Gerrenthum Starport Complex (The Imperium)

[Not Ordo]

((OOC: This is a location thread. Anyone can join and interact with the Imperium here or just pass through. It will be a standing thread that people can join and leave at will just as if they were stopping at a starport, grabbing what they need and moving on.))

The large stepper bustled with activity as always as Meridius looked out from his office viewport. Shops were opened and travelers came to enjoy everything from the local street tacos to new weapons. He was not surprised to see many at the local cantina crossed from the Garrison where their stormtroopers worked to keep the peace.

He moved away from the view port to his chair and went back to reports. Later, perhaps, he would join his men for a drink. Nothing gained loyalties like the image of a reachable leader. Even if he would shoot them without a thought... After a trial of course.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

All multiplicities of entendres aside, Alu loved tacos. Gerrenthum was known for them, and this port might be under new management but tacos were eternal. She'd made a tidy profit off a skifter two sectors back, just enough to pay for gas and a double meat, double cheese, double guac combo meal. Sauce of unspecified origin but undeniable tastiness dripped freely. She found a spot to stand and eat without impeding traffic, right in the shadow of an office building. Lucky folks worked there. Tacos every day.

This particular specimen was resplendent: hardshell-inside-softshell for the perfect blend of crunch and structural integrity; blue cheese of the blue milk variety; meat that had certainly been part of a living creature at some point. Alu found her mouth watering despite the ongoing satiation of her hunger. Such was her desire for taco.

 

[Allyson Locke]

"Order 22, ORDER 22"

Allyson ducked and weaved her way through the small gathering of people waiting for the their tacos. Of course Allyson hadn't ordered any herself, but she smuggled a ticket off a fellow that had his nose too deep into his data pad. Looking at the ticket she grinned happily and eyed his rather large order. The darker skinned woman at the counter slid the tray towards the small girl as she handed over the ticket. It was probably a good idea to start shoveling them into her mouth and make her way through the crowd away from the gentlemen before he realized that his order had been swiped. 12 tacos laid in a box and Allyson made her way through the crowd and posted up far enough from them, but still within the vicinity. Her teeth ripped through the plastic pouches and started to drizzle hot sauce all over the tacos.

Once everything was dressed to perfection, she reached in and grabbed the tacos in twos and shoveled them in the best lady like manor as humanly or Corellianly possible. [member="Alu'ravenor"] [member="Decimus Meridius"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

Alu's eyes went wide. The girl over there, a couple years older and vastly wiser, had procured a full dozen tacos and substantial quantities of hot sauce. Suddenly convinced that her own solitary taco was numerically and calorimetrically deficient, suffering a paucity of companionship and Scoville units, Alu sidled closer. She approached this paragon of worthiness with due respect.

"Got any extra hot sauce? I forgot to grab some." She gestured at the thronging crowd with saucy fingers. "Must've got caught up in the guac."

Which was true enough, even if it failed to fully encapsulate the depth, breadth, and height of her failure. The press of customers was such that she would be risking life and limb to break the queue for the hot sauce packet bucket. Worth it? Certainly -- but first, a simple request. Simple, yet profound in its portentous implications.

 

[Allyson Locke]

The grass is greener on the other side - it always is until you go eat it or something. Ally blinked at the twi'lek that made her way towards her, she could tell by those hungry eyes that she was totally eyeing her prize. Sucking on her sauce stained fingers, Ally dug into her pocket and procured a couple of extra sauce packets. There was a time and a place to be nice and since Ally didn't pay for these twelve tacos and that she couldn't possibly finish them alone. This also meant if the girl also ate them, they'd be partners in the crime of hungry passion. Seeing as everything benefited Ally in this situation, she offered the box soon after tossing the sauce packets. "You're pretty silly for just getting one - these things are like spice...especially the quac - to die for I swear" Shaking the box a little she nodded towards them. "Can't finish all of them myself - they're on the house."

Chuckling at her clever words she nodded towards the guy who was now yelling at the woman at the counter frantically. "Well, actually more like they were on him." Doing her best to look like the most innocent being in the galaxy, Ally shrugged and smiled. [member="Alu'ravenor"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

Handful of sauce-slick packets incoming. With one hand full of glorious taco, Alu's best attempt at catching wound up being more like a desperate clutching motion, as with pearls. She pinned the packets against the front of her flight suit with hand and forearm, then shuffled around until she'd managed to pocket all but one. With her teeth, she unleashed the resplendent capsiacin. She emptied the packet, then pondered and procured another. The sauce tingled on her skin. Once the taco was appropriately adorned, she sucked the excess from her fingers and dug in once more.

Some time later, she came up for air, vaguely cross-eyed and on the edge of hyperventilation. Probably from sheer awe. "That was...transcendent." She'd noted the girl's indication of their unwitting benefactor, but it hadn't registered until just now. Eyebrows rose. "Ohhh my."

It was not her first time as accessory after the fact to petty theft. That said, she was used to the reliable chaos of a sabacc skifter -- a digital cheat card. It boggled the mind how she'd never put two and two together and come up with it's possible to cheat for tacos.

"It's possible..." she said, "...to cheat for tacos. Wow."

She dug in once more. No napkins, either. She'd been forgetful.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson couldn't help but grin as she watched the other girl go into a state of bliss over the tacos and the sauce. The sauce here was the best on this side of the port, the name of the planet was escaping Ally mostly because her brain was more focused on the delicious state of the tacos she was consuming. Of course, Allyson being more worried about getting in and out - she also forgot about the napkins, but she had lips and a tongue and those worked wonders on cleaning fingers. She cleaned her fingers once again and dove into another sauce and quac covered taco. They were making their way quickly through the dozen tacos she had swiped. "Of course you can, you can cheat anything really if you have sticky enough fingers." She happily waved her saucy digits towards the twi'lek.

She shoved a taco half way into her mouth and she listened as now the manager was getting involved in the case of the lost tacos. Shrugging, she figured they would do what every establishment does when this sort of thing happens - just give the guy another order and his money back. See everything was a win-win situation here for the poor sap and for the two who were reaping the benefits of his holonet addiction. She had caught a glimpse of his datapad as she swiped his receipt from his back pocket. She had seen things like it before on the holonet, she would usually use forums to browse and pick parts for the Coronet, but this guy was in a conversation about some science fiction role-playing story with things called "cars" and "planes". Either way it was weird.

Her attention returned to the twi'lek, "So does my dinner date have a name?" [member="Alu'ravenor"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

Peyton Steele wasn’t really here. Well, not literally. She had her ship that was based off of Commander Starchaser’s ShortFin, the one called Wrath, so many different names, it was rare that she ever let it have its own name. Well, her. It was a ship, ships were she supposedly. Peyton, or shall we say Lara, was looking around as she stepped away from her craft. A battle droid pair were on board in case of anyone trying to steal it, but the blonde was heading elsewhere.

She was an operative of the Alliance, that meant she had to do some listening.

And sure, it wasn’t a far stretch to find out where the Imperium were. With a name like that? They weren’t exactly hiding. At least they weren’t converting whole planets to cat girls. And that was a really good thing. Still, the blonde, stun baton on one hip, pistol on the other, made her way into the starport.

Food? Food.

Peyton did like herself some tacos.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Peyton Steele"]

"Schluuuurp." Half a pint of mingled hot sauce, meat sauce, guac and molten blue cheese vanished in an instant. Not the most attractive sound in the world, but needs must. "S'not my name," she managed when she surfaced once more. "Alu'ravenor. Alu to my friends, Alura when I need attention." She examined the half taco remaining in her hand. "I'm going to need a bath after this. Good thing there's a fountain just down the street. The one with the Vader statue in the middle. I think I've got hot sauce in my nose." She sneezed thunderously, spraying a passing groundcar with liquefied carne asada. Waste of good meat, and in this day and age, good meat was hard to find. And, of course, vice versa: hence the carne. Good chew, extra spice; the original buyer of tacos had chosen well. Though, perhaps, not wisely. There were taco thieves about. Alu strongly considered a permanent change of career. Maybe not centered on Gerrenthum -- she was allergic to plasteel and jackboot oil -- but definitely somewhere in the vicinity. Somewhere from which tacos would be accessible.

She slumped against the wall and chewed down the rest of the taco. She'd lost count, and not -- for once -- deliberately. Her eyes, she knew, were glazing over. "That was glorious. Unf."

 

[Rianna Organa-Ar'klim]

A Starport, how lovely. Tris walked along looking at these creatures that infested the Star Port. She tried to hide her contempt for them but it was written on her face what she was thinking, each glance filled with an arrogance that had been bred into her since the day of her birth.

Chiss were a superior being to anyone in the galaxy, and the sooner the lesserlings learned this the sooner all would right in the galaxy.

She was having to bide her time she stopped to get a cup of tea, not good Chiss tea some blend from some planet within the core. It would suffice, for now.

 

[Sinistra]

If there was one thing Kira was learning to appreciate about her new home, it was the vibrant local food scene. In fact, there was a very competitive community of local chefs constantly trying to one up each other with exclusive new cuisine in very elusive places. You had to be in the know to find them, as they weren't always in the same spot but when you could find them, heaven awaited you at the first bite.

Today, it was down to the spaceport.

Why?

Because it's Taco Tuesday. Sal's was a little truck that took classic things like tacos and gave them a new twist. Kira had ventured down, having at least 1 agent on her staff dedicated to tracking her favorite chefs. Today, on the menu at Sal's was a pork belly taco with watermelon, jicama and jalapeno salsa. It smelled divine as Kira ordered three of them, holding the little cardboard tray as she leaned on the side of the truck, squeezing lime juice on them and trying not to get salsa on her very pressed and neat Imperial uniform, her rank denoting some importance. Well, that and the contingent of red-suited Imperial guards.

[member="Gerus'tris'Sabosen"] [member="Alu'ravenor"] [member='Peyton Steele'] [member="Allyson Locke"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Ally ate the last glorious taco that was in the cardboard box and then proceeded to crush it in her hands. There was a waste basket near them and she tossed it away and looked towards the Twi'lek who had spit up the taco she was eating and launched it towards something moving rather quickly by them. Digging for another napkin out of her pocket she handed it over to Alu and pointed towards the corners of her own mouth to let the girl know that she had a bit of something on her face. Looking around Allyson made note of the manager and now what it seemed to be troopers. The man seemed calm and the woman locked eyes with her for just a second. Seeing this as a sign that - this isn't the place they want to be right now - Allyson moved a bit closer to [member="Alu'ravenor"] .

"Two things, I have a shower on my ship and it seems we've been discovered" Looking towards the man, the manager and the three troopers who were making their ways towards them. Looking again at the stuffed Twi'lek Ally gestured for the girl to follow her. "Come on lets get going. I'm sure you're not wanting to spend the night in a jail cell eh?" The Corellian started to make her way through the crowd, looking back she kept an eye on Alu. After looking back, she looked in front of her and came face to face with an Imperial officer or someone important. ( [member="Kira Corsai"] ) "Feth." Reaching back, she grabbed hopefully the following arm of Alu'ravenor and pulled her up. "We gotta go now - be cool" She continued to move hopefully not alerting the Imperial and losing the Troopers.

[member="Peyton Steele"]

 

[Peyton Steele]

Tacos were some of the best foods ever. Tacos and pizzas. They could be so many different things and were found on nearly every planet and at almost every waystation she found herself at. Aside from the one where the boy found the gunslinger, and there was a water pump, but that was digressing into a whole different genre. Looking more the spacer than the operative, she was going over in her head what she was here for. To mingle, to learn, to understand, and then to report back.

Simple.

Her taco order, though, that was not going to be.

There wasn’t really anything telling that Peyton was an Alliance operative as she got in line. What was it going to be? Poultry… yeah, probably, cheese, pico, more cheese, habanero, black beans. Yeah, it could go on and on for her order, but she had decided to keep it simple, get back to watching people. Like the Twi’lek and… she assumed human, that were apparently running.

Wonder what they did. Still, not her monkies.

Tacos!

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Peyton Steele"] [member="Kira Corsai"]

Shower on the ship sounded ideal, for the following reasons.

• The hot sauce was beginning to sting
• The meat sauce probably wouldn't come out of her jumpsuit
• While the fountain would be fun, public exhibition wasn't Alu's style, at least not on Taco Tuesday
• The shower on Alu's vessel had been broken for a week

So when Ally grabbed her arm and hurried her along through the crowd, leaving a trail of masticated tortilla, Alu went along with it. Ally'n'Alu. That would either end up useful or annoying. Ally's grip tightened, dragging Alu past a stern-looking human woman, stormtroopers, and the smell of braised pork belly and jalapeno and hicama and...

How am I still hungry?

 

[Joran Greth]

Greth walked out the door of the Command Complex and across the crowded walkway to the taco stand. He normally would not wonder out for food of this type. He much preferred his prepared meals. His personnel chef had been with him for many years and Knew what Greth liked. Today however the smell of the tacos in the aid had peaked his curiosity. HE walked up to the vender and eyed the man for a moment then spoke.

"God sir, I will have what ever todays special is."

Greth took the basket and paid the man. The smell was divine, Joren was not sure what was on the tacos but they were indeed well prepared. He returned to his office and ate the delicious tacos. He made a mental note to look into the vendor and his background. could this man be a spy sent to gain intel in the guise of a street vendor. Greth would hate to have to shoot the man. The tacos were very tasty.

 

[Sinistra]

Another Tuesday, another trip to Sal's...

Kira was starting to become a regular. She had the route so thoroughly scouted she told her detail that they were no longer needed for the protection, however, most of them were also addicted to the tantalizing menu of fusion cuisine in taco form. They sent 2 guards with her who watched her but also picked up lunch for the whole detail. It was less conspicuous than 10 red suited imperial guards crowded around the eggplant uniformed director.

Today's delight had Kira's mouth watering before she ever got to the window. Duck confit with green apple and radish relish. Out-fething-standing. It was just the right blend of savory and sweet, the crunch of the radishes brightening the whole experience. Kira was halfway through her second one when she started walking back to her office, munching happily while demonstrating to the citizens of Gerrenthum that the Imperium was invested in the city world. She was just a regular gal who loved tacos. Among other things.