Chapter 9: Strike, Counterstrike

[Muskrat]

Anneela says, "I expect to visit Shili often and I will visit you whenever I come there." She pauses and then says, her voice breaking with sorrow, "But I can't promise I'll come back to you. Not with what I'm doing. I may not be able to return ..." She pauses and wipes the tears from her eyes, embarrassed. First as a slave, then as a minor figure in the underworld, she had learned to conceal her emotions, as a matter of survival. She was not used to losing control of them. But she sighs and realizes that there is no harm in doing so here, in fornt of her parents. "What I will promise you is that as long as I am alive and free, I will come back to you." She then embraces her parents.

[Bo]

As Anneela embraces her parents, the screen wipes and you now see the pitch black void of space broken only by myriad twinkling stars...then....

Seemingly as if from nowhere, a fleet of ships appears. Lt. Bell stands at the bridge of the Shadow's Lament. "Well," he says to the heroes. "This is it.. do or die time." He narrows his eyes. "The entire planet of Dac is counting on us.. and that's not an exaggeration."

Arili Jing's voice comes over the intercom. "We're all clear," she says. "No imperial presence detected. All clear to launch."

Bell looks at those presents. "So how fares the Fenn and the Ghest's Shadow? Ready to launch?"

[Shurijo]

Manh stands nearby the two other Jedi. With his eyes closed, he tries to clear his mind in preparation for their journey. He knows that there could be resistance on the planet surface and a part of him craves their to be resistance for him to eliminate. As the desires surface, he re-enters into the meditative state that he perfected in solitude many years ago.

Removing slavers from the galaxy will always be one of Manh's passions and most enjoyable pursuits, his desire to finally remove the Emperor from power and free the entire galaxy has been rekindled. To him, the Emperor is the most powerful slaver and has enslaved all worlds and must be removed. Many years ago, he fought against the Emperor, then called Chancellor, but still the same man with the same desires. The Confederate of Independent Systems (CIS) knew then what took years for the rest of the galaxy to learn - Palpatine would enslave the galaxy if he wasn't removed from power. That was what the CIS was afraid of, but the onslaught of the Jedi Order teamed with the Clone Troopers were just too much for the CIS's efforts to remove Palpatine.

The former Jedi calms his emotions and finally opens his eyes to find the others nearby. Seeing Imanaya nearby, he asks. "What was all the talk about Skywalker? Obi-wan's padawan? I thought he was killed at the temple alongside many of the others or might have fled to the outskirts of the galaxy like so many others that somehow survived the Emperor's wrath."

[Hayabusa]

"Oh that. Well, the despicable Darth Vader was Master Kenobi's apprentice Anakin Skywalker. And yes, I thought he was dead as well, just like my own Master who faced him and seemingly died by his hand," Imanaya says without the faintest hint anger or regret in her voice. The Offshoot believes that a Jedi can back anyone who has fallen to the Dark Side of the Force atlhough she herself is a supporter of the concept of the Unifying Force and not the Living Force. "Other than on Coruscant during the Purge I only saw him one other time, on Duro where he almost choked me to death when I stalled him long enough so he couldn't take down our escape ship."

Imanaya has spent some time with Tab after they've finished erasing the data from the clone and abomination project in the base she had helped to take from the Imperials. On the bridge she mainly stares outside through the viewport as if she was searching for something that is invisible to the naked eye. In fact she is in a very light trance and reaches out with the Force to things any conventional sensor array does not detect.

Action

UTF: Sense Force.

[Muskrat]

Anneela is waiting patiently on Tab's ship, putting her parents as much out of her mind as she can. "So do we have any blueprints or anything of these orbital defense stations? The more we know about them, the easier it will be for us to properly sabotage them and get out again quickly. What weaknesses do they have? Do we have maps of air ducts large enough to travel through?"

[Bo]

Near Anneela, Wile Landoo is plucking at a datapad. He angles it so the young woman can see the display. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to obtain complete schematics of the orbital defense stations. Apparently they have been heavily modified by the Mon Calamari. The good news, however, is that one of Mon Mothma's contacts is in with the manufacturer of the defense platforms, so just a few hours ago I did receive the rough design of the defenses."

He points to the screen. "We're going to have little choice about where to land the ship and actually get onto the satellite. We've been outfitted with information and a transponder code typical for maintenance crews. Getting past the guards on the landing platform will be our first big step. After that, we'll need to somehow make our way to the communications center without setting off an alert. I'm hoping that if we bring a scanning package aboard the Fenn, it can give us more detailed information about the satellite's infrastructure after we land. "

[Shurijo]

Manh looks a little confused hearing about Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi was the same age as Manh and he had seen him briefly during Skywalker's time in the temple. "Lord Vadar is Anakin Skywalker?"

He pauses as he considers this. He was never a friend nor enemy of Anakin, but most everyone in the temple knew him from his actions and heroics before the Clone Wars. Once the Clone Wars began, Manh read several stories involving Skywalker and his Twi'leki padawan, causing disruptions for the CIS armies and planets.

OOC

are we aboard the ship heading planetside or still on Shili?

[Bo]

OOC

Right now we aren't in orbit over any planet. We are at the rendezvous point for staging the Dac operation. We're basically a little fleet hanging in deep space. The plan from here is to launch the Fenn and Ghest's shadow to complete their missions and then call in the rest of the forces when it's time to drop supplies and evacuation some of the population.

As far as Imanaya and A. Skywalker go , you can read how all this when down here in Imanaya's Origins story. This was done in real-time and used Fantasy Grounds I believe. If any of you are interested in real-time RP using something similar, let me know! Actually, my wife is hosting a webinar tonight using something called anymeeting.com ... it's free and very smooth and lets you basically share your screen in real time as well as have an integrated voice and chat function.

[Hayabusa]

"Yes he is. But I have no kriffing idea how he became a Sith Lord in the time after the Clone Wars," Imanaya replies, narrowing her eyes as she remembers the night in the temple and the upcoming spar her Master had put in front of her. Strangely her fellow apprentice with whom she would have fought was Padawan Teeku Skee Koobis, a Rodian who was always boasting about his lightsaber skills and his fights against the CIS. He probably wouldn't be much different from Manh. Though the Offshoot doesn't even know if Teeku is alive or dead because she parted from him a couple of months later when they were knee-deep in the filth of the Coruscanit undercity. "It makes me wonder if he's really the one who's pulling Palpatine strings or if he's the apprentice to someone else who is running the show altogether. I only know that Darth Vader has his own Force-trained underlings."

OOC

I think everyone would be here:

Seemingly as if from nowhere, a fleet of ships appears. Lt. Bell stands at the bridge of the Shadow's Lament. "Well," he says to the heroes. (...) Bell looks at those presents. "So how fares the Fenn and the Ghest's Shadow? Ready to launch?"

I think were all in Wile's ship right now.

[Bo]

OOC

Everyone is still aboard the Shadow's Lament . When we split up, we'll have to create 2 new threads.