>>6340136
The driver hesitates, trapped between orders and pure instinctive fear.

“That’s an.. an active battlefield up there! I can’t just-”

“That’s an order.”

The words come out before you realize how cold they sound. Or maybe you do realize. Maybe that’s why they come so easily.

The driver swallows hard, then nods.

“…Yes, sir.”

The car lurches forward. As you get closer, the tunnel’s walls shake more frequently. The air feels thicker. You hear nothing but static when the driver tries to use the comms.

Minovsky interference.. Heavy. Too heavy for this far underground. You wonder if the battle is happening right above your heads.

Then, faintly, through the ceiling: Machine-gun fire. Explosions. Then something heavier, the loud metallic stomp of a mobile suit landing.

The car slows, and halts at Testing Annex 17’s underground arrival bay. The doors slide open, and chaos greets you.

Technicians running. Sirens blaring red. Crates overturned. A fire suppression squad rushing past you as smoke hisses from damaged conduits. MPs shouting orders. Someone being carried on a stretcher, legs mangled, uniform soaked red.

You step out and immediately grab the nearest soldier.

“Report. Who’s in command here?”

“Captain Grimmansky, sir! He’s coordinating defense topside!”

Grimm.. Good. Experienced. Stubborn. The kind of man who’d keep firing even if he was the last man standing. He was the one who recommended you for your current assignment.

“Where is he?”

“Surface command post, trying to shore up whatever defenses he can. We.. don't have much left though.."

As if on cue, a massive metallic crash reverberates overhead. Concrete dust rains down from the ceiling. The entire installation flinches.

Nearby MPs shout, “Cave-in risk! Move, move!”

You push forward through the panicked flow, toward the access platform leading to the surface lift. The smell of burning metal grows thicker. The rumble of giant footsteps echoes through the structure like thunder.


You activate the lift to ascend, and another explosion thunders overhead. Someone screams. The lights flicker. Somewhere topside, the squad mate you haven't met yet is fighting alone in a captured Zaku against multiple veterans with far more experience and training.

You reach the bunker just as someone inside was yelling into a handset.

“It’s not enough! I don’t care if Unit 02 is running hot, it has to hold for another five minutes!”

Then, a woman's frantic voice cut across the entire base loudspeakers:

*"CONTACT NORTHWEST! THREE ZAKUS. I CAN’T.. DAMN IT, I CAN’T BE EVERYWHERE!”*

>>6340140
The thunder of a mobile suit's machine gun echoed overhead. Jun’s Zaku, Testing Unit 02, firing from somewhere in the tree canopy. Ian ducked instinctively as a burst of fire tore across the sky.

Inside the bunker, Captain Grimmansky looked like he’d aged a decade in the last ten minutes. Sweat streaked the dirt on his face. A bandage around his arm was bleeding through.

He stared at Ian, stunned for half a second, before a small wave of relief washes over his face.
“…Voss? Came at a hell of a time." he says with a smile.

Grimmanksy didn’t waste another second. He jabbed at the map table.

“I'll get to the point. It's bad. Very bad. Unit 02 is the only mobile suit we have in the field, and Jun’s doing everything she can, but she’s one pilot against three targets. Our defensive cannons are down. Infantry is shattered. Any hopes for reinforcements are still two kilometers out from the southern ridge.”

You scan the map, then the radio feeds, then the trembling walls around them.

“…Where’s my Team?” you ask.

A few nearby soldiers exchanged uncomfortable looks. Grimm exhaled sharply through his nose.

“Unit 02 is out there now, she's the only reason we're not all dead yet. Unit 03 is still in transit, won't make it in time. Unit 01..” He hesitates. “..is here. But its pilot refuses to sortie.”

You frown. “Refuses? Why?”

Another explosion rocked the bunker. Dust shook loose from the ceiling.

“We don’t have time for why,” Grimm snapped. Then more softly: “We barely have time at all.”

Just outside the bunker, a massive explosion lit up the jungle. A Zaku had fired a bazooka round. Jun’s Unit 02 responded with a howl of thrusters, darting through the treetops like a crazed giant. Her machine gun spat fire into the undergrowth. The ground shook as something toppled; either a Zaku, or another piece of what was once the base.

Jun’s voice came through again, strained, terrified, and angry all at once:

*“I CAN’T HOLD THEM! THEY’RE CLOSING IN ON A PINCER, THEY KNOW I’M ALONE-”*

You shut your eyes for one second. The sound of a pilot trying not to die was unmistakable, and it's never easy to hear.

“Captain,” you say, “what do you need?”

Grimm swallowed. “We need someone, anyone, to draw enemy fire for five minutes. That’s it. Five. If the Zakus chase you, Unit 02 can regroup. Our infantry can reset their lines. And we might just make it out of this.”

He took a breath.

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>>6340141
“You’ve got three options.”

Grimm points to the first: A Saberfish

“The hangar only has one airworthy unit left. I know you're no stranger to flying under heavy fire. If you can fly, we can scramble you. I'm sure you know you can't win a straight fight against Zakus, but with speed and cloud cover, you might distract them. Just don’t get hit.”

Next, he points to a jeep parked under a camo net near the bunker entrance.

“Some anti-MS squads are prepping to roll out on these, they're still struggling to get their shit together, but maybe you can do something about it. It's loaded with a Regina missile launcher in the back, with plenty of missiles. If you take this, the jungle canopy will be your only defense. Stay hidden, fire, relocate. You could take down a Zaku with a good hit and proper coordination."

Or die instantly with a bad roll of fate, you think to yourself.

Then Grimm motions to the far end of the bunker, to a darkened hangar where floodlights flickered on and off. Through the half-open blast door, Ian saw it:

A Zaku. Federation White. Unit 01. Standing like a sleeping titan.

“Our first captured Zaku. It’s operational, and finely tuned. But its pilot refuses to board, and we don’t have anyone else cleared.” He looks at Ian with tired eyes. “You’ve never trained for mobile suit combat. You’d be going in cold. No familiarity. No simulators. No prep."

He steps closer to you.

“..But a Zaku is a Zaku. If you take Unit 01 out there, Jun won’t be alone anymore.”

Outside, Unit 02 was forced back again. Ian felt the tremors as Jun’s Zaku crashed through trees, narrowly avoiding another bazooka round.

The base alarms screamed. The earth shook. A plume of fire rolled over the northern ridge.

Grimm, and perhaps every officer around, look to you expecting your answer.

What will you do?

>Scramble in the Saberfish, provide aerial support. Disadvantageous against Zakus, but it's the machine you're most familiar piloting. Maybe experience can trump technical inferiority.
>Go with the Jeep. Smaller target, plenty of jungle cover, with anti-MS missiles that can be effective with enough skill and luck. You'll have numbers with you too, but who knows how long they'll last.
>Sortie in unit 01. You have no fucking idea how this thing works, and you'll have to figure it out while actively getting shot at by pilots who do.. but maybe it's best to fight fire with fire.

>>6340145
>>Sortie in unit 01. You have no fucking idea how this thing works, and you'll have to figure it out while actively getting shot at by pilots who do.. but maybe it's best to fight fire with fire.

Even if you don't know how to pilot a Zaku, just being inside one is your best bet at staying alive. And if pick up a few tricks along the way, all the better.

>>6340145
>Sortie in unit 01. You have no fucking idea how this thing works, and you'll have to figure it out while actively getting shot at by pilots who do.. but maybe it's best to fight fire with fire.
What a shame that we're earthnoid scum

>>6340145
>Scramble in the Saberfish, provide aerial support. Disadvantageous against Zakus, but it's the machine you're most familiar piloting. Maybe experience can trump technical inferiority.

>>6340145
>>>Sortie in unit 01. You have no fucking idea how this thing works, and you'll have to figure it out while actively getting shot at by pilots who do.. but maybe it's best to fight fire with fire.

For the pale blue dot.

>>6340145
>>>Sortie in unit 01. You have no fucking idea how this thing works, and you'll have to figure it out while actively getting shot at by pilots who do.. but maybe it's best to fight fire with fire.
We better have an opportunity to slap its original pilot

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>>6340145

The hangar trembles as another distant explosion punches through the jungle canopy, rattling dust loose from overhead girders. Alarms pulse an angry red across the walls. People shout, sprint, curse, but the space around the massive grey and white machine in the center feels strangely still. You stand before Test Unit 01- A captured Zeon Zaku.

Captain Grimmansky limps up beside you, bracing himself on his crutch like it’s the only thing anchoring him to the ground.

"You sure about this, Voss?"

You nod, hiding well any hesitation you may have. He nods to you in return.

“Good. Then listen close. Unit 01 isn’t standard production. This was.. is, an ace’s machine. Higher-thrust backpack, tuned actuators, precision OS response. It’ll outperform anything on the field…” He fixes you with a hard look. “…if you survive learning it.”

Behind him, a tall woman in mechanic attire is already climbing up the gantry toward the cockpit area, snapping open maintenance panels, muttering under her breath as she checks coolant lines and actuator pressures. A slim young man, barely old enough to shave, scrambles after her and passes tools with shaking hands.

On the far wall, a slender blonde woman in a pilot suit leans against a stack of crates. Eyes half-lidded. Guarded posture. Watching everything, saying nothing.

The hangar shakes again, this time harder. Someone shouts:

“Zakus spotted on thermal! Two incoming, we have four minutes, maybe five before contact!"

Grimm growls. “Jun’s buying us time with Unit 02, but she can’t hold three. We need Unit 01 in the field NOW.”

You exhale slowly. This is happening. You step onto the lift platform. The tall mechanic woman meets you halfway; her hands are steady even as her eyes betray the strain.

“Sir, we'll get you situated. Don't worry, you're in good hands." she says with a pat on the shoulder, as she assists you into the cockpit.

The young male tech chimes in nervously. "G-good luck out there, um, sir!"

As you find your place in the pilot's seat, the blonde pilot-suited woman finally speaks through the unit's comms speaker. Her voice is flat, clipped, strangely calm under stress.

“Lieutenant. I am Enari Elana. I… operated this unit previously.” she says, with just a breath of hesitation.

>>6340683
>>6340683

You raise an eyebrow, tempted to question her insubordination in refusing to pilot, but ceding to the more pressing matters at hand.

“I will guide you through its systems. Do only what I tell you, exactly when I tell you.” She continues, her voice sharper now.“Do not assume this machine forgives mistakes.”

You take a moment to find yourself in this unfamiliar cockpit. Everything is too close; the throttle handbars, the flood of archaic switches, the HUD flickering with Minovsky-static noise. The interior lights cast a faint red glow over every surface, like sitting in a mechanical womb.

The tall mechanic woman chimes in once more.

“Sealing you in, sir.”

*CLANG.*

The cockpit shuts like a steel jaw. Your world becomes metal and breath and distant explosions. You rest your gloved hands on the control bars. They almost feel alive.

Enari’s voice crackles in through the monitor again.

“Left hand, thrust vector. Right hand, weapons and manipulator control. Feet, leg actuators. Begin with reactor feed at ten percent. Slowly.”

"Copy that," you respond as you flip the switch. A low hum builds beneath you as warning lamps strobe across the console. The machine’s body vibrates. The mono-eye flickers on, sweeping across the hangar with a red glow.

Grimm’s voice cuts in:

“Gyro stabilizer online… now.”

You tap the stabilizer key. The entire machine shifts with a subtle, nauseating tilt, before correcting itself with a metallic groan.

“Leg locks disengaged!” the young tech's voice now coming in. “Actuators green..ish!”

The Zaku’s fingers twitch, though not by your command, by its own calibration.

Enari immediately snaps:

“DO NOT overcorrect! Let it settle!”

You freeze. The twitch stops. A slow breath escapes you.

Enari again, colder this time:

“Good. You’re adaptable. Increasing reactor feed to twenty percent… now.”

You adjust the slider. The Zaku rumbles deeper, its internal frame coming alive with a chorus of mechanical heartbeats. Outside the cockpit, the hangar doors grind open, letting jungle light flood in.

"Grimm's voice barks out, "They're closing in, almost on top of us. GO GO GO!"

In your monitors, you see a wave of shaking trees heralding the imminent arrival of Zeon's Zakus.

>>6340694
**(You feel the Zaku vibrating under you. Too responsive, too eager. Your inexperience and the machine’s precision make a volatile combination.)***

*ROLL MODIFIERS:*

–10 Unfamiliar with mobile suit controls

+5 Ace-tuned machine’s responsiveness (precision bonus)
Total Modifier: –5

>Charge the Zakus with your heat hawk head-on to draw their fire away from the hangar. Use your Zaku’s tuned thrusters for a sudden burst across the clearing to take their attention away from the hangar.
Roll 1d100-5
*DC:* 80

>Situate yourself somewhere with a good line of fire. Take a knee, stabilize, and fire controlled bursts at the first Zaku that comes out of the sea of trees before they know where you are. However, you'll be more vulnerable if your shots don't hit their mark.
Roll 1d100-5
*DC:* 75


>Link up with anti-MS squads prepping for reorganization and counterattack, for a coordinated strike. You can bait the Zakus to expose themselves, then infantry unload Regina missiles into them. However, this exposes the risk of the hangar and other essential locations damage from crossfire.

Roll 1d100-5
*DC: * 70

>>6340154
>>6340181
>>6340202
>>6340285
>>6340352
Testing to see if 4chan will let me quote everyone again or if it'll keep accusing me of being a spam bot..

New post is up, would you prefer if I let you know the DC or if I should keep it hidden?

Rolled 21 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>6340695
>Situate yourself somewhere with a good line of fire. Take a knee, stabilize, and fire controlled bursts at the first Zaku that comes out of the sea of trees before they know where you are. However, you'll be more vulnerable if your shots don't hit their mark.
Strikes me as the best middleground in not risking the hanger or our ace as much.

>>6340695
>>Situate yourself somewhere with a good line of fire. Take a knee, stabilize, and fire controlled bursts at the first Zaku that comes out of the sea of trees before they know where you are. However, you'll be more vulnerable if your shots don't hit their mark.

>>6340915
It's fine being open.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>6340695
>Situate yourself somewhere with a good line of fire. Take a knee, stabilize, and fire controlled bursts at the first Zaku that comes out of the sea of trees before they know where you are. However, you'll be more vulnerable if your shots don't hit their mark.

Rolled 43 - 5 (1d100 - 5)

>>6340695
>Situate yourself somewhere with a good line of fire. Take a knee, stabilize, and fire controlled bursts at the first Zaku that comes out of the sea of trees before they know where you are. However, you'll be more vulnerable if your shots don't hit their mark.
Listing the DCs is fine

>>6341388
>>6341417
>>6341449
>>6341654
>Situate yourself somewhere with a good line of fire. Take a knee, stabilize, and fire controlled bursts at the first Zaku that comes out of the sea of trees before they know where you are. However, you'll be more vulnerable if your shots don't hit their mark.

I'll do best roll out of three for now, which in this case is 79, minus -5 modifier for a 74, giving us an very close "we almost had it". I'll begin writing, but probably won't be finished until later tonight since I'm writing bit by bit whenever I find small pockets of spare time.

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>>6340695
You ease the Zaku backward, letting the tall trees swallow your silhouette. The commander unit is still too far, while the standard unit on your left flank is pushing faster. You can't see it, but you can see its mono-eye slicing the undergrowth if you look at your monitors hard enough.

You exhale, and steady the right handbar. You then throttle down and take a knee to better control your fire. The whole mobile suit groans under its own weight, trembling once before the gyros catch up.

Enari’s voice comes through faintly:

“…stabilize, Lieutenant. Short bursts. Don’t anticipate recoil. Compensate.”

You lock the Machine Gun into place, pressed against the Zaku's right arm while its left grips the gun's handlebar for better stability. This is it** , you think to yourself as you draw in a breath so deep your ribs ache. Leaves shiver. Something metal shifts behind the brush.

There!

A Zaku steps through the break in the trees, just enough to show knee, lower thigh, and the lip of its machine gun. It doesn’t see you. Not yet. You squeeze the trigger, and the machine gun roars. The Zaku’s arm rattles like a jackhammer as bullets lace across the clearing.

Your aim is almost good.. Almost.

Your shots chew through bark, dirt, a tree trunk that explodes in splinters, before just scraping the side of the Zaku’s leg armor. You see the impact. You see the chance. But, it slipped away. The recoil slams harder than expected, the highly tuned actuators overcorrecting against your inexperienced inputs. Your second burst goes wide, and you mutter a curse under your breath.

The Zaku freezes mid-step.. Then its mono-eye snaps toward you with predatory clarity. It knows exactly where you are now.

Enari's voice breaks through the static, sharp:

“Lieutenant! you’ve been made! Get out of there, now!”

The Zaku lifts its machine gun, and you quickly jerk the controls and pedals to cover yourself with your Zaku's shoulder shield. Old-growth trees explode around you. Rounds hammer against Unit 01’s shoulder shield, some bullets slipping past and hitting torso plating, rattling your teeth through the cockpit frame as the world feels like it's shaking violently around you.

A warning light flares, and text appears on your main monitor- IMPACT DETECTED: CHEST ARMOR. No breach, but too damn close.

Several other text boxes which report the Zaku's current condition pop up across the monitors, but you ignore them as you race to get the fuck out of your position. The Zaku fires again, cutting down everything between you and it. You push the pedals, a beat too hard, too fast; The ace-tuned OS lunges, and Unit 01 jerks sideways instead of backward. The incoming machine gun burst rips through the ground exactly where you were kneeling a second earlier, shredding foliage and kicking up a geyser of dirt.

>>6342493

Your eyes dart through the multiple unfamiliar screens as you try to quickly asses your current situation and decide on your next move. You failed to cripple the Zaku, you revealed your position and now a fully intact and pissed off enemy mobile suit is advancing on you with suppressive fire. From your righthand monitor, you can tell that the commander Zaku is reorienting too. It's hidden, but the sway of the trees around it tells you enough, as it moves to flank you.


Everything is escalating at once, and the clock is now ticking faster.


>Break hard left and flank around the thicker trees, forcing the Zaku to reposition, distancing yourself from the commander Zaku, and buying time to reset your aim and try again. However, this will test your precise control against uneven terrain, and a misstep could expose your flank to one of the Zakus.
Roll 1d100-5
DC: 70

>Rush forward with the Heat Hawk to RIP AND TEAR. Your upgraded verniers could help you close the distance before the commander can get a clean bazooka lock, and hopefully buy you some time with the threat of friendly fire between the two. This will require tight control, and risks a bullet to the cockpit if you aren't fast enough. But if this works, you can take out a Zaku before the other can act.
Roll 1d100-5
DC: 75

>Fall back toward friendly lines and prepare to coordinate with anti-MS infantry teams for a crossfire trap. Turn a bad position into bait. However, failure here means infantry may get wiped out, and the base will be more vulnerable with two Zakus invited right inside.
DC: 65

>>6342495
Also, feel free to suggest alternative choices or add upon existing ones. I'll give a bonus to rolls for good write ins.

>>6342495
>Fall back toward friendly lines and prepare to coordinate with anti-MS infantry teams for a crossfire trap. Turn a bad position into bait. However, failure here means infantry may get wiped out, and the base will be more vulnerable with two Zakus invited right inside.
Not the most dignified option, but we're not good at this and our job is to get the heat off our partner's back, and if two Zakus come after us, it's a fair fight for the person who actually knows how to pilot a mobile suit.

I'm not sure if you want rolls alongside the vote, usually they're done afterwards I think, but however you want it done.

>>6342773
Good point on rolls, I'll start asking for rolls once votes are locked in. I appreciate any advice since I'm not an experienced QM.

>>6342495
>Fall back toward friendly lines and prepare to coordinate with anti-MS infantry teams for a crossfire trap. Turn a bad position into bait. However, failure here means infantry may get wiped out, and the base will be more vulnerable with two Zakus invited right inside.