Public Damascus Station Corporate Expo 875 ABY

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

"I guess he's not here, then." Burtch said to his assistant, Lieutenant Krristaa. Earlier, Krristaa had received a tip from Dorthea Dobson that Lucerne Labs was here and that Gir Quee might be around. But, alas, Gir was not at his exhibit, and was off on his own tour, as was his right. Oh well.

Burtch approached the Mon Calamari man running the raffle and as he got nearer, he vaguely recognized him from the Bimmisaari negotiations. Burtch greeted him warmly, as warmly as a Chiss can, "Greetings Salmakk . I haven't seen you since the negotiations on Bimmisaari. How have you been? Also, do you mind if I enter the raffle that I've heard about?"

Suddenly, the central holodisplay for the whole pavilion lit up with an obscure logo of some kind and jubilant music started playing. The display was made to be visible to all at the expo, providing one wasn’t in the refresher or something. Burtch looked up to see it and he saw the face of the human he had been talking to earlier. The speech he was making had been pre-recorded, of course, and he was giving details on the piranha lizards that he was displaying back at the stockades. Burtch returned his gaze to Salmakk to avoid being rude, but he kept part of his attention on the holodisplay. Being a bridge officer, paying attention to multiple conversations at once was actually a job requirement…

Loreena Arenais-Valhoun | Victor Algernot | Khrusaes Akron | Percival Io | Laertia Io | Gir Quee | Matsu Ike | Judah Dashiell | Saro Nakaioma | Noah Corek | Tatede Truibark | Caltin Vanagor | Willow & Ivy | Andrew Lonek | Var-Sulis | Valah Hagen

(OOC note: major development next post on my NPC account)

 

[Gir Quee]

Objective Two

Gir offered a smile in turn to Roth Likonis as the industrialist spoke. He seemed in Gir's mind to very much be a self-made man judging by his appearance, which in turn earned Gir's respect. Business could be vicious, especially for a new company trying to break into the galactic scene. Gir remembered those times early on with Lucerne Labs - where the company managed to transition largely from an casual, impromptu collective engineers working out of their homes to a full-fledged company with its own facilities - largely due to the man's own connections with the Galactic Republic military. But Gir wasn't an industrialist or an engineer like Roth seemed to be - he was largely an ideas person who left the fine details to the actual engineers like his adopted brother.

He nodded in understanding to Roth's comment of a busted trade deal and a raw material shortage.

"It's rare when things going according to plan, either in war or business," admitted the blonde man, "there's always the unforeseen. That's why the Lucerne consortium has invested in some civilian droids of our own manufacture - there's just some things we don't want to be without if things go south, but we're hardly specialists in the area. But this droid you're showcasing here looks impressive, and it looks like something that could be of potential benefit for our company to adopt.

You say these SM-BLs should be put in service of groups of five or more. Is there an upper limit where their efficiency starts to peak? Is the product they make part of determining that efficiency? We manufacture a number of repulsorlift military vehicles for the Silver Jedi Concord. I'd like to experiment with using an assembly line run by these droids as a trials run to see if it's worth it for our bottom line to buy more of them - the efficiency specs you spoke of do seem impressive."

 

[Salmakk]

The engineer fiddled with the datapad, playing around in a CAD program for a possible new engine nacelle for a small shuttle of his own design. It wasn't really necessary work - and it might not even be used on the final product - but it was a good way to pass the time and keep familiarization with every day engineering computer programs, especially as he frequently found himself acting more and more in a management role. He tilted his head up as a blue-skinned chiss and his assistant entered the Lucerne Labs area. The mon calamari clipped the datapad to his belt as the Elysium Empire officer approached.

"Greetings Salmakk . I haven't seen you since the negotiations on Bimmisaari. How have you been? Also, do you mind if I enter the raffle that I've heard about?"

The mon calamari turned to Grand Shepherd Burtch and let an approximation of a smile crease his face.

"I've been well enough, and yourself?" the mon calamari gestured at a computer console near some of the LPD weapons present, "By all means, feel free to enter the contest on the console over there. I'll be rooting for you to win it. Have you thought about what sort of weapon you'd like if you win?"

The mon calamari's own bulbous eyes were briefly drawn to a holo display set just outside the door as it flashed to a humanoid face talking about some sort of creature seemed unpleasant in name to the Hast native. Hopefully we don't find any around here...otherwise, I might have to actually put some of this gear to use...

 

[Roth Likonis]

"It's rare when things going according to plan, either in war or business," admitted the blonde man, "there's always the unforeseen. That's why the Lucerne consortium has invested in some civilian droids of our own manufacture - there's just some things we don't want to be without if things go south, but we're hardly specialists in the area. But this droid you're showcasing here looks impressive, and it looks like something that could be of potential benefit for our company to adopt.

Roth nodding knowingly. "Always prepare for the unexpected...then throw the preparations out the viewport - that's what I always say."

"You say these SM-BLs should be put in service of groups of five or more. Is there an upper limit where their efficiency starts to peak? Is the product they make part of determining that efficiency? We manufacture a number of repulsorlift military vehicles for the Silver Jedi Concord. I'd like to experiment with using an assembly line run by these droids as a trials run to see if it's worth it for our bottom line to buy more of them - the efficiency specs you spoke of do seem impressive."

Roth brought up a datapad, accessing Lucerne's catalog - briefly, he glanced over a few of their tank offerings, Balyeg, Katarn, Howlrunner. "Standard repulsors, impervium, thermal gel, alusteel, ceraglass...all seems industry standard." Nodding his head, Roth looked up from the pad, gesturing at the SM-BL. "Upper limits and diminishing returns are really more dependent on the configuration of your assembly lines. For example, if I had a single line of twenty-five SM-BLs, they could get the job done, efficiently. If I divided them between five separate lines, five each, with each line working on specific aspects of the final product...well that's more efficient still." Roth gave an easy laugh, before putting the pad away. "Ultimately? They should have no problems with your product offering. I'd suggest twenty-five to start in a trial factory; they have integrated heuristic processors, so allow two to four weeks for maximum efficiency."

Gir Quee

 

[Matsu Ike]

Matsu bowed her head to Dorthea Dobson as she left and there was plenty of things going on. She was able to see a few of the improved technologies from Gir Quee but she also wanted to roam around as she looked at some of the other booths while their droids were attending. Biots were always useful to have and Sasori's items for it were meant to show some of their talents. The really advanced things were saved for large contracts. The House Lo one was interesting and there were one or two others... maybe food. She might have needed to suggest to Dorthea a food court or something to aid with the socializing

 

[NPC’s NPCs]

Loreena Arenais-Valhoun | Victor Algernot | Khrusaes Akron | Percival Io | Laertia Io | Gir Quee | Matsu Ike | Judah Dashiell | Saro Nakaioma | Noah Corek | Tatede Truibark | Caltin Vanagor | Willow & Ivy | Andrew Lonek | Var-Sulis | Valah Hagen

MAJOR DEVELOPMENT
​

The central holodisplay in the Center of the expo shimmers online. The face of a human male materializes and begins speaking to the entire convention. He starts describing his startup company, where he’s from, and what his dreams are.

Quite frankly, judging by the way he talks, anyone who’s has any business sense gets the impression that he doesn’t understand how business really works. He’s really just some genius with a bright idea. Plus, this part really bores people, since all he’s really doing is talking about himself. Some of the audience begins to lose interest, but the cultists are all paying very close attention, and whispering amongst themselves.

But he then begins to describe his new piranha lizards in detail. He explains that they are capable of killing entire capital ships over time and how they are built to fill a niche market for strategic naval weapons. He goes into how they can eat and digest metals and how quickly they can reproduce. He then begins to describe the safety features that they have implemented for the coming demonstration.

The prototype piranha lizards that are about to be in the demonstration have been given genetic markers that make them very susceptible to a precisely tailored nerve gas that kills them instantly. That nerve gas has been supplied to the station in many depots around the whole structure. Security staff has been properly trained to use it, so the station is presumably safe…

Then, the young man in the holovid thanks everyone, dismisses himself, and a live feed of a generic surplus star destroyer begins to play. For a while it does nothing. Then, suddenly, an entire section of hull panel begins to crumple and then simply drift away from the ship without any explanation. Then another section falls away. The bridge begins to peel away…

All of a sudden, the entire structure of the once-mighty star destroyer ripples with an internal explosion! Then another, only this one forms a plume of emerging flames from amidships. Then two more rock the hull. Then, in a crescendo of rapid-fire explosions, the entire ship erupts from the inside and is suddenly entirely engulfed in flames from the mixing fluids that are still stored inside it.

The live feed lingers a few moments longer while the flames and metal chunks clear the scene, leaving behind a completely shattered debris field.

A logo appears and a narrating voice begins spewing contact information and other generic legal details.

But one thing that some people haven’t noticed was that all of the cultists have disappeared. Entirely. Without a trace.

Then, the holovid cuts out suddenly, and a new logo appears, flashing BREAKING NEWS!!!

A new voice begins speaking, in a deep, precise, clipped tone,

“ATTENTION ALL ATTENDEES, PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE SPACE DOCKS ON THE STATION ARE CURRENTLY UNDER BLOCKADE BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES THE “NAVIS SACRA”. THEY SEEM TO NUMBER IN THE MILLIONS, BUT THEY HAVEN’T HARMED ANYONE, BUT DO NOT APPROACH THEM. THEY APPEAR TO BE PROTESTING THE WRONGFUL DESTRUCTION OF SHIPS, AND HAVE YET TO NAME THEIR DEMANDS. THESE BEINGS SEEMS TO BE UNCLEAR AS TO WHAT THEY WANT, BUT THEIR BLOCKADE SEEMS TO BE WELL ORGANIZED. WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS…”

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Willow and Ivy didn't get any response from Caltin Vanagor to their questions, but perhaps he was too distracted to notice them. Either that or he had something against siamese twins and the two made him uncomfortable. But they didn't hold it against him though. They were used to being regarded as freaks of nature.

However now it was their turn to be distracted. And what distracted them was the big holodisplay in the center. The twins slowly walked towards it, not watching with any aspect of awe, but of absolute horror.

"Noo...."

"They are killing her..."

"Can they not hear her screaming?"

Willow and Ivy jumped as the star destroyer exploded. Tears flooded their cheeks as they knelt down, holding eachother. "How could they do that, Willow?"

"I don't know...for credits, more than likely. Bad things always happen for credits."

The news bulletin caught their attention next and they looked up, watching for a few moments before they got to their feet in unison. "Her death will not be in vain. The Navi must be told."

"Through that?" Ivy pointed to the holodisplay.

Willow nodded. "Partly, yes. Come on. This way."

The twins weaved through the crowds towards the space docks. Some people were panicking, while others didn't seem to know what was going on. And then there were others that were oblivious to all of it. Regardless they walked as quickly as they could. And as they did so, some of the Navi spotted them and began walking with them. The closer that they got to the docks, the more Navi joined them.

"This is not the way..."

"Come with us and hear us..."

"We will show you the path..."

"We will show you the way."

Dorthea Dobson

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

"I've been well enough, and yourself?" the mon calamari gestured at a computer console near some of the LPD weapons present, "By all means, feel free to enter the contest on the console over there. I'll be rooting for you to win it. Have you thought about what sort of weapon you'd like if you win?"

Burtch simply waved off his trandoshan secretary and she went to go enter Burtch in the raffle while he continued the conversation. The announcement was now playing outside the room with some kind of demonstration.

"I'm really good, thanks, and appreciate your endorsement!” Burtch let out a small chuckle, “I actually just came back from a rescue operation in concord space" Burtch proceeded casually, referring to the recent events where he had rescued @Willow and Ivy from a criminal sky palace, "Not to worry, though. They were being held by criminals, and none of the collateral was in violation of the elysium-concord alliance.

"Anyhow, given the fiasco with the intruders we faced during the summit, I thought it might be wise to get my hands on a decent hold-out sidearm. LPD sells some decent ones, last time I checked."

Outside, the central holodisplay was starting to show the destruction of the star destroyer.

Salmakk

 

[Var-Sulis]

“ATTENTION ALL ATTENDEES, PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE SPACE DOCKS ON THE STATION ARE CURRENTLY UNDER BLOCKADE BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES THE “NAVIS SACRA”. THEY SEEM TO NUMBER IN THE MILLIONS, BUT THEY HAVEN’T HARMED ANYONE, BUT DO NOT APPROACH THEM. THEY APPEAR TO BE PROTESTING THE WRONGFUL DESTRUCTION OF SHIPS, AND HAVE YET TO NAME THEIR DEMANDS. THESE BEINGS SEEMS TO BE UNCLEAR AS TO WHAT THEY WANT, BUT THEIR BLOCKADE SEEMS TO BE WELL ORGANIZED. WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS…”

As I was surveying the area and kept an eye out for certain people that I deemed strange, suddenly there was the announcement. A live feed showing what had taken place after the display of these rather impressive piranha lizards. And then...It happened. Panic was all around as many individuals started running and scattering like civilians in a middle of a battlefield. It got ugly. Really quick. I quickly shoved by one lady, then by a few others looking for Loreena Arenais-Valhoun . She had to be safe. Wait...The group of robed figures..They were nowhere to be found. FRACKING MOTHER....F....I mumbled aloud as I ran in the direction of Lori and Arla.

"Lori!" I yelled amongst the loud chatter. Hopefully She was ok. Then again, Arla was with her.

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir listened intently to Roth Likonis as the industrialist spoke:

"Ultimately? They should have no problems with your product offering. I'd suggest twenty-five to start in a trial factory; they have integrated heuristic processors, so allow two to four weeks for maximum efficiency."

Gir nodded. He would have to think about where to place the new droids. Their flagship factory on Kwookrrr was his first choice, but he was also aware that it might easier integrating them into the expansion currently underway at their Voss facilities, which would likely be geared more to supplying the Ashlan Crusade. He'd have to think about the specific logistics later, likely with Salmakk.

"I think we would like to purchase at least twenty five units today, though I'll admit that I need to talk to a few others on the company board about their ultimate destination, which I can get to you probably within a week if there aren't any unforeseen complications. Do you foresee any problems if we were to request more units, possibly in the hundreds in the next couple of months, given the supply issues that you mentioned?"

Gir's attention was briefly taken away by Sariya tapping his shoulder and pointing him to the holo-message showing the destroyed star destroyer and then the announcement of this new cult. He frowned. Well, at least there's enough weaponry in the company booth to activate and defend ourselves with if things get out of control...He turned back to the Roth.

"Well, we may have to conclude talks a little bit later, perhaps by holoNet correspondence? Things look like they might get chaotic soon. I should return to my company booth to make sure everything is all right..."

 

[Salmakk]

"I'm really good, thanks, and appreciate your endorsement! I actually just came back from a rescue operation in concord space. Not to worry, though. They were being held by criminals, and none of the collateral was in violation of the elysium-concord alliance. Anyhow, given the fiasco with the intruders we faced during the summit, I thought it might be wise to get my hands on a decent hold-out sidearm. LPD sells some decent ones, last time I checked."

Salmakk slowly nodded as Grand Shepherd Burtch spoke. His adopted brother Gir, also an admiral, managed to somehow get himself in physical danger from time to time on the ground - usually not planned. But none of that had made the engineer any more happy - couldn't he just leave that stuff to the Jedi and the rangers? He could already hear Gir chiding him with something to the effect of The enemy gets a vote too.

The engineer stepped over to grab a small display case and opened it in front of the chiss. Two compact pistols were present, though both were vastly different despite their similar size and very similar names.

"This is the Fistfire, and this is the Firefist," said the mon calamari, before briefly starting to apologize, "I didn't come up with the names....sometimes I wonder if it was a joke, or bad marketing. But in any case, the Fistfire is a variable charge blaster, while the Firefist is a slugthrower. The Fistfire seems more popular- more people are familar with using blasters I think, but there's something to be said for the simplicity and versatility of a classic slugthrower."

 

[Valah Hagen]

“ATTENTION ALL ATTENDEES, PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE SPACE DOCKS ON THE STATION ARE CURRENTLY UNDER BLOCKADE BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES THE “NAVIS SACRA”. THEY SEEM TO NUMBER IN THE MILLIONS, BUT THEY HAVEN’T HARMED ANYONE, BUT DO NOT APPROACH THEM. THEY APPEAR TO BE PROTESTING THE WRONGFUL DESTRUCTION OF SHIPS, AND HAVE YET TO NAME THEIR DEMANDS. THESE BEINGS SEEMS TO BE UNCLEAR AS TO WHAT THEY WANT, BUT THEIR BLOCKADE SEEMS TO BE WELL ORGANIZED. WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS…”

As she spotted Loreena Arenais-Valhoun and was moving in..The announcement took place along with the grand display of the critters in action. As Valah wasn't distracted by it at the moment she continued to place one foot in front of the other walking casually towards Loreena and then...Breaking news. Now that....caught her attention as her neck snapped to the hologram display. Looking around at the crowd and seeing Var-Sulis make a direct line for Lori's location told her would reveal a few things. He was security personnel that either was assigned to the Queen, or he reacted out of fear and figured it would be a good way to make introductions. Valah would immediately begin marching towards their location. The questions she had for her would have to wait. Not that there was an imminent threat before them, but it's was a situation to be concerned with. As She drew closer she noticed Arla near the Queen as well....Another one...No, This one...not human....She was prepared to assist them if need be. Valah would scan the area for the nearest safe zone. The ports were a no go. It could be a trap. She would detach her Squad shield canister from her hip, gripping it in hand while passing by the crowd in a state of panic.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori's attention turned from Valah Hagen to the holodisplay. The piranna-lizards were wicked and a totally neat idea. Maybe she'd have to purchase some. There was at least a few ships that she could think of to use them on. Mainly Sith ones.

But then came the announcement, which turned the expo into a security breach exercise. Only it was no exercise. So far it seemed that everyone here was safe. The space docks themselves were quite a distance from where the expo was held given the size of Damascus station, but still....it was worriesome if they couldn't get things under control. Especially as many eyes from different corners of the Galaxy were on them.

Var-Sulis shouted for her, and she could already see him moving through the crowd quickly to get to her. "I'm here!" Lori held her hand up high and waved so that he could see her from her booth.

Arla caught sight of Valah as the Mandalorian approached, removing something from her hip. She moved slightly in front of Lori. "Do you know this vod?"

"I don't think so. I'm not sure."

"You should get to safety."

"No, I should help."

"You should get to safety."

"Arla, I should help. Not hide."

"It is not your call to make." Arla was certain that Var would agree with her.

Lori sighed and shook her a little. "Dorthea's going to be pissed..." Oh there was no doubt in her mind that Dorthea Dobson was going to go after those cultists just like the piranna-lizards went after the Star Destroyer. And she did not want to be in their position one bit.

 

[Dorthea Dobson]

The breaking news played. Dorthea's eyebrows remained raised, her lips pursed, and her eyelids twitched. She remained quiet and stared at the holodisplay long after it was finished playing. Her datapad began to chime in rapid fire with notifications, but it stayed in her hand at her thigh, completely ignored.

Finally, a patron of the expo gently tapped Dorthea on the shoulder and asked, "are you ok ma'am?"

She slowly turned around to face the nice Dornean man, and her face never changed. The twitch in her eye told him that she was rather dangerous right now. More concern creased his face, but his courage began to fail him. He simply stepped away from the woman and went back to looking at exhibits.

The intimidation seemed to rally Dorthea's sanity and she started to come-to. She relaxed her face, shook her head a little, and lifted the datapad to look at the notifications.

Naturally, things were actually more of a mess than the news broadcast had dared to reveal. Dorthea, being the station director, was privy to this information. Many of the protestors were apparently attempting to steal some of the ships in the docks, while others were painting graffiti on the hulls of the ships in dock with weird symbols and sayings like "STOP THE ABUSE OF SHIPS" or "ANGELS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED" or "THE NAVIS PROTECTS, SO PROTECT THE NAVIS!" Most concerning, however, was the fact that many of the protestors in the blockade were donning Elysium Navy Marine gear such as the armour and the weapons.

This, and the fact that much of the information was being contradicted by a slew of misinformation by law enforcement pointed to the fact that the cultists had connections in the security forces on the station. This wasn't just a demonstration. It was a potential coup.

Dorthea was at a loss at this point, while the crowds surged around her. She was oblivious to everyone around her while she swiped through her datapad frantically, trying to figure out some kind of solution. She was helpless, and she needed a way to diffuse the situation without the aid of station security.

Who could honestly help her at this point?

Loreena Arenais-Valhoun | Victor Algernot | Khrusaes Akron | Percival Io | Laertia Io | Gir Quee | Matsu Ike | Judah Dashiell | Saro Nakaioma | Noah Corek | Tatede Truibark | Caltin Vanagor | Willow & Ivy | Andrew Lonek | Var-Sulis | Valah Hagen

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

"This is the Fistfire, and this is the Firefist," said the mon calamari, before briefly starting to apologize, "I didn't come up with the names....sometimes I wonder if it was a joke, or bad marketing. But in any case, the Fistfire is a variable charge blaster, while the Firefist is a slugthrower. The Fistfire seems more popular- more people are familar with using blasters I think, but there's something to be said for the simplicity and versatility of a classic slugthrower."

Burtch grunted something of a chuckle at the mentioning of the gimmicky names, but he appreciated the nature of the offset between them. Both weapons were sound and had impressive merits. A blaster offered a stun option, which was useful in certain tactical settings, while slug-throwers offered pure reliability in situations where EMP/ION warfare was prevalent.

It was a hard pick between the two. Burtch's mind started grinding out the pros and cons of each weapon, and he began to narrow things down. He even picked up both weapons, one at a time, to get a feel for the grip and they were equally comfortable to hold. Soon, he was able to choose his preference, "The ammo capacity on the Fistfire is what sways me, Salmakk ." He responded to the Mon calamari in a friendly tone, "in an ambush scenario, a higher ammo count would be more likely to help one survive until help arrives. I feel like the Firefist is better suited to an assassination mission profile, given the reliability and variable types of damage available to it. In essence, one weapon is ideal for defence while the other is made to efficiently kill a target."

Burtch picked up the fistfire again, to now appreciate his new favourite weapon. He looked it over once more and set it back down, "if I don't win the raffle, I'll likely be purchasing one all the same I think."

Then a thought suddenly occurred to him and he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly…

Was he just testing me?

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Willow and Ivy would have found it difficult to move through the crowds, had it not been for the Navi walking with them that ensured that the twins had room. The twins walked with purpose, with Willow almost seeming to take the lead. Her eyes appeared almost distant, focusing on something that only she could see at the moment.

Dorthea Dobson was in that path. The woman wasn't moved away because she didn't have to be. She was needed. Her knowledge of Damascus Station was required. "Madam Director! Madam Director! We need to get to the Navi."

Ivy was quick to latch onto her sister's plan. "Yes! Please show us the quickest route from here."

"We need to quell their fears and quell their pain."

"They will listen to us. We've seen it."

Of course there was always another way. If Dorthea wouldn't help them than Grand Shepherd Burtch would. He looked out for them and was their rescuer. He understood part of the Navi's beliefs. In an indirect way he paved the way for the religion to come into being.

Without guidance the Navis had gone down the wrong path. Willow and Ivy now saw that they had to have more direct influence than they had at first realized. And if they couldn't stop them, then surely the whole station and many others would turn against them. Then they'd all be in cages once more.

"Please help us to get there before it's too late."

 

[Roth Likonis]

"I think we would like to purchase at least twenty five units today, though I'll admit that I need to talk to a few others on the company board about their ultimate destination, which I can get to you probably within a week if there aren't any unforeseen complications. Do you foresee any problems if we were to request more units, possibly in the hundreds in the next couple of months, given the supply issues that you mentioned?"

Roth nodded as he listened, consulting his datapad before answering. "We're experiencing a lommite shortage; blame pirates and remote trade routes. Its hit our durasteel production rather hard, as well as our favored building metals - duralloy and duralium. We've compensated by shifting our blend to have a higher amount of neutronium." Roth gave an easy laugh, and shook his head. "In other words; as long as you don't mind your units being a few kilograms heavier than usual, yes, we can fill the order."

“ATTENTION ALL ATTENDEES, PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE SPACE DOCKS ON THE STATION ARE CURRENTLY UNDER BLOCKADE BY A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO CALL THEMSELVES THE “NAVIS SACRA”. THEY SEEM TO NUMBER IN THE MILLIONS, BUT THEY HAVEN’T HARMED ANYONE, BUT DO NOT APPROACH THEM. THEY APPEAR TO BE PROTESTING THE WRONGFUL DESTRUCTION OF SHIPS, AND HAVE YET TO NAME THEIR DEMANDS. THESE BEINGS SEEMS TO BE UNCLEAR AS TO WHAT THEY WANT, BUT THEIR BLOCKADE SEEMS TO BE WELL ORGANIZED. WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION AS THE SITUATION DEVELOPS…”

Roth listened to the message before rolling his eyes. "This is what I get for leaving Cotellier." Roth snapped his fingers at the hulking BU-1K droid. "Protect me. Smash enemies I designate." The droid's photoreceptor faded from blue to red, and, crouching, the droid palmed the several ton permacrete block that it had been casually tossing around earlier. <<Order confirmed. Designate target.>> Roth wagged a finger at the droid in response. "Standby, on my order only." Though the droid wasn't programmed for emotion - or much thought at all, for that matter - Roth could have sworn the droid slumped slightly.

"Well, we may have to conclude talks a little bit later, perhaps by holoNet correspondence? Things look like they might get chaotic soon. I should return to my company booth to make sure everything is all right..."

Roth flashed a wide smile. "I'd love that, Quee! I've aways wanted to make inroads to the Core...wouldn't mind meeting a few senators and setting up some mining deals, if you get my drift." Saluting the man with his offhand, Roth backed up until he was under the BU-1K, which hovered over him like some menacing giant. "Never a dull moment, eh?"

 

[Tatede Truibark]

“This is ridiculous,” Tate said to herself as she finished demonstrating the shields to another person who had zoned out her explanation of why her new design was better than existing technology. “Garm can start up the two personal shield and shoot the blaster through one and have the new shield stop it.”

With a grunt she stowed her data pad. “Garm. I’m going to find Khrusaes. These people just want to see a demonstration anyways. If they ask for specifics give them the sales sheet and if that isn’t enough give my contact info.”

The assistant gave a nod and Tate was finally out on a mission to socialize. Or at least see what new toys were out there on the market. She wasn’t really going to look for Khrusaes. She knew he would be in the casino or a bar trying to chat someone up to make an impression. He had no idea what about any of the science to sell anyone on their products and no capital to buy anything from the various booths.

As Tate approached the first booth she was interested in the main screen showed these new piranha lizards. Tate shook her head. Biology was the one science Tate just didn’t understand. Seemed to be too much of a moving target. You want something done, you hire someone with the skills you need, or you build something. Tinkering with nature just seemed off. She watched as the star destroyer blew up, she shrugged her shoulders. “Effective at least. Bet he’ll find a buyer.”

After the demonstration a new bulletin, seemingly targeted at the expo guests, interrupted further the business of the expo. There was some techno-terrorist group holding their ships hostage as some sort of protest? No, that was not good. The Neutron Prism was in the docks. Tate didn’t know if she would be a target or an exception to the terrorist protest. She helped design ships that were purposed to destroy other ships, but her primary expertise was in shielding which protected ships. And, well, they couldn’t do anything to the Prism. Of any ship in the galaxy she was an angel. Tate’s baby. The physicist started looking around for someone of authority. Someone who could tell her how to get her ship back.

 

[Var-Sulis]

I approached Loreena Arenais-Valhoun at her booth while glaring around at the crowd. This was something that could have been prevented. But how? The docks were closed off and I had the feeling this was starting to turn into a conspiracy. Great. Thankfully, I had no definitive regime or faction to point to, but some questions would run rapidly in my mind as far as the security was concerned. I needed to get close to one of the docks after assuring the safety of those I cared about.

"Lori, Before this situation escalates any further Iv'e got some digging to do. Arla. (I nodded to her respectably.) Your ok. Good. Now, what are you going to do to help? I think you could do some good here and now." I stated while adjusting my suit quickly getting ready to run off at a moments notice.

 

[Valah Hagen]

"Vod. Aliit ori'shya tal'din (Sister. Family is more than blood.) "You are not my aru'e , But we have much to discuss later. Are you alright?" Valah would ask as she appeared within view of the Queen's booth to the left. She noticed Var-Sulis and Arla were around her and it was actually a good thing. Strength in numbers. And now, should the Queen need an exit, there were several escape pods pinged on valah's downloaded schematic, but most likely they would be blockaded as well...Unless...A long uncomfortable journey through vent systems and air ducts would be on the table.

Tag: Loreena Arenais-Valhoun