As the rest of his squad piled in, he acknowledged them with simple, short nods, waiting for the briefing to start. Just when it was about to, two more mechs appeared on the squadron roster. Zapka narrowed his eyes. His squadron was still being built, and all of them were non-standard mechs, with... interesting additions or origins. So, we're an irregular squadron, he reasoned. With an emphasis towards lights and fast mediums, Zapka being the only heavier mech there for the moment. Not a scout squadron, his very presence crossed that out. Not a combat squadron, too many lights and not enough heavies. This strange combination of mechs confounded him. He sighed. The last two pilots entered the room, and the assistant dimmed the lights and began his briefing.

[center][img]http://tactical.nekromantix.com/elite/images/Cockpit-Hologram-01.png[/img][/center]

A hologram of the planet appeared at the front of the briefing room. Already Zapka could see that it was about half made of water. The rest of landmass. Numerous plateaus and mountain ranges would play havoc with the [i]Aspis[/i]' maneuverability, but for the rest of his squadron, not so much. What was strange was that he saw no structures of signs of civilization at all, usually briefing maps included the night time lights of cities, or highlighted military bases to aid the pilots with their preliminary judgement, as well as visual aid for the one doing the briefing. However this planet was just blank, as if it were uninhabited. He narrowed his eyes.

The Assistant began.[b]
"This is... What the crews are calling Cryotic 4. All probes sent to this planet has been destroyed, by the natural phenomenon, or other. We do not know what is on this planet, aside from what we have scanned. The planets diameter is only 3,512.1 kilometers, the atmosphere is thin, nitrogen rich, and the landmasses are mostly made of rock. The water is covered by ice. The planet temperature goes from -80*C to +10*C. You will be dropping at Drop Site Bravo."[/b]
The hologram rotated, letting Drop Site Bravo face the pilots. The site was highlighted. It was a spot of flatland near a mountain range and lake, with rivers leading to the oceans.[b]
"This will be an extended mission... And that concludes my briefing. Captain Zapka, would you like to say a few words?"[/b]

Zapka nodded and walked up to the front. He turned to face his pilots.
[b]"Men. Start thinking about modifying your loadouts to suit an exploration role, free up some tonnage to allow the eggheads to attach whatever active sensors and data gathering modules they want onto you. We're not going into war. But I get the feeling we're not getting the big picture here..."[/b] Zapka slowly turned his head to glare at the Assistant. He stayed silent. Zapka turned back to his pilots. [b]"The brass tends to do this to mechheads. Be ready for either an extremely boring deployment, or a strangely action packed one. If you have any questions, ask now, if not, head down to Bay 1, our mechs should be getting prepped there."[/b]