Public Directive: Sluis Van

[Tavian Vale]

SLUIS VAN
ROADSIDE NOODLE BAR
Sky Wulicailt

Tavian Vale didn't understand much of this Galaxy. Up was down, left was right. The rich were few and ate a-plenty. The poor were many and starved in the gutter. It was disgusting and every inch of his fiber wished to strike out and rectify the existence of this reality. He was not allowed though. There was an operation in place and he was attached to Wulicailt's unit for the foreseeable future.

Command wanted to assess the situation and understand where they had found themselves.

"It's dirt, Captain." He said by way of hello as he sat down on one of the stools of the noodle bar. Their rendezvous they agreed to meet once they did an initial sweep. "Just like the previous planet. No central planning, no harmony." His tone was gruff, but his expression was worried. "There is also mention of something they call Sith. Lyra has nothing recent about them in her databanks."

He had found out quite early on that Sluis Van was neighbor to the Sith Empire. The only thing keeping them separate was something they called the 'Blackwall'. It wasn't clear to him if this was a literal wall, a space construct in the void or if it was something manifestly more magical in nature.

"The last mention of them was apparently 10 AAA. How is it possible they still exist here, you think?"

A blink and then Tavian ordered something randomly from the menu. Clearly they expected you to pay if you wanted to sit down and take up their space.

 

[Sky Wulicailt]

Sky slapped down some kind of chit and slid it down next to him. "Apparently, this is how they transact." She said as he took a seat.

The way these people lived... It wasn't normal. Sure, from time to time, they'd find a world like it. Correct it. But this was an epidemic, it was as if no such progress had occurred. In her new role with her new partner, things had gotten a bit tense. So much work, little data, and next to nothing in the way of planning.

Her eyes flicked towards a pair of men arguing. They started to throw fists, cursed each other, and one nearly drew a blaster before a security droid came in and beat them back down.

"Feth," she muttered under her breath. "There's certainly some proof to your assessment." Just in case, she inched her fingers down towards her pistol.

Didn't quite catch the whole thing about this Sith.

"Say again?"

"We're here to gather intel, not contract a foodborne illness." She groaned as he ordered off the menu.

Tavian Vale

 

[Tavian Vale]

Sky Wulicailt

He poked at the credit chit and sighed.

"I saw one of these in the Curatorium once." And now he had to use it in the flesh himself. It was frankly a barbaric rite, but apparently they all had to debase themselves one way or another. He was halfway off the seat at the start of the brawl, but Vale managed to sit himself back down once it was clear this was just a usual occurrence here.

Outside of the droid responding and the two of them nobody paid it any mind. At most they shifted their bowls slightly so if a fist came flying it didn't go through their food.

"Sith." He said with brows furrowed as he watched the droid pull one of the brawler's off of the other and then drag both of them to sights unknown. It was truly barbaric.

"Lyra says they were a force philosophy. They believed that might makes right and that the individual is all that mattered." His nostrils flared at that demonic concept.

"No wonder all the places we have been so far are a mess if that sort of talk is accepted. Do you think we should bring their existence straight back to the Fleet? They might need to know something as dangerous as that is currently active in the Galaxy."

 

[Sky Wulicailt]

Sky was mesmerized by how readily the many ignored such a violent disruption. She placed an easy hand on Vale's shoulder.

"Easy," she whispered.

Tavian began to explain, and she listened. Her fingers now gripped the blaster at her hip, not in any way to draw it, but she needed to squeeze something at what had just been said.

Before she could even respond, two bowls were placed in front of them along with some utensils. Steaming, soggy noodles in some kind of broth base. She grabbed one of the utensils and used it to lift the noodles up and inspect them more closely. The cook gave her an unfriendly eye, but said nothing. To him, she was probably just another weirdo.

She sniffed it. "If what Lyra says is true..." She licked it. "Then we must confirm these details back at Fleet, yes, but I cannot imagine they're a credible threat... I do not see how such a philosophy would translate to power. Wouldn't they just kill each other first?" She pondered aloud.

Finally, she went in and ate a mouthful of the noodles.

Tavian Vale

 

[Tavian Vale]

In a previous life it had been everyone's public responsibility to respond to violence and distress.

Here though clearly minding your business was a creed on its own.

"Lyra is never wrong." Vale responded a tad defensive and stiff, but it didn't take hold. A moment after the tension in his shoulders disappeared again, as if someone had said something funny in his ear, poking fun at his own attitude. "I don't know, Cap. But people talk about them scared, afraid. I don't think anyone here is under the impression someone will rescue them."

Which should have been preposterous.

The Jedi existed here too, but for some reason nobody thought they'd rescue them. At least some things didn't change.

"Apparently their Empire is only a planet away. I'd suggest an infiltration mission, but it seems to be protected by something they call a 'Blackwall'. Nothing goes in... nor out without the Sith's say so."

He poked at the bowl of food. If you could call it that. Vale gave a word of thanks in the Sluissese language, which Lyra assured him was perfectly hospitable, to the Sluissi shopkeep. He only seemed marginally mollified. It wasn't every day two humans walked up to his store, sat down, didn't immediately order and then poked at his food as if it was poisonous.

"Do you think we have enough?" His fingers tapped on the desk as he tried to spoon up enough for a taste. "We both know the way High Command is."

They had a mission- go to the designated planet and begin Integration.

They weren't exactly flexible when it came to mission parameters changing. The Shroud was lost to them as well. Sovereign Code could not guide them to the proper way anymore. Not until the Crown was installed where it was meant to be. Until that time they were flying completely blind... a state of affairs their seniors were not accustomed to.

If it were up to them they'd spend years... just... listening and observing. Never happy with the amount of intel they got to make a decision on what to do next.

That was unacceptable.

Sky Wulicailt

 

[Sky Wulicailt]

The pilot's brow raised at Vale's defensiveness towards Lyra.

Were they close? She wondered, but did not say it aloud. She hadn't really known the man much, not until this mission--well, the mission before everything changed. Still, the idea of an all-powerful force empire built on survival-fascism? Everything she had been taught said it was a defunct strategy. Brutal, barbaric, a fail-state at its finest. Could not last. It would eat itself alive.

"High Command is in a rut right now," she mulled while playing with her noodles. "Might chew us out either way. If we probe deeper and get lost, then the Fleet gets no intel. Not to mention losing us," that last point was more of a quip.

Sure, losses are losses. They have cost, especially when they add up, but with the way things are right now? It's like every cost is both unacceptable and unavoidable. Unpredictability was not their forte. Not like this.

"We'll gather what intel we can here, and then off to the next rock on the list. Besides..."

Sky struggled to look up. The glimpse of the atmosphere above gave her shivers, and she nearly threw up her noodles right then and there. A hand held over her mouth. She fumbled in her pack for a stim and shoved it into her leg. Right through the uniform.

Tavian Vale

 

[Tavian Vale]

In the past an individual life would be sacrificed without hesitation if it meant the betterment of the whole.

That was set in Tav's very bones.

But she was right. The mission parameters had changed. How many of them were left? A fleet's worth, so that was still thousands of souls united in a single pursuit of the betterment of organic life everywhere. But now they did not have an infinite amount of life to pull from anymore. His knowledge of the Force and of cybernetic destiny were limited to perhaps a few hundred across the whole fleet.

And most of them were young and inexperienced. Perhaps a few dozens with any real hardened combat experience.

"You are right. We can't just put our life on the line anymore. Only if makes a difference." And dying among the Sith wouldn't make a difference, not if the stories were true and there was a whole Empire full of them.

Disgusting.

Tav blinked as he watched her grapple for a stim and inject it. He glanced around but nobody seemed to care about that either.

"You will have to get over that quickly, Captain. We do not have the luxury of hiding in space anymore. I suspect they will be sending us to many planets to come."

The idea of being sick of having the sky above them was weird to him. But he figured his dependency on cybernetics would be strange to others as well. Whatever you were used to.

"Let's go, eh? A ship's hull above you will cheer you up."

Sky Wulicailt

 

[Sky Wulicailt]

It was Sky's turn to experience a spike of defensiveness.

Her ailment was something she had always tried to keep in check, which was abundantly easier when the call of duty did not require her to flirt with dirt underfoot and the vast heavens above. To be told to 'get over it' and 'quickly' at that was a recipe for getting chewed out.

Only, they were surrounded by strangers, and he technically didn't fall under the same rank and file as she did. Their pairing was one of necessity, not compatibility, though the latter would have to be found fast if they were ever to survive the current state of affairs.

"I'll be fine," she retorted.

A knee-jerk reply, a fact she did not hide in her snappy tone of voice. It didn't help that adrenaline was pumping through her system, or a kark ton of nutrients that turned her blood closer to jelly than liquid. She spat into the dirt.

A ship's hull did sound nice right about now. "Sith," she growled. "Let's hope the rest of this galaxy isn't so backwards."

That's it. Channel that frustration into disgust for the enemy. That's what she was taught. No mercy for the wicked, most of all those who stood only for themselves, and subjected the rest to excess cruelty.

What she did not consider was how this galaxy might change her.

Tavian Vale