Battletech: Planet's Fall

(Optional)
As a few days prior, the lance leads and other key military staff are ordered to gather in the Briefing Room to go over possible targets and to agree which to strike. There were less than before. It was late morning and the discussion appeared to have been made more casual than the last, as there were fresh muffins and bagels available. Additionally, lances could send a representative instead of the lance lead: it was not mandatory for lance leads. Like the meeting before there was more information from orbital scans and estimates of the benefits of attacking each site, but this time it was augmented by the Angels' reconnaissance efforts. Most of the information of enemy forces present at each site was available. It was recent and reliable.



A map was shown depicting the continent. Key civilian sites were in red. Blue sites denoted key Militia sites. Purple were secondary military sites. There was also an orange dot for their current dropsite.



The map was zoomed in to the immediate operational zone. Eric reminds attendees the area was designated Zone One. A new target would be chosen today to be hit in a couple of days. Three sites of interest remained. Some would be more challenging than others, but there would likely be more rewards in terms of salvage with more challenge. As before, he wanted everyone's opinions. However, he did stress there would be a need to hit the Barracks, or another major Militia site, in the future if the group was to increase their impact on the overall invasion effort. At least, as far as the AFFC were concerned. The Angels command staff had different opinions on which target to hit next. There would be a chance for questions and discussion along with making suggestions. Choices were targets A, C or D.

(This is the thread for discussion)

John isn't required to be there as lance lead, but he is Gunny now. If he needs to provide input on the state of the armory, he is there to do so. He eats a bagel and waits for the meeting to start.

This is Catherine's first time to these discussions as commissioned officer. It feels strange and even a little scary, but the support of her friends fills the young Mechwarrior with enough confidence to stand tall. All 149 centimetres of her ... 150, if she were to wear her tough combat boots, but this is not the sort of event for that.

Butcher is already here and she greets him with a little wave.

Hank takes a seat. He is one of the last to arrive. Eric gives a brief update on developments and Iria goes over the tactical information on each of the three target sites. It's familiar to many from a few days prior. Some of the information is new however, such as better estimates of enemy forces.

It's then time for discussion and questions. Hank leans back in his seat. He was here to listen.

(Assume you were already here from now on)

"Two decent salvage sites and a hard military site. Honestly, I don't mind which we go for. I'd still like to find some gauss rifles as they're nearly impossible to acquire, but they're all worthwhile. If we can take the Barracks without losing a mech then we'll probably be ahead in terms of salvage. We can always hit another target afterwards. This is about what we need to secure first and what does the most for us."

Catherine Maia Hayes wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:07 pm

Butcher is already here and she greets him with a little wave.

The wave is returned before he responds to Kaala.

"They only working on mech weapons? Or are they developing small arms too?"

"No idea about that. It's all underground." Laks complains. "Like a mystery box of chocolates."

John just nods. Tracking experimental small arms in the armory would make his job significantly harder there, but such weapons would give the infantry an edge. It's not a result he'd be opposed to.

"Handheld gauss rifles? Would that even be possible? From what I know about the Gauss Rifle, it is more massive than an AC 20. The ammunition is nearly as heavy too ... or now that I think of it, it is even heavier, considering that it does not have to come with a shell casing and propellant."

"Not necessarily that. But it's a weapons developer that's probably making gauss rifles, not just a gauss rifle developer. Could have other stuff," he says with shrug.

"Huh. That makes sense." Catherine agrees after some thought and shoots John a quick grin. "I wouldn't mind a better laspistol or something like that, but that is not nearly as important as better mech weapons would be for us."

Alex saluted and took a seat. The warrior looked at the maps and sighed.

"Now that we've jammed their communications, it's time to let the Milita know we're there.... and to do that, we need to hit the garrison hard and fast," Richard interjected. "Of course, Gauss rifles would be brilliant.... " he looked to Kenna "But we still have a job to do, don't we Mr. Guttenburg?" he said in the direction of the nobleman.

Ezmeralda sat in a corner sipping her coffee. Now to see what brilliant scheme the officers had to save the company's ass from getting blackballed for contempt of contract.

"I've said my peace. Ain't had nothing change."



"..."

Kurt remained off to the side. Impassive. Last time he'd been a bit annoyed. This time he was being utterly poker faced.

Charlie spoke up when he had a chance. "Budai is the best choice still. Not only can we get the Gauss Rifles for ourselves, we prevent them from deciding they need to do some quick refits using them against us."

Samara filtered in towards the back of the room. Respectful of the chain of command, she let the higher-ups figure things out but was present in case her opinion was sought.

Mary sat with the others who were of similar rank. her own comment was a quiet one.

"lt. winter is right. now that we've taken out comms we should hit the militia base. they're in disarray now, but if we give them a chance to regroup by going after more profitable targets, we'll lose that advantage. " she offered.

She didn't have much hope of turning the vote, but it was important to voice her opinion.

"To be honest, both the Barracks and Budai have reasonable reason for us to strike. We could take heavy losses if we target both, but there is undeniable gain if both sites were disabled simultaneously. " Klaus pipes up, a look sent to Kurt. "But if I need to pick one, I believe that the barracks makes the most sense, and does the most to accomplish our objectives."