| Air Support Planning |
| Summary: | Amos and Lleufer discuess he Crandall attack plans with Bennett. The Lleufer drops a bombshell. |
| Date: | 24/Sep/2013 |
| Related Logs: | Crandall Assault Marine Planning Session |
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| Map Room - Deck 2 - Battlestar Orion |
| Dominating the room is the large bottom-lit map table in the very center. Ten feet across and eight feet the other way, the table can gather a large number of people around it while still accommodating enlisted and support personnel in the small riser seating behind the table. The risers are done in single-piece desk sections that run the width of the seating area and have small reporting displays built into them along with communications ports for headphones. At the head of the room are two very large LED displays that can have almost anything put on them, including projections of what is on the map table. A single computer at the support seating controls this and in the rear of the room is a large, locked case that holds maps and table models. |
| AWD #261 |
At first glance the map room looks much like it does any other day of the week, but it quicly becomes clear that the CMC is still staking a claim, even after their extended planning session the night before. Perhaps Captain Gray will get his precious room back once there is Picon dirt under the marine's boot. The map table in the middle is covered in various aps of CFAB Crandall, Marlin City and the surrounding terraine. There are even little models resting on the edge that can be moved around to simulate friendly and hostile units, and little sticks with blocks on the end to push them round with. One of the LED displays shows a single ariel recon shot of the entire area for perspective and the other a list of available units and expected hositles, each of which has a code that ties it to one of the models, although there are also spares, just in case. At the moment, the only person present is Amos, who is sat at one ond of one of the risers, reading through a folder of intelligence and notes while awaiting the arrival of the other invited parties.
As one of those erstwhile invited parties, Captain St. Clair doesn't bother knocking before she nudges the hatch open and slips through. Striking an uncommonly well put-together figure this evening, she's dressed in standard navy blues with a set of shiny wings pinned to the left breast, dark hair pulled back into a tidy braid, and a folder tucked beneath her arm. She's already taken the liberty of fetching herself a cup of tea; the scent of something lemony precedes her into the map room. "Good evening, Captain," she greets the marine CO with a warm smile.
And yet another meeting in a day full of meetings. Lleufer arrives bringing his electronic tablet with him. The expression upon his face is … strained, tired, maybe even a trace of anger. He closes the hatch behind him with a dull thud and turns to glance sharply over the familiar room before he comes up to lay his tablet down, "Captains, sirs."
Amos glances up from his notes as he hears the first arrival, then, confirming it to be Captain Saint Clair he flips the folder closed and rises to his feet. "Good evening, Captain," he replies, moving towards the map table as he does so and setting said folder down on the edge, "thank you for coming." A glance then to Lleufer and he gets a nod in greetingm, "Sergeant." Turning back then to Bennett he gets down to business. "We were hoping to discuss out air support options for the up coming operation," he states, gesturing to the maps on the table with one hand as he does so. "We're looking to land a little over 2200 pairs of boots, mostly with the aid of the Assault Landing Ship Collin's Peak. As I am sure you are aware, such ships do a fantastic job of landing large numbers of troops, and less well at defending themselves against enemy attack, so we need to factor in an escort for her too." A glance to Lleufer, "would you like to fill the Captain in on the specifics?"
Bennett rests her bottom against the edge of the map table, and twists to drop her folder atop its illuminated surface before turning her eyes upon the new arrival. Lleufer is observed silently while she takes a sip of her tea; if there's any acknowledgement of his current temperament, it is buried beneath her mask of professional decorum. "Certainly, Captain," she answers Amos, glancing back to the man for a moment. "I have brought a few sample vehicle configurations and loadouts, but I admittedly had not factored in the Collins Peak." Or 2200 sets of boots, possibly. Blue eyes return to Lleufer expectantly, then.
OK, pull himself together, time to focus on here and now. Lleufer runs a hand over his face, then steps around to have a better look at the maps, "Yes, sir." He looks to Bennett and waits for her to finish speaking to Amos. Lleu picks up a pointer and indicates the north-western section of the base, "All right, here is the main building cluster that houses administration, logistics, and some enlisted housing. Effectively the command center for the base as far as we can guess. There's another cluster to the east nearer to the AMARG where birds are dry stored. A clearing here in between. Another clearing to the west of the 33rd's TWF hangers close by the north-western buildings but, also close to Marlin City." Sergeant Ynyr looks between the Captains, "I suggested a night LALO drop to get in and attack, and secure, the primary cluster to the north-west here. A few snipers and your pilots can hit flood lights and see where primary fire power is located. What we don't know is if this smaller cluster to the east has defense capabilities, or Marlin City. So until we know that, we won't know whether to direct the Collins Peak to land in the central clearing or the one to the far west side." Lleu takes a breath, then looks to Bennett, "The Captain and I need to know what kind of armaments your Raptors and Preditors would be carrying. Could you deal with taking out primary defense guns to help us secure safe landing for the transport?"
Amos waits silently as Lleufer starts to brief, nodding in a couple of places to indicate that the Sergeant has it right so far. Once it seems the other man is done though he adds, "I'd been hoping to give you a better idea of their anti-aircraft capabilities, but unfortuantely a scouting mission planned to find that out a few months ago never got off the ground. I haven't got to the bottom of just why yet as this has been taking my time, but I feel I should offer he Air Wing an apology for that as frankly I find it an unacceptable lack of preparation." He doesn't look best pleased about it, thats for sure as he adds to finish, "we'd hoped however, to get some last minute intelligence for you on those capabilities, but it is looking like logisitcally that will not be feasible. Not with the need to keep our intentions secret from the canner forces until we strike."
Lleufer says low, "I second what Captain Ommanney says. Sloppy."
Bennett steps aside to allow Lleufer better access to the map table, and trains her gaze on the images indicated by the pointer device. "Mm," she muses quietly, listening as the Sergeant explains his plan. "What if we were to perform a LALO jump and drop, as you mentioned, over here-" She taps the north-west cluster on the map. "-and simultaneously send in another reconaissance raptor to the east, and another to the central cluster, by the vehicle bays, to ascertain defensive capabilities. Get in, get the data, get out. Have the Collins Peak loaded and ready to go. As for armaments.." She flips open her folder, and slides the first page across so both marines can peruse it. "I am going to suggest standard battlefield interdiction configurations on the foxtrots. Outboard minigun, carvel missile rack, full spread of javelins, and the CAPARMS door-mounted gun." Amos's comment about the missing intel draws a faint smile from the woman and a nod. "I understand. We will do the best we can with what we have then, Captain."
Lleufer looks at what Bennett presents and thinks about it, "Any bombs? We /think/ the munitions dump is located here," he points out on the primary map, "And most of the aircraft are kept here, and here." Sergeant Ynyr indicates the 33rd's hangers and the dry storage lots to the far east, "Ideally, Spree and our Command want all of these assets taken as intact as possible. However, the original 308th Armament Systems Group and 379th Air Expeditionary Wing personnel to /some/ degree are expected to be on sight. Those who survived are now thought to be slave labour and an unknown number of them are likely jacked." Lleu pauses to watch Bennett, "Could easily be a couple thousand of them. Some of them may try to get aircraft up to deal with yours."
Amos gives Bennett a silent nod of thanks, then studies the bire loadouts presented for a few moments. Lleufer's comment abouts the grounded birds being launched causes him to look up again though. "While that's a theoretical possibility certainly, all intelligence we do have states that the craft are drained and effectively mothballed and that the.. workforce," he choses that word carefully, "have been put to work in other areas. Don;t discount it by any means, but be aware that getting them flight worthy again may take more time than those on the ground will have to spare. One of a list of many good reasons not to loose the element of surprise on this one."
Lleufer gives a slow nod to what Amos says, "Yeah, we /think/ most or all of them are still in storage condition but as we don't have jack for dependable, recent intel…" He's tired and seriously not happy about something. Ynyr folds his arms over his chest and stares at the maps. "Unless somebody comes up with a better idea, that's where we are so far."
"If you want bombs," Bennett tells the Sergeant with a small smile, "Then we will have to sacrifice something else, like javelins." Guided missiles. "The configuration I gave you is just a standard support loadout, though. I am presuming our main task will be keeping the heat off your men, and not glassing everything on the ground and risking friendly fire. The bombs are not accurate, but if you want us targeting ground installations, we could swap some in."
Amos considers things for a moment then nods to his fellow Captain, "I think having the standard load out on most of the foxtrots is a solid plan, but a couple configured to take a bomb or two to give us that added flexibility is likely a sensible option. Especially given the information situation." Clasping his hands behind his back he studies the maps for a moment but seems to come up with no bright new insight and so turns back to the pilot once more. "Is there anything else you need of us short of timings once they are finalised?"
Ynyr is staring off into space and no longer paying any attention. Lleu's mind is somewhere else while the two officers discuss what's best for the armaments. They'd know better than he anyway. He's frowning while he thinks about whatever is on his mind. There is no additional comment from him.
"Certainly," Bennett replies evenly, slipping a pen out of her pocket and jotting a few things down on the sheet of paper. "I will have to clear all this with the CAG, of course, and I would like to get the ordnance requisitions sent off to deck as soon as possible, so the necessary rotations can be made in time." She chews thoughtfully on her lower lip for a moment. "I will need to know whether we will be performing any extractions of personnel on the ground, as well. If that is unknown, then I suggest we keep a couple of standard Bs with engines warm on standby." With a breath, she looks toward Ynyr for a long moment, then back to the map.
Amos has noted the inattention from Lleufer, but for now his attention is on Bennett. The Sergeant he can deal with later. "At preseant there are no specific targets for extraction," he states simply, "although in an operation of this scale it is likely that there will be some degree of medical need for such." Not a happy hough, but one that needs dealing with none the less. "I will leave it to your judgement as to how many craft are assigned to which roles."
The word 'extraction' gets his attention. Lleu's gaze refocuses first on Bennett, then Amos. He gives a nod, "Yeah, none expected except for wounded. Those who land with the Collins Peak will remain to hold the base, with Spree's people. Get the vipers, preditors and Raptors there back into use." At this point, Sergeant Ynyr thins his mouth and stands back up from the stool he was leaning his butt against, "I eh, something has landed in my lap. I have to go down to Picon ahead of schedule and do an insertion. I may or may not be available for the Crandall assault depending on if I can get back in time." And you know, not be killed doing whatever. Lleu licks his dry mouth, "Then I will stay behind on Picon to do a followup extraction if possible. We'll need a Raptor to get us back out."
"Mm," St. Clair murmurs again, though this one seems less thoughtful and more distracted. Amos may or may not catch her watching Lleufer carefully, rather than the map table. She draws a breath eventually, collects the octagonal-shaped papers she'd brought into her folder, and steps back from the two marines. "All right, then. I will speak with the CAG, and update you as soon as we finalise things—" Lleufer's comment causes her to hesitate, blue eyes widening as she looks across to him. "I.. we should speak about this further when you have some time, Sergeant," she settles on, voice oddly taut.
It would appear that Lleufer has somewhat blindsided Amos with this announcement, and it would also appear that the Captain is less than happy about it. Any reactions Bennet makes to the statement are lost as his attention is on his fellow marine. "And why is this the first I have heard of this Sergeant?" he asks briskly, then changes his mind slighty, "no, actually, let us not muddy the waters here. You can tell me all about it from infront of my desk once we are done here." Then he gives a short nod to Bennett and offers, "thank you for your time Captain, we'll let you know if there are any changes our end that impact on your part of the opertation." Then back to Lleufer, "unless there is anything else you want to add Sergeant then I suggest we are done here."
Ynyr almost laughs at Bennett when she says 'when you have some time'. It's a 'you have got to be kidding' kind of almost sound. A breath, "I'm kind of double booked, Captain. I'm leaving at once after this meet to head down to Piraeus for 24 hours then I'm off at once to Picon. You'll need to speak with Captain Elias Gray for details. I don't know what I'm allowed to say." OK, no stress, calm, breath. Lleufer looks at Amos, "I was only just informed before this meeting, sir. My intention is to make it back in time for the Crandall base assault as planned, if I can. It has to do … with what Sergeant Knox and Captain Elias said at the meeting last night. About … something planned to sabotage the skin jobs on Picon for the assault, sir."
Amos's expression darkens, just a little as Lleufer answers, although he recognises enough in the man's words to know that it isn't the Sergeant at fault here. "I will speak with Captain Gray on this, don't you worry Sergeant," he replies, "and if you aren't back then I'll raise merry hell for you, don't you worry." No, he does not seem impressed at this turn of events at all. "Well, If you are required elsewhere then you'd better go. Keep me appraised when you can." And finally, once more to Bennett, "thank you once again Captain, and have a good evening." That said he's making for the hatch.
"Then I will walk you down to the hangar bay, and we will speak enroute," St. Clair answers, somewhat stubbornly. It seems she is not going to take no for an answer. "Captain Gray? Certainly, I'll find him after I've escorted you down." She smiles faintly to the marine, gives Amos a crisp nod, and strides purposefully for the hatch.
Lleufer keeps his place, once more half sitting on the stool. He's tired and likely hoping to catch a nap on the shuttle down. "I don't … don't know what I'm allowed to say, Captain." This to Bennett because Amos already walked out. Lleu tips his head back and lets out a breath, a sigh, then makes himself get up, "Gotta go do something that feels real dirty. Don't like it at all. But it's damned important." He looks at her, opens his mouth almost to say more, then doesn't. Instead he looks around and Lleufer picks up his tablet he forgot to takes notes on.
"Then do not do anything," Bennett suggests with a wink. And then she holds the hatch for him, and makes to follow unless forcibly removed from his company.