Private Relief Efforts: Ghosts of The Bloodscrawls

[Sera Mina]

Wearing: This

Armed With: Herself, Charm

With: Vera Mina

Nathan Bloodscrawl was on an enforced break ,after having recently lost his arm in a clearing out of temple ruins on Tython. It had been while saving another Jedi. It probably counted as his trial of flesh.

Sera had cancelled all her appointments for the past two weeks to spend time with him.

He had done nothing but relax with his family, the idea of being truly happy something foreign to him still. Sera mainly watched movies with him, and even used the Pet Rabbit he had bought her as a Therapy Animal. Vera, his wife, was now noticably pregnant. Sera estimated another two months at least. Nathan had not even trained mildly, focused on total decompression from recent events.

The collapse of the Dark Empire meant their greatest asset, Kytrand, was once more safe.

And House Bloodscrawl lived again.

When she had first started interacting with the man who eventually became her adoptive Father, he had been very closed off, a shell of a normal man. Sera had rapidly grown to understand that it had been years since he had cause to be anything but a living machine, colder than any actual Assassin Droid. Sera and her Mother had provided the first legitimate emotional anchors that he had to this era.

The Patriarch of House Bloodscrawl was a much different man than the one she and Vera had met. He was slightly warmer to others. He was warm to them. Sera had eventually grown to love him as a parent. She had eventually aspired to live by the ideals of the reborn House, despite her social climbing.

Everyday, Bacta-Works grew in power and influence. It had even helped influence the decision for Fondor to remain the Alliance Capital...

THAT had made her a lot of friends with the local industry of that planet her speaking up in that chamber. Her sub companies had begun digging their claws into the planet, absorbing local businesses quietly into their subsidiaries. They had made another half trillion in credits, most of which was immediately donated to both The Alliance Military as well various devastated worlds near the core.

Sera, wearing jeans and a grey T-Shirt, and running shoes had kept her father company with her Mother as they had trekked across Kytrand's idyllic wilderness, uncovering old ruins they had no context for, picking them apart more out of curiosity than goals. Vera wore a long gray gown that didn't hide how pregnant she was. Sera was excited to have a brother...even if she didn't know exactly what it would be like.

Nathan sat in hiking gear on a log, examining local flowers as they swayed in the wind. Sera had been gathering logs for a campfire while Vera sat next to Nathan, keeping her company.

"Has Thel contacted you?" Nathan asked, having regularly kept track of Thel's activities (Nathan was so impressed he had gifted him a Bloodscrawl Kyber personally even though Thel wasn't a Force User...along with a GIE/LN. He also regularly tried to call whenever Thel was away. Vera had asked him to come to Kytrand as soon as he could after Nathan's injury, which had happened several days prior.

"Not recently, no..." Sera answered.

Nathan had spoken little. And when he did it was about unimportant things.

But as Sera finished starting the campfire (For it was evening in the wilderness) Nathan finally spoke about something important. Almost as important as Thel.

"Has all evidence of the Bloodscrawls been purged from Kytrand's computers?"

Sera looked up.

"We got everything worth getting. The clones are being rerouted to Site B..." Sera answered. "Dad, are you sure we should be telling Alicio Organa about this place?"

"It's time. Kytrand was meant to be shared with those who understand it's value. And besides ...we've dug in quite well as a corporate fiefdom." he replied. "Play dumb where you think you can get away with it. The Nexus alone will intrigue him. He will want to make sure this place is preserved..."

He's grown weary of constant secret keeping... Sera realized. The stress of hiding the Clones, an entire race of artificial grand children of which Percival Io had been a member, in addition to this devastating injury, had finally begun to wear down even his legendary tolerance for bullchit.

He wanted to unload some of the burden. She couldn't blame him. At least he wasn't lying to himself that he could keep it up forever the way his forever-fallen daughter, Laertia Io had.

Nathan wasn't a mountain. He had never wanted to be. He had always sought to be the blade of grass...

And it was time for his blade to bend where the wind blew.

"Y'know, Vera, I think you should go with her..." Nathan said. "To meet the Chancellor."

Vera raised an eyebrow. "Nate are you sure that's wise?"

"You're one of the most famous lawyers in the core. You can hide your Force Sensitivity. Not too much, but enough so he won't think you're too special. Besides. You're pregnant. Universal diplomacy advantage..."

Vera had to concede that... perfect logic. A pregnant woman does put visiting dignitaries at ease... usually...

"It will just be a Bacta-Works defense fleet in orbit..."

"He won't be there to conquer it..." Nathan replied. "It's already an Alliance world just by virtue of being in Alliance space. A hidden light side outpost with the kind of Nexus this world has? Too tempting to write off..."


Present.


Sera and Vera waited aboard an MCV-110 Corvette named Gaze of Natalya in orbit above Alderaan, a special invitation having been extended to Chancellor Organa. She has only said it was of utmost importance that he join her as a guest...in strictest secrecy. She was not so foolish as to request he leave his guard behind, but she cautioned to only bring those he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt could be trusted.

Sera waited in her most elegant finery, and Vera, despite being six months pregnant, looked gorgeous as well in a a gown of matching red color. Tea had been prepared for the journey, which wouldn't take very long with the route they were taking.

"So what's the Chancellor like?" Vera asked, sitting on a luxurious golden sofa in their private suite.

"Not stupid." Sera answered. "We must be very delicate in our approach."

"Aren't we always?" Vera asked with a slightly smug smile.

"I mean it, Mother. Organa has been around the block more than once. He's not some airheaded nobleman with more credits and power than sense. Don't underestimate him..." Sera warned, anxiously awaiting his arrival.

"I would never dream of doing so and risk unraveling your hard work..." Vera assured...

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio didn't visit Alderaan much, these days.

No, he spent most of his time either overseeing the Alliance on Fondor, or bouncing around the GA's worlds getting his hands dirty. He'd even begun the work of abdicating his throne on Alderaan, loosening his grip on his ancestral home finger by finger. It was only right- he was barely there, didn't have time to run a single world among hundreds, and refused to show favoritism. In addition to all that... monarchy had never suited him. He'd rather his titles were earned through work, not birth.

But he'd just so happened to be there to be picked up by Bacta-Works. The summons was out of the blue, disturbing in it's crypticism. He was no corporatist- he'd stepped away from his partnership with the medical/relief company as soon as he'd taken office. They wouldn't receive any favors from him, despite their assistance to him personally in the past. A vexing trait of the new Chancellor, to be sure, but one he held firm to.

But he did take this meeting seriously. And they had bought at least a little trust from him. So he came, truly, alone.

Alicio stepped from his shuttle, grey eyes dark and stormy with thought. Nobody else stepped off with him, not a senate commando, not a Shi'ido honor guard. But he was far from defenseless. The cloak he wore, dark on the outside, but layered with fabrics of puzzling colors, would be a curiosity to those touched by the Force. As would a strange, anathemous object hidden within a secret pocket, and a thin, cylindrical tube concealed in another. Not to mention the Future as his constant companion.

Thoughtful eyes locked on Sera in recognition, then Vera in curiosity. He made his way over, and offered a nod. "Sera." He paused purposefully, waiting to be introduced.

- Sera Mina -

 

[Sera Mina]

"Chancellor..." Sera said warmly, rising from her seat, looking immaculate in her red gown. "I'm so pleased you could join us. And you even came alone, I see...I thank you for the immeasurable gesture of trust you have displayed towards me in choosing to come alone."

She caught his glance at a pleasantly smiling Vera, looking utterly immaculate and gorgeous despite her heavily pregnant looking state as she rose and bowed, wearing a long blood crimson gown.

"Chancellor, this is my Mother, Vera Mina , Matriarch of Clan Li-Ves, a minor Royal House of Atrisia.

Vera was infamous as one of the best lawyers on Coruscant, and possibly the Core. She had never lost a case, and had defended and prosecuted in equal measure. Her very presence on a case was usually enough to make a rival legal team want to negotiate or settle out of court rather than take her on by trial. Her powerful Force Connection was reduced in strength to make it seem like she only had a milder, more heightened sensitivity to the Force, but nothing truly special, despite, if her OOC bio page was any indication, being a freak of truly epic proportions.

"A pleasure to meet you, Chancellor Organa..." Vera almost purred in her softest, most diplomatic and inoffensive tone, which still sounded beautiful enough to drive ordinary people wild with distant, buried lust. Her voice was a smoke-show even when it wasn't TRYING to be.

"My daughter has told me much of your commitment to a safer, more secure galaxy, and of the difficulties you face in the process..." Vera added. "We had discussions of what to do over the past few months to further our aid to the Alliance..."

"And we came to a decision...to show you our greatest hidden asset...a once lost planet, rediscovered and settled by us...we believe it has or had connections to the Jedi...once, before the Gulag Virus. Possibly before that..." Sera explained. "A planet of great riches. Properly utilized, it could be of immense help in rebuilding the core and sustaining the Alliance...

"A world called Kytrand..." Vera said out loud. "Almost uninhabited, save for scattered settlements established by Sera's corporation."

"It has still functional and massive facilities for the production of Bacta. We think it rivals Thyferra, Chancellor. And our Clan scouts on and corporate employees who are sensitive report the entire planet is surrounded by an extremely powerful high strength light side Nexus. As you are an active Force User yourself...we wanted to take you to it for evaluation..." Sera explained. "We depart immediately...it will require a few random hyperspace jumps at first. It is very close to Coruscant. A stone's throw, really...but we must be cautious. Kytrand was in danger of being discovered the entire time the Dark Empire controlled the Core. Only since their recent collapse have we begun to breathe easier."

"But we must still exercise caution...at a certain point, we will have to take a stealth shuttle the rest of the way."

"Provided you accept to travel with us under such circumstances, of course..." Vera added in a dulcet tone to Alicio Organa . "You would of course be a most welcome guest during the trip there. We would be happy to discuss what we know of it while we travel..."