Aug 10 16:04:25 108 PA - Planning With the Condottieri
From Chronicles
Aug 10 16:04:25 108 PA.
SOMEWHERE ALONG THE LARAMY-WHYKIN TRAIL
Upon approaching the area where the mercenary trail exists, it should become obvious before even crossing the road that the trail is no longer there. At least, not through casual inspection. Traffic on the road is very light, but not entirely nonexistent. Clouds in the sky are causing a graying effect of light, with mild sprinkles here and there that are creating muddy conditions along this lesser-used trail.
Erica walks along the trail in her Triax armor. Her rifle is in her hands as protection, but the muzzle is pointed towards the floor. She looks this way and that as she walks towards the camp.
As happened before, Erica catches sight of some armored figures in the brush. One barely peeking out from behind a tree, three fairly close by with heavy weapon trained in her, and a fifth off to the left side with a seriously modified L-20. They're wearing generally Gladiator-style armor, but remain motionless and silent for whatever reason, reasons known only to them.
Erica stops in place once she sees the armored figures in the bushes. "Hello?" She calls out over her armor's loudspeaker. She stays in place with her rifle still pointed down.
The complete absence of the sound of safeties doing anything might be unnerving. No one moves from where they are, the only thing that changes is a low-volume call from the armored figure on the right over external speakers: "Identify." Has a bit of a female sound to it.
"I am Erica. We have met before." Erica says over her speaker. She keeps in place, and moves her hands up to pop off her helmet so that the guards can briefly see her face.
"Ben, Tom," come brisk words from the other figure. Two of the close figures move toward the un-helmeted Erica. They aren't exactly discourteous, but not entirely friendly, either. "Weapons, please."
Erica hands over her energy rifle to one of the guys that wanted it. She keeps her helmet under her arm. "I wanted to talk about a couple things, so I thought I would come by." She mentions after handing over her rifle.
Ben and Tom (apparently) accept the rifle without a fuss, and seem content enough to allow Erica to retain her helmet this time, though obviously keeping it off is probably a good move. The figure giving the orders walks quietly toward the polite intruder, then removes its helmet, shaking out a mane of long dark hair. Lilya Litvak, once more. "Hello. What do you need to talk about? You'll forgive my larger security force for the moment."
"I was wanting to talk to Roger about the raid on the convoy. I had a few things I wanted to go over with him. Also tell him about some people who are trying to get themselves involved. I was wondering if you could show me the way." Erica asks as she addresses Lilya.
Lilya nods to Erica, then says simply, "This way." Another nod at Ben and Tom has them cleaning the trail so that only the best hunters who also knew where to look would ever find it. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't take long to make it to the clearing, though the complete absence of the earlier trail should be impressive. The mercenary's outpost is obviously loading up for combat.
Erica looks over the outpost trying to spot how they are preparing for the upcoming attack. She makes her way to the command tent to look for Roger. She waits until the commander has time to meet with her.
Roger is delayed for a while, and there's plenty of time to see that their armament are being tweaked into the best of working order, their vehicles patched and fueled, armor repaired, and even an area of heavier ambush equipment, such as laser sensors and mines is being prepared. Roger and Lilya are nothing if not thorough, and the Condottieri are an excellent mercenary company. Though mercenary may be a poor word for them, seeing as they are more organized - far more organized - than most. Their ranks number around fifty. Still, Roger does eventually come out of the tent, accompanied by the younger woman acting as mobile secretary. "Erica," he says with a nod. "What can I do for you? You received our message, I assume."
Erica smiles briefly at Roger before nodding her head in greeting. "I did get your message. I wanted to come by and tell you that I was in on the op. See what I could do to help you prepare." She says as she looks around the busy campsite. "Also I wanted to warn you about some people that are poking around. A very crazy and dangerous mage by the name of Valeriya. Also her friend Bartholemew."
A warning is certainly interesting. "Glad to have you aboard. We can talk more about it in a minute. Who are these people? Coalition? Kingsdale Militia? Another company?" Roger shrugs just mildly, and makes a slightly sad face. "No offense, but.. do you have any proof of their danger? I'm afraid that I can't always take things on faith."
"They are a couple of freelancers, but they call themselves a company. I don't know if you heard about that D-bee rally a while back. Valeriya decided to attack the rally. Almost sparked off a very big riot." Erica says with a slight shake of her head and a frown.
Roger leans over to talk to his aide for a short time, then asks, "Couple of weeks ago? Some guy left on a flying carpet, woman went crawling onto the street?" The secretary dot-dot-dots her pen on the paper and he smirks at it. "Apparently she spent a day on a pole down at the Ivory Lady? I'm sorry, we really keep to ourselves. It's better for everyone involved, particularly us, to have no contact with the city unless absolutely necessary. I have a man in the city to keep tabs on things, and we pick up the broadcasts, but that's it. That's the same Valeriya?" He holds up a hand. "My guy got her name from the bouncers at the strip joint. Mage? Like your basic wander around in robes mage?"
Erica shrugs her shoulders briefly. "Yah that sounds like it. I don't know a lot about mages, but she is pretty powerful as far as I can tell. I just don't trust her not to endanger people she works with. I just thought I would warn you. Also come by to see what the plan was for the raid."
"Okay, okay. We'll get to that. Who's this Bartholemew guy? Something special about him too that I should know, or does he just keep bad company," Roger asks.
"He just keeps bad company. He will likely try to get in on the raid if he can. Then he'll bring that Valeriya along. I think he makes some poor decisions." Erica says with another shrug of her shoulders. "So what is the plan for the attack?"
"Just a moment, Erica. I'll get to it, I promise," Roger says with a smile, holding out his hand. "This Valeriya and Bartholemew Mercenary Company of two, do they actually know about us, or are they just guessing at someone taking the other convoys?"
"They heard rumours about you. I don't know where from. Bart approached me and I told him they I didn't want to work with them. That I didn't trust them. But it really isn't important. Let's go over your plan already." Erica says slightly impatiently.
Roger shakes his head, probably at both the information of their possible existence getting out, and what he says, "Patience. Maybe you've never done a lot of ambushes, but it's all about being slow, waiting for a long time, and then hoping that when you move, you move really, really fast so that things end very quickly. Perhaps we'll use you in a different role." He nods to the woman next to him, who makes a silent note. "It's a very simple plan. We're moving east about two miles to get outside of our normal operating area. Set up along the north side of the road with some heavy weapons up front and in the rear. Hopefully we can disable front and back, trapping everyone else in the middle. I'm uneasy, though. Our intelligence on this isn't perfect. Someone tried to turn their warehouse into a personal bank, and things got real bad. The 23rd cracked down hard. We know five trucks were allowed in, then five trucks came out, but we have no idea where they came from, or where they ended up, or what the hell they did inside. So if you meet the person who fucked all of us over, thank him or her for that." Roger's tone ends in a grumble.
"I just came by to find out what the plan was. I think there are a lot of people all over this smuggling ring. I wouldn't be surprised that someone tried to use it to try to make some profit. I am not interested in profit as much as I am about stopping this ring. It sounds like a good plan though. I'll see if I can keep an ear out for who has been trying for the warehouse." Erica says with a brief nod of her head.
The leader of the Condottieri smiles lightly. "I guess it doesn't really matter now who did it. The end result is that they caused the Coalition to crack down. So, what is it that you do? I have no actual information to indicate this, but I'd assume that this convoy isn't just your average larger convoy. Seems like too much on the line to just add trucks, no matter if stopping the whole ring is important or not. What can *you* do for *me*?" Roger falls silent and waits.
"Well I am a soldier, so I shoot things. I also have a jet pack so I can fly and shoot things. If you want I can hide and then shoot things later. Not really a whole lot to it I guess." Erica says with a chuckle and a shrug of her shoulders. "Plenty of versatility there I guess."
"Stay out of the sky, at least until the ambush goes off. For some reason people have been having unusually good eyes these days. You know that a man in a jet pack at an altitude and distance of a thousand feet is the same as trying to resolve an object only six-hundredths of an inch high at a normal viewing range five feet before your eye?" Roger seems to have his numbers. "Plus, considering how narrow the field of view is for rifle scopes, it's a miracle that these people are ever noticed before they shoot. Of course, the sound falls away at the inverse square from a point source, too. But I guess people have good ears as well. At any rate... you could be a giveaway. I do have something important for you, however."
"Yes you would think common sense would have something to do with life. Oh well I just won't go on missions like that any more. I'll stay hidden on the ground, or whatever you want me to do." Erica says with a slight nod of her head. "I am willing to work in to plans."
"Good, good," Roger acknowledges with a smile. He then waves a hand in Lilya's direction. "This may seem odd, seeing as how new our little relationship is, but my man in the city is very good at his job, and we've dug up some background about you. This is the morbid part. You'll be fighting with us, and if Lilya goes down, I want you to slide into her place. Listen to my orders, disseminate them, and make your own as necessary. Gwendyellan may seem like the logical next choice, but she has her own abilities that will be busy. So that's the first part. Can you do that?"
"Sure I have had command of troops before. With all the freelancers there is little command structure. I don't like that. I prefer a leader in operations. If you want I'll take command if it comes up. What else would you like me to do?" Erica asks as she rocks back and forth on her heels.
"If *I* go down, Lilya takes over, and you take over for her just like you would have for me. But, if things really go to shit? Both of us go down? You get to be the head honcho. You run the Condottieri until we win, lose or die trying." Roger's face is grim, but set in what is necessity. "These are good men and women. They haven't all been formal military, but they've all been working together for a good length of time now; they'll know that I put you in charge, and they'll listen to you as their commander. That's what I'm asking next, as long as you think that you can move beyond commanding a few troops and on to commanding fifty troops with some sub-divisions. Which I'll introduce you to, if you want to keep going." He then holds his hands out. "I know it's asking a lot, though. No requirement that you accept the job."
"Well I can't say that I am perfect, but I think I have a good grasp of tactics. I'll be able to lead if the need happens. I would prefer it didn't of course. I'll keep going. Introduce me around and I'll try to get a hold of everyone's abilities and what not. I do not let men or women under my command down." Erica says with grave seriousness.
With a nod, de Flor moves off, apparently just expecting to be followed. He moves toward the small motor pool. "Major Lodestone here is in command of our mobile unit. As you can see, just four armed hovercycles. Lightly armed, but built for increased speed." It appears as if they've been somehow rigged with the barrels of L-20s, one to a vehicle. Lodestone nods as you continue on. "Lilya, you already know is infantry. We haven't broken 'em down into heavy, scout, anything like that. We're small enough to just call 'em infantry. They're trained to break into and operate as ten-man squads during combat, so you've obviously got four of those. Finally, Corporal Gwendyellan and what we call her 'irregulars.' She's an excellent Walker, and we have another mage and two psychics under her command as well. They're tough to command, due to the nature of their weaponry. Now..." he looks around the camp. "That's everyone who'll be fighting, so that should be basically all you need, unless you want something specific? Oh, the intelligence section of course, but it will probably be moving too fast to use it."
Erica listens without interrupting. She nods her head slightly as she takes out a pencil and notebook. She writes down a few notes to herself to keep track. "Well that sounds like pretty good info. I'll keep all that in mind. The irregulars should be after the convoy and infantry while if their are any psi-stalkers or dog boys a unit of the infantry can go after them." Erica says as a brief suggestion.
Roger quirks his head a tad. "I was actually thinking of placing them up front. Just in case there *are* Dog Boys, it won't tip them off and blow the ambush. Or at least delay blowing the ambush. Maybe I should place them somewhere else? Or are you suggesting that they be left entirely behind the line of battle until contact has been made?"
"No I am just suggesting that dog boys and psi-stalkers are the most effective against irregulars like you are talking about. You don't want to throw something that they are strong against at them. Use regular infantry to occupy their irregulars, while your irregulars keep the convoy locked down. Take down their irregulars quickly, and they won't be able to counter as easily." Erica says after a moment of thought.
Roger nods, "A good plan. I'll speak to Lilya about it, and we'll finalize things the day of the attack - unfortunately we don't know when that will be, so I hope that you can be fluid." A quick snap of his fingers brings Ben and Tom forward to return Erica's weapons. "Remember, because of that warehouse attack, we may be missing a lot of details. Maybe not. We just don't know. Cakewalk or living hell, could go either way. You've got some interesting armor there," he says, changing subjects rather abruptly. "Mind if we mark it a little to make sure we don't shoot you?"
"Nope you can give it a paint job no problem. Although I would prefer if you didn't paint it hot pink or anything like that." Erica says with laughter in her voice. "I can move over here at a moments notice. No problem. My jet pack is very fast."
Roger lets out a loud laugh, as does his aide, though hers is more of higher-pitched laugh. "Yeah, we can avoid that. In fact, no paint at all." He waves, and Ben removes a spool of tape from a hip pocket and begins applying it to Erica's chest and back in a starburst pattern. The tape itself is transparent, and totally disappears against the armor. "This stuff's special, it 'glows' in the ultraviolet range, but is otherwise invisible. Unless you're looking into the UV spectrum - which all of our helmets do - you'll never see it. Works surprisingly well; everyone thinks about visible and thermal, the rest of the entire EM that Nature gave us being completely left out. That should do it," Ben says as he finishes the application. Roger doesn't interrupt his soldier. "Good to go, ma'am." Ben even sketches his possible-commander a nice salute. Roger nods, though Lilya is busy elsewhere. "Unless there's more that you have to ask about, I think we're probably done here. Just stay safe and quiet until it happens."
"Nope. I'll take some time looking around your camp and getting to know some of your people if that is ok. But it sounds like we are good to go. I'll have to remember that trick about the tape." Erica says as she returns Roger's salute with a salute of her own.
The lower-ranking Ben salutes a second time, then Tom. Roger offers a nod. "You're free to look around as much as you'd like. We'll be in touch." Then moves back to his command tent to probably go about doing commanding things.
