Mission Briefing VL-624

[Creator]

Hancock System, Heading to the outer system, Dauntless Fury
1/3/2759
0900 Hours


The briefing room was not that full. Only a few of the chairs were all taken, and many people were chatting amongst themselves. Some were saying that the ARM might be back and the systems that they might be attacking. The planet most talked about was Rohan the most corrupt planet of all the colonies; it had a reputation for being a place for terrorists. The ARM fit the profile, after all they were one of the most notorious organizations that killed without mercy or warning. Targeting anyone who stood in their way, and Rohan was one of the planets that could help support and underground terrorist organization. The walls inside the room had multiple displays of information. Some had displays of the latest military news, while others gave tips on how to give first aid. The room had been remade while the troopers were on Hades base. The entrance door had a few new capabilities; it had been upgraded with a scanner that everyone had to use to enter. The door had a rather convenient device that when one approached a camera would run a scan over the person’s left iris before retreating back into its convenient case.

The seating had been changed and now each person had his own chair, it had lights in the back of it that were always dimly lit. When one sat down a small desk came up from the right that had a smaller holographic display of the area of operation with an overall outline for the unit the person was in. this was done by the scan that had been taken earlier, each chair had a identification device that when the person sat down it the desk had its own scanner that ran and identified who was sitting in it. The stage had also changed as well the left of the stage had the podium; the center of the stage had a large screen that was also holographic projected. The material in the room looked very metallic but brand new at the same time. There were lights along the edges of the room that shone bright light towards the ceiling and the stairs also had their own lights. The room was now state of the art as it should have been during the last campaign.

The atmosphere was tense. Suddenly Lieutenant Casey shouted “Officer on deck!” and came to attention. The entire room came to attention as Captain Jones came onto the stage, he had someone to the right of him and not the Company XO, Lieutenant Harry Williams. This person had light brown hair, small nose and lips. He didn’t stand out that much. He looked normal if there was such a thing. The person was wearing a light red button up shirt with long brown pants and shoes. He looked like such a normal person. “At ease, Kilo Company.” Captain Jones said and came to the podium, he dimmed the lights and the screen behind him turned on. “We are going on a rescue mission. This mission is of the up most importance as we only have limited information on the situation. We are hoping that once we arrive in the system we can assess the situation and hopefully help the colonists.” The screen then showed a new system, not the Hancock system. It had the name Alpha-001 labeled on the upper right hand side. “This is the newest system being colonized by the Republic, it currently has only one planet that has the colony. The star H56 is a brown dwarf. And the planet is called VL-624 the colony itself is called New Saigon. It was colonized in October of 3357 , it stopped sending regular communication around April or May of 3358. The colony has a contingent of five hundred scientists, specialization ranges from oceanography to biology. The colony was set up to study the planet and learn about the eco system, atmosphere and see if it could support a larger colony than New Saigon. The colony also had a company of Special Security personnel to provide it protection against anything they might encounter. I will now let Gerry Black from the Public Relations Office of the Energy Department of Human Corporation take it from here."

He stepped forward. “Hello my name is Gerry Black but don’t let me being in the company fool you I’m really an ok guy. The colony stopped communicating with us and we are required by law to respond with Special Security. I know many of you distrust us but please do we are here to help these people. Let me share with you the dossier of people who are of vital importance, these people must be found. The Colonial Administrator is Phan Taum and is in charge of the entire colony. He is the leader and will most likely know what is going on and we will help him in whatever way we are able to. In charge of the Special Security Company is Major Gerry Blake. Blake is a very confident and outstanding leader within Special Security. There are other people listed on your dossier please look over them after this briefing. For all we know the problem might be a transmitter that has been destroyed in a storm, a solar flare might of fried the satellite that sent communications, it could be an ARM attack the hydraulic dam that we built might of broken and back up power might be gone. A disease could of wiped out the entire colony, we do not know what has happened to the colony of New Saigon.”

He then sighed a little and spoke up “This colony is important to us, we are hoping that everything is going well with it as we were planning to shortly survey the system that Alpha Zero Zero One is connected to. Humanity needs to begin colonizing again if we are to advance as a race.” He wanted to say more but Captain Jones spoke up. “Thank you mister black.” He said and the Human Corp official took a step backwards. “ We are traveling with back up this time. The Special Security ship Jacques René Hébert with one company of Special Security personnel will be enroute. Captain Shauna of Fourteenth Company is joining us and will assist us. Now here are our mission objectives.” He said. The map then changed from a system view to a picture of the colony. The screens on the chairs also changed to a view of the colony “We will be going down into Sparrows on this one, we will be launching on Janurary ten at thirteen hundred hours. We will first secure the landing field and the communication tower. First platoon will search the living quarters and secure them. Second platoon will head towards the administrative building but you are under no circumstances allowed to enter the Special Security buildings. Third Platoon will secure the science buildings and Fourth will search the health center. Once those are secure and I will then issue new orders as the situation on the ground will be fluid. Special Security meanwhile will check the surrounding forest and valley all around us to look for any sign of the colonists. We will the access the situation on the ground and see what we can do. Questions.”

[Berlioz Lamond]

As he listened to the briefing, Berlioz became more and more confused, this was an awful amount of military firepower basically being sent to check if someone's radio was working. That said, if communications had been lost last year even in April, that would have been nine months of silence, an extremely long time to wait. He figured he'd ask the question and see who else agreed with him.

Berlioz raised his hand to catch the Captain's attention before speaking, "Is it possible to know why it has taken so long to do something about this colony? If they stopped communicating back in April of last year then effectively New Saigon has been silent for 9 months, which is an awfully long time, why was nothing done after a few weeks or a month at most? On another note, why are we using so much manpower for this mission? An entire Troop Carrier and a dedicated SS Frigate? Is this level of force necessary for a mission that has zero confirmed enemy presence?"

[Lucien Vinigan]

He felt there was something odd about this briefing, other than the heightened security everywhere, a human corporation member who amusingly enough, almost shared names with a Major he spoke about. As Lamond also seemed to quickly point out it was an awful lot of support for a visit which was long overdue. When they tried to capture general sneer he was sure they had less support.

After Lamond had asked his question, Vinigan raised his own hand "What is there on this planet? This amount of turrets seems a bit weird for a science colony. And in case of atmospheric static or jamming devices would we have anything to counter that?" he asked curiously still being very sceptical about this entire mission. Not because of opinions about the SS or politics like some had but because it sounded like a load of bullshit.

[Xara Shawcross]

Xara was the new girl so she sat in silence listening to what the O/C and the Company man had to say. Carefully.

That they had lost comms was one thing; that they were saying it was a rescue mission was another thing entirely; the Captain, she surmised, had fluffed his lines - let the cat out of the bag, as it were.

However, the questions began - and neither Vinigan or the other chap who asked about lack of contact seemed overawed by the O/C - even if they were just PFCs. She raised her hand and waited for a nod.

"Sir. Given the lack of intel and the ... amazingly good fortune ... to have Special Ops along for the ride wouldn't it be an idea to send a small insertion team in first to recon the area. If it is just a downed transmitter, then we don't need to ride in a la Flight of the Valkyries and scare the civilians. If, on the other hand, something has gone wrong, the recon team could let us know what we're up against. Sir."

[Wei Zhour]

The briefing was short and to the point….and everyone asking qustions were asking the wrong kind. They really had no idea what kind of stuff was going on at the colony, and didn’t these people know the navy once it reached orbit would attempt communication for 48 hours and run a detailed scan of the colony? But something was odd……why would they want to colonize a place just for population? Zhour also spoke up but this time actually asked a real question. “Captain Jones, I see on the map of the colony that there are two Special Security buildings are we allowed at any time to enter those, and also is the hydroelectric dam automated or manned by someone? If it is in fact automated could it be the dam had some sort of malfunction and cannot be repaired by the local colonists?” He couldn’t wrap his head around this mission. Either Captain Jones was not telling them (which was most likely not true, Captain Jones was an amazing officer and had stuck up for his troopers) something or this Gerry Black was with holding information.

Human Corporation was perhaps the most corrupt organization within the United Colonial Republic…..and if Special Security people had been called in then the company was not telling the military everything about the situation. No, something was not being said by Mr. Black and for once Zhour felt afraid. This mission was going to be one big cluster fuck. What was Mr. Black withholding? And why?

[Christopher Reed]

Reed was a little nervous. Yes it might be a downed transmitter, but the other question was what if it was ARM? What if ARM had some how come out here while a good portion of the military was fighting them on Sisyphus, that would be disasterous. Those murdering ARM nuts would of probably mutilated everyone down there. But then again why would ARM come here just to kill a few hundred people, who had automated turrets and a company of Special Security providing protection….something was odd about the mission. He had no doubt that the Human Corporation representative was lying but Reed couldn’t tell what he was trying to hid from them all. Something here was on this planet that the company wanted, and they wanted to make sure they had all their tracks covered. Was it possible the Special Security unit had gone rouge instead and killed the colonists, took out the transmitter and lived off the land? That was about the most plausible explanation for he couldn’t of thought of anything else.


Reed nudged Huxley, “Maybe it was the True Ones.” He said and smiled a little. He was referring to a movie released a few years back that told the story of aliens attacking man kind, who were called the True Ones. These aliens attacked humans for having the wrong religion, and it started out similar to this, some little scientific outpost on an asteroid went dark and the military was sent in. The military ran into the True Ones and the war began. He was not trying to be funny about the situation it was just ironic how the plot for that movie and this situation in real life were similar. Reed then studied the lay out of the colony and noticed the religious areas. He couldn’t help but notice the Christian church. He smiled a little, perhaps it was a Lutheran church like he grew up in. It saddened him to think that those people who attended might be hurt in some way. Once he got down there he would do everything he could to help them. Reed waited for the briefing to be over.

[Michael Hobbar]

The briefing was strange to him. Hobbar watched with suspicion as the company representative walked onto the stage and began to speak. Why was there a company representative here in the room during the briefing? If this was supposed to be a clear rescue op then there shouldn’t have to be two starships rescuing over five hundred colonists….the Dauntless Fury was able to house eighty thousand troops as well as one thousand and seven hundred naval personnel. This was not adding up, and he suspected that Human Corporation had something behind the scenes going on. Captain Jones was probably one of the best if not the best company commanders for the entire division. He never lied to his people and would personally help them out in stick situations. One such incident was Lamond snapping a few months back last year in the hanger bay. He also remembered how he stuck up for Huxley and how furious he grew when he heard that the accident was part of some prank that almost killed someone.

As far as defenses went for the colony, it was standard for small settlements. He remembered on Thallus a small mining community had built walls with automatic defenses. Most small settlements had a small police force and had to rely on automated defense turrets to protect their community from large gangs or some unfortunate incident. It had become even more standard when ARM first arose, people were afraid they would destroy small settlements. It was not until after a year of ARM being around military planners, planetary governments and the Republic realized that ARM was only focusing its attacks on Special Security facilities and anything connected to it. But they never hesitated to kill innocent people in the mission area. Hobbar gritted his teeth a little but kept his mouth closed. If those bastards had come here, the entire place was probably wiped out with no one left alive.


And it was such an easy place to attack that was if the dam had been destroyed, as well as the back up generators. If this was some new disease then the company would have to be very careful and lord help if the disease was airborne. They would have to be placed under quarantine to prevent transfer of it off planet and out of the system. He listened as the Captain told them which platoons would do what on the ground during the securing of the colony. New Saigon didn’t look that big even if it did have over five hundred colonists. It looked more like a very small village if anything. But villages all had their secrets that no one wanted to get out. And New Saigon was hiding some sort of secret. Why was it hiding that secret and more to the point what was that secret? The Special Security company commanded by this Major Blake (why not a captain?) who answered to Human Corporation was most likely keeping the company’s secret about this place to himself. That was if he was even alive. Heck the colony might of revolted killed the Special Security soldiers, and decided that they didn’t need an entire company of soldiers. Captain Jones then asked the room for questions, the lieutenant had none.

[Stephanie Amberson]

They hadn't clearly defined special security had they? Leave it to the person briefing to leave out what special security actually consisted of. Half the time Amberson was racked in with them and half the time she was stuck with the platoon. Instead of opening her mouth she figured she would find out sooner or later. The woman was paying attention but her mind was far from on the job at the moment. It had been one hell of a "vacation" for her and right now she was trying to make the best of things. This was one huge ass large scale rescue operation and usually that consisted of her shooting things to get the job done. Well people weren't things but Stephanie was one of those people who categorized them as such.

Her eyes never left the ground as she listened, unless she was being spoken directly to by a superior officer that was pretty normal when she was in these types of moods. The woman hoped that things would kind of explain themselves more as they went. She had her suspicions too, not to mention the rescue operation on her own forces had gone bad years ago. Right now the woman wanted to do everything BUT obey orders but she knew what the Lieutenant would say about that and she would be out of a job so she stayed shut up. However, she shot Hobbar an 'I don't agree with orders' look hoping that he would catch it out of the corner of her eye.

[Alex Huxley]

Alex tried to get a feel for his very first mission briefing ever but it seemed everyone was just as confused as him. Essentially they had come to his unit to go check out to see if the colony was okay. They lost contact 9 months earlier with that colony and just now are going to check in? They said it could be nothing and this is just a courtesy call but if that was the fact why were they mobilizing such a large force. Not only that but if they were just showing up to see if everyone was alright why were we landing and immediately securing buildings. Alex stood up and went to attention, "Sir, I'm a little more than confused on some of these points. You say that we lost communication 9 months ago and we are just essentially going there as a courtesy call to check up on them. If that were so why are we so worried with getting off the Sparrows and immediately securing and checking buildings. What would the need be to secure buildings if we shouldn't be worried about anything."

Alex wasn't going to straight up say 'what are you not telling us' but he hoped that his statement caused enough ripples to get an answer to that question.

[Creator]

Admin Post
Hancock System, Heading to the outer system, Dauntless Fury
1/3/2759
0925 Hours


Captain Jones had a flurry of questions. Most of them he was able to answer but there were a few which he didn’t even know. “Allow me to state that we are at the farthest star system that is populated by mankind. When a message is sent to Sol it takes anywhere from six to nine months. However the UCHD as a whole has separate military districts inside space. Our immeadite command is based in Seldon. Now From what mister Black has told me it was in fact Special Security who did not share it until two months ago who have their operations in the outer colonies based in Seldon same as us. Vinigan you were wondering why this planet has heavy defences even for a scientific colony, mister black?” he then stepped aside and Gerry stood in his place.

“The reason New Saigon has large defenses is two fold. First we have never had any colony on this planet. There might be an indigenous population of wild beasts that might pose a threat, we don’t know anything about the planet. And second, we are afraid of an ARM raid.” He let the room grow silent for a few seconds. “This planet has no natural or valuable resources that we have been able to observe. But this is actually a good place for a trade post.” The diagram then showed the planet of VL-624 and it then zoomed in on a planet next to it. It was a large gas planet, a little smaller than Jupiter. Highlighted around it were the various small moons there were a total of twenty in orbit around the plant. “This is VL-Six Two Three and has multiple moons that have high metallic bodies. We want to use VL-Six Two Four to start a colony this being New Saigon that can become a support base for mining operations’, process it locally and then ship it back to other colonies. This is why we colonized VL-Six-Two-Four.” Black’s voice became low and very icy. “ As for anyone thinking of entering the Special Security Barracks or Special Security Administrative building. No one from the Special Drop Corps is allowed entry. If any of you do so you will be detained by Captain Shauna and placed in detention aboard the Jacques René Hébert.” He then smiled again and stepped aside allowing for Jones to return.

“Another question I have had that has been asked is why are we going into the system with such a large force. We are doing this because if there is an enemy presence we would like to have some firepower to back us up. The ARM might of taken out the entire colony and actually might be using the planet as a new base of operations. We might be dealing with a rouge Special Security outfit whom have killed the colonists and destroyed the communications tower. We currently possess noting to counter jamming when we go ground side however both starships can counter jamming for us to a certain degree. Fourth Division did not think it was necessary to bring along the Force Recon detachment with us. As you all understand Force Recon gathers intelligence in hostile environments and only fights if they have to. " He then took another breath before continuing.

“The Colony only has basic supplies but would of gotten heavier equipment to repair the dam from the colony starship Roosevelt which has also gone missing while enroute to the system. The navy is running its own separate operation as I understand it. As far as checking the buildings, like I said we don’t know what’s really going on down there. The situation on the ground will most likely change when we enter the atmosphere. If the colony needs to be evacuated we can help the colonists , grab important items and be on our way. The colony might be taken over by the ARM. We do not know what’s going on at New Saigon.” He then looked over everyone. “We will be hitting the worm hole in two days at 1400 hours. Exactly at 1400 hours be strapped in your bunks or somewhere else. I don’t like loosing people when the Dauntless Fury makes transition. Your lieutenants after this briefing will hand out the dossiers on the important people for this mission to keep a look out for. Good luck and dismissed.” The lights then came back on and the screen on the stage turned off as did the small maps on the desks that people were viewing.

[Cordelia Heart]

Cordelia couldn't have believed what she was hearing and yet it seemed unreal. As if this was all going on in the simulation room and someone is about to jump out from the stages trap door with a laser gun; then the whole tactical team storming in afterwards.(Similar exercise happened the week before,took out 9 guys including Hobbar). Coming back to reality.
She turned to Alex and Lucien who were sitting next to her, they looked as confused as she was and when she used her peripheral vision to eye the back room, at the moment it felt as if they were all synchronized. Pure silents, most expressed a stone hard look, others looked dazed, and some started to break in a sweat especially the new recruits. She couldn't help but feel the unease herself, I mean sure this wasn't the first her and the team was left without a paddle but this felt different; she started to develop a pain in her chest. ignoring it, she leaned over to Lucien whispering; ''what do you think about this?''