Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude.Omega] A Rising Storm

[Quantum Fire]

Time: August 1

Location: Kinshasa

Over the last few weeks, just as Shen had warned him, Einherjar got increasingly tense messages from Angola, the ambassador himself refused to actually meet with the king, instead sending messages. With someone of Enherjar's intelligence it was easy to see why, they were looking for reasons to be unhappy with the Congo in general and him in particular, what was more, Einherjar had reports from his spies that the Angolan goverment had hired the nova mercenary company lead by the woman known as the Blood Katana, a warrior just about as powerful as Einherjar.

It was still a couple of weeks, ironically it was looking like the first few days of October was the time period the enemy was planning to make their move, whatever it might be, so there was time for the Storm King to prepare, overtly, and subtlety as he desired... there was also time to see to a talk with the woman who he was asking to oversee Morri's issues, it had only just been about a week sense they had that talk.

There is no need to rush to end threads, I am not going to close them until your done with them, unless they seem to be abandoned (not posted in for several weeks)... but no new ones will be approved by me after this one until after I've started chapter 6.. if I decide a new thread is needed before then, I'll start it.

[Eingar]

"We've been preparing for this since the beginning." Ein told the room, looking around at faces both nova and baseline, warrior and civilian. Tavon was there, his general's stars bright on his shoulderboards, his face grave as he studied the dossier in front of him. Dr Anders, the chief scientific mind in the Congo's military, was likewise engrossed in several files flashing in sequence on her HUD eyepiece, but Ein's words and, more importantly, his presence reached them as it reached everyone else here. Esperance was jotting down some notes, other members of the Defense Ministry were gazing at the Angolan border on the holographic map table, studying the disposition of forces. Evo was there, youthful features tautly focused on taking everything in. Starseed, or at least one of her, was also present, as the Space Ministry had it's own part to play. And the Morrigan was there, red eyes glowing softly as she listened, her own thoughts inscrutable to those present.

"They'll likely attack civilian centers first." Einherjar noted calmly, authoritatively. "The first blow in this war will be a psychological one, at least from their perspective. They won't start by assassinating me, mainly because that will create a rallying martyr for the people, and point the entire angry will of the largest and best-armed nation in Africa straight at Angola." Ein's jovial smile hinted that he'd enjoy watching that, if only from the next world. "No, first they'll destroy people's confidence in me, wear them down through shock and atrocity, and then when we're begging for peace, they'll snick off the head."

"So what do we do to prevent this, majesty?" one of the human colonels asked. Tavon didn't even look up, but smiled at his dossier as he heard Einherjar's chuckle rumble through the room.

"We snick their damned heads off first." the Storm King answered. "General Lukumbwe?" An army 3-star straightened in his seat. "I want the home guard initiative activated. All central armories to distribute the reservists weapons and gear to the various smaller arsenal bunkers we've dotted around. All over the country, general. We're dealing with Elite warfare here, and that means warps and teleporters. I want nano-weaponry, quantum distortion gear, and our spatial disturbance recognition satellites up and running." This last item was addressed to Starseed with a nod, the young woman making a mental note. "Also, Minister, I want plans in place that will kill every satellite over this hemisphere within ten seconds of me giving the order. Ordinary eyes and commsats I just want temporarily blinded, but any weapons satellites or ground penetrating radar sats, I want dead." Starseed nodded silently, her mind already formulating ideas. Ein looked at the others. "That takes care of their eyes, ears and communications. We'll be using the nano-cloud transmitters Carla has come up with, so we won't need the satellites. These are hush-hush, folks. We'll distribute them closer to the time so the enemy doesn't know we have them."

"Next: Tavon and Evo." The head of Military Intelligence looked up, as did his counterpart in the Justice Ministry. "I want to know where the Angolan chiefs of staff are at all times. I want to know where their president and senior ministers are at all times. This Blood Katana woman is a hired sword, and so when we cut off her paycheck she'll lose interest. And even if she doesn't, her company will." Ein's cold blue eyes ran over both men's faces. "Make some plans, gentlemen. What I want Minister Star to do to the satellites, I want you two to do to the Angolan command structure. Like her you have unlimited resources, whatever you need. Tavon, make use of the dissident factions in Angola to gather intel, but plant some of our pros amongst them to filter out the babble." Tavon nodded. "Evo, your first and main responsibility is working with Tavon on this project - your shifting abilities will be handy, I imagine."

Ein paused and looked around. "The principal objective of warfare is to destroy your enemy's ability to wage it. That's the key to our plan - we make it look like we intend to hunker down and weather the storm, but as soon as they think they've got it all their way, we unleash our own storm. Codename for this operation is Jack Ketch." His lips drew back from his teeth in a grin that was far from pleasant. "Now, and bearing that all in mind, I'm opening the floor to whoever has something to put in."

[Evo]

Evo listened and formulated his thoughts for a moment from the instructions. He often worked with Tavon, his local border intelligence often dovetailing nicely with Military Intelligence, no trouble there. But really with Jack Ketch, there was something just missing from the equation, one issue on his section of setting up the dominoes and cross-hairs on the Angola core executives, some objective missing.

Then it occurred to him. It was common fact among the assembled coterie that Angola couldn't really dare front all this on their own. Obvious, but if Aeon was setting blandishments out... "Well, don't forget we do want to expose the real enemies against us." Evo commented, rubbing his chin. "I think we want to get some confessions from Angola's good leaders on who's backing them."

Aside from that comment, he was more than happy for action, and the spy game.

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri watched silently. The last week had seen a marked change in the woman; she seemed to be more centered than ever before. There was a greater sense of calm about her, and more assurance with less fear. She had sat silently throughout, but now she said, “The animals should be involved. They will be damaged by war, and no one will expect them to aid us. Officially, none here can do that.” She smiled, a shark’s grin that was very similar to Ein’s. “I will do that, coordinate that defense.”

Inside, she was worried. Morri didn’t like fighting; she had too much to lose here. Her life was finally getting into order and Angola was going to make trouble. It made her very unhappy, in a blood-flows sort of way. She’d met the wife of the President once; Morri had liked the older, quiet woman. She’d had very kind, gentle eyes. And if Morri ever found out that the woman had encouraged her husband to move against the Congo, Morri could put a blade between those kind eyes without hesitation.

[Maia]

It felt Good to be home. Training had been something Special beyond belief, and Justin smiled as he sat on the bed. "I'd go with you.." She shook her head. "Stay, you're still recovering from the culmination of the training My love. I'll return after I've spoken with my Father and Brother and sister, and then, then we can celebrate our return."

He smiled, laying down and going to sleep. She changed into the khaki shorts and cream buttondown she'd bought before, sandals on her feet. She left the room and surpised one of the housekeepers. "Lady Maia?!"

Maia nodded. "i've just gotten back. Can you tell me where I can find the King and Morrigan?" The housekeeper nodded, and Maia set out for the war council. She found Esperance nearby, obviously in charge while the King was in council. "I'd like to see my father, if possible, Miss Esperance." Maia was very different now, she wasn't as pale, and looked more calm and collected than she ever had before. "It can wait though if it's too much to ask."

Esperance nodded, and sent a message to him on his datapad.

"My King,

Your Daughter and her boyfriend have returned. She wishes to speak with you now I believe. Would you like for me to send her inside to you?

Esperance" normally she'd not disturb such an important event, but following Maia's departure, the King had notified them to alert him when she returned. She had said goodbye, but had not told anyone where she was going. Then she was gone.

[SalmonMax]

A young woman stepped briskly forward as Evo spoke, and her features briefly shimmered silver and liquid before reforming into the familiar face of Alexandra.

"My intel so far suggests that the ruler of Angola is keeping that information extremely close, even among his own staff and military," Alex said. "No doubt because doing so is a precondition of aid, but I suspect it runs deeper than that too. Unfortunately, suspicions are all I have for now, so I won't bother to elaborate. I have increased intelligence gathering assets on the border and within Angola and other neighboring countries. I've been tracking movements of known or suspected nova elites, and there has been an increase in traffic to Angola in the past two weeks. They are almost certainly gearing up to begin an offensive. Of course, on the global stage they need a pretext...which ties back to my suspicions for the extreme secrecy."

She gestured with a quick cutting-off motion and a hologram appeared next to her of a tall, thin humanoid thing with spidery, jointed legs and arms. At first glance it looked like high tech armor, but then one realized that a human being would never fit into those proportions.

"Over the past six weeks I've been overseeing the retooling of an industrial complex that, for now, shall remain nameless. Production has begun on these." She waved a hand at the hologram. "Combat robots meant to serve as light AFVs in jungle and urban theaters. Strong and tough enough to go up against median level nova threats, or threaten high level novas in squads. To maximize versatility they have no integral weaponry. Instead they're designed to use infantry weapons...anything from pistols to assault rifles to squad support weapons wielded as oversized rifles. Their hull resists small arms and armor-piercing gunfire, and they're tough enough to keep going after direct hits from tank main guns. They are designed for mobility. Top speed is eighty miles per hour, flank speed fifty. Long legs with splaying, telescoping feet let them move over soft ground with minimal slowing. They can climb trees, and up the sides of buildings."

The hologram zoomed in on the sleek, nearly featureless head of the thing as she walked around it.

"Electronics. It's equipped with phase-array cameras that see into near and deep infrared as well as visible. They have a speaker and microphone to allow them to communicate. A magnetic anomaly detector and radio frequency scanner are included, optimized for minesweeping and detecting remote detonated switches. All of that data is fed back via tightbeam microwave to one of the combat control centers operating in the theater. It's compiled with milspec GPS positioning and satellite maps to give a controlling soldier a graphic output of all robots under his command, along with a representation of what the robots detect. The controller uses that graphic interface to issue orders to the robots and control their actions."

She paused, and added, "The robots are capable of limited autonomous actions, but cannot engage a target without a direct order from the operator. Operator training started a week ago with the final version of the control software, and is going well. One operator can control anywhere from one to twenty robots, though we find the sweet spot is five to ten. Command signals can be bounced off satellites to keep control centers far from the front, and the tightbeam transmissions are almost impossible to jam or intercept."

"Questions?"

[Eingar]

"Send her in, please Esperance." Ein typed back as he watched the room's reactions to Alexandra. Some of the high-command, who'd been in on the retooling and training of the necessary operators, had already spent a deal of time with the brilliant nova. Others looked startled to see her here, but their puzzled expressions gave way to interest as they considered the strategic tool the hyper-genius had laid in their laps.

"Light enough to paradrop?" one general asked.

"Definitely. I recommend two to three 'chutes per unit, however, to minimise the possibility of the landings being too hard. Although," Alex went on, looking from face to face. "The units should be sturdy enough to withstand a one-chute drop. The equivalent speed would likely break human legs, but these units are sturdier than that."

"Faster deployment in an airdrop, then." grunted another officer approvingly.

"Will they be able to handle the LTC-8b laser cannon?" asked the same general, a 4-star.

"I believe so." Alex nodded as she called to mind the specs for the weapon in question. "It's a two-man crew-served weapon, so the capacitor pack can be worn without significant loss of performance. The Ultramachinegun is also usable by these units. The gyro-gimbal mounts of their arms are sufficiently shock-proofed, and as I said, they're strong. Frequent maintainence is a must under that sort of upper-envelope usage, however."

The door opened and Maia was shown in, the general staff all half-standing and nodding to the king's daughter.

"Welcome home, Maia." Ein said, coming around the table and placing a hand on her shoulder. "And welcome to the war room. Take a seat - we'll bring you up to speed on anything you missed at the end of the meeting. Go on with the questions, ladies and gentlemen." he said to the rest of the room with a sweep of his hand.

[Maia]

Maia nodded to Einherjar and Morri, and took one of the empty seats, eager to hear the discussion. She seemed totally calm, and moved with a purpose and control she couldn't manage before. There was so much more going on with her than before, and she radiated power even more than before, a quiet controled power, but still, More than she left with.

[z-The Morrigan]

Morri smiled at Maia; suddenly she rose and pressed a hand to the other woman's shoulder. Maia wasn't the only one who had changed. The wild feral was calmer than she had been in the past. That sense of frenetic energy was muted and she wasn't as jumpy. Maia smiled to see it; the long months she'd been gone had brought a change for the better in many ways. Leaning close to Maia, Morri brought Ein's daughter up to speed on what they had learned and planned.

[Quantum Fire]

I couldn't figure out any other way of doing this, at least in the manner I found satisfactory to explain the outcomes.

Congo Status Update

• All central armories to distribute the reservists weapons and gear to the various smaller arsenal bunkers we've dotted around. All over the country, general. We're dealing with Elite warfare here, and that means warps and teleporters. I want nano-weaponry, quantum distortion gear, and our spatial disturbance recognition satellites up and running - With this directive active, and a few of the quick response teleporter novas within Congo's own military, any elites teleporting or warping directly into Congo's military bases fail quickly, there are a few attempts, but they fail hard.
  
• Also, Minister, I want plans in place that will kill every satellite over this hemisphere within ten seconds of me giving the order. Ordinary eyes and commsats I just want temporarily blinded, but any weapons satellites or ground penetrating radar sats, I want dead. Once Einherjar gives the order, it goes off exactly as desired, however, it does have some diplomatic repercussions... several diplomatic dispatches protect the Jungle King's high handed actions with regards to their sat's in this hemisphere
  
• Make some plans, gentlemen. What I want Minister Star to do to the satellites, I want you two to do to the Angolan command structure. Like her you have unlimited resources, whatever you need. Tavon, make use of the dissident factions in Angola to gather intel, but plant some of our pros amongst them to filter out the babble. By using spies, dissident factions and tribes within Angola, Evo and Tavon are able to keep the regular forces of Angola off balance during the war, but the nova mercenary's and mercenary groups continue to operate within the nation, and investigation into funding indicates someone outside is paying these individuals, but exactly who is too well guarded, to many cut outs.
  
• Over the past six weeks I've been overseeing the retooling of an industrial complex that, for now, shall remain nameless. Production has begun on these." She waved a hand at the hologram. "Combat robots meant to serve as light AFVs in jungle and urban theaters. Strong and tough enough to go up against median level nova threats, or threaten high level novas in squads. To maximize versatility they have no integral weaponry. Instead they're designed to use infantry weapons...anything from pistols to assault rifles to squad support weapons wielded as oversized rifles. Their hull resists small arms and armor-piercing gunfire, and they're tough enough to keep going after direct hits from tank main guns. They are designed for mobility. Top speed is eighty miles per hour, flank speed fifty. Long legs with splaying, telescoping feet let them move over soft ground with minimal slowing. They can climb trees, and up the sides of buildings With the addition of Alex's robot forces, the controllers can take on even weaker nova's, allowing a heavy force muliplier for the Congo military machine
  
• ​Final Notes: With the various plans in motion, the only major problem for Congo are the Nova mercenaries, if the Congo can defeat or get them to surrender, the war is over... though how it ends is likely to have international repercussions... deal with the mercenaries, even the complete conquering and absorbing of Angola into the Jungle King's domain is possible, if he wants to go that far.
  
• - If I missed anything in terms of your actions, let me know.. but I believe this covers all of the various plans made.