[X] On the frontlines
There was really only one place for Ella at a time like this, and that was with her soldiers on the frontlines. Alexander was left with Ella's mother, although that whole encounter was just awkward and weird. It should have been a deeply emotional moment, but instead it was just... truncated. Ella had too many unanswered questions and stressors weighing down on her. Her grandmother had promised answers once she knew them herself, although the fact that Ella didn't want to risk the cube being taken away meant that she didn't press on what was going on there the way a part of her knew she should have. She should be going into battle in peak condition, but instead she knew that she would be silver or even white haired by the end of all this.
By the time she arrived back at Razorleaf Meadows to saddle up in her mech and gather her troops, a massive amount of war material was already flowing through the settlement. Stonebridge was going to be the primary staging ground, and while for now that meant that things were going to be more or less out of her control, assuming the settlement was intact at the end of things there would be considerable infrastructure installed for her when control was handed back to her.
The open areas that had once housed solar panels before fusion reactors had been made more common were now also parking lots for the aircraft heading back and forth from the front. While mostly Green Owl Ukkos, there were a number of foreign designs present as well, including what had to be a Belter fighter of some sort, given the advanced systems on display across its faintly alien frame. Unfortunately, pretty much all of the aircraft showed damage of some sort present on their frames, and more than a few were so badly damaged they were clearly being cannibalized for parts to keep the other craft flying. The reports from Diamond Dome were grim, with enemy bombardment and aerospace assets having ensured the safety of initial assets, followed by the landing of large transports. Both sides were deploying theatre scale warheads wherever possible, but thus far the human forces had only really scored one significant kill that way, with a 10kT AA missile knocking out a major transport.
On the ground side of things there was a lot of confusion, but things were generally looking grim. All contact had been lost with assets within the city itself, and it was considered a safe assumption that everyone had either fled, died, or been captured. No one was quite sure if the Mantis took prisoners since space warfare wasn't particularly conducive to the practice, but the Belters had old files from explorers that indicated that the aliens were notably xenophobic and thus it was assumed that anyone still alive in Diamond Dome had simply not been found yet. It was also suspected that the Mantis had demolished the rail lines for the city in their bombardment, but this was suspected to be due to the Mantis not particularly understanding the realities of long distance transport across Dandriss.
Current planning, such as it was, was for a number of probing ground attacks to attempt to understand Mantis ground capabilities before making any grand moves to shove them out of the settlement. The Belter fleet was also reorganizing after getting their teeth kicked in and from past experience the Mantis would have to withdraw for logistical reasons. If they tried to fight with their weapon racks expended they would lose their entire fleet, and logistical streams were vulnerable to defeat in detail, so they would have to pull out of orbit eventually. The only question was if they could be pushed out of Diamond Dome before reinforcements arrived.
A Sound of Thunder (21)
By the time Ella arrived with everything Razorleaf Meadows had at Stonebridge, at least part of the reason for the landing had become clear: the Mantis wanted a supply base for aircraft, as evidenced by the ubiquity of air battles in the sky and the fact that there was an almost constant rumble of AAA firing at targets. The small settlement was rapidly filling up with troops. Most of them were from Green Owl - although some were clearly from some of the wealthier subsections and had some unique modifications to their standard load out of gear that was commented on. Still, there were a significant number of troops from other polities present. There were tall, lanky warriors from Indigo Hammer dressed in organic armour, mostly silent cyborgs from the Authority off in their own corner attended to by their ornately dressed officers, a whole company of Blackthorn dragonslayers wearing their kills as armour, the frankly monstrously huge giants of Andraste's clan, and even a single Belter Agent in sophisticated and sleek power armour standing silently in his or her own dark corner.
The whole situation was of course tense, and there was an expectation of some sort of ground push against the settlement, as the Mantis were having little success at wrestling control of the skies enough for a proper bombing run due to the presence of large amounts of AAA. No one was quite sure if the general staff would push for a first strike against Diamond Dome, or if they would wait for the Mantis to come to them first. Either way, the toxic ash falling from the sky from the forests burnt out by the bombardment served as a somewhat sombre reminder of the situation. Of course, out where the forests had been blasted the worst new shoots were almost certainly erupting, with all the dangers that entailed.
Humans had decided that unless you could pave over it with adamantium that reached most of the way to the mantle, it was a bad idea to try to burn out the forest. Only made it aggressive.
Ella has time before operations start, one way or another. Pick two groups to talk to:
[] Her own troops
[] Other Green Owl troops
[] Indigo Hammer warriors
[] Authority elites
[] Blackthorn dragonslayers
[] Andraste's Avengers
[] Belter Agent
