATUS

Location: Veracruz, Mexico. Chessel Corporation Outpost #5
Instrumental Mood Music (click to play): The Dragonfly Who Thought He Was a Mockingbird by Akufen

 

[Kaerri]

Elinor's eyes narrowed as they went from the Samantha who was speaking, to Toph, and back again. Keeping secrets indeed. "Muppet, recommend you speak to us only over the Nexus to avoid confusion," was all she said on that subject for the time being, however.

"Either of you see anything helpful on your tour? If not, I'm thinking we-all, as a group, go in and try to persuade this computer that we're on its side after all."

 

[Purr]

Cera crossed her arms and frowned. The Ura-Meltrandi did not like the feeling of being confused. She stared up at the Esper - the greatest source of her confusion. The huge starship loomed above you all with the markings of great travels upon its hull, like the Broadsword, but minus the much-needed bath that the ship required to make it as shiny and presentable as the UEEF warship.

Your ears picked up the sounds of an electric motorcycle coming your way, but it was not from your group. A Samantha unit in Cyclone armor emerged from the Esper's ramp and made a beeline straight for your team, transforming to Battloid as "she" arrived. At first, it seemed that the Cyclone armor had been painted camouflage black, green, and brown, but upon closer examination, you saw it was just chemical, grass, and dirt staining the veritech from head to toe. Your military training also noted a complete lack of ranged armament. No guns or missiles. Only the retractable plasma sword in its forearm-mounted housing. Everything appeared to be quite functional, just quite filthy as if from long hours of recent work.

This Samantha unit, complete with black ponytail, approached Elinor. It too spoke with a voice that made your imaginations wonder if Toph could be in two places at once. "Lieutenant Hall, as acting squadron leader of the Wild Cards, we wish to inform you of the presence of a strange barrier." She pointed to the second door that the Sams and loaders were guarding. "It is guarded by two sets of automated sentry guns that we cannot override. If you attempt to reconnoiter this area, please be advised that none of us knows what lies beyond the barrier."

(Image credit: Pinterest.com)

STATUS

Location: Veracruz, Mexico. Chessel Corporation Outpost #5
Instrumental Mood Music (click to play): Snow by Trazer

 

[Purr]

( Captain Hesperus Forgot to tag Cap'n! =) )

 

[Sherwood]

Mario reaches up to rub his chin, thinking. "Ma'am? Just a thought, but if Chessel Corp has automated guns at that door, it stands to reason that there is something behind it that they don't want us to see. Might be a good idea to recon that with a small force while another group uses their Traversing powers to sweet talk the Core operating the doors above this ship. Besides, we haven't found anything to give Chessel a black eye and a good nut punch in payment for all the harm they have done."

 

[Psychie]

Toph smiles at Mario's suggestion. I must admit, that burly Italian has a few good qualities going for him. She then sends out over the Nexus, "I concur with Mario that there must be something of interest out there, or else why have any guns guarding that door? But, we cannot overlook the need to get these Sams out of here before the main door gets blasted down by that assault mecha out there, and splitting the party is a dangerous thing to do." She looks around, torn between wanting to do some damage here and the desire to get the hell out of the place with the Esper. "If we did split up, though, how would we divide our numbers?"

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules listened to the Nexus but responded verbally, "I am happy doing the punching of nuts or talking of sweets, whichever you want, Lieutenant."
He looked over the consoles the Sam had indicated, scratching his chin thoughtfully. His last attempt at communicating with a recalcitrant machine had been less than successful, but he was willing to give it a second try. Mama Papadopolis didn't raise quitters.

 

[Purr]

Now that she was a Wild Card and considered an equal, Cera the Ura-Meltrandi was not a creature to keep her mind to herself when it came to moments like these. "Why divide our force? We have been reassured that time is on our side since before this mission began." Still, the statement was not enough to satisfy the auxiliary specialist.

Cera addressed the Samantha unit. "Samantha, approximately how much time do we have before the Chessel Corporation armor blows down that door?"

Samantha replied in Toph's voice. "27 hours, 15 minutes."

"That long? Why?"

"The Chessel Corporation crews are using outdated mobile cannons that appear to have not been maintained. We believe the odds of their using Pre-Rain of Death era munitions very likely. They are only able to fire about a dozen plasma rounds before they must cease fire in order to maintain and repair their machinery. In addition, their plasma rounds are not as damaging as those used by Veritech Hover Tank crews today."

"Amateurs!" Cera grinned.

But before Cera could continue another voice entered, this one mental. It was Professor Stein's. He sounded deeply involved in something and trying very hard not to screw it up.

"Do pardon me for breaking in. Wild Cards, I have good news - I am currently looking at a pair of new Traversers Trouble detected. We are in another part of the Chessel Corporation compound about a kilometer from your location. I would offer to let you say hello to them, but we have issues of our own at the moment. What is your situation?"

(Image credit: Pinterest.co.uk)

STATUS

Location: Veracruz, Mexico. Chessel Corporation Outpost #5
Instrumental Mood Music (click to play): Snow by Trazer

 

[Purr]

Captain Hesperus (Taggin' the Cap'n!) =)

 

[Purr]

Kaerri Sherwood Psychie Captain Hesperus

(Actually Gang, let me take that one step further.)

Cera accurately explained your situation to Professor Stein. He digested the information and responded. "You appear to have two options. Free the Esper or investigate whatever Chessel Corporation is hiding then free the Esper. I doubt the Esper will stay any longer than it has to.

"Which card are you willing to play here, my young friends?"

 

[Psychie]

Toph is quiet for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, she sends out the comment, "While I would normally say that the mission of getting the Esper out of here takes priority, we do seem to have quite a bit of time on our hands to do some snooping around and see what damage we can do to their operation here. I am with Mario here, and say we should give this place the Wild Cards touch and make Chessel regret ever messing with us."

 

[Sherwood]

Mario shoots Toph a grin and a thumbs-up. "I like the way you think, Lieutenant." He turns to look at Elinor. "But its not my call. I will follow your orders, ma'am, whatever the decision you make."

 

[Kaerri]

This Samantha unit, complete with black ponytail, approached Elinor. It too spoke with a voice that made your imaginations wonder if Toph could be in two places at once. "Lieutenant Hall, as acting squadron leader of the Wild Cards, we wish to inform you of the presence of a strange barrier." She pointed to the second door that the Sams and loaders were guarding. "It is guarded by two sets of automated sentry guns that we cannot override. If you attempt to reconnoiter this area, please be advised that none of us knows what lies beyond the barrier."

If the Samantha had saluted, Elinor would have saluted back (the encounter had that kind of feel to it), but as it was she only nodded. "Thanks for letting me know."

But before Cera could continue another voice entered, this one mental. It was Professor Stein's. He sounded deeply involved in something and trying very hard not to screw it up.

"Do pardon me for breaking in. Wild Cards, I have good news - I am currently looking at a pair of new Traversers Trouble detected. We are in another part of the Chessel Corporation compound about a kilometer from your location. I would offer to let you say hello to them, but we have issues of our own at the moment. What is your situation?"

Mario shoots Toph a grin and a thumbs-up. "I like the way you think, Lieutenant." He turns to look at Elinor. "But it's not my call. I will follow your orders, ma'am, whatever the decision you make."

Elinor hadn't tried to add to what Cera had communicated to the professor. It sounded like he had a lot on his hands already and it wasn't a good idea to joggle someone's elbow while they were juggling. All the same, since he'd asked, she made sure he was included when she replied to her squad. (Well, it was his Nexus they were talking on, but she'd already discovered she could use Nexuses -- Nexusi? how d'you pluralize that, anyway? -- to send private messages. She was just sort of doing the opposite in this case, right, by thinking of the Nexus and particularly him.) "We do seem to have plenty of time," she agreed. "Let's see what Chessel's hiding, and see if we can acquire it for ourselves or blow it to kingdom come. We owe 'em for Mack, after all, and just for bein' jerk-faces in general."

 

[Sherwood]

Mario nods, then gives Elinor a quick salute. "You got it, LT. Lets toast these bad guys and teach them a lesson in dealing with the Wild Cards!" Still in his battloid mode, he hefts the Thundercracker rifle in hand and heads towards the other door, making sure to wait for everyone to be in position and getting the order to go before doing anything to the doorway.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Actions speak louder than words, Hercules mused as he hefted his own heavy weapon up.
“Sergeant Popadopolis, ready and willing, ma’am.”

 

[Purr]

( Captain Hesperus Tag!)

Approaching the site, the loaders and the Sam units saw you coming and made way. The Cyclone-Samantha unit pointed down a hallway that is 20 feet (6.1 m) high, 20 feet wide and about 150 feet (46 m) down. The Samantha unit produced a tablet-sized video screen from her right forearm mount. This, she displayed to you.

"Wild Cards, for your protection, please view this."

The video, only 20 seconds long, showed one of the Sam units peeking down the corridor. In the video, the corridor appears empty. Then "he" takes one step inside and four guns suddenly emerge from hidden compartments mounted in the floor, walls, and ceiling toward the far end of the hallway. It appears that the two burst-capable laser weapons come out of the walls while the other pair of guns come out of the floor and ceiling. They look like this:

Spoiler: Sentry Guns

The pair of cannon-like guns (left gun in picture) are mounted in the ceiling and floor. The rapid-fire laser guns (middle gun picture) come out of the walls. The right gun in this picture is not used in this scene.

(Image credit: Saeed Jalabi on Pinterest)

Two open fire with streams of yellow lasers. One burst blows off the arm of the Sam unit. The end of the video shows the smoking Sam unit out of the line of fire, then the video shows "his" smoking arm, blown off at the elbow, a short distance away on the floor in the hangar. The Sam unit picks up its arm and is replaced by another unit as the first seems to walk off toward the Esper, probably in search of repairs.

Spoiler: Shop Talk

All of you including Cera
made your Perception checks. You notice that the yellow laser fire, once it leaves the corridor, dissipates about 150 feet (46 m), perhaps as a means of not tearing up the rest of the Outpost #5 hangar bay.

Then the Samantha unit pointed out a long, thin rectangular-shaped groove in the wall outside the corridor. This she pressed revealing a concealed small intercom and keypad just outside the door. There was a series of strange and meaningless noises being emitted from the intercom. In Toph's voice, she explained, "This appears to be a security device, but we are unable to ascertain its function."

What do the Wild Cards do?

(Image credit: Saeed Jalabi on Pinterest)

STATUS

Location: Veracruz, Mexico. Chessel Corporation Outpost #5
Instrumental Mood Music (click to play): Terminator 2: Judgment Day theme by Brad Fiedel

 

[Sherwood]

Mario watches the monitor with interest. "We know that the guns are there, so that part of the trap has already been discovered. We can trigger the guns, hit them one at a time until they are toast, and use the Cyclone's maneuverability to evade the counter fire."

 

[Psychie]

Toph grins. He is certainly direct in his thinking. Must be a tanker thing. "I suppose that would work. We just need to be careful with future encounters so we don't get caught off guard."

 

[Captain Hesperus]

"I have a better idea.", Hercules replied, then turned.
"HEY SAM!", he waved over to one of the mechanoids working on reinforcing the entrance, "Do you have any reinforced steel bulkhead plating? I want you to jury-rig me a shield so I can walk down this corridor."

 

[Purr]

( Captain Hesperus Tag!)

Hercules's request triggered a sudden flurry of activity from the Sam and Samantha units!

Though Herc had addressed one, about 20 of them stopped what they were doing and spun on him and his request.

Cera, her red-brown eyes glancing up at Herc with a mixture of amusement and uncertainty, asked him. "Sergeant, what did you just do?"

This Esper group of filthy black, green, and white suits swiftly began to make a show of their response starting with pointing at the Sam unit closest to the corridor. This Sam unit lowered the fire extinguisher it was carrying and, with exaggerated motions, it measured the doorway with laser-like efficiency and accuracy. Then it pointed back at the rest. At the direction of the Sam Hercules had addressed, the group of 20 quickly split into three teams. Each of these huddled into throngs, all nodding and gesturing as if discussing in secret.

All as if providing solution to Herc's query had suddenly become some kind of great competition between them!

The first group spun around as one, their index fingers excitedly raised. One of their number ran across the hangar bay and, with the use of "his" forearm housing, electronically displayed their group's option to Hercules. All options were presented in a such a fashion as to show them to any Wild Card who had a mind to look. This included Cera who observed with an engineer's eye. The first option was a Hercules-sized tower shield with a massive handle on its rear, roller wheels to help it along the floor, and an etched lion-head emblazoned on the shield's exterior. It looked highly protective at the cost of speed (200 M.D. at Hercules's running speed - it also has a single gun-port for his Thundercracker).

The second group then twirled about, their fingers raised simultaneously. A Samantha unit hustled over to Hercules and out popped her tablet-sized display. It showed a giant wedge-shaped shield linked up to Hercules's Cyclone which propelled the thing evidently at high speeds. It appeared moderately protective with the option of getting him within melee distance of the guns at the best possible speed (125 MD. at Hercules's Cyclone in cycle mode's speed - Hercules can fire over the wedge).

The third group zipped around, collectively pinched the "noses" of their helmets and made disgusted waving motions to the first two teams' ideas. The first two teams started in mock-astonishment. Their Samantha charged along and dramatically slid on one knee with her display proudly presented to Hercules. This was the skeleton of the last remaining Chessel Corporation security car cut up in a Mad Max-style menagerie turning the thing into a battering ram, outfitted with a front shield and virtually no back end on the vehicle. The wheel is fixed-forward to slam into whatever it hits with its gas pedal kept on the floor by way of a precisely-positioned custom-made block of hypercarbon - once this thing is let loose, there is no stopping it (150 M.D. at the car's fastest speed with the option of carrying Hercules and one other, both in Battloid mode, both of whom can fire side-by-side).

As Hercules and the Wild Cards looked over their choices, three Sam units were busy crafting something with their backs turned to the group (blocking the blinding light of the blowtorch followed by some precise work with mini-lasers and a plasma sword from the Cyclone-outfitted Esper Samantha). Hurriedly, they hustled over to the Wild Cards. Between them, they held a still-smoking curious cosmetic addition to a Cyclone helmet - it was a mega-damage crown made up of flowers weaved together in Greek tradition.

The Sams and Samanthas presented this to Hercules to carry into battle if he so chose to.

Spoiler: This but made of steely hypercarbon

This is a cosmetic item. It has 5 Mega-damage. It also rocks the Greek style in ways no other automated team has ever achieved before! 8D

(Image credit: The Getty Iris)

Cera grinned at all this and shook her head in mock-despair at the Sams and Hercules. "Males!"

What do the Wild Cards do?

(Image credit: The imaginative and talented Mr. Chuck Walton II!)

STATUS

Location: Veracruz, Mexico. Chessel Corporation Outpost #5
Mood Music (click to play): Autobahn (Remaster 2009) by Kraftwerk!

 

[Sherwood]

Mario looks over at the various shield options that the Sams are coming up with, and points at the first one. "That there reminds me of the Spartans of Thermopylae. I like it. Carrying one of those into the corridor to block the incoming fire of the turrets while leaving us free to engage with the Thundercrackers looks good to me. It will be able to provide cover not only for me and Herc, but for the rest of you, too." He points briefly at the ladies, saying, "You guys can fire around us while the shields soak up the hits."

He turns to the Sam units and asks, "Can you please make me one of those shields, too? I would really appreciate it."

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules chuckled at the sheer eager inventiveness of the Sams and Samanthas in a way he'd not laughed in a long while.
"They're all very well thought out and I appreciate your incredible ingenuity,", he finally spoke up, even as he knelt to accept his stéfanos (yes, that's it traditional Greek name!), "but I think the simplicity of the phalanx is probably all we need for the mean. I don't want to pull all of you away from the task of securing the hanger just for what's likely to be ten minutes, tops, of fighting. But I do thank you all."

 

[Kaerri]

All options were presented in a such a fashion as to show them to any Wild Card who had a mind to look. This included Cera who observed with an engineer's eye.

Elinor likewise observed, impressed by the quick designing. She inspected each suggestion, then turned towards Hercules, who had requested the shield in the first place, for his choice. It matched hers, though she kind of wanted to see that Mad-Max thing in action. Another time, maybe. She faced the Sams and nodded. "One for each of our tankers, please," she requested, having noted Mario's interest. "And Cera if she wants one. Toph and I can hang back and fire as opportunity permits." She glanced at Toph to confirm that, with a half-questioning look that left open the possibility for Toph to request a shield also if she wanted it. "But save those designs, will you? I'd like to take another look when we have more time."

She watched, amused but interested, as the Sams and Samanthas crowned her Greek squadmate in hypercarbon leaves and flowers. She didn't know what it was, but it looked sort of traditional, especially given the way Hercules responded to it. Good for morale, she decided. She narrowed her eyes slightly, fixing the scene in her memory to share over the Nexus later.