There Is No Call We Do Not Answer [Night 2]

[Razar Lanville]

"I would place you in charge of one team and Bernard in charge of the other. I would place the majority of civilians with you for various reasons. Lydia, Cuyler and Miss Vim seem to have some rapport with each other, and Miss Vim and Lydia have acted stifled or resistant under military command, so they are far more likely to respect your civilian authority as heir to Atreides. I would assign Ambrose under Bernard to avoid tension between him and Miss Vim. Put Efren with Bernard for support and assign Hadrian to your team to spread out our engineering knowledge. Add Eileen and Dominic to Bernards team. I feel like the military team would be appropriate for drawing fire and striking at opposition command, while your team goes after the hostages. We can have Bernards team grab extra chutes from one thopter and airdrop close to the target just before my mission." Razar suggests.

[Kannon]

Paul was not too happy having a bunch of civilians to handle, but he couldn't refute Razar's logic.

"I'd need strong climbers on my team then, and Corporal looks like one. He also enjoys rapport with the Muadh, whose support might turn out to be crucial for this leg of the mission. You are a pilot, Sergeant Pantazis is another. Who's the third one?" He looked at Bernard if he felt capable. But it would be three people of rank on the thopters, and they needed a commander for the team at the pass...

"The airdrop could be a good idea if they are not watching the sky above the mountains that divide us from their valley and don't have ground batteries pointed in that direction. In the north they had them. And we know they have thopters of their own. Perhaps we should fly in from the outer mountain range... It would take more time to circumvent their perimeter to get positioned, but we could gain the advantage of surprise. If they down the thopter with explosives too early, we might not succeed."

[Efren Lanville]

Efren nodded at Paul’s suggestion. He agreed fully with the young lord’s assessment.

[Razar Lanville]

"Could probably swap Efren and Lydia on the teams."

He continues. "Could take the longer way around. But I don't think we have a dedicated third pilot. But if we're using one of the thopters as an airstrike vehicle we'll only need two pilots anyway. It's just a matter of me getting back to the group after my mission or recovering Duncan to ensure we have a second pilot, unless you had another pilot that you lost? I had been assuming you or Duncan were flying your thopter," Razar says, addressing the pilot situation.

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"I'm happy to fly whichever position I'm needed for. Your expertise might be better suited to keeping a thopter in the air Instructor. If I flew in the missile thopter, I might be able to join our ground forces after I eject and land. We could load it with some of the explosives if you want an even louder statement. Or maybe we could bait some those big manta birds to follow it to the encampment. Would add another layer of risk though, too many moving parts aren't great for a mission.

Are we keeping the thopters grounded where they are until we're ready to launch the attack, or should we go ahead and move to your thopter's location? I could collect those back at our base camp and head there once the new fuel cells are charged."

[Kannon]

"I was flying it, Captain, as part of my training. I think the solution is apparent. I will be on the explosive thopter and I will eject to hopefully join the extraction team on time. The Corporal will take the lead with the climbers. This way I will make sure neither of you makes an unnecessary sacrifice. This is what my father would do, put himself in danger for any of his men. You both must be in the air to fend off their thopters on my approach and wreak havoc on the ground once the camouflage goes down."

He let that set in.

"Now, timing will be everything, we must work that out. Including how and when we shall move thopters to the far mountain range once they are ready."

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"With all due respect sir, I may be needed more on the ground than you. I'm first a medic. There may be injuries among our assault team or the hostages. Tactically, it may be a better call for me to be the one to end up in the skirmish with them.

I will follow whatever orders are given. I'm merely offering another view of the tactical situation."

[Kannon]

Paul hesitated. He wasn't one to confuse bravery with unreason, and Ambrose's suggestion had merit. He looked at Razar to deliver a decisive argument on who of the three of them should be risking riding a glorified bomb and then counting on dropping in the right place. It was that, or drawing straws.

[A proposal how to divide people.]

Having got the nod from Razar, he relented. Soon, the team designation emerged.

"The tasks and timing then. The climbers must depart soon to prepare everything. Corporal, Sinsei Vim, the daughter of dr Xard Vim we're also about to rescue, has been living among the Muadh. She may assist you in getting things there on track. Finding the right climbing approach is key, we'll need to get the antenna as high as we can. Sergeant Pantazis is going to be busy getting us the thopters up and running, or rather running and up. If this one is already fliable, perhaps you could take it to the second mountain range already, Captain, test at what altitude we may be getting comms back, and get us staging ground there for the aerial assault. I'll show the path to the pass to Sergeant Martikova so he'd know how he has to prepare his team for putting on a show."

He rubbed his temples.

"The sequence now. When the antenna is on, the thopters hear it and it has sent the call to Atreides Landing, Captain or I visually signals the team at the pass from a far-flung angle. They do their worst, mobilise the enemy defences against them, and this is when we commence the aerial raid. This should draw them out. At this point we'll probably lose communication through the antenna, but the extraction team will know to descend into the compound which they will see from above if our explosives are successful. I don't like the risk of the cartel killing the hostages the moment they are attacked, but I hope Duncan can use the chaos to prevent the worst."

He looked at his father's men waiting for comments if this adds up. He had never planned a real military operation before, only theoretical models and simulations Hawat kept throwing at him.

"Walk me through the weak points and possible contingency planning."

[Razar Lanville]

"This is the moment to take the greatest risk to achieve our objectives. There is danger, but we cannot shy from it when we begin, because that is how we will lose. We must have courage and conviction to have a chance at bringing back our people and end this threat to those under the protection of Atreides," Razar says with a nod of agreement. "I'll head out to scout comms and a good landing spot. Just have to set up my explosive payload first."

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"Weak points and contingencies...

Well, we're relying on stealth to get two of our teams into place, but there's those eyes I've mentioned. They seem to have recording devices spread throughout the jungle to capture intruders. I don't see how they could receive any type of traditional signal to use them as remote detection devices. However, they have been modified beyond traditional. There could be some type of simple, shielded signal or have possibly even tapped into the unique energy that's powering it to send some pulse or irregularity that could be detected at their encampment.

They also might've harnessed that same energy as a weapon. As you've experienced, it is very effective at rendering our thopters inoperable. We should set a rally point in the event that they're grounded and we're separated."

[Kannon]

"What would you suggest as the rallying point then, Sergeant?" Paul traded places to be the one questioning, not proposing.

[Ambrose Pantazis]

"I... I'm not familiar with the area. The Muadh village is nearby is it not? That could be friendly territory for a secure fallback.

If we need to rally near the end of the mission or during, whichever side of the encampment is nearest the village I suppose. I would say the pass, but the battle there may be too heated."

[Kannon]

"We must designate another landmark. First, because barging into the Muadh sanctuary would violate the pledges of autonomy and safety we have made to those people." He looked at the Lanvilles, stewards of this land. "And second, because it is difficult to find and reach their place, I haven't been able to on my own. Third, because it would put many civilians at risk. Perhaps you can point us to something you have determined by observation or exploration, some standalone mountain, Captain? Corporal?"

[Razar Lanville]

"It should be someplace accessible to thopters, but not the clearing. Somewhere along the coast probably."

[Kannon]

"Except we don't know a nearby stretch of the coast free of manta birds." Paul look at Efren. "In the end, the most natural place to fall back to would be the antenna site. But to get us a spot with such properies would be yet another task for your team and the Muadh allies, Corporal."

[Efren Lanville]

“I would not try and bring the enemy to the locals if I could avoid it. Our possible short-term safety would result in their long-term peril.” He replied.

“There are a number of mountains where the peaks’ foliage is sparse along the range between the village and the target.”

He nodded affirmatively, “While we are atop the mountain we can see if there is sufficient space there. We can prepare a potential landing zone.”

[Kannon]

Paul looked at the young man with recognition, their stories having some similarities. They both had things to prove to their fathers. He nodded.

"So, one contingency may be in place. Anything else before we start acting?"

[Ambrose Pantazis]

Of course, Ambrose had a tacit understanding of the Muadh's standing with House Atreides but it hadn't crossed his mind at the moment, when he'd been put on the spot. Surely these were extenuating circumstances though. He listened as the others discussed options, wracking his own brain for some useful contribution.

After hearing from Efren, Ambrose had to ask, "Surely they would want to defend themselves. The cartel's been preying on them, picking off their people and doing unmentionable things to them. If we fail here, it's only a matter of time before their experiments reap the local population."

He wasn't aware of their pacifist philosophy and probably wouldn't understand even if it was explained. The concept was as incomprehensible to him as the workings of a guild navigator. Especially in the face of annihilation.

[Efren Lanville]

“They will not fight. Even to defend themselves. They live in harmony with their surroundings and forge a difficult living. But living is their goal… and taking human life is what they would avoid even at the cost of their own lives.”

He paused, “We are the ones that need to protect them from the unspeakable things. And help them to thrive and follow their nature.”

[Ambrose Pantazis]

The look of shock on Ambrose's face was not subtle. "That is... baffling? How could they stand by and do nothing? I mean, I can understand not choosing to fight, not everyone is cut out to be a soldier, to be a warrior, but if it's brought to your doorstep...

Even then, choose to give up your own life for your values, admirable. Are there not children, elderly in the village? Would truly none of them stand to protect those who cannot? If it meant the end of their existence, the end of their way of life, they would allow that to be snuffed out?"