A Bright Future

[John Locke]

Location: Chasin City, Commenor​

Representing CSA: [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Bradshaw Ku"], [member="Caedyn Arenais"]​

Representing SJO: [member="Gir Quee"], @John Locke​

________________________________________________________________________________​

John had always enjoyed his visits to Commenor, there was something pleasant about a planet that didn’t seem to be holding its breath for the coming of war. His visits had mostly been confined to the orbital shipyards and space stations, he’d only ever had to Chasin City itself a few times but that was the way of things with his life these days, drifting from facility to facility as contracts and crisis called him.

Today though, today was different. It had taken time working through the correct channels to obtain this meeting, nothing good ever came from rushing something like this, it was only going to work against him. Instead, he’d put in a request for a meeting at the convenience of the Royal Family, spending his time exploring the city and working from his hotel room. That was one of the advantages of the holonet, no matter where in the galaxy you were your work could always catch up to you…wait did I say advantage? Maybe it wasn’t such a strong advantage for your work to be right there at your fingertips, it left you no space to just enjoy a holiday. As if his slave driver of an assistant would ever let him take a break.

John turned a bemused smile on EX as the droid hovered around him, metallic fingers tweaking and smoothing out the lie of his suit. “You know it looks fine already right?” “Excuse me sir, but as it so happens when you wore it that jacket was exactly 5mm out of alignment.” “You know you sound like a crazy person right?” “Excuse me for wanting you to make a good impression on the first royalty we meet, next time you’ll tell me you want to show up at an important meeting wearing shorts and one of those hideous brightly coloured t-shirts.” “Well now that’s an idea, I think I saw a clothes-shop back there.” “You wouldn’t…” “EX, you’re not nervous are you.” An almost shark-like smile pulled up the corner of John’s lips as he regarded his droid fondly. He’d never admit it aloud but he was almost as nervous as the droid and falling back into the familiar habit of teasing the droid. “You realise that a small adjustment and you won’t be able to sit comfortably all meeting long right?” “Well yes…but what would that say about your skills and professionalism?” “Touche sir, touche.” The two lapsed into an easy companionable silence as they both stared at the door, lost in their own thoughts.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay took another grateful sip of her Sapir tea. She had received a message that a Mr. [member="John Locke"] was here to see her, and possibly some others as well. She had a bit of an idea as to what the meeting could be about, but those were just guesses. The warm liquid soothed her throat and calmed her. Tensions have been growing outside of her government's territory and she was working on the solutions with help from her Ministers and Council. The Sapir tea did wonders to keep her levelheaded during times of stress. And these were indeed stressful times.

But it wasn't as though they couldn't be overcome. She had every confidence that they could be.

Kay had sent word out for both of her sons to come by her office if they could. Hopefully they weren't getting annoyed with her multiple summons as of late. It made her feel a bit bad for it, but without [member="Veiere Arenais"] by her side, they were the next in line.

She set her cup down on her desk and then walked over to her door, opening it and spotting John and his droid companion. Kay gave them a small smile and bow of her head. "It's a little early, but you may as well come in. So please...." She stepped to the side to allow them entry. "Can I get you anything to drink?"

[member="Caedyn Arenais"] [member="Bradshaw Ku"] [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn Arenais had been spending more and more time around his Mother and the Commenor Systems Alliance than he had the Je'daii Order as of late, something that he felt partially guilty for though also knew that his Master [member="Asha Hex"] would be understanding of this and want him to gain the most experience out of his personal contacts as he could manage given that their path was as much about working and helping people as it was focusing and training within the Force.

Because of his recent interests and contribution to the recent affairs that had turned uglier than they ought to have been, his Mom had seemingly decided to invite him to something that oughtta be a fair bit more civil; initially this all sounded like a bore to Caedyn until she mentioned that their guests were to be representing the Silver Jedi Order...

[member="Asaraa Vaashe"] had come from there!

The thought of his newly made friend and the things she had described to him about the Silver Jedi were the selling point of the offer and Caedyn gladly accepted. He'd quickly rushed off to get changed out of his casual spacer clothes and into a Tunic that better represented his place within the Je'daii Order as well as his own chosen path in life and the fact that he too was a Force Sensitive !

Making his way back to the Royal Palace where they were to meet, one of his Mom's attendants spotted him and came to greet him and inform Caedyn that the meeting was already under way. This of course light a fire under him and sent the lad scrambling to try to make up for the lost time, certain that he hadn't returned late but otherwise took off in full flight down the wide corridor of the great Palace towards their designated office for which the meeting was to take place.

The lad came practically skidding to a stop outside of the room that [member="John Locke"] had since been invited into, catching his breath he tried to settle himself, straightening his posture and taking a deep slow breath and soon after stepping on into the room as though he'd never been late at all.

[member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Bradshaw Ku"] | [member="John Locke"] | [member="Lady Kay"]​

 

[Gir Quee]

Chasin City, Commenor

Gir did not walk through the halls: he strode. Casual observers would have noticed a peculiar variance in his gait in how he picked up his feet, a trait not uncommon to the Galactic Republic officers educated on Anaxes. Despite his mannerisms and his station, the admiral did not wear a uniform. Directorate blacks seemed disingenuous for the occasion, and the blonde man had thus far managed to avoid being fitted for or wearing the ISAF's dress uniform. Instead, Ariela had coaxed him into having a local tailor fashion him a form-flattering business suit. He didn't feel entirely comfortable in it yet, though the HRD had insisted that it fit him perfectly. The droid's voice called out from behind him.

"You're going to look rushed or imperative if you keep us this pace."

Gir slackened his pace somewhat before briefly halting. A bemused grin engendered itself on his face. The irony that an artificial construct was instructing him on how to be more natural was not lost on him. But then again, there's a certain amount of artificiality ingrained in the habits of soldiers, isn't there? Make us more similar, more regimented...almost more machine-like... He turned on his heel to face Ariela. The apparent brunette had dressed similarly, wearing a formal blue dress bought in the same shopping district as his suit. Gir couldn't but wonder if Azira had been the one to program her fashion sensibilities, but it mattered not. He shook the thought away from his head. He had met the reigning Queen before over Gyndine, though that had not been a long meeting. Ariela stared into his eyes.

"Walk with me...please."

Gir offered a brief nod of acknowledgement as he fell in place next to her, matching her more relaxed, yet stately stroll.

"Mr. [member="John Locke"] is already here."

"I see..."

The advantage of having a secretary that apparently can read minds...or simply communicate silently though a comlink.

"He has not been shot yet."

"That's reassuring..."

The two rounded a corner and strode towards [member="Lady Kay"]'s office.

[member="Caedyn Arenais"] | [member="Bradshaw Ku"]

 

[John Locke]

Location: Chasin City, Commenor​

Representing CSA: [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Bradshaw Ku"], [member="Caedyn Arenais"]​

Representing SJO: [member="Gir Quee"], John Locke​

_____________________________________________________________________________________​

​

There was the slightest start, the woman's voice coming as a surprise to the man as he saw a head peeking out of the door to the office, his eyes widening in surprise as he recognised the queen of Commenor herself looking back at him. It took a moment for him to gather his sense, he'd expected a secretary or another official to greet him, not Lady Kay herself. Gathering himself the man bent at the waist, bowing his head in respect before straightening to incline his head, a smile playing over his lips, "I wouldn't say no to that offer." Glancing over at the droid by his side John nodded his head, padding into the office as his expression turned wry. "I've always prefered to be early than to be late, I'd rather not miss an opportunity, or you know a nice cup of tea." Everyone had heard about the Queen's penchant for Sapir tea, and though he'd never tried it before John had to admit it did smell good.

Even as he stepped into the room, the door swinging shut behind him, the engineer could hear the pounding of feet on the floor outside, watching a young boy slipping in through the door, Admiral Quee visible behind him. John raised a hand in greeting as he turned back to face Kay, "Looks like I wasn't as early as I thought." He recognised the boy, the teenage prince of Commenor, not someone he'd expected ath te meeting but not an unwelcome presence. If there was one thing he'd learned while working with the Jedi it was never to underestimate kids, they often saw a different path from the more experienced, using his technology in ways he'd never expected.

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay's eyes twinkled with amusement as she noticed the look of shock on [member="John Locke"] 's face as he clearly didn't expect it to be her to be the one to open her office door. Well it was her office, and the door wasn't exactly one that weighed a tonne, so she was able to handle it perfectly well. Honestly, she wasn't the type to just sit around, look pretty and have everyone do everything for her. No, Kay preferred a hands on approach, even with the smallest of tasks.

After John and his droid had stepped in, she walked over to the side table to prepare a cup of tea for him. Even over the sound of crumpling leaves, she could hear the heavy footsteps of [member="Caedyn Arenais"] as he ran down the hall towards her door. Yup. She recognized his gait as it hadn't really changed from when he was little. But her boy was becoming quite grown up since he had left home to train. The same could be said about his twin sister as well. Oh how she missed the times when all of them were together. Would such a day come again? In her heart she certainly hoped so. But her mind told her differently.

She funished stirring the tea and carried the cup over to John. "Well hopefully this meeting will run as smoothly as everyone has been at keeping to schedule. Please have a seat." Kay gestured to the comfy chairs in the center of her office that surrounded a coffee table. She picked up her cup from her desk and then took a seat on one of the comfy chairs, herself. There was no need for her to sit at her desk and separate herself from everyone. She wanted to be on equal footing with her guests.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn's rather abrupt entrance seemed to leave him bumping right into the back of [member="Gir Quee"] and his friend without having seeing them. The awkward little evasive twist that he did in order to avoid tripping up over himself ducking down and out from between the pair left him stumbling though otherwise on his feet and stepping on in ahead of the couple to find [member="Lady Kay"] and [member="John Locke"] staring back at him. It was rather embarrassing and he tried to play it off as cool as he could manage, lifting his head in a half nod of acknowledgement and smirking rather sheepishly, he soon stood upright and turned to bow to the pair he'd rudely come in on, instead offering his genuine apology.

"I'm sorry, Sirs...-I obviously wasn't watching where I was going ! Won't happen again...-Please, come on in !" he gestured the two on in towards his Mother and the other guy already welcomed and seemingly comfortable. Hopefully, his apology would have avoided him a lecture further on after this meeting from his Mom but for now, things were apparently starting and Caedyn stepped lightly behind his Mom's chair to sit upon one of his own beside her, looking to the other people with a smile and a rather intrigued and perhaps even excited look on his face.

Again, this was really the first time he'd met any Silver Jedi since [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] !

 

[Gir Quee]

"Quite all right," blurted out Gir to the prince, "And thank you."

Ariela Captisan pressed up against his side as [member="Caedyn Arenais"] maneuvered around him, causing Gir to wonder if she had come closer to him to better mimic a surprised human or to better shield him from a possible attacker. That line of thought quickly faded away as the two of them entered into the queen's presence. The scent of Sapir tea almost immediately wafted into his nose, and Gir quickly recalled from their last meeting that the beverage was one of [member="Lady Kay"]'s favorites. Gir himself drank a fair amount of tea, in equal parts because of its complex flavor and large amounts of caffeine. Gir offered a brief bow to the queen while Ms. Captisan curtsied before the pair advanced any further. The blonde man briefly met [member="John Locke"]'s eyes, signalling a subdued but friendly greeting. The last time they had met in person had been Kashyyyk some months ago, but their companies frequently talked with each other as both supplied the ISAF military. A smile grew on Gir's face.

"I hope that we haven't kept you waiting too long."

"It's my fault, really," said Ariela, slowly smiling, "I'm afraid that I dragged the admiral here to a clothing store. He rarely takes me to cultured places..."

Gir blinked. That's not strictly true...but then again...military bases and corporate offices don't have this type of culture...Gir briefly turned to face the droid and offered up a hand with a palm up and swung it towards her.

"My apologies, this is Miss Captisan, my assistant. She keeps me on track of things...usually."

 

[John Locke]

Location: Chasin City, Commenor​

Representing CSA: [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Bradshaw Ku"], [member="Caedyn Arenais"]​

Representing SJO: [member="Gir Quee"], John Locke​

_____________________________________________________________________________________​

The Sapir tea had a pleasant aroma to it, a gentle smell, delicate even, which wafted up out of the cup John held in his hands as he rotated it gently, watching the liquid held in it swirled around as he lifted his head, returning Gir's nod with one of his own. Although he hadn't had many opportunities to talk to the Admiral before he had seen the man at a few meetings and his influence had spread far and wide. Many of the technologies created by Locke and Key mechanics had started out as sparks of an idea he'd had while reviewing the latest technologies to come out of Lucerne Labs. "Just long enough for a cup of tea," he allowed as a smile played around his lips as he raised the aforementioned cup to his lips, taking a sip before setting the china down on the nearest table.

"But since we're all here, I just wanted to repeat our thanks for finding time in your schedules to see us, both of you. We really appreciate it." The engineer fell silent for a moment, a wry smile playing around his lips as he laughed at himself, internally at least. If you'd told him even a few years ago he'd be sitting in a Queen's office trying to figure out how to start a conversation he'd have called you crazy. The most he'd ever aspired to was perhaps to speak at a conference or symposium and he had to admit that he found himself more than a little nervous right now. "I'm not going to pretend we don't all know why we're here, this area of space has become less than stable recently. Between raids, tensions rising and," he offered the queen a sad smile, "the situation on your borders along with the fall of the Galactic Alliance we've seen a marked decline in the area. It's a common known mantra of arms manufacturers that war is good for business, but what they don't mention is that war far away is good for business...in fact..." he shook his head, "no even that's no true. I didn't get into this to sell weapons, I used to build droids for the people in my the tenements around me while I was growing up. I started my company to try to make people's lives easier but now I spend my days thinking up ways to kill people in more and more interesting and devastating ways. That's what the galaxy makes us, the way it pulls us but," he looked up, a determined look in his dark eyes, "I want to be able to build something, to make people's lives better, safer. Neighbours should help one another, and you know who we work with. So that's why we're here today. How can we help you? Help make us all that little bit safer?"

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay was glad to see [member="Caedyn Arenais"] as he arrived. He wasn't late. Neither of them were. As he took a seat beside her, she gave him a small smile and bow of her head. How many negotiations and meetings had he gone to? Not many. But he had a level head on his shoulders, much more so than his twin sister.

She sipped her tea as [member="Gir Quee"] and his assistant arrived, smiling in greeting as she watched the two interact. "No apologies needed. We're in no rush.
My schedule is open for today."

Her attention then turned to [member="John Locke"] while he spoke, taking note of his nerves. Hopefully she wasn't the one making him nervous. Afterall, she hardly found herself to be intimidating.

John remarked on the CSA's current situation, as well as the honest truth about the military industrialized complex. And now he was asking what they could do to help. "The blockade and piracy will end, one way or another. I have plans in the making to thwart this effort by the Sith Emperor to bend to his will. You say that you wish to help make people safer? Well we're going to need some decoys made, both in ships as well as droids. If they think that they can get away with this, then they have another thing coming. Peaceful or not, I will not allow myself to be backed into a corner. We will not be backed into a corner. The Sith's blockade is not as harsh as it could be. But it is still wrong. And I plan on putting an end to it."

Did she mean war? No. But she had a few surprises for the Sith planned.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Quite frankly, this was the first time hearing about any such a blockade on their worlds. He'd been quite the shut in, of late where other worlds were considered. Caedyn didn't look to comment or put in his two credits here however, he was able to gain a big enough understanding just from the shear mention of the Sith Emperor and what his Mom was saying about their worlds and her hopes of getting around it. The lad had never encountered the Sith before, atleast not so far as to fight them face to face. There was that one Sith that came looking for him though they were acting out in piracy and space battles were hugely different from going toe to toe with a Sith Lord and his lightsaber, or so he presumed.

'Wonder what Dad would have done...' the thought came to him without meaning nor wanting to think of his Father, Veiere. The man was still out there somewhere having left his family and sought to suit himself. That was just fine as far as Caedyn was concerned given the great deal of anger and resentment pent up inside of him for the things his old man had been accused and apparently found guilty of. That said, it wasn't an unfair question. Knowing his Father, back in the day at-least, he would've tried to sort it out himself somehow. He always hated it when the two sides of politics got caught up in one another, the Force and Governance of the People.

His gaze landed upon [member="Lady Kay"], looking to his Mother and wondering why she hadn't said anything. In this sort of situation, Caedyn didn't expect that his own Order would encourage intervening in such an affair that it might provoke retaliation on an otherwise peaceful group of scholars within the old ways. This too also struck him as an odd thought, not for the fact that it was true but for the fact that it so blatantly stood between him and those he cared for. There was however one thing going for him, no one could stop him from acting out of his own volition if it came down to a fight for his home-world.

[member="John Locke"] | [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir pondered [member="Lady Kay"]'s words carefully. The soldier in him instinctively wanted a more forceful approach, breaking through the blockade by force. Yet doing so could well deal a blow to the Sith's pride, which in turn could bring a more forceful attack upon the CSA. A waiting or stalling game is potentially good, as is some other unconventional means of conflict resolution, whatever the queen may be hinting at...What is she hinting at? The man consciously halted that thought line even as another possible solution crossed his mind. If it's for the people's betterment in the long run, it's worth it. The admiral briefly swept his gaze among those gathered, briefly lingering on [member="John Locke"] before he opened his mouth.

"Decoys are certainly something that can be developed and built," said the man from Hast, "but as a suggestion, it may not hurt to consider mapping out new, hidden hyperlanes that the Sith would not know about. It runs less risk for those passing through to be interdicted by the Empire, and it is not likely to cause a public loss of face to the Empire, which could antagonize them more..."

Gir briefly halted.

"But back to the decoys...do you have any specific requirements for them? Any particular types of ships that these need to mimic or different types of peoples or droids?"

[member="Caedyn Arenais"]

 

[John Locke]

Location: Chasin City, Commenor​

Representing CSA: [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Bradshaw Ku"], [member="Caedyn Arenais"]​

Representing SJO: [member="Gir Quee"], John Locke​

_____________________________________________________________________________________​

War was the last thing John expected the CSA to espouse, the faction was well known for its pacifist ways. Honestly, in a galaxy of war, the equality and largesse displayed by the kingdom was something of a breath of cool water. It was part of why he was here in the first place, to see if there was any way he or those he was aligned with could help to preserve the sanctity of the faction that gave people seeking to run from the hard nature of war a sanctuary.

His metallic fingers thrummed against the desk for a moment as John nodded back at Gir for a moment, falling silent while he considered the man's ideas. "a new hyperlane gives you the added benefit of increased trade income once you've managed to settle the situation with the Sith. If there is one thing merchants seek its stability in transport. A new route is less likely to be preyed on by pirates and you hold a fairly centralised position in the galaxy. It's easy to move out of Commenori space in relative safety then." The fingers of one hand played across the table as he took a sip of his tea. "I do like the idea of decoys, all you need for that are freighters, put the right ECM on them and it's enough to fool whoever you need while you keep people safe. I haven't actually ever thought about decoy droids before but..." the man offered the Queen a smile, "I can honestly say you've piqued my interest Ma'am, I can see how this could work out, and it doesn't need to be too complex either." A thoughtful light drifted into the man's eyes as he inclined his head at Gir, "we'd also need to know how many of each decoy you'd like built and how quickly. Between the two of us we have significant manufacturing capabilities, and if needed can call on the other Silver Jedi affiliated companies to help out with the production."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay glanced over to her son. [member="Caedyn Arenais"] was lost in his thoughts, though she knew that that probably had to do with him possibly hearing about this situation for the first time. Such a blockade was a first for her as well.

She looked to [member="Gir Quee"] as he spoke up first, listening to his suggestions as well as his questions that soon followed. As she was about to answer him [member="John Locke"] chimed in. With his affirmation of Gir's suggestion, it led her to believe that the course that she was choosing was the correct one.

"I have in my possession a map containing old hyperlanes that had been abandoned centuries ago. I am told that it was due to strange creatures that live within them. But that those creatures may now be gone. Of course whether or not the Sith knows of those lanes needs to be determined as well.
That is where the first set of decoy ships and droids come in. To test those routes and their safety. Those will need to be ready as soon as possible"

She sipped her tea before carrying on. "Once they are deemed safe, then decoys will be sent on our regular routes while the real shipments pass through harmlessly.
Such a tactic will only work for a short time. I'm aware of that.
But we could soon fill the routes with mostly decoy vessels so that the Sith could hardly pick out which are carrying real cargo and passengers. Surely they'd grow tired of checking each ship, wouldn't they?"

Kay wasn't the best strategic thinker when it came to battle tactics. Thankfully they weren't in a battle.

Yet.

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir nodded at [member="John Locke"]'s comments and was immediately reminded that his standard mindset was a military commander first, then an industrialist. The yards at Gyndine could be well-suited for making these decoys if need be. If nothing else, it probably wouldn't be too hard to move a factory ship in to start making some of our ECM drones for the purpose...His thoughts quickly evaporated as he turned his attention to [member="Lady Kay"]'s voice.

"Remapping an older route certainly would be quicker than starting from scratch. We'll have to see if any obstacles or celestial objects have now drifted into the older paths, but I'm sure there's nothing there that we can't move or figure out a route around it with a little work..."

The mention of the creatures once inhabiting the route piqued his interest. Spaceborne life tended to be irritating or even hazardous at best (such as mynocks), or extremely dangerous, such as with a colossus wasp or summa-verminoth. He would probably only want to commit automated probes to the mapping efforts at first, just to make sure that if the creatures were still present, that they would not be too insurmountable of an obstacle.

"We'd be obliged to have any information, even if its just legend or lore, about the route," said Admiral Quee, "sometime there's a grain of truth in the legends...but for the strategy itself, I think it is worth trying. I find Sith to be fairly unpredictable as a group, so I wouldn't place all of eggs in it working, but most of them do seem to tire quickly of routine work."

 

[John Locke]

Location: Chasin City, Commenor​

Representing CSA: [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Bradshaw Ku"], [member="Caedyn Arenais"]​

Representing SJO: [member="Gir Quee"], John Locke​

_____________________________________________________________________________________​

"And anything to buy time and save lives isn't to be discarded out of hand," John allowed thoughtfully. "As the Admiral says if you can provide us with a copy of the map and with any notes and legends you might have on it then we can at least prepare the way for your plan. We have several superbly capable pilots who I am sure would love the chance to explore the unknown and help you to get your refugees out of the way of the Sith aggressors. No-one should have to suffer like those refugees have, and then to be stopped at the very last step just as safety is in sight, that's too cruel." John was absolutely sure that he could find Silver Jedi pilots willing to explore those routes, to map them out for safety, even if he had to go and fly the route himself. The man nodded at Gir, "As my friend says, there shouldn't be anything that can stop us, anything that comes up we can work around. If the Sith don't appear to be aware of the route, having scoutships running up and down it at irregular intervals might give you a warning of any Sith ships scouting out the area, that should give you enough time to redirect the refugee ships without allowing the Sith to capture anyone else."

John fell silent for a moment in thought, his mind working through the scenarios before he nodded. "With the decoy ships flooding the normal routes it might be work considering sending some through more roundabout routes on the normal space lanes. Essentially use the smuggler path's people might use to get here. If the Sith are unwilling to commit more forces to the area then it will stretch them, make it more likely they miss something and work on the morale of their troops. Overworked soldiers are never happy, if they do commit more troops to the blockade, it reveals their intentions to you and makes it less likely that they will have spare troops to locate the alternate lane you're using for the refugees."

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn Arenais sat there a little bewildered (though doing his best not to appear nearly so dumbfounded as he felt). As far as he knew, this meeting was meant to be about Commenor and their ties to the Silver Jedi; what he had instead learned was that the Sith Empire were closing in on the Systems Alliance and his Mom wanted to throw Decoys at them, harmless droids using Star-Freighters like his Prophet! Technically it was his Master's Vessel though in the coming weeks it would soon be passed down to the boy, a surprise and something of a drastic change in his path.

Looking to his Mom, he wanted to add his thoughts into the discussion though he knew better than to disagree with her before the eyes of diplomats such as this meeting contained. It seemed to him that the Sith Empire had rather made their intentions known already with the blockade of their trade routes. Cutting off their supply lines meant fewer credits, fewer sustenance for the Systems Alliance and an easier target to take down when the Sith finally did make their move. The thought brought a frown to his expression though he dropped his gaze seeking to discourage the others from realizing it.

The Je'daii Order wasn't the answer to the Sith, they were neutral where the Dark and the Light would otherwise clash; the Je'daii sought to better understand the Force and was primarily built up of scholars and students, medical practitioners though they did have their temples and paths like Stav Kesh for which Caedyn had trained in alongside that of Qigong Kesh; the physical discipline and fighting spirit of his youth empowered with the learnings and practice of the Force itself. For all his training, it still felt wrong to look to his own people for help in this situation...-Asking others to fight and potentially die for the Systems Alliance.

Unfortunately this left Caedyn with more questions than he was comfortable with.

[member="John Locke"] | [member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Lady Kay"]​

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay gave [member="Gir Quee"] a small smile and nod as he agreed to look at the routes. "Thank you.
I'll have a copy of the routes for you by the end of the day." Of course she nedded to locate which datacard in her desk had them first. Sometimes she really needed to lable things, or get better organized. But her thoughts had been all over the place, so much so that she was starting to second-guess herself.

She then looked to [member="John Locke"] as he spoke up. "We are not a big enough threat for them to send any of their large forces when there are more dangerous foes for them out there. This is just them....testing the waters, so to speak, and to see how easily I may bend. This....is only temporary. It is only posturing." At least that was what she felt.

Kay glanced over to her son, [member="Caedyn Arenais"] . She could see his confusion, even though the lad tried to hide it. More often than not, people were getting mad at her these days. It wasn't as though she was hiding a lot, it was just that they were each strong of mind and didn't agree with her. But she was alone in a lot of her decision-making. Most of her staff had either moved on or were busy elsewhere. She was alone most of the time, and had to advise herself.

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir slowly nodded in acknowledgement. While he wasn't entirely sure what the Sith would do, it certainly would be better than not acting at all. Half of the battle is getting started, isn't it? That thought triggered other thoughts though. Even though an understanding and plan of action had been hammered out here, it would only be the catalyst for more events. He would have to coordinate with scouts and pilots along with the CSA's own military forces to start mapping the route. There would have to be meetings with the Circle, the council that ran Lucerne Labs, other Directorate officers, members of the Silver Jedi, and a whole host of other miscellaneous people that not only large projects like this to occur, but even simply enabled their ability to do so. The blonde man turned his eyes across the move, meeting those of [member="Lady Kay"], [member="John Locke"], and [member="Caedyn Arenais"] in turn.


"I think that we've had a thoughtful and productive discussion here," started the man, "which will serve us well as a basis for further actions to make it a reality. I do think though, that if we are to make this happen effectively and to save as many people as we can, we should act quickly. I should probably return to Lucerne Labs in order to start moving ships for the scouting efforts and in order to enable production of the decoys. Does anyone have anything else we should know about before we start on this enterprise?"

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"Do you think the Jedi would try to help us if the Sith started attacking our Worlds?" Caedyn asked rather abruptly, not having said much of anything really until this point. Asaraa had described the Jedi as being the good guys wanting to help people who were being attacked or oppressed by the Sith but beyond that Caedyn didn't yet have much of an understanding about the Jedi as a whole, aside from the stories that floated around schools and kids his age.

Of course, he didn't know of any history between the Commenor Systems Alliance & The Silver Jedi Order for that matter either. He had only been told about his fathers treachery upon the world of Deneba against Jedi outside of the Silvers own group, the complexity of Jedi Politics naturally escaping him entirely. "I know that my Dad has done some horrible things but he's not around anymore, I hope the Jedi don't think that we all don't like them or want their help because we do. Mom and the Systems Alliance has only tried to do good things for people in need. Pretty much the same as you guys try to do". His way of speaking was somewhat informal though at his age and lack of experience in these matters, it was probably to be expected. So much had been going on around them, that Caedyn didn't really care much how he looked when he talked, s'long as he was transparent in his honesty and intentions and those he was speaking to, knew that.

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Gir Quee"] | [member="John Locke"]​