Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Launch One Interceptor

2 (16.7%)

Launch Both Interceptors

10 (83.3%)

Don't launch any!

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 12

[Parsely]

A faint look of disgust crossed Andy's face.  "Worth less?  We are soldiers!  We are here to defend the innocent!  There's no question of worth, here.  It's our duty to stand for those who can't stand for themselves.  If we die, so be it."

Anton shakes his head. I agree ze idea is abhorrent, but true. If I must choose between 10 civilians and you, I choose you. Why? If you die, zen we also lose all zose people you might have saved. You must see beyond ze immediate consequences of your actions.

[Powder Miner]

Martzel chips in from the corner, leaning on his signature sledgehammer.
"You aren't very practical, are you? This isn't a matter of wanting to survive more than civilians... 'sides, last battle didn't even have any. If you have some fancy alien weapon and you never get a shot off, it's not very useful, is it? It's better to be able to stand up to enemy fire, so that you can keep killing them. ...'sides, I don't have much use for those alien guns anyway."

[Sheb]

"Well, a dead alien is an alien that cannot shoot you. Beside, taking shot is why we have a medic in each squad."

[Powder Miner]

"Yeah, and if I read the transcript right, Strike One's firepower started dwindling because everyone was getting incapacitated."

[Parsely]

"Well, a dead alien is an alien that cannot shoot you. Beside, taking shot is why we have a medic in each squad."

Tell zat to Tom, Mordeci and Daniel. Zey're in ze infirmary right now.

[Sheb]

"And none of them is in the morgue. If you're not willing to sustain a few injuries, I've heard they're looking for burger flippers at the cafetaria. Some things are more important than not getting hurt. Like saving lives."

[Powder Miner]

"I helped fight some of the aliens back in Spain with a couple of fellow workers, let me tell you from experience: if everyone's down, no aliens get killed. 's why we used guerilla tactics, and why we only ever went after the occasional lone scout alien. So... might be nice to go and play the shining knight, but you have to be pragmatic or you're just dooming everyone else."

[Toaster]

Andy shook his head at Hermann.  "Have not had the chance, though I am ready to do my duty.  All my experience is against other humans."

To Anton, he still did not smile.  "Still, to talk of worth like that makes me sick.  We are here to protect all people, no matter the cost."

[Tiruin]

Josephine nudges into the conversation.

"I'm not technically one to speak, given my lack of time in the military, but here's one rule of the hunt I know. You do not assign an arbitrary value to the life of the hunted, nor to the hunter and anything in between."

She gestured at Anton. "The argument currently is over weapons and armor; Andy, you should note that Anton was speaking with the factor of firepower in mind rather than the value of life. Considering the field aspects of these, both of you have a point--every person's life has innumerable value, as well as the fact of firepower being the best defense."

She unstrapped her spare ammunition pouch, which was allowed to be on her person as a sentimental item rather than of utilitarian design and took out one of the shell casings within, tumbling it over her fingers before placing it back.

"However, we must all note that from any area of trade, there is something to learn. As a hunter, your only defense is not the armor pressed to your skin, but the environment when the lack of it occurs. There is a military philosophy that is parallel to 'not being hit' rather than being hit and taking the blow--sorta reminds me of the westernized philosophies I read about back at home: it seemed a bit silly to fully believe in your armor when the environment would act as armor itself, right?

"...My point is, that we should prioritize weaponry over armor, currently. From field experience--the aliens suffer from the same problems we have." The Filipino held up her right hand and made a hand gesture to mimic a gun and mimed aiming down its sights (being her thumb). "They need to aim their gun to hit us. That, and the careful use of shrubbery was pretty useful when you consider it: as well as conventional urban tactics. The armor can wait until we can get something that can better down these foes. Remember that they're treading on our local terrain here."

[Aseaheru]

 "Oh, just a note: The wounds, while not as deadly as one might expect due to their nature of almost cauterizing themselves, appear to hurt like hell. In addition, the drone-like things appear to explode on "death". Not to sound callous, but if you choose to let yourself get shot, please do it after they all die. The amount of fire observed coming at us is rather extreme, and I can only assume that this is not the greatest quantity of firepower they can put out. And I can only dodge somany rounds while going after your body to keep you alive."
 "Now, if you excuse me, I have some people to check on, and then a corpse to try to take apart to see how best to take it apart."

[FelixSparks]

Taylor is in one of the locker rooms, checking out his shoulder. It didn't look bad... But it still stung... What if this never went away? What if this crippled his ability to use his weapon? What if this got him killed? He quickly shook his head of those thoughts. There are more important things to do than to try to guess how he'd die, he decided. He made his way to the cafeteria instead, eating by himself until someone decided to join him.

[Toaster]

Andy looked at Josephine for a moment.  "Not getting hit... that's a plan I can get behind.  But we still have to be on the field."  Andy's hand rubbed one of the scars on his face involuntarily.

[Powder Miner]

Martzel looked at the Filipino sniper, shifting his position to where he was leaning upright against the wall rather than bent over his hammer.
"That's a pretty good philosophy, but it's a hell of a lot easier to put into practice as a sniper. You're naturally farther away from the enemy during combat, and typically any sniper should hope not to be attacked in the first place. For those of us closer up, things are a lot more dangerous, and we may be able to use the terrain but it's not going to be capable of completely shielding us from danger; on the mission you were on, people were incapacitated, yes?"

The hammerman paused and put a hand to his chin.

"I... can't argue against the effectiveness of sudden and unexpected firepower, but... well, skilled soldiers don't grow on trees."

[Toaster]

Andy's face turned into a mirthless grin.  "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were calling her a coward."

[Powder Miner]

Martzel looked at Andy casually, with a self-deprecating grin.
"Hell no. My own combat experience is with hopping out of cover and hitting totally isolated aliens in the back of the head without them having ever known I was there. I'd be a hypocrite!

See, don't try to nudge me into one side or the other with the moral argument or whatever; I don't really care. I'm focused on the practical details."