"Operations", Part 1
- Date: July 3, 3029
- Planet: Twycross
- Location: Leopard-Class DropShip "Shadowfox", Briefing Room
Mikell stepped into the briefing room of the Shadowfox, noticing everyone was there waiting for him. "Oh good, everyone is here." He blinked, and noticed the eight 'MechWarriors crowded around the display table, along with Eva on one side. "Oh damn, everyone is here." He scooted in, and Olivia reached behind him to close the door. "Okay, well this is important anyway. Let's get started." He moved to the table controls and typed at it. "I'd like to welcome our new 'MechWarrior who is joining us just in time for this mission. Let's give a welcome to Aubrey Duchen." The young man lifted a hand in a vague wave. "He's here to see what the mercenary life is like."
Almost immediately everyone chimed up. "Low pay." "Bad food." "Worse coffee." "Weeks of no sleep." "Going to a wonderful vacation spot and seeing none of it." "Ugly girls who you can't shoot." Aubrey glanced from one to the other, and frowned as the last came out of Simone, while Kelly hadn't spoken up. Mikell sighed, exaggerating it, and then made a calming gesture with his hands.
"Okay. Enough. Next up is the contract." He reached down and flicked the table display on. There was a flickering of the lights, and Aubrey looked up. "Don't fret, it does that sometimes." Eva nodded and shrugged, sipping from her mug. "The target we are after is in an operational zone known to the LIC as 'The Rookery'. The planet name hasn't been revealed to us officially, so if any of you know what it is?"
"Keep it to yourself." Reginald said, softly. "We don't want anyone knowing where we are, and we want even less for them to know we're here on a mission. Far as they know in system we're here shopping for 'Mechs."
"I thought we still needed some?" Otto spoke up, and everyone looked at him. "Sorry, just, I'm doing the head count-"
Mikell raised his voice, speaking over Otto for a moment until the other stopped speaking. "This is why Simone is going to take Casey and Vandal to go look at a juicy prospect. It's a hot, juicy LCT-1S Locust which has been decommissioned and is being offered by the local garrison for sale. I expect it needs a lot of work before it will be worth the effort. But it is a BattleMech."
Vandal patted Otto on the shoulder, leaning in to stage-whisper. "Looks like you're getting your dream ride, Otto."
The younger 'MechWarrior shrugged away from the hand. "Oh, go kiss a Snake." He muttered, scowling at Vandal.
Vandal just smirked and leaned back in his seat. "Done that, but you need to keep an eye on the fangs."
"Are we done teasing the poor man? Good. Otto, it's not your ride." Mikell said, and shook his head slowly before pointing at the table display. "It's called a smokescreen. So it's even worse - you're going to have to pretend real hard it's what you always wanted and try to make it seem like we really want this thing. It's a battered old Locust and if any of you promise to buy it I will put you out in a firing range in the thing and shoot missiles at you until you pour out of the holes."
Simone paused to get up and clamber around people to the coffee maker in the corner. "So, why are we here?" Casey asked, as she focused on the table. "And aren't you going to need me in the Valkyrie?"
"No, you're needed to be visible out and about. You're good at that. Kelly." The dark-haired woman jerked her head up softly. "I need you in the Valkyrie with the rest of us. We're going to be having a good ol snipe hunt."
"Okay, I'll try not to disappoint." She said softly. Mikell watched Simone come back with coffee cups and passing them out. Kelly declined, and Mikell considered the change in her since the new medication Irene had found was being used. He'd get a chance soon to see what happened, but for now she seemed quiet and subdued, simply absorbing everything being said. Simone continued passing out coffee until she was out of it, and sat down next to Casey.
"So, we're hunting snipers? That's dangerous." Olivia said, sipping from her cup and wincing. "Simone, come on, less sugar more cream."
Simone frowned at Olivia, but Casey shrugged and sipped at her cup. "Then get it yourself next time." She grinned across the table at Olivia, who simply stared as if determining just how much she wanted to push this.
Mikell cut that train of thought off before it could get away and ruin the briefing. "Okay, focus." He clapped sharply, making the trio jump slightly.
Olivia raised her head and titled it as she looked at him. "Don't you say that without coffee-"
"-is where you're about to be for a week if you keep interrupting the briefing." Mikell cleared his throat. "A snipe hunt. The Lyran Intelligence Corps is convinced there's new technology somewhere out here and we have to locate it. Luckily we have a few options and the officers and I have reviewed the data, thought about what it is and where the site could be before throwing a dart at a map this morning."
"Really." Otto asked, looking at the table.
"No." Mikell tapped controls and brought up an image of a hilly area with plenty of trees. "We think there's a base here in the heavily wooded areas to the west of these mountains and presume this is where the Davion forces are testing it. According to the planetary data I have, there isn't much out there this season from what data we have, since the logging crews don't harvest until the rainy season ends. Oh, yes, rain. We're going to be dealing with a lot of that on deployment so be sure to check your 'Mech's cockpit seals."
"This sounds fun already." Reginald muttered under his breath, and rubbed his finger along his lips before leaning forward. "Do we know what we're up against as far as defenders?"
"On the one hand, this is supposed to be a secret so I doubt they are parading around Assault-class BattleMechs or vehicles to draw attention to themselves. On the other hand? This is supposed to be a secret so I'm sure they're thinking to put in enough defenses to make a casual raid think twice." He sighed softly, shaking his head. "I have thought twice on this, but the pay is good and it's probably not as bad as I expect."
Olivia glanced at Reginald and raised her hand. "Are you invoking Murphy? If you do, I'm going to bail."
"I didn't say it, and you aren't going to get me to say it."
"Murphy?" Otto glanced between the trio. "What are you on about?"
"Don't worry about it now." Reginald lifted his fingers lazily to make a vague wave. "Look it up when you're out of the briefing. We don't jinx our operations by saying it during the briefing."
"You really believe in that superstitious-"
A tap of Mikell's boot heel on the deck interrupted the conversation and he spoke with a sharper tone now. "Okay, next interruption, I'm going to have practicing juggling live grenades." Mikell pointed at Aubrey with a thumb. "You'll note the new guy isn't questioning anything."
"Out loud." Aubrey said, glancing at him nervously. Mikell turned his head to stare at him. "Sorry."
"No, no, you're lucky. I'm not having you juggle grenades, because we need the grenades." Otto hid a smirk at that, as Mikell tapped the table controls and brought up a unit interface to show the four BattleMechs which would be on the field. "Reginald, you've got Theseus. Olivia, you're in the Warhammer. And Kelly, like I said, I need you in the Valkyrie. I saw your simulation data and you're good with Light 'Mechs so you'll be our forward scout. We're pulling this at night so they have less of a chance seeing two Heavies and an Assault stomping towards them."
"If we're lucky, they will think the ground shaking is from loud music. Or a thunderstorm." Olivia quipped, drawing a chuckle from everyone at the table.
Mikell sighed, and decided an example was needed now before Olivia ran away with this too much. "Okay, Olivia, just for that you're not going to go in without your machine gun ammunition."
Her eyes widened, and she sat back in her chair. "Hey!" She scowled, spreading her hands. "You know as well as I do the only reason we drop at night is because any other time they'll see us well before we get there with our Lance. We're not built for scouting."
"And we're working on fixing that."
She set her cup down. "No, we're here pretending to buy something which would fix it, which we don't want."
"Okay, keep it up and it's decaf from now on until I deem you contrite enough." He folded his arms, and met her eyes steadily.
She froze, staring back at him and saw the resolve in there, before sinking in her seat. "It's still a bad plan." She muttered, making Reginald's eye twitch.
"Olivia. If you keep muttering, I'm stocking soymilk."
She flinched. "I'll be good." Several people chuckled, and Mikell knew inside he'd managed to prove the point. Olivia, however, was still looking to amuse herself and glanced around. She noticed Reginald smirking through his mustache. "What are you smiling at, you're coming with on this."
He spread his hands. "Yes, but an Orion isn't going to be taken lightly even if it's going to be spotted coming. And I don't have machine guns for him to take the ammo away."
She stood up and pointed a finger at him. "Okay, that's is inexcusable!" She turned to Mikell. "Sir! Permission to show up Reginald a duel in the simulator before we leave?"
Mikell laughed, and made a motion. "Granted. We'll get the popcorn. No matter who wins, it'll be a good show." Olivia picked up her cup and drained it steadily before slamming it down on the table just hard enough to make it shudder. Aubrey glanced up as the lights flickered to dim, and didn't brighten again. "But whomever loses, I want wearing a bow after."
"Do we get to pick the color?"
"No."
- Location: Salmacis Base, Hangar
"My personal coffee maker. Since people keep recalibrating the other one, I decided to get my own. And there are techs still trying to use it, so I put that on there. I would put a biohazard sign on there, but then they might take it seriously." He snorted. "For once. And I don't want to buy another one." He glanced up to Mikell. "And what can I do for you, commander?"
"I need you to meet us on Ryde once we pull off this mission. If there is new tech I want someone to look it over to be able to give them a report on it. Since you're the best technician here-"
"Thank you for qualifying it, it means you expect I'm not the best. Who's fixing your 'Mechs again?"
Mikell ignored that. "-I really do need your eyes on it, and you can't go along since there's just no room right now for you on the DropShip. Really no room, I would have to bunk people tighter in there. So what I need you to do is get a trip to Ryde in the next couple days. After you get the Griffin to a point where it's ready for non-critical repairs."
"Uh-huh. You don't know what you're asking with that last, so I'll just assume you mean the point where it needs paint and the ammunition loaded. Three days, and I'll be putting all the crews to work." Louis glanced around. "And what if I can't figure out this new tech you think you'll find?"
"Then no loss, we turn it over." Mikell shrugged. "I expect you would still be able to tell me something about it. Is the gamble worthwhile, in your opinion?"
"Aren't you going to order me to do it anyway?"
"Not if you think it's not worth the effort. Do you think you can figure it out?"
Louis looked thoughtful, and tapped his foot a couple times, giving fractional shakes of his head as he let his mind wander. "What I can promise is determining if it's new tech or not, and possibly tell you what it does. How it works? Replicating it? That's not something I will guarantee, or even hint at being able to do without years of study and experimentation." He looked back. "So does that answer your concerns?"
"Yes. I would like you to inspect it so we can be sure we're handing over new technology as opposed to just some fancied-up Lostech."
Louis shrugged a shoulder. "Then I'll see you on Ryde." He turned and walked towards the Griffin; to him the conversation was over, his part done. Mikell watched him go, then turned around and headed for the 'Shadowfox'. It was time to hit their launch window.
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