Karvis
The Rebel Alliance => Independants => Topic started by: GM Craig on August 22, 2016, 03:09:36 PM
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Two weeks in a rather circuitous transit, by way of Corellia and following the Corellian Trade Spine.
Your public transport ends at a world known as Quamar - a strangely backwater place, considering it's position on the Corellian Trade Spine. It is here that you are to meet a private charter, apparently arranged through contacts provided by Trax and company. One Jenny Zyback runs a "no questions asked" transportation service from Karvis III. Rumour has it she is very good at what she does, though if she were as good as what she says, she's wasting her time on a farming world off the main trade routes.
And that is something else that has been bothering you during your meditations. Karvis is well off the beaten path - it takes four days from the Corellian Trade Spine to reach it. Yet last you say, the Empire had a full legion of stromtroops, a division of infantry, a wing of TIE fighters, and an entire Imperial Star Destroyer battlegroup stations on or around the planet. Nothing about that world that you noticed would have attracted such a commitment of manpower and resources - the planet is not strategic. It is an agrarian world, so the food production could be important, but that does not merit long term deployment of significant forces. The planet had, for the most part, been completely pacified.
These are background thoughts that bubble up in meditation and quiet moments. You have no answers, but you have the feeling that the answers could be important to your mission, should you ever be able to complete it.
You make your way to a grubby little cantina off the beaten path. The patrons eye you up as you enter, and most make the wise decision that you are not worth the effort. The few that are too drunk of stupid to reach that same conclusion, you catalogue for further observation in case their bravado wins out over their laziness.
Not a minute after you sit down at a quiet table, a human female with pale skin and black hair tied back in a braid sits with you. Curious - you did not see her when you scanned the bar for threats, and you are not one to miss details. She has a heavy blaster pistol on her hip, and three hold-out blasters - one in her left boot, one in the small of her back, and one under her right arm. She appears to have no other weapons.
"A 'friend' tells me you're looking for a ride."
She places a small hand-sized datapad and slides it over to you. You can see the details of the arrangement displayed on the small screen. The fee - already paid in full - is certainly substantial.
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The Shinobi's thoughts were certainly dominated by the strange events that he had witnessed since first setting eyes on Karvis. He was not surprised that something out of the ordinary was going on, after all his clan wasn't hired by normal people in normal situations, but it still warranted consideration. His training demanded that he always be aware of his circumstances and to gather as much intelligence as possible to ensure positive outcomes. He mulled over the variables and came to the conclusion that this was not going to be a straight forward job, even if he was able to find any remaining members of the royal family. The empire wanted something or someone on this planet and they wanted them very badly. Perhaps it was one of his recent travel acquaintances, which might help if he were able to provide evidence that they were now off world, but it could just as likely be something or someone else. At any rate, the subject certainly deserved more time and attention in the very near future.
But for now, he focused on getting to the planet.
Stepping into the cantina brought a flood of familiar sights and smells, and working up the preliminary threat assessment was more reaction than conscious thought.
Nightshade was certainly intrigued at the sudden appearance of this woman and filed it away for future reference.
He replied briefly to her opening line, "That is correct. I am ready to leave at your convenience."
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She raises an eyebrow. "I like you already." Her voice is similar to a Shinobi in manner - calm, evenly metered. This is someone who has trained to control their emotions. Her face also reveals little - a trait that was rare though certainly not unheard of outside the Shinobi. "We can leave now then. We are safe enough here to leave together, but if you are concerned with being linked to me then find me at docking bay R3 in fifteen minutes." She places a coin on the table - some sort of archaic local currency? and gets to her feet, heading for the door.
You catch a look between her and the large female Weequay behind the counter. A contact, perhaps?
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Nightshade took a look at the coin without touching it. It seemed to be important and perhaps part of the look between the alien and his transport. He had no issue with walking with his new 'friend', so followed her from the bar. Keeping a wary eye out for trouble, he was curious to see the reaction of the other patrons to their exit.
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You had been a subject of interest to the other patrons. Curiously, the moment Jenny Zyback sat down at your table, you apparently became invisible to them. They appear to pay you no mind at all.
Zyback walks in silence. You note she is careful to keep an eye out, and from time to time redirects your path off the shortest route. No explanation is offered.
Eventually, you reach the docking bay. Jenny moves to a different panel than the main one - apparently a simple entertainment kiosk - and fiddles with it a bit before going to the main panel and entering a complex code. The door opens. She glances around a moment before ushering you inside.
You see an aging Gthroc freighter. It appears to be literally falling apart - panels are missing here and there, and there is the telltale scorching of an engine leak.
It is refreshing walking with someone who does not waste their breath on unnecessary talk.
She activates a device on her wrist, and the boarding ramp drops down. She glances at you, and climbs the ramp.
Once you are inside, you immediately understand that the outward appearance of the ship is a ruse. Inside, the place is immaculate. The ship could have rolled off the factory floor this morning, for the condition it is in.
She leads you to the common area, and points down the read starboard corridor.
"You bunk is there, outboard side. Bridge and engine room are off limits. I have allies here, but the Empire has spies everywhere, so best to lay low. It's a three day trip to Karvis. There's some holovids in the computer if you need entertainment. We'll take off in thirty minutes."
She stands there a moment, apparently waiting to see if there are any questions.
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If Nightshade hadn't already been bound to service, then he would have been most pleased to spend some more time with this singular woman. He bowed to her to signal his respect and his acknowledgement of her instructions. He departs to set up his mat in his assigned quarters and start his meditations.
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[OOC: as a side note - you have a small-ish stasis pod filled with tea, a second stasis pod with Mariah's remains, and a bundle of credit notes for the Rebels on Karvis.]
The trip passes in companionable silence. She does not engage in idle chatter - a welcome relief. She also does not ask questions. It is a quiet trip to the system.
When you revert, you are a long way from the planet - likely a precaution against scans and patrols.
A few moments later, you hear her voice on the ship intercom, asking you to the cockpit.
You join her a few moments later, and take an empty seat.
"We've got some options, so where did you want to land? I've got a landing pad out in the plains far away from civilization, but you'll probably want something close. Amarin or Vésén would be good choices - the Empire doesn't have much of a presence there. Ataregy on the coast is also a good spot - it's remote enough the Empire doesn't have a presence there, and the crime syndicates keep the place pretty stable. Relkedagy Szezet is the Imperial capitol, but I'd never get clearance to land there, but you can get there easy enough from Amarin or Vésén. The southern area is the Bladesea - no landing there I'm afraid, but if you wanted to go into that area, I can drop you in Telyos or Io. If you're looking for the Northern continent, it is pretty much overrun with Imperial troops. Strange - thousands of miles of cold desert, but the bulk of their presence is there.
"Any ideas where you wanted to land?"
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[OOC: Background Info:
1. Cali is an apparent crime lord based in Amarin that Trax spoke fondly of. He is no friend to the Empire, and has aided the rebels several times, though his motives remain his own.
The rebels had gained many allies and built a base in the Northern desert. The surviving members of the royal family were there.
2. The rebels main base in the northern desert had been destroyed, and presumably their assets there neutralized. However, there was a cell on the southern continent that was fairly independent, led by Senator Pasteur. Her hidden base was in the mountains south of Vésén.
3. The rebels had captured a CEC corvette. It was likely destroyed in the bombardment, but perhaps it might have escaped. That might be worth exploring.
As an aside, you know from your previous preparations that the Northern continent is mostly hyper-arid cold-temperature desert. If you wanted to explore the site of the former rebel base there, you would need to be prepared for extended periods with no water.
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"Let us land in Amarin, I should have a contact there that seems like the best place to start my search."
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The approach is without incident. You see faraway signs of imperial patrols - sensor pings and such showing up on Jenny's instruments - but she keeps her ship in passive mode, and slips through their patrols with apparent ease.
You and up landing in a remote location - a small shack with a reinforced landing pad.
"This is about as close as I can get and avoid their tracking. It's about a 12 kilometer walk to Amarin that way. There's a road about a kilometer to the south - maybe you can pick up a ride."
She hesitates. "Thanks. Most of your associates are pretty preachy. It was nice to deal with someone who minded their own business."
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Nightshade flashes her the rare smile and bows, "They just have yet to understand that you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I truly appreciate your assistance, let me know if I can return a favor some day."
Gathering his gear he headed out in the direction that she indicated. The walk would be no trouble and he was in no particular hurry. He didn't want to risk having to deal harshly with some innocent civilian on the road who got too curious.
Actions: Walk to town, avoid all other contact wherever possible.
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You see a small smile returned - the first time you have seen her smile in your short acquaintance, and the two of you part company.
The trip to Amarin is uneventful, and getting a long walk in feels good. It is hard to keep all your muscles fit and toned in space.
Amarin is a smaller city nestled in the foothills of the mountains. There are armed patrols, checkpoints, and guard towers. The city has also been split into six sections, each barricaded from the others and any accessible to the average person through checkpoints.
Fortunately, you are not the average person.
It is fairly simply to enter the city unseen, and the barricades are easily traversed. The patrolling sensor droids pose a momentary hurdle, but it is not difficult to bypass them.
The contact information you had been given involved some obscure septic service. You find the building and attached vehicle yard, and spend some time observing it. Business seems slow - no one enters or leaves the compound in the few hours to keep vigil. You note four people inside, with no obvious weapons. Only one of them appears to be a fighter of any description, and his stance and the way he moves suggests an unarmed specialist. So, you are alert as you enter the building towards evening.
The fighter is behind a small desk. He has the brown skin, prominent nose and crinkled eyes of the early settlers here, a subspecies fo human known locally as the Kothe. He sizes you up quickly, and you can tell he has made some assessments about you. His stance firms slightly, ready for trouble. However his manner seems relaxed and effusive.
He rises from the desk and comes forward, all smiles and his arms wide. "Welcome, friend, to Amarin Septic Service! I am Bari, your most humble servant. How may I help you this wonderful day?"
His eyes never leave you, and below the surface have the steely aspect of someone assessing a threat. There are three others somewhere in the building, but they are not present here in the room.
[Actions?]
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The Shinobi returns both the gaze and the gesture of the other being, also subtly switching his stance to be ready for trouble. "Good Bari, we are well met. A friend, one Trax, told me that I might be able to do business here, said to ask for Cali."
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He raises an eyebrow. "My Uncle has many business associates, and I, humble labourer that I am, am not familiar with even a small sampling of them all. However, if you have business with my Uncle then perhaps I can help you. I will need to make some calls."
He turns his head and bellows, "Amir! AMIR!"
A younger man runs into the room. "Yes, my cousin?"
Bari smiles. "This is ..." He turns to you a moment, then bows. "My deepest apologies. May I have the honour of your name?"
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"Sincere apologies. I am Nightshade."
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He nods, and you can almost feel him lock that name in for recall.
"I shall make a call and return shortly." He turns to Amir. "Cousin, provide for my friend Nightshade's immediate needs while I make contact."
Amir bows, his palms clasped together in front of his chest. "Of course, cousin."
Bari returns with a slight bow, arms at his side, and departs through the door behind the counter.
Amir bows to you, his arms wide. "Is there anything I can do for you, Friend Nightshade? Refreshment, a light meal?"
He says 'Friend' like it is a title. You note the body language seems ceremonial - likely indication of status or intent, much like the Shinobi ways.
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The Shinobi did not make a habit of accepting food and drink from others, but neither did he want to offend these men, so he decided on something that he hoped could be a compromise. "Is there a place I could freshen up? I would present my best face for the meeting."
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He nods. "There is a fresher through that door, if that will meet your needs."
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"That will be ideal, and most gracious."
Nightshade gives a bow before headed for the fresher and seeing to some quick ablutions.
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Small but serviceable would best describe the facilities. When you emerge a couple of minutes later, Bari has returned. He bows again, his palms pressed together before his chest. He holds that position while speaking.
"Please forgive my earlier cool welcome. I did not know you nor the name Trax. I have been corrected by my Uncle, and he has instructed me to ensure you feel the full hospitality of his house. Cali would be pleased to meet with you at your convenience, and looks forward with much anticipation to hearing news of Trax. At your pleasure, you may take rest and refreshment here, or we can proceed directly to my uncle."
You note that Amir adopted the same post while Bari was speaking.
Bari rises from the bow, but keeps his palms pressed together.
"I would erase any dishonour I have brought to my uncle's house if you will let me. If there is anything I can do, you have only to ask."
He seems genuinely repentant, and the strain he added to the word honour reminds you of home. You're left with the impression there is very little that would not be covered by his declaration.
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Nightshade returns Bari's bow with one of his own. "There was no dishonour intended and so none is taken. If you would be so kind, let us not keep your uncle waiting, my business is fairly pressing."
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You are taken through the back door to a garage where two rather filthy, odiferous sewage trucks are parked. Bari bows again, palms pressed together. "A subterfuge. Cali prefers that his visitors have privacy, and there are several Imperial checkpoints between here and my Uncle's estate." He then opens the filthy hatch at the rear of the vehicle. You are mildly surprised that the interior is pristine. "My uncle has many visitors. The outward appearance of the vehicle discourages closer investigation, and a sensor field within prevents detection by scanners."
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"A most useful conveyance. I can see that your uncle is every bit as intelligent and cunning as Trax described."
Nightshade enters the vehicle and takes a seat. As the journey commences, he mentally prepares for the upcoming meeting with some light breathing exercises. It was always a good idea to be prepared, but even more so for an encounter that would most likely change the course of his future.
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It is a long ride, with frequent stops. You hear some hammering on the side of the truck, and the sound of a top hatch opening, but the rear door stays sealed.
Eventually, the vehicle comes to a stop, and a couple of minutes later, the rear hatch opens.
Bari is there, with another male. They roll a set of stairs to the rear of the vehicle and bow, palms pressed together, as you come down.
You are in a large vehicle bay - no windows, or visible sunlight. You have no idea where you are. There are some half dozen people moving around the vehicles, doing maintenance work and other sundry things. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, but you are surprised at the apparent size of the compound - if this is just the garage, how big is the estate?
You walk around the truck, led by Bari, when you hear a loud voice. Looking up, you see a woman with olive skin, a sharp nose, long brown hair and wearing a loose-fitting pants and tunic on a rasied platform over the grarage. She says four words in a voice that carries. All over the garage, in moments and without heasitation, everyone quickly departs and is out of sight. Even Bari. The efficiency of the evacuation is impressive.
Appraising at the woman, you recognize a warrior stance. She is prepared for trouble, poised on the balls of her feet. She has no visible weapons, but you have the feeling she does not need any.
"Welcome to the House of Cali." She bows, arms at her side. However, she never takes her eyes from you. She never even blinks. "I am called Arienne. The name you used is a form of currency with my Uncle. He has bade his house to make you feel welcome. However, one of my duties is to keep my Uncle safe from threats. You are Nekami, yes? What clan? Minwanabe? Hokaru? Hatami?"
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Nightshade files away all of this information for later use...at this point more an automatic response than a calculated assessment. He also does not take his eyes off this woman as he returns her bow. "Greetings, Arianne. I am Nightshade of the Shinobi. I can give you my honor that I intend your uncle no harm."
He was careful to keep his stance non-hostile, but did not wish to seem cowed by this woman. A fine line to be sure, but one he felt it important to walk.
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She considers a moment. "Shinobi. I have not heard of that clan. Which means your clan must be small, and thus very good."
She considers you a moment longer. "I admit that coming to us in this way would be an unorthodox assassination tactic. However, you would not be the first Nekami try to take my Uncle's life. I have faced several such warriors. As a direct result, I have learned both great respect for the training and skill of your people, and suspicion and mistrust of the words they speak.
"Now, my Uncle wishes you to feel welcome. But I love my Uncle, and I am his Left Hand. For both these reasons, I must defy his wishes. I cannot allow you to enter his presence with a weapon. I am aware of the difficulties this requirement may present you. I swear on my life that your weapons will be kept safe. As long as you respect the laws of hospitality, they shall be returned to you when you leave this place. Should you fail to act as a proper guest, your weapons will be returned to your clan with the details of your honourable death. You may choose to find my actions insulting, or you may choose to see them as a measure of the deep respect I hold for your skills."
"The choice is yours. I hope you chose the path of peace. Do not doubt my resolve to answer the path of contention. Regardless of your choice, you will not leave this room in possession of your weapons."
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Nightshade looks for a long, hard moment at this woman, weighing the decision that she had given him. He could really use Cali's help in finding the rebels, but it might be possible to locate them without him.
It was clear that finding the rebels would likely be the only way to have any chance to complete his assignment and thereby redeem his ability to return to his clan and way of life. But, these were his grandfather's blades and to surrender them into the hands of another would be to lose honor. So which was worse...having no future or no honor?
The decision was ultimately an easy one for him, coming from his roots of his being, and the traditions that he was steeped in from birth.
"Arianne, I propose a compromise, and I hope that you will understand it comes from my desire to follow the path of peace. I will surrender all of my lesser weapons to you without hesitation, and hold you to keeping them safe. However my blades will not be touched by another and will not leave my sight. I will put them into a container of your choosing to be sealed as you see fit. I only ask that the container stay where I can see it at all times. You may decide how to make that happen. If this is acceptable to you, then let us proceed. If it is not, then I humbly ask that you return me from whence I came."
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The intensity in the air grows, and you can almost see the chi flashing like lightning between the two of you.
She takes a breath, and you find yourself tensing.
"An acceptable compromise." She bows again, giving you a warrior salute, and never taking her eyes from you. She raises her voice, speaking in what you assume is the language of her people.
The two of you stand there for a few minutes, staring each other down, when another member of the household appears from behind her holding a long case. She says a few words to him. The male nods, swallows, and steps slowly down the stairs, the box held out in front of him.
It is a little longer than necessary. You are looking at a secure storage container, with a few different access controls and security mechanisms, including both an energy and partcile shield.
The young man before you sets down the box on the floor and bows. "Will this meet your needs?"
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The Shinobi is relieved that his mission may still continue and bowed his thanks when the box was laid before him. Deftly removing his blades, he places them in the container. He also removes all of his kit, and then stands, arms and legs spread to submit to a search should they question his compliance with the disarming.
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Once you have surrendered your weapons, the mood in the room eases slightly, and her warrior stance is gone.
She speaks words in her native tongue. Several moment pass in silence. Then the workers that had been present when you arrived return to their duties as if nothing had happened. Bari even appears once again at your shoulder.
Arienne says, "Bari, my cousin, welcome home. What have you brought our Uncle?" Bari bows to her deeply, his palms pressed together. "My undying love and devotion, and a visitor named Nightshade." He rises. "Nightshade is a friend of the one called Trax, whom our uncle has called Friend, and brings news of him." Arienne turns to you, and bows deeply, never taking her eyes from you. As she bows she says, "Welcome to the house of Cali." She rises from the bow, and lowers her hands to her side gracefully. "My name is Arienne. Trax is a friend of this house, and my uncle is anxious for news of him. My uncle asked me to greet you on his behalf and make you feel welcome. My uncle regrets that he is very much engaged at the moment. He invites you to enjoy the meagre hospitality of his humble house until he is free to meet with you. He hopes this meets with your approval." She waves a hand towards the grim looking man holding the case with your weapons. "The offer of hospitality extends to your servant as well. He may remain at your side at all times while you are within this house, if you wish. My uncle will not be insulted if you prefer your own servant to carry your belongings." She bows again, arms wide, never taking her eyes from you. She rises and watches you, hands folded together at her waist.
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Giving a bow of his own, Nightshade speaks, "I am honored by the hospitality of the house of Cali. I would be most pleased to accept and am grateful beyond measure that he includes my servant also."
Rising again, he continued, "I am at your Uncle's service. I will be happy to wait his convenience wherever you direct."
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She graceful waves an arm, indicating you should follow her. You leave the garage and enter a wide corridor. Unlike the garage, there is no one present in these broad corridors. The decor is simply but very high quality. Passage after passage, you see no sign of another soul. There is just you, Arienne and your new servant.
The walk is quiet, though Arienne will respond to any questions you might pose. You walk for several minutes - how large is this estate? when at length you stand before a large ornate door. She bows again, arms held out from her sides. "Your quarters, Nightshade." She then opens the door.
You see a large room - suite of rooms, if the doors are any indication - with vaulted ceilings and huge broad windows letting in plenty of sunshine. Rich furniture provides plenty of options for comfort, and there is a table with a variety of foods, fruits and drink set out.
Scattered around the room are two female and two male Kothë dressed in simple white linen tunics and pants, with leather sandals on their feet. They are all bent into bows as you enter, palms pressed together.
"These quarters have been provided for you to enjoy while you stay. Servants have been provided to see to any needs you may have. My people consider it rude for a guest to wander freely, so I ask you remain within this suite during your stay. If you have any needs that have not been met, merely have to ask one of these servants and they will do their best to meet any needs you have."
She clasps her hands in front at her waste. "I will return when my uncle is ready to meet you. Do you have any questions, Nightshade? If not, I shall attend to my duties elsewhere."
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"Thank you, Arienne. I have no questions." Nightshade had decided to keep his usual habit of Intel gathering in check out of respect for his host.
Once she leaves he will find an empty corner of floor and work through his meditation exercises briefly while he waits.
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She bows again, arms at an angle from her body, palms towards you, and withdraws, closing the door behind her.
When you turn to the room, one of the female servants is bowing before you, palms pressed together before her chest. She stays in the bow as she speaks.
"Honoured Guest, I am Basima. We are pleased to serve you." She rises and lowers her hands to clasp them before her waist. "Would you care for a bath and refreshment?"
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While it was true that he didn't usually eat food he hadn't prepared himself while in the field, it was equally true that he needed to eat and he would have to extend some trust if this enterprise were to work.
"Thank you Basima, something to eat and drink would be most welcome."
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Prompted by your words, one of the male Kothë begins to put together a plate while the other female one pours a drink from an elegant decanter, while the second male prepares a place at a small table, and sets a chair back for you to sit. They all move without words being spoken, and seem to be in complete harmony - the plate of food and the drink arrive at the appropriate time, there is no hesitation among any on them - this seems to you to have more in common with a tea ceremony than servants preparing a light meal.
The plate set, the other three withdraw from the table and assume their previous poses, heads slightly bowed and arms at their sides.
Basima gives you a shallow bow and waves an arm gracefully to usher you towards the table.
The only other person in the room is you "servant" holding the weapon case. He stands by the door with his back to the wall, his face grim as he holds your weapons. He does not look around, and he has not spoken.
[Actions?]
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"As I am a stranger to your customs, permit me a question," Nightshade asked as he sat down the meal. "Would it be acceptable for me to request that you eat with me?" His tone was open and friendly with true curiosity.
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She smiles coyly, and her eyes narrow with the smile.
"You may. We are here to serve you. You may ask us to eat with you, play music, read poetry, assist you in the bath or... anything else you wish. Even leave you alone should you desire privacy. Our purpose and desire is to make you feel welcome."
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"Then please, sit and eat."
Looking to play the part of the gracious gentleman, he allows them to start eating first before he joins them in enjoying the food.
Assuming, no one seems to be suffering an ill effects, of course. Granted, a smart and ruthless man wouldn't hesitate to use long onset poisons, but one had to take what precautions they could. Old habits, and all that.
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When you indicate all of them join you, her coy smile fades. Basima bows, palms pressed together. "Of course, Honoured Guest."
Then then each make a point of preparing plates identical to yours. They do not wait for you, but begin by taking a bite of every item on their plate.
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After the meal, Nightshade attends to his meditations until Cali is ready to see him.
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The meal is excellent. Cali employs a chef of great skill, if this meal is any indication. Your servants quietly wait in the corners of the room for you. They are very good and not disturbing you. Even your "servant" with the weapon case maintains his quite, standing by the door with the case held under one arm.
At length, perhaps four hours later, there is a small tone that sounds from the door. Without waiting for orders from you, she heads to the door. You note that one of the male servants quietly moves to stand near you, and the other one positions himself between you and the doorway. You have seen such things before - they are positioning themselves to protect you should an enemy be at the door. Basima takes a quick glance at the room to make sure everyone is ready, and opens the door.
You see Arienne, dressed now in a long, loose white linen wrap, belted at the waist with a blue rope belt so that tassels dangle from her left hip. She bows, arms held out from her sides.
"Nightshade, I bring greetings from my uncle. He apologizes for the delay. He is ready to meet with you now."
Arienne leads you through a series of corridors - all of them empty. You and she (and your weapon-bearer) are the only sentients you see. There are not even any droids to be seen. The entire sprawling estate could be emplty, for all you know. The corridors form something of a maze - even you would have difficulty finding your way around in this place without a guide.
At last you come to a large, ornate gilded door.
Arienne stops and turns to you.
"It is custom among my people to bow when meeting the head of a household. Palms together indicates supplication. Arms wide indicates friendship. I do not know your purpose full purpose, but it would be best to frame it in the manner of your bow. Cali will offer you food and drink. It would be rude to refuse, but wait until Cali eats before you take anything. It would also be respectful to wait to bring up your business until Cali asks. We will enter, and wait to be recognized. You should wait for me to present you."
Without waiting for a response, she opens the door and the two of you enter the room.
This is a huge chamber, probably 100 meters on a side. The room is dark, except for a central platform where a very corpulent man with dark hair sits on a pile of cushions. A younger, lithe man sits on cushions to Cali's right hand. Two other men sit on cushions in front of Cali, engaged in what appears to be a tense conversation. The two men are wearing rougher clothing, but in the same general style.
Four elevated walkways lead from other doors to the central platform. The darkness beside the walkways is impenetrable.
The landing on which you stand is brightly lit, and though the men on the dais are only 45 meters from you, you cannot hear a word that is being said.
Arienne stands there attentively, hands clasped before her waist.
After about a minute, the two men speaking with whome you presume to be Cali rise, give a supplicant bow, and leave via a different raised walkway. Another servant is waiting for them at the door, and they depart. You hear nothing when the great doors close.
Cali then looks at Arienne. "Arienne, my dear! What have you brought me?"
Arienne bows, her palms pressed together. "My undying love and affected, Uncle, and my life to your service."
You sense something then - a ripple? and the mood on the dias seems to change slightly. You note the lithe young man shift position on the cushions, putting a leg beneath him, likely so as to be able to more readily rise.
Cali, without missing a beat, responds. "And who is with you, my dear?"
Still in the bow, she adds, "Nigthshade of the Shinobi Clan of the Nekami people. He comes bearing news of Trax, a friend of your house."
He claps his hands together, his jowls shakking as he laughs. "Yes! Come down, please come down. Join us Arienne, for you know Trax as well. Welcome, Nightshade, to my humble home. Come, both of you, and join me."
[Presuming you bowed with Arienne, what sort of bow did you give?]
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Nightshade was amused by the defensive stances of the servants, but also appreciated the amount of loyalty to their employer that they would risk themselves for a total stranger on his behalf.
As he walked through the halls with Arienne, he started to make a mental map of the compound, but eventually gave up...it was too complicated to be worth it.
As they approached the large door, he nodded in acknowledgement of what his guide said and then followed her into the audience chamber. He noticed the change in the room when Arienne answered Cali and was briefly curious as to what it might entail, but not enough to distract him. He decided to take the supplication position in his bow as he was going to be asking Cali for something after all, and it never seemed to be a bad idea of flatter someone when you needed something from them. He maintains the bow with his palms pressed together for as long as his guide did before taking the offered seat and waiting for some sort of cue that it may be time to speak...it wouldn't do to seem rude here at the finish line as it were.
-
[Forgot to mention it, but your "servants" with the weapon case remained in the landing where you entered.]
Cali's eyes twinkle as you come and take a seat in silence.
Arienne walks by your side, and takes a seat on the cushions to Cali's left. The other male is seated on Cali's right. You have a clear view of the rout entrances from this point, but not in the areas beyond the walkways. There could be 500 people in this room unseen.
Cali smiles warmly. "Nightshade. As you know, I am Cali, and this is my house." He indicates the man to his right. "This is my nephew Khaliss. And, of course, you know my niece Arienne."
He is sitting cross-legged, wearing a colourful silk robe that leaves his ample legs bare. Khaliss takes a few items - fruits, some bakes goods - and puts them on a plate before handing the platye to Cali. Meanwhile, Arienne pours what appears to be wine from a decanter into a cup, which she then hands to Cali. He takes a bit of everything, and a sip of wine. Then Cali waves a hand at the arrayed foods and drink says, "Please, take some refreshment, though I hope you will not be insulted by the meagre hospitality my house has to offer."
-
Taking a little of what is offered, Nightshade samples a bit of everything now that Cali has eaten. Inclining his head to the man with reverence, he speaks, "Truly, sir, you are a most gracious host and the hospitality of your house leaves some royal families in the dust.
-
He laughs once, loudly and with mirth. "Ha! The kings and queens you speak of must be humble indeed. If you had seen this house when my greatfather was patriarch, then you would have seen true hospitality. Alas, these are dark days, but we do what we can."
He takes a moment to shift his great bulk on the cushions. "I understand that you have news of Trax. He is a friend of this house, and I am eager for news of him. He is well? Tell me what you know of him."
-
"Trax sends you his greetings and wishes you to know that he is well. He has found his way to a larger rebellion against the Empire and continues to fight them. I do not know where he may be now, but I left him on Alderaan about a week ago. He spoke fondly of his time here and says he means to return when he can."
Taking a somber face, the Shinobi continued, "He also asked me to convey some sad news, the girl, Mariah, was killed in action against the Empire. I have brought her remains back to be buried here with the Karvis resistance."
He sat back and was quiet, waiting to see what reaction his words would bring.
-
Cali's face clouds over. "The relationship of this house with Mariah was not always an happy one, but for my part we parted as friends the last time I saw her. I am deeply saddened to hear of her passing, a grief that is doubled for my friend Trax. He was very fond of the girl, and I expect he will be taking her death hard." Cali is quiet for a moment as he takes a sip from his cup. "I have more to say on that matter, but perhaps we should move on to other matters for the moment. You have come before me to make a request. I would hear it."
-
"You are most gracious, Cali, to hear my humble request. I have a need to speak with whatever may be left of the Karvis royal house. My clan was contracted by them before the Imperial occupation which prevented me from meeting with them before the attacks. Honor demands that I find them to discharge this contract if possible. I was told that you might be able to point me in their direction."
-
Cali frowns. "If that is why you have come, then I fear I have little to offer you. Several weeks ago, the main base of the Royalists came under extended bombardment by the Imperial Fleet. There were no survivors from the attack - all those in the base perished. Weeks spent combing through the wreckage located the body of the young Prince. We have also recovered the body of several Royalist senior leaders.
"But I can offer you some hope, thin though it may be. Recently, the Royalists had captured a Corellian Corvette. There was no sign of the ship anywhere in the wreckage of the base. Also, despite weeks sifting through the rubble, we found no sign of the young princess, who is heir to the throne. It does not mean her body is not there, of course - only that we did not find her. However, when combined with the missing corvette, there is a possibility that the crown princess was not in the base when it was destroyed.
"I am aware that a second headquarters, run by senator Pasteur, known as the Silver Fox, has been operating in the mountains of the southern continent. They refused to re-locate to the northern desert, and so remain intact. If anyone could confirm that the Princess still lives, it would be the Silver Fox. She would be your best route to locating the princess."
"So, as I said, the news is grim for your task, but some hope still remains."
Cali pauses to take a sip from his drink, and nibble a pastry.
"Your information is correct, of course. I have the means to introduce you to the rebels, and through them perhaps you might locate the princess. There are two options, either one acceptable to me. The first, and most expedient, is for me to make use of certain agents I have within the Royalists to secure you a meeting. This would, of course, expose my agent, and likely trigger an investigation that may put other agents are risk of exposure. The other option involves some risk to your person. It would take longer, but perhaps make your introduction easier in the long run. There is a rebel cell that has been located by the Empire. In four hours, Imperial troops will descend on the headquarters of the cell. Perhaps if you were to intervene, you might display goodwill and earn the trust of the rebellion."
-
Giving the most formal bow that he could muster from a seated position, Nightshade replied to the other man, "You have been a most gracious host, Cali, and I would be a most rude guest if I repaid this kindness by imposing upon you to risk your agents and organization. If if please you, let the risk fall on me and direct me to where I may intervene."
-
Cali waves a hand toward Khaliss. "My nephew can assist you with the arrangements, provide transportation, and give you the all the pertinent details. I presume the stasis chamber you left at Bari's storefront contains the remains of Mariah? It would be our pleasure to safeguard it until you are ready."
-
"Many thanks, Cali, that is most gracious. If I may impose one last time before I take my leave, Trax arranged for some funds to be sent to the resistance here, which I have in my possession. It sounds that the situation is dire and that they could use those monies before I may have a chance to deliver them in person. Do you believe that your agents may be able to do the transfer without undue risk to your organization?"
Obviously this was a risk on his part, but Nightshade felt that he understood Cali's honor and the importance of the rules of hospitality to the man, and felt that it could be the best course of action to fulfill Trax's wishes.
-
Cali considers a moment.
"Yes, I think we can make arrangements that would mask my involvement but get the funds into the hands of the rebels."
He looks at you a moment. "You honour me with this trust."
-
Moving slowly as to not arouse any suspicion, Nightshade removed the credit chits from an inner pocket of his gi and set them on the ground.
Not exactly sure what the protocol was for leaving he looked to either Cali or Arienne to see if either of them would give him a hint as to what to do next.
-
Cali waves a wand at Khaliss. "My nephew will help you prepare to defend the rebel outpost. It has been interesting meeting you, Nightshade. I hope to have the pleasure again."
Khaliss then rises from the cushion and bows to his uncle, palms pressed together. He turns to you. "If you will come with me?"
-
"I look forward to it." Nightshade rises and again gives the bow of supplication before following Khaliss as instructed, looking to make sure that his blades were coming along.
-
Khaliss takes you up the same walkway you came down. He stops to bow at his uncle, and you do the same. Khaliss leads you out, and your servant with the weapon case falls into step with you. You pass through the maze of empty corridors and end up in a moderate room that seems to be a combination armoury and office. Khaliss walks to his desk and picks up a data cube. He hands it to you. "All the details you need that we can provide are in there." He then leads you again through the empty corridors, back to the vehicle bay. A new Kothë male is there, who bows to you with his arms at his side.
Khaliss says, "This is my cousin Mukhtar. He will take you to Amarin. You will be on your own from there."
With some sense of ceremony, your weapons case is opened, and you are permitted to retrieve your weapons. The Kothë that had been carrying them then bows with his palms pressed together. "Nightshade, has my service been satisfactory? Will you now release me from my obligation?"
There is a little tension, as if you might well refuse to release him.
-
The blades are a welcome weight on his person once again, and Nightshade really didn't realize just how much he had missed them until now. Acknowledging all that he had been told, he takes the cube and bows to Khaliss, hoping that a bow of friendship would not be considered too forward.
Finally the man who had been carrying his weapons spoke. Listening intently and amused by the look of apprehension on the man's face, the Shinobi answered. "None could have discharged the duty better, I am most pleased with your service and release you from any obligation to me."
With that out of the way, he was ready to follow Mukhtar. He would start to absorb the data on the cube as soon as he could.
-
Formalities over, you are loaded into the back of the septic truck in a similar manner to before. The trunk rumbles around for an extended period of time - at least an hour - before it stops. The hatch is opened a few moments later, and you find yourself out in a remote field near a farmhouse. You hear the sound of engines powering up.
Mukhtar bows to you. "There is a pilot ready to take you where you need to be." He bows, arms at his side, and climbs into the vehicle and drives away.
Making your way into the barn, you find a sleek-looking shuttle with a female Kothë in the pilot chair. She motions for you to come on in. Taking your seat, she continues working as she speaks.
"Forgive my manners - time is short. I am Lina, and my uncle asked me to convey you to Amarin. Amarin is an occupied city, so I will not be able to land. In order to get you where you need to be, I have a paraglider stored in the back you could use to drop on the location from above. I do hope this is acceptable - we did not have much time to make these arrangements."
-
Buckling in for the ride, Nightshade nods to the pilot. "A paraglider sounds like fun."
He checks over his gear to make sure all is ready and reviews the info on the cube.
-
The datacube contains the following information:
The Amarin rebel cell is headquartered in a small abandoned factory in the industrial quarter. The cell is actually housed in the basement of the facility, in what used to be the building vault. They have constructed an escape route that leads underground to the next building over. Rebels in the building at the time of the attack are expected to be as follows:
Milka Abogado (human male, local, leader, likely link to the Silver Fox)
Lexarne Lindemann (human female, local, second in command, likely link to the Silver Fox)
Rek Picus (human male, off-worlder smuggler, supplies and procurement)
Tam Myrishi (human female, local, recruitment)
Vash Terius (human female, offworlder, operations)
Adriav Monite (human female, Kothë local, HQ security)
Jonathan Ruana (human male, offworlder, counter-intelleigence)
Allanar Farani (human male, Kothë local, communications)
[OOC: The brief dossiers include images]
The site will come under assault by a squadron [40] of Stormtroopers led by Lieutenant Dais Solomon (human male). They will be reinforced by a squad [10] troopers from Imperial Intelligence, Renik Division. The Stormtroopers are expected to flush the rebels to their escape route, where the Renik troopers will ambush them to kill or take captives.
[You have maps and layouts attached.]
Tactically, the best bet would be to evacuate the rebels before the strike happens, but the place is probably already under surveillance. You could find another escape route, or try and engage the Renik troopers. The Renik troopers are the real threat - you've never faced them before, but their reputation is pretty solid. Military Intelligence does not rely on massed numbers to win battles, but on skilled individual agents.
-
With precious little time to gather any intel on possible enemy surveillance and likely no way to get a message to the rebels without tipping the Imperials to his presence, it seemed that Nightshade's only true option was to insert himself into the planned ambush and see that it didn't go as planned for the enemy.
As soon as he put boots on the ground, he ditched the paraglider and worked his way over to the 'exit' route, moving slowly through the shadows. He wanted to take out the intel soldiers ahead of time if possible. The numbers were more in his favor on that end, and if he attacked the 40 stormies, it was likely that the rebels would still run for their bolt hole and the ambush anyway. No, he clearly had to make the exit safe and get the cell clear before the troops out front realized the ambush had gone sideways.
Actions: Stealth to exit building and try to locate any enemy soldiers en route.
-
The thirty minute trip is a little harrowing. Lina keeps the shuttle quite close to the ground, so you are swerving between hills and dodging trees. You cross a low series of mountains, and see a arid plain against the setting sun. Beyond the plain is the ocean, and nestled against the coast is a sprawling city.
"Five minutes," Lina calls back to you. You make final preparations, check your gear, and get harnessed up into the paraglider.
"One minute!" You open the rear lower hatch, and watch as the city streaks by below you. You're not going to have a lot of time to get the repulsors stabilized.
"Go!" She calls, and you step through the lower hatch.
The wind catches you and sends you spinning. You open the wings on the glider, which stabilizes the spin, and manage to get the repulsors stabilized about 15' above a building. You identify the abandoned building where the exit leads to, and swerve the glider towards it. The contraption is extremely quiet - the only sound you hear is the slight ruffling of the wind against your sword scabbards.
Touching down turns out to be a little tricky, but you manage to pull it off without too much trouble, and not much noise. Glancing around, you see no sign you have been spotted. The rooftop you are on is covered in small debris, drifts of sandy dirt, and other detritus, but is otherwise empty. There is a small room with a door, likely the top of a stairwell.
[Actions?]
You taking the paraglider, or abandoning it? It's fairly compact when stowed - about the size of a school backpack - but it weight a few kilos.
-
Ooc: look for a place to hide the glider and leave it.
Ic: Getting a quick bearing on his surroundings Nightshade moves towards the door to the building, being sure to move quietly and keep a weather eye out for any traps, pressure plates or other surprises.
If he reached the door without finding anything, he spent some time making sure it wasn't trapped or alarmed before slowly passing through, still keeping a watch for any enemies or tricks.
-
There are three first-sized sensor drones deployed along the edge of the building, but they are facing the rebel headquarters. You stow the paraglider beside the entrance hut, and spend some time checking out the door. It appears to be clean, and you hit the actuator, grabbing the door as it slides to the left to ease it into place. A stairway leads down into the building.
Going slow and quiet, you come out onto an elevated platform. There is a pair of camera drones covering the stairway, but you do not think they saw you. From here, you can look down and see the cargo lift that the rebels would use to get to ground level. it is some twenty meters below you. There are two snipers on the walkway, spaced out about 10m to your right, and 10m to your left. Two techs are behind a barricade near the back of the room on the ground floor, monitoring their surveillance drones. There are four pairs of troopers behind cover, and spaced around the floor below to catch the rebels in a crossfire.
You see to the left, near a vehicle door, the escape speeder and two speeder bikes that the rebels intend to use if they need to get out in a hurry. It is some 40m away from you, to the left, on the ground floor.
The sensor drones covering the stairway are the first problem, but you might be able to vault off the stairway and land behind them. It's going to be tough to do that without alerting the snipers. You might use the grapple to lower yourself down - there's a few options.
There is also something to be said for waiting until the rebels actually start their break. That would keep the troopers focussed on the cargo lift, and let you work with a distraction in your favour.
[Actions?]
-
Nightshade looked around quickly to assess the situation. He wanted to get as many of these troops down as possible before the rebels showed up. The distraction would be nice, but he couldn't risk valuable targets catching a blaster bolt while he was working. There was no reason to risk himself to the wrath of Imperial Intel if the people he was trying to meet with ended up dead.
Looking for a structural support for his grapple, he would try to use it to avoid the droids and land behind the sniper on the right, giving him a taste of Shinobi steel as quietly as possible.
Actions: grapple down to the right sniper. If I can sneak up on him, go for the quiet take down, otherwise two melee sword attacks.
-
Using the grappler, you land gently on the walkway behind the sniper. A quick hiraken strike to the back of the neck, and the sniper is rendered unconscious. A quick twist of the helmet and he is dead. Other than the cracking sound of the spine, the kill was silent. Glancing around quickly, none of the other targets appear to have noticed you.
-
Having reduced the sniper population by 50%, it was time to turn his attention to the other one on the left. Nightshade looked around for a way to move into position and repeat a silent strike the other sniper while avoiding the view of the droids. Again if spotted he prepared to either deliver melee strikes or a shot from his dart gauntlet, depending on the range when he was spotted.
Actions: Sneak into position, silent strike if possible or 2 melee attacks/1 dart attack depending on range when spotted.
-
The second sniper is likewise straightforward. There was a moment of tension when he reached back to scratch an itch, but he did not notice you. A quick strike, and a twist and the second sniper is dead.
You now have a commanding position over the others, but the others are in pairs. making a stealth kill against a pair of opponents is tricky, and you're likely to be noticed making the attempt.
[Actions?]
-
Looking to get some more intelligence about the upcoming attack, or possibly warn the rebels of the waiting ambush, Nightshade moves quietly towards the techs. They will be his new target. Hopefully with them isolated at the back of the room, he would be able to drop on them both and finish them quickly before the other troopers were aware of his presence.
Actions: drop down to the back of the room on the techs and sword stab at each one as I land on them if possible. If necessary another sword strike to any live target behind the barricade. Take cover behind barricade.
-
Using the grapple, Nightshade leaps off the elevated walkway and drops down behind the barricade. Both techs notice you, but are surprised. One is head before he even finishes looking up. The other one takes a sword to the throat to being him down. You catch the tech, and slide him slowly to the floor to finish dying.
So far, so good. None of the ambushers appear to have noticed you, and the surprised techs were too stunned to engage the security on their equipment. You need to keep your head down, but you now have full access to their sensors and imagers.
-
Nightshade does a quick once over of the equipment in front of him, looking to see if he can figure out the interface of the equipment and use it for his own purposes. He was especially cautious for any security measures that might be in place to find his unauthorized use. If he can't suborn the systems, he will just watch the screens to get as much information as he can about the movement of the rebel cell.
-
The systems look fairly complicated, and there may be safeguards you are not aware of. Probably best to leave it. The remotes and sensors give you pretty good coverage of the approaches to the building and the rebel escape route. Popping up for a quick look, the troopers do not seem to have noticed anything. From this vantage, though, it looks even more unlikely you'll be able to take out troopers without being spotted.
You have a few minutes before the Empire launches the strike - enough time for quick preparations, but not much else.
-
[map as requested.]
-
Zero hour was almost upon him, and the Shinobi knew that he would have to make a move now to disrupt these troops as much as he could before the rebels arrived, since he could see no safe way to contact them and advise them of the waiting ambush.
Keeping a weather eye on the monitors he waited for the first sounds of the attack to start before moving. His plan was to pop two of his smoke grenades, one at the barricade on the right and the other on the barricade at the bottom. Trusting to his gear to help him make out targets in the smoke, he planned to fire one neural dart at the right most trooper at the bottom barricade before rushing the ones on the right to close to melee distance and dispatch them both. He knew that he would need the blessing of the Ancestors to pull off something so audacious, but he also felt that this was the best way to disrupt the ambush and protect his people of interest.
A few deep, calming breaths to steady the adrenaline already starting to course in anticipation and he coiled his muscles, ready to spring and strike.
Actions: as described with one sword attack to each trooper on the right. Seems like a good time for the FP. ;D
-
While Nightsahde is planning tactics, a light starts flashing on what appears to be a communications console. The light is accompanied by an audible alert.
*beep beep*
*beep beep*
-
A less emotionally controlled person would be cursing up a storm at the interruption, but Nightshade knew that he would have to act fast before the noise drew the attention of the troopers. Unless he could find some easy way to stop the beeping he would jump into action immediately with his plan while he could still claim any element of surprise.
-
[OOC: The beeping indicates an incoming call. You could answer it to silence the beeps. Or strike now.]
-
Nightshade scans the console quickly, and finds a "silence" button. Stabbing it, the beeping stops.
Good enough for now.
-
With the call silenced, the time to strike was now. Especially if the attack at the front end gets called off, then a clear escape route might become essential.
Actions: Attack! For Pony!
-
Nightshade takes a deep, centring breath. Saying a quick prayer to his ancestors, he bursts into motion.
As he rises from behind the console, his arm is already throwing two grenades. They land not exactly where he wanted, but pretty close. They burst into clouds of smoke, which should provide some cover. He levels his other arm at the closest trooper, and launches a neural dart. The dart hits the trooper in the neck, and he twitches and starts to go down.
As Nightshade fires his dart, one of the troopers behind the far barricade swings his rifle around at Nightshade, spots him, and fires. With the partial smoke interfering, and Nightshade's partial cover, the shot misses.
A trooper at the far end of the bottom barricade also spots Nightshade and raises his rifle to fire, but the shot also goes wide thanks to the smoke and partial cover.
Nightshade vaults over the barricade and starts a sprint to the right side ambush point. As he srpints, three more troopers open fire. Their shots come dangerously close, in two cases actually singing parts of Nightshades gear, but thankfully the smoke helped throw off their aim just enough.
With both targets within range, Nightshade whips out his vibroblades, and attacks. Both troopers bring their rifles out to block the strikes, but Nightshade (barely) manages to get past their defences. Both troopers stagger back, wounded but still in the fight.
[Actions?]
The very near misses on your run caused cosmetic damage only.
| Name | Status |
| Nightshade | - |
| Intel Trooper #2 | wounded |
| Intel Trooper #4 | - |
| Intel Trooper #3 | - |
| Intel Trooper #6 | stunned 1d6 minutes |
| Intel Trooper #7 | - |
| Intel Trooper #1 | wounded |
| Intel Trooper #8 | - |
| Intel Trooper #5 | - |
-
Now was the time to press the attack. Nightshade had to get these two out of the fight for good before the other five still standing had a chance to regroup and push their numerical superiority.
Looking to make a move to put one enemy between him and the other, he lashed out twice with his blades as he drove forward. He wanted to use the soon to be corpse to push the second enemy off balance as he moved to hit him with a third strike.
Actions: two melee attacks at first enemy, one at second.
-
Nightshade is under pressure. A hail of blaster bolts lash out at him, and he is forces to dodge and roll to avoid them. The smoke, and the barricade certainly help, and he managed to avoid 5 shots, popping up beside his first target trooper. Nightshade lashes out with both blades at the first trooper, two scissoring slashes from each direction. The trooper catches the low slash with his rifle, but the upper slash is unopposed. In a moment that fight as over, as the trooper's head arcs spinning through the air. His body stands for a moment before it collapses to it's knees and falls over, a fountain of blood spouting out of the neck.
Nightshade has no time to savour the victor, and has to immediately duck and dodge more blaster fire. He manages to stay untagged, and pops up beside his second target with a full arm thrust, with the flat of the blade parallel to the ground. Nightshade evades the attempted block with the rifle, and catches the trooper between the fourth and fifth rib. The trooper stiffens, and slides off Nigthshade's blade.
Two down, six more to go.
[Actions?]
| Name | Status |
| Intel Trooper #2 | dead |
| Intel Trooper #4 | - |
| Intel Trooper #6 | stunned 1d6 minutes |
| Intel Trooper #5 | - |
| Intel Trooper #3 | - |
| Intel Trooper #7 | - |
| Nightshade | - |
| Intel Trooper #1 | mortally wounded |
| Intel Trooper #8 | - |
-
*** Cutscene ***
Command Shuttle CJ-207
On approach to Amarin strike point
"Lieutenant. All teams reporting ready, except Besh. I cannot raise them on the comlink."
The Lieutenant narrowed his eyes, working through a rapid risk assessment. Things had been going well for months, ever since the destruction of the rebel headquarters. Those free-agents that has been making life difficult were gone from the area. But that should not make him complacent. The ambush at the rebel exit point was a key safety valve if the frontal assault failed to catch them all.
"Ensign, change orders. Re-route shuttle BH-996 the Besh objective. The platoon is to secure the building. Weapons free, watch for friendlies, kill anything not giving the counter-phrase. Remind them I want some prisoners. Give all other units the 'go' code."
"Yes, sir."
The Lieutenant leaned into the cockpit. "Pilot, re-route to point Besh. Set us down on the roof. Linger for air support." Without responding, the pilot nodded banked the command shuttle to the right.
The Lieutenant then went to the troop bay of the command shuttle. "Sergeant, I'm following a hunch. Prepare for deployment. We're coming in from the roof. There will be a platoon assaulting from the exterior, so check your targets."
The Sergeant saluted. "Yes, sir," and smartly went down the line to pass the word.
This may be nothing. A faulty comlink. However, in his risk assessment, the loss of a platoon was not going to significantly impact the frontal assault. However the loss of team Besh could allow the rebels to escape entirely, which was unacceptable.
The Lieutenant checked his weapon, and strapped himself in to his jumpseat.
-
Nightshade mentally decides to spend some time with a blaster when he has opportunity again. He makes a quick check over the dead troopers to see if they have any grenades on them before deciding on his next move.
-
Nightshade is not the only one thinking of grenades. As he crouches down to search the first trooper, one of the troopers lobs something. It falls short, hitting the barricade Nightshade is hiding behind. Immediately after there is an ear-splitting concussion, and a burst of flames and light. The barricade moves a full meter, shoving Nightshade and the two troopers with it like the scoop of a bulldozer.
Shaken but unhurt, Nightshade catches movement out of the corner of his eye as one of the troopers runs to a flanking position behind Nightshade.
Another grenades lands a couple of meters from Nightshade. With few options, he grabs the body he had been intending on searching first, and twists, rolling the body on top of himself. Continuing the roll, Nightshade effectively smothers the grenade with the body. There is a *crump* sound, and Nightshade is kicked free from the body flying up a few centimeters, but the blast was contained.
Another grenade lands between you and the trooper trying to flank you. You dive to the deck just as the grenade goes off. It was far enough away that you are able to shake off the effects of the blast. Through the swirling smoke, you the trooper raising his rifle is also unhurt.
You hands quickly cover the headless body of the trooper and find two grenades clipped to his belt. You liberate those and crab to the second body.
As you reach the second body, you spot a second trooper appear out of the smoke near where the techs had been operating. The two techs effectively have you in a crossfire. You can admire their tactics and training, even as you contemplate the difficult situation you find yourself in.
The two troopers fire. You roll to the side, and watch as one shot flies between your feet, and other passes between your left side and your arm. You catch the mortally wounded trooper's body to stop your roll and go a quick search, coming up with 2 more concussion grenades.
[Actions?]
| Name | Status |
| Intel Trooper #4 | - |
| Intel Trooper #8 | - |
| Intel Trooper #5 | - |
| Intel Trooper #3 | - |
| Nightshade | - |
| Intel Trooper #7 | - |
| Intel Trooper #6 | stunned 1d6 minutes |
| Intel Trooper #2 | dead |
| Intel Trooper #1 | mortally wounded |
-
The Ancestors were showing him a large amount of favor, Nightshade realized. In a stroke of pure serendipity, he found four grenades and he had four targets!
It was time for last ditch efforts...he had to clear this place before either the rebels or reinforcements arrived. Taking the briefest of centering breaths he sprang into action one more time like an uncoiled spring. One grenade was lobbed at each of the soldiers nearest to him before he vaulted over the barricade and tossed another pair at the two remaining groups of troopers.
At this point he was looking for cover...preferably using the grapple to get back up a floor, but failing that, an all out run towards the lift and as much distance between himself and the troopers as he could muster. He hoped that they would be too busy dodging hot shrapnel to get an accurate bead on him.
Actions: FP, toss one grenade at each set of targets on the map, try to disappear.
-
The troopers appear to have the drop on you. The one near the external wall fires first. One of the troopers at the far end of the bottom barricade breaks to the right to get a clear field of fire, dropping to a knee in the clear and drawing a bead. Then Nightshade palms a grenade in each hand, flinging them in exact opposite directions at the two closest troopers. The first grenades heading north lands a couple of meters beyond the target. It goes off, but the trooper appears none the worse for wear, having executed a forward roll to clear the blast radius. The southern trooper has the grenade land a meter in front of him. The grenade goes off, and when the smoke clears that trooper has taken a knee and is coughing. Other than scuffs and soot on his armour, he appears more shaken up than hurt.
The other trooper at the far end of the bottom barricade moves forward, trying to get a clean firing angle, and raises his rifle to his shoulder.
The trooper by the barricade takes a shot at Nightshade. The shot grazes Nightshade's suit on the shoulder. No damage, but it was a very close thing.
Nightshade then leaps into a forward roll, coming up almost in the face with one of the troopers. Too close for a grenade, he ignores that one and flings his arms out at the remaining two troopers. Both grenades land at the feet of the troopers and explode. Both troopers are thrown to the ground from the blast. They groan and roll back and forth, but are effectively out of this fight. Also caught in the blast was the trooper hit with the neural dart. He is thrown like a rag doll and slams into the tech barricade. He is not groaning.
Nightshade then extends his arm and fires the grapple. It connects with the support beam over the raised walkway. A moment later, he flies into the air. It is not graceful - he collides with the safety rail, but manages to topple over to land prone on the grating floor with an audible thump. Not exactly a vanishing act, but he has some cover for the moment.
[Actions?]
| Name | Status |
| Intel Trooper #8 | - |
| Intel Trooper #3 | incapacitated |
| Nightshade | - |
| Intel Trooper #4 | - |
| Intel Trooper #7 | stun |
| Intel Trooper #5 | incapacitated |
| Intel Trooper #6 | mortally wounded |
| Intel Trooper #2 | dead |
| Intel Trooper #1 | mortally wounded |
-
Nightshade recovered as quickly as he could and started rolling to his feet to the left. It was time to formulate a new plan of attack for the three troopers that remained. He looked for a dark corner, or some other feature that would let him take up the cloak of the shadows once again to wait for a time to strike.
Actions: Find a way to go stealth again if possible. Willing to move up another level if that helps.
-
Nightshade crouches and runs along the walkway to a nearby support pillar. From the ground, the three remaining troopers continue to fire, blasting holes in the grating, but none of them manage to tag Nightshade. The Shinobi ducks around the support pillar and takes stock of the situation. There is a support pillar on the far side of the room near the external wall. He could grapple there, perhaps, and get into stealth that way. Dropping a smoke grenade where his is would certainly help that. Another option would be to drop some smoke grenades on the troopers below, though it'd be easy for them to run out of the smoke. But it might give him enough time to allow Nightshade to break their knowledge of his position.
While he is contemplating, he hears a heavy mechanism start up from below. Warning lights start flashing around the heavy cargo lift. A moment later the heavy cover lifts up, exposing the shaft below. You can hear the lift rising.
This divides the attention of the troopers, caught between the immediate threat of the assassin, and the arrival of the rebel fleeing the frontal assault.
[Actions?]
You have a round or two before the rebels emerge from the lift. They would currently be very vulnerable to grenades if the troopers threw them into the lift.
-
Every time he thought he was about to get a handle on this kusottare, something else came up. Well that's what you get for going into situations like this without the proper amount of time for planning.
He had to expect that the troopers would get the same idea about grenades that he did, they had before. With that in mind, the rebels were still a priority target and he was going to have to risk himself again to try to keep them safe.
Hoping that the ancestors would watch over him at least one more time, Nightshade dropped another couple of smoke grenades on his enemies and readied his grapple to drop on their heads like a descending angel of death. Of course if he saw an opportunity to give one or two a neural dart, then there was no reason to tempt fate...
Actions: two smoke grenades to provide cover and then over the rail we go at the closest enemy or group. If a dart opportunity opens up then take it otherwise two melee attacks at one target in range or one each at two targets in range.
-
Nightshade pops out from cover to fling a couple of smoke grenades. He's not exactly on target, but with a smoke grenade, accuracy is not necessarily required. He is still personally exposed, but now the troopers below are effectively blinded to the emergence of the rebels.
Three blaster bolts fly, two of them blasting holes in the walkway floor. The third, however, burns through the suspension support for the walkway. With the weakened state of the walkway floor, a large section of the walkway collapses, unceremoniously twisting and dumping Nightshade towards the floor. Acting more on reflex, Nightshade fires his grapple and managed to right himself, landing in a crouch behind the closest trooper [got a Yahtzee]. Weapons slash out, both of them striking the unsuspecting trooper. The first runs through the trooper's lower back, emerging through the liver just below the ribs. The second pierces the upper back, narrowly missing the trooper's heart when it poked through the front of the trooper's chest. By that point, having an intact heart is moot as the trooper is clearly dying. Nightshade slowly eases him to the floor so his fall will not give away his position, trusting in the smoke to keep him hidden.
The smoke is a double-edged sword, for while he is now a ghost, he has lost situational awareness of the two remaining troopers. He is as blind as they are. Then, his helmet picks up movement - both troopers are running towards the lift.
The lift continues to run. The rebels must be close to the top now.
[Actions?]
You don't have an exact position, but you know roughly where they are.
| Name | Status |
| Nightshade | - |
| Intel Trooper #4 | mortally wounded |
| Intel Trooper #7 | stun |
| Intel Trooper #8 | - |
| Intel Trooper #5 | incapacitated |
| Intel Trooper #3 | incapacitated |
| Intel Trooper #6 | mortally wounded |
| Intel Trooper #2 | dead |
| Intel Trooper #1 | mortally wounded |
-
Nightshade moved forward to clear the smoke and get closer to the troopers. If he found himself in melee range he would attack with his swords, but if not then he found throw a pair of his electro-stars at each hostile standing.
Actions: close with the troopers, melee attacks if in range, otherwise one star at each enemy.
-
[Taking some minor liberties to complete two rounds.]
Moving on his toes, Nightshade looms out of the smoke directly behind one of the troopers. A quick thrust, and the trooper collapses. Nightshade's sensors spot the other trooper moving through the smoke. Nightshade can't get to him on time, so flings an electro-star at him. The star hits, and the trooper collapses to a knee as lightning dances around the impact site. Not waiting for him to recover. Nightshade runs forward and runs him through.
**********************
The whirring of the stops, and there is a clack as stabilization clamps secure the lift in place. Half a dozen people stand on the lift, surprised looks on their faces. They had expected to emerge into their abandoned factory and make their escape. Instead, the place looks like a warzone. Still-burning blaster pock-marks, the acrid smell of expended explosives, small fires burning in several locations, and a number of bodies in Imperial uniforms lying on the floor. They snap rifles up when a section of the raised walkway that was barely hanging on finally burns through and falls with a crash.
Then, the smoke clears. Shadowy figures appear - just silhouettes at first, but becoming more and more distinct as the smoke fades. Back-lit by a fire, the rebels see someone on their knees, obviously having been run through by a sword. The silhouettes shift and move as the standing one clears the body from it's blade with a quiet thump. Rifles raised, the rebels watch as the shadowy figure emerges from the swirling smoke. He is dressed in black, though the suit is stained with soot, blaster burns, and blood. A sword in one hand, another on his back, his face hidden by a mask. The rebels stand there, rifles raised, mystified by the figure before them who appears to be responsible for the carnage all around them.
**********************************
His objectives complete, Nightshade sees the rebels for the first time.
His helmet then detects the approaching rumble of a heavy repulsorlift vehicle. He doubts the rebels could hear it yet.
[Actions?]
-
Slowly returning his blade to its scabbard, Nightshade bows to the newcomers. "I am Nightshade. I cleared this ambush that Imperial intelligence set for you that I might meet with you. Sadly we don't have much time as I detect vehicles approaching even now. I suggest you escape immediately and ask that I may accompany you. Failing that, please give me a time and place to meet you in the future. I realize that this is a lot to process and I apologize that I could not buy you more time."
Nightshade stayed in his bow as he spoke to present as little of a threatening figure as he could.
-
The rebels do not even move.
One of them says, in an incredulous voice, "What are you?"
-
"I am a Shinobi. One of a clan of the Nekami."
-
One of the others seems to shake out of their paralysis. "OK, Bug Out plan Cresh! MOVE!" The rebels burst into action, moving in separate directions. The one who spoke to you slings his rifle and steps up to you. He pointedly looks around at the carnage and destruction before he looks back at you. "You can come with us to our bug-out house. We can discuss things in more detail there." He hesitates, then says, "Whatever your motives were, thanks for busting up the ambush." He then offers his hand.
-
Taking the offered hand, Nightshade nods to the man in return for his thanks. He makes ready to follow his new contact, keeping a weather eye out for any new threats. If one vehicle was coming, there would be more, and of course there was still the force that had attacked the compound from the front.
-
While you had been talking, the rebels had gone to work. They pull back a heavy plasteel plate, revealing a pit, and a vehicle of some sort within that pit. As you watch, the vehicle lifts into the air, and you recognize a common airspeeder model. panel doors slide back, and one of the rebels calls out, "Move!" Other rebels that were doing some other indeterminate things leave what they were doing and pile into the speeder. You join them. The doors slide shut, just as you see white armoured troopers burst into the building. Blaster bolts ping off the shuttle, but do not cause any serious damage. A moment later the speeder turns, and the main thrusters engage. Stormtroopers are thrown away like rag dolls from the force of it, and the shuttle smashes through a large bank of windows on the upper floor. There is a huge concussion that follows almost immediately, and the airspeeder bucks and rocks from the force of it. Glancing out the viewport, you see the building behind you has been turned into rubble and fire. In the air over the building, an Imperial assault shuttle struggles to keep in the air, obviously damaged by the blast and debris. Then, your airspeeder dodges around a building, and the scene vanishes.
The rebels are quiet, but many eyes are upon you. The apparent leader of the cell has taken a seat facing you, and while he stares at you, he says nothing.
"Looks like no tails," says the pilot.
No one responds. You are in the air for about 5 minutes, flying low and swerving between buildings. Soon thereafter the speeder sets down in what appears to be an abandoned industrial park. The doors open and everyone piles out. The leader says, "Stay with me." The rebels then scatter, each one in a different direction. Your guide enters an abandoned factory, closing the door behind you. He stays for a moment, ducking out of sight and looking to the sky. Sure enough, a minute or so later, two assault shuttles appear overhead. One of the shuttles stays in a covering position while the other lands in the park, some distance from the abandoned airspeeder.
Your guide turns to you. "Ok, let's go." He leads you through the factory - a maze of equipment, stairs and passages - as if he knows the path well. You are going down, and yuo come to a large circular metal plate perhaps 2m in diameter at the lowest level. Your guide activates a panel, and the metal door slides open, revealing a shaft and a ladder. "Down." says your guide.
As you step onto the first run of the ladder, you hear a heavy *crump* sound from far away. Your guide smiles a predatory smile. "Stormtroopers. Well trained, but not very bright." He climbs onto the ladder above you, and the door slides shut, throwing you into darkness.
You climb down for about a minute before entering a similar passage, only running horizontally. Your guide motions for you to continue down the passage.
[pausing here for reactions.]
-
Nightshade was pleased to have made such a uneventful escape from the site of the attack. He was certain that they would have faced more opposition, and likely would have if that shuttle had arrived any sooner. He thanked the ancestors for sparing him a thought and some good timing.
He was used to getting strange looks from people, he understood that his kit was out of the ordinary and most people were uncomfortable around things and people that stood out from the norm. It used to strike him as ironic back in his early days as an operative that what made him unseen most of the time drew so much attention when he wasn't trying to be invisible.
Once the shuttle landed and everyone scrambled, he was pleased that the leader of the group chose to stick with him, as this was the one being that he wanted to be sure to make a good impression with and keep alive long enough to get a contact with the main rebel base. As they walked through the warren of passages he kept his eyes and ears open, mentally mapping the path they took as best as he could. When he heard the noise he smiled at the explanation his guide gave him. Stupid enemies were a gift from the spirits.
As they continued he became more and more alert as the light dropped, ready to spring into action and hold his guide hostage should some of the rebels try to betray him or trap him.
-
Your guide produces a light rod, and the two of you start walking. You walk for about an hour in the cramped space. He refuses any attempt at talk, which suits your temperament just fine.
Eventually, you reach a door. He opens the rusty metal door with a screech of metal, and you see a large chamber beyond. You see movement beyond, and as your eyes adjust you recognize you are in some sort of large cistern. The top of the cistern, barely visibile in the darkness above you, is some 50 meters above you. You are standing on a grating, and below you about 25 meters you see still water.
The movement you see are individuals on the far side of the cistern. You can recognize two or three are rebels. The other half dozen you do not recognize.
Your guide turns to you and offers a hand. "The name's Mal Ravin. You have a name other than Nigthshade?"
-
Taking the offered hand he bows his head as he greets his guide more formally, "Well met, Mal. Nightshade is the name I use on assignment outside of the clan, it is considered dishonorable to share my family name among non-clan members. I hope you can understand."
-
He raises an eyebrow. "Clan huh?" He considers you a moment. "What brings you to Karvis? And why help us?"
-
I was contracted by the Karvis royal family for a job just before the Imperial occupation. I have to try to find any that remain of the family to discharge my duty. I was informed that your group might be able to get me a meeting with Senator Pasteur, which would likely be my best chance to accomplish this.
I have messages from Niil Sparr, Collan Rostiern, and Trax to verify my trustworthiness, and I have also returned the body of the girl Mariah for burial when time allows.
ooc: fixed, thanks for jogging my memory, Corey.
-
He nods, and you see recognition in his eyes - he knows at least some of the names you recited.
"I know Warrant Spaar. Ok, look. I'll see those messages. But you need to understand something: almost no one sees the Silver Fox. I lead this cell, and I've never laid eyes on her. It's been her policy since she first started resisting the Emperor, long before they showed up here and turned Lendt into a crater. It's the reason she is still alive and all our other leadership is dead. If you want to speak to her, you're going to have to go through some hoops.
"Now, let's see these messages."
-
"I understand." Nightshade's reply was brief and to the point as he handed over the messages given to him by the others.
-
The first message is from Niil.
"To the KDF units and members of the Karvis resistance: I am . . . Warrant Officer Niil Spaar of the Karvis Defense Forces, Special Forces Team." His features grew solemn, and he lowered his eyes briefly. "I first wish to say that I am greatly saddened and outraged over the destruction of our northern compound, and I wish to convey my most deepest condolences to the families and friends of all those that perished or were wounded in that attack. I knew most of those people, and they were like family to me. We were bonded in a common cause, and in that we shed our blood and risked our lives for each other. The Empire will be taken to task for that attack, and their other countless depredations."
Niil looked down for a moment, and let out a sigh. "Many of you are undoubtedly asking, 'So where the hell are you now?' Regrettably I can't tell you at this time. I can tell you that Collan and I ran afoul of an Imperial hunter team near Tezest, and we were forced to flee via a ship, along with two of our comrades that we met in the Bladesea - Ch'lana, a former commander in the Old Republic army, and Nightshade of the Shinobi."
He shrugged helplessly. "Our only thought at the time was to evade Imperial pursuit and prevent them from tracking us back to the resistance." Niil closed his eyes, remembering the vision that would be forever burned into his memory. "As . . . as we broke orbit, we saw a flotilla of six Star Destroyers arrive in orbit and open fire on the northern compound. We made the decision at the time to leave the system and evaluate our options rather than risk an immediate attempt to return through such an overwhelming naval force."
Niil rubbed at his forehead before continuing. Leaving the Karvis system had made him feel like he'd horribly betrayed his comrades, even though he knew it was likely that their ship would have intercepted and blown into chaff before they could've reached the atmosphere. "With my disappearance and that of Collan's shortly before the attack on the northern compound, I'm . . . aware that some people might think that we betrayed our comrades to the Empire." Niil leaned forward, and stared intently at the recorder. "For whatever our assurances may still hold, we did not betray the KDF, the Karvis royal family or anyone else on Karvis with anti-Imperial sentiments - nor were we aware of any attack planned against the northern compound until we saw it being executed. If we had any warning beforehand, we would have sent out an immediate warning. I hope that is at least some tiny amount of reassurance in the face of what happened."
"I hope to return to Karvis one day to help in the fight against the Empire, although I wish I could tell you when. If I was to return now, I believe that my presence would jeopardize the resistance far more than help it. I wish I could explain myself further, but I must ask you to trust me on my word. When I do return - and if the resistance is still active - I shall willingly present myself for court-martial and trial if charges of desertion and treason wish to be pursued."
Niil glanced to the side briefly, and a subtle hand signal off-screen. Nightshade's face appears in the recording. "I had mentioned earlier that I had met up with a comrade in the Bladesea named Nightshade." Niil turned in his chair, and bowed to the man in a sign of respect. "Nightshade here was contracted by the Karvis royal family for a specific task; however, he is duty and honour-bound only to divulge the nature of this task with his contractor, and no one else. Collan, Trax and I will readily vouch for the man's honour and trustworthiness. We implore you to arrange for him to meet with the Karvis royal family as soon as possible."
He was quiet for a few moments. "My friends, if there is anything that I can say to bring any comfort in such times, it is this - hold on to hope, lay low and use that time to regain your strength and spirit. You are not forgotten. Karvis is not forgotten. Niil Spaar out."
-
Next he reads the message from Collan.
When he is done, he looks you over for a few moments.
"Ok, your bonafides seem legit. Let me make a call. In the meantime, go grab some food and take a load off. Sentara will see to you." He motions to a tall female with white hair across the cistern.
-
Thanking the leader of this cell with a bow, Nightshade moved over to join Sentara. A little food and rest would be most welcome after his exercise. He was particularly interested in finding some water to brew some tea.
-
You walk up and Sintara turns to you, hands on her hips. She is a good head and shoulders taller than you. She has an athletic build, but her size and attire make her seem more muscular than she really is. She has a few visible scars, and you recognize the wounds of a well-practised knife fighter on her forearms.
She looks you over in a borderline rude way, and you feel like the jury is still out when she finishes. "Boss says be friendly." Is that reluctance in her voice? She jerks a thumb over her shoulder. "Grab a ration pack if you want. Caf is in the black pot, water on the burner. The tap on the back wall has potable water. Wash what you use and put it away."
She spins a nearby char around so it is reversed, and sits with her arms crossed on the back of it, watching you in their makeshift galley.
-
Nodding his acknowledgement to the woman, the Shinobi moves to the water on the burner and prepares some tea for himself. Having eaten with Cali, he passed on food for now, and sat where he could watch Sintara as well, cradling his cup of tea and waiting for what would happen next.
-
You sit enjoying your tea, pointedly ignoring the rude stare of Sintara. For her part, she continues to sit on the reversed chair, staring at you. You do not see any open challenge in her eyes, but there is simmering hostility and distrust. Back home such behaviour was worth of a duel, but you remind yourself you are not at home and your customs are likely to not be observed, and sip your tea.
It is perhaps 20 minutes later when Mal Revin ducks past a tattered and bound up curtain to enter the "mess" area. He grabs a chair, and spins it much the same way Sintara did, and sits facing you. As he entered the space, you caught a glance at Sintara. In that glance, you notice affection. Perhaps an emotional attachment, or perhaps just close friends. You mentally file that away, like so many other details your training provides you.
"The Silver Fox has agreed to meet with you, but there are some conditions. You will need to surrender your weapons to me, and you will submit to being drugged for the trip. I am to tell you the Senator has no reason to doubt your honour, and reasons to believe you, but I am to remind you that you cannot be compelled to share information which you do not know. You will be entering the remaining stronghold of the Rebellion, and it must be protected."
He looks you over as you take another sip of tea. "Those are the conditions. They are non-negotiable."
-
Why did everyone on this cursed rock want to have him give up his blades? Was the honor of his clan and way of life really worth all of these insults? Or more to the point, where did the line fall between the honor of keeping your weapons and the honor of completing your task? Why did he keep having to face these decisions...it had always been so cut and dry before. Sighing internally about the changing world around him, Nightshade broke from his internal reverie and answered the man before him.
"Under protest, I agree to your conditions. However my weapons will stay here in a container sealed by me and I will take your word that they will not be touched by any in my absence."
-
He considers a moment. "If you want. I was going to bring them with us in a footlocker, but they can stay here if you want."
-
"That will be fine, I suppose I should have asked if you would be coming."
-
He shakes his head. "I miss-spoke. I'm not coming. They'll be sending a transport. We're supposed to knock you out, load you and your gear up, and send you on your way. They should be here in an hour or so."
-
"Very well."
ooc: good to go
-
Time passes. Slowly you become aware of your surroundings.
Your training keeps you still as you slowly come to your senses, and you manage to not reveal your awareness to the other individual in the room. You hear someone moving, though with your eyes closed, you cannot see them. You are thirsty, though not overwhelmingly so. The drug is still in your system, but fading fast.
Risking a quick blink, you spot a female with her back to you. The only fixtures in the room are a stool, a cot, and a small shelf where the female is currently going through the contents of some sort of kit. You note a used syringe on the small shelf - likely the antidote. You remember nothing of the transport here, or getting the drug.
The resonance of the air system, and it's exposed location, suggest this is either a re-purposed building, or you are underground. Given that the walls are all rock, likely the latter.
The woman turns. In the instant before you close your eyes again, you see a datapad in her hand. You hear the creak and scuff as the stool is shifted, and the quiet tapping as she starts using the datapad.
There is no sign of the locker with your weapons in it, but you have not looked around completely.
-
Staying still and silent, Nightshade waited for a chance to take another peek around the room. If it sounded like the female left the area, he would carefully scout out the rest of the room.
-
Several minutes pass, and you hear an annunciator beep. You hear the stool creak as the woman rises, and a moment later a door slides open.
You risk a quick glance, and see the woman with her back to you, speaking to someone at the door. There is a very bright light coming in from the hallway outside, and it is extremely painful to you. With a sudden splitting headache, you don't get much more.
You hear a male voice say, "What's taking so long, Cree."
The woman answers, "I'm not sure. The antitode only takes a few minutes to work. If he doesn't come around in a few more minutes, I'll give him another dose."
"Well, he's apparently crafty, paranoid and dangerous. Be careful."
The door closes, and you hear the woman take her seat on the stool again. You hear a little fumbling, and the sound of a medical scanner near your head.
-
Well there was nothing more to be gained from subterfuge at this point and it probably wouldn't do to keep the Senator waiting while he played at napping.
He opened his eyes and let the woman know that he was conscious.
-
You see her for the first time. She had dark skin, and long, black hair tied into a bun. She is wearing a uniform that matches the Karvis Defence Force. She has no weapons, but a toolbelt with various medical devices on it.
Seeing you awaken, she smiles at you and speaks softly. "Good morning. I was starting to get worried. Here." She hands you a visor. "The drug we use to knock you out makes you sensitive to light for a couple of hours. You'll need these. My name is Cree, by the way." She then hands over a bottle of some sort. "Water for the dry mouth."
-
Taking the offered visor and putting it on, Nightshade next accepts the water. "My thanks, Cree." After a brief sip, he returns the bottle and waits to see what happens next.
-
She goes to a panel by the door and hits a button. You hear a male voice. <Yes?>
Cree answers, <He's awake.>
There is a pause. <Good. Bring him now.>
She cuts the connection and turns to you. <Nightshade, would you come with me please?> She offers her arm to you.
-
Taking the accepted arm, the Shinobi follows his guide to their destination.
-
She escorts you into the hallway - even with the visor it is painfully bright. You pass several doors before coming to one where she stops. She hits the activator, and the door slides open. Inside is a dimly lit room with a table and four chairs. Cree, a reassuring smile on her face, nods to the room. "Have a seat, they'll be with you in a moment."
-
Squinting against the brightness of the light, Nightshade is happy to find that the destination is more dimly lit. Nodding to the instructions, he picks a chair with a good view of the door and sits.
-
Cree stays out in the hall, and closes the door behind you.
About a minute later, the far door opens, making you wince. Six soldiers of the KDF enter the room. They, notably, do not carry visible weapons. Another male wearing a KDF officer uniform of a Captain comes in next, followed by a shorter woman with long grey hair.
They look you over as the woman comes to the table and gives you a fairly good and proper bow. "I am pleased to meet you. I am Senator Pasteur of Karvis. I am sorry for the trouble we put you through, and I hope you understand that it was necessary."
-
Nightshade rises to his feet and returns the bow as the woman enters the room. "The pleasure is mine, Senator. Do not trouble yourself, I have seen the reach and tactics of the Empire in person. I hope what you do is enough to keep you safe."
-
She smiles. "One can only hope." She indicates the chairs, and takes a seat herself. "I suspect I already know what brings you to us. It was may advice that the Queen seek out your clan for aid against the Empire. Sadly, I am not certain you will be able to fulfill your mission. The Royal Family were all but killed when the Empire bombed the capitol. There were two survivors - children of the line. But they have been lost for some weeks now. If they still live, we do not know how to contact them."
-
Nightshade pondered for a minute, what the Senator had told him, looking to ascertain the truth of her words as he took his seat once again. The two bases were remote and separated and there could be a chance that the news of the prince's death had not reached them. It was also possible that if the corvette and princess had escaped that they would have been unable to contact the cell. Or it was possible that this woman was lying to him and did not yet fully trust him. However with the knowledge that she had of his clan and her counsel, what would she gain from so doing?
Deciding to put out a feeler and see what reaction he might glean he spoke with somber tones, "Senator I have acquired information that the prince was indeed killed in the bombing of the northern HQ of the KDF. However the body of the princess and the Corellian Corvette were both missing."
-
She looks genuinely grieved. "How did you come by this information?"
-
"Trax suggested that I meet with Cali to look for leads on my return. The information came from him along with the intel that allowed me to intercept the ambush on your cell."
-
She raises an eyebrow. "Not the first time we've learned how well informed Cali is..."
She glances at the man by her side before looking back to you.
"Your information matches some of ours. We found no wreckage of the corvette. It is our hope that some of the soldiers and allies at the base managed to escape. We did not have a protocol for re-establishing contact if that were to happen. We have done some analysis, and we estimate a high probability that the Corvette escaped into the asteroid field. There are several large mining operations there, and we know the workers have kept the Empire out of there, but we have not been able to establish contact with them. If you wish to find the fate of the Princess, exploring the asteroid mines may be your best bet."
She pauses. "However, I have another option available for you. As Senator, in the absence of the Royal Family, I represent the government of Karvis. I do not know the details of the contract your clan agreed to, but you could accept me in place of an heir, at least until such time as we confirm if the princess is alive."
-
Nightshade considers this for a moment. This was a ray of hope in the dark oblivion that had been his chances of finishing his contract and returning to his clan with honor. But was it an acceptable substitution, or was it simply hope fighting for the upper hand over duty? There was truly no precedent for such a situation as far as he knew. Which lead to a further problem...this was a matter that should probably be decided by the elders of the clan, but he couldn't go back and consult them until the matter was decided! However it was likely that the princess, even if she lived, would have no idea of the contract, so really at this point, that option was rather moot anyway, he was just looking for absolution of the debt. So that opened up a couple more options...one was to accept the senator as the government and get absolution from her if she would give it. The second was to accept the senator as the government and fulfill whatever contract she would place on him and then return with the hope that this would fulfill the spirit of the requirement that the client be left satisfied with the performance of the contract, and the third was to go to the asteroids and look for the girl, with still not much more hope than he had now. Of course it was likely that the senator would ask him to go look for the princess anyway...depending on her level of ambition she either needed the girl alive or confirmed dead (one way or another). But if he accepted the senator as the government and the new contract was to eliminate the princess, then where did that leave him? Especially if the elders didn't accept his impromptu interpretation of the client? Surely killing the client would be much, much worse than not fulfilling a contract.
Of course he maintained his outward calm as his mind reeled with these difficult situational mores. Eventually he spoke again, "It would seem that you are the logical extension of the client, especially as it was your counsel to bring me here. So the question is, do you absolve me of my obligation, or do you have a new contract for me to fulfill."
-
She raises an eyebrow, and it is your turn to sit while she processes the implications of what you say. Her face is unreadable, but you can tell she is making similar calculations.
At length the takes a breath. "We could certainly make use of your services, but I would much rather you help us of your own will than obligation. It seems I was not fully aware of the implications of my counsel to the Queen, as your words are reminiscent of Imperial doctrine regarding slaves and servitude, and that I cannot condone."
She sighs. "If you seek absolution from your contract, then I grant it freely."
-
Nightshade looks at her strangely, for once, a bit taken aback, "It is a contract freely given, none take my will from me. I subject myself to the client in a way that shows that they can have complete confidence in the completion of the job that they seek to have accomplished. If I cannot have my life back until they are satisfied then they are assured that they get my full effort."
-
Her brows remain crinkled. "If we do not wish to become those we fight, then we must not stoop to their methods. The Empire uses threats, obligations and compulsions to force people to do something they would not do. From the reports, you have seen much of the enemy we fight here. I release you from your contract. I will sign any document you wish stating my satisfaction. If you wish to leave here when it is done, you go with our grateful thanks.
"However, if you chose to stay of your own will, we would welcome your help."
You feel your perceptions shift, and your awareness is drawn away. Among the Shinobi it is said that events such as this often bring wisdom, gifts from the elders. And so you let your spirit wander.
You find yourself in your quarters on Akarui's ship. A memory? Or a vision? The last time you were here, you and Akarui were kneeling at the table over tea. But now, like a ghost, his form stands before you. Kind eyes smile, and he says words you remember, yet there are differences.
"Toshiro. You must understand that honour is what separated your grandfather from the ones he loved. I know the heavy burden he carried - the things he sacrificed to come with me. Seeing his grandson's first steps, watching him grow, being proud of the man he grew into - all this was lost to your grandfather over honour."
He stops speaking, but you hear more words - words that had never passed between the two of you. They seem to echo around you.
"But through that sacrifice, we became as brothers. And your grandfather found a deeper purpose, a higher calling. Some things are worth that sacrifice. You walk in your grandfather's footsteps, Toshiro. You face the same choices. Return to the comfort of family, clan and service. Or, you can fight so that others are able to have the things you gave up. Either way bring honour. But one is the shared honour of others. The other is the honour of your spirit."
The image shifts. A cherry tree in spring on a moonlit night. A gentle breeze. Blossoms are gently drifting to earth in ones and twos, slowly building a carpet over the grass. Before you, a man sits in meditation. He is bent with age, but wears two swords on his back in the Shinobi style. His back is to you - you cannot see his face, but you hear whispered words that seem to come from everywhere and nowhere.
There is no death; there is no life.
Indeed, the skies are cloudless
And the river waters clear.
Your awareness returns to the present, but you can sense the powerful chi of two paths laid before you. They are strong and bright to your spirit's eye. One leads to home, family, the clan new contracts and great honour. The other leads to exile and a lonely death far from home, but brings greater, worthier foes to face and greater, though personal, honour. These are the kinds of moments that define a warrior, for in taking one path the other will close.
But, subtle as you are, you sense there is a third path. A middle way. Even the death of a client does not absolve the Shinobi from a contract. You know why your services were engaged. Alive or dead, the obligation remains. You could take this middle road, and satisfy the clan and the spirit both. The elders would have to rule on if you satisfied the contract, and it may take many years to achieve what you were engaged to accomplish.
This middle road is riskier - a narrow path through difficult terrain - words Akarui used. It may allow you to fight the greater, worthier fights and in the end retain family and clan and earn the greatest honour, rising beyond the heights of all your ancestors before you; or you may die alone and forgotten, a disgrace to your family and clan. This is the path of extremes. Great victory, or defeat without honour.
You have reached a crossroads. Such a decision demands certainty and commitment.
-
Trying to grasp the images and words as they flowed through and around him was like trying to grasp water with a sieve, and yet, the meaning was retained and the message received. Seeing Akarui again brought a pang of grief that surprised Toshiro in being both sudden and intense. He would not have expected to feel so and yet he couldn't deny it.
The scent of the cherry blossoms also brought a strong and potent flash of memory, this time of home and family. It was enough to almost make the choice for the first path, as he could not deny how much he missed kith and kin.
Hearing again the final words of his grandfather was another strong motivator for choosing family, for look at what personal honor brought him. And yet that was not the lesson to be learned in that story. It showed that a man could not be happy with all the external trappings if he could not be true to himself.
In a flash of clarity, Yoshida saw that his true path lay along the course of this third road. He knew that he couldn't go back to how it had been now that his eyes had been opened to this new world. However he knew that he wanted to find a way to retain his family ties and show the clan a new way, to share his epiphany of what they could also become.
Opening his eyes after what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke.
"What would you have me do for your cause?"
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She shrugs. "We would employ your talents and training to help fight the Empire. This fight is not just about Karvis or her people. This is about freeing the galaxy from a tyrant. This is about doing everything we can to make sure no other planets suffered what happened here to the city of Lendt. We learned, too late, that there are no limits, no bounds of decency the Empire will not cross. We would spare as many people as we can from learning those lessons in the harsh manner we did."
She is quiet a moment. "If that is something you can agree to, then you could find a place here with us."
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"I feel that this would be the path of true honor, no longer can I turn a blind eye to the fate of the world saying that at least I did my duty. I am with you."
-
She nods. "Good. Good."
Things change quickly once you have made that commitment. You are provided quarters, and your weapons are returns to you. Scanning the case and the weapons shows they have not been tampered with. As you put them back on, you thought you detected for a moment the scent of cherry blossoms.
The next several days pass quickly. There is indoctrination, codes and procedures to be shared. You are impressed with the Senator's security. Multiple layers, checks and balances, several escape plans, multiple blind couriers. No one knows the entire organization, but there are fail-safes to make the entire system very resilient.
The southern half of Karvis is where the Senator's agents operate. The backbone is organized around local cells of half a dozen full-time agents and a web of support personnel in the community. Local cells are organized with several safe-houses and fall-back points in case of compromise. They use redundant blind drops and couriers to connect with regional cells that handle coordination and taskings. The several regional centres communicate with Senator Pasteur's main base, and two fall-back locations through redundant couriers. Very little is handled over open communications. They have distributed supply caches, a web of intelligence, and fundraising arms that keep the whole operation going, each being multilayered, overlapping and blind to other layers.
A week later, when your indoctrination is done, you are called to a meeting. A gentleman you do not recognize is waiting for you in the room, along with several KDF troopers.
"Nightshade. Have a seat. I'm here to brief you on the current situation. The Imperials have moved in several COMPNOR regiments and a squadron of ships in orbit. The Imperial Navy maintains a full Star Destroyer squadron in the system, and several legions of troops, including two legions of stormtroopers. There is an entire TIE fighter wing stationed on the planet. There is currently significant tension between COMPNOR units and Imperial Navy. Most of our efforts to date have been intended to aggravate those tensions. Imperial efficiency has been reduced by 25% due to factional infighting. Most of our planned operations are intended to continue to exploit this friction.
"There has also been a significant Imperial Intelligence presence on the planet, including a Sector Plexus secure communications node.
"We also have numerous intelligence assets. Teams have managed to recover several core dumps from various Imperial bases. There have also been three high-profile Imperial defections. Their current status is unknown, but we presumed they were destroyed when the nothern base was destroyed.
"We have four main areas of need that you might be able to fill. First is to comb the Northern base for intelligence, resources, and identifying the fallen. The Empire keeps watch on the ruins, so we cannot deploy a large team to cover the ruins. The next area we could use some help is exploiting a possible defection. Agents in Plarn, the Imperial headquarters, have a possible lead on a defector. We need someone to establish contact, and make a call to extricate the asset, or convert them to an informant. The third option we have for you involves the local governor. We have an informant on the Governor's staff, but they are a low-level functionary. We need to arrange for that agent to get promoted, which will give us better eyes on the governor's headquarters. The final issue is an potential operation to sabotage a COMPNOR facility, but frame Imperial Intelligence for the issue. Someone would have to arrange that.
"So those are the areas we need help with. I have been instructed to give you a long lead on operations, so I leave the choice to you. Which one of those operations do you think you can carry out?"
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"All of those are within my skill set. However I think that the sabotage might be the best use of what I can offer you."
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He nods. "Very well. Give me two hours to put together a briefing."
-
Bowing to the man...some habits are hard to break...Nightshade left the room and returned to his quarters for some tea and meditation until time for the briefing.
-
You are called again in a couple of hours. A different officer is waiting for you when you arrive, with a small support staff of four personnel.
"Agent Nightshade. I am Captain Meeraval Barakis. I'm here to brief you on the COMPNOR sabotage mission."
She pulls up a map of the area sough-east of the Imperial headquarters in Plarn.
"Your target is the old KDF rebel camp near Drannis. KDF personnel pulled out and abandoned the facility months ago. Since that time, a COMPNOR company has moved into the old facility and set up a district headquarters."
The map shifts to a more detailed map of what appears to be a converted farm.
"A COMPNOR force of company strength has occupied and fortified the former rebel facility. The purpose of the district headquarters is to pacify and supervise farms in the district, and ensure Imperial taxation proceeds without difficulty. The rural farmers are an independent-minded people, and we have several agents among them that provide us a steady stream of high-quality Intel. We make the garrison here at 100 personnel, of which 25 are out on patrol at any given time. In addition, there are about two dozen command and security staff that do not leave the facility. They have a dozen lightly armed repulsorcraft, and two sub-orbital shuttles in the vehicle bay. Headquarters includes a recently constructed communications array that provides access to the planetary network.
"Your mission is to sabotage the facility, framing Imperial Military for any damage caused. Our intention is to increase the tension between COMPNOR and the military, which will increase tensions between the Moff and the local Governor.
"We've been instructed that this is your mission, agent. We are here to help you plan, and answer any questions you may have."
She stands there, hands clasped behind her. The others in the room have datapads ready to provide additional data should you need it.
-
Regional map.
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Local map.
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Nightshade listened carefully to the information presented to him, mentally making notes and thinking of a few questions that he wanted to ask.
"What tensions already exist between these two groups? Would you agree that sabotaging the comm center would be the most beneficial target for our goals? Where is the comm center located on this map?"
He started with these and waiting for answers before moving on to his next questions.
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She considers a moment. "The specific target does not matter, so long as damage is plausibly caused by the Military, and there is evidence to support it. The targets does not even have to be at their headquarters. If you could eliminate a patrol and make it look like the Military were responsible, that would be good enough for our purposes.
"Ongoing tensions involve COMPNOR running roughshod over several Military operations, most notable Imperial Intelligence. The FSB is neither skilled nor subtle, while Imperial Intelligence is both. There have also been some friendly fire incidents where COMPNOR and Imperial Military units came under fire from each other. COMPNOR has also suffered several important defeats recently, most notably losing an entire corvette and prison ship, which left them eager to redeem themselves. Their heavy-handed actions to try and save face have served to increase tensions between the Moff and the Governor."
She pauses a moment. "There is also another factor. A third faction has recently arrived in system. Intelligence is scarce, but we have unconfirmed reports that a Battle group from the Inquisition service is here. They do not answer to either COMPNOR or the Military. They may make a suitable scapegoat as well, though we want to avoid giving the Moff and the Governor common cause to work out their differences."
-
"I agree that we should leave the Inquisition group out of this for now." Pondering for a moment, Nightshade continues, "do we have any agents in place that could help spread rumors amongst COMPNOR or pose as military personnel? If we can lay the groundwork for thinking an attack is coming then it will be even more believable when one does. Or we may need to help sell the idea after the attack if necessary."
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"We have a small cell in Drannis - 8 moderately skilled operatives - and access to stolen uniforms and weapons. Getting those personnel to the vicinity of the COMPNOR base would be a minor challenge, but certainly doable. The local farmers are good sources of intel, but they are not a fighting force. Assembled from their scattered farms, they could not pass for a military unit under anything more than cursory glance without a significant training investment, which would risk exposing them as COMPNOR patrols made their rounds and found them missing from their farms."
One of the aids passes her a datapad. She glances at it before speaking. "We do not have agents within COMPNOR - they are selected for their loyalty rather than their skill and have been very difficult to penetrate. However, we do have an agent with occasional access. We have converted a low level military transport pilot that makes routine supply runs to the COMPNOR facility. Our agent does not have free run of the base, but is limited to the vehicle bay and environs under heavy watch. The COMPNOR staff assume he is a spy for the military and treat him accordingly, but we might be able to use a supply run for an insertion or a ruse of some type, provided we coordinate carefully. Runs from Plarn to the base in question are carefully timed with checkpoints and check-ins."
She lowers the datapad. "The transport pilot is useful, but ultimately burnable if the value of doing so is high enough. If we do burn him, Senator Pasteur insists on repatriation if possible, so that may be a factor."
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"Off hand I think that the easiest way to start sowing our disinformation would be to attack and capture a COMPNOR patrol. I will join your cell to do this. Once we have accomplished this, posing as agents of the military, then we let one or two escape after they have overheard our 'plans' to wreak havoc on the base. Then they return and spread the word. At this point we can use the transport pilot or other sorts of intel to bring us word on whether or not our seeds are bearing fruit. Once we have this information in hand, we can proceed with a bigger attack on the base itself if necessary to increase tensions."
-
She raises an eyebrow. "I had not anticipated a direct attack option."
There is a shuffling of datapads and a quick, quiet conference with her aids. She emerges with another datapad.
"We assess that the Military arm of the Empire would be unlikely to directly attack a known COMPNOR outpost. Cases of mistaken identity and mistaken coordinates have happened on occasion, but have generally been diffused through official communication channels. An attack on a patrol is certainly plausible. However, I am not sure a plot by the Military to openly attack the COMPNOR base would be seen as a credible threat by COMPNOR. There is mistrust between the Military and COMPNOR, but that stems more for questions of competence on the one hand and loyalty on the other. A direct, intentional attack would be an unprecedented escalation in existing tensions. I estimate a less than 30% chance of success, with a significant risk of blowback."
She sets the datapad down and clasps her hands behind her back, looking very much the military officer.
"We will prosecute this option if you wish. Our orders were clear, and we will support you to the best of our ability."
-
"Perhaps then we should agree on what level of escalation you were exactly wanting to achieve. If you have described COMPNOR correctly, then people chosen for their loyalty tend to lean towards paranoia and thinking that they are better than everyone else. It wouldn't be much of a stretcher for them to believe the military stupid enough to attack them. If we sell it as they are trying to attack COMPNOR and blame someone else for the attack to make COMPNOR look incompetent, that would be more believable than just a direct attack. It would be a double bluff. We attack them wanting them to think that the military did it, while we sell the idea that the military is attacking them to make them think that say the local populace is too much for them to handle. That way they lose face, which is what the military wants. A direct single operative attack would be ideal for this as it would embarrass them the most while being the most difficult to defend against."
"However, if you don't like that idea and want something low key, then maybe a raid on a supply post would be more appropriate. It would certainly be believable that the military would steal supplies from COMPNOR, especially if we attack a military convoy first to create a perceived shortage."
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She remains motionless, her eyes staring ahead. "You are aware of our overarching goal, sir. How you choose to achieve that goal is up to you. You have our full support, and we are at your disposal."
She then looks at you. "We can carry out this plan, sir. I did not intend dissent. It is merely my role to advise you based on what intelligence we have. The decisions are your to make, and it is our job to carry them out to the best of our ability."
She looks up again, hands clasped behind her back.
-
"I do not see it as dissent. I value your insight. Your knowledge of this area and the people we are facing exceeds mine and it is invaluable intelligence. I do not question or doubt the ability to carry out any plan that we come up with here, but if I am overlooking something important that makes the plan not in line with the ultimate objectives, then this is the place to discover that."
-
She glances at you. "Permission to speak freely, sir."
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"I respect your military traditions, but I am something of an outside contractor, always speak your mind to me."
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She takes a breath. "Sir. Our resistance to Imperial rule has not been going well. We have had some successes, but far more defeats. The destruction of the northern base has removed much of our infrastructure, resources and intelligence assets. Frankly, sir, we are not doing well. The way we have done things in the past may be a reason for this lack of progress. Senator Pasteur plays a very conservative game, and her conservative approach has coloured every aspect of this organization. It has been responsible for our continues survival, but it may be limiting our options as well. It occurs to me that perhaps the time has come for bolder, riskier strategies. I suspect that was why we were placed under your authority.
"I will continue to advise you on the history, situation and circumstances as we know them, and I will continue to make recommendations. I do so because it is my job to offer alternatives and present facts that improve your situation awareness, not because I think you are making mistakes but because it enables you to better understand the risks. I ask you to keep in mind that you were brought into this organization precisely because we have been failing. You do not need my approval, sir. Nor should you seek it."
She resumes her stance, eyes forward and hands clasped behind her back.
-
"Thank you for your candor. Let us be bold then and see where this path takes us. But let us start small, and ramp up. What agents do we have in the military camp that might be able to sow some seeds for our idea? If we can get the military to start considering the idea of attacks on COMPNOR, then it will be even easier to sell when we move to larger targets. Also if supplies are so critical, then let us work on those raids...what supply targets might we have around here to consider?"
-
"To clarify, Sir. Supplies are not critical, merely greatly reduced from previous levels. Senator Pasteur's organization had always maintained independence from the base in the north, with our own supply infrastructure and funding sources."
One of the aids hands her a datapad, but she does not look at it. "We have two possible assets with the district military garrison. One is an Imperial technician who had relatives in Lendt during the bombardment. He has been under surveillance by Imperial Intelligence, but they have turned up nothing, and he remains viable. The other asset is a local girl who trades favours with soldiers of the garrison. She may be able to help as well, though she has few skills beyond persuasion, picking pockets, reading people, and a keen ear."
[OOC: I may not have mentioned this, but the Lieutenant speaks with a strong Core Worlds accent.]
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"If I understand you correctly, the girl would likely be the best avenue to implant suggestions or ideas into the military compound?"
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She considers. "Perhaps. She has only been utilized as a passive information source to date. We have never converted her to an active agent but we estimate..." she glances at a datapad, "a 60% success probability we could use her to plant false information."
-
"Let's start small with her...no more than planting the ideas that the military could harass COMPNOR forces and make it look like civilian attacks. Have her target low level officers with ambition, they will be the most likely to seize on this idea and try to make it work to increase their standing."
Turning a mental page, Nightshade continued, "We will start with small runs to harass COMPNOR patrols. Do we have any way to create propaganda materials for a fictitious rebel group that can be blamed?"
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She nods. "Creating and disseminating information generally is within our capability. Infonet notices, simple propaganda droids, and other such methods. We could begin a false recruiting drive for a non-existent rebel cell. A ham-fisted tactic we would never use, but could certainly fool COMPNOR and the ISB and arrange for their agents to find this information."
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"Excellent...start with this. Let us also create a sash that will be used as an identifying mark that we can wear on our attacks or leave behind as evidence of our presence.
Now where and when will be the closest patrol we can attack? And what will it likely consist of...just troops or vehicle support also?"
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"We have options. There are both foot patrols and infantry supported by vehicles."
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"Foot patrols would make the most sense for a fledgling rebellion to take on. Let's start with one of those."
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She nods. "The COMPNOR patrol patterns are well known and predictable. There are several points on their route where we can ambush them. ISB field analysts rarely employ technology like DNA sniffers, so any assets we use should be from from exposure. We have resources and personnel enough to conduct that scale of operation internally, just with intelligence assets. Or did you want to involve the local cell? Also what outcome are you looking for?"
-
"Let us keep the local cell free of this for now...we may need them in the future, and I would prefer that they not get burned right away. The outcome that we want for now is to eliminate the patrol and start to form the ground work that there is a rebel group targetting COMPNOR, once we have that laid down, then we push trying to get the military involved in the attacks, playing off the fact that since there have already been attacks, it would be easy to blame them for more mayhem. If we can get the military involved then we reveal their involvement to increase the tensions between the two groups. In the meantime we can use either our fake rebels or try to steer eventual military attacks against targets that we want destroyed anyway, and get two birds with one stone."
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She nods. "Yes sir. It will take me twelve hours to start the misinformation operation, and approximately three days for the data to propagate. We can have assets for the ambush in place in eight hours, with the strike complete without 4 hours of that. On the other side of the equation, we would need five days to convert the girl. To fully coordinate the different aspects, and interleave the timings, perhaps a week start to finish.
"Would you wish to directly supervise any aspect of the operations?"
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"I shall accompany your strike teams on any attacks for now, unless something more pressing presents itself."
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"Understood sir. How did you want us to coordinate the various pieces of this? Do we hold the strike until after the misinformation? Launch the strike first? Or some other timing?"
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"Let us use the strike as a way to announce the presence of our fictional group...a proof of concept if you will. Once we are successful, start to deploy the propaganda. Then let us get a few more victories under the belt of our group before we have our asset start her move to plant ideas."
-
She nods.
"Anything else, sir?"
[We can warp to the ambush, unless there are any preparations you want to make.]
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ooc: ready to rumble
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You spend a few hours in meditation. There is a lot of activity around the base, but it does not touch you. Eventually your door call beeps, and you open it to find Captain Barakis standing there looking very proper, hands clasped behind her back.
"We are ready for departure, sir."
She falls into step behind you, matching the cadence of your stride precisely. "You will be going in with 10 agents. Six will be coming with you, and four will hold the extraction point. This involves the bulk of our professional assets." She pauses there to let the implications sink in. "You will be inserted via a retrofitted medical shuttle 1.2 kilometers from the ambush point. You will need to make your way overland from there. Your assault team consists of four small arms specialists, a demolitions specialist and a sniper. You should have two hours on scene before the patrol comes in range. We have remote imaging of the site, but it does not provide sufficient detail to plan the tactical aspects of this mission. I leave that to you for when you have eyes on the scene. There is a team of scouts tracking the patrol, and they will be giving you periodic updates over encrypted channels. They are strictly non-combat. I have not had the opportunity to model your capabilities, so I was forced to estimate. I calculate an approximate success probability of 97.6% over the first three minutes, dropping slowly until 5 minutes when success probability falls off precipitously. In the unlikely event you run into trouble, you can call the reinforcements holding the extraction point. Your team is prepped and waiting for you in the shuttle. Callsigns for this mission are 'Badger' for your team, 'Falcon' for the scout team, 'Sparrow' for extraction point team, and 'Nest' for the shuttle."
You reach a large door. She activates the control, and the door slides open sideways revealing a monorail and a small car waiting.
"Do you have any questions, sir?"
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"I do not, Captain. Thank you for your thoroughness." Taking another run over his kit to ensure that all was in readiness, Nightshade was prepared to depart. It would be unusual working with a team again, but he was ready for the challenge.
ooc: any chance I was able to replace my expended gear on the rescue/ambush thwart?
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[Yeah, spent rounds etc. can be replaced. Consider yourself fully loaded. Also, in case I did not make it clear, Captain Barakis is not coming with you.]
Captain Barakis gives you a salute, turns, and walks away. You get into the monorail car, and in moments you are rocketing down the tunnel. In the few minutes the trip takes, you spot several apparent security checkpoints flash by. That is a constant theme with this group of rebels - they take their security very seriously. Their posture, to the very foundations, is one of a small force fighting a vastly superior foe. All their protocols and procedures have the primary aim of minimizing the damage in case of compromise. All the checks and balances consume extra resources, true, but this is a very resilient organization.
The car starts to slow, and comes to a stop near some heavy blast doors. As you leave the car, the big doors open and you spot an enclosed landing bay. There are a couple of shuttles present - one sleek and fast, others typical cargo haulers. A squad of armed troopers loiter near the sleek shuttle. As you approach they glance up at you. Most don't move, but one of them steps forward to greet you. He then offers you a hand.
"Nightshade, right? I'm Lieutenant Harper. The squad's all ready to go when you are, sir."
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Taking the offered hand, Nightshade nods in response to the question. Not wasting time with much talking he says, "Good, let's go then."
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You pile into the shuttle and in moments you are in the air. The pilot stays close to the surface, dodging between mountains and following valleys through the mountains to keep off sensors. It makes for a rougher, more intense ride, but it should keep you off sensors.
After a time the mountains flatten out, and you leave them behind. You are still weaving through foothills, but soon even those fade away and you are crossing gently rolling countryside. You see farms - most gone fallow - increasing in frequency the farther you get from the mountains. This, from what you have heard, is the real Karvis. Kilometers and kilometers of flat, fertile grassland. This planet used to supply a significant portion of the fresh food diet for the whole sector before the Empire came in and blockaded the planet.
You approach a river valley, and the shuttle comes to rest within a small ravine. Your team piles out of the shuttle before the repulsors have even wound down, taking cover positions. Several of them call out, "Clear" before Lieutenant Harper comes up to you. "Looks like a clean landing, sir. We're good to deploy. Ok if we deploy a point - double tail pattern and head out? or did you want something else?"
-
Nightshade was distressed to see the full extent of what it meant for the Empire to come to a planet and a people. What was the purpose in all of this? Why destroy all this peace and good, hard work?
As the shuttle landed, he put aside such thoughts and returned to the task at hand. "I shall leave the direction of the team in your hands, lieutenant. You have more experience with these men and their strengths than I. I will personally move among the battle to support and ambush from different positions. My only direction for your team would be to give the illusion of ineptitude...I don't want anyone hurt, but we are trying to sell the idea of a popular uprising here and to have it seen as being lead by trained operatives will make that more difficult. Again safety first, but if we can do that and add to the subterfuge that is the goal. If we can leave one alive to tell the tale then all to the better, but I would rather their men be dead than ours, we have a long road ahead of us and little chance of quality recruits."
-
Lieutenant Harper nods. "Ok sir. if it's Ok with you, we'll plant an IED in the road, set it off just *after* they pass. Enough to damage the drive train, but no destroy the vehicle. We'll have two men by the river to the east, and two to the west. Two more on the ridge south of the road. Sniper will be ready in case we need cover pulling back. When we've caused enough damage, we fall back to the east, then south to the evac point. Where would you like to be, sir?"
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"That sounds like a good plan. I will come in from the area of the river to the north of the road."
-
Everyone takes their positions, and you settle in to wait. Reports come over the com that the patrol is coming on schedule, but there is a small complication - that have an pair of outriders about a hundred meters ahead of the armoured vehicle. Not an huge issue, but something to be aware of. Once the attack happens, you may see the outsiders circling back.
Eventually, you hear the sound of speeder bikes, and two troopers ride past. They apparently don't see anything, and continue down the road without stopping. A few seconds later, the armoured personnel carrier comes into view. The commander has the hatch open and is sitting exposed on the top of the vehicle, watching the countryside roll by. They do not seem alarmed or cautious, so the commander is completely shocked then where is a massive detonation at the rear of the vehicle. The rear of the vehicle kicks up into the air and slams down. The resulting bucking motion actually ejects the commander through the hatch. He lands in a crumpled pile a few meters from the now burning personnel carrier.
The damage to the vehicle was not severe, but it was enough to take out the rear drive train. The driver tries to accelerate, but the damage taken to the rear of the vehicle makes it difficult to control when the front wheels try and drag the vehicle forward. In short order, the front wheels have torn trenches into the dirt, and the APC is helpless.
Smoke and flames obscure the aft section of the vehicle so you cannot see anything, but you hear the heavy rear door thump open.
Lieutenant Harper calls out on the encrypted com, "Weapons free. Aim to wound - remember we want survivors."
[Actions?]
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Pleased with the effectiveness of the explosive device, the Shinobi moves forward from his hiding place. Moving forward silently, he stalks the enemy, looking for a target in the obscuring smoke. His first priority would be to incapacitate and take prisoner, but if lethal force was necessary to prevent injury to himself or his team, he would not hesitate.
Actions: sneak, two attacks at target of opportunity
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You move forward into the smoke, and quickly find a figure on the ground. The vehicle commander, semi-conscious on the ground, is moaning and writhing at your feet.
You hear a couple of blaster shots, the scream of a wounded man, and an uncoordinated hail of blaster fire in response. The COMPNOR troopers appear to be panicked and firing blindly.
-
Using a quick blow to render the commander unconscious, Nightshade moves forward looking for further targets.
-
You move forward, with the sound of blasters off to your right. As you see the shadow of the vehicle emerge from the smoke in front of you, you hear the sound of speeder bikes approaching at high speed.
Over the comlink you hear Lieutenant Harper call out, "Badger 7, inbound targets, engage." The only response you hear is the flash of a blaster bolt off to your left a moment later. A full second after the flash, you hear a thunderous echo of a blaster from far off in the distance.
"Badger 2, one down. Second target gone to cover." You hear another blaster shot echo through the valley. "Keeping him pinned."
You reach the vehicle. You can hear three panicked voices, and two others screaming in pain. Another man farther out is coughing and choking.
Unseen, you emerge from the smoke. Before you, crouched behind a small hastily constructed barricade, you see three COMPNOR troopers, firing quickly and blindly into the smoke. They clearly can't even see any targets. Behind them is one trooper, unconscious and bleeding. You hear two more voices inside the damaged behind, one of them terrified, the other one barking panicked commands.
[Actions?]
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Moving quickly to attack the three men that were firing into the smoke, Nightshade lashed out with his blades. Looking to take out each one with a well placed strike. Anyone still alive after the initial onslaught would get another attack.
Actions: Attack each of three once, and one more attack to any survivors.
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It is almost too easy. Two of them are dead before the third even realizes something is wrong. He glances back in time to see you run him through. He glances down at the blade in his guts, and moves to raise his rifle at you. You run the other lade home, and the gun slips from nerveless fingers, and trooper dies with a look of surprise on his face.
The shooting has stopped, though moans and groans indicated there are survivors among the COMPNOR forces.
The breeze shifts the smoke slightly, and you see Lieutenant Harper emerge. Over the come you hear him give the order, "Cease fire!"
He glances around, surveying the situation. "Objective complete, sir. Two targets incapacitated, one confirmed active but pinned down by sniper fire. I recommend immediate withdrawal."
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"Agreed. We need to retreat and regroup, we have accomplished what we set out to do today." While moving towards the extraction point, the Shinobi was struck by a parting thought. "Does any one have any grenades?"
-
Lieutenant Harper nods. "We have a few sir. What did you have in mind?"
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"Set them off in the enemy that I killed. I want to hide the sword wounds and make this look more impetuous and vengeful. That should help sell a group of hodgepodge freedom fighters."
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The Lieutenant nods. "Excellent point sir. We'll take care of it."
A few moments later, you are together as a group, while your sniper keeps the remaining trooper pinned down and covers your retreat. As you cross the road and move into the hills, there is an explosion behind you as three planted grenades go off.
The rest of the extraction goes off without a hitch, and you regroup back at the shuttle. In moments you are airborne, with no sign of pursuit.
-
Pleased with the outcome of the raid and glad his side had suffered no casualties, Nightshade took a moment to rest on the trip back to base before saying a word of praise to the team. Once they returned home he would seek out his liaison and set up the next step of the plan, and get the propaganda and recruiting messages going.
-
You give a few (hopefully) inspiring words [would have liked to see those... :)] and the unit piles into the shuttle. Your pilot again keeps you quite close to the ground, and in a few minutes you are safely back in the mountains. There were no signs of pursuit.
You arrive in the docking bay, and there the team splits up. You are ushered into the tram to return you to the main base. The doors open, and Captain Barakis is there waiting, arms smartly clasped behind her back.
"Agent Nightshade. The troops are currently being debriefed, but corroborating intelligence confirms mission success." She waves an arm as an invitation to walk. You both start towards the command centre she first used.
"Imaging drones nearby recorded a hastily-dispatched patrol re-routed to investigate. The lone survivor from your ambush was recovered with no apparent injuries. Unscheduled patrols were sent to scour farmed within 10 kilometres of the ambush - there were some civilian injuries and property damage, but no casualties were reported. Subsequent patrols have been reinforced, but they have not apparently altered the patrol schedule. The additional field time on their troops is predicted to reduce efficiency by 6%. There has been a 42% increase in com traffic between the local COMPNOR headquarters and the capitol, that the volume is quickly returning to baseline volumes."
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ooc: Sorry, I will work on being less succinct in the future ;D
ic: The initial numbers were a good start. "Captain, do we have any contacts with the locals that could make contact with the 'visited' farms? If not, we should dispatch a team to gather intel. It will be beneficial to see what the COMPNOR forces said during their visits.
What do we project to the maximum decrease in efficiency that we can achieve through more raiding? Also how soon could we launch another raid on a patrol on the opposite side of our operating area from this attack? If we can move quickly enough we will may be able to present the illusion that this is a wide spread rebellion and not one isolated group."
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She considers a moment. "We have assets in the region who could reach out to local farmers, but it would risk exposing those assets. I would recommend using headquarters assets to conduct that sort of operation. We can establish contact with the locals, but leave our existing intelligence assets in place. However, if we do that, we will not have the manpower to conduct a second raid. As an alternative, we could assign a raid to a local cell, but COMPNOR patrols will be fewer but better armed. I estimate a 76% chance of success with the local cell, with 25% casualties. That may be an acceptable risk. Your call, of course, but using local assets would provide a boost to recruiting and resource gathering. If we can reach out to the local farmers, while still ambushing a patrol, the fictitious cell would appear far larger in the eyes of COMPNOR, and would also draw the attention of Imperial Intelligence. Neither side would believe that a new cell could grow so large without someone learning about it - that may widen the distrust between them."
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"I agree with your assessment, we definitely want to promote the idea that one side is holding back from the other. Let's have our HQ assets gain the intel, and let our local cell do a raid."
Pondering for a moment, Nightshade added, "How long would it take to get me out to a cell for the raid?"
-
She pauses. "Ninety minutes - an hour to coordinate, and thirty minutes to get you on site. We can cut that down to an hour if we gamble that the coordination is successful."
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"Let's make that happen, I want to be a part of our next raid to increase its success. An hour should be enough time to make it seem like a larger group rather than one small one in two separate places."
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She nods. "I'll start making the arrangements. You have about twenty minutes before you'll need to depart."
She pauses, stops and turns to you. "Sir. The rebel cell personnel are generally very loyal, but they are mostly composed of former civilians untrained in Intelligence trade-craft. We've done our best to bring them up to speed, but they do not have uniform attention to detail. Imperial Intelligence has been able to exploit various lapses in the past. Also, on a few rare occasions, a rebel cell has been infiltrated by an Imperial mole. I estimate a seven percent probability that direct contact with a cell may expose you."
She stands before you, arms clasped behind her back.
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"Understood, a seven percent risk is acceptable at this time. Complete the arrangements. I will be standing by for transport."
With a quick check of his gear, and a run by the QM to see what grenades might be available, the Shinobi was ready for round two.
-
Twenty minutes later, you are back in the shuttle. Two people are there to meet you on the pad, both human. accompany you. They introduce themselves as Cara Landing and Davith Onone.
The female steps forward and offers a hand, rather than a salute. "Sir. A pleasure to meet you. I'm Cara Landing, and this is Davith Onone. We're with Operations. We're sort of liaison officers between headquarters and the local cells. We're here to facilitate introductions."
The male has somewhat darker skin and facial features that are reminiscent of the Kothë people you met in Cali's house. He bows. "I am excited to see what bold action will accomplish."
In the background, a somewhat harried looking flight crew are scurrying about preparing the shuttle for take-off, while a new pilot appears to be getting a briefing while he buckles on his helmet.
[Actions?]
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Accepting the offered hand, and returning the bow, Nightshade greets both of the humans in turn. "Your presence is most welcome, and I am always happy to have someone facilitate introductions. Likewise, I am also eager to see what direct action will accomplish. These people have already suffered much, and we need to turn the tables. But we must do so with strategy and restraint."
This was more of an encouragement than a reprimand, no doubt these two knew that and were good at their craft. He had yet to meet any members of this rebellion that were anything short of professional and competent.
Finding a place in the shuttle, he turns to them both and asks, "What can you tell me about this cell? I would know what they specialize in, or what strengths and assets they have. Any ideas on where and how to strike would also be welcome."
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Agent Landing answers. "None of the local cells really have specialties. The cell we'll be dealing with is made up a core of people who lost relatives in Lendt, augmented by others disaffected by the Empire's rule. The core is a mixed bag, with two former law enforcement officer in the ranks. The cell has support in the community, which takes the form of intelligence, medical and logistic supplies, and other resources. They do not have a lot of formal training, and their tradecraft skills are low, but they have a great deal of energy and motivation. They are pretty informal, making decisions by consensus, but their putative leader is Landris Immer, a former constable. She doesn't see herself as a leader, but the others look to her more often than not. The other two in the inner circle are Benton Wheeler, and Aelenie Santo. Santo was also formerly in law enforcement officer, but on the administrative side. Wheeler was a mid-level civic official."
Agent Landing pauses for a moment. "Sir, just to be clear, these are not well trained personnel. They have a lot of heart, but they are not soldiers, and have never been in a full-on firefight before. I recommend you keep things simple and straight-forward. They're likely to get lost in complex tactics, and may forget instructions if they come under fire."
Agent Onone adds, "They can put 15 people in the field, but that would leave their safe house stripped bare. They have access to a few blast vests, and a couple of captured E-11 blaster rifles. They've also got some improvised explosive devices they're pretty good at deploying. Other than that, they are in street clothes and have sporting blasters."
You hear the whine of the shuttle repulsors as the pilot starts to power up the shuttle.
-
Taking a moment to process and sort through the information that he had received, the Shinobi starts to formulate a plan.
"This should work well within our framework of making this a grass roots rebellion. Improvised explosives will tie in well to the overall strategy. We should be able to focus on patrols and use the explosives to target vehicles. Doing minor amounts of damage can help us sell the idea that two factions are using this rebellion to make the other lose face."
Changing topics for a moment, he asks, "Do either of you have experience with Immer? I would like to know more about her, so that I can get on her good side. If she buys in to what we are doing, the others will fall in line."
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Agent landing nods. "Immer is motivated to strike back against the Empire, that is certain, but her desire to strike back is a personal one. She has no difficulty putting herself into harms way, but she is a very reluctant leader, and is very aware of the danger the others face. They look to her as a leader, but she does not want to lead them, or take responsibility for decisions that may get others killed. That could be a liability in the field, where quick decisions are required. But you could use that reluctance. The other senior members may bristle at the idea, but if you assumed a leadership role, she would likely fall in line happily."
Agent Onone glances at Landing. "Better, perhaps, if you can get them all to accept your short-term leadership. It would be more difficult, but if you could persuade them to accept you, it would not cause internal friction or enlarge the wedge between our headquarters and the local cell. The other seniors in the cell want Immer to lead them because they know her and trust her. Their cell is focused on small scale, local and personal matters. Our side of the rebellion has always had a larger area of concern, and our past decisions in pursuit of those larger goals have sometimes gone against the goals of the local cell. This has fostered some mistrust. They listen to our guidance and advice, but do not always accept it, and would view an attempt to usurp their leadership with suspicion."
-
"If that is your advice, then I will do as you say and present myself as a leader. I think that I can play up the angle of being the outsider and pander to their short term goals for now. This should actually serve your long term purpose better than being at odds with this cell."
-
ooc: That's all I got for this part if ya wanna cut to the arrival
-
You arrive at a small, run down farmyard. The shuttle threads it's way into the remains of a barn. The door opens and Agent Landing says, "We'll grab a ride from here."
True to her word, there is a decrepit-looking ground vehicle hidden under a tarp. Onone and Landing pull the tarp off, after she activates some sort of remote. The three of you pile in, and in short order you are on your way, Landing driving.
The speeder, despite it's looks, appears to be well maintained. A clever disguise.
A short time later, you see a small town in the distance. Landing pulls up to the outskirts, behind what appears to be a small abandoned retail establishment.
You see a figure lurking in the doorway, but he passes Landing in. Onone glances around, and ushers you inside.
You are quickly taken downstairs, and find a close room lit by a single hoverglobe. You see a motley collection of people, with a mix of excitement, fear, mistrust and indifference on their various faces. You can easily pick out Landris Immer. Her face clearly shows her discomfort.
Agent Landing starts.
"Thank you all for coming. As we said, we have an important task, and we need your help to accomplish it. We have brought an agent with us from headquarters. Please allow me to introduce Nightshade.
Landing steps back, giving you the floor.
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"Thank you. I will be brief and to the point, for time matters here. We have started an offensive against the Empire that we need your help to continue. It is time to strike back at the oppressors and get some pay back for the way that they have treated people. Due to my extensive experience in these matters I have been sent to organize and oversee this strike, but I will be relying on your local knowledge to help me pick out the best targets. We want soft targets, but one's that have been especially oppressive to the local populace. The idea is that we make this look like a wide-spread, grass-roots effort to overthrow Empire authority rather than the act of the smart, organized rebellion that you are."
Taking a brief break for the flattery to have its effect, he continues, "I will be happy to answer any questions that you have after our operation, but I want to take advantage of striking quickly while we can, so I am going to ask you start listing some targets for me. Let's go bloody the Empire's nose and strike the first blow for equity and justice, and then there will be time for talk."
He scans the crowd looking for reactions and waiting for the first to speak. That would be the one that he would have to win over and the rest would probably fall in line like so many dominoes cascading in a row.
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A thin man with a shaved head and a deep scar on the left side of his chin puffs up his chest.
"For a long time now, and you guys have ever said was to keep our heads down and be careful. We've run little hits-and-runs, done the odd bit of sabotage, and gathered information for you and that's it. You've never come here and asked us to actually hit anything before. What's different now?"
There is mistrust in the man's voice.
Agent Landing holds up a placating hand. "Aelenie, relax. This is a change in posture from headquarters. We've just successfully hit a patrol about an hour ago. The local garrison is in disarray, and we want to increase that chaos as much as much as possible, and we need your help."
The man, apparently Aelenie Santo, looks to Nightshade. "What happens when the Empire turns on the locals? If they can't find us, there will be retributions against the civilians. Are you going to be able to protect them?" A few of the others nod. You note that Landris Immer does not nod, but she looks concerned.
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That was the one that he had been looking for, the one that would be the problem...deal with him and the rest would fall in line.
"I'll be honest with you Aelenie and answer you in two parts...the first is, my plan is to keep the Empire busy enough and spread some disinformation to get them to turn on each other rather than your people. By doing this I want, and expect to be able to spare the populace from the brunt of the Empire's aggression. The second part to your answer is that, as I understand it, the Empire is already abusing your people. They are already suffering, so can we afford to continue to sit around and do nothing?"
Turning the question back on the asker was an old tactic, granted, but it continued to be used because it was successful.
The Shinobi turned his attention to the group to see what effect his comments would have.
-
Alenie looks a little less certain. "All we've been doing for months is sitting around. The most we've done is be a chigger irritating the Empire. Now, suddenly, we're starting a full on attack? We've been asking to do more for a long time now. You'll forgive me if I don't trust this sudden change of plans, or being led by a complete stranger."
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"Well it is simple, really...someone with my skill set wasn't available before, and I am now. I can't force trust on you, but I will say I offer you the best opportunity to do what you have been wanting to do since the beginning, and time is truly of the essence, so you need to make your mind up and do it quickly or your window to get what you want may close."
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Landris Immer clears her throat quietly. "He's right. It's what you've been asking for. And he looks like he knows what he is doing. You want to argue about getting what you wanted? Or you want to strike at the Empire?"
The room is quiet. You can also see the chi of her words affecting everyone in the room.
No one else speaks, so Landris steps towards you.
"We're putting our lives in your hands. What do you want us to do?"
Despite her words, you can tel she is not happy. This is the face of a woman who has seen death, and understands there may be a butcher's bill at the end of this.
-
"The first order of business is to pick a target...preferably one that we can hit quickly and make it look as though a bunch of disgruntled citizens are acting out."
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Alenie looks pole-axed. "What?! You don't even have a target or objective? We're just going to make it up as we go? What kind of..."
He is cut off sharply by Immer. "That's enough Santo!"
Alenie subsides, but remains unconvinced. Immer keeps talking to him, but her words are as much for the others as him. "You have been complaining since we joined the Silver Fox that we were never allowed to do anything. Well, we finally have a chance, and you're complaining we have that freedom. We have plans. We've been asking to hit that forward outpost for weeks. And there's that supply depot we've had our eye on. We drew up plans for HQ, but got turned Don because they were too risky. Well, now's our chance to hit those things."
Alenie backs down, clearly chastised by someone he respects.
Immer, still looking at Alenie says, "Sam, you want to dig up those plans we sent up?"
A background figure jumps a bit, surprised. "Sure, Landris." He fades into the background, and emerges with a datapad. He hands it to Immer, who hands it to you.
-
Ignoring the outburst, Nightshade focused on what Immer had to say, seizing on the supply depot as a good target.
"That depot is the perfect target. It is the sort of thing that a grass roots militia would go after, and am I sure all of you can use the extra gear and materiel."
Motioning the man to bring the plans over so that all could see them, the Shinobi began to outline his plan...
ooc: what do the plans look like?
-
As you skim over the plan, it actually looks pretty promising. The Imperials, lulled by a lack of action, have a moderately large supply depot with a small security force - a squad of 5 COMPNOR Troops. It is a bit of a bunker, so the troops there could turtle if they had warning, and you'd have a hard time getting through the blast doors before reinforcements arrived. But if you are quick enough you could probably take the facility with a minimum of fuss. And, if your intel is accurate, COMPNOR troops are selected for their loyalty, not their skills or training.
You don't have a lot of facts, but there are some holos of what appear to be munitions crates arriving. Based on the images they've captured, there could be E-11 blaster rifles, concussion grenades, and maybe some heavier ordinance. If you knock this place over, your rag-tag group of rebels would suddenly be much better equipped.
But this would need to be a smash-and-grab. You don't have the manpower to hold the facility against any sort of determined assault. Given the high alert status Captain Barakis mentioned, you'd probably only have a few minutes in the facility. Also, you might expect the depot to be reinforced, which could seriously hamper your ability to take the facility quickly.
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"How many of you are able and willing to gear up and hit the field right now? And do you have access to any sort of vehicle? A truck would be preferable."
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Immer says, "If we vacate everything, we can put 15 people in the field. 10 would be better - we can keep some back to make sure we have a safe place to return to. And we have vehicles - a couple of speeder bikes, an old swoop, a couple of cargo trucks."
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"Ten will be perfect. So here's the plan...We will send out the speeder bikes with two of our ten to do a quick recon of the area. All I am looking for here is a brief looksie to make sure there aren't 20 troops there now instead of the five we are expecting. We will split the other eight between the swoop and a truck.
Once the scouts give the green light, we rush the front gate and using the vehicles for cover we mop up the troopers, grab as much as we can load into the truck and beat it out of there.
If we pick up a tail on the way back then split up and go to ground until the heat blows over. We don't want to compromise this safe house on our first day in business.
Let's load up and rock out."
Nightshade put word to deed as he did a quick once over of his gear and made for the passenger seat in the swoop.
-
You finish your speech and head up the stairs to the main floor. The rest of them have varying looks on their faces, from shock and surprise to confusion to anger to fear. Alenie looks about to say something as you walk away, when Immer hoists her pack, checks her weapon and follows you. "Well, let's get organized. Get the vehicles, meet back here in 10," she says as she climbs the stairs.
In ones and twos, the others follow you up the stairs, with Alenie coming last, trailed by your two agents.
Immer then throws open an overhead door, and you see a dilapidated swoop bike sitting there in stand-by mode. Immer straps her pack to a cargo box behind the seats and climbs up into the driver seat. There is a smaller, cramped passenger seat that sits directly behind her, and a little elevated. It will make for an intimate drive.
As you climb up behind her, you see the others quickly dispersing, apparently to get vehicles. They seem to have some sort of pre-arranged plan, because no instructions are given and they all take different routes.
Landing and Onone step up quickly. Onone speaks. "We'll meet you at the safe house after. Good luck, Agent Nightshade."
Before you can do more than node, Immer hits the thrusters and the swoop bike is off.
You drive a few minutes, the wind and the roar of the thrusters making conversation impossible. Eventually, Immer pulls into what appears to be an abandoned factory of some sort, pulls through an open overhead door, and puts the swoop in stand-by mode. She hops off the swoop.
"The others will be here in 5 minutes, and recon is already happening. We're about five klicks from the depot." She turns to look at you. "I'm putting my trust and their lives in your hands, Agent Nightshade. Do not let us down."
-
Nightshade was pleased with the organization of this ragtag group. It was refreshing to see after some of the reports of the main HQ gave the impression that they were all back woods rabble. He nodded to the two that had come with him and spent the trip in contemplation of what they would likely find at the target. If the number of troopers were what they were expecting, they would pose no threat, and the Shinobi knew that he could handle them on his own. The variable would be how the rest of the group would react to being under fire, and how much time they had before reinforcements arrived. The key was going to keep it as a quick smash and grab op and not get entangled in anything more involved.
Once the bike reached its stop and Immer spoke, Nightshade brought himself back to the present to reply, "I appreciate your trust, and understand its value more than you know. I do not intend to fail."
-
[OOC: Haven't forgotten about you. Just, setting up a combat takes a little more mental juice. I'll have something up over the weekend.]
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The others all arrive over the course of the next 15 minutes, in a rag-tag collection of vehicles in various states of disrepair. Some of them look a little grim. Others seem excited. They are all armed, but there is a wide range of weaponry here. Everything from Stormtrooper rifles to sporting blasters and a slug-throwing hunting rifle. A rough estimate tells you that ammo is going to be an issue if this takes too long, or reinforcements arrive.
On the plus side, everyone - including Alenie - seems on board.
[Any last words?]
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"Alright all, it is time to get this done. Remember that this is a quick operation to get us started. Your lives are worth more than this objective, so if you feel at any time that the plan is going sideways, I would rather you cut and run than stand and play the hero. That time may come but it is not today."
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Landris nods, and turns to the others. "Alennie, you breech the force fence with the truck. Watch the pylons. Everyone else will follow you in. Remember, we need to get someone inside quickly, or they'll close the blast door and we're hooped. If those doors close, we abort." She turns to one of the others. "Sam, you and Anjue stay back in cover and watch our backs. Keep an eye on the sky too - we don't want a TIE patrol happening by unannounced. Marko and Thander are already covering the road east and west."
She pauses for a moment. "Everyone ready?" They all nod.
She turns to you, and makes eye contact, but speaks to the others. "Then lets roll."
You approach the facility on the swoop bike, pulling off behind some cover. Landris crawls forward and has a look through some macrobinocculars. A moment later she hands them to you.
You see a short, squat black building with armoured walls. It's more of a bunker than a warehouse. The heavy blast door is open, but the entire facility is protected by a force fence. A moment later the whine of repulsors and the thrum of thrusters sounds as a heavy transport truck moves past you. Landris says, "This is it."
Half a dozen vehicles follow a short distance behind the truck. As the truck comes down the hill, it accelerates. Then, instead of swerving, the truck slams full on into the space between two pylons int he force fence. The force of the impact is enough to overload the fence, and one section of it comes down. Landris punches the accelerator, and your swoop squeezes through the open space. She jumps off before the swoop comes to a stop and starts running for the open blast door, where two surprised COMPNOR troopers are still doing the math on what the heck is happening. Behind you, 4 other rebels are running through the momentarily collapsed fence.
[Actions?]
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The thrill of a joined battle rushed through Nightshade as the swoop entered the compound. Sweeping his eyes around the field of battle he sought to take in as much information as he could before taking his first action.
Assessing the distance between himself and the critical doors, he established a list of priorities. The first would be to reach the doors and help breach the compound, the second would be to strike at the troopers guarding the doors if they could be reached quickly, and the third was to attack any targets of opportunity that presented themselves as a hindrance to getting as many people to the doors as possible.
Actions: Follow list of priorities, one attack on any targets in range.
-
Nightshade runs into the open blast doors and surprises a COMPNOR trooper just drawing his pistol. A quick slash, and the trooper goes down.
There is blaster fire on the other side of the room, and Landris and another rebel bring down a second trooper who had been trying to close the blast doors. By this time,a ll the rebels are inside.
You see a shocked-looking COMPNOR trooper in an officer cap looking at you from behind a plasteel window overlooking the loading bay. A moment later, alarm klaxons sound, and the blast door starts to grind shut. With all your people inside, that's a small matter.
There are too doorways on either end of the loading bay.
Landris waves some of her people through the far door, and follows you to the closer one, with one rebel backing you up. She comes to one side of the door and nods at you.
[Actions?]
-
If their numbers were correct, then two of the enemy had been disposed of, while another was identified. Standing by the door, Nightshade made a hand motion to hold up Landris and the other rebel, while he ghosted through the portal to scout ahead.
Actions: stealth and search
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You go into stealth mode, and slip through the door. Behind it, you see three very nervous-looking COMPNOR troopers, glancing between each other and the doorway. They have good cover behind consoles and cabinets, and are spread out down the corridor. You don't think you could get more than one with swords before they could react, but with their nervousness they are probably not much threat to you.
-
ooc: what are my chances of sneaking past the farthest one and starting my assault from behind them?
-
Pretty good.
-
The Shinobi judged that his best bet for success was to strike from the angle that they were not expecting. Gliding through the shadows he worked his way down the hallway to strike at the farthest trooper first. Hoping to attack from behind and maximize his chances of killing as many of them as he could before they noticed his presence.
Actions: sneak to the back, attack the rear trooper first with a silent strike from behind.
-
Stopping for a moment, you lob a star at the overhead lighting. The resulting flickering gives you cover to sprint and roll past the troopers, and you come to a rest behind the rear troops. Your movement through them appear to have gone unnoticed.
You draw your swords silently, and decapitate the rear trooper. A reflex muscle spasm activates the firing stud on his blaster, and it fires into the ceiling, harmlessly. But the two other troopers start and turn, seeing you with bloody swords as the corpse of their fellow trooper falls to the ground, a fountain of blood spraying from his empty neck.
[Actions?]
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Cursing the reflexive action, Nightshade rolls forward to impale the left hand trooper, while calling for the members of his team to take a shot on the right side soldier.
Actions: 2 melee attacks if in range, otherwise change to a dart fired at left trooper.
-
You cut down the trooper easy enough - his flailing attempts to block your attacks are more amusing that disrupting. The last trooper fires, but the shot goes wide. Then, your rebels pop out from the corner and plug him twice. He teeters over his cover and sprawls on the floor.
[Actions?]
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Flipping open his comm link, Nightshade addresses the other teams, "Situation report." If their initial numbers were correct, this depot should be empty of hostile targets. He directed the group with him to move forward a little ways behind him as he continued to scout forward on their side.
-
"Jean's been hit, but it's not bad. Alennie took a grenade. He's down, but alive. We've secured this side." The voice on the comlink sounds shakey. "The command centre is locked down. We can't get in."
-
"Received. Pull the wounded back and get out of here. We will proceed with what we have left." Nightshade continues to press forward to find the command center and see what it will take to crack that nut.
ooc: move forward, how much time has elapsed?
-
[OOC: Less than a minute.]
You come around the next corner in silence, and find the large blast doors of the command centre standing closed. Above them, red warning lights flash and a klaxon sounds.
There are sounds of voices farther into the facility, to your right. As you come around the corner, what is left of your other team comes around the opposite corner. It seems both corridors meet at the command centre, and another corridor slopes down leading further in.
Landris says, "We should post guards, but leave the command centre. Our goal is father in."
-
Having no need to supersede this command, the Shinobi nods in agreement that it should be so. He ghosts forward into the next corridors to scout the way.
Actions: Stealth it up.
-
[OOC: Shit, I keep forgetting about this. Man, haven't posted since 12 December. Sorry man.]
You move forward, and find a large security door. Two young troopers are guarding it.
"This is it," says Landris.
-
While he would like to give the two guarding this door a chance to surrender, Nightshade had neither the time nor resources to guard prisoners at this point.
Instructing the rebels with him to fire at the two if his attacks didn't take them out, he centered himself before taking action.
Moving forward as quickly and quietly as his years of training allow, he sought to strike the one on the left with his blades before firing a neural dart at the other.
Actions: stealth to left target, melee attack, fire dart at right target.
-
The troopers don't stand much of a chance. The neural dart incapacitates one, and you drop the other as he was looking at his twitching companion in alarm.
Landris comes forward with some sort of electronic contraption. She fixes it to the door, punches a few buttons, and yells, "Fire in the hole!"
Everyone scatters back, and there is a forceful concussion. When the smoke and flames clear, there is a fairly large hold - enough for a person to carefully crawl through - in the reinforced door.
Landris looks at the other two. "Go! You know what to grab, just toss it out. We're running out of time!"
The other two sling or holster their weapons and clamber through the hold in the security door. A few seconds later, crates and boxes start flying out of the hole.
Landris, watching the approaches with you, says quietly, "We've been lucky. Let's hope it holds."
Less than a minute later, the two other rebels climb out and start attaching slings and straps to the boxes, leading each other up to the point they have difficulty moving. Landris says to them, "Just like we practised." They nod, but look nerous - there's no way these two could fight of dodge under their loads.
Landris turns to you. "Ok, Nightshade. Back out the way we came in. We'll need to get that blast door open. We have a plan to force it directly, but it'll take time."
[Actions?]
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A small nod is all the motion needed to agree with the desire for luck. Skill was all well and good, but only a fool turned down luck when it was offered.
As the rebels exit and pick up their burdens, the Shinobi feels an increased drive to keep them safe as they were now very real targets. Moving forward again to scout their exit, he nods to Landris. "You will have all the time you need."
-
You get back to the main vehicle bay. You can see an officer and two techs inside the control room through the glasteel, watching you are you pile up the stolen weapons.
A couple of the rebels are working on the door actuator, but it seems slow going, and you are aware of time ticking.
Over the comlink there is a momentary scare when your scouts report incoming aircraft, but it turns out to be a false alarm - some civilian shuttle passing overhead.
[Any actions, or wait for the guys working the actuator?]
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Unless I can do anything to get at our audience or help speed up the door opening process, then just provide overwatch for incoming reinforcements.
-
It takes a few minutes, but there is a big spark, and one side of the heavy blast doors grinds open a couple of meters before shrieking to a halt.
Landris signs with relief. "Godo job. Everyone grab something, and head for the vehicles."
You did not wait for Landris. As soon as the doors opened, you were out scanning the area. All seems clear - the smoking truck sits undisturbed, and your scouts report no contacts.
You cover the team as they load up with bags and crates and head for the fence. There is a rumble down the road, and you see another cargo vehicle approaching. Landris is at your side. "That's ours. You want to ride with the goods, or on the bike with me?"
-
"I will ride on the bike with you."
-
The ride back goes well. The scouts you left behind report that an Imperial patrol entered the facility four minutes after you were out of sight. By the time they confirmed issues at the depot, you were well beyond any response.
You end up in a different location than where you started. Landris parks the swoop bike behind a woodpile and throws an old tarp over it. She then takes you inside, where you find a more conventional beat-up speeder sitting in a run down building. A quiet ride of several minutes brings you back to the main safehouse where you first met everyone.
Landris takes you inside, and down to the basement again. Your agents are there, and a couple of rebels.
"We'll be alone for a while. If everyone follows protocol, they won't be back here until tomorrow afternoon. A standard precaution against being tagged, tracked or followed."
She drops her gear, and collapses into a nearby chair.
"Congrats, Nightshade. Your first mission successful, and casualties were light - mostly thanks to you. You got most of my people out safe. I appreciate that."
-
The Shinobi smiles a rare smile, and then cracks an even more rare joke..."The Senator didn't send me for my pretty face."
He was actually very happy with the outcome of their little raid and quite pleased with the composure of this little cell.
"I am glad to have given you the chance to see that I meant it when I wanted to keep everyone as safe as possible. That is always job one. A good bit of the credit goes to you and your team here. They handled themselves like seasoned professionals...stuck to the script and didn't pursue chances for personal vengeance. No mean feat when you have suffered the wrongs of the Empire. That's what allowed us to bring people back safe, and it will be key to our continued success."
"If you will excuse me, I need to confer with these two about our next steps."
Turning to the two agents that came with him, he spoke to them next, out of earshot of Landris and other rebels. "I would like your assessment of the overall impact of our raid here in light of our overall objective. Do you think that we stay here or do we need to move on to accomplish our goals?"
-
They both consider several moments. Agent Landing is the first to speak. "The raid was a success, with low casualties. They are better equipped and their morale is high. This will be an embarrassment to COMPNOR. However, this area will be hot for several days. The more we use this cell, the greater the chance of exposure. Their tradecraft is weak - sooner or later they will trip up, and bring the ISB or Military Intelligence down on them, which risks exposing headquarters. I recommend we move on to another cell."
Agent Onone looks pensive. "There is a risk of exposure. But if we move fast enough, and change safe-houses, we can probably get a second or third operation out of these folks. With contingencies in place, planned and supported from headquarters, we can keep using these people. There is also the option of bringing in another cell from outside the zone. Also, local leadership will be looking for scapegoats. If we hit a more prominent target, that will put the cross-hairs on higher elements in the local chain of command, and increase the resulting chaos as local leadership moves to protect themselves from fallout."
-
"Thank you for your input. I think that we may be better served by moving out for now and continue to make this seem like a wide spread operation. I don't want to focus attention on any given area just yet. I think that the more we can be thorns in the side of enemy forces all over the planet, the less resistance we will see in any given area once we move on the big targets. What ideas do you have for our next area of operations?"
-
[OOC: Sorry, you caught me unprepared. I needed to process some world updates before I could respond appropriately. :) ]
Agent Landing considers a moment. "I think in that case you might be better served consulting with Captain Barakis. We don't have situational awareness beyond this region. The Captain would be in a better position to give you a larger picture."
Agent Onone takes a breath and nods. "I concur, sir. If you wish to move on to other targets, we are not as well placed to advise you. If you did wish to remain in this region, there are other, harder, targets we might strike at, but that would suggest to our enemy that this moment in localized."
-
"Again, I appreciate your advice and candor. I think it is time to return and consult with the Captain. You two are welcome to stay here and help with the local effort if you wish."
Nightshade waited for a moment to see if they wished to say anything else before looking for Landris to advise her of what was happening.
-
They both nod and move off to speak with the locals. You find Landris speaking on the comlink.
"... keep a watch on the house. They'll have DNA at least. I'll check in later, but keep me posted if anything changes."
She ends the call as you approach. "Just checking on the wounded." She takes a deep breath, then crosses her arms and leans back against the wall. "So what happens now, Agent Nightshade?"
-
"I believe that now it is time for me to return to HQ and see what I can do to spread this around the planet. This will help to take the heat off any particular cell and increase the chances of accomplishing our ultimate goal of turning the Imps on each other."
Taking a moment he continued, "Your group is well stocked and well prepared to continue your fight without me. I can see you are a gifted leader, if a reluctant one." He smiled to take any sting out of the words. "And I suspect we will fight alongside again before long. Until then stay safe and send for anything you need to HQ and I will see that you get it."
-
She looks somehow sceptical. "Does that mean command is going to let us off the leash? Or do we go back to being passive?"
-
"Consider yourselves off the leash. I would advise you to not get too outlandish, at least until I can get some more ops set up and spread the attention around a bit, but I trust your judgment to do what is best with your people and your resources."
"The ultimate plan is to try to set this up as the Army encouraged a rebellion against COMPNOR to make them look incompetent. If this deception works as I hope, we will have them at each other's throats instead of terrorizing the populace. So, I ask that you keep that in mind when you are selecting targets, but for now consider yourself to have complete autonomy to do as you wish."
-
That clearly catches her off guard, as if that was the least likely thing she had expected you to say.
"You're serious..."
She stands up from the wall, her eyes wide. But she nods. "Okay... okay." She runs her hand through her hair. "I've got some work to do." She turns to go, but stops. "Thanks, Agent."
-
Acknowledging her thanks, Nightshade prepared to leave and return to see the Captain. His mind was already working through the next steps in his master plan.
-
Arrangements are made, and without much delay you are back at the mountain landing bay near headquarters. As the shuttle doors open, you see Captain Barakis standing there, hands clasped behind her back. She salutes, and falls into step as you head for the tram.
"Sir. My analysts are still collecting and going over our intelligence, but initial projections indicate a 47% efficiency reduction in the local COMPNOR presence. We project a 15% splillover into the regional presence. It is too early to tell for certain, but we have a 55% probability that someone from local command staff will be removed from their position, which will amplify the disruption. These disruptions are projected to be short lived, and will become negligible within a week."
-
Returning the Captain's salute, Nightshade listened closely to the numbers that she offered. While pleased with the results, a week wasn't going to be a lot of time to see long term progress. "I like these early numbers, Captain, but we obviously can't rest here. What intel do we have on new targets that might be right to hit and spread our chaos even farther? Also, we need to look into setting up multiple attacks to happen simultaneously to help sell the idea that this is a widespread rebellion. As much as I like overseeing things personally, that's not going to work long term as the enemy will start to realize the delay between attacks likely means a single coordinating entity."
-
"I anticipated the need for increased tempo, and we are working on plans for that now, but it will take a day at least to put local assets in place. We do have three strike teams we could employ. They would be capable of hitting harder targets as well."
She pauses, as if choosing her words carefully. "Sir. With the increased tempo you are seeking, and our current manpower levels, we're not going to be able to sustain this op tempo for more than three or four weeks - less if we suffer setbacks. I am not trying to dissuade you, merely point out potential issues.
"As for further targets, I have some candidates selected. There is a strong Stormtrooper presence in the south-west. We had thought they were searching for the survivors of the royal family, but when they were rescued and relocated up north, the heavy presence remained. There are some supply bases and headquarters areas we could hit, but no local cells in that sparsely populated region.
"There is a small garrison on Ataregy Szezet. We have a strong Kothe presence in that region. We might be able to drive the Empire out of the region entirely.
"We also have a source that has identified a Sector Plexus station on the planet. That would be a difficult target, and disrupting that station would not significantly harm the Empire. However, loosing such a station would cause Imperial Intelligence significant embarassment. If you wish to get Intelligence involved, that would be a good first step, and would likely provide some 'shock and awe' value as well."
She pauses again. "There is also the local fighter Wing. Their Base is not terrible secure - we've hit it before - but it is in a heavily populated city called Plarn. That would draw the attention of the Moff. There is also a ball the Governor is hosting. Security is being provided by Compnor, so striking there would embarrass the ISB. There are a few scenarios around that event."
-
"Thank you, Captain. Your candor is appreciated and required."
Taking a moment to process the information that he had been given Nightshade replies again, "I am thinking that the Governor's ball would be my best choice of targets to handle personally, and let us also attack that garrison. If we can drive the Empire out entirely it should help focus their attention over there and give us another stronghold that we can work from. I would like to keep Intelligence out of our little struggle for now...the more players we have in the mix, the harder it will be to sell our subterfuge."
Turning to face the Captain directly, he asked, "What is your assessment of this plan?"
-
She takes a breath, obviously pensive.
"Both targets are risky. We've been generating a significant amount of traffic from this base, which increases the chance we will be discovered. Increasing the op tempo of our support cells, combined with poor tradecraft, increases the danger they will be rolled up.
"Moving against the governor will persuade him the problem requires significant resources invested. Attacking the Governor would be a relatively soft target, as he is protected by COMNOR troopers. That will bring more resources to bear on the problem, but that may play in our favour - that such a threat could grow so quickly without anyone knowing is likely to shake up the command structure as people are replaced.
"Successfully moving against the garrison in Ataregy Szezet would effectively liberate that area. The region is difficult to get to overland, and the mountains that separate it from the rest of the continent make airborne attacks difficult as well, However, that region is still vulnerable to orbital bombardment. Also, the garrison there consists of Imperial Army troops. Their training is Imperial norm, but striking the garrison will bring our activities to the attention of the Military command structure.
"In the past, when we have tweaked the military, Intelligence gets involved. They have proven to be very skilled and dangerously clever. We are going to go up against them eventually, I would recommend you consider if you want this moment to be the time we bring that about. They will be difficult to fool - their analysts are very good. There is an asset you may be able to speak to in order to get some insight into the local Imperial Intelligence organization."
-
Taking a moment of his own to gather his thoughts, Nightshade answered, "I would like to sow as much chaos as we can before we get intelligence involved. Let us just focus on the governor's ball for now. Then I will speak with the asset and learn what we can about Intel."
-
She nods. "Very well, sir. I'll work up some options for hitting the ball, and provide potential targets. I'll need four hours to work up plans."
-
"Very well, Captain. Thank you and I will see you in four hours."
Nightshade returned to his quarters to spend the intervening time in meditation and an overdue cup of tea.
-
Tea, as usual, is relaxing. Time spent in meditation also helps ease the residual effects of your recent activities.
Precisely four hours after you last spoke with Captain Barakis, the com panel in your quarters beeps. You tap the answer button, and Captain Barakis' face appears.
"Agent. We are in the main conference room. I anticipate the need to include strike teams and technical services. With your permission, I will invite them to join us. If you prefer, I can present to you, and include the others after."
It could be seen as a little presumptuous for her to include others, but she has been on target so far, and quite efficient.
-
Efficiency is more desirable than protocol, and Nightshade is not at all offended as he replies, "Excellent thinking, Captain. I will join you directly."
Making his way to the conference room he takes a seat and waits for the briefing to begin.
-
The room is populated by Barakis' analysis, who snap to attention as you enter the room. She salutes. "Agent Nightshade. We're just waiting for the others."
As she finishes that, several other people enter the room. Three are obviously soliders, and one of them would be the leader of the other two. There are a few that have the appearance of support staff - your guess is supply for one group, and transport for the others. There is a third group that is different, and you're not sure what their role might be.
With everyone seated, Barakis moves to start. "Thank you all..."
The door opens, and in walks the white-haired Senator Pasteur. She puts on the air of surprise that things came to a halt. "Please, continue."
Barakis appears unruffled. "Thank you all for coming. Under the direction of Agent Nightshade, we have prepared a battle plan for a strike against the Harvest Ball being hosted by Governor Fythia. As COMPNOR will be providing security for the event, but the Military will have high-ranking members in attendance, this will be an excellent opportunity to exapnd on Agent Nightshade's previous work of trying to drive a wedge between COMPNOR and the Military forces on Karvis."
The room darkens, and the holo display in the centre of the room lights up. You recognize from your indoc training an overhead view of the new Imperial capital of Plarn. As she runs through her briefing, the image shifts and focuses on the locations she is speaking about.
"The ball will be held at the Governor's mansion. Security will be tight, but the Governor will not permit Imperial troops on the grounds. We will need to include actions by the local cell to create a distraction by setting fire to the fuel depot beside the residence on the mansion grounds, using an improvised incendiary delivered by drone. Under that cover, the strike team - wearing Imperial uniforms - will attack the rear fence, and disable main power transformer, which will bring down security measures within the mansion, and also bring down the force fence around the property as a contingency for escape. Meanwhile, Agent Nightshade and three wetwork operatives will arrive on the roof of the mansion using ultralight gliders. They will take out rooftop guards. Two operatives will hold the roof, supported by assault team snipers pre-placed on the roof of the nearby casino. Agent Nightshade and one operative will enter the mansion, make make their way to the communications suite on the top floor. There, they will access COMPNOR communications records. It is important during this time that Agent Nightshade removes all security recording devices, except for one that is apparently missed. We allow COMPNOR to capture an image of a doctored datapad showing Imperial origins.
"Note that it is not important to actually collect data - we must only be seen to be collecting data. While COMPNOR communications would be valuable, that would be a secondary objective of this operation.
"Agent Nightshade will then exit the facility, leaving behind an EMP in an apparent attempt to destroy evidence. Using the ulralight gliders, they will activate the repulsors and extract back to the casino roof. The assault team will then bug out, enter the sewers from the nearby access hatch, and extend to the river where they entered. It will be important that casualties be kept to a minimum, so weapons will be on stun unless the situation deteriorates, as ordered by command elements. The entire duration of this operation from go to extraction is scheduled to be five minutes. If we take more than seven, we can expect reinforcements summoned by Military officials within the ball to arrive and make extraction problematic.
"All personnel will be treated with biosealant and wear class two respirators and body gloves to prevent any DNA traces being left behind."
She goes on from here for several minutes, specifying the specific support, equipment, transportation and personnel that will be required, as well as the expanded schedule. The whole operation will take six hours, start-to-finish, but only 5 minutes from the "go" command.
Captain Barakis' briefing is thorough and detailed. Nevertheless, she pauses. "Are there any questions?"
The room is silent and tense. There are a lot of serious faces, not the least of which is Senator Pasteur.
Reading the room, Captain Barakis nods to you, and steps back from the centre of the room.
-
"Excellent, briefing, Captain. Thank you for your efforts." Nightshade steps forward to take command of the room and field any further questions. He was expecting some sort of comment from the Senator, but wasn't going to go fishing for it.
-
The soldier speaks first. Barkakis is at your shoulder, and as he starts speaking she whispers as the man is speaking, "Major Cric Seumic, Ground Forces officer."
"This is a very aggressive move. Attacking the capitol - that last time we tried that, the resulting crackdown rolled up 8 local cells and paralyzed our efforts around Plarn."
Captain Barakis steps in. "For background, that was a strike against a high-value military target, targeting military assets under the responsibility of the Moff. That action brought Senator Vess' group to the attention of Military Intelligence. As you all know, Governor Fythia used that incident to reduce the infuence of the Military within the Plarn region." Barakis then nods to you.
-
"That is a valid point, Major. You are correct that this is an aggressive move. But I think that the time is right for this and that the benefits will justify the risks. We need to present our rebellion as something to be taken seriously, but most importantly to tie in the ruse that the two factions are working against each other. This will be the key to take the heat away from us and prevent the backlash that you have suffered in the past. Also this is an opportunity that presents itself now, and if we don't strike while we can, it may be some time before another one presents itself." Pausing a moment and shifting to a more neutral stance for effect, he continues, "I am the first to preach patience when necessary, but the atrocities that I have seen here dictate that we don't take unnecessary delays that will only bring about more suffering for the people of this planet."
He stops and waits for a response, either from the major, or anyone else that wants to chime in.
-
Another officer sits up. Captain Barakis whispers, "Major Jianna Vanukar, Intel. My boss."
"With the recent declaration of rebellion broadcast all over the Empire, unconfirmed intelligence suggests that several systems are in open revolt, and many more are on the verge of it. The Imperial Army and Navy are spread thin trying to contain. With the Army and Navy otherwise occupied, we may have an opportunity to eject the Empire from Karvis completely. However, we still do not know why the Empire deployed such a strong presence in the Karvis system in the first place. We can discern no tactical or strategic objectives that justify the manpower already invested. We do not sit on any major trade lanes, and our only export of any significant is agricultural products, though we are far from the breadbasket of the sector. It may be, for reasons we are not aware, that we are a world worth the effort of retaking, or holding, even in the case of open rebellion. Increasing our threat assessment in the eyes of the Empire may cause them to redouble their hold on the system, not abandon it."
She pauses. "I would feel more comfortable with this plan if we knew why the Empire came here in such strength in the first place."
-
"Major, I too would like more intel than we have. If you know a way to get some, I am very interested to hear it. If not, I believe that this opportunity is too good to pass up while we look for more intel."
-
The Major shakes her head. "Just voicing a concern, Nightshade. Without knowing the motivation for such a inordinately strong military presence on the planet, we cannot predict their reactions to our moves with a high degree of confidence. However, the strike on the Governor might be a chance to gain the intelligence we need. I recommend including either an intelligence grab objective as part of the strike, or adding two or three intelligence operatives as part of the strike with an independent, parallel mission to do it. I can have have a small team ready, equipped to do what we need. They will not interfere with the main strike, but will enter and exit with the rest of the team."
Captain Barakis frowns, apparently thinking. At your shoulder she says quietly, "Adding an objective threatens our 5-minute window. But if they sent a parallel team, and complete the intelligence objective simultaneously, we should be fine."
-
"A parallel team should be just the thing to help us accomplish two important goals. Thank you, Major."
-
Captain Barakis adds, "Just to clarify, Major, the five minute window is firm. If your people cannot complete their objective in the time allotted, there is no possibility of extension. We cannot withstand a direct assault by military assets."
The Major frowns, but nods. "Understood."
A couple of people glance at Senator Pasteur, but the senator remains attentive but silent.
-
"If no one has anything else to add, then let's prepare for our objectives."
Assuming nothing else is added, the Shinobi bows to everyone and lets the rest leave the room before turning to the Captain again. "Would now be a good time to speak to your asset about Imperial Intel?"
-
Senator Pasteur speaks.
"What is our plan for reprisals?"
-
"While I would certainly like to have none of the people of Karvis suffer for our actions, I realize that this is likely not going to be the case. We do hope and intend for our plan to place most of the blame on the Imperials themselves and limit reprisals through their infighting. That being said, I have seen in my short time here that the Imperials are no respecters of the common man."
Nightshade took a moment to center his thoughts again before continuing, "This raises two important questions. The first is, do we feel that we have any assets in the area that are at the most risk of being exposed. If so, they should be evacuated before our operation to keep them safe. The second is more difficult and while more pragmatic, will seem blunt, so please don't think me heartless for asking what we all need to have answered before we continue. How many are we willing to sacrifice to accomplish our goals?"
Another brief pause to allow the room to consider this. "The first step after we answer that is to have teams ready to respond as we can and where we can to any known reprisals. If they send armed troops against the populace, then we will fight them. If they attack through more cowardly means, such as bombardments or gas attacks, then we will evacuate as many as we can as quickly as we can. I think that our ultimate goal and the value of this operation in seeing it through is worth the risk of some collateral damage, which I say with great sorrow and only because I feel that the Empire's continued presence here causes more harm in the long run, but I bow to your wisdom in this, Senator."
-
Senator Pasteur is quiet and pensive. Major Seumic turns to her. "Senator, I may not like this plan, but I don't have any other options for actually hampering the Empire on Karvis. We knew after Lendt that the Empire would not hesitate to target civilians. We put civilians at risk every day simply by existing. No one here wants to see innocent people harmed, Senator, but you took us down this road. We don't have the numbers or resources to fight them face to face and hold territory, unless we roll up all our local cells and organize."
Major Vanukar adds, "I do not like this plan either, but I don't have any better ideas. The logic seems sound. We've known for a long time that there is significant friction between COMPNOR and the military, and deepening that friction can only help our cause. To mitigate the fallout, we could mobilize other cells. Pre-place them with aid and relief supplies in Plarn. They'll be at risk of exposure, but we could sue them to mitigate any reprisals. We also have medical staff at the headquarters we could deploy in the field. The presence of the TIE wing and command infrastructure means the Empire is unlikely to resort to large-scale reprisals. I there is a real risk of widespread reprisals. We have known them to be systematic in their small scale ones. Any measures we take to mitigate those reprisals depend entirely on the actions the Empire take. They could easily overwhelm our ability to provide aid."
Senator Pasteur looks pensive, sitting forward with her elbows on the table in front of her, fingers steepled in front of her mouth.
[Pausing here for reaction.]
-
The Shinobi had nothing to add, it was in the Senator's hands now.
-
She is quiet several moments longer, a troubled expression on her face.
"Agent Nightshade, do you believe this is the best course of action to liberate Karvis from the grip of the Empire?"
-
Locking his gaze on to hers, Nightshade answered, "Yes ma'am, I do."
-
You can almost see the chi battle going on before you, with the fight ebbing and flowing between the two of you. Seconds pass, and time seems to slow as your wills do battle. Girded for war, invisible warriors of will draw their swords and engage in unseen thrusts and parries, each striving to prevail. The battle is ferocious, but their struggle is unseen by anyone, though everyone in the room tenses. Likely the can sense it, and no one disturbs the flow of chi. It is a close battle - too close to call.
Eventually, she sits back and relaxes her posture. She looks older, somehow - the lines in her face are a little deeper; the lustre of her silver hair a little dimmer. Her will has been defeated. For your part, you feel a momentary wave of fatigue come over you, a testament to the ferocity of the battle just fought.
The Shinobi speak of battles as much a matter of chi as they are a matter of strength, quickness and steel. Some battles can be won before steel is even drawn, if the will is strong. For what is battle but a contest of wills? Such contests can take many forms, from naked blades to sharp-tongued banter to negotiations - all are contests of will. It is said that the great masters needed never draw a blade - they could defeat an opponent with a glance. There were even some legendary battles of will: two warriors in a field facing each other, sword drawn and at the ready, while their wills did ferocious battle for three full days before one was finally defeated with a single sword stroke.
And such a battle you just fought, and won.
"Ensure we have relief supplies cashed, and arrange escape transportation. Call in cells outside the region, and have them pre-placed to support relief or evacuation efforts. If this goes south, I want to do everything we can to avoid another Lendt. I am prepared to burn cells to make that happen - plan to bring them inside the perimeter if that happens."
She turns to you. "Nigthshade, our intelligence will be listening carefully. I want your team prepared to abort at a moments notice. If something looks wrong, we'll cancel the operation. I do not want to trigger wide scale reprisals if this is not going to go as planned. Understood?"
So the battle continues. Good, she is stronger than she might have seemed. One defeat of will does not discourage her, and her chi is ready for more if needed.
-
A deep breath in, and out to combat the fatigue and regain his center. A moment longer out of respect for the other combatant. It had been some time since he had faced such a contest, and it was good to stretch the mental muscles as well as the physical ones...both required exercise to maintain peak efficacy.
One more moment and a bow to the woman before he replied. "It is understood, Senator. It shall be as you say."
-
Frenetic activities commences, including a simulated assault. The ultralight glider will be a new experience, but they are not overly difficult to use. You will need to be careful, however, and combat while operating would be nearly completely out of the question. [OOC: Repulsorlift Operations can be used as a stand-in for this skill]
Captain Barakis is exceedingly thorough in her preparations, and her training scenarios are well-conceived. The different twists and turns she throws at you are good in and of themselves, but perhaps the best benefit from this training is that you are becoming familiar with the agents that will be assaulting the mansion with you, and they with you. many of the exercises are practical to conduct given the rebel's limited resources, but even in those cases, you conduct "what-if" scenarios, with Barakis grilling you and the others relentlessly, and calling a failure over even minor details missed or guessed at.
You do note that the Intel operatives have not joined you on this training. Presumably, they are conducting training of their own.
[Due to the preparation for this specific operation, you have a temporary +2D to all skill rolls made while the operation is live. Note, however, that if the situation deviates significantly from the training scenarios (skill level of opponents, types and numbers of reinforcements, etc.) that bonus will evaporate.]
Finally, it is the day before the operation. Barakis calls a cessation to all training, and you and the assault team are given several hours of downtime. The troopers are all on mandatory rest.
[OOC: Anything you want to do before go time?]
-
Pleased with the preparations and skill of the other operatives, Nightshade is able to take the down time to relax as much as a Shinobi can. After the mandatory examination of gear and cup of tea, he sits down with scroll and brush to fashion his own Jisei. He did not expect to need it, but sometimes death surprised even the most skilled.
-
According to the rebels' protocol, everyone involved in an operation goes on lock-down 12 hours prior to the operation, and you appear to be no exception. You are isolated within the base, along with the others involved, and no intelligence comes to you that is not directly connection to the operation. In your isolated section of the base, a large mission timer counts down the hours to launch.
At six hours to launch, initial preparations are already underway. Two hours before launch, you are summoned to a final "Go Decision" briefing. Captain Barakis (who was not part of the lockdown) and various other officers give their briefing to Senator Pasteur. Everyone involved in the op is in the room, but the briefing is definitely for her specifically. There were a few hiccoughs - supplies intended to support the operation were intercepted, but contingencies were activated, and there was no data spill. Some of the secondary units involved were a little late with preparations doe to unexpected Imperial presence, but nothing overly concerning.
Barakis finisher her briefing, and the room goes quiet. She glances at you, and you can feel the Chi almost spark between you. But she does not speak, simply turns to Bakaris and says, "Proceed."
A flurry of activity suddenly fills the command centre and half a dozen people speak into communications consoles all saying some variation of, "We are go, go, go."
Pasteur is, perhaps, an overly cautious leader, but she runs a tight organization. The plan has numerous abort options, with detailed exit strategies at various points in the op. Only once you breech the perimeter is there no real way out.
Then you are in the converted medical shuttle with half a dozen other people. Four of them you know - the rooftop team. Four others are unknown - these would be the intel troopers on their own mission.
The shuttle circles low some distance away from Plarn, in the mountains, waiting for the go signal. You maintain your holding pattern the expected thirty minutes before the light in the cabin flashes on to red and the shuttle starts accelerating. Everyone does a last-minute gear check without needing to be told. Five minutes later, the light changes to yellow, and the rear door of the shuttle opens up. You see the rooftops of Plarn whizzing by beneath the shuttle, street lights giving the city something of a celebratory air as people pass about their daily lives beneath you, unaware what is happening above them.
Gliders are handed out, and everyone straps in.
Then the light goes green, and the waiting is over. Three running steps and you are out of the shuttle. You activate the glider, which deploys wings. You feel the jerk as the wings catch the air, and the low-power thrusters kick in, and you are soaring. Your training and simulations allow you to spot the roof easily, using the gouts of flame and smoke rising into the sky from the burning fuel depot as a landmark, and you make your way there. You see the energy fence, and the estate lit up like a beacon. As you approach, you see the fence shimmer and die, and all the lights in the estate go out. Over your comlink, a sythetic voice states, "Five minute countdown started."
You are having a little trouble with the controls for the glider - the simulators did not provide a very realistic thruster wash from the shuttle - and have trouble maintaining your angle of attack. You try to compensate with extra thrust, but that brings your airspeed a little too high for comfort, and as you approach the rooftop you are coming in a little fast. Rather than risk overshooting, you come in too steep, and hit the roof hard.
You skid to a stop, definitely feeling the impact. Still in the fight, but the injury is definitely going to slow you down (Nightshade was been wounded).
By the time you gain your feet, the three COMPNOR guards have been taken out by silenced blasters by the rest of your team - they never knew what hit them - and your roof team takes up defensive positions, while the intel team gets to work on the door, and the trooper accompanying you takes up a position ready to enter once the door is open.
You shrug out of the glider harness, and prepare to enter the fray.
The door beeps three times then slides open. The intel troopers rush in, and you see the flashes of silenced blasters. Your way is clear.
[Actions?]
Nightshade is wounded. He can take some time to use a medkit, or go ahead with -1D on all rolls.
-
Annoyed at the rough landing, Nightshade is cursing himself for being reckless and unable to control the glider properly. He decides against taking the time to use a medkit as their schedule was already tight, and there could still be some unknown delays ahead. After fighting for this op he wasn't going to jeopardize it now. Drawing his blades he proceeds down the hallway towards the first objective, ghosting forward silently to scout for opposition.
-
You slip into the darkened hallway, and down the stairs. your visor provides good visuals in the darkness. Reaching the floor you are looking for, you slip through the doorway and make your way quietly down the passage. You surprise someone in a uniform coming out of a door, but run him through before he can even make a sound. The two troopers with you move to cover the corridor as you come to the security door you will need to breech.
[Actions?]
-
Scanning the door for any obvious measures to prevent unauthorized access, Nightshade then listens to his side of the door to see if he can hear anything moving on the other side. If everything seems clear, he starts to bypass the security to gain entry to the next area.
If anything goes sideways he will ghost away from the troopers with him to use them as a distraction to close with the threat.
-
The security panel is independently powered, so it still secures the room.
You give it a shot at bypassing the console, but do not make any progress.
[It's a little higher than you're skill. You're looking at about a 20 on Security.]
-
With a quick once over of the panel making it obvious that it was probably beyond his ability, Nightshade turned to the troopers with him to see if either of them was more adept at this task than he. Surely the plan would have accounted for something like this...
ooc: If neither trooper feels up to the job, could I do a security roll to see if just stabbing/shooting the panel would bypass it?
-
[OOC: You have the option for CP's, or a FP. You also have some security spike consumables that would do the trick. The troopers with you are about your level of skill.]
-
Ooc: should look at my CS more often ::)
Ic: Nightshade pulled one of the spikes from his kit and used it on the security panel, it was time to move on with the plan. The clock was against them. Once the door opened, he would ghost to the left to assess the new room.
-
With the security spike, you easily manage to bypass the security pad. The door lock releases, and you force the door back with the help of one of your troopers. You hear movement in the room, and see shapes in the glare of the red emergency lights. A blaster pistol fires, but in the dim lighting it impacts the door. Given your suit, they probably can even see you. But the door is open enough for you to slip in now.
-
Something seemed wrong. Were there supposed to be threats in this part of the building? Well there certainly was no time to dwell on these thoughts now, so Nughtshade moved through the door to the left to see if he could set up an attack on one or more of the beings firing the blasters.
Actions: try to get in position to attack one or more threats with the intention to not exceed 4 d in MAPs
-
You time your move and slip quickly between the door and the frame between blaster bolts. You're pretty sure no one saw you.
Your visor reveals only a single assailant in the room, taking cover behind a console. He's firing blindly, likely afraid. You slip unnoticed behind him. It's too easy, but you are under time pressure. A quick slash of the vibroblade, and the figure in the COMPNOR fatigues is down. The room in secure.
You stage-whisper the all clear, and your troopers move quickly into the room, accessing consoles with external power packs they brought with them.
[Actions?]
The troopers are making a show of accessing consoles, all part of the plan. Did you want to do anything while you wait for them?
Time is not bad, though you are a little behind schedule.
-
With a quick glance around the room to ensure they were alone, Nightshade moved back to the hall to start a quick scan of their way to the next objective. He didn't stray far from the door, though, in case something came to surprise the men with him.
-
[Only one objective. You're supposed to be removing recording devices, while apparently missing one. You are also supposed to "inadvertently" show a doctored datapad to the recording device you missed. The operative with you is already working on recovering the data you are after. Once you have the data, you're done.
Refresher: http://karvis.altarka.org/index.php?topic=355.msg11993#msg11993]
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ooc: thanks for setting me straight.
ic: Nightshade moved around the room looking for the recording devices, taking stock of the position of each one and trying to decide which one would look like the most hidden or likely to be overlooked. He would remove all but that chosen one.
-
You find a likely candidate, and take out several others. COMPNOR, it seems, is paranoid - there are no fewer than 6 hidden cameras in the room, aside from the two openly visible monitoring devices. You leave the best-concealed one intact while your partner works the console. You pull out the doctored datapad, "inadvertently" letting the screen show to the hidden monitoring device. Then your companion says, "Download complete."
All that remains now is your escape. You take a quick check of the chrono - you are about a minute off the schedule, but you should have plenty of time to make your escape.
[Actions?]
You had a little leeway in the schedule. Provided the intel guys are on the roof when you get there, you should have plenty of time to make your escape.
-
"Clear, time to exfil out of here. I'll lead, stay close and watch our back."
Nightshade moved out into the hallway back towards the exit. There was little time to dawdle, but he wasn't about to rush and get ambushed...that would cause more delays than a more cautious pace.
Actions: ghost ahead to search the exit route. Time to make like a prom dress and take off.
-
As you exit the control room, you pull out the EMP and toss is in. You head quickly down the corridor, alert for any movement, but the way seems clear. There is a crump sound behind you as the EMP goes off, scrambling the computers in the control room.
As you move through the corridor, you're hearing sounds that suggest the security forces on the estate have awakened to the fact that something is amiss, but you don't hear any weapons fire or anything like that. Then, there is a large concussion from somewhere. The mansion shudders - that was likely a fuel tank exploding.
You climb the stairs, silent as a shadow, while your team mate watches your backs. He seals the door, and points to his eyes, then holds up two fingers - it seems two security personnel have entered the corridor behind you. Given the darkness and how quietly you have been moving, it seems unlikely they have noticed you.
You emerge from the stairwell onto the roof. The area is lit by a large column of fire rising into the sky. You hear a lot of noise from the grounds of the mansion, and sirens in the distance - likely fire crews responding to the fire. Your troops holding the roof signal all is clear, and you move to your glider to harness up.
Then, you hear a a voice in your comlink, slightly distorted by the encryption, warn, "Contact."
A narrow blue energy bolt flies slightly over your head. You hear an impact and grunt, and turn to see a COMPNOR trooper slumping to the ground. Beside him his partner takes cover in the doorway, a blaster pistol in his hand.
In your helmet you hear, "Go. We got this." A stun bolt pings off the door frame, forcing the COMPNOR trooper to duck back.
Nightshade does note that there is no sign of the intel troopers.
[Actions?]
-
Part of being a team player was letting the other members of the team do their assigned jobs. Nightshade had to trust the troopers and made ready to launch his glider and get out back to the rally point. His job here was done.
Actions: Make like a prom dress and take off.
-
You shrug into the harness for the glider as the sound of sirens comes closer. You have a rough landing, but manage to stick in the end, and you are safely on the casino roof with the overwatch team.
You glance back at the roof. There is no sign of the intel troopers, and their gliders remain in position on the roof.
You check your chrono - 5 minutes, 30 seconds. Imperial reinforcements could be on the ground in less than 2 minutes.
[Actions?]
The plan calls for you guys to get to the sewers, and extend to the river.
-
What was the old saying? No plan survives contact with the enemy? Nightshade swore softly at seeing the glider where it was and no sign of the team. He had no trouble sacrificing people to complete an objective, but in this case if his people were caught and interrogated, then their plan really wouldn't accomplish everything that it was supposed to do. Waving anyone with him to move on and stick to the plan he made a brief survey of the area looking to establish the lay of the land and decide what had to be done next.
Actions: look around for any sign of the troopers, vantage points to get a good look of what is going on back on that roof, or other ways to access it without having to use the glider if possible.
ooc: wouldn't say no to a map, either...if possible ;)
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[OOC: Sorry, a map is a little beyond me. You're about 200m away from the roof, and the vantage point you are at now is the best one around, other than the actual roof of the mansion.]
Looking through the macrobinocculars, you scan the compound. The fire is still raging, and there are a lot of troops on the move on the mansion grounds. The sound of emergency vehicles is getting louder. Then, over the city, you spot a pair of assault shuttles quickly approaching. Time is running out.
Then, there is an electrified hum, and lights come on all over the compound. A moment later the security fence energizes. It shouldn't be a problem with the gliders, but the increased visibility could be trouble.
You scan back to the roof in time to see a brief firefight. Two black-clad figures with silenced blasters are firing on three or four figures in the doorway. One of the black-clad figures lobs a grenade. There is an explosion of ion energy, and the shooting from the doorway stops. They quickly shoulder into the gliders. You pan over to the assault shuttles, and they are now significantly closer. There's a chance the gliders will be picked up on sensors from the shuttles, even if they are not spotted from the ground.
[Actions?]
-
Nightshade quickly scanned around to see if he could find a way to create some scanner noise that might cover the gliders. Being spotted wasn't the end of the world if they could escape, but it would make escaping all the more difficult. Ideally he was looking for a generator or some other way to knock out the lights at the same time. The confusion should draw attention away from him and his group.
Actions: look for something to sabotage to create sensor cover/diversion
-
You give a quick look - nothing comes to mind to create scanner noise. You might be able to create an EMP burst with a blaster pack, but it would be a little tricky, and fairly short range. Also, if it is not done right, you'd effectively be making a beacon.
The two Intel operatives launch off the roof of the palace while you consider what to do. But they don't fly straight to you, they instead go into a dive, pulling out close to the ground. That should help - sensors would be confused by the ground clutter, though the gliders are more vulnerable to ground fire.
It looks like the Intel guys are not heading to the roof of the casino where you are - they'll never get the altitude now - but perhaps they'll join you somewhere else on the escape route?
-
With nothing more that he could do to aid them from here, Nightshade left the roof and headed down the escape route. He had to trust their training and hope that everyone made it back safely to the rendezvous point.
Actions: bug out down the escape route, more on the speed than stealth end for now, trying to put some distance between myself and the activity.
-
You descend down the back side of the casino using a rappelling kit, and activate the mechanism to detach the molecular bonding on the anchor. There is a soft klang at the anchor bounces lightly off the ground, and you stuff the rope into your pack. Glancing around, the coast seems clear, so you head to the sewer access hatch, key the code the local cell provided, and drop down.
In the darkness, you see the other members of your team, weapons at the ready for a moment before they identify you. Then, without a word, they turn and splish-splash their way down the tunnel. The plan called for radio silence from here on out, as a safeguard against giving away your position, so there's no way to check in with the intel team. You'll have to trust that they are professionals.
You team is good and disciplined, checking intersections and moving in a double-cover formation. There is a brief pause when your team discovers a maintenance droid down a side passage at an intersection. They pause here.
"If it spots us, it could raise an alarm..." one of the troopers says.
"They'll know we came this way if we take it out..." says another.
Removing the droid would not be difficult.
[Actions?]
-
The idea was to leave a trackless passage, so he decided that the team would try to get based the droid without being seen, and only destroy it if absolutely necessary to avoid detection.
-
Coordinating the team, and using yourself and your shadowsilk suit to serve as a makeshift blind, you all manage to make your way across the intersection. There was a moment where someone stepped a little too heavily and caused an audible splash, but the droid appeared to pay it no mind.
You continue down the sewer, and are only stopped to perform simple slices on maintenance access hatches. At last, you climb a ladder and find yourself at a pumping station on the banks of a river - your escape appears to have gone unnoticed.
You slip past the automatic treatment facility and scoot down the bank to the river, where there are two water speeders waiting.
The ride to your extraction is quiet and uneventful. There are a lot of TIE fighters int he sky, but none of them come too close to you.
An hour later, your shuttle has landed in the docking bay. Captain Barakis is waiting there as you disembark, hands clasps behind her back. She falls into step as you head towards the tram.
"Initial analysis looks good. We have one casualty from one of the cells that aided the operation. The city is in chaos."
-
The Shinobi was pleased that they were able to exit the area without causing any noticeable attention to their passage. The plan seemed to have been successful.
As he listened to the captain, he asked, "Does this casualty look to cause a problem for us?" He meant in terms of the success of the mission, for of course, any life lost, while likely unavoidable was no victory.
-
She shakes her head. "No. COMPNOR were more interested in taking down a supposed rebel than acquiring an intelligence source. There will be no leaks."
-
"That is good. What do you advise as our next course of action? I would like to strike again soon if possible and press the advantage, especially if we see an opportunity to further open up the wedge between branches."
-
She nods. "In anticipation of your intentions, I have taken the liberty of preparing a briefing prepared detailing operations against three potential targets. We are prepared to commence at your pleasure, but in quick summary, there is a new military base being deployed near Eti Malvait, which we could target as a COMPNOR response. There is a COMPNOR base in the coastal town of Ete that is relatively poorly defended - we have an active cell in that region that could provide support. There is also a large Stormtrooper contingent that has been deployed for several months in the Megyek Ebol wilderness preserve. While their numbers are high, they are widely dispersed. A quick strike on their headquarters, reinforced by the Royal Rangers that are operating in that region, could be effective."
She pauses. "Agent, these operations will have to either rely heavily on our troops here, which have been working very hard, or relying on poorer-trained cells, which risks a higher possibility of failure. I am not certain how long we can maintain this tempo and success rate."
-
Nightshade looked closely at the captain as she was speaking. He had already appreciated her abilities and her candor and continued to do so. It was refreshing to deal with analysts. They always used logic and reason rather than being swayed by emotion.
"Very well, captain. Your concerns are noted. I would like your analysis of the three targets with all available intel as to chance of success and value of success. I would also like you to analysis any targets out there that could be hit by a solo operative...assassinations, sabotage, etc, and give them the same treatment. Finally, I want your assessment on how much down time our current troops would need to bring them up to a given level of effectiveness. For example if they are 50% effective right now, one week of rest would make them 55% effective. Would two hours be enough time for this?"
-
She nods. "Certainly , sir."
-
"Thank you, Captain. That is all."
Nightshade returned to his quarters. Once there, all of his gear was removed and inspected. Then it was cleaned and placed in order. Next was a much needed cup of tea, before spending the rest of the time in forms and meditations.
-
You spend two hours checking your gear, doing maintenance, exercise, and meditating. At the appointed time, you arrive in the briefing room. Captain Barakis is there, with several (you assume) analysts. She turns as you enter, and the rest of them stand at attention.
"Sir. We have briefings prepared for three other strikes, a selection of three potential targets for assassination, and a performance projections based on current operational tempo, with estimates for performance recovery for various levels of downtime. Where would you like to begin?"
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"Start with performance recovery...we should always start with our people. That is why we fight."
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Without skipping a beat, she says, "We do not have measured data for recovery times for our strike teams, as we have never maintained this operational tempo previously. Based on simulations and past intensive training exercises, we estimate a 25% improvement if we allow a three rest period. That will increase to about a 60% recovery if we can stand them down for a full week. Further gains accrue for more time off, but with diminishing returns of about 10% additional recovery per three day period of rest and recovery."
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"Very good. Tell me of these assassination targets."
-
The screen clears, to be replaced with a severe looking man with a goatee.
"Governor Nethaniel Fiytha is a local Karvan, but a loyal Imperial servant. He rose through the ranks of COMPNOR prior to the occupation, and used his families influence to move into a position as Governor of Karvis. He was chosen more for his loyalty than any skill or acumen, and has a tendency to anger, tantrums and pride. He is constantly surrounded by COMPNOR security forces, but there are several opportunities to take him out throughout his daily routine, including a strike against his motorcade every morning and evening. He also tends to take tea out on an open-air balcony of his mansion. His office window is not ray or particle shielded, and would provide excellent opportunities for a sniper strike. COMPNOR security would be easily overcome or bypassed, and escape would not be difficult for skilled a skilled operative, or a small team."
She pauses. "I recommend against this target. Governor Fiytha is, on the whole, an arrogant bumbling fool. Taking him out would greatly increase morale among the populace, as he is very unpopular. This would greatly increase our resources and recruitment. However, removing him would likely cause the Empire to replace him with someone more competent. Right now, he and the COMPNOR forces he commands post little significant threat."
The display shifts. A male face appears. "First Minister Boba Jauthin is the Imperial-appointed leader of the Karvis Provisional Assembly, and a Colonel in the Imperial Army. Unlike the Governor, Minister Jauthin is shrewd, and manipulative. Fortunately, he is more concerned with personal enrichment than eliminating any resistance, but he exerts a strong influence over the Governor. The Minister is also careful, with skilled bodyguards and a more random schedule. He seldom exposes himself in the open, and never at predictable times. His home is a veritable stronghold. The only place where he is relatively vulnerable is when he is meeting with the Governor, and event that happens once or twice a week, though not at preset times. A strike conducted upon arrival at Government House would be effective, as would a sniper or wetwork strike on an occasion when he meets with the Governor in the Governor's office."
She pauses for a moment. "Removing Minister Jauthin will likely increase support among the populace, though to a lesser degree than the Governor. Further making this an attractive target, Governor Fiytha does not trust his first minister. Thus, the Governor is not likely to investigate very diligently into his death. Furthermore, the Governor will likely replace him with a sycophant, which will make our operations on the plant easier."
A new face, in an Imperial Army uniform. "General Vince Denoba commands the military forces on Karvis. He is an older man, and his position within the military has let him indulge in certain appetites. This makes him potentially vulnerable. He visits several local women and pleasure houses around Plarn, on a fairly regular basis. When he goes to one of these places, he enters alone, leaving his guards outside. A single operative could easily remove him and escape before his men even knew he was dead."
Another pause. "There is some risk that the General will be replaced with a more competent officer who is less exploitable, but removing General Denoba will throw the garrison ranks into disorder for some time, which would allow us to make several key advances in reinforcing our network and perhaps conduct additional strikes while Imperial Army forces recover."
She pauses for direction or questions.
• Alexander Haim Commander, COMPNOR Defense Forces, Karvis System
• General Vince Denoba: Commander, 8549th Imperial Battle group
• Line Captain Thenda Wu: Commander, Karvis Squadron, Imperial Navy
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"Do any of our targets present an option to continue to drive a wedge between Compnor and the military? What is your assessment of targeting the General in terms of chaos within the ranks? Would his junior officers fight for power or would there likely be quick oversight from his superiors in the empire to replace him?"
-
"That depends somewhat on the manner of the strike. If COMPNOR asserts itself in the investigation, that would strain relations further and may delay appointment of a replacement, as the governor would be involved. We could arrange it so that COMPNOR learns of the death before the Imperial Military.
"Regardless, removing General Denoba would allow us to solidify our position in several regions. Regardless of what follows, there will be a period of upheaval in the local garrison of some duration that we could exploit to strengthen our positions, and extend into new areas."
-
"Then let us target the General, and see to it that COMPNOR sticks their noses into it."
-
She nods. You are not sure, but you thought you saw a very slight upturn to one corner of her mouth. If true, this might be the first emotion you have seen from her.
"Do you wish to continue with the briefing, Agent Nightshade, or have you made your decision? We have not discussed sabotage or other possibilities."
The question carries no judgement. She is fully prepared to act on your direction.
-
"Give our people a rest for a week, unless something critical presents itself. I will remove the general myself. You may continue with anything relevant to this target."
-
The briefing over, she gives her analysts their marching orders. As you are walking out, Captain Barakis calls to you.
"Agent Nightshade?" She falls into step as you move through the corridors of the underground base. "I wonder if I might have a word with you. In private."
-
"Of course."
He leads the way to his quarters and offers a cup of tea for the captain, before taking up a seat on his mat.
-
She seems a little taken aback as you walk in silence to your quarters. As you enter your quarters, she stands stiffly by the door. When prepare and hand her some tea, she accepts it, but looks a little uncomfortable.
"Thank you," she says. It is the first time you're heard her speak without military precision. There is warmth and emotional inflection in her tone. She takes a sip before taking a breath, as if steadying herself, or perhaps bracing herself.
She returns to her usual military precision when she says, "Agent Nightshade, it is my duty to warn you that I cannot be sure of my objectivity regarding General Donoba. I recommend you take that into account when evaluating my assessments regarding his potential as a target."
-
Nightshade considers her for a moment, feeling out the intent behind her words. His clan was trained in reading people and getting their motivations.
"Please, elaborate, so that I can further evaluate your assessments."
-
From the set of her jaw, you are left with the impression she had hoped, rather than believed you would not press.
"Of course. It is not widely known outside of senior leadership, but I was Imperial Intelligence. My team was assigned to General Denoba some time ago, and when he was posted here we came with him. From the start it was a tumultuous relationship. General Denoba abused his position and my team, using us and our products for personal gain rather than for the Empire. I frequently objected. He had asked for my replacement on several occasions."
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"Thank you, Captain. I appreciate your position, but I still feel that a strike against the military target will be the most productive to our overall goal."
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She nods. "Of course, Agent. I only wished to inform you of a potential unconscious bias on my part."
She finishes her tea and sets the cup down. "If there is nothing else?"
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"That is all, please arrange what preparations are necessary for the strike and inform me when they are ready."
Once she left, Nightshade made his own preparations, restocking gear, cleaning weapons, and catching a nap.
-
She salutes, turns on her heel, and marches out of the room.
Six hours later, you are in a rough-looking transport vehicle approaching the Imperial Capital of Plarn. The city is open, and too large for the Empire to have checkpoints at every entrance, so you are in an all-terrain transport with a small squad of Intel troopers with you for backup. The driver pulls up into a small, wooded hollow, and with clockwork precision the rest of the troopers pile out of the vehicle. In less than a minute, they have sensor netting strung up over the area, shielding you and the vehicle from detection.
You wait for thirty minutes until a quick alert is passed. A minute later, a hard-looking woman with a slung hunting blaster over her shoulder is escorted into camp. She looks around, clearly a little intimidated, as two do the troopers bring her to you.
"Sir, this is Keeren Dimmorr, a member of the local cell in Plarn." According to the plan, this woman will be your guide, and her cell will serve as lookouts and support inside the city.
She glances around a moment before looking at you and nodding. "Hey."
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Taking in the new contact and judging her ability, Nightshade responded in kind, "Hello."
"What can you tell me of the area that will help?"
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Your read on her is that she doesn't seem to trust you much.
Keeren shrugs. "Depends on where he goes. But we've got people watching the residence, and an informant or two in some of the pleasure houses and clubs he visits, so we have a pretty good read on his patterns. We will know within 5 minutes of his leaving where he's going to go. Depending on where it is, we can have you there before he arrives. He's got his favourite rooms and partners and all that."
She looks around the room before glancing back at you. "So, what is this all about anyway?"
She asks the question in a way that seems to indicate she may be guessing much of what this mission is about.
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"I believe you are familiar with the best practices of intelligence cells. I have no issue with telling you the purpose of our business here, but are you sure you want to know? "
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She shakes her head. "I can guess. But tell me the part about what happens after. When there's Imperial troops kicking in doors all over the city, dragging people away and gunning down anyone who resists in the street? Any action against the Imps provokes a retaliation. What's your plan for protecting our people after your mission is over?"
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"The basis of our plan is working out a way for the Imperials to be more interested in fighting amongst themselves than looking for a culprit in the populace. We are trying to undermine them by playing the military against COMPNOR."
Pausing a moment for that to process, he continued, "That being said, I am open to any ideas that you have, I understand that it is the common folk that may bear the brunt of what I do, especially if my plan is wrong or fails."
-
She seems to bristle a little at the phrase "common folk."
"From where I stand, there's only three types of people on Karvis. Folk, Rebels and Imperials. No one on Karvis expect to kick the Empire out without blood shed. But what I want to see are plans for what happens when the Empire turns on regular people - and they will. Medical supplies, maybe people to help, food and water, a plan for refugees. My group has been doing what we can, but it's not much and we're stretched thin. We could use some of your fancy credits and training to help keep people safe, and get those people who want to get out somewhere safe."
She crosses her arms. "Show me those plans, and I'll be much more inclined to put my life and the lives of my people on the line. Right now, those 'common folk' rely on us for help. If we're gone, there's no one to look after them."
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"Are you 'folk' or are you 'rebels'? Understand that I don't want to see the Empire harm anyone else, but also understand that you need me as much, if not more than I need you. I will do everything I can to prevent harm or fall out to anyone for the actions and plans that I look to put in place, but I have more groups to consider than just here and I don't have unlimited resources. I will tell you up front that I cannot guarantee anyone passage off this world. I will do what I can to relocate people other places on this planet, but I fully accept that this may not be much of an answer."
"That being said, I would like for you to tell me what medical supplies, food and water, and other needs would be of the most benefit to you and local populace right now, and then you and I can sit and see what can be done to alleviate those needs. And I will again tell you that I commit to keeping the Empire's attention off the folk as best as I can. So you will either have to trust that, or look elsewhere."
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She doesn't hesitate - as if she had the information immediately in her mind.
"Give me half a dozen trauma kits and two dozen medkits. We'd need emergency rations and water - figure thirty person-days worth. Then we can take in and shelter those who may end up displaced, sort-term. If you could help us with relocation efforts for anyone turned into refugees by Imperial searches, that would help as well. We can round them up and get them out of the city, but they'll need some place to go. We can expect as many as twenty or thirty people will end up displaced if the Empire starts searches.
"The more of that you can provide me, the more support I can give you. The less support I get, the more of my people I need to keep back to make sure we can handle the fallout. That make sense, Agent?"
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Turning to the Captain, Nightshade says to her, "Do we have those resources available and what time frame are we looking at to have them here?"
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[OOC: No Captain on this run, the ranking trooper is a Lieutenant.
"I suppose so, Sir. We've got stockpiles in the region, though it might take some time. I'd have to run it past the Captain first."
The Keeren looks at you. "You not important enough to make promises, Agent? Need to check with your superiors?" She kind of smiles at you, and it's obvious she's trying to goad you into a decision.
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"Do you want false promises or actual goods in hand? I figured you for someone who appreciates results rather than talk. But if you just want empty promises, how does a star destroyer strike you?"
Taking a moment to send an icy stare that shows no signs of humor, he continued, "Don't forget that my goals will be accomplished with or without your assistance. I am trying to include you as a show of good faith, that I really want to minimize the number of casualties to the populace while I work to remove the Imperial presence. But I can leave a trail of bodies in my wake if that is the path that you want me to take. Your assistance definitely makes my job easier, but I have accomplished harder tasks with fewer resources."
"Lt, check and see what time frame to get the resources that have been requested delivered here."
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Keeren holds up her hands, smiling. "Easy, agent. No need to go all 'cold blooded' on me. I'm just lookin' out for my people. Sometimes it feels like the high folk don't pay much attention to us closest to the Imperial Blasters. We need an advocate with the Silver Fox, I was just hoping you might be it, since you seem to be making changes around here. We'll help, but you can't blam a lady for asking."
The Lieutenant nods to acknowledge your orders, and steps into the other room to use the comlink.
After a pause, Keeren continues. "We're on the same side, Agent. It's just sometimes, it feels like the decision people view us as expendable. And sure, to an extent, we sign on for that. But we all kind of want to know that our deaths will mean something, you know? I'm not afraid to die. But I don't like feeling like a minor piece on a game board. That's all I was gettin' at."
The Lieutenant returns. "'The Captain' says a week for safety, and three days with moderate risk of exposure." It's clear from his tone he is speaking of Captain Barakis.
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"I don't view anyone as expendable, and I will strive to ensure that others don't either...we should be better than what we are fighting."
After hearing the words of the lieutenant, he asks, "Would a week be alright, so that we don't put others at risk?"
-
She sighs slightly, but nods.
"Well that's not ideal, but it's a damn sight better then what usually happens. We've got supplies that can tide us over until your stuff gets here, if it comes to that."
-
"Lt, please make the arrangements for the supplies to be transferred.
Keeren, shall we continue?"
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She nods, and produces a datapad.
"We've got a safe house - a burned out building from an earlier Imperial raid with a bunker basement that the Imps never found. It's fairly centrally located. Once he's on the move, we should be able to get you to him in time. There's four places you can arrive before him. If he takes the 5th or 6th place, you'll not be able to catch him before he arrives, though we can intercept him on the street. He'l have half a dozen guards with him. Imperial Army regulars. Well trained, but not very well motivated. The General is an ass, and his soldiers are unlikely to die for him.
"Best place to do whatever you need to do is in the room, but there will be a witness - the girl he picked that night. Two of them are agents of ours, but the other two are just girls trying to make a living.
"We'll get you to the brothel, figure out what room he'll be in. You do what you need to do - kill him or extract him or whatever - and exit the way you came in. We'll have people standing by to cut power in case you need a distraction. Does that work for you, Agent?"
She hands over the datapad.
There's marked routes. The two locations you wouldn't be able to intercept are on the other side of security checkpoints, and much closer to the general's residence. There's opportunities to hit him on the street, but that will involve his guards. Hitting him in the room would be quicker, quieter, and give an opportunity to seed clues like you intended. The witnesses might be beneficial, if it comes to that.
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"This is excellent intel. I think that the best point is definitely going to be at one of the locations. It will be easier to accomplish our objectives in the secluded places. Even if he goes for the areas that we can't reach before his arrival, I would still like to try to take him inside if at all possible."
-
She nods. "Getting through the checkpoints would be tricky, but if we can avoid complications, we should be able to get you there before he's... well, done. You'd have to enter through the window, which may remove the element of surprise. The checkpoints can be tough to get through, and make timings difficult. There was a big attack on the air base several months ago, and ever since security in the government ward has been much tighter. If we need to go through the checkpoint to get him, you may be better off waiting for another opportunity. Escape from the government quarter is a lot more problematic."
-
"Understood. It seems that we must simply wait and see what move he makes before we can determine our next step."
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She nods. "If you're ready, my people can take you to the safe house to wait out." She glances at the troopers. "Smaller crowds make it easier to move. All right if we leave them here?"
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"Yes that would be wise...let us go. I am ready."
-
She immediately starts to bustle you to the door. The Lieutenant that came with you looks alarmed, but presses a case into your hands. He calls out as you're whisked away, "The Captain said you would need that!"
Outside, you and a few of Keeren's people hop into a nondescript speeder truck and you're heading down the road.
"Glad to be rid of those guys. Not sure you know much of the history around here, Agent, but the Silver Fox has seemed more concerned with her own safety than ours. After the insurgent base in the north was destroyed, things got bad for us. Door-knocks, sweeps of the city, people being summarily executed in the street: it was a rough time, and there was no word from the Silver Fox. Only once things quieted down, they started reaching out again. So I'm not all that sure the folks at the top have the best interests of the people of Karvis in mind, ya know?"
-
Listening to Keeren, Nightshade also looked over the case to see what was inside.
After she was done speaking he nodded an assent in response to what she said. "It is unfortunately a common reaction and I am truly sorry you suffered. I will not insult you by saying she had to look at the bigger picture because that does nothing to mitigate your loss."
-
Inside the case is a COMPNOR uniform, a couple of Imperial code cylinders, a comlink, an Imperial sidearm and a datapad.
She sighs. "I know, there's bigger issues. And without her, we'd all be isolated. We just don't like feeling... disposable, you know? We're all prepared to die if it comes to it. We just want it to be worth something when it happens. Ignoring the plight of people is their thing. But I guess if she responded every time the Empire hurt people, it would be easy to draw her out, yeah?"
-
"It is why we fight...the Empire thinks that fear will keep us in line, and we want to be free of their tyranny. But it is the struggle of all in leadership to see that those below us have to suffer for our actions."
-
She nods. "You seem a good sort. Hopefully you can pull the Silver Fox's head out of the mud."
You spend a few minutes in quiet, making your way through the city. Eventually you pull up to a ruined building, showing signs of a recent fire. The neighborhood looks pretty abandoned, and you see few signs of life in the area. She pulls the vehicle around back and backs it into some overhanging, mostly dead trees. Keeren points to the burned out building. "That's our stop. We'll have a few hours to wait, so go ahead and make yourself comfortable." She walks you to the twisted remains of a metal bookcase and hauls it aside. Behind it there are stairs leading down.
You sense the presence of others below, and there are a pair of watchers at the bottom of the steps, but you get no sense of danger from the space.
-
Nodding his thanks to his guide, Nightshade descends the staircase and finds a place to spend some time in exercises and his usual gear check before the deadline arrives.
-
The interior is spartan, and lacks privacy, but it seems secure. It is a good opportunity to practice focus in the presence of distractions, and you mostly tune out the activities of the rebels around you. Then, your ears hear the tone of a communicator and just know it is your signal. Sure enough, Keeren comes over to you.
"He's on the move. We're in luck - he's going to one of our informants. We have some time if you need any last-minute preparations, but we should roll in 5 minutes."
She pauses. "How are you going to play this? What do you need from us?"
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"If there is time to get me in place before he arrives then I will do that and ask that you and yours provide cover and a distraction for a get a way if needed."
"Will we need to extract your girl also? Or will she be able to play off being just a poor innocent bystander to a murder and still be useful in place?"
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She nods. "She'll be fine. She doesn't know anything about this. But she's smart. They'll take her for questioning, of course, but she should be fine. Frankly, the less she knows, the better for her."
-
"Very well. Let's get going."
Nightshade was ready to go, and spent the ride in silence unless asked a direct question. It had been a while since he had the opportunity to be in the field and he was starting to miss it.
-
2 nondescript speeders pull up to a stop in an alley, well out of sight of the main street. The rebels get out and spread immediately into the surrounding shadows, keeping an eye. You note some setting up as lookouts closer to the street.
Keeren gets out and indicates a four-story building at the end of the alley. "Third floor, corner suite on the left."
-
Nodding in response to the directions, the Shinobi glided through the shadows of the alley to the edge of the building. If the coast looked clear, he would proceed to the third floor and look to get set up before the target arrived.