"That it is, D'an," Gallagher says. "It is unfortunate but hopefully our efforts here can help strengthen their ties to the Senate and the Republic as a whole. Even so, we are here to protect and assist, not to promote a political agenda."
Gallagher thinks that interviewing the authorities and the survivors will do little. Perhaps we should trawl over the hit sites in greater detail, taking advantage of Gallagher's high sensitivity and possibly Jelena's to get insight into the scene.
Ok, back to business!
An investigation of the vault doesn't give any miracle answers. The pirates are equipped conventionally, with blaster rifles and the odd pistol on their senior members. No evidence of heavy weapons in use- presumably it would slow them down too much. As your witness statements showed, they didn't blow the vault doors; they forced people there to open things up for them.
Which sounds slightly off to your mind, Jelena- most decent security systems, even in more primitive areas, lock up an area pretty tight when the alarm sounds. Good hackers or lots of explosives are normally needed to get through security doors, and the pirates did neither.
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Sunda is getting bored. You catch him talking to Argo, Roan.
"... cut my way loose and we got out back on top. My Master had killed him by then of course. And you know what was left? Just a decayed skeleton. Like he was already dead! See, that's the type of thing we meet out there..."
"Err..." says Argo, nervously.
Gallagher will likely spend time with his Padawan, wanting to form a solid bond before anything more dramatic occurs.
He also is becoming wary of Sunda's victory-through-violence attitude and tells D'an to consult Gallagher on anything that Sunda says that seems questionable.
Furthermore, he'll talk to Roan about this, intending for Sunda not to hear.
"Your Padawan is being a tad unruly, Roan," Gallagher says. "He's not a bad person, obviously, and he's a talented warrior, but he's a bit headstrong. Like you, but maybe not so experienced or balanced as he needs to be, and as you are..."
Well I'm going to deal with Sunda Before talking to you Gallagher, as that is just the timeline that was presented.
Roan will come up behind Sunda and place a hand on his shoulder.
"Now then, that surly wasn't typical was it? Lets not frighten Argo with horror stories. Nothing like that is going to happen on this mission. We are going to keep our wits about us, and not succumb to irrational action."
____
"I am aware of my padawans views, I am trying to calm him down but you and I know we were built for a life of action and doing. Contemplation has never come easy for either of us, so my goal is to impart on him as much knowledge so that he can act properly. Unfortunately I have not had as much time or the proper background do to this as fully as I wish. Our missions always seem to degenerate into violence, and I fear that this one will be no different. But I will continue."
____
So this must mean that the Pirates have someone on the inside who is able to open up the security systems for them to just bypass. That is the only way I can think of that they would just be able to blow past a sophisticated security system.
No problem, I don't think the order in which it happened is particularly important.
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"I did not mean to imply that you were unaware of the situation," Gallagher says, folding his hands in front of him absently. "I just wanted to make you aware of my thoughts on the matter. I am much younger than you, so I did not know you as a Padawan... but I feel you probably went through a similar stage. You are an admirable Knight, I am positive your tutorship will ensure Sunda turns out the same. Just... be careful with him. He listens to you best."
Gallagher agrees with the sentiment that the pirates may be using insiders to speed up the process of ransacking their targets.
Not necessarily on insiders- they could be hitting it whilst the vault is open. If they hit hard and fast enough...
Besides, they cannot have insiders everywhere.
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"But these younglings need to know, Master," says Sunda. "They think it is going to be easy out there. They dont know what the galaxy is like!"
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"So... when should I fight?" asks Essallin.
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By the end of the second month you have built up a fairly good idea of how the pirates operate and what their capabilities are. They fly P110 Interceptors- elongated ships built for speed but with a poor turning circle. Their cargo freighters that carry their gains away are also built for speed; they are lightly armoured and would not need to be torpedoed to bring down. In person, they are an aloof but sinister people, but given to outbursts of emotion.
But as to where the fleet assembles- no clue. There are vast tracts of space all around and they could hide almost anywhere. If they keep up with the money, they can buy in supplies from all over the place to keep them going. But they cannot ever stop; they'll need to keep on taking more in just to survive.
The various planetary authorities are keen to stop the pirates but less keen to send their limited ships into wild space individually and there is no chance of a grander plan. Their favoured response is to increase their own security instead. Still, these pirates seem to know where to find the weak points. At the end of ther month, they hit an enormous goods depot on Kalkor; a central store repsoitory for a continent. They get away with a heck of a lot.
Are any of the planets in this part of space well positioned that we can reach anywhere in the area quickly? Jelena wants to see about making some sort of central meeting place so we can operate, and also to leave the Jedi Fighters if we decide to go places.
Jelena and Essallin are going to head to Kalkor to talk with the authorities and see if any new information can be gathered from the strike, and also to assure the authorities that we are doing everything we can. They will take public transportation.
"When it is done to protect yourself or to protect others," Jelena says. "For example, our mission to stop the pirates. These pirates are harming the worlds they strike, stealing and killing. If we are to prevent these worlds from experiencing such sorrowful events, we will need to fight the pirates. I am sorry to say that it is very unlikely that the pirates will be open to negotiating, since they have a history with the Order that puts them at odds with us... but in other situations, you should exhaust every means of maintaining peace before drawing your lightsaber."
The strike followed the normal pattern of a fast hit and run. This time, some defensive fighters tried to engage the pirates in space, but the window of opportunity was sall. The freighters in orbit were defended by a horde of P110s, and not enough fighters could get to the orbital point in time.
It seems the pirates themselves land in small landing craft; the freighters only put dpown at the point the pirates are ready to off-load their gains.
(Sorry, with vacations and a hospital visit, I've let my RP activities slide a bit.)
The pirates may not have an insider, at least not on every job, but they certainly do their research. Could we get holo recordings of the activity at any of these places for any time period before attacks? If we could collect copies from several hits, we could set our Padawans on looking for suspicious behavior or any individuals common to more than one recording. We might hit upon an individual to check out, or at possibly find some useful information on their methods.
"We strike first to protect when we know that if we do not, lives will be lost and the Galaxy would grow that much darker," Jelena says. "Once I was tasked on a mission to discover the fate of a small droid army. The Jedi and myself sought it out and dismantled it in combat before trying to apprehend the man commanding it, though he had killed himself to avoid capture."
(Hope you're okay, Andy!)
I agree with Andro that the pirates definitely do research, no doubt about this. What they pull off is not something that they can do with just a quick scan of the area and deciding what they want to take. It needs precision.
I like Jelena's plan of setting up headquarters on Estelia.