1. Ok, so the current Omega roster has six people. We're going up to seven with this chapter.
2. Mostly some exposition, and a bit of mission planning.
3. Re: mission planning... I don't think that section sounds... overly technical, but I could be misreading that, so if it's a problem, I'll try and clear things up. There -is- a bit of... jargon, I guess, and some "tactical" discussion. (Shrug)
4. Also, I finally managed to come up with a whole unit roster for the other supporting units (Alpha, Delta, etc.). I did it mainly for my own purposes so that I can keep track of what's going on. It'd probably bore any other human being to tears, though, so I suppose I should just pretend I never mentioned it.
5. I always like to intersperse some silliness into these things. There's not really much room for it in this kind of piece, but I managed to put a little in.
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“Sorry to bother you, Major, but I think there’s someone over here that you should meet.”
Falynn looked curiously up at Delta Leader. She set her meal aside and stood up, falling in behind Delta One. “Lead the way, Anomen.”
…
“Hang tight, Aric. The evac transports will be here soon; you’re gonna be okay…”
“What happened?” Falynn whispered to her escort.
“Survivors from the orbital station. They managed to flee in an escape pod which crashed a short distance away from our landing zone. We found them and brought them here. Anyway… Major Falynn Llyr, this is Ensign Nalia de’Arnisse… ConFleet.”
Nalia flipped off a crisp salute, the kind only rookies seemed to use. “Major.”
“Ensign.”
“So… gimme the story,” Lynn said without preamble.
The Navy ensign shrugged. “Nothing much to tell, ma’am. Dominion came out of the jump point kicking. We scrambled fighters, shot back with the station’s guns… didn’t do us all that much good. They overran us in minutes. The crew initiated Cole Protocol, broke for the escape pods and ditched. Most of the pods landed close together… bad idea, if you ask me. I used what little fuel we had to try and scoot us in another direction; figured our chances would be better if we split off from the main group. You know, give them more places to look, make it harder for the orcs to find us?”
Falynn nodded for Nalia to continue.
“Anyway, I guess I’m just a lousy pilot. Think I clipped a mountain on the way in; threw us into a roll. I tried to recover… couldn’t… we hit pretty hard.” She sighed. “I seem to be mostly ok, I guess… few bumps and bruises, but Aric over there got pretty banged up. The Delta medics got him stable,” she nodded graciously at Delta Leader, “but he could really use a full hospital, and soon.”
“We’re working on it, Ensign. Triple-A defense is still pretty thick, so any birds we do bring in will have a tough time of it.”
“That’s… about what I figured...” Nalia trailed off, and looked away momentarily, then turned her gaze back. “You’re… going after that Dominion C&C base around here, aren’t you?” she asked, looking the major straight in the eye.
Falynn didn’t respond.
“It’s just a guess. After we got on the ground, I began tinkering with the pod’s comm systems. Started picking up on a lot of Dominion flash traffic; at first, I was just looking for any indication that they knew where we’d crashed, but I started getting all kinds of encrypted messages; real high level stuff. I figured that there had to be something major in the area.”
“Go on…”
Nalia shrugged. “Well… I kept digging. Most of it was pretty routine, reports from patrols, basic force coordination, that sort of thing. The kicker is that there was just so much of it… anyway… I think I found something interesting.”
“What would that be?”
“The Dominion’s landed a fair-sized chunk of assets on Alcor since their arrival in system, but they’re still stretched kinda thin. The C&C base they’ve set up isn’t heavily defended or fortified. From the transmissions I intercepted, the base is relying mostly on an armor platoon for defense, and it’s not even on station all of the time. Best guess, it’s being used as a Quick Reaction Force, putting out brush fires all over the place.”
“Composition?”
“Probably about four heavy tanks, maybe a company of dismounted infantry…”
Falynn scratched the back of her neck. “Sounds like the group we ran into on our patrol a couple of hours back. If they’re still in the area…”
“Major? Are you seriously planning on engaging a Dominion armor platoon?” Anomen Delryn asked, almost incredulously. The man was no stranger to lousy odds; he often felt the need to prove himself against such numerical superiority, in fact, but Falynn’s proposition was still a little… daring.
“If we can isolate and eliminate them, it’ll give us a clear shot to that C&C base.”
“Risky,” sounded a voice from off to Falynn’s left.
“You know our motto, Jaheira. Audaces fortuna juvat.”
Lieutenant Marael rolled her eyes. “ ‘Fortune favors the bold.’ I’m aware.”
“If we can get Alpha on direct support and Delta and Epsilon to harass the flanks, then bring the Thirty Corps vehicles into the fray afterwards, we might just stand a chance. It’s a gamble, but I think we can pull it off. I think we ought to try and make a go of it.”
“Um… one more thing, Major?”
“What’s up, Ensign?”
“I’d… uh… I’d like to come with you, if I could.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Nalia sighed. “It’s just… the Dominion’s… here… in Confed space… and… and I want to do something about it. I know I’m not a combat trooper, but there has to be something I can do besides sit around behind a security detail and wait for the Fleet to come pick me up.”
“Well, I understand that, but this isn’t exactly going to be a picnic...”
“I know, but…”
Llyr held up a hand to preempt any further argument. “I just want to be perfectly clear that you understand what you’re asking me. I want you to know exactly what you’d be getting into.”
“I’d like to try.”
Falynn and Jaheira traded glances.
“Excuse us…” Falynn said to the navy officer. She turned and walked off a short distance, Jaheira following behind. “Well? What do you think?” one asked the other, once they were safely out of earshot.
“You don’t want to know what I think.”
Lynn sighed. “Yes, Jaheira, I do.”
“I think… I think that she is… inexperienced… and that inexperience may be an overall liability to the unit. Her interception of the Dominion transmissions suggests she has extensive knowledge, perhaps we could even call it ‘expertise’, in that field. But as useful as that may be, it may not be useful enough in the situations we will likely encounter.”
“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”
Jaheira smirked in amusement. “But, she seems committed… she wants to do something… anything. I cannot fault her for that.”
“I can’t, either.”
“If she’s lucky, she’ll live through the next few days… and if she wishes to continue living, she -will- need combat experience. It’s possible she might be safer with us, even if we aren’t necessarily safer with -her- along.”
Falynn nodded, understanding the point being made. “So? Recommendation?”
Another smirk. “We trade Imoen for her.”
Lynn rolled her eyes and managed a small grin. “No.”
“Had to try.”
“All right… I guess that settles that.” The two Confed officers headed back over to where Nalia was once again hovering protectively over her wounded comrade. The young ensign looked up as the other two approached, clearly looking expectant.
“Ok… if this is what you want, then you can come along. Just uh… try not to get us all killed…” said Falynn, only half-jokingly.
…
“So?” Imoen began, “What do -you- do?”
“I beg your pardon, Lieutenant?”
“Simple question. What do you -do-? Lynn goes and bosses folks around. I sneak into places and blow stuff up… Jaheira’s the one who reattaches any severed limbs. Jan can build you a starship with a socket wrench and a pile of spare parts. Minsc has the big gun, and Valygar over there does all the brooding. What do -you- do?”
Despite Imoen’s disclaimer, the question wasn’t all that terribly simple. Ensign Nalia de’Arnisse wasn’t sure she even knew where to begin, so she went with the first thoughts that came to mind. “Wellllll… I speak Dwarven, High Elven, Low Elven, Drow, Orc and Gnoll. I can get by in Ogre and a little bit of Duergar. And I know exactly two phrases in Illithid – first one is ‘Phantastisch fuer einen Party!’ and the second is “Kannst du mein Kasebrot halten? Ich bin von Blitz getroffen!”
Imoen’s brow creased. “Translation?”
“First one’s roughly ‘Fantastic for a party!’ Second is ‘Can you hold my cheese-bread? I’ve been struck by lightning.’”
The Lieutenant grinned broadly. “I think you’ll fit right in.”
