The Ballad of Echo Company - Episode 2 - Toujours En Avant

[MrAbdiel]

Pvt. 'Sal' Malachinni makes his rush from cover, throws down the lever, and follows it to the ground. As he does so, two things happen.

The first is that the railcar full of stunned Vult recruits sharply goes from whizzing along at high speed to breaking from high speed. Some unseen circuit - voltage in the roof rails, or perhaps a magical trigger - causes the runners on the I-beams to shriek and throw fans of fat orange sparks to either side, and the passengers are thrown forward into each other; a mass of uniformed soldiery, crushed up against the rail and each other while the car rocks to a stop.

The other thing that happens is that Xilo's Psychos open up; and the outcome is much as expected. This is a nightmare position for the enemy, and a near ideal ambush for the Amcarans. Rifles, submachine guns and pistols all bark and blaze away at the trapped Kreigers, and they suffer terribly. The blond korporal takes a bullet that snaps his head back; and with the forward rock of the braking car, he goes tumbling over the rail in a ragdoll cartwheel. Another towards the rear of the cart is shot through the chest and he sags limply over the rear rail. But four others are also killed, and a fifth gutshot, and in the press there is nowhere for them to go; their bodies crowd and burden the three soldiers so far unstruck by rounds as they desperately try to bring their weapons to bear, and howl their panic and desperation, futilely, to each other.

Spoiler: Surprise Round Resolution!

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These are very green soldiers, and you've caught them in a very compromising position. Cavir, you're right that most attacks will hit them - the magic number is 12, for these poor schmoes. Enough rounds go past and bang off the wall behind so that someone like Doc can convince himself he missed and didn't contribute to the massacre. But strictly speaking, of the ten soldiers:

Soldier 1 - Iced by Wolf
Soldier 2 - wounded Wolf,
Soldier 3 - Iced by Doc
Soldier 4 - Iced by Ginger
Soldier 5 - Iced by Xilo
Soldier 6 - Iced by Xilo
Soldier 7 - Iced by K’Ral
Soldier 8 - Unharmed
Soldier 9 - Unharmed
Soldier 10 - Unharmed.

Time to Roll Initiative. The enemy's initiative is (1d20+1)[16]. Now that this ambush round is over, the fight proper has begun, though you stand a good chance of wiping them out before they act. If you beat their initiative roll, feel free to act immediately. If you don't, they'll get a chance to act before your next action; so hang tight.