Party Invite

[Madalena Antares]

Location: Project SPECTRE, en route to Scintilla ​

[member="The Bridesmaid"]​

Morcanth lay bloodied. Bodies of Grysk littered various corners, and the people who had lived there had not come unharmed either. But Morcanth was now free. The Grysk had been shoved back, kicked to wherever it was their hegemony lay, away from the planet, away from its people, who had paid in blood and flesh. Not only were many of them now dead (and let's be honest, a bunch were murdered when the Grysk moved in, it wasn't all Agents of Chaos), but they had also offered themselves up.

Three hundred. Three hundred of their own, to serve on Scintilla for the length of a generation – twenty five years, in return for the liberation of the planet. The Agents of Chaos had held their end of the deal up. If anyone on Morcanth had considered backing out of the deal, none of them had showed it. Not when Madalena, the Dark Paladin of Chaos was around, anyway.

But the slaves indentured servants were not all they had picked up on Morcanth. There had been other people on that planet as well. Madalena had been surprised, though happy, for example, to see [member="Lirka Ka"] there, a woman she had served with when both were part of the Confederacy, though she wasn't entirely certain what the woman was up to these days. From other reports that were still filing in, Madalena came to understand that more had popped up on various different parts of the planet.

And that the Agents of Chaos who had left Scintilla, were returning with more numbers among their ranks.

One that she hoped would be a new addition to the ranks was the woman seated in front of her. It was a small room aboard the ship, but it had a table and some chairs, and there was a droid available to wheel in drinks and a bit of finger food. Tea for the guest, hot chocolate for the 6"0 large woman.

"My name is Madalena Antares," she introduced herself with a friendly smile as she added a few sugar cube to her hot drink and motioned for the other woman to take anything she liked among the tiny sandwiches, snacks, and different sorts of tea, "Would you be comfortable telling me your name? Or any name you wish me to call you, that would be fine as well. How did you end up on Mocanth?" came the questions. While indeed seeking information, there was nothing about Madalena's tone that wasn't friendly, almost as though it was a couch conversation with an old friend. But that was part of her usual charm. Her only hope was that it would work with this stranger as well, because from what she had seen on Morcanth – the woman had impressed her.

And now was her turn to impress her back, in the hopes that she would join.

 

[The Bridesmaid]

Morgan found herself patiently sat across from someone she didn't really know. It wasn't common for her to just follow around everyone she saw, but then again, nothing was really 'common' for her. Except for shooting. She'd grown pretty accustomed to that.

She patiently observed the woman in front of her as she absentmindedly fiddled around with the cup of tea in front of her. She had absolutely no idea what the woman wanted from her, but it couldn't hurt to find out. Unless she wanted to kill her, then it would probably hurt, but Morgan wouldn't be able to change that anymore either way. She'd seen the woman fight against the Grysk, plus some not-so-Grysk-looking people, and Morgan had been quite impressed.

She knew better than to completely trust kind strangers though, so she did her best do act mysterious and tough, for as long as that succeeded.

"Nice to meet you, [member="Madalena Antares"] . Lots of dangerous people call me 'the Bridesmaid', but you can call me Beth", she beamed, trying to make herself seem that bit more dangerous and able, while also keeping her real name hidden for now.

"Alright, so," she began, already partially dropping the 'tough girl' act," I was there for a job, right? There was a huge bounty on someone's head back there, like way bigger than I've usually seen. So I buy some transport to Mocanth, and I kind of figure out that the dude I was supposed to get was kind of slightly out of my league. Just slightly, you know, a little bit. So, I thought, whatever, the bounty's big enough to last me for the next few years of my life. So I worked and worked, greased some palms, made some heads roll, you know, that stuff. So I'm almost done right? I completely know the city, and whatever guards and hideouts this guy has- everything! I'm almost ready to make my move, the perfect opportunity like two weeks away."

"And suddenly, bam!", she continued, mimicking an explosion with her arms," these stupid Grysk things turn up. They completely take everything over, kill a bunch of people and ruin everything I had built up over eight months! Eight months!"

She leaned back in her chair as she realised she had been rambling for quite a bit. 'Nice move, dumbass', she thought to herself as she tried to scan Madalena's face for any hints. Morgan carefully picked up her cup of tea to effectively keep herself from rambling for a bit, before she returned her attention to the woman in front of her.

"So, uh, yeah," she added, pushing her chest a bit forward and picking the 'tough girl' act back up," that's how I got here. What about you?"

 

[Madalena Antares]

Location: Project SPECTRE, en route to Scintilla​

[member="The Bridesmaid"]​

"Beth," Madalena nodded with another one of her warm smiles. It was a good, strong name. The Bridesmaid was… Definetly part of a story that she wanted to hear. But here she was in front of her, a woman capable of fighting and shooting, as she'd demonstrated on Morcanth, and she had both a pen name and a real (or less pennish) name. So whoever this woman truly was, she'd already proved herself to be capable. And capable in the ways that she had shown meant she was someone that, unless she'd give Madalena a reason to change her mind, Madalena wanted to join the team. Some might have frowned on how simple the whole shebang really was, but Madalena had seem much simpler and less ground reasons to do something like this in the past. Heck, she'd even been in charge of doing these things in the past. This, she decided, was better.

As Beth dove into her story, Madalena wrapped her fingers around her mug of hot chocolate, letting the warmth seep through her in between the sips. Her glowing eyes were focused on the woman in front of her, and it would only have taken a big distraction in that moment to drag her attention away. It was a good story. The Sith could detect no lies in it, but that didn't necessarily mean that all of it was true. Still though, she could not help but wonder who might have taken up interest with someone from that little backwater planet. There had barely been any information about it when the Agents of Chaos painted it as their first target, and she'd been operating under the assumption that no one else in the galaxy had a krak to give about it.

An assumption that she was apparently going to have to be very careful not to make a second time. But she would anyway, for we already know what happens on the next planet.

When Beth finished telling her story, Madalena put her mug down. There were things that none of them got to choose. Things that were blamed on luck, or the Force, or anything else that it was. But everything else she had said… Madalena liked that. Someone with patience who was capable of puling elaborate stunts off.

"I am part of a new organization that is building from the Unknown Regions," she said, "We call ourselves the Agents of Chaos. Our goal is to remove alien occupation from worlds, to make sure they can all reign themselves without some external greedy government bleeding their people and resources out. Morcanth was a planet that no one cared about, that no one would have come for to save from the Grysk. They would have been given the freedom to do as they will from the rest of the galaxy, from the very ones who would otherwise be more than happy to smack it with taxes they didn't have a way to pay."

Madalena's voice was excited, heated, passionate. She believed her words, every single one of them. She hoped Beth would as well.

"The Sith Empire holds an incredibly large territory of the Galaxy by right of conquest. The Silvers do as well. The Confederacy. The Coalition. All of them, pretending to want what's best for the planets under their rule, but in reality leave all the planets to bleed unless they hold a personal interest to the leaders. It's time to make it all stop. To break these vast empires down."

Now she took a deep breath, and smiled.

"And I could use someone like you with us," she said, and raised a hand before Beth could protest, "You are free to say no, and I will put you on a ship back to the Core if that is what you wish. But give it a bit of thought first. You have the patience to invest eight months to take someone down. You can fight. You have both the mind and the ability to do it. Tell me, Beth, where are you from?"

 

[The Bridesmaid]

[member="Madalena Antares"]

Morgan silently rocked back and forth as she observed her observer. Now that the adrenaline in her body had mostly faded away and she had calmed back down, Morgan curiously looked at Madalena's glowing eyes. She'd never seen anything like it before, and wondered what you'd have to do to get such vibrant eyes. Maybe she was from a planet where everyone had glowing eyes? Morgan then frowned. 'Must be hard to sleep with those eyes', she thought, and suddenly the pretty eyes became less interesting to have.

She took a sip of her tea before momentarily holding the cup against the side of her face. Her smile slightly increased as she felt the warmth on her cheek, and she curiously eyed Madalena as she started to speak.

Morgan frowned as Madalena's completed her explanation. "Right of conquest? What's that?", she had wanted to ask, but she was silenced before she could mutter those words as Madalena asked her to join them.

"Me?", she asked, surprised by Madalena's offer. "The Core?", she then added, frowning. "Isn't that the middle and busy part of the galaxy?"

Morgan softly sighed as she fiddled around with her cup of tea, weighing her options. She wasn't entirely sure about the whole preach Madalena had given her a minute ago. It had all seemed genuine, but she wasn't certain she understood it completely, not yet anyway. Then again, she didn't really have a place to go, and her job had been... abruptly cancelled a while ago.

"I'd rather not share the name of my home planet, at least for now. It's safer that way, I believe. I don't think the authorities don't like me very much anymore, well, if they ever find out who I am, of course. But let's just say it's a terrible place with even worse rulers. I don't want to go back there. Nothing there for me."

Morgan awkwardly took another sip of her tea, as she thought back to her old 'home'. No, there really was no reason to go back. A worried expression appeared on her face as she returned her attention to Madalena.

"Please don't send me to the Core. I have nothing to do there! I'm kind of... out of credits after this whole debacle of a job. I'll consider joining you, but I just need a little time to think", she told the woman sitting across from her. "And probably a bit of help, as well," she shyly admitted as the sweet smile reappeared on her face," your goal sounds fun, but I have no idea who those people or groups were you mentioned. The Confedracy? Silvers? Empires?"

 

[Madalena Antares]

[member="The Bridesmaid"]​

Madalena nodded. Yes, the core was where typically it was the busiest most of the time, though she had seen with her own eyes other parts of the Galaxy become much busier than that, even if only temporarily.

Beth hadn't wanted to share where she was originally from, and that received another nod. Madalena had given her word that she would be safe, and she had no intention of violating the woman's privacy, especially when she had done nothing to warrant her being looked at as a suspect. She had helped them, and she had come willingly. Willingly, she would also be free to leave the second they docked at the Scintilla if that was what she wanted.

"You may take all the time you require to think," she assured her, "Even if you decide to leave, you will be free to return whenever you wish to. I will not hold you or those like you against their will."

And not that she would ever say it out loud, but it really wouldn't benefit her to do so. There were enough people that wanted to be Agents of Chaos, and the more their reputation would grow, the more people would want to either way. Wasting her time on shock collars was a waste of resources. Slave? Madalena didn't really need one. And still. She had a certain feeling about Beth.

"The names I have mentioned belong to three large governments," she explained herself, "They take up planets and call them their own, decide that their space exceeds to such a degree that those planets are now theirs. They tax them, and leave them to their woes, only taking but never giving back beyond that one occurrence at first which enabled them to put their claim onto it."

Leaning back, Madalena paused for a moment. Beth, it seemed, knew as much of the Galaxy at large as Alwine had when she was fresher among the Confederacy. Perhaps she could nudge her short friend into opening that school for backwater planets escapees sooner rather than later.

"Now," she said with a smile, "What is it you need help with, Beth?"

 

[The Bridesmaid]

[member="Madalena Antares"]

"Thanks for understanding", Morgan replied, nodding with a small smile. "I promise I won't make you wait long for my decision." That was completely true, she wasn't going to make Madalena wait long, as the decision had almost already been made. Morgan didn't really have a purpose in life right now, and she felt that these people might be able to give her one.

Morgan slightly frowned as she listened to Madalena's explanation. Governments that controlled multiple planets. She'd heard of it before, but she still found it difficult to imagine. How would they even be able to control that much of the galaxy? Surely they wouldn't be able to govern all of those planets at the same time?

"Well", she then replied with a shy smile," I can shoot and everything, no problem there. Give me a blaster for each hand, point me on my way and kabooshhh, I'll deal with whoever you need me to deal with. It's kind of what I did back where I come from." Her smile then faded slightly as she continued. "But uhm, apart from fighting and the basics and stuff. I've never really... you know, learned ... stuff. Like I knew there were other planets because of some tales I'd heard, but that's just about it. People on my planet where mostly concerned with my planet, not with others. Not that we were really allowed to leave anyway, but that's irrelevant."

"I guess, what I'm saying is, I'd like it if someone could help me get used to the galaxy, the one that's bigger than just the prison dump I came from. If you're available, of course. Or anyone you know. It's fine if you can't, though. I understand. You've got a group of mean people to run, which is slightly more important than some lass from nowhere."

 

[Madalena Antares]

[member="The Bridesmaid"]​

"So you are new to the galaxy outside of your own atmosphere," Madalena summarized Morgan's words, and smiled.

There was no anger in her, no disappointment, but only understanding.

"There are more than a few of us here with similar backgrounds," she explained, "the Head of Speakers, for example, was similarly restrained to the planet she had been born on. When she was finally freed of it, most of her skills were those of servants; cleaning, washing, cooking… She could barely read and write. But she learned, because she wanted to learn. My own sister… She broke free of her own prison nearly two years ago, and could barely walk. She too, learned."

Madalena paused for a moment. It was by sheer luck that she herself did not need to know. The memories stored inside her head when she thought she was someone else had sort of made her born with all the knowledge. Everything else that came after that was per the usual learning curve that most people came through.

"I do have a group of people to run," she agreed after a moment, "But I have time for you. As will others. Your greatest teacher, as you get to know more and more of the galaxy around you, will not be one person, but a group of us."

Leaning forward, Madalena refilled her mug with some more tea, and offered the same to Morgan, "I am the person in charge of the combatants of Agents of Chaos. I will give you blasters, and heavier weapons, and all the armor you need. I will teach you and show you what I can. But I'm going to have to ask you to remember one thing. You are more than just a lass from nowhere. But how much more exactly, will depend entirely on you."