Public Business as Usual in Susefvi Space (Static Location Thread)

[Aeshi Tillian]

OUTER RIM
QUENCE SECTOR
SUARBI SYSTEM
864 ABY

Spoiler: OOC

So, rather than a narrative-based thread with a single ongoing story. This is a location thread focusing on the more everyday and normal life of people in the system. So, feel free to pop in with a few people for a mini-story, or create one for people to wander into, or do a solo story. Just put a little OOC spoiler to let people know what you're aiming for. Some location ideas are Yumfla, the capital city of both the system and the Rimward Trade League, any of the 12 other uninhabited moons, countless mining stations around the gas giant or the asteroid belt, the shipyards in orbit Susefvi, the seventh moon, any of the League installations like the Merchant-Marine Academy, the Rescue Service Command Center, Outer Rim Development Corps headquarters, etc. Just don't be show up with a fleet to cause havoc without talking to people first.

======================================================================​

The Stardream
Edge of the Susefvi System
864ABY
One Standard Week Before Life Day

"Welcome home, Stardream," the voice crackled over the comms from the space traffic control center. "Usual destination?" Aeshi spun her chair around and thumbed the controls. She didn't know the voice, which meant it probably wasn't one of her relatives who worked for the Traffic Control Division. But then again, she was a Susefvi-flagged vessel, as well as one flying the corporate flag of Tillian Family Enterprises. She had heard on her last run that that they'd been redoing their welcome protocols and always made it a point to welcome Susefvi ships back home. If that was the case, she did appreciate that.

"Roger that," Aeshi responded on the comm. "Same destination. Full cargo this time, actually."

"We read you," the voice answered, still cheerful and pleasant. "Adjust heading to mark four-five-nine and join the queue at the commercial customs inspection station, and hope you have a wonderful Life Day! May the Force be with you!"

"Will comply," Aeshi answered, then considered for a moment. "And also with you." She nudged the controls and readjusted them to change her vector, her freighter slipping carefully into the growing stream of traffic of freighters carrying cargo. She slipped behind a big bulk-cruiser and ahead of a container ship, her own freighter dwarfed by their sizes. With that, she settled back into the seat and kicked her feet up on the dashboard.

This would take a while. She reckoned that the bulk freighter would take a few hours to inspect, and that wasn't even counting the ships ahead of it at the station. Her fingers bounced along the edge of the dashboard. She considered cracking open a bottle of whiskey, but decided it would reflect poorly on the family and make the customs agents more suspect. Unless her cousin was the one doing inspections, but she doubted not. These inspections from the station were on the far side of the asteroid belt and done by small patrol cutters carrying inspectors and tactical teams. They wouldn't spend a corvette on this. Too many logistics problems moving between ships.

Behind her, in the crew quarters, she could hear her first mate squawking on the long-range comm with some of his clutch on Imynusoph. From the words she had learned to sift through, they were talking about the expansion of the First Order again. That had her concerned. She'd lost her hands and her ship the last time the First Order decided to go all expansionist empire on them. Apparently, they were trying harder to prove they were good guys this time, same with the New Imperial Order.

She didn't buy it. Democracies were bad enough, especially what she'd heard about the new Senate on Coruscant, but concentrate all the power and control in the hands of one or two individuals? That was just asking for corruption to fester into authoritarianism. She'd already set about setting up caches for the Underground in her trade post, and reorganizing so she could bail out of the planet in under than an hour if need be. It would mean leaving most of the investment behind, but she could always restart somewhere.

So far, they still stayed far off, fortunately. They weren't an immediate threat, at least.

After a moment, she leaned over and opened up a public channel on the comms. Not far enough to go beyond the system, but most of the ships in the system would be able to pick it up. With the ships hauling in Life Day gift orders from every corner of the galaxy, there was quite a back-up in the inspection station. Surely there would be others looking to kill time.

"Captain Aeshi Tillian of the Stardream here," she said into the comm. "Just coming in from the Core with a shipment of Corellia Digital products and other tech. Anyone have any hot tips on the market? Or news from the rest of the Rim? Got myself stuck behind a bulk freighter on inspections, so got plenty of time to chew the fat."

 

[Vera Tillian]

RRS FRONTIER'S HOPE
SPARR0W-CLASS PICKET SHIP
ASTEROID BELT GUIDE
=====================

She didn't know if she was glad to have been reassigned to Susefvi for the time of year around Life Day or not. She wasn't authorized leave for Life Day itself, but she could get a few days after the celebration. It didn't make too much a difference. The Tillians hosted celebrations and festivities for the week before and after Life Day proper. Part of coming from a massive clan with dozens of families and those were just the ones named Tillian, and not the ones married in with different names.

But one thing she was most definitely not thrilled about was their assignment. Asteroid belt guide. While she knew it was an essential function of the Rescue Service and crucial for the sheer volume of commerce and trade that flooded into the system, both before and after the League was founded.

"Bring us back out to the external edge," Vera said automatically, watching their most recent group of vessels increase speed towards the center of the system now they were past the biggest obstacle to the planet. Obstacle, defense, resource. The asteroid belt was awkwardly all three at the same time. The three vessels, a series of ancient Gozantis that had been stripped down and replaced with external container mounts.

A disaster waiting to happen, in her opinion, but thankfully, in this case, she was not assigned to safety inspections. Customs inspections cited vessels for noticeable safety violations and flagged them to be reinspected and their certification renewed. A message chimed in on a public channel. She nodded to her comms tech on duty, who played it.

"Catalog it and archive it. Monitor the rest of the messages but make no reply." She said after a moment. Aeshi was her cousin, distantly related, and she wasn't entirely sure how and who, but the Tillians were a sprawling clan. Probably the daughter of one of her parent's many cousins. Unlike some, she'd never bothered to memorize the entire family tree.

Slowly, the ship turned around started weaving its way back through the pathway cleared across the length of the belt. Locals, and more enterprising spacers, tended to go through on their own, or try to come in from above or below the galactic plane. Officially, the Service discouraged such attempts, as the belt tend to grow and adapt as mining operations blew chunks out of asteroids and disrupted their natural movements, and over time, the belt had become something more akin to a globe surrounding the system. But for the big bulk vessels, they all came in through Rescue Service monitored and managed pathways. A small fleet of tugs constantly worked to keep them clear-- using tractor beams to readjust vectors, tracking rouge materials, clearing the pathway, and marking ones too large to easily be moved with beacons.

Not the glamor that the recruiting promised the members of the Service, but important. And after the excitement they had in the early days, fighting battlecruisers and mysterious distress signals, this was almost a welcome respite. She'd been running drills and training exercises whenever they were not on duty and working on fostering crew camaraderie. They'd even organized a shipboard holoball league, which had helped create the desired effect.

"How long until the other side?" Vera asked after a moment.

"One hour at present speed," the answer came back. "Shorter if we go full burn."

"Maintain present course," Vera replied. "Keep within the official range of speeds. No need to knock some debris into the pathway with too much exhaust."

She turned back to the bridge viewport and watched as rocks streamed slowly past them.

 

[Zivos]

The Skimmer
Edge of the Susefvi System
864ABY
One Standard Week Before Life Day

Spoiler: Zivos Goals

Not shoot someone or get in an argument, successfully offload mining equipment and receive payment. Maybe make a friend.

Zivos was aboard his own ship, all containers hermetically sealed against the internal atmosphere set to Uba IV standard while no one else was aboard the ship. It was a hazard for any oxygen breather to step into at the moment, but it let the Ubese sit in the pilot's seat without his mask on. His mouth sputtered in bland boredom as he sat behind another pair of ships( Aeshi Tillian ), waiting for entry to the inspection area.

It was a small batch of supplies promised from one trader to another, specialized equipment that most didn't trust anyone to trundle off with given the tendency for thieves to snag mining equipment and pawn it somewhere. While the thought was enticing, he needed a steady source of income between jobs, and he didn't need to besmirch his name in the trading community.

The public line crackled open, a voice cutting through the silence as Zivos smirked in his seat. Silence and boredom were beasts all their own, and mixing the two was never a good idea. The Corellia Digital load sounded like a decent catch, but he had just read somewhere them an another company were having bouts.

Or was that someone else?

"Captain Zivos of the Skimmer, wasn't Corellia Digital trying to negotiate with another parts company? Might hit up some ports of their opposition and see what the prices are." His voice was a harsh whisper, straining to speak as he practically pushed his mouth against the communicator in front of him to make sure he was heard. Why hadn't anyone made a sign language to speech thing yet? "Or did that deal close? I didn't get to finish reading that bit. Different planets, different news."

 

[Skajin var Imret]

Aeshi Tillian Zivos

Susevfi was a nice safe civilized port of call so far as this end of the Rim went. Waiting in line in a civilian courier brought back nostalgia for propriety, courtesy, even bureaucracy. Skajin var Imret no longer had tenure at the University of Kubindi, and Kubindi no longer had a university, or a population for that matter. But for all that he'd become - adept in the Dark Side, resistance insurgent, terrorist - the simple act of paperwork still spoke to him in a wry, sad, friendly way.

He toggled the light courier boat's comms and joined the public channel.

"Too many scavengersz biting at refugeesz from the Drrrael, all up and down the Rrrim." The rogue Kubaz academic hummed deep in his proboscis. "Thisz isz Skajin var Imret on the courier Akarre's Hope, crew of Kubasz and Barabelsz and szo many othersz the Bryn'adul maszacrred. Alwaysz looking for szafe portsz of call farr frron the frront linesz."

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Zivos Skajin var Imret
================

Aeshi tapped her fingers on the console as time ticked by. For many people, this would be intolerable. But for Aeshi, she was used to it. As were many spacers, if they were to be honest. Despite what they said about things like the thrill of spacefaring, the joy of seeing unknown worlds and sites nobody had ever seen, space travel was, most of the time, quite repetitive. Check the instruments. Make adjustments. Wait. Wait some more. Spend a week or two in hyperspace for the long-hauls on the edge of the Rim.

The comm crackled to life and she leaned forward, listening as two others began to speak up. She considered for several moments.

"Corellia Digital negotiating with a different parts company? That's some news I hadn't heard before." Aeshi pulled a holopad over and pulled up the holonet news and started scouring the business news. She couldn't find anything, but things like that might not make official news. Instead, it was the gossip and rumors that drove the galactic spacer's economy.

Then again, Susefvi was a long way from Corellia. She might have gotten here faster than news had, which was possible with a hyperdrive fast as hers. The voice was different too, as was the second. Both non-human, which was good. They needed all the strengths and insight of the many species of the galaxy to have a chance at making the Rim a better place. "I'll keep looking for news on those negotiations," she added. "And will definitely check out their competitors and see what they want for any of these. Appreciate it, Captain Zivos. Got any markets you looking for?"

The other voice, she recognized something in that. One of a survivor and who knew the oppression of evil forces.

"Glad you could make it to Suefvi then, Skajin. We're not much compared to the Core, but we're doing our best. Always happy to welcome those in need. We've got plenty to share. Haven't seen much action against the Bryn lately, at least not in my usual routes. Any supplies or anything you and your crew are in need of?"

 

[Skajin var Imret]

Aeshi Tillian

Skajin blinked in surprise. General goodwill toward unspecified refugees was in short supply these days.

"My thankszz, Captain. We neverr szay no to medical szuppliesz or the locationsz of szafe havensz off the booksz. There'sz alwaysz a need, everr grreaterr. You szay yourr usual rroutesz are Brryn-frree - wherre do you fly these daysze? Thisz isz asz farr szouth asz we go - anywherre szafe norrtheaszt of herre would be imporrtant to know about."

 

[Zivos]

The chatter over the public comm was relaxing almost. Days, months, time spent in hyperspace was like begging to be tortured. Especially when your only source of company was a droid you kept on the ship. He listened to the back and forth, letting the other captain speak before replying,

Feth it was good to hear other people again.

"Mining equipment or supplies. Steady jobs that aren't contract. You?" He asked back, watching the scans on his ship as the ships ahead of him were searched. He thought for a while on safe spots, drawing a blank since he usually worked well near the front lines. Having nothing to contribute to that particular conversation, he pondered once more.

"Captain Skajin var Imret , I come across any safe places, where should I send the data?" He might as well atone for some of the bad things he did in life.

Aeshi Tillian

 

[Skajin var Imret]

Skajin cycled through the comms readouts until he found the source of the other voice: he hadn't checked earlier. The Skimmer, helmed by one Captain Zivos.

"I'll szend you a numberr. Yourre eyesz and earrsz arre alwaysz apprreciated, frriend. And if you happen to szee any Bryn'adul expansion, hearr of rrefugeesz - anything rrelevant to ourr interresztsz - by all meansz passz it along. You know, if you'rre in the mining equipment buszinsez, I have some unique technologiesz available, thingsz we found along ourr way."

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Skajin var Imret Zivos

"Mining supplies, eh?" Aeshi said, considering for a moment. "Should be quite a market for those here. We have at least..." She pursed her lips as she considered. "Probably close to a hundred different mining companies of different sizes around the system. And nobody knows how many independent prospectors have staked themselves out on somewhere in the asteroid belt."

She considered for a moment. "I have a cargo full of Corellia Digital electronics for Life Day gifts. But for work, my family has a sizable trade company HQed here and we do ship refits and have begun building our own from scratch, so there's always jobs to be had if I'm not feeling like tramping around the Rim. I much prefer the independence of it all though. Might have some captain's commissions open."

As she was speaking, she was working through the map of the galaxy and her most recent routes before she answered Skajin. "This is about as far East as I go. I work a triangle from here into Coruscant and then out to Imynusoph, where I tend to work out of most often. That's a quiet little world, pretty far from anyone's interests if you're looking for an out of the way place. Locals are friendly, with lots of space. Should be able to work some stuff out with the government if you're looking for a refugee colony."

Based on what he had said though, a few key phrases that sounded some bells in her head. "But I know of some other places, more off-grid and a bit below most group's notice as well, but those are best not discussed over comms."

There were countless resistance groups and organizations in the galaxy. She wasn't sure if Skajin was part of the Underground, at least not the one secretly based out of Susefvi. But if he was, and was interested in connecting, she could at least make the offer, albeit discreetly.

"I know a good cantina just off the main starport, called the Pheonix, it's called. Once we pass through customs, drinks on me, you two?"

If anyone else showed up, she would make the same offer as well. But the ship ahead of her was finally beginning its own inspection, with the Service probably bringing in extra teams to make up for the size of the bulk freighter.

The stationmaster signalled her to move up and she eased the throttle slowly forward. Above and behind, the behemoth hulls dwarfed her own vessel, and she was careful to steer clear of their thruster wakes.

 

[Vera Tillian]

RRS FRONTIER'S HOPE
SPARR0W-CLASS PICKET SHIP
ASTEROID BELT GUIDE
=====================

"We've got a big one on our docket, Captain," one of Vera's logistical officers noted. "We've got the PCL-27 Celestial Treasure flagged out of Atrisia with a cargo of silks and artwork."

"A PCL-27..." Vera said with a grimace as she considered and tightened the safety belts on her harness. "Let's do some extra clearing on our way through, especially the main turns. Signal the inspection station on each side to close off the pathway while we're going through. And get some extra tugs on standby." Possibilities and necessities raced through her mind as she considered the options and what they would need for this to be successful.

At 800 meters long, the PCL-27 was as large as a warship, but lacked the shields and reinforced hull that could protect them from any asteroid impacts. Maneuvering through the constantly shifting asteroid belt was tricky, since it was too large to evade many of the smaller asteroids that could come flying into the channel at any time.

"Inform the captain of the Treasure we'll be waiting for the rest of the channel to clear prior to beginning our progression," Vera added after another thought.

The rest bustled about the business of running the ship as the Hope, barely a tenth of the length of the ship they would be guiding in, traced its way through the route. Some of the asteroids were simply too large to move with normal tractor beams, and so the course navigated around them.

"Tracking stations picking up any deviations in expected asteroid velocities?"

"Negative, so far," the answer came back. "All things holding stable." Across from them, a series of YT series freighters were shepherded out of the main channel by another picket ship. One part of Vera's brain noticed that one of them seemed dangerously wobbly, but that was quickly drowned out.

It was silent and barely noticeable, but there a small cloud of vapor exploded from the rear stabilizer in the distance and the YT freighter shuddered and accelerated sporadically as its captain tried to compensate.

"Get the tractor beams up and ready!" Vera called as her mind raced through what it meant. "Adjust bearing to bring us within a thousand meters of the freighter!"

 

[Khloe Argyros]

The Cyrus
Edge of the Susefvi System
864ABY
One Standard Week Before Life Day

The sounds of open comms was soothing in a way. After days in hyperspace travel it was good to hear someone's voice other than your own or your crew members. Not that she disliked her crewmates, it was just nice to hear someone new from time to time.

Khloe quietly hummed to herself as she read through the ships manifest. The chatter of open comms keeping her company in the background. Every once in a while she'd glance up to check the progress of the inspections. Her own ship, The Cyrus, was a hundred and forty meter Nelarea freighter. A giant compared to some here. With a hold laden down with agriculture goods, lumber and luxury goods such as jewelry and clothing. A wide array of goods she had brought from Arsenae.

A piece of the conversation caught her attention. Mining equipment. She set down her datapad and keyed her comms. "You're transporting mining equipment? I know of some people who need such things. They have silver mines in the unknown regions." Khloe straightened up a moment as traffic began to move a little. She hadn't yet gotten the signal to move, but the inspectors were backing away from a large freighter as it began to move forward.

Aeshi Tillian Skajin var Imret Zivos

 

[Zivos]

Giving an affirmative to receiving the data, there came a soft whistle as the comm line came back with a growing market for mining equipment, even going so far as to the unknown regions. Something he would need a bigger ship for no doubt. An all in one kind of gig for supplies of all variety. He pondered for a moment of a retro-fit of the Skimmer but thought better of it. Dedicate it to bounty hunting. Leave it parked somewhere probably. Maybe the guild would let him leave it in their care.

He needed a heavy transport.

The gears were already spinning, a trip to the outer rim planned now in search of a specific breed and cut of ship. Ideas already flinging themselves back and forth as he watched the vessel ahead shudder forward as he trundled closer also.

"Mining seems to be the reliable go to for trading. Everyone building ships and all." He wheezed through the line to Aeshi Tillian , finding something to ease a slowly drying throat. He hadn't talked this much in a while without an annunciator doing the heavy lifting. "I'll have to take a look at some of the contracts floating around."

He paused long enough to take another drink before addressing the other one.

"Thanks for the heads up. I'm sure they have issues with consistent suppliers out that far. Wouldn't mind making some runs out that way when I get something to do it with." He spoke to Khloe Argyros with equal interest. A steady job wouldn't be a terrible thing. Set aside a few spots for the impromptu bounty job that sprung up and would be wallering like a womp rat.

Finally he came back to Skajin var Imret with a follow up.

"I'll take you up on that when we make port. Would be good for business to take a look at what's on the market." Zivos coughed a little at the end, as though it would help the itchy feeling. He had to get another annunciator, this was not nearly as easy as he thought it was.

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Zivos Skajin var Imret Khloe Argyros
=========

Aeshi sat up in her seat from interest at the new words, as well as some of the excitement that was happening ahead of her. Not just the inspection team boarding the freighter ahead of her, but the sudden pause in other traffic through the asteroid belt and how more than a few of the vessels about to enter had flared their emergency thrusters and come to a complete stop. Several of the smaller Rescue Service cutter-craft rushed past her, away from their postings and patrol routes to take up entrance inside the pathway.

She could see why. The next ship in line was a massive behemoth of a vessel that would be hard-pressed to clear the often twisting passage. But then the words on the comm caught her attention again.

"Silver, you say?" She was intrigued. Her last mining operation over on Subterrel hadn't panned out as well as she had hoped, and pretty much the entire investment had been lost. Never go into a business with Eldin Daine that didn't involve alcohol was perhaps the lesson there. She wasn't entirely sure. "I've been considering putting up some credits to buy into a mining venture to keep up my cash flow. Not aiming to strike it big, but enough to help recoup costs from some bad investments and bump up my credit stream a bit."

 

[Khloe Argyros]

There was quite the interest in the silver mining expeditions her people had on Bretia. Which was good, that meant more credit flow. She thought about it for a second before responding to Zivos. "A lot of our mining supplies are dropped off on Arsenae. Closer than the unknown regions, but that means quicker runs. Besides, the miners are always looking for more supplies, both there and at other mines."

Khloe watched the big freighter struggle through the asteroid field. Something that large, while impressive, did come at a cost. She never looked away from the vessel as she responded to Aeshi Tillian . "I'm sure you'd find someone willing to take up on that offer. If you're ever on Arsenae, just look for the mining freighters, they're hard to miss. I'm sure someone there can point you in the right direction."

 

[Veino Garn]

Jensaarai Enclave
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
==========================

Veino stood and stared at the assembled data from the past few months of investigation. Korriban, holonet, old Sith Empire records seized during the war with the Galactic Republic and then records from the One Sith. He had been working six months, wielding every bit of influence he could wield as Saaraai-Kaar of the Jensaarai, current serving head of the Underground, and chief of the Outer Rim Intelligence Operations Network. The challenge was the information he was tracking was old, when it came to any sort of intelligence gathering standards. Decades ago, at this point.

Intelligence agencies were focused on cutting edge and recent intelligence as it happened. Not to dig into secret rituals from decades ago when nobody was even sure where it was or who performed it. The task was large and it had become his focus. However, with the regime change in the Sith Empire, it may no longer even be relevant, except as a morale win. How was Darth Carnifex resurrected? Could it be done for any Sith?

What were its effects and how was it maintained? He had gone through every record, holocron of both Light and Dark alignments, all manuscripts, and every scrap of information the Jensaarai archives possessed.

None of them mentioned anything. Which meant it was time to go back to the basics. Who was he before he was Dark Lord of the Sith and Emperor? Where had he come from? His family tree was enormous, but what had it been before that?

And of secondary concern, what of the resurgent First Order? What were they aiming at this time? What did they want? Their recent activity indicated a return to their militarist expansionist ways, but they lacked the tinge of the Dark Side the Ren had driven them. Perhaps they were reformed.

He massaged his forehead as he considered the many possibilities and implications. It was time to get in touch with those who might know. He typed out a broadcast of information to go throughout the old GA, ORC, and Underground channels, as well as current ones to the wide variety of Jedi currently in existence with a simple message from an anonymous account marked only with a constellation that looked like a bow: Who is the man behind the mask of Carnifex? Where would he feel the safest? What is the secret of his return?

Those who knew him personally would recognize the mark of ORION, which he had adopted as his anonymous public seal. But for the ones he did not know personally, there were encoded directions to a holonet burner account.

Spoiler: Possible Tags

Coren Starchaser Jend-Ro Quill Auteme Caedyn Arenais Also of value to Darth Carnifex

 

[Vera Tillian]

RRS FRONTIER'S HOPE
SPARR0W-CLASS PICKET SHIP
ASTEROID BELT GUIDE
=====================

The tension was palpable aboard the bridge of the small ship. Vera's mind raced to the situation that was unfolding, not just in front of her, but along the edges of the asteroid field and something she had initially overlooked crashed into her brain.

"Tell the custom's station to halt the Celestial Treasure!" She just barely kept her voice in check as she realized the potential for what could happen. If that behemoth lumbered into the asteroid belt while the light freighter was venting gas and at risk of a secondary explosion, the collision could be catastrophic. The others realized it a heartbeat after her and the messages to the station were frantic along the closed Rescue Service channels.

The ship beneath her feet accelerated rapidly as the ship moved into position and then came to a halt, firing forward maneuvering thrusters at full power to bring to a stable stop. She bounced in the seat for a moment.

"One thousand meter range established!" A weapon's tech called. "Tractor beams powering up! Full power in sixty seconds!"

"Lock onto the freighter," Vera said, mind racing. "We need to stabilize her before the venting gets worse. Cannons, focus range on the far side of the asteroid field. We need to make sure nothing hit that small ship!"

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

He typed out a broadcast of information to go throughout the old GA, ORC, and Underground channels, as well as current ones to the wide variety of Jedi currently in existence with a simple message from an anonymous account marked only with a constellation that looked like a bow: Who is the man behind the mask of Carnifex? Where would he feel the safest? What is the secret of his return?

Those who knew him personally would recognize the mark of ORION, which he had adopted as his anonymous public seal. But for the ones he did not know personally, there were encoded directions to a holonet burner account.

Saarai-Kaar,

I grew up in the Raskava Order, the so-called Holocron Eaters, a group of Dark Jedi lorekeepers founded before the Dark Age. I hope this information is helpful:

Many Sith Lords have tried to defeat death. Most have failed, some spectacularly. The Sith keep these not as cautionary tales, but as lessons in the weakness of hubris, often meant to inspire apprentices to surpass what came before, keep them hungry.

Transcending death successfully is as much an apex power of the Dark Side as the Force Storm itself, and there may be several methods of doing so. As far as the Raskava ever learned, there's no indication that the longest-lived Sith (Palpatine, Vitiate, Marka Ragnos, etc.) used identical or even compatible methods to prolong (or repeat) their lives. Strongly divergent legends all confirm that Palpatine was a body-taker and body-swapper. Ragnos, by contrast, appears to have just plain ruled for a century or two, unweakened, until he died of natural causes. Vitiate's technique is completely unknown. And then there are edge cases like Lord Simus, who existed as a severed head for decades.

Those are the success stories. Many others have tried to chart their own paths to immortality and have wound up annihilating themselves utterly, or trapping themselves for eternity in some powerless form.

All I know for certain is that, in the end, there is no true immortality. Or else all of the above would still be with us. That means Carnifex can be killed permanently.

Jend-Ro Quill
Steadfast, Jakku

 

[Auteme]

He massaged his forehead as he considered the many possibilities and implications. It was time to get in touch with those who might know. He typed out a broadcast of information to go throughout the old GA, ORC, and Underground channels, as well as current ones to the wide variety of Jedi currently in existence with a simple message from an anonymous account marked only with a constellation that looked like a bow: Who is the man behind the mask of Carnifex? Where would he feel the safest? What is the secret of his return?

Those who knew him personally would recognize the mark of ORION, which he had adopted as his anonymous public seal. But for the ones he did not know personally, there were encoded directions to a holonet burner account.

Saarai-Kar,

Greetings! This method of correspondence is somewhat new to me, so I will keep my communique brief.

Kaine Zambrano, otherwise known as Darth Carnifex, has puzzled me in recent months. His withdrawal from the Sith Empire's leadership was somewhat unexpected, and likely crippled the Sith early in their war against the New Imperial Order as their leaders were forced to change and not rely on the oft overwhelming presence of Carnifex himself. Now his brother and daughter are the heads of state, while he flits around in Sith space, reappearing for only brief moments before disappearing again.

I would have once believed that Dromund Kaas, Bastion, or Korriban were his safe places; or perhaps Panatha, where he still holds significant influence. But his actions as of late suggest a secret base from which he conducts his work, whatever that work may be. It must be in Sith space given his rapid responses to any offensives there, whether in the Stygian Caldera or on the New Imperial border.

I think he sees the Empire falling, and did not wish to tie himself down to a sinking ship. Perhaps he is preparing for its successor state, or the time of chaos that will likely reign in the wake of the Empire's end.

Though I am sure he has precautions and failsafes for such an eventuality, I suspect he will simply become one of the many warlords that have begun to wreak havoc on the galaxy. His prowess in battle and the Force may be formidable but he cannot control people. I believe his influence is waning.

My investigations will continue. I hope this helps you in your quest for knowledge about him.

Auteme Denko-Durren
New Jedi Order, Coruscant

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Khloe Argyros

"Aresenae, you say?" Aeshi said, sitting up as she noticed the change in the flow of activity amongst Rescue Service personnel in the lanes between the customs station and the asteroid path. "I'll definitely have to do that. Lost a bunch of credits when the First Order seized Hoth and my stake in a resort went bad. Can't invite tourists when there's a bunch of stormtroopers and militarists hanging around to blow things up."

Something flashed in the distance and Aeshi rose to her feet. "Karking Krayt-spit, did someone just detonate." She leaned over and activated the controls of her sensors, putting them to midrange, maximum detail to get a better look of the situation. It was messy and complicated, but it did seem something had taken a hit.

The lumbering bulk freighter was quickly brought to a halt while the small Rescue Service patrol ships raced by her, signaling the emergency alarm on the comm channels and with flashing lights mounted on the exterior of their hulls.