"Nope," Ngawai replies, then starts counting off on her fingers. "Don't wanna see it, don't wanna talk to your people, don't want to be somewhere with no spacecraft, don't want to be somewhere I can't shoot my way out of. You want my help planning, call me up. I'll be right here."
Stanhill dials Earth again and transmits the IFF codes. The Gateroom flashes back into view and the lead soldier across the countless light-years waves you through.
Mellish breathes a great sigh of relief as he touches down. Aq prostrates himself as he exits the Gate - Bello pulls the young driver to his feet as Oskell shoulders his way past. The soldiers in the room look to be a good group - experienced enough to land a top-secret job but stuck on guard duty nonetheless.
A few of those soldiers bring their rifles to bear when Swims-the-Black steps through the portal. A few others stare dumbfounded at their first real alien.
"Captain!" calls a familiar voice. Agent Sturgis, draped in full NBC gear, enters the room, stops, looks at the Whiirr, and follows with "I see you brought Chewbacca."
A small squad of white-NBC-suited techs rush into the room next, carrying an array of geiger counters and spectrometers. When they proclaim that there's no immediate contagion or radiation, the soldiers start gently pushing the Imperials in the contingent towards decontamination.
"What's going on?" demands Onas. "Where are they taking us?"
"Ease up for a second," Hugh calls to the soldiers.
"Decontamination," he tells Onas. "The ecosystem here is radically different from that of Imperial planets, we just have to make sure that you're not carrying any bugs from there and that the bugs here don't make you sick. Don't be alarmed."
He turns back to the group.
"And we're all going through decon. God knows what we picked up out there. Unless you want samples, Agent Sturgis, then it's now or never. I suggest you prep some lunch while your folks scrub us down. I don't do introductions on an empty stomach."
Angel follows the decontamination team without much trouble, handing his gear off as he does.
"I'd like a BLT, easy on the mayo, and some goddamned french fries."
He looks at the few resistance members he's made friends with. "C'mon, this isn't too bad. Some pretty nurse pokes and prods you for a bit while a medical officer makes serious sounding noises at a clipboard."
"I second the sandwich order," Davis says, and motions to Dunamis. "After decon, secure him and lock him down in a guarded guest room, no one in or out without my say-so, and keep him away from Varos." He turns back to their visitors. "And we'll be going through decon with you. After that, we'll get you settled in. Anything you'd like us to have on the other side? Food, information on our planet?"
Luis, like Mellish, sighs heaily when his feet hit good old Earth. There's a slight fracas over decon and the Cap has to make some quick explanations. He, too, places an order as they head to decon--burger, fres, Coke.
The clean fatigues feel unbelievably good and the burgers, sandwiches, etc. are manna after too many meals taken at a shipchef or MRE packet. Arketta guides the base staff in preparing some simple fare that should ease your Imperial allies into Earth cuisine without too many trips to the restroom. Spaghetti with a little parmesan, muffins, french fries, and toast get passed around the table of confused but grateful rebels. They show concern when Mellish comes back with an apple, but the simple act of eating a fruit without worrying about its lethality cements the fact that in a very real way they have come home.
A little later, you all are sitting in a briefing room with Agent Sturgis and General Hogue. Onas, Brinai, Jonnoperest, Bello, and Oskell are with you - their companions are enjoying the rec room for the duration of the briefing. Bello shifts uncomfortably in his slightly-too-small chair.
Sturgis opens up in halting Imperial. "I apologize for our spartan surroundings and the level of security. It is necessary for all our protection at this time. We have had Davis' overview of this joint strike on Boranai and the Repository on Napai - we're here to flesh out this operation and pool our resources however best we can."
Hogue follows up in English (with Sturgis quickly translating after realizing the officer hasn't learned or hasn't cared to speak Imperial): "The question is simple, gentlemen. What do you need to make this work?"
Luis is a bit cotton-headed--after so many long days on edge, he's still getting used to the lack of a new adreneline rush every ten minutes. He'll keep quiet, and keep a running translation for the Imperials as best he can. Hopefully, Sturgis will do the same for Hogue.
"A steady supply of miracles," Hugh says. He's too tired to even think about couching it in nicer terms.
"We consistently had problems with Imperial surveillance and fast response, Sir. Our enemy has a substantial advantage in technology and manpower. Every success we had came from throwing them a curveball, but frankly I'm very concerned about how long we can outsmart them on an encounter-by-encounter basis.
I'm sure our friends from the resistance can explain the security measures on Napai's Repository of Benevolent Spirits in more detail, but a successful direct attack would require that we capture and control multiple gates, including at least one large orbital gate, somehow hold off several capital ships, and that still leaves us with the ground and aerial forces on the planet itself, which I estimate to be at least division-strength. All of that's figuring that we need to shoot our way through them, though...I'd like to believe there's a way to sneak in if we start a diversion at Boronai and keep them focusing there, but either way we're talking about a massive effort.
I recommend that we look into alternative ways of retrieving whatever data we need."
"Which alternate means would that be?" Davis says. "You've seen what we're up against, Captain. No one here predicted we were up against such an huge enemy. Even if we find some other way of getting the gate information, it won't do us any good if we can't get a force large enough to challenge the Imperium, and unless our new allies here have some sort of secret battle fleet and a production capacity to back it up, we'll be wiped out no matter what we do. We can't run around in the shadows forever, sooner or later we'll have to stand up and fight. We need to catch up to them technologically and do it right now if we want to have a chance of surviving, and the only place we've heard of so far that has the information we need is the Repository, and in order to get in there, we need to have a distraction big enough to convince the whole Imperium to look the other way, and the best way I can think of to do that is an invasion."
"Boronai's going to be tough, but it looks like the weak point of the Imperial defenses is orbit. If we manage to capture or disable whatever capital ships are in orbit and sink the orbital gate, we can bring in the secondary gate from the edge of the system at our convenience. If we could get a few teams aboard a Needleship and capture it, it would make things much easier for us. For the surface assault, we can use whatever large freighters we can get to bring in armor, helicopters and support vehicles for the surface assault in advance. From what I know, Boronai only has one major settlement, so if we stay to the margins, organize in a perimeter around the city and then fall inward at the same time we hit the gate complexes, we stand a decent chance of capturing the city."
He pauses for a second and looks around the table. "Unless I'm completely wrong," he says with a slight smile.
Something half-remembered from his ill-fated college years twitters in Luis' mind as Hugh speaks. "Ummm...pardon me for saying so, but HUgh's right. We do this, we're declaring war. Isn't there a law that says a war has to be approved by the Congress, too? Because if they know what they'll have to to approve this war, then we're basically telling the entire rest of the planet."[/i]
Davis rolls his eyes. "Yes, let's wait while Congress debates whether or not we should be executed for illegally attacking a foreign power, whether or not anything we just found out is true or not, whether or not we should just surrender to the Imperium, and if all of that goes our way, whether or not we should declare war. This isn't my first camping trip, the timer on the War Powers Act starts the instant we invade the foreign power, not think about invading it, and everything before now could be easily classified as a science mission. If this plan works, by the time 48 hours is up, we should be clear of the Repository with time to spare and will have something to bring to Congress to get their asses in gear, and if not, we're fucked anyway. Now, can we get out of the kiddie pool and get back to planning?"
"Why would you ever tell your enemy you are attacking him first?" asks Onas, perplexed by the combination of language barrier and unfamiliar policy.
"Don't worry about it, gentlemen," Hogue barks. "Believe me, this has been discussed well above my own pay grade. Let's not forget that this 'foreign power' attacked us first - and attacked non-combatants to boot. I find it hard to believe that any of you have a problem with shoving your boots up their ass, but if you do, there's the door."
Assuming nobody leaves...
"All right, now I understand that control of these Gateways is vital. We don't have spaceships lyin' around, so that's where our new friends come in. Let's talk about spacecraft. What kind of capabilities are we talkin' about? What vulnerabilities do they have?"
"On the homeworld, it is considered uncivilized to attack a sovereign nation without declaring that you are at war with them first. This isn't about warning the enemy about specific attacks - it is warning them that you consider them hostile and will wage a military campaign against them. And, of course, in doing so you declare that to the rest of the world, so that everyone will know that the homeworld has entered into war with the Imperium. I imagine that just spreading this announcement could be a major blow to our enemy, as I'm sure more people would rally behind our common cause."
Admiral Duck Sauce
