Shoot First

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Situation

Last year, a mysterious multinational mercenary force, known only as the 'Blue Man Group' for their poor sartorial choices, took over the island of Tanoa to international condemnation. They have governed through an anonymous spokesman 'AK' who always appears remotely, dressed in a uniquely poorly camouflage-patterned uniform and wearing a concealing balaclava.

Though initially promising to respect local laws and customs, within months their grip on the country became oppressive and authoritarian. Under their leadership, the local gendarmerie has been co-oped, become increasingly militarized, and is being used as a terror force. The mercenaries that originally took the island have now become the local military. A national curfew, enforced by road checkpoints and foot patrols near populated areas, is now in effect due to civil unrest.

With backroom approval from NATO and Australia-New Zealand alliance command, a woman named Natasha Denard (nee Fraser) with mercenary connections has organized a counter-coup to restore the previous government in exchange for the Red Spring mining concession that had previously belonged to Vrana International. The military phase of this coup will take place with a mixed airborne and amphibious invasion of major military and civilian power centers with h-hour at 0800. Theseus has been brought in covertly for the initial phase, a fast-moving raid against key 'Blue Man Group' targets to disrupt enemy C3I.

Our personnel entered Tanoa using commercial tourist flights and brought rented vehicles to the Blue Pearl Industrial Port, where two smuggled cargo containers with weapons and heavy machine guns for mounting were used to provide small arms, light AT, and technicals for the operation. Because of limited cargo space and the amount of explosives required for the mission, AT options are limited to PSRLs.

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FRIENDLY FORCES

• Theseus Inc.

ENEMY FORCES

• Tanoan Gendarmerie
• 'Blue Man Group' mercenary forces

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Objectives

Theseus is to conduct a rapid, mobile raid on five key targets on Tanoa and destroy key objectives using explosives or AT. Very well-armed QRF will arrive shortly after each objective is attacked, so speed and violence of action are key to avoiding prolonged and deadly firefights.

After destroying all objectives, Theseus is to abandon and disable its vehicles at the exfil point and board RHIBs to travel to the mission endpoint.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES

• Destroy the radio tower and gendarmerie command post near Vagallala at 111-959
• Destroy or commandeer all military vehicles at the old sawmill vehicle park at 118-688
• Destroy or commandeer all military vehicles at the old lumberyard vehicle park at 943-755
• Destroy military aircraft in the hangers at Aeroport de Tanoa at 685-731
• Destroy the electrical transformers at the Lifou power plant at 750-859; explosives must be used.
• Exfil at the mangrove fishing shack at 540-757 to the mission endpoint at 226-861

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

• Avoid QRF by securing and completing objectives rapidly; QRF response times are 5-10 minutes depending on type, location, and previous alerts.

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Equipment

GROUND

• 3 x Offroad HMG
• 9 x Offroad

AIR

• N/A

SPECIAL

• 5 x RHIB (unarmed) at main island exfil point

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Intelligence

• Enemy Capabilities: Near Peer
• Enemy Vehicle Composition: Light Vehicles (Gendarmes), Heavy Armored and Air Support (QRF)
• EOD Required: Extensive Explosives Required
• Est. Enemy Force: 2 Companies Gendarmes (100-150), 1 Mechanized and 1 Helicopter Platoon (QRF)
• Est. Time Frame: 2 Hours
• Locked Doors: No

All indications are that we will be operating with the advantage of tactical surprise. However, 'Blue Man' forces are likely to rapidly respond to attacks on their fixed installations. Expect heavily armed QRF from enemy bases to arrive within minutes of attacking our targets. There is at least a platoon of mechanized infantry and a platoon of helicopters on alert. Thus, both mechanized infantry and helicopter QRF can be expected with response times of 5-10 minutes depending on distance from their bases and alert level.

The 'Blue Man Group' has several garrisons on the main island of Tanoa and one major installation. Defensive garrisons are marked at Saint Julien (567-110) outside of Georgetown and the paired comms facilities near the volcanic caldera (100-118 and 110-105). The main ground forces base is located on the east side of Tanouka (091-101), and is likely to be the source of ground-based QRF. In addition, the islands' primary military airfield is located near Tuvanaka (021-132) and is likely the source of helicopter QRF. The nature of our mission means that we should avoid these installations at all costs to avoid getting bogged down by large and well-equipped forces.

The 'Blue Man' Gendarmerie is a paramilitary terror force that is only expected to face civilians. They are issued submachine guns and wear body armor, but are a cut below regular forces. They can be found doing foot patrols in towns and vehicle patrols in the interior, as well as garrisoning various facilities; vehicles are trucks with medium machine guns on pintle mounts. No gendarme carries AT.

'Blue Man' regular forces feature mechanized infantry and helicopters, but for the most part they are only seen on military installations. We should expect to encounter them primarily as a QRF. Their infantry doctrine makes extensive use of APCs and 6.5mm automatic rifle-armed infantry as well as some grenadiers and AT. Mechanized forces use GTK Boxer APCs (HMG or GMG, no autocannons) and the helicopter QRF will likely draw from the armed UH-1H aviation company maintained by 'Blue Man' forces.

Vehicle parks for the 'Blue Man Group' have been imaged and contain light vehicles that may be able to be commandeered for this operation.

While discretion is left to the Theseus officer in command, plotted routes to various objectives should take into account likely enemies to be encountered. The main ring-road around Tanoa passes through many populated areas and will likely encounter gendarme foot patrols in built-up areas and lightly armed vehicle checkpoints, while the interior roads are more likely to be patrolled by vehicles with medium machine guns.

Due to the limited cargo space in the weapons we have smuggled into Tanoa and the priority on explosives, only PSRL anti-tank weapons are available for this operation. Extra explosives have been provided.