Saints

[Jairus Starvald]

Erilnar, Aftermath

The past few months were troubling times for the Centrality as a whole and Erilnar specifically. The Renatasians had always been a problem in the past, but never did anyone ever expect them to go as far as they had. Under new leadership, a cabal of the Renatasian Confederacy infiltrated the world of Erilnar and unleashed a barrage of terrorist attacks to undermine the very fabric of the capital of the Centrality.

It all started in the Underworld. Lord Fa surmised they were attempting to bring down the Centrality from the foundation. First take control over the underworld and once they were deeply entrenched in the inner workings of the world?

The rest would fall in line.

Presumably.

But just as no one expected the Renatasians to unleash their plots on Erilnar, so did few expect that this initiative collapsed within the span of weeks.

Whispers told Lord Fa that the Smuggler Queen of the Confederacy’s cabal disappeared.

Dissipated into smoke from which she came. Would she ever return? Tai Fa did not know, but without her keen leadership the Renatasians were pushed back and their quick dominance stalled. This wasn’t the end, of course, there were still operatives of theirs on the world and much of their manpower went to ground shortly after.

They were planning something.

But what?

It wasn’t a priority, though, for the Thirriken. The Renatasians had been unexpected, but his plans still had to be pushed forward. In fact, perhaps their emergence would help him speed things up a little. Today, Lord Fa was scheduled to meet with a certain Minister of the Centrality’s central government.

This meeting would determine much of what would happen next.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

The Government of the Centrality was headed up by the Scrivinir, but as with most governments the Head was not the only power within the structure. In fact, for many purposes you did not actually want the Scrivinir for your plans.

No, you needed one Minister or the other.

In this instance Lord Fa had need of Xuxi Pillik, an Omwati, who currently served as the Minister of Infrastructure within the government of the Centrality.

Pillik was Fa’s man within the hierarchy and had been ever since his debts were mysteriously cleared. That breeded a certain level of loyalty, when you didn’t have to be scared anymore of having your legs broken like little twigs, just because you owed some money to some nasty characters. And all that Lord Fa wished in return was for legislation and contracts to be passed relatively quickly.

Beneficial legislation and contracts, Xuxi needed to add. Things that actually helped Erilnar to get back on track after a decade of slump and decay.

Today they were due for a meeting to discuss the aftermath of the Renatasian Crisis - swiftly coined by an overzealous media, but there was little Xuxi could really do about that now.

But perhaps Lord Fa could come up with a solution for that as well.

The Thirriken was many things and an active problem solver was most definitely one of them. A polite noble, all in all, it was no surprise that the Omwati had little reason to not like their arrangement. It also included monthly tea sessions with other influential individuals within the Centrality, presided by Fa himself.

Quite comfortable and all above board. Somewhat.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

A sleek shuttle flew through the night sky of Erilnar’s capital city.

Occupancy: one plus the pilot-droid. Xuxi was fidgeting with the sleeves of his elaborate tunic, trying to settle his rising nerves, while also attempting to make his design choice as pretty as it had been in his head at home.

“He’s nobility, you know.” Xuxi mumbled to the droid next to him. The droid did not respond, as it had never been installed with any socializing parameters. The Omwati knew this, of course. But it helped with his nerves, to talk to someone.

“And he picked me out of everyone else. There were more important men and women he could have chosen as his confidante, you know.” He added primly, before nodding to himself.

Clearly Lord Fa spotted grace and competence from a lightyear away.

The rest of the trip was equally uneventful. Xuxi mumbled words to the droid to fill himself with confidence, every once in awhile he’d tug at his sleeves or scarf in a fit of anxiety.

At least until the HUD of the shuttle lit up in response to their approach for Fa’s headquarters on Erilnar.

It wasn’t a fancy building all things considered, but better than the one they used to occupy prior to the Renatasian situation. Lord Fa had requested a building with… better security and it had not taken a lot of effort to get the permits approved.

Duracrete and durasteel with glasteel intermixed.

Perhaps one day Lord Fa would construct a site that would be worthy of his genius, but it was not this day.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Fa Holdings Headquarters
Erilnar

Landing protocols engaged and the shuttle approached the landing pad by itself at this point. It was safer that way with the huge amount of traffic zipping between the buildings of Erilnar’s Capital, humans and cheap droids could make mistakes, but synchronized landing protocols had no room for error within themselves.

“Wait here.” The Omwati curtly said, before climbing out of the shuttle and onto dry land, so to speak.

There was already a delegation waiting on him. A… is that a bear? Xuxi wondered briefly, before stepping up a wide grin and a hand extended for a shake.

The bear, Vnut of Garnib, looked at the hand for a second before inclining his head instead.

“Minister Pillik, welcome.” The voice rumbled and for a moment Xuxi imagined that the ground was shaking in response to that terrible voice. He took his hand back and was immensely happy that it hadn’t been shook, by the size of it he would have been minus one hand otherwise.

“Happy to have you.​

Welcome from us all, Pillik.​

Will you join us then?”​

Only now did the Minister see the, relatively, much smaller form of Tai Fa standing next to the impressive figure of Vnut. He gulped and was about to apologize, but the little Thirriken had already turned around and trundled back into the depths of the headquarters.

Vnut was in tow. Which left the Minister with only one course of action: follow them in with no other regard.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

“As you see, we may have some issues getting this piece of legislation passed, Lord Fa.”

They were discussing the route from which they’d be able to pass Form DX-3924. A lot of technicalities and busy language, but at the end of the day it basically was a fast-track opportunity for Fa Holdings to get certain building permits for the great magrail network spanning the entirety of the planet.

Quite the coup when you were dealing with a government that was literally covered in red tape from every direction you were looking.

“There is a solution.” Vnut brought up with his growly voice, shaking Xuxi from his tea. “We all know what it is.”

The Omwati was silent and simply waited for it to come or maybe for Lord Fa to interject. But he had been noticeably silent throughout the meeting, only making a coo noise here or inclining his beak there. The fluttering of his wing when he got agitated, but that was about it.

“The Renatasian Crisis. We can get the votes for it, if we make a partnership with the Polit-bloc.”

Xuxi just giggled - nervous, high-pitched giggle that died off the moment he realized that Lord Fa was not laughing with him, neither was the ursine chief of security.

“Ravoon has the pull, yes, but he isn’t exactly populair. Getting him elected - and trust me, that is the only way you are gonna get those votes - will not be easy.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

The table shuddered for a brief moment. Vnut looked at it with a questioning eye, before retorting just as briefly.

“Nothing good comes easy, Minister. We will be able to get this done. I am sure of it.”

For a moment the Omwati was just silent. It was a ridiculous plan, of course. Yes, the public was shaken by the terrorist threat, but the amount of capital it would take to mobilize an effort against it- Too much, way too much.

The first word wasn’t out of his mouth, before the entire room was filled with blazing light. Fire. Noise. Before he knew it he fell to the ground with the Thirriken next to him and Vnut pressing both of them down.

“W-what?” Again Xuxi was cut short, this time by the Balinaka’s fist tightening around his shoulder.

“Quiet.”

To say that Vnut was pissed was to make an understatement of grand proportions. Moments passed filled with silence, even the Lord Fa was quiet, even if there was anger in that tiny avian body. His robes were ruined by the smoke and fire. Much anger in both of them, but they kept a tight lid on it until it was all over.

That was discipline.

Finally the Balinaka rose from his crouched position and sneaked a peek out of the window. Outside it was chaos, with people running away in a not-so-orderly fashion.

“Renatasians.”

“How do you know?” Xuxi demanded, while climbing back up to his feet and trying to straighten out his robes. Vnut looked over his shoulder, first to Lord Fa who nodded in agreement, before staring at the Minister.

“They were trying to kill you, Minister, because they know you are the key to the magrail.”

This made Xuxi silent. Very silent. Finally, he straightened himself out and huffed.

“They are done. Tell me what to do and it’s done.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

“I think we have him fully now.” Lord Fa calmly remarked over his plate of berries. The last time he tried meat… was when that brute Charzon got executed by the Silver Jedi Order - quite the dreadful affair, that left him unwilling to leave his bed for some time.

“Ravoon is already willing to lend his support. He has the influence with the military wing.”

Vnut was pacing back and forth in front of the door. After Xuxi left, this time under armed guard provided by Fa, they decided to move their meeting into a more… secured position deep inside the compound.

“I just wonder why he needs our help to get elected.” The Balinaka finally managed to say. “He’s popular enough, knows how to get things done and has loyalty.”

The Thirriken twittered gently in amusement, before shaking his little head.

“You think like a warrior, Vnut, but not as a politician. Ravoon’s a good soldier, but he’s a dreadful politician.”

A shrug of the little shoulders followed. “That is where I come in.”

It took the smoothing of the gears, the claps of shoulders and the sweet, sweet words of those influential to get anywhere in the world of politics and Lord Fa felt right at home there. That was immediately the difference between Maleagant and him.

One made friends with criminals and the other had set up a great spice trading ring this side of the Galaxy.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

“And he always uses those strange Haikus.”

“Yeah, I am not entirely too sure what is up with that.”

“Always so… cheery as well. Did you notice that?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I have ever seen him in a bad mood.”

“Well.” “Well.”

Both of the goons chuckled softly at the memory of Jenkins spilling Lord Fa’s wine right in front of him. That had been the day. The Thirriken hadn’t even raised his voice, didn’t do anything, but just stare at Jenkins for maybe a minute or two, before the lad broke down in sobs. It was amusing now, but back then?

Dreadful.

“Could have been worse.”

“Definitely.”

They had been assigned to this location for a few days now. Renatasian outpost, apparently. The terrorists had gone to ground weeks ago and the longer they took, the farther down they’d sink and make it impossible for anyone to track them down.

So the tracking was starting now.

Difficult, but Roy and Fitz were on the job and they were good at what they did.

It was imperative that they figured out the location of the main leaders involved. If they hit the targets and left even one administration cell alive, they wouldn’t surface again for many years. And that wasn’t time any of them had.

“Kark.”

Fitz looked up from his datapad. “What?”

“I got made. He saw me. We gotta go.”

“Feth. Let’s go.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

“Tai.”

Lord Fa looked up from his poetry. In his free time he enjoyed simply writing, maybe some gardening in between or the practicing of feng shui when the energy was off balance. It was very important to him, because this line of work put a lot of stress into you.

And sometimes you just needed to let off some steam.

“Yes?” The Thirriken asked politely, before putting the poetry to the side, clearly work needed him again.

“I am gonna have to ask you to follow me down to the safe room.”

Now that got a reaction out of him. His head quirked to the side in a questionary stance.

“Why?”

“We got a tip, Renatasians on the move. They are hitting our location in less than thirty minutes.”

Another reaction. If there was one staple in their relationship it was the silent agreement that Vnut would handle all security concerns and Lord Fa would handle the politics.

This meant that he simply stood up, jumped down next to the Balinaka and fell in line, trundling gently next to the big bear as they made their way out of the office and towards safer places.

“Unexpected.”

“Yes.” Vnut agreed softly with him, but didn’t add anything more than that for the moment.

“Welcome surprise regardless. It will strengthen our case.”

“Perhaps. If we survive.”

Lord Fa tittered softly in amusement, but didn’t reply otherwise. There was no point in that.

He knew they were going to survive this.

They had to. He had worked too hard to let some two-bit terrorist organization kark up his plans now.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Rigneldia II

They decided to meet at a warehouse recently purchased by Fa Holdings on the world. It was one of the low-key locations they had and was far away from Erilnar that the Renatasians wouldn’t be an issue. Not here, not with how much they were tied up there.

Ravoon was eager to meet after the terrorist attack on the Fa Holdings HQ on Erilnar.

Public perception had taken a noticeable swing after. Two attacks within one week. One an assassination on a Minister who didn’t have much of a reputation; not popular, but neither unpopular. Just on that rough divide of obscurity.

Fa was a different story. He had been pouring much money into restoring the infrastructure of Erilnar, his humanitarian causes made him a public darling for the regular people.

Attacking him directly after Xuxi was gone?

That only hardened public opinion against the Renatasians. But something told Vnut that they didn’t care, not anymore. They didn’t have the strong leadership that strategized much about those kind of issues.

“Mister Ravoon. Thank you for meeting me.”

“Of course.” The Erilnar-born human responded after settling himself on one of the crates. Military and decorated, but he didn’t care much about propriety apparently. “Lord Fa is well, I hope?”

“Quite. Your intel helped us immensely, thank you.”

The humanoid waved his hand.

“Think nothing of it. Without Lord Fa… where would all of us be, no?”

They talked. And talked.

In the end an agreement was made, monetary and symbolic support would pour one way, and if all went well? Men would flow in from the other direction to sweep the streets of the ugly terrorist threat.

They’d all win.

But especially Ravoon during his campaign. With him at the head of the Law Enforcement… things would be much easier in the future.

Plots within plots within plots.

It tired Vnut, but Lord Fa had vision and there was a debt between the two of them.

All the Balinaka could do was continue to move.

Hope that the tides of progress wouldn’t crush him in the meantime.