Location: Main Dining Room, Nightshrike

Mark left the room for a few minutes and returns with datapads, datachips and a
holoprojector.  A few moments later a PK droid placed food and a large pot of caf on the table.  Clearly Mark was preparing for one of his big planning sessions.
The commander looked around the room.  ”We’ve been on the defensive for the past few missions; escort duty, recon.  It’s time we got back on the offensive.  Now while we didn’t gather the data we wanted from Phindar Prime, I have used other sources and have slected our next target.  We are going to hit a Typhon Energy fuel convoy in tansit, capture what we can, destroy what we can’t.”

He looks to the newcomers, especially Arin.  ”I would like to iterate that while this is a civilian company, they are under military contract.  The ship is manned by Imperial navy personnel, the cargo is military grade petrochem.  There is a possibility of a civilian observer or two on board but this is low.  I further point out that Typhon Energy has allied itself with the Imperials, using that power to try and drive the other two primary fuel companies out of business.  They have used pirates, mercenaries and Imperial personnel in their dirty fight.  Typhon is not innocent.  If you have any reservations, let me know before the mission.”

“Now the mission will be composed of three key elements.  Firstly, the Nightshrike.  She has our heaviest guns, including an ion cannon and tractor beam.   Secondly, our starfighters.  Our three ships are fully operational and the R-41 has the benefit of an ion cannon.  Also, Mr Pertwee’s order has arrived and we have five concussion missiles at our disposal.”

“The role of these two elements will be to jump in, neutralise all starfighter defense and the convoy.  Ideally we will force the ships to surrender, else we can try to disable them with ion cannons.  Worst case scenario, we destroy them.  While I want those ships and cargo, depriving the Imperials of them is more important.  The Nightshrike will also need to try and jam all communications, to prevent a rescue force.”

“The final element  will consist of our boarding forces.  I am loaning a rescue and maintenance vessel from our ‘friends’.”   Mark doesn’t mention who these friends are, assumedly as he doesn’t want the newcomers to know.  ”This vessel is specifically designed to board fuel tankers in distress so maintenance and rescue teams can board.  This ship will be packed with enough people to manage the freighters as well as our boarding force.  This force will board and capture any vessels we subdue.  Once they’re captured they will leave a crew behind to manage the ships while they move on to capture the next vessel.  We will be using civilian crew to fly the freighters to free up our people for the harder jobs.”

He pauses.  ”So our first step is to assign our people.  Then we can fine tune the tactics.  Your choices are simple.  We need crew for the Nightshrike, pilots for our fighters and a strong boarding force to protect the civilians.  We could also use a pilot for the boarding vessel, though one of the boarding party can perform double duty.”

“So where do people see themselves doing the most good?”   Mark poured himself a cup of caf and grabbed a sweet roll and sat quietly to allow the Talons to discuss.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:05, Tue 14 Aug 2012.

CC9 seems to have been waiting for this. He steps forward slightly, his imposing bulk quite a sight. "It would be of greatest strategic value to place me in the boarding team. While I have programming for heavy weapons I lack the piloting software for starfighters. I have, however, recently been updated with piloting software for freighters, and if no others are available can perform that duty to satisfaction."

He pauses slightly and then adds, "As was covered exhaustively at our initial briefing I also possess targeting, tactical and battle software that does not include prime directive safeguards against eliminating hostile civilian targets... should the situation tactically warrant it."

Cor puts her hand over her face briefly at CC9's last statement and then says quietly, "I would be most effective on the Nightshrike, either in a comms or engineering position." A look of nervousness crosses her features briefly but she shrugs it off, straightening in her chair and schooling her expression into one of neutrality. "A9 could serve on the Nightshrike or as maintenance, repair and astrogating on one of the boarding teams but he is not prepped for combat and would be... ill-suited to a firefight. My B1 battle droids can serve as boarding team gunners. They are neither as sturdy nor as advanced as CC9 but they have suitable combat software and will follow CC9's orders without hesitation."

Mark nodded.  "I also thought we might leave one of your B1's on each freighter we capture to serve as security and also a set of 'eyes' as it were so you have access to each ship.  If we capture more than two we will have to use other people."

"In the light of the type of operation, I would be best used as a fighter jockey, if you trust me with one. I used to fly TIEs, but I believe, I can get familiar with the ones you have rather quickly, and I'd also prefer to keep my face out of the view of the imperials for now", Arin said. He thought for a short moment and continued, "Any intelligence on the composition of the convoy - any escorts or armed freighters? What kind of troops on board - Imperial Marines, Army or Stormtroopers?"

Greyrhynn, standing with his hands behind his back growls in his language. His small translation Droid beeps, then speaks. "Permission to sp.." the driod crackles into static, and the wookie closes his eyes and shakes his head, clearly frustrated.

He begins speaking again in his language, a long sentence in his native togune. When he finishes, the Droid beeps and begins translation...


.....in the hissing language of trandoshan.

Greyrhynn, snarling at the Droid, grabs a data pad and begins typing, then hands it to the commander.

Mark read the datapad handed him quickly.  "Ms Lambar, perhaps you can take a look at the wookie's droid when time allows so he doesn't have to pass notes all the time.  Very well Mr Grayrhynn, you volunteer for the boarding team.  You may even be the ideal person to pilot the boarding team's transport."

Looking to Arin,  "My XO and I have some gathered data on the convoy and was hoping for more from the most recent mission which as you heard went awry.  Perhaps you can bring some information to the table being a member of Phindar's pilot force."

Mark passes around some datapads.  "Here is our most recent stock inventory.  Familiarise yourself for these are all the tools we have to use."



OOC: The Talon inventory is in the 'Current Inventory (Black Talons' thread.  It list all ships, weapons and munitions available.  So Grayrhynn and Arin especially can look out what resources are avaialable (and maybe Gray can pick up a few nice toys).
This message was last edited by the player at 07:29, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

Sheila turned to look at Arin, the back of her mind was tickling when he said he was a fighter jock. "I know you.  I just can't remember where." The unspoken addition was 'how did you end up a stormtrooper rather than still flying TIES'
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:56, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

"Same thing heree, miss", Arin replied, "you were a TIE-pilot before?"

"I would be happy to, Commander."  She nods to the wookiee and smiles somewhat hesitantly, clearly as intimidated as hell by the walking pile of muscle, sinew and fur.  Wookiees are notoriously bad-tempered, and especially hard on droids.

Mika considers.  She could easily fit well on the Nightshrike, either working the computers or in engineering.  Heck, she could even pilot if needs be, but she feels a pull towards the boarding teams, that's where the action would be.

"I'm not much use in taking the ships, but I might be able to provide some good support for the boarding teams.  Slicing into the internal security or bypassing locks or what have you.  I think I'm of most use there, though if you'd rather can help out on the Nightshrike."

Besides, Mika was starting to get a taste for jacking ships.

Fisrt she glances up at Shepperd.  "I'd love to fly.  On the other hand, I can't patch anyone up if I'm in a fighter.  NOr can I do any slicing if that's needed, although 10 may have that sewed up."

Then back at Arin and rattles off the last ships she was attached to.  and finally.  "Mouse."  He was here, she might as well trust him.  Of course, depending on where she recognizes him from, she might slap him.

<OOC>
Just so people can think about it, here are the list of jobs people could possibly undertake:


Nightshrike
Pilot
Co-Pilot (Can assist with pilotting or take over nearly any role on board)
Sensor Operator
Shield Operator
Damage Control/Engineer
Gunner (Heavy Turbolaser) x 2
Gunner (Heavy Ion Cannon)

* Roles like astrogation and comms is also needed but would be a 'double-duty' as they're not going to keep you busy in combat.


Fighter Squadron
Pilot - Z-95 Headhunter x 2
Pilot - R-41 Starchaser

* Remember the fighters are likely going to be matching up against TIE's which are superior in speed and agility so you'll want to be skilled to vounteer here!


Boarding Party
Pilot - Boarding Vessel (Doubles as Marine)
Marine x TBC (at least 4)

* The marines will be escorting civilian crew from Phindar Petroleum.  They have no real combat experience but know these types of ships backwards.  You get them in safe and they can jack the ships.


So we have more jobs then we have people but some jobs can be doubled up (like co-pilot can do targetting and sensors; engineer can do shields, etc) or done by droids (A9 could easily do some of the Nightshrike jobs)

I'd like to give PC's their pick of place (though mark may recommend a spot he
thinks better suits your skills).

Each team will also need a leader (with Mark in overall command).

</OOC>

"Ms. Masters I can assure you.  If we have a medical situation so serious that 2-1B-D3 can't handle it, then we've already lost.  Your skills have been creeping up in the simulator lately I've noticed so you are certainly a candidate for a fighter."

"Mr Branden, if I gave you a fighter, you would be flying against your former allies, possibly even people you know.  I need to know that when the fighting starts that you can pull the trigger.  Can you do this?  I will think no less of you if you say no and would find you another role to play in this mission."

"Ms Trake, you are one of the few here with capital ship experience.  I would really prefer to use you on the Nightshrike, possibly as co-pilot, where your varied skills could be put to best use.  Think on it."

"What about the rest of you?"

Heigran sighed and looked up from his Pazaak game.  "Well normally I'm a black marketeer, a gambler and rescuer of damsels in distress."  Seeing Mark is not smiling he changes tact  'Tough crowd'.

"I guess I'll volunteer to fire up one of those big guns of yours.  If I'm gonna ride into battle I'd rather be on the most heavily shielded and armoured ship with terrajoules of power at my command."

His face takes on a serious look for the first time since getting on the Ghtroc.  "I trust you'll be offloading my people before this fight.  They've been through enough already."

"We'll be returning to our base of operations in this sector to refuel, arm and collect our fighters.  At that time we'll be offloading the wounded and getting them into bacta tanks.  They'll be safe until our return.  We'll also let your resettled colleagues know their location"

Mark did not add 'In case we all get killed' on the end of his last sentence, but he didn't need to.  The risks with this mission were clear.
This message was last updated by the player at 00:50, Wed 08 Aug 2012.

Heigren reaches back and gives Grayrhynn a gentle punch in the. . .elbow, since he couldn't reach any higher.

"Time for some payback, it's gonna be fun.  Especially since I'll have a bigger gun than you.  Bet I mow down more Imps than you.  Say fifty credits per kill?"

Cor clears her throat slightly and sits up more straight.  Without so much as a glance at Arin she says, "Commander, will great respect - if he cannot open fire on Imperials then of what use could he possibly be?"  It seems an honest enough question, if not very diplomatically phrased.

The wookie, listening to teh conversation, puts in when all is silent, trusting in the translation droid.  He growls a short phrase in his language. The droid beeps then speaks

"I wil...." there is static, then it clears again "..oarding party." The wookie, expecting something like this to happen, was pleased that he got the majority of the point across.  He stood straight, slammed his right fist into his left shoulder in salute, then stood easy again with a nod to the commander.

Flash, who came in at the same time as Mark when he returned from the very short break and took an unobtrusive seat in the back, now speaks up.

"Hate to throw another matter into the mix, right, but what about Phindar's cloakshape fighters?"  He shrugs.  "No reason not to have some extra guns, and I'm better in a cockpit than just about anywhere else."

Arin looks at Cor with a calm expression on his face. "Miss, have you ever been a commanding officer? While I was down there with the stormtroopers, I was their commanding officer, if not in any other way than in name. As a commanding officer, I was obliged to be concerned of their safety, though I could do little to save the life of my sergeant. This, however is different. If I am flying with you, I am looking after you with the same diligence as I tried to do with the men under my command. So yes, I can fire upon the Imperials if, or rather when needed. I might know some of those I have to shoot at, but the alternative would be serving a regime that does not have the best interest of its citizens in mind."

Cor looks directly at Arin, her gaze measured and more than a little hard.

"Sir, I would be very thankful if you were to stop putting words into my mouth, as the expression goes."  She points at the Commander.  "Did I make comment upon your performance with the Imperial troops under your command?  I did not.  The Commander brought up the possibility of you not being able to fire upon Imperials.  Was I wrong to query it?  Am I a lesser person for wanting more information?  I am fairly certain I do not need to be a commanding officer to appreciate the facts of the situation."

She surveys his face for a few moments before adding, "You do not know my opinion of your performance on Phindar Prime.  You do not know because I have not told you.  Cease pretending you have information that you do not have."

"I pretend nothing, miss. The commander has his perogative to ask such a question, but I'd prefer to answer such a question prior to being considered worthless in advance. I do not have the information about your thoughts on my performance down on the planet, because, as you pointed out, you haven't given me such information. However, I do have information you do not, miss. I do have a pretty decent picture about the composition of the convoys from Phindar Prime", Arin stated in a rather dry fashion. He turned at the commander, directing his future comments to him.

"Sir, with respect, do you have a particular convoy already picked out for the ambush? To my knowledge, the convoys range from a couple of ships, covered by a couple fighters to convoys of nearly ten freighters, supported by a whole squadron along with a capital vessel. The ships are probably carrying at least a couple of stormtroopers on them for security."

Cor says quietly, "Point?  Missing it.  Ah well."  She sits back and directs her attention to the Commander to see how he'll respond.

"Enough you two." Mark growls.

"Ms Lambar, there is no shame in someone not wanting to shoot his former allies, people he has recently flown with.  Defectors sometimes need time to adjust, I'm sure Ms Masters could tell us some stories.  As to your question, I could have found several jobs that did not directly put him in the line of fire."

He spun to face Arin.  "As for you Mr Branden, you are in no position to talk about command.  As I recall your last command was wiped out nearly to a man, two of them dying as a direct result of you sending them into an ambush.  Now I will not judge you on that last command, I may even give you command opportunities here, but not if you are going to squabble with your colleagues, wether you were provoked or not.  Ms Lambar may not have had a command as such but she has been responsible for the lives of members of this team and she has performed admirably."

"Now back to tactics.  The convoy I'm targeting is based on location.  They'll pass far enough from patrols to give us a window.  The convoy in quesiton should consist of four tankers.  How would such a convoy be protected?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:00, Wed 08 Aug 2012.

Cor nods slightly.  "It was not my intention to provoke, Commander.  I was asking whether he would be of use if he could not fire on his former colleagues.  I did not say he should be able to; I did not say he was useless; I certainly made no judgement on his prior command.  Perhaps my Basic is simply a little... flawed at times.  In either case CC9 should be able to provide some input to assaulting the convoy's defences if we have that information."

With that she lapses into silence, apparently having talked herself out.

Sheila smiled grimly.  "Oh, by the time I finally jumped ship, I'd have had no problem firing on my 'squadron mates', but that was my experience. If I'd managed to leave earlier, the question might have had a different answer."  She looked at the convoy.  "I'm sorry, I have to ask, if you are a member of phindar's pilot force, what were you doing with leading the last command."

Mika shrugs.  "If I can be of most use on the Nightshrike, then that's where I'll go.  Co-pilot is fine.  Since we're a little short on personnel, I could try to juggle either the shields or the sensors, or both if you'd like."

Co-pilot, the very definition of the job is to wait until someone tells you what to do and then do it.  Maybe she should talk to Cor about it, sounds tailor made for a droid type.  But until then, she'd take it on.

That is most definitely not how Mark sees the role on a cap ship, quite the opposite in fact.  In fact, Mark sees it as the most important job on a capital ship.  The pilot merely flies.  The co-pilot (perhaps we should rename them operations officer or something) controls every internal system on the ship.  They can:
  * Assist or take over piloting (though on a cap ship this is rare)
  * Control sensors
  * Control communications
  * Control navigation/astrogation
  * Designate target priorities for turrets (both manned and automated)
  * Control and repair shields
  * Control power re-distribution

So the co-pilot is responsible for nearly every station on the ship (engineering/damage control is about all they can't do).  Even if the role is assigned to someone in another area (so say Cor is doing shields in the computer room), the co-pilot can assist or take over.  They should also be instructing the other areas which roles to do first (as the co-pilot has the 'big picture' so knows what the priorities are)

Mark considers it the most important role on the ship, that requires the most flexible person to handle it.  The person who does this role needs to be skilled not only at pilotting, navigation, computers and mechanics but must be able to task prioritise, give orders and rapidly change focus.

There is no way Mark would put a droid there (unless it was a VERY skilled droid).  Mark will likely take this role if Mika doesn't but he wont be as good at it as he lacks her technical expertise.  He's a better pilot but when you're flying a cap ship, piloting skill is hardly that important!  Maybe he'll see if Mika can reroute enough systems so Cor could do the job from the computer room.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:10, Wed 08 Aug 2012.

Hearing the banter between Arin and Cor, Heigren mutters loud enough for Arin (and those in close proximity) to hear, "Sheesh, just get a room you two."

And Sheila turned to look at Heigren again, with those moviegoer eyes and said in a whisper at exactly the same sound level he had used.  "Can it."  then back to Arin waiting for him to answer her question.

Heigren feigns a hurt expression for a moment then gives Sheila a wink and blows her a kiss.

“ as the most experienced gunner on this crew I would like to take charge of the ion gun as it a highly specialized piece of kit” said Rann as he looked to the others.

Mark nodded to Rann.  "I am glad to see we are of a like mind Mr Pertwee.  That ion cannon will be the most important weapon in our arsenal.  The more ships you can disable, the more we can capture.  Do your job well and I think you will be owed a lot of drinks by all the Talons!"

Flash raises his hand again, his expression clouded.  "Uh, hello?  Cloakshapes?  Any opinions?  Nobody?  Fine."  He crosses his arms, clearly unimpressed.  "We need more R-41s.  Well, we need more anything that flies.  Cloakshapes, headhunters, 41s, TIEs, anything.  An' we need as many ion cannons as we can get.  Hell, we could even scavenge th'wreckage after th'battle and start makin' uglies.  Boarding party's essential, sure, but pump any ship full of enough ion bolts an' we can board it at leisure.  Tell you what'll kill us faster'n anythin' out there - bein' outnumbered."  With that he slumps back in his chair.

"Boss, you're itchin' t'get out behind th'stick an' we need th'best fighter we can get in the 41.  That ion cannon's gonna be essential.  Why don't you put your flight suit on for this one, take wing lead?"

"I will give it some thought Mr Allen." was all Mark responded.  In his mind though, his thoughts were churning.  Of course he'd love to be in the fighters.  He was a fighter jock through and through.  Being the commander however meant he had to put the good of the team before his love of flying.  Still, he could command from a fighter couldn't he?  Or was that the pilot in him talking, not the tactician?

He sighed inwardly.  He wished Zyra was here.  The XO was always good at clarifying such things.

"Tactically, the quicker they can get a distress call out the quicker they can get the backup required to eliminate us.  What are our options and capabilities for jamming their signals as soon as the ambush is sprung?"

Cor lets out a small sigh as Arin voices the words 'You can judge my skill in command all you want,' and shakes her head a little.  She doesn't comment, though, instead making notes on her datapad.

The wookie stood passively, listening to the talk. The conversation between Arin and Cor concerned him. He knew that the likelihood of every member liking each other was unlikely, but they didn't need to like each other to trust them. Grayrhynn was sure this wasn't going to be over in this setting, but he hoped that either way, they focused on what was important.

And then their was Heigren. He knew he was skilled at what he does, but also knew to tolerate him you needed patience. Heigren was skilled, he knew...he had spent several weeks around him, and he did like him,  but he knew that his sense of humour was unusual.

The wookie looked at the commander, and stood impassively.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:56, Thu 09 Aug 2012.

Cor, being entirely unaware of Grayrhynn's inner dialogue, doesn't comment.  She just keeps making notes.  She's probably, in fact, making too many for them to be solely about the meeting.

Devon looks up from fiddling with his own datapad, which he had used to distract himself during the verbal sparring between Cor and Arin.  He'd had to exercise willpower to avoid smirking on a couple of occasions...

"Well, based on past experience someone's going to suggest I'm in the fighter wing..."
Devon had always wondered why he kept getting selected for pilot duty on missions, and one night had looked up the Talons simulator scores.  It had surprised the hell out of him to learn he was near the top of the group...

"But I think I'd be more use on the boarding party this time round.  We're going to need to bypass or gain control of any security systems as fast as possible - and if the crew wont co-operate we're going to have to do it ourselves.  I think your going to need me."

Mentally, Devon added:
And with how my lucks been recently, I'll be wishing I had Mika and A9 with me...
Give the choice, Devon would have wanted them with him anyhow - even allowing for his catastrophic luck last time out, the three of them had proven to be an effective team.

"So we now have a boarding crew of Nallis, Trake, Kismet, Grayrhynn and three droids.  Mr Branden, what kind of internal security are we likely to face?  Do you think we need this much firepower?  Remember they just need to clear the defenders, we have civilian crews to fly."

"The ships will probably have two or three Stormtroopers each, so that amounts to a total of perhaps one squad. However, the crews may be corporation personnel and armed, which makes it possible, they could fight back. The droid also has it right about jamming - there's several capital ships in the system, including a couple of Star Destroyers, and it'll probably take about ten minutes for reinforcements to arrive in the worst case scenario, once the alarm goes off, so we need to jam their transmissions in order to keep them from calling anyone."

Arin had a small pause for thinking.

Fighterwise, we are probably talking about half a squadron of TIEs, but could be more."

Turning his gaze on Sheila, Arin simply noted, "Let's talk about it a bit later, shall we - we'll need to plan this mission first."

"So a couple of stormies and some civilian crew?  Shouldn't pose a major problem.  Sounds like we might be putting too many people on the boarding crew.

Mr Allen, if you wish to fly a Cloakshape, I will try to arrange one for you.  I only make this offer as you are one of the few pilots skilled enough to have a chance to survive an engagement with a TIE and crazy enough to even try!"

"Commander, if the boarding party seems excessive then perhaps we should split it into two strike teams."  The droid regards the human stoically.  "Seizing control of two freighters at once will maximise the opportunity for seizing multiple vessels.  If the resistance is that minimal then perhaps we will be able to secure all four vessels.  If," he adds, "the intelligence we have on the likely resistance is reliable."

Flash nods easily and gives the Commander a big, and not entirely sane, grin.  "Sure thing.  What's the worst that could happen?"

Mark considers CC9's plan.  "Risky.  Not only do we have to prepare a second boarding craft we have twice the ships to defend, half the crew on each.  Yet it does double our speed as you say.  Any thoughts people?" he asks of the table at large.

Sheila glances at Arin, "I'm happy, I know where i know you from now.  which helps alot for my comfort level."

"There could be a squad of TIES passing by at the wrong moment, and I think I could list several more.  And if the corp personnel fight back, the boarding party may end up needing to fly the ship".

"If a full TIE squadron shows up, then we're likely dead.  We'd not only have to face them, but whatever capital ship delivered them as TIE's lack hyperdrive.  Furthermore, if it gets to the point the boarding party have to fly the ship, then the civilian crews they brought with them are dead.  To kill them, they'd have to kill the boarding team first."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:35, Fri 10 Aug 2012.

"It is a calculated risk, yes," CC9 says without concern.  "The entire mission is a calculated risk.  If it seems too great a risk then dismiss the suggestion; if not, then we may be able to speed up our capture of the vessels.  This is, after all, a time-sensitive mission."

Mika looks a bit confused.  "Well, if I'm co-pilot on the Nightshrike, that'll pull one less from the boarding party, not that I'm much of a soldier anyway."  It's true that Mika hardly ever let her blaster get far out of reach, but the few times any have witnessed her using it, she hadn't won kudos with her lackluster marksmanship.

"We could try two boarding parties from a single ship", Arin said.

"We would board two ships almost simultaneously, then move on to disabling the rest of them. But in any case, we'll need to disable their comms prior to any other action. If we could manage some sort of ion mines, we could lay and detonate remotely, we might actually be able to disable all enemy ships without getting too close and probably knock out their comms in the process. Jamming would work too, but as far as I know, it works pretty much as a beacon, since the jamming broadcast has to overcome the strength of their broadcast."

"Unfortunately I doubt jamming suites tend to be cheap," Cor says with a frown, "and I doubt any of our fighters have jamming suites built in.  The likelihood of them having Holonet transceivers is very low, luckily, so subspace jamming is likely our main concern.  Short-range comms are less of a threat than long-range; if they can speak to one another but not call for backup the ensuing and spreading panic may actually work in our favour."

She makes a thoughtful sound.  "Laying ion mines would be an excellent suggestion if they emerge from hyperspace at the correct point.  If they make a miscalculation it may put them several dozen kilometres off-course - not much in terms of space travel of course, just a minor deviation from their perspective, but it may make them miss our minefield altogether.  Laying a wider minefield would compensate in part but would cost more to prepare.  What if we had some fighters do a fly-by and drop mines on the way, then disengage and detonate?"

Devon raised a finger.
"uhm, minor point.. but where do we get the ion mines?"
Lowering his hand again, Devon paused for a moment in thought.
"As to boarding?  Although two boarding parties lets us board more ships at the same time... it makes each boarding party smaller - means if anything goes wrong or there's resistance we didn't anticipate - more Stormies on board than we thought or something - then we've got less manpower on the scene to help deal with the situation.  I'd vote for boarding one ship at a time with overwhelming force."

He glances at Arin. "And I certainly wouldn't disable one or two ships, board them, then chase down and disable the rest.  Why give them time to escape or get a distress call out?  why give the crew of the disabled ships hope that the others might come and rescue them?  makes them more likely to fight.  I say disable everything then decide what to board.  As to jamming?  sure, jam them... but also destroy their long range transmitters and rectennas soon as we can."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:10, Fri 10 Aug 2012.

CC9 points at Rann.  "As Talon 9 is away from the Nightshrike, Talon 6 is the ideal person to ask if ion mines can be sourced, and how many.  It may not be feasible but until we understand what our limitations are the suggestion remains potentially problematic but valuable."

Arin nodded slightly. "I wouldn't mind taking all the freighters down, but unless you have several ships with ion cannons available, the only way we're going to get it done is by using ion mines or bombs, if you can obtain them. Any other way it'll take some time to ionize the freighters, not to speak of having to deal with the fighters at the same time."

After a small pause for thinking, he continued. "Yes, boarding the ships with small crews might be dangerous, but if we want to pull this off before they jump in a Star Destroyer, we need to work fast. Anything past ten standard minutes is calling for trouble. And if we disable the freighters, we need someone to get their systems back online after we have boarded, so that kind of narrows the window down. If you ask me, the best way to do this would be taking one or two ships from the convoy and jumping them out before the reinforcements arrive. If we get greedy with them, we might lose them all."

Devon nods cheerful agreement and helps himself to a pastry from the plate.
"Exactly - we get greedy and we might loose everything.  So disable all of them - thats just shooting - but only board one or two.  Only take what we can be certain of getting out with.  I'd say send one big boarding party into the first freighter... secure it and get it up and running and then, if there's time, board a second one."

Devon bit into the pastry, chewed and swallowed. "If there's not time for a second, cut and run with the one we got."

Mark let the conversation flow for a while.  It was good to see the Talons planning, coming up with strategies and tactics, discussing and discarding as appropriate.  It was what he'd trained them for.

"Mr Branden, your idea of a single transport but potentially multiple boarding teams has merit.  It means the starfighters only have to screen a single ship and the boarding team leaders can make on the spot assessments on what each ship requires.  It allows the flexibility we may need.  I think this will be our best option.

"Your idea of ion mines I do not think will be feasible for many reasons.  Firstly, the sheer cost of setting up a minefield is prohibitive.  Secondly, we'd need to set up the Nightshrike with a mine launcher which is time and expense.  I'd also assume we'd need to dismantle existing weaponry to fit it."

Mark activates the holoprojector and a three dimensional view of the Phindar system comes into view.  He narrows it to an area of space between Phindar Prime and Phindar VII.  The area is within gravity wells making hyperspace impossible.  However it is the most direct route for ships without hyperdrive, or in this case a convoy who's escorts lack hyperdrive.  It's position was about as far from military patrols as you could get and response teams could not just hyperspace in, they'd be delayed as the approached the area with sublight drives.

"The final and most important reason against ion mines is tactical.  I hadn't informed you of the planned ambush point until now.  By necessity it will be in civilian spacelanes and I will not mine a location that could potentially kill innocent civilians.  An ion mine isn't designed to kill but it can.  A civilian ship with inadequate crew may not be able to repair an ionised life support, ion weapons can also short out or destroy less robust systems on civilian vessels."

"Civilian spacelanes also mean the risk of civilian vessels which makes jamming all the more important.  We can't disable every ship with a comm, so we'll need some sort of blanket jamming of subspace.  Short-range comms we wont bother jamming, a message will take hours to reach help and it will help with our cover story as we'll be posing as members of the pirates who have plagued this region recently.

"Mr Kismet, disabling of the ships wont be your problem.  The boarding teams role will be simple.  Board, capture if possible, escape it you can't.  As each freighter is neutralised, the civilian crews we bring will reactivate them and escape to a pre-determined hyperspace point.  The Nightshrike will be disabling freighters with support from the fighters.  The ships will disable what we can, destroy anything else.  Our primary objectives are to cut fuel supplies to military vessels and to damage Imperial confidence in Typhon energy.  Anything we capture is a bonus. . .a very large bonus."

"Ms Trake, I merely suggested you may wish to serve on the Nightshrike, it's not set in durocrete, nothing is.  Perhaps Mr Nallis craves a break from command and would rather man a gun turret then lead men into battle.  For now, consider where you feel your talents would be best used.  I don't want to fix personnel assignments until we've determined our tactics.  For now, lets do what we're doing, looking for ways to tighten up the plan."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:36, Mon 13 Aug 2012.

After a pause, CC9 states, "Tactically that is an extremely important point, Commander.  It seems counter-productive to bring it up halfway through briefing."

"When you are in charge of briefings, you may conduct them whichever way you deem tactically prudent CC9.  For now, keep your comments to ones that aid our planning."

"However, I shall go over the plan in its entirety now.  We will have a false flight plan that lists us heading to Phindar Seven, the transport will have its own flight plan.  XO is taking care of that.  The Nightshrike will be running with a pair of escorts, an R-41  and one of our Z-95's.  This will be Flight Team Beta.  The other two fighters, designation Flight Team Alpha, will be attached to the Shrike and powered down so they don't appear on scanners but are ready to fly."

"We'll be travelling at reduced speed so the convoy can overtake us.  We will aim to attack somewhere in this vicinity."  Mark brings up an area on the map, "As it's the furtherst distance from any help and almost centre of the gravity well.  This allows us the greatest time to act should a comm call get out and maximum choice in an escape vector."

"Once ready we converge and attack.  The Nightshrike will attempt to jam communications while trying to disable the freighters.  Flight Team Beta will launch and attempt to disable what they can and destroy what they can't.  They'll primarily target fighters but also assist with the freighters as needed.  Flight Team Alpha's primary role will be to clear fighters and defend the boarding transport."

"The transport will not reveal it's intentions until called in by Alpha Flight.  At that point they are to board any ship they can, neutralise defenders and put our civilian crews in charge.  The boarding team will then move on to other ships or split their forces as they see fit.  The captured freighters will evacuate together under the Nightshrike's covering fire.  All equipment we can't capture, we destroy."

"We will time the attack to minimise the proximity of civilian craft.  We will use pirate callsigns and transponder codes to appear as pirates.  We need to ensure this attack can not be directed back to our allies."

"Now let's continue to plan"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:36, Tue 16 Oct 2012.

CC9 doesn't respond.

"It sounds rather as if there is little more to plan," Cor says quietly, "if so much is already laid out.  Who will be leading each team?"

"There is much left to plan Ms Lambar, and tasks to be assigned."

"I will be in overall command of the mission obviously with the XO my 2IC.  I will fly Alpha 1 with Mr Allen on my wing.  Mr Branden will lead Bravo flight and fly our R-41.  Since I'm such a fan of nostalgia, Ms Masters can be his wing.  Three, be sure to take Mr Branden to the simulators and ensure he can fly."

"Nightshrike shall be led by the XO.  Ms Lambar, you'll be responsible for keeping systems operational.  I also need you to devise a jamming system.  Use whomever you need to get that done."

"I am undecided on who shall lead the boarding team yet as I'm still not sure of whom shall serve on this team.  Mr Nallis has been quiet and Ms Trake needs to decide where she can best serve."

"Ms Trake, I need the Nightshrike at full combat capability, Mr Kismet, the same with our fighters.  CC9, I'd like you to put together a list of ideal ordanance and combat skills for the boarding teams and cross-reference it with those people who have volunteered for that team and our available stores.  We need a team suitably equipped to do their job, especially if we break them in two."

"But lets finish up the plan for now."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:25, Sat 11 Aug 2012.

CC9 nods briefly to the Commander.  "By your command.  As Talon 9 has an assigned task, and considering interaction at the last briefing regarding this unit's ability to calculate and execute a basic battle plan without slaughtering innocent civilians," CC9 says in his standard flat monotone, "I would suggest Talon 4 as the best choice to lead the boarding team."

In reply to Mark Sheppard (msg # 64):

"yes sir"  Sheila said.  We're not even sure he can fly and I'm his wingman?  Men. That hasn't changed.  But aryans dead.

Once they stop talking, she'll pull Arin over to the simulators.

The wookie stood pasivly, and spoke up in his language. His sentence was long, but when he finished, he looked at the Droid as if daring it to act up.

The Droid beeped, and spoke. "Weapon choice is imperative commander. A well placed concussion grenade or stun grenade can take a group of potential enemies out quickly, so i'd recommend that each team member have at least 1 or 2 each if available. judging from the sound of things, their may be little defences in terms of numbers, but my experience is to expect the worst."

He smiled at the fact the Droid worked for him, then he continues in his language, letting it translate once again. "Stealth will be of little use once on the ship, and where the defenders will have knoledge of the ships, they will have limitations in terms of numbers and weapons. we could have one or two members with a heavier weapon...maybe a repeater, which can again dispatch a group effectively and quickly"

CC9 looks at the wookiee, who appears intent on doing his job.  Then he looks back at the Commander.

Arin nodded. "I agree with the big fellow, stun grenades will come in handy in confined quarters. We also need not only to jam the comms between the ships but also their hand held comms if we want to keep them from having any kind of tactical linkage between the ships. And if we do that, we need to modify our own comms to carry over the jamming."

Cor shakes her head, her expression carefully neutral.  "Any jamming signal that can stifle the signal of a ship's transceiver will certainly be more than powerful enough to stop hand-held communicators.  While each line of communication requires slightly different approaches the principles are actually the same; only the scale truly differs."

"What I mean is, we need to cover enough frequencies to block out any attempt to communicate. That has the only unfortunate effect of blocking our comms as well, or am I wrong?"

"It depends on how the matter is handled; there are a few ways to block comms.  I have some ideas that may facilitate their comms being blocked but not ours."  She shrugs.  "A little fore-planning does wonders."

"If you are able to do that, I'll tip my non-existant hat at you, miss. Not an easy feat, though I'm not an electronic warfare specialist."

"If we manage to pull this off you will likely be able to easily buy a hat to tip, Mr Branden," Cor says with a completely straight face.

Devon sniggers at Cors comment, then speaks up.
"On the subject of grenades - they'll try and use them on us if they have them.  Probably when we first board and are all bunched up in the airlock.  One concussion grenade could really ruin our day.  And the Force help us if they have frags.  We need to be ready for that sort of trick.  Ideally, we need a way to dissuade them from even trying..."

The shipjacker trailed off for a moment, thinking...
"Hostages."  he announces.  "We need hostages.  And before you point out that we cant take hostages till after we've boarded, I've thought of that.  Disable two freighters.  Board freighter A... send them a message saying that if they resist us, we'll blast freighter B out of the sky.  Once we've pacified freighter A, its crew become our new hostages."

CC9 looks over at Sheila, then Arin, and then back to Sheila.  "How are Imperial troops likely to respond to such a situation?" he asks.  "Would this likely have the desired effect or would they deem the loss of one or two transports to be acceptable collateral damage, and disregard the potential loss of life?"

"CC9 is right Mr Kismet.  Imperials wouldn't care if you took their people hostage or even if you took a million civilian hostages.  They'd happily shoot them themselves just to kill you.  You need to think like an Imperial."

"Mr Grayrhynn, you are going to be boarding civilian freighters loaded with petrochem.  I would remind you that the use of grenades or inaccurate high-velocity weapons like repeaters in such an environment can cause a hull breach or a fuel tank rupture.  Be sure to use such weapons with caution.  I take it none of you who there have forgotten the result of a grenade being used aboard the shuttle in our recent escort mission."

OOC:  For those who forgot, it blew up the entire shuttle, damaged the freighter it was docked to and nearly blew up the entire freighter!

"As for the communications jamming, Ms Lambar is the closest we have to a resident expert so I trust she'll do the best job she can in the time given.  If you have expertise in this Mr Branden I'm sure your services will be welcomed.  Be mindful that while the ships are civilian, the crews are military so will likely have military grade commlinks which are much harder to jam.  Also don't forget we want any survivors to think this was a pirate raid.  So a little comm traffic that helps sell the deception help us."

Xil had been quiet the whole briefing, wrestling with something internally.  Finally he spoke.

"Sir, I request that I remain aboard the Nightshrike.  I do not wish to have a leadership role at present, I have many things to reflect on from our previous mission.  Besides, I'm a sniper and you don't need a sniper on the boarding crew."



**NPC'd by GM**

"Understood Mr Nallis, I'm sure we can make good use of you there."

"Ms Trake, that means you can serve on the boarding team.  It also means I need to reassign command of the boarding team.  Leader of the boarding team shall be B2-CC9."

OOC: For those on the boarding team (and any interested), I have linked a copy of the deck plans for the freighters:

http://deckplans.00sf.com/CEC/Action6.html

Gray listens to the commander and nods. Speaking in his native togune, he finishes. The Droid beeps, then translates. "i agree with you commander, that if using grenades and high velocity weapons, great caution is needed. Flash grenades may be less effective but safer, or maybe some kind of gas grenade. "

"As for the heavy weapons, they would be last option sir, i prefer a well placed shot with my bowcaster than a full out spray on a ship. i know full well the hazards first hand of decompression  on a ship."

"What I can tell you is that Stormtroopers can not be blackmailed or coerced with hostages. Also, it might have an adverse effect on the other crews, who might put up even more resistance if they think, we're ruthless enough."

"Well we've covered most of the briefing I think.  Time to start breaking into groups and walking on individual assignments.  Arin, I am assigning you the designation Talon five, Grayrhynn, eight, Heigran twelve.  On mission we use numbers or callsigns rather than names for obvious reasons. For now we'll keep the droids with their models.  So B2-CC9 can be bee-two and R2-A9 are-two.  If people wish to come up with call-signs for the droids, that also would be acceptable."

"CC9, start working on your plans with your team, you have the deckplans to work with.  Grayrhynn you can discuss munitions with B2.  Branden, I want you to get to the sims and get some flight time.  Allen and Masters then get to wipe the floor with you.  Three can you also work up a simulation of the entire engagement?  It will allow us to practice?"

"Kismet, I need you to make sure our fighters are in top notch condition.  Trake, I need the same for the Nightshrike.  Both the fighters and the ship will also need new paintjobs and altered transponders to make them appear as pirate vessels.  I believe the XO is arranging the datawork for that.

"Nallis, go through our armoury and make sure all the equipment is in top-working order.  I imagine we shall need a good portion of it for our fight."

"Pertwee, all requests for supplies are to be channelled through you.  We lack funds at the moment but I'll make credits available for things we need urgently.  Heigran can assist you."

"Lambar, you have the comm jamming."

Mark stood.  "We should have several days, maybe a week before we strike.  Make sure you are all ready.  We'll need to practice, get our jobs so familiar they are second nature.  We can brook no mistakes.  This mission could financially secure our organisation or it could destroy it."

He heads for the door, reaches it then turns, his voice turns hard.  "Three, Seven.  My office in ten minutes."

The commander leaves the room.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:52, Sun 12 Aug 2012.

CC9 immediately turns to the wookie.  "No damaging grenades," he states flatly, "no heavy repeaters.  Anything that could cause a hull breach or rupture a fuel tank with ease is an unacceptable risk.  Your suggestion for flash grenades is an acceptable one; gas grenades more so.  They will likely be useless against stormtroopers but will greatly assist against Imperial Navy and/or Army.  Utilising enough of them may prevent any need to demand the crew's surrender; precise strikes to eliminate the stormtroopers will deal with the rest.  Rebreathers and goggles will keep the organic members of our team safe from gas."

"Shall we, Mouse?"

Arin said that to Sheila with a slight grin. He had a recollection of her flying, but wasn't certain, how good she'd be. He knew his own skills, however, and had enough confidence in them to keep him alive and kicking.

"Sure." She returned his grin halfheartedly, but she;s not very friendly.)  "By the way, i'm THree, not Mouse, that was just for figuring out where I knew you from.  Let's finish here first." She will stay and listen for another 3 or so minutes, then take arin and get him set up on the simuators, watch for a couple minutes, then head for marks office.

(edited cause I missed a message earlier.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Sun 12 Aug 2012.

Before the commander gets out of ear shot, Mika speaks up, "No, I'm good staying on the Nightshrike.  Sounds like Cor's gonna be pretty busy and you might need some back up."

Cor smiles evenly to Mika.  "I appreciate that, thank you.  As it is I will likely have my hands full wiring the computer room to remotely control more of the Shrike's systems.  The jamming array is a simple enough task in comparison."

The wookiie looks at the droid and simply nods, though a look of disapointed e for a second, but quickly disapears

Devon sighed as he got to his feet, grabbed a mug of caf and another pastry, cheerfully saluted the assembled company (leaving a smudge of crumbs above one eye) and ambled off in the direction of the hanger.  Best get started.

If nothing else, he'd have time to draw up a long list of tasks and Things We Dont Have Time To Do before going to see the Commander...

Mika gives Cor a nod.  "Let's go see what needs doing.  I might be able to help out, with the remote control wiring if nothing else."  She takes up some of the snacks.  "Besides, I need to check out the copilots station, see if it's in good working order."

There was no logic to the thought that the copilot station might need servicing, but it was just another in a long list of quirks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:40, Tue 14 Aug 2012.

Exilim left the briefing and headed to the armoury. He began checking the equipment as directed by the Commander. While not going with the boarding party, he would make sure that any equipment taken would be working perfectly.

He had remained silent since the end of the last mission, the reflective mood that he had initially found himself in continued. Command had been difficult for him, and he analyzed his actions over a number of missions, right back to when he was given command responsibilities. While he could rationalise the need at the time, he now had doubts.

He was a sniper and he enjoyed the solitude that the role granted him, it suited his personality. On and on these thoughts went through his mind.

CC9 watches the wookiee for a few moments.  When nothing constructive - or even verbal - is forthcoming he turns and walks toward the door.  "I will check the armory and assemble gear recommendations."

Cor makes a few final notes on her datapad and stands.  "I wonder if the Nightshrike has viewport shades," she says to herself, a bit glumly, and follows Mika out.  She grabs a few snacks as well; there's lots to do.

While checking the E-11 blaster rifles, Xil came across a something he hadn't expected. There in front of him was was a sniper rifle. The E-11 had been modified to include a high powered scope, lengthened barrel, bipod and some work had been done on the targeting.

He thought of the AR-1 blaster rifle that had just been delivered to him and shook his head at the irony of the situation, he was a sniper who had been without a proper rifle for some time, now all of a sudden he had choices. While the AR-1 would require some work, it was a powerful long range rifle that was more robust than the X-45 he had used previously.

He sat still thinking for a moment, maybe he could still go on the boarding party, just not in a command position. He put the sniper rifle aside to fully check over a bit later. Getting up he left the armoury to find CC9, once he had he will ask to be considered for the boarding team.

“hey tin can you want anything from the armory you better talk to the quarter master first” Rann shouted out to B2-CC9 as the droid went on his way “and the quarter master is me so what is it you are looking for?” he grinned as he asked.

CC9 stops and turns slowly to face Rann.  "Do you have a current and correct inventory of every piece of weaponry and armour in the armory, sweat-soaked sack of blood and meat?"

Heigran sauntered over to talk to Rann.  "Is insulting your colleagues normal or you just make a special exception for droids?  Let me suggest you don't try that with Grayrhynn.  Wookies aren't renowned for their senses of humour.  Still, you're willing to mess with a super battle droids so maybe you're just crazy enough to take on a Wookie.  Gonna be fun working with you!" the last comment is accompanied by a mischevious grin.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:26, Sat 18 Aug 2012.

Flash gets up and leaves, yo.

Xil locates CC9 leaving the briefing room "B2, I would like you consider me for the boarding team. While I don't want a command position I think that I can be of use to your team. Let me know, I'll be in the armoury or in my quarters."

Xil turns and heads back to the armoury. Now that he had a little more clarity in himself he was a little happier. Once back to checking the equipment he goes through the process of actually checking what was there with the inventory record that they had.

"Apparently we must go through the quartermaster if we require anything from the armory," CC9 states flatly to the departing Xil, "unless that 'policy' only applies to droids."

As Xil heads back to the armoury he hears CC9's comment, throwing a reply back over his shoulder with a slight grin "Applies to everyone, otherwise we'd have nothing there."

CC9 internally notes Xil's comment to be a lie, as the quartermaster is right in front of him and Xil hasn't said a single word to him.  He doesn't say anything further, waiting for Rann's response.

The Wookie, wordlessly follows the droid.  He had little experience with battle driods, though he had long heard the tales of them, efficent in battle, but ruthless to a fault.

He speaks up hoping his translator driod functions.  The driod beeps then starts speaking "Could we have an in.." The droid decends into static, then speaks again. "...e type of grenades and number of them...exp..." Static again. "....ount and type"

CC9 isn't going anywhere, as Rann stopped him and he's waiting for a reply.  He turns to the wookiee briefly and states, "Your translator droid should be repairable.  We will address this issue with my mistress."  Then he turns back to Rann.  Still waiting.

Rann gets out his data pad and opens up the nightshrike's inventory " okay one at a time what do you need and I can see if we have it” he told them.

"I need a list of the inventory.  Without it I will not know what options I have for outfitting the boarding team."

The wookie snorts at the battle droid, a little annoyed that he has stated the obvious.  He stands in silence waiting for the inventory of the crew

B2-CC9 and Grayrhynn have no need to ask Rann about the stock inventory as Mark made it freely available to all early in the briefing.

(( OOC: Hmm.  Seems I missed that.  That would have changed his side of the whole conversation but never mind.  Flexibility, yo! ))

CC9, having spent the meeting standing up against a wall, didn't pick up a datapad when Mark handed them around.  Generally droids didn't get offered such things anyway.  Whether the human he now stands in front of is attempting to be humorous or insulting is perhaps beyond the droid's capacity to calculate; it's certainly beyond his scope of interest.

So now CC9 leans over.  It's a very intimidating movement as he looms over the human, bending over until he's a mere inch away, his baleful red sensors staring right at Rann's face from extreme close range.  Having a huge metal killing machine right in your face isn't fun for anyone.

Then he reaches past the human and plucks one of the datapads from the table behind Rann.  Seems he's recalled that the information he needs is right there and he doesn't need Rann to access it, and probably wasn't about to snap Rann in half like a twig after all.

He leans back and turns on his heel, heading for the door.  "I will peruse this list and give you my orders for equipment within two standard hours, quartermaster.  I will then be by the armory in one standard hour after you have received the list to inspect the inventory you will have gathered."

Back in the armoury Xil hadn't caught the last of the discussion between Rann and CC9 and so therefore was unaware of the time frames that had been applied.

Looking at the inventory list he starts to prioritise the order he would follow to hopefully ensure the right gear was ready to be used: blaster rifles, blaster pistols, power packs, grenade launchers .......

He leaves the sniper rifle aside for the moment, intending to assess it thoroughly at a later stage.

Grayrhynn, hearing the conversation, smiles a little and walks past to take account of the stock first hand. Grayrhynn looks around taking particular note of the heavier weapons and explosive ordinates.

As Mika and Cor hook up, Mika shrugs.  "So, where you want to start?  I want to run some reports, see how the Nightshrike's systems have been working, see if I can find anything that needs some attention.  I don't expect much there, if there was anything major, we'd know about it already.  I'll probably have some time to lend a hand if you've got anything you need a hand lent on."  She chuckles a bit.

"Well, the theory of the jamming technology is sound enough," Cor ponders.  "If you, A9 and I work on wiring up the communications room we can share the bulk of duties during any capital ship combat.  I should spend some time in the simulators, as well - I cannot honestly say I have much experience piloting capital ships."  Then she muses a bit.  "If you wish to learn more about droid systems still we could work on..."  She looks down at her notes and continues, "Grayrhynn's translator droid.  The poor thing has seen much damage and I wonder if it is the wookiee himself who has caused most of it."

Location: Deserted Hangar, Phindar V
**Four hours later**

With various jobs to do, time past quickly as the Nightshrike run a long and circuitous course back to the Talons' temporary base of operation on Phindar V.  Rather than continuing to use the main refinery belonging to Phindar Petrochem, Zyra had located a disused spaceport, fallen into disrepair that had some hangars still intact.  While it didn't offer all the equipment the refinery did, it put the petrochem company at significantly lesser risk.  People would notice all the ships coming and going before long.

Mark and Mika worked together to fly the Nightshrike into one of the hangars.  It was a tight fit but between them, the two landed the cruiser without incident.  Once the ship was safely powered down, Mark briefly gathered everyone into the dining room once more.

Mister Allen and I have already ferried our fighters here while you were all off on your recon mission.  We have some basic provisions, food, fuel and maintenance equipment.  If you need anything else, make a list and Mister Pertwee can arrange to get it.  Ms Lambar, we might need to use your speeder for transport as it's the only civilian model we have and wont draw attention."

"We have at least five days until we attack, maybe as many as ten.  I will let you know when we know.  Use the time well.  Accomplish your tasks, catch up on sleep and be ready to go when I tell you.  Dismissed."



OOC:  So the Talons have at least five days to do anything they wish to.  Your various assignments will only take a day or two max so you have time to catch up on any skills, play in the simulators or do whatever.

There are three hangars.  One houses the Nightshrike, one has the four fighters and some basic maintenance equipment.  The last one has been set up as a combination barracks/eating/recreation area.

Grayrhynn, standing at attention as the commander spoke, listened intently. The idea of free time peaked his interest with his new comrades. His first stop would be For La bar, and get his droid looked at. Another was to spend time with the weapon specialists, learn their skills, and perhaps upgrade his bowcaster.

The wookie saw this place, this team, as a great opportunity.

Heigran cheers.  "Awesome!  A week huh?  Let's find a good casino, get the drinks rolling."

"Have fun with that," Cor says evenly.

"You more of a quiet night in girl?  Not normally my thing, but I could make an exception for you."

Cor blushes profusely and bends her head down over her datapad, all of a sudden becoming much more interested in it.

'Shy but interested.' Heigean thought to himself.  He was going to pursue further but then he had a far more urgent task.  He turned to Arin.

"You.  You're an Imperial right?  That means I need to teach you something they don't teach you in your Imperial uh. . .things.  It's called f-u-n.  It will go against everything the Imperials ever taught you.  But you look tough, I think you'll survive."

CC9, true to his word, has produced a list of equipment for Rann to provide.  The list has his authorisation as leader of the boarding team/s, and does indeed include Xil as one of the members.

If Rann hasn't provided the equipment CC9 simply takes it from the Armory.  Either way he gets the PK droids to carry the equipment and updates the logs very precisely to state what he has taken.

He provides no particular feedback to Mark's comments at this mini-briefing.  It seems purely informational; CC9 has nothing to report, in any case.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:13, Sat 25 Aug 2012.

Arin shrugged. "Not sure, how I'll manage. They picked me from under a rock and moulded in to a handsome fighter jockey, I am now. I sincerily doubt, I could go against the training I have..."

"We'll succeed or die trying right?  Now we'll need to find a cantina, one that serves the drinks strong.  Once we've got a few of those in you, we find a high stakes sabaac game.  Once we've played long enough we pick you a fight with the biggest guy there, preferably with all his friends."

With the briefing over; Devon stood up, stretched and dug a folded piece of paper  out of one of the pockets of his coveralls.
Unfolding his poster, Devon spent a second apparantly trying to decide whether Heigren or Arin  would make a better display board, then shrugged and stuck his poster up on the actual notice board.  With a final nod to the group, Devon ambled off in the direction of the hanger housing the fighters.


The homemade poster said:

COMPETITION TIME!

That's right kids, your favourite ship jacker is running a competition!
Before our next mission, all ships need to be repainted as pirate vessels.  Loud, garish and crude colour schemes are the order of the day!

Send your suggestions to me via shipboard network - the colour scheme I like most gets revealed to a shocked and amazed public when we ambush that imperial convoy next week!  Also, the person who suggests the winning colour scheme will receive a colour coordinated no-prize from my personal supplies.

- Devon



With the easiest task on his list at least started, Devon headed to the hanger to begin correcting all the problems that Mark had yelled at him about.
After nearly an hour of examining the fighters, making notes on his datapad, scratching his head a lot and checking circuit diagrams stored in Nightshrikes memory core, Devon hesitantly made a list of components on his datapad, stared at it for several minutes, rewrote the second half of the list entirely, forwned deeply and finally decided that if he got this right... it probably wouldn't blow up first time someone pressed the Big Red Button...
...probably.

"Ok..." he muttered to no-one in particular.  "lets see if I can cobble that together and make it not kill someone..."
With his shopping list firmly in hand, Devon headed for the stores.  Once this initial test version caught fire, exploded, melted or just plain and simple refused to work, he'd be one step closer to doing it properly...
...probably.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:32, Mon 27 Aug 2012.

Grayrhynn walks up to cor and smiles, his Droid close at his shoulder. He looks at the Droid then back to cor, and speaks in his home togune.  He looks at the Droid as if expecting it to malfunction.

"I understand you are a....."there is stadic, then it comes back. "...ould you look at my droid and possibly repair it."

Grayrhynn smiles at the fact that it does show it's faults.

Xil had sat for a little after the briefing considering what to do first. He noted that Devon had posted a notice. Getting up he walked over and read what Devon had written and smiled to himself at the prize on offer.

He walked out of the briefing room and headed back to the armoury, he still had some time before needing to get sleep. As he works he decides that he really needed to get some proper tools for himself. After all, if he was going to start working on the AR-1 they would be a big bonus. Must remember to give Rann a list of what I want he thought to himself.

After sometime he leaves the armoury and sends Rann a brief message via his datapad

“okay” said Rann as he looked at the different lists “Right B2 the list is all in  stores and medbay the rebrethers and binder cuffs will take time to find unless we find alternatives.”
he told the driod trunning to Exilim “yes I should be able to get hold of them, anybody for anything else?” he asked everyone.

OOC: So far nobody has really indicated what they plan to do with the downtime they have before the convoy mission.  Obviously you all have assigned tasks but they will take a few days tops.  You have time to work on craft/profession skills, or work on anything you've wanted to do for a while.  Oh and get any requisitions in to Rann quickly as he'll need time to source things.

SHeila listens to Mark, quietly in the bad, notes Heigren;s flirting with anything in a skirt, and remembers that he's Zeitron, which explains it.  Her expression doesn't tell him if she's jealous or not, that he's not flirting with her now, and she starts taking notes on her pad.

Barely a day passes and Mika has the Nightshrike as diagnosed as possible without a full shut down, tweaking some of the wiring, refamiliarizing herself with the controls and so on.

That stuff being done, she goes looking for Rann.  "I need some tools (Craft - High quality) and the stuff on this list."  She hands Rann a flimsy with a small list of items, some plastics and metals, galvening coils and other raw materials for crafting a blaster.

Once Xil was happy that the gear in the armoury was good to go, he turns his attention to his own equipment. He makes sure that all his power packs and energy cells are charged and ready to go.

He then spends time becoming familiar with his AR-1 blaster rifle. All weapons had their own little quirks and Xil wanted to be as familiar with the AR-1 as possible before taking it into action. He also wanted the time to figure out how to best customise/ personalise the weapon for himself.

Lastly he takes the time to properly examine the modified E-11 sniper rifle. Someone else had done the hard work in modifying it and it was a good place to also get ideas for himself.

Cor nods to the wookiee, perhaps a bit cautiously, but follows it up with a smile.  "Certainly.  If I may take the droid to my workshop I should have it functioning properly very shortly."  Unless someone wants her for something more urgent Cor puts droid-fixing as top priority and gets the translator back to Grayrhynn as quickly as possible.

It actually takes her longer than she'd anticipated.  The previous day's activity works on her nerves and she finds herself doing as much staring at the droid's inner workings as fixing them.  Finally she shakes the feeling off, though, and finds comfort in the intricate task of repairing the translator's circuits. 

"Perhaps we need to work on some shock-absorbing armour for you, little one," she murmurs to the translator as she closes the machine's panels and reboots it.

Over the next couple of days Cor works with Mika whenever the engineer is available to get the controls in the computer room working to satisfaction.  With all wiring done and settled, and the wookie's droid fixed to satisfaction, Cor goes back to the matter of the jamming suite.

At that time Cor sends a couple of messages out to various crew members from the reclusive safety of her quarters.  One is to Rann, and the other is to Arin.

Grayrhynn smiles at Cor and nods in appreciation. He then sets to working on the other thing in prep of the upcoming battle....his bowcaster. He grabs a data pad and types on it to Cor. The text contains the following:

Do you know where there is a workshop, and who in the team is skilled in weapon upgrades?

Cor nods to Grayrhynn.  "You will wish to speak to Mr Nallis regarding that, I believe.  Ms Trake may also know something of weapons construction but I may be mistaken there."

The Wookie again nods and then goes looking For Exilim Nallis.

Upon finding him, he hands teh datapad to him, already typed a message on it, saying the following:

I understand you are capable of weapon repairs and upgrades...is this true?

Arin lets out a sigh and heads on to a computer terminal to figure out the tactics they need to beat the TIEs. He finds a message left for him, raises a brow reading it and skips off towards the middle deck.

Not very much later, there's a knock on Cor's door.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Wed 05 Sept 2012.

Xil looks up from examining the modified E-11 sniper rifle when Grayrhynn approaches. Reading the message on the datapad he nods as he replies "Yep, I can help out with that, but I need proper tools and have requested them. You'll have to wait for a little bit before we can work on what you want."

Thinking for a minute "I also think Mika can help out, but not sure how she is situated for tools. In the mean time, lets talk about what did you want done?"

The wookie scratches his nose and again starts typing, then again hands it to exilim.I have some skills in upgrading my bowcaster, but looking to increase the range and firepower, if you have any ideas.

sheila spends some time in the sickbays with the doctor droids and make sure they are properly stocked.,  ahe will also go see our illustrious providers and look into getting a mastercraft security kit, and a mastercraft datapad, security kit takes predicence.

**Two days later

The next few days are spent constructively, preparing for the mission.  Mika and Cor work on the Nightshrike, wiring the communications centre to run many ship's functions.  Cor also prepares the ship for the jamming suite while Mika services the vessel, ensuring it is ready for combat.

Devon spends his time servicing the fighters.  Sheila shows an interest in the work and spends a fair amount of time assisting Devon with the work.  The rest of the time she spends in the simulators with Arin and Flash.  Since the injured refugees had been moved to Phindar Petrochem's medical centre under 2-1B's care, Sheila had not needed to monitor them.

Rann is not seen for most of the time as the black marketeer meets his various contacts and endeavours to acquire the equipment requested.  He returns after two days with all the requested gear bar Cor's which will arrive in the next day or two.

Zyra has also returned with the Ghtroc, having relocated the refugees to a safe world.

Heigran spent most of his time away from the base.  Rann reports he had seen the Zeltron several times in the local casino.


OOC:  Well after a eventful week I'm back in action.  All the work Mark assigned you has been completed (except Cor's who is waiting on the jamming array).
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:24, Thu 06 Sept 2012.

Mika, having done the promised work on the Nightshrike's computer systems and the general maintnence, is excited to receive the tools and components from Rann.  She'd been meaning to put together a blaster pistol with a little more punch than the one she has used to date.  It was good enough as a tech on the lamb, but now she was a mercenary or something.  She heads off to the maintenance area of the ship, sorting through the tools and components.

Arin heads off to have a chat with the CO about the tactics for the fighters.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:01, Fri 07 Sept 2012.

In reply to Master Servious (msg # 141):  pm

Devon ambled into the rec room, glanced at the competition notice he had posted on the wall and sighed.  So far no one had responded...
Well he thought as he fixed himself a mug of caf They'll have no-one to blame but themselves if I paint the fighters bright pink

Steaming mug in hand, Devon ambled off to find Sheila.  Her recent help with the fighters had been most welcome.

Settling down in the maintenance area, Mika spreads out the components and sets about working with her tools.  Putting together a blaster pistol is delicate work and her nimble fingers ply the newly acquired tools to good affect.

Grayrhynn walks into teh room and leans up against a wall in the back corner, abseently sharpening a wicked looking knife, one of the few possessions he brought with him.

Xil spent a little time going over the tool kits that he had received. Now he could really spend the time to make the AR-1 the sniper rifle that he wanted. He took the rifle and his tool kits to the maintenance area where he would have the room to work.

When he enters he sees Mika hard at work on a new blaster. He picks a spot that gives them both the area that they need to work and starts on the first of his planned personalised modifications - greater range for his rifle.

Just giving it another day or so before I push forward.  Remember you have 3-4 days before the mission so you have that time to catch up on anything you like.  If you haven't let me know what you're doing, please do so ASAP.

CC9 has been busy.  He's also been curiously absent from the Shrike's halls.  Two two less-imposing B1 battle droids are present on their normal patrols but the lack of huge B2 stomping down the corridors is notable, to say the least.  Perhaps even welcome, to some.

A day after Rann provides equipment to the Talons, however, he resurfaces.  Speaking over the Shrike's internal comms he states in his harsh, flat monotone:

"Boarding team, please report to Docking Bay D3 in two hours for combat and tactics training.  This is not optional.  I also request the assistance of any and all other Talons willing to give it.  If you can point a blaster and fire it your... help would be... appreciated."

---

When those Talons who intend to turn up actually do, CC9 is standing next to an Action freighter of the same type that the Talons intend to capture.

The two B1 droids are also standing there.  Next to the two B1 droids is a long folding table with two piles of recreational armour and weaponry - laser-tag equipment, exactly the kind you'd find in a theme park or something.  The guns are fashioned after heavy blaster rifles.

The play-equipment is very sturdy and of good make.  Half of the equipment is detailed in red, the other half in blue - two teams' worth of weapons and armour.

CC9 waits to see who will turn up before speaking.

Heigran saunters into the docking bay, a bottle of beer in his hand and waves to CC9.  "Hey there!  Reporting for all your blaster pointing and firing needs sir!" He throws a mock salute and makes a modest attempt at coming to attention, an effort that probably would have only earned him two hundred push ups in an army basic training course.

It takes Mika a bit more than three days effort in her crafting work.  The first day had gone smoothly, but the second, requiring a bit of non-standard shaping of the blaster casing, noticeably the grip, slowed her down a little bit.  But once that was done, she was able to push ahead and made good time, finishing it the morning of the fourth day.

But when it's all said and done, Mika looks down with admiration at her newly completed heavy blaster pistol.  The matte black finish reflects the light only dimly and the grip, just a bit smaller than average, fits her delicate hand quite well.  She slips a power pack into the grip, grinning as it slides smoothly into place with a slight click as it's locked in.  Thumbing the release, it comes back out smoothly.

Of course, there's only one, true way to test out a blaster and that was to fire it.  Climbing to her feet, she goes looking about for a blaster range.

Arin spends most of his time either at the simulator or at Cor's quarters. A couple of days prior to the mission, he enters the hangar and goes over his assigned fighter with great detail.

Some time later, those assigned to the space warfare tasks are sent a message.

"It would be good to have a meeting to plan and discuss the tactics for the assault on the convoy. If you feel, you have something to contribute to the matter, there will be a chance for you to deliver those ideas in to the discussion at the briefing room tonight."

Just as Arin was waiting for the cockpit to finish opening, he heard footsteps behind him.  Devon was approaching hurriedly, carrying a mug of caf.

"Hey!" called the engineer, sounding annoyed.  "Dont go fiddling!  I've still got stuff to repair after that damn pirate tried to sabotage his flight computer when we captured him."
Devon stepped firmly between Arin and the fighter.

"I'll tell you flyboys when the fighters are ready, then you can check them over and convince yourself that the engineers DO know what they're doing."  Anyone in any military organisation ever was intimately familiar with the the dislike Engineers had for anyone who got their precious machines shot at...

Devon made a shooing motion with his hands.  "For now though, beat it! Go on!  I got work to do here and I dont need pilots poking around distracting me when I'm repairing stuff.  If I dont get this right then your gonna be flying a deathtrap."

In a slightly more normal tone, Devon added:  "And if you see Sheila, tell her to come see me about those customizations she wanted done."

"Just tell me if you need a hand with it - I'm not 'just a pilot', you know", Arin replies and heads back towards other parts of the base.

Xil spent his time working on the modification for his AR-1 blaster rifle. While he worked on it as much as he could, he doubted that it would be ready for the upcoming mission.

When he hears CC9's request to gather in the hanger he takes time out at the designated hour.

 "Reporting as requested." he says as he enters docking bay 3.

"One assistant, one boarding member and two B1 droids," CC9 notes as Xil enters and reports.  "It is a start."

Activating his Talon comm the droid speaks into it.  It transmits to every comms speaker aboard the 'Shrike as well as the Talons comms.

"Boarding team, this is your reminder: please report to Docking Bay D3 immediately for combat training purposes.  This is not optional."

Then he looks first at Heigren and then at Xil, then back again.  "We shall wait one half of an hour longer.  Exilim Nallis, B1-AE3 and B1-AE5, please don a set of red armour and select a red laser-tag gun each.  Heigren, please don a set of blue armour and select a blue laser-tag gun."

He doesn't explain the plan just yet, but assigning two teams of laser-tag equiment does rather give it away.  Heigren is going to be very painfully outnumbered if more volunteers don't show up.

After watching Arin go his way, Devon relaxes a little.  Then he clambers up into the R41s cockpit and continues with what he was doing before the munchies had hit him and he had gone looking for a mug of caf.


Several minutes later, Devon was still busily working away when his commlink chirped.



'Crap' he muttered.  'Always something I forget.'
Scrambling down from the R41, Devon locked the canopy and hurried off to docking bay 3.
On arrival, Devon took in the freighter with raised eyebrows whilst gulping down what was left of his caf, then headed over to where Xil and the others were stood.
'Sorry I'm late, something came up and -' Devon finally caught sight of the practice weapons on the table.
'Sweet!  we're gonna play laser tag?'

Grayrhynn reports to the docking bay as ordered, his newly repaired droid in tow.  The last two days had been a blur for the wookie, and though he had spent some time trying (and unsuccessfully at that) to upgrade his bowcaster, he spent the rest of the time becoming familiar with the ship and the weapons.

Now, however, he had a set mission to acomplish. He was a part of teh boarding team, and needed to train and prove his worth.

The wookie strides up to B2. Talking in his home togune, teh droid translates.

Grayrhynn reporting as ordered for training

He looks at Devon and nods, and smiles at Heigren.

(apologies, new job, nights, way more commute time and I can't seem to get out on time.)

Sheila shows up just before Devon get's his message.  "So, how's it look?"  they will talk quietly for a few minute.

"You are within expected parameters of tardiness, Devon Kismet.  As clarification: we are going to train in taking over a freighter.  Rather than using weapons on stun I calculated it to be more tactically sound to use harmless equipment.  In addition," he adds after a pause, "whilst this equipment is not being used to train it is freely available to groups of Talons who wish to use it for recreational purposes.  Please don a suit of red armour and take a red weapon.  Grayrhynn, the same.  The armour is adjustable and will fit your larger frame."

That last point is clearly important, as CC9 has a similarly larger frame.  As people suit up he begins to outline the plan.

"In brief: this freighter is the same model as the ones we will be boarding.  The overall tactic is simple but requires team coordination: droids with riot shields will head the assault, providing mobile cover for others.  Droids will head the assault both because we are immune to most forms of morale loss, our appearance can terrify untrained troops and we are easier to repair than organics."

He picks up a red laser-tag blaster from the table.  "We will train initially as one boarding team.  If the team's coordination is of a competent level we will also train as two separate groups.  Mission parameters insist this boarding task be completed with minimal casualties.  If team coordination is below par we will strike only as one team; losses are unacceptable.  I do not expect," he adds after a heavy pause, "that team coordination will be that low."

He then gestures to Heigren.  "We will team up red against blue.  Unless someone comes to assist Mr Heigren he is in serious trouble.  On that note if no other volunteers arrive I will have Heigren stand down and instead monitor our progress for a single run via laser-tag systems; after that I will split us into two teams and pit you against one another."

He glances about.  "We will wait for one quarter of an hour for any other possible volunteers.  Are there any questions?"

Arin walks in, just in timeto hear the call for volunteers. "I believe, you have one here, then."

"Your assistance is appreciated, Arin Branden.  Don a set of blue armour and select a blue blaster.  In addition your knowledge of Imperial tactics will be most useful."

If the droid holds Arin's initial comments about memory wiping against him then it doesn't show.  Then again he never shows much emotion.

Arin begins to don the equipment. "Now, I'm not an infantry officer, though I have some knowledge about Imperial infantry tactics."

Xil does as requested and dons a red suit of armour and picks out one of the red laser tag guns. Unable to help himself he checks the gun over.

He waits patiently while others start to arrive and starts to feel sorry for Heigren as the solitary blue team member.

He nods as CC9 outlines his plan, he also hopes that the team co-ordination is not below par.

About ten minutes after the appointed time, Mark arrives to the docking bay with Rann in tow.

"Sorry I'm late CC9, had a holocomm call.  Found Mr Pertwee loitering in the rec hall so brought him along."

He looked around and then produced his commlink.  "Talons, this is one.  Anyone who has not turned up to CC9's training session is advised that this is most likely the only time in your career your commanding officer will actually allow, and even commend you for shooting him.  Out."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:09, Thu 13 Sept 2012.

"Leniency is granted, Commander, particularly because I had not calculated that you would be joining us.  Please don a set of blue armour and take a blue weapon."

He reiterates the plan for the Commander and Rann, not pausing to wait for Mark's input.  Once the plan is laid out (again) he continues.

"Many of the corridors in this model of freighter are narrow," CC9 states, "which presents a tactical problem to both ourselves and the enemy - to be specific, vulnerability to grenades and lack of manoeuvrability.  The former issue is calculated as minimal; just as we are not taking fragmentation grenades it is unlikely the stormtrooper force will utilise them for fear of rupturing the freighter's cargo."

Then he waves the two B1s forward; they grasp riot shields and with an impressive clash they bring them up, locking them together as a mobile wall in front of them.

"The second issue is dealt with by using mobile cover.  This allows boarding team members near the front of the riot shield wall to shoot past the wall droids and protects the team from blaster fire.  It should also provide considerable defence against stun or gas grenades, as the grenades must get past the shield wall and must also be effective against droids; the likelihood of the foes having ion grenades is very low."

He then directs his attention to Arin and the Commander.  "Arin branden will be given command of Blue team with Commander Sheppard as 2IC.  Blue team has fifteen minutes to familiarise themselves with the freighter and set up defensive positions as befits Imperial tactics."  The emphasis on the word 'Imperial' seems mostly to be for Mark's benefit.  it's a pretty sure bet that CC9 knows Mark's tactics would be different, and possibly superior, to stormtrooper tactics.  "Please begin when you are ready, gentlemen."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:47, Thu 13 Sept 2012.

"By your command." Heigran said, pulling on blue team gear.

Arin nods. "Blue team, on me if you please", he says and gathers his team in to a quiet conversation away from the Red team.

Sheila will show up a minute or so after the comm call. "am I too late to shoot my fellow team members?"

Suited up in his red armour, Devon listened patiently to C9s briefing and watched as the Blue team retreated to the far end the hanger for their planning session.  As the wait extended itself, he surreptitiously aimed his gun at them and started making quiet pew pew noises.

After a few moments Devon lowered his weapon again, apparently satisfied that he had killed the opposing team already.  He looked round at his team-mates then back at C9.
"So, in a real boarding operation we'd want to secure the bridge and engineering whilst eliminating resistance.  I guess that's what we're aiming for here?"
He looked up at the mock freighter, searching his memory for what he knew of the layout of this class.
"Are we going aboard via the main lock?"

Smiling at Devon's antic towards the blue team, Xil pulls his thoughts together and considers the available options "Don't forget the airlocks, they could be an entry point as well."

CC9 directs Sheila to join the blue team.

(( OOC: Apologies for the slow-down in my posts, people.  Life has been... disruptive here.

Also, there's heavy MSU happening here.  If I'm getting anything wrong as I try to decipher the schematics please feel free to mention it OOC and I'll alter my post, yo. ))

"Affirmative.  The primary air locks are the only way into the vessel during flight that will not cause significant damage to the vessel itself.  However there are two applicable entrances, either side of the forepart of the freighter."  He keeps his voice low.  "If Mr Branden's estimations of the stormtrooper forces are accurate then they will be unlikely to be able to cover both sufficiently."

He makes sure everyone's getting suited up as he speaks.  "Irrespective, whichever option is chosen we will be entering a very harsh fight.  As soon as we breach an airlock we will be stepping into a short fire corridor, which is the enemy's best chance at neutralising us.  We start this fight at a severe disadvantage."

Again he waves to the B1s.  "The riot shields will be our best chance at penetration.  I shall be consulting with any Talons expert in the field as to ways of reinforcing the shields further, along with creating gun-notches in their frames.  We should be able to fire around the shields as it stands but further capacity to fire without compromising safety will be advantageous."

"Once we are past the corridors," he continues, "we have the advantage whether we remain bunched behind the shields or whether we fan out.  Our primary objective is the bridge, our secondary objective is the engineering section.  The stormtroopers must be exterminated but I would prefer head-shots so that we may salvage as much useful armour as possible."

He pauses, perhaps unexpectedly, and then adds, "In addition I wish to keep their crew casualties to a minimum.  Stun bolts and gas grenades should thin their numbers out.  We can lock them in a storage room and then later load them into a pod and fire them at a populated planet for rescue."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:16, Mon 17 Sept 2012.

A quick check of the chrono shows that the 15 minutes CC9 gave the teams is almost up.



OOC: Will start combat in two days so everyone get ready!

Grayrhynn listens to the briefing with a stoic look on his face. He has difficulty moving with the laser pack, but has dealt with worse. The laser blaster in the crook of his elbow, he looks on.

After B2 has finished, he speaks, allowing the droid to translate.

"Do not be afraid to shy away from hand to cand combat in close quarters if nessessary. Even something like the hit of a blaster hilt on a helmet or stomach can distract someone, and a split second of distraction is all we need."

The wookie smiles, and looks around, again speaking a short phrase in his home togune.

"...plus having someone intimidating may break their morale, again giving us an advantage"


OOC: Sorry for my lack of posts guys....had a few VERY bad shifts at work

CC9 watches Grayrhynn after a few moments and then says flatly, "Your droid may require additional repairs.  'Shy away' means 'avoid'.  'Do not be afraid to avoid hand to hand combat' makes little sense if you then follow it with advice of how hand-to-hand combat is useful."

He then adds, "Matters of breaking morale tend to be redundant when in combat with stormtroopers.  They are not known for their cowardice.  If the civilian crew can face down three heavily-armed battle droids without soiling their undergarments I doubt adding one extremely passive wookiee into the equation will result in a differing calculation."

With less than a minute to go, Arin, Heigran and Flash board the freighter.  Mark and Sheila had entered a few minutes prior.  After they enter the hatches all close and can be heard to lock.

A minute ticks over and Blue teams 15 minutes is up.  Time for the red team to go to work.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:04, Thu 20 Sept 2012.

Leading his team to one of the airlocks he points at it.  "Two minutes are allowed to slice through the bulkhead.  After that two minutes we attack.  The B1s will go in first; keep your heads low as the riot shields are not overly tall.  Fire when able.  Try not to hit one another and stay behind the shields until we are past the first corridor."

He doesn't wish them luck.  Perhaps he believes they don't need it.  "The faster we achieve this mission goal the more likelihood of attaining more than one freighter.  Impress me."

"Alright then" Xil says "lets get to it.".

With the skill set that he has, Xil knows that his primary role will be to try and get those head shots that CC9 wants. Even though it was a training exercise, Xil knew that if you trained like you meant it then you would get a better result.

He raises his rifle to indicate that he is ready to move.

OOC: Apologies for not posting the last few days. 11-12 hr day trips for work (5 of that driving), 6 week old who must have been having a growth spurt and 3 yr old who is sick and wanting attention doesn't allow for much else. Luckily have a quick gap in training delivery to post.

Devon raised his eyebrows in surprise at C9s final words.  'Impress me.'
A droid with a capacity to be impressed and therefore - presumably - surprised too?
That was unusual in a droid - especially in a battledroid.  But then again, Devon had noticed that Cor's droids did seem prone to more complex personalities than was normal...

The shipjacker handed his weapon off to Xil.
"Ok, so I'll slice the door controls, then I'll step the hell out the way as they open - so you guys" he gestured to the two B1s "can go in first.  You've got the riot shields after all."

Devon crouched in front the control panel, tapped a button or two on his wrist mounted datapad - causing a stopwatch function to appear and start running.
The shipjacker worked quickly and after only a short delay tapped the STOP button on his datapad, pausing the timer.
"Two minutes fifteen seconds."  He said and frowned, then shrugged slightly. "Not bad for a first attempt.  I can improve on that with practice."
Accepting his gun back from Xil, Devon straightened up and looked at the group to make sure everyone was ready.
"Opening in three... two... one... Opening."
Tapping the open button, Devon hopped nimbly out of the way before the door had slid more than an inch or two open.

edit:  Corrected my bad maths...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sat 22 Sept 2012.

CC9 waves the B1s in.  "Talon 8, suppressing fire please.  Talons 4 and 7, nice clean shots.  Keep your heads down and pick your targets, 4 and 7."  Then he goes in after the B1s, crouching as best he's able.  Shooty time!

The wookie nods at the order, despite his previous comment on being a "passive wookie"

He takes his place and offers suppressing fire.

The defenders are all in position.  Arin's gamble on choice of airlock proves correct as the sound of the airlock hissing open and the clank of battle droids is heard.

"Contact!" came the shout from Flash after a few moments, combined with something that sound like a whoop.  Further back Heigran and Arin could see nothing, just a cacophony of blaster fire, whoops from the Duros and the clank of advancing droids.

After a few more moments, Arin and Heigran could see the first droid coming up the corridor.  It was one of Cor's B1 battle droids and it was holding a large riot shield that had presumedly protected it from Flash's fire.  Behind the shield bearer was B2-CC9, firing around the shield and enjoying its protection.  There were more bodies in the corridor but they were hard to make out.


OOC: Game on!

Tactical situation.  The first B1 is at the end of the airlock corridor, B2-CC9 behind him.  They can see Flash partially hiding behind the sensor dome (big oval thing on deck 3 forward) close to the door into the cargo area.  Heigran and Arin are taking cover behind that same door.



Blue Team
Arin - Uninjured
Heigran - Uninjured
Flash - Uninjured
Mark - Uninjured
Sheila - Uninjured


Red Team
B2-CC9 - Uninjured
Xil - Uninjured
Devon - Uninjured
Grayrhyyn - Uninjured
B1-AE3 - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - Uninjured

A call comes over everyone's comm.  Mark is clearly using a global channel.

"Team leaders, recommend as Blue Team members are 'killed' they are allowed to fall back to redeploy as crew.  That way we will have more realistic numbers when you attack."

Mark turns to Sheila.  "Well it's started.  I'll work on restoring systems.  You're the ex-Imp, look at how you best think we can defend this bridge from attack.  We need to hold out as long as possible so rescuers can get to us."

Noting the height of the battle droids and their sheilds, Xil followed the second battle droid into the airlock. As it was, all he could do was keep moving forward. He had his gun up and ready to fire as soon as he was given a chance however.

"Agreed.  Blue team, respond accordingly.  Red team, make certain that Blue team is forced to redeploy a great deal."  He fires easily and accurately, aiming for any legitimate target.

"Suppressive fire! Make them pay for every step forward!" Arin opens up, targetting any 'foe' visible.

Grayrhynn, bringing up the rear, can just see over the heads with his added height, but also knows he'd be the bigger target. Grayrhynn wasn't used to fighting among so many humans, but he was a wookie soldier, and knew his place. He offered suppressing fire, as ordered, and fought tooth and nail for his team.


.....to prove his worth.

Scuttling along behind Xil, Devon stays crouched as he waits for a chance to shoot.  Until they got clear of this first corridor, they were bunched up and fairly defenceless - Devon was glad that the 'enemy' didnt have grenades... he hoped like hell the stormtroopers on the real mission wouldnt have any either.

The defenders opened fire in a flurry of shots.  They sprayed the area with fire but to little effect.  Many shots hit the shield but those behind remained unhit.  Stomping up behind his riot shield, B2-CC9 fired a single shot that dazzled Flash as it hit him between the eyes.  Immediately his sensors registered him as 'dead'.

Without pausing, CC9 and his shield-bearer moved into the room and step sideways, revealing a second riot shield.  With cool finesse, Xil chose his target, leaned around the shield, fired one single shot and retired behind his shield once more.  In the process, Xil took a glancing blow to the shoulder, registering 1 'hit'.  His return shot however had been a clean head shot on Arin who also registered as 'dead'.

Coming together the two shield bearers formed a wall, behind which the attackers continued to flow.


OOC:  To clarify the combat system.  In this exercise, 3 'hits' equals 'dead'.  However a successful critical hit counts as a 'head shot' which is an instant kill.  Both Arin and Flash have been the victims of head shots!

Heigran is currently holding the door - alone

Red team has their two shield bearers side by side (there is 'just' enough room) with the rest of the team getting ready behind them.  They are advancing on Heigran's position, which they will reach by round 5.





Stormtrooper Team
Heigran - Uninjured
Flash - Dead
Arin - Dead


Attackers
B2-CC9 - Uninjured
B1-AE3 - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - Uninjured
Devon - Uninjured
Xil - 1 'hit'
Grayrhynn - Uninjured
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:44, Mon 24 Sept 2012.

"Damn clanker!" Flash roared in fury.  He nearly threw his gun at the droid but held on to it, knowing throwing it at the shield would be pointless.  Besides, this wasn't over yet.  "This is bullshit, I'll tear you to scrap."

The Duros continued to curse and yell as he walked out the door into the cargo area to become 'crew'.

CC9 shows no particular glee at having shot Flash in the head.  "Imperial filth eliminated," he states flatly, and keeps moving in his inexorable, deadly approach.  "Take no prisoners.  Clear and hold the area to the turbolift."

"Two imps down" he says after his shot.

Waiting for suppressing fire before taking a shot at Heigran, Xil mutters to himself over getting hit. This time he uses a little more caution when sticking his head out.

Grayrhynn holds position and advances, attacking when able.

Upon being hit, Arin gave a quick order through his comlink and disappeared from view. He made his way as quickly as possible to the new location and set up to receive the enemy.

Crouching behind a battledroid and its handy shield, Devon timed his own shot with Xils, exposing himself as little as possible to make the shot.

Heigran stood alone defending the door.  For some reason he lowers his weapon and looks behind him as if suprised by something he has seen or heard behind him.  The momentary distraction costs him as he is peppered with no less than five hits from the approaching team.

The stormtrooper defenders are now all dead.



OOC:  Lucky thing, Heigran actually scored a critical hit.  Lucky for you all his initiative was lower than the attckers or the red team would likely had a fatality!

Please note with the stormtroopers 'dead', Arin and co will need to redeploy as 'crew' so please give them time to reconfigure and relocate before you try to kill them again!


Attackers
B2-CC9 - Uninjured
B1-AE3 - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - Uninjured
Devon - Uninjured
Xil - 1 'hit'
Grayrhynn - Uninjured


Defenders
Arin - Uninjured (Location: Deck 3 Cargo bay)
Mark - Uninjured (Location: Unknown)
Sheila - Uninjured (Location: Unknown)
Heigran - Uninjured (Location: Deck 3 Cargo bay)
Flash - Uninjured (Location: Deck 3 Cargo bay)
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:47, Tue 25 Sept 2012.

CC9 stops as soon as Heigren registers a 'kill'.

"Blue team has two minutes to redeploy, commencing immediately."

The two minutes whisk by and the Blue Team apparently wastes none of it as they rush off for parts unknown.


OOC: Game on!

As the blue team rush to redeploy, Xil looks around noting possible areas that could be used as cover by either themselves or the imperials aboard the freighters.

"How do you want us to spread out for the next stage. Who's on point etc?" Xil asked CC9

"B1-AE3, your designation is Shield Droid Alpha.  Four, take Alpha and Eight up the turbolift to deck seven; Talon Seven, you will accompany them.  Slice through the doors to the forward cockpit and secure it.  Once secured, Alpha and Eight will remain there to hold it.  Seven and Four will then use the turbolift to deck eight and rejoin myself and Shield Droid Beta.  We will break through along the walkway to deck eight rear and proceed up the turbolift to the main bridge."

He then moves into the turbolift and hails the ship's comms.  "Civilian captain, you are under attack by a superior force.  You are ordered to surrender your vessel.  Comply and your crew will be spared.  Refuse and you will lose your lives as well as your ship."

Grayrhynn looks at the Droid and nods. He had little experience with battle droids, but so far he was a little impressed with the droids grasp of tactics.

Grayrhynn looks at exilim and nods, a small growl escaping his lips, and readies his blaster.

Xil nods as CC9 lays out his plan "Yes Sir" he responds.

Turning to the others that are to come with him he says "Lets go, keep it tight, eyes open."

He moves off with his gun raised and ready. Leading the team across the cargo area he notes that there are are number of doors on the way towards the forward repulsor room and the turbo lift. As they pass them he signals for Eight to check one and Seven the other, no point in taking chances that someone was hiding in them.

Once they enter the repulsor room he once again sends Eight and Seven to sweep the area and make sure it is clear before they proceed. Once they enter the turbolift he positions Alpha at the front of the forward door with himself. Eight and Seven are positioned to cover the back lift door. As the lift moves he he takes a moment to ponder what could be waiting for them on deck seven.

Xil, Devon, Grayrhynn and B1-AE3 storm the forward cockpit to find it totally deserted.

B2-CC9 meanwhile rides to deck 8 with B1-AE5.  At the far end of the corridor he can see two crew members taking cover behind the aftmost blast door.

"Beta, advance.  Slowly and steadily."  CC9 starts firing as he comes along behind B1-AE5, ordering the droid to half-speed.  The huge battle-droid picks his targets and fires, ready to take down the entrenched enemy.  It should be quite easy for Xil's team to catch up to them.

A hail of blasterfire greeted CC9 and AE5 as they began to advance through the dining area.  The shots were ineffectual, striking bulkheads or shield.  CC9 returned fire but the range was too great and the defenders had sufficient cover to prevent him scoring a hit.  So far the droids had avanced through the dining room and were approaching the first blast door.  Xil and his team had not arrived yet.

"Nuts."  mutters Devon as they bust into the cockpit and find it deserted. "We should probably double back and link up with the others.  If they left this place deserted then either they've locked it out... or non of the critical systems can be controlled from here."

He crossed to a control panel, typed a rapid series of commands into it,  popped  open an access hatch and peered at the wiring inside.
"Lemme just make sure they HAVE locked it..."
Devon kept talking as he worked.
"What we dont want to do is spend time and manpower slicing and securing this place if its useless to us.  So I'm just trying to get a feel for what they've done to secure this... and what we could do if we manage to crack their security.  If it's not immediately useful for us to own this room, then we leave and I scramble to locks on the way out - stop them from getting back in either."

There is a loud 'crack' and Devon falls back away from the panel as he manages to cross a pair of live wires, causing a short feedback loop and nearly cooking himself in the process.  Both Grayrhynn and Xil are far enough back not to be hurt. AE5 stands impassively to one side, showing no interest in Devon's work.

Somewhere above their heads can be heard the faint sound of laser tag weapons.

"Damn" Xil says as he moves forward to Devon "you still alive?" he continues, quickly assessing Devon to determine the extent of injuries and his ability to continue.

Aware that CC9 probably wanted the shipjacker at the bridge, Xil starts thinking of alternate plans depending on Devon's condition. Hearing the laser tag fire faintly he knows that he has to move quickly.

If Devon is able to continue Xil will go ahead with CC9's original plan. If not he will take AE5 (Alpha) with him to meet up with CC9 & help secure the area near the bridge instructing Grayrhynn to do what he can to help Devon.

OOC: Devon is unhurt (well his pride probably took a critical hit!), maybe singed a little but no actual injury.

With his shieldbearer before him, CC9 continues to advance.  He makes it another five metres before a well-aimed shot from Flash strikes B1-AE5 in the head, registering a 'kill' and leaving B2-CC9 exposed.



OOC:  CC9 is just aft (right) of the little square room that has blue lines at the top and bottom (now wondering if this is another airlock!).  B1-AE5 is classified as dead.  The rest of CC9's team is still on deck 7.

Arin, you and Flash can see that B2-CC9 appears to be alone in the corridor.

"Concentrate fire!" Arin takes a careful aim at the battledroid and fires away.

With a metallic cry of what could roughly be called pain, the B1 collapses in a sudden shower of sparks, dropping the riot shield and slumping to the floor.

B2 announces to Red team, over a channel that Blue team can't hear, "Shield Droid Beta is down.  Move your organic carcasses."  Then he steps over the body of the B1, firing a hail of bolts on autofire down the corridor, stopping only long enough to scoop up the riot shield and position it to take cover behind.

Grayrhynn was glad he was not injured, but was also glad that Devon was OK. He walked over to him and placed his paw on his shoulder.

At the sound of the blaster fire overhead, the wookie roared in frustration. He was a soldier, and knew he was better utilised in battle, yet he was designated the secondary bridge where it was unlikely battle would be. But he knew he was new to the team, and though he was eagre to prove his worth, he also wanted to prove his skills, loyalty and ability to follow orders.

"Wishing I wasnt." grumbled Devon.  "I've had the worst luck with these things recently..."
Gripping Grayhynn's proffered paw, Devon scrambled to his feet and offered the wookie an apologetic grin.

"I'm thinking we should ditch the original plan and all head to back up CC9 - he's on his own up there,  Your call."  he told Xil.
Letting his gun swing from its strap for a moment, Devon shook his hands to get rid of the tingling sensation.

B2-CC9 wastes no time going for the shield, AE5 had dropped.  Arin and Flash also waste no time in opening fire on the exposed battle droid.  Arin manages to score a hit on CC9 but the Duros shoots wide.  CC9's return snap shot is hampered by his move to get the shield in place.

As the droid positions himself behind the shield, his audio receptors pick up the sound of a blast door closing behind him.



OOC:  CC9 is now behind the shield.  He was 'hit' once before he made cover.  The bow-most blast shield has closed behind CC9, cutting him off from the forward turbolift.



Attackers
B2-CC9 - '1 hit'
B1-AE3 - Uninjured
Devon - Uninjured
Xil - 1 'hit'
Grayrhynn - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - 'Dead'


Defenders
Arin - Uninjured
Mark - Uninjured
Sheila - Uninjured
Heigran - Uninjured
Flash - Uninjured

"Plan alteration," CC9 states over his comms.  "Eight, remain at the forward cockpit.  The rest of you get down to deck 5 and through the cargo space to the aft turbolift, up to deck 8 to re-engage the enemy."

He shelters securely behind the shield and starts taking careful shots at the defenders.

"Glad you're ok, try not to do that much more." Xil says with a wry grin "Lets get ..." he starts to say when CC9's voice comes over the comm.

"Lets move, double time to the aft lift." He turns and moves quickly, knowing that they have a fair bit of ground to cover and that they had taken too much time with their allotted task.

"Yeah we gotchya now bitch!" Flash shouts at CC9 as the blast door came down.

"Let's rush him.  He'll pay once we get past his puny shield!"

"No! We'll stay here and keep it covering behind that shield for now. To charge would be suicide."

"I was planning on turning it into a hobby..." mumbled Devon as he scurried after Xil, faking a limp for the first few yards.

"I'd lock yourself in if I were you, Gray." he yelled back to the wookie as they left.

Deck 7 - Secondary Bridge
Alert: Grayrhynn


Having been left by the others,  Grayrhynn stood in the secondary bridge.  He had been left no instructions other than to hold the bridge.



Deck 5 Aft
Alert: Devon, Exilim & B1-AE5

Having left Gray behind, the trio moved quickly, taking the forward elevator down to Deck 5, then carefully crossing the cargo deck to the aft turbolift.  When Xil tried to call the lift down, it did not come, but remained on Deck 9.

"Should have guessed" Xil muttered and turned to Devon "Anything you can do to get it moving?"

Using the Red team comm channel "Team leader, aft lift in lock down, will attempt to bypass controls. Eight, make sure the secondary bridge is secure and then see if any systems are working from there."

Thinking quickly about other possibilities one springs to mind after a few moments "Seven, if you can get the doors open. We might be able to climb up the lift shaft to level eight, as long as the lift stays put at the top that is."

OOC:  Devon if you want to override the turbolift it's a <drumroll> hotwire attempt!  Better get the super-insulated gloves.

Devon fiddles with the wiring and manages to bypass the override.  The turbolift begins to slowly come down.

Meanwhile Xil had received a growl on the comm from Gray which could mean anything.  Apparently the wookie had chosen not to bring his droid with him.  Of greater concern was the lack of reply from B2-CC9.  Xil had called for instructions about 30 seconds before and CC9 never usually took more than a few seconds to respond.

Devon furiously wrestled with his overrides and cross-wiring as someone tried to wrest control of the turbolift.  However Devon's skill proved sufficient to the task and the lift came down to Deck 5 and popped open.

OOC:  Devon, you're in an opposed roll with someone.  Which means as soon as you stop your hotwiring attempts, the other person will regain control.   So you either have to accept that, try to re-take control from inside the lift or just not get in the lift at all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:10, Sun 07 Oct 2012.

'Damnit" mutterd Devon as he continued working.
"They got someone trying to keep me out the system.  Soon as stop this, they'll undo everything I've done."

Devon reached into the control panel, yanked a wire free and quickly spliced it into another dangling wire.  The elevator doors slid open.  "So, I could keep this up from inside the elevator... but then I think they'd know exactly where I was.  Which means we'd get out that elevator at the other end and be met by evil grins and a firing squad."

Devon glanced round at Xil, before going back to work.
"We might want to think about going a different way.  Mantenance ladders and stuff - should be harder to track us."

OOC:  Well the Blue Team is going to know where you are simply by where the turbolift has been stopped.  Anyone near the turbolift will see it's on Deck 5.

There is a maintenance ladder in the turbolift shaft.  You can access it by either prying open the turbolift doors (when the turbolift is on another floor), or through roof or floor access in the turbolift car itself.

To clarify for the Red team the aft turbolift shaft is the only clear access to Deck 9.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:36, Sun 07 Oct 2012.

"Actually..." continued Devon after a moment
"I just had a better idea.  They know where we are right now anyhow... and they're trying to get this elevator back to deck 9... so lets ride it up.  Theres only one door on deck 9, so they cant get us in a cross fire - and we got Beta and its riot shield with us for cover.  Plus the bridge is kinda sparse, they shouldn't have much cover."

"Get in quick, I'm going to try and make it look like they managed to get control back and that we're still here on Deck 5."

"OK lets move" Xil says ushering everyone into the lift. He positions Alpha so that he can cover the turbolift door as much as possible with the riot shield. Turning to Devon he says "Just make sure this thing heads up, no good if we head to a lower deck."

As a secondary plan Xil instructs Alpha to quickly change position to cover the fore lift door if it stops on deck 8, in the assumption that the majority of the blue team forces on that level won't be behind the lift. He will position himself so that he can fire out the fore lift doors using as much protection from the riot shield as possible, Devon will cover the aft door.

As a third option he opens the bottom access hatch on the turbolift giving them the possibility of trying to get onto deck eight to engage the blue team that way.

The turbolift moves quickly and without incident up to deck 9.  To the red team's surprise there is no 'welcoming party' waiting for them.  People can be heard working on the bridge but they're further forward then the limited field of vision the turbolift can offer.

  Hope I read the deck plan right...

Devon silently nudged Xil and put a finger to his lips for silence.  He mimed an alert guard with gun ready, then to either side the door - indicating that a good ambush would be to try and catch them in a crossfire as they exited the turbolift.

Deciding that the Beta the shield droid probably wasnt very good at stealthy movemnt... and that Xil - being a sniper - probably was, and a better shot that either Beta or himself to boot, Devon mimed for Xil to go first and turn to the left as he exited the turbolift.  Devon would follow behind him and turn right.

The shipjacker raised his eyebrows silently to see if Xil agreed with his idea.

  Hope I read the deck plan right...

Devon silently nudged Xil and put a finger to his lips for silence.  He mimed an alert guard with gun ready, then to either side the door - indicating that a good ambush would be to try and catch them in a crossfire as they exited the turbolift.

Deciding that the Beta the shield droid probably wasnt very good at stealthy movemnt... and that Xil - being a sniper - probably was, and a better shot that either Beta or himself to boot, Devon mimed for Xil to go first and turn to the left as he exited the turbolift.  Devon would follow behind him and turn right.

The shipjacker raised his eyebrows silently to see if Xil agreed with his idea.

Xil nodded to Devon to indicate he agreed with the plan. He signaled to Alpha to stay put and then quietly moved forward raising his laser tag gun ready to fire. He kept close to the turbolift outer wall for cover. As he moved he kept a careful eye and ear out for any crew member. Once a target or two was in sight he would open fire and hope it would panic the crew reducing a co-ordinated response. He will use whatever cover he can to avoid return fire.

Grayrhynn, at the secondary bridge, listened for sounds of battle. He scoped the area, and found a place defensible as possible for his size.


....and waited.

Xil and Devon crept quietly into position on opposite sides of the tubolift, took aim and opened fire on Sheila and Mark.  Mark spotted the intruders and shouted a moment before they fired and both defenders instinctively dove away from each other, rolled and came up shooting.

The force was most certainly with the defenders.  Whilst Xil had landed a 'hit' on Mark, somehow both Mark and Sheila had scored head shots on their respective targets.  The bridge assault was over practically before it began!


OOC: Wow!  The attackers may have got a suprise round but Sheila and Mark BOTH pulled a critical from somewhere in the next round, resulting in Xil and Devon both now being dead.

Red team is down to 1 B1 droid and a wookie!

Cor's calm voice comes over the universal comms.

"Combat simulation terminated.  Result: Blue Team has successfully defended the ship.  Please return to the laser tag terminal outside."

Arin could not help grinning, though the victory was tangible proof about the difficulty of taking over the ship and meant trouble. He slung the laser on his back and begun making his way towards the exit. "Congratulations, Blue Team. A job well done", he said on the public channel. It was simply the truth - the Blue Team had worked admirably.

"Red Team, reassemble," CC9's voice states over the same channel.

Mark walked over to Xil, his face belying his anger.  The sniper probably wondered what he'd done to earn his commander's wrath, fortunately Mark quickly resolved it.

"Dammit, what kind of freighter crew was I?  Too many years of combat, the reflexes are in-built."

Mark helps Sheila repower the turbolift then heads out to the assigned meeting point outside the ship.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Sun 14 Oct 2012.

Gratrhynn sighed and returned to the appointed area. His team had been beaten, and he never saw battle. Maybe the Droid kept him back because he thought he wasn't capable, or not ready.


...next time he would show them what he could do.

The wookie trampled to the reassemble point, growling with a scowl. Sure, he had survived, but his team was dead, and in that situation, he'd be on his own.

The wookie waited for the others.

Still dazzled and blinking from being nailed right between the eyes, Devon slouched off towards debriefing with CC9.  He wondered what the droid would have to say...

Seeing Xil and Mark stalking along ahead of him, Devon couldnt resist.   Grinning, he took careful aim and tagged Mark right between the shoulder blades with his practice weapon.

By the time either of the pair looked round, Devon was fiddling with something on his datapad, his gun dangling innocently from its strap.

The tag rifles, it seems, were disabled when the simulation was ended.

Outside CC9 waits for people to gather.  Then he turns to Arin.

"Your assistance is appreciated, Blue Leader.  Your team performed adequately."

Turning to his own team he states flatly, "Talon 4, you performed adequately.  Your sharpshooting skills will be essential.  Talon 8, you also performed adequately and followed orders.  In a real combat situation the enemy may have attempted to double back; having a competent combatant holding the secondary bridge is essential.

"Talon 7, 'secure the secondary bridge' means 'shoot anyone in your way and stop the enemy from regaining that territory', it does not mean 'delay the strike team by pulling open a console and electrocuting yourself'.  Your work with the lifts, however, was adequate."

He gestures to the two B1 droids.  "The shields performed as I calculated they would.  The entrances to the ship are a killing ground without them.  However speed is a vital factor.  We require more swift strikes.  This will be taken into calculation.  Combat effectiveness is nearing adequacy, though it is not currently possible to fully test the efficacy of additional issues such as stun and gas grenades."

Mark listened in surprise to CC9's comments about Devon electrocuting himself.  The shipjacker seemed no worse for it.  He moved over to Devon.

"Seven, have Three check your injuries and then I want you two to ensure this ship is put back in perfect working order. Make sure you fix anything we tampered with.  That will include the airlock, secondary bridge, some bridge systems, the aft turbolift and anything else.  Get started, I'll have three join you once we've been debriefed."

Mark then moved over to stand next to the rest of 'Blue Team' to await Arin's debrief, should he care to provide one.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:12, Mon 15 Oct 2012.

Location: Briefing Room (Formal Dining Room), Nightshrike
Time: 5 minutes before briefing (1955 hours)


The brieifing room had been set up 'mission style' as some of the veterans would put it.  Those who knew Mark were aware that the trays of pastries and hot food, along with pots of caf on the side tables indicated a mission would follow shortly.  This was not to have been expected as the mission was not supposed to be for several more days.  Still Mark did not put out food for standard briefings.

Mark sat at the head of the briefing table.  He was deep in discussion with Zyra who sat to his right.  They were poring over a datapad and a map holoprojection of the target area.  Mark had a near-empty mug of caf in front of him while Zyra's cup appeared to hold tea and was barely touched.



OOC:  Everyone is required to attend the briefing but it's not quite time so it's up to people to turn up as they choose.

CC9, stomping into the room wearing full combat-ready armour and bearing a blaster rifle, stares briefly at the food and unsurprisingly declines to eat any.  Instead he stands by a wall.  He's not really designed for sitting down at tables.

"Reporting for briefing, Commander," he grates flatly.

Cor enters closely behind CC9 wearing work clothes and her customary sunglasses.  She gives an awkward half-wave, half-salute sort of gesture and seats herself with an oversized cup of steamy caf (the thing is almost three times the size of a normal cup and bears a cartoon picture of a nexu cub looking grumpy about the large pink bow on its head).

She doesn't move for the caf pots on the side tables (she already has caf) and she doesn't reach for pastries or food, hot or otherwise.  She just sits down and waits.

Heigran entered the briefing area and made straight for the food and drink.  He examined it for a few moments, mumbled something then walked out again.

Grayrhynn walks in, and looking at the rest of the group, he walks over to a wall, and leans against it, his arms crossed. His Droid follows.

Arin walked in to the room with a datapad under his arm and set himself down next to Cor. He gave her a quiet whisper  and then placed his datapad on to the table.

"Eight, this is an official briefing.  If you wish to participate you will sit at the table.  I assure you the chairs are up to wookie tolerances.  CC9, I appreciate you may not be capable of sitting, but could you also join us at the table?"

Mark turned back to his conversation with Zyra.

Ambling in, Devon (quite predictably) headed straight for the munchies before plopping down in the chair next to Cor, whom he greeted with a nod.

The wookie sat at the table without a word, lowering into a chair gingerly.

CC9 steps forward.  Not next to Cor, as she seems to be surrounded by manflesh, but level with the table.  "Of course, Commander," he states.

Cor doesn't seem to mind being surrounded by manflesh.  Though she doesn't draw attention to it either.  That would be...  You know.  Assertive.  She nods briefly to both Devon and Arin, offering them a small smile as she does so.  Her hands curl around her oversized caf cup as if she's enjoying the warmth.

Her datapad pings rather musically and she pulls it out, frowns at something on it and taps a few times.  Then she dims the screen ('locking' it like an iPad) and puts it in front of her.

Heigren walked back into the briefing room carrying an unmarked bottle that looked suspiciously like whiskey.  He took a seat away from the senior officers and poured himself a glass.

Rann, Flash and Sheila all showed up shortly before briefing commencement and helped themselves to food and drink before finding places at the table.

When the chrono read 2000, Mark looked to Cor.  "Ms Lambar, please have one of the B1 droids remind Mr Nallis and Ms Trake that there is a breifing on that they are already late for."


He then flicked on the holoprojector and brought up a sector map, the same one he had used a few days ago for the original briefing.

"Our timetable has moved up.  A convoy is heading out tomorrow, heading for the military staging area in Sector D-71.  Capturing this convoy not only helps our course, it hurts the Imperials."

"Now our basic plan is not changed.  I have recieved no submissions requesting alteration so unless this briefing highlights anything, this will be the final plan."

He pointed to the map.  An area of the map, a path approximately 500km in radius appeared.  "I esitmate the convoy will travel somewhere in this path.  Without a detailed flight plan we can narrow it no more."

"Now the Nightshrike will travel along this path at quarter speed, giving the convoy plenty of opportunity to catch us and overtake.  Mr Allen and I will be in fighters attached to the hull.  They will be completely powered down, receiving all life support and communications through the tether line.  Between this and the Nightshrike's own shields, only a detailed close-range scan would expose us."

"Mr Branden and Ms Masters will be flying in close formation with the Nightshrike.  They will run with passive sensors only and as close to the ship as possible.  That way they will either be missed by most civilian sensors or mistaken for a single escort ship."

"Once the convoy is sighted by the Nightshrike, the ship will adjust it's course so the convoy will fly close to us.  We will maintain the deception as long as possible but the TIE's superior sensors will eventually detect all the ships.  At that point, the Nightshrike will turn and aim straight for the freighters.  The jamming suite will also be activated.  Mr Allen and I will detach and will swing to port and hook back in to attack, whilst Mr Branden's pair will do the same to starboard.  We will use a modification of a technique know as a Tallon Weave.  Ms Lambar gave me the idea from something she said during a planning session with Mr Branden.  In a Tallon Weave, ships weave in and out of each other, causing any enemies who pursue them to become vulnerable to fire from the other team.  To further support the cause, the two flight pairs will conduct this weave directly in front of the Nightshrike, forcing TIE's not only to face fire from the ships, but from the Nightshrike as well."

"Once the TIE's are finished or reduced in threat, the Nightshrike will focus on disabling freighters.  Mr Branden, your wing pair will also assist in this if all fighters are defeated.  Meanwhile, Mr Allen and I will fly escort for our transport."

"The transport will have been following in the wake of the convoy.  It is not uncommon for civilian ships to stay close to military ships, especially in areas that have seen pirate activity.  Once the action starts, BB2-CC9 and his team will choose the right time to attempt to board and capture.  Remember the more ships we capture, the better.  Anything not captured will be destroyed.  The transport will have twelve civilian crew who can operate the freighters.  The boarding team's sole goal needs to be securing the ships."

"As each ship is secured, the Nightshrike will transmit co-ordinates for departure.  The freighters will make for safety at best possible speed, the fighters and Nightshrike providing cover.  If things go bad, Mr Branden's wing pair will attempt to flee with the fighters.  Mr Allen and I will need to reattach to the Nightshrike as our ships lack hyperdrive."

"The fighters shall be known as Raider Wing.  We shall use our Talon Numbers as part of our callsign.  So I am Raider 1, Mr Allen Raider 2, Mr Branden Raider 5, and  so on.  Mr Branden and Ms Masters shall be armed with two concussion missiles each, use them wisely.  The last missile shall be on my ship.  Mr Allen will no doubt still rack up the highest kill score, even with this handicap."

"Now Ms Jax and B2-CC9 will give their breifings please.  Then we will have questions."

"Challenge accepted," The Duros nods, putting his caf down and crossing his arms as he waits for the droid to start doing whatever it is droids do when they're not being shot by him.

Zyra looks to CC9.  "Shall I go first?"

"Well there's not much to add.  I will pilot and act as commander.  Mika has the co-pilot seat, Cor has the Communications room.  Between you two you'll have to organise all ship operations including the jamming.  Rann, you'll have the ion cannon.  Cor, would it be possible to program a couple of your droids to man the other guns?  I think we can find better use for Heigran then a gun."

"Our goal is simple.  Get the ship as close to the convoy as we can undetected.  Then we need to jam communications and disable all ships.  Then we cover the escape, providing the astrogation calculations for all ships."


She gestures to CC9.  "Your turn!"

Mika comes stepping into the briefing, perhaps one minute past the time specified.  She slumps nto a chair, muttering something about bloody shoddy chrono's.  But she quickly settles down and pays attention to Sheppards and then Zyra's briefings.

Cor nods to Sheppard and speaks into her commlink but presumably the B1 doesn't find Mika.

She remains attentive and aware, silencing her datapad when it pings at her again.

CC9 nods once to Zyra and then speaks.

"Speed is essential when we take the freighters.  To this end we will split into two teams and strike two at the once, as per previous discussions.  The transport we have available will be specifically designed to attach to these freighters for maintenance so we have the ideal tool.  Strike Team Alpha will consist of myself, Devon Kismet and a B1 shield droid.  Strike Team Bravo will consist of Exilim Nallis, Grayrhynn and a B1 shield droid.  The freighters we will be striking will be given designations Targets 1 to 4, assigned from foremost to rearmost.

"All organic team members will wear basic flight suits in addition to armour in case the environment is vented, accidentally or otherwise.  Once the command is given the transport will attach to Target 1.  It will remain attached until the airlock is secured so we cannot afford an extended firefight.  Heavy blasters, gas grenades and stun grenades will be utilised throughout the fight.

"As per simulation heaviest resistance is expected at the airlock.  Once the stormtroopers there are downed or driven back Strike Team Alpha will proceed to secure the freighter with four civilian crew members.  These crew members are not to be exposed to hostilities if it can be helped as they are too valuable a resource to lose.  The transport will meanwhile proceed to Target 2 and repeat the boarding procedure with Strike Team Bravo commanded by Exilim Nallis.  If circumstances allow Strike Team Alpha will secure Target 3 and Strike Team Bravo will secure Target 4.

"Very heavy use of psychological tactics will be partial key to forcing the Imperial Navy crew to surrender.  The faster they give up their ship the faster we can have it under our control.  To that end I will require the assistance of Talon members who can craft armour to create metal masks out of scrap for each organic boarding member, including the civilian crews.  I will speak privately with armour-crafting volunteers after the briefing to specify what I want.

"The bulk of the Imperial Navy must be spared if possible.  A broadcast to the freighter's speakers will be made specifying that if surrender is not offered every single living creature aboard the freighter will be slaughtered.  This is a psychological tactic meant to break morale; I want them alive.  They will be secured, loaded into an escape pod and jettisoned toward the nearest civilised settlement.  If the crews on a targeted freighter know that surrender means survival they will be considerably more likely to offer it once their stormtrooper escort is dead.  It will also help if they are alive to spread word of us as a pirate band."

One metal hand gestures to Zyra.  "We will be relying upon the Nightshrike for situational data.  If the command comes to withdraw then we withdraw immediately.  It is not expected that we will have the luxury of securing all four freighters.  As a result each secured freighter will receive four of the twelve civilian crew we are assigned, not three; if we manage to secure the fourth vessel Strike Team Bravo will pilot it themselves.  Grayrhynn has the ability to fly transports; Exilim Nallis and their shield droid will assist as they can."

Then he takes a slight step backward to indicate he has finished speaking.

"Now we've heard the team leader plans does anyone have any ideas or comments to add?"

Grayrhynn nods throughout the plan, recognizing the tactics involved. He growls in his language, where the Droid translates. "A bold plan. The use of masks may intimidate, but if these are stormtroopers, that may not help. plus, i feel a mask for myself may not be needed...a angry wookie can be very intimidating"

<ooc: just to let you know guys, my pc at home has died (power supply), but i can access with my ipad....just a little slower typing moves out, etc)

"It is not the stormtroopers we are attempting to intimidate.  We have blasters for them."  CC9 inclines his head toward Grayrhynn slightly.  "You will be wearing a flight suit as we will but a mask may indeed not be needed for you as the enemy will not anticipate your relative passive nature.  However if time permits a mask shall be made for you."

"I have a question," Cor says softly, though loud enough to be heard.  "Do we have any idea why the convoy is heading out early?  Moving four transports with Imperial escort must take considerable planning.  Have they received some word that they might be targeted specifically, perhaps?"

"I really like the idea of the civilians wearing masks.  It will further help to hide their identities.  These are people with families.  We must ensure their anonymity is protected, even in death."

She turned to Cor  "I was wondering Cor, do you have spare droid heads?  I must say I always found B2-CC9 to be very fearsome looking.  That was before I found out he's just a big cuddly bantha cub in an armoured shell.  I'm sure putting the teams in B2 masks would have the desired effect."

"As to the change in schedule, it's simply a matter of intelligence.  One of my sources reported the convoy to me.  It is a different convoy then the one we planned to hit.  It's risky to change convoys, but this one has the added benefit of denying a sector group fuel.  It may only hamper them for a few days but we can do a lot with a few days."

"Oh, I see.  That is... considerably less alarming.  I do not have any spare droid heads," Cor says as she pulls her datapad towards her, "but I have been keeping an eye on dBay for the last few days looking for spare parts - it is a sort of online auction house specifically for droid enthusiasts.  We may get lucky and find someone locally who will be willing to part with them before tomorrow."

Unlocking the datapad she starts quickly tapping.

CC9 declines to comment on Zyra's analogy.

Xil, who had arrived late to the briefing but had heard most of the plan, inclined his head to Mark by way of apology. He still expected to be reprimanded for the lapse.

The plan sounded simple enough, down the stormtroopers, have the rest of the crew surrender and sent off in an escape pod, take the ship to their planned rendezvous location. "Do we have an idea on trooper numbers per freighter?" he asked.

"We expect three stormtroopers and eight Imperial Navy crew."  CC9 then states, "In such confined quarters three makes little difference compared to four.  It is only in the case of the troopers retreating and spreading out that additional numbers may become... problematic.  If the trooper armour can be salvaged that is an additional bonus, whether it is salvaged or adjusted for Talon use."

Heigran poured himself a generous glass of whiskey, downed it in one shot then poured another.  When Zyra suggested she had 'better uses' for him he just grinned broadly and winked suggestively.

Arin nodded at the plan. It was pretty much what he had expected and should work. The problem of not knowing the number of escorting fighters made him a bit uneasy, especially as the TIEs could easily outfly the older fighters used by the Black Talons. Then again, using the missiles against the TIEs would even things at least a bit.

"I don't think, I would really need to say this, but I'll say it anyway to make sure", he finally said. "Raider Wing should stay in pairs, covering each other. If you are caught alone by a TIE, you are pretty much toast, so keep your wingman under constant cover. If need be, the other pair should move in to assist as well, if the situation permits."

After a small pause he continued. "My plan is, Six and I use two missiles on the TIEs to begin with, so we keep at least two of them preoccupiued for a moment, if we don't outright manage to kill them. That should provide us two to one superiority in numbers, if my estimate of the number of the escort fighters is correct. The TIE-pilots there might not be the most experienced at the garrison, but they are still professionals and we better not forget that."

passive nature? he thinks. He let's a little snarl escape,  then speaks to the group, but clearly addresses cc9. His Droid translate. "Be wary Droid. Your assumption of me being passive is far from true. I'm a soldier, and follow orders of my superiors. Don't mistake a sense of structure for a quiet nature.  And, rest assured, if you think i'm 'passive' wookie, you are very wrong."

"Talon Eight, you will refer to me by my correct designation of 'B2-CC9' or 'CC9', not 'droid'".  The droid's voice is just as it always is but he turns fully to face the wookiee.  "You claim to be a soldier and yet your statement to 'be wary' is a veiled threat against a mission superior.  This threat has been logged.  Cease blustering and pay attention to the meeting.  Your ego can wait."

Then he turns back to face the meeting, clearly of the opinion that the matter, for now at least, is settled.

Mark made no comment of the interplay between CC9 and Grayrhynn.  Instead he turned to Arin.

"Five is right about not being caught alone.  This is why we will use the Tallon Weave to our advantage.  We shall run some drills in the simulator to help people become familiar with it, especially incorporating a cruiser into the maneuver."

"As for the missiles, I leave it to you to judge at the time.  Do not be wasteful, but neither put your pair at risk.  If you face overwhelming numbers use them all.  If we face lesser numbers then save some missiles should we get unexpected guests.  Do not plan to heavily now as you wont know what you face until we are there."

Grayrhynn lets out a little growl, but remains silent.

Mika gives a grimace, annoyed that yet another little spat is developing among members of the group.  Of course, it doesn't occur to her that her own annoyance with Arin's earlier meeting could be seen as much the same by a less than friendly appraisal.

But as she would be co-pilot on the 'Shrike, she'd have to put in a bit of time in the sims to figure out this Talon Weave thing.  "When will the sims be ready for us?"

Seeing the conversation wasn't focusing on tactics he spoke up.

"If there are no more questions you are dismissed.  We leave in ten hours so make sure you have everything ready by then and grab some rack time."

"Sims're ready whenever, Tallon Weave is easy to practice."  Flash shrugs carelessly.  "Two friendlies an' an enemy and you've got the basics.  For this, two wing-pairs and a bunch of TIEs, no problem."  He looks over at Mark.  "How long've we got to prepare, Commander?"

Mark stared at Flash for a long moment.  "Ten hours."

Flash looks a little confused at Mark's stare, as if he hadn't heard how long they had because he was speaking to Mika.  "Right, I'm off, then."  He gets up and leaves swiftly, heading straight for the simulators.

Mika gets up as well and heads on towards the sims.  It shouldn't take more than an hour or two to figure out how to put a capital ship in to a snub ship maneuver, at least from what she'd heard.  And she was co-pilot after all, not the primary, but still she'd best know what's what if she ended up at the controls.

Arin stood up with the others as well. He knew of the Tallon Weave even though he never had had to use it in combat, thanks to the quick and agile TIE-fighter. He followed Flash to the simulator.

"I suppose we will need to work in pairs when flying in the simulator. We'll alternate in flying the TIEs for now."

"Like hell," Flash says bluntly.  "We haven't got time to be flying any of the TIEs now.  Schedule's changed, kid.  We put the TIEs on auto and hammer the Weave out best we can.  Then we get rack time like the Commander says, 'cause flyin' tired is gonna get someone killed."

Once at the sims he starts punching in the setup - the four Talon fighters against two TIEs.

Arin disagreed with Flash - the Weave was important to learn, but having only simulated enemies flying against you would greatly diminish the learning value of the whole thing. A this point, he was too frustrated with the Duros to even try. He felt, there was probably going to be trouble with that hotshot.

But regardless, he sat in to the simulator pod and was determined to show his worth.

Grayrhynn sat passively until the commander called the briefing to a close. The wookie was angry and frustrated at the Droid, but he knew he was right...his ego could wait.


...and destroying the Droid in front of the commander wouldn't go down well.

He was determined to train with exilim once this was over...and use his bowcaster with some target practice.

"If my presence is required I shall be weapons testing for the next three hours.  Any Talons skilled in crafting armour are requested to speak to me."  With that he turns and stomps out.  He makes no motion or word toward the wookiee - nor anyone else, for that matter.  He does, however, activate his commlink.  "B1-AE5, continue your patrol.  B1-AE3, you are required for weapons testing."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:25, Wed 24 Oct 2012.

Cor slips from her chair and then looks about the room briefly.  "I will be in my quarters," she says shortly.  Then, unless stopped, she heads out.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Wed 24 Oct 2012.

Devon sat quietly through the briefing, munching on a pastry and saying nothing - though his eyebrows were quite eloquent at times.  By the end of the briefing he found himself with several questions he wanted answered... most irrelevant of which was him still being undecided on whether or not CC9 had a sense of humour.

As the briefing ended, Devon scooped up another pastry, refilled his mug of caf and ambled out in gentle pursuit of his battledroid team leader.  Catching up with the B2, Devon matched its pace.
"I'll help with the masks where I can," he told the droid by way of greeting,  "But if I were you I'd ask Mika to take a look too."

"I asked everyone to 'take a look'," CC9 says clearly.  He doesn't slow or stop but Devon can easily keep pace with him anyway.  "Mika Trake will assist or not as she chooses.  Your assistance is appreciated.  What skill do you have in crafting?"

OOC: In relation to the masks CC9 wants.  Every Talon who wishes to help should indicate how much time you dedicate to this.  You have 10 hours before battle.  Remember though some of you have other tasks and you might also want to sleep (it's now evening so anyone who chooses not to sleep will be fatigued in the battle).  Once I know who is helping (and for how long) I can make craft checks.

CC9 will also have to decide what kind of masks he wants as various kinds will take longer than others.

Grayrhynn got up from the meeting and went to the target practice range. Using his bowcaster, he practice for a while, then with his hands.

Grayrhynn then went to bed to rest for the mission.

Mika gives some thought.  First, a bit of time in the sims, an hour should be more than enough.  Then she could spend an hour or two on crafting the masks.  That'd give others some time to figure out what they want in terms of a mask, but they'd best keep it simple if they want to crank out a bunch in the short time frame.  Then she'd settle down for about six hours, giving herself a good hour to get up and get functional before they take off.