Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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The Crusade Effect (Keira)

[member="Keira Ticon"]


The dear reader may be justified in wondering what this title has to do with the thread topic. Alas, this writer is not good at coming up with titles. Rest assured, star brat shall not appear and force a red-green-blue ending on us.


Hopefully.


Without further ado, the Ardarvia, a frigate with some guns that served as the Firemane power couple's command ship and mobile home, emerged from the depths of hyperspace, manifesting in orbit above the world Echoy'la. It was a planet with history. Fairly recently discovered, it had been lost to Primeval during Akala's mad rampage across the stars. But now the Mandalorian Crusaders held sway here, having claimed the world as their capital during their Reclamation campaign.


Today, Siobhan Kerrigan had come to visit. The Countess stood aboard the bridge as the stars blurred around her before the ship appeared in real space. Her long red hair cascaded about her shoulders in a true mane that framed her viciously scarred face, hands were clasped behind her back, her stance radiated authority, dignity and more than a little haughtiness, though her eyes betrayed curiosity as she took in the myriad celestial bodies that dotted the cold void.


Truth be told, it was a new experience for her since, so far, she hadn't interacted with the Crusaders. The two Mandalorian factions had almost come to blows in what would have been a probably self-defeating, pointless struggle over who should sit upon the Iron Throne and wear the crown of Mand'alor, before both had joined forces and delivered the death blow to the Republic at Kashyyyk, ending a nation that had been dying for more than a decade.


By now a change of the guard had occured, and a woman by the name of Keira Ticon was anointed as leader of the Crusaders. Of her, Siobhan knew only a little, though she recalled hearing the name during the Republic's so-called Red Dawn crisis, when the media had branded her as 'Lady Vader' for commanding the Lasedri régime's clone army.


Siobhan had her own thoughts about that particular episode, some of which deviated from the mainstream. Much later, Ticon had participated in the negotiations following the Roche Invasion, and in the process she and her clone troopers joined the Mandalorians. It probably said a lot about her as a commander if the soldiers were willing to follow her into the embrace of the Resol'nare and later fight against their former comrades in arms, at least the Countess thought so. Beyond wishing to seek to expand her business, she was interested in meeting this enigmatic woman.


A helmsman infomed her that the appropriate clearance codes had been transmitted to the Mandalorian authorities. Owing to its importance as a capital world and as an, albeit limited, source of beskar, Echoy'la was under heavy guard. Assuming she received permission, the Countess would soon be on her way planetside aboard a shuttle flying Firemane colours.
 
It was rare indeed for anyone in today's galaxy to want to do nothing more than meet and discuss business. However, that was exactly what one [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] had contacted her wishing to accomplish. The offer was one she had accepted, if more so out of curiosity than anything else. After all, one didn't spend such copious amounts of time on the battlefield and not learn of its other inhabitants, and Kerrigan was a name she had heard floating around for quite some time now. The other woman was a force to be reckoned with and a veritable hurricane in battle if anything she'd been told through the grapevine was to be believed, not to mention that she took to telekinetics just as Keira herself did, and that by itself was reason enough to warrant a discussion, in her eyes.

In contrast to what she had donned for the talks on Voss her dress now was entirely casual, comprised of combat boots, worn jeans, a loose tanktop and her leather jacket. The only weaponry she bothered with were her two lightsabers and the tomahawk hanging at her other hip, their presence a statement that she respected the other as a warrior in her own right. Something told her this discussion would go much smoother than the one with the Jedi, if just because the two shared a similar mindset. The other was a Dark Jedi as well, and that was reason enough for her to already lend a certain amount of respect to the visitor. At the very least that meant she wouldn't be spouting the same Jedi rhetoric she had already heard far too much of on Voss.

Soon enough she was notified that the clearance signals had been given, meaning that the visitor would be arriving in short order. Taking in a breath she released it in a sigh, all of a sudden feeling decades more old than her thirty-one years. It seemed as if she had negotiated in order to prevent this or that conflict thousands of times over, and to no avail. Inevitably she always found herself immersed in this or that war before too long, and that possibility had only increased dramatically with her being appointed as the head of the Crusaders in her brother's absence.

But today wasn't the day for that. This would hopefully be a relatively typical talk, with no outbursts and threats of violence from either side. Eventually she made her way to the spaceport in order to greet the other woman and set things off to a proper start.
 
[member="Keira Ticon"]


Dramatic things had happened over the recent days. First, the Sith Intifada had challenged the Silver Jedi's control over the Sith Worlds and met very little resistance, spreading terror and rousing the rabble. A Silver commander had bombed a population centre on Korriban occupied by the Sith. Facing public outrage and being unable or unwilling to defend the Caldera, the Silvers had withdrawn.


In Siobhan's opinion, they'd done so out of cowardice. To her, it was weakness and dereliction of duty. A woman by the name of Charzon Loulan had been held responsible for the atrocity on Korriban. She believed the Jedi would be just as unwilling to punish her appropriately as they'd been to fight the Sith. A lightsabre to the throat would solve the issue. There was probably a reason why Siobhan's time as a Jedi had been terribly brief and not very successful. They were more fixated on maintaining their pretty halo than in doing what needed to be done. Sometimes the right thing was not what looked good on your light side alignment score. War was not a fairy tale or a leisurely stroll through the park. It was hell, pure and simple.


Clearance signal had been given, and so Siobhan boarded a shuttle bearing Firemane colours. In short order, it exited the Ardarvia's hangar bay and pierced the planet's atmosphere, gracefully descending like a bird. There were many things on her mind as she gazed out of the viewing port. One of these were the defences of Tygara, since it was evident to her that it would be folly to rely on the Silver Jedi. Based on what she'd heard, negotiations between them and the Mandalorian Crusaders had gone...poorly, though her information was mainly based on rumours and hearsay.


She could perceive Keira's presence upon the ethereal plane when she reached out with her senses. The woman's powerful, dark presence was palpable. Ideally, a meeting with a woman who walked a similar road as she would go well since both ought to speak the same language and stood outside of the Jedi-Sith two-party system. Generally, Siobhan found that Mandalorians were fairly straightforward to deal with if you showed respect without being fawning or a wuss, did not preach or speechify.


Finally, the shuttle reached its destination at the port, and Siobhan arose, as the hatch was opened and the landing ramp lowered. She was in her late thirties, but felt much older. More than two decades of fighting had taken their toll on her scarred body, and so she was leaning on a cane. However, despite her physical disabilities, her aura still projected power and authority. Her chin was held high when she walked down the ramp.


The Countess had thought an absurdly long time about what to wear. For someone who often waded through literal rivers of blood, she was rather particular about her looks when off the battlefield. Her beskar armour seemed an obvious choice since she was meeting a Mandalorian leader, but might send the wrong message if her host chose not to don armour. Wearing a dress or a business suit was right out when engaging a warrior people and Siobhan was not feeling super casual for now. Perhaps her not really fashion-conscious writer was overthinking things.


In the end, she'd settled on a snappy scarlet Firemane uniform that made her look authoritative. A knee-length skirt and black leather boots completed the ensemble. Her lightsabre was strapped to her belt, more out of habit than practicality since her real power lay in her command of the Force. Aside from this, she carried no weapons except a shatterpistol holstered on her hip.


A long mane of red hair framed an attractive, but viciously scarred face. Her fight with [member="Matsu Xiangu"] had partly blinded her, and though the damage had been repaired, scarring around one of her eye sockets. Likewise, the burn marks on her face had not entirely faded. Some scars were too persistent to be banished by ethereal healing and bacta, but the harsh lines etched into her features did not bother Siobhan.


She could see Keira had arrived and headed towards the woman the media had once branded 'Lady Vader'. The thought provided Siobhan with a spark of amusement, for some of her underlings had labelled Firemane's grim intelligence chief [member="Mirien Valdier"] with the same moniquer. She took in the two weapons the Mandalorian carried on her person, two lightsabres and a cool looking tomahawk. Appropriate equipment for a warrior woman.


"Warmarshal Ticon. I'm Siobhan Kerrigan. A pleasure to meet you. Your reputation precedes you." Try as she might, Siobhan simply could not imitate the accent of a well-bred blue blood without, in the words of [member="Tegaea Alcori"], sounding like a mentally deficient hyena. Of course, Siobhan was quite certain that most aristos were deficient. So she still sounded like the Rimkin she'd been born as.
 
Before the other woman so much as came into sight Keira had already gotten a feel for her presence in the Force, seeing parts of herself she recognized in how the redhead carried herself once [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] came into sight. The two were similar perhaps in more ways than she would like to admit, but it was refreshing in comparison to what she had witnessed among the Jedi. It meant less bickering about morality and what was right, and more so actually getting things done. Something told her this would be a successful endeavor, if just because the two of them would likely get along on a personal level that was difficult to achieve with someone like her, especially with the recent happenings in the galaxy.

A nod was her only initial response, and she couldn't help but flash a smile at the greeting. "I can't say for certain whether or not that's an entirely good thing, at this point. At the very least you've heard of me, I suppose." Keira nodded for the other woman to follow beside her as she walked. "It's nice to meet you as well. I do believe we've shared quite a few battlefields together." Of course, that shouldn't have been a surprise, given the frequency and consistency of war through the years that had only seemed to spike recently. Between warriors like them, it would have been more surprising if they hadn't at some point walked the same blood-soaked ground.

"I do hope you find yourself here for the right reasons. Things have been a bit chaotic among the Crusaders of late." Within the first few days of her being at the helm they had already managing to vex another galactic power, but at the very least she could say she was following her own morality. "What is it I can help you with today? As much as I wish it weren't true, it's rare when someone stops by just to talk, anymore." Those days in the galaxy had long since passed, and even with the Republic and Sith falling everyone seemed to be gearing themselves up for another war.

For once, that war wasn't what she wanted.
 
[member="Keira Ticon"]


The meeting could probably be compared to two predators sizing each other up. That was probably inevitable whenever two alpha females happened to cross paths. In this case, one could also throw in the fact that both had rather destructive dark space magic at their disposal. Personally, Siobhan liked to think of herself as a lioness.


"Good, bad, I put less stock in hearsay than in personal encounters," Siobhan remarked. "I do believe we might've shared a few battlefields. Wayland and Ziost come to mind." Only they'd been on opposite sides then, though they'd never directly encountered one another. Her tone was not accusatory, just matter-of fact. On Wayland, she and Kaine had beaten each other to exhaustion. Ziost had been less exciting, though telekinetically battering ramming the Primeval's Pope had not been bad either.


"Anyway, to the present. I'm not here to meddle or preach about the superiority of my code. I leave that sort of sanctimonious twaddle to the Jedi. They excel at it. Certainly more than they do at getting things done," she shrugged. "I'm here to build good relations and do business. Truth be told, I was a bit curious about meeting you."
 
It wasn't so much sizing up as it was--well, okay, there was a chance it was just that. After years spent in near-constant conflict one learned to gauge every individual they came across as friend or foe, and if the latter just what sort of threat they would pose in a fight, right down to the most minuscule details. At the end of the day it came down to nothing more than habit, but not one Keira had made any effort to break. When the majority of your life was composed of a series of consecutive battles with little to no breaks for RnR in between, there were certain practices that were never entirely set to the side. Some part of her was always going to retain those aspects of a predator and warrior before anything else, and it would never quite recede completely.

The names of those particular battlefields brought an instant flash of recognition to her eyes, something about her demeanor sobering just slightly at the mere mention. "Ziost and Wayland were...interesting." That was about the only way she knew how to describe battles she would much rather not remember in the first place. By itself Wayland was something better off forgetting. It had been when she was still enslaved to the Primeval. The only thing that had come of it was another scar. Ziost had brought about some kind of redemption for her, even if she found herself once more darksided. This time she was more in control, and perhaps that had been the endgame in the first place.

"Believe me, I'm well aware that's true. I've had far too much experience in dealing with the Jedi lately." There was no reason to go into extensive detail when those involved or those somehow close to the relevant parties had heard of most everything that transpired. "I'm certain that we can do business, and I don't think finding good relations here will prove much issue. If memory serves you held yourself as a part of the Clans at one point, and that by itself is enough. I'm sure you'll find friends here." The other woman's Force alignment already proved that she would have no difficulty finding like-minded individuals in their ranks.

When they entered one of the meeting chambers she closed the door behind them, gesturing for the redhead to take a seat wherever she saw fit as she seated herself as well. "What sort of business were you looking to get into with the Crusaders?"

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
 
[member="Keira Ticon"]


"Interesting is one way to describe them," Siobhan said wryly, though she made no further comment. Her host had been on the other side in both battles, but it did not seem like the Countess held a grudge or was about to launch into preaching. That would be rather silly since she'd come to visit the Warmarshal's lawn.


She nodded knowingly when Keira briefly broached the subject of Jedi before moving on. Siobhan had heard that the talks on Voss had went poorly. Something about a Mandalorian letting loose with his anger by punching a Jedi. The Countess disapproved of that sort of behaviour, but she didn't like the Silver Jedi either. Firemane's HQ lay in their territory, but they had no ties. So far, the Tygaran Alliance and the OSJ politely ignored one another.


"Anyway, though clanless,I'm affiliated with the Clans, as you say. I've fought on many battlefields on their side and Firemane supplies them with weapons and gear. I'd like to establish a similar working relationship with the Crusaders," she spoke as they entered a meeting room. The doors closed behind them, and Siobhan took a seat. She put the cane down and crossed one leg over the other. Now that the initial phase of sort-of-sizing each other up was other, her posture was a lot more relaxed, though she remained alert-


"I don't intend to set up mining stations here and mine beskar, in case you're wondering. I imagine you're tired of foreigners barging in and asking that. I know the Clans are!" she joked. She'd heard that some person called Sanya had once set up an illegal mining station on this planet. It had not gone well for her. Said individual was apparently also guilty of turning innocent people into Croa. Siobhan hated Croa!



"But Firemane, and its subsidiary, the Guild of Hammers, make top quality weapons. Personal Anti-Force-user weapons such as bolters and our own line of shatterguns, armoured vehicles, starships, artillery, planetary defences and so on. You pay me, and I can supply toys. For a good contract, we offer significant discounts. I could even set up factories in your territory. I would also be interested in securing mining rights for Adegan crystals on Mygetoo. I brought a few toys to test out on the firing range, if you want. I find that's a better way to show off their quality than me rambling."
 

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