RP: IPG [IPG Operators] Preliminary Affairs

As the Initiates filed in, Raleigh began the briefing.

"As some of you know, the Independent world of Khorovarolor recently came under occupation by the YSE and a race known as 'Abwehrans'."

A screen behind the commodore booted up, showing a muted video clip of several Abwehrans speaking and moving some light cargo off a starship in what looked like a warehouse. Although the Initiates weren't to know, they were members of the very crew that started the plague on Khorovarolor. The clip ended and changed to a computer-generated view of the planet's system. Around the world were small markers indicating starships.

"This 'occupation' was prompted by several smugglers from Abwehr accidentally passing on a common virus to the primary Nepleslian populace of the planet, which sparked a plague that has since destroyed most of the planet's populace. The Abwehran military moved in shortly after to quarantine the world and were quite successful. However, once quarantine was established, a Red Traitor vessel attempted to leave and was destroyed, starting an engagement between the Abwehrans and the Khorovarolor military, a fight that ended with the Aliens victorious.

"Following this battle, Yamataian military vessels converged around the planet, and following negotiations with the Abwehrans, landed several medical ships in the capital city."

The CG render of Khorovarolor zoomed in on the planet's surface, onto a relatively rough representation of a big city on the planet's largest continent. Of course, most of the Initiates would simply consider it to be little more than a small village compared to something the size of Funky City.

"Our reason for being interested in this site happens to be the Red involvement in the area. We've known about it for some time, but were unable to gather any substantial intelligence until recently. We placed several Field agents there about three weeks before the plague hit. Unfortunately, in the time since, they've all been killed either by the Reds, the plague, or in the massive riots that began shortly after the plague began to escalate.

"Your jobs, Initiates, are to retrieve the data our agents were able to collect before dying, and to retrieve the remains of this man."

Two pictures opened on the screen, super-imposed over the cityscape. One was of a man, about 45, with a very receded hairline and rather greasy-looking brown hair that hung close to his shoulders. He had a thick handlebar mustache, and it looked like the top half of his left ear had been taken off by a knife. He had a bulbous nose, and a ruddy complexion. All-in-all, he would have looked like a particularly greasy common street tough were it not for his eyes. They were cold, very sharp light blue.

The picture was captioned with the words "Commander Robert Ackerson, RALF, Confirmed WIA, Probable KIA". A thick red line connected the picture to a large building near the middle of the city, a hospital by the looks of it.

Raleigh looked at the other group of Initiates in the room. "Team A, it is your job to grab the Commander's body, or at the very least his skull. He has files locked up in a hard disk in his cranium that we need. He was badly wounded by one of our agents on-world, and taken to a hospital. If he wasn't killed by his injuries, the plague or simple neglect will have gotten him by now. Your instructor will give you further briefing. As for Team B," Raleigh looked at Flins's group, "Your job is to retrieve the data files our FIO in the region was keeping."

The red line connecting Ackerson's picture to the hospital faded to a thinner black one, and the other picture, one of a large apartment complex, gained the big red line, linking it to a portion of the map. "The files will be in the FIO's room, number 302 in this building. A straight forward job."

"Any questions, Initiates?"

"Sir," Alaster piped up from his place amongst the Initiates. Alaster looked at the screen intently for several moments before speaking further.

"Forgive me, but I assume this is a stealth job as per the obvious. However, the world is obviously, as well as the Hospital is crawling with the kittens and the Abwehrans. " The Initiate said before continuing, tapping his chin.

"Just how far can we go in terms of getting in, getting the information and or the Commander and getting out?"

The first thing that came to Nel's mind was concern. Without a doubt, now, she was going to be a hindrance to her team. Untrained in the conventional gear and tactics of the organization (much less the gear and tactics of the enemy), she was in a situation that would be better taken care of by someone who knew what they were doing and what they were up against. She was here for training, not to be sent on missions for which she was ill-prepared. And it wasn't sounding like these were missions that could afford to be botched by an initiate who didn't know what was going on...

She set these concerns aside, for the moment, intending to bring it up to Flins when the group was dismissed.

Chandler looked at the screen for a few more seconds before turning back to the Commodore.

"Commodore, are you saying we're going to infiltrate a city swarming with the most dangerous and largest empire in our little corner of the galaxy, in the midst of a plague outbreak? It's not that I have a problem with that, it's just that it seems extremely risky between aether-toting androids in heavy armor who could gut us in a second, and a plague that could probably kill us faster."

Raleigh nodded gravely. "This op is going to be pretty black, Initiates. As far as the hospital, according to our intelligence, it was more or less destroyed shortly after the plague started heating up. We doubt the others present onworld will be using the facility. It makes your jobs," he looked to Team A, "easier, although a bit more interesting."

"As for the city being 'swarming' with others, that's not the case. The Yamataian presence is primarily in the capital," as he spoke, the render window zoomed away from the wrecked city to a wider view of the continent "about 600 kilometers to your northeast. As for inhabitants, most of them left or died. This city's more or less empty, Initiates."

"As for the plague, you'll be issued Britva-class Light Powered Armors. It'll keep you safe down there. However, something to keep in mind, Initiates, you pull off your helmets down there, you will not be allowed in Nepleslian space in anything other than a decontaminated coffin."

Raleigh waited a moment longer for more questions. When none came he nodded slightly to no one in particular. "Separate yourselves into your teams and prepare for departure immediately. We don't have much time to pull this one together, initiates. Stimulants will be available upon request from your instructor. Dismissed."

The Commodore strode quickly to the door and disappeared into the hallways. Flins stood from his seat and walked towards the door. Once he got there, he turned and faced his students, waiting for them to come to him. As he did so, the other team and its leader filed out the door, headed for the armory.

Lenz felt a sense of inner glee at the condoned usage of stimulants for this mission as he walked over to Flins. He stood in front of the towering cyclops of his instructor and waited for the other to join them. He felt that itching sensation that comes before a fix but he kept himself still, knowing he needed to be focused for this retrieval.

I hope this doesn't get out of hand again and stays covert this time around. He inwardly hoped as his eyes drifted over to Nelew, his expression darkened. This requires no real interaction with the citizens so maybe she can keep her shit together this time.

Nelew immediately stood as they were dismissed and quickly approached Flins at the door. She saluted as she neared him, glancing at Lenz but seeming to forget he was there once she looked away.

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" She wasn't sure if that was the correct way to bring up her concerns, but it was the nearest match she could find in the information she had on military formalities.

On the way out, Chandler took a detour to the armory to grab the GP-1 from the previous mission, then retreated back to the group.

Athrylis stood and joined the others around Flins. This was going to be an interesting mission for her since she hadn't exactly done a whole lot concerning powered armor. Nothing like learning on the job.

The initiate saluted and waited.

"Permission granted, Initiate Enev'rana," Flins responded to Nelew. He gave Chandler the closest thing to a glare he could as he left the room and came back without permission, but said nothing. He looked back to Nelew and waited for her to speak.

Chandler snapped a salute at Commodore Raleigh and held his GP-1 at parade rest until the cyclopian man turned back to Nelew. Then he replaced the GP-1 on his back, finished securing his holsters and awaited the mission's start.

Nelew nodded curtly.

"Based on personal evaluation of my performance in the recent assignment, I believe I am a hindrance to this team due to lack of training in the conventional gear and tactics of this organization as well as the gear and tactics of the enemy. I am in a situation that would be better taken care of by one who has such training and has knowledge of what they will be up against.

"Additionally, sir, and with respect to this organization, I was assigned here for training, not to be sent on missions for which I am ill-prepared. The current assignment does not seem to allow for failure or the measure of error an initiate with my current limitations would bring to such an endeavor."

As she spoke, Nel kept her gaze fixed on the single eye on Flins' video screen.

"Initiate Enev'Rana, if you would like to be removed from the training program, you must only say so," Flins replied. "The IPG trains its members through example. The ones that make it are made Operators to serve Nepleslia. The ones that don't, don't.

"Now make no mistake, this assignment is not a standard piece of the curriculum. It has been introduced because Nepleslia, as a nation, needs this to happen. I'm unsure what you were sent here for, Initiate, but most of your fellows came here to serve Nepleslia. If you wish to speak with me further on this, hold it until we're in a more private locale on the Malchick."

Flins turned away from Nelew and stepped into the hall.

"Initiates, file out. On me to Hangar 4. There's an armory aboard the ship, as well as our Britvas." He set off down the hall towards the hangar. Not long after starting, they reached a large double-door in the hall with "Hangar 4" embossed in bronze above it.

Flins pushed the door open to reveal the massive room beyond. Three tiers of drydocks held dozens of vessels, all undergoing refits or repairs, fit into a room that seemed to stretch for at least a kilometer in every direction, with the far wall sloping into three gigantic tunnels. One vessel, a Geshrinari light freigher apparently finished with repairs, pulled away from the docks before disappearing at high speed into one of the tunnels.

Much of the room held the same grey color scheme that the rest of the IPG was so fond of, although many of the ships in dock there were receiving brighter, sometimes even festive schemes, dressed up to look like merchants or pirates. Engineer drones and technicians in modified light powered armors flitted across their hulls, watched intently by armed guards on constant patrol.

However, there was one ship that was more or less separate from the rest of the hustle and bustle in the area. A small, perfectly black ship, with a long nose sweeping back into two wings, with massive ion engine arrays on the back. It hung in the air on anti-gravity arrays, motionless. A ramp was extended from the ship's underbelly to the dock, which Flins quickly headed for.

"Welcome to the NSS Kire, Initiates."

========

Chandler looked at the Malchick with interest and appreciation in his eyes. Although he couldn't wait to go aboard and explore the ship, he awaited further orders from the commodore, not wanting to screw up any more than he already potentially had.

Nelew said nothing else and followed Flins and the others from the briefing room, staying near the rear of the group.

The talk hadn't achieved what she had wanted, but it appeared she would be having a second chance to explain further her concerns. But the fact she was going to be on a ship heading toward the mission was going to be a hindrance.

Maybe she should just continue to do as ordered. This was what Lenwe had told her to do. If they found her performance insufficient or detrimental, then they could remove her from the program. In the meantime, she would follow the protocol she knew and do no more. Active responses to obstructions had proven problematic in both the field and with interpersonal interaction, so maybe a more passive approach would prove more successful.

Flins stomped up the ramp into the ship's underbelly. "Move it, Initiates. We don't have all day."

"Sir, yes sir!" Chandler said as he ran up the ramp into the Kire's Power Armor bay.

It's beautiful. Like someone tried to combine a stealth plane with a razor blade and carved the entire thing out of ebony. I should try to make a copy when I get a hold of a dark, heavy wood to work with. Cyrene pondered to herself, allowing herself to take in the entirety of the NSS Kire's design for a moment. She would not stare in awe for hours, but simply allocated more resources to her eyes long enough to take in as many details as possible before moving on. Back to the mission. Make notes and resume that line of thought after post-mission debriefing.

The cyborg stepped into the Malchick-class, actively checking her surroundings due to partially ingrained paranoia. It would feel good to be back in the thick of things. Whether it would be quietly stalking corners under the guise of stealth or gunning down target after target in a chaotic battlefield, it would be good to be away from people in a social setting, and back into a professional one.

Lenz silently followed after his squad, running the scenario over in his head as well as the various things that could go horribly wrong from what he knew of his squad mates. His concern over the success of the mission was intermingled between interference from Yamatai and the other aliens; the ineptitude of some of his squad mates to grasp the concept of 'covert' and of course, his own desire to not screw up and doom his sister further.

The thoughts deepened his thoughtful look of concern into a tight frown as his hand tightened and untightened into a fist at his side. His attention wasn't on the impressiveness of the Malchick, just on th thudding of hi footsteps on the ramp and getting the mission started. "Nothing like an international incident to get a career started," he said softly to himself as his eyes finally focused on his surroundings inside the NSS Kire.