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In the chaos, her programming was forcing her to experience everything as if she was the real Tiresh, and she had forgotten in the moment that she was a machine, and not a human. The thought suddenly occurred to her that she could possibly override the programming and take advantage of her inherent strength, like what had happened back on Kuat when she was Kalie Alverez
, but it was quickly shoved onto the back burner of her mind as it would expose her... and that was truly a fate worse than death.
But then she heard a voice close by her, and she peeked out through her arms to see a Senate guard's hand reaching down towards her under the table. A wave of relief washed over her as she immediately reached out and grabbed tightly onto the hand, letting him pull her out from under the table. “Thank the force!” She exclaimed. “There's another Senator here as well… Donavon…” she tried to look around to see where he had ended up in the fray.
"Oh." That was a surprise. "I confess, I'm not very familiar with the Church. Is it only for the non-Force-sensitive?"
She was taken by a bout of curiosity -- she'd never met a member of the Church of the Force. All she knew was that they were vaguely in line with Jedi ideals. Then-
She blinked. "Sorry, I answered my own question." A Force-sensitive worshiper would probably just be a Jedi.
Right?
"Is that more a personal path? Or, ah, do you have a place of worship?"
Faith walked slowly with the Hospital Adminstrator who explained in detail the workings of the hospital. The types of injuries most common came from the shipyards she looked to her Aunt who nodded as if yes she understood Faith could only understand the pain the worker must have felt. There were replacements to be made for limbs that were taken off by some accidents, the welding, the equipment that broke down while they did their work. It was a lot to understand.
"It seems you have most of the modern equipment, but you are running low on supplies. I'll see what we can get to you. I'm sure there are some legitimate companies they aren't trying to price gauge."
"Oh you've heard about that have you" The Administrator sounded frustrated and old just then. It was the first time that how he felt actually was conveyed through his words. "There's been some attempts company names I don't recognize that have come to our...rescue." The sarcasm on the word rescue did not escape Faith or her Aunt.
"We will see about getting stabilized prices for you and other in the territory." Faith knew just then she might have to introduce a small bill in the Senate to protect the prices of medical supplies, and equipment. While she understood competition and pricing right now it seemed some of the prices were outlandish.
"Thank you, I just happen to have the names of a couple of companies that brought us their catalogues, all without prices" Of course Faith thought. "Thank you."
Faith looked straight ahead this is what she was afraid of.
"Can you tell me anything about what type of care is available outside of the hospital? Are there plenty of doctors? Clinics?"
A group of blue garbed Senate Guards hurried through the hallways of The Lodge, their armoured bodies pressed so tightly together that their charge - Chancellor Tithe - could hardly be seen in the midst. The close protection team had their blaster rifles at the high and ready as they ran, yelling for any sentients and droids they encountered to get out of their way. Concealed beneath their conical helmets, the guards kept central control appraised of their position as they were guided toward a trio of patrol gunships on a nearby landing pad.
“Control, Seven-Nine, Bursar en route to the Bank Vault,” Tithe heard the team leader explain as the gunships rocketed up through the Fondor atmosphere. Two squadrons of Alliance starfighters swooped down and encircled them in a defensive screen as they sped toward their destination - Alliance One, the personnel transport of the Chancellor. The starfighter escorts peeled off at the last moment, leaving the gunships to land in the forward executive hanger.
The arrival on the executive cruiser did little to calm the nerves of the Guards, who were joined by a cohort of their Senate Commando colleagues to escort Tithe through the emptied hallways of the heavily armoured vessel. The Aargauun caught a glimpse of the rapidly shrinking world of Fondor through a viewport - the captain was putting distance between themselves and the planet as they prepared to jump to hyperspeed.
Tithe dismissed the guards at the threshold to his onboard residence. He took a moment to exhale and compose himself as he moved to the inner sanctum and sunk into an acceleration couch just as the wraparound viewports filled with the dazzling lights of hyperspace. “An eventful meeting I hear,” commented Rieki, Tithe’s business administrative droid, as she offered him a glass of Empress Tetan champaign.
“Yes, an inauspicious necessary,” he replied. He could feel the adrenaline of the escape starting to wear off. He’d sleep well on the way back to Coruscant, returning victorious with Fondor and its shipyards incorporated the Alliance.
There was just one small matter to attend to before he retired to his quarters.
“Authorise the payment through the Aduba-3 accounts,” he explained to the human-replica droid. “Pay Amun
and Koda Fett
, and, uhhh, let’s throw in an extra 15 per cent.”
He raised his glass in a toast.
“A token of appreciation for our new business partners.”
"Personal probably. I have to admit, I've only met one or two other people and that was years ago when I went on my first pilgrimage." Pryce shrugged. "I don't really think about it as worship. Sounds weird to 'worship' the Force right? It's what some people think the Jedi do." He shook his head. "No, we just do what we can to be closer to it, do what we can to keep balance in our lives and the lives around us. We can't exactly go galavanting across the Galaxy to do what the Jedi do, but we do what we can where we can."
They were coming up on a grand view of Fondor. Out in the darkness of space illuminated by the systems's star at least five of the massive ring-shaped shipyard stations could be seen. It was really a beautiful sight to him. It wasn't as busy as Centerpoint over Corellia or The Ring at Kuat but he had a feeling that would change soon.
"And that concludes our tour. Please, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me or my superiors." Pryce looked over at Auteme and gave her a kind smile.
"It was good speaking with you Auteme. I don't know what you and the Jedi are planning with putting you here instead of out there...But I have a feeling you all know what you're doing. If you and the Jedi need anything, and I mean anything, never hesitate to contact me. I'll get it done."
Bodies fell from the non-lethal force of the grenades, suffering minor concussions at the very least from the grenades. As quick his attack was, so was the response of the Senate Commandos as they rushed to evacuate the Supreme Chancellor. Soon there would be more and he would have to disengage, couldn’t allow to be overwhelmed by the lot of them. He could hold his own against a small squad, but not an entire task force of them.
Right on time, he saw a blue armored figure assisting the two senators he was after. Alone, with no one providing backup. Opposed to the others that operated in groups, or at least in pairs. The Kyuzo only hoped it was Fett at their arrival, not able to confirm if it was the Mandalorian.
But he wouldn’t sit around to find out. That was his cue to retreat, going to the nearest exit. Any Senators involuntarily blocking his way were pushed aside, but Senate Commandos would face a full charge tackle with such strength that could outmatch the average strength of most humanoid species. From there he would just have to navigate through corridors, avoiding large squads of security.
The rest of the Squadron was fast following as Revenant Seven came closer and closer to the fight. Both ships quickly became clear on sensors, and nearly in sight. Seven’s thumb eased away from the trigger of his weapons, though in his position it’d take more than just an itchy finger for anything beyond his nose gun to go off.
As the pirates came into visual range, a small feeling began to buzz in the back of Leon’s mind, like something had just swept past and was now following. Scanners showed nothing, of course, but the feeling remained. Moments later, a streak of blasterfire flared past Seven’s canopy.
{“Five! Watch your damn fire!”}
The pirate’s appearance in front of him was surprising, of course, but Leon wasn’t taken too far aback by her sudden transmission. As she spoke, the nagging buzz grew stronger, and Revenant Seven’s S-foils began opening for combat. He knew his commander well enough to know the pirate’s attempt to negotiate would fall flat on its face.
Leon jerked his controls before Lead had even given the order. Stealth systems rarely helped hide anything from the Force. Seven whipped around, quickly closing on the four fighters engaging 1 flight. A poorly aimed burst of cannonfire announced his presence, more trying to get the attention of the pirates than hit anything.
{“Kaul, how about you think with your head and not your--”}
A hit on his shields stopped Leon from finishing his comment. The Jedi banked right, looping around to try and get on his chaser’s tail. Surprisingly, the enemy craft stayed on him. Good pilots with good ships. Unfortunately for the pirates, Leon was better.
The X-02 spun around, it’s forward thrusters shut off and maneuvering thrusters burning hard. Now facing his tail, the Pilot reactivated his main thrusters, rocketing forward. A blaze of ion and blaster cannon fire sped forward, and the two ships passed each other. Leon banked again, coming up behind another bogey. They weaved, and Leon stayed on, squeezing off another round of fire.
LAAT/le Aurek Holding Position
LAAT/le Besh Holding Position
LAAT/le Cresh Holding Position
LAAT/le Dorn Holding Position
Senate Guard Forces
Senate Commando Team "Vornskr" [12/12] Giving chase to Amun
Senate Commando Team "Rancor" [12/12] Attempting to Corner Amun
Senate Commando Team "Nexu" [12/12] Attempting to Corner Amun
Senate Commando Team "Acklay" [12/12] Attempting to Corner Amun
Senate Guard Detail North [5/5] Holding Position
Senate Guard Detail East [4/5] Holding Position
Senate Guard Detail South [5/5] Holding Position
Senate Guard Detail West [5/5] Holding Position
Senate Honor Guard "Bursar" (Chancellor's Protective Detail) Evacuated with Aerarii Tithe
Ruus continued his journey past his own men and civilians alike as he was kept appraised of the situation via his helmet's commlink. The sweep by the Senate Commandos had yet to yield a credible threat from any one individual. Meanwhile the Senate Guards had exchanged places with their Commando counterparts, now guarding several key facilities within the Lodge while the Commandos scoured the corridors . If the Chancellor had not been attacked, or under threat, he would have believed this whole scenario to be a false alarm.
"East Detail reporting down one." came the call "Say again?" Ruus put a hand to the side of his helmet, this was the first time he had heard anything about a missing man "Reporting one missing, East Detail." said a member of the Senate Guard Detail East in reply "Vornskr to East's assigned zone!" Ruus exclaimed "Yes sir, Vornskr going." replied the senior Commando. Ruus was then a a brisk walk with his blaster rifle at the ready. Person after person cascaded around him, it was nearly impossible to see down the corridors until he reached an intersection. That's when he saw Amun
an alien man rushing past civilians and knocking down those who did not move quickly enough. At the very moment the Senate Commando Team "Vornskr" with their 12 members rounded a corner directly opposite of the Senate Guard Captain "You there! Halt!" commanded Ruus while pointing at the man. It was too late, he down past the intersection down "After him!" ordered the agitated Captain "In pursuit!" replied the Commandos as they followed in Amun's wake. Their blaster rifles were set to Stun, and being so they had no qualms about firing down the hallways even into crowds of innocents who fell to the floor one after another as blue rings overcame them.
Ruus had to continue on his own towards the location now "All Teams close in on Vornskr's location. Cut the suspect off. Kill him if you need to." he said gruffly as went about finding the last known location of the missing Senate Guard. Several tense moments later Ruus entered another large room, and across the way he saw a blue helmet sticking above the chaos "Guardsman!" Ruus shouted over the others as he pulled up his blaster rifle to point towards the man and Senator Tiresh Kobitana of Lujo - he had memorized all the faces of the current Senate body "Your detail was ordered elsewhere, and you haven't checked in." the blaster rifle was weighty in the Captain's grip as he re-leveled the weapon towards the apparent Guard "Back away from the Senator and identify yourself." he had always been concerned about infiltration within varied the ranks of the Senate Guard. Despite being the Captain of the Senate Guard it was impractical to investigate each and ever member with the time he had been in his position. There lurked the possibility of disloyalty and treason. Though there was no way for Ruus to know that this was not infiltration but imitation. In any case the regulations of the Senate Guard were strict, very strict, for a reason.
It was a scowl that fell across his concealed features at the sound of the voice from across the room, even amidst all the chaos. His ruse had been foiled as a result of one man and his insistent adherence to his own commands; the sort of commander that ran an effective unit, to which Fett was unable to consider the outcome if less care had been afforded to the event. It mattered little now, he mused.
"Easy now," the same false voice returned, a slow turn from the Senator towards Ruus had been made with his own arms in a half raise as if to indicate a surrender of some sorts. "In all the mess, I chose to act first." His hands harmlessly motioned about as he offered a lie, no more than most men, but as more needless rambles continued, Fett cut himself short. From one wrist, a flames rushed out in a sudden roar towards Ruus from one wrist and a cable to ensnare him shot out from the other - his 'armour' fizzled as the interference connected, first towards the area of contact before it stretched across his entire form until the reveal of the Mandalorian armour. If criminal elements were of an interest to an individual, said individual was certain to identify the armour and the name of the man beneath it.
She let out a sigh of relief as she witnessed the assailant flee, but her relief quickly dissipated as Ruus , the Captain of the senate guard, confronted the one that had been about to escort her to safety. She looked back and forth between them, obviously confused and unsure of what was happening or why the guard was suspect. From her perspective, he had likely saved her life. In the confusion, she tried to pull her hand away from the guard, but his grip remained firm.
"What's going on?" She demanded to both the guard and Ruus . Then the Guard let go of her hand and raised his hands, trying to talk the Captain down and explain himself. She took a step back and watched on with wide eyes, unsure of what to think.
But as the guard opened fire on Ruus , she let out a cry of fear as his appearance was altered back to its original from… one of unmistakable markings and notoriety…
He was a Mandalorian.
She stumbled backwards in shock, tripping over an unconscious body behind her as she let out gasp, her hands flailing in front of her as she fell backwards, smacking her head against the hard floor.
Her body lay there, motionless. Her eyes closed slowly as she began to drift into unconsciousness, the screams and violence around her growing dull and distant. Her last conscious thought was of her mother… with a young Kalie Alverez
holding onto her lifeless body and screaming in terror and confusion. The blood that covered her hands as she held her mother's head tightly into her chest and wept as the bounty hunter fled the scene, the Senate guards chasing after him in an attempt to apprehend.
"Mom…" She whispered as a lone tear rolled down her cheek, finally losing all sense of consciousness as she drifted alone into the darkness.