Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Baesal Zyn]

''They will be waiting for us...'' she began pacing around, her eyes focusing on some point in the distance ''I try to get us a wildcard before the move gets underway''

[Jo'ren Rath]

Joren looked at both of them with a smirk. "Wait. You think I want to kill them? Vaylin and Senya?"

There was genuine amusement in his bearing. He slapped a table in amusement and it creaked ominously. Eventually he looked at Zeno and Baesal. "Why does everyone think I want to kill...well, everyone?" There was a headshake at the madness of it all.

"Those two are probably our best resource right now. Intel against Zakuul and Golden Boy there." He gestured to the holo projector. "Kill them?" This time the chuckle was lighter. "Point taken about Petey though, he's probably just a mouthpiece. Guess we'll need to hold off Zakuul forces until the Gree arrive with reinforcements."

He looked over at the General and contemplated her response.

[Nudimsu]

"Glad we agree and do not need to come to blows, Wrath: I would not want to ruin your perfectly clean clothes with my blood." He kept his face neutral and looked back to the woman. "Likely a trap, though. As I said earlier, tactics are done by a Chiss; probably expecting a assault and will counter it to possibly separate or weaken our forces. Not saying we shouldn't spring it, but we should probably figure out what the trap is before we send out the forces there."

[Tethys Carrack]

C5 quietly brings up a holographic image of two countdowns, one with red text counting down about twenty four standard hours and another in gold counting down from about thirty six standard hours.

"C-Five," Tethys asks in a quiet but clear voice, "if your red timer is for this Zakuul ultimatum... what is the gold timer?"

[Qozaiym Zholyeva]

"We have to roll zhe hard six, zhey have zhe superiority in space and are expecting us, I won't send people in blindly but we don't have good options. Luckily we have some of zhe best soldiers and operatives zhis side of the rim," she responded.

[C5-PT]

"C-Five," Tethys asks in a quiet but clear voice, "if your red timer is for this Zakuul ultimatum... what is the gold timer?"

The droid responded, "The gold intersectors."

[Riss]

"Someone tells me that means we have to hold out against Zakuul for twelve hours? Until the Gree.. whatever they're bringing, can help." Riss interjects into the greater conversation. A glance to Jo'ren and, well, he knew why anyone would jump to that conclusion better than anyone even if he didn't want to admit it.

"Also- please tell me I'm wrong cause I'd really like to hear that."

[Tethys Carrack]

Tethys glances between the droid, the General, and the many other decision-makers present. "Coming here prepared for... black tangent with the black parallels? To fight by our side? Or just to talk and watch more?"

She opens a hand in a questioning gesture. "If it *is* for black tangent, I don't suppose they could hurry it up? Lives may depend on those twelve hours."

[Zeno Thul]

Looking at the recording and listening before turning back to his cards. " Of course. It's totally our fault. The fact that Zakuul is killing people is because we are resisting, not because they are invading. Perfectly sensible stance."

Zeno then looks back to his cards, before making an okay starting play. "Veun k'isah vah ber sesvio'ah ch'ahn vim Lana Beniko?"

"They think you want to kill everyone because you kill so well. And if you are good at something that usually means you enjoy it," he says with a smirk. "They have to operate on some assumptions."

[C5-PT]

“Gold interesectors will arrive for black tangent against red intersectors along side silver intersectors. 12 gray intervals, silver intesectors are orange rhombus, perhaps even black bisectors,” the droid responded.

[Nudimsu]

~~snip~~

"Oh, right. Perhaps I went too complex, let me try it another way." He didn't quite get what he said, but he at least understood 'did not understand'. He makes a motion to his finger, pointing to himself."Ch'ah ch'acah leo." He points upwards and back to himself. "Lah ch'acah ch'ah."

He sat back down and went for the deck again and shrugs. "Well, so long as we do not go in blindly."

[Tethys Carrack]

"Oh. Great."

In some ways, Tethys might actually have enjoyed talking to C5-PT more when she couldn't really understand most of what the droid had to say. Then, it had been an intriguing puzzle; now, actual communication with the Gree tends to induce headache.

"I believe C-Five is saying the Gree are confident we can hold out for those twelve hours until they arrive--that we'll be fine," she translates for the benefit of anyone present who could use it.

"But, C-Five," she turns back to the droid, "there are civilian settlements on this planet. Zakuul has just threatened all of them as well, and we have an obligation to protect them." She addresses that last to the others too. "That will complicate our tactical situation."

[Nudimsu]

"Protecting them would be too difficult with our current situation." He said. "We don't know where they all are, our forces are already small as is, and we have almost no air support to do anything about it. Just hope they surrender, Tethys; it's the smart play for them for the moment."

He placed a card down and grabbed another one. "They won't survive if they don't. Plus, I did not interpret the message to mean each settlement depends on us to surrender, though I could have misunderstood that."

[Riss]

Walking up to Tethys' side Riss tugs at her sleeve, just in that way of bidding attention without interrupting overmuch, "Senya and Vaylin may have an idea?"

[C5-PT]

"Other yellow parallels are irrelevant," the droid responded.

[Zeno Thul]

"Ch'ah cart k'ates sir ch'acniuh," Zeno replies. His expression is as neutral as one might expect of a Chiss, but he also has pretty much no way to alter body heat, even with the force. Something he'd need to figure out some day. But that did mean that fluctuations were easy to notice, though they rarely ever didn't match what he was saying anyway.

He clarifies for Tethys while still focused more on his cards.
"We have a desire, rather than an obligation, to protect the civilian settlements. That's the obligation of the pirates and they probably don't actually care."

[Nudimsu]

~~snip~~

His eyes gleamed over at Zeno he spoke in Chiss, reading and studying the set of emotions he showcased before returning to his cards.

"Exactly, Zeno. If you can figure out a way to do it within that time frame, I would be for it, Tethys, much like I was in planning the previous attack. But we should not push ourselves too thin or we may all end up dying. It does them no good if they are saved, but we end up defeated shortly thereafter. Surrendering for those we cannot defend is the best option. At the most, we should probably just worry about the power plant, tactically speaking."

[Tethys Carrack]

Walking up to Tethys' side Riss tugs at her sleeve, just in that way of bidding attention without interrupting overmuch, "Senya and Vaylin may have an idea?"

Tethys's brows arch, and she nods. "You're right, Riss. The two of them may well know exactly how Zakuul executes a planetary invasion." Another thought presses her lips into a tense line. "Do you think we can count on their help, though? Valkorion wronged them terribly, but he's gone now. Vaylin's brothers must be behind this. I don't know if Vaylin would go against them."

Tethys gestures to catch Nudimsu's attention. "Captain Nudimsu, you know Senya best. Will she be willing to advise us, if it might mean opposing her sons?"

She frowns at the talk of letting Hoth's other residents fend for themselves. "Gentlemen"--to Nudi and Zeno--"and beings"--to C5-PT--"if the Zakuul invaders are willing to make the civilian settlements collateral for our surrender, then that may be equally true whether they carry out their threats with an orbital bombardment, or by executing prisoners after they've turned themselves in. On the basis of that transmission just now, I dare not assume that those who surrender will necessarily be safe if there's still resistance from others on the planet--like us. Zakuul might kill prisoners to get to us." Her tone is grim but calm.

"If you think Senya can be trusted, Captain, she might have some idea whether Zakuul treats surrendered prisoners honorably or not. But given the way their ruler treated his own daughter..." Tethys shakes her head firmly, "I can't give them the benefit of the doubt on this matter."

[Nudimsu]

"I would like to think she would, given what she risked to bring her daughter back from the brink. Her sons are likely the same, so long as the intention is to reach out to them, rather than kill them. They both believe in what Zakuul stands for, in a sense but they do not believe in the methods they are using to achieve it. Make it clear that you wish to stop their conquest, not kill them, and I believe you stand a chance to have them help. To put it bluntly, neither Senya, Vaylin, or any of my crew will participate in any direct action that will lead to her children being killed."

He paused and gave a small smile. "..Some disciplinary action, on the other hand, is not out of the question; I believe she would be okay with that." He placed his cards down and grabbed his datapad. "If you would like, I could reach out to her and ask to come here and answer these questions and cut out the middle man." He stopped and looked over at the Imperial general from the side of his eyes. "I am assuming no one has a problem with bringing either of them into this, of course."

He didn't really need to respond to her question about the civilian settlements. The potential of them being used as human shields by the pirates was already considered by him before he even spoke. Any visual displeasure of the thought was well hidden, however.

[Qozaiym Zholyeva]

"If you zhink she will listen, might as well," the general replied as she brought up maps of the Junk Town region. She brought up a second region as well not known to them.

[Nudimsu]

"Won't know till we try."

He punched some things into his datapad, asking Lana to ask Senya to head over to the Command Center and placed it back down, returning to his deck afterwards.

[Qozaiym Zholyeva]

“Not to belittle zhe Gree, but I zhink our best chance of victory will require a two pronged attack, one group assaults Junk Town and another assaults this location we have dubbed zhe Tower. It is a communication’s hub and we believe zhe source of zhe communications jamming on zhe surface. Seizing zhis facility will allow us to send our own message and perhaps even listen in and get a true update on zhe state of zhings.”

“It will be heavily defended, I am still working out zhe best approach on zhis matter.”

[Tethys Carrack]

"Thank you, Nudimsu." Tethys nods as Nudi sets down his data pad.

"If we have to start this on our own, and it seems we must, then it's best if we can finish it on our own--and quickly. We don't have the numbers for a long engagement," Tethys agrees with a sigh. "Do we need to hold this tower? Or will it be enough just to take out whatever jamming equipment they have in there--hit it and run?"

[Zeno Thul]

"Is it a literal tower? Can we just hit it with artillery?" Zeno asks.

[Riss]

"Not to be the totally unhelpful peanut gallery here, but installations like that usually got shielding or something right?" Riss interjects.

Leaning back to side up with Nudie she looks over her shoulder and says, "Saw that in a holo-vid."