Once the comm was disconnected Heigren turned to the others.

"I'll contact the port authority and arrange us an exit slot for four and a half hours from now.  I'll also see if I can smooth our way through customs, reduce the time it will take us to regroup with Cor and the others."

He waited to see what else was to be added by the others before going to his tasks.

Devon nodded to Heigren, once again impressed with the Zeltrons ability to apparently talk his way into or out of anything - in this case Heigren apparently had enough pull to fast-track them through customs.
"Sounds good."  Devon glanced round the room to see if anyone had anything they wanted to add.

"Sheila, we need to know everythin' about your talk with this General guy an' this meeting he wants us at.  What he said to, where you met him, the instructions he gave you.  Everything.  If he farted in the same room as you, I wanna know.  I ain't havin' anyone of us goin' into this half-cocked."

Devon tried to think like their missing commander for a moment.
"Write it down, get it in order an' you can brief everyone once we meet up, OK?"

Dohr nodded once more to Cor and sat down. As was customary to him, the Doc kept quiet and listened while the others talked about Fiarr and finally about what Sheila, Fiarr and Heigren had been up to…

Former Jedi? Is that even possible? Can they renounce their powers somehow? I do not think even I could stop believing in the Force no matter how hard I tried. Probably just meant he was a former member of the order who has been in hiding for a long time… I wonder… I wonder if there could be others. Aam? The Kel Dor almost let out an audible sigh and quickly dismissed the thought. ”No… she has been gone long… too long.

The name of Mon Mothma popped up again and two other Senators along with her, Organa and the Corellian Iblis. It pulled Dohr out of his thoughts and very much to the moment. But even bigger than the representatives of three Core worlds, was the mentioned birth of an alliance against the Empire. It was a thought Dohr had been rolling around his head when he had helped out the tiny rebellious groups or underground movements before settling down to Det Akari and meeting the Talons. Such a thing had seemed like something of an impossibility to him. The three groups he’d learned to know during a decade or so had been too wide-spread and way too small to really make any difference.

Kashyyk too… Cor and Flash have been busy. Dohr felt almost ashamed of the fact that they hadn’t been able to accomplish much anything. He let the thought go immediately however. It had been a good idea and worth checking out even if they hadn’t been able to gather any new information in the end. And now they were all united again, well almost all. Like Kyvarr, Dohr wasn’t worried about Fiarr yet. A day more and he would be.

What Cor said about the Jedi not being dead confirmed what he had believed in for the last 17 years. He had refused to accept the imperial propaganda of the Jedi being evil and after world domination. And he hadn’t bought the official story of how Senator Palpatine and armies of the Republic and later the Empire had been forced to put an end to the whole order to save the Galaxy from them. There was no denying of Vader’s handiwork though. He’d experienced it closely himself. Thousands of Jedi had been brutally murdered by the Emperor’s order, but all of them? No way. Dohr had always thought some must have survived the slaughter and the hunt. And now there was evidence saying he had been right all along. The news made him want to be happy, but the fact that the leaders of the Talons were either dead or still captured by the imperials kept him serious.

The doctor nodded to Cor’s assessment of the situation. He would’ve made the same decision. Even if the new rebellion was indeed an enormous thing, the Talons needed to locate and rescue their leaders first, provided they were still alive. The Alliance sounded like it was already too big to waste its resources in order to save two people currently of insignificant importance to the whole process.

Fiarr’s ingenious call to Heigren interrupted Dohr’s thought process and he couldn’t help but smile behind his mask. After the whole conversation was over and Devon had broken his silence, Dohr cleared his throat too. ”I will gladly meet with the General. I have previous experience of dealing with the Jedi, although it does sound like this one might be somewhat different from the ones I have had the pleasure of meeting a very, very long time ago. However, to ensure I really do get an audience with Master Kota, it would probably be a good idea for Sheila to come along as she has talked with him before.”

"Opinion is divided on General Kota, as it is on all people of action," Cor notes with some light amusement.  "Some claim him to be reckless and dangerous, others insist that he is one of the only proactive forces intent on doing 'what needs to be done.'  The truth is, perhaps, a little of both."  She inclines her hairless head to Dohr.  "And I concur, you are the best option to lead the meeting with him, because of your past dealings with Jedi, your dedication to healing and your military background.  All three of those things are likely to act heavily in your favour.

"Be aware that the Jedi have been ruthlessly hunted, however, and that Kota has rejected some of that order's tenets.  Even at their most peaceful the Jedi were individually powerful and more so in groups; now they are likely to be more desperate than ever.  Perhaps Kota still clings to those parts of the Jedi Code that may make him safe to approach but do not count upon it."

With a brief look at Devon she turns back to Dohr and says, with no small amount of authority in her voice, "Sheila sounds like a wise choice but your options are yours.  I advise you to take up to two others with you - a maximum team of three, plus either R2-A9 or Catch.  You should decide upon whom and submit that choice to Devon and myself for approval.  Once decided upon, please work closely with your team - and Sheila, if you opt not to take her - to obtain as much information as possible about the sector, system, planet and locale we will be dropping into."

"I didn;t tell him who our present leader is, but he knows it's not me.  And he specified one person to meet him.  However, I'll go if you want.  I'll go through everything again, and make a transcript for you.

"Two mwn followed me most of the day, until they picked me up.  I was stunned so I couldn't tell anyone where the hideout was, but I woke up in a basement, tied to a chair.  My stuff seemed to be ok, but it was accross the room, and the guard went, I guess to tell them I was awake.  He is obviously blind, but at the same time, he seemed to have really good senses.  He sort of threatened me, tryoing to figure out if we were imperial agents."

OOC, I have to hgo to work, I will finish this on break or in  the am, depending on how boring tonight is.

OOC: Pushing ahead so let's assume Sheila's briefing comes after you regroup.


Eight Hours Later
True to her word, Fiarr returned to the ship a little over four hours later.  With nothing else to do and Heigren having already obtained landing clearances, the Lunar Flare and her crew quickly took off and headed into space.

Heigren's smooth talking had paid off and saved them from a few of the customs procedures, allowing them to make reasonable time in their travel through Fest's various custom zones.

A little over eight hours after their comm conversations, the Lunar Flare regrouped with the other ships.  Without fanfare, A9 sent the ships hyperspace coordinates and all 4 ships jumped.

They travelled for only 20 minutes, far enough away to keep any sector patrols from noticing them, off the major spacelanes.  Now the four ships could safely communicate and dock with each other with minimal risk of uninvited guests.


OOC:  You're floating in the middle of nowhere, away from the spacelanes.  Four ships floating just outside Fest's controlled zones was going to eventually draw attention.  You're all able to communicate via Talon comms, swap ships, make plans, whatever.  Sheila can also finish her brief.

Having arrived back at the ship and hearing about Mika and Sheila's adventures and their planned trip to Mantooine, Fiarr quickly showered and changed then spent a good hour on the comm, sending and receiving messages while she still could.  She didn't speak of her own little outing, but asked questions of the people on board until she was as up to speed as any of the others.

Now they had arrived at the rendezvous she waited to hear Devon and Cor's plans.  She was glad the Umbaran was back.  She was organised, an operator.

Mika gets on the comms.So, what's the plan?  Are we sending the Flare and am I staying on as pilot or something else?"

Back aboard the Drifter, Devon sat back in the pilots chair once they had completed the hyper-jump.  He tapped at the comms panel and opened a channel to Cor aboard the Voidsong.
"Hey, you wanna set up that holo-conference thing again?  I've got Sev with me, so he can route transmissions to him."

Standing, Devon stretched - carefully - and headed for the Drifters lounge area.
"We may as well be comfortable for this..." he told Kyvarr and Dohr.
"An' I dunno about you, but I'm interested to hear where our Bothans been."


***After Cor sets up the holo-conference***


Sat in the Drifters lounge, Devon looked round at the various Talons, some physically present and others nothing more than projected images.

"OK, so we got a creepy space-wizard wants to meet us on Mantooine - we need to plan for that - unless anyone can give me a compellin' reason for us to not go.  Sheila - what conditions did this guy set for the meet?  You say we can only send one person?  What else?  Does he want us to bring anything with us?  Anything like that?"

Flash was still in the Moonshadow's pilot seat.  His glower was transmitted quite clearly.

"I don't care if the 501st and the entire Imperial Navy will be at that meeting, if this guy knows where the boss is and nobody goes, I'll go myself.  And if Space Wizard man won't talk, well I'll beat the stuffing out of him until he does!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:37, Thu 08 Oct 2015.

"You would be unconscious or dead before your first strike fell, Flash," Cor says in a soothing enough voice, though there's a touch of steel under there.  "General Kota is not the kind to take violence to his person lightly.

"There is no point at all to making any particularly solid plans until Sheila has recalled everything that she can from her 'interview' with Kota," the Umbaran adds, her image conferenced to all the relevant ships.  "But we can make a rough outline and adjust it.  I have been trying to locate a way of contacting the General via independent means by backtracking through the contacts I made on Kashyyyk but so far I have heard nothing hopeful.  Still," she adds, shaking her head, "it is Kota.  He has no reason to betray us and while he will not deal with a team that he sees as a waste of time he is also not going to kill us for it.  While I would normally refuse such a meeting I see little reason to deny his stipulation of one single member as long as one of our astromechs attends as well and the rest of us stay within tightbeam transmission distance.

"So yes, Mika," Cor continues, "you will be taking the Lunar Flare in but not attending the meeting yourself.  The Moonshadow is armed sufficiently to attract more attention than a light freighter.  If Kota insists on speaking to a leader then we will send Devon.  If that is not insisted upon we will send Dohr.  Either way I will be present on the Voidsong with me at the time in case I am required to speak; if Dohr is to go then I will ask Devon to be here with me so that we may both speak through Catch if need be.  Unless, of course, either gentleman refuses to go."  From her playful tone on that last sentence it is clear she doesn't expect either one will shirk at such a duty.

She shrugs.  "In all honesty I expect there to be a holotransmitter waiting for us, not an actual person and certainly not Kota himself, but I am willing to be surprised."

"I could go in as an advance scout if you like."  Fiarr offered.  "If this meeting isn't for four days and I can get there in two, I could do some initial groundwork, maybe linkup with some local assets.  Get the lay of the land as it were."

Flash's only response to Cor's claims was a snort.

Cor nods to Fiarr, approving of the suggestion.

"That sounds wise," she agrees, looking toward Devon for his opinion.

Transcript of description.

"It was a nondescript basement, i might be able to recognize the guys that picked me up if I saw them again.  He wanted to know why were interested in imperial ship movements and why we were working for imperials, so we got made pretty early on if he came and visited you.  A couple of insults about not being very subtle, which is what made him 'think we might be imperial', although I'm pretty sure an imperial spy would actually be subtle.  He really didn't do anything physically, no weapons, I didn't see any actually, on him, but he did indirectly threaten me with torture, saying they would get information out of me.  I said we were looking for friends, the job had been for a way to get here unobtrusively and see what we could find.  He told me about the meeting at Corellia, that he had been there and had been rescued by the Marek fellow.  He didn't recognize mark or Zyra's name, but they know where the survivors of the captured fleet are being held.  Honestly, their names were literally the only thing I could have told him anyhow, I wasn't here when the group was with Permellian-Hydran Alliance." indicating more toward Devon than anyone else. "He wouldn't tell me where he thought that they were being held, and the meeting at Mantooine is where he decides if we can come along with, which is why they want to know what we have in the way of ships, weapons and people, and if we can get there without bringing the imperials with us.  He doesn't think we have enough to do it on our own, but maybe we can go in with them and find them."

In answer to the question of what the guy wants,

"Specifically, he wants one person with the specifications of whatever ships, weapons and people that we are bringing with.The beason will go off at o800 local tine to the southern continent, eastern region, 5 days from when I was there. The tracker will get us there.  He will wait for an hour."

Reading the transcript over, Cor nods.  As Sheila puts her final commentary on the matter she taps her chin thoughtfully.

"With my apologies to the Doctor, I think we would be best served sending in Devon and Catch," she says eventually.  "I would have preferred to send in more, led this time by Dohr, but I can be present via tightbeam transmission if it is essential and should we need to bring more people in to any discussions that is also possible.  Though in truth I think this is not about delivering specifications of our troops.  He could have requested we do that via a dead-drop - or he could have simply turned up at the Lunar Flare again.  He is more likely testing us for subtlety, given that he does not wish us to 'bring the Imperials with us.'"

She taps her chin again before pressing a button.  "A9, please do a local hypernet search for demographic information regarding Mantooine's population at the three closest major cities to our target location."

Dohr gave Cor’s holo projection a bow. ”No apologies needed. I know you will make the decision that is best for us all, especially our leaders. I too believe we should abide to the General’s rules. Should he get the slightest of feelings that we are trying to cheat him, Master Kota will doubtlessly disappear into the Mantoonian forests without a trace.”

The Doc took a sip of water and thought about it for a second. ”But… I do not think it would hurt to have a backup team ready in case something goes wrong. Somewhere close enough to be of any use, but far enough to avoid detection. It will not be easy however, for I am sure the General will expect us to bring along one. We would need to be able to follow Devon from a distance without him carrying a beacon. I fear my technological understanding in the area is insufficient to say how.” Dohr bowed apologetically and took another sip of water.

OOC: I hope there are forests on Mantooine. :)

"Yes, thus the demographics search," Cor smiles at Dohr, pleased as always with the Kel-Dor's politeness.  "It would be wise if we could tailor any secondary teams to suit the background population, so as to avoid any undue attention.  It goes against my nature to heed base bigotry but unfortunately this is a necessity not only to the success of the mission but the relative safety of the team."

A9's beeps that he is unable to complete Cor's request with the given parameters.  Mantooine's southern continent comprises nearly 50 million square kilometres.  The term 'eastern zone' was inconclusive but A9's calculations still encompassed an area of nearly 10 million square kilometres which incorporated 12 major zones, each with a city of at least 25 cities with a population over 10 million.  There is a mix of environments from large cities to forests to mountains to wilderness.



OOC:  Think of a continent about the size of asia and europe combined and with a similar environment breakdown (ie mix of cities, country areas, forests, deserts, tundra, etc).  Population is slightly larger (about 6 billion).  The eastern region would be a lot like europe (city and size wise) so asking to find the three closest cities is not possible as you have no fixed point of reference.

Kyvarr considered.  "Sir, a backup team would need to be planned carefully.  The General picked out Mika and Sheila without trouble in less than a few hours.  Not only that he quickly managed to board their ship and arrange Sheila's abduction, all without tipping off the Imperials.  General Kota, if he was a Jedi General must be plastered all over Imperial wanted photos.  For him to be able to act so openly, he either has a highly skilled team or he's extremely foolhardy.  Either way, he's likely to pick up on our backup team very quickly.  They have to be far enough away he doesn't consider them a threat."

"We also need to consider the Imperials.  The more people and equipment we have in play, the more likely they may become alerted.  We had to send the Fest team in with no weapons and an unarmed ship so as not to make the Imperials suspicious.  A backup team is of no use if they get attacked by Imperial forces going in or coming out."

Fiarr nodded at Cor's points and her choice of searches.

"This is the reason for my planned scouting.  I have three primary objectives.  To try and determine where the meeting might take place, to see if I can find safe paths for one of our ships to be able to land undetected should we need quiet extraction and to tap local resources for intelligence and any black market supplies.  If we can't smuggle our own weapons in, we might need to purchase them on planet."

"To acheive this I need two things.  First I need to be at Mantooine as soon as possible, so I need transport in the fastest ship we have.  Secondly I'd like to take Heigren with me.  His skills at linking up with resistance movements would be useful.  He can gather information on local assets and black market sources while I try to locate likely meeting zones for Devon's rendezvous."

"Besides," she added with a mischevious grin at Heigren, "I believe my Zeltron 'boyfriend' owes me a trip to see Solar Battle Bots!  Perhaps he can splash out on a nice dinner or show instead."

She looked to Devon and Cor for final approval and the resources she required.

Heigren nodded.  "Happy to go with Fiarr boss."

Flash spoke up.  "Fastest ship we've got is the Moonshadow.  It's still a wallowing bantha in hyperspace but it's faster than the rest of these sloths.  Could shave half a day of the trip, maybe more with A9 though I guess he'd be better off with you guys, making sure your slower ships get there on time."

"I could take Four and Six on Moonshadow while you all make plans.  Then I'll rendezvous with you at a pre-determined point when you arrive."

Devon nods agreement with Fiarrs plan, and turns to the Bothan.
"Nothin' will ever be fast enough for flyboy here, but take Moonshadow.  Catch can do navs for you, an' Flash can fly.  Apart from that, pick your own team.  Once we're done here, make your plans and we'll set a rendevous; then you guys get movin'."


He turns back to the others.
"The rest of us, we got plans to make.  We need to work out what we're gonna do with this meeting - Its my ass in the firing line if things go south, so you better be sure I want a damn good extraction plan in place!  An' what are we gonna tell Kota?  Anythin' we wanna hold back?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:24, Mon 12 Oct 2015.

"If we believe this General is who he claims to be, is there any reason to withhold any information about our equipment and capabilities?  Already we are talking about wanting to maybe join this new Alliance and this General sounds like a senior officer, maybe even one of their top Generals.  Seems to me we either go in with everything on the table or don't bother."