Robotech: Army of the Southern Cross - IC Thread

[Sherwood]

Steven decides to line up a shot on the damaged trio of pods, hoping to take them out of the fight before they can get in range to attack back. "Loading a Plasma round. Lets light these guys up! On the way!"

Critical Strike doing 260 MD. Toasted!

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 / 8
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[Psychie]

Steven's plasma round catches the Regult pods in an explosion of flame that causes all three to explode in a violent detonation.

The Officer Pod is still functional, even with one leg blown off. It is struggling to maneuver itself into a position where it can bring some of its weapons to bear against you, but it is not doing too well.

Nova decides to give the plasma shell a try for herself, and she fires off at Pods 4-6, doing minor damage to the three.

Purr is up

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

 

[Purr]

Kitty sees the shots that Chris and Steven display. With a girlish laugh of admiration with a touch of envy, she comes over the squad radio. "Goodness glory! With shooting like that, you hardly require a desk jockey like me out here with you. Yours were shots worthy of a Meltrandi ace!"

Since the Battle Pods are running close together and close enough to hit with Plasma rounds, Kitty gives a little grin and whispers her inner thoughts aloud, "Well! Why not give it a try?"

Over her loudspeakers on maximum volume, she roars in Zentraedi at the Malcontents. "Your leaders are broken or dead! Surrender - immediately - or these shall be the last seconds of your lives!" She gives this threat though she doesn't expect her Plasma round to hit, but who knows? It was time to try! She transforms Maru back to Tank mode and looses a Plasma round in the hopes of scoring upon multiple opponents as her squadmates have.

Spoiler: Kitty scribblings/Notes for self

Main Gun used this Round 2/3

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). 8/9
Smoke. 3/3

 

[Psychie]

The plasma shell slides into the breech with a clang, and a loud boom signals that it is on its way downrange. But instead of being able to take out all three pods like Steven did, two of the three manage to dodge out of the blast radius, leaving only one of the Regult pods to take the hit and is destroyed.

GunMan2 is up

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

 

[GunMan2]

Christ takes stock of the situation and takes aim at the battle pods. Deciding to keep the sabot for the heavier more dangerous enemies. He loaded a heat shell in his tank and prepped it to fire at battle pod 5

 

[Psychie]

Regult #5 tries to dodge, but all it manages to do is to leap into the path of the shell and is destroyed in a violent explosion.

While Pod 6 is still out of gun range, it locks onto Steven's tank with its targeting system and it sends out a quick signal. From somewhere out of sight in the jungle up ahead, a volley of six short range missiles comes flying up over the trees and is soaring straight for your tank. They will hit your main body unless you shoot them down or use your chaff/flare packs to try and spoof them off of you.

OOC just to be clear for GunMan2 , a missile salvo of 4 or more missiles cannot be dodged, only parried. You can use an action to try and shoot them down, or you can activate your missile defense systems of chaff and flares to try and confuse them to miss.

Sherwood has a defense to declare.

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

 

[Sherwood]

Steven swears, "Shit! Incoming missiles from an unknown target in the trees! Activating flares!" His finger stabs out to press the missile defense button and he cringes as he watches the six pack of missiles coming closer and closer to him, hoping that he's able to luck out.

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 / 8
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[Psychie]

This time, you manage to luck out. The Spartas seems to burst into flames as the flares and chaff pods explode out from your tank, causing the incoming missiles to veer off target and explode around you, rattling your teeth from the shockwaves and spraying your tank with shrapnel. Your paint job is ruined, but at least your armor is intact.

Doug joins in the swearing that Steven is letting out, and says, "That bastard is trying to light us up for artillery mecha! Spread out to keep from getting hit in an area attack!" He then loads one of his HEAP shells and fires on Pod 6, killing it decisively.

Pods 7-9 continue to close in, and will be within their own gun range in moments. As they run towards you, they also try to designate your squad for long range fire. This time, it is a pair of long range missiles that come flying overhead, racing towards Miya's tank! Apparently they didn't take your order to surrender to heart. The missiles will hit unless you do something about it.

Purr has a defense to declare, then Sherwood is up

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

 

[Purr]

Pods 7-9 continue to close in, and will be within their own gun range in moments. As they run towards you, they also try to designate your squad for long range fire. This time, it is a pair of long range missiles that come flying overhead, racing towards Miya's tank! Apparently they didn't take your order to surrender to heart. The missiles will hit unless you do something about it.

Kitty inwardly thanks Maru for its ability to detect the incoming LRMs (long range missiles); she knows that, depending on their warheads, a direct hit from both of those missiles can kill her, and a Critical Hit from both of them likely will. This is both in part because of the incredible amount of damage LRMs could inflict and in part because, unlike every other mecha in the Southern Cross, the Veritech Hover Tanks lacked any kind of reinforced pilot's compartment - if the vehicle's main body armor were penetrated, the chances of the pilot's annihilation were virtually assured (Mega-damage suits being the only other considerable factor).

All of this streaks through her mind as training takes over. Maru could not parry in Tank mode and she had not the time and opportunity to transform him. Dodging could be useless if the missiles turned out to be Reflex warheads as those "smart missiles" could attack independently on their own until they either ran out of fuel, were destroyed, or made contact and exploded.

Kitty figures her only feasible chance for survival were then the use of chaff/flares to baffle the missiles. She takes what cover she can and rapidly pumps out clouds of the glittering metallic chaff along with the bright orange fires that were Maru's flares.

And inside, she thought if she died, well then! At least it was her and not a valuable human!

Spoiler: Kitty scribblings/Notes for self

Main Gun used this Round 2/3

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 - None.
High Yield Incendiary (Plasma) - 8/9.
Smoke - 3/3.

Chaff/Flare dispenser - 5/6

 

[Psychie]

Again, luck is on your side as the incoming warheads are diverted off to the side before they have a chance to hit Miya. The massive blast of the exploding missiles shows that if they had hit, it would have been bad. The Zentraedi are pulling out the stops to try and wipe you all out.

Sherwood is up

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

 

[Sherwood]

Loading another plasma shell, Steven doesn't waste any time in targeting the last three Regult pods that are in view. As he places his targeting sight over the lead pod, he spares a glance down at his radar to try and locate the source of the incoming missile fire. After the shell leaves the barrel, Steven shifts his Spartas into Battloid mode in order to free up his shields for defensive use.

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 / 7
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[Psychie]

The Pods leap off to the side, but the flames of the plasma shell catches them in its blast. It is good for the Zentraedi that the rain is so heavy, it will keep them from being burned up too badly by the lingering fire sticking to their hulls.

Looking at your radar, there are some intermittent readings off about four to five miles out, but there is a lot of interference. There is a large number of smaller returns, and a larger signal that is out a few miles further away. It could represent dozens of Zentraedi mecha. If you were to advance and move off to your left about one mile, you'd have a better line on the targets to get a better return

Nova lines up a shot of an MPAT shell on the last three visible pods, then shifts her tank into Battloid mode and breaks into a run forward towards the damaged Officer's Pod with an angry growl to try and secure the pilot and keep him or her from getting away.

Purr is up

Initiative order
23 - Steven [5]
21 - Officer Pod [4] seriously damaged/leg blown off
18 - Nova [3]
17 - Miya [3] <====
13 - Chris [3]
6 - Doug [2]

 

[Sherwood]

Steven lets out a low whistle as he tries to dial in a better signal on the radar. "Dorsey! I've got multiple returns four and five miles out from our current position. Might be a good time to call in some air or artillery support and rain some fire on their heads."

 

[Purr]

Examining her own radar, Kitty's smooth voice comes over the radio with the sure edge of womanly fire. "Interference. Heightened activity. Sergeant, this might be an offensive on the move or we may have stumbled upon a base. Either way - permission to warn Anton-17 and anyone else outside the wire, sir?"

Relieved to still be in one piece after the detonation of the twin LRMs, Kitty transforms Maru into Transport mode and shoots off in the direction of the one-legged Officer's Pod. "Nova, I am with you." She makes every attempt not to approach the deadly mecha from its front and instead, she moves with Nova in her attempt to capture the Zentraedi inside. That is, unless Sgt. Dorsey calls them off instead.

On her way there, Kitty reaches into her own playbook and attempts to jam the communications of the Officer's Pod (and any other forces nearby it).

 

[Psychie]

Racing forward in Transport mode, Miya begins to catch up to Nova as she is running along, all the while you start to throw out static to try and jam the radio transmissions of the Zentraedi. Eyeing your radar, you also see two distinct groupings of returns; one large signal about five miles out, and several smaller signals about three miles out. With the sheer size of the signal that's farther away, it is far too large to be a mecha of any kind, but at a diameter of only 360 feet, it is too small to be one of the large starships. It could be a structure of some sort.

GunMan2 is up; what do you do?

Initiative order
23 - Steven [5]
21 - Officer Pod [4] seriously damaged/leg blown off
18 - Nova [3]
17 - Miya [4]
13 - Chris [3] <====
6 - Doug [2]

 

[GunMan2]

Chriss approaches the officer pod as his tank goes battleloid mode. He then uses its hands to grab the pod and begin to crush the cockpit door shut so that their prisoner might not abandon his pod and escape.

“Sorry, i forgot that we are fighting full sized zentraeidti and not the microssized ones. This should do, for now”

 

[Psychie]

Moving up to the damaged Officer's Pod, it takes a bit of caution to keep yourself out of the line of fire from its arm weapons as the stricken pilot tries to push up enough to fire on you. Chris is not quite fast enough to trap the operator inside, but the giant woman pilot is just starting to climb out of the damaged mecha. She's wearing a lightweight jumpsuit that offers little to no MDC protection, and all she has for a weapon is her small sidearm; not much of a threat to you.

She treats the three of you with a glare filled with pure poison and hate, and you can see that she is clearly considering her options of 'should I let them take me alive, or do I fight to the death?'. Even without her mecha, this one remains a danger.

Doug shifts his tank to its Battloid mode and begins to run up the road, calling out, "If anyone gets a good reading on the enemy positions, link that info up to me so we can see what we're dealing with and call in support if we need it. Anyone have any intel to report? I can't see shit out there!"

Sherwood is up

Initiative order
23 - Steven [5]
21 - Officer Pod [4] seriously damaged/leg blown off
18 - Nova [3]
17 - Miya [4]
13 - Chris [4]
6 - Doug [3]

 

[Sherwood]

Steven breaks off to one side as he runs his Spartas forward, trying to get a better angle on the Zentraedi targets, hoping to get a clean signal on locations, numbers and movements of the enemy.

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 / 7
Canister - 1d8x10 (AoE 25ft), 1d4x10 (AoE 50ft): 3
Smoke: 3

 

[Psychie]

By closing in, you are starting to get a stronger return on your radar. The larger signal (now about four miles out) is a single return that is too big to be even a group of mecha. It is most likely a structure of some sort. The group of other targets are a mixed bag that to your computer look like a smattering of both armored infantry and mecha, numbering upwards of fifty infantry and thirty mecha of various configurations. You can see that the Zentraedi force is on the move away from you, heading towards the larger stationary target.

Nova aims her gun pod at the Zentraedi officer in front of her and kicks on her external speakers. In Zentraedi, she says, "There is no reason to die here today. Drop your sidearm and surrender. You will be treated well."

Purr is up

Initiative order
23 - Steven [5]
21 - Officer Pod [4] seriously damaged/leg blown off
18 - Nova [4]
17 - Miya [4] <====
13 - Chris [4]
6 - Doug [3]

 

[Sherwood]

Steven quickly relays his findings to the rest of the squad. "Sargeant, I think we need some air support or an artillery strike here. We just don't have enough firepower ourselves to deal with this many enemy mecha and soldiers."

 

[Psychie]

Purr

With a snarled curse, the Meltrandi officer says in Zentraedi, "You are one of us; I can tell by your accent that you are not human. You are a traitor to your kind! How can you turn your back on your race and serve the micronians?" She is not making any attempt to reach for her weapon, but that can change in a heartbeat.

Nova simply says, "My decisions are for me to face. You have a choice to make; die here and now in a futile attempt to kill one of us, or surrender and have a chance at a life. You must know that you are not going to be able to survive an attack against us. Make your decision now, because I am growing tired of this conversation."

The Meltrandi glares at the tanks in front of her, and finally yanks her sidearm off her hip and throws it down on the ground in front of your feet.


While this staredown is going on, Dorsey is on the radio, desperately trying to call in some kind of air support or a missile strike. He finally calls out on the radio, "Bishop! Get eyes on the target and see what that large structure is without getting shot all to hell. You may be called to laser designate for a artillery strike. Just watch your ass! I'm coming up behind you. Nova! Barnes! Miyazaki! Secure that prisoner and get her the hell out of here!"

 

[Sherwood]

Steven manages to blurt out, "Acknowledged! Moving in." He doesn't allow himself to dwell on the level of danger that he's getting ready to jump into and instead focuses on the mission at hand. This is a major amount of firepower we are facing off against. It cannot be allowed to run free to wreak havoc on the region.

 

[GunMan2]

"Understood" Said Barnes as he approached the soldier with cautions as he grabs her in his robots grasp, makes sure that it does not crush her. "Welcome to the Southern Cross, As a POW. You shall be treated to a cell and a nice meal, after microsizeation of course." Joked barnes over the coms.

 

[Psychie]

When Barnes approaches the Meltrandi and grabs her wrist, she yanks her hand back, saying in passable English, "Don't touch me, human, even with your little mecha! I am no fool; I can see that there is no way out for me."

Nova says over the squad radio, "Prisoner in custody, sergeant. We're pulling back now. We'll need to call in a large transport for this one; she's obviously too large for a micronian helo or shuttle."

Dorsey nods, saying, "Call it in. I want her to be delivered to Brazilia Base ASAP."


Farther up, Steven makes his way through the trees to get close enough to the targets to finally get a visual, and what you see is chilling. The large radar return is not a structure, but a full out Zentraedi Reentry Pod capable of carrying upwards of eighty to one hundred twenty different mecha and soldiers onboard!



The ground forces of the fifty foot soldiers with rifles and other hand-held weapons along with twenty Regult Battle Pods of various types (one Recon Pod, one Heavy Artillery Pod, three Light Artillery Pods, and fifteen standard), five Female Powered Armor, and five Glaug Officer Pods. They are all hustling quickly to the Reentry Pod, and will be there in a matter of moments.

A signal comes in to your comm system. "3rd JSOG, this is Valkyrie Flight Epsilon. We are inbound from sixty miles out, and have a load of medium and long range missiles that are ready to be deployed to come and join your party. Do you have coordinates for a air strike ready? Or a target that you can laser designate for us?"

 

[Purr]

With a snarled curse, the Meltrandi officer says in Zentraedi, "You are one of us; I can tell by your accent that you are not human. You are a traitor to your kind! How can you turn your back on your race and serve the micronians?"

When Barnes approaches the Meltrandi and grabs her wrist, she yanks her hand back, saying in passable English, "Don't touch me, human, even with your little mecha! I am no fool; I can see that there is no way out for me."

Miyazaki nods to the POW and speaks in the language they share. "No way out as an enemy, true. But we are only hajoca ("weak spots;" literally "traitors") where the Robotech Masters are concerned. I turn my back on the Robotech Masters! How, you ask? Because these humans possess culture! Through culture there is liberation and feelings - great triumphs of life - that the Robotech Masters do not wish us - their slaves - to ever know."

"I refuse slavery and accept culture!" Miyazaki winks at her fellow clone and adds, "Do you not believe me? Listen then, if you have the courage! And tell me what you feel."

Kitty sings out a simple tune, one of few that she knows. When a classmate of hers noted her name was also the name of a certain human creator of great compassion and skill, he taught her this song. And so she shares it with her fellow Meltrandi now.

"La la la la la la la, la la la la la..."

Spoiler: Recognize it by the lyrics?

"1. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind"

Miyazaki looks off in the direction of Brazilia base. "Art. Ice cream! Music! Your first kiss! Friendship! Movies! Combat is easy - culture challenges my very being! No longer am I a slave. I have taken back the one precious element that the Robotech Masters would keep from me forever! My destiny!" Miyazaki glares with challenge at the POW. "Think yourself brave? Or true? Taste culture and then decide! Or die as a pitiful slave no one will remember. At least with humans, the choice is ours. Remember my words! Fare you well!"

Seeing that the POW is well in hand, Miyazaki presents this information over the squad radio. "Prisoner secured, sergeant!"

A signal comes in to your comm system. "3rd JSOG, this is Valkyrie Flight Epsilon. We are inbound from sixty miles out, and have a load of medium and long range missiles that are ready to be deployed to come and join your party. Do you have coordinates for a air strike ready? Or a target that you can laser designate for us?"

Were Kitty ordered to, she would gladly take on this task. But the honor goes to Steven. After all, he is the most-active of their squad by far and such initiative perhaps should belong to a human for whose sole world 3rd JSOG was risking all for. Kitty left things in his hands with a smile.

But then she realized - she wanted a better look! "Miyazaki, moving forward!" Kitty guides Maru in Transport mode to an area where Steven is not as to provide a second pair of eyes on the targets. Not that anyone needed her there, but how often did one get the chance to see this kind of glory in action? These were the very reasons she left behind the life of a desk jockey after all!