Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

[Sherwood]

The four MPs are easy to catch up with as they appear to be stopping to take a cigarette break. Getting a better look at them shows that they are being led by a Staff Sergeant that is old enough to be the father of Amanda and Grumpy, a corporal, and two privates first class. The two privates are pulling out packs of smokes while the corporal and the staff sergeant are quietly talking; probably about the pilot that they were just watching. As the three of you come walking up, the two smokers quickly put away their cigarettes and snap to attention, and the two NCOs stop talking and turn to face you. The sergeant looks at each of you with a nod. "Sirs. Ma'am. What can I do ya for?"

 

[Psychie]

Amanda looks a bit uncertain. This was uncharted territory that she was flying into. What if I'm wrong? What if I'm reading far too much into this, and all I end up doing is to get that lieutenant in trouble for a misunderstanding? But, what if we're right? "Sergeant, we need to speak with your CO. Now. There is something that we feel to be a potential security risk, and it has to be reported." Her tone of voice is all officer, one that has made her decision and is ready to move on it.

 

[Sherwood]

The staff sergeant's eyes narrow, and the slight Texas twang in his voice is gone. "Yes, ma'am! If you will come with us, please? We will escort you to Capt. Evanhoff immediately. Alright you pukes! You heard the lady! Move out!" With that, the three lower ranking MPs fall into position at the tail end of the three pilots, letting the sergeant take the lead. The sergeant moves out at a brisk pace, leading you to a Horizon-T's cargo bunker that is being unloaded of its payload of missiles to reload the spent ordnance of the REF fighters and Destroids that have gathered at the Forward Operating Point.

The sergeant is stopped by a pair of soldiers in Cyclone Saber armor. "State your business!"

"These officers need to speak with the Captain about a security risk."

One Cyclone turns to the three of you, and you can tell that the level of respect in their posture changes. He pulls out a small handheld computer. "Thank you, sergeant. Stand by. Sirs, your Id's, please?"

Assuming that you don't offer up any resistance to the security check, the two Cyclone guards let you pass with the sergeant. You are then led back to where a group of men and women in their CVR-3 armor all working at a display desk, very similar to the one in Lt. Commander Edward's command center in the Titan. There is several other NCOs standing next to a woman Captain. She is standing there, with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in her hand.

The Sergeant snaps to attention. "Sir, these officers have something to report on a potential security risk, and they wish to speak with the CO about it."

Taking a quick gulp of her coffee, the captain waves her hand, indicating the three of you to step forward. "Thank you, Sergeant. You may go." She waits for him to spin about and walk off before speaking again. After a quick glance at the display next to her, she looks at the three of you, giving you her full attention. "Lieutenants. Right now I am very busy, but I can spare five minutes for you. I am all ears. What has you rattled enough to come here and ask to speak directly to me?"

 

[Orikanyo]

"Pukes...? How creative.." Grumpy, as one would expect, grumbled. But they did their job nontheless which is more than what one might say from most.

But once they got there the captain appeared quite full front about the whole thing. "Thank you for your time Captain. We will be brief. Amanda could you please tell us what you heard from him and the context?" Grumpy made way for his squad mate, breaking the air so it might be easier for her. When it came to telling of this sorta thing it could be hard to find the words... Scorch was a good hearted person, but even Grumpy felt intimidated by the woman before them, not to mention Scorch did kinda have a good heart.

Even if she was abit snoopy.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda is tempted to fire off a glare at Grumpy, but she was the only one to directly hear the other Lieutenant say his comments. "I'll do my best. Sir, there was a pilot that we came upon, and he was in a screaming fit being held down by several men, apparently having been told by the Chaplain that his brother's entire squad was lost in combat. He finally calmed down, and I walked up to him to try and provide some support. He then muttered to me that 'he wasn't going to do it, but now he has no reason to be out here anymore,' then told me directly that if we go to Bulkhead 5, Frame 94, we might find a bunch of like-minded pilots waiting for us." She stops, not quite sure what to say. "Sir, we don't know what he means, but . . . the impression I got was that he was looking to do something rash, and that there were others that felt the same as he did. I would hope to be wrong, but what if we're not? We all agreed that it was something to be reported and brought to the attention of security."

 

[Sherwood]

Capt. Evanhoff slowly set down her coffee, then she looks at the three of you. "That is quite a allegation. What is the name of this pilot?"

 

[Psychie]

Amanda wracks her brain to try and remember the name of the pilot, then it comes to her. "2nd Lt. Grayson Parker, ma'am. He's assigned to the Wolverine Squad on the MacArthur. I don't know him well; there are a lot of pilots on the Mac. But I remember running across him once or twice."

 

[Sherwood]

The Captain looks over at one of the staffers with her and nods at him, indicating that he should call up the records on Lt. Parker. "Got his file up, ma'am. Here you go." She takes the data pad and begins to skim through it. "Nothing remarkable here, either in commendations or discipline reports. Hmmm." She looks back up at you. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll make sure to look into this right away. Good call to bring this to me, Lieutenants." She glances at her watch. "Is there any other details you can think of, anything that might not seem important to you that you didn't share? I want to make sure that I have a full picture of this before moving forward."

 

[Psychie]

"No, ma'am. I don't think that there was anything else. I just hope that I'm wrong, and this is all a big misunderstanding."

 

[Sherwood]

Capt. Evanhoff picks up her coffee once more and takes a swig. "I agree, but you made the right call, bringing this to me. We will check in on this. Thank you, Lieutenants. If there is nothing else? Then you are dismissed."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Heres hoping something regrettable can truly be prevented... Last thing we need is a fight between desenters and our new friends." Grumpy added before saluting. "I believe we should head back to the hangar, its almost time for us to fly again?" Grumpy turned to leave.

"Heres hoping this ends quietly... Grief makes people do horrible things, and see things that aren't there..."

 

[Sherwood]

As the three of you get back to your Valkyries, you can see that there are patches of fresh armor plate over the blast marks on your Veritechs, giving you full armor once more. It may not look too pretty, but it will keep you all safe from attacks. You can also see that your wing missile hard points have been filled with all Medium Range Plasma Warhead missiles, giving you all twelve of the forty mile range missiles, each doing 4d6x10 MDC on a successful impact. Your Super Valkyrie booster packs have been filled with Short Range HEAP missiles, each with a range of 5 miles doing 2d6x10 MDC. That is a total of 46 of the Shorts for Scorch and the Thing, and Grumpy has his limited payload of 12, thanks to his radar dome.

Alex is in his customary seat in the back of Grumpy's Valkyrie, humming to himself and listening to some music. He turns it down as you approach. "Hey. I was wondering what was keeping you. I've been sitting here for a while, watching the techs spot-weld armor and load the wings. What's up?"

 

[Psychie]

Sliding into her seat, Amanda turns to the squad only channel to talk to Alex. Now that they have some privacy, she fills in the EWO Officer the details of what she heard, and what they thought it might mean. "We went to report this to security. I just hope that we haven't gotten a good pilot in trouble for no real reason, other than he might have been just blowing off some steam." She runs through the pre-flight checks on the Valkyrie as she talks, checking on all the systems of the Veritech.

 

[Orikanyo]

"It was certainly a... Worrying thing.. still worries me. Good thing Enri isn't here or I'd probably not leave until this is settled... Heres hoping they don't pick fights with the paraxians...

I doubt the infirmary would be happy with em coming to em with 13 broken bones each... Jokes aside... Hopefully they don't do something stupid while we're gone.."

 

[Sherwood]

Alex lets out a low whistle. "Man, that's some messed up stuff. I haven't heard any talk in the halls about anything like that. But I've also been told that I'm somewhat laser focused on whatever it is that I'm doing, so if there were anyone talking about this around me, I'd probably never even notice. I guess I have to get my head into the game and pay attention better." He looks about, then turns his attention back to the controls in front of him.

"Listening to the reports coming in, the ground forces are making their way into the hive and are facing heavy resistance, but its not like we can provide much in the way of air support inside there. Looks like our next destination is back on the MacArthur."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda nods. "Yeah, I can really use a few hours of time in the gym to burn off some of this nervous energy." She pauses, then asks in a quiet voice, "Do you think that one of us should go to look into this meeting? See if there really is something to it?"

 

[Orikanyo]

"...It may be best... But not one, Amanda you were invited but we ain't gonna send you alone. Back up should be around the corner, just in case..." Grumpy mentiined, god forbid he is gonna leave this be if the option is there to do something about it.

 

[Psychie]

Amanda nods with a smile on her face. "You almost sound like you care about me, Grumpy! How sweet! Keep this up, and I might just change my mind about you. Ok, I'll go, just so long as the rest of you guys are nearby in case things go bad. Alex? You are a radio guy . . . could you whip up a hidden radio set to keep me in touch with you guys without having it seen or detected? And have it record what it hears? Might come in handy."

 

[Sherwood]

Alex scratches at his chin for a moment, then nods. "Yeah, I can whip something up for you, with a tight encrypted line to keep eavesdroppers out. But I gotta warn you, if someone has a good set, they can detect the signal, even if they can't tap into it. Just keep that in mind before you lock yourself into a course of action."

 

[Psychie]

She pauses at this, then says, "How about a recorder, with a burst transmitter? A burst transmitter wouldn't broadcast long enough to be discovered, since it is such a quick signal. We could also use a burst as a emergency signal, calling you guys in. Can you do that?"

 

[Sherwood]

He nods, "Yes, that I can pull off, and it should work just like you said. Good idea, Amanda! It won't take me long to whip that up, either. You'll be ready to go in plenty of time before this clandestine meeting."

 

[Psychie]

Amanda takes a deep breath. "Ok. Lets head back upstairs to the Mac and we can then check out this meeting." She works her straps on her seat to a more comfortable position and signals that she is ready to lift off.

 

[Sherwood]

It takes several minutes before clearance is given to be able to take off; there are a lot of aircraft flying about right now. Soon enough, the three of you are once more airborne and boosting up to clear the atmosphere on your way to rendezvous with the Command Carrier.

You have just broken the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere when Alex can be seen frowning in his squad link. "Um, guys? I'm reading a lot of foldspace signals popping in. I mean a lot. I would have to guess that the Invid have-"

He is interrupted by a alert signal. "Attention all units! Multiple unscheduled fold space signals detected! There is a high probability that this is an Invid counterstrike. Prepare for contact."

Alex lets out a few creative curse words. "I hate it when I'm right all the time. It is such a burden to be me some days. Ok, from our current position, we are just over halfway up to the orbit level of the MacArthur and her support vessels. With the Invid popping up here and there, we are probably best off to make top speed for the ship. ETA, thirty minutes."

 

[Orikanyo]

"We have to deal with this counter attack as quickly as possible. That goes without saying, lets get motoring!" The man stated getting riled up. "We only have so much time, god knows we have enough to deal with today best not make this one that takes it outta us."

 

[Sherwood]

As you boost towards the fleet, your sensors show the repeated signs of ships exiting from fold space around you in the form of at least two dozen Clam Troopships, some of which head for the planet below while others accelerate for the fleet. It is now evident that it was a good idea for a hefty part of the Veritech force of the fleet was kept in reserve.

It is thanks to your Shadow Systems keeping your Protoculture reactors hidden from the Invid that has you able to keep from being swamped by hordes of flying enemies.

At this point, you are roughly two thousand miles out from the fleet when alarms start to blare in your cockpit, signaling another ship coming out of fold space practically right on top of you! Alex lets out a yelp. "Holy shit, guys! This is a massive signal! I've never seen anything like this before."

You are not the only ones to spot the incoming ship(s). Three of the Invid Clam Troopships swerve over and begin to launch hundreds of Shock Troopers. While they swarm around, a tremendous object materializes in the space in front of you; less a ship and more a space station!



The main body of the thing is easily twenty miles across and thirty miles tall, and each of the 'small' pods are on arms two miles long and each one is large enough to hold a pair of Zentraedi Flagships! From your history lessons and training, you all know that it is a Robotech Factory; a automated factory station that travels through space on a pre-programmed course, looking for Zentraedi or Robotech Master ships to repair. According to reports you've read, there are several dozen of these factories out there, and the UEEF used one to build the Expeditionary Fleet. This one materialized less than two kilometers away from you.

While you watch, the giant station opens up dozens of hatches all across the hull and weapon turrets extend out and begin blasting the swarm of Invid slugs, using both direct fire weapons and missiles to shatter their formations. Right now, the weapons are focusing on the Invid, but it is clear that it is very deadly out here, and sooner or later, you'll be hit by the sheer volume of fire coming out of the Factory, and your armor won't be able to hold up under that kind of damage. It is only due to your Shadow Systems that have kept you alive.

What do you do?