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FORMOS CAMPAIGN RECORD 02: DAILY AFFAIRS
[BEGINNING PLAYBACK]
Formos, Formos Dresuoti
6:00 AM
[ERROR] / [ERROR] / 876 ABY
"Move it! I want to see those legs turn into a blur!" The training Legionnaires did as was commanded and picked up their pace, breaking into a sprint. Well, as much of a sprint as they could manage with all of their weaponry and equipment weighing them down. Endurance training was always the roughest. Other than the track that the sprinters were currently becoming familiar with, various obstacles and a shooting range made up the makeshift training yard near the barracks. It was off to the side and away from the rest of the Dresuoti, most of said obstacles being made up of the wrecks still present there.
Alisteri himself, although he did enjoy training alongside the Legionnaires from time to time in order to help keep up morale, was instead overseeing the mock battle going on near the wall. Utilizing the defenses would be crucial if the settlement ever came under attack, so getting the troops familiarized with the trenches and weapons emplacements was a necessity. Not to mention giving the new officers a test run of the strategies that they had been learning over the course of the past few days.
Soon enough the training had come to an end, with the defenders rejoicing as their opponents still lay twitching from the stun rounds. The Knight sighed and made his way into the mock battlefield, the defending team growing silent as he passed their trench. "An excellent showing by Decurion Dellwild, solid defense and quick response to the tactics of your opponents. Very good." The Legionnaires gave a salute or bow in response as their High Priest passed them, stopping to loom over the leader of the attacking team. "Decurion Thetbye however, leaves much to be desired." Said leader was currently still twitching and spasming from the barrage of stun rounds and could only manage a groan in response.
"Ordering that charge was unexpected yes, but as you can see you and your squad were cut down by the accurate fire of your opponents. Surprise and quick maneuvers may be our greatest weapons but they do not always equal victory, had this been a real battle your entire squad would be dead." Without waiting for the Legionnaire to compose himself enough to respond, the Sith looked up at the attacking team as they began to slowly shake off the stun and pick themselves up. "Take five to recover and recuperate, then switch sides. We'll see how well you can handle being on the defensive Thetbye."
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"The additional ships have been useful yes, but our engineers are still scrambling without a proper basing. There are only so many repairs we can do without a proper dock to rest at, the skirmishes with pirates are starting to take their toll." Despite the hologram, Captain Skep Klar still held a somewhat commanding presence as he spoke. His gaze rested on the other two leaders of the cult as he finished up his report. "As such I suggest that our next goal be to find a place for a permanent dockyard. Managing one frigate was all well and good on the run, but our little battlegroup needs a proper port if we are to continue operating at full capacity."
Exarch Salneva Limont drummed her fingers on her datapad as Alisteri sat back in his seat, both pondering the request from the Zygerrian. The meeting room in the cathedral was dimly lit as usual, making little difference to either of the Sangnir, with the holoprojection of the captain from the table being the main source of light at the moment. They saved on power more that way. "I could see if any of our new corporate partners have available stations, or if they are aware of who does. Maybe they can-" "No." The quick dismissal drew both pairs of eyes to the High Priest as he sat forward and rested his elbows on the meeting table.
"Our one piece of leverage keeping the companies united and under our control is the fact that we have a military and they can't afford one. If we start relying on them too heavily too quickly then they'll realize just how desperate our situation really is. We will have to settle this matter with our own forces." He nodded to the de facto leader of their small fleet. "Captain, send out the fighters and corvettes on patrol around the system. Note down any remaining pirate station locations and narrow a list of potential targets for the shipyard, there should be at least one suitable candidate."
The Zygerrian didn't respond for a moment, merely staring at the High Priest as he considered his apparent orders. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you the issues with having ships in need of repair on pirate hunting duty?" Alisteri rolled his eyes and waved off the question dismissively. "Only scouting and reconnaissance. We'll handle the claiming of the station itself later, understood?" "Hm. Understood." With a nod the hologram flickered out and the pair of Sangnir were plunged into darkness once more. The Exarch sat up in her seat and cleared her throat, briefly tapping on the datapad to light up the meeting room a bit more. While Alisteri himself preferred candles, he was outvoted on having proper lights in said room.
"I don't know why you stomach his disrespect sometimes High Priest, perhaps he should be-" A look from her leader, despite the visor obscuring his gaze from her own, silenced her quickly. She had been around the Sith long enough to read his faceless expressions. After a moment of tense silence, the Knight looked away from the Exarch and shifted in his seat with a sigh. "You mentioned something about the industrialists getting antsy?" That was enough to perk the Exarch back up as she nodded and began listing off the various requests that had been filtered to them from the Formos Industrial Coalition.
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One of the many benefits of having more territory than one little canyon was that anything he wanted kept under lock and key could be done so. While he detested having to keep secrets from his cult, Alisteri knew well enough the consequences if his people knew what was going on in this little facility of his. Facility as in, holding facility turned testing facility of course. What had once ben a prison ran by one of the groups that now made up the Dominion of Formos had quickly been seized and converted to its new use over the course of the last few months. It had taken extra resources away from other projects of course, but they were necessary. It was all necessary.
The Sith stepped into the facility's control room and drew the gaze of the occupants therein. The research team was small due to the clandestine nature of the project, only a handful of researchers and only ten guards. The guards had been easy to pick and choose, the researchers less so. Not many scientists adorned the ranks of the Dark Wonosa Cult, as such his research team was essentially students that had failed to graduate their higher education due to the war. They were varied but all inexperienced, from would-be medical professionals to novice biologists. They were trustworthy and efficient, that was what mattered. "Report, how are the subjects doing?" He crossed the room from the door to the wide array of monitors and screens that depicted the various cells of the facility, most of which were occupied.
"Subjects five and six have become totally immobilized by the crystal growth," The head researcher came up next to him, gesturing to the monitors where said subjects could be seen. The sight caused Alisteri to wince, what was once pirates now resembling a large cluster of Creeping Lignan more than anything alive. "We believe we can harvest more crystal samples from them, once we have the proper safety equipment to do so of course." Alisteri nodded and gestured to the suspiciously empty cells of subjects one through three. "What about them? Subject four is still intact."
The researcher paused and tapped on their datapad for a moment. "Ah right, well you remember that live test you wanted conducted?" The screens changed from the security surveillance to instead show a recording, that of subjects one through four being released into what had once been the cafeteria of the prison. They had all devolved into little more than feral, crystal growing savages that tore into one another without hesitation. The notable difference however was that subject four was not merely using brute strength like their fellow test subjects. From malformed crystalized fingers, Force Lighting arced out and burned whatever lay in front of the bolts. Waves of power extended out and threw back the other subjects, causing the camera feed to stutter as the camera itself was jostled by it.
"Turns out subject four was already Force Sensitive! We've been monitoring their abilities ever since, I have prepared a full report of the progression thus far." The researcher offered their datapad to the Sith and he didn't hesitate to take it, tapping it to return the monitors to their usual surveillance. "You shall be having some new subjects soon, we have a new raid planned." Now that got the attention of the research team. Given how rapid the crystals were turning their existing subjects into immobile clusters or rampaging berserkers, fresh material was more than welcome.
"Good work everyone, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take back some of our powdered crystals with me. Harvest what you need from our subjects from now on." The head researcher was puzzled by the declaration, but reluctant nodded. "May I ask what you'll be doing with the crystals sir?" Alisteri slid the datapad into his robes and nodded, turning to address the rest of the research team as well as their leader. "Simple. Now that we have a basic understanding of how the crystals work, I believe the next step is obvious." This only drew more confusion from the team as the High Priest crossed his arms behind his back.
"Next, we begin field testing."
Formos, Formos Dresuoti
5:30 PM
[ERROR] / [ERROR] / 876 ABY
[ENDING RECORD PLAYBACK]
