Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

[Orikanyo]

"You could take her away and she'll just find her way back in, don't worry about it to much..." the man waved it off before giving Enri a good pat on the head. "Besides, shes careful, wont even notice shes here." He smirked abit, before clueing in. "Oh yea, can't say I've met your mom yet... Save for back on the ship where she pulled you away the first time." He could... actually feel a pair of eyes on him at the moment...

"...Anybody feel like their in danger?" He looked towards the glass door into the lab and saw a rather fierce looking Garudian female, looking directly at him and the little fox. "Oh! Hi mom!" Enri waved happily, rushing over to the door. As Grumpy glanced towards Maria with a shrug, who only returned it.

 

[Sherwood]

Over the next two weeks, everyone is surprised to learn that your Valkyrie fighters are getting pulled off the flight line for some upgrades. First up, Grumpy gets an improved radar some on his bird, with a greatly improved sensor range of 1,000 miles, and a small internal missile bay holding eight short range missiles. When added to the ones mounted on the arms of the Super Veritech variant, it adds a total of fourteen short range missiles to your wing hard points. Not nearly the same amount as the forty six carried by the standard Super Valkyrie, but it does help.

Next change is the fact that your fighter are being upgraded with the new Shadow Stealth System, making them invisible to the Invid and their Protoculture detectors, along with all known radar. This will give you all an edge in combat and reconnaissance over both the inbox and any hostile Zentraedi you run into.

Finally, to reflect the Shadow tech in your birds, you have a snazzy new grey and black paint job. Looks pretty sweet.

Onboard the Atlas, more Shadow fighters are being built up, mostly to replace the Alpha and Beta fighters currently in service. Your squadron got the special treatment with your Valkyries due to your famous standing and top rate reputation. It will be some time before the bulk of the Veritech force out here can be replaced with the Shadow Fighters, but it is a change that is on the way.

There is even word of a armor pack for the Beta Fighter similar in design to the Super Valkyrie, but instead of adding more missiles, it will carry a stunning new energy weapon the likes of which has never been seen before. In addition, the new Shadow Fighters have a solution to the problem of the Invid force fields. A new type if gun pod is being developed called a Destabilizer, designed to punch holes in the shields of the Dome Hives to allow ground and air assault forces to get inside the shield.

These new weapons are set to be deployed in the field for the first time on the planet Paraxis, and the fleet is in route to their home system to begin the liberation.

 

[Orikanyo]

Grumpy stared at the new paint job being shown on his PDA and couldn't help but feel abit... Well.. yea know... Like it was playing up the whole shadow part of the equation. "Sure... it's thematic and stuff... can't say it's a bad job... But seems a tad bit on the nose." he was far from an art student, but he felt it had to be said atleast. Though they current were the envy of most squadrons... Sleek black paint jobs does make things look cooler.

Just like how everyone thought the black ranger was cool.

Or how red paint jobs and fire decals make the car go faster.

Proven science in that, or so says Rotschek with his toy ships. Juno didin't care in the slightest, but the improved guns were cool, plus hearing they were going back home to free their people was more than enough to get her pumped.

Enri was increasingly busy with her mother the last little while, Grumpy figured out, by nature of how she, and him, got rather yelled at for the better part of an hour by her mother about the Hin, hwo she shouldn't use it willy nilly and how Grumpy seemed to have a blatant disregard when it came to child safety. he tried to argue everything was, indeed, safe, but it seemed Garudan and human mothers tend to not accept any possible weaseling out of trouble when the gloves are off.

Maria wasn't much of help, quote "Shes the scariest garudian I've seen!" end quote.

Regardless, the hin was soemthing to learn about later, it seemed to be a biological thing... or.. maybe magic? The way Enri's mother, who's name he learned was Scha'leade, explained it it was close enough. Highly important, part of the whole growing up part of life. All in all, figures the cat/fox people could teleport, cats can do that normally anyways, so why not them?

Stealth tech, improved radar, teleporting foxes, a new assistant, ringing ear drums from being yelled at, grumpy's few days have indeed been eventful...

"...Should we be called the shadow dragons now? Or Shadow Storm Dragons? Starting to sound really anime but... Still.. Its kinda cool.. Plus gotta just plain accept the cheesyness sometimes yea know?" Grumpy commented as he sat in his chair in the meeting area.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda has mixed feelings about the upgrades to her fighter and to the ships of the fleet. On one hand, as a soldier, she is willing to do whatever and use whatever technology and tactics needed to win the fight. On the other hand, most of it comes from their new alliance with the Haydonites, and it wasa bitter pill to swallow as she remembers the lives needlessly lost by the 'test' the Haydonites put them through. I guess it's just time to suck it up and soldier on.

Still, the changes being made were impressive. The new Shimakaze-class battle cruiser is being built around the biggest gun ever built in a star ship since the SDF-1 and it's Reflex Cannons. Like the old A-10 Warthog from the late twentieth century, it promises to be a real killer. Plus, the radar dome on Grumpy's Valkyrie will give them even better eyes on target than ever before.

Speaking of the radar, things between Amanda and Alex have been a bit chaotic, with neither one seeming to know what to do with the other. She tries to keep herself busy and not to think about that kiss, but it is hard to put it out of her mind. Was it a mistake to kiss him? Should I make another move? Does he even like me like that? With my luck, he's already gota person I'm mind and it's not me. Fuck. What the he'll do i do now?

Then word comes down from above that there will be a full scale invasion of the Paraxian home world. This could be harry, but it's whatI was trained for. Time to do that awesome pilot stuff I do so well.

 

[Orikanyo]

Grumpy looked up from his PDA and looked towards Amanda. "...So... heard from a certain fox you are attempting to... Uhh.. how did Enri state it..? You and Alex are going to be mating soon? Congrats, would've figured you a second date kinda girl though, what sped up the process?" Grumpy looked like a cat who caught a mouse in it's paws, playing and batting at it with a grin of purest evil.

"Figured you were into older men."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda slowly turns her head to look Grumpy in the eyes. As she glares at him, she says, "You. Are a very mean man. And I don't think I want to talk to you right now." With that, she gets up from her seat and walks out, doing her best to keep from grinding her teeth loud enough to be heard by her squad members. Note to self. Kill that kid.

 

[Epiphany]

Meanwhile, while her Valkyrie is being refitted, Chen spends most of her time reading up on the new schematics and doing all she can to master the changes in advance. As Squad Leader, it falls to her to set the best example after all. And as Squad Leader, once they're deployed she'll be far too busy watching after her squad to master the mecha the way she might otherwise have.

A bit of time is also spent on learning about Paraxis, the geography, major cities, and what they're likely to encounter there. Mostly by interviewing any members of the race on board that are handy. Chen has no idea what kind of recon they'll be getting going in so forewarned is forearmed!

And of course, smooching a certain Zentraedi is on her priority list. Duties permitting.

 

[Sherwood]

The fleet is moving forward with plans to liberate the world of Paraxis. In order to help with that, the first graduating class of new pilots are now being integrated into the rest of the fleet. In fact, Lt. Tseng discovers that the Storm Dragons are going to be host to one of the new Garudan pilots, a combat medic and Valkyrie pilot named (to be determined by P pushed soon). Since the Storm Dragons is one of the first squadrons to be equipped with the new Shadow Stealth System, you will be doing a lot of forward scouting and will be making efforts to get in touch with any local partisan troops to help coordinate any efforts to hit the Invid where it counts.

 

[Sherwood]

As a new arrival on the MacArthur, Lieutenant Leela Greeten makes her way through the ship to report into the ship's CAG, Commander Holston along with several other new additions to the UEEF. Walking through the Command Cruiser, you are amazed at just how large the vessel is, and how many people there are onboard.

You and the others are shown to a briefing room where you are met by the Commander and the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Romanov. She gives a welcoming speech to the assembled pilots, and assures you that as members of the flight crew, you are a part of the MacArthur's extended family, and everyone onboard watches out for each other. She wraps up her talk by introducing Commander Holston, and at this point she makes her exit to return to the bridge.

With the Captain gone, the Commander then begins to give out the various squadron assignments with a few words for everyone. When he gets to you, he says, "Lt. Greeten, with your scores and your affinity for the Valkyrie fighter, I'm placing you with one of our veteran squads, the Storm Dragons. You'll be the fourth pilot to the squad. Look up your squad leader, Lt. Chen Tseng, and she'll get you set up and introduce you to the rest of your team. Welcome aboard."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda is relaxing with a good book when she gets word that there is a new bunch of recruits on board, and that the various squadrons are going to be adding on the newbies, fresh out of training on the Atlas. Out of curiosity, she takes her tablet to check out the squadron roster, and is pleasantly surprised to see that they are getting a new pilot added in, and even better, she's a Garudan. Remember, do NOT try to pet the cute little alien. That is not how to make a good first impression. With that thought, she puts her tablet away in its pocket and heads for the squadron common area to be ready to meet their new team member.

 

[Orikanyo]

"I'm just saying maybe keeping chocolate in your desk is a bad idea." Marie spoke up again, her voice ringing out from the datapad. "It's crucial to keep a source of energy nearby should we be working late. Can't always stop for food when we're on a roll." Grumpy countered, frowning down at the small screen showing his assistant, who was currently peeling away a wrapper from one of his stash... "it's not sanitary." "Hypocrite, I hear that wrapper." "What wrapper? it's... Umm... Just.. plastic."

She didn't even try to hide her plopping abit of chocolate in her mouth.

Theif.

"Did they send you to research or to steal from me?" the man looked more grumpy than usual, though the face on the other end seem to beam with contentment. He stayed in the common room for now, but it took most of his will power to not trudge over to his desk and steal back his stash...

 

[pushed]

Leela blinked at the commander as his eyes landed on her with intention. She unintentionally squared her shoulders in response and lifted her chin in response. At his compliment of her skills, she felt her face flush slightly but attempted to cover her embarrassment. After all, she would soon be apart of her own squadron of allies. Aliens to her. But when it came to taking down the Invid once and for all- she would not hesitate for a second. She saluted him and gave him a gruff affirmation that she understood her new orders before turning to leave the room.

Once she stepped out of the room, Leela soon realized she had no idea where she was going. She adjusted her breathing apparatus nervously as she looked in both directions. Her ear twitched as movement and sounds echoed from around the corner. Not wanting to appear lost or confused, she headed the opposite direction in hopes of seeing a familiar face. She silently cursed herself for not asking the commander when she had the chance.

 

[Sherwood]

As Leela walks about, feeling lost, you come across a human male, wearing a pilot's flight patch on his shoulder, showing that he's a part of the MacArthur's Veritech forces. A fellow lieutenant, he is wearing a name tag that says KILGORE on it. He glances over at you with a smile and a wave. "Hey there. I may be completely off my read of you, but you have the look of someone whose lost. Can I be of assistance to you? Help you navigate your way around this tub of a ship? I'm Alex, by the way."

 

[pushed]

Leela perked up when a male's hand caught her eye with a wave. Her eyes scanned the figure quickly taking note of the flight patch and name tag. She relaxed slightly as his warm voice rang out in the mostly empty hallway. "Hello, Alex. I am Lt. Leela Greeten of the Storm Dragons. And you are completely right- I am terribly lost. I hate to be a bother but I have to take you up on your offer of a tour. If I don't find my squad commander and check in soon, I am afraid they will leave me." She grinned sheepishly at him from behind her breathing apparatus- happy to finally found someone she somewhat trusted for some help. "Tell me, if you don't mind me asking, what do you do here?"

 

[Sherwood]

Alex motions for Leela to walk with him. "Me? I'm a back seat guy in my squadron, running sensors and electronic attacks and countermeasures for the team. Wait a moment. You said you are assigned to the Storm Dragons? That's my team! I had heard that we were getting some new pilots in the mix, so I came up here to see if I could find out who we were getting. I guess its my lucky day. C'mon. I'll show you to the squadron's common area, and you can find your room from there. I'm sure that Lt. Tseng will want to meet you soonest." He walks the two of you over to a nearby elevator to take you down off of the Command Deck, past a pair of armed security guards. He points a thumb at the two guards. "Whenever you make you way up to the CAG's office you'll need to show Id to get past the checkpoint. Just get into the habit of carrying your Id with you or you'll be locked out of various secure areas of the ship that you'd otherwise be allowed into."

While you walk, Alex points out various parts of the ship that you might be interested in. Finally, he gets to the pilot's quarters and shows you to the squad common area. Waiting in there are a pair of people, both human. One is a slim female with long blonde hair, and the second is a male with a dour expression on his face. Alex goes inside and says, "Hey guys. Come meet our new team member, Leela Greeten. Leela, this is Amanda Loxley, call sign Scorch, and this happy fellow is Derek Darwin, better known as Grumpy. Anyone see where Chen is? Leela needs to check in with her."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Thanks Alex, you sure know how to make an introduction." Grumpy sighed and he turned over to get a better look at their new recruit...

Ah crap she was cute.

Well, not that he wasn't used to dealing with such right now, Amanda and Chen were indeed attractive women, but they were team mates from the beginning. Plus this newbie was an alien! that was cool right? Not everyday you get to fly with a garudian. Regardless of his interest in the new person, he still stayed the same way, grumpy looking and generally looking rather unpleasant. "Welcome to the squad, what yourself around Amanda shes a snoopy one."

 

[pushed]

Leela pondered about her new guide as he walked her through the corridors. Alex was surprisingly more helpful than she anticipated. And with the news that he was on her team... things were looking better for the Garudan. When she entered the common area, her senses came to life. The aroma of humans stuck to the walls and filtered in through her nose behind the mask. It was a mix of scents both masculine and feminine. Intrigued, her emerald eyes scanned the quarters. Her eyes landed on the girl called Amanda first. Her call sign being Scortch caused a rush of questions to form on her lips but she chose to keep her mouth shut. The girl had sunkissed skin and light straw colored hair. She seemed preoccupied at that moment so she said nothing directly to her. Alex introduced the dark haired male with a scowl next. Grumps indeed- the felinesque alien deducted. She herself didn't have a call sign yet but she wonder what possibly could she use.

"Thank you for the warm welcome," she started warmly. "Though I am confused. I am positive being called 'snoopy' is somewhat an insult though you two are both comrades here. Is it possible you two are sleeping together and the jab was a sign of affection?" It wasn't as if she wasn't aware of human interactions but it had been awhile since she witness any sort of romance since leaving her home planet. Her blunt curiosity did not carry any malice or ill intention toward the man lovingly called Grumpy. She had to be sure her standing in the squad- whatever that may be.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda's eyes go wide. "Wha? Um, no! We are most definitely not having sex with one another! He's too much of an irritating jerk to have me want to do it with him." She takes a moment to compose herself and fire off a glare at Grumpy, who must be eating all of this up. "Ungh. Well, lets set that aside and not talk about that again. Welcome to the squad."

 

[Orikanyo]

"..iritating jerk.. so it's not because your not attracted to me? Man.. what does alex think I wonder.." He sighed and shrugged "no, were not, amanda here is like my little sister, I bug her because shes younger than me. I have... no person like that I guess."

 

[Sherwood]

Alex lets out a good laugh. "That's what you guys remind me of... me and my younger brother used to fight like that all the time. I used to torment him, but God help anyone that dared to try and mess with him. I'd be there to kick some butt to protect Kyle no matter what. Just like you two." He turns to look at Leela. "Sorry that Lt. Tseng is not here to welcome you personally, but she must be tied up with some command stuff that's keeping her busy. Or, she might be hanging out with Commander Zyorna. Those two are a couple; that's no real secret on the Mac. But in the meantime, why don't we all get to know you a bit better? Are you a Valkyrie pilot like the rest of us?"

 

[Orikanyo]

"Definitly no real secret, Chen is thinking about her more and more each day... You can tell, usually when shes looking off into the distance, or trying to whip away abit of drool at the thought." Grumpy smirked with abit of a huff. "Thats not nice to say about your squad leader Mr.Darwin." a voice came from his lap. "..I thought I closed you." he spoke down to Marie who he did, indeed, end the chat with for now.

"Welcome to the squad that apparently has fraternization as it's M.O."

 

[Sherwood]

Time goes by, and the various members of the Storm Dragon Squad can be found sitting about their common room just getting to know one another, and learning more about each other's home worlds. By the time the shift is coming to an end, it has given everyone a chance to know a bit about the customs and culture of the two races. By this time, Alex points out that you all should get some sleep because you are due to do some scouting in the Paraxian system in the morning.

Come morning, you manage to force your way out of your beds, get some chow, and suit up in your flight suits for your run. According to the morning's briefing, your team is one of several Shadow Stealth System equipped squads that are being forward deployed to look over the inhabited planet and look for Invid targets, and hopefully someone can make contact with the partisans or any surviving defenders that are performing guerilla warfare against the Invid.

As you sit in the briefing room, you and the other teams heading out are given orders to stay up above the upper atmosphere and remember, even though the Shadow System cloaks you from radar and the Invid's Protoculture sensors, you can still be visually detected. A reentry plasma trail will most certainly be seen, so stay up above the atmosphere.

According to the Zentraedi files on hand, there used to be a Robotech Master/Zentraedi garrison on the planet keeping the Paraxians under a watchful eye. If there is any survivors of that force, it is hoped that some squad will be able to establish contact with them and gain some valuable allies. If you do run into any Zentraedi or Robotech Master forces, do not engage them unless you are attacked first.

For your Valkyrie wing missile hard points, you are able to outfit your mecha with any combination of ordnance you choose. Just a reminder, each of the four missile points on your wings can hold either two Long Range, three Medium Range, five Short Range, or fifteen Mini Missiles. this does not count the 46 Short Range missiles you get with the Super Veritech Pack. Also, the new EW Radar Dome set now has included inside it 12 Short Range missiles to give the Recon bird a bit more of a punch.

 

[Orikanyo]

"A scouting mission... Honestly these should all come with the subtext of "Most likely to end up with combat." Sheesh.. We're gonna end up fighting something by the end of this thats for certain..." the man continued to be not quite certain in just exactly how well the scouting will actually go. Sure, he was their radar pilot, sure, Alex was working the thing.

But you just know, JUST KNOW.

Things are gonna end up F.U.B.A.R.

Grumpy got up from his seat and began to turn "HI!" yelled Enri as she suddenly appeared beside him, causing the man to jump roughly 3 feet in the air like a spooked cat. "Jeezus- Enri!" he sighed shaking his head. "Gonna give me a heart attack at this rate." he brought his arm up from his waist, he wasn't armed but instincts were instincts by now. "leaving again!? Already?" She asked swaying softly. "Yes I.. How did you know?" Grumpy rose an eyebrow as he walked with her. "I read your thing." he pointed to the PDA, he only left it alone for 5 minutes... Little one had a knack for snooping it seems...

"Your going to a new planet huh? Can I come!?"

"No, definitly not. far to dangerous... Plus your not allowed in the valkrie."

"Aww why not!?"

"Because your not grown up yet."

"I am to! I can use the Hin and everything!' the little one said beneath her mask. Did she grow taller since he first saw her? Jeeze, how fast do these cats grow?

"Yes but you have to have the training to be in it... And its not someplace for.... Young adults to be in. maybe sometime where you become a pilot like me, if.. you choose that career path... Up to you on that part."

"Really!? you promise!"

he wasn't able to get another word out before she suddenly spoke up, perking up at a noise. "Oh! i gotta go, see yea!' Enri ran off, causing the man to raise an eyebrow and shrug. "Kids these days... Wait.. Shit... Thats stuff old people say... I'm not getting old am I?"

Spoiler: Missile load

left wing
3 medium high explosive (heavy)
5 high explosive (medium)

right ring
5 high explosive (medium)
2 proton torpedos

Radar
12 high explosive (medium)

MDS
High-Explosive minis

 

[Psychie]

Amanda laughs at Grumpy's plight. "Don't you worry. It will make your hair either go gray or fall out." She looks over at their newest member. "You ready to get some flight time in?"
P pushed

Spoiler: Missile Payload

12 Medium Multi Warhead
46 Short HEAP
8 Mini Fragmentation

 

[Sherwood]

The flight deck is a flurry of activity as usual, a scene of controlled chaos with men and aircraft moving about the giant hangar bay. You find your Valkyries with their snazzy new paint jobs waiting for you right where you expect them, with the deck crews adding the last of your selected missile payloads. The deck chief gives the three of your a sharp salute. "Good to see you, sirs. Your birds are ready to fly, and are all set. This will be a good time to see just how good this Shadow system is."

P pushed