Dominion Show of Unlimited Power- Elysium Dominion of Gaulus Hex

[Martin Dux]

Martin sat on the bench, sinking into his robe. He was admittedly sad that the Wookie had not responded to him, no matter, he'd live. He looked up to the sun, letting its hot rays beam down on him like a shower. Altogether, this day didn't seem all too interesting.

He shook his head, chuckling. He was certainly not the first here to say that to themselves. This place was so confusing, with people competing to look as unphased as much as possible. He wasn't unphased, this place was genuinely impressive. He was... proud of Rex Valhoun , although he didn't think he had the authority to say that. The young heir he met only months ago had turned out to be a rather capable leader.

Of course, Martin had all the doubts in the universe about him, the moment they met, Martin was half inclined to leave. He couldn't do that now, he'd committed himself to the empire.

He folded his arms over one another, bringing a comlink up to his mouth.

"I suppose you should get them ready." He whispered into it.

The static crackle of the blonde woman's voice came through on the other end. "Very well, should we make a show of it?"

"No, just let them stand there, stoically."

"As you wish." Vidcoy's voice faded from the comlink.

A moment passed then, coming on a small transport, the knights arrived. Stepping off, a few people were noticeably shaken, confused. A good portion of the crowd turned to the cloaked figures. This was their debut, and it was sure to be a surprising one. With a groan, Martin rose from his bench and started towards them.

Then, like it had happened so many times before, he felt it. The calling. It was... barely noticeable like it was trying to hide, but it was there. Looking across the way, Martin found his eyes on a pale-haired girl. The force echoed from her, it was strange. She was trained, that much he felt. he shook his eyes from the girl, his little demonstration was in order.

The crowd looked even more confused when the old, robed man stepped next to the rather solitary figures. They looked at him, out of their blackened masks.

"Master," whispered, getting Martin's attention, "would you like us to make our way to the king?"

"Not yet," Martin said, hastily, "it's time we formally introduced you to the Elysium's people."

Martin cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Martin Dux. And these..." he patted one of the knights on the shoulder, "Are your knights."

Now, where to begin?

Grand Shepherd Burtch | Viken Dobson | Aculia Voland

 

[Dorthea Dobson]

The overpressure from the sonic blast shook the building and Dorthea nearly dropped her two coffees. It irritated her that she had been startled, but she was also a little embarrassed. Being a navy officer on the HMS Shii-Cho, she should be used to explosions and shaking structures. But being planetside was always off-putting for her and she still had her "space legs".

She decided it was best if she sat down. Looking around, she didn't see much for seating. In front of a food stall, ther were a couple tables, both of which had people at them. One had a couple of trandoshans sitting there, and the other had a woman sitting there. Something about the way the woman was sitting still there set off an alarm in Dorthea's head and she had to wonder. Was the young woman listening to someone talk?

Dothea considered that she might be listening to the trandoshans, but they looked like a mated pair and didn't seem all that interesting. But nearby the foot stall was the Mandal-Elysium Arms booth… where her brother was talking to someone. Ah.

Dorthea wasn't about to just sit there and let someone peep in on her brother, Viken Dobson , so she decided to do what a good sister would do. With her two cups of hot coffee, she strode over to the table where Aculia Voland was sitting and she set one of the cups down in front of the woman. Warmly, Dorthea asked, "so do you wanna just listen to them talk, or would you like to be properly introduced?" She was suspicious of the woman, but she figured she should give the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this young woman just needed Dorthea's help?

 

[Aculia Voland]

Aculia was happily chewing on one of her fried nuna legs, which to be honest were surprisingly good, when she felt the shift in currents the Force and stiffened slightly, likely due to her already extending her own senses and being more aware than usual. She sensed the arrival of some kind of clearly trained Force users, and ever so slightly turned her head as the transport came and the arrivals stepped out. Clad in black marine armor, wearing menacing cloaks, and wielding lightsabers, and being of seemingly competent, but not exceptional, ability, she pegged them as guards of the young King, almost instantly. They seemed par on the course for people of his rank these days.

Not particularly people to get out of bed for, seems to be the standard for nobility these days, where is his real bodyguard? He has to have one, surely.

Then, she felt him through her senses, and, to her surprise, moments later he seemed to have the same reaction to her. A grumpy-looking, scruffy, dour older man rising from his bench, and looking rather obviously at her. She sighed, turning her head away as he looked at her, and pouted with frustration as she finished off the piece of fried nuna.

Tch. How did he notice me so quickly? I wasn’t really broadcasting myself, was I? Infiltration is not my specialty, but if I’m able to be picked out that easily just extending my senses, it’s something I need to work on.

She did not bother to turn around and look at the entourage, again though she sensed him going to the Imperial Knights or whatever variation of them Elysium called them, and thanks to her enhanced hearing, overheard the word “Master” spoken.

Ah, so that’s the king’s bloodhound. A little old and ragged, but he seems competent enough, at least for this event. I feel like I may have felt his presence somewhere before? Maybe that pirate asteroid base disaster? But we didn’t meet, then. Seems Valhoun collects all sorts, or has his men do so, anyway.

Valhoun. She was still uncertain about the young King. She had not met him directly, and had only recently arrived in the Empire on the fringes of the galaxy. It seemed orderly and peaceful enough, if a bit rough around the edges, but whether or not the man was worth fighting or dying for independent of a large paycheck, and whether or not this place might be called “home”, that remained to be seen. There were plenty of kings who espoused noble ideas at the start of their reign, then backtracked on that when they became too costly or inconvenient to keep, and more than a few groups vying for galactic power who held similar ideas on personal freedom. Did he have the strength, intelligence, and conviction to bring order to the Outer Rim and defend what was his and not slide into corruption? She would have to see.

She was musing on such topics when, to her surprise, a middle-aged woman suddenly came over with two cups of coffee and sat down right next to her, addressing her directly. It took a bit of self-control not to act startled, as she was focused more on the old man and the people at the booth than those around her, especially, if she was feeling her right, she was not even attuned to the Force.

What in the hell…I really am being obvious, aren’t I? She thought, as the woman spoke to her directly.

She pursed her lips, then sat back in her chair and looked up at the woman, who looked somewhat similar to the terrible salesman at the vendor she was listening to. A possible family relation? She gave the woman a slight, exasperated smile as she raised her hands up in defeat, before bringing them back down again.

“Oh, I was truly that obvious, was I?” she lamented jokingly, taking one of the cups of coffee as she did so, since it was obviously an offer. “People watching is one of my favorite hobbies, and I’m in the market for a new ship, so I decided to take a look at a few vendors. That fellow over there…” she cocked her head towards the other Dobson. “...has quite a unique approach to making sales, if I may say so.”

Reaching down onto her plate, she offered one of the delicious nuna legs to woman in exchange for the coffee. “These are really quite good, if you’d like to try one.”

Martin Dux Dorthea Dobson Viken Dobson Rex Valhoun

 

[Rex Valhoun]

Post: 5
Tags: Haon Hafey Viken Dobson Grand Shepherd Burtch Aculia Voland Martin Dux Cruk Tuk

The explosion was a thing to see. Haon was certainly sparing no expenses in his demonstrations today. On the other hand, Viken Dobson had simply set up a stand like a child selling lemonade would. He couldn't blame the man, MandalArms had taken a serious blow lately, with all of its' facilities having been destroyed by an unknown foe.

"No, not at all. I just thought I'd come formally meet you while our allies continue the demonstration." He motioned toward the knights, "I also want to thank you for all your work here in The Empire. Your contributions have been vital to our prosperity."

He couldn't stay long. He still needed to show off The Stormtroopers, and then, The bombardment...of course there was a lot of technology that wasn't being shared today. Perhaps The Empire could host another event in a few months. A more expensive demonstration, with even more important people present. Perhaps he could host it in Mandalorian territory, a show of strength to secure a valuable ally's respect...​

 

[Viken Dobson]

Objective: 2

Viken once again bowed his head a little as Rex Valhoun answered him. But it was full of compliments. More often than not, such sugary-coated words meant that he needed something. Or at least that was how he was brought up. But then again Rex appeared to be quite genuine in his demeanor. It reminded him of Loreena.

"I've only been doing my job, Your Grace. Anyone else would do the same." He folded his arms across his chest, watching the missle strike that Haon Hafey 's company fired. It was hard to not notice the explosion. And it reminded him of...

Viken shook his head. He was lucky to have escaped the attack on the MandalArms facility with his life. The bacta patches concealed from view were doing their job at mending him.

"An Empire thrives on good leadership. May yours do the same."

The wookie Arthakk was still on his way it seemed. Viken hoped he'd get to his booth sooner, for it appeared that Dorthea Dobson had the desire to do so, and he really didn't need his older sister to come over and tell him what he was doing wrong. Hopefully the weird-looking woman Aculia Voland would distract her enough.

Martin Dux Cruk Tuk

 

[Grand Shepherd Burtch]

I can't take it anymore…

Burtch was beginning to grit his teeth from how much Captain Treyfa was annoying him. She was alternating between tapping her feet, her fingers, and clicking her pen in a persistent rotation that made Burtch want to strangle her. Three times now, he had cleared his throat to get her to stop, and she had stopped, but the habit always krept back.

Burtch watched the holodisplay of the mock battle and sighed. The crowd had probably seen enough. Let's get this over with…

"Alright, Captain" Burtch muttered, "go ahead. Show off the guns…"

She suddenly stood from her chair so fast that it flew away from her and struck Laxxy as he was waddling by with a tray of coffee mugs. Without hesitation, she began speaking as though she had been rehearsing this moment in her head for the past few hours, "alright, boys and girls! Let's show them what these guns are capable of! Let's start with precision and awe! Have one of the Saberdroid fighters break off and synchronize it's flight computer with our fire control. Have it circle the expo at a safe distance while we repaint it black." She grinned from ear-to-ear. She had been waiting for this.

Burtch keyed the holodisplay to show the area surrounding the expo. The little demo fleet was leaving except for one small fighter that start circling the building and the people watching. It kept a safe distance but was going at max atmospheric speed.

Treyfa started calling out targeting data, battery assignments, and firing solutions. Each tubolazer was to fire independently in sequence to maximize volume of fire. Feedback came from the guns' crews and everything was confirmed. Burtch could feel Treyfa's nerves cool from where he was standing now. This was it… finally!

"All turbolazers, fire in sequence on my mark! OPEN FIRE!"

Burtch watched the holodisplay as the steady stream of turbolazers blazed into the atmosphere from orbit. One-by-one, in rapid succession, each bolt barely grazed the fast moving fighter. Each green dart flared a bright amber colour as the edge of the bolt just ever so slightly grazed the edges of the little droid Starfighter. The fighter itself was undamaged as it circled the exhibition at top speed in atmosphere. The green shots continued past the blackening little ship and smashed into the planet's crust below, forming small mushroom clouds in the wake of the tiny craft.

Even Burtch was impressed. Even though the fighter and the fire control were sharing data to make this possible, the fact that the Shii-Cho's fire control could account for wind changes, gravimetrics, radiation, and other factors with such precision, absolutely blew his mind. One small mistake in the calculation, or a fluctuation in the ships stabilizers, and a shot could either miss or obliterate the tiny fighter. But not one shot missed, and the fighter was showing no systems failures on the data feed. It would however, need a new paint job. That was it.

Burtch couldn't help himself. He caught Treyfa's eye, and when she looked back at him, he nodded approvingly.

Rex Valhoun Viken Dobson Aculia Voland Dr. Veinstein Cruk Tuk Martin Dux Arthakk
Haon Hafey

 

[Arthakk]

Arthakk continued to walk towards the booth he was told of, as when he was finally near it, he saw the king Rex Valhoun at the booth he's heading for. Arthakk stop for a bit as he asked his droid Tach with a soft growl, "Arrgghhhh.......Rgghhhh....", as his droid the replied, "Of course you can still go there Master Arthakk, you can also get a chance to meet the King and look through the wares at the booth, killing two birds with one stone I might say". Arthakk began thinking and considering what Tach said, before he finally decided to go there regardless.

Once Arthakk was at the booth, he greeted the King with a bow, as he doesn't really know much of the etiquette here and just presumed on would do so in front of him. "Grrrggg,....Arggghhhh....." Arthakk growled as he began introducing himself to everyone at the booth including Viken Dobson , as his droid then began translating, "Greetings King Of The Elysium Empire. The Esteemed & Great King Rex Valhoun, My Master Arthakk offer his sincere greeting, as it is quite an honor to be able meet your grace".

"Arggghhhh......Hrgghhhhh.....Grrrhhhhhh......" Arthakk growled as by then he had already stood up straight after bowing, as his droid the translated, "Master Arthakk did not expect to see your grace here as Master Arthakk came by to the booth of Mandal-Elysium Arms, to look at some hardware to improve his combat prowess at the field and perhaps find a new translator droid....TRANSLATOR DROID?!", Arthakk droid Tach ended his sentence with quite a shock, Tach wanted to say something and protest about it but didn't as The King was in front of them and he didn't want to cause trouble for his Master.

"Ehem, Yes, Master Arthakk is very honored to be invited here as a guest even though Master Arthakk came here to complete his contract", Tach composed himself and continued to translate his Master words, as he will have time to complain later on. Arthakk has a small grin when his droid panic, he was a bit happy that Tach became perplexed and he knows he'll get an earful.​

 

[Dorthea Dobson]

Dorthea tried hard not to cringe at the sight of the greasy food item that was offered to her, but she accepted out of diplomatic decency. She actually wanted to try it, but she had worked so hard to lose as much weight as she did in the past couple years and didn't want to get into bad habits again. But one small nuna leg couldn't hurt. Could it?

"Thanks!" She said with a smile and bit into the morsel… and her eyes closed with eternal bliss…

The delicious meat blasted her taste buds with sweet fat and juicy frying grease. She chewed the bite slowly and savoured every surge of flavour as her teeth coaxed more and more flavour over her long deprived tongue. The experience was amplified by the years of intense physical training and dieting that she had put her body through and the experience was just too much for her hungry mind to handle.

Finally, she swallowed the bite and opened her eyes. She could see the younger woman watching her and Dorthea's face turned bright red. She coughed nervously and decided to continue speaking, "ah… yes… Thank you for that. It's quite nice." She looked to her brother to bring her mind back to the task at hand, "um, yes, my brother Viken is not well suited to social settings as me and my other siblings are. But in his case, I guess that's a good thing." Dorthea quickly stopped going down that conversational path as it wasn't appropriate to elaborate on the corruptions of her estranged family at this time, "He does know his tech. However, if you're here for Mandal-Elysium Arms products, maybe I can help you? I am on the company's payroll. What kind of ship are you looking for?"

Aculia Voland Viken Dobson

 

[Aculia Voland]

Aculia smiled, one that she genuinely felt, as Dorothea seemed to truly enjoy the fried Nuna legs, than pursed her lips and thought for a few moments before replying to the older woman Dorthea Dobson .

“I need something small enough to be piloted by one person, or one person and a pilot or droid, yet roomy enough to serve as a secondary home away from home. It should also be able to handle a small number of passengers for a fairly long period of time, with guest rooms or the like. It needs to be able to travel a fair distance before refueling, and ideally be able to ward off or outrun your average pirate. If it’s possible for it to have stealth capabilities, whether active or passive, that would be excellent as well.”

She shot a glance over at Viken Dobson , who responded brusquely but politely to the King, and seemed to be in despair over the fact that the wookiee actually seemed intent on buying something from him. She wondered for a moment if that was because that whole company was a front for some criminal organization, or if Viken was really that socially stunted. Well, maybe he was one of those starship design guys who was terrible with people, but actually knew his stuff.

Rex Valhoun Arthakk Dorthea Dobson Grand Shepherd Burtch Martin Dux

 

[The Lady Rowena]

Rowena had not been seen, nor heard of since the wedding between her niece Loreena Arenais-Valhoun and Rex Valhoun all those months ago. She had orchestrated all of it, manipulating certain people and events in order to get the results that she had wanted. One might suspect that she was some powerful Sith Lady, but in truth Rowena had no Force sensativity at all. She was just a great polititician that saw the bigger picture.

And it was all going according to plan.

With Rex now leading the Elysium Empire, already her own status was bolstered. It opened new doors and new avenues for her to complete her goals; all of which were known only to herself. The plot was intricate and years in the making; the people involved numbered in the dozens. Most of them were completely unaware of what was going on and she wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Rowena sipped her coffee as she watched the display of military might. It was a good blend with an incredibly bold flavour, much like herself. They were both bold, rich, sometimes sweet and of course...addicting. Rowena had her own followers that would bend over backwards for her much in the same way that a protocol droid would obey their master. And it pleased her, especially when they were entirely unaware.

The next phase in her plan was well under way. And she couldn't wait to see it unfold.

Haon Hafey Martin Dux Grand Shepherd Burtch Aculia Voland

 

[Dorthea Dobson]

Dorthea listened to Aculia Voland outline the requirements she needed in a ship and she cringed a little inside. The Elysium Empire was a little short on small operations transports ever since the destruction of MandalArms. The designs had been lost and the closest thing they had was the Special Forces Corvette. They definitely needed to build a good proper special operations transport.

Of course, Dorthea wasn't about to discuss the destruction of MandalArms here and now. She knew better than to make excuses for their shortcomings, so instead she said, "sounds like you might want a custom warship. Stealth capabilities are handy to have, but stealth tech is always confidential and is never sold on the open market. We… could build you a custom project if you're interested… my brother handles private contracts all the time. Do you think you can afford a… special purchase?"

Dorthea felt like it was good that this young woman was inquiring about a small transport at this time. It was better to address the Empire's lack of special transports now than when it was a critical problem.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Aculia sensed that her question had disturbed the woman in some way, but she still seemed open to the project. Maybe her relative over there had screwed something up with the company recently? Or some other misfortune. Still, since she was offering, and seemed relatively professional, whatever problems they might face in building her ship were on them, and not on her, as long as she could pay.

“On hand, no, but I am on retainer for…a certain high ranking official…and my fee is quite generous. I am sure I could meet whatever kind of payment plan or financing that you could set up for me.” She smiled back disarmingly. If this woman could supply her with what she needed without having to go through Grand Shepherd Burtch 's irritating requisition system and quartermaster who always asked her "why" she needed something, that would be good. And with a ship of her own, if things ever got bad enough, she could slip away, hopefully unnoticed.

Dorthea Dobson

 

[Dorthea Dobson]

Dorthea took another bite from the nuna leg and resisted the urge to enter bliss once more. The mention of being on retainer suggested that Aculia Voland was a mercenary of some sorts, hired by the Elysium Empire. She considered what Aculia Voland was saying and then swallowed before speaking again, "well, since you're not enlisted, or commissioned, I can't get you anything from the Naval Armory. I am the chief quartermaster to the Grand Admiral of the navy, but bureaucratically speaking, I can't assign you military property unless you sign on with the military. So, you're suggestion that you'll have to use private financing to obtain a ship from Mandal-Elysium Arms is probably your only option… unless you seek a military commission." She planted that bug in Aculia's ear, in case she might be interested. Most mercenaries weren't, but it was always worth a try.

"That being said," she continued, "if you mail a copy of your requirements to me, I can get you in touch with the right financing and sales representatives, and my brother will likely begin drafting a custom ship right away. We might even make a short product line of these vessels, if you're ok with that. It would reduce your fee tremendously." She said all this as she pulled out her data pad and flicked her finger across the screen to Aculia. The finger flick sent a file with Dorthea's contact information towards any devices that Aculia might be carrying.

Around them, a ring of mushroom clouds were forming as the Saberdroid Starfighter circled the expo with turbolazers lancing all around its hull. Dorthea looked at the fighter with awe. I gotta hand it to that little blue pantoran… Treyfa is damn good at her job…

 

[Aculia Voland]

Dorthea Dobson

Aculia nodded towards Dorthea as she mailed her the files from her commlink, and internally sighed. Looks like she was going to have to put in a lot more work and sign on for a bit longer if she was going to get the real goods. Nodding to Dorthea, she finished up her own nuna legs, before politely excusing herself and making her departure. Whatever curiosities were left at the expo would have to wait, she was going to have to seek out Burtch and figure out some kind of agreement between her and Elysium proper. Taking out a credit chit, she smiled and flipped it over in her gloved hand to see if Fate thought this was going to be a prosperous relationship or not.