Fortress V - Ready Room

 

        A large table and holographic monitors fill the ready room of the Fortress V, a place for Repliforces to get together and plan their next moves. The holographic projectors can fill the room with any needed image, the inducers buried in the center of the table, which is surrounded by large, comfortable chairs, a huge one at the far end big enough for General himself. There are windows here, pointed back and out the ship's rear windows, but these can be closed in order to have a clearer view of any needed holograms.

 

Ship's Log [#6581 T]

 

Out <O> leads to Fortress V - Bridge.

 

Assault Kangaroo arrives from the Bridge.

Assault Kangaroo has arrived.

 

Dr. Sarah Fairchild arrives from the Bridge.

Dr. Sarah Fairchild has arrived.

 

The Fortress V battleship is in perfect condition. Its repairs after the Beta Sphere invasion have been completed, and the crew's spirits are high. People here will be showing Director Fairchild complete respect, as per Storm Owl's command. People salute her as she's escorted through the ship. Other officers nod respectfully as she makes it through the bridge to Storm Owl's ready room. The doors slide open easily, and Storm Owl can be seen within, seated at one end of the large table. There's a pair of datapads in front of him, one of which he appears to have been reading over. The ready room is just as impressive as the rest of the ship, and her captain rises to his feet once Fairchild makes her entrance. "Welcome to the Fortress V, Director." He intones.

 

Sarah's not dressed in full regalia today, alas. She's dressed up - for business, probably - but she's not in her full Interpol uniform. She smiles a little grimly as she steps in, offering the Fortress V Commander a salute. "It's good to be here, Commander. I see you run as tight a ship as ever."

 

Repliforce Marine Lieutenant Assault Kangaroo answered Storm Owl's call on radio, and soon, he was on his way to the Ready Room.

        Eventually, the doors into the room opened, and out came the kangaroo. He looked around as he came in, to see where Dr. Fairchild and Commander Owl have probably sat.

 

Storm Owl is in enough regalia for the both of them, don't worry. Storm Owl gestures to one of the seats around the briefing tables and sits down once she does. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Director." Storm Owl hands over one of the datapads, which is filled with reports and the like. "Now, to business?" The doors'll be swooshing open any moment now for Assault Kangaroo, who Storm has invited to this little tete a tete. When he does, Storm silently gestures for him to take a seat around the large table. "I am concerned of cooperation between Interpol and Repliforce. Last night's incident was a perfect example of incompetence and wastefulness on both sides. I seek to correct this error. To sum up the situation in case your own officers have not done so, Robot Master forces were involved in a bank robbery. Repliforce and Interpol troopers responded, as well as the local police. Coordination was non-existant. I had assumed - wrongfully. I see that now - that Interpol would be in charge of the effort on our side. Your troopers must have assumed otherwise. The local police were of no help in this. As a result, our forces were terribly organized. Resonance battled against several Robot Masters by herself before Lt. Assault joined to help. I was waylaid by a Maverick which could have been easily diverted. Javelin Whitetail - a mech under your protection, presumably - was left to defend herself against Charge Man alone. Repliforce was unaware of her capabilities and whether or not Interpol had planned for her to be here or in custody. She was guarded by a Maverick drone, which added to the confusion. One of your troopers, either unaware or uncaring of Repliforce units in the area, disabled myself and Lt. Assault with an EM grenade. The end result of this entire fiasco was a disaster. The Robot Masters escaped. No enemy targets save the Maverick were disabled." Storm Owl pauses. "This is unacceptable. We must ensure this never occurs again."

 

Sarah nods quietly, moving to the indicated seat, and accepts the datapad with a small smile of thanks. She immediately begins paging through the data, simultaneously listening to Storm Owl's commentary with a mind honed for multitasking by years of having seven to eight drones chattering in her head. She nods quietly, having read a report on the Interpol database that portrayed things a little differently - namely, in terms of Javelin Whitetail. "It was a complete farce, from what I've understood of it," she replies, displeased. "Though apparently my officers did not feel that the main battle was terribly unusual." She frowns. "The way you cast it is certainly something we need to address. To start I will say that the Javelin Whitetail matter is being dealt with. The officer I had assigned to her was apparently not as reliable as I'd thought, but the matter is being corrected. Apparently she's dismissed the Maverick drone, as well...I am going to be speaking with her soon about just what was going on there." She sighs, setting the datapad down to look up at Storm Owl. "As for the other things, I think perhaps the first step to solving most of them in one step is to establish exactly what our operational relationship is going to be for situations like this. If we know who to expect to take charge, we should be able to address other issues from there."

 

        Assault had something to add to the disabling thing.

        "Not only that..."

        Assault Kangaroo sat in a seat near Storm Owl, after his gesture.

        "...but while the one who incapacitated us wanted to help, she did not warn us of /how/ she intended to help us. She told us over the faction radio that she was going to help our efforts in the bank, but I was not aware that she would attempt to disable every artificial being inside the bank, in spite of the fact that me and Commander Owl were still inside. All except one person got affected by the chaff grenade, and apparently, that one person was a Robot Master -- the explanation for how they were able to get away while /we/ were still disabled. I have intended to speak with the person responsible for using the grenade within a few days about this."

        He had nothing to add for the rest of it.

 

Storm Owl rests his hands on the desk. He shows no outward signs of his injuries several days ago, and appears to be in prime condition. But then the Fortress Commander excels at hiding such things within. He listens coldly to Sarah's reply and nods at various points during it. "I agree." He says in regards to the need to address the discrepancy between reports on how the main battle was fought. "Repliforce considered it a failure." Storm Owl did, anyway.

        The Commander turns to his Lieutenant and listens to his account of things. Yes, that chaff grenade screwed him up quite a bit. Whether it would have made a difference is tough to tell, but the Commander was certainly extremely vulnerable for those minutes where he was blind and deaf. "Lt. Assault was quite disturbed at the incapacitation. I ordered him to hold off on a discussion until it could be held under better circumstances." Like now.

        "Another joint defence occured on the 13th during a bank robbery by the Robot Masters. Our coordination was a failure and the Robot Master forces achieved all of their objectives." Slight pause. "Concerning Javelin Whitetail, I am pleased to hear that the matter is being dealt with. She did indeed dismiss Eisensturm. I expect she will turn Maverick should she be released again."

 

"She's made strange claims about that," Sarah mutters. "But either way that /is/ why I have her in custody." Not wishing to discuss it, she does not mention the fact that she's pretty sure most of her officers would rather it not be labeled protective. "As for Officer Coriolis, the one who used that grenade...I'm not sure what to say. She's a pretty smart officer, normally. I guess this is another case of communication breakdown, something that we need to address."

 

        Assault Kangaroo hmmed.

        "That, I can understand. A communications breakdown is probably what happened. I'm rather disappointed that something like that happened, though."

        He sure was agitated when Cassilda did that during the mission... If he talked to her that time, he could've torn her head off.

 

Storm Owl nods and is, personally, willing to drop the chaff grenade discussion and chalk it up to miscommunication. "I agree. Many of our combined missions consist of random individuals that are patrolling the area. This is an unavoidable fact." Due to not knowing what players are online, of course. "This is why you are correct in that we need to determine a method to determine who is in charge. I believe Interpol has more experience and training in robberies, for example. However it is possible no suitable Interpol Commander is on hand during a battle, while capable Repliforce leaders are available. The opposite is true of course." Storm Owl nods to Assault. This is why he asked Assault not to talk to her, natch.

 

"Sounds about right," Sarah comments. "If we're going that way, I suspect as long as there's a higher-up available, Interpol will usually be in charge of the more routine joint operations...we'll throw our support in if you really want, but our people are really not trained for fullscale war like yours are..." She shrugs. "But of course, if we ever are assisting in a war situation your officers will be in command, with the same caveats you outlined. Sound about right?"

 

        Assault simply nodded. He had nothing much to add. Storm Owl would know more about this than he does.

 

Storm Owl says, "Acceptable. In the case of a fullscale invasion and only Interpol commanders are are available, then I see it as being reasonable that Interpol may take control." Storm Owl's confident that won't happen. There's always a Repliforce higher-up if it's something /that/ major. "And for domestic issues, such as the two mentioned, Interpol will take control unless there are no suitable Interpol ranking officers available." This seems more likely to Storm Owl. Director Fairchild might simply be too busy to worry about that thar bank robbery. General won't be too busy to get his butt in gear for that INVASION FORCE OF DOOM. "Naturally it is questionable what counts as a 'suitable ranking officer', however that will be up to the discretion of the two factions. I suggest we also promote utilizing our joint frequency during joint missions and not just for... frivolous chatter." Storm's one of those comm-frequency Nazis. Storm Owl then turns to Assault, "Your opinion?" Why yes, he actually does care about what Assault thinks.

 

As he should be; someone has to actually care about comms security around here. "Hopefully the distinction will be clear enough that we won't need to bicker about who counts as ranking," Sarah replies. "As for the comms channels...I'll post some notices for everyone to use them and try to be clear about it. I'm sure someone'll think the enemy might intercept, but the frequencies aren't worth much if we're constantly afraid to say anything useful on them."

 

[Radio] Tightbeam transmission: Assault Kangaroo says, "You are more experienced at these sorts of things than I am."

 

[Radio] Tightbeam transmission to Assault Kangaroo: You say, "Granted. However experience will not come if one does not attempt to experience it."

 

[Radio] Tightbeam transmission: Assault Kangaroo says, "True."

 

<Global News Network> The public broadcast frequency is privy to a hastily shouted warning about Robot Masters, then the sound of what is apparently the transmitting party's death, and an emergency locator beacon pointing to a factory in Brazil. (For those of you who have broadspam off)

 

        Assault Kangaroo nodded to Storm Owl as he asked for his opinion.

        "I know that we have a "chat" joint frequency for chatter, and a "main" joint frequency for important things. The so-called 'frivolous chatter' should be reserved for the former, but we all know that."

 

Storm Owl gives a quick glance towards Assault. There's a pause there, and a perceptive individual might be able to guess that a short radio discussion took place. It's nothing bad about Fairchild or anything, though Storm gave a quote that Spock would be proud of: 'Experience will not come if one does not attempt to experience it'. "We will regulate them more thoroughly." He says in agreement with Assault. The war bird then turns back towards Director Fairchild and once again nods in agreement. "Then it is settled. I will have to confirm this with Colonel, but I doubt he will have any objections to these decisions."

 

Sarah can guess, but with no interception abilites of her own, she has no idea what they're saying. Therefore she just straightes a little as Storm owl returns his gaze to her, and nods at his words. "Sounds good. You know how to contact me if there are any problems, but I doubt there will be any."

 

        Assault Kangaroo simply nodded. He had nothing else to say.

 

Storm Owl inclines his head and stands up, "Excellent. Thank you for your time and insight on this matter, Director. Is there anything else that we need to discuss regarding cooperation between our two groups?" He asks. Might as well get everything out of the way, right?

 

Sarah pauses to think, but then shakes her head. "Not that I know of off-hand. Doctor Light, Colonel, and I were going to meet soon to discuss relations between all three organizations, but those matters are probably better left for that meeting." Sarah stands, nodding to both the Lieutenant and the Commander. "I will, however, contact you if anything particularly pressing comes up, Commander. Now, I'm afraid I have to go; there are things waiting for me."

 

        Assault Kangaroo also stood up.

        "It was a pleasure to meet with you, Dr. Fairchild. May we coexist peacefully."