Robotech: Army of the Southern Cross - IC Thread

[Sherwood]

Steven listens to the Master Sergeant's briefing with interest; after all, his own hide is on the line so knowing as much as possible going into this would help out a lot. When Dorsey gives the three of them the order to take point on this convoy run, he nods. "Understood, Sergeant. From the way that Sergeant Cooper is talking, we can expect action big time. You guys get the same read on this?" He looks to the others and sees their reactions to the question. "Well, ok then. When the shit hits the fan, we'll get the mission done, don't worry."

He climbs up into his rig and begins to run a system check and loads the radio frequencies into the computer. "Bishop here with a comms check. Everyone read me? All systems check out at 100%. Ready to deploy."

 

[Purr]

"Understood, Sergeant. From the way that Sergeant Cooper is talking, we can expect action big time. You guys get the same read on this?"

Miyazaki nods as she runs her hands over Maru's controls, testing everything on the machine no matter how seemingly insignificant. "I am with you, Steven. We would be fools to let our guard down at any time. We should be wary for distractions, anything that might take our minds away from the convoy." At least we are facing Zentraedi, Kitty thinks. Humans by comparison are far more unpredictable. This is one reason protecting them is so important.

"Bishop here with a comms check. Everyone read me? All systems check out at 100%. Ready to deploy."

Miyazaki's pleasant voice comes over as cool, sharp, and ready as a freshly-sharpened katana as she articulates her every word for clarity. "Reading you loud and clear. How me?"

As she awaits a response, the Meltrandi transforms Maru into Battloid form and performs several battle stances on both her left and right sides. She swaps the EU-11 from right to left as she does so.

 

[Psychie]

Nova comes on the radio with, "Comms check for Nova. I read both of you clearly."

Dorsey adds his own voice to the radio traffic, showing that everyone is properly linked in.

As the convoy sets out and everyone heads up and out of the bunker, you can see the two Commanchero helicopters are spinning their rotors up to speed as the trucks move along. A message from MSG Cooper indicates that the ground trucks have a top speed of 70mph on the highway in the 'safer' territory, but they will be driving slower to give the escorts time to watch for ambushes and IEDs on the road, slowing down to about 50mph.

Right now, with your three Spartas taking point, you can see that the sky is filled with dark grey clouds, lowering the flight ceiling for the helicopters to just a few hundred feet and giving the promise of rain in the very near future. This is going to lower the visibility of the good ol' Mark One Eyeball, but your enhanced vision systems and radar will be able to function without penalty.

Of your three modes of travel, only your Transport and your Battloid modes have the needed speed to be able to keep the pace of the convoy, since your Tank/Guardian mode has a top speed of only 8mph. In what mode do you travel in?

 

[Purr]

Keeping her machine in Battloid mode (for you can't parry damage coming at the convoy without the Spartas's arm-shields), Kitty keeps her head on a swivel and her ears and intuition open.

She switches over to the squad channel and shares her thoughts. "While I am glad for the air support, it is a pity the Comanchero helicopters lack some kind of 'quiet mode'; the sounds of their rotors can probably be heard well over a mile away in this jungle. Not that the engines of our vehicles and mecha are tremendously quieter, but the less advantage we give our enemy, the better."

 

[Sherwood]

Steven will go ahead and shift his tank into its Battloid mode, too. The likelihood that they will be attacked is high enough that he wants access to his shields.

 

[GunMan2]

Barnes, noticed that the other 2 went to Batloid moden. The shift takes very little time but is ready for anything. “I am really hoping the is just a normal mission without complications” said Barnes over coms

 

[Psychie]

On the move now and away from the safety of Brazilia Base, you see that the highway has the foliage and shrubbery on either side of the road cleared away, leaving open space of fifty yards on each side cleared to keep the ambush risk to a minimum. There are few other vehicles on the highway as you move along, but you do see the occasional civilian vehicle that the convoy passes as you go, along with a handful of military vehicles of both the RDF and the Brazilian armed forces.

After traveling for just over an hour, you are getting close to what is considered to be the edge of the Control Zone when you get a signal from one of the Commanchero helicopters. "Attention convoy. This is Comanche-2. Be aware that ahead of you there is a road crew at work doing highway repair work, but they are not responding using the proper recognition codes."

Cooper replies, "Copy that, Comanche-2. All units, full stop. Sgt. Dorsey, send your team forward to investigate and report. Comanche-2, continue to monitor and provide air support."

Dorsey says, "Understood. Barnes, Bishop and Miyazaki, move in and use extreme caution. Lets just hope that this is a simple misunderstanding, but I doubt it."

 

[Purr]

"Copy all, sir. Sergeant? Could we ask the Commancheros for their video feeds, please?"

"Miyazaki moving to dispatch channel." She commands her Spartas forward with Bishop and Barnes while making radio contact with Brazilia Base's dispatch center. There, she requests a direct line to the construction company's headquarters or as far up the chain as she can get. She requests to speak to someone in command.

If successful, in her best Spanish, Kitty says, "Good day! I am Officer Miyazaki with the Glibal Military Police out of Brazilia Base. To whom am I speaking? Yes. Do you have a construction crew operating at (insert route/coordinates here)?"

While she waits for them to get that info (again if she is successful in this), she comes over the squad channel.

"Sergeant? If this crew turns out to be false, may I recommend we use smoke rounds to flush them out of the vehicles, then zoom past? I can't imagine many construction vehicles being airtight. That way we can keep the casualties to a minimum while making the best speed possible to Anton-17."

 

[Sherwood]

While Kitty does her research to see if these road workers are legit, Steven keeps his attention open to the sides of the road to try and detect anything concealed away that would be a threat to the convoy.

What sort of construction equipment are we looking at? How many people are here?

 

[Psychie]

"Miyazaki moving to dispatch channel." She commands her Spartas forward with Bishop and Barnes while making radio contact with Brazilia Base's dispatch center. There, she requests a direct line to the construction company's headquarters or as far up the chain as she can get. She requests to speak to someone in command.

If successful, in her best Spanish, Kitty says, "Good day! I am Officer Miyazaki with the Glibal Military Police out of Brazilia Base. To whom am I speaking? Yes. Do you have a construction crew operating at (insert route/coordinates here)?"

"Officer Miyazaki, we will transfer you to the construction battalion. Please stand by." As you are getting your signal routed through the various steps, you start to get a video feed from the one gunship helicopter flying over the area. It shows a stretch of the highway measuring about five hundred feet that has been cratered up from MDC weapons fire that has the paving torn up and the dirt is getting smoothed out so it can be repaved. Orange traffic cones have been placed out to keep road traffic down to one lane while the work crew is taking care of the other part of the road. There are several dump trucks, bulldozers, and paving machines, with a work crew of maybe forty to fifty people in orange vests and hard hats all moving about at a casual pace, and from the long distance view from the chopper, it does not appear that they are armed or armored, and do not seem to be in any amount of duress.

Moments later, Miya gets a reply. "Ah! Officer Miyazaki. I am Carlos Sanchez. I hear you have some questions for me about some of my road crews? I make it a priority to cooperate with the military, so how can I assist you?"

While Kitty does her research to see if these road workers are legit, Steven keeps his attention open to the sides of the road to try and detect anything concealed away that would be a threat to the convoy.

Please give me a set of rolls of Perception (d20), Detect Ambush (d100) and a Detect Concealment (d100).

 

[Sherwood]

Rolls coming up.

 

[GunMan2]

Barns will use his knowledge of communications to see if he can intercept any secret communications being made. He is suspicions of them but not that much to warrant him to try and find out more. But his motto is 'Eliminate all possibilities' and that is what he will do.

if successful Barnes will relay to them "Found some odd signals and bogies. There might be more hidden" (Only if successful)

Then use his electronics to prevent any jamming interference that the enemy might attempt. Extra precaution.

 

[Psychie]

Barns will use his knowledge of communications to see if he can intercept any secret communications being made. He is suspicions of them but not that much to warrant him to try and find out more. But his motto is 'Eliminate all possibilities' and that is what he will do.

Lets get some die rolls from you. First, Radio: Basic (d100), followed by an Advanced Electronic Warfare (d100) and a Perception (d20) roll, please.

 

[GunMan2]

Here come to rolls

 

[Psychie]

For GunMan2 , you are not picking up any stray radio signals of any kind, not even encrypted ones. Right now the airwaves are clear. If there is someone speaking to one another, they are not using radio, and there is no signs of communication jamming being applied to you.

Sherwood , your examination of the area looking for any sign of ambush, the area of highway where the road has been damaged and is being repaved is a clear choke point since the road goes down to just one lane, causing the convoy to have to slow down and go into a single file line to get through. There is no other obvious signs of danger other than that zone.

But for both Sherwood and GunMan2 , using your visual inspection of the area around the construction crew, you both spot a glint of metal hidden in the treeline under draped camouflage netting. It might be a sign of an ambush, or it could just be the construction crew using due caution and hiding some of their gear from view of hostile forces. Whatever the answer is, it is well concealed. If it were not for your keen eyesight on both of your parts, it would have gone undetected.

From his position at the rear of the convoy, Dorsey calls out, "Forward element, report. What do we have going on up there?"

 

[GunMan2]

Barnes Answers on his comms "First off, no secret coms or jamming detected in the area, sir. Seen a glint of metal hidden by some camo net but can't tell if its an ambush or just more construction material. Orders, sir" Reported the soldier as he got a bad feeling about this and is on edge. If its an ambush we might be able to scrape by or just make a run for. He decided to load his cannon with smoke rounds, just in case it was an ambush and they needed to make some cover.

Just in case the worst happens

 

[Purr]

Moments later, Miya gets a reply. "Ah! Officer Miyazaki. I am Carlos Sanchez. I hear you have some questions for me about some of my road crews? I make it a priority to cooperate with the military, so how can I assist you?"

Miyazaki repeats her request for information in a polite and professional tone.

Do you have a construction crew operating at (insert route/coordinates here)?"

If Señor Sanchez answers that the crew is indeed part of the construction company, Miyazaki asks.

Spoiler: Construction crew is legit.

Be aware that ahead of you there is a road crew at work doing highway repair work, but they are not responding using the proper recognition codes."

"Why are your crews not responding using the proper recognition codes?"

But Señor Sanchez replies that the crew is not with his construction company, Kitty does something quite differently.

Spoiler: Construction crew is not legit.

Kitty immediately alerts Sgt. Dorsey. "Sir! That team does not belong to the construction company!"

 

[Purr]

"First off, no secret coms or jamming detected in the area, sir. Seen a glint of metal hidden by some camo net but can't tell if its an ambush or just more construction material. Orders, sir"

"Sergeant Dorsey? Perhaps the Commancheros could from a distance check that spot with infrared or thermograph, sir?"

 

[Psychie]

Purr

The reply to your question is slow to come. "I don't understand, officer. Sanchez Construction maintains and repairs large sections of highway as a matter of course. The ongoing conflict with the Zentraedi and other undesirables in the area keep us very busy. Why are you asking about this particular work crew? Are they not working up to our high standards? We do strive to maintain the very best work performance, no matter the job we do."

From as clear as you made your initial question and how you repeated it, this Sanchez fellow is either a stone-headed moron or is being deliberately vague in his response to you, since he still has not answered you, even with all of his blather. You will need more information before being able to make a decision on this, one way or another.

"Sergeant Dorsey? Perhaps the Commancheros could from a distance check that spot with infrared or thermograph, sir?"

Dorsey's replies with, "An excellent idea, Corporal. Comanche-2, can you please oblige the lady?"

"Copy that. Zooming in and sharing video." If you were to place bets on what you were going to see, it would be the very distinctive heat blooms of active power reactors of either mecha or the engine exhaust of more conventional vehicles. But what you do spot is not a set of heat signatures, but several areas of sizable cold. The thermograph shows that the temperature of ten possible targets that are there are down in the fifty degree range, not freezing, but chilly none the less. Clearly abnormal considering that the ambient heat of the surrounding area is in the ninety degree range.

At this point, the road crew has come to a work stoppage as they look at the orbiting helicopter and the three mecha on guard nearby, looking over at the three of you in curiosity, clearly wondering what is going on.

GunMan2 Sherwood

While you guys wait for orders, there is something that is just not feeling right to either one of you. If this is an ambush, it seems to be rather sloppy. Having a work crew out doing repairs on the road? Possible, but you could get the same result of slowing the convoy down by just blasting and cratering the road, making it nearly impossible for the heavily laden ground vehicles to get past the damage. Why go through the effort of getting an actual maintenance crew in place without the usual security codes? The Malcontents should know that any commander with half a brain will keep the trucks as far from the site as possible while getting confirmation on their identities. It is just not making any sense.

 

[Sherwood]

Steven has a sudden chill go down his back and can feel the hairs on his neck tingle. "Sergeants? This doesn't feel right. Everyone, check the area surrounding the current position of the convoy. I think that this is a set-up, to get us to come to a stop at a particular location! Look to your flanks for ambush!"

 

[Psychie]

Say what you will about MSG Cooper, but he is certainly not indecisive. When Steven gives his warning over his hunch, he lets out a stream of swear words that seem to be directed at his own stupidity for not seeing this potential earlier. "Simmons, Vale, break to the left! Snyder, with me to the right! Ryan, get your heavy infantry ready. Dorsey, cover our six."

Dorsey says, "Acknowledged," and while the four Destroids split off to either side, Nova and Dorsey suddenly shifts their Spartas' into its Tank mode to be able to unleash the firepower of the main cannon. Between the mecha moving and the two tanks suddenly preparing for a fight, this seems to be the trigger needed to unleash the trap. From right around the convoy, large energy blasts suddenly burst out of the treeline from a group of Battle Pods hiding in the trees aimed at the four large RDF mecha, and a trio of short range missiles arc up at Comanche-1. Lucky for the helicopter, it has a full arsenal of flares and chaff to be able to confuse the missiles before impact, and it saves them from a nasty impact that would have hurt a lot.

At the same time, the eight cold spots suddenly go hot as six Tactical Battle Pods and two Nousjadeul-Ger Male Powered Armor pop up into sight.

Everyone, please give me an Initiative roll (d20) with an additional +5 to your roll thanks to the high alert that you are at and the warning from Steven.

Purr GunMan2 Sherwood

 

[Sherwood]

Steven lets out his own curse words as he slews his mecha around to face the Battle Pods.

OOC with the bonus to our roll you have given us, I have a total of a +8 to my initiative.
Total of 26

Spoiler

Combat Bonuses
On Foot / In the Tank
Number of Attacks: 4 / 5
Strike: +7 / +10 with cannons and long-range weapons, +12 with EU-11, +10 in HtH
Parry: +11 / +15, +1 with Shields
Dodge: +9 / +12
Roll: +3 / +6
Initiative: +1 / +3
Pull Punch: 0 / +4
Horror Factor: +3
Maintain Balance: +2
Perception: +6
Critical Strike From Behind

Tank Armor
Main Body: 475
Left Shield: 500
Right Shield: 500

Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS). A round that uses a dart made of depleted uranium or tungsten to pierce enemy armor.
Range: 4 miles (6.4km)
Mega-Damage: 3d6x10+20 M.D.
9 shells

High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT). A shell with a shaped charge warhead.
Range: 2.2 miles (3.52km)
Mega-Damage: 2d6x10+10 M.D.
9 shells

Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank (MPAT). A HEAT round with an added proximity fuse to allow it to engage slow, low flying aircraft such as helicopters and for air bursts over targets.
Range: 2.2 miles (3.52km)
Mega-Damage: 2d6x10+10 to a 50 foot (15.2m) radius
9 shells

Canister. A shell filled with tungsten shot that acts like a giant shotgun shell for use against building, dug-in infantry, and thin-skinned vehicles.
Range: 2,500 feet (762m)
Mega-Damage: 1d8x10 M.D. to everything within a 25 foot (7.62m) area up to half range, 1d4x10 to everything within 50 feet (15.24m) area at full range.
9 shells

High Yield Incendiary (Plasma). An extremely lethal anti-personnel round filled with super heated plasma.
Range: 1.5 miles (2.4km)
Mega-Damage: 2d8x10 M.D+10. to everything in a 25 foot (7.6m) area from the initial blast. Sets all combustible substances ablaze and continues to burn, doing an additional 4d8 M.D. per minute for 1d6+1 minutes.
9 shells

Smoke. These shells emit billowing clouds of thick smoke and are used primarily for cover and to mark target zones. They come in black, white, red, green, and yellow, and make a cloud big enough to obscure an area 100 feet (30.5m) across.
Range: 4,000 feet (1,219m)
Damage: none
3 shells

Rate of Fire: Three times per melee round
Payload: 48 rounds
Note: Typical loadout for the Hover Tank is nine shells of each kind except for the smoke rounds. Those have three rounds, unless something different is required for the mission.

 

[GunMan2]

Barnes curses as he shifts his machine in tank mode...

"Look alive people and hope we get some beer after this..." He said over the con "And a pay raise" He muttered the last part

 

[Purr]

"Sergeant, this Mr. Carlos Sanchez was stalling me. He may be in on this!"

Kitty moves to a position where she can use her arm shields to defend the convoy.

 

[Psychie]

From out of the treeline, the Zentraedi units leap into action, but the three of you were sitting on edge and were ready for them, keeping you from being hit from surprise.

Sherwood , you are up first

Current Initiative numbers:
26 - Bishop <====
22 - MPA 1 and 2
18 - Battle Pods 1-3
16 - Barnes
15 - Miya
10 - Battle Pods 4-6
9 - Comanche-2

And since Purr prefers that the Game Master rolls for him using regular dice, I'm rolling for him now.