The Line in the Stars (OOC) [PG/14] - Closed

[techmaster-glitch]

actually, re-reading shade's post, i think i should probably re-do my own... it seems he wants the asteroid idea dropped altogether....

No, really?

[techmaster-glitch]

Ehhhh...putting one thing in Basilisk's defence, he didn't bring up the asteroid again, it was a new divertionary beacon plan. Which I still don't think would have worked, but for entirely it's own set of reasons.

You may wanna change that before he gets mad, Shades

[ShadesFox]

Yea, I edited the post to cover that a bit better.  Still too early, stupid DST messing with my sleep schedule.

[techmaster-glitch]

Oh, and by the way, I don't think Aaron would be exceeding his authority on anything. He's pretty much captain on the ship, whatever he says goes

[Lisky]

just thought i'd point something out tech, your comment about not understanding tactical planning, it would seem from knights perspective that the entire command staff lacks skills in this area... a simple strategy is one thing, but if you look at special forces operations, when they aren't throughly planned, bad things tend to happen... 2 perfect examples of this are the army rangers in Somalia, and the navy SEALs in Panama

both had an objective, but no real egress plan, as such, a lot of people died because when things went south, they had to adapt...The information the commander's had wasn't perfect, and because of that, a lot of people died un-necessarily...

[techmaster-glitch]

Well, if you'd paid attention to Nazareth's plan, the whole point of swinging around the system and approaching from the third planet from the far side in relation to the fourth is the escape plan--they'll have to go around the planet to get to us, by which time we will be haulin' ass. As he explained, the whole point of his plan was to avoid the fleet.

That, and I really don't think the pirates are stoopid enough to go chasing an ISF military beacon after we've been spotted. And if we release it ahead of time, the'll maybe send one cruiser, which hardly makes a difference.

That and this is a fictional RP. Whatever happens is all up to Azzy

[Lisky]

true, but the idea was to draw attention in that direction, while we head in a different one... and because it mysteriously appeared, it would probably have the pirates change into a search pattern rather than tightly packed around the 4th planet...

either way, Knight's looking for other's imput, and from his perspective, he'd being treated disrespectfully...  he is used to doing things differently, and rather than critiquing Knight's thinking, Naz simply says no...

Remember, Knight was picked up not long ago, most of his friend's are probably dead and he's just been thrown into a strange environment where he's still adapting... Rom is throwing all the personality friction in the world at him, and now knight feels that the others just aren't showing him any respect, or even empathizing with the idea that he is used to doing things differently...

[Lushin]

Well respect is given where it's earned. Knight hasn't gotten on Romulus good side at all. Also why alert the pirates there is someone in the area. You gotta think they are pirates they might have done that trick before themselves.

[techmaster-glitch]

Well, in the military world, how much respect you get largely depends on your rank. Any beyond that must be earned. If he can't handle that, then the military isn't for him. What Daimien said.

And, having just had his ship and friends blow up is, quite honestly, his problem. Just like Nazareth's history with Clanners is his problem. They're going to have to work through it themselves (though I'll be trying to keep Nazareth going for as long as I can ).

[Lisky]

Well, for 1, Knight outranks Rom... so there should be some military courtesy there, he's in the special forces, and the fact that he's a lieutenant means he's had some combat experience...

as for announcing their presence, it was more, set up the beacon on a remote, and activate it when the ship is just about to leave the planet.  that way, the pirates attention is temporarily diverted away from the 3rd planet, and towards the beacon... i'd assume getting off the planet is when the ship would be the most vulnerable...

[Lushin]

Ok, did you read through the OOC thread and the IC thread? Romulus isn't much for rank. Right now Knight isn't showing much reason to respect him. Also you can become a lieutenant by going to a military academy.  Also why put the pirates on alert we're even there.

[techmaster-glitch]

Well, for 1, Knight outranks Rom... so there should be some military courtesy there, he's in the special forces, and the fact that he's a lieutenant means he's had some combat experience...

Meh, maybe...

as for announcing their presence, it was more, set up the beacon on a remote, and activate it when the ship is just about to leave the planet.  that way, the pirates attention is temporarily diverted away from the 3rd planet, and towards the beacon...

That's what we've been saying, they're not stupid enough to fall for that.

i'd assume getting off the planet is when the ship would be the most vulnerable...

Actually, that's where we pull a Millennium Falcon run-right-between-the-Star-Destoyers-and-hyperjump-away. No, really. Just before we picked your character up, Mother and the flyers practiced a special gate-jump move. I'm actually planning to use that if it becomes necessary. Nazareth could have told Knight about that...but he probably doesn't think Knight needs or deserves to know

[Lisky]

i wish i could bust out some backstory that he'd be able to say, but since he was working for the ISIS, he's got the choice of making a proper rebuttal and violating secrecy protocol, or keeping silent for now, and prove oh how wrong everyone is later

[Azlan]

Alright, alright, let's settle down a little.  Bas is doing his due diligence as a special forces officer and attempting to plan out as many possibilities as one can.  The problems are actually fully in character and due to each characters' experiences and personality, seem to be working just fine.  

Shades is a science/research officer and though all officers are generalists, his tactics and strategy were more ground based since he is technically an Army officer not Navy.  As such he has to rely on his other personnel for good advice.

Nazareth is a chief warrant officer 4 caring the equivalent rank authority of an Army captain or Naval Lieutenant.  He, however, rose through enlisted ranks to achieve this.  He is essentially a fighter jockey, but also seems to have been a bit more studious in his basic Starship tactics.  He doesn't have any ground tactical training at all.

Romulus is a noncommissioned officer with a not so good record of respecting authority.  The way he has treated those above him borderlines on insubordination, which will eventually get him in trouble and I will have no mercy as GM.  A lot of the major officers in the scout fleet have looked past it because of his skills and abilities, but even Captain Summers and Colonel Nexx will not be able to do much for him if he is legitimately brought up on charges of insubordination.  Romulus is the single most experienced military person of the entire group, but because of training differences for enlisted and officers, he is very specialized and could likely run an entire Special Forces operation himself at a company or even brigade level.  However, I don't think Daimien has that ability, and no one in their right mind would put a noncommissioned officer in charge of a whole operation of that scale.

The last point which everyone is doing rather well is no one other than Knight is a Special Forces trained officer.  However, it would behoove Shades to plan the entire operation, or at least bring everyone in to plan the operation with several contingencies from space to planet to escape.


Some aspects of the ship that you may find useful:

Gravitic field projectors (tractor beams like units)

She is fully atmospheric

She has reconnaissance probes (20) - they are cloakable, basketball sized, self propelled with computer intelligence.

She has adaptive hull armor which can become resistant to weapons fire, even capital scale -- on a side note, it takes time to develop this protection (i.e. shes got to get shot a lot) and concentrated firepower will overcome it

The ship is outfitted with 16 combat robots with very advanced AIs

There are drop pods, 8, that can be fired from orbit to deploy ground soldiers.  These pods are two way, you can drop and return using them.  They can only accommodate the soldier using them comfortably or two side by side in a very uncomfortable way.

There are 6 more similar pods in an emergency area just under the command center


If you have any specific capability questions, just ask... as I can't think of everything at the moment.      


Edit: One note, Romulus's little bit about the way he does things is so very unrealistic.  A fair amount of operations fall into place as they were intended and others require in-mission redirects, but you must always have a plan of escape.  Its one of the first things they teach you.  Just letting everything unfold or cowboy improvisation is what gets people killed.  However, special forces operational plans are dynamic and fluid, they aren't rigid and rote like the regular army or marines.

[ShadesFox]

Very good then, mission acknowledged.  Aaron was planning on just letting Naz have carte blanche on space planning, though I will try and reassemble everyone for a more general planning session.

Edit:
Though this may be difficult, in light of the fact that Nova isn't there and Knight seems to have gone elsewhere.

[Lisky]

Oh, it'd be easy enough for him to show back up at the meeting, don't forget, he still has no idea where he's going...

[Lushin]

Looks like Romulus would be better off dieing during this mission. He gets his problems from being dragged into the military from his father. He doesn't really want to be there but he doesn't know anything else. Also I got Romulus's little comment from a show I watched about WW2. Band of Brothers I believe it is. So yeah sorry I'm kinda running Romulus as a mix of different characters I saw in that mini-series.

[ShadesFox]

But we like our Romulus

Anyways, I thought I explained it when we were in Aaron's room.  Knight's position is flexible, the 'fill in what is needed when things go wrong' spot.  More details are what still needs to be hammered out.

[Azlan]

Looks like Romulus would be better off dieing during this mission. He gets his problems from being dragged into the military from his father. He doesn't really want to be there but he doesn't know anything else. Also I got Romulus's little comment from a show I watched about WW2. Band of Brothers I believe it is. So yeah sorry I'm kinda running Romulus as a mix of different characters I saw in that mini-series.

Yes well, that attitude works well with a conscripted or hastily assembled volunteer army, not a disciplined, professional soldiery.  WW2 is a far different war, wholly different society and situation.  The US Military was fielding a largely untrained and inexperienced force on several fronts, while experimenting with a host of new methods and new force integration strategies.

The ISF is formed from a history of thousands of years of conflict.  The militaries are professional and career based.  The Special Forces are the very best and most well trained of all the branches.  It is a far different mindset.

As for what to do about Romulus, I don't know.  I rely on the players to provide motivations and focus for their characters.  I run with it and expand if the ideas work.  With Romulus... well... I have no idea.

Edit:
Though this may be difficult, in light of the fact that Nova isn't there and Knight seems to have gone elsewhere.

Don't worry too much about Nova, that character isn't very useful in strategy or tactics... just a bookworm, you can probably work around her absence.

[Lisky]

actually, come to think of it, saioko isn't really necessary either, if Aaron really wanted knight at the table, he could either send her, or call for one of the crew to escort the lieutenant back to the command center

[Lushin]

Well then I guess I'll just run with Romulus as long as I can I guess.

[ShadesFox]

actually, come to think of it, saioko isn't really necessary either, if Aaron really wanted knight at the table, he could either send her, or call for one of the crew to escort the lieutenant back to the command center

Or Aaron has faster ways of communicating now ;p
I'm assuming that Knight already knew that he is psychic.  Aaron is not the sort that would try and hide it.

[Lisky]

Mother switched the view to that of the 'outpost' of the pirates.  It consisted of three prefabricated steel arch buildings and one obvious communications station.  There appears to be a single short concrete area on which is parked three conventional military VTOL jets and four combat helicopters.  The conventional craft pose little threat to the aerospace fighters and none to Mother. 

The view is close-in enough to notice that the various peoples staffing this post are all dressed in forest camouflage, most carry a rifle style weapon, and all carry a sidearm.  In an interesting coincidence, at the center of the viewing area and looking up directly in line with the 'camera angle' is an ermine carrying a rocket launcher.   

are we about to take out boxy's alter ego?

[Azlan]

are we about to take out boxy's alter ego?

Not specifically, but that might be funny.  It was from a funny thing that Shades had said/typed somewhere...

[Lisky]

if it's boxy's alter ego... i request permission to bring the asteroid back into play... only to be dropped on the ermine rather than the space station...

[ShadesFox]

Denied.

The ermine is to survive.  It is a fate worse then death.  Provided that Romulus does not see fit to shoot him.

[Lisky]

as a side question, are we waiting on anyone besides azzy ATM?

[ShadesFox]

Don't think so.  You also have to remember that the recent burst of activity was rather unusual.  I could dig it, but I've been bound to my computer lately so I can service emails about thread updates quickly.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

This rocket launcher, it ermine.

[Azlan]

Statistical information for NPC:

Name: Saioko Natsume
Age: 22 (by appearance)
Gender: Female
Species: Panther type feline
Appearance: Saioko stands around 6' and is of a thin and lithe build.  She is a charcoal colored feline with short pink hair and beautiful blue eyes.
Occupation: ISF Fleet R&D, Computer engineer specializing in xenotechnologies and alien artificial intelligences
Rank: ISF Army Captain, O-3
Skills: She has considerable skills with computer systems, advanced artificial intelligences, and alien computer technologies.  She can read a number of languages, she can quickly piece together alien numerical systems, and code bases given enough time and some assumptions on its intended function.
Note: She seems to enjoy Knight's company and can be a little strange at times.