| MD #211: Send in the Marines |
| Summary: | Samtara drags Lleufer along to a debrief to Petra and Adeliza in the XO's Stateroom about Golf51. Naturally Ynyr wants to send in the Marines but … there are reasons that might not be the best idea. |
| Date: | Sun 05/Nov/2017 (OOC Date) |
| Related Logs: | Logs to do with Golf51 and Paladin space. |
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| XO's Stateroom - Deck 2 - Battlestar Orion |
| The XO's Stateroom is not nearly the size of the Admiral's, but the allowance of personal space is not taken for granted. There is a small couch that has been pushed against the wall by the bed at the rear of the room. To the side are several lockers next to the entrance to the personal head and on the other is a desk against the wall. |
| Wed May 23 17:02:53 2049 |
At this particular moment, Adeliza and Petra are still chatting away. The hatch has been kicked closed and the MPs outside will inform anyone, especially senior NCOs or ship officers, that the XO's been in there for a while, and well, the scent of coffee means he's probably been working for a long while even before anyone else came in. There were rumors that he and Robin were down in the brig just a few hours ago..
Adeliza smiles tightly. "I am not talking on a personal level, sir. I can handle my personal relations, fine," she assures him. "It is the professional relations that concern me, but I believe I understand, sir." She loosens her grip on her hands behind her back, and shifts her feet slightly. "If there isn't anything else I need to know, I believe any other questions I have can wait until we get a chance to review the intel brought back from the latest recon. No need to ask a question that might already be answered by the intel."
Sam doesn't so much 'find' Lleu as 'accost' and bring him along with her to the XO's office, and not just because she wants to raid his coffee stash. Though that's probably something on the board anyway. "I want your input on this," she is explaining as she walks, "and I didn't turn in the AAR yet," sounding a little guilty but not guilty enough to have turned it in properly before now. She shares a nod with the MP's that are stationed outside the XO's den, "Could you let him know that we need to speak to him?"
Petra nods slowly, "Marine Command has had issues…we've had a lot of trouble keeping Commanding Officers in place. I dont know what the frak this boat's issue is with senior Command figures, both Naval AND Marine. I mean, for frak's sake…" he trails off right as the MP leans in, and furrows his brow, then gives Adeliza an amused look, "She heard you asking about her, had to be." Then in a louder voice, "C'mon in, Doc."
"What AAR?" Lleufer's been a little busy the past few days and has no idea Samtara has been on an op. "What's this about?" The Master-at- Arms comes along easily enough, curious after he'd locked up his own office. The Gunnery Sergeant stops outside of Petra's stateroom and shares a nod with his fellow MPs. Lleu stands at parade rest at his ease until they should be allowed entrance, not minding to wait in the corridor.
Adeliza listens quietly as Petra explains, her expression bland, and she lifts her chin to turn her head slightly as the MP leans in so that she can see the hatch from the corner of her eye. She can't help a little smile echoing the Commander's amusement and then shifts her position from standing in front center of his desk, to standing to the right, front, corner of his desk.
Sharing another nod with the MP as they get the bellow from within, "I'll explain," Sam says as she steps over the hatch and into the XO's den. "Commander," and half a beat later, "Lieutenant," and looks startled and pleased to find both officers in one room. "Excellent. Reduces the amount of backtracking required. I didn't write up the AAR but i meant to, I just couldn't put it into words that make sense. Do it live then, that's the saying right?"
Lleufer comes on in behind the CMO and gives a nod to each of the officers already presant, "Commander, Lieutenant, Sirs." By the lifted brow he gives to Samtara, Ynyr doesn't appear to have any idea why she's brought him along to Petra's Stateroom yet. He finds a comfortable place out of the way and looks attentive as he waits.
Petra eyes the hatch as mutliple people appear, but then Sam is mentioning delivering the AAR verbally, which is enough for him to give the Doctor a reproachful look and a murmured, "And it had nothing to do with not wanting to fill yet another form out, right?" A smirk touches his face and he reaches out to tap a few things on his datapad, quietly setting it to 'Record all - Start' then lays it down on the middle of his desk where it's going to catch everything everyone says. He nods his head at Lleufer and murmurs, "Make sure the hatch is closed behind. I have a feeling we are about to veer into territory we don't necessarily want turned into rumor fodder JUST yet. Have a seat where you can find one. Coffee's in the corner."
The Master-at-Arms gives his Commander a nod, "Yes, Sir." Lleufer steps over to seal and lock the hatch as requested.
Adeliza nods to Sam. "Colonel," she greets and gives Lleufer a nod as well. She shifts a bit to make sure his chosen spot has her hearing, and then settles in with her hands loosely clasped behind her back again. Her lips work a little bit to contain a smirk at the mention of the AAR and Petra's response about the paperwork.
"Now you know that's not true. The military breeds exclusively on paper, and I'm an expert at filling out forms and other paperwork," Sam counters in a tone of voice that is gently reproachful and downright chiding at the XO as she helps herself to a cup of coffee. "Lleu?" she asks, holding the pot aloft briefly the pouring one for him anyway and carrying it over. "Short version. The signal that Lukes sent us to monitor led us to a short conversation held via com with who ever it is that was on that stealth ship that crashed on that planet. They speak a similar language to what the Erfriki spoke, but not the same dialect. BlueOne is how they identified themselves, I identified myself as Dr. Stone of the Colonial Military and Arpay Diplomatic corps. Setting aside the fact that they declared all the Arpay dead," she exhales a puff of sound that's almost indignant, "which is absolutely not true, as Becks is alive, ergo the entire body of people are not lost as long as at least one remains. Moving on, however," as she tries NOT to dwell on this point, "Once we stopped debating that particular point, they asked why we were there, above the planet, and specifically if we knew what planet we were orbiting. Their position, signal point of origin I mean, was relative to a prison in their vicinity. I asked if we could help, which was probably foolish but that's also moot. To the offer of assistance they asked us to Bomb the central building of the prison. That the city is a prison for their people, who are enslaved, and the facility is tied to that. He, they, also said to be careful. He said the word 'Facility' repeatedly."
"Thanks." Nothing so urgent upon his mind this time to refuse coffee. Lleu accepts what Samtara pours for him and sips it cautiously as he listens. Oh boy, this report got interesting fast. The Gunnery Sergeant doesn't say a word to interrupt, though Ynyr's brow arches at one or two points. There's clearly one or more questions that spring to his mind and make him almost speak, but no. A glance to Petra and the Master-at-Arms will wait.
Petra mmhmms softly at Samtara, but doesn't attempt to CONTINUE the arguement, his teasing done for the time being. Instead his gaze falls to the desk, not really seeing, as instead, he just listens. A furrow creases his scarred brows as she talks about the team calling for a strike on the facility, a slow breath taken in, then let go in a sign of quiet frustration, "It would be out of character for the Skath to flat out lie to us, but the fact that they KNOW the Arpay have been wiped out means that at least some relatively recent contact or information has been made. What all do we KNOW about them, other than the same people that attacked us, seem to have attacked them? The enemy of my enemy is sometimes, but not always, my friend." He glances curiously at Adeliza to see if she has any questions either, then Lleufer, then back to Samtara.
"Or, sir…" Adeliza looks up. "They may be under the assumption that the Arpay were dead long ago." She pulls her lips to the side. "I don't remember clearly, but when the Arpay came to us, didn't they say something about having lost their Erfriki? Wasn't it one of the reasons they were so happy to find us? I would have to review the recording of Dr. Jiminez, but I think it was something like that." She takes a breath, and expels it. Her gaze lifts shifts towards Samtara as she waits for more information.
Lleufer listens and finally speaks up, setting his cup of coffee down, "Did they give any name to these Haters who attacked us? Did they say if the hostiles are human, machines, or something else? Or why they are fighting and taken prisoner?" The Gunnery Sergeant nods to Adeliza, "Good point. Contact had been lost long ago, or so we'd been told."
"The enemy of our enemy is not currently our enemy but, given the right or wrong set of conditions that designation could change on the fly without warning. But," and Sam sets the cup of coffee down so that she can scrub the heels of her hands against the knees of her khakis, "they speak Erfriki," she confirms with a nod to the Lieutenant. "Or a dialect of same. It was close but not quite spot on, they're using some syntax or idioms that we don't have a reference point to make the connection for comprehension. But," and she emphasizes this, "they know what the diplomatic corps were, or are, or used to be. They need help. And they're on a planet where they are clearly not welcome or safe. Marcus, we need to help these people. If we don't, they're going to die."
Petra taps his fingers lightly on the desk while he listens, but its after Samtara's comment that he stops, looks over at her, then reaches out and presses PAUSE on the datapad recorder. Letting a breath go slowly, he looks at Adeliza and murmurs, "When we get out of here, I want you to review nuclear release protocol and find the smallest yield tactical device we still have in inventory and have Ordinance load it into Tube 6. Then talk to Niko and have his Squadron Commander change CAP orders to include a fully assault loaded Raptor to be on call, live on the deck, from this point onward. Anyone asks why, just say Command is anticipating an attack, and you didn't hear any of this." With that said, he offers to Sam, "You understand that authorizing an attack on an unknown entity based on a communication received from someone we think isn't the enemy is so thin it doesnt even due tissue paper justice, right? If we weren't the last battlegroup in action, doing THIS could maybe get me and you both thrown out of the Navy." He shakes his head and presses the PAUSE button again to resume recording, "Thats thin information, but we have good recon data on the structure, right? Air Wing can estimate the yield we would need to use to take the thing out? I'm going to have to talk to Io. If you're wrong, this could be declaring war on someone and we don't need to be declaring war on anyone we aren't already fighting with.Z"
Liza leans around so that she can hear Petra clearly as he gives his orders, and takes a small pad of paper with an attached tiny pen out of her pocket to write something in it. "Consider it done, sir." She nods, then turns to look, and nods in agreement. "Are we sure that the people in this facility that they want us to bomb are not Erfriki?" she asks. "You said they asked you if you knew the planet and where you were. If you answered them honestly that we don't know? They may have seen a chance to try and use us as to help them. How do we know that the ones in prison are the innocent ones?" Her questions are calm and measured, delivered with consideration. Her head gives a couple slow nods in agreement to the assertion of having a thin reason to attack. "There are too many questions to just jump in."
"It wasn't easy to communicate with the people on the ground, I'm sorry," Sam replies with a shake of her head to Lleu. "It wasn't so much a conversation as a pointed question and answer session. And trying to convince them that we weren't trying to con them."
Lleufer mostly needs information so he's listening and gives the CMO a nod. He picks up his coffee and sips it, then glances at Adeliza, "Also valid points, but we aleady have /multiple/ hostile actions made against us by these people who have set up the prison facility on this world. We lost a Raptor crew early on, then they tried to take out our vipers, and then also attacked our Fleet and badly damaged the Orion. While I agree we need a great more information, we /already/ know those who hold this planet are exceptionally hostile and quite unwilling to talk, Lieutenant. Simply trying to open communications with them has resulted in a lot of our people being dead. I for one am not terribly inclined to try to be friendly with them after the beating they gave us."
Petra mmms, "Lleu. You are probably right, but its still an assumption. For the record, I will probably be recommending we go ahead and authorize the strike. I have a concern about the riskiness of the hit, though. Twice now, we have approached under cover of that moon, snuck in, and been detected both times before fleeing. If I was them? I'd start putting a sensor bouy on the far side of the moon, so if we did it a third time, they'd never have enough time to spool back up. So if we send a Raptor crew, there's a good chance they might not come back, and THAT is going a little far, to help these people out." With that said, his fingertips tap on the desk again, "Are there options we have not discussed yet? Information any of you have not brought up yet that I need to consider for this?"
"Granted Sergeant, I am not eager to try and be friendly with them. However, consider that we did announce to them that we are Erfriki, but we obviously did not speak their version of Efriki. If these are two Erfriki in a civil war, it would be like someone jumped in when Taurons were trying to free their people and bombed a Colonial prison just because the Taurons were the first people they talked to, and because the Colonials had been concerned that these strange ships that suddenly popped in and weren't theirs were coming to join the Taurons and therefore had aggressively tried to keep them away. They may be unwilling to talk, overly defensive, hostile, but it doesn't follow that we should allow ourselves to be pulled in by other Erfriki." She exhales, then listens at Petra speaks, and tucks her pad of paper back into her pocket along with the pen and clasps her hands behind her back. She returns to her former stance and waits to hear if there is other information.
Sam yields to the instinct to pace ,and even though it's not her office but Petra's, she gets up to do so and moves carefully between the chairs and desk and back around again, bleeding off the extra energy as she does so. "We don't know that the ones in the prison are the innocent ones. We don't know that the facility is doing more than churning out endless copies of garden gnomes. What I do know is that they speak Erfriki, they know who the Arpay are, and it sounded like they were going to assault the prison anyway. I don't think they believe we're going to help. And as crazy as this is, and I know," she turns back to glance from face to face, "how all of this sounds. But do you remember when we met the Arpay? When we finally figured out who they really are? And why? The people and the ground, they think the Arpay are dead. But they're not. Because the Arpay are not just a people. They're a promise. They're a vow. They're an ideal. And they're not dead. Because we're not dead. The Arpay, the rally point, they made a promise and built their entire civilization around this promise. We're the last of the colonial fleet," she emphasizes these words. "I said something once, to Becks. I said that we had to earn this, to be worthy of surviving against all these odds. Maybe this is one of those moments, and if we don't fight for these guys, then who will? We need allies out here. Lets save these guys and prove that we're worth fighting alongside."
Lleufer has set his coffee cup aside once more, "I understand, Lieutenant. But the Colonel is right. We are desperate for allies. It's why we have come out here. Getting more information before we make a decision is a good idea, but we haven't found any link in the Hater's language to Erfriki and we have with this third party. Who admit recognition of the Arpay. It's a lot more common ground than we seem to have with the 'Haters'." Yynyr gives Samtara a nod, "Some of us trained with the Arpay and also carry a measure of their genes. Like the others with the full mods, I'm probably only half Colonial now, and half Arpay. They live on in us, and through our children. A mingled blood."
The Master-at-Arms looks to Petra, "I know it's risky, but I think we should try to get some people in there on the ground, Sir. Like going in and trying to contact Spree's Resistance in the last war. Yes, we could loose people doing it but we need to make contact. Gain more information. I agree making a blind strike would commit us to a leap without looking first. So, let's have a closer look?"
Petra grunts softly and starts to respond to Samtara, bit when Lleu talks about getting people on the ground, the Commander stops and winces, "Sarge…there's a very good chance any troop carrier we send will get blown out of the air before it gets close to the ground, and unless we have a hotshot pilot that wants to try pulling off a jump INTO a gravity well, into atmosphere, you have almost zero change of survival. Thats's a HUGE gamble you're asking for. Beyond the suicidal moves our people usually take, you know?" There's a faint smile to his face, and it lingers for a moment, then adds to the rest, "Alright. Let me talk to Io. Lleu, go ahead and work out a plan for a landing team, but dont even tell them we have a go yet…just make the plan up and compose a team. Alright?"
"And how much will we lose fighting alongside them to prove that we are worthy? What happens if we help them win whatever it is they are trying to win, and they turn around and say, 'thanks, see ya, wish ya luck getting back your Colonies'?" Adeliza asks lightly. She gives one shake of her head and turns to Lleufer. "I am not denying the Colonel's assertion that we are desperate for allies, Sergeant. She is right on that score. But we need to make sure we're picking the right side. First impressions can sometimes be deceptive. What if they said the Arpay are dead because they are glad the Arpay are dead?" She turns to Petra as well and listens for a moment. "Ynyr has a point, though, sir. If we can find another place to jump in, a Raptor, there's another moon, yes? Perhaps land a ground team, they can get a closer look at both sides. See what we are really up against, either way."
Ynyr gives a nod, "Admittedly I know next to nothing about the planet's defenses in orbit or on the ground. I only heard what Lukes told me. Made it sound like there was only one city and lots of it may not be populated, so that lead me to believe that once down, we might not have too much trouble. Getting in and out, that's Airwing's ball. Command's decision to make." Lleu pulls out his little pocket notepad and pencil and makes a couple of notes, "Wilco, Sir." A glance at Adeliza, "One thing we learned in the last war, Lieutenant. Gut instinct is something to pay attention to." Lleufer pauses to look at all of them, "Being skeptical, being cautious, that's wise. But over and over again we also keep getting into situations that give us a vibe, pull us one way or another. For myself, I'm getting that kind of feeling here a little bit. We need to be smart, we need to be careful, but I don't think we want to walk away from this without trying to find out more either."
Sam scrubs her hands lightly together again as she shares a look with Lleu and an nod with Petra before she shakes her head slowly at Adeliza. "We have to have hope, Lieutenant, to have hope to live," she says in a voice that is gentle but determined all the same. "They know my voice, at this point, and if I've convinced them that I - we - are for real, I'm going to need to be along for the ride to keep talking to them. I'm volunteering for this."
Petra nods slowly at Lleufer and murmurs, "I know. Unfortunately, enemy fighters show up rapidly every time they detect someone in orbit, implying there is a stationary air defense team. It'll be like when we were narrowly sneaking people down to the colonies while they were under siege, and in those cases, we knew the colonies like the backs of our hands. So I'm not saying no, but yeah, I gotta fly this one by the admiral first." He offers a smile, a bright one, at Samtara, "Colonel. You have no idea how gods damned charming you are going to have to be, to let me risk my senior command Medical officer and one of the only Diplomatic Corps people I have on this ship, on a VERY suicidal landing. I mean it. No. Idea."
Sam holds up a hand, palm facing Petra, "Not volunteering to be feet on the ground. I'm volunteering to be there to be within com reach! Let me be part of this so I can talk to them, so that they know that we are who we say we are. If I've built -any- sort of rapport with these guys, then let me be there to open that channel again. I'm a good shot," she waves that same hand toward Lleu, "thanks to him. If it hadn't been for his help and training, I'd have been dead.. forty years ago or so. Put me in a Raptor that's not at the front of the assault. That way I can be on hand to deal with any wounded that come up from this mission."
The Gunnery Sergeantly only gives a nod to Petra, "Understood, Sir." Now his coffee is finished, Lleu stands at parade rest and waits for any additional orders before he goes to work on assembling a possible team.
Petra mmmms softly, then nods at Samtara, "That might be easier to do. I thought you had finally started thinking you were invulnerable, Colonel. Good to see you haven't gone completely crazy yet." He winks at her, then sighs and lets his breath go, "Alright. I'll talk to the Admiral. Let me know what else you might need, and we'll see what does and does not fly."
Sam grins suddenly, "I'm not invulnerable, but I'm a grandmother now," and the grin on her face says it all. "Thanks to Lleu and his team for rescuing my son, his wife and my grandson off of Picon, I at least have more answers now than I did a month ago. I didn't fail entirely as a mom, Marcus, and between now and when I draw my last breath, I have a lot of reasons to keep fighting. I'm not completely crazy, I'm just the right amount of crazy mixed with stubborn mixed with to damned useful to leave in the barn twiddling my thumbs. No undue risks, that's all I can promise. Plus," she gives a deliberate eyebrow wobble, "I'm happy to help talk to the Admiral if more convincing is needed," there's always sedatives and duct tape after all.
Lleufer takes his coffee cup back to the service tray and leaves it there, "All I'm going to say is /if/ Samtara /were/ to be sent in, I'm going with her. It was absolute hell when she was gone before and I had no idea how she was doing, unable to help her out there. While I understand your not wanting to risk her, Sir, do remember she also was with us at Santos Ridge on Picon. Our Doc is a battle vet worth her salt."
Petra shakes his head at Sam, "You go talk to Robin and I will never, ever hear the end of it 'COmmander, does an XO usually send his direct reports to do his convincing for him?' He slowly nods at both and murmurs, "I get it, you two. But I'm going to have my hands full just getting a strike approved. I dont think we can send just one Raptor. We're PROBABLY going to have to commit some of the fleet to one of our 'smash and grab' hits. Jump in with multiple capital ships, shoot everything in orbit, bomb the facility, establish contact to make sure they know we did it, and leave. We'll see what we can risk."
Sam makes a mild grimace, "I will never, ever, forget Santos Ridge," she admits with a slow, deep, nod to Lleu. "And thank you, I"m honored that you think that way," she adds with a trace of a smile only to swing the look back toward Petra. "Um.. sir.. you .. may want to factor in that we may need to evac these guys OFF the surface of what ever it is that the planet is actually named."
Ynyr grimaces, "Sir, wouldn't it be wiser to go in with some care? Small team. Get our data first before any grand decisions? Our ships already took a pounding. For the sake of ship's Security, we'd do well to make sure it's worth putting the Orion to further risk before we commit her. If this world contains more or less just a single city with a huge prison, then that suggests there /must/ be more worlds involved here. It may we wise to observe whatever traffic we can that's going in and out and their direction going into or coming out of jumps. We do not know if this world originally belonged to those who Sam contacted via microwave, or to our Haters, but if there is only one major city on planet and it's a prison, then we know they must have shipyards and other cities elsewhere. For /both/ sides. So I urge that we still need to be careful and we need a lot more information before we commit our very limited resources to anything large, Sir." Lleu's only a Gunnery Sergeant but the Master-at-Arms feels the need to urge caution.
Petra smiles a little, "I think you both missed the part where even if somehow you got lucky and LANDED a Raptor without getting blown out of the sky, you have an squally slim margin of taking off and leaving and getting to a sufficient altitude to jump without the same thing happening. And that's assuming you can somehow cloak the Raptor once you're down so you dont get blown up after you park. There is a zero tactical chance of a single raptor team jumping in, LANDING, and then leaving. No. THat much, I can tell you both."
"Maybe all we have to do is buy them enough time to get off the ground themselves," Sam ventures this guess into the flow of conversation. "And this points out, again, that I'm not a tactical officer, at all, of any kind. Show me a surgical theatre and I'll take charge of that. This is beyond my skill set," and clearly comfortable admitting this.
Petra smiles at Samtara, "I know." Which might carry some additional significant weight with those two words, "People aren't going to always like what I decide. I don't expect them to. As long as they continue to trust that the decisions we make are the best ones for the future and the mission of what there is left of the Fleet. Alright. I have a long night ahead of me. I'll talk to you both later?" With that said, he reaches out to stop the recording.
"Understood that some kind of air support would be absolutely necessary and for the sake of my Marines, I appreciate that. But the Orion is damaged and last I heard we can't even jump her, unless those systems are back online." Lleufer gives a nod, "Yes, Sir." He'll go unseal that hatch and open it up so he and the CMO can head on out, each with a lot to think about.