Pick a Target Discussion (D1 EE Event Headquarters and Briefing Room)

[Yori Hakamada]

Snip

Yori takes a bite, nods her thanks and then pulls out her knife and fork to eat the cookie.

[Ezmeralda]

"Could be worse. A DCMS officer would have lost his nut over that," she shook her head, "So yeah, I'm for gratuitous raiding to start this theatre up."

[Richard Winter]

...

Richard arrived at the meeting. He was wearing the Angels uniform and a fancy red scarf that looked handmade. He gave a quick salute of welcome, looked around and joined Mei. He saw the plate of cookies and a bad foreboding rose in him.

"Uhhhm, did you make these?" he asked Mei cautiously.

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"It'd please the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth too, but that Garrison is a bigger target." Kurt chimes in, strolling over to where conversation was taking place.

"I'm Hauptmann Guttenberg. Kurt Guttenberg. I represent your employer and I can confidently say that neutralising that garrison would be a major boon to you and us. Nothing else will send as large a shock through the Akos Militia. It's also very achievable for a unit as large as this one."

He scans the trio of mechwarriors before letting out a sigh. None of them looked to be noble born. "Not that you'll necessarily listen to that. You are mercenaries after all. I should probably mention it is bound to have a good amount of salvage. Half the salvage value of every defender you neutralise goes into your unit's coffers. Or the equipment itself, if you can get it running again."

"Cough, Cough, cough" Klaus does his best to make the sound polite, and he offers a salute of his own, with a snap and polish that hints at years of needing to match to the standards of Lyran Commanders. "Greetings Hauptmann Guttenburg. Is the AFFC prepared to reinforce us at this time, were we to commit to the barracks? Because upon doing so, our position will be given away, and the continental militia will know the extent of our capabilities."

Klaus' tone is dry, and he suspects an answer. Bleeding a mercenary force on a hard target so our own aren't tied down is an ages old practice. I can't let it bother me.

"I ask, because I do not know the risk of waiting until we sever their communications first. If we can take their garrison head on, why not prevent them from reinforcing, and then pick them apart at our leisure?"

[John Slaktare]

Taking another bite of the cookie, and lazily watching the proceedings, he looks from Zinzer to Guttenberg.

[GM Yuusha]

"Guten Tag." He waited a moment after returning the salute for Klaus to introduce himself. It was not forthcoming. His disappointment would have been immeasurable. If he cared.

"Your force has the strength of nearly two battalions and the garrison at the site is likely one or two companies, but you need reinforcements? Wait, you're also saying that you cannot approach an isolated barracks in such a way that it doesn't give away your location? I see. I will have to inform my superiors of your lacking capabilities."

He gives Klaus a disgusted look. "Strictly speaking you can hit whichever target you like, as you have free operational reign. However, we won't be rewarding cowardice when your contract term ends. Future employment with us will be doubtful if you cannot handle a highly advantageous battle." Kurt gives a vague wave in Klaus' direction. "Whoever you are."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"I am First Lieutenant Klaus von Zinzer, formerly of the AFFC. I must say that your tactical acumen is a marvel, and it and your valor live up to the legacy of the Lyran Commonwealth." Klaus finishes the salute and returns at ease, breezily ignoring the man's contempt. It was nothing new.

"But I do not believe I heard an answer as to why we cannot isolate the Garrison before we engage it. Now, we certainly can engage directly, and we certainly would like to keep our customers happy. However, and please correct me if I am wrong here: we were hired to keep the continent occupied while the main body of your forces digs through the hardened opposition. Not to assault a garrison. You would be horribly overpaying us to attack a single base. I'm here to help win you a war.


There is complete confidence in that tone. "Please speak with the accountants if you like lesser service. They are not inclined to issue refunds"

Klaus pauses for a beat of laughter he doubts is coming. "Now, there is truth that a blitzkrieg could shock and demoralize the enemy with a rapid defeat in detail. And if that makes the most strategic sense, I will happily back such a plan. But a sudden loss of contact with this part of the continent? That leaves a critical delay in information transfer in which we can attack the barracks, all while the milita command has no idea what is going on. It places a command that we believe to be inexperienced under stress, which leads to mistakes we exploit."

Klaus offers a shark's smile. "So that we may more thoroughly butcher them for you Hauptmann Guttenburg. "

[GM Yuusha]

There was no laughter. Kurt simply stared unkindly at Klaus. "Hmpf. We'll see what you do now and after. I'll reserve final judgment until then, but this conference is a farce. At least they have you, formerly of the AFFC, to provide your insights."

He looked repulsed by Klaus' final wording.

"We're retaking this world First Lieutenant. We're not here to butcher the locals. Getting them to surrender is the surest way to victory. You do that by chopping off the head."

With a deep intake of breath he holds up a hand. "Spare me your further thoughts. We can agree to disagree."

[Klaus von Zinzer]

Klaus pauses, and then nods.

"Very well."

[John Slaktare]

Butcher watches the exchange, wishing that arguments had real jabs and not just verbal ones. But the employer didn't really care about the people in the company, so he trusted Zinzers assessment more.

[GM Yuusha]

Kurt skulked off to wait on the side lines. His interactions so far with Angels personnel were not promising. Nonetheless, he would still report their activities honestly. He was used to mercs being rude.

Meanwhile a question was asked by Senior First Lieutenant Daniels.

"What are the most dangerous units we're likely to encounter at any of these sites?"

[Eric Voelker]

Meanwhile a question was asked by Senior First Lieutenant Daniels.

"What are the most dangerous units we're likely to encounter at any of these sites?"

Eric moved to confirm with Iria. He then answers, using the speaker system, so everyone could hear.

"We were just asked about what are the most dangerous units we can expect in this Zone. Good question. While we can't be 100% sure without recon confirmation, early reports and relayed informant information suggests the 2nd Planetary Militia of Csesztreg, the Akos Militia, has its fifth battalion stationed here along with a support battalion. The fifth are mostly light to heavy vehicles and some light and medium mechs. Frankly, the biggest dangers will be anti-mech turrets and heavy tanks and vehicles. Rommels, Von Luckners, Bulldogs, Manticores, Pattons. LRM and SRM carriers. I'd be more worried about them than most medium mechs."

He paused and regards the room.

"No offense. You just really don't want to get close to a loaded enemy SRM carrier." Eric clears his throat with a cough. "We expect the majority of their armour will be lighter units however, so that's something. Any other questions?"

[Alison Rodríguez]

"It seems to me we have two options."

Alison, who had made very little fuss when she entered a short while ago and took a chair at the back finally spoke up. She'd taken her big snow-protecting coat off at least, but still had made sure to dress warmly with a pair of jeans and a jumper on. She had kept her sunglasses on though.

"We strike at the main military point, the garrison. This is likely to be bloody, but a victory removes a huge strategic point for the enemy, and weakens their military. Good upside. Downside, it likely announces our arrival in a massive way and causes other strategic points to be much heavier guarded. The losses as well could cause setbacks."

She blew a small bubble from her bubblegum, brought the bubble back in then spoke again.

"Or, we strike the communications. Downsides are they may increase defenses at the garrison. Upsides are we can heavily disrupt communications for them to call on defenses, or even take control of the communications and use them to send out false comms thus disrupting any attempt for them to talk to each other. An especially smart techie" she pointed at herself "could even hack into more as well."

There was a smile.

"Cutting off the head of the snake is a good suggestion. As the tech expert, I say why go in and face the snake at full strength when you can choke the snake more by removing its food, or in this case communication, thus making it weaker when it comes to killing it entirely. I'm not the military mind here though."

[Mary Macharu]

"It seems to me we have two options."

Alison, who had made very little fuss when she entered a short while ago and took a chair at the back finally spoke up. She'd taken her big snow-protecting coat off at least, but still had made sure to dress warmly with a pair of jeans and a jumper on. She had kept her sunglasses on though.

"We strike at the main military point, the garrison. This is likely to be bloody, but a victory removes a huge strategic point for the enemy, and weakens their military. Good upside. Downside, it likely announces our arrival in a massive way and causes other strategic points to be much heavier guarded. The losses as well could cause setbacks."

She blew a small bubble from her bubblegum, brought the bubble back in then spoke again.

"Or, we strike the communications. Downsides are they may increase defenses at the garrison. Upsides are we can heavily disrupt communications for them to call on defenses, or even take control of the communications and use them to send out false comms thus disrupting any attempt for them to talk to each other. An especially smart techie" she pointed at herself "could even hack into more as well."

There was a smile.

"Cutting off the head of the snake is a good suggestion. As the tech expert, I say why go in and face the snake at full strength when you can choke the snake more by removing its food, or in this case communication, thus making it weaker when it comes to killing it entirely. I'm not the military mind here though."

Mary had been surveilling the discussion. She was concerned because it seemed there were three factions: those who wanted to run straight at the big prize, those who would sit in silence and do whatever was decided upon...and those who were there for the cookies.

This was problematic for Mary because while she appreciated the thought of not talking to people perhaps while eating a cookie, she opposed the idea of throwing themselves on the sharpest sword first with a ton of fights still to go.

But she was bad at convincing people of things. It was, then, rather a relief when Alison spoke up and said what she did.

Moving closer to her, she nodded.

"she's right." she said quietly. Which wasn't likely to turn many heads, but it was the right thing to support.

[GM Yuusha]

"Stow the gum please, since it's a meeting." Steffen points out before anyone else can. "That said, I agree with her assessment. We've been cooped up for a long time to get here. There's a risk people will be rusty. Better to start off with an easier target."

Meanwhile the Sergeant Major waited for the gum to be put away less she remove it herself.

[Klaus von Zinzer]

"I agree with the communications as our primary target. Controlling those, in my mind, does more for us long term and provides a better chance to carry out defeat in detail"

[Alison Rodríguez]

Alison managed to not pout. Just. Taking the gum out and putting it away in a piece of paper, instead reaching over for a cookie.

"Sorry, won't happen again."

[GM Yuusha]

Steffen smiled her way. Monique turned her attention elsewhere. The singer turned techie had dodged a bullet.

[John Slaktare]

"Comm target sounds like a good hit to me. Any specific concerns around any of the targets related to environment or terrain? With all this snow they could have dug out trenches and pits then filled em in with powder to trip up our mechs. What I'd have done to prepare," he says, thinking completely at the tactical level. His brain didn't operate strategically.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Snip

"Dr. L and I made them using her recipe and they are really good." She said Beaming.


Reviewing the information and listening to the discussions going on Mei offered her two cents.

"I think hitting their communications should be our first target. I can see merits for each target but knocking out the enemies comms will make everything easier. Without long range communications each of the other targets becomes an island. Each base commander, if they are worth a damn, will have to go to red alert, pulling back their patrols and hunkering down wondering if they are next. Then we can hit other facilities with minimal risk of reprisal. I would like to hear from our local informant, if they have any experience with the local PDF they may know specifics on base lockdown procedures.

To go a step further I would suggest we hit the military base last. Let the bulk of their forces sweat for a while, wondering what is going on as news of our taking their holdings slowly trickle in to them maybe via a disinformation campaign. The longer they sit there on red alert the more time and nerves will wear them down for when we do strike. They will know its coming but by the time it does some of them may have already lost their nerve to fight and fled.