captain_brandei

OOC: Jess, that'd be your cue. *Push* Drelin, or sneak off the ship, or somethin'. Bothans are renowned for not listening to a dman word anybody says, anyway.

I know, I know, I'm a gettin' there. By the way, I'm going to start another alter ego tonight or tomorrow, this one an Imp; hopefully, that'll spur some folks into picking up some more of them.

IC, Brandei: Alex looked up as Karn and Kre'nel re-entered the cargo bay/"intelligence office", and stiffened to anntention as Karn drew near. "Sir, this new array works pretty well. I wasn't able to get any direct information on that engagement near the moon, but I did get enough to know that it wasn't anything of ours, nor were there any indications of the same type of sensor interference we saw before." "Now, to continue our earlier conversation: you'd asked how we were going to accomplish anything without an Imperial presence to monitor. We actually already had enough of a contact to at least determine what we're NOT facing, and put some theoretical parameters on what we are facing. I've been going over the fleet sensor data that was crosslinked to the Alderaan; remember that the interference was targetted at specific sensor systems, like individual gunner stations. By comparing that with the "clean" feed we got from systems like navigation, we can get a pretty accurate picture of what was happening." Alex paused to pull up the relevant data, mindful too that Karn might want to get a word in edgewise; he knew he had a tendancy to babble when "teching out".

OOC: Sorry, everybody. Real life has been dealt with, for now. IC as Drelin: "Ambassador, you're more than welcome to contact the Hefian government and do whatever you can from here. For one thing, you can inquire as to what just happened around their moon, since, according to this", flourishing the note he'd been handed, "we're neither invited nor allowed to investigate it with the fleet." "However, until the security situation on the ground has been stabilized, no Repulic personnel, most especially Republic ambassadors, will be going anywhere near the surface. Your safety on this mission is my responsibility, and there's no way in hell I'm letting a ranking ambassador anywhere near possible Imperial influence. Especially a Bothan", he couldn't resist adding. Gonna pay for that later. Felt good, though.

Hey! Quit sharkin' players from my RPG! Go do your own recruiting.

Ok, here's a roster thus far. Note that some of these players seem to have dropped: Brandei- Alex Brandei (currently assigned to intel with Karn) General Drelin Krytos - Major Karn UlicHorn - UlicHorn, currently in charge of rounding up Imps on Hefi tchar - Arten (smuggler-type), currently "volunteering" to help UlicHorn rattler3 - Jon (merc group serving as Hefi defensive unit) Hefian government Jess - Ambassador Bandi Kyp Baba (yet-to-be-introduced Ewok) Pytho - Various NR pilots Vodnik Now, what I originally envisioned happening is a series of skirmishes and such that end up leading to an all-out conflict being fought around and on Hefi, with Hefi itself caught it the middle. Whether this spills over into the rest of the sector depends on everybody's reactions. What we really really need at this point is somebody playing Imperials. I'm willing to create a few and run them, but that'd be much less satisfying than trying to figure out what somebody else is doing. I've got some ideas on what the Imps have done, will do, and want, that I'm willing to share with somebody who wants to play a few. Even better, somebody who'd be willing to take those ideas, modify them, and run their own agenda would rock. If not, expect me to start playing a few Imperial characters in a few days. Rattler has a great handle on the Hefi government, so we're really down to just needing some Imps.

As Drelin: Sighing heavily, trying to summon enough patience to deal with this conversation, Drelin answered the comlink as pleasantly as possible. "Yes, Ambassador, what can I do for you?"

rattler: Make it whatever you want... One thought that would be cool, is make it some Imperial mercs, similar to what the NR is doing with the civilians. If you decide to capture them instead of blowing them away, they'd probably claim to be working for the NR, which could make things interesting for the Good Guys . Just a thought...

As Drelin: "I apologize for the unexpected size of our task force, Head Councilman. Advance scouting of your system indicated an Imperial presence, and in our experience, that generally indicates an increased need for security, whether they're here at your invitation or no. Your invitation wouldn't stop them from firing on us out of principle." "As for transporting Ambassador Bandi down to the surface, I'm afraid that is impossible while there are Imperial troops at large; again, they wouldn't think twice about killing or capturing our ambassador. I will arrange to have Ambassador Bandi himself contact you to work out an acceptable time to meet once we've satisfied our security concerns. In the meantime, we have identified your security forces, recognize their right to operate, and will do our best to stay clear of them." Iodit? That's not fair. I just know I'm going to slip up and call him "Idiot" before this whole thing is over. Terminating the transmission, he said out loud, to nobody in particular, "I suck at diplomacy". Turning to Arten, he said "Well, Captain, I'll let you get to it. My crew will arrange a shuttle for you over to the Reckless Wonder, where Horn is setting up the mission." As the Alderaan's captain came up behind him, Drelin said "Much as I hate to, we'd better get the Ambassador up here to talk to these people." "Yes, sir. One question, though: what happens when the Hefians find our operatives down there rounding up the Imperials?" Drelin sighed. "That's why I only sent the civilians, Olan. I hate hanging people out to dry, I really do, but if it comes down to it, that's precisely what we're going to have to do."

By the way, Krytos, you ever gonna promote Karn to reflect your SWR rank? Drelin would be happy to update your honorary Republic commission...

Let me preface this by saying: as a game master (not that that's strictly what I am here, but it's an old habit for me ), I tend to run things in a parameter fashion. That is, I set specific outside parameters on what I'd like to see happen, then let players run with things wherever they want within those parameters. So, if somebody wants to split off from the fleet, or pick a fight, or what have you, do what you wanna do. If everybody gets into it and enjoys themselves, then you've injected a good thing. That said, I'd prefer if Karn and company stay local, but I can roll with it if you want to run off somewhere. I intend to handle the intel mission at Hefi, but I'm flexible. If folks want me to act as the unofficial GM, that's fine by me, but lets make sure everybody's aware that no applecarts will be too very upset if they do something on their own.

Hey, all. Here's the OOC thread for the Mission at Hefi roleplay. In a bit here, I'll post a current roster of active characters, and kinda give some thoughts on what's needed and where we're going.

IC as Drelin: "So that's the mission, gentlemen" he said, addressing the civilian captains attached to the task force. "We need those Imperials cleared off the surface as soon as possible so we can conduct our own business without looking over our shoulders every 10 minutes. I'd prefer captures whenever possible, but don't let someone get away for fear of hurting him, either. Coordinate with Ulic Horn on the Reckless Wonder; he's had a bit of a head start on you, and will be heading up this mission for us." Turning to Arten, he said "Well, captain, you have a couple of choices. You can either participate in this mission, after which we'll return your ship, no questions asked, along with a fairly substantial bonus from the Republic for your assistance, or we can conduct a thorough search of your ship and background, contact the government on Hefi to find out what might be contraband down there, and go from there. I hate to blackmail you this way, but I need competent people who won't be traced immediately back to the Republic." While he waited for Arten's reply, the Alderaan's captain signalled an incoming transmission from Hefi. "Excuse me a moment while you consider, captain. This is General Drelin, commanding Republic Task Force Envoy. How can I be of service?"

Alex looked back and stiffened to attention as Karn and Kre'nel walked over in his direction. "Sir, all of the equipment is set up and functioning well; the new Fabritech suite they gave you is one nice piece of equipment." "I've had some thoughts on what may be going on, but it's going to be tough to deal with without a lot of simulations and a lot of number-crunching. How much do you know about scanners, sir? About how they do what they do, that is."

Alex looked back and stiffened to attention as Karn and Kre'nel walked over in his direction. "Sir, all of the equipment is set up and functioning well; the new Fabritech suite they gave you is one nice piece of equipment." "I've had some thoughts on what may be going on, but it's going to be tough to deal with without a lot of simulations and a lot of number-crunching. How much do you know about scanners, sir? About how they do what they do, that is."

OOC: Damn real life...I'm here. Let me get caught up on the new characters, and I'll catch up my end of things. Especially with a few folks gone for a bit, we'll have some slowdown anyway. Speaking of which, this role-play getting big enough to need its own OOC forum? What's everybody think?

General Drelin stepped onto the bridge just in time to hear the tail end of the conversation with the X-wings inbound to the planet. Hefi Defense Force? Oh, for cying out loud.... Drelin came up behind the Alderaan's captain as he was discussing the matter with a subordinate. "Let them go, Captain." "But, sir, nothing was said about any "defense force" when we were invited here for talks!" "True. We also didn't say anything about bringing what could be seen as an invasion force, or about fighting a battle in close orbit to their planet, for that matter. Those are mercs if I've ever seen the beast, but we're not the ones to say the Hefians can't have them. Besides, it's a few fighters; what's your concern?" "Yes, sir." Clearly not liking the order, he leaned into the comm and said "Hefi Defense Force, continue on your present course. We will provide fighter escort as far as the atmosphere...there has been Imperial activity in the area." Drelin grunted and turned as the bridge doors opened, a squad of troopers bringing in the pilot they'd snagged earlier. "Well, welcome, captain. Some reason you thought you'd try delivering your cargo in the middle of a pitched battle and without a transponder operating? Couldn't have anything to do with any, uh, irregularities with your cargo, would it?"

Drelin stopped on his way out the door. "Oh, one more thing you'll need, Major. We're carrying the latest Fabritech sensor upgrade package, something our team "liberated" from Imperial storage on Coruscant and has been playing with since. We don't have enough to refit the entire task force, but you'll need it for your task. I trust you won't object to a sensor upgrade for the Wanderer if it's on our credit, correct?" "Get with my technicians and they'll install it whenever you're ready."

As Drelin: "Of course you haven't, Cadet. Did it ever occur to you that if you'd just spoken up about your family history, we'd have been able to plumb you for information? You're a high-quality intelligence source if nothing else; you're here to contribute, not pay for something you didn't have any control over." "Here's what's going to happen. I, also, know something about Imperial technology, and I know what they were doing today is beyond the hardware capabilities they're known to have. Cadet Brandei, I'm promoting you to Sergeant and reassigning you to my personal staff as an intelligence analyist; this way, you can report something directly to me, rather than clogging up in-battle fleet-wide communications." "Major Karn, you are going to work with the Sergeant and help him come up with a working estimate of this technology. You know Imperial tactics and technology well; you should be a great help to each other. As soon as possible, I want an idea of hardware requirements, limitations, power usage, the whole works. Most importantly, I need some ideas on how to counter it." "Work from Karn's ship; I know, Major, that your head will explode if you're not able to oversee that fine crew of yours, even though you and I both know they don't need you. Get any data from the combat readings before you leave; all our ships data feed was cross-linked to the Alderaan's bridge." "Let's get to it, gentlemen." Drelin stood up and thumbed his communicator "I'm coming back up to the bridge. Make sure that smuggler is there, and make sure the rest of the mercenaries we're carrying are ready for that comm conference I requested."

IC: As Brandei: Alex looked at Karn "My name's Alex Brandei, sir. My father is an Imperial captain, one of those still unaccounted for since Endor. Given that we haven't heard from him since then, the family assumes he's still fighting under some Imperial warlord or other." "Dad had mentioned some of the sensor technology the Imperials were working on pre-Endor; something about how some Admiral had hit on the idea that too much time and effort was being put into cloaking technology, trying to eliminate sensor data instead of directly targeting those sensors and feeding whatever information you wanted them to see. I made a guess, when I saw a shuttle where a Strike Cruiser was being reported, that something like that was happening." Alex turned to General Drelin and pleaded "But I haven't had any contact with him, sir, I swear. I would have reported it if he'd tried. I just remembered something he'd mentioned, once."

OOC: Ok, so far, I've kinda been GMing this thing due to lack of opposition, plus, I kinda had the original plan. Summary of what's happened: New Republic task force has gone to Hefi to negotiate the planet's entry into the Republic, both for use as an Outer Rim base and for Hefi's rather rich raw ore reserves. Upon getting to the system, the task force was ambushed by an Imperial fleet. One Imperial strike cruiser was destroyed, with a large number of escape pods making to Hefi's surface. Characters *I* see a need for: Bothan ambassador - This guy has already had his mission pushed back a couple of days due to security concerns. Think Fel'lya at his worst, in terms of character: popous, self-important, and above all this military nonsense. IMPERIALS (please) - Jump in with Imperial characters, either on the planet or as part of another fleet (one just withdrew); so far, the good guys have been directing the bad guys, running them through inference, and it'd be double-cool to have somebody else setting up the oppositions plans and goals and such. Outside of those, jump in with whomever wherever you see a need for them. An Ewok could well be a NR crewmember, as this is post-Endor. Maybe one decided to come along and join up.

As Drelin... Drelin grunted, inwardly amused at the expression on Karn's face. "Well, I tend to disagree, Major. I don't know how much of the fleet-wide chatter you were able to catch, being engaged, but we weren't able to target the Strike Cruiser at all. Had we not taken our turbolasers off computer targeting, they would have had a free shot at us, with the Ardor and the Revolution unable to retaliate as well." "My point here is that Cadet Brandei did the right thing, catching a problem, evaluating its import, and making the decision to override the chain of command once his superior unfortunately chose to ignore him." "The Imperials were using technology I haven't seen before, targetting individual gunner stations and toying with the readings; essentially, they were able to neutralize an entire 3 ship's complement of weaponry. Cadet Brandei here caught that...although, I suspect, he had help from his father." Turning to face Brandei, he asked "Am I correct?"

As General Drelin... "Thank you, Major. Now, what if the MC-80 in this case can't accurately target the Strike Cruiser? In your opinion, does a Strike Curiser possess enough raw firepower to seriously damage or destroy the Mon Calamari before reinforcements can arrive?"

IC: "Save it, sir. Please secure your ship and accompany us to the bridge; the General would liek a word." Notably, as of yet, not a single person had attempted to enter the ship to check for any sort of evidence.

OOC: Tchar, you have a three-man detail right outside your ship...they're waiting for YOU to come OUT (and there's a reason for that).