Tabor's Plan

[Tabor Nansk 0]

Sitting in the cockpit of his fighter for seemingly endless hours on seemingly pointless alert, had given Tabor plenty of time to work out a plan on how to deal with the prison situation. Since nothing in the way of a decision – or direction - seemed to be coming down from upstairs, he let his mind wax creative.

 

If he were one of the prisoners, what would be their plan of escape? First priority would be getting off the planet. The facility itself had no long range ships and certainly none that would carry more than a few passengers anyway. The answer had to be in the transport ships that came calling each week with new prisoners and base supplies. Even though they were carrying supplies, the Reaent’s hails hadn’t been answered because she was not one of the usual ships and had arrived off schedule. The prisoners knew something was amiss. So the first step in breaching the standoff was to convince the prisoners that the Reaent was one of the regular supply ships. To do that, they would have to break orbit and make the prisoners think she had given up trying to make contact. The Reaent could then intercept the next regularly scheduled transport, instruct them to stand off, and then return to the prison in that ship’s place. If we could disguise ourselves as asteroids to cross the neutral zone, we could easily disguise ourselves as a transport freighter.

 

Now came the question of putting boots on the ground. The prisoners would be expecting supplies, a few new inmates, and a small contingent of security guards. They probably already had a plan to overpower the transport’s security by dressing a larger force in the prison’s security uniforms. The Reaent could use that to our own advantage – we would let it happen. We’d send a couple of “prisoners” (Tabor planned on volunteering himself and Will), TKar and a few security people, and some of the supplies that the ship was carrying actually destined for the facility. That’s what the prisoners expect and when their plan to overpower the newcomers was successful, they would turn their attention to the next step which was getting aboard the transport.

 

What the prisoners wouldn’t pay attention to is what they couldn’t see. The key to Tabor’s plan was Shamor’s situation. Scuttlebutt travels fast even on a starship. Shamor’s invisibility would allow him to accompany the away team without being detected. He could then part from the main group, rescue the prison’s real security personnel and coordinate re-taking the facility. Tabor was sure Shamor would be all over that assignment.

 

Now all that Tabor needed to do was get the plan to the Captain. Of course he’d have to “go through channels” and that meant getting Will on board with the plan. As Tabor set off for the Flight Office to find his wingmate, he was fairly confident Will would go for it. Especially the part about being a prisoner!