As Scorch is jumping up into the narrow gap in the air vent, trying to balance her rifle with the saddle bags with your extra ammo, she clips the side of the rough hole and goes spinning out of control. The cargo containers go flying in different directions and you sprawl on your face. This causes The Thing to land on her as he is jumping up, and he falls ass over elbows in a big pile with Scorch on the floor of the vent.
Seeing the two other pilots wipe out as they jump, both Grumpy and Warhammer make a more careful approach to the gap and easily manage to land on your feet.
Struggling to get to your feet, Scorch can see that you have dropped two of your cargo containers down on the floor far below you, and one of them breaks open to reveal that it was filled with six of your mini-missiles that scatter across the floor. The second pack is still intact, and might be recoverable if you want to risk jumping down to get it with the onrushing hordes of Invid and Combat Robots.
If you want to go for it, you'll have to make another Pilot Veritech skill roll to jump back up under fire. What do you do?
Well, shit! I'll be hearing about this for ages. Damn! She pushes herself up, and scrambles for her rifle and the one ammo container, looking frantically to see what was left up in the vent with her. I can deal with the power mags. If I lost those, I got to go back down and grab that saddlebag! Which one is it?
Payload
EP-37 - 100 / 80 - +4 magazines in reserve - Bonus: +2 to strike for single shots, +1 for burst firing.
GR-103 plasma mini missiles - 12
CADS - A slashing blow deals 2d6M.D., a punch deals 3d6 M.D., and a power punch does 6d6 M.D. and takes two attacks.
Armor
CVR-3 - 90
Cyclone - 225 / 165
Combat Bonuses - (on foot/in the Cyclone)
Number of Attacks: 6 / 8
Strike: +10 / +11
Parry: +13 / +17
Dodge: +14 / +16
Roll with Punch: +4
Initiative: +3 / +5
Perception: +6
Critical Strike on a natural 19 or higher
You are in luck. Both the packs that fell were your backup missiles. You can still jump down to grab the one case, but the second has broken open and is now useless, its contents scattered across the floor.
Warhammer just watches Scorch trying to get herself back on her feet, not saying anything about what happened. After all he hadnt been the most nimble in combat today. Plus she had taken a pretty big hit, so he could understand why she fell. He looked to Grumpy once she was on her feet and waited for the next set of orders.
"God damn it! The hell with the missiles. Lets get out of here before we're all toast." Scorch is pissed, but there is no time to screw around. They have too many bad guys heading their way.
Payload
EP-37 - 100 / 80 - +4 magazines in reserve - Bonus: +2 to strike for single shots, +1 for burst firing.
GR-103 plasma mini missiles - 12
CADS - A slashing blow deals 2d6M.D., a punch deals 3d6 M.D., and a power punch does 6d6 M.D. and takes two attacks.
Armor
CVR-3 - 90
Cyclone - 225 / 165
Combat Bonuses - (on foot/in the Cyclone)
Number of Attacks: 6 / 8
Strike: +10 / +11
Parry: +13 / +17
Dodge: +14 / +16
Roll with Punch: +4
Initiative: +3 / +5
Perception: +6
Critical Strike on a natural 19 or higher
Grumbling to himself about how he should have turned left, instead of ramming into Scorch, or maybe keep more distance so he coulld stop. He gets up, and gets moving.
"Yes sir! Come on guys, let's get the lead out and move before we are engaged by even more contacts and are all wiped out, because that would be a very bad day!" He called to the other two as he followed behind Grumpy as they tried to retreat to a safer area to possibly engage the enemy.
Another moment waiting at the edge of the air duct would have been decidedly unhealthy for you, as evidenced by the mass of weapon fire going off between the security drones and the Invid. Lucky for you that they see each other as more of a threat - at the moment.
Racing forward at your best speed, the four of you are making good time as you work your way through the heart of the Factory. As you go, you pass by cavernous rooms filled with tens of thousands of Regult style Battle Pods of various types, and thousands of different kinds of Powered Armor. Other rooms you get a peek into are bunkrooms made to house thousands of Zentraedi as they wait for their ships to be repaired, and even with all of that inside this place, you have only scratched the surface of its volume!
Speaking of volume, your signal to Alex is degrading significantly as you get farther into the station. Soon, you will lose all contact with him, just as he predicted.
Finally, after many hours of ducking and driving through different ducts and corridors, you are closing in on the Command Center. At the rate you are traveling, you should be right on top of it within the next thirty minutes.
"Shit! Grumpy! We've lost the signal to Alex, Imma try and reacquire but don't expect much in the way of a miracle, even if i do manage to restore connection, its gonna be a bit of a cluster**** if you know what I mean." He told Grumpy as he attempted to try and reacquire the signal to their other member who was watching the veritechs for them.
With everyone trying to establish contact with Alex, Amanda gets a few blurbs of clear transmission from him before it all goes to hell. Grumpy and Warhammer, however, must be in just the right spot to get a static filled but understandable signal from the waiting Valkyrie. He reports, "I don't know if you can hear me, but the fleet has been forced to stay back by the guns on the Factory. Right now, the Invid seem to be overwhelming the defenses of the place. If you can get the virus in and get the IFF codes working, the Admiral can then send in waves of Veritechs to clear the space around the station. Good luck, guys. Remember, time is still ticking away."
With radio contact ended, the four of you set off through the corridors once more. Finally, you come out into the open of a massive chamber, easily six miles across and almost three thousand feet high, with a hologram of a sunny sky with a few passing clouds. The chamber is filled from side to side with what appears to be a Greek or Roman-esque town, complete with marble columns. It looks like it could have been plucked right off of the surface of Earth from a few hundred years ago. But while this sight is one for the books, there is a building in the very center of the chamber that reaches up into the 'sky' nearly a thousand feet high. It has the look of a air traffic control tower, complete with large windows that look out over the town. It is most likely to be the control center of the Factory.
You are not the only things in the chamber, though. Slowly circling about the tower are ten of the smaller combat drones, and there are a handful of the larger, battle-pod looking ones that can be seen walking through the streets. There are at least four of these mecha in the chamber, obviously on the watch for any signs of Invid coming into the area.
It may be possible to stealth your way through the town to get to the central tower. The other alternative is to make a speed run for the tower as fast as you can and hope you get there before the drones surround you all.
Amanda crouches down behind some cover and looks out at the circling robots. "I say we move quietly as possible until we are right on top of the tower, then bolt for it. It'll take us some time to get there, but with all that firepower out here and as munched up as most of us are, we wouldn't be able to take down so many hostiles without getting pounded. But, its not my call to make. What do you have in mind, Grumps?"
Payload
EP-37 - 100 / 80 - +4 magazines in reserve - Bonus: +2 to strike for single shots, +1 for burst firing.
GR-103 plasma mini missiles - 12
CADS - A slashing blow deals 2d6M.D., a punch deals 3d6 M.D., and a power punch does 6d6 M.D. and takes two attacks.
Armor
CVR-3 - 90
Cyclone - 225 / 165
Combat Bonuses - (on foot/in the Cyclone)
Number of Attacks: 6 / 8
Strike: +10 / +11
Parry: +13 / +17
Dodge: +14 / +16
Roll with Punch: +4
Initiative: +3 / +5
Perception: +6
Critical Strike on a natural 19 or higher
Amanda shakes her head. "Naah, I'm not talking about getting out of the Cyclone. It's small enough to be able to slip past the sensors of the big stuff, just so long as we don't call attention to ourselves."
Payload
EP-37 - 100 / 80 - +4 magazines in reserve - Bonus: +2 to strike for single shots, +1 for burst firing.
GR-103 plasma mini missiles - 12
CADS - A slashing blow deals 2d6M.D., a punch deals 3d6 M.D., and a power punch does 6d6 M.D. and takes two attacks.
Armor
CVR-3 - 90
Cyclone - 225 / 165
Combat Bonuses - (on foot/in the Cyclone)
Number of Attacks: 6 / 8
Strike: +10 / +11
Parry: +13 / +17
Dodge: +14 / +16
Roll with Punch: +4
Initiative: +3 / +5
Perception: +6
Critical Strike on a natural 19 or higher
"We could attempt to create a distraction alongside our stealth attempt. And I mean one that doesn't include a suicide mission alright? What do we got, some missiles and rounds? We could try and set off a controlled explosive in the way the invud are coming to force thee guardians into a fight."