Liberation Union Mobile Firebase Delta Foxtrot

[WritesNaughtyStories]

Captain Payarkoon's long, lean build gave her the appearance of someone taller than her actual 170cm height, Like the rest of the Liberation Union's military, she wore no uniform, just the mismatched clothes that wold keep the chill of the mountain air off. Her only rank insignia was an armband tied around her left bicep.

She closed the reconnaissance report and shut down the data slate. what was the Hive up to now? She ran her hand over her shave head, trying to massage clarity into her brain without much success.  With a sigh she stood up and walked the sort distance from the table that served as her operations center to the barrack at the front of the portable shelter.

"Where's Kehrer?" she asked looking around. Spying the dark haired young pilot, the older, "Patches - I need you and Scylla to go do some recon. Can you two please not turn it into a shooting contest? I just need eyes - what the recon reports are saying don't make a bit of sense."

She turned to the rest of the squad. "You fuckers all get prepped - just in case Scylla can't keep Patches from trying to kill herself."

She tugged the younger woman towards her office. "Come on, time for your briefing."

[WickedCadrach]

Emily Kehrer, callsign 'Patches', sat on the corner of the steel barrack's flat roof. The dark walnut-brown of her hair, bound in a high ponytail, blew out like a pennant, and her mountain-grey camo jacket—pilfered from a Hive soldier and patched with resistance motifs—flapped at the collar as it shielded her lithe, athletic frame from the chill wind rising through the peaks. One combat-booted foot was planted up on the edge of the glorified tin-can she sat on as the other dangled off over the sharp mountain face below. 

For the moment, she kept her eyes closed, the youthful smoothness of her twenty-six years was broken in small scars, cyber-surgery lines, and the cracks that were already settling from eleven years of guerilla fighting. Just then, those eyes were crinkling in involuntary winces. She held a small black cylinder to her lips and inhaled, the tip glowing green in a simulated ember. As she lowered it, a series of slit vents in her neck like gills released the smoke back into the mountain air. The cyber in her head was misbehaving at altitude and the pressure was already killing her, so her captain's bark to fall in and receive orders was doing nothing for her but adding an edge to the frown already on her lips. 

"Yes, ma'am," Emily said finally—just loud enough not to get some bullshit about insubordination—and clenching her cigarette between her teeth she leapt down. As her feet impacted the ground, she felt a metallic grind in her knee, the muscle and servos momentarily fighting each other as they fell out of sync. The frown now became a full scowl and for a moment, she nearly reached for the little orange bottle in her jacket, but she held off on dosing. She could already count the remaining pills on fingers alone, not including thumbs... Instead, she gave her knee a solid thwack. A moment later, she lifted her leg, giving a few practice flexes and extensions before putting weight back on it. 

She supposed that was one of the perks of piloting a BioFrame. Once she was hooked in, she didn't have to use her own jury-rigged limbs... most of the time.

As Payarkoon tugged her into the office, Emily was again amazed at how much strength was in the shorter woman's grip, and how—despite Emily being a full five centimeters taller, at least—the older woman seemed so comfortable manhandling her. For a moment, Emily considered locking the cyber in her legs just to hold her ground against the tug, but she decided against it. She had too much of a headache for any of that shit today. 

"Lieutenant Kehrer, ready to receive report, ma'am," Emily said flatly, taking a fresh pull from her cigarette as the door into the office closed behind them. 

[WritesNaughtyStories]

Magda shook her head at her subordinate, though insubordinate might be more accurate, and closed the door.

"I would think those nicstix cause at least as much inflammation as your cybers." She said, unlocking the data slate with a micro abraded DNA sample.

The squad commander spun the map to face Patches, "Hive's up to some kind of bullshit." She pointed at a low, open expanse between the mountains and a broad bay "They're building something right here." The data slate lit a point near the apex of the bay. "It's kaiju-fucking- central. Which wouldn't be a problem, except that there's no weapons systems or reinforcement. No walls."

The commander panned the map, "River runs here - too far from the construction site to be directly useful, but it bends upriver and gets within 100 meters of the road. Just sit and watch. Inventory any military hardware you see. If they're baiting us, I want to know where that ambush is coming from."

"There's another, smaller pass a few klicks south of here. Patune and the other Frames can't get through it, but Scylla can. Just keep south, close to the mountains and head to the bay. Easy enough to swim to the river and head upstream."

Payarkoon took a small box out of her desk and slid it across the table to Emily.  "Here. Don't ask me how I got them. Scylla isn't disposable and neither are you. That's not how we do things, one day I hope you'll understand that," the captain tapped Emily's chest with two fingers, "in here."

"Hopefully it'll get you through until supply gets an official refill." It was only three pills, but skuttlebut was that Gamma quadrant had taken out a Hive base camp with a major hospital. Soon, right - food, meds some fucking coats....

"The injector is a one shot. It'll block pain in your brain and leave you completely lucid. But you won't feel shit for about an hour. Like, cut off your leg and not feel it. Capisce?"

[WickedCadrach]

Emily ignored the comment on her cigarette. Given her condition, it seemed everyone—not just her superiors—had some tidbit or recommendation to give her about her health. If it was anyone but Captain Payarkoon, the words would have been answered by a boot instead of the silent death-stare she gave. Hell, she very nearly said the sharp rebuttal on the tip of her tongue anyway, but the idea of getting a runout in even the icy water running from the mountain was too tempting to risk being grounded. So instead, Emily looked down and followed Magda's finger with her eyes, taking in the lay of the land as her brow furrowed in suspicious confusion.

"Hive's setting up shop in the middle of kaiju territory with no overwatch?" It felt insane, even for them. The Hive certainly had no issue sacrificing bodies for a goal, but sending in manpower—hell, even drones—without securing the area first felt like idiocy of the highest order. So Emily and her captain at least agreed on one point: "Yeah, they're up to something."

Emily took the offered meds, silently combining the pills with her existing stash while she palmed one and listened to the light rattle they made returning to her jacket's inner pocket. She inspected the injector and strapped it into a canvas pocket on the thigh of her pants, within easy reach if needed. She'd used 'null' before. Years ago, she'd known a comms staffer who could dilute it and sold it as a 'sleep aid', but these days meds were too precious for that sort of black-market to be tolerated. It was too bad. She could have used some last night.

As Magda poked her in the chest and made her comment about none of them being disposable, Emily had the feeling the captain's words weren't hollow. She really meant what she said. It was just a shame it was bullshit. 

The truth was that they were—every last one of them. 

After eleven years of fighting, Emily had seen heroes chewed up, lives given to strike a blow against an enemy that never seemed to show signs of weakness. They were mourned; speeches were given to inspire the next set of heroes so that they could die in turn and inspire the set after them. 

Every one of them was disposable. And maybe Emily was most of all. It was hard to think otherwise when Doc Grim had told her the truth, that with all her implants she'd be lucky if her body held out until forty. That had been five years ago. Since then, half of her heart had been replaced with silicon and cellulocarbon weave and her left leg exchanged for full-metal below the knee. 

Emily popped one of the little pills keeping her alive, closing her eyes and lowering her head as she swallowed and took a steadying breath that whirred in the slit vents on her neck. 

"Understood. I'll have Scylla ready in fifteen. Whatever they're up to, I'll figure it out." Or shut it down, she added silently. 

If she was dying for this cause, she sure as hell wasn't going to miss a chance to make as many Hive bastards as she could do the same. 

 

//As Emily inspects the map, I'd like to see if I can 'create an advantage' by picking out good vantage points, ambush spots, and approaches that Magda may have missed in her planning. If I can do that and make a roll, I'd also like to spend the first of my 3 Fate Points to invoke my aspect These scars spell 'never again' for +2, because Emily is extremely diligent and vigilant when it comes to stopping the Hive.//

[WritesNaughtyStories]

(roll it)

[WickedCadrach]

//Notice (+1) + Aspect (+2) + Fudge roll (++00) = 5 //

(Also, here's my char sheet where I'm tracking stuff. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Na6T3m_kcGmiaYG-mXa9yEHxHnqVQqRurDthRCW3lb0/edit?usp=sharing )

[WritesNaughtyStories]

The point she indicated to surveil from is probably the best, there are a couple of others that are almost as good that might be better to ambush a convoy from, but the best spot to ambush a convoy from offers much worse surveillance of the site itself. It's hard to resist ambushing that convoy though - despite Payarkoon's orders. Do you accept a these scars say 'never again' compel to move to the lousy recon, but good ambush, location? Or do you follow orders?

[WickedCadrach]

Emily is awfully tempted by the ambush spot. But it relies on the chance of a convoy happening through. If the area is as rife with kaiju as the captain claims, she could end up surrounded once the fighting starts. She'll grit her teeth, spend the Fate point and resist the compell.

Just the scouting. We go for the head, not the small fries.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

(What does it look like when Emily hooks into Scylla? I imagine Scylla shivers with pleasure as she feels her partner connect, enjoying the vicarious warmth her cockpit provides Emily and the way Emily 's pain fades into the background as her senses fill with Scylla 's input and feedback)

As the pair clambered nimbly through the mountains both knew they were the only BioFrame who could come this way. Patune's mass would crumble half the rocks Scylla slithered over easily. By spreading her tentacles across a larger area Scylla spreads her weight and as much flows across the escarpents as climbs.

In the pass, even higher up the mountain it is colder, and the warmth Scylla felt through Emily leeched into the cold air, settling an unpleasant chill on the BioFrame that seemed through the interface to Emily as well.

Once through the pass the decent was steep and treacherous (make a piloting roll or you can fail, making the trip down take 6 hours and leaving you both with the Aspect chilled to the core for several hours after and take a Fate point)

As Scylla neared the base of the mountain, her sophisticated sensor array can make out the construction site. It is a surprisingly complete, and, from this distance , utterly undefended habitation block. The sea is to the South, on your left, the construction site in front of you, to the west. The river delta lays farther to the west and south, and will allow you to access to the river, where the reconnaissance point is.

You can easily swim through the ocean to avoid detection and reach the delta.

 

Meanwhile, back at base, Payarkoon is looking for a mechanic. 

[WickedCadrach]

Reaching the paddock, Emily began to sing, her voice approximating a metal growl as she gave a half-attentive rendition of Lizzie Al-Azhar's vocals on Broken Crown. It was a habit she'd developed since some of the more 'feral' BioFrames got skittish if someone snuck up on them. As Scylla sensed her approaching, the white-shelled BioFrame had cracked open from her tight curl the barest fraction, requiring Emily to give a few insistent slaps on her steel-wrapped hip before her tentacles uncurled enough to reveal the round port the small of her back, like a submarine hatch. 

Pulling herself along the narrow tube, Emily would reach the cockpit in the center of Scylla's chest. A wrap of black tentacles, some as thick as her forearms, others as thin as hairs, help her into a seated position, taking the burden off her limbs and coiling along her legs and arms to support her. With a sigh, Emily jerks her head left and right, cracking out the stiffness as she nods and says, "Alright. Give me the goo." Immediately after, the black tentacles begin to secrete a chill, viscous fluid that they smear at the base of Emily's skull and across her temples.

The shared sensation of the synch makes Emily hitch, straining just a moment against the tentacled embrace. She's still in half-aware state, not having fully left her own body and keeping some of the pain she's been dealing with from Scylla as much as Scylla keeps a portion of the uniquely uncomfortable cold from her. There is a phantom sensation shared between them as Emily's finger strokes one of the black tendrils at her wrist, as gentle a greeting as she gives anyone, and Scylla returns the gesture with the simulated sensation of being nuzzled against the palm of her hand. Right now they're both still warming up, but Emily knows if things get more intense on this recon run, Scylla can quickly attach more tentacles in more places for a deeper level of synch.

Taking it carefully through the mountains, each of them eager to find what the Hive is up to but reluctant to tangle with any feral kaiju, Scylla and Emily approach the descent carefully, backtracking a few times as Scylla's sensors trip on phantom movements and other vague signals that leave Emily uneasy. It takes them much longer than Emily originally thought and both of them Chilled to the bone (accepted fail and Fate point). 

Taking in the scans, Emily frowns inside the cockpit. Her eyes narrow and the sensors housed in Scylla's dome-like skull ping the new construction looking for any signs of life. 

"Built. Empty. And undefended. Why go to all the trouble if you're just walking away?" With a click of her tongue, Emily shifts in her living seat, her body guiding Scylla like a rider guiding a horse by the gentle pressure of their knees on the flanks. "Let's take a swim. I want to see if something happening under there, and we can come around the other side, through the delta."

[WritesNaughtyStories]

The air in the foot hills was not as cold as the higher elevations had been, but it was still cool enough that Scylla couldn't warm up completely. Picking their way through the rocks, scrub trees and broken ground that afforded them cover to make their way to the water, Emily could feel Scylla's growing frustration and misery. By the time they climbed down the last, western facing escarpment Scylla wanted badly to kill something.

Mercifully the water was warmer, soothing the stealthy BioFrame's jangled nerves as she sunk comfortably into the briny waves. She was happier swimming and the progress much easier. Within only a few hours of entering the bay, Scylla was making her way up the river. Then it started to get shallow. Silt and sand bars threatened to force her above the surface.

From here her senses reveal that there is a caravan coming from the nearest Hive arcology. They're not near enough for her to get detailed scans, and from here, they'll be inside the confines of the outpost's narrow streets before she can get one. What do you do?

 

Back at the firebase, Magda swore under her breath. She knew Patune's mass driver was misfeeding but there wasn't a mechanic, and CENTCOM seemed not to be answering her requests for one. Patune was almost as miserable in this air as Scylla and Magda had hoped to cheer him up by getting his loading mechanism adjusted.

She sent another, urgent message to S1, requesting a permanent mechanic and headed to the paddock, She called to Patune who raised his head slowly and swung his alien gaze on her. He didn't get up and Magda shook her head before jogging across the field to him. With him laying down she could climb under the intricate armor of his chest to reach the orifice that opened into her cockpit. She pushed through the muscular flesh as Patune relaxed for her, and shed her fatigues before slipped into her pilot sling.

Patune let the nerve tendrils that would connect them extend, wrapping over the human's bare flesh. Pale, pink-gray bundles of nerves spread across her scalp, arms, torso and legs. She felt him at the edge of her mind and invited him in. 'Do you want more?' It was hard to tell who asked, but Magda answered. 'Yes.' She could feel his nerve tendrils coil up her legs, over her shoulder and down her belly, seeking sensitive nerve endings of hers. She welcomed him, happy to distract them both as the cold night air closed in.

[WickedCadrach]

Emily bit her lip in a scowl of focus. It might just be workers coming in to finish whatever construction was still going on inside, or civilian staff to get the habitation block operational. There was still no guarantee it was a purely 'military' installation. Then again, this might be her chance to do real damage before this outpost became a threat. 

Feeling Scylla's restlessness, Emily took one of the dark tendrils in her cockpit in hand, gently stroking the slick tentacle and making a small hushing sound. "Hey. Easy, girl..." she said, projecting patience into the neurolink between them, and as she did, she slid the dark coil under her jacket, lifting the hem of her shirt and sliding the cool appendage against her rib and down toward her navel with a pleasant tremor that she shared with the BioFrame. 

They couldn't just sit here... the captain needed a report. "Ok. Easy ahead. Low and slow. Let them in. We're going to get in close and see if we can't figure out what they're unpacking in there." Emily guides Scylla forward slowly, trying to stay out of the convoy's line of sight while she approaches the habitation block. If it's as unguarded as it looks, she thinks she can get in close enough to scan through or around the buildings and walls without a confrontation.