Roth Frakes - "Road Block"'s page

Road Block's eyes sweep back and forth from the vis screen to the instruments arrayed around the cockpit. A few seconds pass and his assessment of the situation is complete.

We're rusty.

"Everyone, we're taking a lot of fire. I'm going to dull the edge of their attack." He reaches forward and grabs a thick red handle on the face of a large cylinder and gives it a pull then a twist. A new element to the UI on screen pops up.

ACTIVATE CORE SYSTEM? PLEASE CONFIRM.

With a grunt he thrusts the handle back into the cylinder. Two large armored plates forming the chest of the Broken Wing slide to reveal a bright yellow glow which promptly takes off as a stream into the sky. It flies vertically for about 200 feet, for a moment resembling a heraldric knight's banner from ancient Earth, before bursting in seven distinct directions. As each stream nears it's target, it becomes apparent that the glow is a dense cloud of nanobots which knit themselves into a protective shield surrounding Thunder Walker, Falcon, Elegance, Voskos, and the three VIPs.

For my first action I'm activating my core system "Raise the Banner." All allied characters in line of sight of my mech when I do this gain RESISTANCE to all damage and heat and gain +1 Accuracy on all checks and saves. These effects last until the end of my next turn. My core energy is exhausted.

I'll never get tired of seeing that. The Broken Wing hoists its assault rifle high and fires off a short burst across the abyss at the hive still trailing behind him.

Assault Rifle: 1d20 ⇒ 201d6 ⇒ 2 Reliable 2

Skirmish action to fire my assault rifle at Hive 4. I receive one difficulty from being impaired and one accuracy from my Bonded I talent (I'm bonded with Athena) these cancel each other out, so it will be a raw roll. Current range is 8 hexes.

Smoke from the barrel of the rifle can be seen wafting away as the Broken Wing advances towards the extraction zone.

Move 2 to be on the edge of the purple hexes. I would rotate my token here to avoid overlapping the blue hex, but I'm not sure how to make that happen.

"Chik!" Road Block's face lights up from the glow of the instrument panel as four new entries are added to the target readout.

"Poise, I'll try and soften them up for you on the west flank. Blackjack, don't be afraid to use me as cover if needed. The Broken Wing can take it."

The hulking frame kneels down and with a percussive boom, the shoulder-mounted mortar fires an arcing trail of flame and smoke towards the Hives. Road Block then follows up with a few short bursts of covering fire from his integrated assault rifle.

Full action to Barrage. Mortar targeting both the western hive followed by Assault Rifle targeting the nearest of the two.

Mortar Nearest: 1d20 - 1d6 ⇒ (15) - (3) = 12
Mortar Furthest: 1d20 - 1d6 ⇒ (10) - (6) = 4
Mortar Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Assault Rifle: 1d20 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 3 Reliable 2

Discarded shells fall to the ground and then are immediately crushed under the heavy footfalls of the Broken Wing repositioning.

Move 2 to provide potential cover for Blackjack. The smoke from last round's grenade dissapates.

Road Block wraps his hands around the familiar controls. It feels good, like touching down after a long spaceflight.

I'm home.

The Broken Wing stirs to life and takes a few ground-shaking steps forward which transform first into a run, then a jump jet assisted leap, bringing Road Block into a position more akin with his namesake.

Move 4, then boost.

"Copy Poise, I'm not sure they're going to know what hit 'em. Blackjack, I'm moving up to provide support. Take down long range targets first, we don't want them sniping our escorts out from under us."

A hatch opens in the armor plating on the left arm of the frame and he fires a smoke grenade nearly directly down into the ground between himself and Blackjack. There's a loud pop, followed by thick volume of smoke spewing in all directions.

Fire Pattern-A Smoke Charges (smoke grenade), first of three uses. All characters and objects within a Blast 2 area benefit from soft cover until the end of your next turn, at which point the smoke disperses. The template is not exactly right on VTT as it will only center on hex vertices, not the middle.

Roth fiddles with his goggles before finally resigning and handing them over to June for adjustment. "Thanks," he says as he straps into the rest of the VR rig.

"Poise and Thunder Walker, you'll act as the hammer. Engage the enemy forces directly and don't let them near our first priority, the escort vehicles. I'll move into position in the center of the battlefield and act as the anvil, drawing their fire. Don't forget, you can use me as cover, the Broken Wing may be an old frame design, but she'll hold up when it matters. Blackjack, you've got point, inserting yourself wherever you deem necessary. Athena, hang back with the escorts and provide support. That said, you know what they say... everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Everyone clear?"

"I wouldn't mind stretching my legs a bit, so to speak. How about the rest of you?"

Scanning through the intel on his slate, Roth takes a long sip of his coffee. After a moment he takes the slate in one hand and raps it hard against the table a few times.

"Bah! Damn thing's always locking up."

He tosses it unceremoniously to the table and it becomes apparent that the tech is a few generations behind.

"I agree with Jaq on priorities here, though I think it'd be prudent to contact Patience prior to landfall and see if we can find out a little more about what we're dealing with. Pirates is a fine guess, but we'll be flying blind as to how many or how well equipped. Plus we need to know that they'll have our frames printed and ready for action, should it come to that."

With a grunt, Roth gets up from the table and walks over to the comms panel. He touches a few elements on the UI and a face flickers to life on the screen.

"Manifest, I presume? Are you able to establish a comm link with Patience at the Evergreen colony?"

Hi all! I'm excited to be playing with everyone.

I'd be comfortable with Roth acting as the CO as it fits my character concept for him pretty well. He's ex-albatross so he would have some experience leading a lance.

Loving the character introductions from everyone, btw!

Roth drags the back of his hand across his eyes, wiping away the cryo-crust from his lids. "Thanks doc," he says as the medical examiner shuffles along to the next pod, "never did care much for cryosleep."

Taking a tentative first step, he's greeted with an audible "pop" from his knee.

S#@&. Well that's new.

Roth's grey eyes search the room for June, and after spotting her he relaxes a little. He's had more than one soldier not make it through cryo and he'd be lost without her.

He swings the gimballed monitor over to take a closer look and says, "So where exactly are we Cap?"

[ooc] Roth's voice is gravelly and low. He speaks with a confident tone, like someone who is used to command.

Dot!