>>1549315
>> Head to the tactical operations room, see what’s what.

>>1549315
>> Head to the tactical operations room, see what’s what.

> Head to the tactical operations room, see what’s what.

-

-

The Tactical Operations Room was where the Fleet Tactical Liaisons planned the mission out. The room was large, and at its center was a holographic image of the planet Thrace. All around it were computers and monitors showing scans, xenograph readings, mission reports, the whole nine. It was relatively incomprehensible to you seeing how you were only a Lieutenant. So you have to give some respect to the Fleet for being able to do this. You fold your arms, looking at the tactical map arrayed before you. It was a twenty kilo by twenty kilometer map of the area with the base in the center. Naka lays it out to you. “The strike team will deploy ten kilometers to the south of the base. I picked this location because the ice dunes will provide some amount of concealment and cover from the base guns in case they’ve been hacked.”

“What about the mines?” you ask.

“Smart mines,” says Naka. “But just in case, Olga has been equipped with a disposable mine roller.” The push mower? Eugh, you always hated how stupid that thing looked. “Once she’s through, we’ll mark the path in case they need to make alternate exfil out of the facility.” Naka hands you a datapad. “Here’s their objectives.”

> PRIORITY ONE: Investigate Hydra One

> SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:
> - Shut down base guns
> - Search for survivors
> - Retrieve/Destroy sensitive information
> - Eliminate hostile elements

Right, simple enough you suppose. “One more thing,” says Naka. “Lieutenant Baxter is not officially part of the chain of command so she’s not technically leading the mission. Sergeant Burkett would you like to assign him an XO to lead a secondary fireteam. He feels you know the girls well enough to know who has better leadership.”

Leadership hm? Well…

> Select Rosalie
> Select Olga
> Select Stacy
> Select Charlie
> Select Fina
> Select Daiko

>>1549544
>> Select Rosalie

>>1549544
>Select Rosalie

>>1549544
> Select Rosalie

And we will be standing by to drop if required

>>1549315
Also can we get a wright up of the girls gear, suits and wepons they can use/bring
So that they can change them out for differnt missions?

>>1549657
Yeah, I'll get to work on that in time. Not now though.

>>1549679
Thats ok
Im happy to wait for it

> Select Rosalie

“Rosalie will be the ASL for the drop. I got some notion she’ll do some good down there.” For the most part, Rosalie as the scouttrooper will be able to coordinate the second team effectively based solely on both her patriotism and her freedom of movement. At the very least, maybe you’ll see if she’s got some hidden command talent in there. If not, well… you suppose you can teach what you can.

“Right.” Naka taps a few buttons on a keypad on the table. “Strike Team.” Screens showing the girls’ portraits along with Sergeant Burkett and Lieutenant Baxter as well. “Are we all ready?”

Rosalie calls out, her portrait now bearing an ASL insignia. “Rosalie, ready to move!”

Stacy calls out, “This is Stacy, primed up and ready!”

Olga yells out, “Olga! Good to go!”

Charlie says, “Ready to move out.”

“Er- uh… Good to go!” Daiko says hesitantly.

“Ready to roll!” says Corpsman DeSilva.

“Team’s readied up, we’re dropping in ten seconds,” says Sergeant Burkett. “Remember, girls! Stay in close formation, don’t wander off. Lieutenant, call it.”

Lieutenant Baxter says, “I’ll be dropping via shuttle after you lot.”

“How luxurious,” says Stacy.

“Stow it, Stacy.” Burkett silences the giggles that go out after that. “Lieutenant. Anything to say to us before we go?”

> “Good luck.”
> “Hold, I’m gonna go with you guys.”
> “Don’t die.”
> Other

>>1549807
>> “Good luck.”

"Feet First. Stay Safe."

>>1549807
>“Good luck.”

>>1549807
> “Good luck.”

>>1549807
>> “Don’t die.”
and im standing bye if you need me

>>1549807

> “Good luck.”

> “Good luck.”

“Good luck. All of you.” You take a deep breath. You’re going to need some serious drinkage at the end of today. “Godspeed.”

“Alright. Initiating drop sequence,” says one of the Fleet Controllers. “Stand by for coordinates.” A crosshair appears on the designated drop zone. “Sending co-ords to pod nav. Heat shields active, rockets ready. Pods ready to launch. Traffic, call it.”

“Sights zeroed in,” says the drop traffic controller. She grips the trigger as if about to fire a pistol. She flips down her data visor, focusing now. “Simultaneous drop in three, two, one. Drop.” She squeezes the trigger. The ship shakes from the recoil of the pods launching. You see the streaks of the pods leave the ship on the holo-display, showing them taking a slow de-orbit burn around the planet. “Strike Team away. ETA thirty minutes.”

“Thirty minutes to mission start,” says Naka. “Lieutenant. Looks like we’re in for a cakewalk today.”

“Don’t jinx it,” you say back. Naka nods, pulling on her headset and sitting down at her computer. You tap your feet as you stand over Naka’s shoulder. You actually remember the civilian staff for now. Because it’s a military operation currently going on, they’re confined to the dormitories to stay out of people’s way. Who knows what could happen after all? You watch the holo-display.

Takes you back actually. You can already feel the rattling of the pod, the beeping of the computers, the heat of re-entry at your feet. And yet you’re standing here watching it happen from a computer. Such is the life of a Fleet Tactical Liaison.

Finally, they reach the stratosphere. “Dumping pods!” yells Sergeant Burkett. They pop their pods, letting the debris serve as chaff. Drag chutes deploy, slowing their descent and allowing them to pop their jump jets to serve as further braking. Lieutenant Baxter’s shuttle comes in behind them as well. Finally, they hit the ground. “Strike Team deployed! Everyone ready?”

“Ready!” The Idols all land without much of a fuss. You let yourself breathe, thank God.

[1/2]

>>1550144
[2/2]

“Alright, form up on me.” Lieutenant Baxter’s shuttle lands among their formation. And quickly stepping out is the Lieutenant herself. Sergeant Burkett says, “Lieutenant, stay behind us.”

“No need to tell me twice,” she says back. The group starts advancing in tactical column to the base. They should arrive there in about an hour or two.

Charlie shivers a little. “It’s fucking freezing out here!”

“If you think it’s freezing now, wait until you’re out of the suit on this planet!” Stacy says back.

“Quiet down,” says Rosalie. They continue their approach to the base. “Deploying snooper, stand by.” As she does that, you hear an alert.

“Naka.” One of the Tactical Liaisons calls out to her. “We got an issue.” Naka rolls her chair over to her, and you come over as well to see what the fuss is about. “Base defenses are offline.”

“Really?” you ask. “Completely?”

“Completely. We’re bouncing the signals off of the suits,” says the Liaison. “Smart mines, inactive. Base turrets, inactive. Base alarms, inactive. It appears something just turned everything off.” That’s strange.

“Can we re-activate it?” asks Naka.

The Liaison nods. “If we can get one of the troopers to stand by one of the orbital relays. They’re all surface-link so it should be trivial to reactivate the defenses.”

> Hold off on reactivating it until the base is secured.
> Have the girls reactivate it as soon as possible.
> “Your call, Naka.”
> Other

>>1550150
>Find out why they were shut down and make sure there isn't any Bugs in the IFF system before reactition.

>>1550150
>> Have the girls reactivate it as soon as possible.

>>1550150
>> “Your call, Naka.”

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It's getting late and we're still at an impasse. So I'll end it here for the night and pick it up tomorrow. 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.

>>1550342
thnaks

>>1550164
Seconded.

>>1550150
>Other
Find out why they were shut down; Bugs or Skinnies might have hacked the IFF system.

>>1550150
>Hold off on reactivating it until the base is secured.
Whatever danger there might be, it's not outside the base, so the defences won't do us any good.

> Other

“Have the girls find out how they were shut down, make sure there aren’t any hostiles in the IFF before we activate them,” you state.

“Fair enough,” says Naka. She taps her headset. “Did you get all that?”

“Loud and clear,” says Daiko. You turn around to the tactical map. The girls are now on approach. “We have visual on the base. Turning on SL helmet cams now.” You receive two screens, one from Sergeant Burkett’s view and the other from Rosalie’s view. Technically speaking all suits have helmet cams for the Tactical Officers to take in, but usually they only really need the suit cams from the squad leaders.

“Alright. We are green on visuals,” says Naka. You look at the base now. High walls, dotted by periodic turrets. It sat on a flat plane surrounded by ice boulder fields and high snowdrifts, perfectly defensible position. The girls approached at normal speed. “Right, Strike Team is currently at tactical disposition Code Blue.” Code Blue was the default tactical disposition for Strike Teams on the ground. All forces march at regular pace to keep formation and engage when fired upon. Simple enough. Code Red is usually when things hit the fan. And only once in your life have you ever had to order a Code Scarlet.

For now though, it seems things were A-OK. The gate in was a massive one. But thanks to the defenses being offline, it was no match for suits working together. “Olga, push it,” says Rosalie. Olga, being the Tanker in the group, charged at the gate and slammed into it. She forced open a gap between the two doors. The other girls quickly exploited this and shoved the door open, allowing a small entrance to be made. “Nice work.” Rosalie faces Olga, who appears to be bouncing in glee in her suit.

“Thanks!” Olga flexes, slamming her fists. “I love these suits! Daddy doesn’t make them any better than this!”

“Alright, Naka.” Sergeant Burkett calls up to you all. “Do we have a map of the base?” So far on visual were the various prefabricated structures along with the massive warehouse and hangar storage for air vehicles.

“We do,” says Naka. “The buildings on the surface are storage with the big warehouse doubling as a hangar for shuttles. In that warehouse is the loading elevator that’ll take you down to the underground level. It’s laid out in an 8x8 grid pattern, you’ll end up in the loading dock first. Administration is to the south, dormitories to the north, labs to the west, and to the east is secure labs as well.”

“Secure labs?” asks Charlie.

[1/2]

>>1552685
[2/2]

Lieutenant Baxter says, “Secure labs is for classified projects and the like. Only I’m allowed in there.” She pauses for a second. “Hold it.” Everyone stops in their tracks, looking to Baxter. She’s still dressed only in trenchcoat and uniform with high cap. And yet she appears not to be cold. She touches her forehead, thinking. “… I’m sensing trouble.”

“Running xenograph scans now.” Naka points to a fellow officer, who initiates the scan. The map is swept over by a red line. But nothing pops up. “Hm… xenograph is negative on targets. Not even filtered heat signatures either. Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” says Lieutenant Baxter.

“Lieutenant.” Sergeant Burkett calls up to you. “What’s the score, how do we do this?”

> “Let Rosalie decide.”
> “Proceed with caution.”
> “Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”
> Other

>>1552686
> “Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”

Also how are they to protect her if they cant go into the labs with her?

Also lest she if shes right or talking bullshit

>>1552686
>> “Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”

>>1552686
> “Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”

>>1552686
> “Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”

>>1552686
>“Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”

> “Hold there. Trust the psychic’s instincts. It might be a trap.”

“Hold there. We’ll trust the psychic’s instincts for now. It could be some kind of trap. Investigate the surface buildings first before the tunnel network. Two to a structure.”

“Got it,” says Burkett. “By teams. Let’s go.” With that, the Strike Team starts separating into teams of two. Sergeant Burkett with Lieutenant Baxter, Rosalie with Stacy, Olga with Charlie, Daiko with DeSilva. You fold your arms, watching them spread out through the surface facility first. Rosalie and Stacy step into the warehouse, finding the massive doors opened up to the snow and frost. Inside are dilapidated crates, weather-worn equipment, and… nothing else.

“Er.” Rosalie looks around. “Shouldn’t there be a shuttle here?”

“… there should be,” says Naka. She looks through the logs as more and more information gets gleaned from the facility. “Hydra One’s SOP states that there be a shuttle on base at all times.”

“And this warehouse is big enough to fit three,” says Stacy. “Where did they all go?”

“Interesting.” Baxter interrupts as she looks through one of the storage buildings. “It appears somebody’s stolen most of the fuel supply for the shuttles too. Somebody took the shuttles and ran it seems.”

“Place looks untouched though,” says Charlie. “Somebody should’ve tried to stop them, right?”

“That’s what we’re here to find out,” says Baxter. “Rosalie, send a snooper drone down the loading elevator.” With that, Rosalie detaches the drone off of her shoulder. It wobbles and whirs as it flies through the air. Rosalie hits the switch, and down goes the elevator. The snooper whirs, beeping as it maps out its location through SONAR. An additional camera feed is available as well to you and to the Scouttrooper.

So far, the tunnels appear to be dark. The drone switches nightvision on, revealing even more neglected metal tunnels and structuring. This base appears to have been abandoned a while. The snooper goes west towards the labs down the first path. Everything is laid out in a grid so it should be a straight shot there.

But the light of the nightvision suddenly illuminates your worst fear. It’s a suit lying on the ground. “Oh my God.” Rosalie whispers to herself. “Is he dead?”

Naka swallows nervously, scanning. “… I-… It’s one of the troopers from the previous mission.”

“Any vitals?”

“Th-…” Naka squints at her computer. “This can’t be right.”

“What is it?” you ask.

Naka leans back. “He’s… alive. Barely.”

> No trooper gets left behind. Retrieve him immediately.
> He might be rigged as a trap. Keep pushing the scout forward.
> “Your call down there.”
> Other

>>1552889
> He might be rigged as a trap. Keep pushing the scout forward.

>>1552889
>> He might be rigged as a trap. Keep pushing the scout forward.

>>1552889
>No trooper gets left behind. Retrieve him immediately.

>>1552889
> No trooper gets left behind. Retrieve him immediately.

Get the deone to poke him to see if he gose boom

>>1552889
>Other: He might be rigged as a trapl, get backup before checking him out

> He might be rigged as a trap. Keep pushing the scout forward.

“Skip him.”

“Pardon?” Rosalie asks for clarification it seems. It’s ruthless but you don’t want to risk it. “Y-… You want us to just leave him there?”

“He might be rigged as a trap, keep the snooper going. Keep scouting.”

“He could die though,” Rosalie says quickly. “We should-“

“Keep the snooper up. And keep scouting things out.”

“Y-… Yes, ma’am.” You fold your arms, sighing. You watch as the snooper takes its time mapping out the grid of the underground section. He wasn’t the only trooper down there. There were more suited troopers laying about or knocked over. Very little in terms of vitals. But all of them were alive, barely. What you could see of the underground base was that it appeared to be quite disheveled. It was as if someone had tried to leave in quite a rush. Or there was a struggle too. There were bullet marks along the walls periodically, some sprays of blood as well.

In the labs, you even saw corpses of scientists and engineers. Magpulse rounds however are not exactly gentle. So they weren’t corpses so much as frozen pulp at this point. “Eugh.” Stacy seems to be checking the footage as well with Rosalie. “What did that?”

“Magpulse probably,” says Charlie. “Plasma would just disintegrate and leave burns.” Leave it to the CDF trooper to know the difference.

“Charlie’s right,” says DeSilva, confirming it. “These wounds are more consistent with magnetic pulse ammunition. Magpulse tends to explode and rip. Plasma’s more of a burning thing.”

“The Bugs can’t be using magpulse though,” says Olga. “That’s lightyears beyond them!”

“Yeah,” says Rosalie. “They’re just dumb bugs aren’t they?”

“Ask the Lieutenant if they’re just dumb bugs,” says Charlie. “… Lieutenant Baxter, what exactly was housed in this facility?”

“Classified,” says Baxter. “Right. We’ve seen what we can from the surface. But I need to get into the secure laboratories. I suppose you’ll have to escort me down.”

Sergeant Burkett says, “I’ll send down Rosalie with you along with half of the team. The other half will stay here to guard the entrance and act as reserve. Rosalie, take Stacy, Charlie, and Fina with you. I’ll take Olga and Daiko and we’ll stay here.” Conveniently putting yourself in the back, Sergeant. You won’t mention it though.

Naka looks back at you as things start getting under way. “Lieutenant, you look nervous.”

> “No shit.”
> “I’m fine.”
> “Pay attention, Naka.”
> Other

>>1553186
> “I’m fine.”
> “Pay attention, Naka.”

>>1553186
> “I’m fine.”
> “Pay attention, Naka.”

>>1553186
>“I’m fine.”
>“Pay attention, Naka.”

>>1553186
>“Pay attention, Naka.”
> Other: Piece of advice: always expect shit to hit the fan when on an op with Intel; that way you'll be prepared

>>1553186
> “Pay attention, Naka.”
But y are they just almost alive??
Gass or something?
Or just that cold?
Hmmm something isnt right

Sounds like something/ someone has broken out or something

> “I’m fine.”
> “Pay attention, Naka.”

“I’m fine.” You place your hand on Naka’s head, then turn it back to the screen. “Just pay attention, Naka.” She nods nervously, then goes back to watching the screens. Sergeant Burkett’s screen is still focused on nothing but snow and ice for now. But as for Rosalie, she now escorts Lieutenant Baxter down the elevator. “Rosalie, you alright down there?”

“Yeah,” says Rosalie. “Just have to stay calm.” Everyone turns on their suit lights, shining down into the tunnels. They start heading towards the secure labs, stepping over some blood and frost gathered on the rickety floors. Lieutenant Baxter leads them on, squinting as she walks forward. “Lieutenant Baxter, do you still have that bad feeling?”

“Yes,” she says. “But it’s faint. Keep on your guard.” The squad continues heading for the secure labs. Suddenly, their screen flickers. What the? Rosalie taps her helmet.

“I’m getting static,” says Rosalie. Her screen starts bursting into static and distorted audio.

Naka runs another scan, then blinks in surprise. “Lieutenant! There appears to be some kind of jamming device in the base, it just went active.” What?! You look down. Jamming signal detected. It’s cutting their communications. “Hold on, I’ll try and boost our signal and overpower it.” She starts fiddling with the dials. “Rosalie, come in.”

“---barely reading you here.” You take a deep breath. Rosalie’s screen comes back, but it’s now getting thrashed by bits of broken static. The squad has stopped, looking around their surroundings. It’s tight quarters for sure, they’re almost arm to arm in there. “—cover the Lieutenant!” They box up around her, aiming their weapons.

“Got a reading!” says DeSilva. “East and closing!” Rosalie and Charlie level their weapons down that direction.

And find a trooper standing there, Magpulse rifle in hand. He stands stiff as ice. “Trooper!” Rosalie calls out to him. “We’re here to help, identify yourself!” No response. What the hell?

His shoulder railcannon suddenly levels down at them and fires. “AAGH-“ Rosalie’s screen cuts out.

“ROSALIE!” you scream. The tac room is now alive with activity. Contact with the squad underground has been lost.

“What happened!?” yells Burkett. “Rosalie, come in!” His signal starts cutting out too! Shit, what the FUCK IS GOING ON!?

> FUCK IT, GET A SUIT
> “Get them out, now! Now!”
> “DO SOMETHING NAKA!”
> Other

>>1553425
>> Other
send in the other team down to help
> “DO SOMETHING NAKA!”

>>1553425
>Get a suit, and Lets get the others in there or ping pong things off whatever they can. Also count everything in base as hostile and internal defenses to kick on as hostile too.

>>1553425
>“Get them out, now! Now!”
>Other: Naka, pinpoint the location of the jammer
Do we have any orbit-to-surface guns that can accurately take it out without wiping out the entire base?

>>1553485
The jammer's underground and any orbital guns you have are too large for sniping single targets.

>>1553493
they made zombies!!??

>>1553509
Don't be ridiculous, there's no such thing as zombies.

>>1553514
bug spores
or is this going to be like that 2nd movie??
bugs in the brins

> Other
> “DO SOMETHING NAKA!”

“DO SOMETHING NAKA!” you yell, shaking her in her seat. She has to do something! She’s their FTL! FUCKING DO SOMETHING!

“AAAH!” Naka shakes you off. “Okay, okay!” She snaps her fingers, pointing frantically at one of the officers. “Get me location on that jammer! And send Burkett’s team down to help them quickly! Does anyone have vital signs active on the girls!?”

“I got tone!” says an officer. She pinpoints the location of the jammer, inside the Admin wing. Okay, good. Good, that’s a start! You grab Naka’s shoulder, biting down on your knuckles. Come on, girls. “We’re getting more from the squad inside, stand by!”

A screen pops up. Not Rosalie’s unfortunately, but Charlie’s. “Th---! There!” You see flashes of magpulse fire in the darkness, both from Charlie and from troopers inside firing back at them. What the hell is going on!? Why are friendly troopers firing on your Idols!? Baxter have better explain this once she gets back! “We need help! We’re su-“ The signal cuts out again, nothing but static.

Sergeant Burkett says, “We’re coming down to help! Stand by! Daiko, you stay up here and keep the signals alive!”

“G- got it!” says Daiko. Burkett takes Olga and hurries down the elevator. Instead of calling it up however, they bust a hole through the doors and simply fly down with the help of their thrusters. Okay, Burkett. You have one job. Save the girls, save the girls. Don’t let them die. If they’re even injured, you’ll kill him. Come on, come on.

“One over there!” yells Olga. “Watch out-“ A blast from a laser cannon cuts off Burkett’s stream, along with Olga’s. The jammer’s strength intensifies, wiping out all radio contact from the underground.

“H… Hello?” Daiko stands outside, alone.

…

Fuck this. You’re getting a suit.

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>>1553700
That's it for Starship Idols, unfortunately for this week. Yes, it's another short week because I'm going to a baseball game tomorrow. And of course, no LGA2 this weekend either. Still on vacation. 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.

>>1553704
Thanks for the fun, boss.

Have fun at the game.

>>1553704
thanks