Post by MayorOmega on Oct 25, 2018 11:57:02 GMT -8
"Operational Overtures"
(an MSA side jaunt)
Around the planet of Damara which was located in a star system distant from the holdings of the Manticorian Systems Alliance and it was here that once held generous deposits of Trimonite ore until finally they had finally mined the planet dry after decades of work and its temporary population had also since moved on.
But it was here that Alliance geo-scientist Farok Mereel looked out over the still standing pre-fab buildings as the high desert winds whipped around him as he stood in the open in a standard issue Alliance desert survival gear.
"Doctor Mereel. The colonel wants to know if you've completed your survey of the area yet?" a voice yelled from behind him over the din of the wind.
Mereel turned to see a rank and file member of the Alliance marines standing there and nodded, "Tell Colonel McKinner that I will be in shortly."
"Aye sir!" the marine shouted back before turning to head back down the embankment to where the transport was, leaving Mereel to his thoughts.
It was roughly two weeks ago when Mereel had been ordered from his research on Kuat to some world on the very edge of the Alliance's frontier under escort from no less then a full detachment of marines and told that he needed to make a full survey of the planet for some reason.
Mereel didn't like speaking with McKinner and so he simply did his job and spent as little time in camp except to eat or sleep but nothing else and after a few more moments of quiet reflection, he made his way down from the dune that he was standing on and quickly made his way back to the transport, albeit a lot more faster due to his being born and raised on the planet of Abassi which was kind of like Egypt or Iraq on Earth that Was a couple of thousand years back.
Once he had cycled through the airlock and into the transport proper, heading towards the central briefing area where he knew that Colonel McKinner was waiting for him.
But what he saw when he got there wasn't the tall and slightly stocky form of MSAMC Colonel Evan McKinner....but instead was a short, slenderly built woman with red hair hanging loose across her slender shoulders and in a respectable uniform. "Ah, Doctor Mereel. I take it that you're here to give me your report?"
Mereel blinked hard as he wasn't expecting his President's spymaster in place of the marine commander!
"Um...Doctor Storm, I wasn't expecting you but.." Mereel started to say before the woman held up a hand, stopping him.
"It's alright, Doctor. I have sent the colonel back to the Essex for the time being." Doctor Storm explained as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Your report please?" she then asked kindly.
Mereel decided to wait to ask anymore questions on his behalf until after he gave her what she wanted. "Damara has been completely abandoned save for the prefab buildings and our original mining facilities, the planet was like this when it was first discovered a half century ago. he explained to her before walking over and inputting a series of commands into the situation table which brought up a holographic view of the planet above the table's surface.
"The dust storms are manageable under the right conditions but the Ironforge Mining Guild went too far and too deep in locations marked a Seven G, Nine J, Fourteen B, and Twenty Six K with K being the deepest under the planet's mantle." he went on further, highlighting the areas in particular with a zoom in of how deep 26-B was exactly.
Doctor Storm nodded slowly, "How stable is the planet from a geostable rating?" she asked, her tone thoughtful.
"I'd give it a three point six on the Markov scale which means a sustained planetary bombardment from a reasonably sized fleet could cause the planet to start undergoing collapse in six point nine minutes, ma'am." Fereel explained.
"And what if we were to place a planet cracker in one of the deeply mined areas?"
Fereel blinked a couple of times before adding "Full planetary destabilization in less than three minutes if the right amount is detonated in twenty six B, ma'ma."
Storm nodded, "Thank you for your hard work and due diligence, Doctor Mereel." she said warmly before motioning towards one of the other doors that lead deeper into the transport. "Go and rest, good sir. You've more then earned it."
Mereel had been around the society circles of Kuat long enough to understand when he was actually being treated with respect which made him bow his head towards the woman. "Thank you ma'am." he said before leaving the room, praying that he could actually relax now.
------------------
Once Mereel had left the room, the marine guard next to the door locked and secured the room at which point Doctor Storm let out a deep sigh and turned back to the situation table and inputted a few commands and the view of Damara shrunk a little bit to allow a view of the president's office appeared in its place at which point everyone in the room save for the doctor came to attention.
In the president's office was the head of Naval Special Operations in Commodore Connor Bateman along with the president himself in Rokk Astrovich.
"Commodore, Mister President." Doctor Storm said with a nod of her head.
"What is your report, Drura?" the president asked as he leaned forward in his chair.
"The target planet is viable for the plan if Admiral Layton agrees with it, however I'm not too sure that she nor the newly minted General Thornton would agree with the second half of it." Doctor Storm reported as she folded her hands behind her at the small of her back.
The president nodded in agreement, "She's a very ethical woman and I can respect her for that but this whole swarm problem is something that we need to look at from multiple angles." he said before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But as for this general, what do you have on him, Drura?"
"Just as ethical as Layton but he's not a fleet commander within their Trinity, sir." she replied, recalling the information from memory. "But he's a little bit more pragmatic but considering the commodore's plan, he might balk at it."
Bateman nodded, "Perhaps...perhaps, but we need to at least present the plan to them and see if they can accept it."
Storm mentally came up with two separate possibilities but wondered what the thoughts of the Trinity commanders would think about the commodore's plan to help try and thin the herd of the swarm but the results that she came up with was somewhat bothersome, so she pushed them out of her mind as she focused on the next question. "So do we go through the primary channels, mister president?"
Rokk shook his head, "No, I'm taking Andrew out of the loop on this one." he explained, "I know it's going to make him angry but without a proper go between for the Federation and the Alliance, I want to make sure that none of this reflects badly on him or Miss Deparra."
"Sound reasoning sir, what would you like me to do?" Storm asked.
"Have your assistant start the preparations and head for the Lavie. I want you there when I present the plan's outline to whoever is charge of that kind of operations." the president said.
"Yes sir, I'll start operations at once." was Storm's only reply.
And with that, the view of the president's office faded and man stepped forward, dressed in the standard MSA naval uniform but with the departmental colors of special operations for his departmental shirt. "Ryan, you heard the orders. I want our best engineers to start setting things up."
Captain Ryan Mazel nodded, "Yes ma'am."
"I'm also leaving you in charge of operations here until one of two things happens and you know which two." Storm went on further as she unclasped her hands from the small of her back and turned to face her operative.
Again the captain nodded, "Understood. There is a shuttle ready for you to take back to the Jenova when you're ready." he said.
Storm nodded and then motioned for the room to be unsecured as she headed out and off on her next mission.
(an MSA side jaunt)
Around the planet of Damara which was located in a star system distant from the holdings of the Manticorian Systems Alliance and it was here that once held generous deposits of Trimonite ore until finally they had finally mined the planet dry after decades of work and its temporary population had also since moved on.
But it was here that Alliance geo-scientist Farok Mereel looked out over the still standing pre-fab buildings as the high desert winds whipped around him as he stood in the open in a standard issue Alliance desert survival gear.
"Doctor Mereel. The colonel wants to know if you've completed your survey of the area yet?" a voice yelled from behind him over the din of the wind.
Mereel turned to see a rank and file member of the Alliance marines standing there and nodded, "Tell Colonel McKinner that I will be in shortly."
"Aye sir!" the marine shouted back before turning to head back down the embankment to where the transport was, leaving Mereel to his thoughts.
It was roughly two weeks ago when Mereel had been ordered from his research on Kuat to some world on the very edge of the Alliance's frontier under escort from no less then a full detachment of marines and told that he needed to make a full survey of the planet for some reason.
Mereel didn't like speaking with McKinner and so he simply did his job and spent as little time in camp except to eat or sleep but nothing else and after a few more moments of quiet reflection, he made his way down from the dune that he was standing on and quickly made his way back to the transport, albeit a lot more faster due to his being born and raised on the planet of Abassi which was kind of like Egypt or Iraq on Earth that Was a couple of thousand years back.
Once he had cycled through the airlock and into the transport proper, heading towards the central briefing area where he knew that Colonel McKinner was waiting for him.
But what he saw when he got there wasn't the tall and slightly stocky form of MSAMC Colonel Evan McKinner....but instead was a short, slenderly built woman with red hair hanging loose across her slender shoulders and in a respectable uniform. "Ah, Doctor Mereel. I take it that you're here to give me your report?"
Mereel blinked hard as he wasn't expecting his President's spymaster in place of the marine commander!
"Um...Doctor Storm, I wasn't expecting you but.." Mereel started to say before the woman held up a hand, stopping him.
"It's alright, Doctor. I have sent the colonel back to the Essex for the time being." Doctor Storm explained as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Your report please?" she then asked kindly.
Mereel decided to wait to ask anymore questions on his behalf until after he gave her what she wanted. "Damara has been completely abandoned save for the prefab buildings and our original mining facilities, the planet was like this when it was first discovered a half century ago. he explained to her before walking over and inputting a series of commands into the situation table which brought up a holographic view of the planet above the table's surface.
"The dust storms are manageable under the right conditions but the Ironforge Mining Guild went too far and too deep in locations marked a Seven G, Nine J, Fourteen B, and Twenty Six K with K being the deepest under the planet's mantle." he went on further, highlighting the areas in particular with a zoom in of how deep 26-B was exactly.
Doctor Storm nodded slowly, "How stable is the planet from a geostable rating?" she asked, her tone thoughtful.
"I'd give it a three point six on the Markov scale which means a sustained planetary bombardment from a reasonably sized fleet could cause the planet to start undergoing collapse in six point nine minutes, ma'am." Fereel explained.
"And what if we were to place a planet cracker in one of the deeply mined areas?"
Fereel blinked a couple of times before adding "Full planetary destabilization in less than three minutes if the right amount is detonated in twenty six B, ma'ma."
Storm nodded, "Thank you for your hard work and due diligence, Doctor Mereel." she said warmly before motioning towards one of the other doors that lead deeper into the transport. "Go and rest, good sir. You've more then earned it."
Mereel had been around the society circles of Kuat long enough to understand when he was actually being treated with respect which made him bow his head towards the woman. "Thank you ma'am." he said before leaving the room, praying that he could actually relax now.
------------------
Once Mereel had left the room, the marine guard next to the door locked and secured the room at which point Doctor Storm let out a deep sigh and turned back to the situation table and inputted a few commands and the view of Damara shrunk a little bit to allow a view of the president's office appeared in its place at which point everyone in the room save for the doctor came to attention.
In the president's office was the head of Naval Special Operations in Commodore Connor Bateman along with the president himself in Rokk Astrovich.
"Commodore, Mister President." Doctor Storm said with a nod of her head.
"What is your report, Drura?" the president asked as he leaned forward in his chair.
"The target planet is viable for the plan if Admiral Layton agrees with it, however I'm not too sure that she nor the newly minted General Thornton would agree with the second half of it." Doctor Storm reported as she folded her hands behind her at the small of her back.
The president nodded in agreement, "She's a very ethical woman and I can respect her for that but this whole swarm problem is something that we need to look at from multiple angles." he said before rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But as for this general, what do you have on him, Drura?"
"Just as ethical as Layton but he's not a fleet commander within their Trinity, sir." she replied, recalling the information from memory. "But he's a little bit more pragmatic but considering the commodore's plan, he might balk at it."
Bateman nodded, "Perhaps...perhaps, but we need to at least present the plan to them and see if they can accept it."
Storm mentally came up with two separate possibilities but wondered what the thoughts of the Trinity commanders would think about the commodore's plan to help try and thin the herd of the swarm but the results that she came up with was somewhat bothersome, so she pushed them out of her mind as she focused on the next question. "So do we go through the primary channels, mister president?"
Rokk shook his head, "No, I'm taking Andrew out of the loop on this one." he explained, "I know it's going to make him angry but without a proper go between for the Federation and the Alliance, I want to make sure that none of this reflects badly on him or Miss Deparra."
"Sound reasoning sir, what would you like me to do?" Storm asked.
"Have your assistant start the preparations and head for the Lavie. I want you there when I present the plan's outline to whoever is charge of that kind of operations." the president said.
"Yes sir, I'll start operations at once." was Storm's only reply.
And with that, the view of the president's office faded and man stepped forward, dressed in the standard MSA naval uniform but with the departmental colors of special operations for his departmental shirt. "Ryan, you heard the orders. I want our best engineers to start setting things up."
Captain Ryan Mazel nodded, "Yes ma'am."
"I'm also leaving you in charge of operations here until one of two things happens and you know which two." Storm went on further as she unclasped her hands from the small of her back and turned to face her operative.
Again the captain nodded, "Understood. There is a shuttle ready for you to take back to the Jenova when you're ready." he said.
Storm nodded and then motioned for the room to be unsecured as she headed out and off on her next mission.