128 replies to this topic

[Vodkavaiator]

"Armor is all well and good, but speed, now speed is life." Rudbeck offered in a friendly tone as he finally joined the conversation. He looked as if he was going to say more, but suddenly something caught his attention

"Just a moment," he politely asked as he waved to the pretty waitress that moved in regular intervals across the bar.

"Yes? Can I help you?"

"Something to eat if you please, madame, if I recall this wonderful establishment is known for its steaks?"

Slim and rather tall, the women spoke with what Rudbeck felt was a delightful Lyran accent, it was exactly how he would have imagined a German in the twenty first century would sound when speaking English. With a short but generous amount of red hair and wearing a tantalizingly well fitting attire befitting her profession, Remi could not help but grin mischievously as he looked into her brown eyes.

The young lady returned his gaze with a look of mild annoyance, probably assuming that his polite mannerisms were some sort of insult and owing to the nature of the bar wary of any patrons she did not know. However, finally realizing that he was in fact being honest, she quickly smiled and replied in a cheerful tone, "We make the best steaks this side of the Periphery!"

Leaning closer to the mercenary she spoke in a tone of mock conspiracy, "We have a great veal steak, but its usually only reserved for regulars, but I am sure I can convince the chef..."

"You would have my utmost gratitude miss!" Rudbeck began, excitedly taking hold of the waitresses hand. "If by chance you should discover some whiskey whilst wandering past the bar, then might I trouble you to bring me a bottle or two or three. Life as a mercenary is "

Blushing slightly the waitress stuttered slightly before managing to speak again, "Oh...of course, Mr....?"

"Mr. Rudbeck, pleased to make your acquaintance Sarah." Remi kindly replied, reading the small name tag the women conveniently wore.

As the waitresses vanished into the chaos of the kitchen, Rudbeck turned grinning towards the others at the table, "What a wonderful place! Rarely have I encountered such warmth and kindness for people of our profession. You know, I think things may finally be looking up for us."

Stroking his beard philosophically Remi finally turned to face Spitifre,"Do forgive me, seeing or rather smelling the glorious food of this quaint restaurant I discovered that I had quite an appetite and when I tried to remember when last I had a full meal including drinks paid for me by an employer...Well, naturally, you see my predicament. However to return to the subject at hand, your rather large mech, as it were. You shan't be hearing any complaints from me, I am more than happy to have someone to draw the enemies fire."

Edited by Vodkavaiator, 03 August 2012 - 04:04 PM.

[Thom Frankfurt]

Nikoli nodded approvingly as Redbeck spoke to the woman known as Spitfire. Indeed speed was life, well that was the case for the Quartet. Nikoli had lost the count of how many times they slipped into the enemies rear unawares [wow, that didn't sound right] shot up the HQ, blew the fuel/ammo dump, or ran off with the contents of the bank's vault before the enemy could even react to their presence. That was how they waged war. They'd show up unexpected, shoot up the place, and be gone before the enemy knew what the Hell was going on. They were good at it and it worked for them. But to each their own.

It wasn't his place to question the girls prefrance when it came to combat. Atlases had their place on the battlefield, being bullet magnets and soaking up the damage. And he'd make sure that Lil' Miss Spitfire did her fare share of soaking.

[ChaosGrinder]

"Speed ? Eh, who needs speed if you can have a f*cking hundret tons of sheer destruction ? " Spitfire coughed and grinned and Rudbeck.

As he flirted with the waitress she just had to laugh. It was a rough and smoky laughing.
" But ... daaaamn she´s a beauty", she said with a appreciating nod.

" Dude, that´s what i did for a living for years. It´s a part of my life as much as my guitar and my cat is. But don´t be mislead, i´m more than capable of stomping the Sh*t outta anything i need to. You´ll see when we hit the fields. For now , time for some Scotty Boulgers old Nr8. "

[The Outlaw Kazzen]

Kazzen sat in his room buck naked eating his steak. That full body armor was nice but it's biggest drawback was it's poor breathability. He was soaked in sweat from crown to sole. There was no way he was missing out on a shower after this steak.

No way in hell...

[RogueSpear]

[[Gonna borrow you for a minute here Vodka, hopefully you don't mind! I'd ask for permission but I don't know when I can next post ><]]

Remi became aware of an insistent tugging at his elbow, and sighed as he turned to face the insistent Dirk, who somehow managed to convey that his full attention was utterly locked on the conversation without looking up or stopping scribbling at yet another notepad.
"Can I have a steak too?"
"Of course you can my friend, our new employer is paying, just talk to the nice waiter-" He was cut off by Dirk shaking his head.
"No, you talk. You're good at talking. I'm not good at talking. So you talk."
Remi exchanged despairing glances with Sierra as Nik continued to ignore Dirk's antics as he continue his conversations. "Dirk, my friend, you have ordered food before, most proficiently in fact, if you would just stop scribbling...what is that anyway?"
He reached out to take the pad, and winced as Dirk immediately overreacted. Sometimes, curiousity just gets the better of you.
"No!" Dirk jumped back in his chair, dropping papers and scrabbling to pick them up. "Mine. Not done. Later." Standing hunched over, his fists full of crumpled paper, several of the other mercs looked on at him unnoticed, in various expressions. His face softened. "I'm hungry Remi."
The boisterous merc sighed again and tried to flag down the waitress from before. "And what would you like Scatterbrains?"
Dirk flumped down onto a stool and began scribbling away at the pad again. "Oh I don't care. I'll have what you're having."
Remi stared mournfully up at the ceiling. He was gonna have to do a looot of talking to get a second veal steak...

[ChaosGrinder]

She had to laugh at the sight of Dirk.

" Why so serious about your drawings ? C´mon let us all have a look. " Spitfire smiled friendly at the merc, who didn´t even seem to notice her., so she continued smoking and thinking about the days an weeks to come.

" What do you guys think of this mission ? I have pretty much no clue what we should do, how about you ? "

[Sparks Murphey]

ChaosGrinder, on 04 August 2012 - 01:48 PM, said:

"What do you guys think of this mission? I have pretty much no clue what we should do, how about you?"

Sierra shrugged. “Depends on the target. And exactly who these ‘elite’ house guys are. Still not quite sure about that. I mean, Tombstone is nominally a Rasalhague world, but I wouldn’t have thought House Magnusson could afford to send an elite unit to such a backwater. I can’t really see the Liaos or Mariks sticking their necks out here, so that leaves the Dracs or the FedCom. And again, why send an elite unit when you could probably accomplish the same thing with some rookies and keep your elites on the front line?”

She shrugged, “Then again, for half a billion c-bills...I’d fly out here from Canopus. So it could be anyone, I guess.”

She yawned and stretched, still not entirely adjusted to the new time zone after the flight on the DropShip. “In any case, I’m in. And if I’m going to be here for 9am tomorrow, I need to get some shuteye.” She gave a meaningful glance at Sarah the waitress, then winked at Remi. “You kids have fun, now.”

And with that, she headed up the stairs to her room.

[Thom Frankfurt]

Finally done jotting down the info on the various knifemen and mercs Nikoli would be working with, he headed on over to the bar just in time to hear Spitfire's question.

" What do you guys think of this mission ? I have pretty much no clue what we should do, how about you ? " To which Nik repiled, "Not sure. I'm hopeing the boss with have some data for us in the morning. Otherwise, we're going to be going into this deaf, blind, and dumb." He paused thinking it over. "That's how the saying goes, no? Ah, no matter, but for 47 million c-bills... I'm not sure what I wouldn't do."

He patted Dirk and Redbeck on the shoulder. "Comrade's I'm going to get some shuteye, I suggest you do too soon." He then eyeballed the waitress bringing out a large platter, upon it a sizziling steak, she smiled as she neared Redbeck and Nikoli caught it. He then leaned in and whispered into Redbeck's ear. "Be gentle with her, comrade."

He then straightened his shirt and set his half empty glass of wine down upon the bar.

-----------------------------------------------------
Up in his room, Nikoli examined his room thoroughly. He checked for blindspots, possible escape routs, and possible listening devices. Satisfied he set his auto pistol down upon the nightstand and curled up for some sleep. He had the feeling that the next day was going to be a long one...

[ChaosGrinder]

"Mh ... i don´t wanna get torn to shreds out there. There´s plenty i wouldn´t do for all money the Lyrans have but hell yeah, we´ll see what we´re ending up with tomorrow. "

She looked around and setting her empty glass upon the bar she nodded and disappeared to her Atlas. A good fifteen minutes later she entered the bar again, this time with a big backpack carrying all of her stuff. She examined her room, took off her clothes and snuggled up in her blankets to catch a few hours of sleep before the next day. Whiskers jumped onto the bed and curled himself up between the blankets.

[guardian wolf]

Chris could tell frfom everyone elses demeanor they obviously were in the wrong place, until their new employer started laughing. They followed him to the new bar and from the looks Chris was getting he could tell that he would definitely bhave to watch his ***. The one "secfond in command's" look sealed that impression. Chris nudged Bubba.

"Tough crowd eh?" He whispered.

"Always plan B," Bubba whispered back

"Nah, just be ready with that shotgun if the cards go south," in hushed tone so only Bubba could hear.

Bubba nodded and stretched his back a little. Being the size of a gorrilla had its uses one of them was being able to carry a concealed shotgun. The money was high, the risk worth it. Chris wondered whether it was worth it now that he not only had to watch the enemy, but also his "friends". It was certainly worth it though, with that he, Bubba and his family would be set for life.

But he better not **** it up worse then it already was. He stayed silent when when the rest started swapping battlemech specs. His Shadow Hawk did not have anything special.

[Xinaoen]

Half an hour before the scheduled briefing began, Jean descended to the common room of the Cold Shoulder. Dressed for battle, he was almost unrecognizable as the same man who'd greeted the motley collection of mercenaries the night before. His tuxedo and ten-gallon hat had been replaced by a simple grey flight suit; his slightly receding hair was pulled into a tight martial top-knot.

Jean ordered a breakfast of steak and eggs for himself, and for any of the other mercs who arrived with enough spare time to eat before the briefing was scheduled to begin. He politely declined any inquiries about the details of the mission until everyone had arrived; the moment that the hour hand of the bar's clock struck nine, he began to speak at last.

"Let's get down to business," he suggested briskly. "For some time, the Draconis Combine has been working on adapting Streak technology to the larger SRM launchers. As of yet, they've been unsuccesful; however, they have managed to develop a number of proof-of-concept prototypes that demonstrate the theoretical viability of the design plan."

"Last week, these prototypes were stolen by pirates en route to a Kuritan munitions factory."

"Three days ago, a DCMS commando unit raided the pirate base and recovered the prototypes. They're being taken from the Periphery back to Combine space aboard the transport Fortune, which is traveling along with a military escort. To save time, the convoy is returning home by the shortest possible route. Their flight plan includes a stop for refueling in the New Tombstone system at 14:30 today."

"At 14:55, the Fortune will suffer from a mechanical failure; this will force the transport to make an emergency landing on New Tombstone. As the planet's single airfield isn't large enough to accomodate the warships travelling with the transport, the Fortune will have to break from its escort to land for repairs. Our goal is to smash and grab, and to be off-world before the Combine knows what hit them."

"The operation will be divided into four tactical sub-ops. The first three sub-ops will consist of simultaneous strikes against a nearby communications post, the local military garrison, and the airfield itself. These are all easy targets, but they'll be a good warmup for the real fight. We'll be divided into two strike teams for this phase of the plan."

"Strike team Alpha will attack the comm post, disabling long-range communications and preventing the airfield from broadcasting an S.O.S. Alpha will have to strike hard and fast to disable communications, and then mop up any remaining defenders. The comm post is typically defended by a single heavy lance of 'Mechs, along with some light static defenses."

"As soon as the comm goes down, assets from the nearby military garrison will scramble to investigate. In order to prevent them from interfering with the main op, Bravo team will be taking them out preemptively. If things go according to plan, we'll have blown their garage before they've made it to their 'Mechs; Bravo will clean up any resistance, and then proceed. Opposition should consist primarily of turrets and tracks, along with whatever scout 'Mechs are on patrol when we arrive."

"While these objectives are being accomplished, the Barbershop Quartet's infantry support team will sieze control of the airfield. They should encounter very little opposition. Once Alpha and Bravo have completed their objectives, they'll rendezvous at the airfield for the final stage of the op."

"As long as we're quick about the first phase of the plan, we'll have a few minutes to rearm before we have to take ambush positions and await the landing. This, gentlemen and ladies, is where the real fight will begin."

Jean paused to dab the sweat from his brow with a table napkin, and then addressed his audience in a slightly less officious tone.

"Any questions so far?" he offered.

Edited by Xinaoen, 06 August 2012 - 01:23 PM.

[The Outlaw Kazzen]

Kazzen raises his hand. "Seriously? The DCMS?" His voice crackled through his helm's filter, "After we allegedly rob them, how do you propose we get off the planet with the fortunes escort fleet awaiting in orbit? I mean no disrespect 'Owens-san' but past the heist itself, I don't see this plan panning out."

[ChaosGrinder]

At 8:20 her alarm beeped, she got up, woke Whiskers and dressed herself. A few minutes before 9 she came down th the rest of the crew. She wore her custom-made pilot suit. She had it personally made for her a few years ago and it was capable of protecting her to a certain amount from shrapnel, heat, cold and other hostile influence, it cooled or warmed her when neccesary and provided oxygen support. Plus it looked sexy.

Playing with her helmet she carefully listened to Jeans explanations.

" Soooo ... you´re telling me to assault the ship while it´s support fleet is still around ? Without a way of getting off this damned rock ? How are we supposed to get off ? "

Meanwhile Whiskers sneaked back to the Mech hangar.

" Any bailout plan IF someone fails ? "

[RogueSpear]

A bleary eyed Dirk wolfed down a medallion of smoked bacon slathered with Ketchup as he tried to work out what functions might be concealed in Meredith's suit - and a little bit about what was simply concealed. Swallowing, he waved his fork in the air. "If the Barbershop takes the airfield, I can knock down anything that shows up within about four and a half kilometres from it if I stand about four and a half away. Dropships are hard, but anything shy of a Fortress will be easy pickings. I should be able to knock it's engines off no problems. If it's a Fortress..." He shrugged. "Depends how quickly they can break out the Long Tom. That could be a problem. But I can do it. Nikoli willing of course." He glanced sheepishly at his CO. He always forgot he was supposed to run these things by him before he mentioned them to the employer...but it was such a good idea he just had to say something.

[Xinaoen]

The Outlaw Kazzen, on 06 August 2012 - 01:46 PM, said:

Kazzen raises his hand. "Seriously? The DCMS?" His voice crackled through his helm's filter, "After we allegedly rob them, how do you propose we get off the planet with the fortunes escort fleet awaiting in orbit? I mean no disrespect 'Owens-san' but past the heist itself, I don't see this plan panning out."

"This planet's dust storms wreak havoc on long-range communications; as long as Alpha takes out the comm relay, the fleet won't know that they're being robbed until it's too late. At any rate, they'll have some technical difficulties of their own to keep them distracted; suffice to say that I've pulled some strings. We'll have a very small window of opportunity to finish the op before they realize that something's amiss; if everything goes according to plan, we'll be safely off-world by then."

"The aforementioned wind-storms also wreak havoc on sensors, by the way. That's good news for us - since they won't see us coming - but it also means that we'll need eyes-on-target to spot the enemy. Target discipline will also be essential."

ChaosGrinder, on 06 August 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

"Any bailout plan IF someone fails?"

Jean shook his head, a bit morosely.

"If Alpha fails to take out the comm relay - or if we take too long to complete the op - the fleet will know that something's gone wrong. They'll most likely position themselves to blockade any escape from the planet at that point. If that happens, the odds that we'll be able to make our getaway are slim to none. There is no contingency plan for this scenario. We succeed, or we face the firing squad."

Jean shrugged.

"I warned you that this would risky," he drawled. "And I haven't even gotten to the hard part yet."

"The DCMS commando team that recovered the prototypes is still traveling with the convoy, and it's highly likely that they'll drop along with the Fortune. That's a full company of Dracs, plus a Union-class dropship. If we're lucky, they'll have taken some losses while raiding the pirate base. If we're very lucky, visibility will clear up long enough for Dirk to be able to take out the dropship's engines before the majority of the 'Mechs have been deployed. In the worst-case scenario, we'll be outnumbered and outgunned. We'll have the element of surprise, but that's about the only bright spot. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that some of us might not survive the mission."

"Assuming that we succeed, I already have a buyer lined up to purchase the prototypes. She'll be meeting us on-site to take possession of the transport and deliver our payment once the goods have been secured."

Jean motioned towards the next table, where a rather frightening-looking man was toying absently with a butterfly knife.

"As a condition of our deal, our buyer has requested to have a man of her own on the team. This is Mr. Barret Sender. We... well. We have a history. He'll be with me on Bravo team."

Jean pressed onward, trying to ignore the vicious grin that Barret was sending his way.

"Alpha team will consist of the Barbershop Quartet, plus Miss Harker and Mister Keed. The rest will be with me on Bravo. These assignments are subject to approval by Mr. Reznov, of course."

"The operation begins at 14:45. Total estimated time for the op clocks in at just under an hour. If we do it right, we'll all be away safely - and very rich - before the Dracs know what hit them."

Edited by Xinaoen, 06 August 2012 - 03:33 PM.

[ChaosGrinder]

Lifting one eyebrow she looked at Jean ..

" So ... We´re vastly outnumbered, the odds are high and the chances of survival are slim ? ... I´ve been through worse Sh*t, let´s do this ! "

Cracking her fingers she stood up and streched. " Dracs for breakfast ... that´s how i like my day ! " And with that she went off to the Mechbay.

" Hey Nik, you wanted to see the Atlas ? "

[The Outlaw Kazzen]

Dracs for breakfast...? Did these people even relise they had a 'Drac' among them? Ah well. If things did go bad it would be all too easy to switch sides...

"So who is on what fire team? I'd like an idea of who i'll be riding besides when we go."

Edited by The Outlaw Kazzen, 06 August 2012 - 04:17 PM.

[Rasengetsu]

Revin was up since 7:00 AM, as thought it might be nice to wake up early for once. As usual, he sharpened his knives to a razor edge and carefully sheathed them. The mission would probably be tough, but for him that simply meant more money and/or fun. He suited up and left.

Upon arriving at the rendez-vous point around 8:30, he grabbed some breakfast while smoking a cigar. Once the full briefing started and his role explained, Keed put out his cigar. "So basically, Team Alpha, of which I'm part of, gets to blow up a comm station and a Lance of 'Mechs? Sweet! Got any info on the types there'll be?"

[Sparks Murphey]

Sierra felt a shiver run down her spine.

Streak.

SRM6s.

Oh goody.

Sure, they’d have to work hard to secure a prototype or schematics for themselves in addition to handing the rest over to the client, and they probably didn’t even work properly yet. Nothing Dirk couldn’t fix, though.

Rasengetsu, on 06 August 2012 - 07:51 PM, said:

Keed put out his cigar. "So basically, Team Alpha, of which I'm part of, gets to blow up a comm station and a Lance of 'Mechs? Sweet! Got any info on the types there'll be?"

Sierra nodded. “And who they work for? I mean, New Tombstone is a FRR colony, right? So the guys on the ground will owe their loyalty, or at least their paychecks, to someone other than the Dracs? Could we use that somehow?”

She considered for a moment. “Heck...can we slap some DCMS sigs on our ‘Mechs real quick? Make the ground forces at the comms post and the base think we’re Drac commandos, and that the Fortune is an invader? That way, even if the locals manage to get some kind of resistance back on its feet, they end up fighting with us instead of against us in our final push.”

[RogueSpear]

Dirk cocked his head to one side curiously. "Why Drac signs? Why not FRR? If the locals think FRR troops should be defending the place, let's not risk confusing them."
He leaned over conspiratorially to Jean and tapped his head. "Never assume the enemy is as smart as you are." He winked and went back to his breakfast, carving off some pancake.
"Oh! I've got it! That dust storm is gonna d*ck with the sensors right? Not to fear! Get me specs on the union, technical specs, height, width, weight all that good stuff, and get us some maps to upload to our nav computers. And I'll need exact, exact, coordinates of the dropship gantries. Then anyone who sees something that needs to pop can just call me a grid reference and I'll slap a shell in the middle. Oh and I'll knock out the dropship's engines when it lands. Or before..." He grabbed a notepad from his pocket and began scribbling on it in ketchup with a knife, which was swiftly snatched away by Sierra.
"Breath Dirk." She held the knife up high behind her, dripping sauce onto the floorboards. "What are you talking about?"
Eyes locked on the knife, Dirk replied rapidly. "OksoifIcangetspecsforthedropshipandcoordsforthegantriesIcanplotsomefiringsolutionsfortheSniperbeforethemissionandknockoutit'senginesassoonasitlandsifsomeonetellsmewhatit'slandingonorbeforeifsomeonegivesmeaheightandgantryandthenit'llcrashandcan'tdropanythingoutofitselfcanIhavetheknifebackplease?"