Robotech - Tales of the RDF

Sergeant Taniya


"Copy, Tolson. Copy, Renner," she answers Barbara and Kevin. Taniya keeps close to her earpiece as Lt. Moran delivers her orders. She replies, "Aye, ma'am. How is your shoulder? Would you like my new doctor to have a look? Best now while the wound is fresh." Then she addresses her team. "Squadron, we move in ten minutes. Be punctual and ready for action."


Taniya responds to The Kid , "Read you loud and clear, corporal. Take whatever you like from the enemy, just remember the RDF know these common machines quite well. Still, it never hurts to claim a trophy..."


Then the Zentraedi ace contacts Connor over the squad-channel to continue their conversation. "McKinley... Raccoons are scavengers, if I recall correctly? What makes a red panda 'better' than a scavenger? Why do you admire them?" She muses with a grin. "Ahh... Perhaps they are savage, fierce combatants feared by the other wildlife?" Her tone is hopeful. If this red panda were something that would unsettle their opponents and provide respect among their fellow RDF members... yes... that would be an image her team could proudly display on their mecha. They, the first-ever Zentraedi-led RDF team in history... Just how would history remember them?


When the squad is ready to move, Taniya gives the order and sets her Tomahawk in motion.
 
Corporal Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


Eadric loads himself and his bag into his assigned backseat, nodding distractedly to the mech's pilot. He's been listening to the red panda discussion and considering how to best contribute to it, as becomes apparent when he speaks up over the squad channel. "Actually, I think the latest evolutionary research placed them in their own family, separate from raccoons and bears, but in the same superfamily as raccoons, and also weasels, badgers, and skunks. I don't recall them being especially fierce, but they are omnivorous, and known to eat small birds, though their usual diet is primarily bamboo. Being as they prefer arboreal habitats, they do have strong, sharp claws, and interestingly, are one of the few species that can control their descent when climbing down face-first, by rotating their ankles." He does sound as though he finds that interesting. "They're also rather rare, or were before the bombardment...um." He sighs. "I don't know if there would be any left now. Possibly in whatever's left of China."
 
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"Well, no, not exactly." Connor began before Eadric cut in. Listening patiently, he learned something about those creatures he hadn't known of before, or forgot to mention. It was a little sad that they may be extinct, however. But once that was all done, he says "I'll show you a picture of one when we get back to Anton. Then you'll know why I say they're like raccoons, though apparently they aren't." He wondered how the Sergeant would react to seeing a red panda. Hopefully she wouldn't do something that wouldn't make him regret bringing up red pandas in the first place.
 
Sergeant Taniya


"A photograph or picture is insufficient," the Zentraedi sergeant thinks aloud over the squad channel. "I am far more curious about the effect it will have, say, if we paint images of it upon our mecha. I am willing to consider anything that might give us an edge on our enemies or make our squad proud as a whole. Nothing weak and certainly nothing cowardly." As she waits for the lieutenant's order to move, Taniya adds, "Again, McKinley, why this fascination in this creature? You have displayed remarkable human pride. Certainly this red panda has emboldened itself upon you in some noble way?" She sounds hopeful again as if desiring to hear savage stories like those told of badgers, wolverines, and weasels. Which one was the skunk?


"Braidwood, do continue with your line of thinking. Do you accept this creature as our squadron..." what was the word... "'totem? And what about the rest of you?"


To her irritation and for the life of her, she could not remember which realm went by the name, "China."
 
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Barbara giggles. "Sure. Pandas are cute, especially the red pandas.when we get back to Anton-17, I'll do a net search for some good pictures that we can use as nose art." Kevin says nothing about the choice, he just snorts and shakes his head.


The trip back to the base is relatively quick and uneventful. As the mecha are guided into their repair cradles, techs jump into action to top of the ammo supply and spot weld replacement armor plates over the damaged areas. As this is going on, the squad is ordered to go to the briefing room where the base XO, Capitan Marx, is waiting.
 
Corporal Zaile Alencar


Grinning like a madwoman, Zaile returns Barbara's thumbs up at their successful mission to uncover the enemy location. "T'sen-mot!" she yells sharply into the return transmission and slams the receiver down, breaking the signal. "They'll probably think I'm throwing a temper tantrum," she adds to the communications specialist. "Let's move it!"


Return to the Sergeant, she awaits orders but is ready to move out on a moment's notice. Her mech took the heaviest hit during this action and the need to repair it makes her grimace but it's more out of barely controlled eagerness than actual irritation. The Imperative in every Zentraedi drives them to action and for Zaile, the need to find their enemy and crush them makes it difficult to think about anything else.


Once she's given the signal, she's back in her mech in a flash, ready to make haste!


Upon return to the docking bay, Zaile is only too glad to turn over her poor wounded mech for some much needed love and care. Meanwhile, she forms up with Taniya and heads to the briefing when her superior tells her to. The blue-haired woman is practically bouncing on her heels with glee, though, at how well everything went. Even if the reason they'd gone to the village had taken a nose-dive...
 
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Captain Marx is a friendly fellow, always willing to open his door top talk about whatever is on your mind. A former pilot, he brings his knowledge of air operations to the command staff of Anton-17.


He is currently in a briefing room, looking over some photos. Glancing up as you come in, he nods at you all. "Good job out there, getting ahold of that radio. While I would normally be first in line to buy you all a beer, we are under a bit of a deadline. The Malcontents are undoubtedly getting ready to move, and we need so some heavy firepower on site ASAP. In order to get you out to the target site fast enough, your mecha are going to be loaded onto several Tunny transports and you will be air dropped a few miles away by parachute." He looks over at Taniya. "Once your team is on the ground, there are two Monsters and a Phalanx missile carrier tasked to provide artillery support. Before you drop, you will be provided with the codes needed to call in a strike. Just make sure that there is still a target there before you blast the valley to bits."


Kevin leans forward. "Sir, what is the policy on taking prisoners? Do we shoot to kill?"


The captain frowns. "Obviously, do what you must to come out of this encounter alive and in one piece. That being said, if any hostile forces do surrender, we are not a bunch of murderers, and they will be taken into custody. Am I absolutely clear on that point?" He takes a deep breath before continuing. "Sergeant, if things go completely tits up and you have to pull out, do not hesitate to call in some air support and artillery to plaster the area. Your lives are my priority. The Malcontents can wait."
 
Sergeant Taniya


Prisoners... Taniya's eyes closed at the thought. It was not in her nature to capture; it was in her nature to kill. The concept of taking prisoners had been a strange one when her Zentraedi commanders ordered it of her years ago; it was not any less strange now. The Invid had never taken prisoners that she knew of; they, like her masters, wished only the death of their enemies and protoculture as far as she knew. Still, her iron-clad sense of duty propelled her to do what was asked. Odd though, she thought, that Renner would be the one asking about it. She thought with his past that he would be the last to want to take a Malcontent alive.


When Captain Marx provided his orders, Taniya replied with a sharp nod, "Your will, captain. We will kill but not murder. We shall take prisoners should the situation arise."


Taniya waited with all of the patient stillness of a marble statue for whatever else the captain wished to express.
 
Barbara looks a bit pale. "An air drop? I signed up to be a ground operator so I could avoid air action. Do we have to? Isn't there any other options to get us there quickly?"


Captain Marx looks sympathetic. "Sorry, but the need to get you on site is the priority here, not trying to accommodate your phobias. You are a soldier; suck it up and move on. You won't be in the air for long, and if anything goes wrong, you'll be well planted in your own piece of real estate, so you have no worries. Any other questions? We are running out of time to get you in the air."
 
Just kinda stands there, and watches, as a whole bunch of people do his job for him.


"Well this is kinda interesting."


Goes back to work on stripping down the enemy mecha. Listening carefully for the order to mount up at the same time.
 
Corporal Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


Eadric pats Barbara's shoulder reassuringly. "An air drop isn't really air action, unless something goes really wrong. Just focus doing your job, and let the sergeant handle the flying." He shifts the bag hanging from his shoulder, wishing he could restock the supplies he'd used out at the village. Then again, in mech combat, they shouldn't need a medic...one way or another.
 
Barbara gives Eadric a sick smile. "Um, yeah, I guess so. Just do my job. That's all I have to worry about." It is clear that the young woman has quite a fear of flying, and is doing her best to keep her composure at the thought of the deployment over the drop zone by heavy air transport.
 
Zaile Alencar


"An air drop?!?"


The excited squeeing is audible through most of the room and the blue-haired Zentraedi actually bounces on her heels, an immense smile on her face. Stopping herself at last, the corporal looks around at the faces of her squad and shrugs. "What? I like flying. And I miss my Queadluun-Rau. Mostly. For the flying anyway. My Tomahawk, though, she's such a beauty, I wouldn't trade her in for anything!"


Another flash of a smile and Zaile says "It'll be nice to fly again, though."


Barbara's reaction elicits a look of confusion. Incomprehension actually. Confusion's when you can't tell if something is one thing or another. Incomprehension in this case is when you think you know what the one thing is, it just doesn't make any sense. Her own wife didn't have any inexplicable fight-or-flight responses to ordinary situations. Was Barbara defective in some way? With a somewhat weak smile, Zaile at last nods and pats Barbara on the shoulder as Eadric did, taking her cues from the team's medic and field scientist. "You're not alone, you've got us!" she adds, mindful that Micronians especially seemed to fear isolation.


The order to take prisoners didn't even make her blink. It didn't make much sense either but it was an order and following orders always made perfect sense.
 
Sergeant Taniya


Wonderful, Taniya brooded silently with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. The one thing I dream to return to is this Micronian's nightmare... Did someone evaluate me and put Tolson into this mix as test? I would walk my Tomahawk off of a cliff if it meant piloting a mecha, Micronian or otherwise, that restored me to the skies, and better yet - the stars...





"I agree with you, Zaile. It will be nice to be airborne again even if someone else is at the controls."


Taniya looked to her communications specialist. She tried in her tone to show concern to the Micronian, but had no idea how successful she was at it, "Tolson, will you require a sedative during the drop?"
 
Barbara shakes her head. "No ma'am. I should be ok, so long as I can focus on something to keep me occupied. Besides, we won't be airborne for long, will we? Its not like it will take a long time for the mecha to fall from their drop height. I'm sorry, but I just have this thing about flying. It scares the living daylights out of me."


Capt. Marx looks sympathetic. "Consider this the best kind of therapy, and all for free. Face your fears and overcome them." He glances at his watch. "Your mecha are probably already loaded on the transports, two per aircraft. Get going to find which bird has your ride in it, and good hunting."


True to his word, the last of the destroids are being rolled on pallets into the massive cargo space of the Tunnys. You can see the messy work slapping repairs over the damaged parts, but at least you are all at full armor, and the little bit of ammo expended has been replaced. Everything is all set to go.


The loadmasters of the aircraft are very particular as to the placement of the destroids in the hold, and they tell you quite emphatically not to try and move until you are deployed. Any shift of weight can cause the whole transport to go down, and nobody wants that. Getting into your mecha is a little different than usual, with the massive units strapped down and lying on their backs. In Taniya's Tomahawk, Tolson is still quite pale, but she is doing her best to focus on the system checks of the mecha and not to think about getting off the ground. From his cockpit, Kevin is not a help as he makes the movie quote from Aliens, "An express elevator ride to Hell! Going down! Whoo, I love the Corps!"


One by one, the massive aircraft taxi down the improvised runway that has been cleared away from the jungle of Brazil. In short order, the squad is now airborne, heading off into the mix once more. From her seat behind Taniya, Tolson says, "We have radio frequencies and codes for two Monsters, code name Thor's Hammer and Odin's Fist, and a Phalanx that goes by the callsign ---- good grief. Cheese Weasel? Really? What kind of damaged mind came up with that as a handle? All three are tasked to provide us with their undivided attention to shower the bad guys with steel rain at your command. If that proves to be insufficient, we have fixed wing aircraft and Veritechs in the area that we can call on for additional support. If this turns out to be the headquarters we hope it is, we'll need all the firepower on site we can get."


It is a relatively short flight over the jungle of South America, but without any windows to show you where you are, you have to take the word of the flight crew to know when it is time for you to deploy.

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Everyone at the controls, please give me some Pilot Destroid rolls to make sure you are able to land successfully.
 
Sergeant Taniya


"Something to keep you occupied, hmm?" Taniya's solution takes only a moment to come to mind. "Tolson, find me all factual data you can mine on the following subject:"


Taniya grins. "Red pandas."
 
+With a sharp jerk of her head, Barbara nods. "Red pandas. Red pandas. Red Pandas. I can do that. All the information that you ever wanted to know about the red panda and were too afraid to ask." Her fingers race over the keys of her terminal. She begins to rattle off data about the small creature, including the suspected numbers of red pandas left in the wild, their favored habitat, what they eat, and was prepared to go on with even more information when the flight crew calls in. "Tomahawk one, prepare for drop. We will be over the target zone in sixty seconds. Open the rear doors." In a more conversational tone of voice, the loadmaster goes on to say, "Don't stress about this; we've done drops like this dozens of times. Just never a set of Destroids into a hot zone, but hey! You can't duplicate everything in training Am I right or am I right? Thirty seconds out. Stand by."


Barbara lets out a little squeak and tightens her straps. "Copy that, Corporal. We are read to drop."


The seconds tick by, seeming to take forever. Finally, the loadmaster gives the five second warning, and there is a violent jerk as the drogue parachute pulls the first mecha out of the cavernous cargo bay. A few seconds go by, and the second mecha is yanked out, and the aircraft crew radio's, "We are clear and free to navigate. Good luck and good hunting."


Even with the parachutes to break the fall, you are all dropping very quickly. Taniya manages to keep control of her mecha well enough to land on its feet, along with Eadric. Zaile, however, is not so graceful. Her rig slams into a tree and the whole shebang tumbles, tangling up the 'chute rigging all around the mecha and rattling Zaile's teeth in their sockets. Fortunately, you were strapped in and that kept you from getting seriously hurt. Other than your ego; that has taken a serious blow.
 
Sergeant Taniya


Taniya asks those in Zaile's machine if they are injured. Assuming that they reply that they are all right, Taniya cannot help but add the following remarks to her long-time comrade-in-arms...


"Well done, dear Zaile, well done." Taniya teases over the squad channel. The grin on her face is joined by the sound of slow "golf-clapping." "Such an elegant display surely provides an excellent example of the fighting grace of Meltrandi everywhere, one that our Micronian friends can proudly put down both in today's and their history books to follow. Surely our Malcontent enemies tremble to their bones at such a show." There is a chuckle followed by, "Renner, Braidwood, be gentleman and kindly use those Spartans' hands to free Zaile's Tomahawk, won't you?"


Taniya's mirth conceals her relief that Zaile appears unharmed. Another thought strikes her - she is glad she had Tolson ride with her again. Had she been in Zaile's backseat just now, they might not be able to get her along into another airdrop for as long as the communications specialist lives...


Still, Taniya well-knows that next time it might be her, but it does not bother her - for Taniya would handle even a squad-wide display of teasing ridicule with as much humor as she could muster. And besides all this... Taniya is utterly convinced Zaile's misfortune would have never happened in a Queadluun-Rau. These hulking brutes of mecha were just that - graceless hulks. Taniya could not help but glance at the sky while she ordered the rest of her team into a defensive formation while Renner and Braidwood assisted Zaile with the mess.


"Tolson? May I presume the distraction I recommended was successful enough for you? Please provide the information you found - perhaps today we call ourselves something beyond our unit designation - something... that will cause the readers of the aforementioned history books to read about us with pride..."

Begin at the 01:55 mark? =)


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoCTmsfgb60[/media]
 
Corporal Eadric Braidwood, Field Scientist


"Certainly! Hands are one of the main reasons I chose a Spartan. Nice to see that choice justified so early in our partnership." Eadric cheerfully helps untangle the parachute rigging from around Zaile's mecha. "Bit of bad luck there, but it could've happened to any of us."
 
In addition to the mishap that caused Zaile to tumble, so did Connor in his Defender. This can lead to many jokes as to how she is 'just as good as a human', and will probably end up with someone getting treated for multiple broken bones by Zaile's wife.


Once everyone has gotten free from the heavy cables and lines that held up your parachutes, you are once more on the way.
 
"Human kind was never meant to fly." Connor said, a white knuckled grip on the controles. Strapped into his seat, with all the fancy harnasses done up, he braced for the sudden tug of the chute, but still wasn't ready for it. Hos head jerked forward, and slammed into his control panel. Luckily, his helmet protected him from anything harmful. And down he went, shaken by the winds and praying that he would just land safely. Which he did, though on his side, chute a hopeless tangle around him, and him praying to every god he knew of.
 
Moving through the jungle, it is a short trip towards the coordinates that Tolson and Zaile came up with. The first signs of trouble is the mecha footprints in the mud and dirt, along with the camouflage netting strung across the paths ahead of you. By this point, Connor can also tell that there is strips of metal in the netting and trees that surround the valley, making all attempts at electronic detection difficult at best.


But what he can detect with his advanced sensor suite is what appears to be a large base dug into the hills. You do not have a accurate count from all of the interference, but you have a reading that indicates several dozen mecha down in the valley below.


Keith crouched down behind a tree. "Sarge, while I consider myself to be a strong fighter, even I will have some trouble with that many targets, and this doesn't even count the heavy infantry with rockets. I recommend we let the artillery plaster this valley and we can then take out the leftovers."


Now that she is once more on the ground, Barbara is back in her element as communication support. "Ma'am, before we do that, we should try to advance, even on foot, to get an accurate count of the targets. Then we can smash it flat and take care of the survivors."
 
"Bad shit this way comes." Connor mumbled, not exactly quoting Shakespear. He didn't like how the netting screwed with his sensors, those were his bread and butter, being mostly used as an aa unit. But he was half blind because of the metal. Odd how a little piece of metal can cause such a huge problem. Probably a good idea to have loaded the flak rounds. Thanks to the low visibility, he'd rather have a shotgun then a sniper rifle. And the others could handle any mechs, while he made any infantry a bloody mess on the ground.
 
Don't forget you can have both kinds of bullets loaded in your mecha; you just need to spend an action to switch from one kind to another. You do have a total of 75 bursts per arm so you can have 50 sabot and 25 air burst, or any combination in between you like.
 
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