Nightshade: Return to Karvis III

[GM Craig]

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."

[Nightshade]

"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?"

[GM Craig]

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."

[Nightshade]

"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?"

[GM Craig]

"We have options. There are both foot patrols and infantry supported by vehicles."

[Nightshade]

"Foot patrols would make the most sense for a fledgling rebellion to take on.  Let's start with one of those."

[GM Craig]

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?"

[Nightshade]

"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."

[GM Craig]

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?"

[Nightshade]

"I shall accompany your strike teams on any attacks for now, unless something more pressing presents itself."

[GM Craig]

"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?"

[Nightshade]

"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."

[GM Craig]

She nods.

"Anything else, sir?"

[We can warp to the ambush, unless there are any preparations you want to make.]

[Nightshade]

ooc: ready to rumble

[GM Craig]

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?"