Actually, I was thinking more on the lines of Turai camping out in front of the Gate waiting for our return with a whole legion of armor-clad warriors and Mantaships.
Even worse dicketry would be for the Turai to park a Mantaship in front of the Gate ready to nuke Mesa Negras at the first opening of the Gate.
I'm not saying Gatac's current plan shouldn't be done, but the above is stuff to consider down the road.
Since the Turai go first this round, I'd like to wait and see what they're going to do before choosing for Semo, if possible.
My initial reaction is to ignore the Turai and open up on Goldie with the Mk 48 and see just how many rounds of 7.62 NATO those stupid metal balls can absorb. Of course, depending on what they do, Semo might not be able to ignore the Turai.
As for the gate, I say we go through once we have it secured, wipe out the aliens on the other side, and make the gate inoperable. Permanently.
No map today, I'm pretty busy. The two worst-wounded Turai are down behind the Humvee. The guy who can still shoot at you is behind the glassed-over sandbags. That big tent actually isn't there - Semo cut it up into tarps a while ago. And when I say behind the sandbags, I mean he's fully behind them, only sticking his gun over to shoot at you.
Sandbag-boy gets a grenade (or two, or three...) for his trouble. Once he's dealt with, they can flank the guys behind the Humvee. Of course, don't want to take too long, just in case they have one of those donut-thingies.
The two wounded turai have one more round to make it through the portal. They're not bothering firing back, they're just trying to make it.
Semo is actually out of frag grenades. He has 3 smoke and 2 flashbangs. He's used 135/600 rounds for his Mk. 48, and has around 30 rounds (one turn of full-auto fire) left in the weapon proper.
Angel's used 1 out of seven magazines, and currently has a nearly-full clip. He has 2 frags, 3 smokers, and 1 flashbang.
It is a hell of a throw for a hand grenade at this point. Angel's scope still makes it short range for him. Semo's at medium range, and would be firing over the sandbags at the bastards.
Finally, for people at the campsite, it is not so far away that you can't hear what's going on. The battle at the gate probably sounded like this:
The two wounded turai have one more round to make it through the portal. They're not bothering firing back, they're just trying to make it.
Semo is actually out of frag grenades. He has 3 smoke and 2 flashbangs. He's used 135/600 rounds for his Mk. 48, and has around 30 rounds (one turn of full-auto fire) left in the weapon proper.
Angel's used 1 out of seven magazines, and currently has a nearly-full clip. He has 2 frags, 3 smokers, and 1 flashbang.
It is a hell of a throw for a hand grenade at this point. Angel's scope still makes it short range for him. Semo's at medium range, and would be firing over the sandbags at the bastards.
Finally, for people at the campsite, it is not so far away that you can't hear what's going on. The battle at the gate probably sounded like this:
I would almost advise that Angel takes a shot through the gate to see whether the theory would work, but that would probably warn the turai there that we intend to use that trick against them later.
When we do the assault, we should have our grenades ready and just throw them through the gate when we have it powered up. That oughta scatter the bastards.
(Bonus points if we can get the Mk.19 working. Then it's fucking death and ruin raining through the gate.)
Angel and Semo are down to 2 Wild Dice each, they spent some for dodging those spheres and spent some more to take advantage of some truly horrible armor rolls in the last round.
I say we get to the Gate site ASAP. If that means leaving behind some of our gear, we take as much as we can in one trip, and skedaddle. Leave the prisoners if we have to, but if we bring them under gaurd, we can use them as pack mules.
I kinda feel bad for hammering you guys like this, but it's in theme with the genre*. Logically, they sent recon teams and you guys (from their perspective) trashed them. They called in backup.
Metagamically, we are pretty close to a new IC thread and a Wild Dice refresh. I also forgot to say, Hugh gets another Wild Die for taking a typical RPG situation (prisoner interrogation) and actually bringing some thought and morality to it.
Time-wise, you definitely have enough time for Max to key the Gate (he's still the only Earthling who knows the code IIRC) and toss grenades. Whipping the Mk.19 out of the stowaway pit will be cutting it close, but it's a big advantage. Drop 100 grenades in 20 seconds through that portal.
If we don't get through the gate and reach MN, we're fucked. No holding back this time, everything we have goes through that gate. Gentlemen, when we are done with the gateroom, I want Superfund-grade lead contamination in there.
Taking Semo out of the equation hurts, but if anybody can get the Mk. 19 ready in time, it's him. If we don't have the time, he can still run up with us and join in with his Mk. 48 to sweep up survivors.
If he can get the Mk 19 ready in time, Semo will light up the pit with it as soon as the Gate opens. If not, he'll palm both of his flash-bangs and toss them through, then go to work with the 48.
To a man, everyone made their Think rolls to memorize the Earth code as Max entered it. Semo BARELY beat the Turai in getting the launcher set up (as in, he rolls a 2, they roll a 1).
You have literally one round to get through the Gate before we roll initiative outside (so you might get, in effect, two rounds if you beat the vessels' initiative), BUT you have Dietrich on a stretcher as well as two prisoners, not to mention a rather large amount of alien salvage, plus you don't know for sure if the other side is clear. I mean, the place got fucked up for sure, but you can't see.
If Max is wearing the full Turai armor with helmet, he's getting all sorts of interesting telemetry from your side that he can't read.
Since Max is suited up in a Turai outfit, it might be best for him to go through the Gate with a barking P90...followed up by all the Deltas. Once we're all through, we hit the big red button and disable the Gate from Mesa Negras.
All right, we have Max as a volunteer for pointman. I would like to know some sort of marching order, so to speak, as well as who's carrying/watching which excess baggage. Dietrich will take two people to cart through the Gate. It'll take one person's full attention to get the two prisoners through (meaning they can move, but they won't be able to attack). Semo will have to be near the tail end, since he's gotta get up and run from the launcher. I take it Hugh is last to leave, yes?
All right, we have Max as a volunteer for pointman. I would like to know some sort of marching order, so to speak, as well as who's carrying/watching which excess baggage. Dietrich will take two people to cart through the Gate. It'll take one person's full attention to get the two prisoners through (meaning they can move, but they won't be able to attack). Semo will have to be near the tail end, since he's gotta get up and run from the launcher. I take it Hugh is last to leave, yes?
I think Luis, as medic, is probably one of the two carrying Dietrich, and he and the other are probably about in the middle of the order. Idly, any chance that we could make the Turai carry the stretcher f have one of them assist Luis?
The first thing those prisoners are going to do if you free them and put them on stretcher detail is take your comrade and run straight out into the clearing. They trust you guys not to shoot for fear of hitting Dietrich, and you can't chase them because their guys are flying in on top of you. No, the prisoners are staying secured to each other for the duration or they're getting left behind.
We'll put Andy on the stretcher with Luis, then. Taylor's got one arm and has downgraded to a SMG, he can handle the prisoners. Also, he's Delta, so he's trained to kick their ass if they try anything, which makes more sense than putting Kitty or Andy on prisoner detail.
So:
Max
Angel
Mellish
Kitty
Andy/Dietrich/Luis
Taylor & 2 prisoners
Hugh
Semo (or Semo, then Hugh - I can roll randomly as to who gets shot at if you're too slow)
Dieter
fanchergw
Admiral Duck Sauce
Gatac