<<What happens when the two heads of XCGS get together? A lot of stuff to read to say the least!!
***JOINT ROLEPLAY POST*** (Loonie, IonMage) >>
LT_Oskari: ::as Oskari reviews several papers on his desk he rubs his head as some sweat runs down his face. Many things are on his mind right now, but soon enough he'll get a second opinion on them to help him decide on them. Such as that opinion may seem to the Lieutenant...::
SGT_Draco: ::Draco had placed her Rifle and other equipment off to the armory and other storage, and knew she was to head straight to the office after getting out of her mission gear. She got dressed up into a new off-duty uniform, then headed down to Oskaris 'office', or whatever room had been converted into it. She knocked the door and went in:: You called, sir? Debriefing, correct?
LT_Oskari: ::after the knock Oskari turned around and went out of his converted office into the main hallway of the Officer Quarters to meet up with the Sergeant. He quickly gestures with his hand back towards the office as he speaks:: Ah. Come in here Sergeant ::after which he left back into the office and took a seat behind his desk, typing out some details at his holocomputer whilst Draco proceeded behind him::
SGT_Draco: ::Draco followed the Lieutenant as he let her in. She pulled up a seat in front of his desk as he sat down. Oskari continued working on his computer, despite her having sat down. It was obvious that he had a lot of thinking to do:: *ahem*, sir, I know that I made a few errors on my last mission, but I want you to hear my end of the story.
LT_Oskari: ::before Draco could proceed Oskari cut her off:: We'll speak about that at the end of this meeting. First of all I want your opinion on certain issues if that's allright with you? ::he looked towards the Sergeant in a half inquisitive way, observing her response, both facially and vocally::
SGT_Draco: ::A little surprised he didn't want to get down to the debrief yet, Draco decided that playing along was best:: Very well. What are such issues?
LT_Oskari: The first of these is a peice of quite vital information, which I think you should keep in mind as your squad will continue with its missions. You should know that our scientific team has recovered the body of the imposter that was pretending to be me at the beginning of the last mission. "It" has been determined to be a hybrid, with its preliminary genetic structure matching that of those that were recovered during AW-I. This obviously means that the aliens have knowledge that Tranquility Base is somewhere in this region, as they no doubt sent him to sabotage our mission. The sectoid platoon, which almost killed off our sniper team, was also a part of this sabotage quite likely, as they would've ambushed us after the false "me" led the squad into a trap within the facility. I tell you this, because I want you to know that we have lost the element of surprise with the aliens. They now know that X-Com is nearby. Keep that in mind.
SGT_Draco: Very well. Personally, I got the idea we were detected when we were ambushed by artillery fire at the first morning after that extended mission. Why else would the enemy waste ammo on nothing if they didn't know we were there? Or be that accurate, for that matter?
LT_Oskari: Yes...about that. If you'll take a look at my de-brief of the entire operation it's been confirmed that the artillery was actually from Earth Force. They detected the alien transport landing and thought of hampering their efforts with artillery fire. This would quite likely be true since I've gotten several transcripts from them confirming this but that can be forged. The thing that's confirming this more is that aliens would've likely used plasma artilery instead of shells that have been determined date back to the 20th century.
SGT_Draco: Ah, true. That sounds like a viable belief. Now that you mention it, it was non-plasma... so it is confirmed we are detected then. Do we know if the aliens know our exact location? We captured some scientists from the cult last mission, brought in blindfolded to keep them from finding our location as we brought them in. We could interrogate them.
LT_Oskari: That we will Sergeant. And I doubt that they know our position, since if they did then you and I would quite likely be touring a slave camp by now........anyway. Onwards to the next thing I need to talk to you about. I've decided to promote a certain individual within your squad to Corporal if that is acceptable to you, whilst I'm also open to your opinion on the other soldier that I have a mind to promote him as well. The first of these, which I have a feeling you will agree with me, is Rina Delmar. During the last mission she turned out to be most skilled in delaying that platoon.
SGT_Draco: I cannot argue against the promoting of Delmar. She focuses well on her mission, and her performance was top-notch last mission. I would not have suspected anyone else to have succeeded where she did, in terms of taking down that many enemies. And the other would be?
LT_Oskari: Alexei Harris.
SGT_Draco: ::Somewhat surprised at the consideration:: Harris? Why? He may have some good combat abilities, but that is not the only thing that makes a soldier good. There is also the personality. He lets himself be controlled by his... cockyness too much. Also, his reliability. Though there haven't been any cases of him not following orders, I wouldn't be surprised if he did so some time in the future. And his record, namely the part when he broked into a secret laboratory to take a look at classified experiments, would indicate his roguish tendencies. Lastly, strategically. If I was to have two corporals, I would prefer to not have them both be the team snipers. See, snipers work in pair, and if I had to split my team in two AND I got incapacitated, then we would have a new leader for the 'sniper team', and the 'main team', rather than having the main team completely commanded by the sniper team.
LT_Oskari: I share your concerns on the sniper team and it has entered my mind as well. And to be perfectly frank I have a feeling that his cockyness will give us hard time in the future as well. However, it's not just about his combat abilities. Based on the reports he thinks very three-dimensionally when he's in combat, the proof of this is his excellent deployment of smoke grenades where it counted on both times. In my opinion he has an excellent perspective of what goes on in a battlefield, which would make him good with some command authority. But as I've said. I too am reserved about his promotion. So...it is your opinion that he should not be promoted yet?
SGT_Draco: Not yet, no. Maybe in the future, but not yet.
LT_Oskari: Very well then. In that case his promotion is suspended for the time being. Do you have anyone else on your squad in mind as being worthy of the corporal rank?
SGT_Draco: Not immediately, though there are those whom I think would go before Harris. Namely McAllister, who is rather concerned with the survival of the team. That, and she isn't all too bad in combat, for a medic. However, sometimes I think she is too concerned. She once seemed to want to treat even the trivial wounds, sometimes even risking herself, and we don't need higher ranking individuals risking themselves needlessly. I'm afraid that she'll be called upon to give orders, and be too obsessed over a patient. Not that focusing on a patient is a bad thing. No, no immediate promotions, though I wouldn't be surprised if we had another corporal sometime soon.
LT_Oskari: Very well then. In that event I'm suspending Harrises promotion to Corporal. But just to let you know that if he shows himself in an exemplary position again that's quite likely going to be enough for me to promote him. Now the only thing left for us to talk about is your...'incident'...on the second mission of your operation. Since you seemed eager to tell your side at the beginning why don't you do so right now.
SGT_Draco: *ahem* Very well sir. It started when we were ordered to go into enemy territory to gather materials. We were told that the area would be occuppied by enemies, and I went in under that belief. When we landed, we came in contact with the Earth Force squad, though I did not know it was Earth Force. The Earth Force was poorly equipped, so poorly equipped that it would be unlikely that an enemy of the enemy would be able to survive for long under it. Despite this, I issued a restraining order to follow along and identify themselves. At this point, they brandished what weaponry they had, when they could have ID'd themselves as EF. This gave me the personal belief that they were Cult of Sirius instead. I may have been wrong, but I was absolutely sure of it. In order to protect the squad, and in case any of them had a communications device to warn the whole damn town of our presence, I ordered the team to open fire. I will not lie, that is what happened.
LT_Oskari: ::Viktor nodded to himself in his mind slightly, but otherwise kept a still face. After Draco finished he began speaking slowly:: Sergeant...I believe you when you say that it was your personal belief that it was the cult in front of you. I have, or rather HAD, quite an...infamous reputation amongst my fellow officers that I allow my subordinate responsibles to take action overriding my own orders in some extreme cases. But at the same time, you must be aware of this. When you take that action, then you do it on your own prerrogative and deal with the consequences on your own, whatever they may be. Do you take full responsibilty for what happened?
SGT_Draco: Yes. But I want to note that I was not informed of their' true allegiance, and did it not out of desire to kill, but because I believed it necessarry to complete the mission without alerting the whole alien army, and with minimal casualties on our side.
LT_Oskari: I understand ::he says as he nodded slightly::. This is how we'll do this for future cases. You've had your chance to prove me right that you could make your own decision on the field about something, but since your last decision turned out to be false I want us to be clear on this following point. From this moment onwards, and until I determine that you are good enough to be allowed my privledge again, you are not to act on your own initiative regarding encountering an unknown force. Instead respond as that force responds to you. If they brandish their weapons you brandish yours. You do not preemptively strike at them. Are we clear? ::he finished with a face, intent on relaying that he is not backing down on this point::
SGT_Draco: ::Knowing that this meant that, too say it lightly, he would not tolerate such an incident again:: Yes sir. I understand.
LT_Oskari: Good. ::Oskari concluded:: Then in that case we are done for now. By the way...it's just occured to me that Delmar and Harris did preform the definition of what could qualify them for the Silver Arrow. Do you think that award would be appropriate for them?
SGT_Draco: Yes. I do not deny that they are worthy of that. ::Draco said as she got up:: As I said, I doubt any other average sniper team would have even survived what they just did.
LT_Oskari: Very well then. You are dismissed in that event. And Sergeant...despite what happened on that mission,...keep up the good work. ::he nodded slightly as he spoke that last sentence::
SGT_Draco: Yes sir. You too. ::Draco nodded back as she left the room::
LT_Oskari: Peice of cake. ::he said to himself as the doors shut themselves when Draco exited the quarters:: Now comes the tricky bit...being a BASE commander. ::he sighs at that thought and at the horrible amount of work he still has left...::
<<And that's all me laddies!

So you're all dead and knackered (as in tired) after the last mission quite likely, except for Harris of course who's now in a triage tent outside Tranquility being treated for his shoulder wound. Hope you write something this week...>>