Coruscant: The Blockade Run (ATTN: Coruscant First, GA, ORC)

[Jorus Merrill]

S.S. Gossamer
ORC diplomatic mission to Vandor-3
Corellian Run
Approaching secure perimeter 200 parsecs from secessionist Coruscant

At the helm of the Coalition bulk cruiser Gossamer, Captain J.Q. Merrill thought about risk. He'd pulled a lot of stunts, gambled his own skin, but it always felt different when others came along for the ride. Today that meant the Gossamer's thousands of Underground crewers, and some of his best friends to boot. All of them trusting him, as the ship's navigator and commander, to not get them killed today.

He reached for the intercom controls, thought about a speech, and decided against it. These people knew the principles and realities at stake. They'd had those conversations all down the Corellian Run. Some had left, others had joined. He couldn't blame any of them. This kind of stunt wasn't for everyone.

“Buckle up in case of interdiction, folks. We're about to cross the line. Remember: no matter what, they shoot first.”

[member="Julius Sedaire"] [member="Seydon Gunn"] [member="Zeradias Mant"]

 

[Azimuth Industries]

Coruscant​

​

Government District​

​

​

The Mirialan Triad, and by extension their silent partner the Bareesh Kajidic, had tolerated Coruscant First. Annoying flyers? Just politics. Protests that shut down entire streets? Just politics. Riots that left shops broken? Just politics.

But declaring the entire 200 parsecs surrounding Coruscant a no man's land?

Well that was just bad for business.

The Triad's response would be swift and brutal. Tsao checked the time, then the charge on his BlasTech Industries Ripper, then nodded to Zu. It was go time. The pair mounted a swoop bike and zipped through an alley.

[member="Zeradias Mant"]

 

[Mishel Kryze]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Mishel and her Pau City Blockade Runner decided to join in on the fight, and it didn't hurt that [member="Coren Starchaser"] was around. Coruscant was up to no good per the usual of the Mant Regime she heard and so when Merrill and Sedaire put out the call. She responded in kind, and was on her way there with music blaring within the ship. As it happened, Coren wanted to head there anyway but hadn't really told the Jedi-in-Training anything about it or what the Burlap Brigade was doing there right now. Then again she figured it wasn't her gig to know, "so we're gettin' closer I think. Hey, think I can snag an ugnaught souvenir?"

En Route to Coruscant.

 

[Seydon of Arda]

The GCA woke up dreams of daemons. Seydon slept in partial meditation and dreamed through the Gossamer’s translation through to Realspace, remembrances collapsing as he blinked and stared off through the forward view-screen panels stretched broadly across the for’ard bridge bulkhead panelling. Two hundred parsecs off port was Coruscant, he believed, nestled against neighboring solar glares.

He stood, caught in a skulk of shadow behind the communications console array, lost in brief handfuls of thought. Ruminating on the Levantine runners, and now the ORC to the galactic south, dressing on kit he collected from a spare rack installed by the bridge entrance. Belted on an aged fighting jacket, all alchemic leather and acid-treated chain-metal, buckling a pair of swords with notched grippings back across his shoulder and backbone, affixing bandoliers, pouches, and satchels to belt-hoops sewn across his waist and torso-trunk. Mant’s proclamation boasted every piggish self-indulgence he, Jorus, Rosa, Jaxton and others had worked exhaustively to curtail and discourage, once upon an age. Seydon grasped Razolight beneath the crossguard and checked its steel didn’t catch on the scabbard.

Metal rang with clarion stirling and the sword fell back into its sheathing. He couldn’t pass Captain Merrill’s invitation, Seydon thought, watching muted starlight glow across the bridge decking. The GCA risked a loss of vital face regardless of response to the Gossamer’s ‘intrusion’ through declared ‘sovereign’ void.

“Would have done better taking the Alliance to the negotiating table,” Seydon grunted, pacing up beside Jorus at the con. “There’s clout to be lost now. For the sake of showmanship. Bureaucratic showboating. What’s the GCA have to gain now, save a black eye and embarrassment?”

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Wedge Draav]

Coruscant​

Wedge was off his alert status, and had just hung up his gear, and climbed into his rack when he opened his weary eyes to see several pilots shuffling around. No one had been scrambled, but everyone seemed on edge.

Wedge sat up and rubbed his eyes, and looked around.Something was going down. He laid back down, but couldn't fall asleep now. Something was about to happen. Pilots were whispering, but nothing was being directly said- which bothered him more than anything.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Seydon Gunn"]

Jorus glanced back at his oldest friend and kept adjusting the hypernav controls. A little fine-tuning might soften the turbulence if and when Coruscanti interdiction yanked the Gossamer out of FTL. Getting gravwelled was never fun. On the plus side, maybe they'd blink first in this game of brinkmanship chicken and let the Gossamer continue on its way. One could hope.

"I've got no sympathy. Mant and Coruscant First are in bed with Carnifex and probably have been for a long dang time. I tell you about the literal door prize I happened to win when I crashed their fundraiser? A ball of Thyferran Vratix ashes, all alchemied up, courtesy of Kaine gorram Zambrano. I'm stunned the Alliance hasn't shut'em down yet, but then again, this is the kind of crap you see when a government's on its way out. Couple things like this happened in the fringes when Omega Pyre collapsed, and plenty of similar stuff went down when the Sith Empire imploded too. Anyways. Kark the Mant administration comprehensively."

 

[Mishel Kryze]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Seydon Gunn"] | [member="Coren Starchaser"]

"While Master Starsleeper is catchin' some Zzz's someone mind catchin' me up on this poodoo?" Mishel asked on the "Siverra" channel, encrypted as it was she wanted to know what was happening, after all if she was gonna be flyin' in beskar end in.... Mishel wanted to know just where to try and land it. "All I got outta'im was second star on the right and onward until morning, which apparently meant the City-That-Depends-On-Trade." She flipped the music around to something called Born to be Wild and let it course through the Blockade Runner. She then swore the first thing she was doing to the new ship she and Starchaser were building was to make a better sound system. One that really blasted some true sonic frequencies, "oh uh sorry for the rudeness, names Mishel. Former Knight-of-Ren turned something, something, something lightside by the power of Farseer, some scruffy lookin' nerf herder and a tree."

She had met Jorus once back when she ran around collecting crystals, said crystals were jinglin' and janglin' in her workshop on the Blockade Runner as she piloted the ship.

 

[Julius Sedaire]

What he was in theese days was not who Jorus had met at first. The spacers gear was gone, replaced by an emerald colored armorweave with strange white plates that looked almost like duraplast. Almost, but not quite. A large bryar pistol was strapped to one thigh, and on the other hung a pair of lightsaber hilts, both heavily worn and expertly cared for. A once clean shaven face that had caused a few ladies to swoon was now fully bearded, and heavily greyed with some parts age and other parts stress.

Over the armor was draped a heavy green outer robe the twin of most brown robes that the more standard Jedi wore. Black boots with an armored cap and knife on the inside of each calf completed the armored Jedi's gear, and he approached the two with a stern face, a smile no longer possible thanks to a war battle with the Sith on Corellia. His voice even came out dull and low, though better than it had been. A strike of cruelty, the poisoned blade he had been hit with had robbed him of facial expression entirely, and he was struggling to regain vocal control and emotive capacity. It had left him with a cybernetic right arm courtesy of the Monks of the Aing-Tii as well, and as he moved it checking gear the light of crystal inlay bounce off softly glowing songsteel skeleton.

"Mant is a twat. They invited Corellia to their shindigs. We sent an undersecretary. Bloviating and posturing and not a lot more. Nothing much beyond ego and greed is there first..."

[member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Seydon Gunn"]

 

[Coratanni Cartel]

Coruscant - 1313
Mara Thawne

Oh war, what a troublesome thing it was.

Mara sat quietly in Felix's penthouse living room lounging in a large chair as her siblings stalked about one another arguing. There were five of them here, an unusually large amount to gather in one place. Felix lived here of course, attending to the business of SIN Incorporated. Nikolas had come over from his own apartment, leaving his little girlfriend in another one of the penthouse's rooms so they could talk family business. Along with her two brothers Lucy had also made an appearance, having tracked Coruscant First throughout their affairs over the last month.

Lastly, Matt lounged on the Sofa opposite her, a book covering his face as he snoozed away. She smiled at her younger sibling for a moment, finding it quite charming that he could sleep at a time like this. Their brothers and sisters were quite loud, with Nik insisting they just go ahead and Kill the leaders of Coruscant First, Lucy Agreeing, and Felix insisting that they were both idiots for wanting to do so.

"They control the government. There's about to be an invasion. We can't just go around killing people, that just makes it easier for the Sith to do whatever they want!"​

​

Felix had a point really.

The events that loomed on the horizon were obvious to most with a spot of intelligence, more so to Coratanni who had access to one of the galaxies largest spy networks. Her parents had been forewarned of the coming events, and they of course had in turned informed her.

Now there was a decision to be made. Would the Cartel do anything? Or would it simply sit back and wait. Mara understood the position of her siblings. Lucy and Nikolas wanted to fight, Felix wanted to make a deal, but neither option was all that attractive to her. Matt didn't care either way of course, he was just a soldier in all of this. Coratanni had enough resources to stage an insurrection of sort, they could probably even hold their own against a military force, but that was all very bad for business. "Enough."

She said, waving her hand and silencing her siblings.

"I can certainly understand the desire to strike out, but it won't be happening today." No, that would be foolish. "Coruscant First and this little...blockade, whatever is they're trying to do won't matter in a few days."

Mara eased back in her chair. "Coruscant is a planet of commerce. It needs others to survive. Whatever this fool of a Mayor is doing won't last long, especially with what we all know is coming."

Nik scowled at her, Lucy threw up her hand, and Felix nodded quietly in agreement, though even her youngest brother didn't seem pleased by her words. Matt in the meanwhile had removed the book from his face, looking up to watch his older sister.

"Secure our holdings planetwide." She told them. "Use Akkara to bring in more Synths, summon the Executioners, and make sure everything is secure. Chaos is soon going to crash down on Coruscant and we're going to defend whats ours."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Under armed escort by the Coruscanti authorities, the Gossamer exited hyperspace in the Corusca system.

Immediately, the Gossamer’s powerful communications suite blasted out a broadcast, a burst transmission of compressed video. The subspace transmission reached pretty much everything in the Corusca system, including the planets Vandor-3 and Coruscant, in under ten seconds.

Uncompressed, the transmission looked something like this.

“Hi, folks. My name’s Jorus Merrill. I’m the captain of the Gossamer and a Judge with the Outer Rim Coalition. Not too long ago, I heard about a group called Coruscant First. Now, I respect the heck out of planets trying to make their own choices, I think that’s great, but there’s things you should know about Coruscant First.”

Interior: a Coruscant First fundraiser crammed full of pale humans; a voiceover and rapid montage of Jorus cashing in and breaking the bank, doing his level best to make the event a fund-loser. (This montage probably constituted admission of fraud or something along those lines.) A row of door prizes waiting for the draw. Cut to Jorus realizing that his ticket, somehow, matches up with something genuinely bizarre: a black sphere with an interesting label.

“I’m not one for spiritualism and all that, but I can’t help think this was the will of the Force that I’m the one that wound up with this thing.”

Cut to the orbital bombardment of Thyferra. Cut to the mask of Darth Carnifex.

“Kaine Zambrano, Emperor Carnifex of the Sith Empire, personally made this thing for Coruscant First out of the ashes of the people killed on Thyferra. And Coruscant First decided it would be fun to give it out as a door prize to their biggest donors.”

Cut to a circle of robed, insectoid Vratix, each placing an appendage on the sphere and murmuring in their language as a mixed-species crowd cries quietly. Cut to a Jedi Master blasting the sphere with Force Light. Cut to a tasteful memorial ceremony and a gravestone of sorts.

“Coruscant First is still in bed with the Sith. I say still because Mayor Mant spent years as the right-hand man of Isamu Baelor, a member of the One Sith Dark Council. His last command was leading the Iron Empire armada, the whole thing, to get wiped out to the last man in real suspicious circumstances. Far as I’ve ever heard, your Mayor was the only survivor. I’ve commanded a lotta fleets in my time, I fought at Taloraan and Druckenwell, and I gotta tell you - you need to screw up pretty bad to lose everything. And you gotta be some kind of worthless to be in charge and be the only one to get away.

“I don’t know what Coruscant First has in store for you, but it’s time to start asking hard questions. My family’s spent a lot of time on Coruscant-” Quick montage of Coruscant’s liberation and repairs, and the face of Mara Merrill, who’d been injured in the former and funded the entirety of the latter. “-and we’re always willing to help.”

Back to Jorus’ face, dead serious.

”If this video makes you mad, good. That’s cognitive dissonance telling you that your gut knows I’m at least half right. Now wake up and do something about it. Thanks for watching.”

The video probably, certainly, constituted libel.

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

It didn’t take much to get Kaia Starchaser to help out. She was aware what was going on, and there was a bit of angst and excitement about everything. She knew that her father wouldn’t allow anything like this blockade to happen, should he have anything to say about it. Truth was, Coren was probably right on his way from Sullust with a team to get ships moving and stopping the supply lines. Who knew? Maybe her father was doing it right now, but he just hadn’t sent a message.

She could hope.

But hoping wasn’t acting, and that was why she had loaded her own ship aboard the Gossamer with what items she could to assist with breaking down the Coruscant First movement. The Alliance allowed a world to be themselves, they didn’t enforce any sort of bizarre statements. But the CF well, they weren’t listening, it seemed.

So here she was, wandering the crew quarters near the bridge, and listening for now.

 

[Battasinjove]

Someone will die today Batta. Jove spoke to Batta, the telepathic link between the two Troig heads keeping them silent.

I will not let you harm these people. Batta replied. He hid in the undercities of Coruscant, thousands of levels down, in order to hide. Hide his brother, his other half, from the world.

You misunderstand brother. Your senses are dulled, your control waning against. Smell the air. Listen to the wind. Feel the bustle of the city. Their is a hatred hear, and it beckons to motion.

Coruscant First? The blockade? They are in a position of power now, they need not strike.

You're close. They're not the attackers, but the target. Confrontation is coming, We need to move.

You're baiting me.

I am. I tire of letting this city, this world lose itself to the galaxy on the whims of a few nationalists. I don't know how you let us sit idly by amidst the storm unfolding around us.

Batta sighed. Jove was right. He could feel it now, the coming confrontation. Aside from that, he knew it had to come soon anyhow. Coruscant was a force in the galaxy, one that wouldn't be so easily taken. And Jove, while a Sith, was not a madman. He would not kill for killing sake. There was a chance to do good here, if only he could keep in control. Jove smiled, and Batta left out a deep breath. The two took to their speeder, and began letting the force guide them.

Would the Jedi or Sith win today?

[member="Bareesh Kajidic"] [member="Zeradias Mant"]