Forim cannot believe his ears.  Now this human wanted to start a fight in front of the Princess.  That was almost as rude!

Taking the higher road, Forim turns his back on the human in disgust before saying quietly "My apologies" to the princess with a slight bow.  Forim hopes that the creature will move on from his life, otherwise they might have to have some words about protocol and etiquette later.

Forim puzzles over the map for a moment, recalling where it might be. He hazards a guess that it is near Malastare, off the Hydian Way trade route. The Expansion region, then.

If the Princess is offended by the lack of kowtowing, she doesn't show it. She waits for the conversation to lull, then continues her briefing.

"A recent Imperial transmission was decoded with the aid of the slicer you retrieved.  The intelligence indicated a location that may have information we need to pursue this objective."

"This is Karhexadine 1, the only inhabitable planets in its stellar system.  The message we intercepted was a protest from the sector's Moff against an order to redirect forces away from it."

Princess Leia opens another file.  Everyone listens as a well-educated but weedy voice complaints.  "...  Given that the Emperor's highest priority has always been the destruction of the prime enemy, I feel it is a poor decision to redirect forces away from Karhexadine.  I formally request the retraction of order 27.42..."

Princess Leia turns the message off.  "Whatever is on Karhexadine, the Empire has it buried. If they don't want us to have it, I think we should at least find out what it is."

The Princess opens a third file on her data pad to project a holo of a GR-75 medium transport next to a holo of an X-Wing. "You'll be travelling through imperial space on this mission.  Rebel command has authorized the use of a transport with an X-Wing as escort.  Alternatively, you could keep using the Sunset Shimmer.  However I'm told that the range of a YT-1300 is insufficient to reach the objective without stopping to refuel.  You'll have to stop at an independent fuelling station on the way."

Still leaning back in his chair with his booted feet on the edge of the table, Jurell interjected as he shifted his body weight forward to put his feet back on the ground and sit up.

"Let me get this straight," he said, scratching the side of his face with a finger for a moment.  "We're supposed to search an entire planet for some unidentified something.  How do we even know what this Moff is talking about?  Might be some small artifact, sure.  But, if it's some kind of ruin or piece of architecture it would be pretty difficult to transport it."

Hunching over, the dark-skinned human glanced at each of the other members of the team.  They were sending in a small group to attack an objective that, while less guarded than would have been in general, probably had something to do with Jedi.  Friggin' Jedi.  His Master had always told him repeatedly that Jedi and the Force were things not to get mixed up in.  They had led to some of the worst problems for the Teras Kasi in their history.  The destruction of the original planet on which they had studied historically, but more recently the hunting down of members of their own tradition by the Empire.  After his Master had passed, he had taken to heart the idea of staying away from anything to do with them.  The thought of having to go back into the area he had been avoiding made his stomach roil.

Resting his elbows on the table, Jurell folded his hands and rested his chin on it as his emerald eyes scanned the visuals shown on the datapad.  He had done quite a few retrieval jobs in his career, but he always made it a point to get information about the job laid out ahead of time.  Unknowns were usually grounds for cancelling a job outright.  Unknowns got people killed.  And this particular job was full of them.  Of course, he expected that there wouldn't be a great deal of intelligence on a place that people weren't supposed to know anything about.  But, with the few operatives they were using on top of the limited resources AND limited intelligence?

It was beginning to look almost suicidal.

Lieutenant Caddanra had arrived at the meeting, on time as always.  She was dressed as she 'normally' would be: elegantly.   Today's outfit was slender, pink and lacy and she had her hair caught in buns - quite oddly reminiscent of the commander's own hair style.   She is sitting quietly as the briefing unfolds, listing to the talk of the others and specifically taking 'note' of their reactions given that she suspects they will be new members of her team.

When Jurell pipes up she softly replies, "If that is all the intelligence on offer, then we'll have to do our own reconnaissance.   If that is a problem, I'm sure we can find someone more suitable to participate in this mission?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:54, Sat 18 Mar 2017.

The insectoid follows the conversation without a pause in his nibbling. Cautiously bringing the toasted bread a few inches away from a mouth now smeared in sticky red jam, like a cheap holo-horror flick, he glances once at Jospi before finally offering some words.

"Reckon we go for the '1300 then. Scouting with an X-wing into Imperial space sounds safe as giving a rancor a proctol inspection. Nothing wrong with free traders stopping for fuel."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:10, Sat 18 Mar 2017.

Glancing sidelong at Caddanra, the dark-skinned young man sat up from where he had been leaning on the table.

"Yeah, sure, criticize the guy commenting on how close this is to a suicide mission," he said with a musing, sarcastic tone accompanied by a whimsical hand gesture.  Leaning back in his chair, he turned his body posture to actually face the pink-haired young woman.  "Listen, Sweetheart, in my line of work, good intelligence gets the job done smoothly, and bad intelligence ends up with people dead.  Doing intelligence work on the fly usually ends up with focus split from the job at hand, and can also end up with people dead.  Trying to play on my ego won't change those facts."

Jurell was not foolish by any means.  He knew a veiled goad when he saw one.  Working in the worst hives of scum had given him a wide variety of experiences with people who worked others for a living.  They usually ended up being the focus in firefights the most.

Shrugging, he stretched in his chair to get more comfortable, but not before reaching out to grab another hunk of Dantooinian bread.  He really had to find out what they put in the stuff.  It was downright addicting!
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Sat 18 Mar 2017.

She considers returning the gesture but settles for words.   "That'll be Lieutenant Sweetheart, rookie.   We aren't here for milk runs.   If you need to be spoon fed then nothing will ever go smoothly."

She then turns to Forim, "It's your call on the ship, Forim.  We could retrofit it for the longer trip if needs be."   Caddy might hold rank here but they are a team and she knows full well when to delegate to those who know 'best' in a specific situation.

"While I would love to fly an X-Wing, I think flying a military vessel through imperial space is just asking for us to be searched at every checkpoint.  I agree for the Shimmer.  Re-fueling probably wont be an issue.  Just another spacer looking to refuel.  Assuming we have the credits for it?" he asks inquisitively.

Turning to the Belligerent One "Someone has to get intelligence, and that is us.  If you do not like intelligence work, and would prefer to just have someone put something in front of you that you can hit and not use that thing between your ears at all at all - go get assigned to the infantry.

We are going on this mission to gather intelligence.  Intelligence that can potentially help Commander Skywalker fight the Empire.  If that intelligence just somehow happens to be a piece of architecture" he says rolling his eyes "then we have to take holos, and get word back to Commander Skywalker that he should take a closer look.  Commander Skywalker does not have time to chase down every lead.  Our job is to see if this is a viable lead and get what information we can.

If you have a problem with that.  There is the door.  You would probably make a good grunt."

Jurell simply shrugged in his seat.  "Rank is great and all, but I'm willing to bet that I was placed here by virtue of the fact that missions like these are what I've been doing for most of my life," he stated, reaching over to spread some extra berry jam on his bread.  "Though, it's good to know that you see fit to throw a person with experience in the matter under for pointing out the rather glaring, death-causing issues with a mission.  Really shows great leadership."

With a sigh, the dark-skinned human swung his legs downward and leaned up at the same time, actually standing up from his chair with a glance at the Duros flight officer.

"Yeah, sure," he stated dryly, rolling his eyes.  "Insulting my intelligence.  I would really love to see you do what I do.  I don't claim to have expertise in your wheelhouse, which, from the way you're dressed, I assume is piloting?"  Taking a few strides he brushed some stray locks of hair from in front of his face.

"Yeah, I think I'll take your advice on the door," he said glibly as he kept walking.  "Pass on the grunt work, though.  Try not to get yourselves killed.  As naive as I think the two of you are, my teacher taught me that lives are precious."  With that, he walked for the door, waving at them all without looking with one hand while stuffing the crust of bread into his mouth with the other.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Sat 18 Mar 2017.

Xyklo cautiously leans across the table and reaches for the jam.

"You want me to go after him?" he asks, to the group in general.

Princess Leia nods to her aide, who rapidly talks into a commlink.

[Private to Jurell Delgar: As Jurell is stalking down the halls, he is confronted from all sides by a quartet of Rebel soldiers and their NCO. At their forefront is a Gotal seargent. "Corporal, you will have to come with us."]

After dealing with that issue, Princess Leia continues.

"The planet is pre-interstellar, but not uninhabited.  Our information suggests several native groups that may have information you can use.  They have been under imperial oversight for decades, and may be willing to aid the Rebellion."

Princess Leia opens another file on the holoscreen.  The screen displays an artistic carving.  It resembles a tree with wide boughs and humanoid figure's dancing around beneath them.  A number of symbols are inscribed in an arc around the top of the tree.

"When we began researching Karhexadine, we found an archaeological study dating to the Old Republic.  Most of the files were expunged, but this piece survived in an archived edition.  Whether it is a literal tree or some sort of symbol, we suspect that it is pertinent to your mission."

According to the images' title, the piece of art was categorized as Item 2056: Symoblic Representation of 'Tree of Knowledge.'

The green skinned Nautolan wore a leather vest over a dark blue shirt with ivory buttons down half of the shirt.  Green and black ocean waves rolled along the collar and down the sleaves and cuffs.  A black leather utility belt with several pockets hung off his hip, along with a now empty Blaster Pistol holster on his right side.  A well used thick databad holster was on his left hip, the data pad in his hands as he made notes during the briefing, to ensure he didn't forget critical notes.

Looking up at the Princess again, Kraken's mind wondered back to the reason why the Empire was hunting the Rebel's.  Jedi.  Kraken's people respected the Jedi and the power they influenced, just as they respected anyone with power or any weapon, tool or piece of technology that could bring a power to bear on their foes.  Kraken's own great grandfather had been a jedi, or so his family had told him during evening meals along with Grandmaster Jedi Seaweave.  Kraken thought it would be cool if he could be a Jedi but with the Empire hunting all Jedi, such a wish was a death wish.

Kraken sat somewhere in the back of the room, listening to the briefing, his eyes darting from side to side as the group bantered ideas and other less than savory comments.  Frowning occasionally, the Nautolan waited and watched for the calm to return and mused the mission in his mind, trying to see any questions that had not been asked but needed to be asked.

A middle-aged Sullustan in a grey-blue flight jacket sits near the front, listening intently. He frowns as he hears the pilot say something about grunts and one of the grunts storm out of the room. That's nothing new. He fidgets a bit in his seat and pats at his empty holster. Though he is a mere trooper, he has the appearance of one who has seen it all.

He remains silent, given his rank and lack of knowledge on the subject, knowing that if he has to do his job, things are going to get very dangerous.

Caddy purses her lips.  She really didn't want to start a new working relationship with a fight but it appeared that words needed to be said.

"My apologies, Commander."  She turns to Jurell.   "Whatever the mission and regardless of the odds, I have no intention of leading anyone I work with to their deaths.   You have clearly been brought here for a reason.  So you must be good at what you.   Please respect that we are equally as 'useful'.  If you sit down and stop blustering, I'm sure we can find out a bit more about both each-other and the mission."  While her words were 'commanding' and maybe even a little patronising, her tone and demeanour was 'politically neutral', hopefully dampening the effect of those words.  She really wasn't trying to pick a fight but she was the ranking member of the Alpha Team and she wasn't about to throw in the towel on a team member before she'd even learnt his name!

[And while I don't normally condone rolls against other PCs when it isn't PVP combat, I thought I'd see how successful Iwas in my stance and demeanour vs your 2D willpower.   I gave myself a 1B for actually having higher rank than you and 1B for you being outnumbered.

A nice total of 6 successes!

01:38, Today: Caddanra 'Caddy' Manitu rolled 6 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 2P 2B 2D.  Leadership.]

"What does the Alliance know about Karhexadine 1 current sector's Moff and the current Imperial position?  Military, social, political and what do we know about this planet and its inhabitants?  If we can find a copy of Order 27.42, we might find out where the troops are being redirected to.  Not that this is part of the mission, but I think the Alliance would want to know where the Empire is moving large amounts of forces.  It also might state why they are moving away from the planet and give some hint about why the forces where there to begin.  How long has the current Moff been in charge and who was there before him?  If this thing has been there for some time, we might be able to find out what's there by investigating the old Moff's files without the Empire realizing the Alliance is on to them.  I can do some internet searching, see what I can find." he offers.

OOC:
What do I know about Karhexadine 1.
What do I know about the solar system it's in?  Anything of significant value?
Outer Rim Lore:  1 success 1 advantage
Underworld Lore:  0 Success, 2 advantage

Forim says "Looks like the system is near Malastare, off the Hydian Way trade route. That's in the Expansion region.  Long way off so I can see why we would have to fuel up.

My suggestion would be to fuel up close to the target as well, so we have a full tank in case we have to leave in a hurry.  However, as long as we can fill up on the planet, we only need to have a half tank to be able to run in case we can't get down.  Less interactions mean less chance of detection.  Both methods have risks and benefits."

Looking to the Princess he asks "Your Highness, Is our mission to simply gather as much intelligence as we can about what the Empire is doing there?  If there is an item that we can obtain to help with Commander Skywalker's training should we take the risk and grab it, or report back and get a larger team organized?  Is there also an element of sabotage implied in our mission, for example should we look at taking out the Moff?"

Not that he wants to do all that, he just wants to make sure everyone is on the same page with the parameters of the mission.

His earlier question ignored Xyklo happily returns his attention to slathering jam on some more toast. He nods just a touch at Krakens list of specifics, then again at Forims proposed transport options.
The final suggestion that taking out a Moff brings his head up sharply, his left antenna twitching.

Xyklo stares at the Princess, awaiting her response.

Caddy is considering the problem (that of Jurell as he departs) and then offer Xyklo Voozul a smile, "Thank you for offering.  For now, let's focus on the briefing."

Unfortunately, she knows little of the planets in question and cannot add further to the information the small group are sharing.

[OOC: My apologies Xyklo.  I wasn't ignoring you! :-) I just didn't see your post amidst the mess.

19:51, Today: Caddanra 'Caddy' Manitu rolled 1 failure, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 2d.  Out Rim knowledge.]

Roger stands near the wall behind Forim.  His head looks back and forth between the participants in the discussion, his neuroprocessors trying to figure out why the organics just can’t understand how to process mission details…  The battered battle droid, with purple marking plates, sets his heuristic processors to assessing the information and responses concerning the mission, letting the interactions fall to secondary processors, freeing up the primary threads for more pertinent information.

He waits for more pertinent information to add to his calculations… but, he’s no T-series tactical droid…

Meanwhile, standing outside the doors of the meeting, Jurell was standing flanked by four guards and their NCO with a grimace on his face.  Of course, that damned Princess.  She probably got upset that he was leaving a meeting that had some sort of sensitive information.  Well, that meant that his freedom was no longer his own.  That was what he got for joining up with an organization instead of just working by himself.  The money had been good, and it allowed him to kick the Empire in the balls every once in a while.

Standing as he was with his back against the door, he still caught Caddanra's parting words to him as he left the room.  The dark-skinned young man was mildly annoyed that she seemed to think his points were nothing but blustering, but, she seemed to at least be willing to change her mind when necessary instead of sticking to orders for orders' sake.  Maybe there were some redeeming factors to her?  Besides, it beat having to stand here and stare at a squad of Rebel guards that seemed all-too-willing to throw him in a cell by the way their NCO had been saying that they wanted him to follow them.  [Private to GM: However, the most important consideration was the fact that his life was now tied directly to what the Empire wished.  The more useful his position, the more likely they would be to leave him well enough alone as long as he submitted reports on important Rebel activity.  And considering how important Alpha Team's activities seemed to be to the Rebellion (searching for Jedi artifacts?!), he had to bet that being in this squad would get the Empire off his back indefinitely.]

Weighing his options for a few moments, Jurell raised his hands in a surrendering motion and flashed the Rebel guards outside the door a brilliant smile.

"Sorry, I'd love to come with you, but it seems I'm sorta needed in the meeting going on through the door behind me," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.  "So, if you don't mind, I'll be heading back in there.  Have a nice day!"

With that, the turned on his heel and walked back through the automatic door into the briefing room once again without giving the NCO a chance to get a response in.  After all, Jurell didn't want to give him a chance to decide he wanted to take the fighter-for-hire into custody anyway.

Walking past Caddy on the way back to his seat, he glanced sidelong at her.

"Alright then," he stated with a shrug and a wry smile.  "Just try not to get us killed on this op.  I signed up to do some real hurt to the Empire, and I'd be pretty disappointed if we all died on the first mission."

With that, he was back in his chair, leaning back with his feet propped up on the edge of the table with his hands folded behind his head.  Still, he was quiet and listening to the rest of the details of the mission.  His posture was reminiscent of a Huurton when not on the hunt--body posture completely relaxed, but senses completely alert.

Aside from its approximate location, very little is known about Karhexadine.  It is one of many hundreds of inhabited worlds in the known galaxy. It lacks any star ports and is not on any common hyperspace route.

Princess leia turns to her intelligence aide when asked about the Moff.  The aide consults a datapad of her own. "Moff Paydon Montrose, Formerly of Imperial Intelligence, he was awarded his position two years ago.  It had previously been vacant, overseen by the imperial navy. Our intelligence suggests that he spends most of his time traveling back and forth from Coruscant."

Princess Leia resumes the briefing. "Your primary mission objective is to secure as much intelligence on this 'Tree of Knowledge' as possible. Obtain copies of any intelligence you can. If it is an item, locate it."

She presses on her datapad. "Rebel Command has prepared these objectives for you as well," she adds, as the holoscreen behind her changes.

Primary Objective:
 - Tech-Procurement: Locate the 'Tree of Knowledge' or any information related to it.

Secondary Objectives:
 - Combat Victory: Capture at least one high-ranking Imperial officer.
 - Counter-Intelligence: Sequester knowledge of a Rebel team on Karhexadine 1.
 - Intelligence: Obtain intelligence on any Imperial strongholds on the planet.
 - Personnel: Prevent casualties among Rebel agents.
 - Political Support: Obtain resources relevant to the mission from local support.
 - Sabotage: Prevent Imperial broadcasts for support.
 - Space Superiority: Destroy one squadron of Imperial fighters.
 - Support: Fulfill as many objectives as possible.

Princess Leia's intelligence agent checks her chrono. "The Princess has two minutes available for questions," she announces.

Xyklo raises a hand eagerly. As the sugar begins to enter his system he is becoming more lively, visibly bouncing in his seat.

"Sounds like we may be required to improvise on arrival. Any chance of a couple of crash kits and survival gear in case this requires exploration in a non urban environment?

Also, when you say capture, do you mean alive?"

Caddy nodded to the recalcitrant individual, "That's the plan...."

She'll then refocus on the objectives, nodding as each is revealed.  "It sounds like we have our work cut out for us."  And then she smiles at Xyklo's question, "I suggest that capture implies living... and gear, within limits, can be requisitioned before we leave."

Forim nods and says "Additionally your Highness, How many funds will be available to us for refueling, bribes, and similar on the surface purchases?"

Seeing the mission objectives come up, Jurell planted his feet on the ground and sat up straight, his emerald eyes scanning over the words.  Hearing the Duros's comments, he nodded his agreement.

"We should probably requisition some security spikes and the like as well if we want to keep a low profile like the mission wants," he added, tapping a bare finger against the side of his cheek thoughtfully.  "If this base is as secure of a facility as we're expecting it to be, there may be electronic surveillance we will want to scrub in order to eliminate any traces we've been there.  Organic eyes aren't the only ones we have to worry about."

Now that the fighter-for-hire was being more cooperative, his experience with operations like this was starting to show through his rough demeanor.

"With a mission like this, we're flying a bit blind," he stated as he glanced from Forim to Caddanra.  "So, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared for a worst case scenario.  If we get made, we'll probably have to switch off to a targeted strike to a communications hub and scrub their system of our presence on the planet."

The young man's eyes glazed over as a memory of his past came to the forefront of his mind.

"We really don't want the Empire knowing that we know information about Jedi and the Force," he added darkly.  "A lot of people have been hunted down who had information like that.  My own Order was hunted down for even having research on it.  They won't hesitate to hunt down every person who even had remote contact with it.  In fact, I'm surprised it's not higher up on our objective list."

While it was a criticism of the mission objectives, it was not a criticism for criticism's sake.  It was fairly obvious that Jurell had a great deal of personal experience with the methods of those particular hunters from the Empire.