The wind continues to blow strongly as you enter the hilly region. All is quiet still as you sit behind and near the rocky hill that shelters you from the heat of the oppressive sun. Sweat begins to streak down your cheeks and into your eyes, while dust continues to fill your nostrils and mouth.
Action Order
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Zaviera (6)
Mikhail is up
Seeing that the rocks in front of him would be a tight squeeze, and not trusting a blast crater Mikhail decides to move the mecha around. He carefully walks past his allies towards the wider space.
Jacq subvocalizes into her comm (so everyone should hear her fine, but her voice isn't going to carry), "Possible enemy, 40' in front of Alec at 12 o'clock."
Biting his lip, Alec takes a slow breath, his eyes sweeping the rocks. "I have a feeling like we're being watched..."
As everyone lined up behind the rock and Mikhail moved, so did Zaviera. "We've got to get around this sensor blackout." Her back to rock once again, she looked at the group, thinking. Once Mikhail put himself into almost blatant visibility, she got an idea. "William, with me. If they're looking at the suit, they're not paying attention."
Turning the corner, Mikhail sees the extent of the fortified compound before him. A squad of enemy troops leans up close behind the rocky hill before them, weapons at the ready. While behind them at the base are two mg nests with sandbags around them to provide cover, as well as several soldiers positioned on the 2nd floor of the concrete bunker. Nearby a Achillies heavy suit can be seen moving ponderously towards your positions...
Action Order
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Zaviera (6)
Mikhail is up
"Bogies at twelve'o'clock team. It's about to get hot!" calls Mikhail.
Alec's HuD gleams beneath his dark visor, locking onto the enemy just in front of him. He brings up his weapon and holds it solidly against his shoulder. "Going live!"
The weapon makes a short, brutal report, a heavy chopping noise. Once he finishes his barrage, he steps to the side, crouched low, and takes cover behind the bulk of the Ajax.
The soldier reels back from the shot, nearly falling over, but mananges to keep his balance. Shouts of "taking fire" and "contact" can be heard coming from behind the rocky hill nearby.
Action Order
Round 1
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6)
Zaviera (4)
Jacq is up
Jacq dashes behind Alec toward the other boulder near the Ajax, and opens a round of autofire into the enemies.
:
Jacquelin catches the squad of soldiers in an enfilade, filling the area with fire, hitting two of the three men.
Action Order
Round 1
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6)
Zaviera (4)
William is up
William moves forward pulling a fragmentation grenade off his hip and tossing it at S1's feet,
( )
catching S1, S2, S3 and S4 in the blast
Wiliiam then drops prone in an attempt to make himself less of a target.
The grenade goes barely past the soldier William targeted, landing directly behind him. A cry of alarm goes out from the soldiers as the grenade goes off, sending bodies to the ground. When the smoke clears, four soldiers lie dead and dismembered.
, ; Hit!
, ; Hit!
, ; Hit!
, ; Hit!
Shots ring out from the hills, sounding distinctly like bolt action rifles, nearly hitting Zaviera and Alec...
The Achillies moves directly towards Mikhail, firing off a round of its recoiless rifle, giving off a massive concussive blast. The shell goes steaking thru the air, hitting Mikhails suit squarely.
Hellion Recoiless Rilfe, , Hit! ; Damage: damage to Mikhail
The men in the mg nest open up on Jacq, peppering the area around her with concentrated mg fire and hitting her with a round in the arm.
, vs DC 10, Jacq Reflex Save vs DC 15 Hit!; Damage: to Jacq
Action Order
Round 1
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6)
Zaviera (4)
Zaviera is up
"Snipers!" Zaviera yells as she breaks cover to move forward. Once there, she attempts to patch into the feed from Ajax to take a good look at their forward left quarter, not wanting to step into any of her teammate's line of fire.
Zaviera rushes forward, using the rocky hills as cover.
Action Order
Round 2
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6)
Zaviera (4)
Mikhail is up
That last round left Mikhail with a HUD full of flashing amber warning lights. After a quick review he shakes his head to clear them. A full third of the mecha's armor had been compromised. He was getting slow responses from the right leg and hydraulics in the chest were leaking. "Anti-mecha weaponry, huh? Won't take too many more hits like that..."
Mikhail swiftly queues up an EMP grenade in the Spatha's launcher chamber and takes aim for the other suit's left side. A dull thump sounds as the gun fires followed by the sharp krack of the EMP detonation. Mikhail knew that in addition to the fragments of the grenade the enemy pilot should be experiencing one heck of a malfunction.
"That mech is getting to be a problem...and we're pinned down by snipers. Hrrm..."
Alec dives from behind the Ajax, racing for the cover of another large rock. He slides behind cover like a baseball player and pokes his head out, examining the Achilles. He begins talking to himself in a low, fast ramble.
"Firing angle, 86 degrees...make and model...pilot skill...special modifications...rocky terrain...wind speed..."
EDIT:
Jacq winces in pain at the nasty gash across her leg, but she's still standing pretty well. She knows she doesn't have much of a chance doing much else from where she is standing and will get herself killed if she runs into the machinegun fire, so she aims for where the machine gun fire came from and hopes she gets lucky and fires off a single shot.
Afterwards she dashes for the boulder she stands near, clinging to its back for the precious cover it provides.
:
:
William stands up and moves behind a rock for cover.
"We need to do something about those snipers" he says calmly in his standard monotone. You would never guess he was in the middle of a firefight, if it wasn't for the fact that you're in it as well.
"According to Ajax's sensors, we've got one at ten-o'clock high. Second at our one or two-o'clock, is my guess", came Zaviera's voice over the radio. As she spoke, Zaviera leaned out from her cover and took a firing position on one knee to try to precisely spot one of the snipers where the Ajax picked them up.
The emp grenade goes off infront of the Achillies, causing electric bolts to flash across the mech, its movements jerky and staggered as the pilot tries to regain control.
The enemy Achillies fires off another round at Mikhail, impacting his armor with a sizable explosion before boosting up in the air over the mg nest to seek cover behind the rocky hills.
While the Achillies boosts over the mg nest, the soldier manning the gun opens up on Mikhail; dozens of bullets cover the area around him.
at Mikhail, vs DC 10; Hit! ; Reflex Save DC 15 for Mikhail or take damage.
Shots ring out as more rounds come from the surrounding hillsides, nearly hitting Zaviera and William in the crossfire.
Action Order
Round 2
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6)
Zaviera (4)
Mikhail is up
Mikhail tries to turn Ajax away from the spray of bullets but the outer sensors indicate a score of hits. Luckily though the duralloy holds out and nothing vital is struck. "Alec, in the future...we're reconfiguring to drop the sensor array and get a shield. Not being in a team of three is too vulnerable. I'll need extra armor." Mikhail moves the mecha forward another twenty feet loading a frag grenade into the chamber. "I think I can take, three maybe four hits from that gun."
Putting the mecha into a guarded stance Mikhail launches the grenade defensively at the corner of the sandbags hoping to hit the enemy mecha and soldiers.
"I've had it with that damned Achilles...I'm definitely overhaulin' the Ajax."
Alec reaches down to his belt and digs out an EMP canister grenade. He pulls the pin with his teeth, takes a deep breath and takes two quick steps towards the edge of the rock, lobbing the heavy projectile underhanded towards the enemy Achilles.
"This is gonna be a gas, baby! Here's mud in yer eye!"
The grenade fired from Mikhails mech hits the corner of the machinegun nest, exploding and sending bodies everywhere. As Alec rushes forward bravely, his EMP grenade goes off, crippling the Achillies...
Reflex Save vs Emp Grenade = 4; Failed!; [occ]Fort Save: 12; Failed! The Achillies is Stunned for 1 rd.
Action Order
Round 2
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6) -Achillies stunned 1 rd;
Zaviera (4)
Jacquelin is up
If Jacq can see the SN1, she will fire upon him. Otherwise she'll step out and aim at the Achilles in case she gets a lucky shot.
This is the last time I'll be online today. If neither of these conditions makes sense, 'bot rights to GM so combat can move forward. As it is it looks like her rifle jammed for a moment anyway. I'll be on tomorrow.
Jacquelin fires off a shot with her rifle, but the sniper is well protected by the rocky cover around him.
Action Order
Round 2
Mikhail (17)
Alec (17)
Jacquelin (15)
William (6)
Enemies (6) -Achillies stunned 1 rd;
Zaviera (4)
William is up
William takes a deep breath and begins concentrating, focusing his mind upon Mikhail, attempting to stimulate and enhance Mikhail's brain functions.
This task proves to much for William and the resulting psychic backlash causes him to lose balance and slump to the ground.