Nightshade: Return to Karvis III

[GM Craig]

Lieutenant Harper nods. "We have a few sir. What did you have in mind?"

[Nightshade]

"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."

[GM Craig]

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.

[Nightshade]

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. 

[GM Craig]

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."

[Nightshade]

ooc: Sorry, I will work on being less succinct in the future 

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."

[GM Craig]

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."

[Nightshade]

"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?"

[GM Craig]

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."

[Nightshade]

"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."

[GM Craig]

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.

[Nightshade]

"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.

[GM Craig]

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?]

[Nightshade]

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."

[GM Craig]

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.