Robotech - Southern Cross Adventure

[Purr]

Gabi appreciated Marlon's non-aggressive tone. Too many guys liked to blow their cool when making a point in front of women.

"Zentraedi don't share the same protocols as humans," Gabi answered, "but the only other two options we seem to have are to take our mecha to try and skirt around them using a bad path that leaves us very vulnerable if we get spotted, or almost everyone dismounts, we split the team, and some do this entire mission on foot while someone stays behind and prays our mecha don't get spotted, say, on infrared.

Gabi frowned. "But I'll tell you what, amigo. If we do this on foot, I volunteer to stay behind. I have the best chances of seeing them coming with my drones, and I know how to call in the Asgardians to fire on this position. I'll bail with my Ajax, and I'll make sure our mecha don't fall into enemy hands." Gabi admired the tanks and Ajaxes.

"No way I'll let them use our own machines against us. You can bet dinero grande ("big money") on that." There was a wild gleam in her eyes as she nodded wholeheartedly.

 

[Rykon]

Alan sighs and chimes in on the radio. "I wasn't suggesting we sneak in on foot. I say we mark these bastards for longer range bombardment. Let the Zeeks guess who's out here. If it turns out we stirred up a hive, we call it in, mission accomplished. If not, we take a closer look. Keep to our objectives. It is not infiltration, it's confirming hostile presence lingering in the area. Forget what I think though. Am I still returning from recon boss?"

 

[D. Rex]

"They don't. But they ain't stupid either. Especially if they be trying to hide. So I do see what your saying, Rosy. But trust me when I say I ain't to keen on the sneaky bit either. Our armor is nice, but they toting guns bigger than we are. Also, I'd suggest a tanker to stay with you, to couple your drones with long range support if need be."

When Alan spoke, Marlon nodded to himself. "Yeah, your right, Alan. I hadn't thought about it like that. And if we do hit and run, we can probably spot where they are coming from while they get the feeling they chased us off successfully."

"Anyway, how you want us positioned, Sergeant? I'm raring to go."

 

[D. Rex]

But raring to go didnt mean brash. And Marlon did not like just charging in blindly. He took another peek at the footage. Looking it over again. Just in case...

Detect Trap/mine. 76%

 

[Sherwood]

With a grin, she says, "Alan, I like the way you think. Mark the exact coordinates of the mecha, and then come on back to your tank. Once here, we can call the Asgardians and have them send some love downrange to these watchmen. Once that is done, we sit back and watch to see what happens. Gabi, that will be your job to keep a lookout on the ship with your drone to see if there is a response, and if so, in what form it takes."

Deunan then looks over at Neo. "Neo? Get ready to call for the thunder. Make sure you use a scrambled transmission. Better yet, if you can get a line of sight with a laser comm system, use that. That way it can't be picked up by the Malcontents."

 

[Rykon]

"With gusto sarge." Alan makes sure to take careful measurements of the enemy positions, then double-checks them before calling them out by radio.

Once positions were marked, he slipped out of his watch post and started hoofing it through the jungle at an unrestrained pace once he was well out of sight of their targets.

 

[Purr]

"Will do."

Gabriela sent up Dragonfly high into the air and used its telescopic vision to get a panoramic view of the scene. While she did so, she turned on the local radio to see if there was anything interesting being talked about in the area. Being brand-new to Anton-17 and this fallen destroyer (which in itself was one heck of a sight), Gabriela was willing to play the part of the tourist in a place like this.

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

-Before Departure-
Purr

Ryuko scratched the back of her own head, looking away.
"I... I don't know if I can go on this mission right now. I'm worried that something like before might happen again. I almost died Gabi, I don't want to fall and leave you all alone!"

 

[Purr]

Previously...

"Ryuko," Gabriela watched her closely from her cockpit, "'All alone?' Chica, where have you been for the past two weeks? Third Heavy Recon has welcomed me with open arms since Day One. So far, they've done their best by me! Look at Neo. I don't even know Neo, but I'd put a bullet in a bastard fast if she were threatened, because she's part of the team, you know? Plus, I'm the oldest of eleven siblings - I've never been alone.

"You on the other hand..." She grimaced and tied her hair back to put on her helmet. "You know they would treat you the same way if you just held up your end of the deal, right? Just contribute with teamwork! You know why they have my back? Because I have theirs. But, they don't know that about you, now do they?

"And what's this about if you could go? Ai Dios mio ("Oh my God!")! Since when were soldiers like us given the choice? We have a duty to all of humanity to uphold! We aren't civilians! This ain't Costco or Google! We can't just take a sick day. Plus, Ryuko, Third Heavy Recon needs us! We might run to the High Lord and everything else she's got! Thanks to Lt. Dansfield, we got the best Ajaxes you could ask for with these dual ion cannons and EW pods! We can do this!" She clenched her jaw and made pulling motions. "Hell, I'd pull a MAC II with my bare teeth to the battlefield instead of staying here! And what? You want to act like you're gonna play hookie from school? What you gonna tell Conway?" She folded her hands and pleaded. "'Oh, SSG Conway, I can't go - I'm on my period! But you're a woman too. You understand, right?'

Gabriela defiantly put on her helmet and raised up her faceplate. She looked around as if she and Ryuko were the only ones on the base. "Where's my battle-chica, ey? Where's my badass Jungle Rat? Where's my Desperada so eager to get payback for those sorry bastards who killed your familia ("family"), huh?" She pointed at Ryuko. "Between the Asgardians and me, I helped get over 20 kills when Anton-17 got jumped! The Jungle Rats? I have avenged my dead friends, but your parents? Mi amiga ("my friend"), that's on you! Nobody but you! You follow our lead and you'll make that dream happen! Now get in your cockpit and let's go get some!"

 

[Psychie]

With the coordinates for the eight mecha relayed back to the team, Neo lines up a laser signal to an orbiting Tiger Eye aircraft through the trees. It takes a few tries to get a signal out, but the young girl is persistent with her efforts, and soon enough is able to get a confirmation of the coordinates for the artillery strike.

Alan is back in his tank before the shells start to hit, but thanks to Gabi's drone keeping an eye on the area, you are able to see that the massive shells hit their marks with precision, and the guard line of Battle Pods is now destroyed.

At first, the long range camera on the drone sees no response from the wreckage of the destroyer. It takes a full three minutes before three Male Powered Armor units burst out of a thick copse of trees roughly five hundred feet to the east of the downed ship. They are heading right for the location of the destroyed mecha. They circle around the blast area, probably looking for any survivors or the mecha that was responsible for the attack. After a minute, they turn and head back to the trees where they came from.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan smiles. "We need to buy the Asgardians a drink when all this is done. Not only were they on target, but they have flushed out some more game. I would hazard a guess that from the slow response time of those three MPAs, they were not hiding in the trees there like the Pods that were just hit. I'm thinking that it is one of the entrances for this underground complex that those bikers told us about. Neo, call it in. We are going to want some backup before making a dive into there."

 

[Psychie]

Neo sends out the signal as ordered, and soon after she says, "Boss lady, we have reinforcements coming our way of both ground and air forces. Ground units will be a few hours to get here, but we'll have Veritechs and fixed wing aircraft on site to help with the serious ass kicking. ETA of the Veritechs is less than five minutes."

Sure enough, your radar soon picks up multiple airborne targets coming your way that your IFF tags as allied forces. You now see the six Logans of the Black Cat Squadron, along with nine Valkyries, three each in Vampire, Talon and Hydra squadrons. As the various Veritechs land and come up to your positions, one of them calls out on the radio. "This is Captain Syles of Hydra Squadron. As ranking officer on site, I'm taking command. Which one of you is SSgt. Conway? I want a full SitRep."

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan clicks on her short range radio and signals out, "Sir, Staff Sergeant Deunan Conway of the Third Heavy Recon here. We received a tip that there was a Zentraedi force located underneath the ruins of the Destroyer that was hit a few weeks ago, with a good chance that it included the High Lord that we've been hunting. When we came out to investigate, we came across a picket line of eight Battle Pods that included an Glaug Officer Pod and a Recon Pod. After calling in an artillery strike on their location, three minutes went by before three Male Powered Armor units came flying out of a thick grove of trees to investigate. We did not engage, instead, we waited to see what they would do. After flying about the area for a minute, they returned back to the grove and disappeared into it."

"It was at this time that we called for back-up, because I believe that the Zentraedi units were deployed from underground. We are ready to go hunting, but if there is a sizable number of Malcontents underground like we were told, we will need additional units to be able to handle them."

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Previously

"It's just... You're like a sister to me, and I don't want to leave you. It's not even something I can imagine!"
She looked down, and turned away, as tears ran from her eyes, but her hair hid her eyes. She didn't want Gabi to see her cry.

Gabi responded with something Ryuko didn't expect. She pointed out that Ryuko didn't exactly do much to help. Ryuko was then reminded about why she signed up in the first place.

Ryuko would understand, and wipe her tears away, but still look sad, before gearing up. That's right, she needed to go, for her family. Her parents who died from that attack years ago. She would soon be in her Ajax's cockpit, but would realize she forgot about the additional equipment she needed.

Ah screw it, I'll do what I can work what I currently have....

Present Day

As soon as reinforcements arrived, Ryuko would use the cross comm link before speaking.
"So basically we have a rodent problem, if anything Sarge. Might I ask for permission to go on the ground Assault?"

 

[Sherwood]

As soon as reinforcements arrived, Ryuko would use the cross comm link before speaking.
"So basically we have a rodent problem, if anything Sarge. Might I ask for permission to go on the ground Assault?"

Deunan smiles at Ryuko's enthusiasm. "Keep your pants on, there. You'll distract the boys. I'm sure we'll be doing some sort of assault; its just up to Capt. Styles as to just how we do this." Switching to the command channel to talk to the Captain, she says, "Sir, we are all set to take point in going into the trees to see what is in there. Our Spartas' are packing enough armor and firepower to handle themselves in a tight space pretty well, not to mention our two Ajax. Just say the word."

 

[Psychie]

The Captain lets out a chuckle. "Good to hear your enthusiasm. Alright. Lets see what lies in that bunch of trees. Sergeant? Take your squad and go look in there. See if there is any signs of an entrance to an underground passage. After that, we'll evaluate our next move. Boomer, move your Black Cats forward with them, while Vampire and Talon head to the south and investigate in that direction to look for any other possible entrances. Hydra will play reserve and stand by here. Lets go."

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan nods. "Yes, sir. Moving out." Shifting to the squad channel, she says, "Gabi, get ready to send out your drone. Everyone, leapfrog advance towards the grove. Once we are there, I'm betting we will find an entrance to a underground complex. That's when the drone will come into play. First group is Ryuko, Marlon and myself. Second group is Neo, Alan and Gabi. Keep your eyes open and watch for any signs of trouble. By the numbers! Lets go!"

Running in Battloid mode, she scans the area in front of them with her Eu-11 at the ready.

 

[D. Rex]

"Yes sir." Marlon said to Duenan. He stepped his destroid into position behind Duenan's, his EU-11A1 at the ready.

He would follow about thirty feet apart in the bounding overwatch formation. Takin a que from their zeek enemies, to help alleviate AoE, and to cover a bit more ground in oberseving. Maroon kept his eyes peeled in looking forward an around, trusting the other group to have their backs watched.

 

[Psychie]

As the three of you leap frog forward, the first three of you reach the edge of the trees. There is several large camouflage nets spread about between the trees, keeping the ground from being seen from above. You can see that there is a large opening in the earth in the center of the copse of trees, fifty feet wide, dropping down out of sight.

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Ryuko's Ajax would bring it's cannons up at a 180° angle, as if it was drawing two pistols from the holsters like a cowboy in the wild west, as Ryuko would contact Denuan.

"You want me to go ahead first?"

 

[Rykon]

Alan had his Spartas load a plasma round into the chamber. "Camo nets huh... it'd be a real shame if someone burned em up." He suggested over the squad band, malicious grin concealed by his helmet. Given their location, there was a real concern of broader impact. On the other hand, the Zeeks and ASC brass did decide to bring a guerilla-style war out here and frequently bombard the jungles from both ends.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan points her weapon at the opening and calls out, "We have an opening in the ground here! High probability that this is an entrance to the underground area we've been told about. Second squad, move up. Gabi, get me some video on what is in there. I don't want to just jump in blind."

 

[Purr]

"Si ("Yes"), sergeant." Gabriela expertly guided Dragonfly in as stealthy a manner as possible, switching from optical enhancement to enhancement as necessary to get the best view and audio. Once again, Gabi listened and looked for anything out of the ordinary.

 

[Psychie]

As the drone slips down into the opening of the hole and you change your optics to nightvision, you catch a glint of metal wire at the bottom of the pit, right where a ground-based mecha would land if they would jump down into the opening. Looking around, you see that there is a ring of explosives designed to bring the entire tunnel down on the heads of anyone inside if they were foolish enough to trigger the trap. Farther in, the tunnel descends into darkness, because even nightvision needs some light, and right now, there is none down here.

 

[Purr]

Gabriela relayed this information to SSG Conway. "We could disarm it or we could mark it and make everyone aware of it?" Down below, Gabi looked through Dragonfly using its sensitive thermal optics to see what might be revealed.