Monster (A Star Wars Imperial Navy Defector Quest)

Chapter, uh, 12? Commentary:

Do you know how to get back into writing with a bang? A literal bang.

CHANDLER'S LAW BINCHES!

Well, to be fair Chandler's law presupposes the violence may not even be connected to the existing plot, and this violence rather elegantly ties together several plot threads that exist and that you've subjected yourselves to. So I feel fully justified in deploying it. Also it did help to jumpstart my brain from the puddle that the Heat Dome :tm: left it in.

My brain really is goop that I'm trying to put back into a brain-like shape. Hopefully I'll be able to regain some level of writing momentum.

In semi-related mental powerwashing out the detritus of my mind, I thought I'd lay out my thinking on having the defection that's in the description coming well after the quest start. There are very good reasons to disagree with the narrative tack that I'm taking with Monster that I could see myself agreeing with, and do a degree I sort of drifted into the current path.

I have a few reasons for what I'm doing and what I'm hoping to accomplish

-I want to marinate in Vaere's justifications in the moment. Not retroactively, but to see her in her element.
-I'd like to follow the path out and the reasoning behind Vaere's eventual exit from Imperial service.
-It's fun to have a quest that starts with an objective. A goal that we're collectively working towards that's always in the distance unseen to Vaere herself at this moment.
-I think that shaping the circumstances of an inevitable coming event is an intersting artistic choice.
-I think it's kinda fun to muck about as a senior Imperial after Endor while everything is falling the fuck apart and oh fuck, by palpatine's wrinkled scrotum everything is fucking awful.
-Triangles

That all being said, there's a time limit I'm working towards, so you can be assured that at some point rather quickly this defection will be occuring, but the circumstances of that event and the hand that Vaere has to play during it will be largely shaped by the choices you make during this initial phase.

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.


[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.


I'm not giving up a single dang triangle without knowing exactly who sent those orders. Also, practical experience > training exercise for assessing combat readiness.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -running a fleet exercise.

I would imagine those assassins' orders were of Imperial origin, either set up ahead of time and would have always been carried out, or due to us not following through on the mysterious transfer orders, as it's been quite a while since we received them.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

[x] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.
[x] [Fleet] -running a fleet exercise.

[X] [Vaere] -putting all her attention into following the tracks of the assassination attempt.
[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

Gotta raise that morale, especially now that the empire is beginning to fracture and with us sending our personnel on anti-piracy if we decide that is best. Also can't beat pure combat experience with anything else, even if it's impressive training.

[X] [Vaere] -putting out feelers to the wider galaxy.

We should probably figure out what's going on in the Empire so we can know when to go warlord or turncoat or whatever.

[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

Combat experience, vaguely followimg orders, expanding our reach. What's not to like?

[X] [Vaere] -putting out feelers to the wider galaxy.
[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

Knowing who to trust if someone rolls up will be very valuable. I like the idea of sticking with imperial ideology of keeping the peace amidst all the chaos, so removing pirates is a good idea.

[X] [Vaere] -putting out feelers to the wider galaxy.
[X] [Fleet] -running a fleet exercise.

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.

[X] [Fleet] -securing Ganthel.

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.
[X] [Fleet] -running a fleet exercise.

I'm concerned that ignoring these orders will blow up in our face if we ignore them any longer, making them the most immediate problem.
Running a fleet exercise will help with all other future fleet exercises by improving fleet performance. Its an investment in every other future action.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -transferring those squadrons to Shadow Hand Command

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.


[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

[X] [Vaere] -putting out feelers to the wider galaxy.
[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

Meet people. Figure out if we expect them to dine, or die. Get our crews practical experience and carry out some imperial justice.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

[X] [Vaere] -putting all her attention into following the tracks of the assassination attempt.

[X] [Fleet] -securing Ganthel.

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.
[X] [Fleet] -securing Ganthel.

[X] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.

[X] [Fleet] -running a fleet exercise.

[X] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.


[X] [Fleet] -putting patrols down the Commenor Run to combat piracy.

MC200 said:

I would imagine those assassins' orders were of Imperial origin, either set up ahead of time and would have always been carried out, or due to us not following through on the mysterious transfer orders, as it's been quite a while since we received them.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Could be they just wanted to impress Wynssa Starflare.

I feel certain that these assissans were Imperials and were acting on orders from Shadow Command. There's not really any question there, right?