RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 4 Briefing] - From This My Hand

[Reynolds]

Shayla grinned back at the cook. "Alright, you should be fine for sneakin' and cookin' and alla that. I'll take a good look at it once this is all said and done." She scratched at her chin as she considered their options. "You too can probably slip in, sure..." She nodded as the spy pointed out the difficulty in trying to disguise her or Soruk, before making a face at the name used. "None of that mizzus McBelle crap, ugh. And I might have a few relatives that size, but I'm a few feet shorter than an ID-SOL. Course, they can't fly..."

As Soruk made his own suggestions, Shayla tried to keep up. "Maybe I could play bodyguard...I'm gonna pop up on all sorts of lists as soon as they get a good look at me. Or, heck, scan me or whatever." She vaguely gestured towards her head. "But they know I retired to take up mercenary work. Why not bodyguard and uh...liaison for some fancy alien prince?" She smirked at the idea. "Maybe you can even find someone on the roster I used to work with."

 

[Phe0n1x]

Crimson Kestrel, Hangar

"The tank looks fine boss, if a bit dated. But hey, a tank is a tank. It will get the job done," responded Makari as he marveled at the tank. "I'm going to go get my arsenal quickly and be back down here in a jiffy."

He rushed out of the hangar to retrieve ALL of his weaponry.

 

[Born-On-Board]

Redrick could only shrug. The need for someone like Shayla was evident - if the worst case scenario was enacted, they'd need someone capable of fighting off other superhumans, but damned if he didn't know how she was going to sneak in unnoticed. Nekos would not make convincing waitstaff or chefs or janitors or anything besides a giant, amazonian warrior crushing someone's head in a Mindy. And a Gartagen? Forget about it - a Gart was rare enough, let alone in a place as nice as this hotel.

He thought and thought and thought. "Well, the roster's been set, and fact of the matter is, Enzo and I cannot fight off the security teams by ourselves if we get caught. No offense Ms. Nostrovia, but I doubt you're a match for a fireteam of Neko armed to the teeth either."

Despite the substance of the sentence, his tone was genial enough. There was no insult meant. "We need Shayla and Soruk as insurance, because I can't guarantee if Enzo and I can even be armed. So."

He trailed off for a second, then snapped his fingers. "Shayla wouldn't mesh as service staff, any service staff. Neko just aren't as a rule. But. But.... check it out. High class hotel requires high security, right? I doubt there's a security officer there that makes less than a triple figure DA salary. Would it be possible to dress her up as roving security staff? Bodyguard's too obvious, but hotel security? No one would bat an eye at such a thing in a five-star joint like that. If anything, a neko proves their investment staying there was well spent, and we get one of our two best fighters access to damn near the whole hotel. That way we have a capable fighter we can put anywhere in the building if... if we need her."

That only left Soruk, but the gears in Redrick's head ground along well enough. "And Soruk, I get that he doesn't want to hide his clan garb. That's fine, Blademaster honor code. So we don't disguise him. Take his suggestion, make him the ambassador of his clan, and use your spooky IPG connections to get him a room near the target. If anything, anyone on the good senator's security team will be distracted by the fact that a known Gartagen Blademaster is staying in the same hotel as their principle, and that takes scrutiny off of us. Well, most of us. I'm sure Soruk's capable of giving anyone the slip if it comes to that."

"As for the rest of us, well. If you could get the staff to leave out some kitchen staff uniforms for the two of us..." Redrick gestured to himself and Enzo, "That would make things a lot easier. As for the snatch and grab itself, we're gonna need to do some on-site recon before we commit to an actual plan. A good security team will be changing up their procedures almost hourly, I reckon, so we're gonna need to spot chinks in their armor and take advantage of them quick if we're gonna get this fuckin' guy."

He cleared his throat.

"Ah, well. I guess that turned into more of a briefing than I intended..."

 

[Luca]

Crimson Kestrel, Hangar
Nostrovia was nodding along, eyes widening at Redrick as she repeated what he was stating internally. "Mr. Callahan, I'm liking your approach. I think the senator will be sticking around for a few days." She stated, expressing respect for the man. Her gaze travelled to Echelon. "Do you think you can help our team with getting some details and identities sketched up they can slip in?"

Echelon gave her a thumbs up. "S0 Y0U'R3 4 CH3F, 0BVS," she said, pointing to Red, "Y0U'R3 S3CUR1TY ST4FF," pointing to Shayla. However, she hadn't heard Soruk speak up about Red's idea for him, letting her finger hover over the gartagen for a bit and stating "...4MB4SS4D0R..." before trailing over to Enzo, "4ND Y0U'R3 TH4 S0US-CH3F. TH4T R1GHT, R3D?"

Melissa raised her hand and spoke as soon as she could after Echelon had figured out who was doing what. She didn't seem too plussed about not being picked. "Lissen, does this mean I hang back 'n keep watch fer you guys while ya play bird in sheep's clothin'? I'll definitely keep an eye on security on the external." The sniper crossed her arms, "I ain't no maid."

"You're right, you do not have the attitude or swagger for it at all. You're better off at a distance," Nostrovia pointed out, looking aside to Enzo. "Besides, you'd look horrible in a maid's outfit."

Melissa's face screwed up. "I - wh - nrhg!" She went beet red and extended a knife hand at Nostrovia. "You wot, mate?!"

"L4D13S, C0NT41N Y0UR 0RG4SMS," Echelon attempted to mediate by placing a holographic stop sign between the two of them.


Meanwhile, on the other side of the room with the running tanks, Luca was happy with the inspections, looking down to Tamamo and Allison, seeing Seiren coming in with the bomb in hand. Allison was still on call when Seiren asked Tamamo about a bomb casing. The redhead overheard Seiren, looked over to him, nodded and said, "Oh and a bomb casing, for ..." she looked over to the warhead Seiren had made, putting her hand over the receiver and asking, "how big is that, diameter and dimensions?" she asked.

Back at the tanks, Luca seemed content, jumping out of the Norris and heading towards the Havoc. "We'll need to split our tank crews. Allison and a copy of Ech can go in the Norris, which will be on our side about forty or thirty paces back acting as spotter," he directed, "while you, Makari and I stay in the Havoc and act as vanguard."

He then looked to the two Frames. He knew what Seiren's LEAF was like - the little thing could go just about anywhere. Hell, it managed to fit inside the Fruna Ruica before and do plenty of damage. However, it wasn't as heavily armed as a tank, but this was compensated for with excellent mobility. However, this mission would be the WINTER's début outing and Luca had no idea what it was capable of, save for Lazarus-based advertising flooding his inbox courtesy of Aiesu.

"Seiren, Rebeka, you two will be going on our outliers to act as the pincers to the tank charge. Tamamo will be providing air support." Luca directed, giving his team roles. "Is that clear?"

Allison meanwhile seemed to hear something on her phonecall that made her smile wide and jump. A deal of some sort went through, but it wasn't obvious what it was yet.

 

[Lamb]

Enzo slithered up behind Melissa quickly, reaching for her shoulders and thoroughly massaging them like she was a boxer about to go into the ring. Beneath the surface, there was a special excitement bubbling in the conman's chest. Two attractive women were at odds with one another, and while normally Enzo would relish this moment and gather security footage of the two of them during the inevitable brawl-- the resulting 'catscratch.spcm' making the rounds on InterNep after a brief profit-- but this was a special moment. For better or worse and perhaps despite her wishes, Melissa was marked in Enzo's mind under a rarely-filled category of 'his girl'. Which, despite them both being fully-grown adults, made for quite the schoolboy favoritism.

"Nah, baby, she's wrong." He whispered, deft and delicate fingers working at the tension in Melissa's back with effort usually reserved for plunder of riches, "She don't know 'bout all dis ass back here. You wanna prove her wrong? I'll get a maid costume for yous, da best one there is."

On one hand, comforting 'his girl' was something Enzo had never been good at but always been eager to try. On the other hand, there was the potential for a maid costume to come out of it. There was also all that ass back there to be considered. The mission was forgotten, the particulars of the assignment always something Enzo just figured out on the scene, and in its place was the possibility of gathering a maid costume for Melissa just like she was 'best girl' in one of the vagabond's cheesy Yamataian dating simulators. He cooed to her, giving her the respect set aside for a princess, adding, "C'mon, don't let Nostril get yer panties in a wad, aren't you lookin' forward to havin' me in yous scope again? Bein' able to, at any second, just pull the trigger and blow my brains all over Red's shirt? Yeah, don't ya like the power?"

The low grunt that came next indicated even further that in Enzo's mind, that power was part of what made the relationship exciting. The possibility that a beautiful women could, and would, at any moment instantly decimate him with no chance of recovery brought forward a great, dark hunger.

There was also all that ass back there to be considered.

 

[Born-On-Board]

Redrick ran his hand through his hair, an unconscious tell that he felt he was way in over his head. But looking around, who really would be better suited to this kind of job? He was the only one with a wealth of experience in the world they were about to infiltrate, and without his guidance, Pasco only knew what would happen. It would probably end in tears. "Yea, my plan was for Enzo to be in the kitchen with me. Souz-chef would be perfect, tres manifique, even."

At Melissa's interjection, he blanched.

"Ah, sorry Melissa. I did completely forget about you." He put his hands in a namaste gesture, an old tell from his time in the Yamataian Star Navy. "If you're fine with overwatching the hotel, then that's where I'd like you. More insurance in case it does go wrong. The more people we have to hide in plain sight the less our chances of success, and as it stands, we're already four deep on people who actually have to snatch this guy. Someone who's only job is to pull trigger from concealment would be a load off of my mind, and I trust your shooting ability to keep us safe if it does go ass-over-teakettle."

He smiled at the hardbitten woman, the expression odd but genuine on his craggy, frown-lined face. He wondered just how much of it registered with her with Enzo crawling up her tailpipe, but there'd be more time to go over roles later. His head turned to Nostrovia.

"We're also gonna need some clandestine way of communicating between each other, especially if all of us are going to be scattered over the entire hotel for potentially days." Redrick said. "Now, color me suspicious, but that seems like it's right up your particular employer's alley, ain't it?"

 

[Moogle]

"You can count on me, Luca!" Seiren declared, thumping the LEAF with pride. He dug out a slip of paper and passed it to Allison. "And uh, here's the exact measurements for the thing. You're gonna need to make the harness to the exact specifications, or else it might be damaged in flight and cause an implosion that'd likely rip the Hoplite apart. It uses the same bindings that my Gravity Well candy does, just altered slightly and amped up by a thousand. So uh. . . Don't drop it, and make sure it doesnt explode before we drop it, yeah?"

 

[Eistheid]

Crimson Kestrel, Hangar

Having returned her full attention to her beloved Hoplite, her first action was to Tamamo send a brief, complex signal to the craft awakening the Queen AI out of it's idle slumber. A moment after the the hard, opaque sensor studded canopy cracked open beckoning Tamamo's small form to fill the revealed cavity of the cockpit. Eager to find herself once again piloting the craft Tamamo floated up with the intent to settle blissfully into the pilot's seat and begin her reintegration with the now familiar systems. Unfortunately the words spoken by the small inventor caught her attention and instead of the comfort she desired she found herself looking over her shoulder, ears pressed flat against her head.

The look that she gave Seiren would have been called venomous if it had contained any shred of approval or warmth within her dark jade eyes. Luckily for the diminutive Yamataian her eyes did not remain fixed instead sliding their balefully icy gaze over to Allison falling over her a small eternity. Just as suddenly as the look had come, a blink, and the expression was gone her demeanor returning to its usual blank state suggesting a polite confusion or surprise.

Drawing her mind away from those who had an unfortunate amount of influence over her safety the small girl resumed her efforts to enter as state of peace as she settled into the cockpit of the Hoplite as initially intended. Once in place Tamamo let her eyes fall closed, interfacing effortlessly with the SPINE unit that they had somehow managed to scrounge up, intermingling her mind with that of the Moonsong's AI suite and the body of the Hoplite as a whole. A brief moment was taken disabling her internal controls before loading up her own carefully composed configurations and drivers shifting her natural motions from those associated with a small Nekovalkyrja, to that of a relic of a fighter craft unfortunately largely forgotten by the present and unceremoniously called up from the past. She was now an engine of war no longer bound by the limitations of the flesh that her usual form was designed to imitate, even so she found peace and calm content to sit and wait as she enjoyed the moment.

Pushing out of her blissful reverie Tamamo pleasantly greeted the AI that she now shared a body with establishing a gentle conversation with the younger intelligence while she started up a redundant diagnostic check of the vessel's systems. Splitting a small portion of her mental awareness aside, Tamamo took the time to compose a short message that she sent to both Allison and Seiren:

Please do your best to ensure that the warhead is secure and stable. I would be most put out if I died forever.

Hopefully they would take the request to heart.

 

[Luca]

Crimson Kestrel, Hangar
"You got it," Allison answered Tamamo aloud as she resumed her phone call. She really did want to make sure this all succeeded.

Meanwhile, Nostrovia was starting to put Red's pieces into place, smiling as she drummed her fingers together. "Easily done, Redrick."


SEVEN HOURS PASSED, PLANS PROGRESSED...
The final preparations for the operations were under way now. A bomb had been installed onto Tamamo's hull, as stable as it could be with all the reassurances from Seiren, Allison, and Karl - who'd showed up to help stock a pair of additional high explosive bombs just in case "the big one don't say what you want to who you're killin'" in Karl's words. The Havoc's main gun and ammo magazine was loaded with forty rounds each of of HESH and FAPDS, and 16 rounds of Beehive ammo.

Nostrovia was able to procure and arrange all the things Red had asked for. Falsified personae for work, uniforms for the Aoi hana-bi resort where Yotsuyuki Kuu was staying with Winsbury, securely connected communications, and a room for Soruk that was close to the targeted Senator. All of that would be there for them when they touched down.

To put things in perspective the ISC Phoenix as a group of mercenaries, not counting the marketing team around them who managed the brand's image, PR and merchandise, were punching far above their weight, person for person compared to conventional armies of the Yamataians, Nepleslians, or Lorath. This was no ordinary team of soldiers with a stable, coherent unit where everyone could be expected to know what the person standing beside them was using just via discipline and drills alone.

The ISC Phoenix were an irregular, disparate, and fragmented unit in terms of individual firepower. Funding and resources were initially irregular with the first funding coming from measly job pay for furniture delivery, but cleverly invested by the Captain's father and his best friend. With the contracts becoming increasingly more risky and profitable as well as the Captain creating alliances with influential people the team's shape and form shifted, acquiring a media franchise to create a positive public relations image through consumer media.

It paid the bills and kept the Phoenix looking good, but good didn't last in the wake of the Delsauria incident. The Captain where everything circulated went missing for a couple of months, pursuing a drunken trail of revenge on the petty, fighting the symptoms. Realising that this wasn't sustainable or right with some sense slapped into him by those who cared about him the most, he returned and reformed the Phoenix group.

After getting the word out, getting back into the swing of operations, and adapting to the changing world by partnering with a company and a coalition of the three major states, a rapid expansion of facilities was under way in the Captain's second wind. This was leading to a mercenary unit capable of its own eclectic research and development, advanced rear-echelon support, and intelligence and counter-intelligence as it maintained friendly ties with the major nations. It was still hocking good energy drinks and fun cartoons, too.

The soldiers of the ISC Phoenix, each an army unto themselves in different capacities were ready, and Luca was proud of having them to command, and to fight alongside.

"Ladies! Gentlemen! These operations are a go!" Luca said announced as the eighth hour passed. Everything was ready to move on his command. He pointed forward as the engines of the Crimson Kestrel could be heard spinning up, getting ready to move everyone into their positions. The loading ramp was closing as the ship was starting to take off. "Everyone! It's SHOWTIME!"

STAY TUNED FOR THE NEXT MISSION...S!!