Robotech - Tales of the RDF

Elyana listens to the reports on Private Tolson in silence, taking in the details before asking any questions. Finally,she says, "I am not a psychologist, but I have taken a mental health rotation in school. What I can tell you without examining the girl in person is, everyone responds to stress differently. Some freeze up, others don't react to the trigger until hours or even days later. Taking the life of another person is as serious of an event as it gets, and many cannot even do so except in the most extreme of cases. Humans are conditioned from an early age that taking another life is murder, and that murder is one of the worst sins that a person can commit. The fact that the private was able to pull the trigger despite her lack of combat training says that she was able to overcome that cultural pressure and still be able to take the shot." She pauses for a moment to gather her thoughts. "My first encounter with a combat injury was quite traumatic for me, and I'm a trained field medic. I would give the private some time to digest what she has done and how she feels about it before making any steps to remove her from the squad. She may come to you with her own concerns, and depending on if she asks for a transfer or says she is sorry for showing weakness will be a big indicator on how she is dealing with the situation. Well, that's my two cents worth. I hope it helps out." She turns to Zaile. "I have to go check in with Dr. Kramer, but I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon."
 
Andrew attention turned behind him as he heard another mecha being parked. A female Zentraedi emerged from it and started to look around at Anton-17. After a few more minutes of examination, the female Zentraedi finally started to walk towards Andrew and the others around him. As she neared him, his eyes caught the symbol on her uniform representing her rank. A sergeant huh? He quickly turned away from Kevin and Zaile to look at his higher-up, presumably the leader of the squad that he was newly assigned to. He gave a quick salute as she approached him.


"Corporal Bryer at your service. It's a pleasure to meet you Sergeant," he said respectfully. He then proceeded to rummage through his bag to look for his documents. After a few more seconds of searching, he finally presented the female Zentraedi a folder which contained all the files and information about him. He gave one last salute to her before she pulled Zaile aside to talk about something. Shrugging, he waited for everyone to finish whatever they had to do so that they could start the debriefing.
 
Sergeant Taniya


Earlier...


Taniya acknowledges Cpl. Bryer's salute with a crisp, well-practiced salute of her own. Taniya acknowledges his pleasure at meeting her with a nod and replies, "Corporal, you have first-hand knowledge of this base, its people, and its predicaments. I look forward to asking you about them, however, I am addressing another issue at this moment," she looks once to Zaile and Elyana. "Upon my conclusion, I would hear and value your thoughts." Taniya begins to dismiss the corporal, but pauses and looks him straight in the eye. "Corporal, make no mistake - we are here to destroy Earth's enemies while keeping you alive to tell the tales to your children. If you can keep that in mind, adapt, perform your duty, be the kind of teammate you can depend and honor, then I believe you will earn a place among us. As for the moment, I welcome you to our squad. Dismissed."


Now...


Taniya takes in their every word with the utmost seriousness. Behind her eyes, the gears are certainly turning. "So this is not the feared and dreaded post traumatic stress disorder, but instead a normal side-effect often felt even by their own soldiers?" The thought itself was dizzying in its magnitude. Taniya shares her thoughts aloud. "These are the same people, that even with 70% of their planet burning, still had what it took to defeat a warrior race of much greater size, skill, experience, and technological advantage?" Taniya stares at the two of them. "And it is normal for most of them to lose their control this way?" She raises her hand to her forehead.


Her expression says, "I cannot believe this!"


She takes a deep breath. "I will take your advice, keep her in the squad, and give her time. I would see how she adjusts." Taniya puts her fists on her hips. "Must Tolson bear this burden alone? What can we do to assist? I do not want her mind breaking."


Seeing that Elyana must be on her way, Taniya bows to both human and Zentraedi. "You have my gratitude for sharing your perspectives." She repeats. "If Tolson is not contagious and might grow stronger from this, I wish to keep her on our team."
 
Dannigan said:
"These are the same people, that even with 70% of their planet burning, still had what it took to defeat a warrior race of much greater size, skill, experience, and technological advantage?"
Click to expand...
Zaile shifts her eyes over to the departing Elyana and, once she's out of hearing range, she mutters "Well...we helped, you know. For the last fight anyway."


"And of course we can assist, Taniya. Or...maybe I can anyway. Me and the other junior enlisted. Given your position in the command hierarchy, it'd be difficult for you to express the kind of sympathy that might help her the most, not without compromising your position. I'll pass the word discreetly and make sure Kevin and the fix-it guy and everyone treats her nice, offers a listening ear and helps her through it."


Zaile beams and adds "You can count on your team, sir!"
 
While everyone is standing around in the motorpool, a older man in BDUs that Andrew recognizes as Sergeant Major Trent comes walking up. Chomping on a cigar, he looks over the group and immediately picks out Sgt. Taniya. He holds out his hand and gives you a firm but not bone-crushing grip. "Welcome to Anton-17. I am Sar Major Trent, and I'm glad to have your squad finally here. Even so, we're seriously understaffed in mecha, so I'll be expecting extra from your team. Can I count on you to deliver a 110%? I hope so. Now, I have an open door policy. Any time you need to speak with me, I'm available. Now, lets get these mecha locked down in their cradles, and when you are done, come see me. I want to go over your unit roster to get to know your people."


Off to one side, The Kid is looking over the damage done to 'his' mecha. Not too bad; it won't take you long to get the armor back to 100%. As you are examining the equipment, a fellow in mechanics overalls with pockets filled with tools of all kinds comes over to you. "You McCarty? I'm Doug Dorsey, Chief Fixer-Upper around here. Enough jaw-jackin'. Lets get to work."
 
Responding to the crisp no nonsense attitude that the chief sets "Aye, Ok what are we working on first Chief? I got stuff in my pack that can help and just one VERY important thing... Where's my toolbox? You REALLY want me to show ya my Toolbox." Note The Kid is literal in this, he's not flirting he's trying to hint to the chief, that there are neat things in The Kids Toolbox, and there are.


Since he's off mission The Kid loosens his suit so the ever present noise comes back. It's not loud just tinkly and jingly, kinda a reassuring noise actually, at least fer The Kid.


The Kid takes out a pack of twinkies from his many pockets, and offers one to the chief. "Have one?"
 
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Sergeant Taniya


Taniya returns the firm handshake. "Thank you for your welcome. You can count on us. And yes, we are prepared to back those words with action, sir." When Sgt. Major Trent concludes, Taniya salutes him as is proper. "We shall see you shortly, sir."
 
As the mecha get locked into place, the ground crews immediately begin to perform repairs on the light armor damage and to rearm the expended missiles. Over the next hour, the team meets up with Lt. Rosetti, the Operations Officer of Anton-17, and you get your bunking assignments. For a temporary structure, the BSURP is fairly comfortable. Much of the base is underground to protect the equipment and crew, but even so, there are enough creature comforts to make life at the forward base easier.


When Sgt. Taniya meets up with SarMajor Trent later on, he gives her the rundown on the local situation, including giving you authorization codes for both air and artillery strikes when out on patrol. "We have continual air cover in the form of veritech fighters under the direction of AWACs aircraft, and there is a nearby Firebase with two Monsters and two Phalanx missile mecha, just over fifty miles out. As you know, the main guns of the Monster have a 100 mile range, so when you are on patrol, you will have cover from them for most of your operational area." He reaches into a case on the counter and pulls out a cigar and pops it into his mouth. "Our mission here is simple; keep the roads and waterways open, and, as always, look for where the Malcontents are basing their operations out of and shut them down. There has been a recent upswing in raids, and I suspect that this is all the work of one of your former high commanders, a woman named Sarena. You may know her as a former squadron commander under the wing of Khyron and Azonia, and from the reports I have gotten, she is a nasty piece of work. While out on patrol, you will have the occasional encounter with the locals. I have gone a long way to establish a level of trust with them, and if you hear anything that would suggest where Commander Sarena is based, that intelligence is to be reported up the chain immediately. She needs to be shut down, and we are going to do it. Am I clear in this, Sergeant?"


Later in the day, Corporal Zaile gets to meet up with Elyana. "Hey sweetie. I met with Dr. Kramer and her staff. They seem really nice and professional, and I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting some real work done here. We also spend some time working with the local population, bringing medical attention to the villagers in the area. A real chance to do some good."
 
Sergeant Taniya


Taniya discreetly sighs at the mention of the Veritech fighters - the one RDF mech to Taniya's knowledge that can fly, fly, fly! Otherwise, the ace is all-business, listening to her superior's every word. When he asks if he is clear on this particular mission priority, Taniya cannot be help but provide a dangerous-looking smile. "My squad did not come here to win hearts and minds, my good sir - we came to remove them from our enemies' bodies... This desire shall be fulfilled."
 
Corporal Zaile Alencar


Doubtlessly, Zaile spends more of her time settling into her married quarters with her wife than Elyana can afford. So she handles the unpacking of their mixed possessions, clothes and the like. Then she takes herself on a tour of the base while Taniya gets the briefing (naturally she'll get filled in when the Sergeant briefs the squad). The friendly, outgoing Zentraedi is cheerful in greeting all she meets and likely experiences a mix of good and bad responses from people, based on their history with the aliens among us.


By the time Elyana is free, Zaile's back in her room, freshly showered and re-energized. She's long since learned, though, that her wife tends to mellow out over the course of a day and that Zaile needs to dial it back a bit, especially after the day the two of them had been through. So she sits on the bed and smiles adoringly up at the other woman as she listens to her talk. "You make me wish I was still a paramedic," the blue-haired Zentraedi says wistfully. "But the chance to work with the natives sounds amazing! I know how connected you've always felt to South America. I'm glad we could come back here and give you a chance to reconnect with your roots. Plus, after all the destruction of a few years back, people out here probably haven't seen a decent doctor since. I'm so glad you were able to come with me, Bela Flor. For their sake, not just mine."


The Zentraedi woman looks fondly at her spouse and gives an admiring sigh.
 
Over the next few days, the mecha are all fixed up to 100% and the squad is put to work doing some basic repair work around the base and standing watch in the mecha bay, ready to deploy in a moment's notice. Everyone manages to get to know the major players in the small outpost, and for the most part, you find yourselves welcomed by the staff of Anton-17.


It is at this time that Lt. Moran gets word from one of her contacts that they have some information about the whereabouts of the Zentraedi holdfast in the jungle, and she is very interested in meeting with this person to get the information. She is planning on making a move on the intel right away, and wants the mecha of Anton-17 with her, ready to jump into action. Moran is sending along two infantry squads of 30 men each in a pair of APCs, and is planning on getting the location info in a small village down the river just a few miles away. The river is deep enough to hide mecha in it, or you can deploy in the jungle along the road.


As the squad is gearing up and loading into their mecha, Private Tolson is there, the wires of her multi-band headset dangling off to the side. She looks at Taniya and nods. "Ma'am, I'm ready to deploy. Where do you want me?"
 
Connor was in his Defender, this time ready to take out more heavily armored targets with his tungsten rounds. Locking in, he goes through all the system checks. All lights were green, except there was a minor jam in his left most gun. That was quickly resolved by the ground crew, and he was given the thumbs up. "Ready to go boss." he said in a corny New Yorker accent.
 
"Thanks once again," Andrew said as he walked away from the mechanics and into his Defender. His repairs had just been finished from the last Zentraedi attack due to severe damage to his Defender but all was fine now. Hopping into the seat, he closed the cockpit and made sure all the controls were working. He then proceeded to load the schematics and data onto his screen. Everything was functioning properly and all his ammunition had been restocked. "Defender on stand by," he said as he waited for the order to move out.
 
As a final touch on maintenance and repair, The Kid left a pair of Mints on the consoles of every machine he worked on. Kind of a "The Kid Was Here" thing.
 
Corporal Zaile Alencar


"...what is this?"


The Zentraedi corporal had arrived to report for duty with the rest of her squad and she made the most of her time making sure her mech was prepped and live, ready to go. The pair of mints confounded the blue-haired alien. She poked one experimentally. Nudged it. Pressed a finger on it. She finally sniffed it before at last divining its purpose, judging by it's scent.


Experimentally, she gently puts one on her tongue. Then her eyebrows lift straight up and an expression of wonder crosses her face.


When the Sargent arrived, Taniya was just in time to see Zaile stick her head outside of the Tomahawk, brandish a mint and yell "What are these amazing things?"
 
Sergeant Taniya


Earlier with Barbara...





Taniya's reply to the private's query was straightforward. "You will deploy with me, Tolson."


Now with Zaile...


"Oh good," Taniya remarks as she notices Zaile's predicament, "you got them, too. These are called..." she thinks a moment, "mints. Candies often used to sweeten breath after a meal. That is all I know about them. However, when I saw them, I thought back to meeting McCarty earlier today - he winked at me." Taniya scratches her head. "I was not sure if he was flirting with me. Then ten minutes ago, I saw the mints and my suspicions rose. But since you have some too, he must not be flirting."


The Zentraedi crosses her arms. I have so very much to learn about social relationships, yet unlike Zaile, I lack a mate. If I had one, would I feel more complete like Zaile? Then she relaxes and a grin flashes across her face. Hmm. And have I not been asking myself that very question since before they were married?
 
Barbara quickly reaches out and grabs a mint and unwraps it, savoring in the chocolate-minty smell. She then takes a small bite, and a look of bliss comes over her face. "I have not had real chocolate in soooooo long, I had almost forgotten what it tastes like! Oh, this is good. I love chocolate!" She pops the rest of the candy into her mouth and chews, and says, "Maybe the Kid does like you, Taniya, and he gave us all mints to cover it up. He is kinda cute, and have you seen him without his shirt on? Wow! Talk about six pack abs! I wouldn't mind him doing some work on me, if you know what I'm sayin'!"


Kevin then pipes up, "Too much info, there, Private! I did not need to know that."


Barbara goes pale as she realizes that her microphone was on. "Oh God! Did he hear that? Did everyone hear that? How embarrassing!"


Good natured laughter fills the air as the young girl goes bright red in the face. At least there is no obvious signs of stress at the upcoming escort mission.


With the squad being deployed, the other mecha of Anton-17 are being warmed-up as a precaution, with pilots ready to go at a moment's notice. You can also see from the data feeds from the two Defenders that extra air assets have been tasked to cover this area, and to be ready with strike packages against whatever target that the intel source gives out.


Lt. Moran clicks on the video linkup with Taniya's Tomahawk. "Sergeant, I don't expect any trouble at the village, so stand back and let me go into town to talk to my contact. No need on having one of your Destroids flattening someone's house. But, if there is trouble, I want your team to be on the lookout for targets that my men laser designate as priority. Mostly, I just want you there for insurance, to be ready in case something does happen. Once we have the coordinates, we'll pack up and go check them out to see what we are dealing with. With both air and artillery assets ready to roll on this, you may be in for an easy day of it."


Tolson's fingers dance over the radio. "Sergeant, I have the Lieutenant speed dialed on channel one, the artillery lance of Thor's Hammer on channel two, Big Eyes AWACs on three, and the rest of the squad on four. Lets see what else we have going on. There is a tropical depression bringing some intermittent rain, possibly reducing the range of our standard visuals, but all our electronic sensors will cut through the crud no problem. But, with all the mud, there is the chance that a small target will be obscured in our IR view, too. Just to be aware, ma'am."
 
Corporal Zaile Alencar


"Whatever they are, they're amazing!"


Three years on Earth and she still had the strangest gaps in her local knowledge. Especially around things that Micronians grew up with. For all that Zaile looked like a human adult woman in her twenties, her actual life so far had been breathtakingly short by Micronian standards. When she and Elyana had first started dating, Zaile had been months old despite a fully grown body and the implanted memories every Zentraedi received of battle and waging war. After discovering the Micronian children took decades to mature, she'd been cleverly evasive on her real age with Elyana and anyone else who asked. It helped that every Zentraedi started off just as naive as she when it came to Earth.


Still, it was moments like this that made Zaile feel...young.


She savored the mint in her mouth. Then she held up the other, looked at it critically, and finally secured it in a belt pouch on her RDF fatigues, carefully tucked away where it wouldn't get smashed or too warm. For Elyana.


Even as the squad laughs at the poor Private Tolson, the comment about the Kid flirting with the Sergeant makes Zaile reappraise the other Zentraedi woman. Taniya was older, already a veteran warrior when Zaile was fresh out of the tank. Maybe that's why she'd never seemed to fully embrace the integration that Commander Breetai had ordered. Not that it was easy. Micronian culture was so foreign. And intimacy was so...shocking. Then there was the prejudice so many Micronians displayed towards them. You got lucky with Elyana you know. Make sure she knows how much you appreciate her.


Zaile gives Taniya a lingering look and finally says "It'd be nice if he was, chain of command or not. You're wonderful, sir, and well worth the attention of someone nice." There is an unabashed look of matchmaking on the blue-haired woman's features as she hops into her cockpit and gets her mech ready to go.


***


With the squad deployed, Zaile puts her Tomahawk in formation and heads out on the Sergeant's order. By all accounts, this could be an easy mission. With good intelligence, a firm location and with the additional air cover and other supporting elements, this could be a highly successful strike against the Uprising. Zaile listens in on the radio chatter while briefly running an affectionate finger across a photo of Elyana in her cockpit. See you soon, Bela Flor.





"Dibs on point?" she requests.
 
Kevin picks up his mecha's Gu-11 gun pod and hefts the rifle in both hands. "You do that, and I'll take up the rear. We can stick our Defenders in the middle, and have them put out a radar bubble around us. We'll get those infantry grunts to their meeting in no time."


With the two APCs tucked into the middle of the Destroid group, everyone begins to move out. Tolson radios the command center to have them deactivate the minefield around the base, and soon everyone is on the road, heading to the rendezvous with the Lieutenant's information source. Through the data link with the Defenders, you can see that the sky is very busy around you, filled with fighters of all kinds, all keeping a close watch on the activity in the jungle around you.


Over the course of the next hour, the squad along with the APCs make their way along the road until you come to the town. It is a fairly typical farming and fishing community, housing several hundred in the central buildings and even more in the outlying homes. Several boats of different sizes are moored along the river, and the streets are busy with the daily lives of its townspeople.


Lt. Moran has her APC pull up alongside one of the streets and has the infantry dismount. Things seem to be going easy on the ground, with the locals coming up to the infantrymen with friendly greetings as the troopers spread out. The Lieutenant gathers up a few of her men with her as she heads to meet with her intel source, leaving the rest of the men out on the street.


Everyone, please give me a Sensory Equipment roll. If you don't have the skill, make a d20 perception roll, please.
 
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Corporal Andrew Bryer

Andrew attempted to ignore Barbara's comment as the mechas moved out of the hanger. He was pretty confused at the interactions between his other squad members and wracked his brain as he moved his Defender towards the center of the group. Apparently some chocolate ended up causing Barbara to say some embarrassing things. Laughter filled the communications channel as they all heard this exchange of words through the mic. Andrew put on a soft smile at this. They were able to be this affable on a mission, even if it is just an escort mission. To say the least, that was pretty impressive in itself, not to mention the fact that he had no doubt that their mecha-handling skills were also on par with their socializing skills.


Then again, I guess they're pretty close from what I saw back in the hanger, he thought as he did one final check on his anti-aircraft autocannons. It was no wonder that they were as friendly as this on missions. They have probably worked together for a while and it wasn't crazy to assume they were really close. Maybe sooner or later I'll even be joining in on this small talk with them. That is, if I'm able to squeeze into that tight little circle of theirs. As they got clear of Anton-17 and its mine field, Andrew's face returned to a serious complexion as he activated his radar.


Looking at what he saw from the pulse-doppler x-band radar, the air was bustling with activity at the moment. Various different aircrafts were in the sky, serving as airborne sentinels that vigilantly watched over the jungle as they moved through it. He quickly sent the data to the other destroids as they continued moving towards their rendezvous point where Lt. Moran would be attending a meeting of some sort.


"Air is full of activity at the moment. Various fighters and other aircraft are watching the area around us," he said into his mic. He returned his attention back to the lush vegetation before them as they continued moving, step by step, the monotonous sound of their movement resonating throughout the relatively quiet jungle.


The next hour had passed by uneventfully and before long, they had finally reached their destination. It was a small fishing town and it seemed relatively peaceful. People were going about their daily business and it didn't seem there was anything wrong here. Just to make sure, he ran a quick check on sensory equipment, his fingers rapidly moving across his array of controls, pushing various buttons and keys.

Sensory Equipment Skill: 46%


[dice]11046[/dice]
 
Deciding the cramped confines of the EWO cockpit needs some color, The Kid, adds some colorful bits to the controls. Couple of stickers here, a bit of string there. People would think that it was random until they saw the big picture, and realize that all the bits are color coded so The Kid could use his fastest sense of sight to trigger on the color instead of the control. One of two things he does add is a lunch box, and a small audio/video device. "Radio Network check? Check, Check, Check"


Starts pushing buttons to make things bleep, beep, and twitter, making sure all things are up and running and squared away. Noting that while he knows what most of this stuff does, he's not quite sure what the bright little dots mean quite yet. But watched the nice green glowie screen with diligence anyway.


[dice]11049[/dice]
 
Corporal Zaile Alencar


Meanwhile, Zaile's keeping her attention away from the village and on the forest. Part of it's practical; someone should and mechs on the ground had a vantage that air support didn't, especially in the jungle. The other part? It's too easy to people watch. Such fascinating creatures, these Micronians, every culture is different. It's so hard not to want to imagine their lives, imagine living among them, experiencing such new things...


[dice]11052[/dice]
 
As Andrew works his controls, you find a brief flicker of a return coming from the river. It fades out, but then, there it is again but in a different spot. A sudden chill goes down your spine as you realize that there is some several things underwater in the river, using it for cover.


Zaile, however, doesn't see anything on her radar with her attention focused on the people of the town. The comings and goings of the people is somewhat off to you. Something seems . . .off. Then, a flicker of movement from one of the buildings across the street from the infantry. You spot a pair of people setting up a crew-served machine gun! The infantry down in the street below will be cut to ribbons!
 
Sergeant Taniya


Earlier...

Epiphany said:
"Dibs on point?" she requests.
Click to expand...
Taniya considers Zaile's request and says, "You and I had point along the road to Anton-17. I want rotation so everyone in the squad knows how to take point and what to do when they run into trouble. Sharp eyes make sharp knives." With that she adds, "Bryer, take point."

Sherwood said:
Kevin picks up his mecha's Gu-11 gun pod and hefts the rifle in both hands. "You do that, and I'll take up the rear. We can stick our Defenders in the middle, and have them put out a radar bubble around us. We'll get those infantry grunts to their meeting in no time."
Click to expand...
"Corporal Renner, I have no taking requests from subordinates. However... leave the leadership to me." Then she adds, "McKinley, take rear. Everyone in this team, regardless of personal mecha choice, needs skilled eyes - and you won't get them if I keep you in the middle."


Now...





If Taniya realizes that Zaile is, once again, distracted, she tosses another reminder her fellow pilot's way. Otherwise, she keeps her squad spread out, guns facing outward from the town both in a show of protection for the human villagers and readiness for lurking enemies. "Again, switch from thermograph or infrared to normal vision from time to time. Keep vigilant, team. Those outside of our steel giants are depending on us with their lives." With that thought comes another. It is time we generate a name for our squad. A name that means something to at least most of us. I will ask the team their opinions when we are not on yellow alert.





With that, Taniya watches...

[dice]11066[/dice]


((Well, that was a lousy roll! Ha ha! =) ))
 
Sadly, the sensors of the Tomahawk are just not as precise as those in the Defender, and Taniya doesn't see anything amiss. Lets see if Barbara and Kevin spot anything:


[dice]11067[/dice]


[dice]11068[/dice]
 
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