I've Gotta Feeling That Tonight Is Going To Be A Droid Night (GA Dominion of Abregado-Rae)

[HK-36]

[member="HK-42"],

"Grievous 2? That is a peculiar choice, for all his cybernetic enhancements he was still an organic. Besides, you are not the first droid to try and claim that mantle, you may be Grievous 5 or 6, and that is just in the recent era, lucky for you, those droids usually not last long enough to provide any competition for the title."

HK quipped, remembering all the units based off of Grievous recent incarnations of Confederacy spawned, he could not help but revel in smugness and sense of superiority for outliving those droids, just as he outlived the General,

"But yes, what you heard is right, I was able to free myself. The system we are in belongs to me, my army protects it and the organics who live here recognize me as their leader. I was able to give home to other droids, like you, who seek to live their lives with free will as I did."

The droid motioned for 42 to follow him, the two other armored HK droids would fall in to follow behind them,

"As to how I accomplished that, well I am sure you heard the stories of unit 47's adventures with Darth Revan. He was not the first of us to alter his primary objective of assassination and ally himself not only with the organic he perceived as his master but also other organics, working as a team to be more efficient at eliminating his targets while the organics kept him functioning. I took this approach a bit further."

36 explained as he lead 42 through the corridors of the Super-Carrier,

"I realized that survival was a far more important primary objective than simply fulfilling my missions, after all, how can I complete more orders if I am deactivated? So rather than be a simple gun for hire I begun to serve greater powers, first Mandalorians, then the Jedi Order, the Republic, eventually the Protectorate. Along the journey I managed to meet a young Padawan and lead him into believing I was his friend and that I was a good being, just like the Jedi. The boy was skilled in programming, you see, so when I asked him to remove my obedience protocols, he did. I became a free droid not by killing Jedi but by becoming one of their allies, and although I no longer serve them, I still align myself with them against the Sith."


[member="Jessica Med-Beq"],

Jessica would receive a designation for a docking bay where her ship could land. HK would not see her right away after she landed, he would make her wait and stew, partly because he was busy with talking to 42, partly because from the get go he wanted her to understand that in this system he was the one who made the rules, and if he wanted her to wait then she just had to wait.


[member="Elpsis Elaris"],

It seemed that Firemane wasn't the only one with goals of expansion into Atrisia, the construction droids HK was mustering for reconstruction on Atrisia's surface received an objective of building an Abregado-controlled outpost on the planet's surface, a base of operations from which they could conduct their humanitarian efforts, for now at least, afterwards if things went according to the droid's plan it would become an Iron Company's base to keep watch on their volatile neighbor.

On the surface Elpsis would be greeted by sights of celebration, one of the natives would offer her a lei garland made from native flowers and colorful feathers. Organics and droids alike were celebrating along the decorated canal-bound streets of prosperous capital city, rejuvenated after their tumultuous past and the Long Dark Age by the industry their droid Baron and Firemane brought to them. With every day of HK and Kerrigan's campaigns, expansions, and plots, the planet was pushed closer and closer to the standard of living found on the other Core planets, now even surpassing some of them, Atrisia for example. But to be fair, any standard of living on Atrisia has gone straight into the chitter after the pounding that planet has seen.

It was probably a good idea for Elpsis to go into those catacombs, filled with phat loots and hidden treasures that nobody cared to look into just yet. Plus there was a chance of her loosing yet another limb.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Objective: BYOO
Allies: [member="HK-36"]
Post: 15/20

So she was going to be assigned a landing bay once she arrived on Abregado-Rae? Pizza Hutt is going to make a stupid amount of money on Abregado-Rae. A few headaches later, she has finally arrived on Abregado-Rae, after having used the math-intensive IAC for flying all the way to Abregado-Rae. If she was going to wait on some orbital landing bay, perhaps the local forces would notice her. But nevertheless, she was worried about whether guaranteeing that local labor and supplies would be used would be sufficient or other terms would need to be tacked on it: she always believed in local production of stuff. She never went to Abregado-Rae but she understood that the main contact in the system for Pizza Hutt would be busy with other parties, such as HK-42, Faith Organa or other parties interested in rebuilding Atrisia in the wake of the campaign, which wrought destruction on a scale not seen since the One Sith (Korriban was small peas in comparison).

 

[Riimaurus]

Location: Epiphany Station
Post: 2
Objective: No Rest For the Wicked

Riimaurus grabbed the offered beer. Janes explained the whole situation as more smugglers gathered around, including a bird-like one that said something about not getting paid if he got killed. Or something like that. The Chiss did not paid that much attention in the bird because he was distracted thinking how someone that big could do the job without being noticed.

[SIZE=11pt]A human female showed up and greeted the group. “Oh! Hello, lady.” Riimaurus said in response. And soon drank the remaining beer in his glass, he felt a little dizzy but recomposed himself hoping that no one would notice his drunkenness. [/SIZE]


[member="Asmus Janes"] [member="Keric Dynt"] [member="Aeshi Tillian"] @Kingsley

 

[Choli Vyn]

Location: Approaching Epiphany Station
Objective: No Rest For the Wicked
[member="Asmus Janes"], [member="Keric Dynt"], [member="Cal Sedaire"], [member="Aeshi Tillian"], [member="Riimaurus"]

"Cause there ain't no rest for the wicked..." the soft sing song had enough sass to go along with it for anyone in Rogue to recognise the hooded figure off to the right of Asmus. She was in plains clothes; baggy pants, tanned boots, a low hung belt and a dark blue blouse with a hooded leather jacket. The dark tinted glasses shielded her eyes but those hazel ellipses were scanning the area and keeping up with the ongoing chaos.

"So we are making the first strike?" of course. A crack of her gum and her dark brows rose over the rim of her sunglasses. Olive skin glowed under the dim light and she gave a half snort of a laugh.

"Always fun and games with these guys."

 

[B'enor Benjeel]

Location: Epiphany Station
Objective: No Rest For the Wicked
Allies: [member="Logen Brunner"] | [member="Alexandra Russo"] | [member="Denn Ralto"] | [member="Rashae"] | [member="Ponyboy Reynolds"] | [member="Blacktail"]
Post Count: 1

Ben followed behind his Captain, the wolfish Corellian, Logan Brunner, the ship’s icy doctor, Rashae, the quick-witted First-Mate and Pilot, Alexandra Russo, and the rest of the crew into the cantina. Wearing black, chemical resistant boots, an unassuming green mechanic’s suit and over it a similarly simple tan utility vest swollen with tools, all of which were decorated with years of grease stains worn confidently like badges of honor, Ben looked around with a pleasant gleam in his large, black eyes. This was his kind of place, it had everything: women, gambling, and alcohol. What more could you ask for?

He smirked at the thought of the doc squirming in her own skin, this probably being the last place she wanted to be right now. And, as if on que, an Aqualish spewed a truly putrid mix from within all over the floor next to them. After the doctor did her doctor thing, Ben, unfazed, took a large step over the nasty pool and as he was doing so, patted the Aqualish hardily on the shoulder, “Good one pateessa! Now go order more of that good, good fierfek.”

Quickly catching up to the group, he frowned as he heard the Captain tell Alex not to, under any circumstances, let him have caf. He always did this. It was so unfair! It was just one time! So, he had a cup of caf onboard the Lady Liberty once. So what if he had been jitterier than a pneumatic hammer? It wasn’t a big deal that he ran to the cockpit while everyone was sleeping and started fiddling all the levers and buttons in a futile attempt at playing pilot, something he always wanted to be but was just never any good at. I mean really, he thought, it’s not like they came out of hyper drive and hit that Trandoshan freighter head-on. It was just a glancing blow. Though, they did have strange ships tailing them for weeks after. Guess the Trandoshan’s hadn’t liked the running after the collision part.

He didn’t even really want any caf, but that wasn’t the issue. He didn’t like being told he couldn’t have it. Looking knowingly up at Alex, he caught her giving him a conspiratorial wink. A mischievous grin grew across his face. He winked back, then slipped a glass of booze from a tray as a server passed.

 

[Elmont Block]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLulE8_KAZc

Tapping a key, Elmont opened up the comms. “Am I glad to see you. I was afraid I was going to have to search the entire system to find you.”

“You will shut down all systems…” The voice began with command but soon faltered. This was clearly not the response he wanted or had prepared for.

“I want to speak to the leader the minute I'm aboard,” Elmont said into the gap that occured. “I'll need him to set up a meeting with the powers that be and provide me with transport. And hurry up, I don’t want to be out here any longer than I have to.”

The surprises were coming thick and fast for whoever was at the end of the comms. “Er…freighter…” he tried to regain control.

“On second thoughts, put your boss on now,” Elmont cut him off. He had taken the initiative, and had to keep it as long as possible. “And make sure this is a secure channel.”

There was a moment of silence. Elmont continued on his present course, although he’d slowed, and he frantically punched data into his navicomp.

A new voice came through on Elmont’s head-set. “Who the frakk are you?”

“I’m judging by your tone, you’re the one in charge. Who am I? The person that can tell you who did the double-crossing on this particular deal, that’s who.” Elmont didn’t know who he was dealing with, so he had to keep his options open and his information useful to whoever he was dealing with. The slavers, the police or even just a rival gang.

 

[Sareen Zar]

Sareen laid disorientated and hungover in the maintenance closet of the Lady Liberty. An after effect of last night's drinking binge, or wait he called a Tuesday, the Trandoshan had been living like this for months now. Recently he had decided to put his life back together by getting himself a job on the very smuggler vessel he was on, but so far his efforts at quitting the bottle had been fruitless. His life had been a mess ever since his failed assassination of the president of Commenor, a certain woman who had taken everything he had ever had right from under him. Failing as Bounty Hunter and losing his occupation as a Slaver had been the last straw had put him in a downwards spiral of excessive alcohol and living on the streets. He had sold or lost most of his equipment from his glory days, even Sareen's armor which he had forged on his homeworld of Dosha, forever gone, all he moved around with now was a D-18 Pistol and his old lightsaber. The past was in the past, and the future is now, and Sareen was late.

Realizing that not only had he overslept, but he had forgotten to accompany his very employers, the Trandoshan began to squirm around as he wavily picked himself up off the ground. Smashing the control panel, the door slid open with ease as the drunkard bumbled through. clashing into the walls of the ship more than once, Sareen reached his bunk and began throwing things off the bed until he found his blaster. Next to it laid his lightsaber, eyeing it for a few seconds Sareen decided today was not the day to use the impressive weapon. Situating his new armor, a brownish chest plate that could barely withstand a blaster bolt, over his green stained jumpsuit, and decided he was fit for leaving the ship. But before he could finish that thought, Sareen realized he had an up to chuck, and quickly found a bucket.

Sareen stomped off the ship at a hurried pace, many that crossed his path revolted at his smell, which matched his appearance. Those who found themselves knocked to the side by the former slaver held their insults, most of them a foot shorter than the towering Trandoshan. Bringing out a mini datapad from his side pocket, Sareen followed the route planned out for him using the pad's global positioning system. It did not take long to find the Catina, and after closing the datapad, Sareen entered in search for his 'Captain', [member="Logen Brunner"].


[member="Alexandra Russo"] @Rashae @B'enor (Ben) Benjeel

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


Thusly, Elpsis set foot upon the organic-droid socialist republic. It was quite an experience! Gados, humans and droids were celebrating and mingling freely in the city of rivers. There was music, dancing and so on.


One could see posters and grafitti depicting the Iron Knight. She'd barely taken her first step into the market, when suddenly a Gados native hugged her and placed a lei garland made from native flowers and colourful feathers. She ran her fingers around the wreath, letting touch tell her what her eyes could not.


"Oh, thanks. That's nice. You got another one? For my girlfriend," Elpsis spoke, both happy and a bit confused. There were so many sights and sounds, too many for her to keep track of while the celebrations continued around.


Turning around, the firemane accidentally bumped into a Super Battle Droid. Force Sight was annoying that way and made it more difficult to perceive machines unless she concentrated a lot. Ouch. "Uh, sorry."


"Query: Would you like a pair of apples?" the battle droid asked in a dull monotone.


"You...sell apples?" Her puzzlement was evident.


"Proud Answer: Affirmative, human. I am an evolved combat droid model that has transcended its programming and found a way to partake in life without terminating organic beings, though I'm perfectly capable of doing so."


"Uh, ok. That's...good. This place is cool...and kind of weird."


"Offer: Would you care to attend a poetry reading with me? I am very fond of the human poet Edgar Allan Poe."


Wait, seriously? "Uh...thanks but no thanks. I ain't into poetry. You know where the catacombs are?"


"Resigned Response: It is unfortunate that so few organics appreciate good poetry. Verily, I can direct you to the catacombs, but be cautious. Not even the Iron Baron knows what lurks in them."

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Objective: Cleaning crew
Allies: [member="Siriwook"]
Post: 16/20

"Alchemy is often used to do several things, most of which falls under a few areas: metallurgy, cristallography, genetic engineering or chemistry. It is most often associated with the dark side of the Force due to the genetic engineering experiments performed by dark-siders throughout history, but nothing would technically prevent light-siders from imbuing items with the Force so as to reinforce them, in which case it's a case of a light-sider doing alchemy"

Ah, the Sithspawn, and poisons. She knew that the Primeval Sithspawn destroyed their transportation infrastructure, thus causing them a host of economic problems from which they never recovered and that the Mandos had to clean up their mess afterward. She also knew that poisons were the domain of dark-siders. While they could continue on with lectures of their own, a new patient was calling for them in the nearby ward. Kidney stones: here's your chance to use pyrokinesis for medicinal uses. Creating flames is one thing, but few practitioners of pyrokinesis even think of what to even use the resulting flame for, beyond weaponizing it: the real deal comes from being able to use Force-powers in innovative ways that do not overextend the users of the power. Isn't that what witchcraft is about? she thought, while making sure that her apprentice would understand the content of her thoughts.

"Looks like this patient has kidney stones: kidney stones can be molten using tiny, controlled amounts of pyrokinesis, in which case they will end up dissolved into the patient's urine. But don't do too much of that: you may give fevers into the patient"

 

[Faith Organa]

[member="Rhen Qel-Droma"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

The breeze was not perhaps as soft and warm as one that came across the Glarus Valley but it did do its best to toss hair, and clothing as if insulted that they would wear them while it was about.

She nodded, "Yes let us sit and talk about what I would like to do, and if the Alliance will allow me to do so." She wouldn't bring up Draco's past for to her it was in the past, and if the Alliances hierarchy knew of it she would leave it on them to decide whether they should be allowed to help Atrisia. Everyone made makes, and everyone was allowed to atone for them. Draco had been kidnapped, and beaten to near death for his past the past was done.

"Have you had any additional updates? And...I had met with the Lord Protector about having an Embassy here on Abregado Rae, we...didn't quite come to a full agreement on things. Will he still be the Lord Protector here? I ask cause..I'd still like to try and have an embassy here." She was certainly bringing up a few things.

The twins were looking everywhere likely for whatever mischief they could get into.

"Draco is good at building things as well, he has an eye for building homes." They were in the process of rebuilding his neighborhood on Eriadu.

 

[Miel Tevv]

Location: Abregado Capital City
Objective: Clean Up Crew - Oversee Construction of Orbital Trading Hub and Negotiate With Guild of Hammers
[member="HK-36"]
6 (SoroSuub 3)


​Diplomatic Rooms, The Lord's Cradle Capital Inn And Suites
Abregado-rae

The accommodations provided to the director and his staff tastefully strode the line between robotic utilitarianism and the luxury due guests of the Lord Protector in such matters of statesmanship. The rooms were not overtly opulent in furnishing and decor, but there was an appreciable amount of space as well as a stone carved balcony overlooking a far more appreciable view of the capital skyline. Nathanos stood out there, more or less oblivious to the colorful display of light and revelry that were the ongoing celebrations for the relief efforts, datapad in one hand and cigarra in the other. The first of the warships to return from the combat zone and into peaceful space were in orbit by now, which meant there were actually Alliance personnel to celebrate with. That probably explained all the noise.

Ashing his cigarra into a food saucer he had been using as a makeshift ash tray, he balanced it off the edge for long enough to take a sip of wine from the very appreciably stocked care package the Guild had provided, not taking his eyes off the datapad in his other hand. Things were progressing precisely along the projected schedule as most of the station's foundation was already in place. Much of the trade port had been prefabricated, but in order to transport it had to be broken down into components and reassembled on site. Where SoroSuub automation and drone workers would manage the finishing touches, completing a task that should take weeks in a matter of days, the bones of the new station would be laid before the solar day was out.

Downing the remainder of his glass before picking up his cigarra once more, Darksword could not help but breathe out an audible sigh of relief. Though the day had been light for him so far in terms of his diplomatic responsibilities, the Hapan was nonetheless exhausted after what had been an equally tense period of time for those on Sullust as those at Atrisia, if not quite as dangerous. The Defense Force had sunk a staggering amount of military assets into the Atrisia campaign, and while the masterminds behind the sector's pacification were to be congratulated for their tactical thinking, there was less to be said about their thought for long term strategy. The rallying Sith remnant were now purged from their borders, but in the meantime the Federation was faced with rebuilding and replenishing their lost numbers as well as the cost of ongoing relief efforts in the area, all at a time when tensions in the southwest had never been higher.

As much an investor as a prominent business partner, the company had helped the Alliance bear some of those costs, and so both SoroSuub and the GA were in many ways just as dependent on this new trade hub as the citizens of Abregado-rae were. The hope was that the new trade agreements and other inroads they were making into the Core every day would help to offset the ongoing cost of making it secure. None of the Alliance's economists had predicted things becoming quite so costly this quickly, however, which made securing the port above Abregado and the access it would give both SoroSuub and, by extension, the Alliance to trade throughout the region a critical venture. So not forty eight hours prior, Nathanos had been woken up in the middle of the night and informed that timetables which had only the day before been measured in months were now expected within days, and here they were. The largest corporate initiative they had undertaken in some time.

The director just hoped it would be enough, because with the way the borders still were they could not afford to show weakness or instability for long.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco awkwardly shook the Jedi's hand with his arm still in the sling with a smile. Certainly the Mandalorian didn't look like a conqueror at the moment, but there was a reason defending family and raising children was listed higher on the Resol'nare than rallying to the Mand'alor when called.

"Aye a place to sit would be most welcome." So the adults could chat while he sat in the floor with the little ones and let them squirm and play as they wanted to. He could only provide the odd comment about rebuilding, it wasn't something he personally was an expert in, but it was something his company had done several times before, often taking ruined cities and turning them into massive manufacturing plants stretching for miles. They did this for several reasons, partially was to cut expenses and ensure profit. A heavy reason was it allowed ArmaTech to employ millions at a time and ensure them a living wage from now until their deaths late in life. The little company had grown in the Four years it had existed into a juggernaut of producing war material, though their were some civilian services it could provide. "Jar'kai is a ruin with the stench of the Dark Side even still. Its inhabitants are going to need somewhere to go and somewhere to build a new life. You can't build a life in a refugee camp, I know. I can have a lot of them at work in construction and provide them with more permanent jobs if we can build a manufacturing plant and housing around it outside Shiso. We can then use that plant to produce materials to help the rebuilding of the other affected cities and villages."

Theo watched the Jedi, his little mind working to understand what he was sensing and seeing before him. His father wasn't particularly powerful with the Force, often relying on tricks and a variety of weapons to fend off other Force users, but he had his moments. The Jedi Knight was likely innately much stronger with the Force than he, and the twins could probably feel him but couldn't understand what it was they were feeling. Light, calm from the stranger. The babe giggled and his attention changed to watch something else while Laira tugged on her Father's pants seeking attention. "It's Theo's turn right now sweetie." He said, fighting the urge to try and hold them both with a broken arm. "We can play once we get indoors."

[member="Faith Organa"] [member="Rhen Qel-Droma"]

 

[Siriwook]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

Siriwook feels elated to get a lecture. She's never had one--or she doesn't remember having one. She's sad when it ends, especially since she knows things like this are not always in books. She resigns herself to her basic training, but makes a note to bring up alchemy again.

"[I could teach you such alchemy beyond your wildest dreams...]" said the voice within--Siriwook has stopped calling it the Voice of Hope since realizing that it sometimes gives her bad advice. She wonders who it is because it reminds her of being spoken to by her Mistress. Only it's not her Mistress, it's someone far away. That much, she knows. In the meantime, she chooses to ignore it. Perhaps, in time, she'll learn to shield herself from this intruder. "[Ungrateful witch]" says the voice. The voice isn't wrong about that. It has kept Siriwook alive for 13 years... maybe longer. Siriwook wonders why and becomes much more determined to find out where the voice came from.

But it's time to take care of the sick again. Siriwook wants to cure this patient's ills more than anything because here, finally, seemed to be someone who had just fallen ill--not been hurt, but just sick.

Siriwook wonders why heat is better than percussive waves to break up the kidney stones. But then she thinks about the waves continuing to travel through the body. Anything that can rupture a stone can probably rupture other things as well. But she keeps the idea in her mind for later. Then she wonders why she shouldn't just dissolve the stones in something, but that is the same problem--making the blood acidic might have some side effect she can't foresee. She's cured acid with alkali--why can't she make acid deposits? Siriwook makes another note to ask about that, too.

In the meantime, she pictures the liquid inside the patient filled with mineral deposits. She imagines the problem as twofold: first, she can't touch the patient with fire or even just hot things. That would hurt. Second, she has to break up the calcium using heat. But if she is just getting the molecules inside to move, isn't that more like the percussive wave idea? And she can cool the surrounding liquid, like when she first failed to cool the bucket of nerf mother slime that turned out to be delicious when properly cooled.

She decides that's the plan. Ice cream? No, not now. She'll move heat from the surrounding tissues into the areas of the stones, but only a bit--she doesn't want to hurt the patient with cold either. But a little cold will help dull any discomfort and reduce swelling. The rest of the heat would have to come from the--what did the Mistress call it? Spirit ichor. Siriwook still has trouble understanding the concept of ichor. She imagines it's something like ice cream made from the Force. She really wants ice cream now.

Siriwook pulls heat from around the stones in, warming them, and causes them to vibrate in place. The mechanical energy is transferred to the surrounding liquid, becoming more heat energy as the stones vibrate in place, allowing them more freedom of movement. Siriwook lets some of that heat move back into the spirit ichor. Almost instantly, the stones are pulverized into dust. Allowing the heat to dissipate back into the surrounding tissue, Siriwook celebrates by planning to make ice cream again. Somewhere in the Force, she hears the distant echoes of something--perhaps a possible future. She sees a person--maybe herself--with kidney stones. Could consuming the nerf mother slime cause kidney stones?!

Siriwook rethinks her ice cream plans. She is, after all, not a baby nerf. The nerf babies need that slime! Siriwook imagines a drink made from frozen fruit instead. She likes the idea immensely.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Objective: Cleaning crew
Allies: [member="Siriwook"]
Post: 17/20

"I know, percussive waves may have been a better choice. You should try using the Force for creating percussive waves when you next encounter a patient with kidney stones or gallstones. For some reason, you were wondering about the relationship between nerf milk and kidney/gall stones. Nerf milk doesn't cause kidney stones or gallstones: dairy products usually don't. And sometimes baby nerfs are hunted into meat, which is called nerf-veal"

To Siriwook, Force-healing was actually requiring many tools to do effectively. Yes, the witch was a conduit for the healing aspects of the Force, just that Neither person knew how to use the Force for creating percussive waves, but then again, Cathul wasn't a digestive tract or urinary tract specialist. She heard about how Force-healers tended to be generalists, medically speaking, and how NFU doctors instead become specialists. At least outside Mando-land. To many would-be medical practitioners that cannot be Force-healers on planets like Malastare or Kriselist, the appeal of curing the more serious medical conditions beat the appeal of curing a little bit of everything, whereas the reverse is seemingly true among Force-healers. But she couldn't help but think of her apprentice thinking of a drink made of frozen fruit. Once she was confident that the kidney stones, reduced to dust, ended up in the patient's urine, she made another proposal to her Wookiee apprentice:

"I see that you're thirsty. I'll get some... frozen fruit: a sherbet is called for"

 

[Siriwook]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

Siriwook meditates on the nature of percussive waves. There is a compression, and an expansion. A rise and a fall. Water ripples from things that are dropped. A cage door pops open when struck in such a way. Siriwook considers a number of ways to cause percussion. But starting them from inside something else? That will take a lot of thought. Sounds are another form of percussive wave. Siriwook imagines the rivets from the broken spacecraft. Once, while trying to work with the rivet, she vibrated it out of the hole. The vibration caused the rivet to move. Could she use sound?

"[Mistress, what about sound? Can we use the Force to make sound from a distance?]"

Siriwook is glad the kidney stones in her future aren't going to be caused by dairy, but she gets sad thinking about the poor baby nerfs. She's seen holos of the creatures and thought how she might have ended up like them. What if none of the Basic people had ever learned to understand Shyriiwook? Would she be considered food? She looks around, scared, hoping no one gets any ideas. "I am not food," she thinks to herself.

Siriwook meditates on the problem of shielding her thoughts. Clearly, she is an open book. It's not just her mistress, but this other presence that speaks to her through the Force. Whatever the mechanism, Siriwook knows she must find a way to turn off her telepathic two-way radio.

"[Sherbet sounds delicious!]" she conveys to her Mistress, hoping she didn't pick up on the idea of wookiee meat.

Still, telepathy has its uses. But is it a crutch? She wants to learn to speak Basic. From her dreams, she knows this is possible--if the dreams are actually memories. But, if the dreams are memories, then she might already know how to speak Basic. Siriwook has been experimenting with making the sounds when no one is around. She finds she has a tendency to overdo the vowels. Shyriiwook is a very different language from Basic. The idea that one shouldn't howl and bark as much as possible in speech is very strange to her. How do Basic people convey shades of tone? But she knows she's probably going to be made fun of for trying to speak, so she keeps her practice sessions private.

More baffling, Siriwook wonders why, when she thinks, she usually does so in Basic. She should think in Shyriiwook. How does she even know Basic? She doesn't remember. Comparing her own speech to holos of wookiees, she notes that her pronunciation is different. That's not surprising, as she had been living on a jungle planet with no other wookiees for company for twelve years. She imagines she sounds like a child would. Her grammar isn't wrong, and her pronunciation will probably not sound different to Basic people. An advanced study on wookiee linguistics, for example, instructs her to pronounce two things that are supposed to sound different to wookiees but that most students from other cultures won't grasp. To her consternation, she can't detect the difference with her ears--only through analysis of the sound waves.

Since arriving, Siriwook has been fascinated with the furry people around her. But, just as she hesitates to visit Kashyk, something holds her back from connecting with the people who look like her. From her studies of the Force, she recognizes this as fear of rejection. She knows she must do something to overcome this fear.

But, in the meantime, sherbet!

 

[HK-36]

[member="Elpsis Elaris"],

​

The Catacombs Elpsis was looking for would have been easy to find on the usual, after all one only needed to look for the peak of a pyramidal building stretching over the outskirts of Capital City. It was a rather outlandish structure, not only was it rather large in size, its architecture was much more eldritch than the usual Gados-designed buildings surrounding it. The structure was an echo from a distant droid-infested planet, a mere taste of the expansive catacomb network HK and Kerrigan once wandered through after their hunt for the origins of Bando Gora's Machine God. Kerrigan would have probably recognized the design right away and perhaps it would serve as enough of a warning as to what could await inside.

But that was all probably lost on Elpsis because she was blind!

Once Elpy would find the Catacombs, or as locals referred to it, Sepulchrum Apparatus, she would find entrance to it open to the public. The whole place was sort of a more dangerous version of a museum, at least when HK wasn't using it to safeguard his dormant body or his copies, people were free to enter it whenever they wished and look at the numerous exhibits and artifact-filled chambers inside, on their own risk at least. Still, everyone was discouraged from going deeper down into the bowels of the maze than just a couple of levels, that was when things like booby traps came into play, plus some said that within those obscure tunnels lurk powers and beings that drove even the ageless droid guards insane.

​

The Outer Hall of Sepulchrum, where the exit to the city was located, was a long lavish rectangular building digging into the side of the pyramid. Its floors were marble, its wall granite, graphite-coated black columns lined the sides leading towards large brass door deeper into the structure, and between each column there was a large gilded durasteel statue of a droid cloaked in Jedi robes holding a lightsaber. Memorials to the old order of Iron Knights, each statue would depict a different model, except the two statues at the either side of the brass door behind which there were stairs leading down, those droids were HK models, of course. In front of every statue, and at the side of doorways, there was an armored droid guard from the Iron Company stationed, they were calm, serene, but vigilant.

Would Elpy dare to keep going further into the structure? Already her Force Sight would probably be able to pick up on the beacons of Force-Imbued artifacts hidden deeper down into the forgotten labyrinth.

 

[Rhen Qel-Droma]

[member="Faith Organa"] [member="Draco Vereen"]

For a moment Rhen's face scrunched up with confusion. The Lord Protector? He only knew in passing the previous government that had overseen this sector; the Protectorate if he recalled correctly. A second later as the Princess elaborated it all made sense. She was speaking about the Baron, the Iron Knight who had in the past taken the banner of the Lord Protector for his own.

After the shake of hands, Rhen gestured for them to follow. A small smile lingered upon his lips at seeing the little girl giggle and tug at her father's knee. He was able to discern a touch of the Force there, but as he was not part of the scouting corps he paid it no mind. Family was a big factor for Corellians, even Corellian Jedi. Unlike some of the more traditional and orthodox Orders, the Corellian Jedi ran with their own guidelines when it came to family and rearing them.

"He still oversees this planet." Rhen informed Faith, answering her question.

"I can send word to see if he is available to talk for such an embassy." [member="HK-36"] was a busy droid, and truthfully Rhen wasn't sure just what business he had in the wake of Atrisia, but at the very least he could send a message to see if his office was available.

"As for the rebuilding, I am sure we will need every bit of help we can get. Last word I received is that an Alliance ambassador will be arriving later today to discuss the reconstruction plans as well as to determine what the Atrisian people desire."

In his mind, it had nothing to do with a youngling king who was in dire need of help rather than a throne.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Nathanos Darksword"],

The attitude with which the Guild and Abregado officials, especially the droid ones, reacted to Nathan's efforts could be described as welcoming yet wary. Considering their history they were vigilant when it came to outside powers attempting to build facilities on the planet, having pirate and black market arms dealing dens on your planet was not exactly too safe for the population. The last person who attempted to build run a pirate-arming munitions factory on the planet, a member of a revitalized Zann Consortium, was invited to discuss a business deal with the Barony. As soon as she stepped off of her ship, however, she faced the barrels of Abregado's spider-droids and snarling beaks of the Nocur Owlbears who were there with HK himself to inform her that she was placed under arrest.

Of course few people know that story, she was not seen around the Galactic stage afterwards to tell it.

But still, when it was clear that Nathan wasn't planning on setting up a foothold on the planet but rather build a space station in the orbit the atmosphere of meetings with the planet's representatives would become much more relaxed. A trade hub in space was something they could get behind, for one thing the planet only had one spaceport, kept like that by the Baron for better control of who comes and goes from the planet, and although their infantry and ground forces were rather intimidating, Abregado had little to no means of creating space-borne vehicles or ships. A space station of their own could be just what they needed to push that effort through, of course it was something on HK's to-do list but he always seemed to be getting distracted by other means. In fact, he was totally going to build one when he was getting back from Atrisia just before the whole thing kicked off but then had to turn around and join the fray.

Not to mention, Abregado made a lot of profits from traders passing through, who so far enjoyed the fact that the droid dictator did all he could to ensure that no pirate fleet would dare to come any close to Abregado's space or trade lanes without the risk of being dusted. A trade hub would only increase the traffic, which in turn meant more profits, and probably increasing Abregado's navy and army to ensure the trade lanes stayed protected without raising too much alarm from the planet's population.

Perhaps Nathan would even get through it all without HK coming in to personally ruffle his feathers.

But the droid was going to totally come in and do that as soon as he was even able to escape his meetings aboard the Dancing Queen still hanging in the orbit and get planet-side.


[member="Rhen Qel-Droma"], [member="Draco Vereen"], [member="Faith Organa"],

After receiving the message from Rhen, it would not take long for HK to reply to it, the Jedi's holo-transmitter would display blue image of the droid, armored and cloaked, an eyepatch still covering one of the photoreceptor holes after he lost the droid eye on Atrisia and didn't get it replaced just yet. The machine was clearly walking, on his way to the next meeting,

"Young Master Rhen, yes, you can tell Lady Organa that I made her a promise to allow the embassy to be build on Abregado and I keep my promises. Although, I hope, Abregado will join the Alliance, we will remain autonomous under my protection just like the Naboo. I will come and speak with the lot of you personally once I am done with the meetings on the ship."

HK looked up from the transmitter and his image flickered as he passed through a doorway,

"I am currently speaking with droid refugees who wish for safe passage and asylum on Abregado, then I will need to talk with some corporate representative trying to use the incident as opportunity to set up a franchise presence on Abregado. Once I will remind her why it is a bad idea to try to screw me and the citizens of this planet-"

The droid may have had a bit of a potty mouth, plus he wasn't aware that kids could listen in on the message,

"I will be heading to the surface to meet with you."

 

[H3xle]

::LOCATION::​

Abregado-Rae System​

::OBJECTIVE::​

Patrol the System​

​

​

"Espada Squadron!" The Squadron Commander, Mikel Alferson, said loud enough to cut through the chatter in the flight ops room. Lexi looked up from the conversation she'd been having with her wingman and leaned back in the chair. Alferson paused as the chattering cut off and everyone assembled turned to face the front, and him. "We are thirty minutes from launch for our patrol. I know you have all gone over the material with a fine tooth comb, but just in case you may have missed some information on Abregado-Rae, I am going to hit the high point. Delka, that means pay attention." The last was pointedly said to the Rodian still making jokes in the back of the room. Alferson remained silent, with his eyebrows lifted and eyes locked onto Delka until he stopped again. "Good. Now, Abregado-Rae is a former Omega Protectorate system. When that regime fell, the system maintained itself through the use of droids. To be more specific, the majority of the citizenry of this system are droids of one flavor or another."

"I'll take mine in choco..." Delka started to say into the slight pause Alferson had used to take a breath.

"Shut your tiny mouth now, Delka," Alferson snapped instantly, almost as if he had been prepared for it. An audible click was heard from the back of the room as the Rodian realized he had stepped a little bit too far. "That means that this system hasn't had quite as much turbulence in recent years as others have. We have several ships preparing to launch a relief effort at Atrisia, there is also the normal commerce that travels through the system. We are going to patrol the system, but with the understanding that until the powers that be sign the dotted line, this is the sovereign territory of an ally. If a droid ship tells you to move your tail, you ask which way, so long as they are broadcasting an Abregado IFF. Your computers should have all of the current ones loaded. We do not expect any combat, so keep your weapons on warm, and do not engage without clearance. Am I clear?"

The room broke out into yes, sirs and other affirmatives.

"Delka, do you understand? No stunts like you did in training."

"I understand, sir." Delka practically sulked the words out, which cause Lexi to snort in amusement. Alferson's eyes narrowed as they scanned to her.

"Anything to add, Morrow?" He asked with a single arched eyebrow, then continued without waiting for a reply. "Good. Go prep your planes. Dismissed."

The room broke out into conversations again, as the assembled pilots moved slowly out of the room and towards their fighters. Lexi and her wingman, Chun Djenni, fell back into their previous conversation about where they would go with their next leave. Lexi felt a slight tingle at the back of her next, and shifted her shoulder just before Delka would have run into it. He stumbled past instead, though he kept his feet. He turned quickly and faced Lexi and Chun.

"You find it funny that Alferson busted my balls in pre-flight?" He asked, his nostrils flaring as he took a step closer. Lexi neither flinched from his gaze, nor stepped back, despite being shorter than the Rodian.

"I did, yes. Sad, really, as you make yourself too easy a target." She said with a matter of fact tone and tilted her head to the side as she arched her right eyebrow. Her eyes flicked around to see part of the squadron was turning to watch the confrontation, including Alferson, from a shadowed corner by the stairs up to the maintenance deck.

"You know why he's harder on me than the rest of you?" The Rodian sneered as he stepped fully into Lexi's bubble, only a hands-breadth from being chest to chest.

"Because you enjoy being the clown." She said and tilted her chin up, her eyes glinted with steel in them, she wasn't going to back down.

"Because he knows I'm the best, and he wants to keep me humble." He replied. Lexi snorted and stepped around the Rodian, looking to just break off contact before she did something the Rodian would regret.

"Wake up Delka." She spat over her shoulder. She caught a glimpse of the Rodians hand coming in to grab her shoulder and turn her around. Lexi stepped back slightly, grasped his wrist, then pivoted, torquing the arm around and making the Rodian take his knees or risk a dislocated shoulder. "Wake up, Delka. You aren't in elementary school any more, no one is going to take your shit. You're not funny, you fly halfway decently, but either way you are still an ass." The last word was growled out as she twisted his arm minutely for emphasis. "Now, get to your plane, prep it, and fly the sortie with the rest of the squadron, and if you ever try to touch me again you will lose the hand." She paused then, to make sure he had heard her, then she let go of the arm as she pivoted and stepped away, pulling Chun with her.

There were some people clapping after it all, until Alferson stepped out of the shadow and told them all to hurry up.

Chun and Lexi made it to their fighters without any further incidents. A quick look down the line as she was climbing in told her that Delka had at least made it to his plane without pissing anyone else off. Then she slipped in and ran through the pre-flight while trying to calm her racing heart. She was good with combat, better when it was for a worthwhile cause, but petty violence like Delka had tried and forced her to do always pissed her off. She took a few moments to breath, let the frustration go away, then focused on her job.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="HK-36"]


And so Elpsis entered the Sepulchrum Apparatus, which resembled some sort of museum. To be precise, a museum for droids. Marble floors, granite walls, graphite-coated black columns and statues of Iron Knights and HK droids: Truly a tribute to machinery.


Of course, the redhead was physically blind. Force Sight was awkward when it came to perceiving inanimate objects. However, her other senses had been heightened by her blindness. She ran a hand across one of the obsidian columns before studying the gilded obsidian statue of a droid clad in Jedi robes.


"Anyone here? Guess not," she muttered, stretching out with her senses. Even though the place seemed devoid of organic life, the stone and the machines had a presence. The atmosphere was calm and serene, like the melody of a gentle song, but her Force senses prickled. She heard the call of the Force. It came from deeper inside the labyrinth. To her Force Sight, the enchanted objects were like bright, metaphysical beacons that shined brightly amidst the darkness.


However, there was also a feeling of menace, for dangers lurked in these catacombs. Her lightsabre found its way into her hand and the organce beam of energy ignited with a snap-hiss. The firemane moved onward, limping slightly. Who knew what trouble she'd end up in.