Skyrah

  Sophie gives you a straight and forward answer; "it is to help you and your new squad to get to know each other on the ground and hopefully build their trust of you. And to cut your connection to wraith squadron."

Thirteen takes a deep breath and concentrates.

"I... don't mean to lie. I.. just do... sometimes."

He spoke slowly, taking his time to make sure he did not slip again.

In reply to Gargoyle (msg # 382):

Kaarle turns to Skyrah.  "I think there was a misunderstanding.  Either I mispoke or was misunderstood.  Either way Delta will be taking over as exo of wraith squadron" he said somewhat annoyed still by the whole change of course mid mission. He was in a tough spot really wanting to give the position to Michelle but that wouldn't be appropriate and considering what he knew could jeopardize the whole mission.

"congratulations on your promotion Reader" he said with a smile

Kariza helps those who need to with their mecha as she slowly guides each of them out of the now open pod doors.

  Each of you follow the directions to the staging  area in front of the Apex, the Veritechs are in guardian mode if they are not connected with a betas. The ground teams are also set in various staging areas with environmental tents for the many cyclone riders and silverback pilots.

 The command staff gather in the hanger there is a back ground screen behind Lieutenant Colonel Thatcher. It shows the over all battle grounds. The Lieutenant Colonel speaks loud and clear for all to hear.

  "All right ladies and gentlemen, we will be attacking the Invid base in four hours. A special operations unit will spearhead the attack and drop the Invid Hive shield so the Gambit and its fleet get their orbital strike in. Once the shield is down we will have fifteen minutes to get out of the target zone or be vaporized with the Invid. Our Horizon Ts will be on standby to evac the troops." Six green lights show up on the map. "These are the landing zones. make sure your teams are aware of their locations.  Our Veritech squadrons will give air cover while our rides home are loading up. With the exception of Vulture and Hyena teams everyone is dismissed."


  Once the others are gone the map shows the tunnel systems that Banshee squad discovered, he looks at your two teams. "Lieutenant Cerise, one of your two teams will attack the main hive and the other will attack the inside of the transmission Stalk" (this would be the same style as in the episode where the old men run the garfish into it before nuking it with their ship.) He points on the map showing the closet tower to the tunnel entrance. "The main hive team is to destroy the Invid brain chamber which should drop the hive's shield. While the other team will act as a distraction for the primary team. you will have four hours to do so. it is suspected that the tunnels lead directly into the hive so which ever team is chosen to attack the tower will need to wait for the other team to get into position." He looks up directly up at Cerise; "I do not have command of your teams and how you chose to run this operation. I will be leading the attack from the front line. So I will not be able to watch over your operations. I have nothing more I can give you, as we do not have anything more. If you have any questions feel free to ask. If not, Ill let you have five minutes with your teams to set their directions."


  Those waiting outside the hanger find the briefing ends pretty quickly, as the main body of command begins to brief their own units. You all are waiting on your own commanders to return.

  Mirage, despite all members of wraith squads receiving the message, Joker reminds you to keep count for your bet.

  When Mirage is announced to be wraith squadron new exo, Michelle cannot help feel a little resentment since she has been the senior pilot in the squad. But she smiled and suppressed the thought. She knew why she could not be the Exo. She spoke with enthusiasm; "Congratulations Delta."

  when it was time to embark she climbed aboard her Veritech and double check all systems of both the Alpha and beta. Once ready and cleared with vulture she moved to the designated location and set down once more. Waiting, keeping her weapons ready covering Her command staff while they were in the open.

  With Kariza's help she climbs into her Hunter killer power armor. Once she is finished she twist and moved to form up with the others in the squads. "PFC Sillia reporting for duty Ma'am." she says to her new Lieutenant." she gives Thirteen a quick glance to watch to see his own reaction at his new commander trying to see read his facial expressions.

Further conversation is interrupted by the coming of a new mission. He finishes his drink and moves to put on his armor to get ready with the others. The adrenaline of getting ready makes his feel a little better after that night. When he is ready and joins the rest of Banshee squad he reports himself professionally and awaits his orders. The announcement of their new commander does not seem to cause any reaction in him.

"Very well...I have been in contact with Sentinel Command as well as the Admiral of this fleet concerning the "Augmented" soldiers created by the humans. I cannot help that the expeditionary force - although greatly helpful in combating the Invid scourge - are following the path of the Tirollian Masters in creating these soldiers...I would like to know your thoughts on the matter."

Mirage blinks, not expecting that a bit.

"Understood Kcheck, I will do my best.  Should we have a talk before deploying so I am up to speed?"  She smiles to Michelle, nods.  "Thank you, Batgirl."

Severian: "I, too, have my concerns. I've voiced them to my chain of command. The ones in our squad, at least, are being treated, in most respects, as humans, so it could be far worse. However, in the respects that you've seen where they are not, I agree fully that it is inappropriate. Human history is full of such folly, but usually they find a way to police themselves, eventually. Forcing their hand, however, sometimes leads to far worse outcomes than trying to nudge them from within. I would ask that you not discuss this with the squad in general, but, if you feel comfortable doing so, it may be wise to discuss it with Fell and Rockatansky; they certainly have more pull in the fleet and on this topic than I do, though their hands may be pretty tied as well."

[Language unknown: "Ee a one k icadayera n avela wato et ur ardverhou moti. Ard iou Ica, Thiionncehat, artverear eaung Lat it anytedsti ss latsheman. Eenntiore Icheredin con Ntnois ri ven p althi nde estvorthoour verlaranyoun a anysomvorruthat nama k ma urelarlesthethe whonee, ta vir roncto ntfiit one lostro ropete ca diil nial an. Ev mion M ntema il strounmen oun iseen liisek yinstathorat onsreante le ut Verwheven ad Isnaai, he somtinure an witandmen weulan onat Diwetaut. Ore n mi us and ore ca om whna Ma estredeve se escaut urri cedimi ie o erswerdinlar ac fiosmi moos Onsateai, ce ur conestill diur thend ainur wh oulthathuver seut oreoreith osare mi.

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Ningno ho een onethowerourour, tanerihiev, butredastlin, n virainndeoul? Iofind, A si was menot toart n evlar o p leisnc hatvorpre, ieee, fo Ichameers riinti, Nte haomel arewastra butingave oreentainate, stathi-blemanwer ter dayproour linredpre oul hencma t ee waeswa e sheeauart. Notereugh? Ckera One?"]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:07, Wed 28 June 2017.

Gerelt merely shrugged at his comrades' chastisement, and continued  with prepping his gear.

After listening to the briefing, he gathers with Banshee Squad.

It. Wildstar speaks; "You can count on my teams to do thier duties."


  It's Shinji Ikari that steps up next, "If we blow the core we can eliminate the hive. And we do not even need to go into the upper levels Ma'am.

Gerelt raises his hand.


"I understand this is a war game, and we'll have special visors do that we see Invid and Invid structures. But what will we really be up against, and will there be live rounds?  And if the rounds are not live, how will damage be recorded?"

  GM Note:

Answered this in out of character thread. this is stuff he would have known.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:00, Thu 29 June 2017.

Skyrah thought for a moment, then she finally spoke up. "Simple charges may not work. We'd need something stronger. However his idea does have merit." She considered.

Korvan step forward after he heard his new co speak. "Ma'am I think this plan will result in the deaths of the entire ground team." He does not flinch as he speaks his eyes fixed on Cerise. "You would have the air wings attack the communication stalk and if they fired enough of thier missiles they might bring it down. They might not. But every other stalk will release thier troop to defend the base. The primary have defense will also attempt to defend against intruders. No one could get a horizon landed in here to rescue the troops." It is clear he is holding back something. Then he sighs. "It's your call and ill follow your orders. But i think that beta, should be kept close."

In reply to Gargoyle (msg # 396):

Kaarle listens intently and when Korvan speaks up he can't help but feel a pang of guilt as he realize the point he's trying to make.

He speaks up in response his voice firm and emotionless.  "Whether it is a war game or the real thing, the survival of the ground team, or any of us for that matter is irrelevant."  pausing for a moment before continuing "just their success in completing their objective"

In reply to Kaarle Cherkovski (msg # 397):

"Ma'am, Shinji, my XO, and Kchek all have valid points." She starts. "I feel the best diversion with the most optimal chance of success would actually be a combined ground and air assault with our heaviest hitters. Wraith Squadron and Shinji's team would be the best for that mission, and could split any forces that come for them making it more difficult for the enemy to regroup."

She then looked towards Joker, and nodded once. "That would leave the lighter units to handle the interior assault. Joker's smaller shadow fighters, and my units lighter ground mecha can handle the tunnels. His unit can provide the heavier support that the Angel squadron would have provided."

"As to a heavier ordnance to destroy the brain cluster, we can use the same method I used to mask my squadrons escape when I first joined you. We overload the protoculture engine of one of the Cyclone's, or Veritech's right on the thing. When it explodes, It will have multiple effects, destroying the brain, covering our escape with a massive release of protoculture energy behind us, and drawing the Invid away from the diversionary forces so that they can withdrawal as well." She paused for a moment, then went on. "We can also use standard charges to add to the explosion. The more power, the better."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Thu 29 June 2017.

"Perhaps a sort of one-two punch to the stalk may draw out more of the hive's defenses. A quick hit and run initially, then, while the initial defenders give chase and are drawn away, a secondary team could hit it again. Most likely some secondary wave of defenders would be sent at that point, then the infiltration team could make its move. Of course that does nothing to address the survivability of the infiltration team. Korvan is right that the only chance the infiltration team will have is to load up on the beta and take off and rendezvous with the Vulture. And, despite survival being secondary to the mission, I believe we should try to have a plan, even if it is unlikely to succeed. I guess that means three things regarding the infiltration team; only those who have environmental armor or are in cyclones can go on that part of the mission, the numbers on that team are limited, and Batgirl needs to be on that team. Of course, trying to stay light means that anything big will be available to be detonated at the core in order to try to set the thing off.

Joker; do you have any experienced Beta pilots? If so, they should pilot the beta attached to Batgirl's alpha; we'll need someone who can fly that thing well; at very least it will be easier to remain stealthy if the two components are able to detach and reattach.

Reader; you know the troop carrying capabilities of the beta; work with Iron Fist and pick a team. Iron Fist, though should remain on distraction duty, to command the ground element. If possible, I want to head in with the infiltration team; that's where my ewar and C&C electronics are going to be the most important, I think.

Everyone else; you'll be on distraction duty. I'm going to put K'Chek in charge of that side of the op, but don't forget; Joker and Iron Fist know their stuff too; coordinate the air and ground elements of your distraction with them. And, when the shit hits the fan, make sure the ground team has the best possible chance of escape; they can't move as fast as the Veritechs, so they'll need some ground support. They should rendezvous with the Hyena at the closest possible point for the hyena to approach with a reasonable chance of survival.

As each of the shuttles is loaded, they should make haste to the cover of the incoming warships; expect reprisals wherever the Invid can find them.

Taranis, you're still going to be the OIC for both shuttles; make sure they both know what they're doing and are ready to make their rescues when they're needed.

Did I miss anything, or do we have a plan?"

OOC: http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=47792/VDS-9A is the wiki page with the drop ship beta we're using, so it will help you figure out how many you want to bring. Assuming Cerise comes, her mecha will have to be one of the ones "left behind", since it is a silverback. Everyone's load out is in this thread: link to a message in this game

Oh, and oops; I didn't even realize Angel were still with us for this. Skyrah; it seems they are pretty badass, so it may be worth considering one or more of them, at least assuming they are wearing enviro armor inside their battleoids/strikers. Who knows! :D

GM are the Wildcards and/or Thunderhammer also with us for this op? If so, I'm guessing they'll mostly supplement the ground troops on the distraction portion, since they're all basically NPC cyclone guys (marines, mostly or entirely, if I remember right).

I picked PCs to be the leaders of the prongs because they are PCs; I'll let Cerise being more familiar with them be the excuse, though. ;)

Yes wildcards are there. They are in the wiki under Nov. All are cyclone rider marines.

 Strikers are battloids standing 20+  feet tall. The two angel member in power armor are medic and intel o.o, records mission like sue gram.

I will go over battle plans in more detail after work.

OOC: The medic COULD be useful, perhaps, though I expect casualties on both sides of the mission, so it is probably better to keep the Angels all together. As far as bringing some of the Warlock veritechs, there are definitely pluses and minuses; the plus is rawr moar firepower, but the minus is, unless they have betas they really stand little chance of escape; they essentially would have to leave the veritechs behind; without a beta they can't escape to space and the relative safety of the warships; even with betas they'll be slow to get to safety compared to those hitching a ride on the Vulture (by linking an alpha-beta to it). The diversionary team will have a better chance to load up on the Hyena and utilize it's speed to escape.

  OK, ill role play this out in a post after this one.

  Keeping squads with proper squads will be better then mixing and matching them, your teams already know each other and the partners quirks. Well except the new guy. The new guy! :p
  Also this is still a competition. Plus the wildcards are there to go in with Banshee and they are a full squad and in wiki http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=47792/Wildcards .

  So are you wanting to have everyone board the beta and fly in the tunnels? or fly to the hive from the outside.

  Players know about all invid mecha but enforcers, Commander and Overlords. those are new and only been encountered once and you have no real info on them. also you have basic information on hive layouts.

  Joker Looks up at Cerise; "Roger Ma'am, everyone in my team is able to fly and fight in a beta." He looks at Kaarle; "Ill have Air pilot it. He is one of the kids and a better then average pilot. He'll get the job done."

  He looks back at Cerise; "Ma'am I think you would be better off having the alpha beta go in with you and your team or attempt to fly ahead at tree top level and wait outside the hive for extraction."

 Korvan again speaks; "Ma'am, i suggest we take the tunnels in and just abandon the mecha when its time to make our escape. HQ is not gonna care about the sacrifice of the toys. This way we have the Striker and Gladiator for heavy firepower."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Thu 29 June 2017.

I wasn't thinking everyone would fly in on the beta, rather that the alpha/beta would walk/fly in with them, help int he fight, and extract after (with everyone who needed to dumping their mechs for the evac).

Knowing the basic layout will definitely help the situation; that means we can, almost, go straight to the target, without having to wander and wonder and hope we get lucky.

And you're definitely right about keeping squads together, but sometimes some mech just aren't going to be as appropriate as others. All the stealth things, plus cyclones/silverback have some means of moving without blipping on protoculture sensors... others not so much. Are the strikers stealth capable? The Gladiator is a big mech, so I guess it is. I know that the hunter-killer stuff that Sillia uses isn't, though, and, what's worse; she's not wearing enviro-armor... so she is basically straight out for going down the hole.

That all said; I'm not totally opposed to the idea of basically all the PCs (since they are almost all either in cyclones or veritechs) going down the hole, just Banshee will have to be minus Sillia (she's the only one with an HK and no enviro right?), and plus Air (to drive the beta). Alternatively we could split between ground and air as I kinda first though; ground units (at least many of them; not too many so that the beta can't bring them all back in their CVR-skivvies, and, once again, minus any that can't at least move w/o blowing up protoculture sensors) go down the hole, the remainder stays and does decoy duty; probably still using the 2 phase approach, after all, veritechs are pretty decent ground attack units as well... and they'll have an easier time escaping when the SHTF.

And, as you've pointed out, we've got two teams with medics, so one of those teams (or most of them, at least) can stay with the decoy force and the other with the infiltration force.

And I'll respond IC as well :)

"I have no problem with Air as the beta pilot, as long as K'Chek and Reader agree.

And what I meant was that the alpha-beta would accompany the infiltration team; lending its firepower to the effort, then everyone on the infiltration team would abandon mecha, probably setting them to go critical, and board the beta for evac. Then that alpha-beta would get us the heck out of there and link up with the Vulture to speed our escape.
My only concern about the mecha that are part of the infiltration team is that there is a significant portion of the operation that will require being as undetectable as possible. Obviously anything that gets within visual range will need to be dealt with, since they'll, of course, see the alpha-beta, at very least, but the Invid protoculture sensors have range like our radar, but with a weakness. If we can keep our protoculture signatures down, at least while we're moving, I think that will be greatly to our advantage. Some of the mecha, however, cannot do this; for example, Tigress' HK just is not suitable, especially since she can't wear CVR while she pilots it."

Skyrah thought about all the input for a moment, then nodded once. "Ma'am, I still stand by my suggestion as it has the optimal chance of success in all avenues. However, with recent input it could serve us well to both ride the Beta in, then when we detonate our Cyclones inside there we can use it to ride back out. Even though the Invid will physically see us while in there, and in visual range, it will provide us with cloak for as long as possible which could prove advantageous."

She then paused for a moment and looked towards Joker. "I had already taken into account that his unit is not space capable. Our egress objective will not be to escape into space, as we will not be able to anyway before the bombardment starts. The other reason is, if the fleet loses the battle for any reason, there will be no fleet to egress to. Therefore with escape our primary objective should be to simply get out of the area. Plain, simple, and uncomplicated. With that in mind, the only mecha we should be leaving behind would be one, maybe two cyclones at best to act as bombs."

She then looked at everyone involved. "Primarily Banshee-Wildcard team will need an Demolitions Expert and someone that is good with working on Cyclones/Veritechs. Working together the pair, or if we have one person qualified in both, should be able to get the optimal output from the overload. With that in mind, I would like to keep both Banshee squad, and Joker's squad intact. The only other person we would need is the specialist I specified to handle rigging the Cyclone to explode."

Then she looked towards Khcek. "I have faith that Kchek will use Wraith and Angel to the best of their abilities. Delta was a good choice for XO, and she knows tried and true tactics well which he will need up there. When we are ready to detonate the hive, we will communicate it. From there, I propose that we move at maximum speed to this point." She says pointing to a spot on the map that would provide the most cover from orbital blasts, and the exploding hive. "And we lay low until further orders are issued."