"Could we instead entice him out to somewhere we are fighting on our terms? saves damaging the base that way as well as not giving it away to Imperials"

"Hmm...that's an interesting point," Cohlen looks thoughtful. "That might prove difficult. Inside the city he holds all the cards, since he's on home territory. We'd have to present him with a target he couldn't refuse."

"And besides," Omek speaks up now. "We're assuming he'll fight. He'll only want to shoot at us if we actually provoke him. I say we try to negotiate; I'm sure we can get a measured response out of the man."

"Hold on, I'm not so sure we should mine any entrances. Mines are not too particular about who they blow up. If any of his men want to run rather than support either side blowing them up would not be nice," Rax interjects from his corner.

"I say we have planned enough. Let's just go in there and see what happens. If it's a shootout he wants we'll shoot him down. If he can be reasoned with I supposed we can try that first. With one hand on the blaster of course."

"A sound strategy," agrees Omek. "We talk, and we see what he has to say for himself, and we behave like civilised beings."

"Indeed. We should try to make peace, instead of starting a war in the Alliance," Cohlen speaks up. "Which just leaves one final task. We ought to appoint someone to lead the cell. We should elect them to the position. Any nominations?" she looks around the room.

"Tookur nominate Doctor Cohlen. She good leader. Sound choice. Me like her."

"I name Lieutenant Braxus," a Dresselian in ranger gear speaks up, gesturing to the Bothan. "He's a fine soldier. He'll see us right."

"Any others?" asks Cohlen, business-like despite the compliments paid to her.

Toco chirps in a sing songy voice,

""Zavel, you betrayed a Strike Team publicly and are a vicious mercenary who loves a fight; let us take your position away and talk things through like reasonable beings.' "

"Have any of you ever seen anyone give up power willingly after they abuse it?"

"I don't want war within the cell, but this is long past diplomacy. This will be bloody. I want to minimize it, but there will be blood."

"Aye, perhaps," says Braxus, the Bothan. "But we have to try. For the spirit of the Alliance, if nothing else. We'll see if he still has that much loyalty."

"I will not charge in guns blazing, and I am not looking for a fight. I am just able to read the weather. Cloudy with a High Chance of Blaster fire."

Toco starts to calm down,

"But a peaceful turn over would be best." and under his breath adds, "Just not likely."

"Maybe not, maybe not, but what are we if we let go of our principles. Peace before war, that's what we do," Omek is resolute.

"Are we all in agreement then?" asks Cohlen. "If so, I would ask for any last nominations to lead the cell."

"I don't like any of this!!

I smell Imperial presence as soon as the blasters start...

I say we try the bread crumbs idea..."

"Bread crumbs idea? You'll have to refresh our collective memories," Cohlen seems confused.

"Set up a trail for the Imperials to follow, one that can't be traced back to us, that leads to the base and gets him captured, saves us doing any shooting, and although we may have to stay here a while longer, majority of people won't be caught up in the fire fight losing loads of people"

Hearing CT's suggestion, Geoff quickly shakes his head. "Bad idea on three fronts. First, that would be eliminating resources, equipment, vehicles, and personnel that we can still use. Second, the Imperials would probably go for a bombing run to take out Zavvel's people. Third, there is no guarantee that such a tactic would kill Zavvel and his core team, which will make it worse. Fourth, Alliance Command would really be frowning on such a tactic, especially when there are alternatives."

Looking at the rest of the assembled cell, Geoff thinks for a few seconds before speaking again. "I vote for Doctor Cohlen to be cell leader, unless she wants to have it be someone else. I would recommend Lieutenant Braxus for second in command, since he seems to be the most senior tactical officer. Let me make it clear: being the most tactically savvy officer in the galaxy won't do anyone any good if they have the morals of a Black Sun Pirate. Doctor Cohlen has demonstrated that more times in the last seventy two hours than anything else.

"I also think we should go for a dual approach; Omek and any volunteers will go to the front entrance, demanding that the Captain Zavvel surrenders. Don't do anything dumb, though, we don't want any one to get killed. Meanwhile, if you can identify a route going straight to the command center, that would be helpful. Breach team, consisting of Toco, Tookur, "Hotdog", Oro, Issan, CT, and myself will take that route.

"They start fighting or negotiations break down, Breach team will attempt to capture the command center and Zavvel's team. If he chooses to fight, then he is against what the Alliance stands for, has committed treason, and betrayed his unit. We'll try to capture him, but we won't take unnecessary risks. What do you all think?"

Issan felt tempted to try and throw his own hat into the ring for leadership. After all, those nominated had already let things get this bad, so how good could they be at leading the cell forward? However, no one seemed to put up Issan for the job, a sign that his bid would be dead on arrival. Perhaps there's a chance to change that...Issan thought to himself before raising a hand towards Geoff. "I support the idea of a two-pronged assault, with one alteration: I would like to be part of the team that goes through the front. Even if Zavvel thinks it's a chance to net a scapegoat, I'll have insurance."

To make his point, Issan pulled out a holoprojector from his pocket. "I've got the footage, a perfect display of Zavvel's duplicity. Certainly enough to give him pause if I tell him that the footage gets to the holonet if anything happens to me."

Nodding at Issan, Geoff glances at the others. "Nice idea, Issan. I'm not too sure if we should play our hand in the initial negotiations, though. But, the fact that we have the briefing recorded could be a trump card. Can you make a couple copies of the briefing? Worse case scenario, I want Doc Cohlen and Lieutenant Braxus to have the original. Besides that, I would like you to have a guard on stand by."

Looking at the other four member of the team, Geoff tilts his head to Issan. "Any of you willing to cover his behind in case Zavvel doesn't want to play nice?"

"I'll keep him safe enough, if that's what's needed," Rax says. "I'd prefer to be on the breach team but I'll go where you tactical-thinkers need me."

"Not liking this at all, all avenues I can see lead to a fire fight!! When that happens you can endure the presence of the Imperials, what happens then? A fight on 3 different fronts! Not what we want to happen... I say we need to establish communications with him from here first then decide upon what we need to do next. We can ensure that he won't be able to track our comms and no one will be able to drop in on our comms..."

"Well that's a fair point I suppose. We can secure our communications if we want to talk to him, but I think that even Zavvel isn't stupid enough to call the Empire down on our heads, no matter what he might gain in the short term," Cohlen seems adamant on the matter.

Sighing at CT's statements and glancing at Doctor Cohlen after her input, Geoff frowns as he held up his hand and counted off the next few statements. "CT, first, we are all not going there. A small delegation, with Omek, Issan, 'Hotdog', and a select few volunteers will be going through the front entrance. Their job is to negotiate a peaceful end, though that is a bit doubtful. But I'm willing to let Issan and Omek run the show there.

"Second, the Breach team will be made up of only small task force, to be used if the negotiations break down OR Zavvel decides to fight. If, or when, that happens, we will be in position to assault the warehouse from one of the escape paths. Hopefully we can capture Zavvel and his command team.

"The rest of the cell, under the new leadership, will make a run for the hills, evade and escape to regroup and restructure itself. That way, should we fail, the cell won't be wiped out with us."

Feeling the stress of the operation, Geoff sighs and shakes his head, then stares at the droid. "You're right, all avenues lead to a firefight. Problem is, we either choose the time and battlefield now, or let someone else decide that later. Could be Zavvel, could be the Imperials. Heck, could even be the locals. As far as I am concerned, we know where Zavvel is now and can neutralize him before it gets worse.

"Next, communication would only give Zavvel an imperative to get to those heavy weapons and set up an ambush. Or run, which would make it worse. And that's before we consider the Imps either tracking down our signal or Zavvel handing that information over to them. Which means either a ground assault by the Imperials or a bombardment. How much punishment can your body take before you go down, CT?"

Lifting his gaze from the droid, Geoff looks at Doctor Cohlen, Lieutenant Braxus, and the rest of the assembled group. "My team was the one used by Zavvel to take down the aqueduct. My team bears the sins of being manipulated by that boggard. That's why I am recommending my team to be the one to attack Zavvel, should he not be cooperative. Anything else?"

"Still don't like any of this... Don't want anyone being captured... Sure I'll go along with it but not hundred percent on any of it!"

with that CT rolls away to the nearest charging port, plugs in and shuts down some systems.

"I support that strategy, but with one key difference," says Braxus. "We're fighters, all of us, and if we're going to get this cell back on track we need all boots on the ground to defeat Zavvel's forces."

"Who said anything about defeating him? We don't have to fight!" Omek explodes outwards.

"Omek! By the stars, would you stop for two minutes," Cohlen's response neatly shuts him up. "I think it's a sound plan. We should get out anyone who isn't going to be fighting directly. Yes it's a trap, we know that, but it'll only be against Zavvel, and if he wins we can relocate and set up somewhere else. Perhaps the Imperials will simply finish him off."

Saddened that he couldn't convince CT, Geoff looks at Lieutenant Braxus, Doctor Cohlen, and Omek. "Ambassador Omek, I have to ask you this question; can you, with a hundred percent certainty, knowing what you know, convince Zavvel to relinquish command without a fight? If your answer is anything but yes, then we have to plan for a contingency. I only hope it won't get too many of us wounded." Or dead.

Once Ambassador Omek answers, Geoff turns to Lieutenant Braxus and Dcotor Cohlen. "This is a volunteer mission. I suggest we take an hour break, ask for volunteers, then reconvene. I don't want anymore than half of our group to be going up against Zavvel's."

[Request: Do you want me to roll in order to convince Omek to give his honest opinion? I feel he would go for diplomacy with the Emperor despite evidence to the contrary.]

Omek looks at you from drooping eyestalks.

"I cannot guarantee anything. Truth be told I doubt we could talk down Zavvel from his position at all. He's too far gone for that. But we have to try, for the Rebellion's spirit if nothing else," Cohlen interjects to spare him having to go further.

"I agree, no more than half should go. But that half should be the best fighters we have. I doubt you'll have less than half the cell volunteering though - we signed on to give our lives, and that's what we'll do if needs be. Which just leads the question of who will lead the cell going on," she raises her voice to allow this to carry through the room, and the general murmurs of assent seem to be that the time for nominations is over. "Unless there's a last-minute entrant?" she asks you.

Rax steps forward. "I have given it some thought. Meaning no disrespect to the two of you, I'm sure you would lead us well, but I nominate Issan. I'm not one for speeches, but I think he would be the best candidate. Plus, he promised to get me in a fighter soon if I threw his name in," Rax finishes with a joke, laughing just to make sure nobody thinks he's serious about the last bit.

"That's a fair offer. I suppose it should come down to a vote then," says Cohlen.

"I would like to say something, if you don't mind." Issan stood up and nodded to Cohlen and Braxus, conceding respect where deserved. "While both you and the doctor have deeds to speak for yourselves here, I would like a chance to make my position clear before we vote."

Getting no objection, Issan looked to those gathered, meeting each of them in the eyes. "While I am a newcomer here, trust me when I say that I am no greenlekku when it comes to fighting the Empire's oppression. I've seen what can happen when a resistance loses its ability to fight, and we're teetering on that brink as we speak. So, when you cast your vote, don't ask yourselves who would you 'like' to have in charge, ask youselves: who you believe can lead us back from the edge of disaster?"

Coercing the Vote! (Upgrade from Destiny Flip and Cutting Question Used): 3eP 3 successes, 2 advantage