Lancer: No Room for a Wallflower (IC)

[n0ble]

Patience smiles warm and genuine in response to everyone's thanks for the schematics, "Of course, though please, do not take it as a smear on your competency as Lancers." A pause. "I should also mention that in your capacity as peacekeepers and Union authority here I've also been authorized to grant you citizenship for Evergreen-at least until things have resolved here. Full clearance to use facilities as you see fit to keep the peace here. So to speak." Their smile broadens a bit at the unanimous conclusion the team reaches. "That is wonderful to hear, I'll notify Engineer Fielding and they can get to work loading up for this repair. Were there any other questions I could answer for you?" The man made of light smiles. "I'd be happy to answer anything you might want to ask publicly" they spread their arms wide "or privately now, if you'd like. Otherwise, on behalf of my colony and all of its residents, I should like to extend my thanks from not just myself or Ms. Ji for your aid, but all of Evergreen as well." The NPH's avatar offer's each of you a hand to shake, though they are careful to "grip" each hand in such a way as to make sure the light of their avatar does not pass through your own hands.

On the first floor, Attache Ji's fingers continue to dance across the slate. She looks up as you enter and politley nods. "I hope your visit with the Administrator was a..." Its clear she searches for a word "...productive one. Regardless, thank you. I believe your presence here can only help Evergreen." Genuine relief flits across the professional demeanour of her face before stoicism resumes and she goes back to her slate and terminal.

Outside and opposite the armoury, the print shop looms large across from the Mansion: a conjoined building, one with a tower for data receiving for print and code track storage, squashed next to the actual area for printer yields. Complete with hanger doors for the print station and a small entranceway door for the tower. All told, the gunmetal walls of the structure peak just over the walls of the governor's compound at about three stories. The omninode antenna stretches a little bit beyond this. At its tallest an almost proboscis like projection stabs out from a concave radio disk, the angle much too flat for rain to collect. What was the beginnings of rain has only increased, pouring on across the the courtyard of the Governor's Farm. It's subtle, but theres another layer to the smell of petrichor. Motor oil. The kind used in transports or vehicles with tires.

Coming in through the doorway to the print shop, a small hallway leads left of where you've entered to the main print zone. The whirr of mechanical engineering is a subtle hum throughout the building, instilling it with a calm, steady sort of vibration that drums over the cadence of the rain's outside. Catwalks mark each story in the print area to your left, while to the right you can see a ladder leading upwards to the next floor. It goes up from a series of efficient, compact machineries styled with SSC outer casings of ivory white. You get the sense that not a lot stays still here, and a few cursory first glances about definitely support such a notion.

A dozen engineers swarm around the Chief Engineer Castor Fielding in and above the flat centre of the print area. He certainly looks the part of a first generation colonist. Balding, skin somewhat sagged into middle age through a combination of hard work and late-life pleasures. Like the cigarette that hangs from his lip. Judging by the smell its real tobacco, not the null-metastic kinds that your typical individual would enjoy, and certainly not indoors. His face is angular and more than a little spade shaped, with none of the soft angles present in Patience's avatar or Edeena Ji. Late forties at best, late fifties at worst. The last clue to his advanced tenure as colonist is just as obvious: the angle with which the light reflects from his pate and at ease posture style him as someone at home, maybe even relaxed, amidst machinery. He pinches the paper of the cigarette between the second knuckles of his pointer and middle finger-the narcotic rolled like a cigarillo- then takes a drag from it before removing the tobacco from his mouth and giving all of you a lackadaisical salute.

The engineers around Castor quiet down as you make yourselves known. A few of them, including the Chief Engineer, spare a hopeful glance at all of you. Those around him get back to work packing up materials and field printers for use at the landing bowl. Castor speaks in-between drags from his tobacco. "So then" More smoke, this time from his nostrils. He looks relieved, but guarded. As if whatever deliverance is now arrived to Evergreen is too good to be true and the man doesnt want to get his hopes up. Like an engineer whose forgotten how to derive these things from the world around him. "You'd be the Lancers, eh?" He flicks a bit of ash from the cigarette into an ashtray, held by a small mechanical arm which hangs from his shoulders.

Behind him the steady hum of a power source ramps up and then holds at it's apogee. Mechanical arms and material extruders swing into place as the engineers step out of your way. Some of the arms are possessed of fine digits, others coarse and designed to apply or manipulate things of great weight. Other arms have spot welders, charger ports and even a paint gun with a barrel drum sequenced for different colour paint jobs. And even more arrays besides. A small terminal, newly installed if its sleek casing and fresh LC logo are any indication, waits for you to input the commands needed to print your chassis.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Sadly there is no OOC art for Castor Fielding (yet), but meet Castor! Free to describe printing off your mechs-the printer area is big enough to create stuff that is size 2, it can produce items, machinery, and vehicles up to this size, as long as the correct licensing requirements are met. There are a number of smaller print decks inside the shop (the right side w/ the Ladder to the upper floors) that can be used simultaneously to produce mechs and other objects up to Size 3, although doing so requires some manual assembly after these parts are printed.

Otherwise I'm totally fine with people flashing back to talking with Patience if theres more stuff anyone wanted to address there. Feel free to narrate printing your mechs! This is a big moment so y'all have pretty much full narrative control for these sort of scenes far as I'm concerned

Finally, I have a patreon subscription to Retrograde minis pretty much exactly for using their Lancer minis for our roll20 combats. If you want to create and screenshot your mech on there and then post it in the discord, I can recreate on my account for all of you! Just let me know if its Sagarmatha (2x2 sqaures) or the standard Everest (1x1 squares) for the purposes of Sizing on the combat grid. Let me know if you have any questions feel free to ask as well

[bc56]

Ransome gladly accepts the "handshake." Patience is someone he can work with. Straightforward, practical, helpful. A better C.O. than many he's had, although not a military mind. The resources available to citizens will definitely come in handy here and now too.

In the print shop, Ransome takes in a more animated expression.b"We are. We've been briefed on the situation and are ready to print our hardware. Anything special you can tell us about this installation?"

Regardless of the answer, Ransome will hurry to print out his mech. He makes sure no one's watching over his shoulder as his implants extend from his hands to plug into the terminal and begin printing the updated schematic for Python he finished on the way here. The mechanisms get to work, assembling everything they need.

The finished product eventually stands ready. Ransome has stood guard over his print job the whole time. But now he's admiring the shining chrome finish, the various weapons, everything exactly as he designed. The newly installed plasma maul hangs loose over Python's shoulder, and the barrel of the snapdragon launcher can just be seen poking out of the mech's gut. Not the prettiest possible design, but it's a good place to store an extra weapon. A brace of shiny orange pistols are at the frame's waist, and the ports for an attack nexus are cleverly concealed in the wrists. To top it all off, shiny antennae and dishes, plenty of grenades, and a dark green fabric cloak much like Ransome's own smaller one complete the look.

[Seanfall]

Ezra accepted the 'handshake', feeling just a bit awkward at the lack of touch, well not completely. Holograms made his skin tingle a bit, felt like that fuzz feeling just before a limb falls asleep. He had no further questions and so was quiet up until they met the Chief Engineer. The moment the cigarette smoke hit his nostrils he had to fight not to sigh, it was a horrible habit affecting nearly every fact of a person's body. But god-DAMN did it take the edge off a long day. He forced his eyes on the man's face, and to not follow the sight of the burning cigarillo in his hand.

"Yeap that's us, we'll be assisting your team in this OP."

Strachen waited until Ransome had finished printing their mech before connecting his hard suit to the console. "Have you ever wondered why so many Mech's are named after beings and creatures from old Earth myths?" The arms of the print station twirled and whirled putting the new mech together. "Maybe it's just marketing. But...I like to think it's something more. Like we're re-creating old legends or hoping that a shard of that divinity or mythos comes with us," The frame came together, an assault configuration double-jointed legs. "Kind of poetic in a way, the old stories being born again and again," once the frame was finished the color was added. Its body was a near-uniform red. But a section on the shoulders and chest were left blank till they were filled in with a double sided axe. White lines of lightening arced off the axe streaming down the arms and acorss the back till they terminated with the ones coming off the chest. A White cloak and white painted weapons finished the mech off. "Let me introduce, Shango god of Thunder and lightning."

[DoctorFaust]

Robert takes the hand and shakes it, fighting off the urge to squeeze it like he would a human's. "We really do appreciate the offers of support, Administrator. I just hope we'll be able to live up to the expectations of us."

Only once they're down in the print facility does he relax, finally among the comfortingly caustic smells of smoke, uncured paint, and machinery grinding away. "Yep, that's us", Robert says, flashing a smile. "Lancers, here to fix what ails ya'."

Once Ezra's finished printing Shango, Robert steps forward and begins bringing Phlebas in. He stares, lovingly, in silence as it begins to print from the feet up. He had designed it with more utilitarian ideas in mind than some of the others had theirs, but a few personal touches remain, like the rabbit eared antenna and some not-totally necessary strakes. Finally it stands there, fully equipped and gleaming, and Robert's smile only grows wider when the sun flashes off Phlebas' sensors like living eyes. "Alright. I think the old Earth phrase here would be, let's do this thang."

[Volthawk]

Tobias nods as he accepts the handshake from Patience. "That will help. Thank you. Let us know if there are any developments while we're working." This was going better than expected for something so heavily tied in corporate interest, but then again they were still in the first impressions stage of things. No harm in a little optimism, he supposed, so long as it didn't affect his judgement going forward.

Tobias nods to the Chief Engineer after he speaks. The man was guarded, but he understood that - he'd be the same if the situations were reversed. Just meant that they had to prove themselves. "That we are. Tobias Clarke, UN Auxillaries."

Ezra's speech gets a small shrug from Tobias. "They're powerful names. Belief fades, but people remember the power behind the stories. Want to believe they have that power themselves, so they name their weapons after them. Was how we did it back home. Named our weapons of war - ancients with their ships and blades, then planes and tanks, and finally my generation with mechs - after the beasts of the land or monsters of myth, made them look like their name. Started out as faith, but the tradition and superstition didn't completely fade for most people." He grins. "Probably helps in the end. People are interesting like that. Puts them in the right mindset for victory, gives them a little extra confidence." When it comes to his turn to print, he sets the printer parameters up for a larger mech - not quite large enough to need to be printed in several parts, but the new Sagarmatha frame was significantly larger than what the others were printing. Between the new chassis and the new weapons, the Avalanche that was coming to shape was a little different to the one he had planned on piloting, but it was still just what he wanted. Watching the golden paintjob be applied to his mech's distinct, almost bestial head (while he ignored most of it as a part of leaving it behind for Union, a few parts of his home's ways of doing things stuck with him), it strikes him that his mech would fit quite well with Ezra's talk of old myths and legends, but he liked the name he had given it. Avalanche had a power of its own, anyway - massive, powerful and hard to ignore, that fit his style quite well.

[technoRomancer]

Mikka hangs back, shuffling a bit awkwardly as the others file out, obviously eager to take the administrative NHP up on his offer for a little more... intimate question session. But Kaboodle detaches from her back, the drone leaving her behind and following in the team's wake as they head to the print shop. It hovers unobtrusively in the background, waiting until all the others have completed their print jobs before approaching the console and jacking in with a quiet invocation, spoken with almost religious stoicism. "YOU WILL SOON HAVE YOUR GOD. AND YOU WILL MAKE IT WITH YOUR OWN HANDS." Its patience pays off as Mikka enters the shop almost immediately after, looking a bit breathless and red in the face. "Oh thanks Kaboods, I'll take it from here." Good timing, as her partner had just finished prepping the basic frame for her to build on. Since no one else was waiting Mikka takes her time, tweaking various bits and bobs and going back and forth on a few options. As Mikka falls into the same strange working-fugue the others had witnessed on the ship previously, her frame slowly takes shape, its stance at first looking odd as if it had fallen over on its forearms. The reason becomes apparent as the structure of a massive pod begins to form on its hunched back, the armored housing for an ingenious (in her humble opinion), compact modular system designed to rotate a myriad of deployables and heavy weaponry into position as needed. It's not quite as impressively hulking as the Sagarmathas, but it's definitely on the upper end of the Everest range. The final touches leave it looking less like a weapon of war and more like some sort of industrial machine, off-white and steel with glaring stripes of hazard orange.

Blinking back into focus as her trance fades, Mikka seems to notice the bustle of the engineers around prepping for their operation for the first time. With a hesitant smile she claps and rubs her hands together. "Oh! The song of my people. Hi folks, call me Screwloose, and this is Kit n' Kaboodle." She slaps one of the quadruped mech's armored legs, and with a mechanical lurch it does a little bow - apparently at some point the NHP had taken possession, the drone secured on her back once more. "We're eager to get you to work." Unsurprisingly, she does look a little more comfortable around the grease monkeys than she did with their militia escort. As the group nears readiness to roll out, she sizes up the other printed frames with a critical eye but seems satisfied with what she sees. Her HUD helpfully overlays their designations and loadouts as she scans them. "Pretty cool... uh, guess my tastes lean more towards, 'is it funny?'" she offers her perspective to Tobias and Ezra's conversation with a shrug, having caught enough of it.

[n0ble]

HUDSON: "Is this going to be a stand up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?"
GORMAN: "All we know is that there is still no contact with the colony, and a xenomorph may be involved."
HUDSON: "Excuse me sir, a what?"
GORMAN: "A xenomorph."
HICKS (louder): "Its a bug hunt."
- First heard in Aliens 1986

Castor watches the mechs print, an almost child smile wonder playing across his face as the first of the mechs are printed and walked out from the printing arms. A silently mouthed "Holy sh!t" creeps from behind one of the less senior engineers, clearly a second generation colonist when seen next to Castor, witnessing the creations. The young woman has E. Fitzgerald on her uniform. Her eyes go wide as Shango is printed, wider as Avalance marches from the station and wider still as Kaboodle intones their litany. For a moment it looks like she could say something before a man with Y. Wellington threaded onto his uniform offers her a cup of coffee. Bitter smells waft from the two mugs to mix with the smell of gas and industry.

The charmed expression on the chief engineer's face makes the cigarillo-burnt to a stub-hang slack in his mouth, and he offers one to each of you as the the last of the chassis is printed off. "Well...its a pleasure to meet you..." He looks across your team, including the mechs. A bit of the wonder is replaced with something like restrained awe "...Uh all of you. I uh-well dam." "What'd I tell you Yuki. That sniper would've sh!t lug nuts and bolts " The man who shushed the younger engineer with coffee sshrugs then smiles, "I suppose drinks at the Well are on me, Sir."

Castor looks like he's a bout to respond, then scratches the back of his head like he's just remembered where he is, the expression now becoming sheepish as he lights up another cigarillo."Like we get paid, Wellington. Here." Castor taps his fingers across a small wrist-slate mounted on his forearm and the journey he's mapped out to the landing bowl pings your omninet address. "Figured y'all might want to have a look. Also uh" The same sheepish look reasserts itself for a moment as he offers each of you a hand to shake, one stained with grease. "Thank you. Figure you've already gotten lots of practice doing this at the Governor's farm but well...I dunno how well our rigs could take a handshake from one of those. Best to do it now while we can, eh?" Castor jabs a thumb at one of "those" vehicles as the last of a pumping-device crate is strapped to the back, then points in a wide arc at the mechs as he finishes speaking.

A little bit of smoke comes out of his nostrils as he exhales from a cigarello pull. It occurs in time with the doors to the hanger sweeping open to a much rained on courtyard. Castor grabs the lip of his tranporter's roof and half pulls half steps into the cab. His voice is lost to the shudder of combustion engines revving up before it pings out over the local communications channel. "Whenever your ready, Lancers. You call the shots, s'yer formation-we'll stick where you need us to." One gets the expression that, judging by the tone of his voice, the Head Engineer is not allowing himself to smile anymore. Theres steel in his voice now.

Outside, the rain has begun to poor down in earnest, each droplet drumming out its own cadence onto the concourse of the Governor's Farm. Time to roll.

[Volthawk]

Tobias accepts the cigarillo and handshake with a smile and a nod, noting the reactions of the other engineers with a small grin. He'd spent long enough in the navy in general and as a pilot specifically that he sometimes forgot that people weren't always accustomed to seeing military-grade mechs. That was good. Frontier regions where people didn't give mechs like theirs a second glance were typically ones that had seen too much conflict. Hopefully they could stop things reaching that point. "It's like they said. We're here to help. Need to have the right gear to do the job, so...these. Should be able to stand up to what they have out there."

Climbing into Avalanche, Tobias mulls over Castor's statement about them calling the shots. "Let's run through your part in this first. What do you need to get done exactly? Where do you need to go, how much will you need to split up?" Tobias shrugs. "Stick close to me. Can use Avalanche for cover if we take fire. And then if they come for you, they get me." Taking control of his mech, he unslings its shotgun and double-checks that it's ready for any firefight they might have. "And that will work just fine."

[bc56]

Ransome mounts quickly into Python. The subjectivity jacks slide out of his hands and into the ports of the machine, and then they are one. In here, surrounded by his armored chassis and all the comms gear he could ever want, Ransome feels much safer than he has since arriving. He flexes massive fingers, checks and double-checks his targeting systems, and takes a few steady steps. "Python's not so tough as Avalanche, but still much tougher than one of your crew. Our mission is to keep you safe, so stay out of the line of fire or behind any of us when you can. Union regulations say we can't fire until fired upon, so that's especially important before the shooting starts, in case they bring snipers. I'm going to be hanging back from the main fight, providing 'net support and hitting targets of opportunity, but if you need the extra processing power, feel free to ask.

[Seanfall]

Ezra smirked and hopped into Shango, hardsuit connected and the inside came to life as his mech closed around him. Screens popped to life feeding him data and connecting him with the others. He flicked a few switches, did a quick well-memorized systems check, and took a step forward. "Call signs from here out, Hardtack and Shango good to go." He took a breath feeling more at ease back in the cockpit. "We're your guardians for this OP, we'll decide a formation around your group and go from there."

Speaking of there was the question of his place in the formation. He'd be best on one of the sides Shango and his general skillset were better suited towards hitting the foe as hard as they could.

[Alteiner]

Kye cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. It was time to get to work. He turned on the music from his dataslate, a mix by an artist in the Long Rim who had been arrested for corporate espionage the year Kye left for the Dawnline Shore, and pulled up his mech’s schematics. Crimson Lotus was a performance machine, tuned as much for its maneuverability and speed as for its power. Ownership of the GMS Standard Pattern 1 schematic had been Kye’s payment for his work with the Union Navy, and with just a little tweaking, it easily put even the greatest modifications a GRAMtech Strike-3 could accept to shame. The only component Kye had found any trouble with was the unique pilot seat he’d added to the cockpit, a seat the pilot was meant to sit astride like a riding animal. The system had come standard with a few GRAMtech mechs, and for whatever reason, Kye’s hardsuit had an easier time syncing up with it than a standard pilot seat. Nonetheless, it was a modification that required a little extra tweaking before the printer accepted it.

With the final preparations in place, the printer slowly produced the individual parts of the mech’s chassis, followed by its deep red armor. Kye set to work assembling his mech from its printed parts, patching wiring where it was needed, affixing the armor plating into place, and sharpening the mech’s signature curved sword with a laser cutter. Affixed to the mech’s back weapon mount with electromagnets was what appeared to be a two-handed sword lacking a blade. In truth, the sword frame contained a plasma blade-emitter that was charged from the machine’s reactor, and which sent a surge of plasma along the weapon to create its cutting edge. As a finishing touch, he used the colony’s printer to apply a design to the mech’s torso, along its collar. It was an image that was supposedly been found in a data vault from before the fall of Cradle’s previous civilization, and had been edited from a version heavily featured in an SSC ad campaign for the last few centuries: a stylized image of a red-headed woman in sleek, gleaming armor, wielding a massive, curved sword and slicing through what looked like an ancient-era war machine.

Kye wasn’t the superstitious type, but he’d had that same image emblazoned on his first GRAMtech Strike-3 when he left home, and he had survived all this time while so many of his comrades hadn’t. Plenty of soldiers had good luck charms and rituals. Even if didn’t literally keep him alive, the peace of mind alone was worth it.

As the rain began in earnest, Kye politely rejected the offered cigarello with a held-up hand and soft shake of his head, smile hidden by his mask. He was fond of drink, and it was hard to grow up in the Long Rim without partaking in one’s own helping of substances from vat-grown tobacco to psychedelics, but he had a prohibition against taking in anything before a mission; a habit from his old cell. He discarded his coat and climbed aboard Crimson Lotus, letting out a low hiss when the cockpit’s interface ports connected with his hardsuit’s and synced to his neural augments. A prickling feeling like electricity ran through his head and down his spine, and a distant phantom sensation like raindrops tingled on his fingers and back from the rain. When his comms channel opened, he projected his voice through to the rest of the team, accidentally picking up the low beats of music he had playing in his cockpit.

“Fomalhaut and Crimson Lotus, my blade is yours.” he said, running a quick diagnostic sweep of Crimson Lotus’s propulsion systems. “I’ll be in the vanguard for this one. I work best up-close, and Crimson Lotus’s specialty is its maneuverability and handling, so I can close in and shut down any hostiles anyone else keeps pinned down. And if anyone gets close to the convoy, I’ll come back and cut them apart. Wherever you need me, that's where I'll be. We probably won’t be lucky enough to avoid getting hit on the way to the landing bowl, but I’ll do whatever I can to protect you.”

[n0ble]

Castor's voice sounds out across your coms to coincide with two things: the engines of their vehicles revving into motion as they go forward behind you and a ping on your mails with a rough topographical map-journey included. Theres three of the gas guzzlers, all flatbeds mounted on quad wheels and stacked with crates for pumping the bowl. The map is rough and patchy, with parts of it missing at odd or haphazard areas that are white instead of the green smears that denote forests. The waypoint that Castor's marked out throbs as he speaks to Tobias: "We're going here Sir. Jus the three of us. All three of-" A sharp horn toots off from the hauler that Wellington got into. You can hear the restrained bemusment in Castor's voice as he continues, "-All three of us are going right for the landing bowl. Should be about six hours getting there, all told. Once we get it good and drained with some of the autopumps we're bringing we'll set up some of the turrets we've got as well." Theres a pause as Castor coughs and hawks phlegm. "Hopefully should help ward off any bugs that come 'round eh?" The route takes you south, the map dotted with other locations, all to the south of Evergreen. First Merricktown. Then Chau Maze. By comparison, the landing bowl is actually closer than either of the two Grey Towns. All told its looking like a solid six hours of trekking to get there.

Evergreen's engineering team lets you take the lead out through their colony. The rain has scared most folk inside, and those that dont scurry indoors either ahead of you or out of your wake, inaudible but for the sensors on your mechs that register the sounds. Still, some brave the winds and rain to steal a peak at the sound of your mechs ambulating. A young child with frizzy brown hair looks out from behind a supporting pillar, one used to support a wide structure thats low to the ground. Her eyes widen at any mechs that turn to her before a young woman-a school teacher by dress and tone of voice-calls her back indoors. The ground below your is sodden in earnest with rain, the sheet metal driven into the ground enough for the quad wheelers to gain purchase despite a few initial skids and slips to get on-ramp. The head engineer sounds off with a "Dam rain..." and, as though on queue, the wind picks, carrying more rain down to the ground with it.

Outside the walls, the treeline of Hercynia's scrub stands tall when juxtaposed with the clear cut surrounding Evergreen. What few people are still out in the clear cut wear olive green rainslickers that cover them from pate to ankle. They stand like lonely shepherds, overseeing flocks of drones inured to the rain and wind. Ahead, the patches of tawny grass yield to a verdant green before the treeline thats broken by the shadows cast by tree branches. The wind tosses the highest and most thin of the branches about, making the shadows dance back and forth. From there, it's only a few steps more into past the first of the boles, towering well and above over even Avalanche's frame.

Into the rain soaked green.

[Seanfall]

Hardtack keeps to his position in the formation throughout the trek, he's at home inside Shango sensors feeding him data on the mech, auditory information, and of course his link to the team. They hadn't formally selected a 'Squad Leader' and Hardtack wasn't about to volunteer. Even in Union Lancers tended to be individuals, but they were also professionals and thus far everyone had been receptive to each other's input that was good. He hopes it would last when the lead started flying. "I got nothing out of the ordinary on my sensors thus far." He said over comms. He adjusted the auditory input so he could hear the rain and the storm better. Bet you're feeling right at home huh Shango? In the rain?

Eventually, he catches the frizzy-haired child watching the procession. Shango lifted its arm and gave a salute to the kid before continuing. Hardtack chuckled to himself, kids always did look at such things with wonder. Hell, he still did time from time, the first time he saw an armored procession...as jaded as life can make you there was still awe to be had.

Finally when they were but a few steps from their destination he whistled over comms. "Wheeeeew, that is a sight ain't it lads?" He brought up the topographical data they had on the area. "Alright where should we deploy?"

[Alteiner]

Fomalhaut kept to his place near the vanguard, the relentless tapping of rainfall against Crimson Lotus’s cloak and armor a soothing sound alongside his music. He intermittently checked his sensor feed and squinted through the rain at the treeline. With such low visibility, they could’ve been walking into an ambush without even knowing it.

“No visible hostiles yet.” he said over the comms. The sight of civilians looking upon the mechs with a mix of awe and stupefaction was a familiar sight. The pounding rain reminded him of the jungles in the Dawnline Shore. Tension and anxiety running along his spine were like familiar friends. He turned his mech’s head towards whatever civilians came into view. He wanted to take in the faces of the people the team was protecting. He might’ve confronted Patience over the validity of Landmark’s colonial charter on the planet, but these people didn’t have anything to do with that. If the Hercynians really were holdovers from past colonization efforts, than the colonials were just as much the progeny of this planet as they were.

“It’s a sight we’ll be seeing a lot over the next year.” he said. “Let’s make sure we stay in their good graces. Hopefully, we’ll be coming back with a reason for them to celebrate.” He paused to check his own map of their surroundings, noting the course they were taking towards the landing bowl. “Any hostiles will be after the convoy, so I’ll be deployed close to it. But, I shouldn’t be the only one.”

[bc56]

Worm sends out frequent sensor pings as they march, scanning for any sign of unfamiliar tech, hostile or otherwise. He keeps Python's systems ready, in case of a hostile hacker.
Ultimately, his paranoia starts acting up as they progress through the jungles. He's sure he saw movement a couple times, and Python is often fingering its pistols. When they finally reach the landing bowl, he can relax a little. At least now he knows there are enemies potentially coming, and doesn't have to worry about blundering into them. "I'm going to stay close for now. When the fighting starts, I might need to find a different position." He looks around for convenient sources of cover.

[DoctorFaust]

Robert stays alert throughout their march, but pointedly keeps Eliot's hands away from his weapons' triggers. When the child pokes her head out, he smiles underneath his helmet and has Eliot salute her.

Once they enter the trees, he disengages the rifle's safety and limbers up his pistol. "It's going to be best if I'm shooting away from the convoy whenever possible. I'll stick close to it too."

[n0ble]

The silence is striking amidst the scaffolding of the arbor's shade. The only sound is the steady patter of rain, gradually swelling to a torrential downpour the farther you go from Evergreen. The leaves of the trees are dark. Barring the odd rodent climbing one of the trees or amphibian squatting in the mud, there is no wildlife. And the silence continues.

You track southeast through the mud, and what would be a journey of an hour or less over a few kilometers descends into drudgery as the minutes stack against you. Castor's voice goes out over the comms. You can hear him grit behind his communicator as the wheel of his quad momentarily catches in a sin before pulling loose. "Dam. It'll clear in a second, theres a road up ahead that we've got laid down just a little-" As though on cue the verdant green surrounding you gives way, now flanking on either side. "-Farther." Gravel has been put out and travelled over until its settled into the ground, dotted with the odd stump too obstinate to yet give way. Its enough that the quad-haulers are able to gain traction. One hour down. Five more to go.

Two more hours in and the rain has begun to pool in large puddles that have soaked into the ground, making parts of the road a sodden mess. Its slow going around the clots, with even your mechs gaining purchase only with exertion. Maybe thats why it all goes to sh!t at the halfway point.

You see them first as misshapen silhouettes in the dim arboreal light: rounded upper bodies, long antennae, thin limbs They move fast and low between the trees. Whoops and cries echo out from the dense forest, high, keening calls over the low rumble of heavier units thundering behind.

The first shots crack through branches, setting them alight with sudden terrible heat and chasing questions about the nature of the enemy from your mind. Your vision narrows, tunnelling to the immediate space before you, sharpening only what is necessary for you to see and know in order to live. The air fills with the thick smell of smoke and ozone. A second sound: the drone-buzz of lasers.

Contact, even when you expect it, always hits like a lightning bolt.

A cry goes up from Castor– “Sh!t! Eggs in the perimeter! Eggs in the perimeter!” – and it seems like the whole world is alive with the enemy as five chassis limed in rust and rainwater emerge from the mists that have swelled up in the wake of their heat. One levels a heavy looking LMG at you, the ammo feed for the gun coiled underneath like thick worms, studded with finger with teeth like rounds. Another, the biggest of the quintet by far, raises a shield shaped vaguely like a coffin. Moats of light suffuse the shield and the chassis of the one who carries it. An Assault-class mech to the shield bearer's right readies the underslung launcher on their assault rifle with an aggressive racking sound. Broken Union hails you over the comms: "You. Cannot advance." From the shieldbearer, maybe. The final two figures ready themselves: a svelte mecha with a thin, needle-like sword that flashes broad as they flourish it through the rain and a monocular chassis whose main gun flares with targeting reticules. All of them have jagged silhouettes, the result of chitin lashed to the outside of their chassis.

Spoiler: OOC

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Alright everyone welcome to our first combat! Please make your way over to roll20 and deploy yourselves wherever you'd like in the top green area. You can also place the engineers where you'd like within the deployment zone as well

This is an escort scenario that is going to last 6 turns, as per page 269 of the core rulebook. To be victorious here you need to escort 2/3 Engineers to the green area on the bottom of the map. The vehicles move with you when you make a standard move but can be moved by multiple PCs in one turn (in effect you can "leapfrog" them). Each engineer has 10 health and is size 1. If they are adjacent to both a PC and an enemy NPC, then they cant move until the enemy PC is no longer adjacent to them. They will not move on their own. The enemy types should be visible on the nameplates, let me know if you cant see them. Squares with water in them are sufficiently mud-sodden to be difficult terrain, but it only affects the engineers if you occupy such a square. If

Onto colours (I'll make sure to repost the legend for this with each of my post for combat ):
Your deployment zone is the bright green area you and the engineers occupy at the top of the map.
The area you need to escort the engineers to safely is the bright green area behind the enemy's deployment zone.
Initial enemy forces will deploy after you in the Red area they currently occupy
Enemy reinforments come in from areas that are Dark Red
Size 1 hard cover is Pink Assume that both you and the enemy have LOS for shooting over this cover to each other
Size 2 Soft Cover is Light Blue/turqoise . Assume you can shoot through it regardless of size as its foliage from tall trees.
Size 2 hard cover is Dark Blue

[Seanfall]

"Alright boys and girls let's show'em what Union Lancers can do." Hardtack scanned the area and skidded Shango into position. "I'm going to head for that cover ahead of us, and lay down some covering fire." He checked the topographical map for where would be good spots for his mines. Hardtack pulled his hand off the control stick to type in a code. The comp/con unit spoke a second later, "Hyperspec Ful Injector activated." His cockpit lit up lines of multi-colored light lit up in the seams, on the outside Shango stomped its foot jets puffed like a storm cloud starting to thunder ready to lightning waiting to strike.

Then the storm hit and Shango blasted forward gets roaring to life behind rather than run the mech hovered over the ground flying just above the mud and dirt. Hardtack cut the boosters when they neared a massive stump, sod dirt and mud flung up every which way as the mech's feet hit the ground. The rifle in his hands was switched out, said rifle mag locking to the side while another arm reached back for the heavy machine gun on Shango's back, the gun revved to life. "Hardtack in position, ready to deliver covering fire."

Spoiler: ooc

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Activating Hperspec fuel injector Core Power to boost as a free action. (and that handy +1 it gets.)

Move and boost to cover 6 squares of movement.

Changing weapons to the heavy machine gun to prepare Covering fire.

[technoRomancer]

With civilians watching, Kaboodle puts on a show, spinning Kit's pod around and bobbing it up and down. Preferring an analog approach, Mikka's not plugged in directly to her controls but has no qualms with the NHP driving when it feels like it. Once they enter the jungle proper Screwloose and her partner keep it professional, dedicated sensor array making constant sweeps. The weather and heavy foliage render her equipment inefficient - Mikka starts making plans for upgrades as Kaboodle keeps the mech walking, flanking Castor's hauler through the muddy terrain.

By the time Castor cries out in alarm, Kaboodle is already interposing itself between the convoy and the line of hostile contacts. There's a nervous excitement in her voice. "Stick close, Castor, we'll get you out of the fire. Booster shot incoming, sorry about your paint job." With a hiss of steam, a beer can-sized dongle pops out of the equipment pod and punches into the hauler's hood, a few sparks arcing across the vehicle as a grinding groan rattles the interior. It's unclear exactly what it does, but for a brief moment the hauler's engine suddenly seems to be running at peak performance. "Kabob, gimme a solution for Toybox-1?" The NHP quickly obliges as their mech scuttles under the canopy of a massive tree, and within moments her HUD overlays the transparent silhouette of a turret drone on top of the trunk Shango is rocketing towards with impressive speed. Screwloose confirms and the cockpit shivers as her pod rotates into position. There's a kick and a thwoomp as a canister launches from its rack, plated casing breaking free and tiny rockets correcting its course in bursts through its arc, landing with fair precision on the wireframe target. A quad-barreled turret pops up from where its pod has dug into the wood, training towards the unknown hostiles.

"It's not a doll, it's an action figure," the NHP quips over the radio.

Spoiler: OOC

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Quick Tech: Bolster Castor. +2 Accuracy on their next skill check or save before the end of their next turn. (So, I assume the end of Mikka's next turn since the engies don't have their own?)
Moving four spaces ahead and taking Castor with her.
Quick: Deploy Turret Drone. 10 HP, 10 Eva, 10 EDef

[n0ble]

The cycloptic mech on the enemy's side moves slightly slower than Hardtack, the hyperspec fuel injection system tapping into some sort of hidden vein of speed that easily carries Ezra across the battlefield. The enemy mech-lagging behind but fast nonetheless-adopts a sort of fearful symmetry in its movements as its skids forward into the redoubt of a fallen tree stump. One of a proportion to match the gangly monocular 'bots frame.

The enemy Scout raises their rifle towards Hardtack-a collection of cylinder's stacked on top one another, each moving with asynchronous clicks and whirrs as they lock into place. Some sort of guided aim-aperture swirls open and tracks targeting reticules across the massive stump behind which Hardtack has taken cover. A gravelly monotone sounds off. Human, but buried under the accent of the Scout's pilot. "Searching." Several of the tracer's converge, right over Shango's "head" before a half a dozen more coalesce over mecha's arm and leg joints. A strange series of slangs and jargon sound over the enemy's comms as the Scout chatters out, "Weakness locked."

Screwloose's turret unfurls like in the trees, a colossus amongst all the little bugs yet small for the slime moulds that cling to the dying stump it occupies. Like some sort of contradictory apex predator. Castor audible grunts over the radio as the dongle sparks at the hull of his quad-wheeler. He curses with strained humour at Kaboodle's declaration. "Well sh!!!t. Just when I'd thought I'd seen every kind of update there was. Than-" A momentary grunt as the engine stalls, then finds a new gear-a better gear-amidst whatever aid Screwloose has provided. "Thank's m'am." He guns the engine and follows after Screwloose in a tight pattern that skirts the mud field on his flank.

Any further communication is drowned out as the Assault mech screeches forward with a burst of the microjets built into the bulk of it's frame. The Assault mech thuds into cover adjacent the Scout and blazes away with their assault rifle. Despite more or less completely following the trajectory laid out by the acting spotter adjacent to them, Hercynia ever proves a cradle to life as the bullets fruitlessly impact against the wood of Hardtack's cover. Yet, despite what haven the branches provide, nature only triumphs so far against artifice as some of the hail of bullets chip at Shango's chassis. One thing becomes apparent as the hail of fire dies down: if the Assault had wanted to hurt the engineers the Assault-mech would have used that grenade launcher thats underslung on their heavy assault rifle. For better or worse, it seems you Lancers are the object of their ire.

Spoiler: Enemy Round 1-T1

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This turn the enemy NPC Scout moved forward 6 spaces for a standard move.
For its first Quick Action: the Scout boosted another 4 squares into hardcover of the stump.
For it's second quick action: the Scout Skirmished vs. Hardtack/Shango/Ezra and succeeded. While they took no damage, Hardtack now has the Lock-On condition. As long as they have the Lock-On condition, Hardtack is also shredded, cannot take the Hide action and cannot become invisible

To make up for Mikka going, I'm taking another turn with an NPC in this post, then we can get into the usual PC acts/player posts, NPC acts/I post rythym.

Second NPC, the Assault, moved forward 4 spaces for a standard move.
For its first quick action: The Assault boosted another 4 squares into cover the hardcover of the stump.
For its second quick action: The Assault fired's its heavy assault rifle at Hardtack, consuming the Lock-On & taking advantage of the Scout's Spotter trait to completely negate the penalties from the Hardcover Hardtack occupies. The Assault then proceeded to roll a big ol' 7 and miss Hardtack's evasion of 8. Hardtack is now no longer Locked-On and thus no longer shredded (and can hide/be invisible again) from the Scout's marker rifle. Hardtack did however take 2 kinetic damage as the Assault's weapon has reliable 2.

[Volthawk]

As the shooting starts, Sticks considers the situation, Avalanche's bestial head moving from side to side as he surveys the scene. The range was too far for most of his weapons to be effective, but that was fine - they were going to have to get a lot closer, given that their destination requires punching through their heavier mechs, and between Avalanche's body and the trees Castor was moving to the engineers should have enough cover that the enemy will likely need to manuever closer to get a good shot. Either they were coming to the lancers or the lancers were coming to them. Either way, his shotgun would see some use. Although...Castor and Screwloose were open for now, and while he trusted in his armour and hull reinforcements, so was he. Easily resolved. And as for offence, while most of his weapons were ineffective he did have something he could do. Just about. Won't put any hurt on them now, but it'll set up for one of the others who are more free to act.

Mind made up, Sticks gives the two engineers beside him one simple order. "Keep behind me." With that, he marches forwards, Avalanche's bulky frame advancing slowly and steadily, shields humming into life - he was making himself the easiest target, so it paid to be careful. As it moves, he unclips a smoke grenade and tosses it to the side, the cloud obscuring the mechs still in the open, as he works inside the cockpit to establish a sensor lock on the smaller and closer of the two advancing enemies. His next burst over the comms is directed at the other lancers. "Keep applying pressure. Need to have them keep their focus on us. Take cover behind me if you need it."

Spoiler

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Protocol: Activate Type-3 Projected Shield (1 heat), targeting the Archer. It takes 2 difficulty if it tries to shoot me before my next turn. Not sure if it'll help, but it sounds like a shooty one and it hasn't acted yet so why not.

Moving forwards four squares, activating Fitzgerald and Yuki to follow behind.

Quick action: Not firing the RPG like I originally planned when I forgot Ordnance existed, instead taking a Quick Tech action to Lock On to the Scout.

Quick action: Throw a smoke grenade one square southeast of Screwloose's current position, providing soft cover to everyone in a Blast 2. That should cover me as well as protecting Screwloose and Castor. Might as well ensure everyone is in cover while I have the spare action.

[n0ble]

Fiztgerald and Yuki add their engines to the sound of conflict, falling in behind Sticks as they advance up. At odds with the gunfire thats barked across the pathway thus far, Stick's smoke grenade silently billows its contents into the air with little more than a hiss, the white smoke silently filling in and around those who have advanced into the vanguard first.

Just as Sticks's targeting reticules find the enemy Scout their teamate-the Ronin-surges forward, rapidly covering the distance between you and its blade. Said object is dragged in the ground behind the Ronin, carving a narrow furrow in the mech's wake before the Ronin whips it into a guarded stance. At the same time, launchers on their brachial and popliteal joints spin, churning out a mass of flak and chaff. An echo of Stick's smoke grenade.

Spoiler: Ronin T1-Round 1

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For its turn the enemy NPC Ronin moved forward 5 squares.
Quick Action: The Ronin boosted 5 squares forward. This activated it's chaff launcher trait which grants the Ronin Soft Cover until the end of their next turn. It also put it in range of Hardtack's held covering fire action &, if that hits, Screwloose's turret which can be fired as a reaction.
Quick Action: The Ronin took a Quick Tech Action and applied the Lock-On condition to Hardtack.

Your deployment zone is the bright green area you and the engineers occupy at the top of the map.
The area you need to escort the engineers to safely is the bright green area behind the enemy's deployment zone.
Initial enemy forces will deploy after you in the Red area they currently occupy
Enemy reinforments come in from areas that are Dark Red
Size 1 hard cover is Pink Assume that both you and the enemy have LOS for shooting over this cover to each other
Size 2 Soft Cover is Light Blue/turqoise . Assume you can shoot through it regardless of size as its foliage from tall trees.
Size 2 hard cover is Dark Blue

Soft cover from the smoke grenade will be marked in white on the map.

[Alteiner]

Fomalhaut surveys the battlefield from Crimson Lotus’s cockpit, checking his sensors and taking in the enemy formation. It was time to take the field. Aside from his mech’s assault rifle, his ranged options were limited. He’d need to charge into the field and use one of the enemy units as a shield against artillery, and entrust his life to the rest of the team.

“Crimson Lotus, engaging Hyperspec Fuel Injector.” he said, flipping open the trigger switch for the mech’s Power Up function, and pressing it in. Nearly every meter on the HUD began ramping up like haywire, and the roar of the reactor became nearly overwhelming. Fomalhaut sent the mech charging across the battlefield, triggered the rapid-burst jump jet system, and sent the red mech soaring. From the aerial vantage point, he identified the sword-wielding mech as a priority target. It was a different make, but the same general spec, as the kind of mech he’d used before being picked up by Union. It was the perfect test of the Everest’s abilities.

Fomalhaut directed his mech’s jump-jets to send him barreling towards the swordsman frame, tungsten alloy blade drawn, and directed the Everest into a masterful swing towards the Ronin, which missed it entirely.

“Dammit. Half-step too shallow." Fomalhaut growled, glaring at the unharmed Ronin. ”I’m acting like an amateur. Did I get the power output wrong?”

Spoiler: OOC

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Activate Core Power: Power Up
Move, Boost and free action Boost for 12 squares of movement.
Enter Ronin’s engagement
Skirmish misses

[n0ble]

A deluge of fire from Hardtack and Screwloose envelopes the Ronin as the mecha jets forward on a spindly pair of legs. The mech's stance is well founded on two things that quickly become apparent. The first is it's guarded stance. Sparks burst and sizzle across the Ronin's blade as it deflects, reflects and rebounds the hail of fire that comes its way back from Hardtack. Whatever logic-drivers and telemetry processers are in the mech work wonders, sending the majority of the kinetics back to where they came from to impact with Hardtack's chassis. Some bullets make it in-just not most of them. The second are the chaff launchers on the Ronin's joints, the silent white smoke coming from them providing just enough cover that the ronin avoids the worst of the fire. Their nanocarbon sword stops dancing to HMG's song ends. The Ronin lunges forward, thrusting its sword into the ground as a sort of crutch to duck, avoiding both Screwloose's turret fire and Formalhaut's blade swing. The mech chassis withdraws the sword from where it was stabbed into Hercynia and spins its torso a full one hundred and eighty degrees to meet Formalhaut with silence and a flourish that flecks the mud from nanocarbon sword.

On the Ronin's opposite flank, Bastion speeds forward at a pace uncharacteristically fast for their bulk. They swing round the edge of an old tree-bole gnawed down to a stump near wide as they are. The drum barrel of their grenade launcher starts to cycle as the baroque looking launcher arcs munitions to fruitlessly scatter amidst the turret. The only casaulty from the rain of explosives appears to be the dead tree the turret crouches on-chipped and flecked with bits of shrapnel but still protecting, even in death.

Spoiler: T1-R1-Bastion

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On their turn, the Ronin was attacked by Hardtack's covering fire & Screwlooses turret. Hardtack hit for 13 damage, which was halved because its part of the Covering Fire action is 7. The Ronin used it's Rebound reaction vs. the Covering Fire: They roll 1d6: on 4+, they gain RESISTANCE to damage from that attack, and the attacker must repeat the attack against themselves. Rebound triggered, giving the Ronin resistance to the 7 damage inflicted on it from Covering Fire, reducing the damage to 4 total. Hardtack's attack against themselves (for half damage because its technically part of the Covering Fire action) hit and inflicted 13 damage on themselves (1 away from critting themselves too-holy crap) which was then halved down to 7 because it’s part of Covering Fire.

This is all to say that: Hardtack hit the Ronin on their turn for 4 damage with their reaction on the Ronin's turn, and took 7 damage back. The turret inflicted 3 damage.

On the Bastion's turn (after Formalhaut/Alteiner's Turn) the Bastion moved 4 spaces.
For their 1rst Quick action: the Bastion Boosted another 4 spaces
For their 2nd Quick action: the Bastion Skirmished with its Rotary Grenade Launcher at Screwloose's Turret, dealing 4 damage to the cover Hardtack and the Turret currently occupy but missing the turret itself.

Your deployment zone is the bright green area you and the engineers occupy at the top of the map.
The area you need to escort the engineers to safely is the bright green area behind the enemy's deployment zone.
Initial enemy forces will deploy after you in the Red area they currently occupy
Enemy reinforments come in from areas that are Dark Red
Size 1 hard cover is Pink Assume that both you and the enemy have LOS for shooting over this cover to each other
Size 2 Soft Cover is Light Blue/turqoise . Assume you can shoot through it regardless of size as its foliage from tall trees.
Size 2 hard cover is Dark Blue

Soft cover from the smoke grenade will be marked in white on the map.

[bc56]

Within his cockpit, as the chaos battle erupts, Worm takes a deep breath, mirrored by a shifting in Python's posture. Then he moves. Python's metal boots splatter mud as he rushes forward with the group. "Fitzgerald, with me!" He barks an order at one of the engineers, whose engines rev to life to follow the hacker mech. Python reaches the stump quickly. Crouching behind it, the mechs souped-up comm systems focus on the scout mech. Worm loads a virus he'd whipped up for just such an occasion, little more than a glorified spambot, and connects to the Scout's systems, poking a hole in its firewall to inject the hostile code. Soon the Scout's cockpit is flooded with flashing lights and loud noises, and the virus is taking control of the mech against the pilot's will, trying to overload the reactor and force it to move out of its cover.
But Worm isn't done yet. While the virus works, he takes advantage of his mech's abilities to choose a new target, the oversized Bastion mech. He pings it on radar once, then again, confirming its position and highlighting it on the tactical displays for his allies to see.

Spoiler: Worm, T1 R1

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Boost up to Fitzgerald, then move into cover with him following. Successful Invade on Scout to Fragment Signal, consuming Lock On. It takes 2 Heat and is Impaired and Slowed until the end of its next turn. Hacker talent procs because I consumed Lock On on the tech attack, so it must also choose between taking 2 more heat or being pushed 3 spaces northwest. Then I take my 1/scene Everest quick action to Lock On to Bastion and end my turn.

[n0ble]

The enemy Scout stumbles and blares a full host of klaxxons as Worm trips any number of alarms, indicators and failsafes in the antagonistic spotter. They hunker down against themselves, refusing. At the same time, theres a visible blossom of heat as the reactor set at the Scout's sternum glows a caustic purple under Worm's sustained viral assault while their ping on the radar highlights the Bastion for all of you to see, somehow making it larger on the various sensors each of you has while highlighting the various weak spots and trajectories needed to place shots over the big 'bots shield.

The alarms of a viral attack and the Hercynian rain thats spatters and steams on the Scout's chassis is muted by the Archer powering forward across the waterlogged ground to your left. Steam rises from the lake for a moment and dissipates just as quickly as in-built jets help shoot the them across the water, leaving a narrow line of steam in their wake which dissipates to the chill of the rain just as quickly as it forms. Their boost slams them into a partially sunken stump. The Archer hefts their LGM onto the flat stump top, resting the broad coils of the ammo drum on the surface. They loose a torrent of fire thats the equal of the downpour. Aimed directly at ransom, the kinetics pour on and on and on. To those watching it seems all the Archer can do to direct the stream of metal their spits outs in Worm & Formalhaut's direction.

Spoiler: T1-R1-Archer

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The enemy Scout took 2 heat rather than be moved northeast. This means they've taken 4 heat total.

The Archer moved 5 spaces this turn.
For their 1st Quick Action: The Archer Boosted 5 spaces through the difficult terrain to the hardcover it now occupies.
For their 2nd Quick Action: Because Worm was within 10 spaces of the Archer, they used their Hail of Fire system on Worm. Worm is now immobilized and impaired until the end of their next turn, until the Archer is stunned or jammed, or until Worm allows the Archer to attack them with a single weapon as a reaction.
The Archer also used its Suppress trait to impair Formalhaut. This lasts until lasts until the Archer uses Moving Target (when Formalhaut moves, the Archer can attack them as a reaction); the target damages the Archer or leaves the Archer’s line of sight; the Archer is Stunned, Jammed, or destroyed; the Archer chooses a new target for this action; or, the Archer ends it as a free action.


Your deployment zone is the bright green area you and the engineers occupy at the top of the map.
The area you need to escort the engineers to safely is the bright green area behind the enemy's deployment zone.
Initial enemy forces will deploy after you in the Red area they currently occupy
Enemy reinforments come in from areas that are Dark Red
Size 1 hard cover is Pink Assume that both you and the enemy have LOS for shooting over this cover to each other
Size 2 Soft Cover is Light Blue/turqoise . Assume you can shoot through it regardless of size as its foliage from tall trees.
Size 2 hard cover is Dark Blue

Soft cover from the smoke grenade will be marked in white on the map.

[DoctorFaust]

With a remarkably soft thoomp for the firepower it contains, Robert fires off a shell from Eliot's howitzer and then runs forward to enter the smoke screen. He curses softly under his breath as damage reports roll in before he enters the cloud, as they show his two primary targets he wanted to hit escaped unscathed. At least the secondary target seems to have sustained some damage, however slight. ""If anyone is planning on staying back here to suppress the four to the left, give me a second to drop a Jericho before you fire," he calls over the comms.

[n0ble]

As the smoke settles from the howitzer, the Bastion rolls the shoulder connected to its shield bearing arm and some of the burn crusted over the arm flecks away as it does. The head of their mech fairs worse: the force of the explosion has made a burnt crater of the right side of the Bastion's "head". Fully one entire optic circuit has been torn away, the upper half of the orbital and the face grille on the left of the mech's halved visage the only sign that anything was opposite it moments ago. As the dust and vapour kicked up by the explosion settle, its clear that whatever thermals were packed into the explosion elicit similar results wrought upon the tree. A quiet settles into the explosion's wake.

But only for a moment. Familiar gunfire breaches the silence-the discharge of Evergreen militia weapons far in the distance, including the distant echo of Hadura's cannon. There's a hail over your telemetry and comms that pings her squads location-far and away to be of much help in the moment but a comfort nonetheless, even if it is a late one in arriving. She very clearly tries, then fails to actually talk to you as gunfire on her end drowns things out. It seems your reinforcements will have to wait.

The enemy faces no such compunction. Hadura registers a second Ronin on your radar, one that deftly clears the jungle before it with a broad swing of their near identical nanocarbon sword. The new arrival tracks hard across the battlefield, coming to rest at the base of another sodden stump. A cloud billows out from the mech's torso with a strange winding sound as the second Ronin's four seperate eyes track and highlight weak spots on Formaulhaut.

Spoiler: NPC T2-Reinforcements & Ronin 2's Actions

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The howitzer also did 4 damage to the terrain the Assault and Scout were hiding behind!
For enemy reinforcements, 1 Ronin (marked on the map as "Ronin 2") deployed in the reinforcement area on the map.
Turn order roles over (so if PCs go last NPCs open the next turn and vice versa.) Ronin 2 took its turn:

Ronin 2 moved forward five spaces
For their 1st Quick Action: The Ronin boosted forward another 5 spaces. Like Ronin 1, this caused their chaff launcer system to activate. Ronin 2 now has soft cover until the start of their next turn.
For their 2nd Action: Ronin 2 applied Lock-On to Formalhaut

Your deployment zone is the bright green area you and the engineers occupy at the top of the map.
The area you need to escort the engineers to safely is the bright green area behind the enemy's deployment zone.
Initial enemy forces will deploy after you in the Red area they currently occupy
Enemy reinforments come in from areas that are Dark Red
Size 1 hard cover is Pink Assume that both you and the enemy have LOS for shooting over this cover to each other
Size 2 Soft Cover is Light Blue/turqoise . Assume you can shoot through it regardless of size as its foliage from tall trees.
Size 2 hard cover is Dark Blue

Soft cover from the smoke grenade will be marked in white on the map.

[bc56]

Worm grimaces as the Archer's bullets slam into his cockpit, making a few new dents in Python's armor. He then detaches a grenade from his bandolier and throws it. A second billowing cloud of smoke obscures the forms of Python and Fitzgerald's transport moving through them for a better position. Through the cloud, he focuses his targeting systems on the Archer mech and then disengages his reactor safeties just long enough to give him the extra power needed to deploy another virus, identical to the one which had wounded the Scout, into the Archer's system.

Spoiler: Worm R2

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Allowed the Archer to hit me. Threw a smoke grenade and moved up to its center with Fitzgerald. Locked on to the Archer, then Overcharged for 1 Heat and used Fragment Signal on it successfully. It takes 2 Heat, is Slowed and Impaired until the start of its turn, and must choose between taking 2 more Heat or being pushed 3 spaces East, out of its cover.

[n0ble]

The belt fed ammunition on the Archer's gun is a lighter caliber, with a few of the wider-pathed bullets ripping through the mech's flank before they thud into the sodden earth behind them. The fire is indiscriminate, scoring hits more on the sheer volume of shotput forward than any sort of accuracy. Steam rises from the where still hot ammunition's impacted, a hissing sound echoed by a fine mist simmering into the air by the "knee" high water the Archer stands in. The mech's reactor-clearly in the back of its torso for how the area glows molten-tries and fails to disperse the heat put onto to their system's by Worm's viral payload.

The salvo of information attacks and imported foreign coding is echoed by the Assault mech on your left. The mech blazes away with their heavy assault rifle, raking an even numbered diagonal of hits down Phlebas' chassis as the Assault puts kinetics into the mist. The bullets track alongside rudimentary targeting reticules that trace Eliot's location in the mist. The shots from the rifle bark out from the barrel, making heavy shearing sounds that spark in the mist on impact. The cacaphony is a prelude though: the Assault racks a grenade into the underslung of it's assault rifle, arching a shot to where it last registered the hits on Phlebas. As crimson and burnt orange blossom out through the cloud of the smoke grenade, it becomes apparent that, miraculously, nobody was struck by the falling ordinance, nor was anyone hurt by the resulting shrapnel. If one were to discount the tree stump shielding Hardtack, that is.

Spoiler: Archer's Reaction, Assaults T2

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The Archer took its free attack as its reaction for this turn. This was a Part of the Hail of Fire action on T1and did 5 damage to Worm, who cleared immobilized and impaired as a result. They chose to take an additional 2 heat rather than be moved east and out of their hardcover.

The Assault did not move on its turn.
For their full action: the Assault Barraged with its heavy assault rifle & underslung grenade launcher. The heavy assault rifle hit Phlebas for 6 damage, while the grenade launcher missed, Phlebas, Screwloose's Turret & Hardtack, but did 4 damage to the hardcover Hardtack is behind.

Your deployment zone is the bright green area you and the engineers occupy at the top of the map.
The area you need to escort the engineers to safely is the bright green area behind the enemy's deployment zone.
Initial enemy forces will deploy after you in the Red area they currently occupy
Enemy reinforments come in from areas that are Dark Red
Size 1 hard cover is Pink Assume that both you and the enemy have LOS for shooting over this cover to each other
Size 2 Soft Cover is Light Blue/turqoise . Assume you can shoot through it regardless of size as its foliage from tall trees.
Size 2 hard cover is Dark Blue

Soft cover from the smoke grenade will be marked in white on the map.