Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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If I Were Wrong, I'd Know It

[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


"Of course, dear. Let's leave this horrible place behind us," Nalia said in what passed for a soothing tone. With Callisto carrying poor Elanil like the precious thing she was, they quickly departed. Outside was an Archangel shuttle that would swiftly transport them to the Lightbringer.


It did not take long and they had left the base, which had apparently been located on an asteroid in the middle of nowhere behind them. As soon as they were away, explosive charges blew the facility to kingdom come as a massive fireball consumed it. It was time for the next stage of the plan. Assuredly Elanil would be well-cared for...
 
[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Elayne Saedaris"]

Eyrecae looked around the party. Some fun people here, some less fun ones. Popsicle she didn’t have much time for, girl needed to loosen up. Mirien she likewise didn’t give much attention to. Still, it’d make things fun and interesting for sure.

As she stomped her way onto their ship she claimed a good cabin and dumped her stuff on the bed. The hammer made a loud clang as it impacted the floor.
“Right, I’m getting some sleep. Had a busy day.” ‘Busy’ doing crochet, if nothing else. “Wake me up when we’re close,” she said and closed the door.

She stripped out of her armour and laid it out. If she wasn’t wearing anything under the bodyglove would anyone be surprised? Probably not.

If there were deep discussion on plans or team bonding Eyrecae was not really the sort to attend.
 
Elanil was glad to hear those words spoken. As for the soothing tone, given how cold Elanil usually was, it was entirely warm, soothing and incredibly kind to her. The redhead clung a little tighter to Callisto as they headed out to the shuttle.

Slowly she was becoming more and more aware of what was happening around her, gradually waking up and returning to her senses. Sleepily she rubbed at her eyes and finally lifted her head to look around as they came onto the shuttle. "Can I call my twin? She'll be worried. Just need to let her know I'm fine and there's nothing to fuss about." Elanil said softly.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
 
[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


Nalia nodded understandingly. "Of course, dear. I imagine she must be worried sick about you," she said softly. "Let's get you into a comfortable bed in the medbay, and I'll get you a com to call her." Needless to say she would give Elanil the privacy she needed to talk with her sibling. Conveniently Archangel had the tech to fake a call and HRDs could imitate voices. The fact that it was her twin Elanil was calling made it all a little easier.
 
Mirien stepped into the ship and took a seat herself, waiting for Kaida and Elayne. As for Eyrecae, that one she ignored. For she wasn't really anything more than muscle to the spook, a tool to be used. Which to be fair, technically Kaida and even Elayne fell into the same category. Though, they might be of use to her right now.

She then pulled her datapad into her lap, and started to go through the footage of the security feeds. "Just going over what we have. We can hope the team on the ground actually manages to come up with some more information by the time we get there. If anything stands out that either of you notice, let me know." Mirien did expect that Elayne might be useful here for reading her sister's facial cues and expressions.

The image of the cafe sprang to life, and for her part she really only had a good view on Elanil, not the person she was with. For that all she had was the back of a woman's head. And even knowing Elanil for the brief amount of time she had, the woman seemed a bit less cold than usual, more expressive. "A smile? That's odd for her."

It would take her a few minutes to cover the entire scene. Also odd was the waitress change. "The new waitress ...." That thought she didn't finish aloud. The change had happened so suddenly, which was just one more thing that struck her as odd. Nothing felt right about what she was seeing. She did wonder if the others would see what she did. Then again, Mirien was one for subtly and not everyone was. Theses were just tiny things that felt out of place, that added up to something much greater.

As soon as the refill of tea was delivered, Mirien glanced to her watch to mark the time. She wanted to know exactly how long from the moment of ingesting the drug that it took Elanil to start to feel the effects. That would give her an idea of what drug was being used, and through that figure out generally what kind of organization and how well connected they were or not. Anything to begin to narrow down just who exactly they were dealing with would help. "Four seconds, small dose as well - so highly potent. That severely limits the drug choices, as well as ups the cost. Few organizations can afford those." This was not something a normal person would know. Not at all. But Mirien was far from normal, and facts like this just helped her in her work. Knowledge is power, after all. And Mirien had it in spades.

As Elanil rose to her feet on the footage, stumbling and clearly quite weakened by the drug, the other woman at the table rose with her to help. That left them with a brief view of the woman's face before they drifted out of the view of the camera. It wasn't a face she recognized but perhaps someone else in the group might. At any rate, she'd run the image through facial recognition software to see what it might come up with.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]
 
[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]


Kaida had likewise ignored Eyrecae because, to be blunt, she regarded the woman as a simple-minded brute. Perhaps someone more idealistic might've been shocked by the fact that the ancient matriarch of the Eldorai people was only interested in having lots of sex and crushing skulls with her hammer. However, the frost elf was...a good deal more cynical.


As for Mirien, she did not trust her much, but felt she could work with her. Maybe because they were both ice queen bitches. So she studied the footage Mirien's minions had recovered. Kaida was not one for subtlety, since she was not a career spook, but a shock trooper. However, she served at the Eldorai court, which was a nest of vipers.


"I imagine she's smiling because the stranger is stroking her ego a lot," she commented dryly. Unlike Mirien, she missed the fact that the second waitress was a different one since she was focused on Elanil. However, the spook's words about the drugs caught her attention, and she nodded.


"Sith, perhaps, though nine out of ten have no subtlety. Or a rival megacorporation eager to pick her brain." Now, as the other woman at the table caught Elanil, they got a brief view of the 'Good Samaritan's' face close-up. The elf furrowed her brow at the sight. There was a flicker of recognition on her face, but the image past too soon for her to make a solid evaluation. "Rewind back twenty seconds." After that was presumably done, she viewed the footing and spoke again. "Met her before. Nalia Aldera...Alderana. Her company sold phrik and some fancy datacron to Coryth. Its name was...Archangel." Her girlfriend had done most of the talking, while Kaida had been stoic.
 
Elanil managed a half smile, relieved that she'd be able to call her sister soon enough. "Thank you." She whispered. Patiently she let them help her get to the medbay and soon after into a bed. A hiss of pain escaped her lips as her neck pressed against the pillow.

Shifting only slightly, she pulled the blankets tightly around her glad to feel safe again. Unlike Elayne, she didn't have the gift of the Force and could not sense any impending danger. Nalia was just a woman who had good tastes and had helped to see her to safety and out of the clutches of the evil doctors. "Do we know who it was that grabbed us, Nalia?" She asked quickly, before the woman could slip off to grab the com for her. "I'm sure my sister would want to know."

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
 
[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


"We believe it was the First Order," Nalia replied softly. "They're a neo-imperialist terrorist group who recently butchered thousands on Eriadu. Archangel's property got damaged and we refused to do business with genocidal butchers. I imagine they took offence. And wanted to pick your brain for your technological designs. Most of the scum that imprisoned us fought to the death or took cyanide, but we have some captives and should have more answers soon."
 
Elayne leaned over to watch the footage with the other women. Her eyes locked solely on her sister, looking for the slightest clues there. "Oh, good grief.... Must be stroking more than her ego if she is smiling like that. I've never seen her smile that way ..." The redhead said with a sigh and a slow shake of her head. "Though she'd have to remove the giant stick from her ass to allow for that I suppose.... So I guess it's just ego stroking. Elanil, also seems keenly interested in what the human has to say, which isn't exactly normal either. Usually she looks bored stiff or disinterested in them. For the most part she considers humans to be less intelligent and hardly worth of her notice, unless they are the ones funding her research."

As for the rest of the conversation, Elayne wasn't sure that she had much she actually could add to it. A part of her wanted to just leave the room. Maybe Eyrecae might be able to keep her mind off the situation. Though she had her doubts about that. This was just too big for crochet to distract her. With a sigh she settled back into her seat and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her already raw nerves.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]
 
"My finger is on megacorp. This doesn't have the usual fingerprints of a Sith. Never mind that I can't see one trying to drug her to take her. I see one trashing the cafe, and taking Elanil physically, all out in the open and without care of who sees." She gave a shrug. "Sith just lack the subtle touch these days. Once upon a time they were more refined." Yes, Mirien had her preference for Sith. The subtle ones were always an actual challenge for her. The usual brutes she presently ran into were a joke for a spook of her caliber. Child's play. At least when it was a challenge, she didn't get bored. And it kept her on her toes.

At the request, Mirien rewound the video. Her attention then turned to Kaida as she watched the signs of recognition spread across the Eldorai's face. "Nalia Alderana?" Her eyes widened slightly, but she was quick to mask her concern on that note. "Archangel? Not good. Not at all." She sighed heavily, running a slow hand through her hair. "This certainly complicates matters. But they are a corp that more than has the funds for the drugs needed for this kind of operation. They have all the pieces to run the game they did."

This mission just got a whole lot more personal for Mirien. There was something akin to fire in her eyes, but that emotion, rage didn't spread beyond that. She couldn't afford such a thing. Not now. "I'm more than familiar with Archangel. Let's just say I owe them a small bit of payback and utter destruction." Quite possibly the understatement of the year right there. "And as a result I've been keeping tabs on them for a while. I'll have to see that the data gets passed over to us. Maybe we can find a clue in it to the places where they might take Elanil."

She sighed one last time. "Don't imagine my other team member that is meeting us there will be pleased to know Archangel has a hand in this either." But none the less, Mirien typed out a quick message to Sumiko, knowing she'd get it once she arrived on Fondor. "Archangel is involved. One of the Eldorai recognized one of the corporations minions who just happened to be there when Elanil was drugged. And also just happened to help her limp away before she collapsed completely."

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]
 
[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]


It did not escape Kaida that Mirien seemed to be...very familiar with Archangel. Even though the former spook had a tight leash on her emotions. Lacking empathic powers, Kaida could obviously not detect just how personal it was for the ex Grand Inquisitor, but she saw the fire in her eyes.


Besides, her words sufficed. "What do you know about them?" The tone was insistent, a bit demanding. "Last I heard, they make droids." Well, HRDs, to be precise, but the cryomancer did not remember that much of the meeting! Beyond the fact that the Nalia woman had yammered a lot about how great their designs were, like every business owner does. But there was one thing she remembered. "Coryth said that Alderana woman felt...empty. As if she were a machine herself."
 
"I see ..." Elanil replied groggily. The redhead was on the verge of tears as she shifted onto her side in the bed. She then pulled her knees up to her chest and curled into a small ball, despite the pain it caused her. "No one .... No one ever wanted to kidnap me for my mind ... For my knowledge...." The thought was more than a little disconcerting for her. Reaching up she brushed away any trace of her tears and did her best to push that emotion away. "Can I call my sister now, please? I just ... I just want to talk to her, and then I can sleep. I just want to let her know ..."

Elanil sighed and shifted again, but still kept herself mostly tucked away into a loose ball. A defensive position for her, "And ... could I get something for the pain ... I want to rest after I talk with her. I just want this over with, to go home once I'm well enough. Once I know what they did to me. No one just steals a sentient being and decides to force them into surgery for no reason ... They did something to me, and I want to know what." Elanil seemed to be regaining her confidence as her fears and terror was beginning to fade. The redhead was starting to feel safe again.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
 
This wasn't Mirien's favorite topic by any means. And not something she really wanted to discuss. "Oh, yes they make droids among other things. They also have no issue with genocide either." Leaning back Mirien folded her arms across her chest, and her gaze drifted past both Kaida and Elayne, off to a spot on the wall. "They are responsible for the murder of nearly every last of my Inquisitors. The only family I ever knew. So, I know more than I want to. And if Coryth said Nalia was empty, then I have little doubt at all that she is an HRD herself."

She sighed heavily, "So it's been a personal mission to monitor them and wait for an appropriate moment to strike. They killed far too many of my kind. Now I have an idea to a few of their locations, but only a few. Which I suppose may help us narrow down where she is or could be." Sighing she typed a command in on her datapad and waited patiently for the data to be downloaded. When that was complete she handed it over to Kaida. "Have a read. Everything I know about them is in that file right there."

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]
 
[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


"Of course, dear. I'll have a comm fetched for you, and make sure you get something against the pain," Nalia said sweetly, then suddenly pulled Elanil into a loose embrace, stroking her hair gently. "I know what happened was terrifying, but you're among friends here. The scum will be brought to justice, dear," she said, sounding oh so caring.


Then, she stepped away. Soon after Elayne would receive not only a comm, but a nurse would come over to administer some pain medication. The medication just so happened to be mixed with a certain something that would make the poor scientist feel a bit 'ill' at this point. Perhaps this would cause suspicion, but many a medication had such sideeffects. Moreover, Force knew what those scientists had done to her in the base.
 
[member="Mirien Valdier"]


Well, what could Kaida say to that? She was not familiar with Mirien's past beyond hearsay. Inquisition reminded her...terribly of the officially disbanded Investigators, the Eldorai's secret police. But though the elf was a rather cold woman she was not blind to how much these events pained Ms. Valdier.


"Always thoughts droids would turn genocidal if given the chance," she muttered. Saying 'I'm sorry' sounded trite to her. "Thank you for sharing this with me," she said in what actually sounded like a sympathetic tone. Somewhat awkwardly, she patted Mirien on the back and then accepted the proferred datapad, studying it. "You're a professional, so I'll save the 'we're here to save Saedaris, not carry out a vengeance crusade' speech."
 
"Thank you." The hug was most unexpected and for a moment Elanil wasn't sure what to do but finally managed to return the gesture. "Thank you, really. I feel better knowing you're here with me. And knowing they will be taken care of in the end." With that Elanil finally relaxed a little more and slowly uncurled her body from her defensive posture.

Elanil glanced to the nurse and offered a half smile as the pain medication was injected into her IV. Admittedly, the stuff stung but the redhead wasn't about to complain as the pain in her neck and back was soon washed away. But there were other symptoms that would soon start to appear.

The Eldorai Scientist did get a brief moment with the comm device, before she started to feel sicker. Taking a moment she dialed her sister's comm frequency, at least she thought it was her sisters. She had no idea who she was really calling. "Hey sis," She said as the comm sprang to life hearing her sister's voice on the other side. Elanil took a moment to explain what had happened, that she was fine and that she'd be home soon enough, as soon as she was well. And with that the conversation ended as a horrid headache started to kick in.

It was unlike any other headache Elanil had before. It was so much worse, and soon enough the room was spinning, and she was left crying. A couple more minutes and the poor girl was throwing up. "What did they do to me?" She managed to ask, feeling more than a little unwell. It was easy enough to chalk up to something the scum had done to hear earlier. Her mind didn't even drift to the medications she'd been given. Then again, Elanil could still be a little naive in some areas. And with her, common sense wasn't so common. She was book smart, not street smart. Something that no doubt would play into Archangel's favor here.

With her eyes tightly shut, and her body trembling she once more curled back into a ball as she whimpered and softly cried. Elanil had little clue as to what was happening or what was wrong with her. All she knew was she was hurt, and sick. Right then, all she wanted was for it to stop and for her body to mend itself so she could go home.

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
 
"They certainly have." Mirien said with a sigh. The ice queen nodded, "If it's information that helps, I don't mind sharing what I know. Even if what I know, pains me." Her lips slightly turned up at the corners when Kaida patted her on the back. It was something she actually needed in that moment. "You are right on that note. I appreciate you respecting my professionalism. I have no intentions of pressing my vengeance at this time. Not when Elanil's life is on the line. I won't foolishly risk her life, your lives on such a notion. It's one thing to risk myself, another to risk others who never asked for such. I won't do it."

She pointed to the datapad, "I know the information there by heart, but if anything sticks out, let me know. Fresh eyes always help in situations like this."

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
 
In the Darkness there is Truth
[member="Mirien Valdier"]


Sumiko received the message from Valdier when her ship slipped out of hyperspace, manifesting in the orbit of Fondor. The massive shipyards in space dwarfed the small ship by far, making it look fragile and vulnerable by comparison. However, her attention was not on them...or on the intense traffic in space or the many warships that were patrolling or docked at the 'yards.


No, her attention was commanded solely by the message. "Archangel is involved. One of the Eldorai recognized one of the corporations minions who just happened to be there when Elanil was drugged. And also just happened to help her limp away before she collapsed completely." Just a few simple lines that changed the game plan. What had simply been a simple contract had abruptly turned personal.


Very personal. There was something close to fire in her eyes, but her rage did not spread beyond that. Quickly she typed up a response to Mirien. "Understood. Count me in. Just arrived at Fondor. Strongly suspect they wish to turn your scientist into an HRD. Could you identify the Archangel rep?"
 
[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


Of course, Elanil's sudden sickness had nothing to do with what Archangel had been doing to her. Nothing at all. No, those evil terrorists who'd abducted her were to blame. The only thing Archangel wanted to do was to protect her and lead her to greatness. This would also require harvesting her eggs...all for the greater good. Alas, the experience might be a bit unpleasant for her. In order to help her fulfil her destiny, they would have to hurt her first, but it would all be for her own good.


Regardless, soon after Elanil was hit by the headache from hell, a nurse arrived. The poor doctor was being tightly monitored, so she'd been alerted quickly. Very quickly a doctor and 'Nalia Alderana' were alerted and treatments were administered in order to help Elanil with the awful pain she was suffering...
 
[member="Mirien Valdier"]


Siobhan was light years away. As a matter of fact, she was on the other side of the Galaxy in an undoubtedly important meeting. However, she was utterly incapable of concentrating and had long lost track of whatever her minions were reporting. They were polite - or smart enough - not to comment on the fact that she kept tapping her pen against the mahogany table.


In her thoughts she seemed elsewhere. I should be out there, she thought to herself, feeling annoyed and concerned. She had heard about Elanil's disappearance and the fact that Mirien - her Mirien - was spearheading the investigation, which would apparently start on Fondor. But she was here. In some damned meeting room. To be fair, her recent injuries made it ill-advised to go into combat, she had responsibilities, Mirien was a badass who could handle herself and had plenty of minions. But sitting here still felt wrong! She did not know who or what the team would be up against, and she hated the unknown.


"Based on our recent simulations, we estimate that the modifcations will result in a 5.4% increase in firing rate for the heavy particle cannon without sacrificing...," the engineer broke off once she saw Siobhan was not paying any attention. "Ma'am?" she enquired softly.


"Yeah, right. We were talking about the reflec cammo?" Siobhan was abruptly pulled out of her thoughts.


"Err, no, ma'am. The Gladius Cannon," the minion corrected her gently.


"Right. Of course. You're doing good work," Siobhan said distractedly. "Take a break. Ten minutes. I'll be back in a moment." Then she got up before anyone could say anything else. Her eyes swept towards the transparisteel window, looking wistful. You better get back home in one piece, Miri. You hear me? Levitating the glass of water from the conference table, she took a deep gulp.
 

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