Rhona W

GEARs Redux [Winter & Silverwind Blade]

Ro smiled over his shoulder at the vixen as he lead her into the interior of the landcruiser.
Like all such vessels, be they land-based or ocean-going, space was at a harsh premium, and piping, ducts, cabling and all manner of junction boxes, fuses and other such systemry clustered along the walls and ceilings. Every so often there was the necessity to step over hatch-lips and rims as well, passing through heavy pressure-doors between hull frames.
Hearing her question, the Wolverines' small ears twitched before he replied.
"Give or take, I've been in the service for about, oh, twelve years, nearly." He looked surprised at himself for a moment, shaking his head as he paused by a ladder. "Wow, that's much longer than even I thought. But, naturally, it wasn't always with Special Operations. Most of it was in the regular forces instead. Anyhow, regarding the tour: This is the lowest level of the ship. Down here is primarily where all of the sundries are stored - everything useful, but non-explosive or non-critical. Food supplies, laundry, equipment lockers, water tanks, yadda yadda. You probably won't have to come down here much - other than to get on or off the ship on foot, anyway.
Taking her up the steeply-angled steps - almost a ladder, really - he explained the next level was mostly the cramped crew facilities. The mess and galley, which also served as the communal rec-room for the twenty-person crew; the infirmary - such as it was, and more of a medical 'room' - a few equipment lockers and storage spaces - including weapons lockers - and the washroom facilities. Which, he added, were actually much better than most of the military ones he'd encountered. And had very, very good locks on the doors. At the forward area of this level were also the GEAR and salvage bay, workshop area and other 'functional' areas of the ship, as well as the 'deck' area, where large objects or vehicles could be loaded and unloaded, and also where the crane was mounted. He also advised that discreet disguised 'clutter' on the deck folded away to reveal two large-calibre chainguns that formed the ships' only real defensive armament.
Finally, above and at the top of the ship, were the bridge, observation lounge, briefing room and a few other related areas, as well as the bridge 'wings' for observation purposes. Lockers on this level also held machine-guns to be mounted when needed on the rails around the bridge wings.
The tour concluded, the pair stood on one of the bridge wings, overlooking the fog-shrouded city.
"So, how about you?" he said in reply with a slight smile. "Appearances can be deceptive, of course, but I'd say I've got a few years on you. And, if it's not too much of a prying question, why Special Operations? This isn't exactly the fast-track to promotions, or a good career for anyone. Though, it's not without it's own rewards, of course".
He leaned against the railing, glancing over one shoulder at the quiet city, the gleam of the ocean subdued by the fog, and the noises of life hushed by the cotton-wool covering, before looking back to the vixen with an appraising expression and a half-smile on his muzzle.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

I reckon we can probably squeeze you in at this time - Winter and Muses have recently returned, so it'd be unfair to not offer you the same courtesy. Especially as we had a couple of drop-outs.
Get a sheet up, and I can introduce your character at the same time as Winter and Muses characters.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

I'd prefer to introduce you once this mission is complete. Throwing you both in halfway through a mission seems too chaotic and a bit too abrupt. Plus, I have plans on how events after this mission will play out, so I have ideas on how to intro both of your characters easily.
It's just relying on people to get their reaction posts up, and I can keep the action moving with some momentum to get us through this scene and onto the next one.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Aristo said
Oh balls, how did I miss the last post when the Col. joined us at the facility?

lol, well, I did make a post saying I'd made a post! But nvm, there's plenty to react to still.

MusesFallFirst said
Reeza is updated a little more, may toss a sketch if I can convince myself of that this morning!

I should really put up a picture for Silverwind, but like you said: I need to motivate myself into drawing one. Maybe at some point!

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

I thought it was a fine post. Oh, hang on, what I mean is -

Silverwind Blade said
ARGH YOUR POSTS ARE FINE, STOP WORRYING

I got another one up too. Arcades' written out, and the battle moving on a bit. Competent enemies, who would've expected that?

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Blade grimaced. Myrina hadn't responded to his mesage, and the bandits were pressing in closer. Rounds chewed away the cover they'd taken shelter behind, and splinters of shells and debris pinged and whacked off of the lightly armoured hide of the Harlock and the other GEARS.
"Shit," muttered the fox to himself. "If this keeps up then there won't be much to hide behind."
While the GEARs had been pressing them from the front, the fast attack vehicles - FAV's - had closed around from their flank, and began to pepper the trio of LDF GEARs with their automatic grenade launchers and heavy machine-guns. Swearing bluntly again, the fox felt his ears flatten under his helmet once more, and he bared his teeth.
Curling his finger around the trigger on the GEARs' control stick, he opened fire with the autocannon rifle, playing the crosshair in his visor over the nearest of the light space-frame vehicles. With no armour and a light structure, the machine was no contest for the heavy rounds, and withered to pieces, flipping over in a cloud of expanding wreckage. He repeated the exercise with the second vehicle, moving sideways in an evasive strafing action as the rounds from its' heavy MG lashed toward him, impacting the GEAR with hammer-blow hits. A couple of minor warnings sounded, but nothing that took him out of the battle.
"Press them to engage!" he growled at the other pilots close to him. "They're outflanking us, and we're penned in!"
He volleyed hi-ex rounds toward the closing GEARs, and felt a slight rise of relief as Arcades' GEAR began to move, opening fire and moving in an aggressive push. The rounds from the blocky, older-model GEARs autocannon tore into one of the modified Brahma GEARs, slamming it around like a jerky puppet, before it collapsed. Pressing the advantage, he moved onward. Blade moved to support him as he saw the second Brahma move out in a flanking motion, and one of the FAV's close in to the rear. Gunfire peppered his GEAR as he tried to move - and then Arcades' GEAR was engulfed in a cloud of flame and smoke as the smoke trail of of missile from the Brahma's shoulder-mounted launcher connected the two.
Blade's muzzle went dry and he couldn't believe the sight: one of their number was down, in their first sortie. He'd been unable to act effectively to prevent it, and right in front of him one of their number had been cut down. There was no chance he could be alive: the centre torso of the GEAR was a flaming wreck, charred and blackened. No one could have survived that.
Snarling and seeing red, he charged forward, one shoulder-mounted shield hammering under the impact of machine-gun fire from the FAV, before he drew the Harlock's Kukri blade and slammed it through the hood of the vehicle. Nearly simultaneously, he dived into a forward roll, coming up on one knee with the GEARs' targeting focused on the remaining Brahma. The indicator turned red, and he fired a missile, near point-blank. The hostile exploded in a roiling fireball, and he stood slowly, the posture of his GEAR, slumped shoulders and arms by its' sides almost reflecting the somber, solemn mood of its' pilot.
"Hostiles are no factor in this area," he said with a bitter edge to his voice. "We have a pilot down," he added with a quiet voice.

***

At the mine, the hostile GEARs moved with lethal precision and efficiency. With two of their number down and under attack, they moved and acted with military-level skill. Taking cover behind the terrain and offering each other covering fire, the heavy machine-gunner volleyed firepower towards Mike's position, giving the Marksman time to take cover and begin drawing a bead on the Prowler. Meanwhile, the three 'regulars' moved in careful steps. Rather than splitting up and taking on Aiden, Adrian and Kuraiko one-one-one, they concentrated on outflanking and dominating the trio of Roughriders with concentrated firepower. Moving in a leap-frogging evolution through the cover, they managed to keep up a steady pinning torrent of fire toward Adrian and Aiden, which was only broken when Kuraiko's manoeuvre slammed rounds into the side of the leader, forcing them to adopt an all-round defence, weaker and less aggressive, but still worthy of respect and caution. After all, their rounds were no less lethal than any others.

***

Ken's firepower had done as expected against the unarmoured light vehicles and their riders. The high-explosive unguided rockets stirred up a storm of lethal fragments and fiery destruction, along with the concussive forces of the explosions themselves. After the dust cleared and settled, all that was left was a field of scattered machine-parts and torn up bodies.

***

On the Landcrawler, the rescued hostages stood to the back of the group, huddled together for security, as much as safety. The couple, Luke and Cynthia, discussed amongst themselves in low voices, whispering in a hard-edged dialect, tinged with a vague Northern Empire accent. There was a hissed discussion, before Cynthia slashed a hand through the air, ending the discussion and tentatively stepped closer to the Roughriders' infantrymen.
"Excuse me," she said, quietly at first, and then repeating herself louder over the noise coming from outside.
"Excuse me - I know where the rest of the hostages are. Where they took them, I mean. I thought it's something you should know. The bandits - they took them to the mine. They took all the cargo elsewhere, I'm not sure. They said - something about meeting someone, moving somewhere else? I thought it may be important".

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

MusesFallFirst said
Well if you don't mind helping me modify like last time I'm always up for the help :)

No problem at all - always glad to help out. We have the whole of mecha anime to use as a reference and inspiration, and (as I'm sure you'll be shocked to know), that is kind of my expert area. And All of us, as well as me, will be happy to give you a hand, as we have in the past.

Cartwright said
More people! Hurray! Oh and @ Silver: Looking over ze acknowledgement I guess I will try to arrange that extra char to jump in after ze mission ((If ze colonel doesn't get occupied right away XD)) ze question is: should I develop a small CS or something? I mean all I got are.. *Sifts through canine CSs* o.o

Ach, mein German is not being too good, mein friend Cart! But if I must translate your vords, I would imagine zat you are saying zat you vould like to introduce your co-pilot shortly? After ze current operation is concluded?

That's enough of that. But yeah, feel free to introduce them at the same time as Winter and Muses' characters. We can work something out between all three of us to introduce them all once we return to the Landcruiser with the information gained from this mission. I will try to get a post up moving things onward toward that goal tomorrow or on Sunday.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Yeah, the forum is a little buggy - sometimes you'll end up with double, or even triple, posts.

As for Pandora, possibly - close combat weapons aren't as emphasised, but as per the current battle, there are a few pilots who tend towards close-range, high-speed striking GEARs. Mainly for flanking and attacking slower-moving or support GEARs and vehicles, and using their speed to fade away quickly before getting torn apart by gunfire.
You'd have to use a lot of stealth, speed and wits to avoid being shot to bits to get into close-combat range, but it could work. It'd be a good partner for HopelessIncubus' character and his GEAR, which is a scout and also tends to be close-range, but can also double as a marksman.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Yey, Reeza (and of course, inked-now-muse) is back!

Once your sheet is up and ticking, I'll work out a way to introduce you. Probably at the same time as Winters' character, as that will make sense :)

I guess I'm back....

Glad to have you back!