Battle 2: The Angel of Illumination

It is 0547 in the morning... you have discovered that this time of morning is an established military protocol for "just exactly enough before dawn to really piss everyone off." A thin layer of condensation from the rather unseasonal fog-banks Ark has been experiencing lays across the vast expanse of the Daedalus Airfield, cleared for the moment of all civilian traffic at this early hour. Four monstrous black-shelled behemoths such as might have once carried vast tonnages of country-cracker nuclear weapons sit at the ready. Their payload on this still day is much more momentous. The chill of the morning seems to reach down to each of your Entry Plugs, which are currently seated in a complicated mooring rig exposed just outside of each of your EVAs within the bellies of the Carrier Planes. Your Evangelions are each assigned their own Carrier Plane, and you are each awoken from your futile efforts to find some warmth in the brittle slurry of LCL you’re floating in when a radio transmission passes between the pilots of the Carrier Plane squadron and into your receivers, keyed onto one of their frequency’s. Although the transmission is distorted, you think you recognize the first voice as belonging to the wing commander of the Carrier Plane squadron.

”Hawk’s Nest, this is Hawk Actual. First Dynasty has confirmed contact with the target, no deviations from our anticipated scenario. Commence your operation.”

"That’s our signal. Let's rotate engines."

As the Carrier Planes meet in formation above the floating city and depart to their north, a fifth Plane joins the formation from an unknown air field.

"Hawk Actual, Hawk Actual... This is Harrier One, we're at flight level one-eight-oh entering your wake. A little over one hour to bingo fuel. We're on our last legs from NERV Sub-base Australia, have a special delivery for you. Our cargo is asking to get you to hack them into the Operator Network."

"Harrier One, Hawk Actual will comply. Assume formation behind Hawk three, standby for final drop approach."

A crackle of static announces the arrival of a fifth member into the pilot's conference-style radio network. Miles ahead of your flight, the waters around the target island team with vessels from Carrier Battle Group Kirishima.

”First Dynasty, Blue Raider has the island in visual. Holding for your signa--

Huh, never seen anything quite like that before. Raiders, all vessels on immediate battle alert. CAG, the flight deck is yours.“


Director, we are just in time. The Fourth Angel has awoken. Abilities are as yet unknown, MAGI is routing all available military data streams and forming our analyses now.

>>Battle Map<<

Instructions

Pilots Place your (currently semi-transparent) EVA unit in the square you wish to be air-dropped at. Warning: you may not change your drop site after the final No Return is crossed. Feel free to offer interactions and feedback- You are in videofeed contact with each other and the Operations Director as the operation commences. Also, a new fifth challenger has arrived! As has been mentioned, each of the Green Circles is an Eva Support Center. You get semi-indefinite power when you attach an umbilical (Half Action) at a support center square, otherwise you're on your 5 round timer. No other supplies are immediately available, but the fleet may be able to deploy spare ammunition and battery packs via their Bumblebee VTOL transport when requested (a delicate operation!).

The island has water around it (!). Unless you wish to enjoy the full suite of underwater combat rules from page 195 of the Ad Eva rulebook (Combat chapter), stay on land? If you want to swim from one point on an island to another, use the Swim skill (may range from Easy to Hard, depending on your attempted swim speed and combat circumstances) to try to stay above water. If your EVA sinks, you just may have to finish the journey walking on the sea floor along the island shelf. If you decide to walk out into the deep ocean area towards the edges of the map, I cannot help you for what may come to pass.

OD Roll to place yourself in the initiative count. Regardless of your initiative result, you and the fleet have one turn to react to the Angel's arrival. Radar interference makes it difficult to see exactly what's happening in the crater ahead of you, at least until your S-6T Firefuly VTOLs paint the picture for you. Be sure to use the updated Fleet Roster for your units, as some of the fleet weapons have seen minor balance edits since last battle (in particular ammunition counts).

As your navy now includes two S6-T Firefly VTOLs on top of all the usual ships, you may wish to use Spoiler blocks to make your fleet summary manageable.

OOC

This is for Amanda's most recent ST, obviously. And for Synch Disruption on Evangelion launch.

Synch Tests do not get the Routine (+20) bonus that other Time Management Characteristic tests receive, so Amanda tests at her base Willpower score of 30.

Dice Roll: 1d100z
d100 Results: 91

Synchronization Test 1 @30 (91) Fail

Dice Roll: 1d100z
d100 Results: 37

Synchronization Test 2 @30 (37) Fail

Dice Roll: 2d10
d10 Results: 6, 7 (Total = 13)

Negative Synch Disruption Amanda's SR falls 13 points to 39.

Bah, looks like someone pulled rank on me and said 'F your plan, we're sending all 5 units'. *Chuckle* Oh well, i'll roll with it.
Initiative

Dice Roll: 1d10
d10 Results: 6

Map

WS BS S T Ag Per WP
0 60 0 0 20 30 20

Frigate Body %Hit AP Wounds
Hull 01-00 2 3

Movement: 4/8/12/24

Skills None
Talents None
Traits Vehicle (any critical damage to it's Hull will render the Frigate unable to fight. If the frigate has 3 or more points of Critical damage, it is sunk permanently)
SONAR (+10 Per vs. submerged targets)

Weapons
Light Support Cannon: (120 dm; S/2/4; 1d10+2x; pen 0; Clip 35; ground targets only)
Torpedoes: (100 dm; S/2/-; 1d10+2x; pen 2; Clip 10; submerged and surface targets only)

Sea Drake ASW-VTOL (when taking SONAR perception tests, may declare a surface location up to 100 dm away, and test as if it occupied both spaces. May similarly use a space chosen in the same manner as the origin location of a single-shot Torpedo attack)

WS BS S T Ag Per WP
0 60 0 0 10 30 20

Cruiser Body %Hit AP Wounds
Hull 01-00 3 5

Movement: 4/8/12/24
Length: 20 dm (Hulking +10)

Skills None
Talents Broadside (After using the Aim action, instead of gaining a bonus to BS may use a Half-action to fire every weapon on single shot against one target, rolling for each weapon individually.)
Traits Vehicle (any critical damage to it's Hull will take the Cruiser out of the battle. It will be adrift, fighting fires and on damage control, with no effective combat capability. If the Cruiser ever has 5 or more points of critical damage, then it is permanently destroyed)

Weapons
Swarm Missile Racks (100 dm; S/-/5; 1d10x; pen 1; Clip 50; ground or surface targets only)
Cruise Missile (600 dm; S/-/-; 1d10+4x; pen 1; Clip 10; Blast 1; ground or surface targets only)
Artillery Railgun (450 dm; S/-/-; 2d10i; pen 2; Clip 5; ground or surface targets only)

WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel SR
0 20 20 10 20 30 20 20 20 0
N-HT VTOL “Firefly” Body
Location % to Hit AP Wounds
01-00 1 2
Movement: 4/8/12/24
Talents: None
Traits: Flyer (4), Vehicle*, Markerlight**
*Vehicle: The VTOL is destroyed once it reaches 0 wounds.
**Markerlight: The Firefly is equipped with a huge Markerlight array that takes up much of the room inside the craft.

WS BS S T Ag Per WP
0 60 0 0 30 20 20

Wing Body %Hit AP Wounds
VTOL Wing 01-00 1 3

Movement: 30/60/-/180 (Flight)

Skills Dodge +10
Talents None
Traits
Flyer (*)
Vehicle (The VTOL Wing is destroyed when it reaches 0 Wounds)
*Fixed-Wing Flight (Although capable of increasing lift and drag to maintain low airspeeds, the F/A-41 generally only goes to Hover when it lands and takes-off. Except for a turn in which it lands or takes-off, the VTOL wing must always spend a Move action to remain airborne, and may not move less then 10 dm in a turn. If the squadron takes a Full action then they must automatically advance 15 dm at the end of the turn as a free action. If they used the action to launch missiles of some type then they will fly in the direction they fired their missile)

Weapons
Strike Missiles: (40 dm; S/2/-; 1d10+2x; pen 0; Clip 6 or 0*; ground or sea targets only)
AIM-9X Slipstream Air-to-Air Missiles (60 dm; S/2/-; 1d5+1x; pen 0; Clip 2 or 4*; aerial targets only)
ALRAM (120 dm; S/-/-; 1d10+2x; pen 0; Clip 0 or 2*; aerial targets only)

*When deployed, the F/A-41 Wing may have equipped either 6 Strike missiles and 2 Air-to-Air missiles, or 4 Air-to-Air missiles, 2 ALRAM (Advanced Long Range Aerial Missiles) and no Strike missiles. UN Navy doctrine dictates that a standard 3-Wing formation must always have at least one squadron with each configuration in order to cover contingencies.
Skills: Awareness (Per)

"Allright lets test the waters... Viper, Python hug the opposing western coastline from the air and circle around clockwise, Cobra follow the eastern coastline counter clockwise. Weapons hot, use air to air - I want to see if that light show will be any interference for our other weapons."

"Rook, Bishop strafe towards the western island under cover-fire and meet up with unit eight like we planned - Rook, see if you can paint that light show i'd like some data on that if possible ; Bishop target the main crater area - the body if you can see it."

"Oklahoma, we'll start out with a cruise missile to clear the field, but move into range for the swarm racks. If Bishop has clear sights, use his targeting data."

"Rapiers one, two and three advance into cannon range and screen for the Oklahoma - fire when in range."

Everyone's performing a move action and a shooting action. My fireflies are replacing the shooting action with a half action to hit with the marker-lights if applicable (I could not find anything on the range of the marker-lights...).
AIM-9X

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 18

vs Energy Wings

AIM-9X

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 56

vs Energy Wings

AIM-9X

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 57

vs Energy Wings

Cruise Missile

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 78

Vs Body

Light Cannon 1

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 82

Vs Body

Light Cannon 2

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 94

Vs Body

Light Cannon 3

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 96

Vs Body

Chloe O'Rourke

Chloe laid in the LCL, stuck in the robot yet one more time. It had felt even bigger than it had before, and the armor was even thicker. She had an uncomfortable flashback to being hit with that missile, and she had the phantom pain of being boiled in LCL over again. She sighed. Life would never be normal again. She felt like a tool. Ignored except to go into the robot. Her mother wouldn't even tell her what went on in Germany. No one wanted her around, except when she needed to fight...when she needed to kill.

She didn't even bother listening to anyone. It didn't matter. She just sat...and waited.

First, I'm going to take my Synch Disruption Tests

Synch Test, Willpower 41, -10 penalty for being depressed, Target Number 31, Attempt #1:
Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 30

Synch Test, Willpower 41, -10 penalty for being depressed, Target Number 31, Attempt #2:
Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 78

Synch Disruption, if applicable:
Dice Roll: 2d10
d10 Results: 4, 2 (Total = 6)

Chloe jumps 6 points for total synch ratio of 82.

=Amanda Loup-Archambault=

Glancing over the video feeds from the UN fleet and the Firefly aircraft, Amanda tried to assess whether or not landing on that smaller island was still a good idea... Then again, she should be able to make it to the main island easily enough if she went north and through the narrow channel.

"Does anyone have a visual on the target, yet?"

N24 Lazar

Synch test for the win!

Dice Roll: 1d100z
d100 Results: 70

Synch 1 (53 SR) (70)

Dice Roll: 1d100z
d100 Results: 2

Synch 2 (53 SR) (2)

Dice Roll: 2d10z
d10 Results: 2, 9 (Total = 11)

Disruption (11)

Well, that will work I guess. No change for Lazar. Synch Rate a steady 53.

While the flight from Australia had been long, Lazar (as he tended to be called) still seemed to be full of energy. Much to the chagrin of the transport pilots.

The commlink between pilots and OD crackles with an unfamiliar voice, tinged with an English accent, "I'm just curious why we had to have a 'layover' in Australia... I thought we were supposed to stop in Germany? Australia just seems so out of the way. I mean I- Oh... I guess they got disconnected," just noticing the new faces within his HUD, and the lack of the previous ones, "Um... Hello all. I guess I should introduce myself... N24 Lazar. Reporting in from England."

He spoke smoothly, the designation sounding more like "Entofor" rather than an ID, but that last name... It was something else. Conversely, his plug-suit would almost be a boring dull gray, if not for the strips of blue running down its length. And, strangely, while his face was clearly on-screen, all sensors displayed only the basic life-support and comm devices on-line within the Eva.

"I guess I'm here to replace someone? Dr. Brekken and Mrs. Worthing didn't really tell me much about what to expect... Although, the pilots did mention this is going to be a 'trial-by-fire', so if there is any last minute information I need I'm ready to get to it!" Lazar finishes his introduction eager to please. A small but ready smile sitting on his expectant face.

"Uncertain Unit Eight, but the angel is awake. We're going to buy you all some time and test the aerial phenomenon to make sure it's okay for you all to make your final decent - Proceed as planned, Rook and Bishop are on their way to meet up with you." Johann adds on the open channel in response to Amanda's query - but felt like updating everyone with the enemy status.

"Glad to see you finally made it pilot," Johann adds deciding to skip the unpleasantness of telling him 'I had planned to side-line you this mission because of your delay, but someone pulled rank so here you are.'

"Operations Director Johann Fhittz, -" He says in casual response to the introduction as if his position or duties this battle didn't need to be explained. "Did anyone brief you on the drop sites and our plan of attack? Just in case - the Eastern sites are back-up power stations in case the initial site becomes compromised and you lose power and should be avoided at this time since it's in the fleets field of fire, the western drop site is designated to unit Eight, All others are clear. Basic plan is for the Eva's to neutralize the At field, the fleet will crack this egg open and then hopefully you all can initiate the final blow. Any questions?"

Jack / Unit 04

Jack waves off all of Fhittz's boring mumbo jumbo. "Heey, what's up. Just get ready to kick some ass, kid - that's all the info you need." He replies to the new guy, with the confidence of somebody who has some kind of clue what he's doing.

Sync and Deployment

WP: 33

First:
Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 85

Second:
Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 18

Dice Roll: 1d10
d10 Results: 3

Ditzie Map with Deployment: http://beta.ditzie.com/10738/4d2900bad0c6a

OOC: Lothmar, I like the idea of the EVAs opening with AT neutralization, but are you saying that Unit 08 is deploying on the western island? That seems like it's just asking to have Sam's EVA get isolated and ganked. I think we learned this the hard way last battle. Just saying is all - you're in charge.

The luminescent veins reaching up from the crater curled gently as if to test their sweep, seemingly unperturbed by the cloud of missiles and solid ammunition that descended upon them. At one point a cluster of air-to-air missiles from Viper formation manages to clip the outer edges of the glowing veins, and clearly detonate upon an unseen barrier before they can break the plane of the translucent 'wing'.

The two gossamer pinions give a majestic downward beat, and a being beautiful and terrible rises from the crater. The Angel of Illumination appears as some sort of perverse insect, curled protectively around it's dark red core and with a host of eyes arranged about it's oversized cranium. The central eye glows with a baleful energy, and Barbiel turned slowly in the air to address the source of it's rude awakening. A multi-sectioned mouth opens beneath the head assembly and screeches in an incoherent communication.

"Blue Raider group, execute evasive maneuvers! The target has gone airborne!"

Just as the warning transmission cuts off the central eye of the Angel suddenly shift in polarity from a pale white to darkest midnight, and for a split-second it appears as though strokes of black lightning arc from the eye to ground themselves in the waters around the UN Navy. Moments later the fleet is engulfed in two massive spheres, not so much explosions as monstrous disjunctions in the fabric of reality. The orbs expand, consuming seawater until they reach some sort of critical level and collapse inwards into tiny pinpricks of distorted space. Damage control teams on the Oklahoma are now desperately attempting to keep the ship in fighting condition, as a massive section of the starboard structure is completely missing causing multiple decks to take on water rapidly... the escort frigate Tulwar has simply ceased to exist along with all hands!

AT Deflection:
Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 17

No damage to the Angel from the Air-to-Air missiles.


Barbiel uses a half action to take flight and rise from the crater, then attacks. It drops a Blast 5 twice, first attempting to silence the Oklahoma and two Rapier frigates, then overlapping the second blast radius across two Rapier frigates.

Hammer of God 1, BS vs. Oklahoma, Lexington, Jiangkai:
Dice Roll: 1d100 1d100 1d100
d100 Results: 31
d100 Results: 54
d100 Results: 59

I'll just roll damage once for each time it strikes with the Hammer to save book-keeping.

damage:
Dice Roll: 1d10+5
d10 Results: 3 (Total = 8)

The Oklahoma is struck for 5 damage (after it's Armor). It no longer has any Wounds, and if it takes a single further Wound it will be in Critical damage and lose all combat capability. Lucky damage roll!

Hammer of God 2, BS vs. Jiangkai, Tulwar:
Dice Roll: 1d100 1d100
d100 Results: 54
d100 Results: 42

damage:
Dice Roll: 1d10+5
d10 Results: 7 (Total = 12)

There is nothing left to remind you of the Tulwar.

Note: The Black Spheres on the battle map are not a continuous hazard. I only placed them there to demonstrate the exact area span of Barbiel's attacks I'll remove them next turn.

Barbiel's Initiative roll:
Dice Roll: 1d10+5
d10 Results: 10 (Total = 15)

Instructions

Initiative

15 = Barbiel
?? = Operations Director <==

Pilots Choose your landing site now! If I do not have a map update with your target drop zone from each of you by the end of the round then I can only assume that a communication error has led the Carrier Planes to drop you on a miscue, and you will be placed in a random location determine by dice roll!

Everyone Roll for Initiative before we all forget. Right now the order of action is simple (Fleet -> Barbiel -> Fleet -> Barbiel) but it will soon get rather more complex and I need this from everyone in advance to the Pilot's arrival on the field.

Jack's Initiative

Dice Roll: 1d100
d100 Results: 81

Man, I can't type these dice tags lately. But 1d100 rounds to 1d10 easy enough, or I can reroll if you want. His agi bonus is +3 if it is for the pilot, or +4 if it is for the eva, for a total of either 11 or 12.