Robotech - Tales of the UEEF (Main)

[Psychie]

Pyrrah is silent, since she was not a part of the squad when much of the events that Grumpy is talking about happened. She knew of them, of course. It was a part of the curriculum in pilots training where they learned about the Haydonites and the 'test' that they put the Storm Dragons through, all to see if the humans of the UEEF were worthy. The fact that this human was using the trials of this squad, the losses that they were put through, as an excuse for this mutiny was shameful and very dishonorable.

She grips the rifle in her hands tightly, waiting for the time it is called for to be used against the mutineers.

 

[Sherwood]

With a thud, The Thing is able to knock out the man easily, leaving you sitting in the hallway. The one surviving guard at the elevator comes walking up. "Thanks for the help! I was sure we were all going to end up dead when it all hit the fan." She reaches down and snags up one of the dropped Valliant rifles off of the floor.

As this is going on, some of the others in the mess hall begin to poke their heads out to take a look at the carnage in the hallway. Most quickly pull back after seeing the mess, but a few have the stomach to come out with the bodies bleeding out on the floor. The one guard looks about at the group of people, and she goes up to Grumpy. "Looks like you are the ranking officer here, sir. I think I heard you say that you were going to Engineering? I have to stay and keep the lifts secure, and if I can have some of these people here arm themselves and help keep the ones up on the Command Deck from making a flanking attempt to capture the Engineering Section." She goes up to a section of the wall and slides open the panel to reveal a half dozen sets of armor and a assortment of rifles.

Speaking of weapons, Pyrrah's EP-37 has 75 charges left on its power cell, and you can see on the belt of the Bearman another power cell and four Cobalt Limpet Mines.

 

[Orikanyo]

"A good call, those with side arms still will split into even groups, one group will come with us to help those unarmed get to safety, others will stay here and hold down this area. Once we have a supply of fresh armaments we'll make our way back here and resupply, deal with injuries and so forth.

Remember, we are the UEEF, we fight for peace and liberty against all threats. These people seek to hurt that, to denounce all of those who have made sacrifices thus far for the sake of our vision!

Band together! It doesn't matter whos made of what, we fight together!

Now, lets get moving and get the reinforcements we need, unarmed soldiers on us, we'll be the front, those with side arms take up the rear and watch our backs.

If we got any speacialists here make yourself known. Crew members who know the ship well also come forward."

 

[Sherwood]

Most of the people in the mess hall are simply passengers like yourselves, but there are a few that are actually members of the ship's crew that step forward. There is a trio of big, beefy guys that tell you that they are a part of the deck crew that's responsible for basic maintenance and arming of the fighters on board, along with some minor repairs on the ship. A middle aged woman wearing doctor's scrubs joins them along with a younger man, saying that she is the ships chief medical officer and her head nurse. Not exactly the SEAL team members you were hoping for.

The other soldiers on the ship that were catching a ride up to the Mac are a mix of less experienced Navy and Marine pilots of both the high flying Veritechs and the heavier Destroids, and a couple of communications officers. These soldiers grab up what they can to defend the elevators from other hostiles coming down from the Command Deck.

When you decide to go aft towards Engineering, you are joined by the three deck crewmen and the doctor. They all grab up rifles of various types from the wall panel, strap on some armor on their chests, and they fall in with you. Moving at a jog through the halls, you come to the heavy doors of the Engineering section. There are the remains of a pair of security guards that fell to the mutineers, along with signs of damage to the blast doors showing that the mutineers tried to get access to the aft sections of the ship.

How do you proceed?

 

[Orikanyo]

Grumpy glanced to the others and nodded. "I'll head first, hands up, keep your eyes out in the corridors." He put his pistol down and came out to the doirs.

"Helli? Anyone alive in there? This is Captain David Darwin, we have encountered a couple of mutineers near the lifts and had to deal with a damn cyclone, theres a handful of us here, we are armed incase we are found by any patrolling hostiles but we have many unarmed with us.

We also have the head doctor with us for any wounded, is anybody in there?"

 

[Sherwood]

The doctor adds her voice to Grumpy's, saying, "This is Doctor Bates! Is Chief Gordon in there? He still owes me fifty dollars from Poker Night!"

After a moment, you can hear the locks on the door unlatch and it slides open to reveal three people peeking around the door frame, trying to keep as much of themselves under cover as possible. One lets out a relieved sigh. "Doc! Thank God its you. Eric is hurt; we've done what we can for him, but we are better with Protoculture Reactors than we are with broken legs." Once they step back, you can see that they had armed themselves with heavy tools; big enough to knock a person flying after a solid hit.

Inside the main Engineering compartment, you can see one other man besides the three at the door, but this one is very pale with a makeshift splint wrapped around his left thigh. Through clenched teeth, he says, "These guys tried their best to immobilize me, but if you can take a look at their handy work, I'd be right grateful." His gaze goes up to look at the armed men and women in the room. "How bad is the situation? We've been cut off from all internal communication for a while."

 

[Nokie]

After Grumpy had decided on striking aft toward Engineering and with the other crew members in tow, Bishop engaged the Garfish stragglers, singling out those with experience in the Veritech hangers.

“Question for you folks, there any Cyclones stowed near the flight hangers? There are typically Cyclones stored in dedicated VT bays for downed pilot use, particularly in the Alphas and Betas, any chance we could grab some of them?”

After the heavy doors opened revealing the survivors inside, Bishop lowers his Valiant thinking to himself, ‘What could have been their end-game? They just going to waltz off with a starship, hoping nobody would notice? There’s got to be more to this mutiny than twenty disgruntled soldiers.’

 

[Sherwood]

As you are walking aft, one of the NCOs of the trio of deck crewmen look over at Bishop. "Depending on the mecha, there may be Cyclones inside them. Other than that, the bulk of our own small mecha were deployed when we sent our infantry forces off the ship to bolster the clean up on the hive site."

"Hey, yeah! We should have a few useable Cyclones down there! Why didn't we think of that?"

"There wasn't any time to do so before now. But at least we hold the hangar bay. They ones on the bridge can't get to it."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Good call, the flight hangar should be next but we should swing by with what we can to fortify the lift area, they are kinda sitting ducks out there without any reinforcement." grumpy noted before continuing. "The command deck has ben taken over, we don't know whats going on up there but engineering is where the true control is I'd wager. if we could get a handle on outward comms we could contact the Macarthur and brief them on the situation, and undo any of the shit these twats are trying to pull.

Do we have any extra weapons or armor stored down here? perhaps something getting repaired? We need to get as many people suited up with reliable weapons and armor so we can take back the areas of this ship.

We haven't heard news from the hanger but it's clear to say they would have people in there. We need to pull out all the stops.."

 

[Psychie]

A wicked grin crosses Pyrrah's face. "If we hurry, we may be able to surprise our 'friends' up in the Command Deck by doing a EVA along the outer hull of the ship! They will most likely be thinking about defending themselves from a direct attack from the elevators. By going out and around, we can access the upper decks behind their defense line! We can catch them by surprise that way." A slightly less happy look shows up on her face. "We will have to be cautious not to breach the hull. With so many of the crew not in airtight compartments, we would kill off many of our allies in the process of retaking the ship."

 

[Orikanyo]

"A good call, we can definitly take that approach... perhaps even having the threat of a valkyrie may turn the tide in our favor...Then again.. they may just call out bluff..." Grumpy thought about then shook his head. "perhaps not, this is likely to be solved within the ship, if push comes to shove We may evacuate through a ship or so... But..."

Regardless, we're takeing back this ship no matter what.

We first need to get that hanger and fortify our friends by the lfit, lets start with these two goals."

 

[Red Shadow Claws]

Thing declares "I'll get the hangar, if anyone wants to come along, they are welcome." And his still bloody body turns to the exit, going to the hangar. He'd take a short glimpse to see if anyone is following...

 

[Orikanyo]

"We go together, don't get antsy just because you want to see it done. That aside people can be sent ahead for the reinforcement regardless..." Grumpy sighed, impatience already? Who the hell was the captain here...?

 

[Nokie]

Alex comes out from the mess hall cautiously. "The upper deck has been seized by the mutineers ..."

"If we hurry, we may be able to surprise our 'friends' up in the Command Deck by doing a EVA along the outer hull of the ship!"

Really liking this idea Bishop offers, "Grumpy, we have any idea if there are any friendlies on the Command Deck? I could imagine nothing sweeter than depressurizing the entire command area. Knock this 'rebellion' out in one fell swoop." Thinking for a minute he continues, "Of course, that all depends on if the command deck even has access to the outer hull. I've got no idea how these ships are laid out."

Before they head off to the hangers Bishop turns to Chief Gordon, "Any chance you can help us even the odds a bit? Maybe knock out power to the elevator shafts or better yet, black out the entire command deck?"

 

[Orikanyo]

"Well, one might imagine theyir keeping the crew up there, if the mutineers aren't the crew themselves...

I don't quite know about the captain himself, but i may know the face of one of the people involved..."

 

[Sherwood]

When asked about leveling the odds a bit, the Chief is quiet for a moment, then nods. "I can have my guys here mess with them good. Cutting off the gravity up there unexpectedly for one. If you are in Cyclones, you can use your maneuvering thrusters to move while they are all flailing about. If we coordinate that, you can have a real advantage, especially if you have any zero-g training."

Alex nods. "I can rig up a signal booster with a few minutes in the Valkyrie, and it can transmit with enough power to make it a short distance, even if the ship is jamming our comms. But I want to make sure you understand, I want to suit up and come along with you guys. Besides, you'll need every gun you can get on your side against what? Another fifteen or so mutineers?" He looks quite insistent on this. He looks over at the deck crewmen. "You guys know what has been loaded up in the hangar bay? What do we have to work with?"

"We have . . . nine damaged Alphas that were too badly banged up to make it into orbit on their own, a couple of Valkyries, and a mix of ten destroids of various types. Some of those birds have got to have enough Cyclones in them to get the job done."

 

[Nokie]

"Well, one might imagine theyir keeping the crew up there, if the mutineers aren't the crew themselves..."

"Well I suppose that idea is out the window then!" Bishop replies simply.

"I don't quite know about the captain himself, but i may know the face of one of the people involved..."

At this Bishop offers, "All the more reason to capture the Command Deck intact."

If we coordinate that, you can have a real advantage, especially if you have any zero-g training."

As the Chief mentions zero-g Bishops mind races back to his days in training, gunnery and infiltration warriors putting his squad of recon MOS wannabe's through the paces. Mock firefights and room clears all conducted in perilous zero-g environments. Performing complex corridor and open-space maneuvers without the comforting embrace of Cyclone power armor or battloid-mode Veritechs. Just an H-90 Gallant and some CVR-3 to keep the vacuum and a twisted grin instructor at bay. Graceful and unnerving mixed with a helping fistful of white-knuckle terror, all at the same time.

Coming back to the present, he merely nods at the Chief, "Roger that, I've had a tumble or two in zero-g training."

"Some of those birds have got to have enough Cyclones in them to get the job done."

"I'll get started checking the fighters, their emergency stowage bays are easily accessible from a powered down Alpha." Looking about at the others, Bishop is ready to go.

 

[Sherwood]

As the Chief begins to give off orders to his men, the doctor examines the injured leg. She makes a few minor modifications to the splint, but overall seems satisfied in the makeshift medical work done by the men treating him. She glances up and jokes with the engineers, "If you were hoping for a promotion for this, you are in for some bad news. He's going to live. It feels like a relatively clean break, so it won't take me long to set the leg in a cast and get you up and running in short order. I just need to get to Medical, and that is up on the Command Deck. Sorry, Chief. It looks like you'll have to deal with the pain for a bit longer."

He grits his teeth and nods. "I understand, Doc. Not much you can do for me here." Looking up at Grumpy, he says, "Captain, we can keep Engineering secure. All you have to do is give the word and I can at least cut the gravity, hell, I can chop the power to the whole upper deck. The emergency generators will kick in quickly, but for a moment, you can have the element of surprise on your hands. Just get those bastards for me."

It doesn't take long for Alex to trade encryption codes and radio frequencies to use. Alex then nods. "We'll hit the comms with the code word 'blackout' to signal you when we are ready to go. Grumpy? If we will only have a moment to capitalize on this, we'll have to make sure to move fast, with whatever action we want to pull off."

A alarm beep from one of the consoles cuts through the conversation. One of the sergeants looks at the screens and says, "They are trying to hack into the Fold Space Engine. If they can crack the codes, we may be off on our way on a long trip. You guys had better hurry."

 

[Psychie]

Pyrrah hefts the stolen rifle in her hands and looks at the others. "I am ready. Let us go to the hangar bay and bring these mutineers to the justice they deserve." She looks at Grumpy and nods. "As you command, sir, I will be your weapon."

 

[Orikanyo]

"Alright, we'll get to the hangar bay. We have tp hurry our asses, lets hit that hangar!" Grumpy motioned forwards before eyeing his pistol. "...Really should have grabbed a rifle..." he sighed before moving.

"Those who are heading to the lift should hurry, we'll have to hold that for a time longer. Lets get that hangar and those cyclones!"

 

[Sherwood]

Setting off at a good speed, the Storm Dragons head back to the elevators where a makeshift barricade of tables and chairs from the mess hall, with firing points manned by the few people with their sidearms just waiting for any sign of someone coming out. A quick check of the elevators show that they have been locked up on the Command Deck, making any effort to storm the Flight Bridge that much harder.

Fortunately, there is an emergency access ladder that you can use to lower yourselves down to the Hangar. It just takes a bit of elbow grease to pry the doors of the elevators open to reveal the ladder set in the side of the shaft. It just takes some coordination to be able to swing out on the handholds provided before you are able to get a hold of the rungs of the ladder. Lucky for you, the squad is composed of a bunch of top-notch pilots with razor sharp reflexes, so you have little trouble with this.

With as strong-willed as Pyrrah is, it is most likely that she will be insistent on taking the lead to climb down. The hangar deck is split between the upper and lower level, both are currently filled with damaged mecha of various types. Which do you go to?

 

[Orikanyo]

"Lower level is where the heavier stuff may be located, higher may give us our own mecha. God knows I could use my rifle from there. My cyclone is intact, along with my mecha with little damage thankfully.

Remind me to kick the brass's ass when i get back will yea? Call this shit the calm before the storm for their stupid orbit bombarding asses." Grumpy, was as one might expect, was still Grumpy.

"Higher is my vote."

 

[Nokie]

'So, I walked up that mecha ramp... then there was the deck signalman, he had me take a right... no a left, up a short rise or was it down a short rise'

Bishop racks his brain trying to remember how he managed to get his battered Beta aboard the ship. 'Just canNOT remember!' He gives up.

"Higher is my vote."

Smiling at the 'vote' Bishop chimes in, "Well, considering your vote counts at least ten times as much as my vote. Just point the way Cap, we're bound to find something useful no matter which way we go. Problem is, we're also bound to find something shooting us too!"

"I'm not exactly opposed to opening a hatch into the business end of an EU-1380, not ideal though. Think we should toss one of those mine's in before we go rushing through? Anybody think to grab a flash-bang?"

 

[Psychie]

Pyrrah nods. It is good that her new commander is willing to take input from his team, just so long as he is able to keep his control over the members. He is good at what he does, and will lead us all to victory. "I will open the door and take a look out to see what is out there, waiting for us. That way, I am the only one that is risking being hit, assuming that the mutineers have people down here."

With the EP-37 slung over her shoulder, the tall redhead takes a firm grip on the ladder with one hand, and with the other she reaches out to unlatch the door and pushes it open just enough to look out.

Spoiler

Combat Bonuses
Number of Attacks: 5
Strike: +8
Parry: +10
Dodge: +8
Roll with Punch: +9
Initiative: +2
Perception: +6
Disarm: +2
Horror Factor: +2 to Save
All Expeditionary Force Marines receive a+ 1 to strike with any rifle or energy rifle

EP-37: 1d4x10 damage on a five round burst. 85 single shots

CVR-3 M.D.C. for female armor:
Helmet – 50
Arms (2) – 30
Legs (2) – 40
Main Body – 90 / -18

 

[Sherwood]

When Pyrrah peeks out the cracked doors, she doesn't see much in the way of people; the hangar bay is pretty quiet with just a few techs visible as they work on the damaged armor of the various mecha in the bay. It would almost seem as if they don't know that there has been any trouble on the upper decks with all of the noise of cutters and welders filling the air.