>>1494734
>> “Give me some time to think.”

>>1494734
> “I’m in.”

> “Give me some time to think.”

“Give me some time to think,” you say.

“You’re in then,” she says.

“I said, ‘give me some time to think,” you hiss. Baxter tilts her head, then shrugs. She picks up your folder, then points to the folder on the mission.

“That’s yours to keep,” she states. “Study it. Then call me within eight hours. I’ll be waiting.” She stands up out of the chair then, pulls on her peaked cap. “You had a nice concert tonight, Lieutenant. Hope you have a good night.” She tips her cap to you, then sets out the door.

You lean back in your chair, alone in the dark room. It was just another room in the annex, set aside for your meeting with her. But sitting in this darkness now was giving you the shakes. You quickly switch the lights on full, letting you bask in the light. Good, good. To be frank, you weren’t sure if you had any choice in this matter. You do owe her a favor, and even then, she represents Military Intelligence. What they want, they get. After all, they asked for the Queen, and you brought it to them.

Question is really if you want to be a stubborn little bitch.

Mills steps inside, having stood guard outside the door. “Lieutenant. Everything okay?”

“Peachy.” You lean further back, slouching. You kick your legs up onto the table, taking the folder into your lap. “… tell me, Mills. What do you know about Colonel Holland?”

“Holland?” Mills shrugs, leaning on the table next to you. “Colonel Holland I met once. During my time as a Pathfinder. He always requested live specimens of Arachnids.” Really? Interesting. “He’s one of those people you know. The transhumanists.”

“Oh. Those lot.” You roll your eyes. Transhumanists. People who believe humanity can aspire to be something greater, yet don’t appreciate the lot they’re given in life. Spoiled brats. The only worse people than them are hippies and peacemongers really. “What does that have to do with it?”

“Well. I got to see the inside of one of those labs once,” he states. He shakes his head. “Suffice to say, that is probably the one time ever in my life I ever felt sorry for a bug.” The two of you are quiet for a few seconds. “… so what does this have to do with anything?”

“One of his outposts in the Inner Systems has gone quiet. The Lieutenant asked us to investigate,” you explain.

“In the middle of the tour?” he asks.

You nod. “I know. I said that to her.”

“Hm.” Mills rubs his chin. “Well. Up to you I suppose, Lieutenant. Girls may not be happy though. Charlie especially.” Right, right.

> Ask the girls their thoughts.
> Call Lieutenant Baxter to accept/deny the mission.
> “What did they do in those labs?”
> Other

>>1494929
>> “What did they do in those labs?”
>> Other
"also, can we squeeze this in the middle of our tour? Like, will it affecting our live schedule or something?'"

>>1494929
> “What did they do in those labs?”
> Ask the girls their thoughts.

>>1494929
>Other
"Can we schedule around it? Maybe if they give us a faster ship, just for this mission, we could do it?"

> “What did they do in those labs?”
> Other

“What did they do in those labs?” you ask.

Mills shakes his head. “Nothing I can particularly approve of. I remember seeing them slice open live Arachnids, seeing them writhe around. And that’s just one of them tame things. See at Starside RnD, you have to test what weapons are effective against Arachnids. So you bunch up some workers or warriors, stuff them into a big room, then you test a weapon them. New pulse rifles, lasers, good old fashioned bayonets. Other times it gets weird. They were testing some strange form of acid that was pretty effective.” He folds his arms, sighing. “Sometimes it got downright cruel in my opinion. They’d crush Arachnids slowly with large blocks, blast their legs off to see how effective they were.” He holds up a finger. “I remember a scientist implanted some kind of shocking device into the nerve case of an Arachnid. Imagine getting 5,000 volts through your brain and spine. That was what it looked like it felt. I can see it now, that poor bastard skittering around in its chamber, trying to bash its brain against the door. Almost killed itself doing it.”

“Jesus.” You lean back, frowning. “Nobody ever speaks about it?”

“Why would they? They’re just bugs,” says Mills. Good point you suppose. “Besides, everything they learn in Starside RnD probably saves another trooper’s life. They may have unnecessarily cruel ways of learning, but if it’s to win the war, then fine by me.”

“Fair enough,” you mutter. Still, the images in your head. Eugh. “Alright. Well, we can’t dwell on that now then. Far as we know, the reason why that base went quiet is because the bugs got tired of being test subjects.” Mills nods, understanding. “Question is if we can schedule it around the tour.” You hand the folder to Mills, and he takes a look.

“These coordinates,” he says. “They’re to the planet of Thrace, it’s an Inner System backwater, about three days from Earth.” Oh, Thrace? You remember that planet. Not much development on it owing to the ice sheets. That planet is in its own little ice age. Good place for an isolated research facility.

“Can we make it work?” you ask.

“It’s up to you, Lieutenant,” he says. “Three days travel, one day’s mission, then three day’s travel back to Earth? That’s only a week’s delay.” Hm. It could work. “Question is if you believe the girls are ready.”

“Hm?” You look up at him.

“This is a Spec Ops mission, Lieutenant,” he says. “Whatever Baxter told you about this assignment being easy, she’d be dead wrong. The scunners in Intel like to overestimate our chances. There’s a chance things could go wrong. Do you think they’d be able to handle that?”

> “No. I don’t.”
> “We’re doing it.”
> “I do.”
> Other

>>1495145
> “We’re doing it.”

>>1495145
>“We’re doing it.”

>>1495145
> “We’re doing it.”

> “We’re doing it.”

“We’re doing it.” You are going to admit, the girls may have a hard time if things go to shit. But you have faith in them. By Jove, you do. Their lives depend on their training. For now, you have to accept Lieutenant Baxter’s mission. If only to give them a real test out in the field. “Gather the girls.”

“Are you sure?” asks Mills. “They may not like it.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

-

-

“Nooooo!” Naka hangs her head low, pushing against the wall. “Our tour is being cut short!” Well. That figures. Olga hugs her from behind, also saddened by the news. Sena sits in the corner, confused while Stacy, Rosalie, and Charlie try and make light of the news.

Charlie says, “Lieutenant, does this mean we can go back to Myrmido then?”

“I don’t know,” you say. You explained that the mission would just be to Thrace. You had thought of Charlie asking if it would mean a further mission to liberate Myrmido.

Stacy says, “It’s a simple smash and grab anyway. Way I see it, we’re just going because we were conveniently here as opposed to another MI unit. I don’t think Baxter even expects us to face real combat.”

“It could happen,” says Rosalie. “And we should be ready for it. We should be –proud- in fact that Lieutenant Baxter chose us for this mission. It means she and the Federation have intense trust in us not to leak details or to mess the mission up.” She thumps her chest, determined now. “I say we go now!”

“But what about the tour!?” Naka steps in, distraught. “We can’t just abandon our fans! What about the music video? Or the show on Earth? What about all that!?”

“We’ll only be gone a week,” you say. “Plenty of time to let the organizers get everything settled. We’ll be back on tour before you know it.” Naka frowns heavily, not very satisfied with that answer.

Stacy huffs, folding her arms. “Right. How about we go and get ready then? We’re leaving now, aren’t we?”

“That’s right,” you say. “Let’s get going girls.” All the Idols start filing out of the room. All of them except for Rosalie. “Something the matter, Rosalie?”

“This is a vital mission, right?” she asks. You look around. Just the two of you. “I hate to admit it, I am a little nervous. I don’t want to waste our time running around playing archaeologist. They wouldn’t call us in if there wasn’t danger, right?”

> “Oh, you know how this goes. We go in, the base is overrun, yadda yadda.”
> “I’m sure we’ll see some action.”
> “We probably won’t. It’s smack dab in Federation territory.”
> Other

>>1495451

> “Oh, you know how this goes. We go in, the base is overrun, yadda yadda.”

>>1495451
> “Oh, you know how this goes. We go in, the base is overrun, yadda yadda.”

>>1495451
>> “Oh, you know how this goes. We go in, the base is overrun, yadda yadda.”

and omg its finaly back
my fav girls in power suits

> “Oh, you know how this goes. We go in, the base is overrun, yadda yadda.”

“Oh you know how this goes. We go in, investigate a little, turns out the base is overrun, we gotta exterminate, yadda yadda, blah blah blah.” Rosalie stares at you as you make this explanation. “I’ve had to investigate abandoned outposts dozens of times, this has happened a lot more than you think. Space is a big, so that means occasionally the Federation loses touch with an outpost or a base.”

Rosalie folds her arms. “And why would she need us then?”

You shrug. “Who knows. But have some faith.” You place a hand on Rosalie’s shoulder and start leading her out of the room. “Way I see it, Rosalie. This is an opportunity to prove yourself. We’re going into a live combat scenario. There won’t be any CDF to help us either. It’ll just be a pure Mobile Infantry mission. You’ll have to get used to that.”

“I see.” Rosalie is pensive, adjusting her glasses a little. “Alright, I understand, Lieutenant.”

“Great, great.” You pat her on the head a little making her blush a bit. “I expect you all to be drilling in the suits once we get aboard, alright?” Rosalie nods. “Okay. Anything else?”

“Just one more thing,” she says. Oh, what is it? “I… I’m not sure. But I have the weird feeling that this isn’t going to end well. What do you think?”

“We’ll be fine, I promise. Now go on, get.” Rosalie steps forward, then jogs ahead to catch up with the group. You fold your arms again, looking up at the ceiling. Weird feelings, hmph. This’ll probably just be a quick bug hunt, in and out you go.

Best not to tempt fate though.

>>1495735
Right, today was pretty slow. But we should speed things up tomorrow hopefully when I get back to work. Hope you all enjoyed regardless.

Follow at: https://twitter.com/GermanSchteel
Ask at: http://germanschteel.tumblr.com/
Book Tumbles: http://germanschteelbookblog.tumblr.com/

See you next time.

>>1495739
see you then

>>1495739
Just caught this session. Short and sweet.

>>1495739
Aw damn. Two quests finally return and I miss both. Just my luck.

You watch on your PDA the news about the short pause in the tour for the Starship Idols. Disappointed faces all around, some speculation on where the Idols are going from news crew, nothing too exciting really. For the most part, it’s all idle noise. What was more concerning was what Shannon Shujumi would do. You never put thought on it until just as you arrived back on the Jimmy Stewart. Shannon Shujumi could certainly use that week to build up more of a hatedom against your Idols.

You’re going to have to rely on the stalwart power of your fans to oppose that. Jesus Christ that’s a horrific thing to think.

Regardless, as you were going up the docking elevator, you see a young man wearing old style combat gear with a Fednet badge on his chestplate. “Lieutenant!” He yells out, waving his arm. Underneath his other arm appeared to be a camera as well, a very expensive looking yet rugged looking one too. “Lieutenant!” Your Idols stand behind you, confused, looking at him. He steps up, smiling at you. “I’m Robert Higgins, I represent Federal Network. The Ministry of Wartime Information has decided to assign me as your Fednet Liaison and in turn, I will be covering the war from the perspective of the Starship Idols!” He grins happily. “I can’t wait to get started!”

“Well.” You shake his hand, smiling at him. Short man, nice clean haircut too, a bit of pudge to him. But he’s quite young. “You seem young, are you er…”

“New guy,” he says. “They assigned the position out of high school, I took an advanced journalism class. Plus I apprenticed directly under Major Hawkins, you might know his show?” Hawkins’ Hawk Hour? Trashy show, yet very informative on the war. “I must say, I am excited! I can’t wait to get into the war!”

Olga slides in front of you, grinning. “Does that mean you get to record all of us during combat?”

“That’s right,” says Higgins.

“Ooooh!” Olga shakes with glee. “Make sure to get my good side then! I love it!” She happily shakes Higgins’ hands.

Higgins nods. “Yes, yes, ehehe…” Higgins blushes a little, looking away. “Er, eh- So where do we start then, should we-“

> “I was just about to brief my girls on the mission. You can wait outside. It’s classified.”
> “I guess you can go ahead and get yourself acquainted.”
> “First off, do you know how to fight?”
> Other

>>1497420
> “First off, do you know how to fight?”

>>1497420
>> “First off, do you know how to fight?”

Always important to know.

> “First off, do you know how to fight?”

“Well, first thing’s first, Higgins.” You fold your arms. “Do you know how to fight at all? Have you been formally trained in combat?” His grin drops immediately. Yeah, that says everything.

“Well… no,” he says. “But-“

“Right. Listen,” you say. You hold up a hand, smiling. “We got three days, we can definitely get you up to speed. Have you fired a gun before?”

“Once,” he admits.

“Okay, well, that’s a start. Well, my girls are usually drilling and training with Sergeant Burkett,” you explain. “Sit in on them. See what you can learn. You probably won’t be using a suit initially, it’s not something you learn very quickly.” You say that after your Idols did learn how to use a suit in just about half a week. “But you might have your uses. I don’t allow any man in my units who can’t fight, understood?”

He nods, thumping his chest with his fist. “Understood, Lieutenant. I won’t let you down, I promise!”

“Awesome!” Olga wraps her arm around Higgins’ shoulder, then points ahead. “Come on, camera guy! Let’s go train! I can show you all kinds of things, and in turn, you can have the pleasure of recording me doing… Mobile Infantry things!” Higgins nods slowly, adjusting the lens on his camera nervously.

Naka huffs, folding her arms. “Poo. I was hoping I’d get to have a cameraman follow me around.”

Stacy shrugs, then says, “If we records us in the showers, I’m gonna kill him.”

Charlie quirks her brow, sneering at Stacy. “What, are you shy?” Stacy pushes Charlie away.

> Let the Idols train in the hangar for now.
> Relax for a bit, de-stress.
> Go over the mission plans.
> Other

>>1497622
>> Let the Idols train in the hangar for now.

>>1497622
> Go over the mission plans.

Hell yer just got off work

>>1497622
> Go over the mission plans.

> Go over the mission plans.

-

-

You sit in your room looking over the mission details alone.

Lieutenant Baxter has given you a pretty detailed outline of the mission location and the expected method of operation. The research base codename Frostbite Five is a fairly significant base smackdab in the middle of an ancient ice sheet. Very little in the way of fauna, very little in the way of interlopers as well considering Thrace’s isolated position in the system (far from any nearby celestial bodies and bearing no moon either), this meant Frostbite Five enjoyed a very quiet life. At least until now.

The base was at least two kilometers in size and width, with a six meter high perimeter fence surrounding it with periodic gun turrets lining the top. The buildings on the surface mostly for storage. It was the tunnel network below that had everything, administration, laboratories, armories, the whole nine yards. And the personnel size was expected to be somewhere in the area of around two hundred people.

The base has been quiet for now. And the investigation team consisting of an MI squad from a nearby Transport Corvette Harold H. Moon also went missing searching the base. No audio logs from their expedition, nothing.

The strange thing is though, Thrace is in the Inner Systems, and nothing suggests that the Arachnids could have found it out. Not unless they directly shipped Arachnid specimens there of course. Though more valuable stuff like your Queen or the Brains would likely be shipped to more secure facilities that can be supported by other nearby assets rather than an isolated outpost. That’s assuming this is the case with Hydra One.

So enemy strength should be nil.

Then again, expect the worse. The gun turrets if they’re online and hacked by some rogue element will be dangerous. Their caliber is 20mm, firing high explosive dual purpose magnetic pulse rounds, enough to seriously damage a suit. Not to mention that around the perimeter are minefields, with paths through them for trucks leading to the outside. The mines however are smart mines and should recognize your suit signatures, but again, rogue elements. The mines, being purely high explosive, are harmless on their own. But enough of them could cause sympathetic explosions which could maim one of your girls.

And lastly, if you’re going directly into the base, it’ll be tight quarters. You’ll probably have Rosalie scout ahead with a snooper first, then go down.

But for now though, how should you approach the base?

> Drop in directly from above.
> Drop in from outside the base and approach on foot.
> Go in via shuttle and hope someone is still down there that can be contacted.
> Other

>>1497708
>> Drop in directly from above.
wont have to worry about mine
and if w can drop next to the door we could out run the guns
if they turn on and can fire back onto the base

>>1497708
> Drop in from outside the base and approach on foot.

>>1497708
>Other
Look up how the previous team planned to enter the base and avoid that method.
Try to remotely connect to the base's main computer from the ship in orbit.

>>1497708
> Drop in from outside the base and approach on foot.
Gives us a better opportunity to reconnoiter before engaging.
also this
>>1497739

> Drop in from outside the base and approach on foot.
> Other

Looks like the plan for now is to have Naka try and establish a connect with the base’s systems from orbit. Hopefully that FTL training has paid off. After that, you can drop in outside of the base and approach on foot. Either way, you’re going to be facing those guns. Best do it from a position where you have cover you suppose. There’s not much of it out there, but better on the ground than in the sky.

You gather the notes together and set them to the side of your desk. You’ll brief the girls once you arrive at Thrace. For now, you have to just sit on it and let the girls drill and train up themselves. They’re going on mission, that means they need to be ready at a moment’s notice for anything. Just as you will be when-

The door opens. “Lieutenant.”

“Yeagh! What the fuck-“ You look at the door, almost jumping out of your seat. “Oh. Burkett. What do you want?”

“We need to talk,” he says. You nod, motioning to a chair in your office. He takes it and slouches down on it. “It’s about the mission.”

“What about it?” you ask. “Did Mills tell you the details?”

“Most of it,” he says. “I’m more concerned about you however.” Oh? You tilt your head. He leans back, folding his arms. “Lieutenant, I think it’s best you let the girls handle themselves for this operation.”

“You what.” You squint at him. He what? “What are you on about?”

“They’re Idols, but they’re also troopers,” he states. “The girls need to learn to able to operate independently without you. A simple investigation like this? It’d be a good opportunity to let them learn how to make decisions. Heck.” He leans forward. “You might even be able to pick out a squad leader out of this.”

“This isn’t about my drinking or about my own issues is it?” you ask.

He shrugs. “If you go down and you die. Do you think the girls would be able to handle that?” You blink, leaning back in your seat. “I’m not telling you to stay on the ship. I’m just saying that you need to let the girls grow a little. Let them see the war without you. Who knows, they might handle it well.”

> “Piss off, I’m going down there with them.”
> “Maybe you’re right. I’ll stay.”
> “We’ll see when we get there.”
> Other

>>1497944
> “We’ll see when we get there.”

>>1497944
>> “We’ll see when we get there.”

>>1497944
>> “We’ll see when we get there.”

>>1497944
im for going down there with them but we arnt the boss
they call the shots
and we can steap in if shit gets tough

>>1497944
>“We’ll see when we get there.”
Maybe we'll just be on standby in a capsule, ready to come down like the fist of an angry god if the girls need backup.

> “We’ll see when we get there.”

“We’ll see when we get there.” You point to Burkett, crossing your legs. “I appreciate your concern for the girl’s growth though, Sergeant. I suppose you’re not all that bad after all.”

“I didn’t make Sergeant just because I was good at killing and hiding,” he says bluntly. “Way I see it, Lieutenant, you can’t deploy to all of their ops. Heck, one day you might need to split the team. One goes and does concerts, the other goes on a bug hunt. You’ll have to choose who to help then.” Fair point. You lean back against your seat heavily, sighing. “Besides, consider this a bit of payment.”

“For what?” you ask.

“For not dressing me down in front of the girls,” he says. “You know, knowing what you know about me.” Right. The coward thing. He shakes his head slowly. “I’d hate to disappoint them, I know they look up to me. Probably not as much as they did for Dune as I hear. But… they’re fresh. They’re impressionable.”

“They’re kids, Burkett.”

Burkett nods. “Unfortunately, kids are all we have left to fight the war. And pretty soon, we won’t have anybody left if we don’t finish the bugs off now.” He stands up. “So, whatever Colonel Holland has cooking in those labs, it better be worth it.” He salutes you. “Lieutenant.”

“Dismissed, Sergeant.” He drops his salute, then steps out of your room. He exaggerates. It’s not just kids that’ll be left to fight the war, right? There’s plenty of civilians in the Federation… though if they weren’t encouraged to enlist then, they probably won’t be now. But what about getting citizens to re-enlist? Experienced soldiers. But, a lot of them leave the service for good for various reasons. It’s not like you can just force them to come back.

No. He’s exaggerating. He has to be.

Right?

File: __wo_class_aircraft_carri(...).jpg (114 KB, 850x486)

114 KB JPG

>>1498145
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsv1YOFNys

Unfortunately, this is where we end this week's Starship Idols. Sorry for the shortness, but at least it's good to be back, yeah? No LGA2 this weekend either as I'll be out of town and technically on vacay. Hope you all enjoyed.

Follow at: https://twitter.com/GermanSchteel
Ask at: http://germanschteel.tumblr.com/
Book Tumbles: http://germanschteelbookblog.tumblr.com/

See you next time.

>>1498153

Thanks for the fun, boss.

Anything planned for the vacation, or just pleasant sloth?