RP: 21st Fighter Sq [Mission 6.0] Mists and Mysteries

Ricky barely shook his head at first, until he realized that the speaker was doing so telepathically. To maintain some secrecy to the conversation (though it took him a bit, still getting used to the abilities his Yamatain body had to offer), he decided to do the same.

"This place is just messed up." He replied, "I'm thinkin' of just jumpin' ship as soon as I get the chance -- legally, of course." Another, longer pause, "Jacked up squadron-mates. Am I really supposed to trust these people at my wing?"

Ricky moved back to lean tiredly in his chair. He watched the proceedings without saying a word, glad that he wasn't one of the ones facing restricted pay or reduced rank (not that he could be knocked down very far, anyways). As well as the fact that he wasn't the one being faced with a required mental evaluation. However, he was the one faced with going with these very same people in to pitched combat with the enemy. Though with this display, he was starting to become curious as to who his biggest danger would be.

Elisto couldn't really argue with the man, although he agreed that there were problems with the squad, he knew that it wasn't unique to just the 21st. "While you may be right, there are problems here, the thing is that these problems aren't unique. All squadrons have their troublesome soldiers, all ships as well. To be honest, I'd say to let the officers handle the troublemakers, while we learn from their mistakes and make certain not to repeat them."

Having said that, Elisto watched the spectacle to see what else would happen.

Anne looked at person of the medical staff that stated pretty much what she did just a minute ago. He just did it in more elaborate way. Anne then looked down at Silic again. Poor fellow did not look very well, he surely could use some rest.

"As flight surgeon for the squadron I suggest for Tin-man to be taken for medbay. However if this mission is important I am sure he could be revived for it or for the briefing. Don't expect him to work on 100% though. I would also like to mention that should he be revived for the briefing, given his psychological profile he won't go rest afterwards. To say it frankly, he is stubborn" She reported to Atsui.

She then sighed, she would like to take Silic to medbay, let him sleep it off and then ask him what happened last week. Why did her ran away that morning. Anne herself thought that they spent really nice night together so she was curious what happened. Did she dissatisfy him?

"Anne-Hei, either let the technicians take Vas-Heisho to the medbay, or go with them. If you stay you can brief him when he wakes up. They'll have about 30-45 minutes to get him operational.

Eika-Juni, once Tin-Man is removed, we will commence with the mission briefing." Atsui said.

"Aye ma'am." Konpeki replied, as she started securing the data files from the Captain's Mast, and brought her records to the ready.

The technicians proceeded to put Silic on a grav-gurney. Once they had him floating they secured him to the board. "You coming or staying Anne-Hei?" The ranking member asked.

Yaeko just continued to shake her head at the situation. Why is it that every time Silic is involved with anything he usually ends up unconscious and half-dead. Well, the least I can do is make sure that he's taken care of.

"Ma'am, I can make sure that Tin Man's briefed once he comes to. Being my partner, it would be best if I made sure that he's kept up to speed." Yaeko scratched the back of her neck a little as her eyes scanned the ground. "Besides, I owe it to him for throwing him across the room."

Errwoyn replied with a respectful nod and a helpless shrug as she took a seat, still sporting some lubercants and dirt from her assisting the deck crew on her fighter.

Watching the others and Atsui. Errowyn kept her mouth shut and ears perked. Eyes looking over the rest of the Squad. Seeing the new guy, Ricky antics, made her smile widely at seeing him peek through his fingers, nearly making her laugh.

She giving several soft "squeak" as it was very humorious to watch him, as she fought from outright laughing.

"The problem isn't just the other soldiers." Rickey was quick to respond, "It's how our own superior handled those soldiers."

He shook his head, though the motion was hardly noticeable.

"You say there are problems in other units? Crap like this didn't happen in the 22nd." Ricky continued, "We didn't beat each other in to unconcsiousness over something like -- like this."

He moved to lean an elbow on the table, watching what was going on as he heard nearby squeaks of suppressed laughter. He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see -- what was her name? -- Errowyn, looking about as presentable by the standards of present company (considering Sillic wasn't even conscious). He could immediatelly tell by where she was looking that she wasn't laughing at the antics of his order-violating fellow Nepleslian, nor at the reactions of anybody else save him. Well, at least it wasn't the worst thing going on. So far she was one of only two people in the unit that had even acknowledged him thus far; in flight or otherwise. Leaning on the table with one arm, he gave her a small smile, and an off-handed wave hello. Even though it was evident she was laughing at him, it was still better than nothing as far as socializing with squad-mates went.

Anne was deep in though. For one she wanted to listen for the briefing, since there will be no recording of it. She felt more inclined to go with Silic to the med-bay though. As a doctor she felt that was more of her duty then pilot-stuff. Yaeko can then brief both her and Silic. Not to mention that she might get to talk with Silic and find out why he ran out on her like that few days ago. She wanted to know what mistake she did to displease him like that.

"I will go with Vas-hei Ma'am." She said, stood up and went with the techies, one of her hands resting on Silics arm making sure he was fine.

While Silic was being stretchered out a prosthetic arm flopped out and dangled from the side in an almost cartoonish sign of death.

As Anne walked by Silic she noticed his hand fallin of the grav-gurney. She smiled and gently picked it up, raising it and putting it on his belly. She noticed his chest finally rising and lowering with peaclike.

She took her Portable Medical Scanner and had another look at Silic. She wondered if he was drunk again for example. Atsui would not need to know that though. But she was more worried about anything hit badly or broken that could be missed.

With Silic and Anne out of the room, and Errowyn now seated Atsui took her seat at the end of the table. "A word of warning to the rest of you. When I call you for a briefing, haul ass and get there, or you can expect to watch the rest of the squadron fly while you spend time working with the techs.

Engage Security protocols and commence the briefing."

Konpeki nodded at Atsui and sent the necessary commands, the door secured and the security protocols were re-engaged. She stood up and smoothed her uniform.

"Security Protocol Alpha has been initiated. All recording devices are inhibited, and all communications are blocked." Hiromi stated.

"Discussion of the contents of this briefing to non-vetted personnel will result in incarceration." Konpeki started.

She waved her hand, and a volumetric image of a planet appeared, the planet was familiar to the older members of the unit.

"We are going back to Aqueous....

First let me give you some background. SAINT recently discovered a plot that jeopardized the Empire and the Star Army. At Nishitama personnel there stumbled upon the plot. The Tachibana Clan, once trusted and having many members in SAINT, has gone rouge. They have betrayed their oath and the Empire. For this reason they have been declared traitors and are being tracked down and their holdings seized.

When the 21st was last on Aqueous you encountered what was believed to be a group of simple smugglers. Our continued investigation into them has revealed that they were in the employ of the Tachibana Clan. It was our good fortune that they decided to strike against the SSS encampment and try to help themselves to some extra valuables.

Addition more strenuous interrogations have revealed that the cave site was not the only place they were operating out of on Aqueous. They were ferrying supplies, equipment and personnel to a facility that the traitors were establishing.

I recommended to the Director Tamahagane Mai-Chujo for the Fighting Diamonds to be given this mission. "

She picked up a datapad and entered a few commands, "Their installation is located on the continent of Varnan. On the other side of the mountains from the SSS installation."

The image of the globe stopped spinning and then zoomed in on the continent.

"The Tachibana site is highlighted in red.

These people are suicidal, if they can they will take out their enemy with them.

Point A is a site in the lower desert that the 2XF has been using for bombing training. It is filled with mesa and buttes. Our cover is that the Fighting Diamonds are going down for remedial bombing training. To that end you will be making an actual bombing run on that range using training ordinance. After completing your run you will fly into the low mountains and land at point B.

All personnel will be flying a Kawarime 1B, but there will not be anyone in the rear seat. In the EWO seat will be your mission equipment. You will each be supplied with a Ke-M6-1A Daisy configured for atmospheric.

Upon landing at point B, you will proceed to the objective flying nap of the earth.

We do know that these people are using old power armors, and other equipment.

First target is to disable the two starships present on the surface. Demo charges will need to be attached to damage but not destroy the ships.

Once they are in place, you are to attack the installation and capture facility." Konpeki paused for a moment to let what she said sink in.

As Yaeko listened to the briefing she compiled the scenario in her head, trying to fit all the little pieces together. The first part had little bearing on her, since she had no background knowledge on the Tachibana Clan and it didn't matter to her that they were returning to Aqueous since they would be in unfamiliar territory anyways.

Guess this means Silic and I aren't working together this time, she thought to herself with a hint of sadness. The arrogant buffoon had really grown on her, of course she would never admit it. And I thought NOE was primarily used for surprise strikes followed by a quick retreat, although I suppose that's with aircraft as opposed to armor. Old equipment on their part will make our lives easier. And if they want us to only disable their ships, how we go about doing that will depend on of they need any specific parts in tact. Not to mention that capturing the facility won't be easy. Unless she's supplying me with a plan, I'm going to need some planning time with my squadron if we want this to work.

As Elisto was listening, with his ICP secured, he was already using it to create various approuch trejectories to their target just in the case the one chosen for them was comprised in some way.

Though his main concern was the Tachibana and their allies, he was curious whether it was possible they had allies onboard ship, they hadn't found any just yet but then they had just come from a large battle and there was always the chance someone on board could be working with them, his concern was that if this was the case, they might be monitoring any and all briefings that could be taking place - no matter if they pretain to them or not, but then this briefing was supposedly secure - but as he had learned as an officer, there is no such thing as an absolutely secure place.

"The installation is built into the side of a granite hill. The only entrances our drones have detected are on the south face. There are two of them one is large enough for small vehicles. The second one is to the left and is considerably larger. To help with demolitions, we have secured two cases ofGRPE it is an explosive manufactured by Emrys. It possesses a unique attribute that makes it very controllable." Konpeki said as she walked around the table depositing a Star Army Datapad by each soldier.

When she returned to her place a the table she resumed, "The datapads have the data we have on the base at the surface level. It also includes a list of key Tachibana clan members we are looking for. We would like to take them alive. But these people are fanatical, prior encounters have shown they are perfectly willing to kill themselves if it gives them an opportunity to take their opponents with them."

She then sat down. "Any questions?"

Kenshin listened intently through the entire briefing and once the datapads were offered to each soldier by Konpeki, he read and memorized the contents. This was going to be an extremely dangerous mission -- the squadron would be essentially on their own in an enemy controlled area against superior numbers. In order to come out alive, they'd have to utilize stealth for as long as possible to accomplish as many of their objectives as they could -- because as soon as their presence was discovered it would pretty much completely flush any chances of a successful mission entirely out the airlock.

They would also have to plan out precisely what sabotage they would need to perform to disable the enemies equipment, determine methods of approach that minimized risk of exposure, and a dozen other things beside. The 21st certainly had their work cut out for them on this one.

"Several," came Yaeko's quick response. "What types of starships do they possess, because that could heavily affect how we go about disabling them. As well, is there any second objective with disabling the ships, such as leaving data in-tact, or are we simply to make it unusable. And on that note, exactly how disabled do you want these ships? Are we to simply make them un-flyable, or do you want certain key systems to be disabled such as communications or weapons."

After waiting for the responses, Yaeko proceeded to her next questions. "Next, exactly how many personnel are we looking at? Because if we're fairly evenly matched than we can jump in with guns blazing, but if we're severely outnumbered than stealth is our primary goal. Also, are either of you two joining us?" Yaeko directed the question to Atsui and Konpeki.

Again, Yaeko waited for a response before continuing. "Almost done. Do we have all three types of detonators available to us?" As Yaeko asked this she flipped through some of the information she had seen before on her datapad. "I would rather not use the DD since they can be turned off. Also, is it possible to jam and RD and, if so, do they have the capabilities to do so?"

Once Yaeko waited for Konpeki to answer, Yaeko turned and addressed her next question to Atsui. "Ma'am, before we deploy I would like to have a secondary briefing with my team to break up teams, go over specifics, and work out the exact details of this operation. I would prefer not to go in without a plan or try to work it out mid-flight, as we have in many occasions. However, I would need some time to think about the plan so, if at all possible, I would prefer this briefing to take place roughly 15-20 minutes before we deploy, or once we get Silic and Anne back. That would give me enough time to dish out my plan, discuss the plan with the crew, and get to the flight deck in time to deploy."

Yaeko realized she was going a little overboard right now, but after her earlier performance she wanted to impress the Taii. Besides, she figured it's best to ask too many questions than not enough and risk jeopardizing the mission.

Ricky turned his attention from the female crewmember who had been laughing at his actions and instead turned to focus on the briefing that he had come to attend in the first place. Listening closely, he couldn't help but just not like what was being asked of them. Nap of the earth was no problem. He had flown nigh uncountable hours in a variety of craft, so he was confident that the approach for the mission would be no problem (besides, he would be in a PA at that time, rather than a high-speed fighter). Of course, like any soldier, his biggest concern was the combat, and the lack of details they had been given. "Disable" the ships was a very broad term, as well as "outdated". Did they want the ships to be steaming piles of slag, or just impossible to steer? Were their enemy coming at them with last year's model, or 1000cc combustion engines? It was that sort of thing that left Ricky nervous, even as the datapad was set down in front of him. Not to even mention his current impression of those who he was assigned to work with.

His squadron leader (that violent lady who he didn't know very well) covered many questions. The key one that she asked which he liked was enemy numbers. If they were facing a small gang of fanatical lunatics, then he would have no problem busting in the door, and then busting in some faces. However, facing ten thousand battle-hardened Nekos would require an entirely different approach. Either way, he was willing to do the mission if he was ordered to (though that didn't mean he entirely trusted those he was doing it with), and hopefully wouldn't end up needing to be revived by the end of the mission. So as he perused the contents of the pad set before him, he listened to his superiors (by whatever greater power, the Yamatains loved that term) as they discussed the finer details of the operation. It wasn't until his squadron leader quit talking that he finally spoke up.

"I'm just curious if we have any information on time constraints." He began, "How long would you say we have after the first shot before we're swarmed by a response force? Also, is dropping the bombs really necessary? I mean, wouldn't we know if they have observation of the zone? If they don't, then I don't see the reason to waste the munitions, ma'am."

Medical Center
Anne and Silic arrived in the Medical Center without incident. It was relatively quiet in the room. The soldiers took the grav gurney next to one of the medical beds. One of the medics came over took the data from the med tech and linked the medical bed to the medibots in Silic's body.

"What can we do for you ma'am?" the nurse on duty asked.

----------------------------------------------

Flag Bridge

Atsui listened to Yaeko, that the Nekovalkyrja was thinking rather than reacting pleased her. "Based on our time table, Munkata-Kohosei. You should be able to fit a twenty minute briefing. The flight deck is already preparing the fighters for the mission, and loading the necessary equipment that our Intelligence Officer has indicated."

----------------------------------------------

Konpeki smiled at Yaeko when she fired off her list of questions. She waited until Ricky finished his comments, and Atsui answered Yaeko before replying.

"Let me start with your questions Shoi Kohosei.

The Tachibana Clan have limited resources. At present our thermal imaging has identified at least two ships on the surface. They are under camouflage netting to hide them visually. The two ships currently on the surface are:
1 Ge-L3-1A - Vampire-Class
1 Ge-Y1-5a - "Henkei" Patrol Variant

We want the computers intact, if you can render them unflyable without destroying the computers. So much the better.

Our surveillance drone has identified approximately twenty-five individuals.

Numa-Taii despite her protests will not be coming down to the surface. I however will be accompanying the Fighting Diamonds.

As for detonators, you can request whatever ones you want from the Heitan's store and I will ensure they are provided."

Konpeki then looked at Ricky, "The traitors only have the people on the surface. While the Diamonds are down on the surface, the Heitan will deploy the other squadrons to prevent any ships from trying to land or depart.

The bombing run is not going to use any live ordinance. The bombs are training ones, and the run is necessary. I will be shadowing the Diamonds when they make their bombing run. I will be flying my fighter in stealth mode, and will land as close as I can to their base without risking detection.

I will be doing recon ahead of your arrival so that you will have the latest information possible. "

Elisto waited until the questions were answered, but his mind was already wondering about those computers and the potential intel they could get off them. "Provided we can take those ships without destroying them, are we to break into their systems and try and get ahold of as much data as possible or will we let more specialized teams handle that?" he asked, pointing his question both toward Konpeki and Atsui.

He decided to wait a moment then when he got the answer, asked another. "Also, what are the chances the Tachibana's could have safe-houses planetside with potential reinforcements waiting to retaliate if we attack?"

Yaeko nodded in response as the responses and comments came her way. As the others spoke, she opened a blank text document on her datapad and began taking additional notes. "So is it possible to jam the remote detonators, at least with their technology? Because if it is I would prefer not to use them." As she waited for her response she listened to the questions of the others, hoping their questions could spark a few additional ones from her.