Whilst their commander laid out the briefing, Volsung pulled up the material on his compad: the stellar and system maps to understand the terrain and drill routes; their deployment orders to see which other elements of the 9th Fleet were in Ultima Black; their squadron's chain of command; and, finally, the supporting elements insystem. He was comfortable he understood how command envisioned the operation unfolding, but he was interested in how it might move sideways, and where the opportunities for confusion and isolation were.

Half an ear was kept open to the questions of his fellow captains, though. Such things told him where their experiences and concerns lay, and he had barely had a chance to introduce himself before the commander arrived

Diana nodded in response to the information, giving no apparent reaction to what she was thinking, other than the fact that she was thinking. When Zazan spoke up, she listened to what he said. It seemed he had a good grasp of the greater picture as well, which was good, though she disagreed with the specific wording of it. She spoke up again as well.

- "To be more specific, what is the strength and response time of the reinforcements we have available for this mission?"

An understandable question, necessary for them to make the kind of tactical calls in the field that they would be expected to. She very much doubted Ultima Black had been evacuated, such actions would practically be announcing the Hegemony was unable to hold that system, and an open invitation to the Brotherhood to make a foothold there. The Indari Houses were nothing if not proud, any units on Ultima Black's surface would likely be fighting to the death for the sheer symbolism of it alone, and as an ideal location for a listening post into Dead Zone itself the strategic value was at least as high.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:00, Mon 20 Jan 2020.

Arne took a half step forward and posed his question “Ma’am, while Im sure it’s on the commpad, would you speak to King’s OoB (Order if Battle) and command structure? Are we a task force of the 9th or one of several patrol elements? Thank you, Ma’am.”

Zazan gives a sharp little shake of the head to Diana's clarification "Nie-Nie, two different questions.

Station looks operational. I uh... Prefer not to worry about protecting station should trouble come.

Response times important too" he adds, nodding to Diana.

Oscar watched the others as they asked questions pertaining to the mission the squadron was about to undertake. They all made sense and he wouldn't have been able to ask any better ones. The idea of potentially hostile contacts that were not of the Brotherhood made him nervous, but the Indari Astral Forces were pretty strong, right? He hoped. In any case, that brought up a question that had not been asked yet. "Should we encounter unknown hostiles, what is the priority for intelligence salvage?"

"The station at Ultima Black VI is prepared for possible combat and evacuation if necessary. There is only a small crew, but their priority will be holding their ground and destroying sensitive data and equipment in the event of a forceful incursion. If possible, assist them in the defense of the installation." You know that your corvettes are one of the faster warships out there, capable of outrunning anything big enough to pose a real threat and out-shooting anything small enough to catch them. Against a comparable naval force, you should be able to stay one step ahead of anyone who might in system and pick your battles. One of the benefits of being a corvette skipper.

The commander turned back to Diana to address her question. "Limited. King Squadron and Ultima Black VI station are the only known presence in the system. The refueling station is lightly armed and is buried beneath several hundred meters of rock and ice, providing a possible secure location in the event of a battle as well as a strong point in the event your squadron needs to fall back in the face of enemy action, however it is not prepared for a siege or prolonged bombardment." You knew that to get a ship into the system would take roughly 84 hours just for the drill in, not counting the time required to send a message drone back to relay the request. Reinforcements were always in short supply in modern interstellar combat. You had to rely on tight planning and whatever in-system assets you had. "Four corvettes is a sizable patrol force and we anticipate that it will more than enough to secure the system." It makes sense. The system is important, but not so important that they would send larger warships and seasoned captains to protect it. Your mission data indicates that Ultima Black station has a pair of system ships, not capable of FTL but used for cargo hauling and research. They're not armed and won't be any use in a fight.

"Captain Karsen. At the moment you are a detached element from 9th Fleet operating independently. As the senior officer, I am appointing Captain Takagara as your squadron leader. I expect him to follow the orders given to you and make command decisions as befits a member of House Takagara and an Hegemony Astral Officer." She pauses for a moment, letting you consider this new turn of events. "You will find as command officers on assignment in distant systems that you will not have the opportunity to ask for new orders. Without the ability to communicate wireless across the vast gulfs of space between systems, you are expected to act on your own initiative and react to events as best you can with the information that you have."

"Captain Hargrave, don't concern yourself with that. If in the unlikely event you encounter unknown vessels, engage them to the best of your ability and come out victorious. We'll send in teams to salvage and analyze the debris if necessary. You may also have your datacores taken from your ships for analysis by Intelligence if they decide to do so in their wisdom. We're veering into speculation now, however. I trust that will satisfy you for the moment. If you have further questions, please refer to the mission briefing and orders on your dataslabs."

She looks at each of you as her gaze crosses the room.

"That will be all. Dismissed."



OOC: If you haven't already, now is a good time to read up on starship travel times in SWN. It's slow and tedious, getting places takes a while so read up on that before you plan what you're going to do or you might find yourself flapping in the solar wind. Also, if I haven't made it clear yet, there are no ansibles in this universe. You can communicate only at the speed of light so you have to send messages via courier ship or drone between systems. In the more civilized systems, there is constant courier/drone FTL traffic updating the communications relays. Don't worry about the details too much, just know that close range messages are instant, long range messages take hours and inter-system messages take days.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:58, Thu 06 May 2021.

Listening carefully to the final clarifications that the Master Star Commander offered, Volsung straightened when his command of the squadron was announced: it was not something he sought, not this early, but he recognised the need to name someone and his familial honour was enough of a sword to hang over him. He nodded once, acknowledging the responsibility, even as he noted her other steer on his compad - keeping him in the room for a few moments after everyone had been dismissed

Zazan arrives early to the ready room. Transmitting chess moves via ghost talk transceiver and catching up on correspondence.

Oscar followed shortly behind Zazan, greeting his fellow Bothisilian as he entered.

Diana was the third to arrive, having taken some time to talk with the various new members of the crew that had come up to her after her speech, and probing Valna about getting a Telepath as a Psych officer for the surviving Sigfred crew that would be folded into the other ships of King Squadron.

Zazan returns the greeting and shares his growing anxiety to learn what will come next as this new potential conflict is in its infancy and the possibilities are endless. Theory crafting can only go so far after all.

Chander had used some time to put in the additional request for psi gear to work with his captain. His typical request for gear had never been refused in the past and as they were unlikely to get much support the more unique gear he wanted for himself or others needed to be submitted before they left.

Ideally before more meetings. He would be there for more meetings though. His new appointment demanded it.

No more a part of the briefing than she was a part of the ceremony Sara sits with her captain and any of the other officer's from the Talos in attendance as she absorbs the information being provided, watching mostly the other people in attendance although it is clear she is still listening to the briefing itself.

As the other captains and XOs enter the ready room and they await the briefing to begin, Zazan asks, "Are any additional equipment requisitions required?  And ze Randver has additional funds from ze last tour available, I am thinking of keeping ze portion in ze coffers for future squadron needs.

What are your thoughts?"

Chander wasn't sure if the Navy way of submitting requisition forms would be quite the way that he was used to. Though he was pleased to find out the forms were similar and requisition numbers the same.

Since it was unit level gear it seemed wrong for a ship XO to request through fleet. He would have already double checked his dataslab to ensure proper protocols were followed for requesting Psitech. The TK sling and the psiblade would be filled out as well as a small pharmacy. He was used to different channels and it might still be right for him to use them here. If so, the packages may already be in his compartment. Either way it would not be an order placed this last minute. Though he looked to his Captain to see if she wanted to order any TK generators after learning he could power several for a time. He didn't say any of that however, waiting for cues or questions.

Diana looked at the others.

- "Well, the reward money is personal funds, i do not consider them part of King Squadron's budget in any way. We had a budget of eight and a half million to spend on ships so that part of the reward remains yours to do with as you please -- we spent a good portion of it to pad out the ship budget and upgrade the respective Armories already, including gear and Exosuit training if i recall."

Oscar watched and listened for the most part but when Diana made her last comment he spoke up. "On that subject, I have a surprise for the squadron. As you well know, we were vastly out-manned, if not outgunned, during our last mission. Using the generous prize money, I have secured a number of Nemesis-class walker combat drones and enough Centaur fire support drones to support them. These should provide a welcome boarding and ground operations force multiplier if needed. As you can see, I have undergone installation of the neural harness required to properly control them," he said as he turned his head to show the shore patch of hair with a freshly installed cybernetic component.

Oscar continued. "Due to the nature of control, I was required to do some research in acquiring wranglers and funding their own neural harnesses. These individuals will augment the Marine contingent by running the drones in combat. Barring any problems in the final stages of the vetting process, we should have a total of fifteen Marines, a platoon of drones plus their wranglers, and the entire squadron has been trained for combat duties if required. We may have gone overkill, but we will not find ourselves stretched so thin again."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:28, Wed 06 Oct 2021.

- "I don't much see it as overkill, more like making sure that once King Squadron starts getting its first Cruiser, our Marines will already be acclimatized to the new working environment."

Diana nodded, before turning to the Captains.

- "The Angantyr has the life support upgrades for housing the Marines, but no cargo space. Should we store the warbots on the Wartooth then, and transfer them over when needed? It would be a safe space to store them while not in use given the Merchants' new camo fields."

"I think that is a good choice until we can secure a proper transport for them in the future. You are right that by the time we need them, all of the ship-to-ship combat should be complete."

If I may suggest something, it may be wise to have supplemental handlers on board ze Randver and Valdar. Should any ship in ze squadron be boarded, or if ze Angantyr be disabled, ze Valdar, Ranvder and Wartooth could use boarding tubes and ze shuttle to engage in boarding/ repulsing actions.

Oscar nodded his head in agreement. "I will ensure a set of the secondary haptic controllers make their way onto each ship. I would suggest in the armory and maybe having a single bot on each ship to provide training during down times. While not as effective as the neural harnesses, the haptic rigs can allow for non-cybernetic individuals to wrangle the drones if required."

- "If i may interject, the Valdar and Wartooth do not have Boarding Tubes. The Randver does, so i suggest the secondary controller in case the Angantyr is unavailable be placed under Zazan's command on the Randver, which does have said upgrade."

Zazan gets a distant look in his eye. Zis iz true.....I apologize, I was thinking of the Sigfred...

Despite having not been involved in the conversation as yet Sara had accompanied the other senior officers to the ready room after the ceremony, she simply waited for the right moment to address them, or needed the time to work up the courage to engage with a whole new set of individuals.  Regardless of why once she decided to speak she does so in her usual clear and polite tones, interjecting directly into the flow of the conversation as if she had been part of it all along.

”While not equipped with a boarding tube the Talos does maintain a small number of similarly space capable units that can if required cross the gap between airlocks and make forced entry.  In either case sending reinforcements to an allied ship, who's airlock will respond to access requests normally, is quite a lot simpler than cutting a new hole in the hull with a boarding tube's laser cutter.”

Chander was new to ship responsibilities and was unashamed to ask, "Wouldn't these modifications take a bit of time or is none of this gear integrated into the ships deeply?"

He knew he could get airlocks open for a team. He had never considered a team that was all constructed. He could just move them as he pleased if he had a camera with a wide angle on them... This would be very different and while he was usually left to make his own schedules for operations in Vul, he knew sometimes larger organizations put their schedules on people.