If Jelena needs to talk to people to get the lists, she's got Persuade. Observation to notice any peculiar differences between payroll listings and those of the casualties?
Jelena is also interested in seeking a way into the pirates by posing as someone looking to work for them. She's got piloting experience and some Savoir-Faire.
Gallagher really does have any skills that could be of use in infiltrating the workings of a pirate clan, so he will steer clear of such things.
Most likely Gallagher is feeling... somewhat useless, by this point in the mission. He is not very skilled in anything and his high attunement to the Force is not coming in handy. All he can do is offer ideas to the others and help if they need it.
So, as such, Gallagher will establish headquarters on Estalia, taking his Padawan with him. He wants to get to know D'an better before things start happening, to see what kind of person D'an is at this point in his life.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
Hutt space is not the only option, btw. That;s the route if you want to go directly into the clan.THere are other undercover options to consaider, based on how they pick/research their targets.
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Ok, Andro... how is your skill set for that?
(About as good as they were for the last undercover mission Andro went on. No social skills, but he's definately been in seedy bars before, and has posed as a bodyguard (hired muscle) and sees posing as hired muscle (pirate) as somwhat similar. He can't shoot a blaster to save his life, but his combat score is good. If that's worth anything.
Also, if some of us go indercover as pirates, what about our kids? Are there 14-year-old pirates in Star Wars? Or will we be leaving out new charges in a bad way?)
You should leave your Padawans out of undercover work for now.
Best if people concentrate on one major activity at a time. So, Andro wants to go undercover in Hutt space; he'd do better accompanied by someone with Savoir-Faire.
Jelena is either doing the Hutt space thing OR she's going detective on personnel lists.
Gallagher is hanging back and doing admin.
Any others? Padawan plans*? I'll put this all into operation soon.
*henceforth known as Planawans.
Jelena is going to do detective work. Roan would probably be better suited for infiltrating the pirates anyway, so if he should appear then he should work on that with Andro.
Jelena will have Essallin assist her with that. While Jelena gets the casualties and payrolls and such, she will have Essallin help her check them against each other.
She will also ask Essallin which she thinks would be more effective- infiltrating the pirates or finding out who they get help from.
Hmm... now that I think of it, maybe we shouldn't count on Roan to get the pirate infiltration done. Stefan's a busy guy. Not too late for Jelena to help Andro? She can have Essallin do the list comparisons whilst she is away.
"I hope to understand how they operate on a deeper level, so that we can perhaps interrupt that process. If they were to be provided false information, for example, it would be disastrous for their strikes. Also, we could maybe see if they have left any evidence of their location with those they receive their information from."
Right then! For the following three months, you two are hanging around in Hutt Space, trying to get the vibe on the Red Lance.
(it is during this period, waiting for a potentisal meet-up at a bar, that you see the news report about the Mandragos Commission referenced at the end of Purity, Andro).
Jelena has some Savoir-Faire., Even more usefully, she is phenomenally good with languages; an enormous asset in Hutt space. You two pose well as a double act, with Andro looking like the tough guy looking after Jelena's... well, whatever it is she impersonates.
Pelloran is in good favour with the Hutts. He doesn't want in to their organisation- pirate clans are notoriously independent- but he pays several Hutt big-wigs a cut so that he is never accused of getting in their way. This leaves him free to sell in Hutt space, and recuit there if he wishes. Before long, you have indetified half a dozen selling lines. If you could catch the couriers when they did their runs back into Republican space, you could arrest the lot. Of course, this would tip off Pelloran and the pirates would go to ground; you didn't come here to pick off a few street level traders.
However, the more people you CAN get arrestable evidence on, the more successful this case is when you make the big swoop! So it is always helpful to work on that.
The main Hutt contact the pirates have is Shareth the Hutt- a female crime boss who used to be the despot Faylar's contact before he died; Pelloran has continued the association.
Pelloran prefers humans- a result of time spent in the Confederacy, which was always just a little sinister place in that respect. However, he is extremely paranoid and actually doesn't recruit as many people as he could due to this. He likes people with proven battle experience and preferably with a reference.
Gallagher- over this time period, Essalin reports back to you on info she has found.
At some of the locations hit, there have been people on the lists that have moved away from the planets concerned shortly afterwards. Someone at the mountain despoit vault that was hit at exactly the right time, for example.
"Maybe the pirates are giving them a new life elsewhere?" says Essalin.
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D'an is quiet, studious and attentive to the Force.
But he is worried about what benefit the Force truly brings to people- especially in light oif everything you experienced on Mandragos.
"It seems Sienar used the Force to help create the most horrendous situation," he says. "Granted, it was a crisis the Republic has helped create anyway, but shouldn't the Force be there to make such things better, not worse?"
(You HAD to pick the high Introspection guy...)
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Sunda and Argo are working a lot together, always offering to run off somewhere and get anything. Sunda is clearly getting agitated at the pace of the investigation.
"We're bound to find them if we trawl around space looking for them eventually, yeah?" he says. "How can one group of pirates leave us feeling so powerless? Is that all it takes? To hang around in space? Why don't pirates ALWAYS do that?"
"Very good work Essalin, thank you. It certainly supports the theory of their advanced scouts becoming insiders. Once we can determine a possible future site, we can do a check on recent or new employs. At least have a watch put on them.
Keep working on it, find more evidence of their motus operandi. Do background checks on any names you turn up and see if you can locate any. Probably not but let's not leave stones unturned.
I know this is tedious work right now, but remember that when we are finished we will have done a great service to this part of the galaxy. And you will have played a key part. Besides, I garantee that the excitment is yet to come.
Keep up the good work, let me know what else you can dig up."
(So, with Pelloran mostly (or is it only?) recruiting Humans, we might have a sticking point with Jelena. Should we cast her as a less-than-equal partner of mine? Not exactly servant, but ... underling? She's my translator, maybe? Or maybe not if once recruited they can claim I don't need one. Jelena, your thoughts?)