Another step forward (Rimward Trade League)

[Ellie Omera]

Location: Lesea on the planet Arsenae

Time: Early morning

The sun rose slowly over the capitol city of Lesea, heralding in a new day. Rays of light struck the durasteel and transparisteel frame of the newly built spaceport. The sleek curves and modern designs caught the light just perfectly to accentuate craftsmanship. A welcoming sight to both traders and visitors alike. The building itself stuck out like a sore thumb against the much older stone, marble and wood structures of Lesea, making it more like a crowned jewel then a spaceport.

Too many the spaceport was more than just a marvel of construction, it was a sign of rapidly changing times. Fifty years prior to the building of the structure, the planet of Arsenae had been cut off from the rest of the galaxy. When contact had been made and the Arsenian people attained space travel, the floodgates had opened. The city of Lesea that had scarcely changed in six thousand years was now hurrying to try and keep up with the rest of the galaxy. Honestly, the whole planet was. Especially given how small the population was of the planet and how far behind everyone else they were. Change was needed and they had to step out of their semi isolation in order to do so.

Ellie made her way through the spaceport at a steady pace. Final checks of the facility had been completed and she was now heading to the designated hangar to await the arrival of the representative from the Rimward Trade League. This left her a small amount of room to catch her breath. She didn't expect anything to be wrong with the spaceport, it was new after all. The only thing that did concern her was the limited amount of space traffic. As large as the spaceport was, freighters and transports barely trickled in throughout the day. Not exactly a promising sign if you're trying to join a trade league. Then again, it may actually work in her favor, since it allowed some of the members to jump at deals faster than others.

She caught her reflection in one of the giant windows as she passed by. Slowing down slightly, she got a quick check of her appearance. From the sandals that laced up to her knees, the red tunic and black undershirt, to the black skirt she wore, everything seemed to be in place. Funny, that's how she thought it was, she wasn't used to dressing up nicely. Pulling her gaze from the window, she stepped into the hangar and waited for her guest to arrive.

Mya Jesel

 

[Mya Jesel]

Ellie Omera

Mya gripped one of the stabilizing hooks in the shuttle as it descended into the atmosphere of Aresenae. It was a new world, only entering the galactic community in the past fifty years, and seeking to be join the trade league. That was good. It was a crucial development in further establishing their legitimacy as a galactic entity. Arsenia was rapidly modernizing, but still lacked the heavy industrial and mining capacity that could be leveraged in the core worlds of the League, even with the Suarbi systems thirteen moons and the asteroid belt. Svivren as well.

But Arsenia would need materials and supplies to continue their projects of development and they already had a well-established navy. That would be valuable. The ship rumbled below her feet as it touched down in the starport. She'd been studying the rest of the city and this was definitely one of the most modern buildings in the city.

Understandable for a world looking to enter the galactic market on a higher level. Despite the modern starport, the overall ship traffic was relatively small. Hopefully with the League, that would change. It gave them a definite edge on opening up the markets and bringing their goods. The ship settled with a hiss of landing gear and the landing ramp lowered.

Mya rolled her shoulder, consulted her datapads, and strode down the ramp, in something resembling a formal captain's uniform, but a little more stylized. She hadn't needed to captain a ship of her own since she entered politics, but it was still that experience that led to the creation of the League and its vision for stronger trade, safer hyperlanes, and developing the Outer Rim into an economic powerhouse of its own right.

Ahead, her counterpart was waiting for their arrival. Other members of the entourage filtered out behind her, but Mya set her sights on her negotiation partner and strode forward.

"Delighted to meet you!" She said, smiling broadly. "Mya Jesel, Chair of the Rimward Trade League Council. I have to say, your city is truly a place of beauty."

 

[Vera Tillian]

RRS FRONTIER'S HOPE
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER VERA TILLIAN, CAPTAIN
COMMAND CREW: Torc Valhorn Ascendant TE-236 Sird-Gri-Shali Tera Highwind
DELEGATION ESCORT
===========================================

Vera stood in front of the main viewport, gazing down at the planet below as the delegation shuttles departed for the surface. They would remain in orbit for now, with their own shuttles ferrying crew down in batches to take leave aboard the planet, under the strictest orders not to cause any diplomatic incidents that would embarrass the Service or the League. They were well within the overall territory that was primarily part of the Concord, so safety was less of a concern than it was on most of their missions, but it wouldn't do to have a lack of professionalism affect their negotiations.

"First away teams, you are cleared for departure. Make sure you're back to the shuttle to return on time and don't come back drunk on the local wine." Vera commented through the ship's intercom. Her turn would be later, once supplies and everything were assessed and they could put in requests to purchase resupplies. Primarily fuel and additional rations, with some specialties she had included for the occasion of the first new world to join the League outside the founding members. Primarily of the local wine and delicacy kind. One those were in and the Quartermaster happy, she would depart with the next group of the crew to explore the world.

New not just to the League, but to the galaxy. Although she had to admit, for only entering the galaxy in the past half-century, the already had some impressive Star Destroyers in their fleet that she'd noticed on their way in. While she'd never served aboard one and certainly never commanded one, since Susefvi didn't field anything of that size itself yet, they did give her a sense of comfort seeing them in orbit. No more pirate battle-crusier ambushes while departing a system. Or getting jumped unexpectedly.

The Arsenians already seemed to have enough firepower to deter any unwanted aggression and the capacity to back it up. It was nice to be on the bottom of any theoretical risk-list, instead of the primary one. She, her crew, and their 80 meter home would be quite safe here.

But even as she thought to try and relax, she straightened her captain's coat and stood taller. She would represent them well on this mission, even if nothing interesting happened.

 

[Ascendant]

Home. Certainly, the ship remained an effective habitable space.
Friend. Indeed, the computer was cordial enough.

Ascendant walked slowly, every servomotor whining and whirring with each step. It was not an ideal body, but it was what he had, and the droid was hardly going to complain about that. It was pleasant if such a sensation existed within the robot's brain, experience to be planetside again. Not for the planet itself mind; no few were the pleasures a droid such as himself could hope to locate on any world. Rather, it was during these times he could commune with the ship and learn about the capabilities of the vessel. The first step to success against an enemy, and there were no doubt more enemies out there. Pirates, smugglers, opportunists, criminals and anarchists. These were the foes that would wish to take down the structure and order that had been emplaced by the League. Any who would threaten this ship, its occupants and the citizens of League worlds were the threat against which he was positioned to fight. To this end, Ascendant had taken to studying this vessel, learning its limits. As the old adage went, "Knowing one's self is half the battle."

So the droid had spent the last hour at a terminal working the ship's far small computer. It had not been as satisfying to converse with, compared to some other vessels he had met. Nonetheless, it was informative. Now though, it was time to move on. He had a crew to keep up with. After all, camaraderie was not a commodity obtained by simple presence; it needed to be gained through labour. He calculated a few days with the other crew members would have a desirable effect, increasing trust and coordinative capabilities. He had missed the first transport, though not for lack of trying to reach the hangar before it left. He had moved as fast as the waddling legs of his protocol droid body could carry him, which was barely a walking pace. On the positive side, he had reached the hangar in time to assist in unloading some of the smaller crates, an effort that had amused the loading crews, apparently seeing a protocol droid struggle with heavy loading was a source of no small entertainment. The robot was sure he had seen them exchanging credits based on the results of his labours. It had also granted him an unexpected boon, a bottle of local wine. He suspected it came from one of the crates, but it was hardly polite to make accusations when being given a gift and Ascendant had attempted to accept it with all the grace his limbs could manage. He had cradled the bottle carefully in his metallic grasp as he passed through the ship.

Coming to the bridge, he found Captain Tillian preparing herself as if she had another formal function to attend to. Ascendant spoke, his modulated tone conveying little emotion, "Captain, loading is ongoing, rations have been fully accounted for. Fueling is still ongoing. Quartermaster believes it will not be long." Then, as he walked closer, the droid proffered the local vintage, "This is for you. Wine from one of the transport crews."

Vera Tillian Mya Jesel Ellie Omera Torc Valhorn TE-236 Sird-Gri-Shali Tera Highwind

 

[Ellie Omera]

Ellie couldn't help holding her breath some in anticipation, and a little bit to nervousness, as the shuttle set down in the hangar. Slowly, she released it as the delegation descend the boarding ramp. Her eyes took in everyone of them to see exactly who their visitors were. The one that drew her attention was Mya Jesel as she headed in Ellie's direction. There was little doubt that this was the representative she was supposed to meet.

"Pleasure to meet you as well. My name is Ellie Omera, daughter of Queen Nefeli Omera." She gave a small bow. Her smile grew as Mya stated that the city was beautiful. "Thank you. Lesea may be an old city, but it definitely has a certain draw to it." Ellie motioned for Mya to follow her before entering the spaceport as they headed for the city itself. "I thank you for agreeing to meet with us. We were relieved when we heard that you were willing to negotiate a deal. Not many people put to much stock in a planet like ours that has only recently joined the galactic scene."

Mya Jesel

 

[Mya Jesel]

Ellie Omera

Mya smiled in return to the greeting from the representative, and gave a slight bow, though one less-practiced than her compatriot. "Would that make you Princess Ellie Omera then?" She wasn't sure if that was the proper address, as there were many monarchies in the galaxy and none of them followed the same protocol that she could tell.

"I do tend to find that old cities always have something of a draw to them," she added after a moment. "Except perhaps for ecumenopolises. But perhaps that comes from living in an old seaport myself." She fell in next to Ellie as they began to walk out of the spaceport into the rest of the city. She smiled at the last comment, pausing to take in the first sight of the city from outside a ship.

"We're glad to!" She said, "It's the reason we exist. For many of the worlds in the Outer Rim, they've belonged to galactic society for centuries, yet still, languish as frontier colony worlds from lack of investment. This is part of the broader Outer Rim has historically had struggles with piracy, organized crime, and other chaotic elements that prevent it from maturing."

One hand shaded her eyes as she looked around. "Our core vision is that every system has the ability and capacity to engage in equal commerce with each other for the mutual benefit of the whole, regardless of where they are in space."

 

[Ellie Omera]

Ellie gave a small laugh and shook her head. "No, I carry the title of commander more then the title princes. My mother was chosen as queen, she wasn't born into the role. My sister and I hold no real ties to the government other than ones earned. When our mother is no longer queen, someone else will be chosen, not given to her children."

Mya was very passionate about the goals of her organization. Ellie couldn't fault her for that. She had seen people get this passionate about beliefs both large and trivial. What the Rimward was trying to achieve was less than trivial in her mind. "That's an admirable goal, one I can definitely agree with. I have traveled some into the galaxy and have seen what you're speaking of. Even here on Arsenae we have no match for a majority of the planets in base of infrastructure. I do not want them to suffer just because we can't wield coin like a few of the more industrious planets."

They came to a stop in front of a statue that was the centerpiece of a market square. The statue was of a warrior clad in full armor with shield and spear at rest. Time had worn some of it features, from its face clear to the pedestal it sat upon. Even in age, the large statue held a small sense of grandeur from a time long past. Ellie eyed the statue in silence for a moment before speaking. "We are a warrior culture, as far back as any written records can recall. Battle runs through our veins and codes of honor in war make up our laws. But when we took our first cautious steps into the galaxy, we realized something. Our old ways of life would never get us far, if we tried, the rest of the galaxy would swallow is whole. That is why we needed different means to secure our people's future, and to make sure we have one. This is why we need to join the Rimward, and from what little of the galaxy I have seen, there are other planets in the same position as us."

Mya Jesel

 

[Vera Tillian]

RRS FRONTIER'S HOPE
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER VERA TILLIAN, CAPTAIN
COMMAND CREW: Torc Valhorn Ascendant TE-236 Sird-Gri-Shali Tera Highwind
DELEGATION ESCORT
===========================

As Vera stood there, her uniform perfectly aligned, she heard the familiar sound of Ascendent's protocol droid body approaching from the corridor. She turned as he approached. She tilted her head as he made his report and then nodded. "Very good, thank you, Lieutenant."

She took the bottle and examined it carefully, reading the vintage and information, before flicking it carefully with one finger. "Oh, that should be excellent." She waved it slightly in the air. "I'd offer to share a drink with you, but I suspect even an AI as advanced as you would have trouble with that."

Carefully, she placed the bottle next to her captain's chair and turned back to the viewport. "What's your assessment of this world, off the record? What's your analysis of the situation?"

She gestured broadly, suggesting more than just the planet and their immediate tactical situation. Although, when she thought of it, that might not be helpful. Droids sometimes had trouble with that, but Ascendent wasn't a droid. An AI of some advanced sort that was rarely seen, from what she had gathered.

"With the rest of the wine, we'll have a shipboard feast once we're off primary duty and the charter is signed, I think," Vera said after a moment. "After the business on Sullust, we need some way to relax. Somewhere safe where we're not about to jumped by a battlecruiser pirate again."

 

[Ascendant]

"Appreciated, but your evaluation is correct." The droid would have found the gesture agreeable, but ultimately useless. Taste was a sensory perception entirely alien to him and even if the droid had the physical equipment for it there was little reason to partake. Next came a question Ascendent could really focus on and relish.

If emotions could have been heard within his voice, perhaps it would have taken on a more clinical style, however, as it was the vocabulator remained fairly blasse. "The planet Arsentae is located within a promising region. Economically, it is stable enough to support the League, though they will require technological support until conversion to current standards." The droid made as many gestures he could with the heavily limited range. "The planet's populace may have some difficulties accepting the galactic culture. There is an unusually low population for a planet of this size; should it become necessary the Trade League's fleet could fully wipe sentient life from the planet within two weeks, accounting for potential complexities hunting down pockets of survivors after an initial bombardment..."

Ascendent allowed his processors to conclude the simulations of such an event, some peeved at how slow it was. Then he continued as if there was no great disparity between the lines of logic. "Of course, that is not Trade League policy and a gross breach of galactic civility. It is possible the locals could develop a piracy base, they are highly independent, militaristic, and perhaps most problematic religious zealots. Nonetheless, they are honourable and intelligent. I believe the natives are likely to maintain a stable and positive relationship with the League."

He could easily have continued with his approximations on the current tactical situation they were in. Specifically that the ship was practically begging for some form of predation given its vulnerability at the moment. Loading in insecure areas was never safe. However, the intelligence remained silent on that front. Seeing as this was a positive day, he intended on avoiding ruining the mood with any portents of destruction.

After hearing the captain's decision Ascendent gave an accepting nod. "Of course, that is likely to increase morale. If I may request that the enlisted personnel be reminded I am not a billboard for them to write upon after their libations." The droid was, of course, referring to the post-carousing tradition amongst some of the more troublesome marines aboard. A tradition that entailed the vandalizing of Ascendent's body when it was recharging. Usually, it was little more than a smear of paint or scratches, although every now and again a particularly daring or foolish individual would try something more extreme. Never enough to debilitate or somehow overly damage the droid, but it was often a point of amusement to the crew.

Vera Tillian Mya Jesel Ellie Omera

 

[Mya Jesel]

Ellie Omera
==============

Mya nodded, listening as the other woman spoke, and gazing around the city. Careful not to be seen as gawking, but instead a careful, measured curiosity and interest in the city, its culture, and what those revealed about the world they now visited. "An elected queen?" She considered that and shook her head in amazement. "That's a fascinating system. Not unlike the Naboo system of governance, although they are, or were, pacifist rather than a warrior culture."

She came to a stop and gazed up at the statue, examining it. She knew very little about art, especially sculpture, but it looked well-done, and in good shape, except for the weathering that comes from time and age. There was something majestic about it and it evoked an emotion she could not quite identify, as she listened.

"Exactly," Mya said at last, "Galactic superpowers and organizations like the Trade Federation, the IGBC, and the old Corporate Sector throw their credits around and expect everyone else to bow to their wishes. And what can individual systems do? Even wealthy, heavily developed worlds with powerhouse economies can't match up against their like, either militarily or economically in the long-run. Not if they can pick us off one by one. Together, though, supporting each other and acting in unison, we have a chance."

A closer look at the statue brought something to the forefront of her mind. Nostalgia, perhaps. Maybe yearning. It wasn't entirely clear, but it was something good, something precious regardless.

"And we're honored you chose to join us, especially as a warrior culture, when there are so many others out there who would be keen to have so many warriors available to join their ranks. We can scrap and punch about our weight when the need arises like we did as part of the Outer Rim Coalition, but much of that capacity and availability has diminished. So for now, we have relied on commerce and economics to keeps ourselves independent and free. But with the Rescue Service in a rapid build-up of ships and personnel, hopefully, we will have the fleet capacity to back up our values and ideals soon."

 

[Vera Tillian]

RRS FRONTIER'S HOPE
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER VERA TILLIAN, CAPTAIN
COMMAND CREW: Torc Valhorn Ascendant TE-236 Sird-Gri-Shali Tera Highwind
DELEGATION ESCORT
===========================

Vera clasped her hands behind her back as she listened, nodding as the droid mentioned the futility of offering to share the wine. It was a good gesture, and she hoped one that was appreciated and welcome. She suspected it wasn't easy to be a sentient AI or something akin to that in the predominantly organic, and mostly humanoid at that, Rescue Service. It would make it harder to fit in.

At his words, however, she paled quickly at thought of the scenario he was expounding and turned around, but the moment was already passed. It did shake her, however, and she felt a sense of uneasiness. Her first major engagement had been as an ensign during the First Order invasion of Skor II. In that case, the enemy fleet had attempted to bombard the planet from orbit, although they had somehow been stopped. Apparently the Jedi had worked together and created a large Force shield or something. Most of the bombardment had been caught, but turbolaser blasts had gone past the outer edge and smashed into the city.

She had helped direct some of the search and rescue crews in the aftermath and it was a sight that still woke her up with nightmares. It was one thing to use shipboard weapons against other warships that were built for such things and could shoot back, as well as having been designed to stand up to those weapons. But to turn weapons of that power against unprotected civilians? That sickened her. And if she were honest, it filled her with a sense of dread at the possibility of the First Order moving into the south-western Outer Rim again. The heroes of the Coalition had managed to beat them off several times through clever and unorthodox tactics, keeping the attackers off-balanced and unsure how to respond several times.

But many of them seemed to have vanished after the dissolution of the Coalition, to who knew where, and no guarantee that they could pull off another string of unlikely victories.

"Violation of civility, yes, but not infrequent in this day and age," Vera said after a moment, catching up to the analysis again. "I was at a battle where the hostile fleet attempted to do something similar, and that seems to be the Bryn'adul's modus operandi. Let's not ever consider it as a League possibility again." She added a slight firmness to her voice, but otherwise kept it light. "And I suspect you're right, although time will tell for sure. They are excited and eager to join the League, and we are just as eager for them to join us."

His next line of comments caught her by surprise, and she nearly wanted to laugh, but that would be inappropriate and demeaning. She pressed her lips together as she turned back to the viewport, gazing down at the planet below. "I will give a stern reminder to the crew, and especially the marines. It is an inappropriate way to behave towards an officer in the Service."

 

[Torc Valhorn]

Torc moved briskly unto the bridge still carrying with him a coil of wire bundled around his shoulder and beneath his arm. "Good day, Captain Vera Tillian ." She was joined by that strange Artificial Intelligence trapped in the droids shell, taking a moment to refresh his memory he nodded, "Lieutenant Ascendant . My apologies if I am interrupting."

He wasn't sure what to make of Ascendant on the most basic level he'd been trained at the Kuat Academy, where droids (even sophisticated ones) were nothing more than a beast of burden performing tasks and duties that to officers were either too far beneath them or too dangerous to undertake but on a deeper level he was intrigued. Ascendant's exterior was a protocol droid, but its engine was that of artificial intelligence. The concept of machine learning was nothing new to him, but the capacity to make a choice and dynamically define its own programming was no easy feat, and a dangerous one. Did it have feelings or was it as cold-hearted as the ship's mainframe.

"I had just come to make my final report, before clocking off and perhaps extend an invite should a little gambling interest either of you."

 

[Ascendant]

"Of course, Captain." The artificial intelligence understood such thought lines were often distressing, but they were a necessary part of the particularly complex calculus involved in developing a tactical brief. Certainly, the League would never have committed the war crime of orbital devastation on a civilian population. However, it was nonetheless possible that an enemy of the League could and that was where an assessment would be necessary. If a planetary population could survive for weeks under bombardment conditions, that gave allied forces time to mount a counter-attack or rescue forces. A planet like this, with such a small and somewhat dense population, would be far easier to fully wipe out and thus rescue forces would need to be closer. Ascendent estimated that if this planet were to come under attack, a fleet would need to be at most two hyperspace jumps from the planet, otherwise, a bombarding fleet could induce enough casualties to see the planet effectively free of intelligent life. From a perspective of setting up planetary defenses, it would therefore be in the League's best interests to construct planetary shields or station a defensive fleet in system to increase the time for a rescue fleet to arrive.

The droid body gave a nod in appreciation to the Captain's promise to remind the troops about policy. Then entered another face. The engineer. "It is no imposition." Ascendent remarked quietly as he maneuvered slightly out of the way. The inorganic entity remained silent as the superior officer spoke with the captain, and proffered an invitation to an after-work recreational activity. Gambling was too complicated for the AI, having discovered the most sophisticated forms were those that relied heavily on social cues and comprehension of organic patterns, something that Ascendant had little experience in outside of the starfields. The mathematical portion of many gambling was fine, although calculating statistics and odds on the fly was tiresome work. It was interesting though as a learning experience in how his teammates acted off duty. Organics had this mystifying ability to shift from a work mentality to leisure with startling alacrity.

Vera Tillian Torc Valhorn

 

[Vera Tillian]

Torc Valhorn Ascendant
====================

"Ah, Valhorn, do come in," Vera said, turning around as she heard footsteps from behind her as the chief engineer entered the bridge, carrying a bundle of wire. She frowned slightly at the sight of it and looked around the bridge, seeking out any sort of mistake in the bridge panels. Everything seemed in order so far. Unless there was some routine maintenance project she had forgotten about. Her mind raced with the thought as she tried to keep her face still and hide the uncertainty. That was the hardest part of the job sometimes. Living into the expectation that people held for the captain.

"And thank you, Ascendant," Vera said, "I... have been very close to such situations that you're describing in the past. They're more horrific than anyone could possibly imagine." She straightened and cleared her throat, pushing the memory of the green turbolaser blasts hurtling through the atmosphere to the city below.

"Final report, very well, proceed," Vera said, turning on her heel. "And gambling?" She pursed her lips at the thought. Not strictly regulation, but not necessarily against regulations. And she was a Tillian. She'd been playing sabaac since she could read numbers, Corellian style. It had helped fuel her hobbies and spending money during her term at the Academy, but she'd been quiet about it since. The first officer could take the watch.

"I'll accept your invitation. And Ascendent," she quirked a roguish smile. "This could be a good exercise for you."