THE BRIEFING ROOM
[/b][/u]MISSION ONE: NONE
MISSION TWO: THIS POST
MISSION THREE
MISSION TWO: THIS POST
MISSION THREE
MISSION 2 BRIEFING
The Briefing Room is situated quite neatly halfway between the hangars and the armory, exactly where you might expect it to be.
What you don't expect is how lavish it is. Tartarus Inc. really pulled out all the stops for this. With the exception of the VR chambers, it's quite possibly the most expensive place you've seen, with lush foliage in the corners, expensive hardwood floors, high-quality seating, and a black metallic table with gold trim that sports a row of full-featured psychokinetic holocomputers. Most importantly, perhaps, is that the room smells of absolutely delicious food - it's practically its own private buffet, with tables around the edges of the room filled with the highest quality foods you've ever, ever seen - and there's even a bar full of alcoholic beverages off to one side, and a bartender to boot. Tartarus Inc. clearly wanted to use this room to raise morale, and they did an outstanding job of it. For as long as you're here, you'll be treated like kings.
But nothing lasts forever. The rest of Platoon 56 is already seated at the long, rectangular table in the center of the room - and a few of them wave you over. You walk over to them and sit down, just as the lights dim, and a screen at the far side of the room lights up.
SCAMPS here. See the new faces? Yeah, they're not all new recruits. It's a long story, but most of the original Platoon 56 was out of commission for a month after we had them retrieve an artifact from inside a nuclear engine in a war zone. Took a while to get their near-fatal radiation doses back down to acceptable levels, and will still kill them within five years, but meh. Look around, say hi, but skip the small talk. You can yammer away about squads as much as you want once I'm done, but if you do it any sooner I'll have my engineers invent some creative ways to expel you out an airlock in pieces.
So, here's the job. I can tell you're all giddy with anticipation.
Welcome to the Sedirmar dust cloud, your zone of operations for this mission. Those of you that went to Chilendorn will remember my mentioning Mimir. Those of you that went to Taghdara will remember fighting them. For the rest of you, I'll explain. Mimir is an IPC - an Interstellar Prison Corporation - just like Tartarus Inc. The ship you see up on the big, pretty screen? If you haven't figured out it's one of theirs by now, I'm not even going to offer you the dignity of having my doctors use you for spare parts, because your brains aren't worth shit.
When the Dark Space attacked at Chilendorn and wiped the mission zone, it sent out some kind of scout or attack craft to comb the nearby area. We have good reason to believe that Mimir actually managed to capture one of them and disable it, and it's now sitting in the cargo bay of this research ship. That's the little shielded area at the back, between the thrusters. One of our moles managed to sabotage its warp coils severely enough for them to drop out of warp and seek refuge in the dusty space of the Sedirmar dust cloud while they do some repairs.
I hear some of you breathing a collective sigh of relief. "Thanks, SCAMPS, you the man! An easy mission!" Yes, I'm 'the man', but no, it's not an easy mission.
...
Actually, I'll be shocked if you all make it out alive.
That's right, it's a convoy. What you're looking at is a photograph we got off one of our operatives' cameras. From left to right, it's a carrier, the research ship, and a gunship. Veterans from Taghdara will recognize the gunship - and yes, I can see you assholes shitting yourselves. We need every advantage we can get, and this is tech so advanced that we don't have anything comparable. It's worth a bit of risk - as is anything else they might have on board. It's a research ship, after all, so I expect they have something.
Your task is to get in there, disable whatever guns are necessary, and keep any fighters at bay that you need to as you board the research ship. We know they have at least eight. The side hangar may be your best bet for boarding, as it doesn't have energy shielding. After that, knock out the cargo bay's force field, find the Dark Space craft, attach a beacon, and drop it into open space. We'll have a small warp convoy arriving approximately thirty minutes after you, and they'll pick it up and carry it to safety - and you, too, if you're within range. If not, well, sucks to be you.
Did I hear an "oh crap"? Hell yes, this is "oh crap". These guys have anti-aircraft guns out their asses. Although it's nothing on the scale of Chilendorn's worldship destroyers, they're still better equipped than you are and they probably expect somebody to show up. The star system is mostly uninhabited, but those who dwell there aren't at all friendly with Mimir. If that carrier is packing fighters, you’ll have to leave half your squads outside, and have only half of you board the research vessel. It shouldn't be as bad as Chilendorn or Taghdara... but then again, that's what I always say.
As always, I'll be in touch with you during the mission. My engineers have made a few modifications, and I can now chat between squads without inhibitions. To get in contact with me, just talk into your radio and ask for SCAMPS. to get in contact with anyone else, just talk - everyone will hear you. Sound fine? Good.
You have thirty minutes before we ship you out. Anybody lagging behind can be our next lab rats. Commence the shitty small-talk.
And the lights brighten again to a comfortable glow. The screen at the end of the room still holds SCAMPS' last image, and the holocomputers in the center of the table hold several 3D models of the ships.
The job begins.
)), and so will Foreigner. And Hema will have 4 places left.
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