Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

[Sherwood]

With a grin, Chen says, "I have a few more rounds; lets see how many it takes!" She then fires another missile into the Brain.

After a solid barrage from everyone, the Brain gets spattered across the floor. Everyone is glad that they have their helmets on, because the smell if probably very foul. The bomb is now set to go off. You can set the timer for up to 90 minutes before it explodes, or, you can use a direct signal to command detonate it, assuming your radio signal can get through the walls. What do you do?

 

[Orikanyo]

"...So... lets leave it on an hour and get running. We can get pretty clear with the size of the group we got, plus the distraction should still be running." grumpy reasoned the fun of having destroyed the brain was... well.. it was somewhat downplayed by the fact it looked... Well it looked absolutely horrible. But... They snuck in this palce rather well, if they could make some sort of stealthy way to get passed the invid and destroy a hive's brain they could gain an extreme upper hand!

....

Think later David, no time.

"lets leave it at a good 60 mintues and run."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda checks to make sure that the Brain is really dead by dropping off a Cobalt grenade into the mess. "Sixty minutes sounds good to me. Keep ahold of the remote. If we get clear sooner than that, we can command detonate it and watch it go up in pure light. Lets go!"

 

[Sherwood]

With the Brain killed off (with a final boom from the grenade to make sure), the squad moves off to get the hell out of there. Thankfully, there are no living Invid between you and the exit, but you do come across three dead Armored Scouts that must have been taken down by the rescued prisoners. You find the rope that leads down to the ground, still there and waiting for you.

 

[Orikanyo]

Grumpy takes one quick look around before descending the rope downwards... Hopefully not.. failing this time...

 

[Psychie]

Amanda keeps watch over the area as the others rappel down the hive. Once the others are on the ground, she takes the rope and starts down herself. She lets out a startled yelp as the rope comes loose and she tumbles down the side of the hive.

 

[Sherwood]

This time, its Amanda that comes crashing down on top of the others in the team. A few bruises and a wounded ego are the only damage you take as Alex offers you a hand up from the ground. "You ok there, Amanda? Took a nasty tumble. You ready to haul ass out of here?" With her nod, the EW specialist sets out at a steady run to get some good distance from the hive. "How big of a blast do you think it will be? That power core might not just collapse, it could detonate and make an even bigger blast. Best to get at least a mile out before stopping to catch our breath."

As you run, your helmet radios kick in. "This is Sgt. Dobson! We've done some good damage to the slugs, but there are still several dozen flying about out here still. I have one more of the Protoculture Lure shells left; I can fire it at the hive to try and get the rest of the baddies out here to go home and get blown up with their hive! Just give me a signal for when you are out of the area!"

 

[Epiphany]

Thankful for all of her physical conditioning, Chen toggles her helmet radio and says "This is Lieutenant Tseng. Good idea, Sergeant. On our signal."

Once the Storm Dragons, and any rescued prisoners are indeed far enough out, she toggles the radio again. "Sergeant Dobson, let's bring them home!"

 

[Sherwood]

Over the radio, you can hear the muffled 'thwomp!' of the mortar going off. Dobson calls out, "Its on the way! Get ready to hit the kill switch on the bomb!"

Seconds go by with no reaction from the Invid, then the circling swarm around the hill where the mines were planted earlier suddenly shift direction of their flight and start to race over towards the hive. They begin to strafe the ground around the Protoculture Lure, kicking up dirt. The Invid are probably as close to the hive as they are going to get right now.
The bomb is counting down, but it is not set to explode for another half hour. That is, unless you decide to command detonate it now and hope to catch the swarm in the blast.
Epiphany

 

[Psychie]

Amanda feels exultant at the thought of watching this hive blow up in pure light. With all the Invid swarming around the Lure, they may be able to get most, if not all of them in a good sized blast radius. "C'mon, Chen! Light that fire! Lets have some payback on these assholes."

 

[Epiphany]

The prisoners have been rescued. The enemy defeated. Were this a sports game, the sportsmanlike way to go would be to shake hands. Were this a military action with clear communication with command, taking the enemy as prisoners would be appropriate. But the Invid had tortured their prisoners in ways no sane, ethical species would. Chen didn't flinch as she flipped the cover and thumbed the detonator on the remote.

 

[Sherwood]

For a moment, you are met by silence, making you start to wonder if the signal to the bomb made it. Then, a rumble deep in the earth that can be felt as far away from the hive as you are now shows you that the explosive has gone off. The blast of the Reflex bomb must have hit the power core, because the relatively contained blast of the bomb you planted is instantly magnified into a tremendous blast that takes the entire top of the hive off in a flash of light! The explosion is powerful enough to shake the ground around you, dropping you to your hands and knees, and most of the airborne Invid around the vaporized hive are also destroyed.

As you watch the growing plume of smoke rise up into the air, a surprising sight can be seen in the air above you. A group of six Alpha and six Beta fighters tear across, launching missiles into the few Invid that survived the massive explosion! Then, from farther up, there is a series of energy weapon blasts that shoot down into the rubble of the hive. Those shots come from a very familiar sight: a Garfish Class Troopship! The lower hangar bay doors open wide and several heavy Destroids jump out and drop to the ground, followed by a good 50 or 60 Cyclones.

Alex lets out a jubilant shout. "Yes! That is the sight I was hoping to see!" He clicks on his helmet radio and calls out, "UEEF forces! This is Lt. Alex Kilgore of the Storm Dragon Squadron! We are in need of immediate evac! We have several wounded that need attention ASAP! Activating emergency beacon now."

A professional voice on the other end responds, "Copy that, Storm Dragons. This is the Roger Young, and we've been looking for you for quite a while. Glad to have made contact. Hold position. We are sending help your way."

Alex grins. "Copy that. We are anxiously waiting to get back in the cockpit and get away from this infantry stuff." He turns to look at everyone around him. "Thank God they are here."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Glad to hear you Roger Young, bring in medical teams we have many who were captured and held for days, along with somebody who had been... Well... Worked on, by the Invid. Awaiting pick up." grumpy let out a sigh of relief, begnning to get back into his regular slouch. "Man... Some work this had been... Oh shoot." he quickly opened up the comms again. "We need a bunch of clothes as well, invid apparrently like their captives all natural."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda lets out a deep sigh of relief, and a level of tension is flowing out of her. Then, a odd thought comes up. "Where have you been, Roger Young? How did you guys know we were here, right at this time?" She has a bad feeling about this.

 

[Sherwood]

"Understood. Recovery teams are on the way. We just need to make sure that there are no surprises waiting for us down there, and let the mecha do some Invid cleanup." When Scorch asks about where the Garfish was, you get a surprising answer. "We have been contacted by a small group of aliens, calling themselves the Haydonites. They were able to give us coordinates to locate you. Their exact words were, '"You have been tested, and judged worthy. Destruction of the Invid at their location is imminent, making recovery possible."" We are not sure what they were talking about, but if there was a chance to rescue some missing members of the REF, we'll take it."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Haydonites...? Those must've been the little shits who took us here.." Grumpy spat, he was already done with those little bastards...

 

[Epiphany]

While waiting for rescue to arrive, Chen corrals up the rescued survivors and leads the team to the nearest clear area with sufficient space for shuttles to land safely and easily. That includes helping to transport the wounded, the experiments and anyone needing some extra help.

If and when shuttles land, she's quick to inform them of the ordinance drop locations in case the UEEF wants to dispatch a shuttle to pick up the gear. There's still the mystery of where it all came from but leaving it behind could provide the Invid a research opportunity that could be exploited into a tactical advantage, if found later by the enemy.

 

[Sherwood]

The Cyclones and one of the Alphas are the first to show up at your location. Several of the bikers shift into their armored forms while one of the bikers breaks out a large medical pack and begins to examine the rescued solders from the Raven. The man that had his arm removed is knocked out and pumped full of meds to kill off any nasty bugs that might be in his system. As they work to stabilize him, some of the riders pull out ponchos to wrap up everyone to protect them from the elements and maintain their modesty.

Over the next hour, the Roger Young sets down on the planet and begins to load everyone into the ship. All of those that had been taken by the unusual ship are put into quarantine until you can get back to one of the Command Cruisers that have a larger medical bay with more advanced equipment to give everyone a full exam to make sure that you are safe to be around. The ship's doctor does make sure that everyone is as comfortable as possible before the ship's Captain and XO both come down to talk with your squad.

The Captain is a thin, wiry man with no hair. His name is Noels. The XO is one of the new aliens that the fleet has rescued; this one is a Spherian - one of the stone people. His name is Ram. Capt. Noels is in a sealed suit of CVR-3 armor, but Ram is wearing only a jumpsuit. Noels gives each of you a hearty handshake, "I'm sorry that we have you in lockdown right now, but until we can say with certainty that there was nothing done to you by the teleportation, we need to be careful. Now, let me tell you some of what has happened while you were gone."

"It has been almost three weeks that your people went missing, and the whole fleet has been on high alert. We began an extensive search for any signs of you, but it was like trying to grab ahold of a cloud. There was just no traces. But, two days ago, we did find a small ship with three beings on it, and they wanted to deliver a set of messages. They identified themselves as a part of the Haydonite race, a fact that was confirmed by our other allies. These messages included the fact that they admitted to being the ones that abducted you and the crew of the Raven in order to 'evaluate' us as a species." Capt. Noels looks angry; very angry, but you can tell that his rage is not directed at you. "Apparently, they have been observing you for some time, and something you did out there gave them a happy feeling about the UEEF, and they made the decision to allow us to come and pick you up."

"Now, before you decide to go off and shove a Reflex missile up their asses, be aware that Admiral Kutzuzov has been at the negotiating table non-stop, reaming them for the deplorable act that they pulled on you. As a concession for the lives that were put into danger, the Haydonites have agreed to share several pieces of advanced technology with us, including a super Stealth system that will make you invisible to all forms of radar, and will even shadow your Protoculture power reactors from the sensors of the Invid. There is other stuff on the table that the Atlas' team is working to adapt to Earth tech, some of it is absolutely amazing."

"Our interviews with these guys has shown that they do not have the same level of respect for the individual that we do, and at first, they seemed to be genuinely confused as to what they did wrong. As of my last update from the Lenin, it sounds like these creepy bastards are finally beginning to understand why we are so upset, and that's why they are sharing so much with us that they normally wouldn't have." He pauses for a moment, then says, "Well, that's all fine and good, but despite the fact that the Admiralty has decided to embrace these Haydonites, I don't have to like them. We are getting some nice new toys to play with, but at the cost of several good men and women that either are dead, or horribly maimed by the Invid. Is it worth it? I don't know. I guess that I'll never know. But what I do know, you will play nice with any Haydonite you run across. No one is telling you to make them your next new drinking buddy, but any interaction with them will be professional at all times. Am I absolutely clear on this? Complain to your friends and squad mates, but always, always treat them with respect."

With a grunt, he goes on. "You will most likely be meeting with the Admiral for an awards ceremony for the excellent job you have done down there. Not only did you survive in the wilderness of an unknown planet against overwhelming odds, but you prevailed in rescuing several prisoners before causing the destruction of the bulk of the hive! Damn fine work, showing that your team has the right stuff. The downside to this is that you have now catapulted yourselves to the top of the 'go to' pile for top level teams when we have a tough nut to crack. I hope you are up to the challenge."

"I am going to let you get some rest while we make tracks to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. That gives you until tomorrow night to catch up on some sleep. Before I go, are there any quick questions that I can answer for you?"

 

[Orikanyo]

"Abit of rest sounds great." Grumpy sighed, whatever anger he held began seeping away into the melancholy of his usual living standard. "Understood, I'll focus myself on the tech rather than the Haydonites' flawed test... On got a few questions about em, like what do they even look like? Will they be sharing other tech?" Grumpy wasn't gonna say it out loud, but the idea of rooting through amnother alien species' attic for interesting antiques was a fun idea... He still had three other species worth of aliens to look through yet, but they didn't have a space that was largely their own yet.

The shields were a success, may as well find a...

"Ah, the robotic creatures the invid sent at us, did we pick up one of the destroyed ones for examination?."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda goes pale as she hears the info on these Haydonites. "Sir, I have to admit, I'm in the same boat as you with how I feel about our new 'allies'. But, I will follow orders as to how I will deal with these beings. We were gone for weeks? How is that even possible?" She shakes her head in disbelief.

 

[Epiphany]

"No sir, our orders are clear."

Chen looks around at the squad members of the Storm Dragons, then smiles confidently as she looks back at the Captain. "And we're ready for any assignment we get. Just...preferably after we've all had a shower first."

Once the Captain and XO have left the team alone, she looks back at her team. "How are you guys?" she asks quietly. Her gaze shifts from Amanda to Alex to Derek. "At ease, everyone. It's just us here right now. We've all been through training, we've flown a number of missions but this was not a scenario anyone expected to drop into our laps. No intel, no prep, no backup against a nearly unknown enemy with no expectation of rescue. And we apparently lost weeks of our lives, not just several days."

"How are you?" Her sweeping eye contact makes it plain she's expecting some kind of an answer from every person on the Storm Dragons.

 

[Orikanyo]

"tired, hungry, curious, grumpy. So, the usual." the man seemed to already be back into his usual stride, showing a testament to his considerable mental endurance. "Whats a little kidnapping now and again. Not gonna flip out and break any time soon." he shuffled a foot on the ground, noticing a pebble stowing away in his boot.. How had he not noticed it all this time..? Guess doing the tango with a bunch of invid takes one's mind off the small things.

"....Wait... three weeks? Shit Enri is gonna be so worried..." he sighed, looking more down than usual. "Never gonna let me hear the end of it..."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda sort of sinks down into a seat, obviously not happy. "Other than being stuck in here like a lab rat, I guess I'm ok. I mean, we came out of that test on top, with no casualties in our squad. Can't say so much for the crew of the Raven, though. It just sucks big time that we are going to be working with these Haydonite assholes, and every time we look at some of their 'magical' tech, we get to remember the casualties and the horrors we walked in on. Sir, I respectfully request for some mental health counseling once we get out of quarantine. I hope to still be able to fly, but I can already picture the nightmares I'll be having after all of this."

 

[Sherwood]

Alex looks over at Chen with a very serious expression. "LT, with everything that has gone on these past few days, I feel like I've been pulled through the wringer. This is just some shit waaaay over my pay grade, and I'm glad that the Czar (Admiral Kutzuzov) is the one to deal with the implications of the past few weeks."

There is little to do for the next day and a half, other than rest, eat, read or try to perform some minor exercises in the cramped room bunk room that has been set aside for the survivors of the planet and the Invid. It is a flash of good news when you hear that you have reached the rest of the fleet. Now that you are back, you are immediately whisked away to the medical bay onboard the Fabricator Ship Atlas. Being the biggest ship of the fleet, it has the most room for a full scale hospital with the absolute latest in medical technology. Once there, you are split up by gender, stripped, scanned, disinfected, and pumped full of drugs to make sure you have no alien bugs inside you. After two full weeks of routine scans, with the occasional message from Enri for Grumpy and Zyorna for Chen trying to keep your spirits up, you are all released for flight duty once more.

Before you are able to shuttle over to the MacArthur, you are given your Class A uniforms to suit up in, and you are told to expect a big event to be waiting for you with many of the high ranking officers of the fleet to present you with medals for your great work. As you step off the shuttle, you are met by an actual band playing real instruments! Most of the ship's Command Staff is there, along with the Admiral himself.

Standing off to one side, along with the other representatives of the new alien races, is a trio of newcomers that you have not seen before.

They are the mysterious Haydonites, and they are watching you closely. It might just be a idle thing, thanks to the pomp and circumstance of the awards ceremony, or it could be something a little more intense. Hard to tell, especially since they seem to be completely wrapped up in some kind of encounter suit.

The Admiral gives a brief speech to the assembled officers and crew, going on about how your actions were directly responsible for saving the lives of the captured members of the Raven's crew. With his brief monologue done, he pins shiny new medals on your uniforms and grants you a very brief smile. True praise indeed, coming from the Czar.

 

[Psychie]

When it is her turn to stand before the Admiral and have the medal pinned on her, it is more than just a simple piece of metal. It means so much more to her, to have her efforts recognized by the high command, especially for rescuing the missing crew. It was sad that it wasn't all twenty three, but many were killed by the Invid before they ever had a chance to get to work. At least they were able to save a bunch.

Amanda stands straight at attention as the Admiral gives her the award, and the weight of the ribbon on her uniform feels good. A snap salute later and a very proud, "Thank you, sir!" wraps up her part of the program as she drifts in her own little daydream world. Damn right I got a medal! We sure as shit earned it!