◆ LT. BRIDGER ◆
Aide-de-Camp
Interim Director of Intelligence | // DIVISION
TECHNICAL OPERATIONS | // LOCATION
CORROX CENTRAL, MAHPOREEM | // TASKING
STRATEGIC CONTACT | // OBJECTIVE
LEVERAGE CONTACT |
|---|
▸ TAGS
Valery Noble
|
Ronhar Tane
Having been notified of a rather unusual visitor, the young acting director of Mahporeenian Intelligence had made a point of reviewing the reports personally. Percival sat behind the desk with the arrival notice drawn up across the terminal before him, one hand resting beneath his chin as his pale blue gaze moved over the requested credentials attached to it with considerably more attention than Lieutenant Bridger
ought to have given them.
Valery Noble.
For several seconds, he simply stared... Of all the people who might have chosen Mahporeem, she had chosen to come here in person and openly. She was likely alone because she hardly required an escort. Valery Noble was the Sword of the Jedi, former Grandmaster of the now-defunct Galactic Alliance's New Jedi Order, and one of the principal leaders of the Hidden Path.
His fingers tapped against the edge of the desk before he leaned back in his chair as he stared at the name for several long seconds more before quietly exhaling a heavy sigh through his nose. His expression settling into the carefully neutral look expected of Percival Bridger.
"Well… that complicates things... Though not entirely inconvenient." He mused aloud to himself.
'Percival's' goals were starting to come to fruition with the recent developments of
Escalation Protocol, there was already a burgeoning crusade into the Core taking shape between the Mahporeem Imperial Remnant and the Iron Covenant. What had begun as cooperation against a mutual Sith enemy was rapidly becoming something more substantial: fleets moving together, soldiers bleeding on the same ground, and governments beginning the far more difficult process of deciding what came after the shooting stopped. This visit could very well prove useful for furthering such goals if Miss Nobles penchant for seeing the Darkside eradicated where it festered.
From Percival's perspective, that was where things became interesting...Wars produced allies
quickly. Whether those alliances survived victory was another matter entirely.
The pieces were already there however...
The
Odessen Assembly had given the Farworlds Alliance and Iron Covenant reason to begin looking beyond their own borders, while Mahporeem itself had already proven willing to cooperate with otherwise unlikely partners during
The Assault on Dromund Kaas, when the threat of the Sith had outweighed whatever suspicion lingered between those involved.
The Farworlds Alliance had since started opening further channels with the
United Protectorate of Sovereign Systems, while the
Greyman's Accord had at least managed to keep another uncertain relationship from collapsing entirely.
Even so, old injuries remained....
The
Wild Space Rebellion fiasco had done little to encourage Mahporeenian confidence in loosely aligned powers operating beyond its borders. Raiders, mercenaries, opportunists, and political grievances had converged upon Rust Haven beneath the Wild Space Rebellion's banner, leaving behind the sort of institutional memory that did not vanish
simply because later conversations became more civil.
Too many of these factions had already fought beside one another, negotiated with one another, or discovered that their enemies overlapped...Yet trust remained in painfully short supply these days... Percival's attention returned to Valery Noble's name.... That was what made her arrival potentially useful.
She possessed influence among the Jedi, considerable experience navigating the politics of the former Galactic Alliance, and connections extending well beyond the Hidden Path itself. If her distaste for the Dark Side remained as pronounced as her history suggested, she might prove capable of opening one more channel where Mahporeem would find difficult.
Perhaps even toward the High Republic. It would take more than shared enemies to bind these powers together. Someone would have to persuade them that cooperation did not require surrendering themselves beneath another government's banner. Perhaps even what was slowly forming did not need to be an empire, a treaty bloc, or even a formal military command. Perhaps it simply needed to become an
Alliance to Restore the Light.
If there truly were enough disparate powers willing to agree upon one thing: The Sith could not be permitted to remain the greater threat simply because everyone else was too busy distrusting one another.... then Percival would use his own information to his advantage to influence this fortuitous meeting to further his goals of seeing that alliance through.
With that in mind, the young tactician reached out to Captain Tane with a brief intelligence query attached to Noble's preliminary file.
Percival highlighted the portions he considered most useful: Valery Noble's history as Sword of the Jedi, her repeated campaigns against Sith powers, her former leadership of the New Jedi Order, and her present influence within the Hidden Path. Whatever else could be said of her politics, the woman had made a remarkably consistent habit of placing herself between the Sith and whoever happened to be standing in their path.
That was the point he wanted Ronhar to notice most here.
"Captain, one consideration before you speak with her, if I may be so bold."
Percival attached the condensed profile.
"Noble is about as close as the modern Jedi possess to a predictable anti-Sith constant. If the conversation permits it, I would be interested in her assessment of the present campaign in the Core, particularly whether she believes the High Republic can be persuaded to cooperate with the powers already moving against them.
I would also very much like to join you, if you have no objection. An opportunity like this seems poorly served by relying upon a secondhand report afterward. I suspect Miss Noble may prove considerably more useful to our present circumstances than even she presently realizes." 
