309/Hunting for Scraps

Hunting for Scraps
Date of Scene:	30 July 2014
Location:	Desert Mountains
Synopsis:	Zien runs into the Red Union, who decide that her force is the perfect opportunity to get some scrap metal - straight from the source.
Cast of Characters:	123, 351

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ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    The Desert Mountains probably aren't a frequent location for aircraft to pass through. That likely makes the arrival of a certain Ozimovian vessel all the more significant.

    The craft is a somewhat boxy transport ship of shiny black metal, equipped with a few guns on the underside and four VOTL engines along the top, currently angled back and spewing blue energy. There aren't any clear windows on the ship, mostly because the vessel is a robot in itself and sees with the use of several red optics along its form.

    Zien is in the ship, along with several marines and a single giant black box near the back of the transport bay, but aside from the ship itself she is the only currently active crewmember. The box, a bipedal walker, sits dormant while loaded on the ship, and the squad of marines are suspended in stasis all along the loading bay's ceiling. Zien, meanwhile, is near the front of the ship, observing the input and examining the landscape.

    She's really only here on an exploration mission. The Ozimovian Empire has been rather contained to her own world, so why not spend some time analyzing the Multiverse's various regions to gain some sort of tactical awareness of the landscape outside of their world?

    They even seem to be approaching a settlement of some kind, if it could even be called that. How fortunate!

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    Zein might have noticed slightly unusual as she searched the area: People. there's a suprising number of people spread throughout the area. not just the settlements, there's what looks like small groups of people, with makeshift vehicles belching out black smoke. They mostly seem to be hinting through the metal scraps that are abundant in this region.

    Actually, there seems to be a lot of black smoke from the settlement up ahead...

    If Zein has a radio, it might pick up a message at this point. "You're not local, Who is this?" No name or anything, just questions, and they sound a bit annoyed. Weird.

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    It's standard for input on any unit of the Empire to be recorded, and that's exactly what Zien is doing as she flies through. Everything the ship sees and hears is logged to its internal database, which now involves those people bustling around down below. It's a curious sight for Zien, who comes from a location where most energy comes from electricity. This black smoke is something completely different.

    What's also standard for Ozimovian units is a built-in radio, which easily picks up that message when it's transfered over. Her voice comes through immediately after, clearly female but also clearly robotic. "ZN-MALPRG of the Ozimov Empire. We are performing a survey of the surrounding landscape and intend no harm. Is this your settlement?"

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    "ZN... oh, from the tournament? You're not one of ours... Union?" The voice sounds a bit more annoyed. "Allan Bodily, leader of the Red Union. The salvage teams have been calling in UFO sighting for awhile now." A pause, then. "This area is ours. Whatever you're surveying for, you won't find it here."

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    "Yes, from the Union. Allan Bodily is a registered member of the Confederacy, according to my database." Zien's ship shifts its engines around as it comes near the area, angling the blue discharge downward so that the ship remains in a hover not far from the settlement. Her voice doesn't shift from it's robotic tone as she continues speaking. Not too surprising; it's doubtful anything like "emotions" would be programmed into someone coming from an entire planet of machines. "I am cataloguing topographical information for future reference in tactical excursions. Such information would, therefore, be found no matter where my survey takes me."

    A glance is given back to the loading bay. "I am transporting several units in case of attack, but I have no intention of initiating aggressive action against a Confederate at this time. If my departure is required, I will leave your airspace and will not return in any immediate capacity."

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    "You brought troops? Actually." and suddenly, Allan's voice shifts from annoyed to cheerful. "We could use the scrap. you're in enemy turf. Armor? Weapons? Drop your units gear and we consider it fee for safe passage."

    Meanwhile, down below the ship something shows up, Looks like a handfull of various slapped together bikes and buggies, with what seem to be various missile racks bolted, wielded... some might of even been DUCT TAPED onto them. "Fail to comply and we can and WILL start pulling that ship apart ourselves."

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    Oh. How convenient. A ship full of robots passing over hostile territory looking for scrap metal. This is exactly what Zien wasn't looking for.

Shetill, the general's expression and tone don't change as she replies to Allan. "Several issues are present in your proposal. The initial difficulty present is that the armaments of Ozimovian units are built into their chassis and cannot simply be extracted. Dropping armor and weaponry is therefore impossible without dropping the units themselves. Secondly..."

    She pauses as the marines begin to activate. The soldiers are the same sleek black as the ship, around seven feet tall and modeled after human skeletons. Red optics glare in their eye sockets, and their lower faces more closely resemble gas masks than jaws. As they activate, they begin to drop from their holds, thudding against the ship's floor.

    "...standard protocol in my world is that the victorious force in a conflict recycles all deactivated units after a battle, no matter which side the deactivated units are on. With this knowledge, are you certain that you wish for me to send these units to ground level for an inevitable confrontation?"

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    "You wanna dance? That's fine" Allan then starts shouting off radio. "You heard her boys! You smash it you keep it, OPEN FIRE! Scavenger teams prepare for immeidat deployment!"

    Almost immeidatly, the bikes and buggies down below unload ther racks at the ship up above. Further away from the battle, smoke can be seen on the horizan as some of the scavenger crews from nearby get the news: Allan found something big.

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    She was probably asking for that. No turning back now, then. A private radio signal is sent to her own troops, and Zien braces for a conflict.

    The ship, thankfully, has plenty of energy shielding to brace against impacts. That doesn't mean the vessel is entirely spared, but it manages to dampen the payloads enough for the ship to veer back and try to get out of the way of the rockets. At the same time, the back bay door slides open, and the Ozimovian troops begin to fall from it. The giant black box is first, hurtling down to land with a resounding /crash/ on the ground and kicking up sand. Immediately the box begins unfolding, steadily rising into a bipedal "chicken" walker with a pair of double-barreled guns on the sides of the main body and a sort of artillery cannon on the top.

    While that's unfolding, the two dozen marines are landing on the sands as well, already prepped for battle. Curving blades of red energy emerge from one forearm, while the other is equipped with a tall shield of similar energy. That must be what Zien meant when she said that their weaponry wasn't something you could simply drop. The instant the marines land, they bring their shields around in front to form a barrier and begin assaulting Allan's forces from afar, blasting red lasers from their eyes peering just above the rims of their shields.

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    Allan's forces are not very heavily defended, the lasers cut right through some of the bikes, one of the riders losing one of his legs in the process.

    Allan meanwhile. Keeps rallying the troops. "You're Mechanics! Engineers! miners! You build the machines, you dig for the Ore. Are you going to let some god dann BOT be what does you in?"

    "HELL NO!"

    "Keep firing! I'll personally take over the next shift of whoever brings that walker down!"

    Several of the vehicles suddely switch targets, a few sending vollies at the walkers while others fire into the marines. Though there's still a few missles headed up towards the shift.

    Those who lost their vehices also join the fight, using the wrecks of their ride as cover as they open fire with personal weapons. The weapons on Red union troops seem to be pretty random, from simple rifles to laser weaponry to bits of sharpend metal fired from custom jobs that defy description. apparnetly given a chance, they're try to arm themselves with ANYTHING!

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    That didn't take long to turn into a giant firefight. For the moment, Zien stays in the ship, observing the feed from the ship's cameras as it keeps watch over her soldiers. No sense in the general herself jumping out right away just yet, after all, when this is most likely going to be a brief skirmish. If she /doesn't/ end up victorious, she's definitely not going to waste two dozen marines and a walker.

    The Red Union's choice of weaponry is remarkably effective. Anything that gets around the marines' shields is enough to cause significant damage, but the marines in turn are capable of taking plenty of punishment. Limbs and heads are severed, bodies shot through, but many of the soldiers remain standing. It's a testament to the Empire's strength that they can take so much damage.

    The walker is similarly durable. While the marines are in front, soaking up impacts with their shields, the now-unfolded walker is already opening fire. Twin cannons from the sides shoot rapid pulses of energy into the Red Union's forces, while that artillery on the head launches larger, heavier spheres of blue energy that arc into the air before detonating on the ground, aiming primarily for the vehicles. The walker doesn't seem to have shielding of its own: the rockets of Allan's forces detonate against its hull, and while it seems to be made of pretty durable armor, it probably won't handle too many of those shots.

    The marines are beginning to advance, pushing their line forward with their shields held in front. Soon those blades are going to be put into play, it looks like.

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    Ther'es more explosions as the Red union loses a few more vehciles. Suriviving crew once again takingto personal weapons once they've lost their vehciles.

    Actually, the Red union might seem weirdly resilient at this point. they're losing men, but not NEARLY the numbers one would expect for a bunch of laborers going up against a militay force.

    Then again, there's always been that rumor that everyone in the Red Union can regenerate. But there's no way there could be any truth to that, right?

    As the marines get closer, some of the Red Union start to pull out melee weapons, they're even more random than the guns. Gauntlets, hammers, many of them seem like they we're simply pieced together from whatever seemed useful at the time. Some people are using what seems to be their work tools, there's a few pick axes in there. Several of of them have even gone so far as hooking batteries up to the business end to create makeshift electrical and energy weapons.

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    Well, this is troubling. Zien expected such a cobbled-together force of people who appeared to be little more than normal humans to fall more dramatically in the face of her force's weaponry. To go so soundly up against Ozimovian forces is remarkable in itself, but to do so with little more than laboring tools and cobbled scrap is all the more baffling. Clearly Zien has underestimated her opponent here.

    She's starting to consider that negotiation a little more seriously.

    A few marines begin to fall as the Red Union's assault wears them down too much. These machines seem like they need to be almost totally dismantled to finish them off, and some of the Red Union's attacks seem to be just the thing for that. The shields are mitigating most of the damage, but what's going to happen when those have to move?

    The marines come close and suddenly drop their shields, sprinting in with remarkable speed to close the rest of the distance between them and the Red Union. Here is where their energy blades come in, slashing and stabbing with strength and precision wherever they can find a target. The walker begins to move forward, too, heavy footsteps shaking the ground and kicking up dust with each footfall. Its fire remains constant, even once one gun is shot off by a stray rocket and its hull begins to be breached by another missile's impact.

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    Getting closer gives a better view of what exactly is going on with these guys.

    Several of the Red union are sporting various wounds, a lot of burns, a few missing limbs, but they're not as bad as they should be. Wounds have scabbed up and closed up, Stumps have stopped bleeding. It's ugly as hell and some of these people are going to need a trip to medical ASAP but for now? There's a lot of men still standing that likely shouldn't be. There might have been some truth to those rumors after all.

    This is also useful because the Red union is definatly NOT military, they're at least better trained then you're typical bunch of ragtag msifits, but it's pretty obvious most of thier strength comes less from actual training and more for whatever's letting them take hits like that.

    Speaking of, there's still a few vehciles left with a few missiles to spare as they fire off severla more volleys, those iwthout vehines either trying ot intercept marines to keep them away from the remaining vehicles, or taking pot shots from cover behind the wreckage left by some of the other vehickes.

ZN-MALPRG (351) has posed:
    There's one thing to be said for mechanical precision. In the face of untrained chaos, it becomes harder for programmed inputs to respond properly, especially when they don't have brute force and durability on their side. As advanced and strong as the Ozimovian marines are, the Red Union is managing to match them, if not surpass them. The marines are finding it difficult to predict where the laborers' attacks are coming from and responding to them in time. Limbs are severed, bodies are crushed, metal is torn, but the two sides seem far more durable than they have much right to be.

    Zien's units are falling. The walker finds its legs blasted away, sending it crashing to the ground. Marines are cut down and blasted, cutting their numbers down to half when they're not fully on the defensive. Machines or not, Zien isn't the kind of person to waste her soldiers by simply tossing them at a problem, particularly with something relatively minor like this.

    "Allan Bodily." Her voice comes through the radio again, her tone still the same as it was before. "Both of us are wasting forces over an illogical purpose. I have a proposition. Take the units that have fallen for recycling and allow me to retrieve those that are still standing. If you require resources, then you have plenty in what you have earned today."

Allan Bodily (123) has posed:
    The raido is silent for a few moments, then. "Nothing wrong in roughing up an enemy... you've got a point though. consider it a deal then." Then, just off radio. "HOLD FIRE! We got what we wanted, let 'em leave!"

    Assuming the marines will let them, the Red Union would stop fighting, troops pulling back to give the marines some room. Thouh they're not lowering weapons, jsut in case.