The IC post is a little "what Max has been doing" thingy. The actual IC start will be on Atea, the rebel worldship. Situation should be obvious in the IC post when I get it up there.

Instead of posting every little thing in-character, just ask stuff here and I can sum it up with "and the gang hashes out the details" or similar. Also, Angel and Zaef's players are out for a bit so this'll let them catch up.

I don't know if you guys still wanted to do an entirely separate intel-gathering trip or if you just wanted to go balls out. If you do want a recon trip, it needn't be its own adventure. Dave is still sitting on his hands out there on Todaki, so the sooner we get the party all together and onto the main event, the better.

Everyone can go on the recon mission. What I need to know is:
1. Are you gathering intel and coming back to Atea or Diego Garcia, then heading BACK to Hedion via Todaki, or are you just going to Hedion via Todaki and staying there?

2. What do you want to try to bring? Remember that disassembled and unpowered Imperial weapons will pass Gateport weapons scanners, and thus far firearms have also passed weapons scans. Your Expansion cover should allow you to bluff or brush off attempts to check any weapons, within reason. No crates of AT-4s this time around. The thing is, if your plan is to take two trips to Hedion as mentioned above, do you want to use your Expansion cover both times? I'm sure you all could explain a second trip, but if things don't go well on the recon mission that individual's cover could be blown straightaway.

3. Because time, both in-game and real, is a factor for the recon portion of the operation, I want to handle it like so:

Each PC gets one concern or question that they are researching/scouting out. You pick one of your skills that could conceivably be used to get that information, describe how you're using it, and we'll roll. Varying degrees of success mean you get the answers you want, with more intel for a better margin of success. Fail, and you don't get complete/accurate/any intel. You won't be killed or captured - the stakes are the intel, not your asses. A REALLY poor roll could mean your cover is blown and you'll have to spend a little more time making up a new one. But then you all have Wild Dice, too.

You may also assist another PC if you forgo your own intel roll. I'll need to know if you're helping someone before the rolls start, however.

I think the best way to go about the intel mission (which I think we should do) is to make it a separate trip. We can just take the footgate to Akis from Atea or Diego Garcia, quick and simple. We should most definitely not use our Expansion IDs, we can get the same intel from much cheaper and easier to maintain covers, simple businessmen, street criminals, so on. Going in unarmed is fine, we can buy weapons, if we need them at all. Some covers and jobs, packing heat might not be such a good idea.

Also, we're gonna need to gear up for the mission proper. Everyone needs clothes and/or armor, accessories, devices, and the other stuff we'll need to sell the deception. Those of us who are pretending to be rich Expansion brats need really fancy clothes, gear, tents, whatever else. Basically, we need to gear up.

That, basically. First run, go in with cheap covers and no suspicious gear. Second run, we bring it on with the Expansion IDs.

For the intel trip, Robin will use her Streetwise skill to try and identify who would be good targets for the con. She'll find out which businessmen, venture capitalists and ownership groups might be interested in backing the arena construction. She'll also try to find out what information might be around to leverage/blackmail/entice said targets.

Other things we should investigate:

- Military strength of local Turai legions, if any
- Existing rebel sentiment on the planet?
- Big local players in solar power

If you want to leave your mark holding the bag after it all goes to shit, then I would suggest someone with undeniable ties to the Imperial government. That may be as simple as an actual Imperial official, but it might pan out to be a noble house or industrium leader. The idea is that when Hedion blacks out, the people who come to investigate the BP-sized fuckup can point their fingers at someone and immediately think "gubbamint!"

Robert's suggestions are all good too. I might also add these ideas, if you were so inclined:

- local gangs/fixers/notable scum and villainy
- the Cortex-space around the target solar farm and Akis; a hacker's-eye-view of the area.
- The solar farm's human terrain; are people watching Arketta's parents? What kind of local security is there? Are there any key figures the Quises or the farmers in general interact with?

One of the big things we need is a map of the village. First, a literal map, streets and houses and stuff. Kansat and Turai patrols and strength, electronic surveillance, any other more secret-y surveillance on Arketta's family. The hacker's-eye-view, like Adam said, and the human element, both disreputable (gangs, criminals), reputable (regular people) and high-powered (Imperial nobles and business leaders). As far as marks, I think that someone directly related to the Imperials would be best, we might need to make friend with the Pan-Industriums later and burning them might not be such a good idea. If they're sufficiently corrupt though, fuck 'em. The rebel sentiment idea is great, too, we could definitely stand to figure that out. And we're gonna want to know anyone who's on the take in the Turai or the Kansat, or at least have a decent list. Any other suggestions?

Oh, and Davis will pick up the slack on whatever part of the human intelligence gathering needs doing. Not aiding, though. (Edit: The bottom line, Davis will talk to people trying to figure out the human intelligence section. We need to know what's going on here, both legit and under-the-table. That includes business, criminal, and most importantly, corrupt from the Imperials and any secret deals and surveillance going down in the village.)

Figure Angel will do this whole "Scout" thing he supposedly does, and get a proper map of the physical layout of the village, and sundry patrol routes, avenues of response, how to frak up said avenues before said response becomes awkward, etc. Any "Power Relay Sub-Sub-Annex"'s or whatever that seem overly guarded...

I think Luis is a natural for the tech end, hacker's-eye view and all that. Specific areas of interest (in decreasing order of importance): Check out the local Cortex, the local surveillance (Kansat and Turai nets, including a look for anything secret going on), any specific information on Arketta's family, and maybe doing some groundwork for the main con in terms of setting up back doors or the like (but only if everything else is done).


EDIT: Also, I think a small group could hit Todaki on the return leg. There's some good IC justification (simplifying the main mission by taking care of one favor on the lower-profile intel run) and OOC (letting Dave get off his hands and into the Big Op fully prepared IC as well as OOC). Doing it on the return leg means that our plans don't have to include a good cover for Elvis on Hedion or anything.

We'd need to make sure that the people who do that have covers that provide reasons for going to such a podunk colony, but that's doable since these IDs are going to be single-use and tailorable to this one run. It need not be more than a subset of the team (two or three?) to do that, while everyone else comes home direct.

I think snagging Dave on the return trip would be fine. Your points are solid.

Luis (Computers) has got the hacker's-eye-view, Angel's (Scouting) mapping the physical and tactical terrain, Robin's (Streetwise) finding a suitable mark, Davis (Persuasion) is gathering related intel on the political/social terrain.

I believe we just need Hugh and Zaef either aiding one of the above or choosing an area of their own.

Hugh will support Angel.

Zaef will help Robin.

Recon montage time! Time being the operative word, I just need some time to figure everyone's results.

Will be posting the remaining montage bits soon. You'll also be picking Elvis up on your way BACK to Hedion.

Gonna work up dossiers on the 4 primary marks. Will post as I have them. Until then, Simmons (as played by Cole Hauser; Pitch Black, Tears of the Sun)!

Ooh, excellent choice. Cole Hauser gives great weasel.

All righty! Now that everyone is up to speed on the Hedion caper, we gear up and move out! Your Expansion/Turai covers should allow you through security with standard weaponry and armor. That's good, because you're doing this without an extensive armory of choices this time. Spearbombs aren't going to be a common sight on Hedion, it's a populated area and if you'll remember the actual Turai never used spearbombs inside Hedion or Aikoro or Botane (they tried on Todaki, but they were loose cannons). Stash hand grenades in your gear if you need thrown explosives.

Good news for Angel - since you're traveling as an Expansion chief's mysterious hired hand and you've seen Imperial knockoffs in action, you can get away with your SCAR-H. Remember your suppressor this time.

Everyone will have at least a vox and a radio. With a vox you can access the Imperial Cortex (their intarwebs) as well as use it like a Mass Effect omnitool or smartphone. They can transmit holo-video (which is obviously holographic, no Total Recall decoys available) and record as well.

Okay, Davis' gear. Aside from his collection of very fancy Imperial clothes for his cover, both of the "floating sculpture supported by antigrav impellers" type and the kind you can actually walk and run and fight in, and associated fripperies and such, he has an Imperial beam rifle that he keeps in his luggage, and a stinger and a knife that he keeps on his person. The knife and stinger are both hidden when he's dressed in his fancy clothes, and just the knife is concealed when he's dressed in clothes one can run in. He's got an armored skinsuit underneath all of that, and a suit of armor in his luggage with his beam rifle.