RP [Operation La Prossima]Tana del Diavolo, Part 1

Briefing room

A little part of Suzume died the longer she sat there. near the back most seats she sat, legs together, back straight, hand raised with a single raised finger only for it to shoot back down at every non sequiturs and outburst that each tore away a small piece of her assumptions and expectations of this motley crew.

There was shouting, wild gesturing, talking over one another constantly, a lack of rolecalls and very clear rank disparity violations. When she had taken her seat she had expected a quiet and professional briefing where they all listened attentively and took notes and waited until the end where they would ask clarifying questions to fill in context in a professional manner and maybe might be at least a single cliche wisecrack or two.

They didn't even have instant coffee and pastries.

It was like everyone in the room was Kaito Hinata with the sole saving grace that at least none of them were flirting with her father.

Willing to give the benefit of the doubt, Suzume leaned forwards to ask the next closest person if this was the norm, one of cousins from the main family if she remembered him correctly only for him to shout at the top of his lungs and drop the pit in her stomach from butterflies to a feeling of dread.

"Im going to die... Again..." She murmured to herself, making a mental note to record a warning message to her future self when they revive her to be better prepared for this nonsense. And also to bring her own coffee before briefings.

Steeling herself, Suzume raised a hand again, single finger raised, and spoke out as soon as she could find an opening.

"Bozu." She spoke towards Barone waiting for his attention before continuing. "What are the parameters for mission failure and what contingencies can we expect?" She tried to get a more broad answer than what she had heard so far. And most of all, she wanted to make very sure that if this time one of their own ships was going to level several square miles around them to excise the theater of operations she would have a head start and not be told she simply looked up to wonder why the sky had gotten brighter.

Charaa said:

As their teammate Tsumenaga tried to shepherd her and the others out, Ryuko moved forward towards Barone. She planned to leave, of course, but she wanted to ask him something first. "Boss-man," she began, "from what Thorn mentioned earlier, can you really teach me this psychic combat? And do you have any data or books on it?" Ryuko's voice was eager and determined. "Ryuko wants to be useful, and if that helps, She wants to do it. Also, which Mindy suit is Thorn going to be with?" she added for good measure.

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"I'll teach you a few things on the way," Barone answered, "I'll be carrying Thorn's chip in my leader support pack. That'll give her limited access to everyone if you need support. She'll be primarily using our electronic warfare systems to keep the enemy from picking us out of the crowd."

Charmaylarg Dufrain said:

Briefing room
"Bozu." She spoke towards Barone waiting for his attention before continuing. "What are the parameters for mission failure and what contingencies can we expect?"

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"Ah contingencies. To start, if we fail to disable the weapon we're not going home and Resurgence doesn't get to get footage for the recruitment thing they're doing. Get the weapon down and Resurgence does its thing. About that time Presage of Nashoba, who's recording Resurgence looking cool launching torpedoes from forever away, will proceed closer to the planet while the Rikugun are marking priority targets for exfiltration. If we all die it'll just glass the planet. Oh and in the event the enemy has a bunch of reinforcements show up we're on our own because it's like Jinja said. We don't come home until Zaxylbrph is dead."

An MP crackled open the door with a subtle knock, "sir, they're almost ready."

Barone nodded, "alright, the MPs are bringing us to the armory. We'll talk more on the ship. Report to the hangar and suit up. I want to personally ensure we have all the kit we need before we leave in the next two hours. Let's go." Pocketing his communicator he lead the way out from the office, one MP for each member of the team personally escorting each member as they headed down the hallway and into through the building's exit. The transition from artificial light to the star that light the day at high noon was blinding as they exited the climate controlled office and embarked on the reasonably short trip to the hangar just across the street. Two MPs stood guard by each and every entrance while two more in armed Daisys stood watch inside. Security was tight as was always the case when such a challenging mission was being commenced from a base like Black Sands.

Just outside the hangar sat a black painted Type-31 dropship on its landing gear, a similarly painted Type-41 Main Battle Tank and TASHA being loaded onto the dropship. The guards opened the door and stepped aside and they entered through the small door beside the main hangar door, the view of their armor hanging from their racks coming into view along with the diverse arsenal that was their equipment. For the members who'd had items on order sat the items they'd requisitioned still fresh in their packaging marked with PRIORITY stickers. A handful of technicians stood by to ensure all went smoothly.

Barone approached the locker beside his armor rack and promptly began undressing, folding his clothing neatly as he did so before closing the door and bouncing himself up and into his armor with the practice of a soldier far too familiar with the system, the suit closed up and the rack lowered him to his feet. His M2-4ix stepped free of the station flexing it's detachable black wings before folding neatly under the pair of capacitors on his shoulders and flying sword hovering just behind him like a faithful pet. The Offensive Augmentation pods on his legs were new, the pod doors opening and closing as they performed their system checks. Some writing could be seen on the inside as the doors closed, but it was too small and the doors closed too quickly to read. Opening the armory gate he removed the Butt Pack with his name and opened the flap inspecting the six large magazines for his AHAMR within. Closing the pack he clipped it in place over his behind where it belonged and hefted his anti materiel rifle off the shelf, easing it onto his shoulder. Ready for action he turned to see his team, eager to the rest of their first full team suit up.

Miko grinned when he seen the Type-41 Main Battle Tank also known as the bulldog. This pleased him greatly knowing that he was part of the Saint yard dogs. Though for this mission they were going to be more like moles. This enemy had gone done too far and it was up to them to slap them back in line. The team looked to be gearing up for a fight to rival all fights. Miko knew this was a mission that would prove this team had what it took to call themselves Saint. To be the ones who lurk in the shadows, taking out the enemies of the empire so the Empress could relax enough to get her nails done. He knew unlike his brother who stood out among the ranks, Miko was but a whisper in the night. This is why his enemies from his prior life gave him the nickname of smiles. For all they would see before their end was his bright smile. Alastair had the gaze that makes everyone weak in the knees, Miko however had the smile that would strike fear in those who knew what was about to come.

"Glad to know we are risking our lives so Star Army can get a recruitment poster. I will be sure to flip the bird towards the sky so they get a real good image of some badass." He laughed out loud. "Heck, Zaxylbrph gunna get so dead he will come back to life just so he can die again. There isn't a hole deep enough for them to hide in that we will not find them. Best they can do is sit in an open office and just accept they are a dead person walking." A smile then crossed his face. He was ready to gear up and be on his merry way.

"I see Barone-Heisho heard my plea and recruited a medic to put us back together after the snake chops us up." Oodori said this with a smile, before donning a pair of sunglasses for the brief trip across the bright, open area. This allowed her to dramatically remove them a short while later, upon catching sight of her new Mindy. "Woah, it's already ready already!"

Tsumenaga had cleared all the training and certifications, and even sat through the armor fitting, but she still hadn't quite expected to actually be assigned her own 4IX so soon. The Shadow Mindy certainly lived up to its name, with that black on black exterior and slim, wingless profile when compared to the standard Mindy. Perhaps the silhouette was slightly ruined by the aether blade folded up to attach to one shoulder, but even that had received a black paintjob to better fit in.

The tall Neko would spend a few minutes looking over her new suit, double-checking that everything was just as promised, before disrobing to begin armoring up. Once her large personal katana was retrieved and attached, and her uniform neatly folded and put away, she was ready to go. There was no real reason to bring the butt pack this time. Not only was it one more thing to worry about while trying to remain stealthy, but it wasn't like she'd survive very long on this hell planet outside of her Mindy.