Somewhere in the distance is heard a loud series of thunderous booms.
Burgurk gets out of the vehicle, and lays down on the ground to present less of a target. He shouts "I think we're about to have incoming attackers from the air!"
As Burgurk takes cover beside the Mountaineer, Atlas continues to fire into the mercenaries. One goes down as the rain of shells destroys his cover and the last one is hit so hard that the remaining cover around him is plastered to what is left of his armor. If anything is left it will be unidentifiable. As you start to believe you have finished off the last of them, a distinct sound, like that of air escaping a large tunnel, comes from the sky. Second later, explosions occur all around you, but it appears that the spotter was off and Burgurk only feels a slight warm breeze as a miniature fusion warhead explodes near him.
"Spread out and get to cover! Look for a spotter!"
Shakti follows her own advice, hopping down from the Mountaineer and breaking for the nearest outcropping of rocks or trees, hoping someone else has the presence of mind to drive the vehicle out of its present position and get it to cover.
Shakti reaches out with her enhanced vision and can see two large aircraft and what appear to be four units of flying power armor headed in your direction from past the hastily made fortification. Atlas' A-TAC estimates 30 seconds before they are in firing range...
Sir Humphrey's slightly disappointed voice echoes in the team's heads. ~Marvellous performance! The charge of the Light Brigade was unnecessary, it would seem.~
His head pokes from out of the bushes, as he spots the robot armour flying nearby, and, even despite the distance from the forest, his maniacal grin is visible. ~I've not yet shed my idiosyncratic cloak, and my dagger is ready for an ambush! The bigger they are, the harder they may fall!~
|
Seeing the flying suits rise above the horizon, Atlas immediately changes direction and sprints back to the cover of the stout oak tree.
"Maintain positions. Shift only to provide each other better mutual support."
Ensuring that he has relatively good sight-lines to each of his comrades, Atlas just throws in a fresh clip and awaits the enemy.
Burgurk also gets up from the ground and runs over to a large tree (Cover -2). He will again lie down as long as he can still clearly see the flyers (Cover -4).
He takes a moment to concentrate, activating a mental power that boosts his mental power even higher :
= 17
He then concentrates, and a faintly shimmering aura of light surrounds him :
The power armor closes, each bearing down on you as quickly as it can, while the two cargo planes fly overhead. You can see their tail ramps open as several more mercenaries jump out of the back of them...
Once she spots that the foes are further away than she first guessed, Shakti doubled back to the Mountineer, calling out what she saw to the others. Not locking in hands, she reloads her twin rifles with fresh magazines.
"We cant let them hold us here. If we get pinned down, they will just keep hammering us till we break. I suggest we try to advance towards the stronghold!"
"My very nature rebels against this suggestion, but I think we should retreat. If we advance towards the stronghold, the power armors can take pot-shots at us at will the entire time, and I'd be willing to bet that once we get close enough, the zombies will appear to block our path."
|
|
Atlas patiently waits in his prone firing position as the enemy so willingly advances into his firing range.
"Our chances of successfully escaping in the vehicle from an air-borne enemy are as close to zero as I can calculate. Someone would have to remain behind to hold them off."
He pauses.
"You are free to retreat," he says, motionless.
|
|
As his primary CPU is idly scrolling through the various suggested courses of action from his A-TAC, he comes across something that he had forgotten about. Apparently there was a comm-signal attached to it, but no name.
Figuring that it couldn't hurt, he dials the tag.
*ksssk* This is Assaultmech Atlas twentyone dash twelve. Our forces are currently under attack by an overwhelming combined-arms force of paratroopers, air armor, and artillery.
A pact was made with Auriel Acherean. He is not able to make this request directly, but I am making it in his name.
We shall need an airstrike -NOW-.*ksssk*.
He follows with the long line of numbers that would be the coordinates for the cargo planes, and, extrapolating the direction it came from and the time from sonic-boom to impact, the approximate coordinates of the artillery.
He doesn't bother with the location of the air mechs. They're moving too fast.
And he can take those out anyway. The day he can't take on some rocket-jocks is the day he's ready for the scrap heap.
"Bah!", buzzes Sir Humphrey over the comms. "Retreat is not a word mentioned in polite company, Mr. Atlas, at least when I'm around." Unsheathing his hammer and sword with baited breath, eager with anticipation, he adds. "And the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
As the mech mentions the airstrikes, a mad grin flashes on Sir Humphrey's face. "The rascals think they're ambushing a lone patrol, and they overcommit due to cowardice. That very lack of courage shall be their downfall.", he continues practically narrating, before suddenly shaking his head. "We are outside the blast range, Mr. Atlas, correct?"
It takes several tense moments for a response from Atlas' communications, but when it comes back, it is decisive. "Copy Atlas 21-12, we have your coordinates, Razor 65 inbound, weapons hot. ETA, 30 seconds."
|
|
"Affirmative," Atlas chirps back to Sir HWS. "Over-commitment unto vulnerability to a counter-attack has been called 'Mike Ehr's folly.' I hope to see them encounter such a downfall.
I honestly had not considered our proximity to the blast range. The forest should mitigate that significantly.
But even not, we have a greater percentage of survive-ability in a blast radius than we do against para-supported air mechs.
...
Not that air mechs are any real danger," he inserts. He does have a measure of pride after all.
Laying close to the ground, Sir Humphrey nods at others, but mostly at himself. To pounce upon the unwitting scoundrels... is it honourless? Or do they descend from the skies, awaiting death at every corner.
Ducking as low as he can, he unsheathes his weapons, ready to strike. Perhaps, a bit of both. What is life without its flavours!, a wide grin appears through the man's moustache.
Burgurk growls and tries to mind-fry one of the armored men :
= 11
Doing
= 34
Burgurk's power reaches out and crushes one of the men as they land on the ground, the rest start to fan out into a formation, trying to head towards the defensive line.
Burgurk tries to mind-fry another one of the armored men :
= 8, a Raise
doing
, a thunderous roar echoes from the woods as Sir Humphrey charges forwards with speed most horses and a few vehicles would be envious of. "You shan't tread on sovereign land no more, foul demagogues!", he continues, as his sword and hammer are brought in. Leaping over the fences, he slams into the left flank, weapons at the ready.
As he impacts, his sword buries itself into the first man he sees, as he begins thrashing his hammer madly. "Free Englishmen will never bow down to the French crown!", he shouts in the face of the man bisected by his sword, as he regales the invader hordes, breathing in deeply.
Another of the troopers is hit by Burgurk's power as the they try to get to cover, but he is only stunned for a moment. The power armor looms ever closer, attempting to bring their weapons to bear.
Sir Humphrey's crimson red armour rushes through the treeline with tremendous pace, as the man does his best to stay behind the trees as he's stampeding forward like a maddened beast.
|
|
The closest airmech finally enters Optimal Kill Range (OKR) and his A-TAC aligns the multiple targeting recticles over the approaching foe. With a great beeping and blinking and overlapping of targeting lines, a good resolution is finally agreed upon by all concerned.
A lovely female voice chirps in his head.
'Target acquired. Firing all ordnance. Armored piercing grenades inbound.'
Suddenly the forest erupts in an earth-shaking BLAM as the rail gun combines with a trio of grenades direct-fired at a single target.
= 26
.
While hiding by the Mountaineer, Shakti summons a small unit of ogres from the nether and sends them to join Sir Humphrey in a charge towards the oncoming soldiers.
From the forest on the side, a large barrage of firepower erupts from where Atlas was laying in wait. Several rounds of ammunition shred into one of the Predators in the air and it goes down in a spiral of flames.
The soldiers on the ground keep running towards the barriers to get some cover.
Initiative-
Shakti- Joker
Jalera- KH-
Sir Humphrey- QH-
Atlas- 9D-
New Troops- 7S
Burgurk- 6S-
Enemy Power Armor- 6H-
Air Strike in 3 rounds...
Continuing his mad dash through the treelines, a grin spreads on Sir Humphrey's face as he sees a power armour go up in flames. "Up and at them! Good show, sport, good show.", he roars out as he leaps from one bush to the other, his red armour barely peeking through the woods.
|
|
Atlas chortles to himself as the flyjock comes crashing down. "Heh. Told ya they made of tin," he says to no one.
The A-TAC witnesses the BRAVE CHARGE of Sir Humph, and comes to the conclusion that he would not be charging madly into the enemy lines if he were not of absolute confidence that he could destroy them all, and so decides to continue firing at the flymechs. He takes pause to re-aim. He only just found those grenades, it would not do to waste them.
The A-TAC -also- sees Shakti summon HEY ITS A SQUAD OF OGRES!!! "That is the most useful thing you have ever done, Government Bureaucrat. Are you feeling sick?" he asks.
he would not be charging madly into the enemy lines
"Wait here," Shakti says to the witch, "I'll be back shortly."
She appears out of nowhere, crouching next to Atlas, taking full advantage of cover.
"You'll find me far from useless, droid; hopefully the same can be said of you. The ogres are just to attract fire; I doubt they'll even make it to the entrenchment."
Laying a hand on him, she gives him a chronological push, shoving him through the stream of time just a little bit faster than average.
This power grants incredible swiftness to the recipient. With success the target has two separate turns per round on his action card instead of the usual one. Each turn is handled independently with its own actions, but the character must resolve one turn entirely before beginning the second. With a raise, the recipient can redraw any initiative cards lower than Eight each round.
To the cyborg's perception, her voice seems to slow and drop eerily in pitch as she continues talking, "Sir Humpty Dumpington is too far ahead for my powers to reach him just yet, so I suppose we'll have to make do with whatever you bring to the table."
"Have fun, killbot."
Her work done for the moment, she lies flat behind the cover of the trees.
Initiative-
Shakti- Joker- Casting Spells, Ogres Move
Jalera- KH- Protection Spell
Sir Humphrey- QH- Run to Cover, Deflection Power (-4 to Hit)
Atlas- 9D- Quickness (Aimed, no less than 8 Draw, 3 rounds)
New Troops- 7S
Burgurk- 6S-
Enemy Power Armor- 6H-
Air Strike in 3 rounds...
As her ogres continue forward, Shakti moves about the battlefield as if the space between her and her destination did not exist. Atlas' electronics begin working on overclocked time, already a firing solution forming in his vision. Time slows for Sir Humphrey as well, his years of battlefield skill telling him where each shot will come from and how to best use the cover ahead of him.
|
|
"Wait. What are you--" Atlas is no longer capable of carrying on a conversation as firing solutions and targeting recitles start poping up on his A-TAC faster than he can follow them.
Before he's consciously aware that he is firing on a target, his finger squeezes the trigger at the closest air-mech, while his grenade launcher spits out three High Explosive grenades, targeting the armored men, maximum spread.
[ooc]Whoops! That was really long and I've got an RL emergency so I don't know when I'll have time to modify this. Correct as needed!
The massive barrage of firepower coming from Atlas intensifies as it is moved over towards the next Power Armor, and while some of the rounds are reflected, quite a few more rip into the chestpiece and escape through the back, along with what might have been the pilot. No longer under control, the thing crashes to the ground in a heap, sending dirt and debris flying in all directions.
The soldiers keep moving in a wave forward, their weapons finally answering the assault by shooting angry red blasts of laser fire. Most of the shots go wide and only succeed in sizzling the dirt around you, but one shot narrowly misses one of the ogres and another one hits Shakti, but her divine power easily shrugs off the blast. She only feels a bit of heat from it.
Initiative-
Shakti- Joker- Casting Spells, Ogres Move
Jalera- KH- Protection Spell
Sir Humphrey- QH- Run to Cover, Deflection Power (-4 to Hit)
Atlas- 9D- Quickness (Aimed, no less than 8 Draw, 3 rounds)- Firing..
New Troops- 7S- Move to Cover, Shoot
Burgurk- 6S-
Enemy Power Armor- 6H-
Air Strike in 3 rounds...