The Wordnomnom
Shane glanced around the table at the other pilots as he used an electric lighter to ignite a cigarette.
“Who’s team lead on this sortie?” He wasn’t actually looking at the VP as he said this, he was gazing down at a tactical map.
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, / In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
THE SLORG!
"Yeah, who calls the shots?" Bart added, looking at the other pilots. This was Bart's first mission and he had only just finished that mech pilot course not too long ago, so he hadn't gotten a good chance to really know the other pilots on his team that well.
Still though, just going off first impressions? Bart hoped for the old guy who spoke up before himself, or the chick. The two of them seemed like they knew what they were doing.
You are reading this.
Mad Pinoy
"Whoever it is, it's definitely not me," Brian quipped. The slightly experienced pilot didn't lift his eyes from the tactical maps on the table as he spoke. He had already acquainted himself with most of the team, except for the new guy who spoke up after Shane.
Whoever's in charge better have some brains on them. he thought.
edited 5th Jun '12 3:03:56 PM by Insano
Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%...
Aleida let out a short huff before looking at the small ensemble here. Her machine was certainly capable of filling a leadership role, and she herself capable, but there was a lot of green here, both on the battlefield and around this conference table. She didn't care how well people did in sims, piloting ability was not the same as command ability. It was basically just her and Miller by her estimation, both the Heavy pilots, and her own machine's abilities were very limited by this particular terrain.
Besides, there's nothing better than an NCO to shape up people on their first drop.
"Why not you, Miller?" Aleida finally spoke. At least nobody was jumping on the opportunity to 'prove themselves' or some other garbage, and everyone was being thoughtful about it.
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
Anthony scrunches up his face and thinks "OOOH Pick ME! PICK ME!" And then he remembers the last time thiey picked him. He unscrunches his face and thinks "Pick ANYONE ELSE!". Yeah, Anthony was lucky they let him keep delivering packages after the last time they put him in charge. He still contends it was NOT his fault the drop zone was wrong. He does agree, begrudgingly, that he probably should have noticed that BEFORE going forward with the Scorched Earth mission.
Hans was reclining back, looking down. He was certainly not one to lead an operation, so he hoped it was not him this mission. It looked like his allies were mostly from either Europe or America, thankfully enough.
He said in lightly German accented English, "I'm not a leader, just not something that's in my skill set."
This mission would be one of his first, and hopefully it'd be more exciting than the simulations or the tests from school.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
The Wordnomnom
Shane grunted at that last comment.
"I should hope not kid. Well, if there aint any objections then I can command this op."
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, / In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
"You've volunteered and been nominated, there, Miller - good luck," Cliff Gunner* said. "Now that that's squared away - leave."
Three Hours Later
All of the Warwalkers were lined up against the wall of the hanger and strapped into their HADDDs.* In less than a minute, the door under each mech would open up, and the pilots would drop down, reaching the ground forty seconds and five miles later. The disposable, self-destructing backpack-like devices that were attached to each Warwalker would manipulate magnetic fields as they approached the ground, severely reducing the impact to something the mech's own dampeners could handle. For security, they would destroy themselves in a minor explosion thirty seconds after impact, or ten seconds after the mech left, whichever came first. Additionally, several large stickers from a factory in Texas had been attached to the HADDDs, declaring "MADE IN CHINA" in large-font Russian and Japanese.
Mission I: A Crisis in Cuba
Primary Objective- Destroy under-construction nuclear enrichment facilities.
- Destroy any additional buildings, weapon emplacements, or launch facilities.
- Use the preinstalled program to broadcast misleading messages to enemy units.
edited 8th Jun '12 7:01:45 PM by nman
Mad Pinoy
"Alrighty then," Brian said from within his Warwalker, extending and retracting his vibroblade to make sure it would appear when he needed it. After making sure everything was in place and he was out of the trees, Brian moved Sammy's head to face Shane's mech, the Bitch.
"So, where to? I'm in a bit of a destroying mood today."
edited 6th Jun '12 7:51:01 PM by Insano
Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%...
Hans looked over his cockpit, making sure everything was in order, and then checked his suit to make sure the helmet was all good.
Checking his weapons and controls, he thought to himself, This American commander...I don't like it. His side ruined our war, and are just puppets of the Jewish bankers.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
THE SLORG!
Bart sat in the cockpit of his budget mech, taking a few deep breaths and trying to get his heart to calm down. "Our first mission Fry... You nervous too?" Bart muttered after making sure he wasn't transmitting that over the radio.
"All pilots ready for drop in ten seconds. Forty seconds until groundfall" the voice of one of the techies told over the radio.
Bart made one last check, and signaled green for drop. A few moments later, the large hatch under Fry opened. As the clamps started to release to send the mech into freefall, Bart activated the stealth system; he figured the less chance for the enemy to detect their exact numbers, the better. The clamps let go, and Fry started falling to earth.
Thirty seconds later, the HADDD fired, and Bart activated the jump jets too. The fall slowed greatly, and Fry touched down without any harm; the same could not be said for an unfortunate tree that got caught by the left foot and bent over until it snapped, the top end still crushed under Fry's foot.
Deactivating the stealth, Bart shifted Fry around to face the general direction of his comrades as he heard Brian ask where they were going. "Main objective is South from here, wasn't it? Are we going straight in or taking another route?" Bart asked over the radio, taking a look around for any immediate contacts.
edited 6th Jun '12 8:58:23 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.
Anthony marked green for drop, took a deep breath, and a HUGE smile grew upon his face. Anthony LOVED hot dropping. Plummeting from the sky at five miles up while enemy shells explode in the sky was Exhilerating. Sadly, there would be no enemy shells this time. But, he would get to blow some stuff UP! Anthony secretly hoped (unless you were in the locker room before the mission, at which point he very vocally hoped) there would be some enemy Warwalker's on this mission. There very rarely were. Anthony's drop button activated, and he punched it while screaming with glee!
The Wordnomnom
Miller keyed his radio.
"Assume hot dropzone. Douglas, Summers, and Carson are flying wide V formation with Corporal Douglas on point. Fritz, Hans I want you covering Anholts. Keep any fire off of her. Lets do this ladies. We got a date with destiny five klicks south."
When uncertain what the DM plans to throw at you, assume everything.
edited 7th Jun '12 9:55:41 AM by Stormthorn
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, / In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
Hans nodded at this, looking at Anholts, and decided to make sure to keep this person within his sight.
Launching and with everything good, including the tech involved in his descent, he landed in the zone and so he looked around the area, taking everything in as the mission began.
Anholts was to be kept out of too much fire. He had done missions like that back in school, so at least he had some experience in that area.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
THE SLORG!
"Roger" Bart replied over the radio, and started to move Fry over into position off Douglas's left side and a little behind. Bart thought they were supposed to use call signs while on mission, but decided now wasn't the time to bring it up.
You are reading this.
Mad Pinoy
"Alrighty then," Brian said. "Rinzler moving to point of wide V." Making sure he was in position, Brian extended and retraced his vibroblade, just to be sure, and started moving forward. Making sure the projection of his face and cockpit were visible on Sammy's head, Brian spoke up again before continuing his walk south.
"Alright people, we got stuff to blow up in three miles. Tread carefully."
Allurand and surrounding world loading, 28%...
Aleida quickly moved across the boarding gantry to the cockpit of her machine. Running her suited hand along the armor paneling alongside the machine as she walked, her gloved fingers hit the depression with the release lever and she tugged, popping the seals of the cockpit entry. The 'head' of the machine lurched forward with a whine, sliding out until she was able to access the command chair. Sitting down, she pulled a lever under her chair, and the canopy and front armor slid back into place around her. Fastening her harness and connecting the cables that ran through it to her suit, she again reached down and this time twisted the lever before pushing it back into place.
As soon as the lever clicked in place displays came to life around the command chair. Data transferred through her restraining harness to her suit even displayed vital information inside her helmet. She ran a quick systems check and noted everything was green, before signalling she was good for the drop. The doors beneath the machine opened up and the mechanisms clamped around the Draak's body released, and the machine plummeted to Earth.
It always amused Aleida that what should just be a groundspeed indicator always told her how fast she was falling as well.
About halfway down the cockpit was filled with a powerful hum from the HADD devices. They always managed to unnerve her; she knew if she was outside the machine, alongside it, she would be fried. Inside she was safe, the Warwalker was lined with an EMP shield like every other military vehicle since the Americans developed some nasty bombs which easily handled the magnetic fields strong enough to repel against the Earth itself. Solar Flare touched down without incident.
Miller had immediately started issuing orders on touch-down, and though she had cover assigned to her, no orders were given to her specifically. They weren't shot at as the descended, but that didn't mean the drop point was clear. Despite this Aleida didn't like their current surroundings, and they needed to know something about the area. After debating with herself a moment, she decided she could go half and half. "Drone away," she spoke into the comm channel as she threw a switch to her right. With the push of a button the VTOL UAV started an automated ascent, its sensors feeding data into Solar Flare's own targeting and tracking system. "Check if we're clear and I can set up shop to get you more info.
edited 8th Jun '12 1:15:37 PM by SOCR
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
The Wordnomnom
"Moving along folks. Keep your weapons cold until positive contact. Corporal, keep your eyes sharp. You on point here."
Miller swung his lumbering mecha into motion, scanning his eyes across the array of screens that gave him an almost 360 view of the battlefield. He pushed his Ion weapons capaciter up beyond the standard operating level and lagged a bit behind the delta trio of machines that were leading the way.
"Anholts, can your big gun track targets through this forest?"
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, / In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
"If it moves or can be seen, I can track it, and the only thing that can stop my railgun rounds is thick armor; trees and underbrush wont cut it."
Granted the seismic sensors only had about a tenth of her machine's signal integration range- about 5km- and required her to be stationary, but here it'd be invaluable with all the foliage
She'd deploy as soon as she stopped moving. For now she sent the Drone on a standard recon pattern; an outward spiral centered on he machine as it moved, sweeping the area for any movement visible from above the canopy.
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
THE SLORG!
Bart kept Fry moving along on Douglas's left, staying alert and keeping an eye on all his readings. Soon, one of the readings changed, getting his attention. "Hang on, I've got something out ahead at two hundred yards... Looks like a jeep driving around a big clearing" Bart radioed in, trying unsuccessfully to determine how many people were in the jeep.
"If we keep on course we'll definitely get spotted. Should we change plan, or maybe blaze past them and play some of that audio?" Bart asked, still keeping pace with Douglas for the moment.
You are reading this.
Hans kept close by to Aleida, and decided to keep his vision on the surroundings and if there was something that might be going on around them as well.
Miller seemed to be moving the group forward, so, while keeping close to Anholts, he made sure to keep up.
He had to wonder if there were any enemy forces that might deploy, and if so, what their responses to the appearances of their machines would be. The stickers indicating Chinese funding would likely confuse the enemies involved.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Anthony went to the outside of the V, but was very sad about the lack of a weapons hot order. Still, Anthony followed orders waiting gleefully for the chance to get his gun barrel warm. Hearing about the jeep, Anthony's finger closes about the throttle and gets real itchy. "Waiting for your order sir, but I gotta say, I'd LOVE to buzz past this guy while kicking on the playback!"
The Wordnomnom
"Hold up a moment. We take the jeep they may locate us from the gunfire. We leave the jeep they WILL radio it in. If you wanna convert someone wait till we find a large enough group to matter.
We will give Anholts a chance to prove her accuracy with that elephant gun of hers. I want that target gone before anyone on it can key a radio."
edited 9th Jun '12 3:41:13 PM by Stormthorn
While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail, / In the Name of the Empress, the Overland Mail.
"Well if you want me to show off, I'll see what I can do."
Aleida flipped a switch on her left control stick, and then pulled a plunger underneath the console to her right. The first enabled the 35mm cannons on Solar Flare's left arm and flipped the barrels to the usable position, while the latter activated the leg braces to fire the railgun at higher powers. Five kilometers per second was enough for the job, but at 15km/s, at this range, she wouldn't even have to think about leading the target- just point, click, boom.
The 35mm was just in case something actually went wrong. She thumbed a rotary switch on the left joystick to link fragmentation rounds into the thirty-fives.
Seismic sensors, now active through the leg braces, told her exactly where the vehicle was, and displayed an outline over her HUD. She drew the crosshairs over the target and pulled her right trigger.
whurrr-CLANK. Firing the railgun always looked like firing an oversized cannon, as superheated gas and microscopic metal particles followed the projectile out of the barrel.
Before the computer determined whether she destroyed her target or not she followed up pulling a secondary trigger on her left joystick four times, firing exactly eight rounds at the target. You didn't need to chew through three dozen on burst fire just for a contingency.
edited 10th Jun '12 9:34:27 AM by SOCR
How can you be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all?
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Location: Somewhere in the South Pacific.
A container vessel floated along in the waves. Suddenly, it began to rise above the water, exposing a series of eight vertically-oriented rotors attached to the bottom. After the ship was completely out of the water, four rotated a quarter-turn, and began to push the ship forward. It quickly picked up speed and altitude - someone watching closely might have seen the containers flickering as it flew away.
"Alright, listen up ladies," said the Vice President of Operations for Global Parcel Delivery*, which was without question a simple postal service and in no way, shape or form responsible for strings of Warwalker raids across the globe. The scars and grim look on his face contrasted his cheery outfit, the company uniform for summer - white-and-yellow colored shorts and a shirt, with a brimless yellow hat. He continued to address the deliverymen* who were gathered around the table of the conference room. "You've got a special delivery to make - and the client's paying extra to airmail it pronto." He pressed a few buttons on his laptop, causing the screens around the room to display a satellite image of Cuba. Soon after, an image popped up, showing the schematics for some sort of technical facility.
"Turns out the Cubans are trying to play with the big boys. Intelligence indicates they've been receiving the tech needed to start constructing centrifuges - that is your main - and only - critical objective. Our clients don't really care if they wind up having launch capabilities - not as if one of those things could slip past the missile shields - but they still don't want some big conflict between the Cubans and every other major Latin nation right in our backyard irradiating the Gulf- that shit might fly for the Russians, but not them. Because of that, any sort of launch facility will be a secondary priority. It's a bonus if you can raze everything, but as long as you get the main buildings, we'll get paid."
The pop-up closed, and the map zoomed in on an island to the southwest of the main island, then further focused on a heavily-forrested on the southwest. "Isla de la Juventud - or however the hell it's pronounced, you can see the name on the screen - is being turned into some sort of damned militarized island. The Chinese are believed to be the ones giving them the tech, so it's also possible that they've been shipping weapons too. While resistance is expected to be lighter than what you're used to, you still might find small amounts of general, motorized, and mechanized infantry, gun emplacements, hell, everything short of a Warwalker; they might be outdated, worn-out, and slow relics from the last World War, but make no mistake, they are still machines of war, and they will kill your sorry asses should you get cocky. As for the facilities themselves, it's too soon for them to be online or fueled, so you don't have to worry about any radioactivity this time around. If we're wrong, well... your cockpits should protect you. Reason we're not so sure is because they've camo-tarped miles of the forest, so we don't know what's under those sheets. We do know where they've got the tarps up, though, so you'll be dropping a few miles north of that general area, locating the main complexes, and then extracting along the coast on the southwest."
"One other thing - you'll have an audio program uploaded to your onboard system, which when activated will play one of the pre-recorded messages - most of them are something about the glorious Jihad to save Gaia from the bourgeoisie or some nonsense - but we're getting paid extra if, every now and then, you hit the 'play' button, and maybe even leave a few survivors to report back."
"Now," the Vice President stood up, "any questions? You drop in three hours."