Ask Dantooine The New Order

[Val Varthra]

The Office of the Imperial Security Bureau was a misshapen, alien thing on Khoonda's skyline. It stuck out like a sore thumb, unlike any of the surrounding architecture. But that was purposeful. Every time the citizens of Dantooine looked up at the sky and saw it towering above all else, they were reminded that they were under new management. The Jedi Order was no longer in charge on Dantooine. They were Imperial citizens now.

Lieutenant Val Varthra entered her office carrying two datapads with the latest reports from Dantoo Town, Garang, and Eol Sha. She carded through the information on them as she sipped her morning caf, formulating a plan for the day as she so often did by occasionally glancing at the holographic art she had on display all around her office. Today would be a day of more than paperwork and filing reports. Serenno expected answers. And answers were what they would get.

Right on schedule, a message fluttered across her dataphone: Your morning appointment is here.

She paged him in as she pulled up his files on her desk computer. Lieutenant Maximus Escalion Dram of Adumar. Former Adumarian Royal Legion. Former Provincial Governor. And most importantly: loyal.

The ghost of a smile appeared on Val's painted lips. She did like it when they sent her qualified help. The pager at her door beeped. "Send him in," she said. "We've much to do." @Alhon

 

[Max Dram]

Max was waved through immediately on arrival at the ISB Building, no protracted signing in, no perching his coiled bulk on a austere reception chair. Whoever this Lieutenant Varthra was, he had the sense she and her colleagues ran a tight ship. That boded well.

He knew little about the mission at hand, but he was nonetheless in his element on a world like Dantooine. He had made a career out of taking and holding ground for the Empire, of securing allegiance and silencing dissent. From what he knew, that was the Empire's task here now and he would be all too pleased to do his part. It was not often he was seconded to other branches like the ISB and it was a welcome change of pace after front line engagements on Terminus, Ankus and Endor.

Max knew even less about his counterpart. Lieutenant Varthra was a new name to him and he had not been able to find out much at all about her background or brief. It was often the way with ISB operatives and the secrecy was only sensible - it didn't bother him at all - usually. He felt a tiny seed of unease today as he reached the door to Varthra's office, but he pushed it down. His fledging relationship with Celeste was not public, but there was nothing strictly improper about it. Besides, this woman was not all-knowing. She couldn't be.

The door hissed open and he stepped into the room, having straightened his uniform. "Lieutenant Dram, reporting for duty mam" he said, standing to attention in front of her desk. They were of equivalent rank, but this was her arena and he would show her fair deference unless she gave him a reason not to.

@Malon

 

[Val Varthra]

Val stood behind her desk, the smile still upon her face tight and professional. He smelled of sterilized air. She suspected he was fresh off his transport, which meant he was punctual if nothing else. His expression was likewise blank and readless, precisely as he was trained to be. Val enjoyed those types of men the most. It was always the layers of the guarded ones that were the most entertaining to peel back. But that was for another time. He was not her target.

"Lieutenant Dram," she said. "A pleasure to meet one with a taste for punctuality matching my own." She gestured to a white chair, which was, as with everything in the room, dustless and shining. She was nothing if not meticulously cleanly. "Please sit. I am Lieutenant Varthra of the Peacekeeping Division of the ISB, and I like to think of Dantooine as my own personal garden."

She wanted to laugh. In truth, Dantooine was the boonies. She had been raised on Chandrila and Dromund Kaas. Still, all first major assignments were minor. Mediocre. The mark of a talented agent was in identifying the kernel of opportunity that existed below the mediocrity. And this assignment might be the first chance she had to water that kernel.

"As such," she continued. "I like to keep this world nice and orderly. Weeds plucked. I assume you know the planet's history, so I won't regale you with the boring details. Suffice it to say that the task before me is a challenging one, but one I intend to rise to." She began tapping away at the keys on her desk, which, in short time, would bringing up a holographic display with their mission details. "That is where you come in," she said as she worked. "I believe you can help me, and thus our Empire. Tell me, what experience have you in dealing with insurgency?"

@Alhon

 

[Max Dram]

Varthra was so matter of fact it was beautiful. Max took the seat offered to him and listened eagerly, the edges of his mouth already curling into a smile. They were cut from the same cloth for sure.

"Indeed, a relatively recent acquisition" he replied, acknowledging Dantooine's history "though the real work starts after acquisition, as we both know". He watched her hands gliding across her console, fingers moving as fast as her mind as she worked. She had to be a tall woman, imposing even sitting down. Quite different to his conception of a desk officer.

"Most of my postings have been backfill after the Assault Corps boys have done their work" he replied, summarising his record "long-term occupation support, embedding security and enforcing law and order, most recently on Terminus". It was true that recently he'd spearheaded a few assaults himself, but the bulk of his service had been in the hard graft that followed. "I've also been involved with combating a resistance cell on Taris mam, and back before I joined the Empire I ran a whole province on my homeworld, Adumar".

He had a sneaking feeling she knew all of this of course. She was paid to. But she was probably using the conversation to get the measure of him in any case, just as he would with anyone Command seconded to him. Already, they understood each other completely.

@Malon

 

[Val Varthra]

Honesty. A quality she liked in soldiers—less in her fellow ISB agents. She, of course, knew most of his record, though she hadn't bothered with the particulars. "Yes, I am familiar with your term on Adumar. Galactic politics is a hobby of mine, along with art. Perhaps it's the Chandrilan in me."

She finished typing and a series of holographic displays appeared around the room as a series of shades descended over the windows to darken the office. Only then did Val stand up. "The situation on Dantooine is something you'll likely be familiar with," she explained. "The Jedi are all dead or gone, but there are entrenched pockets of dissidents on this world who wish them returned." With a gesture, she enlarged an image of a burnt out Jedi enclave. "Imperial Reclamation has been hiring locals to thumb through the old Jedi ruins for anything of value. It is standard operating procedure after a conquest. However, recently, artifacts from the Dantooine enclaves have been found on black market auctions in nearby neutral systems."

"Coincidentally, the surfacing of these artifacts coincides with a strengthening and increasingly more violent rebellion." She gestured to a new hologram, this one of a crate of seized weapons in an Imperial impound facility. "A month ago, our dissidents were merely spraying graffiti on Imperial buildings and property. Now, they have weapons. Military-grade weapons. It is my belief that there are rebels imbedded in our reclamation teams—or at least beings willing to hand over precious loot to the rebels. Same thing in my eye. The rebels then sell them for funds to purchase weapons. It is my job to ensure this new threat does not engulf this whole world in war again. So—"

She reached for one of the two datapads on her desk and handed it to Max. It had information on the recent leads in Dantoo Town, Garang, and Eol Sha. In Dantoo Town, an old Ithorian antique shop owner found with Jedi paraphernalia in her shop and a possible lead to the supplier and the recipient; in Garang, the Imperial Reclamation facility where the contraban was secured, and where teams were working to learn where the weapons had been bought; and in Eol Sha, a spade of recent protests that turned violent in sympathy to the dissidents' cause.

"You have experience 'embedding law and order', I think your words were, on recently conquered worlds, " Val continued. "And this tiny office does not have the resources nor the authority to chase down all three leads at once. It has me, and now it has you. Given your expertise, where would you start in rooting out this insurgency?"

@Alhon

 

[Max Dram]

Max hadn't missed the art around the room. He was not entirely uninterested in such things, indeed the more his career progressed and took him around the galaxy, the more he discovered interests he never knew he had. From what he could see, Varthra's taste in art was refined and precise.

Her following of Galactic politics mirrored his own. Max had passionately believed in uniting the galaxy under a single Empire for many years, ever since Imperial rule had lifted Adumar to new heights. He tried to keep abreast of every person and power that opposed that ambition, keen to understand how they could be subdued.

He listened intently to Varthra's briefing on the lay of the land, feeling a mixture of frustration and eagerness. Frustration at the incessant way the Jedi and their supporters scuttled and schemed to undo their good work. Eagerness to get out there and put an end to their insurrection.

"Eol Sha" he replied, after studying the datapad. "The protests are a symptom of course, not the cause, but stamping down on them hard in the short term will buy us time, and scatter the rebels for a short while. They may be getting the idea the Empire's gaze has moved on from Dantooine. My men and I can quickly disabuse them of that notion". He had his platoon with him, hardened, trained men who should be more than a match for fledgling protests.

"The network itself still urgently needs exposing - will you take one of the other leads yourself?"

@Malon

 

[Val Varthra]

Val did not answer at once. She walked directly over to her desk and pressed a button on its smooth surface. A moment later, a click sounded, informing her someone had picked up the other line. "Have a shuttle prepped to take us across world to Eol Sha," she said. "I wish to leave within the half-hour."

After an affirmative to her request, she released the button and turned to face Max once again. "No," she replied. "As I said, this office does not possess the resources to fully invest in all three leads at present. The Dantooine office is still a new one, after all. But if we can prove these dissidents are here in any great number, we might be able to convince Serenno to send us more men and equipment."

She crossed to another side of the room and pulled a white jacket from a locker to go over the top of her uniform. She also retrieved her sidearm and tucked it beneath the jacket. "We will travel together. Deal with the protests as a joint task force." Here, she paused, hesitant. She didn't like where the mission would take her next, but she didn't let her personal feelings override her sense of duty. "Out there, you're the expert, so I will remand myself into your command until the situation is handled. But before I do that, let me be very clear. None of these protestors are to be killed. Capturing one or two would be preferred, whilst we scatter the rest." She gave him a long, hard look. "I presume this will not be a problem?"

It was more a statement then a question; because she was already gesturing towards the door to her office, which swung open at her wordless command. Punctual as ever, she didn't want to dally any longer. The sooner they acted, the better.

@Alhon

 

[Max Dram]

"A constraint, mam" Max replied "but not a problem".

He turned and headed out of the office, keying the comm and ordering his men to gear up. It was time to hit the field.

_________________
​

The Lieutenant did his research on the way there, accessing what information was available from local and central databases.

Though now a substantial settlement, Eol Sha had originally been a colony for evacuees from the destroyed planet of the same name. Max doubted much Eol Sha blood ran in the residents' veins now, but he'd seen the fire new settlements often possessed on his own world. Their people were typically more used to carving out an existence and were sometimes more inclined than most to stand up and defend it. If the dissidents here could be broken, it would send a clear message to others.

It was a pity Varthra had taken capital punishment off the table. It was by no means always necessary, but Max found it a useful tool in the armoury. Fire and fervour almost always yielded to the human heart and more than once he had subdued a crowd by executing a single member. Still, there were ways and means.

The comm crackled with the live feed from events on the ground as they drew close. The protests were ongoing and clustered around the central plaza, where the small Imperial field office was effectively under seige.

The engines hummed as the shuttle swept in to land at the nearest pad, half a klick out. The protestors were not soldiers and Max was pleased to see they had not even posted a watcher to look for Imperial relief. They didn't expect the Empire would have muscle out here. How wrong they were.

"Take half the men and circle round to approach the square from the far side" he instructed his second. "Keep your distance until my order and maintain your spacings". He was not going to give any grenade throwing protester an easy opportunity.

The private nodded and set off with charlie and delta fire teams. Max motioned to the remaining two fire teams to follow him and Varthra up the main street, approaching the crowds encircling the square from behind.

"My men will move into a position ready to close on the protestors, but it may be we can avoid a large confrontation. Perhaps if you and I drift closer first and see if we can scope out any leadership figures?" If they could apprehend some instigators it may be they could learn what they wanted to know and disrupt today's disorder at the same time.

@Malon

 

[Val Varthra]

Val was impressed with her counterpart's initiative. His plan was a sound one, though she detected a hint of disapproval that she had robbed him of a chance to kill one of their enemies. But, then, that was the difference between his branch and hers, wasn't it? He was a trained killer. She was more a surgeon, extracting abscesses before they could become infectious. Though, if they weeded out the right people, he may yet get his chance at capital punishment.

She nodded. His plan was sound, and he was in charge in any case. So, the two Imperials ventured out onto the edges of the square.

From their vantage point, Val counted at least two dozen protestors occupying the square. Some were standing on the concrete rim of a fountain, holding up holographic signs decrying the "illegal occupation." In front of them, a human woman held up a screen displaying various HoloNet footage of recent Sith battlefields. The fires, the bodies, the carnage. And next to her was an Ithorian man with a translator droid rendering his garbled speech into Basic:

"This is price of joining the Empire! The Outer Rim worlds have been turned into a battlefield. People's homes into a stomping ground of religious warfare! But at least they were willing participants. Dantooine was taken! Forced! Our farms, now made to turn out crop for the Imperial war machine. Our mines stripped of their precious kyber! Even our historical sites, stripped of artifacts to inflate the pockets of rich Imperial bureaucrats."

Val tuned out the speech to observe the rest of the beings gathered. The protest was not violent yet, but several among its number carried bricks and batons; and their expressions were unmistakable. It would be easy enough to take the speaker. He obviously had information, but he wasn't the leader. No, these rebels had been smart. They had learned to conceal their leadership. So, she turned her attention to the buildings surrounding the square. Two had balconies with a good view of the fountain.

"I suggest a pronged attack," she whispered to Max. "We need the speaker and the translator droid. Its memory banks could serve us. Divide your men. The second group should focus on those two shops with balconies on their second floor. Leadership may be hidden, but not in sight."

@Alhon

 

[Max Dram]

The protestors were exactly as Max had imagined them. Ragtag, rundown and full of bullshit. Yes Dantooine had been taken, because it didn't know the first thing about protecting itself. There were so many in the galaxy always looking to blame others for their own weakness. Where were these toerags when Dantooine had the chance to fight honestly?

His hazel eyes surveyed their number and weaponry. There were probably no more than two dozen and from what he could see they were poorly equipped. Still, he had not forgotten the weapon shipments Varthra had spoken off and he had seen these situations escalate enough times to know they were finely balanced. Play it wrong and the whole game could change.

"Then let's find out" Max replied to the other Lieutenant. He was not keen on dividing the unit yet again, but it was necessary if they were to move on both targets without spooking either. "Bravo team, the balconies" he ordered across the comm. A little way back down the road, half the men detached from the rest and started moving around the left-hand side of the square, keeping low behind walls and shrubbery.

"Alpha team, stand ready to hold these guys in place when we take the speaker". They were only ten men to hold more than twenty, but they were the men with guns.

Max drew his pistol, releasing the safety. It would be small enough to keep concealed as they moved in, but quick enough to react if needed. "We take the speaker and the droid then" he said to Varthra, checking his watch "few more seconds and Bravo team will be halfway up the stairwell and giving the leadership enough to worry about. That's when we go".

He spared a glance at the far side of the square, hoping his 2IC and the other half of the men were moving into position. If this went wrong, he wanted every man he'd brought at his back.

@Malon

 

[Val Varthra]

Val almost envied the simplicity with which the military could act on a plan. Months of planning went into her work to secure a handful of arrests. Max shows up with a few guns and takes that many in less than an hour. She raised the cuff of her sleeve to her mouth where a tiny comlink was planted with a channel back to Khoonda.

"I need a forty-eight hour media blackout in Eol Sha," she commanded. "Cut local HoloNet communications entirely, but monitor any attempts to access the network." She lowered her arm and glanced sidelong at Max. "That way we can track an escapees who attempt to use the HoloNet to communicate with their benefactors. The blackout will prevent the spread of protests to other cities planetside."

A moment later, she had the affirmative; and, with that, they were all set. The two of them were in place, and Max's men were also prepare to carry out their assignment. Val reached into her uniform jacket and retrieved a small blaster of her own. She was not a soldier. The piece was merely insurance should the scene get unexpectedly ugly. But a sign of their success would be that it did not.

But just before she could give the order to commence the operation, she noticed a very bad sign. Someone appeared on one of the balconies. Tall, alien — she guessed a Twi'lek of some variety. He was looking directly at them. He was pointing directly at them.

"Imps!" he shouted, and that was all it took to get the crowd to turn and look.

"Shit," she cursed. She was hoping to avoid getting into the action; but now she had no choice.

Some in the crowd had firearms of their own. Others were content to use the bricks they were holding. Val hugged the side of the building where she and Max were huddled to avoid taking stray fire, but she knew they couldn't stay here long. "Tell your men to do their part now!" she shouted. "We need to draw their attention away from us."

Note: Little dice roll chaos :P @ Alhon

 

[Max Dram]

Varthra was on the comm, taking control of Holonet comms as they made ready to intervene. Max was quietly impressed. He had more time than most of the rank and file for ISB agents and their work. But Varthra was a formidable advert for her branch, demonstrating the difference between a mindless application of force and precision strike to permanently undo their foe.

The rebels' shout broke his reverie, followed by Varthra's curse, still uttered in her perfect accent. Max pressed himself against the wall, whispering hurriedly over the comm for Bravo team to move in on the Twi'lek and his cronies. There was a brief acknowledgement, followed by more blaster fire and commotion than he would have liked, and then silence. This was getting messy.

"We're losing our advantage" Max growled, stepping around Varthra to try and get a look at the square. A lucky blaster bolt hit him square in the shoulder, just where his armour plates joined. The plating took the brunt, but fire burned in the join, scorching his skin and forcing him to stifle a roar. "Lost it, rather!" he hissed loudly through gritted teeth.

"We need to hit them hard now, or we're lost" he said, breathing through his nose as he fought down the pain. "Alpha team, advance!" he shouted, not waiting for Varthra to process his intent. His men sprang into action with covering fire, as Max sprang around the corner, pistol in one hand and drawing his blastsword with the other. Where was that fracking Ithorian.

Rolled 4/20 for counterattack

@Malon