Geonosian Convention

[Werah Unon]

All the drugs, mind control and droid attacks were having their effect. The arena was devolving into chaos, just as Werah had intended. Yet was unsure of how to proceed. The way out was simple, but it would destroy the last heads of neutrality that Werah had hoped for. Danm that Vanderhing. Of course, it seemed ludicrous now, but Werah had once wanted an allegiance with the ST. Now, that neimoidian and Jessica had made them utterly hate them. Werah pressed the button to release the antidotes, and told the droids to stand down. Speaking through the Orb, Werah addressed the people of the stadium. "People of Geonosis! Stand down! Halt this conflict immediately." Werah doubted they would listen, but he had to try, "To all those wronged by the TE, I apologise. This whole convention was not authorised, and the officials in charge of it will stand trial for their crimes. I ask of you, please stop this fighting. This stadium has seen blood before, but I hope that this is the end. We will try and recompense you for this experience, and once again, I apologise for this incident." Werah put his pad down, and walked back to his chambers. This whole affair was a disaster, thought Werah. Vanderhing had destroyed their credibility, and given them the reputation of evil that Werah had wanted to avoid. Well, there was no easy way out of this, but Werah hoped that his chosen course would lead to the best outcome. However, only time would tell.

@HK-36@Drystan Talroth[member="Darth Vitium"][member="Tubal Sahon"]@Jain@Herr Vanderhing[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Amelia von Sorenn]

A hiss escaped her lips as she looked up at the large sphere, her golden-yellow hues falling upon it as she watched it for a moment. She could feel new life as it were surging through her from her feeding, a soft smirk crossing her lips when she heard the voice cry out. Slowly she looked towards the stands, her hues falling upon Mala, watching the woman whom had just outright cried out that she was a monster. Though it was something that she didn't seem to be hiding from, before her attention fell upon the slaves still in the arena. Shaking her head slightly as another seemed to muster up the courage to charge at her, only to be lain low.

The soft gasps for air could be heard as her gauntlet covered fist slowly crushed the life from the young man, her yellow hues upon the being as her attention was brought back to the sphere. Another hiss escaped her lips as she watched the gas beginning to pour from the device, filling the air and entrapped within the dome. While she was more fit than most, she still did not know just how effected the gas could potentially be upon her, and thus she acted in the means necessary. Knowing that other's still watched, she sank her fangs into the throat of the individual she held before dropping the lifeless corpse to the sand.

Kneeling over the figure, she tore a piece of fabric from what was passing as clothing and sought to soak it through. Of course there was only one liquid that was readily available, and soon the tan fabric was a dark red, soaked in blood as she pulled it to her mouth. Tying it off, her golden-yellow hues fell upon the orb again, then to those around her. Watching as they fell to the gas, either into fits of giggling or to their own hallucinations that seemed to now plague them. At least for the time being she would not have to deal with others, unless they were those that had already started the commotion.

The hiss crack of the lightsaber being activated pulled her attention to the new individual that stepped into the area, watching as the cloaked figure carried herself forward. Slowly she rolled her shoulders before she drew herself to the gunship that was caught beneath the dome. It seemed that the little event meant to showcase the 'power' of this new Techno Empire was now being used against it to show its weakness. The thought that with such disorder evident; that the Order itself would need not worry much had crossed her mind.

If the Techno Empire was so eager to ruin itself by waging wars against enemies long since gone; it was as if Caligula had risen once more to wage war upon the Sea. A soft smirk crossed her lips beneath the blood soaked rag as she took a moment to take stock of the event, the players that moved about the board as she stepped away from the blood soaked sands. Her heavy boots dug into the sand as she moved towards the spectator boxes, the home of those that had caused the trouble by their own actions. Slowly she looked up, watching before she stepped forward again.

"Four Sith... That gunship, perhaps with the Hutts? No, someone else?"

She mused to herself as she pressed off against her planted foot, sending herself up unto the side of the area wall. The armor clad woman landing gracefully upon the slight ledge before the stands that were now left barren with the exception of those that had fallen to the gas. Once more she looked up towards the spectator boxes as she pressed herself down before leaping again; though a slight misjudgment at her part as she barely reached the lower box. Her hand holding firmly as she pulled herself up and into the lower box, a soft hiss escaping her lips.

"Damn Gas."

She coughed for a moment before breathing in deeply through the blood soaked rag. For a moment she closed her eyes before they shot back open, causing her to shake her head.

"This is getting out of hand..."


[member="Jessica Med-Beq"] | [member="Herr Vanderhing"] | [member="Jain"] | [member="Velok the Younger"] | [member="Mala Arar"] | [member="Tubal Sahon"] | [member="Drystan Talroth"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Arisa Yune"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Werah Unon"] | [member="Darth Vitium"]

 

[Causstik Rahn]

Causstik and his squad of Trandoshan's sat behind Vanderhing as he made his appeals to the powers that be. In this case, a giant floating crystal ball. He shrugged and decided he had observed stranger religions. Then another Sith entered the arena and began another droning speech. Oh how they loved their moments.. Causstik observed the woman through his helmets Hud, assessed the situation and decided they would probably die. The orb seemed convinced on putting Herr Vanderhing in the former Sith slaves place and he didn't think the Nemodian would last long in the arena.

He made a motion with his hand and his squad formed a defensive position around the poor Bastard and waited. They would not engage the enemy, but would protect their own. "The score keeper will bless us with many jagganath points today," he said in dosh over his squads comms. Then to Vanderhing "We really oghtta take that shuttle out of here or that Sith is going to use your bones for tooth picks," he motioned to the shuttle one last time.

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"] | [member="Herr Vanderhing"] | [member="Jain"] | [member="Velok the Younger"] | [member="Mala Arar"] | [member="Tubal Sahon"] | [member="Drystan Talroth"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Arisa Yune"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Werah Unon"] | [member="Darth Vitium"]

 

[Drystan Talroth]

Enter another Sith.

Drystan was no advanced force user, but over fifty years of life and a primary education that had focused on controlling his abilities, he was no novice either. Like many, he had long known the abilities revolving around maintaining a constant barrier to avoid being caught unawares by other force users attacks and mind control attempts. So it was safe to say that he wasn't directly affected by all of the force being thrown around the arena, but the sheer power of some of the Sith was certainly giving him a headache.

"Agreed, but alas, I didn't bring any snipers with me either. Unless you did?" He glanced over at the droid, "That would help were it not for the force field they've thrown up. I wonder whose bright idea that was, trapping all of them in an arena with multiple angry Sith?" A studied tactician he was not, but even so, he could see the lack of competence with which this whole debacle was being carried out.

He took the offered re-breather, securing it over his mouth and nostrils. "That's better, thank you. I should have come more prepared. Those revolvers of yours are nice, I just might take you up on your offer."

Still, they didn't seem to be in any immediate danger...

"I wonder if they'll let us out, or if we're going to have to be creative?"

[member="HK-36"]

 

[The Upright Man]

[ T H E M E ]

The Commonwealth had issued a Rapid Reaction Task Force after reports of a riot breaking out on Geonosis during a rally. After the talks with the leaders at Barossa, Horus, the Lord of Admirals, had felt compelled to provide relief efforts to Werah and the Techno Empire. Lacking time, the closest ship to Geonosis had been sent for a quick deployment. The Twelfth Night was an in-development ship, a prototype, and one-of-a-kind. It wasn't entirely reliable, but packed a punch and stood at one-thousand-eight-hundred meters in length. It was all the Commonwealth could offer for an immediate response.

Dean Letham awaited on the flight deck, an MPD rested behind him. The crew chief was making the final inspections before take-off as they would shortly come out of hyperspace. The pilot and co-pilot moved past Dean and gave him a steady salute, the two had been half-way through a meal in the mess hall when they got the call. Dean in fact was in the shower when a junior officer walked into his quarters and told him the situation. He wasn't upset he didn't get to finish his shower, he was upset that he had shaved only half his face when he was forced to finish up, so for his own sake he was keeping his own helmet on.

There was a lurch, while nothing in the ship budged Dean felt like his stomach had jumped and knotted itself. He knew that was the hyperdrive shutting down as they slipped into the system. The rest of the newly formed Fireteam Mikado-Nine should be around shortly. He too gave his own final inspections, he has his ammunition belt and pouches filled, his '99 officers handgun was holstered with the safety on as well as his '101 assault rifle slung over his shoulder. When the fireteam arrived there wouldn't be time to sit around, they'd depart the moment Dean set his foot in the troop bay and make a rapid deployment to the designated stadium where Werah would be awaiting them.



_____________

Fireteam Mikado-Nine

Commander [member="Dean Letham"], Lieutenant [member="Jacen Konshu"]
Staff Sergeant [member="Cait Falcor"], Sergeant [member="Jackson Mills"], Sergeant [member="Sasha Starkos"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jain"] [member="Tubal Sahon"] [member="Mala Arar"]

As Velok and company made their way through the tunnels of the hollow mountain that surrounded the arena, they found a non-negligible trend: tens of thousands of Geonosians heading downward. The psychoactive drugs and so forth appeared to be wearing off, Velok noted. The Geonosians and distinguished guests were regaining some measure of sanity, though the unconscious ones largely stayed out. Vomit splattered the walls, etc. Just not a wholesome or pleasant environment.

Velok, however, found the atmosphere of the place quite liberating. This stadium, after all, was a nexus strong in the Dark Side of the Force.

Beneath the stadium, tunnels converged into a major passage, and thence into a gigantic battle droid foundry. All the stamping and sparking and clanking was really quite impressive, very nice, and so forth. The foundry, at a guess, offered various escape routes that would -- by dint of relative canyon elevations, stone arches, supply shafts, etc. -- offer any number of ways to get lost and/or out. He didn't bother explaining this to his newfound associates of the moment.

In due course, ears still ringing from the loudspeaker blathering of Techno Empire leaders, he opened a hatch and revealed a stretch of complex canyon outside the shield dome.

"Shall we?" he said, and promptly got lost in the rocks. His shuttle was located some distance away, in a handy tunnel. Geonosis offered endless opportunities for anonymity.

 

[Alleycat]

CW Fireteam Mikado-Nine
[member="Dean Letham"] [member="Jacen Konshu"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Jackson Mills"]
Equipment in bio

Sergeant Sasha Starkos was in the middle of a workout when her comm pager went off indicating Fireteam Miakado-Nine had been activated for immediate deployment. The tall redhead hit the treadmill's kill switch, then stepped off the still inclined and moving belt in a graceful leap. She grabbed her towel and water bottle off a nearby bench, then exited the Twelfth Night's gym and double-timed it to her quarters to get her gear.

The spirited Corellisi prided herself that she was the first of the elite team to board their designated MPD, sweaty and all. The Commonwealth Marine sniper quickly strapped herself into her seat in the troop bay. Starkos held her MM115 sniper rifle vertical in front of her between her shapely armored thighs and awaited the rest of M9 to arrive.

 

[Darth Imperia]

Mala had to admit, she could've lived without the vomit, the screaming, or the mass of disgusting bug creatures surrounding her and her companions.

But the tunnels made her feel safe and secure, and the massive Dark Side Nexus made her feel powerful. She was reluctant to leave either, especially for something as unsettling as a large, outdoors, open air canyon. Then again, Jedi Hunter Droids and Self-Righteous Techno-Fetishists were her alternatives, and she was quite certain they wouldn't allow her to leave peacefully after exposing a crowd of people to Bothan Spores. The Canyon, despite her distaste for it, was still her best opportunity to get out.

And so after a few seconds of hesitation, the young Acolyte followed after her Whiphid 'friend,' assuming that he had a plan for getting off of this Force-Forsaken planet.

She certainly hoped he did, at least.

[member="Velok the Younger"] | [member="Tubal Sahon"] | [member="Jain"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Werah Unon"], [member="Velok the Younger"], [member="Dean Letham"],


HK looked to [member="Drystan Talroth"] at his question,

"Well judging from what we saw today, I calculate we would only need to remind them that it would be a declaration of war against multiple galactic powers for them to back off. But I do not think we would have that issue, they have enough trouble and we did literally nothing."

The droid and Space Elf were still in their original stadium seats, by now probably the only spectators left in the whole stadium with everyone evacuated by now. Which means they were there to see the Commonwealth squad arrive, the droid took his commlink, sending out a voice transmission to [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Hey Sio, so everything went to hell, Sith arrived, two or three of them, the Techno guys decided to first field their droid army, it barely fired a couple of shots before they had it pull back, asking for mercy and forgiveness, that did not work so they decided to have us trapped in here via giant force field bubble and either roll out colored fog machines or gas literally everyone in the stadium, their citizens included. Oh and Commonwealth is landing troops now."

HK knew the look of Commonwealth soldiers and their insignias, he fought on their side before during that Charon incident,

"Do what you want with that, bring in an army or not, the kid is still with me, we are alright, everyone is just more or less ignoring us or did not notice us yet. Either way, the Techno Union is a mess, very contradictory."

 

[Jackson Mills]

Sergeant Jackson Mills was sitting in the chow hall stuffing his face with cheap military food and joking around with the troops around him. Abruptly the 1MC system overhead turned on and a calm female voice came through the speakers. “Combat stations, combat stations, all hands to combat stations for the exit from hyperspace. Fireteam Mikado-Nine report to the flight deck for deployment.”

“That’s me, ladies!” The Sergeant said with a partial mouthful, and stood from the table. “Sanders, get my tray for me will ya?” He said, slapping the man next to him on the shoulder and turning to jog toward the armory. In less than five minutes he was armed and armored in MM-C Infantry Kit, an MM101 Rifle and MM99 handgun and was marching onto the flight deck. He saw that the other members of M9 were already beginning to board the dropship so he jogged up to the ship, gave a salute to the commander as he passed, and took his seat on the dropship. He locked his rifle into the slot next to his seat and strapped himself in.

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

The tunnels felt oppressive. No new sensation to a Nikto; the whole of whom served at the whim of the Hutts. All the same, Jain felt some small measure of relief when they emerged to light and familiar sights. The permeable membranes covering his breathing tubes quivered as he filled his lungs with crisp, dry air.

Jain walked on, sure of foot in this terrain. Shackled hands clutched tightly to the wetted pike.

The long strides of the phacochoerus led them quickly through the canyon. Jain wondered what secret contingency the Sith had burrowed away within the rocks of this planet.

[member="Mala Arar"] | [member="Velok the Younger"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Drystan Talroth"]


"Oh. So the Techno Empire, or whatever its name is, goes from declaring a crusade on all Sith and executing people to begging forgiveness to trapping everyone in a force field and dropping gas on their own people? I see they're the very model of good, sane governance. Nuts. And the Commonwealth came all this way from the Unknown Regions? I feel like facepalmning.


Fun fact, unless I'm mistaken, that ought to be the same stadium where Jedi fought an army of droids way back and got slaughtered. Y'know, first battle of the Clone Wars. It should be a darkside nexus. So not the place to let civvies in...if you're a sane, civilised power. Anyway, good to hear you two are alright. Geonosis is far from our SOI, but if there's anything more worth reporting, forward it to me."

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

"Alliance reports of otherspace entities abound. Are there Charon among us?'

Flip.

"-no my dear, come hither and let me whisper in thy pointy ears-"

Eldorai Lovefantasy Number Sleven? Depths below. Flip.

"-listen to the sweet, sweet tunes of Ickabawl and the Jatzwailers-

Flip.

"And now, breaking news from Geonosis..."

Mobius' flipper hovered over the remote. One scarred, blubbery brow rose. "This should be interesting."

He watched in subdued amusement as the crisis unfolded. "Amazing. One would think the Techno Empire might take a hint after that Silver Sanctum debacle." he said to no one in particular in Darkwater HQ's break room. Firing on civilians made for excellent primetime.

"Sounds like the Technos should hire a PR specialist from the Clans. Now that's how you spin acceptable losses."

The white whale lost himself for a moment in supremely wicked belly chuckles.

 

[H3xle]

Commander [member="Dean Letham"], Lieutenant [member="Jacen Konshu"]
Staff Sergeant [member="Cait Falcor"], Sergeant [member="Jackson Mills"], Sergeant [member="Sasha Starkos"]

---------------​

Long years as a soldier had taught Jacen that when you weren't deployed or training, sleeping was king. Jacen had finished with a training cycle aboard ship a few hours prior, showered and slipped into bed. What felt like only moments later, but was actually a few hours, the klaxons went off for M9 to be deployed.

Rolling out of bed even before he was fully awake, the Jaguar didn't even think about his being his first deployment with the new Fireteam, and his first not as part of his platoon since becoming a Jaguar. Instead, he focused on strapping on his Commonwealth issued armor, grabbing his weapons, and jogging from his quarters. He arrived mere moments after Sergeant Starkos.

He popped his helmet off and grinned.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're too fast, Sergeant?" He asked, still grinning as he took a seat across from her.

 

[Drystan Talroth]

They were mostly alone in the seating now, other than a few Genosians who had been slowed down by coughing fits and who were just now making good on their escapes. The Commonwealth (At least he thought so, the various uniforms and insignia of galactic powers still just a bit foreign to him) had arrived, though for why, he couldn't begin to guess. Perhaps they had been nearby and felt the urge to join in the comedy of errors unfolding before them all.

Faced with what quite possibly could have been the plot to a low-budget comedy holofilm, Drystan came to the conclusion as he took off his rebreather that what was really called for now was a snack. The Eldorai was pleasantly surprised to find a ration bar in a pocket he'd forgotten about, and promptly tore off the wrapper on the slightly stale looking bar that bore the creative name "Ration, Chocolate, 1 bar."

He broke the bar in half, watching the drama still unfolding, and offered a piece to [member="HK-36"] approximately two seconds before the mental image of the droid smashing a candy bar against his vocabulator unit sprang to mind.

Still....sharing was caring.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Jain"] [member="Tubal Sahon"] [member="Mala Arar"]

In due course they came to a tunnel like any other, a cave-mouth dimpled into a sandstone cliff. From it protruded the nose of a Santhe/Sienar S81 Omicron, a quick shuttlecraft.

"Wonderful," said Velok, rubbing his hands together briskly. "Now, if the three of you will just donate your shoes, I think we can finalize things. I believe I've kept the drugs and suchlike things from entering your systems, but I strongly suspect we've all tracked through that nonsense. I won't have it aboard my ship outside of containment bags."

A droid exited the shuttle and offered a shallow pan. Velok stepped inside, and the droid began hosing down his massive, furred, three-clawed feet. Another droid offered biosample bags to each of the three who'd come with him.

"Besides, the larger the sample available, the quicker I can assess whether further medical care is needed."

 

[Alleycat]

CW Fireteam Mikado-Nine
[member="Dean Letham"] [member="Jacen Konshu"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Jackson Mills"]
Equipment in bio

Sasha gave her fellow Marine sergeant a head nod as Mills boarded and took his seat. She had heard good things about him and looked forward to working side by side with the grunt.

Next came the dark-skinned Jaguar that the Corellisi had the pleasure of sharing drinks with at the First Order's awards dinner that the Imperial faction had invited the Lord Admiral of the Commonwealth [member="Horus"] and his men and women to. It had been an interesting experience to be socializing in the lion's den of their friend/enemy. Sasha had enjoyed the lieutenant's company though that night, and was glad Konshu was a member of the M9 team for this mission.

"Anyone ever tell you that you're too fast, Sergeant?" Jacen asked, grinning as he took a seat across from her with his helmet off.

A matching grin spread across the spirited redhead's face as her jade green eyes looked over at the pair of dark chocolate ones. "Yes, sir… I'm half-Corellian. What can I say," she quipped back lightly with a shrug of her armored shoulders.

 

[Darth Imperia]

[member="Velok the Younger"] | [member="Tubal Sahon"] | [member="Jain"]

Back in the tunnel and protected from the harsh open spaces of the outside world, Mala's mind was set at ease once more.

She was really going to have to work on the whole "horribly reluctant to step into the outdoors" thing if she was going to be an effective Sith Lady, come to think of it. Oh well. She'd deal with that later. For now, she had a radiation-infested hellhole to get off of. At Velok's request, the young Acolyte removed her boots and deposited them in the obnoxiously orange biohazard bag offered by the waiting droid. Probably not for the last time, Mala regretted wearing one of her best articles of clothing. It was hard work to get anything out of Bantha leather.

Still, it was better that she lost a pair of boots than accidentally brought a horrible death plague onboard her savior's ship. That just wouldn't be polite.

Once aboard the ship, Mala had to admit that she was impressed; this was a pretty high end model, and far more impressive than the freighters she typically stowed away on.

Actually being invited aboard probably made a difference.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Drystan Talroth"],

The droid just looked over at Drystan, glancing down at the chocolate piece he tried to offer to the droid. HK reached over to smack the foodstuff from Drystan's hands onto his face, just like every bad comedy some slapstick was well needed.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],

"Oh no, a Geonosian just flew by and smacked some chocolate onto the kid's face."

He expertly covered his tracks before getting back on track,

"I do not think this is the same place, it looks different from when that battle happened,"

HK scanned over the building,

"Maybe it underwent some renovations, they managed to built in a Force field and gas emitters underneath its sand floor, that must have been a weird architectural design meeting. Besides, a planet this big with this much love for arena combat, they probably have way more than just one arena."

The droid looked at the ship hovering over the still force-field bound arena,

"You know, if we would want to, we could probably replace them with a puppet government fairly easily, their stabilization is down the drain, when the news of them gassing their own people comes out even the Hives will have hard time falling in line, and I know for a fact their droid foundries are working but the designs they produce could use some upgrades."

He looked over the arena again,

"By the way, can you forward my messages to the Jedi Order in Galactic Alliance? They will probably be interested in hearing about this, no idea if the Techno Union is going to catch on and start jamming my transmissions."

 

[Cait Falcor]

SSG Cait Falcor - Commonwealth Marine
CNS - Twelfth Night - Delta Bay, Barrack Room D-107
[member="Sasha Starkos"], [member="Jacen Konshu"], [member="Jackson Mills"], [member="Dean Letham"]
___________________

It had been a long ass day. 0430 (Ship's Time) Cait was up, in the gym. Then personal hygiene, chow, training w/ the rest of her people, then Staff Briefings and Status Meetings.

The endless meetings...

Liberal amounts of Caf and a quick bite to eat whenever she could snatch a moment.

Cait had just grabbed an end-of-day Shower, and was about to lay down for the night...when her personal Holocom started blaring.

"Son of a fething queen...whaaaaaaaat" she grumbled to herself, allowing a few seconds of her inner whiny private to complain, venting her frustration to the empty cabin.

Soon, however, Cait slid on her professional mask - almost more "the real her" than the woman laying on the bed in her PJs.

"This is Staff Sar'n Falcor, what do you have?" she asked the Tech on the other end. "Dunno Sergeant. Just says FT-M9, bug-out Bay 1 - Time Now."

"Roger that, thanks, Commo, I'll be down in 5 Mikes"

***

4 minutes and 47 seconds later, Cait Falcor came striding into the Launch Bay, where Dean, Sasha and the other members of the Fire Team were already assembled. She keyed her Squad Com, calling up Sgt. Alicia MacArthur - Cait's Executive NCO in her small section of the 21st Light Infantry.

"Mac, its Falcor. I'm on another assignment for a few days. Keep the troops sharp while I'm away, and be ready...they don't roll our Mikado-9 unless the excrement has his the rotary device.

They may call in the 21st on this. I can't say what "this" is. But, be ready."

Closing the commlink channel, Cait walked past [member="Dean Letham"], nodding at the Commander. "Sir" she offered, looking the Jaguar face-mask to face-mask out of respect, before stowing her Assault Pack and Carbine in their appropriate racks, strapping into the MP-D, turning the Sound Suppression all the way up on her Helm and seeing if she couldn't grab a few winks before the Bird took off.