SF: Operation Glass Jaw

[Sando138]

"This is the Liberator B-130 Variant. Smaller and faster than the terran variety at the expense of the top, tail, and side gunners. The terrans developed the original, but we caugh a hold on the blueprints, but so far this is only a prototype. Very expensive ship. We crammed about 20 bombs into it. Due to field experience, we are trying out new incindeary ammunition in your forward guns. the round splits on contact with the shield and ejects a self-igniting napalm payload moving slow enough to pass through the shield, but there is an insubstantial ammount of Nape in each round. so if you want to do anything besides singe the paint, really pour on the firepower. the rest of the package is fairly standard."
"Looks great, sir! Cant wait to fly it!"
"you won't be flying it, however. this is going to be taking out the more permanent entrenchments. such as the bunkers, walls, and trenches the Terrans put in to protect the AMS and supply depot. you are going for the AMS groupings in your own Peregrine, albiet with minor modifications. your machine guns will also be firing incindearies, and your rail-driver will have a full-auto feature. you can expend your 8 round max number of rails in one strafing run, or on the shields of a Phantasm. we HOPE that much kinetic energy could break a Phantasm's shield, if even only temporarily."

[Sando138]

Silver Falcon Temporary Base of Ops.
South NC Sanctuary
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"Gentlemen, I will not lie to you. The sanctuary is under an asault of a scale we have never seen. Fate of the planet may hang in the balance. But... the Terrans have made a costly error. they assume we are broken. that we will soon have no will to fight. They underestimate the fighting ablities of a free man. Terran and Vanu forces fear their officers. We respect ours. They charge into battle, fearing death less than their officer's retribution. our men fight with their hearts, their minds, their very souls! and now. Here we sit. and it is time to show them what we are made of! This, as some of your number know, is Dr. Rosa Notisom, or BlackRose to her friends."

"Thank you, Sando. Ahem. While the Terrans and Vanu are making a serious mistake in judgement by assuming us to be beaten, sending us a new ultimatum and terms of surrender every hour, they have forgotten something in their overconfidence. A cornered foe is most deadly indeed. Intelligence sources have confirmed the absence of AA support in the area of the new terran foothold within New Philly. They obviously do not expect air assault. No skyguards were in position as of noon today. no AA maxes are in positon. they have focused their efforts on a ground-based defense, so minimal threat to you. Since this is such a glaring weakness, one good solid hit should be a knockout. Hence, Operation Glass Jaw. Now, the Liberators will be destroying entrenchments and generally wreaking havoc among the enemy. during this time, you will be decimating their AMSes. without this crucial foothold on our continent, we suspect a domino effect may take place resulting in the loss of Terran support in this attack. with such a massive defeat on their hands, the Terrans may blame the Vanu, the Vanu would blame the Terrans, and all hell breaks loose. besides that, our foes will be gradually reduced by half."

"However, BlackRose and I suspect this may be a ruse. I have a suspicion that the new Vanu Phantasm aircraft may be in flight over the area. so we were given some new toys. Nape rounds. they just might penetrate. if they don't, use your Rail Guns(Authors note: AKA Magnetic Accelerator Gun). we have a full auto mode on them now. Now suit up, eat up, and get ready for dust off."

BlackRose stayed until all the others left.

"Try to come back in one piece, hotshot. Respawning may be fairly painless, but it sure isn't pretty."
"Don't worry BlackRose, I'll try to stay in relatively one piece."
"You always say that..."
"I know. you keep busy while i'm gone?"
"I am Always busy, if you havent noticed. Anyway, heres a backup if you need it. i know you carry ACEs with you in your reaver, but carry this too. It's a pistol with a noise supressor and a special kind of dart."
"Tranquilizers?"
"Neurotoxin. whatever the round hits is dead before it feels the bullet."
"Real pleasant. well, after this mess is over, want to try and find a restaurant that ins't bombed out and have dinner?"
"I'd love to. See you later, Sando."
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Alpha Encampment,
TR occupied New Philladelphia
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"Vanu pilot, What's your status?"
"Blast it, my name is Starrider! get it though your head, Terran!"
"Whatever. Vanu command just sent in a group of three more of those fighters... phanasoms or whatever they're called."
"Understood. They say if I go on break now?"
"Yeah, while those three are up there, you can go rest at a Vanu outpost not too far from here."

[Sando138]

New Philly Base, Terran occupied.
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"So, what's our plan for this city?"
"Number one, we destroy the building. number two, we build a prison camp. number three, we 're-educate' political dissedents here. any captured civillians will be the first through. but for now, this is strictly a forward base and supply depot."

A distant 'HOLY HELL!' was heard through the officer's door to command central from his office.

"What is it, soldier?"
"About 50 NC fighters are inbound! and all we have in the air are three vanu fighters! how can we be sure they won't cut and run?"
"They won't, the Vanu can't win this battle on their own."
"Sir, those three fighters... are those the new Phantasms?"
"Yes, they are. and CentComm says theres only about 7 more if these are destroyed. lucky for us, once the NC are gone. we can't beat em if we tried."
"Alright, then let's get back to work. the purple-people-eaters can handle this for us."

Sando and his squad would be lucky. even 15 to 1 against a phantasm is chancy odds, but without the enemy on the ground trying to kill them, it was somewhat possible.

[starrider]

U SENT ME AWAY!!!!!!! hmmm nw i have to find out if the other phantasum pilots can handle things ill i grt back....hmmm

[Sando138]

"Alright, we've done this before! Alpha group, do a high flyby and check for air defenses. Bravo, keep your eyes peeled for disturbances. Tango, on my mark we clear any defenses spotted by Alpha, or proceed directly to the AMS group. once we get those, that's the cue for the Liberators to start dropping their ordinance, and then we move to the supply depot. if it moves, shoot it. if it doesn't move, blow it up. if it won't blow up, paint it blue, cause we're taking back this base!"

Slpha group flew low, not far above the trees, and ascertained the presence of no AA gear. then the Bravo group flew in and checked for Phantasms. nothing on DL, nothing on radar. so Tango got the all-clear, and approached the AMSes despite innefective ground fire, when six OmegaLancer beams sliced clean through three of them. the group turned and was hit rom behind, losing another three men out of a group of 15. Alpha started a run on the AMSes when they took hits from missles, again from seemingly nowhere, leaving about 11 airborne. 2 had to limp back to base for repairs, bringing the total losses to 12 out of the fight. Falcons panicked and fired at anything, and their imaginations began running wild. Sando saw a shimmer and unloaded his MGs into the distortion. Burning Napalm streamed in through the shield, ignighting the surface of the ship and breaking down the cloaking field, as you can't easily hide something on fire. a MAG round burst from one of the other Falcons broke the shield. missiles dismembered the crippled craft. The other two Vanu gunships started tearing into the Falcons, reducing their number by a further 20. the remaining nine were lucky, and reduced them both to scrap with full auto bursts from MAGs.

"That put paid to them! now, Gold fighters 1, 2, 3, 6, and Blue fighters 1, and 2 use your remaining ordinance to destroy the AMS groups. the rest of you, we need to demolish that ordinance stockpile. I'm gonna need to go in on foot and plant explosives, cause i don't think we have enough ammo left in the guns. I'll need an escape plan, so you guys watch my reaver. i don't feel like piggy-backing, and i'd very much like to be out of here before the liberators arrive."
"Roger, Sando, over and out."

Sando landed and drew the pistol BlackRose had given him for the mission. It fired concentrated neurotoxin. targets would be dead before they knew what hit them, very useful on a stealth mission. He didnt see anyone as he entered the compound, but once he was inside, he spotted numerous guards. Sando took to the shadows and hoped none of the guards were cloakers. he pulled out an ACE and deployed it on a nearby rack of rockets.

"Freeze. Do not attempt to resist. Failure to do so will result in-"

Sando spun, drawing his pistol in one movement, leveling the barrel at the guard, pulling the trigger...
A soft 'pfft' was the only sound heard as the powerful venom entered through a small pin-prick on his neck. The guard collapsed noiselessly. The same fate would fall on the rest of the guards, and in no time, the entire building was rigged to blow. Thats when he heard reavers exploding.

"Sando! We're under attack from two Skyguards and a phantasm! You're gona have to get away on foot, your reaver was hit first, and we have to cover the liberators! the AMSes are destroyed, though."
"Snowwolfe, this place is about to be BOMBED! you can't expect me to-"

The radio was shot from Sando's hand.

"Hello, Sando. Remember me?" asked a fleeting shadow.

"Vengance. what are you doing here?"
"Well, high-command is upset about the loss of so many prototypes here, so they instructed me to find someone responsible and kill him. I seem to have found him, havent I? now put the gun on the floor. put the detonator on the floor beside it. then back up against the wall."
"You talk alot. too much for your own good."
"Really? well, there's no buddy with a sniper rifle behind me this time."
"Nope. it's a spitfire turret."
"Oh not agai-"

the rumble of the turret subsided, and Sando calmly rearmed himself. as he left, he hit the red button on the detonator. a fireworks display to rival most liberty day celebations lit the evening sky, as Sando calmly hacked a Basilisk, and drove clear of the bombing radius. I hope to god i took some of the pressure off of NC city... if it didn't... Game over. We lose. at least the terrans have lost this supply depot and their forward base... just hope we can roll up the terrans before we all die...

Terran reinforcemnts to assist the Vanu from now on out? Greatly reduced, now most likely a rarity.

[Sando138]

Sando heard the General's words through the radio.

a last stand. what may be the fall of the New Conglomerate. Was it in vain? was all this just a fleeting moment of hope? would this all be for naught? No. it would not be. even if we lose, twenty years from now, people will look back on this as the finest hour of brave people. even if they crush us, they cannot deny us our valiance. we will not fail. for my brother. for BlackRose. for all the people whom i protect. We must form a barrier. we must hold them back, guard lives with our own.

But....

What if we pull through? What if we can push them back? then what? they have Cruisers, currently in the harbor to the north of the remnants of New Philly. fairly vulnerable, if we can pull the Vanu and Terrans out of our bases around the harbor. if we disable the cruisers, a reprisal raid may become impossible. I'll ask BlackRose if she knows about any plan to destroy the ships.