Kaarle continued with his attention to the plan being formulated.  Once again it seemed Skyrah had considered every angle.  And she was absolutely right about not sending Deltas down the hole in this mission.

Nodding in agreement he finally spoke up.  "I would have to agree on both sending the alpha beta combo and keeping the Deltas up top.   Loading it up with ordinance and then using it for extraction if possible seems the best course in my opinion." he said considering what that meant for Michelle once more.

"regarding the rest of us we need the use the Deltas speed and strength to strike them hard and fast from multiple points in order to cause the most amount of chaos for them to respond too" he said before looking directly at Skyrah, he was disappointed that he wouldn't have her on his team but as with everything command has insisted on there was little he could do to change things now.

"That should hopefully provide just enough time to complete the mission.  Assume that everyone not down in those tunnels is sacrificing thier lives so that you all can succeed... If this was the real deal then the odds are fairly certain that would certainly be the case" he said as he looked to the others trying to convey the seriousness of this missions success regardless of the reality of the situation.

"You're both right about playing to the strengths of the Veritechs; I think the only veritech that should go on the infiltration mission should be the Beta; and only that so that we have a plan, no matter how tenuous, of escape. All of the Alphas and Deltas are faster than the Invid that we have data on; hit and run should be the order of the day for them unless and until they need to stand and fight to help someone less mobile. But let's try to make a plan where that won't be required; as long as the Veritechs don't stop and don't get cornered, they can use their speed as their defense.
Until now I had not considered the importance of that; let me run some numbers real quick, but I'm thinking that, perhaps, almost all of the ground units should go on the infiltration run. Any that don't should probably stay with the shuttles to defend them from any random patrols."

"If I may?", Severian spoke up.

"I could accompany the team that infiltrates the hive should you wish to incorporate me into your strike team...Once in the hive, I could render myself and a small handful of your soldiers invisible with my magic - I would have to be in close proximity to recast it as its duration is limited. However, it may not hide us from the massive intellect in the hive that may sense us, as many of my fellow Sentinel operatives have found out to our horror - even I do not know fully the alien organ's capabilities and only from stories my master had related to me."

After receiving her orders, Miriana set about organizing the crew into groups, and station them close to critical components so that when the evac began, the Vulture would hold out as long as possible to maximize the returning pilots' chances for survival. She also would see to it that their space fold coordinates would be pre-calculated with several fallback points if need be, depending on the amount of resistance encountered. While not her specialty when it came to her training, it was ironically her experience aboard a raider ship that helped her set up the tactics Vulture was to follow to maximize its efficiency.

It felt almost homely.

Cerise listens to everyone's final comments and suggestions, then signals that its time to head out with a final upload of maps and notes about what is known about Invid Hives, Brains, and troops. "Ok, thank you all for your input, I think I've devised a strategy that will make a maximum balance between operational success and a chance to escape. The distraction team will consist of all of the fast flyers except the evacuation alpha-beta combo; that will be piloted by Batgirl and Air. The distraction team will split into smaller squads and use hit and run tactics to harass stalks, utilizing their speed and maneuverability to stay one step ahead of the Invid. Remember, you're trying to generate as much noise as possible; destruction isn't the goal here, but drawing as much resistance away from the Hive as possible is. Once you get the signal that the infiltration team is evacuating, you will turn your cloaking systems on and evade or destroy any remaining pursuit, then return to Hyena and evacuate. K'Chek will be the main command for this team for this operation, but, since you'll all be in different groups, you'll probably need lots of individual leads to keep things coordinated, especially since part of the point is to be random and unpredictable to the enemy. If the Brain ever starts to corner you, switch from hit and run to just run; keep what you can away from the Hive, but don't allow yourself to get stuck in a toe to toe fight.

The remainder of us will head down the hole. Cyclone units will load onto the beta and only deploy once we're in the Hive and have made contact with the enemy, Sillia, you will as well. I've laid out optimal pathways on the maps, depending on where we enter the Hive. We have two possible objectives; the power core or the Brain. Either one fulfills out mission objective, which is to disable the Hive shield. Everyone going down the hole should make sure they are loaded for a fight with Invid; for example flares/decoys should be protoculture flares. I'll do the same. Severian, Xavier, and Sillia, be ready to utilize your special talents to fight these Invid. Severian, also please be ready to try to aid our escape with your invisibility spells. Keep in midn that we'll be forced to leave mecha behind, and that we're going to be pretty crowded in the Beta for the evac; avoid taking anything down that you wouldn't want to leave behind. Reader, you're going to act as my Ex-O for this team, in addition to being squad leader for Banshee. Everyone listen for her command; don't hesitate to follow it. As much as possible, save your missiles until we know for sure if we're going after the power core. If we can rig them to detonate they're probably our best bet for making the explosion more damaging, and even if we can't we can use them on the power core to weaken it or try to breech it.

If the resistance in the Hive is simply too strong, we may need to utilize Severian's invisibility to get a small group into the power core and attempt to blow it up. I believe that, though, is a last option, as I believe escape would likely become impossible, at very least for that group of infiltrators."


OOC: Instead of my normal mini-missile load out, I'll bring all Plasma for this attack, including the full reload.

edited to reflect changes discussed in OOC
This message was last edited by the player at 15:06, Thu 06 July 2017.

"Ok, everyone, load up and lets move out.

We'll need to hang Sauron from the beta, so, if a couple of members of Angel would assist in that, please?" Cerise looks to Shinji to pick who will assist in getting the silverback attached to the beta for transport, then gets in it and positions it, in vehicle mode, to be strapped to the beta.

Once she had finished her initial preparations, Miriana would head over to Cerise for a moment.

- "Ma'm, i've plotted out a location along with a set of fallback points for the Vulture. This way, it will minimize the time lost looking for us should we run into an enemy patrol, each point is marked accordingly so a simple radio message should let everyone know where to form up. It would work the other way around as well, should you happen to be close to a different location we could head over to link up with you instead."

She handed over a map, with points marked by hand in the Zentraedi alphabet. Given that the enemy did not have the map to connect the letters to locations, it would be safe to send that message even if the message itself would be intercepted, though it would still need to be shared with the groups participating in the exercise. She would have done so during the briefing, but deciding on the optimal locations took time, and the briefing had already finished by the time she was done.

"Thanks, Taranis. I'll share this with group leaders. The air group will be taking off a little later than those of us doing the infiltration. Knowing you, you have probably prepared, or are preparing, a similar map for Hyena and the air units; please deliver it to K'Chek once you're done. Make sure none of the ground units, including myself, sees Hyena's map; if we are captured, we would not want to betray them."

Miriana nodded, and went off to update her own map to include Hyena's forces and the air units. She would divide them into two groups, one covering the Vulture and the other standing guard at one of the fallback points: Should the Vulture be attacked to the point where they would need to retreat they would have at least one location confirmed to be safe, and upon their arrival the air units on recon would move to a different point. Likewise, if the enemy showed up at one of the fallback points the recon units would jump to Vulture's location to inform them of the enemy presence before moving on to a different point and resume their recon duties there.

Thirteen acknowledged his orders with a nod. He went to prepare his gear for transport.

  Aang disembarks his alpha and makes his way to the beta. Once aboard he begins systems check with Michelle.

  Kariza over sees the preparation of getting Cerise's silverback hooked up to the beta. with the aid of Angel squad. who more or less get in her way.


  The troops mount up into the beta as instructed awaiting for take off. Sergeants Korvan and Xavier stand ready along with Angel squadron.

  Sillia gathers her gear and makes her way next to Thirteen. "Well kid, you ready for the mission?"

   Running through the final system checks with Aang, she gets back to her primary mission. She radios Karma;

  She smiles and radio's Cerise; "Lieutenant, we are almost ready for take off. we have a few troop still awaiting to load up before take off."

Cerise sits tight in her silverback as it gets hooked up.
[Language unknown: "Ortwilugh, iles has olhat pa tiitmo om wipa ble, ieta fitest he diai ersre hape comse ndeourent thiong se hele tin hihaeefo, oerthiwhi onethuthi o laratesanour ouac ad sint no ad en nt. Ro meilti waek tradan k esswheentted nte nde cksima, i enai liad lout et ni manwilousone.

Virureshe se plmo fi, unri ntfino iopr ol ng wiadat weree we latmanwil as n thain thi ore a erti Whi pl me ev. Unec he mont fi dayoneare eenatiame arha venureandourman u ill ossewh tatiee n nahifi e armi riioon o iladomei."]

With that Cerise sets up a new secure comm channel that will work for the entire infiltration team.

OOC: 15:35, Today: Cerise rolled 53 using 1d100 with rolls of 53.  Radio: Basic (95%) - Set up new comm channel.

In reply to Cerise (msg # 420):

Gerelt walks up to Lt. Cerise with a look of confusion he's been trying to shake for the past few minutes.

"Begging the Lieutenant's pardon, ma'am, but I'm not 100% certain about what me and the rest of the cyclone riders are supposed to be doing.  So stop me when I'm mistaken.

Me and the cyclone riders will travel in a Beta Fighter, and get dropped off, how far away from the hive?  And then we will travel through underground tunnels to get to the hive, bypassing the shield because it does not protect underground.  Have those tunnels been mapped out?  What do we know about them?

And then once we get into the hive, while other units run interference, we plant explosives either on the Invid Brain, or the Power Core, then get the hell out of there.  Do we know how much explosives it'll take to blow up a hive power core or Invid Brain, Lieutenant?"

Gerelt speaks to Lieutenant Cerise as polite as he knows how.  He's not questioning her orders, he's asking questions about her orders so he perfectly understands them.

"The cyclone riders and Sgt Sillia will ride in the beta until we get to the hive itself. At that point they will deploy. We will use the alpha's disruption beam to pierce the door shield in order to enter. The tunnels have not been fully mapped, so we will have to do our best to navigate them. All we know for sure is that they have some sort of, apparently I video, vegetation in them and the Invid come and go from them.
If we attack the power core, yes we will plant explosives, after a fashion; all of our mechs except the alpha and beta will be set to go critical in hopes of doing enough damage with the explosion to breech the core. If we go after the brain then we will attack the brain and its guards; typically the brain itself is fairly soft, but with formidable mental powers. However it is typically very heavily guarded. Once we defeat it, we will abandon our mechs, perhaps setting them to go critical, to cause additional disruption and distraction.
The getting out of there phase will involve everyone boarding the beta and the alpha beta getting out as quickly as possible."

"Let's do this. Banshee, load up your Cyclones." Skyrah said flatly, it was obvious she'd already switched her mindset to mission mode. She did not agree with loading up everyone into one basket, but the call was not hers to make.

"No I'm not." Thirteen gets a frustrated expression and shakes his head. "I mean yes I am."

When he heard Skyrah he turned and nodded to her before returning to pack away his Cyclone.

"Compared to last night this mission is not a problem." He confides to Sillia.

In reply to Thirteen (msg # 424):

[Language unknown: Naetck ader Allho.]

Kaarle moved quickly to get ready and back in his Delta, it was a sight to see everyone on mission getting ready and anxious to do this.

Once his team was assembled and ready he opened comm's once more.

[Language unknown: Ieonas Strwilallrut ekaipl at, ne stiilllin p lenginli ted ilwi ine neonna ntne ou wilstaone]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:22, Sun 09 July 2017.

Gerelt looked confused.

"Lieutenant, if some of us leave our mecha behind and use them as time bombs, will everyone fit in the escaping mecha?  If not, escaping on foot would be too dangerous.  Couldn't we just make sure we take enough explosives?"

In reply to Gerelt Ashtar (msg # 426):

Skyrah looked to Gerelt. "When on mission use callsigns, not ranks. Okay?" She asked him emotionlessly. "As to answer your question, they will all fit if folded into thier stowed configuration. Which means if all the cyclones are fitting on the way there, we could in theory leave all mecha to explode and everyone will fit in the Beta Transport on the way back. By ensuring a stealthy entry we lack the room for explosives, therefore we're improvising the explosives part so that we can infiltrate as far as possible. Now please, get ready for the mission as laid out." Skyrah finally stated, emotionlessly.

Mirage checks in after settling herself in the cockpit of her Delta.

[Language unknown: "Prthai Acalfi, Menvorrut Dertioent."]

Severian just said "Indeed" to Cerise's suggestion to speak to the other superiors she suggested. He doubted that they could do anything when he had spoken to the Admiral about his concerns.

"I will see to getting my armor ready for this game of war. My Air Skimmer is larger than your Cyclones so perhaps it should stay behind to save space? As to a 'Call sign' is it? I have no such thing...Is it necessary?"

"Very well, Sue and Reader.  I'll get my gear together."

With that, Vindicator prepares his Devastator Cyclone, which was all he had to do because he was already wearing his CVR-3 body armor.

i have separated the two teams. You can only see the team your suppose to post in. please continue in those threads.