Part 499: Behind Enemy Lines - Turn 17

Behind Enemy Lines: Tactical Update 17

“Holding back in a battle is foolish. When, exactly, did we become the two-hundred fifties?” Inside his own neurohelmet, Zhu Que’s voice was deep and powerful, reverberating from somewhere deep within his chest. He let his volume build until he felt it in his bones—well aware that his transmission would strip all inflection from his words and leave them cold and robotic. Unlike most people, he loved the sound of his own voice. Zhu Que was still more than happy to chew a little scenery even when the audience was himself alone.

“Tianlong,” he queried, “the Prefectorate Guard did a terrible job softening up the enemy, when we return to society we should issue a complaint to the Director about their constant interference in our project. Because of them, the enemy likely to escape without serious loss. Permission to cut loose?”

There was a brief delay, just long enough to let Zhu Que stew in his cramped cockpit. His secondary monitors flickered as the beetle-shaped Maelstrom toggled its ECM into a wide-area suppression, likely in an attempt to cut his communications. His eyes focused on that purple-and-white form as though trying to bore through its armor with his stare alone. The Union-class DropShip’s transmission was too powerful and too brief for the enemy’s ECM to be truly effective.

“Heavenly lance, control says: permission granted. Do not embarrass us.”

Zhu Que didn’t bother to reply, letting his hands slip from the controls for a moment to crack his dark knuckles. He could keep his Shadow Hawk upright and in motion with thought alone, but when the shooting started again he wanted his hands as responsive as the machine he piloted. He reached out, switching back to his primary communications circuit.

“Lance,” he broadcast, “disengage your engine power limiters. We have gotten permission to push our machines to their operational limits. Command doesn’t care how many of the enemy escapes—that shame will be borne by the Prefectorate Guard—but I want to prove our value. Pick a target and cripple it, I want one of those pilots captured alive.”

“It is about time!” Xuan Wu’s emotionless-sounding voice crackled. Zhu Que mirrored her untransmitted elation “Throttling down the power of a 385 engine is such a waste.”

“It’s time to show them some color,” Bai Hu cut in, nearly interrupting Xuan Wu’s broadcast.

“Horse horse tiger tiger,” Qing Long’s laughter didn’t translate, transmitting as a series of clicks. She was always quick to judge Bai Hu’s language harshly. “That was almost the appropriate use for that, wind flower snow moon.”

Bai Hu’s radio crackled noisily as he growled like his namesake, like Qing’s laughter the radio wasn’t sure what to transmit and sent only noise. “I do not care, as long as we can break these turtle eggs.”

“There, see?” Qing Long couldn’t resist the last word. “I knew you would get one right eventually.”








Movement Phase
War Dog (Player)
- Generating Ghost Targets on Grand Titan (4 base + 2 ECM Tuning = 6): rolled 8, succeeds! MOS: 2!

Maelstrom (Player)
- Switches ECM to ECM!



Shooting Phase
War Dog (Player)
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 1314!
- Fires Large Pulse Laser at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 11, hit Center Torso (19/28 armor remaining)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 9, hit Left Arm (12/18 armor remaining)!
- Gains 16 heat, sinks 20!

Nightstar (Player)
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (4 base + 2 range + 0 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 11): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (4 base + 2 range + 0 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 11): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires ER PPC at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (4 base + 2 range + 0 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 11): rolled 7, miss!
- Gains 17 heat, sinks 28!

Maelstrom (Player)
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 0811!
- Fires ER PPC at Shadow Hawk Zhu Que (Red) (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 11): rolled 7, miss!
- Gains 17 heat, sinks 34!

Cerberus (Player)
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Shadow Hawk Zhu Que (Red) (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 10): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Shadow Hawk Zhu Que (Red) (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 10): rolled 7, miss!
- Gains 3 heat, sinks 30!

Grand Titan (Allied)
- Fires Large X-Pulse Laser at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (2 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 7, hit Right Torso (10/19 armor remaining)!
- Fires Large X-Pulse Laser at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (2 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 7): rolled 11, hit Center Torso (10/28 armor remaining)!
- Fires Artemis SRM-6 at Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White) (2 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 4 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 5, miss!
- Gains 34 heat, sinks 34!

Jinggau
- Holds fire!
- Gains 5 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White ACE!)
- Must pass a piloting test to resist Ghost Images (2 base + 2 MOS = 4): rolled 8, succeeds!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 10, hit Center Torso (21/36 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 4, miss!
- Fires ER Small Laser at War Dog (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 11, hit Left Arm (10/24 armor remaining)!
- Gains 14 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Zhu Que (Red ACE!)
- Fires Plasma Rifle at Maelstrom (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 8): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Maelstrom (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 6): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Maelstrom (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 6): rolled 6, hit Left Leg (24/32 armor remaining)!
- Gains 29 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Xuan Wu (Black ACE!)
- Fires ER Medium Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 1 targeting computer = 7): rolled 9, hit Left Leg (2/27 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 1 targeting computer = 7): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 1 targeting computer = 7): rolled 7, hit Left Arm (16/21 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 1 targeting computer = 7): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires ER Small Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 1 targeting computer = 7): rolled 8, hit Left Torso (16/24 armor remaining)!
- Gains 29 heat, sinks 30!

Shadow Hawk Tengshe (Green ACE!)
- Fires Light PPC at Grand Titan (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Light PPC at Grand Titan (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 9): rolled 4, miss!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grand Titan (4 base + 2 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires Medium X-Pulse Laser at Grand Titan (4 base + 2 range + 3 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 9): rolled 5, miss!
- Gains 29 heat, sinks 26!

Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (Blue ACE!)
- Fires Large X-Pulse Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk - 2 pulse laser = 5): rolled 9, hit Rear Center Torso (6/15 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 8, hit Rear Left Torso (5/10 armor remaining)!
- Fires ER Medium Laser at Cerberus (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 dusk = 7): rolled 9, hit Right Arm (0/21 armor, 12/16 structure remaining)! Crit!
- Gains 15 heat, sinks 30!

Union-class Dropship 天龍
- Fires PPC at Car (3 base + 0 range + 0 movement - 4 target movement = -1): automatic hit (0/2 structure remaining)! Vehicle destroyed!




End Phase
Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White)
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (2 base + 1 massive damage = 3): rolled 3, succeeds!

Cerberus (Player)
- Critical chance in Right Arm! No critical hits sustained!
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 1 massive damage = 5): rolled 7, succeeds!



Physical Combat Phase:
Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (White ACE!)
- Must pass a piloting test to resist Ghost Images (2 base + 2 MOS = 4): rolled 7, succeeds!
- Kicks War Dog (2 base + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement - 2 kick = 4): rolled 8, hit Left Leg (5/11 structure remaining)! Crit!

Shadow Hawk Bai Hu (Blue ACE!)
- Kicks Cerberus (2 base + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement - 2 kick = 4): rolled 4, hit Right Leg (16/27 structure remaining)!



End Phase:
War Dog (Player)
- Critical chance in Left Leg! No critical hits sustained!
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 0 kicked = 4): rolled 2, fails!
- - Suffers 8 damage in the fall to Center Torso (16/36 armor remaining), Right Torso (19/23 armor remaining)!
- - Must pass a piloting test to avoid pilot damage (4 base + 2 avoiding damage = 6): rolled 8, succeeds!

Cerberus (Player)
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (4 base + 0 kicked = 4): rolled 10, succeeds!








Player Status:




Allied Status




Opposing Force Status:




Mission Objective:
- Protect Carlos Marik (0/1)

Secondary Objectives:
- Damage but don’t destroy the Civillian `Mechbay in hex 0517 (1/1)
- Destroy the Capellan Checkpoint in hex 1418 (1/1)
- - Make it look like an accident (1/1)
- Avoid Antagonizing ComStar (succeeded!)
- Rescue the ComGuard, if possible (failed!)
- - Recover Acolyte Kreszentia from hex 0512 (1/1)!
- - - Escape with Acolyte Kreszentia (0/1)

Vengeance Counter: 7



Special Rules:
Dusk – This mission takes place at dusk, applying a +1 penalty to-hit. This penalty may worsen if the mission lasts long enough for night to fall.

Escort Mission – This mission has a mobile objective that must be defended.



Orders Due: Midnight Saturday!