Splicers - I Am Legion - IC Thread

[Eonivar]

Jin had been awoken after their 8 hours were up, they had sat up in the corner along the wall. Their host suit did not need to eat (it does not even have a mouth). Jin knew now they could go on for four days without sleep or rest if need be.

They stood up and stretched and did some warm up exorcises and then proceeded to check their gear and weapons while listening to the situation.

Jin checked in on the Shiva frequency for a few minutes to make sure they had not come back before flipping it off again.

"I agree with Toni, flying is quicker yes, but as soon as they detect us we will get every robot in the region on us, and those sky fighters can cover a lot of ground very quickly...I would say once we complete our mission...flying out with the chaos would be our best bet, but going in, lets stick to the ground and with stealth."

 

[Sherwood]

Axel looks at Toni with an approving nod. "Seems that the ladies have the right idea. Sneak in like mice, plant these Squealers, and get the heck out of here with our intel on how well they work without getting slagged by some overaggressive toaster. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't fly. So I would need to be given a ride by someone on our way out of here. I had always planned on getting some flight capability in my Host Armor, but not yet. Maybe when we get back to the Kraken I'll get that upgrade."

 

[Purr]

Axel looks at Toni with an approving nod. "Seems that the ladies have the right idea. Sneak in like mice, plant these Squealers, and get the heck out of here

"'Right idea was not first presented by ladies," Chaska thought to himself. He wonders if JodiAxel, the male with the partly-female name, had somehow mistaken Chaska for a woman. He had hoped not, because Chaska in no way sounded like a woman and he felt JodiAxel had been in the field too long if he had. =)

"I agree with Toni, flying is quicker yes, but as soon as they detect us we will get every robot in the region on us, and those sky fighters can cover a lot of ground very quickly...I would say once we complete our mission...flying out with the chaos would be our best bet, but going in, lets stick to the ground and with stealth."

"Why fly out if no need?" Chaska asks while pondering the idea. "Whole idea of sneak is enemy has no idea we there. Think farther, Jin Li," Chaska says with a positive tone. "We fly out, what stop Machine to follow us back to Kraken? This bad for Kraken and us; only good for Machine. And as JodiAxel say, not all of us can fly."

Chaska looks to Toni, Lance, Pretty Bird, and then the other Splicers. "Cerberus original plan - Lance and Pretty Bird stay and watch our way out. Toni, Chaska, Woodstock deliver last Squealers to Facility. Hush-hush."

Chaska glances from Toni to Jin. "Perhaps JinLi and Toni swap? JinLi stealth stronger than Toni, yes? We plant last Squealers, then all of us make far away - best never seen. The farther away we are from Facility when it die, better for us, worse for Machine."

 

[Psychie]

Toni nods at Chaska’s comment, saying, “Getting away from here in one piece is an idea I can get behind. But just remember, a part of this mission was to observe Ava see how effective the Squealers are in guiding the Worms to their targets. So we’re get them planted, watch from a distance, then get a move on back to the Kraken.”

“Jin, Chaska has a good point. My Host Armor only has camouflage and not the full stealth field. It makes sense to me that the suits with the stealth fields make the insertion attempt to place the Squealers. We then settle in for the wait for the Kraken to launch the missiles. Does that sound doable to you?”

Eonivar

 

[Eonivar]

Jin gave a head bob in acknowledgement. "Sure, no problem, just tell me what I need to do."

 

[Psychie]

Toni pulls out one of the Squealers and shows Jin how to turn it on. “They can stick to just about anything, including glass. Metal is still a bad idea for obvious reasons. Just place the slug somewhere out of sight on a critical target and sneak out and let the Kamikaze Worms do the rest. The Kraken will be launching a total of twelve of the Worms in one minute intervals and we get to sit back and enjoy the show.”

 

[Eonivar]

Jin takes the Squealer and looks at it, turning it this way and that.

"Ah ok. How many do you want me to carry?"

 

[Psychie]

Toni says, "I would think that our odds of success are going to be greater if the Squealers are split up between you and Chaska and you both move into the plant to tag different targets. That way if things go south on us, we won't lose our entire bunch of Squealers. I just wish we had more intel on the layout of the industrial plant to know where the best spots to place the beacons for maximum effect. We'll need to get eyes on the place and observe the plant to identify routes in and out, along with critical areas to trigger the destruction of the whole center."

 

[Eonivar]

Jin removed her pack, opening it, and accepted any of the Squealers they wanted her to carry, and pack within, adjusting their load for balance.

"Well let's pack up and head out."

They finished balancing their pack and then put it back on, making sure it was strapped to their Host Suit properly to make sure their stealth field would not be compromised and so it would not make any extra noise. Jin did some stretches and quick katas to make sure they could move and fight easily with the new load, and then looked at the rest of the team.

"I am ready."

 

[Sherwood]

With the load of Squealers now split between Chaska and Jin, the combined squad sets out on foot. Thanks to your Host Armor, you can keep up a faster pace and not get tired out nearly as fast as if you were simply on foot.

Several times as you travel you come across recent signs of heavy tracked robots having come through the area recently, and up in the sky there are occasional sightings of robotic aircraft that make you all huddle down and camouflage up to avoid being spotted.

The best approach to the industrial plant leads you along at a good pace and the miles quickly pass. Soon you are within visual range of the plant.

Looking it over, there are three different structures, one large and two smaller, and a high speed monorail line connects to the facility to the rest of the world. Several Battle Tracks can be seen patrolling along the outer perimeter, along with several dozen smaller bots. A small landing pad can be seen that has room for several aircraft, but only a few heavy transport lifters are there, unloading supplies to the plant. Finally, there is a wall that is twenty feet tall that has guard towers spaced out every five hundred feet with weapon emplacement visible on them. This place would take quite a bit of firepower to bring down in a direct assault.

You now have 3 days and 22 hours before the Kraken begins to launch its Kamikaze Worms. What do you do now?

 

[Psychie]

Toni uses the optical zoom in her Host Armor to try and get a better look at the place. As she eyes the facility, she idly comments, "If I remember correctly, the Chief said that this plant has something to do with building missiles, so I am fully onboard with this effort to make the place go up in flames. We just need to identify the best way in and out for our insertion team that won't get them blasted and ruin our whole mission. First off, lets observe the patrols and see if there is any kind of pattern to it that we can take advantage of, along with that monorail. Are there any pattern to the train arrival and departure times? Once past the outer patrols, there is that wall to deal with. There has to be ways inside that our insertion team can use. At that point, the mission lies in the hands of Chaska and Jin to find the best places to hide the Squealers and get out."

She looks back at the combined squad and says, "While they are doing that, the rest of us should dig in and use the surrounding foliage as additional cover and camouflage, and get used to lying around motionless and as quiet as mice for the next few days. Remember, this is a sneak mission. Unless we are about to be rolled over by one of those Battle Tracks, we lay low and don't engage the enemy. Are we 100% clear on that? We draw attention to ourselves, and the Machine will be all over us like stink on shit."

"At least we have plenty of food so we won't be going hungry while we wait. Anyone want a protein bar?" Toni hands out some snackage to those that want it, and as she is munching away at her own bar, she says, "Ok, lets cover up and get some good camouflage going around us, so we can all hide with pride."

 

[Sherwood]

Axel wastes no time in starting to dig in and pull some loose foliage over to cover up his hasty foxhole. As he works, he keeps pausing to give his efforts a critical examination, changing the way some brush is lasting over his hidey hole. If anyone offers to help he gives a nod and happily accepts, offering up directions on how to keep the hide well concealed.

When he’s finally satisfied, he turns to look at the rest of the party. “It won’t block a bullet, but this is going to keep the toasters from spotting us and having a hissy cow and attacking everyone. There is just enough room for everyone if we are cozy so we can observe the impacts of the missile strike safely.”

 

[Psychie]

When Axel starts digging, Toni rolls up her metaphorical sleeves and joins in, making the hole big enough and deep enough to provide good cover to them all. With Axel providing direction, she aids his efforts to pull foliage over to cover up their foxhole to keep it from getting spotted by any random robot walking/rolling/flying by. Once they are done, Toni slides into the hole and checks her field of vision over the industrial plant. "Come on in, guys. The view is wonderful. We can monitor the plant and try to see any patterns of the patrols to get our insertion force inside to plant the Squealers and get out in one piece." Following her own advice, she settles in and uses her optical zoom to get as good of a look at the patrolling robots to try and determine if there is any pattern to their movements.

 

[Sherwood]

With the hole dug and camouflaged and everyone inside hiding, you spend the next couple of days observing the industrial plant to try and evaluate the best route in that will avoid the Machine patrols. At first glance, there does not seem to be much of a pattern to the patrols. But then as you spend more time observing, you start to see an irregular pattern to the exterior patrols around the walls and the air patrols above you. There are a few tiny gaps in the patrol pattern for you to be able to capitalize on. With that nugget of information discovered, your stealth infiltration team is ready to go. All you need to determine is if Chaska and Jin will split up or operate together to place the Squealers.

There is now just 24 hours before the Kraken will begin to launch its Kamikaze Worms to hit the plant.

 

[Eonivar]

As Jin sits and watches the Factory with the others, she tries to remember the books, classes, and recordings she had read and studied regarding the Machine's Factories and Layouts.

Two Skill Rolls
Machine Lore 54%
Machine Technology 55%

 

[Psychie]

Toni looks to Jin and Chaska, and she says, “I hate not being able to go in and having to just sit here and hope you two get out in one piece. It is not the kind of thing I’m good at, having someone else do the dangerous work while I sit and do nothing but wait. Time is counting down for the missile launch, so I think you had best be getting in there to place the Squealers and get back out before you are at ground zero for a missile attack.”

“Best of luck to the two of you, and as the Chief said to us before we left, ‘May the Saint be with you.’”

 

[Eonivar]

Jin slowly crouched and checked all of their gear to make sure she was ready for stealth. She looked around at the team and then up at the sky. She then nods at the team.

"Let's go Chaska. Keep talking to me as you go and I will do the same, that is the only way we will know where each of us at. Heading north, bearing 275."

Jin's form seems to melt away into nothing as their stealth field engages and they move away from the team towards the factory, keeping their eyes and sensors open and ready for anything and everything.

 

[Purr]

Chaska nods to Woodstock and replies to Jin. "We go now."

 

[Sherwood]

Moving as silently as mice, Jin and Chaska set out for the industrial center. Even with the stealth fields, silence is imperative because the Machine has audio sensors and can still hear you if you make too much noise. But one thing you have on your side is time, much of which was spent watching the pattern of the patrols to be better able to slip in undetected.

Getting past the outer wall is simple enough. You just had to time the approach of the monorail and bolt in the opening on the wall as the train comes into the facility. Now the two of you are getting into uncharted territory as you enter the assembly line building. The line is running quickly, building missiles by the hundreds every day and night. But a pair of well-hidden Squealers will soon put a stop to that.

The next area to target is the storehouse for the completed missiles. This takes the better part of two hours to be able to slip inside due to the level of security here. You can see that this building is hardened and designed to reduce the chances of any explosions from doing much damage to the facility as a whole, but several Squealers placed inside should make for quite a bang.

The small airfield is next on your list of places to visit. The fuel storage tanks are massive and built to take a hit, but the Kamikaze Worms are very powerful and should have little trouble in taking them out in a fiery explosion.

The final stop on your tour of the facility is the robot maintenance plant that is a part of the place. Many volatile chemicals are stored here, along with a supply of ammunition to keep the robot army ready to fight, all of which will make for a sizable explosion when they are hit.

Sneaking out is a reverse course of your trip in, and overall your mission in the facility took you almost 17 hours of some very high stress time being on edge. As you slip into the foxhole your bodies are craving rest in an effort to recharge your batteries. There are still several hours before the first of the Worms are due to arrive, so you have some decompression time before all hell breaks loose.

Time slowly creeps by as you wait, seeming to take forever to count down to zero hour. You know from your briefings that the Kamikaze Worms are very fast, being able to go over 2,000 miles per hour for short bursts and have a cruising speed of 1,000 miles an hour, so it won’t take long for the first hit to take place once they are launched.

The first of the Worms comes screaming in just a few minutes after launch time and unerringly slams into the assembly line with a thunderous explosion. Flames shoot high into the air as the shockwave washes over your dug in position. The reaction of the Machine is quick and immediate. The enemy knows that the Kamikaze missile has a relatively short range, so the robot defenders begin to sortie out, looking for the launch point. Little do they know they are doomed to failure.

The second missile targets the storage building, causing extreme damage but the hardened structure survives the blast. As the next several missiles come flying in, the robot defenders fill the sky with weapon fire in a desperate attempt to shoot them down. Three are blown up before they can hit, but the next one flies into the already damaged building and blows a massive hole in it, detonating the stored munitions in it with a deafening explosion that shakes you in your foxhole.

The next two Kamikaze Worms hit the fuel tanks at the airfield, adding to the destruction with a fountain of burning jet fuel that splashes over the whole place. Out of the twelve missiles launched, three were shot down and two never arrived, but the damage is done.

Fire rages across the complex as secondary explosions rock the ruined complex. The bulk of the facility has been wiped out, with only portions of the outer defensive wall still standing. Overall, it would seem that the experiment with the Trailblazers and Squealers was a success.

The only thing that remains for your mission is to get back to the Kraken and report in. Each member of Cerberus Squad has a paper with three different rendezvous points and times to be able to contact the Kraken, the first of which is in five days. All you have to do is avoid detection as you travel the two hundred miles back to the coast.

 

[Purr]

Chaska nods to Woodstock and replies to Jin. "We go now."

After seeing and mentally recording the incredible amount of explosions and damage suffered by the Machine, the weary yet wide-eyed Chaska finds himself eager to put as much distance between the devastated missile facility and here as possible.

Smiling a rare wide smile you can hear in his voice, he gives Woodstock an affectionate hug and begins to move. Looking back at all of the dangerous mayhem, all he can think to recommend is...

...well...

...what he recommended so readily before:

"We go now." =)

 

[Eonivar]

jin went through their calming exorcises and meditations to settle down after the intense stealth mission until the explosions started to occur.

Jin was impressed. Another blow to the Machine, although she knew this factory would probably be rebuilt quickly, but the mission for testing the Squealers as guidance systems seemed to be more or less a success.

Once the explosions started though, Jin engaged their stealth field and began to watch out for any machines that may come close to their hiding place. It was an reasonably easy road to get here, but Jin suspected that it would be a difficult way out as the Machine would be actively searching for anyone around.

-"Ready, I will take rear guard"-

 

[Psychie]

Now that this part of the mission is done, Toni knows that the next part of their assignment will not be easy with the Machine buzzing around them like hornets that have had their hive smacked with a stick. "I suspect that we will be discovered in short order if we do not evacuate with a quickness as reinforcements race in to try and catch us. Lets move out on the ground for now; it is less likely to get us discovered by a random air unit flying around. C'mon people. We're not getting paid by the hour, so lets go." She looks over at the burning mess that is the remains of the factory with a satisfied look. The Machine has a black eye today, given to them by the combined force of Cerberus and Echelon Squads. A good day indeed.

 

[Sherwood]

As the fires burn, the sky opens up with a heavy deluge pounding down, but instead of making the fires go away, it almost makes it worse with the burning jet fuel floating on top of the water and now spreading out and setting more things on fire. At your location, the rain turns the dirt to thick mud, pulling at your feet and slowing you down. The only good thing about the mud is that the surviving Battle Tracks and other ground units will be suffering from the mud just as you are, and thanks to the heavy rain, air units are going to have their own troubles.

The biggest downside that you are now dealing with is that the mud and rain is making your stealth fields near useless, with the water sheeting down over you but not fast enough to wash away the huge blobs of mud that are sticking to your legs. It is a real problem for you, but luckily there are no robots in close vicinity of you that might be able to spot our intrepid heroes and the heavy rain is doing a lot to ruin your trail, wiping out any chance for you to be tracked by the Machine.

Despite the rain, there are scores of robots being flown in to hunt you down. While you move, Axel suggests, "I know that our Host Armor can handle going underwater, and the robots have issues with getting submerged. Why don't we take to the tunnels again? If the water is an irritation to us, it will be pure hell for the robots on our heels. What do you think?"

 

[Eonivar]

Jin tromped through the mud, one step at a time, looking around, keeping up the rear of the team, trying to keep to as much ground cover as possible, listening to the pounding of the rain and above the roar of the Machine's air units moving about. They kept their Stealth Field enabled because although the rain interfered with visual stealth capabilities, the field still kept them invisible to infrared, thermal imaging and heat sensors. Their motion sensors were a mess on the other hand, and agitated Jin to no end, keeping her on a nervous edge.

They look about gauging the current terrain and their position. (OOC What is the terrain they are in currently? How far are they from any large bodies of water?)

Jin tried a little humor to loosen up.

-"I am impressed Axel...this is the first time since I have ever known you, that you thought of an idea that DID NOT involving blowing something up, and you know what...it's not a bad idea."-

 

[Sherwood]

They look about gauging the current terrain and their position. (OOC What is the terrain they are in currently? How far are they from any large bodies of water?)

There are a few lakes in the area, along with a small river flowing towards the ocean. These lakes and the river are a bit off of your route, but you do have five days to make it to the first rendezvous point. It would take you a ways out of your path straight to the shore, but it might help you out. The Machine has a ton of shoreline defenses to keep the Resistance from getting easy access to the beach. You can try to slip out to sea in the river or go back to the hidden tunnel that you used to get access to the inner shoreline, bypassing the defenses of the robot army and letting you get back to the Kraken.

Axel lets out a wounded sigh. "Jin, I just state the truth. So many problems can be easily solved with a suitable application of high explosives. It is a simple fact."