@roystonda
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Das’ sluggish steps made their way into the bar. Not many days lead him to needing the strong stuff, but this was one. He took a seat on one of the stools and motioned for Damian, then placed his data-pad down next to him.
“Bottom shelf. Anything with the word ‘spice’ in it, eh? Thanks”
He slouched over the bar as Damian prepared his drink, and took a look around, spotting Tivianne, Garion and Donovan all sat around a table. Das hadn’t yet finished collating the Lancer access or sensor logs. He’d spent so much time locking down the ship and enforcing crew access restrictions, he hoped that Swann might’ve managed to cover the data related tasks, but it was starting to look like Das would be pulling an all-nighter.
Damian slid the drink in front of him.
“Cheers. How much?”
“The Commander’s got you covered tonight” he said in a hushed voice, which confused Das, but he didn’t question it.
Das grabbed the drink and swivelled in his seat to face the table. He raised his glass to Donovan in a gesture of thanks, then turned back to his pad. A notification caught his attention and Das read it under his breath.
“Energy Reading Analysis… Hey, just add it to the pile, Tivianne. I need to dig out your encryption codes” Another glance over his shoulder and he shook his glass at the three again, with a forced smile at Tivianne especially. “Damnit, Tuor, you sure know how to suck the fun out of everything.”
He took a swig of his drink, and bit back at the taste. Damian gave an unimpressed snort. Das replied with a thumbs up and a knock on the bar signalling for his second to be prepared.
Das examines the maps projected as he takes in the information voiced by the others. His eyes stay on the maps as he speaks.
As Lt Tivianne has suggested, a route from the Ibroan gate would give us an alibi if we were caught. I further suggest making our attack a sweep of sectors radiating outwards from Drenan XIV until we reach Drenan V and make it seem our focus is to gain access to the Erowis gate. Not only would this distract from Onwia but also give ruse that our attacks lack tactical strategy and gives them a false target to reinforce, allowing our real targets with weaker defences, while maintaining our cover that we are pirates or rebelling locals for the mean time.
Taking his eyes off the display, Das scans the room, preparing himself to mention his own concern
I do feel that we are overlooking one obvious issue. If we want to continue this ruse for as long as possible, our continual engagements will eventually allow for Hegemony data analysis of our ships.
I’d suggest arranging a jamming signal to stop them transmitting data, but that might seem to tactical for locals. We could steal pirate or Hegemony ships, but the risk-reward factor is too unbalanced. Perhaps disguising our visual appearance, but the practicality of doing so would be difficult in our current setting without resulting in a moustache and glasses on our hulls. I’m open to suggestions.
Das gives a brief smile to suggest he’s finished
Standing to the side of the room, Das takes a step forward
Excuse me, sirs, if I may. I’ve taken a look into the reports and stellar cartography to see if there was anything we missed, and I agree that our next best course of action would be to explore the Onwia system. However, there’s an area I believe may hold some promise.
As noted in the reports, Drenan XVI has heavy traffic and after our attack on the mining outpost in Drenan III there will be heightened security in that area. Assuming that they believe an enemy interest in Drenan III, their patrol would be along the axis and a sector perimeter, which makes almost the entire corewards half of the system unusable, along with the trail side. But this does divert attention away from the Rim-Spinwards sectors.
Adding to the fact that all their operations in this system are mining and hunting, we’ve seen little to no reason to assume an interest in sectors thirteen and fourteen. Being so close to a gate may cause a proximity alert, so Drenan XIII holds no significance for them.
It may be a distance from the Onwia gate, but if we continue our usage of the nebulae and silent running, we could operate from this location, and reach the majority of gates with little disturbance. If further scouting operations prove unsuccessful, I believe this would be our best opportunity.
