Fwurg

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

"Marine corps rule number one, always carry a knife. Much as I like my lightsaber, a knife's a subtler and more versatile. Knives have saved my life more times then I care to remember.

I just hope we get more intel on the tactical situation before we arrive. I don't like going in blind."

[Fecta Trigiel]

"Ah, I can relate to that," Trigiel said pleased, "the same goes with my sniper rifle... sort of. Every time I think of not brining my E-11 I find myself in dire need of one. To bad Quartermaster Nishra didn't want to give me one. Now I have to bring one from one of the cruisers.

And what about your skills? Master Qun Treen told us to get to know each other capabilities before he contacted us again with more intel, so Nathan, what are your skills?"

[Darones Rei]

"So do we bring in the entire fleet, or are we just taking the heavy cruiser down with an escort and run the transport from there? " Darones asked, while he considered their approach.

[Jedi Master Qun Treen]

As promised, two hours later, the Jedi Master once again contacted the Jedi.

The master gave a quick nod.

"I have little time, as other matters have come up that require my immediate attention. I take it you are each aware of the abilities of the others, so we'll skip that part.

The dig site on Erau, is called Hali Krani after the large bird species that makes it home in the area. You can expect a dense, multi-layered canopy over a swamp. The dig site itself is on a series of hills in the swamp. I have been in contact with professor Komian, and he has given me some extra information regarding the situation. First off, the nearest settlement is roughly three-hundred kilometres out, so you'll be on your own. Secondly, due to some kind of radiation interference from the dig site it is not possible to fly over the site, or to land there. Instead, the expedition has been using a landing site a few kilometres east of the site itself.

The professor has informed me that the artefact is about 12.19m long, by 2.54m wide, by 2.59m high; it weighs approximately 30000 kilograms. The artefact is already fitted in a repulsorlift cargo transport jacket, and should be able to withstand transport through the swap. I suggest that you take the artefact to the prepared landing site.


As to the space situation, I'm afraid that the situation has become much worse. Recent activity by the Mandalorians has made the clearing of a corridor a more daunting task. However, I have heard that a number of Union fleets will be moving to the system to reinforce it. Take note that Erau has a Plantary Defence Grid, and that its moon Rukhemai is mostly undeveloped.

Because of the increased Mandalorian assault, you will have to divide your resources. Getting from space to the surface will be difficult with the fire between the Mandalorians and the planetary defences and Union fleets. Make sure you make the right decision when dividing your resources to provide support for both the ground and space parts of the operations.


Remember, you are not there to win the war. You are there to secure the artefact and bring it, and the professor, safely to sector 10 -5. Plan ahead, think on your feet, and don't forget to work together."

The master gave a short bow, "May the force be with you."

Together with the transmission, a set of coordinates on Erau was transferred for the Jedi. A holographic map of Erau containing a rough sketch of the area, with the dig site itself, the radiation border and the landing site marked.

The Jedi now also had a list of the exact vessels that accompanied them:

• The Veolian Commonwealth has sent the "Misty Voyage" and "Parable Defence" armoured transport vessels, and the "Leopard" fighter wing.
• The Sundarian Federation has sent "The Eclipse", a sensor vessel, and a 6-man infantry team of recon and surveillance specialists, callsign "Phantom".
• The Praetorian Empire has sent the "Shadow Sagittari Malachite" heavy cruiser, on which the Jedi were currently residing.
• The Teprogrenaian Consensus has sent the "Carina-Sitra" and "Carina-Nostro" cruisers, the "Scateat-squadron" consisting of 6 fighter wings numbered 1 through 6, and the "Fundibal-squadron" consisting of 2 bomber wings (numbered 1 and 2).

((OOC: The coming weekend, (the weekend of 2013-11-23), I will be splitting this thread into two threads: one for the ground team, and one for the space team.

From your IC posts, it should be clear who joins what team, and which resources are assigned to which team. In your last post before splitting up, you can try to acquire extra equipment from one of the vessels. I'll note what extra equipment could be acquired in the split-off threads.

Note that it is not impossible to get from space to the surface and vice versa! You can also freely communicate to and fro between space and the surface.))

[Ariana Danacia]

"I believe we will need most of our resources in space. Since we can not fly our cruisers directly over the dig site it is best to leave them in orbit to protect our escape route.

My plan is to take the Misty Voyage and Parable Defence armoured transport vessels, the Leopard fighter wing, the Scateat-squadron 1 and Phantom recon team to the surface. The transports will land at the landing site and the fighters will patrol the area. Nathan and I will travel to the dig site together with the Phantom recon team. We will secure the package and return as soon as possible.

In space we will have the Shadow Sagittari Malachite, Carina-Sitra and Carina-Nostro cruisers. They will be tasked with shielding the Eclipse from attack and keeping the air corridor open. Trigiel and Darones, you will have the remaining five figherwings and two bomberwings at your disposal.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions for improvement?"

[Fecta Trigiel]

"If there are Mandalorians around Erau, I suggest we use the moon to cover our approach and retreat. However, it is likely that the Mandalorians use the same tactic. So lets rely on the Union intelligence on sight for the actual approach.

I agree with the use of materials. Given the increased Mandalorian threat, I like to have both bomber teams in space.

Ariana and Nathan, take hovercars or swamp speeders for your approach and leave. This saves two ours of walking. The Teprogrenaian Cruisers must have something you can use. It isn't a tank but still better than walking all the way and back. Though I'm not sure if this is is possible with the radiation.

It's also important to know how fast the hyperdrives of the Veolian transports charge. Maybe it's faster to just load them into the heavy cruiser than let the transports fly by themselves.

If you don't need me further, I'll be in my quarters, mounting magnetic boots and rehearsing upon Mandalorian ships."

((OOC: I prefer to join the space team))

[Darones Rei]

"I agree, we should focus on getting in and out as fast as possible. And most of our efforts should lay in maintain a space corridor through which we can facilitate our escape. More intelligence on the specs of the transports would help, the faster they are, the safer we all will be.

Furthermore I think it important that we have an exit strategy, we should be ready to leave at a moments notice as soon as we have what we can for. I think that means that we should be cautious and not over commit to a prolonged engagements, we would stand no chance in those anyway. We must realy on stealth and speed.

I'll be in the hangar, familiarizing myself with the fighter's systems and specs should you need me, but first I'll go over the specs of the transports, as they are the greatest influence"

Darones requested more detailed information of the speed and specs of the transport vessel, paying particular interest in their hyperdrive capabilities and charge times, shielding and cruise speed. The faster they were, the better the chances would be for all of them. After that he went to the hangar and jumped in fighter to get to know it's systems and controls.

((OOC: I'll take a slot in space team too, if there are no objections.))

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

"Getting in won't be much of a problem, but getting out will be a pain. It's probably going to be tight in those swamps and I can't drive, we might be better off on foot.

I think one fighter wing will be enough to support ground operations. The rest of your plan seems sound Ariana.

Once we're on the ground I'll take point then the recon team with you bringing up the rear. Though I wish I knew how much of a priority it was to keep the packages out of enemy hands, I believe that is all we need to proceed."

((OOC: Ground team in case it wasn't clear yet.))

[Ariana Danacia]

"We better be on the safe side and take two fighter squadrons with us.

Due to the fact that this has become a Union wide mission with us involved the package is important. But it would be nice to know if in the hypothetical case that the package would fall into enemy hands we should destroy it before they can take it.

We will take two hover cars with us in the transports and see how far we can get with them. Worst case we leave them behind."

Ariana joined Darones in checking the information about the transport ships. How big where they and did they have any kind of armor?

[Darones Rei]

"Hmm... yes Ariana, you are probably right in taking a second squadron."

Darones said as they reviewed the information together.

"Perhaps Trigiel or I should escort you down as well before taking up defensive tasks in space."

[Fecta Trigiel]

"We are with two jedi in space, so we can miss two squadrons. If we have the chance, we will escort you down, but let's make the final decision on location when we are more sure about the situation."

((OOC: As we were asked to write our decision in our final post: Trigiel Joins the space team))

[Ariana Danacia]

Ariana took 3 red smoke grenades out of the armory together with 3 signaling flares and a tracking device that could be tracked on and around the planet before she left for the transport ship to go to the surface. "We might need to provide a signal if something is going wrong. Furthermore I don't want to lose the artifact if something goes wrong..."

[Nathan Miodrass Asillion]

"Well then lets get going. I'll relay the deployment information to all units." Nathan sent the information of who would go down to the surface and who would stay in space to all the assets they had. Then he followed Ariana to the transport to the surface.

[Fecta Trigiel]

When Trigiel was done with his preparations, he went to the Teprogrenaian cruisers Carina-Sitra to check upon the fighters and check the fighterwing Scateat-2, which he was going to flight in. He made sure that the other squadrons were aware of the jedi presence. He also requested a sniper rifle from the weapons depot which he secured behind the seat of his fighter.

[Fecta Trigiel]

((OOC: I like to know what figther wing Darones is taking. Trigiel is taking a Teprogrenaian fighter wing, which exists of a wing leader and a droid fighter escort. I like to emphasize that these fighters are not designed for children, so I don't know how that works for Darones. Maybe there is a spare fighter left on one of the ships, or there can be ruled that he can operate a fighter because Darones is a jedi?

Also, to make things easy: going to the ground:

• The Veolian Commonwealth's "Misty Voyage" and "Parable Defence" armoured transport vessels, and the "Leopard" fighter wing.
• The Sundarian 6-man infantry team of recon and surveillance specialists, callsign "Phantom".
• Teprogrenaian fighter wing "Scateat-1" and two hover-cars or some speeders if allowed.

Staying in space:

• The Sundarian Federation "The Eclipse", a sensor vessel
• The Praetorian Empire "Shadow Sagittari Malachite" heavy cruiser
• The Teprogrenaian Consensus h"Carina-Sitra" and "Carina-Nostro" cruisers, the "Scateat-squadron" 2 to 6 and the "Fundibal-squadron" 1 and 2

))

[Storyteller (Brend)]

After determining what resources would be deployed where, and which Jedi was going with them they split up for their preparations.


Ariana Danacia easily acquired the necessary information on the veolian transports. Though they didn't seem the part when looking from a window on the praetorian cruiser, her information told her that both transports were classified as corvettes by the veolian military. Meaning that both vessels were just over 110 meters in length, had a crew of 220 each, and sported military grade armouring and shielding. Though she had much more detailed information, it quickly became clear that these transport could easily withstand a large amount of enemy fire before they would even slow down.

She could also arrange for the necessary signalling flares and the tracking device. In fact, the quartermaster aboard the Praetorian Ship gave her another one "Just to be sure".


Fecta Trigiel's preparations went without a hitch. In between two hyperspace jumps all Jedi had the chance to move to the necessary vessels. With some talking he arranged a second-hand E-11 Sniper Rifle from one of the deck hands that apparently had it lying around for unclear reasons. Not willing to get into it any further, the deck hand handed over the rifle for Trigiel's use.


Nathan Miodrass Asillion double-checked the deployment orders before sending them to their little fleet of assorted vessels. After he arrived on the Misty Voyage, he quickly made sure that eight swamp speeders were being readied for use. At first, the veolian crew seemed a bit distrustful, most likely because he was a cyborg, but that quickly changed after it became clear that he was just another marine.


Darones Rei had the hardest part with the preparations, as he was just too small to comfortably reach the controls in the fighter that was assigned to him. As he was trying to adjust the settings on the fighters pilot chair, a teprogrenan woman walked up. "You're small. Take my fighter.", she said as she pointed to another fighter. It was clear that the teprogrenaians believed in customizable cockpits. In his new fighter he could actually reach most controls, even though he had to stretch his legs to reach the pedals.


With all Jedi prepared, the little fleet dropped out of hyperspace exactly on schedule. From their respective vantage points, the Jedi could see the blue-green sphere that was Erau, and the chaos of battle around it. Immediately after their arrival, the little fleet broke up into two parts. The two transports carrying Nathan, Ariana and the Phantoms escorted by two fighter wings headed for the landing zone. At the same time the Shadow Sagittari Malachite launched fighters and started spinning up its weapons to protect the Eclipse from the first wave of incoming mandalorian fighters!

((OOC: This mission is continued in:

• [ Erau ] Transport of Masuk' faik-khush from Erau (Ground)
• [ My'enru System ] Transport of Masuk' faik-khush from Erau (Space)

))

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: This is the continuation coming from [ Erau ] Transport of Masuk' faik-khush from Erau (Ground).))

From the Shadow Sagittari Malachite, the captain could see the small group of bombers, fighters and two transports break free of the atmosphere of Erau, and head through the space corridor. 'Victorious, as was to be expected of the Jedi', he thought, before shouting orders to prepare for retrieving the fighters and hyperjumping.


Minutes after the two transports rejoined the battle-scarred group of Union ships holding open the corridor, the voice of the captain of the Misty Voyage could be heard: "This is the captain of the Misty Voyage, we are ready for hyperspace jumping.", as if on cue, the other vessels also announced that they were ready to jump. The group shortly waited for Trigiel, Darones and the fighter wings to land safely. While Trigiel was climbing out of his bomber the captain of the Shadow Sagittari Malachite made the ship-wide announcement to prepare for jumping.

The captain of the praetorian vessel had already cleared out the communications room for use by the two Jedi, and aboard the Misty Voyage, the same had been done for Nathan and Ariana. All that was left for them now was to contact the Jedi temple, inform them of their success, and escort the crystal and the professor to the Djana Military Research Centre just on the border of sector [10 -6] and [10 -5]!

((OOC: Congratulations, you have successfully comleted the mission. Once the story page has been written (and approved), and the mission has been reported to the Jedi Master, there will be rewards!))

[Ariana Danacia]

((OOC: I added the report for the ground team.))

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: The report is not complete. I think I've waited long enough now. Send me a PM when the report is finally finished.))

[Fecta Trigiel]

((OOC: I finished the report))

[Jedi Master Qun Treen]

"Good work. Let's hope that this crystal will not create other problems. It might be interesting to have a better look at the radiation you tell me off, but that will have to wait for another time."

((OOC: Rewards for everybody! Everyone here gets 3 and a mission completion.))

[Storyteller (Brend)]

((OOC: The travels of professor Komian, and whomwever is escorting him, are continued in [Djana Military Research Centre] Ancient technology research collaboration <private>. Any of the Jedi players that want to do some RP can join!))