GDI Platoon Commander: A "GDI Edition" side-quest (non-canon)

Raw Plan/Resolution:

August 15, 2060

"I don't understand it, Warrant." you tell the Orca pilot, shaking your head as you pace back and forth in front of your desk as he stands at attention. "One day, with our backs against the wall, your aircraft takes a few laser blasts and you're barely able to restrain yourself from leaving the battle." You pause, looking up at him - the bastard is tall. Well, taller than you. "Then, with absolutely nothing critical at stake, you decide to risk your aircraft by engaging unauthorized targets defended by an unknown amount of anti-air assets and hostile aircraft." You spread your arms, a bewildered look on your face. "I don't understand it."

"Ma'am, we didn't... "

"Ma'am nothing." you interrupt, pointing a finger at him. "It's not even going off-mission that's the problem. I understand battlefield initiative - no visible defenses means sometimes it's ok to take a pot shot." you pause. "What really pisses me off is that you tried to conceal your... initiative... from me."

You sigh. "I obviously worked it out using other means, but I had to spend a bunch of time examining status updates and camera feeds. It worked out fine for you, since nobody died and you probably forced the deployment of air defenses that the Brotherhood probably didn't want to spend the credits deploying. But in the middle of a battle, I can't be arguing you to get you to follow my orders or give me accurate status reports."

You pull out your G-Pad, looking at it and scrolling aimlessly. "Report to Chief Gilberti over in the cafeteria in your downtime. I'm sure he'll have some meditative tasks for you that'll give you time to think about it. Dismissed."

The "yes ma'am" takes a little long to arrive - instead, you hear some grumbling. Looking up, the pilot straightens himself back out.

You narrow your eyes. "Was I somehow unclear, Warrant Officer?"

"No ma'am." he answers, giving a salute and heading for the door.

You sigh after he leaves, wondering if people would listen to you more if your voice was a few octaves deeper, you were half a meter taller and weighed another twenty or thirty kilos. And had facial hair, and maybe a pair of testicles, you add with a smirk. Then you shake your head. Nah, probably not, you conclude.

---

The rest of the day is spent coordinating the movement of your forces across the bridge. After thinking it over, you decide that the firepower differential is in your favor this time - it doesn't make sense to huddle on the far side of a bridge (well, two of them), sniping back and forth with artillery.

Among other things, you have the grenade launcher removed from one of your APCs - it's just not that effective vs the mechanized units and aircraft the Brotherhood is fielding, and a rocket launcher is a much better option. A second anti-air missile battery goes up within the narrowed perimeter of your base as well, to provide additional security against any air raids coming from the east.

Your units crossing the bridges report a few Brotherhood vehicle contacts - namely, a buggy. Likely an advance scout, fluttering back and forth. You're pretty sure it identifies the two of your APCs, Pitbull and Predator, at least as sensor contacts. You decide to hold your Mammoth, Overseer and remaining APC on your side of the river bank, out of sensor range. If the Brotherhood decides to move in, they're really going to be in for it.


August 16, 2060

They decide not to move in. Whether out of caution due to your detecting your units on sensors or because they're waiting to synchronize their attack with incoming aircraft, you detect no incoming sensor contacts. This means you're going to have to come to them.

"Pi-One, break north to designated waypoint and report sensor contacts. Do not engage unless otherwise directed." you call out.

You've decided that the main battle is going to take place between the two rivers to the north of your base - your newly-deployed Rig and the multitude of anti-air turrets can handle incoming aircraft. Additionally, if they can't, you've got the Mammoth tank right outside your base. At this rate, it won't be able to participate in the ground engagement, but its missile racks can target aircraft just fine.

As such, you've already put on your command suit and done your status checks - all that remains is the helmet.

"Three heavy, one medium, one light sensor contact. Probably a couple Specters too." the Pitbull's driver reports. You note with pleasure that instead of charging in like a moron, he's driving an evasive pattern as artillery shells rain down onto locations where his Pitbull was... half a minute ago. You roll your eyes and sprint for the river bank, preparing to fire up your jump jets.

"All units, prepare to move to pre-designated waypoints and engage targets in sector D4." you call out as you reach your jump-off point. "Omicron flight, reconfigure for ground attack then launch and move along designated vector."

As the chorus of acknowledgements rattles around in your helmet, you bend your knees a little, then activate the jump jets, arcing yourself in a ballistic trajectory over the river. In a practiced motion, you give it a little thrust prior to landing, almost right next to the APC camped out on the other side of the riverbank.

"Nice landing, ma'am. Nine points out of ten." Sgt. Jarvi calls out. "Too much dirt spray."

"Thanks, Sergeant. Let's move out." you reply, the last to stomp into the APC, grab onto a roof stanchion and slam the hatch shut button in the back. The APC's engine roars to life, and your forces are on the move.

As you approach, your third APC and the Overseer cross the river. The Overseer, being a little slower than all the other units, begins bolting itself down to the ground as soon as it crosses and clears the way for any other units that want to move across the bridge. The Nod commander, perhaps seeing a chance to shoot at a slower-moving sensor contact, directs artillery shells at the Overseer's location, the crew rattling off a panicked report. You acknowledge their request to relocate, then focus as your troops converge on the Nod force.

"All units, dismount and engage." you order, stomping out of the APC, sweeping the immediate area while the other troopers make their way out. Your sensor suite lights up the position of two cloaked Specter units - you direct one of the APCs to take them out. Everyone else is forced to engage the three Centurion-class mechs and the Scorpion. Plasma bolts and Tiberium-tipped rockets fly out from the enemy walkers as they stomp through the forest, but your troops are on the ball - the Centurions' shields glow brightly as they absorb rockets and railgun rounds, then the energy fields dissipate and subsequent ordnance makes contact with their hulls. One of your Zone Raiders takes a direct hit from a plasma bolt and is evaporated, then the Centurion turns towards you, firing a spread of rockets in your direction.

You fire up your jump jets, arcing yourself to the side - the salvo misses, and you open up with your machine gun. Sure, you loaded it up with armor-piercing rounds, but the idea of it doing any actual damage to the Centurion is ridiculous. Mostly, you're just trying to attract its attention and maybe blind the pilot a little. Tasks at which you apparently succeed - the mech's weapons fire becomes wildly inaccurate. Until you're forced to cease fire by a second Centurion lumbering at top speed towards you - you sprint behind a tree, barely able to avoid getting squashed, watching as several grenades impact the "medium-sized" combat walker. Your former target uses the opportunity to spray plasma fire and rockets at the two APCs attempting to engage it, scoring a few grazing hits and driving the light units away. Just as you start thinking about possibly being concerned regarding the momentum turning, a barrage of railgun rounds and rockets perforates the third Centurion - the mech stumbles as blue trails emerge from its back and crashes into a tree, uprooting it as both giants fall to the ground, smoking. You feel bad for the tree.

You note on your local map that the Specters have disengaged and are heading for the river crossing. It's unlikely you'll be able to punch through the remaining Nod units and prevent them from getting away - at which point they'll set up on the other side of the river and shell your forces again. But maybe not - you've got two Orcas flying in. Quickly, you adjust their route, having them fly around the on-going firefight - you've got it handled - and circle around, cutting off the Brotherhood's escape. "Omicron flight, follow adjusted flight plan and engage all targets that enter the area at designated nav point." you order, putting a little steel into your voice. "Do not let them escape. We're finishing this now." To your relief, all you hear is a "yes ma'am".

The remaining Centurions, Scorpion tank and buggy all begin to fall back, using the trees to break line of sight as much as possible. One of your APCs takes a direct rocket hit, disabling its turrets, while plasma scores along the top of the Predator's turret. "Raider squad, regroup on me." you call out to the scattered ZOCOM personnel as the four of you move to rejoin the fight.

The Specters manage to cross the river, one after another, leaving them as trivial targets for the two Orcas. You can't exactly see what's going on, but the string of "target destroyed" reports from the Orcas tells you enough. The two remaining Centurions, Scorpion and buggy huddle around the river crossing, obviously wanting to retreat - the buggy goes first, being pretty beat up already (in fact, you're wondering how it's able to drive anywhere with all four wheels lacking tires), but a pair of rockets fly out from the trees, impacting the light vehicle - it stops moving mid-river, the water rushing past (and no doubt through) it.

One of the Centurions is engaged by your Predator tank, the railgun round shattering a nearby tree. It returns fire with the plasma cannon and missiles - the latter are picked off by the Predator's point defense system, while the plasma cannon causes electrical feedback - you can see little arcs running across the tank's surface.

The other Centurion comes after your squad - another raider takes a direct rocket hit, while you and the remaining two raider suits are forced to duck behind trees as plasma blasts them apart, spraying you with burning wood chips large and small. But that's about the last of it - while it's busy shooting at your squad, your other units have moved into position. It brings its shield up to absorb a couple of rockets and railgun rounds, but your squad (and you, you're helping with your little machine gun!) unloads rockets and grenades into the side of the mech. Its already-pockmarked left arm snaps off, while a rocket connects with the knee joint causing it to separate the next time the walker places weight on it.

A brief glance around the battlefield shows the remaining Centurion a smoking ruin a little closer to the river. A few seconds later, a large explosion attracts your attention and you watch a Scorpion tank's turret fly up above the treeline, spinning like an out-of-control wind turbine.

You confirm status updates with everyone, then order the Orcas back to base. A few minutes after they arrive, four Nod aircraft sensor contacts briefly pop in then right back out to the east of your base, prompting you to breathe a sigh of relief. Your command suit looks like a burnt porcupine, and three of your raiders are either dead or in critical condition, but you won. The Nod offensive force was completely annihilated, while your force is about 80% combat effective.

Combat Results: Decisive Victory
3x Centurion, 1x Scorpion, 1x Buggy, 2x Specter destroyed

1x APC critically damaged
1x Predator lightly damaged
1x Overseer heavily damaged
1x Zone Raider heavy casualties
Anticipated repair costs: 162 credits

Raider regenerates to 75
Trooper regenerates to 125
Overseer is now elite (+10 to all rolls)
Infantry is veteran (+5 to all rolls)
Predator is veteran driver (+5 to init rolls)

---

EVA Report Follows:
Hold Northern Forward Base (primary command directive, Nod condition critical, retreat likely)
Hold Northern Air Supply Depot (primary command directive, Nod-controlled)
Hold Southern Forward Base (primary command directive, Nod-controlled)
Hold Southern Air Supply Depot (primary command directive, GDI-controlled)

[Note: this is a triple turn]

Power (available/total): 22.5/250
Logistics (available/total): 2/16
Building Slots D6: 4/7 (-1 Tiberium)
Building Slots E6: 2/8
Tiberium Credits: 280 (+3000 overspend)
Tiberium Storage Capacity (available/total): 2000/2000
Tiberium Income: 1500/turn for 3 turns
Construction Capacity: 1 building/turn, 1 defense/turn
Infantry Requisition Capacity: 1/turn
Vehicle Requisition Capacity: 1/turn
Buildings:
D6: Outpost, Refinery
E6: Conyard, Commpost, Factory, Barracks, Walls, PD Turret, AA Turret, 2x AAM Turret

Miscellaneous Options:

Construction Options (Pick up to 1 per turn, valid spots are D6, F6):

Defense Construction Options (Pick up to 1 per turn, valid spots are D6, E6, F6):

Infantry Requisition Options (Pick up to 1 per turn. Will arrive in E6):

Vehicle Requisition Options (pick up to 1 per turn, arrive at E6):

Aircraft Requisition Options (Pick up to 1 per turn, starting the turn after airfield is built):

Operational Area Map:

Current Force Status:

You're pretty happy that the Nod aircraft, the Barghests and Venom, chose to turn aside rather than attack your base. It means their commander didn't feel he could take it on. Probably because, in addition to the air defenses, you had the two Orcas (never mind that they only had the railguns for anti-air firepower). But what that means is that, for the moment, you're free to conduct offensive ground operations.

Your first order of business is to repair and rearm. Once that's done, you want to drive on the Nod base. The trouble is that, for fixed defenses, it has at least an Obelisk of Light. Possibly more than one. You've engaged one previously - using artillery to overwhelm its capability to target the incoming shells. You didn't actually take it out - the Nod commander kept it up and running long enough to dismantle the rest of his base and retreat. You had to hunt his forces down subsequently. You can get any Overseers you have over there pretty quickly using your Ox, so speed is not really a problem; just available credits and time.

Other than artillery, the main tools in the GDI arsenal for dealing with Obelisks are aircraft or ion cannons. You need an ion cannon control center to coordinate orbital fire - and that's assuming you had clearance to use ion cannons in the first place. But you could probably crank out another Orca and launch an air assault. The risk being that there are likely surface-to-air missile sites in there, as well as at least one rocket-equipped militant squad. Maybe even a Mantis or two, although the latter is unlikely - you would have detected them.

Or, you could just launch the ground assault, hoping to overwhelm the structure with numbers or take out the supporting power plants - each one eats enough energy to power a Tech Center or a modern Tiberium Refinery. By the time the Mammoth tank gets over there, the Nod commander will definitely have evacuated and the dinosaurs will have returned to reclaim their rightful place as Earth's overlords, so you're pretty sure it's not a reasonable option.

You briefly consider simply leaving the Nod base alone - it's got no Tiberium income and no offensive units left. What are they going to do, send harvesters at your base to ram your buildings? But it's not in your nature to leave work undone like that, you need a resolution one way or another.

Pick one:
[] Nod Base Attack: Artillery
- At least 72 hours to get your units in position, +24 for each artillery unit beyond two
- Need at least two artillery units
- Likelyhood that Nod gives you the laser finger, giggles and escapes during long artillery barrage
[] Nod Base Attack: Aircraft
- 24 hours with two Orcas, 48 hours with three, 72 hours with four
- Risk of Orcas getting shot down by unknown anti-air complement, especially in smaller numbers
[] Nod Base Attack: Ground Units (with artillery support)
- At least 72 hours to get your units in position
- Heavy casualties likely
[] Write-in
[] Leave it alone, move on to other targets
- Violet is "earnest" not "sloppy"

Raw Plan/Resolution:

August 18, 2060

"What do you mean, you took the engines off?" you ask, bewildered.

The face of the airfield's tech crew chief remains impassive. "We took the engines off for a full inspection."

"Why?" you ask, not really feeling great about this conversation. Your Orcas are supposed to be flying a ground attack mission now, not loitering on the airfield, one of them with both its main drive systems on racks, being inspected with fine toothed combs by technicians. "Medium-length explanation, please." you clarify.

"It set the Tiberium alarm off. My guess - the pilot flew a little too low over a Tiberium field and sucked some up into the turbines. We'll have the inspection done and the parts replaced within twenty four hours." the tech crew chief explains with all the patience of someone talking to a six year old child insisting on (soy) ice cream of a particular flavor.

You sigh. "Fine. Thanks for the update, chief, ping me when it's done. Command out." you say, signing off. The rest of the day is a struggle of supervising you ground force movement to the north, watching your construction crews slowly wheel out the pre-fabricated power plant components and not calling in and asking for a status update on the Orca engine inspection every minute.

You still can't believe you have to step in and resolve "who goes first" across the river to sector D3. The Pitbull and Predator driver really get into it, yelling at each other over comms, to the point where you have to threaten to relieve them of their duties and have replacement personnel flown out. It doesn't really matter, as the Brotherhood doesn't have anything that can interfere anyway, but you have Corporal Arias' APC take point, carrying the infantry squad, while the zone armor units hop over on jump jets. It goes textbook perfect, reminding you of those physics problems involving massless springs, frictionless surfaces and perfect spheres in gravity-less vacuums. It also distracts you from wanting to ask for a status update on the Orca engines for at least twenty minutes. By the end of the day, you're afraid you're going to pull your hair out if you re-tighten your ponytail any more and resort to putting a cap on and putting your hair under it. It doesn't help much - five minutes later you catch yourself with the cap on your table, your hair in your left hand and your hair restraint over your right wrist.


August 19, 2060

"Satellite scan... completed." your EVA unit informs you. The part of the Brotherhood base in sector A2 hasn't been entirely dismantled yet, although they're definitely working on it - satellite pictures show multiple flatbed trucks carrying loads of construction equipment off to the west. Three helpfully highlighted areas are designated as "SAM Site", and there are at least two squads of militants toting rocket launchers. This looks like it's your last chance to take them down, so you order your Orcas to launch.

The air attack starts off well enough, with your Orcas delivering an initial strafing run. You have them focus on the fixed defenses first - otherwise they'll just get shot up after the first flyover. They get shot up anyway - another militant squad emerges from the Hand of Nod, a hail of rockets causing critical damage to two of the three VTOL craft. You sigh, shake your head, and order a return to base. This time, nobody argues with you.

It's obvious the Brotherhood is leaving, and it's just not worth it to get your Orcas shot down for a chance to shoot some buildings that are about to be dismantled anyway. It's frustrating - if that stupid Orca jock hadn't sucked a bunch of Tiberium up into his engines, you'd have been able to bring the pain twenty four hours earlier, and things would have looked a lot different.

Combat Results: Successful Nod Escape
3x Militant Squads escaped

2x Orca critically damaged
1x Orca lightly damaged

The silver lining is that there were no sensor contacts reported in sector B2, vehicle or structure of any size. You intend to send the Orcas on a recon flight once the repairs are finished to confirm, but you're about 99% sure that, by tomorrow, your sector will be clear. You smirk - it's time to use up the last of your Tiberium and decide what you want to do next. You have a very limited amount of credits until the 24th, when the two harvesters, a Predator and a Pacifier from the southern forward base will arrive at your location. At which point you'll still have a very limited amount of credits. But you'll be able to crank out some extra units with that load, while the extra heavy armor and fast artillery can be put to good use.

EVA Report Follows:
Tiberium Field... Depleted

Hold Northern Forward Base (primary command directive, GDI-controlled)
Hold Northern Air Supply Depot (primary command directive, Nod-controlled)
Hold Southern Forward Base (primary command directive, Nod-controlled)
Hold Southern Air Supply Depot (primary command directive, GDI-controlled)

[Use as many turns as you want, but you only have a limited amount of credits]

Power (available/total): 82.5/350
Logistics (available/total): 5/20
Building Slots D6: 3/8
Building Slots E6: 0/8
Tiberium Credits: 1460 (+3000 on August 24)
Tiberium Storage Capacity (available/total): 1950/2000
Tiberium Income: 0
Construction Capacity: 1 building/turn, 1 defense/turn
Infantry Requisition Capacity: 1/turn
Vehicle Requisition Capacity: 1/turn
Buildings:
D6: Outpost, Refinery, Plant, Airfield
E6: Conyard, Commpost, Plant U, Factory, Barracks, CS Airfield, Walls, PD Turret, AA Turret, 2x AAM Turret

Miscellaneous Options:

Construction Options (Pick up to 1 per turn, valid spots are D6,F6):

Defense Construction Options (Pick up to 1 per turn, valid spots are D6; also E6 for turrets):

Infantry Requisition Options (Pick up to 1 per turn. Will arrive in E6):

Vehicle Requisition Options (pick up to 1 per turn, arrive at E6):

Aircraft Requisition Options (Pick up to 1 per turn, starting the turn after airfield is built):

Local Area Map... dismissed as irrelevant.
Regional Area Map:

Current Force Status:

Your call with Lt. Richter reveals that her status is much the same as before - her air group continues skirmishing inconclusively with the coastal airbase, neither side willing to commit to a full engagement. Which kind of surprises you, given her usual tendencies to "just go for it". Maybe she's riding one of the Firehawk jocks, you think to yourself with a smirk.

It's not that hard to sympathize with her reluctance to just throw all her aircraft at it, though - if the resulting battle doesn't go her way, she and you are both screwed, and not in a good way. At the very least, it keeps the coastal air base from interfering in your upcoming ground operations.

Speaking of which, your ground attack component is ready to go. And even better, you have an Ox that you can use to stage your slower units (aka the Predator, Overseer and Rig) wherever you choose to go. You've got three options that you can see.

Your first option is to hit the northern depot. By your last count, they had four aircraft, and had gotten hammered pretty hard by Lt. Richter's airstrikes. Not to mention, and you hate to say it, but your rice-stirring and floor-sweeping Orca flight leader's escapade forced them to use a Barghest's worth of credits on anti-air defenses. Tiberium estimates tell you that there's still enough of the crystal there for them to probably double their aircraft count and crank out a few more of the Nod-refit version of the Titan. But probably not enough to overcome your force: you outnumber them, and you'll have the advantage of being on the attack. The benefits of this option are pretty simple - eliminating the ground component of the remaining northern depot force and having a good shot at getting the air component as well.

Your second option is to hit the southern forward base. You haven't gotten updated intel from there for quite a while, although Lt. Richter hammered their Tiberium harvesting operations quite a bit before stalemating. The last "ground intel" update showed a mixture of Avatar-class mechs and Specter artillery, and a reliance on aircraft from the coastal air base for interception capability. The latter means your Orcas should have more or less free reign, while your ground units will have a tough time with a direct engagement. Given Tiberium field estimates in that area, if they go "all-in" on Avatars, you might see as many as ten, perhaps with some air defense support if the Nod commander isn't a total idiot. The question is, where would those Avatars go? Your base? Lt. Richter's base? Neither scenario smiles on you.

Your third option is to simply hunker down and wait for the convoy from the southern forward base to arrive, then revisit the issue with a little more firepower. Of course, this will give both the Nod bases a chance to do the same.

[] Northern Depot - B5 Factory
-APC/Pitbull Strike force arrives in 4 days (96 hours)
-Ox can transport up to 4x units; pick them here
-3x Recon Points
-[] Predator (up to 2)
-[] Overseer
-[] Pacifier
-[] Rig
-[] Engineer
-[] Other ground units that get built?

[] Southern Depot - B2 Base
-APC/Pitbull Strike force arrives in 5 days (120 hours)
-Ox can transport up to 5x units; pick them here
-4x Recon Points
-[] Predator (up to 2)
-[] Overseer
-[] Pacifier
-[] Rig
-[] Engineer
-[] Other ground units that get built?

[] Await convoy arrival
-Convoy arrives in 5 days (120 hours)
-Additional 3000 credits available for unit construction
-4x Recon Points

You also have your three-Orca flight sitting around without anything to do. As much as you actually prefer the giant rice pots made by the Orca flight leader rather than the usual cafeteria crew (you're not really sure whether it's because he actually adds seasoning to them, cooks the rice properly or just because you're enjoying the sweet, sweet taste of discipline and subordination), having three Orcas idling at your base isn't great. If you make a ground assault, you're obviously planning to have them support your ground forces; but prior to that, they can fly recon patterns. There are several areas where your recon is a little on the weak side.

First, you don't know exactly where the northern depot's air towers are located. You can kind of estimate a radius based on how long it took their aircraft to get to your base the last several times, but you'd rather know exactly where they are. You also want to know what they've been cranking out at that factory.

Second, you could use a better look at the southern forward base's actual facilities. What do they have over there? Fields of Obelisks? Rows upon rows of Avatars? Swarms of militant squads? Did they finish clearing that giant Tiberium patch? You don't know. But you should find out.

Third, you don't know if the status of any of the potential major Nod ground forces. Are they still hanging out at their bases? Marching towards your or Lt. Richter's base? Non-existent? You should find out.

Pick a number of options equal to the number of recon points given above;
List them in chronological order
[] Recon northern depot air towers
[] Recon northern depot factory (again)
[] Recon southern forward base - B2 base
[] Recon southern forward base - A2 base
[] Recon southern forward base - C5 Tiberium field
[] Recon space between your base and SFB
[] Recon space between Lt. Richter's base and SFB

Raw Plan/Resolution:

August 21, 2060

The APC bounces gently along the mostly flat terrain leading to the northern depot, the vehicle's shock absorbers combining with your command suit's padding to minimize any jostling. Your destination - the factory and power plant located in sector B5.

Your Orcas' recon forays have been moderately productive - you've confirmed a number of vehicle contacts in sector B5, totaling four; one being a Mantis as you already know, the rest being bigger vehicle signatures. Probably Titans with one or two tanks. Your Orcas also located an Operations Center in sector E2, but were run off by hostile aircraft - likely Barghests, but, as per your orders, your Orcas simply bugged out the second they saw the sensor contacts. Based on your and your EVA's analysis, the total count of enemy aircraft stands somewhere between four and eight. Additionally, it appears that they've tapped out their accessible Tiberium patches - the last one is slowly consuming the site of their former base that Lt. Richter's Orcas wrecked.

You opt to begin the ground assault immediately, with your Orcas and the Ox-transported Rig to catch up - mostly to help deal with any aircraft that show up. You dismount a short distance away from the facility, taking a trip forward with Sgt. Jarvi in your command suits. It seems the last of the credits have been spent on a pair of Titans and an Avenger-class tank with its menacing large-bore cannon. You take a minute to designate targets and wait for the rest of the raider and trooper squads to rally on your location, watching the Titans and Avenger form up - nothing to be done about it, your vehicles will simply show up on sensors.

"All units, engage designated targets on my mark." you order. Somewhat superfluously, everyone already has their designated targets. But it just doesn't feel right starting an assault off in silence.

"Mark." you call out, sending yourself forward at a jog, the vehicles leading the way. A railgun slug lances out from one of your Predators, a quickly-dissipating blue trail leading towards a Titan - the lumbering combat walker lurches forward as the trail makes contact and simply drops to the ground. "Nice, headshot." the Predator's driver calls out over comms. You decide to overlook the breach of comms discipline as a smirk takes over your mouth.

The other Titan is pummeled by rockets and railgun rounds, staggering backwards under the onslaught, although the Avenger wheels around the mech and takes a pot shot at one of your APCs. The round makes contact and overpenetrates, being designed to take out much heavier armored units than that. Still, the crew informs you that they are disengaging; you trust their judgement, they're not given to screwing around.

"All Predators and APCs, concentrate fire on Avenger and escaping units. Zone Armor, finish off that Titan." you call out. With the mech struggling to remain upright, let alone go anywhere, it's a simple matter for your zone armor units to swarm it, moving into optimal firing positions and taking easy shots at critical components. Armor crumples and joints snap under continued railgun and rocket fire, and the Titan more or less falls apart, its cannon snapping off as the torso hits the ground.

As your APCs eliminate the fleeing Avenger by the simple expedient of a rocket to the rear, your suit alerts you to airborne sensor contacts coming in from the east. Seven of them. You zoom in - it's six Barghests and a Venom. And your Orcas are still seven minutes away. Not to mention you'd opted to load half of them with anti-ground ordnance - but you're not planning on letting the Brotherhood know that.

"All units, cease pursuit and re-form around the buildings. We've got hostile aircraft inbound, so point your weapons skyward." you explain, fairly quickly. It's annoying to let that Mantis go, but first of all, it's faster than basically everything you've got other than the Pitbull and second, it can't hurt anything you've got here - it's simply not programmed to target ground units.

Thanks to the command suit sensors, your platoon has time to regroup. Your Predators and Zone Troopers continue blasting the fixed stuctures with their railguns, while the APCs and Pitbull begin evasive movement. You *could* pull everyone back, but the reality is that your Predators are too slow to keep up with the APCs and Pitbull and would be destroyed. So, you order the return to formation - turrets and rocket launchers point skyward and the rockets let fly as soon as the hostile aircraft are in range.

The engagement is kind of a mess, and when you look up all you can see is rocket trails, explosions, plasma bolts and zooming aircraft. Honestly, you can't make heads or tails out of it, so you focus on something you *can* understand - a Carryall with an infantry transport module landing nearby the facilities. You flag the militants as they sprint down the ramp, and almost immediately, a flurry of grenades, accompanied by a well-placed mortar round, shreds the first few that come down. You add a burst from your LMG as a formality - what happens next almost makes you laugh. The last guy in the transport pod decides that this isn't for him, slams a button on the inside of the pod and then the carryall lifts up, leaving four dead bodies behind and not much to show for it.

A nearby rumble attracts your attention - the Brotherhood power plant has been destroyed by your zone troopers, who emerge from the buildings as it collapses, its turbine spinning out of control and shredding itself. The factory's lights go out immediately as a result, which is just as well.

With nothing to do other than shoot at the underground SAM site which stubbornly refuses to pop up or at the inactive factory, you spend the next several minutes anxiously monitoring status indicators. Barghest-class fighters strafe back and forth, scoring grazing and not-so-grazing hits on your APCs; although none are destroyed, they are all eventually forced to disengage. The Nod aircraft aren't completely unharmed - you note at least a couple of smoke trails as Barghests take rocket hits and disengage. Your infantry and zone armor shelter in what little cover is offered by the destroyed Titan hulks and Nod base structures; the foot infantry don't quite make it and are strafed by one of the Barghests - only one makes it to cover. Three members of the squad are melted to slag, while a fourth struggles forward, crawling along the dirt.

You look at the Barghest circling around for another pass - that poor bastard isn't going to make it. Not unless you can get him out of the open. Thus, you fire up your jump jets, landing a few meters away from the trooper; stowing your LMG behind your back, you scoop the man up from the ground and engage your jump jets again, just as plasma bolts turn the sandy dirt behind you to little blackened shards of glass. Depositing the trooper behind a large piece of power plant wall, you take a knee, surveying the state of your forces.

It's not great. Your APCs an Pitbulls have disengaged, so at least that part of the fighting withdrawal is complete. What isn't complete is the withdrawal of the Predators and the zone armor units, the latter huddled among building rubble, the former doing their best to keep up with the APCs. Well, there's really only one Predator now, the other a flaming wreck cut in half by a plasma strafing run.

You clench your jaw - there are still four aircraft out there, zeroing in on your remaining units. You just need to survive another minute though - your Orcas are almost in range. A salvo of rockets from your raider squad disrupts the picture-perfect formation flying that the three remaining Barghests have decided to adopt (perhaps to show off?); one nearly clips the ground as it tries to avoid the air bursts, and the other two have to break off their attack runs.

And then they turn tail. One doesn't do so fast enough, and is caught dead on by an Orca-launched missile, shearing itself in half, the pieces bouncing and rolling past the ruins of the power plant where your zone armor suits are huddling.

"Good shooting, Orca flight." you tell them. "Stand by for further orders."

You just wish you'd timed the attack better. You feel even worse when the Overseer calls you and asks for orders - you'd completely forgotten about it.

Combat Results: Victory
1x Barghest, 2x Titan, 1x Avenger destroyed
Factory, SAM Site, Power Plant U destroyed
1x Mantis, 3x Barghest critically damaged, 1x Barghest heavily damaged, 1x Barghest moderately damaged

3x APC critically damaged
Pitbull critically damaged
Raider regenerates to 125
Infantry critically damaged
1x Predator destroyed

---

As you are within the comms jamming bubble generated by the Operations Center, you take a ride latched on to the Pitbull to briefly re-establish comms with your base, Lt. Richter and the outside world while the rig carries out repairs. She's still doing the same, setting up more space for aircraft; the convoy from the southern forward base is slowly inching towards your base. You get an incoming request for a real-time call. On the screen is Captain Takahiru Jones of InOps. You'd worked with him to plan a recovery operation for an InOps operative. Which feels like it was half a lifetime ago, even though it was less than two months.

"Captain Jones." you greet him. "What can I do for you?"

"I understand that one of your subordinates has established quite the air hub, and the aircraft there are quite instrumental in helping ensure our regional air superiority... " you shrug - you haven't seen much regional air superiority, "... while you've held the line against repeated Nod assaults despite losing two separate facilities under your command." he begins.

You shrug. "If you say so."

"I'm not at liberty to discuss details in order to conceal sources of information, and I'm sure you're busy, but if I may make a suggestion?"

You tilt your head to the right, extending your hand, palm upward. "Please."

"Your Orca and ground patrols could benefit from a few vector adjustments." he states flatly.

You frown, not really liking this cryptic nonsense. "Thanks for the advice, Captain."

He nods. "We owe you one for pulling our operative out from near that coastal airbase. Anyway, good luck, Lieutenant. You're going to need it. Over and out."

You sigh. What the hell is that even supposed to mean? Goddamn spooks. you think to yourself.

---

Requisition interface... disabled. Credits... low.

Current Force Status:

First things first:
Zone Raider and APC #3 can now specialize; as usual, the narrower the restriction, the bigger the bonus:
[] write-in

You've taken out the northern depot's ground unit production capability, you've come to two conclusions. Based on your Orcas' earlier recon flights, you're pretty confident that, while there is still some construction capability, the credit count must be very low - you didn't see any vehicles rolling out of the factory or any additional turrets being set up during your attack. Having to fix all those Barghests won't help, either. Once you've repaired your APCs, which will take an estimated twenty four hours, and cycled your infantry back to base (maybe exchange them for the engineer squad or that Pacifier rolling north with the southern forward base escapee convoy), your goal is to continue clearing the sector.

Your Orcas can cycle back while repairs are on-going and hit a target or two while the Barghests are being repaired. Which they hopefully are, otherwise you're looking at five Barghests and a Venom engaging Orcas equipped with ground attack ordnance, or some other kind of sub-optimal scenario that you don't want to see. Also, a shot-up Mantis and a single militant, but that depends on where they are and if Nod has the ability to repair and reinforce them respectively. The Ops Center is always good, that way you can take down the local comms jamming and get real-time comms with the outside world. Or maybe you can see if you can nail some of those aircraft while they're being repaired - based on their inbound and outbound flight vectors, you're pretty sure they're based somewhere in the eastern part of the northern depot sector.

Or, you can send them out for additional recon runs, either to attempt to sweep the eastern sector of the northern depot or to recon the space between the various depots and forward bases - you find it unlikely that Captain Jones called you up and gave you cryptic advice just for shits and giggles.

Orca disposition:
- will disengage if sufficient hostile aircraft detected
- pick up to three in order of priority, one per day
[] Hit Ops Center at E2
[] Search and destroy facilities further south of E2
- may take several days depending on Nod air patrol aggressiveness
[] Recon space between southern forward base and southern depot
[] Recon space between northern depot and southern depot

Orca loadout:
[] Write-in some mixture of AtA and AtG
- Railgun can engage all target types, but less effectively

Ground units:
[] Violet's current plan
-Repairs (24 hours) then move east towards E2-5, F2-5 targeting closest located Nod facility;
-use Ox to ferry Overseer and Pacifier to the action
[] Write-in something else