Independence Day (Royal House of Alderaan vs Mandalorian Clans of Alderaan)

[Andulf Nicholas Teraan]

[member="Faith Organa"]


As it were Andulf had just concluded a meet and tour of a potential business enterprise he'd only recently been able to be granted clearance to. Being that it was within that which was considered be Mandalorian held territories and was about head off to another meet with another potential business enterprise of which to engage with over at the other end of the spectrum, that of which was on the newly form Republic sector when word reach him. As he boarded his ship and was soon met by Capt. Ja'rrod show him a datapad reports. Along with updated reports and a personal message from his twin sister. Informing him of the Alderaan Queen address not long ago. Pleading with him to return home least their mother worry herself too much.

At which case he eventually decide to give in and turn to give the order head home. But as he did so send a brief message to her highness of his intent to inquire what if any did she need him to.

 

[Arieth zh'Vranthi]

Location: Coruscant
Galactic Alliance Minister Building

For the most part, Areith stood observing the event unfold from the privacy of her chambers. Her arms were crossed, fingers lightly pressing against her chin. The dark brows were slightly driven forward, the woman considering and weighing the consequences and the various political outcomes that could come out of this.

The Galactic Alliance had most recently been involved with the Royal House of Alderaan over the reconstruction and humanitarian aid provided to Atrisia. The rebellion and assault by the Sith there had left it in near shatters. It was still an ongoing project, but this -- this was a new development.

"Ambassador?" her assistant called to her, invoking the slight turn of Areith's head towards the woman's direction.

"Contact the Triumvirate. Tell them that I shall be taking a trip to Alderaan."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco grinned as Faith dealt with their guests, letting her do the talking in that direction while he handled the security side of things during the transition time when people were worried and high strung.

The presence of the Knights of Alderaan in the streets riding their black destriers in full ceremonial regalia had several benefits to calming the people of Alderaan, and also caused many of them to line the edges of the streets to see the knights on their horses ride down the streets, waving at them, sometimes giving the Knights flowers or other tokens that the warriors were happy to take, and enjoying the presence of the noble warriors. Part of the purpose they served was to represent the honor and chivalry of Alderaan which also gave the Knights fame among the populace who glorified them because of that, and many Knights enjoyed the fanfare they were greeted with.

In space the few knights that few their starfighters ran escort missions for the incoming dignitaries and diplomats, flying in honor guard formations around their craft as a sign of good faith to those attending. The biggest change that was being made to space was the introduction of the customs rings above the two inhabited planets for monitoring the incoming traffic.

Several rings were for cargo vessels, which transmitted their manifests to the ring they were set to pass through, and then were heavily scanned as they passed through. If there were serious discrepancies the ship in question would be ordered to move to a secluded area where it could be boarded and directly inspected, though such circumstances were rare.

Civilian rings mostly focused on detecting high-grade explosives or abundance of Tibanna gases that are well above the normal expected amount that might be carried by assault teams or the like. The added precautions weren't ironclad by any means, but they were more meant to discourage the infiltration of an invasion force more so than the finding of every smuggler's compartment that passed through Alderaan, and was set up in such away that the people wouldn't be seriously inconvenienced by the added security. Furthermore invited or expected diplomatic vessels simply weren't directed to pass through these rings by Air Traffic Control, they were instead directed straight to the palace and given an escort of Knights.

[member="Faith Organa"]

 

[Noire Vanya Tal]

S A R A P I N
Mara Tibx & Fuels | Aurum Saacs Bank

Sarapin was a volcanic world in the Sarapin system, between Neimoidia and the Treskov system. It had ashy soil and streams of lava flowing across its surface. The planet had been a premier energy provider for the Core Worlds for quiet some time. It had supported the One Sith as well as the Galactic Republic. Little choice in the matter had been given to the volcanic planet as influences changed. However, in the wake of the One Sith withdrawal, Sionbias Mei, owner and refiner of some of the largest volcanic chain and lava flows had sent inquiry to Arceneau Trade on a potential offer.

Or more of a plea.

There were still several One Sith Remnants lingering on Sarapin, one in particular was a power hungry official who was doing his best to maintain control over the facilities Sionbias had long had within his family. With no one to really call upon for aide, Sionbias turned to the woman who he had met at a Southern Systems Business Bazaar meeting. He recalled the manner that the woman had been able to bring together a collection of companies to combat the former Galactic Republic's seizure of free trade assets.

Perhaps, she'll be able to help him on Sarapin as well.

It was for this very reason that Noire was traveling to Sarapin. Perhaps, she would be able to find a way to aid Sinobas.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Tai Fa"]

This time there was no protest from the crate, its weight taken fully and it was freed from friction. Some of the brighter gang members realised which direction it was headed in next and started to scatter. Metal girders in the way we're smashed loose. The entire front of the rear speeder collapsed and the first was sent spinning away with half the rear section crumpled.

"Go!" She called, drawing a blaster. From behind them two more approached, having followed their route into the warehouse. She didn't like turning her back to the unknown Force user, but she didn't have much of a choice.

The Nagai was no expert in urban shootouts, bit the Force guided her shots. The first cyborg was dropped by two quick shots to head and chest, the second one was pinned behind another crate. Neesa backed away, aware the others wouldn't take long to regroup the fee they had left. Two final warning shots and she turned and ran.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Neesa"]

There was no hesitation from Fa, none at all.

The moment the crate flew in the air the Thirriken found himself running, ramming himself through the door and outside. Yun was dropped unceremoniously to the side and the peacock launched himself at the one, solitary thug rounding the corner. With surprising force his little peacock leg lashed out from the side, catching the cyborg in the head and sending him crumbling to the ground.

After that Lord Fa grabbed Yun again - the weight was slowly starting to weigh him down, but he still had energy reserves left untapped. For now.

They'd have to get to safety as soon as possible though.

Fa took one look into the building again, saw that Neesa was already running towards the exit and realized that was his cue to get out of here. In truth, the Sith could probably have left Neesa there to die. Just slinks back into the shadows and go to the safe house on his own, because even with the rudimentary directions given that wouldn't have been enough for the assassin to find her way to it.

But that wasn't a good way to do business.

As they ran, Fa led them on, out the door to the right and down the street, before turning sharply to the left and into an alleyway. Behind them, far behind, there were shouts and screams of anger.

But they had a chance now, more than they had five minutes ago. A wall was looming up in front of them, but that one was expected - looked a little bit more new than concrete around it.

"Jump." Lord Fa pushed himself off the adjacent wall and careened over the barricade, only just with that weight weighing him down.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Faith Organa"], [member="John Ash"], [member="Rashae"], [member="Draco Vereen"],


For the most part HK ignored John's blaster pistol pointed at his head, for him that was like trying to stop a car by stabbing its roof with a wooden stick. Either way, there was no time to dwell on it as Faith herself approached him to speak with the machine aside, asking about the details of the deal he planned to strike with the Kiliks,

"For the Kiliks I have technology and resources as well as an uninhabited planet where they could start a new brood free from attacks, for Alderaan peace with the Kiliks and moving their attention from the planet, and for me an ally within their hives and their numerous soldiers. If the promises of new weapons and land to expand to will not appease them, well this is not the first time I visited the Castle Lands. Kiliks have their own myths and legends as well, long time ago I earned my place in them and if needed I will invoke that lore once more."

The droid looked to Faith,

"I will send you a transmission when my talks with them conclude, be prepared to tell your Queen about the Kilik Nests extending an alliance or peace proposal at the threshold of this new age for your planet."

To change the nests' stance like that would be no small feat, fortunately Kiliks were actually peaceful creatures at their core, they only turned violent in extreme circumstances, like their war with the Chiss and absorption of Force sensitives during the Dark Nest crisis. Besides, their perception on galactic history and what was true and what was false would often get distorted and changed based on the experience and memories of beings who were within their Hive Mind, and muddling history was what HK did best, especially since in the recent time he managed to get his hands on gadgets that were able to distort and affect organic minds.

 

[Faith Organa]

[member="HK-36"] | [member="Draco Vereen"] | [member="John Ash"] | [member="Rashae"]​

Faith looked at John thankful that he had holstered his weapon. Perhaps John did not see that the Royal guard had reacted not so much to HK but to his drawing of a weapon within the palace. Their own weapons were pointed at him, Captain Lindsey was but within four or five steps. So when he put away his weapon they physically relaxed and went back to their positions.

She looked also over to HK as he explained what it was he intended, "So you plan to offer them the opportunity to establish a new nest somewhere." She was at a disadvantage with him again unable to read expressions or his body language as to what he intended, "Lord Protector I would only ask that before you seal the deal with them that you tell us what terms you reached." Surely he would understand. Would he have allowed someone to come to Abregado Rae and negotiate an agreement with anyone there without his knowledge, and agreement to the terms. Not that the killiks were such a threat except for as he said when they were threatened and grew aggressive.

Clan Vereen kept most of the aggressive nests under surveillance. Elaine Thul had seen to burning several of the hives, and then used others for fodder. Perhaps what they needed now was a voice that did not come from anyone on Alderaan. Perhaps he could reach an accord with them that would keep the peace without policing. Yes she hoped he could do this. "I hope you can find peace for them. They've suffered for some time, I hate to think of any creature suffering."

HK had her blessing to go and do what he could.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Neesa gathered the Force around her and carefully weighted her jump. Her feet braced against the wall just a few inches below the top, halting her forwards momentum. She came down to crouch on to top of the wall to allow her to survey the other side, even as the avian landed lightly down there.

Odd that this new wall seemed to block off a courtyard with so few exists. The cyborg had been deposited by her unlikely ally as he started working the lock on a rather solid looking door. She heard shouts echo off the walls of the alley behind her.

Neesa dropped down on the other side, landing between two small stacks of crates. She wondered what they might have contained. Some kind of contraband perhaps? She walked over to stand over the cyborg and checked he was still alive. He groaned when she gave him a swift kick to the ribs, so she assumed he was. From within her cloak she pulled out a small sliver of metal. Faint engravings could be seen shimmering on its surface as it moved in the light. She pushed it into a joint of his cybernetic arm and the lights down the side of it winked off. Better to have that deactivated if they were going to be binding him.

 

[Rashae]

Rashae turned to John with his low well placed questions. The Doctor nodded to him with a polite smile. The breath she took in was long one as well as the exhale to collect herself. She leaned into John's ear briefly.

“I might. “ This was accompanied with a softened expression. Just for a moment before the raven haired physician put on her professional icy expression.

Her attention returned towards the meeting at hand. The droid was curious but an odd curious. The Princess seemed to know him and His Lordship did not seem alarmed. The way he was regarded and spoken to indicated a position of respect and trust Rashae paid attention to their speak. When the droid in a rather odd turn of events asked her where she came from, the analytical side of the Doctor was most confused and curious at the same time. The droid seemed to enjoy a certain amount of autonomy and seems to indicate that he was sentient, even showing sapience.

“Pardon me, I do apologize but I was quite a bit startled with your sudden appearance.” Came the contralto velvet voice. “I am from the Pii System with the Galactic Republic. I dont believe I have met your acquaintance before. I am Doctor Rashae Lovous. “ The doctor inclined h er head as those icy blue eyes regarded the droid.

The Princess surprised her by saying that she would like to discuss a post of some sort for here in or with Alderaan. Her, the outcast, the wayward daughter a post with the royal family that could benefit Pii and those exile republic citizens who are newly settling amongst the Pii settlers. Those icy blue eyes narrowed into a sharp focus as she replied.

“I would be delighted and most honored to discuss such an opportunity as well as discuss a number of opportunities with the Pii System. Infrastructure and health are improving there as well as the civilians we had with us at the time have started to settle. I believe a space port will be ready soon for visitors on Pii 3.” Rashae smiled at that. It was a small space port but it would give an improvement to encourage trade. This was likely Chancellor Thorne's territory but it wasn't uncommon for her to lay ground work.

The lady continued to listen to HK's Kilik initiative. As her former birth home, she well understood the kilik situation. There were those old school who were adamant to their eradication. They were discovered to be sentient. Through the decades unrest back and forth between the Alderaaneans and the Kilik have been up and down. Rashae herself was neutral to the situation.

“Lord protector we could offer to leave behind one of my Medical corvettes with our EMS nightingale speeders for the mission if you are of a need. They have proven very effective as Pii 3 and 4 settlements and towns are really spread out. Logging encampments are miles from any medical care very often. The nightingale EMS have improved loss in those encampments tremendously. “ She had heard the Princess use the term 'Lord Protector' so there for took the liberty to use that honorific till advised otherwise. The doctor's mind was quick to assess a variety of pieces of data at once.


[member="Faith Organa"] @HK-36 [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="John Ash"] [member="Nicolas Thorne"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Neesa"]

The declaration of independence by Alderaan came over night.

Lord Fa barely got a heads-up, before it actually happened and so there was little to no opportunity for him to prepare. He would have done things differently- scout out the areas more, learn the groups better, but there was no time, no time at all. All they could do was reinforce a safe house close to the ambush point and hope it would be enough.

Not that he had expected this lady to show up.

Or to have so many Bones to deal with.

But that was the beauty of not planning too far ahead, you were flexible how you were going to deal with a situation.

"Come." Fa said over his shoulder as the door unlocked and he walked through. There was a stairway going down, shadows obscuring any details.

"Was not expecting you or that many Bones, but I think we did well considering circumstances."

 

[H3xle]

The Knights girded themselves for battle, though their armor was shiny and impressive, it was made for battle none-the-less. Taryc emegred from the locker room attached to the salle in her full armor, with her sword on her back. The blade was peace-tied in place with a magnetic marker. It wouldn't truly stop her from drawing it if she needed, but would alert the authorities around when she did and allow them to home in on her. It was a precaution she had chosen to take, knowing that the Knights she trained with would feel better with her movements if she were monitored as such.

The Knights moved out into the field from the barracks within the capital city, opposite the palace. Some of them mounted beautiful black destriers, huge beasts that were like the Knights armor. Beautiful, yet battle ready. Taryc was decidedly jealous, though she did not know how to ride effectively. She'd have to see if she could weasel some lessons while she was here. In her armor, with her helmet magnetically attached to her hip for the moment, she stepped out from the salle and looked out into the city. People were lining up to view those Knights that were already on active duty and had assembled first. It would probably be best if she didn't walk openly armed down the middle of the road. The Knights knew her, but the populace didn't, and she didn't need to mess up anything for Alderaan.

Stepping around to a small side door, Taryc slipped through and donned her helmet. She pinged [member="draco vereen"] with a quick text.

'I may not be one of your Knights, brother, but I am ready and mobile. Able to help where you need me should trouble arise.' She sent the message as she moved down a side street. There were still people here, but they were either moving towards the parade of Knights, or purposely trying to ignore it as teenagers are wont to do. Neither group spared her much attention as she moved through the city on a roughly parallel course to the Knights.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Neesa raised one arm and as if she was a puppet master the unconscious cyborg was raised from the floor. She stretched out her senses and peered into the safe house. This could be a trap as much as her salvation. Her eyes darted back to the wall. She was relatively safe where she was already.

"Much was unexpected," she said. It was notable that she didn't step forwards. She knew why the Broken Bones has been after him, but she hadn't expected a Force user.

"Anyone else in there?" She asked.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Neesa"]

"No." Lord Fa noticed the hesitation and halted in his tracks. "This needed to be fast and mine were occupied elsewhere."

Otherwise he would have had a detachment of Vigor Troops raining down hellfire on those Bones the moment they entered the alleyway with him alone. But the declaration of independence had caught everyone off-guard, while others saw it as a danger or nothing special, Fa saw potential.

Not in the entire region, but specifically on this world of Humbarine and the sector it was in.

At any rate, Neesa would sense no other lifeforms in the immediate areas down, though it was quite a large area and presumably her senses did not reach very far.

"You are free to leave." The peacock cocked his head. "Without the man, of course."

It was her choice in this instance.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Tai Fa"]

She was going to need to ask questions. She was going to need the answers to those questions quickly. That was potentially going to be noisy. Not something she could do out here in the open. By now the message that he had been captured was already going to be moving up the chain of command. No one assumed a member of a gang, even one with a reputation like Westle Yan. They would try to mitigate the damage within a few hours. There were a few options now. Running with her prize didn't seem the most likely. The bird was quick, the gang was all over the area, the cyborg was heavy. Kill this one and get on with the interrogation. It mitigated the risk that he would try and kill her shortly, but seemed to outweigh that with a similar one.

"I have just a few questions, then he's all yours," she repeated. Her left hand remained out, keeping the cyborg off the floor. Her right hand came to rest lightly upon the hilt of her swords. She gave a nod and started to walk forwards, keeping close to the prisoner. At the very least she could use the body as a shield if this was an ambush. Would have been an intricate plan if it was.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Neesa"]

Rough approximation of what Neesa would found down the stairway and through another reinforced door.

There weren't any guns there openly on display though, just a whole lot of crates everywhere and some low-level machinery currently disabled. Fa locked the door behind him as they entered the room, the same as he had with the first one. If the Bones were smart enough to track them all the way to that courtyard, it would still take them hours to get to both of the doors.

If that happened, they would have all the time in the world to escape from a backdoor.

"Do you need anything for the interrogation?" Lord Fa asked politely as he pushed himself off the floor and landed on one of the crates. There he would look on as Neesa put Yun on one of the chairs.

Personally, he did not really believe in torture. It was a dirty business that did not grant much in the way of valuable and - more importantly - legible information. No, there other ways to get access to information.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Neesa unceremoniously dumped the cyborg on the chair. He was starting to murmur now. It seemed she'd been taken to a hidden warehouse on her way to finding someone else's hidden warehouse. She idly wondered if she could find exactly what she needed here. The avian looked down at them from the top of a crate. There was an intelligence behind those eyes that she did not like.

"Something to bind him with and a first aid kit," she replied. How this would go depended very much on Westle's willpower. Normally this kind of work took days, weeks even. She had just a few hours. She could do a rough job on his mind, but cracking the resolve and barriers the mind tended to throw up also tended to fragment the information you were after. Neesa would need him more pliant before she asked the interesting questions.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Neesa"]

"The little container next to the chair will have what you need."

As mentioned prior Lord Fa had been in a hurry, but he did not do things with at least something resembling a plan. It was true that there were better options to gain knowledge, outside of torture, but those needed time and patience. Neesa did not seem to be in the possession of either.

"What is it you want to know from him?" It was not like the Thirriken wouldn't be present for the interrogation anyway, so the Sith might as well spill the details now.

The container contained some medical supplies, rope and shackles, a couple of knives and torch blower.

Lord Fa had come prepared.

He probably wouldn't have used any of the latter mentioned tools, but it was better to have it and not need it, than vice versa in his experience. Yun was an unknown quantity to him, he wasn't sure how strong and resilient he would prove to be.

Better have a wide array of options open.

 

[Neesa]

[member="Tai Fa"]

Neesa maintained silence as she ensures the cyborg was well restrained. His hands and feet were well bound and with his cybernetic arm disabled it was unlikely he would be breaking free. She was curious as to why the bird kept these items in a case.

She left the captive to rouse himself before turning her attention to the one the Bones had intended to ambush. Neesa raised her chin a few inches as she considered him.

"Who, exactly, are you?" She asked, pointedly ignoring his own question.