Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

The squad sets out at a slower pace at first to let the sergeant keep up, but soon, he seems to be doing well enough that you can increase the speed of your hike. As Chen closes in on the next navigation point, you can see a glint of purple tinted metal through the trees of something large moving about. Getting closer, you can spot that there are several Invid mecha on the ground nearby the next cargo container. Crouching down behind some cover, you can spot a total of four mecha; two Shock Troopers and two Armored Scouts. You know that this kind of piloted Invid mecha have that weak spot in the eye piece, making it easier for them to be taken out.

You are currently 600 feet out from the Invid.

What do you do?

"Just as I expected," Chen says, nodding once as she settles down int he underbrush to watch the enemy.

"You asked good questions earlier, Grumpy. What is the objective of all this? If this is a game, what kind of game are we supposed to play? I don't know the answers to those questions. I think it's important we keep asking them, though. But in the meantime..."

Chen loads one of the HEAP missiles into her RL-6 Rocket Launcher. "Good thing I'm checked out on all of our heavy weapons. Fan out, people, do it carefully and quietly. And let's see if we can ambush these Invid the way their robots ambushed us. Aim for the eye pieces."

"This one's for the Captain!"

"On it." Grumpy shuffled off some distance away from the others and readied his gallant, he wasn't the greatest shot in the world, but lady luck favored the underdog right? And all he needed to do was get a good shot on that eye piece... "in position, ready to fire." he had his sights on one of the shock troopers, hopeing to get a good hit on that big ol' eye of it's.

Amanda works her way forward stealthily, trying to keep being seen. Once she is in range, she takes a bead on one of the Invid, waiting for the order to fire.

Everyone gets a single attack as a surprise shot. Go ahead and give me an initiative roll, and a strike and damage roll.

Rolls coming up.

Chen sights down her RL-6 Rocker Launcher, grateful her STORM Commando training included its use. With a single trigger squeeze, she opens fire!

"Firing!" Grumpy spoke up, fireing his own shot.

When the firing starts, the ambush is near textbook perfect. Scorch lays into her target hard, killing the Invid mecha in a single attack. Green fluid squirts out from the damaged eyepiece.

Lightning's rocket goes flying, and it slams into the eye with a fiery explosion, marking another Invid killed.

Grumpy fires his Gallant, and does major damage, but it doesn't wipe out the Invid yet.

Alex lines up a shot on the damaged mecha, and is able to finish off what Grumpy started.

The sergeant takes careful aim with his rocket, and it slams into the eye of his target, blasting another Invid.

Everyone fired in perfect precision, wiping out the four targets before they even had a chance to respond. Outstanding! Prepare for some xp.

"YEA! First of many! Good shootin'!" Grumpy let himself have a little bit of a celebration before standing up again, examining the field around them. for more. "Got my eyes open for more targets."

Amanda moves forward carefully, watching all around to make sure that there are no more Invid out there. "Yeah! Four down! One shot, one kill! Great shooting, everyone! Lets see what's inside this cargo container."

This container opens easily, and inside, you find:

Case Two

M440 60mm Mortar
The M440 is unique for a mortar design in that it comes as one piece, with the tripod built into the sides of the cannon, nor does it require a base plate. This makes set up as quick as three actions (two to deploy and one to set the range), and breaking it down is as simple as picking it up off the ground and folding the legs back against the launch tube. While the M440 can be fired by one person, it is most effective when used by a two-man team. W.P. Heavy Military Weapons is required to operate this mortar with any accuracy. Characters without this W.P. skill are -6 to strike.
Purpose: Anti-Fortification and Anti-Personnel.
Weight: 15 pounds (6.8 kg).
Range: One mile (1.6 km).
M.D.C.: Varies by shell type.
High Explosive (HE) shells: 1D6x10 M.D. to a 6 foot (1.8 m) blast radius;
Plasma Gel (PG) shells do 4D6 M.D. to an 8 foot (2.4 m) blast radius on impact and continue to bum for 1D4+1 melee rounds, doing 2D6 M.D. each round;
Protoculture Illumination shells which launch Protoculture flares that can be used to distract and bait the Invid.
Rate of Fire: It takes a lone operator two melee attacks to fire each shell, however a two-man team can launch five shells per melee round.
Payload: Each shell is dropped into the mortar immediately before firing. The ammo-bearer can carry a backpack with up to 15 shells

One Ammunition Pack Containing: Six High Explosive Shells, Six Plasma Gel Shells, and Three Protoculture Illumination Shells

One Nanotube-Blade Ultra-High-Speed Chainsaw with One Protoculture Cell and Three Liters of Fuel
Weight: 12 pounds (5.4 kg).
S.D.C. Damage: 1D4x10
M.D.C. Damage: 3D6 M.D.
Payload: Can run for 10 continuous minutes on a one liter (0.26 gallon) fuel canister using virtually any type of ethanol or gasoline. A Protoculture fuel cell will power the chainsaw in S.D.C. mode continuously for a month, but only for about 15 minutes of continuous use in Mega-Damage mode. M.D. is only possible when using a Protoculture fuel cell, but then the device can be sensed by the Invid.
Penalties: -2 to strike when attempting to hit a moving target in combat.

Four D-40 Cobalt Limpet Mines
Twelve D-30 Cobalt Grenades
Six HEAP Mini-Missiles
Six Plasma Mini-Missiles

Sgt. Dobson looks at the mortar and the pack of the shells for it. "Huh. I've used mortars like this before, but I've never seen any rounds like these three here." He grabs a paper that is attached to the shells and reads quickly. "Protoculture shells? Like some kind of fishing lure. Sirs, this can be used to draw out some of the Invid from the hive and make it easier for an insertion team to get inside with the Reflex bomb. I can either use this, or show someone else how to set it up. At that point, all you have to do is drop the shells in and let them fly."

Amanda looks over the strange (to her) mortar and its new Protoculture shells. "We need to make sure that the Fleet knows about these. I wonder if the same kind of warhead can be put on a missile? Probably can, but we just have to live long enough to get this info back home." She ponders what this means. "We can use the shells to lure out the bad guys from the hive. Make a infiltration a bit easier. I am liking this. We'll just need to decide who is going to be the one dropping the lures to let the rest of us inside."

"Hoo boy, ask and you shall recieve. We set those up and we'll have our distraction." Grumpy eyed the chainsaw with curiousity. "...Why the hell would they give us a chainsaw? The mortar is one thing, but a chainsaw? Might be useful in the hive I guess..." The man shrugged, looking over the other things.

"If we pick out a good place and lay those mines we may be able to damage some of the invid heading out, wish I was a demolitions expert so we could rig up more of a trap with our extra explosives..."

Sgt Dobson grins. "These are easy to set up. The Cobalt Mines have a timer that can be set up to 90 minutes. We have a bunch of 'em, and we could bury them at a target point. Lure them there with the Protoculture shells, and watch the fireworks go off. It wouldn't take me long to do that." He looks happy at the thought of killing more Invid.

"Glad to hear it, having them limp back only to have their hvie go up in an explosion is sure enough to give us the victory to end this...heres hoping.." grumpy looked over the mines, time bombs, better than waiting for the invid to step on em.

"If we all pitch in our mines, with the ones here in the case, that gives us a total of nineteen of the mines to be able to deploy. That's quite a bit of bang for the buck. Lets get moving before another patrol comes along and tries to find out what happened to these four."

Sgt Dobson shifts some gear around and drops the RL-6 to be able to carry the ammo pack for the mortar, along with the simple weapon. "I'll need a hand with the Cobalt mines; there are just too many for me to carry with all of this other equipment."

Alex grabs up a bunch of the Cobalt bombs and stuffs them into his pack. "Let's get moving. We are still several hours out from the hive."

Marching along, you see more signs of Invid in the air, flying about, looking for any signs of the team. Luckily you are able to hear the sound of the jet engines before they are on top of you and you can get under cover and hide so you are not spotted.

As you advance, you crest a small hill, you are able to see the hive for the first time. It is a dome roughly five hundred feet high and about the same size in diameter. From the briefings you have had about the Invid you know that this particular hive is fairly small, so there will be fewer soldiers inside. Outside, there are three dozen Invid of various types flying about or perched on top of the hive looking out, so unless you do something, there is little chance to get there unobserved.

Dobson pulls out a set of binoculars and looks about. "I can see a hill roughly a quarter mile away from the hive that looks perfect to set up the Cobalt mines on. I can then lob the Protoculture out over there, and bring some of the patrolling slugs away and see how many I can blow up. Let's set the mortar up here, and we can then plant the bombs."

"Gotchyea, i'm better at weapon systems on veritechs but i'll help out as I can." Grumpy offered, looking at the hive from the distance. "Once inside, we wont have much time.. gonna need to act quick, find our friends, set the timer for the bomb, get the hell out of dodge." he went over the plan in his head for the fiftieth time.

"Ugh... I'd kill to be back in my lab... Enri must be worried to hell."

Amanda gives Grumpy a smile. "Heck, I'm worried about us. Let's get those bombs planted and get a move on in our effort to get that nuke into the hive."

"I'm trained in heavy weapons myself, Sergeant. That mortar's a two-man job; while we can certainly do fixed fire with a single person, we could do a lot more damage working together."

Chen likewise assesses the hive and nods. "It's a good strategy. Let's do it. In the meantime, I'll see to our position here."

OOC: Rolling Camouflage.

Working together, it doesn't take long to set up the mortar. As Chen is setting up the camouflage, Sgt Dobson politely makes a few suggestions on how to make the camouflage better. Then he loads up the supply of cobalt bombs to take to the hilltop and set them up. He warns everyone that once he starts the timers, it will only be ninety minutes before they start blowing up, so be ready.

"I'm ready when you all are. it's gonna be one hell of a run so don't trip." he warned, looking over their set up. "God knows we'll need all the luck we can..."

Sgt Dobson gives Grumpy a grin. "No worries there, sir. I was on the track team in high school, and since I've signed up in the military, I've gotten into much better shape! I'll make it back here in plenty of time to put the Protoculture Lure into action. Good luck inside the hive."

With the sergeant on his way, it leaves the rest of you to make your move to get as close to the hive as you can without being spotted. As you go, you are able to keep in touch with the sergeant on the radio, tracking his progress as he works. Finally, he says on the radio, "I've got the bombs planted and I'm hustling back to the mortar! I'll be there in just a few minutes! Be ready to move!"

Finally, as you anxiously wait, Dobson calls out, "Firing now!" A few second later, and you can see an immediate reaction from the Invid. The airborne patrols around the hive accelerate out towards the hilltop like moths to a flame, leaving the exterior unguarded! Now is your chance to get inside, and then hope for the best!

"Alright, Storm Dragons, let's get this done!"

Chen launches herself into the classic Marine low-profile run. Lugging the rocket launcher in her arms, with her Wolverine rifle slung across her back, it's a bit awkward but she manages the way any STORM Commando might; by having trained for similar scenarios over and over. This isn't any different.