Wow, This Faction Name Is Going To Make Things Confusing (Dominion's Hex Dominion of Ventooine)

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A long string of profanity spilled from Cedric's lips as his head was jerked back. He had not thought that the voice was anything more than a paltry trick, but it seemed that its owner had some semblance of control over the physical realm as well.

Likely not a Daemon.

A sharp breath expelled from the youth's lungs as he turned toward the portal, his eyes narrowing.

His presence leached out within the ethereal realm in long tendrils, searching for the source of this sorcery.

"Explain yourself."

[member="Soeht"]

 

[Soeht]

An answer, yet not the one that [member="Cedric Grayson"] sought.

 

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"Ah, the voices of the beyond stating the obvious these days? Lovely." Cedric grumbled as he rolled his eyes. The portal itself had been on his list of things to take care of, right after the monstrosity it had spawned. Unfortunately, that beast had made its escape, and which left only the portal to be dealt with.

Without sparing a moment's further thought as to where the voice might have been coming from, Cedric marched back into the cavern. he made a point to avoid the soft earth around the ravine that had been born in the center of the floor, and soon found himself just a meter from the portal.

It was a mirror into another world. Colors that did not occur in the natural realm flitted across its surface, and Cedric's mind hastened to fill in the gaps. Gaping maws and clawing fingers scraped along its surface, and the screams of some womanly voiced echoed vaguely from within.

"Emotion, yet peace," the youth murmured, his eyes drifting shut. The yelling was drowned out, and the light of the portal became naught but a speck of illumination. His mind traveled back to the arcane tomes he had studied, and the correct processes to close portals such as these. Fortunately, this one was relatively minor. If it was anything more than a paltry gateway, then Cedric had no doubt that an entire cohort of beings from the beyond would have invaded Ventooine.

Broken words fell from his lips. His fingers twisted as he manipulated the energies of the ethereal realm. The portal was like a great vacuum within the eternal ocean that sucked in anything that came near. Cedric focused on that, allowing the energy he had influenced to flow toward this centerpoint all at once.

The portal imploded upon itself. One moment it was there, the next it was little more than a winking light. Not a sound had come from it upon its demise.

Utterly exhausted from the effort, Cedric fell to the floor, his chest rising and falling heavily.

"Would have been better with two," he mused to himself. "Eugh."

[member="Soeht"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Location: Trian
Objective: 4
Allies: Dominion
Enemies: Unknown
Post: 14/38

"There is over a thousand acres of land earmarked for future expansion, mostly forested"

"That ought to last the colony for at least the next 20 years or so"

And service a population of a few dozen million. In addition to any refugees coming in to Trian from Atrisia, especially if refugees from other planets come to Trian in search for a safe haven, the spaceport is providing some extra capacity if Trian at large needed it. But Dunames knew better than to wager an entire infrastructure project on overly optimistic long-term predictions, which may be based on erroneous data or assumptions. Yet anyone will tell you that colonization requires some seed money for the initial work, and sometimes quite a lot of it - it may take decades to pay off the whole setup cost. While, of course, the local authorities made a killing in terms of construction permits and property taxes, it was hard to tell for the long term, and that was more than simply troublesome. And the local infrastructure had to be built pretty much from scratch in the refugee colony, but that is mostly out of Star Tours' scope since its specialty was obviously transportation.

 

[Soeht]

“G̕o̷ǫd ͝w̵ork̨,” a voice told [member="Cedric Grayson"].

The wind grew colder.

At that moment, Soeht appeared to stand just a couple steps behind Cedric at that moment. Unmoving as he stared at Cedric. The cloak Soeht wore hid his arms from view.

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Location: Trian
Objective: 4
Allies: Dominion
Enemies: Unknown
Post: 15/38

"Transportation infrastructure is crucial, but it is only one piece of the puzzle: what else is being done to ensure that the basic needs of the population are met?"

"You mean educational, healthcare, justice and all that jizz? Schools will be operational in a few weeks, up to a high school level: higher education is to be undertaken elsewhere on the planet, or even off-world if necessary at this stage"

"So am I to take that higher education has insufficient population to support it?"

"Perhaps"

While, of course, if Atrisians prefer to approach undergraduate education in small-ish institutions, colleges they call, that have limited sizes, then the threshold to support it will diminish. But if they mean it as a research university, that will be much harder. That usually takes a population upwards of 2 million to support. Even though she seems to be only vaguely interested in the colony at large, sometimes gauging the long-term viability of a location helps determine the long-term prospects of the location. There were those companies who seemed to reckless invest for the short-term, with little to no ability to make it viable on the long run, but Star Tours is not one of those.

 

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Cedric found himself wishing for a weapon other than the force. Such a power was unreliable in this sort of situation.

Turning, the youth met the steely visage of @Soeht. The figure bore resemblance to the knights of the First Order, though Cedric knew little of them. Gray eyes narrowed as he beheld the shadows of the cloak and registered the creature's forlorn voice.

With an effort greater than he would have hoped, the red-cloaked youth rose to his feet.

"You're the one then?" He asked, his voice laced with curiosity. He stared down the being with little by way of fear in his heart; the Archlord's visage was one of stone.

 

[Alice Tal'verda]

Post 2
Objective 2

By the time Alice had reached the group they had already begun to disperse to go about their individual jobs, she wasn't given an specific duty so she decided that she would stick too her strengths and fly air cover in case something went wrong. A flyover real low and couple harmless shots from the ion cannon was usually enough to get civilians to fall in line, the only problem was she currently lacked a gunner, and having one on the ground was far better than locking them forward and doing strafing runs.

As luck would have it one of them, [member="Grace Darkson"], was begining to walk away so Alice took of her helmet and asked, "Hey, you mind hoping in my gunner's seat, I'm gonna do a few flyovers and it be nice to have a second set of eyes up there."

 

[Soeht]

“Ỳ͢҉è͠͞ś̴̨͢͞,” replied Soeht.

Then, Soeht’s right arm emerged from behind his cloak. He extended it toward [member="Cedric Grayson"] with his palm facing upward.

Amid the increasingly chilling air, Soeht’s hand offered warmth. Invigoration. A second wind.

“Re̸mune҉r̸ati͟ơn,” Soeht told Cedric, “For wh̸a̸t Í’ve͞ ͘l͝e͏a̛rned.”

 

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The hand was not taken, but the youth did rise. The shadowy figure's assistance was one that was not entirely welcomed, yet accepted all the same. Energy flowed back into the Arhclord's limbs, though it was a primordial thing that sent a chill up his spine.

"I know of you," Cedric muttered, something akin to caution in the grays of his eyes. "You are the figure my father convened with before seizing power." The name escaped him, but that meant little. He knew what this figure brought; the power he offered.

"Why do you come here specter?" The youth asked as he turned to examine the space where the portal had been brought into this world. "Do you know of the Archenemy? Of the legions that await us beyond the veil?"

[member="Soeht"]

 

[Grace Darkson]

Location: Ventooine
Objective: Smooth over the refugee transfer, annoy the Jedi
Allies: [member="Zaz Tal'Verda"], [member="Drox Fuga"], [member="Dune Rhur"], [member="Honos Strakh"], [member="Lan Graendal"], @Alice Tal'verda
Enemy: Still farmers
Posts: 8

It took a lot of self control for Grace to just walk away. As the freighter landed, she took her steps towards it, interrupted by a pilot. How many people did they need? Surely four of them were more than enough for a simple group of farmers, right?

In days to come, the young sith would probably be glad for so many allies. After all, with what awaited in the darkness outside, any help would be useful.

The Vahla felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Something was wrong. What it was, she had no idea. Maybe a recon flight would be a good idea. Nodding to the woman, she asked a simple question as they headed for the fighter. "So, what's your name?"

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Location: Trian
Objective: 4
Allies: Dominion
Enemies: Unknown
Post: 16/38

While, of course, the official continued to walk Dunames through the colony, as the Epicanthix would with any major investor in the relevant area of bureaucratic jurisdiction, Dunames was left wondering in what state would the spaceport open. Sure it will have nothing on the spaceports on Mindabaal, Cademimu or Rakata Beta, but it's a spaceport that will last the Atrisian refugees quite a bit and whose plans were actually put up to a contest. Which means that the Kaeshana spaceport was built by the same architectural firm... and they knew what to do to ensure a smooth transition. But there was something wrong: among the siheyuans, Dunames was left wondering what good would such siheyuans would do to the refugees. Where is the social housing in the colony? Where are the more common people in the colony? she asked. Because she knew that refugees were not always the wealthiest of the gang, especially since the disaster came on such short notice.

"I see that there has been no expenses spared... why would the Trian authorities agree to such a lavish plan for the colony?"

"This is the more opulent district in the colony: you would probably like where the more common people would live"

"Oh? Please, do"

 

[Soeht]

The words are read.

Understood.

Meaning and history found.

Consumed by Soeht as a book.

And as [member="Cedric Grayson"] accepted the revival, the door to Soeht’s perspective opened.

Inviting him in. To share and cement a bond.

Unlike the one shared with his father that guarded the gates, but one appropriate for a Jedi.​

---

“I know,” claimed Soeht, “Because your̴ f͏aţhe̛r ̷k͡noẁs͟ ąs͡ w͘e͜l͜l.”

 

[Alice Tal'verda]

Post 3
Objective: 2

"My name, Alice Tal'verda, that di'kut back there, Zaz, he's my vod." She said before tuning to her Y-wing, "Hey Gate drop the ladder and start 'er up we have a job to do."

Getting up in the air would be good, if she was stuck on the ground she was going to go insane.

"So what brings you way out to the ass end of nowhere? You don't seem like the kinda person that likes dealing with this kinda crap."

Alice slipped on her helmet and hopped in her seat leaving room for her guest to answer while she got to work finishing the startup sequence and armed the weapons.

[member="Grace Darkson"]

 

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"I am not so quick to trust for the sake of power as my father was." Cedric's voice was firm, unwavering. "You show up at great turns in history, specter. With your coming, change follows shortly thereafter. Sometimes good, other times less so."

The offer was received. A bridge between islands rose within the Great Ocean. A connection forged itself halfway, awaiting only the agreement of the young lord of Ession. Unlike his predecessor, Cedric did not jump to accept such a gift.

He peered at Soeht from the hem of his crimson cowl.

"I am not one for mystery Soeht. My ambitions are not my own, and I cannot afford to be bound to a liability," the voice never shook. His gaze never left the black visor that served as the portal to the shade's heart. "The Arch Enemy remains beyond the rift. She grows in strength. If you wish to forge this bond, then we shall do so as equal partners, not as benefactor and servant,"

A brief silence.

"Tell me of who you are. What you were before you became the specter. What creature lingers beneath that iron mask?"

[member="Soeht"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Location: Trian
Objective: 4
Allies: Dominion
Enemies: Unknown
Post: 17/38

And also, Dunames is being taken to the more... mundane areas of the colony. Here there was no notion of siheyuans as would have been the case in the earlier districts, just a few more apartment blocks with wudian roofs, which are quite similar to the roofs on these siheyuans. Not that much to go on, to be honest, but the Atrisian colony is shaping up to become a land of pagodas. Architecturally-wise, it seems that the refugees want a piece of their old homes, in cities like the (mostly?)-destroyed Jar'kai, back with them on their new world. This leaves Dunames even more puzzled, but the Dominion government cared quite a bit about them, especially since the Dominion fought to protect Atrisia from the Alliance.

 

[Soeht]

The warmth emanated from Soeht’s hand immediately ceased to be.

Then, Soeht took that hand and grasped his mask. An audible hiss occurred as he tugged on the mask. It then came off.

A face revealed. Young – for the age [member="Cedric Grayson"] might assume Soeht to be. Black hair. Fair skin. A scar across the middle of his face.

Black eyes. Red irises.

A sharp gaze locked onto Cedric.

Soeht’s left hand emerged from his cloak. It drifted toward Cedric with an extended index finger.

“It would be easier to s̕how ͠you̷,” Soeht told Cedric.

 

[Grace Darkson]

Location: Ventooine
Objective: Smooth over the refugee transfer, annoy the Jedi
Allies: [member="Zaz Tal'Verda"], [member="Drox Fuga"], [member="Dune Rhur"], [member="Honos Strakh"], [member="Lan Graendal"], [member="Alice Tal'verda"]
Enemy: Still farmers
Posts: 9

As she said her name, and proceeded to point out her brother, Grace's eyes flashed wide for a moment. Tal'verda? They were the old dreadguard, right? Mandalorians with a history of fighting for whatever cause they believed in, and nothing else. If they were part of the enclave, then maybe the enclave would be mandalorian. At least, from her limited knowledge of their culture. She may or may not have slept through Mandalorian History and culture class.

"Dominion leadership thought I could help with the negotiations out here." A short exhale escaped her, the snort punctuating her words. "But the Jedi can cover that on his own, apparently. No need for some brutish sith to be involved." Her eyes rolled, jaw clenching as she spoke. As she climbed the ramp, only one word escaped her. "You?"

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Location: Trian
Objective: 4
Allies: Dominion
Enemies: Unknown
Post: 18/38

"Looks like the trip is over: time to return back to the spaceport construction site!"

"Thank you for this trip deeper inside the refugee colony"

With that said, Dunames was brought back to the spaceport construction and away from the colony. That was a massive project, for which Star Tours offered to pay for the spaceport, but ouch. What else would Star Tours be on the hook for, if the colony fails? What else would Star Tours have to do to ensure that the colony won't fail? But at least the spaceport was advancing at a pretty nice rate so that, in two to three weeks, it will open its doors.

 

[Alice Tal'verda]

Post: 4
Objective: 2

"Credits, the brass will pay well for anyone with good skills, that, and someone has to keep Zaz from getting into too much trouble."

Alice finished the start up sequence and brought the fighter up into the air, the boards were green all across and Gate gave her a sweeping course to follow that would take them passed all the villages in the least amount of time.

"Hey give that turret a swing around back there, no need to shoot, I just need you to make sure the locks disengaged properly. Once you get that done Gate's gonna put a map on your screen, it's got all the villages and our flight path on it, first one's coming up in two minutes."

Alice always felt better behind the stick than on the ground, up in the sky you had a commanding view of anything going on, sure you made for a nice fat target but if you couldn't dodge AA fire you didn't deserve to be in a cockpit in the first place.

[member="Grace Darkson"]

Ordinance:
10 Ion bombs
5 Proton torpedos
2 Taim & Bak KX5 laser cannons
ArMek turreted SW-4 ion cannon