[IC] Project Freelancer

[lord pringle]

You enter the briefing room. You've been in Project Freelancer for a year or so now and by now you've gotten used to this. The large hanging roof, the bright wall lights and the the holographic projection table are all around you as you step in. The director turns around, his piercing green eyes staring into your soul.
"Agents," he says, his voice carrying across the room, "time is short today. There is a critical mission on hand. An agent in the field has had their recovery beacon triggered and has gone silent."
As he says this, the Councillor taps his tablet and a holographic model of some form of base appears. A massive wall boarders it on three sides and a massive mountain ridge on the fourth. There are five guard stations on the wall and three spires on the inside. A web of tunnels connect them to each other and to round rooms in between. There's a flashing red light in the furthest spire. The recovery beacon.
"This is the Skathi research facility. It was a UNSC research base until it was siezed by the Insurrectionists," the Councilor adds on, "We sent in Agent Rhode Island to determine the extent of the take over, but she has been incapacitated."
The Director steps back in, "Your primary objective is to recover Agent Rhode Island or what's left of her by any means necessary. I leave it your judgement to determine how to do this. 479er will provide transportation when you are ready."

[DoctorFaust]

Iowa steps forwards, still wearing his old blues. "Sir," he says politely, "Two questions. First, do we know the extent of their anti-air defences? And second, since I notice you called Rhode's retrieval our 'primary' objective, do we have any secondary? Completion of her mission, or anything like that?"

[Ramsus]

Illinois, having rushed over from tinkering on something that looks like a proximity mine with a green generic caution symbol (the one that's a triangle with a ! in it) on it. Everyone can tell this because he's still holding it and there are some wires hanging loose and a panel open.

Apparently expecting nobody to care about the object or having just forgotten about it himself he adds, "Or avoiding leveling the facility?" and then looks over at Capital.

[Comissar]

Jersey stands with arms folded to one side of the hologram, helmet on the table in front of her as her eyes scanned the layout of the spires. She glances over to Iowa as he asks his questions before turning her attention back toward the Director. "Do we anything of the type of resistance once we're in?"

If the Insurrection had had the chance to dig in, getting in could be tough. Though if the Director had sent just Rhode initially, then perhaps it wasn't too heavily fortified.

[JetpackJimmy]

Agent Alabama listens to the Counselor intently, and then looks to the holographic model. "Sir, if I may, I think it might be most efficient for me to parley. As you know, my skillset is far from breaking and entering, and I will uncover useful information, set up bombs on my way out, and set the stage for my more combat-oriented friends to do their jobs. Permission to arrive ahead of time, shadowed by the rest in case things go wrong?"

[Beans]

One such combat-oriented friend glances over at her favorite partner, her scar-crossed face wearing a smile. She's been only mildly making eyes at Jersey and Alabama this whole time, since she knows the Director prefers she look like she's paying attention even if she's perfectly capable of silent-flirting and listening at the same time. And she's been on somewhat extra-good behavior after the Michigan incident anyway---mostly because she doesn't want to risk not being allowed to blow things up.
"We're good at that sort of thing."
In her armor, she carries her GUNGNIR helmet under her arm.

[Aneurin]

Maryland

"...What about the Insurrectionists?" Maryland asks, after a careful look at the schematics. "Do we need to clean up any data spill before we leave?" she adds, in a tone that doesn't quite conceal the fact that this is what she's hoping will be necessary. She's wearing her helmet, and the mirrored blue visor handily conceals some of the burning hatred that's still bleeding through into her voice.

[koruga]

The agent known colloquially as Cap stumbled into the briefing room with hastily put-on armour and hair sticking out of their helmet. They squinted at the screen in deep thought before raising their hand. "It's not the worst idea, Illinois. If it's an Insurrectionist base, we could slow them down at least." But they digressed, worrying their fingers together as they scanned the schematics. It would be easy to block exits by land if necessary, and keep anybody from coming in or going out. "It doesn't have to be all of us going, if we're not, ah, leveling it. Alabama's right there."

[JetpackJimmy]

Her helmet off to reveal a lean, gaunt freckled face with puckered lips and dirty-blonde hair, she looks at Maryland with obvious discomfort. "I wouldn't be so focused on taking out the enemy that you lose sight of the objective. Please don't let your own inner biases get in the way of us doing our job... The last thing I would want to see would be Maryland disobeying orders in favor of her own little vendetta. Please be rational." Alabama is really uncomfortable with this violently anti-Insurrectionist set of beliefs. She'll have to make some plans about it.

[lord pringle]

The Councillor gives a trademark half smile, "Thank you for asking. They have adequate enough air defenses to destroy us if we attempt to get within eye sight of them. A blizzard is likely to envelop the base for at least a few more days, so we should be able to get within one mile of their base without being seen. Your secondary objective is to retrieve a data drive." He taps something on the tablet and an image of a novelty lighter shaped flash drive appears. "We are unsure as to whether or not Agent Rhode Island was able to recover it. And it is a distant second to recovering Agent Rhode Island."
The Director adds in, "Do not destroy the base. And yes, all of you will be going. Permission denied, Alabama." With that said, he turns around and looks at the leaderboard. "Time is of the essence, agents. Time is of the essence."

[Comissar]

Jersey nods, planting her hands on the table in front of her and leaning forward. "Two teams might be our best chance. One to disable communications, one to retrieve Rhode. It'll be easier to pull her out if they don't know we're there." She glances at the holographic air defences, "Comm's team can try and take out the radar for the air defences too, keep them dark for when we need to extract. We don't know what condition Rhode will be in when we get to her, she may not be able to handle a mile trek for a safe evac."

[koruga]

Bluh. Why was Cap even assigned to this mission? Recon? This was going to be lots of fun.

"Can I be on the comm team? I'll get their communications towers out like that," they chirped, snapping their fingers as best as armour would allow. "Blizzard will help, too." Tongue poking out of their mouth, they began mapping a plan of blackout communications and exit routes on the base with their hand. Ohio, Maryland, they'd be good at getting Rhode and getting out, there wasn't much need to worry about them. "Depending on how bad the blizzard is and how fast we can disable communications, we can get within a few hundred meters of this base without being spotted. Closer if there's good cover."

[JetpackJimmy]

Alabama is not having a very good day right now, apparently. "Dammit, sir, don't you realize that all I do well is talk? If we go in, all I will do is be able to provide fire support, maybe score the occasional kill, and die. If that happens, and it may well, you will lose your only infiltrator, and I doubt you will find someone of my caliber. You are completely wasting my talents, sir." She growls, slamming a fist against the table. "But fine. I will attempt to be a UNSC Marine tag-along equivalent. Because that's a good idea. Ohio, let's kill some ****."

[Aneurin]

Maryland

"Roger that, sir," Maryland nods, satisfied that at least it's not a no-kill order. "Permission to bring one of the enemy back for Alabama, since you won't let her have that puppy?" she adds, with a sidelong look at the agent which isn't actually visible what with the helmet and mirrored visor. The comment about going off mission was... not well received.

"I can go with the team to retrieve Rhode, and I suggest Ohio goes after the comms and the data. Heavy weapons aren't that useful when you want a prisoner back alive," she shrugs. "No offence, but that laser of yours doesn't just kill the target, but all its friends, too,"

[DoctorFaust]

"Alabama, with all due respect, your plan was basically identical to the one that got Rhodes in this position in the first place and realistically wouldn't have accomplished anything we can't on the fly."

Iowa returns his attention to the Director and the other Freelancers, and frowns slightly. A dozen plans are racing through his head, but eventually he slowly says, "I agree about the two teams. Maybe send... Alabama, Illinois, D.C., and California to take care of the comms and AA; and Jersey, myself, Ohio, and Maryland to get Rhodes. Only problem I see is inserting over an open plain, even during a blizzard. Would it be possible to go in over the mountain range? Issue us jetpacks and drop us on the other side of the peaks, or something like that? It would leave us closer to the target than coming in over the walls."

[Ramsus]

Illinois puts a hand on Alabama's shoulder and says, "We still have to infiltrate anyway. If anyone sees us your team will still be relying on you as their first defense. It might not be your usual deep solo infiltration, but we're still going to need your skills." Then turns to Iowa, "No, you're not sending all your explosives in one team. If we're splitting Capital and I shouldn't be going together. It should probably be him going with the comms team if they're going to also be taking out the AA. If they can't be hacked they'll need to be blown up and that's his specialty. Unless someone thinks we'll need to blow up Rhode to save them? Same thing for Ohio really."

As an afterthought he adds, "And if we need to get Rhode out of there fast, I'm the best with vehicles."

My proposed teams:
Agent Retrieval: Jersey, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland

Comms/AA shut down: DC, California, Alabama, Ohio

(Comms team needs more boom than retrieval and I imagine Jimmy and Koruga might like to play together on the first mission.)

[Beans]

Ohio sets a hand on Alabama's shoulder.
"Don't you worry about us losing you, hon---I'll make sure you come out of this squeaky-clean." She smiles, the uneven glint of her teeth a clue to those wondering which were real and which were replacements. Inside, though, she wonders just how much she'll get to blow up. She doesn't plan on leaving her M6 Galilean behind, but she will have to bring along something besides her basic sidearm.

[DoctorFaust]

"Why not put all the demo on one team?" Iowa asks, "You said it yourself, we're probably not going to have to blow up Rhodes to rescue her, so why wouldn't you go with the comms team? You're the second best demo after D.C., after all, and if you leave Jersey with retrieval, we've already got someone to get us through any security measures. Also, by taking Ohio off the retrieval team, you would leave us without any major firepower if we go up against Innies that are already entrenched or that Maryland won't be able to quickly disable."

"In fairness, mine sort of does as well," he adds. "But you would have D.C., who probably counts just based on the number of grenades they carry."

[JetpackJimmy]

"Iowa, I am not Agent Rhode Island." She says, simply. However, she relaxes a bit as Ohio puts her hand on her shoulder. "...Thank you, sugar. I'll have to trust you." She mostly just occasionally says things like "sugar" in her normal speech, for various reasons. This isn't really her reciprocating anything, and given how much time Ohio and Alabama have spent together, Ohio would know this.

"Illinois, thank you for the words of encouragement. Capital prefers "they" pronouns, by the way, but I'll see what I can do to legitimize us."

[koruga]

"If we need to get Rhodes out, a jetpack probably won't work. Get a Warthog parked where we can get to it easy and get to a ship." Capital shrugged, adjusting the underarmour sticking uncomfortably on their fingers.

The hard part probably wasn't going to be getting out, not if retrieval was smart. They had to get in before anything else. "Can we get any information on where their comm towers are set up, and what they use?"

[Comissar]

Jersey shakes her head, "No go on the Warthog, we'd still have to walk Rhode to it. Aerial extraction gives us the best odds, just so long as the AA guns are down." She glances at Iowa and nods, "Iowa's right, we'll need firepower to grab Rhode, she's not likely to be undefended. I can get us through locked doors," She looks pointedly at Iowa, "We need you in case she's hurt badly." She drums her fingers on the table before nodding again, "Maryland, Ohio, I want you two with us as well. Illinois, we'll need your expertise to shut down their eyes, ears, and teeth. Vehicles are easy by comparison. California should be able to get you past any firewalls in the way."

Her eyes turn to Alabama and D.C. "Alabama, sweet talk their engineers into co-operating if you can. D.C., just blow the guns sky high if nothing else is working."

And at least this way we won't have Alabama and Maryland bickering...

She glances over to the Director and the Counsellor again, "If we know where the comms and gun controls are, can we mark them on the map?"

[Ramsus]

"Vehicles are easy? And what am I going to do that California can't after they've hacked into a system? Unless we're going to try and turn it into an entirely different system I don't see what I can do that they can't." Illinois says, clearly a bit annoyed. More than just because his options aren't being agreed with, but also because it means he's stuck being the "muscle" (and he knows he really isn't the best at that role) and knows Capital is going to hog any fun to be had with explosives (and Alabama will probably take any leftover opportunities since their main style is being denied) and there's no call at all for vehicle use of any kind on that team. It doesn't help that Jersey kind of sort of said his specialty was easy.

[JetpackJimmy]

She glares at Illinois for a second, before crossing her legs. "Sir, requesting permission to use the toilet? I'll be back in five, I just really, really need to go. Drank too much at the mess hall. You know how it is." She smiles weakly and leans against a wall, hoping that she can actually go and get permission to use the bathroom. "I would just use the suit, but mine's been faulty ever since two of the pipes got hit in that training match with Ohio three days ago, and now I can't go in-suit, or, well...Bad things. Just...trust me on this, sir. I'll be right back."

[Comissar]

Jersey stands up straight, shaking her head in disbelief before looking over at Alabama, "... What? This is a mission briefing, Alabama, not a primary school. Cross your legs, deal with it, and show some professionalism. We are not having a screw up on this just because your weak bladder made you miss something important."

[koruga]

Capital gave Jersey a thumbs up to blowing up the guns before turning back to listen to the spats. They squinched their nose at the bathroom talk, but it was pretty gross going in the suits, so who could blame Alabama. Maybe next time she should plan better?

"We could just tell her what she missed," they said, voice soft as they worried their fingers together. It sure didn't seem like anything important was being said right now. Hell, given that they had been assigned to the group, it didn't even seem like the mission was all that important, except for the fact that they needed to save Rhodes.

Illinois could. Illinois could be the escape route, maybe; they didn't really need this many people on a rescue mission. They raised their hand again. "I still don't know why this many of us have to go. Is there something that important that we can't send one or two agents to get Rhode and some data back?"

[DoctorFaust]

"D.C., that's basically the plan that got Rhodes captured in the first place, and she was our best infiltrator."

[koruga]

"Oh." Well, one couldn't really say that D.C. had the best comprehension of data. This was why they tended not to make plans.

[JetpackJimmy]

I kind of hope the game isn't dying.

[lord pringle]

The group is dismissed by the director and they head onto the Pelican. On the vehicle, the pilot, 479er turns around and looks at you guys. "So, uh, what's the mission? How likely is it that we're going to get shot out of the sky?" she quickly pokes the steering wheel about 10 degrees up. "And, uh, where's California?"

[Comissar]

Jersey placed her helmet onto her head as the group headed toward the Pelican, a soft hiss indicating it had sealed itself to the rest of her armour. She gave 479'er a nod of greeting as she approached the vessel, a wry smile under her helmet as she replied, "I give it even odds, though maybe a little better with your flying. Don't know where California's at, but we're on our way to pick up Rhode."

[Ramsus]

Illinois is busy fiddling with the proximity mine-like thing he had with him in the briefing room earlier. Still he manages to say, "On the way back, we'll hopefully have reduced the chances. So there's that."

[DoctorFaust]

"Significantly better than even, I would say. Though I'm not so sure about the chances of us crashing due to weather..." Iowa isn't far behind Jersey in entering the Pelican, likewise sealing his helmet with a hiss. "Have you not seen California either?"

[lord pringle]

"No, I haven't," 479er says, heading towards the planet. "Man, you guys are really dropping like flies. And here I thought I was suicidal flying this thing. Speaking of which, if you look out the left side of the plane, you'll see ****ing nothing but white. This planet is all snow all the time."
The pelican wobbles and shakes under the weight and speed of the storm and 479er quickly and roughly lands the plane in a snow bank. "This is as far as we're going to get in this weather. Make sure your armor works. It's cold enough to freeze your blood solid if it doesn't work."

[Ramsus]

"If I say my armor doesn't work can I just stay here and keep you warm?" Illinois asks 479er jokingly.

[Comissar]

Jersey heads to the exit ramp, glancing over her shoulder at Illinois, "You'll freeze faster if you're not moving, come on, Rhode's waiting for us." She looked back at the expanse of featureless white before her, "Just try and remember where we parked."