Re: Mission 3: The sound of machina
Kotori waited a moment more to see if other people had anything to say, but all she seemed to be getting were expectant looks. She returned a nod and continued:
"Phase One of our operation will be our entrance in the Bowhordia system, the evaluation of the threats within and the finalization of our battle preparations regarding what we face," Kotori brushed some of her hair back behind a dipped left ear before she continued, the ear flipping back up. "If the situation proves unmanageable for us at that point, we will re-evaluate our objectives and see if something can still be done. If not, we will scrap the operation."
Kotori's expression became hard. "Any victory of mine would be tarnished by the deaths of my subordinates. I am not risking anything lightly." She paused. "The next planned phase of the operation are based an assumption on my part."
"Phase Two will be for Miharu to engage the defenders of the planet where the Daughters of Eve have their outpost. What we should face is the Obakemono's escort group, which includes the Ayame-class cruiser, four Yui-class destroyers and four Ketsueki-class corvettes. My belief is that the base on the planet is actually being evacuated and salvaged because of the increasing presence of the Fourth Fleet in this region of space. With the Ayame having the second largest vehicular and cargo assets after the SS Takumi, that group should be the one left behind while they move the Novacorp gate out and go after our diversion."
"While in the cover of the plasma sphere of one of the ships to oppose us - preferably the Obakemono itself, Miharu will release fighters, shuttles and the auxiliary ship and have those head down planet at the target point while Miharu deals with the rest of the opponents. The largest threat then for the ground assault group will be the Ketsueki corvettes, whom will be underpowered next to Miharu but quite able to be a threat to Hoshi, and any M1 Lamias released since the beginning of the engagement."
"Phase 3 is the ground assault group's approach toward the target site. It involves shaking off any pursuers, defeating the defense net of the installation and then infiltrating it, with Hoshi going on standby if such can be allowed or moving on to a more secure area to wait and return to pickup the armor team. Miharu meanwhile deals with the opposition left and gives cover as she can to the ground operation group."
"Phase 4 involves the infiltration of the installation beyond Miharu's capabilities to help. The objectives of the armor team is to make their way down the complex and seize control of key assets such as the control center for the defense net of the base, the main computer core, the hangars and armories likely holding extra supplies for salvage and mid-mission reloading, the securing of the YSS Sekkou and making sure it is operable, and freeing the Sekkou's crew if they are captives. The complex's database are of particular interest to us, as they might contain more information than was found back when we captured the Meng Po."
"Meanwhile, Miharu will set probes in the vicinity to remain good communications with the Hoshi and good situational awareness of the system before moving to the system's gas giant, which has a very dense ring of asteroids - most of them composed of ice. The excess torpedoes we have will be seeded around the areas like mines and Miharu will go into silent running."
"Phase 5 involves mostly Miharu waiting on the ground assault team to complete its mission, while needing to oppose any incoming Daughter of Eve vessels. Miharu will emerge from stealth, attack using AS-7 Anti-Matter torpedoes before a Anti-FTL field can be raised or scans by the enemy be done. Our probes will begin doing ECM jamming to keep the going ons on the planet hidden so that the main hull is the only opponent they can easily see. After making one attack run, Miharu is to retreat to the gas giant under the pretense of using the asteroid field for cover against weapon's fire and using the planet to gravity whip around it and so make a premature use of our fold drive to escape."
"Any priming of the fold drive, as well as use of FTL torpedoes, is likely to prompt the use of an Anti-FTL field, thus slowing us down and having the superior number of ships we are arrayed against to pursue and hunt us down. We will proceed to the asteroid ring and navigate through it, using it as cover. Once an acceptable number of enemies joins up with in in such a chase, we will use subspace detonator warheads to disable their combined field system and the dense ring of icy rocks should do the rest of the job in stopping them cold."
"Phase 6 involves using the teleporting Mindy to infiltrate the opposing vessels while the subspace detonator warheads are in effect - the chosen locations would be the engineering for Sakura gunships and the monitor room for the Nozomi scouts. Upon arrival, the infiltrators will destroy the vital systems nearby, be it sensor, generator or computer systems."
"Miharu will use transphasic torpedoes to destroy the weapon pods and released power armors from the opposing ships and then grab as many of them as possible to drag them down into the gas giant's gravity well. Having their computer or engine components damaged will render them virtually helpless - sufficiently so to have the gas giant's gravity well destroy them for us. The infiltrators will have little more than a minute to escape the disabled ships - so they will either need to wait for their teleporters to recharge or cut their way out."
"Upon expenditure of their missile payload, the Mindy group is to teleport back to the Hoshi, rearm, reload and then act as Claymere-Taii deems fit - or any ranking officer if he is unavailable to direct them."
"Phase 7 involves Miharu drawing the enemy into the area where the mines have been set and releasing them unto the enemy. Depending on circumstances, Phase 7 might happen before Phase 6 if the opposing ships do not fall in our first trap. However, I expect to use the mines against a second wave of vessels, whom I plan to lead into the same asteroid ring. The rest is mostly ship-to-ship combat, though depending on the status of the Mindy team we may be able to pull off the same trick again. I see no use to waste firepower on our enemy when I can let a planet kill them for us."
"Phase 8 involves our withdrawal. Armor assets will need to return to their respective ships, Hoshi will have to rejoin with Miharu and we will have to pull out, hopefully with the Sekkou in tow. The sooner we can and the less ships we face, the better, and this makes Phase 8 have priority over Phase 6 and 7."
Kotori breathed out after her presentation and then asked: "Comments or questions?"