Mission 1b: Entering the Compound

[Shadow Shack]

Sebastian curses, being this far away while hearing the audible reports of slug throwers and catching brief glimpses of muzzle flashes in the compound.


"Trekkin' -- movin' really slow
I'm hopin' - they're heads better stay low
How long - I just do not know
and just keep Trekkin on..."

(sung to "Trucking" by the Grateful Dead)

[BD Cerridwen]

Malcom drops prone and aims his laser rifle as he shouts, "Bravo Team hit the deck! Return fire! Charlie team move up! We'll cover from here!" He squeezes the trigger as soon as he acquires a half way decent sight picture, his rifle still on maximum power.

[Inigo]

“OE mining staff, this is OE Troubleshooting Team. Do you copy?”

Much to Leo's surprise, he gets a garbled response. "Roger<static>ooting te<static>Authent<static>Whisk<static><static>ango Fox<static>over." After a brief second of shock, he realizes that they are asking for the Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot identification code that Terl gave them in the mission briefing. He quickly toggles the send button and gives the response "Tango-Alpha-November-Juliet"

When the radio phone begins squawking back, Leo's eyes go wide and he fumbles it in his hands. Clutching it as he depresses the mic key, he works his mouth silently a second or two before he is able to form words of authentication. He continues after they acknowledge the code. You can tell that Leo is taking great pains to speak using the terminology that he believes "real" security forces would use in this situation. "We have defeated the perimeter defenses and are pursuing…the....Bad Guys into the structures. What is your situation? Over" Leo holds his breath, both please and excited to have made contact.

[BD Cerridwen]

As Mal sights his weapon, he subconsciously analyzes exactly what he's seen. Was there a muzzle flash? More then one? Was it near the opening or from further inside the building? More to the right or left in relation to the doorway?

[Terl Obar]

[quote=Leo]We have defeated the perimeter defenses and are pursuing…the....Bad Guys into the structures. What is your situation? Over[/quote]
Leo gets a response but it is still pretty garbled.
"Roge<static>ood to he<static>riendly voic<static>hough you<static>smissio<static>garbled, probab<static><static>he roc<static>erburd<static>Five<static>escaped in<static>e weste<static>ne shaft<static>We clo<static>he mout<static>hind us wit<static>T-19. Status<static>other<static>ree base<static> membe<static>t'Kik<static>ltone<static>al'tor <static>known an<static>resume<static>ve bee<static>ed or captu<static>We<static>urrently <static>d out i<static>secon<static>rvival shelt<static>wn the <static>nd hav<static>two of <static>eavy mini<static>bots with<static>e've bee<static>re fo<static>hree day<static>have seve<static>ays of sup<static>left. We<static>ing to<static>ove ba<static>to t<static>st survi<static>elter, <static>hould imp<static>he transm<static>qualit<static>ver".

Malcom goes prone as the shots slam into one of his robots. As he surveys the situation, another burst of fire comes out of the cargo door and passes over him splattering into the pavement some distance behind him. The first burst came from deep in the shadows in right side of the open door. The second set of rounds came from left of center and just about as deep into the shadows. Hercules Alpha calls out, "Single IR target, traversing right to left through aperture." as he fires at the target. Both shots enter the darkness and you see an albedo screen flash twice briefly illuminating the form of a Yazarian. You hear faint cursing after the shots connect. (The other 'bots don't have a target, no IR gogles.) H-alpha now has 40 SEU left in his power pack (BTW, I don't remember every establishing what their alternate weapons were, You have the chose of gyrojet our auto pistol for each of the combots. Also, reviewing the stats in the equipment section, the bots all have 5 tangler grenades each and the combots have 5 smoke and 5 frag grenades as well so you didn't have to give them any of the smoke grenades.)

Ting continues to advance toward building D but directs Hercules Beta to divert toward the open door in Building B to assist Malcom.

B'Loone and company are now 20m off the map and Sebastian is 360m out (Shadow, you can play Ting until Sebastian gets there if you want). The Dart is down and the cargo ramp is opening. Maria can be out in 4 more turns. Elapsed time: 58 turns.

[Terl Obar]

BTW I'll do a map update with the next post. I'm sitting in the airport right now

[BD Cerridwen]

OOC: Going back in time a bit here, but once again my excitement got the best of me and I neglected an opportunity for action.

Leo silently shakes his head “no” when Malcom finishes his list of things he missed. He sits on his knees listening to Mal’s final instructions, his mouth slightly agape. It’s not until Mal moves to leave that Leo snaps too and quickly stuffs the radio phone back into his pack, slings it over his shoulder and snatches up his auto pistol and scuttles after Mal and the bots. As he hurries across the downed fence, his foot snags on the outer edge and he falls heavily to the tarmac with an “Ooof!” As his body begins to fall, he instinctively tightens his grip, thus the he jarring from hitting the ground causes him to squeeze off a quick burst from his auto pistol. As he clambers back to his feet, he is heard sucking wind and gasping out, “I’m ok….I’m good” as if to reassure himself as he hustles to keep up.

Mal indicates to the robots to continue before returning quickly to Leo. Helping him up, he firmly grasps the autopistol and, giving the astrogator a hard look in the eyes, flips the selector switch to 'safe'.

"Always keep it on safe, finger on the trigger. When you need to shoot, flick the selector with your thumb. Reduces the chance of shooting me in the back, got it?"

As soon as Leo gives the slightest hint of acknowledgment, Mal turns and sprints to catch up with the 'bots.

OOC: End of flashback.

Seeing the yaz lit up in the albedo flash, Mal takes a snap shot. He ejects another spent clip and pushes his IR goggles over his eyes as he yells to the Sec Bot. "Cerebus Delta! Pop smoke! Get it as close to the warehouse door as you can from here!"

(BTW, I don't remember every establishing what their alternate weapons were, You have the chose of gyrojet our auto pistol for each of the combots. Also, reviewing the stats in the equipment section, the bots all have 5 tangler grenades each and the combots have 5 smoke and 5 frag grenades as well so you didn't have to give them any of the smoke grenades.)

Alpha has a gyrojet, Beta has an autopistol. B'Looone received 12 each doze and tanglers also, so each bot should have two more of each (I didn't see anyone else claim them). At least, I'm operating under this assumption. I'm also making note to explicitly declare before hand how any robots are equipped in the future.

[Inigo]

“Roger that, base staff”, Leo says as he hopes that he was really able to follow the transmission. “Please make contact when you are in position. We will locate your other members. Over and out.” He then uses his chronocom. “5 of the base members are safe, sealed into the western mine shaft. Two techs are missing as well as the security chief. Keep on the look out for two friendly drals and a vrusk. Status as of yet, unknown.” As he finishes his transmission he contemplates emphasizing to Maria that their job is to rescue the 3 lost members and to caution her on the use of excessive force. However, he decides that if he makes a point of this, she will most likely shoot them just out of spite.

(Back to falling down)

Leo nods in an embarrassed fashion to Mal and trudges on, paying more attention to where his feet are. Paying so much attention that it took him a couple of seconds to register the incoming fire before he hit the tarmac again. At least this time though, it was on purpose. Leo aims for the darkness in the door and sprays a couple of burst of what he assumes would be suppressive fire.

[Shadow Shack]

(Shadow, you can play Ting until Sebastian gets there if you want)

Thanks, but I'll just stick with Seb for now. Kinda out of the loop at the moment, which works well with Sebastian's situation at the moment LOL


BIC --- Sebastian continues trudging to the compound, watching the distant flashes and reports. He knows he's closer, but they still seem so far away...

[Bonehead]

OOC: Just dropping by to let everyone know:

My laptop has been declared officially dead (may it rest in peace). I've been (effectively) off line for more than two weeks, now, and this is likely to continue for at least another two weeks (if not more).

I hate to mess up a game that's been going so well, but there's not much that I can do about it at the moment. I'll check in again as soon as I have any have anything new to add.

[Terl Obar]

OOC: Just dropping by to let everyone know:

My laptop has been declared officially dead (may it rest in peace). I've been (effectively) off line for more than two weeks, now, and this is likely to continue for at least another two weeks (if not more).

I hate to mess up a game that's been going so well, but there's not much that I can do about it at the moment. I'll check in again as soon as I have any have anything new to add.

No problem. Your PC has been out of the action over the last little while anyway so you actually haven't missed anything. B'Loone is just now getting to the edge of the compound and I'll just have him follow 'Ting's route across the landing field as that appears to be out of the line of fire.

[Terl Obar]

“Roger that, base staff”, Leo says as he hopes that he was really able to follow the transmission. “Please make contact when you are in position. We will locate your other members. Over and out.”

"Roge<static>ood huntin<static>ut." comes a final reply. (OOC: Looks like you interpreted it perfectly.)

Leo sprays a burst of ammo towards the target but they go just a tad high. Or at least he thinks so based on the couple that hit the wall outside the door (chance to hit was 5% and I rolled a 09). Malcom squeezes off two shots with his laser rifle. After the first one, there is a scream of pain and then silence. The second shot seems to have penetrated a little deeper into the shadows (INT check: 60, just made it) and may have missed. Hercules Alpha calls out, "Target has gone prone and is not moving" and holds its fire.

Here are the positions at the end of the round:

B'Loone, Gren and the other bots are now at the edge of the compound (I only placed the security bot since it is the only one with weapons). Sebastian is 330 m out. Maria is now on the cargo deck of the Dart, the door is open (she can see B'Loone, Gren and the bots with Sebastian in the distance and the downed explorer even further off. The ramp is lowering and will be down in three turns. Elapsed time: 59 turns

[BD Cerridwen]

Malcom squeezes off two shots with his laser rifle. After the first one, there is a scream of pain and then silence. The second shot seems to have penetrated a little deeper into the shadows (INT check: 60, just made it) and may have missed.

OOC: It probably doesn't matter, but I have a horrible character flaw called 'honesty' that compels me to point out that Mal can only fire once at his last indicated power setting (20) since his rifle is currently powered by powerclips. Luckily it was the first shot that hit!

Malcom's last stated actions still stand, namely he dons his own IR goggles before reloading a fresh powerclip and Mal's security 'bot, Cerebus Delta, should deploy a smoke grenade at maximum range in the direction of the door. Additionally, he yells orders to his combat 'bot, "Hercules Alpha! Circle right around the shuttle at maximum speed and join Hercules Beta. Make entry into the warehouse and subdue active biologicals with Doze or Tangler grenades!"

[Inigo]

Leo does a frantic belly crawl up towards Mal's postion but then angles off towards the port wing of the shuttle, looking to use it for cover. Squeezing his eyes shut he says a little prayer of thanksgiving, kisses his palm and slaps it against the ship that is providing him with some cover. He double checks to make sure his defensive screen didn't accidently get shut off. Once there, the turns placing his back to the wing. (I am assuming that the wing comes down to within a foot or two of the ground. If not the wing, then he is sheltering behind a landing strut)

[Terl Obar]

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