Tuesday, August 15, 2006

A Brief Briefing ...

Continued from here.

I grab my armor and report to Hanger 15. A small company of mixed Clone troops have been assembled. I notice about 30 crew member for 10 ARC-170 Starfighter and 4 Republic Assault Gunboats. This will be a small fast moving group, set up for quick in and out mission. It might be a raid or we have to rescue another Jedi.

I am a little surprised by the thrown together nature of this group. While all Troopers have been trained in battle, it is obvious that some of these troops have spent more time at support.

A Republic Navel Lieutenant begins to brief us.

“I am Lt. Ambrose. I will be leading this unit for the duration of this mission. Several months ago a resort above Coruscant, Skycity, was attacked. It was believed to be the work of C.I.S separatist bent on striking fear in the Republic. We have received intelligence on the location of a political prisoner being held by these separatist scums, who hate the freedom that the Republic offers to the Galaxy …”

Why do these young officer insist on giving us the rah rah speeches. We are G.A.R trooper for Force sakes. We will follow what ever order we are given. Do we have to listen to the hype also?

I begin to listen again “…so the mission is strait forward. Three of the ARC-170 will defend the Gunboats carrying the troops. The others will assault the enemy ship at close range, knocking out the forward batteries. The Gunboats will get close enough to engage the ship and broad it. We need to take as many of the C.I.S. troops alive for integration. Three squads of troopers will assault and pacify the crew and while Delta squad makes its way to the prisoner hold.”

So it is a rescue.

“Once on board the C.I.S ship, I will personally lead Delta squad and will secure the prisoner; Noel, operator of Skycity. Any questions!” The Lt. continues

One of the ARC pilots asks “What kind of ship are we up against? And do we know the armaments?”

“We do not have that information. Long range scanners have not detected the ship type yet. But we do know it will be orbiting the moon of Endor. When we get there we will just attack any ship we see. No one should be near that moon in the first place.” The Lt. smiles as if he had just made a brilliant observation. “Any further question?”

I had several; Why is a Lt in charge of a company size unit, it a little outside his pay grade? And what is with his plan? I haven’t seen anything this bad since second year military tactics back on Kamino. Does the Lt. have any combat experience? And why don’t we have any Intel on the ship we are assaulting? Is 14 ships and 78 roops enough for this mission?

There is something odd about this whole set up.

Some of the veteran troopers are having the same small looks of doubt.

But what is a trooper to do? We break into the squads, load up into the ships and head in the space. I end up in Beta squad. Thank the makers.


To be continued.

5 comments:

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

Be careful, I have a feeling that this little mission could be bad for your health.

Professor Xavier said...

Never trust anything a briefing officer says if he starts off - "This is a fairly straight forward mission."

Always a bad sign.

A Army Of (Cl)One said...

I enjoy a good quote from "the Art of War" almost anytime. Some many place to use it in war and the rest of life.

I know of one political hack I know who reads it before every election season.

Skywalker said...

"This is a fairly straight forward mission."
Always a lie! Always!

Jardena said...

reliable inel, that's usually also another lie/mis-truth.

you better get going quickly, hasn't Noel been gone for quite some time?