Kanoe' makes no comment to Zzed, not even looking at him as she is too tired to raise her voice but she does give him a MOST unambiguous to -Off!
...Kanoe' stands as soon as she possibly can to NOT be a burden to Edel! Whispering to her...
We are going to feel this tomorow...
Even though Roldy is trying his best, he just can't keep up with the group.
So, she already had an umbrella. She was prepared for this. Question is, was she planning this no matter what?
Still trying but physically exhausted, Roldy spend more time slipping in the disgusting sweat lake then doing the exercise.
I'll remember you Lt. Dahvana. Make sure I never pass you in rank!If your plan was to be hated, mission accomplished
Welkin does his best to follow the others, but endurance has never been his strong suit.
Lt. Dahvana stands from her chair "This meeting is over, I hope the information that I disclosed was good for your future encounters, you part at first light tomorrow. You are dismissed after you clean this mess you've made." she points at a door in the hallway "Cleaning supplies are there, don't go to bed late, so hurry up and finish."
Zzed is out of breath by the end of the third set, but still manages to hold on, barely.
By the end of it however, he collapses, unable to continue. Unlike the others, he seems to hold no animosity for the Lt. Indeed, he seems to accept the punishment as if it were normal, or even light.
Finally, after he recovers, he stands and salutes the Lt. before trudging slowly out to the closet to get the cleaning supplies.
Kanoe' grimaces.. and STILL Lt. Dahvana... did not answer her question directly if she would give Katzuya a brevet field promotion...
She pondered asking Dahvana again directly... but looked at her Unit they were all exhausted and she still had things to do before turn in ...so.. for once.. she let it slide... for now. But she was still determined to get a definitive Yes or No out of her...
Kanoe' crisply {as she could with her weary limbs} saluted Lt. Dahvana.. but she could not hide her sour expression of frustration... she was not angry.. just disappointed Dahvana of giving her an answer OR an Order to let it be!
... not speaking to anyone Kanoe' threw herself into cleaning the room as quickly and as thoroughly as possible clearly she had things on her mind to do before rack-time. She turned on the self-cooling systems of her skinsuit and set the suit to its auto-cleaning cycle.. and moisture reclamation from her body.
When they were finished she left immediately without a word to anyone and clearly not going to be stopped or delayed any further. She went to the Unit barracks and entered the showers to peeled herself out of her skinsuit to take a brisk quick shower... letting the warm water refresh her she quickly rinsed out her skinsuit but put it back on damp.. not spending a moment more than necessary to get herself just a little refreshed.
Still wet and zipping up her Skinsuit she made her way the the Zaku hangers... heading for her Unit Kraken-04. She waved to the technicians finishing up and snatched a water bottle as she climbed the gantry to her cockpit. Pulling on her helmet she started her system-check and start up, calling the Field Control Tower, <<"This is Kraken-04, Ensign- , powering up...requesting clearance to the Training field for pre-mission systems check on Zaku II unit, over!">>
Welkin salutes Lt. Dahvana adn then he begins to clean up after them.
Once they are done he goes straight to the hangar check on his Mobile Suit ++"This is Kraken-01 Ensign Katsuya, powering up to check all systems are operational and calibrated properly for earth gravity."++
Once the room is all clean, Roldy head to the mess hall to get some food on the go. He then head to the hangar and eat in his mobile suit while calibrating all that he can without moving the suit. After he his done eating, he does a visual inspection and finaly re-enter into the cockpit to initialize it.
++Kraken-05... powering up for... system check...++
His final act before bed his to clean his personal weapon.
Kanoe' waited for the Tower acknowledgement then signaled the ground crews as the retracted the gantry... and the sensor eye lit up on her Zaku as it came to life and motion...
She stepped away slowly walking the ponderous man-shaped tank. Pausing she picked up her 120mm Machine Cannon Rifle... and in practiced motion picked up one of the blue painted ammo drums... which held the target practicing paint rounds.
Kanoe' proceeded to walk to the training field... monitoring the gyros and navigation indicators on the HUD to make sure they were properly measuring direction heading and highlighting check points. Shifting to the external audio-pickup and the telescopic opticals she shifted through an array of themorgraph, low-light, and pinged the radar just to check their operation. The parabolic external microphones were not very sensitive.. this was not a Recon Unit but the worked well enough to hear nearby conversations and external sounds in the area.
Finally arriving at the Training field Kanoe' noted that Ensign Katzuya in Kraken - 01 was already there putting his unit through its paces.
Triggering her Comm, <<"Ensign Katzuya, Kracken-04, Ensign Yashida on training field.. heads up.">>
With that she crouched and set off at a sprint.. checking the Zaku's gyros for and hydraulics for and glitches.. the ride was smooth. Still running she angled her Zaku for the target range and hefted her rifle... most there were no others on the range so she fired off a few single shots while in motion checking the motion-tracking. Her shots scoring easy hits... but knowing that stationary targets were not the issue moving targets were the point... she continued on to the 'obstacle course'.
There she slowed slightly and began her skipping gallop as she fired her thruster pack for jet-assisted jumps and strafing-slide runs on the obstacle course popup targets~ as close to a real test of speed, accuracy, and piloting through the various turns and simulated enemy targets as likely to get outside of actual combat. Though the Zaku II had no GES system, by balancing the skipping run with occasional thruster assisted movement a pilot that knew the technique well could effectively 'on the bounce' skim the surface of the obstacle course. Kanoe' had practiced this many times.. and got very good at it bouncing from one direction to another in effort always leading with her right side.. the side the Zaku's arm shield was on for maximum coverage and protection to practice confusing enemy return fire... everything said she had the technique down well.. but Kanoe' knew the 'Real' test would be in actual combat... Many times Kanoe' performed her signature maneuver of a rapid approach followed by a thruster assisted leap to come down on the target... with heat hawk or gun-fire~ death from Above style!
She made her way to the melee dummy... literally a pole with a t-cross~ one side make-shift shield and the other a padded flail head with a reservoir of paint. Ideally one was supposed to hit the shield and block the flail on the Zaku's arm shield... leaving a paint mark more or less near the center. Kanoe' had 'tilted' in practice with a similar dummy ...learning the full motion strike with her unpowereed Heat-Hawk and rotating the Zaku torso to parry the swung flail in time had been a real challenge.. that had taken constant drilling to get right.. timing and speed! But eventually Kanoe' had gotten it right... and now she tiled with the practice dummy pulling her unpowered heat-hawk to strike and parry with shield. She learned the chain on this flail was annoyingly shorter than the one she had drilled on so much in her last garrison duty.. but eventually she figured out the timing and struck parried in rapid succession.. in a row to make sure she had this one 'felt out'... then backing up she came at the dummy with a full speed passing strike with her heat hawk.. missing the parry on the first but successfully doing it on the next four passes.. imagining her self makeing a lightning strike across the side of a Federation Space Cruiser ...boning it's hull, like a freshly gutted fish...!
Her sensors noted the arrival of Ensign Heson in Kracken-05 to the training field...
Having already dealt with his Zaku, Zzed gets some food, and then heads back to the barracks. He cleans his weapons and then goes to sleep, knowing he'll need to get up early.
Lt.Dahvana supervises the quick calibrations of your Zaku's to operate on earth gravity. Make any last minute changes which causes her more than one eye roll, specially when Kanoe has the shield moved, she leaves Reddok there to inform her when they are done.
An hour or so after everyone has equipped what they need for the mission a Gaw descends on the airfield nearby, and your comms ring with the voice of Lt. Dahvana "That's your ride, it will drop you in the city of Naranbulag, Mongolia."
In your screen a map northern half of Mongolia appears The red dot represents your landing area, it's a civilian population with no resistance, leave the infantry to secure the area as immediately after you we are sending more ground forces. The green line is the best course of action towards the capital of Ulaanbaatar, you will hit the only strong base in Murun" another picture shows land cruiser and a guntank defending the area as well as some batteries "If everything marches according to plan we can have some Magella to support you as well as some aircraft support to combat theirs, your main focus is that guntank and the cruiser. Needless to say dodge the type 61 tank shots as they will concentrate fire on you to bring you down if they can" A small pause to let the pilots review the map.
The purple lines are additional deployment of Zeon ground forces that you may choose to support while you are there, as they will attempt to control areas of importance, like mining, oil, and other resources."
"Any questions?"
Edel sets up the 90mm in her own Zaku. Her arms were burning, but she'd just have to deal with it. She listens absentmindedly to the Lt. briefing, only speaking up to say "No ma'am" when asked for questions.
Kanoe' indeed has her shoulder shield moved to the Zaku left shoulder. In her cockpit she stows her personal weapons and gear... and though she is not in space she still wears her skinsuit rather than a mundane ground flight uniform... as she would also need some winter clothing considering the environment of the theater of operation. Her skinsuit keeps her warm and protected.
The glory of youth being its remarkable ability to recover... Kanoe' seems no worse for wear from the previous day's grueling exercise and is chipper and refreshed.
In a far too chipper voice Kanoe' respond across the comm, << "No ma'am! Ready to earn some kill markers! " >>
[oob]Zaku cannot handle submerssion, there is a Zaku Mariner. Other than not been able to going for a swim, yes you can fight in rivers and lakes as long as the head and part of the chest is still visible. IF you do go under you will have some penalties and the fact that you might drown inside your cockpit.[/ooc]
"Let us begin Operation Golden Horde" a small giggle before an obvious laughter.
Voice of Reddok as the background laughter can be heard "Load up on the Gaw, it's the only one in the runway. You Zaku's have thrusters so you don't need parachutes to land safely. Any lat adjustments in your weapons load out before departing?."
Edel loads up on the Gaw
Kanoe' will take 2x Sturm Fuasts, 2x Cracker Grenades, and opt for the 90mm Machine Cannon... instead of the 120mm Machine Cannon. If possible she will see if she can carry to reload drums for her 90mm Machine Cannon.
"All good, We're gonna give 'em Hell... Lt. !"
++"All is ready LT. preparing to move on your command."++ Welkin is exicted to get on his first real mission and compare it to the simulation.
"One question, where is our resupply chain? Or will we have resupply dropped via air drop? Knowing how quickly we can get resupply directly affects our fighting style."
++Kraken-05... ready to... move out++
"As you advance, you must hold the area so we can establish a resupply chain, or if you need resupply for something specific I will air drop it at your location or as close as possible"
"Rememeber, your Zaku's can't operate for ever, so make sure to make the best of your 10hrs"
"Any more questions"
Kanoe' chimes in, << "I think our best course would be to have 2 MS-Team {Kraken-01 & 04} go with our troops to , and then meet up in ... while our 3 MS-Team {Kraken-02, 03, 05} went on raids to , , , then pressed on to to establish the resupply base. Whichever MS-Team gets to first will wait for the other MS team to arrive to begin our attack and occupation by our Mobilized support Infantry. Our mobilized support infantry will surveillance and will follow the path of the 3 MS-Team but keep to the green planned route, staying mostly hidden and scouting and observing the actions of the fleeing refugees and the Mongolian emergency relief and the movements and response, keeping us informed to take advantage of such and to find the best opportunities to introduce their military infiltrators to gain additional intel. When we ALL meet up on we'll collect their intel and report it to Lt. of our progress to continue on the next day's push east." >>
<< "...well, unless one of you veterans has a better idea?" >>
Welkin was about to say something but Kanoe' cut him short and took to some degree his idea. ++"Ensign Yashida, I admire your feiry initative and lust for combat. But normally we allow the one designated as leader to speak his idea first before you chime in. Anyway I don't disagree with your plan I was thinking something along that way. I would however send you in the 3 man team so that the team have MS with both the 120mm and a 90mm machine guns, while the 2 man team easily can both carrie the 120mm gun when taking the ground support into account."++
He thinks for a moment before adding ++"Hopefully we should have pushed the feddies out where the second team can come and make a pincer maneuver and force them to flee. Any suggestions to the plan or team composition?"++
++Negative...++
Even though he only said one word, there is a feeling of nervousness coming from Roldy.
He then proceed to move his mobile suit next to the Gaw and await the rest of the squad to make sure everyone is ready.
There was a pause... and then...
<< "Aheh. yeah sorry 'Commander'... I'll try to be less eager... I've just trained ... A LOT in expectation of this kind of Op.. I'm ready to use mah skillz...! Since I'm the I'll take point of course..." >>
There is no tone of mockery in her voice.. if anything more self-deprecating than anything.
"I suggest we try to time our attacks, at least initially, at night. Our sensors are better than the enemy sensors, and that would give us an advantage. Additionally, surface dwellers tend to sleep at night and work by day, and are not used to operating at night. That will cut down on the casualties from our infrastructure assaults, as well as minimize our risks. Additionally, it will leave more refugees that the local government has to deal with. Dead people are not a drain on resources, live ones are."
"That's a very good idea Zzed, I wasn't sure about the sensors were better on our side or thiers. But I like to make it a night assault to avoid to many civilian casulties, it should also make them panic if they can't see us very well and they might escape in a chaotic manner which we can benefit from. Since we are going to split in to two teams will you take control of the infrastructure assaults, while I and another help support our ground units set up a base and make a supply chain?"
Once you finish loading the Gaw, smaller aircraft begin to load a pair of Magella tanks and other vehicles, while another aicraft transports the troops and crates.
You are directed to a small room from where you can see the hangar, it's not a luxury area, but it beats regular airplane seats, after all it's for pilots. You have a small coffee and drinks area and your chairs have seat belts, but are otherwise decent. In all honesty looks more like an officer's lounge with better than normal airplane seats.
A couple of hours pass as you relax as much as possible until the pilot voice breaks your idle chatter or silence "We are entering Mongolia" as you see from the windows the first part are some small mountains, with some small white dot cluster that are probably nomad tents.
A large plains is the next scenery with some mountains still around but to small to hide your Zaku's now, perhaps if they are kneeling they might cover them, and then it opens into a vast sea of grass and dirt as small rolling hills or flat terrain as far as your eyes can see. Some herds of horses run around.
"30 minutes to prepare for drop" you hear the loud voice as the many people hat man the hangar, weapon systems among the many other parts that for your Mobile Suits begin them to get ready. It's like a dance, of very skilled individuals placing the Sturm Fausts in the back pack, your machine guns in their arms, cracker grenades in the waist for those that had them, and two extra magazines one on each side of the hip armor. For the lack of command insignia, they mechanics took the liberty to paint a white stripe on the Zaku's helmet that runs from the middle of the head straight to the back. Each unit's number is put in their shield and re touching as needed, as well as Zeon's crest. Then the same on the left side of the chest. Unit number and Zeon's crest.
"5 minutes to drop" This time it's for the pilots, as you all gather your belongings, take last drinks and climb into your cockpits. Last second system checks, everything is green and the signal to get ready comes as the hangar bay lights turn red and the Gaw's mouth open slowly to deliver it's payload to Mongolia.
Your units are propelled by the Gaw's hangar tracked systems and spit you out of it's belly triggering a modified ballute system. Your landing is quick short and smooth enough to not shatter your teeth or break the mobile suit, but the ground shakes for sure. In your field of vision you can see the tiny parachutes of the company of men parachuting in, as well as crates, vehicles, and tanks.
Now for the first step Naranbulag, Mongolia. Radio comms come to life and it's identified as Zeon signal from your unit. A unknown voice to the Krakens, but you can hear the barking orders of Lt. Dahvana in the back every time he speaks.
"This is Cerberus 1, do you copy Kraken 1?"
"Cerberus 1 this is Kraken 1, we hear you loud and clear. We are ready to begin the assault on Naranbulag." Welkin responds to the LT as his feets touches grounds
"Kraken 1, I'm sending you an image of Naranbulag and the nearby villages..."
Naranbulag is a large... dirt town, with several wooden houses and some are brick, while the governmental building at thew center being the most modern, if you can call it that.
"It seems Mongolia has few actual cities as we imagined, but they are rich in minerals and some animal materials, I doubt you will face any resistance until you find resource operations that are worth something to the EFF or they are a trading city, or the capital"
Welkin looks over the map, "This towns looks like a small payload will trip it all over, should be careful with explosives.
"So we shouldn't expect to much resistance before Songino or Murun? Let's send some refugees running with a few stealth operatives mixed in between to those bigger towns."
Squad Channel: "Kraken-2, landed and disengaged from ballute. Proceeding to scout the immediate area while ally units reform."
Zzed then begins a counter-clockwise spiral out from the landing zone, until the landing zone is half-way to his maximum sensor range. Then he continues to circle the area while the commander and other units decide engagement strategy.
+++Kraken-3, on Overwatch.+++ Edel finds some high ground with her mobile suit and hunkers down, waiting for orders.
Kanoe' landed firing a short burst of her Zaku's thrusters just as she touched down... detaching the ballute-chutte as she got instantly into motion moving forward ... to get ahead of the still parachuting troops and armor and provide a more difficult moving target jinking to the left and.. raising her 90mm 'Carbine' and shield ready to provide covering fire should defenders suddenly begin opening fire from defensive positions on the descending Zeon Forces.
When no such enfilading fire came... she triggered her Comm...
<< "Krake-04 taking point.. let's see if they were expecting us..." >>
Looking at her descending unit and picking the closest Zaku, << "Kraken-03, cover me..." >>
Kanoe' knew that with the large force of Zeon force descending on chuttes and the wide open grasslands its was virtually Impossible for their attack to have not been noticed before they got here...assuming the EFF forces had even the most basic convention detection system.. or even just 'mark I' eyeball. So it was safer to assume they were waiting with hidden units or small scale anti-armor manportable weapons.
She mused.. "Let's see just how disciplined they are... bet they've not been in a direct engagement in a while!"
Kraken-04 sprinted ahead raising its shield for maximum coverage and hefting though not actually targeting anything with the Carbine. Then Kanoe' fired the thrusters sending the Zaku rocketing high into the air... trying to draw fire.. her maneuvering vernier and attitude jets ready to dodge and jink for the expected incoming fire.. but her secondary purpose was to also to go Active with a full sensor sweep.
The village was mostly wooden structures and some adobe dwellings with very few 'hard' stone or metal targets. The exact thing her sensors sweep was looking for .. like vehicles~ armored or otherwise, artillery emplacements and hardened bunkers. The jump was meant to get a full scan of the 'town' for just such hard targets.. but not a sustained flight timing her landing to scan 'on the bounce' and keep moving in case a 'stinger' or other anti-armor ordinance was targeted at her.. but her distance from the town made such a shot at her a long-shot at best .. but going active in a mecha fight; a 'no-no' in space combat and providing a big flying target might tempt some trigger-happy scared defenders to give away their position on the chance at a long-shot... she was well prepared to avoid.
...though the lumbering Zaku II does not physically move any differently or any faster.. Kanoe's reaction time and fluidity of motion is nothing short of amazing... far superior to someone who has only logged a total of 300hours combined simulator an actual flight experience!
++"Our mission is clear. Take over Naranbulag and spread out to conquer Songino next, Krakens move out!"++ Welkin is not one for big speeches
The drop off everything Roldy remembered. The turbulence, the slight disorientation and the adrenaline rush, all hitting him at the same time. For a moment, he was elsewhere. In an other MS at an other time, a flashback from his earlier mission.
Ronnie...
Her face came to his mind. He almost opened a channel to talk to her like they used to...
Refocusing, he set back his mind to the task at end. This new squad expected him to perform and he wasn't going to let them down.
Once he touch down, he looked around seeing everyone getting in position. He decided to run a scan of the surrounding before moving, just to make that there wasn't any ennemies waiting to shoot down the rest of the troops.
++Kraken-05... moving out++
Naranbulag is not very far from the drop zone, maybe 3 hrs distance by the system gps calculations of trajectory. Upon advancing in flocks of sheep run with their owners in tow, as the heavy steps of the Zaku foretell impending doom to those that would raise their weapons.
The villagers run towards the town hall-like building.
++"Avoid trampling on the refugees as much as possible, but don't put thier safety above getting to Naranbulag in a timely manner."++ Welkin says with some pride in his voice as he watches over the fleeing populace, afraid of his MS unit.
Those that pass the difficulty
Welkin stops his robot and contacts the others: ++"Watch out Krakens, we are about to enter a minefield. Let's not assume to much but the people running across it makes me think it's mines against heavier units and not anti personelmines they buried here."++