Private Curiosity Comes to Life

[Onrai]

Nathema Orbital Complex

It was nearing time that Vanessa's latest weapon would be appropriately completed. When the Emperor had given her the opportunity to develop a dreadnought of her own, Vanessa had done her best to put every piece of cutting edge technology into the warship. Angered at her past conflicts with the Silver Jedi, she intended for the vessel in question to be the most powerful warship in the entire galaxy. More dangerous than the Emperor's own warship. More dangerous than any ship the enemies of the Empire could piece together. And above all, the executor of her will, able to end warlordism within the Sith Empire were it to arise. Such internal conflict had been what Vanessa had prepared for over the years since her return.

Vanessa had determined the following: she alone knew the location of the Imperial Graveyard, where the ships of the original Sith Empire were stored. When stored, the ships had been defueled and disarmed, but were kept in such a state that could be quickly rearmed and refueled for combat. Vanessa would depopulate the population of Nathema if she had to, but with a combination of droids and manpower, she would be able to raise almost all of the ships as combat capable with skeleton crews. These included ships from the Galactic Alliance which, after having been seized during Taeli Raaf's scheme, were given the same treatment. The combination of ships and stored resources meant she would be able to effectively operate an entire empire's worth of naval units for a period of several weeks before the ships would run out of fuel and ammunition, becoming nothing more than dead hulks in space.

For now, she was within her private quarters in the complex, going over her plan of action once again.

 

[Lina Ravel]

The sleek craft slowed and halted as it pulled into a large hangar in the orbital complex. Lina's seat shuddered as the shuttle's engines powered down as the lights brightened in the cabin. She sat up, blinking and brushing strands of red hair from her face. Stifling a yawn, she rose to her feet and stretched, padding out of the shuttle with a pair of grim-faced Armada troops trudging down the loading ramp behind her.

She looked around the unfamiliar scene of the hangar, with crew rushing about the various fighter and strike craft stowed away here. By the look of it, she was the only visiting ship in this particular hangar. Interesting. One of the guards gestured to a blast door at the right of the hangar and they made there way towards it. Lina gave on of the crew a bright smile and the man returned a blank look. She looked away, slightly crestfallen.

This was her first trip as a real instrument of the Saaraishash. Her first as part of the Inquisition, and her first unaccompanied by an overseer. It was freeing and terrifying all at once. She felt a little lost and out of place, but she put on an air of confidence she hoped would convince the doubtful who saw her.

Her mission was a rather vague one, and Lina was half-convinced it was merely a form of hazing to send her to the outer fringes of the Empire to 'check things out.' She was supposed to be investigating this facility and looking for anything that was off, but nobody had even told her what this place was.

Frustrating.

The doors opened and the drifted through the corridors, Lina's shiny black boots clacking on the metal flooring of the station alonside the louder clangs of the soldiers' armoured footsteps. She took out her holopad and notified the station officials she'd arrived, wondering where she was supposed to be going.

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa was immediately somewhat worried after having received a message that one of the Saaraishash had arrived on board her station. She had sparsely interacted with them before, particularly with her meeting with Jorryn Fordyce, and tried her best to ignore them, minimizing the amount of attention she received. The appearance of an Inquisitor raised an eyebrow and ensured that she was ready if push came to shove - the Emperor had authorized her to complete the massive warship that was quite blatantly visible at the shipyards near the complex, after all - but perhaps was now a good idea to try and woo an inquisitor into her own graces.

After all, such was convenient.

Kirie would find herself led to the elevator, which would take her to the boardroom or meeting room of the station. It was the place Vanessa regularly conducted business, and there she sat with an appetizer tray and a glass of champagne. "Inquisitor. Vanessa Vantai. I control this domain. Please, come and take a seat."

Lina Ravel

 

[Lina Ravel]

A reply followed her message quickly, and Lina shuffled out of the turbolift and into an adjacent chamber that turned out to be a meeting room of sorts, with a central table and an array of chairs with one space already occupied. She eyed the woman somewhat nervously, noting her cool demeanor and the tray of refreshments and drinks. She give a polite nod as the woman introduced herself and strode across the room to greet the station administrator.

She gave a bright, enthusiastic smile, beaming at Vanessa with straight, bright-white teeth and an enthusiastic expression. "Hi, Ms Vantai. I'm Inquisitor Helena. It is a pleasure to meet you." Lina turned her bright green eyes up to the woman, her gaze lingering a few moments before shooting a longing glance at the tray of snacks. She hadn't eaten in a few hours, and the tray was looking seriously appetising. But, somehow she thought it would be out of line to partake, so instead, she politely waved the refreshments away, and did the same with the offered drink.

Stretching out the aches of the trip over by standing on her toes, Lina did her best to push back the fatigue she was already feeling. It was the beginning of the mission and would be quite improper to be sleepy and bleary-eyed when there was a job to be done. The trip had been long, boring, and uncomfortable, but she had work to do. Lina would just have to deal.

Her initial nerves were, for the moment, forgotten in the effort of trying to conceal her fatigue, but the uncertainty over her mission still remained. She racked her brains, thinking of where to begin. Count on her overseers to give her such a vague tasking for her first assignment. No doubt it was a test of sorts.

Turning back to regard Ms Vantai again, Lina spoke up. "Have you been informed why I'm here? I was thinking that we could start with a tour of this facility if you don't mind." Lina smiled again clasping her hands in front of her and giving the woman an earnest look.

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

Lina Ravel

Vanessa saw Lina's reluctance to enjoy some of the food. "No no, I insist." She said, reaching for an appetizer and soon popping it into her mouth. "Just some simple meat and cheese cubes with some wine. Nothing special." She thought over the situation of what Lina was here for. "I was informed of nothing, as is to be expected given the organization you are a part of prefers surprise to catch miscreants in the act over advance warning." She replied. "There's not really much of a tour to give, honestly. Most of the complex is ammunition and weapon storage or barracks for off-duty naval crew or Darktroopers. We could go to the shipyards and see what's being built there." She said, shrugging. There really wasn't much else to show the Inquisitor, aside from perhaps the Super Star Destroyer that was still under construction. She was certainly looking forward to that ship being finished.

Once it was, it would be a gamechanger in the battles with the Galactic Alliance and all else in the galaxy.