Prestar

Serena watches the fight with the NERV-Denver team and talks at the screen. "Damnit, Denver-Ops, you damn well should have trained them better than that. I damn well KNOW I trained you better than that, and the Training Team was rather thorough. Even with two weeks as a team, there are protocols. Mind you, I'm about to ignore over half of them, but my team is a separate issue...Clearly they need to mix up their simulation opponents." Serena proceeds to watch in clearly mounting disgruntlement as the three Pilots manage to pull a win out of their asses. She takes off her mirrorshades, sets them close by, and double facepalms for several moments as her Pilots comment, before putting her mirrorshades back on with a sigh. "We are training hard to avoid that." Serena points to Zelda. "Ladies and Gentleman, meet your Team Lead. Team Lead, meet your Team. Their successes are your successes, your failures are their failures. So, Zelda, if you were the Operations Director for NERV-Denver, what would you have done to fight Jehoel using the Team we just saw? And how would you fight Jehoel using our team, including yourself? Keep in mind, Jehoel mission-kills all Non-AT Field-generating units with a sizeable radius of itself, thus only Units that generate an AT Field or Remote Operable Equipment may be used, so the Turret Array is fair game, as is pre-positioning Field Artillery at a distance to act like a Turret Array. The rest of you, same two questions. And Anya, yes, NERV-London has an Absolute Territory Bait System like all NERV Bases. Part of why living and working here earns Danger Pay and Combat Pay on top of a good wage. Questions?" Serena looks at each of her Pilots, and cocks an eyebrow, clearly interested in what their answers are going to be. Captain Serena Silver Wounds: 13/13 Ego Barrier: 35/35 Fate Points: 2/3 Fatigue: 0 Insanity Points: 0

I have no objections to this plan of attack. You will all have Markerlight buff to everyone thanks to Power 3 Firefly VTOLs (and if it helps us at all, we will also have a live "MAGI"/Taravangian Uplink thanks to Power 2 Firefly VTOLs). Just remember to try and communicate in combat.

All good. It happens to all GM with actual lives going. Certainly happened to me more than once.

Well, that is a summary of what I got from the GM as framed from how Silver understands it.

Serena looks at Mikhail as she answers his questions. "I'm not read on the finer details, but the basics are that fifteen Security Branch were escorting Tsukiko in a ground convoy from the airport. New Age attacks in large numbers, very much outnumbering Tsukiko and the Security Branch personnel, however Security Branch was holding their own due to the fact that New Age, while decently-armed apparently, are mostly amateurs, inflicting minimal losses on Security Branch. During this firefight, Security--trained to be rather observant in all situations--notices what I believe was generally termed as 'weird f*cking shit' in secure radio traffic going on with Kodiak Malk, at which point Security pulls Tsukiko back from the firefight as much as possible and screams harder for serious backup over their encrypted radios. Malk eventually retreats, most of his fanatical followers being dead either due to lethal Security's shots or having committed suicide when disabled by Security's fire. Apparently, Malk didn't think magic bushido hands would work versus pissed off NERV Security. They're currently looking for him hard, and Kirsty is most probably following every lead, even the smallest. This is not the time to be doing anything suspicious. Wait a few days, if possible, to let NERV settle down. Questions? I'm liking that you all are critically thinking." Captain Serena Silver Wounds: 13/13 Ego Barrier: 35/35 Fate Points: 2/3 Fatigue: 0 Insanity Points: 0

Serena smiles tightly at Anya's questions. "I said I might have trained him, and on comparing the face and name to my mental files, I have not trained him, so I have nothing to add, other than that Estonian Special Operations were professional, competent, and in the second tier of professional SpecOps like most of Eastern Europe, although the winner there was the Polish GROM. The first tier are US Delta, SEAL Team Six, other Tier One operators, the UK's SAS and SBS, the French GIGN, Germany's GSG-Nine, Australia's ASAS and associated Australian SpecOps units...well, you get the idea. Third tier being the Russian Spetznaz, who for all their hype, frequently had mixed quality and often couldn't deliver, along with most of Africa, India, Iran, and Pakistan. The Koreas varied by unit, as did most of the southeast pacific. If you see this guy, scream for Security, me, and run for hard cover." Serena turns to Mikhail. "That's being looked into, which is intel-speak for 'not a frakking clue at the moment but we're looking real hard'. Other questions?" Captain Serena Silver Wounds: 13/13 Ego Barrier: 35/35 Fate Points: 2/3 Fatigue: 0 Insanity Points: 0

Once Mikhail gets back to the apartment, Serena greets him with her mirrorshades off, sweeps him for surveillance devices, then sits him next to Anya and Emiko and hands him a copy of Report 22092023AB Serena then looks Mikhail in the eyes as the two girls process. "Okay, bottom line, bad guys that tried to abduct the original fourth team member are called the The New Age, they have a guy by the name of Kodiak Malk, who has a background in Estonian Special Operations and can use a low-powered personal-scale Absolute Territory Field to stop or deflect bullets. They were responsible for the attack on Tsukiko, and appear to worship the Entities. Cultists suck bollocks, especially stupid ones. At least smart ones you can use PsyOps on. Anyway, read the report and ask me your questions. Independent thinking will likely reveal avenues of investigation better then me feeding you all my biases." Serena, her mirrorshades still off, although her headscarf is still on, revealing her silver eyes, as she resumes patiently waiting. Captain Serena Silver Wounds: 13/13 Ego Barrier: 35/35 Fate Points: 2/3 Fatigue: 0 Insanity Points: 0

Okay, so am I buying 2 more sets of Type C Equipment? (Or borrowing them when we run out of Surplus.)

Serena simply raises an eyebrow as she quickly reads the report as she listens to Kirsty. "That's going to be a bugger and a half. At least his AT Field is permeable with enough firepower. I'll have to think back and see if I ever trained this Kodiak Malk, my Delta Team did at least one rotation pre-Androsk in Estonia training up the ESO, I cannot remember at the moment if I ever trained this guy, though. I'll think on it, Kirsty, and get back to you one way or another on whether I have anything at all on this guy in my head. That was a long time and a different life ago. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll alert the Pilots of this threat." Serena finishes, politely, with the briefing, thanks Kirsty for her time, and goes on her way, carrying a copy of the report in a manilla folder on a clipboard behind some other paperwork of Serena's. Once Serena gets back to the apartment, she again sweeps it for surveillance devices, then makes four copies of Report 22092023AB using her office scanner/printer, sits down Anya and Emiko, and hands them two of the copies of Report 22092023AB. Before she speaks to the two Pilots still in the Apartments, Serena secure-texts (bless NERV Phones) Zelda. *Zelda, when you get back into the apartment, come find me immediately, we need to talk about things very important in reference to security and our original fourth.* Serena then secure-texts Mikhail. *Mikhail, when you get back into the apartment, immediately come find me, we need to talk about some high priority security issues relating to why you are on our team.* Serena then looks up as she puts away her phone. "Okay, bottom line, bad guys that tried to abduct your original fourth teammate are called the The New Age, they have a guy by the name of Kodiak Malk--who I may or may not have trained at one point as Estonian Special Operations when I was with US Army Delta--who can use a low-powered personal-scale Absolute Territory Field to stop or deflect bullets. They were responsible for the attack on Tsukiko, and appear to worship the Entities. I hate cultists, especially stupid ones. At least smart ones you can use PsyOps on. Anyway, read the report and ask me your questions. Independent thinking will likely reveal avenues of investigation better then me feeding you all my biases." Serena takes off her mirrorshades, although she leaves her headscarf on, revealing her silver eyes, as she patiently waits. Captain Serena Silver Wounds: 13/13 Ego Barrier: 35/35 Fate Points: 2/3 Fatigue: 0 Insanity Points: 0