GI Joe Strike Force Alpha IC thread: Part 2 the Emerald Oubliette

[Shock]

Warsaw(Albert Anders)
Health: 4 ; Story Points: 1
Condition: Normal

"I'll check the security console." Albert figured that he could get a better look faster using the security computer than he could trying to run through the enormous PIT. He figured his new ID card would give him the credentials he needed to survey the intrusion sensors to scan for any activity.

[catsi563]

Toymaker

"Yes, will begin that way. Can you send perliminary data to my HBT?" After all, it was a rather long travel time between the various hallways and elevators of the hive like installation. But he liked being called buddy. Though when he saw those old movies he had some doubts about the value of the word- Buuuddeee. *twitch* Some humorists were simply beyond his comprehension.

"Already on its way." is the response followed by a chirp as the information arrives on the HBTs sceen.

"What is projected threat level? Should New Joes go by armory?" after all, if the others were going to do a perimeter sweep, perhaps they should just be doing it in their BDUs and relatively unarmed.

"Nothing serious at the moment its just an oddity in the scans I cant lockdown." he replies as Toymaker rides the elevator to the Observatory at the bases upper level.

"though..." Dial Tone hums a moment "Eh might not be a bad idea." he comms to the entire group

"Hey folks soon as you complete the sweep rendezvous at the armory ok lets get some gear ready just in case, cant hurt to be prepared."

--ooOoo--

As everyone begins their patrol, there appears to be nothing to worry about all the entrances are clear and locked, and the sensors and scanners both internal and external show no signs of any intrusion or problems. the worst of anything to report is a spider that Breach finds near an air vent but thats it.

its at this time that Dial tone calls everyone to the armory to regroup

--ooOoo--

Outside the pit

"Youd better be sure about this QR." Faceless says quietly to the woman in front of him. "If they detect us before it hits, we'll be hosed."

"Dont worry." she says back cooly "its radar and thermal proof, and once were all covered itll shield us from the blast no sweat."

Faceless looked around and saw the other four members of his team hunker down under the Shielded blankets as QR began a countdown.

"activating in T minus 10, 9, 8, 7..."

Faceless looked to the sky with a prayer before pulling the blanket over the pair of them and crouching down low.

Team Story points 7

soon as everyone makes their way to the armory the poo hits the oscilating air device

Toymaker when you arrive at the observatory please make a both a Did 10 Tech check your spec counts

and a Dif 20 Science check no specilization but you have an edge on this test for a reason not related to the prior task

[Corrigon]

Breach
Health 7 Story Points 1

"Everyone else do a quick perimeter sweep for me ok?" he says muttering something under his breath that carries over the mic

"Understood," Breach responded. He checked his pistol before heading. "I'll take sectors 1-5."

As everyone begins their patrol, there appears to be nothing to worry about all the entrances are clear and locked, and the sensors and scanners both internal and external show no signs of any intrusion or problems. the worst of anything to report is a spider that Breach finds near an air vent but thats it.

This must be one of the cleanest bases I've ever been on."

"Hey folks soon as you complete the sweep rendezvous at the armory ok lets get some gear ready just in case, cant hurt to be prepared."

Breach listens quietly, then nods before heading towards the armoury.
"All clear here!" he reports.

[Spectrum]

Toymaker
Health 4, Story Points 6g
Condition: racking up those bennies

Just a quick hit and run, will make the rolls and respond back to them later.
First Technology roll was a truly horrific roll, nothing higher than a 2. Spent a story point to reroll.
Technology _: 1D20+1D2+1D4+1D6+1D8+1D10+1D12 = [20]+[2]+[2]+[6]+[8]+[1]+[3] = 42
Science _: 2D20+1D6 = [2, 14]+[4] = 20

[catsi563]

Toymaker

As everyone wraps up their sweep and makes their way down to the armory to meet up, Toymaker makes his way up to the observatory where he finds Dial Tone leaning over the controls of one of the sensors making adjustments. He looks up and acknowledges you as you step up to the controls and masterfully work them.

you begin to see what he was talking about the scanners are picking up some anomalous readings from an orbital area just outside the atmosphere, too high up to be any aircraft but too low to be any of the known space stations.

its at this moment as you make some adjustments that the scanners go crazy, the atmospheric and electromagnetic needles jump off the charts dancing like mad, you make some quick adjustments as Dial Tone goes "what the hell." in the background and bring up a section of sky where the anomaly was previously located. What you see causes your blood to run cold as a coiled generator like device falls from the sky in a blaze of reentry fire before it suddenly explodes in a brilliant light releasing a wave of energy that washes over the sky and everything in a wide radius. And as suddenly as the light appears over the PIT everything goes dark.

It takes a couple of moments as the emergency batteries kick in on power saver mode, and the PITs shielded electronics begin to reboot in safety mode. As they do Dial Tone checks on Toymaker "Hey buddy you ok?"

After Toymaker responds Dial Tone asks "What the hell hit us, my Systems telling me the entire PIT went offline that shouldnt be possible."

however toymaker knows the answer, hes seen it before and he saw it again ever so briefly when he spotted the device, he recognized the work and the craftsmanship involved.

The device was a MARS satellite. A stealth satellite with a built in EMP generator capable of unleashing a pulse the size of Montana. He knows because hes worked on the base plans for such a device some time back.

meanwhile as the HBT comes back on line Dial Tone starts trying to comm the others.

"We need to regroup and arm up, dont know whats happening but this cant be a coincidence."

--ooOoo--

Everyone

For the rest of you the sweep is a bust there appears to be no other issues in the PIT at this time. following Dial Tones request you find yourselves meeting each other again outside the armory. before any of you can give more than the most cursory greetings and report to each other there is a sound of a distant explosion audible even this deep into the ground, followed by the snap and crackle as blue electricity climbs over everything in a saint elmos fire for the briefest of moments and then everything suddenly goes dark as the PIT just shuts down entirely.

It takes a few moments for the emergency batteries to kick in and the systems to start rebooting which leaves you all in the dim light of the safety lamps but the constant hum of the PITs machinery is gone replaced by a minimal sounds of your own breathing

Soon enough your HBTs come back on line thanks to their kinetic batteries being fully charged and their shielding. As soon as they do you hear Dial Tone talking

"Anyone out there?" he says urgently "Repeat we've been hit by something big, is everyone ok talk to me people."

Story points 7

the tech roll was a success letting toymaker know the areas been hit by a massive emp pulse

the crit on the tech roll lets him succeed on the science roll which with his background lets him recognize the MARs satellite as the cause

for everyone else no one is harmed but things are a bit funky so respond as you will

[Doctor Malsyn]

Cowboy Ken (Mizuki Kenshiro)
Health: 3 Story Points: 2 Condition: Normal

Ken jumped back as everything went coocoo, and when the lights come on the man's already got a gun in hand. He's as quick to slam on the nearest intercom as he was to draw his weapon, "Cowboy Ken here, you wanna go about telling us what in the samhell is going on right now?"

[Shock]

Warsaw(Albert Anders)
Health: 4 ; Story Points: 1
Condition: Normal

"This is Warsaw. I'm fine. What happened?" Albert tapped his comm as he headed for the armory. Once there, he started collecting basic gear.

[Spectrum]

Toymaker
Health 4, Story Points 7g 0p
Condition: racking up those bennies

The initial reaction was a cold analytical appreciation of the achievement. That the technical hurdles had been overcome and that it was indeed achivable. But at what cost? Was it a matter of just not being technically feasible or a matter of the cost being involved being too much? An EMP capable of affecting roughly 381,000 km2 was not just a marvel, it was also horribly ineffecient.

But to balance that, there had to be a relatively small number of individuals able to call down such awesome force. What was the last known disposition of the political factions within COBRA/MARS alliance. Or was it a failure of their security system that would allow rogue internal forces to acquire access. Either was troubling, very troubling.

There was also the matter that whoever was able to release it did so suboptimally. EMP blasts worked better at higher altitudes. Or was that another mark towards whether the technology had actually been developed or if the lower altitude was a matter of decreased capablity.

It had gone by many names during r&d, the most recent of which, "Chrysopelea" after the so called flying snakes.

Then horror set in, a bit of guilt to come with it. Not only that he thought such things, but that he had a hand in it.

"Operational", he replies curtly.

"Scan the civilian band communications. This could be much worse than an attack on the headquarters."

"We need to be prepared. The other missions may have been diversions for a full scale diversion to decapitate us. You may need to prepare to Scorch Earth the headquarters."

"I need to get to the generator systems and get everything back online."

"Is there anyone able to acquire my payload and deliver it to me en route?" then again, given his standard loadout, it may be faster to acquire it and then use it to traverse more quickly.

Without waiting more than a few seconds for an answer, he's already on his way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click: "Extreme grade EMP blast immediately over our heads." he tries to find a way to say it seriously without being overly concerning. "Nuclear blast without the fire and thunder. Need to assess civilian casualties and blowback. I am headed to generators to try to get us back online."

[Corrigon]

Breach
Health 7 Story Points 1

As the lights suddenly cut out, Breach moves immediately to the side of the corridor, minimising his exposure.

"Anyone out there?" he says urgently "Repeat we've been hit by something big, is everyone ok talk to me people."

"This is Breach. Are we under attack?" he responds.

Click: "Extreme grade EMP blast immediately over our heads." he tries to find a way to say it seriously without being overly concerning. "Nuclear blast without the fire and thunder. Need to assess civilian casualties and blowback. I am headed to generators to try to get us back online."

WTF
"That's not something that happens naturally." Breach enters the armoury and starts looking for his loadout. "Something like that will only happen when an assault or raid is planned. The fact that they know where the Pit is should also worry us."

[Arkrite]

Relic (Jacob "Jake" Fraser)
Health: 3 Story Points: 1 Condition: Normal

Jack puts his back to the wall as Ken used the intercom, pulling his Mateba.
He glanced at Ken before he started looking back and forth down the hallway to make sure nobody was sneaking up on them.

[EternalPhoenix]

Ghost Raven (Esmerelda Ravenwood)
Health: 4; Story Points: 6/7
Condition: Normal

The power going out hadn’t even startled Esme. Then again, she’d spent half her life in places without reliable electricity. So you know. Handheld equipment being down was much more alarming. She didn’t know the technical terms Toymaker or someone else might, but she knew an ambush set up when she saw one. Step One: Take their eyes and voices away. Darken the area and cut off comms. Step Two, well, that could vary based on circumstances. It generally involved a lightning fast raid to take out any defenders, however. So, she was running to the armory when Dial Tone came back on comms. “Entering armory and gearing up.” Her voice was icy. Entirely unrattled and utterly professional. She was pulling out her baby, the Remington sniper rifle, when Toymaker added his bit. “Grab a buddy first, Toymaker. If Breach and I are right, somebody’s about to kick our door in.”

[catsi563]

Toymaker

It takes a couple of moments as the emergency batteries kick in on power saver mode, and the PITs shielded electronics begin to reboot in safety mode. As they do Dial Tone checks on Toymaker "Hey buddy you ok?"

"Operational", he replies curtly.

"Scan the civilian band communications. This could be much worse than an attack on the headquarters."

"Already on it." he replies his own voice taking on a professional tone "Getting a lot of chatter on the Emergency bands, powers out across three states, emergency back ups are kicking in but this was a big hit. We've got at least 2 planes down."

"We need to be prepared. The other missions may have been diversions for a full scale diversion to decapitate us. You may need to prepare to Scorch Earth the headquarters."

"Yeah not happening on my watch buddy, Hawk left the PIT in my hands and I intend to see it returned to him exactly as he left it." He responds with a grim determination Toymakers heard from his fellow Joes before, a determination to overcome the impossible at all costs.

"I need to get to the generator systems and get everything back online."

"Ok Sounds good, have the team rendezvous via Envrio controls then make your way down via the emergency stairs." He responds crisply before addresses the rest of the team

Everyone

"Anyone out there?" he says urgently "Repeat we've been hit by something big, is everyone ok talk to me people."

"Cowboy Ken here, you wanna go about telling us what in the samhell is going on right now?"

"This is Warsaw. I'm fine. What happened?"

"This is Breach. Are we under attack?" he responds.

As Dial Tone acknowledges your comms, toymaker chimes in his distinctive voice explaining cooly and analytically

Click: "Extreme grade EMP blast immediately over our heads." he tries to find a way to say it seriously without being overly concerning. "Nuclear blast without the fire and thunder. Need to assess civilian casualties and blowback. I am headed to generators to try to get us back online."

Dial Tone responds as well "Yeah its a fairly major hit, weve got power losses across at least 3 states and some civillian casualties, emergency and federal personel are scrambling, but its messy."

WTF
"That's not something that happens naturally." Breach enters the armoury and starts looking for his loadout. "Something like that will only happen when an assault or raid is planned. The fact that they know where the Pit is should also worry us."

“Entering armory and gearing up.”


“Grab a buddy first, Toymaker. If Breach and I are right, somebody’s about to kick our door in.”

"Agreed, this is red alert time." he respond quickly and firmly "Gear, up I need someone to bring Toymakers toy chest to him its in a black box marked TM-X-1138, it contains his armor weapons and something else then escort him to the power level. Once you're done there regroup with the teams."

"For everyone else we follow protocol. We need to presume armed intruders are in the base, and the base is endangered. Arm up and then use the south emergency stairs to head down to the Jet hangar Via Enviro control, sweep the area, secure it then move on from there. Sweep each room for infiltrators secure or eliminate as needed. Any prisoners would be appreciated as a bonus for the brass when they get back." he finishes before adding "I'll be in C&C to coordinate, stay in constant communication, and report anything unusual. Any questions?"

he answers questions and when ready he says "One last thing, No one dies on my watch you got me, be careful and stay alive."

--ooOoo--

As the massive blast takes out the powers to the PIT Scar Squad makes its move. the team comes out from under the heavy blankets which shielded them from the blast, and begin to affect entry into the base.

"Hurry Recluse get that contraption moving we only have a few moments while theyre blind." QR says urgently.

"Yeah Yeah, I'm working I'm working!" the biggish man snaps back as he frantically works on a remote handheld device. As he touches buttons a third figure stands up this one with four arms, the Battered old B.A.T. modified and to have the new appendages uses its drill and clamp and buzzsaw systems to peel the emergency escape door off its hinges and toss it aside.

As the door lands QR moves in and immediately splices some wires keeping the alarm from triggering temporarily.

Then two figures in VIPER armor rush forward as AWOL and BEEF sweep the tunnel with their weapons moving like a well-oiled team despite the pair despising each other the adrenaline of the moment forcing cooperation over rivalry.

Recluse follows them with the COMB.A.T. in tow The 4 armed BAT carrying a large case in his arms , and his spider like drone RAW coming ahead of him, with him two enormous furry creatures the size of medium dogs scuttle along the floor. As he moves the small spiderlike drone sends out a signal which causes a swarm of creepies and crawlies and many leggedy beasties to scuttle and crawl through the vents.

lastly QR, Grease wheel and Faceless all enter everyone moving with urgency.

"Remember the plan!" Faceless barks "Secure the area, get what we came for and get to the Motorpool..." Here he glares hard at BEEF "Dont engage unless you have no choice, let the traps do the work once we've set them." he orders earning a sullen glare from the wanna be saw viper who clutched his prize weapon closer or at least he might have glared it was hard to tell behind the helmet.

"Once we have QRs confirmation get to the motorpool and we get the hell out of here!"

He receives acknowledgement and nods in approval. So far everything was going as planned, now all they needed was to avoid any of the bases defenders, get their payday and get out before the full weight of the Joe team hit them.

Heck if they were lucky thered only be a few joes in attendance and they'd be so discombobulated by being in the dark they wouldn't know which way was up.

Ok off we go

So everyone has the following gear automatically. No rolls needed

a one-handed close combat weapon knife or bludgeon the following are standard

Joe K1 Combat and utility knife (Finesse or Might)
Range: Reach, 20/30 thrown Req targeting D4, Sharp 1
Hands: 1
Traits: Sharp, Martial arts, Silent

Joe B1 Combat Snap Baton (Finesse or Might)
Range: Reach, 1 Blunt damage, Alt: 1 Stun damage -1 down
Hands: 1
Traits: Blunt, Martial arts, Silent

1 side firearm the following is standard issue
Socom AT 45 Pistol (Targeting)
Range: 25/80, 1 Sharp damage
Hand: 1
Traits: Ballistic

1 rifle or shotgun the following are standard

AT 20 Joe Rifle (Targeting)
Range: 60/100, 1 Sharp damage, (2 Sharp damage -2 down)
Hands: 2
Traits: Ballistic, Reload

Remington 800 Combat Shotgun (Targeting)
Range: 20/60, Buckshot: 1 sharp damage - multiple targets 2 15ft cone, Alt Slug shot: 2 sharp damage (-1 down)
Hands: 2
Traits: Ballistic, Reload

2 standard concussion grenades

Battledress: equals standard clothes youre wearing

3 standard med kits to split amongst the team

the team gets the following bonuses

**all members gain 1 temp health for duration of mission or until wounded please mark on status as temp health
**all members may access a standard battledress they are trained in or an upgrade for battledress without a requestion check

**can control environment as needed during mission
**All joes gain +1up on Skill tests in Comms and in the hallway outside comms for the remainder of the mission

** Jump packs available to all joes for mission duration
**Vamp mk 1 available for crit may gain an edge if driving that vehicle
**2 sky hawks available for crit may gain an edge if driving one of them

Individual bonuses no rolls needed

Jake may access 1 limited melee weapon or upgrade his khopesh counts as such

Ken may get an edge on an aircraft related skill test

Esme and Ken and Jake and Breach and Toymaker may access 1 limited ranged weapon or upgrade for such Esmes rifle counts

Esme Ken and Toymaker may assist another joe to do the same in a requisition check due to crit successes.

Standard battledress is

tactical armor +1 toughness light armor
ballistic armor +2 toughness medium armor
hard body armor +3 tougness heavy armor

keep in mind your qualifications and training and everyone can access a single upgrade including an upgrade to a limited version with no frills

I believe that covers everything, keep in mind the stuff on your sheet is what you might get under a normal mission circumstance this is a bit different, so start with the basic equipment above then work from there

as always if anyone has any questions or requests let me know here or on Discord,

good luck and happy hunting

[Doctor Malsyn]

Cowboy Ken (Mizuki Kenshiro)
Health: 3 Story Points: 2 Condition: Normal

By the sound of it, things have just gone to heck inna hand basket. He'd wager some good money that there were some snakes slithering about in their tunnels right now-abouts, and he aimed to show them what-for. Perhaps he was on the older side of things, though certainly not a Relic, but he had some tricks up his sleave. Rest assured about that.

Taking his pick of the armory himself, he didn't bother with the fancy or the heavy duty, sticking with what was easy to maneuver in as well as quick to draw. It's a shame he'd have to leave behind his own personal gun, much a he preferred the classics aesthetic of it all. Joe equipment was frankly just on another level compared to what you can find on the civilian market. Yet if he squinted his eyes just right, these little shooters could spin just as well as his own.

"They've messed with the wrong posse'." He states, ready to move on out.

[Spectrum]

Toymaker
Health 4+1, Story Points 7g
Condition: racking up those bennies

Click
"Noted, confirmed and appreciated."

"Transportation, for buddy," his voice trying hard to put the proper inflection and appreciation on the word, it works- somewhat, "will be included in locker. Please put rest of locker into a Req10867a4.. a cart.. that can be pulled behind. One should be close."

"Please notify when X-ARC has been removed. I will need to key it to your use but can do so remotely."

Click

He was certainly getting his workout in today as he was walking back and forth within the huge hive of the headquarters. Glancing down at his personal health monitor- it was confirmed, km already travelled and km left to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Armory

Spoiler

If someone works to open the 'toy chest', the TM-X-1138, the thing is huge- more suitable for one of the vehicle bays rather than personal usage.

Inside are two distinct pieces of equipment:

The first is a, well, perhaps best called a motorcycle?
Not the rugged durability of one of the classic RAMs.
Not even the sleekness and beauty of a Silver Mirage.
No, the 'motorcyle' of choice is one of the lethal joke LCV models. The one that nearly got Bazooka killed. While of an interesting design, the full lack of the driver going head first into whatever the limited wind shield didn't stop putting a full hard stop on the usage of the model.

However, one is right there in the toy chest. A careful eye might notice however that the back end is thicker than most in the style. Also, a number of odd creases, like the edge around a car door, stand out where quite frankly, there shouldn't be any.




The second piece of equipment is a massive [SAMAS, Samus or Spartan sized] set of hardshell armor. A full minigun strapped to one forearm. Over the back two rocket nozzles, suggesting that it is JUMP capable?

[Corrigon]

Breach
Health 7+1 Story Points 1
Condition Fine
Toughness

This was turning out to be one hell of a base induction. He began piling up weapons and the heaviest armour he could find. Not one for subtlety and sneaking, he grabbed the biggest weapons he could find.

"Lets find where they've breached and kick their arses."

With Pack mule, Breach can carry 9 hands of weapons rather than 6

hard body armor +3 toughness heavy armor with softshell upgrade = +4 Toughness

Remington 800 Combat Shotgun (Targeting)
Range: 20/60, Buckshot: 1 sharp damage - multiple targets 2 15ft cone, Alt Slug shot: 2 sharp damage (-1 down)
Hands: 2
Traits: Ballistic, Reload

Saw (Targeting) using limited upgrade to take limited availability weapon
Range 40/160ft Hands 2 1 Sharp damage (2 sharp damage (-1), 1 sharp damage - multiple targets (2, 30ft cone, -1))
Traits: Ballistic, Reload

Joe B1 Combat Snap Baton (Finesse or Might)
Range: Reach, 1 Blunt damage, Alt: 1 Stun damage -1 down
Hands: 1
Traits: Blunt, Martial arts, Silent

Socom AT 45 Pistol (Targeting)
Range: 25/80, 1 Sharp damage
Hand: 1
Traits: Ballistic

3 concussion grenades as Ken isn't taking his
Battering ram if that's available