Rhona W

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

No worries, I'll probably get another one up by Sunday evening my time. By the way, Ventus, if you're going to join in you probably should. Otherwise I'll count you as out.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Post is up. I'm going to split the debriefing/briefing into two parts. I'll let everyone react to this bit and ask questions, make comments, etc, before I launch into the briefing for our next mission. I won't wait too long to move things on though, so if you don't have anything to say immediately, that's fine too.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Silverwind made his way straight to the infirmary as soon as he'd disembarked his GEAR. People had been wounded, and worse, killed during the mission, and all under his command. He was relieved to check in on Esailia and see her quietly sleeping, and after a brief conversation with an attendant nurse, informed that more news was forthcoming. Kuraiko was already discharged, his injuries apparently far less severe. But for Myrina and Arcade, there was no chance of healing, no recovery, and no sleep to get over it. He stepped into the annexe to the Medical bay, a quiet and sterile room. Laid on metal beds with white blankets over them up to their shoulders, his pilots looked almost serene, their eyes closed and features at rest. Beside them, small trays laid out trinkets and personal items. He stifled a noise of anger and remorse, before stepping into the room. Quietly, solemnly, he leaned over the pair, one by one, and whispered quiet goodbyes, thanks, and praise into their ears for all they'd done while serving with Roughriders. He promised to remember them, and add their names to the units' roster, before laying a hand briefly on both of their foreheads, and touching his nose to them both, before standing back. The other arrangements would be taken care of according to the wills they'd left; families may want the bodies back, for burial or cremation as was their own tradition. For the squadron, there'd be their own ways of mourning and regret. A short while later, he had changed and showered, and stepped onto the bridge, a mug of tea in hand. The first officer saw him, and nodded to the open door out onto the bridge wing. Stepping outside, he found Captain Garrett standing with a mug in her own hand, resting one hand on the railing around the platform and looking down on the remains of the work being carried out below. "Captain," he said, announcing himself. She turned around and nodded to him. "Blade, how are you?" she asked quietly. "The mission... it wasn't an easy one," she said, searching his face. He sighed, and moved to stand next to her. "Not easy, no," he replied, lifting his own mug and taking a slow sip as he ran over events. "It went wrong before we went in the mine. The enemy, they didn't know we were coming, but we weren't prepared for their firepower, or their organization. Someone had been supplying them, and it wasn't what we were ready for. And... my tactics were flawed. I should have kept the team together, and waited for reinforcements, or to re-arm our GEARs before penetrating the mine. We should have approached the irrigation facility with more caution too-" She cut him off with a decisive chop of her hand. "You said yourself, the enemy were better prepared than you expected. How could you have known?" "It's not a case of knowing though," he replied. "It's a case of drawing on my experience, and utilising our assets better. I lead them into a bad situation, and that's going to be in their minds from now on. We lost people on our first mission - and that's after we had all those transfers out after the training exercise too. Our numbers got cut down already, and that's with two more people down. Not to mention Sprinstream and Aihara injured too". He shook his head ruefully, ears flattened and tail hanging limp. "The brass were trying to shut us down - kind of makes me think they might have been right to, with this disaster as our first mission." Garrett glanced at him with alarm, before softening her expression as she replied. "Well, don't write it all off yet, Blade. I know it didn't go well this time out, but you were kind of rushed into things. Despite the training you had, we've been under-supported and under-staffed the whole time. And the odds were against you the whole way too. But to lighten things up, the prisoners and the recovered hostages had a lot to say - I've sent the intel over to your PADD. Should be enough on there to get us headed in the right direction to rescue the rest of them... you won't believe who they are, either. I think this might be something pretty big we've stumbled onto". Blade raised an eyebrow, but Garrett changed the subject, as they lapsed into small talk and dissection of the mission and the performance of the other squad members. A while later, Blade had read the intel reports and was astounded by the information. He agreed entirely with Garrett: This was something much more in-depth than they had expected. But for now, the debrief was the first thing to handle. Stepping out of his office/cabin and into the main hall, he spoke up and called the others attention to him. "Listen up! It's time we went through the debriefing. There's a lot to cover, so we'd better get started." He waited for everyone to settle down, before he began. "I know this was our first true mission out," he began, after taking a seat himself, and looking at all of them. "And we're still pretty inexperienced in working in a group, too. We also had enemies who were better equipped than the average bandit, and a lot of unexpected factors involve in this sortie. The enemy were more numerous and better armed and armoured than the average bandit group. This threw off our strategy, and the complication of hostages and the terrain didn't help either. We also suffered casualties in the mission," he paused for a moment, allowing everyone to reflect on the loss of Myrina and Arcade, before he continued. "Despite all of this, you all showed excellent skill and proficiency on the battlefield. Everyone pulled through and showed their skills. There were no hesitations in following orders received, and carrying them out to the utmost of your abilities. Although," he said, nodding toward the fireteam, "I think we need to work on integrating the infantry team better with the GEARs and their systems, and Ken's helo too. There were a few situations we could've avoided by better utilization of our equipment and forces; I shoulder most of the blame for that myself. I should've waited for reinforcements, or for all of the team to assemble at the mine before pushing us forward. We came out with damage because of it, even if we did come out of the situation on top. If the enemy had been better prepared, I could've lead us into a much worse situation. "Our GEARs are under repair and refit right now. Nothing too big or bad has, fortunately, been done, and the tech crews are straightening it all out - lucky we also pulled out some good salvage, which will help with our own repairs too. They tell me about twenty-four hours for everything back up to shape. Which brings me onto the next bit of info... we have another mission. And you're not gonna believe what it is..."

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

yeah, that GM is brutal silver! :P

*punches self in face* Post damn you! I'll get one up tomorrow.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

Hmm, I should really get a post up

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

Scott watched the battle unfold through both his own eyes, and the radar coverage as the squadron went to work. Already he was impressed; despite the completely unexpected attack and their being thrown together in the heat of battle, the pilots were showing their skills and those of their machines as they swung into action. Already Charnel and Stalin had chopped a bloody trail through the skies. The big Sukhoi and the rapier-like swing-wing Tornado ADV swiftly cut through the air in a haze of contrails and missile smoke. Two of the helicopters, the sleek little KA's, were cut down by bursts of gunfire from the Sukhoi, before it scythed away to lead off the pair of diving MiG's, leading them off on a merry chase. He heard the chatter as Stalin co-ordinated with Charnel in taking on the twin-finned, shark-nosed MiG-35's and tore his eyes away reluctantly as the Tornado powered up, using its' big twin engines and impressive interceptor speed to match up with the attacking bandits. He turned his eye instead to the approaching invasion fleet, and the rapidly growing dot of Kat's warthog as it thundered in on a well-executed attack run. She slowed and peeled up slightly as he watched, bombs separating cleanly from the underside of the straight-winged A-10 and their submunitions spraying in a neat pattern along one of the hovercraft, which brewed up into a firestorm moments later. The rubber skirt around its' hull pierced and shredded, the front corner of the machine dug into the waves, and spun it sideways, dragging it partially submerged and sinking moments later. The second hovercraft in the pattern was caught mostly at the bows, the pattern of bomblets slightly wide. Most still hit, and much of the cargo on deck was blasted apart or incinerated, and a fire broke out. However, the craft itself was still afloat, if rendered useless for the invasion; with the fire, if it wasn't controlled it may not survive. The 20mm fire from the gunpods only added to the carnage, shredding the control cabin of the already stricken hovercraft, it going off course moments later. Tracer fire from mounted machine-guns licked up at the Warthog, but even as slow as the attack jet was, by comparison it was still fast enough that manually-aimed heavy machine-guns were too slow to track it effectively. The red lines criss-crossed the skies, trying to hunt down the nimble straight-winged jet, but to no avail as he watched the Mavericks leap from rails under the wings and cross space to the swimming APC's, blasting two of them apart. Scott felt a momentary pang of regret for the soldiers he assumed were caught inside, but it flowed away quickly; after all, they had been attacked violently and without warning. "Good run, Kat. Targets destroyed with good secondaries. Heartbreak rolling in for my run, over!" The hasty outfitting of the ASF-14 had lead to Scott and St. Helen taking off with a less advanced warload than the A-10, and considerably less so than they normally toted. But firepower was still firepower. The hardpoints in the fuselage 'tunnel' between the engines carried six 500lb Mk.82 Snakeye bombs, while the wing-glove hardpoints each carried a triple ejector with two 7-tube Hydra rocket pods attached. The outmost shoulder pylons on the gloves each carried a single sidewinder, for self-defence. Like the other aircraft, the F-14 carried an internal cannon, but a lighter 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon - But Scott recalled the crew chief had declared they had a half-load of ammo, only enough for a few seconds' worth of firing. Lining the Tomcat up on a head on pass at the small flotilla, he weaved side to side as he dropped altitude, before thumbing the weapon release at St. Helen's word. Four of the Mk.82's dropped from the underside of the swing-wing jet, the tail fins springing open and guiding them down to bracket another pair of the hovercraft with precision. The 500lb bombs blasted great spouts of dirty, smoky water into the sky as they impacted and the craft turned into smoking wrecks. Kicking the twin rudders port, and the wings fully extended, the targeting crosshairs drifted onto a pair of the AAV amphibious APC's. Tracers ripped through the air around the Super-Tomcat, and St. Helen let out an involuntary gasp of momentary alarm over the intercom, before Scott squeezed the trigger for the rockets. Projectiles flashed out in a rapid whoosh-whoosh-whoosh, drawing smoky grey trails across the sky. Gouts of water blasted skyward, and hits were marked with columns of erupting smoke, before Scott heeled the Tomcat up into a climbing bank, rolling half inverted and reversing the turn as he climbed out to evade any SAMs he hadn't seen or registered. "Shit hot!" hollered St. Helen over the intercom, turning in her seat to observe the damage. "We gave 'em a bloody nose that time! That Kat girl sure knows her shit too!" Scott clicked the mike in reply as he rolled out to form up with Kat for their next pass. Below the jets, the invasion force lay in disarray. Most of the hovercraft were sunk or damaged, and the APC's had fared little better. Above them, the MiG-35's rolled to attack Stalin once again, the rearmost of the pair attempting to peel off and reverse the tail Charnel had, trying to turn the tables. The leader of the pair heard a good tone as he aligned his crosshairs with the Sukhoi, and let fly with a missile. Below, Scott rolled onto Kat's wing after climbing out. "We hit 'em hard. Only a few left. One more pass ought to finish it, but we need to watch out for those helo's. And this time they'll be waiting for us too!"

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

Es is temporarily indisposed. I'm still waiting for replies from the rest of you to do anything though. If nobody posts by Friday, I'll get another GM post up and moving things on - and if I don't have replies, then I'll be ignoring characters, or advertising on the int-check again for new players, since I'll assume you've all dropped out.

GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

one week deadline was inching in

Certainly is. I know where Esailia is, so she has an excuse. Good job on posting, Machine. Hope the rest of you get posts up within 24 hours :P

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

Cool, thanks for keeping me informed. My own posts might not be as frequent, as I'm starting work tomorrow (at last!) and won't be on during the day, and I'll probably only be on for short periods in the evening, as I'll have other things I want to do as well. I can promise that I will try and answer all questions, and keep the posts flowing too.

Thunderbolt Black (Fighter Pilot Mercenaries)

Phoenix, your character looks great. Happy to authorise them, so feel free to join in the IC. Like the others, you can start either on the ground on the island before the attack and then take off, or in the air and en route to the island to meet the others when the attack commences. Looking forward to your posts, too! Voltus, are you still with us and joining in? Haven't heard anything from you since your first couple of posts.