16th MS Team Quest ...6?

>>1317834
>Mount up and stay in the base
Welcome back EFF, I got to work in 3 hours but I'll stick around as long as I can.

>>1317834
>Mount up and stay in the base

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You shoot upright as you gaze down the meandering river as smoke rises above the thick jungle the way that you had entered the base. You take a moment to ponder if it’s the fishermen you saw earlier as you pounce to your feet and begin running back to the makeshift hangar. You trot up the hill as Hilda is waiting for you. You begin to ask where Bela is but Hilda waves you forward; you spy Bela running out of the shower stalls, hair wet, pulling her undershirt on as she follows you.

You twist the fly-line around your hand as you rocket up into the air, jumping deftly into the cockpit of your mobile suit. You toss the headset on your head and open communications to your team;

“Tight perimeter, stay within the base.” You bark

“Roger that, Boss.” Hilda replies.
“Sure thing.” Bela chimes a moment later.

Hilda retreats further into the base to gain some elevation, her sniper rifle poised at the riverbank. Both you and Bela mount your shields on the embankment to form a small barrier as you kneel down behind the meager protection.

Another explosion echoes down the river, this time much closer. You spy the waves in the river rippling unusually as a third explosion bursts into your main camera’s view. Two small boats come flying through the smoke, gunfire and smoke billowing around them.

“Hold, team.” You announce over the headset.

The boats go racing by, paying no attention to the base or its defenses. Out of the smoke, a glowing red dot pierces the smog. Next, a glowing arc illuminates the haze as it slices through the air, plunging into the river; narrowly missing the boats as they continue to speed away. A lumbering green monolith pulls the heat hawk from the river bed and sets its sights on the base and squares up to face your team.

-------------

>Charge!
>Open Fire!
>Draw back!

>>1317925
We have a machine gun, yeah? Shoot at it a bit and pull back or to the side so it focuses on us, then Hilda or Bela can get an easier shot at it.

>>1317925
>Open Fire!

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Leaning over the side of your shield, you squeeze the trigger of your 100mm machine gun. Through the compensators you feel the bassy rapport of the gun firing down the river. The Zaku curls over, using the shield on its shoulder to absorb the impact of the bullets.

The base’s sirens begin sounding as it goes into high alert, personnel scrambling to their battle stations. The turret spins its guns toward the Zaku, but is deftly split in half as the heat hawk comes screaming down on top of it. The Zaku jumps into the dense foliage across the river, tossing kraker grenades into the river that flows between it and the base. Water erupts into giant streams upward in the sky as everything is obscured by the falling water.

“Acquiring!” Hilda shouts over the comms, scanning the foliage in front of her slowly. Bela drops her stowage pack and pulls her shield from the ground. Two recon jets take off from the base and begin circling overhead.

You stay focussed on the greenery in front of you as the rebels make their escape further down river. Silence envelopes the camp. Hilda licks her lips gingerly as she scans the foliage for any sign of movement.

Suddenly, one of the recon planes crackles a report over the comms.

“Two degrees west of base, danger close!”

It takes barely a moment before every gun in that base was raking the forest opposite with whatever they had. You burst fire your machine gun into the woods, watching trees splinter and leaves explode in sprays of moisture and plant matter. Soldiers in trenches along the river bank fire missiles into the jungle, sparking gouts of smoke and smouldering fire.

Out of the smoke, the heat hawk comes tumbling end over end with incredible speed. Bela barely has enough time to react as she brings the shield up to her defense as the heat hawk embeds itself into the thick shield; the anti-laser coating burning away from the impact. It sends Bela off balance as she loses her footing and tumbles sideways into the water below.

-------------------------------

>Charge into the jungle
>Collect Bela
>Strafe the jungle again

>>1317997
>Collect Bela
Watch the forest though, they're going to try something while we do.

>>1317834
old threads:
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/593452/
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/668839/
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/778756/
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/800964/
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/970584/
https://archived.moe/qst/thread/992953/

>>1317997
this: >>1318002

>>1317997
>Collect Bela
Agreed on keeping an eye out for more zeeks

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“Cover!” you shout into your headset, bounding toward Bela’s downed suit. You never take your finger off the trigger as you keep a level barrel toward the thick foliage.

“Covering you, Boss” Hilda swiftly replies

You scan the area once again, quickly, and reach down to drag Bela’s suit to the shore. You grab her suit by the shoulder and begin dragging her out of the river as the area darkens around you on this sunny day.

You gaze up at the rear-head camera, the world slowing down as your eyes widen as the shade grows larger and larger. The Zaku is in full flight, another heat hawk in its hands barreling down on top of you for a decisive blow. You torque the controls in your hands as fast as you can, dropping Bela back into the river, but you are too slow. You are rolling into position, as a whip-crack fills the air. You land flat on your stomach as the Zaku topples on the bank behind you. You turn to see the smoking barrel of Hilda’s sniper rifle glint in the sunlight as her mobile suit racks the slide to load another round. The Zaku rolls into the adjacent jungle, leaving a large amount of parts and fluids on the bank.

“I got’cha covered, Boss!” Hilda chirps happily

You take a moment to stand your mobile suit up as you finish pulling Bela upright.

“Thanks Boss,” she begins “Where’d the Zeek go?” She levels her machine gun, forgetting the useless shield at the bottom of the river.

Hilda moves down to the river bank, her snipe rifle stowed in favour of her own machine gun.

“What’s the plan, Boss? Should we go get ‘im? They seemed pretty good…” Hilda asks.

-------------
>Pursue the Zaku
>Stay in the base
>Leave the base and continue the mission

>>1318052
>>Leave the base and continue the mission

>>1318052
>Leave the base and continue the mission

>>1318052
>Stay in the base
I mean, Bela's down a shield and for all we know this was a diversion to get us away. They should know we're here because of the rebels.

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>>1318020

Thank you by the way, you are a saint.

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You ponder your options, and judging on the mess that Zaku left on the ground after being hit by Hilda, you reckon it won’t be much of a problem any time soon. You gather your team and bid the base your parting.

“I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.” You joke in your transmission to the base commander.

“Stay safe out there, 16th Team. We’ll be fine out here as usual. Backup is close enough.” The commander replies.

You gaze back down into the base, seeing the thin commander standing outside of the freezing command truck. Your mobile suit gives a salute as you escort your team back to the river.

“Bela, where is your shield?” you ask.

“Bottom of the river; where it’ll stay, Boss.” She replies. “Coating is shot on it. It wouldn’t do me any good beside to weigh me down at this point.”

“Your call, Bela.” You bend the microphone away from your mouth as you scan the area through the camera screens, rotating through the different viewers as you occasionally glance at the map.

“Where are we headed, Boss?” Hilda chimes.

“I figure that if we are looking for Yustina, we should start at the old base that the Zeeks used to use in this area. The commander of that base showed me where it is.” You reply.
“Isn’t that pretty risky, Boss?” Bela asks, concern in her voice.

You’ve thought about it plenty while you were in the camp, and considering the mission that you were given, it’s the only place you can think to start. At this point, Yustina could be anywhere in the quadrant, or even the sector.

“Yeah, it is.” You reply.

-----------------------

>Proceed to the abandoned base via the River
>Proceed to the abandoned base through the jungle paths
>Proceed to the abandoned base by connecting to the main highway

>>1318156
>Proceed to the abandoned base through the jungle paths

>>1318156
>Proceed to the abandoned base through the jungle paths

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After a kilometer or two fording down the river, your map says that there are pathways in the jungle that will lead you very close to the base. You order everyone to hop out of the river and follow your heading. The trees get really thick in this part of the jungle; you and your team are entering the old growth.

“Boss, I can’t see shit out of the main camera.” Hilda states. Her mobile suit crouching ever so slightly to get a picture under the dense canopy.

“I hear that. “ you reply.

The main camera is awash with green as the head of your mobile suit is almost perfectly at the same height as the majority of the foliage in this rainforest canopy.

“What did you think of that encounter?” Bela quips.
You think back to the fight with that Zaku. Its speed, stealth and maneuverability were outstanding. From what you saw, however, it was just a regular Zaku II. You thought it that might have been Yustina herself, but you feel like this was someone else. Yustina didn’t fight that way. She fought with more pressure… more animal like instinct. This pilot seemed cool, calm and collected. Just as at home waiting in the shadows as jaguar; this person was a hunter.

“It had a strange marking on its chest and head, Boss.” Hilda added. “I’ll send the photos over. I captured them through my scope.”

You watched as the photos jumped onto the main screen. Three things jumped out at you. The Black command fin atop its green head and the shark logo on its chest and on its head, swirling, bearing its teeth.

“Interesting…” you ponder.

“Boss, trails start up ahead, we can finally see something again.” Hilda announces.

As you and your team step out of the green-washed rainforest, the cleared pathways wound ahead of you, darting around large trees and taking corners.

--------------------------------------------

>Travel single file
>Travel with one team member in the jungle
>Travel in with a team member walking backwards

>>1318226
>>Travel with one team member in the jungle

>>1318226
>Travel with one team member in the jungle
Either Hilda or us, since Bela won't have a shield to protect herself if another Spook Zaku jumps her.

“Form up. I’ll take lead. Bela, you take rear. Hilda, you stay within visual from beyond the treeline. I want your eyes on us at all times.” You command.

A unanimous “Roger, that.” From both of your team mates echo in your headset.

You walk along the pathway, branches sliding over your mobile suit’s shoulders and arms as the forest has grown in above the pathway. Bela has removed her beam sabre handle from the storage on her leg and is holding the machine gun with one hand. The pathways wind through the jungle, never staying in a straight line for long. Every turn and corner is a tense encounter; not knowing what may lie out of sight.

“Boss, multiple heat signatures on the scope. Small. I don’t see anything that could be a mobile suit.” Hilda reports.

You call a halt to the patrol and you and Bela duck into the jungle, off the path.

“How far?” you ask.

“Probably 500 meters due north of here. Maybe it’s a camp?” she replies.

You gaze over at your own map of the area. From what Hilda reports, these signatures are not in the general area of the abandoned base, so this is something different.

“500 meters… could we get a visual without being seen?” You ask.

Hilda mumbles some statistics about sound and vibration as well as the topographical area. “In mobile suits, I doubt it, Boss.”

You aren’t quite keen on leaving your suits, that’s for sure. But your interest is piqued about this gathering of “people sized heat signatures”.

--------------------------------
>Continue to the base
>Investigate the heat signatures on foot
>Investigate the heat signatures in the mobile suits

>>1318298
>Continue to the base
Tell Hilda to mark down the longitude/latitude coordinates if she can. We can tell a local base about it and people trained for scouting can check the place out later.

>>1318298
>>1318321


Well shit guys, seems like my time went faster than I thought. This is where we will continue off next time... whenever that is.

>>1318324
Alright, see you next time.

>>1318298
>>1318298
>Investigate the heat signatures in the mobile suits
Way I see it either its the zeeks, in which case we'll have to go through them with the mobile suits as they will obviously have more ground troops (taking them out/scouting on foot would be suicide, nevermind a waste risking a valuable pilot) and will likely detect and phone our location in if we just try to go straight to the base. Or they're rebels and may consider messing with us in person but not likely in our suits, and definitely won't alert the zeeks to our location.

>>1318324
Thanks for running again great to see this quest!