Officer Meeting [IC]

Klein enters his office and walks to his desk, standing beside it as the officers filter into the room. His hands were clasped behind his back, and as soon as the last officer enters the room, the door closes of its own accord.

"Now then, Lady and Gentlemen," he begins to all of them. "This is our last chance to go over strategic details of the operation, such as which squads will be assigned to what duties, and how we will best utilize our assets." The squad roster appears again, on the wall behind Klein's desk.

Basya - Sparks - Fox - Drake - Chan -- Primary Combat Team
Whitesword - Talisman - Wisp - Sparky - Lightning -- Support Team
Chostsky - Psycho - Wraith - Blade -- Deep Strike Team
Wolfy - Eagle Eye - Lurk -- Sniper Team

Unassigned: Clay (Gunnery Sgt.), Medcat (Lance Corp. Medic), Celtic (PFC Medic)

Underneath that, the support assets appear.

Virgil -- Insertion, Extraction, Gunship Support
Mil Mi-8 -- Insertion, Extraction, Emergency EVAC

Clearing his throat, Klein continues. "The battle plan, as I see it, would be to bring the team to the drop-off point with the Virgil and then get her out of dodge until the team reaches the base." A tactical overlay map appears, showing several rings around the base. "The Chinese troops will be expected to have patrols in the area, though recon has not spotted any yet." The team's LZ splits into three arrows, advancing in a claw formation forward. "Our best bet to get inside the base would be hard entry at the front gates, but you may be able to find a better way about it on the field."

It should be noted that the base itself was walled in, and had the main building at the back wall, with several smaller buildings placed nearby- likely living quarters, as well as one building that appeared to be a garage.

"Once inside, your first objective will be to eliminate the SAMs. B.E was more concerned with ground defenses than air, so with them bypassed you shouldn't have much trouble taking down the SAMs by whatever means are available. Once they are down, Virgil can come bring some pain." He looks to Wolf for a moment. "Your team, I will add, will be stationed on the Virgil to provide support as the team moves into the base. Unless you have objections," he notes, before going on. A second map appears over the first, showing the interior of the base proper- it was multi-leveled, and with a fair number of corridors and rooms shooting off from the main passage, a continually descending shaft at a sharp angle. The base was probably less than a kilometer deep.

"Our secondary objective, should you decide to pursue it, will of course be located at the bottom of the main structure, in the primary database. The other floors leading down may be garrisoned or have hostages present, so I would recommend clearing each floor on your way down- try not to leave too big a footprint on the B.E's castle, or they might suspect us of the data removal." He remains silent after this, waiting for input from the officers.

Sparks paced methodically to Klein's office, the ever-present limp in his stride showing even more. His knee was acting up in response to the pre-combat adrenaline rush, and he was taking measures to lessen the strain. Once he was on the field, the limp would all-but disappear, no matter how much pain it was giving him. He compensated for the pain only when nobody else was relying on him.

Giving a formal salute to each of his superior officers, Sparks stood at ease towards the side and listened to the colonel's briefing. Throughout the entirety of the short battle plan, Sparks was formulating tactics and strategic maneuvers in his head, playing them out and trying to decide ideal plan. He was a little disappointed that the intel was minimal, and that the colonel had no real battle plan.

Once the colonel finished speaking, Sparks waited patiently and respectfully for a few minutes, then cleared his throat. "Sirs, ma'am, if I may speak freely, I believe I have a good idea of our course of action, seeing as how nobody else has spoken up," he looked each of the superior officers in the eye, swallowing his pride as he realised many were much younger than he was. "I propose that we have a forward team, possibly the one I am in underneath Lieutenant Basya, that serves as on-field recon and covert action. This forward team would be much more practical than sending the entire contingent in right away, as five men can hide themselves more easily than twenty. The advance team could provide us with exact positions of the SAM sites, defense points, and the number of troops we're up against. They could also provide an alternate access point, and attempt to destroy the power for the base." He paused, pointing to the generator that was inside the main building.

"Of course, we wouldn't have to turn out the lights on these guys, but it would give us a severe tactical advantage, if the infantry teams are provided with night-vision, and our snipers are provided with thermal scopes," Sparks nodded toward the young Staff Sergeant, but looked away before continuing. "If we cut the power, we will have to secure the main hard drive for this complex, which won't be too difficult. If the advance team forgoes cutting the power, then they would start the main assault by covert means, waiting for the rest of the troops. Each of our infantry teams would be dropped in cover as close as possible to each main defensive point, then strike simultaneously. This would significantly decrease the chances of casualties, seeing as how all of us will remain undetected until we attack the biggest threats." He smiled weakly, realising he had spoken too much, but still held his ground.

Rikard had filed in behind the Sergeant Sparks, noticing the slight limp in the man's gait. He wondered what incident had caused the limp, but opted not to ask. He didn't want to risk tearing open old wounds. He just hoped that it wouldn't be a liability on the field. Rikard Saluted the Colonel and the rest of the officer's before leaning lazily against the wall close to the door, careful not to get in anybodies way.

He listened to the Colonel's speech and battle plan, making mental notes of each. Afterwards, he waited for one of the other Sergeants to speak up before he added his own piece to the game. This Sergeants was, of course, Sparks. He listened to his recommendations of the forward team. Rikard nodded at the wisdom of this idea and continued to listen to the rest of Sparks plan. Afterward, Sergeant Rikard spoke up in order to add on to Sparks plan.

"I like the Idea of the forward team, Sparks," He said from the back of the room. "Of course, the first order of business would be the SAMs. So how about when the Forward team spots them, my team can close in and hijack them, electronically, to fire on hostiles instead of friendlies such as Virgil and Mi-8? I'll be honest, I'm not well versed in the type of SAM, or type of electronics it may have, but this would be more efficient than blowing the hell out of them. Plus, if they call for backup, they will have to walk in or risk getting shot down by their own weapons." This caused Rikard's mouth to twist into a dark grin, "Besides if that is not possible, than the remaining team can destroy them, along with the tanks it seems." He added.

"However, instead of having the Forward team open up the door, recon, and taking out the generators, perhaps spread some of it with my squad?" Rikard asked. "From what I noticed from my squad is that they all are exceptional in the various arts of electronics and hacking, except for me of course. Due to this fact, I believe my squad can slip inside the hole that the Forward team can create and take the generator off-line quietly. An explosion would pull unnecessary attention to ourselves." Rikard said.

"As for the interior of the Base, my team can insert itself inside. Perhaps if the Base has anti-personal defense systems, we can rewire them in order to fire on hostiles rather than us. Plus, with the combination of the computer whizzes in my squad, jacking the optional information in the base should be a cakewalk." Rikard finished, then tilted his head.

"Uh, I apologize if I assume too much out of my team Sir, it just seems it has the most concentrated amount of technical prowess. Wisp and Sparky both seem to be well versed in their chosen class, while Lightning herself may have a bit of Computing skills. Whitesword? I am not completely sure, but he would seem like the one with a bit of experience too." Rikard smiled and tilted his head slightly. "Seems as if I am the odd man in the group. However I will lend my support as the fist and sword of the team, Sir."

Staff Sergeant Scaddaro had walked in when called as asked, with profiles in hand even. Isabel gave a beautiful salute before she set the files down upon the table in front of Klein, then proceeded to put herself away from her higher ups as possible without putting herself up against a wall. She watched as others came in and finally discussions began. She let her lessers offer an opinion before the highers negated what could and could not be done. She obsereved and kept her opinions to herself for now. Izzy was a higher rank for a reason, she was head of a squad for a reason, not because someone thought that she had sucked something to get where she got. Scadarro had worked hard and long to get here. She had no respect here, but she would earn it again. Isabel was a hard cookie to break. Her family was military and military was the way she would stay, even in a merc position. Staff Sergeant Wolfy stood and listened.

Finally her voice, strong, sharp and clear rose out from her silence,"Sir, ma'am. Let my team take out the tank and any high points. My weapon of choice can disable the tanks, with yes, one shot. I concur one one team in particular going on in, but as for the rest we will need in a broad sweep. I say my team can be apart of that. After our initail attack we can set up where everyone else will need us most and we can pick off others. I am not gonna tell any of you how to run your squads. You all know your squads better than anyone else its why you were the choosen squad leader of each team. I'm merely saying the best way that I believe my team can get things done, and a suggestion in which would help us."


She felt back into her silence and let the others think about what she and her team could do.

Stonewall stepped forward, with Whitesword behind him as the door to the officers room closed. Stonewall glanced over to Klein and nodded slightly, shirking his chin toward the Captain behind him as the duo passed by the others in the room. Chotsky was standing beside the Staff Sergeant, Wolfy was her name, and Basya was sitting with his arms crossed besides Klein as he manipulated the holographic display. Stonewall stopped at the far end of the table and waited for the Staff Sergeant to finish speaking. The Colonel waited patiently before reaching forward and tapping a small key, a display sprang to life painting a network of long cylindrical tunnels beneath the complex. The network itself extended only to the wall, one leading to the surface nearly ten meters behind the wall, while the majority of the system fed into a ring of pill boxes, bunkers and sandbag garrisons in a two hundred meter circumference from the walls of the complex.

"Looks like we got one last little nugget before we drop in, Colonel. High-altitude surveillance, courtesy of some friends back in the ol' U-S-of-A, located this network of tunnels that fed into the main defensive perimeter of the station. Its expected that these little ratholes can give an easy way for a small number of people to defend the area. We don't know what's in the gunpits; could be machine guns, could be nothing. What we do know, however, is that there are automatic doors situated in twenty meter intervals that serve as drop doors when the defends get themselves in too much deep shit and need to bug out." He waved one finger through the display, tilting it ninety degrees and placing the complex in the middle, where the spider web of underground tunnels and bunkers resided in the farthest perimeters of the display.
"Lieutenant Whitesword here thinks he's hatched a brain-baby, and I think it's worth an ear. Take the floor, Lieutenant." Stonewall yanked on his britches before stepping back from the table and clapping his arms behind his back.


Whitesword placed one hand on the table, in that hand was a small USB stick with a big five stenciled onto the side, the logo of the United States Marine Corps was on the back. The Lieutenant gave cautious, testing glances to those in the room, first the members of his own squad before the others.
"That spy-sat surveillance paints a much grittier picture than what we were thinking an hour ago. Those pill boxes could be hell if one of them manages to catch us before we can sneak past, that's why," Whitesword clicked several buttons before another display, this time of the main complex itself, sprang to life. It was doused in a red hue, signifying its enemy domination. He drew one finger up and made a small halo around the rooftop, which quickly became a calming blue.
"I'm suggesting a hot-drop, from Virgil, of my team onto the roof of the central complex. That's the best bet where we can find system-control, and our objective. If we move in fast enough, I can get our asses out of the bird and into the stairs in minutes. Once inside, we'll knock out the computers, pull the data and close off the pillboxes so no reinforcements can get to them and stop the other teams from moving in." He pounded one fist into his hand, before nodding toward the Staff Sergeant and activating a small hilltop barely half a kilometer from the complex.
"I suggest we place our marksmen on the hill here once my team has been offloaded. Once their dropped, we'll blow the relays and get the sky clear. After that, Master Sergeant Chotsky and Lieutenant Basya can be shipped in and dropped off, we'll mop up whoever is left and get our sorry asses outta' there."

As patiently as he could, Klein listened to the strategic opinions and additions of those present. He found it a bit surprising that the lower ranked officers spoke first, but it didn't change his blank, searching expression. Once he finally got his input from Stonewall and his crew, he clears his throat and stands up, addressing the group as a whole.

"First and foremost, I would like to make something clear to all of you; this may be a real operation, but it is the first this crew is going into as a team. I have plenty of higher ranked officers to see everyone through it alive, but I'm not going to throw anyone into a very dangerous mission on their first run. This is training, for you and your men as a team." He looks around at the officers. "That said, I'm not going to shoot down a valid strategy if it improves our chances of survival, but I don't want any one team taking the glory over the rest."

Walking slowly towards his wall of armaments, he continues. "As I said before, the land defenses of the base are comprised of fixed bunkers, primarily bearing both HMGs and 40mm cannons. The Chinese have enough of a presence to fully garrison the base, if needed, but if you move in unnoticed, that won't be an issue." He turns to look at Whitesword. "As such, I would not recommend your hot-drop, on both the grounds of surprise and in allowing the full force of the team to be put to use. As for the power situation at the base, what we're up against isn't so easy as cutting external power, or disabling it from inside." He gestures back to the display. "External power supplies are drawn from the nearest civilian station, some couple hundred miles through the forest south. B.E hasn't told us whether or not they ordered the power cut or not, but it doesn't matter- the base is fully powered from a generator on the bottom floor- the same that powers their database." He turns and points to a section of the bottom of the base, which showed the few rooms present- two in particular being larger than the others, presumed to be the generators and the computer database. "Power, however, is not going to be a high order objective for you. The base defenses are not very high-tech. The SAMs are directed by way of internal controls, in one of the buildings or perhaps vehicles in the base, and the ground defenses are manually controlled on each gun. As such, surprising the enemy will be much more viable than making a quick entry and simply getting the information."

"I agree with Sergeant Sparks in that Basya's fireteam should take the center, and move up ahead of the other two teams. The hill, I think, would be a poor vantage point for sniping- the trees in this area would be enough of an obstacle without taking the walls into account, and we're not cleared for Anti-Armor ammunition for the snipers." Klein points to one of the tunnels revealed by Whitesword's data. "As far as I'm concerned, our best battle plan is thus: Make a covert approach to the base, enter via the bunkers and if possible, get into the base proper by way of the tunnel system. With that done, the SAMs can be taken offline, either destroyed or captured, and the tanks dealt with by ground forces with support from Virgil. Once the exterior of the base is cleaned out, all teams can rendezvous at the entrance of the main installation and penetrate what defenses are arrayed inside."

With that speech completed, Klein returns to his position behind his desk, looking over the officers scrutinously. "As I mentioned, this mission is full of real threats and live munitions, but it's a crucial operation for knowing what your teams are capable of in the field, and as such they need to work completely in concert with one another." He sighs a bit, clearing the data on the wall. "If there are any more objections, then you can bring them up with Colonel Stonewall, and he can relay them to me- for now, we have a squad of soldiers rearing to get into the fight, and I do not want to keep them waiting any longer than necessary."