In the year since the evacuation of Yavin Base, the Galactic Civil War had finally exploded across the galaxy. No longer was the Rebel Alliance simply various tiny groups dispersed across the galaxy. The victory at Yavin and the Destruction of the Death Star had solidified the Rebellion into a coherent entity, and a real threat to the Galactic Empire in a way that most of the galaxy had never expected.
But it also wasn't easy on the Rebellion. The loss of Yavin Base meant that the majority of the Alliance forces were on the run for much of the year in small fleets scattered across the galaxy so that, if ambushed, the entire compliment of ships would not be lost. Temporary bases were set up on various small, out of the way planets, but most all of them were found out and evacuated. On a small, out of the way, ice-covered world a new base was being constructed, but it was still months from completion and not ready to be occupied.
The Alliance somehow managed to survive loss after loss of vital bases by completing smaller raids against Imperial convoys and inciting uprisings on major Imperial worlds. Rebel agents were everywhere, even in the Core Worlds, and the Empire was on high alert because of it. For every defeat the Rebellion suffered, there was at least one small victory hidden away in the galaxy at the same time. Most of them came thanks to semi-independent cells scattered from the Outer Rim to the Core Worlds, but almost always with the assistance of larger Alliance forces.
The Nova Runner, an old Marauder-class cruiser captained by Valin Droma, was one of many ships assisting across the galaxy. Thanks to its speed and relatively small size, it was able to deliver your SpecForce team to various locations to help Rebel cells almost anywhere. The fact that it was able to house its own fighter squadron and scout ships, along with a fair compliment of Fleet Marines and soldiers, meant that the ship could take care of itself in almost all situations...save for direct conflict with Star Destroyers, but being faster meant escape wasn't very hard.
Nova Runner's briefing room was nothing new to you. More times than you could count, you'd been in there, sitting in that compact, circular room with a not-very-effective holoprojector in the center. At first, it had been odd that Captain Droma had directly briefed you, but the man seemed to like taking a direct hand in almost everything involved with his ship. So seeing him there, in a dirtied uniform and with his usual unshaven face glaring angrily at the currently non-functioning holoprojector was nothing new anymore.
"Ah, forget it..." as usual when it wasn't working, Captain Droma gave the thing a good kick, which did nothing, and turned to all of you as if nothing was wrong at all, "High Command's got a new job for all of us. Apparently some of our Intel boys have been hearing whispers about a new Imperial starship project. Beyond that, all I've got for us to work on is our destination. We're currently in route to Corulag, which is where Intel has pointed us."
He allowed that to sink in for a moment. Corulag was deep in the Core Worlds, practically right next door to Coruscant and one of the Empire's strongest supporters. It wasn't exactly an Outer Rim planet with a single Imperial Garrison, either. There was a full Imperial Academy in the captial city, and at least one division of Sienar Fleet Systems, the designers and manufacturers of the Imperial TIE Fighters, operating in the area.
"We did send our three Longprobe Y-Wings in system about two days ago, but since we haven't heard from them at all since then, we're pretty much going in blind," the Captain shook his head and let out a frustrated sigh, "At this point, since we know so little about the situation on the planet and what might really be going on down there, you kids are heading in first. We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in deep space out of the system so you can jump in with that nice shuttle you've been using for a while. We're working on a new identification for it and that should be ready by the time we get there. Beyond that, I'm sorry to say I don't have much else for you. We know there's a small Alliance cell somewhere on the planet, but if they're smart they don't attract attention so getting in contact with them probably be easy. We'll be hanging back out of system while you're on the ground, but your shuttle's comm system should be able to get a safely encrypted message to us if find anything. The idea is to give you two solar days on the ground, and if you can't turn anything up you get out of there before attracting too much attention. If you do find something, you let us know and we'll work out a course of action."
Captain Droma paused a moment, an uncomfortable look about him. He seemed genuinely unhappy with the situation, though exactly what about it that bothered him was hard to determine. Eventually, though, he said quietly, "I don't like this at all, but if they're up to something down there we need to know, and you're the people that can do it."
The words trailed off afterwards, and for just a moment, there was a flash of something else in the Captain's face. But it was gone before you could read it, and he looked to all of you once more with his usual neutral expression, "We'll be out of hyperspace in a standard hour. If you've got any questions, this is the time to ask them."
Over the past year Kay had matured both physically, and emotionally growing into the role of a seasoned intelligence operative. It may not have been what he had trained to do, but it was what she was doing, and therefore she would do it well. The past year had put to use talents that she hadn't known she had, talents that she once thought were some of the greatest talents of the criminals she intended to catch.
Over the countless missions Kay had developed into quite the actor, a skill she had barely touched in her academy days, she would use it again and again bluffing her way into facilities, balls, and dozens of other places in a myriad of roles to numerous for her to count. It wasn't a role that the young woman had looked for in the Rebellion but it was the one that found her. Since that first hurried improvisation escaping Yavin she had impersonated officers of every rank and hue, getting her team into and out of imperial bases for Duerr to blow things up, for Istarra to slice into, or simply to steal critically needed supplies.
"What is our cover sir? A holo starlet and her retainers on holiday? A Gamorrean cover band on tour? A bunch of tourists from Agamar?" the young woman asks looking serious, but the seriousness shatters into a smile at the last suggestion. The humans of Agamar were considered to be the least intelligent, most backwater hicks in all the galaxy, even if they were some of the most upbeat beings in the galaxy.
Istara had spent the last year learning how to be an officer. At least that's how she thought of it. She'd already known how to be a spy and a slicer -- she'd been doing that for years. Translating skills learned in low-level hardware hacking and improving her own equipment to starships and weapons and armor had come easier than she'd thought. Learning strategy and tactics and how to command was harder. She'd studied data discs, played war games, and talked shop with her fellow officers. And over the year she'd realized that though this wasn't what she was trained for, she was good at it.
"Well, how would you all like to join Kandorian Heavy Industries?" Istara asked. "We ought to have an office here; I'd like to tell you that my father's support for the Alliance was pure altruism, and some of it is, but he wasn't paying all that much attention until we lost a few contracts for missiles and turbolasers where we were the low bidder. Seinar still subcontracts some things to us, though. They don't work quite as well as they should..."
OOC
AMG, if you don't like where I'm going here, feel free to overrule it.
Following the Yavin mission they all returned to their respective duties, and Garret strongly attempted to get into an Advanced Sniper Training, but the Rebellion needed infantry leaders more. He was cranky that he was not getting the training that would make himself more useful and challenge him, and he said "No. You're not the boss of me. Either get me that training or discharge me." After a few days of that, and his starting to pack for infantry work, he received new orders to AST. It seems that Sya's report had finally worked its way up the command and back down to him.
He smiled and then built up the courage to ask her out on a date before he left in the next few days. Fortunately, she said yes and she was also the pilot for the trip to training. During the training he kept in as close contact with her as he could. Following the really long completion of his training the two of them spent as much time together as they could between missions and work, sometimes taking less interesting jobs just so that they could spend some time together, but that did not happen too often. In retrospect he wonders if she took the pilot position to AST just to spend a little more time with him, but he has not had the strength to ask.
The Present
Garret's custom armor was shiny an well cared for as was his helmet and rifle which were hung on his chair back. He looked affectionately at Sya from the corner of his eyes as she sat there next to him while Captain Droma gave his brief. Their last few days together was the first in a little over a month as they were both busy on last minute emergent missions. He wasn't exactly glowing, but probably as close to glowing as a sniper could allow himself.
He was glad to be back here with this rag-tag little group again. A sense of belonging and that something great was going to happen in their midst; and that possibility was something that exited him. This group and what they were going to do was something that he really wanted to be apart of.
As his thoughts and eyes were returning to Captain Droma's finished brief he says "Just give me armor and a rifle, and then tell me where to go.l", hoping that he would still be able to use his own equipment. It is hard to snipe with a standard blaster rifle. He can still do some amazing things with one, but they were so rough and unrefined an instrument for his work. Of course, being in close proximity to the targets is not so interesting either.
He sat back silently preferring to let others who are trained in logistics to do what they are trained to do.
"Your cover is anything that doesn't point you out as Alliance agents," Captain Droma shrugged and then listened to Istara's suggestion, "Well, none of you strike me as the type to be in a band of any kind, and you're too well armed to be tourists. Well, normal tourists. Whatever they're doing is likely connected to Sienar in some way, so if you can get in with that you won't get any objections from me. Only concern is that is a bit direct. But maybe knocking on their front door isn't a bad idea."
Next to Garret, Sya rolled her eyes at his comment, "Yes, put on your 'Shoot Me' armour on a planet rampant with Imperial soldiers. How about I make it easier and just fly in shooting at the ground?"
"Well, that is your main approach to everything..." a couple of seats away, the Hapan co-pilot of the shuttle, Sara Ines, commented without even turning her head.
It got a grumbled response from Sya, but whatever she said wasn't decipherable. It probably also wasn't very polite.
Sorry for the wait, all. Character's been updated in the RG.
Lia leans back in her seat, listening to Valin Droma tell her and the others of the mission. Just when she had seen one of the most fearsome starships in the galaxy--a 19 kilometer behemoth that loomed above the fourth moon of Yavin--the Empire was at it again. While the new craft may have just been a starfighter, the urge to stop it from taking any lives burns within Lia.
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
"I think posing as my father's agents -- or rather, Kay and I would be posing as Kandorian representatives; the rest of you, I'm sorry to say, would be my bodyguards -- will work well enough to let us find out what we need to know. Especially if I dropped hints that Kandorian was in trouble, so father is willing to get off his high horse and play the bribery and kickback game to subcontract on this new project of Seinar's. Which is why I suggested it." Istara said. "The risk I'm more worried about is getting found out after the fact. I don't want to get my father imprisoned, and I don't think it would be good if that rather handy flow of weapons he's been diverting to the Alliance were to dry up."
"I think posing as my father's agents -- or rather, Kay and I would be posing as Kandorian representatives; the rest of you, I'm sorry to say, would be my bodyguards -- will work well enough to let us find out what we need to know. Especially if I dropped hints that Kandorian was in trouble, so father is willing to get off his high horse and play the bribery and kickback game to subcontract on this new project of Seinar's. Which is why I suggested it." Istara said. "The risk I'm more worried about is getting found out after the fact. I don't want to get my father imprisoned, and I don't think it would be good if that rather handy flow of weapons he's been diverting to the Alliance were to dry up."
"Thats why I would avoid it entirely. The risk of the Alliance losing Kandori as an asset is too great. No, not a good enough return to risk it." Kay says, shaking her head. "Siener designs ships, so thats what we are going to have them do. We'll go in as an heiress and her retinue, personal assistant, bodyguards, etc. Siener is one of the best in not just military technology, but also in civilian technology via their parent company."
"We will go in as prospective clients looking to commission a new starship. While we are there I'll insist on a tour to show me where my ship will be built and the security measures that will be protecting it. Nothing gets people to talk like being indignant, so I'll imply that I am doubtful of the security they can offer me. Hopefully between that and the tour we should have all of the information we need to return at night and take the information we want from their files."
Garret tries to hide an affectionate half-smile at Sya's disgruntlement. This is not an all to uncommon topic between the two of them. His specialty takes him to the front lines and into the very middle of danger and is very much needed for him to do his job.
He is not unprepared for Sara's disapproval either. The pair of ladies work pretty closely together, and while working long hours together you begin to share and empathize.
"My weapon is not discharged unless it is necessary. If you will remember correctly, when I rescued you amidst an Imperial invasion, not a shot was fired.
My job is to kill the enemy and to not get myself, nor my allies, into trouble. Your job, my dear, is to fly and we both do our jobs well. Due this fact we are both valuable, and very important, assets to the team.
... and we should probably keep such matters out of the briefing room."
He takes her hand gently and squeezes it with an affectionate smile.
The sniper clears his voice and then focuses on the topic at hand.
"My only concern with the heiress cover is that, being that they have large Imperial contracts, that they may want some validation of identity or funds. I do not think one layer of cover will be enough. Two might do it for as little time as we will be spending there.
Perhaps throw in a little political issues such as a previous assassination attempts to give credence to the extra arms, security measures, and, gruffness."
[OOC: AMG - I wasn't prepared for, nor was I expecting, this. Very cool!
Within the character's context it makes a lot of sense. ]
"We will go in as prospective clients looking to commission a new starship. While we are there I'll insist on a tour to show me where my ship will be built and the security measures that will be protecting it. Nothing gets people to talk like being indignant, so I'll imply that I am doubtful of the security they can offer me. Hopefully between that and the tour we should have all of the information we need to return at night and take the information we want from their files."
Istara had been planning to shoot down the idea until she realized Kay was planning on playing the part of an heiress, rather than having her handle it.
"I like it. Do you want me as lady-in-waiting, financial factor, or technical consultant?" Istara says. "It's usually easy to confuse Imperials with high finance, as long as you can convince them that money is ending up in their pockets somehow."
Deurr sat back on his chair, fingers crossed and listened to the others. He was with them to blow things up, or more rarely fix other things. The others were more proficient making big plans and giving speeches.
The holo-projector bugged him. He had taken it apart and put together a dozen times yet it still didn't work. Damn humans. Couldn't build anything to last a five minutes. He frowned under his helmet, secure in the feeling that others couldn't read his face.
OOC
Just building some background. I see Deurr as a kind of person who'd try to fix everything in the ship on his free time. He is more comfortable with machines than he is with other sentients
Istara had been planning to shoot down the idea until she realized Kay was planning on playing the part of an heiress, rather than having her handle it.
"I like it. Do you want me as lady-in-waiting, financial factor, or technical consultant?" Istara says. "It's usually easy to confuse Imperials with high finance, as long as you can convince them that money is ending up in their pockets somehow."
"I think financial factor would be best. Lia can be my pilot and technical consultant." Kay says to Istara and then turns to Garrett. "First you must understand two things about Imperials Garrett. One is that they think we are all poor illeterate children playing at pirates with ships so old they are falling apart. To their minds rebels couldn't possibly afford to do things like commission new spacecraft. The second thing to remember is that they don't look too hard at things. People who stick their noses out tend to lose them, they are conditioned not to notice things."
"There are trillions of companies out there, heiresses wanting to spend their families' money are so common as to be completely innocuous. Remember that with the clientele that could afford to buy brand new starships like we are talking about discretion is part of the price. If Istara spends some time setting up data phantoms to associate a picture of me in costume with an already existing Imperial sympathizer they are going to take it at face value. Remember this isn't imperial intelligence that we are trying to fool here, this is a corporation whose business it is to build ships for wealthy clients, if they anger their clients the clients will go else where."
"There are trillions of companies out there, heiresses wanting to spend their families' money are so common as to be completely innocuous. Remember that with the clientele that could afford to buy brand new starships like we are talking about discretion is part of the price."
"I suppose in the galaxy as a whole, that's true." Istara said. "But on any given world there aren't that many of us. And there are always the ones who don't have any intention of spending the family fortune on their personal amusement. Still, if you're playing the part of someone that does, I'm afraid I'm not the greatest model."
"We're on a major hyperlane in the Core," Lia answers Istara's concern. "I don't think such a cover story would be that unbelievable. After all, we're not that far from Coruscant, itself."
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
"Oh, I agree." Istara said. "It's just a matter of perception. On Anaxes -- which is a fairly short flip through hyperspace from Crouscant, and a fairly wealthy planet, all things considered -- I'm one of a very small number of people who could pull off the act we're proposing. But if you take the upper crust from every world in the Empire, it adds up."
Captain Droma had listened quietly to the discussion before eventually nodding, "Overall, it sounds like a good cover story. If necessary, we can attach some fake credit accounts and redirect them a couple of times to make it harder for anyone to figure out you aren't exactly who you say you are. I expect that would take less than a standard day, at most, which would at least be enough time to get you all establish on the planet if you can avoid those kind of questions immediately. Whatever happens, though, we'll be close enough that we can make a quick jump in-system and get you all out if it comes down to something that bad."
In the midst of the planning, Sara had kept mostly silent, just nodding as she listened. That was normal for her, though. She rarely seemed to say much beyond bickering with Sya. Amazingly, though, Sya remained quiet, too. Though she seemed to be lost in thought for a time, before the look had crossed her face she had crossed her arms and grumbled at the floor, "You did not rescue me. Nearly shot me..."
OOC:
Spoiler:
Going to give another day or two for Yeoman to pop in...after that we'll go ahead and jump ahead a bit and get this moving.
Also, possum, when you leveled Lia did you do the HP? I've been rolling them for everyone...swing by the OCC thread to let me know.
Garret thoughtfully squeezes Sya's hand thinking that he understands the emotions that are playing through her concerned mind.
"I do not know if this will be ultimately useful, but I speak High Galactic and this might be useful while hobnobbing with the white-collar brown-nosing bantha herders.
I am also curious if I will be using standard issue armor and weapons or if I can use my gear. Perhaps, I should use standard issue gear as my custom gear might stand out more? Or perhaps just the armor and a standard issue rifle?
In the mean time I will be with some techs to see if I can get some holorecorder mods worked out that I have had a hankering to see if I can get done."
With that said he looks to Sya and, with his hand in hers, gently motions her to her feet and walks out with her to prepare for the upcoming mission and perhaps to talk a little...
"I do not know if this will be ultimately useful, but I speak High Galactic and this might be useful while hobnobbing with the white-collar brown-nosing bantha herders.
"Probably not. If we were trying to slip among academics or people with academic pretensions, it'd be useful -- that's why I know it, well, that and I'm pretty good with languages -- but it's not in general use even among the upper crust these days." Istara says.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FreeXenon
"I am also curious if I will be using standard issue armor and weapons or if I can use my gear. Perhaps, I should use standard issue gear as my custom gear might stand out more? Or perhaps just the armor and a standard issue rifle?
"You're going to want to look like someone hired by the very wealthy. So you want to look good, and professional. Get any dents knocked out that you'd normally leave alone, make sure everything is cleaned and polished. Custom equipment is good; it'll make it more convincing that whoever hired you has money."
There was only a short amount of time to prepare before the Nova Runner exited hyperspace in what could only have been described as the middle of no where. Thankfully, though, it was more than enough time to finish the preparations to the Vortex and to load the shuttle with a good deal of supplies, from food, to spare equipment, and eventually, once everyone had arrived, its command crew and personnel.
Before boarding the shuttle, a Mon Calamari crew member delivered a small datapad to you. According to him, it contained the times to comm the Runner (very late into Corulag's night and a small window during the middle of the day), basic information on the Imperial Academy there, what little information they had about Sienar's facility, and then something else. At first, it seemed odd to find a file on the datapad that looked to be simply a holo-image that one would keep of friends or family. There were three humans in the image, all wearing bright orange flight suits and not looking at whoever had taken the image. They seemed to be in a hangar of some kind, but no ships could be seen. Though the image itself was unremarkable, as were the three pilots, it was hard to shake the feeling that you'd seen it before, even if you couldn't place where or who they were.
Spoiler:
But deeper in the file was an explanation of the holo. The three pilots were members of the Nova Runner's crew. They were not a part of the regular fighter squadron that was stationed aboard the ship, but part of a smaller squad of recon, Longprobe Y-Wing pilots. The report went on to explain that they were the pilots that Captain Droma had mentioned being lost on a recon mission to Corulag. It stated that, along with finding whatever the Empire was working on, the Captain wanted you to find out what happened to the three pilots, even if they were simply shot down and destroyed. You noted easily that it was stated as a personal request from the Captain rather than a direct order, and it seemed odd that he hadn't mentioned it before. That is, until you reached the small profiles for the three pilots and one of them had a bit of information that stuck out immediately.
The young woman was Pilot Officer Trin Droma. Her father was listed as Captain Valin Droma. There was nothing beyond the personnel files, though.
The hyperspace jump from deep space to Corulag only took twenty standard minutes. Amazingly enough, there were no in-cockpit arguments. There was an air of tension in the shuttle, and especially the cockpit, that likely was the reason for it. Alliance ships rarely moved this far into the Core. Coruscant, itself, was only a short jump away.
When the blue of hyperspace gave way to the black of realspace, this became immediately apparent. Corulag was there, a palm sized globe of blue and green with her star off to the shuttle's port side. Against Corulag, ships could be seen. The wedge shapes were easy to identify even without the assistance of sensors.
"Now the fun part..." Sya trailed off a moment to check some of the systems, then looked over her shoulder and said, "Probably have a minute or so before they pick us up. Time to decide where we're landing and what I'm telling the docking control."
Datapad Info:
Spoiler:
Consider this page available to you thanks to the datapad information. Important things being less the history listed, and more the locations on the planet/cities/etc.
"Easy Sya, we aren't doing anything that hundreds of ships don't do every day. We're going to be landing in Curamelle, the capital city. Give the Space port control the history that goes with our new IFF transponder. When they ask the nature of our business tell them your carrying your employer's daughter to the Corulag so that she can comission a starship from Siener. If they press for a name hesitate a little and then tell them your is Rima Beria." Kay told the pilot, giving the identity that Istara and the other members of the team had worked to build up for her.
"If they ask for anything else that you don't know, stall for a minute and then put me on."
]
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