Lord Inquisitor Hector Rex squinted at High Commander Ortys, "Run that by me again."
High Commander Ortys nodded, "Of course. I'll start at the beginning." He cleared his throat, "Now then, the start of our assault will begin when our men attack these bunkers... here." He stabbed a finger at a point on the map near the pilgrim gate.
Rex scratched his head, "And you are going to drop a plasma warhead on top of the objective to soften it up BEFORE you attack?"
Ortys shook his head, "No No No. We're going to drop a plasma warhead on top of the objective AS my men attack! The superheated plasma will provide cover!" He nodded slowly, "Much more effective than smoke rounds."
Rex stared at Ortys a long time before he spoke, "Won't... bathing your own men in plasma have some..." He rolled his hand in the air, "adverse effects?"
Ainea held up a finger, "There's an old saying, 'Ninjas can't catch you if you are on fire.'"
Rex stared at the finger, "You don't say."
Ortys nodded, "Indeed."
Rex rubbed his brow, "What's next?"
Ortys pointed, "My men will rush forward, used shaped melter charges to burn their way into the bunkers, and slaughter everyone inside. Meanwhile, we can expect the enemy to rain holy hell down on those bunkers as they fall."
Rex eyes darted back and forth, "Annnnnd... what will they do about it?"
Ortys looked a little confused, "Well, they'll shoot back, of course. I mean... duh!" He then dragged a finger across the map, "So they'll run between each bunker, which is about a hundred yards, in less then three seconds or they'll be ripped to shreds."
Rex nodded and started getting a sinking feeling in his stomach, "Right."
Ortys looking all excited continued, "Then I will personally ride up the road in the lead personel carrier of the main assault."
Rex pointed at the map, "And your plans for those walls guns?"
Ortys sighs, "Well, we'll take some potshots at them with the whirlwinds, but with any luck we'll get to use the battle barge!"
Rex blinked, "Excuse me?"
Ortys started speaking louder and slower, "Bat-tel Bar-g-uh. Battle barge. We'll have it drop into low orbit and bombard the gatehouse."
Rex turned white, "Isn't that a little... dangerous?"
Ortys held both hands up at Rex and shook them from side to side, "NAH. He's going to use the small missiles. Merely the size of a city block. Shouldn't be an issue."
Rex rubbed his forehead for a second, "That is where we're going to have a problem. What if the battle barge misses?"
Ortys stared at Rex like he just sprouted a second head, "Beg your pardon?"
Rex straightened up, "The gunner on the battle barge. If he is off by a single degree he could wipe out entire regiments!"
Ortys just stared at Rex for a full minute before he hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "Mike doesn't miss."
Rex rolled his eyes, "Everyone misses eventually!"
Ortys narrowed his eyes at Rex. Time passed. Eventually Ortys spoke, "You came in the grey transport parked out on the tarmac, right?"
At that very moment a series of explosions went off on the tarmac. The whole building shook, but was otherwise unharmed. Rex rushed to the window and watched the rising cloud of dust. As it cleared, it revealed the Lord Inquisitor's transport was still intact. A series of explosions had apparently gone off around it.
Eventually Rex could see that the explosions had created a giant smiley face around Rex's transport, with his transport playing the part of the nose.
Ortys cleared his throat, "Like I said..." He reached forward to pull the string on the window blind. It slid down cutting off the view of the tarmac.
"Mike Doesn't Miss."
