Prelude to Conquest

[Mara]

Mission Name: Prelude to Conquest
Planet: Gargon
Major NPC Characters: Commander Teniel Shrike
Number of Participants: 2-4
Participants:
- Ambria Arcane
- Jorra D'Resh
Mission Requirements: Must be Mandalorian Army or Spec Ops
Mission Briefing:
Highly sought after for its Phobium deposits, Mandalore’s eyes have turned towards Gargon. It is very well defended by the Republic, but through the sacrifice of a Mandalorian scout a potential weak spot has been found.

A listening post on one of Gargon’s mountain ranges has become severely understaffed due to the Sith war effort. Lead by Commander Teniel Shrike, the Bothan was recently demoted. Once considered a promising young officer, he is now shunted to the listening post on Gargon. With a token force to guard it, the opportunity to get a foothold on Gargon cannot be passed up.

The strike team will drop from orbit into a clearing at the bottom of the mountain, and take the station as quickly and quietly as possible. Failure is not an option.

---

All righties, Julian... let's see if we can sort something out.

The idea I had broached earlier in the mission thread was that Ambria might have a Mandalorian contact from a hidden cell on Gargon. A while back she had been sent there to train some rebels by the previous Mandalore, Bane. However, that thread never really got going, never finished, never really started. But I'm inclined to infer an ending so that my two-three posts in there weren't in vain. And ending that would assume that she and the others found those rebels, trained them up, and got them ready for whenever a more full-scale attack was made on the planet. (I can link to that thread if needed.) I would probably NPC a guy or two Mandos that are hiding under the Republic's nose. Not sure if they would be involved in the actual attack on the post, might just be in the beginning of things to let her/them know the best way to go about things or maybe help with weapons.

So even though Jorra would be the senior officer, since Ambria is only a Lt. and he's a Lt.Col., I'm wondering if she would take the lead? At least in contacting some help, not necessarily for the entire mission.

Also, since Gargon is still part of the Republic, my guess is they will have to travel more discreetly (like Ambria did on her first trip to Gargon), and have some special cases to hide their weapons and armor in so that they do not appear to be Mandalorians. Otherwise it would be hard to strike the listening post if they didn't come in as a surprise.

So either they use public transport... or maybe a stolen Republic vessel that the Mandos had captured earlier... something like that.
Also, if they can't take all their armor or weapons with them, maybe, like I said, her contact/the hidden cell could help with that, supplying them from their hidden cache.


That's about all I got for now... Just wondering your thoughts.

[Julian]

Whoo! Discussionry!

I definitely like that idea. Two Mando'ade is all one might need to hit the outpost itself, but getting them there would definitely warrant extra manpower. I would like to see that thread though, if only to better wrap my head around exactly what type of training they received. Whether or not we would bring them along to the fight is something that Jorra would base on the intel (More or less, how many troops and how large and defended of a compound do we have to deal with?).

I had actually already given thought to the rank question, and come to a few conclusions. The most important and most relevant is that --although Jorra outranks her-- Ambria is personally trusted by Mand'Alor. That tells Jorra that she knows what she's doing, and that she isn't some half-green kid with a big rifle. Thus, Jorra would be perfectly willing to let Ambria take the lead when appropriate and to generally approach the mission cooperatively. 

This is not to say that she (Jorra, though the misconception that she is male is very understandable) wouldn't take charge if the situation called for it, but I digress.

I agree that subtlety is going to be an important part of getting onto the planet, so it's fortunate that Jorra still has a civilian pilot license. They would both need some fake credentials, but I could see the pair convincing port security that they're delivering equipment and supplies to the troops (or even the outpost itself).  If we can get our hands on a vessel (maybe jacking one would be an early step of the mission, but there are numerous ways that they could acquire one) then Jorra can get them through the thinner layers of security. There will come a point that they'll need help, though. If they go straight to the outpost, then maybe Ambria's contacts could sneak them in during the "delivery" and then leave with the ship masquerading as Jorra and Ambria. 

And I also agree that large pieces of their gear would need smuggled in. A few pistols and two suits of traditional beskar'gam shouldn't be all that hard to hide (the plating being as slim as we know it to be, their helmets would be the only articles that require significant effort to conceal) but four sniper rifles might be somewhat more challenging. Maybe they would need to forego their buckets and minimize how many weapons get to come along? Or possibly some of Ambria's less powerful rifles break down or collapse into a more concealable format?

We could probably get around that if we do the delivery method (Jorra and Ambria wear a lot of concealing garments, carry a big heavy box with their equipment inside off of the ship, ask two troopers that are actually rebels to helps them lug it inside, swap outfits and wear their beskar'gam sans helmet under the Pub gear) but again, there are other ways to go about it.

EDIT: Since I have now reread the briefing more carefully, I see that our target zone is pre-ordained (clearing at the base of the mountain). Not gonna remove the sneak-right-up suggestion, but I also know that it conflicts with the info.

[Mara]

So sorry for my absence as of late. Things have been a bit crazy here, and my access to Internet has been intermittent.

The previous thread, it didn't really get off the ground, per se, but I'll go find the link anyway. (And probably the one to the mission briefing as well; it might have more info.)


All right, missing briefing: swrponline2.proboards.com/thread/12370/another-day-mission-sporky-jace

Start of mission: swrponline2.proboards.com/thread/13246/cultivating-chaos-sporky-kella-npc



The rest of what you said looks all kosher...
The basic idea of them using Jorra's ship as a disguise to get to Gargon and then once there, Ambria touching base with the cell... And then attacking the post, either the two of them or with help.
...but I'll look it over more thoroughly later and hopefully have more to say.

[Julian]

Glad you're good with it, and thanks for the links!

Staccato though: Jorra doesn't actually have a ship, just the piloting license of a legal citizen of the Republic. Either a ship must be provided or stolen.

[Mara]

Ah, yes. I guess I had read too fast, lol. But I'm sure it wouldn't be any trouble for the Mandalorian military to provide a civilian transport. A captured one, perhaps, with a fake transponder or something.


Anyway, we should probably figure out how we're going to start this.
Did you want to do a pre-mission briefing type of thread on Concord Dawn? A meeting before they leave? Or just jump right to them being in Gargon's atmosphere or whatever, ready to drop down near the post?

Plus, I guess we need to find out, or decide, how many Republic soldiers are with this Shrike. His "token force."

[Julian]

In my mind, a token force could either be a full complement of very green soldiers or a competent skeleton crew.

As to the beginning... I really don't know, and would appreciate it if you could decide. Briefing would make sense, but it would also probably work if their first meeting was boarding the ship. Also wouldn't mind if the boat dropping out of hyperspace above Gargon was the opener. Any option works for me.

[Mara]

Mmm. Well, I guess in the end it's up to Dutch, or whomever plays the NPC commander. Not us, haha.

Well, a mission briefing thread could work better, for them to meet and such. However, the problem with that is getting someone to run the briefing. Because I doubt just the two of them would be doing so. And I really don't have any details for this mission besides what's outlined for us in the mission board/top of this thread, lol.

So for ease... starting things in the ship above Gargon, or even before back on Concord Dawn for the boarding, would probably work out best.

And maybe, things are moving so fast, there wasn't a formal briefing. Like, they were both just called to show up at the spaceport to the ship they are being given for the mission. And they go over mission parameters on the trip.

If we decide to skip ahead to right before the mission, at Gargon, it'd just take a bit of summary/inferring that they had a briefing earlier, and we can get to the action. I imagine Ambria would have contacted the hidden cell during the trip; not sure if there would be time once they've dropped.

But either way, I'm good.

[Julian]

I like the idea that we're so rushed there was no briefing. Gives the mission a sense of weight, like this window of opportunity is so small that the only way to exploit it is by throwing soldiers at it as fast as possible.

[Mara]

Yeah...

Maybe we could start the thread on Concord Dawn with just a couple posts of them arriving to the ship and departing, and then flash forward to Gargon. Or something.

I really just usually fly by the seat of my pants. ;p

[Julian]

I dig it. Does this mean we're almost ready to start?

[Mara]

I would imagine... We don't really need the NPC until we attack the post.

But I don't know when I'll have a chance to start up the thread.

[Julian]

And I lack the courage to be the person who starts up my first thread on the site. I don't mind waiting for you to have time, though.

[Mara]

All right, as long as you don't mind.

Once I get my computer stuff sorted out, I have a few other posts I need to do, to catch up, but hopefully I'll get to this one soon.

Until then, I guess we can keep ironing things out. Unless you think we're okay and can just wing it. ;p

[Julian]

Eh, we could pick a ship out of the stock section, maybe work out exactly how we're getting our gear through, etc.

[Mara]

Well, I think I'll leave the ship to you/Jorra, since she'll be piloting.

As for their gear... they should be able to take it on their ship. Since for the mission, they're dropping down from orbit, I doubt they will be inspected by customs or anything. So having their armor and weapons along wouldn't be a problem, I think. Though they still may have to pack light... just their armor and whatever weapons they can carry.
However, they may need to disguise the armor for the drop (some sort of HALO thing I imagine). Even if they're in a somewhat remote location, I'm sure someone would spot a couple Mandos falling from the sky, even if it's a rapid drop. ;p And they can't have them sending out alerts before they can get to the top of the mountain and the listening post.

So I think the issue here is how they'll drop from the ship, through the atmosphere, and land at the bottom of the mountain without being seen. And how to take their armor with them. Weapons, they could hold on while they fall.

[Julian]

If only we had Basilisks. *Sigh*

If they were willing to do something to dull the sheen of their armor (because painting it is a bit extreme) to make it non-reflective, then drop late at night with jet packs, that could probably work. The clearing seems like it's meant to be a blind-spot, so boosters can be safely engaged high enough up that they don't break their legs on impact or get whiplash from the sudden speed change.

Fortunately for both of them, Jorra prefers pistols over anything else and can therefore carry some of Ambria's gear during the drop.

EDIT: This idea is based on a drop in-atmosphere. The best idea that comes readily to mind for an orbital drop is modifying an escape pod (so that it won't give off any of the usual signals) to act as a drop capsule.

EXTRA EDIT: As far as ships go, I think the Scovus-Class (le click) should do very nicely.
                                                                      

[Mara]

Well, I don't know if Ambria would have a lot of gear... She is a sniper, yes, but she generally only brings one rifle with her on a mission. And she has two pistols of her own, but those would probably be in her holsters. The rifle could be slung over her shoulder.

Hmm, I never thought of using an escape pod...

The Scovus looks like it could work. Since it'll be staying in orbit, it shouldn't be too inconspicuous.

[Julian]

I did not know her policy, so I made an assumption. A thousand pardons for this error!

On the spectrum of gear, we might end up bringing some other things (short range signal-jammer, grenades, det-packs, etc.) but using the escape pod should eliminate any concerns with how much they can drop with.

And here's something bugging me: Once we take the listening post, is it just to be assumed that the Mandalorians set up shop? I feel like the interval between this mission and an all-out attack on Gargon is going to have to be very small, otherwise the Republic would eventually just hit the compound from orbit or bombard it with a bio-weapon and get their building back.

[Mara]

No worries. I guess having three rifles listed in her profile can be confusing, lol.

And yes, the escape pod would help with some of that. As long as it's disguised well enough against the lifeforms inside. And somehow is rigged so that when it lands, it's not immediately surrounded by curious soldiers. Even if they land in the 'wilderness' near the mountain. But I guess as long as they're out of it and far enough away, if the pod is discovered, it wouldn't give anything away as to what might have caused it to jettison.
Unless... for some reason a soldier would trace it back to the ship they're using, that Scovus yacht, and they communicate with someone on board, say a droid, and the droid just says it was a malfunction. They might believe that.

But anyway...



As for what happens after the two of them take the outpost, your guess is as good as mine. That's far beyond my pay grade.

[Julian]

I figure we just rip all of the transponder gear out of the pod, and that should ensure that it doesn't spit out any signals of its own. Maybe line it with something to block scans, or just use the pod to get into the atmosphere. Actually, aiming the pod so that it passes over the outpost (and gets their attention) but jumping out of it and finishing the descent with jet packs like that HALO drop you mentioned might be pretty effective.

I figure we can figure that stuff out more as we get to it, since it'll probably be a fair few posts before we get to the insertion.