Cassandra stood at the window of her private office, looking out over the vast landscape that was the city of Port Kasiya. The sun had already begun to set, barely a full day after the events in Nery’s Field.
In her right hand sat her wine glass, filled to the brim with the teal-colored wine of choice; Toniray. Behind her on her conference desk sat her droid, BD-6, who was busy chasing around a miniature hologram of Vodo in circles.
A chime went off at the door, and as she brought the glass to her lips she said only one word before taking a drink. “Come.”
The doors to Cassandra’s private office slid open, revealing one man that she more than likely did not want to see.
Anders walked in with his hands behind his back, and a smug sithspit-eating grin on his face. On his shoulder was his own little BD unit, BUDD-E, who took immediate notice of its kin chasing the holographic image of a scarred, deformed Twi'lek. It hopped down from Anders’ shoulder, joining the chase.
The Chiss, meanwhile, stood next to Cassandra, joining the second Supreme Chancellor in overlooking Port Kasiya. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t need too. He knew the young woman wasn’t stupid. His words probably rang out in her mind from the ceremony.
‘I warned you, Chancellor.’
Instead, he waited for her to make the first move. The obvious question being who else would join them?
And she did indeed make the first move, in breaking the silence. “So, Inquisitor. We never finished our last conversation. And after what occured…it makes me question what you know, and potentially withheld.”
She turned and made her way back to her throne-like chair, eerily reminiscent to that of the late Palpatine. “Every single security point and procedure was followed to the letter, every backup was in place and successful. And we learned quite a few variable weaknesses in the construction of the Senate grounds that are now being rebuilt and reinforced.”
As she took her seat, she took another drink from her glass before sitting it down on the throne’s armrest. “But, something like this? Not even my advisors within the OSI suspected it. You were the only one to issue a warning of something to come from it.”
The way she sat wasn’t lost on Anders. If she was trying to intimidate him, it was a pitiful attempt at it.
“Cassandra, if we are going to talk, let us talk as adults and equals, I think we can agree to that, yes? The fact of the matter is that this event was doomed the moment you decided to make a public spectacle of it. It doesn’t matter how sturdy the wall you make is if the smallest insect can squeeze its way through, abd squeeze through they will given the chance. With both Taldryan’s enemies as well as the Brotherhood’s, they are a hand full of suspects I have.”
Anders started raising his fingers as he listed them off. “Firstly, the Collective, for reasons I’m sure I dong need to remind you of. Secondly, the Children of Mortis, again, for reasons I’m sure I don’t need to specify. Thirdly, the surrounding Imperial Remnants. This would have been a perfect chance to strike after everything that occurred within the Saijo Sector. Fourthly, a traitor within our own ranks with the necessary clearance. Though, I am not at liberty to say who, if anyone, would do it, given my newer status here in the Republic.”
“There is, however, a fifth contender I just recently considered…”
Cassandra gave a brief nod before grasping onto a datapad that sat next to her.
“It wasn’t a public spectacle. They were fully unaware. Training exercises, and senator meet-and-greet as they toured the system to meet the citizens while we renovated and rebuilt parts of the complex due to crater instabilities.” Cassandra chided, unwilling to accept his accusations where they were unwarranted before handing him the pad. “As for the insects…I didn’t trust how quickly that place came together, and rightly so. It’s defenses are being completely rebuilt from scratch, with the good aspects being kept in the new design while the numerous flaws being closely scrutinized.”
She leaned sideways as she lifted her leg onto her knee and took the glass into her hand once more. “And I am fully versed in the status of both the Children and the Collective. They are a threat to the brotherhood, and not us at this stage. We are not the wardens of the galaxy, and the senate concurs.”
“Permission to ask a question, Chancellor?”
The door gave another chime as Aay'han’s feet carried her over the threshold into the depths of Cassandra’s office. Unlike her last guest she didn’t bother waiting for permission.
Though the air had the acrid qualities of a debate brewing it was promptly ignored by the girl.
“I knew I could smell decent wine somewhere in this place.” She walked towards where she spied the bottle and poured herself a glass.
Without much in the way of survival instincts she poked the Chiss in the side as she passed and settled her backside against the desk.
“Woo questions.”
Cassandra sat there, eyes a little widened, completely confused at what just happened.
“Er…always, Anders.”
Anders took a moment to analyse the new arrivals. He knew her well, especially after their… confrontation.. in the Playground.
Damn girl broke his nose.
“I can understand the Playground allowing you to drink, but please try to show a modicum of restraint. We are trying to conduct official business.”
Anders cleared his throat.
“As I was about to ask, Cassandra,” he leaned in closer to her, speaking in a low tone barely louder than a whisper. “Do you think the Collective or the Children of Mortis give a wampa’s backside what you think of them? Do you think they will leave you alone because you don’t associate yourselves with the Brotherhood? That’s wishful thinking, and you know it. You are an intelligent woman, Cassandra, and you may have faults, but naivity is not one of them. You must have some contingency in place for when something like this occurs. So, what is it?”
“I love the nose-job they did for you, makes you look very dashing.” She gave an evil smirk over the rim of her glass before turning her attention to the actual boss.
“You asked for my assessment, thought I’d deliver in person for a change.” She slid her Datapad across the table to Cassandra before taking a generous swig of her glass.
“Of course not.” she whispered back. “Prior to the mock war, I traveled to Arx and learned everything I could about both of them. Their leaders, their locations, tactics, and much more. What kind of leader would I be otherwise?”
Cassandra then turned her attention to Aay'han and examined the pad. “Hm.”
She then started sipping her wine very loudly while she read, where the sound of air and liquid mixed as it was sucked up into her mouth.
“C-Sec has had their authority usurped in all but the public districts, and private security has taken over the general defenses of the city.” she uttered briefly so Anders could hear before sipping again.
“And you are as charming as ever. Have you gotten over most of your family leaving you, or have you finally grown a spine?” Anders returned Aay'han’s grin with one of his own.
<@359063763736854538>
Anders’ eye visibly twitched at the noise.
She paused at one particular line, her expression hardening before turning her gaze to Aay'han and speaking in a diplomatic tone Anders had not yet heard.
“Are you absolutely sure about this? That was how they referred to the Governor?”
“Who needs family when I have you to torment for all eternity. I’ll find you no matter what rock you hide under with that cologne you insist on bathing in.” with a smirk she gave a loud slurp as she took a mouthful of wine, she would have continued tormenting her new playmate but Cassandra caught her attention.
“Remember it as clearly as I remember being born. I don’t spend all my time drunk.” Her free hand instinctively rubbed at one of the visible scars at her neck.
“Just most of the time, from what I’ve seen,” Anders folded his arms across his chest.
“Anders. I want you to form a team.” she said as she sat the datapad down, raised the cup to her mouth and downed the remaining three-fourths in just a singular gulp. “There are two options available to you. First, an underground tunnel from my villa leads to the secure area under the city. My butler there can guide you. Or, you can use your own method from within the city.”
She looked over at him as she sat the now empty glass down. “Your objective, go to the Calerian Weapons Manufacturing Plant. Learn what you can, quietly, and report back to me.”
Aay'han didn’t seem to mind the backhanded comment, Anders could see her try and quell a chuckle.
“It passes the time, and it annoys you. Win-win in my book.”
Cassandra’s words caught her attention again.
“Why does he get all the fun?”
“Because, if this is what I think it is…stealth and covertness are key. Especially while I travel there and visit the Governors myself.”
Anders was nothing if not a consummate professional. He nodded to Cassandra, speaking to her in a tone this time she didn’t expect.
“Understood. Shall I assume I have my pick from the Taldryan Roster? As for you, my dear…”
Anders scoffed at Aay'han.
“You’ve been drinking. This requires a more tactful approach. Perhaps you could assist the Chancellor with her endeavours instead?”
“So you pick the practically neon blue guy for the job? Don’t get me wrong it’s very pretty but sticks out here.”
She shoved the wine glass up Anders nose, surprisingly without spilling a drop.
“One sip, not exactly a party.”
She blinked only once as she watched the glass go up his nose. How it didnt shatter, she was unsure.
“Erm…yes, pick of the roster. Remember, steath is key.”
Anders looked at the rather vulgar design of Aay'han’s armor, mentally scoffing at the irony of the young Mandalorian’s statement.
“My dear, I am a member of the Inquisitorius,” Anders pushed the glass away with a single finger. “Do not fret. I have my ways.”
As he pushed, the stem of the glass broke off inside his nose and left the main portion of it up his nostril.
Cassandra’s blinking intensified before she pulled out her comm. “ <@645466919415054357>, I would like your company please. We have a mission.”
“Give me more dirty talk dear…” She would have continued but him breaking the glass stopped her going on as she burst into laughter. “Guess Boss-lady can send you the bill for that one.”
To his credit, Anders ignored the comment. Instead, he simply removed the glass from his nostril carefully, flicked it at Aay'han, and continued to ignore her.
Reflexively Aay'han dodged the shard but it moved her off the desk, before he knew what happened, the shorter girl had grasped his hand like a child.
“Guess you get to babysit me now because you were naughty and made a mess.” The tone of voice was very cute but Anders had prior experience with Aay'han and her vindictive nature.
Anders looked her dead in the eyes. When he spoke, his words were woven like silk in her mind.
“You want to let me go…”
Aay'han, against her judgement, followed the command, letting him go against her instincts.
“Now do you see? I have my ways,” Anders stated with a coy smile.
As Cassandra examined another datapad while speaking to a member of the summit guard, she turned to face Aay'han. “Go with Anders, I’m sure he would enjoy the company and would find your expertise as a High Inquisitor very useful.”
At Cassandra’s words a manic grin spread across her face as she held the eye contact with Anders.
“I’ll endeavour to be helpful.”
“Oh, how wonderful that we have one of the higher lackeys to assist me. Whatever would I do without you?” Anders rolled his eyes. Like he hadn’t heard a comment like that before. He was practically used to it. “Come along, Buddy, we have a team to assemble.”
The little droid hopped up onto Anders’ shoulder, giving a small mechanical wave to BD-6.
“If you are coming, Aay'han, then hurry up. I won’t wait forever.”
Anders left the office to make preparations for his team. He had ideas, it was just a question of which to execute.
Aay'han skipped out of office and quite quickly caught up with him. She didn’t seem to mind the snarky comments so much, almost as though she was that used to it day in, day out.
“I assume you have a plan for all this?” She slipped back into his mind as though she had never left him, almost as though she was more comfortable speaking with him in this manner when they were alone.
A part of her didn’t even expect an answer, accustomed to being ignored.
As the pair went, it was only moments before Zaesti caught up with them. She handed Anders a datapad, which had a full breakdown of the mission parameters. Given the short time since the order was given, these were detailed and very specific. In total, there was six objectives that needed to be cleared for this operation to be successful.
“First, you have two methods of entry that you may use at your discretion. As the Lady Second said, the first is through her villa in the Marid Plains.” Zaesti began explaining as a zooming square appeared around a small villa on the southwestern side of the plains. “The only issue on this front, is we are unsure if the hidden administrative codes have been changed. If they have, you will not get past the final entry barrier without alerting those inside. The second, is a direct infiltration through the city itself.”
A second zooming square appeared and centered on four different quadrants of the city. “The Hydroponics administration building in District 5, a classified location within District 13, an escape route entrance through the residences in District 8, or lastly the Second Citadel in District 1. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses.”
Turning a corner and into a turbolift, she continued as it began descending. “The objectives are simple. First you are to successfully reach the underwater section of the city of Caleria undetected. Second, rendezvous with a undercover guard that has been in contact with Aay'han to retrieve an access keycard that will grant you entry into the restricted section below the seabed. As a guard, he can not stray too far from his post but we know he is stationed in one of the two underwater hangars. Once inside, the third objective begins where you will need to find a way to either shut down or initiate a restart the security systems. There are numerous mouse droids running about that might be of use to you in this regard.”
“With the keycard and while being inside, the fourth objective will be to acquire a weapons technician inspector’s outfit. At this point, time is critical as it will only go unnoticed for so long before the next inspection shift begins. Your fifth objective, gain access to the Weapons Manufacturing Plant itself at which point you will need to access the isolated mainframe system there and check the quality control logs and learn who it was that handled the weapons for the crate with identifier XK-427. Your final objective, locate and capture the technician involved and extract them…alive.”
She turned and faced <@359063763736854538> and <@837236610684813342>. “Any questions, or do you both understand the mission parameters?”
“I assume we are at liberty to eliminate any threats that we see fit?” Anders asked with a raised brow, the implications hopefully apparent without him needing to spell things out.
“Only if absolutely needed. Given Lady Second will be visiting the Governors at the exact same time, it is imperitive that a general alarm be avoided at all costs. So if you must, ensure the bodies are hidden and everything can not be traced back to us. Else she too will be in danger.” Zaesti cautioned.
Aay'han remained silent throughout the exchange, she had nothing to add and didn’t seem to be paying too much attention.
Erinyes’ voice came back through the comlink. “Well, nice of you to finally admit it– oh, for a mission. And here I was going to break out a bottle of something I’ve been working on with the Estates lads. Fine, give me an hour. I’m out at Mytilene right now.”
True to her word, Erinyes appeared in Cassandra’s office within the hour. “I brought you something,” she sang, keeping an object hidden behind her back.
Cassandra closed her eyes and smiled, a light blush on her cheeks. “You shouldn’t have. If its anything like last time, I think we’ll have quite a bit of fun again.”
Erinyes pulled a bottle out from behind her back. It was unmarked, but the sparkling teal liquid inside looked suspiciously like Toniray. “Tell me what you think,” she said, setting it on Cassandra’s desk.
She leaned down and examined it closely with her eyes before popping the top off and pouring two small glasses.
“If you think giving me my own wine will earn you any extra points with me…”
Ever so lightly Cassandra sniffed it as she lifted the glass. The smell was indeed similar to Toniray…but something was different. Something stood out.
Upon tasting it, she softly smacked her lips and assessed it. “…ok, you’ve earned points. What is it?”
“Aquamarine Shimmer. The latest in Kasiya Estates’ Summit line, commemorating Clan leaders past and present.” Erinyes grinned and folded her arms across her chest. “Or for your purposes, something that’s ninety-five percent Toniray at less than half the price, thanks to the planet it’s made on still existing. The extra sharpness comes from the local terroir.”
“If we didn’t have to leave right away, I could kiss you. You would be amazed as how expensive Toniray seeds are.” she exclaimed excitedly with a grin before taking another drink then sitting the glass down. “We have a scheduled meeting with one of the Caleria Governors, the only one who would even return my request for one. I’m not anticipating a warm welcome.”
“Oh, good. I’ve been falling behind on my leg-breaking quotas.” Erinyes smirked. “What are you hoping to learn from them?”
“Just gauge the tension, get a feel for the political situation given the changes that one of Aay'han’s undercover individuals has noted.” Cassandra started as she grabbed a few things, using the force to bring her white and gold saber hilt to her and onto her belt. “And maybe learn why one of them is going under the title of Proconsul as a long shot.”
After gathering her stuff, she headed towards the main conference room of her suite, then onto a balcony where a small landing pad was.
From above, a pristine looking ship began to approach. It was a Kom'rik-class fighter. It’s topside had been painted in a matte black, bisected by a light blue line running down the middle of the ship. A likewise light blue border also surrounded the topside hull. The matte black area on the underside that was visible showed painted two painted stripes, one purple, and one red, with the Taldryan Republic crest in white between them.
“Allow me to present the pinnacle of engineering. The Kom'rik-class fighter, Lancelot Albion.” Cassandra said with pride as she crossed her arms. “Capable of extremely fast speeds, exceptional maneuverability, reinforced hull, and corvette-level shielding.”
Erinyes whistled. “Nice wings. You’re not going full Mandaboo on me, are you? We had enough of that when Appius was running things.”
“But seriously, I’ve been debating an upgrade myself. Either that or getting a proper starfighter, instead of having to borrow whatever the fighter group can spare.”
“No, I had it manufactured as both something to help defend me while on the go, and stand offensively on its own.” she said before tossing Erinyes a small code cylinder. “As well as a remote base of operations when we travel, until I can get you something more suitable.”
Erinyes pocketed the code cylinder. “I’m sure it’ll come in handy if we ever have to run away from a fight.” Once aboard, she shooed the Summit Guard pilot and settled into the left seat to finish the preflight checks.
Cassandra stood behind the left seat, staring ahead and pondering for a moment. It was really about to happen. Her dreams had generally been good indicators of things, even to this point.
But last night’s dream…it left her troubled. For the first time it wasnt straightforward, there were twin paths of which she could go down each having their own outcome.
She knew not those outcomes, but, she did know that each would have their own ramifications. With a deepened breath she gripped the headrest of the seat before turning and taking her own seat behind Erinyes.
“By the way. You said you had a new pilot you were bringing into the fold, whom might it be?” she asked, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.
“An Ugnaught by the name of Gehn. A friend of Teebu’s, apparently.” Erinyes started the Kom'rk’s engines and eased the craft into the air. “Mm. She’s handling better than I expected, even given the upgrades.”
Floor 42 was, of course, manic, hectic, and completely anarchic to anyone not <@77213354619318272> or <@417336769181122562>. Regardless, despite his reservations, the pair of inventors, mechanics, and engineers had a history for the unorthodox, brazen, and the unpredictable.
Anders didn’t know why, but he had a hunch about them. As a Chief Inquisitor, his instincts were usually on point. The dual layer durasteel blast doors opened.
“Good day to you both, Ms Sajark, Ms Talus, I am Chief Inq…”
He stopped speaking as he and Aay'han were privy to the carnage of nulticoloured concoctions that littered the floors, walls, and ceilings. Aylin and Dasha almost perfectly blended in, standing in the middle amidst it all.
Without hesitation Aay'han looked upwards to Anders. Her expression remained disturbingly neutral, her eyes, however, gave away her mild disapproval.
“And you thought I was the worst?” Tactfully she left the rest of her thoughts unspoken but she lacked the refinement of socialising to be discreet. On the other hand, the chaos that greeted them would probably mask the social fopaux.
Dasha’s ears perked up like a puppy dog’s at attention as the Sephi had never even knew her own ears would betray her intentions as much as she thought. Extremely likely part of the reason of the floor looking the way it does.
The pause was enough for Dasha to tilt her head slightly as she waited for Anders to continue since the state of their lab didn’t seem to faze her.
In a distant corner of the lab, something seemed to have cause a small explosion and a small firework of glitter was visible before sputtering out.
Only Anders didn’t continue as Aylin finished his sentence. “Inquisition. I’m here to gather a team to infiltrate an underwater city.”
She motioned to Siky to return to her. Her little droid quickly scurried from Anders’ pocket back to it’s owner. “How far off am I?” She asked with a cheeky grin, ignoring all of the coloured parts around her perfectly.
Anders glanced towards BUDD-E. He didn’t know how that little droid got into his pocket, but if anyone had some sort of clue, it would be the droid latching on to his shoulder.
If Anders didn’t know any better, he could have sworn BUDD-E looked away, whistling lime it knew nothing.
It definitely knee something.
“We will talk about this later, Buddy,” Anders squinted his eyes, before coughing to clear his throat. “Yes, Ms Sajark, that is correct. If I am not mistaken, Nautolans are amphibious, are they not? That, added to both yours and Ms Talus’ skills as slicers make you valuable additions to this team.”
Aylin chuckled. “I thought you would never ask. I love to get my tentacles wet. Let me get some supplies and then I’m good to go.”
She skipped off over all the parts and disappeared only to appear somewhere else a few minutes later. “Do you guys have underwater equipment?”
“Personally, I do not. Another reason for our trip here,” Anders momentarily thought about stepping inside, though his self-preservation instincts took over. Force only knew what would happen if he did, and he had no intention of finding out. “I trust that you have some equipment that would be valuable in this situation?”
Anders may have been timid about entering but Aay'han was more curious she gave a knock on the wall before stepping inside and without touching anything had a look around.
Dasha quickly darted off. The young Sephi bounded over many questionable tables and equipment as she did.
. She returned haphazardly with 2 equally shaped balls and what appeared like a bazooka super soaker. The 2 balls were in colors: green and pink.
She began to explained proudly, “This green one will make a camo cloud, go into and wear it, and it’ll cause reflections. The pink one will stick and if it gets on goggles then it’ll blind. Both of these only work in water. So dont be close when you deploy the pink one, that’s where this UWU comes in… the Under Water Unleasher. You have 10 seconds to prime each and… both will fall off as soon as dry, but stick as if they’re glued when wet. Oh and the UWU also appears to work well in creating precise sonic booms underwater enough to knock the air out of someone’s lungs for a easily a few seconds.”
“We need to introduce you to the world of calling things business expenses.” She waggled the Kom'rk’s wings on her way out of the hangar, and debated whether to stretch its capabilities further as she set course for Caleria. “As for Gehn, I’ve heard he knows his way around a cockpit. There’s only one downside.”
“There always is,” she said with a sigh as she sat back, just before the craft launched forward at unprecedented speed. “And what downside is it? Loyalty issues? Traumatic stress? Runs from fights?”
“Tunnel vision. Apparently he got so bloodthirsty in one fight that he had to be tractored back to the hangar instead of following his commander’s orders. I’m debating whether it would be better to only deploy him in one-sided fights, or just leave him to die until he gets the message.”
Anders looked at them, blinking as he took in the relevant information of the contraptions and how they worked. Aylin and Dasha might be, what was the word Anders was looking for?
Eccentric. That was it. Yet, he couldn’t deny the apparent use in their upcoming mission.
“Very good, though none of this matters if no-one other than Ms Sajark can breathe underwater. I don’t suppose there are any spare aquatic breathers not being used?” Anders asked.
<@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272> <@359063763736854538>
“I got some of those, just a sec!”
Aylin hopped off again and disappeared in a large closet. Things were thrown out as she searched for them. After a few minutes of searching she emerged again with a box.
“Yes! Still got them.”
She handed Anders a box with masks and breathing apparatuses.
“Hm…or a nice shock collar around his neck.” Cassandra commented with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice. “The fact he is still alive though speaks volumes. I concur, putting him in near-death situations might resolve that issue.”
“I’ll have to remember you’re into shock collars.” Erinyes grinned. “Even if we don’t have him in a regular squadron, he might come in handy as a commando. Someone who can both fly AND sabotage ships would be a huge asset next time we have to do something like disable an enemy capital.” Now that they were outside Port Kasiya’s airspace, Erinyes opened the Kom'rk’s throttle, curious to see just how far the craft could stretch its legs.
“Excellent. Pack the supplies we need into a waterproof backpack and nothing more. Mobility is going to be key, and we can’t be weighed down. Once you all are ready, we will make for Caleria.”
Anders observed the team he had assembled. It was a ragtag group. A Mandalorian Sith underage drinker, a Nautolan obsessed with glitter, and a Sephi that was, if her dossier were to be believed, prone to psychotic episodes under the right stimuli. It didn’t entirely seem like a team designed for stealth, but Anders had worked with worse, and he was nothing if not adaptable.
And stretch its legs it did, pushing them both back in their seats as it launched forward at a great speed.
What typically was a six hour trip by shuttle would be but a mere fraction.
As the day went on, the Lancelot Albion was the first to make it to Caleria. The small group made up of the Lady Second Cassandra, Summit Guard Commander Erinyes, and three of the summit guard, waited in one of the meeting halls.
The design of the room was reminiscent of the original citadel designs on Ostara, with its soft white coloring and furniture. Outside the windows was the vast open ocean and the tall power transmission pylons which dotted it.
It had been nearly three hours since their arrival, and aside from the aide who brought them here, none had yet to visit. Cassandra stood at the window and looked out over the ocean, arms in front of her with her right hand over her left.
Meanwhile, far below the ocean’s surface, a submersible came to a stop just short of reaching a canyon edge. Ahead of them was underwater patrol ships that guarded the various spires which supported the city from below. With little known about the city’s underbelly, going this route might prove to be problematic and a not-so-good decision. Given the ships however, it is assumed there is an underwater dock somewhere in the vicinity as they have never been noted to have been seen on the surface.
Patience. This was something she had become accustomed to, particularly when it came to politics.
But three hours, no refreshments, or anything at all? This seemed just a little excessive. Given the lack of notification from the villa of the package arriving, she knew how the team was making their move given the paths available.
At least this delay was buying them time, versus her having to stall and draw things out.
Still, it was unusual for Governor Roberts to be this late. When she was Caleria’s senator, her correspondence with him was nearly instantaneous if not shorter than most regardless of the reason of contact.
Her thoughts ran multiple directions however as she tried to figure out the inner workings of the Governors and what is evolving here.
One thing was certain. Though this was all but recently her home, it no longer felt that way to her. It felt foreign…and covertly hostile.
“The way I see it, we have only one option. Captain, halt the submarine,” Anders said as the vehicle halted its trajectory in the water. “We go on from the water. The vehicle will remain here, we are less likely to be spotted this way.”
He grabbed his aquatic breather, as well as the waterproof backpack containing his equipment and weapons and readied to leave with his team. <@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272> <@359063763736854538>
Aay'han didn’t hesitate to grab her breather and follow in silence.
Dasha quietly made sure to tether herself to Aylin as… the Sephi never learned how to swim.
“See you on the wet side!” Aylin said cheerfully as she exited the ship, dragging Dasha along if she was ready or not.
One outside, Aylin glided through the water, a big grin on her face as her eyes glimmered in the water. When she turned around she saw how Dasha was holding onto the tether for dear life and she swam closer to her. Grabbing her hand she swam back closer to the ship and waited for the others to arrive.
Because theywere so much further south compared to the bay in Port Kasiya, and the fact it was open ocean and not a bay, Aylin and Dasha found that the temperature here was significantly lower.
<@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272>
Thankfully, Aylin and Dasha were nothing if not prepared. Thermal packs had been added to him, as well as each other member of the team. Having seen Aylin tether Dasha to herself, and did the same with Aay'han.
“OK, Buddy. Into the bag.”
The bag was, of course, waterproof, not that the little droid cared as it protested. Regardless, Anders shoved the mechanical being in the waterproof bag, then exited the submersible into the water after applying his aquatic breather.
<@359063763736854538>
Aylin watched them get out of the submersible and waved towards them, she then pointed in the direction they had to swim to get closer to the city. As she started swimming towards the city she pulled Dasha along, sharing her a glance to see if everything was still alright with her.
“This is extremely unordinary, but aside from general unease nothing feels off” Cassandra finally broke the silence with a few words after these long hours. “At least to me.”
She turned and made her way towards a kitchen to look for anything at all to drink. At this point hospitality was non existant, so enjoying a drink surely wouldn’t be a problem.
“Thoughts? Think this may have been a bad idea?” she then asked as she rummaged through a few cabinets hunting for something.
<@645466919415054357>
Aay'han did not protest, applying her breather and following Anders lead when he submerged. As the pair started following Aylin she was at least not dead weight, mimicking Anders movements as best she could to make things go a bit easier.
By no means did she find the task easy but it made her much more determined to keep up with him.
Every now and then she cast her eyes around her surroundings, checking that they had not been spotted.
“For one thing, you’re entirely too patient,” Erinyes sighed. She’d taken to pacing back and forth while Cassandra inspected the kitchen. “I don’t sense any immediate danger, but that just means they’re keeping us here to test us instead of to attack us. I vote we head for the ship and see what kind of reaction we get. If nothing else, our stash is there, and we can grab decent drinks and a snack while we wait.”
“That’s poltitics for you. But yes, let us head back for now and await further talks.” Cassandra said as she gave up her search. It was at that moment that the feel of the room shifted, and Erinyes but not Cassandra got a sudden surge of hostility through a disturbance in the force. She could feel it beginning to approach. “I would assume the Governor just became busy with things.”
Erinyes narrowed her eyes at the sudden warning from the Force. “No, they’re definitely trying to kill us. We need to take cover.” She looked around the room for large, heavy furniture that might be used as an impromptu barricade, or failing that, a very large bludgeon.
Cassandra shifted her gaze and took a more serious tone as she took cover behind the large kitchen island where she was. Erinyes had plenty of options, faux walls and reinforced glass displays. The other three summit guards present already had done the same, and stood at the ready after hearing the order.
As far as she could tell, they had not been spotted or detected as the patrol ships seemingly continued on their way.
As they stood at the ready, the door slid open and a bearded male in a classic-style Taldryan uniform walked into the room. The uniform itself Cassandra did not recognize, but Erinyes would. It was the old officers uniform from the time of Karufr and even before that. One that has long been out of service. Afterwards, four armed individuals in grey armor walked in after him, also in older style marine uniforms.
He glanced at the five, a little confused, before turning to the others who had joined him. “Leave us.”
They did just that, each of them giving a sharp glare at Cassandra before they did so.
“Apologies, things are…rather tense right now.” the man started.
Cassandra crossed her arms and walked from behind the island. “Undoubtedly so, Governor Roberts. I take it the feeling my guard’s Captain just felt came from them?”
“Yes. To many, you are not held in as high esteem as you once were. Same with the other Governors.” Roberts said as he walked fully into the room and sat down on one of the couches. “I had to ensure my affairs were in order for the day, so as to maximize the amount of time I would have present here. Though them acting overtly with their thoughts, I do sincerely apologize.”
With a brief nod, she stepped over and sat down opposite of him. “No apologies needed. Though I do wonder why they would feel that way towards me. Given I myself am originally from Caleria, and Ostara formerly, it seems..strange to me.”
The Governor lowered his head and clasped his hands together as he leaned forward. He let out a slight breath before he continued. “Things…are not how they seem. And if not for my debt to you, I would not have even acknowledged your request for an audience. But, that is not for me to discuss at this time saddly. If anything, I am hoping Governor Regis will be able to fill in any gaps that I can not answer for either of you.”
She tilted her head sideways some at that statement. “Regis? What would he know that you wouldn’t as one of the board?”
“The Board of Governors is active in name only lately. A lot of things have been occurring outside of our purview, with Regis coordinating it. The confirmation of this came from Ostara in the last communication cycle while the storms were weaker.” he somberly replied, Cassandra’s eyes widening some. “I am unsure what it is, but something is coming down the pipeline from Ostara as the source.”
The group of four swam as fast as their legs would carry them. Well, swim might have been a strong word in Dasha and Aay'han’s case, but they at least tried. Eventually, they reached the surface, their hods bopping in and out of the water.
They eventually, clamouring up onto a ledge amidst the flash of torchlight scanning the area. It didn’t seem like they had been spotted yet, but that could change very quickly depending on what anyone did. By his count, he spotted three, no, four torchlights.
“Split up,” Anders said. “Take them by surprise. Eliminate quickly, and quietly. Understood?” <@359063763736854538> <@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272>
Aay'han gave a slight nod before slowly fading into the shadows. Careful to not draw attention she used the scope on her rifle to get a better idea of what was going on.
Using her comm she quietly spoke to her team mates.
“Can everyone hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you. Siky is ready to take out the one closest to us.” Aylin whispered as she glanced over the edge.
As Aay'han scanned around with her scope, she saw roughly a dozen or so vessels along the surface with people walking around on them doing various things. One was leaning over the side of their ship messing with something on the side.
Each ship, as well, had one spotlight on top aimed at the water; the waves moving the ship back and forth.
“Might be worth taking the stealthy route, I spy over a dozen. They’re all going to be aware as soon as we make a move.” She kept her voice low to not draw unwanted attention. Every now and then casting a glance behind her to make sure she wasn’t at risk.
“Boss, what do you want to do? ”
<@417336769181122562> <@837236610684813342>
“I could create a distraction. I’m most at home in the water anyway and find a different way inside. But you would still need to take out those at the dock,” Aylin whispered as she looked towards the boats. Several plans and ideas were forming in her head as what could be used to distract them.
“Twelve might be a tad optimistic, I might get four or five. If they dive chances will probably get slimmer.“ She couldn’t lie about it, wasn’t worth risking her life.
<@417336769181122562>
Anders, as per usual, had an idea. “We’ll take the four ourselves, stealthily,” Anders eyed Aay'han, a direct warning to the young Sith to not do anything stupid. “Aylin, take to the water, and search for another way insude. Dasha, you form a distraction, Aay'han, you’re on clean-up. I’ll will ensure nothing gets to you from behind.”
<@359063763736854538> <@417336769181122562> <@77213354619318272>
“You’ll forgive me if I take your guards’ hostility as a threat to the Chancellor.” At least Roberts’ troops being outside the room would make it easy to spot where they were coming from when—not if, in Erinyes’ mind—the attack came. “Before we get to the Board of Governors, why bother wearing old Taldryan uniforms? Someone might take it as you pledging your loyalty to us. In the current political climate, that seems risky.”
“You are forgiven, as that is exactly why I had them leave the room. As for the uniforms, that is what is confusing to some of us actually.” Robert’s replied, turning his head to look at Erinyes. “Ever since the Regent’s personal visit to Ostara, things have been all but upside down. Some talked about Ostara going on their own, but given its reliance on the outside and the fact of no direct alliances to support it, that proved impossible to follow through with. Even the Admiralty was against the idea. Which was when-”
“When the Admiralty were usurped from city administration and replaced by the board.” Cassandra cut in, already finding a small piece of the puzzle.
Roberts seemed taken aback by her words. “You knew what happened with the Admiralty?”
“No, actually. It was a suspicion that I had given the aerial views of the blockade of the naval headquarters and the severing of communication lines. A suspicion…that you just confirmed for me.” she countered, her expression turning serious.
“You realise how ridiculous it is to say that Ostara has no outside alliances after the Regent visits them, right? You know, the same Regent whose shipyards and factories supply most of Taldryan’s military materiel? The one who was my Proconsul?” Erinyes’ fists clenched involuntarily, but she forced herself to relax. “All of which is to say that Ostara might have support, if they wanted it. Whether they’ve asked Zxyl and what he might’ve said in response is an open question.”
“That’s the thing. He’s the reason the situation is as it is.” he replied as he shrugged. “He made it appear as if Taldryan abandoned them. Even made a little home in his old office. Actually, I have the recording that was sent to us from Ostara actually.”
He pulled out a small holo disk and sat it down. A green image of the Regent, full armor, appeared.
“Members of Taldryan,” the Regent started, his voice firm and loud enough for the few dozen to hear, “A great disservice has been wrought upon you, the people that have made everything possible, following my departure from leadership in Taldryan. You were abandoned by those you were told to trust. Those who told you to ‘hold down the fort’. A lot has changed since you last saw the light. The Taldryan Navy - the same one you have been ardently serving this entire time - is no more. It is now the Grand Navy of the Taldryan Republic.”
“BUT! It is not the same navy you remember. Things have changed, some for better, some for worse. The ion storms that have ravaged this beautiful moon for so long are beginning to weaken. Holes are opening up, allowing safe passage if the correct route is followed. But where is this Grand Navy? Have they come to see how their abandonment has fared? Have they sent support to you? No. They are off fighting a group of feeble pirates, instead of strengthening their forces - and in essence, Taldryan - with your expertise. Expertise that was already theirs! But I have not forgotten. H.A.L. has been working on flight models for these storms for months, and has finally succeeded. Even as Regent, I have made the time to bring you supplies and gear at the first opportunity. I am distraught at how you have had to cope. The lives that have been lost. The lack of true concern by those sworn to look after you. I am distraught at how you have been treated by this new ‘Taldryan Republic’. That ends today.”
“I have shared the flight model for navigating these storms with the rest of the Exchange prior to my arrival. More personnel, equipment, and supplies are on the way. When they arrive, you will have the opportunity to continue staying here, or travel to Kasiya to join ‘Supreme Chancellor’ Wight’s new Republic. I will remain here until supplies arrive, and help where I can. This is the way.”
Upon seeing the recording, Erinyes bursts out laughing. Not a chuckle or a half-hearted expression of resignation, but a full-throated guffaw, like she’d just been let in on some sort of cosmic joke. After a moment, she manages to cover her mouth so the conversation can continue, but for a solid minute she’s silently shaking with mirth to the point of being unable to speak.
The two of them watched Erinyes for a moment, Cassandra standing up and turning her attention to her.
“Are you ok, Erin?” she softly responded, the first time she’s ever called her by that.
Erinyes actually has to stop to wipe away tears of laughter before she can answer. “I knew it! ‘Oh, you oldtimers are stuck in your ways! You have to let go of your Imperial origins and move on! Republics are the way of the future!’” This prompts another burst of laughter. “That son of a bitch. He’s not even in the Clan anymore, and somehow he’s doing more to protect our traditions than all of us who are sitting around in our recliners, drinking and complaining.”
“Don’t worry, though, Lady Second. I gave you my word that I’d serve, and I will.”
“I do not question your loyalties. But, I must ask, do you feel he is correct in his statements?” Cassandra asked curiously. “I am familiar with the discord and unrest that formed after Lord First Wight formed the Republic and effectively dissolved the original Taldryan. Aside from the Navy, many were against the idea.”
Roberts sat silently, watching the exchange listening to every word being spoken. He interlaced his fingers and rested his chin upon his thumbs.
“Frankly? Yes, I think the whole thing was ridiculous. Taldryan did just fine for decades when we operated in the Empire’s image. The only reason I support a Republic now is because I think it’s only fair to give Taldryan’s leader the same deference I was given when I was Consul.”
She stood still for a moment and considered her words before walking to the window and looking out over the dark ocean once more.
“I must admit myself, it has been hard to control the senate. Leaving so much to them, trying to get anything done has been…tiresome.” she continued after a moment. “And when we were on Ostara under the old Taldryan, things were good.”
Roberts stood up and walked towards her. He seemed apprehensive in his words as he spoke, more if he was unsure if he should say tham “Maybe…you should meet with Governor Regis. I feel as if you three have more in common regarding Taldryan than was perceived.”
“Potentially. Could you see if it is possible?” Cassandra asked, still fixated on the ocean.
“Of course. I will be in contact with him and then return.” Roberts said, bowing forward as he did. He then gave a nod to Erinyes before turning and leaving the room.
Erinyes turned to Cassandra and grinned. “Well, that definitely wasn’t how I expected things to go.”
“Agreed. Nice work with the reaction though, that definitely changed his tune.” she said with a smile and chuckle. “It will bring us one step closer to figuring out what exactly is going on. But with the uniforms, the coup…I have a suspicion. Once we meet with Regis, we can see how it plays out.”
“Please do enlighten me. Scheming was never my strong suit.”
“I think…based on Zxyl’s words, the older uniforms and not Republic ones, and the fact that there is a ‘Proconsul’ that we heard about from our spy…”
She turned and looked at Erinyes.
“…that Caleria and Ostara want to secede from the Republic.”
“That’d certainly be a way to invoke the image of the Taldryan of the past. People will flock to the symbols they identify with. The Navy certainly has. Speaking of which, if there’s any risk of a shooting war, we’re going to have to plan for how to deal with that.”
Aylin dove back underwater and swam towards the ships. Once she got near she took one of her tools and started to cut a hole in the hull. Just large enough to take water but not enough to be noticed immediately.
She then swam to another boat and attached one of her glitter bombs to the lines and gave a few good tugs on the line.
The tugged onto the lines of another boat as well. Before going to the next and cutting another hole in its hull.
Several crew members on the two ships seemed slightly confused and began checking their respective lines, with one dragging theirs back up.
The crew member, a Twi'lek, stopped the line and stared at the strange device on it for a second.
Before their face became covered in a concoction that could only have come from the twisted, ingenious minds of Aylin Sajark, and Dasha Talus.
Water spouted from the sudden explosion, nothing major, but enough to garner the attention of those patrolling the docks. They approached the edge of the water, blaster rifles primed and flashlights searching for any anomalies.
The man who had his face covered in glitter ran up to the front and ripped open one of the doors. No sooner than he stepped inside was there a loud commotion, both himself and another one falling outside of the door and fighting with each other.
The guards on the docks stared, confused, before an alarm went off on one of the boats. People began to scatter, the sudden appearance of fishing gear being tossed in the ocean before buckets started to be dumped over that had water in them.
The people on the docks began to scatter, small boats going out to assist.
“This will be loud, just so you know.” She looked to Anders before directing her attention back down the scope. There was a few seconds of silence before she spoke again.
“I have my mark.” She aimed at the one closest to Aylin, waiting for consent to open fire. Anders heard her breathing slow as she showed uncharacteristic patience.
<@837236610684813342>
“Steady,” he commanded, with Aay'han holding the mark against her target. “Dasha, you’re distraction, if you will?”
<@77213354619318272>
Anders reached out with the Force, forming a telepathic link between the four of them.
‘You should all ne able to hear me. Dasha will let off a distraction, once you see it, Aay'han, you may open fire.’
With that, Dasha threw a bunch of tennis-sized balls (of glitter) as far as she could which would result in mini-fireworks after a short time delay. The entire path she was pulled on also exploded. A Wilhelm scream could be heard in the background as one drifted far enough away to some unsuspecting person on guard duty whom wasn’t exactly paying attention.
All it took was the Wilhelm scream. This caught the attention of several more guards, one of which turned on the main lighting of the docks to illuminate the entire area.
Several of them began talking to fishermen who were on the docks not already busy preparing boats to help their friends whose ships were now sinking.
It was at that point several more balls of glitter went up and boom, glistening prettily in the light. A loud scream could be heard from one of the guards. “God KRIFFING DAMNIT CARL! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? I SAID STOP IT WITH THESE PRANKS!”
A man ran towards them, arms out as if he were pleading. The guard moved up to him and poked him hard in the chest as they were arguing.
This, in turn…ironically…several bay doors opened up and black uniformed individuals came out, blasters in tow, to see what the commotion was.
Having done her part, Aylin dived deeper in search of an entrance into the city. She hoped the others would be getting there too.
The door slid back open, and Roberts came in followed by another much older man with a mix of grey and black hair with a cane, in the exact same uniform as him. Two helmeted stormtroopers followed directly behind him, their armor black in color but with a purple, red, and blue stripe down the left breast to the bottom of the breastplate.
“If I may,” Robert’s started before he turned to the side and motioned to the new older person. “This is Governor Regis.”
Regis bowed his head for a moment, placing both hands upon the top of the cane as he looked at the two. “It is a pleasure. Roberts told me that we have…things in common.”
The Lady Second gave a curt nod, turning to face him entirely. “Indeed. Which, surprises me to be honest.”
“Well then. Let us talk. Roberts, leave us.” Regis ordered with a stern voice. Roberts did exactly that without a word or acknowledgement. The two stormtroopers however, stayed.
Aay'han’s shots do well, striking down three of the five targets. The fourth is struck and goes to the ground in pain, but the fifth takes a grazing wound to the arm.
He quickly runs towards cover, yelling out.
Aay'han mutters a curse under her breath, she repositions to take down the fleeing target.
Despite the stress, the shot rings out and strikes the fleeing guard in his back and he droped to the ground.
Using her scope she assessed the situation for more targets.
Slowly Aay'han let out her breath, steadying her balance.
As she looked around, she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The five were all for sure down and incapacitated.
No chances that one of them wouldnt be. Nope. All down and all clear.
Aay'han turned to Anders waiting for his next order.
<@837236610684813342>
While Aay'han is content, Anders can sense someone in pain. They’re trying their hardest to mask it, and he isnt sure who it could be…but they are trying their hardest not to be revealed.
Could it be a sixth in hiding? One who was shot but still alive and not trying to run?
That is unknown.
‘Aay'han, shoot them all again. Dasha, keep your eyes on the shadows. Inform me at once if anything moves.’
Anders’ order was clear. If one of them was still alive that had been shot, this would take them out, if there was a sixth, this would flush them out like a mouse amidst a pack of sand panthers.
Aay'han strikes a couple of them, but full on misses the other three entirely.
Anders rolled his eyes. ‘Really?’
He glanced at Aay'han, the young girl shrugging her shoulders. He shook his head, and proceeded down to the bodies himself. If someone was foolish enough to attack him…
He dared them to try.
Aay'han remained where she was rifle ready to fire again if needed.
Erinyes eyed the two stormtroopers, primarily the stripes running down their armour. “That’s an interesting colour scheme. I wonder how many people know the significance of it nowadays.”
Regis sighed. “Not enough. In a sense, that’s precisely why we’re here.” He turned to the Lady Second. “I would not have expected you to earn the consideration of both Governor Roberts and the last Consul of Taldryan prior to its… reorganisation.” The word makes his face twist as though he’d bitten into something sour. “I’m curious to see exactly what we might have in common.”
“I as well.” Cassandra said as she motioned to the couch, and approached the opposite one herself and sat down. “Compared to how it was while I even was on Ostara, and while we were trapped during the ion storm, its rough having others dictate the interests of Taldryan. Already some of the corruption leaning its way in has been difficult to root out.”
Regis sat on the other couch, hands still resting on his cane. “And what do you propose to do about that?”
Meanwhile, Erinyes motioned for the Summit Guard troops to flank Cassandra from behind the couch, and moseyed over to stand between the two stormtroopers Regis had brought with him.
“Honestly, as the leader of a republic with numerous laws and protections in place to prevent a potential resurgence of a particular Emperor, it has been hard to figure.” she responded. At this point, she knew she needed to be assertive and decided to play one of the cards in her hand. “I do not honestly have a clear goal in mind, and the potential secession of Ostara and Caleria would only further fuel the issues within.”
Regis: “That lack of decisiveness is one of many reasons we on Ostara have disdained the idea of a republic. I doubt your Senate realises how the very protections they claim to cherish are preventing you from dealing with an impending threat to Taldryan’s integrity.”
“You mean the movement of the 19th Saber from Koradin to Rayter and the fact they still blame us for the loss of their throne world. That places them just one sector away from us.”
“That is an issue I have been watching very closely, trying to plan ahead on both offensive and defensive responses. Though the senate would rather wait and focus internally until the threat presents itself.”
“And yet, the fact that you’re here to negotiate suggests their ‘focusing internally’ doesn’t translate into giving you the freedom to act.”
“Negotiate? I came here to understand what was going on after communications with the capital were cut off and our naval headquarters were blockaded.” she firmly countered, to stay in a position of strength. “To ensure that it was not a prelude to war or a coup.”
“Ah. In that case, I suspect what you’ve discovered has been troubling.” Regis began to tap the head of his cane with a finger, as if keeping time. “The so-called Republic turned a blind eye to dissent because they assumed that the ion storms would solve the problem for them. The fact that your mission here began as an investigation leads one to believe that the Senate is so self-absorbed as to be unable to imagine how anyone could disagree with them, let alone put up resistance. And now, their lack of foresight has left them with a divided house when faced with a dire external threat. I’m sure that as a fellow survivor of Ostara, you understand how breathtakingly incompetent the Republic appears to those who have learned to survive.”
“I can. We were trapped in perpetual darkness and lightning storms, running from rogue firestorms and wildlife that quickly adapted to the darkness. Then for Zxyl to show up as easily as he did..” she looked down for a moment, tapping her knee on opposite beats to his tapping of the cane. “Though, after being able to examine the records, there actually were numeorus attempts to find ways through the field and charted what they could. Quite a few lost their lives trying to get through to us.”
“I see. I wonder if they would’ve been so eager to find us if they’d known we would be so troublesome,” Regis mused. “I suppose it doesn’t matter now. If the question you came here to answer is whether the Ostara survivors are a threat to the Republic, the answer is that it depends on the Republic’s actions. We are committed to preserving Taldryan by whatever means necessary. We have little reason to be confident that the Republic is capable of doing so without strong leadership, and even less reason to think they would willingly accept that strong leadership—whether it be you or someone else—because it offends their precious sensibilities.”
Regis paused and rubbed his chin. “You mentioned corruption in the Senate. I wonder how many of them are being influenced by their own potential gains. Someone with the resources of, say, an entire Imperial Oversector at their disposal could make a very compelling argument to those only concerned with padding their own bank accounts.”
“Given the infinitely deep pockets he has, and the closeness of his own remnant now…that is a worry I had not mentally considered. Thought about yes, but for a citizen or Taldryanite to openly betray us *or harm one of our own is just…” She conceited with a sigh. “…it would be only answerable by death if I found out. I’m sure you agree, protecting our own is of the most paramount importance.”
Erinyes finally piped up. “It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. The Collective flipped a bunch of Caelus senators and launched a no-confidence vote against the Chancellor a few years ago.”
Regis nodded. “I remember that. It seems you have cause for concern, Lady Second—although unlike the current Senate, I would suggest leaving your internal squabbles until after Grand Moff Sloven has been dealt with.”
“Same with the former Grand Admiral, who was kidnapped immediately after the loss of his summit guard detail after his own no-confidence vote. On the topic of Sloven, unfortunately he is not the prime issue at the moment, as much as I wish he was. We have another critical threat rising, one that ironically he has given support to helping against.”
Regis: “Oh? Please, do enlighten me.”
Anders summoned his curved hilt lightsaber. The crimson blade pierced through the darkness with a snap-hiss, as Anders went to work ensuring they were indeed dead. There could be no witnesses.
Chancellor’s orders, after all. That was how Anders chose to interpret it.
“His former Moff, Myn Genko. He’s gone rogue. After the loss of the superweapon during the Saijo conflict, he and Sloven had a falling out apparently. Genko had constructed it on his own with plans to usurp the 19th Saber, and us, and take the entire oversector.”
She leaned back and placed her arms across the back of the couch. “Word is he has sent his slaves into overdrive in kyber mining, and significantly ramped up his own weapons manufacturing and armored construction. We think he may be attempting to prepare a second weapon.”
As Anders stabs the bodies one after the other, he hears and sees movement of the body to his left and the reflective glint of light of a blaster shot being primed.
Aay'han fires off a shot at the now moving individual, but the spot she aimed at was now vacant as the figure did not just go one roll away from Anders but two, before firing his shot.
The Force rang out in Anders’ mind before the individual could so much as prime his weapon, like a lighthouse spotting the oncoming storm.
As the guard pressed his fingers on the trigger, Anders tilted his head, the shot soaring past his shoulder. With a gentle flick, his lightsaber pointed at his attacker’s heart. The crimson blade pierced his flesh, puncturing his heart, thus ending his life.
Aay'han couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“And you say I’m dramatic.” She kept her vigil from her spot waiting to see what shenanigans Anders would come up with next.
Silence followed. Luckily, the blaster shot was apparently not heard as nothing around Anders changed and there was no sounds of approaching footsteps or people.
“The issue at hand, is he has full control of the Subterrel sector. And the senate has already all but declared that it is a non-issue to us since his current offensives are with the Dalicron secror despite the clear threat to Taldryan, being one sector away. They refuse to authorize anything until he acts against us directly to harm Taldryan interests.”
<@645466919415054357>
Regis: “I see. It seems my supporters now have more pressing things to do than blockade the Republic’s naval headquarters. Perhaps the Senate will see that as an accomplishment of yours, and give you more freedom to act.”
“That is my hope, and in turn I will speak to them individually regarding your desires to secede from Taldryan. I can promise nothing however, but if I may ask a slight favor…in good faith, that is.”
Regis quirked an eyebrow. “I can likewise promise nothing, but ask.”
“I am sure you are aware of the Brotherhood’s call to arms that has been sent out to each of the clans, as well as the Taldryan Republic,” she started, with the intent Regis knew exactly where this was going. “but part of the new senatorial doctrines have set in place that we are separate from the Brotherhood although we still respect it as an alliance and not an allegiance. So naturally, policy dictates that we decline their request.”
“I am also aware that the loyalty that the former Clan Taldryan held towards the Brotherhood was unwavering and absolute, even following Cotelin’s assault on Karufr. If you will allow me a few months to gradually work with senators in private, and not officially push to secede until a time when there are enough senators to allow it through…I will make sure the Taldryan Republic answers the Brotherhood’s call, as it should. And we will work together, you, I, and Taldryan as a whole. After the call is resolved, then we move forward with further discussions.”
Regis: “Provided that neither Moff Genko nor the Senate does anything to threaten our security, I can offer you my assurances that we will not start military action. I would rather not subject Taldryan to a civil war, if at all possible.”
“However, if Moff Genko makes preparations to attack, my supporters will take the steps necessary to defend against him. How the Senate responds to that is their choice, not mine.”
Cassandra gave a soft nod. “We will respond in kind, with or without the senate’s approval at that stage as well. But given their adamancy around him acting first, if there is definitive actions that warrant that threat occurring, there should be no problem in convincing them. I will begin negotiations in the mean time to ensure support for the Brotherhood’s request. Was there anything else that you wanted to ask or go over at this point?”
Regis: “No, I believe that will do for the time being. Thank you for your visit, Lady Second. It was a pleasant surprise.” He rose from the couch and offered his hand.
She slowly stood up and extended her hand to his, giving it a light shake.
“It was indeed. Feel free to call anytime, Governor. My office will gladly answer.” she said with a smile, closed eyes, and a happy expression.
With the pleasantries done, Regis collected his stormtroopers and departed, leaving Cassandra, Erinyes and the Summit Guard.
With that matter taken care of, it was time to get into the city.
‘Ms Sajark, I trust you have found a way inside?’
Cassandra looks down at a small wrist device that has a soft blue light glowing on it, pondering for a moment. By this point it should have turned green, indicating completion of at least one objective….but so far it has not. Either something has gone wrong, or…
She takes it off of her wrist and hands it to Erinyes. “I want you to take this, use it’s locator to find the group, and give them a hand if they need it. Keep me apprised if they’ve been captured or…well, or worse. I’m going to head back to the city. Combat isn’t really my thing, and I can’t afford to be seen either.”
“You just want to polish off that first bottle of Aquamarine Shimmer without me,” Erinyes joked, but she took the bracelet all the same. “Which one of us is taking the ship, and which one of us is walking?”
She considered for a moment, tapping her chin with her fist. “Hm. Well, you caught me. Anything to make my Erin jealous, and downing that sure would. I’ll head to the villa then, and have the ship come back. It’ll station itself outside the city and await a signal for extraction. Will that work?”
“How will I survive?” She dramatically feigned light-headedness. “At least I brought my rebreather with me. Let’s go.”
She tossed her a small silver flask as she lead the way out. “This is how you’ll survive. Think of me while you drink.”
After they left, they made their way back to the ship. Regis watched from his office above as it lifted and took off on a rounded route, taking itself close to the water by the docks.
The wristlet showed that they were getting close…very close to where the group was. Apparently they were still on the surface, not even having started yet. But why were they on the outskirts of the city?
“So, um…how am I supposed to get to them?” Erinyes asked, curiously. Before she had an answer, the hatch of the ship opened. Cassandra smiled meekly before giving her a light push with the force, and sent her barreling down into the water; not far from where A*nders* had just finished his little act of decimation.
The ship lifted, the hatch closed, and it took off into the sky at full speed.
It started with a yelp, a sploosh, and a blurble, as any good cinematic high-dive did.
At least Erinyes had time to stick her rebreather in place before diving underwater and swimming towards the platform where the beacon had reported Anders was standing. She didn’t know what was going on as of yet, and wanted to make sure that her typical head-on charge was at least strategically timed.
Aylin was still swimming underwater, her little droid giving her some light in the dark surroundings. It took her a few moments but she found a hatch that could be used as an entrance, though it was a bit overgrown with stuff. Muttering she set to work on clearing the icky stuff away.
Sploosh!
Anders’ attention was drawn to the water. It didn’t matter who, or what someone was, objects did not simply fall put of the sky out of pure coincidence. He tapped into the ethereal power of the Force to get a feeling of who, if anything was there.
Erinyes?
What was she doing here? Shouldn’t she be with the Supreme Chancellor? Or did her heigness decide to send her lapdog to check on him.
‘Aylin, we appear to have been joined by our dear friend, Seraine. Can you see her from where you are? It seems so landed not so gracefully in the water.’
<@417336769181122562>
The Nautolan looked up and frowned at the voice in her head, she didn’t like it when they did that, but she did as asked and looked around to see if she could spot another body in the water.
‘Uh… I’m quite deep in the water, I don’t think she dived that far. Should I go look for her?’
Aay'han joined Anders side silently to try and get a better look around with the scope of the rifle.
‘Indeed. See if you can spot her before you continue what you are doing.’
‘OK, I will go look for her.’
Aylin pushed herself off from the wall and swam back towards the surface. She hoped Seraine was somewhere between his location and hers. After some swimming she started to pick up in the water what could be described as fear. Looking around, she used her tendrils to pick up were it was at it’s strongest and started to swim that way.
‘I think I might have found her.’ she send as she saw a figure in the water.
The “fear” was a combination of mild apprehension at hitting the water—she wasn’t much of a “swimming” person—and a brief but intense panic at the possibility of having lost the silver flask Cassandra had handed her after the meeting with Regis, before realising it was secured in a belt pouch. Also, getting punted out of a moving spacecraft unexpectedly didn’t help. Neither did the pain of hitting the water, but at least she’d somewhat mentally prepared for that.
Aylin popped up near Seraine and tilted her head. “I thought you were on the other team. Here, let me help you towards Anders’ team.” Aylin said as she grabbed a hand from her and started swimming towards the shore.
‘I have found her and am now swimming with her towards you.’
Erinyes removed her rebreather to speak, but kept her voice down. “I was, but the Old Lady got worried. We were in that meeting for a while and didn’t see any updates, so she sent me to see if something had gone wrong.”
“What’s the situation?”
“I found an underwater entrance and Anders was doing things up here after they got a diversion from me. I have no idea what they did though.”
Aylin and Erinyes reached the dock and climbed up it with as little sound as possible.
“I see.” Erinyes reached out with the Force to inspect their surroundings, and noted the presence of the other Taldryanites. “Well, they’re alive, anyway.”
“Seraine,” Anders gave her a curt nod whilst clipping his weapon back onto his belt. “As you can see, we are all fine. The guards here, though, I cannot say the same.”
Anders gestured to the numerous bodies that surrounded them.
“First of all, it’s Erinyes. Second, how’s the ‘infiltration’ part of this infiltration going? I was under the impression it was supposed to be a stealth mission, but this looks like… well, something I’d do, honestly.”
“My apologies, I wasn’t aware your name was a sensitive topic, and as for the stealth, well…” Anders lightly gestured to the group. “We are hardly the most inconspicuous of people. A Mandalorian Sith, a Nautolan and Sephi with a penchant for Glitter, and myself, a Chiss Inquisitor. We don’t scream sneaky. Regardless. I believe Ms Sajark discovered the location of an underwater entrance into the city. Shall we? Many hands make light work, as they say.”
“Mhm. Lead the way, Aylin.” She grabbed her rebreather from her belt again.
The Nautolan nodded, “I sure can.”
She stepped back to the edge and dove back into the water, waiting for the others to join her before leading the way towards the underwater entrance she found.
Erinyes kicked off the platform and into the water. When it was time, she followed along with Aylin competently, if not particularly gracefully. Water was very much not her natural habitat.
As the three moved, Erinyes started chuckling to herself. It had finally happened. Team RGB.
Dasha just rode the ‘wave’ as she held onto her tether while Aylin did the swimming… probably the quietest person there at time …
And Anders tethered Aay'han to himself, whether she agreed or not.
The youngling could use this opportunity to learn to swim, damn it!
They approached the area Aylin had found, it was covered yes, but nothing Anders couldn’t do anything abo-
He stopped when he saw air bubbles coming from Erinyes’ rebreather.
Not phased by his insistence she followed his guidance willingly. Though her weight was felt when they came to a halt and she sunk downward.
Anders was forced to swim in circles to avoid being dragged down. The girl was light, but her armor? That was a different story.
‘May I inquire as to what is so funny?’
Anders’ telepathic comment entered through <@645466919415054357>‘ consciousness.
As the group dove, it wasn’t terribly long before they neared the seafloor about 800 feet down. Ahead of them was a hatch.
And not far away from that, a large pool with lights going into the water, surrounded by walls on all sides. Most likely a underwater dock.
Anders swam through with Aay'han in tow. He needed to be cautious here…
Anders was too busy trying to stay afloat that he couldn’t sense what was above him, so he did the next best thing, swimming to the edge, then peering his head slowly out of the water.
As he poked his head out of the water not so quietly, he saw a Rodian staring directly at him in a technician uniform…and a blaster out.
“E'chuta.”
The Rodian is suddenly and violently yanked into the water, where…he sinks. Very fast.
Turns out he cant swim.
His blaster lays on the floor of the dock where he just was.
Erinyes waved the question off, instead using the Force to probe for any remaining nearby enemies before dragging herself out of the water.
From what she was able to discern, there was no one else in the underwater dock area.
In that case, Erinyes climbed out of the water and looked around. She waited until the rest of the team was present to move forward, though.
It was a large chamber with several terminals on the far side, along with a crane above the water. There were also a few dozen crates, and an airlock door.
Oh right, cameras. Erinyes looked around for those, too, in case the steadily growing number of bodies hadn’t already alerted the bad guys to their presence.
She noticed only one, which was aimed at the airlock.
In that case, Erinyes waved to get the group’s attention, then pointed at the camera—but then, she had an idea. She used the Force to tilt the camera to point at the ceiling, then scampered to the side of the door to ambush anyone who came to investigate.
As the others scampered inside, it was only a few minutes before a loud snap hiss could be heard as the passage behind the door pressurized. Someone was definitely coming.
Erinyes slipped her main-hand lightsaber into her palm and switched it to its stun phase—there was no sense in killing the opposition’s people unnecessarily, after learning what she had in the meeting with Regis—but held off activating it just yet. Instead, she both pinged through the Force to identify exactly how many people were coming, and slipped into her Marauder’s trance to make sure she’d move fast enough to disable more than one of them.
When the unfortunate soul steps through the door, Erinyes ignites her lightsaber in a flash—Tràkata was handy for getting the drop on people that way—and sweeps it up under their chin, aiming for a spot that’s likely to be less armoured. If the first blow didn’t drop them, she’d go for another, and another if necessary. The more times she had to hit them, the faster she got, and the less likely her target would be to escape.
Anders watched Erinyes carefully, Juyo in the hands of an amateur was, in his opinion, sloppy and barbaric, yet Erinyes actually showed a modicum of footwork and precision in her strikes.
The Tràkata was unsportsman like, but he knew better than to raise that point now.
He could have chosen to help her, but instead, he unfolded the waterproof bag, allowing BUDD-E out of its prison. It beeped angrily at him. Erinyes could handle herself for the moment.
“I’m aware, BUDD-E. I do apologise. I want you to start recording everything you see. Some of this information may be vital later.”
When Siky heard the little droid it eagerly scurried over towards it and beeped happily in a greeting.
“Hush, Siky,” Aylin whispered to it in a warning as she watched Erinyes take care of the people.
“Want me to check the systems?” she asked Anders
“Absolutely. Buddy, assist Ms Sajark with whatever she requires.”
BUDD-E lowly chirped, making Anders cast a glance to it at is it hopped down from his shoulder.
“I heard that,” he said as the little droid hopped onto Aylin’s shoulders.
Aylin frowned and wondered if he even heard her question or was oogling Erinyes to much. Shaking her head slowly she walked over to one of the consoles and plugged her spyke into it and started her general information searches. Hoping that this would already give them some useful information.
If Anders heard or felt Aylin’s resignation, he made no attempt at showing it. He folded his arms across his chest, curious to see what a former Taldryan Consul was capable of.
And unnoticed she was. A security guard wandered through the door as it hissed open, carrying a giant long-handled broom.
No sooner than he was through did her lightsaber pass through his chin and up his head. The man flew backwards, his head ricocheting upward as he did so.
The broom went flying into the air and clattered on the floor
Erinyes re-holstered her lightsaber, then picked up the guard and the broom with the Force, floating them into the dock and out of sight behind some nearby crates. Then, since the door was open, she motioned the team forward.
“If he wakes up we’re going to be in trouble.” Aay'han looked on without much enthusiasm to the stunned guard.
“Then let’s get the job done before that happens. What do we need next, somewhere for the slicers to get in?”
Snap-Hiss!
Anders plungedchis crimson blade through the poor soul’s sternum, ending their life. He retracted his blade, placing the hilt comfortably back on his belt.
“Shall we proceed?” he asked.
Without a backwards glance she followed Erinyes, not even a flicker of emotion passed her expression at the death of the poor unsuspecting man.
“Can we also not kill everybody?!” Aylin hissed between teeth.
She pulled her spike from the console and went after them, connecting the spike to her datapad and going through the crypted data.
There wasn’t much, unfortunately. The data was mainly centered around dock operations and door control, with no exterior access to other networks; effectively making her spike attempt useless.
Aay'han peeked over Aylin’s shoulder mildly curious to what she was doing.
“I simply conducted the best solution to our problem. You were concerned about them waking up, so I eliminated them. No more problem.”
“That is not how things work!” Aylin muttered as she stomped past him. “Also the docks are a separate system from the other area’s so I only have shipment logs,” she said as she waved her datapad.
“Let’s keep going, then. I have more computer spikes if you need them.”
“Don’t worry about the spikes, please keep him from killing everybody around us.”
Anders crossed his arms. Why bother communicating with someone who couldn’t see the bigger picture?
There were threats. As such, they needed to be dealt with. Aylin’s softness was going to cost her dearly one day.
For now, though, he simply waited.
Erinyes turned to Anders. “Word of advice: if you’ve got a specialist on your team who you can’t finish your mission without, and they have strong feelings about how the job should be done, it’s rarely worth fighting them over it.” Then, she followed after Aylin.
Aylin snorted and followed the hallways, peeking around the corners before going further.
The hallways compared to the bay were a reflective dark grey with red support lighting. While there was no one immediately present, a mouse droid was moving away from them and down a hallway connected to the right.
Luckily, this section was on the blueprint schematic that Anders had been given ahead of the mission. It was not far until a specific point on it where the map terminates at a blast door labeled as an exterior hatch, except there was no airlock associated with it…at least, on the schematic.
Dasha looks about while looking at an acquired schematic on her datapad. Still tagging along, behaving… for now.
Erinyes turned to <@837236610684813342> . “So, what’s your plan? The boss just sent me to see if you needed rescuing, and you clearly don’t.”
“We have successfully infiltrated under the city, now we are to meet with z contact which I believe Ms Beviin is familiar with. Isn’t that right, my dear?”
Anders looked to Aay'han expectantly, looking for her to provide more information.
<@359063763736854538>
Meanwhile, as the team deliberated finding the informant and the requisite keycard to gain entry into the Weapons Manufacturing Facility, in the upper bastion of the Second Citadel Regis walked down a dark grey hallway toward a large ornate silver blast door with two stormtroopers at his flank.
As he approached it and came to a stop, they stepped to opposing sides and faced each other. The door slowly slid open to reveal a large command center style room with massive displays in a half-circle on the outer wall. Desks and terminals dotted the interior, with a much larger terminal and chair in the center slightly raised above the rest.
Sitting at that center terminal overlooking the entirety of what the personnel has on the screens is the Regent himself, in his full armor. His head rested on his right hand which was in a fist, elbow on the chair’s armrest.
Regis stepped up beside him and silently watched for a moment. “Lady Second Cassandra and her entourage have departed the city. I must say, it was quite…enlightening…speaking to them. Especially the Commander of her guard.” <@260640060775464960>
The Regent sat motionless for a moment before raising his head and returning it to full height.
“Indeed they have,” he mused. The Regent had felt their departure - and had seen it as a possible eventuality - a feeling he was still getting used to, but still relied on the expansive surveillance that had been deployed inside the city. The Force was no replacement for technology and science. Since his awakening, he had worked to conceal his Force-sensitivity from those around him as he delved into the more arcane and misunderstood arts through the use of several artifacts; technological manipulation, Dathomiri Magick, Sith Sorcery, all things that complemented the genetically-altered Dathomirian-Mandalorian perfectly. As effortlessly as batting an eye, his signature in the Force was effortlessly concealed. His power anonymous.
“Speak to me, then.. share your experiences,” commanded the General, “and whether you believe they’ll pose a direct threat to the movement.”
The Mandalorian as well as his top military advisor and security-coordinator Commander Hannibal Sterling - a veteran of the Taldryan Navy’s special forces for over twenty years - would assess any risks, and take appropriate action. For now, their involvement needed to remain secret.
A possible wrinkle remained; Erinyes. Eventually, they’d have to face each other.
He shook his head side to side with eyes closed for a moment.“I do not feel her Commander will pose a threat, and she may well be an asset. The Chancellor as well. However, given the amount of control the Senate has over even her, I feel they will be a threat. Particularly if the Chancellor fails in her endeavor to convince them to leave us be.”
Aay'han made a dash after the mouse droid using her boot to halt it’s progress down the hallway.
When it stopped, she lent down and whispered something to it, the small droid gave an excited beep in reply before careening down the corridor once her boot had been removed from its path.
After watching it go she rejoined the party and leaned against the wall without speaking. It was only after Anders glaring became thermonuclear she looked back at him.
“The droid will find him, best to wait here.”
It was a matter of minutes before the droid was making its way back, a Rodian in tow. It glanced at the group, speaking in its native language, before handing Aay'han an imperial code cylinder. It was different, however, in that the end had a removable cap and it had numerous prongs in a strange formation. As he spoke, her droid translated.
It was meant to be inserted into the panel by the ‘bulkhead’, which would allow access to a supply elevator. That elevator would take them down and into the exterior of the facility. Once there, they would have to be quick to find uniforms and blend in, otherwise the interior security would detect them far too quickly.
Erinyes nodded along with the translation, then turned to Anders. “Does that map show any storerooms or something where they might keep spare uniforms?”
Anders inspected the map upon his datapad. “Indeed. Once we exit tbe elevator, we must take a sharp right into an adjacent storeroom. My bet is there are uniforms in there.”
“Perfect. I hope they have ones in our size.”
It was then that Anders was acutely aware of how tall he was. That… was a very good point.
“Indeed,” he said, pursing his lips. “I hope they do.”
The Rodian cautioned however, and the droid translated. The map of the weapons facility…can not be trusted. What is known, is false, to maintain its cover.
But that yes, they shouldnt be far in.
“Of course we can’t trust the map. That’d be too easy.” She rolled her eyes. “What about finding the target when we’re inside?*
The Regent interlocked his fingers for a moment.
“Very well. And what of our plan to acquire the Orthanc? Will you be able to secure its position in time for the operation? Worry not about the senate. We have eyes watching carefully.”
Another figure approached. Bearing a set of Taldryan Special Forces armor matte-black in color and highlighted with three varying-length stripes of purple, red, and blue on the arms and chest, Commander Hannibal Sterling stood with his helmet in hand and listened carefully for Regis’ response.
A mostly unknown war hero and long-term operator in the Navy’s special forces divisions, Sterling was there to ensure military success, but also prevent needless conflict between the two sides. It was imperative that the Orthanc be in the exact position necessary for them to take her quietly and swiftly before military command knew what was happening, and offer the crew a chance to disembark if they did not stand with them.
“Why must it be the Orthanc? Can one ship really be so important when there are bigger fish out there?” Regis queried, directly forgoing an answer.
The Mandalorian sighed, throwing both hands onto the arms of the chair, In one smooth motion the General pushed off of the chair and reached his full height, his bulky armored frame standing directly in front of the man.
“Regis… please, have a seat,” the Regent insisted as he flipped his left hand - a giant Sith Amulet embedded in the gauntlet - over, and a massive downward pressure formed on the man’s body and forcefully sending him to the floor on his buttocks.
“The Orthanc isn’t just one ship,” began Zxyl somewhat solemnly, “It is the ship. The _ Orthanc_ has survived every conflict for the last twenty years; it’s the only vessel left of the original Taldryan Navy and the bastion around which it’s military forces consistently will rally. The ship is constant. It is legendary. The bigger fish - as you say - may have more raw power, but the Orthanc is the one ship they can’t destroy. Will it be at the designated location in time?” the Dathomirian-Mandalorian’s voice grew somewhat cold and decayed as he finished his explanation and reinforced his question.
“Ye-yes, it will be. It has already been arranged. A training exercise,” stuttered the man as the pressure released and he stumbled back to his feet, “Minimal crew, as requested.”
Sterling nodded his approval.
Suddenly, a hand of one of the command center staff shot into the air with a white card held firmly. An officer walked down the aisleway to them and took the card, at which point they lowered their hand and immediately went back to work. The officer read the card before looking up at Zxyl.
“Pardon the interuption, sir. You said to be notified of any irregularities today no matter how insignificant.” the officer said as he approached him and handed him the card. “There has been a situation on the docks, several boats have been sank and officers of the C-Sec forces killed. One by a lightsaber, others by what seems to be a long-range blaster rifle. C-Sec is currently handling the investigation.”
He spoke further, and the droid translated. There would be numerous weapons labs and several other restricted areas they would need to be cautious of, but the target should be in one of the weapon assembly bays near the rear past security control.
Aay'han passed the Rodian a small bundle from her pack as payment for the information he had given.
“Make yourself unavailable and get back home. When you can leave, I’ve no doubt there will be new work available for you soon.” She had enough chatter to last her a few hours, this whole group work thing had never been a good experience for her.
He gave a firm nod before turning around and going back into the facility, the opposite direction of where the group needed to go.
“We need to find the uniforms. If at all possible, we need to do it before we go wandering around inside secure areas so can avoid the security cameras.” She looked askance at Anders. “As much as possible, anyway.”
She turned to Aay'han. “Can you ask your droid friend if it knows where the storage room is?”
“Or, does someone else have an idea on how we can do that?”
“You can ask if you want, he’ll scarper as soon as our friend is outside. They have a bromance since he reprogrmed it.”
Erinyes crouched down next to the droid. “Hey, where’s the room where they keep the spare uniforms?” Good thing she spoke Binary.
It…wanted to tell her. Every time it started to mention anything getting remotely close to it, there was either pause, hesitation, or…fear? Maybe something in the programming? Whatever it was, it was not able to say.
The most it could utter was ‘down’ and ‘right’
“Okay. Thanks.” It was better than nothing, at least. Still, she tried to figure out what the droid might mean by that.
She assumed it meant as soon as they went down, go right?
Since the supply elevator obviously…goes down.
“Well, whenever the rest of you are ready.”
“How about you take us to the place?” She figured direct instructions would work better.
The mouse droid sat there, without moving or making a sound.
Aay'han looked back to the group.
“Can anyone reprogram it? Might be useful down the line.”
“Your contact won’t be upset with us for taking it?”
“Do we honestly care if they are?” Anders asked.
“I mean, it’s her contact. She might.”
Siky chirped angerly at Anders and then went to the mouse droid to talk to it. To see if it could give it the information they needed in a different way
“I think he’s doing a runner, we can always give him back later. I know where he lives.”
“Works for me.” She waited to see what Aylin and Siky came up with.
The same thing occurs in its responses to Silky, just…down…right…
And thats it. The same expression that its either afraid, limited, or something else, and says no more regarding it.
BUDD-E hopped down from Aylin’s shoulder, casually beeping in binary that Anders wasn’t entirely heartless. He was just… misunderstood.
“Yes, thank you, Buddy. I’m sure our companions here do not care,” Anders said as he made his way down, and then turned a sharp right.
As he went on by himself without the group, he activated the bulkhead door which was clearly labeled “RESTRICTED- EXTERIOR SUPPLY HATCH”.
The doors hissed open to reveal a large elevator, which he began taking down leaving the door unlocked for the others to catch up.
At the bottom, it was a stark difference to the upper level. The wall designs, the lighting designs of red and white, it screamed imperial. Felt almost like the interior decks of the Axios and the Leviathan.
The door on the right was not a door in the traditional sense, but a very massive blast door with numerous warnings on it. Caution, Danger, Do Not Enter Unless Authorized.
Was he sure he wanted to proceed?
Aylin frowned as Anders went off alone and quickly scooped up both the droids and went after him.
“We beter stay together…”
Aay'han mutters a curse under her breath directed in Anders’ direction but follows with the group.
Anders decided to wait. He wasn’t rash or impulsive enough to enter without backup.
He sensed…nothing ominous. No signs of life, nothing out of the ordinary.
Erinyes trailed along with the others, unconcerned. Anders could… probably handle himself, she reasoned. If not, well, it was a mistake he wouldn’t make more than once.
Once they were all “safely” in the elevator, shs turned to Aylin. “If we find a scomp link, can you get us a map of the rest of the base?” For that matter, she looked around for once, since they seemed to conveniently pop up in and around elevators. She also kept a close eye out for any cameras that the group might encounter on the way.
The Nautolan nodded, “That shouldn’t be a problem at all”
“Good. If I’d known this was what we were walking into, I would’ve dug one of my old uniforms out of the closet.”
Aay'han decided whilst in the lift to ready her pistol not willing to leave it to chance.
She wasnt able to discern any link points, but in this area, strangely…there was no cameras. At all. <@645466919415054357>
With all present, the room itself had two access doors on the far wall, one on the left wall, and the massive blast door on the right. The access doors each had a small hatch near the floor, just slightly bigger than size of a mouse droid.
Anders largely notices the same as Erin, an unusual absence of cameras and link points. Its just a large, plain capital-ship themed room.
“Well, we’re down and right… let’s hope our little buddy doesn’t freak out on us.” She turned to <@417336769181122562> and the mouse droid.
Aylin looked at the mouse droid and shrugged, she saw nothing special so far from their new friend.
The droid sat there for a moment before progressing through one of the mouse-droid sized holes. As it approached one, the hatch slid open, then closed once it was inside.
Aay'han initiated her battlefield awareness, and was ready for any signs of upcoming conflict or hostilities. At the immediate moment, nothing was within her sphere of influence and all was calm.
Erinyes simply waited, paying as much attention to the others as to their surroundings. Her other instructions from Cassandra had slipped her mind until now.
“So… Which door shall we start with?” Immediately looking at Anders since he was officially in charge.
“Both and neither at the same time,” Anders turned to face Aylin. “Siky can get into those hatches, can he not? I am willing to say that those hatches are entrances and exits for small droids.”
<@417336769181122562>
Aylin nodded, “It should be able to, if its signature is the same as the mouse droid’s one.”
Her little droid walked towards one of the hatches and hoped it would open, tilting its little head at the hatch.
While it was the door the droid went through, she sensed at least eight individuals on the other side of it.
Erinyes waved towards the door that she was avoiding. “At least eight people in there, where the mouse droid went. Let’s leave them there if we can.”
The door to the left, she sensed only a couple a little ways down, the door on the left wall she sensed no one, and the blast door she sensed no one.
She waved to <@417336769181122562>, then pointed to the door on the left wall. “Can you send Siky that way? There’s nobody in that room. Maybe there’ll be a terminal you can use.”
“Siky, go to the other door, it is safer for you to go there.”
Her little droid beeped and scurried over to the other door, seeing if that one would open for it.
As Sily approached, it did not open. Another one did, however, as a Mouse droid entered the room, promptly turned, and entered another small door towards where Erinyes sensed others.
“Frak.” She saw the other door open, looked at Siky, then looked at Aylin.
Aylin shrugs, “Lothcat and mouse game?”
Siky moved over to the door and knocked against it.
“If nothing else, it gives me an idea for the next one we see.”
“Actually… kriff, why not.” She reached out with one hand and touched the droid door in front of Siky with the Force. Then she pulled upward, hoping there was no lock holding the panel in place.
Unfortunately there was. The door did not budge, and wouldnt without being deliberately forced open.
It was a decision she would have to make. Force it open, or wait for the next.
She sighed. “Can one of you hack the controls for that door in the meantime? It won’t be any more conspicuous than all of us standing out here waiting for another mouse droid to show up, or just cutting it open.”
Aylin got over to the door and hooked her spike into it as she started to type away on her datapad
The door itself had no security or locks, immediately opening. Most likely due to them already being in a secure area
It revealed a long door-sized hallway leading downward about 200 feet, then going sharply to the right.
“At least we’re not standing out in the open.” Erinyes motioned for the group to follow her down the hall, keeping an eye out for another mouse droid, or at least a hatch where one might come from. She also kept her Force senses open to get some advance warning of someone coming down the hall from the other direction.
As she went down the hall, it lead to a room with twin turblifts of imperial design, and another room with a sign on it that said “Staff Quarters”. She sensed two individuals inside.
She gestured for the rest of the team to wait, then slipped her lightsaber into her hand, making sure the blade was still on its training setting. Even if she had preferred sneaking around, the longer this went on, the more likely they were to be discovered and have the entire base come down on them. So, she thumped the door control with her empty hand and simply walked into the staff quarters to see who the two personnel were.
One was on a bunk, sleeping. The other had his back to her, shirtless except for pants and boots, a Taldryan Officers uniform hanging on a locker next to him with the emblem facing her.
It was then that the room briefly distracted her…as she recognized this room. There was no way she wouldnt. But, why? Why was it designed just like the bridge officers quarters on a star destroyer?
“Frank, ‘bout time you got here. Next shift starts in five minutes, we gotta get down to the weapons bay and-” the one said as he kept shaving, before turning to look at 'Frank’…only it wasnt Frank. “W-who are you?”
Anders followed closely behind, though just out of reach so he wasn’t seen. He would interfere if needed, but for now, he would let Erinyes handle things.
“If you’ve been here long enough to finish officer training, you know damn well who I am.” She ignited her lightsaber and pointed it at Shavey Boi for emphasis. “We’re going to have a little chat while you finish getting ready. If you’re helpful, you might even be on time for your watch.”
“Alright, look. It wasn’t me, ok? I told the Commodore exactly what happened with the reactor, I had no part in the antics.” the man said as he sat his razor down and leaned against his locker. He was not phased in the least by the saber. “If you’re here to punish anyone, definitely need to talk to Anders. Him and that damn hotshot girlfriend of his.”
Anders walked into the room, a crooked smile on his face. “You rang?”
The man seemed confused. “And who are you?”
The OSI Spymaster looked the poor soul dead in his eyes, the intricate webs of the Force already weaving their way into his mind.
“You want to tell us what you know.”
He returned the gaze, peering into his. “I already did, you karking asshole. How many more times do I have to say it and to how many more security force pricks before it gets through your thick skulls? Anders and his girlfriend organized a wargame between the Derriphan Batallion and the 4th Karufr Division. They shot up the reactor room, damaging the casing. We stayed away. No part of it. Check the damn cameras if you need.”
“Just leave me the kriff out of it.”
While he tried to read the man’s mind, his fury was too strong. He was definitely furious about this.
“He’s definitely furious, which to me, either speaks the truth of his claims, or he is frustrated at being caught,” Anders placed a hand under his chin, then glanced at Erinyes. “Feel free to rough him up a bit if you like. I won’t stop you.”
“I swear you lay a hand on me, I’ll go straight to the Regent.” he countered.
Anders raised a brow. “The Regent? Why would he care?”
“Lay off, Blueberry. He’s not our real problem, remember?” She turned back to Shavey Boy. “Funny you should mention the Regent, because he’s the reason we’re here. We’re looking for a traitor. Someone who’s already gotten a lot of Taldryan personnel killed. Give us a hand with our investigation, and we’ll make sure IA stops giving you grief about the reactor.”
This caught him by surprise. “Wait. You arent here about the wargames incident?”
“Oh, please. The only part of that I give a kark about is that someone’s aim was bad enough to hit the reactor instead of their target.”
“Then who are you?”
“Oh, for… give me your datapad. Don’t clog it up with shaving cream, either.” Erinyes extinguished her lightsaber and made a give-it-here motion with her free hand. “I thought the Army were supposed to be the stupid ones.” Dun Möch was the art of weaponised kark-talking to put an opponent emotionally off-balance and make them prone to mistakes. Most people saw it as tactic in lightsaber battles, but to Erinyes’ mind, there was no reason it couldn’t work in more peaceful settings.
Aay'han lent against the doorframe, pistol aimed at the sleeping one.
“Could wake the dead with all this racket, thought we were supposed to be stealthy.”
“Stealthy doesn’t mean nobody seeing you. It means making it worth people’s while not to report you.”
“There’s nothing much stopping him once you’ve turned your back.”
“That just means you weren’t convincing enough.”
“To be fair, you’re not so far.”
“You must be one of those people who judges food without tasting it.”
“By lightsaber?” Zxyl looked up from the card. Why would Taldryanites be attacking C-SEC officers?
The Dathomirian-Mandalorian shook his head. This was preposterous.. He tapped his cloaked thigh plate for a moment, before returning his gaze to Regis.
“You may go,” he said dismissively, before returning his attention back to Commander Sterling, “Set up a small squad, let me know when you’re ready to depart. News of a lightsaber is rather unsettling. We’ll investigate.”
The SpecForce officer nodded, securing his own equipment as he left to put together a small squad of four. A short while later, that same squad and the Regent General himself barreled towards the docks in a Taldryan-marked vehicle, with Sterling at the wheel.
The docks were fairly lit up at this point, with the remains of several scuttled ships dragged up from the bottom. There were several corpses as well, all covered with sheets, and on cots awaiting transport to the morgue. Several C-Sec officers strolled up to the Regent General’s vehicle and saluted as it landed on the dock.
The man handed her the datapad before crossing his arms, his thicc muscles flexing as he did so. He quietly listened to the discussion, trying to piece together what is going on. <@359063763736854538>
Erinyes started typing a command into the officer’s datapad, then looked up and stared at his incompletely-groomed face. “You’re not really going to report for your watch looking like a half-shaved wampa, are you?”
The man sighed before turning around and getting back to shaving.
Erinyes started poking around the datapad, first looking at whether she could access the facility’s map. “Look, you seem like a trustworthy guy, so I’ll be straight with you: we’re Inquisitorius agents. We’re here hunting the traitor because the Regent knows he can’t trust the Republican ‘authorities’ to do it. For all we know, they’re as compromised by the 19th Saber as the Caelus Senate was by the Collective a few years ago.”
“This is why I did my best to get rid of them when I ran the show. Look how that worked out.” Whether she could access the map or not—and if she could, she’d copy it to her own datapad—she proceeded to open a link to the Inquisitorius network, and pulled up her own dossier.
“We can’t operate openly, or the saboteur will realise we’re on to him and make a run for it.” She flipped the datapad around to show Shavey Boi her record, particularly how she’d been Zxyl’s boss when the Regent was still in Taldryan, but didn’t actually hand the device back to him. “We’re on the same side. Frankly, I’m not sure what’s more offensive—that you don’t remember me from your OCS history classes, or that they might not have taught you. It wasn’t that long ago that I was your commander-in-chief.”
“Anyway, are you going to help us or not? I happen to know that Zxyl rewards people who take initiative. Also, the saboteur is somewhere in this facility, and he’s already responsible for the deaths of dozens of Taldryan personnel. You said you were waiting for Frank to do the weapons lab inspection… we have evidence this saboteur is a technician. I’d hate to be the officer who signed off on his inspection if something goes wrong.” Relentlessly pounding against Shavey Boi’s thoughts, keeping him off-balance, just like a lightsaber duel. Butter him up, appeal to his sense of loyalty, dangle a payout in front of him, mix in a bit of fear of consequences. Never let them know where the next blow would come from, until they’d lost the will to resist.
The man considered for a second as he grabbed his jacket, put it on, and began buttoning its interior before looping its top. “Trying to think. There’s only three technicians who would have direct access to the weapons themselves, and three quality control techs. But if its a saboteur…I doubt its the quality control. Though if they missed it, thats hard to confirm.”
“Though…if you’re who you say you are…where’s your uniforms?”
“Uh… Dark Jedi operatives have never had a standard uniform, mate. But if you know where they keep the spares, it’d sure help keep the saboteur from seeing us coming,” she said.
“In any case, we have the lot number of the sabotaged weapons. What we need is to access the maintenance records and find out who was responsible for inspecting those weapons. Can you get us inside? Vouch for us, leave a door open so we can bypass the security checkpoint, something? I know that goes against procedure, but we have no way of confirming whether this saboteur has friends on the security team. Anyone might tip them off.”
“By the way, my team will hang on to this.” She held the officer’s datapad up. “It’ll be a lot easier on you to say someone stole it than to explain why you were accessing high-level Inquisitorius records with a former Consul’s credentials.” Before the officer could argue, she telekinetically floated the datapad out the door for Aylin to grab and dig through as she pleased. Surely there would be something useful in there.
When Aylin saw the datapad float out the door she quickly grabbed it. The open documents made her arch a brow before she started to dig around in more secure levels and finding other information that might be useful, safely storing it away on datasticks.
Anders decided in this moment that it would be beneficial to be a team player. “I would listen to the former Consul, my good man. Not only is she telling the truth, but she holds a personal relationship with the Regent, having previously been his superior here in Taldryan. You would be doing a great service, and a positive word can be given upon your cooperation.”
BUDD-E hopped back onto Aylin’s shoulder, overlooking the screen. It lit a short light, making things ever so slightly easier for the Nautolan to see.
“Fine. But this better lead to a good word with the Governor and the Regent.” The officer grumbled as he pointed to adjacent lockers. “Spare Taldryan uniforms are in there, hopefully they fit.”
“You have my sincerest gratitude. What is your name and ID number so that we may forward it for recommendation?”
Erinyes started sorting through the uniform lockers and extracting various items of clothing. Finding something for Aylin, Dasha, and herself would be easy enough. She wasn’t going to bother trying to talk Aay'han out of her armour. That just left the blue beanpole.
Aay'han stepped past Erinyes without saying a word and plucked a uniform that looked the correct size. She stripped, changed and packed her armour into her pack.
Anders turned his back to them so they had privacy for getting changed, and left the room. He would await them when they were done.
The man followed him as well and closed the door before answering his question. “Name is Kurt, Captain Kurt Richardson. ID 472-Tango Alpha Lima.”
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Captain Richardson,” Anders held out a hand.
Everything there was classic Taldryan. Uniforms, general officer rank plaques of naval origin but nothing higher than a Lieutenant Commander.
“Ehh, good enough.” She timed tossing a uniform to/at Anders so that it would land on his outstretched arm after he finished shaking Richardson’s hand, then grabbed a blouse for herself. Side benefit of wearing slinky stuff on the job: she could just pull the uniform on over her usual garb.
“Well, I’ll be on my way. Good luck, and honor be to Taldryan.” Kurt added before heading to the turbolift and away.
“And hopefully I’ll see you again, blueberry.”
He laughs as the door closes and away the lift goes upward.
Anders visibly twitched at the nickname, though kept his thoughts to himself. He grumbled under his breath, and searched for a place to get changed.
Anders emerged wearing his getup, his usual armor stuffed into his backpack. Now it was a question of accessing the Weapons Manufacturing Plant for the fourth objective. He had to wonder if <@417336769181122562> had found anything on that datapad of hers.
Zxyl and his entourage exited the vehicle, with the soldiers immediately getting to work in a supporting role. An attack against any military personnel was an attack against all of them. The Dathomirian frowned behind his dark crimson T-shaped visor as he took in the whole scene, and immediately regretted the decision he was going to have to make next. With a heavy sigh, he made several taps on his vambrace gauntlet to bring up personal comm-channels, and selected the one for Erinyes. He hadn’t talked to the former Consul in nearly a year, and much had changed in that time. Still, the Traditionalists would surely want answers and whether one of Taldryan’s force-users were involved in the death of C-SEC officers was an important thing they’d need to determine - and Erinyes’ held a current commission.
De-activating his helmet’s external voice vocoder and activating a secure comm-chanel to his fellow Scion of Taldryan, Zxyl opened with a single word.
“General.”
<@645466919415054357> <@61385159655559168>
Aylin wrinkled her nose at the thought of wearing a uniform and changed into it under protest. After she changed she stuffed her clothes in a bag and slung it over her shoulder. Siky let out a series of chirps which earned it a angry glance from its Nautolan master.
“There are three depots with interesting stuff, next to our own point of interest of course.”
“Excellent work, Ms Sajark. Yes, Siky, I do quite agree.”
Anders gave Aylin a cheeky smile before making his way towards the three depots. BUDD-E jumped down from Aylin’s shoulder, deciding to chase after its master.
“Blueberry,” Aylin hissed after him before she followed him and glanced back to what the others decided to do.
Aay'han followed out of the room moments later she caught the tail end of the conversation but didn’t make much of a comment on the new nickname.
“Do we have a plan on where to go next?”
Erinyes stopped short when she heard the greeting. It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence that Zxyl was calling her now. That would complicate things, and she hated complications.
With a sigh, she keyed her comlink to reply. “General.” A beat. “How’s the weather on Arx?”
While she waited for an answer, she focused on the Shard of Pomojema she wore—a talisman that connected the Scions of the Clan—and searched for Zxyl’s presence. She had a feeling he wasn’t on Arx at all.
Zxyl felt the ping Erinyes had sent out. That was going to be the single most annoying thing about being Force-sensitive - that damn Shard. He knew damn well once she felt he was in the system, his answer was moot.
The Dathomirian-Mandalorian pushed back, preventing any mental intrusion or conversation - unfortunately altering Erinyes in the process.
“I don’t know, I only ever see a giant space donut and some dark halls. It’s nice to get a little arr-and-arr. Heard about that unfortunate incident down at the docks.. what do you know about it?”
The Regent wondered if he had been too direct..
“The only docks incident I’m aware of was part of someone trying to track down a saboteur. They snuck into what was supposed to be a training exercise and modified the OPFOR’s blasters so they were locked into live-fire mode. Dozens of Taldryan soldiers ended up dead. They tracked the saboteur to an underwater facility in Caleria.”
Which was all true. She wasn’t going to bother telling the Regent she was on-site, because if he didn’t already know that, there was no point in confirming it for him.
Zxyl’s push back against the Shard’s connection, however, was… interesting. Troubling, in fact. As far as Erinyes knew, he shouldn’t have been able to do that. Something was definitely amiss.
“If there was some kind of ‘unfortunate incident’ as a result, well, you know how it goes. You show up at a place suspected of harbouring someone responsible for the deaths of dozens of Taldryan servicemembers, you don’t know who they are or what they’re planning besides that they’re armed and willing to kill your people, and misunderstandings happen. Honestly, I’m surprised it crossed your desk at all. That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d be involved in.”
Erinyes turned to the team, who had probably overheard the conversation by now, and made extra sure her comlink was muted before speaking. “We need to pick up the pace—and no more killing people unless we absolutely have to. This whole place is connected to the Regent somehow, and we can’t afford that kind of heat.”
Belatedly, Erinyes went back into the staff quarters to see if any of the officers had left a spare code cylinder lying around, as well as checking her borrowed uniform’s pockets. It wouldn’t do to have to hack their way into a door they were supposed to be able to open, or risk being detected by asking someone to open it for them.
Her uniform, that of a Lieutenant Commander ironically, did have a code cylinder. There were a couple others as well in a locker stacked on each other
Erinyes yoinked the two spare cylinders, then came back to the group. Assuming there were no objections, she started back to the door where she’d sensed all those people before. If people were clustered there, it was probably somewhere important. Hopefully, it’d be the checkpoint they needed.
She also slipped each code cylinder into the datapad in turn, trying to find the one that was most likely to get them through the security checkpoint.
It was a good thing she checked them, hers indeed would get them past, the other ones maybe depending on how far beyond security they needed to go as they were for an Ensign and a Lieutenant.
But who would be the ‘Ensign’ and who would be the ‘Lieutenant’ to her own ‘rank’?
She looked at the rest of the team’s rank insignia—probably having to stand on her tiptoes to see Anders’ shoulders. If their ranks matched, she handed the code cylinders out. If not, she gave the lieutenant’s cylinder to Aylin—the Nautolan would be better-equipped to cause trouble in the base, she reasoned—and the ensign’s cylinder to Anders. “We’d better stick together. There’s no way to be sure all of these will open all of the doors we need.”
Once all the cylinders were handed out, she smoothed out her uniform—man, they really hadn’t changed, the rank insignia still poked her in the chest the way it had had back in the day—and led the team to the room where she’d sensed the large group of people.
Back at that room, since they entered from the left door on the western wall, there was the two doors on the north wall, the massive blast door with the warning symbols on the right wall, and the elevator on the south wall where they originally came from.
Erinyes headed for the room with the eight-ish people in it that she had sensed before. The area with all the warning signs was tempting, but not worth the risk just yet—for all she knew, it required biohazard gear or something.
Anders followed closely behind. He held his hands behind his back, but he was ready to retrieve his weapon at the first sign of a confrontation.
Still, Erinyes’ conversation with the Regent was interesting to say the least. He thought of attempting to delve into her psyche to discover the little hidden details underneath the underneath, though his attempts to do so thus far had failed. That was the problem with Elders, most of them were mentally as stubborn as a bantha. It would the time and effort to weave his threads into her mind, time that they didn’t have, and effort that wasn’t worth it, especially if he was caught.
He’d been lucky so far.
“You’re former subordinates seems… pleasant,” Anders couldn’t help but comment.
“He has his moments.”
“Of being a pain?” Anders raised a brow, a small upward curve tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“With me, he’s usually pretty civil, but distant. His manner is less of a worry than the fact that he called at all.”
“Indeed. From what I’ve gathered from reports, he appears to maintain a high level of interest in Taldryan affairs, particularly during Chancellor Wight’s time as leader of the Clan. I initially considered that it was because they were both Mandalorians, and there was a potential kinship there, but this may confirm otherwise. How do those shards work? Is it limited to only this system?”
“If you ever get one, you’ll find out.” Erinyes gave Anders a warning look. Clearly, there were some things that weren’t shared outside closed circles.
Anders sighed. “Ser…Erinyes.”
Anders managed to catch himself.
“I mean no disrespect. In fact, I admire your capabilities, but if there is information that pertains to these circumstances, then the team needs to know. Information, or a lack thereof, can get people killed. Believe me, I have witnessed it first-hand. I’m not asking for the intricate details of how it works, nor will I pry any further than that. You have my word. I have a… suspicion.”
“I’m sure Lady Cassandra would appreciate it.”
“If your suspicion is that he’s using his Pomojema Shard to track mine, I can assure you that he almost definitely is. There’s no other way he could’ve known about the so-called ‘unfortunate incident’ at the docks, let alone to contact me personally about it instead of checking whatever sources he has within Taldryan.” Erinyes sighed. “The bigger question is why our saboteur is hiding out here, of all places, and whether Zxyl knows about it. That’s not a fight we can afford to get into.”
“If he is tracking you specifically, there’s a good chance he already knew what was happening, and that you would be on the scene. It complicates matters, and without further evidence, there isn’t much we can do against a member of the Dark Council. Are you aware of what Regent Bes'uliik’s beliefs are as it pertains to Taldryan and its reformation into a Republic?”
“He’s very much a traditionalist. We come from the same era, remember? That’s why it doesn’ make sense to me that he would harbour this saboteur. Unless he’s gone completely off the rails, his issue should be with the Senate, not our military. Being willing to sacrifice our troops with a stunt like that would only turn them against him.”
“It’s a stupid move, and he’s not stupid. Quite the opposite.”
Anders curtly nodded. “Indeed, though who’s to say he hasn’t lost control of someone amidst his ranks? If he is indeed in the Caelus System as I suspect, then all it would take is someone to take his beliefs and twist them for their own agenda. Again, these are theories, outlandish perhaps, but we cannot leave any stone unturned. Once we capture this saboteur, I’ll be able to extract all the necessary information.”
“Always expect the worst, and be pleasantly surprised, as they say.”
Anders gave Erinyes a warm smile.
“That kind of affability works a lot better when you haven’t made a first impression by killing people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an improvement, but keep that in mind. Speaking of which, I take it you all left some bodies behind at the docks.”
Anders shrugged. “Unfortunate casualties, but necessary. Some are in the water, and some will be by the docks, which have been discovered if your call with the Regent was anything to go by.”
“Necessary, or convenient?” She waved dismissively. “Either way, cover it up next time. Avoiding patrols and cameras won’t do you any good if they find former comrades instead.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” Anders begrudgingly accepted her point. He’d gotten careless, he had to admit. Being in Taldryan would do him no good if he kept making enemies at every conceivable turn.
“As for someone turning against Zxyl, it’s possible. That might actually work to our advantage. The problem there is convincing Zxyl to hand him over to us instead of dealing with the problem himself.”
“That depends on if Lady Second can spin that it is a Taldryan matter, not a Dark Council one. Considering feelings as of late, it might be in Zxyl’s best interest to let Taldryan handle it to gain some favour. Then again, it depends on how stubborn he is.”
“Lady Second won’t be the one who has to convince him. If we leave here without our target, we won’t get another chance. Either Zxyl will hunt them down and interrogate them himself, or they’re working together and Zxyl will make sure we can’t find them again.”
“Of course, if we can’t get through security, none of that will matter.”
The doors of the supply lift closed themselves suddenly and slowly, before the motor engaged and it began to go back up to the underwater section.
“A saboteur? Amidst internal ranks? Interesting…” The Regent trailed off during his response to Erinyes. He had taken a long time.to formulate it.. but he needed to keep it simple.
“I will locate this person,” the General declared through the link, “And Taldryan will see justice. The docks have already been properly secured, if you’d like to visit the scene?”
Zxyl did not wait for a response from the former Consul before cutting the link between their comm devices, calling over Sterling.
“Sir,” he nodded as he approached, helmet in hand, “what a mess.”
Sterling went on to repeat most of what Erinyes had said, at least regarding the scene itself and current state of affairs at the docks.
“Could this have been us?” murmured the Mandalorian General quietly as he pondered.
“No, sir. As much grief as any one of our comrades might have, all are fiercely loyal to protecting Taldryan. And none of our forces use lightsabers.”
“Very well. I want a full report ready later. For now.. it appears as though we have a hunt. We’re going to find who did this.”
“Yes, sir,” the Commander gave a half-hearted salute, before peeling back off. Regent lifted his hand slightly, opening his fingers.
The Pomojema Shard. He secured it in a little pouch on his belt, keenly aware it could be quite useful in the future.
The Regent keyed up another frequency.
“Aisha?” he asked.
“Yeeeeeeees?” came the Zeltron-Hapan hybrid’s sly yet soft reply.
“I need you to bypass local security measures. Access security cameras, start tracking the last known positions of any Taldryan forces or operatives in the last couple hours. Nothing current is necessary. I want to rule out foul play.”
“Sure thing, love… Security cameras from where?” she asked, though she already knew.
“Everywhere. Cross reference personnel at the docks.”
A heavy sigh came over the Dathomirian-Mandalorian’s feed.
“You got it. You want me to write H.A.L. a new algorithm to do this stuff for you directly next time?” Aisha’s question came with a hint of sarcasm.
“If you don’t mind,” Bes'uliik joked, before cutting the link. While the General may be better at putting things together and making them work, but he would always be second fiddle to Aisha’s skills in making computers do things way out of his league. If there was a link, that mercenary beauty would find it in no time.
“Why do you antagonize her?” H.A.L.‘s robotic voice filled his helmet.
“It’s fun,” the Regent replied cheerfully. He loved bugging the bad doctor.
“Until she programs me to vent your atmosphere during your next ariel drop.”
“That would be unfortunate,” the Councillor frowned. Getting back to reality, he turned back to the craft they had arrived in. “Sterling! We’re on the move!”
“Where to?” Hannibal asked as he called up the rest of his squad and joined up with Zxyl back at the craft.
“Dr. Solon will get us a location shortly,” the Dathomirian-Mandalorian said assuringly as he climbed in.
“Of course she will.”
“I have the lot code of the weapons that were sabotaged. I imagine that’ll make it a lot easier to find–” Erinyes’ commlink beeped as she lost the link, and she blinked. “Bastard hung up on me.”
Sighing, Erinyes pinged Zxyl again.
Zxyl went through his exchanges with “H.A.L., Aisha, and Sterling before opening the link to Erinyes from back inside the vehicle.
"General.”
“General. As I was saying, I have the lot code for the sabotaged weapons. I’ll give it to you if you agree to hand the saboteur over to me.”
Anders raised a brow. Another conversation with the Regent? And he had hung up on her? How curious.
He folded his arms across his chest. He was confident tbe former Consul would relay the necessary information.
“Oh, really?” he paused for a moment, “No. We can come to some sort of agreement otherwise if I get to whoever they are first, though.”
“Deal. Call you when I find them.” She cut the link and sighed. “He’s going full Mandaboo. Never go full Mandaboo.”
Anders furrowed his brow further. “What is a Mandaboo?”
“Something I need far more alcohol to explain.” Speaking of which, she pulled the flask that Cassandra had given her from inside her belt and took an experimental sip.
The flask, unusually, was empty of liquid…not even a drop.
“A derogatory term for a Mandalorian far too obsessed with their code, if I was to take a guess.”
He watched literally no liquid come out of the flask.
“Either you already drunk that, or Lady Second is playing a funny joke.”
“Now, that’s just rude.”
“I haven’t had anything to drink since we got here. Trust me, you’d know if I had.”
“Good. Drinking on the job is highly unprofessional. Now, how do we go about finding our wanted man?”
“The same plan as before. Find the isolated mainframe, figure out who had access to those weapons, and round them up.”
To pass the time as much as anything, Erinyes looked at the flask. Outside, inside, peeking to see if there was any chance she’d missed something alcoholic, or otherwise interesting.
Inside the flash was a small datacard attached to the side.
“Hrm.” She slotted the datacard into her datapad.
When she did, a digital message popped up.
“IF-YOU-ARE-READING-THIS-THAT-MEANS-YOUVE-REACHED-A-POINT-WHERE-SHIT-HAS-GONE-WRONG-AND-YOU-NEEDED-A-DRINK. APOLOGIES-FOR-NOT-MAKING-THIS-MORE-OVERT-BUT-AT-THE-RISK-WE-WERE-BEING-WATCHED-OR-LISTENED-TO-I-COULDNT-AFFORD-IT. MY-DROID-IS-TRANSSCRIBING-MY-MENTAL-THOUGHTS. INSIDE-THIS-CARD-IS-A-MAP-OF-THE-FACILITY-THAT-HE-SWIPED-FROM-REGIS’-DATAPAD-HE-HAD-ON-HIM. HOPEFULLY-IT-WILL-HELP. GOOD-LUCK-MY-DEAR-ERIN. CASS.”
“… why did she assume things would have to go wrong before I needed a drink?” Erinyes sighed and brought the map up on her datapad, and elbowed <@837236610684813342> “Here. Lady Second is giving me second thoughts about this whole thing.”
“And second options. And second… something, I don’t know.”
The map showed they were in the northern most section of the base, on the 17th level. It descended down a significant ways to around and 85th, and went outward over 1,600 meters. As the base went outward, the top floor lowered and the bottom floor did as well; with the 43rd being the middle-most point, and furthest away.
The weapons facility was on the 36th floor, down a long turbolift shaft just beyond the security area ahead of them, and towards a large open void within the base.
Anders glanced at the map being displayed on the datapad. He searched for any nooks and crannies, or secret passageways facilities like these usually had for emergencies.
There were ducts and maintenance passages.
“We can use those ducts and maintenance passages as shortcuts,” Anders pointed to them on the datapad. “Shall we?”
<@645466919415054357> <@417336769181122562> <@359063763736854538> <@77213354619318272>
Dasha nodded and got to work opening up a hidden passage… because Dasha.