"Well, we're already going to be doing one or two suicidal things that day, what's one more?" Davis says with his trademark smile. "I've got a few ideas for how to deal with the Truthseekers. If at all possible, I'd like to have them send the data to us. Is there any kind of central external backup area, or are we committed to hitting the Repository itself? Something that we can tap into or hit that's less difficult to get to than the Repository?"
"If the ROBS has a backup, I don't know about it and it's probably not worth drawing attention trying to find out," Jonnoperest replies. "The intel we have between me, Onas, and your Alef-ka is more than most people in the Imperium would ever know."
"Well, I guess it's through the front door, then," Davis says. "How about a distraction? Would an attack elsewhere, on another planet, take guards away from there or would they lock down the whole facility?"
Onas says, "A sufficient attack might draw some of the outer forces. This gets us inside, or it might clear a path out if we are already inside and undetected. The security inside I believe is fairly dedicated to the Repository... but it is also comparatively light."
"Hm..." Davis looks over to Arketta. "How long would it take you to train a small group of people to be a Turai quad? Tactics, hand-to-hand, lingo, everything?"
"Depends on whether we use your people or natives. Myself, Onas, probably Oskell, Ahaz, Tais... maybe a day or two just to get our backgrounds straight. If your soldiers can speak Imperial, then perhaps a few weeks. That's with one of us doing most of the talking. If it's going to be a majority of your people, then it will take longer."
"We'll have as much time as you want, it'll probably take some time to get organized enough for an invasion." Davis shifts his gaze back to Onas. "If one wanted to invade a planet, say, Boronai, how would you go about it?"
Onas grins slightly as he hears the question. The rest of you remember the golden "sunballs" and the murder spree through Mesas Negras. "From a footgate, I assume?"
Davis nods. "Well, some of the heavy equipment might need to be delivered via freighter if we want to have armor on the ground right away."
"But the first strike comes via a Gateway," Onas assumes. "On... Boranai, for example.... hmm. You must gain control of the entrance Gate as well as any orbitals as quickly as possible. Assuming the element of surprise, any sufficiently large neutron weapon should give you some time to move. Then, you need forces in space coming in from the orbital simultaneously with the footgate alpha strike. If you don't need the orbital, send it into reentry. At this point, you are at the top of the gravity well and you control the only channel for outsystem reinforcements."
"Where does that put the orbital gate?"
The big rebel frowns. "Orbitals rarely survive reentry, but if you can spare the forces to bring it down safely, an ocean blocks an orbital better than anything you could do in space."
Davis asks, "And getting it back up if we want to bring anything in that's bigger than the foot gate?"
"If you have space superiority, you have no problem. If not... there are outsystem gates in nearly every system, at the edge of the usable planets. I don't know Boranai's exact complement of orbitals."
"You would need a Keeper, or one close to them." At this, Arketta gives Davis a sly grin.
Davis grins and shakes his head. "I think I have a pretty good idea about this, but go ahead."
"If orbit is not an option, then your invasion must become a hit-and-run. Hold the footgate, do your business, get out before their reinforcements arrive and ortillery you. As for blocking an orbital... there is no foolproof method except for the Akwhela's Eye over Napai, and that is because the installation is... well, it is gigantic," Onas continues.
"As large as your Delaware," Arketta adds.
"A ship trying to block a gate is not moving, and in a battle that means you are dead," Swims-the-Black says. "If the battle is over, then maybe, with a large enough ship."
Davis asks, "Well, what would it take to get orbital control, then?"
Onas takes back over, saying, "Raze any defense fleets and platforms. It's the same alpha strike as the ground assault. Power an active portal as long as you can to prevent reinforcements - but at our best we cannot power a portal that size for more than a few minutes. Block it, sink it, or destroy it before they can take advantage of the portal timeout. When the portal drops, they will swarm through."
"Okay," Davis says. "So we're going to have to be cut off, at least for a little while. We can capture and block the secondary gate, and move that in once we've established a foothold. As for the rest of it, that's something we're going to have to take up with our military once we get back to Earth. How much longer before we've spent a few days, real time?"
"Maybe 8 hours, 10 at most."
"Well, we've got some time to kill, then. Unless there's some huge reason why we can't invade and hold Boronai, I'm gonna pass out."
Hugh listens to the strategizing with a worried expression. It seems that this operation is getting bigger every time they talk about it.
"What concerns me," he says, "is that we're planning to take and hold a major Imperium base for what sounds like hours at the least, with all the attendant death and destruction that would cause. This operation doesn't exist in a vacuum, you know, we're doing it for the data in there and any further chaos we produce is pretty incidental, at least to my thinking."
He looks at Onas.
"Your information has been very helpful, but I'd like to make contact with my superiors - I can't authorize anything of this scale alone and we might need to reconsider if the possible results would be worth the manpower and equipment we'd have to commit. I seem to remember dimly that we originally just wanted to sneak in and gather some info...and after hearing about all the security measures and space superiority and deorbiting gates, it sounds like a lot of trouble to go to."
"We're going to have to run a misdirect in order to get in close enough to get at the Repository anyway," Davis says, laying down with his head on his pack. "If we try to do something like that on Napai, it'd be a suicide mission. So we need something that's off-world, yet big and dangerous enough to put the whole Imperium into a panic. A full-scale assault on Boronai would definitely qualify, and plus, if something happens to us in the Repository, we're in position to make a run at the Keeper's Spire and we still have a chance at getting intel and doing some damage. We're obviously going to need some serious military backing, from both Earth and the Bashakrans, but if we can take care of the orbital situation, then capturing and holding Boronai should be possible, right Onas?"
"It will be a hard fight," Onas agrees, "but yes."
---
Jonnoperest goes through the Gateship's systems, cutting out the connections to the Gateway that would otherwise store the codes to Earth. Luis watches the cyborged Bashakran at work cutting thin strands of cable and patching in connection putty. He doesn't discern any foul play.
Hugh gives the order and the Gateway gets dialed. The glyphs glow, indicating a connection but no active portal. Diego Garcia's hydraulic press must still be correctly blocking the gate.
Another few minutes of radio codes and credentialing gets a welcome squawk over your radios.
Luis lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding at the incoming signal. He thumbs his radio, "Copy, Diego Golf. Delta Team Alpha reporting partial mission sucess. Status is green. We found some friendly locals, thought they might like a tour. Area is secure on our end, over."
As he completes the transmition, Luis realizes he may have overstepped his authority and turns to Hugh. "Uh, sorry if I stepped on your toes, sir."
OOC: I just made up Delta Team Alpha as our official mission designation. If you had one in mind, ADS, let me know.
Hugh keys in the security code through his radio, keeping his body between the rebels and his fingers. He makes a mental note to have the code changed as soon as they're through.
"Please secure your weapons," he tells the rebels. "When we step through the gateway, we'll be on the homeworld."
The sound of everyone getting ready for the gate to open wakes Davis up, and he grabs his pack. "I guess I'd be good on a half-hour's sleep for now..." He starts organizing his thoughts for the debriefing, figuring out where to put Dunamis and other cleanup jobs from this operation.
Diego Garcia cuts the Gate connection after Hugh transmits the credentials and then the code to the Gateship. Barely a minute passes before the portal activates from the Earth side - this time with a full portal accompanying the golden flash. The gateroom back on Earth is visible across the interplanetary doorway. A quartet of MAARS drones (the Delta team counts a 20mm counterpart to Semo's cannon as well as a full-fledged .50 cal amongst the robots' armament) scan the portal, then roll back to accomodate a sizeable contingent of soldiers from the adjoining rooms.
*All right, visual confirmation complete, awaiting your redial. See you soon.*
The portal winks out, and after a few more minutes the Gateship pronounces its artifact ready for another connection.
"Hey, don't take too long," Ngawai says. "There ain't much to do on this heap."
"Yeah... um, if it's all right, I think I'll stay here too," Dunamis Kon offers.
"We're not going to be coming back here for a while, if at all, so if you've got anything sentimental stashed here Dunamis, I'd let us know so we can pick up. Besides Ngawai, why would I want to leave an important member of our team behind?"
"Because we - " she motions as to mean 'Earth' and 'Imperium' - "are not that different. And if we're not that different, our leaders probably ain't that different, which means anyone from this side going over there stands a better than good chance of bein' interrogated, imprisoned, who knows what."
"I told you before - I don't care where you're from and I don't have a suicidal urge to see your dumb Homeworld. These guys (Ngawai nods to the rebels) are headin' for disappointment, because nobody that good at killin' comes from a utopia. Finally, I'm not yours - or anyone's - to command. I'm stayin' here. I'll wait a week... that's what? A couple months, your time?"
Davis smiles. "Well, fortunately for you, unless something drastic has changed since we've been there, we're not nearly as...antagonistic as the Imperium can be when it comes to talking with new groups. They'll know that you're with us and that you can be trusted, and my word should carry some weight in these matters. Ask Arketta, we're good to the people we know we can trust, whatever side of the gate you come from."
His smile takes on more of an edge when he looks over at Dunamis. "And as for you, I was trying to be polite. You've done well so far, but only out of self-interest. You're still our prisoner, so you get to come with us whether you like it or not."
"Well, is there any kind of guarantee I can get that could convince you otherwise? We could really use your help in planning the hit on the Repository."
"I'll add my word to Davis's," Hugh says to Ngawai. "And when we dial in, we can negotiate conditions with some of the most influential people on my planet. You don't like what they have to say, you can still wait here, but believe me...there are nicer places to spend your time in. Besides," he adds with a smile, "wouldn't you like to see the homeworld?"
punkey
