Diplomacy All That Remains

[Tyl Ro]

Objective: D - save the plankton!
Tags: Charlie Nooran , Finley Dawson
Makeshift research bench aboard Croissant

A look at Tyl's research pad would reveal the following preliminary notes:

Task:

Adapt interstellar plankton species extent in the ThonBoka Nebula to the destination Nebula in the Deep Core. Must be nutritious to the Oswaft species.

Variables:​

• Ecological circumstances of the ThonBoka Nebula
• Ecological circumstances of the destination nebula
• Dietary requirements of the Oswaft

Initial observations:​

• The plankton have a similar autotrophic process to phytoplankton within many oceanic ecologies. They feed on sunlight.
• The plankton's carapace is fully sealed to vacuum.
• The stars in the plankton's natural habitat are three, blue-white, main sequence.
• The plankton are naturally bioluminescent.

Initial postulations:​

• Carapace must be capable of shielding the interior biologic components from massive deltas of temperature and radiation.
• The organic matter that comprises the nebula must be a component in the lifecycle of the plankton and Oswaft.

Initial queries:​

• How does the plankton excrete waste material without exposing itself to explosive decompression?
• Which proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids are most valuable to the diet of the Oswaft?

Tyl remained focused on the microscope, viewing the sample of organic material she had acquired. The material was directly from the nebula, some of the plankton floated within, glowing a faint blue.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

"Captain Casamyr, BeeBee, thanks for coming out. Those tanks'll help a ton." Jerec looked around. "Alright, looks like I'm Johnny on the spot. Let's get this in gear."

He whistled to make himself sort of unavoidable to everyone around - Lucien Dooku , Ay Ge , Vyri, Kelsie Sylvan , Nova Casamyr , and BB-4001X, among others. He went over to a conveniently placed window with a view of the delicate, crystalline Oswaft structure and the metal scaffold that surrounded it.

"It's down to us and time's wasting. Captain Sylvan and Captain Casamyr have taken care of the ganker limpets - the big hyperdrives - and some of the fuelling gear necessary to take the alien megastructure all the way. Now, the Infinity's Free brought a ton of inertial dampeners and anticoncussion fields to strengthen the structure." He slapped the forklift with its big crates. "That's what we've just unloaded. Take them out on service ships or tug pods, whatever's available, and fit them to the metal scaffolding around the alien structure. Synch them up, bolt them down, simple simple."

 

[Amea Virou]

A Good Cause​

.-.

Crew
Ay Ge
Jerec Asyr
Kelsie Sylvan
Lucien Dooku
Vyri

.-.

Others:
Allyson Locke
BB-4001X
Salamander
Gir Quee
Junko Ike
Jyoti Nooran
Nova Casamyr
ADM. Reshmar
Taiia Locke

.-.

Didn’t seem right to come land on a station and demand food right off the bat. If there was one thing that a trip to both Firefist and Cosm’s Well had taught Amea it was the concept of conserving your resources in outer space. Yes, this was within the same galaxy but the idea was the same nonetheless. She had counted her inventory at the end of each day, measuring just exactly how much she had eaten and how much she had a need for. On occasion it had extended to the rest of the inventory of food as well, and needless to say there had been a lot of resources that went into providing food for a whole ship.

The military woman came up to Amea, joined her on the way towards Engineering and initiated smalltalk. She let out a casual ‘mhm’ as Allyson began to talk about doing better at work than with people.

“Technically, organizing people is work too.” She said and lifted her eyes from the map towards Allyson. Focusing on the map made it easier to focus on being a normal human being. Or well, as close to one as possible. It wasn’t personal, it was a matter of… well, being able to talk at all.

Allyson asked about how the trip was,

“Long.” Amea responded and lowered the map as they got closer to engineering. It wasn’t that she meant to be rude, but trust in people that had been identified as ‘military’ did not come easy. Call it one too many run-ins with would-be pirates disguised as navy officers, corrupt city officials in a self-imposed ‘General’ rank. It wasn’t easy to trust authority at all. Which was not to count the just how many counts of breaking-and-entering that Amea had collected at this point. Good or bad, the law and her had become… Uncomfortable acquaintances.

Opening the doors to one of the monitor rooms Amea proceeded to put herself to work by one of the nearby communication arrays.

“It’s your station, so I don’t expect you to have any issue figuring out what is what in here.” She said and looked over at Allyson to give her a nod. “I take it this is where we will ensure that we’re operating as efficiently as possible.”

The other workers as slowly began to pour in and Amea in turn started to scratch at the back of her neck with an anxious, queasy, smile.

“Impressive, uh… Set-up.”
​

 

[Allyson Locke]

Objective B​

Location: Engineering Bay
With: Amea Virou

The woman known as Amea was tight-lipped, and Allyson did her best not to take it too personally. Remembering when she had first met Kaili, the girl was somewhat the same, though in a different sense. Why was the blonde girl popping into her head now of all times? Could it be because, for some reason, the connection she had held with her was going crazy? Allyson decided to give in to it just this once. The feeling was warm but disjointed. It worried Allyson, but she did her best not to show it.​

Continuing into the engineering room, Allyson nodded at the small comments that Amea had at least given her. “It’s far from my station. I was recruited just like you to help out. I’ve been doing my own thing for a while, guess that old spacer feeling hasn’t broken through the military regiment.” The Corellian shrugged as she did her best not to stare. Ever since the group of spacers landed, Allyson couldn’t shake her gut feeling, especially now.​

People moved in, and Allyson did her best not to get stepped on, they were a focused group and went right to work. “The set up was a mess when I first got here. I had to do some organizing - I’m thrilled that you volunteered to come to the engineering room. Hopefully, you can fix anything that I missed.”​

One of the techs called for Allyson’s attention and pointed at a screen that was having issues. A few strokes of the keyboard and nothing changed. Allyson’s face frowned as she tried to continue to work through it; eventually, she gave in and touched the system itself and focused. Anyone aware of the Force could pick up on what she was doing. After a few moments, she turned off the machine and opened it up. Wires were adjusted and cleaned, and the work didn’t take long, but soon after, everything was just as it should be.​

Returning her attention to Amea, she smiled. “Any work station is yours if you need anything I have tablets and really anything your heart desires. So don’t be shy. Uh, we are trying to make sure that what you guys brought doesn’t crush the lattice, so getting the computers to talk to each other and find the right pressure point is important.”​

Looking away, Allyson couldn’t stop trying to see something she shouldn’t be seeing. “Err, yeah. If you have any questions, just ask.” If she could punch herself in the face, she would, but now wasn’t the time for that, and she shouldn’t have allowed herself to feed into that bond. Shrugging off her jacket, she hung it and started to work, hands diving into a dead core, trying to revive it through the use of the Force. At least in this type of condition, she could keep her mind off Kaili as she had for the past few years.​

 

[Gir Quee]

LL-1200 Light Freighter Fool's Errand, somewhere in the ThonBoka Nebula en route to the Ocean Tide

He tilted the yoke of the tramp freighter slightly to the port, taking the freighter in a graceful banking maneuver away from the Pulsar Wind II. He spared a glance at his sensor readout, watching the signals of the medium transport become smaller and smaller. A slow smile creased his face. What an awful piece of junk for a ship...but the company there was worth the detour, if only for a little while. He had expected Dav grumble about being pulled along into this, despite the amount of credits on the table and his own personal debt to Gir. Yet the old smuggler had treated him more like a son rather than a casual business associate, causing Gir to really wonder about what made that man tic. The HUD on the Errand made a brief chirping sound, announcing that they were far enough from the Wind and any other nearby potential hazards to jump into hyperspace.

He briefly checked the course one more time just to be safe before he engaged the ship's hyperdrive. The stars elongated around him and mixed into the lustrous background of the nebula before the Errand surged into hyperspace. Now I just need to not hit a Oswaft before I get to the Tide...He began to go through comm messages that he had needed to catch up on as the freighter zipped through space at superluminal speeds. Most of it was routine and tedious (and usually boring) organizational paperwork - signing off on research projects and approving personnel actions. He thought that he might have had a chance to escape it coming out to the Nebula, but the more he put it off, the more compelled he found himself to do it - he didn't want to come back to a massive stack of paperwork at the end of his journey. What a wishful fool I can be...The console chirped several times, announcing the ship's impending reversion to real space. He happily toggled the communication's screens away and prepared to take full control of the ship's controls again.

The Errand appeared into realspace with a flash of indiscriminate Cronau radiation. He quickly found his bearings, spotting the emerald and white hull of the Ocean Tide off to his port. A school of smaller craft, corvettes and starfighters, trailed in the bigger's vessel's wake. He had seen countless scenes like it before, but something looked off about it all. He squinted his eyes and quickly realized why. Among these artificial constructs, an almost countless number of the graceful Oswaft nearly blended in due to their near translucent skin. As he banked the Errand towards the Tide, a section of space seemed to shift color in front of him. An Oswaft...The creature gently glided towards him before turning to shadow him from a distance. Gir was grateful for this, if only because the translation software hadn't be installed on the Errand yet. He tapped a button on his console, signalling the Tide his intent to land in the carrier's, cylindrical dorsal hangar bay. A brief green appeared on his console, confirming his flight path to his private hangar bay. The Errand glided over the assault carrier's hull before a tractor beam snagged his craft and took him down the cylindrical cavern that housed the carrier's support craft. A minute later, the beam had pulled him into the hangar and he had landed. He found a pair of Directorate officers waiting for him at the ramp
of his shuttle. The skinnier one slowly shook his head.

"Glad to see you back onboard sir. I think the Oswaft were beginning to wonder what we were going to do...what are we going to do?"

"That is my problem now," said the blonde man, "but I have a few things I would like to try. If they actually work is an entirely new matter..."

 

[ADM. Reshmar]

The small group of vessels had come to a halt near the Ocean Tide. The Tide had sent verification That Gir was aboard but Reshmar had yet to hear from his old friend. Reshmar friend a bit then told the officer aboard the Tide to have Gir contact him at his convenience. Around them, the seemingly oblivious creatures floated and swam through space as the whaladon Reshmar remembered from his youth. The large creatures swam the waters of Dac without regard to most of the other sentient creatures of Reshmars homeworld. He considered Dac and how it was being subjugated by the Sith. He had contact with the royal family through back door comm channels and the situation while not as bad as it could be was not good. They were not being treated harshly but neither were they free to do as they wished. It was the best one could hope for under Sith rule he guessed. One day he hoped to see his homeworld free again. To return home and swim the warm waters of his childhood memories. Till then he would do his part to further the efforts of his allies and hope when the time came to retake Dac they would return in kind the favor he done.

"Sir the program has been successfully integrated into our comms channel," the communications watch officer informed him. Reshmar nodded and watched the large forward display. To talk to something so evolved would be challenging even with the program. It was not about words. It was not about the ideal of the massive creatures. Every race no matter how advanced had spent centuries developing their language and their centuries of evolution shaped that. The fact that we can even communicate with them to a point of co-operation os a miracle. We can not hope to understand them, in a way we can other beings. Their reflections, the meaning of their words. They have can tell us but we can not know what they mean truly. Reshmar hoped that throughout this operation he would catch a glimpse at their wonder and knowledge. Their curiosity and understanding, the way they see us and the rest of the galaxy. Reshmar hoped that when this was over he himself would understand better the universe and all of its beings. To look at the galaxy through the Oswaft, to see himself and others as they do.

"Very well Lets say Hello"

 

[Nova Casamyr]

Location: aboard Beldon Station with Jerec Asyr , BB-4001X, and others
Objective: B - coordinate with other spacers on transport of superstructure - and recover from prior space walk
Other Tags: Ay Ge , Vyri, Kelsie Sylvan , Allyson Locke , Amea Virou

Nova nodded at Captain Asyr's recommendations. "Alright. Beebee," she said, turning to the HRD. "You're up for the next space walk. Grab what you need from the Infinity's Free cargo offload and take Oasis. I'll stay here, recover from my walk, and finish going over the rest of the plan."

She hadn't felt the crash coming at first. But she knew that time was the only factor. This happened after most space walks, no matter how long or short. While in zero-g, the body uses muscles that normally don't get as much exercise. Even the blood has to pump harder as it no longer has gravity to do some of the work. Adrenaline typically ramps up in space. So while on the walk, it is common for an organic not to feel a difference. Thus, once back in one-g, there would be a period where the adrenaline starts to wind down and then all that muscle fatigue catches up with you. Nova needed tea and a good fruit smoothie, or whatever approximation they had on this station.

In hindsight, the better move would have been to send BB-4001X on the first walk. The droid was inorganic, and though its servos would be more stressed in space than in normal grav conditions, the recovery window for a droid was far less. Just another one of those management things Nova hadn't yet figured out now that she was in charge.

But now wasn't the time to second guess herself. There'd be plenty time for that later when there wasn't a job to do. "Captain Asyr, it seems some of your crew is in need of food. I just took a space walk and could use some grub myself. Will you be coming with? I was hoping we could discuss the hyperroute between here and the Deep Core. To my knowledge, there isn't a main corridor unless we go well out of our way to the Perlemian. We also need to go around Kessel. And avoiding chunks of One Sith and Bryn'adul space would be wise considering how cumbersome our cargo is. We only have so much fuel to make this work. And, admittedly, I'm not as familiar with this slice of the galaxy. Have any thoughts?"

 

[Ay Ge]

Her hands grasped the small coupons given by Allyson Locke , eyeing them up before carefully stashing them away before returning to the group. Following their captain over to the many windows doting the station as her gaze fell upon the massive construct before them.

Ay may not have been the best at tech but even she was capable of simple instillation processes and following an instruction manual to the 'T'. Her head silently bobbing up and down as Jerec Asyr explained their current assignment. For some the wonder of what their current friends would be using such a structure would no doubt weigh upon their mind somewhat. To an extent Ay did want to understand its use, but over all she didn't care.

Before speaking up the other new women approached their group, offering to have a meal with the crew. She seemed like quite the experienced spacer, always someone handy to have when dealing with such a large cargo. Once more though the pale skinned women remained silent as Nova had addressed Jerec directly and not herself, Ay returning her gaze back out into the void.

A space walk would be interesting and with her exoskeleton she may be of more use handling the larger equipment and not suffering from the effects of zero g as much.

Vyri Kelsie Sylvan Lucien Dooku Amea Virou

 

[Finley Dawson]

Finley just chuckled in the face of Charlie's whining.

"Hey it's not like you were flying the Kessel Run. It was a leisurely guided cruise from the Knave into the nebula. Besides, I'm reading the temperature outside at...a balmy 2 Kelvin."

At near absolute zero, it probably wasn't the best idea for the K'paur hybrid to be hanging out in a rig outside. Ashla forbid there was a tear in her suit. Doubly so if her parents found out. He found her adoptive Echani parents scary, and one of them was in the area.

"Alright, I did some other 'easy' work modulating the tractor beam for our target, the plankton. You'll just need to fire it up the beam and point it at one of the clouds, and then real it in for me to collect."

Closer to the plankton clouds, and the trio would be able to witness hundreds of Oswaft cruising about. Normally, the translucent creatures were hard to see at a distance, but they stood out against the glowing critters around them. Some skimmed the edges, opening their hangar sized maws to scoop up plankton for a meal. Yet others cut right through the clouds in another section. For a few moments they seemed to take on a more solid appearance as they darkened and shimmered.

"There it is. Wen says that the Oswaft deposit refined nutrients directly into the plankton clouds, spewed directly from their pores. It's like a spacey fertilizer. I'd definitely like to get a sample of that as well."

He stood up from his chair, making his way to the back for his helmet and the bay doors. Already wearing a EVA suit, he cranked a knob on his left wrist to pressurize the baggy suit, turning it snug against his lean frame.

"As soon as you get a lock, just ease it toward the shuttle, and I'll step out to snag what you collect."

Charlie Nooran Tyl Ro

 

[Amea Virou]

A Good Cause​

.-.

Crew
Ay Ge
Jerec Asyr
Kelsie Sylvan
Lucien Dooku
Vyri

.-.

Others:
Allyson Locke
BB-4001X
Salamander
Gir Quee
Junko Ike
Jyoti Nooran
Nova Casamyr
ADM. Reshmar
Taiia Locke

.-.

There was a brief pause before Amea took a deep breath and knelt down by one of the stations to check its internals. This was work that she was familiar with and could figure out on her own. Like this console, for example. The Model-G series Comms-Array were notorious for their faulty power couplings and inability to maintain high pressure over an extended amount of time. Usually a system that had some less essential systems hooked to it, but for an op like this it wouldn’t hurt to be too careful.

“Any idea what kind of pressure these systems will endure?” Amea asked and looked over at Allyson. “Don’t want to overload these systems.” She grabbed the nearby ‘spanner and began to shuffle the wires around to reach the gauge. “Or do we have any back-up systems in case this one blows?”

It hadn’t been hard to miss the swelling in the force and how what had been unwilling to co-operate before had suddenly sparked to life in a manner that Amea was all too familiar with. Her nerves straightened out as she began to disperse her own signature across the entire station with a cautious glance at the rest of the crew. This woman would pick up on what Amea did if she played her cards, any card at all.

It was time for hiding then and mixing in with the rest of the crew. Not an unfamiliar notion but one that took far more energy out of Amea than she had anticipated or hoped for. During her travels she had come to understand that the ability to affect electronic impulses and waveforms was not something that many had seen much less accomplished on their own. It set her apart from others in a way that went against everything that she believed in when it came to her work.

“You good on your end? Need someone to check that console for you?”

​

 

[Charlie Nooran]

Objective D Finley Dawson Tyl Ro

The young K'paur hybrid hissed under her breath, while her partner revealed the conditions of space. Instantly, she was turned off from the spacewalk, though the idea of asking her mother to help her design an environmental suit custom for her - so she could enjoy a spacewalk now and then.

Charlie still wasn't entirely convinced of her job orders, but she accepted them and geared herself up. The chill airs of space still seeped into the ship, and Charlie bundled herself up in her special environmental suit. Like Finley, she twisted the knob to pressurize the suit and allow it to regulate her temperature. Pressing the lock buttons Charlie sealed inside protecting herself from the elements. The K'paur knew she would get a scolding if she didn't take the precautions. Charlie hated the cold, and she hated the heat - her dislike kept her alive.

"Okay, doesn't sound too hard." Her hands dug around her knapsack and pulled out a few of her snack cakes. Charlie opened the crinkly package without care and quickly chewed on it. She looked over at the doctor they brought along and wondered what she was looking at through the microscope. It was interesting; the more Charlie pondered, she realized she had never used one before. Maybe after this, she could pester Tyl to let her see it.

As she finished the sponge cake, her attention returned to the plankton and the tractor beam. Firing up the beam, she started to aim towards the areas that Finley had pointed out. Humming happily to herself, she targeted towards the clouds. Before she fired the beam, she waited for Finley to get into position. She radioed to the Corellian, "First shot going out."

The beam shot forward and clung to a decent-sized chunk of the cloud, and it began to make its way towards the spacefaring Corellian.

 

[Tyl Ro]

Objective: D - save the plankton!
Tags: Charlie Nooran , Finley Dawson
Makeshift research bench aboard Croissant

The initial sample appeared to vaporize within its vacuum sealed container. Moments later, a chemical readout of the plankton's nucleotides scrawled across a nearby datapad screen. Tyl picked up the pad, reading over the report. Breaking the organism down into its most basic parts, Tyl would be able to determine which strands of the plankton's DNA were directly relevant to the species capability to survive in a vacuum. Then, with the proper gene code modifications, she could "reprogram" certain protein strands for the plankton to survive in a new environment with new circumstances. Easier said than done. But the Kaminoan would have less work to do on a much smaller organism than, say, the Oswaft. The simpler an organism was, the simpler the work. That was simply a fact of biology.

Preliminary analysis was complete, but the analysis equipment would be active for some time before a full diagnostic would be ready for the scientist to interpret. Tyl set the pad down and leaned back in her seat, relaxing out of the meditative state she used for her medical work. At first, thoughts began to invade her periphery. But with the aid of some measured breathing, she pushed those thoughts out and quieted her mind. Her eyes closed for a moment, collecting herself. Slowly her green eyes opened again and her mind was clear.

There was an unspoken ethical problem with the work that she was doing. Tampering a species genetic code was to defy nature. Kaminoans did that kind of research and experimentation all the time, without any sort of compunction. The species felt that if a thing was possible, then it should be explored and understood. Otherwise, what was the point of having the ability to perform genetic manipulation at all? Cells would simply be written as is, protein would be immutable, life would simply exist as it was and would never change. But that wasn't the way of things. Gene therapy, genetic modification and manipulation, breeding patterns, all of these things could be controlled and desired results could be achieved.

But then, not everything could be inherently understood or explained. The Jedi were a shining example: mystics who clung to the logic of their belief more often than science. And this mysterious Force that bound everything together? Too abstract a concept for Kaminoans ever to really appreciate. So what did they do? They bred the Force out of their own species. Tyl was a rare case, one who would have been terminated during the gestation period had there not been intervention.

To a Jedi? Nature was not just something to be understood, nature was to be revered. And thus, the Force too was revered. Altering the basic building blocks of nature? That was not the Jedi way. But what about in this one case? Taking a non-sentient plankton from its home and moving it elsewhere would not be possible without scientific interference. Without the symbiotic relationship of the Oswaft, the plankton would die, and so too would the Oswaft without their food source. If Tyl did not perform this task, she would be condemning two species. Was that not worth putting ethics aside?

She didn't have an answer. For years, she had been battling the scientist part of herself with the Jedi part of herself. Hoping that one or the other would prove to be unequivocally right. But they couldn't both be right. They were opposite ideals. They could not logically both be true. But this wasn't the time to continue her ongoing mental debate. This was the time to save these species. And she had two Jedi supporting her, and her task. That would be enough for now.

Speaking of Jedi, Tyl turned to her companions. She stood from her bench and walked up just behind the pilot's and co-pilot's seat and looked out the viewport at the swirling gases, matter, and a circling Oswaft companion. "How is it going up here?" Tyl asked Charlie, smiling softly.

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

Objective A - Diplomacy

Jyoti was honestly a little surprised to hear the man identify himself as a Jedi Master, of the (current iteration of) the Jedi Order no less. He carried himself with a certain swagger, quite different from the usual pensive disposition that was the norm for their kind. Much more fitting for a celebrity or a leader, which was why she had initially pegged him as some flavor of government official or commander like the Cathar hegemon.

As he spoke with his booming voice, he never once looked her in the eye. One could interpret that as shifty behavior, or one simply absorbed by their own charm. The Echani wasn't yet sure if it was the former or the latter.

“Master Heliobas, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she greeted again while offering a respectful nod to her Jedi counterpart. “I'm afraid I'm the one that should be apologizing. This organization is still fledgling, and this operation was hastily assembled. All in direct response to the rapid expansion of the Bryn'adul. Their territory skirts the Centrality as we speak, so they're in a prime position to lock down the nebula with a single stroke.”

More optimistic projections pegged a Bryn incursion within a window of several weeks to a few months. Others, a matter of days. As the Bryn remained very much an enigma, Jyoti always operated as if they were running on borrowed time.

“While I understand you didn't come here as an official representative, could you say whether or not comrades from your order would be willing to offer assistance if requested? It's the fear of many of the more anxious Oswaft that'll they move to a foreign space only to have little support dealing with current or future threats.”

Xzaien Salamander

 

[Xzaien]

Objective A: Move the Oswafts without Purging them in flame. And Light Diplomacy.

Xzaien just stood idly by in the shadows. Seemingly uncaring of the situation wrapping up around her. She only stepped forward to reveal herself once the fellow diplomats appeared. She stood at the table where all the plans were layed neatly out. Instantly, it would seem that the room chilled a few degrees. Possibly more notable toward the Jedi present in the room. Easily, the enigmatic white furred figure that stood next to them was a Dark-Sider of a relatively potent degree. Nevertheless, it seemed that she was the Only Dark-Sider among a room of Jedi.

As those gazed about, some meeting her gaze. A soft glow of a deep red were seen permeating her eyes. Indicative of some sort of Dark-Side Corruption typically more visible about the Sith Lords of Old rather than the ones of today. She listened idly by as the Diplomats began their talk of the Bryn'Adul. A force of Chaos that Xzaien despised more than any other abomination. Easily, her mind swelled up with anger as she heard of these mass-genocides without purpose. She had also seen much bloodshed for the greater good. Perhaps now would be a good idea to propose a few tactics to curb the tide of the Bryn'Adul. She spoke, only after all became quiet again.

"I see the threat of the Bryn'Adul every day. I see how they destroy entire populations without mercy. I see how they ruin lives needlessly, and how they breed abominations that deserve nothing more than death."

"To protect these Oswafts, as I believe the core will not suffice if the Sith and Jedi fail to protect them from the Bryn'Adul. I say move them further away from the Core. Far away from these rather pointless encounters with the Sith and Jedi. I seek not the extinction of a species as interesting as they, despite their obviously feral physicality."

"I have already seen Bryn'Adul incursions in my Catharian Space. However, they merely send warbands intending of raiding and pillaging. Easily dispatched by my Older Space Marines. However, now I believe they carry a threat that the Major Powers fail to see. Aside from their wars, the Sith and Jedi have been fighting for hundreds of thousands of years. A truce should be drummed up to deal with the Bryn'Adul, lest this Galaxy fall to Chaos again like the Yuuzang Vong oh so long ago."

"As such, I believe in order to protect these sapients. I am forced to forever hold them under the protection of my new Shock Marines. The latest in Gene-Bred Stock of my people."

"I understand the value of cooperation. If we could only turn our gaze away from petty rivalries for only but a moment, a greater threat can finally be extinguished."

Salamander Jyoti Nooran ​

 

[Salamander]

“The Jedi Order will do as it has always done,” Heliobas replied. Then, acknowledging the ambiguity and uncertainty inherent in his answer, he added, “Our numbers are stretched thin as we face hostilities from both the Bryn’adul and the Sith, but once the Oswaft are within our borders it will be far easier to defend them from attack. When the time comes, I will be there—and I will be very surprised indeed if no other Jedi heed the call to defend those in need.”

It was then that the Cathar representative spoke, interrupting the conversation to give a long speech. Her rudeness aside, it was clear that she wished to hurry things along. Heliobas also felt the urgency of the situation beginning to creep in on the proceedings—despite Jyoti’s best efforts at maintaining Jedi peace and serenity, she was clearly anxious to get down to business. They were running out of time.

He was less happy about Xzaien’s offer—no, her insistence—that her troops remain permanently as guards on the new Oswaft homeworld. Heliobas raised an eyebrow, turning toward the female Cathar in an attempt to read her expression and glean her true motives, but the alien’s face was placid, her steely gaze betraying nothing.

“With all due respect, madam, the placement of your troops will depend on the success of your diplomacy,” he said. “The Oswaft are reluctant even to move. They may be just as reluctant to accept aid from strangers, regardless of your intentions.”

Her intentions, he suspected, were not motivated by a desire to protect the defenseless. He knew little about this Cathar beyond the fact that she was representing their Hegemony, but in his experience most factions got involved in these missions in hopes of expanding their influence and seizing dominion over planets that would normally be beyond their reach. He suspected this was her true goal.

Xzaien Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

Objective A - Diplomacy

For the first time, the Cathar hegemon spoke, offering suggestions about an alternate destination for the Oswaft, to the fringes of the galaxy, and making a plea for cooperation with other major powers. Master Heliobas was quick to counter by reminding them of Oswaft sovereignty in all matters pertaining to them.

With so many disparate groups working together, she had been proven right to seek an audience with them all to get on the same page before meeting with the Elder Council of the Oswaft, lest they offer conflicting messages that made the conservatives uneasy. However, that still left her to devise a solution to satisfy all present.

"Your Highness, there has already been great care taken in selecting the new home space for the Oswaft, a process which I was directly involved. The Deep Core offers a great deal of natural barriers to discourage large scale incursions, from black holes to close orbiting stars and systems separated by mere lightyears. In fact, as we speak, without the use of S-threads, the final destination would be unreachable by most. For these reasons, historically the Deep Core has been a popular refuge for organizations like the Imperial Remnant. In such an environment, the spaceborne Oswaft would thrive while only the most determined foe would dare risk major action against them. As they are a peaceful reclusive race, such action would be wasteful in most instances. By contrast, Wild Space and the Unknown Regions is quite well charted at this point, and a popular breeding ground for hostile powers like the Sith and Bryn."

"Ideally, I would like more widespread cooperation, but I think we're off to a good start so far. Many groups have banded together to pitch a hand."

She actually like it that most of the relief efforts came from NGOs and private groups, who were much less swept up in intergalactic politics, and would not place conditions on their aid to force influence. As they existed, she couldn't see the Sith Empire or Jedi, who were still technically at war, ever coming together.

Maybe she liked it that way. The Shadow was growing increasingly tired of steady capitulation being sold by the doves as "compromise" and "tolerance".

"I think that the Oswaft would benefit greatly from the combat experience of the Hegemony. I can't say if they would be open to a permanent rotation of troops, but they are eager for advisors, and even remote controlled vessels of their own. They're willing to pay handsomely for it as well. Oswaft jewels and space alloys are quite valuable."

She knew the way monarchs like Xzaien thought, always calculating and self-interested, so she added the tidbit about lucrative trade deals to entice the Cathar into her way of thinking.

While giving the Cathar a moment to think about her words, she turned her attention back to Heliobas.

"I understand. We certainly have a lot on our plate."

As the last Grandmaster of the Silver Jedi, she acutely understood that she and her counterparts were just barely treading water. One fire would be put out just to have five more erupt in its stead. There weren't only the Sith and Bryn to contend with, but also countless smaller warbands, cultists, slavers, despotic petty empires, the list went on.

Chaos reigned, and she was afraid the Jedi could do little to stop it.

Salamander Xzaien

 

[Finley Dawson]

Objective D - A Humble Plankton Farmer

After the bay doors unsealed, he passed through the force field for open space. It was tempting to just fly out and drift through the nebula for a while, but he was afraid to fly smack dab into a colossal Oswaft, or get shredded by their metal exhaust flying around. Space walks were actually quite dangerous, unfortunately.

His heels clicked in place as the mag locks in the soles of his boot activated, then he activated a large cylinder under his left arm with a twist of a handle. It was a special vacuumed-sealed capsule designed to house the plankton, equipped with its own anti-grave field generator to simulate micro-g environments. Primed and activated, everything was up to Charlie now.

While he had recalibrated the operation of the tractor beam for the microscopic plankton, there was still a great deal of skill involved in actually manipulating the array itself. To her credit, she performed admirably, proving again why he had always valued his friend as an assistant for expeditions. As he waited for the plankton to come within reach, Wen approached him slowly, eventually consuming his view of the nebula with a translucent fleshy filter.

"Well hello there, big fella."

The Corellian was actually a bit envious of the Oswaft's position, who were able to survive in realspace and hyperspace with no equipment or vessel. The closest he would ever come to that was in his space suit.

The plankton was within reach now. He closed the last few meters with a small application of the force, gingerly coaxing the plankton into the capsule with gentle invisible fingers.

"Alright then, I think I got it." he spoke through his comm unit. "Well done Charlie."

Charlie Nooran Tyl Ro

 

[Charlie Nooran]

Charlie kept her mind focused while holding onto the beam, making sure she didn’t cause any damage to the environment. She was still a bit jealous about where she got to work, but the environment outside of the ship wasn’t ideal. Knuckles turned white from the firm grip on the tractor beam’s controls, slowly continuing to tighten as Charlie waited for the all-clear. A voice called up to her, and she grunted slightly, trying to express some form of concentration. ​

When Finley relayed his message to her, she sighed softly and released the controls after shutting it down. “Sounds good, is there anything more we need to gather?” Charlie was under the impression they were going to be scooping all the plankton from its home. While she wanted for his answer, she looked up at Tyl and gave the Kaminoan the thumbs up. ​

“Everything seems to have gone well from what Finley is saying. He’s gotten a sample.” Pausing, Charlie touched her hand to her chin to think for a moment. “Tyl, you think you could show me how to use your microscope? I wanna see the bugs.” ​

Tyl Ro Finley Dawson

 

[Tyl Ro]

Objective: D - save the plankton!
Tags: Charlie Nooran , Finley Dawson
Makeshift research bench aboard Croissant

Tyl exuded warmness at Charlie's curiosity. There was nothing better to Tyl than a desire to learn. Gaining an understanding for anything allowed for whole new undiscovered perspectives. Some argued that the pursuit of knowledge only led to the Dark Side, that once someone conceived their initial thirst for knowledge, that led to a thirst for power, and then the slope led downwards from there. But Tyl would argue that only by understanding, could a Jedi properly know their path. Ignorance was never an answer. No matter whatever other ethical debates Tyl might carry within herself, there was no questioning the validity of research.

"Of course. The first sample has been processed. Yet there is still another," Tyl's voice was somehow simultaneously monotonous and melodious, almost as if its peaks and valleys were manufactured. But Tyl inserted as much pleasantness as she was able. She moved back from the control stations and back to her bench. "You'll want to adjust the seat," the tall Kaminoan thoughtfully stated as she carefully picked up a secondary slide. Placing the glass slide under the focusing lens of the microscope, Tyl began speaking through her guided instructions.

"The microscope magnifies the slide to varying degrees. In order to clarify the image, carefully and slowly turn this knob," Tyl indicated the proper handle with one hand, adjusting the eyepieces to fit a human face with her other. "Until the image comes into focus. At first, the plankton will appear no differently than any number of aquatic relatives. However, add the proper circumstances," Tyl turned on a lamp, calibrated to simulate the light that the plankton would receive from the trinary stars within the nebula. "And they will start to glow."

Tyl beamed just a little as the process went on. Though, in the back of her mind, the Jedi did hope that if Knight Finley required assistance, the two inside the ship would not be too distracted to respond...