We're low on WD, and we need to buy a few seconds. Why not, I'll go with Punkey's crazy plan.

I'm kind of assuming that in a manta-size ship the weapons are intended to be operated by the pilot. If it's a separate function, then Semo will let Mellish or Hugh take it.

It's one of those nebulous cockpits. You've got a beam turret and an accelerator (for the sunballs and standard warheads/projectiles); anyone may fire either.

As for the Cortex crew, initiative:

Angel
Swims
Turai, Arketta, Ngawai
Jonnoperest, Luis, Davis

To give Ivan a wee bit more time, I'll say Angel's holding his action until Swims goes. There's not a terrible amount of targets as it is.

Semo will fire the accelerator - sunball if it's not too drastically overkill, otherwise a standard projectile. Someone else is welcome to use the beamer turret.

Davis is shooting at the Caretaker with the scary explosive first, and after that, taking a shot at one of the two Turai running inside.

You get the Turai. I'll get the Caretaker. Better Shoot--2d10 to your d8.

That would be why I put a secondary target on my to do list. It's a moot point, anyway, if Angel doesn't kill him before he throws that bomb, we have larger problems.

Fella with the bomb?

He's getting it.

Ivan, that was a good line at just the right time. I'll give Arketta a Wild Die to her attempt to shake off the frisbee-imprinted brainwashing.

Crowning Moment of Awesome? Fuck yeah.

Edit: Alright, let's get a sitrep. Do we have any grenades? Where is everyone? Where's cover?

Punkey wrote:

Crowning Moment of Awesome? Fuck yeah.

Oh, indeed. Here's hoping for us, though, not them. Good Magnificent Bastard points to the Imperium, though.

I think it might be time for a classic flanking maneuver from the air. We pretty much have aerial control at this moment, with the exception of those drone-guided spear bombs, so if Semo drops the Manta down to pick up a full compliment of soldiers, they can infiltrate behind the Turai retreat and secure an LZ for a freighter or other transports to set down and drop a large force behind the Turai retreat. They can spread out enough to hard reinforce a line so we can encircle the enemy and severely disrupt their efforts, and possibly get them to surrender entirely. Classic military maneuver.

Is there enough room inside the Spire compound to pull that off, though? It's a classic move, all right, but we'd need to ensure we have room to do it between the Spire and their current line of defense.

Yep, there'd be enough room. Because the nature of the Spire battle demands something a little less personal than the typical turn-by-turn combat (else it'd be "You see a Turai." -"I shoot him." -"OK, you see another."), a general plan from Hugh and Semo will be fine. The stated plan thus far appears to be "fire upon hostiles until the manta runs out of ammo or is shot down".

Just remember that your sabotage of the Spire Gate was a temporary blockage at best. They can and will unearth the gateway eventually.

As for the Court people:



We'll call each square 10 feet. Why the hell not?

Initiative:

Ngawai, Arketta, Luis, Avatar 5
Angel, Davis 4
Caretakers 3
Swims 2
Jonnoperest 1 (doh)

Davis has 2 Wild Dice. Luis has 2 Wild Dice. Angel's got 4 WD.

Well, since we don't have time to make a plan, Davis is going to prioritize the Caretakers, letting the heavy hitters take care of the Avatar. I figure Arketta's gonna wanna take a shot at the Avatar, plus Angel's gonna do his thing as well. That leaves the other three at the top of the list, counting Davis, to shoot at the Caretakers. Three-round burst into the best target, with Wild Dice on top.

Pair of 3-round bursts into the lower right Caretaker for Luis. Maybe three, depends if I can do it without taking such addional system penalties as to make the full auto bonuses irrelevant. (Could use advice there, someone). Oh, and WD are to be used if needed. If I don't use 'em now, there may not be another time to.

Finally, in the event we do di...not make it, what happens? Do we make new characters to be part of the Earth strike force?

Shh...don't jinx it.

Also, do we get a surprise action on this one?

To clarify, we don't hover and shoot at targets of opportunity for half an hour. I want to unload everything we have into enemy positions, then set this sucker down. Every moment we stay airborne is just another taunt to whatever AA capability they may have left.

Angel intends to riddle the Avatar with gunfire.

So it is written, so let it be done.

Avatar riddled! At this point, you can tell its head doesn't house sensors or brain.

Davis: spent the remaining 2 Wild Dice to bring your Fight roll up high enough to mitigate the Avatar's Fight roll and lessen the horrible horrible damage. 2/6 Wounds, 8/16 Shock. OTOH, that would've outright killed Arketta or Jonno.

Speaking of Arketta, she got lucky. 4/6 Wounds, 7/12 Shock.

Swims is at 8/10 Wounds, 18/20 Shock.

Jonno: 4/6 Wounds, 8/12 Shock.

Luis' Caretaker is clearly the most wounded. It didn't even get to take an action this round. Of the remaining hostiles, the one who's staying back to shoot is pretty messed up as well. The other two are fine or just have Shock damage.

Initiative:
Luis 6
Swims 5
Angel, Avatar, Ngawai 3
Caretakers, Arketta 2
Davis, fucked-up Caretaker, Jonno 1