Political Manueverings

[Cayle Briggs]

I'm working on a mission/storyline involving Moff Cayle Briggs in the Doldur Sector. He wasn't happy about having to give up the Quence Sector as he was closing in on what he thought were the Jensaarai who were going to train him in the ways of the Force. He wants to set in motion plans to make the Alliance of Free Planets look bad and lose several sectors. Whether that happens or not, that is not important.

Any takers?

[Damien Kantrael]

I have a few Imperial characters that could possibly aid your effort. None of them are particular big fish but I'm sure there are smaller roles that need filling;

Damien Kantrael is a former intelligence agent turned war radical who wants to see the galaxy burn rather than be at peace. He has a small militia of troops and leads raids on Alliance fringe worlds in hopes of reigniting the war. He is loyal to what he considers the "old empire", not the pansy new one that's risen in the wake of the peace treaty.

Alexia Sturkov is a former Sith reconditioned into an Imperial Knight. She's a bit unhinged and still very much in it for herself, and would probably break free if she wasn't so scared of her superiors. She's not a poster child like most of the Imperial Knights and is usually used for undercover, shadow war things like espionage and assassinations.

Jarvan Trask is a Imperial Commando (Stormtrooper Corps) Sergeant who's pretty good at kicking ass and taking names.

[Captain Untouchable]

I have a few characters that might come in handy as well!

Amés Falcon Liszt is the Imperial Minister of the Interior. That gives him political oversight of the Imperial Department of Military Research, which includes secret projects, superweapons, etc, as well as the Empire's nationalised corporations like Imperial Munitions and and the Imperial Droid Corporation; and also COMPNOR. COMPNOR not only includes the Imperial Security Bureau, but also the Coalition for Progress (which provides funding for and scrutiny of Art, Science, Commerce, Education, and the Justice system, to make sure everything is "appropriately Imperial"), and the Coalition for Improvements (which maintains/improves/etc the Empire's infrastructure, public amenities, etc). The way we've previously established things working on Fans (with the Greater Javin / new Corporate Sector, etc) is that COMPNOR gives planning permission, approves grants, and all that business, so Amés is the person you'd want to work with for anything non-military. He'll probably be eyeballing BlasTech Industries as well, which is based on Druckenwell: the Empire is probably a mite worried about what would happen if something went awry with BlasTech, given how the galaxy's other two big arms manufacturers (Merr-Sonn and SoroSuub) aren't really accessible to the Empire at the moment, because of the border / political affiliations / etc.

Achllles Santhe-Sienar is the CEO of the Santhe Corporation and it's subsidiaries (Santhe Security, Santhe/Sienar Technologies, Sienar Fleet Systems, etc), as well as a few other businesses like Arakyd and Aratech that have been acquired by hostile takeovers. The Santhe Corporation, as well as the Santhe Family and Sienar Family are based in the Tion Cluster, which is absolutely 100% cut off from the Empire right now. They have factories and offices in Imperial space, but the Alliance is making sure (via regulation and taxation) that Santhe can't ship out any cool stuff from their Tion production sites. Achilles is a petty, pissy, and vengeful sort of guy, so if Briggs is looking to antagonise the Alliance, even in a small way, he'd have a potential ally in Achilles. He probably wants to get his claws on BlasTech Industries too, for "political reasons", so that might be another angle for interaction.

Red Queen is kinda like the Operative from Serenity. No one is really sure who she is, no one is really sure who she works for, and "secrets are not my business; keeping them is". I've only just started off with her; her first big appearance is going to be working covertly on Naboo, trying to infiltrate, clear out, and/or destroy a secret research lab left over from he Clone Wars (or there abouts), so that the Alliance can't get there hands on it. With the Doldur Sector being right on the border, and with Briggs wanting to stick it to the Alliance wherever possible, she might find him and his sector "useful" for some aspects of her operations, so it might be useful to get them acquainted.

Ambassador Wrath isn't actually an Ambassador: he just says he is because it makes him sound fancy. He's a Hutt from the Ouishii clan, who has been acquiring all kinds of businesses in the Outer Rim - Ubrikkian Industries and Czerka Arms are the big ones, as well as a bunch of small-time companies that he has gobbled up and smushed into his corporate empire. He's on good enough terms with the Alliance to be able to move shipments through their space... but the shorter the better, and the Doldur Sector is near one of the narrowest parts of the Alliance: he has holdings on Rodia, which is only three or four sectors away from Doldur along the Corellian Run, so he might be looking to make arrangements to set up shop in Doldur to work that little trade route. Dealing with a Hutt might not be particularly pleasant for the Moff: he does have underlings who he might be able to send as his proxies though who might be slightly less objectionable.

[Cayle Briggs]

Actually, let me give you my first "plot" and then you can decide. The actual mission would do very well for Red Queen and Alexia, but the planning could incorporate Damien and Ames.I want to stage a meeting with to plan for the sabotage of one of the Starkillers. Overall, I want to have a few sneaky types infiltrate a "rebel' installation and have them shoot one of their starkiller torpedoes at a totally worthless, but totally Imperial planet. it would get slagged, but not have much of a population or non at all, but then the politicians step in and cry fowl and the republic has to deal with the aftermath. I don't really care if they are successful or not... just thought it might be a cool mission as it involved politics and subterfuge.

[Captain Untouchable]

Just thinking out loud: there's not much deniability in the plan as-is.

If the mission succeeds, and the Alliance blows up an Imperial world, that's very very bad, and very damaging to the peace. That may be what Briggs wants, but from an OOC perspective, it's a bit of a "that escalated quickly" sort of action. If the mission fails, and Imperial operatives are caught, that's equally bad: that seems like an act of war almost, and again the peace is in jeopardy. In that latter instance, the only option that the Empire has to preserve the peace would be to throw Briggs to the wolves: which, OOC, messes up your ongoing writing opportunities a little.

What might make more sense is to add some element of deniability into the plan. Sending Damien Kantrael helps with that, because he is a "known terrorist". Even if the Alliance knows the Empire is behind it all, there's still enough excuse and deniability that no one can actually act on it. The same would be true if you tried to act via mercenaries, bounty hunters, inciting a rebellion in the local populace, and that sort of thing. Basically, it might make sense for you to set up a "firewall" to stop Briggs getting burned by the outcome.

Definitely a cool mission, and there's all kinds of potential with it; just need to make sure you don't paint yourself into a corner. :)

[Damien Kantrael]

Word vomit incoming.

I would strongly suggest private messaging an admin to make sure it's okay to blow up a planet. It's a pretty big deal and should not be done lightly. I'm liking everything I'm seeing so far. Damien does make an optimal fall guy. I would imagine that the Starkiller missiles are probably very well guarded, kept under strict control regulations to prevent misfires. I don't know the distance capabilities of the missiles or what kind of installations they are kept on; are they kept planetside, on a space station, orbital platform, or capital ship? I would imagine it would be pretty hard for two people, even as dangerous and capable as Alexia and the Red Queen, to handle the operation on their own. I would imagine all kinds of codes and access keys and biometrical scans and whatever tomfoolery security measures would need to be obtained and bypassed in order to even fire a missile.

Using Damien to take over an installation by force may be plausible based on the size and military power of the installation. He doesn't have a huge militia. He has a fully staffed Strike-Classed Medium Cruiser with Sentinel-Class loading crafts. He can deliver a devastating surprise attack with rapid deployment of ground forces complimented by special shock troopers (Project: Nightmare augmented humans), but he can hardly maintain a prolonged conflict/siege. The necessary tactic may be to use Alexia and the Red Queen to infiltrate and sabotage the installation to make it vulnerable to Damien's blitzkrieg, fire the missile, and get the hell out of there before the Alliance Fleet can respond. If the fleet does arrive Alexia and Red Queen may have their own vessel to just disappear into the night with. Damien would engage the fleet if it arrived, buying them time to escape.

[Captain Untouchable]

Starkillers don't actually blow up planets if memory serves: they sorta boil off the atmosphere and surface vegetation, turning a habitable world into a barren rock. I think what's being suggested is firing a Starkiller at an insignificant uninhabited world... taking something barely habitable, and making it completely uninhabitable. Not quite as drastic as aiming it at an inhabited world, or as actually blowing a planet up.

As far as tech specs, I'm hazy on that. All I recall is that they were hyperspace capable, and that the Empire was (rightly or wrongly) led to believe that the Alliance could shoot a Starkiller at them any place, any time. No idea what that means in terms of where they are, how accessible they are, and all that though.

[Vince]

I was under the assumption that neither the Alliance nor the Empire know where exactly the other had placed their missiles, so there was an element of some spy and cat-and-mouse storylines involved as well.

But I have some characters that would definitely be useful for such things:

Valentin Adras is a Stormtrooper Commander, but I haven't as far as I remember put him in charge of a specific unit or division of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps, so he's been in limbo for a bit. He could be one of those commanders moved from post to post as needs dictate, but he's not quite the type for deep cover or espionage or missions requiring a whole lot of stealth.

Rossos Atrapes is the Knight-General of the Imperial Knights of the Order of the Throne, an Imperial version of the Jedi Order, though it's much more closely tied to the Empire than its counterpart on Ossus. If Briggs wants to learn to use the Force, he could try to make a deal with Atrapes. He and most other Knights have an antagonistic relationship with Moffs and Imperial military commanders because he and other Knights take their orders directly from the Empress, and they can take command of their military forces in certain situations. There aren't that many Knights so the effect is limited, but it was meant to keep some military figures becoming de facto warlords with their own private armies, and to keep the Empress in firm control of the military.

Palara Iscandar is a member of the Imperial Knights, and is more than adept at deep cover missions and espionage and stealth type stuff. She's working deep cover with a freighter that moves mostly in Alliance space, but she wanders about at will, so having her meet up with Briggs or one of his underlings could definitely happen.

As far as enemies for Briggs, Istina Chriferre is a member of Alliance Intelligence, an operative whose main mission is ferreting out Imperial spies and operatives in Alliance Space. She's almost a complete counterpart for the Red Queen, except she doesn't use the Force. Despite that, she's still an exceptionally deadly opponent, even for Force-trained adepts. Something about skill and being able to hide her intentions from Force users, even when they're focused on her.

[Damien Kantrael]

It seems to be that we really need to (re)establish the specifications of the Starkillers, their locations, and just how secret they are. This may require a larger dialogue with the rest of the board. I don't remember ever seeing anything truly specific about them beyond that they are really bad and have created the current stand still. If the locations are secret I don't think it would be beyond the far reaching fingers of the Empire to figure out a single location or two. Such information would be very guarded so that the Alliance's spies would not catch wind that the Empire knew a Starkiller location. If Briggs knows the right kind of people he might be able to procure that information and then go about from there.

Obviously most Imperials aren't going to be onboard for the firing a missile at ourselves plot, but Briggs could keep that part hidden and task only Damien, who has no qualms with it, to fire the actual missile. This could have the more immediate result of whomever else is pushing the plot (Imperial Knights, Intelligence agents, etc) to turn on Damien and send him limping into the void. From the IMP INT prospective this would look like a daring operation to put a Starkiller out of commission. Perfect cold war kind of shenanigans.

[Captain Untouchable]

More thinking out loud.

When the Alliance first got their Starkillers, they only had half a dozen sectors or so. Odds are that the Starkillers weren't located in any of those, for fear of Imperial reprisals. If the Empire is willing to blow up Alderaan and go all Tarkin Doctrine on entire planets and populations just to "prove a point", sacrificing a few worlds while they carry an all-out assault on every known Alliance planet is well within their wheelhouse. Having Starkillers on/near Dac or Bothawui is like saying "Don't hurt me, I have a knife!", when the Empire is willing to risk a few cuts in order to take you out: after all, the Alliance "probably" won't blow up anywhere important, because if they did it'd be another Alderaan and they'd lose their moral high ground, and that's a win for the Empire. What the Alliance needs is to be able to say "Don't hurt me, I have a sniper who will keep shooting at you even if I'm dead." That's the kind of threat that would motivate the Empire to sit down and talk peace.

So, the Alliance was probably keeping their Starkillers as far away from places it cared about as possible. The Rebels like their secret convoys (the Command Fleet, the Wheel, etc), and having their Starkillers loaded on ships is pretty smart: ships can constantly be moving, they're harder to find, if the Empire blows up a planet the ship can swoop in and unleash devastating retaliation... and you can blow up a ship to stop your weapons and intel falling into enemy hands far easier than you can with a ground installation. The Rebels also like their secret bases; if they did have any static/immobile Starkiller sites before the Treaty, odds are that they were as "in the middle of nowhere" as possible (to avoid notice), but in sectors that are now part of Alliance territory (because when the borders were drawn, the Alliance probably made sure their silos were in friendly territory).

That said, that doesn't mean the Alliance hasn't built new Starkiller locations. We're in the deterrent stage at the moment: there's less need to hide your missile sites under those conditions, because an unseen deterrent isn't as good as one your enemy knows of but can't do anything about. People are less likely to do something dumb if you're holding a gun in your hand, as opposed to a concealed carry.

Maybe there is a sentiment within the Alliance that, if Starkillers are what is keeping everyone safe, having Starkillers on your doorstep must be the best way to get a piece of that safety. Maybe certain worlds have asked, offered, or even paid for launch sites to be constructed in their space. Perhaps the silo that our little team goes after isn't an existing launch site that they conveniently found out about... maybe it's a new one that we're going after while it's vulnerable. Maybe the missiles are in the process of being delivered, and our plan is to hijack them when they arrive? The Lex Luthor approach to nuclear war: go after the missiles while they're on the back of a truck.

From the Alliance side of things, I have both the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Supply (who used to be in charge of the Ordnance & Supply Command, so was almost definitely a senior part of the pre-Treaty Starkiller program) who I could contribute with to flesh out the Alliance side of the story.

[Atreyu]

You guys probably already know this, but there was a short discussion of the Starkiller missiles last year when they were first mooted, with a few details hashed out:

http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?23232-The-Starkiller-Missile

Worth a read just to refresh if nothing else. :)

[Cayle Briggs]

I love the comments and thoughts. I typically don't do alot of "underhanded" missions and thought one would be fun. Even if it isn't Starkillers (or maybe I'm just saying that to throw y'all off my trail), some sort of "terrorist" attack. Heck if we could launch one, throw it at the Hutts. Let the Alliance and the wormbags fight it out.

That wasn't out loud was it?The reason I picked the Starkiller in particular was that it was the instrument used to sue for peace and cost Cayle (as he sees it) the Quence Sector.

So....things that we are agreed on.

Subvert attack on an Alliance facility
Don't have it lead back to the Empire
Go home with Twi'lek dancing girls

win-win-win

[Captain Untouchable]

If you're not married to the idea of it being a Starkiller-related thing, I do have a story idea on the back burner that may work.

Ambassador Wrath is a Hutt from the Ouishii Kajidic, and has a respectable business empire that he expands by gobbling up smaller and/or struggling companies, and then smushing them together with what he already has. Lately, he's been buying out assets / subsidiaries / etc from Imperial companies that are "cut off" because of the new Alliance border. In particular, he recently acquired two subsidiaries in the Outer Rim from Kuat Drive Yards: Ubrikkian Industries (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ubrikkian_Industries), and Rothana Heavy Engineering (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rothana_Heavy_Engineering). While Ubrikkian is a relatively uninteresting company that mostly makes products for the Hutts, Rothana Heavy Engineering is pretty noteworthy: it made most of the Republic's military hardware - tanks, walkers, airspeeders, etc - during the Clone Wars.

The plan (http://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?55704-Senators!) is that Wrath will be negotiating with the Alliance for various different things: one of the items on the table is supplying the Alliance military with LAAT/i gunships, AT-TE walkers, and that sort of stuff, which they don't currently have ready access to. After all, the Alliance is a legitimate government now, so they can't really be illegally making Kuat/Corellian/etc stuff any more, and it's not like the Empire would be willing to let them import weapons across the border: the fact that the Alliance won't allow the reverse is a big plot point stopping Santhe/Sienar Technologies from exporting stuff from the Tion Cluster.

This is not good news for the Empire, and I have had a plan on the backburner that "someone" would try and seize control of Rothana (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rothana) (on the map (http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd259/o6untouchable/Fans/Galaxy%20Map/Preview6_zps207dd359.jpg~original) in T-15) to try and disrupt production. This could very easily be the sort of plan that Briggs sets into motion, as a sort of "this is the last straw" type deal, and some kind of hostile takeover in order to prevent the Alliance from having access to "formerly Imperial stuff" seems like a pretty good fit with the motivations of Kantrael and Red Queen. Shouldn't be too hard to factor in Palara either, Vince, though we might want to keep her involvement on the down low so it doesn't seem like the mission is "sanctioned" by the Imperial Knights.

Obviously, the Alliance military would be very swift to respond, which means Admiral Tyree, the 4th Fleet, Task Force 42, possibly Rogue Squadron, possibly the Novgorod, and possibly Rhinn Ikthoos (depending on where you want him to be). It's probably going to be an overwhelming force situation, and it'll likely force the Alliance in the uncomfortable position of fortifying/blockading a neutral planet in the interests of keeping their new military contractor safe. Either way, it gives us our first little Cold War style skirmish crisis, with out the Empire and Alliance "officially" having to fight each other.

This would all give us an interesting situation from a political perspective. Even if the Alliance knows that it was the Empire, they can't retaliate, because the Empire attacked a third party. And while Ambassador Wrath probably could ask for the Alliance to take some sort of action, he probably won't: a lot of his business holdings are in Imperial space, so he won't want to risk making life difficult for himself by making a fuss.

We could even spice things up a little and steal a plot device from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, whereby Red Queen's involvement isn't strictly on the level. Since her business is keeping secrets, it's possible that there is some kind of prototype on Rothana, and she has been sent to stop it falling into Imperial hands. That would increase the urgency of the Alliance's response as well: Wrath might tell them about the prototype in order to make them more eager to act quickly and stop it falling into the wrong hands.

[Cayle Briggs]

If you're not married to the idea of it being a Starkiller-related thing, I do have a story idea on the back burner that may work.

Ambassador Wrath is a Hutt from the Ouishii Kajidic, and has a respectable business empire that he expands by gobbling up smaller and/or struggling companies, and then smushing them together with what he already has. Lately, he's been buying out assets / subsidiaries / etc from Imperial companies that are "cut off" because of the new Alliance border. In particular, he recently acquired two subsidiaries in the Outer Rim from Kuat Drive Yards: Ubrikkian Industries (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ubrikkian_Industries), and Rothana Heavy Engineering (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rothana_Heavy_Engineering). While Ubrikkian is a relatively uninteresting company that mostly makes products for the Hutts, Rothana Heavy Engineering is pretty noteworthy: it made most of the Republic's military hardware - tanks, walkers, airspeeders, etc - during the Clone Wars.

The plan (http://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?55704-Senators!) is that Wrath will be negotiating with the Alliance for various different things: one of the items on the table is supplying the Alliance military with LAAT/i gunships, AT-TE walkers, and that sort of stuff, which they don't currently have ready access to. After all, the Alliance is a legitimate government now, so they can't really be illegally making Kuat/Corellian/etc stuff any more, and it's not like the Empire would be willing to let them import weapons across the border: the fact that the Alliance won't allow the reverse is a big plot point stopping Santhe/Sienar Technologies from exporting stuff from the Tion Cluster.

This is not good news for the Empire, and I have had a plan on the backburner that "someone" would try and seize control of Rothana (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rothana) (on the map (http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd259/o6untouchable/Fans/Galaxy%20Map/Preview6_zps207dd359.jpg~original) in T-15) to try and disrupt production. This could very easily be the sort of plan that Briggs sets into motion, as a sort of "this is the last straw" type deal, and some kind of hostile takeover in order to prevent the Alliance from having access to "formerly Imperial stuff" seems like a pretty good fit with the motivations of Kantrael and Red Queen. Shouldn't be too hard to factor in Palara either, Vince, though we might want to keep her involvement on the down low so it doesn't seem like the mission is "sanctioned" by the Imperial Knights.

Actually, after thinking about it, I think we should start off with this mission and see where it works toward. I'll start a posting at Doldur and then you all can join and we can rp out the specifics of this plan.

[Captain Untouchable]

Well I'm definitely onboard. Just point me at a thread. :)