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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KamchatkasRevenge on 2026-04-17 16:02:55+00:00.
Jerry
The briefing room is full to bursting. Commandos. Intelligence officers and agents, Fighter pilots. Officers from the line infantry and armor units. Members of the fleet. Almost the entirety of the Crimson Tear battle group's combined arms firepower and leadership has been packed into one room and a few more are watching via quantum entangled comm link from their own secure briefing rooms.
He has their orders. It’s time. With all the information they've acquired, and the incident he's just been informed about... the gloves are officially coming off, and the Undaunted are happy to deal with this problem with tacit Council approval.
Jerry looks over at Sharon, then at Diana, the rest of his entourage was right behind him. It’s time.
"Attention on deck!"
The room is on its feet in less than a second, everyone snapping to.
Jerry bellows a sharp "As you were!" and he moves sharply down to the raised area where the presenter stands and where the podium awaits him. He takes his position, and sets his data pad where he can see it with his notes from the meeting he'd just had with Admiral Cistern.
"Ladies, gentlemen. Good morning. I'm hopefully going to keep this briefing brief. Said briefing is also classified top secret. Master-at-Arms. Seal the doors and activate the scramblers."
A Naval Master-at-Arms snaps to, salutes, and confirms the doors are locked before pressing a clearly labeled button. A sign that says 'Scrambler Active' flashes to life in several parts of the room.
"Very well. Carry on, petty officer."
"Aye aye, sir!"
Jerry turns his focus back to his audience, making eye contact here and there as he takes a slow breath, letting the pause draw everyone in a bit more.
"I have just finished a call with Admiral Cistern. The situation we've been investigating has changed. We’d already received our orders to move to investigate the Sword of the Stars, leaving aside our surveying mission. Well, effective as of this morning, I have new orders for us. We are to ensure the Ha'quinye do not get their hands on the Sword of the Stars, whatever it is, by whatever means I feel are reasonable, short of a full-on declaration of war. And if the threat is serious enough that is not off the table."
Jerry manipulates the holo projector, displaying an image of an unknown quartet of attack craft in some ship's visual sensors, launching furious attacks from extreme close range.
"Part of what changed the Board and Admiral Cistern's policy is that the Ha'quinye are getting more aggressive, which supports the theory that they're getting close to finding this mysterious superweapon. In the last twenty four hours, standard Centris time, there've been four attacks that we know about on three independent vessels and one Council scientific vessel. Fortunately, all four escaped without too much damage. Which leads intelligence to believe they were just being driven off as opposed to suffering serious attempts to destroy them. Based on sensor data, profile analysis and so forth, it's believed within ninety-five percent certainty that these were Ha'quinye Imperial Navy ships making these attacks."
The image changes to two groups of ship and unit IDs, one outlined in red and the other in blue. The left, in red, lights up.
"This supports the reports we've received that multiple large Ha'quinye naval and ground forces groups have managed to make their way off world and out of Ha'quinye space. Presumably to find and recover the Sword, but it could be a precursor to a conventional invasion. Other parts of Undaunted and Council intelligence will be working that angle. Our focus is the Sword. To that end, we will be splitting up into two groups. Group One will be focused on the Crimson Tear and will also be known as the infiltration group. Thanks to Director Sylindra, we have an in with the Ha'quinye. So we're going to exploit it, make contact with local resistance groups, possibly arm them and aid them, and put some distractions into play to make coming after our other force more difficult. Group One will also seize intelligence assets wherever possible. We'll talk about how and the challenges Group One will be facing shortly."
The second group in blue lights up as the red side goes dark.
"Group Two will split off before we make it to Ha’quinye space, and will be under my command directly, with the USFS Kandahar Province serving as my flagship because of her advanced command and control capabilities. We'll also have Old One Eye with us, with Valkyrie and Reckless holding up the naval end of the fight. Valkyrie will be playing host to half a squadron of Starblades and a squadron of Huscarls, which will be a bit crammed in their bays, but Captain Skall assures me they can make it work. We will be taking two companies of the 1st Power Armor Battalion, two companies of Marines, A company and C company, and most of the 3rd Mobile Armored Cavalry Squadron. To include tanks and walkers. We are expecting significant potential ground combat, so we're going to bring plenty of guns while leaving a nightmare grade security detail to protect the Tear. We'll also be hosting a commando detachment, to include a fire team of Apuk Imperial Marines. They'll be led by Major Forsythe, while Colonel Forsythe will remain with the primary JSOC force, which will be supporting operations around and on the Ha'quinye homeworld, Dagrquey. Speaking of."
The image changes to a world that looks at least somewhat like Earth, but with smaller oceans and more arid conditions on the exposed ground.
"Dagrquey is a harsh world. The deserts are vast, the oceans are brutal, and there's a surprising amount of axiom-enhanced predators on-world. That the Ha'quinye survived, nevermind managed to build a functional civilization, if we define those terms loosely, is a credit to them and a warning to us. Do not underestimate your opponents. Because they are, culturally, a rather vicious, aggressive, martial people who grew up on a death world not unlike our own. If you let them catch you slacking they will make you pay for your mistakes in blood."
The image changes again to a map of a large urban area that's been labeled 'Triumph's Seat,' with delineated districts and marked features.
"This is the Ha'quinye capital, where most of our operations will likely be taking place, including our major distraction operation... which I will not be briefing anyone on at this time." Jerry's eyes twinkle as he smiles at his audience. "It's a surprise. For now. In the meantime, however, we need to talk about the serious issue our first contact operation and any subsequent operations will have when dealing with the Ha'quinye. They are intensely misandrist as a society. Male personnel CANNOT operate openly within Ha'quinye territory. That doesn't mean our commandos won't be getting work done, or we won't be using male personnel with appropriate precautions, but it is a serious problem. Especially for our first contact mission."
The image changes again to display what is labeled as the Ha'quinye imperial palace.
"Director Sylindra has gotten us an in with the Ha'quinye, using food and luxury goods. We were hoping for a simple introduction to Ha'quinye high society, but we got lucky. Our gift to the palace has gotten us direct attention from the current consuls, which we are happy to take. To that end, we'll be sending a contact team, including me. I'll be coming because we have it on good authority that we have a male contact in the palace. Males here are rare, and completely segregated from the female population outside of very specific conditions, according to our brief. There's maybe two men in the palace. My attendance is a significant compliment from our clan to the Ha'quinye leadership, a sign that our side trusts them to guarantee my safety. So they'll also be obliged to bring their man or men out, we'll be separated from the actual people, and… we’ll be more or less on display. Like show dogs or something."
Jerry violently suppresses a snarl. This particular mission was going to test him quite a bit too.
"With any luck, we'll be too busy being ogled for anyone to actually pay attention to us, so I'll be able to confirm if the man in question is our contact and pass him items and receive anything he might have to pass off... from what intelligence tells me, our palace source should have a data chit for me, but we'll see about that. Once we've withdrawn after the party, I'll slip out of the system with Nkla 'Fangs' Osier, aboard her scout ship. It's a small craft with powerful stealth capabilities, and even if we head out openly it shouldn't raise too many eyebrows. We'll rendezvous with Group Two, and that will begin both missions proper."
He pauses for a few moments before asking, "Any questions?"
There are several, ranging from the tactical to the practical, but between himself and Diana the briefing starts to wrap up quickly. Everyone in this room is a professional, after all, and Jerry had been one of them far more recently than most flag rank officers. He knows what his 'line animals' need to do their jobs properly and he’s made damn sure they had it!
Jerry walks through the briefing room, down the main aisle and back, making eye contact with his men and women again.
"Have no doubt, this will potentially be a challenging, dangerous assignment. It will also mean more time away from family than members of this ship's crew a...
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