The coming storm

[Sargon Vynea]

The Astral Horizon glided along through the lights of hyperspace as Sargon stood on it's bridge besides the Lady Yun-Harla. The Axis alliance had looked to be stronger then durasteel, but already the cracks were showing everywhere inside of it. The alliance was doomed to failure, and the ultimate betrayal was already coming into play. The battle of Yaga Minor had been the first true sign of the crack in the foundation of the alliance, the CIS had never come to aid the alliance. Now as nations looked towards the newly discovered resource rich planet of Valen there was more talk of platitudes from the originator of the treaty itself, and the Fringe wasn't being fooled again.

In his hand was a datapad carrying all the information, and a copy of the Axis treaty at Kessel. It contained two simple details that were impossible for the Omega Protectorate to ignore, the purpose of the treaty was to invade the Omega Protectorate. There were a few other tidbits including that the war had been labeled as a total war until the Protectorate and the Pyre both were dead. The gem of the treaty were the attack details that Fondor was being targeted by the Atrisian Empire.

As the lights of hyperspace faded Sargon watched the view in front of him form up. There was an entire fleet around Fondor waiting to greet the Astral Horizon, and in truth he didn't blame them one bit. "Keep our shields and weapons down, Captain, and inform them the Lady Yun-Harla, and myself will be arriving on Fondor via a shuttle."

Sargon offered his arm to Spencer before marching off towards the hanger his mind going over the details of this meeting. In truth he wasn't a fan of war, but the galaxy needed to be shown the strength of the Fringe's resolve. "The plan is solid, and this treaty makes it impossible for the Protectorate to miss the intent of the treaty. Soon the galaxy will know the truth, and the Fringe's resolve will never be questioned again."

In a few moments they shuttle was underway towards the world of Fondor, capital of the Protectorate. There they would met the new Lord Protector, and give him the news that his people had just avoided an incredibly bloody conflict.

 

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Sargon Vynea"] @[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

"I hate this... thing." Ayden pulled at the collar around his neck. The high collared jacket was a part of his new attire, expected of him now that he had risen to the office of Lord Protector. It wasn't that he hadn't expected the formalities and niceties to be observed, but did the blasted thing have to be so damned uncomfortable? He made a note to seek a tailor about the dimensions of his suit. In the meantime, he turned his attention back to the table. Literally dozens of datapads stood stacked atop one another. After becoming Exarch of Corellia, Ayden had become accustomed to spending hours behind a desk, reading reports and sending orders out. He had done as much even before the private military corporation that would call itself Omega Pyre had been forged. But this was a whole new magnitude.

Dozens of systems depended on the infrastructure of the Protectorate to continue prospering. Metals had to be shipped and melted down, then shipped again. Then there were trade agreements, boarder disputes, Force cults, pirate raids, and dark rumors. He had come to appreciate exactly why Cira took so much time hiding away. It was almost enough to drive a man mad. But Ayden took it in stride. As he reached for a glass, a small light began flashing on the table that caused him to freeze. That tiny blue light had only one purpose, one meaning; the proximity buoys along one of the hyperlanes leading to Fondor had been tripped. Throwing aside the pad, Ayden keyed in the security code, activating a hidden console within the desk to remotely access the security monitoring station aboard the Starfall in orbit.

The signature was absolutely massive. Though the buoys provided an early warning, they were not sophisticated enough to know what exactly was approaching Fondor. It could have been a whole fleet or only a few ships in close formation. Whatever it was though, it was unauthorized, and only one thing with a shadow that large came unannounced. Slapping a button on the desk, Ayden had a line open to the military headquarters on the planet. "At 1127, in-system time, an unknown mass shadow was detected on approach to Fondor. We have received no communications announcing the approach of any faction. At this time, we are to assume the approaching entity is hostile. I'm declaring a state of emergency, effective immediately, within the capital city. All non-secure personnel are required to vacate the premises of all military installations and people are encouraged to remain indoors. This is not a drill."

For about ten seconds, the air around Fondor's capital was perfectly still. Then, almost as one, the entire city sprung into action. Following the Clockwork Invasion by the enigmatic droid Omni, the capital city had undergone extensive repairs and drills. Never again was a foreign power going to get the drop on them. Wings of starfighters scrambled from their stations on the ground and in orbit, pooling into prepared formations over the capital city. Battle groups lumbered into position as orbital installations warmed up their weapons and primed warheads. Ayden retreated to a secure underground bunker beneath the rebuilt Prex Tower. Dozens of monitors were alight with brilliant blue and yellow light while people hurried around the room, scrambling to prep for the arrival of the unknown ship.

As the ship dropped into realspace, it would find itself facing the combined force of twenty-eight battle groups, six thousand starfighters, and dozens of orbital defense stations of varying size and armament. Fortune must have been with the mysterious ship, as two weeks past there had been a regional exercise being conducted and had seen as many as sixty-three battle groups in the system at once. Tensions were high as the unknown ship did not move after its initial drop to realspace. A moment later, a monitor flashed as sensors got a profile lock on the ship, matching it to the profile of a battlecruiser belonging to a group known as the Lords of the Fringe; a fitting name, given their location.

Before an order could be given to engage, a communique came through. Apparently the Lady Yun-Harla would be approaching the planet in a shuttle. Curiosity and agitation ran high through the Corellian's veins. If they were seeking an audience with the Protectorate, why the feth did they have to show up unannounced with such a massive vessel!? "Keep our forces on standby, in case more ships arrive and this is just a trap to lure us into lowering our guard." The prospect of that seemed low, since the hyperspace buoys had been silent since the initial alert, but Ayden was going to take no chances.

"Send two fighters out and escort the shuttle from the halfway point to the tower. I'll meet them in the State Room." Ayden's voice was cool with displeasure, much in the same way that Cira spoke when annoyed. There was going to be a lot of explaining to do when this 'Yun-Harla' showed up. Ayden did not care to be surprised in this fashion. If they didn't have a damned good reason for him having put the whole system on near lockdown, there would be hell to pay.

 

[Allyson Locke]

The young woman sat on the command chair and waited as they entered the place she thought she would hate. She remembered the tensions of the previous leader when they had met in the throne room on Eshan. The woman was quick and to the point, bit rough around the edges – but under all of that she had a good heart and her people were the reason she did what she did. Pressing the mask upon her face she picked up hints of hostility from the other side through the empathy, but she knew once they presented things, their plan would unfold.

Whispers were a dangerous thing, they caused stress and worry through the minds of allies. Spencer wasn’t one to let someone pull wool over her eyes nor did she want anything to happen to the men and women that followed her. She had two groups of people to think about, the people with in the Fringe and the people on Eshan. Both groups held her heart and she had to protect them, a trait she shared with the former Lady Protector. Standing, she adjusted the white leather tunic. Her mask pressed against her face for the time being, she knew everything at this moment resided on trust.

“Sargon whatever happens here, please always protect the Fringe.”

Moving towards the shuttle she stepped in and waited. Her mind contemplating what she knew she needed to do. Her identity and the treaty Sargon held with him would hopefully gain them something they needed greatly. Her mind wandered to the Unknown Regions and she smirked softly, she wanted all of it – another trait she picked up from another woman. Glancing back towards Sargon as he joined her in the shuttle and it took off to meet the fighters.

“It’s important they listen to us, we must be honest and make sure that they know the true intent of the Axis. I will not have someone make choices for me or the Fringe. I hate cowards.”

Looking back out the window she watched the stars sparkle in the sky behind the weaponry and the power of the Protectorate.

@[member="Ayden Cater"] @[member="Sargon Vynea"]

 

[Sargon Vynea]

Watching through the window at the fighter escort Sargon stayed silent his eyes only moving occasionally to the arrayed ships of the Omega Protectorate. With a clear mind he channeled his own calmness to Spencer as he moved through the space around the ship with the Force guiding his senses. He could feel the abundance of life around him as he got quieter, and wondered what she was feeling right now coming from all that life. Turning towards her he gave her a small smile, "Protect the Fringe? By the Force do you see how much we scared them with just one ship?"

It was a rough joke given the absolute absurd amount of enemy firepower surrounding him, but something was needed to lighten the mood. Moving up towards the cockpit the red skinned pressed hard against the control panel as he leaned over them to peer at the planet. It grew larger in the window as they approached, and much to his relief there was no bright flash of blaster fire, and a fiery end for the pair. The shuttle finished it's flight and landed without incidence, and an honor guard was already waiting to escort them to the Lord Protector.

Marching behind them Sargon wore a simple green robe, and some rather comfortable loose clothing hidden underneath. He brought nothing with him besides the data though, their arrival was going to get them the attention the situation warranted it, but he didn't need anymore distrust. This mission was too important for misunderstandings, and delays. "Well this would have been an interesting time under other circumstances, no?"

Finally they came before the new Lord Protector, a man Sargon was completely unfamiliar with, and a man who looked more then a little displeased. With a bow of his head Sargon offered his callused hand to the man. "Greetings, Lord Protector, I apologize for the suddenness of our business, but I'm afraid it couldn't wait. Nor did I trust holo communications to get this information to you without being heard. My name is Governor Sargon Vynea of the Fringe Confederacy, and this as you may well know is Lady Yun-Harla of the Fringe. We are here to stop the shedding of blood, your peoples' blood, and ours." Offering the datapad in his left hand he knew the Lord Protector would be extremely displeased with what he found there, a full copy of the Axis alliance treaty.

@[member="Spencer Jacobs"] @[member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Sargon Vynea"] @[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ayden stood in the stateroom with a deep scowl on his face. He was quickly coming to understand exactly why Cira seemed to wear a perpetual frown on her face. Any time a foreign power wanted something, they could never be bothered to send a message or some kind of heads up, and they inevitably made asses of themselves when they showed up unannounced and marched around like they had every right to be in restricted areas. On more than one occasion, Ayden had witnessed dignitaries and random people tackled to the ground and restrained when they insisted on marching towards the Prex's office.

Everything he knew said that something was off about this. Something wasn't at all right and his curiosity was beating his anger and sense of security. If the Fringe wanted to meet so bad, and were willing to risk an incident by appearing in their flagship, it had to have been important. So he waited as confirmation came through that the shuttle had landed and two guests were being escorted to the State Room. One of the guests had a familiar aura, someone he knew and had met before. The question was who.

That question didn't have to linger too long before the doors opened, revealing the dignitaries. One of them, an Iridonian from the looks, introduced himself as Governor Sargon Vynea. However, Ayden's attention was held by the second person. Introduced as Lady Yun-Harla, she immediately took hold of his curiosity by her Force signature. At its most basic level, it felt familiar, like he had been near it before. But not, up close, it was... scrambled, like attempting to listen to a favorite song through a cacophony of static. Even more maddening, though her face was partially obscured by a mask, it only reinforced the strange notion that he had met this woman before.

"Greetings, Governor. I must say, your visit is highly unusual. Usually we;re given advanced notice as when we should expect dignitaries." Despite his inward feelings, Ayden kept his voice pleasant and a cordial smile on his face. Taking the datapad, he turned it over a few times without looking at it. "You know, some might suspect a plot against them if a foreign power arrived with such a large battleship and no warning." He opened the pad and started to make another remark when his grin faltered. A cloud seemed to pass over his face as the mirth visibly drained from his face, only to be replaced by cold hatred. For a moment, it seemed as though he'd snap the pad in half, such was the tension in his knucles and the gravity of the Force pooling around him.

However, his mood softened and he relaxed his grip on the pad before turning to his two guests. "What's your angle here? You signed this treaty the same as the other powers on this list. What are you hoping to gain from showing me this? Why tell me about this?" His curiosity checked his anger, but only just. The Corellian was dancing on the edge of a knife and hoped that they didn't set him off. It seemed the wolves were at the gate and he needed to figure out how much time he had before they attacked.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer remained quiet through the exchange of the men, reaching up she removed the mask from her face and removed her influence on the necklace allowing the man to feel her through the force clearly now. Taking in a deep breath, she held it for a moment letting the Lord Protector finish speaking. She picked up his growing anger while he continued to read the treaty that they had signed – she was there while this was happening, her attention was on her influences in the Republic. Closing her eyes she waited for everything and her face wrinkled with pain as she felt the full force of the Lord Protectors feelings.

Exhaling, Spencer stepped in front of her guard and nodded hoping that what she said was enough.

“I apologize for the gesture of our entrance in your space, Lord Protector. My name is Spencer Jacobs This document isn’t a treaty it’s a declaration of war upon your people. We share space with the Atrisian and you Lord Protector share space with The Confederacy in the south. Both leaders came to us threatening our lively hood; we signed to protect our people. We are strong, but against two factions attacking us on both ends of space…I do not and will not inflict unnecessary harm to the people under my care. I feel the same as the Queen of Eshan within the Republic.”

Giving time for the man in front of her for everything to sink in, this meant it would give her a moment to gauge his reaction for things and if she should continue on. The more she thought about things in the silence she decided it was a do or die situation – she continued once more.

“The Fringe is abandoning the Axis as the plot was nothing close to how we run things. Our angle here is to notify you of the upcoming attack on your fronts and with our dislike of how things were handled by Genesis Rostu, I give you my promise that the Fringe will side with the Protectorate.”

@[member="Ayden Cater"] @[member="Sargon Vynea"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

If Ayden was shocked to see the face of Spencer Jacobs in front of him, he did not show it. In his mind, it clicked exactly why the fuzzy Force presence felt familiar; he had been at Polis Massa when she had attempted to stretch over the battlefield in favor of the Republic when an ancient Sith device had done... something to her and nearly driven her insane. Even so, as he looked down at this treaty, this declaration, he could not help but feel some small amount of anger bubble over his walls. That so many would conspire against the Protectorate, that they would lash out at someone who had done them no wrong...

"I will make one thing clear." The Corellian's voice was low and steely. A moment later, a large cabinet violently shook for a half-second before shooting through the air and right out one of the windows. "I do not trust you. Either of you, nor the Fringe. I see your name signed onto this declaration the same as the others." His eyes practically glowed with anger as he set it down carefully, uncharacteristic of him considering the previous outburst. "You claim that you were threatened and signed on only to save yourselves. Cowards... But worse than cowards, fools." Ayden abruptly turned and tapped the console on his desk, causing a holoprojector to lower from the ceiling. A moment later and a three dimensional map of the galaxy appeared, with various areas highlighted and colored.

"This is the galaxy, its major powers and their territory, give or take a dozen parsecs or so. This," he pressed his finger into a yellow mass. "Is you, the Fringe. And over here we have the Atrisians and the Protectorate." He passed along each respective territory before be stopped and stared at a green mass. "And this... I think this is the Confederacy. Strange that they seem to fall on the other side of Protectorate space, leaving the Fringe completely safe from their wrath." He turned and faced them both with an unnervingly blank look on his face. "This declaration is weeks, months old, at this point. If you so feared for your lives and the lives of those you govern, why wait this long to come to us? Time is the enemy of us all, Miss Jacobs, and time has defeated you. Give me one reason why I should believe a word you've told me? For all I know, this declaration is a farce designed to manipulate the Protectorate into lashing out at your enemies for you. I am not a fool, Miss Jacobs, and I will not suffer a fool to try and manipulate me. So I ask again; what's your angle?"

 

[Sargon Vynea]

The Zabrak gave a half smile, and nodded at the new Lord Protector's words. "I understand your anger, Lord Protector, but there is little purpose in it at the moment. We bring this to you, because we desire peace, and we are not here to persuade you invade anyone or anything. The wish is simple, peace. You cannot have peace without first exposing the truth of war that was at your borders. Call us fools, or cowards if you will, but you do know better then that. The Fringe Confederacy has never backed down from a fight, and we wouldn't do so now either. This isn't the time for such things though, I was there at that meeting. I represented the Fringe, and I did what I thought was best at the time.


Walking towards the man Sargon opened himself up to the Force, and left his mind open for probing. If anything he said was a lit it be easy to know, and he was defenseless before this man. "I did not like this invasion, not for a moment. It was I who asked the purpose of it, and it was I who stripped it down to its reality. I'm not a conquerer, or an invader my nature, Truth be told I'd like nothing more then to increase the prosperity of my people, and the strength of the Fringe Confederacy. This treaty was the death of Ithor though, and to not enter was to be left alone on the outside. Tensions were already high after Phu joined the Confederacy due to its proximity to Fondor, and it wasn't the time to stand alone. So tell me Lord Protector, how far would you go to keep your people safe, and promise security for them? Would you align yourself against your own morals? Yes we signed on to invade the Protectorate, but I'm not here to ask for trust, or aid, or any invasion. I just want peace for my people, I want legionnaires to grow old and die as grandfathers. I want the Fringes of space to be a forgotten nightmare that children hear as old wives tales, and you can call me whatever you'd like as long as I get that."


It was as honest as the Zabrak could be, and with his eyes locked on Cater he simply left himself open to his force awareness. If the man wanted to waste his rage let it be wasted on him, and not those he protected, including the Yun-Harla.

@[member="Ayden Cater"] @[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

@Spencer Jacobs

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer smiled as she listened to the men talk; she took in both their words and nodded towards Sargon. His idea for presenting the treaty was something similar to hers, but Spencer’s agenda was slightly different. She gained a quick understanding of the Lord Protector from the way he reacted, he wanted the truth the whole truth, possibly his past was filled with women who lied. Either way, Spencer ran her hand through her blonde hair as she waited for the moment to respond.

“I’m going to be bluntly honest with you Lord Protector. We spear headed Phu to be near the Atrisians. They sit quite cozy in your back yard as well as the Republic’s. The Fringe is stopped from expanding with them there sitting happily on Atrisia. I brought you this document after all this time for two reasons. One is the reason I’ve already stated, I have no issues with the Protectorate and see no reasons for us to be a part of this war alliance, my second reason is because I plan on invading the Atrisian capital very soon.”

Her eyes never leaving the man as she took a step forward moving in front of Sargon. She didn’t fear for her life here, she would easily sense it if it was in danger though of course. Thoughts continued to spin in her head, mostly the turn of events that this conversation would be starting. Still through the chaos in her mind, a calm exterior remained.

“They dislike force users, something that bothers me since in my faction we have many with them being so close I do worry about the draw back. Other than that, I desire their territory and I come to you with this treaty because again – you deserve to know and I would ask that you do not interfere or answer their plea for help once we invade.”


@[member="Ayden Cater"] @[member="Sargon Vynea"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

@[member="Sargon Vynea"] @[member="Spencer Jacobs"]

Ayden laughed, a harsh barking laugh, and shook his head incredulously. "Oh, okay. So they don't like you. Well then, by all means, go kill them all." The sarcasm was impossible to miss, like a bantha herd rampaging through a starship. "I have neither the time nor inclination to stop you. If wolves want to eat wolves, I'll stand by and happily watch them rip each others throats out. That's not my concern." Clearly, the Lord Protector was not placated by this treaty alone. "However, let me make one thing crystal-clear." His tone chilled drastically as he looked between the two of them. "If you -ever- show up on my doorstep with a warship like this again, I will slag your ship and send whoever inherits your rule the bill. You have Carath to thank for not being blown to pieces the moment you dropped into realspace today."

He turned from the pair and dug into a cabinet, pulling out a bottle of whiskey and setting it on the table. "And I pray to Duihr, for your sake, that I don't hear reports of a massacre of civilians when you go on your petty invasion. Because if I do, if I'm given any reason to think that you've killed for the pleasure of it, I will lay waste to all of the Unknown Regions until I'm satisfied that you and your ilk have been destroyed. The galaxy has enough to worry about with the Sith. I won't stand by while another group tries to rise in the south." There was little doubt, as Ayden raised a glass to his lips, that he was completely serious.