To touch the core, is to touch the heart(Lords of the Fringe Dominion of Lujo)

[Velok the Younger]

And now the rain began.

Finality-class supertransports exited hyperspace over Lujo. Four of them. 4800 Hammer-class landing craft. 960,000 people, plus a ton of materiel. A figurative ton -- Rave didn't have the exact numbers. But numbers, after a certain point, didn't matter. What mattered were fractions, such as the fraction by which the Core world of Lujo had just had its permanent population increased.

Sometimes invasions really were this blatant.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

She pouured them each a drink in the conference room of the Chimaera, and ignored their fear. "I haven't brought you here to kill you," she said. "Not at all. Well, that's a bit of a redundancy. I can't partially kill you, taking each individual as atomic -- but I digress, and rather blatantly. I've brought you here so you can understand that we don't mean your system any harm. Harm will be done, of course. We're dropping a million troops on your world, and such things rarely go smoothly."

 

[Eldoc Quasat]

Saying that the bridge was in chaos would be the understatement of a lifetime. Displays were getting covered in red, people were screaming orders at engineering which was screaming back, and in the midst of it all Eldoc leaned against the wall and took another sip of his flask. He noticed a general trend towards fewer red lights but at the same time it seemed the planet was getting closer and well that wasn’t exactly comforting. He didn’t show his worry, though as of now, his life was in their hands. Not the most reassuring thing but well it wasn’t like he could help, last ship system he touched still didn’t work, no matter how much money they had thrown at it.

 

[Arage Bao]

A force-enhanced punch was about to be planted into Blue Eyes's pretty face, but then it suddenly froze up in its movement. An inch more and Dissero's nose would have been a bloody mess. So it was lucky that the other Blue Eyed Man in the room recognized his assailant and the help he had given him. With a casual gesture Jared rubbed his bum as a chuckle escaped him. "Watch your ass, Dissero. One day you will get a Lightning Bolt shoved into it. Not today though.. today? Let's find some trouble."

 

[Dissero]

The man hadn't flinched. Neither had his grin. These unsavory sorts were all rather predictable in that way, but if a landed punch to his face would have made the man feel better after being found out as he had, Dissero was happy to oblige. Not like he hadn't taken plenty of his own hits.

"I'll endeavor to enjoy it, but only if you're doing the shoving." The man smirked, pulling a lightsaber hilt from his side and spinning it through the air. Pink Unicorns and scandalous lightning bolts aligned, he supposed a bit of trouble was the right course of action to take.

"Trouble I can do. I believe the troops have landed at Merrill's behest," exiting the room he set off down the hall, comm chirping in his ear all the while with new directives, "project Foritify Lujo is underway and someone is bound not to like it."

@[member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Arage Bao]

The Snarkinator followed the Blue Eyed Devil out of the room, looking back one last time. For a second he thought he saw a.. pink unicorn flying around? He shook his head at that, what nonsense was that. A Pink Flying Unicorn? Madness was filling his head, it seemed. Might be he was working too much, maybe after all of this he would take a few nights off. Buy a couple of drinks in some sleazy bar and get slammed. Sadly there was not time for that now, it seemed Jorus was back in business and with him his Rebel Rats. They would need to find a permanent solution for that problem soon.

 

[Valik]

Valik watched and listened as the Lwehhk Aleph class manufacturing ships popped out their first weapons platforms. The weapons platforms, to be named later due to continuity shenanigans, were soon anchored by the factory ship's tractor beams. From there Valik began making calculations regarding Lujo's rotation speed, axis, and gravitational pull. Nothing too terribly difficult, especially with the ship's computers, but extremely important. The slightest mistake and the ships would become De-Orbiting Kinetic Acceleration Weapon, and by the signals on his ship's scanner the Fringe had enough of those already. With care a course was plotted, and the weapons platforms were put into a non-decaying orbit, now both circling around the planet. It was fantastic.

 

[Rekali the Hutt]

But, soft! what light through yonder glassteel breaks?
It is the east, and Coruscant is the Threat
Arise, fair Ssi-Ruuk, and kill the envious democracy,
Who is already sick and pale with pharisees,
That thou our laws art far more fair than she:
Be not her justice since she is hypocritical;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my nation, O, it is my Fringe!
O, that she knew she were!
She conquers yet she speaks true: what of that?
Her call beckons; I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she beckons:
Two of the fairest queens in all of space,
Having some business, do protect their skys
To scheme in their lands till they return.
What if their blades were there, they on their belts?
The brightness of their sabers would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; Their power in the Force
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how they lean their strength upon the land!
O, that I were a blade held by their hands,
That I might conquer that planet!

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Observe with me, please," said Ashin, and an immense hologram flared to life. It depicted the entirety of the Fringe's efforts to fortify the Lujo system.

"See here? A surface fortress, planetary shields...here we have space minefields and checkpoints...here we have interdictors...here we have orbital defense platforms. You will be as safe as we can make you."

 

[Velok the Younger]

From a vantage point atop one of the mountains that overlooked the fortress, Rave got on the horn with some logistics people.

"There are six mountain peaks. I need each of them removed, please. Flattened out, the hard way. Just the peak. These positions have overwatch, and we need to deny them to the enemy, but only with assets which can't be turned against us."

That, admittedly, was a bit of a puzzlement. She'd considered using Akures, but seismic charges made her itch.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"And what's this?" a nameless planetary leader asked. It was the first time any of them had spoken in a little while, which surprised and annoyed Ashin. She'd meant to be intimidating, but not to the point of paralysis.

"That is a set of Kertz-Bhrg generators as a backstop. Big, I know, but nothing harmful or weapons-related. Think of it as just another shield generator."

That seemed to mollify them, despite the size of the monstrosities.

 

[Sargon Vynea]

The situation handled Sargon had a shuttle to met him on the roof, notifying his team the Zabrak had a singular destination in mind, something that he felt needed to be remedied immediately. The Grand Admiral had been difficult to track down in truth, between the Governor's own schedule and the Grand Admiral's it had been near impossible to find a chance to met with her since the invasion of Atrisia. Stripping down to his formal attire the Zabrak closed his eyes meditating on the Force as the shuttle burst through the planet's atmosphere towards the Chimera.

Stepping onto the hanger of the flagship Sargon handed over his rifle now armed with just his shield and sword as moved through the ship towards Ashin's location. Saluting crew as he passed them the Zabrak knew that Ashin would be well aware of his arrival and the seriousness of his mood.

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Valik]

Warren Valik and his two commandeered Lwehhk Aleph Class Manufacturing were on a role now. Once the first 'batch' was done his Ssi-Ruuk Engineers had begun to figure out the kinks and feel of making the defense platform building the next two was much easier, much quicker, much more efficient. They were learning how to adapt to improve their efficiency. A sight that made Valik happy to see. As the engineers and machines were at work constructed the to-be-named-bobison platforms men at the helm were already calculating how the ships would come out once completed, how best to anchor them with tractor beams, and how best to set them in a non-decaying orbit around the planet. Like a clock all of the cogs of work meshed together in a clean tick where no time was wasted. It was inspiring.

Soon enough, the work was evident and the two weapons platforms were ejected, and then put into a non-decaying orbit through combination of calculations, tractor beams, and sublight engines. That was four, giving around 80 quad laser cannos/point defense emplacements and 96 droid operated fighters worth of defense. And he was only just getting started.

 

[Rekali the Hutt]

With the Ssi-Ruuk and their first non-reptilian Shreeftut having arrived at Lujo in poetic fashion, Ardak prepared a boarding party for the planet. Lujo was in the middle of so many things, so many nations, it would be a place that needed defending, as well as a spring-board for the invasion of many places if necessary, not to mention the former Ecumenopolis that once called him Supreme Chancellor. It would need defending, and if the Fringe ever needed to invade it would need troops ready to be mobilized. Ardak wanted his Ssi-Ruuk to be a part of it, to show them something more than themselves to protect.

Thus, he prepared a boarding shuttle with the bravest members of the priest and warrior caste he could find. It was time to Consecrate.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Sargon Vynea"]

Ashin paused halfway through a reasoned diatribe on collaboration. "Excuse me," she said, and left Lujo's leaders to ponder their planet's new defenses in a moderate degree of detail.

She was a stone-thrower, not a ripple-reader, but even she could sense Sargon Vynea when he wanted to be felt. She met him in one of the Chimaera's large multipurpose rooms, currently emptied of the last star mines.

"It's been too long," she said. "Not to be too blunt, Sargon, but I sense you have a purpose, and I'd like to know what it is."

 

[Velok the Younger]

Six peaks, now being flattened by industrial machinery -- the big kind. Six staging points for defenses that couldn't be turned against the core. The mountaintops were being removed in such a way as to leave a stone backdrop for them, to keep their fire angle mutually exclusive with the base.

And then she had it.

"Null-burst projectors," she said. "I need null-burst projectors."

 

[Sargon Vynea]

Turning around the Zabrak sealed the door behind him, and walked up to the former Empress his mind cleared of all emotion as he bowed his head. "Greetings, my Lady, I'll cut to the point for you. I'd like to discuss your stepping down from the Council." Pausing for a moment the Zabrak shook his head, and took a single step back.

"No, this is too important for words, my Lady, you now me and you know my loyalty to your cause. The galaxy cannot bear you to step down at this time, and nor can the Fringe. The Republic is going mad on its drink of power, and soon there is no doubt they will sway their eyes this way. I cannot allow this to be, and while I respect you as I do no other, I cannot allow you to rest at this time. I can feel it in the wind, the storm is just picking up speed, and soon it will be at our doorstep. This is a time to prepare for war, not the peace I so dearly crave. If you cannot take up your proper place by choice then I fear I must force it upon you. You will leave this room an Empress, or with my blood on the floor, the galaxy cannot afford otherwise."

@[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Sargon Vynea"]

She blinked. Twice. Jedi Grandmasters couldn't make her blink twice.

"I am an Empress, Sargon. In everything but name. Up until I conclude my swan song and pass everything off to the High Council. But even so, this territory is mine, these people are mine, like family, and they follow me anywhere. I don't want that for some sense of ownership, I want that because it's a matter of building something worthwhile. I'll always be here, even though I no longer lead the Fringe. I have the exact level of power I want and the exact level of power the Fringe needs me to have.

"But you, of all people, have shown that your opinion has validity. And you're this committed to it -- what, you intend to fight me, and if you win, I take a throne and a crown?"

 

[Sargon Vynea]

With a nod the Zabrak stood his ground, "Your personage alone may avoid the death of millions, my Lady, by stepping down you may rule in the shadows, but your figurehead is gone from the light. Do you not think I know you don't want this to own? You and Spencer created a nation out of the wilds of space, a nation of justice and rights for humans and aliens. You've forged bonds stronger then blood among those who would be enemies, and its for that reason and no other I would be bend my knee to you and no other. You are their defender, and they need you to lead them into battle, and the galaxy needs to know whoever moves against the Fringe will face the Empress' wrath. I would die for this nation, for this people, for this group which has never lost sight of who it was. I would die here now to keep it safe, it shames me to raise a blade to you, but I would lose my dignity before I saw our nation brought low by twisted idealism of the Republic, or any other. If you lose you will mount a throne again, and you may then pass judgement on me for this act. If I lose you may have my life, I'd offer no less either way to you or our people."

Stepping back the Zabrak removed his arms, and bowed low before taking them up. "If you think I'm wrong defeat me now, and end my life, it has always been yours to command."[/url]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Sargon Vynea"]

"You're not wrong."

Winterlight rang from its sheath, but as yet she took no stance.

"But we stand and live or stand and die as what we are, not as what we can achieve by compromising ourselves. That's the path the Jedi took. And Atrisia. And the Confederacy."