Cavilion Zoo [CIS Dominion of Vandelheim]

[Alkor Centaris]

He remembered now.

There had been disappearances. A haze surrounded his thoughts as he sat in the room with naught but kittens to keep him company. A serving Droid came to refill his tea periodically, and he continued to drink, but every time he did, he asked the same question.

That was why, this time, he neglected to take a sip. The warm feeling had slowly begun to fade. He could see the shapes of his allies forming in his mind's eye, but their faces were still beyond his reach. "A mind numbing agent?" he murmured as he looked into the cup, flipping his HUD online and peering into the cup. "Scans are showing nothing, but there must be something not in the database."

He placed the cup down and reached down, stroking the white cat gently. "Sorry, little guy," he apologized. Alkor had never been good with animals. His sudden fascination seemed bidden by an outside force. "I can't stay any longer."

He turned toward the window, which appeared to display the same scene no matter how long he stared at it. He raised his hand and brought the flat side of it down against the wall. It shuddered, shook, and then stopped. "Two way window," he murmured as he drew back his hand.

The punch, augmented by annoyance that he distilled into pure rage, penetrated with little resistance. Transparisteel splintered into fragments and splashed across the floor.

Behind him, the white cat tilted its head and questioned the scene unfolding before it.

Warning, contained environment compromised. Warning, contained environment compromised.

Fresh air tasted abnormal on his tongue as it flooded into the austere facility, and Alkor glanced out into the world beyond. He could see all manner of locals convened, treating what appeared to be human beings like caged animals.

The cat rubbed up against his legs.

"Watch for the shards," he warned the feline. He lifted it up, placed it beyond the walls, and urged it. "You're free now," he said. "I've got to remember what I'm doing here."

 

[Aya Clarke]

Objective: Zoo

Wearing: Gown
Weilding: Small Lockpick -> nothing
Tags: [member="Lace Vi'dreya"] & [member="Krystal Estain"]

The small pick was a welcome sense, metal in her hands. It helped to quell the raging fury in her heart, just a bit. It felt almost like the metal of her sword, and even a false sense of security made it easier to continue. "I am.. home as well. They must not have realized this place had burned to the ground long ago, merely made it in the image of what they could find in my memories. They also didn't want my weapons in here, a smart move for safety but a foolish one for obedience. If I had but a small knife I could begin purging the galaxy of this savage heresy..." Her hands were clenching tightly again, but this time it wasn't stopping. She could feel her breath growing heavy, deep....

It would have gotten even worse had she not immediately recognized Lace's distressed, angry scream. Immediately again she rose to her feet and rushed over, practically tearing apart the wall's hole by hand, enough that she could both reach through and both of them could see through the wall. "Shhh... hush, calm Zerker. Look at me alright? We need to stay calm, they want us angry and screaming. Take a moment and breathe, alright?" She could now see where Lace's foot was, with the hole made just a bit bigger, and slowly began to poke holes into the wall from her end. They hadn't fully reinforced the wall here, and with some effort she managed to make a ring of holes about where she guessed Lace's foot was. A bit more effort and she could take her half of the wall away, and she tried pushing against Lace's heel to free it.

"I doubt they come in themselves. A slot in the door would do enough to feed us all. Regardless, breaking through to one another's rooms should do fine. They haven't stopped us yet and there's no way they don't know. I would assume they believe even together we are not a threat, or concern. Perhaps they find amusement in our struggle to find our ways together."

 

[Tia Aurelius]

[SIZE=9pt]Wielding: nothing[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Objective: BYOO/Save the Duck[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]~~[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]A duck! A smile broke across Tia’s face as she darted forward and scooped the small creature in her arms. She hadn’t seen a duck outside of a zoo in forever (though presumably she still hadn’t, given her current location, but of course she did not know that). They didn’t seem to be near a lake or other water body, so where on earth did this duck come from? “You’re a long way from home, buddy, aren’t you?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]She pulled a water bottle and small cup from her bag, and walked over to a nearby picnic table, offering the duck the pool of water to drink from. Gently patting his head, she continued to speak in a soothing voice -- for the duck seemed to be a little stressed out. “Awww, you’re just a little bundle of joy ducky. Cutie.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]Tia really didn’t know why she was here -- she had been dragged here by her guardian, who presumably had ‘important business’ to deal with. Of course, she had been told to wait on the ship, but there was no way that [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]was going to happen. And besides, if she hadn’t left, she wouldn’t have met her new best friend![/SIZE]

 

[Krystal]

Objective: Zoo
Wearing: Ballgown
Wielding: Set of lock picks, slim small knife
Tags: Aya Clarke Lace Vi'dreya

~~~~

Okay, so maybe Krystal was a little paranoid. That paranoia had kept her alive through years of fighting and hiding, though, so she would not be ashamed of it. Her heart still racing, she heart a scream from the other room and darted back to her hole, but from her viewpoint she could not see anything of the other woman. "Lace? Lace, are you alright?"

It seemed her girlfriend had it under control, though, and calmed her down. At this point, the hole Krystal made had grown to nearly the size of her torso, save a support beam crossing the entire center of it. "Yes, I believe you have it right -- our stress must simply increase their sick enjoyment at this captivity." She narrowed her eyes at the thick piece of wood, preventing her from joining the others, and walked back to her chest of drawers. Krystal had small feet, and they were still similar in size to her teenage years, so she swapped her ballet slippers for a pair of steel-toed boots that she found in her bottom drawer. "Aya, Lace, watch out -- I don't think this is actually a support beam so much as a replica of one, but it might be." Taking a running start at the beam, she gave it a sharp kick, and with a loud splinter it cracked right down the middle.

 

[Duckie Talon]

He was flying! He was flying! He was doing it! A miracl...oh wait no it was another big feeder person, was it Mum? A pair of beady little eyes peered up at the giant. It didn't look like the giver of food but...whoever this was had saved him from the monster who preyed on innocent little ducklings. Duckie had conveniently forgotten that it was he who had attacked the cat first, all her was concerned with was the fact it couldn't get to him now. Ok...he would call her Rescuer from Demons.

[SIZE=9pt]The duckling gave a satisfied quack nuzzling up against Tia's hand as she carried him away from the nightmare to a table. It wasn't quite home, but there was water and safety and Rescuer was talking and she had a nice voice. The Quacklord of the Confederation waddled over to the edge of the table to stare up at her, dark eyes settling on her face as he introduced himself. "Quack!"[/SIZE]

[member="Tia Aurelius"]

 

[Cypher Rage]

Negotions werw particularly tricky. He knew the two other ladies were not impressed by his aggresive neogotiations which meant he would follow thier lead. " You were saying something?" he said to both ladies. He had zoned out. He didn't know where he was for a brief second. Must be the Weather.

Negotions Commitie

 

[Tia Aurelius]

[SIZE=9pt]Wielding: nothing[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Objective: Duckie cuddles![/SIZE]
Tag: [member="Duckie deWinter"]
[SIZE=9pt]~~[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]This duck was probably the cutest thing that she had seen in her life. And so she told him that. As the duck strutted his way along the table, she sat cross legged and rested her chin in her hands, watching him with fascination. Oh my gosh, was he talking to her? "Well hello there, Mr. Quack, I'm Tia. It's quite lovely to meet you today, kind sir, and you've saved me from what would surely have been a slow and torturous death of boredom." A thought [/SIZE]occurred[SIZE=9pt] to her, and she riffled through her backpack until she found what she was looking for. Ducks, she thought, didn't eat bread, but she hadn't heard anything bad about lettuce. So she offered the little thing a piece of leafy green lettuce, and gave him another pat on the head as he approached the lettuce. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt]And I was told not to leave the ship because it was "dangerous". [/SIZE]

 

[Holt]

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[member="Madalena Antares"] [member="Cypher Rage"] [member="Lyra Laurs"]​

​

Holt bit his lip in frustration. These tiny red men were getting on his nerves, and he forced himself to calm down. The Alites had done what many had tried to do and failed; get on Holt's nerves. The more pressing matter was not Holt's feelings, however, rather that they seemed to have gotten no further than they had started. His speech had been one of the best one's he'd ever given, and in most circumstances he felt like it would have even impressed the Alites. Unfortunately, these were not most circumstances and these were not normal people.

Holt had one last card up his sleeve, a passion that he hoped by coincidence the supertechnologically-advanced race of Alites shared. Drinking. "Pardon me, sir, but despite all your advanced weaponry and technology that is far superior to the Confederacy's, there is something that technology cannot replace: Vintage Liqueur," Holt said as the corners of his mouth turned up in a smirk. The beady eyes of the Alite narrowed as he sat back down in his chair. Good -- he was listening. "I'm sure you have your own excellent drinks on your homeworld, but have you tasted aged Andoan White? Or perhaps the aptly named Breath of Heaven? And there are hardier drinks too, concoctions such as the Antakarian Fire Dancer, Chandrilan Raava, and Gizer Ale, the prince of ales. As a civilized people, you must yearn for the taste of wine outside of your world's own distilleries. Business deals can be made, trade ships from Gizer, Merisee, Sacorria, and Corellia could fill your bars with the finest vintages from all over the galaxy. I myself would be honored to prepare a feast of wines for you and your people as a sign of friendship and goodwill."

Holt bit his lip. After these negotiations, he would be in need of a good drink. He made a mental checklist to add a bar to the Rookery; it would serve him and other agents well after especially long missions such as this.

 

[Lyra Laurs]

Objective: NEGOTIATIONS.
Wearing: SUIT.
Wielding: NOTHING.
Tags: [member="Madalena Antares"] || [member="Cypher Rage"] || @Holt ||

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Lyra wasn't sure whether to be unhappy at the Knight commander standing behind her, or eternally grateful. On the one had, she could feel Madalena watching her every move, her eyes seeming to bore holes into the back of Lyra's head as the girl attempted to maintain her composure while speaking. On the other hand, it was comforting to know that the others were probably being judged just as much, if not more, than she was.

Also, if it all went to hell, at least Madelena would be there to help beat some Alites up as they went down. That was certainly a comfort.

She gave a sharp look to Mr. Rage, and muttered under her breath something to the effect that yes, they were in fact speaking -- and if he didn't feel like listening, she was sure the Alites could show him to the door. Taking a breath to calm herself, she noted that Holt seemed rather pissed that his flowery language didn't have much impact on the aliens. She almost laughed aloud as he offered them wine, but honestly if it got them out of this, she'd buy him a bottle herself. But what would it take for them to return the people they've stolen? Surely they must want something -- if all they wanted was zoo attractions, there were certainly better options than a random assortment of lost Confederates.

So she chimed in with her own question, after Holt was done speaking. "I apologize if I overstep, sir, but I'd like to in turn post a question to you: to put it simply, what do you want? For if it's simply exhibits for your children, there are certainly better options in the galaxy than us." There had to be some kind of political motivation... there had to be.

 

[Cypher Rage]

Cypher listened to what [member="Lyra Laurs"] said. " Look... We all got off on the wrong foot. But... We are all seniet beings in the Galaxy. As such, I have a proposal: Full memebrship into the Confederacy and some of the exiotic animals the galaxy has to offfer. If you agree to these terms... I myself will see that the Confederate Defense Force do not allow any people to intervene in your affairs. A hefty stealth Task Force under the oversight of High Marshall [member="Kiff Brayde"] will ensure that." he said. [member="Holt"] still looked pissed. "My friend, wine is not something you give during Negotions." he whispered to the Man " Do You Concur" he asked them all.[member="Holt"] [member="Madalena Antares"]

 

[Madalena Antares]

​

Wearing: Obsidian Strike Armor
Wielding: Nothing
Tags: [member="Lyra Laurs"] [member="Cypher Rage"] [member="Holt"]

For the moment, it seemed that all was hopeless. The little red Alite had threatened them – for every instance that they would make an attempt to free their people, another thousand would be lost. When power and might would do nothing to convince the Alites that they were wrong, what avenues were left to them?

Madalena covered every fairytale and story in her mind that she could remember as Hold made them the offer of wine. What if… What if they could offer a compromise to these little people? While the galaxy was full of different types of people, Madalena was more than certain that if they played their cards right, they would be able to find volunteers. What was a person a year, given and leaving home freely of their own consent, in return for stability and safety? Maybe even three per year? Would that work?

"You offer us liquor but bring none to show what it is worth," the Alite said, snapping Madalena from her thoughts, "I have had vinegar that tasted better than some five hundred year old human vintages. You think your word alone is enough? You think wine is enough? This is but proof of how little you value your own people. Perhaps you should go join them in their cages."

Sighing, Madalena remained silent as Laurs spoke next, but Mr. Rage spoke soon after her. It was a mess. It was all a mess.

"We have no need of any military assistance you have to provide," the Alite repeated, "Your military was useless against us. Your intelligence was useless against us. Your weapons, your combatants, and every one of you that is not in a zoo cell, is useless to us. If you insist on repeating your own stupidity time and time again, perhaps we should just wipe you out. Save the best 1% and let the othersfester and die. We have the means to undo the existence of most of your worlds in under a week."

She couldn't keep standing and being silent. Madalena took a step forward, holding herself with very shred of self control to not try to cover Archivist Laurs with an arm to defend against an attack that wasn't yet coming, when the Alite spoke again, cutting her actions off.

"But you-" he said, pointing at Laurs, and Madalena this time did take a step to close the distance between them, futile as it might have been, "you're the first of you monkey lot to show some shred of ability to think. You speak of better options. Tell me, what are they?"

 

[Duckie Talon]

Green Crunchy! The delicious thing had a name that the duckling had heard somewhere before, some wield big person sound, what was important was that it was wet and scrumptious and he wanted it. Excitedly the yellow master of terror waddled over to the leaf, taking a big bit of it as he felt a hand caressing his head, his neck bracing and pushing his head back against her fingers, nuzzling into them, "Quaaaack" Wait, she'd been making noises, that was how they communicated...had she been talking to him? A pair of beady black eyes peered at Tia for a long heartbeat before he nuzzles at her fingers again, "Quack Quack." He had no idea what she'd been saying, but he was glad the rescuer was here.

[member="Tia Aurelius"]

 

[Holt]

​

​

[member="Madalena Antares"] [member="Cypher Rage"] [member="Lyra Laurs"]​

​

Holt resigned himself to a sullen silence. Perhaps he wasn't the best at being a diplomat, even if these were very special circumstances. Oh well, he shrugged. Good thing he was a spy and broker, not a diplomat, then. Taking a step back, he humbled himself as he watched the dialogue play out between the young Archivist and the Alite. Apparently, Holt's offer of wine hadn't gone to the tiny red man's head, but Holt was nonchalant about it. If the only thing Holt got out of these negotiations was the idea to put a bar in the Rookery, then it would still be a small victory.

 

[Lyra Laurs]

Objective: NEGOTIATIONS.
Wearing: SUIT.
Wielding: NOTHING.
Tags: @Madalena Antareshttp://starwarsrp.net/user/20107-madalena-antares/ || @Cypher Rage || @Holt ||

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As the little red man spoke to Lyra directly for the first time, she felt her heart almost stop. Her nails almost drew blood from her hand as she clenched her fist, determined not to show her knight commander the extent of her fear. She would not. She would not. And when she spoke, there was no hesitation in her lilting voice, nothing that would give any indication of the pressure she felt. Of the lives that depended on this negotiation, of the lost Confederates in demeaning captivity. She felt Madalena step towards her, and with the comfort of the commander behind her, spoke to the Alite.

"Sir", she began, "what you have... taken, is but a motley assortment of people, young and old, powerless and to be frank, quite unentertaining. Without their weapons most of our soldiers have nothing, simply useless creatures of very little entertainment value. They are a novelty now, yes, but in order to ensure the joy and excitement of your children and family persists when their shiny toys lose their new sheen, it is essential that zoos are full of entertaining and cool creatures, who's attraction is sure to not dim with each passing sunset.

"You mentioned that the Sith Empire and the other factions are of no concern, invasion-wise, to you. Let me present you, then, with this option: the Sith. The fighters and dark lords, who would certainly be of far more interest than our assortment of followers. Did you know, the Confederacy accepts nearly anyone who wishes to join? Even if they are sickly, weak, insensitive to the force -- they join us all the same. Are these really the people you want to be showing to your children?

"Please, sir. I greatly appreciate the time that has been given, to allow us this opportunity to help you." Lyra stopped speaking, and once again all she could hear was the beat of her own heart. It seemed like the man was never going to respond to her.

 

[Madalena Antares]

​

Wearing: Obsidian Strike Armor
Wielding: Nothing
Tags: [member="Lyra Laurs"] [member="Cypher Rage"] [member="Holt"]

There was something about the way the little red man was looking at her Archivist that made Madalena extremely uncomfortable. She knew that he had the means to undo all of them, and yet some maternal instinct kicked and punched within her, causing her to move even closer to Lyra Laurs, wanting to protect her from whatever it was he was going to be flinging towards her if he did not like her answer.

And what answer was there that she could give? The Alites were obviously not interested in anything they had offered, be it volunteers, wine, protection, or anything else. Lyra was young; what was it she could have offered them as an alternative? What was there they could offer for the red children? An endless supply of lego pieces? A billion sets of My Little Kitchen? A bunch of puppies?

But no – what Lyra offered was something of a much darker nature – she offered that someone else take their place. Not other Confederates, but Sith. It was… Either incredibly dumb, or Lyra was some kind of a genius. It seemed the sweet place in the middle had just vanished completely and entirely with her.

The little man stared at her, remaining utterly silent. The tension was thick enough to cut the air with.

And then he blinked, and began to move his hands between them. It took Madalena a few moments to realize he was working numbers, looking at data. Very occasionally, if she squinted, she could see white spheres moving around. Some form of advanced data tech? She wasn't sure, but she made a mental note to remember it.

"Yes," the little man said eventually, waving his hands away, "They have a 0.9 percent better chance at keeping our children entertained. Over the short term, that is neglable, but if we calculate this into the next few centuries with our growing population…"

He rose from his place. "Very well. As you have given us a solution that is viable, the Alites accept it. Your people will be released. To thank you, once we have grown our numbers and begin to take this galaxy over in a few centuries, your descendants will be the last we come to kill. Have a good day."

 

[Paragon of Virtue]

As was promised, so it was.

The Alites packed their bags, releasing the Confederates who'd been held in cells. Within twenty four hours, freedom, food, and a free ticket home had been granted to all of them. Vandelheim ceased to disappear from the Confederate's devices – while the asteroid field still jammed sensors, it seemed the Alites had been responsible for a worsening of conditions by abut 86%, which had now been resolved.

Leaving the planet upon which they had resided for an unknown length of time, the Confederacy discovered that several human settlements still existed upon the planet, all treated as a sub-type of citizens. Given that as well as the very literal crate left behind as the Alites left along with their entire building complex which turned out to be a portable space station, repairs began almost immediately.

Within a few short months, the residents of Vandelheim had been converted to proper Confederates, thankful for being unleashed from the little red overlords that had pleagued their planet for far too long.

And as for the Alites?

Rumor has it they set up somewhere in Sith Empire space, though the Confederacy had found no proof and thus, had no pudding.

The story of how the Confederacy released its people from the Cavailion Zoo is over. However, you may still continue to post to this thread! Have fun exploring the cells, trying out the restaurants, or not getting eaten by the duck and the cat!