Robotech: Army of the Southern Cross - IC Thread

[Purr]

Miya's efforts to charm the locals is met with mixed success. There are some that are suspicious of her, wondering what her real motivation is for trying to be nice, while others are more open to accepting her efforts to make contact on a human level with them. It is not long before you have the attention of the person that is most likely the town gossip monger, a woman named Maizel. She tells you all about the various scandals of the town, all with the comments along the lines of, "I don't like to spread rumors, but . . . "

Most of what you are hearing is harmless stuff, but as she talks, there is the occasional nugget of gold that manages to slip out, mostly about Malcontent activity that people have noticed over the past few weeks. All very useful stuff, and it is just what you need to be able to start piecing together a picture of troop movements in the area.

Once 3rd JSOG is out of eye and ear-range of all others, Miyazaki quietly shares what she has learned with all interested parties (or keeps her mouth shut if there are none, which she doubts).

As if making a point toward human behavior, the Meltrandi smiles in jest and carefully begins with this very un-Meltrandi statement. "'I don't like to spread rumors, but...'" =)

 

[GunMan2]

Chris was looking at the assembly not really having much to add. “Well at least we did manage to give them a good impression of us. Might make future cooperation go much smother” was his thought after playing a game of soccer with the locals. Who would have known that just a few tricks with the ball will do that. Not barnes but he guessed the old saying of when in rome, do as the romans do.

 

[Psychie]

As the five of you begin to drive down the narrow mountain road, the skies open up with a heavy downpour, making all of you very thankful that your megasuits are fully sealed so you don't get yourselves drenched by the rain. Another side effect of the rain is that the road (or what passes as one in these parts) is turning into a muddy mess. If it were not for the fact that your tanks are hover vehicles, you would most likely become stuck in the muck. At least the tanks are powerful enough to keep pulling the lightweight trailers along without any trouble.

Everyone, please give me some rolls. First, a Perception roll, followed by a Sensory Equipment roll. And yes I will roll for you, Dann.

 

[Sherwood]

Steven is definitely thankful that he's got his armor on as the deluge hits. Even so, he does his best to keep his eyes open for any signs of trouble.

Sensory Equipment 55% - 31 total
Perception +6 - 13 total

 

[Psychie]

GunMan2 Do you wish to roll?

 

[GunMan2]

Chris was looking on his sensory devices to make sure that no ambushes catch them off guard again.

 

[Psychie]

As you are heading down the road with Chris in the lead, he spots a flicker of movement waaaay up the road several miles, along with a brief radar return that fades out almost as fast as you spotted it. Just as you begin to look more carefully to try and identify whatever it was that you spotted, the radar once more lights up, and this time, the signal stays on long enough for Steven and Kitty to see the signal, too: a full dozen targets of different configurations.

The intermittent signal makes it hard to identify, but from his position in the front of the line, Chris has a better line of sight on the source of the signals, and is able to get a good read on just what you are dealing with. They are a bunch of Zentraedi mecha, including two Glaug Officer Pods, nine Regult Tactical Battle Pods, and a Queadluun-Rau Female Powered Armor unit. They are currently all on the ground (since the FPA can fly) at a range of just over two miles out, moving quickly from left to right at a speed of one hundred and fifty miles per hour. It does not look like they have spotted you.

From his position in the rear of the line, you don't think that Dorsey has gotten a good signal on the Zentraedi forces, since he hasn't reacted yet.

What do you guys do?

 

[GunMan2]

Chris contacts the units behind him and makes the aware of the Malcontent units "Guy, not to be a downer. But there is a large group of malcontents and this time they got the heavy stuff too.." He then listed the enemies they are facing "Not sure if they noticed us or not but i think we can give them a little preemptive greeting, that is if that is alright with you guys?"

The man then checks the specks on all the different machines "2 Galugh officer pods, 9 Regular battle pods and we got a Rau as well and by the looks of it will be though nut to crack." He send the messaged to the others.

 

[Sherwood]

Steven replies, "I can confirm the contact, Sergeant. Those mecha are going to be able to dish out a lot of hurt if we don't stop them first. We've got the drop on them, and our sabot rounds have the range to hit them from here, and only the Glaug pods and that FPA have anything that can hit us from this far out. We can probably drop the powered armor with three of us concentrating fire on her, and it might be that the other two of the squad can take out one of the Officer Pods before they even have a chance to engage us in return. I say we hit them."

He pauses with his hand on the toggle to switch to Tank mode, waiting for the ok from Dorsey. "Orders, Sarge?"

Spoiler

Combat Bonuses
On Foot / In the Tank
Number of Attacks: 5 / 6
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: +5 / +8
Initiative: +1 / +3
Pull Punch: 0 / +4
Horror Factor: +3
Maintain Balance: +2
Perception: +6
Critical Strike From Behind

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

Eu-11: 1d6x10+10
APFSDS - 3d6x10+20: 15
MPAT (AoE 50ft) - 2d6x10+10: 9
HEAT - 2d6x10+10: 9
Incendiary Plasma (AoE 25ft) - 2d8x10+10: 9
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[Psychie]

Dorsey does a few quick mental calculations, then says, "We engage. Everyone, pull to the side of the road and drop off our trailers, then we can shift to our Tank modes to hit these guys from a distance. Nova, you and I will hit this target here," he designates one of the Officer Pods on your HUD, "and the rest of the team will slag that Female Powered Armor. Once we engage, it is a crapshoot on weather or not they scatter and run or try to close in and attack. Everyone, get ready."

OOC everyone gets one free shot on their target before we go into a normal initiative order. Make sure you declare your ammo type and your target(s) as you fire your main gun.

Remember that a natural 1-4 on your to-hit roll is a miss for whatever reason. Go ahead and give me a to-hit, damage, and initiative roll please.

 

[Sherwood]

Now with a set of orders, Steven steers his tank off to the side of the road to get the trailer out of the line of fire, then shifts his Spartas into its Tank mode. Aiming downrange at the Female Powered Armor, he loads a sabot round and waits for the order to fire as one to avoid giving any warning of the incoming attack.

OOC a miss with my main gun, but a total of 23 for my initiative

Spoiler

Combat Bonuses
On Foot / In the Tank
Number of Attacks: 5 / 6
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: +5 / +8
Initiative: +1 / +3
Pull Punch: 0 / +4
Horror Factor: +3
Maintain Balance: +2
Perception: +6
Critical Strike From Behind

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

Eu-11: 1d6x10+10
APFSDS - 3d6x10+20: 15 / 14
MPAT (AoE 50ft) - 2d6x10+10: 9
HEAT - 2d6x10+10: 9
Incendiary Plasma (AoE 25ft) - 2d8x10+10: 9
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[GunMan2]

Chris, shifts his vehicle into tank mode while shedding the trailer on the side road, then taking aim at the Rau as that is the more serious threat. Maybe i can salvage some of that tech to make something out of it or make a jammer or something. He arms the sabot rounds and prepares to shoot it down. "I'm ready when you are just give us the signal and we will light them up."

 

[Psychie]

GunMan2 That is a hit; Go ahead and roll your damage.

 

[Purr]

"...it might be that the other two of the squad can take out one of the Officer Pods before they even have a chance to engage us in return. I say we hit them."

(ellipsis mine)

Miyazaki looks at the radio panel that she just heard that last comment from. She takes on a momentarily confused expression as her pure Meltrandi clone-training rears its head. She ponders inwardly without sarcasm but with honest alien wonder. "I say we hit them?" Is Sgt. Dorsey supposed to take this opinion into account or dismiss it? Has our squad suddenly become a... what is the human word... democracy? This is clearly some human piece of culture I have yet to experience.

"We engage. Everyone, pull to the side of the road and drop off our trailers, then we can shift to our Tank modes to hit these guys from a distance. Nova, you and I will hit this target here," he designates one of the Officer Pods on your HUD, "and the rest of the team will slag that Female Powered Armor. Once we engage, it is a crapshoot on weather or not they scatter and run or try to close in and attack. Everyone, get ready."

"Yes, sir," Miyazaki crisply replies. "The Meltrandi dies." The corner of her mouth curls up a little as if in answer to some inner jest.

Disengaging and using the terrain to hide her trailer as best she can with the time she has, Miyazaki attempts to find the best possible position to spring an ambush and given her education (i.e. her Detect Ambush Skill), she is no slouch in finding a shady spot with cover if one is available. Miyazaki activates the control and transforms Maru into the form of its namesake - a "tank." Once she has a "bead" on the Female Power Armor unit and as many of the others as possible, she fires an APFSDS round from concealment (again if there is such a spot) at the Queadlunn Rau.

Spoiler: OOC

Stating it in here for posterity - I have subtracted an Action Point to bolster Kitty's Initiative roll.

 

[Psychie]

Shifting off to the side of the road to find some concealment, the five of you shift modes and raise up your main cannons to fire downrange at the Zentraedi mecha. APFSDS rounds fly at high speed through the air, four of which manage to strike their targets, ripping into the mecha with gusto. Both the Powered Armor suit and the Officer Pod explode from the force of the impacts, showering the other mecha around them with rubble.

The other Zentraedi mecha immediately alter course, trying to throw off any other incoming fire as they now know you are out there, somewhere.

Moving into our standard melee round. Sherwood is up.

Initiative order
23 - Steven <====
21 - Officer Pod
18 - Nova
17 - Miya
13 - Chris
12 - Battle Pods 1-3
8 - Battle Pods 4-6
6 - Doug
5 - Battle Pods 7-9

 

[Sherwood]

Shifting his aim to take on the remaining Officer Pod, Steven loads another sabot round and fires it, saying, "Silver bullet on the way!"

OOC one of three cannon shells fired this round

Another miss. This is nuts. Insert creative cussing here.

Spoiler

Combat Bonuses
On Foot / In the Tank
Number of Attacks: 5 / 6
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: +5 / +8
Initiative: +1 / +3
Pull Punch: 0 / +4
Horror Factor: +3
Maintain Balance: +2
Perception: +6
Critical Strike From Behind

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

Eu-11: 1d6x10+10
APFSDS - 3d6x10+20: 15 / 13
MPAT (AoE 50ft) - 2d6x10+10: 9
HEAT - 2d6x10+10: 9
Incendiary Plasma (AoE 25ft) - 2d8x10+10: 9
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[Psychie]

The Zentraedi pilot is either really good, or just a bit of bad luck hit Steven as the sabot round just misses the mecha.

In return, the Glaug pod kicks its speed up a notch, continuing on the same course it was on before being shot at, but it does return fire with the heavy particle cannon on the top of the mecha firing wildly at Steven. Even without its bonuses from firing wild, it will hit unless you dodge.

Sherwood has a defense to declare

Initiative order
23 - Steven [1]
21 - Officer Pod [1]
18 - Nova
17 - Miya
13 - Chris
12 - Battle Pods 1-3
8 - Battle Pods 4-6
6 - Doug
5 - Battle Pods 7-9

 

[Sherwood]

Steven hits the hover jets hard, hoping to leap up over the incoming fire and doge out of the way.

OOC Dodging, and I am now terrified of getting another low roll. Psy, can you roll for me, please? I have a total of +12 to dodge in my mecha.

 

[Psychie]

OOC Of course. Not a problem.

The particle beam attack passes safely under Steven's feet, missing you completely.

Nova takes aim on the Officer Pod, firing a APFSDS round at it. It skids to a sudden stop and her shell misses to the front of the pod, causing a few choice words to come out of Nova's mouth.

@dannign is up


Initiative order
23 - Steven [2]
21 - Officer Pod [2]
18 - Nova [1]
17 - Miya <====
13 - Chris
12 - Battle Pods 1-3
8 - Battle Pods 4-6
6 - Doug
5 - Battle Pods 7-9

 

[Psychie]

A bump for Purr

 

[Purr]

Shifting off to the side of the road to find some concealment, the five of you shift modes and raise up your main cannons to fire downrange at the Zentraedi mecha. APFSDS rounds fly at high speed through the air, four of which manage to strike their targets, ripping into the mecha with gusto. Both the Powered Armor suit and the Officer Pod explode from the force of the impacts, showering the other mecha around them with rubble.

"Par Dessu!" Miyazaki sweetly greets the Malcontents in the language they share as she watches the Queadlunn-Rau and the Glaug Officer's Pod erupt into fireballs.

Steven hits the hover jets hard, hoping to leap up over the incoming fire and doge out of the way.

"Steven," Kitty radios, her voice thick with the steely resolve of a Meltrandi seeing blood. "Worry not, dentella ("friend"). That officer will only be in charge of marching his way into oblivion when 3rd JSOG is done with him!" Kitty tracks the Officer's Pod doggedly and ruthlessly and when she thinks she has a bead, she puts in extra effort and focus into sending an APFSDS round straight into the mecha's main body.

"Kara-yar, negronta hajoca! ("Die, worthless weak spot")!" she fiercely orders the Glaug as she pulls the trigger on Maru's main gun. "Rawr!" she growls cat-like as the force of the blast rocks her Veritech Hover Tank. Once the round is in the air, she transforms Maru into Battloid mode in preparation for the nine Battle Pods' sure retaliation.

Spoiler: OOC for Psychie

Kitty is spending an Action Point on her Strike roll against this skilled adversary. =) Her unaltered Strike roll in Maru is +10.

Spoiler: Kitty scribblings/Notes for self

Main Gun used this Round 1/3

Current Loadout (Veritech Hover Tank details)
Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS). 16/18 remaining.
High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT). 9/9
Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank (MPAT). 9/9
Canister 0/0
High Yield Incendiary (Plasma). 9/9
Smoke. 3/3

 

[Psychie]

Again, the Officer Pod tries to dodge out of the way, but Miya's skill with her cannon is good enough to track on the evading Glaug and score a hit.

GunMan2 you are up with Chris

Initiative order
23 - Steven [2]
21 - Officer Pod [3] seriously damaged
18 - Nova [1]
17 - Miya [1]
13 - Chris <====
12 - Battle Pods 1-3
8 - Battle Pods 4-6
6 - Doug
5 - Battle Pods 7-9

 

[Purr]

Again, the Officer Pod tries to dodge out of the way, but Miya's skill with her cannon is good enough to track on the evading Glaug and score a hit.

"Hala!"

Kitty cheers as she scores on the Glaug, nailing it hard enough to cause serious damage. The born-for-battle Meltrandi grins in readiness as she raises her arm-shields in preparation for the enemy's reply.

Inwardly, she hopes that Chris will bring the Officer's Pod away, but it is his life and his action to decide.

 

[GunMan2]

Chris checks some of his other systems as he loaded the sabot round into the chamber."Ill try to capture that officer alive. Might have some information about the attack on Anton-17”

He marked the enemy "Lets see how you like to run without your knee." He then aimed and shoot five bursts.

 

[Psychie]

Chris takes careful aim with his main cannon, lining up the perfect shot. Not an easy thing to do with as fast as the Glaug was moving about, but it is with your months of intense training that you are able to thread the needle to make it look easy. The leg is blown off at the hip, causing the Officer's Pod to tumble down to the earth in a heap.

Battle Pods 1-3 and 4-6 turn and crank up the speed and turn towards the five of you and begin to close the range between you, but it will take some time before they are within range to be able to engage with their particle cannons.

Doug calls out, "Good shot, Barnes! Keep it up, everyone!" With that, he targets Battle Pod group 1-3 with a MPAT round, managing to some serious damage to the three Pods as they charge forward.

EDIT forgot to add that Pods 7-9 also leap forward towards you guys to attack.

Sherwood is up with Steven

Initiative order
23 - Steven [2] <====
21 - Officer Pod [3] seriously damaged/leg blown off
18 - Nova [1]
17 - Miya [1]
13 - Chris [2]
12 - Battle Pods 1-3 [1] moderate damage
8 - Battle Pods 4-6 [1]
6 - Doug [1]
5 - Battle Pods 7-9 [1]