Better Safe Than Sorry - Evadne Landfall Sim

[xDameon Ropalski]

Dameon smiled, reclining on a bench, in the Holodeck Ready Room. He looked around the empty halls, and pursed his lips in thought, pondering the information scrolling across his PADD. He slowly programmed in the details of the simulation - The area, objective information, enemy strength and location, their headquarters, and security bases. He loaded in their technology, and equipment... Erring on the side of difficulty.

He programmed weather conditions, gravity, temperature and humidity.

Finally, he set the minutae of the simulation, and inspected the finished product for glitches and computation difficulties, even running a practice sim ten times, to ensure fluidness of simulation.

He checked his timepiece thoughtfully, and looked up at the door, waiting to see who would come through first.

Tag: Yadira, Mack, Richards, Ellerton.

[xMajor 'Rejk' Sulivaa]

Major 'Rejk' Sulivaa strode into the Holodeck's atrium, wearing a dark leather jacket, over a customized Starfleet uniform, complete with special gloves that ventilated his palms around the stick.

Just below his dark sunglasses, he wore a casually confident smirk. "Hello, Dameon. Keeping yourself alive and intact, I hope?"

He laughed, and stepped up, inspecting the simulation Dameon had been preparing. "Jeez... Where's mine? I hope you don't intend me to beat feet with the groundhuggers. I'm sorry, but I don't do marathons under fire."

Tag: Dameon, Any

[xPrivate Tara Mack]

Tara had taken a shower, changed into a tank and briefs, and hopped into bed. She smiled contentedly, pulling the warm cover over her. Just as her head hit the pillow, the message came through.

//"All Marines are to report to the Holodeck ASAP for a training drill. Urban warfare. Weapons are Phaser Rifles, unless otherwise dictated. Dameon Rapolski will be presiding over this simulation."//

She pulled the covers over her head and a very fitting curse managed to still be decipherable through the muffled effect of the fabric. Flinging back the covers, she hopped out of her bunk, dropping down from the top in one leap. There was only one other marine in the room and he was already donning his gear. "Tough break, Mack," he said.

"Hm," Tara mumbled, her head in her locker as she pulled out her boots. "Did that say Rapolski?"

"...'fraid so," the other Marine laughed. He had already heard about Tara's interactions with the man. "I've got your back, don't worry."

Tara pulled her head out of the locker and grinned, "it is he who should be worried, Kent," she said.

Minutes later, Tara and Kent arrived at the Holodeck along with several other Marines. The door to the Holodeck Ready Room was open (must be a new addition), and Tara could see Dameon talking with another man.

"I hope you don't intend me to beat feet with the groundhuggers. I'm sorry, but I don't do marathons under fire."

Tara cleared her throat.

Tag Any

[xDameon Ropalski]

He laughed, and slapped 'Rejk' on the shoulder, gesturing to the Marines. "These are your cargo, Sulivaa. Boys and girls," he called out, eyes panning the Marines, "This is Major 'Rejk' Sulivva, Nike CAG. He's going to be carrying your asses to pavement in heavily armed and armored style, with plush seats and blast shielding."

"Marines! Your simulation is going to span an area two square miles. Two long, one wide, from LZ to the local government headquarters. There are PADDs," he gestured to several, "With overhead maps of the city. You may take these into the holo with you. Mack! Pick four, and go into Holo one. Yadira! Pick four, Holo two. Heath! Pick four and go into three. Colonel? Select four, and head into Holosuite four. The PADDs also list objectives, and basic intel. Take five to make yourselves familiar, and then head in."

" 'Rejk'," he began, addressing the pilot, "Get into suite five and plug in.Your job, is to get us to one of the three LZ's near the edges of the city, and then pick us up from the designated extraction point. Under your command are three medium fighters. Their pilots are already in suite five."

He eyed the Marines intently. "Treat this like it's real! If you get shot, you do ten laps after the sim. If you die, or are captured, you run twenty. You've got a lot of fancy footwork to do, Marines, but it's still the same old dance. Dismissed!"

He smirked to himself, and glanced back at the Holosuite technician. "Keep me apprised of the various groups, any casualties they take, and whenever they manage an objective. Record all biosigns, and forward the information to my console in Cargo One."

"Let's see how they run," he mused, quietly, to himself.

Tag: Marines!

[xMajor 'Rejk' Sulivaa]

The Major took an absentminded bow as his eyes scanned the PADD. Local weather conditions, city and street maps, major buildings, and the listed LZ's and EP's; He inspected the numbers and armaments of the 'enemy', - He frowned at the thought - and began to contemplate the dispersion of his fliers.

Finally, he whistled, thoughtfully. "Jeez... Ropalski? I don't know if she can handle this kinda thing."

He was not, however, amused by the answer.

'Neither are we.' Dameon smiled. 'We have absolute confidence in your abilities, Major.'

The career flier swore silently as he moved off to Holosuite five to begin his simulation.



It didn't take long to discern that he had an issue. His fliers worked well as a team - But only half of one. They were far too accustomed to flying as a six-man squadron, and their movements refleced it. Despite the two hours they'd already had in the simulators, they still seemed to have issues with staying close to the AI-piloted transport, which was more sluggish, and less heavily armed than Rejk's craft. The boys seemed far too inclined to wander off chasing tails, something usually compensated for by the absent half of their fighter squadron.

He winced visibly. He'd been forced to call off three landings in a row, instead having to drop 'his' cargo off at LZ4, a fair distance outside of the city.

The grief and annoyance was visible in his features.

He was just glad the Marines couldn't see this.

Tag: Any

[xPrivate Tara Mack]

"This is Major 'Rejk' Sulivva, Nike CAG. He's going to be carrying your asses to pavement in heavily armed and armored style, with plush seats and blast shielding."

"Brass always gets the easy jobs," Tara thought. She frowned, trying to make sense of Ropalski's instructions. They were being split into groups of five in separate holosuites? She was surprised when Ropalski told her to pick four others. She knew who she would take, but that option was whisked away as Heath was told to pick his own team. Tara quickly picked her four, including Kent, who pumped his fist when she called his name.

"Playing favorites, Kent," she asked him as they all grabbed their phaser rifles and headed to Holosuite One. He just laughed.

As the doors closed them into the suite, Tara tensed. There was a momentary pause, probably programmed in just to add to the drama, and then they found themselves on the ground just outside of the small ship. With signals that came second nature, she gestured the others to their positions and they all moved silently across the landscape. They quickly discovered that the rocks were smooth as glass and not easily traversed. There was hardly any cover as they made their way to the edge of the town. However, unless the aliens could climb glass, they wouldn't be hiding up in the hills either.

"Dangerous assumption," she corrected herself and she began surveying the hills. "Two o'clock," she hissed as her eyes detected movement behind a rocky outcrop. A scaled creature hopped out. Shaking her head, she grinned, "oldest trick in the book," she said. Crawling low to the ground and pulling herself over the slippery rocks, she smiled when she saw the Evadnian before he saw her. One burst from her rifle and the creature fell.

The others were finding their own targets to shoot and Tara rejoined them as she quickly looked at the PADD. "Skirt around this way," she said, pointing with her rifle, "there are fewer holes for them to hide.

Tag Any

[Major Heath Ellerton]

Heath, who'd been leaning casually against the wall as the others arrived, straightened the moment the orders were given. Damn, but he'd wanted to take Tara with him into battle. He'd seen her shooting skills on the range and wanted to watch her under fire.

Nodding off to four of the others that he knew and wanted to train with, Heath grabbed the PADDs and headed into his own holosuite. It wasn't moments after the doors closed that the room went black and then a dim, eerie light seemed to glow on the horizon.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road. James, over here." Heath motioned to one of the men who'd joined the marines from a battalion he'd once worked with. It had been years since the two had worked together, but Heath was looking forward to the challenge.

He tossed one of the PADDs to his pal and quickly scanned the contents.

"Alright, team, let's get a move on." Heath motioned with his arm for the others to follow him. He hadn't gotten far, before he stopped, tensed, and angled in a different direction.

"4'o clock," he spoke to his team and watched as all eyes and guns turned to face the threat. The bushes shook. Easy. He thought with a grin, but that was before movement seemed to be coming from all directions.

"Shit. We're surrounded team. Back it in." Together the five positioned themselves so they were standing back to back. With guns raised, they waited for the enemy. As soon as the first broke through, fire could be heard and in a matter of moments the enemy was dispatched.

"Nice work team. Onward." Heath motioned for the others to move as he continued to scan the brush for signs of any other attackers.

Tag Any

[xDameon Ropalski]

Dameon sat back, at the console, and quietly watched the various monitors. He glanced over at the Bio displays, taking in the relevant information about each member of the team - Mack's heartrate was elevated - But not entirely to combat norm. Good self-control. Ellerton's heartrate was very steady... Hardly elevated at all. Impressive control.

He ran down the list, and frowned at some of the other information, calmly taking notes on his PADD.

He turned his attention to the pilots, frowning further at the scrolling statistics of his simulation, and the three other pilots.

If it came to it, the chances of making a successful insertion were very, very slim. THat was not a good thing.

He sighed, and leaned back, closing his eyes, and he began to pray to some indistinct entity that it wouldn't come to that.

Tag: Any