Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

[Sherwood]

Spoiler

Kwops , you are there, but you flew out in your Veritech, not as a crew member on the Raven. Other than that, you are good to post.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda looks over her shoulder at Juryrig. "Hey. Come on in. While we are flying back to the MacArthur, lets see if we can't get some kind of clue as to what happened here. Let review the cockpit tapes and the mission logs to see what was going on just before we lost contact with the crew. We have twenty three missing members of our team that I want back."

Using the time they have, she begins with the cockpit tapes, rewinding it back to a time ten minutes before Raven-04 went off the air.

EDIT Amanda also makes sure to upload a full copy of the entire record to the main ship.

 

[Sherwood]

While Amanda uploads the Flight Data, you begin to review the video file. Rewinding back to ten minutes before they went off the air, you see the three man flight crew of the main pilot, copilot, and navigator all at their stations as the Raven flies along. They are pretty focused on the mission, with little in the way of idle chatter. Just before the voice contact was lost, the navigator suddenly leans forward with her attention focused out the side window.

Navigator. "Did you see that?"
Pilot, sounding startled. "What? I don't see anything."
Copilot. "No, I don't see - Wait! A flash of light, right over there, off our starboard side."
Navigator. "Yup. I've been thinking that I'm going crazy, but I swear that there has been something ghosting our course for the past few minutes."
Pilot. "Hm. Nothing on the radar. Are you sure there is something out there?"
Navigator. "Yes, I'm positive!"
Copilot. "I thought I saw it too. Where did it go?"
Pilot. "Still nothing on radar."
Copilot. "It was a flash of movement. I barely saw . . . Wait, is that it?"
Pilot, sounding startled. "I see something, too. It looks like its coming this way -"

The internal cockpit camera shows a bright flash inside that blinds the camera for a moment. When the glare fades away, the cockpit is empty!

This video feed does not show what's going on inside the crew compartment with the radar technicians.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda sits quietly for a moment before saying or doing anything. First off, lets rewind that tape again, and make sure you didn't just imagine it. Taking a moment to watch the disappearance again, she finally looks over at Juryrig. "Did you just see what I saw? Here, check this out. The flight crew spots something visually that doesn't show on radar. The object appears to be following the course of the Raven. Then, they say that they spot it approaching them, then poof! All three of them vanish with a bright flash of light! What the hell?" She runs the cockpit tapes fast forward for a while, looking for any other odd occurrences.

If there is nothing (which I don't expect to see anything), we'll switch to the cameras in the electronics bay to see what happened in there.

 

[Sherwood]

Kwops and Orikanyo What are you guys doing during all of this?

 

[Orikanyo]

grumpy keeps a look out, given the fact he doesn't need to guide the Raven much anymore he returned to fighter mdoe to keep up manuverability and watch his radars.

 

[Sherwood]

The video in the electronics bay is nearly identical to what happened in the cockpit. You can see the radar technicians working at their stations, having the occasional comment between one another. Then suddenly, a bright flash of light blinds the camera, and when it clears, everyone is gone.

From his position out in Grumpy's mecha, Alex is busy relaying data back and forth between the squad and the MacArthur. As everyone gets closer, you are all ordered to come to a stop a distance from the Mac where a team of medical and technical experts meet you in another shuttle. They dock on the opposite side airlock, and when they come over, they are packing the very latest in analyzing gear. They start to go over the Raven inch by inch, and Juryrig and Scorch are taken back to the other shuttle for decontamination. The scientists around you are quite happy to learn that you did not unfasten your helmet, potentially exposing you to God only knows what kind of pathogens that might have been released inside the Raven. That fact saves you from many long and painful tests while you are in quarantine. Lucky you.

After getting the ok to be released, the team flies back to the hangar bay where word of your discovery has already reached all parts of the ship, and your after mission briefing is all about the ghost ship.

 

[Psychie]

Once the briefing is over, Amanda slumps up against the wall. "Damn, this is just . . . weird. I was expecting to find signs of Zentraedi attacking the ship, or maybe the Invid. But this? From what we've heard of these Invid, they can't do this, and we know that the Zens don't have the tech to pull this off. Its like some twisted episode of the Twilight Zone or something. A ghost ship? What the hell?"

 

[Kwops]

Juryrig shakes his head, staring at the ground. "I ... what the hell was that? Some kind of localized teleportation? Feels like Agent Mulder is going to step out from around a corner and grill me for information any second now." He puts his head in his hands. "God I hate things I don't understand."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Shame your being given a pass on further medical Scorch, kinda want to see yea cry from a needle." Grumpy smirked. "But its true... This is really freaky..."

 

[Psychie]

She gives Grumpy a dirty look. "Heh heh heh. You are soooo funny. I don't cry from needles. I cry when dealing with stupid people, which is why I tear up whenever you are around. Teleportation would work for what happened, but that is a level of technology that nobody has, not even the Invid. Perhaps after the tech people examine the Raven they will come up with some answers. Until then, I guess we are back to business as usual. We run our patrols, keep working on our various special projects, and wait for answers from above." Amanda doesn't look happy with the thought.

 

[Sherwood]

Over the next several days, the techs pour over every inch of the Raven, and every single frame of digital tape, trying to come up with some answers as to just what the heck happened to those twenty three souls. So far, there is little in the way of answers coming out, and it is starting to spook some people. Rumors are flying about the fleet, trying to put an answer to the mystery.

On the plus side, the first set of shield generators have been rolled off the construction line, and they are going over to the Lenin for installation for a test run. This ship is now equipped with six of these Pinpoint Barrier Generators, each one is controlled by a individual operator using a track ball to guide the shield across the hull. Each one has their own area to protect, with the bridge tower, engines and launch bays being the three highest priority targets to cover. If the tests are successful, more ships will have the Barriers installed on them. The plan is to use missiles launched from a group of fighters to test the maneuverability and level of shielding provided.

In order to give Grumpy his due credit, the Storm Dragons will be the squad firing pot shots at the flagship of the 3rd AED, and Grumpy will be the one to fire the first salvo. For this test, you have a mix of missiles loaded onto your wings, with five short, three medium, two long and a set of fifteen minis. You will end up firing the whole bunch at the Lenin for the test.

Are you ready to fire upon your own flagship? No pressure!

 

[Psychie]

"Wait a minute. Grumpy gets to fire live missiles at the flagship of the squadron? Oh dear. I'm sure that absolutely nothing will go wrong with that! Who's bright idea was this?" Amanda gives her fellow pilot a playful grin. "Coolness. Do we all get to try our hand at this, or is it just Grumpy that has that honor?"

 

[Sherwood]

The briefing officer looks over at Amanda. "Depending on how well the first round of testing goes, you might also be asked to test fire some ordnance at the shields. We need to use live missiles and beam weapons to make sure that when it really matters, this new technology will do the trick."

 

[Psychie]

She nods, then goes to plan on what missiles she should load. Nothing too powerful, but tough enough to really test these new shields. With that in mind, she sends her directives to the flight deck. This is going to be fun!

Spoiler: Missile Load

4 Proton Torpedoes
6 Medium Plasma
46 Short HEAP
8 Mini Fragmentation

 

[Epiphany]

"An excellent opportunity and one we are happy to undertake."

With that observation, Chen makes her entry into the briefing room and beams fondly at her Storm Dragons. The Lieutenant has been off-ship for the past week or so, owing to an unprecedented opportunity to participate in the integration of the Rhabwar into the UEEF fleet. Given her recent fluency in Zentraedi, as well as being the first human face the crew ever met, Chen had spent her time learning and applying the kind of diplomatic skills rarely employed by junior officers.

Still, she looks happy to be back in her flight uniform and with her squad. "Very good work, all of you," she says as she joins the gathered pilots. "From shield generators to winning the respect of the Garudians and the Praxians, you've all been very busy. To good ends. Our new allies have much to share with us and each of us knows how we contributed to this historic encounter. Also, very good work investigating that Raven! We are well on our way to being a sought after squadron, exactly as I would wish."

After selecting her own missile loadout, Chen glances over at Grumpy and gives him a bemused smile. "Well, Lieutenant, care to lead us to our ships and our assignment?"

 

[Orikanyo]

Grumpy was worried, oh shit he was damn well worried. What if he made a misscalculation? What if he fudged up a number? What if he forgot to tell somebody about a thing and it was forgotten!? What if he was going to be fucked over by lady luck!?

Ah shit, well it wasn't everyday you get to fire missiles to fire missiles at your own commanders...

"Well... if you have that much trust in it I guess it couldn't hurt getting a field test..." he kinda wished they had a better way than fireing live ordinance at themselves... God they were gonna look SO wierd to the alien ships... Hopefully everyone is briefed on this cause the last thing they needed was being attacked by somebody thinking their turn coating. he wasnervous as all hell, the man whipped a bead of sweat of his brow as the world was currently looking down upon his idea.

he hoped to whatever god was watchingthis would work...

"Alright... Lets.... Go... Fire on the lenin?" grumpy questioned, feeling odd about the whole thing still. "...I'll keep recordings on so folks can see what it's like on the outside... Maybe this will all go well?"

 

[Sherwood]

You are reassured by the fact that the Command Cruiser has plenty of regular armor, so if something goes wrong, it will not cause critical damage to the ship; just make a few dents and scars. Another plus is that you are not going to be firing all of your missiles at once. Just a few at a time to give the shields a test facing real damage.

Out in open space, eyes are on the Storm Dragons as you fly over and come to a stop roughly three miles out from the Lenin. Grumpy gets a signal direct from Admiral Kutzuzov. In his thick Russian accent, he says, "Lieutenant, for the record, I am personally authorizing this test run, so if things do happen to go bad, you are not going to be held responsible. All stations, report readiness for the test run."

"Shield Control here. All power readings are in the green, everything we have is telling us that all systems are ready to proceed. Lieutenant, begin with the Short Range missiles, all five at once aimed at the central hull. You are cleared to fire."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Understood Admiral, know that it ain't my peers I'm worried about. We are, in the end, our own greatest critics." grumpy let out a long sigh, bracing himself. He put his hand on the arming triggers, gazeing at the ship as he drew up his targets. "Missiles armed, target locked onto central hull, lets make history fellahs." grumpy held a breath as he held a finge rover the trigger... his hand momentarily shakeing, hsi mind raceing through a thousand thoughts a second.

"...Ah fuck it." he let the 5 small missiles out flying forwards from his mecha.

 

[Sherwood]

The missiles launch out flawlessly, and they track on the side of the Lenin. Before they can hit the hull, a glowing disk fifty feet across slides across the hull to interpose itself. The warheads explode as they hit the energy barrier, and seemingly do no damage! It looks like the shield worked!

From the Shield Control room comes a report, "The barrier lost power as expected, dropping by 27% from the impact. Energy levels are stabilizing, and are going back up. Lieutenant, give the barrier another test, this time, use your trio of medium range warheads. We are standing by. Fire when ready."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda can't help but cringe as she watches the missiles home in on their target, just to be amazed when they explode and seem to do no damage at all! "Hot damn! Grumpy, you ol' stubborn cat! You did it! Great work, bud!"

 

[Sherwood]

Everyone, please give me a Perception roll of a d20 with whatever bonuses you may have.

 

[Psychie]

Rolling Perception.

 

[Orikanyo]

"Alright! Readying the medium missiles." Grumpy felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, no damage at all. But still, 27% from that meant they still had some work to do...

"Readying next round, fire!"

 

[Epiphany]

"Remarkable!" Lightning breathes as she watches the display. "I've seen the old film clips but never thought-"

Getting her composure back, she grins again and says over the squad radio, "Great find, Grumpy."

(Roll 13 + Perception +5 = 18?)