You Live In Apartment Next To Mine? I Had No Idea! [OP and Moross Diplomatic Talks]

[HK-36]

Kal'Shebbol​

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Kal'Shebbol was a major planet of the Kal'Shebbol system in the Kathol sector of Outer Rims. The planet was settled first by Twi'Lek slaves who escaped from Ryloth, ever since it's humble beginnings Kal grew into a prosperous trading center on the Triton Trade Route which continued onto the Rimma Trade Route. Since the decline of Gulag Plague the planet became the homeworld of Knights of Kal'Shebbol who allied with the Protectorate and brought their presence to the planet, making it one of the more remote border worlds. Ever since then while a strong Protectorate presence have been developed to watch over the border world, the Knights have declined, dissolving among other Protectorate sub-factions.


And now Kal would have the eyes of Galaxy upon its once more as among its rolling hills the old stronghold of the Knight of Kal'Shebbol has been chosen as the meeting point between delegations of Omega Protectorate and Moross Crusade. The citadel was prepared and decorated for the occasion of hosting the Moross leaders, a party of honor guards would wait before the landing pad designated to receive the transport from Moross, the guards were watching the pad ahead of time to make sure that nothing would go wrong, that chances of sabotage were slim to none.


As the delegation from Protectorate gathered they would be directed before the Landing Pad where they would meet with the Moross once they arrived, greet them, and then take their talks to the Grand Hall of the Citadel which was organized into a large conference room for the purpose of the meeting. To take part in the delegation HK-36 would be there as the Iron Lord, invited would also be Exarchs [member="Anya Venari"], [member="Feena Mason"], [member="Knight"], and [member="Ayden Cater"] (Depending whether in the end he decided to take seat of Exarch, FLEETCOM leader, or whether to just retire completely), Advisor [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] who also helped HK aid Moross before in their fight against the Horde, Councillor [member="Delila Castillon"], Lord Commander of Inquisition [member="Sarge Potteiger"], Prex [member="Aeron Kreelan"], and Colonel of the Pyre [member="Noah Corek"]. So more or less the major figures in the Protectorate leadership and those who HK knew and trusted both for aid and advice. Of course attending the delegation to witness the talks was completely optional as in the end the duty to oversee these talks would fall to HK himself.



[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="HK-36"], [member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

It had never been done before in over three thousand years. It was unnatural! It was not acceptable!

Or so a particularly outspoken minister had told Queen Tirathana VII when she had announced she was going to this meeting.

Never before had a Queen of Kaeshana left the planet whilst in power. The fact that only three had ever really had the opportunity didn’t matter. Tradition, order, continuity, that was what had been stressed to her.

To this the Queen had merely glanced at the forthright minister and replied, “It is acceptable if I say it is.”
A rare bit of pomposity, but the woman had annoyed Anya. It was true, she could have delegated someone else to go in her place. Someone like Aeda, [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] or any number of others. However, she wanted to go herself, not just to show her people that there was more to the galaxy than one planet, but also to grow into the role of Exarch of the Protectorate. It would do no good for the Protectorate to sit at home when her job demanded her elsewhere.

And so she was here, with HK-36, the metal demon ruling over them all. That had made the Queen smile. Sometimes it was so fun to play with the hard-line conservatives.

She of course had not come alone, but with a bodyguard of Angelii and other Eldorai warriors, and a retinue of attendants. For herself she disdained wearing any protection or weapons; this was a negotiation after all. Besides, from her hands she could summon fire hot enough to melt lead, so she was never unarmed. And so she waited, passing the time by thinking how shocked and mortified her minister would be if she saw her here….

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

The expression on Soliaels face denoted a mix of tedium, anger, and more than slight annoyance.

He stood in the back of the shuttle facing a woman nearly half his size. He did not look pleased, and his shoulders rolled slightly as he looked down at her. Soliael was dressed in a very uncomplicated set of armor that seemed to have been polished by hand. The silvery armor shone brightly, and Soliael looked quite stately within it.

“I'm not pleased by this.” Soliael said to [member="Amorella Mae"]. His orange eyes shifting slightly.

He liked the Omega Protectorate well enough, and by like it meant that he tolerated them.

Soliael had aided them on Druckenwell, having torn apart an Obsidian Knight fortress before subsequently departing. He hadn't stuck around long after that, mostly cause he hadn't wanted to die due to falling space debris. Of course that wasn't why he was ornery, that hadn't been the Protectorates fault.

No he was annoyed because of another reason.

One that Amorella was well aware of.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

An honor guard was what the Protectorate wanted, and an honor guard is what the Protectorate would get. Standing at the edge of the landing pad, clad in the grey armor that had come to denote him these past few months, Sarge scanned the sky for the dot that would indicate the approaching delegation. Sure enough, he could just barely make it out on the horizon. His gauntlet slid down to a comfortable position on the haft of his halberd, which glowed ever so faintly at his touch.

There was a reason he'd chosen to be honor guard, after all, but those reasons were his own.

Behind him stood a squad of eight of his soldiers, armored in their azure Crusader armor, bolters magclamped to thightplates. Their glowing red eye lenses cut into the space around him, the many heads tracking and scanning, keeping things on the level.

They dwarfed the soldiers they surrounded, standing as they were at nearly seven and a half feet, but Sarge stood a head above them - even if he had a more squat, tank-like appearance. "Contact approaching." He mutters into his helmet, the biotrackers of his squads suits showing a faint increase in their heart rates.

You never actually knew what was going to come off a shuttle, and that apprehension was being funneled into adrenaline just then.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"], [member="Amorella Mae"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"] (Sorry, forgot you asked to tag your writer account as well )


Meanwhile within the Kal'Shebbol Citadel,


HK was in the Grand Hall where the conference was to take place, he would look over the large table prepared for it, two rows of chairs have been set for the delegations, all the same size and shape. As much as the droid wanted to place an iron throne in there for himself to seat on he stopped himself, it was bad enough that he was a machine, he didn't wanted for it to come out that he was an egoistical machine.

"How do you think it will go?"

The machine asked one of his copies who shadowed him as his personal guards, the other droid replied,

"Unknown results to this equation, we do not know variables regarding your opinion outside of Protectorate."

The droid guard replied before adding,

"You helped Moross during Silk Asteroids, but you are a droid."


HK nodded simply, adjusting one of the chairs and brushing the table with his hand slightly to make sure it was spotless for the conference,

"I am what I am."

Machine answered,

"My deeds will wield for me."

It was natural that a synthetic being taking charge of a government would be a very unpopular event among organics, however while that may have hold outside of Protectorate it seemed the machine had supporters in majority of the planets. There was Abregado and Pyre where the droid was well known and liked for his long service and dedication to common folk, however his reputation most likely bled over into other parts of the Protectorate as he was elected into the office of Lord Protector by the Protectorate Council composed of sector and planet leaders rather than being chosen by previous Protector Cater or taking the seat through force.


Either way, it was then that he heard a message from the personnel overseeing the sensors that the shuttle was approaching and he nodded to himself, moving out to go out of the Grand Hall to join the rest of delegation, giving a slight bow to [member="Anya Venari"] as he moved to stand by her and a nod to [member="Sarge Potteiger"] should he look to him, seeming that Sarge preferred to directly participate in security detail for now.


"Well our guests are coming."

The droid muttered.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila wasn't sure what she was doing. Being a solider was a young persons game. Couldn't expect herself to continue being on the front lines and living past forty. Not that dying was an issue. Getting others killed because was too slow or too narrow minded could easily become an issue. No one should have to die because she was being a stubborn fool whilst getting shot at.


So here she was. Sitting here as a Councilor for some planet she knew almost nothing about. Delila knew the planet had some kind of odd seas. There we go, her one fact about the planet. Probably would have been best if she read a little about Yag'Dhul. Not having expected to get thrown into such a position (she had been hoping for governmental bodyguard,not so much government) the redhead was busy playing catch up.


Which left her confused as to why she was here, meeting with some wannabe Sith God people. Most likely best to keep her mouth shut and nod.

 

[Ayden Cater]

While Ayden was in attendance, both as Exarch and head of FLEETCOM, he opted to stay aboard the Spirit of Druckenwell for personal reasons, as well as security reasons. Though Kal'Shebbol was not a particularly important or well fortified world at the time it had been selected as the site for a meeting between the Protectorate and Moross Crusade, it was certainly experiencing more ship traffic than usual, given the many high profile leaders present. In the interests of keeping the peace, the Spirit of Druckenwell was the only Protectorate ship in orbit. The normal naval presence and the additional escorts were all considerably further out, near the edge of the system; close enough to jump in with only a minute delay, but far enough away to keep the Crusade leaders from feeling like they were prisoners or something.

Of course, the Crusade would have only been allow a small presence to remain in orbit with the Protectorate flagship. The rest of their escorts would have to remain at the edge of the system with the majority of the Protectorate's forces. For their part, the Protectorate ships did not have weapons powered and were keeping their profiles as non-threatening as could be. After all, this was a conference of peace, not a declaration of war. In the meantime, several squadrons were performing training drills on the far side of the Protectorate fleet, further emphasizing their want to avoid provocation. If there was a call for their aid, the ships would be ready to jump within ten seconds. All that they could do out there was wait and hope they weren't needed.

[member="HK-36"], [member="Soliael Devin Talith"], @Others

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="HK-36"]


((Just an obligatory minion post, no need to wait on me for posting))


Kaida Taldir's role during the conference was pretty simple. To a large extent it consisted of having little in terms of a role, being unobtrubsive, but watchful and vigilant. Queen Tirathana the Seventh had made the hithero unprecendeted decision to travel offworld during her reign, breaking centuries of Eldorai tradition. That no Queen before her, with the exception of her mother Tirathana the Sixth and her sister Silaqui the Third, her immediate predecessors, had had the opportunity to leave Kaeshana was besides the point.


Tradition, courtly protocol and the commandments of the sacred scriptures of Ashira were everything. Likewise it was besides the point that centuries of ancient Eldorai tradition that dated back to the reign of Tassaria the Liberator, the first Star Queen from an age when the Eldorai believed they were the only intelligent life in he Galaxy, had been unable to take into account that sentient life did not only exist beyond their homeworld, but was far superior in technology and power. Kaida was not the sort to have much respect for archaic, sultrified traditions when they had evidently proved outdated.


However, her role was not to talk. Instead she stood there in the background as protection for the Queen, part of an Angelii honour guard and security detail for the Queen. Clad in gold coloured armour and blue cloaks, which amounted to the ceremonial dress uniform of the Angelii. Face hidden behind an imposing and probably somewhat dramatic mask, obscuring her features. Then again, beneath it she was looking stoic and impassive anyway, as she did most of the times, though this writer keeps pointing it out for some reason. Her lightsabre was attached to her belt and she had a bolt pistol strapped to her thigh.

 

[Nameless Knight]

[member="HK-36"]

Knight received the invite, she had been surprised and standing up from behind her desk on Thyferra she was moving quickly to take the ship up to the Nirvana while shifting her clothing into something more appealing then a slightly baggy business suit. Robes and clean shirt that would allow her to blend in or at least look the part. Her people that she worked with here, not the protectorate at large knew she was more easy going and it was casual work days with only the very pressing things needing to be done right away. They were high in spirit and moral on the planet and office in general. So arriving on the Nirvana and setting the course to go and join HK left her cleaning herself up as even shapshifters needed to wash.

 

[Ereza]

Standing in practiced calm silence, Amorella did not immediately respond to the man. There was something to be said about his anger that grew from the knowledge of his heritage. Without wishing to antagonize him further with any offer of logic, the young woman offered only what she could in terms of comfort and solidarity; she reached out to his nearest arm and took hold of it gently. Firmly.

Her presence likely would do little to hamper his rising temper, but it remained as steadfast as always. Neglecting any concerns or doubts she held regarding the recent departure of a specific someone from their company, the Morossi leader did her utmost to maintain her collection. She had his memories at her disposal, she had his support to act upon. Whatever outcome they may see today, it would be guided by the knowledge she now held and the assurance that it was and would only be for the good of their people. Her family.

Landing pad now in distant view of their ship, Amore took a deep, steadying breath before reaching down to don the silver half-mask of Inari the Reviver. Her hand left his arm, lifting to pull the cowl of her white and gold robes over her head, obscuring the flash of braided red hair from view. The calming, soothing, serene presence of Inari persisted, enveloping Soliael and the remaining detachment of Crusaders and White Guard aboard the ship.

"Soon," she offered gently to Sol, looking up at him with a somber smile.

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

He looked down at her with a slight amount of rage still contained in his eye.

It was all held back by the ring of course. The slight band of silver that sat on his middle finger, the force artifact that kept him calm no matter the situation. His thumb slid along it, spinning the ring over his finger as he thought of the connection that it brought. The knowledge of that pleased him greatly, enough that for a few seconds it made him forget about the current situation.

Enough that it reminded him of something else.

Soliael reached to the small of his back, pulling out a small box.

Inside was a small bracelet with a centered Angraal crystal. Like his ring and Kira's necklace the Bracelet increased ones strength in the force, specifically in regards to healing. Soliael had made it with her in mind, using methods his father and Dissero had taught him. As the ship landed on the platform he handed her the box.

“Something I made for you.” His tone of voice made it sound like it was no issue at all, and before she could even open it Soliael had already swept onto the ramp of the ship. It wasn't that he was angry or mad with her, more with the situation. He didn't want her to take it the wrong way, but his head wasn't in the right place.

His steps took him quickly towards the Omega Protectorate delegates.

 

[Ereza]

Delicate hands closed around the box and Amore watched her kin leave the ship with growing concern. A portion of her, one that was not her own, told her not to linger on her feelings of doubt. But another, that of her own self, could not help it. Despite words of reassurance and an odd gesture or gift, she could not help but feel that somehow her presence to him was a burden. An annoyance. That it held him back from the things he truly wished would come to pass.

Amore opened the box and took several moments to behold the beautiful present.

A knot grew in her chest, hard and painful.

"What a beautiful gift to my Aesir, your brother is truly kind," spoke one of her White Guard, a woman judging by the voice from within the armored mask, "would you like me to assist, Bright One?"

Inari turned a glance of wilting blue to the Crusader and offered the faintest of nods.

"It would be my honor," gloves removed, the bracelet was gently fitted around her wrist, filling the Reviver with a renewed sense of calm. Reminding her of her purpose.


Moments later Inari emerged from the ship flanked by the elite White Guard, bright aura of calm spilling out onto the pad and walkway. She moved quietly, fluidly, to catch up with Neth before coming to a halt at the front of [member="HK-36"] and his delegates.

"Greetings, Lord Protector and Honorable Protectorate Representatives. Thank you for your invitation," her voice was gentle, unassuming, but clear enough to be heard and understood when given the proper attention. It was best for her to assume the voice of the Crusade for now, lest Soliael's temper get the best of him. A warm, gentle smile was given to those present before she turned her own attention fully upon HK, "I do believe last we spoke you wore a different title. Congratulations on your advancement. If your party is ready, please lead the way."

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]
[member="Sarge Potteiger"]
[member="Knight"]
[member="Kaida Taldir"]
[member="Ayden Cater"]
[member="Delila Castillon"]
[member="Anya Venari"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Sarge and his seven and a half feet of starship hull made into human form felt his gauntlet tighten around his halberd as the delegation stepped out. Behind him in two orderly columns was Squad Venten, bolters held at low ready. Sarge gave the pair a long, considering look, and then inclined his squat helmet in a quiet, deferential greeting.

There was nothing to say.

He was just here as a formality.

[member="Amorella Mae"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[HK-36]

As the Moross delegation came forth from the transport's ramp, the droid would click his heels at attention, giving a deep bow of greeting to [member="Amorella Mae"] and [member="Soliael Devin Talith"] when they came before him and his delegation,

"Greetings, Aesir of the Moross, and thank you in turn for accepting our invitation, our meeting is a bit overdue if I may say so myself. At least official meeting."

After all, they were allies in a couple of battles by now. He would turn to motion to his delegates then,

"Taking part in the meeting will be my Protectorate Council, Lady Exarch [member="Knight"] of Thyferra, Lord Exarch [member="Ayden Cater"] of Corellia, Queen Exarch [member="Anya Venari"] of Kaeshana, and Lady Councillor [member="Delila Castillon"] of Yag'Dhul."

Introducing each of them and their ranks before looking back to the Moross representatives,

"Major sector representatives of our territory. Also, to show you our Protectorate hospitality, I have brought a couple of gifts from Abregado, fashioned by native craftsmen who wished for me to pass them to you,"

Looking back to a couple of his masked Greycloak droid guards he would give out a beep in a binary, they would come to them from their position at their Iron Lord's flanks, each holding a velvet pillow with a gift settled on it.



To Amorella a dreamcatcher fashioned out of an oval shape wrapped in a soft woolen string would be presented. Net woven from preserved reed fibers found at banks of Abregado's rivers and canals would be in the middle, the string wrapped around the central oval object would be cyan, equally vibrant and colorful long feathers would adorn the dreamcatcher and its three tails,

"This is what Gados call La'cczasnov, a Dream Sifter, it is made from an eyehole cut from skull of Leovi, large winged beasts that circle hills and mountains on Abregado, it is decorated with the feathers of Leovi who was slain during the hunt and Nocur sacrificed during Spring Equinox to bring plentiful harvest. They are used since ancient times by Gados Force-users as a focal point during meditating, they begun as wards for the wandering consciousness of shamans who first trained in ways of the Force on Abregado, summoning spirits of the strong Nocur to keep daemons at bay from their meditating body, and the swift and watchful Leovi to keep sentry over their mind while it wanders in dreams caused by meditation."

HK would describe the trinket,


To Soliael was presented a golden outer casing of a lightsaber hilt, split in half,

"This is a newer Gados invention on the other hand, Electrite, a mix of golden Electrum found on Abregado and the Graphite I taught them to spin from Graphene. Placed over a lightsaber hilt it will show mastery of the Force as ancient Jedi did with lightsaber hilts made from Electrum, however, unlike Electrum it is strong enough to withstand blows from another lightsaber, making disarming maneuvers much more difficult to execute on those who wield those hilts."

As he described the hilt and finished presenting them with the gifts a small hoverbot with a build-in camera would hover nearby the platform where their initial exchange took place, safe to say this event, or at least this part of it was being televised.


HK would slightly motion to the hover-camera, making sure the Moross representatives were aware of it, muttering to them quietly, just enough for them to hear,

"Do not worry, once we will go inside we will be off of public's eyes, only initial conversation here is being televised."

Of course they should already know it from a notification Omega's PR department would send to them, but the droid wanted to make sure in case somebody dropped the ball on that one.


"What you call an advancement I claim to be delay to my retirement."

The machine quipped to Amorella, giving her a dip of his head,

"But thank you, and congratulations on successful war against the Horde, we have encountered their remnants nearby our territories very recently, actually, made sure they were dealt with completely. We can speak more inside."


And finally he would gesture to the doors leading into the Citadel where the meeting would take place,

"And speaking of which, yes, let us continue this inside."


Omega Protectorate delegation would be first to go inside, then ideally followed by the Moross delegation, and then by guards like [member="Sarge Potteiger"] or [member="Kaida Taldir"], although knowing those two they would go wherever they want to.

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="HK-36"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Soliael Devin Talith"] | [member="Amorella Mae"]

The Queen watched HK’s efforts with a good deal of amusement. He was indeed a rather strange sort, a droid which acted like a sentient. Perhaps he was proof that droids and organics were closer together than many thought.
Or perhaps ‘he’ was simply the anomaly.

Following them, she got a good look at the two Aesir, the ‘Gods’ of Moross. Being (supposedly) part divine herself, the Queen wondered if they really believed in their divine status or whether it was window dressing for their people. A lie, like hers was.
Perhaps though the Moross were more regal and godlike than most of the Eldorai queens had been, but even so….

These musings complete, this writer submits this post, if only to stop Kaida’s writer bugging them about it.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

[member="HK-36"] [member="Amorella Mae"] @The Rest of you guys

Soliael reached out and took the gift with some care.

It was a thoughtful one, or about as thoughtful as one could be with a supposed God. It made him feel rather silly because as far as he knew they didn't bring gifts in return. Perhaps he could fashion something for the automaton with the use of Mechu-Deru real quick, he was a droid after all. That idea was quickly rejected in favor of seeing what Amore would do.

As he took the hilt with two hands some of his anger faded away.

It was unlikely that he would actually use the thing, mostly because his current one had been made by Kira, and he cherished that above all, but the gift was still a good one, and Soliael found himself somewhat pleased overall.

“Thank you Lord Protector.” His voice was not at all muffled by the ominous mask on his face. “It is a pleasure to be here.”

Carefully chosen words were spoken, he would allow Amorella to do most of the talking.

He cast a glance at the finely crafted lightsaber hilt before handing it off to one of the guards that followed along with them. Such a thing was custom, and Soliael didn't exactly want to carry the thing this whole time. He understood the need for ceremony, but there was a time and place for everything.

Soliael was not much for conversation, he was the observer after all.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="HK-36"]


This one can always take over from Anya's writer. And turn Kaeshana into a Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. Presumably this writer would get annoyed with actual leadership fast because then they'd * gasp * actually have to be nice to people! Perhaps even make tech subs instead of outsourcing them.



Anyhow, Kaida followed her Queen and the 'Metal Demon' into the conference room, taking up position. Unobtrusive, silent, ever vigilant. Her helmet briefly inclined in a deferential greeting as the Aesir entered, but nothing more. There was nothing for someone of her station to say at this juncture. Something she was perfectly fine with because she was the exact opposite of sociable. This one thinks Kaida really needs to get more. She did get the chance to have a look at the so called Moross 'Gods' though. Another case of religion being opiate for the masses. Kaida had grown up in the belief that the Eldorai Star Queen was semi-divine, the high priestess of the Great Goddess Ashira.


That was before she became privy to revelations about the truth of her people's origins and was driven from her homeworld as a heretic, which enabled her to see the Galaxy and discard such illusions. It had also ended up turning her into a fierce atheist...but she had learned to compromise with Kaeshana's theocracy. Despite a strong urge to shoot most of the Old Guard. Besides, she had regular dealings with Siobhan Kerrigan, who half the time acted like she thought she was a goddess. A tremendously annoying, pompous, oversexed one.

 

[Ereza]

Inari did not reach to touch or pick up the proffered gift, but studied it from where she stood, a pleasant expression for what could be seen of her face. Blue eyes calmly took in the detail and master craftwork of the item, pondering the curios perceptiveness behind the intent of it. Nevertheless, she offered [member="HK-36"] a gentle word of gratitude, motioned for her foreward White Guard to take the gift and followed the Protectorate entourage in.

The hover-camera's were paid no attention at all, an ode to the experiences of her youth at home. A life constantly under surveillance and scrutiny by the masses.

Once inside, with seats being taken, Inari moved to claim her own beside her brother Aesir.

"The Horde has proven to be a most persistent infection of our growing sphere of influence," she remarked, "they continue to appear from the shadows of every new world we visit, remnants fleeing once their battle is lost. They have shown no great amount of courage now that their Overlord has left them, so it is no surprise that you see scatterings of their numbers at your boarders. For that I can only apologize - but our mission to cleanse their old bases is quickly coming to completion."

[member="Soliael Devin Talith"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="Kaida Taldir"],


Moving inside the Citadel the droid would take a seat in the middle of the designated Protectorate side of the table, Anya most likely would be allowed to sit at one of his sides as she was an Exarch while Kaida could keep being stoic in the background. Others would be able to take their appropriate seats as well, of course.

"Pleasure is ours, I am sure."

The droid responded to [member="Soliael Devin Talith"], before settling in his seat,

"I hope this will be first in a long strain of positive relations between our nations. And now that we are off the public's view-"

The machine referred to the fact the flying cameras did not followed them into the building, staying outside instead,

"If I may say so, you look much better when within atmosphere without me needing to fish you out."

HK quipped, referencing to the climax of Silken Asteroids when he needed to send his copies in a stealth transport and pick Soliael up from the vacuum of space.


He would look to [member="Amorella Mae"] then, nodding at her words,

"The Horde are not only your responsibility for I fought Dredge and his goons as well on Silken Asteroids, and I made sure he remembers me. The word of me capturing his Dread Lord and mocking him by renaming it to the Dancing Queen reached him, I made sure of it. But we did encounter him very recently, responding to a distress signal from Kaltes send by Jedi for some reason. Dredge was there with a Vong fleet conducting a genocide on the planet, seemingly using the Force to do so. He fled once we arrived with few fleets, one of our Generals have received the distress message at the same time as I did when I was on patrol of the borders."

Of course the mentioned general was [member="Sarge Potteiger"] present there,

"I was able to track him to system of Kaalonia where he made his landing, using the natives there as human shields against our attempt to arrest him. But what was more distressing is that parties from the Confederacy, or whatever bloody chaos they call themselves now. Is it Abregado Supremacy Acknowledgement?"
The machine would look to one of the nearby datapads to check on what their name was at the time,

"Albrion System Authority, I was close. Either way-"

Insane droid would look back to the Moross party,

"They send a fleet to support Dredge, system of Oberon right by your borders sent a party as well. This may be a far shot but if they are providing aid to Dredge and remnants of the Horde, the Moross and Protectorate may be their next targets, Dredge has a grudge against us already as I foiled him in battles after Asteroids myself, and you led campaign against Horde's territories. I believe he may now have backing of a major power neighboring us both to conduct his vengeance."


HK would just put that out on the table for now.

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="HK-36"] | Soliael Devin Talith | [member="Amorella Mae"] | [member="Kaida Taldir"]

The Queen listened to the negotiations between the different parties. In truth she still had little to say, as she was a junior Exarch. HK was running the show…a droid.

The Vong, the Horde, these groups sounded not unlike the Dashdae Eldorai, or Dark Eldorai. They wanted to overthrow the Matriarchy and implement a ‘pure’ government and rid Ashira of her proper place as chief Goddess. Of course, it was more complex than that, and the Dark Eldorai included a myriad of different and competing groups under a broad general banner. Some wanted a mageocracy, some a military dictatorship, some wanted equal male rights, others a Republic. Yet they were all lumped together as Dark Eldorai, a name which automatically prejudiced opinion.

Certainly Dredge and his Horde had been dangerous psychopaths, but she began to wonder whether the Horde was really that extensive. ‘Clearing out Horde remnants’ was a great excuse for all sides to take action in an area. They were an enemy both abominable and still feared, so made a perfect scapegoat. In that at least they were like the Dark Eldorai, a threat her mother had used as a pretext for many otherwise unthinkable actions. So far Anya had resisted that urge, but it was always there.

As she sat she wondered how the people of these worlds would feel knowing they were being divvied up like trading cards. How would she have felt if Kaeshana was being bargained around for favours?

She kept a stony silence, trying to watch and take in everything. Speaking was not her place, and it was likely a good thing in any case. She might say the wrong thing. She might tell them that secret annexations rarely went well. She stayed silent.