Aftermath of a Light Rain - History Group 2
Invasion
After returning from a tour of duty in Egypt Carl was pleasantly surprised to find himself promoted to Captain. During the celebration the entire group was getting excessively Lap Danced at Mons Venus, when entire squad had their pagers go off simultaneously. All at once all of the servicemen (most of the patrons) started to leave the club.
The exodus was punctuated by orbital lasers evaporating entire blocks. The Captain flew the party towards the base skillfully avoiding orbital lasers. After making their way down to visual range with the base only to see it being peppered with orbital lasers.
Deciding "discretion's good" they made their way over to Jeremy Von Detrick's gun store where they convinced Jeremy that they were entitled to armaments including ones from the back room. They also convinced him that they could hole up in his bomb shelter ceased until the orbital bombardment ceased.
After the bombardment ceased the squad heard laser fire and went to investigate. The laser fire was definitely coming towards them hiding in an alley they waited for the source. The source were 2 power armored troopers. The armors were not any the squad had heard of. The Armors didn't use thrusters to fly. Two units quickly came up the road peppering the strip malls with arm mounted lasers. When one turned towards the PCS opened up. Luckily the group withstood the PA's subduer attack (Lightening like arc from the "eye"). After the Malorian Arms Laser Assault bounced without much effect the PCS led the Powerarmor on a merry chase though the basement of a CVS then out to an alley finally losing the Powerarmor in the sewers.
Capt. Walker suggested that they needed to regain their own PA's a recon around the causeway to the base showed that it was well guarded. The Squad decided to swim around to a less defended spot. After landing they tried to make their way to the repair facility where their PAs were but were discovered. They made a run for the facility. Just before making it Avery Jones was hit by the PA's laser cannons and his left leg was sheared completely off.
Once in facility everyone got in their powerarmors and fought their way past two presumably Chinese PAs. Including a direct hit to the power plant by Carl, but a misfire destroyed his second X-Ray. They quickly made their way to the bay and out to sea. They regrouped in central Florida where they are still discussing what to do.
Scavengers
The squad set off towards Tampa with the intention of going shopping. On the list were tools to do mech modification and repair, spare parts and armor replacement, a leg for Avery and a truck capable of transporting the Paladins.
The squad found a road and started rollerblading towards Tampa On the way a squad of four assault mechs intercepted them and a battle was joined. Hood lost his Assault Rifle, his X-Ray and used half his "Mek Killers" in the course of the battle. But eventually they were victorious.
In the aftermath of the battle they pulled a red skinned green haired alien out of the wreckage. One humanoid alien was captured alive. The alien appeared mostly human except for dramatic coloring. That was minor compared to what was discovered about the alien powerarmors. They appeared to be living creatures of some sort. They have a circulatory system, a nervous system including two brain like structures. As the squad looked on the powerarmors began to heal damaged servos. Carl did some experimenting and the things seemed to respond to the thoughts of the pilot. The armor also projected the pain of it's lost arm to pilot. The alien armors are more maneuverable than the Paladins, but that is countered somewhat by the projected pain.
All the viable wreckage was moved to a near by barn. While the Squad was investigating the spoils of war, two new power armors vectored in. Again battle was joined. A lucky shot by Claude took out the lead armor. The second weaved into the barn and grabbed his injured comrade. He broke through the far side of the barn and fled. Eventually Hood, using an alien powerarmor, hunted him down the remaining alien and knocked him out of the air. The prisoner died in the fall.
The two damaged Paladins (Carl's, and Hood's) were cut up for parts. Almost everything was hauled with the squad up the road to a truck stop. Carl, Hood, and Claude left their powerarmors entered through the back door. The place seemed mostly abandoned. There were a few dead, probably from the panic that ensued after the attack. Hood feeling paranoid checked the ventilation system and discovered a little girl named Twen.
Twen's parents were killed in the panic after the attack. She tells Hood that the only person left in the truck stop is Henry. Henry is in the garage. And friendly enough once he determined that the group isn't Chinese.
As the credits roll the squad has moved all the powerarmor and parts into the garage. Twen and Henry are still there and Avery is still in a foul mood about his leg. Hood and Claude begin working on figuring out how to fix the alien armors. Other members of the squad start patching armor divots in Paladins.
Scavengers Part II
The squad split up to accomplish several different tasks. Claude spent the next day and a half patching the armor of the Captains and his own Powerarmors, and then reassembling one of the carved up Paladins.
Carl took the time to hunt gator. He managed to locate one when it bit down on his leg almost severing it. Carl dragged the carcass back to the truck stop. He cooked it over a fire a prepared gator steaks. After food was prepared he spent some time working out in one of the captured mechs, he still couldn't get the advanced sensors (IR, UV, LI, Thermal, etc.) to operate. The Captain and Landry spent the day and a half monitoring the radio and keeping guard against possible intrusion.
The real action was with Hood, Jones, and Taylor. The three amigos went into town to secure a leg for Jones. They hot wired a station wagon that was abandoned in the parking lot. They took the wagon and drove into the suburbs of Tampa. In particular they were heading for Brandon Hospital.
As they approached Tampa their radios began to receive only fuzz, then after a few minutes a broadcast began. "Earthlings, I am fourth commander Strall. The First Commander has charged me with securing this peninsula. Your military is crippled, and you have no defense against our army. Stay inside and you will not be harmed. Anyone found outside or engaging in subversive activities will be killed. Anyone disobeying an order given by a Glaudi will be killed. Glaudi will be coming to register you. They will be confiscating all contraband. Anyone not complying will be killed." The broadcast continually broadcasts the same message. Hood, Jones, and Taylor continued toward the hospital.
Taylor spotted a Powerarmor flying over the rooftops. He immediately cut the engines and everyone crouched down. The armor seemed to fly over without noticing the trio. They quickly made it to the hospital.
The hospital was in chaos, there were living and dead bodies piled along the walls. Doctors and nurses were performing delicate surgery in the hallways. Broken families were huddled in the corners, lost children cried in strangers laps. Hood located the prosthetics section and broke in. He managed to locate a suitable leg and begin the operation to attach it to Jones' stump. The operation took over two hours but was successful.
During this time Taylor gathered spare parts and tried talking to people. He got pretty much the same story: Hit by debris, shot by scavengers, shot by troopers stunned by powerarmors, etc. No one seemed to have any real information about what was going on. But Taylor managed to notice peeking between buildings a huge Mek. This behemoth seemed to be a little bigger than an aircraft carrier and better protected. It sat over the wreckage of what was Ft. MacDill.
Hood, Jones, and Taylor were on their way out when they spotted about ten aliens coming towards the hospital. The alien troopers had the same red skin found in the powerarmor pilot but their hair was also red instead of the green encountered earlier. They hid out of sight of the main lobby just long enough to confirm it wasn't an execution before making their way to another door. There was a guard in the parking lot but the party managed to avoid being seen as they snuck far enough away to get another car and head out of town.
Taylor drove while Hood scanned by binocular ahead for any sign of aliens. He managed to see two aliens standing in the middle of the road casually watching, one in each direction. The trio ditched the car and tried to sneak up on the soldiers. When they were about 100 meters away one of the soldiers noticed them. Everyone began firing. Taylor managed to take out both guards with his assault rifle, but in the scuffle Hood lost his left arm to a barrage of laser blasts.
The trio grabbed a car and sped out of town but not before getting a powerarmor tail they ditched the car and split up. The armor followed Taylor into the woods. Taylor managed to lose his tail before getting vaporized. All Three dug in deep as the powerarmors combed the area but eventually gave up and returned to patrol.
The three squad member marched a day and half back to the truck stop. Once there Hood had his arm replaced with the help of Claude.
Going Underground
The squad spent a few days healing from their various ordeals until they began to pick up Fourth Commander Strall's message at the rest stop. Deciding that the enemy was to close the squad checked Standard Operating Procedure for invasion while away from normal military structure. SOP calls for returning to base, this was not an option. The various frequencies and phone numbers associated the situation turned up nothing. The only option left was to report to the nearest functioning base.
At night fall the squad began travailing towards Fort Powell, a military base about three hours travel to the North. On the way they were intercepted by a trio of enemy Powerarmors. A lucky shot by Hood temporarily disabled the power system on one of the armors allowing it to be captured intact. There was another kill by Hood, and one for Jones. Hood was the first of the squad to achieve ace status with five kills.
While the squad was scavenging the wreckage Twen told them that they had to leave. Which, for some reason, they did. When they spotted Fort Powell it was also destroyed it had a slightly smaller version of a behemoth (about the size of a Destroyer) sitting over the wreckage.
The squad pulled back and camouflaged themselves for the day. Hood questioned Twen about her earlier declaration. Twen seems to have some sort of resonance with the invaders, however she was unable to explain it very well (She is only nine.)
The squad decided that if the formal military wasn't available there must be some sort of resistance being organized. Carl thought he knew a few people back in Tampa who might know what was going on in that regards. At nightfall the squad traveled back to Tampa. Carl and Mate stashed their powerarmors outside of town with the rest of the squad and walked into town. After getting to town hall where they were registered by green skinned, red haired aliens, who looked exactly like accountants. Carl and Mate were issued "papers," and they slipped over to Jeremy Von Derrick's where they were given an address to find some people who could use people with the squad's talents.
Von Detrick then slipped Carl and Mate out of town via the sewer system. Then the squad traveled to a country farm compound and met some of Von Detrick's friends who welcomed the squad and helped them stash their equipment in a well appointed garage.
Marching Orders
The Squad, having made themselves comfortable in the home of the survivalists, convened for a meeting/briefing. The Captain sat them down and gave them a rousing speech in which he set forth the short, medium and long term goals for the squad and individuals.
In the long term it was the squads duty to personally evict the invaders from the planet. This duty fell to the Squad because until proven otherwise they must assume that they are the last "organized" military force that hasn't fallen to the invaders.
In the short term the captain laid out a plan to raid a Zetatech R&D facility some 20 miles from trier current compound. The objective of the raid is to secure equipment to modify the Paladins to operate in a stealthy manner (chameleon, IR cloak, sound mufflers, etc.)
After the raid is successful there are several things to be accomplished. First Carl has been assigned the task of learning alien and he is working with one of the survivalists (Marian DeRoy) in order to keep knowledge decentralized. Avery and Taylor are to work with the survivalists to see if some sort of intelligence network can be set up. Mate and Hood are assigned the task of actually doing the modifications to the Paladins and when that is done they should find out as much as possible about the captured powerarmors. Everyone else should consider themselves at guerrilla warfare school. First priority is to make sure everyone is properly trained in weapons usage and how to get out of the way of incoming attacks. Next are hiding skills, stealth, and any electronic warfare that can be learned, and finally tech skills.
At sunset the squad headed out to raid Zetatech. They rollerbladed towards the facility things were fine for about 10 miles then they spotted a recon drone hanging above the road. They squad made an attempt to sneak around the drone but Taylor lost his footing and while attempting to regain his footing accidently discharged his assault rifle. The drone was quickly dispatched but it was assumed that the damage was already done. Throwing caution to the wind the Squad started skating flat out towards Zetatech. They were about five miles from their target when six incoming powerarmors were detected. Avery, Taylor, and Hood managed to conceal themselves while the rest of the party lured the aliens on. When the aliens were overhead the ambush was sprung. The aliens were dispatched after an exchange of heavy firepower. Mate managed to rack up four of the six kills.
No sooner were the enemy dispatched than there were three more incoming. Avery, Carl, and Taylor stayed behind to engage to enemy while the rest of the squad continued toward Zetatech. The rear guard engaged the enemy at extreme range. During the engagement the invaders all targeted Carl to exclusion. Before the battle was finally over Carl's Paladin had seen better days, not much internal damage but the armor was badly cratered, his assault rifle had misfired, and he was out of missiles.
The Captain, Hood, Mate, and Landry skated ahead to the facility. The facility was the site of a decent size combat, the buildings were pretty beat up (holes in walls etc) and there was evidence of destroyed powerarmor both allied and enemy. The acquisitions force entered through a hole blasted in the side of the building. They left Landry to watch the way out. In Hood's best guess the equipment they were looking for would be kept in a basement storage room somewhere. So they ripped open an elevator and dropped down a shaft.
They split up each taking one of the basement levels. After nine or ten doors Hood managed to find the equipment they were looking for. At that moment Landry reported that there were two incoming hostiles. The Captain, and Mate joined Landry and dispatched the hostiles.
As Hood was dragging the equipment back to the surface he came across three red skinned, red haired alien soldiers, and two green skinned, red head alien accountants. Hood had no moral problems about making them dead. Once on the surface they distributed the load and evaded a maximum speed making sure to take a scenic route to the compound.
Ear to the Ground
Mate spent the next couple of weeks installing their newly acquired stealth units and fixing their damaged mechs. Hood was busy trying to figure out how to repair the alien powerarmor. Some progress was made but not enough to reattach the severed arm. Carl working with Marian (one of the survivalists) continued their investigations into the alien language. After much work they were able to identify the numbers and certain other discreet words but the work is slow.
After a protracted discussion the squad decided to send Juan Martinez into the city to start using the black market towards a resistance end. When they sent him in they had no way of getting information to him but arranged a schedule by which Juan would do Semaphore from a tall building to get information out.
In his first "transmission" Juan reported that there were mass food riots. The only food being brought into the city came from the behemoth which has regular AV traffic to other locations. The aliens were offering food and shelter to anyone who would join their "Friends of the Aliens" organization. The organization is supposedly to aid in "peaceful coexistence and reconstruction" There was going to be an organizational meeting in two days.
Juan also reported that just about everyone in the city had been registered or driven underground. Rumor had it that the aliens were moving out into the less urbanized areas with their registration effort. There was also rumors of a organized, networked resistance movement but no hard evidence could be found. The sewers have been trapped making that route much more difficult but he was able to acquire a programmable submersible (Mite). Originally used for underwater research but it can be used to carry small packages.
In the mean time Carl and Hood went out to one of the local Comm Relay Centers to see why the net isn't functioning. The relay equipment seemed to be completely saturated with garbage packets. Carl tried to increase his priority so that he could transmit. He met with limited success. He is able to get to the comm center from his ebook but can't get any where from there. With the intention of returning to the compound Carl and Hood left the comm center.
On the way back to the compound three alien powerarmors were spotted. At which point the Carl lost his footing and made enough noise to attract their attention. The aliens split up and attempted to surround Carl while firing lasers cannons at him. As they passed over Hood he popped up and attacked them from behind. In the ensuing fire fight Carl knocked one out of the sky and Hood took the other two. The two quickly left the scene before reinforcements arrived.
Back at the compound Carl worked on the network but was unsuccessful in opening it up further. He felt that he may have to return to the comm center for any further progress. Hood and Carl tried to work with Twen to figure out what was going on in her head. She indicated that she can hear strange sounds all the time. It was decided that it was probably the alien spoken language and a sample might be helpful. They also decided that Twen should watch the language project to see if anything makes sense to her.
The next day they went to pick up and send a Mite message. Their message included a hand drawn map, apparently copied from an alien map, indicating six red dots equally spaced around the world (Oregon, France, China, off the coast of Argentina, East of New Zealand, and West of Australia). The map also indicates area of organized resistance (central, south America, middle east, parts of Africa, and parts of Australia, small section of Alaska), areas that have been fully subsumed (areas surrounding the red dots, and certain major sprawl zones), and the rest of the area which is suffering from occasional disorganized terrorist attacks.
The "Friends of the Aliens" meeting was led by a Pink skinned guy with green hair, he had a couple of assistants with red hair. There were also three blue skinned men, again one green head and two red heads, all of whom watched in stony silence. There have been sightings of many albino skinned people in the Behemoth but they don't seem ever leave the confines of the ship.
The Squad returned a request for a recording of the aliens natural language, then they head back to the compound to plan their next move.
The Loss of a Soldier
Last episodes battles left our heroes with damaged powerarmors and unsure of their next move. They're having trouble coming up with a quick and safe way of getting to Oregon. It took all of Mate's time for the next two weeks to repair all of the Paladins but he managed to do it. During this time the rest of the Squad wasn't idle. Carl continued his study of the alien language and took a few excursions to try and get the local net functioning. He met with limited sucess but was still having some problems. Taylor begin teaching the survivalists all he knows about demolitions bombs and making things go boom. They were eager students. Hood spent his time research the bio-technology found in the alien powerarmors. He made great headway in understanding how they work. Unfortunately he also came upon the discovery that in order to repair them requires a genetic reprogrammer to cause the powerarmor to re-grow its arm. until these are found Hood is not sure how he can repair the arm.
Fitz, the leader of the survivalists, came back from receiving Martinez's semaphore report. According to Martinez the aliens were intending to set up a small base in the town of Bartow. Troops were going to secure a location during the night and a supply transport would leave Tampa at 0615 to rendezvous with the forward force at Bartow. The squad thought this would be a good time strike. They decided to hit the supply transport midway between Tampa and Bartow to maximize travel times for reinforcements.
The squad went ahead of time and concealed themselves and waited for the transport to come. First a single powerarmor flew overhead. It failed to notice and ambush and kept on it way. Then came the transport escorted by four powerarmors. The transport was huge (about the size of a 10-12 story office building). Once it was over head the trap was sprung. Carl and Avery immediately jumped to the top of the transport. On top of the transport were four turrets, before they could all be disposed of Avery was hit and knocked unconscious. By this Taylor and the Captain managed to dispatch the powerarmors on one side of the transport. The other side was causing more trouble. One of the remaining powerarmors managed to grab Avery and flee. A front and rear guard came to join the fray. All were destroyed but one which managed to escape with Avery's unconscience body. They squad was unable either stop the fleeing alien or terminate Avery's life.
Once they broke through a access hatch the squad dropped into a tunnel reminiscent of a powerarmor sized submarine corridor. Mate went aft, while Hood went forward. Mate encountered eight aliens (3 albino with red hair, 3 gray with red hair, 1 blue with red hair, 1 green with red hair). Mate dispatched them all. Meanwhile up front Hood broke through the door to the cockpit and killed the pilot (red/red). Carl getting out of his armor took position in the thought control aperture and took command of the ship.
The bodies were dumped and the ship inventoried: 560 alien MREs, 6 assault rifles, 6 handguns, 6 sets of trooper armor, 8 poles ( 4M length, .5M diameter), 1 generator. Given the ships size their accessible space inside the transport is lacking. There only appears to be six accessible rooms (Cockpit, Command and Control, maintenance, Storage (x2) and passenger area).
Fearing that the aliens would break Avery, the squad went to the compound and picked everyone up and buried the transport in a swamp. Fade to black...
Out of the Minds of Babes
The squad was immediately taken with several problems and dealt with them in an orderly and organized fashion. First was the missing space in the transport. After a thorough search no auxiliary areas were found. Hood attempted surgery to cut through the walls. he went a foot deep with out any sign of anything but solid wall. The ship was reacting badly to being cut into so the plan and the problem were temporarily abandoned. In looking around the transport Hood managed to find what he thinks might be a genetic reprogrammer. He spent the next couple of days working with the reprogrammer and alternately thinking about ways of poisoning the alien powerarmors.
Carl continued to work on the net connections and the linguistic angle. At this point Carl managed to access most of Tampa or at least what's left of it. He successfully sent messages to several Ph.D. of Computer Science and Linguistics.
In the mean time Mate was busy redesigning the paladin propulsion system to take advantage electrically powered vector thrust engines instead of jet fuel. This is an attempt to get vehicles capable of making it to Oregon. It took Mate three days to get a completed working design and it would require a vectored thrust (AV) engine for each of the powerarmors to be converted.
Carl did a search for AV dealers in the local area and comes up with one. Carl, Mate, and Hood head out there looking for the necessary engines. When they get there Mate manages to find three while Hood drooled uncontrollably over a mint condition classic 2001 Corvette. As is the way of these things they had to go across the street to another dealer to find the fourth engine. As they are about to make their way back to the transport they are spotted by three alien powerarmors. After a quick battle they headed home. The squad returns to their various tasks.
After they've been back a while Karen Hobson comes in slightly hysterical. Apparently she was watching Twen and turned away for a little while. When she looked back Twen was gone, and she can't find her anywhere. Carl, Mate, and Hood head out into the swamp looking for her. After several minutes Carl manages to find her.
An alien powerarmor is pointing both of its cannons at her and shaking violently. Twen is offering it a flower. Carl conceals himself calls for reenforcements and watches. After about five minutes of shaking and quivering the powerarmor collapses. Twen goes about collecting more flowers and showering them down on the fallen powerarmor.
Carl approaches the downed powerarmor and pulls the trooper out of the suit. The trooper immediately curls up into a fetal position and sort of sits there. Hood started asking Twen about what happened. Apparently the trooper was confused so she gave it a flower and tried to make friends with it. The voices got really loud, then he just collapsed.
Mate and Twen went back to base while Hood (in the alien powerarmor), Carl, and the trooper head to a remote location. The trooper seems to be physically okay, but in some sort of shock. After several hours the trooper came to. They were feeding him and giving him water when five alien powerarmors appeared on the scope. They knocked the trooper out. Hood grabbed Carl and the trooper and flew towards where the Paladins were coming from. The powerarmors were moving slower than normal and the lead powerarmor was larger and a slightly different configuration then the normal powerarmors they had faced.
When Hood met up with the rest of the squad they put Carl, Twen and the trooper down and told twen to make friends with them. There was a brief hesitation but they kept coming. From extreme range they started firing at the field but were unable to hit the stationary "sitting duck" targets. The paladins went in to engage. They all targeted the lead powerarmor. Eventually they took it down but not before the captain was hit by its dual cannons, severing his leg causing him to collapse. These were not the same dual cannons they were used to. After the lead powerarmor was shot down the remaining powerarmors just sat there confused according to Twen.
On the extreme range of their sensors a shuttle sized craft appeared on the scopes. The squad shot two of the remaining powerarmors and they began to defend themselves. Eventually all four were destroyed. The shuttle reversed it's course and began fleeing. The squad not exactly in prime condition themselves did not pursue.
Hood checked on the captain and he got there just in time for his short death speech. According to the captain, "They know you're dangerous now.... You have to leave." Then he died.
The alien trooper is killed, then the captain and his powerarmor and the rest of the squad return to the ship....
The Visit of a Stranger
After the last battle both Mate and Hood begin the task of repairing the broken powerarmors. Hood abandons the research to speed up the repair process. Carl works intermittently at repairing the network and learning the language. While learning the language he has Twen work with him. She doesn't think it's very much fun but she does it anyway.
The next day, while Carl is hooked into the transport doing language research, he "hears" a voice in his mind. The voice is in English but the monitors display alien. The voice requests that the dorsal turrets be repaired. It further request that if the dorsal turrets will go a prolonged time without repair C-Mode should be engaged and the field deployed as this is a more defensible position. After some research Carl is fairly sure that "C-Mode rearranges the mass of the ship into discreet buildings." Carl comes to the conclusion that they didn't steal a supply transport so much as an entire base. Choosing stealth they don't engage C-Mode. They continue upon their repair and research duties.
Martinez fails to make his next or any other reports.
Six days later, while Hood is catching some sleep, he wakens suddenly and there is a man in the corner of his room. Not many details can be made out in the darkened room. waving away questions of who he is and why he's doing what he's doing with "It's not important." The stranger indicates that there are two ebook disks on the night stand and that they will be helpful. In a round about way the stranger indicates that the squad was singled out for attention because they have the child. He further comments that "The child is the key, she can not be harmed." The final pearl he leaves is the fact that an Zhadaggi attack ship was downed over lake Ontario and that it could prove helpful. The wall behind the stranger opens up and he steps back through it. It seals behind him.
Hood gathers the rest of the squad and relays the story. One of the disks contains an expert system to aid in translating the alien language. The second disk is in alien, and appears to call itself a technical manual. It's largely a listing of genetic codes and their meanings and effects.
Over the next few days Hood modifies the genetic code for C-Mode to give it a stealth mode. Then he activates it. The ship transmorphs into four six story towers surrounding a three story dome. The compound has a powerarmor bay/construction facilities, barracks, a brig, and a utility (greenhouse, workshops, etc.) tower. The Central dome is an extended command and control with enhanced sensory capabilities. Weapons are mounted on the top of the towers and the whole compound flickers in and out of existence on a fairly regular schedule.
Repair work is moved into the bay (designed to work on techno-organics, but still a major step up from no facilities) where Mate continues his repairs. Hood works on the genetic code of the transport to integrate stealth into that form as well.
After several more days they transform the compound back into a ship and head North. Heading out over the gulf avoiding major population centers. The squad follow the Appalachians North. In West Virginia they detect a couple powerarmors that don't give any indication of detecting the craft, however, fifteen minutes later eighteen powerarmors, including four advanced powerarmors (The kind that killed the Captain.) The aliens are coming in as two groups avoiding the angle of fire allowed by the primary guns mounted in the nose of the ship. Fitz is left in charge of the transport, and Twen is put by a view screen to make friends.
The squad goes out to join the battle. Initially it goes bad, greatly out numbered and twen having no great effect. They take some serious punishment before the tide starts to turn in their favor. Eventually they destroy the four leaders. The rest of the troops wait.
The squad gets on the transport and begins moving. When they get about 2km away the alien powerarmors begin following, always staying at least that far away. The squad uses the dorsal guns and eventually takes them. When they are sufficiently distant from the site of the battle they set down the ship and transform it into C-Mode to see to repairs.
Hard Times at the ANMCC
The squad was camped somewhere near the Maryland/Pennsylvania border busily working of trying to fix their damaged powerarmors. This went smoothly for about three days. On the afternoon of the third day Taylor noticed some energy signatures that he couldn't place. He thought it might be related to a stealth field by product. Taylor, Carl , and Landry head out to recon the situation.
They get fairly close and manage to Identify that they are dealing with six Paladins. One of the Paladins called for them to stop and identify themselves. The squad complied with the request and identified themselves as the 29th Armored Infantry. After a brief pause the leader of the leader of the stealth squad identified the squad as the 94th Armored Infantry and asked that out 29th follow them.
The 94th led our heroes about five miles to the East. During that time Carl asked if he can radio the rest of the 29th and is told no. After some time they come upon a tunnel dug into the side of a mountain. The vault doors are opened and they descend almost a mile under the mountain and are led to a mecha bay populated with at least 50 Paladins.
They are met by the duty officer Col. hawthorne. hawthorne indicates that they are in the Alternate National Military Command Center (ANMCC). Carl asks Hawthorne that their companions on the Pez Dispenser be informed of the situation. The squad is split up led to different chambers where each person went through their own debriefing interviews. Oddly enough they were honest and forthright about everything that happened after invasion.
After debriefing they are assigned a Sgt. to watch them until their story could be checked out. About and hour and a half later they were joined by their compatriots who were on the Pez Dispenser. They again talked with Col. hawthorne. They asked when they could continue their trek to Lake Ontario. hawthorne indicated that the mission would have to be evaluated to see if they have the resources. Until evaluation, the mission is on hold. At Taylor's request he summarized the invasion. As far as he's aware the highest ranking military and possibly government official still alive is four star General Ross Gilbert who is the commanding officer of ANMCC. Most of the major political figures (including the President and Vice President) were killed when Washington was destroyed.
When they had no further questions Hawthorne left and they settled down for the night.
Early the next morning they their door was broken down by MPs who arrested them for theft of military hardware, and treason. They were brought down to the brig searched and put into a cell.
After a while a JAG came and talked to them. Apparently while they slept someone knocked out their guard, er Sgt. During the time that the Sgt was out four powerarmors were appropriated and used to transport two large laser turrets to the Pez Dispenser.
The squad immediately realized they were being framed, but weren't sure by who and why. What they were sure of was that the JAG assigned to their defense was sure they were guilty as sin. They tried to have everyone tried separately but were denied. They did manage to get a new JAG who was less sure of their guilt. Two odd things were noticed about the papers charging them with their crimes. First George Karpowitz was listed instead of Carl Yastremski. Second Landry noticed that the seals and signatures were off indicating that it was a forgery. The later item was pointed out to the JAG and he began working on it.
Time moved slowly and Carl learned origami.
During the night the squad set watches. During Carl's watch the guard seemed to wander off for a few minutes as a horribly scarred man came to the cell door and pointed at Carl and said, "You're going to die just like Joey did." Then he left, a few minutes later the guard returned. Thinking hard Carl remembered Black Joe Reddick the FBI agent responsible for the death of his family and a FBI agent he was responsible for killing. The only Joe he particularly remembers killing.
Carl called for the JAG as soon as possible. He told the JAG about the visitation and that he used to be George Karpowitz and the Black Joe Reddick connection in as vague terms as possible. Carl suggested that perhaps their was a member of the Reddick clan represented at ANMCC.
The JAG came back around nine in the morning with news. While there was no Reddick clan, there was one Peter Krebs who used to be Redddick's partner back when he used to work for the FBI. There was also bad news, they were to be executed at noon. Carl instructed the JAG to place all the blame on himself, Landry, Taylor, and Mate. The JAG went to argue the case.
Slowly the time ticked by... Carl practiced origami.
Noon came and went. Time continued to tick by. Finally around 2:30 the JAG returned. He managed to convince the magistrate of the squads innocence. The squad was released and kindly asked to leave or Carl would be charged with murder. On their way out their weapons were returned to them but their powerarmors were not.
At the Pez Dispenser They all got together and got the autofactory to fix their broken alien powerarmor. Then they looked up the specs in the technical manual that was left by The Stranger. Their are four variants of power armors the 1, 1A, 2, and 2A. They made two 1A suits. The 1A seems to be a stealth variant of the standard grunt armor. During construction Carl managed to access the "Pez-o-Meter," apparently the Pez Dispenser had 100 Pez worth of construction materials and each 1A takes 8 Pez and 8 hours for the auto-factory to grow(?). Currently Pez Dispenser has 64 Pez left.
Spider Web
While the new Powerarmors were growing a lone Paladin approached the Pez Dispenser. The Pilot Identified himself as Col. Hawthorne He came with a proposal. He needed people out in the field gathering information and preparing to strike. Gen. Gilbert wasn't prepared to fight the long war and was trying to come to some sort of political end. No one but Gilbert believed in it. Hawthorne was limited in what he could do with Gilbert looking over his shoulder. He couldn't return the Paladins, but he did manage to set up a communication system in order to get information spread around.
He gave the squad a Satellite uplink and the schedule of safe times of transmission. He also imparted some interesting tidbits of information. According to orbital survey the aliens are holding back, he also suggested that the aliens were involved is some sort of civil war, a war where the whole invasion was a chess move. After they came to a lose agreement to help each other Hawthorne returned to the ANMCC
After the powerarmors were built they headed into Pennsylvania farm country. Taylor went in and tried to arrange a food for guns deal. The first place they stopped at they were unable to strike a deal. The farmers never did trust anyone with that much of a Bronx accent, but the second place they stopped they found a more enlightened farmer and were able to trade three alien sidearms for six days of food for the whole troop of people.
Once the deal was completed and the food loaded on the Pez Dispenser they turned North, towards Lake Ontario. On the way Carl began teaching Henry Wallace how to pilot the Pez Dispenser.
They hadn't made it to far when they noticed that they were in the middle of a grid of recon drones. While trying to decide what to do about this problem, they noticed three incoming alien powerarmors. The Powerarmors were of the 1 or 1A varieties. Red alert was issued, pilots headed to their armors and, Twen was brought on deck to try and make friends with them. The powerarmors paused at about 2km from the Pez Dispenser, each firing a missile at the Pez Dispenser. Henry, who was left to pilot the Pez Dispenser, managed to dodge all but one of the missiles and it didn't seem to do any serious damage. The three powerarmors closed with the squad for about ten seconds before managing to flee.
They decided to try and extract themselves form the sensor grid before anything else happened, but they were to late. There was a single craft of unknown configuration heading towards the Pez Dispenser at high speed. It began decelerating about a kilometer out. In moments it made perfect landing on the top of the Pez Dispenser. Then it's doors popped open to reveal two cocoons. Attached to one was a note that read:
- My Dear Friends,
This is just the first, there will be many more to come. Welcome to Hell.
Your Friend As Always,
Avery Jones
Inside one of the cocoons was the dead remains of Jeremy Von Detrick, in the other was the remains of Juan Martinez. They stowed the bodies below deck and and put it under constant watch.
Before they could clear the sensor field they had one last pair of visitors. These were a set of Type 2 powerarmors. They came in close and rumbled. On many occasions they were in melee range and caused all sorts of havoc. They managed to knock Carl out and severely damage the powerarmors but in the end they were systematically disarmed and denied movement until one was destroyed and soon after the second self destructed causing only minimal damage.
Soon after the battle was ended they were able to escape the sensor field. They swung far to the West, then around to the North, until they found themselves a place to land on the edge of Lake Ontario.
Salvage Mission
During the above mentioned trip Hood built himself a powerarmor. He built himself a set of 2A armor. This took 12 pez, and 12 hours. He further redesigned and retrofitted his and the other three sets of armor for underwater operation. That took a further 1.5 hours and pez, this oddly brought the total to 50 pez. That's .5 pez less than their should have been.
Fritz took his people on a week long hunting trip to see what could be done about the continually dwindling food supply. He made arrangements to meet the squad where they are currently parked in a week. If that meeting is missed there is a back up plan to meet the squad ten miles south 24 hours later.
Hood, who was stationed along the Canadian border when he served with the medical core, recalled that NOAA maintained the sensor net through out the lake for scientific research. There was a manned station 20 miles off the western shore. The squad left Mate to guard the Pez Dispenser and Twen and headed to where. the manned based was supposed to be.
When the arrived where Hood thought the base should be all they found was wreckage Taylor was able to apply some forensic skill to the wreckage and determined that it was destroyed by impact with a very large very fast moving object and not an orbital laser.
Operating under the pretense that their quarry was the cause the squad split up and began fanning out. Soon after the search began Hood encountered an area of particularly murky water. As he was calling in support Something shot out of the murky water and entangled his powerarmor.
A three meter animal/craft swam out of the murk. It had the head of a shark, claws and legs of a lobster, and the tail of a scorpion and it moved like greased lightening. It darted out and began attacking with energized claws. Soon afterward it was joined by a second, but the second had a line connecting its tail to the "stuff" entangling Hood. The three powerarmors fought for 30 or 40 seconds before the rest of the squad showed up on the scene. As soon as they showed up the SeaClaws fled through the murky water, which soon cleared.
The Squad redeployed in two teams of two. There was another attack this time on Yastremski and Landry. The SeaClaws used the same tactics, again fleeing when reinforcements arrived.
The Squad continued the search this time sticking together as one group. Just as Hood was sure he saw something they were attacked for a third time. Ultimately the SeaClaws lost, but this time they attempted to grab their prey and then deploy their ink. This time they made no attempt to flee and were eventually destroyed.
What hood discovered was some sort of underwater base. It was about 500 meters wide and 30 meters high. It stood on three pylons. There were eight cables (strung out from the co-ordinal directions) several kilometers in each direction. Every 200 meters was an underwater lily pad growing out of the cable. The base was sucking in huge amounts of water in the top and shooting in out under each of the eight cables. There were four docking bays and these appear to be the only entrance that wasn't pumping water.
The squad approached one entrance and the door opening freely. The bay was empty and designed to hold a SeaClaw Only two powerarmors would fit inside. Yastremski and Landry entered and sealed the door. Once the door was sealed the room drained, and was filled with breathable air. Hood and Taylor went around to a second bay and found it full of a growing SeaClaw. Taylor destroyed it before it could grow any further. Searching the other two bays they found another growing SeaClaw and another empty bay. The SeaClaw was destroyed and Hood and Taylor entered through the bay 90 degrees to the right of Yastremski and Landry.
Carl took the lead on exploration. There was a hatch just large enough for him to fit in where the SeaClaw normally docked. Yastremski and Landry got out of their powerarmor and entered went down the hatch witch led to a pipe which descended steeply. Both people lost their footing and began slipping down. They managed to regain their footing as the pipe evened out just before the pipe open up to a large drop.
The pipe opened into cylindrical room about five meters wide and twenty meters tall (10 meters in each direction). Water entered at the top and spun around the edges and until it was five meters from the floor than the water was pulled out a grating leaving all sorts of fish, seaweed, algae, and grime to continue in a medium-less vortex. Finally draining out the bottom. Yastremski and Landry eventually made it down to the drain and down it. They dropped three meters and avoided a machine that caught all this stuff did something to it and dropped it on a conveyer belt.
Meanwhile Taylor and Hood encountered a twin system. Hood went down the pipe with abandon and flew right into the spin cycle. However, he managed to grab on to the grate where the water was evacuated. Taylor took a much more careful approach and looked over the edge and laughed ate hood.
Yastremski's conveyor belt was about 50 meters long and moved towards the center ten mechanical arms picked through the contents of the conveyor belt removing contaminants. As Yastremski approached he was attacked by the first arm. He pulled back and shot down the arms. At the end of the conveyor belt was a device that received the contents of the conveyor belt. Did something to it pumped out a thick green slime into a dump truck like container. There was a hallway large enough for the dump truck to travel through that continued to the center.
Taylor and Hood dropped down the drain and managed to disable the arms according to Yastremski's warnings.
Yastemski went down t he hall to a point where it split into three branches. Following the center one he came to a large sealed passage. It was sealed by a iris like valve with no apparent way to open it. Yastremski back tracked and took the left passage. It back tracked towards the edge of the base/ship. All along the right side were large doors. Down this passage was the smell of decomposing vegetable matter as well as a very heavy, and humid atmosphere. Looking through one of the doors was a huge hydroponic facility covering an eighth of the ship. It was growing a strange plant that Yastremski has never seen before. Small robots tended the plants, pruning and taking care of the plants. The water had a green tinge to it and the pruned leaves were carried towards the far wall.
Yastremski figuring out that he knew nothing about botany went back to the iris door. And began unloading his laser assault rifle into it. After some time he was able to see through a hole he made. Inside was a large pillar rising 15 meters from floor to ceiling. Embedded in the pillar were about fifteen alien bodies all had green skin. One had blue hair the rest had green hair. Looking at the walls and ceiling allowed an unfettered view of the water outside the ship as if the interposing bulk did not exist.
Before this could be fully appreciated a laser started firing at Yastremski. He decided to pull out of the central room. Co-ordinating with Taylor and Hood everyone went in simultaneously. Eventually they destroyed three lasers mounted on the central pillar. Despite the lasers employing the questionable practice of dodging.
Further investigation indicated that the aliens were all dead. Before further investigation could ensue the credits and the theme song began to role.
Conversation with the Shock Troops
The theme song faded revealing a much more chaotic scene then was left. Almost immediately a disembodied voice could be heard. It spoke in alien but Carl understood it to say "Aliens have breached control deck without Waedrus or Lorax authorization. Activating secondary defenses."
Hatches opened in the arched ceiling and water began pouring into the control room. To make a long story short the squad was flushed out under one of the strands of lily pads they managed to get away from the current and make it to one of the ports before drowning, being smooshed, or being eaten by various trout. After a little bit of shuffling everyone was able to get to their Powerarmors. Then they swam around for a little while unsure what to do before returning to the Pez Dispenser.
They continued to argue through the night until everyone nodded off except Carl. Some hours later Carl noticed a camp fire some distance off. He woke up Hood and they went to investigate. Sitting in clearing by the camp fire was a red haired, red skinned alien patiently waiting. Carl casually walked into the clearing while Hood circled around the back. The alien invited Carl to sit down, the alien had been told to tell the short story of his life in exchange he was given the right to die. He didn't know why he supposed to tell the story but a Lorax told him to. The alien was 314 years old he'd lived through fifteen of them. He is the lowest class of shock troops and only awoken from his deep sleep when their battles to be fought, or perimeters to guard.
A lot of information was conveyed during the question and answer period. The aliens call themselves the Zhadaggi For the last 1,000 years they have fought a race of aliens called the Nacient. The Nacient homeworld is 112 lightyears form Earth. The concluding battle of that war took place 86 years ago. The society is very caste oriented. The color of skin indicates a persons occupation while the hair color indicates rank. Red skinned are the Glaudi, they are the soldiers. Pink skinned are the Lorax they rule during times of peace, blue skinned are the Waedrus they command during war time.
The alien has an incomplete understanding of how things work, when people like him start thinking their memories are wiped. He was unable to comprehend many ideas suggested, and questions asked by the squad.
Twen was identified by the alien as a Silver Lorax. Her orders can only be countermanded by the Silver Waedrus. There is only one and he is in orbit. Apparently the odd observed behavior in the troops is their inability to attack her, and it is her lack of ability at commanding aliens that allows the higher ranking troops to lead their lesser brethren against the squad.
The six equally spaced dots on map smuggled to the squad during Ear to the Ground are apparently communication and control devices (the alien word translates roughly to spires). The alien agreed that Twen could do great damage from one of these spots.
The alien also indicated that he found the squad by following the beacons that were implanted by "Tracer Missiles" during Spider Web. Apparently the missiles order the ship to build a beacon (explaining the missing .5 Pez.)
After several hours of conversation the alien finally left to find the appropriate way to kill himself. The squad returned to the Pez Dispenser. They immediately went to work building a new powerarmor (2A with necessary mechanisms to control a drone unit (2C)) then modified one of the 1As to be remotely controlled by above 2AC (1AB).
The squad except for Mate but including Twen dived back to the underwater base. they were met by two SeaClaws. Hood and Taylor engaged and destroyed the attackers. The squad split up into three groups, Twen was with Carl, Taylor was alone and Landry was with Hood.
The squad followed the same path as last episode with a few minor hitches. First the arms by the conveyor belts were now armed with lasers. All three teams managed to destroy these without major damage. While Taylor was approaching the control room a cross between the creature from alien and a late movie reject blocked his way. Taylor immediately shot. The creature jumped up ward and spread his legs bracing against the walls near the ceiling. Then it shot it's claws at Taylor lodging 13 of them in his chest, knocking him unconscious.
The door opened for Twen without trouble and with a thought the other two doors opened. Hood went after Taylor and managed to turn the creatures head into a fine red mist while it was dragging Taylor down the hall. Hood brought Taylor to the command center and stabilized him. He was just coming around as the theme song began playing.
Storming the Castle
[ed. I'm in pain so this may be a little more terse than my normal fare.
Hood successfully revived Taylor. After words several days of discussion questions and contrary orders ensued. In the end the base was re-christened "Sleven" and transformed itself into a mile long submarine (consuming 700 of 3500 pez). 200 marines a la the creature that attacked Taylor were also built along with several SeaClaws.
On the fourth day Yastremski and Hoodwent to pick up both the Pez Dispenser and the survivalists who would be returning from their hunting expedition.
The survivalists had indeed returned and they had brought copious amounts food with them. No sooner had Yastremski and Hood arrive then the Pez dispenser was attacked. The Pez dispenser tied to the ground much like Gulliver was except with bio-tech cables.
Hood was shut down by a lucky (but not too lucky) shot to the powerplant. Three type 2A alien powerarmors attacked yastremski he fought a hard fight and eventually demonstrated superior skill by destroying them. In the process he had lost the use of his weapons except his plasma sword. In the mean time a fourth 2A had destroyed the dorsal guns on the Pez Dispenser.
Yastremski faced Avery Jones who promised to avenge all the times Yastremski beat him at cards and came away with more kills. A long sword and shield battle ensued, neither able to make progress in destroying the other. Finally Yastremski grappled and pulled Avery in front of the Pez dispenser and jumped clear as Fritz activated the Pez Dispenser's main cannon and reduced Avery to a fine red mist.
The squad took the Sleven out the St. Lawrence River and South to a spot off coast of Argentina. Well they got close anyway. When they got within 100 miles orbital laser started bombarding them and all though the Sleven was both large, a warship, tough, and underwater it would have been destroyed long before it reached the spire.
Twen's presence and influence kept the attack down to an attack of one. But she could not stop it. She was contacted by an unknown party who told her to turn back and they would cover her escape. The squad loaded up in the Pez dispenser and made for the coast.
No one followed them.
Endgame
As this episode begins our intrepid heroes are parked on the coast of Argentina. The squad spends several hours discussing their next move. Eventually they decide that a covert operation is called for. They make plans and suit up but when the time comes to leave Twen refuses to join them. According to Twen "THEY" say she should wait.
A day past, then another, and another... in all ten days past in restless waiting on the morning of the 11th day Twen said it was time to leave. She directed the squad to head North by Northeast. As they are about begin flying over ocean Twen instructs them to stop. They land the Pez Dispenser on a rock outcrop. The Sleven rises from the ocean. The squad make their way inside the Sleven.
In the command center was an alien he had Pink skin and Blue hair. He gestured and chairs sprouted out of the floor. Every one sat down and began talking. Apparently he was a Lorax, one who rules during time of peace, much like Twen. The squad moved quicker than was anticipated. The Sleven will not provide an effective method of assaulting a spire, even with Twen on board. Any assault on a spire will draw the attention of the Silver Waedrus who is quite capable of directing force against Twen.
The Sleven was meant to be used as a distraction, diverting the Silver Waedrus and allowing a small force to slip into a different spire with Twen and in essence declare peace allowing the Lorax to take command. It seems the Zhaddagi have been at war for the past Millenium with a race known as the Nacient, 86 years ago the Nacient were completely destroyed. Since then the Waedrus have been making false reports about the capability and aggression of Earth. With mounting (falsified) evidence war was declared and control was passed to the Waedrus who invaded Earth. The true Silver Lorax is being watched and can not declare peace and so Twen is the only chance at salvation.
It is also revealed that the Waedrus has set up rules of engagement crippling the Zhadaggi force and prolonging the war. As long as the Waedrus adhere to these rules there is a chance but if they dispense with them there is no chance of forcing the change.
The squad use the satellite uplink to contact Col. Hawthorne at the ANMCC after much discussion, convincing and cajoling Hawthorne agrees to launch a tightly timed assault on the spire in Oregon. Mate, Fitz and the rest of the survivalists take the Sleven up to ANMCC. The assault is to take place in three weeks time.
The three weeks pass and the squad set themselves up 30 miles from the spire hidden underwater. At the appointed time they revved up the engines and headed for the spire. Three type 2 Alien powerarmors moved to intercept. The squad quickly dispatched the enemy and headed towards one of the bays on the spire.
In the bay were was a pez dispenser and two powerarmors hidden to the left and right of the doorway. As the squad passed through the doorway the pez dispense fired, hit, and killed Landry. Twen reached out and disabled the pilot. The remaining two proved somewhat of a challenge but were dispatched.
The squad made their way out of the bay into hallway. The hallway was slightly curved as if it were part of a large ring. The squad headed left and double-timed it about 15 degrees around the circle where they cam to an intersection of a passage that went towards the center of the spire. They took that path and about half way to where they thought the center should have been a squad of 3 powerarmors instructed them to stop. Twen reached out and while they were wavering the rest of the squad quickly destroyed them.
Finally they came to the hollow center of the spire. At sea level the chamber was about 300 meters wide and rose to the top of the spire eight miles above them. It was difficult to tell how far it went down, but a ways. There was an elevator leading up. The squad got on board end began rising.
It took almost 30 minutes to make it close to the top. About 30 meters from the top was a sheet of shimmering air across the whole chamber now only about 15 meters wide. As the squad passed through it their powerarmor and other alien artifacts suddenly began acting less then solid. The material roughly slid off the characters and joined with the wall. A quick inventory indicated that the squad was armed with a few slug throwers and knives.
A moment later the elevator emerged into a domed chamber. Imbedded on the inside of the dome about 12meters off the ground were 15 green skinned aliens. All had Green hair except for one who was blue haired. Evenly spaced around the room by the walls were 3 red skinned red heads (Glaudi). The was an Albino, and two gray skinned aliens tending to things. In the center of the room sitting in chairs were two pink skinned (Lorax), and a blue skinned (Waedrus). All three had purple hair.
The Glaudi and the Waedrus immediately began firing. Yastremski took a Glaudi out with a mono-knife. The rest were killed with pistols. None of the other aliens take any action. Some one asks the Lorax how to declare peace. One indicates that Twen should stand in the center and concentrate on the concept of peace.
As Twen steps up to the center a knife flashes into the hand of the Lorax who had spoken. He slashes at and catches Twen in the midsection. He is immediately shot down. Hood bandages Twen and she is in pain but okay.
The remaining Lorax quickly explains that that was an Agrathi. They are the secret police of the Zhadaggi, they can take on any skin and hair color. Despite his intentions the process he spoke of was essentially true. Twen steps up to the center again, this time with the squad forming a tight defensive perimeter around her. After a brief moment Twen begins to glow. Lights flicker all across the dome. Then there is complete silence. No air circulating, no breathing, no hum of power, no lights, nothing. It stretches out for one... two... three... seconds. Then everything turns on again.
The Lorax thanks the squad for returning control and indicates that they will be off the planet withing 12 hours. They refuse an offer of diplomatic contact until they can put their own command back into order.
Four hours later there isn't an alien on the planet and eight hours after that there isn't an alien in the solar system. Gen. Gilbert suffered an unfortunate accident three weeks before the final battle. Col. Hawthorne took over the ANMCC force and led the attack. The force suffered 75% casualties during the diversion. Hawthorne survived but Fitz and Mate were among and missing.
Somewhere on Earth in a lifeless dead crater a lone flower blooms.