Initial Landings

Posted on Tue Mar 10th, 2020 @ 2:32am by General Ranik Solusar & Lieutenant General Steven Johnson & Major General Alan Masters & Lieutenant General Jhamal Sh'Trell

Mission: Mission 79: Sound Trumpets! Let Our bloody Colors Wave
Location: Gornoar - USS Viraat
Timeline: Apr 12 2392

The space battle had been energetic for sure, however, the Klingons didn't have enough forces to prevent Federation and akurian fighters from landing on Goranar. Though not without their share of losses, the federation and Akurian fleets had succeeded in pushing through to Goranar.

General Zoka Ukar walked into the new federation heavy transport Carrier Viraat's war room, where the federations other generals were waiting.

Newly Promoted Lieutenant General Steven Johnson was seated at the large holotable, he was busy making notes of what the terrain looked like. "You ready to roll?"

Corps General Jhamal Sh'Trell nodded her head, she held a PADD which looked large against her small frame. "Yes. we are ready to land and commence taking the war to the Klingons."

"Try not to take them too lightly Jhamal." Masters commented softly, of the three Generals, he was easily the largest and the most massive. "We would like to have our say in this fight too."

"Well. We need air dominance first before we do anything... No sense to launch when the skies are contested." Johnson commented evenly.

Zoka addressed Johnson's concern first. "Well, we have atmospheric craft that can handle that. Our space fighters aren't very good at fighting in atmosphere though."

"Alright," Johnson responded. "Masters. are the infantry ready?"

"They are all prepped and ready to go." Masters answered. Johnson nodded his head. "Alright then."

Zoka then brought up a display of the planet on the holotable," Alright, from the intel gathered by the drone overflights, the Klingons are mostly concentrated in the southern hemisphere, where the majority of the cities are located on the planet. However they don't have much presence on the northern hemisphere, of course, the planet doesn't have much in the way of land up north, but I figure the best approach for our shuttles is to approach from the north pole of the planet. There are no Klingon AA establishments in range of that region and once our shuttles and landers enter the atmosphere they can then fly low to the ground to avoid being engaged by any Klingon AA as they head to their assigned areas."

Johnson tapped the display. "The Klingons seem determined to take this planet.." he narrowed his eyes. "Maybe because it's the oppositions homeworld... But this is a little too aggressive.." he turned his head. "Who is the Klingon Commander.?"

"Intel says that its Klag."

"Klag... Mmmm... Figures." Johnson responded. "Yes... We'll land our troops over the pole... Any chances we get... use orbital strikes to pin down the Klingons and cause them issues.."

Kumirae, who was present for the briefing added her input. "Well we can try, but I'm afraid it won't do us much good. Both the Gorn and the Klingons have theater shields protecting the majority of their troop concentrations and key areas. We could bring those shields down with starship weapons fire, but with the amount of ordinance we would need, we risk glassing a good chunk of the planet in the process, and I don't think the Gorn would appreciate us doing that to their planet. Not to mention it doesn't help that both sides have transporter jammers everywhere.

Zoka then brought up the Akurian graviton beam weapons. "Well we do have graviton beam weapons on our warships, we might be able to hit their shield generators with the graviton beams since they don't cause a lot of collateral damage and they can bypass shields."

Kumirae shook her head. "I don't think we can get a precise target on them, the Klingons are using all manner of ECM to hide the location of their shield generators, same with the Gorn."

"The Gorn will try to hold onto what they have left. I'd be surprised if they weren't going hand to hand, close quarters brawling from the Gorn." Johnson commented. "Let's inform the Gorn that we're here to help and get them to let out troops land to help them against the Klingons." he paused. "We could get them to drop their shields long enough for the troops to land."

Kumirae attempted to get in contact with the Gorn, and after several minutes of trying, she finally managed to raise someone, though the signal quality wasn't great. A Gorn General appeared on screen. "This is General Dragozin, who are you."

"I am Lieutenant General Steven Johnson of the United Federation of Planets. I'm leading a rather large force of Marines and we have come to assist you in beating back the Klingons. We're here to help.." Johnson said evenly.

Dragozin got straight to the point. "OK, well the Klingons have overrun most of our planets countryside, and a good number of our cities. We have lost contact with much of the civilian government ever since the Klingon's have attacked the capital if we need relief forces anywhere, it's there."

"Alright," Johnson responded evenly. "We'll get started right away," he added. "Anything else you have that we need to know?" he added.

Dragozin had one last thing to add. "Yeah, your kinda on your own when it comes to landing, we cannot lower our shields or turn off the transporter jammers in order to let your troops beam in, otherwise we risk the Klingons gaining more ground past our defenses, however, if you approach from the north of the planet, you can fly your shuttles underneath our theater shields since they don't touch the ground."

"That's what my people were saying too..." Johnson responded. "Tell your guys to not fire on Federation or Akurian ships... and my guys will be along shortly to assist you." he turned. "General. contact the bridge and see if the conditions are right for the drop."

Masters nodded. "Willdo." and he turned and went to work on his assignment.

Zoka then informed the other generals. "Well I will be leading my troops from one of the large dropships that will carry my troops down, so I'll be on the planet with them."

Johnson regarded her. "Then I'll wish you good hunting."

Masters turned. "The Bridge has been informed. I too will be heading planetside to command there," he responded.

Johnson too wished he could go planetside but he left his own misgivings unvoiced. "Good luck," he said simply. "Is everything ready for the drop?" he inquired.

General Solusar nodded as he turned to face Johnson. "Yes. everyone is prepared to go. The surface to air defenses are mostly focused in the south against the Klingons and not us... We have several clear lanes to approach. The Gorn have also signaled that they will not fire upon us."

"Good.." Johnson responded simply. "Start the deployment."

Solusar turned back to his display. "Starting now," he responded as he tapped the display. "All troops prepare for drop!.!

Zoka soon arrived on one of the leading heavy landing ships. Ten Akurian Army brigades were slated to participate in this drop out of 15, so the 10 assault carriers took their positions over the north pole of the planet and began dropping their payload of over 8,000 landing shuttles and 20 heavy landers. Accompanying them were a further 8 aircraft carrier airships and 12 heavy gunships. The large units led the way, and all the Klingons opposed them with was the one odd AA missile that bounced off the hulls of the heavy landers, or occasionally hit a shuttle. Thousands of Federation shuttles followed right after the Akurian ones. The entire landing force succeeded in entering the lower atmosphere losing only 5 shuttles in the process. Once they reached the lower atmosphere, the shuttles hugged flew at very low altitudes heading for their targets. Most would be heading for a landing zone roughly 100 kilometers from the Gorn capital city. The 8 aircraft carriers meanwhile landed in Goronar's oceans and began deploying their aircraft ahead of the invasion force to suppress any defenses.

Johnson watched in silence as the entire process proceeded almost without his input, it was nice to see something go according to plan for a change but he didn't like the fact that he was losing people for any reason. Johnson mentally thought his wife who would be fighting for the Kilrogg system nearby and mentally he heard something that she would say. 'Steven. I know you don't like it.. but harden your heart, husband of mine. For worse is to come... and you know it.'

Johnson smiled as he watched the Marines disembark from their landing craft and shuttles, into various hot zones. "Go get em guys," he muttered softly.

Zoka took her time planning the Akurian defensive preparations. She first scoured the maps of the planet, looking for the most defensible locations to place her artillery. Fortunately, these locations weren't hard to find. The Gorn capital city was in a coastal location and there were a lot of islands in the area, ideal locations to place her artillery. so she announced her intentions to the other Generals. "Alright, there are about a hundred islands within artillery reach of the main capital city and surrounding area's, so that is where I am going to place the majority of my artillery units. Most of these Islands don't seem to have a significant Klingon presence, but some do, So I'm going to have my forces focus on securing these first. However, I will still have three of my brigades move to the Gorn Capital itself."

Masters meanwhile stepped out of the landing shuttle he had boarded, he smiled as he stepped forward and out into open space on the Gorn homeworld. "Alright, guys... Let's move out," he commented to the troops around him.

The other marines present all seemed to move a little quicker, Masters meanwhile turned his attention to the command point so he made his way there.

1st Major Eriys and her platoon of OISU Stormtroopers spearheaded an attack on a Klingon encampment on the outskirts of the Gorn capital. Her platoon was accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Raskar Wuko's armored battalion, which utilized its combat skimmers to stage a fast attack against the Klingon. The Combat skimmers were largely dominion war era models, upgraded with shield generators but otherwise not much else has changed with them. However, despite their age, they still worked well for the lighting attacks Raskar utilized.

First Trooper Michael Yamaguchi checked the large weapon he was manning. "We're good back here guys.." he commented. "my gun is ready and so am I." he added.