Robotech - Southern Cross Adventure

[Rykon]

Looking over at the locked door, Alan turned his gaze about to check for nearby hostiles. He hit the comms for the squad. "I don't suppose you have a way to hack this door remotely boss... Gabi, how many will fall upon us if Marlon and I pop this can open the ol fashion way? We're breachers, not hackers here after all."

 

[Purr]

Gabi glanced once more at her computer console and shook her head. Just too many blips. "Way more than we can comfortably handle, big guy." Gabi checked with her air wing and everyone else on their channel. "'Ey? Anyone know how to hack an alien door, by chance?"

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan says, "Well, I can try to talk you through it, but we have to be careful not to fry the lock and seal the door shut."

OOC I have Computer Hacking at 98%. Obviously, there will be negative modifiers to the roll, but can we give this a shot?

 

[Psychie]

As Alan and Marlon look at the door, you are confident that the couple of small explosives that you have with you will not be sufficient to blast a hole in them large enough to get through, and all that will do is draw attention to you from the hordes of drones in the factory all around you.

Deunan says, "Well, I can try to talk you through it, but we have to be careful not to fry the lock and seal the door shut."

OOC I have Computer Hacking at 98%. Obviously, there will be negative modifiers to the roll, but can we give this a shot?

Deunan's idea of bypassing the lock is a good one, and while it will take some time to do it remotely, you are fairly confident that you can make the needed tweaks to the lock to get it open. Sherwood go ahead and give me a Computer Hacking roll, and hope you don't roll high, because there are minuses.

 

[Sherwood]

Taking her time, Deunan will do her best to clearly and concisely give directions on what to do to open the door.

Oh, crap.

 

[Psychie]

You can make one more try remotely, this time at a higher negative. If you fail this one, you will have to try to open the door in person.

 

[Sherwood]

Feeling beads of sweat running down her face, Deunan tries again.

 

[Psychie]

Taking your time and seeing what you did wrong before, you are able to successfully guide the two men at the door through the process of bypassing the mechanism and getting the doors open. With a nearly silent 'whoosh' the door slides open to reveal a large lobby with a bank of elevators in the very center, all scaled to a human occupant.

Time is ticking by, and now you have less than thirty minutes to get the virus in the computer.

 

[Rykon]

Alan references the data they had on the interior of the ship to enter the elevator and signal for a lift to the area where the target computer resides. "Alright we're running short on time, we're gonna have to make this quick." Alan clenched his grip on his plasma pistol as the two heavy recon soldiers rode the elevator. If they encountered resistance it could easily bring this mission to a grinding halt if they weren't prepared to face it.

 

[Psychie]

Heading into the elevator, you rise up to the top of the tower where you exit into a large room, filled with control consoles and blank display screens. This room can easily keep track of dozens of ships and thousands of mecha. The lights in the room are dim, making for lots of shadows.

With a touch on one of the panels, the screen begins to light up as power is routed to the terminal.

 

[Rykon]

Alan searches the room for a connection port so he can upload the virus into the central computer of ship. Are there any obvious means of loading the data?

 

[Psychie]

As Alan looks over the console, in the faint light of the monitor, you can see a data port that looks like your memory stick with the virus program will fit into. From what you remember of your briefings, all you need to do is put the stick with the program into the port and it will run and insert itself automatically.

Placing the stick into the port, you can see symbols begin to flash across the screen in Zentraedi, then some new text appears in English, showing that the program is starting to run. At this point, you don't know just how long it will take before the virus does its job, but it seems to be doing its thing.

 

[Rykon]

"Not sure how long this will take, but we've reached the objective and started the upload," Alan said over squad comms. "Everyone still alright down there?"

 

[Purr]

"Cool as ice," Gabi replied as she stowed Dragonfly in her cockpit and kept a sharp eye on her instrumentation and viewport. "An' ready to pick you two up once you're done in there, you know? This isn't exactly my idea of a tourist destination."

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan replies with, "So far, no activity visible from the drones, but we're not trying to poke the beehive with a stick. Everyone, keep a tight grip on your weapons. If we do get this place under our control, any attacks against the drones may kick them into combat mode against us. I say again, hold your fire unless fired upon."

 

[Psychie]

As Marlon and Alan hunker down in the command center, you can see other screens start to flicker to life, all of them showing lines of code flashing by rapidly. On the outside, in the large chamber that the rest of the squad is in, the pleasant lighting suddenly goes completely black, which is not a real problem for you, since you have your sensors to help you see. But, just as quickly as they went out, the lights come back on, this time much brighter than before, illuminating the room as brightly as a clear summer's day on Earth.

Then, a blast of static comes over your radios as you start to receive signals from outside the Factory for the first time since you entered the station. It is a clear indicator that the virus is infiltrating more and more systems of the Factory, and at this point, you may be able to get a signal out if you want.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan is quite happy to be getting any kind of contact with the ASC at all, even if it is just distorted static. She had not realized just how cut off she had felt before this. "Neo! See what you can do to get some sense of those signals. I want to know the situation out there. Do not try and reply yet, though. We don't know if the drones can trace our long range signals, and who knows how long it will be before we have the computer under our control."

 

[Psychie]

Neo replies, "Understood, LT! Trying to clear the noise, but there is a lot of static. Wait one."

While she dives into the ether, Gabi's radar suddenly shows the drones around the spire in motion, with one group heading straight in your direction. You will be able to see the horde shortly.

What do you do?

 

[Purr]

D. Rex Rykon

This grabbed Gabi's attention immediately. Keeping her mech completely still, she radioed on the squad channel. "LT! Drone group headed straight at you! 'Ey! Marlon, Alan! You two wanna stop holding hands an' get your popos ("butts") back to my mecha so I can get you back to yours? Conway's gonna need us an' soon!"

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan swears, then says, "Copy that, Gabi. Listen up, everyone! Order stands: Hold your fire unless we are fired upon! Those drones may have the new IFF codes in them by now, and might not see us as hostile unless we attack them. Gabi, if you can maneuver closer to the tower and get ready to recover Alan and Marlon, who should be moving out by now to get back to their tanks! Get a move on, you two."

Rykon D. Rex

 

[D. Rex]

"We are on the move," he spoke through the radio,"We will be at the meetup point shortly." He said, shuffling carefully back the way they came. Making sure it was still clear.

 

[Purr]

Gabi scrunched her nose and made a face. "LT? If I move, they may spot me - and if they spot me, they might see Marlon and Alan. One missile and they become a memory, you know?"

 

[Sherwood]

"Then sit tight. Don't risk yourself or the insertion team." Deunan fights the urge to duck down in the cockpit of her own tank in an attempt to make herself harder to spot. "Everyone, hold your positions."

 

[Rykon]

Psychie What can the insertion team tell about the virus upload's progress?

Alan looked over the panels, then to the data drive that was now in the process of corrupting the factory. "Mule muffins... I hate leaving this asset behind but let's book it." Alan took his plasma pistol in hand, hefted his grenade launcher over his shoulder, and made a beeline for the Elevator to take him and Marlon back to their armored escort.

 

[Psychie]

Psychie What can the insertion team tell about the virus upload's progress?

You can see that there are lines of code flashing across the screens, showing symbols that you don't recognize, but with more and more lines of English showing up. Then there are the lights that are turning off and on, and the station's radios are now picking up and rebroadcasting ASC signals to the crew inside. Obviously, the virus is doing something, but unless you try and access a terminal and look, there is little you can do to tell the exact progress of the upload.

If you do check on a terminal, it will require a Computer Operations roll at a minus due to the alien system.

When you get to ground level once more, the outer doors you came in are closed again.

What do you do? Rykon D. Rex


Back with the rest of the squad, Neo finally is able to get some progress on unscrambling the multitude of signals. "LT! I have got something you'll want to hear! There appears to be an active firefight going on outside the station between a bunch of Bioroids and a flight of ASC fighters! Apparently, a smaller Robotech Master ship did a short fold space jump from Earth orbit to the Moon, and is trying to get some mecha inside the Factory to get control of it. A group of Bioroids were seen entering the Factory, so we can expect some more company soon!"

O'Brien asks, "How many Bioroids? And what exactly is 'soon'?"

Neo replies, "At least thirty, possibly as many as forty, and I have no friggin' idea how long it will be, but they should know their way around the station a lot better than we do, and will probably be coming here!"

As this is going on, the one group of drones that Gabi detected heading your direction is almost at your position, and they are moving much faster than the hover tanks can, so if the fighting starts, the drones can overtake you, even if you run.

Do you continue to hold your position? Sherwood Purr