An Offer You Can't Refuse [GA/ORC]

[Jared Starchaser]

The modified E-Wing had landed at the starport on Terminus, escorted by two police airpseeders. Coming in for the landing was the easy part, the wings had extended fuel pods underneath, next to the triple-blasters and missile launchers. The tail end hit the ground first with the nose coming down just as gently a fraction of a second following. The modified E-Wing was one of the stealth variety that Incom had released in a limited run, and Jared had gotten his hands on one through the Resistance and a recent posting within the Galactic Alliance. Sure, he wasn’t part of the Alliance proper, not yet.

He was here, working on expanding himself, but that was secondary to assisting the Outer Rim Coalition. Coming from a line of Wardens of the Sky, and a line of Jedi Sentinels, the Starchaser had stepped out of his dark blue-and-whited E-Wing, his R7 droid, ‘Roller’ being lowered from the fighter.

Looking much like a spacer, but with pieces of his old Imperial Knight Armor, Jared had come to assist in chasing down a lead on pirates in the area, as a representative of law enforcement in the Galactic Alliance. He nodded as he was greeted by one of the local officers.

“Thank you for coming, Officer Starchaser. We are feeling we have a lead on the pirate, but we could use someone with an… instinctive insight.” The Ishi Tib nodded and waved Jared ahead of him, into the next room.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Admiral, we have news feeds from the local media" the communications officer reported, while scanning through the local media feeds.

"Patch them through"

What the feth is going on down there? What sort of neglect could compel the local populace to resort to rioting? she thought, while she watched the news feeds reporting rather systematic vandalism being carried out by the more extremist of the separatists against the local government offices, especially the offices pertaining to regulatory agencies and trade-related bodies. Molotov cocktails, smoke bombs, flash bangs, broken transparisteel windows, the Terminus people was right to be angry, although the brunt of the problems occurred before distribution of the medical supplies began, regardless of whether or not bacta was involved. Of course, since she was not privy to the details of the talks being pursued down on the planet, she could only assume that fringe elements were in play in the rioting aspect; however, the Confederates were on the move, and they would commence distribution of necessities as soon as was safely possible. As much as she was doing to keep the Alliance from collapsing, Terminus proved to be a crucial link in that chain.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Cathul Thuku"] might see, in those broadcasts, a short interview with Jorus Merrill.

"Look, man, it's just a riot. Take a minute to listen to them. All I'm hearing is three things. One: With the lanes cut, where's the jobs? Two: With the lanes cut, food isn't cheap, so where's my food? Three: Do we think the Galactic Alliance is a safe place to be right now?"

"And you don't see that as disloyal? Treason?"

"Planet's gotta make its own choices. Sure, the Alliance brought a bunch of fortifications, but those just make Terminus a target. Terminus is a great place full of good folks. So's the Alliance, but they're a long way off and the war is looking pretty close at hand. Just common sense, right Bob?"

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Exactly what the ORC is proposing to put the planet back on its rails?" Cathul reacted to this broadcast with [member="Jorus Merrill"].

"I don't know, admiral; the content of those talks is just... secret for the time being"

"I don't want the population of Terminus to feel they are held hostage to a greater game of defense. Yes, I know the First Order is on a common border with both factions, just that it could cause Terminus to resent both if the ORC has no clue as to how to actually address their concerns"

So how do Bryce Bantam, Joza Perl, and the rest of the Coalition Council even plan to address the locals' concerns? Looks like this entire deal is more of a defense ploy than a real attempt at helping out the local population of Terminus, she thought, while realizing that most people outside of Terminus that have any interest whatsoever in that case would be interested in the defense implications, and certainly Jedi on both sides of the table. It's not so much having more Jedi like me, it's just a matter of getting them to the negotiation table when needed, she thought. A wide variety of Jedi: the very sort of Jedi capable of leading an economic development mission like the one on Gala, of which a handful was required of a faction. Just that the Alliance saw fit to use her in orbit rather than around a negotiation table - even though the one time where she could actually be at such a table on an inter-faction basis was a special moment, just before the Great Galactic War actually was with a faction that understood interstellar affairs beyond public security. Now, the ORC generally allowed wide latitude to individual planets, but still...

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Cathul Thuku"]

The Chagrian interviewer leaned in closer to be heard past the background noise. Somewhere, a window shattered. "So jobs, food, safety. How does the Outer Rim Coalition aim to help? What about the First Order's announcement of a bounty on Sheriff Bryce Bantam? Doesn't that challenge the assertion that Coalition membership would be safer than being part of the Alliance?"

"Bantam's crossed them a couple times, yeah, but that was one targeted bounty. That's a far cry from war. Frankly I think it was a message from the First Order: they won't go after a two-front war if we don't escalate. Bottom line, the Coalition isn't at war with the First Order, and the Alliance is. But that's only half your question. Let's talk jobs and food for a sec. Now, we've brought industrial solid fuel/ration converters that can turn any biomass into power and food. I use'em myself, and they're a proven way to tackle situations like this."

"But that's a short-term solution, isn't it."

"Sure is, which is why we're beefing up hyperroutes between Terminus and Coalition food producers like Jelucan. Price of food comes back down, Terminus gets even more traffic and business from Wild Space, jobs producers come calling. I'm here and I'm hiring, and I ain't the only one."

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Derick didn't want to be here.

A Thyrsian by birth and blood, he had signed on with Didact to wage war, plunder and make a name for himself in the Outer Rim. Instead he was here in the middle of a riot trying to keep this man safe, while being surrounded by an angry mass of sentients of all species and colors. Twi'lek here, Gamorrean there, even a Herglic of two amidst the more homogeneous mess of various human sub-species.

How are we doing down there, Der?

Merrill's more comfortable here than I am, boss. He looks like he's strolling about on the beach rather than separated by a thin line of armor and holstered stun guns from a raging riot.

Keep it steady, ORC was clear, no casualties or escalation, unless forced.

[member="Jared Starchaser"]

A handful of transports had followed Starchaser down, before landing on the pads reserved for them. More Didact- it wasn't often that the various sub-sets of the private military company found themselves working in the same area for two different employers, but that was how it went when the corporation was growing and the Galaxy was growing less stable by the minute.

Experienced guns held by steady hands came at a premium in Tash's experience.

The Alliance had contracted out Didact to assist Jared in his pursuit of the pirates. Might have sounded strange, but the riots made everything just a little bit more sensitive when it came to the GA.

They recognized that.

Figured that some neutral parties with ties to the Outer Rim Coalition wouldn't hurt here. Itash himself joined Starchaser, while his men took up station with the other security details. It was going to be a... trying day by the sounds of it. "Alliance isn't getting more popular here, Officer Starchaser." Itash said softly as they walked past the Ishi Tib. "We should tread lightly with the riots in fullswing."

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Chasing the signal here was not the tricky part, it was all but laid out, but once Jared got to Terminus, things became more… messy. He didn’t like this, but it was his job. He needed to hunt down the issues in the galaxy, and that, nowadays, meant enforcing laws in the Alliance. Glad for the assistance from Diadect, Jared wasn’t going to be having an issue with backup. The trick was if they got in his way too much. He may not be a Jedi, nor was he exactly a Dark Jedi, something more.

And one who followed orders.

“Yeah, these riots are going to slow us down. But we’re going to need to keep ready. Local law enforcement gave me a few locations. Looks like it may be time for the Force to lend a hand.” He wasn’t sure about anything from Itash, but this was an Alliance and Coalition border world. He would be safe.

“We’ll need to show the operation working for both groups, I reckon. Maybe that will stem the riots. But that’s secondary to our task.” Or related.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"So I suppose the ORC would probably include in its scope statement for any hyperlane enhancement project to have a certain number of Terminus staff and another number of components from Terminus, but that's as far as I could tell about the procurement part"

Rimward trade was one thing, but Cathul knew the decline in coreward trade was precisely why this crisis was happening in the first place. So the ORC came with industrial-grade fuel/ration converters, apparently. Vero, Skor and a few more planets should also have a shipment of those items, and Thyferra if we were to return there, she thought, while realizing that all that she did do, and what the Confederates did, was to provide supplies for the planet until those fuel/ration converters came back online. Also there might be a wish to get Skor in on the process, especially if the Squib administration requested it. The white Twi'lek knew about procurement, especially as far as actually boosting hyperlanes, assuming the ORC actually delivers on that portion of the deal. The order gets taller and taller for Jedi to actually be effective as diplomats, and it's harder to fulfill the requirements for dealing with policy issues beyond public security, then again, the GA only needs a handful of such Jedi, as the older incarnations of the Jedi did, she thought - she knew for years that run-of-the-mill Jedi weren't exactly the most effective people to deal in such large-scale operations.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Skor had, as it happened, received a large shipment of solid fuel/ration converters during the Coalition's work there. It wasn't the only such recipient, either: Jorus had been distributing them on needy worlds for a couple.of decades.

His interview ground to a halt when someone burned a speeder in an exciting way. As the cameras swarmed over there, Jorus finally let his security contractor usher him away. As riots went, Jorus had seen and joined worse, bit there was no point in sticking around too long. He'd already had some productive chats with protest organizers, a decent start. Next on the agenda? Hiring some folks.

 

[Bryce Bantam]

[member="Srina Talon"]

So the silent treatment was it, Bryce liked a challenge, however personal advances would need to wait for a bit longer as they did have some "grownup" matters to attend to.

"OK so [member="Miel Tevv"] , [member="Aryn Teth"] , [member="Shoma Ike"] , how should we go about this. Make some type of join public announcement? and set up official (enough) voting stations and let the rule of the people decide?"

Bryce threw his now empty can into the trash again and pulled out yet another. Feth only brought a six pack. If this takes any longer i'm gonna run out of beer here pretty soon...

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

Well, this was awkward.

Gaijin be crazy was an ancient Jar'Kai idiom that Shoma had been eager to dismiss when he had set out to be the brave face of an Imperial Atrisia that would now participate in the representational government of the Alliance. Instead, he found an abundant amount of wisdom in those words as he sat there, stoically, watching what seemed like a number of things that should be happening.

The Coalition delegate continued to drink. Continued to be informal. And, while Shoma was quite uncertain just what the man was getting at, it seemed his personal interest in [member="Srina Talon"] was rather unprofessional.

As an Atrisian noble raised with all manner of social rules impressed upon him, all of which reinforced the totality of decorum and the necessity of saving face, Shoma was, internally, quite in shock over what he was witnessing with the diplomatic talks here.

Gaijin be crazy... indeed.

Not to be discounted for the manner in which he carried himself, the Coalition delegate's question was quite direct and to the point. And the Atrisian Parliament's view on the matter was quite well known. Still, Shoma wasn't certain that the view of his planet would not contradict with the view of the Alliance of the whole. So the boy knew he had to tread carefully.

Leaning forward, the boy said, "Atrisia would prefer for the people of Terminus decide for themselves the manner in which their world will be governed." That was fitting for reinforcing the idea of Atrisia as a supportive planet for precisely the model of representational government that, for years, the Atrisian Empire had worked to repress.

Then, turning toward his fellow Alliance delegates, the boy demurred as he uttered, "However, I yield to my more informed colleagues on the Triumverate's view on this matter."

That seemed an appropriate disclaimer so to allow [member="Aryn Teth"] to overrule him, if the Alliance was so inclined.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Admiral? There are rumors that a referendum may be held regarding the matter of Terminus"

"A... a referendum? Last a referendum about a planet's major faction affiliation was held, the organizers postponed it indefinitely"

"Surely you're not referring to... Ringo?"

Most of the time, planets were either colonized or absorbed into major factions by force or by more shady methods, sometimes akin to deals with the devil or leonine deals. Rarely was a referendum actually held, even though a referendum was a more humane method to achieve those goals. Especially appreciated by factions that actually believe in democracy. The problem with referendums is the risk of corruption. Once again, corruption and other political ills were part of the game in a democracy, and, while they are present in non-democracies, they are usually different in both prevalence and forms. But the whole saga related to Ringo's referendum as it pertained to the Silver Jedi was a tale of constant delays, a tale of corruption, a tale of forensic auditing. Of fraud. Hopefully none of those items will show up on Terminus if a referendum actually was called on the topic of GA vs. ORC membership. And be properly watched over by a joint committee made up of off-worlders; in cases of that nature, better safe than sorry, and she was worried about external interference.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Job creation didn't need to be complicated.

For starters, Jorus needed a local work crew to unload the Solid Fuel/Ration Converters. The port district on Terminus had no shortage of tough sentients who knew their way around repulsor clamps and binary loadlifters. Finding experienced lead hands proved a little trickier.

Then he needed to hire SFRC operators - a straightforward task that boiled down to reading labels for people and preventing theft or hogging. Not the most skilled work in the 'verse, but it tended to require a rare blend of patience, restraint, and intimidation factor. In the end he found a group of Herglic cousins who'd do just fine.

He'd found the admin people in advance: white-collar folks who could manage a distribution center, see to the HR side, keep snaring donor funds, coordinate perpetual hiring processes, and otherwise make the SFRC jobs sustainable.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Or perhaps making Terminus play host to a SFRC factory, and/or a S-thread booster factory, with ORC funding. As she had on Skor, the question of the lead time was a big issue there. She wasn't the most familiar with the industrial infrastructure, but one thing is for certain: Skor was grateful for what SFRCs the ORC delivered after the First Order came. The ORC wanted to build S-thread boosters, Terminus people would probably want in on their manufacture. Costly those were, and, if the Sanctuary Pipeline was any indication, they can drain the budgets of perhaps a system or two along its trajectory. There really is just one place for Jedi in the bureaucracy: public security, she thought, so she started questioning just how much the [First] Republic relied on Jedi for diplomacy, and what implications there were. And also, S-thread boosters were highly complex machines, its components would have to come from all over ORC space: Karideph, Zonju, Arcadia-N-30, and so on, so forth. But it would all work out for both sides of the deal, wouldn't it?

 

[Miel Tevv]

"If we do this," Miel interjected uncertainly, seizing upon the cue [member="Shoma Ike"] had given [member="Aryn Teth"] to weigh in, "It will have to be done quickly. An announcement today, a vote soon after. For my own part I would love to give the people of Terminus more time to decide, but we need those trade lanes."

He paused momentarily, oblivious to overtures made by [member="Bryce Bantam"] toward [member="Srina Talon"] which had so far gone unacknowledged, glancing down at his notes on the datapad before him. If the people of Terminus wished to depart their defense compact in favor of incorporation into the Outer Rim, that was their right. But it would do the Alliance no good to divest its interests there in exchange for a swathe of empty space, only for their southern reaches to fall into shadow before that space could do them any good.

"There's no clear precedent here from a strictly legal standpoint," he admitted, uncertainty that they were making the right call for the greater good getting the better of him, "We could also leave this decision with the local planetary legislature. There is strong pro-Coalition sentiment within their ranks already, and it would expedite the process, albeit make it less of a purely democratic affair. I, as well, leave this call to the will of the Triumvirate."

[member="Cathul Thuku"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Itash Mecetti"]​

 

[Srina Talon]

Srina stared at [member="Bryce Bantam"] for a long moment. Her snowy countenance remained still, unmoved, and unaffected by being referred to as ‘cute’ by the ORC representative. Surely, it was just the ever present spirits in his hand lending to an overly friendly state of mind. Nothing about the steel-willed Sith Apprentice should be referred to as cute. That was a term reserved for younglings and small pets. A Yorshie, was unbearably adorable, but since she was neither a child nor a tiny canine, it only felt vaguely patronizing.

The Echani let her eyes pierce Bantam like exquisitely crafted daggers while he attempted to get back to the topic at hand. Her Master had informed her, more often than she liked, that occasionally her temper was felt worse through her silence than if she had spoken her mind. She never took him too seriously in that regard, considering that whatever he was being cantankerous about, he probably deserved...But perhaps there was a little bit of truth in it. Fire through ice.

The slender woman sighed gently at the notion of holding some sort of public poll to decide the fate of the planet. She could see the value in giving the people the right to choose—But was this really the time to try and hold an official demonstration? “Gentlemen…”

“All you need do is look outside. Review the reports. At this juncture it is more than safe to assume that the people have already spoken. Loudly.”, Srina breathed out slowly, her voice gentle in all things, despite her almost glacier appearance. Even on the way to the makeshift meeting area, she had noticed dissent, smoke rising in the distance, and huge groups of protesters. “Can all of the debate, politics, and paperwork not wait until the local populace is appeased? The longer this takes the more disgruntled and angry this world will be.”

“Once the people have calmed and are willing to see reason overtures can be made to hear their opinions and needs in regards to their government. Until then…It is the opinion of the Confederacy that action is necessary. Not voting booths. The risk of trying to find an impartial committee on extremely short notice far outweighs the benefit. Begin on the HoloNet. Broadcast the conversion on every open channel. Raise ORC colors in the capitals if you must. The relief ships are already being deployed. This will directly add a notion of goodwill to the declaration.”

Srina was blunt, as par usual, but with a sense of aristocracy that only Echani seemed capable of cultivating. It was a learned trait. Equal refinement, equal violence. At the end of the day, no matter what sort of trade deals the Alliance needed, or wanted, a planet in rebellion would do them a disservice. It would take from their war efforts, take men, and women unnecessarily off the front lines, just to keep order in a place where the Alliance presence only served to create more discord.

Terminus would be better in the hands of the Outer Rim. The Galactic Alliance, would be better off, with Terminus in the hands of the Outer Rim. It was time to face acceptable losses, make the trade, and move on. “…While the people rest and recuperate… Would that not give all of you ample time to work out the necessary details?”

“With that in mind…At least the people will know, immediately, that they have been heard. If the state of Terminus keeps deteriorating it won’t be long before the rebellion grows beyond your control. People will die in the rioting. Families will suffer. Do you honestly think they will be patient enough to allow the distribution and counting of ballots and not suspect some sort of corruption?”

[member="Aryn Teth"] | [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="Shoma Ike"] | [member="Miel Tevv"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Derick was painfully disappointed when it turned out Jorus wasn't yet ready to call it a day after that last brush with the crowd.

These Merrills were crazy.

[member="Jared Starchaser"]

In truth Tash didn't care about this.

Neither Terminus, nor that other world that was part of the switch. Didn't care about the riots and in truth the Mecetti was more sympathetic to the First Order than the Alliance. But the Outer Rim paid him well and in truth that was all that mattered to him. He didn't have an ideology (unless believing that aliens needed more baths and maybe a mask on their head was an ideology) and the ORC was most definitely a steady pay. No sense in harming those business relationships or putting a burden on them.

If they came calling? He put weight on that.

"Didact has your back, Starchaser. We never go back on our contract... no matter if it is wise or not." A chuckle at that last bit. Ain't that the truth. With the way the Order was beating the Alliance around over and over again, it might have been wise to cut ties.

But a noble's word was as important as their reputation.

Lose the one and the other get shredded.

"Where to first?"

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Jared wasn’t one for caring much of these changes, but he needed to prove to the Alliance that he was more than just his father’s son. Sure. Coren was a Sentinel and always leading the charge somewhere, into one battlefield or another. Jared, while a soldier through and through, didn’t do combat outside of his fighter, if he could help it. He knew where his skillset lay. The trick was reminding others of that skillset. But here he was, doing the other thing he was paid for, and that was counter piracy interdiction, and investigation.

“Well, never did say it was wise, but we need to get the pirate locked down. Then we’ll see about how our mission will change.” He had his blaster pistol warming up as he reached out to the Force. He was a pilot, and part of Warbird Wing. That meant he learned, from an early age, to quickly reach out to others, to scan their intentions, their thoughts, and find who was who, and connect with the ones that were open to it.

“This way.” He nodded, down one the streets, storage structures in the back. There were a few airspeeders making their way to and from the location, but it was storage, and that meant two things, 1) consumer goods and 2) pirates.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"The Confederates have started descending the rest of the relief supplies: form up and escort them"

There was no legal precedent at the interstellar level to be fair, but there was only one possible way for this to work: do whatever is possible to make the locals happy, and the situation escalating to a riot would probably be an incentive to those actually at the negotiation tables to act quickly, even if it meant changing the whole flag setup across critical government infrastructure, that which is typically associated with a faction's presence on a planet. But now that the Confederates' supply convoy was headed down towards the planet, the fighters began to form up to the fighters so as to provide escort for those freighters as they began descending towards the planet. So the Confederates really did help in our supplies? If, say, Jamoura, Relovian or some other planet in Confederate-land was able to produce bacta, or even S-thread boosters, perhaps I could open up with them in the future, she thought, while the second pass of the necessities was being transported to the planet. Happy perhaps, but the short run was going to be just a stopgap until the other long-term measures are properly taken.

 

[Rozalyne Kurganova]

Shortly after the arrival of the GA and CIS supply convoys to the Terminus system, Silver and Kiribian ships also appeared. The joint task force wasn't only made up of warships and supply freighters, but also factory barges and mining stations.

They had come to build.

But first, introductions had to be made. Ahead of Rozalyne's arrival, she had organized a meeting between several local shipping conglomerates and off-world shipwrights (including the Silver Order's own Silver Engineering Corporation) to provide a quick fix to get around the current blockade erected by the First Order.

Some of the said conglomerates may or may not have their hands in stoking the protests and riots engulfing the planet. The hope was by satisfying their concerns, that the plug may be pulled on their end.

At the same time, a humanitarian mission led by Master Nooran would ensure that supplies were delivered to the local populous, and support provided to local authorities to clamp down on riots. Civil opposition was always fine, but violent crime against innocents was not.

As the ships parked themselves into one the Lagrange point, Rozalyne made her way down to the hangars with her counterparts to descend for Terminus below by shuttle.

[member="Roona Osmari"]