Locke speaks first
"Your strategy in space is not without merit. The Aegis can run silent in the shadow of the Steadfast. Any attacking strike craft will not know we are there until they are committed to their attack. We would likely cripple the Orks' air superiority. Aword of warning, though. Their fighter bombers will be joined by assault boats. If we are to focus on their air superiority, the assault boats will get through. The Steadfast must be able to repel Orkish boarders"
Dante seems concerned
"Denying our defence monitors the support of the Aegis will likely seem them destroyed. Damaris needs those ships"
Reynolds ressures him
"Even without the Aegis our orbital defences should be adequate to punish and landing attempts. We have both the Ordained Destiny and the Starweaver. It will be the Aegis and Steadfast at risk of being overwhelmed, both by ships and boarders. I hope you know what you're letting yourself in for, Lucius"
Dante seems satisfied by the commander's words
"You know what is best in orbit. It is my place to comment on the ground war. Using our armour aggressively is fine in theory. You are right we should look to do it, but such a mission may be suicide. We would need better reconnissance than we are equipped to provide to make sure such an attack hits home in the right place."
"Damaris city does not simply have walls. There are transport networks in place to allow defenders to reach pressure points rapidly and in good order. These networks are divided into four quadrants - North, East, South and West. It is very easy to move forces within these quadrants and time consuming to move them between them. We will have to split the defenders into fours battle groups and assign them accordingly."
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With Jarrion's guidance, targeting scopes are focussed on the corpse. A shuttle drops away from the Steadfast's towering flank and accelerates away into the void. Half and hour later, the grainy voice of the shuttle co-pilot echoes across the bridge.
"Void walk complete. The body is secured. Putting you through to the apocathary now"
A different voice, female this time
"Corpse is wearing no void suit. Cause of death is void exposure. Male human caucasian, approximately fifty years of age. Dressed in the uniform of a petty officer of the Damaris defence fleet. No signs of infection or other biohazards. Wrists are bound. Face is heavily bruised by blunt trauma"
"Bring it aboard and begin positive identification::"
Interesting::
"It would seem there was a disagreement about the meeting:: Theories::"
"So, beaten up and then ejected into the void? Mutiny...possible, but no other corpses was found so it is unlikely.
The trauma could be self inflicted, but the bound wrists make this unlikely.
A possibility is that the threat of voiding was used to extract information, after a beating. However, without further information it is hard to speculate as to who is responsible or what information they would have hoped to obtain.
They cannot however have been successful in extracting information about the battle plans as they are most likely not finalized at the planet yet.
An estimation of our combat strength is however possible, assuming a petty officer would have acess to that information."
|
Locke speaks first
"Your strategy in space is not without merit. The Aegis can run silent in the shadow of the Steadfast. Any attacking strike craft will not know we are there until they are committed to their attack. We would likely cripple the Orks' air superiority. Aword of warning, though. Their fighter bombers will be joined by assault boats. If we are to focus on their air superiority, the assault boats will get through. The Steadfast must be able to repel Orkish boarders"
I will be in personal command of the Steadfast's defence, on board ship. The men's morale is high, and the Clan-Kin quarters make the whole ship ideal for resisting a boarding effort. Our crew reclamation facility means that loss of manpower has a minimal effect; if we can keep the morale of the Steadfast high, we'll be able to repel most boarders with ease.
"seems like someone did not like something. Maybe there are traitors in our mist." Jarrion says, turning over things in his mind. "Enginseer Prime Sarvus, would you know of a way to locate this persons identity from the planets records? Or from those of the ship?. The Lord captain should know of this, he may have to send another team to instigate."
Locke speaks first
"Your strategy in space is not without merit. The Aegis can run silent in the shadow of the Steadfast. Any attacking strike craft will not know we are there until they are committed to their attack. We would likely cripple the Orks' air superiority. Aword of warning, though. Their fighter bombers will be joined by assault boats. If we are to focus on their air superiority, the assault boats will get through. The Steadfast must be able to repel Orkish boarders"
I will be in personal command of the Steadfast's defence, on board ship. The men's morale is high, and the Clan-Kin quarters make the whole ship ideal for resisting a boarding effort. Our crew reclamation facility means that loss of manpower has a minimal effect; if we can keep the morale of the Steadfast high, we'll be able to repel most boarders with ease.
Dante seems concerned
"Denying our defence monitors the support of the Aegis will likely seem them destroyed. Damaris needs those ships"
Reynolds ressures him
"Even without the Aegis our orbital defences should be adequate to punish and landing attempts. We have both the Ordained Destiny and the Starweaver. It will be the Aegis and Steadfast at risk of being overwhelmed, both by ships and boarders. I hope you know what you're letting yourself in for, Lucius"
"As the Lord-Captain said, the Steadfast is more than capable of repelling boarders; I have personally trained, or overseen the training, of the majority of our forces, and they will not disappoint."
Dante seems satisfied by the commander's words"You know what is best in orbit. It is my place to comment on the ground war. Using our armour aggressively is fine in theory. You are right we should look to do it, but such a mission may be suicide. We would need better reconnissance than we are equipped to provide to make sure such an attack hits home in the right place."
"I agree with your assessment regarding the need for the reconnaissance to best apply the armour, but the unfortunate fact is that we will not have much, if any, notice or foreknowledge as to the Ork's invasion plan. That is why the artillery must delay their advance as much as possible, so that they can re-position themselves for maximum effectiveness. Now, Orks are not my speciality, but I have spoken to some of my comrades that are more familiar with them and we should aim to send the armour to where ever the warboss is; if we can eliminate him, the Orks may begin infighting to determine a new warboss, which would be an excellent situation for us, as he will almost certainly be weaker."
"Damaris city does not simply have walls. There are transport networks in place to allow defenders to reach pressure points rapidly and in good order. These networks are divided into four quadrants - North, East, South and West. It is very easy to move forces within these quadrants and time consuming to move them between them. We will have to split the defenders into fours battle groups and assign them accordingly."
"Excellent. I will assume that you know the exact distribution of military resources in the city better than anyone else; am I correct? This, plus the fact that the majority of the troops are used to working beneath you and as such will respond to your orders in the most efficient manner, is why I will be relying on you for the specifics of the city defense. Now, are they any natural features, or other factors, that will likely force the Orks to concentrate their efforts on a specific side, or will we be forced to spread our forces equally throughout the city as there they will be capable of surrounding us?"
Eli sits calmly and watches the proceedings.
Locke nods at Tristan's assessment
"It sounds like the Steadfast is as daunting a target for boarders as she appears. I have seen first had the effectiveness of crew-clans. The Orks will have a fight on their hands indeed"
Dante manipulates the controls of the holo-display on the table before him. The city falls away, becoming a blot at the centre of an expanse of patchwork fields and small settlements. As he speaks, he pans it to various points of interest with practiced ease.
"The lake to the north will offer some obstical but it's not exactly hard to circumvent. The Levy bunkers concentrated to the north east would normally discourage attacks from that direction but in the case of the Orks will simply draw more forces to them. That and the fact that the body of water around Shard's Forge is narrowest when approached from that direction should mean that the Orks will attack more from the north east than the north west."
"As for the South, the area in that direction is more heavily populated than to the north. This will likely result in more Orks appraoching from that direction. Those settlements could make for good - if risky - ambush points for our infantry, but by the same token I'd be reluctant to send the Sphinx Heavy into such regions"
He zooms back into the city
"In general, gentlemen, we are surrounded by open fields. We cannot rule out attack from any direction"
Commander Kage narrows his eyes in thought as the General speaks and nods as he finishes. My expertise is not in ground combat, so I am sure Master-at-Arms Azrael will have more to say about that. But one of goals during the confrontation in the void should be to thin our their fighter escorts. Hopefully this will allow you to use your orbital defenses to force landings that best benefit your forces.
The Commander smiles as he thinks of the bunkers. If you can force drops from different ships to land near each other close to a prime target, you may end up with Orks fighting Orks to get to it first.
But above all, Orks are unpredictable. When you most need them to squabble, they'll come together. When they seem to have won, they'll fight amongst themselves, or run. They can't be broken, like normal troops. They'll fight or run, independent of how the rest of the battle is going.
Reynolds thinks Eli's words over
"We can't really force the Orks to land where we wish. If we had stronger air cover we could create no-fly zones, it is true. However, all our fighters must focus on protecting the city itself. On the brighter side, between them and and damage done by the Steadfast's ruse we will be able to stop bombing of the city."
He smiles
"As for our orbital defences, Defence Monitors will not be hearding or luring Ork vessels any time soon. They will, however, be hammering them like Vulcan's forge"
Dante adds
"We have one tool to control the direction attacks come from: the settlements to the south. Orks will be drawn to the heaviest initial fighting. If we place troops in the southern settlements the Orks will focus their landings there first. If, however, we leave those settlements deserted and stripped of useful material they will likely focus on the northern bunkers."
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The officer will be identifiable back on Damaris via public records. Here and now, however, the Steadfast doesn't carry such information. A tech use roll (+0) would allow the information to be requisitioned from Damaris remotely.
As for forensics, you are in luck. Normally a ship's abilities in that regard would be limited. However, the size and complexity of the Steadfast's community means she functions more like a city than a ship. She actually has enforcer stations scattered throughout her hull that include forensics laboratories. These will be able to carry out autopsies, DNA swabs and other modern-level forensics.
"Bring the biological matter aboard and examine it in full:: Continue the patrol route and head back to the planet::"
Sarvus continues to man the Captain's Throne uneasily but steadily.
"Orders received acting captain, duties will be carried out."
This trip may yet prove profitable, information is power, and in the right hands, can be used for power and profit.
You wait for six hours to hear the report from the forensic's lab far away in the hab zone of the ship. When it reaches you it tells you little that you didn't already know: the subject was beaten, then ejected. Close examination of his injuries suggestes his beating was sustained in a fist fight - whoever voided him didn't have that easy a time of it.
Furthermore, X-ray scans have revealed a metallic object lodged in his stomach, apparently after being swallowed. It is small enough to pass through his digestive system, so it must have been swallowed shortly before his untimely death.
"Shall we have them extract the object for further examination Acting captain?"
"Extract and deliver:: I will examine it myself::"