SeeD field exam (forwarddated to Friday May 17th)

[wrnpcs]

[Field exams are often publicly announced, but the date for this one had been given to those involved in private, via private message on the BBS and notes left in dormitories, two days in advance. While SeeDs Nida and Touma H. Norstein had been briefed in private, the cadets would only be briefed on the day, and were simply ordered to meet at the front gate at 0600 hours on Friday morning armed and in uniform.

[Once the cadets and Touma are assembled, Headmaster Cid and a faculty member join them for the traditional send off speech:]

Good morning, everyone, I hope you're doing well this early morning.

[He paces as he walks, eying each cadet and SeeD as he does so.]

This exam will involve three members. You will be proceeding to a real battlefield, where the battles are for real. Life and death, victory and defeat, honour and disgrace... Each of these go hand in hand. There's only one way or the other. [He pauses to look each of the cadets in the eye.] How 'bout it? Are you still up for it?

You will be accompanied by two SeeD members... [Cid nods to Touma, and then looks behind the cadets to the sky.] One of whom is on his way over. Should you fail, these members shall get the job done. They always do. [He smiles reassuringly at the cadets.] Well, that's one less worry on your mind.

The pride of Balamb Garden! The elite mercenary force, SeeD! Learn from them, obey their commands and accomplish the mission. Prove yourself worthy of becoming a member of SeeD.

Best of luck.

[As Cid finishes up, the sound of the Ragnarok coming in grows louder, until it lands below the cadets and opens. Nida soon emerges.] Everyone into the passenger room for your briefing.

[Briefly, he pulls Rainbow Dash aside.] Traditionally we let our piloting specialists take off on field exams, but as this mission is time sensitive, I'll be taking it this time. I'm sorry; I promise there is a place for you to fly later in the mission.

Navigation:

Arrivals

Briefing and planning

Ground team disarming and fight

Sky team infiltration and fight

Retreat to Deling - to be posted!

Comments

FRONT GATE, BEFORE 0600: Arrivals

[wrnpcs]

[Don't be late!]

[elementofloyalty]

[No fear of being late; Rainbow, in fact, completely failed to sleep the entire night before. She's all energy though, even if it's mostly nervous, hovering off the ground as she rummages through her saddlebags for like the fiftieth time.]

[rewritethis]

[Not everyone on this mission is quite as awake just yet, but Ed is at least in uniform as he traipses down to the front gate. He'd thought about bringing his coat, and actually he's already missing it to some extent - but this outfit's already kind of bulky for his liking, and they'd probably just pull the thing right off him.

Besides, he doesn't need to psyche himself up, he needs to focus. If he's not wearing it, it'll be easier not to remind himself what he's really been doing this entire time.

He slows down as he approaches, groggily rubbing at his eyes with the hand that isn't holding onto his backpack.] Morning.

[fotlenke]

[ Sigyn arrives a minute after Edward, dressed in uniform, long hair up in a ponytail. She's cocking her head to the side, fixing the collar on her jacket. She comes to a stop at the front gate, her hips covered in pouches of charms, healing salves, and extra supplies that will most likely come in use.

At a full stop to the front gate, Sigyn lifts her head and looks at her fellow candidates. Two persons who she does not quite get along with. At all. Well, maybe Rainbow Dash, but certainly not Edward.

A sigh. It shall be a long exam -- but one which Sigyn intends to complete with flying colors like she does with her classes. ]

I suppose we are all to participate?

[elementofloyalty]

Yup. Pretty sure we're the team.

This oughtta be easy, though. Ed did stuff like this all the time, right? [She slaps the alchemist on the back with a hoof, then puts her other forehoof on her chest.] With his alchemy, my speed, and your... stuff, we'll pass no problem!

[fotlenke]

[ Sigyn grins wryly. ] Well, we have you, for true. Warrior Dash -- strong as an Valkyrie's stead, aye? [ She fishes an apple from one of her pouches and takes a bite, having foregone the fruit portion of her breakfast in order to not be late to the gates. ]

[rewritethis]

[Ed manages a slightly sheepish but still mostly sleepy grin.] Nah, easy wouldn't be any fun. But let's save the overconfidence until after we know for sure what we're blindly charging into, okay? Both of you.

RAGNAROK, 0610: Briefing

[youngnobelman]

[Once all three Cadets are seated in the passenger room, Touma passes each of them a copy of the mission dossier.]

Cadets, SeeD has been hired by a private citizen of Galbadia for hostage extraction. Twelve Deling schoolboys and their teacher are being held hostage by a new resistance factor from Timber, the Forest Hares, who are demanding Timber's freedom in exchange for the lives of the boys. Our client is the father of one of these boys, and negotiations between the Hares and the Galbadian Army are apparently not proceeding quickly enough for his liking.

[With this context, the dossier's contents become a bit clearer: Photos of a train carriage (without the man hanging off of it), an overhead map of the carriage and the area, overlays for this map of the hostages', rebels', and army's last known positions, named photos of the hostages (a young woman and twelve thirteen-year-old boys) and rebel group (eight kids in their late teens, mixed genders), and schematics for the rebels' weaponry. Rainbow's dossier has an extra map of the Galbadian continent with a route marked from near Timber to a landing site marked just outside of the city. Touma's look of distaste, on the other hand, makes it rather clear what an excellent idea he thinks going over the heads of negotiators and straight to extraction is, but he goes on with the details regardless.]

Two days ago, at 1600 hours, a first year class from the Deling College for Boys boarded their private carriage on a train bound for Deling, intending to return home to Deling after their field trip to Timber. Ten miles outside of Timber, the train was hijacked by the Forest Hares, armed with automatic firearms stolen from the Galbadian Army [the dossiers show machine guns] and makeshift bladed weapons such as kitchen knives. The Hares uncoupled the students' carriage and let the other carriages return to Deling while keeping the students' car in its place on the tracks.

The Galbadian Army has set up a perimeter around the carriage, keeping both the Hares and the hostages in, and the public out. They have been alerted to our mission and have orders to let us and the hostages through: Part of the contract is a mutual ceasefire agreement in which, despite traditional alignments as well as recent history, we are not to harm their soldiers and they in turn will not harm us. Our client feels the usual skirmishes would be counterproductive to an immediate rescue.

At present, negotiations are focused on trying to return at least one of the students and on trying to lessen their demands. So far the Hares have made only one concession: Having taken their hostages' possessions, they were convinced to return an inhaler to an asthmatic student. The hostages' physical needs are being met, but it is suspected that the Hares are running low on food and water.

The Forest Hares are Timber's newest known resistance group, made up of eight people in their late teens. Six of these are known to be guarding the hostages: Four with the hostages, and one on each entrance to the carriage. Their leader, Clayton Vaughan, is with Galbadian negotiators in a trailer just outside the military perimeter, and the last member is running messages between negotiations and the carriage. As this is their first known act of resistance, we have no information on their usual MOs or fighting styles.

Our mission objective is to get the boys and their teacher out alive and safely back to Deling. You are to infiltrate the carriage, safely extract the hostages, and bring them to the Ragnarok. Cadet Dash must then fly the Ragnarok to Deling with SeeD Nida as co-pilot; I believe your dossier has your flight route.

Any questions?

(OOC: Sorry for the tl;dr! Feel free to ask questions as separate threads rather than waiting for someone else's question to be answered before asking one; if you have nothing more to ask, let me know so we can move on.)

[rewritethis]

[Ed looks up from the dossier after only a cursory skim, watching Touma intently for any detail he can seize on as a hint at things left unsaid.]

Yeah, I've got one. What happens if they don't stick to the ceasefire?

[elementofloyalty]

[Oooh, yikes. She was hoping for something simple or straightforward, not, you know, where lives of kids are on the line. This bites.]

Where will we be landing?

[youngnobelman]

[Touma gives Ed a small nod, glad that someone's brought that up.] That is the only circumstance in which you may deliberately fight the Galbadians, in self defense and in defense of the hostages. The lives of the hostages are the priority, not how many soldiers you can take out. [A bit of a change from the traditional Attack scoring.] We don't expect them to break the ceasefire, as it's Galbadian citizens' lives at stake, but you are not to be the ones to break it. If things get messy with the Hares, some friendly fire will be tolerated.

[And to Rainbow:] The current plan is to land five miles out from the perimeter in the hopes that those on board the train carriage won't hear us, then drive to the perimeter and breach the carriage on foot.

[He glances around the cadets.] Unless you'd like to come up with a different plan. We understand all three of you have powers from your own worlds, and times you've been observed using them around the school have been documented, but you know your own capabilities better than the most detailed observations. You may, if you choose, design and implement a different way of getting to and into the carriage, so long as you can agree on a plan by the time we're in Timber's airspace.

(OOC: Answering questions as they come rather than once everyone's posted in a row simply to move this along while I'm still up because I'm about to go to bed.)

[rewritethis]

If things get messy, huh?

[He looks down again, eyes straying over the positions of the Galbadian army.]

And how long do we have before that happens?

[fotlenke]

[ Sigyn arches a brow at Edward, but doesn't say anything. She only turns to Touma. ]

Are we allowed to dispatch the Galbadians if they attack?

[youngnobelman]

I say if because as an Indirect Para-Magic specialist, Cadet Freyasdotter has the spells available to subdue them, [he looks to her] and we expect that you'll use them.

[He expects them to figure out their specialization balance is important here and should be used.

[With a glance out the window and to his watch, he estimates the time.] You have about twenty-five minutes, and may include myself and/or SeeD Nida in your plan if you choose. Besides his Piloting specialization, Nida has attack magic training, and I'm a Battlefield Medicine and Computer Science specialist with indirect magic and boxing training.

[Sigyn gets a nod.] Yes, you may. [No one asked, but it's relevant:] They would prefer we leave the Hares alive for Galbadian law enforcement to deal with, and I'm personally more impressed by non-lethal takedowns [play to your markers as well as to your specializations? except Nida, not being a doctor, may feel differently], but frankly, it's not in the contract.

OUTSIDE TIMBER, 0645: SeeDs on a train

[youngnobelman]

[The train track, the carriage, and the surrounding Galbadian soldiers are visible from the sky as they begin their descent over Timber: The army perimeter's about fifty metres from the train carriage, a five man deep border on all sides, with one side of the perimeter just about in a nearby pine forest. It's mostly blue uniformed troopers, with only the odd Elite Soldier in red among them. What now appears to be a tiny dot at either end of the carriage will turn out to be a teenage boy at one end and a young woman at the other, both carrying machine guns and both looking tired and worried.

[As in the original plan, they land five miles from the perimeter, and take a car towards it. Touma's half-glancing at his junction device, checking his Sleep and Stop stocks, when it occurs to him to ask:] Do you need much of a run up, Cadet Dash?

(OOC: I'm thinking we can split the thread into sky team and ground team once A) Rainbow and Ed leave, if she does need a run up, or B) at the perimeter if not, so basically from my next tag.)

[elementofloyalty]

[Rainbow cautiously darts up into the air, then comes back down with a cloud.]

Okay, here's our concealment. Sorry, Ed, this isn't gonna be pleasant, but it's for the greater good.

Okay. Let's go. The signal is the transmutation light.

[She rolls her neck, flexes each wing, rolls her shoulders, then stretches out her hooves to haul Ed up, one foreleg under each arm.]

[rewritethis]

Yeah, 'cause we're gonna be a hundred times less conspicuous when I start sneezing -

[His complaining is cut short by a distinctly uncomfortable liftoff. It wasn't loud to begin with, of course - it's better all round if those hostage-takers don't see them coming, that's a no-brainer. Privately, he is a little disappointed they're not going to get to look inside the carriage on their way in, meaning he'll have to just cut a hole in the roof before anything else instead of making the most dramatic entrance possible... but hey, he can make up for it later. And it's not like improvising has ever failed him so far, except for the various times when it kind of did.

Anyway, it's no good reminiscing when there's work to do. He grits his teeth, willing himself to ignore the cold and the clinging damp.]

Listen... don't push yourself, okay?

[elementofloyalty]

You gotta be kidding me. You of all people have no right to tell anypony not to push themselves.

[Mild exasperation, but also quiet fondness for his own particular stubborn brand of masochistic overdrive -- but all of it just undercurrents beneath her quiet determination. She has her head half-out of the cloud, guiding them through the sky with, actually, not all that much exertion on her part. Her Strength junctions and her own will make Ed a very manageable burden.]

[rewritethis]

You dumb jerk, I mean it.

[He was kidding about the sneezing, but he's pretty glad the plan is to get a real airlift out. He just hopes this one will be over before his automail starts complaining too.]

The kind of person who'd think about using a bunch of kids as hostages, they must be desperate. And we can't rule out the train itself hiding a few surprises, either. So if things look bad, you run, got it? Passing isn't everything...

[He sounds like he's going to lecture her some more, but then all he does is sag a little.]

Anyway, if you're gonna drop me, give me some warning first.

[elementofloyalty]

I don't care about passing. All I know is if I ran off and let those kids get hurt I couldn't live with myself.

[That's what's driving her now. Her entire goal is getting those kids to safety. Whatever comes on her SeeD exam she can deal with later.]

Ed, is it... hard for you to trust the others with us on this?

[She asks because right now, she's having an amazing level of difficulty trusting Touma and Sigyn to perform their half -- not because of anything person or against them, but just because she's scared the kids will get hurt, and anything out of her direct control amplifies that fear dramatically.]

GROUND TEAM, slightly before the sky team goes in

[wrnpcs]

[Touma parks some metres beyond the perimeter (as with the Ragnarok, to cut down on noise audible from the train) and on one of the train carriage's long ends to try and avoid the guards' peripheral vision, and waits for Sigyn to exit before following her.

[The car parking distinctly off-road is, of course, enough to get the attention of the soldiers; some in the back row turn to face them (though their expressions are hard to gage through their visors), and one Elite Soldier nearby actually leaves the perimeter to come and talk to them:] Ma'am, I'm afraid we - [He pauses, looking her up and down, and then Touma behind her.] Are you part of the SeeD team hired for extraction?

[fotlenke]

[ Sigyn nods to the soldier, raising a hand to touch her forehead in salute as she learned in training. ] Aye. I am Sigyn Freyasdotter. Specialization is in Para-Magic, Indirect. [ She almost dips to curtsey as she is accustomed, but instead, bring an arm to her stomach and bows once, smoothly. ]

Today, we shall be victorious, this I vow.

[wrnpcs]

[The soldier merely nods in reply rather than saluting or giving his own rank and name. Galbadia and SeeD may not be enemies this second, but that doesn't make them allies, either. A ceasefire is very different from working together.]

Never mind 'victorious', just be careful - those are our kids in there.

[He pauses, looking between Sigyn and Touma.] Weren't there meant to be more of you?

[Touma's not going to answer this; he's just hanging back listening to Sigyn's responses, because this is, after all, an exam.]

[fotlenke]

I and the others of the team have only the children's safety on our minds. [ She unfolds her arms and stands up straight. ] Rest assured, there are indeed more warriors prepared to place their lives in Fate's hands to preserve the safety of the children. We have devised a most brilliant strategy that will allow us to rescue your children and disable the enemy.

[wrnpcs]

O...kay. [This is the first time he's heard the word "warriors" in a conversation that isn't about fiction or history.] What do the other... warriors look like? We're not going to get in your way, but we have to know who to not shoot.