Rigns of Earth (Mekton Zeta) IC

[haldhin]

OOC: Opening the IC thread.

-----

The dropship ride is bumpy, but not quite as bad as you were warned. Still, these ships were designed for quick insertions into hostile territory, not passenger comfort. And riding down inside your mecha doesn't really help matters. It might make it easier if there was some kind of warning before the shaking, rolling, or twists, but so far, the pilot and crew have been silent.

Flashing lights overhead draw your attention. You recall the briefing, the reds mean you are on final approach. At yellow, you should power up your ride, and at green, the doors open and you exit into the staging area.

As you remember your instructions, a massive shudder jolts the ship to the side, nearly causing it to spin 90 degrees to the left. Unattached crates and tools fly across the hold as the ship rights itself. Another shudder, and then another. The lights in the hold stop flashing, then they all turn on. A second of static breaks the radio silence, and you hear a woman's voice, "We've been hit, I say again, we've been hit. This is Militia Dropship Rising Sun, and we are under attack."

The sound cuts out, then another voice comes on, "Mecha pilots, we have fallen under attack on approach to the drop zone. Attackers are unknown, you should..." he is lost in static as the ship spins on its axis again, completing a 360 rotation before leveling off again. A moment later, a massive explosion lights up your monitors as a huge hole is blasted open in the center of the hold. Through the smoke, you can clearly see the Earth becoming larger and more detailed as your dropship careens toward it.

OOC: Your mecha are currently unpowered. You have local radio channels, so you can call the crew of the ship, as well as speak with each other (either single or group). Please let me know what you want to do. Feel free to roll a skill check if it's pertinent.

[Blackhawk748]

After the ship stops it's spin, James begins the power up sequence. After the systems start coming online he flips his radio on and sends out a general signal to the ship and other pilots.

"This is James, pilot of the Omega, I'm as ok as I can be, is anyone hurt?"

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

Grimacing as her beautiful mecha is shaken around in the ship, Estelle starts to power up her mecha, responding tersely over the radio. "This is Estelle, of the Halcyon Star. Shaken, but fine."

She pats the inside of her cockpit, fidgeting around anxiously as she watches the ground hurtling up toward their dropship.

[DoctorFaust]

As soon as he registers the alert coming through the radio, Antonn hauls himself upright in his chair and stabs a finger at the control to bring his mecha online. Any attempts to do more are lost as an explosion rocks the drop ship, sending him tumbling from his seat and knocking his hat clear from his head.

"Slagger," he growls as he climbs back into the pilot seat of the Rex, this time properly securing himself in case there's any further explosions. "Antonn, Rex's pilot, good as well. Anyone left alive in the cockpit?"

[Echobox]

”This is Mira. I’m fine and so is Kurjak.” Mira boots up her mecha and fights to keep the panic out of her voice. ”Come on, sensors, I need you,” she mutters under her breath.

[haldhin]

A female voice comes over your radios, "Rising Sun, Rising Sun, do you copy? Is anybody still alive and able to respond?"

Based on the frequency and static, you believe the transmission is coming from outside the ship.

[Blackhawk748]

"This is James, pilot of the Omega, currently im ok and getting Green Lights from Antonn, Mira and Estelle. Unsure of any others onboard."

James continues his power up sequence, making sure the Thrusters and the Shields where coming online first, as the guns wherent going to be much help at the moment.

[DoctorFaust]

"Yeah, Rising Sun copies," Antonn replies. We're good in the hold,
but we don't know what happened to the pilot. Are you close enough to get a visual on us, over.

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

Focusing on powering up her gravitics and sensors, Estelle responds to the radio transmission with a bit of surprise. "This is Estelle. Who are you?"

[haldhin]

"This is Captain Tarsi Carden, EDF. I have visual on the cockpit, but the wind screen is shattered and the interior is full of smoke. Looks like somebody is trying to keep you level, but your port thruster is gone and you're going down. You've only got a couple of minutes to get out there!"

OOC: EDF (Earth Defense Force) is the military division stationed on the planet. Typically regarded as a dumping ground for screw-ups and troublemakers. They are allies with the militia.

Everybody has a couple of minutes to act while their mecha finish powering up. Anybody want to do anything?

[Valmark]

"Ugh, I'm fine too, as much as can be expected" grunts Charles, powering up his mecha.
"I guess this is NOT how the training should be going, right?"

[Echobox]

"Any clue what happened?" Mira asks.

Mira's Human Perception is at 4+8. I assume you'll roll if necessary, haldhin, so I won't know if we're walking into a trap.

[haldhin]

Captain Tarsi's voice comes over the radio again, "Training? My God, are you recruits?! No, this is for real. A dozen or so mecha showed up and just started attacking the base. No warning. There are four of them left, but the base is gone - that's why I'm here with my squad. No idea who it is or what they want. Here, patching you into the Earth IFF system now."

Each of you gets a request to join the network. The encryption keys have been accepted by your systems, and it seems like a legitimate (i.e. military) data stream.

Don't even have to roll - with what she has told you, and the passwords and computer verification she's given you, it would be almost impossible for her to be a fake.

[Blackhawk748]

James accept the network invite "How can we be of assistance?"

[Valmark]

"HA-HA! So is this the real deal? I've been dieing to get some combat data already!" Charles says, accepting the invite

[Echobox]

Captain Tarsi's voice comes over the radio again, "Training? My God, are you recruits?! No, this is for real. A dozen or so mecha showed up and just started attacking the base. No warning. There are four of them left, but the base is gone - that's why I'm here with my squad. No idea who it is or what they want. Here, patching you into the Earth IFF system now."

Each of you gets a request to join the network. The encryption keys have been accepted by your systems, and it seems like a legitimate (i.e. military) data stream.

Don't even have to roll - with what she has told you, and the passwords and computer verification she's given you, it would be almost impossible for her to be a fake.

Obviously, what this actually means is that her skill ratings are too high for me to possibly beat, and she's going to murder us all!

Mira keys into the data stream. As soon as her sensors are online, she takes a look at the base.

"I, um... Kurjak's specialties include reconnaissance," she says. "I'll go in first, and everybody else can follow me?" With that, she flips a switch on her console. Kurjak's hard-edged, lupine form shimmers, twists—and vanishes.

Kurjak has Medium Striker + ASP sensors, and Mira has 10+5 Notice to use them.

Kurjak also has a fully tricked-out Stealth system: Active Cloaking with Stealth, plus Pulse and Magnetic Refract, plus Combat Cloak to re-conceal myself even if someone does manage to spot me. Assuming, of course, that Mira herself can keep up. The Zeta Plus pages on Cloaking and Stealth make it look like it's a flat Difficulty 25 check to spot Kurjak at >190m distances, and Difficulty 20 if the enemy's any closer, but if Mira has to bring her human-scale Stealth skill to bear, then she only has a 10+1.

[DoctorFaust]

Antonn likewise accepts the request and patches himself into the Earth's military network. "If we're abandoning the ship, yeah, sure, that makes sense," he replies to Mira. "Captain Tarsi, can you raise the cockpit at all, or are we the only ones that've responded so far?"

[Morcleon]

Estelle (Halcyon Star)

"I'll check the cockpit and grab anyone still alive once I power-up." Quickly accepting the network invite, Estelle sets her IFF to the proper codes and waits for her gravitics and sensors to come back online. The instant the latter does, she will pulse a high-energy sweep out toward the cockpit, scanning for any living creatures. She will also scan the radio frequencies sent by the EDF to determine their source.

Advanced Sensor Package allows me to detect lifeforms.

Radio/Radar Analyzer allows me to track signals to their source, provided it is within sensor range (50 km).

[haldhin]

Captain Tarsi responds, ”Best way to help is first make sure everyone who is alive gets off that plane. Next way is to help us mop up down..OH SH!T!”

Static comes over the radio.

Your sensors pick up 3 “friendly” marks - 1 mecha and 2 vehicles - and 5 “foe” marks. Of the 5 enemies, 2 appear to be mecha while the other 3 are vehicles. The vehicles are shooting into the air, the mecha are trading fire with your allies.

Your allies appear to be near a large structure, you assume its the local EDF base. The enemies are near a ridge line east of the base.

Based on your defensive systems and the enemy fire, you do not beleive they have spotted you.

You detect six lifesigns. Two are in the cockpit, two are in a nearby hold, and two are in the corridors between the cargo deck and the cockpit. You know the corridors are too narrow for mecha, but the cockpit can be reached since the windshield is blown apart, and the other cargo hold is as big as the one you are in now. There is no direct access though, so getting there would require moving through a small corridor, or going outside and go through the loading door.

The EDF signals are coming from the base below you, as well as a more powerful signal from the north, but it is too far away to determine its origination point.

[Valmark]

"I'm pretty sure that OH **** is the signal to commence engaging. Wolf girl, I'm behind you!"

If you need an order, I'm following him second. Otherwise, nevermind

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

As her mecha finishes its start-up sequence and Estelle feels the comforting hum of her equipment around her, she immediately snaps into her speakers, blasting it out at full volume. "This is Estelle on the Halcyon Star to the two people in the corridors. Please make your way to Cargo Bay 2 and I will be there to pick you up momentarily."

She flies out of the gaping hole in the cargo bay and flies over to the cockpit, sitting her mecha down right in front of the smashed windshield and opening the hatch. She shouts through her speakers at the two pilots, "Get in! We've got more people on this ship to save!"

The Halcyon Star has a Storage Module allowing her to store 500 kg worth of material. It's mostly empty at the moment and six humans with an average weight of 372 kg total would fit fine (if a little uncomfortably).

Will resolve the pilots' rescue before I describe her going to the cargo bay. She can fly 600 ft in a round (which is 10 seconds, IIRC), so she can probably get there really fast.

[Echobox]

Mira Maritskaya

Kurjak doesn't have any flight capabilities, but the shuttle's unplanned descent has brought them close enough to the ground. She backs up, gets a running start, and leaps out of the mecha bay.

[Mecha Piloting roll in OOC: 35 total]

Kurjak does several flips in midair and lands lightly on the ground. It would look totally sweet, except that Kurjak is invisible and no one can see it. Mira tries not to be disappointed by this.

Once on the ground, Mira heads toward the fight with stealth up and sensors alert. Once she gets close, she'll look for an enemy on the edge of the conflict, trying to avoid getting ganged up on.

[Blackhawk748]

James opens the door and launches Omega out of it, thrusters firing in a controlled fall so that they land safely. Once on the ground he checks his own scanners.


Shields are up and doing a scanning sweep, pretty sure thats Awareness?

[roll0]

[DoctorFaust]

Antonn fires up the gravitics in his own mecha and flies out of the drop ship, beginning a controlled descent towards the base. "Sorry I can't help you with the crew, Halcyon," he broadcasts. "But I don't have anywhere to put them"

[haldhin]

The two pilots gape at Estelle as she yells at them to parks Halcyon Star on the nose of the drop ship. After a moment, one begins climbing over, while the other frantically pushes buttons then follows behind the other one. Both make it across safely and climb into the hold. They brace themselves, then the female pilot yells up, "I engaged autopilot, but there's no telling how long the electronics will keep her flying, she's all shot to hell!"

The life signs of the two in the corridor begin moving slowly toward the cargo hold. But at this rate, it will take several minutes for them to arrive - far too late given the damage to the dropship!

-----

Kurjak's landing kicks up small puffs of dirt and dust, along with a massive sound of several tons of mecha hitting the earth, but the chaos on the ground has everyone distracted, and it appears that nobody notices Mira's arrival. Looking at her scanners, Mira notices that two of the vehicles have pulled away from the others. Glancing at their position and their firing lines, it seems they pulled into the open to avoid some tall trees blocking their view of the sky. Several tracer shots paint brilliant arcs overhead as they continue firing at a small number of fighter jets overhead. These two vehicles are 200 meters away from Kurjak.

These vehicles, as well as the other one, have six wheels, heavy armor (for vehicles), and two autocannons on rotating mounts that can turn 360 degrees horizontally, as well as at least 90 degrees vertically.

The mecha are ungainly, and appear to be built from a variety of different parts and servos. Neither one looks anything like the other. One is tall and has three arms, one of which ends in a medium cannon. The other two arms end in what look like drills. The other is shorter, but does not have a distinct "head." It has two arms, one with a hand holding a light cannon.

-----

James lands his own mecha to the left of Kurjak, closer to the base. His scanners reveal the presence of the enemies and allies. (Enemies: 2 mecha, 3 vehicles; Allies: 1 mecha, 2 vehicles). The allied mecha appears to be in bad shape, it's right arm has been blown off, and the servos in its left knee are showing signs of burning out. The two vehicles are light battle tanks and both appear to be in combat shape.

OOC: Awareness is correct for sensors.

As you tune your sensors to the surrounding battle, you catch a glimpse of some kind of data stream that's being broadcast across a very wide spectrum. Somewhat oddly though, the data seems to be gibberish, it's like somebody just decided to broadcast a bunch of random words really, really fast. Anyway, something to think about after the fighting is finished!

-----

As Antonn descends toward the base, he gets a good look at three other allied mecha that are currently out of commission behind the one still fighting. He also sees two other enemy mecha that have been destroyed, as well as several more enemy vehicles that have been destroyed.

OOC: Just let me know where you want to come down. Inside the base gives you better defensive positions, and gets you closer to the enemy mecha.

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

"Understood. And thank you. Every second matters now." Estelle gives her a small smile through her helmet. After the two pilots make it in, she immediately closes the hatch and sends her mecha dashing toward Cargo Bay 2. Cutting through the bay doors (carefully, so none of the debris hits the survivors), her mecha opens its hatch again for the two to get in as Estelle shouts from the speakers, "Hey, get in! We've still got two more people to rescue!"

Once the two are in, she blasts on the speakers toward the two still in the hallways. "Change of plans! Find a hallway near the outer hull. I'll make my own door!" Finding a spot in front of the two lifesigns, the Halcyon Star raises its massive energy sword and carefully cuts a wedge out of the ship. Pressing against the hole in the hull, the hatch door opens again. "Are you two okay? Get in!"

[Echobox]

Mira Maritskaya

Mira sneaks up to the two vehicles that have broken away from their team. Taking a deep breath, she redirects Kurjak's energy out put from its stealth systems to its weapons.

Kurjak's left "paw" is a enormous slab of metal. The engineers might insist on adjectives like "hyperalloyed" and "nano-reinforced," but whatever fancy tech was involved in the Maulfist's creation do nothing to raise it beyond base, brutal simplicity.

Its right "paw," on the other hand, is a complicated array of twisted chains—one on each side, and one on top. As the Plasma-Chain Claw system spins up, these chains begin to glow, extend, and shriek, a hideous cacophony that ruins any lingering hope of stealth.

Mira's committed now to her course of action. She lashes out at the enemy vehicle, shouting a battlecry, but her voice is drowned out by the howl of whirling plasma.

Initiative Roll—I don't think I need it this round, since Mira's fully stealthed, but after this round we'll start trading blows.

Kurjak has MA 10, so it can move 5 hexes/250 meters in a round without spending an action. One extra hex of movement doesn't give me a whole lot of room to maneuver, but Mira's going to try to keep these two vehicles between her and the other enemies.

"Unsheathing" a weapon doesn't take an Action, so my two combat Actions will be 1.) attack, and 2.) attack. Truly, I am a master of strategy. The Plasma-Chain Claw weapon is actually a set of three Linked, Quick EMWs, so for each attack Action I get two attack rolls, and for each roll that hits I deal damage three times, all to random systems. 4 damage, and as an EMW it treats enemy armor as being 4 SP lower. Attack bonus is 10 Mecha Reflex, 6 Mecha Melee, 3 Weapon Accuracy for a total of +19.

It's also a limited-use system; Mira has only two rounds left after this one's over.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Echobox]

Further dice rolls.
Attack 1 explodes: [roll0]
Attack 3 implodes: [roll1]
Attack 4 implodes: [roll2]

Attack totals in order are 38, 24, 18, 15.

[haldhin]

The ground trembles as War-1 and Rex land inside the base perimeter. The structures appear to be essentially undamaged, save for a few chunks of hardened concrete that have been blown out of the wall surrounding the base. But the enemies outside the walls continue to fire at the allies inside. A voice comes over your radios, "This is Lt. Jonnex in Hades-05, welcome to the party. You picked a good time to drop in." Jonnex signs off laughing at his joke.

OOC: Enemies are 5 hexes away from the base.

-----

It takes the two remaining stragglers about ten seconds to climb out of the ship and into Halcyon Star's cargo bay. Once secure, one of them gives Estelle a thumbs up.

Based on the trajectory of the dropship, it appears on a path to crashing somewhere west of the EDF base. Currently, it is approximately 1000 meters above the ground.

OOC: From what Estelle can see, the base is certainly the most secure and safest place for unprotected (i.e. those without mecha) people.

-----

As Kurjak's form shimmers into existence, its target slams on the gas to evade the attack. The driver's reflexes, however, are not up to the challenge. Kurjak's concentrated attacks quickly overwhelm the meager armor of the vehicle, and in moments it lies in a pile of wreckage, literally torn into three separate chunks, with the turret finally landing 150 meters away.

Agreed re initiative. You ended up hitting the main body for just enough damage to destroy it. Congrats on first blood!

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

"And that's everyone!" Giving them a thumbs up back, Estelle closes up the hatch and flies away from the doomed dropship. She lets out a sigh of relief as she pilots her mecha toward the base. "I'm gonna drop you six off inside the base and then go help with the defense. Does anyone know who our attackers are?"

Both Actions: Fly 600 m toward the base.

Next round, Estelle will be getting to the base.

Initiative: [roll0]

[haldhin]

All of your sensors begin lighting up with active sensor sweeps from the “Foe” contacts on your systems. The enemy mecha seem focused on War-1 and Rex, while the vehicles seem to be acquiring targets from the rest of the group.

As this is happening, all of you get some kind of high-pitched feedback over your communications system. It seems like interference, but that would be hard to believe given the frequencies you’re using – it must be something else.

1. All of you have higher initiatives than the enemies, so please post your actions. Remember that everyone gets two actions per turn. Four remaining enemies - 2 mecha and 1 vehicle near the base, 1 vehicle near Kurjak.

2. Investigating the strange interference requires a single action using sensors.

[Blackhawk748]

The Omega lets out a roar as James targets the nearest enemy mecha, leaving the Tank to the Kurjak, with his Helios Beam Cannon.


Range 33, so im fairly certain im in range, with an 8 Kill gun

Mecha Gunnery
[roll0]

[DoctorFaust]

"Hades-05, this is Rex. We're always happy to gate crash," Antonn replies with a predatory grin. "So long as the beers aren't on us."

Taking advantage of an apparent lull in the enemy fire, Antonn aims a stubby looking carbine at the three-armed mecha and fires, sending a stream of lasers at it. As he pulls the trigger, a few swift keystrokes brings up a detailed report on his sensors that he begins scanning through to try and find any identifiable sources of the feedback.

Attacking using his Homing Lazer.

[roll0]

Are you going to need a roll for the sensor action?

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

Landing inside the base as close to the gates as she can get, Estelle drops her mecha to one knee and opens the hatch, grinning to her passengers. "Go inside the base, you'll be safe there!"

As soon as she sees them enter the base, she stands up and launches back into the air, hovering above the base walls. "Alright, I've been looking to test my baby out for a while. Pleiades Tachyon Lance Mk 1, firing!" A long barrel glowing with hard blue light extends from one arm and flashes once, a braided beam of energy lancing out toward the nearest tank.

Action: Fly back down to the base, then up.

Action: Fire Tachyon Lance (12K), range is 784. It has a recharge time of 3 rounds, so I won't be able to use it for that time.
Attack: [roll0]

[Valmark]

"Tsk, just these slackers? Don't waste my time!" Charles screams in the comms, as the axe of the War-1 roars to life, covering in plasma.
Charging at the mecha from whom was being targeted, he closed in and swung at him.

so, since it's quick and mated, I get two rolls and each of them deals both the physical and laser damage, right?

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Echobox]

Mira Maritskaya

Mira tries very hard not to think about the messy chunks of tank littering the clearing, and what that might mean for any pilots. She turns on the second vehicle.

I wanna get as much use out of these babies as I can, so I'm going to hope I had the Advance Sensor Package's "record" function turned on and check on the weird feedback later. Action 1, attack the tank. Action 2, ditto.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Next round will be the last time I can use the Plasma-Chain Claws before letting them recharge.

[Echobox]

On Attack 4: [roll0] more for a total of

[Echobox]

[roll0] added to Attack 4 for a total of 32.

[haldhin]

Omega's Helios Beam Cannon punches a massive hole through the center of the enemy mecha's torso. For a moment, brilliant light erupts fromt eh hole, then a massive explosion rocks the battlefield as the mecha's powerplant explodes. A 50-meter crater now contains the remains of the enemy mecha.

Rex follow's Omega's lead as he targets the other enemy mecha, blowing it's 3rd arm apart in a fusillade of laser fire.

Halcyon Star swoops in after dropping off the survivors and launches a massive blast at one of the tanks. As the blast reaches its target, the tank manages to swerve aside just in time, avoiding the blow and training its guns on its attacker. It shoots at Halcyon Star (OOC: I assume you would like to evade? If so, please roll, you succeed if you get 3+ on the die)

War-1 charges at the 3-armed mecha and brings its massive axe around, sending the left arm of the enemy sailing through the air. The enemy mecha staggers as it clearly shows damage on its torso where the axe cleanly cut through the arm to damage systems in the enemy's chest!

Mira whirls Kurjak around and leaps into the air over the other vehicle near her. With mechanical precision, the mecha's claws extend downward as it lands, driving the weapons into and through the tank. Small explosions erupt within the vehicle and its power goes out.

Hades-01 fires at the last enemy mecha and manages to take out it's right leg servo. The mecha drops to the ground in a heap. It continues to move, and apparently intends to continue fighting, though it looks like it will take a round or two to get its bearings.

The last enemy mecha is "stunned" and prone, lying right beside War-1. The other enemy mecha had a powerplant explosion - congrats to Omega for that! One tank remaining, doing an amazing job of avoiding destruction for one more round. And yes to DoctorFaut's question, a sensor roll would be appropriate. Noted that Mira is also recording as well.

BTW, Hades-01 got lucky with his shot.

[Valmark]

"This? This is easy" says Charles, bringing the axe down on the grounded enemy.

If I wanted to take out his arms without damaging the body too much to later retrieve and interrogate the pilot, what do I do?

Rolls:

[roll0]
[roll1]

Otherwise I'll just wail on him, obviously. I'm taking the kill. Or not, depends on the rolls

[DoctorFaust]

Seeing the pilot of the War-1 attacking the last downed mech, Antonn calmly switches his target to the stubborn artillery piece and fires another burst of lasers at it.

Attack: [roll0]

[haldhin]

The remaining mecha is disabled, and the last artillery vehicle is destroyed as Antonn scores a critical hit on its power plant.

Seconds pass as the battlefield grows quiet.

Lt. Jonnex finally speaks up, "So, welcome to EDF Fort Clear Sky. Nobody else on the radar, let's get our rides back into dock and get reloaded. Plenty of room to go around." Hades-05 turns and walks back into the fort, through a massive opening and into a huge mecha hanger. A moment after Hades-05 passes through the door, several mechanics appear in the opening, the first raising a pair of lighted batons to assist your entry into the hanger.

A familiar voice breaks over the comm channels, "This is Captain Sylvia Tarsi, I'm heading back to Clear Sky now. Let's grab a drink after you get your machines into dock."

Jonnex radios back, "Roger that, mess hall is through the blue doors when you're inside. I'm going to hit up command before heading your way."

There is enough ammunition to supply everyone with a reload. You can also have 5 minutes to do anything else before meeting with Jonnex and Tarsi.

[Morcleon]

Estelle [Halcyon Star]

Boosting her gravitics for a brief moment, Estelle dodges nimbly out of the way of the incoming shell. She leans back against her chair as the fighting ends with an eerie silence and sighs in relief. "Thank goodness that's over..."

She pilots Halcyon Star over to the base, settling into the routines of docking and shutdown. Glancing back at the battlefield for a moment, she asks over the comm channel, "We don't know anything about who attacked us, right? Should we get a salvage crew out there to see if we can learn anything from the wreckage?"

[Blackhawk748]

James runs Omega into the relative safety of the base. He finds an open place to park and quickly completes his partial shutdown sequence, leaving Omega primed in case he needs to rapidly power up.

[Echobox]

Mira Maritskaya

"I picked up some weird interference during that fight. I'm going to take a closer look at the recording, all right?"

You said an Awareness roll, right? Does Mira's Electronics Warfare skill of 1 provide any advantage?

[roll0]

[Valmark]

Charles moves with the War-1 into the hangar.
After getting off, he immediately starts manteinance along the other mechanists "If THAT's the most this unknown enemy can do there'll be barely any need for HALF of us..." says, snikering.

I guess my ooc question got overlooked?

[haldhin]

As you get your mecha into the hangar, you see several trucks speed out of the fort heading toward the downed enemies. It appears that Estelle is somewhat psychic - salvage teams and soldiers are heading out to investigate the enemy machines.

Nearly five minutes pass as mecha power down and the mechanics start running diagnostics. A squawk over your comms gets your attention, "Clear Sky, Clear Sky, this is Salvage One. Um, got us a situation here. We aren't finding any survivors or bodies. From what we can see, seems like there weren't any people in these things. How do you want us to proceed?"

Lt. Jonnex comes over the comm, "Salvage One, understood, proceed with salvage ops."

Cap. Tarsi breaks in, "Belay that, lieutenant. You don't bring suspicious mecha into a secure operations area!"

Jonnex responds hotly, "Captain, that's enough. You're welcome here until you get a ride back to your base, but as a guest, I'll ask that you obey proper chain of command!"

Tarsi's voice is harsh, "I am, lieutenant, and I outrank you."

Jonnex retorts, "Not here, you don't. I'm the acting executive officer of this Fort, and I give the orders!"

Tarsi shoots back, "Acting officer Jonnex, as I outrank you, I hereby order you to stand down. Meet me with the rest of those militia pilots. Understood?!"

Silence is the only reply.

From what you all know of military ranks and regulations, it seems that both Jonnex and Tarsi have valid points. It's going to eventually fall to you to decide who to support. Jonnex is stationed in the Fort, and he's a mecha pilot, but he's probably a bit more hotheaded than Tarsi. She, on the other hand, certainly has a higher rank, and though she seems a bit more emotionally stable, she's a fighter pilot from another base, which may cause some issues managing a group of combat mecha.

You have a few minutes to discuss, just let me know when you are ready to go meet with Jonnex and Tarsi.

You notice that the interference is really very high-speed communication signals covering most of the surrounding area. It's almost like a web of data transmissions, both coming and going. Given some time, you could probably get a good idea where the center of the web is located, but it would probably take a week or more to comb through all the data. If you can find somebody to help you, finding the center would happen much faster.

OOC: EW is mainly for jamming missiles and things like that, so wouldn't help in this case. But you got the number anyway, so you didn't even need it!

[Valmark]

"Oh good, now our commanding officers are squabbling over who gets to boss people around?" Charles says, punching the mecha hard metal in frustration.
"It's stupid to take an unknown mecha with never seen before technology in the base. And I surely have not seen unmanned mechas before.
At least a pre-check for bombs or trasmission devices or anything that could hurt US in the immediate is needed"

[Blackhawk748]

James rolls his eyes as he shakes his head. "This has got to be the worst possible time to be having this argument."

[Echobox]

Mira Maritskaya

So we didn't actually kill anyone in that fight? That's a relief. I mean, that's really weird. But my sensors were picking up very high-volume communication during the fight—if these were remotes rather than autonomous units, then this data might give us a clue to their controller's location. Lieutenant Jonnex—and Captain Tarsi, with your permission—who on the base is trained in interpreting this sort of data?"

[haldhin]

Jonnex quickly responds back, "That would be Corporal Dales, he should be in the CIC now. He's our communications and networking tech. He'll be able to help you."