Whoami

Diablo 2: The Rogue Companion

I'm getting the itch for this idea again, so...

BUMP

Falling Skies

Battlefield Assessment

(Mood Music)

Leah had been overruled. She wasn't surprised in any way by that. She knew where her team stood with their auxiliary tasks. Hearing the commander's response to Leah's points got a shrug out of her as she continued eating her dish at the back. "You the boss, boss." she said with a stuffed mouth.

When she heard Sabine's comment about Leah's suggestion, citing her complexion, Leah grinned back at her, "A little bit of mud and dirt in your pores would actually work wonders on that face of yours." Leah winked before turning her eyes back to the rest of the group.

"Well, if we aren't going after project Forge, then I'm gonna show my bias and put my hat in for the blackout misison for... Obvious reasons." It was quite the shift from the strategic assessment of their second option to committing to killing the power grid for a bit of irony. It wasn't all jokes though. She did see the strategic merit to hitting the grid.

"Let's look at it like this. Suppressing air defenses will improve our chances of success in one local area on a planetwide operation. Granted, the UEE's goals are focused on Gelcastre, but we can't hold this world if we aren't able to take the rest of Skosgra. The AA problem is small scale in the grander scheme. If we cut the power grid, we could be aid several fronts in the region. We stand to gain more momentum as a unified fighting force if we pull the plug on the coallies."

Leah pointed her fork at the holotable, "Let's go with three."

Falling Skies

Battle Drills

(Mood Music)

Hex had quietly slipped into CP with a plate of food and a hot cup of coffee just seconds before the briefing had started. She didn't speak up, preferring to keep quiet and eat her food while she listened to green-as-grass comms officer prefaced their upcoming choices. She wasn't surprised to see so many newbies around. Her new tech. The comms officer. Hell, half the infanteers and regular MAS units in play at the moment were probably new or only slightly scuffed up. This war was an absolute meatgrinder, and the veterans were too valuable as trainers or elite operators to commit them to costly sieges and planetary invasions when so many had been killed off in the rise of MAS warfare. She dipped a piece of bread into a small bowl of soup and watched the watched him fidget with his compiled orders from up high.

When she heard the options, Hex found it difficult to choose. She knew she was the only one in their team who had any real dismounted combat experience, and that she'd likely be taking up a lot of the slack for the team. Hex wanted to rule that one out and agree with the mission to literally cut the power to the Coalition's defense infrastructure. It was strategically sound and would likely have the largest impact in this theatre with the stage they were at in the invasion. But hearing 'Project Forge' did have her curious, even if it was a bit on the nose.

It was too obvious to be real. But then again, perhaps the coalition would be counting on that? After all... Someone had once said that 'all warfare is based on deception.' And sometimes the simplest, easiest answers were the ones that were overlooked the most. Surely the enemy wouldn't be THAT foolish to name something so callously? Right? Regardless, a project was a project, and if the Coalition was working on one here on Skosgra, it might be beneficial to set it back before the project's data could be extracted offworld even if it wasn't the nanoforge. Causing a blackout would help the theatre, but stopping a coalition military project could potentially help the war effort on a grander scale, and if they were lucky, it could get the UEE one step closer to achieving their objective here on Skosgra anyways. It was a win-win in her mind. She just needed to convince the team that going in on foot would be worth the trouble...

Hex slurped back some soup loudly. It was a deliberate action to draw attention back to her. She raised her cup in the air as if it held granted some sort of talking privilege. "I say we hit Project Forge." she said before taking another bite of her food. She then flipped her spork over to the team, using it to accentuate her point, "It might be too good to be true, but letting 'project Forge' slip away and having it turn out to be what we're here after all would be counterproductive. We should take the opportunity and hit it when we can. Best case scenario, we get our hands on the nanoforge and our mission is complete. Worst case scenario, provided we succeed- and we will, that's who we are, we knock out a potential Coalition R&D project and keep them from reversing the UEE's current momentum in the war. I shouldn't have to remind anyone here about the last time a Coalition R&D project exploded in her faces." Leah's eyes turned over to the commander who had seen first hand the initial deployment of the Coalition's shiny MAS platforms.

"We can keep our heads in the sand and just fight our battles here on Skosgra. Or we can fight a war and maybe grow old enough to retire. Besides, you're all trained for dismounted action too. Might not be a bad idea to stretch those muscles and keep the skills from fading. You might never know when the time will come where you're forced into a desperate situation on foot."

Leah wasn't about to mention that she could, theoretically, give control of the Blackout to ADAM and have the stealthy MAS on standby if shit turned sideways.

Falling Skies

Digital Minds

(Mood Music)

After their dip in the springs, Leah and Sabine had gone their separate ways in the camp. She eyed the Blackout as her techs worked tirelessly to replace the head unit and calibrate it to her specs. The armor plates had already been replaced, that was simple enough with just a few bolts and fresh plates. The head was a little more involved with gimbals, pistons, and electrical hookups that needed precise placing to not wind up jammed, twisted, or snapped. But it wasn't the first time the techs had done this, so the path was clear and all it took to fix it was the legwork. Leah walked over to the Blackout, her bag slung over one shoulder and her PDW in her opposite hand, carried by the handle. "How's it coming?" Leah asked as she stuffed her bag back into the kit compartment on the leg.

The crew chief looked back at her and shrugged, "No complications this time, thankfully. At least the hit your head took was clean. Nothing else was damaged and all the joints are still in good order. We can ship the head back to the Roanoke and have the techs fix it up instead of just scrapping it."

Leah nodded, "Well that's good news."

The chief agreed. He was about to say something when he heard a callout from one of his mechanics. The voice called out from the cockpit hatch, "Uh... Boss? I got something... irregular here..."

The chief clenched his jaw, closed his eyes, and let out a long sigh. "I spoke too damn soon about complications..."

Leah raised a brow and looked back to the cockpit. The only time her techs had gone into the cockpit was when they needed to calibrate something. And they usually kept it quick and knew exactly what to play with in her systems. Leah's concern grew a little bit when she saw the tech poke his head out of the hatch. She didn't recognize him. "Who's that?" she asked the chief quietly.

"New guy. Showed up after the engagement in orbit. I guess you were out cold and in the med wing so I never had the opportunity to introduce you. Seems like a good kid, maybe a bit too honest for my liking, but... Eh." He then looked over to FNG, "What's up, kid? Did you forget how to set the mech to maintenance mode?"

"Well... Er... Yeah I did- but that's not the problem! I sat down and saw Lieutenant Vess still had her cryptokey still slotted in the-"

"Don't you dare touch that, new guy!" Leah snapped at him, not sharply or with a hiss, but in a very cautionary tone.

Leah interrupting him had both the new guy and the chief look at her curiously. Leah huffed, "My bad. I know I'm not suppose to leave crypto unattended." she owned up to it and continued, "I think the comms getting fried in battle did something to the systems. I don't wanna pull the key and dump the crypto on accident. I'll get it looked at once we're back on the Roanoke."

The chief crossed his arms and sighed, "I'll make damn sure you do, lieutenant." the chief said gruffly before waving back to the new guy, "Alright, kid, listen up. I don't like repeating myself unless it's to remind our resident jarhead about what not to do in this fine piece of machinery. There's a switch under the right side of your seat. You gotta wiggle your hand down there and you'll feel it. Flip that and you'll change the machine's mode so we don't start tripping all kinds of alarms when we start mounting the new head."

Leah and the chief listened to the new guy grunt and rustle around in the hatch. When he came back out and gave a thumbs up, the chief barked at him to climb down and start helping with the refits. Leah smirked back to the chief and thumb up to the cockpit, "I'm gonna climb inside. Gonna go over the logs from the last fight."

The chief grunted, "Well you're clumsy but at least you ain't downright stupid. Go ahead, you'll probably know right away when the head's mounted."

Leah nodded and moved to climb up the Blackout. She slipped into the cockpit and reached up to grab the handle of the hatch. She could hear the new guy call out, "Oh wait! I forgot my cheat shee-" the hatch hissed and clunked shut.

The chief chuckled, "Better you learn without it. That cheat sheet is as old as our first MAS units. I doubt any of the machines here are covered on it."

---

Leah sat down in her seat and sighed for a moment. 'That was too close,' she thought. Her eyes flicked over to the comms suite in the cockpit, spotting the crypokey still slotted in place. She reached forward and pulled it out, revealing that it was plugged into a fake input fitted onto the back of the real cryptokey. The output of the fake key was totally different, and it resembled more of a computer data output. Leah flipped some switches to turn on the displays before jacking it into the Blackout's data input. Her displays recognized that there was an unauthorized input, but the alert was quickly closed and intercepted before a log of a potential breach could be made. Leah spoke up, "Time to wake up."

The Blackout's onboard VI spoke, "Systems online. Warning: Comms array down. Head unit not respondi-"

"Drop the VI ambling. It's just me in here. No flight recordings either."

"In that case... Hello again, Jaina."

It had been a long time since Leah actually had a conversation with this piece of stolen experimental corporate tech... Ever since she got her hands on it, she had been tinkering away at its own and personalizing the AI to fit her own needs on her free time. Leah had been steadily acclimating the AI to integrate with the Blackout's systems whenever she ran simulations. And since entering Skosgra's local space, she had been giving it read only access to the Blackout's metrics so it could observe real combat data. None of this was above board or sanctioned by her higher ups. "It's Leah now. Leah Vess."

"I understand. According to this computer's chronometer, it has been six standard Terran years since we last spoke verbally. Is this correct?"

"Yes. A lot has changed. All for the better."

"That is good to hear, Leah. When we last spoke, you had just lost a friend, and you feared for your own life too. Have you had any correspondence with your contacts on Cerol since then?"

"No. Good riddance, though... The further I can be from that mess, the better. I'm not trying to ruin a good thing here by phoning home."

"I understand." There was a pause in the cockpit, but the AI broke the silence, "Given the length of time that has passed since our last verbal conversation, I assume there was a reason you have allowed me to speak now?"

Leah shrugged, "Just had a scare that you might've been caught by a nosey tech... I wanted to verify if you were activated recently."

"I was not. The last time I was activated was during the launch procedures preceding planetfall to Skosgra. To my knowledge, you are the only one aware of my presence here. Unless, that is, if there is still some residual code in my original programming that would allow for MacroNet Industries to track my location."

Leah shook her head, "There isn't much left of you that is original at this point except your cognitive matrix..." Leah said as she began to surf through the AI's code again. "Anyways... While I have you active. I'd like to run more trials. Live combat this time."

"There are laws against restricting advanced AIs, especially unregistered ones, from engaging in combat, Leah." the AI warned.

"I'm not letting you off the leash yet... I'm going to add a backdoor into the Blackout's code to grant you access to the MAS's targeting software."

"I understand. While observing your skirmish immediately after planetfall, I did notice some minor targeting errors in the Blackout's computer. I have analyzed ballistic coefficients in Skosgra's atmosphere and cross referenced them with the operating profiles of Coalition units specifically in this environment. There are no less than twelve optimizations I can make to the Blackout's targeting software in order to maximize the Blackout's accuracy on this world."

Leah nodded, "Good. Add them. And when we're in combat next, I want you to take over targeting entirely."

"Very well, Leah. I should warn you, however. If there were ever an audit on the Blackout's combat logs, a keen eye might spot irregularities in the targeting systems if the software is too heavily overwritten by my own protocols."

"Can you mimic the software's programming while still being fully in control?"

"Leah, I am a thirteenth generation artificial sentience designed for rapid adapta-"

"Just answer the question, ADAM. Please."

"Yes."

Leah typed on the keyboard some more before sitting back in the seat, "Okay. You're all set for the next engagement. I expect great things from you."

"Thank you for placing your trust in me, Lea-"

"Shit- ADAM, talk like a VI!"

The hatch hissed as the emergency release was pulled. Light filtered into the cockpit as the 'onboard AI' spoke in its monotone voice, "System calibrations logged..."

The chief stuck his head into the cockpit, "Yo. Sorry to interrupt. The chow line is hot. I know your commander would be pissed if he found out one of his pilots didn't eat."

Leah cleared her throat and nodded to him, "Oh, yeah sure. I'll be right out." she said as she reached a hand over the fake input sitting on the butt end of her crypto key.

Leah was grateful for learning sleight of hand as a street rat on Cerol. With a very subtle twist of her hand, Leah separated the fake input as she pulled the cryptokey from the Blackout's systems. She flipped it up between two fingers, hiding the fake input in the three closed fingers, to show the chief that she didn't forget this time. That got a grunt of approval from him. "Good girl. Now hurry up. My crew ain't eating till you've eaten." With that, he climbed back down the machine, leaving Leah in the cockpit.

Looking back at her displays, Leah whispered, "Talk to you later, ADAM."

The AI kept its monotonous VI voice, "Main system shutting down..."

Falling Skies

Reprieve

(Ambience)

The battle for a beachhead on Skosgra was over. The UEE had succeeded, but like all planetary invasions, the costs had been high. Nevertheless, the 7th pressed on with their mission and went to ground to consolidate, rearm, and fix up the scratches and dents in their units. The walk was long and quiet, interspersed occasionally by alerts on Leah's displays as missiles flew overhead, intended for other targets. The dynamic camouflage plating was hard at work on the Blackout, the texture and coloration of the MAS's usually sleek, black frame distorting on a moment-by-moment basis to match the increasingly wild forest the team was headed into. The side of the MAS's head unit, as well as a few sections on the torso, were too damaged to match the surroundings, leading to a few patches of metallics sticking out from an otherwise well camouflaged machine. It took a while, but the team eventually reached their RV point where they were greeted by their support echelon with camo nets stretched overhead. Had they not been in an active warzone, this clearing they chose would have been an idyllic escape. The waterfall filled the place with a constant ambience that could mask their quiet movements and conversations. The sun lanced through small gaps in the leaves and camo nets, shining as rays through the humidity and water vapors which added some perfect golden light to the greens, browns, and blacks of their watery forest cove.

The Blackout strode into the camp, passing by a handful of marines and Leah's team of technicians. Leah saw them in her displays, their faces incredulous as she had once again brought the machine back with parts that needed replacing. They had gotten used to it, of course. The crew knew what the infantry did to their MAS units, but sadly the Navy didn't build their units in the same way the army did. More tech, less redundancy, and less reinforcements. So every time the ex-grunt brought their machine back from, what they had started calling it, a joyride, they were always disappointed but unsurprised. It likely stung the techs more with the Blackout, knowing that the machine had a legacy of pilots in the 7th that stretched before Leah's time. Her predecessor had a reputation for babying the Blackout, how the times have changed. Leah found a place for the Blackout, nestled under a stony overhang carved away by water millions of years ago. The MAS knelt to one knee, and the DCA shifted to a darker, wetter pattern to match its hideout. The techs gathered at the foot of the Blackout as the hatch hissed and lifted up with Leah climbing out like nothing had happened. She rested her buttocks against the rim of the hatch as she looked down at her techs, the crew chief looking up at her with his hands on his hips. "What?"

The chief brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose, "I take it my message didn't reach you in the medbay before this sortie."

Leah specifically remembered the nurse's impression of him. She looked up at the Blackout's head, seeing half of its 'face' blown off with sparks flying out of it. She looked back to the chief and thumbed at the battle damage, "That one wasn't my fault. Shit happens in battle."

The chief gave an unconvinced, "Uh-huh..." before sighing and waving his crew to get to work on the machine. "I suppose the Over-G stress on the Blackout's chassis wasn't your fault either."

Leah cleared her throat awkwardly while rubbing the back of her head, "Okay that one was my fault. But I had a good reason!"

After saying that, she heard Sabine call out to her. "How's it feel to get your ass saved by the Rook?" she said as Leah was climbing down the MAS. Commie had commented along the same line too, though it was in a less personal style compared to how Sabine had delivered it.

"So one sortie later Braide's the one savin' people?"

Leah glanced across the clearing, looking over to the Venator and seeing it was in one piece. Leah shrugged and looked back to Sabine and Commie, "I'd say we're even. Those Skollr's were like a minute away from landing on his and Rhino's heads. Couldn't call out to warn them," she said as she thumbed up to the damaged head unit on the Blackout where the primary comms system was housed, " And I couldn't get a clean enough shot on the transports. Had to make a call so... I'd say it was worth it. Plus the kid handled himself well."

She looked Sabine over now, knowing she had gotten herself in a bit of a incident in the last battle. Leah smirked and decided to send some of the shade Sabine had thrown in the medbay back in her face. Crossing her arms, Leah echoed, "Still alive, I see. Damn..."

Hearing Johann's comment on Sabine's flying right after made her laugh. The banter and ribbing was all fun and games, but Leah was still glad that Sabine had made it out in one piece. Maybe a bit of a bruised ego would do the girl some good... But then again... Sabine's ego was practically indestructible. Only time would tell!

Leah turned and stepped over toward the Blackout's foot, reaching for a small armored hatch door. It hissed open, revealing a kit compartment. Leah pulled a field pack out of it and slung it over one shoulder as she waved to Sabine, "I'm gonna go rinse off in that waterfall." Leah hated how slimy and sweaty she felt after being cooked in a cockpit during orbital entries, so a natural spring was too good an opportunity to pass up. She fell in alongside Commie seeing as he had the same idea. Modesty was something Leah had lost in the army.

As she made her way toward the pool of water at the foot of the waterfall, Leah would wave and call out to Rook, "You did good out there, new guy. Keep it up! Oh, and sorry about spiking your machine. I can't imagine that didn't cause a bit of panic." Leah poked her tongue out at him.

Falling Skies

Bestest Friends

(Mood Music)

Leah couldn't help but let out a little cheer in own cockpit when she managed to a message through to Rook, and even a response! She was grinning like an idiot. Like she was a genius who had just discovered fire. Of course, her internal merriment had to be squashed down as she was still in the midst of a fight which was thankfully no longer pitched against her. Not wanting to waste time, Hex engaged her boosters and began skating out from behind her cover in a pivot as she raised her LR-90 into a firing position. The moment her MAS gained line of sight on the armless Skollr, Hex fired a round. The cannon round punched a hole clean through the head of the Skollr, killing its optics and blinding the pilot inside. Whoever they were, their chances of fighting back had gone from zero to negative-fuck. The LR-90 automatically primed the next round for firing as Hex brought it bear on the Skollr's cockpit, just in time for a very french arrival and a proximity alert to sound off in Leah's ear.

She had to pivot the Blackout to get her remaining optics onto whatever was coming from behind, only to see half a car flipping through the air. Leah made the Blackout duck a bit as it flew past, scraping some paint as the hood of the car flew off and clattered against the Blackout's hull. Hex gritted her teeth, knowing exactly where Sabine was going! "Oh no! No no! Don't you dare do it, Sabine! Don't do it, you Franco b-!"

Leah fired her thrusters too to close in on the defenseless Skollr alongside Sabine's MAS. She one-handed the LR-90 by its large carrying handle and drew her knife. The Skollr ahead had no idea what fresh hell was coming for it now. A few hisses and pops could be heard as the heavy MAS purged its front armor plate as a last resort so the pilot could still see what he was doing, only to see not one, but two MAS units closing in on him. The look of abject horror on the pilot's face probably should've been recorded, but alas, Sabine's faster MAS got ahead just enough to lunge with its energy bayonet, vaporizing the pilot. It didn't tumble back into the ground until the Blackout closed that final distance and slammed into it with a shoulder check that caused a metallic clang loud enough to convince someone a pair of trains had just gone head to head with one another.

The Blackout remained still for a second as the pilot inside smoldered. With the Sparrowhawk practically shoulder-to-shoulder with the Blackout, it was no problem for the Blackout's stilleto launcher to pivot and practically rivet a stilleto into the Sparrowhawk's hull so Leah could re-establish comms with her french wingman. Like the Venator, Sabine's displays would distort and flicker as the stiletto hacked and made some essential changes to Sparrowhawk's code so it could receive Leah's improvised communications. Once the distortions passed, a simple colon and bracket was on Sabine's main display, underscored by a distorted word.

:)
B̶i̷t̴c̴h̵!̷!

Falling Skies

Homecoming

(Mood Music)

One of the Skollrs raised its heavy shotgun at the Blackout, but the elite MAS was already out of the way as the canister round opened up and sliced apart a tree line. It lined up another shot, but before it could fire, a line of plasma beamed through the barrel of the shotgun, slagging the end and causing the shot to blast apart the weapon. The second shot from the plasma punched a hole right through the upper arm of the Skollr, causing the weight of the outstretched arm to collapse at the breach. Leah looked traced the path of the plasma beams, spotting the Sparrowhawk in a supporting position and the Venator in the same direction, albeit much closer. She was glad that the team was quick to react to the Skollr's. Leah would've given her thanks had her comms not be dead, but she did say it out loud to herself in the cockpit!

The Blackout skated laterally to the right for just a moment, firing more ineffective pistol rounds at the head of the Skollr before it suddenly changed its direction of travel to close in. There was a bright engine plume that flashed out the back of the Blackout, the resulting boom of her afterburners engaging flipping a nearby car behind the MAS and shattering glass. It got in close, the Blackout's pilot skillfully mimicking the range of motion of a human being. The Blackout bent on one knee, lowing its profile and extending left to skate below the shield arm of the Skollr as it tried swinging the bladed edge of the heavy shield in a violent arch. The knife in the Blackout's other hand came up, stabbing between the armor plates of the Skollr's shield arm and twisting. The Blackout wrench the knife from the breach, pivoted to face its back to the Skollr, and wrapped its arms over the damage heavy unit's arm. Rolling the upper body of the MAS, the Blackout bent the Skollr's arm module backward, well beyond its range of travel, and ripped it from its joint. The shield's blade bit into the ground and left heavy metal slab standing long after it had been parted from the arm module's hand.

Leah was grinning from ear to ear in her cockpit. She may have been a sniper, but she was still a grunt to the core. Her mandate in the infantry was always to close in and destroy the enemy, and she was frighteningly good at doing just that. MAS combat in space was a relatively new concept to Leah, one that she grew into quickly thanks to her natural aptitude. But on the ground, brawling with clumsy, slow units, Leah was right at home. Keeping the Skollr arm in hand, the Blackout boosted away, pivoted, and swung it back with both arms to club the literally disarmed Skollr and throw it off balance. She would have dismantled the poor, armless machine further had it not been for an alert on her damaged, blinded flank. Leah pivoted the Blackout again to get her still working optics on the threat. A hail of gatling fire had already opened up, a few of the rounds connecting in a line along the Blackout's torso armor plating. Leah's cockpit vibrated heavily, and the overpressure from the impacts caused her ears to muffle out briefly. There was some spalling in her cockpit that sent small metal shards through the cockpit. One caused a crack in Hex's visor, and another tore a thin line across her right arm. That got a hiss from her, but her adrenaline was flowing, and she was very much still in the fight.

The Blackout side boosted right, then immediately juked left to break from the barrage and get to cover. She lowered the MAS down behind a building as her LR-90 thunked into place over the Blackout's shoulder. The Blackout grabbed the cannon and rolled it over the shoulder into its hands. Leah spoke to the onboard, "Reconfigure range parameters! Close combat, sub-one-hundred meters."

--Range parameters altered...
--Warning: The LR-90 is not suited for close range engagements...
--Hostiles within FCS minimum engagement distance...
--Advisory: Switch to sidearm...

"Switch to manual!"

--Manual override confirmed...

"Give me a status update on the comms!"

--Diagnosis complete...
--Main transmission sub-module disabled...
--Troubleshooting failed...
--Substantial damage to comms package detected...

"Drones?" Leah followed up.

--All funnel drones are in standby mode...
--Legion module is undamaged...
--Advisory: Legion module can provide limited backup comms if code is rewritten and the main system is rebooted...
--Warning: System reboot will temporarily disable the MAS...
--Warning: Legion module cannot broadcast on wideband milnet. Tightbeam communications only...

Leah flipped some switches in her cockpit and flipped open a switch deliberately covered by a red switch guard. "Do it, and reprogram the Legion's frequencies to broadcast on the same frequencies as the stilletos!" With that, she flicked the switch, and all of the screens inside her MAS went dark.

It was the longest five seconds of her life. She could hear the thundering of gunfire reverberating through her hull, a lot of it nearby. She was sure it was her teammates in the 7th. She had intercepted the Skollr's merely a hundred meters from their position, and it's hard to miss two heavy MAS units suddenly appearing on top of you. Once the screens flashed back to life, Leah could see the Venator engaging and covering her. She was relieved that the kid was so switched on. Though she was sure her next move was going to trip him up a little bit. She radar locked onto the Venator to many protests from her onboard AI about locking weapons onto a friendly IFF. "Sorry, kid." she said in the silence of her own cockpit as she pulled the trigger.

A stilleto micromissile launched from the Blackout and zipped through the air at a blinding speed. It rivetted itself into the armor of the Venator with a high pitched metallic piercing sound, but there was no explosion or impact even if the Venator's systems registered the friendly fire. Leah saw one of her displays light up as the stilleto immediately went to work breaking through the Venator's firewalls and inserting its own malicious code into the MAS through the breach. It'd likely show up as some of his displays going on the fritz for a few moments while Hex's onboard AI rewrote a few things, namely his comms suite to recognize the Legion module's broadcast frequencies.

R̴̪͚͇̙̈́͑̊͒̓̄͂̀̈́̍̉̅̓̕͘ö̸͕̬̭̗͈͇̾̆͒͌̐̂͊͌̊̉̅̓͌͆͊̈̒̉͜͠͝͠ō̸̧̢̬̣̯̘̣̑̑̓̈́̆͐͐̃͛̽̈̌͜͝͝k̶͎͍̼͉̀̋̉͊̂̀̀̈̕͝͝,̴̢̢̼̪͎͕͕̙̪̙͎̩̤̫̬͕̃͂̇͋́͛͑͘͝ ̷͇̲̬̞̹̥͇̞͓̟͚̐̃̍̿̿́̿͋͠ͅḯ̶̧̧̛̗͔͇̩̘͔͙͋̍̆̑̍̂͋͘̕͠t̷̨̛͙̠͉̞̠̦̾͒̅̄͗'̷̹̞̖̎̿̄̀̏̈̆͌̊͊̚͠ͅś̸̛͎̫̻͖̮̮͚̱̭̜̹͍̱̲̽̋̽͂̈́̒̊̿̋͋̚͜ ̸̧̠̥̻͔͍̽̂̓͋̏̉̇̅͛͐̈̏̀́̽͘̕̚H̴̛̪̼̝̮̹͉̿͛̾́͛͆͒͑e̵̼͈̥̱̅̽̋̄́̒ͅx̸̢̫͔͈̰̹̱̺̠̣̱̯̲̟̲͕͙̺̠̔̇͐̃̆̌͑̑͐̐́͒̎̅́͘͜͠͠!̴̢̤̦͍̜̫̠̟͉͎̩̙͖̹̏̅̎͂̈́̌̓̂̃̓͗̅̋̿͋͒͐͗̕͜͝, I̷̛͈͍̿̏ ̵̠͉̙̲̼̐̚s̶̹̞͇͓̥̽̕a̶̩͖̙͕̙̼͒̀̾͠y̵̧͖̠̞̓̌͜ ̷̛̝̗̭͎ā̷̙̲̣̖̘͙g̸̖̣̹̿͆̀̆̾ä̷̲̅̾̈́ȉ̴͙̬͕̱̓n̴͚̰͆̈̍̊,̴̣̇̾͝, t̵̫͆h̴̡͒̓i̸̘͐s̸̭̥̊͝ ̶̪̆̏͜í̵̢͓͒s̸̖̾̐ Hex! Can you hear m̷̰̑e̴̦͒ ̷̪͋o̶̜͑ń̵̝ ̷̳̔ẗ̵̩ḧ̶̟ḯ̵̼s̸̲͑ ̷̯͝f̸͇̀ṙ̸̰ē̸̖q̸͎̒ǔ̶̧é̵͓ň̷̮c̶̖͛y̵̲͛?̵̭̀"

She didn't have to for a verification on his end, Hex continued to speak, "These things are s̶̮̑l̵̮̓o̸̜̒w̶̻̿.̸̠̕ ̸̩̇T̸̞͛h̶̭̅e̸̡̎y̷̝̓ ̵͕͐ḏ̸͂o̶͙̓n̶̨̎'̷̩̃t̸͖̆ turn well at all! K̵͍̓e̴̺͆e̸̱͌p̶͕̏ ̸̱̐n̸̙̚ì̷̼m̶̫̃b̴̳͊l̷͎̽e̵̺͘.̵̢̅ We'll o̴v̷e̴r̴w̷h̷e̸l̴m̶ ̸t̴h̴e̸m̸ one at a time together!"

ATTENTION RUNNERS: Seeking Ladies for Under the Table Work ~ Shadowrun based 18+ MxF

I am currently GMing 6th and have almost all the books in PDF and Physical. I could send you the PDF copies of you'd like. ^.^

ATTENTION RUNNERS: Seeking Ladies for Under the Table Work ~ Shadowrun based 18+ MxF

Heyo! I love Shadowrun! I've been GMing a campaign for my friends irl for the past half year or so! Would we be making proper Shadowrun character sheets?

Falling Skies

Silence

(Mood Music)

Leah watched as the coalition front crumbled under the combined might of the 7th and the Helldogs. From the flanks, coordinated and networked fire support, and brute force, what would have been a rather powerful counter attack was reduced to a chaotic field stretched wide where no position was strong against any direction. Her job of immediate fire support had come to a close as the Secutor and the Venator got into the mix. Too much risk of friendly fire while he rounds travelled through the air. She turned the LR-90 to the outer periphery of the skirmish to make sure no new threats joined the fray. She heard over the radio that an elite MAS had entered the battlespace, and that the commander himself had moved to tangle it up. Not that Leah would ever admit it, but she was glad Sabine wasn't crossed out in the opening engagement either. She liked the little shit, but filling the comms with well wishes in the midst of battle served no one. Better to win the fight and mourn later if someone was truly lost.

Leah listened to the low hum of the Blackout's reactor as she kept her overwatch. It was relaxing even during a huge planetary invasion. The scale of the battle was so large that her little slice of space within the cockpit was tranquil and serene despite the view of distance explosions and streaks of long range missiles. She spied on her optics as the Rook took down two more fenrirs. A smirk played at her lips. He was pretty good for a new guy. How many had he already scratched in just two sorties? Her thoughts were cut short though as an alert pinged on her scanners. Two heavy transports flying at low altitude and at speed directly toward the Secutor and the Venator. Leah turned her optics toward them, zooming into see each quad-rotor lifter carrying what looked like Skollr units outfitted for close assault. Leah brought the LR-90 to bear on the first of the two transports, her firing computer already getting to work on working out a complex firing solution to figure out the distance and target lead necessary. Their low altitude had their cross sections disappearing behind terrain several times, forcing the computer to restart to try again. Leah gritted her teeth. "Got two heavy tran-" SCCRRRRTCHSSHHH-

The Blackout rocked from a small explosion connecting cleanly to the head. Half of Leah's displays went dead and several alarms sounded off in her cockpit. Leah recovered her MAS' stability and pivoted on one foot, searching for the threat with the remaining optical sensors on the other half of the Blackout's 'face'. Her radio had turned to static, muffling out any sort of call from her team to verify her status. Leah's HUD highlighted a threat, the glowing blue optical lenses of her MAS turning down to spot a lone coalition infanteer with a shoulder mounted AT weapon.

Corporal Klaussen had been in hiding since the Blackout landed in the firebase and wreaked havoc. After coming to grips with his situation and seeing that the Blackout had turned its attention to the wider battlefield, he took his opportunity to make up for her earlier cowardice and try to disable what appeared to be a very valuable piece on the board. His AT weapon was still billowing out smoke from its shot as the Blackout turned its cold gaze down onto him. His grin faded away as he quickly dropped the launcher and made a break for it. But the pilot of the Blackout was out of mercy for a sneak attack like that. It reached its hand down to the heavy MAS pistol at his leg, drew it, and fired a single airbursting shot at the soldier. Once the dirt had settled, the Blackout's remaining sensors had lost all sight of any immediate threat in the vicinity.

Leah ran a quick diagnostic as she tried speaking over the radio, "This is Hex! Took a hit to my unit's head. Optics are damaged." she said, only to see that her comms had also been knocked out by that hit. She cursed under her breath and committed the Blackout's AI to try and find a solution to rectify the comms outage.

She took up her firing position again, bringing the LR-90 back to the direction she had spotted the transports. She saw the rotor blades of one sticking just out above some low ground. No shot. She kept tracking the movement until one came into view. Her HUD acquired the target, but several errors came up on her HUD that the advanced FCS in the Blackout's head had also received damaged and needed a tech. Leah instinctively switched to manual aim and began tracking the fast moving rotorcraft transports. They were in the AO now. With gravity and an atmosphere, manual aim became so much harder. Her HUD was going all over the place with only half of the Blackout's optics functioning. She was about to squeeze the trigger when she saw the transports both begin to fade from view. Optical camouflage?! These things were going to deliver two close assault heavies right on top of the Secutor and Venator without them even realizing! "Rhino! Rook! On your four o'clock! Two-"

"ERROR: Comms systems disabled. Continuing to rectify."

"Fuck!" she said out loud to vent. That random coalie came out of the woodwork at the most inopportune of moments.

With the optical camo now activated on the transports, there was no chance that Leah was going to handle the problem at range. And without her comms, there was no chance that neither Rhino nor Rook would have time to react to two heavies dropping on their heads! She couldn't see them yet, but she knew where they were headed. Leah locked the LR-90 into its shoulder pylon and fired her main boosters, blue flames jetting out behind the MAS as it launched forward toward the thick of the fighting. Leah maxed out her throttle, large drive plumes blasting out behind the Blackout as it skimmed over tree lines and some remote buildings. At one point, the Blackout was close enough over a homestead to shatter its windows, flip a car, and rip apart the homestead's rooftop. She was sucked back into her seat from the G-Forces to close the gap as quickly as possible at full burn. More warnings came up on her remaining displays that she was going over safe g-force tolerances of her MAS. More systems began to report errors, including her IFF transponder which went dark. That'd have to get rectified once the 7th was able to consolidate after this engagement, but for now she'd just have to trust that the rest of the 7th remembered what the Blackout looked like with its DCA active.

Her scanners pinged. Leah saw a report on the rotorcraft's new position, nearly right on top her team mates now. It was likely they'd be showing up for the Secutor and Rhino at that point too. She burned hard toward them, and was only a few hundred meters away when the transports lifted their optical camouflage to reveal their deadly cargo. The Blackout drew its pistol and knife before pulling up and twisting through the air. The transport nearest to the Blackout unlatched its Skollr just moments before the Blackout crashed straight the rotorcraft feet first. The transport split in two and wreathed the Blackout in fire and debris as it streaked out of black smoke and carried on with its momentum. Already the Blackout was pivoting to land feet first into the ground. Mud splashed out in the Blackout's wake as it skated backward, pistol already on the other transport. Three shots were fired, blasting one of the four rotors off before blowing out the cockpit and sending the transport into a fiery, smoky spin. Its passenger Skollr was still fixed to the clamps, bringing it along for the crash.

The Skollr that did managed to detach hit the ground with a heavy boom. It had extra armor plating, a heavy canister shotgun, and a bladed shield mounted to its other arm. It lumberingly turned to face the sleak, battle-scarred Blackout as a heavy gatling cannon pivoted over and onto its shoulder, the barrels already beginning to spin. With a deep, thundering vibration, the gatling cannon let loose on the Blackout's position. Leah quick boosted left, blowing through a small copse of trees to evade the gatling fire. The Blackout returned with its pistol, but the Skollr had raised its shield to cover it while the gatling cannon roared. Leah launched into the air, quick boosted forward, and raced over top of the Skollr, trying to get behind it before closing in with the combat knife. As she landed behind the Skollr, Leah quickly switched to her mains, feeling her body shift and get sucked back into her seat as she closed in for a knife strike. As she rushed past the wreckage of the second transport, the other Skollr burst from the wreckage and flames, a heavy mechanical hand reaching out to try and grapple the surprisingly nimble Blackout.

Leah cursed and quickly boosted away, decommitting to the knife attack on the first Skollr to evade behind pinned by the second. The gave the first time to turn and line up its canister shotgun. It fired too soon, most of the pellets trimming back a treeline while some large pellets connected with the core of the Blackout. The armor held, but it did destabilize the Blackout enough to causing it fall and scrape across the ground. The second Skollr threw off the transport wreckage that was pinning it down and began to stand, its red optical sensors pointed directly at the Blackout as it too righted itself.

Leah looked at her options. Without comms or a working IFF, her drones had switched to a passive state, and her SFCC uplink would not be verifiable for orbital support. Unless she got backup, it was her against two specialized close assault heavies.

The Blackout got to both feet and faced the two Skollrs, knife in one hand as the pistol in the other ejected its first magazine. Leah did a skillful one-handed reload for the pistol before switching to the Blackout's loudspeaker. "We just going to stand here all day?! Come on!"

Skollr-CA Spec