If I Were Wrong, I'd Know It

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Mirien Valdier"]


Well, that had gone better than expected! Pep talk from one ice queen to another. Regardless, Kaida accepted the datapad and began looking through the information. It sounded like a history course in mass homicide, deception and torture, ranging from Archangel's genocidal anticts on Atrisia, to terrorism on Contruum, collusion with Sith and all sorts of scum to unverified but probably true pursuit of bioweapons.


Oh, and there was a name Kaida remembered: Moira Skaldi. Small world. Would've made her wonder whether HK-36 knew, but he had vanished ages ago. "They can turn organics into machines and have Omega anti-forcer weapons? Lovely," she said sardonically, with a cold edge to her voice, when she looked up. "Helps explain why they'd want her, I suppose." There was a list of official and unofficial locations of Archangel. She doubted Elanil would be held anywhere near their known offices though. It was more likely to be some base on a remote asteroid or planet, perhaps a space station in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Mirien Valdier"]

Evidently getting bored about being out of the action, Eyrecae slipped on some underwear and headed out into the main area. She’d heard some of what had been going on and so now took a seat to listen.
Genocidal machines? That was good. Other people didn’t have scruples fighting machines like they would people. She didn’t care much either way of course.

“Is there an easy way to tell whether someone’s a droid?” She paused. “Other than hitting them anyway.”
That would cause issues if she accidentally mistook their rescue target for a machine.

 

[Mirien Valdier]

The answer from Sumiko came quickly and Mirien pulled out her come to read it. "Nalia Alderana. Sending image now." She replied as she attached the brief image from the video that they had of Nalia.

"Indeed, not exactly a walk in the park with Archangel in the game. And who knows if they got their paws on Ysalamiri or not. So, be careful and prepared to rely on nothing but your training and instincts. The Force may not be a tool we get to use much in this situation." Which was all sorts of concerning, but it was a reality she was always prepared for. The Inquisition ensured that all it's members could survive, even without the force as a crutch. Instincts and training were the key. "Yeah, one of the galaxy's best unconventional weapon's experts - There's probably far more than just Archangel that want her. Clearly something we'll need to be aware of in the future."

Mirien glanced to Eyrecae as she came to join them. "Well, droids are not human. Their minds are empty aside from electrical currents that pass through their bodies. They don't have emotions. They feel like a blank, at least that is my experience with them. Admittedly, you have to be a decent mentalist to feel that out, like Coryth or myself. But aside from that, no .... there's no easy way to pick them apart from a sentient being."

(Will post Elanil in the morning. So go ahead and post with Kaida and Eyrecae)

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

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]


"Angelii are trained to survive without the Force if needed. Our training is harsh." Angelii and Inquisition were totally the best Force Orders ever! All the others were too wussy. Why, they thought dumping a recruit on an inhospitable island full of beasties and expecting her to survive and acquire some trinket while being hunted by her own instructors was cruel. Same with having them go through a simulated interrogation that prepared them for the real thing!


Anyhow, Eyrecae had joined them and Mirien informed them that the chances of detecting an HRD sort of sucked. Admittedly neither of them knew about the new enteched models. "I see. Then we'll have to rely on you to pick them out. If any Archangel agents are still on Fondor, it would be advantageous if we could capture one, but I imagine interrogation will be tricky since machines don't feel pain or fear." In other words, you could not simply torture them into talking. Presumably Kaida did not know about mechu-deru.

 

[Elanil Saedaris]

Soon enough with the doctor tending to Elanil, she at least started to feel a little better. Unfortunately for her, she was feeling weaker, more tired and exhausted than before. And still she wanted to know what had been done to her. Because the thugs most assuredly had done something. And that something was making her ill. Her mind wandered, trying to think of what possible surgery could have been done to her neck and back to cause the symptoms she was experiencing.

It perhaps was a good thing that Elanil had been a rather cold woman. She hardly seemed to notice the way the doctor and nurse behaved around her. Something would have been off to anyone else in the galaxy, but to her it seemed business as usual. Little did she know that a few of the treatments for her pains now included drugs to increase her egg production. That started the process for Archangel to be able to harvest them a few days down the road. With all the other symptoms and pains, it was doubtful the redhead would notice a discomfort or two more.

Oddly enough in this moment, she just wanted someone to talk to that wasn't poking at her with needles and drugs. A very odd thing for her. It wasn't like her to actually want anyone around at all. Finally she leaned back and rested her head against the pillow. After a moment or two she closed her eyes just to try and attempt to rest a little bit. Who knew how far she'd get there?

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


Doctor Saedaris would receive the best of care from Archangel. They would have to hurt her, but it was for her own good. Thanks to their efforts, her brilliant mind would be preserved for all eternity. Once her eggs had been harvested, they would breed her. One way or another, Elanil Saedaris would serve the machine cult.


It was at this moment, after the process had begun, that Elanil received a visitor, for Callisto Scarlett had come up by to check up on her. The striking redhead was one of the enteched models and thus a good deal more 'human' than most of her brethren in Archangel. She carried a tray with food and drink. Both was obviously kept light since the treatments might be disagreeable otherwise. She gave Elanil a compassionate smile when she saw her. "Hello, Elanil. I hope I'm not disturbing you," she said politely, sitting down on a chair next to the woman's bed. "I'm Callisto. You may remember me from the rescue earlier."

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


Business did not sleep. Elanil was a crucial piece in Archangel's Grand Plan, but she was not the only project Moira Skaldi was supervising, though a very important one. And so she had left the scientist in the capable, refined hands of Ms. Scarlett, and turned her attention towards another pet project. One of a slightly different nature, but still important.


Standing behind a window, she looked down on the room below while Archangel's latest droid creation dispassionately, mercilessly slaughtered a group of captured organics. The design of the war machine was most intriguing. Its shell was built to give it a roughly humanoid shape, but it had several, spider-like legs that gave it an alien appearance and amplified its speed. In one hand it wielded a halberd, in the other a buzzsaw.


Moira watched calmly, dispassionately, as the droid sliced apart captured organics in a bloody shower of gore and violence. BZZZZZZZZT The high-speed buzzsaw of doom reaped a bitter harvest. The sound filled the air along with the pained screams of elves, as blood splattered, along with gore and body parts. Others were cut down by the massive halberd, either through blunt trauma or by getting their head chopped off. Some of the prisoners had been given basic weapons to make the fight a bit more equal. Indeed, one of the droid's legs was damaged, but in the end all organics were dead. Of course, this was not much of a field test, but that would probably come soon. Then they only needed a name. Perhaps she would call this new droid the Reaper-Class...

 

[Mirien Valdier]

"Excellent." Mirien replied simply. There wasn't room for the warm fuzzies in this conversation. And she wasn't going to tolerate anything but the very best at the moment. "Can't afford anyone that's going to fall behind in this mission." That same chill entered back into her tone.

Mirien sighed, "Yes, I suppose we will. As for any Archangel agents left behind, capturing one I agree would be nice. As for interogatting them, I do have a solution for that. An associate, who is meeting us on Fondor, has a lovely little force skill that can work wonders on machines. So, that shouldn't be too much of a problem."

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

 

[Elanil Saedaris]

Elanil slowly opened her eyes, and pulled her knees up against her chest in response to Callisto speaking. It was an attempt to at least get herself slightly more comfortable, and to feel a small bit safer in the foreign environment. It took her a moment to process again where she was. "Oh, no. You're not. I was just resting my eyes for a minute." She said quietly.

Small nod followed, "Yes, I do remember you. Well your voice more than anything else, but that I do remember. Everything is kind of blurry around the time you rescued me. I guess, just the drugs from whatever surgery they performed did that."

[member="Callisto Scarlett"] | [member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]


Someone more attention-seeking and less stoic than Kaida would've perhaps said something along the lines of 'I never fall behind' or 'I'm trained just for this'. However, she did not see the point in wasting time with posturing.


She acknowledged Mirien's point about interrogating a droid with a nod. While probably more experienced than many of her brethren, there were several esoteric applications of the Force she was unfamiliar. Mirien's associate better live up to her word though. "Good. That's convenient. Where are meeting your agents?" she said simply. And then, since the thread has already reached ninety posts, the ship broke from hyperspace and emerged in Fondor's orbit.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Elanil Saedaris"]

Callisto nodded understandingly. "I understand. No problem, dear. The doctors are looking into what those terrorists did to you and should have answers soon," she said softly, giving Elanil's hand a squeeze. "Brought you something to eat and drink if you feel like it." Maybe she could also arrange an accident for the incompetent lecturer who had annoyed Elanil during the symposium on Fondor!

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Mirien Valdier"]

Deciding to let work give way to hedonism, Eyrecae listened to the rest of the discussion and headed back to her room to get ready.
Armour, check. Hammer, check. Arrogant self-assurance, check.

Sin of pride, thy name is Eyrecae.

As she strode out as some sort of latter day Eldorai knight she was finally ready for action.

Sadly, there’d likely be a lot of talking and fussing around before she could get to hammering things.

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"], [member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Elanil Saedaris"]


Bitchy and rather amoral Space Japanese? Check. Dark magic? Check. Sexy leather boots? Oh, definitely.


Unlike a certain self-proclaimed 'battle goddess', Sumiko saw the need to blend in since she'd landed on Fondor, after studying the image of 'Nalia Alderana' Mirien had sent her. Massive city full of billions of people, possible Archangel agents still embedded and an at times rather trigger-happy and, in the Atrisian's estimation, rather incompetent security apparatus. Power-armoured mooks were parading around before the OP Tower.


So rather then dress in imposing armour, she'd thrown on civilian clothes. Her lightsabre was concealed in the seam of her pants, she carried a hold-out bolter disguised as a pendant slung across her neck, and had equipped herself with an ion blaster and a sonic blaster hidden inside her leather coat. Couple ion grenades in a small bag, dagger in her boot. Souldrinker had stayed behind because carrying a big Sith sword around would raise all sorts of red flags. She'd be meeting Mirien and company at the spaceport of Fondor.


These days Fondor was run by the officially militantly light side GA, who were supposedly eager to purge darksiders wherever they found them, though she had yet to see them actually do anything against the Sith beyond raiding Coruscant once as a PR move that brought no practical gain, along with OP. How the latter was still capable of running a planet was beyond her. Regardless, risks could not be taken and so her Force Signature was comfortably nullified. Not to subatomic levels, but enough to make sure that no one would see through the illusion unless they were a good mentalist and focused specifically on her.

 

[Elanil Saedaris]

Elanil sighed softly, "I hope they find out soon.... I .. I don't like to think what could have been done to me. I just want to know rather than guess." Weakly the redhead squeezed Callisto's hand in return. "It just, feels wrong. Someone violated my body, did things without permission. I just ..." Elanil stopped there, leaving the thought unfinished.

"Yes, yes ... Food and drink would be lovely." She honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. Time had gotten away from her and she wasn't sure exactly what day it was even.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]

 

[Mirien Valdier]

Needless to say, if Sumiko didn't live up to expectations there would no doubt be trouble to be had. Mirien never had been the most forgiving type. "The spaceport. I'll give her our coordinates the second we are on the ground and she'll meet up with us."

As they came out of hyperspace and descended down towards the spaceport, Mirien quickly type another message to Sumiko, leaving her with the details of where they'd be landing. At this point, Mirien was a slight bit twitchy. So many things could go wrong at any point in this mission and she needed to be ready to help the team survive and achieve the objective.

She gave a glance to Eyrecae and frowned slightly. The woman stood out, and the last thing Mirien wanted was to stand out. She needed all of them to be forgettable. No one needed to know they were here. And the last thing she wanted was to tip their hand to Archangel before the time was right. "I'm not sure that the armor is appropriate at this point in time." Of course there was a chance of them running into a fight here, but the risks were lower. Then again, ninety-nine percent of Mirien's work was done without ever slipping into a piece of armor. Simple effective and quiet methods had always been her choice. But she also clung to the shadows as if they were her very lifeblood.

"We do need to be careful at this point. Fondor isn't enemy territory. Risks are low for a major confrontation." But not low enough to completely avoid getting stabbed in the back by an old enemy. There was always that chance, but Mirien didn't mention that. "The idea here is to get information. Maybe nab an Archangel operative, if we are extraordinarily lucky. And be most importantly, forgettable. We get too bold here, and I can guarantee Archangel will be aware we are coming long before we have time to get into position. And with that come the odds of Elanil being killed."

With that out of the way Mirien stepped over to her own bag and fished out a bolter and slipped it carefully into it's holster. Her saber was already concealed in the seam of her pants, as it always was. A hold out soon placed into her boot, along with a dagger into the other. Even the comb she placed into her hair, wasn't just that. Everything could be a weapon if you knew how to use it. The last thing she grabbed were a couple EMP grenades and slid them into a tiny purse like bag that she slung across her shoulder. With that done, she straightened her jacket out looking every bit the part of an ordinary citizen. "Grab what you need, but keep it to a minimum and let's go." She said before walking out of the ship and into the busy starport.

[member="Sumiko Tanaka"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"],


Kaida would've made the same point about how walking around in imposing phrik armour while wielding a massive - and in Kaida's opinion very impractical - hammer was a bad idea, but Mirien beat her to the punch. Even more approval points for the ice queen!


"Agreed," she said flatly. "We can't afford to draw unnecessary attention and get on the radar of Fondor's security while chasing Archangel minions. Especially since we cannot be certain whether they might infiltrators in OP or GA" Mind you, Kaida did not have spook training and was a lot less used to operating in the shadows, which was why she had not pushed for command and such, which would have derailed things anyway.


But she was not wholly unused to intrigue due her time as an Eldorai palace guard. Giving Mirien a nod, she likewise gathered her equipment. All in all, it was nothing flashy. Concealed lightsabre, dagger, hold-out bolter, shatter pistol and a couple grenades. Truth be told, she felt a bit awkward going into what could be dangerous territory without her full arsenal, especially without her phrik armour since she'd grown fond of it. Frowning slightly, she put on her coat and straightened it. Hopefully she looked normal enough. Well, she could cope as long as she did not need to induldge in a lot of small talk. Having kitted herself out, she followed Mirien out of the ship, gesturing to Elayne to follow.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

'Being killed.' The redhead swallowed hard hearing that. Those were words that Elayne didn't want to hear in regards to her sister. Of course she was quite aware of the risks, but it didn't seem real until Mirien had said it. Once Kaida stood and started to get ready, so did Elayne. A shatterpistol on her hip, and a simple dagger in her boot. Simple enough. Much like Kaida, she too felt a bit out of place without her armor. It was just something she was going to have to deal with, because the spook had a point.

When Kaida motioned for her, Elayne was quick behind after picking up her own jacket and shifting into it. She still felt much pain and worry on the part of her sister, though there was little she could do about that for the moment. With a sigh, she tried to brush away the feelings. After all she couldn't have her head somewhere else. She needed to be focused on the moment and the task at hand.

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"] | [member="Sumiko Tanaka"]

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Elanil Saedaris"]


Callisto gave Elanil's hand a squeeze and then passed the tray with food and drink over. Lifting a cup of Atrisian tea, she passed it over to the redhead. However, her hand still lingered on the cup, stabilising it in case the doctor might have difficulty holding it due to nerves. "I understand how you feel. I went through similar experiences. Different circumstances, but still. I was captured by scum, violated like a plaything. I felt broken, afraid and weak for a long time, but got through it. And the scum paid," she said sympathetically. As a matter of fact, this was all true, though some details had been left out. Contruum had not been a pleasant place to grow up in.


Compassionate blue eyes gazed upon Elanil. Both of them had been deceived and were being used by Archangel. Did this mean Callisto suddenly felt sympathy for her in the sense that she'd help her? No. She would play her part in this tale, for moral scruples were beyond her. But...when she got to supervise the integration of Elanil's clone, she might not do it in a way her Creators wanted. "Eat up, dear. It's been ages since you last ate."

 

[Darth Libertas]

[member="Mirien Valdier"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]


And so it was at this moment that Sumiko met up with the team. Stepping into the busy spaceport, which as was usual was a hive of activity teeming with life, her leather coat billowed behind her. Eyes swept across the place before settling upon Mirien. The Atrisian's Force Signature was strongly reduced to an almost minuscule level, but undoubtedly the ice queen would still pick up on her presence. Soon she had reached the hangar Mirien was in.


Of course, Sumiko's gun was in reach. Close enough for her to draw, though she did not do so. There they were again. Mistress and slave, partners in crime, survivors of one of the cruellest orders of Force magi in recent history. Friends? Probably not. Friendship implied absence of threat. Family? Definitely.


So she approached her. "Glad you're here. I take it these are your people. Your scientist's absence seems to have been noted at the conference, but Fondor security is obligingly negligient," she said quietly. It seemed the former Grand Inquisitor had brought three elves. She sensed a powerful Force presence emanating from two of them. They had the stance and bearing of professional soldiers, though they looked a tad awkward trying to blend in. A third warrior had striking features and was clad in imposing, rather impractical armour. But what intrigued Sumiko was not her looks, but the fact that her mechu-deru senses tingled the moment she saw her. What she sensed inside her were microsopic computers, nanobots. Most interesting.

 

[Elanil Saedaris]

Elanil squeezed Callisto's hand weakly in return. The poor scientist's hands were shaking terribly and the cup she couldn't quite manage on her own. Taking in a deep breath she tried to at least remotely compose herself. Then she managed a sip from the tea with Callisto's help. "I just, don't understand why anyone would do this to me. It makes so little sense."

With a sigh Elanil managed a nod and finally made an attempt to eat something. Though her appetite was barely there. Mostly she picked over her food, pushing it around with her fork, than actually eating it.

With a sigh she reached up and felt of the back of her neck. The soreness still bothered her a good deal, and the curiosity of what had been done. "I just want to get over this. Forget that it happened. It ... it makes me feel so ... so ... helpless. And I'm not helpless, or weak. This unfortunately makes me feel both." Elanil said quietly as she tried to take another tiny bite of her food.

[member="Callisto Scarlett"]