Border Wars: an introduction to the Mycab Sector

[Peterson]

This isn't going well, Kaden thought to himself as he stared up at the large mecha in front of him.
"Look, just call your commander and check it out. He wants us here. Hell, he asked us to come." The Vic'Tarian said as he stalled for time. It wasn't as though he was lying…completely. The Town Foreman had requested asylum with the Mycab Sector Government. Not like that was going to be received any better by CSI…..

This isn't going well, Liz thought to herself as she stared at the family of five in front of her. The Town Foreman – a lanky, bearded fellow with a bad left leg – stood near his young wife and three children, over-packed suitcases on the floor by their legs.
“Look," Liz said with forced patience, "The deal was for just you. Only you. We only have room for you." The Town Foreman just shook his head in disagreement, his hand intertwined with that of his soul mate's.
"We all go or you came for nothing." The Flatstone resident said flatly.
"Son of a Rayne." Liz swore loudly, quickly weighing options against duty. "Fine. If they don't keep up," Liz said, gesturing to the children, "It's your fault." The lanky human merely nodded his acceptance, and almost as one, they moved towards the door – and to freedom.

Ken was having trouble believing the blue-skinned, white-winged native in front of him. “Controller, we have a non-hostile situation here. Please advise.” Ken keyed his comm, unsure how to actually explain this situation. He glanced over to Fayne, noticed her getting into a good tactical position, her chaingun still aimed at the Mycabri that shot at her.
“Stand by, -03. Checking with Security.” Gordy’s voice sounded hollow.
“Copy. -03 and -04, standing by.” Ken confirmed, grimacing as he imagined the look Fayne was giving him from inside her mecha.

Liz glanced out the door’s viewport again, amazed that the two corporate mechas were merely standing at the ready. She hated to force conflict, but she was worried that the Corporation’s Security Team was merely stalling until more forces could be brought to bear. Looking back at the five humans behind her solved her problem. Two mecha and two Aerial Interceptors would be tough, but doable. Any more, especially in the way of heavy hitters like power armor and mechas, and they wouldn’t have a chance.
“When I tell you to, you run, and hard.” Liz said, waiting for acknowledgement from each of them. Once all five had nodded, Liz threw open the door and yelled, “Run to the ship!”

 

[Peterson]

“Interesting. They came for the Town Foreman and his family.” The other said to his companion.
“No. They came for just the Town Foreman.” The first one said, as his finger tapped the monitor’s screen where the little insertion shuttle had landed.
“No. They came for just the Town Foreman.” Gordon echoed hollowly, his finger tapping the air in front of him.
“Indeed.” The other said to his companion, then reached up to cup his left ear, his earpiece transmitting new information. The first one – and Gordon – likewise imitated him. After a brief moment, the trio looked at each other and nodded.
“The natives should do. Shall we test them first?” the first one said to the other.
“The natives should do. Shall we test them first?” Gordon echoed.
“Indeed.”

 

[Peterson]

Ken’s motion sensors blared to life a few seconds before his comm. He jerked his head to the direction of a nearby house, where five humans and a female Mycabri broke from it’s cover at a fast pace.
“CSI FIST -03 and -04, engage natives at will. Eliminate the Town Foreman and his family. His wife has set explosives in the mine. They are terrorists. Eliminate them.” Gordy's flat, hollow voice came over the comm. Fayne must have anticipated Security’s decision, because the transmission barely finished when she opened up fire with her chaingun, kicking up dust around the Mycabri with an assault rifle, barely missing him as he dodged to the left. Ken lowered his Warpath rifle as he directed his attention back to the Vic’Tarian in front of him, who was no longer there….

Kaden caught sight of the Foreman’s door opening out of the corner of his eye. Without thinking, he threw himself to the side, rolling back behind the cover of another building. Keying his comm as he rolled to his knees, he ordered the pilot to get ready for a fast liftoff. The pilot’s reply was lost as the second mecha’s chaingun roared to life, followed by the muffled growl of the approaching Aerial Interceptors. Oh, it’s going to get fun now…

Koveris likewise knew it all was about to hit the fan as he caught sight of the opening door. He growled his satisfaction, and charged the mecha in front of him, the one marked with an -03. Within seconds, he had covered the ground between them, and launched himself into the air, two of his claws scratching the mecha’s armor as he used the mecha’s rifle to swing himself into the air and onto it’s back.

Fenis swore under his breath as he rolled into a kneeling-shooter position. He let loose another burst at the mecha, this time scoring a hit. He grimaced as the bullets ricocheted off the dense armor plating, barely scratching the paint job. Need to find cover….

Ken heard Fayne laughing over their comm as she used her Warpath Rifle to blast away the cover her target had just dove to, exposing him to her deadly weaponry. Ken had his own problems though, as he tried to shrug the native off his back, without luck. He could hear the four-armed Mycabri scratching his claws into his suit’s back, but knew the armor would be too dense to worry. Ken scanned the area as he maneuvered to dislodge the pesky native, and saw the five humans – lead by the female Mycabri – run around a nearby building.

Javin groaned again in the cockpit, as the grounded ship was once again racked with chaingun fire from the strafing Aerial Interceptors. Come on guys, come on….

Kaden brought his sidearm up to bear, and fired off a quick shot at a passing Aerial Interceptor, nailing it dead-on. Unfortunately, the bullet merely ricocheted off the power armor. “Son of a….Oh HELL!” Kaden shouted as he realized that he managed to gain the operator’s attention as the Aerial Interceptor adjusted its course.

Liz skidded to stop and turned around to yell at the humans running behind her. “Down!” Liz had noticed the two Aerial Interceptors adjust their course; they were flying at high speed toward her and the humans. Liz took her own advice and threw herself to the ground, hoping the humans would follow suit.

The five humans – two adults, a female and a nearly-crippled male, and three children, all under the age of 15 – dove to the ground barely in time, as the Aerial Interceptors’ chainguns thundered above them, slamming hundreds of bullets into the ground around them.

Meanwhile...
Dane slipped at her second refill, desperate to find someone to talk to, and wondering if her precious, company-owned ship was damaged in any way.

 

[Peterson]

Liz picked herself off the ground, pausing for a moment to brush the red dirt from her clothing. She glanced back towards the Town Foreman and gasped.

Kaden fired off another round at the Aerial Interceptor, grinning when he saw the shot impact. He knew that one had to have damaged the flying power armor. Hearing a soft sobbing, he glanced towards the humans and gasped. Kaden looked to Liz, mainly to assure himself that she was still alive, and caught her glance. He titled his head slightly to the left – in the direction of the mother and two children – and received a curt nod from her, confirming what he expected.

The Town Foreman laid face-down in the dirt, his blood barely staining the already red-colored ground below him. Massive bullet holes had ripped large chunks from his body, and through them, one could see his eldest child of fourteen years pinned underneath the dead weight of his father. Through all the blood, it was difficult to see if the young girl was still alive.

The mother and two remaining children laid on the ground a few feet away, all three of them crying in fear and totally unaware of the death that lay just outside reach.

Koveris tried to dig his claws into the large mecha he had climbed upon, and roared in frustration when he was unable to do so. Suddenly, the mecha’s left arm reached back and grabbed hold of the four-armed Mycabri – and Koveris found himself staring down the rotating barrels of a huge chaingun, less than a foot away. Even shooting blind, there was little chance the mecha’s operator could miss…

Fenis looked about in a slight panic – his cover had just been blown apart by a massive explosive round from the CSI FIST-04’s Warpath Recoilless Rifle. Unable to find much cover, Fenis ran at top speed into the insertion shuttle, hoping that the small cargo bay would provide much-needed cover.

Liz jogged over to the downed human male, hoping against logic that he still had some life signs. Without pausing, she snatched the Town Foreman and tossed him over a shoulder, continuing on her way at all possible speed towards the waiting shuttle.

Kaden moved towards the closest human – the mother – helping the woman to her feet and told her to run without looking back. She did as she was told, her head down and legs pumping with desperation. Kaden watched her go for the briefest of moments before turning his attention to the whimpering children, still lying in a fetal position. Kaden gently reached down and lifted both of the young humans onto their feet. He turned to make his way into a nearby building, hoping to find some sort of protection for the children.

Ken caught sight of the running human female – the one who planted the explosives in the mine. Gordy’s words came flooding back into his memory. “Eliminate the Town Foreman and his family. His wife has set explosives in the mine. They are terrorists. Eliminate them.” Ken attempted to yank the native off his back without success, before deciding to target the fleeing woman. Ken lowered his Warpath rifle, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

Ken’s teammate, Fayne, was getting sick of this hide-n-seek game the native was playing with her. Glancing around, she caught sight of the female Mycabri running towards the waiting insertion shuttle, the Town Foreman draped over her shoulder. Fayne grinned and began pursuing, her path taking the mecha operator past the blue-skinned Vic’Tarian herding the human children into a nearby building. A good twenty feet ahead of her, Fayne noticed the now-conscious fourteen-year-old human female begin to stir on the ground.

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

Nice work Peterson,

one hell of a pacy read as so far.

To be honest, I'm thrilled at what is going on, but have very little grasp of who is what, and how much damage a Warpath should be doing. I've never played d20 modern (though always wanted to... how gloriously sad), but it is a testament to your style that I'm not lost, despite the barrage of "x-03's" this, and "Mycabrian death sting" that.

Write more! Write fast! You've single-handedly added a genre to my reading list. Oh, and keep the artwork coming.

p.s. please don't explain anything for me - the feeling of ignorance is seductive.

Spider.

 

[Peterson]

Nice work Peterson,

one hell of a pacy read as so far.

To be honest, I'm thrilled at what is going on, but have very little grasp of who is what, and how much damage a Warpath should be doing. I've never played d20 modern (though always wanted to... how gloriously sad), but it is a testament to your style that I'm not lost, despite the barrage of "x-03's" this, and "Mycabrian death sting" that.

Write more! Write fast! You've single-handedly added a genre to my reading list. Oh, and keep the artwork coming.

p.s. please don't explain anything for me - the feeling of ignorance is seductive.

Spider.

Wow. Thanks for the interest and positive feedback.
For any of you out there that are curious - or if Spider (and you have no idea how ironic that is) feels a desire to learn more - you can always click on the MSRD (or buy a copy of D20 Future) for stats on some of the technology.

As for the rest of it, well....you'll just have to wait until I send it to the publishers.


Working on the final update until we play again (stupid life keeps interrupting!),

Peterson

 

[ledded]

Just read the latest update, and in the words of Peter from the newly-ressurected Family Guy...


Freakin' Sweet!

Nice work man.

 

[genshou]

Just read the latest update, and in the words of Peter from the newly-ressurected Family Guy...


Freakin' Sweet!

Nice work man.

Indeed. I have not yet been given the chance to play d20 Future (though I've read the rulebook cover to cover), but I'm very interested in this story from strictly a story perspective.

Just out of curiosity, though... how big are the mecha piloted by Ken and Fayne? I mean, there's a pretty big difference between a Large mecha and a Colossal mecha...

 

[Peterson]

Thanks for the interest.

The Mecha are Large-sized, only ten feet in height - I'm not a big fan of the really tall mecha, especially on the ground, so the players know that if they see a Huge - or bigger - mecha, it means pain. Heh.

Peterson

 

[genshou]

Thanks for the interest.

The Mecha are Large-sized, only ten feet in height - I'm not a big fan of the really tall mecha, especially on the ground, so the players know that if they see a Huge - or bigger - mecha, it means pain. Heh.

Peterson

Yes... very much so. Aside from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (which is just cool on so many levels), I'm not a fan of the "giant robot manga/anime" craze. It's nice to see a smaller mecha for once (the biggest I've ever used would be considered Huge in d20 Future rules). Oh, and just for the sake of my ever-pervasive curiosity, what Progress Level did you use as a base for the tech level in the campaign?