St. Alban's Briefing

[benbarrow]

The crew of the Orlando had gathered in the kitchen. Ben was standing up next to a series of aerial photographs and blueprints, while all the rest was sitting down at the table, waiting for what Ben had to say.

Ben had been planning this carefully, and he had to make sure he wouldn't skip a detail. If things wouldn't go like the way he had planned, the chance of the Orlando crew being humped would be greater.

Ben scraped his throat and straightened his browncoat. It had been a long time since the last time he gave a briefing. Last briefing he gave was in the war, during the final days of Serenity Valley.

"Alright guys, listen up!" Ben said. "We'll be hitting St. Alban's in less than an hour, so here's the gameplan."

Ben hoped none of his crew would have a problem with stealing from the Alliance. Although if they did, that wouldn't matter anyway. Those guns were going to get stolen, no matter what. And Ben figured they'd change their mind after they heard what the job would pay.

"For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, we're gonna steal some weapons and equipment from the Alliance." Ben continued. "Weapons and equipment the Alliance took from the bodies of dead Independent soldiers during the war, stuff that doesn't really belong to them. So consider this job a retrieval mission. We're gonna take them and bring them back to Persephone where there is someone waiting to take them off our hands for a whole lot of platinum."

Ben thought it would be best not to tell them they were selling the guns to a crime boss. Some of the crew could have reservations about that.

"You all have a part in this, everyone needs to do his or her job. I'm serious people." Ben said. "If one of you screws up on this, the rest of us is gonna be mighty humped as well. But if you all keep your heads and do as I say, we'll clear out of here after the job's done without the Alliance ever knowing it was us who took the goods. So keep your wits about you, and your mind in the right place."

Ben then turned to the board with aerial photographs and blueprints and pointed at it.

"This is the place where the guns are at." Ben continued. "An old Alliance depot, sitting in the middle of other Alliance outposts. We're gonna need a way to get in without their radars picking us up, so Roxanne and Lily, that's you."

Ben looked at both Roxanne and Lily, and then pointed at a recent weather chart of St. Alban's.

"As you may or may not know, on St. Alban's it snows continuously. On some places even worse than another." Ben continued. "You Roxanne, are gonna find us a nice blizzard near the target's location and glide'er in. That's right: glide. We're gonna cut the power and main engine as soon as we've breached the atmosphere, and turn the power back on as soon as we're underneath the radar. If we do this right, they'll never see us coming. So Lily and Robin, you better keep your hand on that button or our landing is gonna be less than soft."

Ben knew this approach was risky, but he also knew they didn't have any choice. If they'd go and do an unauthorized landing with their ID signature screaming all the way down, it would be a matter of time before the Alliance would be onto them.

"After we're underneath the radar and with power restored, you're gonna have to maneuver us through those canyons to here, Roxanne." Ben said as he pointed out a valley next to the Alliance depot. "There's plenty of space to put her down, and we'll be pretty much concealed from view also. So the closer you can get us during the descend, the less distance you're gonna have to fly."

Ben took a pauze, taking a sip from the glass of Sun cola that stood in front of him on the table. For some reason giving briefings always gave him a dry mouth. During the war, and now still.

"After the boat's been put down, then the actual job can begin." Ben continued. "Robin and George, you guys are with me on this one."

Ben didn't like the idea of having Robin risk her life, but he had to make a choice. It was either Robin or Lily, and to Ben, Lily was too young to go on a mission like this. During the war Ben had kids under his command that were even younger than her, and living with their deaths was still difficult, even now. So if Ben could keep one more kid from dying, he would. And Robin had a more weathered look about her anyway. Ben had a feeling she'd handle herself quite well during the job. But still, he'd also keep her out of harm's way if he could. But that wasn't an option now.

"The three of us are going over this hill over here." Ben said as he pointed at the aerial photograph. "We're gonna approach the depot from the southeast without being seen. According to the intel, there should be two guards outside. One in front of the side door, and the other patrolling the perimeter. But with a hint of luck, and assuming the Alliance guards aren't too dedicated here, there shouldn't be any outside. Although I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you."

Ben knew that most Alliance guards on St. Alban's would be malcontent with their post here. Although whether or not that kept them from taking their orders more seriously remained to be seen.

"Robin and George, you guys are going to take position behind this rock over here so you can provide a base of fire on the door." Ben said as he pointed at a big rock that was visible on the photo. "As for me, I'll be going around and place the explosives on the radardish and the power generator. Then I'm gonna take up position behind this rock on the northwest next to the side door."

Ben turned to JD, who appeared to have been following Ben's every word, yet Ben saw in the young man's eyes that he was eagerly waiting for Ben to give him his job.

"Before we detonate the explosives, we need to pop the two guards outside, if they're there." Ben said. "So JD, that's where you come in. You're gonna be my eyes in the sky so you are to take up a sniper's position on the eastern ridge. Doing so will allow you to guide me past the guards if there are any, and to provide sniper fire. If there's guards outside, I need you to take them out before we blow the explosives. This is important, do not shoot them before the explosives are planted and I'm in position!"

Ben hoped JD got the message. If he would shoot the guard before the explosives were placed, the Alliance guards inside would get suspicious, and in the worst case, call for help.

"After the guards are dead, I'll blow the explosives leaving the depot on emergency power and unable to call for help." Ben continued. "The rest of the guards, according to my intel should be about twelve, will come running outside and that's when we start taking them out. Robin and George, when they come running out that door, you guys start shooting them, providing a base of fire. JD and I will make sure none of them will be able to run back inside. Once they're dealt with, things will need to go fast."

Ben took another drink from his Sun cola. Now came the tricky part.

"There's a chance not all of the guards will come running outside." Ben said. "So we're gonna need to get in there and clear the depot out. So Robin, George, once we've popped the guards that came running outside, we're gonna stack up at the door and get in there. So stay focused on the job. I'm serious. There's no telling how many are still left inside, but we have to take care of them if we want this job to be succesful. So do as I say, and you won't get hurt.""

Ben knew that close quarters combat was tricky. He had seen a lot of it during the Siege of Du-Khang. And a lot of his men got wounded clearing out houses and buildings. He sincerely hoped he could spare his crew from that.

"Roxanne, Lily, when we're inside, you're gonna maneuver the Orlando to this landing strip here." Ben said as he pointed at the landing strip on the aerial photo. "Park her as close to the hangar as you can, so we don't have to run too far when we're loading her up. And don't open the cargobay doors until I give you the all clear! When all is clear, we open the hangar doors and we start loading her up. The faster we work, the more time we'll have to load her up. And the more guns we take the more we get paid. So when the cargobay's full, start putting crates in the hallways, kitchen, where ever there's an open spot."

Ben scraped his throat again and crossed his arms.

"Once we're full up, we're outta there." He continued. "And if Lady Luck smiles upon us, we'll be able to do so without a tail."

Ben took his glass and drank the final bit of Sun cola from it. Now to see if everyone understood their job that lay before them.

"So thusfar the plan." Ben said. "Any questions?"

[parkesy]

JD was sat in his chair, leaning forward against the table, with his arms crossed.
He was listening intently to every word Ben had to say.

JD didn't care at all that they where stealing from the Alliance.
In fact he found it easier to steal from them, as they stole the freedom from people all around the verse.
But generally JD doesn't entirely care who he would be stealing from anyway. So long as it brings home the bacon.

As Ben was explaining to Robin and George, what their roles where he pointed to places on the photographs.
JD took a mental picture of the aerial view of the complex, and also the positions of the crew.
JD knew that just because he had a certain job to do himself, it is always a good idea to know what and where the rest of the team are going to be.

Then Ben turned to him.

"Before we detonate the explosives, we need to pop the two guards outside, if they're there." Ben said. "So JD, that's where you come in. You're gonna be my eyes in the sky so you are to take up a sniper's position on the eastern ridge. Doing so will allow you to guide me past the guards if there are any, and to provide sniper fire. If there's guards outside, I need you to take them out before we blow the explosives. This is important, do not shoot them before the explosives are planted and I'm in position!"

JD gave Ben a little nod to show that he understood, not saying a word in case it disrupted the flow of the briefing.

He was happy with his job. It gave him a chance to break out his old hunting rifle.
He loved that thing so much. It was the rifle that his dad used during the war, but JD modified it as far as the equipment he had would let him.
He looked at the photographs, to check the approx. distance from his position and the guards.
His rifle could do that distance with ease, now all he needed to know was the wind variables, and the hight of the ridge he will be on, so he will know how much to compensate for bullet delay.
But he will have to figure that out when it was time to do the job.

Ben continued with the briefing, and JD continued to listen to him.


"So thusfar the plan." Ben said. "Any questions?"

JD sat back in his chair, and raised his arms behind his head as he called out.
"When I've taken out the guards, and those who come outside, do you want me to stay put, or come down and help?" He asked, just to make sure.
If he didn't he would have to ask on the job, and that may distract Ben from what he would be doing.

[benbarrow]

"When I've taken out the guards, and those who come outside, do you want me to stay put, or come down and help?"

Ben nodded. A fourth man to go in would be appropriate, although JD would have to be careful when coming in.

"You make your way down and come in after us." Ben replied. "But make sure you warn us that you're on our six once we're inside, and watch out for any Alliance guards that we could've missed."

The big idea was to clear out every room in the depot, but there was always a chance of them not finding someone who was hidden. Things were going to have to go fast after all.

"Anyone else?" Ben asked.

[roxanne]

Roxanne was standing somewhere behind George and listening. She didn’t feel like sitting at this point-she was in a mood. Roxanna had unpacked Nathaniel’s things and though she did a rather good job of hiding how much she had been crying, she couldn’t hide that her good mood from yesterday was gone. What she did have now was a concerned look on her face. She had flown in rough weather before but a blizzard? Ben must either be really smart or really insane. She figured the part about the guns when he mentioned being able to go through to find herself a gun yesterday at dinner. Not like she knew all that much about the war so there wasn’t much for her to say. All she knew it was rather important in fighting for their freedom. And though the Independents had lost, they were still going strong. And proved a point with Miranda.

With a nod she didn’t really meet anyone’s eyes. Her voice was soft in between thought and being in one of her moods. ”Do you need both in there? Glidin’ with no power would be mighty helpful to have one up with me. I know enough about engines to communicate with them but from the bridge one may be able to help me a bit. Also. where I’m glidin’ in a storm I need to concentrate on that.” She wasn’t trying to complain but it would but it would be a lot of help to her. While she was sure that Ben could do a well enough job, he also had to focus on the fact that everything was going well. Plus, with the power off she had to watch everything around her a bit more.

Other then that, until they were called it was going to be rather boring unless someone came along. But during a blizzard, someone would have to be insane to come along. With the palms of her hands she rubbed at her eyes in thought. This shouldn’t be a problem. It all depended on the severity of the blizzard really. ”You checked the latest weather report? I want to know the severity of this blizzard before I put this ship through it with no power.” Her voice was still soft and undemanding. This was the concern of not only the ship but the people inside. With no power it was going to be a lot rougher then normal. Plus it helped her organize a game plan in her mind.

Aside from those two things she really had no questions. In her mind she had different scenarios going through her mind as she stared at the floor. It’s only if it was an extreme blizzard that it’d be bad-absolutely no visibility, wind and ice combination. But if it wasn’t that bad they should be fine. Then there was something that popped into her mind. ”Any guns going to be here in case something goes awry and us two get humped? Not saying we won‘t be able to get out, but just in case if there‘s some iron somewhere I‘d feel a bit better.” If they were fast enough they could get out but this was the absolute worst case scenario. Roxanne wanted all bases covered.

[benbarrow]

”You checked the latest weather report? I want to know the severity of this blizzard before I put this ship through it with no power.”

"No." Ben replied. "And you can't make contact with the St. Alban's weather station either. If you do they'll know we're there and the plan is not to be noticed."

Ben knew Roxanne had a point though. But he also knew that making contact with the weather station would mean immediate detection. And the last thing they needed was an Alliance tail preventing them to take the guns.

"As for weapons being onboard..." Ben continued. "Unless you've brought your own, there won't be any onboard since we're gonna need all the firepower we can get to break into the depot. So you're just gonna have to make sure nobody sees us coming and keep the cargobay doors locked tight afterwards."

Ben hated to leave the Roxanne and Lily unarmed on the ship, but if everything went well they wouldn't need any guns.

"Don't worry about it." Ben said in an attempt to reassure Roxanne. "In the meantime, just keep monitoring the comms. And also, keep a close eye on our Companion friend. We don't want her warning her friends, now do we?"

Ben looked at Lily and Robin. Roxanne had asked to have one of them in the cockpit with her, and Ben quickly thought on who to send. Robin seemed to know what she was doing, but Lily really loved the engine room and almost seemed to have a bond with it.

"Robin, you'll be joining Roxanne in the cockpit." Ben ordered. "Whatever she needs, even if it's a backrub, you give her."

Of course Ben didn't expect Robin to literally give Roxanne a backrub, or that she would even ask for one. But he knew that Roxanne was about to be under a whole lot of pressure flying the Orlando through the blizzard without the power on, and perhaps even more while maneuvering the Orlando through the canyons.

Ben leaned over on the table and looked at the rest of the crew.

"Anyone else?"

[georgewest]

West, had been silently going over the plan in his mind during the briefing. "I just want to point out that I think the plan sounds completely insane... However, those kinds of plans always seem to work best." He paused for a second thinking about his statement.

"So my question is about the more sane part. What kinds of guns will we be having as we go in and should we bring grenades?" George knew the framing of the question sounded strange but he wanted to make it clear that the beginning of the plan was the insane part that made sense and the second part (the actual attack) seemed to make too much sense.

ooc: sorry for the short post, nothing much left for George to say

[benbarrow]

Ben laughed as George pointed out that the plan was insane. He was right, the plan was insane. But as George also stated, insane usually worked best because the enemy wouldn't expect someone to be so bold.

"You're right George." Ben said. "But like in the war, insane's all we got. As for the guns, I managed to get my hands on a couple of submachineguns and a couple of flashbangs back on Persephone. We're using flashbangs only while we clear out the depot. It would be even more crazy to use live grenades in an arms depot and I don't want the place to go boom while we're still inside."

Of course the arms depot had to be destroyed after they were done to wipe out their tracks, but Ben still had no idea on how to tell his crew that if there were any Alliance survivors, they had to be eliminated as well. After all, there couldn't be any witnesses.

"So if there's no more questions, we can get this show on the road."

[OOC: Don't worry about being short Aaron. That's to be expected in a Q&A thread like this. Oh, and if there really aren't any questions anymore for Ben, please someone confirm this to him so he can dismiss the meeting. ]

[havenoplace]

Robin ran the plan over and over in her head, making sure she remembered it all. She knew it would be an important job and felt quite happy that she'd been entrusted with two jobs. Of course, she was the 'handy gal' to this crew now and part-time mechanic. From the time she'd spent on the ship she could already see how precious Lily was to the crew. She had no plans of taking that from her and had no problem playing second fiddle, as it were.

She sat up in her chair to address her captain, "So, I'm in the cockpit with Roxanne on backrub duty, moral support, pep talks.. whatever's needed. Then I'm covering the door with George from there," she pointed to the rock on the map, "right?.. I got no issue with that, just clarifying.." She half-smiled.

She really had no issue with taking back what's wrongfully taken, especially from Purple-bellies. For all she knew her uncle's gun was in there. Good old Uncle Fred who used to tell her stories about Earth that was before bed. Who always bought her Ice Planets when they went to the fair. Who died saving her father in the war. If his weaponry was in there, stolen as he bled, then she would shoot however many Alliance that was necessary.

[benbarrow]

"That's right." Ben answered. "Simple as that."

Ben was glad everyone seemed to understand the plan, and that all were more than willing to participate. At least no one had reservations about robberies, so that could also be useful for the future. Meant they could go on bigger jobs, and don't spent every day hauling cargo or ferrying people.

The big idea was to keep the Orlando flying, but Ben didn't want the kinda life where they had to scrape the money together just to pay for fuel. That's why he'd go on dangerous jobs like this. And the risk was well worth the pay. The pay they were getting for the guns could keep the Orlando flying for six months at least, and the crew's life could be quite comfortable as well, with a little extra to have here and there on the side.

"Well, let's get to it." Ben said. "JD, Robin, make sure everything in the cargohold is secure. George, same goes for you in the medbay. The rest of you return to your stations and prepare yourself. The ride in is gonna get real bumpy."

[parkesy]

"JD, Robin, make sure everything in the cargohold is secure...."

JD gave Ben a nod, as he slid his chair back to stand up.
"You comin'?" he asked Robin as he walked behind her, on his way to the door.

He was getting exited about this job. It had been a while since he'd had a role to do on a job.
Last time it was him and John, his friend since childhood. They decided to play a little prank on a village about thirty miles away from home.
The trek was long, but worth it to see the panic that they had caused, when everybody realized that the statuette's of their past chief was missing.

JD quickly span around and looked at Ben, "By the way Ben, Where's my room? I got my bag in the cargo hold, should put that somewhere safe.", after all he didn't want that flying around the place, and a pin falling out of a grenade or something.

[benbarrow]

"You mean you haven't already?" Ben said.

As far as Ben knew, the bunks in the hallway to the bridge weren't full up yet, so it would be best if JD were to pick a bunk there. He hadn't had the time yet to check where everybody was sleeping, since he had put his attention to the job ever since they left Persephone.

"Well check if there's a bunk free in the corridor to the bridge." Ben answered. "If not, take one of the passenger dorms. Don't think we'll be taking on any passengers anytime soon. But do it after you made sure everything's secure. Now get to it."

Ben then took the plans and the schematics of the board and rolled them up neatly. He then left for his bunk, to make sure the plans were secure so they could be destroyed after the job was over, so there wouldn't be any evidence against the Orlando crew should they ever have an unexpected visit from the Alliance.

[parkesy]

"You mean you haven't already?"

JD shook his head. He felt a little bit silly now, but he thought he should ask before just claiming a bunk.
He would have done earlier, but he was sat in the cargo hold, checking that he had bought everything that he needed.
It was a bit late if he hadn't, but he checked anyway.

"Well check if there's a bunk free in the corridor to the bridge." Ben answered. "If not, take one of the passenger dorms. Don't think we'll be taking on any passengers anytime soon. But do it after you made sure everything's secure. Now get to it."

"Right you are!" he said, with a little smile as he turn again to walk through the door, giving Robin a quick glance, as if to say 'Let's get to it'

[havenoplace]

Everything seemed to be going smoothly so far, she just hoped the job ran as easily. Taking a quick glance at the members of her new crew, she was pretty confident in it's success.

JD snapped her out of her thoughts, "You comin'?"

She stood up, listening to them talk about the sleeping arrangements. She never even thought to ask. She'd grab a bed after they done their check, like Ben said.

"I'm with ya," she followed JD out to head down to the cargohold.

[roxanne]

”Ok won’t alert the feds.” Roxanne would have to keep close to the cockpit for this job. And she needed Lily to stay in the engine room. As for everything else, she’d keep the com on. As she let the comment about Kyrin pass over, she shrugged her shoulders. Something told her that there was nothing wrong with Kyrin. Why would a companion willing announce herself to the crew and ask for passage if she was a spy? It would be too easy.

Roxanne tried to think of a way to check the weather without contacting the feds while she nodded her head in understanding. She let each of the things that Ben and Robin say pass over her. On a normal day she would have made a comment. Right now, though, she wouldn’t. There were no other questions from her to she moved as close to the doorway as possible. There was a way for her to check without alerting them she figured but it was risky. She let it run over in her head.

Roxanne could tap into the local radio feeds sent to the towns people. If she could use their radio frequencies to tap into that then she might be able to catch something. It was very risky, but might be able to be down. She’d have to see if she’d be able to do it with this ship.

As everyone started to depart, she silently made her way to the cockpit.