Mission 1: Search and Rescue

[Terl Obar]

I'll assume the chit chat between Sebastian and Malcom occurs over the cronocoms as currently the two are obscured from each other by the smoke cloud.

Running full out, Malcom reaches the edge of his current smoke cloud at the end of the round. He is now 940m from the compound and 40m away from Sebastian. Seeing Malcom dive to the ground as he exits the cloud the bots in the two remaining eastern towers and the tower on the north side open fire but they all miss as the still growing smoke cloud re-envelops Malcom. (Shadow Shack, check PM's)

The Dart's computer, responding to Maria's command, switches fire to the nearest tower (in the center of the east fence) and fires at the tower itself. The shot connects, ripping chunks out of the base of the tower.

Gren fires off his recoilless rifle once again at the SE tower and lands a direct it on its base. It's seriously damaged but still standing.

The ramp is down and the Explorer can now exit. Statistics on the Explorer, max speed: 150 m/turn, safe turn speed: 100 m/turn, acceleration: 60 m/turn, deceleration: 40 m/turn. Traveling below the turn speed allows a 45 degree turn every 5m while traveling above it allows a 45 degree turn every 10m. Turning faster requires a RS check. You are 1400m from the NE corner of the compound, 460m from Malcom and 500m from Sebastian.

[BD Cerridwen]

Malcom pauses a second as the cloud overtakes him. Then he rolls about a meter to the left and hurls another smoke grenade as far as he can towards the north gate. He gives it a couple seconds to start making a cloud and for Sebastian to open up, then he rolls left again, stands and sprints forward to the new smoke cloud.

[Shadow Shack]

"Get over here!" Sebastian yells at Malcom. "We got movement on the eastern fence and a possible misfire on their machine gun!"

Sebastian will open fire, directing Chatterbox toward the movement on the eastern fence. That ought to provide some cover for Malcom to complete the trip.

[Will]

"Ship, continue firing at all targets of opportunity, lift ship with the atomics, if any hostiles come within five meters of us!" Maria snaps, as she commences repairing what she can.

[Bonehead]

The ramp is down and the Explorer can now exit. Statistics on the Explorer, max speed: 150 m/turn, safe turn speed: 100 m/turn, acceleration: 60 m/turn, deceleration: 40 m/turn. Traveling below the turn speed allows a 45 degree turn every 5m while traveling above it allows a 45 degree turn every 10m. Turning faster requires a RS check. You are 1400m from the NE corner of the compound, 460m from Malcom and 500m from Sebastian.

B'Looone pilots the explorer at the best speed that the terrain will allow, heading about 100m north of Sebastian's position. The 'bots who are "on foot" are following the same path at their best speed, and will fire at anything that they are likely to hit.

OOC: is there currently room for Malcolm and Sebastian in the explorer, or will the 'bots on board have to get out to make room?

[BD Cerridwen]

"Get over here!" Sebastian yells at Malcom. "We got movement on the eastern fence and a possible misfire on their machine gun!"

"Dude! Light 'em up! I gotta get closer and make them worry about me!"

[Shadow Shack]

Sebastian honors Malcom's request with a hail of steel rain directed toward the east fence targets.

[Terl Obar]

Malcom hurls another grenade toward the compound which sails over Sebastian's head as he opens fire with Chatterbox. Just as it coming down in front of Sebastian it hits a large rock and bounces back over his head landing about 10m behind him where it pops open, Jumping up just after throwing the grenade, Malcom finds himself almost on top of the final impact site as the grenade pops open.

Sebastian's burst with Chatterbox doesn't seem to hit anyone in the compound (as they are just on the edge of his range) but he has the satisfaction of seeing them all drop prone and stop their rapid advance to the fence.

B'loone guns the explorer and races down the ramp. The terrain is relatively clear and will allow for a top speed of 120m/turn without a RS check. At the end of the turn, the explorer is traveling at 60m/turn and is 440 m from Sebastian's position. The two 'bots on board will have to get out if Sebastian and Malcom want to get inside. They do have the option of trying to hang on to the outside if they desire. The four bots on foot will travel at 60m/turn.

The Dart's laser lashes out again and connects with the middle tower once more. As you watch, the support on the middle tower gives way and the tower comes crashing down, burying the bot inside under the rubble.

Seeing Malcom emerge from his first smoke cloud for a brief moment before being enveloped in the second, the two lasers lash out but both go wide.

Gren reloads his recoilless rifle.

Here is a rough map of the current positions (click for a larger image):

There are two functioning towers on the south side of the camp and one on the far west side as well but they are not firing at you. The beings inside the compound are just off the edge of the map as drawn.

[Will]

How are my repairs coming?

[BD Cerridwen]

Well, that's useless, thinks Malcom. Maybe I can scoop it and toss it again? He decides that's what he'll try to do - scoop up the smoke grenade and toss it again. He just has to keep moving and give the defenders another target until Gren can do some serious damage with his recoiless.

[Will]

"Leo," Maria says over the chrnocom, as she continues repairing the ship, "y'never did tell the results of the computer search I had you run."

[Terl Obar]

Sorry about the long break. I've been switching jobs and residences (I'm in California now during the week and back in Utah on many weekends). I have a lot more free time in the evening now so I should be able to keep this going at a regular pace again.

With his magnigoggles, Sebastian can now see what is moving in the compound as they spread out. He sees three yazarians, two humans, an OES-1 bot and three OEM-1 bots carefully making their way toward the fence. He also notices movement outside the fence north of the tower. It seems that the OES-1 bot that was in the tower Malcom toppled wasn't completely destroyed and has managed to dig itself out of the rubble.

Sebastian fires again but once again the extreme range works against him and all he manages to do is keep the crew inside the fence moving cautiously.

Malcom scoops up the smoke grenade at his feet and hurls it forward again. He takes a point of burn damage to his hand from the hot casing on the grenade as he throws it. Because of the heat he doesn't throw it very far and it ends up landing about 10 m in front of Sebastian and begins to obscure the compound from himself and Sebastian and vice versa. As it hits the ground he dives in next to Sebastian.

Gren launches another recoilless rifle round at the SE tower and connects once again. The blast knock the tower over and buries the robot inside in the rubble. The Dart also fired its laser at the same tower but just missed.

B'loone continues to race forward in the Explorer accelerating to 120 m/turn. He ends the turn at a range of 1220 m from the compound about 320 m behind Malcom and Sebastian. The four security bots on the ground are 1310m from the compound at the end of the turn.

Maria finally gets into position to start making repairs on the ship (it's only been 30s since you landed).

With the toppling of the two towers on the SE side of the compound, the fence on that side is dragged down as well. Characters on foot or the explorer can cross into the compound through this section of the fence line without going through the gate.

There is no weapons fire from the base this turn.

[Shadow Shack]

Sebastian gets on the chronocom once the smoke begins to obscure his line of sight. "Attention insertion team, we have movement at the fence: three yazirians and two humans. Robots also, a pair of OES-1 units and a trio of OEMs. One of the OESes is damaged. Chatterbox isn't doing much more than forcing them to duck their heads, I'll keep them busy with that for a while so you can make your move. Over."

Sebastian will continue firing in that general direction, despite the new cloud cover. Gotta keep 'em busy while the rest of the team moves.

[BD Cerridwen]

"This plan went all to heck, huh?" says Malcom as he plops next to Sebastian. "Do ya suppose B'Looone will pick up hitchhikers?"

Malcom plans to wait behind the smoke screen for the Explorer, then cling onto the rear of it firefighter style.

[Bonehead]

"This plan went all to heck, huh?" says Malcom as he plops next to Sebastian. "Do ya suppose B'Looone will pick up hitchhikers?"

Malcom plans to wait behind the smoke screen for the Explorer, then cling onto the rear of it firefighter style.

OOC:
The plan always was to pick up hitchhikers.

IC:
B'Looone stays on the course he had been piloting. He's aiming the explorer for a point roughly 100m north of Malcom and Sebastian's position. When he gets there, he'll turn southwest and stop about 100m west of them (between them and the complex).

"Gren," B'Looone shouts to his passenger, "get ready to deploy two of the combat 'bots. When they're out, Malcom and Sebastian can get in."

[Terl Obar]

Malcom holds tight with Sebastian as he fires through the smoke in the general direction of the compound. The smoke obscures your vision so you have idea if it has any effect at all. You'll be inside the new screen in two rounds as it expands. Right now the closer edge is about 4m in front of you.

B'Loone starts to veer slightly north to avoid the now large smoke screen between him and his compatriots on the ground as he executes his maneuver to cut in front of Sebastian and Malcom. (Next round you'll be clear of the first smoke screen and be able to see them (until they are enveloped in the second one) and the base as well.

The security robots on foot are a ways behind now as they are only moving at 60m/turn compared to the explorer's 120m/turn (about 45 mph).

You all see the laser turret from the Dart lash out at something in the compound but have no idea if it connected as the target area is completely obscured from all of your vantage points.

Here is a map of where everyone is in relation to one another:

For those that are interested, it has been 2 minutes and 12 second (22 turns) since Malcom fired the first shot on the initial approach.

[Will]

OOC: Will the laser be affected at all by the smoke? Just curious.

For those that are interested, it has been 2 minutes and 12 second (22 turns) since Malcom fired the first shot on the initial approach.

Daaaaaaamn, all that went on that short of a span?! Geeesh.

[Terl Obar]

OOC: Will the laser be affected at all by the smoke? Just curious.

Not in this particular case. The Dart's optics can still see over half of the compound unobscured by the smoke grenade. Everyone else just happens to be too close to them at the moment.

[Terl Obar]

Next round:

B'Loone continues to barrel forward toward the base and continuing to veer slightly north. Gren fires off another round at the remaining tower in the north fence line hosting a Heavy Laser. The shot connects and slams into the base of the tower doing some serious damage. The bot in the tower fires back but misses.

Near the end of the turn, the Explorer clears the smoke cloud and has a clear view of both Sebastian and Malcom (about 126m away) and the base. He sees the beings and robots that Sebastian has warned about nearly at the fence line. As he watches, Sebastian fires through the smoke cloud in front of him and B'Loone stares in disbelief as bullets connect with the two humans and one of the yazarians inside the compound. (rolled an 01).

The Dart's Laser fires at one of the Yazarians but misses.

Here are the current positions. The red dots are the opposing forces on the ground. In order from top to bottom they are a yazarian, two humans, another yazarian, two OEM-1 robots, another yazarian, an OES-1 bot and another OEM-1 bot. The OEM bots seem to sporting laser rifles. Sebastian hit the three just north of the damaged central tower. The fence line between the two damaged towers has collapsed as well.

[Shadow Shack]

Supressing the urge to release a celebratory cry, Sebastian instead pivots Chatterbox toward the trio of robots at the fence and keeps his finger on the trigger, watching the remnants of the ammo belt getting chewed up and spat out.