[D7 EM] Breaking Down Game Film (Briefing Room)

[Klaus von Zinzer]

There were no briefings planned today, and even if they were few would be in the room so soon. Which is what Klaus was counting on.

Screens were filled with maps, mech footage playing as Klaus parsed how the last two simultaneous battles had gone. And increasingly he made marks on the maps up ahead

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

The door opens and a head of red hair peeks into the room. Catherine quickly scans the room and smiles when she finds the person she had been told would be in here.

Quietly slipping into the room with ease, she closes the door behind her with a click. Approaching Klaus with book in hand, the small Machwarrior notices the battle footage playing on the screens and she ends up stopping to watch the action.

It's still as captivating as it has always been for her, but nothing compared to really being out there in a Battlemech.

[Klaus von Zinzer]

Klaus becomes vaguely aware of movement on his blind side and tenses turning around.

"Who's there!" He slumps back into his seat at the sight of a familiar redhead. "lieutenant Hayes. I was not expecting you. Is everything alright?"

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

The little lieutenant tears her gaze away from the action on the screen and turns towards the Strategist to greet him with a quick salute.

"Ah! Good Morning! Nothing is wrong." The small Mechwarrior answers and whips out the book pinned underneath one arm to hold it out towards him.

SLDF Battlemech Divisions - Organisation, Logistics and Strategies, Vol 1.

"The Major has tasked me to learn Strategy. I was hoping you could help me with that. Also heard that you have a Field Relay I might borrow for our recon work tomorrow."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

Klaus blinks. "Of course. To both." He waves a hand. "I acquired it so that pilots such as yourself could make good use if it."

He motions to an empty seat. "But... do you wish to learn about strategy? Or tactics? The books says one, but most mech warriors focus on the latter"

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"That'd be great." Catherine cheers up at that. "I'll just need it until tomorrow afternoon or so. I'll set out early."

She hops over and into the indicated seat, putting the book into her lap. "Not much tactics in this book. I skimmed through it. It's about structures, supply chains, subdividing armies, area control and other fancy stuff I am now learning. I know my tactics, but to be a good officer I need to know strategy too."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

Klaus looks over the girl. No, girl was wrong, this was a woman, trained and advanced into the officer corps. It was different in the Obsidian Angels, but where he had been trained the line between enlisted and officer was a great divide. That Cat had been promoted to that rank was significant.

"Alright. I'll start from the beginning" Klaus clears his throat. "What, in your mind, is the objective of the Obsidian Angels? I don't mean in this contract, I mean overall? What do we do all of this for?"

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"Survival." Is her near instant reply. "Cohesion. Stable income. Good reputation. Strength. Extra bonus income."

Catherine ponders the matter for a moment longer and shrugs. "In about that order."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"That's actually pretty close to what I would say." Klaus smiles and nods. "It seems you have a general grasp on the idea. Without dumbing down the concept too much, strategy is deciding what we want, and what we are or are not willing to give up in return."

Klaus begins to tick off on his fingerd

"How many people do we have not survive to consider an operation a failure? Does the income we receive counteract our losses and help us grow? How much of those losses or lack of income do we put up with to aid our reputation, which keeps getting us jobs. All are counterbalanced"

Klaus motions to the map. "The AFFC wants to hold the planet for the mineral rights. To this end, they've picked military force. The merits of that...it's not our concern. But the upshot is that they want to lose"

He types on his noteputer, the words coming onto the screen

" Infrastructure intact. You can't continue to work the planet if everything gets ripped apart."

" No political or political force able to remove them from the planet. They want to be hold the planet to get something out of it. "

" Losses of resources must be justifiable to their gains. Basically, they can't lose the men, equipment, money and will that will make them lose their position. This is a big one, because it's why they hired a bunch of plucky mercenaries. "

"Does that make sense so far? "

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

Hands on her knees, Catherine leans in close to listen. Her eyes flicker over the screen, as he types.

"Hm. It makes sense to me. For just a bunch of money, they can mostly ignore having to deal with the scenario here on Akos. And the salvage contract lets them benefit from our success as well, getting them that money back and then some."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

Klaus bobs his head in agreement. "There's a whole other issue of how much money you are willing to throw at mercenaries, and if you are going to get your money's worth, but that is what the ratings bureau is for. They don't particularly care how much we bleed, so long as we get the job done. Which brings us to our own objectives"

Klaus begins to type again in another column.

"Hold out for the length of the contract. If we do not survive the entire time we don't get paid, and find ourselves at a loss."

"Satisfy the AFFC so that they provide more work in the near future. Even if we carry out the letter of the contract, an unhappy customer means less business going forward.

"Be able to restore adequate strength levels within six months. That's close to scraping the bottom of the barrel. Voelker would likely want to be able to go directly to the next assignment at roughly our equal strength. But that's our bare minimum success level in all categories."

"So." Klaus looks back at Cat. "Why do you think I have advocated for the targets that I have so far? First, the communications outpost, and then for a joint strike on Budai and the barracks."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

Catherine nods as his words appear on the screen.

"Hold out. Succeed. Recover and get stronger." She whispers under her breath.

The question he poses is a tricky one. Especially since she is new to this whole thing. "I am honestly not sure about the communications outpost, other than trying to get a feel for our opponent and maybe shaking some rust off, after our months long trip here." The young redhead shrugs her shoulders. "The joint strike was to appease our employer. We had to pick up the pace after showing less effect than they wanted from us. We have after all been hired to tie up the militia here and we weren't exactly doing that."

"Now the militia is slowly starting to take us seriously." She goes on to add. "But we took heavy losses and have to build up our Strength again."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"Well, to be sure, some of that was uncertainty. We had not even performed reconnaissance yet and we were deciding where to strike. This isn't a game of chess. It's closer to playing chess in the dark, with an uneven number of pieces and those pieces can choose to disobey orders if they think it's suicide."

"Part of the decision to attack the communications was rust and part was caution. In retrospect, going after the salvage yard might have been more profitable" Klaus admits. "But see this"

He brings up the reports of empty patrols, and battlefield logs from the first moment the Angels were fired upon.

"The enemy does not see us as a threat. Or, if they do, their response to us is still sluggish. We were badly mauled, but that was attacking two hard sites at the same time in order, and in exchange we hold the southern part of the continent. In the short term, it harms the goal to make us look better, but it's going to be obvious as we continue. In the meantime, we should take lighter losses as we continue through Central Akos. At least...that's the plan. "

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

Catherine nods to most of the points. She would have gone after the repair site too, if not for the delicious promise of Budai's Gauss Rifles.

"In the end the salvage yard is the one target we did not end up attacking." She mentions.

She looks at the patrol reports. Huh, nobody else found anything. Not too surprising though. The dropsite was chosen precisely for its hidden and remote nature after all.

"I know why the all out assault was done and I agree with the decision, but we are in bad shape right now. I have been to the Hangars and looked at our mechs. There is a lot of damage and many repairs are needed. We outright lost two Battlemechs even. A heavy price for trying to catch up after our slow start. I hope our employer is happier now at least. I haven't had a chance to look at our new targets yet, but if there is anything like a normally defended repair site on the list, I would like to go after it first."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"It's not a bad option." Klaus concedes. "To be honest, I would say that our first priority is obtaining more salvage to keep rebuilding. Second is establishing some kind of forward operating location. A very close third is pleasing our patrons."

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

At the mention of a forward operating location Catherine studies the map on the screen more closely.

"That looks like travel times will become a bit long. A safe location to move in closer makes sense." She wouldn't have noticed that so soon, if not for the remark. Well, she would have definitely noticed it on her first recon trip.

"I can see the sense in this reasoning." The little lieutenant nods. "Some good salvage is sorely needed. Or rather, a lot is."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"Other sites might take priority. The other lesson I was taught was this:"

Klaus clears his throat. "War is but an instrument of politics. A commander who triumphs on the battlefield but disdains the politics has won the war only to lose the peace. "

" Now, that means a hot load of dung to those who are bleeding on the field that their enemy "lost the peace". But it means something to those left behind who wonder what is was for. We do this to gain something, and unfortunately just winning on the field is never enough"

[Catherine Maia Hayes]

"Hm. We are mercenaries though, so the aspect of wider politics or peace is less relevant to us. We are hired to help out in this war, get paid, take our cut of the salvage. Our reputation then reflects somewhat how well we did at our contract and we are later hired based on that. Same or different employer. Sometimes even the other side, but that could all too easily turn into a big mess, so it is a last resort."

"But it is a good reason to be reasonably professional when we are out there fighting."