Potentially Thorne-y Issue (Rashae/Nicolas)

[H3xle]

Nicolas wasn't very accustomed to taking shuttles places. When he was running his own Jedi operation, he usually flew his interceptor or took the Azure Star. Now that he was the Chancellor Pro-Tem, he had to take shuttles, as he had to have some security personnel with him. Though Nicolas did very well in not letting on, he found it a bit annoying. His current travel plans were entirely within the fleet, just moving from his residence aboard Azure Star to meet up with Dr. [member="rashae"] on her medical ship. Still, he had to have his bodyguard. The hassle made Nicolas smile, but they were soon docked on the ship.

"Stay with the shuttle, this is a hospital ship and no one needs to see an armored soldier while trying to recover or wait for surgeries." He told the soldier that had been assigned to him today.

The soldier nodded, and continued to lock down the shuttles power systems, almost as if he had been expecting it. Nicolas smiled, and left via the shuttles landing ramp. He walked through the bay and into the ship proper, walking unaided towards the office of Dr. Rashae. It had been a few days since they had lifted off of Alderaan, but what she had said still stuck in his mind.

After a few more turns, Nicolas came to the door where Dr. Rashae was said to spend a lot of time. It was a research lab, of course. He knocked on the door.

"Doctor Rashae, it's Nicolas Thorne. Would we be able to talk for a few minutes?" He wasn't going to pull rank, as this was hopefully only his personal concern and not any kind of threat to the fleet.

 

[Rashae]

Emergency C-sections was not exactly how she liked to start her day, but they had civilians and they had pregnant ones among them. The baby was half zabrak and that posed certain complications. The head of a zabrak infant likely tears a normal human female's cervix most of the time. Luckily they caught the complication in time to deliver the infant via surgery. The father had to be sedated during the birth.

She was still in surgical scrubs as she was inputting her medical notations and issuing orders for the recovery of all three. They managed to find a psychologist amongst the civilians which she quickly more or less drafted to the medical ship to centralize mental care for their situation. He even offered his services to herself, but Rashae was a bit of a tougher nut than that. Secured in her 'office' she called it. The Lab was her default safe space.

Rashae was more at home in the lab. She let the rest of the team be the face and demeanor of the Medical ship. The doctor did not have a good bedside manner. She had little patience for inefficiency or stupid. The lady sat there massaging the back of her neck when the knock came to her 'door.' Thorne? Here? Took her one point two seconds to add things up before she said a soft “Frak. “

It wasn't that she didn't like the man, but Jedi had an annoying habit of digging into feelings and knowing things she prefer to be kept private. Those feelings hurt. The doctor did have respect for the man, but after all she had been through the woman's nerves can at times get the best of her. Upon self examination the 'scars' left by all the mind probes and electric shocks were still creating halos and headaches. It was slowly healing still. Hell, she cant avoid him forever. Her fingers strummed the desk before she pushed the button to open the door. There was a long exhaled sigh. “Enter” came the raised voice.

She got up as she removed the outer surgical scrub to reveal a simple top and bottoms that screamed doctor. Her hair was pinned up most sternly, though its practical purpose was obvious. It kept it out of the way. The surgical scrub was placed in bio-hazard to be burned somewhere on the ship. “Master Thorne, What do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Medical is running well. “ She said with an even cool tone as she adopted an equally cool expression as she sat at her desk. Her hand motioned to the comfortable chair on the other side of the desk.

[member="Nicolas Thorne"]

 

[H3xle]

“Enter”

Nicolas entered the room, his face bearing a genuine smile. He made a bow of his head to the doctor in greeting.

“Master Thorne, What do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Medical is running well. “

"Excellent, that is great news." He said as he stepped into the room and stood before her. He motioned to a chair, "May I?" He waited for an acknowledgement, then sat, folding his hands into his lap as he took a moment to look around the room. A great deal could be learned about someone by how they keep their work space. Nicolas took it in, and nodded before turning fully back to Dr. [member="rashae"].

"I was hoping you would have some time to discuss something that came up in our talks with Alderaan." He began, his face and demeanor exuding a placid serenity. "I have to admit that I am not the most familiar with your history, but you made mention of biological weapons. Specifically, being able to upgrade sensors to be able to scan for them..." He trailed off, intending for her to pick up the story and tell it.

 

[Rashae]

The Office area and the lab which was behind an antisepsis field one walks through as the lab itself was a clean room. The office was equally clean, neat and tidy. There were plants and some behind special environments. Those would be the doctor's orchids. There was three or four different varieties. The room also was a bit telling about how she thought. It appeared a convoluted design of different segments but still neat and tidy. There was the clear board where technical notations of certain gene sequences were written out with calculations and other notations that the lay person would have no idea. Even a regular doctor would have a hard time reading it.

There were also mathematics notations for different medicines that she produced out of basic ingredients most would not even think would work. If you separate the proteins out and fused them together, known genetic genomes for pain killers, antibiotics and other useful t hings could be made when things got tough. It wasn't efficient nor was it as good as what was out there, but it worked in a pinch.

There was medical journals up on a screen about the zabrak and human complications on one side. Each side of the office was a part of her convoluted mind and it often worked at the same time so she multi tasked to address these varying flavors of thought. Sometimes nearly at the same time. Master Thorne would find her mind very busy and tended to be nervous, anxious and fearful. The fear was deep seated. It was there in spades as the saying goes. His calm demeanor actually made her more nervous.

“My history?” She pulled and fidgeted with her hands. “Well no we didn't really have time to discuss it and no one really asked questions. I would think my work reflects my acuity.” Then he went straight for the topic. The biological contaminants update. “Those updates are on our ships too. All of them. I assure you of that.” She said in a rush. Its not like she didn't know how to do a broad spectrum update to multiple systems. Or rather knew the protocol to get it done by the republic techs.

She scratched at the back of her neck nervously as her mind raced over multiple avenues. It would make most empaths or those who were 'reading' dizzy. The young doctor got up and picked up a spray bottle as she opened one of the cases with the orchids. A light lovely scent wafted into the room as she started misting the orchids carefully. There was a shaky breath before she began.

“you go to the academy. You do your best, graduate top of your class with a focus in genetics and before you know it. You land a job with a big corporate pharma company. Nothing unusual and makes parents proud. “ She started off soft, trying to ease herself into painful parts. “i thrived with transgenics and genetic fusions before they moved me to highly classified projects. I had a knack of creating stable fusions. Any geneticist can fuse genes, but how many can make them stable?” She swallowed hard.

“At first it was a project of pride. Make the fusion work. Get it stable. Show them what I can do. Its how you get successful, drive yourself hard and you climb that ladder. “ She put her spray bottle down and closed the door delicately.

“There are certain biological weapons that I know have been developed that the Galaxy do not know exist. The update contains tracers for certain key genetic protein chains that are prevalent in these strains of bio weapons. Someone could eat a nerf burger one moment and the next that person would be traipsing through the tulips thinking life is wonderful and everything is a great idea. If someone with enough ambition had these compounds, they could conquer whole systems with little to no conflict. Without the antiserum, the only way I can protect the fleet and Alderaan is update the sensors to detect the protein chains. “ She looked at his face finally as if it was going to explode. Rashae started pulling and fidgeting with her hands again waiting for him to respond.

She expected questions as she skirted a great deal. Half of her expected the Chancellor to throw her off the ship. Half of her expected some reaction of a negative sort. She crossed her arms defensively as if comforting herself for some inevitable doom. She was that nervous and that wound up tight.

[member="Nicolas Thorne"]

 

[H3xle]

Nicolas had only as much medical training as was taught at the Jedi Academy to every padawan, he was a decent healer with the Force, but hadn't studied modern medicine in anything but the most basic forms for combat first aid. The writing on the boards looked like a truly alien script to him, the symbols looked like they all had meaning, but he couldn't begin to parse the context. Because his scholarly mind was curious, he had spent a moment looking over the equations and formulas, then Doctor [member="rashae"] began her explanation.

The room brought to his mind a person who strove to be active, likely along several disparate threads of thought at once. Everything was neat and orderly, but everything was also actively in use. Nicolas spent a moment, as she was speaking, wondering if she slept much. The way her office worked, and the way she instantly got defensive and nervous told him it wasn't likely that she slept well.

While she spoke, Nicolas kept eye contact, engaging her as an active listener. When she was done speaking, standing there holding herself, he watched her for a moment, feeling like he should offer her own chair to her, as she seemed ready for him to march her off the ship or space her. A corner of his mind wondered if that was even her fault for wondering. The former leaders of the Republic had done just such things before he had stepped in. He had heard tales of Jedi stepping over the line as well, bombarding planets, killing prisoners and the like. The fact that he was both a Jedi and the leader of the Republic was obviously not as comforting a presence as he could have hoped.

"Doctor, I can assure you that you are not in any sort of trouble." He began, his demeanor not changing in the slightest, retaining the air of serenity. Out of respect for others boundaries, he was actively dampening his own empathic sense and dampening any aura he normally exuded, pulling his center deep within himself so he didn't affect the doctor in any way. "I came here to ask how you would know about such things, and to inquire if your assistance can be provided to our fleet. You have answered both." He continued. "If I may put forth an assumption, the fusions your now former employer had you work on were for these biological weapons?" It was story that was all too common in industries. Genius level intellects were utilized for things they would never agree to work on if they knew precisely what it was they were working on. It made Nicolas sad, knowing the good such minds could provide the Galaxy if nurtured rather than used to make money. "Is this why you joined our exodus, to escape from them?" That was the assumption he was working on. In either case, Nicolas would likely ask about the company next, as it would be one he would have to keep his eye on.

 

[Rashae]

He didn't get upset. Master Thorne barely expressed anything. It was a bit disconcerting as the emotional being before him was the opposite of serene. On the upside, he didn't immediately call to walk her off the ship. In fact, the Jedi said the doctor was not in trouble. This did relax the nervous scientist a notch or two. Rashae squeezed her hands into a fist two or three times before she went to sit down at her desk as before.

He further inquired if what Rashae had worked on was the fusions for the bio weapon. The dark hair nodded. “Yes. Its not just the protein chains that were produced but an enzyme grown to work with it. I was on the team for the antiserum as well. “

Rashae leaned back into her chair. Master Thorne then asked her if that was why she joined their Exodus. “If only it was that easy. It would be a miracle if it was just that simple. “ The doctor said softly as she looked at her hands a moment before looking up.

“I was dumped on Denon before all hell broke loose. “ The icy blues found the Jedi's calm browns. “maybe I was too good. I don't know. Someone I knew quite well, that I had befriended, loved even stole the formula for the antiserum. He then erased research data and the head scientist of the project disappeared. This was done under my credentials. I was so stupid.” She shook her head. A couple of tears fell as it was still fresh. What came next was worse than what she said. As if what occurred with the betrayal was nothing.

“They blamed me for the whole thing. I was charged with corporate espionage. They didn't have enough evidence to bring me to Galactic court. I was in private corporate prison for around a year I think. They did things. “ She stared off into space as a great deal of pain was coming from her. It was several moments before she could continue as if that pain bereft her of voice. “I was mind probed to find out where the formula went. More than once. Electric shock, psychological trauma, sensory deprivation, lack of food, sleep. “ Her memory was most acute as to what she went through.

“i never had the formula. I know more or less what went into it but I didn't have it, never did, still don't. They had to release me as they couldn't pin the charges. My name is black balled. “ Rashae rubbed her temples with trembling fingers. “The chaos at Denon I still don't recall how I got out of there. I have had Corporate Agents dog my every move demanding that I tell them where the formula is. It is only a matter of time before they find me again. “ The last was said quietly.


[member="Nicolas Thorne"]

 

[H3xle]

Nicolas listened to her story attentively. He nodded along, listening while working through the problems that Doctor [member="rashae"] was putting forth. This was all serious, but not insurmountable. From recent history, Nicolas knew how powerful the corporations were, how much force they could bring to bear. They had stopped the Republic, under a previous administration, from nationalizing corporate assets. Still, there were boundaries that even powerful companies couldn't cross when it came to governments and their populace.

"Well, that is a thorny issue." Inadvertantly making a play on his own surname. "You are one of our most valuable people, Doctor. Even aside from that, though, you are one of our people. I am not going to let whatever shadowy corporation this is hurt you or any of our people."

He sat back in his chair and thought for a moment.

"If you would like, I could assign a military guard to you...though I can assure you that is nowhere near as fun as you'd think." He pursed his lips. "No...this is your life, your decision. I'd recommend a private contractor, I can give referals."

He paused again. He knew that he couldn't really order a guard on her and expect her to be comfortable with it. She was by no means a prisoner, and he didn't want her to feel that way. Still, he felt she needed help protecting her from this corporation, and Nicolas couldn't be there all the time. Not as Chancellor Pro-Tem. He took a deep breath, then let it out nodding.

"It is your decision..." He repeated, looking her in the eyes. "If there is any aid I can give you, let me know."

 

[Rashae]

Master Thorne remained a steady calm. It didn't change. It didn't falter. Part of her kept expecting it to be some kind of ruse, some trick to throw her into a state that was unaware. That wasn't the case. Rashae relaxed a little bit as he spoke. His words as even as his demeanor was. His words of belonging and value were foreign expressions. They were needed in ways she couldn't explain but it gave her hope. She belonged? She sat back in her chair as she regarded the Jedi as if looking at him for the first time in earnest. Those piercing icy focused eyes were upon him.

“Are all Jedi as calm as you ?” She asked as her experience of dealing directly with Jedi or any force user was very limited. If anything, seen from a distance not close up like this. She took a deep breath and exhaled as it looked like she wasn't defending or fending off an angry Chancellor or Republic.

The woman physically grimaced as her brow wrinkled and she frowned. It was a rather attractive grimace but one none of the less. “Guards? Maybe, but as fast as I have to move sometimes I am not sure one would be able to keep up nor keep out of the way. “

her brow furrowed as her expression changed as rapidly as she was thinking. “No. A private contractor would weigh on resources that the I nor the Republic can afford. We must preserve what we got, Chancellor. “ The brow was still thinking as her fingers made a slow rhythmic strumming.

“What could be done is this, Extra protocols on personnel screenings, better history gathering on them. More security measures, those republic guards could be better utilized for over all security of the ship. I may need the guard as I leave the ship. I am sure a practical detail could be drawn up without hampering my work or my staff's work. I do encourage being very careful of random, help or inquiries. They are likely to occur in due course. “ She was no expert in security or personal protection. Far from it.

Rashae did know that some areas did need tightening up that she observed. A military expert amongst them surely would know how to tighten up those areas. The threat she spoke of while not imminent would likely need to be put on the military's mind of possible moderate threat. She couldn't call it a major threat as Corporations nor Agents as far as she knew had even gotten near the republic fleet. It might be lack of information of the whereabouts of the republic fleet. Which as far as she was concerned was just as well.

“I think perhaps a meeting with our Military and Intelligence corp might be wise. “ She extended out after carefully thinking on the details. “Intelligence are aware of the updates I have done to the ships with the contaminants but they may not know what contaminants was updated for. I didn't exactly specify other than it was a medical sensor update. “ Most people didn't question medical anything.


[member="Nicolas Thorne"]

 

[H3xle]

Nicolas smiled softly and shrugged.

"Jedi can be as varied as any other group." He began, meeting the Doctor's gaze evenly. "You can find a Jedi like myself, who is more concerned with maintaining balance within and without, meditative centric. You can find Jedi battlemasters who are much more aggressive. I have even known of a few who are quite zealous in their pursuit of any dark side taint." He nodded slightly, his eyes losing foxus for a moment as he thought, then coming back to the here and now. "We are severely splintered, and each splinter, just like the Republic, upholds different aspects of what they believe the Jedi are for. I try to remain a moderate to them all. It allows me to help where I may."

Nicolas paused and listened as [member="rashae"] spoke again. He didn't stare, but he maintained eye contact as appropriate and was an altogether active listener.

"There are currencies other than money that can be traded to contractors, but that decision is yours." He said, speaking evenly still. His demeanor changed slightly as he thought about speaking with the military and intelligence leaders, and he nodded. "You make a good point, we should apprise both communities of the potential threats. They may be able to head off anything that comes our way before it becomes a risk to you or this fleet." He nodded again, and smiled at her. "I should not be surprised, but you have a good mind for leadership, as well as medical research. Would you do me the favor of sitting in on these meetings with me? You know the reasonings and threats best, I think."