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Was it a good plan? Not to Sardun to say, not anymore. He had relinquished any such responsibilities a long time ago and for some reason that felt good.
No longer needing to be in charge, telling people what to do, being responsible when it all went to hell, carrying the weight of the dead on his shoulders wherever he went. Grim, but that was behind him now. Now it was up to the bright shiny blue eyes to figure out their direction and carry the burden of command.
"Very well, Prex Kreelan." Sardun responded after a moment. "Show the way."
Was the Jedi being cheeky? Could be. Could be he was serious, it was difficult to tell with him.
There was that sense of seriousness, yet, also that general vibe that he had seen all this before already.
"We're trying to pinpoint coordinates based on their reactor's decay factor, but with this little to go on..." Arix trailed off, shrugging dejectedly.
"What the hell kind of boarding party takes over a ship and then powers everything off?" the Commander mused, pronounced duros brow furrowing in confusion, "Plot its last known trajectory. If everything's shut down, she's dead in space, so factor drift into the calculations starting the moment we lost sensor contact. Forward your findings to the Rogue's onboard computers."
"Aye, Commander."
Stazi stepped away from the sensor station to gaze into the holographic display of the X-Wing fighters in reference to the Rebel's Hope projected into the center of the room. Second by second, the tiny three dimensional starfighters moved farther and farther from their mothership, and when Arix had completed his calculations the third officer took the initiative to overlay his projected flight path onto the model representation before them, just detailed enough for the Commander to make out the deviations in the X-Wings flight pattern as the same information was beamed to the squadron and Rogue Leader made the appropriate compensations.
"Uh oh," the cyborg standing next to the XO said, tilting his head suddenly in alarm towards the turbolift seconds before it actually opened.
"What the kark is going on up here?!" Captain Pulsar belted as he strode towards the two senior officers.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Captain," Mazik answered mildly, not taking his eyes off the hologram.
"Well I wouldn't have tarried, Mister Stazi, if I had known to expect a mutiny in my absence," Zark said sardonically as he noticed the projection of Rogue Squadron for the first time, "What do we got?"
"Search and rescue, bulk freighter transponder designation Zayden Star," Arix reported, "Received a distress call with unconfirmed report of unknown hostiles, after which we lost all contact and limited sensor readings suggest all emissions were terminated. Rogue Squadron deployed on a reconnaissance flight to locate the ship in distress."
"Rogue Squadron?" the Captain echoed, his eyes widening, "You mean the same Rogue Squadron I just left celebrating our new squadron leader at an open bar?"
Turning sharply, the Commander opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. Then finally, simply said, "Uh, yes, sir."
"There she is!" Rogue Leader's voice echoed throughout the bridge in the staticy, robotic tones that were the limits of the starfighter's communications package at such a range, interrupting all activity on the bridge, "Rogues, everyone conduct a wide sensor sweep for any hostiles. Thirteen and Fourteen, follow me for a close sweep and visual inspection. If this was pirates they did a very quick job and I want to look for ingress points. I'm picking up a stable atmosphere in there still."
"Well, I'll be damned," Zark muttered to no one in particular.
"I guess they really are a squadron of naturals," Arix agreed.
A hush fell over the bridge as they listened with baited breath to the robotic exchange between Rogue Leader and Lieutenant Vyn. Overlaying the holographic projection of the squadron were staticy feeds of the tiny holoprojectors built into the X-Wings noses on the belly of the craft. The feed quality wasn't perfect, but it gave the bridge crew a murky picture of Rogue Squadron's perspective of the bulk freighter. Zark searched for tell tale signs of battle damage, and to his surprise he found none. The Commander exchanged glances with them, and he could tell the same thought was on Mazik's mind. This was just about the weirdest hijacking he had ever come across. It didn't make any sense.
"I'm going into the hangar bay. If that does set off any traps follow me in. We can't wait for the evac team. Do not activate any systems and watch for traps. Sometimes pirates leave bombs or rig the generator to blow."
"How far out are we?" Zark asked.
"We were covering different grids in a search pattern, still several minutes."
"Chances of me being able to talk Commander Janes out of this?" he said without skipping a beat as he turned towards the XO.
"Low," Stazi replied.
"Open a channel," Zark ordered, "Rogue Leader, you are clear to board. Assess and report only, do not engage."
"You think they'll listen?" Arix asked him as the channel closed.
"Sometimes...all you can do is the best you can with what you have."
Post: 13/25
Location: Athos IV
Objective: Rebuild the Shattered Lands
Allies: [member="Saffron"]
Enemies: Unknown
"Each party in this agreement will have the right to install a biodome in their allocated portion"
"Financing. What's the schedule of disbursement of the funds?"
"As down payment you will get money to deploy your biodome plus the first month of operation to map out and decontaminate; at the end of the first month you will have to submit a plan for the next month's worth of work, outlining its costs"
"That's acceptable, although that's a lot of paperwork. Nevertheless, accountability is important and the people of Athos IV want to see that their money is put to good use"
It was surprising just how much Cathul really knew about land reclamation on large-scale projects. In Mando-land she did work on Azure and on Gala; Athos IV was her first attempt of replicating such things in Alliance space, where she hoped that she could make up for Ugohr's failings. And she knew paperwork of that sort was inevitable so she readily accepted monthly progress reports - alongside monthly visits from the Environmental Agency. With the EA taking care of the final third, she had no real objections for the disbursement of funds. Not like some major long-term public works projects where the bulk of the money was disbursed at the beginning. Understandably it is prudent not to disburse the entire thing all at once, unlike some major projects she has seen across the galaxy, like Spaceport Derretowa on Morellia. Cathul chuckled: land zoning in such reclaimed areas depended on how much effort would be required to go into decontamination and how contaminated it was in the first place.
"That's my mark, so I'm going with you. No question. "
That swung her attention over to the Bounty Hunter. As she gave the signal for them to move out, she inquird, "And what's your name, Hunter?" The Forcer fell into step beside them. He had been rather quiet save for the simple agreement. He also wasn' too keen on her plan. That much was clear.
"Something on your mind, Master Sardun?" Aeron would ask him, noticing his heavy footfalls and the manner by which he would walk. There was something about it. It made her frown, wondering.
The shuttles were already primed for them to jump in. The closer they came, the more difficult it would be to discern what the other was saying.
Location: Athos IV
Objective: The Shattered Lands
[member="Cathul Thuku"]
|22|
The schedule for payment worked well enough. However, Saffron was willing to negotiate pricing for the chance to continue researching and using the caldera as an area for PharmaTech and MaraTibx to establish a long term site to test the effects of agriculture production within the Biodome.
"Thank you," Saffron replied, nodding in agreement.
"What is the auditing schedule we are looking at?" of course there would be auditors that would come in to survey and check progress. Likely they would be unexpected, but it served to know a little bit more about it. All the while, the blonde kept using the Force to read the crowd and the shift of emotions.
Chaal stood straight and folded his arms behind his back. "It's Chaal. I'm here for the bounty on the warlord." Chaal spoke up trying to compete with the sound of the ships. "Look, I'm not trying to be a problem M'am, just trying to do my job. If your going to confront the warlord, I'm gonna be there for it. Is that fair enough?" Chaal said. He wasn't looking for trouble with the Alliance, it was against his business and moral interests, however he wasn't going to work for free.
Post: 14/25
Location: Athos IV
Objective: Rebuild the Shattered Lands
Allies: [member="Saffron"]
Enemies: Unknown
"You can probably expect [accounting] audits to be conducted within six to eight business days after the receipt of the monthly report"
"Fair enough: proper treatment of said reports can take time and we want to make the job easier for all parties involved"
"Audits are a little tight, but I know, for example, what kind of damage graft, embezzlement can wreak on a corporation or on a government and if such a problem arises, that will do us no good"
"What about environmental audits?"
Looks like the Environmental Agency was a little hasty in business: the Radar of Mandalore knew that there were people for whom accountability is important, and others for whom reduction of bureaucracy was key for success. But all parties involved know that some sort of checks and balances are required; Cathul, who was officially a Witch, often underestimated how much Jedi-like she actually was in her business dealings. She often expected light-siders to stay out of trouble, to make sure that they are actually doing the work being asked by all parties. Never would they suspect that Cathul isn't an actual Jedi: her business was headquartered on Malastare and she was doing things as if an Alliance-friendly corporation. Plus the Alliance was mostly Jedi in terms of Force-users. She had to try hard not to break the illusion that they were actually dealing with Jedi. Some people claimed that Jedi couldn't run corporations; yet Cathul had to prove otherwise at every turn.
Allyson had her orders and she followed them to the end. It was a rarity, but she knew following them meant she was listening to Asmus. As they did their sweep, Allyson rubbed the back of her neck, she would never get used to the stim injection point. Why the neck? Her nose twinged as they made towards the hanger and Asmus once more came over the frequency.
He wanted to go in alone? Allyson gritted her teeth and knew she couldn’t disobey him or question him over the public communication. Still she needed to say something, offer her help in one way or another. Her voice came over the radio and she reminded him of their first meeting. “As-- Rogue One, let me get close for you and see if I can pick up anything booby trap like…” Her X-wing loomed closer towards the hanger opening, hopefully she’d be able to pick up anything booby trap like. It was a quick mental scan, but she didn’t get anything.
“Clear” She would apologize for going on about her own later over a drink. She waited for further orders from Rogue One and remained quiet. The weight in her stomach started to get heavy. There was something odd about this situation, but Allyson did her best to brush it off and assume it was because of the shot she had taken and then the stim.
Location: Athos IV
Objective: The Shattered Lands
[member="Cathul Thuku"]
|23|
"We will be reviewing the amount of toxins and their degrading state on a periodic basis. The full schedule will be delivered at a later time."
Saffron gave another nod. That made sense. For now, everything was about surveying and gathering the requisite information so PharmaTech and MaraTibx knew exactly how to move forward.
Team Aurek, Besh, Cresh, and Dorn were already bringing back preliminary results on the samples gathered. The real work would now begin.
Post: 15/25
Location: Athos IV
Objective: Rebuild the Shattered Lands
Allies: [member="Saffron"]
Enemies: Unknown
"Now that we have all the terms set forth that everyone agrees upon, all three parties are invited to sign the resulting memorandum of understanding"
"Roger, roger"
"May the people of Athos IV find the partnership IGR Brokerage, Mara TibX Fuels and the Environmental Agency to be fruitful"
"On behalf of IGR Brokerage, I accept to do our part for rebuilding the planet"
That was quick, too quick to be true, she thought. They were driven by a strange sense of urgency. She remembers that, sometimes, summits like these can last seemingly forever before parties could find an agreement. That's why there were Jedi Diplomats in the first place: even though she wasn't a Diplomat, she was kind of a catch-all for Consular work. She signs the contract in front of all the attendees. Now back to her allocated 1/3 for decontamination and then order the components for deploying a biodome. The survey work has already begun and the priority is cleaning up a suitable zone large enough for a minor biodome to be deployed at the edge of the Shattered Lands, to act as their headquarters for work while the work outlined in the memorandum of understanding. They were beginning to work, but Cathul knew better than to assume that the area they already surveyed was contaminated with the same contaminants all over their 1/3 of the afflicted area.
The Rodian asked the machine way back when the droid first made its appearance and HK simply retorted with,
"No problem, pumpkin."
As the machine pushed himself to stand, dusting his metal, extra-armored body off.
"Even the common raider has a right to due process."
The droid gave out what could be summed up as a mechanical version of a laughter, or a mockery of one at least,
"Good luck with that, Master Jedi, I will not kill them if they will not try to kill me. But if you believe that someone trying to put a blaster bolt through your head should not be dealt with swiftly and with maximum efficiency, well then I believe your self-preservation protocols might be malfunctioning."
He looked in the direction of Kreelan Prex,
"Although from my experience with your kind, I must admit, malfunction in self-preservation is a common trait among the Jedi."
HK quipped, moving out with them, as he picked up a blaster rifle from the headless raider corpse.
"So there is a Prex named Kreelan in this time as well?
The droid shook his head,
"History really does repeat itself."
He quipped once more before finally seeing Aeron,
"Oh, nope, still the same Prex."
"Get them up and loaded, we move out in five. If they need anything, hand them equipment for them to us."
Finally! The machine was going to get some decent equipment! He grabbed whatever was given to him, including a helmet, to hide his droid faceplate beneath it, trying to stay out of Prex's view and blending in with the crowd of troops preparing for the assault on the Warlord's camp.
Once he was finally properly armed he would make his appearance before Aeron, taking off his mask, holding one of the MK-3 bolt guns,
"There is a bounty involved? Great, dibs."
He nodded to Chaal before looking to Aeron,
"Oh, hello Prexy, I did not see you there."
HK greeted her as if no time has passed since the last time he saw them,
"By the way, am I still your boss? Because if so, I would prefer for you to refer to me as 'The Big Sauce'"
"Always is, Prex Kreelan." Michael responded, but he didn't bother to go into the details. For one, the approach to the shuttles was making it difficult for them to hear each other, but besides that there was the droid who was piping up again. Too comical by half for a can of tin made for killing things, yet, a volunteer was a volunteer.
One more body to add to the grinding machine.
He pulled himself up into the shuttle proper by the railing and settled himself down neatly in one of the seats. Around them others were inserting themselves in the shuttles.
It would be a difficult fight, he imagined.
But this particular shuttle was designed as the vanguard- it would go in first and would land in the thick of it. That was where the former Battlemaster found himself at home.
Didn't hurt his skin was bulletproof either, meant he could get more fire drawn to him and less fire on his companions.
"We all earn our keep one way or another, Chaal. " Aeron said as she plopped herself down to sit. That was when a very familiar chassis showed up. Not the sort that she ever thought she'd see again.
Whatever the bounty hunter or the Jedi Master said next would fade as Aeron stood. She paused in front of the droid, a former Exarch and Lord Protector.
"Ach-kay?" she managed to murmur, a bit dazed. It was a rare sight to behold for the usually gruff woman. Her tenure had been strictly with the Pyre, but the Omega Pyre still served for the Protectorate when it had been the primary government entity this side of the galaxy.
Finally, the smile bloomed. It had been years, but honestly, it was good to see him again. Aeron held out her hand for an arm grasp in greeting.
Post: 16/25
Location: Athos IV
Objective: Rebuild the Shattered Lands
Allies: [member="Saffron"]
Enemies: Unknown
Now that the biodome was ordered, and that they were waiting on the biodome to arrive, the crewmembers of IGR resumed their work that began pre-Summit. They were invited to the summit for a reason, and now that they all put their signatures at the bottom of the memorandum of understanding, they had to do what was in it. That is, make a proper survey using the patchwork methods being advocated. Plus Cathul was at the Alliance's disposal for any and all projects pertaining to construction once the land was decontaminated. Here she knew that her Force-power was insufficient to cover more than just a small puddle with Detoxify Poison, let alone the entire field. But she tries anyway. Whereas the first zone initially surveyed was contaminated entirely due to the fuel she just couldn't assume the next one was due to just the fuel. It was a tedious road for a few years, sure, but Cathul signed IGR on that. But that was a major project, of a different nature from what IGR did on Azure. On Azure it was pretty straightforward: no contamination due to the dearth of resources (other than seafood and marine salt).
"Business will soon bring me off-world. You understand what the Memorandum signed at the summit asked us to do?"
"What will happen once you leave?
"I won't always be there to help you out with space magic. Remember that"
"One space witch will have its limits; surely Cathul will understand that!"
Allies: None (stats for Sithspawn are in first post)
Subjects to be observed: [member="Asmus Janes"] [member="Choli Vyn"] [member="Zark"] [member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Owen Holst"] [member="Kal Blonde"] [member="Vance Caydence"]
"One ship is heading for the hanger bay."
"Excellent, let the games begin."
No booby traps would trip as Asmus headed into the hanger bay with his fighter, but very clear signs of something seriously having gone wrong were evident. A damaged shuttle was sparking in its spot, clouds of smoke issuing from engines that had been shredded by something. Plasteel containers were smashed open on the deck, their contents littered and revealing the crew might have been involved in a spot of gun running. The lights were on emergency power, some flickering as the power cables were hanging loose from ripped off wall and floor plates.
Large spines were embedded in bulkheads, easily as long as a vibrodagger and just as sharp. The blast door leading out of the hanger into the rest of the ship was pulled open, the two doors malfunctioning as every time they went to close, they would smash against each other and open again. Across the deck, there would be long red stains... but no bodies were present to indicate whether it was from the crew or whatever had invaded the ship.
The rest of the ship was in a similar condition once Asmus or other Rogues advanced inside the ship to investigate further. Decking and wall plates ripped from their places, jagged slashes and pried open doors indicating whatever had been killing the crew was strong. Power was intermittent at best for the lighting, and steam and sparks would issue randomly from spots in the damaged corridors. Blood and other fatal signs would be easily visible, bodies having been left this time. The same long spines had torn right through the crew's limited protection they wore, long slash marks and puncture wounds on the bodies... or what was left of them.
Spent ammo lay in the red pools, both blaster packs and slugthrowers. But there was still no sign of the creatures themselves, they would have to head deeper in to find those.
Location: Xagobah - Surface Objective: Hunt Down The Sithspawn Allies: The Galactic Alliance, Fireteam Aeacus Enemies: Sithspawn
Much had happened since his tedious endeavor on Sluis Van, the most notable being the fact that he was unsuccessful in his method of infiltration and had caused those kidnapping the natives to go to ground - making the search for the missing people next to impossible.
Though he had sought to blame those that he was saddled with, Naiad had come to terms with his failures at being unable to blend into a crowd when he wasn’t clad in his armored memetic suit. What a spy he was, eh? Then again, that was never truly one of his specialties - since he was a former Sun Guard and preferred the most straightforward approach in comparison to all this subterfuge. That was when he was offered a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his comrades.
The SIS was able to piece together the errant strands of information garnered from various sources to pinpoint the planetary system where these people had vanished. While they had initially been reported missing from this sector of space, due to the transports vanishing near the borders of Alliance space, the SIS had begun their search patterns out to the elusive Suarbi System - before the newly purloined information from Sluis Van had pointed them towards the Pharmaceutical front company based off Xagobah itself.
Thus, eagerly assigning himself and his recently recalled Fireteam to the Hunting Party, Naiad was dispatched with all alacrity to track down his target and eliminate any hostiles that stood in his way. This was something he was more suited to. So, adorning himself in the characteristic armored memetic suit of his Organization’s branch, the former Sun Guard racked the slide on his rifle and set off into the fungal depths of the unknown.
Location: Orbiting the Zayden Star. Objective: Duty Calls Once More. Allies: The Galactic Alliance, Rogue Squadron, [member="Zark"], [member="Asmus Janes"], [member="Choli Vyn"], [member="Owen Holst"], [member="Kal Blonde"], [member="Allyson Locke"]. Enemies:Terrors From Beyond the Veil of Reality.
Guiding his starfighter out of the hangar bay of the Rebel’s Hope, Lucius kept pace with the others of his assigned squadron, ensuring that he didn’t fall behind or was swept up by the myriad distractions that sought to steal his attention. He could hear the distant echoes of those that had passed, their screams echoing through the Force on the edge of his awareness, becoming nothing more than distant whispers partially drowned by his Fighter’s engines. Were his abilities not dampened by the adrenal injection, the man expected that they would’ve been significantly louder - especially due to the circling proximity that his fighter had taken.
With the pronouncement of their newly minted Commander shedding his pilot’s wings to board the Zayden Star, the Jedi Padawan had resisted the urge to cite that they were pilots - not commandos and that they should wait for the Marines to board the craft instead. However, withdrawing his hand from the terminal and continuing with his patrol pattern, Lucius merely shrugged off the urge. It wasn’t like their brave leader was going to listen anyways. He did whatever he felt like, and that would never change. So, keeping to his standing Orders, Rogue Twelve began scouring the nearby sector for any signs of hostility.
There was a slim chance that whatever attacked this vessel and forced it to go dark, was still out there and could strike again. Thus, as the Squadron was deprived of their Commander, Lucius kept a wary eye on the horizon - looking for anything that was out of place or would give him the insight needed to uncover the truth behind the mysterious ordeal.
Location: Athos IV - Goni Military Base. Objective: Humanitarian Aid. Allies: The Galactic Alliance. Enemies: Unknown.
Otto Shule couldn’t help but chuckle. He was currently the acting CEO of the Republic Engineering Corporation, and yet - instead of building warships to flesh out the Federation’s ailing Naval might - he was out on the fringes of Alliance space performing humanitarian aide to the unfortunate denizens of Athos IV. While it was for a good cause, that being the further funding of his company so that they may once again begin production on their most lavish designs, the Replica Droid found himself amused by the irony of the situation. He was forced to spend his company's money, in order to make money. Such was life, Otto thought to himself. With his ebony clad arms folded behind his back, the Executive watched as the reclamation efforts slowly came to a head.
Several thousand square kilometers in every direction beneath the Goni Military Base had been turned to glass by an explosion that had utterly annihilated much of the planet’s surface. It was uncertain just how many lives were lost in that apocalyptic event, but when the board had heard of this travesty - the Replica Droid ensured that his schedule was cleared and that transit was secured. He came to help in whatever manner that was needed, and when his droids had finally arrived in system - they would begin assisting where the ailing, radiation scared equipment had failed.
By utilizing the newly fabricated Orbs in their Recon configuration, those in charge of cleansing the planet would find themselves in the possession of highly advanced droids that would seek the great pockets of the unleashed toxins - further aiding the process of restoring this world to it’s previous state of habitability. As in excising the largest tumor from an afflicted patient, those small pockets that remained would be trivial in comparison, allowing for their efforts to be focused elsewhere. With a billowing cup of tea in hand, Otto watched out from the corner of his eye as the estimated time of arrival slowly cycled downwards toward zero. It would be several hours from now, but that meant he had more than enough time to sit back and enjoy the silence of the ashen dead.
Location: Xagobah - Orbit Objective: Hunt Down The Sithspawn Allies: The Galactic Alliance Enemies: Sithspawn
With the information handed down from the various Intelligence Divisions that operated under the Federation's banner, Gideon and a fraction of his Myrmidons had been dispatched to the fungal world of Xagobah to assist in the SIS Operation currently underway. Though they were to act as assistants in this theater of war, the former Stormtrooper knew that their true purpose was to serve as Plan B.
Should the Intelligence Agents in the field botch the operation, as they were known to do in the past, the Myrmidons would be swiftly deployed to the surface of the planet and clean up yet another mess that they never made. That was all right with the Major. It gave him a chance to test out their new suits of powered armor. The last suit of mechanized armor they were bequeathed were impressive in their right but lacked the subtle appeal that Commando Units - such as the Myrmidons - required when they were operating in the field.
Born from twisted minds of the nationalized arms and armor company of I’att Armament, the Katarn MKV-Class Armor had taken many design/aesthetic cues from the previous generations - most notably from the first and second generations that were active during the tumultuous wars of a bygone era. Though it was similar in many ways, the differences lay beneath the thick duraplast exterior. Thick cords of electro-motivated fiber bundles encased the soldier in a form fitting body glove that mimicked his muscular figure and enhanced his strength to that of many times the human norm.
In addition, two layers comprised the entirety of the Undersuit worn beneath the Obsidian Carapace. The First was that of the Power Armour Liner. Bonding to the flesh of the wearer, this liner acted akin to a neural interface - but allowed the soldier to retain his physical purity due to the lack of implantations required to operate the suit to maximum efficacy. The Second was entirely experimental. With the advent of thermal gel and it’s kinetic variants, the technicians at I’att Armament had begun to toy with the theory of combining the two gels to perform a dual function with a singular layer. Gideon wasn’t interested in the science behind such a technical marvel, but he was certain someone shortly would take the time to ensure that he knew the full capabilities of the armor he wore.
Nevertheless, clipping the last pieces of his warplate atop his towering frame, the former Stormtrooper felt at ease in the all too familiar design that he now wore. Thus, with a serpentine smile, the Major grabbed both his rifle from the wall-mounted rack and his helmet, before departing the armory and making his way towards the Hangar Bay - where he would await for the inevitable call to action.
With the agreement made, it was time to head back to PharmaTech's worksite. Now that the company was working throughout Alliance space, they had the funds and the okay to begin a mass creation of various biodomes. PharmaTech already held more than a dozen other sites withing Alliance space, each an independant facility used not only for research and development, but to help the local population with enhancing and increasing their production in agriculture. Hopefully, their bid for sponsorship throughout Alliance space will come through and PharmaTech could increase their expansion for the betterment of the Federation worlds.
For now, they would continue the surveys and begin laying out the plan for detoxifying the Caldera and perhaps reintroducing local flora and fauna once they were done. It may take years, but they had a good plan. They succeeded in Corellia; they could do well here too.
