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autisticblueteamI'm going to do a ramble about fic planning progress at some point either today or tomorrow, but for now, a minor observation of a once again tiny detail I've not registered before:
I've often been confused by the choices for Team B on the Sarcophagus mission, and I know other people have been too, and honestly I still am, but re-watching this scene for the billionth time whilst planning the relevant chapter of this fic, I finally fully registered that their first role in the mission was reconnaissance. They were sent ahead to run recon for Team A because they couldn't act until Team A had found the Sarcophagus.
Suddenly it makes a lot more sense to pick Wyoming and North, who are both shown in reconnaissance roles for the Project at different points in time—North during Bjorndal, watching for South, and Wyoming during Longshore. It even makes sense to send Connie with them, in part if we assume she is in fact an intelligence specialist, and in part because out of the three of them she's the only one equipped for traditional CQC.
It does not, however, explain why this wasn't balanced out with the importance of retrieving the briefcase. It's obvious they didn't expect it to be a hard job, but that team composition in no way accounted for anything going wrong and forcing close combat. Part of the issue is obviously the exclusion of South, it always will be, but still.
Tiny observation that doesn't mean much, not even for what I'm writing, but it does help to understand the potential thought processes going on behind this consistently confusing decision that aren't just 'the Director doesn't know what he's doing' (though for me, in this fic, it's quite the opposite).
I've often been confused by the choices for Team B on the Sarcophagus mission, and I know other people have been too, and honestly I still am, but re-watching this scene for the billionth time whilst planning the relevant chapter of this fic, I finally fully registered that their first role in the mission was reconnaissance. They were sent ahead to run recon for Team A because they couldn't act until Team A had found the Sarcophagus.
Suddenly it makes a lot more sense to pick Wyoming and North, who are both shown in reconnaissance roles for the Project at different points in time—North during Bjorndal, watching for South, and Wyoming during Longshore. It even makes sense to send Connie with them, in part if we assume she is in fact an intelligence specialist, and in part because out of the three of them she's the only one equipped for traditional CQC.
It does not, however, explain why this wasn't balanced out with the importance of retrieving the briefcase. It's obvious they didn't expect it to be a hard job, but that team composition in no way accounted for anything going wrong and forcing close combat. Part of the issue is obviously the exclusion of South, it always will be, but still.
Tiny observation that doesn't mean much, not even for what I'm writing, but it does help to understand the potential thought processes going on behind this consistently confusing decision that aren't just 'the Director doesn't know what he's doing' (though for me, in this fic, it's quite the opposite).
no subject
Date: 2019-07-14 17:57 (UTC)I definitely prefer to find explanations beyond "The Director doesn't know what he's going," which, while it makes for funny memes and shitposts, isn't actually that interesting in a story most of the time. And personally I think Alpha was drawing up a lot of the mission parameters, so I don't see it best explained as the Director just choosing teams at random.
But what I wouldn't put past the Director is setting up Team B to fail, 100% on purpose, for the opportunity to show off Agent Texas in the field. Tex was supposed to be Team B's backup who swooped in to save the day. She even has a drop pod prepped with a motorcycle. She was totally expecting to be dropped on the freeway. And then for whatever reason, the Director decides not to order Carolina to stand down when she does what any team leader would have done and comes in to give Team B backup.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-14 19:32 (UTC)It definitely feels like another reason to show Tex off and to give him a visible excuse for her sudden appearance at the #1 slot. The latter could even, to some degree, explain why he didn't order Carolina to stand down, because then it went on to become a direct competition between the two, meaning Tex not only secured the package but beat out the current #1 to do so.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-14 19:38 (UTC)