[center][h3][color=C0392B]Rudolf Shilage[/color][/h3][/center]

[color=c0392b]"... Never the plan, Miina."[/color] Rudolf replied carefully, after an uncomfortable pause. The stress on "questions" in that lead nowhere good, in his experience— through the rush of it all, he'd almost forgotten how many things he still tried to keep in the dark.

[i]Well, hey, that could mean anything. I wouldn't worry.[/i]

He cleared his throat, turning his focus back to the table at large, scanning the field with somewhat fresh eyes even as his regimented, soldierly demeanor began to fill him anew.

[color=c0392b]"Anyway... No real objections here, this is [i]very[/i] similar to the ideas I had been building towards when we spoke earlier."[/color] he began his piece with a nod, albeit one colored by a stiff look at the Grovemaster, hardly amused despite his approval. Old coot, if they weren't already all making an effort to play nice given the unspoken repartee between him and Izayoi...[sup]1[/sup] [color=c0392b]"Just a few points I want to touch on:"[/color]

He leaned forward, setting the visual mockup he'd made the night before off to the side. It depicted the concept in a simplfied flow of arrows, chevrons, and boxes upon the field of a treetop, for any who cared to look, but with the full map before them it seemed largely moot to the discussion. Instead, he reached forward, letting afinger hover over the boughs.

[color=c0392b]"First, a key operational strength necessary for most mobile defenses is immediacy of maneuver and communication. I understand that as the striking force, we're leaving the shaping operations and staged retreats to you guys on the ground, but I think it'd be prudent to establish a quick overview of how you plan to cue your rolling retreats, your holding patterns, and so forth, if only to get everyone on the same page for the broader context of the battle. Typically it's either a horn or a flag, or in some cases radio, stuff like that— perhaps it's only my curiosity this satisfies, but your plan thus far is too structured for me to think you plan on playing it by ear. I'd appreciate it for the sake of maintaining awareness of the broader picture of the field, if possible."[/color]

Next, to Cid.

[color=c0392b]"Secondly, I had meant to ask about Eve last night. I'm glad she's with us, but I'd warn that it'd be good to keep an eye on her, to make sure she doesn't overextend herself. Maybe her time under your tutelage has calmed her down a little, but the Eve I knew was prone to get zealous about burning Valheim, or any of her obstacles, to ash regardless of where it might leave her."[/color]

A furrowed brow, a glance back towards the board, the assembly of the pieces laid out. [color=c0392b]"It might be a good call to pair her with Neve, if she isn't already accounted for. Somebody we can trust, and somebody Eve knows."[/color] he explained, sliding his half-mug of the coffee Eliane had procured them in the night over to Esben, still in predictably rough shape after getting only half a night's rest. Rudolf would [i]make it[/i] on what he had— setting his brain to work like this woke him up well enough to make up the difference, in many cases.

Really, it had taken the veneration of his blades to clear his mind enough to brave the still waters of sleep in his own measure last night.

[color=c0392b]"Next is scheme of maneuver. With them only an hour away and not already sighted, the question of their approach pattern seems more or less answered— A straight shot in from their ports in Osprey to the northeast. These being airships, points of assembly are essentially rolling right under them at all junctures, which leads me to my lone concern here— as the Grovemaster made sure to point out, the white magic the garrison can leverage will be instrumental at shaping the battlefield and determining the flow of Valheim's penetration into the understory, funneling them into hostile terrain,"[/color] his hand shifted from a dense cluster of foliage to a collection of figures, depicted with bows, [color=c0392b]"and then into even [i]more[/i] hostile terrain. But on our way to the country, we ran afoul of a Valheimr frigate full of men who, for lack of a better term, seemed to be 'pseudo-dragoons'— utilizing devices on their backs to extend their ability to move vertically, while being commanded by a turncoat from Edren. If they're fielded, those men are going to be much more capable of navigating the branches than a conventional landing force. If their backs are spewing fire, I'd be sure to mark them as priority targets."[/color]

He leaned back, finally, and breathed in deep. All these points raised notwithstanding, he did largely agree with Izayoi. Zacharias had covered his bases well, for the lateness of his notice and solitude of his command. It wasn't perfect, nothing was— but with the scant reconnaissance afforded them by their situation, friction was going to be an inevitability, and wargaming more than one or two layers deep would lead you into tactical paralysis as the number of Possible Things That Could Go Wrong spiralled out exponentially. 

He looked around the room, at the rest of the team.

[color=c0392b]"Finally, Miina raises an important point for us as the strike team. This 'Loki' person has already proven a skilled infiltrator capable of wearing faces not their own, and pulling the wool over the eyes of even those familiar with the false identity in life. It's not terribly likely that Valheim would commit a saboteur and intelligence asset to the front of a battlefield, but in case that person lingers around to see their handiwork, we should establish a failsafe for verifying we're speaking to the real us, in case the battle splits us up once we're topside. These things are messy, it could happen. I'm thinking... maybe a passphrase." [/color]

He looked over to Esben. Not only did he clearly have prior experience in dealing with Loki before she turned, but these things were also a spy's wheelhouse. It'd be like asking Galahad to identify the different breeds of dragon around Midgar— Rudi absolutely knew a few, but why waste the presence of an expert?

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[*][sub]1. Oh, he's [i]really[/i] annoyed about that. I forgot this kid was like this, one more push and he'd have started grilling Zacharias over how exactly some pacifist pulls out the exact same plan the "Edreni War Machine" he hates so much could divine from reading the map for a minute and a half. I say do it: ask the uncomfortable question, call him out on it, have this guy tell the class why his hatred of the Edren-Osprey conflict is rooted in thinking both sides just didn't do War good enough. Bring up the Clausewitz guy you keep mentioning![/sub]
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