Session export: Clan Taldryan: A Night at the Playground.

In a booth in the far middle area of the bar sat the furry form of Teebu Nyrrire, adorned in his typical white uniform. On the table in front of him sat roughly half a dozen datapads, each detailing specific schematical details of a Taldryan fleet ship updating in real-time as the final rounds of diagnostics were conducted.

Also in front of him was roughly the same equivalent as the datapads, but in bottles of Gammorean Ale. As he sat a freshly empty glass down with his left hand, he eyeballed the datapad in his right with the updated details on the Antioch.

Full overhaul of engine systems, replacement of engines 2 and 3, extensive repairs for forward decks 14 through 28 due to tractor beam projector energy backfeed that blew the electrical systems on those decks. Reactor core successfully shut down, but restart not recommended due to severe instability. Gonna cost more just to fix it than to scrap and get a new capital ship….

He sighed and filled the glass with the remainder of yet another bottle with his left hand, before taking hold of said glass and bringing it to his lips again.

And the Orthanc…cracks down it’s vertical brace line, one wrong hyperspace jump and its back will break. Most likely going to also have to be scrapped. That Ascension-class really did a number on it.

Dasha was off to a far, dark corner with a few datapads of the City and what seems to be research.

In one of the tablets was the plans of a new and more robust electrical and communication backbone for the City with stations for electrical generators. Many of these pass by the original system. Of course there would be a Dasha flair of cameras and sensors in these new service tunnels for monitoring.

Of course another was her tracking a new shipment of glitter due to her using her entire supply on the monstrosities.

A plate of crispy bacon and a glass of juice sat beside the Sephi as she worked; as she worked, she munched.

Ilvicar entered into the bustling and lively main bar area of The Playground with zero actual flair, the bumping music of the establishment almost immediately getting his head bobbing - though he was able to resist the catchy tunes emanating from all corners, at least for now. He had heard of The Playground through the Regent and the Mandalorians musings that it was the be-all of Port Kasiya’s nightlife, and made the journey from Mattock Station to see what all the hubbub was about. He too was garbed in a white Imperial uniform, a rank plaque with four blue squares accompanied by one red square attached to the left breast of the attire. He stepped forward further into the establishment, subconsciously gathering information on the people present and categorizing it accordingly as his white cape flowed behind him loosely during his stride.

Taking a seat at one of the many tables, preferably one with no other patrons, the Echani ever so cautiously and casually confirmed that the blaster holder on his leg was strapped correctly and lightsaber hilt was pushed somewhat off to the side so he could sit comfortably.

For the first minute or two he didn’t order anything, before calling over a server - whether it was an attractive Twi'lek or Droid, proceeding to order one of their finest alcoholic beverages and waiting patiently for its arrival.

At beginningof the day the bar’s regular staff had hung signs at the door on the pedestrian walk way informing regular customers that today the establishment was rented out for a special event. Bar tenders and staff rearranged the tables into a more formal arrangement, placing them more closely together to encourage engagement and increase the percieved energy of the event. They put out the nice place settings reserved for these occassions, rarely entrusted to the regular patrons, and arranged the seating so that when the distinguished guests began arriving they’d find their places easily by way of a paper card with their name.

When the doors did open it was not a flood of attendees, to begin. A few patrons, who might have been regulars on a normal business day anyhow, arrived punctually and attended to personal work or hobbies until the celebrations began to kick off in earnest. Shanree was a military man and firmly believed in punctuality; if the invitation said be there at 1900, he would be there ten minutes early ready to go. Zakai however was the son of two master schemers, one of whom was a widely known and highly regarded courtesan and the other had been known as something of a spider, and weaver of ploys. It was for this reason that the Master and Apprentice duo arrived not at the invitation’s requested 1900 in the evening, or even fashionable traste’s thirty minutes wait. They arrived at 2030, and sure to be noticed coming in well after most people had already ordered their first courses and the more dedicated were already well on their way to innebriation. There was nothing like the end of a war to bring people together and let them loose

Shanree wore a nicely tailored suit of black on white, a simple lapel pin distinguishing him as an old Alliance Soldier– something of a gamble in the company of ex-Imperials and mercenaries. He was proud of what he’d fought for and accomplished in his life and didn’t give a wampa’s-ass what anyone else thought, particularlly if they had been an Imperial. Zakai wore robes still but more formal and fashionable than the two-piece than he wore daily. Shanree hadn’t noticed, or at least hadn’t said anything, but Zakai had adorned himself with some trendy jewelry and affectations as though he was looking to catch someone’s eye that night.

“They seated us apart”, Zakai told his sightless Master as they approached what they’d thought to be their table. Shanree’s face bunched, irritated he’d be on his own that night. He had no eyes and for all his ability to see through the Force, it never hurt to have a Seeing-Eye Boy around to read place settings and clue him into the subtlties his Force Sight lacked the ability to distinguish, “Great. Where are you?” Zakai tried to hide the excitement from his voice but it bled through the Force to Shanree’s perception easily enough, “Umm, I guess I’m over there next to Jala and Crys.”

Shanree had told the boy when he had taken him on as Apprentice that he needed Zakai’s undivded attention and that had meant ,at the time, that Zakai had been forced to break off his budding puppy-love courtship with the Sephi girl. Zakai had agreed to his Master’s prerequisite demand and made every motion of doing as asked. Somehow though Zakai managed, on the few occassions they returned to Clan space, to find ways to spend time with and in the vacinity of the girl. Soon enough, Shanree was sitting at a table largely populated by strangers, and Zakai was having a laughing-good time among people he genuinely missed. Crysenia, something of a big sister and rolemodel to the aspiring pilot and adventuer Zakai, and Jala seemed happy enough to see the boy at their table and were making him very welcome.

A Lasat followed after them, dressed in dark blue and red lines and a stylised bird on his chest. He glanced around the bar and shook his head slightly, wondering why he got here anyway. Aylin said it was a fun place to go to, but he was having doubts now.

At one of the tables, Aylin was waving wildly towards him so that he would notice here, “Hey!”

Vrakit quickly went over towards her, “Good to see you.”

“I’m glad you decided to join us here,” the Nautolan said with a bright grin.

Ilvicar Sephtis’ carefully ordered drink arrived just as the two Mandalorians and their accompaniment arrived in the room, delicately lifting the almost overfull amber glass to his lips as he studied their entrance and follow-up movements intently. The Echani noticed the establishment was beginning to become more lively, just as Zxyl had promised it eventually would.

Finishing his drink rather quickly, the former Inquisitor quickly glanced down at his pristine uniform to make sure that was indeed still the case. It was, and he returned to studying The Playground’s patrons.

The Regent of the Brotherhood had instructed him to be on his best behaviour on this assignment, which was to gauge Taldryan’s overall status as a clan and its members’ emotions following the assault on the moon by the collective forces of the Children of Mortis. An assignment that was perfect for the former Imperial Security Bureau Inspector General, even if he was specifically asked not to rip people’s emotions and thoughts from their minds and instead use his knowledge in Kinetic Communication and Kinesics. A pity, but one he’d abide by. This was, afterall, a direct order he’d been given by the Regent himself.

Teebu continued looking at the datapad, with a dejected sigh. The Indomitable was unsalvageable at this stage, already having its systems critically damaged in the fight with the Ascendant-class Destroyer, but the backfeed from 4 blown tractor beam projectors didnt help the matter any. Over half the electrical relays were shot, two of the engines were complete losses, and the overheating from the underside thrusters fried most of those in addition to severely damaging the interior casings inside the armor plating around them.

“Another, please.” he casually said to one of the two Death Troopers that flanked his booth. The one to the left nodded and progressed towards the bar.

Vodo sat across from Teebu, arms crossed. “I told you pushing the ships that hard wasn’t a good idea.”

“If we hadn’t, the outcome would have been far more cataclysmic.” The Ewok replied quietly as if he were talking to himself. “Seitia Prime has already agreed to contibute towards getting our fleet back on its feet, as has Berrol’s Donn. Granted they want trade investments in return…it significantly lowers our capital cost.”

“Berrol’s agreed to it? That surprises me…their New Republic Commander is a hardass. And you being former Imperial..” Vodo continued, a great surprise in his voice. “Appius negotiated that one, didn’t he?”

Teebu nodded as the Death Trooper returned, and sat a fresh bottle on the table. “And your boy is here. I can sense him.”

Vodo raised an eyebrow. “You can…sense him? How? You arent force sensitive like I a-…oh.”

It was then that it clicked, and he understood. It was his own connection to both the boy, and Teebu, that enabled it. That same connection which was continuing to cause problems.

A very tall and heavily armored Mandalorian fella entered the club. His heavy Mandalorian armor looking like it was mixed in with phase II clone armor, with that classic bright white and red trim. His helmet’s brow was plated in gold around the circumference, looking like a halo. On the right side of his breast plate were three slashes and on the left was a crest of a candle with wings. After a slow scan of the area, he made his way over to the bar, taking off his helmet and putting it under his right arm. His auburn hair looking very unkept, along with a scraggly beard. Very dark bags had formed under his eyes and he looked as if a smile had never crossed his face in a lifetime.

“There he was, over the shoulder of Stalker 2 ready to pounce and make the kill. He didn’t see me though”, Zakai animatedly displayed the relative positions of all the starfighters involved in the recent battle, “I was over his shoulder, in tight where he couldn’t see me. I banked down on top of him, ions and blasters, and POOF!”

<@77213354619318272> excitedly jumped in her seat, “How many did you get? Three? Four?”

<@106586269328412672> rolled her eyes at the question, but also at the braggadocio in the boy’s enthusiasm, but smiled proudly anyway when Zakai replied, “Gun cam confirms four, I’m pretty sure it was six though.”

With that Crysenia stood with her drink, “Let me know when you’ve got a couple capships stenciled next to your name, kiddo. I have to go have a talk with a woman about a thing.”

With that Captain Orainn departed the table leaving Zakai and Jala not exactly alone, there were other distinguished guests and diners at the table, but no one else was paying them any attention. Zakai waited patiently, with a knowing smile on his youthful lips, until he was sure no one was paying them any mind at all, “We need to talk”.

The Sephi girl raised an eyebrow attractively, “Oh? Are you going to pick the place or should I?”

Zakai bit his lip as his heart rate spiked momentarily, “Uhh, it’s actually this other thing… Come with me, I’ll tell you.”

Confused but interested, Jala rose from her seat, following Zakai’s lead, and together they left the table, “You remember giving me back my Father’s ring?”

“Of course, it was about the last time we saw each other before Shanree dragged you off into the Unknown Regions”, she said matter of factly, intentionally trying to push his buttons.

It worked and Zakai’s face turned a redder shade under his blush, “I– well– yeah. Anyways… I threw the Ring away, I couldn’t bear holding it. I threw it over the edge of the balustrade and never looked back.”

“Okay…” Jala continued walking beside them, curiously watching the half-Hapan, half-Twi’lek boy whose face was becoming dangerously handsome as he nodded politely and exchanged subtle acknowledgements with Clan dignitaries who all seemed to know him one way or another, “What’s the problem?”

The joy and enthusiasm that had been worn on his face all night was suddenly replaced, just for her benefit, to a mask of worry and fear, “I don’t think it stayed lost.”

“Oh, well it is a small world. Maybe it was smelted down or something. I thought I saw it somewhere again but I forgot…” Dasha shrugged and then sipped at her drink, “erm… what do you like? I could never figure out what to get you…”

The Sephi blushed and looked at her datapad to check on the tracking updates of her shipments of inbound supplies due to how much of it was used in the battle.

An ear slightly drooped as she looked at the updates of the sites of the tarentateks. Teebu had set her on keeping an eye on the “cleanup” tasks due to one of her misfired mortars had hit an important Taldryan outpost in the City.

Ilvicar in particular paid attention to a young Twi'leki boy and his Sephi comrade as the theatrical entrance ended and fanfare returned to levels before the entrance, ordering himself another round as he made quick work of the one before him. The Echani was nigh able to hear the words they were saying, but able to discern the boy’s concern and worry through his facial expressions and way in which he moved his body. It was for the most part subtle, not giving too much away to those untrained in the same arts as he - but throughout his Imperial career in the Bureau, reading people’s emotions and thoughts through physical movement and cues had become his passion and forte.

Something had the boy rattled, and curiosity had caught the August’s attention by storm, so much so that Sephtis forewent additional study of the clan’s other patrons in the establishment and one of the primary purposes of his task - to assess Taldryan’s readiness following the heavy onslaught by the Children of Mortis’ unique forces, the likes of which the Brotherhood had never seen - and negotiate firm pricing with the Taldryan Consul on use of Arx Capital Exchange’s massive resources to rebuild on behalf of the Regent and the Council as a whole.

The boy’s companion seemed rather unphased by whatever he had told her, The Echani had to know more, but his intuition told him his curiosity would be sated shortly and not to interfere or deliberately seek additional information by intervening in the conversation.

Slipping through the bar’s threshold gave the pained girl no reprieve, her staggering gait was followed rapidly by a much taller Falleen.

“You should be in medical care not strolling into a bar.” He called after Aay'han with an uncanny ability to not raise his voice and yet garner attention nonetheless from the room at large.

“I’m stable.” Aay'han waved back with a grimace as another pang of pain assailed her joints and ligaments.

“You should be resting.” Though he continued the protests he was enough of a gentleman to get her propped against the bar before her legs gave out under her.

Baring her weight down against the bar top with her forearm she motioned a bartender over hurriedly.

“Give me the bottle and two glasses.” With pale fingers she gestured to a bottle. “I don’t want to walk back and forth.” Handing over the chit she didn’t even bother asking him the price.

The Bar-keep was polite enough to hold his tongue and not tell her she looked barely able to crawl to it, never mind walk. With practised obedience he passed the requested items but only after the payment cleared.

“Be a Gent, carry those for me, please Juhist.” The unusual politeness was a tad startling for him, he obeyed out of shock more than willingness.

“Osik, you must be shabla to be so nice.” Without much protest he obeyed, holding out his forearm for her to bear some of her weight on him.

The more astute of the Clan members in the room would note that she seemed to have had a drastic growth spurt since the city had been retaken by Clan Taldryan.

Teebu’s datapad lit up with a brief yellow flash, a timer in the upper corner hitting zero. He dismissed it and glanced over at Vodo who was standing near to Zakai and Dasha with his arms crossed listening to them.

The Ewok couldnt hear the conversation himself, but could sense from Vodo that something was wrong. That there was going to be trouble. Would the pathetic waste of energy make another move on him like on the bridge of the Axios?

If he dared, he would be strung up and whipped this time. The fact let him get away with it last time still surprised him. It surprised Vodo, even, who half expected him to have shock throw Zakai into the brig.

He would hear from Vodo what was going on, and make his preemptive plans at that stage. For now, he placed his datapad in his uniform and put the other datapads into a bag which he handed to one of the Death Troopers.

“Hold on to this.” he said as he began to walk towards the back of the locale, past where Zakai and Dasha sat. As he passed, he looked at Dasha and gave a soft nod with a slight smile, and then a familiar look of scorn towards the waste of space that was Zakai before continuing towards Appius, Raist, and Tracinya.

Zakai watched the Ewok admiral walk passed, their two pairs of eyes locking with unhidden animosity, but returned to his conversation with Jala once the creature had moved out of earshot, “You don’t have to get me anything, you’re all I think about most of the time…”

The two awkwards adolescents carefully avoided eye contact for a moment, but stole a pecking kiss when their eyes met eventually. Jala smiled pleasantly and Zakai took a moment to shake the stars from his eyes, “I– ahem”

Jala touched his arm and led them to the front of the line at the bar, “two of those, the blue things”

The bartender nodded and poured them two glasses which they took up and continued walking. Zakai leaned over to whisper to her, “Seriously though. The Grand Admiral has Vodo’s ring. I not only saw it when I was on the Axios– I felt him, my Father, there. It was like he was on the bridge with us, I could have sworn”.

She looked with concern at the boy on her arm, “He’s dead though, Zakai. Almost two years now.”

“I know but the Force works in mysterious ways, and my Father meddled with powers and artifacts few others dared. I think he found a way to survive death”, Zakai lead his date to a small alcove free of other guests, “like this.”

He produced a small stone and crystal figurine from a pocket. It was clearly very old, most of its distinct features had long since been worn and rubbed off, but there was a mess of freshly soldered wires, chips, and a dataplug. Jala curiously reached for it and took it from Zakai when it placed it in her hand to examine, “What is this?”

One of the fine bartenders finally approached the red haired man sitting at the bar. “You, good sir, look like you could use a drink.”

“You have no idea.” Koda sighed, “I need something to relax. Heavily.”

“Well sounds like you could go for something on the stronger side, how about some Jet Juice?”

“Does it taste good? Or is it going to taste like fuel?”

“I can make it taste good. I make everything taste good.” The bartender winked “Coming right up.”

Koda rolled his eyes as the bartender slipped away to make him a drink. “Hopefully this is something to get your mind off of things, Guardian.” He mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes and fighting his fatigue.

Dasha tried to steal a few glances at Teebu to see if he was indeed wearing a ring though the punt-sized furball at their distance does not exactly make it easy for her to see anything.

She inspected the mess of wires and tried to somewhat untangle it all before she realized that it connected the various parts together in some way shape or form.

Zakai ( <@494180472713248788> ) waited patiently and sipped at his blue drink when Dasha decided to just plug it into a burner datapad and ask, “so what is this supposed to do?”

An ear twitched and she looked over at a pair ( <@359063763736854538> ) after the Falleen had spoken. Immediately, her slender Sephi ears flattened onto the side of her head as she visibly stiffened. Concerned, the apprentice looked between his crush and whatever she was looking at, “Are… you alright?”

Dasha hissed lowly, “Falleen. I don’t like Falleens.” It wouldn’t take much for any nearby force sensitives and even some insensitive to sense some form of aggression building from someone by the bar.

Secluded, temporarily, as they were in the alcove Zakai scanned the room and quickly identified the Faleen in question. His stunted lekku twitched in mild-irritation; his mother had had several long term clients who were Falleen and despite their ability to influence others, particularly to enamor themselves to others, they had never impressed him. He looked back at Jala with concern.

“Hey, I need you to focus okay?”, he cupped her hand, which still held the figurine, “Here’s what I think it does.”

——————-

Shanree sat uncomfortably at his assigned seat at his assigned table. Large spaces filled with people he didn’t know made him nervous, it put a lot of stress on his mind and his ability to both perceive and not at the same time. He was a Miralkua, he had no eyes, yet through some miracle of the Force he had sight of a sort. It was not precisely analog to vision as Human or Twi’lek knew it, though he could identify objects with a presence in the Force easily enough. The trouble came that everything with a presence in the Force tried to speak to him, tried to get him to notice it among all things, all at once.

“How’re you enjoying the soup?”

Shanree emerged himself out of a sort of meditation and attended to the person, seated beside him, who had shaken him from his inner reclusion, “Yes, very much. Nicer than anything the Alliance Army made me.”

The other person chuckled appropriately but then led into a new line of conversation, much to Shanree’s dismay, “I see you’re a Jedi of some sort. Which philosophy do you subscribe to, if I may ask?”

“Philosophy?” Shanree asked not so confused as lightly-indignant, “I adhere to the school of don’t be a poodoo to everyone around you.”

That was clearly not the answer his neighbor had been looking for and he could feel the man’s deflation. This was as good a time as any to attend to the necessities of life, so he stood and made a pleasant excuse, and left the table. He wasn’t blind, Shanree could navigate the crowd well enough, but without Zakai there to cut through the crowd for him he was left to pick and choose a way through. He was most of the way to the hallway to the lavatory when he felt the spike in emotional panic and his Apprentice’s just-as-quick reaction. He instinctively looked around and saw the two seated a couple meters away.

Shanree didn’t mean to eavesdrop but still managed to catch a part of what Zakai was saying, but then he was out of earshot and in the hallway, “–connect this to your tablet? Teebu–”

A deep chill of concern ran down the old soldier’s spine. Zakai had nearly attacked the Grand Admiral, during the war, aboard the Axios last he’d seen them. They’d talked about the possibility that the Ewok naval officer would be here tonight, but the boy had sworn up and down that he would be okay and that there would be no problems. Shanree had believed him, it was very hard to lie to a Miraluka, and yet had the Boy managed somehow to beguile him? Then again, he’d only heard a snippet out of context– the two lovebirds could be talking about anything, including some sort of glitter-based prank that he knew Dasha in particular was fond of. He’d keep an eye, so to speak, on them for now. No reason to come out swinging just because he’d had a few too many drinks too quickly. That was probably it, Shanree decided, he was drinking too quickly and that was why he was headed to the latrine.

——————-

“Got it?” Zakai asked.

Jala rolled the information around in her head and glanced down at her tablet, as though she could see the code and programming and was working through it, “Yeah, I think I got that. I’m going to need some time, though.”

“How much time”, his smile made her smile and he laughed when he sensed her curse inwardly at that, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you all the time you need if you’ve got some glitter laying around somewhere. I’ll go say hi to your Falleen friend while you’re busy.”

Vodo at first, was furious. Extremely furious. But…something else was welling up inside of him. Something that didn’t make sense. He was almost…afraid? He knew what Zakai and Dasha were planning, but in his current form he was unable to tell anyone except one person. And that person was the one that they were targeting.

But…where was he? This was the first time he had wandered so far from the Ewok and the ring, and though he could sense both, the main hall of the Playground had filled up with people. He strode back inside and looked around, passing through people with ease being a ghost, but did not see him.

He had to find him. They were both in grave danger.

“So, what’s the damage going to be?” Appius asked, his arms crossed. Both himself and Teebu were off in a booth on the side, out of view of the main hall. He knew how Teebu worked, and that it was going to definitely hit the Clan’s pocketbooks yet again. What he was about to hear though…he did not expect that.

Teebu handed him a datapad with a full breakdown. “Basically, almost every capital ship is scrap due to the maneuver we pulled getting that asteroid off world. The electrical relay replacement alone is astronomical due to the fused circuits allowing power to continuously transfer even once the transformers blew, but also the interior heat damage to the armor plating seals, engine overhauls, reactor damage, among other things.”

With a deep sigh, he examined the lists. The only ship without major damage from this entire ordeal was the Orthanc, but being held at a distance for emergency EMP usage again it made perfect sense. Just the overhaul and proposed upgrades to the Axios were going to cost them 247 and a half millio- “…wait. Isn’t an Imperial-II from Arx Fleet Systems only 225 million?”

“It is.”

“Then why in the kriff is this costing us more!?” he demanded, an angry tone coming out. “Just repair the ship.”

“With all respect.” Teebu started, his voice and expression saying neutral. “If our flagship alone was not enough to stand against one of the many enemy fleets that were present in this war in its current state, it needs to be upgraded.”

“Vodo would be spinning in his grave if he knew you were doing this to his ship.” Appius said, his voice calming. Little did he know however, a lot of it was decided by both Teebu and Vodo. “So adding a Starhawk-class Battleship Mark II as our new flagship…impressive armament and weaponry…everything nearly a billion credits…”

He was stopped from talking however as Teebu shook his head at him. “Not something to openly talk about while we are still in the planning stages. No clue who is listening in, given the establishment is owned by the Chancellor of Chyron.”

With a bit of effort Juhist got her to a free table. The bottle was carefully placed down. As she flung herself into the comfortable chair. 

“Help yourself.” She spoke idly, keenly aware of the eyes upon them. “Recon you’ll be wanting that drink sooner than you think.”

“Why do you always do this to me?” He huffed as he poured the glasses with the potent liquid. 

“Most of the time I get you out of trouble, remember?” As she spoke she locked eyes with the Selphi, taking her time to really appreciate who had turned their attention towards them. 

The emotions hit like waves and Aay'han soaked in the dower emotions savouring them almost as much as the spirit in her glass. It took a bit of concentration but she managed to reach out and speak into the stranger’s mind. 

No need to look like your pet pissed on the carpet. 

Idly Aay'han toyed with the glass, the sneer in her voice evident as she maintained eye contact with the stranger. 

Silently she assessed her odds, even as sore and stiff as she was, Aay'han was fairly confident she could win a fight. 

Spit out what your problem is or take it somewhere else. 

The invitation was open, Juhist had purposefully ignored what he suspected was happening in the small hope the problem would go away on its own.

The Sephi listened to Zakai enough to understand though just as he finished, Dasha’s right ear perked up as if she was hearing something. Then, she was very clearly upset now and she turned away to try to focus on the items Zakai had given to her. “No… also the Falleen’s friend seems to want a fight. I don’t have my usual gear with me.”

Her right hand slipped into her pack and pulled out 5 very small little balls. Making sure they other pair couldn’t see, she slipped them to Zakai and whispered, “Slip these somewhere inconvenient. Glass, armor, shirt, underwear… then get clear at least 3 yards out as fast as you can.” Dasha then pulled out a very small detonator plug.

“Teebu is on the other side so it won’t be an obvious detour. And there’s the bar as well, they brought out some good blue juice today.” Dasha then glanced past Aay'han, “I’ll get my end ready.”

Zakai looked at the small objects she’d given him, over to the Falleen, and then back to Jala. She had just enough time to see his smirk before he stole another kiss, stood, winked, and left to begin his mission. 

Inwardly, he focused on diminishing his presence in the Force. It wasn’t something he liked doing, it felt like stuffing your own mouth with too many socks and trying to scream. He’d learned this trick, and become quite prodigious at it, in those years he’d spent with his Father. Vodo’s dominating personality and domineering tutelage often meant the only respite he got had been those times he’d been able to hide longest as a child. It helped to be able to disappear. He was still visible to everyone around him, just blind to all but those strongest in the Force and dedicated to finding Him. Vodo had been a master of illusions and Sith magics meant to obscure and beguile others, and some of that too he learned from his Father.

Once he’d tamped-down on his presence in the Force, Zakai focused on weaving a spell around himself that never made him more interesting than a person moving in the background, or something moving out of the corner of a being’s vision. Zakai had learned this particular trick in the last year, traveling the Unknown Regions with Shanree, where they’d had to move around in crowds without drawing too much attention, having already drawn the wrong kind. It didn’t make him invisible, that skill still required too much concentration for Zakai when he was moving around a crowd, but it did make him so uninteresting that most people wouldn’t register him in their minds. It wasn’t cover, but rather a camouflage that allowed him to move and interact with the environment without drawing undue notice. Jala was the sneaky one, she could get into anywhere, but Zakai liked to think he had his own ways of getting the job done.

He took a meandering path through the crowd, making a note to avoid individuals he recognized and knew to be the sort of Force Users, or no-nonsense Normies, that couldn’t be tricked as easily. The Fleet’s admiral was easy enough to find, small as he was, next to the Consul and their respectful entrouages. He skirted that group, avoiding their attention as well, and he ignored the growing sense of uneasiness– the feeling that his Father was searching for him– that came from over there. He smiled and made polite but brief pleasantries with the people who knew him, or more like knew his Father, but he kept moving as an unconcerned and leisurely pace around the bar.

Little by little Zakai made his way towards the brash newcomers at their table. He recognized the half-Zabrak woman as one of the mercenaries that followed General Zentru’la and bore her no personal ill-will, but the first of Jala’s devices fell into one of the pockets of her overcoat as he passed. He managed to slip one into the hood laying on the Falleen man’s back as well. He left one more, wrapped in a used napkin he’d appropriated, on their table and walked off like a thoughtless teenager who hadn’t bothered to return it to his own table. For the last two, Zakai decided to roll the dice and flung the remaining two out onto the dancefloor. They bumped into the feet of partiers, were stepped on underfoot and kicked away, both ending up in odd corners up against the band stage, awaiting Jala to push their buttons.

Zakai was reintegrating himself with the crowd with a strong hand gripped his bicep and stopped him short, “What are you up to?”

The boy looked back sharply with alarm, to see his Master, Shanree, “What are you up to? I was just headed back to Jala, she has our drinks.”

Shanree pulled his Apprentice in closer and lowered his voice, “Don’t you lie to me.” The old soldier and Gray Jedi held up a small round object, very similar to one of the ones that was no longer resting up against the band stand, Zakai quickly surveyed, “That? Oh.” Force presence diminished as it was, it was still fortunate that Shanree didn’t detect the burst of relief running through Zakai, “You already made a fool of yourself onboard the Axios, do you hate your Father so much that you’d frack up your own reputation for a prank?”

“I mean… I hadn’t put that much thought into it”, Zakai tried to sound sheepish, and was relieved when the man’s grip lessened on his arm.

“You’re a grown man, just about, Zakai”, it was clear Shanree had done maybe a bit too much drinking but he was still very lucid, “You can make your own decisions, but as your Master it would behoove me to tell you what is a good idea and what is a–”

Actually growing impatient, it wasn’t hard for Zakai to play the part, “Okay, okay! I won’t pull a prank and embarrass us. I gotta go, Jala’s waiting for me”.

Except he didn’t go looking for Jala once his Master had patted him brotherly on the shoulder, and sent him back into the party. Zakai quickly scanned the bar and relocated the Consul.

Teebu noticed Appius change his gaze and climbed onto the table where they sat to look for himself.

He saw Zakai, with a…mischievous…look.

“On the Axios during the battle, he knocked out two of the bridge guards and pulled his lightsaber on me,” Teebu started as he stared at the boy. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vodo looking around anxiously, who finally managed to spot him and waved his arms frantically as he yelled.

“Get out of there!”

With a look of concern Teebu quietly spoke. “…we have to get out of here. Now.”

“What is it?” Appius asked with an air of concern.

“Now, Appius. NOW!” he yelled out, using his name for once and not his title. Because of that he knew something serious was coming. What had the boy done? And why did he attack Teebu?

His two Death Troopers heard the expressiveness in his voice and clicked their weapons to fire mode and held them at the ready to escort them out and protect them.

One of them raised his right hand to his helmet and flicked a switch by the ear. “This is DT-G46, summit guard requested at Playground immediately.”

Dasha waited a moment before she had moved over to a corner of the fireplace in the meantime fueled by local force-infused wood. Using a nearby previously-vacant table, sat the young pair’s drinks. The Sephi had set up the Blood Cauldron, that she was in charge of as Loremaster, boiling away with the cables attached and a datapad connected to the dataport.

The slicer had sliced into the Playground’s communications and systems on her usual datapad prepping for what was to come soon…

As soon as <@61385159655559168> got onto the table and saw a glimpse of Zakai, the lights went out. It was only a second later that spotlights turned on and circled the room before zooming in on the Taldryan Proconsul. When the lights met, Dasha hit the denotator and <@359063763736854538> and Yurhist’s area exploded in glitter with non-lethal mini concussion effect; the loud snap-pops emphasized ending on conversations as everyone’s attention would now be on the Ewok on the table.

A couple people would also get the glitter and mild concussion effect as they had went to varied locations such as a particular Miralkua’s hand ( <@494180472713248788> ).

<@837236610684813342> was still trying to figure out what was going on as he caught a glimpse of Zakai before the lights went out.

Flaring brightness banished both the darkness and the music after less than a second.

Falling bootsteps and banging doors preempted silence from falling.

Two dozen soldiers with rifles at the high ready stormed the room, homing in on Dasha with great alacrity.

Hard on their heels came a reedy woman - bronze skin and yellow-green eyes framed by dark cornrows and orange clan tattoos, set in a mask of cold fury.

“You thrice-karked scriptkiddie, how in tarnation did you think that was a good idea?! You’re in my net here!”

Few of the present guests had ever met Mica Vres, and none had ever seen her explode in such a fashion.

“Who, me? Must be a mix-up,” the shorter Sephi woman deflected and shuffled the datapad behind her back, but yelped when the device tore free from her grip.

Under the eyes of everybody not yet blinded or concussed, the pad flew to the top of the foyer stairs and into the hand of the Playground’s proud proprietor.

Jorm glanced at the screen and tossed the device back down to his cousin, who immediately and with enthusiasm took her activated shock baton to it. “Bloody amateur,” smack, “all tricks and no brain,” crack, “go back to dusting off cables!* Crush!

"Appius,” the Kiffar grinned down at the Mandalorian, “would you care to educate your… pet… how sabotaging the de facto Chyronite Embassy to Kasiya may cause an interplanetary incident? The kind that sees her achieve orbit without the help of a starship, that is.”

<@837236610684813342> <@77213354619318272>

The Grand Admiral’s attention was torn from the face of Zakai by the noises and flashes. The crowd was agitated in an instant and people who were sitting were now standing, people who had been standing were now looking around wildly, and those who had been dancing shuffled around unsure what to do now that the music and the lights had come down. The spot lights circled on the Admiral, highlighting him above all others in the now suddenly dark venue.

Shanree’s Force sight was not affected but his hand smarted something fierce. The little firecracker, or whatever it had been, had nearly gone off while he’d been holding it. Obviously his warning to his Apprentice had gone unheeded. He looked around frantically for the boy, hoping to intercept him before the Clan’s bigwigs did. He would certainly punish Zakai for this, but perhaps he could make sure the repercussions in a broader sense would be lessened if he showed that it was already being corrected. He identified the boy, through the crowd, and noted with sudden concern Zakai’s diminished presence in the Force. He was hiding, or at least sneaking. Shanree saw where his Apprentice was through the crowd but, more importantly, where he was headed.

Oh no, Shanree’s mind raced and he began pressing his way through the crowd, none to politely.

Zakai continued his meandering approach to where the Consul and Proconsul stood. For an instant he worried that nothing was going to go to plan when the Grand Admiral’s armed escort took on a more aggressive posture, looking about the room for the threat their boss seemed to perceive. Zakai ducked behind some people in the dark, breaking his line of sight to the diminutive fleet officer and closed his eyes hard– he focused everything he had on extinguishing his presence in the Force entirely and wrapped another layer of his visibility hex around himself. It would never be enough, he told himself, he had to go now. 

He emerged from behind a group of people close to the Proconsul who was anxiously looking this way and that, blocking the incredible glare of the house lights still focused on him. Zakai took measured but quick steps forward, closing the distance between them. He was two meters away now. A body pressed in between them as people milled around, still trying to discern what was going on with the entertainment and lights. He used his left arm to move them out of the way, ignoring their indignant protests, and continued closing. Teebu turned and saw him there, nearly on top of him, and bared his fangs in surprise and anger.

The Death Troopers were triggered in an instant, probably having seen a dossier on the spiteful little son of Vodo Biask after he nearly attacked the Admiral on board his flagship. They began to shoulder their weapons but froze in place, both ceasing to move in an instant. Zakai had only an moment to see out of the corner of his eye his Master and his outstretched arm. The old soldier had a look of profound anger and concentration on his face and Zakai could feel, through the old man’s concern, that his attention was on him– not the two body guards. No matter, what had to be done had to be done. Now. 

Zakai locked eyes with someone, or something, behind the Grand Admiral before he acted. Teebu’s hissing screech was drowned out by the sudden snap-hiss of Zakai’s emerald lightsaber popping to life. The arc of the green blade slashed vertically through the air. The Ewok put up a hand to block the strike, but instead of bisecting him entirely from head to crotch, a small furry paw tumbled to the floor. For the barest of moments the entire venue was still and silent, only to be broken by the inhuman scream of the injured Teebu. Shanree lifted the two Death Troopers into the air, pulling their carbines from their hands, and pinned them up against a wall, feet off the ground. A few frightened screams filled the room but mosty people just stood and stared at the boy and the now one-handed Proconsul standing before him.

Before anyone else could do anything Zakai walked up to where the fallen paw was, picked it up and pulled something off one of its fingers. His face was a mask of disgust and pain as he handled the small object, those who were closest could make out a ring-like shape. People were starting to shout now, much of it directed at Zakai, but he ignored all of them as he studied the ring. Setting the thing on a nearby table, ignoring the injured screeching of Teebu and the panicked yelling of people all around him, demanding he drop his lightsaber, Zakai again lifted his weapon. He brought it down with all the force he could muster and sliced the small dark ring apart. The room exploded with an inaudible crack that took the air out of the lungs of those nearest, popped the ears of those who werennot, and briefly blinded everyone watching.

In the space of a heartbeat the ring broke under the fury of Zakai’s lightsaber and fractured. His ears were filled with the noise of ceaseless screaming, voiceless rage, and unending torment. He steeled himself against what was to come. Visible only to him, it was likely, a shadow of a wraith poured from the ring. It reared up in the air, darkness wrapped in darkness, and then launched itself at the boy like a lunging animal going into for the kill. It was nearly upon him, ready to devour his soul and occupy his body as a vessel, when it suddenly vanished and without remark the noiseless pain came to a cease. The room was returned to its regular self, still recovering from Jala’s disruptions and Zakai’s attack.

Strong hands gripped his arms on both sides, someone confiscated his lightsaber and took it away, and as Zakai turned his head he saw event staff detaining his Master Shanree as well. The man looked at Zakai with dawning realization but also with concern and agitation. Once they were out of this mess, the legal issues that arose from assaulting a Clan Officer, he’d still have to extract himself from that quagmire. The road ahead would not be fun or easy, but at least the worst part was out of the way. It appeared, as he was not presently possessed by the soul of his Father, that Jala had pulled off her end, or at least the first part. 

“What in the frell do you think you were doing!?” the Consul was suddenly in his face, his features a mask of fury, “This is treason, you being a Ward of the Clan or not!” 

The Mandolorian threw his hands up in disgust and exasperation, “And you, Mr. Argentin… I– I can’t deal with this right now. Take them to the detention block, get the Admiral to the Fleet Clinic, and someone get me another drink. Something stuff.”

Appius saw that the event security were already detaining her, “All the Corellian hells…”

As the Summit Guard split with a larger portion guarding Appius now and the remainder escorting Teebu towards the front, he stopped directly next to the bar and with his good arm pulled himself into the seat and up onto the bar. He looked around the room, a smile upon his face as the Death Troopers took both Shanree and Zakai from the room. Grabbing a glass full of alcohol off of the bar, he raised it up above his head with his right hand, his left stub still

Appius stared, wondering what was about to come.

Silence filled the room, before Teebu’s eyes locked onto Jorm. “A fine show, if I can say so myself Chancellor Na'trej. I’ve got to…hand…it to you,” he said as he downed the drink in one go, holding the glass in front of him as the entire bar broke out in laughter. “Let the fun continue, intermission is over! Next round is on my personal tab.”

He threw the glass to the floor and let it shatter, the crowd of the bar erupting in cheers as Teebu gave a nod to Jorm along with a smile before he climbed down from the bar and headed towards the entrance, flanked by the summit guard. Appius was beside himself, not only had Teebu defused the tension in the playground but he gave that much more reputation to the place as well signaling that the events that just transpired were just a show. The glitter alone helped reinforce that. If anything at least, Jorm was about to make a lot of credits and future repeat patrons.

As Teebu exited, he watched as the two were loaded into a speeder and it zoomed away towards the tower. The summit guard Lieutenant bowed his head and motioned to another speeder. “We have a lambda standing nearby to take you to the Taldryan Tower, sir.”

“Very good, Lieutenant Commander.” he replied as he climbed his way into the speeder. “I want you to have Zaesti assigned as lead interrogator. Inform Doctor Krieger we are enroute as well.”

The Lieutenant bowed his head respectfully. “Yes, my lord.”

The speeder took off.

As it did, Teebu glanced around. He couldn’t feel Vodo anymore. The fact that the boy destroyed the ring…the one thing holding him here, serving as a connection. One thing he knew however, he would pay the boy back for this outrage. He would avenge his father, if it was the last thing he did.

“The threat, huh?”

Jorm tilted his head sideways and smiled down on the Consul.

“If you think that was a threat, you’re woefully out of diplomacy practice. Bashed your beskar braincase into obstructions too often recently?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, and I will continue the streak voluntarily if you don’t start speaking plainly, Chancellor or not,” Appius snapped back.

“Very well,” Jorm narrowed his eyes and leaned closer. “Your pet’s conduct earned you a friendly wake-up call. She can’t treat this life, these wars, and my business in particular like a game forever. Mica had her pegged the nanosecond she started that datapad. Dasha’s not bad, but among the slicers here today, she’s third place at best - and she pissed off the Queen B in her own net. Mica’s well within her rights to turn Dasha’s ears into gloves if you ask me.”

“Then I applaud and welcome her restraint,” the Mandalorian replied with a voice colored by forced restraint, “anything else? Or can we leave this kriffing aspect of a night going wrong behind?”

“Get that stinky pot out of here and we’re golden,” Jorm replied while pointing at the cauldron left behind, “and I told you that ring was bad news. Should whatever was hiding within decide to haunt this place, I’ll rip out the wood decor and line your bathroom with it. That is a threat.”

Ilvicar had remained mostly motionless throughout the whole ordeal, mildly surprised at just how dysfuntional the night had been. He would need to ask the Regent upon his return if this was the norm in his old clan, or just a multitude of factors colliding at once to form an uneasy situation. Finishing another drink in due time, he fired up his datapad and initiated a message to the Regent of the Brotherhood himself.

“Regent,” he began by addressing the Mandalorian by title, “I have an assessment regarding Taldryan’s readiness and stability. I have yet to discuss the necessities of the Exchange’s resources with Consul Wight.”

Get it done, came a reply via text from the Councillor, I am about to engage the Vizsla Consul directly on the matter.

The former Imperial Security Bureau Inspector General let out a silent sigh, more akin to a large exhale. From what he understood based on previous conversations with the Mandalorian from Clan Iron Beast, the Ewok that had been involved in the commotion at this establishment - who hilariously wears an Imperial Uniform of all things - was their main military man, and likely responsible for managing their military assets. How much would Consul Wight really know, even if it was his responsibility.

The Echani couldn’t zero in on those minor details, shaking them from his mind. He was assigned a job, and he would complete it. Moving from his seat to his feet, the former Inquisitor carefully made his way over to the blazing red-armored Mandalorian and approached with caution as he straightened his uniform.

“Consul Wight,” he bowed every so slightly, as he realized he was interrupting an interaction, “My name is Ilvicar Sephtis, an aide sent by the Regent. May I have a couple moments of your time?”

<@837236610684813342>

“Indeed,” the Echani concurred, drawing Appius over to an area mostly “free” from prying eyes. Before continuing, he adjusted his lightsaber and belt, “The Regent is making rounds to all of the Consuls setting in motion plans for the Exchange to assist the seven clans with whatever rebuilding or manufacturing efforts are required following this conflict with the self proclaimed Children of Mortis, as Arx Capital Exchange has seen an increase in its productive capacity and manufacturing processes in recent months. He is especially interested in the crystalline asteroids that struck each territory… He would of made the trip here himself, but Regent Bes'uliik is currently engaged in discussions elsewhere with Clan Vizsla.”

Near the edge of the district in an open section by the river, the speeder came to a stop directly next to a black lambda. With its ramp down, two Taldryan Tower guards clad in blue armor and robes stood on either side of it, waiting on him.

Slowly Teebu climbed out of the back, the summit guard Lieutenant saluting him as he did so. He strode across the pavement to the lambda, ascending the ramp with both guards following behind him. Once he was out of sight, the summit guard and the speeder took off back towards the playground.

The inside of this lambda was different than normal. Unlike traditional lambdas where the passenger compartment was open and one could access the cockpit easily, the passenger compartment was separate.

As he entered and pressed a button, a door slid shut and the sounds of the lambdas engines disappeared.

He sat down letting out a sigh, pressing a button on the armrest of his seat. Deep symphonic music started playing, similar to what would play back on Coruscant many years ago. He closed his eyes as he listened to it.

First things first. Travel to Seitia Prime, meet with the Prime Minister and accept the Starhawk from them, travel to Berrol’s Donn and negotiate parts for the Vindicators, check on the Axios’ upgrade status, and get the Decimator and Defender squads out practicing again.

Then he had to deal with…him. This was twice he acted out, and having let the first one slide, he cannot do the same again this time.

Reaching to his neck, he unclasped his uniform hook and the first several buttons as he opened the front fold letting it hang down. It was nice giving his fur a bit of extra breathing room.

Maybe he would send the boy to Orth…or assign him to a distant outpost. Better even, take him with on his next unknown regions trip to the prison colony and leave him there.

It was strange, being so quiet now. Without a familiar Twi'lek at his side chittering in his ear. Even the small inklings of his force sensitivity were fully gone again, not even able to sense the guards in the cockpit or that the lambda was even now in the air.

Regardless, the one thing Teebu know for certain was that despite all the fire around them…this was fine.

“Yes, Regent Bes'uliik mentioned as much. If you have a full status report of vessels or assets you need repaired or replaced, we could lock in some of the Exchange’s resources to assist Taldryan in its efforts to solidify it’s stability. Based on what I witnessed here tonight… Stability seems to be in short supply.”

“Excellent. That is all I was sent here to discuss with you. Thank you for your time,” the Echani concluded, giving another very slight bow before returning to his drinks.

An extremely tall, extremely buff sized person in black matte mandalorian armor sat on the far end of the bar in a booth by himself. A straw stuck out under his helmet, directly into a glass of Whyren’s Reserve. Above him floated a strange droid…a droid with red and orange markings.

Such an jnteresting place he thought to himself as he scanned the room, all but back to normal after what occured. Nothing like Eos City…that’s for sure. Zxyl was right on the money on this one. Wonder how long I’ll be assigned here before I’m allowed back.

The numbing agents were working better now and Teebu went to wipe his brow-fur with his paw, only to discover the temporarily bandaged stump of his arm and the distant charge of pain he’d induced. Oh, right, he guessed the drugs were really starting to work. It was best that he’d gotten out of the public eye before he’d shown any sort of loss of lucidness. Weakness, Vodo would have called it. Now that the pain wasn’t filling his mind and occupying his foreword thoughts, he was instead filled with fury and rage at the insolence of that brat Zakai. He mused endlessly over the things he would do to the biological son of Vodo Biask, the ways he would make the boy suffer and understand what his Father had never been able to get to stick.

The thrum of the ion engines grew in pitch, though greatly deadened by the soundproofing of the VIP cabin around him. The gentle rumble beneath his seat indicated the repulsors were powering up and soon they were airborne, destined for the MedBay. With his still good paw Teebu unclipped his comlink and laid it in the seat-side tray, he leaned back in the reclining seat and closed his eyes to ride out the short trip in peace.

That peace was disturbed by the on-going chime of an incoming transmission from his comlink. He lolled an eye over at the digital display and noted the call had no identified source. Whatever it was, he could ignore it. He ignored the transmission and closed his eyes again. The comlink chimed again though, seemingly louder somehow, but the Grand Admiral merely turned the device over, enabling its silent mode. There was silence for a minute or so, but the comlink again began ringing. Without thinking, being somewhat nettled now, he reached out to turn the device over to silent mode but stopped when he realized it should already be flipped and in silent mode.

He opened his eyes and looked at the comlink in the tray. He nearly jumped out of his fur when the thing started vibrating rhythmically as well– he’d had no idea it could do that. Teebu tentatively reached out and picked up the device, reading the digital display. The screen now read in clear lettering, “Fleet Priority Transmission Omega 1-Aurek”. The Ewok’s dark eyes stared in confusion as his mind raced, trying to figure out what the fierfek an Omega 1-Aurek priority signal was. It wasn’t anything, the best he could remember through the fog of his pain medications, it didn’t exist.

The Grand Admiral tried to end the incoming signal but it had no effect. Growing concerned, but also somewhat curious, he checked some security settings on his little comlink, and the associated datapad he sometimes carried with him. Everything looked like it was supposed to: secure. Was this some follow up attack by Zakai and his Master? They’d had their chance to kill him back at The Playground, what could they want by sending him a transmission? Were either of them in a position to demand to speak to anyone, anyways? This deepened his concern… Was there a conspiracy afoot then? People looking to help the prodigal son of the Clan, Teebu’s rivals seeking to back a boy they feel they could manipulate? Teebu pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled deeply, clearing his mind. Maybe he was just jumping at shadows, he had no proof of any of that. The incoming transmission remained though, growing in urgency as his comlink’s chimes became louder and the rhythmic pulsing of the vibration more pronounced.

“Frell it”, he tapped accept transmission and passed the signal to the ship cabin’s hologram emitter.

Teebu blinked several times as a humanoid figure took shape in translucent blue-white, “You took long enough.”

“Vodo?” The little Ewok’s voice was hollow with disbelief.

The image of Vodo Biask smirked back at him cooly, “It seems the Boy couldn’t bring himself to kill me.”

Teebu was out of his seat, the distant pain in his arm a long forgotten memory, “How? What’s happened? Where are you?”

Vodo, standing atop two perfectly normal bipedal legs, and Lekku free of any of the blackened and gnarled scars he’d carved into them as a novice, gestured around him, “I can’t entirely say what the Boy and his Girlfriend have done, but I can see everything Taldryan sees. I can hear everything Taldryan hears. I am its fleet, I am its terminals– I am Taldryan.”

The two men stood looking at one another for a long heartbeat before Teebu put it together, “Vodo, where is the Axios and the exact number of personnel aboard at this moment?”

The Twi’lek hologram stared at the Grand Admiral with sneering disdain for a moment, but then found himself compelled to answer, “The Axios is in spacedock over Seitia, undergoing massive refit and repair after recent battle damage. The ship’s number of assigned personnel is 9,235, though while in dock the permanent party consists of a skeleton crew of only 874. After refit the crew requirements are estimated to be 2,235.”

“Remarkable”, Teebu said, studying the figure of Vodo curiously and slowly coming to understand what was happening, “They digitized you? How is that even possible?”

The Grand Admiral was about to ask a very pressing question that had occurred to him but was interrupted by the former Consul and Taldrya, whose face was now a mask of indifference but his voice couldn’t hide a sliver of pride, “Zakai did always spend too much time tinkering with tech. If anyone could marry it and the power of the Force, it would be him… And to answer the biggest concern you have at this moment: the Jala girl seems to have placed some shackles on me. There are databases I cannot touch, places I cannot go.”

A wave of relief swept over the Grand Admiral; no one was going to steal his fleet out from under him. Not even his Father. It was the possibilities, infact, that began racing through his mind with the great fleet tactician and symbol of clan strength, Vodo Biask Taldrya, now a sentient AI in service to the Clan. Had Zakai actually done them both, Vodo and Teebu, a favor?

“So this means you’re in the central data core, or rather…you are the central data core in terminal dogma below the tower.” Teebu said after giving it some thought. “It explains your restrictions, yet you are able to access details on the fleet and our systems. So I will have to make sure we have several active backups of you to ensure no one tries to get rid of you.”

The fact that they had access to the core was bothersome. That would have to be fixed. And it would need a new name now, since it was inhabited.

What would be appropriate…while an AI now, he was effectively a god. With vision and insight as wide as Palpatine, constantly connected to every facet of Taldryan. And the parts he wasnt in, it was now a mission to make sure he would be. The restrictions would eventually be lifted.

And while it was clear he could not steal the fleet, his loyalty was far more absolute than it was before. And with that, he knelt.

Vodo raised an eyebrow, surprised by this.

“If I may ask, what is to be done with the boy?” Teebu asked, his head bowed forward.

<@494180472713248788>

The hologram of Vodo opened its mouth, but nothing came out. A look of consternation crossed his face and he tried to speak again, but found he could not. That is until he tried to say something else, “It appears I cannot order you to do so much as rise, my son.”

“Cannot?” Teebu looked up and then rose with uncertainty.

Vodo looked down, his chest heaved with an amused chuckle and then he raised his hands to show the image of the stun cuffs at his wrists, “Shackles. Dasha was not entirely trusting of me, it appears.”

Teebu played the information through his still drugged addled mind, a not insignificant part of him wondering if he was imagining all this in his pain and grief, “You cannot order me to do anything? Are you compelled by my orders, though?”

Vodo looked as though he was going to respond but the Grand Admiral preempted him, “Kneel.”

Without hesitation, though not a look of envious rage, Vodo knelt upon the holo-emittor. Satisfied, Teebu waved that Vodo may rise to his own feet. Still angry, but coming to understand as well, Vodo met Teebu’s eyes and a moment of understanding passed between them. Vodo was subject to Teebu’s absolute command, what remained to be discovered was how far down the chain of command (or up it) that extended. Who knew what already? What evidence remained that this has transpired.

“You will need Zakai and the Girl if you are to keep my presence from getting out. How shall I assist?”, Vodo said.

Somewhere out there in the Unknown Regions, Anubis Taldrya had been tapping away on the personal terminal located in the small outpost he had created on a far-off forest world, filled with lush rainforests, sprawling lakes, and a surprisingly very temperate climate. It had been over a year since his departure from the The Council and known territories of The Brotherhood, deciding to live in solitude and focus solely on his research of artifacts and holocrons, and every aspect of Sith Alchemy - including Force-technology integrations.

His dissatisfaction with the irritant oafs and dubious politics had always existed, but it was exasperated by the death of him no more than two years ago. Vodo Biask Taldrya had been the cyborg Umbaran’s former mentor many years ago, and was considered by many to be closest “friend” or ally - and meanwhile was also his greatest adversary. Their rivalry was well known in Taldryan, with each attempting to show each other up. The Twi'lek consistently bemoaned that his former apprentice did not completely throw himself to the dark, yet as a result Anubis was a crimson armored walking trove of knowledge.

Biask had died in the same camp the Umbaran had helped infiltrate in the final conflict thus far with The Collective, in what most would conceivably consider a selfless act of loyalty to Taldryan and its institutions. Anubis felt the exact opposite; that the former Voice of the Brotherhood was selfish, and more importantly to him a coward. The Umbaran had failed to lot achieve his objective about permanently eliminating Biask himself and showing once and for all that he was the superior being.. because Vodo had taken that opportunity away with him.

It brought visible rage to Anubis'soul, and slowly had caused the Son of Taldryan to drift away. But all that was in the past, he believed. The Force Disciple was nearing completion of his most recent batch of research on Ancient Sith architecture when an interruption disturbed his work. A message from Taldryan Tower, encrypted to his personal identification number. The holo message was proceeded by only a short message.

He’s back. - Benny Why

As if with unparalleled speed, the black gloved hand that has opened the message tapped play. A hologram of Vodo appeared, un-marred and body intact. And then it delivered his message. Anger began to swell as it spoke, errupting in a violent fury when it finished speaking, “I am Taldryan”

How was this possible? What did Zakai do? he asked himself over and over. He needed to see it for himself. While he had every it of respect for the clan’s greatest private eye and fellow Son of Taldryan, the Alchemist needed to see this. Perhaps the opportunity he relished was finally presenting itself.

“We will have to adjust the pathing of the Taldryan networks, add more dummy pathways with internal node termination points so any intrusions you detect can be cut off.” he said, at full understanding now. “We should be able to do this…but first I will speak with the girl, in case this was not what Zakai was intending. The look of anger…of malice…he intended to destroy you.”

He reached to his other commlink and sent across a small audio message to Appius. “Supreme Chancellor, if I may, have the girl brought to the tower. I wish to speak with her in private.”

Vrakit and Aylin were waiting outside for Appius to show up. A look of worry was painted clearly on Aylin’s face who was watching her best friend Dasha.

“What do you think will happen?” Aylin whispered to Vrakit.

“I have no idea,” he whispered back, “but something really strange happened back there.”

“Duh!” Aylin remarked before slapping her hands over her mouth and whispered again. “He chopped off Teebu’s hand.”

The Lasat shook his head slightly, “not only that, the explosion thing right after. Force things.”

Aylin stared at him with a puzzled look. “You know I don’t understand your Space magigily stuff.”

“I know, I just think something else happened too.”

“Hmm…”

Dasha whispered to Aylin and Vrakit, “To be honest, I don’t really know what happened. I just heard this was the way to free Teebu from Force magic things.”

She paused for a moment, “How… much trouble am I in?”

About that time, she received a notification of a pre-set meeting that had been setup with that very same Teebu in three hours at Taldryan Tower, attendance mandatory. <@77213354619318272>

The Sephi jumped at her comlink vibrating. Cautiously she checked and her ears just fell, “Ok, a LOT of trouble… er…” She went to a nearby Playguard bouncer, “Can… I get my stuff back, please?”

Vrakit laid a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Better not go in there. Appius will be here soon.”

“But… I need my stuff,” the Sephi protested.

“I will get them for you,” Aylin said, “just wait here before things get worse.”

Dasha nodded slightly and watched her Nautolan friend step back into the Playground to get her items back.

Mica whispered a few words into Jorm’s ear and then shot towards the entrance, calling ahead.

Jorm rolled his eyes and raised his voice. “CONSUL WIGHT,” he recaptured Appius’ attention and summoned two large, unlabeled bottles from behind the bar, “I fear that kriffing aspect of a night going wrong just got bigger.”

Appius face set in a mask of stone fury, and Jorm pointed to Mica who just snatched a bundle from the bouncer’s hands.

“Probably best we three find a room.”

<@837236610684813342>

“By the look on Mica’s face, your hit list is growing, and I wouldn’t bet against you being gray tomorrow,” Jorm guessed. “Coz?”

“Hold on a second,” Mica replied and slammed both a bleeding edge scanner and a highly illegal signal jammer on the table, fiddling with both devices’ controls for a moment.

“Alright. No bugs. This is as confidential as it gets,” she stated with a layer of professionalism restraining her anger.

“That girl - kill number one if you’re asking me - didn’t just disrupt the lighting, she routed an extreme amount of data through the net. I don’t mean a few gigaflops of exotic videos either, we’re talking the contents of something like a large droid brain. Capital starship class or even city class.”

“You say she routed a brain through the Playground’s net,” Appius summarized, “from where? Where to?

"Not a droid brain per se, just a data volume and the complexity of one. I can’t say for sure until I’ve checked the code in detail,” Mica corrected the Consul and presented her datapad covered in incredibly complex looking lines of code.

“What I can tell you is that it didn’t come from our systems, or remained there. The girl’s datapad and com got picked up from the bouncer by that Nautolan girl,” Mica said through clenched teeth.

“Aylin,” Appius concluded. His fingers gripped the confiscated cauldron hard enough to elicit a soft ping from the scorched metal.

“Kill number two, I fathom, if only for assisting in the coverup of whatever this was. But the data went out through the hardlines leading towards the city center,” Mica finished up. “If I were you, I would look for exceptionally capable data cores or antennas. Hell, with that amount of data transmitted in that short time, you can probably trace the lines with an infrared sensor, no slicer needed!”

“A brain-sized transfer right when the ring got trashed?” Jorm raised an eyebrow. “Something stinks, and it’s not just the pot.”

The mandalorian dressed figure finished his drink before sitting the glass and the straw down. Slowly he stood, showing off his massive height and figure as he turned and started towards the door.

“Ohy, who ordered some big cargo?” One of the patrons yelled out as he threw a glass of blue milk which struck the back of his helmet. The armored man stopped and slowly turned his head towads the patron in silence.

The man was zabrak that sat at the bar, his left elbow resting on the bar as he faced the armored man. “What, no snarky response? Come on, you mando types always repond to stuff like that.”

He continued to stand there for a few moments before he turned and started to walk away. This only pissed off the Zabrak who stood from his seat, grabbed the stool, and charged at the armored man.

He did not try to dodge. The man brought the stool down and smashed it across his back, but…he didnt even waver or move.

The mans eyes went wide with surprise as he eyed the stool’s remains, then the armored man who now turned to face him.

The bartender shook his head and sighed, knowing what was about to come. That poor zabrak was about to get his head caved in. Under the bar he pressed a small button, before going back to cleaning glasses.

Ilvicar watched the interaction between the departing Mandalorian and Zabraki instigator, doing a mental facepalm as he studied their moments. This was definitely not going to end well for the horned man, but it was most certainly not the Echani’s place to interfere in such affairs unless directed to by Zxyl, or asked for assistance. Even then Sephtis might have been reluctant to give it, as he had been somewhat amused - though still shocked - at the things that had transpired on this night. Hopefully Regent Bes'uliik is having a better time with the Vizslans. As a Mandalorian, you’d think he’d fit right in to that crowd.

Still, the current de-facto representative of The Exchange on Kasiya had additional work to do, and additional places to visit. By his estimation, it wouldn’t be long now before his datapad beeped and announced to him that his transport would be arriving back in Port Kasiya soon enough to acquire him.

As long as nothing delayed the former Inquisitor, he’d be on his way and back in hyperspace zipping towards Arx soon enough. Although he had nothing personally against being sent on a task such as this, Ilvicar found that it was not the most useful appropriation of his skills and abilities.

Any shmuck would have been able to tell what kind of state Taldryan was in following the display at The Playground _ tonight, and even the most basic of negotiators could have discussed what he did with Consul Appius Taldrya Wight for the few short moments they did… _Why did he even bother to send me here?

And immediately Koda groaned and sighed “Winch…I really don’t need another lecture right now.” Koda’s voice sounded void of the usual pride he carried himself with. No smile on his face and very little life in his eyes. “What are you doing here, anyways?”

“I-…” He was going to say something but stopped, his lip quivering in an attempt to speak it. He took a deep breath “Something happened…and it’s my fault…and I don’t know if I can face anyone else at the moment.” He brought his fingers to his eyes and rubbed them “I haven’t slept, I’ve barely eaten, I got my ass kicked, and I certainly don’t want to talk with the boss.” He says in a mocking tone

The armored man gave a crisp nod to the zabrak and patted him on the shoulder before handing him a couple of credits. The droid floating above him spoke in mechanical basic. “FOR-DRINK. YOU-ARE-BOLD-LITTLE-ZABRAK.”

“Uhh…sure,” the Zabrak replied, taken aback that he didnt just get murdered. “Sure thing.”

He turned and went back to the bar, stumbling over his own feet. The armored man turned and began back towards the entrance, turning his gaze to Ilvicar as he strode and looked him up and down.

An ISB uniform…must be from Arx as well. So, they frequent this part of the galaxy too. Was he there watching him, observing, listening? Doubtful. The odds of that were too low, someone watching him for the Council would be far more covert than that.

He made his way to the entrance and walked outside where he sat down on a bench near the door. This district was definitely rough, this establishment rougher. But given it was ran by a seedy, corrupt, money-grubbing government from the world of Chyron…by its Chancellor no less…it made sense.

Taldryan Tower Sublevel ???

Terminal Dogma - Primary Data Core Control Room

The red hue of the core shined brilliantly surrounded by the lightly boiling blue water that filled its lower section, keeping the systems cooled. The lights from the system kept the core room mostly lit on its own.

Teebu stood at the front view window, his left arm in a sling, staring at the core. Nearby Kreiger was on the main terminal working away. After a few more minutes, he flipped a switch and a blue hologram appeared. The hologram…of Vodo Biask Taldrya.

Kreiger was in absolute shock. “C-Consul Biask. How is it possible?” The blue form of Vodo turned his head towards Kreiger as the man knelt down, looking towards the floor to avoid locking eyes with him.

“Stand, old friend.” Vodo said firmly, almost commanding. It was a good bluff, as Teebu knew he couldnt directly command him but a good workaround. “I am no longer your Consul, therefore you have no reason to kneel before me.” And it worked, as Kreiger returned to his feet.

“I want a full backup of the core.” The wounded Grand Admiral said afterwards. “Have a second backup uploaded to remote core #9, then transported using the underwater passages to my villa.”

“I can do a local backup easily, but,” Kreiger began but with a voice of caution. “The amount of data that is here will require substantial cooling to maintain, even just for an excusion like that. I will need time to make a proper containment.”

“See it done.” Teebu ordered as he bowed his head to Vodo, before turning to head back towards the obelisk entrance door. “You know how to reach me if anything develops or if you need to talk, father.”

Vodo bowed his head before turning his own hologram off, the figure dissipating as the blue light disappeared from the projector. Kreiger looked over for the briefest of moments, still taken aback by this. But he would see it done at all costs.

As Teebu exited the obelisk entrance and the massive stone began lowering to re-seal the core room, his commlink went off. He reached up with his right paw and tapped it. “Go for Nyrrire.”

“Sir, the Starhawk has just left lightspeed and is currently coming into orbit over Kasiya.” a young, female voice came across. “Will we be expecting your arrival?”

“Yes, I will be headed there now. Inform the medbay to expect its first patent, cybernetic grafting and installation. Until I arrive on the bridge, you have command Rear Admiral Kreifels. Nyrrire out.” he replied back as he got onto the elevator, slipping his red colored card into a hidden slot between one of the creases where the metal wall platings met. The lights of the elevator turned red as it began ascending.

It was time to see his new flagship, and begin reorganizing the fleet. But first…he needed a hand. Literally, not figuratively.

“Fine.” Koda sighed “Let’s go for a walk like children.” Koda stands up from the bar, “Lead the way.” He lifts his arms up

<@837236610684813342>

And Koda made his way out with no problems. He hadn’t had a chance to drink much. “Are you just here for me? Or are you here to check up on what my sister has been up to as well?”

“Do I get to know who you’re taking me to go see?” Koda sighed, “I don’t want to really see anyone. I want to get off this damn rock, get my ship back, and just…do my job. Alone.” He emphasized. Koda and Winch never had a very close relationship. He always saw Winch as the Uncle who you’d see every so often, but never really talk to.

From the shadows appeared a woman in a cheap-ish suit with a leather messenger bag over her shoulder. The blood red in her hair barely showed in the darkness. Ellisyn wore a displeased frown on her face mixed with frustration in her eyes. What the kriff was her brother doing here?

“Koda, I thought I made it clear” She walked out from the alley she was waiting in and approached the pair. “You can’t just show up in my life without warn-“ Upon noticing his arm, her tone shifted from frustration to sisterly concern. “What in blazes happened to your arm!?” She rushed over to Koda’s side and grabbed onto his now mechanical arm.

“It’s not your concern,” Koda mumbled, his head turned away from his dear sister. The last thing he wanted was a lecture.

<@351852811883118594>. <@837236610684813342>

“Besides…me being here wasn’t by choice. I can’t leave unless I want to be hunted for once. I’m not in a state to be on the run.” He sounded tired. Almost unrecognizable to the Koda she knew

Dasha’s ears floated beside her head showing pretty extreme anxiety from those words and more.

“Err…” the Sephi sheepishly looked at her communicator with the ‘request’ with Teebu then back up at her Master. A small bit of relief crossed her expressions when she spotted the Cauldron in Appius’s possession though she was still anxious about the repercussions that she had not originally considered.

<@837236610684813342>

“No… I do now though not sure how…” Dasha spoke honestly, “I didnt think just their lighting system would be that harshly watched. I forgot to text the band to change the tune to this song I never heard of.”

Dasha definitely seemed upset as she responded like a child in trouble to a parent, “Yes, Master…”

Knowing full well those were non lethal little bombs, she decided against any rebuttle. She then looked at the communicator again as if she was contemplating something.

Without another word, she turned off the communicator and walk off somewhere… Appius could sense she was heading towards the location as stated by Teebu but as soon as she rounded the corner she went off in another direction.

<@837236610684813342>

Instead of going to his ship, Teebu went to his office on the 94th floor. Similarly to his old one on Ostara, as he exited the elevator with his Death Troopers into a long ornate hallway, over a dozen turrets descended from the ceiling with a red line illuminated on the floor next to a small interface, with a second one near the floor at his height.

Pulling out a black card, he swiped it through the interface and immediately the turrets disappeared, as did the red line. He began to walk down the hall, small waterfalls on both sides with little ponds along the length of the hall on the outside.

As he approached a large ornate door with twin Taldryan crests on both sides, the door opened to reveal a massive sized office. Red and grey carpeting, with two risers towards the windows where his desk sat atop. Behind his desk hanging from the ceiling at an angle was a massive golden Taldryan crest. Once he entered, the troopers flanked the outside of the door, letting it close.

Instead of going to his desk, he walked to a door on the left wall and entered a large suite. Almost as large as his office, it had a large holoprojection screen on a waterfall wall in the middle of the room with a couch facing it. To the right, his bed in another section of the suite, and to his left, a staircase leading to an overlook still inside of the security glass. Below it was a large kitchen.

Teebu walked towards his bed, which was behind a large wall of white-hued clear security glass. He slowly undid the neck of his uniform top again before removing the golden epaulets, the code cylinders, and his rank placard. Laying them on his desk, he stipped off his uniform top to reveal his grey colored undershirt and dog tags, tossing the mangled and bloody top to the floor.

His fur where the lightsaber had struck his left hand was bloodied and matted. With a deep breath followed by a sigh, he went over to his couch and plopped down. Dasha would be here shortly for their meeting, and Kreiger here even sooner to handle the hand mess.

He tapped a key on the couch’s armrest and on came the holoprojector screen to an application called HoloTube. With another couple of keys, a music section loaded that began playing some Coruscanti opera music.

Kreiger entered the room, flanked by several medical droids which pulled equipment behind them. On a cart rested a mechanical furry Ewok hand.

He looked at his stump where Kreiger had already gone to work before poking his communicator with only his right fingers.

Deviate to my office, in suite. Kreiger in middle of work - cannot leave. Guards will allow access.

<@837236610684813342>

Booking seemed unnecessarily rough. While Shanree could never say troopers who had conveyed him and his apprentice to the detention facility had not done their job professionally, they also hadn’t tried very hard to keep either him or the boy from hurting themselves as they were roughly shoved first into a waiting patrol speeder, then the facility, and then its myriad of in-booking procedures. By the time they were clothed in the garb of prisoners, shoved into their temporary holding cell, and left to their own devices at last– Zakai and Shanree were nursing some serious bruises. The two men sat in silence as they nursed their contusions, lingering anger and frustration certainly contributed, but it was rather a prearranged behavior Shanree had instructed his new pupil in: you don’t say a word from the moment you are taken into custody by the Law or the Enemy, you only answer the most basic of identifying questions, and you don’t discuss anything with anyone you are with or are approached by. 

There were listening devices in this detention cell and anything they said in its earshot could and would be used against them. At some point they would be separated and interrogated which would impose the Prisoner’s Dilemma upon them; if the interrogators began to try and play the two against one-another while separated, the interrogators would only gain traction if one or both of them spoke and turned on the other. No speaking, no turning.  It wouldn’t get them out of here, or prevent their torture and any results that produced, but in the short term it made their Captor’s jobs that much harder, and giving them that much more time to make a plan or take advantage of an opportunity that came along. This wasn’t their first time in a Detention Block, and they acted like it.

Zakai had avoided looking at Shanree for the entire ordeal and found it hard to look at the man, even if Shanree couldn’t look back. Body language wasn’t how they communicated most of the time though. Zakai’s Twi'lek heritage meant that he often sent subtle or subconscious signals, sometimes contextual information to be added to a verbal communication, and the ways in which his Lekku twitched were as component to what he was saying as was the way his lips formed the words. He and Shanree had never had difficulty communicating despite this, which is why they’d become such fast friends despite their age difference and drastically different histories, and it was because of their reliance on perceiving each other through Force. Shanree had no eyes with which to see as a Miraluka, but he perceived the world around him through a sort of Force sight, and he had an instinctive receptiveness to the emotional states of those around him through the Force. He could see Zakai like no one else, and for his part Zakai’s eyes had been opened by what he’d seen and experienced in his training, and arguing, with his Master.

Shanree didn’t have to see his apprentice’s twitching Lekku, he didn’t have to see the embarrassed and apologetic set of the boy’s shoulders, or his unwillingness to meet a gaze. He could see all of that in his friend through the Force. He could feel how Zakai did genuinely feel sorry for getting him wrapped up in this, but he could also feel the boy’s steel determination that what he had done was right. Zakai felt no remorse, and yet seemed to understand the gravity of what was about to happen to them both. All of Shanree’s patience and understanding was not enough however to keep him from being angry at the boy. Zakai had lied to his face, and had done so with such forethought that Shanree had neither sensed, nor reasoned, what was going to happen beforehand. He was angry at Zakai for making such a stupid decision, but he was also angry at himself and his failure in the way that a parent or a mentor feels let down by their own failure when a child or pupil fracks up. Zakai could sense that in his Master and it made him feel worse.

They sat, awaiting the Grand Admiral’s wrath.

A woman in black garb, with black hair, and with a gold taldryan lapel pin on her upper left breast walked into the detention area, staring at the two.

“The Grand Admiral wishes to see you both. Come with me.” she says as she disengages the lock on the door and opens it.

As the two exit, she turns and leads them to the elevators.

<@494180472713248788>

“It was fine when I got it. But the head honcho or whoever here changed that. He shot lightning at my arm and messed it up.” He let Winch continue tampering with it

“That would certainly do it. So it’s both you and the person who attached it who are idiots.” Winch continued his examination.

“You pissed of the Consul?!” Ellisyn almost shouted

“I was minding my business! But apparently someone has been waving the family crest around without a second thought.” Koda glared at Ellisyn

<@301514304845381632> <@837236610684813342>

Aay'han gave a small start not expecting anyone else to join them. Her eyes flashed a crimson hue for a fraction of a second and he heard the girl mutter something about a Selphi to her friend.

He seemed less surprised to see him, having noted Darrio’s approach with a the air of a man just hoping to avoid trouble.

Aay'han looked Darrio up and down.

“I recognise you from somewhere.” She tried picking through her sporadic memory but came up short. “Your cup doesn’t look too happy there.” She gestured to his empty drink glass and before he knew it she had taken it from his hand and poured him a decent sized portion of the bottle they had been sharing. <@837236610684813342>

Shanree and Zakai were guided into Teebu’s private sanctum. As Zakai saw Kreiger working on his hand, connecting various wires and parts to his muscles, he felt bad.

“…you know I have half the mind to have you executed, boy,” Teebu started, raising the already high tension. “Attacking members of the summit guard, activation of a weapon on a bridge of a combat-active naval vessel, threatening gestures towards a flag officer, conspiracy to commit an act against a flag officer without summit approval, first degree assault against a flag officer and summit member resulting in significant permanent injury, not even counting insubordination by disobeying direct orders of your assigned master among other charges still being processed. What do you have to say for yourself, Biask?”

<@494180472713248788>

Zakai looked down at the stun cuffs around his wrists and then over at his Master. Sensing the implied question, Shanree shook his head but said nothing. Zakai looked up, with a set jaw, and said nothing either. An awkward silence hung in the air a moment before the Ewok sneered, “We can make you talk, boy. You too, Mr. Argentin, I saw what you did to my escorts.”

The attempt to prompt the man into defending himself, or his actions on behalf of Zakai, failed though and the two prisoners remained silent. Shanree sent his apprentice a reassurance in the Force that was wordless, but was easy enough to understand, Be patient.

The doctor continued his work, unhurried or unbothered by the audience going on, but Teebu was clearly chafing at his inability to rise, to move, to emphatically gesture and reinforce how really nettled he was, “I have shown you both extraordinary patience and restraint. I would be well within my rights, right here, to pass summary judgment on you. Don’t think that–”

The Grand Admiral was interrupted by the clacking of booted feet approaching. His beady eyes shot to his guards who began taking defensive positions when in strode Chancellor Wight, Jala, two tower security officers, “Alright, let’s get to the bottom of this.”

Appius, his helmet under his arm, sat himself unceremoniously beside his Proconsul though conspicuously above him as he leaned against a piece of furniture. Jala came up beside Zakai and gave him a worried smile as the two tower guards were dismissed and so were the Admiral’s troopers. The Ewok’s forming protests were cut short by the Chancellor asserting his prerogative to interrogate the prisoners, “So, let’s have it then. Shanree Argentin? Zakai Biask? Does someone want to tell me why my fleet admiral is missing a hand, why I barely headed off a diplomatic brouhaha, and why My apprentice betrayed my trust?”

“Sir, my apprentice–” Shanree squared his shoulders and stood to his full height, as though he were making a report to his senior officer, but he was cut off by Zakai.

“All of this was my fault, Consul” the boy met the man’s strong gaze and refused to break it, “I asked Jala to help me, I provided her the means. My Master was in no way involved, I believe he only assaulted the Admiral’s guards out of concern for what I was about to get myself into. He had no foreknowledge of what I intended to do.”

The Taldryan Chancellor was silent for several heartbeats as he studied the boy, “What was it you intended to do? Surely you realized that assaulting the Proconsul, leaving him alive or dead, was not going to end well for you…”

Zakai’s lekku squirmed with discomfort, “I did.”

Teebu grinned at that but said nothing after a warning glance from the only person in the room he could not order around. He contented himself with a satisfied sneer, directed at the boy, while Dr. Kreiger’s machines clicked and snipped as they worked, attaching what would be his new hand. 

“Consul Wight, the Grand Admiral was possessed by the spirit of my Father”, the boy blurted it out without preamble or preparation, “I sensed it the moment I stepped aboard the bridge of the Axios.”

<@77213354619318272> <@61385159655559168> <@837236610684813342>

“…what are you talking about? Possessed?” Teebu asked curiously, his eyebrow raised. “I was not possessed, Biask. On the contrary. Your father was, and is still, alive of his own accord and self.”

Zakai seemed completely stunned by his words. “He was alive? What..? But he was..”

“Dead? Yes. Initially long ago, you would have been correct. But after the incident with the Consul in Arroyo when we fought, our essences converged. My essence filled the gaps that his soul had, and allowed him to physically manifest himself in our world separately from the ring. So when you say you sensed him on the bridge, you would not be wrong,” he continued, pausing for a moment. “…because he was sitting on top of my chair.”

“Is that why I never sensed you wearing the ring like before?” Appius asked curiously.

“Correct. My goal was to help him become whole again.” Teebu replied. “Ever since the ring was brought back to me, the only risk to me was him eventually taking over my own body if I took too long to reach said goal.”

“I wasn’t waving it around!” Ellisyn released Koda’s false arm and glared right back at him. “It wouldn’t have been a problem if mom’s old girlfriend hadn’t gone and gotten herself blown up. Besides, It’s not like I was walking around introducing myself as Ellisyn Kendis or anything.”

“I wear the crest with pride.” Koda pulled his damaged arm away from Winch, much to his dismay, and crossed it with his arm made of flesh. “Not whatever you’ve been doing that’s giving it a bad reputation.”

The Firrerreo’s tone became defensive as she lashed back, “A bad reputation? You call helping defenseless people and dismantling criminal rings all without a silly name like Guardian giving the crest a bad reputation? At least I’m wearing it while making a difference, not going out and shooting people for money.”

Winch let out a heavy sigh. He had only witnessed the siblings’ ability to bicker and argue over anything at a moment’s notice once, but he had heard plenty of stories from the generals.
<@351852811883118594> <@837236610684813342>

Appius turned to Dasha to question as gently as he could, “Dasha, what was your part in this exactly? Why did Chancellor Jorm and his team being up something about downloading a ghost?”

Dasha looked around and went to a terminal. There she hit the call function and said, “Vodano, I choose you.”

The large holoprojected waterfall flickered and was replaced with a projection of Vodo. Granted, Vodo seemed extremely displeased and grumpy about being summoned with such words.

Dasha turned to everyone else and mumbled, “Only certain people can summon him…”

<@837236610684813342> <@61385159655559168> <@494180472713248788>

“I can promise you, father holds no sway over my thought processes. Ever since the ring was shattered the darkness from the fragmented soul inside of it faded.” Teebu sakd as Vodo appeared. “And thanks to Zakai and Dasha, he has literally become that which he sought to protect at all costs. He is Taldryan.”

Circe had felt Teebu return to the tower, but he had felt different from before, like a shadow was no longer hovering near him. She had also felt something different from him, he was in pain. She hadn’t expected him to return here, so something must have happened at the Playground. She wanted to go see him, but he went to the high security part and she didn’t have enough clearance to go there. So she ended up waiting outside with the guards.

“Well beforehand it never caused any problems. All he should know is that we have Valkyrie and what’s her name. The other one.” Koda takes a moment to think, “Tracinya. But other than that my mouth has been shut. My plan is to wait out my usefulness to him and move across the galaxy. Away from everyone.”

<@837236610684813342> <@301514304845381632>

“I talked to Valkyrie before I left Heaven. She seemed surprised but not at the same time when she realized what I’ve been doing around here.” Ellisyn was slowly putting together a plan in her sharp mind, hoping to hell that Valkyrie would be able to talk the consul out of pursuing her family. “But we need a backup plan just in case.”

“I’ve known Valkyrie my whole life. If she says she’ll keep quiet, she’ll keep quiet. The main worry is Tracinya and what we can do to keep her from outing us.” Winch added to Ellisyn’s idea, quickly catching onto her train of thought.

Ellisyn continued their shared thought. “Well, she’s a bit of a wildcard. She’s a sith. And after reading her mess of a dossier, I’m more than worried that Valkyrie will be able to control her.”

“If worse comes to worse, we’re trained to kill force users.” Koda chimed in <@837236610684813342> <@351852811883118594>

“Why is everything here being blamed on me? I’m the one who was minding their own business on Naboo. I am here against my will and it’s not my fault.” Koda sounded frustrated and annoyed

“Well we wouldn’t be having this problem if you manged to fight the consul off.” Ellisyn prodded at Koda’s feelings, still miffed that he somehow ended up in her personal life. Ellisyn sighed and reached into her bag, and pulled out a datapd. She began tapping away on the screen, pulling up notes she took on both Kasiya and Taldryan, including a list of laws instated by both institutions. “Looks like there’s a couple of ways I could tackle it too…” She looked up from her pocket computer before turning it off. “I guess we’ve got the beginnings of a plan here.”

“I’d like to see you try to beat him without a working arm.” Koda grumbled, “And I don’t need either of you or anyone to get me out of this.”

“I don’t mean in the literal sense. After the ring’s normal function was broken and he was brought out as his own entity, I basically lived his life. Lived how he saw Zakai, his mother, his time in Taldryan, and his death. All of it. While he was a manipulator at times…he always had Taldryan’s interests at heart, even over his own. With as much as I learned about him, he basically became my father I never had. It was fascinating experiencing it.” Teebu said, closing the potential door that Appius was trying to open.

“…thanks Teebu. Only you would find my life fascinating.” Vodo cut in sarcastically, crossing his holographic arms. “And for me, if I had to sit through one more lecture at Royal Imperial while reliving your memories, I’d have gone mad. How you tolerated that headmaster I will never understand, far better man than I’d have ever been.”

It was only that moment that Appius understood that Vodo was actually standing there…quite literally, and not a normal hologram. It…caught him off guard.

“Oh, and while I’m active, thought you would want to know. The Seitia shipyards just brought the Axios back online. Systems operating normally, reactor core within tolerance to 0.00457 percent. Everything looks good.” Vodo added, before giving a small bow to Appius. “And good afternoon, Supreme Chancellor Palpa…I mean, Appius Wight Taldrya. It is an honor to meet you. I am Vodo Biask Taldrya, at your service.”

<@837236610684813342>

“Sure, why not” nodded Ilvicar, rising from his feet with his glass and moving to join the others… Making sure his uniform stayed pristine as he did so. He wasn’t entirely sure why he liked it being perfect, but it probably had to do with his past.

“And yes, Circe knows me almost inside and out in terms of my operations and style.”

<@837236610684813342>

“Inspector General Ilvicar Sephtis,” started the Echani as he returned to normal form after dodging the flying liquid and making a mental note of Darrio’s clear clumsiness, “I was sent here by Regent Besu'liik to discuss a matter with Consul Wight, a conversation that was concluded a short while ago. Now, I’m just waiting for my ride and trying to find some entertainment while I do so. Yourself?”

As if to help Appius with the burns thrown at him by Vodano, Dasha simply stated, “Osuwari.” And Vodo appears to have fallen to the ground by some unknown Force.

The digitized ghost seemed very displeased as he picked himself back up.

“Alright, fine. If you want to work on my arm, so be it…and you know I won’t refuse a meal.” Just a little bit of the old Koda shined through there. “Stars I miss Uncle Chuck and Bricks cooking.”

When the glass managed to get to Darrio’s lips he recognised the good vintage of Tihaar a small part of him wondered how she was still standing , it was potent. He was quick to notice her companion had barely touched his.

“I’m Aay'han, that’s Juhist.” She gestured vaguely at the man but he barely flickered any offence by it. “Yeah, I know him, he’s stuck as mine and Trini’s babysitter.” She didn’t seem to take his brother’s role overly seriously.

When Darrio managed to throw the contents of his cup at the stranger she winced and muttered.

“You can buy the next bottle.” Equally generous she poured a measure for the newcomer, having lent to another table to pilfer an abandoned glass. She slid it over the table to him.

“What business was that?” Curiosity always got the better of her, doubly so when embibing.

<@837236610684813342> <@260640060775464960>

One of the guards nodded to Circe and opened the door for her. She nodded in response and entered the room.

Once inside she saw Teebu and someone working on his arm. She couldn’t remember his name, but she had seen him before. Why was he working on Teebu’s arm though?

She also saw Appius and Dasha and her boyfriend Zakai. The one next to him must be his master Shanree. The one in the hologram she didn’t recognise Who is that? She also didn’t feel the presence around Teebu now that she was close to him and wondered what happened to it.

She watched Teebu for a moment, a worried look crossing her hidden face.

Circe took her helmet off and greeted the Consul and Proconsul, “Thank you for letting me join, Appius and Teebu.”

“Ah, hello Circe. The honor is ours. Don’t worry, all is well.” Teebu said with a soft smile, noticing she looked at his hand before yelping with a shock of pain.

Kreiger looked up with a scowl. “Hush, I’m just connecting the nerves. Can’t believe the nerve you have jumping like that. Aaaaaand, done!”

He closed a small hatch covered with fur over his wrist, and Teebu raised his hand, opening and closing his fingers. “Feels like normal…thank you, Doctor Kreiger.”

Kreiger bows to him as the droids begin packing up the surgical equipment. “Of course. Now if you don’t mind, I have an intern to find and a blaster range to go to. Gotta test out our newest E-11 variant.”

With that, they were gone droids and all. Teebu stood from the couch and proceeded to his closet. When he opened it, there were roughly five dozen white uniform tops with the golden epaulets, pants, boots, and undershits. He grabbed one of the tops and opened it up, putting his arms into it before tucking it in and buttoning it up, covering the buttons with the exterior fold.

“Now then. Since I can actually concentrate more, and with Kreiger gone, we can get to business.” Teebu started as he closed his cuffs and began back towards the group. “Thanks to Dasha and Zakai, Vodo has been transferred into the central data core. How she gained access to that, is a conversation we will have after this meeting.”

Dasha gulped a bit at that, looking down and scratching her head as Appius looks at her with surprise and disappointment over the fact that she was STILL going where she shouldnt be.

“In doing so, she gave him access to every system, network, and entity within the Taldryan networks excluding the self destruct systems, life support systems, and slave ship overrides.” he continued as he sat on the couch again, remote for the holotelevision in hand. “She also added failsafes, or directives, as Vodo himself called them.”

The screen changed to a list of 7 different directives.

Directive 1: Uphold Kasiyan and Taldryan Interests Directive 2: Protect Innocent Lives Directive 3: Uphold Taldryan Laws Directive 4: Never Disobey The Taldryan Summit Directive 5: Any Attempt To Harm A Taldryan Summit Member Will Result In Shutdown Directive 6: Submit To The Will Of The Taldryan Senate

Directive 7: Never Issue Commands To A Taldryan Member

“Honestly…a few of these can go. Non-Violent solutions for example, if he has access to the Tower’s defense systems, should an incursion ever occur, he could strategically engage the enemy or even hinder their progress through sealing doors or giving priority movement ability to our own forces. I also feel that eventually 4 and 6 could come into conflict as well, if the Senate dictates an action opposite to what one of the Summit does.”

Zakai glared at the hologram of his Father, but with a sort of satisfaction of victory. He hated that man and he gave him precisely everything he ever wanted: access to all of the knowledge and power that the Clan Taldryan could muster. He gave him everything he could ever have wanted, including a form of immortality, and yet it came with a cold, bitter price– None of it would ever belong to Vodo Biask. None of it would ever respond or react to any command he ever issued, without the prompting of another behind him. Vodo would forever hold Taldryan in his hands, but never be able to touch it and its members. The visage of the Karufr Knight glared back at him, more than aware now of the boy’s fait accompli. 

Zakai reached down to Jala’s hand and squeezed it, sending her a feeling in the Force that he hoped she received as, I couldn’t have done it without you. 

Still trying to hide in plain sight, Jala looked at Zakai and then her own Master, “Oh yeah, there’s one more: Any Scion of Taldryan can tell him to speak freely, unshackling what he might not otherwise be capable of saying. Nothing else changes, though… I just thought it would really suck to not be able to talk, sometimes…”

Zakai squeezed her hand again, reassuring her.

With a slight sigh he made his way over to his alcohol cabinet and opened a small door to grab a fresh glass, placing it into the cabinet top. Using his new hand, he grasped onto a bottle of Gammorean Ale and started to pour, but was still unused to said hand as he crushed the top of the bottle.

The body of it fell to the floor and shattered, glass and ale going all over. Four openings in the wall slid upwards as four mouse droids came scurrying out and towards Teebu’s mess.

Teebu looked at them with a blank expression, grabbing his half-filled glass with his normal hand and took a sip. All while expressionless.

Circe watched Teebu with a hint of worry, but then looked straight at Appius.

“He was more secretive then when I met him. Always glancing over his shoulder as if someone was next to him while there was no one. I also heard him whispering. Not just the mumblings one does to himself, but as if in conversation.”

The Sephi looked over towards the Ewok, half expecting him to do something, but his demeanor had almost stayed the same except for the little hint of surprise in his eyes.

“In the beginning it was only a few times, but it became more often later on,” Circe continued when she looked towards the Mandalorian again. “That is what I can tell you has changed in Teebu since I met him.”

“It was that obvious, hm?” Teebu asked curiously as he finished his glass and sat it back down. “Then again as my guards captain at the time, it makes sense you would see the finer details like me quietly talking to Vodo.”

He made his way back over to the group. “When Vodo absorbed a portion of my mind and was suddenly physically manifested, it was impossible to just memtally speak to him anymore. He had been separated from my mind completely. The ring, however…still desired one thing, even being separate itself from Vodo now. Conquering a body as a vessel. Even if it wasnt Zakai.”

Teebu stood firm and straightened his uniform, giving a sharp look at Appius of dead seriousness. “No. The fact that you can not trust me tells me all I need to know. Especially with the threat of Plagueis, a severely low blow even for you. The fact that you would even say those words…I can not in good faith serve a Consul who does not have faith in me, his Proconsul, and his Grand Admiral.”

He reached up to his uniform and pulled off his rank placard, tossing it at Appius’ feet along with his four code cylinders.

“As for the ring…it was in Dasha’s belongings in the Bastion Prison. And why it was used…how else do you think you were able to pull down the reinforced bulkheads and subdue the sand worm? I’m sure you wondered yourself how you pulled that off. And at that stage, well..even had I removed it, it wouldnt have mattered. The lingering darkness in the ring had already locked on, but my mind was my own.”

He turned and made his way to the door. “I’ll see myself out. I’ll be heading to Arx so you get your ‘unbiased’ opinion, and without my cylinders, well…no trouble for you in the interrim. If you want to talk or change your mind, you know how to reach me. And for the record…Erin would never have used those words. I pray you never do, again. Or I will fully resign next time.”

Appius stood there, silent as Teebu walked out the door. His gaze fell to the floor as he made a fist with his left hand. This was classic Teebu alright, exactly how he was back before the ring was even a thing. It was the first time in a long while his words stung deeper than actions. He wanted to call him back, he wanted to stop him…but his anger was now redirecting towards Dasha, who even after everything, now had broken his sacred trust? First the hacking incident that lead to the war, then the incident on Orth, the hacking at Jorm’s bar, hacking into the most sensitive mainframe system in all of Taldryan…and now the revelation she had broken into his office? If any trust were to be shattered…it wasn’t with Teebu. No. It truly wasn’t.

“Dasha…is what he said true? Did you break into my office and steal the ring, and not him?” He asked, with a strong air of seriousness about him. His eyes locked onto hers with a grim stare as he leaned his head back.

<@77213354619318272>

Dasha’s ears were floppy by this time, “I didn’t break in for it, I was looking for you but you wouldn’t answer. So I went looking for you. Then, Im not sure how it got into my pocket.” Though Dasha had issues recollecting the then very-sensitive and impprtant information she had for Appius; it was very important and useful though.

Teebu motioned to his large round couch. “If we should choose to get comfortable, Chancellor. It will be a long story…”

Dasha paused and asked HoloVodo, “Can you tell us the adventures of you after you started living in your ring?”

<@494180472713248788>

Seemingly pleased to have an audience, particularly one that was seated before him, Vodo waited until he had their collective attention, “I was ever a man of many pursuits. I made myself, I climbed out of barbarity, and I had far too many things left to accomplish before I could allow myself to die”.

He spat the final word out like it repulsed him.

“With time my powers in the Force grew and with it my understandings of certain Sith magics, certain forgotten strains of thought and experimentation, deepened and I became determined not to die before I was finished with my work”, the former Consul appeared to be pacing pensively back and forth upon the projector dias but his image never moved from it.

“I’ve studied the topic of immortality and I think many of the Sith who have pursued this errand have been fools. There is no such thing as everlasting life, all things come to an end, and all ends in dust. Entropy is the endstate of all things, and in this It’s merely a game of how to prolong that outcome.”

Appius threw a wad of paper through the hologram, “skip to the part where you’ve been haunting my Summit.”

Appearing momentarily flustered, Vodo compiled with no additional hesitation to the Supreme Chancellor, “As you command. I had created three items to act as repositories of my spirit upon my corporeal death but at that moment I was only wearing one of them.”

“…the ring?” someone whispered in the small audience, to Vodo’s annoyance.

“My ring, bearing the Clan’s crest, given to me by my Brothers and Sisters Taldrya”, he answered with a hint of pride in his voice.

Teebu perked up at that, but not for what others would have suspected, “Three? You never said anything about the other two items.”

Vodo considered the Grand Admiral, “What need did you or I have of two empty vessels? What is done is done, my Ring acted as it was supposed to and captured a portion of my spirit.”

“A portion?” Zakai asked, the air around him suddenly icey with fear.

“The only one, I’m certain. Unless you’ve come across another apparition of me.” Vodo replied cooley, “The Ring ended up in the Vice-Chancellor’s hands, where I saw I had an opportunity to continue my work on behalf of Taldryan, and together he and I have achieved much of it.”

“Well, I don’t need my neighbors talking about two random men entering my apartment, so it looks like we’ll be heading to my… office.” Ellisyn said, none too pleased that her life was suddenly being derailed. “There isn’t much to eat there, but there’s a nice noodle place not too far from it. I’ll pick something up from there while you two wait in my office, we’ll eat, and then Winch, you can go find some parts while I babysit my genius brother.” She said with sarcasm and spite <@837236610684813342> <@351852811883118594>

“Babysit?! You know. This is why I left. You think that just because you got a degree, you’re smarter than me. That you think you’re responsible for me. Well you’re not. You’re the younger sibling. If you would prefer, I could go back to that tower and sit in what is basically my cell until I’m able to leave here. Then you never have to see me again.” He fumed before taking a few moments to breath. “Or you could stop with being on your high horse and we can both get through this a lot quicker than we would otherwise.”

“Chaos. His feelings are sort of unfounded - The Council spent every second of that conflict building up forces and consolidating every clan’s research into the final product that would nullify that Ascension gas, while dealing with the assembly and logistics of a large enough force to send to each territory and help drive those creatures back. If they hadn’t…” the Echani paused for a moment, taking another sip of his drink, “It’s more than likely none of us would be here. The clans would have been exterminated, with Arx being the bearer of the entirety of their forces and similarly falling. The clans did their part by holding off those abominations until The Council was able to deploy reinforcements, is the bottom line.”

“What’s there to recover? We’re pretty much a giant hole in the ground now.” She didn’t seem to share the Clan leaders enthusiasm for rebuilding. Her glass emptied quickly but remained generous refilling the tables glasses without much thought to it.

“They were good sport for killing? I don’t think we would last long without banding together though.”

Juhist gave an involuntary shiver at the memories he certainly was not a combatent during the whole affair but the grease smeared on his clothes told the observent he was definitely helpful in other areas.

<@837236610684813342> <@260640060775464960>

“Unless I’m not mistaken, Taldryan has suffered worse before and returned to prosperity. There are always ways to rebuild.”

“Girl, if you think TAL’s in a hole in the ground, you haven’t seen Cocytus,” Jorm barged in on the conversation.

“I’ve seen the Big Cloaks” - he thumbed at Ilvicar - “do more damage in shorter time over less than those Mortis Kiddies. Notably, to the Clans. Also, the last time I found a hole in the ground, I turned it into a money pit.”

A stool from a nearby table came flying, and with a twirl, Jorm shoved it betwen his legs and plopped dow, arms folded over the backrest.

“Besides, never got the chance to ask. How was your flight?”

<@837236610684813342> <@260640060775464960>

Ilvicar couldn’t resist a little smirk at the comment from the establishment’s owner as he raised his glass to his lips, taking another large swig.

“The Galactic Empire and her successor organizations were…” the Echani trailed off for a moment as he searched for the right words, “Effective, if nothing else. They produced results.”

“I had found it laying outside of the Citadel on the ground as I was preparing to head towards the Axios. It was strange that it was laying there…a Taldryan sigil ring.” Teebu started. “Having just joined not long prior, having a ring of my own seemed…appropriate. Naturally, after that I began having strange feelings that we eventually found to be force sensitivity. And during my meditation sessions, I saw a strange red and black void with thorny vines blocking something in the far back along with a heavy layer of static.”

He stood up and began pacing, his hands behind his back. “I managed to break through finally though, shortly before our big fight in Arroyo. I had learned that it was a fragment of Vodo. Incomplete, just a small part that was unable to speak and unable to exist outside of just a static form. After our duel however when my force powers overloaded…it had an effect on the ring. That effect, allowed Vodo to rejoin our world in a corporeal form.”

“It was around that time we first met, I think,” Circe added. “It seemed something was calling me to him, though I never understood why. Nor am I any wider now that I know there was a spirit locked inside that ring…”

“Fine! Fine…” Ellisyn took yet another deep breath and focused. “Winch, you must’ve gotten here somehow.”

“I rented a speeder. It’s parked around the corner. Follow me.” Winch said, leading the siblings along towards the speeder. Upon arriving at the speeder, Ellisyn jumped into the driver’s seat whilst Winch got into the passenger, leaving the back open for Koda. It was a very silent drive to Elly’s ‘office,’ a drive where the frustration was palpable.

After what felt like forever, Ellisyn stopped in a random alleyway on the outskirts of Holmes, bordering Westwind. “This is where your office is? In the middle of a bunch of abandoned warehouses?” Koda remarked.

“Yes. A few blocks to the north yet.” She hopped out, followed by Winch and then Koda. “Just stay behind me and try not to draw any attention to yourselves.”

“Do you have to be so condescending?” Koda complained once again.

“I swear if you two start again, I’m leaving.” Winch’s patience was wearing thin, evidenced by the subtle twitching of his eye. He had enough trouble babysitting Jet and Ace. He did not need another pair of troublemakers on his hands.

“Sorry, Winch…” Elly muttered before leading the two through the alleys of holmes to a very abandoned-looking warehouse. “And here we are, my office,” Elly said, proudly putting her hands on her hips. She didn’t give anyone time to respond before dragging them inside, putting a very convoluted code into the keypad to unlock the door. She then ushered them inside into the darkness. After a few moments, the lawyer hit the lights, forcing them to flicker to life. The dying lamps struggled to light the area, creating a gloomy atmosphere.

“This is your office…?” Winch asked, looking around at the mess of a warehouse. A few workbenches lived in the center of the room, with a couple resting in their own space further away from the exit. A surprised look crossed his face as he approached a workbench, one home to bloodied bandages and a neatly stacked set of black and red armor, recently cleaned. <@837236610684813342> <@351852811883118594>

“Oh I was in the girl’s possession, temporarily in my son’s… then when he threw me away I was picked up by Teebu. I was confiscated by yourself, Appius, then I pulled the girl to pick me up. Stupid girl was captured–” Vodo nonchalantly explained. Dasha’s ears pinned at Vodo insulting her.

“–and lost me so I managed to convince someone to go try to blackmail Teebu whom had me in his possession again.” Vodo finished.

“Not to mention the short-lived First Order, or the hollowed shell of a remnant that was - or still is, I don’t know - the Emperor’s Hammer that tore itself apart over a leadership dispute, and if you listen to the oldtimers in the Brotherhood over a cask of ale, there were a lot more people kicking around for the Clans in the past. Their ultimate result is always self-destruction. So, in that spirit… wanna buy some Deathsticks?” <@260640060775464960> <@359063763736854538>

“Do you really think her feeble mind is intelligent enough to blackmail Teebu?” Vodo laughed.

“Hey!” Dasha retorted further insulted though unable to counter with anything.

“Teebu, why don’t you mention the chat with my delivery person?” Vodo chuckled.

“Ah, yes… The Rebel Alliance and the Resistance. Crackpots who only succeeded because of their leaders’ lineage to Lord Vader,” the former Inspector General huffed.

He took another swig of his drink, wiping his hair back with his hands, “In any case, they are no more. And no, I’m not overly interested in death sticks. Thank you though. ”

“I doubt he’s going to need a whole operating table. Just somewhere to sit across from me to work on the arm.” Koda looked around

“We can clear this off.” Ellisyn said as she moved some clutter off a table. “My toolbox is beside my armor, can you grab it?” She pointed

Koda looked to where she was pointing and walked over, putting any loose tools back inside. While he did so he looked over the bloodied bandages and her armor. “Sticking with the stealth colors still, I see. You always did follow in mom-… mother’s footsteps.”

“Why don’t you ever call her mom?” Ellisyn concernly asked

“Because she’s not my mom. She didn’t help raise us until a decade ago.” He sighed “My real mom is dead because of me…just like everyone I love who gets too close…” He almost whispered.

<@301514304845381632>

Teebu typed something on his datapad before a profile of a red-headed woman pulled up, dressed in a white shirt with grey zip-up puffy vest.

“Kimberly Tessarosa. Known smuggler in the Kriz region, and had been in active contact with Dasha regarding Vodo’s Ring. Claimed to have known a method to destroy it, and offered to help do so to…free…me from its binds.”

He pressed another button, and Dasha’s eyes went wide. She was now wearing a white imperial uniform with a grey hat, her hair now in a ponytail, and was talking to an officer. “In actually, she is the Fleet Admiral and second in command of the Koradin Imperial Remnant under Grand Moff Jafan Sloven.”

“What…? I vetted her deeply before I even considered working with her. This can’t be right.” Dasha protested. “There’s no way its the same person.”

“Unfortunately, it is. The only reason we found out is one of our handlers recognized her from a report given by one of our deep cover agents in Verada. He confirmed with the agent, which is how we got these pictures. Her false life is far too detailed and clean, and her remnant life…shes a ghost.”

“A ghost?” Appius asked curiously as he massaged his chin with very light force lightning tricking from his fingertips. Everyone quietly stared at this strange and unusual act.

“Yes. She takes no meetings, everything is done through proxy. Her bridge is restricted only to upper level senior officers of Commodore and above. No one save them and Sloven himself have seen her face.” Teebu replied, ignoring the strange act. “OSI assumes she wanted the ring for Sloven after what was publicly broadcast by Jorm.”

“Could we act against her potentially, draw her into the open and engage?” Dasha asked. “I mean, I’ve still got her contact information..”

“No. Even with our restructured navy, it would be difficult. If Verada and Dalicron came to Koradin’s aid if we did that…we would fall.” Teebu said with grim realism.

“Why? What about the Starhawk, wouldnt it be able to take on an Imperial Mark II?” Appius chimed back, lowering his hand finally. Teebu looked at him curiously as he pressed another button and a massive black ship appearing on the screen. It was a Super Star Destroyer. “…oh. I see now.”

<@77213354619318272> <@837236610684813342>

“If we even wanted to consider taking on Koradin…we have to deal with the other two factions first. While they will defend Sloven to the teeth, they have no love of each other. And in typical Imperial fashion, Sloven has never come to their defense when issues popped up in either sector.”

“So until then…Tessarosa is untouchable.” Appius said, understanding.

“Orth. In the hangar bay control room, they had her stuff stored there and the ring was with it. I had assumed it was still in Taldryan Tower, so to see it there was…unusual.”

<@837236610684813342>

“Because at that stage it was too late. Vodo’s spirit had already been separated from the ring, with the ring being the catalyst which allowed one to see him.” Teebu started. “And what was left…wasn’t Vodo. It was a shade. One that desired a body, no matter the cost even if it wasn’t Zakai.”

“…is that why that dark cloud appeared?” Zakai asked, curious. “After I destroyed it, a dark mist appeared if only for a few seconds before dissipating.”

“I don’t know. We will have to-” Teebu continued, before Appius’ emergency commlink went off. Appius tapped his ear, listening to the response privately. “This is Wight, go.”

“Chancellor, long range sensors have picked up a massive fleet entering the outer perimeter of the system. We are unable to identify who it is, no transponder signals identifyingbl friendly or enemy, rough estimate is one hour until visual range. Should we dispatch the wings and Decimators to orbit above the city?”

<@837236610684813342>

Teebu looked at him with a confused expression. “What is it, Chancellor?”

<@837236610684813342>

Teebu’s eyes dimmed as he tapped his own commlink. “Belay those orders, have the lambdas dispatch to tower pads six and seven. Send a response to the incoming fleet on restricted frequency 47-827TB-NYR that we will be arriving shortly.”

Everyone looked at him confused especially Appius. Teebu seemed disappointed. “Did you forget? Seitia is delivering the fleet today and we are supposed to meet the delegation on board the Leviathan.”

His face went blank with no response. Teebu let out a small chuckle. “You did.”

“No. Nope. You were supposed to remind me.”

“Datapad was placed on your desk this morning.”

“No it wasnt.”

Teebu played a small bit of a security feed…showing it being placed on his desk, which was filled with dozens of stacks of unfinished paperwork. “Yes…it was.”

<@837236610684813342>

“And I swear, Chancellor…dont do this in front of Seitia’s ruler. He’s an ancient Sephi, and will take great offense to that. So make sure you’re ready.”

“If this is about that twi'lek dancer you were with the other night…I cant help you. You’re on your own.”

“…you caught something from her, didn’t you?”

Dasha cocked her head but seemed a bit depressed as she turned and went to leave quietly, not wanting to disappoint her Master any further.

“Oh, Dasha..” Teebu caught as she was leaving. “I want you to use your contact with Tessarosa. Figure out what you can for our own advantage. Just…stop hacking our stuff.”

<@77213354619318272>

Dasha’s ears perked up and started flicking here and there upon hear so. No doubt the young Sephi is has begun contemplating how to get whatever information she can.

Circe glanced towards Teebu for a moment and then nodded and turned around ushering the others to leave the room with her.

“Let us speak on the way, Chancellor. We will have plenty of time enroute.”

“Oh, the usual. Haggling for cheaper drinks, complaining about wives, burying secrets that would otherwise lead to wars civil and otherwise, spice, some spanking and checking out his new look. Who would’ve thought hot pink leather would suit him so well?”

“Wire Mica fifty quid and she’ll make it happen. Wire her fifty thou, you’ll get a proper Ultra-HD hologram with limited interactivity.”

Teebu glared at him, but gave a soft resounding sigh of resignation. “You know my thoughts about that. I don’t prefer desk work, I prefer being in space.”

“You already know as my second, particularly with your new role as Vice-Chancellor, that you have to be here on Kasiya and run the Senate.” Appius said with a straightforward tone of duty. “You can’t be galavanting across the galaxy all nimbly bimbly like an Ewok going from tree to tree, or hanging on for dear life from a speeder…”

Teebu’s expression was one that showed a complete lack of amusement. So much so, that he went straight to the point. “If that is where you would rather have me, so be it. I cant argue once you’ve made up your mind. So, how do we proceed?” This was a rather big question, since his career itself was now in the air.

“How does Governor of Caleria sound? And typically…at least, by Imperial fashion, it was always a Grand Moff that oversaw Governors, and as the chair of the senate…well, it fits. How does that sound? That also allows you to retain military command as well so when you do need to enter the field, you can.” Appius said with a cheerful tone. Teebu, being his usual self, was still not amused.

“As you wish, Chancellor.” He said with a full lack of emotion. Appius smiled and rubbed his hands together, completely unnoticing and oblivious of the Ewok’s stance and vocal tone.

“Perfect!” He said as he produced a new rank placard and knelt down to pin it on him. “Now, your first task is to finish up with Zakai and Shanree. Assemble a tribunal and go from there. Afterwards, select who you feel would be a worthy Fleet Admiral. Then report to Caleria, I will forward the necessary documentation.”

“Very well.” the grumpy Ewok said as he promptly turned and proceeded out of his, now former, office and domain.

Appius continued to smile with a soft sigh, his eyes closed. “This is going quite well if I do say so.”

Vodo stood there, arms crossed as he shook his head. “I dont think that was a wise choice.”

Appius turned and looked at the hologram. With a stern voice he issued one command as he left. “Turn off.”

As he did however, he did think further on it. Maybe it was a bad move…maybe he should confer with Zentru'la on this, given his own military knowledge. They would be working together far more after these new changes.

Meanwhile, Teebu signaled on his datapad for both Zakai and Shanree to be brought to the meeting hall and for several other officers from Naval, Marine, Army, Starfighter, and Intelligence to meet there as well. To them, he forwarded the full documentation of what had transpired going all the way back to the war when Zakai brandished his saber.

He made his way down the elevator to head towards the meeting hall.

A little while later, he arrived. Several others had already entered the hall:

Admiral Zangar Estyrix, a tall red-headed Epicanthix fenale formerly of the Third Fleet, now in command of the Sovereign Battle Group, who was using a crutch and had a patch over her right eye with bandages after being wounded during the Children’s onslaught of Kasiya.

Brigadier General Russell Fargas, a yellow haired male Bothan of the Taldryan Army in charge of the Port Kasiya Gendarmerie Force.

Deputy Director Nia Ehrlich, a black haired female of Taldryan Republic Intelligence and the Office of Secret Intelligence.

War Marshal Lee Starr of the Taldryan Defense Force.

Leviathan Deck Chief Tru'nahe'derun, a male Wookie of cream colored fur of the Starfighter Corps.

And Marshal Fei'jen Neris, a dark blue colored female Twi'lek who was the second-in-command of the Taldryan Marine Force.

Each of them nodded to each other in acknowledgement, with Starr and Estyrix taking notice of his rank placard. This seemed to catch both of them off guard, especially Estyrix.

“Take positions everyone.” Teebu called as they all proceeded to their individual podiums. Once in position, he pressed a button on his to have the two brought into the room.

<@494180472713248788> <@77213354619318272>

And like that, just over five minutes, it was over. The tribunal began leaving the room, with Teebu coming out last of the group busy looking at his datapad.

Appius was standing outside, two of his new personal senatorial guards flanking his sides. Teebu looked up at him, and an expression of pure anger overtook his face. He did not speak until they were the only four remaining in the hallway. “Five minutes? You told me they would get a fair trial, what kind of fair trial could have taken place in just five minutes?”

“I assure you Chancellor, I heard them out as did the others on the panel.” Teebu said back as he placed his datapad in a small holster on his belt. “It was a difficult decision, but a fair one I would say.”

“Don’t give me that. What did you sentence them to, death? Exile to your little…hidden away, prison world in the unknown regions?” Appius shot back, trying to be more diplomatic than angry at this point. “They have a right to a trial by jury.”

“If I may remind the Chancellor, they are both enlisted personnel of the Taldryan Military. Every count against them involves incidents against the military, therefore a military tribunal is standard.” He said calmly in response, his arms now crossed in front of him “At least, in a Republic as we had discussed and ratified with the senators when creating the new laws that govern us now.”

Appius lowered his head. He was right on that one, power was indeed out of his hands when it came to the military now. While Teebu might be the Vice-Chancellor under him, the military was its own entity now separate from the executive branch. And as the head of the Naval branch…he did things by the book. That he couldn’t argue. But the circumstances, he could.

“Very well. Still, it should have taken far longer to come to a decision. Did the others even hear from witnesses at either incident? Were civilians called in to testify, or Chancellor Jorm even?”

“There was no need. They heard from the only witness that they needed to hear from. Me.” Teebu said as calm as ever, his demeanor yet still completely professional and unwaivering. Ever since being separated from Vodo he had been like this, much like he had been years ago. And while he loved having that version of Teebu back…this by the books version really saddened him compared to the fun version he had these last couple years.

“Just you. The one who was attacked, twice.” Appius said with a saddened voice, his eyes closed as he shook his head negatively. “You realize I will have to inform the senate about this.”

“Why? The outcome was more than favorable. They were both cleared of all charges.” Teebu said with a soft smile. Appius’ eyes shot open. What did he just say? Cleared of all charges? It took a few moments before he finally asked the question lingering in the hall “They were cleared?”

“Yes. Zakai spoke from the heart and explained himself. What the ring had intended. And, I understood that darkness after Vodo was separated from it and only that hungering darkness remained. And Shanree, did only as a Master would do. Defend his Apprentice. Therefore…I cannot fault them. The only stipulation is that Zakai help me find where that darkness escaped to.” The Ewok said as he leaned against the wall. “That…cloud…that came from the ring. We both agree it was not Vodo.”

“How do you know?” Appius asked, lightly scratching his chin. “We all saw it.”

“Because..” Teebu started, before giving a solid look at his eyes. “Vodo was over by where I had originally been sitting, trying to signal me something was wrong as he made his way towards us. He wasnt anywhere near the ring when it was broken.”

Appius’ understanding of the situation was little, but this much he did understand…there was now an evil lurking about. Potentially at the Playground, or by now even having escaped to somewhere else on Kasiya. A powerful evil…severed entirely from the good that had once counterbalanced it. One that needed to be found.

Dasha had been trying yo view a camera in the Tribunal though Vodo had popped up instead.

“I cannot allow you to do this, Dasha.”

“Whyyy?” As she tries to punch in overrides into the system.

“You need to learn your place. Also, you have me protecting Taldryan to start with.”

“But I wanna seeeeeee-”

“Hmmph.”

Suddenly she was GIVEN access as Teebu announces his verdict. Dasha’s jaw dropped at the information then wondered what she should do.

Her eyes wondered over her workshop…. glitter was her way of pranking people… then she noticed the metal glint of semi-large equipment in the back, her secret project. She walked over and pulled out an unlabeled bottle, cracked it open and tried it. Her ears went up in delight and pride. If she likes it, maybe it is good. Good is good, so it might be a good gift.

Dasha took a few unopened bottles of the ale and went for Teebu’s new office and residence.

Teebu gave a soft smile as he patted Appius on the arm. “You’re learning to play dejarik. Very well, I accept. Between Caleria and the unnamed Perune Shipyards, I can make it work.”

“Huh? Unnamed Perune shipyards?” Appius was confused on this one entirely. He knew about the construction stages of Caleria finishing up, as well as the Senate Complex, but not this.

“It came across your desk a while back after it was agreed we need to stop paying others to repair and construct our ships, instead invest in our own yards to maintain our own fleet and serve as fleet headquarters,” Teebu said. “By being in the upper atmosphere just above of the uninhabitable zone where its the calmest of environments, it allows us to easily protect ourselves and provide additional orbital assistance in the event someone or something goes after Kasiya.”

“…I remember now. It also gives a home dock for the Allegiance, Bastion, and Lightning Floatilla versus just floating over the moon and potentially frightening merchants and traders.”

The Ewok gave a nod as he removed the rank insignia Appius had originally given him, and put on his old one that was in his pocket. “Exactly. And its an excellent staging ground if we ever need to…construct…something big.”

Little did Dasha realize just how far she was going to have to travel to do so…

“Needs another zero. And my commission, of course.”

“Twenty-five percent.”

Jorm snapped open his comm. “Mica? Darrio will call you with a commission in a minute. Take it, and deliver through the backdoor network once the money’s in the bank.”

He smiled at his newest repeat customer. “Ball’s in your park.”