MECHAPOCALYPSE! TEARS OF THE LOST

[Veral]

Melvin gathered up his wits after the jarring landing. He looked around and spotted the others running for their mecha. His mecha was off to the side, so he headed in that direction. Once at the base of Sage, he used the ladder to reach the cockpit, which was lower to the ground because of the way it was stored. Once at the head, he punched in the code that let him into the actual control center. He slid through the opening, and moved quickly over to the command chair.

 

As he seated himself in the chair, a voice announced, "Intruder detected. Please provide access code or counter measures will deploy."

 

Melvin spoke into the air, "They're coming to take me away, Ha ha." 

 

The computer announced, "Access code accepted. Please provide identification, or sequence will terminate." A receptacle opened on the left hand of the command chair and a small pad rose. Melvin placed his hand on the pad, and a small prick occurred on each of his fingers. It was just enough to draw blood.  The pad absorbed the blood, and after 20 seconds there was a fanfare from the computer. 

 

"Melvin Grahame recognized. Adjusting controls. Callsign Harvard. IFF transmiting. Command system online."

 

At this point there was a great lurching as the mecha stood up on it four legs. Out of the front of the command chair popped a joystick and throttle combination, and at the base of the chair out popped a pair of pedals. The controls engaged, and Sage shook, then settled down. "Let's have some fun." He then turned on the outgoing comms, "Sage powered up. Harvard online. Mission ready."

 

[SalmonMax]

Delaney shrugged out of the remnants of her parachute and let it settle to the concrete ground behind her as she moved towards the oversized dropcase that had to house her own mecha. It unfolded and tucked the shielding panels away, revealing The Great Metal Beast in all its somewhat awkward-looking glory.

 

It was massive, a support-class vehicle that consisted of a large, bulbous upper portion that rested atop a pair of thick, powerful, but rather short digitigrade legs. The Beast was built for stability, not speed. The primary arms were folded up like the arms of a preying mantis, with the shorter sets of arms beneath it tucked neatly away as well. The so-called 'service arms' were primarily for field repairs, and featured manipulators capable of relatively fine precision. The larger arms were for lifting and carrying heavy loads. Slung over the Beast's left shoulder was the armored barrel of a giant laser cannon. Mounted to the right shoulder was a multiple-fire missile pod. Its round, oblong main body also had several blister-like structures poking smoothly out of its skin, the function of which was not immediately clear. For this mission, Del had arranged for it to be coated in dull grey patchwork urban camouflage...though the idea of something that big and loud being overlooked was pretty funny.

 

She sauntered towards the hulking machine, signaling it via the communicator in her helmet. The voice of the Beast was gruff and angry, demanding authentication. Del smiled and spoke in rapid staccato words.

 

"Menial Interesting Seven Silver In Six Slices Interrogation Pizza Petabyte Imbecile."

 

The flamethrower mounted on an undercarriage turret stopped tracking her, and Del jumped up onto the set of metal rungs attached to the Beast's right leg...cleverly position so that when the Beast was in standby position, with legs fully folded, the rungs would make a ladder up to the central chassis. There, looking tiny in comparison to the total bulk of the machine, was the entry hatch. Delaney slide a panel aside and tapped a series of buttons on the keypad revealed under it, then closed it again. The hatch opened, and she wiggled her way in.

 

A few seconds later and she was in the pilot's cradle, deep in the central bulk of the towering robot vehicle. The turbines of its power plant roared to life, and the Beast awoke...sitting up higher on its legs and unfolding its arms. With a little effort she managed to lean sideways enough to reach a little pouch in the cradle and fish out a stick of gum to pop in her mouth.

 

"Wizard online," she transmitted to the team. "Ready to go."

[Nina]

David followed the examples of her companions but was more careful, this machine was an unknown.

 

The five mechs rumbles to life and each driver made small movements and tests to make sure their systems were operational.

 

Harvard fired up his scanners and began taking readings looking for Kaiju. Delany launched a set of recon drones and set them to circling. David, Katerina, and Max mad a physical check of their perimeter out to a hundred meters. The area was a level plain extending for kilometers to a shiny ribbon of silver which was a river. The terrain before them was relatively flat and there were roads that were made of cracked pavement with dirt shoulders. The brush was what could only be described as scrub grew along the road and across the plain. Dotting the plain were small copses of Banyan and Peepal trees. There were no structures visible in the immediate area. Behind them the plain rose to a sheer cliff face rising some two hundred or more feet at the top of which could be seen the ancient walls of the fortress sitting on the plateau. On either side of the cliff were the only ways up, two narrow roads.

 

A few lights could be seen above but not many, however Harvard’s sensors did pick up some em radiations from the fortress.

 

“SHKKT…SHKKT… Night Tiger Six to Saber, Saber come in”

 

The tinny voice came in over the secure channel and echoed in each drivers’ earphones. Saber was their unit code name. Night Tiger must be the ground troops stationed in the fortress. But the mech warriors could not be sure as they were not given the names of any units assigned to the mission beyond theirs. What they did have however were authentication codes.

[Shameless]

Max keyed the secure channel, "This is Saber-1.  I copy you Night Tiger Six. We Request Authentication Code and sitrep."   While they were all the same rank, Max had much longer time in service, So he took charge.  

Max was wary, contact could be faked, but with the proper codes at least they could be reasonably certain they were dealing with the correct people.  

[Exile_Jeane]

Croft was in charge on the ground, as it turned out, determined by the ye old tradition of 'I'm the most senior' in the absence of anyone outranking the other. Suited Katarina just fine. Didn't want the responsibility, didn't need it, not today. She'd give him five minutes to figure out who was speaking to them. A few deft finger pecks on the arms of her control couch brought up more accesses to the Argus system, and the Russian brunette was surrounded by a shifting array of indicators on the all-encompassing screen around her as she picked, discarded, and selected what she needed to see for a safe run towards that great stone ramp. Finally, there was a single questioning 'engage?' blinking in front of her on the HUD. Somewhere below and behind her, there was a whole untapped collection of hard drive worth of filters and enhancers waiting for her say so to spin up, the birth right of the Scout chassis that made the loss of weight and strength worth it ten times over.

 

Time to see if there were any oversized bugs lurking within the next ten klicks. She laughed, punching a button that should be big and red far as she was concerned.

 

Spoiler

pushing Hot Potato's sensors out to extreme range looking for trouble before it can find us.

Details:[6d10 (4 4 2 8 1 4)] 1 Success unless that 1 negates my 8, lol.

  

[Nina]

While Croft authenticated Night Tiger and received a quick brief on the situation, the rest of the team secured a 350-meter perimeter for the supply drop that was coming as soon as the code was sent.

 

According to Night Tiger, they were occupying the fortress along with about eighty thousand civilians squeezed into the fortress itself and anywhere form an additional one to two million in the surrounding mountains. Getting an accurate count is virtually impossible but according to those in charge this is the remnant of the Indian population. Shelter in the fortress is crowded but manageable, water is plentiful, but food is scarce. Before the arrival of the expeditionary force starvation deaths were occurring at a rate of 2500 a day.

 

The kaiju seem to be occupying the larger cities in the south and along the coast. Aerial recon has seen maybe three or four actives but none venturing outside of the decimated cities. The Demi-Kaiju, the smaller ones, are widespread and numerous ranging across the countryside in packs of four to eight. If there are any human survivors in the lowlands, they have not been seen.

 

The Demi Kaiju, roam freely but stay away from the fortress and the mountains. The reason for this is completely unknown. Before the EF arrived, there was almost no military presence left in the fortress and it could have been overrun with ease. But it was not. That is one of the questions command would like an answer for.

Since the EF’s arrival they have set up heavy weapon emplacements and have mined the approaches, and while the do occasionally see a demi-kaiju pack on the far side of the river, there have been zero engagements with the enemy.

 

While Croft was receiving his brief, Katarina pushed Hot Potato to the very edge of the perimeter and kicked on her sensors. The Kaiju were biologicals, so the sensors had to be calibrated differently than if they were looking for tanks or other armored vehicles a lesson learned early in the war. Kat stretched her mechs eyes as far as she could and her ears even further for the auditory sensors on Hot Potato were of the highest tech in the world today.

 

Ground Radar and heat sensors pickup nothing that set any alarms of either through the AI or through Kats own alertness, but the mechs ears picked up something it couldn’t classify.

 

Spoiler

Croft can ask specific questions if he chooses. Katerina can see if she can refine the audio the mech picked up. Anyone else may take any actions they wish.

 

[Shameless]

This is going to be rough.  Max thought to himself.   When he inquired about a space for the service cradles, he was informed there was no room inside the fortress.   "Alright, we'll manage.   Once we set up camp, we'll set out on a perimeter patrol. Please send us the safe approach through the mines."
 

Even as the data was provided, Max switched over to the squad coms and let them know, transferring the approach.  "So the Kaiju avoid the mountains, and nobody knows why.  We're going set up camp here at the base of the plateau, they'll drop the rest of our support gear here, and then we're going to put these machines through their paces in abit of a recon in force.  If nothing else, it will serve to let those not inside the fortress know that Command hasn't abandoned them, that help is here, and more coming.  They've mined the area, so follow this route in to bring the cradles."


Sometime later, after they'd rearranged their cradles, setting them up for easy access.  He really hated leaving them there, undefended, but there wasn't any choice.

 

"Formation will be as follows.  Hot Potato, you're on point, eyes and ears open. I'll go next, leading Harvard and Wizard  I want everyone keyed up, we're gonna do some recon ourselves  report any anomalous contacts, anything that is outside the norm.  Paladin, you bring up the rear, you've got the armor and speed to play rearguard, and move up if we need you to switch to a vanguard position."

Edited January 21, 2021 by Shameless

[Exile_Jeane]

It took a moment for Katarina to become aware Max's call. one eyebrow rising higher and higher on her brow as she refined her audio scan, not quite believing what she was hearing, and came up with clear as day... purring. The kind of pleasant purring you'd get from a cat quite content to let you pet them for at least the next 15 seconds. That was new. Was new bad? The fortress was still standing after all...

 

"Kisa?" she muttered aloud as she saved the filters to make sure she could spin up that scan quicker next time, blinking as she belatedly processed her squad leader's orders, "I mean, rgr. Say the word and let us walk."

[SalmonMax]

Delaney frowned as she panned her view around the field. Ambush could come from just about any quarter with these creatures. Maybe a different perspective would help.

 

"I'm sending a recon drone up and patching the telemetry into the second data channel," she reported as her fingers danced over the 'Hive' control system to program a circular search pattern overhead, then launch the drone. "Keep those ears sharp though. If they're coming underground, aerial recon might not catch it."

 

One of the smooth metal 'blisters' on the Great Metal Beast cracked open with a hiss and a puff of steam and dust as the overpressurized chamber was exposed to the outside air. The aerial recon drone was small, nimble, and designed to be damn hard to spot. It soared skyward, taking on a blue-white shade that would let it blend in seamlessly when viewed from below.

[Nina]

The drone took flight and using vectors from the scout mechs audio sensors closed in on the targets. It took only a few minutes to find the targets, three of them between the mechs and the river about a klick out.

 

The targets were hard to see at first, standard infrared was useless as they appeared to be the same temperature as the surrounding, but the drone cycled through it's dozens of visual filters until one gave it a solid image.

 

the three beast were small as far as Kaiju went, being barely two meters long and rising less than a meter above the ground. Rarer still they were not bipedal but rather moved on multiple legs, a dozen or more , like a centipede. The body was long and slim and looked vaguely shark like with a mouth full of teeth at one end and a tapered tail at the other. It had eyes like a sharks as well, two large black orbs on either side of it's head.

 

The kaiju were separated by about ten meters between them and were creeping slowly toward the landing zone. They did not seem to notice the drone.

 

Spoiler

y'all ball park.

 

[Shameless]

Max frowned.  They were already being investigated. "Alright they're already here, so Hot Potato,  draw them in, Paladin, you and I will play midfield.   Sage and Wizard, you're in the back, on overwatch.   I don't really want any more surprises, especially from the rear.   You're free to engage at your discretion if they make it past us."

Max gave quick orders, even as he began moving further up, bringing up the flechette canon, which was better for dealing with smaller targets.   "If we can, we'll save you a sample Sage."

[SalmonMax]

"They're pretty small for kaiju-scale weaponry," Delany opined over the comms. "Seems like a good chance to try the Bughunter out. Sage, I'm keeping the sky-eye over the engagement area to make sure we get them all. If you'd keep an eye on our behinds, I'd be much obliged. Can't help but feel a little like we're getting baited here."

 

The largest 'blister' of them all was along the Beast's spine. When it cracked open, what emerged was a sleek gunmetal grey and black machine that was about man-sized, and looked a little like an oblong coffin with lift rotors bulging its sides. A trained eye would note as well that the thing was bristling with weaponry. Not the giant-scale artillery that were used against full size kaiju, but rather squad-support level guns and rockets.

 

The 'Bughunter' Forward Fire Support Unit made an angry, droning buzz as it lifted away from the Great Metal Beast and took up a position just overhead from the advancing mecha. From there, it would go after these small targets when and if they tried to use the size of the mechs against them, slipping into areas outside their fields of fire or climbing onto their bodies. And if they went to ground, in combination with the recon drone, it would hunt them in their burrows until none were left.

 

Back in the Beast, Del shook her head, flicking through sensor data for the fifth time.

 

"Sage, you've got seismic sensors right?"

[Exile_Jeane]

"On it, Boss," Katarina shot back over the radio, driving her mech forward on it's retrograde legs in a curving arch towards the trio of caterpillar kaiju. She settled into the back and forth pumping of her footpedals, the genius of modern engineering translating the motion into a loping run that had her bounding forward at a rate that'd have a respectable car put to shame. She barely felt the impact of steel feet on turf, deep in her HUD-lined cocoon, hands clenched in her pistol grip arm controls, safeties firmly off. She trusted Hot Potato's senses to deal with anything known, but all she had to do was glance at the low visual indicator of The Purr from the corner of her right eye to see that not everything was known about these monsters.

 

She made it to about half a kill out before the Kaiju reacted, freezing in place. At the same time, the Purr stopped. Interesting, but not worrying yet. Get more info. Katarina cut as little speed as she could get away with going into a turn back towards the group, churning small craters in her wake. A pensive three heartbeat pause ensued before the kaiju took the bait and began following, spliting up at the same time. The Purr was back, too. "Woke up our guests and heading back to the nest," she radioed out the unit, grinning.  

[Nina]

David fell back to cover  Delany and Harvard, who were stationed to the rear, while Croft moved up to flank the incoming Demi Kaiju, if that's what they were.

 

The three beasts stay equidistant and move rapidly after Hot Potato, the drone keeping pace and offering targeting information as well as visuals. within moment the three had entered the designated kill zone but seemed oblivious to any danger, they were fixated on Hot Potato.

 

Spoiler

Ok the Demi Kaiju have apparently fallen hook line and sinker for your trap. Its in yalls ball park whether yu intiate hostilities or wait.

 

[Shameless]

Lining up his shot with the Flechette cannon, Max exhaled and pulled the trigger to fire the mech-scale shotgun.   There was a loud crack, and the air was filled with a cloud of flesh shredding metal and fire as the weapon discharged, all moving in line with the center most of the three kaiju, looking to break the formation they were running in.

 

Spoiler

Details:[7d10 (8 10 1 1 6 8 6)]
Details:[1d10 (10)]
4 success to attack.

 

[Nina]

The center demi-kaiju seemed to evaporate into a cloud of dark green mist as the storm of flechettes ripped it to shreds. The other two beats swerved away in different directions and both began to emit a keening wail that was not only auditory but also radio!

 

Spoiler

Every one take your actions please. it takes 1 success to hit.  2 success to buy damage  so as long as you get 3 sux your good to go.

 

[Veral]

Melvin's hands shot to his ears as the strange demi-kaiju began wailing, and after a second, he realized he was hearing an echoing of the wail. He stopped cringing and got to work, determining that the kaiju wail was being carried by soundwaves and Radio waves. The echo was the double tone. After that discovery, Harvard had a moment of inspired terror. 'Damnit, what if they are calling other Kaiju here? There has to be a way to stop that signal,' he thought. He began his work of isolating the radio frequencies used in the wails, and then managed to convince Sage's on-board computer to produce a counter tone over the radio frequencies used with as much power behind it as Sage's radio could muster. "All units be advised, Sage is attempting to jam the radio frequencies used by those kaiju transmissions. Be aware radio use may be impacted. Harvard, out." Melvin then activated the counter-tone. 

 

 

Spoiler

Details:[6d10 (7 8 3 1 5 10)]

Details:[1d10 (1)]

3 successes

 

[Exile_Jeane]

Hot Potato all-but-waltzed into a turn as tracers whipped past her and into the first kaiju, a three point turn The 'kiskis' signal went into purring overdrive as the violence erupted, but she didn't have time to play with that yet, adrenaline surging in her veins. Safeties off. Left Tesla coil charging and up with a twist of her articulated couch arm. Argus ringing one of the kaiju in targeting reticules with a single cursed 'Right Target!'. A grin as 'charging' changed to 'charged' on her HUD, and Katarina, Future Rich and Famous Ace Mech Pilot, fired for the first time in anger on a hostile kaiju.

 

Lightning roared, flinging towards her target like one of Zeus's own throws from the glowing coils of her weapon!

 

Spoiler

Zap Zap. 

[7d10 (10 4 5 8 9 4 8)] 4 Successes.

 

[Nina]

The man made lightning lashed out and curled around the beast Katarina had targeted locking its muscles in electric rigor causing it to tumble end over end as it was literally cooked to death.

 

The remaining demi-kaiju turned it's charge into a retreat as it peeled away to begin a race back toward the river, only to be cut down in a hail of fire from the remaining mechs.

 

Silence descended on the field of battle, sensors reached out scanning for more enemies. In time issued the all clear and called for the supply drop. while that part of the operation was under way the mechs took up a perimeter watch and Hot Potato advance beyond the river to scout.

 

By mid morning the next day the Mech outpost had been erected and and the defenses set. It was time for Croft and company to earn their pay. Drones launched by Cazatino had located what appeared to be a hive of demi-kaiju of the standard bipedal type they were all familiar with, in an abandoned village some twenty kilometers away. The drone counted forty-two Demi-kaiju and no larger Kaiju which was unusual. That number of DK would usually accompany two of the full sized Kaiju, the creatures Mechs had been built to fight, but the drones turned up no evidence of the larger monsters. 

[Shameless]

The hive wasn't really that far, and the lack of larger Kaiju made max wonder just what was going on.   "Okay, we're to go investigate the hive the drones found.   I want everyone saddled up, and make sure you've got your antipersonnel gear ready.  That looks to be what most of the beasts are, though we will be ready for something more.   Sage, you're free to procure a sample as you can, but do not endanger yourself to do so.  Call out and maybe we can help once we thin the numbers.   We'll go with the same formation as before, with one change.  Paladin, you're gonna rush them. I don't mean for you to stick around and fight, but the way I read the specs on your Claymore system, it really does work like a giant claymore mine.   That should be damn useful against these little ones too.   I want you to speed through, using the flamer and your claymore system, and back out.  It'll be like very destructively stirring an ant hill.   You'll lead them back to the rest of us, and we'll be ready to mow them down.   Once you get past us, return and reengage at your discretion.   I want eyes in the sky watching our backs, and the perimeter.  Hot Potato, you're on corral duty.  Any stragglers you take down.  If you need it, call in for drone support, or direct fire support."

He smiled, "Be on the lookout, I do expect company, but there's enough of these little ones to really be a problem.  I don't want them scattered, but we need to draw them out.  Once we clear this large body out, we'll investigate further.  Anyone have questions, recommendations,  or comments, now's the time to speak up."

[Exile_Jeane]

"Negative, Boss," the Russian offered with a cocky salute from her seat, before visibly changing her mind.

 

"Actually, before he jammed it," she continued, jerking a thumb at Melvin with both annoyance and appreciation, "Something I judge to be very very big was communicating with the ones we killed using a continuous, kaiju command and control if I ever heard it. With that signal being jammed all this time, the source has to be getting pissed. I've seen no sign of big kaiju at all on my hunts. Nothing. Nichego. So if they haven't all moved onto the fronts, they're deep deep down hiding in stuff Hot Potato can't sense. It's going to be a dog's breakfast when it decides to move anyway or we stop jamming."

 

She let the Australianism ride, smiling again, "Aside from that? Negative, Boss. I'll chase down your stragglers."

[Nina]

The Mech force covered the distance with zero opposition. The loss of the Kaiju scouts seemed to have gone unnoticed by those under drone surveillance. Of course it could be a trap and Croft had weighed that possibility but while planning for it had not let it deter him.

 

After orders were issued the mechs moved into position and began their in person observations. The drones to remain hidden had stayed at altitude and relied on long distance camera work which while good was still limited. The demi-Kaiju where spread through out the dilapidated building is a rough series of concentric circles with one large building at its center. This building appeared to have been a large indoor market if the signage translations were accurate. its walls and roof were still intact but the windows and doors were all gone and the front of the building had been opened even further to allow the DKs to move in and out. 

 

The Dks for the most part seemed to be resting at there posts throughout the village and didn't even appear to be very alert. The only activity to be seen was at the center building where the DKs were constantly moving in and out.

 

Spoiler

make what ever sensor/awareness tests you wish to determine any observations you are making. Tell me what you are looking at and how many successes you roll.

 

DK = Demi-Kaiju

 

[Shameless]

Max knew the limits of the Tesseract, while it had advanced LOS targeting with this weapon package, it didn't have the most advanced sensors of a dedicated scout.    Still he scanned the approach to the hive, and nodded.  "Alright, everyone run a full sensor sweep, one last time, once we get near, things are probably going to get very busy.   We'll proceed after everyone checks in."

 

[Veral]

13 hours ago, Max Croft said:

Max knew the limits of the Tesseract, while it had advanced LOS targeting with this weapon package, it didn't have the most advanced sensors of a dedicated scout.    Still he scanned the approach to the hive, and nodded.  "Alright, everyone run a full sensor sweep, one last time, once we get near, things are probably going to get very busy.   We'll proceed after everyone checks in."

 

Harvard resumed his "scouting" work by downloading the footage from the drones to the computer core on his mecha, and then began analyzing it through some of the sensory interpretation software on board his computer. He then began comparing the analysis of the computer to his seismic sensors and cross-referenced the video info with the seismic data. Once the computer analysis was done, he scanned the results and tried to interpret the amounts he was seeing.

 

Spoiler

Dozer — Today at 8:51 PM
!6d10

DiceParser
BOT
 — Today at 8:51 PM
# 30
Details:[6d10 (4 9 2 1 10 4)]

 

Dozer — Today at 9:07 PM
!1d10

DiceParser
BOT
 — Today at 9:07 PM
# 5
Details:[1d10 (5)]

 

 

2 successes.

 

Once the analysis was done, Harvard looked at the screen askance. He realized that there were a massive amount of DK activity. "Sage has found approximately 200 DK including the market area. I'm also unable to account for some of the seismic readings. Seems like there may be more things than just the DK we're seeing. I propose laying down Taser mines and trying to lure them in that direction. Or I can drop one just outside the main building as well. I'm going to keep trying to lock down the seismic activity until you give the fire order."

Edited March 25, 2021 by Veral
Adding roll results and follow up.

[Nina]

Harvard waited for the order from Croft and continued his scanning, in a few moments he managed to fine tune his readings to better pinpoint he seismic disturbance. It was directly underneath the market building at a dept. of six hundred and twenty meters. The onboard AI assessment of the readings was that there was a ninety-four percent certainty that the cause was artificial digging.