Eta Sphere Surveillance

African Rainforest

The Africa rainforests are still some of the densest forests on Earth, even in the Twenty-third century. Thick foliage covers most of the area, and there are still dozens of species that haven't been discovered. The progress of man has become still throughout most of the jungle, except for a massive abandoned laboratory complex on the western edge. In some areas here scientists worked on electronic enhancements and cyborg technology, and the overeager scientists turned the swath of forest around them into a technological nightmare of cybernetic plants and animals, the beginnings of a true technojungle, before the governments of the world stopped them. It stands as a symbol of mankind tampering with things that are best left alone.

Flame Man [Armor] [RM] Vanishing Gungaroo [Roo] [RF]

Sphere Outpost <Eta> [RM]

North <N> leads to Congo.

East <E> leads to Skullamanjaro (Mount Kilamanjaro).

South <S> leads to Savannah.

Northwest <NW> leads to Ivory Coast.

Northeast <NE> leads to Lake Constance (Lake Victoria).

Up <U> leads to Sky Above Central Africa.

It is hot. Those three words sum up the day better than any other possible could. The heat bears down on rainforest unrelentlessly, making even the natural inhabitants of the jungle sweat and look for the sanctuary of shade. Despite it being springtime here in Africa, the mercury has risen to a torturing level. One can almost see the heat blurring vision as it rises from the foliage.

But Storm Owl is not here as a meteorologist. Storm Owl is here on a scouting run of the territory under control of the Eta Squadron. The rainforest offers a difficult situation for an aerial Reploid such as Storm Owl, as flying underneath the cover is impossible, and flying over it leaves you unable to complete the job of scouting due to the thick trees that form a virtual roof over the forest. And so, Storm Owl is on the ground, trudging through the thick foliage. One of his feather daggers is out, and he hacks at offending plants as he passes through. Storm Owl would have prefered to scout the aerial way, but it simply isn't viable here. But he shall make do. Although he has attacked nothing, the Fortress Commander has been watching for patrols in the area, surveying any traps he sees, and otherwise doing things Robot Masters would not like.

Storm's prescence in the area, however, is not undetected. A camoflauged African militia member, loyal to Wily, spots movement in the area from a few meters away. He makes his way back to a clearing, wear Flame Man and a few 'terrorist' friends of his, mostly human, with jeeps, are parked, currently on their way to Eta Sphere to check if the supplies there have been moved. The militia member speaks, in Arabic. <Sir, there is suspicious movement in the air...I am sure it is not an animal...> Flame replies, <Alright. Go and investigate further...> wearing his heavy cloak, an arm appears from the folds, and directs a few terrorists to join the militia member in the jungle scout. They dissapear into the foilage, with weapons.

Storm Owl is skilled at many things, and what he does not know, he generally picks up very quickly. But spying... well, that takes a special kind of talent, doesn't it? Thus far Storm Owl's efforts have not been in vain, as he has collected data on the area. But it should be no surprise to the war bird that he has been detected by enemy troopers. Despite his extremely honed sense of sight and hearing, Storm Owl does not spot the human militia member that sees him. Solid training and the home field advantage, perhaps? Storm Owl pauses to adjust his cap, and neatly slices a vine that was in his path. He's no ranger, to say the least. Taking this place is going to be a serious problem if the enemy is well entrenched, the Captain muses. Somehow he doesn't think Fortress V will be able to annihilate all of this fantastic cover before she runs into serious trouble. Storm continues on his scouting mission, unaware that he's been located.

Techno arrives from the Lake Constance (Lake Victoria).

Techno has arrived.

The team of five terrorists spread, keeping watch as they creep towards the noise. The weapons they carry are standard plasma and bullet rifles with scope sights. Flame, with the jeeps moving, uses his radio to give permission to fire. One soldier raises his rifle, and fires a single bullet in the direction of the noise. They lack vision enhancements, relying on the rustle from the foilage.

*THOOM!* Storm Owl freezes as he hears the gunshot go off, and the dull thud of a bullet hitting -something- nearby. A tree, perhaps? The war bird immediately goes through the possible courses of action here. It's clear /someone/ has seen and fired upon him, but he doesn't know what just yet. He could take flight, but being flushed out into the open is only asking to be shot down. Storm Owl is idly reminded of duck hunting. A dog causes a ruckus in the bushes, the ducks fly off into the air out of surprise, and the hunter gets several clean shots in on him. Not wanting to go the way of the duck, Storm Owl crouches down low, using a massive fallen log as cover. As wind blasts would not be terribly effective here, Storm Owl draws out a standard Repliforce laser pistol, keeping it at the ready as he scans in all directions. Storm Owl can see the rustling of movement all about...

Storm might hear someone yell something to another in Arabic. A few more shots, energy and bullet, fly in Storm's general direction. Whether or not they hit is impeded by the cover Storm gets.

Storm Owl's cover is luckily quite good, and Storm Owl manages to escape relatively unscathed by the weaponsfire. One of the shots manages to cut through the foliage and grazes off of his heavily armoured wings, causing Storm Owl to stagger in surprise. It can be unnerving to have shots coming at you when you're only vaguely aware of where they came from. But controlled as always, Storm Owl increases his speed into the jungle, firing off a few laser blasts of his own back at the terrorists. He doesn't bother taking the time to aim properly, as he doesn't have an accurate read on where they are anyway.

A shot hits a terrorist in the arm, and he drops his gun from the wound, clutching the arm instinctively. The others pursue, firing more shots, although two of them have to reload as they run. Flame, meanwhile, is driving his jeep closer to the sphere...if the intruder is more powerful than his men, he'll have to make sure the sphere defenses are good enough..

Off in the distance something rustles. IT begins to growl lowly, almost bestial..

Storm Owl is surprised he scored a hit, as he had calculated the odds at being approximately... ok, Storm Owl doesn't even bother making these calculations, as he's too busy being shot at. This is definitely not a good terrain for Storm Owl to be having a firefight in. The war bird decides to forget about firing again, and instead concentrates on keeping ahead of the terrorists. Can he outrun several well trained terrorists in terrain that they've probably spent a whole lot more time in than Storm Owl has? Ehhhh... Storm Owl doubts it. It's only a matter of time before he gets shot directly. Storm's course takes him towards the sphere. At the sound of the growl, Storm Owl suddenly pauses. Oh oh.

More shouting in Arabic. Of course these guys are well trained here...if this were desert,

too, Storm would be at a disadvantage. They keep their pursuit, and only pause once to reload again. As /Storm/ pauses, they take the moment to fire another volley. One of the terrorists now has a clearer site of him. They can only fire one bullet per round, however.

The ground near Storm Owl begins to rise and lower precariously. That growl in the distance silences, but that patch of ground still heaves up and down. Another patch of ground in the distance also begins to move as if something was underneath it. The green globe of the Eta Sphere begins to move with life. Lights flash within the Outpost, and the screeches of small creatures begin to echo from inside.

Storm Owl would argue he'd be in much better shape in the desert than here. In fact, his track record there is much better than here. Except for the time Shade Man beat him up. Cough cough! Regardless, Storm Owl's hesitation costs him, as one of the energized slugs strike the owl in the back. Although protected by his armoured wings, Storm Owl falls forward to the dark, moist ground, dropping his laser pistol. The bizarre movement of the earth knocks the weapon away from him. "Enough of this," Storm Owl mutters. Seeing that he has little other option, the war bird is finally flushed out. He activates his slightly damaged flight systems and blasts upwards, ripping through the canopy high above the trees. Now above the trees, Storm Owl hopes to get a better view of what in the blazes is going on at the sphere. While this'll also provide him protection from those shooting at him from the ground, he's wide open for anyone else.

The terrorists' rifles are fired, but the bullets fall short. They retreat, back to the main road, where Flame Man has parked his jeep, and notices Storm in the air. He quickly has the jeep driven into the jungle, to be hidden, while he and the remaining men spread into the jungle.

Just where Storm Owl was, something bursts out of the ground with a groooooooaaaaan! A Zombie Joe! The mechanized undead attempts to grab at the flying bird while muttering some strange dialect. However, that was not all that the sphere had in store for the bird. With sudden fury a robot dinosaur leaps out from its hiding place in the brush, and manages to land on the joe! Much rending and groans of pain are heard. More zombie joes begin to crawl out of the ground. Now, what is inside the sphere is a totally different story. Panels slide open along the sides of the globe, and SWARMS of pitch black bubblebats leak out of the sphere to defend their home. Their screeches rise high into the night to call for their Master.... but to no avail.

Storm Owl's earlier thoughts have been confirmed: Taking this place is going to be a nightmare. The foliage will hinder bombarding any ground batteries from above with the Fortress battlestation, and taking it from the ground through the thick jungle will be just plain difficult. But Repliforce is resourceful, and no doubt they'll have people who specialize in this type of jungle-warfare. That person, however, is not Storm Owl.

The war bird successfull breaks free of the zombie-Joe's grasp, and peers at the wave of bubble bats that emerge. He's suddenly reminded of the Delta Sphere assault, and he recalls the damage they did to the Fortress V. Still above the canopy of trees, Storm Owl has plenty of zombie-joes and bubble bats to watch, and does not see Flame Man sneakily ducking his jeep into the jungle. Perhaps it's time to make an exit. The Reploid begins summoning up a defensive gale, preparing to launch it at the bubble bats should they continue to draw near.

While the terrorists, and their leader, Flame, simply lie in wait, the Arab Master calls out one terrorist, who goes into the clearing, and should be visible to Storm. He's wearing a turban, and jungle camo 'guerilla' style clothes that the types of fighters for this terrain usually wear. He also has a small beard, like most arabs, and he has a robotic eye. He wields a bazooka, and hefts it, locking on to Storm with his eye. There's a *shoom* as the projectile is shot out. It really is a normal missile.

Zombie joes continue to rise up out of the ground. Raptors begin to dart out of their hidey holes, and they all growl up at the bird. They were cheated out of their free meal. The bubblebats, however, hang back warily. They weren't stupid like they were thought to be. Something else happens that might be bad for the owl. Cockroaches. Mechanized cockroaches begin to scuttle across the sphere, and begin assembling structures on it. Within a few minutes very large plasma gun turrets are erected and they begin to bead in on the Butterball.

This is why Storm Owl supports a gun registry. Not that it would help terrorists, per se. The rocket from the bazooka corkscrews through the air as it locks onto the owl. The Reploid's keen senses warn him, and he attempts to evade the projectile. The missile explodes in mid-air, sending Storm Owl reeling through the sky, out of control for a moment. Definitely time to get out while the going is good. His flight systems have suffered damage from the shots to his wings and the latest bazooka shell. The blast also disrupted his concentration on the gale he had planned for the bubble bats, but thankfully they do not approach. The war bird's optics widen slightly as the cockroaches form on the sphere and transform themselves into a plasma cannon. Right then, Storm Owl has seen all he wants to see. As plasma bolts prepare to fly his way, Storm Owl turns back in a direction that leads out of Robot Master territory, and streaks away, trying not gaining any further ire of the bazooka armed terrorist, whoever is commanding them, or the plasma cannons.

The terrorists pop out of the jungle as Storm flees. Flame Man quietly laughs to himself, "Nyeh heh heh heh.." as the soldiers climb into their jeeps, and bring them to the sphere. The defenses should recognize them, so they can make a quick check on the interior.

Flame also takes off his turban, and places a video cam hidden inside it on the hood of the jeep, and begins a quick report.

Storm Owl's report, as opposed to Flame Man's, will likely be long. Long and dull. Storm Owl has never been accused of leaving out facts or not being detailed enough. The owl streaks through the air, making calculations about each and every sort of defensive system that he saw for his report on the matter. With some luck, Beta sphere will be a more promising target for the Fortress V's style of engagement.

============================ BB Post in Progress =============================

Group: Repliforce

Title: Rainforest (Eta) Scouting Report

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* TEXT ONLY *

Taking it upon myself, I entered the African Rainforest Sector, location of the Eta Robot Master Sphere, on a surveillance mission. As expected, the defences are considerable. Of note:

- The dense jungles bring with them two major problems for an invasion: 1) Aerial bombardment through the canopy of trees will be inaccurate at best. Anti-air gun emplacements will be very effective. We cannot remove the cover without annihilating the entire forest in the surrounding areas, which would be both unwise and a lengthy operation. 2) Moving on foot is treacherous at best. Obtaining a line of fire beyond fifteen feet is virtually impossible. Furthermore, travel time on foot is at least double that on normal terrain.

- Sharpshooters and jungle operatives routinely patrol the area around the sphere. Although they do not pose much of a combative threat, they are very adept at stealth in their native terrain, and can easily raise the alarm for any stealth operations.

- Zombie Joes are buried underneath the ground, ready to rise up and ambush intruders. Shade Man's work, no doubt.

- The Sphere itself is guarded by a legion of Bubble Bat class drones.

- The Sphere also possesses thousands of small insect drones capable of forming plasma cannons on the sphere itself, thus adding to the defensive firepower.

In conclusion, air support will be minimal due to the extreme amounts of cover the forest provides. Ground advancement will be difficult as well, however with proper training I believe this is the best way to go. Although I cannot say for certain until we receive further intel, I suggest that the Fortress V aid in the Beta sphere assault, and not the Eta.

Major Storm Owl, Commanding Fortress V, Skies Above Central Africa sector

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================================ Robot Master ================================

Message: 15/69 Posted Author

AAR: Eta Sphere Mon Oct 25 Flame Man

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"While I and some 'friends' went to check on Eta Spheres supplies and defenses, we encountered Storm Owl, the Repliforce 'Turkey' or whatever you call him, apparantly doing surveillance work for the sphere. After a chase through the jungle, he ran into the sphere's defenses, where he was eventually driven off. I must comend the efficiency of these defenses. However, I suspect a strike against the sphere is imminent..."

<Blip!>

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