USH'S STAR WARS GAME- LIGHT SIDE INTERLUDE- 'Broken Lance'

"So maybe what is needed is not so much the Jedi combating the pirates personally but helping bind the other worlds together to assist them in doing so, so that the Red Lance will be repelled and dealt with forever," Jelena says, seeing a chance at negotiations.

Mundi smiles benignly.

"This is a long-term assignment we are sending you on," he says, "but not THAT long. We have been trying to bind together the outer worlds for centuries or more. No, we can only work with what we have out there."

"I'm sure some coordination can be done to ease our mission," Gallagher says, "but we'll see. Attacking pirates might change their minds. Is there somewhere in particular that we are being sent? Or are we being spread about that area?"

"Try not to get sidetracked," says Windu. "The worlds out there have ancient grudges and issues of mistrust and tension; getting involved with that would leave you no time to act. If the worlds are ever going to be convinced of the benefits of peace and co-operation, then closer ties to the Republic are the best means. Such ties can be made by, say,our successful tackling of the pirates.

"The problem is with how Pelloran operates. He has no big ships save his freighters to carry his gains. His space force is all fighters and small traders.. On his targets, he is hitting palces of wealth and value- banks, vaults, storhouses of valuables. Industrial sites and warehouses. His raids are meticulously planned. He knows where and when to hit his targets. His forces arrive via hyperspace, land, and launch their raid. They brutally massacre all token resistance, take the goods and get back into space before the worlds can properly respond. Then they make their escape. No one planet has the resources to find where in space they move away to, and so they are free to strike again and again."

"Then it sounds like the only way to stop him is to either find out where he is going to attack next and create an ambush, or create a target too nice for him to pass up."

Andro speaks up, "That would shake his operations up a bit, certainly, but it wouldn't stop him, I think. It sounds like Pelloran's got wealth enough to replace whatever raids we can pick off. This is an investigation first, not a military action. We need to find out where he hides and shut him down there. Am I correct in my thinking, Master Windu?"

Gallagher concedes the point about the grudges held in that area of space, and waits to hear the answer to Roan's and Andro's ideas on the matter.

"If it was possible to locate his fleet in the endless tracts of space and take the clan out at source then that would would of course be a very good thing," says Windu, "but if the Confederacy could never do that, then the isolated worlds he is attacking now certainly never will. The infrastructure in the area does not exist for locating the mobile clan fleet. Nor would you be able to raise the forces needed to perform such a job. Destroying the clan is an option that is simply impractical to the current needs of the situation, which is to relieve the pressure on the worlds in the area as soon as possible.

"We need to destroy Pelloran's striking force. He has abandoned his home- his resources will be running low. A nomadic force like he has become must continually acquire to survive. If his ability to strike is knocked out, we do not think he will have the means to replace it.

"That being so, Roan is right. If one of their targets can be located ahead of time, then the local forces can be warned and prepared. The strike force can be confronted at the point of attack. The basic principle of your assignment is simple. Determine the location of an attack- and organise the local forces in order to prevent the attack as it happens. Force the surrender of the strike force and make as many arrests as possible."

"So then all we need to do is figure out where they will be striking when we are in the area," Gallagher says. "I am sure that they scout the areas they strike in advance, maybe a scout could be made to talk... otherwise, we may have to determine how we will preemptively prepare once we arrive."

"There is no way we know of to identify the scouts," says Mundi. "But destroying that striking force is your mission. Spend some time analysing the situation. We shall do what we can to allocate additional Jedi for the final take down if they become available."

"Indeed, can we get access to any records of his previous strikes? So that we can look for patterns and have an idea of what is going on before we leave here?"

Well, they'll supply you with whatever information they can, but it is now time for you guys to put together a long-term plan of action.

"Along with what Gallagher asks for, in case there is a pattern, perhaps we should do some investigating at the site of the last raid or two. Learn how he operates this team, see the kind of damage they do, how they approach their target, stuff like that. We might also snoop around, (maybe just one of us under cover) and see if we can turn up accomplices, or at least find evidence of their scouts, how they operate. If we can manage to find somebody who knows something, that puts us lightyears ahead of where we are now. Because if there isn't some pattern to their movement, and we don't get something from someone, then figuring the next target will be long odds."

Yup, ideas like this all good stuff to be welcomed! It is your investigation, to do with as you will.

Gallagher wants to requisition files regarding the pirate operation on Jaglon Beta, so that they have as much info about that as they can. Have the pirates entirely abandoned it?

I agree that we should investigate formerly hit sites, to observe what we can about the aftermath of the attacks themselves and try to work out a pattern.

Also, we should make use of any contacts we have that could be useful.

Lastly... has Gallagher told the Council about the vision he had whilst with Sienar?

I have assumed you have told all. Was there an issue of it you wanted to discuss?

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I'll process all submitted plans soon- any other particular avenues you want to check out?

The part where we end up on the goddamn volcano planet...

Other thoughts:
-Interview Survivors/Witnesses (if there are any)
-Do we split up at all to tackle multiple locations/objectives at once? Probably not, but I wanted to throw it out there.
-Way out there thought: Could one of us infiltrate the pirates, if the opportunity arose?
-Can we get an 'allowance' of credits from the Council to 'grease the wheels' in the inevitable cantina visit(s)?
-DO we go as undercover from the start? If pirates do have scouts or insiders on a target planet, they might not want to hit it while Jedi are around. Or they might not think it a problems since they hit and run so fast.

Gallagher has been worried about the Lady with White Hair, and wants to know if any of that segment of his dream pertains to the pirates, particularly what Gallagher sees the apparent seer seeing, and the desert of sharp rocks.

Gallagher is trying to be cautious with his glimpses of the future, especially since he predicted events with Sienar and he failed to truly listen.

There are no obvious links, so in the end it is up to you to interpret.

You always get a credit allocation, Andro. But they won't be worth much out there. Scattered worlds in that region have internal economies.

Going undercover, even to some extent into the pirates, is very possible if done right.