Tactics win battles Logistics wins wars - Part I

Mission: Ka Hakaka Maikaʻi - The Good Fight
Location: CIC - Deck 2
Timeline: T - 15 hours to Canterra

[ON]

[C-I-C Combat Information Center]

Major West exited the turbolift on Deck 2 flanked by Captain Bolingbroke and his two Lieutenants.

Bolingbroke exited the turbolift and followed West across the darkened compartment, lit only by the glow of the screens and dim uplights.

Hargreaves followed the captain and major in, uniform crisp and neat, though for now she let herself remain a half-step behind, observing the proceedings and soaking in the details on display around the CIC.

Gregor followed behind his superiors, a grim expression on his face, even if his motions were confident. He had vowed to do better here on Canterra, he had to. And so he approached these preparations with the same resolute determination as he might a last stand.

The scene was one of organized chaos. Most personnel were glued to terminals, manipulating various views. Some terminals had the map of Canterra pulled up. Terry was always amazed at the technological innovations of Starfleet, yet even with all the advancements, there were still limits.

Across the room, the CIC Watch Officer strode up to the XO. "Sir, the Marines are here," He gestured with his head towards the main entrance at the green gaggle.

Jinn looked up as the Marines arrived. He, himself, had only just arrived a short time prior. He had gone over the scans on his own, but the systems in CIC were significantly more robust and allowed for a more in-depth analysis.

He gave the Major a nod as he entered. The quality of Jinn's analysis would greatly affect the Marines in the coming engagement.

Juan followed the Watch Officer's finger to the green-collared quartet. "Major, welcome to the CIC. What can I do for you?" He greeted.

"I have never been to Canterra myself, so my marines and I require some direction planetside," West grinned.

Jenny was leaning over a console, while a CIC operator talked her through the Canterran topography, and the local weather hazards. Pausing to stretch her back, she caught sight of the arriving marine contingent. "Hold that thought, I'll be back in a minute," she told the operator, and made her way over to the growing huddle of officers.

West nodded to the pilot as she joined the group. Marines had great respect for pilots as they were the ones that ensured you arrived or got out, plus provided any close air support.

Kojima was lost in thought as he studied the map, after a few moments he noticed that Jenny had moved over to a few other officers. The young man walked over and quietly took his place as he waited for orders.

Tolkath had taken the conn and remained on the Bridge, he sent Eriksson in his stead and observed events from a side monitor.

Marcus was still getting to know the science department, let alone the senior staff, and very much felt like the new guy. He would be content to observe, and make his contribution when he was needed this time around. He took a seat quietly, with a polite nod to some of the others gathered in the room.

Making her usually annoyed entree with a sense of why she not want to be there look. Deeli was not amused by the idea that she had to be present for this. Yet she came here, due that ...well Akio was there and for some reason the man was getting to her.

T'Lara walked in to the room and put her hands behind her back. She had taken something for her headache, and she was feeling better than before. She looked around the room. She just waited for the things that would be coming.

Cassidy was not a man to hide his feelings, and the CIC felt like a war-room right then. He tried to not fidget with the sleeve of his uniform as he stepped through the doors and took his spot. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable with the plan or the prospect, but increasingly his time in Starfleet was becoming something he'd never much wanted it to be.

Cortez was next to walk in, making her way over to her own Intel console and looking ready for whatever happened. From all of her experiences, she knew better than to voice whatever her opinion was, so she just kept it quiet and waited for further instructions.

Having entered the CIC, Harry took his place. For him this was the pre battle meeting having his PADD ready to make notes during the meeting, he knew that his teams were ready for anything this time.

"I've studied this map, Lieutenant, yet what can you tell me about the situation on the ground?" West asked Jinn.

"From our reports of the initial Gorn attack, they bombarded our cities, so I'm not quite certain how many, if any, Federation survivors are still down there," Jinn replied, pointing at the cities on the map. "However, it would be utter foolishness for the Gorn to not have made use of the infrastructure already in place."

"Supposedly, the rumors are this planet is full of POW camps," West remarked.

"We can't plan this campaign on rumour," Jinn replied. "The best way to free any POWs is to take back the planet from the enemy."

The Betazoid stopped his finger on the capital city. "Onidon is surrounded by water, swamp and jungle. Environmentally and logistically-speaking, that would be the most logical place for them to have set up a staging post.

"Zelron and Xore are too far to the north and south, respectively, and the cold would probably have turned them away from choosing those spots. There's still a chance they may have picked one of the other, smaller cities, but my money's on Onidon."

"I thought the poles were Class Y?" West asked, rubbing his chin.

"Technically they are." Eriksson replied. "But the planet has a fairly unique core structure which means that the magnetic field is slightly less stable than comparable planets. It's pretty fascinating from a geological point of view..." He trailed off slightly. "But, uh, yeah. They're class Y..."

West nodded, recalling something about the demon parts of the planet. He smiled at the young scientist, more for being happy he remembered a "smart" fact.

"Canterra IV is a Class-L planet, though" Jinn replied. "Temperatures can drop to as low as -30 there, which is impressively high for a low, considering how far the planet is from the suns. The added elevations around quite a few of the cities makes them rather too cold for the Gorn. Onidon and Aresbury are the two cities with the most lowland setting, Onidon is closest to water and is thus more likely to be humid. I maintain it to be the most likely spot for a staging ground."

Harry wondered if the K9 division might be useful on this mission and wondered if a small unit might work, "would the dogs be of any help on the away mission?" He asked the question.

West looked at the Ensign, err Lieutenant Junior Grade now. "That's up to you, Lieutenant. As long as they can keep up," West smirked.

"Makes sense for them to have taken the central settlement, with spaceport, communication and manufacturing facilities" Bolingbroke commented. "Gives them a solid foundation to operate from and makes it tough for us"

"Agreed," West remarked. "The capital is gigantic though. My understanding is that it surrounds the lake. I worry there is no way for urban insertion without losing shuttles full of marines and if we insert too far on the outskirts, we're going to have to slog our way to the center."

"Far be it for me to tell you how to do your jobs, sir," Jinn replied. "Mine is to give you the best information for you to do your job. Anti-aircraft defenses are obviously a worry. I do believe there is a stolen shuttle sitting in the bay here that may be perfect to slip in ahead of time to try and covertly disable those, though. Just a thought."

Hargreaves stepped forward, gaze sweeping across the map. "There's likely to be a lot of anti-aircraft defences and we're going to have a lot of troops to land if we're looking to take a settlement this big - we should assume they have the numbers to defend it. One team can punch a hole in the defences, but that might make for a narrow window. We'll need to pick the a landing spot that favours us." She pointed in the direction of the lake. "We may be able to exploit them being under-prepared for amphibious warfare?"

"Do we know that?" Bolingbrook asked, concerned about making assumptions of an enemy they had scant knowledge of.

"We don't," Hargreaves allowed. "But setting up defences against such is resource-intensive; they may have prioritised aerial defence. I accept it's resource-intensive for us, too, and how good the Gorn are individually in deep bodies of water is a factor. There aren't a lot of places we can set down near the city they can't have crawling with ground troops once we're incoming, though. Landing forces of this size won't be subtle."

"Can the Aubrey withstand an amphibious landing?" West inquired.

"Pardon my bluntness," Jinn began, "But doesn't parking the shuttle in the middle of a lake defeat the purpose of our trying to be inconspicuous?"

West glared at Jinn. "The Aubrey is a Gorn shuttle. If it squawks Gorn codes, we can land a team in the lake, paint up whatever triple-A batteries we find, and then let the rest of the grunts land to take care of business. Or are you seeing something I am missing, Lieutenant?" West was stern, yet he understood the relationship with Intelligence. If Intelligence really wanted to kill you, they could and no one would be the wiser. Intelligence before combat was key.

Jinn raised an eyebrow. He didn't think it this was a very difficult concept, but here he was defending it. "Squawking codes is one thing, but if they don't normally hover shuttles over the lake, they may find it odd that one of their shuttles is doing so while a Federation fleet is bearing down on them. The whole point is to slip in unnoticed, which means not deviating from the norm."

West looked at the map again before looking back to Jinn. "It's a pretty big lake, Lieutenant," West said before checking himself. "Where would you suggest us landing instead?"

"Underestimating the Gorn's sensor capabilities probably isn't the wisest idea, big Lake or not," Jinn replied. "And I'm not proposing we 'land' the shuttle at all."

He pointed at the jungle close by and grinned. "I think it'd be a whole lot more convincing if, fleeing ahead of a Federation fleet, we gave her some battle damage and we 'crash' her instead."

Bolingbroke coughed. "I er ... think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here" The Intelligence officer was indeed now telling them how to do their jobs instead of providing information.

"The Gorn have been here for several months, we can expect them to have used that time to prepare defenses around the central site. With just over thirteen hundred Marines in the Battle Group, we do not have the personnel or equipment to take on a well defended target of that size.

"To attempt to do so as the first phase of retaking the planet would be.... folly.

"I believe we already have standard procedures for planetary assaults." He recounted the steps established during the Dominion War, steps learned the hard way and paid for in lives.

"Win the space battle, the Battle group has to defeat the Gorn defending ships;
Then win the orbital battle and take out orbital and ground based space weapons; Then orbital strikes on their command centers, supplies, transports, and so forth.

"Then we can start getting boots on the ground with a series of raids against strategic installations and hard points. We fight them where and when we chose, on our terms, not theirs. We preserve our limited numbers and use them to our best advantage.

"We don't have to kill every Gorn on Canterra, just remove their ability to fight effectively and we will not do that by with a Forlorn Hope assault against their strongest defenses the moment we enter orbit."

Bolingbroke flicked his eyes to West, trusting the Major would stick with the proven doctrine.

West nodded at Bolingbroke. His doctrine was sound. "I agree with you, Cap'n, yet I have a boss, too, and orders are to initiate landing as soon as we obtain stable orbit. The marine brass is concerned the ships aren't going to survive the space battle and they don't want marines to die sitting on ships, waiting to land," West paused to let that part sink in. "The plan is not to take any strongholds, yet paint up high priority targets and while the Gorn is distracted with the space battle, we can start to carve a beach head. The question is, which beach do we land on? I appreciate Intel's perspective, yet I do mean land, as I don't think we should blow up an enemy asset the first chance we use her."

"Very good sir" Bolingbroke nodded and stood back.

West studied the map some more. "What about the jungle to the west of Onidon?" he asked, returning to Jinn's earlier suggestion.

"That might work Sir," Gregor weighed in. "It provides some cover, but, I feel we shouldn't underestimate our enemy's resolve. The Gorn I've seen might not hesitate to torch the whole area to drive us out. Especially if you're concerned we might lose ships, I say it's important to consider orbital bombardment when establishing ground operations. The northern edge of the region, where the terrain becomes mountainous would be best, with engineering support we could establish hardened subterranean infrastructure, and maximize our resilience to enemy countermeasures. To that end, we may even want to consider the rocky country east of the lake, the wider area could allow us to spread out our assets, and be less vulnerable to a single targeted strike."

"If we're expecting to be at this beachhead for any time, that's got serious merit," Hargreaves agreed. "We don't yet know the numbers of enemy troops we're dealing with in a potentially fortified location and we hardly have overwhelming force of numbers ourselves. What we have are smaller groups of elite units. Land to be protected by the mountainous region as Lieutenant Goss says, and if there's a window we can make a push for the city. If not, we can conduct further ground reconnaissance when we're not in the middle of an orbital battle. Not to mention have possible time for infiltration to make contact with Federation citizens in the city for whatever information or assistance they can offer." She shrugged. "If we achieve domination in the space battle, then we can force the hand of the Gorn on the ground in other ways. If our orbital forces are weakened or even driven off or destroyed, the plan as-is has us in serious danger of being left behind. In which case it does us good to be bunked down, hidden and protected by the terrain, and able to conduct guerrilla-style insurgency assaults and intel gathering until someone's back for us." It sounded like a terrible prospect, said out loud like that, but if the Marines were disembarking before the outcome in orbit was decided, it was a real risk. Of course, Hargreaves said all of this in a level and flat way, as if discussing a minor inconvenience instead of possible mass slaughter.

"Orbital bombardment puts any Federation survivors at risk," Jinn replied, looking at Gregor. "The Major is the one who mentioned rumours of POW camps. Not knowing their locations makes any kind of orbital bombardment a risk."

He turned to look at Hargreaves. "The Gorn aren't stupid. They have to know they're most vulnerable from the mountainous region to the north. That's where I'd focus a lot of my ground to air defenses. I'm with the Major on this one, I recommend the jungle to the west."

"For the deployment of our Trojan Horse? It seems viable," Hargreaves agreed coolly. "For a beachhead we then carve out with a thousand Marines? I'm less convinced. I believe Lieutenant Goss was expressing concern that we may be vulnerable to orbital bombardment if we lose the space battle. The mountains offer some protection there. If it's protected by ground to air defences, we deploy our infiltration teams ahead to take out those defences, perhaps indeed approaching from the jungle. Then the bulk of our forces follow up to establish a beachhead in the hillside once we've punched that hole for them. It gives us a very narrow time window, I grant you. But either we establish a beachhead for over a thousand Marines or we're immediately assaulting the fortified city." Her level gaze made it unclear where preferences lay, merely the outlining of options.

"I can certainly get behind that plan," Jinn replied.

Bolingbroke listened to the other comments but nothing he heard persuaded him that there was sufficient benefit to deviate from combat proven planetary assault tactics. "Might I remind you gentlemen that you are suggesting disembarking thirteen hundred Marines from five starships during a spacebattle. Using shuttles that is some seventy trips of around forty minutes to an hour each, even with thirty shuttles that would take nearly three hours.

"At the end of that you have thirteen hundred Marines sat on the ground with food and water for three days, their personal weapons and four phaser batteries. Delivering further supplies and support personnel would be another what... eight, ten hours?

"At the end they have supplies for maybe three weeks and some tents to sleep in. So to land all the Marines with some basic supplies is at least a twelve hour operation.

"And all of that to be conducted during a space battle, assuming no mishaps and no Gorn interference. And that the battle lasts for the time needed to deploy the Marines.

"The reality of the situation is that if this Battlegroup cannot defeat the Gorn defensive ships then there is very little chance of being able to disembark even a small number of Marines.

"If the Battlegroup is destroyed, then whatever forces do make it to the surface will be isolated without supplies, replacement phaser batteries, munitions, medical support and transport, probably for three or four month before the Federation can organize another assault force. They would likely be combat-ineffective within ten days and spend the rest of the time trying to survive off the land while being hunted by the Gorn occupation force.

"Some of our special operations units could maybe survive, but Rifle Companies do not have the training or skill set and have simply too many personnel to disperse. Any shuttles that land with us would be easily located and destroyed.

"I submit that the success of this operation rests entirely on winning the space battle. The Marines should stay aboard, we can assist with boarding, counter boarding and damage control.

"The Battlegroup will also be more combat effective without limiting their mobility by having to disembark Marines in the middle of the fight.

"We stay here and help win or we fall with the Battlegroup. If we survive then we have the tactical advantage. We operate from orbit, using a succession of recon and commando raids against targets on the surface.

"As was mentioned, we do not know the situation on the surface, yet, We can deploy Force Recon units to paint targets for precise strikes from orbit rather than wide spread bombardment.

"Then we drop down, assault those targets, clear them of Gorn, ensure the Gorn cannot reuse those places and return to orbit. We use our limited numbers to our best advantage, we stay mobile and operate from the battlegroup, which already has all our support facilities.

"We can hit anywhere on the planet within a couple of hours, potentially multiple smaller targets simultaneously. We can keep the Gorn bunkered down and off balance while we chose the battles.

"But if we persist in trying to establish a beachhead and the Battlegroup is destroyed, then we will die on the ground anyway.

"We do not need to land and hold ground, we just need to stop the Gorn from being able to do so. We take out all of their smaller sites and force them back to the central settlement. Then we asses the situation and plan a final assault." Bolingbroke finished and again looked to West.

"I don't think we need reminding of anything, Captain," said Hargreaves in her still-neutral voice. "If we're told to take the hill right now, we figure out how to take the hill right now. If we get to debate the wider strategic picture then we're having an entirely different conversation, where we achieve space superiority and come back to the planning board with complete and comprehensive sensor readings on everything on the surface."

She leaned down and looked at the map. "If we now have the authority to change brass's plan and take the mass deployment off the table, but need to obey Command's directive to have some boots on the ground to secure some planetside foothold, then do we want to consider deploying MSOTs under some cover of battle. A surface presence to run recon and operations ahead of a full invasion, and in the worst case scenario of the battlegroup being driven out of Gorn space it's... an unpleasant prospect but has elite teams in place to potentially able to pave the way and gather intel for when Starfleet comes back for round two. So they have a chance of not being as blind as we are."

"Whether or not there is a space battle is a decision that will be made by Captain Tachibana and his officers once they know the strength of the Gorn ships." Bolingbroke replied "We've all heard the reports that this ship was originally sent to this conflict as a sacrificial lamb. I doubt Starfleet intend to repeat that mistake with an entire battlegroup. I also doubt he will even consider engaging the enemy unless there is a good chance of victory.

"But, since that decision is out of our hands, that is still a reasonable suggestion Lieutenant" Bolingbroke agreed "We could load Hargreaves and her Forth Team on to the Hilo fill the rest of the space with supplies and a long range transceiver. Launch them before we advance on the Gorn defense ships and they could hopefully slip through while the Gorn are distracted. Even if Captain Tachibana chooses to withdraw, it gives us an asset on the surface and fulfills part of our orders."

West had been intently listening to his officers. Part of command was listening to the subordinates to determine the best course of action.

"By-the-book Bolingbroke," West smirked. "Your plan is sound and I do support Hargreaves. This plan was clearly cooked up in a vacuum, likely by fleeters, no offense to present company, with no ground intelligence input. I think the initial survey teams can satisfy the intent of the order. I'll talk to the Colonel to re-calibrate our Air Tasking Orders to reflect the changes. Based on the discussion, I am thinking we go ahead and send 4th MSOT in the mountains, survey the terrain, and an air cavalry type landing in the jungle to follow. Thoughts?" West looked around for further discussion, particularly dissent.

"I have no objections," Gregor stated. "In addition, I'm trained for survival and difficult environments, my team and I can handle jungle operations if needed."

"Whatever it takes, sir," said Hargreaves crisply. "4th MSOT will be prepped and ready, and warned to buckle in for a long stay if needed." Whether she regretted making her own bed with this unappetizing mission or not, her expression remained level.

"Consider me along for the ride, at this point, Major," Jinn replied.

"I'll be there as well, Major, if you'll have me." Cortez added in, shooting Stevens a glare to make sure he knew

West paused, observing the interesting interaction between the fleeter Lieutenants. "Listen, I don't mind more coming along, but stay out of our way," he warned everyone.

Harry had looked over the Map with interest as he knew that he and one set or two sets of his teams would join the marines for this and that his teams had not trained for jungle warfare, so he would take his bow and some arrows with him just to be safe.

"This plan will require particular suppression of enemy air defenses," West noted, looking at the pilots. "We both need to coordinate with the Battle Group CAG."

"Absolutely," Jenny agreed. "We're ready to hit the Gorn fast and hard, and leave them wondering what happened, but pilots can't be replaced. So, if we're being sent in with bad intel, or not enough support, this whole plan is going to fall apart pretty fast."

"Well, we'll see how much of this plan survives first contact," West noted, remarking on the oft-used saying that no plan ever survives first contact.

"If we are looking to have Team 4 inserted covertly, Sir," Bolingbroke noted, "Sending in a squadron of fighters to escort them will only alert the Gorn to their presence. If Lieutenant Cassidy has a good pilot for the mission, they could drop into from orbit over the northern pole and fly south at nap-of-the-earth level." He pointed to the map on the screen "Be a bit rough in the polar region but once clear of there they should be able to come in well below those mountain peaks and stay off Gorn sensors."

"I have a couple of pilots I think can handle that," Cassidy confirmed, trying to keep the wistfulness out of his voice that he'd be at Hawaii's helm and not pulling off this sort of feat of derring-do. "Whichever one isn't on the Aubrey, I imagine."

"As long as it works. Class Y is known as demon-space, even I know that," West looked at the Lieutenant in red.

Cassidy gave a smile with a hint of tension. "You worry about the ground, Major. If I send you a pilot, it's a pilot who can hack it. Getting you there might not be easy, but we'll make it look easy, and then? We all get our war."

To be continued...

[OFF]

Juan J. Zamora, Cdr, SF
XO

Tolkath, Cdr, SF
2XO/CSO

Rafe Cassidy, LT, SF
CONN

Deeli Kosu, LT, SF
CHENG

T'Lara, LT, SF
CMO

Harry Stevens, Lt. JG, SF
CSEC/TAC

Lady Sif, SF
SWD, K9 Division

Jinn Tevran, Lt. JG, SF
CIO

Eira Cortez, Lt. JG, SF
AINT

Marcus Eriksson, Lt. JG, SF
ACSO

Geneviève 'Jenny' Lassonde, Lt. JG, SFFC
FLT 801/CO

Kojima 'Paperboy' Tanahashi, Ens., SFFC
FLT 801/XO

Terrance "Terry" West, Maj, SFMC
CO, 3d MRBN

Edward Bolingbroke, Capt, SFMC
BMSOC/CC

Eleanor Hargreaves, 1st LT, SFMC
4MSOT/TL

Gregor Goss, 1st LT, SFMC
3MSOT/TL