Dominion The Dark Crystal (OPA Dominion of Isis)

[Jerec Asyr]

Jerec straightened up from his pick-and-shovel work as some Gutretee shoved Eldin Daine into the mine.

"Oh thank feth. Look, whatever deal you're staking, can it include getting me out of here?"

He held up his pickaxe, giving Daine a look at the shackles on his wrists.

"Little matter of some mismatched expectations around the proper permits for crystal prospecting. Very, uh, very mismatched expectations."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The trick was to move before they found you. Coren and his team were typically fast movers. The Tiburons made it their goal to be one of the faster strikers out there, and with the way Coren instructed Jedi? They moved fast. Had to, in order counter at the stronger strikes of the Sith. And a Jedi out here on the Rim? Yeah they didn’t need t follow the way others moved. They traveled light, they traveled with a variety of weapons, and their tactics. As he gave the order to stay frosty, he heard the power up of rifles, and grabbed his own scatter gun that was slung down to his hip.

The team all had sharp eyes and quick triggers, they had been briefed on what was out there and what they were looking for. Coren and his team, they were wrecking balls, they had their skills, and for this mission? It was to find the people going for the crystals. If they could secure the crystals themselves, great, but to be counter striking.

That was what they were good at. They had received word of a pirate strike team that was in the area and were on their way to them. The shuttles landed a ways out to give them breathing room, but they all knew what they were doing. Moving through underbrush they were keeping quiet, all while Coren was reaching out. Leading them through.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Objective 2: Dark Crystal
Allies: OPA

Checking against municipal records of construction permits, or absence thereof, was key here. If the perpetrators instead asked for a total demolition, it won't cost nearly as much as a vacant lot; even though a run-down house is of little value, the value affixed to the building isn't typically zero because of the salvage material (but the after-demolition value of the land, on the other hand, will likely go up in a war-torn neighborhood). Now, with that documentation on hand, she would then need to check against the address of the mortgaged property for whether any kind of permit has been issued. These seemed to correspond to Central City premises on Pantora, but the cost of demolition work isn't nearly as much of the cost of reconstruction work, nor the principal of the mortgage. The only permits being issued were, in fact, demolition permits since the mortgage was taken out; that was no good. There was a large discrepancy between the cost of the demolition plus that of the property, and the mortgage principal, with no construction permit subsequent to the demolition: that's a major red flag.

 

[Cei Kyros]

"There's a difference between occupation and cohabitation," Cole narrowed his eyes at the Jedi, "We didn't kick them out of the old base. It was abandoned. They were never even supposed to notice we were here!"

Jend-Ro Quill slammed a flag of truce into the earth and sat down to wait. The general leaned against his quarterstaff for support but remained where he was, about a meter ahead of the Jedi Master. When Quill gave a sharp inhale he turned back around and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Where the hell did they come from?" he murmured.

Cole witnessed some form of psychic exchange that was so powerful it nearly had the Jedi retching. He blinked in confusion. Merrill could talk to machines but that was about it. Psychically he was as blind and deaf as any baseline human. He stared down the natives in a show of primitive strength, expression only softening somewhat when Jend-Ro relayed his gleaned intelligence.

"They may have a point about the crystal..." the general trailed off, "...and the wars. Can you talk back to them? We don't want their land. We're just passing through. Can you tell them that? Will they understand?"

 

[Mishel Kryze]

A modified Fury-class broke through Isis' atmosphere, a unique stealth corvette piloted down toward an undisclosed location. Ren and her Stormtroopers disembarked, and hiked up toward a suitable location, "easy FN-3156." Her voice-controlled, "keep stealth engaged, "any word on CO-0195?"​

​

"She's here, somewhere, location of rendezvous has been given." He replied, his voice distorted from the modulator and the language he spoke was unintelligible beyond the group. Mežsrožu's unit specifically spoke a variant of the Eldorai language, one found on Kaeshana sometime after the First Order took over. Her unit was here to pick up an operative known as CO-0195, part of an old First Order project to develop the perfect covert operative. ​

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"FN-3149, location."​

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He held a more baritone voice as he spoke, the way he paced his words would always make him stand out. "Approximately four clicks, she's heading this way now." ​

​

Their operative had been charged with observing OPA movements here on the planet, nothing close - just far enough to observe. They would have to revisit the planet to gain further detail, for now, it was a simple reconnaissance mission. Mežsrožu specifically would return with two of her agents to retrieve samples of the crystal, she doubted heavily that the so-called Jedi who aligned themselves with the Alliance would just hand them over. ​

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"On approach," FN-3156 noted as he looked through the binocs. Behind him FN-3152 and FN-3147 established a lookout, while they did not intend on being there long, they were sure even with stealth equipment someone had to have noticed their arrival. The moments would pass and the wind would push through their location with little effort. Their overlook provided some natural camouflage but not enough to render them completely invisible to the naked eye. ​

​

CO-0195 arrived on time and handed over the datapad with the collected information. She would be checked over by FN-3156 and her data would be scanned by FN-3149 before she would be cleared to board the ship. "Any additional findings, 0195?"​

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"Indeed, but more behavioral than anything else although it does regard the Jedi and their relation to the Alliance."​

​

"Please enlighten me as we return to base." Ren gestured toward the ramp as they boarded, with the four Stormtroopers cleaning up the overlook before heading aboard the modified Fury themselves. The ship would make an exit out off-world and out of the system, with Mežsrožu curiously listening to 0195 whilst reading on the kyber crystals. ​

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

"They may have a point about the crystal..." the general trailed off, "...and the wars. Can you talk back to them? We don't want their land. We're just passing through. Can you tell them that? Will they understand?"

Quill slid off his rock, braced his back against it, and curled up in discomfort.

"They'll understand. Whether they believe, that's the question. Guahh." He wiped his mouth. "They've heard it all before. Alright, let's see..."

He drew a sharp breath as something clicked, a set of details from various shared memories. "So many human interests have stripped rare minerals from the region, and they're silicon-based - there's malnutrition, limited dietary variety. General, I think if we offered to rent this small patch of ground in return for some kinds of mineral compounds that humans have taken over the years, they might be amenable. All the mining is a...food security issue."

 

[Cei Kyros]

"Trade the rock people different rocks so they leave our rocks alone..." Cole puzzled out the deal Jend-Ro Quill had proposed in its simplest possible terms, "Well hell, we can do that."

He slowly pulled his comlink out from his utility belt so he wouldn't aggravate the Gutretee.

"Get me someone from the Squib Reclamation Fleet on the subspace transceiver."

General Merrill felt the tension leak out of his grip on the quarterstaff. It was slowly dawning on him that there was not going to be a fight after all. He almost felt...disappointed?

"You ever been to Skor Two, Master Jedi?" he grinned, "Entire race of scavengers. What they don't recycle or re-purpose, they hoard. You just get me a menu and I'll have their first shipment here as fast as the Squibs can rig a hyperdrive."

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Cole Merrill got a slow blink. "Well, let's see what they say, but I'm guessing..."

He closed his eyes and reached out to the Gutretee elder who'd sent him the memories.

"They're cautious," Quill said after maybe five minutes of fidgety silence, "but amenable." He recited several specific minerals used in manufacturing, all relatively expensive. "I think what...I think what they like most is that the Squibs are equals, partners. They're used to dealing with..."

He laughed, surprised, and kept laughing.

"They won't do this deal with the OPA as a whole. They'll do it with the Squibs specifically, and you'd be renting this base from the Squibs."

 

[Cei Kyros]

"Ah, hell. I'm not sure you realize what you just agreed to, Master Jedi. I'm not sure they do either."

Cole shook his head, but then he started to laugh too.

"Fair enough," he agreed, "That's what the Alliance is, after all. Different worlds. Different creeds. Helping each other stand for ourselves. If this is the only way they can see that then so be it."

The general wasn't sure Isis would ever be the same. He knew his command wouldn't be after the Squibs 'redecorated'. At least he knew that crystal was all but secure. If anyone could work out an impossible deal it was the Reclamation Fleet. Jend-Ro Quill didn't need to know about that anyway.

"Looks like you're a man of your word Master Jedi," he removed one of his leather gloves and offered a hand to the monk, "General Cole Merrill."

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Cole Merrill

"Oh, I've been to Skor - I know what our friends are like. I did what I could to share the details with the Gutretee, make sure they go into this with eyes wide open. But they're all adults, them and the Squibs. I'm sure they'll come to an absolutely fascinating agreement." Quill shook the offered hand. "Alright, General, time to come shake the hand that matters."

A quartet of Gutretee emerged from cover, led by an elder who extended a crystalline hand to both of them. Quill shook without hesitation.

 

[Cei Kyros]

"They shake hands?" Cole was only half joking.

He used the quarterstaff in his hands for its more conventional purpose, steadying his traversal across the uneven landscape until he was face to face with the 'monsters' he had been hellbent on annihilating that morning. This was why he didn't hang out with Jedi. Merrill glanced over at Jend-Ro Quill . He hesitated for a brief moment.

Then he spat on his palm and clasped the elder's crystalline hand.

"That's how we do it on Terminus," he shrugged at the Jedi.

 

[Griet van Vliet]

Objective 2: Dark Crystal
Allies: OPA

"I have some bad news: the co-signer only got a demolition permit for that place, and after your husband died, the vacant plot was sold for a higher price than the co-signer bought it for. In other words, your late husband was scammed"

Even in war-torn areas, in major cities on a given planet, vacant land was at a premium. In a reconstruction process, while the salvageable materials were sold for some amount that the perpetrator pocketed (but was otherwise outside the scope of the crimes being investigated, and it appeared that whatever amount of money obtained by recycling wasn't used to repay the mortgage), vacant, rubble-free land was worth more than a run-down property that sustained heavy battle damage. Sure, a vacant lot whose previous construction was completely demolished had some utilities in the area, so a would-be builder would have more freedom to build on it than what previously was on the plot, hence the increased value of the plot in this context. However, although she was on the trail of the mortgage fraudsters, there was only so much evidence available from any individual victim of the mortgage fraud being perpetrated by the mortgage fraud ring. Not even monitoring pockets of activity of the CotNE would be sufficient to help in tracking down these fraudsters.

 

[Eldin Daine]

THE DARK CRYSTAL
BYOO - Trade Agreement
Save the Kid

His eyes had not even adjusted to the light, or lack of it, when he heard a voice in the darkness. Oil lamps the only source of light threw a yellowish hue down the tunnel, it was not a very safe environment it appeared the only form of structure added for safety was thick beams, and a track running along he ground to help bring up the load. This gave Eldin another idea to help negotiations with the Gutretee, they could do with some more modern equipment and maybe the Alliance could help out with that, and get them a better deal on the trade agreement.

Eldin noticed the shackles on the guys wrists, probably on his legs as well, "You theiven? and got caught huh?", well Eldin had done a fair bit of that in his days, still does if the need arises, so he was not going to condemn the kid.

"What's in it for me if I do?", he asked. Yet, his attention was drawn elsewhere, down the tunnel in fact. He stood with hands on hips and hung his head low, he had not come here to negotiate the release of the kid, he had not come here for negotiations at all, but now faced with it, he sighed.

"Beldak?", he shouted over his shoulder. "This thief down here, wan' me to take him off ya hands?". Seems the Gutretee wanted shot of him, and Beldak agreed to get rid of him, he had been a pain in the backend to them all.

Jerec Asyr