As basically everyone in the room starts throwing around absurd amounts of ordnance at once, the room explodes- often literally- into chaos. I hunker down behind the crates and take a look out once the explosions quiet down. There's only a couple of enemies remaining in our half of the room but...dear FSM in sauce!

I catch sight of a couple of troopers who wouldn't have looked out of place among Dashta's special forces units, coated as they are in heavy cyberarmor and wielding deadly-looking weapons. Given that they never announced their presence to us and don't look like Tartarus troopers- or even humans- it's safe to assume they're probably hostile. At the same time, the guys from the north are very obviously trying to break down the piece of shit door that Buck closed in their faces.

I waste a moment wondering how we're possibly going to get out of this before hatching a desperate plan, and fall almost too easily back into my old role as a fireteam leader.

Trying to keep my voice low enough to not carry to the aliens in the other room, I lay out my plan."We've got some heavily-armored troops coming in, no clue who they are. Hopefully they'll fight everyone else, but we need to be leaving! Estelle, stasis the two hallways! Once we clear this area, we move up to the wall to our front and prepare to run. You, with the grenade launcher, let us know when it's ready to fire again. When it is, blanket that room in plasma! Connely, you'll zap one of the armored guys, Estelle, stasis two more. That should disable most of them and we'll make a run for the south door after that! Everyone I didn't mention, just kill what you can, try and suppress the last armored trooper when we run, and stay with the group! Everyone got it?" Not waiting for a reply, I comm Frank. "Sam! Hang in there, we're going to try and break through to you!"
Once I finish talking, I fire at 22 with my laspistol until I run out of shots for the turn or he dies.
-If he dies before I run out of shots:
--I shift fire to 16.
-If both are dead, I pick up Adopan and move up to near where Vynkor is, staying on "our" side of the wall to remain in cover against the heavy troopers. I deposit her in cover beside me to ensure she isn't shot.

Despite everything, I give a short smile - at least Caleb seems to be feeling in his element again. Last mission he didn't seem too sure of himself...
"Leave it with me!" I reply, and put up a stasis bubble in the eastern hallway under the catwalk, and in the hallway we just came from behind the door ((small reminder that psi amps don't need line of sight)), hopefully blocking both for a bit. If there's any enemies left in the room, I fire lightning at them (not exceeding remaining shots).
If the coast is clear, I stealthily move forward to where 22 was standing in cover and peek around the corner.
If it seems somewhat safe to do so, I try to use my PDA to get an electrical scan of the power armor the new fellas are using, trying to find places in the wiring I could abuse.
If the aliens are happily blowing eachother up and paying us no mind, I wait. If they're shooting at us, I use whatever remaining shots I have to zap enemies of factions shooting at us (using info I just got from the scan if possible).

cuisinart8 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:50 pm

As basically everyone in the room starts throwing around absurd amounts of ordnance at once, the room explodes- often literally- into chaos. I hunker down behind the crates and take a look out once the explosions quiet down. There's only a couple of enemies remaining in our half of the room but...dear FSM in sauce!

I catch sight of a couple of troopers who wouldn't have looked out of place among Dashta's special forces units, coated as they are in heavy cyberarmor and wielding deadly-looking weapons. Given that they never announced their presence to us and don't look like Tartarus troopers- or even humans- it's safe to assume they're probably hostile. At the same time, the guys from the north are very obviously trying to break down the piece of shit door that Buck closed in their faces.

I waste a moment wondering how we're possibly going to get out of this before hatching a desperate plan, and fall almost too easily back into my old role as a fireteam leader.

Trying to keep my voice low enough to not carry to the aliens in the other room, I lay out my plan."We've got some heavily-armored troops coming in, no clue who they are. Hopefully they'll fight everyone else, but we need to be leaving! Saoirse, stasis the two hallways! Once we clear this area, we move up to the wall to our front and prepare to run. Yuuji, let us know when your launcher is ready to fire again. When it is, blanket that room in plasma! Brom, you'll zap one of the armored guys, Saoirse, stasis two more. That should disable most of them and we'll make a run for the south door after that! Everyone I didn't mention, just kill what you can, try and suppress the last armored trooper when we run, and stay with the group! Everyone got it?"
Once I finish talking, I fire at 22 with my laspistol until I run out of shots for the turn or he dies.
-If he dies before I run out of shots:
--I shift fire to 16.

Hearing him as I'm hacking the gravity on my PDA, shout over to Caleb (not trying to be quiet in the least):

"Who knows how many alien scumbags are comin' in through there, might be a whole army of these damn bugs!"

Point at the hidden maintenance door

"There's an exit there, n' there ain't no aliens crawlin' out o' that one!"

Hapchazzard wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 3:42 pm

"There's an exit there, n' there ain't no aliens crawlin' out o' that one!"

I'm momentarily excited at the prospect of getting out of here easier. Unfortunately, looking at the door Buck indicates- and especially how we'd have to get to it- dashes my hopes.

"Look at that thing, we'd have to climb all the way up it, we'd get shot to pieces! We have a better chance if we just blitz the bastards."

((given that tal heavily implied it's just a maintenance panel, I'm not super inclined to try it out, especially since it's in plain view of the other room. would suck pretty badly to get stuck up there as the heavy troopers storm in))

Hema wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 11:43 pm

"You there! With the big ideas!
I'll play along with your little plan, but there are conditions for my cooperation.
First, you keep Bill covered in case he moves to checkout that doorway.
Second, keep yourself and your people out of my way whenever possible.
Something tells me that things are going to escalate quite a bit within the next few minutes, and you don't want to be in my line of fire when they do."

I give Brom a quick nod, hoping that he can actually back up his big talk. "That's the plan, if we do this well we can all make it out in one piece!"

...what the...?

There's fire everywhere, blood splattered in places you couldn't get to without trouble.
Apparently two more factions to this battle, shooting everything in sight.
And he's pretty sure that the only reason he wasn't being shot at right now was that there's more people shooting at the potential shooters...

And on the other side of the room...? Are those Brom and Buck?
Frank is not entirely sure if he's delirious or if they are real. He's also not entirely sure which of those options would be better...

The latter would nicely explain the fervor that everyone has with shooting everyone else and half of the mayhem in the room, respectively.
He feels like yelling at them anyway...

What's for sure though? There's no way Frank can reach the rest of his squad without being disintegrated by gunfire...
And he could barely move onwards anyway...with those heavily armed guys out there looking directly at him...if only that darn spotlight wasn't there...

"Sam! Hang in there, we're going to try and break through to you!"

And that's the signal that everything's gone to hell when the radio silence is broken...though it's probably not all that bad unless they find out we were with the Nemesis...

Hapchazzard wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 10:30 am

Elbow Brom to get his attention, then point to the hidden maintenance door

"Look! Some kind o' secret alien passageway! No ladder, though..."

"Good find, Bill! If you could investigate it further, I'll try and hold off these uncultured ruffians!
It may just be our way out of this mess!"

cuisinart8 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:50 pm

"We've got some heavily-armored troops coming in, no clue who they are. Hopefully they'll fight everyone else, but we need to be leaving! Estelle, stasis the two hallways! Once we clear this area, we move up to the wall to our front and prepare to run. You, with the grenade launcher, let us know when it's ready to fire again. When it is, blanket that room in plasma! Connely, you'll zap one of the armored guys, Estelle, stasis two more. That should disable most of them and we'll make a run for the south door after that! Everyone I didn't mention, just kill what you can, try and suppress the last armored trooper when we run, and stay with the group! Everyone got it?"

"You there! With the big ideas!
I'll play along with your little plan, but there are conditions for my cooperation.
First, you keep Bill covered in case he moves to checkout that doorway.
Second, keep yourself and your people out of my way whenever possible.
Something tells me that things are going to escalate quite a bit within the next few minutes, and you don't want to be in my line of fire when they do."

Ensure that my pistol is fully loaded, and set my electrorifle to fire maximum intensity shots.
Fire at three separate hostile targets with my pistol, prioritizing those which I can likely hit and that are firing upon our group.

If at any point we charge forward, move with the group while trying my best to stay in cover.
Try to finish my three shots as I go.

If the heavily armored combatants seem hostile toward us, and start turning everything into Swiss cheese or roasted alien (moreso than what the people who are already here are managing), take my berserk.
After I've take my berserk, fire at one with a fully-charged shot from my electrorifle.
Get back into cover, and reload.

If they don't seem more skilled than the rest of the combatants, and they're hostile toward us, fire off a shot from my electrorifle at one of them.
Get back into cover and reload my weapons.

((just answering your if/then now: there is no full body cover (or half body cover) on that side from the balcony with the spess mehreens))

Talvieno wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 11:35 am

((just answering your if/then now: there is no full body cover (or half body cover) on that side from the balcony with the spess mehreens))

((Alright, thanks! Will just edit my actions to stay in cover if that if/else would miraculously even come into play))

cuisinart8 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:50 pm

"Sam! Hang in there, we're going to try and break through to you!"

Frank can't help but whince at that. They'll try to get through this mess??
It's a sobering thought though...the situation is bad enough for them to try it...

To Caleb, via comms: "Good luck with that! I'll try to set something up on my side! I also have a bit of your stuff with me already."

Quickly retreat from the doorway, hopefully everyone is busy shooting stuff outside...
Load a sharp bolt into the crossbow
Set a tripwire at the top of the stairs with cable-reel bolts
Don't trip over it afterwards...
Probe the door controls with the PDA, are there possible starting points from which hacking would be easier?
If someone comes into the hallway ((either through the doorway or from the right side))
-Get down the stairs around the bend and prepare for meelee via sword
-Attack them with the sword when they get to the bend
-keep it non-lethal unless they are hostile
Same if someone is heard coming UP the stairs, just on other side of the bend
If it's a heavy
-retreat to the room with the equipment again

F4wk35 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 25, 2020 9:19 am

To Caleb, via comms: "Good luck with that! I'll try to set something up on my side! I also have a bit of your stuff with me already."

I decide to keep transmissions to a minimum and not respond to that except with a click on the radio, but I silently thank the Pasta that Frank grabbed our stuff. I look forward to having something more substantial than my rather pitiful sidearm.

cuisinart8 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 25, 2020 12:00 pm

I decide to keep transmissions to a minimum and not respond to that except with a click on the radio, but I silently thank the Pasta that Frank grabbed our stuff. I look forward to having something more substantial than my rather pitiful sidearm.

And Caleb kinda clicks back an...answer? Frank it not sure about it but assumes it's something military...but at least Caleb seems to have gotten the message...

[IC]Vynkor[/IC]
I fire on 22, and switch to 16 if/when 22 is incapacitated.
Once 22 is no longer a threat to me, I move behind the corner of the wall to stay out of the shock troops' sightlines.

cuisinart8 wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 23, 2020 2:50 pm

You, with the grenade launcher, let us know when it's ready to fire again. When it is, blanket that room in plasma!

"I'm not sure we should bomb the massacre over there, they seem to be quite content killing each other and outnumber us severely! Anyway my launcher still needs a while to get ready again, that salvo was pushing it hard."

Move behind the east corner crates.
if #22 gets incapacitated/killed at any point, retreat back behind the east corner crates for cover
-move southwards towards #22.
-Slash #22 with my sword until incapacitated or my attack limit is reached