BLACK ICE - Episode 2: The Plan

[max_vale]

Alliance Base in the caverns of the planet Fangol; Mortex Sector



The Rebel team's return voyage to the Aliance is uneventful, though the descent into the cold planet's sensor-jamming, crystalline mists is as unnerving as ever. Making thier way into the carefully hidden caverns that hold the large base, the Rebel ship sets down and the Alliance team makes thier way to thier boss, Alliance Intel Case Officer Lawra Mers. She tells them they have an hour to rest, relax and get cleaned up and then they are to report to Office 29V for a briefing about the Intel aquired by QT 7 and thier efforts.

An hour later, the Rebels make thier way to the Office room and take thier seats around the table as they see Case Officer Lawra Mers and a man wearing the uniform of a Captain in the L.S.S. (Logistics and Supply Services). QT-7 is on the table plugged into a holographic projector. QT-7 greets the Rebels war my as Lawra nods at them and says; "People, this is Captain Io Dargen, the Sector Chief of Supply. Good job on obtaining this data from Lotide." From her, that's about the equivalent of getting a standing ovation.

She quickly gets to it, an excited gleam in her eye, which the Alliance Agents have all come to realize is a bad sign for them. Whenever she gets excited, somebody ends up getting 'volunteered' for dangerous duty. This time looks to be no exception…

"Okay, so with the information you obtained from Lotide, we know the Imperial replenishment squadron's time-table fro a resupply and maintenance stop at the Refrax space station orbiting the planet of the same name, and after an analysis of our available forces and the Imperials, we've decided to hit it. You all are in, of course, so don't worry about that"; she says as if she's doing them all a great favor.

Captain Dargen speaks up at this point; "As you most likely know, ever since the Imperials hit our refinery in the Choah Belt, our operations in this sector and the two surrounding sectors have been critically short on fuel. We've got barely enough to sustain normal operations and this mission is going to seriously deplete our reserves. We need more fuel; it's that simple and that critical."
Lawra Mers calmly says; "Don't worry Captain; my people are going to get it for us".

At this point, QT 7 flips on the holoprojector to show the planet Refrax and the Space Station in its orbit. The happy, go-lucky Droid speaks up; "So, the Imperial Replenishment Squadron DK-209 is made up of the following ships: 2 Nebulon-B class Escort Frigates: I.S.S. Guardian and I.S.S. Protector; 1 Corellian Corvette the I.S.S. Sentinel; 2 Bulk Frieghters, the I.S.S. Quartermain and the I.S.S. Talsor; 1 Repair Tender the I.S.S. Far Run and the real prize; the Container Train I.S.S. Black Ice."

"The whole Imperial Squadron will be docked at the Space Station for repairs, refueling and refuribshment except for the Container Train, which is too massive to dock. The wing of Starfighters based here on Fangol along with a battlegroup of 3 Mon Calamari MC-80 cruisers will attack the space-station and docked Imperial ships while your group; designated 'Black Team' will use one of two recently aquired Spiral-class assault shuttles, craft designed as one-time boarding craft with a special nose designed to bore through shields and hulls and allow a squad of troops to attempt to capture vessels or space stations. A second group of Rebel Intel Agents, to be designated 'White Team' will use the other assault shuttle and each Team will be assigned to board the two Engine Pods of the Black Ice while the attack is in progress. Once the Engine Pods are secure; you will jump the Container Train to a set of coordinates I will be carrying; as will another small Droid carried by 'White Team'."

At this point QT-7 pulls up the schematics on the Container Train Black Ice* as Lawra Mers comes over and says; "White Team will be joining us in a few minutes. Questions/thoughts?"


*These will be up on the boards later tonight/tomorrow*

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn looks at the holodisplay and says, "You mentioned repairs, Captain; do we have any actionable intel on operational status of any of these ships? I mean, if any of them aren't fully powered down for engine work, they could conceivably be in the fray quickly; but if those Nebulon-B's are active and prowling? They're specifically built to kill fighters. These incursion ships are, to be sure, specially designed; however, they're still on the same scale as the ships those B's are designed to take out. Will we have access to any realtime data? Or, at least a quick run by a Longprobe Y-wing before we jump in there?"

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin only adds "Zinn makes a good point. What more do we know about the ships being repaired?"

[angelicdoctor]

Once inside the Container Train as you call it, what sort of resistance might we encounter inside?

[Monsieur Rose]

After his eyes refocus after that presentation, Zuul asks:

"A few questionss. Doess the ship require both engine sectionss to fly? Also, how long do you think we have to breach, clear, and hyperspace out?

[ybn1197]

Jackson nods in agreement to Borsk's question.

[max_vale]

Alliance Base in the caverns of the planet Fangol; Mortex Sector


Before QT-7 and Captain Dargen get a chance to answer the Rebel Agents' questions, the door to the conference room opens and half a dozen people walk in as Lawra rises to her feet and nods to the newcomers while saying; "Ah, White Team has arrived, please take your seats people and give your report." She makes introductions as the two teams of Rebel Intel agents size each other up.

The members of White Team include Special Agent Untose Piquette; a human male with a hard look in his eye and one whom the Rebels know by reputation. A native of Alderaan, he was off-planet when the Death Star blew up his world, including his entire family and new wife. His burning hatred for the Empire is rivaled only by his willingness to take on the most difficult of missions and his record in the field in superb.

Untose's team consists of a pair of Veteran Agents; the female Wookie Vuruumba and another human male by the name of Alenis
Cloudburst and a trio of young Operatives, a human female named Darlenia Escavalon and a pair of Mon Calamari named Akili and Erphalis. They seem young, capable and VERY eager to do whatever they can to hurt the Empire. This immediately makes the other Rebels nervous.

Untose gives his report; apparently his team had been operating undercover in the Refrax system and they had an updated to the Intel QT-7 just went over. The good news was that half of the Imperial squadron's crews would be on shore-leave on the planet Refrax, including half the pilots for the 4 TIE fighter squadrons carried by the Nebulon-B frigates. The bad news was that the Space-Station where the ships would be docked had its own wing of TIEs, with 4 of the 6 squadrons being made up of fighters or Interceptors along with about 60 Turbolaser batteries for the MC-80 cruisers and the wing of 3 Rebel starfighters to have to worry about. The even worse news was that a Lancer class frigate; the I.S.S. Sentry would be on close escort near the Black Ice.

Lancer class frigates were relatively new to the Imperial Fleet; they were essentially a capital vessel built for one purpose; the destruction of enemy starfighters. They were armed with a mere 4 turbo lasers; but they had 20 quad-laser turrets for putting out a tremendous amount of flak to handle starfighter attacks. So, while the Rebel attack would have surprise; the pilots of the 3 fighter squadrons would have to have twice thier own number of enemy TIEs AND have to worry about the Lancer. The MC-80s would be busy doing thier best to suppress the massive Turbolaser batteries on the Space Station with thier Ion cannons; along with ensuring the Imperial vessesl docked thier couldn't reach the Container Train while the Rebel Intel teams boarded and captured it.

To address the Black Ice itself; Captain Dargen and QT-7 give the details; occasionally pointing out the holoprojections of the ship itself. At full size, with all 9 fuel cells mounted (they can be removed), the Container Train is some 7800 meters long, five times the size of an Imperial class Star Destroyer. yet for all that size; it is unarmed and has a crew of merely 200 personnel; half in each Eninge Pod along with a large number of Droids. The crew consists of approximately 20 officers, 30 Security guards and 150 spacers. With half of these on shore-leave; each Engine Pod should only have about 5 officers, 8 or so Security guards and 30-40 crewmen at the time of the attack. While the ship can be flown from either Engine Pod; both must be under Rebel control or the Imperials could jump the ship/fly the ship/etc. from either one.

The Rebel Intel teams will be loaded aboard the two Spiral class Assault craft; which in turn will be carried by a specially modified Freighter flown by a crack L.S.S. team who specialize in delievering various special-mission personnel to all manner of landing sites for various high-stakes operations. As for real-time mission decisions; that will be at the discretion of the overall commander of the Operation; Captain Tiodor Kendrick of the Alliance Fleet; making the call from his flagship on the Rebel Mon-Cal MC-80 cruiser Vindicator.

Captain Dargen nods to Lawra and she turns to her Intel teams; "Okay then; any more questions?"

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul looks at the white team, sizes them up, nods and turns to Lawra.

"Soundss like we get the easy part. If, for some reason, we lose communication with Captain Kendrick, who is the next point of contact?"

A wide grin spreads across Zuul's face:
"Also, when do we leave?"

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin "Guess I'll have to ask again. What more do we know about the ships being repaired?"

[max_vale]

Alliance Base in the caverns of the planet Fangol; Mortex Sector


Lawra smiles at the Barabel's grin and second question and answers with; "First thing in the morning big guy. You give those Impies hell!" Then she remembers the first question and thinks for a moment for answering with; "After Captain Kendrick, I guess Commander Baaraph of the crusier Freedom's Fire would be next in seniority. I doubt you'll have to worry about it though; you guys should be onboard the -Ice quickly after coming out of hyperspace and busy taking her while everybody else is out thrashing Imps. After you take control, you jump the Container Train out of the system and it should be smooth sailing after that."

Untose turned to Gavin after he asked his question and replied with; "The rest of the Imperial Replenishment Fleet; the 2 Nebulon-B class Escort Frigates: the Corellian Corvette, the 2 Bulk Frieghters, and the Repair Tender are all still scheduled to be docked at the Space Station for refit. Captain Kendrick's MC-80 Cruisers will be pounding them with their Ion Cannons along with the Stations' own batteries to keep them out of the fight; not to mention the fact that those ships' will only have half their crews available to them. Still, if they do manage to get up and running and into the fight; we really only have to worry about the Escort Frigates. The little Corvette is no real threat to the Cruisers and the Nebulons really can't maneuver much. I think they pose little real threat to the operation; but in any event; the particulars of the Naval battle won't matter much to us while we're taking control of the Black Ice unless things either go catastrophically bad or there's a lot more Imperial Navy ships there that we don't know about; which is very unlikely. If there ARE; then Captain Kendrick will cancel the operation and we're out of there anyway."

There's a little bit more discussion of the two Spiral class assault boats; each of which is about 30 meters long, mostly consisting of a long nose drill with a packed proton charge at the tip and a powerful engine at the rear with a small, reinforced cabin with enough room for 4 initial-damping grav couches which can each hold 2 people. The first couch is the seating for the Pilot and Co-pilot (who can operate the Comms, Sensors and Shields); and a small storage area which will be packed with a weeks' worth of rations for the Boarding Party along with half-a-dozen extra medpacs and a space for QT-7 for Black Team; and another QT droid; QT-9, for White Team. The Rebel Agents make the logical decision to have Zinn pilot the Boat while Jackson will sit in the co-pilot's chair.

The meeting breaks up soon after and the Rebels of Black Team take the rest of the day to get some rest and/or outfit themselves for the upcoming mission. Several weapons and pieces of equipment are available to any who want them; including:

-A Blaster Carbine for anyone who wants/needs one: (5D damage; Range: Short=3-25, Med=75, Long=150)
-2 Grenades, 1 stun, 1 standard, for any who want them: (throwing range: 10/20/30; blast radius 5/10/15; damage: 7D/5D/3D, damage is normal for standard grenades and stun for Stun grenades)
-Armor Vest for any who want one (Vest provides +2 pips to STR for resisting Damage but impose a -1 pip penalty to DEX and all DEX skills....i.e. STR 3D+1 becomes STR 4D to resist damage; but DEX 3D becomes DEX 2D+2 while wearing the armor)
-A Glowrod (i.e. flashlight) for anyone who wants one
-A Medpac for anyone who wants one


OOC: Everyone let me know what gear (if any) listed above anybody wants to bring along.

[kipper]

Clark will take the whole setup (one of each), why not?

[Monsieur Rose]

As will Zuul. Assuming one of the vests will fit.

[GreyWolfVT]

Clark will take the whole setup (one of each), why not?

Ditto for Gavin

[ybn1197]

Jackson does the same.

[angelicdoctor]

In keeping with his pacifistic nature, La'Reth takes only the stun grenade, a medpac and a glowrod.

[ybn1197]

Sorry. Should have said, Jackson is taking:

-2 Grenades, 1 stun, 1 standard
-A Glowrod (i.e. flashlight) for anyone who wants one
-A Medpac for anyone who wants one

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn feels a thrill when the other Rebel team comes in; he can see that his teammates are a bit nervous, the reputation of their leader one of ferocity and extreme capability...but those were qualities he felt were lacking in CorSec when he left in search of the Rebel Alliance. He gives a nod of respect when he makes eye contact with those from White Team.

As the meeting is breaking up, Zinn goes forward. Looking more closely at the specs for the Black Ice, he asks, "I realize that the engine pods on either end make acceleration and braking infinitely easier; however, how much would we be hampered if we had to, say, detach an engine pod from one side?" He points at the pods in the middle of the hologram. "I know it's unorthodox, and perhaps counter to our mission, but I'm trying to think of all angles here. We're gonna have Imp vessels that are uncrewed due to shore leave; what kind of extra damage could we do if we, say, built up some momentum, then launched one of those fuel pods so it would hit their hangar bay, or hit their spaceport? We could do an incredible amount of damage, given the right circumstances; we need to hit those Imp bastards, and HARD. The Alliance is scraping to get resources, while the Imps have the full support of the government; we need to do whatever damage we can."