Step into the Black [ GA Dominion of Indupar ]

[Ashin Varanin]

OBJECTIVE C
ANS DAWN'S HORIZON
PASSENGER QUARTERS

[member="Keric Dynt"] [member="Saffron"] [member="Doctor Yan Korab"] [member="Elpsis Elaris"] [member="Ciari Teigra"]

The probable sequence of events came together easily enough. Comscan operators had been thrown by a barrage of wholly alien sensor data: black holes instead of stars, a gray background instead of blackness, laws of physics that operated slightly differently. In the confusion, a Charon raider had gotten close, and Charon ships were bizarre to sensors all by themselves.

The occasional cannon blast sent red or blue glare through her porthole, but clearly enough, only a few guns could be brought to bear. That lined up with the sound of cutting. It was loud enough now that she didn't have to press her ear to the bulkhead.

She weighed her options, and the chrome Naboo pistol in her palm. A Galactic Alliance carrier like this housed a respectable complement of marines, but even the smaller Charon boarding ships each carried a serious threat. Your average Charon soldier was stronger and quicker than a human in power armor, and an awful lot more motivated. Charon fanatics made Republic apologists or Panathan body-oilers look fair and balanced by comparison. And there was no guarantee that only one Charon ship was boarding: she rather doubted that, in fact. They tended to travel in swarms.

Unknown number of enemies, unknown number of ingress points. The carrier had quite a bit of volume for its marines to cover. Ajira chewed the inside of her cheek, then hissed a word that a lady of Theed most certainly should not know -- cussing in Kissai. She raised the pistol, small comfort that it was, and opened her hatch. When no Charon death cultist apparated to tear her limb from limb, she proceeded in the general direction of Main Engineering.

 

[Mephite]

The droid shell followed along behind [member="Desmond C'artyom"]. He would've been remiss at this point had he not. The Shard felt a certain small obligation to the Chiss. It seemed certain the blue humanoid would end up blowing himself up without him.

Mephite moved quickly and softly despite his bulk. Certainly some of the Trandoshans weighed more but taking lots of stupid chances was...well...stupid. So he kept the the parts of roofs most likely to be stable. A processor for a brain was useful sometimes.

His own reaction to blowing shit up was less giddy. Photoreceptors let him see the extent of that column of tanks. Suddenly he wasn't so happy about a processor brain. Odds were definitely in favor of the armor and he glumly wished he could be so delusional in his optimism.

Plate metal could stop blaster bolts. Sadly the skin of organics couldn't. Or at least not that he knew of. He was the last one out and he sighed just before leaving. "We're going to need bigger guns. Much bigger guns," he commented to the Chiss.

@Itagert @Gregor Montague [member="Thraxis"] @Abaddon Velshaar @Scheherazade Roshanara

 

[Drystan Talroth]

Objective A
Allies: [member="Poro Maaht"] [member="HK-36"]
Enemies: Everyone Else, apparently
Post: 2

Ahh, the Jedi. He'd never actually met one of their order, though their philosophies were all too well known among the Eldorai. He couldn't say he agreed with some of their teachings and sayings, but then again, they probably wouldn't approve of some of his either. Still, they were supposedly dedicated to peace and order, and those were certainly things he could see eye to eye with the young Padawa....padawang?

Basic was an odd language.

"The feeling is mutual, Padawang. That is a rank, correct? Similar to my Initiate?" He replied in heavily accented basic, bowing his head slightly just as his compatriot had done. It didn't even sound like any basic words he was aware of...maybe he was saying it wrong.

"Yes, the Order of Fire. Perhaps once our mission here is complete we can discuss one another's organizations. The Jedi are, of course, interesting to learn from."

Unlike the Jedi, he carried no lightsaber, sticking to more conventional weapons instead. A green cloak, the kind seen the galaxy over, was produced from a small backpack and slung over his shoulders, hiding (mostly) the assortment of armaments he was carrying.

"Shadowports are hives containing the sorts of scum we....dissuade...near our home," He added on to the Padawan's assessment as they climbed aboard the small, innocent looking shuttle and buckled in. "I fear to say, HK, that it seems unlikely that we will be able to secure the station without violence."

 

[Noire Vanya Tal]

En route to the Eiattu system
Objective B: PVE- Trade building through any of the local Ado Sector worlds
4/5 post for Aurum Saccs Bank contract expansion into the Ado Sector
| 6 |

Noire would be relieved to realize that she didn't get any psychometic backlash. That was one concern down the drain. Now they could focus on what she was actually here for; helping the Eiattu's financial system come in line with the Galactic Basic.

"What is your interplanatary trade status like?" Noire inquired.

"We have very little interplanetary trade established," Vieel replied as they both crossed the carved velmstone threshold into the atrium of the palace.

"Eiattu has kept to itself since the four-hundred year darkness." Noire was not surprised. In the wake of the Gulag Virus, the Four-hundred year old darkness, Dark Harvest, and the Netherworld Crisis, it was understandable of isolated systems kept to themselves.

"However, Her Majesty wishes to change this. " Vieel elaborated. "We have precious few interaction with the neighboring Indupar Crown Worlds, but trade is limited to utilizing gold peggats or gems for monetary trade." he came to a pause to turn to look at her.

"We require an electronic format that can bring us to utilizing the Galactic Basic Credit."

 

[HK-36]

Objective A: PvP Skirmish- Crime Does Pay!
Gang: Firemane, New Jedi Order Syndicate
Allies: [member="Poro Maaht"], [member="Drystan Talroth"] anyone else from Galactic Alliance who wants to join in
Enemies: Whoever fires on them
Objective: Brief the Padawan, Prepare for Deployment, start teaching

Before the droid would return his attention to the two young Force users, he sent out a transmission to the Siege Tower's bridge,

"Any activity indicating point defenses?"

"Nothing near the landing point, our scans show anti-air armored vehicles but the current trajectory should be out of their range."

"Then they either have not noticed us or just do not care."

He would look over to the pilot,

"Send civilian codes to port's authority, still refueling and resupplying."

"Yessir."


He looked back to Poro and Drystan,

"They are way points to those who know the hyper-routes to them and are able to navigate their locations, very good Poro, 5 points to the Jedi."

Apparently there was a scoring system involved now,

"But the view of them as criminal nests is narrow, you think of it from your current perspective, that of a Jedi and an Eldorai."

He would look out of the port at the small station built on the asteroid,

"During the Galactic Civil War, shortly after the purge of the Jedi many of us who believed in justice and freedom had to go on the run, myself included. We hid in stations just like this one, in fact I spent better part of few months in StarForge helping refugees escape Empire patrols unscathed."

The droid looked back to them,

"Do not misunderstand me, the criminal element is prominent here. Pirates, smugglers, thieves, assassins, bounty hunters. But that is only one portion of a larger pictures. There are refugees, common spacers venturing through the Galaxy, beings who live here and only want to make a living but do not trust the establishment."

He nodded,

"Try to view them from the perspective of those who inhabit and frequent such places, those who do not trust the government or believe in the Jedi, which is a larger population than you would thought at first. Consider the recent history of bloody wars and disasters, the fact that the Jedi or any Force users are a quite rare sight in most planets, especially in the Outer Rim, there some beings who believe that the Jedi are only a myth. Yet those who met them in current times are usually stricken by the disasters and conflicts that seem to follow them, usually in form of Sith or other maligned factions hunting them. Shadowports like these are a refugee, haven, from all of that."

HK would look out of the viewport again, the station was growing closer as they were nearing it,

"Although a rose has its thorns and you have to get your hands dirty to grow it, it does not mean it has no blooms. The life is not only light and dark but grey, Sith can be redeemed, Jedi can fall to the Dark Side, not everyone in a Shadowport is looking to shoot you in the back or even cares who you are, always keep in mind all elements of the society and all variables. And always read through your briefings and do research on the locations you will be sent to, the customs of the natives, the more you know the easier it will be to blend in among them, and you will know whether it would be a good idea or not for them to know that you can wield the Force."

He would look to Poro,

"And be wary of what you can see as common knowledge and assumptions, they often lead into generalization and stereotypes, which then turns into absolutes, and from there it is easy to fall into misconceptions and misunderstandings. For example, you assumed that I did not came to places like the StarForge often, but in reality as a bounty hunter I often have contacts I meet with in shadowports. Not to mention that this station travels around the sector, using hyper-jumps, but I knew it well enough to be able to give its location to our Alliance and lead our fleet through the nebula."

HK looked to Drystan then,

"As to securing the station, nobody said that is the purpose of this mission. Like I said, this place is a refuge away from current governments, neutral, and beings who live here would fight fiercely if a government would try to step in and take control of it. We are here to evaluate the station, see if it has any resources or services useful to us before we would even decide to take it. Plus both of your superiors decided it would do you good to learn about cultures you may not have contact with in the confines of Tygaria or Jedi Temples. But remember, recon and intelligence about the situation you will be going into is important, pick your battles right, you do not have to just rush into combat from beginning."

He would lean back in his seat, looking out of the viewport again as they started the landing procedure,

"But that does bring up a good question, what is crime to the two of you? What in your definition makes one a criminal, scum as you colorfully put it?"

 

[Doctor Yan Korab]

[member="Elpsis Elaris"], [member="Keric Dynt"], [member="Saffron"], [member="Ajira Cardei"],

"Do you know who put you there?"

The Doctor just watched Elpsis as she said it in silence before finally replying with,

[Runian] "Vet du hvem som satte meg her?" (Do you know who put me here?)

It would become clear quickly that he didn't understood a lick of basic, as the alarms blared and the Charon grew closer, Dr Yan muttered out,

[Runian] "Troll piss." (Troll piss.)

Although his sense to the Force was weak, untrained, even he could sense the malevolent aura.

Sign language of Elpsis was lost on him, outside of general gestures, but anything more complex and he thought she was having a weird spasm or doing some weird dance. Nevertheless, he decided to follow her. He picked up the electrostaff he was left with in a quick movement, making sure he had all his equipment with him, and said,

[Runian] "Din ass roer meg ned så jeg skal holde utkikk på det." (Your ass calms me down so I'll keep looking at it.)

Staying behind her and casually glancing down from time to time, although as the screams could be heard he reached back to pull his longbow off of his back, his body tensing as he became more alert to the situation.

 

[Thraxis]

Objective A: PVP​

Gang: El Dorado​

Allies: [member="Mephite"] [member="Desmond C'artyom"] [member="Gregor Montague "]@Causstik Rhan ​

[member="Itagert"] [member="Scheherazade Roshanara"]​

Enemies: Everyone else​

Loadout: Mentioned in First Post​

Objective: Win​

Well, it seemed that the Trandoshans had gotten accustomed, and if the Trandoshans where here, then Causstik wasn't too far behind if a guess was to be hazarded. "Well, looks like Causstik is here then. And if Causstik is here, then I suppose most of the rest of ya be here too then." he confirmed, as he listened to the all too familiar Hisses of their kind. While he had yet to break their Language barrier, he could tell a good hiss from a bad hiss. It was always in the pronunciation of the s'.

A the grate hole opened he could almost feel the putrid feces festering in there before taking a step in, "Welp. This is gonna be lovely...." he trailed off before taking in a deep breath, taking after the first Trandoshan to lead while the rest followed. As he took his steps down he heard a buzz, his comm flaring to life as he heard the voice of an old seadog flare to life, "Well then, G'Day there Captain Gregor." he said as he near hurled, wishing he had put the gas mask on before climbing down the festering ladder.

"Captain Gregor, this be Thraxis off.... Well, myself I suppose. Anyway, I advise caution when in the vicinity, from what I have seen their is a heavy fight about to take place..." he trailed off, taking in a deep breath as the fumes permeated though his body, holding back a cough with great reluctance, "Once I have arrived at the base of operations, I will give you a signal so you can meet up with the rest of the forces." he confirmed, a heavy cough as he sputtered and spat, only for the air to once more invade his lungs.

After being a sewer rat for a couple of minutes, he came to a great pause as he saw the ladder, holding on to every shred of courtesy he had left, he stood at the ladder, letting each of the Trandoshans proceed before him, he imagined they were use to the smell, but hell if he wasn't going to let them get out first, they had been in it the longest and deserved a respite from its putrid stench. After the last one climbed up he wasted no time, his arms gripping with hardy grips as he scurried along, a rapid pace as within less then two seconds he had crawled from the Bowels of a Rancor and into the somewhat fresh air of the Station, a benignant smile washing over him as he took in deep breaths before crawling into the base of operations, a stride in his step, even if he felt repulsed and disgusted, he still had to make an entrance none the less.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Doctor Yan Korab"], [member="Ajira Cardei"], [member="Saffron"], [member="Keric Dynt"]

(3)


Communication between members of divergent cultures tended to be complicated. Especially if the two individuals in each question could not speak the same language. Elpsis seemed to understand that the black-clad fellow could not understand a word she said - and vice versa.


However, he fell in line behind her and grabbed a weapon, so that sufficed for her. Oh, and, she totally had an fabulous arse, though she'd probably have a problem with a manling oggling it! Anyhow, the screams were becoming louder, accompanied by the ominous sound of cutting. The young firemane tensed, feeling on edge. Her danger senses flared.


Then...a monster appeared! Elpsis felt the creature's presence before she 'saw' it. It was a presence of pure malevolence. The monster radiated naught but a desire for nihilistic destruction and purgation. It was enough to make her feel sickened to the core. But on the bright side, now she had a concrete enemy to fight, instead of simply walking in the dark while the ship was adrift.


"Get down," she called to the bow-wielding fellow. He probably didn't understand her, so she simply pulled him down into cover. Just a moment before a hand-held cannon spat balls of plasma in their direction, lighting up the dark corridor. Elpsis rolled across the ground to avoid the electromagnetic blasts. Acting on impulse, she summoned her kindred element and flooded the cannon with heat, exploding the plasma inside it.


There was a loud, angry screech, but the monster was not deterred. Now Elpsis could finally behold their attacker and she could only describe its appearance as grotesque: It was a giant-sized, four-legged, four-armed bug encased in a mottled carapace. Ironically, it looked like something her evil father might've created, since he'd been a bit of an evil scientist in his spare time.


Advancing implacably with a speed that was surprising given its size, the monster morphed a portion of its armour into a blade and sprayed webbing. Elpsis was too late to evade and thus was caught by the web. Summoning her fire powers, she sought to burn it away.


A telekinetic wave of divine flame expanded outward, sweeping forth like a broom. The web was burnt away and the creature was ignited, but despite the white-hot flame it charged. Its morphing blade struck the floor with a loud clang as Elpsis dodged, and the next blow was intercepted by her, but the force of the impact was enough to make her reel in agony. Her lightsabre blazed with burning orange flame and she sought to distract the creature with a stream of light emanating from her hand before slashing at one of its frontal legs, slicing it off.


However, this seemed to make the beast angrier and it came at her like an ox or battering ram. Ouch. A vicious kick broke something inside her, then it grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing. The lightsabre was out of her grasp, the bug's morphing blade swept towards her chest, before it screamed in pain when its blood began to boil, burning it from the inside out, where its sealed exoskeleton could not protect it. It was only a momentary distraction, but enough as it loosened the chokehold, crying out in intense agony.


The Magnetic Revolver leapt into her free hand and she fired it, unleashing a burst of hyper-fast pellets at point blank range into the creature's carapace. Bang - Bang - Bang and so on so forth. The monstrosity let her go, giving up the ghost, and she fell to the ground with a hard thud. Thank you, Uncle HK. However, there was no reprieve, for it seemed these creatures liked to attack in swarms. Facing creatures reminiscient of giant flies and angry spiders, searing flames burst forth from Elpsis' hand.

 

[Ciana Teigra]

Location: Lab Area, Dawn's Horizon (Objective C)
Objective: Survive, get my MacGuyver on.
Allies: Galactic Alliance & Friends
Enemies: Charon
Posts: 1/25

A riveting discussion between Ciana and Doctor (Commander) Robinson, Horizon's chief science officer, would come to an abrupt end as lights and machines within the lab would flicker from momentary fluctuations in power. Alliance scientists and Panacean bioengineers who had been previously relaxing during the down time now sprung to action to check on the health of their devices and consoles. The whole lab was jammed packed with several expensive experimental modules necessary for the group to carry out their mission. Doctor Robinson went on to check in with the bridge.

Ciana felt a wave of panic and confusion spread across the ship as more people came to realize that something had just gone horribly wrong. Reflexively, she swept her hand over the left side of her chest, thumbing the end of the lightsaber hilt tucked in a shoulder holster underneath her jacket.

"What's going on?" she asked as she joined Robison at his console.

"A malfunction with the hyperdrive dropped us back into real space, far off course."

"How far, exactly?"

"Well...navigation really doesn't know. The captain is restricting active scanning, so they haven't been able to ping a beacon for astro-location. They're making due attempting to reference star charts with passive, but they aren't hav--"

Robison was interrupted as the ship went on full alert. He got back on the line with the bridge. From the other side, she could hear several people shouting in the background.

"What now?"

"Multiple hull breaches detected! We're being boarded!"

"By who?"

"No confirmation...but it may be the Charon."

Robison recoiled from the console like he had just been pushed. Again, Ciana felt out the shape of her hilt with, her fingertips lingering much longer this time around. She bet no one wanted to actually make that confirmation. The Charon were the stuff of nightmares, a grotesque race of arachnoids who's single purpose in existence appeared to be the eradication of all life in the universe with their special horrifying brand of biotechnology. There were exceptions, like the Cult of Light, but their bizarre behavior and intimidating forms of these minorities still put people at unease.

Her lightsaber wouldn't be much help in this instance except as a weapon of last resort, and while she could probably grab herself a blaster from an Alliance marine with a bit of persuasion, though that wouldn't be much of an upgrade. Naturally tough on top of whatever armor they used, it would take a well-placed grouping of several shots to bring one down if the records were to be believed. Not a problem in one on one engagements, but it was difficult to take such measured aim against hordes in confined spaces. Within her ship down in the hangar, there was an armory of weapons designed to shred through beings just like the Charon, but there was no getting to them right now. She would have to improvise.

As she looked around the lab for a solution, she got into contact with all Panacean personnel aboard the Horizon and the Kiribian Spacy's Southern Command over biocomm, working around the communication blackout that was in place. Alliance could do whatever they liked, but she would be taking care of her own through this crisis.

"This is Ciana Teigra to all Panacean Personnel aboard Dawn's Horizon. If you don't know already, we are currently adrift in unknown space, and the Horizon is now being boarded. All those in the hangar, relocate to the Delian and kit up. You are to protect that ship at all costs. Everyone else, just hunker down and follow instructions of the crew for now."

She really didn't have anything to say to the Spacy at this point, so she just let them listen in. Without a means to track the Alliance carrier, all they could do was wait.

Her sapphire eyes finally landed on an array of osmotic field generators, sparking an idea. These particular generators produced a force field that could excite or drain molecules to alter the ambient temperature. If she could focus that field into a more narrow beam, then she would have herself a nice weapon that could cook a Charon alive by targeting the soft tissue within their sealed exoskeleton, or freeze them. The alchemist favored the latter option - more material to recover for later research. Long had she craved for Charon specimens, so she would try to make the best of a dire situation.

"So, everyone, I have an idea..."

Spoiler

[member="Ajira Cardei"] [member="Saffron"] [member="Doctor Yan Korab"] [member="Elpsis Elaris"] [member="Keric Dynt"]

 

[H3xle]

Objective C
ANS Dawn's Horizon
[member="Ajira Cardei"] | [member="Saffron"] | [member="Doctor Yan Korab"] | [member="Elpsis Elaris"] | [member="ciana teigra"]

Keric had cut the link to the bridge as some jumped up desk jockey tried to berate him for using precious bandwidth during am emergency situation. His next course of action would have been to try to bypass security locks and issue a warning to the ship himself...but then a nightmare slipped around the corner and all thoughts of communicating went away.

A malevolent aura exuded off of the creature like over ripe offal left in the sun, but that may have saved his life. The creature turned some sort of blaster on him and opened fire. Keric was already moving, dropping into a backward roll as bolts of plasma blazed through where he had been.

His right hand tracked up as he completed the roll and sent a trio of blaster bolts back at the creature, followed a half second later by a trio from his left side blaster. Then he shoulder rolled awkwardly to get behind the curve of the corridor as plasma bolts scorched the ground where he had been.

Incoherent screeches of pain as some of his bolts found their mark were echoed further up the hall by what he assumed was another creature in battle. Those screeches were quickly followed by Bang - Bang - Bang.

The stream of plasma cut off, and heavy steps could be heard as the alien creature stalked Keric. He holstered his right hand blaster and pulled the heavy gun from the small of his back. He took a few steps back, and aimed the heavy gun at a low angle. As soon as the creatures leg appeared, he adjusted a minute amount and blasted the creatures leg off, lucky that the bolt didn't hit the bulkhead this time.

The incoherent scream returned, Keric raced to the side and blasted the plasma gun to smolders with his left hand blaster, followed by disintegrating a hole in the creatures chest with his right hand gun. The creature collapsed to the ground and writhed pitifully. Exchanging the heavy gun for his blaster again, Keric ended the creature with a few more blasts to the face, then turned to find where the other creatures noises had come from.

Keric doubted that only two cents aboard, and he knew his luck would run out eventually and one of these things would close to melee. He doubted his minimal armor and complete lack of melee weapons would be effective then.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Post: 6/20 (writer) 6/5 (IGR)
Objective: Reconstruction of banking infrastructure
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Unknown
Location: Jabor

"Now that we know that you're a legitimate banker, and an Alliance Jedi at that, how about you open a few branches here on Jabor?"

"I would love to, but I would need to back the deposit insurance against the Jabor treasury"

"You said that you would insure the deposits to the level of 100,000 credits, correct?"

"With the Alliance's tight banking regulations, I would have to say that it's less likely that banking failures occur"

But a banking failure can be devastating. She knew that, since the banking systems of the Alliance were interconnected, a bank failure could be devastating to entire planets, if not properly dealt with. So long as the failed bank was not called systemically important, however, the impact of a bank failure should be confined to a planet and its neighbors. By and large the Alliance was devoid of such banks, only the Mandalorian Crusaders could consider that there was one: the IGBC was headquartered in Crusader space, and their entire setup was backed against the nova crystal deposits of Mygeeto. And maybe the Confederacy. Even if Cathul is entirely responsible for the Confederacy's deposit insurance, the Banking Federation was far from the only bank on Geonosis. Hence why she was more suspect than ever of being Confederate on a planet that harbored little good feelings towards the Confederacy due to historical precedent.

 

[Saffron]

Objective C
Passenger Quarters
ANS Dawn's Horizon
Otherspace | [member="Ajira Cardei"] | [member="Ciana Teigra"] | [member="Elpsis Elaris"] | [member="Doctor Yan Korab"] | [member="Keric Dynt"] |
| 7 |

---

Ajira Cardei would be right. It wasn't just one Charon ship boarding, but three. They typically came in swarms and seeing the ANS Dawn's Horizon floating almost dead in the water was as ripe for a picking as they could get.

The sound of blaster fire and screams of alarm came down the corridor. Saffron's eyes went wide, the sheer panic coming and growing around the empath starting to affect her. The Companion was used to blocking out small crowds, never really had she'd had to experience such mass hysteria.

A stumble to the right had her hit the bulkhead, panic starting to bloom over her own face as growls and the sound of the gnashing of teeth seemed to overwhelm her.

Down the hall, a massive creature reminiscent of a hybrid of a giant fly and spider burst through the wall. Alliance soldiers cried out for the passengers to leave, a small fire fight exploding into the scene.

All the while Saffron was frozen in her spot, unable to move.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Location: Otherspace
Objective: Survive Charon Attack
Allies: [member="Ajira Cardei"] [member="Keric Dynt"] [member="Saffron"] [member="Doctor Yan Korab"] [member="Elpsis Elaris"] [member="Ciana Teigra"]
1/20


Passenger Quarters, Galactic Alliance Carrier ANS Dawn's Horizon
Unknown Coordinates, Otherspace

"Anybody out there?!"

Whump! Whump Whump!

"Hello?!"

Great, this is the last time I catch a ride, Captain Zark Pulsar thought to himself as he pounded on the remote-locked hatch of his temporary quarters.

It had been most likely intended as a safety feature, a panic setting the ship's Captain could engage in a hurry to instantly secure VIP passengers. Zark had been lost in thought and half asleep during the incident itself, used to rough voyages and unprepared to consider the unlikely possibility of a hyperspace accident. The Jedi Knight had only been roused from his stupor when he had heard the lock on his quarters' hatch auto-engage. One glance out the chamber's lone, tiny viewport and he knew something was very, very wrong here. First a treasure hunter, then a privateer, and now a serviceman, Pulsar had spent the vast majority of his life in space up until that point. Certainly enough time to know that the void wasn't normally supposed to look like that. No response on his personal comm confirmed his suspicions. There was something strange happening aboard the Dawn's Horizon, and not for the first time he scoffed at the Force's dark sense of humor at placing him at the center of a crisis on a Galactic Alliance ship he had no command over.

Was this some sort of temptation? he wondered, not altogether certain it wasn't working. The Captain had taken a shuttle to rendezvous with the Horizon from the ANS Rebel's Hope, his own command, half a day ago at the request of both Defense Force command and the New Jedi Order. Apparently someone in the Order had finally heard about what Zark had done on Castameer and the Omega, and not just the abridged version of events. Suddenly knowledge of his proficiency with a lightsaber was not as much of a secret as it used to be, and while thus far he had rebuffed all requests for him to visit the Temple on Sullust, he had begrudgingly agreed to a compromise with his superiors to meet with a representative. Expecting the third degree, Zark had been surprised to find himself meeting with a member of the Archaeological and Research Division of the Jedi Service Corps. Apparently they had pieced together a little more than just that he was a Jedi, somewhere they must have found records of his past life. Having forgotten how both comforting and frustratingly disconcerting a Jedi's lack of judgment could be, the representative had skipped straight over the subject of why he was hiding who he was and had discussed ways he could possibly contribute to the Order if he ever desired, and to the Captain's surprise he didn't find the notion intolerable.

Of course, none of this would matter if he couldn't escape this prison. Pounding on the door didn't seem to be helping, and a shudder came over him as he sensed a presence in the Force in the corridor outside. Something was very disturbing about the being, and he hadn't remembered sensing anything like it during his time aboard the Horizon so far. Used to keeping a low profile, it occurred to him that since he had been contacted by the Order, there was no sense in subtlety any longer. A wellspring of energy built up inside of him, and he thrust his left and non-prosthetic hand, palm out, directly at the hatch door. Channeling a controlled burst of kinetic force down the length of his arm, the Jedi Knight visualized the world before him as he wished it to be, and the hatch before him rattled and shook furiously. The presence was approaching, alerted by the disturbance. He would have to move more quickly. Sending a greater burst of energy along the length of his arm, lack of practice caused him to miscalculate and send the hatch bursting off of his frame and careening across the corridor. Expecting a malevolent force to burst suddenly into the room and wash over him, Zark stood silently for a few seconds, hearing nothing in the chamber beyond.

Just as he was about to step out from his former cell, the fallen hatch shifted suddenly as a wounded and chattering Charon burst out from underneath it. Instinctively, the Captain's drew his heavy blaster with Force enhanced reflexes and fired from the hip, shot after shot sending the creature skittering backwards until its back was against the wall. Heart pounding in his chest, he leaped out into the corridor after the beast, drawing his saber in motion and plunging into the arachnid's head with the unnatural strength of his robotic hand, sending it into violent spasms of death. His initial suspicions of danger confirmed, the sudden appearance of the strange, hostile alien nonetheless raised all new questions.

"Pulsar to bridge," he said, trying his personal comm again. No response, "Captain Zark Pulsar to anyone, respond."

Something must be blocking his transmissions. Lightsaber drawn but no longer activated in his right hand and heavy blaster pointed ahead of him in his left, he set off towards the turbolifts that might hopefully lead him up to the bridge.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

OBJECTIVE C
ANS DAWN'S HORIZON
PASSENGER QUARTERS
Immediate: [member="Saffron"]
Others: [member="Keric Dynt"] [member="Doctor Yan Korab"] [member="Elpsis Elaris"] [member="Ciana Teigra"] [member="Zark"]

Ajira wasn't one for Force senses, never had been much good with them, but a familiar presence asserted itself. Well, sort of. It felt like Spencer, her wife, but weaker and afraid, and didn't that put a snap in her step. There had been clones of Spencer; Ajira had even met one, an Oiran Companion called Saffron. She'd been Ashin then, with a vastly different (and much stronger) Force presence, not to mention another face. Still, she'd have to be careful.

She came around a corner, and there was a mess. Half an Alliance squad, two Charon, a hole in the wall, and a most distinctive blonde. Ajira fired without thinking: the Naboo pistol barked howling Tibanna plasma. Bolts snapped past Saffron and hammered into the nearest of the two Charon, even as other weapons targeted it from the opposite side. The alien made a loud, angry noise. Stray fire from the Alliance soldiers was putting Saffron and, admittedly, Ajira at risk. She took cover behind the corner of a hall and kept pouring blaster shots into the hard carapace of the Charon boarder.

"Girl! Back here!"

 

[Doctor Yan Korab]

[member="Elpsis Elaris"],

When the Charon forces made their appearance, Yan would give out a shrill scream,

"Aaaaaaaaaaagh! Hva er det?!" (What is that?!)

It was his first time encountering an insectoid in this large strange Galaxy they lived in. Or technically outside of it since they were in Grey Space,

"Hva er det?!" (What is that?!)

He repeated, staying behind cover as Elpsis did her thing, killing the hideous beast with arcane flames and strange weapons Yan never encountered before. By the time she would look back to check on him when the intruder was dispatched, and more insectoid creatures were on their way, he would be back by the supply closet,

"Nei-nei-nei-nei-nei..." (Nope-nope-nope-nope-nope...)

He muttered to himself as he tried to pick up the slab of metal Elpsis cut out to free him in the first place so that he could lock himself back in the tight trap and avoid whatever was going on on the ship. He tried to ignore the inhumane screams and screeches as Elpsis burned flies and spiders alive.

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Doctor Yan Korab"]
(4)


In short, the situation was kind of FUBAR. Well, maybe not that bad, but it sure sucked. Elpsis was reminded of the stories Auntie Siobhan had told her about battling hordes of Bando Gora Reavers and Klaxxi. Except this was not a spacers' tale, this was real.


[member="Saffron"] was not the only one dealing with the unfortunate side-effects of empathy, for Elpsis felt the sheer panic that was spreading across the vessel like wild fires. It hit her like a flood. Her face contorted in an expression of pain as she tried to blot out the onslaught of mass hysteria. Her head hurt like hell, her vision blurred. The firemane stumbled and fell, stumbling over a corpse.


She dropped into a backward roll as plasma bolts blazed towards her. There was loud clattering on the ground as the grotesque monstrosities stalked after her. When she touched their auras, she felt naught but a nihilistic desire to eradicate life.


In this moment, she remembered the teachings of [member="Laina Silvias"], her mentor. She could do this, she could withstand the flood. Walls rose up around her mind as it retreated into her safe place, the Shadowlands of Kashyyk. Yes...that was the place she considered safe. She was weird that way. They were being assailed by monstrous hordes...but she was a predator, too. A big arachnid howled in anger when one of her bullets met its mark and penetrated its carapace, causing ichor to splatter across the floor.


"You there! Come over and help!" she yelled at the archer dude when it seemed like he was trying to retreat into his closet. The firemane retreated, firing her revolver at any beast that came her way, whilst her free hand blazed scorching flame. She could see a man who looked like an Alliance soldier ([member="Keric Dynt"]) take out a Charon with a couple well-placed blaster bolts.


Whit-hot plasma splashed against the side of her torso. Her light armour was no protection against it, flesh was burnt and scorched. Her eyes and firemane glowed a fiery crimson as she absorbed the heat. She felt on fire, like a walking, talking inferno that projected fire upon anything unclean. Pain blossomed into anger, and when a Charon charged an intense, thermic-lance-like beam was projected from her hand. There was a bright, blinding light, and then the air was rank with the scent of charred flesh when she cooked the beast, boiling it alive.

 

[Noire Vanya Tal]

En route to the Eiattu system
Objective B: PVE- Trade building through any of the local Ado Sector worlds
5/5 post for Aurum Saccs Bank contract expansion into the Ado Sector
| 7 |

Converting to the Galactic Basic Standard wouldn't be easy. It would take a notable amount of months before it would be possible. However, Aurum Saccs would be able to provide the Monarchy the ease of transition through all of it.

They came to large double doors, where Vieel gestured for Noire to enter. Once the doors were opened, the Companion was beckoned into a conference room. There, a welcoming gesture would request for her to sit. It was time to get to the nity gritty details.

"Alright," Noire began. "Let's start out with itemizing the Monarchy's financial situation and monetary resources."

From there, they would start a calculation of what the deposit would be valued at.

 

[Cathul Thuku]

Post: 7/20 (writer) 7/5 (IGR)
Objective: Reconstruction of banking and other financial infrastructure
Allies: GA and friends
Enemies: Unknown
Location: Jabor

"Unbanked and underbanked. How many of those are there?"

"I'll send the question back to you: why do you want to serve the unbanked and underbanked?"

"It's a question of economic well-being: the needs of the many requires economic well-being"

"Are you sure you're not a Confederate Jedi? Jedi, outside of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, usually do not concern themselves with economic matters"

"I'm tired of being suspected of having affiliations with the Confederacy of Independent Systems when I don't have one!"

Probably the lightsabers, she thought. Yes, she knew about Witches that wielded lightsabers, but across the galaxy, possession of a lightsaber usually signalled that one was either Jedi or Sith, and she definitely wasn't a Sith Lord. Not after mentioning banking practices designed to help people in dire straits and how they will be implemented. Sith Lords would engage in bait-and-switch schemes as she knew them in the banking world; although the Primeval failed economically because Sithspawn sabotaged its transportation infrastructure, the Sith Triumvirate, and the One Sith as well, failed because of all-around economic incompetence. Then again, never the bankers would suspect that there would be light-sided Force-sensitives in the banking world at all. Everyone and their dogs in the galaxy was told that banking and moneylending were easy paths to the dark side.

 

[Leos Palle]

Objective A: PvP Skirmish
Allies: [member="HK-36"] and [member="Drystan Talroth"]
Enemies: None yet
Location: Flying to the Shadowport
Post #: 3

"It's actually just Padawan. HK-36 insists on adding a G to it for a reason I have yet to ascertain. A padawan is the rank above youngling within the Jedi. We have skills in using the Force, but are not yet ready to be sent out on our own. That's why I'm here with him."

He nodded his head to the droid. Although the droid wasn't technically his Master, he was filling the role of teacher for the time being. Because of his age, he knew a great deal about Jedi and about the Force, even though he was not capable of actually touching it himself. Droids never would be because they were machines. The Force flowed through organic matter, so only organic beings could touch it. However, that didn't mean inorganic beings could not have considerable knowledge and be capable of instructing individuals in the use of the Force. Though the chastisement they got wasn't that great when it came down to it.

To be fair, he'd looked between the two and tried to ascertain if what he said was the truth, but that was difficult to do under the circumstances. He barely knew Drystan and HK was a droid, which made it impossible to read him. So he'd made an assumption that was, he'd believed, moderately safe, and harmless when it came down to it. It was an assumption involving no action so there was no fear of really stereotyping. Most people in the galaxy, after all, had never been to a shadowport, and never would be to one.

"Apologies. I made an assumption that seemed reasonable and harmless which required no follow up action. It seemed safe enough to do."

The droid brought up the prospect of combat and Poro let his hands fall to his knees. He hadn't come here in the hopes of doing combat with anyone. In fact, he rather hoped for the opposite. Combat was dangerous and often led to individuals getting hurt. That was not his way of being a Jedi. Defending others was one thing, but even in defending himself he could cause undo harm to those around him. He was acutely aware of the fact that his abilities could have repercussions that might not be immediately thought about. A mistimed application of the Force to move an object could in turn cause bodily injury to someone who was not a part of the engagement. Caution was a necessity.

"I would prefer not to fight if possible," he said, looking out the viewport as they started to land. "As for criminals, they are individuals who break the law. Regardless of what the law is, it is put in place by a sovereign entity and should be respected. That said, I understand that there are times when people are starving and they do things, such as steal, in order to survive, or to ensure the survival of their families. These are the ones we should seek to help. Those who commit crimes in the pursuit of monetary gain or simple enjoyment in doing so are the ones that could be classified as scum. Their gain often inflicts undue pain on their victims, even if it is not a physical crime."

 

[Drystan Talroth]

Objective A: PvP Skirmish
Allies: [member="HK-36"] [member="Poro Maaht"]
Enemies: Unsure
Location: Preparing to dock
Post #: 3

The Padawan's (He would try to remember that) words struck a chord with the 'young' Eldorai. He looked sideways at his new companion, pondering him openly. "You and I are roughly similar then, it would seem, Padawan."

He was right, of course. Laws made had to be respected. He thought back to the not so distant past, when his own people had been faced with the need to obey rigidly enforced laws, and had not been afraid of dealing harshly with those who flouted them. Slavers, raiders, pirates. They had flocked like carrion birds to fall upon the Eldorai at their weakest moment, and many had fallen defending their people from such lawlessness. Then again, there had been times when he himself had looked poorly upon laws.

But that was a long time ago...

"Padawan Maaht speaks truly. Stealing a loaf of bread to feed one's family in a time of need, that is an understandable crime. But I know all too well the kinds of villainy that often inhabit such places, HK."

One of his first operations with Firemane sprang to mind, when they had still been dealing with the slavers and reavers who had preyed upon the Eldorai fleeing the doom of their homeworld. They too had made a space station their base of operations, and once the Eldorai had found them, no mercy had been given to those inside.

"Those who prey on the weak, who take with no regard, who slaughter, who enslave....such beings are evil, and deserve no mercy."

His hand had tightened into a fist on his thigh as he was lost in thought, his eyes glazing over as he remembered the lack of mercy given to such people. Storming the station...blood everywhere, fire and bodies littering every deck...

He blinked rapidly a few times, falling into the very sort of self-defeating cycle that he'd been warned against as a child. Darkness wasn't feared so much, but focusing inwards to the exclusion of what was going on around you, that was dangerous.

"Apologies..." He mumbled as he felt the soft bump of the ship touching down. "Regardless, I will not engage without provocation, but if the criminals who may be aboard to seek conflict, we must surely be prepared to indulge them."