Robotech - Southern Cross Adventure

[Sherwood]

Deunan sits in the back seat, with her feet up on the side of the hover car, letting her hair get whipped about in the wind. She is looking forward to getting to La Fuente and seeing what entertainment that they can find. "Listen up, people! I don't want anyone to call me 'Sarge' while we are out. My name is Deunan, not Sarge. Lets leave the ranks behind and just be us, not soldiers."

 

[Psychie]

Neo pipes up with, "You got it, Sarge!" She laughs at her joke and the sour look on Deunan's face. "Seriously, we get you. It is time to let off some steam, not worry about military formalities."

Pulling into the town of La Fuente, you can see that it is larger than the little bergs you were delivering the water pumps to. It has several restaurants, bars, and even a movie theater. Plenty to do for the soldier on a off-post pass.

This town is used to having soldiers come here to blow off some steam, being the closest place to go for not only Anton-17, but a small airbase and the artillery firebase. As you drive in, you can see several other hovercars parked in front of a bar called Little Pepe's, with only one other car being from Anton-17. If you are looking for a place to meet another bunch of troopers, this looks like a good spot.

 

[WlfSamurai]

"Can do S—, Deunan," Alissa says. "Sorry. Force of habit. I say we hit a bar. Right off the bat. Slug a few back. Maybe get something to eat. I'm starved. For real food, I mean."

The wind moving through the car already has Alissa's mood changing. She closes her eyes and lets it wash over her.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan smiles at Alissa. "Real food and drink it is! This place seems to be soldier friendly, so lets check it out." Jumping out of the car, she pulls Alissa along by the hand. "C'mon, slowpokes."

 

[Psychie]

When you open the door to the bar, you are hit by the sounds of lively rock music, but not too loud to be able to hear conversations over, along with the delicious smell of good food cooking up full of Tex-Mex smells. The inside is larger than you thought, easily holding the thirty or so people comfortably with a few empty tables and spots at the bar open to sit at. Most of the crowd here are clearly military, recognized either by their uniforms or their buzzed haircuts and fit frames. You'd have to guess that most of the people here are members of the older RDF, some just by their uniforms or their age, but there are two tables of younger soldiers wearing ASC uniforms like yours.

As you enter, some people look up with a passing interest to see who it is, while others ignore you completely, being focused on their food and drink. One of your fellow ASC members sees you, and waves the group over to join them. Four ladies are wearing TASC unit badges (Tactical Armored Space Corps - Mostly Logan pilots) with the rank of lieutennant on them, with three GMP male soldiers of mixed NCO ranks of two corporals and one staff sergeant.

One of the ladies there has a familiar name: Lt. Combs. You might remember her better as Boomer, the lead pilot of the Black Cat Squadron. She says, "Well, lookie here! We have some more ground pounders joining us! Some hover tank operators and another GMP. Have a seat and get a drink. What unit are you from?"

 

[Rykon]

Alan silently sighed inwardly, knowing Deunan didn't want tonight to be about rank. However, in front of other officers would try and retain a baseline level of respect to both the officer and his direct superior. "We're all third heavy recon ma'am. I believe you and your fine crew here were involved in dispatching a cyclops and it's guard unit a week or so ago. We were the spotters to call in the guns and support. Thanks again for that." He extended his hand to offer a handshake. "I'm Alan McGregor, by the way." He said before sitting down.

 

[Sherwood]

"And I'm Deunan Conway. I have told myself several times in the past week that if I ever had the chance to do so, I need to buy you guys a beer for your good shooting as a way of saying thanks." As she talks, she pulls out a chair and sits, waving over a waitress to take her order. "So, what are you ladies drinking tonight?"

 

[Psychie]

Boomer smiles. "Now that is one good way to say 'hello'! The ladies and I are all having rum and Cokes, and the distinguished gentlemen of the GMP are currently enjoying some of the locally brewed beer." The waitress comes over, and in sort time, everyone is being presented with their drinks. Soon after, everyone is more relaxed and laughter has spread about the group. One of the corporals raises up his drink and says, "To our drink benefactors! May their cannon shells always fly straight and true!"

"Hear, hear!"

"Skoal to the ATAC!"

"Cheers!"

Glasses clink as everyone enjoys the toast. It is not long before there is a card game going on, and the excitement of drunken darts cannot be overlooked. Besides enjoying yourselves, is there anything you wish to do on your pass to La Fuente?

 

[WlfSamurai]

Alissa drinks up, trying to get ahold of the nerves that have kept her body off center. She does her best to join the conversation after draining her glass.

"Alissa Kerensky, Ma'am," she says too quickly after the Lieutenant asks her question. "Just get pissed drunk, honestly. And what Deunan said. Thank god for you guys. I almost bought it out there. I'm definitely getting next round for you." Alissa waves down the waitress if she can.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan was quite happy to be receiving some good will from her fellow ASC soldiers, and happier still once the flaming glow of the alcohol hits her system. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and says, "Wow. That's a good brew. Yeah, we've had a high tension week, and we're just up for unwinding some. We have to be back by 2300 hours."

 

[Psychie]

Lt. Combs nods in understanding. "I feel ya. We've been in the air so much lately, my Logan's seat has left a permanent dent in my rear end. Really racking up the frequent flyer miles, am I right, ladies?" The other pilots with her nod in agreement.

"Yeah, every run we've been out hunting where the Zentraedi have their base located. Once we can find them, we can then drop a load of hurt on these damn Malcontents!"

As the afternoon stretches on, the only one of your particular party that is not looking like she is enjoying herself as much as everyone else is Neo. She is looking a bit uncomfortable, glancing over at a table a short distance away. When you look over, you can see some older soldiers in their RDF uniforms drinking heavily, and they are saying some very unkind things about the Zentraedi. One of the men in particular is glaring daggers at the young girl, and occasionally he can be heard to say some nasty comments, saying, "The only thing worse than a damn Zeek is a fuckin' half blood Zeek! Imagine how disgusting that must be, sleeping with one of those monsters. 'Cause that's what they all are! Iz monsters! Fuckin' Zeeks!"

His drinking buddies nod and clank their beers together before taking another drink, continuing to glare at Neo.

Lt. Combs suddenly picks up on the tension in the air, and she says, "Well, I think we need to go and get some fresh air. Care to join us, sergeant? Corporals? We can show you around the exotic sights of La Fuente."

 

[Rykon]

Alan finds it hard to resist returning a glare at the antagonizing soldiers. Being the youngest of three boys meant he was well familiar and comfortable scrapping if they decided to pick a fight.

When the Lieutenant spoke up for them to move along Alan stated bluntly. "Probably for the best. They don't look like enough of a challenge to be worth the hell I'd catch for thrashing a pack of drunk scrubs."

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan nods, feeling a bit flushed from the drinks that she's had. Then, the glares from the other table catch her attention, and then Boomer suggests that they leave. "Yes, lets take our relaxation away from here for now. No need to get into a fight with that lot. I personally don't want to have to explain to command why we were cooling our heels in the local jail for a scrap." She places a hand on the youngster's shoulder. "But don't worry, Neo. We've got your back."

 

[D. Rex]

"Hey, dont think too much about it. Those sort of sentiments are natural. Aye, its been a few years, but in the bigger picture the war is relatively fresh. Everybody lost a lot of people we knew and loved, and that sort of pain can carry over for generations." Marlon said.

"But you know what? Even here on earth we weren't always good buddies with each other. We had wars and hated each other too. But that sentiment would always go away with time. And if we are close enough to the Zentraedi to breed with them, then I'm confident they share that similarity as well. And they too lost folks they were close to. The sort of anger and hate bred by war doesn't just vanish once the war is over. It's a wound that just needs a bit of time and nourishing to heal. Plenty of folks on both sides are making peace with each other, and that is a good a sign as any that things are looking up. After all, if a Z and human like each enough to figure out how to do the dirty, then that is also a good sign. Maybe." He said, pausing to think.

"Ya know, come to think of it... how does that even happen? I mean, like on one hand you'd virtually have to drown the poor human, and on the other them albino tadpoles would have to make the equivalent of a cross country triathlon." He said with a chuckle as he left the bar with one of the establishments glasses. His third glass, to be precise. "Either way it's an admirable testament of willpower and constitution!"

"Aye, we didnt come here for no fights. Just to have a bit of well earned fun and celebrate how good of a squad we are. To laugh it off and say 'just folks being folks' in hope that what trouble we get in tonight they'll just say the same for us. Like going swimming with our clothes still on or fost fighting each other in a hotel lobby. Normal soldier stuff."

"After all! It's the malice that'll get you every time. And I'll tell you what! If I wanted malice I would have just stayed back at the hangar and join in all the cussing and hitting on the things that stopped working." He said rambling on. And it was either the beer or just that he saw no point in dwelling on a sour topic.

"So what exotic sights are there to see and do here anyway? I mean, drinking do be dandy, but I'm pretty sure a bar crawl for me is gonna leave me pretty... not sober."

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan looks over at Marlon with a new appreciation for the man. "Wise words. Wise words indeed. I have a feeling that you will go far with that kind of attitude guiding you."

Waiting to talk until they were outside, she takes a few deep breaths to clear her head. "Is there a movie theater in town? It would be nice to let reality go for a while and see some action on the big screen. Even if it is a older film that we've seen before."

 

[Psychie]

The other GMP Sergeant nods. "Yup. They are playing a old monster movie called Pacific Rim. Its kinda cheesy, but a good romp of a Sci-Fi film. Want to go check it out?"

As everyone stumbles out into the afternoon sun, Neo lets out a sigh of relief. "Thanks for sticking up for me. I've always had to deal with a bit of . . . that . . . but it never gets any easier. Lets go see this monster movie. Maybe it will take my mind off of things."

 

[WlfSamurai]

Alissa stumbles out of the bar, her head swimming. She’s still unsure if the she made the right choice in not slugging the assholes making comments. As if her thoughts and feelings are distant from her body, she tells herself it’s for the best.

“Pacific Rim!?” Alissa slurs. “Yeah! Let’s do it! I love that one! Used to watch it with...” She stops mid sentence and stares at the ground, trying to feel something about her dead father. “Let’s do it,” she finally says.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan gives Neo a smile and wraps her arm around the other woman's shoulders. "Don't mind them in there. You are one of us, and we take care of our own, no matter what. Now, let go see this movie and relax!"

 

[Psychie]

The movie is a hit with everyone involved in watching it. After a popcorn and soda overload, everyone is quite relaxed and the alcohol effect is fading off. As everyone is settling down and trying to figure out what to do next, your wristcomps start going off, all at once. Never a good sign. A quick read of it shows that it is reporting about another Zentraedi attack, this time the raid was on a manufacturing plant. Several buildings were damaged in the raid, but more disturbingly, a half dozen of the technical crew members were kidnapped.

With this raid, the RDF and ASC forces are once more being put on alert to prepare for a counter strike.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan frowns. It is not usual for the Zeeks to take prisoners like that. This new High Lord is up to something no good, and I have a strong feeling that the Third Heavy will be in the middle of it all.

"Ok, gang. You all saw the alert, and you know the drill. Time to be ground-pounders again, and haul it back to Anton-17." She turns to Lt. Combs and offers up a smile. "Ma'am? Thanks for showing us around out here. I'm looking forward to seeing your Black Cats in action again on the field. Safe flying!"

 

[WlfSamurai]

Alissa shakes off the last of her alcohol. Once more to action. Would there be a time the Zeeks give up? Or take a break? No. That’s why we’re here, after all.

She nods to Lt. Combs. “Yes. Thank you for everything. We’ll have to find you guys on our next pass off the base. All the best!” She piles into the car back to the base with the rest.

 

[Psychie]

Back at Anton-17, the base is once more at a heightened state of alert. As you are checking in, you hear from Lt. Danfield that you should get some rest, because you are going to be heading out shortly after dawn to go do some deep recon into the Zone. "Enjoy that hot meal, long shower and soft bed now, because you are probably going to be out in the field for a week or more, out there hunting the Zentraedi. Expect to have supplies air-dropped to you while you are out. You will be getting the official briefing from the XO tomorrow morning. Good hunting out there!"

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan nods, having expected to hear something like this. "Thanks for the heads-up, LT. We'll get the job done."

After getting the hover car signed back in, she turns to the team. "Well, I for one am going to go get a shower, then hit the rack. Sounds like morning will come early tomorrow, and we'll all be busy."

 

[WlfSamurai]

Somewhere deep in Alissa’s gut, an anxiety settles. It’s not nerves. Or battle jitters. It’s something else. She tries to focus on it, concentrate. A wave of memory flashes through her mind. The smoking ruin of the town. Dead bodies. Civilians. Innocents. They arrived two late.

She shakes it off and realizes she’s staring into the middle distance as Deunan finishes talking.

“Uh...” Alissa says. “Y—Yes, Ma’am! See you Oscar Mike.” She salutes and heads for the showers.

 

[Psychie]

Morning comes nice and early. Not so nice weather, though. A heavy rainstorm is moving through the region, making a mess of the roads and soaking everything outside in moments. Right after your morning PT and breakfast, the team is called into the command bunker to meet up with Capt. Shumer and Lt. Hulsizer for a mission briefing.

Once everyone has taken their seats, the Captain starts out with, "Good morning. As you probably already know, yesterday there was a sizable raid made by the Zentraedi forces from inside the Control Zone on a manufacturing plant on the outskirts of New Cabaron. The overall damage was minimal, but eight civilian workers at the plant were snatched up and taken by the enemy." He presses a button on data pad, and on the main viewing screen are now pictures of the eight people that were kidnapped.

Capt. Shumer continues. "I'll spare you the boring details, but if you were to look over the files on these people, you would find that all of them are expert computer and hardware specialists working on military hardware for the next generation of fighting vehicles." He then touches another button on his data pad, and on a second screen you can see video of the raid from several different cameras that are placed around the manufacturing plant. It does not take a genius to see that there were two different groups of raiders involved; the first bunch is a full dozen Regult Battle Pods that spend the time firing wildly, trying to cause random damage.

The second group was composed of two Glaug Officers Pods, a pair of Recon Battle Pods, three Male Power Armor, and three Female Powered Armor. This group did not waste any time, and instead made a beeline to the factory, pausing only to engage a pair of Spartan Destroids that made the valiant effort to slow them down. As you watch the video play, you see that four of the eight were grabbed up in a outside dining area, and the other four were running along a sidewalk when they were also snatched. Once they had the eight people in hand, the six flight capable Powered Armor launched themselves into the air and bolted away, and the rest of the fighting force made a quick withdraw, firing wildly to keep people's heads down.

As the video comes to a stop, Capt. Shumer says, "It is obvious to most everyone that has seen this video that the Zentraedi were deliberately targeting those people. If the enemy had wanted to, they could have leveled the entire factory, but instead only did minimal damage to the main structure with more property damage done to the surrounding city. I don't believe that this was by chance. The Zentraedi knew what they were after, and once they had their targets in hand, they left. I should not have to stress the importance of keeping these people out of the hands of the Zentraedi."

At this point, Shumer nods over at Lt. Hulsizer, and she continues the briefing. "This is where you come in. Those flying mecha were able to evade pursuit with their captives by leaving no trace of their trail, but the ground mecha had to walk to the city. That many Battle Pods will have left a clear trail for you to follow. So, your first step is to go to New Cabaron and follow their trail and see what you find. You are being sent out into the field for an extended recon run, and your mecha will be loaded down with plenty of supplies to last you several weeks out there. If you need any extra ammunition, armor patches or supplies of any kind, call it in and it will be air dropped to you. Any requests for special equipment for this run should be made to me by 1200 hours; after that you'll have to wait for it to be dropped to you later on. I'll approve just about any request you might make, just so long as we have it in our supplies here. That means no pocket nukes, and it has to be able to fit in your tanks."

Capt. Shumer looks at each one of you for a long moment, then says, "I had every intention to send along with you some infantry support in APCs, but with this rain coming down, the tracked vehicles will quickly bog down and be useless to you. For now, you will be on your own. You will still have the ability to call for air and artillery support, but make those calls wisely."

"Any questions?"

D. Rex Sherwood Rykon WlfSamurai