T'risa nodded "I only intend to determine the veracity of your statements. If you are telling truth, then I agree, subject to your parole, I will allow you the freedom of this camp. I do not intend to dig for any more than you have given me. I will be focussing only on your current thoughts. I do not intend to go on a fishing expedition to find more evidence to incriminate you."

T'risa looked at the woman. "Let us begin."

T'risa asked the woman a series of questions including her name and identity along with confirmation of the facts as she'd prevented them. she then asked the woman for her parole, an agreement not to leave the confines of the base or work counter to their activities until she was released from it by T'risa. She only asked one final question at the end. "Do you know anything further that would cause us harm by not telling us."

Assuming all went well, T'risa nodded to the guard to come in and free her.

"You are free within the confines of the town. Chief Jons will see to your housing. I am a reasonable woman. If you have any requests, please ask."

T'risa rose to leave. "Welcome to Hope."

Seeing that the questioning was over M'kira moves to T'risa's side ready to leave. Her eyes rest on the woman for a long moment before she speaks. "Guess you don't get to enjoy the handcuffs." Her lips quirk up in a smile before she continues. "Good luck. If you reconsider working with us the benefits can be pretty good. One of our tech's is a genius at producing top notch equipment. Pretty useful to people in our line of work."

Poppy sat for a while soring cartridges and filling mpty magazines her mind running off on half a dozen different streams. he finally tossed the boxes of ammo and spare mags into a duffel and headed into camp. climbing back up to the snipers perch where Grym sat guard.
   " Here I thought you might need these. she handed him printouts from the intel packet and a plate from the kitchen. settling in and covering herself back up as she slowly scanned the horizon.
     " They're planning an op, kind of a big one it sounded like. I thought you'd want the data so you can pick a spot she sat out mags for the assault gun and began to fill them with round." figured since you were alone too, I'd be alone with some company. I managed to find some AP and HE rounds you have a preference...  she asked a she began to fill magazines.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Wed 29 Sept 2010.

Elsbeth nodded soberly, "I do not pretend to fully understand your Aunt's situation.  I may not have had a 'circle', but I know what it is to lose your center, to be shaken to the core."  She smiled sheepishly, "I can only imagine what it is like to be ostracized by one's peers; though I do know what it is like to have no home to go back to."  Her expression was a bit enigmatic, but Balkiir could fully read her thoughts and emotions.  Elsbeth empathized to her very core with J'dai's situation, with quandaries and the contradictions that the Valkiir racial fears seem to generate.  And while she had never met the woman, Elsbeth felt as though she could relate to her on a deeper level.  The sadness in her eyes was the window to that deeper level - and Elsbeth gave her large blue warrior-paramour a view into that window.

Then Elsbeth blinked and the window closed.  As Balkiir waxed a bit romantic, she let herself be drawn in and kissed him.  Elsbeth did not have much experience with the act and, mostly, she merely yielded to his lead.  She gave him a crooked smile, half-apology for her inexperience and half-thank you for the gift of his touch.  Elsbeth brushed her hand against his cheek, thrilling to the emotion that was evoked with such a simple touch.  It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and sent chills down her spine.

She smiled again and lightened the mood, "I guess, we make a pair then, Friend Balkiir."  She reached up and took his head in her hands, pulling his forehead towards her, so that it touched hers.  Elsbeth spoke with a playful tone, but words were only partly in fun - Balkiir could feel some emotional weight to them, "I would have said that you were my center.  And so, I think that means we are well suited.  Both of us believing that they are living for the other.  Each of us hoping to be complete through our Bond."  Elsbeth let her hands wrap around Balkiir's neck and she held him close.  With her eyes closed, she savored his presence, both physical and mental, and let herself get lost in the moment; Elsbeth let herself hope that it would not have to end, even though she knew that it must.

  Balkiir didn't break contact, instead letting himself hold Elspeth for a while. With a deep sigh he broke contact and shook his head slightly" You know we really ought to talk to who ever scheduled tis war...they sure as hell know how to make it hard to have a life." Balkiir gathered weapons spent cartridges and power pack, then slung the bags over his shoulder hesitating for a moment before motioning back toward the crow.
   I'm guessing we need ta go unpack some ordinance and go over our gear for the next couple of ops.I need to prep my heavy armor, and the heavy stuff and We need weapons and ammo for the back up squad, You strip, I'll clean...

After Balkiir broke contact (albeit rather unwillingly), Elsbeth stood back and straightened her hair and gave him a smile and a nod.  She helped him to gather the weapons and various, sundry items and then headed back with him to the Crow to prep for any upcoming actions.  Elsbeth knew that as the front line grunts, she and Balkiir would probably be the last to know about any plans for an attack and the first out of the dropship onto the LZ.  Which definitely meant that an equipment check was needed - there was no debate about that.  Death by equipment failure, really wasn't an option.

"Hmmmm..." she noted playfully, "How about you strip and I clean..."

  " hmm??? Balkiir paused for a moment then let out a chuckle." deal,but we better see to the gear first.

   Returning to the ship Balkiir stowed their gear and began to pull rifles and other weapons out of the arms locker setting them out in neat order . hands moving in familiar ways without much thought. most of the weapons were liberated fro the Q'sa he felt an odd sense of justice that they would be pointed the other way soon.

      " Once we finish up here I can whip up something for dinner. balkiir spoke up as he finished breaking down an assault rifle frowing a the dust and lubricant caking the mechanism." we ought to have a good meal before we jump off. Back home we'd be setting around till late singing and BSing. way back in the day the Ancestors would send the last day before going out to sea singing he sagas, making offerings and boasts, then spending a last night."

"Three thousand years later here we are prepping our axes and spears on a ship god knows how far from hearth and home "

taking his time to ensure every part was in working order tossing aside several weapons into the parts bin he took a deep breath and began to boom out in a deep baritone that echoed off the walls and out through the halls. singing a song he had learned as a boy. singing of heroes and gods almost forgotten by their earthbound cousins.

T'risa went to see the Chief and inquire as to the feasibility of borrowing a few soldiers from the base, also to arrange for him to keep an eye on the merc, but allow her freedom of the town so long as she steers clear of the sensitive areas.

Conrad hurries up to finish the order given to him by T'risa to only have another order placed by Poppy.  Conrad spends another day working around the clock to finish up bazooka's and RPG's for Poppy.  Though Conrad's area is more armor and weapons, not things that go boom.

OOC:
Conrad rolled 24,2 using 1d20+4,1d6. demolition check. Total 26
Nat 20!!!
Taking 10 on Craft Mechanical and Electrical, making both a 29

  Jons reluctantly releases six men from the guards for duty under T'risa only two of them have any military experience one an older NCOs who had sen at least some combat in the regular forces. the second a colonial militia member who had joined up after two years of guarding a mine site on mars. His combat experience mostly in bars or manning the wall during the siege. the rest are green, their only experience coming from the hasty training given at the colony and a few firefights defensing the camp during the siege.

Their weapons and armor are piecemeal and they haven't had any time to repair or upgrade their gear since the last assault on the compound.

   Plans made and resources assembled the crew has little to do but double check their gear and wait for the next day. a long night passes as the ship settles in for one last night of sleep before the first of their offensive operations kicks off.
  In the night a storm blows in ff the deep desert lightening and thunder generated b blowing dust turns the night into a spectacular display of raw power as thunder rolls across the base camp rattling windows and rumbling even through the heavily armored hull around them.  The morning comes early the sky blood red through the blowing dust the entire camp lit by the same eerie reddish half light.

T'risa mustered everyone going on the missions in the galley for coffee. She tried to get the men replacement weapons and armour and made sure they practiced under Balkiir and Rhics watchful eyes.

When she gathered everyone into the crowded galley she thought she should make a speech. She stood on the table to all the people preparing for battle.

"May I have everyones attention." when the conversations paused T'risa continued "Up to this point, we've only ever fought defensively. To protect what we have from the others invading this world. To maintain our position while other run rampant here. This operation is our first offensive one. This is the time where we tell the people we are pitted against that this is our place too, and we will not be moved from it. We've set things up to work, to strike at two places at once, to hit the large forces they have overwhelmingly. To destroy large amounts of their material resources and capture some for our own use. Our enemies are strong. Make no mistake on that and do not underestimate them. They have battle witches on their side too. And with the Q'sa that makes for a VERY fearsome enemy. Remember a few things. We cannot survive a sustained battle with the enemy. Our raids need to be quick, destructive and profitable. Today we'll be bringing much needed supplies if we can save the freighter. Presumably it has arms, ammunition, armour and food. If today goes well then we'll all celebrate tonight and this town becomes so much safer."

T'risa switch open the viewport to look at the city. "There it is ladies and gentlemen, it is Hope, the city we fight for. You personally will help save this city from the Q'sa by our actions today. The viewport changed to show the location of the starport with the enemy anti air formations located." Rhic will lead a small team with explosives to destroy as much of the anti air defences around the starport as he can. We need at least two emplacements destroyed. Three would be much better. You will be taking Elsbeth, Poppy and Leo and a lot of explosives. Your job is to utterly destroy the anti air systems. Secondary objectives will be any communications. As soon as you hit stiff resistance pull out."

"The rest of us, will be aiming to save the transport and demolish as much of this enemy formation here as possible." The picture changed to show a small landling site for a transport, with two nearby mountains. "Balkiir, myself and the soldiers will take position on the top of this hill. Balkiir you are in charge of these men. We'll deploy with all of the missiles Conrad has deployed with us. Our primary goal is to destroy enemy anti air assets and Mecha. We'll have one or two machine guns with us to provide long range suppressive fire, but it's unlikely we'll do much other than encourage the enemy soldiers to keep down. Sergeant Grym will deploy in the valley here. It gives him some elevation and a lot of escape routes if anything goes poorly. I will act as your spotter from my position on the top of the mountain. We'll be going primarily after targets of opportunity. Officers, specialists, crews of the anti air or mecha units. M'Kira, you, Conrad and Tiny will approach from up this ravine in Mecha, you'll remain hidden until the attack commences and then you will rush in. Your job will be to create mayhem, shoot masses of infantry, especially anyone with crew served weaponry. We need some of that to make this place more secure. You will be pushing at them from this side. Our aim is not to utterly destroy this unit though that might be helpful, it is to render them completely ineffective. To that end I have left them an escape route here....it's impassible in vehicles. They'll need to abandon all of their material to use it. We will herd them into it. It's my goal for this part of the operation to capture enough material, mecha and anti air assets to remove any thought from the enemy commander of taking this place. To make this place a bastion for us. Any intel we can capture is a high priority. I know everyone has been told the plan before, it has not changed. I will be in contact with you all during the course of events. Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy, but these both have a degree of success. With me acting as commander, we can pull off the necessary timing to make it simultaneous and it should throw the enemies comms into disarray. Aziza will be standing by with close air support for us, but it's too risky for her until the air systems are down. Everyone....you know what we are about to do is daring and audacious and more than a little dangerous. We lack the numbers to win in a stand up fight, but we will kill many more than our number in quick raids with precise objectives. Just remember we cannot afford to get bogged down in stiff resistance. Any questions?" T'risa paused waiting to see if anyone had questions.

Conrad listens carefully, since he hasn't had any time to make any more modifications to his pieced together mecha and to add to it all, he has to make sure Tiny doesn't do anything reckless.

"Our best bet, for the mecha squad, is to wait till we can flank any possible ground mecha's.  I would love to be able to salvage a few parts for spare mecha parts.  I have faith in your abilities T'risa.  I need to go prep both my mecha and tiny's mecha."

Conrad gets up and heads off to the hanger where the mecha's where at and begins to power both of them up and make sure no issues were present.  Then he goes over to tiny's mecha and equips a shield in her left hand and whatever heavy weapon he could find.

Tiny couldnt help but to feel a little uneasy, specially being in a drone body after the last few days in a mecha body.  This was a big mission ahead of her.  In a new body, with new friends.  Though she did feel wanted and cared for.  Conrad made sure her body was in tip top shape.

"Ms. T'risa, I have a question.  Since I'm a TAE citizen, will I get in trouble for blowing up those nasty lizards?"

T'risa smiled "No, you are deputised into the Colonial Authority and have law enforcement powers. You will act at my discretion to uphold the law. Planetary invasions are illegal."

Elsbeth had stood at ease during the entire briefing, studying the graphics and the mission objectives intently.  When T'risa solicited questions, she raised her hand for a moment, before asking, "Marshal, can you or Master Sergeant Rhictor elaborate on what is the insertion plan for the team that will be planting the explosives at the anti-aircraft emplacements?"  Elsbeth paused for a moment, "And how much collateral damage are we empowered to enact on the port proper, should the opportunity present itself?  This could affect the kit that we arm ourselves with ..."

"Our only transport asset is Aziza and the Crow. You'll be infiltrating to a dropsite out of range of their sensors and working your way in on foot, or possibly a Jeep depending on if I can get one. Exfil should be done by the crow, or if you can't destroy any exfil on foot to be outside the range of the anti air and we'll come pick you up.  You are not to damage the starport in any way. The anti air emplacements are far outside the port. You probably won't even get close to see it. The magic number is two. If two anti air batteries are destroyed, we can sneak the crow past the rest and get in to the port.  I'll be in your heads so I'll know how things are going and we can alter things on the fly if things get bad."

Elsbeth nodded dutifully, "Understood, Ma'am.  Thank you, Ma'am.  Then she reiterated, "Close under sensor range.  No damage to the port.  Surgical on a minimum of two emplacements - ensure complete destruction."  She looked thoughtful for a moment, then noted, "Ma'am, if I may.  We do have the two hummers from the campsite ambush retrieved.  I believe they still have heavy weapons mounted on them.  Either one could speed our final approach significantly."  Elsbeth was not sure the jeep would be around for the exit or extraction, that required to many things to happen - it was too far into the mission to predict.

Elsbeth was sure that the rest of the details of mission would be revealed soon enough by Rhic.  Still, no matter how they were to do that job, she knew that the four of them would need to work together and quickly to do the maximum damage.  It also sounded like the job was going to be extra dangerous.  Since they were trying to rig as many emplacements to be destroyed, but expected to be sighted at some point, the people placing the explosives had a significant chance to be either discovered by the enemy or in one of the blast zones, if the timing was poor.  Once the first set of explosions went off, Elsbeth expected that the chances of placing more explosives subsequently would be significantly decreased.  The enemy would on high alert.  Their best chance for maximum success was to plant as much as possible and get out for a remote simultaneous detonation.  With one lookout - that left the other three team members to plant explosives.  Given the distance between emplacements, Elsbeth assumed that splitting the team up would be the best and quickest option.  But that left them with little ability to back each other up.  She could feel the hackles on the back of her neck lifting - the situation would definitely not be ideal.

She glanced at Balkiir standing next to her briefly, an eyebrow raised and crooked smile on her lips, but said nothing.  She briefly wished he were going with her, but understood why he wasn't - she was sure that would catch that train of thought; Elsbeth did nothing to hide it.  So, her gaze moved back to the front of the room.  Elsbeth's jaw was set firmly and her eyes had started to take on a distant look as she prepared herself to the upcoming mission.  She needed to be focused; she needed to be ready and willing - she needed to enter the zone.  No time for distractions; no time for things outside of the mission; no time, but the here and now.  Time enough to be grounded in the present.

  and they say Valkiir are insane, will she even believe that we would dare attack them directly Balkiir though to himself  thin smile on his face as he considered the effect of simultaneous attacks and how the enemy would react, if the enemy witch even believed the reports or her own instincts this plan was damn near suicide. But it was the only plan that gave them any chance to set the enemy on their heels. If it worked they would be in good shape, no worries, if it didn't they would be dead, and didn't have to worry anymore either.. but there were a lot of questions, and damn few certainties, someone wasn't coming back from this run.

" I'll be right there with you. Balkiir whispered as he put a hand on Elspeth's shoulder. and I'll be right here hen you get back.

  He turned his mind to the maps and briefing notes, looking over infiltration points looking for locations to cover with fire before the enemy could take them and use them for cover. His face became grim solemn his eyes became hard unemotional and intense as he put on his game face and summoned up every last ounce of internal strength to bolster his focus..
   For now he couldn't worry about who would live and who would die, who would be there when he came home. or who would be gone. those thoughts burned hot and intense for several moments as he gae them one last thought before locking down Becoming what his ancestors had been bred for a ruthless, focussed unrelenting engine of war.

T'risa looked to Conrad "Conrad? I thought you'd scrapped the Hummers for parts. Do we still have one?"

"Last I knew, Aziza wanted to use the hummer."

" Ummm it's Okay.... tiny sounded embarrassed as she spoke over the intercom.he had rigged the Hummer to drive on it's own and chained a wreck behind it as a moving target she had let it roll away thinking it was a neat sight to see it bumping and rolling away like it was headed off somewhere... It was headed south last time I saw it... I'll go get it and bring it back....

"Okay.... wait... what?  Ahhh damnit... What did you do now Tiny?"

I was using it to tow a target for me...i salvaged one of the defense drones cores and wired it in so it could drive itself, everyone else was practicing so I thought I should..and....Well It looked like it was having fun Tiny replied sheepishly And It was .....funny to watch so I sort of...well set it free. she lowered her head and looked at the floor for a moment not anting to see the looks she knew she was getting" I'll go get it. It couldn't have gone that far

"Sounds good to me. Though grabbing spare parts might be best served by Aziza's robots. Assuming she can keep em intact on the battle field they could hall off anything we take down as opportunity presents. Remember unless we outright defeat them salvage is problematical as they will be shooting at us. Still im all for salvaging needed weapons and parts. After we hit em hard they are probably going to try to make life hard for us."

Looking to T'risa M'kira smiles and nods. "No problem if things get to nasty we pull out. It's going to be interesting working with you tiny." She laughs for a moment when she mentions a defense drone being used to autopilot the humvee. "Well actually that's not a bad idea Tiny. T'risa assuming we hae the resources we could set up a trap or two. If they pounce on say a humvee or anything else on autopilot. Then we can catch them with their pants down. They at least will be looking in the wrong direction when we hit them. It's just a thought."