John was first in the room quickly followed by Kara and Douglas, over the next 10 minutes Captain Stein, Smitt, Jones, Pride, and Miles all filed into the room. Once they all were seated the room was sealed and electronics jamming equipment was activated. "Sorry to call everyone in on such short notice but one of the deep assets we have within the IntelDiv came up with information on the R&D facility. What Jeeves is sending to you all is a copy of the report made, Miles I would like you to go over the names provided and see if we can pin down if they are developing a Chem or Bio weapon. I need assessment on if we need to strike from orbit or can we afford to send boots on the ground, so we can get rock hard proof of continued Black-Op activities by the IntelDiv and Admirals Board. We also need to make plans to roll up the Raiding Base as well. This is no longer a wait-and-see type situation, we have weeks before a weapon is viable. I will not let them deploy any BIO or Chem weapons within that star cluster or any other if I can stop it. Thoughts?.... No I will update Jimmy and Natalie as soon as they get back. Get to work people I want a viable tactile plan within a week. Rebecca do not forget R&D is reverse engineering the Stealth Suite from the Riptide and will be able to produce more within a week. Dismissed." with that the meeting broke up with Rebecca pulling both Jones and Smitt over to her to start planning.
Mission Issued: Shadow War
Description: Not all Wars are fought in the open, others 'are out of sight, out of mind.' The IntelDiv of the Imperium has developed a series of Black-Ops bases in and around Imperial controled space in support of the Admirals Board and their own motives. End the threat these bases represent.
Rewards: 1000 Exp. for everybase destroyed, Intel on other Black-Ops bases, Intel on motives of the IntelDiv and Admirals Board, Increased relations with local Governments
John pulled Pride aside to talk "Daniel, do you have enough qualified Pilots to run Ops from a light carrier yet?" Pride just started to shake his head "I could probably support 4 squadrons at this point, but we won't have any spare Pilots and I don't think we have enough enlisted fleet personnel to run a flight deck anyway John. Sorry but we are still too understaffed to run an operation and run the training school." John nodded while "What about S-CAP?" (S-CAP= Space Combat Air Patrol) Daniel responded quickly "After the next group of pilots graduates, I will feel that we have enough qualified Pilots to run the training school and maintain an S-CAP." John nodded in response to Prides assessment as he left the meeting. John had a couple ideas, but he had delegated Stein and the rest to come up with a plan, he couldn't micro-manage now, and he had his own problems to deal with, like turning over all the logistics of both the Atlantis system and the Heirs over to the two new logistics officers.
45 minutes later Jim, Natalie, and two hooded women showed up... Jimmy looked pleased with himself while Natalie looked like she was going to tear him a new one. "What? I thought it best to bring them in secure, just to insure our secrecy and safety." Jimmy stated with complete confidence as John started to laugh. "Ladies, please remove the hoods. I assume we can trust in your discretion that you will not divulge anything about what you see or do here to anyone." John told the two women as he laughed. Both women had similar facial expressions, pissed and both looked at Jim as soon as the hoods were off. "Jimmy and Natalie, I hate to push you into the deep end since you just got back but Intel on that R&D base just recently came in. Check in with Captain Stein and see where you can help out please. Ladies if you will follow me, we can discuss what I will be asking you to do." John told the two ladies as Jimmy and his wife darted away. John just shook his head at Jims antics as he led the two women away.
"I apologize for what Jimmy did. You two are his family and as much as we need to keep this place safe and secret, he was just messing around with both of you. I am John by the way, i failed to introduce myself earlier. The leader of this rag-tag bunch of misfits. What are your names?" John asked the two women as they sat at his desk. "I am Jaine and this is Mary the youngest of us. As old as Jimmy is, he still acts like a child at times. We both love him and want to kick his ass at times for his antics. We know the deal John, Jimmy and Nat told us the deal and warned us if we agreed this was a one way trip. Believe me, we are not going anywhere. We read on the Forums what you and your group is spreading, and we both felt something was hiding below the surface with the Imperial faction. I guess you just revealed what that was. Now, how can we help you? What mess do we need to organize here?" Jaine asked. John took the next 30 minutes laying out everything he could think of for the ladies. In the end Janine would be taking over Logistics slot for the Atlantis system and Mary would take over for Heirs. Both knew they had alot of work ahead of them, but John insisted that they rest and dive in tomorrow. He dismissed them after issuing them both security wrist bands and handing hem off to Douglas. Both knew they would have to meet with the Council at the weekly meeting to update them on their respective offices.
'Jeeves, has Lieutenant Daniel McPherson responded to the request that he oversee Recruitment?' John asked his AI. 'I am sorry John, he has not yet. I am aware that he is currently on duty and has until end of day to respond to the request.' Jeeves quickly responded. Another duty John needed someone to take care of and was critical for the ongoing efforts. John just stared out at the viewport and hoped they could take out both bases in time before the IntelDiv unleashed them on the locals.
----------------------------------------
"Do we have the ship on sensors yet?" John asked as he looked at the HALO showing the Tactical display of the whole Atlantis system. Ore haulers and miners were scrambling to get within the defensive envelope of the station while her long range scanners looked for the stealthed ship in the outer system. "We will not be able to detect the vessel until it penetrated the sensor envelope around the 5th planet. We were lucky to detect the emergence of the vessel from warp on the edge of the system." Douglas responded. All the automated fighters and trained pilots scrambled to launch in time. They currently fielded 3 full squadrons of mixed units of automated and biological pilots. A fourth under strength unit and 4 more fully automated squadrons. Five minutes later the tactical display lit up and zoomed to near planet 5. "Sir, looks like she used the shadow of Planet 5, but once she moved out we picked her up immediately. We can't get an exact fix due to the cloaking system, but we can get within 5 light minutes of the Ravens current position." Douglas called out. "This is Captain John Port to all units stand down, I repeat stand down. Captain Stein, your Stealth Suite is working in perfect order. Captain Pride, I think we need to talk please. Douglas recall the automated units that are not needed to maintain S-Cap." John called out as he watched as fighters breaking off intercept routes to go back to patrol patterns and others vectored to Atlantis Station.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
After 5 days, R&D had a breakthrough and were able to re-produce the Type III stealth Suite that the Riptide had. It had taken them two days to repurposed the design to fit the Ravens systems and needs. R&D was currently working on modifying the Stealth systems to fit the Badger Designs and systems but it would take longer. With the Raven now able to use a Stealth Suite, they could now field two strike units against the Black-Ops bases. Engineers had been pulled from checking out the mothballed ships to scramble and ready two of the Badger destroyers, the Orchid and Dragonfly, to prep their systems for operations. Between the personnel from the Raven and Riptide and what had finished training, Atlantis could field all for ships for the coming operation.
Right now the plan was to hit both bases at the same time, capture any command staff and Intel if possible at the Raider Base. For the R&D lab, capture of both the scientists, information on what they were working on, and samples, so they could make a cure were all high priorities. Both attacks would deploy 8 squads, attacking swiftly and with overwhelming firepower. Jones would lead one attack on the Raider camp while the other was overseen by Jimmy. Stein would lead raiding group Alpha from the Orchid, targeting the Raider camp, John would lead Beta from the Dragonfly, targeting the R&D lab. Smitt didn't like the fact he was going but understood why he was. With limited Command staff, John could not afford to stay on the bench this time and of the two targets the R&D base was the one that was most likely to have backup from FleetComm or a Merc unit. The skeleton crews of the Orchid and Dragonfly were working with Engineers making last minute tweaks and repairs to the vessels. Tomorrow they would test out the Warp drives with each vessel being slaved either to the Raven or Riptide for the trial. They would both take a short hop out of the system then re-charge then jump back to test and tweak the Warp systems. 48 hours after that, all four ships would head for their target systems.
Target A: IntDiv Merc Raiding Base
Location: Draconis Star Cluster, Proxima System, Plantet 4 (see attached star map for System Details)
Intel: Annalysis suggests no more then 30 Mercanaries with 1 IntDiv Operator (HVT-Capture if Possible), Sensor grid with 360 degree coverage at 1km out. 4 Automated turrets (See tactical assesment for possible ingress and vulnrabilities of camp, sensors and automated units)
Assets assigned: Destroyers Raven and Orchid headed by Captain Stein, 8 Squads of Marines (Mixed units with Mark II and Mark I MECHs), Raid headed by Commander Jones
Target B: IntDiv R&D Lab-High Probability Developing Biological Weapon
Location: Persious Star Cluster, Duniden System, Planet 3 (see attached star map for System Details)
Intel: Annalysis of Target location is limited due to part of the Facility being underground. Observed 12 Mercs for Security, 8 known Scientists, possible 12 more subjects within facility, Due to location Rapid deployment and assualt is only option to capture facility intact and any possible HVTs for capture. Electrified security grid and autimated turrets are present. Priority Targets are as follows...Scientists, Samples of Bio Weapon(s), any IntelDiv Operators. (See tactical assesment for possible ingress and vulnrabilities of camp, and security)
Assets Assigned: Destroyers Dragonfly and Scoutship Riptide Headed by Captain Port, 6 Squads of Marines (Mixed units with Mark II and Mark I MECHs), and 1 Merc Unit, Raid Headed by Jimmy Carmichael
John looked at Pride as he came into his office, "I assume you know why you are here?" John asked the Pilot Captain "Our failure to even scramble one mixed unit. Only the automated units managed to launch within the 5 minute window. Which is sad, I know and will not happen again. I will be running raid drills for those who are not teaching starting tommorow Captain. We will not dissapoint you again." John smiled "Glad to hear it Daniel. Next time it could be a raid by an enemy Alliance or if shit hits the fan the Imperium. Make sure your pilots know that. Goodluck Captain." witht that Daniel left. They all still had so much to do and events were quickly speeding up.