Planning - The Charge of the Light Brigade (Ilum)

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Okay, so, I'm not dead, just got really swamped with vacation and visiting Andrew, as well as Anthrocon. But now that I'm back home and settled, I can finally get the ball rolling on the thing it seems everybody has been waiting on - the Ilum thread.

I don't have a lot of details right now as I'm writing from work at the moment, but I needed to get this started in case people have questions off the bat.

So far, the known cast who are going seem to be:

Hal
Loki
Akasha
Kala
Cirr
Morgan

If I missed another major player, please chime in, or if you want to go (and are someone Hal would probably think is either naive or trusting enough to believe his cover story) let me know, here! Also, any questions or discussion and stuff can go here, too.

[Droo]

I may include my Inquisitoriate-affiliated darksider for a potential antagonist in all this, since they have a presence on Ilum. I just need to first iron out a few details first with the Inq chaps.

[Ben Merasska]

I can definitely bring in Vel Aath for the Inq, though maybe as few people/enemies as possible would make for a more streamlined thread.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Fewer different opponents might be preferable, especially when Hal has requisitioned enough heavy firepower and high explosives to make him feel like he's in a Michael Bay movie.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

The thread is now live! http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?p=389958#post389958

If you weren't in the original planning, but want to be involved, just let us know here and I'm sure we can work you in somehow.

Let the crystal-snatching begin!

[Droo]

Okay, we need to coordinate things with the Imps. I could've sworn I saw a post somewhere that listed the Empire's holdings recently, and in it mentioned the Inquisitoriate had some sort of presence on Ilum itself. We need to get an idea of what sort of opposition can the team expect?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Yes, as far as I know the Inq has had a base on Ilum by the crystal mines for a long time. Not sure on the specifics.

[Sam]

Remember, if you start blowing things up: cool guys guys don't look at explosions.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Okay, so, trying to kick-start this planning thread again, here.

Yes, there is an Inquisitorate base on Ilum, and yes, Ilum is well-guarded. But it also hasn't been attacked in ages, and the Jedi haven't exactly been a threat to anyone in a while, in any major capacity, so the odds that there are super-great Inq. agents stationed at the frozen butthole of a nowhwere-base such as Ilum is likely fairly low, with most defensive systems being automated, is my guess. As such, we can probably expect autmated weapons, and droids and stuff like that which can withstand the cold better than people can, and a smallish contingent of actual Inq. troops with maybe a middle-rate commander at the base itself.

Hal is planning to sneak into the caverns using a passage he found by accident on his second trip to Ilum back in the day. Whether this passage is still open, I don't know, but he knows how to spot the general area from above, and can get the team there on foot, weather-permitting. We may need an extra hand or two to help carry some of the mining equipment and explosives he's got in mind to use, as he's planning on a massive smash-and-grab rather than on precision mining.

Quite frankly, Hal doesn't care what shape they leave the caverns in. He wants to collect as many crystals as possible, as fast as possible, regarless of quality, so that they can get out of there before reinforcements arrive. But he's also prepared for a fight, based on the heavy weapons he's requested, so we can expect a lot of blaster and gunfire going on, too. And a kickass soundtrack for it all, if Hal can pull it off.

So, yeah, the plan is stealth until discovery, but once they've been discovered, Hal is ready to unleash hell and then get the hell out of there. Any problems with that?

[Droo]

Two things. First, I think in light of the rescue of Serena on Coruscant, and the consequent revelation of a dangerous and capable group of Jedi, the Imperials would surely see fit to bolster their defences of the second highest priority Jedi target after the Jedi Temple itself: Ilum. Secondly, is it possible, despite Novgorod's speciality at being able to evade detection, that stealth will still be an option by the time they've been deployed on the planet's surface? I'd like to think so, otherwise it would become quickly monotonous if the thread was rush-rush-rush, but it's an issue worth considering nonetheless.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

My apologies, I'd forgotten about the Coruscant mission, as that was a little bit before my return. Those are some very good points, too, and I like working with the stealth idea for as long as we can, too.

But while Ilum may be better-guarded than it was before the Coruscant mission, it's still a freezing cold ice world, and I imagine that may effect what sort of defenses they can have posted outside, what with blaster turrets not able to move too well when frozen, and people also freeze when outside, too. Still a substantially-sized garrison of Inq. soldiers would certainly be viable, as would roving patrols and other things like that. I'm just not sure how well they might have the actual caverns themselves monitored if they believe they have all the enterances covered and secured.

The beaurocrat in me says that funding might not have been spent on cavern interior sensors if all known access points have been locked down and are monitored. What do you all think? It'll at least allow us to sneak around inside the caverns until we get found by a person or doid or something.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

MARCUS has a pretty good sensor suite on his biped platform to keep out of sight of electronic countermeasures

[Halajiin Rabeak]

I also have to keep reminding myself that Hal was last actually active over a hundred years ago, so things have upgraded since his time and he's probably being far too bold about his approach on this. After all, he can only think about the security countermeasures he used to encounter back in his day, and really isn't up to date on new stuff since then.

I forsee that actually being quite an entertaining problem, actually. =)

[Rossos Atrapes]

My apologies, I'd forgotten about the Coruscant mission, as that was a little bit before my return. Those are some very good points, too, and I like working with the stealth idea for as long as we can, too.

But while Ilum may be better-guarded than it was before the Coruscant mission, it's still a freezing cold ice world, and I imagine that may effect what sort of defenses they can have posted outside, what with blaster turrets not able to move too well when frozen, and people also freeze when outside, too. Still a substantially-sized garrison of Inq. soldiers would certainly be viable, as would roving patrols and other things like that. I'm just not sure how well they might have the actual caverns themselves monitored if they believe they have all the enterances covered and secured.

The beaurocrat in me says that funding might not have been spent on cavern interior sensors if all known access points have been locked down and are monitored. What do you all think? It'll at least allow us to sneak around inside the caverns until we get found by a person or doid or something.

If it's the INQ who's got the station or base on Ilum, then they're there to study the crystals. The INQ's main purpose - alongside acting as a secret secret police force à la the Gestapo and SS - is to essentially subjugate the Force to the Empire.

So depending on the studies they're doing, electronics and such would be littered throughout the caverns. The INQ isn't much of a meditate on/in the Force sort of group, but there are some who are strong enough to do such a thing if they have to or want to - Palara Iscandar's backstory relates that one of her favourite places to go is to Ilum since it is so relatively less saturated with the Dark Side of the Force than most other places she's made to go.

The Force isn't magic, so nothing would really interfere with electronics or technology unless it is very very powerful in the Force.

Most of the systems on Ilum - in the INQ itself - is automated or droid driven. Any security systems would likely not have a human or in a rare case alien handler for quite some time; a technician(s) would likely be there to handle programming and for upkeep of the machinery, the cold does wreak havoc on them, but not necessarily on their abilities, but their parts would likely have to be regularly serviced by a human technician on a scheduled occasion and droids more often.

As for a garrison, the INQ would have at most a company or two (up to maybe fifty to seventy five) of Inquisitorial Troopers, whom are specially trained to fight and take on Force Adepts. Most of the defences would be automated turrets, and many spider droids.

As for dimensions and looks, think a futuristic sort of Antarctic research base/facility.

If the insertion is done right, it should be fairly easy to get into a security station and deactivate the cameras, though the other defences would be much more difficult to deactivate, and those would be placed elsewhere.

Deactivating the cameras would put the station on alert, but the cold could make such an occurrence almost routine; at most technicians and droids would be sent to the station and to the camera points to see where the malfunction happened and fix it.

Hope some of this helps.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

*sits with his cheek resting on his paw, his other paw drumming his fingertips on the tabletop.*

So... are we gonna move ahead with this thread at some point, gang? I know folks have been busy, but it's sat there for about three weeks, now.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

It's alive! Now, who all is still on board, for this thread?

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

I'm still in :)

[Akasha Khan]

I'll be waiting for my cue!

[Droo]

I think you guys are good to go. If he's kept waiting any longer, Loki may just have an aneurysm.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Or enter puberty. Raging teen Jedi hormones... a scary thought. =P

But, yeah, y'all can hop in any time, now.

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

Ack! Sorry about that >_< Going to post now!

And hey...watch the raging teen Jedi hormone comments, mister :p

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

So now we're waiting for Akasha? I'm gonna assume Morgan is on Novgorod already, yeah?

Sooooo ready to do this thread.

[Tevit Ramastan]

Yep. Once Akasha turns up, we can move ahead. Though at the moment my Hal vibe is pretty darn weak. =(

[Halajiin Rabeak]

So, I'm kinda guessing that this story is prettymuch katput, huh? Should we just move on and pretend it happened, or is anyone still interested in doing this at all?

[Akasha Khan]

It's not kaput, I'm just the one holding it up. Sorry, guys. :(

Let me take a look at it tonight after class. I need to do something to keep my writing chops... um... sharp? Wet? Flame-broiled? I don't know what the optimal condition for writing chops is, but I need to get there somehow. And I really don't want this story idea to die.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Oh, I wasn't trying to call anyone out. =(

I was merely stating I understood that folks might have grown disinterested in this story and that for the sake of moving ahead, I was offering the option to skip it, if people would prefer.

I would very much like to get it going, but I also understand that folks can often be busy, and that the mood isn't always there for writing.

[Akasha Khan]

Oh, I know you weren't. I also know this was going to be a story with Big Consequences for the Wheel, and it's frustrating if you're waiting on the outcome of such a story to open up new avenues of storytelling.

I know you've already had at least one thread set after Hal's return and incarceration. So I'm fine if we declare open season on threads involving the crystals that were liberated from Illum.

EDIT: Hey, forget waiting until tonight. I just posted now. :)

[Sanis Prent]

Yay I will get posts going shortly

[Kala'ndryl Ryj]

IT'S ALIVE!

Yay! :D