Sharing Secrets (The Kathol Outback)

[Raachwaroo]

A groan of protest came off but ended halfway through. Bryce was here and he was so calm, and after they touched he could understand him better than usual. It felt supernatural, something that he hadn't expected. He was so calm in this situation, a jedi on the bring of volatility but still retaining his humanity. Though his words confused him,



"He is sick, buddy, let him be..." How was he sick? What had happened? Why was that even a point here, Raachwaroo wanted to know about Bryce not Nate. Though as he thought about it, this only proved that Nate was most definitely a part of this all. Assumption yes but it was right in the end.

"I'm fine my friend, different but learning. We been apart, I have changed,I'm still BB. Let me handle this."


Different... what a scary word. He'd never really thought about it but that term was terrifying. How could Bryce be different but still be the same? What was going on... so many questions muddled his mind as he ran his hands through the hair on his head and pulled lightly. It hurt, this whole scene hurt. Bryce was acting so calm when Raachwaroo knew something was stirring, was Nate the source? No he couldn't be, Bryce was helping him. He just wanted to save his friend, but he was too ignorant to the situation to know how.

Surely someone had these answers... someone had to have. "We'll talk." Was that to him as well? Probably not... walking past the two he continued to make his way towards his ship. Turning around before he was out of reach he went to speak once again.

"I miss you Bryce. I'm just confused..." He grumbled in Shyriiwook sadly, "I left for a few days and so much happened. I don't want to leave again." Finishing his group of growls and grunts the Wookie decided to stay for a moment longer. Maybe this link was still established and he could understand him too.

[member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"]

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Jedi were crazy.

Corellian Jedi didn't like to talk about Jedi in public, because Non-Forcers might be listening, but as the man in front of him began grandstanding and monologue-ing about everything from strategy to good manners... Sor-Jan had to wonder if the secret wasn't out.

The part about his age was cute.

And, the bit about needing an adult to keep him in line? A bemused smile crept across the youngling's face like that of the Cheshire Cat. "Well," the boy offered finally, when the man had finished. "It sounds as though you have relations with the Aing-Tii well in hand."

And that was really all he intended to say on the matter.

Which, seemed just as well. A gentleman -- and by 'gentleman' he meant one scuffy-looking nerf herder -- was obviously trying to get the attention of [member="Glavo Pahro"] and Sor-Jan was happy to end the conversation. At least for now. He was rather intrigued by the name drop however.

...and would rather look forward to the look on the man's face should he ever realize that the kid who needed an adult to keep him line was also the one who'd instructed [member="Jorus Merrill"] in the ways of the lightsaber and the fifth form of combat.

Besides, the distraction helped to provide some cover for the boy watching as the young man who'd spoken about the infection earlier departing out into the hall. A passageway in which the boy sensed a number of strong emotions. This group was obviously quite conflicted about some things. And he need not add to that by provoking the crazy Corellian Aing-Tii man any more than he already had. "It seems your attention is requested," the boy noted to the man in front of him, with a nod toward [member="Noah Bright"].

Sliding out of his chair, the diminutive Jedi boy made his way toward where [member="Judah Dashiell"] seemed to be enjoying much more reasoned conversation with the conscientious doctor and a red-haired lass. Looking at the man he didn't know, other than he was concerned with the state of medical affairs, the boy said, "I imagine that your station could benefit from stable subspace feeds. Maybe long-range communications." Medical aid stations would need to operate ambulances. Ambulances, in turn, would need to communicate with the station. And the longer the range, the further out calls for help could be heard.

"I've got some parts and equipment aboard my ship. I could put together some subspace relay stations. It wouldn't be much, at least not at first, but it might be a start."

[member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Elpsis Kallikora"]​

 

[Bryce Bantam]

BB turned back when he heard Raachwaroo reply. He had been away too long from his furry friend. Though his words were lost the meaning was not. He knew that they had been drifting apart a bit. It was only natural. Hopefully, though with things beginning to take shape they could once again team up a bit, rekindle some of the fun they had and such.

BB forced out another labored smile and motioned for his buddy to follow him back to the meeting.

"Come on ya furry lug, they are waiting for us inside."

[member="Raachwaroo"] [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Turning to [member="Noah Bright"], he eyed the man. He wasn't Force Sensitive, not that he could tell. There were ways to hide it though. But according to the Monks, that didn't by definition matter really. They did things differently, that much was for sure. Still, the man was deserving of his respectful response, whether his was mocking or legitimate or not.

"Well... Tell me... What do you wish to accomplish with such? I can put you in contact, but I would like to know your motivations, my friend."

Slowly, he began to think... Hyperlanes were hard to make, but he could make small ones... Buoy like floaters that used renewable S-Thread boosters to shut them on and off to help clear out the tangle a little more between A & B... It might just work. But the first part was seeing what this old man was after.

 

[Noah Bright]

Noah shrugged,

"I'm a researcher from the Denon Academy of Science. We specialize in the observation and recording of Force cultures and talents. Once upon a time we aimed to have a library that could rival the Imperial Archives of yore. As such, if there is some new type of magic to be had in this part of the universe? The DAS would gleefully have it studied and recorded. For science and posterity. Of course."

He didn't smile but he did talk with his hands. Noah was loud and commanding in his deep voice but he was far from the enthusiastic type. Sometimes the old Admiral in him started to show through. He was used to hearing himself talk,

"Of course. Of course. ...You know better than I do just how much information these Monks would be comfortable sharing with galactic society. So, perhaps we could work together to see their ruffled feather's straightened back out? Once again. I'd be happy to assist. If only for the chance to learn something new."

...

In truth. The whole thing was a dasterdly lie. Noah didn't work for Denon and he sure as heck wasn't a researcher. He was a freelancer for coin during the day and a spy for the SSC during the night. A man with a wealth of experience working in the shadows. Especially around Force Users.

[member="Glavo Pahro"] would probably be able to sense the absolute gray and boring experience that was Noah Bright in the Force. And, Noah, like any good professional lair worth their salt? The Force could only betray so much of his real intentions. Even to Glavo. So alas, Pahro might sense that Noah was just as honest and truthful as any common Senator or politician. A tangled mismatch of wild personal intentions and strange duties. Like the smell of a complex perfume that is so often used to hide a bad smoking habit. Suspect? Sure. Guilty as charged? Well. Maybe not. Ha. Erm. In plain truth? It was just hard to get a bead on the guy. Magical intuition and all.

Bright shrugged again and awaited his reply. This wasn't his first rodeo.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Elpsis Kallikora"]


"No, she needs to stop poking her limbs where they don't belong."


He couldn't help but chuckle at the mention of Lady Kerrigan needing a better medic. Perhaps she did. Judah was fairly certain the redheaded woman kept one on personal retainer,just in case a limb needed to be reattached or a false one fashioned. No doubt it was some busty female doctor that made terrible innuendo during the entire treatment.


"I feel sorry for the stray." Judah slowly shook his head."They are like baby nerfs going off to slaughter. So innocent and unknowing."


With the boy from Corellian Digital arriving, their conversation came to a stop as the communication relays were explained. Internal communications? Perhaps he should speak the boy himself. Private communication lines would be useful, especially when the HoloNet went out in war ravaged areas. Or during salvage. Or on his remote planet set ups. He made a mental note to contact the company later.


"I would take Mr.Xantha up on his offer if I were you Matt. I doubt infrastructure will be a top priority in this region. Might as well set up your own."

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Matthew Robinson"], [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"]


Unfortunately for Siobhan, her personal surgeon was immune to her charms. Doctor Osway was a very beautiful Twi'lek, but also very stern and, what a surprise, straight. This made the Countess rather sulky sometimes!


And it seemed they'd gotten company, since the medic and the 'kid' had joined them! Elpsis chuckled slightly. "Firemane's got a hospital wing named after her. She's in it that often." This was the one aspect of her personality cult that the vain Siobhan did not appreciate! The aforementioned little boy began speaking about communications relay. Presumably there was a lot more to him than met the eye. He felt like a Forcer to Elpsis. A powerful one, despite his apparent youth.


Speak of the Countess and she shall appear. Well, not in the flesh, but Elpsis' datapad suddenly beeped. Fortunately, she'd turned the volume down on very low. It was always annoying when a meeting was interrupted because someone's cell phone was ringing. Looking a bit sheepish, she fished it out of her jacket pocket. Oh, crap, she thought when she looked at the screen and read who'd sent the message.


From: Siobhan Kerrigan
Subject: Naughty girl!

Elpsis, did you take my leather jacket? Next time you want one of my things, ask first. I bought you a couple clothes not so long ago. Where are you anyway? Does your mother know you're off-world?

Love, Siobhan.


Geez, it's not like you don't have a bunch of leather jackets that look exactly the same. 'sides, it ain't like I took the Lotek'k one. That would have made Siobhan mad. No one touched her Kerrigan Coat! Oh, I thought you said I could have that one...sorry. At Outback meeting. Spoiler: It's not in the outback! Mum knows. Folks have their knickers in a twist about Ayng-Tea. Chilling with Mr. Dashiell. He's kinda fun. Battery is low. Can't talk more. Love you too. Say hi to Tempest from me. She sent the message and quickly turned the datapad off!

 

[Bryce Bantam]

When BB returned to the meeting he was in a vastly different state. The rage he had taken on from Nate was still within him but BB had it suppressed for now. Taking time to observe the surrounds again he saw the conversation had broken into two groups. While Glavo and a new member were talking about Aing Tii relations BB began to hear the other group talking about forming some type of medical organization. As he sat down next to them he listened furthers as they discuss supplies, manpower, and even communications. It all seemed quite logical in fact. Deciding to interject himself into the conversation BB said...

"Mr. Dashiell, I never got a chance to thank you for the relief supplies you provided to the people of Demonsgate during the liberation. Though they are now almost gone, I believe the death toll would have been much higher without them and the people there owe you a great debt."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Bryce Bantam"] [member="Glavo Pahro"] [member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Noah Bright"] [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] [member="Elpsis Kallikora"] [member="Matthew Robinson"] [member="Raachwaroo"] [member="Alec Rekali"] [member="Kira Vaal"] [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] [member="Elaine Thul"] [member="CC-420 Doc"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"] [member="Eliza Steele"] [member="Ria Misrani"]

The meeting had evolved into a number of largely separate discussions, some more productive than others. Lot of strong feelings, strong opinions, and competing priorities in the room. It didn't help that all of those priorities were legitimate.

Down by the circular room's holoprojector, Jorus caught Alec Rekali's eye. She shrugged and went back to chewing on her cigarra. She had her uses, that one, but running a meeting absolutely wasn't her forte. Jorus slapped his knees and stood.

"All right, folks, let's bring it back in for a second. So the main goal of this meeting was to get us all on the same page, get a feel for what each other's challenges and priorities are, and in that I'd say we're getting somewhere. Far as I'm hearing, from this meeting and my sources and all, our challenges boil down to the following.

"People in the Outback have the same debates as you just had, and that's an issue for trust, or can be. My take is, we leave the cosmic unknowns and space monks out of the public message unless people start genuinely worrying for some reason. The Aing-Tii, far as I'm aware, won't reach out and touch people unless they're slavers. Any slavers here? No? Good. So we can put that to bed.

"These Qektoth alchemy monsters are a bit more of a problem. We've lost a couple good ships to things that might have been them. Since they just pop up wherever for now, though, what matters is that we keep our flexibility. We need to be able to offer support -- whether that's guns, evac, medical -- as fast as possible. That means comm networks and fast lanes. I think I heard a couple people talking about that in the back -- hey, Jude -- and they're on the right track. Now, when Captain Rekali came out here, she put out a ton of Underground comm relays between Demonsgate and Kal'Shebbol. But it's old tech and we're already pushing it to its limits. Anyone who wants to talk comms infrastructure, I'm thinking [member="Judah Dashiell"]'s the man to see. That fether knows his stuff. Oh, hey, Sor-Jan, didn't see you. Folks, the kid over there is a few centuries old; he was one of my teachers. Just for the record.

"Far as shortcuts go, a bunch of people are working on that, and there's still some Rekali S-thread boosters around to make temporary paths. I doubt we're ever going to be able to go from Demonsgate to Kal'Shebbol in a couple of weeks, but we can sure as feth figure out ways to trim it down from five months. Part of that is figuring out a counter to the hallucinations and nastiness in the Kathol Rift right next door, the hyperspace mess that surrounds Demonsgate and Yvara and some others. We get some kind of...mental insulation, we ought to be able to shave a few weeks off our best time. Like I said, there'll never be a perfect solution, but it's a problem we gotta halfway solve if we're going to provide effective support to the planets of the Outback. So if anyone has anything specific they wanna add about that, speak up.

"And just remember, all of this -- every bit of it -- centers around providing effective, responsive support to the folks out here. Getting food out from Karideph, medical supplies and expertise from Uukaablis -- doing it in safe convoys -- figuring out local ports and allies for recruitment -- strengthening local relationships. That's where our focus has to be. How can we do that better?"

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Everyone stopped cold in their collective tracks when Jorus stood up. That was the type of respect he commanded. As he spoke the room was silent his stern tone cutting through and room like a lightsaber though butter. When he was done BB sheepishly spoke up.

"If we are looking for a public face and a way to win over the people how about a, well sorta search and rescue organization. With what we have done in the past it would make sense and the reputation we earned from our work on Demonsgate would give us enough "street cred" to make it seem legit. For the most part it would be, our goals a line with that. It would give us an excuse to build guard stations, hospitals, supply depots, and communications, basically all the stuff we would need to operate out here. We could also continue to grow a "fleet" of sorts, ya know, give us a reason to have that big ol lucrehulk around. Kark we can paint it white put red crosses on it and call it a mobile hospital. We would basically have shadow ports hiding in plain site, and a public front to populas to rally around and the freedom we need to make a difference."

[member="Elpsis Kallikora"] | [member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Matthew Robinson"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Noah Bright"] | [member="Glavo Pahro"] | [member="Raachwaroo"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] | [member="Rekha Kaarde"] | [member="Eliza Steele"] | [member="Kira Vaal"]

 

[Matthew Robinson]

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"][member="Bryce Bantam"][member="Judah Dashiell"][member="Elpsis Kallikora"][member="Jorus Merrill"]

Dark-brows rose in a silent response to the red-head's explanation of an aunt with a hospital wing named after her. The medic didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. Yup, the mystery woman scared the feth out of him.

He sat up a bit straighter when their side-bar-group began to grow. A nod went to the kid. A handshake went to Bryce. He hadn't met his fellow doctor but had heard and read all kinds of reports about THE Bryce. Mouth opened in a hurried whisper as their head boss stood up with knee slapping.

Yeah, knee slapping.

"I'm game, mates. Good ideas that we should implement."

Jorus spoke. Then Bryce.

"I'd like to volunteer myself to help you with that project, Bryce." Dark-haired head turned to Jorus. "As for the challenges associated with the Kathol rift and hallucinations, have we thought about using a temporary stasis system? A deep enough sleep would cut off even the worst visions or nightmares."

Of course, there were risks involved. But Matt was very adept at asking questions.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

It seemed the meeting sub-group up top where he had sat gained quite a bit of attention.First [member="Elpsis Kallikora"] then [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] had joined them, now their little club had a new member, [member="Bryce Bantam"] . [member="Matthew Robinson"] seemed like a giddy schoolkid at the sight of the newcomer. Perhaps he was someone important in the Outback? Probably, given the large amount of speaking he had done at the meeting itself.


Naturally things had gone quiet when [member="Jorus Merrill"] spoke up and gave his thoughts. At the mention of his name Judah offered a small wave to his old friend as he called out the "kid" next. There wasn't much he had to say, although it seemed Matt and Bryce would have liked to continue speaking about the potential for supplies and the like. They would have to do it on their own time, there were much broader sweeping ideas that needed to be handled in the larger forum.


"Anyone interested in humanitarian help, medical aid and the idea by Mr.Bantam should sit in on a holoconference at a later date. We're all a bit busy and it will be the easiest way to pin everyone down at once without stopping important work."

 

[Ria Misrani]

Ria had been in the corner, popping bits of flat biscuits and tonitran jerky into her mouth watching everyone go back and forth like a game of Huttball. Only, no ball and no tackling. As much as she was grateful to Bryce and his friend Raachwaroo for busting her tail out of Nar Shaddaa, she knew that Nar Shaddaa wasn't done with her. Not from her run in with Solikno and if it hadn't been for Runi Verin having been with her when she did face him. She's not entirely sure if she'd be here right now even watching this entire meeting unfold.

Everyone had an opinion on this or that, and suddenly they were talking about Space Monks that apparently weren't Jedis. Or were? Well whatever the poodoo they were, it wasn't anything to Ria. She sighed looking into her bag, she'd run out of everything but a few blue cheese sticks and she'd been saving those for later. Grabbing a bottle of coffeine from her satchel she popped it open and chugged most of it down in one go. She was looking down into the can when General Merrill appeared, his voice snapped her attention and like everyone else in the room - she didn't dare budge.

While the Outback or the Underground, whatever the kark they were callin' themselves these days were largely unorganized... Everyone, everyone listened to the General. He mentioned something about communications and setting up centers so that they could get out some rapid response teams, and then he asked for volunteers. Matthew seemed more like Bryce's type of people and Ria? Ria felt more obliged to help with communications, wires, computers - they were her thing. So quietly, she jumped down from the corner of the room. She swore half the folks in that room just about jumped out of their skin because they hadn't quite noticed her - as usual.

"General Merrill, sir." Her voice was firm, she didn't waver no matter who he was. The man asked for volunteers. "If it helps, I can run with Captain Rekali or anyone who's willing to go back through and lay down new lines." You see, in the spare time she had between running around wherever it was that Bryce had them and not-repairing EM-4. Ria had been studying a lot of the old Black Rose technology - codes anyway. "I, I think we can actually reuse some of the old Black Rose tech, erm codes anyway."

She didn't feel the need to blabber on about something she didn't think some of these guys understood, which was the impressive stance of the coding so. "Long story short, they've got a few rotting comms centers that we haven't really hit yet." She dug around her satchel and pulled out her holorecorder and stuck in a data card. "See, here, here and here." Ria had pointed to a few places that had already been mentioned through conversation and once again by Merrill, places like Yvara, Kal'Shebbol, Pembric, Uukaablis, Skor and Askaj. "There's no way I can hit all these places in quick enough."

Taking a deep breath, she exhales. "But, you see Kesh? You see this place?" It didn't seem important to the naked eye. "I need in there, and from there I can rewrite code, but I'm, I'm just one little slicer in the Outback." She was going to need to be part of a team of slicers. "Also I don't think anyone's just gonna open the door for us to get into this place either, but once we're in and once we're coding." She shuffles through her satchel having placed the holorecorder back in she brings out her datacard. "With this base code, which will do three things, download Black Rose's old profiles and schematics, yada, yada, yada, secondly it will start adding our code to the system. Lastly, it will begin to write and encrypt ours..." So that was four things, Ria learn to count. "Okay so that was four things."

"Point is, once we're there we can use all of these old communication centers, we'll have access to anything else that Black Rose might've left behind." Noticing that now there were a lot of people looking at her. "Or, or you know whatever you guys have in mind you know, we could do whatever. It's uh, it's an idea it's not a... fix-all button but. It'd buy us time until we have our own infrastructure in place." Clearing her throat Ria slowly backed up to try and find her way back into her little darkened corner. Even if they had to repair old Black Rose stuff, it'd be a lot easier than trying to play smoke signal in the Outback.

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Alec Rekali"], [member="Bryce Bantam"], [member="Raachwaroo"]

 

[Noah Bright]

After Merrill was done speaking, Noah didn't wait for a reply from Glavo about the monks. It appeared that was case-closed. Some other Forcer would probably handle it in due time. Until then? Looks like infrastructure was the mission of the day. Not really a spies specialist. Noah didn't fancy himself a engineer nor a com-man. He was a con-man. And as such, played his cards very differently.

With the other's distracted by Ria's comments, Noah slipped out of the room. Glavo could call him. Or, ya know. Whateverz. He'd be around. But he sure as heck wasn't getting put on a volunteer's-welcome, happy-happy work-crew-of-charity-and-love. Thingy. ...Ugh. Nope.

Playa's gotta play.

*exit

 

[Tarok Vassket]

Tilzi was seated near the edge of the group. She had remained fairly silent throughout. Partly this was because she had no idea what Jorus had been explaining. S-threads and comm relays were a good site beyond her education. Secondly, she simply had no constructive ideas to add to the discussion. That was a trait that she had found belonged to the males of the galaxy: speaking one's mind even when there was nothing useful to add. That was a notion she would keep to herself. The Galaxy at large was more male than female dominated in her limited experience, but the segregation was still not as extreme as Dathomir or Aaris.

Tilzi wasn't dressed in a manner that screamed Nightsister. The tattoos and a few wooden trinkets dangling next to her leather-wrapped lightsaber were all. Neither did her attire suggest Tetan nobility, the game she had been playing for the last few years. Instead she wore a simple Brown leather jacket over a white blouse and simple cargo pants with plenty of pockets. It seemed to match the general fashion, which was apparently described as plain 'spacer'.

Xenomorphs were the reason for her attendance. Though she supposed she was one of those communities this Underground was trying to gain the support of. Her people, however, tended to only take a passing interest in outside affairs. If these Sithspawn were being spread across the region it was only a matter of time before someone looked to her home. The isolated clans wouldn't fare well against a large scale attack. She imagined one clan could simply vanish and it would be days or weeks before another noticed.

Finding the conversation tedious - mostly as it went over her head - she cast her eyes around the room. She really did need to get out of the habit of appraising males and deciding which she would steal were this a raid. Lots of people who knew how to fight, she decided. They were talkers and attackers, not listeners and hunters. But perhaps this new creature wasn't a prey to be hunted, but eradicated by force. The only question she had was what information they had extracted for any captured mercenaries. Tilzi was still young and well out of her comfort zone here, so for now she continued to observe