Revelry

[Tanomas Graf]

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It was a time of celebration in the Core, for two reasons: the Imperial Military had achieved a decisive victory in destroying the Mandalorian resolve during the Lion's Roar Offensive and succeeded in freeing the Inner Rim from them, and it was the name day of one Tanomas Graf. Thus a joyous occasion was planned to honour both feats, and all of it was centred around the Imperial Palace.

The Palace Precinct had been opened up to the natives of Coruscant that wished to attend, massive festivals encompassing the wide array of parks that surrounded the residence; all the while, the elite of Coruscant and members of the Confederation were invited to the party held inside of the Palace.

In one of the vast halls of the Palace, a feast of sorts was going on as the High Chancellor received gifts and indulged in the expensive alcohol that had been provided for then all. Perhaps today would be an excellent opportunity for him to finally meet some of those he had only heard of before in after-action reports, as well as personally thank those that fought on Kiros.

Tanomas smirked to himself, his 'protocol' droid warily watching every person that approached him, the concealed wrist blaster twitching ever so slightly beneath the tray he carried.

He had missed being the boss.

 

[Adaska Raythe]

Adaska Raythe
Corusca Sector, Coruscant, Level 5127, Galactic City, Palace Precinct

Among the rooftops of Galactic City's palatial skyline cops patrolled roof-tops armed with rifles, watching the arrival of those invitees to High Chancellor Graf's soiree. Wrapping a forearm around a Coruscant Security Officer's throat squeezing it between the narrow space of ballistic collar and chin his limbs began flailing and clawed at the TYI Flex-Armour bodysuit covering her abdomen, Adaska dropped onto her spine laying him across her breastplate and placing her ankles atop his shins using the officer's own resistance to strangle him. His body steadily went slack and limp, which prompted her to release the man rolling him clear off the thick armour within which she was entombed.

Rising to their feet and drawing a Tranq-25 Pistol Adaska aimed its' front and rear sights at the unconscious officer's abdomen. "Have a nice long sleep through your shift, Corporal." Two syringes plunged through his skin and lulled him off into a deep state of inebriated narcosis. Inspecting the black long-barreled targeting Blaster he'd dropped Adaska gripped it by pistol grip and hefted it upto shoulder before using her power armour's smart-scope functionality to assess the Imperial Palace's entrances, heavily policed and secure. Using left-hand to manipulate the cloaking device mounted onto belt light itself warped around the Shadow's armoured bodily and she slipped quietly on a zipline between the Palace entrance's canopy and tower presently occupied.

Landing in a roll on the sandstone canopy Adaska pivoted and with a thought through a neural interface device activated her armour's comlink communication suite, sending a message to her Loyalist Ally Druwor. "Rogue-Alpha to Blue-Leader, ingress'ing into the objective now. Standby." Adaska carefully slid down a great stone pillar and landed on a fanciful blood-red carpet leading into the palace's atrium. Instead of following it through, the Rogue Shadow began planting stun grenades along the pillars so what in the event worst should happen and it become necessary to make a foot egress through the front door so to speak the Security Officers and any attendant Imperial Guardsmen who attempted to form a blockade could be rendered unconscious. "Recommend you stay away from the maw, Sir." The Maw was the entrance, mouth of the palace that led into a pit of vipers.

The woman had been given a singular purpose: Remove one of the Holochex pieces on the board and actively being moved by the Purists to leverage greater control over the Imperial Security Bureau, one Director Hali Saro who had an alleged weakness for Twi'lek women of an Emerald Complexion.....A shame that the man possessed such vices and Adaska thought how unfortunate it would be if he was set-up with an alien prostitute. "Dosuun-Alpha to Rogue-Alpha, over." That voice belonged to a woman unfamiliar to Adaska but who according to Druwor and Theodore was an ally to the Loyalists. "Receiving." Adaska stated listening to the Off-duty Coruscant Security Force Officer's words with dutiful care.

[member="Tanomas Graf"] [member="Druwor"] [member="Theodore Royce-Clarke"]

 

[Rainbow Kitten Sunrise]

Persona: Captain Mattison
Objective: Revelry
Location: Palace

Captain Mattison of the Screaming Ash Angels, Alpha company, stood atop the balcony with cigarette in hand. He was dressed in his dress blues, but his service pistol never strayed far from his hip. They would only let him so far into the palace with the thing, but he cared not. He refused to relinquish the reliable side arm, opting instead to stay in the outer palace than party deeper in it's confines.

He brought tobac to lip and inhaled deeply, staring out at the beautiful skyline that made up Imperial center's atmosphere. Leaning against the rail he studied the massive buildings that seemed to reach to the heavens. Each twinkling about like it's own star. He thought if he reached out he might grasp one of the buildings and thus he'd hold a thousand lives in his hand. Such a thought terrified him for all but a moment, a silly thought truly. Especially considering how many times he had led his troopers into battle and come out the victor.

No it wasn't the thought of holding those lives in his hand that scared him, it was the thought of them slipping through the cracks. Exhaling the smoke Mattison watched as it added to the smog, drifting lazily about till finally dissipating in the air.

"Ahem,"

Mattison flicked the cigarette over the edge, turned to face the disturbance and found a woman standing before him. She held a serving trey adorned with several glasses of champagne. Mattison shrugged to himself and took hold a glass. He was off duty after all, but even still every fiber of his being screamed at him to ignore the drinks. Instincts told him that enemies might lie around the corner and that he should be combat ready.

He ignored the years of battle hardened training and instead opted to have fun, but not too much fun. He sipped the glass gingerly, savoring the taste. Bowing slightly the serving woman stalked away and Mattison found thoughts of inquiring after her name penetrating his head. He ignored these too, while he was single it was best not to be seen cavorting with civilians bellow his station. Walking inwards Mattison prepared himself to socialize with the groups of politicians and officers who lie within...

 

[Lannik Hayes]

Lieutenant Lannik Hayes, Imperial Stormtrooper Corps
Location: Somewhere in the Imperial Palace, Level 5127, Coruscant
Interacting with: None

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At times, Lannik Hayes had an unfortunate tendency of lying to himself. And at other times, he even deluded himself into thinking things were absolutely fine when they were most decidedly not.

But here, surrounded by the gilt and glitz?

After being thrown into conflict after conflict?

He was fast losing his grip on the tether of his sanity.

Two months. Within that remarkably short timespan, he found himself thrown through the grinder, with barely a breather and time to properly grief for his commanding officer and deceased men before he was slapped with a promotion and sent out once more.

And this little soiree? It rankled, prickling at his soul with every perfect white teeth he saw flashed. Oh yes, Lannik was bitter. And he would have happily ignored the invitation and checked himself in to a seedy bar to drown his problems in cheap liquor, save for the fact that he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the younger Graf. It was not like he was influential enough or important enough to be able to get past all the barriers easily to obtain the information he so badly wanted – to ensure she was fine.

It was the only reason he deigned to make an appearance.

Because it was as though her presence has all but been erased.

But it seemed that it would be another failure.

With a disgusted ‘pfft’ directed at himself for even holding a spark of hope, the lieutenant finished the champagne he held in a swallow, barely tasting the pale gold liquid even as it slid over his tongue and down his throat.

“Ah, kark this.”

 

[Kier Grey]

Kyli Graf
Imperial Palace, Lobby.

It promised to be a long and drawn-out evening, Kyli's eyelids pursed together tightly with her back pressed against a tall sandstone pillar an earpiece sent comlink chatter back-and-forth with an irritatingly painful broadcast whistle each time somebody spoke and it wasn't like she could murder the pain with alcohol. Kyli's body is wrapped in a black-coloured dress that hung around her ankles squeezing tightly around the waist. It bothered Kyli immensely, the woman had been born and raised as a soldier and the life didn't exactly present many opportunities to wear female-specific clothing as military-issued uniforms were by their nature for the most part designed for the wear of both sexes.

"You'll find the package at the bar, talking to a bird." The sandal-type shoes wrapped around her feet were disappointing in the support and dexterity they offered when compared to her Powered Armour although not nearly as uncomfortable as heels, not that Kyli wore the things. Standing at almost six and a half feet tall it wasn't as if she needed the supplemental vertical height. Kyli's hazel spheres spotted the familiar fabric and colours of a Stormtrooper who she recognised Hayes, Lannik Kyli thought wordlessly with Amur licking its' pointed titanium teeth and made a rattling sinal snarl. Walking in his direction with a passionless expression on the skin of pallor.

Standing behind Hayes Index and middle-phalanx of left-hand tapped gently on his shoulder before taking a step in the opposite direction and leaning against the bar she looked towards a busy bartender his face lined with creases, above his top lip was a pure white mustache with short-cut hair of a strangely brown shade leading Kyli to conclude it was artificially coloured. "Brandy, anything will do." His reply come in a simple nod and Kyli turned her head towards Lannik sending the curled strands of her hair whisking around to reveal her carefully sculpted features. "This really isn't our scene is it?" Leaning atop the oak bar with elbow pressed on its' surface. "Surprised to see you here Lan."

Kyli did not smile but neither did she frown wearing little emotion on her face though those who knew the woman closely best could see a friendliness and the familiarity in the way Kyli's elbow rest leaned towards Lannik. "What brings a shinie to the Imperial Palace?" A glass nudged her right elbow and Kyli's wrist made an impossibly fast jerking motion in its' direction which caused the Bartender to leap back as if a snake had lashed out towards him, that made the corner of Kyli's mouth rise slightly. "Sorry, nerves." Picking up the glass of brandy Kyli nursed it in her left-hand idly looking into Lannik's eyes.
[member="Tanomas Graf"], [member="Lannik Hayes"]

 

[Tanomas Graf]

High Chancellor Tanomas Graf​

Location: The Imperial Palace, Coruscant​

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The smile never faded from Tanomas' lips until the last bootlicking Coruscanti socialite turned to leave after presenting a gift to him, the old man internally wondering what he was supposed to do with an authentic bantha shag carpet, his confusion apparently prompting one of his comrades to muffle their laughter by taking a deep drink of their whiskey.

The high chancellor put the thought aside for a moment as he stared out at the hundreds of people that inhabited the grand hall of his palace, an idea popping into his head for a split second. He signaled for HK to come over to him, the droid clanking steadily until he was next to his master, bending down until he was level with his head.

"Break the hard-hitting stuff out from the cellar: whiskey, rum, vodka, beer. And none of that weird fruity stuff the rich people drink, make sure it's from Corellia, Carida, and any other system with some real balls." Graf uttered quietly, "Once you've got it ready, serve it to every enlisted, non-commissioned, and officer that's fought in the war. Tell them it's on me, as much as they want." HK-51 straightened himself, nodding silently and scuttling off to rally the staff for the massive undertaking that was about to occur.

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Senior Command Leader 'Druwor'​

Location: The Imperial Palace, Coruscant​

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Druwor was in the middle of taking a long drink of whiskey when his earpiece let out a dim beep that only he could hear, calmly setting down his tumbler and excusing himself from the table. He strode to a deserted corridor off to the side of the grand hall and pressed a code cylinder concealed in his pocket square into a wall panel, opening a small alcove that he slipped into to receive the message.

He pressed a hand up to his earpiece and listened to the encrypted transmission for a moment, a small frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. Blue-Leader? Really? Never send a Human to do a Chiss' job, he supposed. Druwor thumbed a switch and opened the channel to send back a short reply, "...Blue-Leader to Rogue-Alpha, affirmative. All assets are...in position..." The man hissed quietly, waiting a few moments before he stepped back out into the corridor and rejoined the party.

Just in time to watch a swarm of droid servers descend upon the crowd and serve drinks to grizzled veterans, a glance at the high chancellor confirming the provocateur. He dared a smile for a split second before returning to his place at the man's side.

[member="Adaska Raythe"] | [member="Lannik Hayes"]​

 

[Lannik Hayes]

Lieutenant Lannik Hayes, Imperial Stormtrooper Corps
Location: By the bar, Imperial Palace, Level 5127, Coruscant
Interacting with: [member="Kyli Graf"]
In the vicinity: [member="Tanomas Graf"]

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So absorbed was he in his melancholic mood that the stormtrooper did not realise that the very woman he was seeking for had passed him by right at his back. Not until she tapped him on the shoulder and damn well scared his kriffing bones out of his flesh.

Perhaps once, Lannik would just have suppressed his reaction like how he often did when the agent used to ambush him and speak up while she was standing in his blind spot. But after the events on Arkania, followed by relentless campaigns on Bogden, Kuat, then Kiros, the man was more than a bit of a mess. Before he could even think better of it, his arm moved for the small pistol that laid concealed beneath his dress uniform, until he remembered he was safe. Letting out a shaky exhale, the lieutenant flung his arm away as though the blaster that he barely touched with the tip of his fingers was a white-hot brand.

It was then that the familiar lilt of Kyli Graf tickled his ears, low and husky as she ordered a brandy from the bar. Still facing away from her, his eyes widened for a moment and his fingers trembled for a fleeting moment, before the stormtrooper caught himself. “It really isn’t,” Lannik said, all his earlier rancour hidden beneath a crooked grin as he turned to face the much taller woman. “Too much fuss and too little fun.”

Fake it ‘til you make it.

In an echo of Kyli’s own deeds, the lieutenant leaned against the bar top, angling his elbow in a manner so he was propped casually against its surface.

“It’s been awhile stranger, I thought you fell off the edge of the galaxy. Good to see that you’re still kicking.”

I didn’t hear from you for some time.

I got worried, especially with all the rumours of you being grievously injured flying around.

But I’m glad to see you’re still in one piece.

Their tentative conversation to feel each other out was interrupted briefly when the supersoldier reacted with preternatural speed and gave the bartender a jump-scare. Lannik let out a graceless snort in a poor attempt of suppressing his laughter, though the gleam in his eyes became warmer and more genuine even as some of the tension leaked out of the line of his shoulders.

The male narrowed his eyes at the ‘shinie’ comment and sniffed haughtily at his companion. “And to think I was going to say I missed your dry wit, jolly giant. Nope, now we’re going to go with the story of me trying to get stinking drunk, then pilfer a fancy souvenir or something to show off to my men.”

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[Adaska Raythe]

Adaska Raythe
Corusca Sector, Coruscant, Level 5127, Galactic City, Imperial Palace
Nearby: [member="Tanomas Graf"], [member="Lannik Hayes"], [member="Imperial 101st"]

Slipping between crowds of people and ducking through the shadows cast by the palace's grand lighting with chandeliers hanging from ceiling above the marble floors Adaska with her featureless armoured silhouette hunted keenly for her evening's prey. There he was Hali Saro she thought examining the Human Man, the Imperial Security Bureau's director looked handsome this evening Adaska thought that it should not be surprising that such an accomplished officer would be married to an equally beautiful and successful woman that's not what made their marriage particularly interesting. Saro's marriage was odd for the genuine existence of love between two aristocrats. "Dosuun-Alpha this is Rogue-Alpha, send over." Adaska replied in dry stoicism over the comlink channel, her contact for this operation was a woman who the Shadow knew only as "Dosuun".

"Rogue-Alpha, all assets are in position. Out." Adaska watched as Hali Saro meandered towards the rest-room and on his lonely path there, checking the macromotion monitor on helmet-mounted display she advanced on his heels and wrapped a forearm around throat. He gasped out under the crushing weight of the augmented woman's power-armour sheathed elbow, Adaska glanced over right-shoulder and then bailed the unconscious director into a storeroom before sliding a Palatial Access key provided by mysterious Dosuun, a woman who had been guiding the fugitive Agent Raythe through the Palace. "Rogue-Alpha to Blue-Leader, target subdued. Executing the maneuver now, Over." Now her mind shifted to the thought of capturing a Twi'Lek working girl to stage the scene for the Director's downfall, for that she'd require the help of Dosuun.

Heading back towards the lobby and bar, Adaska with quiet care avoided the patrols of Armoured Imperial Guardsmen patrolling the palace's halls. Her footsteps fell atop the carpet and tiles with the weight and noise of a feather, such was their dexterity and fleet that the former Bladedancer could move through even a quiet corridor absent cacophonous foot trafiic that her movements were all but utterly inaudible.

 

[Willan Tal]

Theodore Royce-Clarke,​

Location: The Imperial palace, Coruscant. ​

Tags: [member="Tariq Hejazi"]​

Theodore had never been one for the glamour and high-class nature of state balls, having indulged in one too many during his sophomore years and youth on Galidraan. Wherever one might go, it was always the same fundamentally. Families and members of the upper echelons mixed in a dazzling display of wealth and decadence, forging robust ties with smiles of trust while clenching knives of deceit behind their backs.


His family were of the old breed in Galidraan, earning their peership and lands in the early days of the monarchy, with his forebears gaining fame as capable commanders and administrators. They were not court schemers by any account, with their kin in the south of Galidraan deeming the Northern nobility to be nothing but uncouth and heavy-handed. It served lord Royce-Clarke well in the army as it enamoured him to the rank and file which called him sir, a general which could be perceived as a man of the people.


Dressed in the familiar confines of his Imperial military uniform, the elder Galidraani cut an impressive figure in the room as he mingled with Coruscants mighty and wealthy. Not that he was one for conversation, but it didn't hurt one to sometimes establish friendships with useful friends on the political front.

 

[Enedina Tal]

Major General Tariq Hejazi,​

Kandaran Fedayeen,​

Location: Party, Coruscant.
Tags: [member="Theodore Royce-Clarke"] [member="Farouk al-Jaradh"]

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It seemed odd to him, to be in a place as lustrous and glamorous as this. Swapping the familiar confines of the battlefield and deserts of Kandara for this, it was too jarring to him. Stick him on a battlefield, tell him who to kill or arrest, he knew that all also well as the next killer in the Imperial army. But this? This was new for him, the decadence of Kandaras libertine noble parties he did all too well to avoid, but things were different now. His world and its people had taken a more significant stride to aid Imperial ambition, and he would have to step up in all manners of state.

Tariq frowned and took a drink from his goblet of wine. Tariq was dressed in the finest clothes he owned and all around him the smells, and sounds that would typically be expected from social events filled the air, but he found he barely noticed them. The food was delicious, the music was delightful, and yet he couldn’t seem to stop his mind from wandering in several different directions all at once, and it was making it increasingly difficult to enjoy the scenery.

Spotting a familiar face in a sea of strangers, Tariq excused himself from the conversation he found himself trapped in with a pair of Socialites and went up to the all familiar face of Theodore Royce-Clarke.

"Well met friend, i trust you are enjoying your surroundings?" Tariq inquired, partly out of protocol and the burning desire to talk to someone who did not make him want to jump out of a window.

 

[Willan Tal]

Theodore Royce-Clarke,​

Location: The Imperial palace, Coruscant. ​

Tags: [member="Tariq Hejazi"] [member="Farouk al-Jaradh"] ​

"I could be better, seven weeks on the front away from all ones creature comforts can be annoying but between that and dealing with Coruscants finest? I'd rather be knee-deep in mud wiping out Mandalorians." He chuckled heartily, one arm resting on Tariqs shoulder as he greeted the younger Kandaran general. Despite the Mandalorians crumbling in the face of Imperial assault, he was very impressed by the performance of the Kandarans who achieved all their goals on short notice and had killed a great deal of Mandalorians. And for that, he was honoured to say he fought alongside these brave warriors of the desert, who despite their shortcomings in equipment overwhelmed and routed Mandalorians.


"Tell me friend, how fares the situation on Kandara these days?"