HeySeuss

First Contact in the Situation Room

"There's no way to stop the Swedes now, they know more than we do at this point. Exchange of information is a necessity here anyway, bottom line." In a planetary crisis, or impending one, Mike was thinking essentially of the idea that national agendas were less important, but he'd always been an internationalist. However, the political chaos leading up to consensus was a thing that he was keen to manage. They had no idea when they'd be doing more than talking to a seemingly-automated probe, but they knew it was coming. It could be a century or more, or it could be tomorrow.

"The alien agenda at this juncture is hard to gauge on the basis of that communication, but we should be prepared for any number of scenarios," He almost referenced "To Serve Man" but realized that someone would leak that and create chaos in the press. It was a controversial story right now, and in an era of heightened fear, he didn't want to add fuel to that fire.

So Mike Gerard did the smart thing and sipped his coffee in order to gain a moment to phrase a reply, rather than just respond.

The public conversation was already influenced by sci-fi reading; Mike never thought he'd be reading sci-fi books in this job, but he'd had a few revelations courtesy of reading for something besides entertainment. A couple of these novels discussed the impact of inability to communicate and how that touched off tragedies. "We will need to feel out a even a friendly contact very carefully. I think the Russians will appreciate that mindset," he added without mentioning the Yeltsin years. The dissolution of the old Soviet order gave rise to something less than promised and the Russians were wary of a game changer now, "But if I were asking questions of that probe, I'd want to know a ballpark on travel time. If the probe is sticking to technical topics, then we should query about interstellar travel times, perhaps even ask it how it got here so quickly, and how quickly the probe's information will get back to the other side."

The President nodded at Mike, but then glanced over the table and then back to Bill, his coffee untouched, "Well, this is what you get for double-dipping, Bill," he said wryly, "How do you feel about convincing the Swedes to broker this information to the Russians through us? Also, I want to suggest to our friends in Sweden that our priority is to obtain data and that we are willing to combine resources on a joint scientific task force to that effect -- we should have a sit down with Dr. Feinberg," director of the National Science Foundation, "and Bob Gordon," NASA director, "and figure out what to propose to the Swedes in terms of collaboration."

"Any thoughts on that, Bridgette? I think Bill should keep the dialogue going with Russia, but I think you might need to take a plane trip to Sweden." AJ's intent here was obvious, rapprochement between Scandinavia, close to the Baltic states and wary, and Russia, which was scared shitless like the rest of them. And, calculating it, he knew that sending a woman leader to spearhead would play over well in that region.

Resol'nare - How the Mando Boys (and Girls) Won the War [Star Wars]

@Naril has an approved character and I owe you guys a post.

Spiritum - Reborn

I misinterpreted the use of Discord. So now I'm back :)

@vietmyke Also finished the sheet for review. Let me know if there is anything I need to change.

@Hashih

Hello, we all reviewed the sheet and you're good to go.

Resol'nare - How the Mando Boys (and Girls) Won the War [Star Wars]

@Dusty@ReusableSword@vietmyke@webboysurf - First post is up.

Incidentally, as discussed, they are exfiltrating with the aforementioned boats, modified for AA work against TIE fighters and other pursuit from the air. But they made sure the guns can depress down and engage targets at lower altitude too... :)

Resol'nare - How the Mando Boys (and Girls) Won the War [Star Wars]

Odds

---

The first time Voshno ever visited Ghala, and he was stuck under a tarp. He was a Tengaran country boy all the way through.

Ghala was the jewel of Tengaru, a balmy place where vacationers from other places came to enjoy themselves. For the adventurous, there were the wild lowland jungles and higher, cooler altitudes, but always the trees and the vibrant slashes of wildflowers, in a riotous array of colors as the green was shot through with a dizzying array of shades. Bisecting this greenery were the waterways. The waters were often of crystalline purity in the lakes, which were the size of small seas, though muddier in the jungles themselves. Further up from the equator, the soil turned to clay and the land was still crossed with rivers, estuaries and lakes, where it was more tall grass, rather than lush rainforest.

As a result, Tengaru did not bother with building roads, except in towns and cities. The transport system used what already was there, all that water. That was their highway system.

In better times, Ghala would have beings sipping all sorts of drinks on sidewalks and enjoying the balmy pace of life. But they resisted their occupation strongly and the Empire responded with increasingly harsh measures to protest, which turned into insurgency and moved from the University centers out to the countryside where the farmers and the fishermen became the backbone of the fighting.

But Ghala still had its guerrilla cells, and these were active in the last few days at the behest of an Alliance Intelligence controller that made patient contact with the local organization, not terribly impressed with the conduct of the 43rd Alliance Regiment's lack of urgency about actually fighting the war.

She said the magic words: Iron Masks.

The city-fighters of Ghala were experienced and wary, and had been cadre'd by experienced Tengaran gendarmes and criminals that knew their city. They were able to procure the required equipment and promise their support. Snipers, surveillance, explosives and streetfighters. But they were not the ones that would break into the Sultana's manor.

Teams of guerrillas would hit the position with explosives and high volume heavy blaster fire. The assault would be timed with a volume of fire against Imperial positions and a purloined Imperial vehicle, outfitted as a ram with explosives to crash the compound, which lay by the water. If they could breach, they would. And they would support the rescue team as much as possible. But they expected to be stopped cold, because they were hitting a company of Imperial Storm Troopers.

The real assault element was the rescue team was hidden under a tarp in the bed of an ostensibly civilian vehicle, the sort of speeder truck that saw less use outside of Tengaru's cities than on most planets, but were still commonplace. Five beings in armor with the t-shaped visors, one Twi'lek in a uniform for a food delivery service, making for the delivery dock near the kitchens. Theoretically, they'd get checked if they made it all the way there, but that wasn't the point here.

Voshno did not like jetpacks, but the truth was that no one expected guerrillas to just jump the fence. It was not in Rebel doctrine to use jet packs. And even Resol Squad rarely used them in their months as a lowland jungle raiding unit that inflicted casualties, kidnapped officers and stole equipment, out in the hinterlands, but never really got to use the jetpacks in combat. Surprise doom for the Imperials.

That wasn't the original plan, but Hadaj had to improvise. When the SpecForces task force en route was intercepted by the Empire in a bad luck situation, she found the answer to her 'specialized strike troop' problem, after realizing that Jest wouldn't merely mind losing them, he'd welcome it. And unlike Colonel Jest, when Old Man Resol told her the best way in was with jetpacks, she took the grizzled bounty hunter and mercenary's advice to heart.

The asset inside, GRIEVOUS, had a small group of dedicated infiltrators, locals with well-hidden loyalty to the Sultana, ready to get her into a safe room when they got the signal. That would give them time to prevent an execution and give them the window they needed to clear a way to her. These were palace staff, they would not last long in a fight and these people knew their odds. Without their supreme bravery, there would be no op.

Hadaj had a good plan, that was what Old Man Resol said to his boys. Those people inside were giving their lives, more than likely, to get their ruler to that safe room. Make it count.

Voshno had some residual loyalties to Tengaru and the Rebel Alliance, but he was a Mando Boy now. He knew what this war felt like from the day he found his family's farm done in, he and Grin. His brother died in his arms, a burned out hole in his chest. He was not usually the one that had the battle lust out of the squad, but the anticipation had him shivering a bit in his armor as he waited for the word. The speeder truck glided over the cobblestones of the street, its occupants keeping all suit systems turned down as much as possible so as to not be picked up on a scan. Still, they had macros set in the microcomps they all ran that would bring it all to life with the signal, slaved to Resol's signal.

When the signal chirped, the fire started. Moments later, the tarp was ripped off the truck and the Mandos launched themselves over the fence, coming down with blaster fire and already charging across as the guerrillas soaked up the casualties of engaging the white jobs. All around, there was a world of fire, but that was the world Mando'ade inhabited.

Old Man Resol, who should have been slowing down, showed none of that as he sprinted ahead while others covered, and then covered them as they moved through a sculpted garden with high hedges and stone benches, and into the kitchens of the Manor. Long months of conditioning the Mando way, with assault courses and killhouses, raid after raid after that, sharpened them to the point where even the Barabel moved nearly as fluidly as the Nautolan, as they covered angles. But they generally held fire, because the point wasn't to seek out Imperials to kill, however much as they might want it. They only engaged the ones that spotted them, staying on the move.

That didn't mean a stormtrooper or two didn't get in the way, but they were mowed down with volume of fire. There were Tengaran Royal Guard, but that corps had been purged of loyalists. The ones that got in the way were subject to the same treatment by the insurgents out there, some of whom were former members of that corps as well -- they'd briefed the snipers well on how to identify the officers, which added to the confusion as beings screamed out. The smuggled-in firepower, repeating blasters, E-webs and other, allowed the guerrillas that few minutes or so of superior firepower before the Imperials could mobilize true fire support.

Those guerrillas also knew their odds. They were engaging the Imperials in a stand up fight in Ghala, something they avoided for a long time, because they reckoned the prize worth it. They were buying Resol a way in and would pay the price; time favored the Empire.

Resol Squad had nav waypoints to work off of that would show them primary, alternate and tertiary routes to the safe room. They could hear the blaster fire and grenades echoing in the jasper-veined stone corridors of the Sultana's residence, and that was where they were headed. The staff not in on the caper took one look at the armored forms of Mandalorian warriors and didn't stop to think, "How did that happen?" but instead opted for the instinctive response. Confronted by armored, heavily armed warriors, they got out of the kriffing way.

Resol'nare - How the Mando Boys (and Girls) Won the War [Star Wars]

@HeySeuss I'm not going to hold you up, so I'll pull out before you pick any steam up; best if luck with this though, and I'll certainly keep an eye on it.

@Jbcool

Thanks, much appreciated.

Resol'nare - How the Mando Boys (and Girls) Won the War [Star Wars]

Got room for another? I can try and drop a character in the next 24 hours, easy.

@webboysurf

Awesome, go for it!

Resol'nare - How the Mando Boys (and Girls) Won the War [Star Wars]

@Dusty@ReusableSword@vietmyke Gonna roll this weekend.

@jbcool In or out, my friend?

Spiritum - Reborn

Sorry, I might have to withdraw at this point :( I might drag the pace because of major the timezone difference.

@Hashih

I don't know about that. We aren't necessarily the fastest posters, going by the last time.

If you need clarification on a point, you can always contact us by Discord. HeySeuss #6650.

Battletech: Anabasis

(for the sake of brevity, assuming all enemies disabled by now-NPC members of the lance.)

As the smoke and fire cleared, it appeared that Rat Lance had the advantage, with most enemies down through the efforts of the lance. The Thunderbolt pilot did the math. There was a series of small explosions at the cockpit as the head's cockpit hatch blew off its hinges and the chair went up in the air on a jet. A parachute deployed once the thing got altitude.

That's when the comms came in from 1-5, "Contacts bearing northeast of the position, three fast moving contacts at 20-40 tons each."

"1-6 here, pull back the vehicles and bring down fire on them, over. Fight's not over," Hart intoned grimly, "Let's see if we can't keep this at range."

A quick glance over lance status info on one of the cockpit displays confirmed some of what the Captain knew. His group took a beating trying to fight that beast of a TDR. It looked like they were generally alright, but that the pirate had a roving patrol that they called in when there was trouble.

Mattlov checked his own status. He had a right torso that was pretty well mangled from the ammo explosion and scrapes along the armor, but otherwise, fundamentally sound. The Shadow Hawk ran fairly cool, except that the laser spiked the heat when used and needed to be nursed along. He checked for good terrain where he could set himself with that left torso exposed but the right shielded, to take some of the incoming fire, but could find little in the basin where they'd had their fight with the Thunderbolt.

There was comm chatter on the support tac net as the vehicles coordinated a withdrawal and the spotter, heretofore quiet and out of the fight, started to coordinate the fire patterns. The Arrow VI and artillery rounds screamed overhead in their trajectory toward the oncoming enemy, looking to catch them on the advance. Midway in the trajectory, the projectiles broke up and pieces scattered on the approach, along with the notification from the spotter, "Rat Lance, sending telemetry on the location of the mines, avoid those at all costs. We're switching to conventional rounds."

"Dropship is powering up," Hart added, "But we have a window to disable it if we can handle this engagement quickly." And then they'd get answers.