Union of Independant Worlds IC Roleplaying Thread

[Cannonshop]

Gray's Hill, Winter system, 14 September, 3091...

"Got a fresh data-dump from the Item project."  Officer Shara Nilssen tapped a key, and the display unfolded, "Looks like more than four months in-transit, they started somewhere down near the Free Worlds border, and took the long way around-which means more than six months, if this data's right-that ship's galleys were running on fumes."

"What do you mean, fumes?" AD Joanne Ptochy asked.

"Well, most of her cargo area was stuffed with munitions." the Officer said, "that's confirmed by a physical count-they were carrying a lot of ammo, but for the size of force they projected in the Kowloon system that ship wasn't carrying enough food.  Figure the other warships-maybe the Nightlord or the Fox, were carrying the beans and air-bottles, 'cause so far, nav records don't show any grocery shopping...but then, the slicers are through about one-point-five percent of the data that hull was carrying in her databanks-but the physical count in her stores showed she wasn't carrying spare groceries or fuel-spare parts, guns, ammo, yeah-but not enough of the beans and blankets...bad news, is that they cleared through Sector 1212 on the way in-which is Winter, Jerangle, and Trentham-and nobody saw them come in-our guys missed them."

"How the fuck did they miss a Jump Sig THAT goddamned big??"

[Cannonshop]

Ngo Summerhouse, Minsky's Folly...

"...prisoners still aren't talking.  What do you want done with them?"  Evelyn Mosovich asked.

"hmmm...we have a Davion guest." Amanda said, "which means we have to be nice.  Nobody is using torture yet?" she asked.

"You ordered it, I agree with that order-torture just gets a man to say something-anything, lies even, to make it stop." Evelyn agreed.

"Yeah." the Duchess of Kowloon looked thoughtful, "Spread 'em out-put them to work in the children's morgues, I want the prisoners working with the people they and their colleagues killed, handling the aftermath of hte bombardment with their own hands, seeing the faces...and have threshold doses of LSD-25 put into their food and drink, and sensory-dep with mild stims when they're off-shift.  These people are human beings-they may be conditioned, but they're still human, and the one thing about being shipboard that is different from ground-pounding, is that shipcrew rarely if ever see the aftermath with their own eyes-they're used to being insulated from the consequences, someone is going to break doing that-seeing that.  I want the ones that will break.  The ones that don't, well...they might still have some use.  Keep the Prisoners isolated from each other before, and during work shifts, and after-all I want them to see, are their guards, the dead kids, and maybe other aid workers and grieving families."

"Jesus, that's...diabolical."  Mosovich said.

"I hope it is.  forget torturing the body, Auntie Ev, I want to torture their minds-I want to see if any of these bastards are capable of empathy, and then, I intend to use that on them."

[Cannonshop]

Autopsy lab, CG station Spider Moon, Kowloon system...

"...extensive cybernetic augmentation, including what appears to be a reciever/transmitter slaved directly into the central nervous system.  It is difficult to ascertain the body's true age, as there are signs of extensive skeletal modification as well as limb replacement.  Some of this stuff is pretty advanced, and all of it is deep-intrusive, given the presence of what appear to be connectors penetrating hte blood/brain barrier, they were either trying for an enhanced mental capacity, or trying to create some kind of direct neural link for communications."

Sophie Cham stopped typing for a moment, and looked at the corpse of 'Admiral' Eremiel Artemev.  "Some of the placement is similar to my early work in speech-and-hearing augmentation for persons born with my birth defect.  assuming similarity in human brain structure, 'admiral' Artemev may well have been born without hearing or vocal speech ability-like I was.  Whoever did the work obviously did not give up on it as a worthless pursuit.  I can't imagine someone being willing to subject themselves to that deep a surgical alteration otherwise-though, to be fair, how would she have gotten to a level of competency fitting with the age of the tissues disturbed by the implants?  I gave up on it because I didn't NEED it, I function fine without.  Makes me think she wasn't born different, she just chose it."
Sophie Stopped, and deleted several strings from the report.  Nobody would be interested in moral judgements.

She pulled up a screen from the prelim scan.

"Inner Ear is intact, but there is the presence of additional, artificial strucutures....they must have been trying for some kind of near-telepathy communications form." she wrote on her report, "Vocal structure of the Larynx is modified.  Similarly, there are numerous connections to what might be the motor cortex or reasoning centres of the brain, depending on development.  Cyberwork in the body is extensive, several systems are definitely unusual.  Project 97% probability that all this work was elective in nature, most of it exceeds what is known to have been the capability of Star League medical research, but not outside teh potential capacity of the Terran Hegemony, Clans, or the capability of the former NIOPS Association-the fact that it IS elective indicates some interesting possibilities.  The presence of reciever/transmitter debris inside the body may indicate a means to attack or disrupt them.  Recommend extensive medical examinations of all captured personnel.  If I am right, we will only find these sorts of modifications among higher-level command personnel-meaning it will likely NOT be present in captured crewmen, but MAY reflect some rank-associated 'benefit'."

She looked at the dissected corpse, and the equipment and pieces of equipment pulled from it.

"Recommend a faraday-caged lab and two slicers of CX or higher rating, Hypothesis: the enemy makes use of direct wireless in their command network, it may be possible to spam that network and degrade or disable enemy command personnel through their implants.  tests will require reconstruction of these implants, assembly of appropriate power-sources, and a signal-caged area to run testing."

[Cannonshop]

To: Duchess Amanda Ngo, Kowloon
From: Archduchess Debra MacAulliffe, Union of Independent Worlds
RE:guests

I got your memo on your decision regards prisoners.  I can't say I'm entirely pleased, and I hope you're taking adequate precautions, but I am damn glad you haven't decided to play to the stereotype-last thing we need right now, is the bad press from a severed garden, so I hope you keep that in mind when you've sifted out the hardcases.   You're going to be getting visitors from the Free Worlds, plus Victor Steiner-Davion, and a delegation from the Dominion.  I hope you're in better shape than you were on the holovids-how in hell you bullied your doctors into letting you out with those injuries I don't know, but what I do know, as your Liege Lord, is that I don't want to attend your funeral on account of you trying to be the second coming of your mother.  I was at Elizabeth Ngo's funeral, I don't need to be at Yours too.

I'm borrowing your Brother to run the Seven team for the rest of the month, sooner or later your ranting about our Falcon friends is going to generate a fuss, and while I'm fair certain that they won't go looking for an emotionally distraught cripple, that just lines up someone else to clean up behind you...and the buck stops here, so I expect we'll be hearing from them about your public statements.  For now, keep your mouth shut on the subject, and let me do my job.  No more hauling off to scold foreign governments, and no more open criticism of foreign governments with whom we have major commercial and military dealings.  The official position is that the Government is not assigning blame-and if pressed, you are to insist that it is the fault of a single officer, not a reflection on our allies.   You will keep that line until I tell you that you're allowed to have a different opinion, or until you're healthy enough to knock me out of this office, understand?

Foreign Relations are MY job when it comes to nations we already have agreements with.  I will deal with the Falcons, you focus on not offending anyone new, savvy?

And get healthy. 

Deb.

[Cannonshop]

MacAulliffe Farm, Arluna...

"...I should fuckin' knight you."  The Archduchess was 'righteiously' drunk.  "You scht-stopped a fuckin' riot."  she added.

"Yeah...about that."  Major Joshua Ngo adjusted his new rank.  "You and I both know it's going to happen again, or something LIKE it is going to happen again."

"Yep...which is why I'm getting drunk tonight."  Debbie said, "They outnumber us.  Most of the places they outnumber us, they also have better gear...and it won't mean a fucking thing if the Blood come back, because they won't fight the Blood.  They'll fight US for pointing it out-we're small, they have perfect intel on everything we send through the comms WE hired 'em to run...and they will fold up if those psychotic-cyborg bastards come back, leaving us pretty much the way they already did at Kowloon...and there's not shit we can do about it-we either do damage-control and keep quiet so we can fight the Blood, or we end up fighting the Blood, AND the Falcons-nobody yet has won a two-front war where both opponents had them as outnumbered, forget out-gunned, as we are."

"So you think Amanda's right?" he asked her.

"I know she is." Deb replied, "I got the memo loud and clear...pass me another jar, I think I killed this one..."  he slid a canning jar filled with heavy, brown beer across the picnic table, as his Sovereign continued.  "You did too-they sure as fuck weren't asking where the 'Not Named' went, they were right ready to light up civilians over the fact that someone out there, accurately described what happened-they don't have the balls to fight the enemy, tell me, did they bid down when you turned up in machines twenty to forty tonnes lighter than theirs?"

"Nope." Joshua admitted, "I think they realized the whole mountain was monitored, though-they stuck thoroughly to 'ritual' otherwise, hell, they could probably make the argument that they needed the mass because I showed up with a team of 'ringers'."

"Do you really think they'd have done different against regulars? SERIOUSLY??" she asked.

"Not sure.  I think the Turkina pilot, and maybe Malthus would've followed the same rules-we played it straight-edge by Clan rules ourselves, remember...not sure about the others-but honestly? they used Elite troops to threaten civilians, in Assault-class machines, to pick a duel with what amounts to 'occupant'-That either means they think we're a hell of a lot better than my last review of local training standards, or they wanted to reassure their own folk that they take these 'rumours' seriously-not in the content, mind, but rather, in the retention  of public 'face'...and you're right, we can't fight two wars simultaneously-what are you doing about the Spirit Cat front?"

"There ain't one." Debbie said, "Not until they decide there IS one...I'm half tempted to send someone with some of hte info from that Leviathan, see if maybe the Cats were really serious about looking for Word of Blake, or if they were just playacting as an excuse and got bit."

Joshua slugged down his own, "Personal favour, Your Grace-don't send ME on that ride."

"I was thinkin' about sending my son." Debbie said, "He's kind of...distraught over recent events.  Seeing his heroes turn out to be...less than he'd hoped probably has a lot to do with it."

Joshua snorted, and shook his head, "Yeah...whatever, he'll grow up out of it, or he won't-I know from experience."

"I forgot-the biography on General Wolf..." she said sadly.

"Yeah, that's part of it, part of it is seeing what's become of that half of my heritage."  he said, "Unless you've been suddenly swamped in offers from the Dragoons to join the fight..."

"No such luck." she said.

"Don't expect there will be-they fight for pay." Joshua said, "If we are REALLY lucky, the enemy won't be hiring them."

"It was a mistake, wasn't it?" she asked, "Hiring Marine units out, I mean..."

"Yep." Joshua told her, "I do believe it was.  Sure, the country got quite a bit for it-but... maybe we could've done as well without it...what about my Sister?" he asked.

"I'm letting her run her lead out." Debra said, "With advice, but in general terms, I am going to let her say the things I can't afford to, to the people I can't afford to say them to-and playing damage-control on the sideline while we get things reoriented to fight this new enemy...which means, to-morrow, hung over or not, I'll have to be back in the office, telling the press 'no comment' and variations on that theme."

"That include that very-valuable warship?" he asked.

"Valuable only for what we can learn about the enemy from it." she interjected, "That one, the wrecked Whirlwind, and whatever we can get off anyone else who's been hit-I'll tell you this-I'd as soon see Amanda order it de-orbited into a star, than hand it over to someone I can't trust to be on our side."

"Hear here." Joshua said, raising his mason-jar glass in a mock salute.

[Cannonshop]

Dinh Diep Valley...September 30, 3091

Amanda Ngo crossed her arms, and watched as the construction crews worked.  The spring thaw had been nearly as bad as predicted, and it was still a fairly chilly 14 degrees C.

"Duchess? Are you sure you want to do this?"  Kelli Whyte asked, as the flatbed arrived with sharpened Blue-wood stakes, six meters long and tapered to a 5mm point.

"I have the judgement." Amanda said, "The legal right to do it."

"Yes, and it's going to alienate a lot of people." Kelli said.

Amanda looked over at her assistant.  "Who?" she asked rhetorically, "They've all seen what these people did..." she paused, and adjusted her chair, "Who's going to object, we'll give them a fair trial first-and after that fair trial, now that we know the ones that won't bend, the ones that, after handling the aftermath, the bodies of the dead, have no remorse? we'll see them convicted, and they'll be executed.  There is not ONE nation in the Inner Sphere, or the Clans, that does not have Capital Punishment for these kind of crimes."

"It's Impalement, Your Grace." Kelli said.

"Only for the real psychopaths, Kelli." Amanda said, "The ones that deserve it."

[Cannonshop]

My Dear Brother Joshua,

I hope you've fully recovered from your little duelling episode. 
We found Maria's body yesterday.
The coroner confirmed that she was pregnant when the wave hit.
I'm sorry.
I still have teams searching for your sons, and we're going through lists of recently orphaned kids in hopes that one of them will turn up...
but it's been several months now.  I am not hopeful.

You should have told me you were keeping a family on the sly, Josh...if any of them survived, that's someone who might be able to step up,
if I die and you're not available, it would have been much, much better to know about this while I could actually get to KNOW them.

I have, with Kelli's help, kept this out of the newsies...for now.  but god-damn you for hiding this from me-if I had KNOWN about it in June, I might've been able to make
sure that they were upland when it was clear the Enemy was lining up to do Orbomb.

On a related note, I obtained a Supreme Court ruling clearing the way to punish some of the ones responsible in a manner more or less suitably traditional.  Don't worry, they'll get a fair trial before I post them up.

Amanda

[Cannonshop]

Archducal Office, Congress Building, Arluna...

"...may be a little unbalanced for the role, Your Grace."  Kelli Fitz, the Director of OSS, told Deb.
"Whut'd yuh 'spect? Her Home'orld was 'taccked, mill'uns dead..." Kelli replied-at four in the morning, and alone, she dropped the cultivated speaking style rather more often than not.
"Your Grace, Joshua's a touch more clever than anyone outside the Corps thought-he had a mistress in New Saigon...and they had a family-of sorts." Kelli said, "We knew about the Mistress, but it took gene-testing the phoetus to determine he'd actually parented..." Kelli's tone was a little horrified even as she said it.  "Extrapolation by the Synagogue's genome researchers show that the unborn child bore traits rather close to exactly like the two older children."
"Who is..who was she?" Kelli asked.

"Civilian employee at the New Saigon naval annex-I believe the title is 'fileclerk'.  They kept it a secret...somehow." Kelli told her.

"Jesus...sweet jesus...he knows?" She asked.

Kelli dropped the letter on the desk, "We intercepted it." she said.

"Broke th' law." Debra said, clarifying, "Interfered in the mails..."

"Yes, Your Grace." Kelli told the Archduchess.  "this is a copy-do I send it on?"

"How's your agent say 'manda's doing?" Kelli asked.

"Fit to be tied, angry, vengeful...she intends to carry out the first round of executions herself."  Kelli said, "Our man in her med department's using inhibitor drugs to slow her healing, if she can't stand up, she can't...do what Liz would have done."

"We both KNEW Liz." Deb said, "How far is Amanda from turning into her?"

"About fifteen bad prescription habits and an alcohol problem away." Kelli said, "Best guess.  Liz was ill-dying, Amanda's healthy.  I'd prefer she stay that way."

"Get her off the inhibitors-she wants revenge.  Joshua's going to want it too-an' they got dam good reasons for wantin' it...I'll twist arms in Congress to get that stupid law barring Nobles from active duty reversed-tell your people I need Amanda Ngo, Healthy, and ready to fight, no less than six months from now."

[Cannonshop]

Winter System, UIS Brenda Holostar, November, 3091...

At this distance, Winter's star was a tiny pinprick of light, barely bigger than the stellar background around it.   among the dust and cometary fragments, a sensor ping showed something more substantial.    Ensign Hong Trie tapped her thrusters, and cranked the Hellcat II's sensors up to maximum gain.

"Làm tình tôi. Đó là một cơ sở!." the sensor returns showed a complex of 'universal' storage containers-similar to the fuel-tanks and helium-tanks of several jump-ships, clustered together in an interlacing structure with what were clearly graving docks designed for large vessels.

"Lời nói lần nữa, Kiếm lưỡi cong Bốn?"  the voice of the CAG was tinny in her audio pickups.

The sensors showed movement of what had to be automated systems. 
"Tôi nói, Tôi tìm thấy một Cơ sở đế quốc chủ nghĩa!!"  she announced.   "Tôi nhắn tới bạn bây giờ trên sự định vị (vị trí) (của) nó! Nó được tự động hóa... Tôi không nghĩ rằng bất cứ ai tại nhà."

The Bingo-fuel alarm sounded, and she obediently turned back-to return to the relative safety of the Quetzcoatl-class carrier, the on-board inertial guidance systems tracing every movement from the place she'd found the base, back to the carrier, with its stocks of fuel, ammunition, and equipment.

[Cannonshop]

Holding Cells, Lam Duk, Kowloon...

Manh Lu Brown showed her identicard at the gate, and waited for the Coast-Guardsman on duty to get the okay from his commanding officer.

"So...you drew the dirty ticket then?"  Lt. Hong Lian Chu asked.

"I did. Per the law, I get to see my client." she growled.

"High-powered corporate, aren't ya? Not normal taking pro-bono like this." the Lt. said, leading her into the prison complex.

"The accused is facing capital charges, Leutenant." Manh Lu told him, "and yes, I drew the dirty ticket, I require privacy to consult with my client."

"Sucks to be you." Lt. Chu said amiably, "Personally, I've heard Her Grace herself wants this one put at attention, Elbar-style.  When that day comes, I intend to be watching it with a bowl of popcorn and a case of beer."

the lawyer snorted, "I'd put a hold on that beer, Leutenant-I have never lost a case, I don't intend to start now."

"HOW can you defend this fucker?" the Leutenant asked, looking slightly disgusted.

"The Accused has a right to competent legal representation and a fair trial, Leutenant, regardless of what they are accused of, regardless of religion, ethnic background, political affiliation or personal habits."  Manh told him harshly, "I am an extremely competent representation, which is fitting, given the severe nature of the crime, wouldn't you say?  Wouldn't you say this man-or-woman has a right to the same quality of lawyer as any serial killer, child molester, pirate, or embezzler?" she nodded to the armored door, "He might not even be guilty of anything worse than being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  I'm going to do my job."


The door to the visitor area hissed open, and Manh Lu walked in.

Her 'client' was restrained-physically.

"Adept Gordon Fitz?" Manh Lu asked, "I am your lawyer.  Do you know what you're facing?"

[Cannonshop]

Dirtside, 3rd Force Recon Battalion...

"We've got orders...and they don't include releasing you from Service, Corporal MacAulliffe."  Major Julio "Doc" Fransico looked up, "Captain Jimenez, I want you to witness this..."

He stood up, "I am rejecting your application for promotion to Sargeant.  Your squad mates hate you, your Ell-Tee says you're insubordinate, arrogant, a loudmouth, and you're all too willing to pick fights over piddly shit.  If you weren't almost as good a 'mech pilot as you think you are, I'd have bounced you before that little act of Congressional insanity...an act that no longer has any meaning, since we're in a Declared state of war."

He clasped his hands behind his back, "Forty five days restriction to barracks. No Leave will be accrued, forty five days half-pay, no bonuses, ninety days no favourable actions, and you're transferred from Alpha Company, to Delta Company-Captain Jimenez is skilled at recovering borderline cases, but bear this in mind, you little snot..."

He leaned forward, forcing his eyes into the young man's 'personal' space, "You fuck up again like you did on that last mission, I have the paperwork completed to bounce you with a full Dishonourable Discharge, the whole 'big chicken dinner'...Somehow, I doubt your estranged Daddy would appreciate having a son so fucked up that he got tossed from an inner Sphere line unit, onto civvy street, with no prospects.  Am I penetrating that thick skull of yours, Corporal?"

"You did not take a stripe." MacAulliffe said.

"No, I didn't.  That's what I'll do if you fuck up only a little bit."  Major Francisco said with an acidic smile, "For instance, if I find out you've been shamming your detail time onto your squaddies, turning up unfit or out of uniform for day-room duty, or picking fights with the Infantry again-you don't want to know what I'll do if I hear you stuck your dick somewhere it didn't belong-go to your locker, grab your shit, and report to Captain Jimenez and Gunny Trung...dismissed."

After Corporal MacAulliffe left, Cpt. Jimenez looked at the Major.

"Sir, he's the son of the Archduchess..." he began.

"So what?" Major Francisco shrugged, "I worked with her back when she was just Debbie Mac, back when we were still hauling bodies out of Grantsville and burning them after the Plague.  She knows me, and she answers letters-I've been in some contact with her over her boy since he first showed up back in January, all ferret reflexes, oversensitive ego and bad attitude-she told me I've got a free hand to straighten his sorry ass out, so that's-a-what-I'm-a-gonna-do."

Jimenez digested this, "So...sir, what're MY limits?"

Francisco shrugged, "Don't leave any marks that show.  Past that, use your best judgement-You've got ME to backstop you."

"Aye-Aye sir."

[Cannonshop]

High Road 2, Sector 512...

The airwaves were a mishmash of English, Vietnamese, German, Dutch, and "Barrio" Arlunan Spanish.  To an outsider, the radio traffic would be horribly difficult to understand-especially when elements of all are being spoken, in the same sentence, by the same transmitting source.  In the Union, military service, specifically service in the Marines, or the Fleet, was still seen by the majority of citizens as a means of access to a better life-a tradition for most of them dating to long before the Arluna Flu, long before the Lyran Commonwealth had proven too unstable and House Steiner too self-absorbed to protect them.  The poorest worlds of the former Commonwealth had become, if not the wealthiest fragment of that empire, a viable nation, with many cultures, but one feeling of Nationhood.

That Nation was currently VERY angry.

Preparations were underway now.  The reports had come back, the Enemy's home was known, the trail to that home was revealed, all that remained, was to assemble a fitting counter-strike, follow the Enemy's path back to his homeworld, and deliver the blow.

The Yards at High Road 2 were busy-refining hydrogen and filling 'bladder tanks'-the path to the enemy meant a lot of 'deep space' jumps, jumping into places that a solar sail would take YEARS to recharge a drive.  Some optimism at the prospect of finding more enemy 'magazine sites' existed, but it was tempered with the realist's caution-the Enemy might have left those automated bases, but he might be waiting for them there, too...

and that was, on balance, viewed as just fine.  The force that would assemble to the attack, was composed of Marines, and Sailors, and a message had to be sent.

Assembly of the fleet was going to take time-messages to recall recon ships, and the necessary 'collier' fittings that would allow a task-force to travel deep into inhabited space without being detected had to be assembled.  AFter which, the movement and placement of fuel and spare parts in caches ahead of the main body would begin.  

There had been no response from the Lyrans, Safe passage would not be guaranteed.
it was assumed no allies would be coming along.
There was no response from the Free Worlders-their civil war consumed them all.

In wardrooms and day rooms, Marines and Naval officers discussed who else might be approached-for an enemy that could field the force that struck Kowloon was a powerful foe indeed, but it was agreed that, for the time being, the plan and preparation had to go forward on the assumption that the Union would be going in alone, and so... preparations continued on that assumption.

[Fatebringer]

There was no reply from the Snow Ravens, so it was assumed no allies would be coming along.

OOC: VIP is still there and would be open to coordination.

[Cannonshop]

[ooc]Gotta get to work soon, I'll edit in a fix to the text then.  Watch the PM box.[/ooc]

[Cannonshop]

Spider Moon Coast Guard Naval Air Station, Kowloon system...

The spare facilities were blessed in one way-a people forged in almost perpetual rebellion keep secrets, and until very recently, in the last twenty years, the base on Spider Moon was barely a blip on the consciousness of even the most avid outsider students of the region.  Within this oversized asteroid, were the collected memories of a world that had resisted outside domination almost from its first founding.

The Coast Guard rendered their secrets almost unwillingly, to allow their Duchess to meet with her guests, and plan a war.

At least, this time, the Snow Raven pilots would not have to fly without navigational aids to reach the meeting place-this time, it was in an environment that matched the spacer's taste more than the barbarian's.

At least, in the upper levels.  The war-room was, however, in the depths of caverns beneath the surface, in a sort of 'crystal cave' carved with names and stories dating back to the first Colony on Kowloon itself.

"...and that is my proposal." Amanda Ngo said, "Backed up, of course, by the Union's Department of the Navy-Admiral Giao Pham?"

Giao Pham was, at least, someone that the Clans knew about.  She'd fought a bare-handed Trial for her own freedom once, and travelled with the Hell's Horses from Somerset, to the Outworlds, and from there, the long way back to her homeworld.  A master of zero-gee martial arts, Giao Pham was a woman who would never set foot on a planet of her own free will, and had only six months out of a total of forty years as a Military Spacer in ANY kind of 'shore duty', she was the nearest thing behind Evelyn Mosovich to a living Kowloonese legend known beyond her own people.  Rumours had it she had spent at least ten of the last twenty years in deep-range exploration missions, taking ships out beyond even HPG ranges into the darkest parts of the near galaxy.  She moved in the .05 gravities with a native spacer's grace.

"Khan, you looked doubtful when we brought up both Doolittle, and Lam Son.  I expect you have both questions, and suggestions relating to problems you anticipate?" she asked, adding, "I would also like input from the Star Admirals, as well as what you think will best accomplish the intent of the mission."