Operation Grey Thunder

[Korolia]

Operation: Grey Thunder

Lt Col McKnight entered the briefing room, where a pack of officers were awaiting in front of a large screen. She nodded, smiling politely, taking a deep breath in the room where all the body warmth was making the situation quite uncomfortable. Excitation was running in the air. This was the first massive deployment of the LMC.

"Ladies, gentlemen, thank you for patiently waiting so long. We all know the navy battleships have rather smallish briefing room, and I am aware of your lack of luxury right now. Trust me, it's not about to get better." She started, causing a few laughters.

The screen lit up, showing planet Atka.

"This is our target. Planet Atka, where Planetform has been working lately to turn into yet another colony world for Liberty. With the war against Rheinland, Atka is becoming a priority and a key staging area that the Liberty Navy must not lose. And to make sure this piece of rock doesn't fall in our friendly neighbor chancellor's hands, we marines are to hold the ground."

The screen displayed large gas emitter partially sunken in a snowy land.

A CO2 emitter.

"These are Planetform CO2 gas emitter, used to reinforce the atmosphere of the planet in order to turn this snowball into something that can actually support life. We suspect they might be the target of Rheinland raid forces sometime soon."

The screen now displayed a moderately sized structure, made of concrete and steel and looking quite solid.

"This is the on-planet base of Planetform, name, Home Two. The LMC have been invested with the powers to take it over and make it our new base of operation. There might be still some civilians down in this barrack, and we don't want to invomodate them, but our priority is the mission, so we'll make sure they be kept safe or evacuated as soon as possible. Our first objective is to install a network of automated interception missiles in order to defend the emitter sites and determine an efficient defence perimetre."

Home Two, a Planetform survey and operation center.

Audrey paused, clearing her throat. So far, everyone was calm. Standard operating procedure.

"What you are about to hear now, is classified."

"We have strong reasons to believe the Rheinlanders will not want to destroy the CO2 emitter. They want the planet for themselves, and have little reason to destroy any terraforming process. That is why the Navy has been building in secret missile platforms under the gas emitters. High speed ballistic missiles, that once activated, could blow up a couple of fleet in just the blink of an eye. We now have reasons to believe these plans might have been compromised in the last few weeks. This is the true reason why we are now being sent to reinforce those structures. These launch sites must not be destroyed."

Navy ballistic missiles are hidden underneath gas emitter installations.

"Now, tactical. We are going to use winter gears, evidently. Winter gear and outersuit, that planet has too low oxygen level. We are going to have normal gravity, so we will be able to run just fine. We are not going to use fighter support, as the violent storms on this planet prevent any safe flight. In fact, they are so violent, we won't be able to get a reading from anything down there which is good and bad; good because nobody is going to blindly planet bombard this piece of rock, and bad because we have no way to talk with fleet command except by the mean of shuttles. This my friends, is going to be a full land battle, to defend our missiles."

The screen switched to display a map of a gigantic snowy canyon. In one small valley were the emitters and the Planetform based, dubbed "Home Two". Only three other places were clear to build anything.

"We can put our bet that Rheinlanders will attempt to land on either spots. Unfortunately, data are too minimal to disperse our forces freely, so command has opted to wait, watch their strategy and then push them out of Atka. That will be all for now, the next briefing will be set tomorow, at 0800 hours. Questions? Operation Grey Thunder is beginning."

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There is no bathroom!