RP [Fall of Osman] Operation 'Hard Hedoro'

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

RP Date

ye 45.9

RP Location

Osman System - Planet Osman.

Osman Liberation Campaign - Day 9, Space.

The Stupendamonia groaned in protest as it ascended from Osman's orbit, its battered hull shimmering with the scars of a battle it was never intended for. Plumes of smoke trailed behind the colossal vessel from new holes in its bolted on armor as it limped away from the war-torn planet, its once-imposing sized silhouette now marred by the scars of enemy fire. On the bridge, Abigail clenched her jaw in the digital space of the Fae, her eyes fixed on the tactical display that showcased the ongoing chaos.

Over the past nine days, the once-unified clash between the coalition and Nmx fleets had devolved into a relentless series of cat-and-mouse engagements. The tactical advantage gained during the initial fleet crash had fractured into smaller skirmishes, each more intense than the last. The Mishhu, relentless and adaptive, had proven to be more than a formidable adversary, and the once-cohesive coalition now fought for survival in the cold expanse of space as they fought from the bridge to bowels of every one of the coalitions vessels to keep the scale from tipping any more than it already had.

The Stupendamonia's bridge buzzed with activity as mutant and fairy crew members coordinated the ship's escape. Alarms blared, indicating breaches in several sections, and holographic displays flickered with damage reports. Abigail's metallic hands tightened around the railing as one of the flagship's escort frigate, the Sophist, took a particle lance straight through its hull during the desperate escape. The explosion illuminated the void, and Abigail's expressionless face plate betraying none of her aggitation as she calculated the weight of the loss.
As the Stupendamonia slowly distanced itself from beleaguered Osman, the fleet's scattered elements struggled to reform in pocket groups for various counterattacks under relentless enemy pursuit. The battle had become a relentless ballet of destruction, a dance between starships in the vast cosmic theater. The once-pristine formation now resembled a shattered mosaic of vessels, each fighting for survival in a sea of debris.

It was quite possibly one of the single longest fleet engagements in the history of the sector as her fleetmaster spread a void conflict that could have ended in hours into over a week long sustained knife fight with few if any vessels being able to disengage long enough to give sleep deprived and exhausted crews time to perform shoddy repairs before diving back in to the fray.

Abigail's gaze shifted to the holographic projection of Osman, now shrinking in the distance. The liberation of the planet was comming at a tremendous cost, and the Mishhu's tenacity demanded an equal measure of resilience from the coalition. The war for Osman was far from over, and the Stupendamonia sailed into the unknown.

Osman Liberation Campaign - Day 9, Stiggies Basin.

Stiggies basin was a flat, arid landscape of seasonal grasslands and dry riverbeds in an idilic location that on any other planet would likely have a large starport on it or a city at best. Osman, lacking the population or infastructure, had neither.

What the basin did have was the remnants of an OSO logistics hub growing close seven years long since abandoned since the forces of a corrupt neko and Raganarok PMC once stood and planned their next steps of solidifying their conquest of Osman and moving on.

The base was barely that. A half hundred prefab buildings long since exposed to the elements it had gone from logistics hub for Ragnarok PMC, to abandoned, to a waystation used by caravans, all the way to abandoned once more when the Coalition arrived.

Almost easier to break the base down and build a new one, time and resources were not on their side and the combat engineers of Ludwiks Band had turned in a week what was once an outpost into a full-fledged fortified position.

The basin was not wasted by doing so, either. Just a hundred kilomiters from one of the largest cities on Osman it offered the coalition a staging point to lash out at the backs of one of the largest NMX battlegroups on the planet as they beseiged one of the largest strongholds of the planet as they fought block by block against the local government and a handful of FSC troops in the city.

To the west of the basin at ten five kilometers distance a second, a smaller bastion had formed as The Strays were present in the largest numbers here. Using Stiggies Basis as a staging point a makeshift assembly line had been errected as drones, mechs, ordinance, and weapons were rolled out and assembled as the majority of the corporations forces remained automota controlled by remotely-connected AI allowing them to only be limited by the amount of AIs they had on hand and the resources to make their bodies.

Of the corporations seven companies of drones, five were deployed on osman and all resided here. Complimenting them was half of the corporations mech pilots; The Terror Wolves of Freehold. Or at least those that had survived the drop as close to fifty mutant pilots and ten times as many in support either maintained their warmachines in the various mechs and mecha, or as the majority of them did awaited their mechs to be assembled as resources slowly streamed in.

Their largest machine resided here. The massive seige mech was akin to the size of a small starship at a hundred and fifty-meters in length and was shaped like a massive insectoid with three legs on either side and a concerning amount of weapons batteries ranging all the way up to starship-grade armaments on its back as it squatted over the small hill the corporation had erected a small fortress.

The massive mech was not complete. Lacking critical components it acted mostly as an oversized shield barrier and was the greatest delay in the assault of the NMX even as they forced themselves street by street into a city so distant that it could only just be seen on the clearest days at elevation and barely even that.

"My sisters and I will need more time," A commander-drone of the corporations military forces declared at the command building at the Basin before the other coalition military commanders, her stoic emotionless faceplate and drone body only differentiated by the other Pledias commanders by her voice, and the desert cloak on her frame as the acting Strays ground forces commander named 'Ramiel' continued.

"Our intelligence on the partizan factory was correct from some of our spacer allies second hand information from Lycosades internment here, but the logistics arent great. From what we can tell from scatter diagnostic reports is Lycosades allies took the most crucial equipment they could manage in short notice and left what we have now. We're bootstrapping as we can but getting operations into full swing might take weeks or even a month if we want to meet all our project goals." She explained, the plan to make a steady assembly line of the corporations drones, mechs, and other critical equipment and weapons for this side of the coalition's campaign offset by its capability to produce partizan and militant drones to reduce casualties in the offensive a crucial part of delaying the offensive even as the squids and their forces tried to break Dawnton to the north which would open them up to every other city on the coast.

"Unnacepable." A golden armored warrior grunted, the leader of the once kuvexian-backed elite mercenary group the Immortals declared as his frowning tragedy warmask got into a competition of looking as stoic as possible to the faceless drone.

"Golden-boy here's right." The major of the 'Renegades' A large mercenary group consisting of four companies specialized in urban fighting from highrises to the sewers themselves agreed. "If they push enough into the city to move their rear line into the city outskirts and fortify it we'll be stuck besieging them in an entrenched position but with the added drawback that, unlike them, we cant just shell the city indiscriminately. It took the squids months to get any ground they've had and will take us almost as long. And we cant take the chance on the coinflip that our backup fleet will arrive before the squids does. I say we attack now and move up the siege equipment and our fodder army lil'Rammys got cookin like a hammer to drive the nail." The major slammed fist into palm to enunciate his support.

"We'll need to repair the road behind us if we do." Ludwick, commander of his 'band' of combat engineers declared, his eyes hazy as he did the math of all the vehicles, mechs, and men would do to a low-industrial planet like Osman were the roads were barely graded enough not to throw a track five miles in or bust a the pneumatics in a mechs legs even before that. "will take about a month to repair the damage our Vics' will do to it and it's a must if you want any propper logistics chain from here to where our frontline will extend. If the worst happens and our boys get beaten back they wont make a withdrawal before we finish."

"I can lend the two lances of my pilots that are combat ready and two of my five companies to an assault but no more. My sister, the warmaster of this entire campaign" She stressed the last part unclear if she was pulling some kind of rank of just bragging before continuing "entrusted our ladys ground assets to me and I won't spend them blindly without spare bodies for my sisters and the ANThony and its mobile shield array up and running. The NMX have proven in four different theaters now that they have not only a majority more artillery than us but also a superiority in their accuracy and firepower.

What say the rest of you; Are you confident in an assault now or do we hold for the month we've estimated to be at our full readiness?" Ramiel asked, looking about those commanders who have yet to offer an opinion.

Spoiler

@FrostJaeger @SirSkully @club24 @Soban @demibear @Rizzo @Alex Hart
Mission two paramiters are as follows:

You can deploy up to two companies of your forces this mission.
You cannot use any units from the last mission, they are present elswhere and can be used again after this mission.

 

[Rizzo]

Captain Hercule in his battered white semi-powered armor protested the idea of a delay, "these aliens have been slaughtering our men and civilians for months now. Our death toll rings in the millions! Even now our soldiers are dying. We must act now!"
Mr. Donovan stepped past the frustrated captain, "what my captain means to say is that for every Osman who dies we are that much closer to losing the war. We must strategic in our choice of battles, but firm in defense of our people. Otherwise, there will be no Osman left to defend."

 

[demibear]

Lieutenant Commander Darius Srisai, a massive (and aptly named) brown skinned Titan Type Red standing at 210cm, listened to the others as they bickered amongst each other on their plan of action. Wearing a maroon and onyx color Megumi Mobility Skin (thicker than the normal Paradin Combat Suit the Reds used and actually amplified his strength/reflexes to PA levels if his helmet was on), his face was in deep thought as he thought of strategies he knew of. He saw an assault as an excellent opportunity to relieve pressure on the FSC forces being besieged, something he learned during his sleep learning about the lessons drawn from the Kennewes Offensive when the Reds were in a similar situation. The only problem was instead of having a coordinated unit, this "coalition" was instead a group of competing interests summed best as those that wish to truly liberate Osman, those that want to plunder it, and those that will do the second as soon as their pay comes late. And it seemed the latter made up the bulk of this rag tag group.

"As much as I agree we need to do something concrete against the squids and their lackies, rushing in there without a set plan and timescale is foolish. Especially with this mess we call a coalition. It has not exactly been a smooth process these last 9 days. Would you like to properly do something about the NMX or would you much prefer to die foolishly in some 'brave' charge just to deal with your survivor's guilt?" Srisai said, first talking more broadly towards the assembled group of commanders before focusing more on the source of the outburst. He then nodded his head towards Mr. Donovan.

"Strategic is how we should operate. With all this talk of attack or not attack, we have not even determined what we can even contribute to a potential assault to see if it is viable or not due to our distance from the city and in open terrain is foolhardy or not. My battalion is all over this war zone, but I do have my field artillery battery, HSC, and forward support platoon. Doesn't provide nearly as much logistics or medical support as a dedicated Combat Logistics Company or the 1st FEU's medical detachment, but it is something."

 

[FrostJaeger]

Osman
Centered on Command

Uriel Cornelia, Centurion of Beta Company and the room’s literal white elephant, given that he’d made the somewhat questionable decision to show up fully kitted out in Anthedon power armor - whose imposing opalescent-hued eight-feet-tall form just barely fit into the room’s cramped confines - heartily agreed with Donovan, seemingly not noticing (or not caring) about Darius’ admittedly wise words of caution. “Osman’s been gettin’ too peaceful these past few days, so I say we take th’ fight to those godless bastards - even if means we have to damage th’ merchandise a bit! Mah company of troops - battle-hardened vets, unlike those green rookies Barachiel took with him - are itchin’ for a fight, an’ they’ll make short work of those infernal demons, particularly if we can catch ‘en out in th’ open where I can sic mah Velcior on ‘em!”

 

[Soban]

Space

In the space battle, the Separa'Shan ships had gained a reputation for using their cloaked fighters and gunships in traps where their stealth advantage allowed them to concentrate forces in quick and surprising attacks. However, the cloaked fighters were fragile and the force as a whole wasn't as good in the larger engagements. The fragmented nature of the battle suited them. Allowing them to place traps where they wanted and always giving the NMX commanders something to think about as they made their moves. Homwever, the near constant pace was taxing on the ships and crews. Antiarchon Theoni Philothamnus was proud of the Interstellar Patrol, a win here wasn't necessarily winning the battle, but the experience the Interstellar Patrol was gaining. Soon as the second infantry could be extracted again, they would be returned along with the prisoners of war to Essia and the third company would be brought out.

Osman
Centered on Command

Lochos Irma Demansia, the commander of Interstellar Patrol Expeditionary Force Alpha's 1st Infantry Company, nodded at Srisai, "Our second company is still occupied, but we can still bring down our other forces. With more lead time we can probably put together whatever force we need aside from fighters, artillery, logistics, and engineering companies we already have. That said, a month is a long time, and a lot can happen. It might be best to not let them get any more intrenched."

 

[Alex Hart]

Coalition Command Center

Captain Orson Chalet flipped a bullet between his fingers as he thought on the problem he'd been presented with. Hastily promoted to this command before the 4th Conclave Pathfinders had been organized and sent out to this distant front, he was ill at ease in this uncertain theatre, but knew that the tactics that had led to his success thus far were those of decisive action.

Tapping the bullet down onto the holotable at the center of the command room that all of the officers were gatthered around, he spoke up. "The longer we delay, the more we play into the Squids' strengths. They've got the artillery advantage already, and if we give them the chance they'll dig in even more. The very least we need to do right now is a hit and fade to disrupt their operations. As for moving armor, that shouldn't be a problem for my boys. The frames we use were designed by Osmans, for use here. They can take the sand and the strain, and they'll stay working long enough for an assault."

The Duskerian captain gestured towards the table, and a holographic representation of his unit's medium and heavy mecha began to render.

Clearing her throat and stepping forward behind Captain Chalet, 1LT Leah Sabine piped up. The woman's horns marked her as an Operator, something that other coalition forces had likely become increasingly familiar with as it became apparent that Osmani Humans weren't the only species present in the forces that the Conclave had sent. "My squadron's been assigned to provide the coalition air cover for this operation. We can press some of our Variable Frames into service for city fighting once the skies are cleared, though our Starbreaker strike bombers won't be as much help once we're fighting around infrastructure we can't risk damaging."

"That'll make five lances, plus support elements. That's enough of a hammer to open a hole for all of your infantry." CPT Chalet said to the rest of the officers in the room.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Command Room

"Then you'll have my promised troops and nothing more." Ramiel decided, no reproach in her statement as two companies and two smaller mech lance icons were moved from the large massing of her forces in the nearby militant factory as she dedicated less than half of her drones or mechs, and of those on the roster a majority of her lightest machines.

"Two of my fellow Pledias; Mitzi and Slayer will take charge of the corporations' offensive forces" The two Fairys seemed to manifest above either one of her shoulders from the ambient mirage nanites the corporation propogated everywhere as the onyx black and blacklight purple Mitzi seemed to suck out the light around her while the other, a ruby-red firebrand of a girl with holographic flames engulfing her like an elemental grinning as the two joined their sister.

It did not go unnoticed that Ramiel with her commando and scout-heavy company did not count her own forces as one of the two she would be sending and neither did she comment on it.

"It is roughly eighty kilometers to the rear line of the three divisions of NMX forces committed to besieging Dawnton to our north east. Of those, what few of our ships passing in orbit could reconnoiter has one division pushing a main highway into Dawnton from the northern side of the city while another is encamped on the western metro area outside the city cutting off the other main entrance into the city and it is the opinion of the warmaster that they are likely attempting to tunnel into dawnton or also as likely funnel parasites into the city from the sewers. These who make it a near encirclement from both sides with the eastern sections of the city being a harbor across which is the third and lightest Division we want to hit; Roughly ten thousand neko shock troops with very little powered armor or mecha support.
This division is the lightest of the three, is seperated from the other two to keep the encirclement by keeping the population and defenders of the city from escaping via the river or from reinforcements from entering there as well. This force is your best option for relieving dawnton; The southern NMX division is situated in a glacial valley above the sealevel and ten kilomiters across and with nearly impassible foothills on either side that took the cats and squids either some kind of river transport to obtain or a very long and likely months long trek by foot and flight to reach. If you can eliminate them and hold that position then you can secure a cooridor into and out of the city that the other two divisions cannot contest without breaking their encirclement which would cause more gaps in their line and considerable manuevering to threaten.

It wont be easy either. You will be nearly sixty or more kilomiters from resupply or reinforcements. And with large foothills on either side and their backs to the water the NMX are going to fight extra hard.

So If you get repelled in your assault it will be weeks before we can mobilize here and relieve you meaning you will be on your own."

Ramiel outlined as she left the map on the satellite view of Dawnton, Waiting for each commander to propose any specific planning and to declare their forces.

Spoiler

Deployment begins next GM round. So declare your two companies in spoilers. Artillery or support equipment will be brought along with you and Aircraft will be deployed from The base eighty kilomiters (sixty miles)[/spoilers]

 

[club24]

Opting to listen to the more experienced fighters and leaders, Brin was without his boss Miss Black for this discussion, unfortunately the company didn't stop running just because she was fighting a war and so he had decided to bring two of his top people along. Captain Lucile Rashdon of "Solar Transit" and Major Denise Irons of "Red Suns", the two units Kyrss had suggested for deployment after he gave a brief description of the situation to her minutes ago via his datapad had aligned with his own ideas and the man questioned how someone could be so well versed in so many fields.

Shaking his head to himself he turned to the two men behind him.

"Rashdon, Irons, Miss Black was right to suggest you two. Are your forces going to be up for the challenge?"

Captain Rashdon, a rather tall and intimidating Laibe who seemed to be made of battle scars snickered and turned up his nose at the suggestion. "Of course we are, I've been training these pilots personally for over a year, as long as the lackies on the ground listen to me there won't be anybody left alive in that city." The arogance seemed to drip from his words, while he was a former Neshaten Naval Officer even he hadn't gone toe to toe with the likes of the NMX but today looked like it would be his day.

"Shut you're trap Rashdon, you won't have your fancy cloaking to hide behind in this fight, so just make sure you're there when we call ok?" A gruff voiced Nepleslian man, Major Irons hadn't officially been in any armed forces in his career as a 'Merchant Bodyguard' though his record was very impressive none the less when it came to protecting both personnel and trade goods.

Taking their usual bickering for a yes Bring turned back to the group and raised his voice a little for the others to hear.

"Galactic Horizon will be sending Mechanised Infantry unit "Red Suns", and the ariel infantry unit "Solar Transit" on this endeavour, while a bit more time to plan would be lovely it seems we've been backed into a corner and have no choice but to fight for what ground we can."

Spoiler: Units

Red Suns is comprised of 20 Zytone PA with T6 rating, and 40 Pelis Suits which can change between T2 and T4 depending on configuration, Solar Transit has 5 Skyhawk Shuttles capable of carrying 10 fully outfitted soldiers in medium or small armour/gear and comes with 50 ORK suits which are a T4 armour. These shuttles once their initial soldiers have been deployed, can be available for rapid insert/exert runs

 

[FrostJaeger]

Planet Osman
Centering on Command​

Uriel - who judging by the throaty chuckles emanating from his Anthedon’s speakers was clearly enjoying the exchange between Rashdon and Irons - patiently (or impatiently?) waited for their commander to finish speaking, before finally beginning his own explanation of what the admittedly small number of forces at his disposal were going to be doing. “‘Cause we’re givin’ first strikes a chance - a choice I heartily approve of, by th’ by - I’ll be sendin’ a conturbernium each onto th’ cliffs on each side of th’ valley to make sure ‘em demons don’t have any nasty surprises for us. Oh, an’ before I forget, a contubernium is ten troops. Remember that, ‘cause I won’t be sayin’ it again. Anyways, where was I… ah, right. One contubernium on each side to scout, an’ th’ other eight straight down th’ middle for some good ol’ fashioned brawlin.’ I’ll also be usin’ the Galileo - mah souped-up Velcior shuttle - for CAS, though I’d much appreciate it if it wasn’t alone in that task an’ had fighter support to deal with th’ demon’s aerial units. Now, before I hand over th’ mic to somebody else, do any of ya godless heathens got any questions?”

Spoiler: Units

Beta Company consists of the following:

• Uriel’s Contubernium, consisting of:
  • Uriel himself, in an Anthedon Power Armor.
    • He has a “Zeus” Lightning Slug Shotgun in addition to his Patrician-sized Hippeis Xiphos and his Transphased Plasmatic Pulse Rifle.
  • 5x Patricians, each in an Anthedon Power Armor. All are equipped with the Patrician-sized version of the Hippeis Xiphos.
    • Three of them are equipped with Standard Service Rifles (with attached Dresde Underslung Grenade Launchers and ammunition) in addition to their Plasmatic Pulse Rifles.
    • Two are equipped with “Zeus” Lightning Slug Shotguns in addition to their Plasmatic Pulse Rifle.
  • 4x Caelisolans, each in a Tethys Power Armor.
• 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th Contuberniums, consisting of:
  • 10x Caelisolans, each in a Tethys Power Armor.
• 5th Contubernium, consisting of:
  • 2x Patricians in Anthedon Power Armors. They’re both equipped with Standard Service Rifles (plus an attached Dresde and its ammunition) and the Patrician-sized version of the Hippeis Xiphos in addition to their Plasmatic Pulse Rifles.
  • 8x Caelisolans, each in a Tethys Power Armor.
• 7th and 9th Contuberniums, each consisting of:
  • 1x Patrician in an Anthedon Power Armor. They’re equipped with a Standard Service Rifle (plus an attached Dresde and its ammunition) and the Patrician-sized version of the Hippeis Xiphos in addition to a Plasmatic Pulse Rifle.
  • 9x Caelisolans, each in a Tethys Power Armor.

All of the members of the aforementioned contuberniums are also equipped with varying levels of Sperion mini-grenades.

Beta Company also has one (1) souped-up Velcior-class Shuttle that has the following armaments:

• 1x Velcior-Type Nose Beam
• 3x Velcior-Type Beam Eyes
• 3x Bolt-On Tethys-Type Generator Missile Pods

 

[demibear]

Darius just ignored the Patrician efforts at doing whatever he is attempting to do showing up to a meeting in full power armor. The same could be said with him simply wearing his field pants with the mobility skin, but no one is aware what it is and it is simply a weighted bodysuit without any power supplying it. He studied the map and its terrain intensely before he finally made his contributions to the operation.

"Our key to victory is making sure those flying cats don't use the foothills to gain a high ground and flank us with their superior numbers like it was the Battle of the Cox all of Kennewes over again." he said pausing slightly because he knew no one there knew the Kennewes Offensive reference. "If we establish and maintain dominance at this intersection with two wadis entering the valley, it should entrap them next to the river and it is just a matter of shooting fish in a barrel... provided the NMX just abandon them and don't try to fly over reinforcements and supplies."

He then looked over towards Ramiel.

"If we work to establish a forward operating base halfway between here and the operation, the logistics element of the 1st FEU should be able to reasonably resupply them. But it would take at least a week to properly set up a defensible location. And more if we have to produce the new Rudy prototypes for defense if none of the mercs want to occupy that space." he said before he paused when a chryon appeared at the bottom of his vision.

He had finally gotten a compiled status report of his companies and battery from S3. Alpha Company was on mission, using their Jimmy drones to fill in for loses. Bravo and Charlie companies were finally able to communicate, though the reasons for their radio silence was not explained. Delta company was on mission, just as Alpha Company. Echo Battery, the Recon Platoon, and Forward Support Platoon he already knew as they were present and accounted for at the main base.

"60 klicks is a bit far, but that is still well within range of Echo's 155m Linears. My two remaining mechanized infantry companies and their combat engineer platoon attachments can participate directly in the operation. Will ensure they have extra ammunition since this is going to be a meat grinder..." he said as he also issued the order to distribute the newly produced Type 45 Katanas to the mechanized infantry companies.

Spoiler

Sending 2 Mechanized Infantry companies to the fight. Also mentioned other units and what they can do as fluff if Char wants to use them or not.

 

[Alex Hart]

"My boys can sweep aside any particularly stubborn pockets of resistance as we move forward." Captain Chalet said, "Push them back towards that river so that we can hit them with saturation fire from artillery and air. I've got three lances of frames, plus my command unit. The smaller ones have autocannons that'll punch holes in a tank if given a chance, and some nasty missiles and anti-personnel weapons, but their main advantage is mobility. Our heavier frames pack some serious firepower, but they've not quite got the range of your artillery." The captain concluded, glancing over to Darius.

"I think it goes without saying that we'll be trying to operate with whatever infantry the rest of you bring to the table, but don't expect us to stick next to you all the time. We'd be wasting our mobility, otherwise." He concluded.

As before, the CAFF 1LT, Sabine, spoke up next. "My squadron will support the Elysian's... shuttle... in the event of enemy air cover." The operator seemed disquieted by the use of a glorified taxi for close air support. "Though, I might suggest that my starbrekaers are a bit better suited to the role of CAS? In any case," She continued, seemingly unconcerned with what affect this suggestion might have on the Elysian's honor, "In the event that air cover is not an issue, my squadron's Sparrowhawks will reinforce the ground troops in Frame configuration."

 

[Rizzo]

“I am excited to see what the Sparrowhawk is capable of. Our model of U-1 is a variant made from our in-house components and though effective is unrefined,” Mr. Donovan commented, “for this part of the operation the Frontier Service Corporation bids our 1st Osman City Infantry Company. They are 200 men strong, equipped with powered suits and armored exo-frames. Flight capable as well but we usually send them in vehicles. This company is quite experienced in this type of terrain.”

Holding out his open palm a hologram appeared depicting an aggressive looking mecha with a pair of large cannons attached to its shoulders with a large ammo bin on its back.
“This is our artillery variant of the Cordoba Combat Mecha, a unit we designed specifically for the coming invasion. We are bidding the 5th Osman City Artillery Company. They are fifteen mecha each quipped with a pair of recoilless graviton howitzers. I will send all allied forces our targeting software.”

Captain Hercule chimed in, “yeah but watch the blast on those HEC rounds. Those howitzers are meant for blasting starships and the explosive rounds spread that blast over about a hundred meter radius. Y’all want nothin’ to do with those shells when they land so make sure to specify what kind of hell you wanna unleash when you laze a target and keep your boys clear.”

 

[Soban]

"We will deploy infantry and our fighters to help with the air to air aspect of this operation." Lochos Irma Demansia said nodding at Lochos Galini Ptyas who would be leading the 1st Fighter Squadron.

 

[Charmaylarg Dufrain]

Operation Hard Hedoro - Day 14.

It took almost two weeks for the combined forces to reach the canyon that would be there operating theater. Close to twice as long as it was surmised the several-mile lone convoy was delayed time after time as the at best beaten roads wreaked hell on their transportation.

For days new roads had to either be broken by hand, or in some cases blasted as anything ground-dependent found traversing the uneven rocky terrain near impossible without as drones and the occasional shuttle scouted the surroundings finding little detour worth taking. So after the first week the combined forces had to wait for their own logistics before they could continue adding another delay.

After that it became a trial of effort as man, snake, clone, fox, and birdmen found their powered armor and vehicles used to pull or move less manueverable ones over terrain right until the several days where the ground started to level out for a time and the only wait was for the stragglers and the end of the line. Finding the canyon from there was easy as the glacier that once formed it made the ground much more ameniable to their vehicles.

Reaching so far their air assets were finally able to scout ahead only to find little actionable intel. The canyon with cliff walls to either side was coolers then the land outside it and, combined with the nearby river despite being miles away spent most of the day filling the cooler canyon with mist at the bottom while the hotter peaks acted like mirriors to reflect heat back at instruments.

That, however, Mattered little when shuttles and the occasional braver pilots skirted the canyon to get eyes on the city.

Dawnton, a city less than modern had few buildings above five stories. No skyscrapers or grand landmarks the city was a true backwards settlement where despite its population in the hundreds of thousands had yet to widely grow with the infrastructure of the regime that conquered it FSC that had taken over stewardship of the planet. There were some modern lights, paved roads for the most part, and some clear modern architecture in a more industrial part of the city but for the most part it was barely recognizeable from a village or town scaled up several times.
The city itself was indeterminate in its status the few times Pilots managed to come within view. Not from missile locks or some grand battle, no. Infact the city seemed less than under durress were it not for the smoke of smouldering buildings or the fact that a third of the north western part of the city looked more like a field of rubble than a settlement. Heat maps proved useless, no signals came from the FSC garrison in the city, and no missile locks so much as spooked the pilots.

Further probing was scheduled for a coming recon mission and word came from the base they had left two weeks prior that if the besieging forces lacked critical air defense then a coming deployment window meant that one of the coalition's few scarce carriers could deploy several bombing wings and several shuttles could be deployed to drop off resources to the defenders and evacuate up to a thousand civilians.

But that would be days yet. First the coalition forces would need to make it through the canyon and take the river's objective. As the convoy entered the canyon mid-afternoon of the second week, however, they found it even smaller than originally informed with the widest points between walls being barely a kilometer across. The ground was level if but enough berms they could traverse blocking line of sight every few hundred meters but it would be hard to maneuver around each other such a force in such tight confines...

With night quickly approaching one of the Strays military commanders, Slayer, whose mechs ranged at the front of the convoy called a halt as the coalition leaders assembled.

"My scouts and commandos have already ranged ahead a couple kilomiters and havent run into anything," She informed them, the flaming fairy now inhabiting a Commander-type body not unlike he sister Mitzi who joined them silently without a word as well. "Ah' dont like how we didnt see any of their scouts on our way in. I woulda had as much early warning on our rear as possible if it were us. Either they saw us coming earlier today or we got uncommonly lucky. Either way this canyons too narrow for my liking; Only plus side is we own the mouth of it and can pull out if we need to, they have to got them against the river."

"If they know we're here though-" The second sister, Mitzi, intoned daurly, letting the statement hang over them.

 

[Rizzo]

Radio static chipped in with a gruff voice behind it, “Captain Tyson, Artillery mech company. Aerial scans show blind corners leading to deep canyons. Could offer a perfect ambush. Our guns could pre-fire those locations but we’d be introducing our arrival in a huge way. Alternatively, if any one of you laze a target we can drop shell right on enemy formations. Your call.”

 

[demibear]

Operation Hard Hedoro - Day 14.

The trip had not gone remotely as smoothed Lieutenants Ben Daeng and Angel Kimura of the 1st Expeditionary Battalion's Bravo and Charlie Companies. The two had never really talked to each other in the past, but the constant stopping and going for the last two weeks was giving the sister companies plenty of time to talk to communicate with each other. Their companies' respective "Pioneer" combat engineer squad detachments and Nepleslian Reds with experience with this kind of manual labor helped work out the issues they were having with the lack of infrastructure of the planet. Who knew the Type 45 Entrenching Tool was going to become such a valuable tool?

Lieutenant Kimura used the experience to help her working thesis about the importance of infrastructure on Fujiko IV and Ukmirt A4 which barely had infrastructure better than Osman. While she might be a infantry commander today, she had aspirations to becoming a combat engineer officer and civil engineer when he time was up. An opportunity the new Fujiko University's remote degrees was finally affording her.

When they finally arrived, Lieutenant Daeng hastily drew up a more organized tactical map with the help of his OLIVIA remotely as he and Lieutenant Kimura made their way to the leadership meeting point. Their identical Paradin Infantry Kits made it hard to tell who as they merely listened to the two SNS fairy sisters talk to themselves and then the Artillery Battery commander listening over the radio. If anyone was capable of perceiving radio signals, they would noticed a sizable amount of encrypted traffic coming between the two Reds as they finalized the tactical side of their mission with the strategic goals of their unit and coalition in mind.

"It seems best to assume they did see us coming. Which considering how long it took us to get here, wouldn't surprise me at all." Lieutenant Daeng's deep voice came out of one of the faceless Reds. He then moved his right forearm in front of him and activated the volumetric projector there to project his markings of the tactical map to everyone assembled.

"It's not the prettiest thing, but it gets the job done of explaining what the FEU will be doing." Lt. Daeng said before continuing. "Battalion determined these phase lines and the directions of Bravo and Charlie companies' main effort before we left. But considering the very likelihood that the bad Yamataian animated adult book villains know we are here, the line of departure here might as well be a phase line as well. As night is taking over, we are going to use these berms to set up defensive positions in the possibility that they will attack during the night as additional recon is conducted to figure out some semblance of where they are." Daeng continued before Lt. Kimura butted after seeing the additional information.

"Speaking of recon, we will launch our "See Bee" Drones command was able to make to see if they can get a look into those spurs right there. If we lose communication and they don't backtrack on their route to re-establish contact, then there is a good chance they were shot down. The combat outposts at the intersection of the spurs with the main canyon is where we would like to set up at since this very likely will be a drawn out fight if they still have the numbers previously mentioned. The OPs at the time are locations we'd like to establish overwatch, but we don't have the means to get there since the sides are more steep than we anticipated. One of the power armor users could fulfill that role for us." Lt. Kimura said, revealing her much softer feminine voice in comparison to Daeng's. He merely nodded. "The intersection should be wide enough for an assortment of landing zones for air drops of supplies, which makes the combat outposts important."

Lieutenant Daeng looked in the direction of the FSC artillery. "We can paint targets, but what is the point of shooting blindly if we don't know if the shot is going to kill anything?" said as further back a number of FEU Reds started assembling a number of small winged drones and unboxing "See Bee" quadcopters stowed at the top rear of their Ironblood IFVs. Before long 6 small (50cmx50cm) quadcopters started to make their way further (as the larger Eagle was still being assembled) into the canyon with the three pairs splitting off. 1 pair flew higher to look at the cliffs and anything below up to PL Erika and one pair kept to mid canyon height as they made their way down their respective spur to scout and draw fire. Not that they would go far, they only had an endurance of 2 hours.

Spoiler

Bravo and Charlie are sending quadcopters to survey what they can down the two nearest spurs and getting an on-station look at PL Erika before returning at sunset. Bravo and Charlie themselves are going to set up along their main effort "axis" and start digging ranger graves on the sides of the nearest berms to both sleep and fight in as night is coming. Standard rotation of guard and sleeping.

 

[FrostJaeger]

Planet Osman
Death Valley (California?)

The sun had been relentless as it beat down on the company of Elysians, who despite the air conditioning of their armors nevertheless found their endurance tested as they trudged through the endless sand, dunes, rises, and rocks. They had been hiking for two weeks, carrying air-dropped (read: Velcior-dropped) survival kits, food, and water while towing vehicles, supplies, and (sometimes) people. They’d also become very bored, and very restless - but were nevertheless loyal and trusting, both to each other and to their leader, Uriel Cornelia. Some had even opened up to the heathens fighting alongside them - and rumor was that a few had dared to begin dating non-Elysians out of boredom, a desire for some nighttime “combat,” a genuine romantic interest, or some combination thereof.

At the meeting, Uriel - whose formerly pristine opalescent plating was now mostly obscured by sand and grit - towered over Daeng and Kimira; after the duo had finished their part of the briefing, he nodded in approval as he examined the map. “Look fine bah me. Like I said back at th’ CP all those days ago, I’ll have mah Third and Tenth Contuberniums provide recon along th’ left an’ right sides of th’ canyon, respectively, ‘cause they don’ have t’ worry ‘bout endurance, an’ I suppose I can have my Sixth an’ Eighth Contuberniums providin’ overwatch at th’ points ya mentioned. Th’ rest of mah forces, mahself included, will be goin’ down th’ middle with th’ rest of y’all. As fer static emplacements, we’ll join y’all in ‘em but won’ stay fer long, ‘cause we learned th’ hard way fightin’ the ‘cats durin’ th’ Great Wars that it’s easy as pie t’ bypass, outflank, an’ surround a bunker in a PA. Lastly, as fer paintin’ targets fer th’ arty, our armors don’ have targetin’ lasers bah default… but we might be able t’ do somethin’ with th’ comm lasers. I’ll talk with mah techies ‘bout it.”

 

[Alex Hart]

Operation Hard Hedoro - Day 14.

Though the Osmani native pilots of Bravo Company of the 4th Pathfinders had been mostly nonplussed by the heat and sand during the two-week slog towards the AO, they had found themselves quickly growing disappointed by the progress of the coalition task force. While the Osmani frames, like their rugged native pilots, took to the rough terrain with the aplomb of a fish being released into its new tank after being brought home from the store, the foreigners' consistent delays had begun to wear on the frame pilots and their field maintainers.

When the group had called a meeting of the different commanders of the task force, Captain Chalet was present, fidgeting as usual with the bullet that he seemed to keep on him at all times. He glanced backward over his shoulder, in the direction where the Duskerian troops had made camp. The frame company, anyway, as the combat aviation squadron tasked to this group was based further behind the lines, though it was likely preparing to take off soon for its regular Combat Air Patrol mission. Speaking of 1LT Sabine and her squadron, the Operator was present for the meeting as well, albeit through telepresence. A small field holoprojector was her link to the front, mostly a formality to allow non-Duskerian personnel to see her since they lacked the AR faculties that the Conclave and its forces made such prolific use of.

"Those drones of yours" The Captain said, looking at the Reds, "Once we've got word of what they've found, we've got to be ready to move ASAP. Out-of-date intel is misinformation, as far as I'm concerned, and we've already had enough delays just getting here. My boys are ready to go as heavy cav, we've got the firepower to hang on the frontline and the mobility to deal with this terrain. That said, if we can't manage to seriously dislodge whatever defenses they've got set up here, and I'm sure they have some, we're all going to get bogged down in this canyon and be sitting ducks for any fire support they can muster. Make no mistake, the timer's already ticking."

 

[club24]

Irons and Rashdon of Galactic Horizon's Red Suns and Solar Transit respectively were present in the strategy meeting, while both men had seen action in their time, these backfoot attacks were not something they enjoyed all that much, and neither had enough manpower at their disposal to be wanting for tactics.

"If you and your frame jocky's are planning to be tip of the spear we can back you up from behind as the driving force, the Zytone and Pellis suites aren't super manoeuvrable but they work well as a tough battering ram. You make a hole and we can follow up and turn it into a crater." Major Irons spoke to NDC captain, using those mecha to their advantage would definitely be crucial in this terrain and ensuring that the enemy couldn't focus all their firepower on them would be instrumental in victory as far as the Nepleslian was concerned.

"It'll probably best if the ORCs from my unit join you then Irons, I'm skeptical we'll be able to efficiently in/exfill in this terrain as it stands and the Skyhawks aren't purpose built for combat, if it turns out they don't have any serious AA or it gets neutralised we can certainly offer an easy way to move PA and ground troops quickly, and the shuttles have laze's for their own tracking which the artillery in the back can slave to." The ever present attitude in Rashdons voice managing to still make him sound arrogant despite knowing what he was talking about.

 

[Soban]

The Separa'Shan cloaked fighters launched from their airbase and entered their stealth mode. They climbed up above the friendly forces. "We can find them if you'll shoot them." Black one, the commander of the fighters said to the friendly artillery.

The second company troopers moved closer to the sides of the Canyon, ready to jump up to the rim if anything started. Being up top probably meant that they would be quickly spotted and they didn't want that just yet.