Episode 4: Seeds of Dissent

[Jingo]

Kaida takes everything she has on her char sheet. She will insist that everyone take at least one med pack from the ship's stock, for emergency medical care in the field. She'll carry three total herself and will act as field medic if needed.

[watanabe]

Kara realized no one paid attention to what she had said and that she would not get much of a say in the mission planning.  Rather than listen to the boys talk about who had the biggest rifle, she snuck off to her room, she had a bottle that she had stared on earlier in the trip that needed some company.

[tomcat]

Hey Nick, I saw Kara's comments, but I did not want to respond too much on Caden's behalf. If there is more that you want to bring to the table, I will answer her as Brim. If not, then we'll leave your post as it stands.



Brim looked across the planning table at Kara, "I think everyone is aware of the risks, Kara, but I feel you have more on your mind. Do you have more to add?"

[watanabe]

  Nah its good, its fitting for Kara to be drinking and moping. 

Kara stopped as she heard Brim's reply.  She paused for a moment.  "I've already gone down a road I can't walk back on, so I'm all in just like someone with a pure Sabaac hand.  I just think everyone should have a chance to confirm their in, and discuss their issues with the plan.  Me, I have no issues, just fly the ship, easy enough for me."

Not bothering looking back she headed towards her room, hoping that the bottle would be good enough, not the special things she had packed away.

[Telcontar]

It was pretty apparent to everyone that Britton turned a little red when Kaida complimented him. Kaida's comments to him had comletly shattered his cool clear thoughts,

"Well it seemed like we were always reacting to things so i just went with the flow, but now we are actually coming up with a plan having to do with things that I know about. So ahh, well I mean, I always read this stuff, but i was a trooper so never really was part of the planning, and even as a security guard i was at the bottom of the barrel and was more of a stand here and shut up guy. Uhmm, yeah and when I thought I might end up in a place like this at any moment myself I thought getting other people out of there might be some kinda karma that will come back to me at some point."

Britton looked over at Caden, "but the Caps in charge, I'm just running my mouth so its up to him. So I mean if your asking me to lead this raid then uhhm ya i can do that for you, but I ahh...."

Britton knew he sounded foolish but the words kept coming out of his mouth so he looked over at the display and Sam, "SOOOOO, Sam where do you think the barracks area opens up out to the rest of the complex? It appears as though this hallway is a choke point and we can either rubble the hallway or with only two people keep them from getting into the hallway."


On Brittons Characte sheet he only has a blaster pistol. I would like to get a couple of grenades, a rifle of some sort and if we can fabricate something that makes smoke would be good too.

[tomcat]

Hey Tom, Brim was correct in his assumption... Ulric did have a crate of supplies stowed in the hangar bay that was supposed to be moved onto the Aegis. It did contain rifles, explosives, and other tactical gear for a raid (i.e. nightvision visors, light armor and helmets, commo gear, etc.). With the attack that happened, the transfer was not able to take place and so the Aegis and her crew now have the mission to do with just what you have. If there is another rifle on board, you can ask whomever owns it if you can use it for the attack. Sorry, but we are going to have fun growing this new rebel raiding team and having them learn the hard way... that what could go wrong, probably will.

So, grenades can come from Logar - tell John how many you are taking and he can reduce his PC sheet count. I will allow fabrication of smoke and breach charges. It will require mechanics tests and I will give you the DC in a bit... I need to read the book. 

But remember, when a Stormtrooper dies, he leaves behind a nice set of armor and a blaster rifle or carbine every time!

Lastly, I have attached the map you wanted. Remember, there is a second story on both the barrakcs level and the admin level.



Brim had been quiet but then spoke up as the search he was doing on the holonet beared fruit. "I think I have something! I did a holo-search on Republic prison conditions. I figured there was probably one time in the government's history that the penal system was being questioned and reviewed regarding its facilities and the well-being of prisoners. It turns out the Galactic Senate ordered a review of all Core and Rim prisons and there were 33 that received less than average ratings. Most were on the Outer Rim, and guess which one was amongst them? Yea... our little objective!" The Rodian hit a button, "And look! We have a current facility floor plan... well current as to 8 years ago."

[watanabe]

  And when you remove that stormtroopers armor with the thermal detonator keyed into his unique signature you go boom.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Baradium-core_code_key_thermal_detonator

Seriously.  That little canister on stormtroopers backs, well if you don't have key code it goes a BOOM!  I read this in a technical guide, and is widely noted in the Star Wars RPG community.

Of course how Luke and Han got that armor?  Who knows... 

[tomcat]

Baradium-core code key thermal detonators were special thermal detonators in use by the Galactic Republic's clone army and later used by the Galactic Empire's special ops troopers, such as stormtroopers and the dark troopers. The model had adjustable time settings, ranging from six to eighteen seconds and a small range of five meters. They had activated only with the right code tapped into it, therefore Rebels couldn't use captured explosives against them. Also, the buttons were unlabeled, which ensured that even if a Rebel discovered the code, they couldn't figure out which buttons to press in order to activate the detonator

That description says it is a special thermal detonator with code activation, used by special ops troops... but it doesn't say anything about taking the armor off a dead trooper. It just says they were special coded so only the user could detonate them.

But, I don't wanna fight canon - so I will put it to a vote here. You guys want it to be a non-tamper self-destruct system on stormie armor?

[Callowmoryne]

  I say no doug, but for incredibly selfish reasons 

[watanabe]

 

I shouldn't vote since I can exploit either way in a severely horrible manner.  I was just noting that the Stormtrooper looting issue has been around since long before Saga Edition, but that it has been treated and discussed in the Order 66 podcast, and the consensus among most is that stormtrooper looting goes against the spirit of the game, as well as the mechanical issues of the coded explosive.

That said, I think its feasible for someone to loot it if its going to be a one time thing (and not a every trooper thing).

[Jingo]

  Exactly! Both Luke and Han got armor rescuing Princess Radar Hair from the Death Star! And Luke wasn't the brightest light in the galaxy. And that was MUCH later than the period when we're playing. I say players should be able to loot bodies as many times as they want, let 'em do it. I don't like games that restrict a character, saying you can't pick something up simply because it causes "game unbalance". There has to be a reason. You'd think it'd list it in the Core book if this were really the case. Ultimately it's the GM's choice, but if the armor is around and the char can physically use it, carry it, whatever, let them do it as long as there's not a specific rule in the equipment that states it's wired with explosives. Obviously, someone carrying around ten suits of armor to sell later is going to 1) have to lug it around, 2) find someone who will buy it and 3) eventually probably get on some watch list somewhere and then the special forces stormies are gonna come after ;em--but hey that's an oppurtunity to get better armor--unless those ones of course ARE wired for exploding.   Personally, I want to armor up all the prisoners we liberate with stormie armor and create our 1st Rebellion platoon.

[tomcat]

Yea, I am going with what Jingo said.

I think that if the suits were rigged to explode it would have been mentioned in the core book. That said, the charge can still be an available weapon on their back.

As for characters collecting piles of armor - I do not allow that stuff in my games. There are no bag of holdings in the galaxy, so they will need to have a real good explanation of how to move all the armor they collect, or it doesn't move. Second, military issue stuff that is seen on civillians would immediately be questioned, so just because there is trooper armor there, doesn't mean it is going to be useful in everyday interactions - unless the character tricks it out and makes it not trooper armor.

Anyway, thanks for the canon info, Nick, but trooper armor and helmets are able to be looted. I will uphold the need to make mechanics tests to make it work (i.e. the helmet commo gear, or even the Baradium-core code key thermal detonators).

[Jingo]

"Well it seemed like we were always reacting to things so i just went with the flow, but now we are actually coming up with a plan having to do with things that I know about. So ahh, well I mean, I always read this stuff, but i was a trooper so never really was part of the planning, and even as a security guard i was at the bottom of the barrel and was more of a stand here and shut up guy. Uhmm, yeah and when I thought I might end up in a place like this at any moment myself I thought getting other people out of there might be some kinda karma that will come back to me at some point."

Britton looked over at Caden, "but the Caps in charge, I'm just running my mouth so its up to him. So I mean if your asking me to lead this raid then uhhm ya i can do that for you, but I ahh...."

On Brittons Characte sheet he only has a blaster pistol. I would like to get a couple of grenades, a rifle of some sort and if we can fabricate something that makes smoke would be good too.

Kaida leaned towards Britton and bared her teeth in a tight smile. "Now look, Britton," she said loudly enough for anyone to hear. "No need to be modest. Everyone knows you're the most experienced in this department. You're a natural fit."

Then she whispered under her breath for his ears alone, "Look buddy, you were doing so well. This team needs all the confidence they can get to pull this thing off, so don't go back to stupid mode on me. Just do your best, I--we all trust you!"

She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly seeing his discomfort and then spoke up again. "Well, as to Caden, he's of course in charge of his own ship, no one's denying a captain that cardinal right. I'm only saying this mission stands a better chance with someone experienced in this sort of thing in charge. Since we're using your plan, what better person, than you?"

She wanted to roll her eyes and scream. Instead she looked around at them all calmly, hopefully reassuringly. "If there's no objections, then it's settled. Let's get geared up."

[Telcontar]

  It says "use the captured explosives" not the armor itself. I do not read this to mean that armor was boobie trapped. More like a special troop had a couple of these on his person that he had the code for, not that he set it so his armor would explode if it was taken off. 

Britton realized that he was flaking out, but it had nothing to do with the mission. The plan was as solid as it was going to get with the infromation that they had. Skill and luck were going to take care of the rest. stupid mode? he thought...

"Do we have any spot welders that would be portable?"

[Callowmoryne]

Logar'Dan headed back to the room he shared with Britton. He needed to go over his gear. Mostly he needed to get out of the room before someone noticed his hands were shaking. Same old shit he thought to himself. Well it would stop or it wouldn't, but he couldn't have these folks thinking he was a coward. Back in the room he took a deep breath and got down to business. He rifled through his backpack fishing out his bandolier. Unclipping two frag grenades he moved them to his tactical belt, and laid the remaining grenades on Brittons bed. "Nothing like me is he Katherine" The soldiers plan was a good one. A bit naive thinking he could arm dangerous criminals and hope for their cooperation. But Logar would be ready when the time came. If the freed prisoners got out of line he would see to their immediate release from life itself with a quickness. He's was glad Britton spoke up with such a good plan too, his first thought when asked was quite different. The old Logar'Dan wouldve only been concerned with a successful mission and a clean getaway. Eliminate the garrison, free the target, assure his safety. And set timed charges on the reactor. Leaving no trace, electronic or otherwise to implicate themselves. And judging from then reactions to Brittons plan, he was pretty sure his plan wouldn't have went over so well. But that was the old Logar, he didn't want to do things that way anymore, it had earned him nothing but shame, and a few credits. He needed these people for guidance, he was no fool, no one was perfect and they weren't angels. But they were by a longshot better folks than he had been, than any of his merc friends had been. He would stick to the plan and be ready. Show these rising rebels that he could be useful, help them make a difference. His hands had stopped shaking only long enough for him to notice and they began again. Same old shit.