The young Destroid pilot lined her MBR-04A1 (painted camouflage grey with blue UN markings) up along side the other Tomahawks in her Company. They were lined up in two rows of three in the center. Behind them, two of the massive HWR-00 Monster's were lined up behind them. To either side were the remaining Tomahawks from the 2nd Armor Battalion (Reinforced), including four US Army Units that were mag locked to the ceiling!

All in all there were a total of twenty MBR-04 Tomahawks assembled.

She didn't know why they were ordered here from the central hull of the UES Macross while the battle outside raged on. Part of her was glad to be away from the direct fire of the alien mecha and weapons fire coming from their inbound alien ship. Another part of her was wondering why they were ordered here.



After link all of her guns to fire at the pull of duel left/right triggers and setting all her missiles to fire at once the young woman waited. Six months ago she was a junior at Macross High School, and was on the girls varsity basketball team. Today she was a Private in the UN SPACY Ground Forces.

The next few minutes seemed to last an eternity.....the young pilot then feels a massive vibration running through her Destroid. The intensity of the vibration increases to a point where she has to let go of the controls to avoid firing any of her mecha's weapons.




The massive ramp in front of the UES Daedalus begins to open up and the young Destroid pilot sees the inside of what had to be the inside of the alien vessel that was approaching the UES Macross.





With the order given the young woman launches all of her MBR-04A1 Tomahawks missiles she then furiously depresses the duel weapons triggers. Her Destroid shudders as the two HWR-00 Monster's fired all eight of their 16inch battleship guns, followed by twelve missiles fired from the arms.

The inside of the alien vessel was immolated and after a brief 30 seconds of continues fire the order to cease fire is given



As the order is given the young woman watches a curtain of fire from inside the alien ship rapidly approaching. The curtain of fire is halted as the three energy discs that had been moving across the UES Macross' hull during the battle stop in front of the UES Daedalus' now closing loading ramp.

OOC: I always wanted to do a 'cold open' before a big battle, I hope you like it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:10, Thu 31 Dec 2020.

The large briefing room was quickly filling up with the Destroid pilots of Hotel Company and November Battery of the 7th Defense Battalion (Minus), as well as Mike Battery, of the 4th Defense Battalion (Reinforced).

The room was filled with a mix of Chinese, English, and Russian conversations as everyone found a seat.

Those speaking Chinese are wearing space/flight suits patterned in the Type 07 Ocean pattern camouflage of the PLAMC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...eanic_Camouflage.png

Those speaking Russian are wearing space/flight suits witha variant of the M84 camouflage pattern. Some of the Russian have the front of thier space/fight suots unzipped, revealing a dark blue and white striped Telnyashka being worn as an undershirt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...a/File:Flectar-D.png

Those speaking English are mostly wearing a mix of U.S. Army UCP and Multicam space/flight suits. A US Navy Lieutenant (junior grade), and two US Navy Petty Officers are wearing space/flight suits in the US Navy NWU Type I pattern. Private Second Class Vance Sampson has some how acquired himself a USMC MARPAT Woodland space/flight suit that actually fits his large frame.

OOC: Please post sitting down and settling in. Free free to make small talk with the other player characters.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:52, Thu 31 Dec 2020.

Having just getting somewhat used to the Daedalus David is glad he left early to be at the briefing, after finding the room he wave at Vance.

"Fount it, Vance. You still have the others?"

Vance is moving the new recruits along with him.

Got 'em.  I'm the easiest one to spot I reckon.  Grab you some seats noobs.

Vance takes a seat on the end of a row so he can stretch his legs out.

Marie made her way in and sat down with her unit. She heard 3-4 different languages and saw about 5-6 different uniforms. WERE IT HER ROOM, she would mandate english only, even in small talk, and make sure everyone wore the same uniform to the same standard. Too easy for a unit to fall apart with nationalism when everyone should be cohesive.

She gave Vance and Stephenson a nod and waited for the inevitable.

After a few minutes a Russian Glavny Starshina (OR-7) wearing a partially unzipped flight suit revealing a dark blue and white striped Telnyashka, signifying him as a member of Russian Naval Infantry walks up to the front of the briefing room and screams a few words
[Language unknown: "THITRA'HASHOU! Esshisure Menmendin pl EVE!" ]

While the words were in Russian it wasn't that hard to get the idea to cease all conversation  and stand at attention as a Подполко́вник (Lt. Colonel, OF-4) in the Russian Naval Infantry walks up to the Glavny Starshina.

The Glavny Starshina states some words in Russian and salutes. [Language unknown: "Vorentessast omeentwit u st alll Eletom Outeveaveant less Oul Menomewas ni set dinad Ndiowi Mochanst con yinenc'ourted Aila!" ]

The Подполко́вник says a single word, dismissing the Glavny Starshina who then stands by his side.

In reply to Glavny Starshina Perov Bogdan (msg # 7):

Marie came to attention, again grimmacing within about the tower of babel around her. They needed a one-language policy, and quick, but apparently, it wasn't her place to say so. It may be obvious what they were saying now, but reversion to Russian or whatever in the cockpit could add to the confusion of battle. Even the Russians who spoke a little English spoke more than she did Russian. A lot of people at The Point took Japanese, because all the eggheads seemed to be from Japan.

She looked to the Russians in her peripheral vision, taking a seat only when they did.

"Good"

The Russian Naval Infantry Officer then introduces himself  to those present, speaking in English. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Mager Kvetoslav of Russian Naval Infantry, from here on all communication between our units will be in English."

[Private to Marie Chambers:
The above is what I was talking about the language issue being addressed.

Thank you for taking down your previous post as it would have led to at least a verbal conflict, and possibly physical conflict which would have had some characters ending up in the brig and demoted.]

"You may all be seated now."

"We will be reaching the outer edge of the Saturn system in eight hours. At that point the Enterprise will detach from the UES Macross and conduct an operation to recovery personnel from four moon outposts."

"The UES Macross will continue on to Saturn's B Ring and will engage any alien capital vessels that try to intercept Enterprise with it's main gun."

"Veritech squadrons, and two Oberth class missile destroyers that have been hiding in Saturn's rings will be positioned to ambush any alien capital ships as they approach the Marcross."

"Your commanding officers can provide you will the full details of the recovery operation and the offensive operation."

"I will be overall mission commander for the close in defense of the UES Prometheus."

"Our mission is simple, defend Prometheus." He then details the area of responsibilities for each unit as a map of the Promethus is brought up on the large screen TV behinds him that also shows how the mecha will be distributed to defend the vessel.

OOC: Please check out the game map link.

Please read past numbers three and four of this archived thread: link to a message in this game

Please hold off on posting, as I am working on a follow up post, and may even split it into a few posts.

[Private to Marie Chambers:

If you have any changes as to how mecha are located on the flight deck please PM me. Also please let me know which Defender will be you, as I try to update the map to designate PC mecha.

I am purposely keeping the destroids away from landing/take off areas of the flight deck, and spacing mecha so a single anti-ship missile hit will (hopefully) only immolate one mecha, CWIS or VLS.

Vance and Kitty will be next to each other.

Stephenson should be the closest Cheyenne to whereever Marie will be.

Your XO (Faye) will be the furthest Cheyenne from you, and the Russian Lt Colonel will be in one of the Spartans in the center of th eflight deck.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:02, Sun 03 Jan 2021.

Lieutenant Colonel Mager Kvetoslav then points to a a male Chinese Officer who he introduces as the commander of November Battery, and details its role in the defense of the Prometheus. Next to the male Chinese Officer is a a short woman whose face has so many acne scars it looks like she was hit by bird shot at point blank range. "November Battery commanded by Major Yating of the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps will be tasked with defending the ventral hull of the Prometheus, and will be using the firing ports on decks three and four to fire from."

"Major you will also have two Centaur Veritech Hover Tanks, and four of my Spartans attached to your unit. Additionally you will have tactical command of the four forward torpedo tubes, which will be loaded with Firebird missiles."

The Lieutenant Colonel then points to Marie when he introduces her and the role of Mike Battery has to play in the defense of the Prometheus. "Mike Battery of the 4th Defense Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Chambers of the United States Army has been attached to our battalion for this operation."

"Lieutenant Chambers has volunteered her unit to defend the flight deck of the Prometheus, with mecha on the flight deck itself and using the firing ports on deck two."

"Lieutenant you will also have tactical command of the four point defense lasers, and two of the vertical missile launch systems. The gunnery crews for theses systems will be in the Prometheus' auxiliary CIC. You will also have two of my Spartans attached to your unit which will assist your mecha located on deck two."

"My command platoon of four mecha will be on the flight deck as well. These four Spartans are optimized for air or space defense. I will also have tactical command of one of the vertical missile launchers."

"In addition to our mecha, and at the suggestion of Lieutenant Chambers, we will also have twelve assorted infantry fighting vehicles spread across decks two through four to provide close in defense. These vehicles lack the ability to tie into the Defender and Cheyenne radar systems."

The Lieutenant Colonel then details the layers of defense, and responsibility based upon mecha type.

"We will have four layers of defense."

"At long range, from one thousand to one hundred kilometres the Phalanx mecha, and Vertical Missile Launchers will target inbound missiles and alien mecha. Inbound missiles are to be prioritized over alien mecha."

"At medium range, from eighty to fifty kilometres, the Phalanx, Cheyenne, Spartan and Tomahawk mecha will target inbound missiles and alien mecha."

"At short range fifty to five kilometres the Close in defense lasers, Defender's, and Cheyenne's and mecha with gunpods will target inbound missiles first and then target alien mecha. The two Centaur Hover Tanks, will focus on alien mecha as their cannon is not suited for targeting missiles. Gunpods will be loaded with air burst munitions."

"If any missiles or alien mecha get within 5 kilometres the infantry fighting vehicles, and any mecha with a gun will fire on any available target."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:56, Sun 03 Jan 2021.

After pausing for a bit and looking around the room, the Lieutenant Colonel effectively ends the briefing without allowing anyone to ask him questions.

"I expect all mecha to be in here on Prometheus within the next twenty hours. Mecha assigned to decks two, three and four should be in position by then."

"All mecha should be manned as flight operations commence in twenty four hours."

"Mecha assigned to the flight deck will move into position after the Prometheus has launched its craft."

"That is all, if you have any questions you can ask your unit commanders. Dismissed." The Russian and Chinese Destroid pilots then stand up from their chairs, and the members of Mike Battery follow suit.

Lieutenant Colonel Mager Kvetoslav then begins to exit the briefing room. There is no reaction from the Chinese and Russian Destroid pilots to the way the briefing ended as it seems that this is a normal operating procedure for the 7th Defense Battalion (Minus).

The Russian and Chinese Destroid pilots then begin to chit chat among themselves in Russian and Chinese just like they had before the briefing.

OOC: Marie, if you want to deliver a briefing to just your unit to determine particulars you may do so using this thread, just make sure IC you tell everyone to go meet back on the Daedalus.

In reply to Lieutenant Colonel Mager Kvetoslav (msg # 11):

"Colonel, what about keeping two of your Spartans in reserve, for a quick swap-out, and issue of extra gunpods, if any can be had?" She smiled a bit hearing that the IFV's would be used.

Marie manages to catch Mager before he leaves the briefing room. He doesn't look particularly happy being chased down by the American, but hears her out. "I've already arranged with Commander Fokker to equip the Spartans and Warhawks with a spare GU-11."

"I can detail one of my Spartan's to join your reserve mecha."

In reply to Lieutenant Colonel Mager Kvetoslav (msg # 13):

"Thank you Colonel. I'll take good care of him."

OOC: Vance and David, if you have any questions or concerns about the operation to defend the Prometheus please ask Marie.

Also not to put a burden on the shoulders of the player characters, but how well you perform will determine who much damage the Prometheus takes. Take too much and the SDF-1's left arm/hanger will be lost.

[Private to Marie Chambers: If they ask something your not 100% sure on just PM me. This is what other players who run commanders do.]

"So we will protect the fly boys huh? As usual then" David grunt to Vance before moving up Marie. "Anything to add ma'am?" he hint at the rookies behind Vance.

They always need us ground pounders to keep them safe in the air. By the way, they moved me from the Phalanx to the Cheyenne.  I am much happier about that move. Now I can be useful if the bastards land also.

"Yeah, I like that destroid to since you have more options to fight them"

The destroid pilots of Mike Battery, of the 4th Defense Battalion (Reinforced) head back to the UES Daedalus, driving back in four jeeps, each with four seats.

Back at the UES Daedalus (AKA 'The Big Dick'), the massive hanger where the Battery's desroid are laggard is abuzz with activity. Ammo bins and missile launcher hatches are open with maintenance personnel checking everything over. Reaction mass is being pumped into those destroids equipped with vernier thrusters or rocket boosters. Other maintenance personnel are double checking the life supports systems, while others are in the cockpits setting up communication frequencies and doing radio checks.

First Lieutenant Chambers finds her ADR-04A1 Defender paint scheme of NATO Tri-Color Camouflage (Brown/NATO Green/NATO Black) is marred by the addition of fourteen Nakajima NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thruster (never originally installed) that haven't yet been painted over and are gunmetal in color. Installing the reaction mass tank, fuel lines, and vernier thrusters had taken a few days of work for the maintenance crews. In theory with the vernier thrusters installed they should allow the mecha to stabilize itself and not go spinning away into space if it gets knocked off the hull of a spacecraft.

Sergeant Stephenson and Private Second Class Sampson both find their respective ADR-03 Cheyenne's, painted in aggressor grey to also have vernier thrusters installed. Installing the vernier thrusters took much more work on the mecha as they were never intended to operate in space. Thus installing the fuel lines through the inside of a mecha took some time and planning. But with twelve Nakajima NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters the mecha would be able to stabilize itself if knocked off the hull. The rear mounted rocket thruster also provided the means for the mecha to jump/leap from the hull of the Daedalus over to the hull of the Macross or Prometheus, as demonstrated by the more experienced pilots.

Staff Sergeant Summers finds that her LBR-04A1 Warhawk has also had fourteen Nakajima NBS-1 high-thrust vernier thrusters installed. These were never installed on Earth as the U.S. Army mecha was never intended to operate in the vacuum of space.

As they arrive at the hangar Jack hurry over to his destroid to go over the status of it. He can't help but to grin at the news of the thrusters that will certainly give them more options to both defend themselves and take the fight to the enemy.

In reply to David Stephenson (msg # 20):

"Alright alright Mike Battery... Listen up!" Marie said to all over the radio...

"There's been some talk about how we got this shit assignment. We volunteered. Prometheus' flight deck is the most vulnerable point on SDF-1. So I figure if you want a job done right, we must do it ourselves."

Marie took a sip of some November Juliet. "We're going to have to reload quickly, too, but we have some cover."

Vance speaks up.

Speaking of reloading.  For the noobs, we need to call out ammo counts.  We don't want more than half the unit reloading at any one time.  Preferable no more than 25% in reload. El Tee, maybe you should designate targets.

"Should we also perhaps stick together two-two? Easier to back each other up then" David reply from his desroid even as he goes through another check.

In reply to Vance Sampson (msg # 22):

"I'll call em out as well as possible and will designate using SHORAD, but the thing is, they come fast, and in great numbers. At some point, it's going to turn into a free-for-all. We should rotate platoons in fire. We'll lead the way, and second platoon will back us up. When we fall to 25-percent capacity, we fall back and reload, then head back out lickity split to relieve second platoon. Sound good?"