Suggestions for Becoming Death's Action Plan

[Dirk Pitt]

Quinn.. Your last orders before Duncan bolted were...

"Dirk, keep your squad in the kitchen and hold them off for five mikes, repeat, five mikes. Fall back afterward. James, take your squad and double-time it to the hangar. Secure our evac point. Don't get the shiny blue one. Prefer air transport, but an APC will do if needs be. Do it in three mikes, now. Command team, hold the entrance to the mess."

<tag Marines>

Then after that and before any other orders except mine to hold, Duncan posted this not bothering to wait for five mikes as you ordered.

The entire situation reeked of FUBAR. The panicked, fleeing LT did not engender confidence in Duncan. No explanation, communication, and those ridiculous armbands. Honestly, for all their platoon knew, the LT could be staging a coup and the people they were supposed to be firing at were the good guys. At best he was throwing the platoon to the winds as a temporary human shield. For some reason, his M42A picked up nothing to give him a better idea.

Worse, the platoon was as chaotic as he previously feared. Pitt ordering first squad to retreat. Quinn ordering first to hold the kitchen. Morse shouting his huckleberry pidgin and advancing. The new sergeant glibly joking about which squad will get "bloodied" first. Honeysett was in the kitchen and tossing a grenade.

At the realization that another explosive was being chucked into an enclosed, pressure-focusing space, Duncan hauled ass and lunged into the mess hall, hoping to avoid ill effects of the explosion.

He even states in his post that your last order was to hold.

Then in game I stated..

Dirk set his watch for five mikes and then started the countdown. As time ticked off, movement caught his eye. As the rest of the Marines laid down suppressing fire he saw Duncan falling back through the mess hall doors like the hounds of hell were on his heals.

"Duncan, I said hold the fuckin line. Duncan... Shit.' Dirk shouted at the man as he disappeared through the door into the mess hall.
<Tag Duncan>

Damn. he spat as he kept his cover. He now had three men on the line. Thank God one was Morse with his smartgun or he would have to fall back.

"Quinn, this is Pitt. Duncan bolted without orders. You need to deal with him until first falls back. We are still in control of the kitchen and are holding for another four mikes thirty seconds. Out." He shouted into his mic.
<Tag Quinn>

Once again showing your order to hold for five mikes was not followed. If he would have come back ten fine.. He was loking for cover but he didn't. His next post, while we were still holding the line for five mikes, was

Duncan waited by the doorway and listened for the grenade to explode. Once it detonated, he quickly popped his out to peek into the kitchen. He was not happy that his platoon once being so cavalier with grenades. Enclosed spaces, like underground bunkers, tended to amplify and direct blasts. And after the last combat, that should have been apparent. Duncan peeked through the doorway long enough to see Farzi firing another grenade. Duncan ducked back behind the doorway. Christ, this getting ridiculous.

Duncan quickly scuttled to Quinn's side. "Sergeant Quinn, everyone's going apeshit with grenades. Also," Duncan decided he had to choose his words carefully, "is it just me, or is it suspicious that the LT hasn't explained anything to us, or that he apparently doesn't give a damn about the President?"

<Tag Quinn>

You were in the hanger.. TWO rooms away. He took off and the time line shows it clearly. Yes, Quinn ordered first to fall back in five mikes, not turn and run to Quinns side and start giving advice.

I'll take an Article 15 and give up my stripes but his charges should be an Article 99—Misbehavior before the enemy..

“Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy—

(1) runs away;

(2) shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;

(3) through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;

(4) casts away his arms or ammunition;

(5) is guilty of cowardly conduct;

(6) quits his place of duty to plunder or pillage;

(7) causes false alarms in any command, unit, or place under control of the armed forces;

(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or

(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle; shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.”

Articles 1,2,3,5 and 8 he is guilty of, as sure as Dirk is guilty of article 15. If he isn't charged with something more than you were a bad boy and a slap on the hand why should any of us follow orders?

I have never complained about anything, but this needs to be corrected.

[Pale Rider]

At this point I believe a Tribunal would be called for. The guilty parties would need to present their cases to a panel consisting of Quinn, Honeysett, and myself or another neutral party.

[maxvale76]

One thing to remember fellas....this is a fictional branch of the US military in the late 22nd century; I'm not sure all the Articles you're quoting are still going to exist or at least not necessarily in the same language.

I know I keep beating a dead horse; but I think it bears repeating....this is not the U.S. (or anybody else's for that matter) military a la the late 20th/early 21st century.

Other than that; I say let Nick be the arbiter.....he IS God (or at least 'a God' if not 'THE God') to all of us in the game, anyway!

[Morse]

Actually that's not necessarily true. I got my hands on the Colonial Marines Technical Manuel a couple weeks ago and read up on the history. The United America's are an awkwardly international force (Australia and Britain are both parts of it, so who knows who else may be), but it is specified that the U.S is the primary military backbone of the whole thing. At the end of the day it isn't the UACM, but the USCM. The United States essentially runs the military part. I'm not saying its fact, but I'm just saying its most likely the U.S rules are the ones that apply.

[Dirk Pitt]

True.. But in every military there are rules. MAybe we should use the Roman leigon's rules

That would be fine with me!!!

[maxvale76]

Oh I absolutely agree with both of your points.....it IS the United States Colonial Marine Corps (Apone; if no one else....I can't remember....has a U.S. flag patch on his shoulder in the movie); and I would think that there would DEFNITELY be Articles that the Corps adhered too; probably even very, very close to today's Articles of Military Conduct.

I was simply trying to once again warn against the "easy" use of today's military reality/language/etc. for a game set well over 150 years from now in a fictional branch of the military. That's all.

[Duncan]

Alright, Dirk. First off, James' squad was in the Hangar. Quinn was in the next room, as was Duncan until EXPRESSLY ORDERED BY QUINN TO HEAD TO THE HANGAR. Quinn wrote as much in his last post of this thread. And read through my posts. It doesn't change the timeline stated in my last post on this thread.

1) Duncan dives for cover in the next room.
2) Duncan gets up to check if the coast is clear; Farzi is now firing a grenade. Duncan takes cover a second time.
3) Duncan immediately expresses his concern about the use of grenades in the enclosed environment.

Again, what you call "desertion" was taking cover 5-10 feet away from my initial position for 15-20 seconds. At worst, he's guilty of misjudging the blast radius (although, as I stated in my last post, it appears the kitchen was well within range of shrapnel, but I guess no one considered that an issue).

As for tribunals, Honeysett probably shouldn't be on it, considering he was the one who threw the grenade in question. Although in general, formal charges generally don't involve intrasquad jurors, so likely it would be Nick making the call.

[Dirk Pitt]

Show me the post BEFORE you took off that shows Quinn ordering YOU and only you away from your squad. After, maybe. But not before. You left your squad and went to Quinn who ordered you into the hanger. But before ANYTHING you were ordered to hold the line. You should never have gone to Quinn. You should have never left the kitchen area. WHere you should have been was with your squad and by strict definition that warrants an Article 99—Misbehavior before the enemy for the reasons I said.

If you would have come back or atleast said hay guys, sorry but Quinn needs me. You didn't and that's why this is happening.

You don't leave your post until relieved and you were not relieved and you follow your squad leader unless his orders are unlawful. None of my orders were unlawful.

[Quinn]

Dirk, I gave Duncan the order as I was running out of the mess hall to the hangar.

The information sped through Quinn's mind as he received it. Men with handguns pursuing the Lieutenant. The briefcase. The Lieutenant's hesitation at Quinn's question. Immediately trying to leave despite there being a platoon of Marines on the ground.

"James, if that ship lifts off, put a grenade against it's armor plating. Just one grenade. Giosso, plant a tracker on that craft now, on the double!! Duncan, I want you to set up and put a bullet down ONE of the intakes if that craft starts lifting off. I want it damaged, not disabled" he barked into the platoon's tacnet. This was a one-of-a-kind opportunity, and he just might forgive Duncan. Or at least be more lenient on him once this shitstorm was over. "Dirk, pull your squad back, do it by the numbers. Obi, reinforce Dirk's squad. Rest of us are headed straight for the hangar."

<tag Dirk, James, Duncan and Giosso>

Quinn then took a deep breath and took off running for the hangar. He switched his own commgear to broadcast in the open. "Lieutenant, I swear to god, if you lift off without us, we will fire upon your craft!"

<tag Lieutenant>

If he was right, then the people who the briefcase belonged to would contact him on the open and he could salvage something from this clusterfuck.

In fact, I gave the order before taking off running. So this is one giant misunderstanding.

[Quicksilver]

I have to say, I'm kind of the same opinion. The mess hall and the kitchen are only separated by serving stations, that much was established fairly well in the previous turn. So diving "into the mess" only means he dove behind the serving stations, stil well within rifle range, much less sniper rifle range, of the opening he was supposed to be covering.

If we're guilty of anything here, is inadequate descriptions of our surroundings and intentions. From what I'm reading, this is more of an ooc issue then an ic issue, and I'd recommend Duncan, Dirk and all determine how they want this to play out here, in the OCC forums, before anything more drastic happens in character.

[Morse]

This sory of thing tends to happen when Nick dissapears for a bit. I stand with my point of perception however. Even if he was on the other side of serving stations itd be out of our view. It works with the already messed up situation. But, any way you cut it, he did move out of the possition and act on orders that we did not see him get.

- this makes me miss the days of maps where we knew what everyone was doing and how far everything was

[Quinn]

This sory of thing tends to happen when Nick dissapears for a bit. I stand with my point of perception however. Even if he was on the other side of serving stations itd be out of our view. It works with the already messed up situation. But, any way you cut it, he did move out of the possition and act on orders that we did not see him get.

- this makes me miss the days of maps where we knew what everyone was doing and how far everything was

That makes sense to me.

[Nemo]

Does anyone know why we're blowing the crap out of the dropship? Our mission briefing was to extract a VIP from the base. Nothing was stated in our briefing about us going along with him/her once they reached the APC/Dropship. As far as I can tell, we've recieved no new information about the VIP or the package he is carrying other than the LT looked like he was heading off without us.

I'm not saying its the wrong thing to do, or that its the right thing either, I'm just wondering how people are going to explain why they 'shot up the boss' car as he left work for simply not offering us a ride home'.

[Morse]

That right there is the primary reason why I've been holding to ignorance as to the 'perceived' betrayal. Because what transpired isn't necessarily beyond the mission description, plus we're not in a desperate situation so we don't even really need any other dropship. We're not on the "elevator to hell" if any of you remember that, surrounded by Aliens, with just one dropship on the whole colony. It's Earth... we call it in and it's taken care of.

[Quinn]

Also, the reason I'm having the smartguns and sniper rifle cover the site is because they have the range and capability to suppress it. No favoritism to Duncan, Morse or Al on that. It's all based on the weapons they're carrying. Anyone with a Tactics roll could figure that one out.