IC
Raleigh watches events unfold before him, enjoying the anger felt by
the "E" at their new discovery. At mention of the use of Quickdeath for
capital punishment, he cringed slightly to himself at the sight of the
pirate being torn limb from limb. He wanted badly to get close to the pirate,
to explain how the man would soon die, but thought better of it.
A few minutes go by as the "E" continue to show their anger. Raleigh
grabs Brennon's arm and takes him to a side. "Man Im sorry I acted that
way," he says with sincererity, "I guess this place is getting the worst
of me. Anyway, it wont happen again." Pausing to grin a bit, he motions
to the "E"
"Don't worry about it," Brenon replies. "This place
is getting to all of us in one way or another. Just make sure it doesn't
happen again. As it is, it all worked out in the end."
Raleigh continues to the rest of the group. "Man,
they sure are pissed! We should move on the Pirate camp soon, harnass as
much of this anger as we can while it's still fresh."
Raleigh is all for moving now. The sooner we can
react, the better. As an aside, we may want to keep the prisoner alive
for a bit, he may be useful in the coming raid. As a trade off for the
E, we can promise more than enough Pirates later for 'punishment."
Brenon nods. "My first instinct is to agree with
you. But I think the Edestekai will need an Icon, something tangible to
all this madness that is happening in their lives. I want him to be a constant
reminder everytime they look upon him of what he and the other pirates
have taken from them.... but perhaps you are right, let's let them keep
him for the reasons just stated but I'll explain to them that he may be
of further value in the approaching battle..."
Brenon was relieved beyond all words. Based on what little he knew of
the Edestekai, he thought the pirates speech was pretty convincing to such
a religion hardened people. When the word "BLASPHEMY!" rung through the
polyvox Brenon's heart stopped a second as he waited to see who's eyes
the Edestekai fell upon. Brenon was fully ready to draw his weapon and
he could sense the same from his comrades. Fortunately those eyes fell
upon the pirate and it amuzed Brenon that he tried to escape, which if
there was any doubt in the minds of the Edestekai I'm sure his short jolt
eleveated them.
Brenon had a short conversation with the priest(s)
and gave them a deep bow. "I am happy that you have discovered the truth
of your captures. But also saddened that such a thing would happen to such
a good people. After you have sought council I would urge you to consult
with us as well...we have a few ideas on how to help you rid yourselves
of the pirate mennace." Brenon left it at that and extended his hand to
the Priest. With that Brenon was off to speak with the priest again.
"My friend, something just occured to us that you
may wish to take into consideration. The pirate to be executed may still
serve a purpose in the upcoming battle with the blasphemous pirates. He
may know things about their village that we are unaware of....I leave it
to your judgement."
The priest listens to Brenon's request to
keep the prisoner for the upcoming attack on the pirates. After Brenon
speaks, the priest hurredly answers. "We keep heathen blasphemy in our
control at pyramid government religion center. You want talk to him you
can talk to him but Edestekai priests keep him <undetermined>. You are
warriors are not come to defeat heathen for good <undetermined>? You
say when attack and Edestekai good follow with fever."
Payne says he agrees with Brennon and Raliegh. However,
voices disagreement with what is to happen with the prisoner. "I prefer
to disect him with a dull rusty knife to make revenge all the more sweeter."
After speaking his peace, Payne will go outside and meticulosly prepaere
his weapons for combat. Once that is done, he will find a quiet place to
mentally prepare for battle, and to also make his peace with the universe
before marching off to battle.
Raleigh pats the bigger man on the back, nodding
to the weapon he is cleaning. "It's going to be good to have you along
on this one, god knows we will be needing the firepower." Raleigh will
set down with the Enforcer to pass what little time they had and learn
a thing or two, mainly how to field strip a Triax.
Brenon nods to the priest and asks one more quick
question before he departs to the other priests, "We thank you for your
trust... how many Edestekai will be able to fight in this Holy War? And....what
kind of access do the Edestekai have to the pirate compound?"
Brenon came back to the group a little awestruck....he'd
just been made a 'general' in definition if not by word...
"Well boys....looks like the Edestekai are going to defer to our judgement
in this issue and follow our course of action. Meaning it looks like we're
running this show." The weight of it seemed a little too sudden on Brenon,
he'd been given a lot of responsibilities in this life but this was without
doubt the biggest undertaking. He waited til he could see realization dawn
on the faces of his comrades.
"Here is my preposition......I
propose we armor up one of the explorer's, building a blind atop it with
the crete sprayers. People behind the blind will lob Molatov Cocktails
onto the buildings, grenades, etc... setting everything they can ablaze.
This will force the pirates out into the open ground where we will strike
them down as they flee the doors, etc.... prior to this we'll place 4 TD-19
charges on the towers; I propose we either use the Edestekai's priveledges
within the camp to plant the explosives, or we can have Zhirrzh plant them
under cover of his camo screen. Thus crippling the inner leg closest to
compound buildings; causing them to topple over onto the buildings; causing
even more mayhem and confusion. Our first priority will be to free the
prisoners and disable communications. So the way I see it we need X teams....One
to free the prisoners, One to knock out communications, One to keep the
troops in check at the living quarters and another team that will remain
mobile, attacking from atop the explorer setting things aflame, etc....So
I'm going to also propose that we divide the team up into 4; and those
4 teams have their own little armies of edestekai to help carry out your
missions......."
"I'm thinking BudReep can
drive the wondering explorer with Kah'liss atop; along with some of the
Edestekai"
BudRREEPboopboopboop nods
his pseudopate in grave affirmance.
"I'm thinking T.J. Payne and
Telgar for taking out communications with his team. BudReep's team can
assist you by plowing their way there where you will have access to the
roof from atop the explorer. From there you will destory any and all satelite
dishes and or antenna you come across: BudReep's team can then mobilize
to their original mission plan"
"I'm thinking Raliegh help
free the prisoners and arm them with his team."
"Zhirrzh and Myself will remain
in the courtyards with our troops, subduing as many pirates as we can....I
suspect the main concentration of pirates will probably be the living quarters...."
"Ok group.....that's
my plan. You'll know your own situation better than I once you're
in the thick of it so I urge you to make decisions with your teams that
will result in the minimal loss of life. You'll mostly be on your own during
this mission. I'll make the call at one point to rally to me so that we
can finish the rest of the camp off as a concentrated force. Please shoot
holes in my plan and feel free to express any further ideas......"
"Sounds good to me," Telgar says
and then studies the map of the compound.
OOC
100 enraged fertilizers will gather
to assist in the assault. After
an impromptu (and several agonizing hours
long) ceremony, where the
Edestekai find the pirates guilty of blashpemy,
title them devils, and
sentence them to death, the Edestekai are
ready to join. Currently it
is around 1am - you arrived at the village
around nightfall, but the
long orientation plus this realization has
lasted about 6 hours. You
can wait until the morning, or attack now,
or wait until tomorrow's
nightfall. Don't worry about thinking the
Edestekai will simmer down
any. Their religion which is their life has
been mocked and blasphemed
by the pirates and they won't rest until they
have been avenged.
The Edestekai say they have to access to the
base. The fence is
electrified (something you yourselves have
identified) and the
Edestekai will not be able to enter the base
until you have breached
it yourself. When the Pirates want new Edestekai
for their labor, they
had 'True Visions', and soon a vehicle loaded
with armed pirates
arrived, dropped off dead/sick Edestekai and
taking others. They have
had 23 Edestekai die under this agreement,
and several are still
recovering.
Slave
City One
The Edestekai can identify the stockade (#8),
the garage (#11), some
cells (#4, #16), and the main building as
the headquarters (#19). They
are unsure of the other building's functions.
IC
Zhirrzh nods his head in agreement, his mouth opening
in a toothy grin.
"Just give me someone to shoot at," Zhirrzh growled.
He looked out toward the pirate base. "Considering
the Edesekai don't have access to the base, you'll probably want me to
plant those charges on the guard towers myself. In that case, I'd recommend
moving on the base tonight. They're more likely to be caught by surprise
during a night raid, and it'll make it harder for the guards on duty to
see me when I plant the charges."
Brenon again counsels with the Priest, "What kinds
of weapons do your people have?"
"Would a select few of your group be willing to learn the use of our
weapons?"
"Also, do you have any flammable type substances, like oil or Alcohol...?"
Brenon looks a little troubled by the fact that the Edestekai do not
have any access to the pirate base.....he was hoping that was their ticket
into the facility and planting those explosives to take the towers out.
An idea came to him at that moment and he presented it before the group....
"Ok...we've gotta get into that compound and set the charges to take down
those towers with bot guards.... we're just too exposed within the compound
to be taking fire from above too. Here's my initial idea....I'd like to
hear your thoughts on this. What if we have Zhirrzh screen himself just
outside the gates of the base....we'll have an Edestekai Priest or two
feign sickness in front of the gates, grabbing their heads and shaking
uncontrollable and what not, hoping the pirates buy into their being something
wrong with thier head implants.... someone will come to investigate...the
Priests keep the guard(s) busy while Zhirrzh slips into the base and plants
the explosives. Course....we'll have to be ready if he's detected and resort
to Plan B, Plan B would be too ram one of the explorers through the fence
line in the NorthWest Corner of the base, just between building 3 and the
tower...a team will jump out the explorer and rig the explosive and blow
that tower, leaving that sector secure for a ground assualt. Telgar and
Payne's team will most likely suffer the worst in that scenario as they'll
be atop the communications building and taking fire from the NEast and
S.East Towers.... you'd have to find what cover you can up there all the
while fullfilling your mission. If I were you two I'd make sure your Edestekai
know the purpose of that building....I'm sure they'll take great pride
in destroying it. can anyone think of a better way to get into the facility
undetected?"
"Please people, shoot holes in my plans where you see them. Prose your
ideas. My ears are open. I want us all to come out of this alive."
OOC:
Jeff, based on our observations can you tell us
what the pirate buildings appear to be made up of? The answer I'm looking
for would either be:
Aluminum buildings?
Typical structures built with wood, dry wall, etc..?
Iron Clad Structures?
Clay Huts?
Etc.... What kind of buildings do pirates build in this kind of climate?
Also, are any of the buildings over 1 story tall?
IC
Brenon looks to Raliegh, "Your mission will be pretty
important as well...there are 3 complexes which could potentially house
our compatriats.....Here <Brenon points to building 8> Here <Brenon
points to building 4> and Here <Brenon points to building 16>. You'll
need to locate. Again, your mission will be to infiltrate these compounds
and free it's occupants and arm them with what we have available; pistols,
rifles, grenades, knives, whatever they think they can handle.... those
people along with some of the Edestekai will comprise your brigade."
Payne says "Yes, definetly attack while the fever
of the E is up. It would be a terrible waste not to put all that extra
energy to good use. Speaking of not putting good things to use, I have
had some demolitions training I have not used in a while.
Telgar considers their map
of the compound. "Alright, Brenon how about this for mine and Payne's teams...
Instead of taking the rooftop, why not take out the inside of the building
and anyone in it? 12 of the Edestekai in
my group will be assigned to Team 'E 1'. They'll
be responsible for tying up the
barracks east of the communications room until
we are done. The remaining
Edestekai will be split into thirds - 4 in Team
'E 2', 4 in my team, and 5 in Payne's
team. Team E 2 will take care of the south wing
of the communications building and
then enter the barrack's west doors and assist
Team E 1 in clearing that building."
Telgar turns to Payne, "Our
teams will clear the rest of the communications
building by lobbing grenades into the rooms and
shooting everything in sight.
Maybe you can come up with some good explosive
packages for this.
When you have cleared your area, exit the east
side of the building and
check in the north side of the barracks. If the
Edestekai teams need help, assist
them in clearing the barracks and then proceed
where you left off. After clearing
the communications and barracks buildings, the
Ore buildings should not present
a big problem. You and both Edestekai teams will
clear the office and storage
areas of that building and then rally together
and exit through the north side. Your
orders at that point will be to head towards
the west side of the City and attack
anything non-friendly that moves"
Telgar turns back to the group,
"By this time, my team should be clearing the landing
area and proceeding to the west side of the city
to finish off whatever you guys leave for us."
Turning to Brenon, "I think it might be wise to
go under the cover of night to hide our
numbers. A larger group of Edestekai might attract attention too early
in the daylight. Also,
this will ensure that most pirates will be in their barracks during
the start of the battle. I think
this is something we can definitely pull off. What do you think?" Telgar
hands Brenon his map.
TELGARS BATTLE PLAN
Brenon considers Telgar's response. "Whatever you
and Payne feel the best course of action is in taking down their communications
ability ASAP I'm fine with. But just remember, those communications have
to come down quickly. This base is the pirates livelihood and is likely
to recieve backup quicker than the other base. I just don't want an SOS
message getting up there..." <Brenon finishes as he points up to the
sky>
Telgar speaks again, "Agreed, we'll make a small
modification to my plan then. Everything is the same, but Payne's team
will be responsible for the whole inside of the comm building before proceeding.
I'll take my team to the roof and take out the satellites and then use
the roof to play sniper; helping the other sub-teams as they move from
place to place.
OOC
Telgar will get to the roof from the Explorer as Brenon suggested.
He will take out all comm devices on the roof and then scan the tops
of other buildings for such devices.
If found, Telgar will shoot from his current position if possible.
If not, then he will leave his post to seek out the devices.
If Telgar can proceed without leaving his post, he will make sure that
the sub-teams do not run into trouble while moving around outside by
picking off the non-friendlies with his rifle.
Telgar will be using the following for this mission:
1 Laser Rifle
2 Laser Pistols
Knife
1 smoke grenade
SEU Belt (attatched to rifle)
4 SEU clips (1 in each pistol and two spares)
IR goggles
magnigoggles
flashlight
OOC
Jeff, I assume that since this is a major battle, that we'll have many
opportunities to modify our tactics as we go, so I think I'll shut
up for now ;)
IC
Payne nods in agreement with the current plan. "Big
building, big
boom". "I have spent most of my recent combat experience in trench
warfare. If my logic is flawed I will concentrate the blast on the
section of the building that has some kind of antenna protuding from
it.
I intend, with the help of the E accompanying me to fight our way to
that part of the building, with the help of some good cover fire from
Telgar and his group. Hopefully, my E can keep the miscreants off my
back while I set the charge, praying we can fight our way back out
before the pirates can get the opportunity to use the radio. I am
thinking of rigging the pressure plate to the door of the room, so
when
they open it, BOOM!!!. If that is not plausible to the flooring in
the
doorway, so when the enter the room BOOM!!!. I will set a large enough
charge to take out more than just the communications room, hopefully
a
significant part of the HQ building.
OOC
To answer Brenon's Q,
The Edestekai have only farm tools as weapons
- a wicked-looking
pitchfork type tool seems to be the weapon
of choice. As far as having
oil or other burning materials, they do not
have anything of that sort
in a large quantity. What little oils and
stuff they do produce are
used in religious ceremonies, in little bowls
and stuff - they don't
have 200 gallon tubs sitting around, waiting
for a big battle or
something :)
To answer Payne's Q:
You see some antenna on the roof of building
19...I also wanted to
mark that spot on the map, but you know the
story...Okay, look at the
right side of building 19. You see there are
3 doors on the right side
of the building. Starting from the bottom,
you see antenna on the roof
near door #2. Looks like a subspace, and another
antenna for the
short-wave radio (for communication with the
outpost).
IC
Brenon, once again, turns
to the priests; showing them the pirate standard(flag). "What are the possbilities
of your people replicating bunches of these so that they may be worn on
about the head or arms? Do your people have body paints or anything similar?"
OOC
The Edestekai take the standard from Brenon
and regard the simple
flag. They say they could easily make such
banners if they thought it
would help. Many of them vocally announce
they are uncomfortable with
the idea of goinh into battle weilding the
banner of their tormentors,
who are blasphemers of the Edestekai faith.
There are 4 robots in the guard towers - one
in each. You have seen no
other robots.
Raleigh considers their options carefully, not liking the idea of a
frontal raid but not being tactically smart enough in combat to disagree.
After a rough battle plan is proposed, he offers his view...
"I'm glad that we have an
army of E but this plan seems a bit unstable to me. We are putting too
much emphasis on an all out skirmish. Isnt there some way we can create
a diversion and sneak in the back. Maybe Have the E come to the front gate
and start some holy dance while we snip some fence wire. If anything it
may buy us the element of surprise on their forces in the main building
and we can two prong our attack? Please tell me if Im out of line here
guys but I dont want to see alot of our new friends get chewed up before
they even hit the compound."
Raleigh is obviously very tired and would appreciate
very much a chance to get a little sleep at this point. The only thing
keeping him going at this point is a possible light at the end of the tunnel.
Payne agrees with Raleigh. A diversion is better
than jumping in
and risking a high casualty rate. I am ready to move when ever
you can
get the E to do their thing.
Raleigh looks at the faces of the others, wondering
what each must be thinking at that very moment. Shaking his head at Telgar's
comment he still disagreed with the plan.
"Look gang, I'm no tactician
but this just doesnt look good to me. From where I stand we are leaving
too much to chance and too much of our flank open for a counter. What if
we could get a team inside first and then hit from three angles? Hell,
weve got 100 E so that's gotta count for something right?!! I say we have
them cook up a rain dance or something outside the front gate, all hooting
and acting pissed. It probably wont distract the bots much but we can count
on most of the pirates being there to watch right?"
He takes a moment to look across at the others,
hoping he wasnt sounding like a dumb tech.
"Anyway, while that goes on
we maybe ramp one of the explorers and hit the fence, maybe pack the thing
with explosives for good measure. Even better, hit one of the towers that
way Zhirrzh only has to get at three. With all hell breaking loose, we
blow the other three towers, knock holes in the fence, and suddenly youve
got E all over the place. Before the pirates know it were in there control
room drinking there beer and breaking all their stuff!"
Pausing to think for a moment he looks to Brennon.
"Ultimately your in charge here Brennon...I just say we take a long look
at this and do it right. Id feel bad if we lost a bunch of those E's...or
worse one of our own."
Brenon listens to Raliegh, nodding his head here
an there. When Raliegh was finished Brenon responded.
"This won't be easy....no matter how we do it. Will there be casualties?....most
likely. But hopefully we can minimize that if we're careful..... an idea
just popped into my head..... What if we were to
get Zhirrzh into the base....with one of the crete sprayers. He could effectively
seal off the doors to the 3 barracks. Then, after he'd sealed those we
could begin our 'blitzkreig'......Telgar and Payne's teams could eliminate
the communications presense. Raliegh's team would free the prisoners and
before the pirates could free themselves we'd have the best positions withing
the base. As we begin our assault, Zhirrzh can snipe the key bots in their
towers under the cover of night and his camo screen; this would give us
virtual control of our areas. Afterwards we could deal with the pirates
as we please, we'll explain we've got a troop of over 100 soldiers and
that they need to put down their arms.....etc..." Brenon then looks
to Zhirrzh, "Well....it would mostly be on your shoulders. Course if you're
detected we'd have to resort to my initial plan and storm the facilities.
What do you all think of this plan?"
Zhirrzh gives Brenon a grim look. The idea of trying
to remain undetected while he sprayed down three barracks didn't necessarily
appeal to him, but the challenge was intriguing. Zhirrzh took his time,
thinking about all the possibilities, before he finally came to a decision.
"It offers our best chance of a minimum of casualties,
with a not too much greater chance of me being discovered. I'll run with
that plan."
Zhirrzh pauses for another moment.
Brenon looks at him. "Is that your final answer?"
Zhirrzh nods. "Yes, that's my final answer."
Payne speaks. "I like your plan Brennon. How do
you suppose we get a man in without the risk of getting caught?
Payne, continuing his conversation with Brennon.
"Yeah, I got a few ideas, but they are kind of off the wall but they may
give us a slight edge. 1. I like the idea of the
E faking a malfunction with the recievers. That could help some. The trick
is to get our man inside. How are you going to get that done? 2. A food
gift would be good, they would definetly eat it if it is appealing enough.
Why not give them a slight case of botchalism or something like that. That
should take some of them out of the fight. 3. I see the merits in the idea
of the explorer. Couldn't we try the Trojan Horse trick with it? This would
get most of us inside and limit the risk of Zhirrzh getting injured or
caught. I think we save all the gun men we can so we can use them
when it counts."
"I like the idea of getting our people in with the
explorer. Of course, we would need the pirate to do that probably and that
I dont think can happen now. Any other ideas?"
Brenon responds. "I'm starting
to warm up to your Trojan Horse idea....perhaps we can rig the explorer
with explosives. We....I....could "sedate" the prisoner and put him at
the wheel....dress the explorer up like it got attacked by some wild animals,
maul the prisoner a bit. perhaps we could then stow Zhirrzh aboard or atop
with his camo screen. At night he'd be virtually undetectable..... plow
the explorer through the gate and into one of the buildings....when enough
of the Pirates have gathered around the explorer we blow it...this will
be our opening move........What do you guys think?"
Payne elaborates on the Trojan
Horse:"Well, if we get enough explosives, put it next to the right building,
attract enough of the opposition, and also providing Z can get away from
the explorer quick enough. Yeah, it should work and definetly make
our job alot easier.
