Nightshade: Return to Karvis III

[Nightshade]

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.

[GM Craig]

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.

[Nightshade]

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. 

[GM Craig]

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.

[Nightshade]

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.

[GM Craig]

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]

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.

[GM Craig]

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.

[Nightshade]

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.

[GM Craig]

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?]

[Nightshade]

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.

[GM Craig]

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]

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.

[GM Craig]

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.

[GM Craig]

[map as requested.]