Majestic 13: Operation Wrong Turn

 The morning was silent save for the lapping of water against the bow of the boat and the creak of the wooden oars as Hank guided them across the river. Even the insects were still and quiet. A family of campers had gone missing on this isolated spit of land, and Majestic suspected the machinations of FORCE behind it. 

The Lieutenant reviewed the mission briefing on the tablet.

"Initial satellite imagery suggests we're up against a 'Poisoned Lasher' today," he said quietly. "Big toad-looking thing that'll grab you with its tongue and retreat someplace quiet to eat you. We're short Maria today, so we need to really be on our A-game if we want to gig this frog."

The tiny drone in Becky's hands whirred to life, lifting off gently and bobbing as if politely acknowledging the Lieutenant's statement.

"I think with this little baby we'll be just fine," Becky said, allowing herself a smile. "A little extra firepower never hurt."

"We're here," Hank said, even as the Lieutenant and Sarah-Jane stood to drag the boat on to shore.

*** 

 The Lieutenant prodded the tattered remains of the campsite with the barrel of his rifle.

"Something's not right here," he muttered. "There's no mucus. Dossier says the Poisoned Lasher's handiwork is immediately recognizable by the quantity of mucus it produces."

"Boss...?" Becky hazarded as a hissing chitter echoed from the nearby woods.

 "Shit!" The Lieutenant barked. "That's not a Lasher! We were given bad intel! Spread out!"

 With a shriek, the Warping Crawler shimmered out of existence, rematerializing right on top of the Lieutenant. He fired blindly into its abdomen and took off running. 

 "I'm on it," Hank barked, moving into position and squeezing the trigger on his M249 SAW, not worrying about trying to stabilize the heavy gun. Ichor spurted as round after round punctured the creature's exoskeleton. 

"Alright little fella," Becky cooed to the drone even as she made a mad dash north towards the woods. "Show us what you've got."

The remote in her hands chirped as the drone locked on to the monster. With a smile she pressed the "fire" button. The targeting drone swooped out of the way as its larger cousin arrived, dropping an incendiary munitions bundle down the Crawler's back before returning to its launch pad.

 Snarling in pain and fury, the Crawler dematerialized, reappearing between the Lieutenant and Hank - close enough to drive a pointed claw at each of them. Hank rolled out of the way but the razor-edged limb sank into the Lieutenant's shoulder.

 Sitting calmly, almost meditatively atop the riverside billboard, Sarah-Jane lined up her shot; the sniper bullet tore a hole through the creature's elongated, flanged skull, causing it to squeal and flail. The monster teleported away, carrying the Lieutenant with it; rematerializing atop a nearby ridge, it began to gnaw on him. As he tried to wriggle out of its grip, it speared him with another spiky limb, keeping him pinned. He managed to fire into the creature's belly, but couldn't escape.

 Hank fired a burst into the creature's back and took off running towards the dilapidated cabin. From the woods, Becky smiled and thumbed a request into the burner phone. A second drone streaked across the sky with a fiery payload.

 Chemical fire sprayed across the monster's back, its bulk shielding the restrained Lieutenant from burns. The creature squealed and teleported again. 

[The first Drone Strike was courtesy the team's new "Drone Control Pod" addition to their base, the second was their usual 1/mission "Call For Aid."]

Reappearing at the river's edge, the monster continued to try and stuff the Lieutenant into its bladed mandibles. 

"Oh no you don't," Sarah-Jane said flatly, squeezing the trigger and sending another round deep into the monster's chest cavity. Oozing ichor, the creature teleported again, reappearing in a nearby copse of trees. The variety of bullet-holes in the monster's body were actively spilling steaming fluids as the creature entered Extremis. Enraged and in agony, it finally managed to cram the Lieutenant down its gullet before teleporting again and seizing Becky.

 The Crawler tried to teleport away with her to consume, but the exertion was too much for its overtaxed systems. It rematerialized atop the bluff overlooking the river, sank its fangs into Becky and promptly collapsed, tumbling over the cliff into the swirling water below.

 ***

Wow, this game took me by surprise today. The monster died at the top of turn 3. That has never happened for me before. I know there's extra XP given if you accomplish it, but I didn't know it was really doable. Having the second drone strike made a huge difference, plus Sarah-Jane scored a critical hit both times she activated. Because the Crawler is classed as a "Monstrosity," It activates again whenever it's hit with a critical hit. So both hits caused it to take an extra action and technically resulted in the Lieutenant getting eaten, but the second hit also caused it to take bonus Extremis damage. 

Rolling into the post-game...

The Lieutenant died of his injuries. After 13 missions, the old sunovagun bit the big one. Fortunately, Majestic was able to decant a fresh clone of him, so he'll be back for the next game, all shiny and scrubbed-pink looking. 

Hank had enough XP banked to raise both Acuity and Fortitude, while Sarah-Jane and Becky each raised their Combat ability. The Lieutenant, being a fresh clone, did not garner any XP. 

The team's requisition for a prosthetic arm for Maria has finally gone through and been approved! And additionally...

***

The Lieutenant - the new Lieutenant, he supposed - walked towards the Last Liner's hideout, his stride a little firmer than it had been in the past few months. Clonal vigor; it would wear off in a day or two, the scientists said, but for now he'd enjoy it. He pushed open the door.

"Hey, it's the Lieutenant!" Maria cheered, a beer in each hand. "Or is your rank now '2nd Lieutenant'?"

Hank groaned, and Maria shook her head. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay! I'm allowed to make clone jokes!" 

"Yeah, but can you make good ones?" Hank replied as he tossed a beer to the Lieutenant. "How's it feel to have a first beer all over again, boss?"

Even Sarah-Jane, normally so taciturn, had to laugh. The Lieutenant bit the cap off the bottle and raised it in toast. Everyone raised theirs as well. 

"The higher-ups are real happy with us right now," he said. "Let's keep that momentum going, and keep kicking alien ass, all right?" 

The team cheered. 

"In fact," the Lieutenant continued, "I sweet-talked them into a little present for the team. Hank, son, your arms getting tired lugging that SAW around?"

"What you got, some ultralight Retech'd version?" Hank asked, leaning forward excitedly. 

"Step outside and see," the Lieutenant said, gesturing out the door. An unmarked truck was backing up towards the hideout. The Lieutenant stepped up and pulled open the loading doors.

"Wow," Becky said, staring into the dimly-lit interior. 

"What is that?" Maria asked, eyes gleaming in excitement.

"It's beautiful," Hank added.

"Brand new, top of the line powered hardsuit," The Lieutenant said. "Complete with attachment point for anything up to and including light artillery. Slip this bad boy on like a set of long johns and it'll carry your gun for you, son."

"I GET A MECH SUIT!?!" Hank exclaimed.  

Majestic 13: Operation Nightmare Fuel

 The final round of "debriefing" - interrogation, really - had barely concluded when the Lieutenant's burner phone chirped. He stared dumbfounded at the message.

"They've already got a mission lined up for us," he said incredulously. 

"Are you kidding me?" Becky whined. "I haven't even washed the antiseptic spray off me after the fourth round of 'checking me for alien implants' and they want me back in the field? My skincare regimen's totally shot!"

"What are they sending us out after?" Hank said quietly, an intense look in his eyes.

"Gzurn Shadow," the Lieutenant replied slowly. "Nasty bastards, nearly totally invisible at night. They'll blind you without even noticing you. Rumor has it these things'll eat an entire M13 squad and the only evidence it was ever there is that it leaves no trace of its presence behind."

He laughed hollowly. 

"They want us to collect tissue samples while we're at it."

"You know what this is?" Maria snapped. "This is workplace retaliation. Someone call HR."

"Whatever," Sarah-Jane said, her voice neutral and empty. "Let's kill the lousy thing and get it over with. Don't give the higher ups any more reasons to suspect us of anything."

*** 

The fireworks stand I got from Black Site Studio feels like a mandate to play a game on the July 4th weekend and have it on the table, so I set up my next game of Majestic 13. Fittingly, I rolled up a monster that looked challenging and a fairly nasty result on the mission bureaucracy table - "Amongst the Enemy," which meant the monster would be deploying after my team and within 6" of two of them. And to top it all off, I got a FUBAR result at the beginning of the first turn - "Civilians" were on the table! 

 

The Gzurn Shadow slithered out of the darkness beneath the billboard, and leapt across the alley to tackle Maria, its dark tentacles flailing and striking her blind. Striking again for good measure, it vanished into the night, reappearing in an alley across the street.

 Hank leapt across the divide from the shoe store to the TeeVee Shak, and sprayed the alley with gunfire - and missed! Maria struggled and failed to clear her blindness, feeling her way down the ladder from the roof of the pizza place and towards the street. Becky and Sarah-Jane both fired on the Shadow with minimal success. 

 With a howl, the Shadow hurled itself up on to the TeeVee Shak roof, engulfing Hank in its tentacles and blinding him.

 The Lieutenant closed in, taking a running leap from the roof of the OTB parlor on to a passing truck, before firing at the creature and missing; it retaliated with an area of effect ability, forcing the entire team to save versus blindness and damage, with the Lieutenant failing. 

 So right at this moment, three out of five agents are blind...

Maria managed to shake hers off, and raced down the street in the direction the creature was heading; Becky followed the monster as it squirted on to the roof of the Urgent Care. 

 It wasn't long, however, before the creature was on the move again. While the Lieutenant couldn't shake his blindness, Hank did and ran towards the creature's latest hiding place.

 The Shadow came boiling out at him, hitting him and unleashing its area of affect ability, blinding him and Maria.

 And the creature was off again.

 It was quickly making a nuisance of itself, as the Lieutenant continued to struggle to clear his vision. Hank and Maria cleared theirs, but couldn't find the creature.

"We're here tonight with a visiting alien monster..."

"Hey girl, you see something tall and twice as ugly as shit run by here?"

The team began to have a lot of trouble putting eyes on the Shadow, with it disappearing between buildings and blending into the shadows. Once spotted, it let loose with its area of effect, blinding Becky as she collected a tissue sample from the fireworks stand.

 The team managed to put enough hurt on it, chipping away bit by bit, that the Shadow went into Extremis, becoming far more aggressive and dangerous - and putting Maria and Hank out of action!

 At the end of the fifth turn, it all came down to Sarah-Jane. As long as she successfully hit the creature with her sniper rifle and didn't roll minimum damage, she'd kill the Shadow. 

 

She lined up the shot, and... 

 

Oh, no. The Gzurn Shadow limped off to menace another day as the Last Liners withdrew to salvage what little OPSEC they could.  

***

"Oh dear, Lieutenant, this is disappointing. But perhaps we allowed ourselves to get our hopes up too far over your past successes? After all, one's luck does run out, sooner or later, doesn't it?" The blond man pursed his lips and tapped his pen against the blotter on his desk.

"We're lucky we got off as easy as we did," the Lieutenant growled. "By all rights that should have been a meat-grinder. The damned monster was in our DZ waiting for us!"

"Yes, it is... interesting, isn't it, that you managed to escape with so little lasting harm done to your team? Other teams have, as you know, disappeared entirely when confronted with a Gzurn Shadow. And yet your team, save for Maria, escaped with only superficial injuries. Some might find that fact suspicious, Lieutenant."

"Where is Maria?" The Lieutenant demanded brusquely. 

"There were some unusual readings on her EEG. She's being held for further study for the time being; once we clear up those little discrepancies on the print-out she'll be free to go."

*** 

Well, that could have gone better, though to be fair when I saw the "Amongst the Enemy" bureaucracy result I was expecting much worse! Did I kill the monster? No. Did I complete the secondary objective? Also no. Rolling a "1" on the last shot of the game, which could have made all the difference, smarts some, for sure. 

Hank recovered from his injuries without issue, while Maria has a "Questionable Injury" and is going to miss the next game.  

Only the Lieutenant, Sarah-Jane and Becky had enough XP, between what they'd banked previously and what they earned this game, to trade in for ability score increases. The Lieutenant boosted Dexterity again, while Sarah-Jane and Becky raised their Acuity by one. 

I tried again to requisition a targeting HUD and got denied, and tried to requisition power armor for Hank now that I've got access to Phase 2 gear, and that also got denied. But I do have a drone control pod for the base now, which gives me opportunities to spot and call in drone strikes on monsters that I don't have direct LOS to, which is nice.  

So what's next for the Last Liners? Next mission's taking them out into the wilderness again... 

Majestic 13: Operation Truth Hurts

 The Lieutenant eased off the side of the road, taking his foot off the gas and letting the RV roll to a halt. Ahead of them, half-shrouded in greenery, was a chain-link fence; this far out from populated areas, it seemed out of place.

"Is this it? Where's our secret new friend?" Maria asked, tapping a cigarette out of the pack one-handed and lighting it. 

"Past this fence is a Majestic 13 installation. Top secret, like everything else in Majestic. Real hush-hush stuff. Our meeting point is 50 yards beyond the fence."

The Lieutenant's phone chirped as a text message arrived. He held it up to show the team.

"Don't keep me waiting! ~ Indrid Cold" it read.

"This informant's a real prick," Hank muttered.

"We're going to have to break in to this facility to meet him, kids," the Lieutenant said slowly. "I've got a bad feeling about this but it's the only lead we got on the questions you've been asking. Everyone working in that base is doing, ultimately, the same job you've been doing - protecting Earth from FORCE. Don't go in guns blazing unless you absolutely cannot help it."

***

So this is a "Special Mission," but not the next sequential one from the Majestic 13 rulebook, which sees the alien soldiers of FORCE attacking the team in their home base. Instead, I took it upon myself to come up with something different based on the Last Liners' story so far - which has been one of death, dismemberment, rebirth and burn-out. They want more information and the higher-ups aren't offering it, so when an informant, one "Indrid Cold," reached out offering a meet-up, the Liners took him up on it. Unfortunately, to get to the meeting place, the Last Liners will need to bypass another Majestic 13 fireteam - the Force Discreet, a much more militarized group led by a cutthroat Belgian mercenary named Anna-Maria. The Force Discreet's name is ironic, as they are very fond of rocket launchers. 

 The Last Liners spread out quietly and carefully, with the Lieutenant jumping the fence and circling behind the nearest hangar. I decided that they'd need to investigate each building, and on a D6 roll of 6+ (adding +1 for each previously searched building), they'd found their informant. 

Unfortunately, Javier spotted them and raised the alarm, moving towards Hank and opening fire - and missing. 

 And thus began a trend this game - I rolled absolute trash on attack rolls this game. Probably 75% of shooting rolls, for both the Last Liners and the Force Discreet, were below 9 on a D20. I'm rationalizing it as both teams have trained extensively to fight aliens - fighting humans causes some hesitation. 

Before long, Anna-Maria had jumped the fence to confront Maria II, while the rest of the Force Discreet had closed in.

 Anna-Maria did manage to give Maria II a nasty pistol-whipping before the Last Liner broke free and darted for cover. 

 In the midst of this, the base defenses fired (FUBAR roll - errant drone strike), and the Lieutenant, Maria, Sarah-Jane, Pilar and Javier all took some minor damage. 

Meanwhile, you know how I said on a 6+ roll on a D6 they'd find their informant? Guess what the Lieutenant rolled as he slipped in the back door of the first hangar. A one-armed man stood there, calmly smoking a cigarette. "Took you long enough, Lieutenant," he said.

 

The man quietly slipped the Lieutenant a USB drive even as Ortiz appeared in the hangar doorway, spraying the darkness with lead from his machine gun. 

 Sarah-Jane was having a bit of a rough time of it as well; she'd scaled the garbage truck to get a better vantage point for sniping, missing, and took a running leap on to the cab of the freight truck. She was bleeding from some superficial wounds from the drone strike but wasn't ready to open her medkit and treat herself just yet.

 

And then Javier  took aim and squeezed the trigger on his automatic rifle.

 

A hit, and maximum damage. Sarah-Jane is out of action! 

 

I realize as I'm writing this I actually rolled one die too many for his damage, and she technically shouldn't have gone out of action, but no retconning it now!

Maria and Anna-Maria were trading hits and shots as they darted around the trucks, and Emilio of the Force-Discreet was hot on Becky's tail as she dashed for cover behind the UPS van. The Lieutenant withdrew from the hangar, signalling to his team to get the hell out - mission complete.

 Anna-Maria managed to shoot the Lieutenant in the stomach as he crossed the fence towards the waiting RV, and Pilar moved up to join her commanding officer, despite having not scored a single hit on any of the invaders thusfar. 

 The Lieutenant rolled into cover behind the green pickup truck, quickly patching up his wound with his own medical kit. Maria II tossed a flashbang grenade at Anna-Maria and Pilar, stunning both of them. Quickly shaking off the stun, Anna-Maria said, "Fuck this," shouldered her rocket launcher, and fired at the clustered Last Liners in cover. 

And missed. 

I decided the rocket fell short and blew up the truck they were hiding behind.

 With information obtained and only additional injuries and death to be gained, the Last Liners piled into their battered RV and burned rubber getting away.

 ***

"Majestic 13 has turned a blind eye towards your more... unorthodox... methods, Lieutenant, because you've shown considerable success in countering FORCE's bioweapons. However, this is beyond the pale. Infiltrating a secure Majestic black site because a voice on the radio told you to? Absolutely unacceptable. You're lucky you're not being treated as FORCE collaborators."

"Yes, sir." The Lieutenant kept his tone neutral.

"You could have at least Googled your alleged contact. 'Indrid Cold' has been an enigmatic figure in UFOlogical circles since 1966, an ageless prankster inserting himself into investigations to muddy waters and confuse data. Does that sound like a high-ranking agent of Majestic to you?"

The Lieutenant bit back what he wanted to say, instead replying simply, "No, sir." 

"It is only your admittedly impressive success in the field that stays Majestic's hand, Lieutenant. Your team will be allowed to continue to operate against FORCE, instead of being disappeared into the US prison system. But you will be monitored much more closely going forward. Today's fiasco cannot happen again."
 

"Yes, sir."

 ***

 So a relatively quick and mild mission this time around, with things eased by how few hits I actually rolled for combat. The Last Liners made contact with the informant, whoever he was, and escaped mostly unscathed. Rolling on the casualty tables, Sarah-Jane had a full recovery and will be ready for the next mission. 

The crew gained enough XP to each boost an ability - The Lieutenant, Sarah-Jane and Maria each bumped Dexterity up by 1, while Hank boosted Acuity and Becky boosted Combat. There was no gear requisition this time around - all requests immediately canceled by the higher ups!  

Next time around, the Last Liners will be back to fighting monsters. Will having the bureaucracy breathing down their necks impact their ability to succeed?  

Majestic 13: Operation Out of Sight

 "The eggheads call it a 'Navite Warrior,'" the Lieutenant said. "Cybernetic organisms - a meat core surrounded by steel armor and robot limbs, armed with a big damn gun. They've got a couple different load-outs they cycle between - blinding shot, restraining shot, things like that. So stay frosty, kids, watch each other's backs, and put more rounds into it than it puts into you."

He scratched his beard. 

"I've been calling in favors, team," he added, sounding older than usual. "You deserve a hell of a lot better than Majestic is giving you. You know that, I know that. You're a damn good team and you're putting the hurt on FORCE better than some of the more militarized fire-teams in the field. And I'm damn proud of you, all of you. Let's kick some ass today, collect some monster samples, and remember I'm doing everything I can to get you the rewards you deserve."

***

The Last Liners converged on a busy city street. The gleaming orange and green metal of the Navite Warrior caught the summer sunlight as it crouched above the failing TeeVeeShak, its optical sensors surveying its surroundings.

 

 The Lieutenant opened fire on the creature, blood and oil spurting as bullets pierced the rubber sheathing covering its mechanical joints. Hank, his hands shaking with nerves, squeezed the trigger on his SAW...and missed! The Navite Warrior responded with its Scatter Shot ability, blazing away at every member of the Last Liners. Everyone took damage, and the creature scored a critical hit on Sarah-Jane, almost killing her. Becky was also temporarily blinded by the creature's attack. Its attack completed, the Navite Warrior leapt off the TeeVeeShak roof and scurried into the junkyard.

 

Maria darted across the street and, teeth gritted, pulled herself up the drainpipe on to the TeeVeeShak, taking a pot shot at the monster upon reaching the roof. Blinking away her blindness, Becky ran towards the junkyard gates, lining up a quick shot. Sarah-Jane shot the monster with her sniper rifle, then performed some quick first aid on herself. 

 

The Navite Warrior retaliated by firing a Restraining Shot at Becky; she ducked and dodged the spinning bolas of razor-wire, avoiding damage, only to have the monster somersault over her and shoot her in the back from the front steps of the pawn shop with its Focused Shot ability. The Lieutenant and Hank poured fire into the creature, and Maria called in a drone strike on the monster.

 Becky wandered into the junkyard, feigning polite interest in the conflict between the yard's manager and an unhappy customer as she collected a sample of the creature's effluvium. 

 The Navite fired its Scatter Shot again, hitting the Lieutenant and Becky, both of whom successfully resisted being blinded. The monster darted up on to the roof of the doughnut shop, firing its Restraining Shot at the Lieutenant who miraculously managed to dodge (his Dexterity is still low, and all of these attacks necessitated him making Dexterity saves). 

 

The Lieutenant rolled into cover behind the pickup truck (the driver of which was engaged in intense price negotiations with a hooker, and hadn't noticed the monster) and fired at the Navite Warrior. Hank tried to line up another shot, and missed again; the creature activated, firing its Scatter Shot, hitting the Lieutenant and Maria. Maria and Becky shot at the monster, dealing enough damage to send it into Extremis; from here on out it would take additional damage every time it activated. 

Sarah-Jane missed her next shot, and the Navite whirred into action, blood oozing from its joints as its servos overheated and systems began to fail. It fired another Scatter Shot, striking Maria and the Lieutenant, who failed his saving throw and was blinded by the attack, and leapt down from the doughnut shop roof, landing hard and spurting hydraulic fluids, its knees buckling from the strain. Activating again, then fired a Restraining Shot at Maria, who failed to dodge. The razor-wire ball struck her and expanded, encircling her and restricting her limbs. Bleeding profusely, she collapsed. The Navite tried to activate a third time, and its systems fully overloaded and failed, shutting down and dying.

***

The Lieutenant blinked sight back into his eyes. The Navite Warrior was quickly slagging itself, destroying all traces of FORCE technology to prevent it from falling into human hands. Hank and Becky were extracting Maria, unconscious, from the tangle of razor-wire as best they could. 

He cursed, and pulled out the burner phone. Thumbing a number in, he listened to the buzz as the call was picked up.

"We killed it fast and discreetly. These kids are the best there is in this goddamn fight, so don't tell me you can't give them some answers and some goddamn hope. I've got a soldier down and you're picking up the goddamn medical bill."

He ended the call without waiting for a response. 

***

 This was the smoothest game I've had yet. The pre-game Bureaucracy roll came up "No Event," I had no "FUBAR" events, and the monster died at the end of turn 3. Granted, I'm probably two games away from the game switching to "Phase 2," where the monsters' stats go up, so the challenge will go up again soon. 

Going into post-game...

Maria fully recovered from her wounds, and is ready to go for next game with no new penalties. 

I was one building shy of successfully completing the "Alien Tissue Collection" secondary mission I'd rolled up; if the monster had held on for one more turn I would have had enough time for someone to touch the doughnut shop and it would have been a success. As is, everyone but Maria scored 3 XP, and Maria scored 2. This allowed everyone to improve one ability. 

The Lieutenant boosted Dexterity again, while Hank, Sarah-Jane, Becky and Maria all improved their Combat ability by 1. Hank's Combat ability is now at 20, meaning from here on out it will cost him 6XP to boost that ability instead of the usual 3. 

As for post-battle gear requisitions...

Targeting HUD (second request)? - No.

Drone control pod for the base? - No. 

A prosthetic arm for Maria? - No. Apparently United Healthcare is involved with Majestic 13. 

***

As the team unwound after the fight with beers, the radio suddenly crackled and switched over from classic rock to a hollow, echoing voice.

 "Good evening, Lieutenant! Congratulations are in order for you and your team following today's performance. Majestic is very pleased with your track record against the bioweapons of FORCE. I'm given to understand that your team is dissatisfied with Majestic's dissemination of information, and I'm very sorry to hear that. Please understand that information regarding the ongoing war against FORCE is highly classified, even within Majestic, both for the good of the conspiracy as a whole and for the individual agents on the ground. There's very little I can tell you even if I wanted to. That being said, I do believe your team deserves to be thrown a bone, so to speak. Please be on the lookout; I'm going to provide a date, time and coordinates to you in the very near future through coded channels. Meet me then and there and I'll see what I can do for you." 

The radio hissed and returned to playing the Eagles. The Last Liners looked at each other. They could all feel it. Something big was coming their way.