Peace is Good for Business (Hion of Tion)

[Ashin Varanin]

TION TRADE NEXUS
PERLEMIAN TRADE ROUTE
TION CLUSTER

It was never nighttime on the Tionese Nexus. No need to reinvent the wheel: long-term habitation centers in deep space had long known that there wasn't a lot of point to turning down the lights at some arbitrary evening time. People worked and slept on their own schedules, creating darkness in private when necessary.

The metaphor was all too easy. Presumably she'd been spending too much time with Sith.

The door hissed open, and she stood, extending her hand to shake the massive flipper of the being currently engaged in testing the structural integrity of her office floor. "Good to meet you in person, Lord Hion; I'm Ventus."

She had no idea whether he was high enough in One Sith hierarchy to know that she was a Sith and belonged to that allegiance. She'd requested this meeting through Tion channels.

[member="Hion the Herglic"]

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

The doorframe posed a slight problem to the less than aerodynamic figure of Darth Orcus, though the lack of chitinous protrusions from his body lessened his total mass. The absence of the Orbalisks was, as Orcus had soon discovered, both a blessing and a curse. He scratched at an arm. Ants. Ants everywhere. But only in his mind.

The scratching ceased as the door opened, revealing [member="Selka Ventus"].

Orcus engulfed her hand with a massive flipper and shook with his usual congeniality.

"Mmm, a pleasure, Madame Ventus."

The oily, bass tones were the sort that vibrated the stomach.

The Herglic was not high enough up the politburo list to know Selka's secret, but he had an inkling that everything was not as it appeared. Involvement in too many areas. But then, that was none of his business.

Yet.

"What can I do for you?"

A wide toothy smile.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Hion the Herglic"]

She rather enjoyed dangling her machinations in sight of anyone with common sense, as it happened. As the servodoor rasped across the gently abused doorframe, she engaged a comms jammer inside her desk. The office itself was, of course, bug-swept frequently. She resumed her seat and gestured to the massive chair across from her, which she'd had made especially for this meeting.

"I need discrete security for a single outing. Two principals with low mobility, high environmental and hostile biohazard risk, price is no object, six-hour window, target is in Republic territory under quarantine. Darkwater is my preference; what options can you provide me?"

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Pleasantly surprised to find a chair his size, for once, Orcus promptly sat down. He found it rather cushy.

Excellent.

"Discretion? Hauum."

Orcus mulled the request over. Darkwater Security hired mostly Herglics. Herglics were anything but discrete. A consequence of bulk.

"For two principals a four person team would be required. I have... specialists. IT, Heavy weapons, Melee Expert, and a calculating mind to keep them all in check. Of course, an eight Herglic strong squad could do the same job. With more, hauum, explosions."


[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Hion the Herglic"]

"The Republic may be an unprofitable wasteland just now, but even they might respond if their territory explodes too frequently. Your specialist team sounds ideal. The target is within the Tion Cluster, two hours away. With loading and unloading here, it's a nine hour excursion. Less if all goes well. I'd want to leave here in twelve hours or less."

She wet her lips, maybe nervous, maybe hungry; she couldn't say. She'd contemplated leaving the planet unmentioned, taking the team in blind, but ultimately their survival and her mission's success depended on their ability to prepare. "How much do you know about the planet Caluula?"

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Enormous, conical teeth clacked together.

"An... unfortunate planet, decimated by the Vong. Citizens sacrificed to Yun'o."

The scholarly whale drew on a long memory of many hours spent perusing the Jedi library.

"Reconquered after certain interesting events transpired, ultimately leading to the tragic demise of many fauna and wildlife. Quarantined."

He folded his flippers in his lap.

"Hauum. Biohazard indeed. I do hope my specialists stand small risk of going the way of the winged-star insects? I'm rather fond of them."

[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Hion the Herglic"]

"I'll be going in person, if that sets your mind at ease, but I'll certainly be wearing a containment suit. Do you have similar gear for your personnel? If not, we're in the right place for it." She gestured around at the walls of the Tion Trade Nexus. Some trade centers sprang up naturally; others were the result of mathematical modeling; still others the result of political and economic prevailing winds. This partook of all three, taking advantage of the best possible permutations of existing trade flows. Literally anything could be found here, up to and including environmental suits for species larger than humanoids. She'd checked.

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

"I do not," Orcus replied, producing a suitably oversized data pad from a pocket. He began to typing out a message to Darkwater. This request was, all things considered, not especially unusual for the specialist team, none of whom were on mission at this point. They would be at the headquarters office, in a perpetual state of standby.

After all, it wasn't as if they were family men.

He talked while he typed.

"If you could have a number of the suits waiting at the embarkation zone, I would be eternally grateful. I do not know their sizes out of hand, only that they vary. There."

He stuffed the data pad back where it belonged.

"They will be underway soon."

[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

***​

[member="Hion the Herglic"]

Ten hours' prep time put her at the necessary docking bay, along with a handful of labor and medical droids and a quarter ton of armored environmental suits on various large sizes. She'd opted for something qualitatively similar and much, much smaller, helmet off but otherwise dressed as she would be once they made landfall on Caluula three hours from now. Her weapon of choice for this excursion was a sonic blaster; her lightsabre would come along too, despite the weapon's propensity for breaking environmental seals. The vessel they'd be using was a nondescript light freighter of no significance.

Helmet under her arm, she examined the specialist team and tried not to display the visceral-level discomfort that resulted. "Good morning; I'm Selka Ventus. I'm principal number one, and this medical droid is principal number two. Your names and roles?"

 

[Sieb Tevv]

A golden scaled crocodilian struggled to fit into his environmental suit. His long head jutted straight out from between slumping shoulders, giving him the appearance of a constant slouch. At last, amid teeth, claws and several prolonged hisses, he finished sealing himself into the suit and then just stood there, with lanky arms nearly hanging to his feet, like some giant, scaled simian.

Acidic eyes glared around the room until finally settling on [member="Selka Ventus"] as she spoke.

"Sobek," he hissed, "Melee Expert and Infilitration Specialist."

"Usar," said a mountain of fur in a voice so deep as to be barely intelligible. "Demolitions and Heavy Weapons."

The Saurton then picked up his modified Geonisian sonic blaster and held it lazily in one clawed hand. Holding it made him feel more comfortable around the eight foot tall Yuzzem.

That left only [member="Graze"] and Okeene.

 

[Graze]

"Graze," a voice rasped from behind [member="Sobek"] . "Marine Specialist and Marksman."

He'd been standing in the shadows, ensuring the safety of his team as they dressed in their suits. Shooting Okeene a look, he stepped forward, raising his arm to neatly pluck his suit from the air as the terrapin tossed it to him.

Continuing to address the similarly clad female, he bent to pull it on, trusting his men to keep watch as he did so. "Over there is Okeene, our IT Specialist. Lord Orcus informed us of your need for our services, so please feel free to address me if you have any questions."

[member="Selka Ventus"]