Posted by Captain Alexxander Ryley (Chief Medical Officer) in Main Sim: Step One Done… Step Three is Profit! (Tag All)

Posted by Captain Sara Kiernan (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim: Step One Done… Step Three is Profit! (Tag All)

Posted by Captain Alexxander Ryley (Chief Medical Officer) in Main Sim: Step One Done… Step Three is Profit! (Tag All)
Posted by… suppressed (60) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Micah grinned. “Oh, just your run-of-the-mill ex-Bajoran Special Operations operatives… with a smattering of Federation Force Recon Marines and Andorian Royal Commandos. You know… high-end. Disciplined. And very expensive.”

GM

“Oh fun,” Shara deadpanned. It meant a slightly different approach than with the Tellerites. There would be no scaring them simply with a menacing appearance.

Bethany cocked a single brow. “Good, they tend to use a lot of tech in their armor. I’ll hack it. I’ll have to be close though. May even have to put a wireless connector directly on the armor. Anyone wanna play tag with ‘em?”

Gadi, CoS

“We can drill it,” Shara said simply. They would need to over and over and over again. Leave nothing to chance.

Mwezi grinned at Gadi, a glint in his eyes. It was strange to look at the woman who had been his superior only a few hours ago, and realize that now he was technically her superior officer. Nope, too weird. “Most times I’d jump at the chance to play with Spec-Ops and Marines,” he turned to look at Sara, his face still holding that manic grin, “Unless there’s somewhere else you’d like me, Cap?”

Mwezi, XO

“No, you go and make yourself an imposing presence. Add to our notoriety a bit.” Sara knew Mwezi would leave a very real impression in the passengers’ minds.

-CO

Bethany shook her head, “I appreciate the thought, Cmdr, but this requires subtly and with your size alone you can’t be missed. Plus let’s consider the size of the corridors in a standard cruise ship. You will create a bottleneck and will have their full attention. Useful and great in the right circumstance, but I have something different in mind.” Then she shrugged as she continued to look through the offerings. “Not my call though.”

Pikelsimer looked at Blue. Blue looked at Pikelsimer. Pikelsimer then looked at Shara. Then he simply shook his head and turned and walked out of the room. Blue waited till he was gone and then softly cleared his throat. “I would recommend you all take this next job very seriously.” he said with glances specifically at Gadi and Mwezi. “This is a high-end luxury mega-yacht catering to the elites of several hundreds of different worlds. Security will be very effective, and not all of it will be visible when we arrive. Its meant to keep the guests safe without giving them a feeling of being locked in a prison. The crew is not only capable, but very well paid… and worth every slip of latinum. And that is just the ship. The private security… not just of our targets, but a few dozen other guests… will be an unknown factor.” and he looked directly at Mwezi. “So don’t ‘play’. Because they certainly won’t. They will kill you without batting an eye. And they are Federation citizens, and we are still Star Fleet officers… whether the galaxy knows that or not.” He slid off his crate and sauntered over to an open one, peered inside, and pulled out a sniper rifle. “Yeah… that will do nicely, I think.” and he turned and walked out of the room.

GM

Beth rolled her eyes at him. Either they were still SF or they weren’t. These two flipped a coin every 30 seconds. That’s why half the crew was confused. They didn’t take the time to actually orient and prep the crew. They weren’t working with a full deck. They had a quarter of a deck, a handful of Monopoly money, and Candy Land cards. “Have no fear, I am taking this seriously. You know my history or I wouldn’t be here. You don’t tell me how to approach my job and I won’t tell you yours.” At this point Bethany was seriously contemplating jumping ship. She had no confidence in any of them.

Calloway stood with folded arms and had simply raised a brow when her husband had glanced at her. Yeah, she knew. Lots said in that set of looks between them.

Sara was exhausted by that last exchange and made a mental note to speak to Agent Blue. “Before you get too far, Patton. A word?” Though it was phrased as a question, it certainly wasn’t one.

-CO

Patton nodded and stepped over. Out of everyone who had been on the team he didn’t bother to inspect their ill-gotten gains. He new Gadi would pick whatever she wanted the team to have. His retained Star Fleet issued weapons were good enough for him. “Kiernan?”

Patton

Sara turned and looked sharply at him. “Captain. No matter what our outward projection is, no matter what your opinion of that is, it’s Captain. I imagine someday you want to be the Captain of your own ship. The calculus is different from that perspective. I have to consider not just what’s best for the crew, but what’s best for the fleet, and the Federation. When they asked for the Asimov to help with a delicate situation, of course I agreed. You volunteered to stay on for that mission. I understand that it’s distasteful. I don’t enjoy this either. If you’re not willing to make sacrifices sometimes, things happen, people die. If you can’t serve, fine, you can remain in your quarters, no hard feelings.” Her eyes darkened. “If you fail to carry out your duties, or fail to maintain your cover, endangering the whole ship and her crew, you should be so lucky as to find yourself an ensign on a garbage transport for the rest of your career. Am. I. Clear?” She stared, unyielding, at him in the way Command staff did.

-CO

Patton shrugged. “You aren’t my captain anymore. As everyone keeps reminding us we aren’t Star Fleet anymore, except when it suits those two clowns with too much testosterone to have us move one way or the other at their foley or that of their grandma puppet. They don’t know what they are doing. He killed an unarmed man in cold blood and you just look the other way. Well good for you, Captain.” Patton didn’t give a rodents backside. Garbage scow, penal colony, dishonorable discharge. At least his conscious would be clear.

Patton

“What do you want me to do? Arrest him? To what end? The whole mission is classified anyway, no court will ever be able to use the real facts. Gadi, confine him to quarters. He doesn’t go anywhere until we dock at home. Consider this a field suspension. I’ll let the brass deal with him.”

-CO

Shara watched the whole thing quietly, easily blending into the background as she often did. It was one thing to have someone feeling squeamish, but it was another causing dissent when they were always fighting a battle against their better natures. She passed by Mwezi and spoke very quietly to him, “Come see me in my office when you have a chance.”

The man’s only response was a slight nod, as he quietly watched the goings-on. He immediately regretted leaning into the punk persona he’d been experimenting with in his quarters. Perhaps it was better to save the acting for in front of non-crew. Apparently the issue with this Patton person was worse than he’d expected.

Moving to the weapons, Shara grabbed the body armour and a high powered but slim disruptor. She preferred the discreet sort of weapons over something larger, but she’d use whatever she could get her hands on. But her skills in close combat far exceeded her skills as a sniper. She’d leave those sorts of shots to those others. Moving over to Kiernan, Calloway leaned in and whispered. “We need to talk.”

~Shara Calloway, CIO

Mwezi copied Shara after the woman had stepped away from the weapon crates and examined the contents of the crates. There wasn’t much among the armor that would fit him, but he found some adjustable chest-armor pieces that he could probably make do with. The joy of having a non-standard body shape. He examined the weapons and picked out a couple of small disruptors and one larger, almost sniper-type gun. He didn’t know if it would come in handy, but it was better to have the option than not. And the long gun would make him look even more intimidating.

Mwezi, XO

“Ridad, grab armor for everyone on the team, me and you as well. Then grab me one of those,” she pointed to a crate. “Everyone gets one weapon. Then let them lock it up like we are naughty children who can’t be trusted to follow the rules like good Star Fleet officers. Because we should but we can’t because the man in charge can’t remember if we are Star Fleet officers or Pirates. Then get everyone on the range to start practicing with these.” Ridad nodded with a crisp “Yes, ma’am.” Gadi walked over and grabbed Patton by the upper arm. “Come on, let’s go,” and the two disappeared out the bay doors.

Gadi, CoS

---

It was four days later. The ship had remained on the asteroid during that time, and two days in had to power down all systems when a Star Fleet vessel had arrived and begun scanning the field. It was a tense and silent ten hours before the ship had left. Fortunately, the composition of the asteroid was such that the scanners did not detect them. Midway through day four, Blue sent a message to the Captain asking that she call all senior officers and away team members to the cargo bay so they could plan their operation on the passenger liner.

Sara sent a message off to her crew, sincerely hoping this meeting was smoother than the last one.

Inside the bay, all the crates had been moved aside and secured to the bulkheads. In the middle of the room was a holographic model of a luxury passenger liner. Standing next to the model was Agent Blue. Pikelsimer stood off to the side, leaning against a support beam. As people came in, Blue directed them around so they could see the model clearly and without obstacle.

GM

Sara was the first to arrive. “So this is the target.” She said, passing it over with her eyes. “I’m guessing you already made the plan without us?” She flashed a glance at Blue.

-CO

Blue shook his head and Pikelsimer snorted softly. Blue said “Nope. This one is all you and the crew. I noted a bit of consternation after the last meeting, so Agent Pikelsimer and I are going to let you run this one. That way there will be no more hard feelings.” and he smiled.

The doors had no sooner closed when they immediately opened again. Beth and Ridad entered together in quiet conference together. The glanced at the holographic image and took the time to walk around it studying, but neither commented.

Gadi, CoS

Just behind them was Martel, jaw set, silent as a shadow drifting in to study the ship with an engineer’s eye. She’d not said much to anyone since the freighter and the AARs in relation to it. It wasn’t hard to make out the scowl on her face either. She’d looked up the plans for the ship as the information was out there. At least the basics. But getting a detailed look at the floorplan and whatever technical data available was a whole new ballgame.

At the same time, she looked for the chokepoints, fatal funnels, and places where the teams could hit snags. She might not have been part of security or tactical, but she’d been a fighter for a long time, and still remembered her combat training before. But she’d brushed up on it a lot in the last two years, specifically in case she had to deal with pirates. She supposed it came in handy now for being one too. Red team instead of blue. Being the aggressors. The predators.

Martel, CE

Mwezi found himself habitually scratching his ear as he stepped into the bay right after Martel. He had a serious expression on his face, a slight tilt to his head. He was a little embarrassed to admit to himself, he hadn’t payed the most attention in previous meetings, but he was sure to pay attention in this one. He wasn’t the sort of person who talked much, ever. He was used to being in the background, silent but intimidating. He would do his best to weigh in as the Captain’s Number One, however. As soon as he had something to comment on.

Mwezi, XO

Since Laila had mostly been in background during the mission, she wasn’t sure if it was beneficial for her to join the meeting but she couldn’t help herself, she still wanted to stay in the loop of things and know what the next steps of the mission were. There was some talk that someone had had to use deadly force but she hadn’t pressed hard for additional details. “I am so glad everyone survived the first part of the mission. Now hoping the same for the subsequent ones.” She said, as she took a seat.

Dacascos, COO

GM

“Alright.” Sara said. “The last mission went smoothly enough. This one is higher risk. The best way I can think to keep this as safe as it’s getting is to cut the shortest possible path to the target and beam directly out. But we’ll need a distraction to draw some of the security away, and the precise, moment to moment location of our targets. Thoughts so far?”

-CO

Pikelsimer cleared his throat and said “Target cabin is number 444. Dead center of the ship, farthest possible point from any entryway. And the ship has scramblers. Only place to beam in and out is the transporter room on deck eleven.” and he chuckled. “I guess they are worried about pirates kidnapping passengers or somethin’.”

GM

“Any way to knock out the scramblers?” Mwezi inquired. “If we can get to the scramblers and shut them off, that’d make any other operation much easier, I would think.”

Mwezi, XO

“Okay the problem with expecting them to be in the target cabin is this - It’s a pleasure cruise. Do you think somebody who paid a lot of money for a vacation is just going to hole up in their room the entire trip?” She shook her head. “They’re rich, entitled pricks. They go where they want, when they want. Their security detail can go screw. They’re paid to adapt to the situation.” Assuming they were just going to stay in one spot was a pretty dumb gamble.

“As for the scramblers,” she spared a glance toward Gadi. “You think?” Marti was pretty decent with most anything technological, but Gadi was one of two hackers in the room. If anybody could take them out covertly, it would be them. As proven by the attack on the freighter.

“Could be done. No system is completely unbreachable, it’s a matter of having the time to do it. Put hacking the system won’t be enough. Let’s say we shut down the scramblers…we get on board…nothing says there isn’t someone just as good that can get them back up and stop us from leaving. Placing charges to cut the power or damage the systems will be just as important.” She walked around the image and started pointing. “We turn off the scramblers through hack, and then we beam in teams at these locations. We set charges and knock out the actual equipment so they can’t turn them back on. Not just reconnect but have to replace the scramblers and other equipment. Problem is we run the risk of knocking out other things, like power, and locking doors shut or open.”

“As for tracking them, their combadges, if they have any, should suffice. Barring that we can tag them with an isotope we can track. Assuming we go the covert route and insert ourselves as guests or crew, rather than just making it a smash-and-grab like the last one. It’s an option, of course.”

“Are we going for brute force, some shock and awe, or … are we playing it slick? Somewhere in the middle?”

Marti, CE

“Pirates aren’t known for being covert and slick. Unless you want to go the Elias Balthazar way, and be totally unpredictable and insane. It works though. Drop a covert team in before hand. Then attack with a full pirate crew as the distraction.”

Gadi, CoS

Sara thought. “Let’s do that. Send one of our shuttles. Break out the uniforms. A federation survey crew. Just stopping in. Once they’re in, the Pelican will drop in and offer everything and then some.” She looked around for objections.

-CO

“Captain, it might be easier to insert ourselves as passengers. We would have to identify what ship we are with and that’s an easy enough thing to check, and everyone knows by now that the Asimov is a wanted ship. Given the passengers and their individual security they aren’t just going to let a Star Fleet survey crew on board without a really good reason. They certainly won’t let us wander the ship without an escort.” She looked at Calloway, Blue, and Piklesimer, “Unless you have really good forged credentials to make that work. But for the right price, we could insert a wealthy passenger to join the guest list.” Beth shrugged. They were going to do it no matter what. She doubted this round would go without casualties.

Gadi, CoS

“Me! Let me do it. I can pose as a wealthy passenger.”

It pained Sara to hear it referred to as the Asimov. Her Starfleet ship. “Not a bad plan. Do we have the necessary wealth and appearance of wealth onboard? Or is it easier and wiser to phony up some documents? I like the idea, we just don’t need to spend any time acquiring money and fancy things to pass some of the crew off as wealthy cruisers.” The agents and the Intel officer would have the best answer to that, unless someone had a surprising expertise in forgery.

-CO

“I know how to play the part.” She look at Captain Kiernan, and said “Please let me do this. I want to help.”

Dacascos, COO

Blue looked at Pikelsimer, who just shrugged. Blue then looked at the CO and Dacascos. “Eager is a good attribute. But make sure you have a solid plan in place for what you want to happen before you take any kind of action. And your acting will have to be top-notch. Pikelsimer and I can get you a cover identity that will get you on board, but it won’t hold up to serious scrutiny. If you make them suspicious and they look you up, you’ll be in the middle of the hornet’s nest with no one to help you.”

GM

Blue’s last comment kind of shook her up, but Eulailia nodded her head in agreement. “Yes I am eager to help and you are in luck, when I was younger I thought I wanted to be an actor so my parents hired me one of the best acting coaches in the universe. Then of course I changed my mind. If you need haughty I can be that or if you need sofisticated princess I can be that too. I have the attire to pull it off too, in my quarters.” She smiled a little then said, “Also…I have been on many luxury ship cruises. Too many to count honestly. Anyway as far as the mission, I know the most important thing is to not drawn any unnecessary attention to myself. Observe, gather intel and communicate back…right?”

Dacascos, COO

“No.” Bethany had no doubt Dacascos could play the spoiled princess. “No you would be part of the actual heist team. Team 1. You and your private security. That team collects the intel and disables the scramblers and then while team 2 terrorizes the guests and crew, team 1 takes that intel and takes the targets and the target goods. Your job is to indulge and act the part and get your security team access to areas so they can disable systems. Everyone else here on the Pelican will go as soon as the systems are down. You’ll have maybe 3 days,” she looked at Shara and the FedSec agents in question, “probably lesz to make yourself trusted and friendly with the target. If you don’t, their security won’t hesitate to take you out. They don’t ask questions or second guess. It’s a dangerous game to play. Are you certain?” It was a challenge but a sincere one. These games weren’t for everyone and the personal risk was very high.

Gadi, CoS

Laila wasn’t sure if Miranda trying to scare her or was genuinely concerned whether or not she could play the part and do want needed to be done. Some of the things she said were scary and Laila did start to have doubts. She saw everyone was looking at her.

‘Elaine’ tapped her fingertips on her thigh working through various options. “You wouldn’t be alone. You need someone for personal security, right? And I can hack systems. You get me access to areas of the ship and I can help clear a path for the rest of the team to infiltrate.” She normally wasn’t the shock and awe type anyway. Calloway had always worked best quietly in the shadows. Besides, she could adapt quickly to the persona change than some of the others.

~Calloway, CIO

She pressed her lips together, nodded, then clenched both her hands in a tight fist…all nervous reactions, then said, “I can do it. Three days, maybe less to infiltrate the target. I got it.” She looked at Shara,” I can do it.”
She knew to be successful at this task she had to remove all thoughts of self preservation out of her mind.

Dacascos, COO

OOC: Fixing Splits

Marti listened to the discussion. She hadn’t intended to fully change the route of this operation, merely consider it. But it seemed the others liked the idea and were on board with it. As far as she could tell, they were doing a good job of looking ahead. There were a lot of moving parts, but complicated operations weren’t new to a crew like this. And after the last job, she felt a little more confident in the crew. Maybe Pikelsimmer had picked a good team. Maybe even a great team. At least the knot in her gut had eased.

There was another fly in the soup. She looked to Elaine. “While you’re taking out the scramblers we need their shields down too. Otherwise it doesn’t matter. We can shoot them down but that takes time. Put it on the list for ‘optional’? Or at least their shield frequency. Then we’ll just punch the generators and subspace communications out when we show up.”

Marti crossed her arms, staring at the holographic ship. She scratched the edge of her bottom lip with the nail of her right thumb idly. There wasn’t much more she could add at the moment. “So who’s going, on which teams, and who’s staying on the ship?”

Marti

“Okay that’s all good but moot at this point,” Bethy just shook her head. Dacascos was gonna get killed with as little information as they had right now. “But we are missing a few key pieces of information. First and foremost which ship is this? Who owns it? Who are these people you want us to kidnap and why? What’s their use other than to say we did it? Who else is on the guest list. Whatever part she’s gonna play,” and she nodded toward the COO, “she has to fit in with the clientele. We know the individual guests have private security to make the Borg pause and think, which means the security on the ship has to even higher. What is it like, who’s the team and their backgrounds. Who is the captain and who is serving as crew? We need better schematics than this holographic display.” Why was no one else asking these questions? “This calls for tactics, not go in shooting phasers from the hips like ancient cowboys and flexing our muscles like Roman gladiators. People are going to die, let’s try to make it a minimum.”

Gadi, CoS

Laila nodded and agreed with Bethany, “Yes, those are good questions. I am willing to step up and help but I prefer not to die as a result.” She nervously glanced at Blue.

Blue smirked slightly and said “All very valid and pertinent questions.” He looked at Pikelsimer who took a breath and then stepped forward.

“This ship is the newest and most advanced luxury liner in existence. It was designed by engineers from the Daystrom Institute, built at the Beta Antares Ship Yards, and launched a year and a half ago. It has a formal and above board owner on paper… but it’s real owner is the Orion Syndicate. The couple we propose taking are a one-two punch of arms dealers that FedSec, the Tal Shiar, the former Obsidian Order, and the Klingon Deathstrike have all attempted to capture or kill… and no one has succeeded.” He saw a few blank faces at the mention of the last group. “Deathstike are the meanest and nastiest fighters within the Imperial Marines. Ultra-elite force that consists of exactly 258 Klingons at all times. To put it in more perspective: Six of them are assigned on a rotating basis to the Emperor’s personal guard. That’s a regular duty for them.”

Laila’s mouth dropped at hearing the news of those that attempted to take the ship but failed, “My god! Are you trying to get us killed? What makes you think we will succeed if the darn Klingon Deathstrike failed?” She placed her left hand on her forehead and closed her eyes to calm herself.

Pikelsimer looked at her and shrugged. “‘Cause I think the folks on this ship are smarter than they are.”

“Anyway…” Pikelsimer continued, “… we nab them, we have a a blank check for credibility. The other guests consist of the cream of high society and the mega-wealthy. Ship’s security is all private contractors. Former Special Forces of almost any government and species make up the majority. There will also be a smattering of former SF Intel and FedSec, I’m sure. Private sector pays a hell of a lot better if you don’t have a moral compass to get in the way. Crew was hand-picked by the ship’s Captain… one Rebecca Anne Forther. Yes, that Captain Forther. The two time Medal of Honor, Grankite Order of Tactics, and enough other medlas to throw a planet off its axis Captain Forther.” Forther was a living legend in Star Fleet. She had commanded over a dozen vessels in her career, and all of them had performed far above the norm. She was one of the few Star Fleet officers who had a standing invitation to the Federation Senate; and she was heralded by friend and foe alike as one of the greatest tactical minds of the modern era. She had left Star Fleet less than two years ago, retiring to spend more time with her wife and nine children. “And the holo is the blueprints from the shipyard. Zoom in for more detail.” Pikelsimer added.

GM

Marti listened, arms crossed, only to breathe out a long low curse. For a few moments her mind spiraled out the possibilities. Anyone watching her could see her processing the information at a high rate of speed. It would have been a perfect opportunity for the engineer to fold up on herself, but a small smile spread over her face. “Okay. Well.. that changes things.” Reaching out to the holo, she rotated it a little side to side, then tipped it on it’s axis. “Is there any way we can updated details about it’s specs and computer systems?”

She glanced between Gadi and Elaine. “We could possibly do this like The Italian Job.”

If prompted for further info, if not, ignore the following

“I’d say we couldn’t do this in three weeks, much less three days at least with most options. But there’s a different route we can go. If we try to brute-force it, then w have to deal with ship security. As well as all the private security teams. Some of these guys and girls will also know of each other. Maybe not having a beer on the weekend together kind of knowing,m but it’s likely they’ve encountered each other. Or know of each other’s reputation. For the most part their skillsets are going to mesh. And their whole job is learning how to take chaos, detach, sit back, assess, and turn it into order, by any means necessary. That’s what they do for training. So as soon as they figure out what’s happening, they’re likely to be a nasty second wave. And when that happens we’re going to lose the initiative. It’ll be like Mogadishu.”

“So we draw on some art of war. Our High-Value Targets, or HVT’s are already mobile. We can separate them out of the crowd. Make them take the route we want them to take, and separate them from their security detail. We control the environment. We control the routes they can take. And we can do it without getting into a firefight with them for the most part. And that’s assuming we can’t take down the shields and transport inhibitors.” She looked to Gadi. “If we can modify your power management tool into a more robust toolset? And we can get Jack to help. I’m sure he can do some sweet-talking with the liner’s computer.”

After a few moments of consideration, she sighed. “We’ll need full environmental controls. We’ll need to be able to deal with the door overrides and failsafes. And if they have any internal forcefield systems. And ideally we’ll need to secure our exit strategy on the way in. Transporters are option one. But two is one, one is none. If we have a shuttle on board, we’ll need to be able to open the doors, whether they want to let us out or not. Probably can’t take an armed shuttle aboard. So we could blow it. But then hull integrity fields snap into place. So have to make sure we can deal with that, too.”

It was a lot to do. But it beat trying to slug it out in a prolonged firefight.

“Also, do we have their itinerary? And any information ships in the area that might be able to respond? We should be gone when the cops show up, so to speak.”

Marti, CE

“I agree that avoiding an out and out fight is a good idea. In some ways it seems unavoidable, but I’m game to try. There must be times when their personal security service isn’t in the room with them. In their private quarters, likely. Maybe some other times, depending on their exact itinerary.” Sara offered.

-CO

Laila did have second thoughts, but she was surprisingly still committed to playing her part. The first bold step she was willing to take in gaining the experience she had always tried to avoid since she had been serving the Starfleet.

Dacascos, COO

GM

Gadi stared at the ship while Piklesimer spoke and then she cussed in a fluent and perfectly connected together string of expletives of 7 different languages. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a dull metal item and set it on the table. “The syndicate owes me a favor. I can get her on the ship. I go as her body guard, she won’t get on otherwise.” She turned to Dacascos, “You and I are going to have to practice. You will have to learn to be protected, to have your movement restricted, and every choice you made go through your security team. And you will absolutely have to be unphased by the violence and crime that goes on around you. You don’t have to participate in them, but you have to act like iti s part of every day life for you. You will be an unknown and they will be watching. Your pulse rate goes up your biometric readings better read arousal and not fear. You better act like that waiter is the finest piece of flesh you have ever seen and want to drag them back to your room. Pending your guards’ approval of course.” On the table sat Fenris Ranger ID chip.

Gadi, CoS

Laila nodded at Bethany acknowledging her stipulations and plan. She was relieved that Bethany was going to be her body guard. One more reason Laila knew she’d better get it right or else potentially face the woman’s wrath and prove herself worthless once and for all.
“Just let me know when and I where. I will practice all night to get it right if I have to.” The hardest part was going to be the part where she had to pretend she was not phased by violence but she was sure, since it was a matter of her life on the line, she could do it. “I am sure I can do all those things.”

Dacascos,COO

“That may be the best way to justify your sudden presence as well. Syndicate people may not have the greatest respect for scheduled departures. If this is indeed the best way, take any time you need to prepare. Is it better if she’s also a kidnapping target, or if you’re planted to assist in the kidnapping?”

-CO

Mwezi glanced at the Security Chief and took a step forward. “I have extensive experience in being a bodyguard for high-value targets, it may be useful for me to act as a third guard alongside Gadi and ‘Elaine’. A little fur dye and I would pass as a fairly unremarkable member of my species, especially to anyone who is unfamiliar with the people of Galdor.”

He looked over to Kiernan. “Additionally, it may be useful to have the two of us on separate arms of this mission.”

Mwezi, XO

OOC: Shara was already going. I’m fine scrapping that plan but it would be nice for people to do that IC and at least acknowledge her instead of just writing her out of everything. ~Linds

OOC: I was honestly under the impression Shara was still going and in charge. It’s her op. Bethany was just offering a resource. No one has to use it. I’m sorry it came across that way, it was not my intention.
-Jenn

Pikelsimer looked at Blue and then at the crew. “It might be a good idea if we kidnapped our original targets and Dacascos. It would give credibility to her cover, and the added bonus of having that cover id ready and waiting if we need to bust it out again?” He looked at Shara and said “What do you think? Think you can get everyone to pull a double kidnapping inside the ship equivalent of a vault?” and he grinned.

GM

OOC: My apologies, I’d misinterpreted what was going on. I’ll edit Mwezi’s thing so it’s correct.
- Riley

‘Elaine’ held up her hands in front of her and closed her eyes. She drew in one slow and even breath, holding a brief moment before exhaling. Mentally she was trying to sort through all the pieces on the table and as far as she could tell there was no clear picture. Finally, she opened her eyes. “Okay we’ve come up with a bunch of ideas, but they aren’t gelling into a clear plan. We will do ourselves s disservice if any of us walk out of the cargo bay confused. So, what exactly is the plan? Then I can tell you if I can pull it off. I’m very good at this sort of thing, but only when the information is clear. We can’t wing this one. People will die if we do that.”

~’Elaine’ Calloway

Marti considered the matter for a moment then let out a sigh, flaring her nostrils. “Well, you both are the super-spies. And tactical experts. You know the players, and the game. So pick your best option or what you’d think is most feasible. And we’ll work off that.” She glanced toward the Captain. It was a good suggestion, and she hoped she wasn’t stepping on toes with it. Unless the big boss had any other, better, ideas.

“Whatever y’all need, i can do.”

Marti

“Plant Dacascos among the passengers. Right now the Intel we have on the ship is from a distance. She can track down the target, give us an idea what we’re looking at security-wise. Mwezi will act as her bodyguard, throw in some security officers too. So she has a posse. Calloway will lead the infiltration team, with Gadi, and our guests” she pointed to Pikelsimer and Blue “in tow. Build your teams as you see fit from there. The important thing is that we grab the target and get out as fast as possible. If our plants can guide the strike team well enough, we might pull this off with minimal damage.”

-CO

Laila listened as they all hashed out the plan. She was a little disappointed that Gadi wasn’t going to be her bodyguard but she knew they weren’t there to figure out what she was comfortable with but to strategically place everyone in the best possible place for the mission. She nodded as the Captain spoke and then said, “I will be ready to execute whatever plan we come up with. So here is what I have so far our target is in cabin 444, we…I mean I am to posing as one of the passengers with Commander Mwezi as my bodyguard. I must track down the target, and provide intel so *Shara and Gadi can come aboard with their team to acquire the target.” She paused, “Do we have a visual of the target?”

Dacascos, COO

bump

Bethany shrugged. The chip disappeared as quietly as it had appeared on the table. She’d save that favor for another day, maybe as her own quick exit. She pulled a PaDD out and began to download the specs of the ship to it. When it was done she looked at Calloway. “Let me know when you want to talk about the infiltration team. It’s going to be much harder to hack their system before we get on board. I have to set up some toys for the plants to use, and hope they won’t need tweaking after they are in place.” She took the specs and headed back to her office and opening a very secure and secret panel began to write a very complex program and link several devices together.

Gadi

“What about Bethany’s favor? It seems like the easiest way to slip in without suspicion. How do you intend to get me and my posse on that ship?” She was starting to become confused which made her nervous because she didn’t want to die.

Dacascos, COO

Sara sighed. There was always a problem. “These syndicate people don’t exactly carry badges do they?” She looked to the Intelligence Trio. “You can manufacture a believable background and a credible threat if they don’t let her on the ship, correct?”

-CO

Blue shrugged, and then nodded. “We can get a cover ID in place that will hold up to scrutiny as long as they don’t find a reason to dig too deep. And we have an idea as to how to get them on board… but, and this is a really strong ‘but’… you have to have a plan. I’m hearing a ton of ideas. Some good ones, too. But no one has yet to lay out a plan. You have the ship specs, deck layouts, peronnel id’s, and we can answer any questions you have… I think we can, anyway.” and he grinned slightly. “All we need to know is how you are going to pull this off. We’ll build the ID around that.”

GM

They did need a plan a good one too if she was going to place herself in danger. “I liked the idea of being kidnapped with the original target to provide cover. I think I should have two bodyguards, Commander Mwezi and Gadi”, For assured safety if not anything else, she thought as she continued to speak, “That would allow us to use Gadi’s plan and give us the initial access we need. Afterward, Bethany could slip away and get eyes on the target and communicate with the others, letting them know when it’s time to move in. Commander Mwezi and I could stay behind and provide a distraction while the target is being acquired. That lowers the risk of me messing up the whole plan and doing something stupid to blow our cover because I only have to concentrate on distracting the passengers and security. After the target is acquired, the team will come and kidnap the Commander and I got get us back on the ship.”

Dacascos, COO

Ideas were great, as was pointed out. Things were muddy in regards to the plan. “Okay, back to basics. We need to lay every part and piece out, step by step. Until we’re all clear on it, and we know it in our sleep. Hitting the Tellarite transport was relatively easy. This requires mastery. We can’t afford to screw up,” Miranda said after a moment.

“Step One is… ” She looked to the captain…

Marti

“Step one seems to be getting our ‘passenger’ credentials and onto the ship. Once firmly aboard, we gather intel. Following that, I stay with Dacascos as her guard while Gadi acquires our original target. I believe there was discussion of sabotaging the shield generators, I am uncertain as to who will be performing that task. Once boarding parties have made their way onto the ship, both targets - Dacascos as well as the Primary Target - will be retreived by our strike teams. Then we get off the ship and move on to the next step in this infiltration.”

Mwezi, XO
OOC: This is my best attempt at a summary of the discussion so far, if I’m wrong feel free to correct me! - Riley

Sara clenched her jaw. Plan after plan after plan. “We’ve gone around and around and gotten very little actually done. This is how it will go. Multiple crew will be planted as passengers. McMillan will befriend our target. Dacascos and Mwezi will be… troublesome guests, keep staff and security occupied. Gadi, crack the security system. Calloway, you, Agent Blue, and I will wait aboard the Pelican, while Agent Pikelsimer keeps us concealed. Once we receive word that the defenses are down, we go aboard and all teams synchronize to take our target and bail as quickly as possible. The faster this is over, the faster we and our ship can get the hell out of there. Discussion over.”

-CO

Beth shook her head, “No offense, Captain, but it’s not. That’s not a plan or a course of action. Just sound ideas. This is an exclusive, high security, elite luxury liner, owned and run by the syndicate. We are not going to get multiple passenger in board without immediate suspicion. What is McMillian cover? As security? Then forget him making friends with the target. He’s an employee, a nobody, they won’t even look at him.” She looked at Blue, “Send McMillian and Dacascos in as a newly engages couple. Arranged marriage, it will explain any awkwardness or over exuberance in their relationship. Mwezi and I go with 3 others as security. Two more female officers and one male. I’ll get you my cover, no one will look too hard, unless we screw up, if they know I hired the security, and McMillian hired me.”

“I’ll hack the system, take out the transporter scramblers. The other guards will help me get details in security routines and locations.” Shelooked at Martel, “We are going to need small equipment and untraceable explosives. We’ll take an encrypted beacon and when it goes off you transport there. I can rig a set if tricorders to download an encrypted data package once you are on board with map, timing, locations. We send it before the shields and scramblers go down otherwise we might give them warning.”

“McMillian and Dacascos are our key to accessing restricted areas. Without them their guards won’t be allowed certain places. We are only the hired help. So, Blue, Piklesimer, what do they need to know about the targets in order to get close to them? Without giving themselves away?”

“And what about the plan for the pirate assault team? What will they be doing while the target is taken? Oh and how are we physically getting McMillian and Dacascos on the liner?”

Gadi

Blue and Pikelsimer looked at one another. Blue slid off the crate and moved to the door and said “Tell you what… when all of you decide who the fu<% is in charge here, let us know.” Pikelsimer looked at Gadi and said “For someone that hates that Elias guy so much… you sure can sound like him from time to time.” and they moved out of the room. Over his shoulder, Pikelsimer said “I liked the plan! Let us know if they listen to ya, Skipper!”

GM

Laila rolled her eyes at Pikelsimer. He was annoying, wasn’t they doing all this because of him? He should have come up with the plan. She made sure he was all the way out the room before she sarcastically said, “He is such a big help. Just let me know where I need to be and I am there!”

Dacascos, COO

The thing about every military plan is that they have specific orders of operation. Step by step. Unlock the door. Check door for traps. Open the door. Second person tosses in flash-bang. Close door. BANG. Open door. Move through the door. Move to points of domination, engaging threats as necessary. Secure any high-value individuals. Move to next threat. Rinse, repeat.

Every plan had contingencies. Those contingencies had contingencies. So far all they had were some loose objectives or tactical goals.

Miranda crossed her arms over her chest. The idea that Pikelsimmer would be running her cloaking device, that she went and strategically transferred the equipment to an alternative location… namely the Pelican. And then installed said equipment and made sure it was properly integrated and tested? Nah. That was hers fair and square.

So far, she’d heard nothing that suggested her skills or expertise were needed or wanted otherwise. Slowly she stepped back until she was on the edge of the clustered crew.

Martel

Ooc: I hope it’s ok me joining in! If not please ignore!

Ic: The cargo bay door had opened and shut again while Sara spoke. Quietly (which was a fair feat for a man with a cane) the greying Doctor approached the assembled group and leaned on his cane while the Captain started to speak. Late to the party he took in the group a moment.

“I hate this job. Not this mission. This job, this ship, all of it.” Sara glared at her ‘crew.’ Everyone was in a sour mood, and this needed to end. “Gadi. You’re right about the false identities, but those also aren’t our area. Our job is to conduct the kidnapping. Like some kind of goddamn crew. THEIR JOB-“ she pointed to the door, to the agents who had gone. “is to get us fake documents, get us in places. We meet the ship at its next port of call. Put our people onboard. Martel, go along as well. Help take out the defenses. The Pelicanwill follow it cloaked. We will beam aboard when signaled that the defenses are down and Dacascos and McMillan are with the target. It’s a luxury cruise, there will be places for people to socialize, they’ll start there. If you don’t like the plan- don’t like your role- stay home. Brood in your quarters about it.”

-CO

“Well Sweetheart, why don’t you tell us all how you really feel?” He asked when she had stopped. He moved again to stand beside Calloway. “Lot of pent up emotion there Boss. Would you like a tranquilliser? It’d help.” He twirled a glinting silver hypo spray around the fingers of his free hand for a few seconds before it vanished as quickly as it came like magic. He spread the fingers to emphasise the sleight of hand and raised his eyebrows in askance.

Ryley
MD

“Please, we all know the tranquilizer is for you, ‘Doctor’. And that offer to float home still stands.” Sara meant it, too. “And one more ‘sweetheart’ out of you will have you in the brig until we get back when I can advise Starfleet Command and Medical Board that you are unfit to exist on a federation vessel.” She glowered at him “You’re a captain. You should have your own Ogawa or Nightingale class ship. But no, I picked you up floating through space, frozen like so much meat.”

-CO

“Ohhh snap!” Ryley said with a smirk, “..that hurts, gets me right here you know.” He said putting a fist over his heart, he continued to smirk however and did not even fein wounded soul.

“And lucky for me this isn’t supposed to be a federation ship isn’t it? But just so we are clear would you rather my help, or I brood in the brig instead of the quarters I’ve managed to get? I mean I don’t care either way. Tell me what you need from me I’ll toe the line don’t you worry …sweetheart.” He said looking amused.

Ryley
MD

Sara laughed an eerie, unsettling laugh as she walked closer to the doctor. “You’re right. You’re actually right about something. This isn’t supposed to be a Federation ship. It’s a pirate ship right? The Rabid Pelican.”

Command officers were required to be combat trained and ready. Before taking her place as XO for the first time she had to certify that she was just that. And again for CO.

She shifted her weight and punched Ryley right across the face. She didn’t like how good it felt to let the smug doctor’s cheekbones take all of her rage.

-CO