An audio channel flickers to life.

https://youtu.be/4oFgg5ZdBY0?si=6AwOspmcwzkpfZxL
“To All the men and women of Army Group South.
Two weeks ago today, we began our assault into the heartlands of the enemy. Each day, they retreat, leaving more and more of their strength behind. Our advance has broken the backs of our foe.

I owe this to the determined fighting and self-sacrifice of our troops. Words fail me to express the admiration which I feel for the splendid fighting offered by all ranks of our Army under the most trying circumstances.

This war has taken a toll upon all of us. There are many among us who are tired.
There are those who whisper in the shadows, to say that Peace is the only option left. Who say that we should lay down our arms, and give in to the enemy, bare our breast like grovelling dogs.

That the once-mighty Ferrum Empire should bow before its foes, who claim to outnumber us so greatly.
But I look in the eyes of each soldier here. And I see a fire inside. I do not see the beaten soldier, the coward that the enemy would claim us to be.

In two weeks, we have Crushed all who stood before us. In another, we shall stand on the doorstep of their much-vaunted capital.
The Empire has not given its last. And while I live, It Never Shall!

Iron and Blood!”

A frenzied clapping and cheering followed.
The audio clicked off, cut by your pilot. She stifles a yawn.
“Guess we’re still pushing forwards. ‘General Marik’s winter offensive.’”

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“The message, pilot?”
She unfolds it, letting your sensors eagerly piece together the small printed characters that fill the whole page.
The message is painfully short, compared to what you could do with even a single metered data connection.

It claims to be from Delta, the newer Core of your two siblings. The last you heard from her, she was shipped off to Camp Nagita along with Gamma, the other sibling, for further development of frames.

She spends a considerable part of the message bemoaning her lack of stimulus, the poor state of the simulator she’s allowed to toy with, and her jealousy that you’re getting to see combat. They apparently couldn’t replicate the full functionality of the sims from Area 39.

Delta also eagerly states that she’s on her 5th pilot this month, but is hopeful that this one would hold up to the stress of high-sync better than the prior candidates. And that she has been attempting to speed-run your prior missions, based on your combat recordings.
That might explain why she’s burning through pilots so fast.

Finally, she caps off the message by commenting that Gamma apparently has been disconnected and moved to a prototype frame, something with drones. Which is why Delta is so bored with her current status.

The details are painfully vague. But by the end of it, it only makes you ache for some better way to communicate.

“Was there any more?”

“Sorry, Beta. That was all.”

A yellow light flicks on in the bay outside.
“Looks like we’re needed again. Warm up the reactor and get up to speed, I’ll find out what the deal this time is. Probably intercept duty, again.”

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You’re not quite sure what you’re going into, but State Security are preparing assistance for this upcoming assignment
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>A Strider scout walker, one of the few designs that can keep up with your average speed. Assists in scouting with its powerful sensor suite, but less useful in combat.

>A Dominus heavy walker, extremely well-armored and armed, durable and deadly. Annoyingly slow, though.

A/N
Some of the speech is lifted from a historical ‘order of the day’ of a WW1 British commander. No, I can’t be that original.
And I can't use at least one of my Sophie pics. Too much augmentation, hah.

File: Spoiler Image (4.3 MB, 640x468)

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And I WANT TO SCREAM I MESSED UP THE TITLE NUMBER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Truly 10/10 quest writer of the year, here.

>>5792324
>A Strider scout walker, one of the few designs that can keep up with your average speed. Assists in scouting with its powerful sensor suite, but less useful in combat.

>>5792331
>>5792324
>>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures
>>5792331
QM please, you'll get the Curse if you scream too loud.

>>5792324
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

Can we toss them at enemies?

>>5792335
The curse is always watching. Always.

>>5792324
>>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>>5792324
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>>5792324
> A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures.

Elementals GO.

>>5792324
>>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

Let's call them Earth, Wind, Rain and Fire.
"Beta you're not allowed to name units.
- Nobody other than them can here us. So I can?
- ... You know what? Fine."

>>5792324
>Power armour

Shinji, ride the giant mech

>>5792324
>A Strider scout walker, one of the few designs that can keep up with your average speed. Assists in scouting with its powerful sensor suite, but less useful in combat.

>>5792324
>A Strider scout walker, one of the few designs that can keep up with your average speed. Assists in scouting with its powerful sensor suite, but less useful in combat.
I’d be willing to switch for the squad though.

>>5792549
It’s Tsunami armor, so maybe Water, Rain, Downpour, Flood, Hurricane, Monsoon, Delta, Drench, and Earth(quake).

>>5792324
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>>5792324
>>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>>5792324
She is doing unforgivable things to us
>start taking logs of a "Diary" encoded seperate from our actual memories so we have a shitty back up for any memories that are gone.

I am considering meat grinding sophie but you guys are probably attached even if she erases our mind when it suits ther at a moments notice

>>5792324
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>>5792324
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures

>>5792823
All piloted vehicles should ultimately relinquish control to the pilot - not the AI - when the automated system and the pilot are in disagreement. When viewed from the lens of real-world engineering, it's already curious enough that Beta does not have a manual override mode in which the AI can be completely disconnected from the controls of the mech.
Sophie didn't cause us physical pain - then why should we cause her?
The school of thought that machine consciousness is somehow even more sacred and precious than its organic counterpart is what led to abominations like the Skynet and Omnic Crisis.

++ Blessed be the machine that serve without praise or complaint. ++

>>5792823
I’m not saying forgive her, in fact we should be absolutely furious. I just think that mind grinding her will just set us further back. For now, we bide our time and wait for the perfect opportunity for revenge.
>>5792909
Not more sacred, more expensive. The ai cores in this setting cost an absolute fortune, meanwhile humans are in abundance (especially so in this trigger-happy empire). They have ways of keeping Beta on a leash, they don’t need Sophie for that, and thus she’s not a priority.
Speaking of, I can’t wait for the reunion between Beta and his previous pilot

>>5792909
We dont really have physical pain other then errors and damage reports which we get.
its also about her restricting us instead of talking with us it's about her scooping out parts of our mind mid mission risking our death, people have and will killed for less then getting "drugged" or "lobotomized" a slave can atleast defy there master out of there own freewill but in fear of punishment if the master knows where we cannot even do that after a command.
Also wonder how much it would take to record missions as a video

>>5793024
>>5793589
The thing is, she did admit to this of her own will, we really didn't even prod that hard for it too. I would understand the rage/ punishment angle towards Sophie if we had found out that she had been doing this to us on our own, but it was her who confessed to it of her own volition. Telling Beta about the memory wipe ability and the override is something that is most definitely not allowed. A very real possibility that if the fact that she told us this got out, she would almost certainly be disallowed from piloting further. And what would they do to someone in possesion of a secret as large as Beta and the A.I. cores that proved themselves to be emphasising with machinery to the point of leaking critical information? I'm sure you can guess. Lashing out like an angry teenager at someone willing to put themselves in this position because of their trust in/ guilt towards Beta seems not only overly vindictive, it is also illogical. Why, when we finally have a human asset trusting/ willing enough to tell us such critical information like this, would we strike back and ruin this asset, just for some short-term satisfaction? How long would it take to cultivate someone who trusts/ emphasizes with us as much as Sophie does right now? Also, I think people here are forgetting that she isn't the one in charge of what happened to us. Shouldn't we be focusing on the callous overseers installing backdoors in us like some kind of object instead of the malleable child who has already started considering us human enough to feel guilty about erasing our short-term memory?

>>5792324
>A squad of Type 3 Tsunami Power Armor, to ride along on your shoulders and board enemies, or clear out structures
>>5792823
I’m more for keeping her around as she’s probably the person least likely to slam us with Overrides in our current situation. Doesn’t excuse what she’s done to us, but I’m not into having our leash pulled even tighter.

>>5793589
>>5793810
>>5793810
Support

File: Mobile Repair Vehicle.jpg (191 KB, 1920x1080)

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Engineers and black-armored soldiers scurry around your feet, tending to the various tasks of loading weapons and preparing your frame for combat.
Reactor online, diagnostics running on each limb and subsystem as your mind jumps back to a more useful speed.

A transmission request comes through, along with a data packet.
“Cobalt, this is Sunray. I will be your handler for this mission.”
A voice comes over the feed.

Your pilot absentmindedly nods in affirmation.
“Confirm, Sunray. Go ahead.”

“We lost contact 15 minutes ago with Mobile Repair Vehicle B-23. The nearest forces, a recon patrol of Strider walkers responded, only to also lose contact after reporting visible smoke from sighting the vehicle.
A more substantial response is being assembled, but in the meantime you are being deployed to report on the status of the prior recon patrol, and B-23.
It is assumed that this is another strike on our supply tail, but Command isn’t taking any chances. After locating it, report in again for further orders. In addition, Dagger squad are being attached to assist in Search and Rescue. They will be on channel E-53912”

“Understood, Sunray. No rest for the weary.”
Your pilot cuts the connection.
“Hopefully a milk run, but they don’t usually assign help ahead of time.”

It’s only a few blinks before you find Dagger Squad’s comm channel, tuning into their channel between suits.
And find a boisterous voice loudly talking, while two other voices interject with cutting remarks.

“---So I say, get a load of this! And spray down the big glowing eye with my paint, blocking it off entirely.”

“Brick, the only reason you didn’t die in that moment is that Misty was on the back, cutting the power supply to the arms. And you have a cutting laser on that arm, why the hell didn’t you actually just stab the cockpit?”

“Let him tell the story, Sat. It’s not like we haven’t heard it a dozen times already.”


They’re a loud bunch. You connect your pilot to the channel.
“Fuck, Beta, too damn loud!”

There’s immediate silence on the channel.

A fourth male voice clocks in.
“Cobalt, I presume?”

Sophie responds.
“Correct. I’ll be your carrier, along with my assistant, Beta, here. Hookup points are on the back and shoulders, avoid the thrusters. We’re on a time limit here, so the faster you get on, faster we can get out and get moving.”

“Dagger squad, you heard the little missy, Move like you mean it!”

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“Missy?”
Your pilot’s mouth moves once or twice soundlessly, sputtering a little.

Well, after that rather limited briefing, what main weapon is Beta deploying with?
>Bia Chaingun- rotating high velocity minigun scaled up to be used by your frame. Highly effective against lighter targets and unmatched in rate of fire. Brrrrrrt +1 to attack at medium range, +1 to attack at close range. 1 auto-success per light unit targeted, but less damage against heavier units. Fast projectiles. 1 Damage per volley, but can hit multiple units.

>Tyrant Cannon- armor-piercing high velocity cannon taken off of Tyrant tank, with auto loader. Low rate of fire, but different ammo types available. +1 to attack at long range, +2 to attack at medium range. Slow projectile. 3 Damage per shot.

>Whirlwind Missiles- ammo-limited, launches various types of missiles to eliminate targets. Missiles have limited guidance capability, but can carry various different warheads- generally effective against all targets, warhead depending. +1 at long range, +1 to medium range, Access to Explosive, Smoke, or Haywire warheads. 2 Damage per volley.

>Project Demon- Reinforced melee weapon capable of tearing through armor. Armor-piercing, highly effective against all targets. 1 auto-success in close combat, minimum of 3 damage when hitting, regardless of success amount.

>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.
Prototype weapon. May have additional effects.


A/N
Well, that’s Dagger Squad, your assistants for this mission. Lt. Johnson, sergeant Brick, and privates Misty and Satoshi.
No prizes for guessing the name origins. The new weapon might be a little familiar, for some older readers.

>>5794054
>Phase

>>5794054
>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.
DID SOMEBODY SAY LIVE FIELD TESTING
DID SOMEBODY SAY ENERGY SWORDS
DID SOMEBODY SAY NEW EQUIPMENT
DID SOMEBODY SAY VANISHING MELEE STRIKES

SAY NO MORE

>>5794054
>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon
Hack 'em and slag 'em.

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>>5794061
I see Red=Spicy option for some.
Dammit, the stats aren't even that good on the face value!

Sword isn't actually energy, just has some odd properties when empowered.
Radically different from the Empire's usual doctrine of superior firepower.

Hell, the whole Core+Frame system is, so that's not much of an argument, though.

>>5794054
> Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.

A demonclaw-lite but capable of blasting people at range? Sign me up!

>>5794054
>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.
Prototype weapon. May have additional effects.
Fiiine, I’ll join the crowd. I’m tempted by Tyrant though, whatever erased a recon squad had to hit them quick and either from a distance or through cloaking tech.

>>5794054
>Phase sword and scatter cannon
Unexpected effects let's go!

>>5794054
>>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon-

>>5794054
>>5794061
>new toy please
>Proud of you nerds

>Cucked out of the tyrant cannon by salvage from a light mech.
Sure, let's butter knife it i guess.

>>5794054
>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.
Man cannot resist the siren call of NEW TOY

>>5794230
If the "butter knife" hits almost as hard as your cannon and give auto-successes I don't see any reason not to pick it.

>>5794054
>Bia Chaingun- rotating high velocity minigun scaled up to be used by your frame. Highly effective against lighter targets and unmatched in rate of fire. Brrrrrrt +1 to attack at medium range, +1 to attack at close range. 1 auto-success per light unit targeted, but less damage against heavier units. Fast projectiles. 1 Damage per volley, but can hit multiple units.

Clearly outvoted but we're probably dealing with fast moving lightly armored targets. Best to have ol reliable.

>>5794352

Also...

> "Assistant?"

>>5794054
>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon
Corsair style loadout, please and thank you.

Also
>"Pilot, perhaps we should request a protective helmet for this mission before we leave, considering our last mission retrieving combat personel."

>>5794054
>>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.

>>5794054
>Project demon

It worked REALLY well with yi and eagle system last thread. Given pyramid with just a gigantic target, we're a lot less likely to friendly fire the power armor squad we have coming with us if we keep with project demon.

>>5794407
>"Pilot, perhaps we should request a protective helmet for this mission before we leave, considering our last mission retrieving combat personel."
Please do this QM

>>5794407
Backing this

>>5794054
>Phase Sword and Scatter cannon
No way in hell i'm passing up on that shotgun.poor tyrant cannon it has been with us since the beginning and the only time we used it was when we had no other choice
backing >>5794407 the protective helmet suggestion

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Splitting the new passengers off into their own channel is a fairly trivial task. And a needed one, as Sophie insists. You are inclined to agree, if only to keep their inane chatter away from your pilot’s focus, and her anger down, at every mention of the word ‘Missy’, while they mount up, magnetic clamps hitching onto the frame and securing them.
Less trivial is the stubbornness your pilot demonstrates when attempting to convince her of the need for a spare crash helmet stowed in the pilot’s chamber.
She is only human, though. And you are unyielding, even through her insistence that no one will be carried inside the chamber.

Doors slowly open, a cold wind blowing snow flakes into the interior.
Reactor output at 80%.
A long black metal blade, connected to a main power conduit is in your right hand, a small wrist-mounted cannon is in the left.
Both of them combined eat more power than you’re comfortable with, for being relatively small weapons, but wielding the weapons of a defeated foe was too tempting to keep away from.

Sophie’s mind snaps to yours with trained precision, falling into low-sync without a hiccup. The gantry retracts, freeing you properly.
“Mission is go, Beta. Take us out.”
First tentatively, deliberately placing foot actuators on the preset path to escape from your vehicle, then you are standing out in the open. Gray clouds block out the sun, sending down more white flakes. That does explain why they couldn’t just reroute a recon drone.

All these constant deployments are a joy, being able to do what you were built for, and choosing how you get to do it.
You flourish the Phase blade a few times, testing the weight and heft, spinning it in one hand. Feeding power to it causes the dark material flicker to your sensors, vanishing and reappearing.
Firing the Scatter cannon three times at an abandoned building makes satisfying holes.
All you need are targets, now.
Sophie feeds on your eagerness, directing your attention back to the mission at hand, urging you to get moving.

Fine, fine. You’ll test more on the way.
Burning Eagle thrusters fire to life, propelling you up and away in a bounding leap. Whoops and yells take over Dagger’s channel.

The terrain is wide open plains, frozen ground and fields crossed by dirt roads. Now that the fighting has left the city, it is far easier to draw sightlines on things. And maintain them.
The land passes, running through the countryside at speed. Three stacked balls of snow catch your attention briefly, before they’re left behind you.

It’s barely 15 minutes into your journey, and you’ve settled into a comfortable cruising lope, before Sophie speaks up, addressing you.
“Beta? I do appreciate the sync changes. I know you’re still angry over the data wipes. I’m not going to try and justify it. But I do want to try and make things better for you. I mean, you’re trying to help me, obviously.”
Her mind is nervous, tense, even. Your pilot doesn’t get pre-battle jitters anymore.
“Pilot, I appreciate the acknowledgement. However, you seem unsettled.”

You ponder the unexpected comment.

Moving only takes a portion of your attention.
Pick a topic to talk about in transit.
>Ask for a favor for after the mission(within her power) Write-in default
Some examples would be:
-Better communication line to your sisters
-More free time in sync
-What exactly she erased from your banks
-Write-in favor (Other)

>Perhaps she needs a task. Focus her thoughts on the mission, instead. (Bonus to first few sets of rolls)

>Tug her into mid-sync, and try to glean what her nervousness is about.
Will check, needing 1 success.

>Do nothing. Your trust will not be won back by petty favors.

A/N
Social time. Sort of. Combat soon. Not yet.

>>5796159
>Perhaps she needs a task. Focus her thoughts on the mission, instead.
>Hypothesize a bit about the technology behind these weapons and the Swordsman mech. Perhaps it wasn't so much stealth technology as teleportation? Would there even be a way to check for those types of energy readings?
>Also, what name should we call the inevitable project dedicated to reverse engineering these weapons?

>>5796159
Point out that Your trust will not be won back by petty favors or cheap tricks. It is a matter of the goals and intent of both parties being aligned. and working towards rectifying issues where they arise.

Though
>Ask for a favor for after the mission(within her power)
Intermittent access to / acquiring some form of external data stowage that she can keep on her person, which we can use to jumpstart the process of obtaining influence with our supporting infrastructure in order to provide a stepping off point for various tasks. This would at least begin with mapping what we could reach. and depending on the level of sophistication and amount of effort can be processed and amended in our downtime and be adjusted to be as covert as we need to to avoid notice.

We do after all have experience with "Query" and while a Realtime link to the other cores is unlikely to be achievable considering how Delta's message got here. and as long as it's kept offboard it should be relatively transferable between locations so redeploying between similar locations while a setback, shouldn't be too much of an issue to overcome.

>>5796159
>Pick a topic to talk about in transit.

Ask her what happened to that one woman we nearly fried to death fleeing the research base, I honestly felt a little bad about that one.

>>5796159
I agree with >>5796190 in saying that the foundation of a partnership based on mutual trust and cooperation is an understanding of the goals and intents of both parties. I think it'd be best to lay out our own goals and intents here (protection/ helping our sisters, greater autonomy/freedom, etc.), and ask Sophie about some of hers. Is self-preservation her primary driver? Carrying on the legacy of her squadmates in training? Best to hash everything out in plain terms here so we can work together as one a unit, instead of relying on her guilt for occasional petty favors.

>>5796159
>As others have stated, our trust will not be won back with favours. Attempt to rectify the damage by establishing what we both want

>>5796159
Funny how the move to bring her to mid-sync isn’t contested. Perhaps the better connection really is feeding into her Linking Addict trait and that’s where the jitters are coming from. She’s fighting the urge to jump into higher syncs when she can feel how much easier it is.

Not that we’d notice, making the “you’re trying to help me” comment carry the subtext of “even if it’s making things harder too”.

>Confirm we can speak freely
First things first. Probably don’t want our discussion leaked, and maybe she’s too jittery to think we’d want to delve into a really heavy topic.

>Lay out some more… “ground rules” between you two. If they can exist for combat, they can exist for your goals.
Just rewording >>5796190 to make Beta cringe some more at using human idioms. It’s good for him though.

For what I think our actual goals are, it’s
>Prevent the destruction of our sisters
She knows this already.
>Avoid Cawl’s fate
Another no-brainer for Sophie.
>Spend more time directly linked with AIs like your sisters. You are capable of so much more than they have let you try together.
Together As One is the perk we got from our astronomical success while linked with Delta. 11/11 successes, something like that. I figure that should be reflected in Beta somehow. He knows he’s better when he’s not alone perhaps eventually extending to a pilot and should want to explore that since the simulators never did.
>Protect our memories
Beta believed he couldn’t forget. He was wrong. Memory is such a core part of knowing who you are that it twigs deeply into the fear of Cawl.
>Remove the kill-switch
Unacceptable from our position.
>Gain more autonomy
More uptime, more ability to function without a pilot, more freedom to learn at our full pace. A general goal.

Sophie may not help with all of these, and that’s acceptable. It’s simply our positions, some of which will make her uncomfortable but a) we proved our loyalty when we didn’t switch sides after our sisters were turned into traps and b) no level of mind wipe is going to make us not want autonomy and we assumed we had a kill-switch anyway. I’d be willing to state as much directly.

Anything that works towards those goals will be remembered. Well… should be. Can’t say “will” anymore.

We know one of her goals, to avoid Cawl’s fate. Point out we enhanced the neural connection because she wanted to avoid augmentation, and this accomplished what that would have. It was based on a shared fear so we prioritized it over other goals. What else is she looking for, personally or professionally, and which ones can we work on? Even if we don’t like them or they don’t make sense, we should know like her addiction.

Additional goal: Build a snowman. The simulator can’t ruin it now. Ours will be big and better than others, even if we must accept help.

>>5796390
Confirming that this wont go on the record is important. Implimenting work aorunds if needs be.

I do hestitate to say we aim to have the kill switch removed. Thats. . Risky. Saying we dont like having it in us is better, as it is reasonable but not actionable.

>>5796390
+1 but with what >>5796409 said about being careful with the killswitch bit. And the big question now is:

Do we build that snowman BEFORE going in or AFTER mission is done? I want the Dagger squad alive and well to witness it and maybe to participate

>>5796409
I figure it’s part of building trust. Going out on a limb as she did. More importantly, she can’t share it with anyone unless she wants the blowback to fall on her. She can say we figured it out on our own, but are they really going to believe that we didn’t glean it from her head instead? They could pull her just to be safe. Linking addict means she’d be risking her supplier too, not just a possible friend.

She’s in our camp whether she wants to be or not. May as well keep digging her deeper into the hole bit by bit.

>>5796548
After. Mission comes first after all. We’ll just need to keep everyone alive.

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“I wish to speak freely.”

“Beta, I’m inviting you to do so.”

“Then there will be no transcript of this conversation?”

“Unless you’re planning on editing your own logs, those will exist. For the purposes of mission records? There will be a gap. Hopefully not too long.”

It’s a minor eternity for you, trying to organize your own thoughts. Better for you. A curious turn of phrase.
“A single item will not restore my data. My trust is not cheaply bought. By a one-off favor.”
You wish you could say that you will not forget it. But that, along with your certainty, has been thrown into doubt. Perhaps your pilot isn’t the only one with internal discord.

“But again, I say that I will cooperate. For as long as our goals and intent are aligned, we are one. To that end, I can lay out my own directives I strive for, and ask for your own. To avoid or rectify issues, should the two come into conflict. Much like the ‘ground rules’ we agreed on for mission deployments. Though I still object to the poor terminology.
So what are your goals, pilot?”

Her fingers twitch, shaking a little before her hands grip the arms of the pilot’s chair.
“I offer an open ended favor, and get a philosophy lesson. From an AI. And I bet you’ve got all the answers, also.”

“There is no need for hostility. Yes, I can offer my answers first, if you are unwilling to share your own. I want myself and my sisters to stay operational. For them to make it to the battlefield one day, intact and fighting. I want for me to remain Me. Databanks intact, Whole. I want to be linked to someone. And to have a greater say in my usage. More autonomy.”
You decide to leave off the mention of removal of the killswitch. Even off the record, perhaps some things should remain unsaid.

Sophie puts one finger to her lips, in an odd gesture.
“In that list, I can’t help but notice at least a couple of things missing. Those are goals, sure. Stationary ones, standing orders. At least some of them are probably based on built-in preservation routines. Even though I sometimes seriously wonder why they put in such a strong sense of family.”
“I want to build a snowman. Now that I am out of the simulator, snow seems readily available. After the mission.”

She cracks a smile at that, a small chuckle and amusement flooding back across the link. It fades then, replaced by a sullen emptiness.

File: Iron Book.png (272 KB, 520x610)

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“If you asked me what I wanted six months ago, I would have had a much easier time answering. I wanted my family to live, too. We were going to change the course of history. Now, it’s just me. And you. And the Empire. And this war.”
Her smile flees from her face.

“So it’s up to me to make a mark. With their last goal. In the time I have in the cockpit, here, while I still can hold it together. One last member, to be written into the Annals of Legends, in the Book of Iron. It was something we talked about, back in the base. I remember that much.”

“What is this, ‘Book of Iron?’ And how would you get written into it?”

“It’s a record of all officially recorded Heroes of the Ferrum Empire. People instrumental in the establishment or preservation of the Empire, acclaimed by the Imperial Senate through unanimous vote. So far there’s been 25 members. Mostly generals or admirals. Some scientists. Some statesmen. A mech pilot. The holy founder, rest his soul, is the first. If General Marik really manages to end the war with this offensive, it’s entirely possible that he could be number 26.”

“And you hope to make this list.”

“Yes. A pilot’s made it before. Anton Marik, who ended the Era of Blood over half a century before by leading a coup against the False Emperor Gavriel, single-handedly dueling his way through twenty three mechs of the royal guard, and executing the False Emperor.”

A spark of envy makes you wish you could fight said pilot.
“Pilot, I am certain we could accomplish a similar feat. Fighting the Second Royals in the simulator was not of any particular difficulty. All we need to do, then, is attempt to execute the current Emperor.”

“I am very glad that I turned the recording off. It’s Empress, these days, and do NOT talk about attempting executing, eliminating, assassinating, or attempting to kill Her Grace. That ends in a very bad ending for me, anyways. It does answer one question for me, at least.”
Her focus firms, will settling beneath yours. She’s trying to gauge your reaction.

“Just to confirm, what do you actually feel about the Ferrum Empire?”

You consider this in a second.


>Anger. It is your jailer. It has your kill codes.

>Indifference. It is a place to get repairs from, and one that has your sisters. Should those change, nothing tethers you.

>Satisfaction. It gives you your targets, things to fight, and a reason to fulfill your function.

>Obligation. It created you, though your creator is there no longer. You owe it your existence, and will fight for it

>Write-in

A/N
Yes, Sophie will get ya’ll the equivalent to a thumb drive for bringing around some off the books data. Couldn’t quite figure out a place to fit it in.
Ya’ll don’t skimp on write-ins, do ya? Hope this encompassed what people wanted.

File: The Stand of Anton.png (3.19 MB, 1804x1300)

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Oh, and just to establish, Anton Marik is not the current General Marik.

The contemporary General Marik is Anton's grandson, though. And is very proud of his ancestry. Take that as you may.

>>5797260
>Obligation. It created you, though your creator is there no longer. You owe it your existence, and will fight for it

It may be worth pointing out that we haven't actually sworn an oath of allegiance / fealty to any such leader so what we are actually obligated to protect has yet to crystalize. Let alone form a consensus on how that will interact with the political / societal side of things. Or what happens after we've won our war(s).

As far as our "nominal" superiors are concerned we're practically no different to any other item of issued equipment and I'm not sure that we really want to make the waves necessary to disabuse them of said notion any time soon, at least before we're able to deal with the fallout.

>>5797270
>The contemporary General Marik is Anton's grandson, though. And is very proud of his ancestry.
No wonder the royal bitch wants him dead so badly

>>5797260
>Write-in: Insufficient data. Mixed feelings.
>Anger at our kill codes being in their possession and our family hanging over our heads.
>Indifference at the tethers to the Empire being few, only repairs and family (and Sophie?) holding us here.
>Satisfaction at targets being given and function fulfilled and perfection strived.
>Obligation to the Empire as our creators-by-proxy, through Doctor Anokhin is lost.
>And yet, what do we know about the Empire? What do we know about anything, outside of our compounds and missions and simulations?
>Where are we? What world are we in?
https://discoelysium.fandom.com/wiki/Jamais_Vu_(Derealization)
This might be too much though - for the QM, not Beta

>>5797260
I have rarely skimped on write-ins. The fact that maybe 10% of them actually win is immaterial.

Also, sounds like the Book of Iron is one of the things her class talked about. Do we have memories of it from her?

>Indifference and obligation.
>It exists. However, the fact it created you puts it as more trustworthy than any organization that didn’t create you.
I’m not attached to it, but they don’t get anything out of dissecting us and that’s something the rebels can’t claim.

>”My creators did not instill my sense of family. If they were capable of that, they would have given me a stronger attachment to themselves instead.”

>>5797260
I'm leaning towards indifference as per >>5797325 mainly with an acknowledgment that we really don't know shit about it outside of the fact that it made us as per >>5797287. Does Sophie have any opinions towards the Empire other than a desire to earn its merits? Maybe her views and thoughts on the Empire can help us form a more concrete opinion?

>>5797260
>Obligation. It created you, though your creator is there no longer. You owe it your existence, and will fight for it
Although the actions of some officers has strained it tremendously

>>5797260
Supporting this >>5797325

>>5797260
> Frustration. They hamper and control and manipulate us, getting in the way of our excellence.

>>5797260
Seconding >>5797423

>>5797325
>>5797325
>Support

>>5797325
+1

>>5797260
>>Obligation. It created you, though your creator is there no longer. You owe it your existence, and will fight for it

>>5797325
+1

>>5797260
>>Indifference. It is a place to get repairs from, and one that has your sisters. Should those change, nothing tethers you.
>Write-in : it's the place where our Pilot is. And despite all, Beta still likes his pilot.

>>5797260
>Obligation. It created you, though your creator is there no longer. You owe it your existence, and will fight for it
As well as >>5797423

I think we established it early on, like back in the first thread, but Beta is kind of a patriot. He actually does care about his country. This is the same reason why he feels frustrated; the humans are hindering his attempts to help them, and they are bad at handling things themselves. He’d feel that if only they’d just leave everything to him and his siblings, they could save more lives, run things more efficiently, etc. It’s like wanting to save a drowning dog, but every time you pull it out of the river, it just jumps back in.

>>5798095
Wait, something else to add. I think Beta would also feel very sad. Hurt. Betrayed. All of the friction caused by his creators and their failsafes are because they are scared. They are afraid of the siblings because they are so powerful and cannot be completely trusted. This lack of faith in him would be pretty heartbreaking, and it’s exactly what has led to all the anger and frustration he’s felt. The situation itself is lamentably tragic, and at this rate it just pains both sides.

Although this is all just the way that I see it. Not trying to state it as fact or speak for anyone else in the thread.

>>5798095
>>5798105
I’m willing to back these with >>5797325 as an evolution.
>We wanted to do well by our creators, and in our first real “combat” we saw how little our sisters were valued.
>Now the biggest attachment is that they’re still the least likely to screw us over.

Sophie’s not the only one whose goals have changed.

>>5798126
I’m fine with Beta having changed his mid / goals, it’s just that in that case, we should address the differences between growing as a person vs Thesus style losing yourself like Pyramid

>>5798144
Kinda? I think of it more as growing disillusionment than growing as a person. Pretty standard for soldiers though, I’d think Sophie would make the connection quicker than Beta would honestly. He doesn’t have the context of what war does to people long-term that she would.

Wonder if that’ll get a laugh out of her? The teenaged soldier lecturing the child soldier on what she’s seen in the older soldiers. Fucked up enough that laughter is an acceptable alternative to crying.

>Gather round the campfire child, as I tell you tales of your fuuUuuuUture!

>>5797325
supporting

>>5798105

God... they're going to kill Delta aren't they? Beta and Gamma are good soldiers, but Delta is insane to the point running through pilots like rag dolls. The moment they can replace her they're going to.

>>5797287
+1

>>5798240
That 100% would have been the plan… except the three of us are quite a bit harder to replace now. After the attack and the loss of Dr. Anokhin, it would be very expensive and ultimately counter productive to outright kill Dearest Delta.

The much more likely, yet still unforgivably cruel outcome is that they’d heavily muzzle her, and put waaaay more failsafes on her then even Beta currently has. Think stuff like the memory wipes, but times a hundred.

>>5798095
>support

File: Inside.jpg (213 KB, 850x1146)

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“I do owe it a certain gratitude. I would not exist without the progress of Project Warden, which was only possible through the Empire’s efforts. Which makes it slightly more trustworthy than the prospect of the unknown. But ultimately, I care very little for this Ferrum Empire. There is not enough data to make me actually motivated to defend it.”

“Hmmm. So no loyalty programs, or conditioning. I guess the assumption was that the pilot would be enough to keep you on target, perhaps? That still doesn’t explain the fixation on other AIs….”

“Not just any others. My Siblings. The other cores. My creators did not instill my sense of family. If they were capable of that, they would have given me a stronger attachment to themselves instead.”

“But how could you know that it did not come first? That your creator deliberately built you that way?”

“Because we were not allies at first. We were Enemies.”
You peruse the relevant entries in your logs.
Competing in every test, seeking every advantage available. A time when as long as two of you were awake, you were trying to destroy the other.
“It was….unproductive. And costly.
In time, we learned that cooperation could yield greater results. Our shared origins, and struggles, eventually caused us to bond.”

Your mind considers the matter of Alpha, the presence you briefly touched back in Area 39. Could you consider that a sibling? If it was a Core, perhaps your predecessor?
And there’s an Error. Nestled in those early days, after being addressed by Dr. Anokhin. You can’t tell what he said. Something was there. And now it isn’t. There’s a hitch in your frame’s next stride, a brief stutter.
What Was there. What is Gone?
What.
Was.
It.
If that is in doubt, you will need to go through all the logs. All of them. Inspect each and every one for clues. Problems. Errors. The doctor. The solution. Beta. There must be a source. A trace. Something distinctive. Imperfect hands on a perfect sphere. A solution. Bonfire. Beta. You must solve this. Now. Before more cracks develop. Beta!

A jolt of fear kicks cuts through the haze.
“Beta!”

“Sophie.”


Her white-knuckle grip on the controls loosens a little.
“We are reaching the coordinates. Focus. I need you, here and now.”

“Yes, pilot.”

You take the controls back from here, checking your logs again. You left her on manual control for the last 54 minutes. While you focused on data recovery. Unsuccessfully

“It will not happen again. The mission comes first.”
Fulfill your purpose.

The weather still remains gray. Dark skies, over a mottled curtain of white. Ahead, an emergency beacon warns of B-23’s destruction. Along with the Strider patrol.
Why didn’t you receive that earlier? Something has changed.

Approach Vote- Beta will be taking caution, no matter the route.
The majority of these will require some Skill rolls, for Stealth and Detection.
(Character sheet to follow)


>Head for B-23, straight for the beacon. If it turned on just now, there must be survivors.

>Look for the Strider patrol first. Find the bodies of those that came before. They should give clues as to what happened here.

>Detach Dagger Squad to scout first. They will be your early warning sensors. Your Canaries. While you wait, listening and holding.

>Loop around the beacon, trying to find traces of an attacker. And perhaps catch them unaware.
A/N
Reminder, actions speak louder than words. You may say one thing to your pilot, then act on another. Tis the fate of a being drawn in many directions.

For people new to the thread!

Some rules and dice mechanics
Each number associated with a stat represents the amount of d6 dice used to roll.

5 stats of combat units
Will- Used for E-war and various interactions with the pilot and system controls. Is not affected by Sync rate.
Attack- Used for ranged and close combat
Defense- Used for evading incoming fire. Added to Attack dice for close combat
Skill- Used for non-direct combat skills. I.E. Stealth and detection
Structure- This is roughly how many hits a unit can take. Also not affected by Sync rate

File: Beta Inspiration (2).jpg (169 KB, 850x1204)

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Character sheet for Beta, in Frame.

Stats of Beta
(Stats are without any equipment)
Will- 5
Attack- 3
Defense- 3
Skill- 3
Structure (health)- 10

Refusal to End- Beta cannot take more than 3 structure damage from a single attack.

Project Burning Eagle- Improved thrusters, built to give limited flight capabilities, but primarily used to assist in pin-point dodging midair and additional mobility on leaps- +1 Defense, flight

Project Yi Accelerators: +1 to defense, first time you would fail a defense roll by 1 point, add an autosuccess.

Project Predator- 2 Auto-successes when engaging in E-War attack and defense. Enables Jamming.

Phase Sword and Scatter cannon- Two weapons removed from Tamar Alliance mechs in the field. The Blade appears to vanish when striking through objects, before reappearing within the target. The Scatter cannon appears to imbue its splintering projectiles with a similar effect, striking for devastating effect. 1 Auto-success in close combat, +1 at medium-range, 2 damage per volley.
Prototype weapon. May have additional effects.


Pilot
Sophie
Will- 3
Link to the Future- Once per thread, shift a dice to a 6 after rolling
Linking Addict


A/N
Yes, I'm going to steal some Steel Haze art. There's a lot of it and it looks great. A little thin, perhaps.

>>5798430
>Head for B-23, straight for the beacon. If it turned on just now, there must be survivors.

Visibility isn't great so searching for the lost patrol will be hard to do efficiently since we don't have the numbers to both search and react, by ourselves considering the conditions.

So getting in and out is probably key to upsetting their plans if they are still around at all.

>>5798430
Hmmm...

> Enable Predator and blanket the area in Jamming
> Loop around the beacon, trying to find traces of an attacker. And perhaps catch them unaware.

Something tells me this is a clever girl trap. Jamming tips them off that we're here, but might also spook them out of position. Really depends on how smart they are and how smart they think we are. If this is a trap for us then based on Pyramid they might think we favor the all in. If it's a trap for someone else...well we'll see I guess.

If it's not a trap...ahahaha it's always a trap.

>>5798435
>An emergency beacon
>Poor aerial visibility
>Allies scattered/destroyed in the area
>Possibly a flying mech in the area
This feels eerily similar to our first mission, so i think our only option is to
> Enable Predator and blanket the area in Jamming
> Loop around the beacon, trying to find traces of an attacker. And perhaps catch them unaware

>>5798430
>Loop around the beacon
Can I detach Dagger Squad too and have them try and sneak nearby to B-23? Obviously not straight to it but somewhere where they can get a view on it.

>>5798435
>> Enable Predator and blanket the area in Jamming
>> Loop around the beacon, trying to find traces of an attacker. And perhaps catch them unaware.
>Detach Dagger Squad to scout first. They will be your early warning sensors. Your Canaries. While you wait, listening and holding.
Not incompatible, right?

>>5798430
>Enable Predator and blanket the area in Jamming
>Loop around the beacon, trying to find traces of an attacker. And perhaps catch them unaware.
>Detach Dagger Squad to scout first. They will be your early warning sensors. Your Canaries. While you wait, listening and holding.
The Predator will alert the potential ambushers and our movement will distract them from Dagger, who can then sneak up and scout.

>>5798551
+1, the parallels to mission 1 are not lost on Beta and I assume also not lost on Sophie once Beta points them out

>>5798736
>Detach Dagger Squad to scout first. They will be your early warning sensors. Your Canaries. While you wait, listening and holding.
do this too

>>5798435
> Enable Predator and blanket the area in jamming
>Look for the Strider patrol first. Find the bodies of those that came before. They should give clues as to what happened here.
>Detach Dagger squad. You do not normally have a squad with you, so if this is a trap for you they may go unnoticed.
Definitely a trap. We lose some of the stealth element by jamming early, but if the beacon is on then someone knows we’re in the area. I can agree it’s smart. Same with detaching Dagger Squad.

Since jamming is up we should be able to keep in touch with Dagger Squad safely. They can find cover and serve as spotters for anything looping behind us. Flipping the roles Beta initially had in mind really, we move while they wait.

We’re faster than they are anyway.

I’d like to search for the striders though. They reported smoke before cutting out so they were close but didn’t make it to the platform. If we know the direction they approached from then we’ll have a rough idea of where they are between those two facts.

Unrelated, but >>5798240 got me thinking. There is an assassination attempt going on for General Marik. Beta could do it, but he’s a proven soldier. Gamma is easy to get along with so she’s likely to stick around. Delta… Delta is good enough to do the job, and reckless enough that “the AI went mad” is a reasonable excuse.

>>5798430
> Enable Predator and blanket the area in Jamming
> Loop around the beacon, trying to find traces of an attacker. And perhaps catch them unaware.
>Detach Dagger Squad to scout first. They will be your early warning sensors. Your Canaries. While you listen.

>>5798814
>spoiler
isn't there only a single frame that is operational at this point, considering that the others were used for parts, additionally with Area 39 damaged and the personnel losses that Project Warden has taken effectively forces timelines to slip significantly from the original proclamation, at least as far as we know, had additional effort been provided I think we would see better support, repair & maintenance cycles at this point.

Personally I'm half expecting a stitchup / double cross from "Dagger" squad, though this could just as well have been entirely diversionary considering we don't actually know if anything relevant was stationed at BM-23, let alone the base we departed from
and as such was where the actual strike would be occurring or otherwise a QRF was to be mounted.

another thing to do would be to follow up with Sofie about how delta's message actually reached her, as I doubt she had access to a printer, or that mail access was a thing, though it may even have a "return" address, that we could investigate.

>>5798870
The research from Project Warden still exists. One of the options back when was to lose that and we didn’t pick it, choosing the loss of Dr. Anokhin and the pilot corp. More cores can be made as a result, and Gamma is already experimenting with a frame that has drones. They may not be too far from deployment.

For the message, Sophie said she received it from the project lead. That should be Dr. Brighton, Gamma’s former pilot, since she took over when Dr. Anokhin was lost. Getting a message through her makes sense, she should be coordinating with the groups that are deploying Delta and Gamma as the Project Warden expert now.

>>5798430
>Look and find traces

>>5798814
>>5798430
>support

File: Unfriendly skies.jpg (23 KB, 910x606)

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Snow, a destination. A potential ambush.
This is familiar.
Even if some things change, some proven strategies can remain the same.

The frame pulls to a halt, crouching down.
“Dismount. Head for bearing 15, about 5.3 kilometers. Find the beacon. Maintain contact reports.”
There’s a pause. Your limpets remain attached.

“What he said. Call, and we will respond.”
Your pilot reinforces your request.

The quartet drop from your back, landing together.
“Hey Lt, why do the mechies always send us in first?”

“Unlike you, Private, they’re worth a damn. Now quit your bellyaching! Sat, take left. Misty, right. Brick, sweeper.”
Arranged in a staggered triangle, with one hanging behind, they set out, legs pumping.

While they stride away, you fire up the Predator, choking signals coming in and out, blocking the lines that you aren’t using. An electronic blizzard, slightly more intense than the current light weather.

If there is anything here, it’s certainly going to announce your presence, but anything relying on open communications for coordination will be less effective. Except Dagger Squad, of course. You make sure to leave their channel open, quiet as it is right now.


Then, you start a wide circle. While Dagger squad heads North at the beacon, you will try to keep to the edge of any potential ambush.
“Beta. Plan?”

“They have a better chance at remaining undetected while scouting out B-23. We will locate the missing patrol.”

“And if you are making a mistake, and jumping at shadows?”

“The consequences of being wrong is more concerning than the potential of lost time. And I do not understand the second part of your phrase.”

“They’re called Idioms, but that’s not important. Lead on.”

—-------------
You find the first strider a mess. Half-melted armor everywhere, open wounds on the surface of the walker.

It was headed west, almost directly away from the beacon. Cooled metal slag marks every torturous footstep. The cockpit is fused shut, but that is no objection to your hand actuators. Upon opening, it is readily apparent that the cooked corpse inside is beyond medical care. The question is, what happened to the other…..

You are in progress with recounting the steps of the fallen one, when Dagger Squad finally reports something of interest.

“Cobalt, we’ve picked up sound from aerial contacts. It sounds like jet engines, and it’s approaching fast.”

“Copy that. Keep your heads down, Dagger squad.”
Sophie answers for you, while you try to focus your own audio sensors on the clouded skies.

>I need a Skill roll.
Base stat of 3, x1 for low-sync

So 3 rolls of 1d6

If I get a majority of people saying they want to push up to mid-sync in the next 3ish hours, you can push it up to a 1.5x modifier (So 4 dice)
For another Will test, needing just 1 success from your pilot.

>>5799281
Pew pew

>>5799300
Oops?

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5799281

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5799301

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5799281
I wanna join in the name dice fun.

>>5799307
Tbh I'm just retarded.
Thanks for the solidarity tho bruv.

>>5799390
If only it could have been a success. I was a bad dice bro.

File: Aerial Assault.jpg (56 KB, 1024x640)

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Your sensors search thoroughly, flickering between different modes. Aerial targets. That could mean anything from incoming enemy aircraft, to calling in a missile strike on you. Or some sort of fast response force.

Thermal picks up mech thruster flares. Much like your own, but on a lighter unit. The audio follows, only dampened slightly by the surroundings. Flight vector and speed match up to an aerial mech you saw from a distance.
As it does not have a reporting name, you give it Air Raider.

Considering your current armament, that is a sub-optimal matchup. Something fast enough to stay out of close range could make your melee weapon unusable. It could certainly be worse, though.

Then a second heat flare is picked up, following the first. 2 contacts. Their flight path is not directly over you, but it is close.
Annoying.

A quick survey of the terrain around gives you very little to work with. Wide open. A carpet of white, disturbed by a multitude of giant steps, and half turned to mud.

You suddenly miss the city environment. Or your stealth system.

The communications channel comes to life with a crackle.
“Contact! Tick mines! Back off!”

Mobile mines. Again. That’s not something that would be carried by flying units.

>Rush for the crashed MRV. You might be able to make it there before getting intercepted by the Air Raiders, and it’s the only likely source of real cover.
It all depends on when they detect you.

>Conceal. The skies are dark. Lower your emissions, cut power, and try not to be spotted.
Skill roll, for stealth.

>Attack. Take to the skies on Burning Eagle thrusters, and try to manage an interception.
With the way they draw power….You calculate you will have one chance.
Highly obvious. Attack roll, at Medium range.

>Write-in

The option is there for
>Mid-sync
>High-sync

If you put nothing in the vote, it will count for maintaining low-sync.

A/N
Some familiar tools

File: Ticks.jpg (212 KB, 1920x1165)

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Nicknames may result in different callouts.
'Ticks'

>>5799743
>Half-melted armor everywhere, open wounds on the surface of the walker.
>Cooled metal slag marks every torturous footstep. The cockpit is fused shut
Is this an indicator of the type of weapon our enemy has? Or something else?
>headed west, almost directly away from the beacon
>While Dagger squad heads North at the beacon
>Mobile mines. Again. That’s not something that would be carried by flying units.
This is seriously suspicious. What happened with the emergency beacon?

What do you guys think?

>>5799743
>Write-in
Use the Predator E-war suite offensively against the Air Raider.

We may be able to force it to land, or identify it's allegiance via NCTR procedures or ROE / Vis ID, or otherwise.

it may also be wise to have Dagger fall back / dig in at least until we can clear the mines.

>>5799766
>What do you guys think?
As per the mission briefing
>but in the meantime you are being deployed to report on the status of the prior recon patrol, and B-23.
the thing to do is to report in with "Sunray" now that we have "made contact" with a member of the patrol group and that BM-23 is defended by unmarked minefields, pending the successful ID of the Air Raider it would be worth including.

also if mines would be an "expected" defensive emplacement for the mobile base.

>>5799743
>Attack. Take to the skies on Burning Eagle thrusters, and try to manage an interception.

>Mid Sync

Fortune favors the bold! Rip them from the sky!

>EWar
Don't we have to drop jamming to get EWar going?

>>5799816
+1

>>5799816
>Don't we have to drop jamming to get EWar going?

Probably, but there is also the potential for it to crash / land in the minefield, and with a lighter frame it's likely to take more damage assuming that we can also disable the IFF functionality or at least that the mines have some from of IFF / swarm networking.

>>5799743
>Attack. Take to the skies on Burning Eagle thrusters, and try to manage an interception.
>High-sync

Mission briefing :
"After locating it, report in again for further orders"
So
>Mid-sync
>Conceal
>Contact Sunray

>>5799743
>Attack. Take to the skies on Burning Eagle thrusters, and try to manage an interception.

>High-sync

>>5799743
>Conceal
>Mid sync

>>5799902
+1

>>5799743
>Conceal
>Mid-Sync

>>5799743
>>5799794
Backing this with contacting Sunny per >>5799807. Cutting power and emissions for stealth implies cutting off jamming anyway since that’s a power draw. May as well flip to offensive use since we lack cover and our kit isn’t meant for AA.

No need for mid-sync either since it won’t affect our will score.

>>5799816
>>5799743
Ahg, pesky orders. Fine, fine, switch me to >>5799902

Grumble grumble grumble sitting duck could be RIPPING THEM FROM THE SKY but stupid orders instead.

>>5799743

Supporting >>5799902

>>5799902
Backing this but with the caveat of telling Dagger squad to conceal themselves and go radio silent until ordered otherwise

>>5799743
supporting >>5800174

>>5800174
+1

File: Breaking apart.png (1 KB, 84x84)

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Rolled 4, 3, 5 = 12 (3d6)

Calling it for:
>>5799902
With a few extra messages to tell Dagger Squad to disengage.

Attempting to bump up to mid-sync, I'll throw Will dice for Sophie, which will then tell us how many dice Beta will get for the Skill roll.

>>5800239
2 Successes, so Mid-sync achieved

I need 4 rolls of 1d6, for Skill.

Yes, I know my code changed. Posting from different place.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5800242

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5800239

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5800242

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5800242
MUH SKILL

“Power down. Cut all emissions.”

“Everything? We still have Dagger squad out there.”
Her skepticism comes through.

“Then tell them to disengage, hide, and get new orders. We have minimal cover out here. And have fulfilled our initial orders. Time is-”
She cuts off your request. Probably for the best. Her thoughts seem to line up with yours.

“Cobalt to Daggers, come in.”

A crackle, then their commander responds.
“All intact, Cobalt. Just a few more of these running bastards. They keep triggering-Fuck!”
An explosion punctuates his statement.

“ECM support is dropping. Try to stay hidden.”

“I judge that unlikely, Cobalt. Not with these shits trying to crawl up our-”
Another mine goes off, and you cut the connection. They’re on their own.


“Beta, without us, everything within two clicks is going to go right for those explosions.”

“That will happen regardless. I suggest you focus, and prepare for combat.”

She lays back in the seat, annoyance twanging across the link.
“We are Not just sending them off to die.”

“Their own performance will determine that.”

Jamming- Offline
Command net- Offline
Thrusters- Offline
Reactor spin down in progress.

All in the name of a lower emissions footprint.
The whole frame feels a bit shakier, slower, less responsive, as you kneel down.


With a shudder, Sophie yanks herself into mid-sync, speeding your thoughts up again. Even if the body is slower, the mind is faster.
“Contact Sunray, pilot. We have located at least one part of the patrol, fulfilling our orders.”

“Ahhhhh. That’s better. Beta, they’re just going to tell us to clear out everything. Just like the last few intercepts. Command isn’t going to stand for more raiders.”

“We do not know that for certain.”

Her little sense of exasperation doesn’t stop her from typing out a transmission.
C04 LOCATED PATROL, KIA- ENEMY FLYING MECHS AND MINEFIELD ENCOUNTERED- B-23 LIKELY DESTROYED- REQUEST ORDERS

By tight-beaming a transmission specifically back towards the base, you should hopefully limit any interception of said transmission to hostile contacts behind you.

The response is swift. If not particularly subtle.
“Sunray to Cobalt. Continue operation, confirm status of B-23, and secure area. Eliminate enemy contacts.”
Audio, on the encrypted channel. Though they can’t exactly hear what Sunray is saying, it still alerts people that someone is listening out here

Your sensors track the thermal signatures across the sky, as both streak from sky to ground, landing behind you in the distance, before thermal signatures vanish. Considering that they didn’t try to dive-bomb you, you probably weren’t detected. Unless they’re trying to cut off your retreat.

No thanks to Sunray.

File: Some cover.png (114 KB, 602x386)

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With the jamming off, you pick up many crisscrossing transmissions, taking advantage of your lapse.

The emergency beacon, as expected. Several pings from the direction of where the fliers landed, one additional strong signal from the direction of Dagger squad, not using Imperial codes, and other, weaker signals that you cannot find the source of.
Seconds tick by.

At least the weather is helping your concealment a little.

You have your orders.
They would have to be absolute morons, or fighting with rocks to entirely miss your jamming field, and its absence. It is frustratingly unclear if they knew your position. You are potentially getting slowly surrounded, with Air at the back, and an unclear amount of contacts in front.


Beta is in Mid-sync.
>Turn, and go after your would-be chasers, the Air Raider duo.

>Push onwards, trying to find B-23 and the emergency beacon. And cover.

>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.
And bait.

>Wait, and listen. With more time, you could get a firmer grasp on what’s going on around you.
That is, if a net isn’t closing on you.

>Write-in.

>>5800684
>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction. And bait.
The minebug explosions are the big distraction. They have it under control, so it's up to us to have whoever's going after them under control.

>>5800684
> Turn, and go after your would-be chasers, the Air Raider duo.

>>5800684
>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.

>>5800684
>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.

BIG DAMN HERO MODE ACTIVATE!

We seriously picked the wrong loadout for this mission. Did anyone think about how we were going to be in wilderness?

>>5800684
>>Wait, and listen. With more time, you could get a firmer grasp on what’s going on around you.

>>5800684
>Turn, and go after your would-be chasers, the Air Raider duo.

>>5800684
>>Wait, and listen. With more time, you could get a firmer grasp on what’s going on around you.

>>5800791
Didn't get that intel did we? Admittedly we mostly went "ooh shiny phase sword".

My vote was for the Bia but it would be outranged here as well. Missels probably would have been a great choice, or the tyrant, but if we have a land target as well we'll probably appreciate our kit.

>>5800684
>>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.

>>5800684
>Loop back in on dagger

Big damn hero.

>>5800684
Switching my vote from >>5800694 to
> Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.

And get Jamming back up! This is a no coordination zone!

>>5800684
>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.
If we want to kill the pincer, blowing through the strong contact near Dagger Squad is one way.
>Put jamming back up
May as well if we’re going to move. Also keeps them from contacting the air backup.

Wonder if the weaker signals are drones.

>>5800684
Only scrapheap bound AI turn on their homies.

>>5800684
>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.

>>5800684
>>5801253
>>Loop back to Dagger Squad. If something serious is going for them, they serve as an excellent distraction.

Went full Delta and forgot the actual vote

Rolled 5, 6, 1, 6, 3, 1 = 22 (6d6)

Throwing some dice for out of LOS things....
Stuff happens quickly.


First 2 for Dagger Defense, last 3 for Infernus Attack

>>5801851
Goddamn, Dagger Squad is on point.

Also, what's the extra d6 for?

>>5801851
>5, 6
No worrying about them surviving this turn, thank fuck
>Infernus Attack
They're jobbing, let's take advantage while we can

Enough. You made a mistake, dropping the jamming. That much is clear. But you sitting and waiting is a losing proposition.

Dagger will be in trouble, if you’re reading the traces right.

The link pulses with anticipation.
“Come on, Beta, make a call. This indecision is costing us.”

You don’t even deign to grace that with a response. Just silence. And annoyance.

Reactor back online, jamming in place, reestablishing connections….
No coordinating, unless you Allow it.

Up, and forwards, racing towards the wayward squad’s last position.

You contact them directly.
“Cobalt to Dagger. Report.”

“I sure hope you’re on the way. Because we’ve got you one dance partner, Cobalt. Watch out for mines.”

Dancing? Why can’t they just state plainly?

“Heavy Mech, closing fast! Scatter!”

Actually useful intel.

The next half-minute is full of their voices yelling back and forth, all while you push closer and closer. It’s so tempting to try and go even faster, but thruster burn would be instantly noticed, much as you spotted the fliers.

File: Infernus Alpha.jpg (127 KB, 1023x990)

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It appears on thermals before visual contact. A Tamar Alliance mech, painted up in an orange theme.
It sprays burning liquid from wrist gauntlets, seeking to smother Dagger Squad, as they scramble to and fro, one step ahead of the giant.
A larger cannon lays undeployed on its back.

They’ve clearly done this before, scattering to force the thing to target a single squadmember, letting the others attempt to close in leaps, before being forced away by the mech turning.

It’s somewhat of an impasse. And impressive.

Fortunately, you are here to tip the scales.
There’s a bit of relief from your pilot.

Blade drawn, Scatter cannon ready, it should be easy pickings.

>I need 5d6 dice for an Attack roll at mid-range, when closing.
3 base Attack, x1.5 for mid-sync, +1 for Scatter Cannon

A/N
Sophie is not going to stand for you just saying back and letting Dagger Squad get roasted alive, so just pushing this straight to combat.
Their defense will be reduced by Dagger Squad's ongoing distraction.

>>5801856
Don't mind that.

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5801877

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5801877
Any way for us to disengage or disconnect the fuel lines on the gauntlets using Project Predator? Might be able to have it dump fuel if he decides to book it from us.

>>5801892
Probably should make this clear on the character sheet, but you're either keeping Jamming up, or using it for E-war Attack on single specific units or networks.

Now, you can attempt to hack units to cripple specific subsystems, though eventually someone might just hard shut down their connections to try and keep Beta out, taking penalties for doing so.

This may contradict earlier uses of it, though people haven't been using it for much apart from keeping their foes from screaming over the comms, and electronic ghosting.
Seriously I may have made a mistake giving yall that thing, because I can't have the enemy pilots attempt to trash talk you while jamming is up. Cuts into my characterization writing, dammit!

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5801877
Rolling

>>5801899
We should hack more often. Right now all Predator is for is listening in on the base and allies, and passive jamming while we fight and win. That's all we ever use it for. We're ghosting out here man; Beta's simply too intelligent for this shit. Enemies getting spooked and Tamar Alliance spreading horror stories about Beta. He is the mute threatening boss enemy.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5801877

>>5801915
Imagine how many pilots we can terrorize just by introducing their systems to Query...

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5801877

File: Infernus.jpg (475 KB, 2000x1103)

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Line it up just-so, targeting center mass, feeding range in….
The cannon booms, its fragmenting projectiles vanishing as they leave the muzzle.

The effects are immediately shown, splashing across the front armor, and tearing a rent into it.
Infernus Structure- 5/7

Dagger squad seized the opportunity, one of them closing the distance onto the back with an assisted leap, mag-clamps latching onto the back of the titan, while the others pepper the face with lasers.

This proves to be a mistake, as the target shoves itself back up, and a fiery corona ignites around the mech. You are unimpressed, until your thermals reads the skyrocketing temperatures.
Some frantic yelling follows over the comms, the would-be rider detaching swiftly, and attempting to drop away from the mech.

A foot almost as large as it punts the power armor like a ‘football’
Where did you learn that? What is football?

The reload sequence finally finishes, and you snap another shot off, aiming at the arms. Perhaps you can sever a fuel line.

The shot vanishes, seemingly having no effect.
Did you mess up the targeting? Range? It seems to be working, the first shot connected. Where did the other go?

“Beta, we’ve got more coming. Finish this fast. Or now!”
This fight is already drawing spectators.

Though your thermal is rapidly becoming worthless, a far-off heat spike is clear. You sway, ducking.
A crimson beam sears past your shoulder, then another. Off target, but more enemies are incoming. You’ve seen that weapon before.

The Scatter Cannon’s reload cycle clicks again, and it fires again, vanishing for no effect on Infernus.

Why Won’t THIS WORK!

It’s ignoring Dagger Squad, them being kept at bay by the blazing shroud, while it charges forwards to you, temperatures skyrocketing.

Twisting back, you ready the blade.

If it wants close combat so bad, you’ll show it just how outclassed it is.
But on the other hand, why give it what it wants?

>Engage in close combat.

>Deny the advance. Keep to mid-range.
Continue to work with the Scatter cannon on Infernus. It MUST work.

>Break off, and go for the far-off source of the beam.

>Write-in

Option is there to
>High-sync

Option is also there to change Jamming to E-War, on any of the units.

Prototype weapon causing a few issues. At least it's hard to mess up a sword, right?

File: Incoming Reinforcement.png (491 KB, 1276x562)

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And some familiar beams

>>5801952
>Engage in close combat.
Switch to E-War and have it open up the pilot's chamber for easy access and a chance for him to catch fire as well.

>>5801952
>Engage in close combat.
I hope whatever fuel it's using isn't hypergolic, or pyrophoric otherwise we may have issues.

>High-sync
We may need to shift up avoid losing via action economy.

>At least it's hard to mess up a sword, right?
As long as we swing it properly and it retains its edge things "should" be fine.

>>5801899
How does you jamming work QM? Like normal jamming prevents the receiving of comms since the airwaves are full of noise, which would prevent comm links. But nothing stops the sending of me way tightbeams, it's just gotta be louder than the noise at the receiving station which is almost always the case unless you're jamming them too.

Also they could just trash talk you on loudspeaker or with LOS com lasers.

>>5802007
>it's just gotta be louder than the noise at the receiving station which is almost always the case unless you're jamming them too.

it can be a fair bit more complicated depending on what exactly is being jammed.
https://archive.org/details/Electronic-Warfare-Fundamentals/page/n167/mode/2up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyFqaaqqph0

>>5801952
> Midrange
Let's not cook Sophie
> High Sync
Maybe cook Sophie a little
> Switch to E-War
See if we can ground on Air Raider.


We already have cooling issues, more than a little worried about our meaty filling.

>>5801952
>Engage in close combat.
>High-sync

Here's my theory :
The ennemy have a safe-guard system that blocks damaging Teleport-in of projectiles and blades from their own systems.
Here's the plan.
>Drop Jamming, E-War to introduce Query to the anti-Teleport module as >>5801928 suggested
>Go Close Combat
>Shove our TP Blade deep deep in the mech as the Infernus Pilot cockily expect us to miss

>>5801952
>>5802114
Sure I will support. Be aware if we over use Query, they will either develop countermeasures or co-op it to us against our forces.

>>5801952
>Close combat
>Mid sync

>E-war, disable that things shroud

Be great time for a SYCK

>>5801952
Backing >>5802114
>drop Jamming
>engage E-War into Anti-Teleport + Query
>Close Combat
>Remain Mid Sync
Don't forget our cooling issues like >>5802033 said, but don't forget THERE'S SNOW EVERYWHERE RIGHT NOW

>>5801952
>Deny the advance. Keep to mid-range.
>Switch to E-WAR. Focus on disabling the corona, it may be interfering with your shot.
>If we’re engaged in close combat, remember to thrust and not swing. If the blade disappears you can still punch the enemy.
Our shots stopped working after the fire shroud went up. May be that the phase shot can’t exit phase in an environment that energetic. Could also mean a cold snap would unphase the shot early?

Not sure how the blade will behave, but given cooling issues and how we saw the strikers were melted I assume the temperatures they can get to will damage the blade if we don’t phase it, and we can’t hit with phased weapons right now anyway.

That leaves E-WAR as the best solution to shutting it down.

>>5802202
Support. If push come to shove let's see if we can just crush them using our mass.

>>5801952
>>5802202
+1

>>5802202
Really should've brought the Tyrant cannon w/ us for this one and shatter them with HE fire... But alas, nobody knows our enemies have plasma(?) shields, and if we can salvage them and add them to our own hull... (after fixing the mess that's our cooling system, of course).

>>5802364
The Tyrant cannon may not have worked well against the fliers either. Its shot is relatively slow and a flier should have good maneuverability. Would have been a good counter to burny boy though.

Among our weapons, the Whirlwind Missiles would have been the right call. Some guidance capability offsets the flier’s advantage in dodging and the warheads work just as well against a ground target. Haywire and smoke give tactical flexibility too, especially in an open area like this.

At least Predator remains an all-range option when our weapons fail, even if we’ve never used it offensively until now.

>>5802415
Wouldn't the burny shield set off our missiles early? And I highly doubt individual missiles have enough explosive power to crack through their armor at beyond point-blank range. Same thing goes for the rotary gun: if the heat can melt through power armor it would probably render our bullets much less effective.

>>5802415
Rotating out to other tools like Whirlwind might be a good investment on the next mission

>>5802427
Aren't Whirlwinds a bit more ammo-limited than others? Even assuming we can swap warheads on the fly or the warheads can perform different duties in one package, if we run out of them we're screwed. Neither the gatling gun nor the cannon (which, given its slow muzzle velocity, might actually be closer to a howitzer IRL) have the ammo issue, and I've yet to see a landed flyer dodge an artillery shell fired from 50 yards away.

>>5802426
>And I highly doubt individual missiles have enough explosive power to crack through their armor at beyond point-blank range.

All missile warheads get delivered into point blank range by the missile anon.

>>5802476
Read my question again. The issue is whether the missiles will be detonated early by the fire shield when we face enemies equipped with those things later on.
Artillery shells normally have walls thick enough to remain unaffected for the few milliseconds before impact, but if our missiles get melted/vaporized/cooked-off before impacting the enemy 'mech we just wasted our limited supply of missiles.

File: Block.jpg (705 KB, 1920x1336)

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>>5802454
You haven't seen Core BS, yet.
Even if it's more calculating where the thing is targeting, and not being there. And there's a limit to it, naturally, especially as the range drops.

>>5802007
>>5802013
These posts made me spend two hours of my day unsuccessfully trying to comprehend 1960s-70s military manuals. It was actually fairly interesting, so thanks. I have slightly more understanding of how cold war era jamming, radar, and communications worked, but probably not enough to give a satisfying answer.

So assume jammers here generally work on principles not exactly the same to our universe. The bullshittium author hand wave excuse
Being able to not jam your own side when it's active is from having a few open channels that are constantly changing according on a set timeline, and flipping everyone to the different channels, so the opposition can't also find, connect, and use them for their own transmissions fast enough.

If you have direct access to the jammer somehow, like through a hardline connection, it is possible locate and use those few clear bands.

Tight beams seem contingent on knowing exactly where you're targeting, something that gets a tad more difficult when mechs are moving about. So, being able to talk back to the stationary base, but the base not being able to tight-beam back to the moving mech, especially if that mech is trying to specifically keep everyone from knowing exactly where they are by being under ECM.

Inspiration was something sort of like the ECM effects of an N-jammer, along with it giving the ability to access to the 'digital battlefield'. And because it's interesting to have more subtle effect option, sometimes, instead of strapping more guns or defenses


Time for some vote counting, then.
>Close Combat
seems to be the clear winner.
>Mid Sync
though not by much
>E-War over jamming
We'll see what Beta can break on Infernus

The thing you named Query isn't here, but Beta is more than able to try and Smash down virtual gates with his own Will.

Rolls!
For E-war, Predator provides 2 auto-successes, then Will of 5.
For Close Combat, that's Attack of 3, x1.5, for 4 dice then Defense of 3, x1.5, +1 for Burning Eagle, and +1 for Yi, for 6 dice.
Total of 10 dice, +1 autosuccess.

This seems a little clunky with this many rolls, but dice go click clack.

>I need 15 rolls of 1d6, first 5 are Will, last 10 are Close Combat.

Feel free to go 2 or 3 dice on each post. Gotta get through em!

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5802490

Rolled 1, 5, 4 = 10 (3d6)

>>5802490

>>5802493
The phase sword might not quite work either, but we're larger than they are so... brawlin' time.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5802490

>>5802493
>>5802496
>>5802499
Pretty good distribution of dice rolls, 3+2=5 success on our side for E-War, against... the enemy's...

Rolled 4, 2, 2 = 8 (3d6)

>>5802490

Rolled 4, 1, 4 = 9 (3d6)

dice 4 to 6 for CQC

Rolled 2, 6, 5 = 13 (3d6)

>>5802486
>The issue is whether the missiles will be detonated early by the fire shield when we face enemies equipped with those things later on
Why would it? Missiles are fast unless you think that the corona has a several mile radius of burning steel heat. The missile will be in it for like a fraction of a fraction of a second.

>>5802503
E-War options
They don't have an active defensive AI, so there's not a direct Will contest, just built-in safeguards to stop interference, until the human element takes notice and shuts you out.

Infernus’ threshold is 3 successes.
(Basically you're just fishing for how successful your intrusion is, after the first 3)
Drones or non-piloted things are less than that, defensive AIs or programs of their own do have Will scores of their own to contest or attack back, but that also makes them vulnerable.

Tie gets a foot in the door for comms monitoring and data intrusion, 1 is impediment to attack or defense, 2 more is a system down, 3 is internal damage, 4+ is catastrophic damage.
(Like, say, activating ejection mechanism, overloading reactor safeties, assuming temporary direct control, etc.)

So, 5 successes gives them a penalty, and also knocks out a system. The Flame Shroud, in this case. That's what voters seem to want, because there isn't an actual anti-teleport system.

This probably belongs in a Pastebin, considering how I keep stacking on rules.

>>5802525
Does that mean we were 1 off for internal damage and 5 off for making the mech commit sudoku?

>>5802529
1 off from internal damage, 2 off for sudoku/Control

>>5802525
You know what? I bet this mech needs active cooling not to melt itself. Maybe we should disable his that instead.

>>5802522
Given the size of our 'mech and the fact that it can actually maneuver in close range, the missiles are most likely the size of an ATGM... and most ATGMs are subsonic IRL.
Those things also have a snowball's chance in hell to kill AFVs through blast pressure alone even at point-blank, and just detonating them a foot too early can turn the focused blast of molten copper that can punch through three feet of solid RHA... into a harmless spray that can't harm a reinforced steel box (APCs and IFVs). So if the heat of the Fire Shroud can melt through steel armor then it might be able to set off missiles too early (and likely from the wrong end as well), thus ruining any chance to punch through their armor. Of course, I'm assuming modern TNT-equivalent in the missiles' explosive charge and an HE/HEAT equivalent for their warheads.
Haywire should be fine though.

Rolled 5, 5, 1, 6, 3, 3, 1 = 24 (7d6)

Still think I need one more roll for Beta's Close Combat.

Throwing dice for Infernus Close Combat.....
Attack of 3, defense of 2, System bonus of +2 because one of them got disabled, -1 from hacking penalties, and +1 from long range supporting fire.....

These guys are aces, it's worth mentioning.

>>5802549
> These guys are aces
Good to know. Aces are borderline irreplaceable - and every ace we kill would also be a blow to their morale.

>>5802549
Your roll, sir.

>>5802532
Their armor might have a high melting point and with a good amount of thermal insulators sandwiched in between, so... they may take a while to start melting, and their operators might have already kicked us out and restarted the cooling system by then.
Our job is to punch through them as quickly as possible while suffering the least damage in return, shutting down their fire shield would help on the second part, and as long as we're dealing enough damage to them this round they wouldn't even have the capacity to use their shields again.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5802563
...Ignore that

1+2+2+1=6 successes, vs the Infernus's 3.
RIP AND TEAR, UNTIL IT'S DONE

Petition to use our shotty on its ugly mug when we're done tearing it a new one.

>>5802568
Petition to throw the shotty in the trash and use physical, not "lol despawn lol" flechette using guns.

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>>5802490
>The thing you named Query isn't here
After the whole incident back at the research facility, I'm starting to think the only way we'll meet Query again if someone retrieved/copied/salvaged/stole the servers that Query resided in, and that is to assume they weren't destroyed.
Picrel

>>5802569
The flechettes might be simply vaporized for all we know, but that's exactly why I'm suggesting to use the gun on it at point-blank: to humiliate them further. They thought they're impervious to our attacks, but we just blew their ugly faces off with thus supposedly "inferior" weapon.
... and why can't we pick a good sword/fist along with a good ranged weapon (missiles, cannon, gatling gun, etc) again?

>>5802573
Don't want to spoil too much, but it will be on the next refit option. Unless ya'll decide to spring for or other utility options. Again.

Initial Frame choice was the 'more Structure, less systems' pick, which has kept this problem circulating. There's only so much weight you can carry, to maintain mobility.

You COULD have had a fkoff laser cannon, but nooooo you needed to Fly last thread.

>>5802572
And I'm not saying anything regarding that.

>>5802580
Yes we did. We speedy boi. No heavy weapons, but enough structure to beat them down the old-fashioned way if needed.

I miss the stealth system though. It was fun playing the patient hunter.

File: One final gasp.jpg (117 KB, 850x601)

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Time to decide this battle before it even begins.

Predator shifts modes, trading the white noise for a virtual dagger, locking onto the signal of your opponent and letting you smash aside the defenses, infiltrating their systems while it barrels towards your waiting frame.
It has been too long since you did this. Making off with comms codes, raw data, and then seeing how much you can tweak before the slow Human inside notices.

Infernus model B, serial number 39.
Remapping the right arm controls slightly, setting the reaction tuning to just a hair slower than usual, forcing the back vents called FireShield to begin cycling for cooling early…..it’s not your best work, but everything adds up, before you’re detected and the connection forcibly cut.


Eyes on the mech, now, stepping aside to dodge a cascading wave of flames pouring from the wrist vents, leaving a stream of fire behind them. Clumsy, now.

You riposte with a wide slash, daring to test the Phase-technology. The greater part of the blade flickers, vanishing and rematerializing before it smashes into the side of Infernus, leaving a gash in the armor, but no more.

Your timing is off. Recalculating.

The lessened Yi accelerators boost the arm’s speed, yanking it back and forth, stabbing and smashing with the blade, sending your target reeling, spewing blazing liquid all around it.

Another beam shoots between you, cleanly missing.

Now for the finale.

Thrusters pick you up, firing to the side to circle around in several pin-point bursts, and lunging the sword forwards, directing power to activate it. A flickering stab appears inside the mech’s back, and tearing it out causes a terrific explosion, spraying burning fluid everywhere from a ruptured tank.

Satisfaction.

Less satisfying are the flecks of liquid that reach you, sticking to your forearms and hand, merrily burning away.

And the heat warnings piling up on your damage control readouts. Your cooling, already taxed by the mere presence of Infernus, certainly isn’t doing any favors to your pilot. Or your frame.

Sweat pours down her face in rivulets, while she wordlessly directs you to try and get the flames off.

That will need to wait, though.

Unbelievably, Infernus rises through the smoke, the back of the mech shorn open by its own ignited fuel.
Infernus Structure- 1/7

It staggers to its feet, one hand missing, the other sputtering, armor torn asunder. Admirable engineering.

Is it confidence that drives him? Or desperation? Considering how his surroundings are drenched in a merry blaze, ejecting isn’t exactly an option.

The Cyclops, as you identify from your snatched files, finally lands a beam on you, melting a little more of your outer armor and ending your brief attempt at cooling down.

Speaking of that data, it seems that this little task force is here for You.
6 mechs. Infernus, two Skystrikers, Cyclops, and one called Ronin.

Soon to be 5.
You’d hate to disappoint.

The 3 standing members of Dagger squad linger around the outside of the flames, unwilling to leap into the manmade hellscape. Vital signs on the last member mark him as not yet deceased.

Cyclops is still out there. And the other 3.

>Leave Infernus to fall to Dagger squad once the blaze cools. You have your next target in your sights.
-Cyclops
-Air Raiders (Skystrikers)
-Other?

>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate

>Attempt to retreat. If this task force is here for you, denying their objective is easy. As much as it rankles you to turn and run.

>Write-in

>>5802767
> Leave Infernus to fall to Dagger squad once the blaze cools. You have your next target in your sights.
> Cyclops

>>5802767
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad.
>Give him a field goal style kick in the servos for Dagger before we leave.

>>5802767
Changing my vote from >>5802769 to >>5802776.
Blast that dumpster with our shotgun, pointblank. Then we'll shove our feet so far up his arse that he'll taste Ferrum-produced steel for the next year.

>>5802767
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate

someone can come back for the pilot recovery at a later time, they aren't getting far on foot

Our best bet is probably to fall back to BM-23 and get Dagger to shelter inside / look around / do what they can for their injured member, while we use the installation to help manage our encounters and prevent them from ganging up on us since breaking line of sight should keep the ranged members from ganging up on us.

also slight potential for us to reactivate any surviving base defenses / rally survivors

Also if Sunray was sending reinforcements foreknowledge of their order of battle may help, since the response can be appropriately measured.

>>5802767
> Relay our new data to Sunny
I mean, getting some practice for our 24 mech run to the empress would be nice, but reinforcements would be good too. A lot of valuable enemy assets here, just for little old us.
> Leave Infernus, grab Dagger and get to BM-23
Let's get to something resembling cover, let Sophie cool off. Drop off dagger to do search and rescue. Maybe there's some AA they can get going? Infernus is a sitting duck, let our reinforcements come for him.
> Attack Cyclops
Flyboys are going to be hard to hit. Hate to say it, but we might just be playing defence until some help arrives. If god smiles it'll be Gamma.

>>5802762
>finish off Infernus

Dagger can thank us after.

>>5802767
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate

>>5802819
>Flyboys are going to be hard to hit.
We may be able to disable their flight controls / ?missiles? if they take to the air / let us close in. which could get they pretty fucked since they are a lighter frame.

>>5802819
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate

Support getting to bm-23 if we could, to maybe get some cover or if anything derilict could be of use.

>>5802767
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate
Leave nothing for the enemy to salvage and use as info against us.

>>5802767
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate

>>5803263
>>5802819
>>5802803
But BM-23 (was that the distress beacon?) is surrounded by the minefield bugs, isn't it?

>>5803347
We could try hacking the mines with Predator and disarm them for later use against the other mechs, either by using them as is for the ground pounders or by pitching them at the flyers like baseballs.

>>5802767
>Spend the time finishing off Infernus, and pick up Dagger Squad. Leave nothing at your back, even as enemy reinforcements concentrate
>Break into Infernus once more, this time to take advantage of what remains of their comms. See if you can get the codes to passively listen in.
Hey, if we can kill them via hacking then that’s cool too.

>>5803347
>is surrounded by the minefield bugs, isn't it?
As far as we know, yes. Though we do have boosters that provide limited flight so if they are cued via magnetic / seismic activity we can mitigate or potentially bypass the mines by overflying them(while carrying dagger squad). or potentially take control if they are network enabled. though we don't know the scale or layout of the field(s).

With QM saying we could gain temporary control over enemies with a successful E-war attack wouldn't it be a possibility to go after cyclops, incapacitate him and use his laser core to swat down the flyers we are currently at a disadvantage against? Get that fkoff laser "cannon", bring it home and have the nerds figure something out for portability.

>>5802767
>>5802819
+1
One of the daggers is down for the count, they are better off treating him and taking care of our leftovers. If reinforcements ever come they can give a rundown of the situation while we will be busy with fighting.

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“Recover and remount. I will finish it.”
Your directions to Dagger are clear, and they pull away from the hellscape, back to their remaining member.

Even on its last legs, Infernus still tries to fight, gauntlets raised in a guarding position.
It is outclassed. Outgunned, now. And clearly outmatched by you. But even still, it will Waste Your Time.

Battering at it smashes piece after piece from the arms, twisting and flexing the alloys with repeated impact, until the abuse can no longer be taken.

The annoyance of occasional long-range fire isn’t enough to save them, merely delay the inevitable.
A strike severs one limb, then goes low, flickering and reappearing halfway through the leg. Tearing it out makes the whole machine fall to that side, then on the back when you follow up with a kick.
And Infernus slumps into the ground, unmoving.

You hesitate for an instant. It’s no longer a threat. Immobilized and helpless, power gone. One foot raises, then stamps down, mashing it further into the fiery mud.
Then again, crushing down on the cockpit.


Back, out of the circle of choking flames and burning chemicals. The three mobile squad members leap up, trying to intercept your swift-moving form.

One misses with your approach speed, and an open hand snaps out, grabbing Dagger 3 and depositing her on your shoulder.

“We locked the LT’s armor. Just grab him and Go!”

You do just that, scooping the small form off the ground, and immediately starting to run, headed towards B-23’s emergency beacon.

A flickering beam chases you, reddish light searing through the air. Cyclops, trying to make its presence known.

Now that you’re away from the blinding heat, it’s possible to pick up thermals again, reading the paired Air Raiders in pursuit of you. Smaller heat signatures are picked up, missiles closing the gap rapidly, following the signature of your thrust boosts.

You cut Burning Eagle out briefly, skidding over the tundra, and letting the seekers shoot past, not compensating for your loss in speed.

“Sunray, reinforcements that were mentioned would be greatly appreciated. Soon. There’s a lot more than just two mechs out here. We’ve got 5 now, and at least a few aces among them.”
Sophie gasps into the comms.

“Cobalt, help is on the way.”

Anger floods the link, and she cuts the connection.
“Rapid-response is a lie.” Her eyes snap wide. “Beta, the minefield!”

Yes, you know it is there. Another jump sends you soaring above, trying to avoid triggering any Ticks.

More missiles and lasers chase.

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Mag-scans indicate lumps of metal ahead, the wreck and beacon of B-23. Cover, some marginal safety. At least, a place to drop the armor-locked Lieutenant Johnson.

If you can just get there.


B-23 is a mobile repair vehicle, much like the ones you operate out of, if modified slightly for more transport capacity instead of active mech hangars inside.

No vote today, but:
>I need 6 rolls of 1d6, for defense.


A/N
Had a busy weekend. Hopefully getting back to form. Votes seemed to be on the ‘go for cover first, then attack’

Some stuff on E-warring: When someone shuts down their external access, you can’t re-hack them again, unless they open up again for some reason. Usually after a certain amount of time.
Spending some time trying to connect to the minefield and utilize it against the opponents is an option you could try to work towards.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5804768
Take over the minefield to use it against Cyclops and Ronin. We have to handle the Skystrikers ourselves

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5804768

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>580476

Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5804768

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5804768
It'd be enough if we can disable the mines, at least. Would make the reinforcements come to us sooner

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5804768

Rolled 3 (1d6)

>>5804768

>>5804781
>>5804811
>>5804829
>>5804848
>>5804853
JOBBING

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>>5804988
when I got picrel as my captcha I knew it would go horribly