Robotech - Tales of the RDF

Red lights flash in your cockpit as Taniya triggers her cannon, showing a critical overheat of the weapon. Something is seriously wrong.


Barbara begins to run a diagnostic. "Damn. Port side cannon is out of action until we can get out and replace a blown relay. Repairs won't take long, but we have to be out of combat to do it."


In the meantime, the last pod continues its headlong rush to the river and leaps in with a splash, and it is gone. None of your mecha can move fast enough to catch up with it.


Moving out of combat time.


Keith turns to look around, and fires off a glare at Taniya. "You let it get away! So much for a perfect ambush. Tolson, why didn't you use the missiles to kill that zeek?"


"I have been busy trouble shooting these guns. I thought that took priority. And let me say that I don't care for your tone or your choice of language."


He sneers at the young girl. "Your love of the Zentraedi is going to get us killed one day. Excuse me while I go church up on the infantry. At least they did their jobs right."
 
Staff Sergeant Taniya


What? "You let it get away?" to me? "At least they did their jobs right?" to us? Nay, you arrogant male subordinate. Not on my watch.


Staff Sergeant Taniya turns on her loudspeakers and opens her comm for all to hear (including the infantry). What she states next is delivered with the utmost seriousness and frostiness. "Sergeant Renner, you are hereby dismissed from this mission and confined to quarters. We will win the day without you today. You will return that RDF property you are borrowing to Anton-17 immediately. You will stay in your quarters until called by me or another superior to you in rank. This is a direct order." Then she adds, "And if you have further insulting or insubordinate ideas then I remind you - if you do not like what I just ordered you to do, you will most certainly not like what happens if you disobey me again. Just try me."


"Tolson, send word to Anton-17 to expect Sergeant Renner in the best time his vehicle is able to make the return. Send word to the major of this incident including all audio logs. These will be included on Sergeant Renner's service record."


Taniya kept her eyes on Renner's Spartan, awaiting his next action. Her next thoughts were kept in her head. You hold cockpit time dear, Renner? You hold your opinion higher than the rest of us, including your superior? From now on you get to prove you are worthy of that cockpit time. You are not in charge here - I am. You do not "call the shots" among the Red Panda Squadron - I do. You do not insult my squadmates or me and walk away expecting to enjoy free reign without punishment. If you cannot act with discipline and respect worthy of the RDF or Red Panda Squadron, then you do not belong in it. There are better, truer warriors among your race who can take your place.


Renner's reaction to my direct order will help decide his future...
 
It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul. When Taniya makes her announcement, Kevin gives you a look over the video screen of such poisonous hate that it sends a chill up your spine. It takes a moment, but Kevin gets a good grip on his emotions. He finally says, "I had hoped that my initial thoughts on the wisdom of letting a Zentraedi lead humans were just a bad feeling, but I can see that I was right, and a stupid zeek has no place as a commander in this army. You can be assured that my transfer request week be in the moment we get back to Anton-17."


Barbara is quiet for a moment, then nods. "Yes, ma'am. Sending the update home now." She works the radio, sending a copy of your order and Kevin's response.


The lieutenant in charge of the infantry unit cuts in. "Sergeant, good work. You made quick work of these pods, and no doubt saved the lives of many of my men. We now have several prisoners to interrogate, taking us one step closer to stopping the High Lord that is in charge of the Malcontents. We will be ready to move out in ten minutes."


Everything goes smooth as the ground forces load up into their APCs. During this time, Sgt Renner is silent, but does follow any direct orders given to him.
 
Staff Sergeant Taniya


Renner's look over the video camera in no way causes fear in someone like Taniya. She knows in her heart that she is a warrior-born and she has been taking part in war since Renner was a little boy.


"Instead of talking with me about this back at base behind closed doors, you desire to leave the Red Panda Squadron?" Taniya pauses a moment, then nods. "As you wish. Have it your way, Renner. Consider your transfer approved by me. I wish you success on your road to avenging your family. May you come to peace with your bigotry someday."


Taniya watches as Renner leaves the Red Panda Squadron in his Spartan to return to Anton-17.


Meanwhile, she listens and waits with the infantry as they prepare. "Allow us to take watch as your people prepare, lieutenant. It was an honor to fight alongside you." Then her gaze turns to Renner for a moment as he leaves.


Alas... he breaks discipline in his own squad and insults us like a spoiled human child. I treat him like one by sending him to his room and taking away his favorite toys until we can have a serious chat. But instead of enduring disciplinary action for the chance for us to see eye-to-eye, he would rather give up and transfer out of the Red Panda Squadron? What a surprise... I would have thought an African-American human would have been the first to show tolerance given what I have heard of their tortured past in pre-protoculture America.


Perhaps this is what the humans call a blessing-in-disguise? If Renner secretly hates all Zentraedi to the point he cannot even take a slap on the wrist from one who is risking her life daily to save his people, then it seems it is too late. Perhaps he gave into such hatred long before he joined us. Perhaps there was never a chance of peace between us, for he seems to think that every Zentraedi is as evil as those that brought upon his family's death. I suppose it is better it be this way then him losing his mind someday and killing myself or Zaile with a sudden shot to the back.


Renner is brave and outspoken, yes. But if I allow warriors under my command to fall to degrading insults, undisciplined action, and honorless deeds, then we will not need the Malcontents to destroy us; we will end up doing it ourselves.


In the end, I suppose his desire to leave is best for all. All I can do is wish him well. I hope the rest of my squad is able to do the same.
 
Sergeant Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


Eadric is initially silent with shock, not only at Keith's breach of discipline but also Taniya's hardline (but not, in Eadric's opinion, quite over the line) response to it. And yet it is Keith's final words that push the scientist into making his own response.


"I hope you treat your next commander with more respect, Renner, or you'll find yourself on the beach. It's not your place to pass judgment on the person placed over you by Command. Insubordination isn't tolerated by any commanding officer I've ever had - and most of them classed personal insults as such." With an effort, he calms his own voice down and adds, "I also hope wherever you end up, it's far away from any Zen-trae-di" -- he stresses the full word deliberately, for contrast with Keith's pejorative version -- "friendlies, because it's quite clear your mind is closed regarding them."


After a moment, he clicks the radio on again. "Ma'am, while we're out of combat, would you like me to take a look at those guns for you?"
 
Eadric dismounts from his mecha and takes a closer look at the cannons of Taniya's Tomahawk while the infantry are loading up. It is a matter of only a few minutes to see what the problem is; the relay that was acting up was not properly fitted into place. Luckily for all of you, it is a system that is designed to be field replaceable, and in short order the status board shows green for both the main guns. It was a simple case of human error of the techs working on the part.


Under the watchful eyes of the troops, the few prisoners are secured and the APCs signal that they are ready to roll.


Moving out, the APCs tuck themselves in the middle of the destroids, and the marines inside them settle in for a quiet ride home. The quiet of the trip is interrupted by a flash of light, followed by an explosion overhead. An alarm starts going off from the Tigers Eye AWACs aircraft. "Alert! Alert! We are under attack, and Raven One has been destroyed in one hit! It was some kind of ship-based heavy laser. Wait; it is firing again. Raven Two has been hit and is going down. I say again, we are being targeted by multiple heavy lasers. Sending telemetry now. There is another shot coming! We're hit, and we're going down!"


Barbara adjusts her headset. "Copy that, Eagle Eye. We are tracking you now, and we're sending out a call for the search and rescue birds to come and pick you up. Just hang in there! Help is on the way!" She looks over at Taniya. "They are talking about being hit by starship scale weapons. Normally, something as small as a veritech or other fixed wing fighters are too small for the big guns of a ship to be able to target." Then, a look of realization comes over her face. "Oh my god! Do you remember when we were on our way to Anton-17 and the convoy was attacked? The Malcontents stole a truckload of advanced targeting systems used by the Defenders! If they have those hooked up to the guns of a capitol ship, they will be able to shut down the airspace over the entire Control Zone! Any rescue chopper will be vaporized before they can get anywhere close enough to pick up the crew!"


To punctuate her words, other signals start coming in reporting other aircraft being shot down by the heavy weapons of a Zentraedi ship. Finally, Barbara is able to get through to Anton-17. "Red Pandas, we are seeing a major move being made across the board. If the Malcontents get sold off the crew of that AWACs jet, they will have access to radio codes and passwords for the whole region. You are the closest ground units to the last reported position of the crew as they ejected. Your priority is to locate them and get them safe, and if you come across the location of this ship, call in a missile strike to take out those guns!"
 
Staff Sergeant Taniya


Earlier...


Taniya grins as Eadric performs his work on Taniya's Tomahawk. "My thanks, Braidwood. You honor me with your loyalty, and stars as my witness, we are fortunate to have your skills among us. I think skill, however, is going to be exactly what we need should more danger come our way."


Now...





"And now the chance to prove my words comes to pass! Lieutenant," she calls to the leader of the infantry and APCs, "duty calls! Keep safe on the roads and watch for ambushes. It has been a fine time working with you and your brave warriors."


To her own squadron, she bares her teeth. "Red Panda Squadron, we are those humans' only hope! We move at flank speed! Point is mine; Tolson, advise the major and listen for distress calls from the pilots; Braidwood watch our flanks; McKinley, keep your keen eyes in the sky! Move!"

I would add Zaile in here but her player is still on vacation. =)
 
Lt. Moran acknowledges Taniya's message. "Watch your back out there, Sergeant. Dead heros are all fine and good, but I prefer my heroes to come home alive and well."

@Dannigan, You did not include Keven in your lineup; do you want him to return to base with the infantry? Just making sure I know what you want done in your team.


Also, here is a bump for @Beowulf to make sure you are getting alerts for the game.
 
"About time I shoot at things this was meant to shoot at." Connor said as he moved into position and turned his radar array on and other miscellaneous tools to detect sub-sonic aircraft. He also raised his flak cannons to point towards the sky instead of into the jungle. "Make sure you give me some heads up with ground contacts. My eyes are on the sky." he said. It was true, most of his attention was searching for enemy aircraft, with only a little focusing on moving his Defender so he doesn't bump into anything and/or fall over.
 
Connor can see on his radar multiple airborne contacts that your computer identifies as Zentraedi power armor; both male and female suits, along with fighter pods. None of them are heading towards you at the moment, but it does show that the Malcontents are in the middle of a major offensive.


The last known location of the crew of the surveillance jet is just a few miles away, but in this thick jungle, it will take some time to get there.
 
Sergeant Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


Earlier...


"My thanks, Braidwood. You honor me with your loyalty, and stars as my witness, we are fortunate to have your skills among us. I think skill, however, is going to be exactly what we need should more danger come our way."


"Happy to help, ma'am." No more than the exact truth, there, both for loyalty and skills. God knows Command doesn't assign people in command roles by accident, much less a Zentraedi, and Eadric wasn't the type to make a superior officer "prove" their fitness to him. Even if he was, Taniya was more than qualified, in his view.


Now...


"Red Panda Squadron, we are those humans' only hope! We move at flank speed! Point is mine; Tolson, advise the major and listen for distress calls from the pilots; Braidwood, watch our flanks; McKinley, keep your keen eyes in the sky! Move!"


"Make sure you give me some heads up with ground contacts. My eyes are on the sky."


"Yes, ma'am." Eadric fell back to the rear, eyes open and radio set to 'always on.' "We got you, Connor, never fear."
 
Moving through the jungle is slow going, even for the powerful destroids of Red Panda squadron. As you advance, Tolson is busy adjusting the gain of her radio, trying to get any signals from the rescue radios of the downed airmen. "Sergeant! I got a bearing on one of the crew. Signal is weak, but I have a solid fix on his position. Range ten klicks. If it weren't for all the trees in the way, we'd have a clear line of sight on the source right now. Wait one. I am hearing other signals; Zentraedi. They are encrypted, so I can't make out what they are saying, but they are close. Very close. Watch your asses, guys. We are about to have company."


Connor's radar is able to pick up six targets right in the area of the signal that Tolson is receiving. They are too small and slow to be Battle Pods; your best guess is full sized Zentraedi on foot in their heavyweight body armor, not the more powerful powered armor. They are obviously looking for the downed crew also.
 
"Got six assumed heavy infantry around where you said the pilot's at." Connor says, alerting his team of the enemies. "There might be more, but I only got six showing on radar." he continued, lowering his guns into a position more for fighting ground targets instead of aerial targets. "I got tungsten rounds loaded in this thing, it's going to be hard for me to pick off infantry. But you can bet your ass they'll be dead when I hit them." he continued as he activated his aim assistance equipment.
 
Staff Sergeant Taniya


"Remember that if they are large enough for you to pick them up on radar, then they are as large as the mecha we currently pilot; I think you will have no trouble spotting or shooting them." Then she adds, "McKinley, work your SHORAD to provide us an extra edge; with Renner gone, we will need to be as potent as possible until he can be replaced."


"Finally, take out any that are armed with particle beam rifles first; those pack quite the punch. Braidwood, if you seek to take one for your Spartan's own use, you may. Either way, wait not for my order; slay these Malcontents on sight and find our people!"

Sherwood used the words "full sized" when describing the foot soldiers, which means they're 40-foot-plus tall, so that's what I'm going with. =)


"...work your SHORAD..." Taniya is requesting you use the Defender's radome to best effect. See the second-to-last paragraph under the Defender entry for details.
 
Closing in, you are now roughly a thousand feet out from the Zentraedi foot soldiers when there is enough of a break in the trees to catch a glimpse of them. There are the six full sized soldiers, and they are wearing light weight armor that has an MDC value of 70 points to it. Four of them are carrying the equivalent of an assault rifle, one has a particle cannon, and the last has a rocket launcher with a five round magazine. You can also see that one of the riflemen has a cage in hand with several humans in it, at least six of them. From your briefings, you know that the standard crew of a Tiger Eye AWACs is twenty people, so there are still a potential fourteen crew if they all were able to eject safely.


From this range, you do not believe that you have been spotted. Also, you will have to be careful targeting the one trooper carrying the prisoners. Any area effect attack will kill them, so using a missile on him would be a bad idea.


Go ahead and give me initiative rolls to see tho gets to act first in the surprise round.
 
"SHORAD on the way." McKinley said as he booted up the system. And as soon as he finished, the enemy came into view. 'Good thing I don't have any flak loaded.' he thought to himself as he saw the cage with human prisoners in it.


[dice]18103[/dice]
 
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Sergeant Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


Eadric narrows his eyes, seeing the cage full of his fellow species in the hand of one of their enemies. Well, perhaps I'll get the chance to take it from him. One of the Spartan's fists clenches briefly; then Eadric prepares to fire his GU-11.

[dice]18119[/dice]Forgot the +1 from SHORAD, so that's a total of 5.
 
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Staff Sergeant Taniya


"The humans in the cage are our top priority, then the cannon-wielder, missile operator, and finally the rest of the riflemen. Remember your chaff and flares if the missile launcher aims your way."


"Braidwood, your mech is best at close range and has hands. Grab that cage and return to us! McKinley, we cover Braidwood. Take them!"

[dice]18120[/dice]


Assuming Taniya has won Initiative on the surprise round, she opens up on the cage-carrying Malcontent with both autocannons.





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The autocannons roar and tear into the armored Zentraedi warrior, doing massive damage to him. With a spray of blood, he falls to the ground, motionless. Taken by surprise, Connor and Eadric both get to act before the enemy does, then the round starts off again with Taniya.


@Kaerri and @Beowulf are now up for their surprise attacks


24 - Taniya


18 - missile armed warrior


16 - assault rifle warrior 1-2


10 - assault rifle warrior 3-4


5 - Connor


5 - Eadric
 
Sergeant Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


Eadric nods sharply, forgetting that his sergeant cannot see him, and as the cage-carrying Zentraedi falls, he dashes forward like a relay runner whose partner is about to drop the baton. On his way, he fires the GU-11.


When Eadric arrives, he scoops up the cage as if it were that baton, but instead of simply carrying it, he picks it up gently to cradle against his chest like a father holding his child, putting as much of his mech as possible between the captured humans and the enemy's weapons. He then resumes the "race" to try to get into cover before their Zentraedi foes are able to react and start shooting.

I'm a little confused. Taniya was firing at the rifle-bearing cage-carrier, and you said her target is down, but the initiative list seems to indicate that it's the particle-cannon wielder who is down. If the cage-carrier is still up, that's who Eadric is firing on.


[dice]18151[/dice]
 
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"I see you, you Malcontent sons of..." Connor grumbled as he drew a bead on the missile toting enemy. It would be bad enough that they'd be shooting at them with bullets. It would be something else entirely if they started to throw explosives at them while they were at it.


[dice]18152[/dice]
 
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Kaerri said:
I'm a little confused. Taniya was firing at the rifle-bearing cage-carrier, and you said her target is down, but the initiative list seems to indicate that it's the particle-cannon wielder who is down. If the cage-carrier is still up, that's who Eadric is firing on.


[dice]18151[/dice]


My mistake. I misread Dann's post and thought he was targeting the soldier carrying the particle rifle. Also, you are a thousand feet out from the six Zentraedi, and it will take into your next action to cover that distance.


So, the soldier carrying the makeshift cage is the one that is down, and Eadric instead targets the particle rifle toting one. The gun pod fires a burst, and the armor absorbs the bulk of the attack, but the trooper is still alive but gravely hurt.


Connor, in his Defender, takes careful aim at the Malcontent carrying the missile launcher. Like a buzz saw, the four barrels spit out tungsten shells that drop the man in a bloody heap on the ground.


@Dannigan is up with the first attack of the combat round


24 - Taniya <====


16 - assault rifle warrior 1-2


10 - assault rifle warrior 3


10 - particle rifle armed warrior - badly wounded


5 - Connor


5 - Eadric
Click to expand...
 
Staff Sergeant Taniya


"Fly, Braidwood, fly!" Taniya's autocannons are as hot as the fire in her heart. Covering her fellow Red Panda, she looses another dual-blast, this time against the cannon-wielder, and her Tomahawk's twin cannons roar defiantly once again.

Some time ago in OOC-chat, I recommended rolling damage with Strike rolls. Then I forgot all about it. I have since reminded myself. =)


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And this is why I chose to use both cannons. If I rolled a 1 or 2 on damage on one cannon, the Malcontent might have lived; rolling a total of 3 x 10 = 30 points of Mega-Damage? It is not too likely he'll survive that. =)
 
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Now that they know that they are under attack, the wounded soldier tries to dodge, but Taniya is able to track on him with ease. He falls after getting a hole blown through his midsection.


Gunners one and two both look up to see the three destroids firing in them, but it is Eadric that is closing in at them at top speed. As one, they raise their assault rifles and fire at him as he runs forward.


The third Zentraedi glances down at the missile launcher next to his fallen comrade. He snatches it up, and from one knee he fires a shell at Taniya and her Tomahawk. The missile arms, but fails to clear the launch tube, much to the angst of the shooter. It is now in need of being cleared carefully or it could go off.


@Beowulf and @Kaerri are both up. Eadric will now be within range to make a snatch and grab of the cage. One rifle has hit with a crit, but you might be able to dodge the other.


24 - Taniya [1]


16 - assault rifle warrior 1-2 [1]


10 - assault rifle warrior 3 - now armed with a missile launcher [1]


5 - Connor <====


5 - Eadric <====


[dice]18188[/dice]


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