USH'S ORIGINAL TRILOGY GAME EPISODE I 'LANZAR'- Imperial Thread

Right then! We can move the action onto the planning meeting.

The conference room has one of those large round tables that we saw the Death Star personnel sittng and talking around in ANH; people are sat all around.

"Present here," says Nidar, "are all senior staff on the mission, along with some of our auxilliary personnel [Agents] and the Comissar's... 'companions'. Also some of the senior troop commanders that would be expected to lead any assaults during this operation.

"I'll keep this simple, then. Lanzar, homeworld of the Osokans, vicious, violent, barbaric- but deadly one to one. Luckiy for us, their deadliness is like that of a wild animal; ferocious they may be but they are of limited intellect and dedication to sophistication; despite their alent atr creating toy whips and other such personal technologies, their macrotechnology is pitiful. They have no offensive space force, no heavy war vehicles... in fact nothing that we would recognise as a war machine at all. They will be unable to resist us.

"We have five days, then, to bring Lanzar under total Imperial control, by any means necessary, and if that means widespread destruction and extermination then so be it. Five days does not give us long, especially in view of the political situation there, which involves us making sure the Senatorial mission is safely out the way before any war starts, but I have no doubt we are up to the task.

"I want to open the floor to discussions, ideas and tactics, then. Any of you may speak, low or high, but be sure that what you say is worth hearing. We have no time to waste on frivolities."

Speak away folks.

Arvus steps off of the shuttle behind Commissar Esgabath and silently looks over the military suits present at the assembly. He took a quick mental note of the presence of General Coll and Agent Stirge, but did not recognize anyone else. One of the Commanders seemed to be a former clone trooper, which he found slightly unnerving.

"Hallo," he says softly, when Esgabath introduces him, but is immediatley ignored by the high-ranking personnel.

"Well, it zeems ve haf landed another mission for zee Empire," Arvus mutters to Rylis, in his thick Arkanian accent. "Zat can only mean seferal credits for ourselves, after our work 's done."

Once the meeting starts, Arvus asks a question.

"I haf wondered how you intend to make use of my talents?" he asks. "No doubt the Osokans vould be confused with-out their leader, but...assassinating a Guildmaster of Lanzar is a difficult task. The unlimited strength and regeneratif abilities make it quite demanding."

Janthis sat pondering. He heard all and laughed to himself. They may be primitive but you should never underestimate an opponent as he rubs the scar on his eye. Then returns to hear what everyone else has to say.

Leaning against one of the walls, Karn casually asks, "How adept would you say this primitive species is in close combat? Or should I stick with using these guys when I meet them?" He pats one of his blaster holsters, which hold his DL-44's.

Vantos, you came prepared for this meeting.

Lanzar is an averagely sized world with no problems of atmosphere, temperature or pressure.

However, for a modern Imperial world it is VERY wild. There are plenty of irritating atavistc species- Wookies being the most famous- that have left the natural features of their planet intact, and so have the Osokans on their jungle world. Precious few have left the killer wildlife so entirely intact as well though. At all places between the island cities of Lanzar, the background is highly hazardous.

Lanzar City itself is the only target of any strategic significance, One of the few Osokan concessions to heavy technology is the shield generator that protects it. It might be possible to slow-land shuttles down there for brief operations- though you would expect causlites from whatever anti-air defences there are as they drift slowly through the shield- but it makes any direct landing at the city effectively impossible.

Standard tactics, then, are for a landing near the city and to attack with the army to destroy the generator.

Problems there, though. You havr two choices of terrain- jungle and lake. Ruling out the great lakes for obvious reasons, that means you have to land somewhere in the damn jungle. You have no time to perofrm anything but the most cursory of clearing efforts; the cloest clearing that could even vaguely provide a good landing site is at least 12 hours advance from Lanzar city- 12 hours through jungle, anyway. No matter how All-Terrain your transports are, armies move more slowly through jungle than plains.

Unable to mount a sudden struke, your favoured option would then be to place heavy artillery all around the City and bombard it into submission, However, in five days you could barely get the guns into place (NOT designed to be wheeled through jungle), let alone bombard the city long enough for the sheild to collapse and the city to crack. Not that you really know how strong that shield is.

It will have to be your heavy mobile units that destroy that generator then- which means AT-ATs, which are certainly up to the task if you can geth them there. Any final blow on the city will have to be done by the Infantry, the only unit you have that can clear streets and buildings.

But all in all, the terrain is a real problem.

"I must say that I have been wondering the same as Arvus, namely, why exactly I am needed here for this task." Rylis says, leaning back in her seat. "Somehow I do not think that my reputation, which is the main reason I usually am hired for Imperial missions, will cause the Guildmaster any worry."

Atar fields Karn's query.

"The average Osokan is lethal in close combat," he says. "Luckily there are few of them left that are trained killers but even the citizens are more than a match for any stromtrooper. It's very difficult to keep them dead as well; they regenerate faster than I would have otherwise thought possible.

"Meanwhile, I personally do not think in terms of assassination; I guide armies."

Nodding his head, Karn takes that as a "yes" for his second question.

"I am sure the Commissar has some good ideas for your use," says Atar.

"Most likely."

Arvus looks to Esgabath and awaits his answer from him.

Janthis speaks, "Do we have any info on the number of them we will face and are we dealing with creatures that will surrender or will they fight to the last person?"

~yeah Narriks a Comadore! and is Narrik in the meeting he is the Commadore~
Narrik smiled. "I promise not to fail you in this new position. But stil...Five days....Not to close My piloting skills we'll be there soon and can get our job done twice as fast!" Narrik smield and then looked over to Rylis his sl=moilefaded. "I want you not to be offended that I don't trust your type..." He said to teh Bounty Hunter.

"I am sure that their regenerative constitution is of little concern if they are vaporized," General Coll says, with a grim sneer. "Even they will not be able to stand against the power of our war machines. The All-Terrain vehicles should make quick work of them. The only problem there is the terrain. We cannot land in the great lakes, obviously; perhaps the Osokans were a water-based people, we could send in the AT-AT Swimmers, but they are useless for this situation."

General Coll will put up a holographic display of Lanzar City, if possible, as a diagram of the shield generator, the surrounding jungle, and the city itself.

"The shield generator is our primary target, for it will keep us from bringing in my infantry by air, as well as prevent Leader Narrik's squadrons, in the form of fighters and bombers, from providing aerial support. How he executes his usefullness with the squadrons, I leave up to him."

He gestures with his pointer and the shield in the hologram covers the city and extends into the jungle. He jabs his pointer into the jungle, and then whisks it around the edge of the shield, causing it to flicker slightly.

"The shield generator extends out into the jungle, and I have judged that, even with the abilities of our transports, it will take the infantry approximately twelve hours to navigate the jungles, due to the density of such places, as due to the fact that those ignorant Osokans have not eradicated those ancient beasts that live there. I suggest we find a means of protecting the stormtroopers from these beasts until we reach Lanzar City. Any ideas will be welcome."

A blip in the hologram, representing the infantry, moves through the shield and there is a small explosion as the shield is brought down.

"Once the shield is down, the TIE squadrons can bomb various targets that we select for them that will not put ourselves at risk of friendly fire, and additional stormtroopers can be flown in on landing shuttles. From there, victory is assured."

General Coll pauses, to let this all sink in, and see what the other Generals have to say.

"General Coll," says the Commodore, "whilst I am happy for you to plan contingencies, please do not take it upon yourself to make strategic decisions for the task force; that is MY job. I haven't even requested a surface landing at this point."

~is Narrik in teh Planning room?~

Everyone is.

"Personally, even if my opinion doesn't matter, I think General Coll's idea seems reasonable. But, of course, I'm not much of a military person."

~OK thanks~
"Well then not to over step my bounds but, Why not lanuch our Assasin in there sneaky like a few slealthy types in there. The break in while teh enitial Battle is outside, They go in take out That Generator, and Ar mthem with enough Armor and Weapons to start a War as if we need another..." he said leaning back in his chair casually he very little seemed to belong with The Empire being as Casual as he was.

"Oh, my apologies, then," General Coll says, his dislike for Nidar rising ever so slightly.

He may have skill and have risen through the ranks quickly, but so have I, that little inexperienced git... Vantos thinks. I hope the Commissar knows what he is doing...

"That was only my suggested approach to the issue. Unless you have something in mind?"

"This meeting is to discuss such options, not to lay out battle plans as if an option has already been chosen."