Rise Above My Station [Commenor]

[Darlyn Excron]

Turning on his heels a moment, Darlyn shook [member="Kendall Ginn"]'s hand firmly, before returning to his swift paced walk. "Darlyn Excron, head of security. Believe me I hardly trust you, and will be watching very closely. Double cross Kay and I'll have you shackled in the mines for the rest of your life, assuming I don't kill you outright." Of course for as harsh as his words were, there was no hostility in his voice. There was nothing personal about it, he was simply stating a fact. He hated to work under any false pretenses, and while it was obvious he was willing to work with Ginn his loyalty to [member="Lady Kay"] demanded that the man know, at the very least, how poor a decision it would be to cross him.

Soon enough, they arrived at the barracks, where a number of guardsmen were tending to their kits. They went to attention as Darlyn entered, the red haired man picking out three of them. "Alec, Garren, and Maya, you three have officially volunteered to accompany me and Ginn here on the Queen's orders. Get your gear together and meet us at the docking bay." All three offered a salute, before getting rifles and pistols and whatever they needed.

"Now then, we have three guards, myself, you, and [member="Bradshaw Ku"]. Will we be needing any special supplies, specialized explosives or jamming devices or the like?"

 

[Kendall Ginn]

After the reciprocated hand shake Kendall continues to follow behind Darlyn's brisk pace. "Well Darlyn Excron head of security, I wouldn't expect you to trust me as you've been given no reason to yet but I think that will change quickly." Darlyn's comment was in every sense of the word a threat, but a conditional one with that. Kendall respects the sincerity in the comment, and as he had no intention of stirring realtions with Kay or her associates at this delicate stage he saw no reason the threat would come to fruition. He continued to follow his company to the barracks where Darlyn picked out three officers and turned back to Kendall.

"We'll need explosives, I'm not an expert in the craft but how reasonable would it be to collapse a Hangar?

[member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Lauri Törni]

Lauri had by now returned to the barracks, were three officers had been selected. Lauri knew one of them very well, and hoped it was a promotion for the hree. for now though, Lauri silently returned to his bunk, asking his fellow soldiewrs what was going on. none of them knew.

[member="Kendall Ginn"][member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Bradshaw Ku]

Bradshaw listened as [member="Veiere Arenais"] spoke about Shaw-Ku’s death, the force, and responsibility. It seemed he was quite the fan of lecturing, or at least, giving advice. For a moment, Bradshaw wondered if Veiere had been some sort of Jedi teacher. He clearly had a firm hand on the force. Most importantly though, could he fight? He’d yet to see him in that capacity, but with his obvious power, he was becoming increasingly convinced that he probably could. To say the least.

About to ask him to train him to fight, he stopped himself. Veiere had moved on to warning him about the Darkside. Specifically, his quest for revenge. What was up with everyone on this topic? His father had spoken similar things, though of course not specifically about revenge, even [member="Darlyn Excron"] warned him that becoming just a “spear” would not make [member="Lady Kay"] happy and inquired about what he’d do after he’d gotten his revenge.

His eyes narrowed, he couldn’t understand what Veiere was getting at. Could he possibly be suggesting that those who committed the atrocities against himself and his family should be left alive, free to live out their lives as if they’d done nothing?

“Wow, wait” he blurted out, standing up from the seat, the Darkside swirling through him, “I hope you’re not suggesting I let that scum go free. They must be hunted down! What other choice is there?!”

His commlink buzzed before he could continue.

Normally, he’d ignore it in a situation like this, but the buzz indicated it was his mother and he didn’t dare ignore that. Angrily, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out. After reading her message, a small smile stretched across his face. Finally, some good news. Liberate a station, that sounded like fun. Looking back up at Veiere he said, “Duty calls. Your fiancée wants me to help liberate a station with Darlyn and time is of the essence, so you should probably bring us back to the palace, or else explain to her why I was late. Oh,” he added a snarky comment “and maybe you could join us. Unless you’re too afraid that a little station liberation will send you down the wrong path?”

He couldn't comprehend the warnings others gave him about his own path. Warnings learned though countless years of experience. Sooner than he reckoned, he just might have an intimate understanding of just what those warning were really about. Whether it would be too late or not, was another question entirely.

| [member="Kendall Ginn"] | [member="Stardust Raxis"] | [member="Ardgal Raxis"] | [member="Lauri Törni"] |

 

[John Rakugan]

"We'll need explosives, I'm not an expert in the craft but how reasonable would it be to collapse a Hangar?

"Did someone say explosives?"

A figure appeared, peering his head into the barracks. John Rakugan opened the door all the way and stepped over the threshold, his large brown boots thumping on the ground as he walked. John gave his fancy brown vest a business-like tug, and walked towards [member="Kendall Ginn"]. He was an older man: definitely in his 40's, but he looked even older. His stride was confident, assertive and disciplined.

"Sorry to bud in, my friend, but I'm a veteran. Some of your folks might already know my name." The man's eyes beamed with pride for a moment before he continued. "John Rakugan's my name, and military engineering is my specialty. I came here to offer my services. Glad I did, too: it seems like you reeeally need them."

Rakugan gave a hearty chuckle and extended his hand towards Kendall for a handshake. One would notice that John's outstretched hand was rugged; calloused from what seems like years of working on starships. He also had what appeared to be scars from past laser and ion burns running from the middle of his forearm down to the bottom edge of his palm.

[member="Kendall Ginn"] | [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Believe me, [member="John Rakugan"] was it?, I can more than handle explosives myself." Darlyn laughed, crossing his arms a bit. "Give me five det packs and I'll turn a hanger into a symphony of chaos and light. Hell, give me two and I'll figure out the rest. I'm sure you'd agree, if you knew my track record." He continued chuckling, almost ignoring the presence of [member="Kendall Ginn"] as he relayed the meeting location to [member="Bradshaw Ku"] (and by extension [member="Veiere Arenais"] ) waiting on [member="Lady Kay"]'s loyal guardsmen handpicked by him to join them.

 

[John Rakugan]

John grimaced slightly, retracting his hand and turning towards [member="Darlyn Excron"] with a look of disbelief. However, Darlyn was not what Rakugan was expecting. The Head of Security was extremely well-armed, and John could see that the lightsaber in his holster was something special. He didn't want to pick a fight: the kid was alright.

"Det packs? Heh. Not for a military-grade hangar. I should know: i've spent a fair amount of time in hangars. You'd need...oh, what do they call that crap...reductive technology. I'm talkin' laser beams. Ion canons. Heavy artillery. Photon torpedos." John counts off each of them in turn. "You know...stuff that REALLY goes boom."

John gestured to the Drifter Shotgun on [member="Darlyn Excron"]'s back, then added, "I must say, I appreciate your eye for carnage. You know what they say: many hands make for easy work."

[member="Darlyn Excron"] | [member="Kendall Ginn"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was quite pleased with the mission getting underway. She was lucky that [member="Kendall Ginn"] came to her first. And with a station in that part of the Galaxy, well, she could start her slave rescue missions again. She had the funds to do it now, although she wasn't going to splurge on it. All profit gained from the station were going to be used to fund the liberation missions. It keeps the money there and left less of a paper trail. She could even keep it off the books if she had wanted to.

Yes. This was all going to work out well.

 

[Kendall Ginn]

Kendall swung on his heels as another soldier came up to him and Darlyn. Leading on the mention of explosives the new company did quickly to introduce himself, and outstretch a hand to Kendall. As quickly as he did the hand was taken back as the man took more interest in the head of Security as Darlyn remarked about his skill in explosives. Kendall watched their quick exchange before budding in.

"I feel there is some confusion, we need not destroy the entire hanger, the most we should do is damage the entrance, make landing unsafe for a window of time. For that we need to damage the infrastructure, and this is an old hanger, a lot of maintenance tunnels and exploitable obsolete design choices I'm sure we would not need excessively heavy fire power. Kendall shifted over to stand in between both other members of the conversation. "Mr.Rakugan if you wish to join us I'm afraid that is not under my jurisdiction. Darlyn, the decision would be yours, I am in full belief that we have all that is needed to complete the mission but extra manpower is almost never unwelcome."

[member="John Rakugan"] , [member="Darlyn Excron"] ,

 

[WolfMortum]

"They deserve to be brought to justice yes, but not at the expense of the loss of your integrity Bradshaw" Veiere cut in rather quickly as the boy seemed to take offense to his words, Veiere shaking his head to himself and turning back to look out towards the stars, seated still on one of the three co-pilots seats, the primary chair still empty as if a silent invitation to the lad who had been so interested in the vessel just moments ago. "Any fool of a man can take a life, but a better man knows where to restrain himself. In the Force there is more to the unnatural end of life in this galaxy...-In every life that we cut short, the force is weakened by it. The flow of all natural things runs in harmony with the Force, it is the essence of this world, the bloodline of all you see down upon Commenor and beyond. When you step between life and it's natural flow, you interrupt the cause of balance and lose a part of yourself..." It wasn't all spiritual nonsense Veiere was talking, he had felt the wake of worlds ravaged in war, had seen the change in the atmosphere left to ruin by the likes of the Sith Legions.

"Right now, in this moment you and your Mother are alive and free to plan your own days ahead without the need to worry about such people...-You have your entire future ahead of you and in this place now, you've a choice before you. You know what your options are, one is pursuing these people you harbor such a hate for but do keep in mind that the more attention you bring to them, the more notice they will take in who you are and who fills that social circle of yours, the one we all hold. If you fail to bring these people to justice then they will seek to harm you and more often than not, the easiest avenue around you will be your loved ones..." Kay had already been through too much, she had already suffered far more than she should ever have and in this Veiere had buried his hatred, the very same hatred that Bradshaw held for the man known as Darth Prazutis. The thing was however than unlike Veiere, Bradshaw still had a wealth of training ahead of him, lessons to build upon his control in the force and of himself. "You are still young and you still have much to learn...-There are other ways of putting a stop to these people than throwing your future away and potentially involving your mother any deeper into the likes of the Sith" despite his disagreement with Bradshaw's hopes for revenge, Veiere understood them intimately, he simply hadn't allowed himself to be consumed by them as the risks far outweighed against all the time he had put in to bringing [member="Lady Kay"] back to her former self, remembering her allies and the things that she loved, away from the teachings of the Dark Side.

The Vagabond begun to descend, the nose of the vessel drifting down closer to the atmosphere of which Veiere responded by triggering the vessels engines and guiding them both back down into the sky above the massive world of trade. "I know the things I say must seem ridiculous to you, you've not had the time to practice nor the upbringing that I myself have had and as I said before, you will always be the only one responsible for the path of your life and the destination. I say these things not to dismiss you but to encourage you to want to open yourself up to other doors, if you will. Learn to broaden your horizons and put the wealth of your emotions behind you, seek out the light of the Force and you might eventually come to understand why I have learned to be the way that I am, and how it has helped both myself and your mother...-Not take back the controls and return us home".

[member="Bradshaw Ku"]

 

[Lauri Törni]

"There's talk of a mission" one of the other soldiers said. Then the entire room turned to conversation. Lauri decided to put these rumors to an end. He got up, excusing himself from the room. He walked quickly down the barracks' halls. Finally coming to the room, he bang to listen in. Silently he walked to behind the officers, branding with them, as though he had always been there, and as he did, he nodded to the officer that had noticed him. Luckily, it was the friend of his. He listened, gathering that this was a liberation mission, intent on clearing a space station.


[member="Veiere Arenais"][member="Kendall Ginn"][member="Lady Kay"][member="John Rakugan"][member="Darlyn Excron"][member="Bradshaw Ku"]

 

[John Rakugan]

"Ah, I see. Causing trouble, but not too much trouble." John smirked. "Well, if someone on your team could help be get into the maintenance tunnels, I could do all sorts of fun stuff with a tool kit and an arc welder. You could cut the fuse to the doors so that the air locks get stuck. That'd shut the hangar down for weeks: ain't nobody getting in or out. You could sabotage the munitions..." John nodded to Darlyn. "Or you could set up ships to explode the second the thrusters hit a certain speed. Different approaches, different objectives. I kinda walked in halfway through your explanation. If I come along, then I'm gonna need a quick summary, Mr...erm...Kendall, right?"

John unlocked his arms, approaching Darlyn. He made eye contact with the Head of Security, and then nodded curtly. "Darlyn, sir". Rakugan added the last part with an inkling of discomfort, but said it respectfully. "I came to the barracks to request a return to active duty. As an engineer, and as a soldier. It's all I know. May I please take this mission?"

John then again outstretched his hand and offered a handshake to Darlyn. If Darlyn chose to accept his handshake, he would move to give Kendall a handshake, too (as well as anyone else in the room. John was a friendly guy like that.) If not, he thought, then he would consider his options.

[member="Kendall Ginn"] [member="Lauri Törni"] [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Kendall Ginn]

As Rakugan made his show of expertise, Kendall noticed the staff around them, some clearly trying to listen in. "Kendall yes, and you will be given a summary as everyone involved will, 'if' you come along." the man broke off and walked over to Darlyn, requesting service to the mission, Kendall saw a young officer who moved in closer to their conversation, not the most experienced eavesdropper, Kendall quickly walked up to the young officer [member="Lauri Törni"].

"So, do you enjoy eavesdropping, or am I just that interesting?" Kendall stared him down, trying to gauge a reaction. There was no issue, but it was fun to make it look like there was. Kendall considered this to be an extra face to know on Commenor, something that is invaluable with how much he will be working through it.

[member="John Rakugan"] , [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Lauri Törni]

Lauri answered, showing no emotion, as he had trained himself to not show any when he needed to.
"Neither. It is standard procedure to listen during briefings, and listen to it all. Further more, I prefer to know as much as possible about my teammates' skills."

Internally, he was was screaming: "WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THIS LAURI?" Bu none of that got to the surface. Keep calm and hope they don't call the bluff.



[member="Kendall Ginn"][member="John Rakugan"][member="Veiere Arenais"][member="Lady Kay"][member="Darlyn Excron"][member="Bradshaw Ku"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Well, we'll figure out what we need when we learn the mission briefing won't we?" Darlyn smiled and shook [member="John Rakugan"]'s hand, demonstrating a surprisingly firm grip in doing so. "Feel free to come along, but I get to handle explosives... I hardly get the pleasure of doing so here anymore. Almost makes me regret retiring as a hunter." He chuckled louder than before, turning to face [member="Kendall Ginn"] and [member="Lauri Törni"] with a curt nod. "Well then Mr. Ginn, I suppose we should expect some level of violence shouldn't we? Assuming that we do, would you be confident in saying we'll be up against blasters or slugthrowers?"

Of course the force using Darlyn would be concerned if it was primarily the latter. His skill with his blaster would mean he could easily adjust pace, but he would be less, effective. And of course Ginn, having gotten a good look at Darlyn's lightsabers, would perfectly understand why he was asking so well before any kind of proper briefing.

[member="Bradshaw Ku"] | [member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Veiere Arenais"]

 

[John Rakugan]

John turned to Lauri and blurted out, "One guess as to what your skill is, Shootie McShotgun." John gestured towards the assortment of weapons Lauri had brought along. "By the way, are we going in loud?" John added, turning again to [member="Kendall Ginn"]

John appreciated [member="Darlyn Excron"]'s firm handshake, which was returned in kind: it made him respect the younger man even more. "Wouldn't expect things any other way", John replied with a sly grin. "Boy, this brings me back to the good ol' days at the corps."

When Darlyn broke the handshake, John also turned towards [member="Lauri Törni"] and [member="Kendall Ginn"]. He gave [member="Lauri Törni"] a good looking over, sizing him up. He was tall and well-built, with gun straps and holsters all over. John had seen guys like this before; tough guys--former police and security, mostly--going headstrong into battle, and never come home. A part of him respected the soldier's foolhardiness, but a part of him despised his naivete. However, he would give the kid a chance. John always gave people a chance.

 

[Lauri Törni]

Lauri retorted the explosive "expert" quickly and bluntly.

"Well, for one, I don't like shotguns, to inaccurate for my tastes, I prefer a short, controlled burst. I am skilled in blaster combat, hand to hand combat I am proficient in, and I excel in small unit strategy and geurilla tactics. Give me a blue print for the station, and I can find at least a dozen ways to exploit it's design in our favor. By the way, how'd you get in the Barracks?"




[member="John Rakugan"][member="Darlyn Excron"][member="Kendall Ginn"][member="Veiere Arenais"][member="Lady Kay"][member="Bradshaw Ku"]

 

[John Rakugan]

John answered [member="Lauri Törni"] rather matter-of-factly.

"I pulled rank, of course. I was once a Major in the engineering corps." He smiled with pride and stood up a bit straighter. "But that was a while ago. I run a company now...Elysium Industries. We do starships." He slipped out a holographic business card and tried to give it to Lauri. "Here's my card."

John Rakugan | Darlyn Excron | Kendall Ginn | Veiere Arenais | Lady Kay | Bradshaw Ku

 

[Kendall Ginn]

Kendall stood stone faced as [member="Lauri Törni"] gave his explanation. 'Team-mates' skills eh? The young soldier hadn't been invited to the mission yet, so those were bold words indeed. Hearing Rakugan's comment toward Lauri Kendall broke character and chuckled lightly, turning back to John. "Shootie McShotgun, I like that one very blatant. And Darlyn I'm sorry but they're pirates they shoot whatever they have their hands on, I will say we can expect mostly blasters last I saw." As Kendall responded to Darlyn John and the young soldier talked expertise, and Kendall listened intently as he spoke, clearly the boy had a lot of opinion on his own character, as Kendall began to have.

"Well, aren't you mouthy. Darlyn, I would like to take one more if that's alright with you, this one who seems to think he's already in." Kendall turned away from Lauri, back to John and Darlyn, "And the quickest way to say it is we're going in quiet, then getting loud."

[member="John Rakugan"] , [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn shrugged, he figured it would be the case. Ah well, it only meant more practice for him dealing with the foreign weapons. He cracked his knuckles a bit and began to walk past the trio, [member="Kendall Ginn"], [member="Lauri Törni"], and [member="John Rakugan"], motioning them to follow. "You're all welcome to join, but bear in mind who's in charge of the Commenori forces we'll be bringing with. Ginn will relay the plan and maintain control over the operation as a whole, but you lot answer to me. Now then, shall we visit the Queen and prepare our transport?"


[member="Stardust Raxis"] | @ Ardgal Raxis | [member="Bradshaw Ku"] | [member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Veiere Arenais"]