ReSeed IC

[deuterio12]

The city of Marrocos in the north of Africa had seemingly escaped any direct violence from the war so far, although they were starting to have some problems accomodating a big influx of refugees. But an Einst Queen that had made her nest in the nearby desert has now revealed herself, seeding the sands surface with alien fungus to cover her sudden attack! Satellite imagery caught their movements as the einst shift dunes and move closer to the surface, taking targets of opportunity while advancing upon the main urban area!

The local military garrison is too light to whitstand such an assault and as their commander desperately sends distress signals calling from reinforcements, all replies for help so far give ETAs such that they’ll only be able to arrive when the einst are already inside the city wrecking havoc.

Luckily you happen to be in Marrocos at the moment. Maybe by pure luck and chance, maybe your superior officers had reasons to be suspicious and placed you here ahead of time, maybe somebody mysterious offered you a tip that turned out true.

Either way the local garrison’s commander's panicked cries are loud and clear in multiple channels:
“This is vice great lieutenant Omargo from Marrocos XIIth company! Class IV Einst are converging upon our position! Somebody, anybody, please help us!”

[DeTess]

*Earlier that day*

"...and finally, we've finished testing the stealth systems. This humid environment isn't exactly optimal, but it seems to be working to specifications once again." Spence paused for a moment as he reached the end of his report. "It's taken a while, but the Aurora is once again fully operational"

"Thank you, commander. XO, what's the status of the crew?" Life was slowly returning to the Aurora's bridge as captain Evaro reviewed the reports of their stay in the Gibraltar shipyards. A recent tussle with a pirate flotilla had left the Aurora with a lot of system damage, and the ship had spent the past week and a half in dry-dock as the ship was repaired.

"They've all returned from shore-leave. Sgt. Vera spent most of her leave in a cell after starting a brawl, but the fine has been paid and she's a free woman once again. There are no other incidents worth reporting." Cevet's report was short and to-the-point. Theresa knew there where probably a number of smaller incidents that he was leaving out, but she trusted the musk cat to bring anything she needed to know to her attention.

"Do you believe any further punishment is required for sgt. Vera?" She asked her XO.

"For a change, no. As far as I could tell, she'd actually been provoked for a change, so the time spent in a cell should be enough." Cevet seemed like he wanted to add something else, but he got interrupted by the communications officer.

"Madam, I've got an urgent message from HQ!" The officer pressed several buttons on her console, and the large tactical map in the center of the bridge was replaced with several satellite images.

"Captain Evaro. Is the Aurora ready for duty?" The voice of chairman Higgs accompanied the images. Higgs was one of the principal shareholders of Aurora, and retired military besides, so he often handled briefings.

"We are. In fact..." The captain turned towards her officers "XO, move the ship to alert state 3. Commander, see to it that we're airborne by the end of the briefing." She then turned back towards the tactical display. "3 images of the same bit of desert, taken some time apart. The 2nd shows the remains of an impact crater of sorts, while on the third it appears like some dunes have collapsed downward. A queen went down and built herself a little nest there. Does that cover it?"

"We aren't certain about the presence of a queen, but it's possible. This area is too close for comfort to a large population center, so we've been contracted to confirm the presence or absence of an Einst queen there." Higgs' words where punctuated by the pounding of boots as the rest of the bridge crew rushed towards their stations. "Your objective is to scout out the area and, if possible, destroy the nest."

"We'll take care of it."

"Would it kill you to use 'sir' once in a while?" The chairman asked as the gantry that had held up the ship fell away and the Aurora started to lift into the sky.

"I'm sorry, chairman, but last time I checked your job title was 'chairman of the board' not 'admiral'." She smiled. This was a familiar discussion between the two of them.

"I'll take the suggestion for a change in title under consideration then. Clear skies, captain."

***

The journey towards Marrocos had been quick, the Aurora's powerful engines allowing them to cover the distance in under twenty minutes, yet captain Evaro worried that it wouldn't be quick enough. A new set of satellite images had been sent when they where still several minutes out, showing the dramatic transformation of the surface and the clear trails of creatures digging under the sand towards the city. The distress signals followed shortly after.

“This is vice great lieutenant Omargo from Marrocos XIIth company! Class IV Einst are converging upon our position! Somebody, anybody, please help us!” Theresa nodded towards the communications officer and she opened a channel to respond.

"This is captain Evaro of the assault carrier APSS Aurora. We're several minutes out and closing fast." She then turned towards the crew. "Move the sip to alert state 1. Activate the stealth systems and have Omega squadron standing by in the launch tubes. Navigation, pass control of the helm to my console."

[Arayl]

Xenia had been spending time walking around Marracos doing some window shopping in between jobs when her radio started to demand her attention, retrieving it from her pocket she answered it, "Hey Caiden why are you calling me on the radio? If you wanted to see me you knew where to find me"

Caiden's answer to her question was to say, "While you've been walking around the city, I've been keeping an ear to the military channels, and a few seconds ago I got the following message" Once he completed his sentence he piped through the distress signal for his partner to hear.

"Sounds like they need our help with this Einst problem they've got, bring the Revenant to the west side of the city, I'll meet you there" Xenia said already beginning to sprint for the western outskirts to rendezvous with Caiden.

A minute after she arrived at the outskirts the Revenant Corsair appeared and crouched down to allow her to get into its cockpit. Turning towards the direction the Einst nest was Xenia contacted the garrison and said, "This is Xenia Wiegand and Caiden Cantrell pilots of the Revenant Corsair. We're here to help keep the Einst forces from overwhelming your men and are a few minutes from their position."

Once she had finished contacting the garrison she transformed her mecha into its beast form and began sprinting towards the Einst's position.

[5ColouredWalker]

Early in the day, Macross Mech Grounds
Zentradi sized powersuits were always inspiring to look at.
The full sized ones that is, thought Jade as she stepped into the splayed open Randgriz style suit, with much of it's internals removed to be powered by her. Alarms blared as it started to close, connecting to her automated suit. Inside she felt giddy. It was...
Hers.
'Ok, calm down Aym.'
"Min-Ja-Three here, activating reactor battle start test in three.... Two... One... Lights are on system active, time?"
"Four seconds from boot drop, activate general radio link."
"M-J-Actual this is M-J-3 over."
"M-J-3 Loud and Clear over." a happy voice called back.
Yep, definitely feeling giddy, this was the first time in the suits since the refit. Mostly the same stuff, but new sensors flashed sharper input into her mind with greater clarity.
"Comms check done, old systems are all showing green, senses are working. Flickering cloak."
A twitch sent her mech invisible. Her Mech! Invisible!
"It's disappearing. Standard detectors are failing, it's working as expected. Tethers have all been removed. You're free to move and fire at your assigned practice targets for live weapon cycling."

And with that, she stepped forward again. She liked making the world shake, and so she let it, no soft steps for her, the hard heavy ones. Stealth was for later.
"Confirmed. How long till we have to stop for briefing?"
"Check! M-J-3 you're stepping heavy! Leg actuators working?!"
"Sorry, didn't realise I was stomping so hard. Walking normally now."
"Understood. You have half an hour run time before you need to scale down. Have fun."
"Thanks George. Going for a walk."

---

“This is vice great lieutenant Omargo from Marrocos XIIth company! Class IV Einst are converging upon our position! Somebody, anybody, please help us!”
"This is M-J-Actual from Miniboss-Ja. Flickering Stealth Systems for confirmation, please provide heading data for hostiles and ready for long-range fire support."
James sighed as he turned his mech around, moving into a loping run, letting all his stealth systems deactivate, before reactivating them in a 5 second sequence. Quickly his run became a jump, and then an invisible flight.
M-J-2 reporting."
M-J-3 reporting."
M-J-4 reporting."
M-J-5 reporting."
"Marrocos Actual this is Miniboss-Ja-Actual reporting in. Confirming we are aborting scout patrol to assist Lieutenant Omargo, over."

[greenpotato]

Being in Marrocos was a product of a kind commander trying to give Henna a change of scenery to lighten her mood and recover. Not a holiday on paper, but nonetheless...

She was in her bunk wide awake and mind racing when the alarm went off, she was distracted but she still knew the drill. Years of gruleing practice as a child had her leap from the bunk with precise muscle memory and she quickly jogged to the hanger. She found her mecha suit and climbed in.
"Henna Gould Jarna reporting" she said into the comm as she started to flick the switches and bringing her faithful mecha to life with its familiar creaking groan as the reactors warmed up. A worried look managed to crease her face into a frown this is my first deployment without a wingman she thought without him

[DeTess]

The Aurora's bridge had darkened, lit only byte the emergency lighting and the light coming from the screens. Thick slabs of metals had slid into place to protect the windows during the coming engagement.

"Decelerating to combat speed." The Aurora was in the final section of her approach. It was diving down from cruising altitude, using aerobrakes to shed her speed. Despite the ship's advanced stealth systems it's outline would be clearly visible for at least half a minute to anyone that'd care to look up as the deceleration from supersonic velocities left a clear trail in the sky. "Coms, what friendly assets will there be on the ground?"

"In addition to the Marrocon troops, three groups of irregulars have reported in." Additional symbols representing the irregulars appeared on the bridge's map as the com's officer went down her list. "Xenia Wiegand and Caiden Cantrell are with the Revenant Corsairs outfit. They're Einst-hunters with a good track record. We've fought beside them before, when Canberra got attacked by Einst a year ago. Then there's squad Miniboss-Ja. A specialist squad, Zentradi. Not much else to note about them. Finally, there's Henna Gould Jarna. We've got little information about her, but sensors indicate she's piloting a state-of-the-art mech."

Theresa nodded. It wasn't much, but Wiegand and cantrell had acquitted themselves very well at Canberra, and she'd heard of the Zentradi by reputation at least. "Coms, open a channel to the irregulars and defense forces." She waited a second for the coms officer to comply, then addressed the defenders. "Captain Evaro here. The Aurora is moving into position. I'm suggesting all defenders link into our tactical network for efficient sharing of tactical and strategic information."

As the tactical display started lighting up with new information, she switched towards one of the Aurora's internal channels. "Omega squadron, you're clear to launch."

[5ColouredWalker]

"This is Sergeant Allcane from Miniboss-Ja. Squad will be flickering sensor scanners in 5 seconds from my mark. Authentication codes and tactical information will be transmitted at the same moment. Mark."

1 Mississippi
2 Mississippi
3 Mississippi
4 Mississippi

Suddenly 5 Randgriz appear on Sensors, loaded for stealth operations and with minimal additional armament... All bearing class 4 mook level plating. A data burst accompanies their appearance, and about 2 seconds later when their systems have successfully authenticated the Aurora's passcodes and linked systems, the disappear from all sensors... Minor wind wake. Perfectly silent. Whatever they have for optical cloak seemingly perfect. In their place come occasional pings, each saying 'Present location, expected location X,Y,Z in 6 seconds.'

Soon, they've taken a X formation, with their apparent commander flying in the center, each of the other mechs reporting roughly 30mu away, two ahead and two behind. The commander decloaks, and 6 seconds later there's no more pings. It seems they're communicating internally.

"Sergeant James Allcane assuming command of Miniboss squadron. Loaded for stealth-recon and long range operations. Auth-codes show you have rank and tactical training so I'll defer to your orders despite the fact you're not in out command chain. An oversite I expect will be corrected shortly.... Please avoid hitting us with your artillery, we've had problems supporting cruisers before."

[greenpotato]

Henna patches into the tactical network offered.

On your scanners her mecha is huge, and running hot. Its exotic psionic reactors hissing as it lumbers its bulky form into a jog towards the action. Its energy signature flares for a moment as its prodigious armor is bolstered by a layer of psychic defence from its pilot.

"Aurora, this is Heena Gould Jarna, callsign Goblin. What are your orders?"

Spoiler: "Hegori" modified Green Aki mk IV

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[Arayl]

"Good to be working with you again Captain, I'm patching into the network now" Xenia says when the Aurora's captain contacts her and after replying talks to the others who'd joined the tactical network"Good day everyone it should be good to work with you all in the battle ahead"

On the others' sensors, they see a quadrupedal mech moving towards the engagement area. It's keeping low to the ground to make itself as aerodynamic as it can.

Spoiler: Revenant Corsair

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[DeTess]

The city of Marrocos sprawled bellow the Aurora as the ship completed it's descent, now escorted by Omega squadron arrayed in a wide V ahead of her bow. On the bridge, Evaro listened as the irregulars checked in and the final preparations where made.

"Gunnery, I've added an additional layer of prediction to the positional information provided by squad Miniboss. Make sure to watch your fire in the indicated areas." Chief engineer Spence spoke, as he made a final set of adjustments to the tactical display. Allied stealth units on the field always made targeting a tricky proposition, but Spence had developed some very effective ways of predicting where they wouldn't be to prevent friendly fire.

"All the irregulars have checked in. What are your orders, captain?" the comms officer spoke up, indicating that she had a channel to all friendly forces open.

Theresa suppressed a sigh. She wished she'd had more time to learn about the other units here and prepare a proper strategy. The generic plan would have to do for now. "Containing the Einst is the highest priority. If the Einst spread out into the city proper the amount of civilian casualties will be enormous and it'll take days to root out every last one of the beasts. If the Einst manage to feed and get away, any losses we inflict here will be easily replenished. If the worst happens and one of the beasts manages to feed, it needs to be eliminated quickly to prevent it from returning to its queen. If the Einst try to retreat, advance cautiously. Tag some of the creatures so they'll lead us back to their nest if possible, but don't make a headlong rush after them, as Queens have been known to keep some of their monsters in reserve to lay ambushes and cover the retreat of the rest."

She paused for a second, her gaze running over the tactical display. "Goblin, try to link up with the Revenant Corsair. The Einst will try to isolate lone mechs and destroy them before reinforcments can arrive. Lets not give them the chance here."

[greenpotato]

"Goblin Copies" The heavy footfalls of Hennas mech accelerate into a run as she moves to link up with Revenant Corsair.

[deuterio12]

As you approach the frontlines you spot the einst advancing in the distance:



Huge, they advance forward at a steady pace. You see some tanks and fighter jets already engaging them as well as artillery shells falling in the einst’s midst, but tank shots, missiles, explosions, they don’t even seem to faze the alien monsters carapaces. The einst do seem to aknowledge their presence by unleashing barrages of biolasers from their “eyes” that wipe out the military’s vehicles, their crews barely escaping in time. Even the artillery barrages from the distance dry out.

Lieutenant Omargo’s communications start to sound more frantic and panicked:
“All of Marroco’s squads disable, no more ammo... Ha… Hahaha. You’re all that’s left now. I-I don’t care how you do it but stop the einst, don’t let them break through that area! T-That’s an order!”

Spoiler: Tactical Situation

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Party starts in any position of their choice at the top of the map.
If you want and have the proper abilities for it, you may start hidden if you have the right abilities for it.


Enemy initiatives:
Drone V (1d20+6)[25]
Drone XI (1d20+6)[16]
Drone VII (1d20+6)[14]
Drone VII (1d20+6)[14]
Drone IX (1d20+6)[14]
Drone X (1d20+6)[13]
Drone VI (1d20+6)[13]
Drone I (1d20+6)[13]
Drone IV (1d20+6)[13]
Drone II (1d20+6)[10]
Drone VIII (1d20+6)[9]
Drone III (1d20+6)[8]

[5ColouredWalker]

"You don't want to fire on extreme range? Ok. Changing squad formation and sending planned path. Going radio silent but pings will resume if movement changes. A double ping will be sent 30mu before we arrive on station."

1000mu, the tension in the mechs ratchets up incredibly.
900mu. Weapons range, and 15 seconds of flight gone. Normally they would stop, but they don't, instead beginning to spread out into a line formation as they collectively glance at their instruments.
700mu, they've dropped to 200mu. 24 seconds of freefall if they decide they need to drop. Eyes flicker to sensors almost constantly as they quietly fly forward. Everyone else is quickly catching up.
500mu. Almost half range, about their maximum 'effective' range for an ambush... Almost a sin to not stop here, but they so transgress.
400.
350.
300.
240. A double ping is sent.
210, they begin slowing down and come to a stop at the requested range, drifting at 207mu plus change. Their weapons remain cold, unused. They're used to fighting within this range, but beginning at it? No. Not since their earliest and scariest firefights. There is one benefit though, the Einest are squarely within sensor range if they decide to start blowing smoke.
Now they await the signal, and when it goes, so go 5 long wires.

[DeTess]

Red markers on the tactical map lit up as the Marrocos defense force finally started relaying the position of the Einst. A wide line of the monsters where advancing on the city. Captain Evaro's voice cut through the silence that had fallen as the size of the engagement became clear. "Gunnery, load a Macross warhead in battery 1. XO, tell Omega Squadron to dive to get below our line of fire."

"Omega squadron reports having dropped clear of the danger zone." Cevet's voice cut in a moment later.

"Confirm loading of a Macross warhead. Targets, captain?" The call from gunnery came.

"Target the Einst directly ahead. Let's see how they take being shot at by proper weaponry." A bright streak rushed ahead of the ship, which moments later exploded in a bright flash, separating in a barrage of smaller missiles streaking towards the Einst. Almost half the advancing line was engulfed in fire and smoke, hiding the beasts, and the barrage's effect, from view for a moment.

[deuterio12]

The miniboss squad succeeds to “hook” five of the drones, but the Aurora’s missile barrage struggles to do more than singe the einst’s thick carapaces. Some missiles manage to strike weaker joints, wounding one of the drones and managing to blow off the beam-head off another, although they both keep moving even if slowed.

The drones are quick to focus their attention in the massive battleship that just appeared, advancing through the sands while unleashing a volley of bio-beams at the vessel! The one that had lost its beam-head instead opens its abdomen to reveal and unleash its own barrage of drone-missiles.

During the attack four of the drones are clearly acting with more focus than the rest.

Spoiler: Tactical Situation

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Aurora gets focus fired. Attack rolls already take in account distance penalty.
Attack/damage (rending/concussive, beam):
[22][38]
[12][29]
[19][21]
[7][33]
[15][40]
[18][36]
[36][38]
[29][32]
[35][30]
[45][42] Crit confirm/extra damage [28][37]
Attack/damage (power/disarming/missile), trying to disarm the Aurora's own missiles.
[19][32]
Party’s turn.

[greenpotato]

Reticles flick up into Hennas Hud with familiar ping tones around the closest 8 Einst. She focuses her mind on her mechas weapons and it buzzes with psionic energy in response.

"Goblin has missile lock and tone on targets, preparing to fire"

Spoiler: mechanics

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15e/Swift Action Lock on Missiles
Free Action Lock on to the closest 8 Einst 40e
Standard Action Cast Extend Range on 21-Tube Launcher with 5pp / 5e

energy is now 35/90

[Arayl]

Xenia seeing the Einst horde ahead of the group transfers her Escudo armaments to the Revenant in preparation of the battle ahead. Pointing at the Einst drone ahead of the Revenant an electrical charge flows over its front legs and discharges at the drone.

"Revenant Corsair will be taking on the back middle Drone" Xenia says as the lightning bolt flowed across the battlefield towards her target.

Spoiler: Actions

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Caiden will use Battle Cry (50/70)
Xenia will cast Zonde as a standard action on Drone III dealing (12d4)[27] lightning damage and 60% chance to entangle, DC 16 Reflex negates
As a swift action activate Subtle Melody Repository-Ghost and if I beat a DC 15 Perform check (1d20+20)[37] everyone and myself get a +1 enhancement bonus to Attack rolls and damage rolls, Skill Checks, Ability Checks, AC and saves for 1 round, and for every 5 points I beat the DC, the bonus increases by 1

[5ColouredWalker]

As target locks are acquired by others, reinforced and incredibly insulated copper wiring is hooked directly to reactor output, sending electricity down the attached cords at the closes Einist.
Then smoke appears in the sky as 5 magnetically accelerated rockets launch before activating their engines, a roar heard a mere moment after a ping arrives on the Aurora's sensors, Miniboss Squad entering freefall the instant they've fired.

Spoiler: Actions

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Free: Using Wire Channel to deal 6d6 electricity damage to attached Einist.
(6d6)[16]
(6d6)[15]
(6d6)[21]
(6d6)[19]
(6d6)[19]

Full Round: Firing Linear Bazooka's at the Einest, going along the line at the front.
Hit: (1d20+14)[15] Crit Conf: (1d20+14)[24] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d8)[7]. Miss scatters 15 mu.
Hit: (1d20+14)[21] Crit Conf: (1d20+14)[30] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d8)[4]. Miss scatters 15 mu.
Hit: (1d20+14)[24] Crit Conf: (1d20+14)[20] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d8)[6]. Miss scatters 15 mu.
Hit: (1d20+14)[31] Crit Conf: (1d20+14)[22] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d8)[7]. Miss scatters 15 mu.
Hit: (1d20+14)[25] Crit Conf: (1d20+14)[26] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d8)[3]. Miss scatters 15 mu.

All weapons have a 45mu Area Effect as well due to explosive (All but the left and right most in each rank get hit by two AOE's. The left and right most are hit by one AOE.). All are Rending (Half DR). All are Disarming, since I'm medium Einiest get a +8 to resist due to size difference. I'll pick the largest available guns on all targets.

Also, Explosive weapons don't force a dex save, I just roll to hit them... I'm going to apply the range modifier to the attack roll, if you don't think it applies, add +6 to all rolls. Note, the number of rolls assume I hit all of them or they don't scatter too far. I'm sorry DM.

Spoiler: Explosive Rolls

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Einist labelled 1-11. 1 is top left, 2 is top second from left, and 11 is bottom right, following the obvious pattern.
1: (1d20+14)[25]
2: (1d20+14)[20] and (1d20+14)[17]
3: (1d20+14)[21] and (1d20+14)[21]
4: (1d20+14)[21] and (1d20+14)[15]
5: (1d20+14)[17]
6: (1d20+14)[24]
7: (1d20+14)[29] and (1d20+14)[18]
8: (1d20+14)[22] and (1d20+14)[22]
9: (1d20+14)[15] and (1d20+14)[27]
10: (1d20+14)[24] and (1d20+14)[16]
11: (1d20+14)[16]

All hits cause another 71 damage (No Crit), still rending, and provoke another disarm roll. Again targeting the largest looking weapons.

Free Action: Stop Flying. Begin falling 250ft/round, placing me 42 mu closer to the ground (Currently at 200 mu). New distance to targets for range increments, 165mu. Still invisible.

[DeTess]

Alarms where ringing across the bridge. The Initial strike of the Einst had hit them hard, with one off their strikes even penetrating the armored bridge and clipping captain Evaro's side.She remained focused despite the wound, however. She exchanged a quick look with Chief engineer Spence, who merely nodded. She didn't say anything, trusting him to keep the Aurora in one piece for as long as was necessary.

"Sensors, get me a deep scan of that creature smart enough to try and target the bridge. Gunnery, load two more Macross warheads, set for a wide spread. Prepare for evasive maneuvers for evasive maneuvers." She rerouted power from the main engines to the auxiliary thrusters, allowing for quick vertical and horizontal translations to hopefully allow the Aurora to evade the next barrage.

"Scan results coming up now, captain!" a detailed threat assessment of the creature she'd indicated before appeared on the Aurora's bridge. "We've seen 3 creatures similar to this one in behavior!"

"Tell Omega Squadron to target those four creatures and eliminate them as quick as possible." Even as she gave the orders, twin lances of light rushed ahead of the aurora, as the gunnery officer fired the Macross warheads as quickly as they came available.

Spoiler: the Aurora's actions

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Upkeep:
energy recharge: 100/100 available

beginning of turn free actions:
Evaro's 'scan' spirit(72/77s) targeting one einst
Evaro's 'trust' spirit(52/77s) targeting the aurora: heal (12d6)[39] on the Aurora and the captain
Cevet's 'trust'spirit (55/75s) targeting the aurora: heal (6d6)[21] on the Aurora and the captain

Evasive maneuvers feat: reduce speed by 60 MU, gain +6 AC

move action: aurora moves 10 MU forward (98/100e)

standard action: Missile barrage maneuver (78/100e), 120 MU cone (targeting the 8 Einst on the right side of the map). Attacks are pinning and disarming.
attack/damage rolls
scanned green einst: (1d20+24)[37] / (12d8+12)[74]
green-marked einst 1: (1d20+24)[43] / (12d8+12)[68]
green marked einst 2: (1d20+24)[33] / (12d8+12)[72]
normal einst 1: (1d20+24)[26] / (12d8+12)[61]
normal einst 2: (1d20+24)[34] / (12d8+12)[77]
normal einst 3: (1d20+24)[31] / (12d8+12)[62]
normal einst 4: (1d20+24)[40] / (12d8+12)[62]
normal einst 5: (1d20+24)[41] / (12d8+12)[72]

disarming used first against the beam weapon, then against the disarming missile weapon if the beam weapon is already gone.
swift action: consume 2 charges from the belt of battle for 1 extra standard action

extra standard action: Missile barrage maneuver (58/100e), 120 MU cone (targeting the 8 Einst on the right side of the map) Attacks are pinning and disarming.
attack/damage rolls
scanned green einst: (1d20+24)[39] / (12d8+12)[74]
green-marked einst 1: (1d20+24)[43] / (12d8+12)[65]
green marked einst 2: (1d20+24)[43] / (12d8+12)[57]
normal einst 1: (1d20+24)[26] / (12d8+12)[62]
normal einst 2: (1d20+24)[39] / (12d8+12)[62]
normal einst 3: (1d20+24)[36] / (12d8+12)[66]
normal einst 4: (1d20+24)[41] / (12d8+12)[62]
normal einst 5: (1d20+24)[25] / (12d8+12)[69]

disarming used first against the beam weapon, then against the disarming missile weapon if the beam weapon is already gone.

***
"Priority targets have been marked. Switch Orgone rifles to B-mode and open fire." The familiar wine of an overtaxed power-plant rang through Lt. Ilbar's Belzelute's cockpit as he brought his weapon to bear, the other members of Omega squadron following his lead.

Spoiler: the Aurora's actions

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Omega squadron is hovering in place (made possible by their 'good' maneuverability rating)

Full-round attacks:
Each member fires their Orgone rifle (B) at the green-marked einst, starting with the one that already took a missile in the back and moving to focus on a different one as the creatures die.

the Orgone rifles (B) have the Heavy, Power (so half AC from natural armor and the like) and Disarming properties (trying to disarm first the beam weapon, if that's gone the missiles, and if those are gone the 'Greifzange Schwanz' and are fired in their second range segment.

attack roll/damage (ignore rolled values, all mook weapons do average damage (76))
Rifle 1: (1d20+28)[29] / (15d8+9)[78]
Rifle 2: (1d20+28)[45] / (15d8+9)[78]
Rifle 3: (1d20+28)[39] / (15d8+9)[92]
Rifle 4: (1d20+28)[32] / (15d8+9)[91]
Rifle 5: (1d20+28)[36] / (15d8+9)[74]

energy: 125/145

[deuterio12]

Xenia‘s bolt makes the target drone instinctively take cover behind a nearby dune, evading the spell.

Miniboss squadron’s long-range bombardment fails to inflict any significant damage. The einst shells are simply too thick for indirect explosions of their caliber to penetrate, they feel like they’ll need to get closer or somehow aim better to deal some damage. Their energy cables are burning up some einst flesh, but with their sheer bulk it’ll be a while that way until they go down.

Hennas carefully takes aim.

The Aurora’s new macross missile massacre volley proves more successful than the last one, succeeding in wound over half the targeted drones and blowing up several of their beam-heads. Omega Squadron professionally follows up with having three of their units melting right through the weakened carapace of one of the focused einst while the other two start to work in searing chunks off another with their orgone blasts, although their smaller caliber makes them unable to fully disable their huge bioweapons.

The einst continue their relentless advance, and before the downed drone’s remains stop twitching another starts acting in a more focused way! The aliens keep concentrating their attacks on the massive and close Aurora, but this time all unleashing volleys of buzzing bio-missiles. The focused ones appear to have better aim this time, as if they were learning the battleship’s hull strong and weak points.

Spoiler: Tactical situation

Show

New set of attacks against the Aurora:

Attack/damage (power/disarming/missile)
(1d20+6)[23]/(4d10+6)[32]
(1d20+6)[19]/(4d10+6)[23]
(1d20+6)[10]/(4d10+6)[30]
(1d20+6)[20]/(4d10+6)[32]
(1d20+4)[20]/(4d10+6)[25]
(1d20+4)[10]/(4d10+6)[32]
(1d20+30)[43]/(4d10+15)[40]
(1d20+30)[32]/(4d10+15)[37]
(1d20+30)[44]/(4d10+15)[34]
(1d20+30)[38]/(4d10+15)[36]

[greenpotato]

"Firing!" With a flash of smoke and heat Henna's mecha unleashes a huge volley of missiles with dozens flying towards each of the Einst. Her reactor flashes warnings at her as she rocks from the recoil. After the smoke clears she takes a moment to recover. And her capacitors need more than a moment according to the red icons and warning tones, not to mention the audible ticks of cooling metal from the overworked launchers.
Goblin recharging

Spoiler: mechanics

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+40e from reactor
Free action maintain target locks 40e
Swift Action 20e Multilock
Full Round Action Mecha Missile 5e

Firing 21-tube at the 8 target locked enemies and the 2 non target locked


Target Locked 1: (d20+27)[30] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[43]
Target Locked 2: (d20+27)[37] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[29]
Target Locked 3: (d20+27)[36] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[40]
Target Locked 4: (d20+27)[35] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[45]
Target Locked 5: (d20+27)[43] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[33]
Target Locked 6: (d20+27)[30] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[44]
Target Locked 7: (d20+27)[28] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[42]
Target Locked 8: (d20+27)[45] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] ignores half dex and dodge to AC. Trip roll: (d20+28)[40]
Other target 1: (d20+27)[41] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] Trip roll: (d20+28)[46]
Other target 2: (d20+27)[41] damage [roll]21d4+2d6+14d4+11[/roll] Trip roll: (d20+28)[42]


+5 buff from Revenant Corsair already included in rolls
Penalty due to range also included

Concussive: Creatures dealt damage by this weapon lose half their Dex and Dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves for 1 round. Multiple hits on the same round don't stack. A Heavy weapon with Concussive also inflicts a -4 penalty on Fort and Will saves on targets damaged.

Downfall: If you deal damage with this weapon, you can attempt a Trip as a free action on the target without provoking attacks of opportunity nor needing to make a new attack roll, even if at range. If you hit a flying enemy, they instead fall 5 mu for each 5 damage taken. A Heavy weapon grants a +6 bonus on the Trip roll.

Energy 10/90

[Arayl]

Seeing that her spell had done nothing to her target Xenia decides that it's time for her to get in closer to her enemy and unleashes her mech's ranged weapon upon the target in front of her.

Once she had reached the area from which she would attack her mech would dig its claws into the ground and opening its mouth wide a beam blasted out of it at her target three times.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Move 75 mu to P17
Free Action activate Assault (52/77)
Swift Action activate Anger Stance (115/120)
Standard action Full attack on the drone at AB18
attack : (1d20+21)[33]
damage: (1d8+1)[5](1d6+12)[18] Rending
attack : (1d20+16)[28]
damage: (1d8+11)[14](1d6+12)[17] Rending
attack : (1d20+11)[14]
damage: (1d8+11)[15](1d6+12)[18] Rending

[DeTess]

The Aurora twisted through the sky. Though the ship's bulk prohibited any truly fancy flying, well timed translations and twists of its flat arrowhead shape caused a majority of the enemies missile salvo to sail harmlessly past. Those that did find their target inflicted mostly superficial damage. Unfortunately, even superficial could cause trouble if inflicted in the right place.

"Captain, several of those missiles hit the missile batteries, wrecking the targeting sensors. missiles will be offline until we can repair that." Cevet reported from his console.

Captain Evaro nodded to indicate she'd heard the report, her eyes remaining glued on her terminal. Gunnery, bring the main beam cannon on-line and fire at the 4 Einst directly ahead on my mark. She leveled out the Aurora, bringing it's bow-mounted weaponry to bear on the einst below. This would make the ship an easier target for the Einst below, but their missiles had proven to have trouble penetrating the ship's thick armour, with most of the damage being superficial annoyances. "Mark."

A massive lance of energy erupted from the Aurora's bow, crossing the space between the ship and the Einst in an instant.

Spoiler: Aurora actions

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Upkeep:
restore 25 energy (83/100e)
restore 10 spirit to Theresa Evaro (62/77s)
restore 10 spirit to cevet (65/75s)

Theresa: scan spirit on right rear green-marked einst (58/77s)
Cevet: trust spirit on aurora (6d6)[24] (45/75s)

Full-round action: fire beam cannon at the 4 einst directly ahead (if 2 or more of these have succumbed to the Goblin's massive missile volley, fire it diagonally at the 4 green einst instead) (68/100e)

The beam cannon has the Heavy, Power and Rending (I'm ignoring Pushing and Downfall this time) properties, meaning that it ignores half of DR, as well as half the contributions of natural armor, normal armor and shield bonus to AC.
to-hit/damage
einst 1: (1d20+17)[34] / [12d12+14]*
einst 2: (1d20+17)[35] / [12d12+14]*
einst 3: (1d20+17)[31] / [12d12+14]*
einst 4: (1d20+17)[20] / [12d12+14]*

*redone in the OOC thread

[5ColouredWalker]

Were the combined weight of their frowns a weapon, Miniboss Squad might have just vaporized an Einist. Instead they merely fire and then reactivate their Tesla drives, hoping that if they draw fire, it get's directed below them.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Free: Using Wire Channel to deal 6d6 electricity damage to attached Einist.
(6d6)[12]
(6d6)[18]
(6d6)[22]
(6d6)[20]
(6d6)[18]

Free Action: Resume Flying.

Full Round: Firing Linear Bazooka's at the Einest, going along the line at the front.
Hit: (1d20+16)[17] Crit Conf: (1d20+16)[25] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d20+16)[31]. Miss scatters 10 mu.
Hit: (1d20+16)[31] Crit Conf: (1d20+16)[19] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d20+16)[33]. Miss scatters 10 mu.
Hit: (1d20+16)[21] Crit Conf: (1d20+16)[33] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d20+16)[21]. Miss scatters 10 mu.
Hit: (1d20+16)[21] Crit Conf: (1d20+16)[32] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d20+16)[29]. Miss scatters 10 mu.
Hit: (1d20+16)[21] Crit Conf: (1d20+16)[28] 71 Damage, or 213 on Crit. (Damage auto-averaged by class.) Scatter Direction (1d20+16)[31]. Miss scatters 10 mu.

All weapons have a 45mu Area Effect as well due to explosive (All but the left and right most in each rank get hit by two AOE's. The left and right most are hit by one AOE.). All are Rending (Half DR). All are Disarming, since I'm medium Einiest get a +8 to resist due to size difference. I'll pick the largest available guns on all targets.

Also, Explosive weapons don't force a dex save, I just roll to hit them... I'm going to apply the range modifier to the attack roll, if you don't think it applies, add +6 to all rolls. Note, the number of rolls assume I hit all of them or they don't scatter too far. I'm sorry DM.

Spoiler: Explosive Rolls

Show

Einist labelled 1-11. 1 is top left, 2 is top second from left, and 11 is bottom right, following the obvious pattern.
1: (1d20+16)[17]
2: (1d20+16)[29] and (1d20+16)[18]
3: (1d20+16)[27] and (1d20+16)[31]
4: (1d20+16)[36] and (1d20+16)[20]
5: (1d20+16)[21]
6: (1d20+16)[26]
7: (1d20+16)[24] and (1d20+16)[33]
8: (1d20+16)[24] and (1d20+16)[33]
9: (1d20+16)[33] and (1d20+16)[34]
10: (1d20+16)[22] and (1d20+16)[24]
11: (1d20+16)[19]

All hits cause another 71 damage (No Crit), still rending, and provoke another disarm roll. Again targeting the largest looking weapons.

[DeTess]

"Aaand another kill for Omega 2!"

Lt. Ilbar could hear the smugness in Sgt. vera's voice as she celebrated another kill on her record. "Focus everyone, there's still many more of the bugs left. Tactical is reporting..." Giles' words got drowned out by explosions from Goblin's missile salvo and the boom of ionized air as the Aurora's main gun spoke. "Tactical is reporting that the increased tactical behavior of the Einst is likely due to an outside force, and they are no longer top priority. Finish off any wounded first, starting with survivors of the beam attack. Omega squadron, open fire!"

Spoiler: Omega squadron actions

Show

upkeep:
energy recharge 25: (145/145e)

full-round action:
fire orgone rifle B (125/145e) at any surviving einst in the group directly ahead (all within 2nd range segment), otherwise at the green-marked einst to the right of that, focussing one einst down before moving to the next). It has the Heavy, Power (half AC bonus from natural armor, normal armor and shield) and Disarming (targeting any remaining beam weapons first, missiles afterwards). The rifles do 75 points of damage each and crit on a 19 and a 20
to-hit / crit confirm
Omega-1: (1d20+23)[39] / (1d20+23)[40]
Omega-2: (1d20+23)[34] / (1d20+23)[37]
Omega-3: (1d20+23)[32] / (1d20+23)[36]
Omega-4: (1d20+23)[37] / (1d20+23)[40]
Omega-5: (1d20+23)[26] / (1d20+23)[36]

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Aurora’s Scanning

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Name: Princess Hormigona riding E721-Blutband sand strain
HP: 142/200
Energy: 15/40
Spirit: 120/140
AC: 39 (reduced to 37 by Scan)
DR: 20
Movement: 30 mu, burrow 20.
Bioweapons: Sonne Beam, Prinzessin Missiles, Greifzange Schwanz, Drone Bite
Feats: Attacker, Predict, Guardian, Prevail, Spirit Regen, Defend, Counter x3, Spirit Upx4

Hennas spent time locking on pays off as all but one of her missiles are direct hits, blowing chunks of their targets as well as toppling several of the giant bugs and leaving them reeling from the impacts!

The rest of the group is quick to capitalize in this moment of vulnerability, the Aurora’s main beam cannons glassing four of the einst while the Omega Squadron finishes the next off and Xenia shoots another down. Even one of Miniboss squad members manages to have one of their blast hit the softer exposed underbellies of a couple einst and deal damage besides their charged wires!

With only four standing, the rearmost Einst scanned by the Aurora and the only one still standing in its legs suddenly starts to burrow in the sand and escaping underground, leaving an huge tunnel behind!

From the remaining einst, the one that was acting focused becomes more sluggish again, the trio getting up and wildly firiding their bio-missiles at Hennas mecha in clear retaliation.

Spoiler: Tactical Situation

Show

Einst targeting Hennas this time:
Attack/damage (power/disarming/missile)
(1d20+6)[13](4d10+6)[22]
(1d20+6)[23](4d10+6)[23]
(1d20+6)[13](4d10+6)[36]

[greenpotato]

"Einst burrowing, Goblin seeking instruction" Henna says as she fire off a few shots and her reactor recharges.

Spoiler: mechanics

Show

+40e from reactor

Fullround: Full attack with cannons at closest einst, if it is destroyed move on to next.
(1d20+23)[30] to hit and (4d8+8)[27] damage
(1d20+18)[21] to hit and (4d8+6)[18] damage
(1d20+18)[36] to hit and (4d8+6)[17] damage
(1d20+18)[22] to hit and (4d8+6)[27] damage
(1d20+18)[22] to hit and (4d8+6)[30] damage

Rending: ignores half the target's DR, rounded up.

energy 50/90

[Arayl]

"I'll try to keep them held down here for as long as I can" Xenia says over the comms

Electricity begins to pulse along the Revenant Corsair and then with a louyd boom discharges towards the remaining Einst on the surface creating a field of electricity manifests pulling any unprepared drones towards its center

Spoiler: Actions & Rolls

Show

Caiden will use Assault (30/70)Xenia will cast Zondeel as a full round action at AD7 pulling all within 40 mu towards the center of the area. All creatures within the area must make a DC 17 Reflex save to move and if they fail they get pulled back to the center. Any non-electricity ranged attack that goes through the field, or the shot starts inside the field, the attack is dragged to the center and dissipates harmlessly.
As a swift action activate Subtle Melody Repository-Ghost and if I beat a DC 15 Perform check (1d20+20)[23] everyone and myself get a +1 enhancement bonus to Attack rolls and damage rolls, Skill Checks, Ability Checks, AC and saves for 1 round, and for every 5 points I beat the DC, the bonus increases by 1

[DeTess]

Captain Evaro kept a close eye on the Electromagnetic trap that had caught the Einst. As long as it remained in place and the Einst inside failed to escape, the Aurora's weapons would be useless. On the other hand, the Einst inside couldn't fire back, and the tactical display indicated that at least one of the Einst inside had the bad fortune of still being linked by one of Squad miniboss' cables, so either the beasts escaped, or they'd fry.

"Captain, the starboard missile battery is online again. The port battery should be ready soon as well." The chief engineer reported.

"Very well. Omega Squadron, if any of the bugs manage to leave the field, pick them off. Sensors, keep an eye out for signs of the Einst that tunneled away.

Spoiler: Aurora and Omega squadron actions

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Aurora
Upkeep:
Aurora regains 25 energy: (93/100e)
Captain Evaro regains 10 spirit: (68/77s)
Cevet spirit regains 10 spirit: (55/75s)

Exchange 70MU movement for +7 AC
Change leader feat command bonus from +6 to-hit, +6 AC to +12 to hit (tactical leader feat)

move action: repair missile battery

standard action: full defense for +4 AC

Omega Squadron
upkeep:
regain 25 energy (145/145e)

Full-round action: ready to shoot orgone rifle B at any Einst the moment they leave the field. The weapon is firing in the third range segment. The weapon has the Heavy, Power (half AC bonus from natural armor, normal armor and shield) and Disarming (targeting any remaining beam weapons first, missiles afterwards). The rifles do 75 points of damage each and crit on a 19 and a 20.
rolls: to-hit / crit confirm
Omega-1: [roll0] / [roll1]
Omega-2: [roll2] / [roll3]
Omega-3: [roll4] / [roll5]
Omega-4: [roll6] / [roll7]
Omega-5: [roll8] / [roll9]

[5ColouredWalker]

A ping shows up on the Aurora's sensors.
"Closing to short range in preparation for pursuit into the tunnel. Travelling at full speed."

Spoiler: If Captain Evaro Prioritises engagement

Show

"Acknowledged, falling and firing"

Free: Stop powering wires and retract them, since all previous targets were dead.
Move: Move 20ft towards the burrow with all units.
Standard: Phalanx Missile fire. I'm roughly 120ft away from the nearest Einist at this point, so firing at -4 penalty. All targeting the only one left on the front lines.

(1d20+17)[29]/(1d20+17)[23], 15 damage/33 on crit.
(1d20+17)[26]/(1d20+17)[19], 15 damage/33 on crit.
(1d20+17)[35]/(1d20+17)[20], 15 damage/33 on crit.
(1d20+17)[37]/(1d20+17)[29], 15 damage/33 on crit.
(1d20+17)[26]/(1d20+17)[21], 15 damage/33 on crit.

All weapons a concussion (Fort or loose dex/dodge to ac) and Downfall (opponent makes opposed roll against my attack or trip. +8 for size difference for them.)

Spoiler: Actions

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Free: Retract wires from member 2-5. Squad Member 1 sends another shock, dealt with in ooc.

Full: Run towards ground, at an angle to avoid the Aurora if needed. This plus fall gives up to 160mu of travel, which means all can reach the ground, which they will remain 5mu above.