The Neogi Invasion of the Oloth Sphere

(updated with information received by me via email up until 5:00pm PST. Thanks, all, for your enthusiasm! ;)

At least a week ahead of time

Talk to Admiral Rennyn via Serak'tin

Both Eimi and Dakini speak gold elf, so we should be able to get fairly detailed information through Serak'tin to the Admiral.
Describe the mines we intend to make (normal iron cannonballs enchanted to seek out specifically the metal in the Spiderships' armor, like hunter-killers. Upon contact the balls will explode, leaving shrapnel embedded in the hull. In addition to explosive, phlogiston burning, and shrapnel damage, any shrapnel left will transmute to highly concentrated ferric acid a minute or so after detonation). Let the crew of the man-o-war know we'll be throwing the mines through the hole in the Sphere after they come through.
Warn them that we intend to have the one remaining EIF ship open the Sphere for them, and that we'll try to get a fresh helm mage and healer over to them as they come through the hole we intend to make for them. Ask them to please fly through that hole, then continue at best speed towards Arcana City, as we'll have other folks waiting to pick up the battle -- they need to go rest and recover.
Is there anything else they desperately need that we can have waiting for them as they come through the hole?

Make mines

Get the Chirikh and the Misery out of drydock immediately. It doesn't matter if their helms aren't ready, since they're not going outside the Sphere, so can use their regular tech engines to fly. Give their crews time to bring them up to speed.
Xarlen & Kern: coordinate the Arcana mages and build as many mines as possible (see above re mine descriptions).
Keep any available ships patrolling around the Olothi asteroid, keeping watch out for the missing neogi ship.

Prepare for the worst

Healers

Have Eimi coordinate the healers. If Eimi so wishes, Dakini will be happy to offer one or more of the upper floors of Dammerung as a central hospital that can protect the severely wounded from physical, magical, psionic, bacterial, and several other types of attack. Dakini wants to keep the lower floors empty as a buffer zone should there be any (under)ground attack.
Things Eimi might find useful to have her healers work on:

1) an antidote to the neogi poison
2) coordinate with the fighter coordinator so that there are couriers & guards available to carry injured from the docks to Dammerung without being attacked (if that's where Eimi wishes to set up her hospital)
3) something to negate the effects of the umber hulks' confusing gaze
4) coordinated helpers (a la 'candy stripers') who can care for keeping things like bandages ready and to hand, for the less injured, and for exhausted healers

If Eimi can't make it we can ask Tinuviel to do the coordination perhaps?
Assassins/thieves

Have Alois, Gala'maDred, or one of their lieutenants coordinate the 'sneaky' defenses. If the leader of the neogi can be killed then our scholarship says it's a good bet the neogi will stop long enough to battle amongst themselves to pick their new leader.
Things this coordinator might find useful to have their people work on:

1) have someone either keep an eye on the neogi in the Velkyn Bazaar, or just assassinate it
2) set up some kind of early warning system in the sewers. Umber hulks prefer moving through the underground, and their usual ripping through rock will cause some sort of tremors which should be detectable through some means
3) if they're feeling nasty, these folks might also set up an early attack system that will damage anyone that sets off the early warning system
4) coordinate with the fighter coordinator so everyone knows where the traps are set. We don't want to lose anyone to 'friendly fire' -- if the neogi land we'll need every swinging sword or spell we've got to hand
5) update all the assassins/thieves on battle strategies against both umber hulks and neogi.

Fighter types (magical and otherwise)

Have someone appropriate (Kern maybe?) coordinate the ground defenses. This person should be someone fairly ruthless, since if the neogi actually manage to land the fighting will be very ugly. Scorched earth might be the only thing that works, since the battle will probably be umber hulks bursting up unexpectedly and repeatedly through the ground and battling house to house and sewer to sewer.
Things the fighter coordinator might want to work on:

1) coordinate with the healers to be sure injured can be swiftly and safely moved from the docks to Dammerung (if that's where Eimi chooses to put her hospital)
2) coordinate with the thieves/assassins' coordinator to be sure everyone knows where the traps are set
3) coordinate with the ship captains to see if they need marine contingents on board or no
4) have the mages work on something to negate the effects of the umber hulks' confusing gaze, and have any psionicists work on something to possibly negate psionic attack from the neogi
5) update all the fighters on battle strategies against both umber hulks and neogi
6) make sure as many mages as possible know the 'friendly fire' fireball spell, with the proviso that it blows up neogi and umber hulks
7) figure out a useful battle strategy. Vital point: how will communications be maintained between the various fighters, and between the various coordinators? Are there free ballistae or other weaponry that can be used on land should the neogi land? Should the buddy system be used? Should one mage be paired with one sword fighter, or should similarly skilled individuals be working together? Should ballistae teams be guarded? ...etc.
8) if the neogi manage to land, where will non-combatants be herded to? What useful jobs can they do, if any?
9) if worst comes to worst, where will the fighters retreat to? What is the last stronghold for Arcana City?

Known PC battle locations

Safix: "she'll be volunteering her hands for whatever needs doing. If it's needed, she'd probably be the best choice for running messages and items between the groups not in space, if we're not all together and radio isn't an option. She's fast, communicates better than Serak'tin, and ground fighting or barriers will be less of a problem for her than for most others."
Xarlen: "A good number of his spells are offensive, considering his origins, and even though he does have some things that help with underhandedness and sneakiness, he has a considerable ammount of combatant ability. ... he'd be better as ground support, if worst comes to worst; since the ships will be trying to hit the neogi from long distance, attack spells will do little. ... he [will] be [in] one of the groups sent to take them down; where better to let some of those sneaky spells be of use? Or aforementioned ground battlements."
Rokhan, Keesha, Dakini, Hati, Dermott: on or in their respective ships/organic things.
Anyone else?

The day of arrival

At least 5 hours before the man-o-war is due

Make sure all the encrypted dynamic broadband military communication systems Rokhan has are handed out as appropriate, and are working well together. Known users of the mechanical communication links at this point: Rokhan's yacht, Chirikh, Misery, the EIF ship, Dammerung. Anyone else?
Send out Rokhan's sloop to patrol around the Olothi asteroid, keeping watch out for the missing neogi ship.
Load up the mine package on the EIF ship, then send it, Chirikh, and Misery out to the Sphere's edge, where the man-o-war is expected.
Set up the tech ships so they can read the EIF ship easily on their radar and have their targeting set up properly. Once the radar is set up and tested, it's 'hurry up and wait' time for everyone.
During this time the EIF ship can also use Serak'tin to alert the admiral that we're in place, and also to be sure we've got as straight a line as possible between the Sphere and where we expect the man-o-war to appear. Set up watch for the man-o-war through the Sphere.

As the man-o-war arrives

Alert everyone, on shipboard and back at Arcana City, via the mental links and tech communication devices. Big duh there. ;)
Have the EIF ship start opening the Sphere about twice as early as necessary. Slop time is important, since we don't want the man-o-war piling up and crashing against the outside of the Sphere.
Hold the Sphere's hole open so the man-o-war can slide through. Have the appropriate mages and support mages ready -- there's probably going to be a huge amount of energy expenditure necessary for this. Important note: NO ONE should be directly in front of this hole. There needs to be space for a man-o-war to go through easily!
If we're feeling cocky we can also have a helm mage and/or a healer fly across to the man-o-war as it comes through, so someone fresh can fly it back to Arcana City, and so severely injured can be helped immediately. Also, that way, should some ghastly accident happen and one of the neogi ships somehow manage to get through unbeknownst to us elsewhere, and it attacks the man-o-war on the way back to Arcana City, we have someone who's not exhausted and groggy flying it.

Once the man-o-war is through the Sphere

Once the man-o-war is safely through, throw the mines through the hole in the Sphere, then close the hole. However, if the spiderships are no longer following the man-o-war by the time it enters the Sphere, release only some of the mines, then pull back towards the Oloth asteroid. The assumption is the Neogi will be coming towards Arcana City at some point; thus strong patrolling will be the order of the day, and the city will also eventually need defense.
If the neogi ships are still visible, send the man-o-war back to Arcana City. Send the EIF ship with it, as we don't want anything in the line of fire between the tech ships and the neogi.
If any of the neogi ships survive the mines, wait for them to come through the Sphere. When they do, shoot, missile, tractor, and laser them without warning. Repeatedly. With malice aforethought. ;)
If any neogi ships survive this attack, have the tech ships continue to stay well out of visual sight or reach of magical attack, but continue to attack the neogi ships with tech weaponry. Peppering them constantly and repeatedly will, at the very least, wear them down. Every bit of damage we put on them from a distance is damage we don't have to put on them close up, when they can try to hurt us back.
This is also the time that any clever plans the mages have come up with (frex the one about illusions that might scare the neogi off) should be implemented. One important point: if the neogi are 'scared off' we should be sure they do indeed leave -- after all, we don't want them successfully using on us an illusion of them retreating.

Should the neogi ships get to Arcana City

Implement the arrangements made by the coordinators in the section titled "Prepare for the Worst." Pray a lot. Hope we get all the neogi, and that at least some folks will make it alive through the war.

After the battle

Immediate
Make sure folks are all someplace highly defensible. Stay on guard. Heal and comfort survivors -- they'll need it. Clean up.
Later
Unless every single bloody neogi ship has been accounted for, and at least one Great Old Master has been scorched down to a grease spot on the ground, assume we're still under attack. Set up regular patrols, both throughout the Sphere, and throughout the Olothi asteroid. Make sure these patrols have good communications with the home office, so that if a patrol is ambushed and slaughtered to a soldier, we at least know where they were when they were all killed. This is vital information if we're to thoroughly stamp out the neogi menace.