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Zwist

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Normally I would vote B, but the arguments for A are good.
Things you might consider: our presence might be used to pin the disaster on us. The colony might still be populated, the cult just not giving a fuck(If they pin it on us they are at least going to lie about that detail).
And I would say that this might be a trap, but Treaves Meta-information do not point in that direction(We are getting quite a lot of those, aren't we?).


So A
 

treave

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Codex 2012
Setting the Battlefield

track: mission briefing

The crew murmurs slightly as Captain Grimrock calls my name. As I walk to the front of the briefing room, the murmuring falls away, leaving behind a disciplined silence. What a change it is from the first time I addressed them nearly a month ago. Despite their attention, most of them seem nervous. That's a given, seeing as we turned and left the Fifth Fleet behind almost immediately after telling them where we were going and why.

I even managed to trick Kyrie onto the Spirit of Adventure before we did. She was kicking at the bulwark doors as I left, furious that I'd leave her behind. I'll probably pay her a terrible price with my body later on should I survive this... but this operation is far, far too risky for her to participate in.

“So here we are again. Every time I stand up here it seems that we're about to do something terribly reckless.” I joke. There are only a few laughs and a couple of cheers, but I can see a good number of them have begun to relax. Taking Grimrock's lesson to heart, I've decided to at least pretend to be a confident leader, even though I'm just a lowly ensign. I put all my doubts away and prepare to speak.

“There's a good chance we'll all be court-martialed if we make it out alive,” grunts Grimrock, instantly putting all of them back in a tense mood.

“Captain.” I groan.

“So we don't just have to make it out alive, we have to make it out as big damn heroes, you space maggots! Let's see any court try us then!” he roars, and the crew returns it enthusiastically with a roar of their own.

“Ensign, if you would please start the briefing while everyone's excited, that would be perfect.” he gestures with a grin.

Well, now that he's gotten them all pumped up... I nod and begin my presentation. A hologram of the Earth appears, the solar panels forming a clear ring around the equator. “Yua, bring up everything I need.”

“Right on it, Master. Everything you need, coming right up.”

Fleet details, distances, current position of the colony and its trajectory, our location – all of this appear as red squares, blinking close to the Earth. The hologram zooms in closer to the colony and its escort.

“I'm sure some of you have already heard of this, but we suspect that the enemy plans to drop the Lothal on Earth. According to its trajectory and calculated position, the colony will land on Ankida should the drop go ahead as scheduled.” There are grim nods here and there, and looks of shock all around. “What the fuck!?” shouted Jean. “That's fucked up, man! Why'd they do want to do that?”

“Let's not get into the politics of it right now,” I say firmly, and bring up the intelligence we have on the escorting fleet. “First, I want to talk about the odds we're going up against.”

“The enemy capital ship presence seems to be ten Mahakarya cruisers, eighteen Doge cruisers, and two Gynoid battleships. This fleet constitutes a full half of their current strength in the Earth-Moon sphere. Interestingly, their CF contingent appears to be under-strength; there are only about fifty CFs that Imperial scouts managed to observe, consisting of Centeotls and Vizala IIs. A fleet of this size could possibly carry up to 200 CFs.”

“Could they be hiding those missing CFs somewhere?” comments Naim.

“It is a possibility,” I agree. “There is another explanation for this, though. The UNS and Indus appear to be bulking up the rest of their forces near the Moon, preparing to take Sin's Eye. The CFs contingents there are over-strength in numbers coinciding with this operation's under-strength contingent. I think we can likely rule out any surprises on that part. This does not mean, however, it is going to be a cake-walk.”

I bring up a picture of a few enemy combat frames.

“We expect that the Ghostlot and the White Fangs are going to be present. We've managed to evade them thus far, but that will no longer be the case. Furthermore, intelligence indicates that the Scarlet Lightning will also be participating in this operation.” There is a low rumbling throughout the audience at the mention of her name. Jean drowns it out with a cheerful laugh. “That's what we have you for, right?” Murmurs of approval accompany his statement. It looks that they are confident I can match her, for some reason.

I nod and smile. “Leave her to me.” The crew cheers. I'm not so confident myself, but fights are not always determined by pure skill. Still, I'm surprised at how casually they seem to be taking the prospect of taking on a force many times our size.

“Can we expect any reinforcements?” asks one of the bridge crew.

“I'm certain Fifth Fleet will come, and so is the Captain. Fifth Fleet would have joined the other Imperial and Higashi to fight off the Sin's Eye assault had Captain Grimrock not informed Admiral Langorn of this operation. For that matter, I believe the Imperial Sixth Fleet and Higashi Third Space Fleet are moving away from Sin's Eye to trap the colony's escorts between themselves and the Fifth. They will not arrive in time to assist us in the battle should the colony drop actually occur, but their escorts will have no place to run after that.”

“Our main objective is to delay the Lothal until the Fifth Fleet arrives. Admiral Langorn's flagship, the Rosen, is armed with six nuclear warheads. We will attempt to pin the colony in position and distract its escorts so that the Fifth can take it apart with nukes. According to our calculations, it is impossible for the ground-based defense systems to totally destroy the Lothal before it hits. By reducing the bulk of the colony before it begins its descent, the missiles launched from Earth may be able to blow away enough of the rest that Ankida can escape the worst. For the operation to be successful, we will need to hold the enemy off for at least an hour.”

I leave out any mention of there possibly being 4 million civilians still in the colony and imply that it is already depopulated. Any doubt on the part of the crew could be fatal. Besides, if they do not know, they have plausible deniability.

I take a deep breath, preparing to outline our main battle plan...

***

The Kaguya-hime is just one warship against thirty, but without its supporting firepower our work will be far more difficult. How should I deploy it?

A. I have it stationed over the curvature of Earth so that it is not spotted by the enemy on their low approach. They will begin the battle from a safe distance, though fire-support will not be as effective that far away.

B. I have it closer by, noticeable by the enemy but not in the field of engagement. It is a alluring target, and by presenting it I should be able to distract some of the enemy forces. I will also benefit from better fire-support.

***

We are still stuck with the two Vizala IIs and Anhur, there being no time to get the new Onuris frames before we deserted the fleet. I've gotten Tabitha to jury-rig some extra equipment for me based on my specifications, however; decoy balloons imitating Anhur's signature, an extra beam saber, and leg-mounted micro-missile launchers for both Anhur and the Vizalas. My role will be to be the sacrifical black lamb, attracting everyone's attention towards me. Naim and Jean are ready for the fight, but considering that the White Fangs and the Scarlet Lightning are in the mix, should I have them support me or the Kaguya-hime?

A. They should defend the Kaguya-hime from any enemies getting too close. The cruiser's continued fire-support is vital to my success. I'm confident I'll find a way to handle the enemy aces by myself by relying on Anhur's speed and perhaps my knowledge of them.

B. I need their help with the enemy aces – better safe than sorry. I don't want to be massively outnumbered by enemy frames too. They are to stay close to me to watch my back, splitting off only if there are urgent threats going after the Kaguya-hime.

***

Finally, as we have arrived early, there are a couple of tricks I can pull to rig the battlefield in my favour. I have a few small tricks ready, but unfortunately we only have time to work on one of the major ones.

A. We utilize the Kaguya-hime's spare munitions to set up a minefield. This will distract, wound and slow down the enemy forces, giving me plenty of chances to swoop in and exploit the holes in their lines. This also allows me to fight utilizing the terrain to my advantage as I know where the mines are and they don't. The mines will be disguised amongst debris from junk satellites and trash from the Kaguya-hime.

B. There are plenty of communications satellites around this particular part of Earth orbit – I hijack them to broadcast interference signals around the battlefield. This will mess with long-range transmission between the capital ships and the CFs and interfere with their chain of command, as well as prevent the frames in the field from calling in targeted fire-support salvos. The confusion will slow down their forces as well.

C. I'm loathe to show this hand right now, but I can hack into the Solar Ring system and realign the mirrors. Hundreds of millions of people are going to go without power, but I can redirect the energy gathered into a large coherent laser pointed at the enemy forces. It won't be enough to destroy the colony, but the beam is strong enough to damage enemy ships should they stay in the line of fire, and to fry CFs in seconds. If I manage to sustain the beam, it could also begin budging the colony slightly, making our task easier.
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
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BAA

Kagua-hime will be close enough to provide fire support but guarded with the Vizalas should the enemy go after them. I feel 3A is best since it can be combined with Anhur's radar messing ability. Imagine enemies flying blind in a minefield.
 

Smashing Axe

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Divinity: Original Sin
Voting ABC for now, the Kaguya-hime hidden by the earth's curvature will not need our mech's support, which will allow Naim to assist us in surviving. They also won't serve as a distraction which will hopefully make the enemy bunch up into a tight enough concentration for the solar ring to launch devastation. Our first priority should be surviving here, politics are secondary. Anything we can do to even the odds is a good thing.

Remember, C will fry CFs in seconds. We're going up against potentially 100, plus the Scarlet Lightning, plus the White Fangs, with our three CFs. Let's take them all out in one go.

Edit:Revised Opinion

BBC

The Kaguya-hime bears a great risk, it's true. The objective here is to keep the enemy within the line of the beam's fire. I'm prepared to flip back to ABC however. The goal with 3C should be to concentrate the enemy as much as possible and prevent them from spreading out. The best way to do that though with choices 1 and 2 I don't know.
 

Baltika9

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Some questions before I vote: what does Senya mean by "I am loathe to reveal this hand right now" in C? Will we be able to do it later?
Will we also be able to scatter our particle shield right before the Fifth Fleet arrives, to provide them with even more of a surprise and for maximum "tactical genius?"

And off-topic: if Senya got to Tjaru, then has he learned the secret of creating the Honorblade?
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Some questions before I vote: what does Senya mean by "I am loathe to reveal this hand right now" in C? Will we be able to do it later?
Will we also be able to scatter our particle shield right before the Fifth Fleet arrives, to provide them with even more of a surprise and for maximum "tactical genius?"
I had the same question for C.
Scattering the field right before the fleet arrives would be rather bad, imho. Our fleet needs to be able to target them to provide adequate support... It might be an interesting combo with with communication jamming right now, tho.

We have to remember a few things here, guys:
1. If we had chosen to go up against that Live TV event fleet, our 3 capital ships would have been creamed had we involved them and we're facing even tougher odds here, plus we have only one capital ship.

We will lose our ship if we stick it nearby without backup - heck, we may lose it even with backup, though at least it'd take longer. Think about it - all it takes is one or two nukes to make it through - and I'm sure the enemy has a few of those - esp. since the Lightning is there.

2. We probably need backup of some form ourselves. Either from our battleship or from Naim & Jean. (Both probably won't work out too well for either, so pick one.)

3. If we pick the minefield, Naim & Jean shouldn't be with us or they'll get fried or slow us down. Similar might result with the giant laser, but I'm not sure. edit: also, consider that they'd slow us down regardless - being 1/3 our speed.

4. Jamming communications... treave, would that jam short range communications too? Like between us and Naim? Or between us and the Lightning...?
 

treave

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Codex 2012
It means he doesn't want anyone knowing he can do it. That's neutral property which everyone agreed not to attack or get involved in wars. The Fifth Fleet arrives out of the range of your field. Scattering it will provide the enemy with cover. But lest you forget, it is Indus technology in the first place. You think they don't have it on their ships? :lol:

Seriously.

Short range communications will be fine with 3B. How else would I add Drama!!?
 

m4davis

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557
everyone agreed not to attack or get involved in wars.
we must plant Inanna flowers there that way they can't get rid of them without inciting more rage against them and causing problems for them selves
 

Azira

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Codex 2012
Having given this some thought, here's my vote, though I could be flopped:
A we want Grimrock close, but not dangerously so. As has already been pointed out, leaving our cap ship too exposed will lead to it going boom. It can't dodge like Senya can in his CF.
B as we're keeping the Kaguya-hime back a bit, let Naim and Jean stick close to the Anhur. They should be comfortable following Senya's lead now, and he should be savvy enough to not throw them away needlessly. We need some help against the coming forces, without the cruiser/carrier closeby, we at least want two functional CF buddies.
A I like this one, not least because I thought of it before it was an option. :smug: But also because we'd be the ones setting up the field, we know which places to avoid. And all this is about slowing down the enemy. Disrupting enemy communications are also quite nifty, so I'm a bit on the fence here, but I like things to go boom, so for now, the mines have it.
Using neutral property is a no-no, but then again, so is turning a colony into a massive kinetic weapon, so I guess we could justify it..
Dangit. Very much on the fence on the last bit here. Having the panels focus on the colony should be very simple, and the push that sustained laser gives could also be very nice indeed.. Maybe, we could push it enough that it fell on Indus territory instead? :troll:
 

Baltika9

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It means he doesn't want anyone knowing he can do it. That's neutral property which everyone agreed not to attack or get involved in wars.
Well shit, they're dropping an asteroid on one of the most populated cities of the planet. As far as I'm concerned, the Ankida Convention was already told to go fuck itself, so no need for us to worry.

Of course, we may be in a tricky situation here: if we do too good of a job with dismantling the asteroid and there will be no tangible proof that the enemy really was going to drop it, then we will get very much grilled on the tribunal. Will ponder this more.
 

Azira

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Codex 2012
They could grill our arse from here to kingdom come. Those in the military who are something, would know the what and why of what we did. I say, let them come. :rpgcodex:
 

GreyViper

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any reason we can't shatterpoint the entire colony?

C seems like the sort of thing Rei Ayanami Wakayama would be able to deflect, tho
Yeah expect the Aces to be unharmed and still a threat when we do try to fry the base. Besides isn't the point of turning Lightning and sending her against Dunamis, where she fights valiantly but dies . catch is I don\t think we can convince here while we have two of our buddies nearby. Aren't they better off to make sure the cap ship survives?
 

Baltika9

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It seems to me that if we want to seduce persuade Rei to our side, then using the Ion Cannon will achieve the opposite of that: in order to turn her, we'll need to hammer in the realization that her forces are the bad guys here (pushing a colony into Ankida and whatnot) and we're the good guys that simply won't allow this to happen. KFC'ing everything with lasers will achieve the opposite of that, I'm sure, and show her that Senya is no better than the people he's fighting.
“What happened when we were kids?” I continue asking. She shakes her head again. “I can't tell you right now. I don't know what you will do if you find out... I don't really know if you are still you.”
So, yeah, if we want her to join us, then we need to show her that Big Brother is still the good guy she remembers.
C seems like the sort of thing Rei Ayanami Wakayama would be able to deflect, tho
How do you figure that?
 

aleam iacis

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Codex USB, 2014 BattleTech
Regardless, I agree with Baltika that Rei may be less inclined to join us if we subvert a massive civilian project to create a giant death ray and decimate her side. If we appear to be the underdogs, she is more inclined to join us. On the other hand, if we could talk to her at the beginning of the battle and get her to join us while we are making the enemies get in proper placement for our deathtrap and THEN turn on the giant laser thing, it might work out. And it may remind her of our half of the unstoppable duo (brains and she always lost against us).

Right now it's up in the air though whether she will side with us or not, and whether or not using the giant illegal beam will help her side with us or not. That said, I really want to use it, it will help make this into a giant media sensation with us as the heroes and badasses, it will help us become idolized and famous (unless we appear as a villain) and I don't really see us using this again. I mean, maybe treave will give us another opportunity, but its probably better to deal with the rather crazy present, and if we have Rei and the Shinari Empire, ISC, and Higashi in our thrall by then because of our actions now, either we won't need it or we can find a way to do it again despite the lack of surprise/new controls put in place.

Of course, the other options are okay too...
 

Baltika9

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I was under the impression that senya was actually a worse person before memory lose
How did you arrive at that conclusion?
“Well, I don't think you asked me here so that we could argue about politics,” I say, attempting to change the conversation. It's not too good to press her too hard so fast.

“Ah, that is right. Actually, I have something to confess, Senya.” she replies apologetically.

“You are my sister, and you belong to the Apostles of Hiranyagarbha.” I reply promptly.

“You figured that out, huh?” smiles Rei. “I suppose you were always the smart one.”

“Were... how well did we know each other before we were separated? To be frank, I can't remember a thing.”

A pained look crosses her face. “Well, that's not a surprise. I won't bring up the memories... not now, but trust me on this – I won't let Mother know that you are alive. You will be safe.” She must be referring to Saeko Wakayama.

“Why would Mother want to do me harm?” I ask.

“It's not that she wants to harm you,” says Rei defensively. “You're just not supposed to be alive.”

That means the Great Mother will try to make me the way I'm supposed to be, if she finds out about my continued existence – dead.

Rei continues, “I didn't think I'd see you again when we parted, but I was always searching.”

“That's why you sent Keiko out.”

“She's my handmaiden and closest friend, after you left. Because of her parents she tends to move from place to place, so I had her keep an eye out. I didn't actually hope to find you – if I did it meant that you somehow awakened, despite what happened. If you did, I wanted you to come to me so we could work things out together. Just like when we were kids back in the old Shangjing facility.”

“We would be... the unstoppable duo.” A fragment of a sentence, a long destroyed memory, floats into my mind, and I unwittingly whisper the words. Her eyes widen.

“That's right. We'd be the unstoppable Dynamic Duo, the two of us! My strength and your smarts! Do you remember?”

I shake my head. “It's just something that crossed my mind. A bit cheesy, isn't it?”

She appears to be crestfallen. “I see.”
From what I see, these two were pretty much the typical big bro/lil sis duo, if we were a terrible person before whatever happened at Shangjing, then a goody two-shoes here wouldn't be trying to find us and wouldn't be protecting us from Mother and most assuredly she wouldn't be all that happy to see us alive.

So, yeah, head stuck in the past when her and Senya were the "dynamic duo," doing whatever it is god children like to do. Thing is, Senya matured and she did not, and that's where this whole "I don't know who you are anymore" is coming from. At least, that's my take on it.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
treave, am I right in assuming having Naim & Jean will slow us down? They are 1/3 our speed after all...

Tentatively, BAB. Though BAC, if BAB doesn't have the votes.

Last time, treave said that the key was not getting "stuck in". I believe that Naim & Jean will slow us down enough to make our speed not as advantageous. We need firesupport however - this isn't just a hit and run. We might well lose the battleship, but I think it will last long enough if we have Naim & Jean there to protect it. Jamming their transmissions will help prevent them from knowing what's going on and targeting our battleship with all their combined firepower at once - leaving us to zip through the chaos, hitting targets of opportunity as we go. Remember our role is the "sacrificial black lamb". We're there to distract and disorient the enemy by drawing all their attention. My guess is that the White Fangs will go after the ship and the Scarlet Lightning will go after us.

Baltika may be right that the beam may lose us Rei's support. The idealist in her wants to side with the underdog. I think we all know that flipping Rei is what our plan hinges on. If we end up losing to her or stalemated again, we're dead. With her on our side, we win.

BAC or similar might be able to accomplish this without Rei's help, but what if the enemy just shoots the mirrors? Still, being able to possibly change the asteroid's course a little bit would be awesome. I may flip if I am convinced.

Here's my other whacky theory for you guys to chew on:
I don't think we should use shatterpoint on the colony. We've always used it on a small scale before. Using it on something like that might open a rift. A big one.

edit: treave, the update says we might be able to alter the trajectory, IF we are able to sustain the beam. What, in Senya's mind, would prevent us from sustaining it?
 

aleam iacis

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Codex USB, 2014 BattleTech
I guess would say BAA(though I would really love BAC if our sister would turn), and don't use shatterpoint on the colony like Lambchop said, we can just nuke a bunch so the surface can minimize damage. We'll still be a hero and everyone will know about the evil Indus-UNS plan, and we can keep our secret technique for later.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
Then again, dropping the asteroid my be what opens the rift treave hinted at earlier, so it might be alright to use the power. Or not.

The cult is all about sacrificing life to alter it's energy and use it for their purposes, I think. There goal is to "get God's attention", basically. What if using our shatterpoint intensified this? The life energy that would have been generated by millions of deaths within the colony and on the surface might not be necessary, if more life energy could seep directly through the fault line we rupture and get noticed by "god" (aka, the masters?).
 

Baltika9

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I'm thinking it will be rather hard to continually use our shatterpoint ability for twenty kilometers under heavy fire. So that's not even an option, as far as I can see.

Our best bet of taking this thing down is to slow down it's escort as much as we can, draw it's attention and give the fifth fleet a window to nuke the colony. We're not taking two fleets, or the asteroid, out by ourselves, that's just ludicrous. Especially when we consider that we're all out of Ean's Special Juice, we'll be fighting to stay alive as it is.
 

a cut of domestic sheep prime

Guest
I'm thinking it will be rather hard to continually use our shatterpoint ability for twenty kilometers under heavy fire. So that's not even an option, as far as I can see.
Eh, What if we used it with C? A big ass beam would probably work - if we had that kind of control over it... Not that I'm advocating that, mind you...
Our best bet of taking this thing down is to slow down it's escort as much as we can, draw it's attention and give the fifth fleet a window to nuke the colony. We're not taking two fleets, or the asteroid, out by ourselves, that's just ludicrous.
Yep, that's why I went with BAB.
 

treave

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Codex 2012
treave, am I right in assuming having Naim & Jean will slow us down? They are 1/3 our speed after all...

edit: treave, the update says we might be able to alter the trajectory, IF we are able to sustain the beam. What, in Senya's mind, would prevent us from sustaining it?

If you want to keep them alive, yeah, they'd slow you down.

The moment you repurpose it the Solar Ring's administrators will be attempting to regain control. Yua can hold them off almost indefinitely if she's not assisting you with piloting, but if you want to balance things up, perhaps twenty minutes. Also, once the enemy recover from the surprise they might start firing at the mirrors themselves. They can quickly do enough damage to disrupt the beam. The width of the beam is perhaps about a hundred metres. Stay within it long enough and even warships might go down in flames. The first thing it'd do to the ships caught within it would be to fry their cameras and blind anyone staring straight at it. After they adjust and apply polarized filters that effect should be minimized, but if you time the initial surprise right...

Well, if this works out, next thing you know you have inspired people into turning entire colonies into solar-powered lasers. The Masters are in for a surprise when they arrive. :lol:

edit: The lines you see are something a bit more esoteric than just the weakest points. You can memorize the path and trace the exact same lines without using your power to see them, but fail to get the same effect. Somehow it only works when your eyes are active.
 

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