Suggestions for Becoming Death's Action Plan

[Pale Rider]

Sorry if I am again stepping out of Rank here, however this is mostly an ooc conversation so I figured anybody was good to go with starting this discussion. This way we can all move forward in an orderly procession. Although, the confusion created thus far is truly not too far fetched based on reality.


My thought process here:
1. I was originally getting prepared to jump onto the Dropship with the LT, thus the slinging of my rifle to free my hands.
2. What is the name of the Eights Dropship Pilot and is the one the LT is on that vessel or is the one I am on that vessel. I want to know so I can post approaching the Pilot. I would hate to inadvertently kill our Pilot.
3. I would suggest both Smart Guns get set on taking down A4's engines.
4. The Command Squad should probably move back down the hallway that 2nd Squad just blew to hell and back to find out just exactly who we were shooting at. If not them, James will volunteer to recon the area based on his past experiences.
5. If I simply need to shut up simply tell me so and I will gladly do just that!

[Morse]

I think you're on the Dropship, so I don't think you'd want the smartguns to tear it to pieces, since that might do more damage then you think, and you're on it.

[Duncan]

Rereading the thread, I was under the impression that you were on a non-LT ship. Personally, I think we should attempt to disable the LT ship before it leaves. There appear to be spares. And most we'd lose time and ammo. We can disable the ship without killing people inside.

Assuming you are on the LT ship, I'd suggest using suppressing fire to herd them into the cockpit. From there Capone and Duncan can probably deal with them as necessary.

[maxvale76]

My understanding is that Screaming Eagle started up the ramp to the dropship the LT and his guys are on (Sam had just started to do the same to back him up); when he then decided to get off and check out the OTHER dropship.....and Samantha followed him.

At least....that's my understanding.

To your questions Pale Rider.....I don't believe we have an assigned Dropship Pilot and I don't know if there was one allready onboard the craft the El Tee and company boarded or not. Other than that; I think shooting out the engines may not be a good idea....explosive rounds and jet fuel and all....but shooting out the cockpit and/or a landing strut might do it.

Just my 2 cents...

[Pale Rider]

My understanding is that Screaming Eagle started up the ramp to the dropship the LT and his guys are on (Sam had just started to do the same to back him up); when he then decided to get off and check out the OTHER dropship.....and Samantha followed him.

This is why I decided to post this here. I knew that we were all under different assumptions as to what the others were doing. So I can at least straighten out this portion of James and Sam.

The original Dropship we were on was not the one with the LT. After I spun on my heel it was to follow the orders presented to me by Quinn concerning bouncing a grenade off the armor of A4. Then I prepared to jump on board the closing ramp. In my mind's eye I had the lip of the ramp over my head, thus why I slung my rifle and grabbed my tomahawk. Now I am on board the other Cheyenne and I wanted to get a few things clarified with a potential friendly pilot, etc.



Beyond that the situation is most definitely a CF but, I am willing to bet that Nick planned it this way.

[Quinn]

The reason why I only want the engine damaged is because I want them to take off, but not be fast about it. You're underestimating the power of your rifle Duncan. Load it with some heavy armor piercing rounds and you're good to go. Damage a blade on the turbofan, and the subsequent vibrations will do the rest. This is an aircraft, not a main battle tank. There's a reason why aircraft carriers do a Foreign Object Sweep before they start aircraft operation. The grenade against the armor plating is just for show. What I want to find is the LT, his men and anyone else who might be with him. Get a bloody intelligence coup.

Nuclear codes can be changed at the drop of a hat if they're stolen. All it takes is an hour, tops. So I'm not too worried about it. What would suck is the advanced technology in the football being stolen.

[Duncan]

I'm presuming that the dropship is at least as resistant to damage as an A10. Nor am I keen to position myself where the dropship's weapons can fire back. I'm also wary about the "let them get away so we can track them" plan. One, it sounds a lot like Operation Fast and Furious, which didn't quite work out. For all we know, there's a ship in orbit waiting to make a beeline to the far side of the solar system.

We're not the intel branch. Our purpose should be containment.

[Quinn]

How we're different from Fast and Furious: we're actually gonna track and chase down the bastards. Good thought on breaking the canopy though.

But yes, if it is as armored as an A-10, it will survive the hit. But it will suffer a reduction in speed, which is what I want.

[Whisky]

I'm just going to chime in here and say either you're roll playing spectacularly or Nick has done an amazing job because it appears not one of you have a clue what is going on; the confusion and chaos in the current mission is amazing.

It's a complete clusterf*ck, lol, can't wait for the smoke to settle.

[Nemo]

I'm claiming excellent roleplay, the fact I have no idea whats going on has nothing to do with it.

Edit:

After looking at some pictures of the dropship, the only feasible way of shooting the engines would be through the front intakes. The rest of the engines seem to be armoured against such an attack. Are you sure you want Morse and myself to stand in front of a 25mm rotary cannon controlled by someone who may not appreciate us firing at his pretty dropship. Pilots can be very touchy about people scratching the paint on their birds.

[Morse]

I probably won't make it up there in time any way, since I'm still watching the rear. Regardless of what is behind us, I'm still treating it as hostile till proven otherwise.

[Quinn]

Okay, there's been quite a bit of shit flying around. First off, good roleplaying guys! Seriously, this is good stuff.

For after the battle, from the actions of both Dirk and Duncan, I'll be suggesting an Article 15 for both. It's not a court martial, what it does to your character is drop them 1-3 pay grades. Dirk will keep his stripes, as he is a Sergeant. His pay grade will be docked by 2 grades for three months, then go back up.

Duncan was a bit more complex. Normally, deserting off the line in the heat of battle is a capital offense in the military (yes, I know, there was a grenade in the room, but you didn't go back in after it detonated). But seeing as he took a straight punch from Dirk and didn't react too negatively, I'm inclined to just give the harshest Article 15 I can for "Conduct Unbecoming". Dropping down to Private Basic, and three months of extra duty with no leaves allowed during that time.

In character, Quinn will be giving Duncan some very harsh talking, but that will be for later. It's been a while since the Eights had some troublemakers that wasn't Morse.

[Duncan]

Alright, I'm getting a tad pissed off at this. My character jumped to avoid a grenade blast. Sure, it was in a different room. But perhaps you'll remember this excerpt from the intro post from Turn 6 of the last mission:

Farzis grenade exploded with a ponderous thump that hit the marines with a flash of white, suffocating pressure and scorching heat. Pieces of shrapnel whirled past, rotating and screaming like microscopic banshees. For a few moments all the marines could hear was a high pitched shrill tone as their ears overloaded from the massive sound of a grenade exploding in a confined room.

Now, also consider that, in fact, the position was within the blast radius, based on this description from Nick's second post of Turn 4 of this mission:

Honeysett threw a grenade and it landed half way down the hall way. A flash and a heat wave followed instantly by a sound resembling a be hive rushing past in supersonic speed as a pieces of shrapnel rotating wildly flew past them.

With regards to the fact that Duncan "didn't go back in", IC, Duncan dove for cover, got up, looked into the kitchen as Farzi fired another grenade, then immediately told his concern to Quinn. Threads usually last for days/weeks, but, particularly in battle scenes, generally account for much shorter periods of time. What you're calling desertion is essentially changing position by 5-10 feet for 15-20 seconds. I didn't flee the scene.

Also, if I'm correct, what you're essentially arguing is that in a situation where a platoon of Marines was duped into gunning down as-of-yet unknown numbers of marines/secret servicemen, the one person who should suffer permanent consequences is the only marine who suspected something was amiss, because he's apparently uppity about taking a faceful of shrapnel.

Shenanigans, I say.

[Quinn]

Looking back over the posts, you are indeed correct. You only left the mess hall when I gave you a direct order to do so.

[Morse]

What our problem is is that he was ordered to hold the line with our squad, and left. He stayed in the other room, and for those of us in the kitchen, unable to see or hear what was happening in the other room, pretty much would consider it running away. - Its not moving to another position, when you go to talk to the C.O.

For my own part, just remember that 'Morse' is not the most reasonable or rational person in the world. He sees things how he wants to see them. But what he and Dirk both saw was Duncan leave the room, and not come back. It was never specified that he did come back, and he was still talking to Quinn from one post to the next. - And a by the numbers withdrawal doesn't include a guy who had already left.

I fully recognize that Morse probably shredded through a bunch of marines, and I had the same ideas that we all probably did in regards to the Lieutenants betrayal. I did made the conscious decision to ignore that however since Morse wouldn't assume such things. - I'm just working off what we saw, and that's all there is to it.