OOC:  Okay since Cyril's team is back at the hanger they can start posting to this new thread.  As soon as Jamie's team gets back we can push forward.  I have several chars I'm gonna drop based on severe non-posting.  The rest of us will move on.  There's pirates to kill!

Jamie enters the hangar and immediately searches for Mark.
"What's up?  Something urgent?"
He runs a hand experimentally through his oddly-purple hair and looks around at the others.

Allen looks around.  "So you're here."

Nirro follows Jaime into the hanger and takes a seat waiting for his next set of orders. That last confrontation left him a little nervous. That wasnt a sim. People died and his tweam could have been killed. He puts his face in huis hands and gives his head a shake to clear his wits and tries to relax until the adrenaline rush wears off.

The moment they were through the door, Devon ditches the gruff persona he'd been using whilst they were out - and gives his Duros teammate a slightly wobbly smile.

'And its good to be back, believe me'

Devon slumps in the chair next to Nirro and exhales slowly, his eyes closed.  After a few moments, one eye opens and peers around, its owner wondering why they were called back.

"It didn't go well, Sir.  We took an air tour, then asked for directions to a cantina.  I assigned the team to various tasks, and our gambling friends pulled blasters on Christian.  There was a fight...one dead, two stunned.  We then got your message, and took a detour on the way back here.  I don't think we were followed."

The commander looked mildly surprised at Jamie's report.  "Well Mister Grimm.  You have any idea why those men pulled blasters on you?"

Whilst waiting for the weapon expert to reply he looked back to Jamie.  "You seem to have had an interesting morning Mister Webb.  Do you or your team have anything else to add?  Did your 'air tour' provide any useful intel?  YOur mission was to locate any likely targets of opportunity.  Did you find anything useful?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Tue 22 Aug 2006.

"Aside from cantinas of interest, the Eastern end of the city has a larger starport than this one...apparently owned and operated by the Blood Axe Trading Corporation, the largest industry on the planet.  Security is better, too; they have high fences, guard towers, armed guards at the entrance, and patrols on the grounds.  We saw them take off on a "trading run" with Cloakshape figters, Z-95 Headhunters, and a troop transport.  I doubt they're doing much trading."

"The Blood Axe Trading Corporation?  Interesting.  I think Mister Hyquin's team might have a little information regarding them which might be useful."

"He means we will be joining them," Cyril interjects when he approaches the newly arrived team.

"We have contacted the Blood Axes themselves, and they have given the Crusaders an initiative mission, so to speak. We are being asked to take out a group of Trandoshan slavers up north, no survivors with lots of witnesses. If we do this right, the Blood Axes will consider us for proper employment."

Cyril takes a moment to mentally piece together the information he had heard from Jamie's team.

"Our target is about a dozen Trandoshans, who operate out of a field north. They should have at least a transport and a couple of escort fighters, all of which may be up for grabs if we're able to take out the slavers before they get to their ships."

Mark looks around at all the silent members of the team.  "Ladies and gentleman.  Firstly if you have forgotten, Tania has already neutralised all bugs and other security measures in this hanger so we may speak plainly."

"Secondly this is not the normal military where you speak when spoken to.  I need you all to contribute here.  If I wanted trained banthas I'd have brought an infantry platoon.  I need specialists in their field.  Innovators and thinkers, not grunts."

"Now I've decided to go ahead with this mission to neutralise the slavers.  This Blood Axe group sound large and organised.  Its likely they're the biggest pirate group on planet.  If not they're certainly a powerful one.  If we can get inside the organisation we can tear it apart from within."

"This leads us to a small dilemna.  Outright assassination and murder of a pirate group does not sit with the Alliance doctrine.  Taking them out whilst engaging in slavery is one thing, but I want to hit them on the ground.  As suggested already their spacecraft and equipment will help supplement our squadron.  As such our action will border on piracy themselves.  As such the Alliance may not condone our actions.  We may be reprimanded or even court-martialled."

"As such I expect each and everyone of you to decide now if you wish to remain with the squadron.  I have arranged for the shuttle to take any and all of you back who wish to leave.  Nobody will hold it against you if you return to Indefagitable, in fact your loyalty to the tenets of the Alliance will surely be noted by Command."

"If you choose to stay, unload your gear from the shuttle and make preperations.  Cyril and Jamie will remain team leaders should they choose to stay.  Report to them and begin plans.  I shall see what intelligence I can gather.  Zyra is working undercover, trying to infiltrate another pirate group."

"If you choose to leave, let me know ASAP and stow your gear onboard.  The shuttle leaves in four hours."

"Dismissed."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Fri 25 Aug 2006.

Cyril simply nodded at the Commander's spiel. He had nothing left to unpack, simply because all he brought he already had on his person. Unlike the others, he was quite used to these accomodations - a covert operative was always OSP, or 'on-site procurement', meaning he would bring only what little he needed to get in and do the mission; whatever else he needed, he'd have to pick up along the way.

'Cyril Hyquin of Administrative Communications' had laughed in his mind when he heard the Commander talk about Alliance doctrines and court-martials. He knew that their squadron leader was well aware of his actual line of work. Although his own personal weapons - a stun rod and a baton - betrayed his preference for non-violence, killing someone in the way of completing a mission had never been beyond him: he simply avoided having to resort to lethal means unless absolutely necessary. He had no doubt in his mind that this was one of those times.

He was just thankful he'd hadn't yet been given a mission whose overall objective was to kill someone. He found it ironic that he feared that scenario more than having his cover blown.

"I intend to complete this mission," he declared flatly, still very much in character. He was, however, feeling a strange mix of emotions when he realized that their XO was, in fact, an undercover specialist like he was. He was relieved to know his suspicions were correct, but he was still puzzled at what purpose it served. What benefit was there in knowing he was right?

Cyril the Spook knew there would never be time in his risk-filled life to answer that question.

Nirro took his hands from his face when the Commander began to speak. He wasn't sure if he had it in him to live up to the Commander's expectations but he was gonna try. Sir, he bagan, I will follow wherever you lead sir, you are my Commanding Officer and as such have my complete confidence. I know you won't lead us astray. Besides whats a little action to guys like us? No one gets out of life alive. he said with more confidence than he felt.

"Sir, I don't believe killing the slavers and taking their ships is immoral...so long as we free any slaves we find along the way.  We should do what we can without becoming what we hate.  Have you ever heard the expression 'the hunter becomes the hunted?'  Normally, that means 'the tides have turned,' but if the hunters become what they hunt, what good are they doing?  If they win, they may benefit themselves...but that's not why we're here.  We're here for the good of the galaxy, not for ourselves.
"I say we take them out, freeing as many slaves as possible.  If we get a few ships in the process, good, but that should be secondary to freeing slaves."
Jamie stopped his speech for a moment, looking each of them in the eye.
"Oh...and I'll be staying, Sir.  Permission to focus on slaves, Sir?"

Cyril's emotionless gaze turned to Jamie when he heard the man's conviction.

"And if there are no slaves to free, no good deeds to perform? While your ideals are noble, remember that we are soldiers, not heroes. Besides, if we do free any slaves, what do you suggest we do with them? I suggest you contemplate on these before either situation arises."

After the commander had finished his briefing, Devon sat off by himself, his brow furrowed in deep thought, turning over his options and examining his reasons for being here.

Before coming to the Rebellion, he had been nothing more than a petty theif - maybe better at it than some, but a thief all the same.  But he had never hurt anyone... Devon prided himself on that.

And now they were going to have to take out a bunch of slavers.  Devon realized that if he stuck with the Talons, he would almost certainly come out of this with blood on his hands...

It took Devon almost ten minutes to reach his decision, then he stood and went over to Jamie.
'I'm in.' he said quietly, and turned to help unload the shuttles.

"If there are no slaves we move on.  If there are slaves, we set them free and let them go wherever and do whatever they will...that is all we can do.  If I were all soldier and no hero, I wouldn't be here now.  I think that's probably the case with everyone here.  If we don't even try to be noble, heroic, and honorable, there is no difference between us and the Empire...or maybe even these slavers.  Following our ideals makes us who and what we are."

Six hours later, the shuttle leaves the hanger, taking four of the Talons with it.   Tanya, Ashlyn, Christian and Koruusk all decide for varying reasons to return to the Alliance rather than stay with the Talons.  The remaining Talons, minus Zyra who is still on-mission stand and watch as a third of their team leave.  By the Commander's order nothing is said as they go.


OOC:  IMPORTANT NOTE.  Several of you have levelled and have not updated your char sheets.  There will be combat/need for skills very soon so please make sure you update your sheets.  Once we hit combat don't blame me if you're not all you can be!

If your char sheet is locked let me know and I will unlock it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:37, Tue 29 Aug 2006.

Having gathered the remaining team members together, Sheppard sat them all down.  Several chairs now sat unoccupied and the hanger seemed far more vast and open.  Wether this was due to the missing shuttle or the missing team members was a matter of personal opinion.

"Firstly I would like to thank all of you who decided to stay.  It can't have been an easy decision and I respect your decisions.  On that note however I will not have any ill words spoken of those who chose to leave.  What we are setting out to do borders on piracy.  If we are not careful we could end up being hunted beside those we hunt.  The Alliance has yet to approve or disapprove of my plans, nor will their be opportunity to find out.  An intercepted comm could be our undoing."

"Firstly we need to re-assign various roles as we have lost team members.  We can do without our two weapon experts and whilst we have lost a sniper we still have Xil here.  I had hoped to pair the snipers as a sniper/spotter team but now, when required Flash shall assist you.  As for the remainder of the duties, we shall do the following.  Mister Webb, you are now the squadron medic.  I see from your notes you completed several basic medic courses.  Familiarise yourself with what we have.  I know this will weigh you down with your explosives duties but we will make do."

"I will assume role of squadron mechanic with the assistance of Mister Kismet.  I spent many years as a test pilot, and spent as much time designing the craft as I did flying them."

"Now we must proceed to the plan.  I admit outright now my skill lies in space combat tactics and strategy.  I am not and never have been an infantry officer or commando.  This is a new realm for me.  As such I will be relying on your imput.  You people are specialists in different fields and I expect your fullest support in all things."

"The objectives are clear.  Our primary goal is to secure the facility, liberate any slaves, neutralise the slavers and acquire as much equipment as we can.  We need to make it look showy for the benefits of the Blood Axes."

"Let me clarify one thing.  When I say 'neutralise' the slavers I'm not going into the assassination business.  If we encounter a firefight we will have our weapons set to kill and we will defend ourselves.  However if people surrender or we take them unaware you will treat them as prisoners of war.  We will arrange for them to be quietly relocated away.  This increases our exposure but we are still members of the Alliance."

"So now we must plan.  As such we need many things.  We need detailed plans of their base.  We need to know numbers, capabilities, weaponry and the like.  We need to know what sort of fighters they have so Devon may determine how much time and equipment he needs.  We need to determine response times for any counterattacks.  We need a place to store this gear and to operate from.  Finally we need a 'showy' demonstration of this raid to impress the Blood Axes.  The destruction of their facility should serve to be showy and will make it easier to hide what we take from the facility."

"I'm opening up to all of you here.  I need ideas and suggestions.  How can each of you help with this?  Have I missed anything?"

Jamie sits for a moment, chin in hand thoughtfully.
"Well, Sir, I would suggest not blowing up their facility," he said, throwing his hands in the air to illustrate his suggestion, "If that's what you meant..."
Jamie raised a hand and looked at it, raising fingers to count reasons.  "First, it would take lots of explosives that we don't have to spare for show.  Second, if we take starships or the like, only an extremely large facility could hide their lack of presence from someone who knew they were there in the first place.  If we know about them, we can only assume the pirates know.  Third, we need a drop zone; this could be it.  Fourth, if we did take something from the slavers, we want the pirates to know about it.  We're trying to show that we can be like them."
He lowered his hand and glanced at the floor.
"We should have on-site transportation if we take any slavers alive.  We would need a way to keep them quiet until we can move them discreetly off-planet.  As for response time...I suggest we launch a small, cheap explosive device toward their facility from a safe location.  Make a big boom where it will scare them but cause no damage, then sit back and time the response.  If an attack follows within the next few days, cut some time off because they'll be on their toes a little more.  What do you think?"

"Or I could simply go in with a bodyguard or two, looking for a slave to buy, and leave my comlink open so the rest of you can hear everything from outside, and act accordingly."

Devon looks round from monkeying with equipment on his bunk, and frowns.

'Wouldnt that be easy to detect though?'  he asked.  'I mean, I know our comlinks are encrypted and stuff, but they still might pick up the transmission, even if they couldnt understand it...'

"Better to make them suspicious when it's too late, rather than giving them the chance to prepare with a little warning explosion."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:04, Wed 06 Sept 2006.

Nirro didn't know what to think. He just knew what his speciality was. If I could get inside I might be able to slice into their systems and maybe get us some intel. Or at least some sort of schematic.

"There we go...now we have a starter plan.  As much as I like my plan, I think it would maybe work if Cyril does his comlink-thing with three bodygaurds...Nirro, Devon, and me.  With instructions to "not go far," he leaves two bodyguards, Nirro and Devon, behind before the actual bargaining, keeping one by his side.  While Devon looks for ships and Nirro looks for a computer, Cyril places his comlink, then finds a good reason to scrap the bargain...most likely price.  If things go sour for Cyril, I'd be there to help him out.  When time's up, I use my comlink to notify Devon and Nirro, a discreet "we're on our way."  We meet back where we left them, we leave together.
Outside, because that's where they work best, we keep a sniper, Flash, in case we end up escaping under fire."
Jamie beams inwardly at his brilliant plan.
"It might not work, but there is relatively little risk.  Bodyguards aren't suspicious...and if we see once we're in there that it will be too dangerous for Nirro and Devon, we simply stick together."

Allen smirks(or as close to it as a Duros can get).  "Maybe you should be made official Mission Planner."

"I could do this stuff on my own, but it wouldn't work all the time.  We are a team because teamwork has better results than solo work.  We need input from everyone to be all we can be."

"That was sarcasm."

The commander frowns.  "Actually I am the official mission planner but I was hoping to see that the people under my command had the ability to participate to the planning process.  It is clear that some people here need work in that respect."

"Firstly we will not be using the slaver's home base as ours.  Even if it were possible from a logistical and administrative perspective I would not use it.  By doing so we paint a giant bullseye on ourselves for retalitory strikes.  We will be searching for alternative sites for our base, preferably offworld if we can manage.  Whilst Zyra is looking into that I will have a few of you covering that angle too."

"The buying angle is dangerous, but possible.  How do we know that this base is actually a place where you can purchase slaves?  It might be nearly a storage and transit point."

"Secondly if you had strangers turn up at your slaver operation would you let them just wander around armed and unescorted?  The people who go in will likely be under heavy guard and surveillence, if they are let in at all."

"This plan has the advantage of letting Cyril see at least some of the interior design of the facility, maybe observe a little of their security.  We can not base an assault around what we might find.  This would be a recon operation only.  The quesion is, is it worth the risk.  If we need schematics of the place we can likely acquire them through other methods.  There must be a city records somewhere.  I'm sure a little slicing or greasing of palms can get us plans."

"I am in no way saying your plans are wrong or should be scrapped.  I am merely trying to get you all thinking of aspects and potential problems you might not have considered.  Years of command has taught me the importance of calculating the ratio of risk to benefit."

"I'm willing to risk it," says Cyril. Inwardly, he was rejoicing at the chance to beat the odds again. Happiness was an emotion he often used as a tool in his covert work, and he was only truly happy when he was doing something so risky that it might end his 'career'. Walking through a slaver's HQ with nothing better than a blaster was one of those things.

"I'd still only go in with one or two bodyguards, and let a sniper team - Exilim and Flash - stay outside to back us up should we require a hasty exit. The others may spend the time looking around for the information they need about the place, or search the facility itself... without going through the front door like I will."

Well, maybe once we get in we won't get to wander around but we still have eyes and will come away with some amount of intel. Nirro wasn't used to this stuff, all this cloak and dagger nonsense was getting to be too much for him.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 13:22, Mon 11 Sept 2006.

"I was suggesting we use their facility as a drop point, rather than a home base.  If lots of stuff is there already, we wouldn't even need to move it.
Cyril should be able to find out what sort of facility it is...he already has a source of information...the Blood Axe Trading Corporation.
If it is just a transit facility, we think of something else.  Otherwise, we go for a slave-buying offer.  The plan hopes they are somewhat stupid, and leave us unguarded.  If not, we just observe what we can, and give them no reason to shoot us.  Mostly this plan requires discretion on the part of the team; once inside, they will be the best judges of what they can get away with."

Sat on his bunk, Devon listened to the back and forth discussion with a frown on his face.
'Do we want to come up with a plan that relies on them being dumb? To have gotten away with whatever they do in there for this long, they must haave at least a certain amount of smarts.  Hell, most the... groups I knew back home took real care about any complete strangers that showed up and acted friendly.  Suspicious generally wasnt the word.  Cos if you wernt careful... then either the Imps or some rival group would nail you.'

Devon swung his legs for a moment, apparantly in thought, then grinned suddenly. 'I know its a different subject, but we're supposed to 'make it showy', right?  Well, simplest way to do that and to cover what we steal would be to use their own fighters to slag the facility - plus if we capture the fighters before they get off the ground and start threatening to melt bits of their real estate with starfigter class cannons... thats an insentive to surrender, right there.'

Devon looked round at the others, although when he glanced at the commander, a flicker of expression gave away that he seemed to be expecting his idea to be shot down quickly...

"My plan doesn't rely on them being dumb...but it would work better if they were.  Your plan has merit...but it's easier said than done.  You can't really expect to attack them and hope to get to their ships before they can.  However, if you used the slave-buying plan to get in, then surprise them and go for the ships, you'd have a much better chance.  There would still be a massive shootout, though, possibly with many casualties."

Nirro thought carefull, SO maybe we should combine the two ideas then? Go in with the intention to buy slaves then make a run for the ships.

'No...' mused Devon  'They're not going to be dumb enough to let total strangers near their fighters... AND we still dont know if they buy and sell slaves there - it might just be a stopover point.  We really need to know a lot more about the place and how they operate before we start planning which parts to blow up and which to steal...'

"Who says we need to blow anything up?  Just disable it so we can take everything."

"Something needs to explode because that's the point of the mission," interjected Cyril.

"The objective isn't to steal stuff. The objective is to eliminate the slaver group on the planet while making sure that everyone, especially the Blood Axes, know that it was us who did it. By doing so, we are hoping to gain acceptance into their organization, which in turn puts us in the best place to acheive our overall goal of discovering and eliminating the threat of piracy for the Alliance."

"While an explosion would do nicely, that might not be the best option.  No matter how you put it, we'd be using these explosives for show.  We have a very limited stock of explosives on hand, and we shouldn't use them if there is another option.
"If sudden combustion of the showy sort is required, I might be able to make something myself.  I would need materials...which we could probably attain on the open market...and time, and information on what we need to blow."

Nirro was busting his brain trying to come up with a plan but his expertise lay in other areas. He thought he did have an idea though. He just didn't know how the others would take it.

How about a couple of us sneak in, I disable their alarm systems and then we make a break for the ships. Once we get into the ships we start laying down cover fire and you the rest of the team comes in and meets us at the ships we make sure they get there safely by taking out weapon emplacements, enemy troops etc. Once evryone is there we use the ships weapons to the blow the place to high heaven. We get ships, the slavers are history and the Blood Axes get their explosion.

Devon (who was in a similar boat to Nirro when it came to planning) nods.  "Its like I said - use the ships to slag the facility - that way its not going to cost us extra in terms of equipment needed and we get a bunch of fighters out of it.  Man portable weapons arn't going to worry fighter shields too much are they?  Meaning all we'd need to knock out fast would be any static defences, right?'  he looks round at the others for confirmation.

The commander waves everyone to silence.

"Lets get back on track here.  I never said we HAD to blow up the facility.  I agree that nobody has asked us to do that.  Our problem is that the Blood Axes want us to make an example of these slavers.  That means they want a bloodbath.  They want these slavers massacred to the last one.  They want people to know we did it to show we're a force to be dealt with and worthy of the Blood Axes"

"The problem with this is that I'm a soldier, not a murderer.  I do not line unarmed prisoners against the wall and shoot them when they have surrendered.  Nor do I accept this from my troops.  Surrended troops are to be given quarter, injured men receive treatment as best we can."

"So the problem is, if we do take prisoners we need to somehow conceal the fact that we didn't murder every one of them.  We need to conceal the fact that there may be a lack of bodies.  Getting the prisoners out should not be too hard if we capture a transport.  We need to however create the illusion of a massacre.  An explosion was my thought on how to create this illusion.  However I am open to suggestions."

"For now however you have a recon mission to plan and undertake.  Once we know numbers and layout we can prepare our real raid.  Cyril and Jamie have joint command for this operation.  I am too well known having hunted pirates for years.  I will take the time to make contact with the Captain and work on our new base."

Cyril sighed at the Commander's words. Unlike the Commander, the "communications officer" would have no qualms shooting surrendered troops - but only if he was ordered to. He guessed he'd never have to face such a moral crisis under Sheppard's command, as the man was seemingly far too honorable to do what must sometimes be done. Then again, what the Commander didn't know, couldn't hurt him.

Once the Captain had finished, Cyril spoke up again.

"I can do better by scouting from the inside. Would anyone care to join me in my attempt to make contact with the group and hopefully gain access to their facility as their guests? My team's objective will simply be to observe from the inside, posing as a prospective buyer."

Nirro nodded, I wouldn't mind, I would be glad to get a look at the complex from inside, check out what kind of security measures they have. Maybe I would'nt get to actually get into the system but knowing where the consoles are would help.

"It seems then that an explosion is our best option.  I will come, of course," said Jamie.  "It would be best to have Devon and Nirro as well.  If we see fighters, we'd need Devon to assess them, and perhaps Nirro could learn something of the security so he can bypass it later.  Flash could take up a sniping position at a distance, just in case things go really sour.  Nirro...would you be able to bypass security systems from outside, or do you need an inside link?  If necessary, we may be able to plant something.
"After the recon mission I'd like to see what I can find in the market here to build a few of my own boom-machines."

Cyril jerked his head a bit at the mention of 'planting'. Taking and putting stuff without anyone noticing wasn't a strong point of his - yet. Perhaps someone else would be better that at that skill, he hoped, for his only success would be with the skill of word-play.

"Then that's settled. The four of us will go inside, while Exilim and Flash stay out and recon from afar. Don't worry, I'll try not to get us all killed."

Cyril grinned, getting out-of-character for just this one time, as the expectation of another risky infiltration entered his thoughts.

Allen nods his head in agreement.  "Alright then.  When should we get started?"

'Yeah, not dying is definitly a bonus.' Devon grinned back at Cyril then scrambled to his feet.  'How are we going to do this?  what gear we taking?'

"Get used to it," Jamie grinned at Devon.  "For now, we need only our personal weapons.  We're just going in to look around.  That is, if Cyril determines we can buy slaves there.  We don't make any sudden moves until we know more about these people and their facility.  Beyond that, we'll find whatever you need to get into their ships."
Jamie looked back toward Sheppard.  "Sir, do we have a go?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:30, Tue 03 Oct 2006.

"Yes Mister Webb you have a go.  I leave it to you to learn what you may.  Just remember this is a recon mission nothing more.  If it looks bad, pull back and regroup.  When we take that place down, I want us all together."

"Good luck.  I'll keep the comm open in case you need me."


OOC:  I'm opening a new thread.  Make sure each of you posts what you are taking with you or else I will decide for you (and you might not like what I equip you with).