The Vanguards

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

As a galaxy burns with war...as two sides continue their conflict with no end in sight, a new enemy stirs.

From beyond the edge of the galaxy, they begin their insidious invasion. The Alliance? The Empire? The invaders hold allegiance to neither. They have their own plans. Plans so insidious that they endanger the lives of billions. They have no remorse, and their war machine is powered by a terrifying power.

This enemy cannot be faced alone. If the galaxy is to be saved from annihilation, differences must be set aside.

A truce must be struck.

An impossible mission must be completed, at all costs.

Those who embark on it are prepared to give their lives, because if they don't, trillions more surely will.



Welcome to the OOC thread for the Vanguards. This is a small campaign arc that we will be planning from a series of fast-paced threads. The first two threads will be played from an Alliance and an Imperial perspective respectively. There may be one or two other intermediate threads afterward, and then a final thread. While we are open to people participating, please enter into this with a serious commitment to keep the pace going. These are not to be long bogged down threads, and we need people committed to keeping things moving.

Thread 1.

The Vanguards: Rapture (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22491)

The Alliance Frigate Novgorod receives a broken distress signal on an Imperial colony world, and cautiously moves to investigate the source of the message and the meaning behind it. What happened on Karalon? Did the Alliance attack, or did someone else?

Crew or personnel aboard the Novgorod:
Cirrsseeto Raurrssatta, Captain
John Glayde, Major - Dorn Force. Serving as XO and commander of ground teams.
Regan Altink, Lieutenant. Chief Engineer
Lyanie Quez, Lieutenant. Engineer's Assistant
Vek Vek, Doctor
Kid Smixx, Lieutenant. Gold Three - A Wing Pilot
MARCUS, Modular Artificial Intelligence
Serasai Onashi, Mercenary
Maren Dirge, Alliance Operative
Lilaena DeVille, Alliance Operative
Mara Tallen, Alliance Operative
Morgan Evanar, Jedi Knight
Sam Porter, Brawler, Demo Girl, Crazy Bitch
Ledo J. Prent, Scurvy bastard. Got a knife. Good at surviving.
Sadie K'Vesh, Slicer, Hired Gun

The Vanguards: Ragnarok (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22507)

The Imperial Star Destroyer Thunderchild responds to a distress call while returning from a diplomatic mission. Travelling to Auron - an Imperial colony world - they stumble across the shattered wreck of the Strike Cruiser Ragnarok. What caused such utter devastation to the Imperial craft? And what other destruction have they wrought against the Imperials of Auron?

Crew or personnel aboard the Thunderchild:

Ceto Rübezahl, Moff
Crichton Stark, Captain

Cael Bathala, Lieutenant - Hellfire Squadron (flying initial recon)
Kistra Dubreas, Ensign - Hellfire Squadron (flying initial recon)
Shadow Squadron - (impending space badassery)

Valentin Adras, Commander - Stormtrooper CO (impending ground badassery)
Hurst Falco, Captain - Stormtrooper (impending ground badassery)
Terrel Ixxent, Sergeant - Stormtrooper (impending ground badassery)
Jarvan Trask, Sergeant - Stormtrooper (impending ground badassery)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I am looking forward to my own participation as Ld and Bette, on the Alliance and Imperial sides, respectively. :)

[Ceto Rübezahl]

I am going to be looking after the Imperial side, and could do with some ground people and pilot people as part of that.

If you have any other characters that you would like to be involved in the Star Destroyer crew type thing, they're more than welcome as well: just hit me up on AIM or send me a PM, and I can clue you in on some more of the details.

Posted in two places for twice the seeability!

[Jarvan Trask]

Trask is available to participate with and/or lead ground forces.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

added a crew and passenger roster for Novgorod please let me know if this is acceptable

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Looks good to me :)

[Captain Untouchable]

Is it me, or is anyone else quietly assigning Mass Effect aliases to the Novgorod crew? :ohno

[Sadie K'Vesh]

Hired Gun? Pilot?

:p Only way I ever piloted anythin' was by re-wirin' some droid brains 'bout.

Slicer firs' an' formost thank ya very much.

[Reinhart Thul]

Is it me, or is anyone else quietly assigning Mass Effect aliases to the Novgorod crew? :ohno

Balls, does this mean Maren needs to flirt with Glayde and eventually sleep with him, right before a potentially suicidal mission?

[Emelie Shadowstar]

Who does Sadie start calling "Alliance Cheerleader"? rofl.

[Bette Davis]

I am not sure what the Imperial side is doing or if I'm wanted to jump in blindly or what?

[Mara Tallen]

You forgot me, Cirr :)

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Alrighty and added. Gonna close the registration for Novgorod, boat is fully stocked.

And lol we could have an intermediate thread before the point of no return where everyone has their natural hormonal releases and Vek Vek releases bleach into the environmental controls.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Who does Sadie start calling "Alliance Cheerleader"? rofl.

LD obviously LMAO

[Ceto Rübezahl]

Is it me, or is anyone else quietly assigning Mass Effect aliases to the Novgorod crew? :ohno

Balls, does this mean Maren needs to flirt with Glayde and eventually sleep with him, right before a potentially suicidal mission?

Sorry babe: that's the situation the convo choices laid out, I'm afraid. :smokin


Charley should be cutting and pasting a list / summary / notes / etc thing into the first post shortly. That'll explain what people are doing.

Bette - Hellfire is flying the initial recon (you Shadows are too important for that ;)) but there will be space action for you later.

Stormies - Your action will be up after the recon flight, so stay tuned.

[Mara Tallen]

Hey now...Alliance Operative? I'm a SpecForce Captain, thank you :) I just seem to keep getting assigned to Glayde to make his life 'entertaining' :)

[Charlotte Tur'enne]

SpecForce Captain who was kicked out of Dorn...

:lol

[John Glayde]

Ladies, please.

There's no need to fight over me again.




:smokin

[Mara Tallen]

Who says we were fighting over you the first time?

[Commander Adras]

I just noticed that the male/female breakdown of the two sides is actually kinda telling. One person with ladyparts for the Imperials, and just under half of the entire force for the Rebels.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Really makes sense, though, when you think about the Empire's many prejudices against women and aliens.

And there are two, they just didn't write Bette's name in.

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

Actually, there's four (:)) - Kistra and Bette are not alone! Kerryna & Vessa are part of it as well. I'm just not certain they'll get utilized in the Ragnarok thread.

[Ben Merasska]

So basically two.

[John Glayde]

I'm just not certain they'll get utilized in the Ragnarok thread.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

:colbert

[Bette Davis]

I was intending to NPC the majority of SS but did want one other pilot to come with, so that's you then, Kerryna? :)

[Kerryna Khapst]

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

:colbertIts not that I lack faith, I just didn't want to presume, is all :)

*ogles Becker-Glayde*


I was intending to NPC the majority of SS but did want one other pilot to come with, so that's you then, Kerryna? :)Yes ma'am! :D

[Bette Davis]

I had an idea for the Shadows that I ran by Charley, for them to come in at the tail end of Rapture. An advance scout as it were, followed by an SD to make sure Novgorod is chased off. Just an idea!

[Maren Dirge]

I'm not sure what to post next in Rapture, someone else go!

[John Glayde]

I'm working on something... I need to grab Charley before I finish it though, because I don't know what to write either. :uhoh

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I'll try and knock a Kistra post out at lunch for the IMP thread... If not, I'll get it when I get home for sure :)

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Rapture team:

Dirge go ahead and lead us through the city to the prefect's office. You can wax commentary about what we're seeing and such but we won't have any nasty surprises.

We're gonna bust into the prefect's office, supposedly to find the source of the transmission, which hopefully will be intact, along with anything else that might shed light on our problem.

After that, block party or something.

[MARCUS]

Future thread titles:

The vanguards: remorse
The vanguards: revenge
The vanguards: remember us

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I keep writing posts and holding them in reserve. :ohno

[MARCUS]

I keep writing posts and holding them in reserve. :ohno

I need to do this. I have things in my mind's eye for Cirr like dreams he'd have and things like that which I really want to get into words.

[Maren Dirge]

Posted. Sorry about the delay.

[Bette Davis]

woohoo! :D

[John Glayde]

I wanna wait until the recon / EVA people are actually inside the wreck before I <s>have the aliens come back and blow it up</s> bring in the next event.

Do I actually have Shadow Squadron aboard my ship at this point? Charley said there were plans for you to be in Rapture as well or something confusing like that... but the event I had in mind for you guys is literally the very next thing on the agenda, which I obviously can't do if you're not there. :uhoh

[Crichton Stark]

Silence, Rebel! It's my ship, not yours. :mad


Account switch fail. ^_^;

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Charley and I were thinking that Bette/the Shadows would hyperspace jump their Defenders to Karallon. Novgorod would be like "oh we can take one squadron" and scramble fighters and then their support SD would jump in and Novgorod would be all "OH HELL NAW" and recall all personnel and bug out.

There is probably a way to make that and what you have planned both work.

[John Glayde]

Hmm. Okay. I'll have to reorder the whole sequence of events then... otherwise it'll bork up the timings, and leave the ISD sat twiddling it's thumbs by the wreck for an implausibly long time before we actually get to the planet.

What if we flipped it around? What if the Shadows are on the Thunderchild and take part in Ragnarok first (chronologically); then we pick up the distress call from Rapture and the Shadows get sent ahead... and then the Thunderchild becomes "their support SD" and jumps in a little bit later, after they've collected their troops from the surface?

That way, we don't need to explain why there are two SD's in the area, but one is conveniently absent for the action.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Sounds good to me. I figured that ragnarok would take place first if the Shadows were to be in both of them. :)

[Vek Vek]

I like this idea. So Ragnarok is chronologically before Rapture then. Cool :)

[Anna Fernandez]

Or sort of simultaneous, if you want to think about it like that. :)

[Maren Dirge]

Is there anything in particular that Mara, Maren and Onashi should be doing down by the fountain?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Definitely not having a water fight in white tee-shirts.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Maybe idle speculation about why the hell a city of a million is empty I'd say. We won't be here for very long though :)

[Vince]

Definitely not having a water fight in white tee-shirts.

Oh come on! Onashi will splash himself if Maren will. :yum

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Bumping this thread in the hopes this will get posted to. :D

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Threads are slowing down, guys. Let's get a move on. I'd love to have a jam session this weekend and finish Rapture, and hopefully get Ragnarok well on it's way toward conclusion.

Who's up for this mission?

[Captain Untouchable]

Just waiting on the EV in Ragnarok. Hopefully a couple more posts and that will be done. It doesn't need to finish... I just need them to get out of their damned planes before I can do the next bit. :mneh

I don't wanna cut off Maren's opportunity to reply to Onashi, hence no post from me just yet. We're pretty much ready to blow this popcicle stand and get back to the ship though, I think?

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

We've got a few more things in Rapture. Linking up with LD's team, finding the terrible secret outside of town, then breezing out of there while escaping Butte (heh) and those pesky Shadows.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Charley said I could post, so I did. Assuming Glayde's team is now outside the city, and that they realized that there were other people in the woods, we jump into a quick Mexican standoff with everyone pointing blasters and then -

Oh yeah, we recognize each other. :D ^_^;

LD's team (so you can NPC them if you want/need to):
Candan Lellan - Heavy Weapons - Human
6'3", blonde, tan, loudmouth. Scared of rodents.

Tayena Fil'lik - Infiltration Specialist - Twi'lek
5'8", green, intense. Scared of nothing.

Kyle Mano - Sniper - Human
5'11", brunet, pale, chews his fingernails. Seems nervous but is as cool as a cucumber when lining up a shot.

Jurn Grenn - Demolitions, Zabrak
6'1", brown skin, dark brown tattoos on face and body. Has no fucks to give. Don't touch his stuff.

[Serasai Onashi]

Tayena Fil'lik - Infiltration Specialist - Twi'lek
5'8", green, intense. Scared of nothing.


Well, helllllllooooo there!;)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She's not even scared of Wookiee Warts. :lol

edit: I'm plowing on to find the entechment tables and giving Onashi the task of locating a needle in a haystack full of needles. ;) Following the signal shouldn't be too hard, although he might be in the middle of a mound of dead people which would be yukky. Vince, feel free to make it as easy or as hard to locate the agent's body as you like. But horrific, certainly. :ohno I figured we couldn't just assume the guy was dead - after all his signal could be here minus him or something. Need to confirm.

If that seems unreasonable to others, let me know and I can edit.

[Cael Bathala]

Bumping the crap out of this. What is the next step for Ragnarok to progress?

[Captain Untouchable]

I don't know what's going on anymore. The last time I knew what was going on, either Josh and/or Shadow Squadron were meant to be making a surprise appearence at some point. I'm aware that this has now changed, but I haven't been made aware of what it has been changed to. :\

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

We can chat it out tonight. :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I still want to continue this. :cry

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Bumping this. I'm now of the mind that some of the sticking points we probably need to just plow through, no? Get a quick fix resolution to Ragnarok and move to the next step?

Agree? Yes/no?

[Captain Untouchable]

I'd be down with that. We could even cut Ragnarok lose and plough on past it - we all know what's meant to happen on paper, so we can always take that as-read for now and worry about filling in the blanks later.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Okay that sounds good. I'll go ahead and kickstart that as soon as tomorrow!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Is there still a place for Bette Davis and Shadow Squadron in this?

[Captain Untouchable]

I don't see why not. As I understood it, it was Thread #3 and #4 that Shadow was participating in, not Thread #2 (Ragnarok). That's when the Rebels and Imperials join forces and such.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Absolutely. We need someone there to be cannon fodder for the ssi-ruuvi defense fleets valiantly hold the line on our assault

[Kerryna Khapst]

We are not cannon fodder...that's what the Hellfires are for.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Who's posting next?

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

I think Jace is up for shooting explodeybombs and twisting knobs / pulling levers.

[Captain Untouchable]

I am?

Sorry, it looked like your post was setting up the pilots with something to do. I'll try and get on that when I hurt less.

[Charley]

Well Bette can post if she'd like, certainly. Though I do want some explodeybomb lever pulling soon :)

[Bette Davis]

So, I posted since that seemed to be what you guys wanted?

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Awesome. I or Jace will be there soon :)

[Captain Untouchable]

Are any of the other Shadows (Dee? Jenny? Andrew?) going to post, or just Holly?

As soon as the Thunderchild starts firing missiles it's pretty much game over. I'm reluctant to post as this point, because I don't want to shaft people out of the opportunity to contribute before they get the chance.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm pretty sure that no one else on the Shadows is going to post.

[Kyle Krogen]

I'll whip up a Shadow post real fast. I keep forgetting to read up and join into this thing.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

You're just trying to make a liar of me :shakefist

[Zachariah Jak'el]

I am. Or maybe I'm just full of surprises. Time to bring the fear of god.

[Park Kraken]

While I'm not involved in this thread I've been reading through this series of threads and I have a question of curiosity; what happened to/at Bakura in our timeline?

[Charley]

Bakura never happened

[William Jeffers]

The Chiss Ascendancy moved against Thrawn the Empire of the Hand and were not there to engage the Ssi Ruuvi and they were not pushed towards Bakura.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I don't have anything to post as LD or as Bette unless I'm missing something. :)

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

*pokes with a stick*

[Captain Untouchable]

Full disclosure: I don't have very much enthusiasm for this at the moment.

I think it's a great story idea, and I really would like to see it told, particularly because of the impact it was supposed to have on my characters. Unfortunately, I feel like quite a lot of decisions and changes were made to the plan with me being left out of the loop, and as a result I'm not entirely sure or comfortable with the part I'm supposed to be playing in all this.

With my medical / mental circumstances at the moment, I find it very difficult to go into a situation without a clear understanding of what to expect. The fact that the plan for this keeps changing beneath my feet is a very uncomfortable experience for me, and at this point I'm too agitated and anxious to even check whether it's my turn, let alone to work out what I'm actually expected to do if it is.

If people are eager to get on with this I'll do everything I can to hold up my end; but I'm afraid a lack of plan is pretty debilitating for me at the moment. That probably sounds a lot more whiney than it's meant to... but sorry guys, my mental health is making stuff pretty tough for me lately. :(

[Charley]

I can respect that. I think you're not alone in that actually, there's a few folks that have kinda hinted that they're caught up in other muses and may have a case of mission creep.

While I definitely don't want y'all to keep grinding at something your heart isn't in, I also really don't want to leave another story in the lurch like I did with the Urns of Korriban.

What if we did something a little half and half? Maybe have the parties that still want to have a go at this kinda do a concerted writing project and grind out the story in a lump. Kinda a lazy-assed NaNoWriMo, I guess. We could write other characters into the background if their creators wished, or if there were certain objectives they wanted to meet in the story we could accomodate that too. Stuff like "Captain Stark survives and gets a commendation / reprimand / a cool scar" or so forth. Obviously I wouldn't want to take any operational control of these characters narratives beyond how they fit into the tale of what happened, but it would give folks who didn't want to keep up with the slog a chance to kinda back away.

Would that work?

[Charley]

I'm going to storyboard the plot out this weekend when I have time to really lay things out. Hopefully that helps to make the road map a little more clear. If people still have agency in the story to some degree hopefully that'll help us add meat to it. At the very least at this point I'd settle for a detailed narration for what happened, because this is a pivotal event that a lot of characters will have material ties to.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm up for continuing however :) At this point all I remember is that Serasai* was going to get abandoned on a planet and nearly enteched, but that could be wrong too. :p

*we're on a first name basis

[Serasai Onashi]

I'm up for continuing however :) At this point all I remember is that Serasai* was going to get abandoned on a planet and nearly enteched, but that could be wrong too. :p

*we're on a first name basis

Darling, I'm glad you feel that comfortable with me. It makes me happy, it really does. I feel we could get to be... more comfortable as time goes on, also. :smug:

...Wait. I get abandoned? And almost enteched? How comfortable did I get with you? Or was it the Ensign? Maybe it was a bad idea to not talk to her for a week.

[Sadie K'Vesh]

:| So glad 'm stuck on the ship.


Right! So...
Once you go and get this here plot all plotted I can let ya know how much I'll be abouts. Not quiteee sure how much to participate but I can at least get myself set up a little blurby NPC bit based upon what you got going.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm up for continuing however :) At this point all I remember is that Serasai* was going to get abandoned on a planet and nearly enteched, but that could be wrong too. :p

*we're on a first name basis

Darling, I'm glad you feel that comfortable with me. It makes me happy, it really does. I feel we could get to be... more comfortable as time goes on, also. :smug:

...Wait. I get abandoned? And almost enteched? How comfortable did I get with you? Or was it the Ensign? Maybe it was a bad idea to not talk to her for a week.
:lol Like I said, I'm probably not remembering that right ;)

OR AM I >D

[Zachariah Jak'el]

I'm totally up for continuing this story.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

I'm bumping this to let y'all know that while we wait for retribution to finish up, I'm also gonna go ahead and post Vanguards: Remember Us and Vanguards: Requiem

So basically here's the rough plan for each of these three threads:

The Vanguards: Retribution (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?23200-The-Vanguards-Retribution-9-121)
Thunderchild closes distance to bombardment range on the Ssi-Ruuvi flotilla and proceeds to kick all kinds of glorious ass. All enemies destroyed save a light cruiser, which is crippled and can be boarded.
Away mission to crippled ship (finally)
Fight some big ugly dinosaurs (finally)
Discover BIG EVIL DINOSAUR PLAN (aka, the construction of creepy dyson sphere wormhole fleet bringer thing)
Try and rescue people still trapped on ship.
Time runs out, more Ssi-Ruuk ships are coming. Can't rescue everybody. Cirr forced to make Big Decision to stay and fight or blow up the ship and the civilians still on it. (Maximum Hackman moment)

The Vanguards: Remember Us (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?55343-The-Vanguards-Remember-Us-9-122)
Discussion of The Plan to attack big evil dinosaur dyson sphere (Maybe big meeting room on Thunderchild?)
BIG DAMN HERO SPEECH (planning to write a speech Cirr can say, PM it to folks to paste into their posts showing what they're doing getting ready for the mission as they listen to speech)
The Space Battle (diverting Ssi-Ruuk ships away from Dyson sphere with E-WAR, Novgorod and Thunderchild storm the gates)
The Ground Attack Diversion (big damn shore party lands, full of badass Imperial walkers and everyone)
The Sneak Attack (Comet brings away team to evil Dinosaur pyramid, good guys go in and break the macguffin)
Super sad death scenes (probably no spoilers here but I'm not naming names you know who you are whose clogs shall pop)
Everyone runs away! (Dinosaur Dyson sphere implosion, we all get away, Thunderchild sacrificed to allow Novgorod to escape.

The Vanguards: Requiem (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?55349-The-Vanguards-Requiem-9-124&p=1023526#post1023526)
Cirr in bacta tank, elopes with Lyanie
Ceto held in Alliance custody
Super sad lets remember folks who died

Thoughts? We cool? LETS DO THIS!!!

[Captain Untouchable]

Few questions / points for clarification -


Who is boarding the crippled ship? Just Imperials? Just Alliance? A mix of both? Which specific characters, and who is "in charge"?


When does Ceto offer himself into Alliance custody? Does it happen during the Big Meeting Room scene? Is it earlier, to diffuse tensions before the away mission to the derelict Reap... uh, cruiser? Is Ceto there when Cirr makes his big decision, and does he contribute in any way?


Ceto isn't some precious flower... he's basically Coruscant's answer to Stephen Amell, and knows his way around a blaster. I'd like to have him help in the ground attack diversion if I can; is that something we can work in, or would Cirr not be comfortable with him being anywhere but in a cell?


Could we flesh out the Away Mission and the Sneak Attack a bit more? I don't need a blow by blow, but I have badly lost track of who is still willing to participate, and who we need to find roles for. We seem to have a lot of overlap/redundancy, what with LDV having her own SpecOps team, having numerous slicer/computer people (MARCUS, Morgan, Sadie, etc), etc. Who is going to be doing the Sneak Attack, and who is doing to be doing the Distraction?


Also, for the sake of convenience, could you edit in links to the threads in that last post, Charley? Thanks. :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I'm up for it just let me know what LD is going to be doing, if anything.:)

[Charley]

I'm gonna do my best, answering these questions on my phone.


Who is boarding the crippled ship? Just Imperials? Just Alliance? A mix of both? Which specific characters, and who is "in charge"?

Joint party. Imperials and alliance. They're still feeling out the waters of this alliance, and each bring a team. On Novgorod's side, I'm thinking Glayde, Sadie, Ledo, and LD. Glayde would have command of the alliance element


When does Ceto offer himself into Alliance custody? Does it happen during the Big Meeting Room scene? Is it earlier, to diffuse tensions before the away mission to the derelict Reap... uh, cruiser? Is Ceto there when Cirr makes his big decision, and does he contribute in any way?

I like the idea of him going over to Nov as they board the cruiser as insurance, so he can certainly be an influence during the maximum Hackman shouting match.


Ceto isn't some precious flower... he's basically Coruscant's answer to Stephen Amell, and knows his way around a blaster. I'd like to have him help in the ground attack diversion if I can; is that something we can work in, or would Cirr not be comfortable with him being anywhere but in a cell?

Cirr will trust him in the open, even if its a short leash. Depending on what position he takes during maximum hackman, he might have a thornier time interacting. I like the idea of pitting him against Glayde for the battle over cirr's soul, so to speak.

As for the ground diversion, Novgorod is landing on the deck, and it will be nearly every able-bodied fighter to the fray. Ceto will have PLENTY of fighting to do there. The diversion is gonna be a hell scape



Could we flesh out the Away Mission and the Sneak Attack a bit more? I don't need a blow by blow, but I have badly lost track of who is still willing to participate, and who we need to find roles for. We seem to have a lot of overlap/redundancy, what with LDV having her own SpecOps team, having numerous slicer/computer people (MARCUS, Morgan, Sadie, etc), etc. Who is going to be doing the Sneak Attack, and who is doing to be doing the Distraction?


Away mission is basically trying to figure out who these aliens are. We know next to nothing about them yet.

As for the sneak mission, it's basically our slicers. Sadie, Morgan, MARCUS, maybe someone else. They are hacking the reactor macguffin to destroy the sphere. Everybody else is holding the line on the big diversion attack

[Lapis]

Joint party. Imperials and alliance. They're still feeling out the waters of this alliance, and each bring a team. On Novgorod's side, I'm thinking Glayde, Sadie, Ledo, and LD. Glayde would have command of the alliance element

Given that we're going aboard an alien vessel of unknown origin, would it be prudent to splash a little more tech in there? I imagine the Imperials are going to be contributing Stormtroopers and that's about it... maybe one or other of us could/should pull double duty as MARCUS or Tink?




Ceto isn't some precious flower... he's basically Coruscant's answer to Stephen Amell, and knows his way around a blaster. I'd like to have him help in the ground attack diversion if I can; is that something we can work in, or would Cirr not be comfortable with him being anywhere but in a cell?

Cirr will trust him in the open, even if its a short leash. Depending on what position he takes during maximum hackman, he might have a thornier time interacting. I like the idea of pitting him against Glayde for the battle over cirr's soul, so to speak.

I would definitely be up for that, though I think the angel and devil would be the reverse of what you'd expect. Ceto is the kind of Imperial who knows he's living in a corrupt society, and is doing what he can to make it better from the inside... "two wrongs don't make a right" sort of thing, so would be more likely to advocate risking lives to save the innocent. Glayde on the other hand is an ex-Storm Commando with enough blood on his hands and guilt on his shoulders that a few innocent lives isn't really gonna make it any worse at this point... he's the kind of guy who would shoot you so that you don't get assimilated, Picard style.

[Jarvan Trask]

I can toss Jarvan in as part of the Imperial side of the boarding party; that way it's not being written completely one sided.

[Vince]

All right, I think I got most of the stuff down. I'm assuming the Stormtrooper commander will be going along on the joint mission for the Imperial side, too. And Charley, shoot me an IM when you get the chance about that Maximum Hackman moment.

[Sadie K'Vesh]

As for the sneak mission, it's basically our slicers. Sadie, Morgan, MARCUS, maybe someone else. They are hacking the reactor macguffin to destroy the sphere. Everybody else is holding the line on the big diversion attack

Holy frak is that a ton o' pressure.

Y'sure I need them other guys? :smokin

Soooo not cut out f' this :uhoh

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

I can toss Jarvan in as part of the Imperial side of the boarding party; that way it's not being written completely one sided.

I can join you with my Imperial Army Captain guy too, for a little flavor.

[Amaros Koine]

I can toss Jarvan in as part of the Imperial side of the boarding party; that way it's not being written completely one sided.

I can join you with my Imperial Army Captain guy too, for a little flavor.

Something that might be interesting / fun to do... we're inevitably going to have some sort of comparison of dick lengths between Glayde and whoever is senior amongst the Imperial contingent. In terms of penile measurements, Glayde is not just... is he still a Major at this point, or did we switch him to Commander yet? :uhoh Regardless, on top of his Alliance status, he's also a former Storm Commando: as in the Empire's super-badass, kill you in your sleep covert elite.

I'm planning for him to have some sort of tattoo / mark somewhere on his person that represents this (for future plot reasons), and am wondering if him wandering up to his Imperial counterparts, flashing said tattoo, and asking "Are we going to have any chain of command issues here, Captain?" might be a scene/moment that makes sense?

The Imperials are under no compulsion to follow his orders, but they might be more open to heeding his advice once they're aware of his qualifications. Also, I'm not 100% sure that Glayde being a former Storm Commando is something I've explicitly spelt out in threads before (I may have; don't remember), so from my perspective it's a handy plot reveal.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Hurst would respect it strictly from a "this guy obviously knows how to do X" He'd still think Glayde was a piece of shit, but he'd back his play

[Jarvan Trask]

Trask would respect the tattoo, and what it signified, but he wouldn't think any better of Glayde as a better person; because in his mind all Rebels are scum/trash of the Galaxy. However, this won't impact Trask's performance because he is a very by the books kind of guy who follows orders to the letter. Very strict. So if command says work with the rebels on this one, he's going to do just that. If the rebels start something, though, you can bet Jarvan is going to back up his men. At this time Jarvan would still be a Sergeant (this could be the operation that sees him promoted), and would be under Hurst's chain of command. Not that he thinks much of Imperial soldiers that aren't Stormtroopers. I think the two crews should meld fairly well so long as the Rebels are employing military tactics the Imperials can coordinate with. None of that pansy hit and run stuff :P

[Vince]

Adras (the Stormtrooper Commander) would probably be in the same boat as Trask insofar as Glayde the man. He's been ordered by his direct superior to work with the Rebels in attacking a non-Imperial target. As far as tactics goes, he'll be expecting to use himself and his Stormtroopers as the shield to keep the people who know how to get whatever it is we need done alive.

[Captain Untouchable]

Yeah, I'm not so much expecting that Glayde would get hero worship... more of an "Okay yeah, I can't argue with experience like that" sort of situation.


I know we're super-stoked about getting through this as quickly and awesomely as we can, but I'm already starting to have brain trouble with the fact that we've got three threads on the go at once. Thread B starts with "the big meeting", which is all reactionary to the away mission in Thread A that we haven't written yet; and Thread C is reactionary to the suicide mission in Thread B... which again, not written yet. We only have very vague plans for each; my brain is already feeling like Captain Picard in "All Good Things...", and I've already failed a couple of attempts to reply to Requiem... can't rationalise anyone's mindset unless I know specifically what they've seen/endured.

I have no idea if this is just a me thing, of if it is likely to be a problem for others as well. :uhoh

Can we either a) put all of our effort on one thread at a time, and gallop our way through, or b) plan the bajeesus out of these things so I know what the hell I'm referencing back to?

[Sadie K'Vesh]

^ I'm a bit on the same page here. Finding it hard to do Requiem without fully knowing what all went down on the sphere of doom. I'm going with vague for the moment but it's hard to get into the (oh god here comes pretentious writer stuff) emotional headspace I'd like to be...? (*stamps foot* What's my motivation in this scene?? :mad) Okay not really but you get the idea.

So...yeah either a or b works for me but yes....please? :lol

[Alexander Tur'enne]

*stamps food*

Easy there. No need to take it out on dinner. :ohno

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

I'd be happy to get folks in a q and a chat tonight, tomorrow, whenever to hash it out. Wasn't aware folks needed more guidance than the bullet points

[Alexander Tur'enne]

It's not that we need more guidance than bullet points, it just that... there are so few bullet points.

Case in point: Cirr is lying on the ship all leaf on the wind. How did he get there, and why has no one tried to remove the wedge of shrapnel from him yet? Did they just pick up an impaled dude and dump him aboard because they didn't have time to work out who was alive and who was dead? Was he impaled during the "get back aboard" sequence, and is lying where he fell? Did people pick him up and carry him? Is Glayde wandering around the ship with Cirr's blood all over his shirt? Was Lyanie there watching when Cirr got injured - does Glayde have that haunting memory of her horrified face hanging around in his head?

A lot of the nuances of that kind of stuff don't manifest until you actually write the posts; sometimes you just react to something else that has happened and it completely changes things. We won't have the freedom to be so reactive if we're stuck trying to comply with a Requiem outcome we've already written... and at the same time, Requiem might suffer from us having to be mega-vague to leave our options open.

I have no idea if I'm making any sense. >_<


Edit:

Also, I'm a little confused about why we're on Dac. I thought Vanguards was happening down near Bakura (bottom left of the map), completely on the opposite side of the galaxy to Dac (top right). We're talking a day spent in hyperspace there, which feels like way too long for the kind of urgent triage situation we've got going on.

Am I just misunderstanding where Vanguards happened... or are we just hand-waving the hyperspace travel for plot reasons? :uhoh

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Vanguards takes place around the Gordian reach

[Vittore Montegue]

Ahh, that makes much more sense.

Also, opens some interesting doors for Kelvin Stark and Leeadra Longstar. :ohno

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Would we feel better about doing a big chat and posting the chatlog so we have it for posterity?

[Serasai Onashi]

Would we feel better about doing a big chat and posting the chatlog so we have it for posterity?

I like this. I still have some questions about this and Ben and Onashi's involvement (or non-involvement, as it may be).

[Vittore Montegue]

Would we feel better about doing a big chat and posting the chatlog so we have it for posterity?

It'll certainly help getting people on the same page and filling in blanks... but honestly dude, I think we should just concentrate on one thread at a time. Bake the cake and then apply the frosting, instead of trying to spread the icing over thin air. ^_^;

I know you're eager to get this tied off asap so you can move on to Year 10 stuff, but I don't think we should half-ass anything in the interests of haste.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Then someone post to the "first" thread, just do it! :)

[Vittore Montegue]

I only just did, damn it. :shakefist


(In all seriousness, I don't think there's really all that much I can contribute now until we reach the away team stage? I can tread water by posting as Captain Stark or as Glayde in the meanwhile... but it'd be upping the post count without adding anything valuable to the plot.)

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

I mean for the sake of hustling the ship action along I can go tit-for-tat with ya, then we can get to the collector ship exploring stuff :uhoh

[Bette Davis]

If you need more ship on ship action described, drop be a line to let me know what's going on and I can help push the plot along.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Okay, so as it stands in Retribution, the space battle is mopping up, leaving us with a Collector Ship Dead Reaper Ssi-Ruuk cruiser crippled in space.

Cirr's regrouping, preparing to take stock. There's a mysterious dead ship in space, and there is the question of what exactly the Imperials will do now. The crew can feel free to put their two cents in on the situation as they observe it. Right now, Novgorod got a bloody nose from the Ssi-Ruuk, and Tink probably could use time to patch what needs fixing. Glayde no-doubt will be keen to get boots on the ground over there to see exactly who they're fighting.

[Hurst Falco]

Captain Falco here. Locked and loaded. Time to bash some alien skulls!

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Please let me know when I'm supposed to post and what I'm supposed to be doing.

[Charley]

Re: boarding party

Basically we're waiting for the dialogue to mop up betwen Ceto and Cirr because that sets the tone for the uneasy truce that's taking shape. We will soon break from that to a complete scene change where the boarding team will arrive at the Ssi-Ruuk cruiser.

Boarding team will be:

Glayde
Tink
LD & Team
Vek Vek
Ledo
Sadie

Imperial boarding party is, uh:

Falco
Trassk

Is that it?

Basically when we land, it will be in a ship in complete disarray, so the hangar's in chaos and the power's flickery and whatnot. Figure we find creepy things laying around (war droids, entechment tables, etc). Then we find a whole bunch of cells with people in 'em. Watch as the Ssi-Ruuk entech one of them. Kill the Ssi-Ruuk, free the people. Then we find some kind of computer or command nerve center where we find the CREEPY EVIL PLAN and also the comm device the Ssi-Ruuk are using to communicate with their supreme commander in the Unknown Regions, the Shreeftut (Harby the Dinosaur).

From there we begin a mad dash to get people off the ship. Other Ssi-Ruuk return and we're at the Maximum Hackman scene.

[John Glayde]

Vince has his Stormtrooper Commander as well (whose name escapes me) - is he coming on the mission, or are we saving him for later and just focusing on Falco / Trask as our boots on the ground Imperials?

To expand on the plan slightly -


As soon as we arrive, the Imperial leaders and Glayde need to compare dicks, and ultimately decide that the guy with Storm Commando training is probably the best qualified to call the shots.
Sadie and Tink need to slice into a local computer terminal and call up the "You Are Here" map, so we can work out where we need to go; or at least, what we think looks maybe like where we need to go. It would probably be smart to use that as an opportunity to find the name Ssi-Ruuk somewhere, just so we don't have to write ourselves not knowing what to call the aliens.
After that we should probably split the party, so we aren't moving around in a giant amorphous blob like a bunch of tourists:

Group A (Glayde, Sadie, Falco) need to head towards the data node / computer core, to download anything useful, and to stumble into a google hangout with Harby the Dinosaur.
Group B (LDV + Team, Vek Vek) need to head towards something else important - maybe we detect a cluster of non-lizard biosigns, and they get sent to see what's going on (hence the doc being there?). They're the ones who witness the entechment taking place.
Group C (Tink, Ledo, Trask) need to go and find something to blow up; a generator, a drive system, an antimatter tank, etc. Our objective is to find out what's going on, get out, and then make go boom: having a single button that we can push and destroy the ship is probably more dramatic/quick/effective than shooting at the thing again with our space guns.


After shit hits the fan and we're rumbled, that's when we start evacuating as quickly as possible. Because Tink was there with the demolitions team, the ship is only going to blow up when Cirr orders it... though I imagine Glayde will take the remote so that he's the one who pulls the trigger, to spare anyone else any guilt over it.

[Charley]

^_^; didn't leave Vince out on purpose, by all means please put Imperial boots on the ground. I don't rightly know who plays who on the bad guy side of things

I like that team layout. Looking forward to having LD and Vek Vek banter >D

Maybe amend group B's tasks as being, among other things, rescuing Ben Merasska.

But yeah this is a really good outline for the flow of action, I think.

[The Shreeftut]

Stumble into a google hangout with Harby the Dinosaur.

>D We look forward to this little chat. It is time you learned of your future ascendance. Your fear is weakness, we will purge it from you, give you higher purpose. It is inevitable.

[Regan Altink]

Stumble into a google hangout with Harby the Dinosaur.

>D We look forward to this little chat. It is time you learned of your future ascendance. Your fear is weakness, we will purge it from you, give you higher purpose. It is inevitable.

We are nae scared a' ya, y' dumb-arsed dinosaur bastard. :shakefist

Y' no' anythin' but glowy blue computer-generated --

HOLY SHIT HOW THE HELL IS THERE CONDENSATION ON THE FUCKING WINDOW??? D:

[Kal Olorin]

I like that team layout. Looking forward to having LD and Vek Vek banter >D
I think I've discovered why Vek Vek dies. ;)

[Sam Porter]

Stumble into a google hangout with Harby the Dinosaur.

>D We look forward to this little chat. It is time you learned of your future ascendance. Your fear is weakness, we will purge it from you, give you higher purpose. It is inevitable.

We are nae scared a' ya, y' dumb-arsed dinosaur bastard. :shakefist

Y' no' anythin' but glowy blue computer-generated --

HOLY SHIT HOW THE HELL IS THERE CONDENSATION ON THE FUCKING WINDOW??? D:

Come back to bed, Regan. There's... things... I want to do.

[Vince]

Stormtrooper Commander's name is Valentin Adras, and Onashi's going to be with the big frickin' diversion right? I'm asking because he and MARCUS need to have a "human" moment.

[Charley]

They're actually going to be in the covert team with Glayde and Sadie, but yes they'll be together in the suicide mission.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Can we get the teams written out again, with Vince's characters this time, for the current mission to the derelict ship? All this "covert mission" "suicide mission" "mission mission" is making me really confused, sorry.

[Captain Untouchable]

The only difference to the teams already listed is that Vince's Stormtrooper commander will be on one of them - probably the "blow shit up" team, because that's where the other Stormtrooper (Trask) is. The "Suicide Mission" is the very end of the story: people are just planning / discussing ahead.

Your part of the story hasn't changed at all, so nothing to get confused/worried about. :)

[John Glayde]

Just a heads up - I'm aware that I'm up next in this, and I'm working on it, but my illness is making things a little difficult to get anything done this week. Please bear with me, and cross your fingers that I manage to get something finished by the weekend. :uhoh

Edit:

Reply is up! Over to you, Vince. :)

[Morgan Evanar]

I need to catch up on this. O_O

[James Prent]

Am I wrong in assuming the imps were going to post next?

[Taataani Meorrrei]

They are. Waiting on Vince wherever he might be :-)

edit: oops he snuck a post in so I think I'm up! I'll post tonight!

[Captain Untouchable]

Are you wanting to sneak in a Falco post before I reply as Glayde, Charley?