This thread is for Arin to run his 'mission planning' sidebar he requested.  Please not this is not the official mission briefing (that will be run by Mark) and it is happening several hours after CC9's battle training.  So people can participate in both threads freely (or in neither but then you wont have much to do!).

Arin drew up the map of the route, the convoy was going to take and set up the ships on it in the standard convoy formation of the Imperial Navy with four TIEs flying cover for the convoy. He had given the operation pretty much thought and now was a good time to receive input from the others in the crew, especially those who were not in the boarding party. Now, all he could do was to wait for people to start appearing.

A reminder that the pilots (which includes Grayrhynn as he's pilotting the boarding vessel) at the least should turn up to this briefing.  People serving on the Nightshrike would benefit to, though Arin has extended the invitation to all.  Remember it's not happening at the same time as CC9's training but I'd like to run the threads simultaneously if possible.

With combat training finished and having done as much as he could for the day on the modifications to his rifle Xil decided to go and see how Arin's meeting was going.

Xil entered the room looking around as he did so. Noting that Arin was the only one present he approached and said "mmm thought that there would have been a few more people here, especially the fighter pilots."

Arin grinned. "They'll be here eventually. I just wanted to get the input of anyone, who has any ideas or thoughts about the spaceborne operation."

Mika comes wondering in, her clothes showing smudges and mute evidence that she'd been hard at it.  She saunters in, slumps into a chair and puts her feet up on whatever is at hand.  "So, what are we talking about?"

"Unless anyone else decides to show up, then I suppose we need to get cracking. If we wait just for a moment longer to see if there's going to be any more of us, so I don't have to explain the plan all over from the beginning."

Xil decides to sit, he had hoped to come in see what was going on, put up a few suggestions if appropriate and then leave. It now looked as if he might be waiting a while.

"No problems, though I had hoped more would be here." He pulls out his datapad and keeps reviewing the other potential modifications to his AR-1 blaster rifle.

"Maybe people are waiting for the Commander's official briefing." came a soft voice from the door.  People turned to see Zyra in the doorway.  It was the first anyone had seen of the Zabrak since she'd vanished the Ghtroc with the refugees some days ago.

"This is purely a planning meeting is it not?  Well not everyone likes planning, some people prefer to just be told what to do.  It is not a fault, nor is discussing ideas.  I know the Commander is always open to good ideas."

"I've also taken the liberty of sending a message out to the others that you're holding this meeting in the Nightshrike main lounge.  You neglected to add the location to your message so people might be confused."

She took a seat in a comfortable chair and watched Arin, her posture and manner suggesting her full attention was on this man.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:56, Fri 21 Sept 2012.

Cor comes in next, looking a little unsettled.  She often does, though.  The Umbaran gives everyone present a short wave and sits down not far from Zyra.  Rather than her normal work clothes she wears comfortable everyday clothing in a blue-grey tone.  A pair of neat-o sunglasses are perched on her nose.

"Hello," she greets, "I felt it might be best to see if I could glean anything from the talks to help with the jamming.  CC9 should be along soon."

Mika gives Cor a nod.  "Glad you could make it."  Mika continues to gives an impression of being slightly bored and not quite ready to take the briefing seriously.

"Well, I suppose we have all, who are going to appear, so let's get the thing started."

A quick press of a button produced a holographic projection of the convoy to be ambushed. "Now, this convoy here is an estimate, nothing more. I've fed in the probable courses of action by the Imperials and my recomendation is as follows." Another press of the button and five more 'blips' appeared, along with the tags indicating what they were.

"We deploy in 'hammer-and-anvil'. That means, Nightshrike, carrying two of our fighters that are powered down to the minimal life support, will threaten the convoy, which causes them to scramble fighters to face it. Meanwhile, the Blue Flight approaches the convoy from the opposite direction, in which case they have to split their forces or hope, they can take out the other flight before the other one gets to the convoy and starts wreaking havoc there. Our goal is to obtain space superiority around the convoy by taking the TIEs out, for which we'll be using the concussion missiles we have in store. If we can obtain more of them, the better."

There was a small pause. "I have been working with Cor in order to create a jamming system that would at least render the enemy communications inoperable and hopefully hamper their targetting computers as well. Had we more time and credits, I would have adviced the creation of an intelligent drone that would be capable of carrying an ion charge close to the convoy and detonating it, but for now, we have to so with what we have."

"After the fighters are dealt with, our fighters will start flying patrol to detect the possible reinforcements for the convoy as early as possible. We don't want to get greedy with this operation - the Imperials have a reasonably sturdy presence in the system after all."

Arin took a look around those present. "Any comments, ideas? I'm all open for suggestions."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:55, Tue 25 Sept 2012.

Remaining silent for the moment, Xil looks at the holoprojected plan that Arin had devised. He tries to assess the success chance of the plan running it through his head. Space combat was not his strength so he waited to see what was said.

Mika listens half-heartedly.  "So we pull out their fighters with the 'Shrike and a couple of snubs, then the rest of the fighters fly in from behind.  Their fighters can't do a whole heck of a lot of damage to the 'Shrike, so if the whole bunch of them turn and go after the blues, do the blues have enough numbers to pull it out?"

"Tactically, the Imperial Flight Leader needs to choose between either splitting his team or fighting one of our groups and hoping, the others don't rip the convoy in to shreds while they are at it. And I dont think, he wants to explain, why he lost a couple of freighters while going after two fighters. The Nightshrike poses a much bigger threat and if they concentrate their fire on it, it can be assumed, the Nightshrike will divert some of its firepower to firing back at them."

Zyra raises her hand.  "I have one question and one comment at the moment."

"My question is, how do you plan to hide the fact that two fighters are flying alone through civilian space?  Surely they will draw attention from civilian vessels in the area long before they're in range of the convoy?  This could prompt a communication to Imperial sector forces to investigate."

"My comment is that if you want more missiles for the mission, all you have to do is provide the credits.  I know Rann bought some for us recently and his supplier had more.  All we lacked was the currency."

Cor nods in agreement.  "Once we have the Ghtroc outfitted to run freight operations we should see some money come in relatively swiftly but until then - or until this mission works out - we are on a very tight budget."  She drums her fingers on her chair arm a few times.  "In terms of flight tactics I am certainly no expert but would it be possible to deploy our fighters from by the Nightshrike and then have the two wing-pairs move in completely opposite directions?  That would force them to split their numbers.  If they did not they would need to, er, 'gang up', at which point they would be turning their backs to at least one group of our fighters.  And, potentially, the capital ship."

Zyra seemed to remember something and pulled out a small datachip.

"I almost forgot.  Speaking of credits, I took the liberty of having a friend secure as many of your credit reserves as I could before the Imps took them.  It's not everything you had but it's all she could manage, minus her fee.  Enough for a fresh start."

She walked over and handed the chip to Arin, then returned to her seat, stopping to whisper something in Cor's ear as she passed.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:13, Thu 27 Sept 2012.