Faction Summon Your Council, I Have Secrets | [ THR / TJO ]

[Her]

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"For the present, the more covert we remain, the more influence we can have."
-- Darth Tenebrous

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Tags: Ala Quin | Lily Rhodes | Colette | Connel Vanagor | Sela Basran | Sibylla Abrantes [ Open to all TJO characters ]

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' Summon Your Council, I have Secrets '
A story set in the High Republic, within the Shiraya's Sanctuary

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A gust of wind caught the thrall of dark robes laced upon a figure shrouded in enigma as Her traversed Shiraya's Sanctuary on course for the meditation summit. The Gallo Mountains found themselves caught in the eye of a spring time morning which casted rays of sunshine upon the edifice of this Jedi monument, and were at odds to the layer of cold dew which had settled upon the ramparts of their home, as Her walked towards the summit ahead enamoured with terrible secrets and a conspiracy which threatened Naboo itself.

By days end they were set to be shared with the most powerful and wisest Jedi left in the galaxy, Her planned.

It had been a standard three weeks since the stranger arrived via a starcraft of design and origin that were as about as alien as you could get. Alongside identifying herself as E. Nova (a former Knight of the Old Republic circa. 844 ABY) Her sequestered themselves to the dormitory and made them a temporary home away from Enarc until their request for a summit with the likes of Ala Quin (and her other peers whom sat on the Jedi Council) could be arranged to meet in person. Rumours around the Sanctuary during the weeks suggested that one of their own was coming back home to re-join them and others told of an Imperial expat in their midst who did not belong anymore.

Either one way, or by another, the truth always comes out in the end.

Stopping in the centre of the meditation summit, upon a circular structure located at the highest point of the Jedi enclave, Her folded both arms into either of their sleeves and turned their obscured gaze (hidden behind a pair of shades) to look upon her former ilk accompanied by an astromech which stopped to their left. Years of conspiracy among the Outer Rim systems had taught the Dark Lord much about their enemies in the Sith Order. Their machinations had subsequently brought down the Empire of the Lost, the Imperial Confederation, and the Diarchy as they had each conspired with Her until ill fate took them each.

Regimes toppled and burned asunder by the Sith Masters of the Stygian Caldera and Mandalorian boots upon Yaga Minor...

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[Ala Quin]

The most powerful and wisest of Jedi.

Ala Quin stood staring into the mirror, a fingernail scraping at the corner of her eye. Her nose wrinkled as she pulled her finger away. How could the corner of one's eye produce so much...goop?

She washed her hands thoroughly, scrubbing away not just the gunk, but the nagging, queasy feeling of being dirty.

These were the matters of grave import rolling about her mop-topped noggin as she stepped into the hallway leading toward the council chambers.

The doors slid open, and Ala offered a thin smile to the few already gathered. "Look sharp, team. We have a Sith inbound. I highly recommend taking nothing for granted. Disbelieve half of what they say and discount the rest. Even the 'truth' is only being offered to serve an end they desire."

| Outfit: xxx | Tag: Her Colette Sela Basran @Council | Equipment: Twin yellow sabers |​

 

[Lily Decoria]

Location: Shirayan Temple
Outfit: Jedi Attire
Equipment: Arwr Da, Hydrangea Moonblade (concealed)
Tag: Her | Ala Quin | Colette | Sela Basran

Lily had spent the morning doing her usual training routine and started organising the training regime that she wanted to try out with Kito . See if she could get her Padawan working as hard and as intensely as Lily trained herself on the daily. It was going to be a mix of cardio, weapons training and some weight training so Kito could build some muscle. As she was planning the morning routine so that it covered everything that Kito needed to get done in the morning before the day could start, a message came through and it was a call that someone that Lily did not recognise was requesting a meeting with the council.

Curious but Lily figured it would be good for her to be there and see what was happening.

Stepping out of her office, Lily made her way to the council room, her thoughts lingering on the routine for Kito still as she wandered. Thinking on whether she needed to add a meal planner or some form of dietary advisement. Would that be too much? Lily was meant to be the Master and training Kito to become the best version of herself but Lily wasn't sure how in depth that meant that she should go. Lily worked hard in the training and pushed herself to finding new limits in order to be the best fighter that she could be. It would be bad if Lily didn't offer that chance to her Padawan.

But maybe something to consider later. See how this training regime suggestion goes down first.

Arriving at the council chambers, Lily gave a bow to Master Quin. "Greetings Master Quin." Hearing that this was going to be a Sith that they were meeting with, Lily was very curious on what was going to be discussed. "Perhaps they will provide some information on the Blackwall? While we might not believe everything they say. Doesn't mean we should discount the chance to finally gain some advantages in fighting the Sith." War was inevitable from the way things felt right now and Lily was hopeful in figuring out ways that they could coordinate attacks and chip away at the Sith Order as well as the Sith Covenant.

 

[Sela Basran]

SHIRAYA'S SANCTUARY
IN GRANDMASTER QUIN'S POSSE
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Sela felt a tremor of apprehension in the Force and allowed her hand to brush against the lightsaber at her belt.

She kept her steady gaze on the Grandmaster as she reached up to smooth a strand of silver-white hair that had come loose at the nape of her neck. Sela hadn't encountered a Sith in some time, and she felt a spike of something like excitement at the prospect. Not that she was looking for trouble, but she was anxious to be prepared for it just in case.

Sela slid her hands into opposite sleeves and considered the matter.

"Ought we to clear the meditation area, Master?" she asked. "At least of Knights and Padawans. We do not know this so-called Sith's intentions, but it seems like tempting fate too much if we do not take precautions, no?"

Ala Quin | Lily Decoria | Her

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[Colette]

Sela Basran Lily Decoria Ala Quin Her

Her elbows rested on her knees. Eyes closed to take in the silence before the rest of the council began to gather. She gave each of them a warm look and a nod as they piled in before going back to her meditation between each moment.

Didn't have to tell Colette twice about how much trust to put in words. It was a policy best applied to just about everyone. Words were cheap and meaningless. Action far less so. When someone came offering secrets — a thing that inherently was just a word against another — there was very little to take stock of.

So she remained in her seat. Thinking, pondering, imagining what words a Sith could deem so important they demanded an audience with the grandmaster of a whole Order specifically.

She stopped once it became clear that such idle fantasies served no practical concern for the moment. At the very least it was bound to be something interesting, she supposed, and waited for the whole thing to start already.

 

[Her]

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Tags: Ala Quin | Lily Decoria | Colette | Sela Basran | Sibylla Abrantes

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Standing in the centre of the summit stood Her. Wordlessly, with an eerie quietness, the woman caught between the watching Jedi stared back as they took their seats or places. A familiar pang caught the fallen Jedi in their midst as she realised that she did not know any of them. Yes, Her had met Ala Quin (before her ascension to the position of Jedi Grandmaster) during the debacle involving the Larkspur Crescent, which to this day, had yet to be found and the fate of her crew a mystery unsolved by the venerable clone who had forewarned her peers that the face of Tarsai is a Sith Lord. But that could hardly be called a relationship in spite of the fact that Her had tried to court one with Quin at one-point-in-time after Ala's investigation had led to nowhere.

It was another reminder that this was a different time. All of Her's peers, friends and comrades were all dead by the march of the long dead One Sith, or were far too gone as they pursued the pathology of the Dark side of the Force. Still living among the Jedi within the Shiraya's Sanctuary these past few weeks had been a brief respite from the reality of the situation that Her had quietly enjoyed immensely. Away from the fog of Lianna City and the conspiracies wrought amid the Imperial remnants was something akin to a holiday for them.

But under these watchful gazes of the Jedi, with an air of tension that was palpable even up here upon the meditation summit, Her was reminded that she no longer belonged to the Jedi Order and it silently hurt the undercover Dark Lord of the Sith as she pursued an agenda immersed within the tapestry of Darth Bane.

"Allow me to introduce myself formally. My name is Ella Nova," Her lied after breaking their silence.

"I am a former Knight of the Old Republic, and today, an economist based on Enarc. Up until a few weeks ago I was also a former member of the Establishment for the Commission of Civilian Interests based in New Aldera. This organisation, founded by Karl von Strauss, was a civilian scheme which provided oversight for government over the Imperial Confederation whom succeeded the Empire of the Lost within the Ash Worlds and Tion Hegemony."

A former Jedi turned Imperial, and if Grandmaster Quin was correct in her educated guess, a Sith Lord.

"Also, with thanks to Loa Sodi's repatriation and naturalization scheme, I am recent a naturalised citizen of the High Republic..."

Aurelian Veruna 's influence and desire for power, indeed, knew no bounds.

Averting their gaze away from the crowd Her lowered herself down to the height of the astromech at their side and programmed it to begin displaying a holographic representation of the Ash Worlds, Tion Hegemony and Thandon Star Cluster.

The telemetry was old comparatively to recent data and maps indicating the specific regions highlighted in the Outer Rim Territories for the Imperial Confederation had collapsed following it's second incursion into the Corporate Sector after it invaded the Dostra system. Still, emblems of the Imperial remnants indicated their former territories near and around Tion while the familiar red of the Sith Order hovered above Thandon and the various star systems located within the star nebulae, most notably, the Stygian Caldera.

"Firstly I am here to debrief the Jedi Council regarding a conspiracy to destroy the High Republic which began in the Outer Rim systems," Her explained as she stood back up.

As she spoke to the amassed Jedi, Her begun to walk around the holographic representation of the Outer Rim Territories as charted by Imperial cartographers that she had, up until recently, called colleague with their signature and TK codification hovering above planets there specifically highlighted by the holographic programme. Brosi flashed within the Thandon Star Cluster while other planets, such as Lianna and Minntooine, were highlighted in former Imperial territory.

"Secondly I am here to organise my re-entry into the Jedi Order..."

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[Ala Quin]

Ala leaned back into the chair that was still far too big for her. It was awkward. If her back was against the back of the chair, her legs did not reach the ground. If she sat too far forward she looked uncertain and ill at ease. So, she crossed her legs, and shuffled backwards, making the space her own.

"Yes. The meeting may prove fruitful, Knight Decoria," she said. Lily's last name still left a pang of unfinished business in Ala's heart. "But, I am sure you will agree, everything we hear must needs be verified and even then, taken with a great deal of caution. If a swindler gives a wounded man a crutch, the wounded man would be wise not to put all its weight upon it."

To Master Basran she turned. "A wise consideration. If you would see to it immediately, it would certainly lessen the fall out should anything go awry."

He gaze fell upon Collette, for just a moment. Ala needed to dedicate time to connecting with the Knight. So much to do. So much to do.

Upon the arrival of their guest, Ala bid them speak their piece, and kept silence until they had indicated their words complete. Her expression was neutral. Unmoved. Unreadable. Her fingers twitched though, tapping on her knees impatiently.

A long stillness fell over the room. Ala leaned forward slowly.

"We have met a couple of times in the past, haven't we?" Ala said, knowing the answer, "interesting to finally put a name to the face. But tell me, Ella Nova, how many other names do you go by? How many other titles?"

| Outfit: xxx | Tag: Her Sela Basran Colette Lily Decoria |​

 

[Her]

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" Hiding in plain sight is a superior disguise . . . "
-- Palpatine

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Tags: Ala Quin | Lily Decoria | Colette | Sela Basran | Sibylla Abrantes

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"We have met a couple of times in the past, haven't we? Interesting to finally put a name to the face. But tell me, Ella Nova, how many other names do you go by? How many other titles?"

As Her continued to step through the holographic representation of the former territories of the Imperial Confederation, and that of the Sith Order's vassal state, she replied to Ala's questions: "Which were you curious the most about?"

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[Ala Quin]

Ala smiled. "I am sure you are smart enough to figure out which one concerns me the most."

| Outfit: xxx | Tag: Her Sela Basran Colette Lily Decoria |​

 

[Her]

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Tags: Ala Quin | Sela Basran | Lily Decoria | Colette | Sibylla Abrantes | Taregh Garon | Marlon Sularen | Karl Von Strauss

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"I am sure you are smart enough to figure out which one concerns me the most."

Her passed Ala as she fired a quick fire question in response full of wit and implication. Although their crimson eyes were concealed behind the pair of spectacles that she wore Her could not help but look away from Quin while she smiled. As someone who had spent the past five years lying and living through impersonations or acts Her was acutely aware that looking away like this was the tell of a liar and there was no doubt that she was, indeed, someone who lived by lies. Alas the truth was far more asinine for Her hated that smile and it's ability to install the flare of anxiety or doubt that it brought up whenever she was in the same room as this woman.

"I cannot really tell," Her lied again. Before Ala could interject the enigma traversing the meditation summit amid conspiracy and holograms began to talk about the worlds hovering above them.

"The Outer Rim systems are dangerous and full of people or organisations that would do their worse to a Jedi even if they were no longer affiliated to or had called an enclave their home for a considerable amount of time. Take for example a former colleague of mine. Taregh Garon is a fine Inquisitor. No doubt about that. A lethal hunter of Force sensitives and head of the Inquisitorius formed after the second Imperial occupation of the Tion Hegemony was sworn in under the rule of his late master Liraeth Deschart..."

A veiled threat. Yeah, this woman knows Jedi killers and worked with them. For years.

"...I can only imagine what he would have done to me if he had discovered that I was raised and trained by the Jedi Order..."

As Her turned their back to Ala and continued to walk aimlessly through the holograms floating around them (projected by the astromech she had walked in with) she left it to the imagination of the Jedi in the room as to what the Grand Inquisitor would have done to this stranger who called herself a former Jedi also and why (or perhaps better to ask how) she had called such a man a colleague amid the ranks of the Imperial Confederation before it collapsed into remnants after the Second Battle of Brosi.

"Yes, the alias and title of Warden Primus was really helpful in keeping myself alive and useful to the Imperials," Her admitted to the room as she passed Colette while catching their eyes within the reflection of the rims of their glasses as they glowed in holographic light while Her walked and talked to the other Jedi in the summit.

"Calling myself by such things avoided the wrath from the likes of Sularen or Kilran when I was working with them against the Thandon-Sith. Although I somehow think von Strauss would have been more amenable to me then his peers if he had known he had been working with a Jedi the entire time..."

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