• FC:Res1.02 Attack Plans (02/21/16)

    Skirmish : Battlegoose on Battlegoose Stadium
    BLUE Attacks Deadlock (8v8 Sym)
    REDD Attacks Plaza (4v4 Asym)



    APPROACHING HIDDEN IMPERIAL FACILITY
    SOMEWHERE BETWEEN “THE RIG” and “DEEP FREEZE”


    Major Mos was currently sitting aboard a Brotherhood Prowler, the “Reverence of Stars,” which had been assigned to his task force. He had just finished reading through a heavily encoded transmission and leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief.

    After he first received his orders, he immediately began putting together his team. It’s been a month since then, and throughout the “Reverence of Stars” were seven other Legionnaires who he handpicked. A few moments later, one of them came into the helm of the prowler. It was Warrant Officer Caw, “The mine is in position, we can move to the next location.”

    Mos nodded in response and began repositioning the “Reverence of Stars” to the next site. “We have enough time to get six more deployed before the ‘Beholder’ arrives.” They were deploying a field of mines in what would shortly become a battlefield. While prowlers were extremely weak in direct combat, they were excellent at being stealthy and came equipped with numerous HORNET mines, each made to be nigh undetectable and with the equivalent explosion potential of a 30 megaton nuke. If the Imperial ships make the mistake of moving too close, the battle will be very short.

    Over the course of the previous month, Major Mos and his task force have been looking for any potential security leaks or methods through which the Empire could be gaining intel about our operations. Within a short time, it was noticed that a strange series of desertions had been happening from troops stationed at “The Rig” and “Deep Freeze” facilities, and it was suspected that the Empire was likely related.

    Eventually they found the culprit, a traitor who had been cooperating with the Empire from among their own ranks, who led certain soldiers and lesser officers to be taken captive by Imperial spies and summarily tortured for more information. After dealing with this traitor, they had someone assume his identity and contact the spies once more. After finding a volunteer to let himself be captured, they tracked a hidden locator beacon to find the Imperial spies’ base located in the cover of a clump of asteroids.

    Once they confirmed the location, they sent a securely encrypted transmission to a nearby Brotherhood facility, where a carrier was located, the “Beholder.” It would be supporting the operation, providing cover while Mos and his task force infiltrate the facility, secure anything important they can find, and rescue any surviving captives. The original hope was that they could complete the mission without relying on the “Beholder,” as the enemies would be immediately alerted once it exited slipspace, but the Empire had more forces here than initially anticipated.

    The facility itself wasn’t much, but stationed nearby were four Imperial frigates. The “Reverence of Stars” would have an easy time infiltrating the facility, but escape would be nigh impossible, and the chance that the frigates simply bombard the facility once they realize the situation was also a risk. As such, they were currently preparing for the arrival of the “Beholder,” and will be using the cover it would provide to storm the facility. The HORNET mines would prevent the frigates from ambushing the carrier without becoming crippled or destroyed themselves, and would also prevent any of them from chasing after the “Reverence of Stars” once it made its escape.

    And now, the signal of a nearby slipspace fluctuation has been received. The “Beholder” has arrived. Mos broke the radio silence they had been maintaining since their arrival, “We’re going in.” Almost simultaneously, the facility also realized that the arriving carrier was no friend of theirs, and did not stay still. The interceptors in their launch bays were quickly leaving in groups, the frigate crews manning their stations, and the meager base defenses coming online.

    Comparatively, the Brotherhood carrier sortied its forces. Dozens at first and then hundreds and hundreds of Longsword-class Interceptors flooded from the multitude of openings across its hull. It wasted no time and sent three volleys of Archer Missiles ahead of the interceptors, targeting the frigates and aiming to disable their MACs before they could damage the “Beholder” itself.

    Mos and his team didn’t keep track of what happened next, as they were already breaching the facility and beginning their own part of the operation.

    ABOARD BROTHERHOOD FLAGSHIP "SPEAR OF DEIMOS"
    EXITING SLIPSPACE ABOVE "PLAZA"


    The slight tremors that affected the entire ship quickly vanished as the g-forces returned to normal. Brigadier General Silko promptly stood up and took a few steps forward. “Situation report!”

    “Sir, no sign of Imperial forces or slipspace fluctuations. It seems we’ve arrived in time.” The communications specialist wasted no time in relaying the information. Following their victory at “Fathom” facility, they were ordered to track the movements of the Imperial ships. Now, several slipspace jumps later they were in orbit above “Plaza,” arriving mere hours before the Empire’s 2nd Enforcers Division once again launched an offensive.

    And, if things went well, they would once again be brutally repelled and forced to retreat in failure. “Alpha Group should already have arrived at ‘Deadlock’ by now. Imperial forces are still covering that region like ants… They’ll have no shortage of targets to shoot at, it seems,” Silko muttered to himself with a faint sigh. He had wanted to hold his own offensive, but it seemed command had a different opinion, and he was once again leading a defensive. Speaking up toward the others in the Operations Room, “Well, let’s get some boots on the ground.”

    His voice seemed to have a bit of impatience within it, and the officers quickly began relaying orders to teams and crews throughout the “Spear of Deimos.” In actuality, it wasn’t impatience within his voice, but a vague sense of boredom. In years past, he would be one set of those boots on the ground, fending off REDDs time and time again, shoulder to shoulder and back to back with his brothers. He had his fair share of loss and defeat, of course, but even when they would lose a battle, they’d win the war.

    If the Brotherhood was to survive, there was no other choice. Losing ground was acceptable, but losing it all was not. In some ways, it was a weakness, but in others it was the greatest strength of the Brotherhood. Desperation was not something the Empire felt. True determination in the face of overwhelming odds was not something they had. Motivation to free their homeworlds from oppression, hope for a future that is safe and secure, the promise of a life worth living. All of these became the strength of the Brotherhood.

    This war was no different. It was the continuation of what had been occurring for years. However, the urgency had not abated. The Brotherhood was no longer a meager rebellion struggling for survival each and every day; it had grown, into a full-fledged opposition force which could openly and proudly stand up against the Empire.

    “It’s all a matter of time…” they all told themselves. Soon, this sector would be securely in their control. After this, they’d continue their march one step at a time. It was just a matter of time, and then they’d be toppling the Imperial flags one by one as they freed Earth. It was the dream of every Legionnaire, the hope of all those under the umbrella of the Brotherhood, and the core of the propaganda spread through nearly all of the outer colonies.

    The Brigadier General shook his head slightly to clear his mind of such thoughts, now was not the time for them. “What’s the situation at ‘Zircon’?” When he was ordered to track the movements of the Empire’s 2nd Enforcers Division, they accompanied troops and relocated most of the forces away from “Fathom” and up to “Truth,” congregating them for a separate operation that he wasn’t directly involved with.

    The instant it was known that the 2nd Enforcers Division had left “Zircon,” at the same time as Silko was preparing to move to “Plaza,” the majority of the other forces were already leading an assault, planning to take “Zircon” by surprise once it was exposed and vulnerable. The communications specialist explained the updated situation, “Imperial forces at the region seem scarce. It should be a simple victory. However, it appears that once we had left ‘Truth,’ Imperial forces launched towards it and have arrived just recently. The situation there does not look good.”

    “Tch… It’s the same thing they did at ‘Deadlock’ last month, catching us the instant we relocate our forces…” After another brief sigh, he set about ordering the now-landed ground troops to prepare for the upcoming fight. It wouldn’t be long before the Empire arrived.

    Sure enough, an hour later a series of alerts went off. Multiple slipspace fluctuations were detected, and the comms became a flurry of activity. Silko listened in as Admiral Krake bellowed his orders, “‘Siren,’ ‘Comet,’ and ‘Trident,’ harass any landing craft attempting to enter the atmosphere. ‘Typhoon’ and ‘Baldrin’ are to cover and support them. All other ships provide suppressive fire if the enemy engages.”

    The ten ships of the “Kraken Fleet” went into action. The “Spear of Deimos” was the largest ship of the 7th Naval Group, a Vindication-class Battleship. Next was the “Typhoon,” a Halcyon-class Light Cruiser. The “Baldrin” and “Galatea” were Gorgon-class Destroyers, and they also had three Stalwart-Class Frigates, the “Xerxes,” “Falcon,” and “Pioneer.” The remaining three ships were the two Mako-class Corvettes, “Comet” and “Trident,” along with the Winter-class Prowler, the “Siren.”

    Brigadier General Silko switched off of that comm channel and turned his attention toward any landing craft that might break through. Their projected landing locations and the number that successfully made it through would determine the outcome of this defensive operation.

    And thus the Battle of Plaza began.


    Battlegoose

    • Skirmish begins at 5:30 PM EST.
    • 4v4 Symmetric map.
    • Uses "Battlegoose" gametype.
    • "Battlegoose Stadium" map variant.
    • Reward: 1 TA Piece
    Deadlock

    • Begin at 6:00 PM EST
    • 8v8 Symmetric map
    • REDD has gametype choice
    • Best of 9 games
    • Res1 v1 Gametypes
    • Res1 Deadlock v1 map variant
    Plaza

    • Begins about 7:30 PM EST
    • 4v4 Asymmetric map
    • BLUE has gametype choice
    • Best of 15 games
    • Res1 v1 Gametypes
    • Res1 Plaza v1 map variant

    Assault on Truth Assault on Zircon
    • REDD Offensive
    • Defenders: 2 Brigades
    • Attackers: 5 Brigades
    • No Defensive Cards
    • Orbital Bombardment
    • Attackers have 96% LoV
    • BLUE Offensive
    • Defending force: 1 Brigades
    • Attacking force: 4 Brigades
    • No Defensive Cards
    • No Offensive Cards
    • Attackers have 97% LoV


    So supporting something like Battlegoose via the lore was something I wasn't very hyped to do. Just pretend you're in a Longsword-class Interceptor dog-fighting with a bunch of enemy Longswords and it'll be fine. Yup. Flawless. If you don't know what Battlegoose is, click here.

    Reminder that this is not for THIS Sunday (the 14th), but for the FOLLOWING Sunday, the 21st. It's a week and a half away still, but getting the APs up a bit early gives me a bit more time to get the maps forged and ready with plenty of time for everyone to practice on the maps.

    Also, for the first time in months War Council is having a serious discussion on a solution that could make a difference in battles and lead to some improvement. If it works out you'll hear the full details hopefully before the end of this weekend.




    The Battle will be on Sunday, February 21st, 2015, at 6:00 PM EST. Be there!
    (Skirmish begins at 5:30 PM EST! Show up a few minutes early and participate in that as well!)
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