Heading West, the team encounters a small Guylos force on July 30th (Mon). It consists of four Molgas, and two Iguans. The battle is over before the Guylos know what hit them. Little valuable intelligence is gained; they were scouting the area. But the team does find a rough map that shows Guylos has formed a pocket perimeter around the two bridgeheads that cross the river East of Mt Olympus. On the 1st of August they run into a more sizeable force, consisting of a Genosaurer and five Rev Raptors.
On the 4th, they are vectored to a spot slightly north-west to meet a supply unit. The food and water supplies are refilled, and Job receives a promotion to Sergent, with Date of Rank August 1.
Ruin H4133 is reached on August 9th (Thurs). It is listed as an old Helic watchtower and weather station. Half-buried in the sand is a deceased Gojulas, its armor turned to stone. Its Core was removed long ago, probably when it was abandoned. A large crater next to the ruin is responsible for the Gojulas being revealed, and the partial demolition of the structure. Most objects of value have been removed, but there is an elderly notebook in a desk that has a few notes from the ZAC2060s, concerning the damage done to the facility by the Meteor Strikes.
While at the ruin, the team gets a call from Eastern, vectoring them to a rendezvous with another Helic group that needs some extra firepower to hit a small Guylos base in the South.
Blade Liger, Shield Liger, 2 Command Wolf AUs
Col. Bruce Hilgard, Ens. George Hill, Sgt. Hank Thomas, Cpl. Fred Corbet (resp)
Daerik and Bruce knew each other when Daerik did his stint with Sam. He’s heard of the accident. Once they stole a keg from an officers party (“Three days well spent in the brig.”)
The target base is believed to have a cache of fuel and weapons, which the Republic would like to capture intact. Known units include and Iron Kong, two Genosaurers, two Lightning Saix, two Saber Tigers, five Rev Raptors, four Helcats, five Molgas, and three Saicurtis.
The attack is at dawn on the 11th (Sat). Most of the Guylos Zoids don’t even have a chance to be manned, and the attack only lasts about five minutes before the base wisely surrenders. POW and transport Hover Cargoes arrive that evening and the next morning, at which point the team is detached to continue their original objectives.
They initially head for the bridges, but change plans and catch a Hover Cargo heading back to Eastern, running escort on the way back, and arriving there on the 20th. Kora’s new gun barrels are in, and final construction and installation is completed by noon the next day. Ixel orders a new Magnessor System for Juniper.
On the 21st, Kora is testing the new guns when an odd sight is seen in the sky: a white and gold Whale King. Ixel, away from the group, looks up, walks over to the Dash Juliet, and exits the base. The rest of the team investigates the Whale King, and finds Ixel gone. The six get called into HQ. Puller directs them to Conference Room 4, where they meet Millie, Ixels eldest sister. When she finds out Ixel split, she calls him and tells him “Get your ass back here.” The rest of the team is impressed with his compliance. When he returns, she briefs them on the problem.
On August 18th, two bases were attacked. One was the Guylos base you skirted using Leoncross IFF codes back in May, and the other was a Republic pursuit base set up on the remains of Yetsu. Both were attacked by a single, large, scorpion-type Zoid. The Empire base was attacked at dusk, while the Republic was attacked at dawn, both on the 18th. She shows you two video clips, both somewhat poor quality, of the bases under attack. The Zoid is unmistakably the Death Stinger, but something seems off. One of the clips shows it being white, but the attack on the Helic base appears to show a light blue. The Death Stinger appears to be cloning itself, which is a serious problem, especially since it can swim. Millie asks you to work with them in hunting the DSs down. Terms include full maintenance support, and a Hover Cargo or Whale King with Juniper’s level of comms and surveillance tech installed, plus pay: ¤1,000 each a week, plus ¤120,000 each for every ZS the team bags. They want the ZS cores completely destroyed, and preferably the entire Zoid, but, if possible, want one captured incomplete so as to figure out how long it takes them to fully clone, and try to figure out how many are in existence.
After they accept, she introduces Ixel (and co) to a recently completed Zoid assigned to him: Bio Tyranno. She has them bring their Zoids aboard the Whale King, and notifies Helic HQ that they are being given a special assignment. They take off for an unknown base for upgrades.
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S21 EXP
Ixel: +137 combat +10 RP = 1,422 (lv17)
Kora: +137 combat +10 RP = 1,688 (lv18)
Oliver: +137 combat +10 RP = 1,638 (lv18)
Job: +137 combat +10 RP = 1,661 (lv18)
Daerik: +137 combat +10 RP = 1,668 (lv18)
George: +137 combat +10 RP = 1,524 (lv17)