Mission Planning

Charoux considered making food for this meeting himself, but with the way he was smoldering over Maarg and the upcoming Wypoc mission, the food’s cooking would be poorly attended to at best, so he decided to leave it to the bot, which correctly pointed out that even his intended menu suffered from a lack of attention. Instead, he would make some freshly de-pulped juice cocktails, which would allow him some temporary catharsis by way of forcefully jamming fruit through the juicer. His companions in the company made their way in, their feelings running a little tense and moody. Charoux was generally content to let them avoid having to think about Wypoc, and to focus on trading and ship upgrades, but preparation leads to better outcomes, and the risks were considerably higher this time. This was going to require considerable subtlety, because the enemy knew damn sure Artemis was coming; they did leave a thermonuclear invitation to their trap, after all. Charoux did his best to make them all comfortable before he started, but their spirits were determined to not be lifted. Charoux started by rattling off some basic facts and figures about Wypoc while they ate, before getting down to the operational stuff; “Besides Maarg’s base, which will come last, there are two considerably problematic threats on Wypoc. The first is the atmosphere. If there’s an acid you wish wasn’t in Wypoc’s atmosphere, it’s probably in there . Dr. Simone, if you would, please...”. Dr. Simone then went into excruciating detail about the dangers of the various acids, how exposure to as little as 3 drops of Hydrofluoric Acid would require immediate hospitalization ,  even if you felt unharmed , how Hydrochloric Acid in the stomach digests flesh and plant matter, and will digest you in the considerably higher concentrations  found on Wypoc, and about how medical inspections afterward would not only be mandatory , but that she’d stun anyone who wouldn’t let her fully inspect them out of some mis-placed sense of bravado . There were noticeable instances of forks hanging in the air mid-bite, so the message was clearly well-delivered. Charoux then tore into the list of equipment that would not be allowed on this mission, because it was chemically incompatible; his own Darrian Guard Armor (because of the bio-engineered camo surface), the Imperial Grav Bike (because it was entirely open to atmosphere), the Darrian Grav Bike (mostly because he didn’t want it pooling in the cockpit when the bubble canopy was raised), the ATV for several reasons, and assorted other gear. Wrapping up, he said, “We’re going to have to acquire some mission-appropriate Grav Vehicles for this one.”. This began a discussion on just what sort of vehicles and armors would meet the required specs for the mission, and associated costs. Once the conversation had died down, Charoux brought up the wildlife; “In addition to the atmosphere, the wildlife is pretty damn hazardous too.”. Charoux began a slideshow featuring stills and holovideo of the wildlife, and the footage of their previous encounter. Resuming his point, he reminded everyone, “Maarg knows we’re coming. He’s going to be watching for us. Any good hunter knows to watch the movements of flocks of animals to get an idea of what is coming, but Maarg may have another option; the question I have is, is he going to be using his Psionic personnel to watch us through these eyes, and use the animals as his front line, or is that option not available to him? Isis, if you please...”. Isis then took the stage, and bravely attempted to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the Psionic personnel, and the extent to which they would be able to take advantage of the local animal population for the sake of early warning or even combat. Charoux patted Isis on the shoulder for keeping things together as best she could, and accepted a hug, before resuming. Charoux brought up stills and holovideo from their previous visit to Maarg’s base. “And finally, there was the base itself. If you recall, the base was a secret until we blabbed about it. No one came out to bug us; a damn nuke was even snuck in by a third party , and they were completely unawares. But since we gave out that information, they’ve likely had more than their fair share of wannabe intruders. Security will have been stepped up; they’ll likely have sensors for when Psionics won’t be up to the task. And they will likely even have overtly or co vertly placed weapons. Getting in likely won’t be nearly as easy, and we will probably be surprised more than once by what we find there. Careful Recon will be a necessary priority followed by a careful approach.”. Discussion between Charoux and Gevaudan began about how they would attempt their insertion by Cutter, and how Charoux and Kayleb would take a grav vehicle out to the site to do Recon work, while the rest stayed back until they had come up with an approach vector for the follow-up grav vehicle and a plan of attack. Both teams would deploy a tent, or similar enclosure, so that, with the addition of the Cutter, there would be 3 locations everyone could retreat to if necessary. They would then proceed in separate teams to the base, to engage in some cross-fire, with orbital strikes as necessary, after which everyone would make their way in.

Isis, not one to be shut down so quickly after her recall of personnel at the Wypoc bunker, held her ground. "I know of a secret entrance.  Down the east corridor is - or was - a closet filled with psioncology hardcopy.  It's there in case the computers crashed or power failed.  The Institute would still have training manuals and the like.  If you clear out some books on the floor, a large grate tile hides an escape hatch.  In my term there, I had a Fifth Power Telekinetic bore under the rock beneath that grate floor to a crawl-space leading east, out of the bunker proper.  But that is a 150 meter crawl to a heavy boulder that only a strong person or such a telekinetic could remove.  I don't believe Maarg has ever need of the hardcopy closet and as such no reason to go looking for a secret exit.  The crawl tunnel is too small for anyone in more than ballistic cloth or at most a VaccSuit to worm in or out.  But it is there.  I had help putting it there, but never needed to use it.....thanks to the Colonel." Isis then fell silent in a distant, remembering gaze. When it became time for Gevaudan to speak, the white Vargr was still looking at Isis, possibly with his 'sniffer' then turning to Charoux.  "If what Professor Isis say be true, then 'tis possible to NOE up to rock, remove it with battledress and sneaky inside, maybe to unlock front door, garage or sabotage computer, power or radar.  This one remember that Isis know Artemis  arrive 'cuz of bunker Sensors.  Cloak and dagger in, knock out or spoof what thee likes, weasel-beast outta there.  Stealth Cutter in and storm the castle.  Who the nukenin  then?" Gevaudan scritched behind and under the ear-comm of his right ear.  His skillsoft jack was itching again.  "Thinking this one that Maarg has plenty of psi-humies on payroll.  Yes, squealers, shields and disruptors needed on sortie team." Isis nodded and interrupted the Pilot-Astrogator again with a scritch with her free hand.  "Gev is right and just as I was taught from early childhood testing in the Consulate,"  she paused slightly, "Maarg might have trained some prodigies of his own.  Beware of Fourth and Fifth Power psionics students."  The Professor risked a sidelong glance at Uthka Varzeekh who was fidgeting with her orichalcum  colored sash belt and her purple robe's cowl concealing her middle-aged eyes.  "They can come from anywhere, Wild finds, some he might have Mentored and those purposefully sent to the Institute.  And your disruptors and shields don't work against every discipline.  Be on your guard." Gevaudan was smiling at the friendly scritching when his eyes popped open and he back away from Isis, "Not forget need to get out of Wypoc system under nose of Navy.  Taking out of Comms, very important."  Feeling more confident despite his lack of protocol, Gev fell silent and risking his own askance look at his elder sister glowering at him.   Equals.  Yes, Sister-Dame, but time changes this one.  Better friends and comrades than titles and holier-than-thou. With that, the Zhodani and the Equal Vargr relinquished the floor to the CEO.

I don’t recall letting Gev’s sister in on this meeting. XD Also, what did Isis have to say about them remotely Psi-jacking the animals for the sake of patrolling their territory? Is that even a thing, or just Charoux’s usual paranoia?

If asked Isis would be insulted at such an application.

The Dame and her assistant shuffled out at the body language of Gevaudan and the close-lipped displeasure of Charoux.  Dignified, Qithka and Uthka left for the Owner's Suite and Observation deck, Witness in unseen tow. Gevaudan put forth another suggestion after the two had gone.  "Perhaps not telling Wypoc Traffic Control that Ares-Artemis jump in-system, so as not tip off Maarg who might have ear to ground, this one thinking."

Pakkrat said: If asked Isis would be insulted at such an application. In the sense that she wouldn't do it, that Maarg wouldn't do it, or that every Psionic wouldn't do it? I'm not asking if Isis would, but if Maarg or his cronies would. What exactly does she find so preposterous about this idea that takes it off the tactical table?

Pakkrat said: The Dame and her assistant shuffled out at the body language of Gevaudan and the close-lipped displeasure of Chroux. Dignified, Qithka and Uthka left for the Owner's Suite and Observation deck, Witness in unseen tow. Charoux allows Qithka and Uthka to take platefuls of food before they go, and takes a memo to himself to put signs on the door when company meetings are taking place, and to make sure that extra effort gets spent on Qithka and Uthka's next meal, to make up for any apparent rudeness on his part, with a note reminding her that company meetings and the discussion therein are the exclusive  intellectual property of Artemis Group, and that Qithka and Uthka are, regretfully, not allowed to attend without an explicit invitation following a company vote on the matter. Charoux reminds Gevaudan that we would do better to avoid filing a flight plan as far out from Wypoc as fuel, stealth, and the limits of audacity allow.

Isis' revulsion at psionically manipulating animals and other beasts is both repugnant to Isis and in her estimation repulsive to Zhodani.  In her term at the Institute, she reports that she never saw files on such a behavior and would have protested such to those who would listen to her, namely Dr. Melchior and Capt. Maarg (in those days).  She also believes that the Instinct of, say a Wypoc Dragon is too strong to telepathically influence let alone control.  Swoopers have too much Pack to do the same.  Then there would be the time needed out of doors to train out in that Insidious weather.  Maarg never let more than a few Vaccsuits in the bunker to keep the students and staff put.  Isis can relate a story about an adventurous Telepath-Teleporter who thought he could tame a Swooper.  Pin cushioned. Watching the Dame and her assistant dismiss themselves, Gevaudan pushed away his meal he had only begun to eat.  Without the other Dzeng Aeng Kho present, the Pilot-Astrogator abstained for the rest of the meeting.  Clearly it was his ethnicity talking.  Instead he fiddled with the expected jump routes, fuel consumption and most recent jumpspace duration estimate, comparing his with his 'gator computer's.

Charoux makes another note, "No more dinner meetings, possibly rude to Gev".

Jacob cleared his throat. "Okay," he said, "We probably don't have to worry about mind-controlled animals. That's good news. When you guys were there, how many people were there? Non-combatants, I mean. We can assume that whatever security Maarg had before will be completely re-doubled, reinforced and re-structured in preparation for our visit." Jacob was still uncomfortable with the idea that he might soon find himself fighting against Imperial forces. Navy, no less. He tried to keep his distaste for the idea off of his face, but he doubted that he succeeded. "I'm assuming that we're not planning on killing everybody there. Isis, how many of the other instructors and students do you think would leap at the chance to get free of the place?"

  ((Is this meeting for boss people only? Would Runt or Jeff be there?))

Jeff is actually a shareholder, so he certainly would be invited. As for Runt, I'm not sure. Our CEO invited Isis, so he may be including other crew members?

Everyone participating in the mission is invited, and expected to contribute to mission planning; I doubt we could keep Isis off the mission if we tried, and she’s a fairly critical advisor at the planning stage anyway, having familiarity with Maarg, other base personnel, and the significant details of the base itself. Neither Qithka nor Uthka are part of Artemis Group, nor is this part of their ticket, nor can we leverage their interest in having news to broadcast for the sake of some strategic public good (like on Zamine), therefore, they are not invited . I know Pakkrat included them for the sake of their being a point-of-reference for Gev’s growth as a character, but in principle, everyone would likely be aware of company policy by now... I partly wonder whether Pakkrat is trolling me (or maybe Qithka is trolling Charoux) with Qithka’s attendance at the meeting. XD

Is it safe to assume, then, that Sebastien would be attending?

Charoux will thank Isis for the clarification, and remind everyone that, while there are , in fact, stupid questions , all assumptions are stupid until verified by fact , and so granting the opportunity for questioning those assumptions and allowing sufficient confirmation of details like this is actually very important. As an extension to Crow’s questions, Charoux asks Isis who would be the most appropriate member of the personnel to lead an unsanctioned evacuation of all noncombatants and “involuntary personnel”, how that evacuation would most likely be conducted, what difficulties with other station personnel would likely be encountered, and if Artemis should supply any particular equipment to make sure that goes smoothly. Additionally, if the boulder were cut up with tool lasers, would the closet make for a good evacuation route, while the evacuation remained undetected?

Sebastien... Hmm... good question. Did he even want to go on the mission? Is it part of the ticket for him to go? Did he have a preference with regards to hands-on vs. hands-off? Charoux doesn’t exactly trust Sebastien quite yet, but he’s not going to mind being out-voted on the issue of him attending.

Sebastien certainly wouldn't want to go on the mission, but the mistrust goes both ways. It is crucially important that Captain Maarg answer some questions, and Sebastien is not certain that he can trust his (and the Imperium's) interests in the Artemis Group's hands.

* Kayleb sheepishly puts his hand up school room fashion to gain permission to speak * "Umm ... look I know I'm new here, so I'm not sure how much weight my opinions have, but I've got a few questions and a couple things to say.  First of all ... and please don't misunderstand me here ... I'm sure this "Colonel" bloke was really top notch. Sounds like a hell of a guy. But I didn't know him and to be honest I'm not strongly motivated to avenge him. So ... I hope you will understand that taking on a ticket that by the looks of it is sure to lead to the death of some if not all of us ... I think its fair to say it's above my monthly salary. Are we carrying out this suicide mission pro bono? Again ... please don't get me wrong here. Folks seem really emotional and I'm more than happy to help ... but ... it would be a mighty big favor if you know what I mean. I haven't heard any talk about remuneration yet.  And when I said "suicide mission" before I wasn't talking lightly. I mean .. holy krok shite guys ... this show sucks a vast amount of arse. Let's go over the finer points ...  This Maarg fella is psionic? With a psionic following?.. And he has access to tactical nuclear weapons that he isn't shy to use.  He knows we're coming and unless he's a total idiot has set a deadly trap for us.  He's Imperial? Navy? Did I hear that right? So even if everything goes perfectly we're basically picking a fight with the Imperium.  He is in a position of total advantage. He has the home ground. He has surprise unless we get eyes in there. He has control and perfect knowledge of the battleground. We on the other hand have total disadvantage. We have the environment to contend with, no knowledge of the battleground and no control.  The odds of this caper turning into a total cluster fark are pretty good I'd say. And that is if they haven't just packed up their bags and moved out. Someone mentioned that this used to be a "secret base" ... but isn't any more? I'm figuring a base that maintains most of it's security through it's secrecy is going to reestablish that secrecy once it's blown. We could go there and find an empty base ... with a nuke ... specifically rigged up waiting for us. We're playing against a guy who is holding all the aces.  * Runt taps the ash of his cigarette into an empty cocktail class * ... Sorry ... that was a card game reference for folks who don't gamble. Just saying that this show is a steaming pile of shite and we're about to dive right into it. Now on the other hand ... to counterbalance the negativity and greed that I've spewed out so far ...  In the old days on the world I come from folks in the river country would hunt aquatic avians. Like ... winged meat that could also swim on the surface of the water. These critters could keep themselves safe by paddling into reeds. In there they were really hard to grab, and could easily fly off while a hunter was bumbling around in the entangling reeds trying to catch them. So instead of playing the game their way, the hunters changed the game. Made the birds play the hunter's way. Instead of going into the bird's country they would beat on the reeds and flush them out - straight into nets.  * Kayleb takes a drag on his cigarette and stubs it out on the side of the cocktail class as he continues * What I'm saying is, right now we're playing this whole thing Maarg's way. What if we flushed him out? Engaged him on our own terms? I reckon if we either hacked or smashed their life support and power we could flood the inside of their base with ... outside. Force them to evacuate. Murder them all on the way out. Both the power and the life support have to have external vents right? How much do we know about that? * lights up another cigarette * Oh and I seriously think we need to get this "non combatant" idea out of our heads. If we're going to do this we can't go in half arsed. If this is some kind of .... psion cult ..Zho sleeper mole cell  ... whatever ...  every spoon bending bastard in that place is a "combatant". ... They've all got to die. "

Isis shivers at the Imperium talk.  She bristles at talk of Zhodani cultism.  And when the questions again come to her, she responds.  "The Colonel liberated me from that hell-hole, gave me a free will and purpose.  He took me into this company where others pointed weapons at me.  We were going to settle on Sun Point as free Imperium and Zhodani could only do on Darrian.  I loved  that man.  Have you ever loved someone only to see them ripped from you in a disgusting flash?  One moment the world is right.  The next is pure hell.  Thaddeus Maarg deserves a hundred nuclear deaths.  Still not translating well enough for you, soldier?  Maybe this will sing a birdsong you can understand."   Professor Isis stands again, anger on her face and tears in her eyes, "Vengeance for that man is worth up the 35 million credits to Artemis Group if  you've the Charismatic cajones for it."   Then she rounds on Charoux, "I will lead the non-Com extraction team, given enough VaccSuits to evacuate the students."  She gazes at Gev who startles at her elevated voice. " You just keep that Cutter in range of the escape tunnel.  A proper Agent can get in and disable whatever he likes once inside." "You owe  this to the Colonel.  You owe Lloyd Robertson.  Excuse me."  Isis then storms out like a breeze caught her up with a forearm over her eyes.

"Well ... that got emotional. "

Jacob put a hand on Runt's shoulder. "Don't take it personally. She's grieving." "But it does seem like we're all comin' at this thing from all over the place." Jacob frowned. "We're already reacting to Maarg's moves, rather than approaching this on our own terms. Hell, we haven't even figured out what our terms are." He stood up and looked around the room and then at Runt. "Runt, I disagree with almost everything you just said, but I do agree with you about one thing, and that is that most of us don't owe the Colonel anything. Don't get me wrong, I liked the guy and all, and I got to fight at his side a couple of times. He was a good man. And I believe that his murderer should pay for his death and all of the 'collateral' death and destruction on Darrian. "Obviously, Isis did owe the man; but Charoux here is the only other one who was even at Wypoc. Maarg did track us down and tried to blast us out of space, but we kicked his ass and sent him packing. Hell, Runt and Jeff never even met Colonel Robertson or Captain Maarg." Jacob took a breath. He wasn't even really sure where he was going with all of this, but he knew that he sure as hell did not like the way things had been going lately. "So some of us have our own personal grudges or interests in this... thing." Jacob gestured toward Jeff and Runt, "Or not." "So hows about we try to stow our personal baggage, with all due respect to Isis's pain, and whatever sense of loss that anybody else has over this thing, and deal with it professionally? That's what we just did at Zamine, we practically saved the damned world, and we even did it on our terms. When we work together we are damned good at what we do." "You have every right to your own feelings and such, but if we're going to do this, we need to do it as professionals, as the Artemis Group. We nail down both of our patrons down on Ticket specifics and determine if there is any way that the tickets can both be completed. Not sure what we do if they can't be, I guess we vote and apologize to the loser." He shrugged. "Then we break down the mess to concrete objectives, obstacles, assets and so on. We hammer out a plan. A survivable plan." He winked at Runt. "Together, everybody all in. Or we walk away." Then he sat down and drained his drink.

Gevaudan put down his hand computer, charts and corrected, "This one with Sister-Dame and Gentlemen Sergei and Gerald with Capt. Panzor, Charoux with Colonel 1107 when explore Wypoc.  This one there.  Make a do too.  Swoopers, bunker, staff, students this one see. Gev then switched his attention to the Cutters and available modules suitable to a Wypoc insertion and extraction.

Oops, apologies. I guess I was mistaken.

1. For the sake of not blowing all our tickets at once , I’m going to go with no , Sebastien was not in the meeting; when we have a specific plan , we’ll go over it with him, and he can ask questions and make corrections as he likes. 2. The privacy provisions in place prohibit Isis from knowing about Sebastien’s ticket, and Sebastien from knowing about Isis’s ticket. Isis is crucial to the op, so she gets to attend the meetings. But she’s not , strictly speaking , a member of the company, and so would neither get to know about nor vote on acceptance of Sebastien’s ticket; nor could we have allowed her to do so either , as it would be a complete conflict of her interest . Honestly, at this rate, the only thing I can tell keeping Isis from using the Ares itself as the WMD to take out Maarg is those of us who give a damn , and the noncombatants and involuntary conscripts  stuck on Wypoc. Seriously, guys, this situation is just really, really bad ... I mean, how long can you really keep from a Zhodani Psionic that you sold out her Mercenary ticket for money ? Honestly, can we just smooth this whole situation out somehow???

Charoux encouraged Kayleb to speak, noting that, “as our resident ground tactics expert, his extensive experience should lend invaluable perspective to our operations in the future”. Charoux took a few notes as Kayleb talked, evaluating the merits of what he said, and of his analysis: Should never hesitate to contribute Needs the pay structure explained to him again; not unexpected Mostly accurate tactical assessment; must have spaced-out during the base slideshow, and personnel discussion Absolutely correct about fighting Maarg on our own terms Neglecting the objective of “capturing him alive”, according to the Sebastien ticket Requires MANDATORY cultural sensitivity training Needs to not make the boss look bad for sticking up for him When Kayleb was done, and after Crow explained Isis’s reaction, Charoux slid the note over to Kayleb, punched him in the arm as best his untrained weaksauce body could, looked him in the eyes, and triple-tapped on the note with two fingers. When Crow was done, with the door locked, and after an additional bug scan, he reminded everyone, trying very hard not to say “I told you so”, that, the only circumstances that both tickets could be fulfilled is if Maarg dies in a convincing accident, or if Maarg makes being captured alive impossible on his own . Charoux also went to effort to explain that engineering a convincingly fake accidental death was extremely difficult even under ideal circumstances. Further, even if Sebastien bought a successful ruse, and we were fully paid  for that ticket, it would be a significant blemish on the company’s long term record that we didn’t meet our customer’s highest expectations. Charoux then proposed that they break for a few minutes, so that Isis could regain her composure, Gevaudan and Simone could remind Crow of their emotional stake in this mission, while Kayleb and Charoux went over the personnel details and the interior details of the base as captured by Qithka’s tour of the interior, again , and “certain other things that need addressing”. To be fair, it’s hard for Wolfen and Alby to see the “slideshows” that have only vaguely been described in text; we should run them through those things tonight in meta.

Alby, meta is on right now...

Jim, now that Sebastien and Isis are sharing information, please roll up a legal document protecting Artemis Group against any oversharing due to a misunderstanding on our part. From the Company’s Manual, required reading for all AG personnel: Strategic Priorities for AG personnel are, In General : 1. In case of "them or us", we're prioritizing "us". 2. In case of "them or bystanders", we're prioritizing "bystanders". 3. In case of "them or legitimate authorities", we're prioritizing "legitimate authorities". 4. In case of "them or pesky meddlers", we're prioritizing "pesky meddlers". 5. In case of "them or nosy busybodies", open question. 6. In case of "them or authoritative wannabes", open question. 7. In case of "them or their fawning idiot cultists", we're prioritizing "their fawning idiot cultists". 8. In case of "them or the mission", we're prioritizing "the mission". 9. In case of "the mission or us", we're prioritizing "us". 10. In case of "the mission or bystanders", we're prioritizing "bystanders". 11. In case of "the mission or legitimate authorities", we're prioritizing "legitimate authorities", unless they've accepted the risks of our mission taking priority. 12. In case of "the mission or pesky meddlers", we're prioritizing "pesky meddlers". 13. In case of "the mission or nosy busybodies", we're prioritizing "the mission". 14. In case of "the mission or authoritative wannabes", we're prioritizing "the mission". 15. In case of "the mission or their fawning idiot cultists", we're prioritizing "the mission". Proposed Mission Priorities in order of precedence; the company’s Strategic Priorities still superseding: 1. Maintain Stealth 2. Cut Off Enemy External Communications 3. Evacuate non-combatants and involuntary personnel 4.a. Capture evidence proving the guilt of Maarg 4.b. Capture evidence proving the guilt of as-yet-unidentified parties in the nuclear detonation on Darrian 5.a. Capture Maarg alive 5.b. Capture the as-yet-unidentified parties guilty of the nuclear detonation on Darrian 6. Ensure that Maarg and the as-yet-unidentified parties are executed for their various crimes 7. Destroy and kill everything in the way of the above 8. Ensure that Maargand the as-yet-unidentified parties are tried and convicted for their various crimes Charoux presents Isis and Sebastien with the Proposed Mission Priorities, and ask if it meets with their approval, or needs to be amended in any way.

After having a... thorough... talk with Kayleb, filled with “do”s, “don’t”s, company policies, and mission details he may have missed, making sure that Qithka, Uthka, and Gev all had enough to eat, that Isis was feeling better, and seeing that Isis and Sebastien had worked out the conflicting details between their tickets by themselves, Charoux called for the meeting to resume.

Sebastien  accepts the Proposed Mission Priorities. He does need to reserve the right to decide how to proceed in any potential case(s) against Imperium Officials or Members of the Peerage above his own rank. (Basically, underscoring the "In the case of 'the mission or legitimate authorities' we're prioritizing the legitimate authorities," where the legitimate authorities = the Imperium.) 

*Anyone with Psychology, Religion, or Sophontology will be able predict that Gevaudan will add Heroic over Dutiful if he's given an opening.  It may be a function of Charisma or his ethnicity.*

Alright so ... evacuation of non-combatants is priority number one. Roger that.  Just ... okay ... weeding out the combatants from the noncombatants is going to be a real trick for us. And while we're bumbling about sorting out the sheep from the wolves they'll be busy murdering us.  And how exactly are we going to identify the non-combatants? We could "rescue" some innocent looking teenager who has been brainwashed into believing hell knows what - only to have them snap our necks or pop our heads open just by thinking hard at us. We're never going to know which one's are combatants until some of us start dying.  So ... if I can make a suggestion ... if we're going in "non-lethal" then we go in hard with it. No stuffing around. Concussion grenades, tranq gas, stunners, choke holds ... the whole bloody show. And before they wake up their already in either a cold berth or a chemically induced coma. When they finally wake up let it be in Imperial custody. Everyone. Maarg. Little Sally Psion ... all of them KOed and dragged out. It's the only way we can maximize our own safety and the probability of success. Because if we're making "legitimate authority" a mission priority we've got to understand that practicing and training in psionics is a crime under imperial high law. Everyone in this facility - every single living being in there from Marrg right down to their janitor - is complicit.  A court can decide if they're "innocent" or not.  This whole idea of Isis leading non-combatants out by hand seems like bull shite to me. Every second we spend in there not fighting we loose initiative.  

The white Vargr perks with an idea on his wagging tail; however on second thought, he checks himself and silently curses himself breathlessly. " ...not very heroic to nappy-time everybody..."

"I'm all for going in hard with nonlethal gear," Jacob agreed, "as long as we have the real stuff to fall back to if necessary. And it's a good idea to leave sorting the good psions from the bad psions to the Imperium."  "And, Runt, don't let the idea of dealing with psions rattle you. We're actually pretty good at it. We have tech and tactics for just this kind of fight and I'm sure we can get more gear out of Sebastien. Psions bleed and die like anybody else. They get tired, confused and scared."

Pakkrat said: " ...not very heroic to nappy-time everybody..." Yeah well I suggested that we go in there and ghost everyone, but apparently that's off the table Wolfen said: "I'm all for going in hard with nonlethal gear," Jacob agreed, "as long as we have the real stuff to fall back to if necessary. And it's a good idea to leave sorting the good psions from the bad psions to the Imperium."  "And, Runt, don't let the idea of dealing with psions rattle you. We're actually pretty good at it. We have tech and tactics for just this kind of fight and I'm sure we can get more gear out of Sebastien. Psions bleed and die like anybody else. They get tired, confused and scared." Oh hells I'm not rattled at all. Marine. Turning Consulate females into weeping widows is what I do....or did ... I know how to tango with Psions and I know what sneaky bastards they can be. Developing psionic powers seems to cause all morality to atrophy.  I am a little edgy about talk like " our disruptors and shields don't work against every discipline ." and such. So I take " Be on your guard " as advice to not hesitate to put any of them down. Time for them to think means time for them to pound us. And once they're down we need a way to make them stay down until we can get them into custody.  You guys ever here of Gunny Chi? Don't want to make his mistake. 

Updated the Mission Priorities to include the need for stealth and cutting off their comms. Charoux will remind Gevaudan that risking personal injury to avoid harming the innocent is , in fact, heroic; at least, to some; it is neither practical, nor convenient, but it saves lives. Charoux will remind everyone that, as the expert on the base’s layout, organization, and its personnel, Isis is the natural choice to decide who is worth the risk to our mission to inform about and execute the escape plan with; and, that if anyone has any qualms with that, then she can come up with a specific plan of action, and we can consider it for approval. Charoux will also mention that this operation clearly needs to have 2 distinct phases; the “Stealthy Escape” phase, and the “Fully Lethal Complete Destruction” phase, which will likely happen sometime after the enemy suspects something is up, but not before they figure out what; part of the goals of planning meetings like this are to see just how long we can extend priorities like the possibility of escape for the non-combatants and involuntary personnel.

This one.

Tenacious Techhunter said: This one. ((THANKS! Was looking everywhere for this.)) 

During one of the jump meetings, preferably outside of the hearing range of Zhodani moles, Kayleb raises a few questions about the upcoming capers involving Maarg.* "Just trying to get my head round the upcoming show. We really are going into this one blind. I've put together a draft "O-Group" doc. Did it for my own benefit really. It's mostly blank though. I figured it'd be good for us to be putt'n our heads together to come up with some kid of plan. Problem with that is, we don't have enough information to create a real plan. We have only half a guess as to where Maarg may be. Even that guess is pretty vague. Maarg has already taken a swing at this group in space? For all we know he's mustering up enough naval power to make sure he doesn't get licked again. So ... we already have a plan to upgrade the ship. I was thinking that while that plan is being executed we could send eyes out to gather more info on Maarg. We need to know where he is and what he's up to. Without intel we have no plan. .. This isn't me volunteering or anything. Just say'n ... we've got a recon deficit at the moment. (the datapad draft "O-Group" doc. Can edit as we chat.) SITUATION Ares has been commissioned to bring Psi Ops Cpt. Maarg in alive. Current whereabouts is unknown. Cpt Maarg likely to have a number of psionic "students" in tow. Access to Imperial naval assets. Possible intel contacts within navy. Another alternate ticket has been presented that requires him to be terminated. Two psi ops officers currently on board (cold sleep). MISSION Engage and apprehend Cpt. Maarg. EXECUTION Determine location of Cpt. Maarg. (to be determined) Enjoy victory spoils and smoke cigars. ADMIN/STORES Upgrade starship assets in order to counter potential naval assault. Consider potential nuclear, meson and PA threats when upgrading. Factor in future profitability for the company. Equip company for operations in insidious atmospheres. G-carrier (kitted out for hostile environment ops) Personal equipment. HEV suits Psi shields and disruptors Non-lethal weaponry COMMUNICATION/COMMAND Regular company chain of command to be observed Imperial Warrant to be honored to be best of our ability. *Gevaudan adds his notations:* Buddy system of teams assaulting the Wypoc bunker, right-thinking. This one with Prof. Isis, so she not whack Maarg too soon, and help her acquire hardcopy texts from on-site library. Evacuation of non-combatant students, possibly to local Downport or other safe-zone. Investigative teams to scoop up evidence for Imp Nobles peruse, right-thinking too. Pilot assignments for starship, spacecraft, insertion vehicle(s) for assault on Wypoc. Social damage control. Maybe Sister-Dame, Gentleman Sabastien, Gentleman Hane make PR statements ready? Make a do. Adding this one, Neural Field Dampening Rounds (NFD) found in online Central Supply Catalogue.  See page 51?  Shotgun variety available.  Maarg hunters might consider shopping for other slug-thrower ammo of same?  Finestkind. *Sebastian (?)  adds; * We do have intelligence about Maarg trickling in, but due to the nature of interstellar travel, it's pretty stale by the time we get it. As we get closer, the intel will get more and more up-to-date, but of course, in order to nail down a real time location for him, we'd have to be in the same system as he. So far, we've mostly assumed that we will confront at Wypoc, but we all know that's just a best guess. Our last confirmed spotting of Maarg had him leaving Regina and heading back toward Lanth/(Wypoc?). While we have high confidence that the intel was legit, it was probably well over a month old by the time we received it. Additional intel suggests that Maarg has been given a dressing down by Duke Norris. Beyond that, it's all conjecture. There's no harm in discussing potential plans and strategies, as long as we realize that we can't be sure of the setting until we're there. It might be constructive to take this from the endgame and work backward from there. That is, we know that our goal is to take Maarg alive if it is possible, or to at least get hard evidence about his role in the Colonel's murder, who else was involved, and on whose authority the decision was taken. So we start with strategies to nail down Maarg without killing him. Nonlethal weapons and stealth are a good place to start, as well as technologies that inhibit or block psionics, especially teleportation. Finding away to track Maarg if he does get away from us may also be a good plan. So maybe some kind of dart or similar delivery device that injects a tranquilizer or anti-psi drug, along with an easily tracked isotope or micro- or nanobots. Then we think about strategies to approach Maarg stealthily. Since we can pretty safely assume that he'll be expecting us, misdirection may be the best bet. We discussed that when we first started talking about plans to storm the psionics institute on Wypoc, and I think the same basic ideas are still good. We stage a frontal assault or other big and credible distraction to allow a capture team to sneak up on Maarg, and hopefully bag him, or at least tag him so we can hunt him down is he does give us the slip. So then we can start thinking about what those two teams are going to look like, and so on. * Kayleb nods * ... do we really want Isis on the ground with this one?

Barring some sort of “sudden but inevitable betrayal”, yes , we really do. 1. She’s been there before. She knows the terrain, the base, and the people. 2. In knowing the people, she’s the best one to coordinate an escape of involuntary personnel and other detainees. 3. She knows Maarg better than any of us; practically speaking, she’s going to be the one to keep him from getting away. Yeah, we want her there; barring the previously stated condition.

Well ... "previously stated condition" is a pretty big spanner in our works.  Someone willing to dish out thirty five mil to blow that warrant and just murder the guy is a huge "random element" in our op. If we're going to sail smoothly we need to reduce the number of random elements. If she's "been there before" - great! She can help us out in our planning phase.  She "knows the people"? Who cares? She can go in and collect them once they wake up from the stun shot we deliver to each of them. She may love them but we can't trust any of them. If we go in everyone we see has to go down.  Hesitating to identify people is going to get us brain-raped.  And "she knows Maarg" .. well frankly that's what I'm afraid of. I don't trust her. Fighting with people I don't trust gives me the dirts. She's not the one we need to count on to "stop Maarg getting away" because we can absolutely count on her to kill the guy if she has a chance. And any contact between them is a chance.  Look, we have tools. She can have a virtual holo presence through a personal drone or something. I've just got strong feelings about this ... based on years of experience fighting psionically capable combatants. I really don't want her there. 

Your concerns have been noted and logged for the company record.

... Great. We can have it printed up on our tomb stones. 

*Crow says* If we don't end up confronting Maarg at the Psionics Institute on Wypoc, Isis' role in the op is virtually nil.  If we do catch him there, she may offer some help, but Runt's right in saying that she may be more of a hindrance. She's pretty much told Sebastien outright that she could and would use her powers to get to Maarg and kill him whether we were okay with that or not. Considering the fact that most of her information is going to be more useful in planning than execution, and that we can always use comms to get her take on things, I'm starting to think she's just too dangerous to bring with us. Remember, the danger she poses is not just in the fact that she may kill Maarg before we can get answers, but also in the fact that she's a loose canon in general. If we go in with her, we have to constantly watch her, splitting our focus. That's how people die. If she disappears or takes some action to distract or mislead us, we lose any hope of stealth. She's not interested in stealth, only revenge. She's already admitted that she has no way to counter Maarg's psionics, so she's of no help there. Considering everything, can we trust her not to actively mislead us if she thinks it will allow her to get her revenge? (Hint: No ) Now, we do have a Ticket with her, and aside from the money itself, we have our reputation and our professional ethics to worry about. We should seriously think about how we want to handle this. Let's look at the terms of the Ticket: Oh, wait, we never got any formal Ticket or terms. I'm pretty sure that we were originally contracted to get "justice" for the Colonel. It only became clear later that Isis' definition of justice amounts to cold blooded murder. It also only became clear later that Isis expects to take her revenge herself, or at least to witness it firsthand. Either of those oh-by-the-way's to the contract should give us grounds to drop it or flatly say that we'll fulfill the base contract, but we won't allow a dangerous and unstable patron to come with. At that point, she has a choice to either agree or withdraw her Ticket. Now, I'm not saying that we should drop her Ticket; just that we'd be within our rights if we do. I definitely think that we should demand crystal clear terms from Isis, and lay out our own ground rules. I think we've been making a point of not just being hired assassins, and I'd like to keep it that way. I'm all for trying to find a compromise that works for everybody. To be honest, I'm a little bit concerned about how we deal with things if decide to drop the Professor's Ticket. Aside from Isis' immediate reaction, what do we do with her? Does she stay with us while we go on to try to bring Maarg in alive? Can we trust her not to muddy the waters or try to find a merc op without our scruples to go after Maarg, hiding the truth forever? Even if we do negotiate a Ticket with Isis that allows us to bring Maarg in alive, can we trust Isis to not to off him herself once we get him aboard?

* lights a cigarette * "Well I think you're right. We hurt our reputation more by taking her ticket than by turning it down. " *Remembers that smoking isn't allowed on the bridge. He stubs it out against his armour and puts it away for later * "So what do we do with her? I've got a couple ideas but I don't think you'd like any of them. And on top of all this she wants to sail off into the sunset with all of the 'students' in tow? Rogue psions in the care of a homicidal Zho roaming around the Imperium ... yeah that's a stellar idea.  Speaking about those students, no matter what we decide to do with them we're going to need a way to transport them. I'm thinking we need to invest in low berths."

Charoux takes a moment to ask Isis and Sebastien to leave the room, as he once again has to negotiate matters pertaining to their mutual conflict of interest. We accepted Isis’s ticket first , back when there was no reason not to . At the time, it was clear that, if Maarg could be proven to have committed the crime, he would be terminated on the spot. The terms were clear to all involved , and we accepted them. We were more than happy to accept considerable money for a mission I was perfectly willing to do pro-bono. If we had any problems with the ticket, as stated, we should have turned it down . Instead, accepting the ticket was nearly unanimous . And then Sebastien steps in. And he wants to do a “capture, not kill” mission. Which was in complete contradiction to our previously accepted mission . As you recall, I voted down accepting his ticket on that basis. But, Mercenaries love their pay, and I was out-voted. And here we are, trying once again to figure out how we can do both, mutually exclusive tickets. And trying to conveniently forget that Isis’s ticket came first , which the integrity our reputation is based on obligates us to give her ticket precedence. Never mind that it pays better . The only thing I can conclude about this course of action is that you’re getting cold feet now that you have to actually live up to what you promised. Now is not the time to turn down this job; the time to turn down this job was back on Darrian . You bit off more than you could chew, and now you want to weasel out of it. The only condition under which I am willing to decline fulfilling Isis’s ticket is if the conditions on Wypoc are genuinely insurmountable ; which would preclude us fulfilling Sebastien’s ticket, too. As a Company, the more responsible action would be to drop Sebastien’s ticket, as we accepted it under the blatantly false pretense that we actually could fulfill it unobstructed. Now, with regards to Isis’s emotional state, and her ability to participate in the mission in that regard, yes , those are very valid points. The likelihood of her playing a part in the nuclear detonation on Darrian is low, but certainly not zero, and therefore, not to be disregarded either. The key problem Isis’s presence on-site overcomes, besides that of merely being able to lend ongoing insight to the base’s operations, is that she has already built up trust with her fellow captives. If we were to lead a stealth evacuation, they would have to trust us. However, she is already trusted, and would do a much better job convincing them that, yes, escape is possible ; after all, she’s done it. And let’s be clear on something... anyone left behind is Maarg’s Hostage . We can’t just “stun everyone and let them lie there”. Maarg will threaten to use some self-destruct protocol, and innocents will die . We have to get them out on our own terms, or it will be a bloodbath . The base evacuation is a crucial part of this mission... and we require Isis’s participation in it to do it properly. If you have suggestions as to how to do it without allowing her to stray from her role in the mission, please, make them.

You are incorrect. Jacob never agreed to be a hitman. And at the time, Hane also said that he wouldn't accept an assassination job, which we reiterated when we were offered Sebastien's Ticket. We had just turned ourselves inside out to avoiding doing assassinations on Zamine. You should also review your timeline. We received a single one-way communication from Isis before we met Sebastien, in which she told us about the Colonel's death and that she wanted our help in getting justice from Maarg for his murder. Pakkrat did tell us that Isis was probably going to want Maarg dead, but at the time we had neither an official ticket nor terms. We had not actually communicated to Isis at all. She was in hiding. You are also apparently ignoring the fact that fulfilling the terms of Isis' Ticket, as a hit, would make us outlaws. Pretty sure there'd be some "ethical" red flags there, as well as doing much more damage to our image and reputation than backing out of an illegal ticket with a crazy lady. Now, we all know that it's likely Maarg will refuse to be taken alive, so this may be an academic point. Looking all the way back up to the Mission Priorities list to which I thought everybody had agreed, Killing Maarg was pretty low on the list, superceeded by taking him alive. If Charoux is now saying that he's not willing to abide by his own mission priorities, I think we do have a serious problem.

*Back in character* Assuming that we do carry out Operation: Get Maarg! on Wypoc, I agree that we should prioritize evacuating noncombatants. Again, we already agree to this way back when. And yes, I realize that that will be difficult and complicated. So we'll have to work it out. Maybe we can work something out with local authorities, so they can take custody of any "refugees," at least until we can secure and transport them elsewhere.  But again, this is building up a house of cards. We're assuming that Maarg is going to be at Wypoc, And that he's going to be at the Psionics Institute, And that there will still be noncoms there, And that we can trust Isis to help us instead of making our lives harder, And/or that we can keep her in check when it comes to Maarg. If any of those assumptions are wrong, Isis is a liability, rather than an asset. Personally, I'd rather work with stuff we can more or less count on for now. Getting our space elf panties in a bunch over things that may not even occur is a waste of time and energy. SO, we're looking at three teams, I'd say. Smaller than that, and there's a real chance that one or more team won't fulfill their objectives, or worse. We've got our assault team and our stealth team, and then the support team.  Stealth Team: Charoux, Hane, Izek, Jeff, (Isis, maybe), (Witness?) Assault Team: Crow, Gev, Kayleb, a few Ares Robots Support Team: Dr. Simone, Admiral Galen, Sebastien

The reason we called a vote on accepting Sebastien’s ticket was because it was already in conflict with an accepted ticket . Isis’s ticket was already accepted at that point. Otherwise, Charoux would have called the vote over which ticket to accept , rather than whether or not to accept the conflicting ticket . We avoided assassinations on Zamine because it was not in the strategic interest of Zamine or the Darrian Confederation; it was simply not the right solution to that particular problem. Immediately killing off a madman who plays with nukes freely and forces people to contribute to his psionics based agenda is the right solution to that particular problem, barring an immediate self-destruct of the base being tied to his death. Allowing Maarg even the potential for an opportunity to escape and wreak more havoc is an unjustifiable risk. The ethical thing to do here is to kill him, regardless of what the law says . We sidestepped the “conscientious objector” problem by agreeing that either Isis or I would do the killing, as required. If Jacob has a different opinion now that the heat is on, well, I don’t know what to say to that. We may need to regard this mission as “opt-out” for anyone not willing to live with the consequences of Maarg being assassinated. It should be noted that they will also be opting out of the pay. Charoux agreed to those mission priorities for the sake of fulfilling both tickets ; if the question comes down to only fulfilling one , then it is Charoux’s opinion that Isis’s ticket is the one we are obligated to fulfill, and those mission priorities need to change accordingly. You have a point about this being a bit of a “house of cards”, but you’re forgetting that the first 3 bullets can be solved with proper recon prior to the mission’s start, which we’re planning on doing anyway. The other two are, perhaps, unavoidable. Teams look good. Jeff is arguably more important on Assault, particularly with the Ares Robots; maybe trade Kayleb and Jeff.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist on the issue of the timeline. I'm pretty certain of what I wrote. And I know that Crow would never  agree to be nothing more than an assassin.  We'll have to get a ruling from Pakkrat on which happened when. If it turns out that I'm wrong, we'll have to decide which set of consequences we rather deal with. I fully agree that good recon will help us know whether or not the first few issues I noted in my "House of Cards" analogy will end up matter. I figured that went without saying. My point, however, is that getting all caught up in disagreements about details that may not even pertain is pointless.

"Wait ... Doesn't :"Sebastian's ticket" actually have the weight of an Imperial Warrant behind it? I was of the understanding that, while they may be generous enough to make this worth our while, we actually had little say in whether or not we actually do it ... because "Imperial warrant". Or do I have that all wrong? I guess who's ticket we end up cashing in on really depends on how things work out for us. If during the show Maag happens to slip over and land on HEAP rounds or something like that we disappoint our Imperial patrons but get a payday from Isis. If by some fluke we actually manage to grab Maarg alive then it's Isis who is disappointed. Maybe we can juggle both but I'm betting it's going to go one way or the other. The decision about which ticket to carry out isn't really in our hands. It's mostly dependent on how uncooperative Maarg ends up being.  The golden scenario, Maag comes peacefully knowing he has the legal loopholes covered. When he gets home he slips over on a bar of soap in his shower cubicle ... and hits his head on a guided rocket.... we've killed two birds with one stone.  But the idea that giving the nod to one ticket means we have to turn down another is just silly. We can take and turn down whatever jobs we like. Unless we've actually signed on any dotted lines that is. "

Gevaudan contributes during the jumpspace meeting.  He's been taking Broker lessons from Hane Meson, crunching numbers and learning how not to look desperate during a transaction.  It's the teeth-baring or tail-wagging and ears positioning, isn't it? "If Isis not to be include in Assault Team but rather Stealth Team , who on that team wants to slip her dummy-blank or stun rounds or babysit her ire?" asks the Pilot-Astrogator as he coils up his black and yellow, ship integration cord.  He sniffs once at the extinguished cigarette of Runt's. "Remembering this one, that Isis not make hard mission success of evacuation of students.  Just keeping them out of Artemis' way, yes?  Isis wants hardcopy manuals and books - minus Impy heraldry per Gentleman Crow is good-thinking.  Isis also know of secret entrance.  Remembering that too."   Gevaudan changes the subject to a tangent, "Maybe good-thinking to grease palms or twist arms to keep sale of Ares  hush-hush on Lunion while commute to Wypoc, so not tip off Maarg that it sell, yes?  Walls have ears is right saying?" "Thinking either charter a ship, ride wild in Sixth Horizon, (double-occupancy staterooms or coffin hotel), or other commute is finestkind.  Not thinking  Artemis Group want to wait around for 1200dT  Apollo, Hades, Charon  or other deathly, humie-god ship." "In end, this one prolly detach, take Sister-Dame, Uthka and Witness home to fulfill Dame Ticket contract just after Wypoc and her Regina layover, is efficient-guess.  Get pay for one of three Tickets.  Make a do, right?"   The white pelt Equal then returns to his studies in commodities futures and market trends based on world Trade Codes and the upcoming, post-war economy.