Slamurai

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

@Commodore RobotOopsies, I could have sworn I included Isabella in the first draft. Edited; she's on the left with Bernie, Harold, Jason and Cheryl.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

@Commodore RobotI've lost count of how many ATs Chirico has gone through.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

Panthers, GO!

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

The pilots sounded off one by one as the Samigina's FRAME bay door slid open, bathing the interior and the machines in daylight. Cecilia brought up her GPS, double-checking the route to the highway. Richard's voice crackled over the radio, sending the FRAMEs off.

"Good luck, Panthers," he bid them in his usual cheery voice. "Bring back that cargo in one piece!"

The bay door reached its zenith, and Cecilia brought her Handou to the front of the ramp. "This is it! Operation is green. Don't screw up!" With that, she dropped the FRAME's wheels from the soles and bolted down the ramp, kicking up dirt as the machine touched open ground. The rest of the team followed suit, with the newcomers (hopefully) paired up with more experienced Panthers. They traveled in a staggered column once they hit roads too narrow for a wider formation. By her estimation, it'd take just over half-an-hour to reach the ambush point.

-----

The target area was a forested section road, just beyond the southern edge of a bridge, connecting the highway to a long exit ramp. With the FRAMEs hidden in the treeline, they could surprise the enemy, so long as their sensors didn't pick them up.

"Bernard, Harold, Jason, Cheryl and Isabella - set up on the left side of the bridge. Elaine, Edward, Ryder and Maia, you're on the right. Bernard, once they get past the bridge, you're going to blow it in half. Elaine, Maia and I will move to block the trucks from the front. We're going to surround the trucks and neutralize the security in one swoop. Once you're in position, turn your machines off. I don't want their sensors to spot us before we can spring the trap. Rely on your visuals until we strike."

The pilots scurried to take up positions as Cecilia ordered. The plan had also been relayed to everyone's HUD, highlighting the Panthers' positions and the convoy's avenue of approach. Cecilia planned to hit them hard and fast, minimizing the security detail's chances of retaliating. If all went smoothly - and she expected it would, this would be a cakewalk.

-----

Just several minutes passed until a set of dots appeared on the far end of the road. Though the view was hazy, due to the heat on the asphalt, Cecilia could clearly tell it was the convoy, and it was accompanied by more FRAMEs that they'd anticipated. Her fingers twitched at the control yokes. As the convoy came closer to the bridge, four trucks could clearly be seen, as well as twelve OSU Dreqs on either side. Whatever the cargo was, it was high on the OSU's priority list.

As the convoy approached the overpass, the vehicles slowed to a crawl, and the hair on Cecilia's neck tingled. Had they been spotted? She cursed, watching the OSU FRAMEs hesitate at the other end. A few moments later, they continued as normal, and she let out a sigh of relief. Maybe the drivers were confirming their route.

Closer, closer, the machines came. By now, they'd almost passed the halfway point of the bridge and were barely 50 meters away. Cecilia's hand hovered just over her control panel, ready to spring her FRAME to life. As the very last truck rolled past the imaginary point-of-no-return, she slammed her controls on and gave the newbies their first command to kill.

"NOW! Let them have it!"

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

We're only waiting on Jason and Cheryl, but if they're unable to post by this afternoon, I'll GM handwave it and we'll assume they both reported their status.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

I don't even want to roleplay this anymore.

I mean, I love the concept and all, but I screwed up, 'pparently, and I don't even want to bother with it anymore. Dunno if other people are amused by it and wanna see what stupid things he does next, but I'm feeling fairly crappy about my character now.

Cause
You know
Like everyone singled him out. Maybe not verbally, but we can kinda read the posts.

@WilsonTurner

The interactions between your character and mine, or anyone else, aren't personal by any means. Harold just has a quality to him that puts Cecilia and perhaps others on edge. There's nothing that I actually dislike about the character, and he's got one of the more outgoing personalities in the crew.
How your fictional character is perceived by other fictional characters shouldn't get you down - a little conflict is necessary for any story, character development, etc. If anything, tension between characters should make for a more interactive and fun RP.
I hope I can convince you to stay and stick through it - don't take character interactions personally. Harold could prove himself to Cecilia down the road, and that might be a rewarding experience in itself. I mean, we haven't even gone on the first mission yet; there's plenty of time for Harold to shine.
I hope you'll stick around, but if you aren't having fun, I won't force you.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

Panthers, report in!
We're getting set to move; make your final systems checks, weapons tests, diagnostic runthroughs and status reports, and we're rolling out!

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

A while after the pilots had entered the FRAME bay and gotten themselves situated, Cecilia emerged from the bowels of the landcruiser. Over her black BDUs, she wore her FRAME harness, cradling her helmet in her arm. Immediately, she snuck her way to Bernard's Handou and gave the chassis a few hard thumps with her knuckles.

Clang, clang clang!

"Rise and shine, gramps!" she shouted up to the cockpit. Unlike her interaction with Harold earlier, there was little menace in her voice. In fact, her tone was almost playful.

"Really, Bernard - you're setting a bad example for the newbies," Cecilia hissed. Asides from Richard, Bernard was one of the few Panthers that had the luxury of being spared the sharp end of Cecilia's stick. Part of it was his seniority; Cecilia disciplining a man who was over twice her age seemed a bit silly. However, Cecilia knew the things the old man had been through. He'd seen the worst of the war with the totalitarian Emarran government, even seen the rise of the FRAME as a machine of war when he was a humble infantryman. No, Cecilia certainly respected the veteran, despite his unpredictability... and habit of missing critical briefings.

Cecilia threw a small notepad up to the cockpit, which she'd prepared just after the briefing. It told the old vet everything he'd need to know about the operation. "No sleeping on this one, Bernie." She turned away to head back to her own FRAME, meeting the gazes of several other Panthers and newcomers, who'd been taken aback both by Bernard's napping, and Cecilia's exchange.

"What're you looking at?" she barked. "Suit up! We leave in ten!"

-----

The control panels of Cecilia's FRAME glowed as they sprang to life, bathing her in a green haze. She punched the keypad in front of her, and diagnostics scuttled around the main panel before the cameras adjusted and captured the FRAME bay on-screen. With her helmet on, Cecilia's HUD was superimposed against the camera's images. A quick runthrough affirmed her checklist was in order, and tinkering with the control yokes told her her controls and weapons were functioning properly.

"This is Lang," she said over the radio. "Make any last-minute adjustments to your machines. The mission objectives have been uploaded into your FRAMEs, if you happen to forget what we're doing out there." She said that last bit in a snarky voice, clearly intended for a select few. "Newbies - I want you to find a Panther and stick close to them. Nobody does anything stupid."

The umbilical cables keeping Cecilia's Handou in place detached from the machine with a hiss, and she maneuvered the FRAME from her dock toward the bay's exit ramp.

"Everyone, report in!"

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

@Silverwind Blade
Sounds good, yeah?

Unless everyone decides to beat him down for talking. Well, everyone except for the ones that don't really care much.

@WilsonTurner

Nobody's gonna beat him down; he just got a stern talking-to for overstepping his place as a newbie.
I'll get us moving along shortly, if nobody has anything else to post.

FRAMEs (Mech combat, political intrigue & corporate struggles)

If it helps, I like your character, OOC. He's very cheery for a hired gun.

@Cerberov

Somebody has to be, in this line of work!