Welcome to Gaia! ::

A seperate thread, so it doesn't get all mangled with the other plot. Considerate of me, no?

Location: The Town of Ariel, located 37 miles south by southwest of Barton Town's City Limits.

Ariel is a rural farming community for the most part. A quiet "Sleepy" place. Or it would be if it wasn't battle scarred. Months ago large, black, evil Beast God things rampaged through the town, and there is still signs of that night's destruction. Parts of the road that have been cratered (Though they are coned off and with all the appropriate flaggers and detours), the General Store which got turned into rubble, a few homes that got flattened, and some craters out in the field where stuff was Blown Up as near as anyone could tell.

The town's population is roughly estimated at 700, mostly families with women and children. Nearly 60% of the town work on tracts of farmland. Nearly every house has at least a few acres dedicated to crops, some more than others. Cattle and livestock are also common place.

The city was build around a single hub, a large reinforced Dome, the MagiTek Geomancy Reactor. A major power plant that supplies a large chunk of the nearby Gaian Energy Grid. The Power Plant, at surface level, measures 120 yards in Diameter, perfectly round, and 20 yards high at the dead center of the building. The vast bulk of the building, due to its nature, is underground. There are two entrances. The Vehicle Entrance, on the North side of the lot, which opens into a covered parking lot that takes up most of the Ground Level, and next to the garage a "Business Entrance" into the lobby. There are a set of elevators in the Parking Garage that go down to the working levels.

Almost all of the other 40% of the town work at the Reactor.

Of other places of note is the home of Robert Dessix. A local legend of sorts. The defacto 'law' in the small town. Trusted for his good judgement, and his ability to handle most minor problems like random werewolves, swordsmen, and soldiers run amok. His home is on the very south end of the village, and where most people run to when they're trouble. His compound doesn't look like much. A 10 acre lot fenced in, with one small house on it, and one large barn. Some overgrown fields, not very impressive, and not much to differentiate his home from any others.


Layout of the Town.

There is one major road in town. It goes North, to Barton, or South, towards the Reactor. The Road ends at the reactor. It's the only Paved road in the town. Most people just use gravel or dirt packed tracks to make their Driveways and Private Roads. Despite this lack of Paved Streets, most everyone in town has a car. Even those that are practically shut ins. Most people don't drive here though, content to just walk to where they need to go. (Exception being Power Plant Employees, who always drive. Easier to get in from the Parking Lot than the Lobby)

The town relatively flatland in the north, grassy fields being the norm, or orchards, while it gets more and more hilly towards the south. Past the southern Edge of town, where Robert Dessix makes his home, the hills start to turn into the Barton Mountain Range, densely forested, mostly untamed, forming a U shape around the southern border, creeping up the east and western town limits.

The Wooded Foothills provide a commanding view of the town, it being only a quarter of a mile to the lands of Robert Dessix from the treeline, and only 1.5 miles to the Power Plant....


Current Weather Condition: Overcast, 10% chance of evening Rain.

Current Time: 8:47 PM

Current Town Condition: Hell Breaking Loose.

Rachele was not at her desk when the call had come in. She was offduty, and she was enjoying one of her three favorite activities: night swimming. The GNG's Recruitment Center had been upgraded recently, and one of the benefits had been a new olympic-sized swimming pool. At her request, it had been built in a nontraditional shape, "to more accurately simulate dive-to-shore operations". The pool seemed more like the entrance to a lagoon now, specifically, like a forested version of the Gaicelandic Blue Lagoon: white water, muddy bottomed, with black, irregular jutting rocks piercing the surface, sparsely dotted with foliage. One of the largest such outcroppings played host to a small waterfall, and it was next to this that she was currently resting, blue eyes closed, red hair plastered against her head and neck. And though it was technically a public place, she wasn't wearing her swimsuit.

Footsteps behind her, in the sand and gravel. "Captain, call came in from the town of Ariel. They're under attack." His voice was about as much sand and gravel as the ground he stood on, though it also held a strong note of quiet urgency.

She closed her hands into fists that squished the loose mud between her fingers. So soon after the uprisings? "Ready the response unit." The upgrades to the recruitment center had come after those uprisings, though those upgrades had not so much been targeted at updating the facilities as much as to support a new response unit, one which Rachele was ordering into action now. She stood, her back still to the man behind her. "I'll be joining them."

"Yes ma'am." She heard the heavy footfalls as he ran off, and hurriedly pulled on her clothes.

EDIT -MAC Cannon Statistics updated, I originally overestimated Mass of projectiles at 2000 Tons...they're only 600, allowing for more rounds to be carried. MAC cannon information is available here



[Geo-Synchronous Orbit over Barton - Bridge of GNV Archangel - Captain Lucas Alexander]

A communications officer's head snapped up as she turned around to address Lucas. "Sir, I'm recieving reports of a large assault force encompassing the town or Ariel. Artillery reports have been heard by spotters stationed in Barton."

Lucas was busy looking at the viewscreen of his captain's chair, watching the shadows begin to fall over Gaia as the sun set. "Get Somebody from the recruitment center on the line, I want to know what's going on immediately."

The comm officer brought up a secure transmission frequency and hailed the recruitment center, hoping to find someone in charge.

Soon enough it was clear what their target was. At least, if it wasn't clear enough from the layout of the town as is. The line seemed to be forming up into some crude wedge as the faster of the soldiers took the point. The wedge was driving right towards the power plant. Those civilians who were in the way were ignored, they ran right past them. No one on either side said a thing, the only sounds were the booms of the artillery in the distance, still shelling the northern edge of the town, turning tha tland into a broken hellhole no mans land.

The point of the spear was nearly at the reactor's gates now.

<> The fighter pilot spoke calmly into his radio. <>

The RPR-100's engines screamed as the aerospace craft launched from the bay of the Archangel. The pilot pushed the throttle full and held on tight for the ride into the atmosphere. In a matter of seconds the fighter broke through the clouds and shot over the power plant, the onboard camera snapped up numerous photos which the pilot transmitted directly to the recruitment center for use. <> He quickly banked the craft for a 180 degree turn and shot back towards the Archangel.

[Bridge - GNV Archangel]

Captain Alexander inspected the recon photos closely. The spearhead was moving quickly on the powerplant, that was obvious, but why? Why was this force striking the civilian power network and yet not attacking any of the innocents which had stood in their way en route to the plant.

"Sir we are within maximum weapons range now, awaiting further orders." The weapons officer alerted him as his keyboard lit up in front of him, the computer displaying a screen which waited for firing solutions.

"Hold your fire for now, I wanna know where they're going." Lucas replied.

The thought crossed Lucas's mind in an instant as he watched the feed end. He could wipe out almost the entire enemy force in one massive attack on the power plant. He quickly shook off the idea though, it wasn't worth risking a mistake. Plus, if he took out the plant, much of the area would lose power, something he was trying to avoid.

He stood silently and moved across the bridge to stand behind his weapons officer. "What are the odds that you can put a MAC round through that plant without doing too much damage?"

"Slim to none, Sir." He replied.

"And what about a missile assault?" The captain questioned, trying to go through all of his offensive options.

"I'm sorry Sir, we lack the proper weapons to do what you're hoping for." The officer answered, trying to figure out any possibility of attack.

The Captain settled back into his chair solemnly, his resources were of little use in this situation.

Approaching Enemy Perimeter, Blue Knight.

The indicator blinked as Rachele's HUD overlaid the satellite image on her field of view, including white with blue bordered triangles indicating the response group's forces. That was quite the group.

The two Dragonhawks roared in, chainguns blazing, as they swooped down to drop their payloads: the two remote operated main battle tanks. The deep blue VF-1s streaked past and overhead, that Gaian Navy developed gunpod shredding the air with a ear-rending staccato. Four headlasers raked the ground troops as the veritech switched to Guardian, and launched two short range smoke missiles into the thickest concentrations of enemy forces. A single high explosive SRM followed, targeted at the area where there was enough enemy to warrant it and few if any civilian buildings to be damaged by the blast. It was cover fire, for the brief time that the four other vehicles in her unit were vulnerable.

<>