This is the Outer Rim [ORC and Allies, Forcers]

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Cotan watched as 'Ven' went near-completely ignored, before shrugging himself. "Don't be too bothered by it," he said quietly, before Coren could start bringing up the actually-important stuff of the meeting. "If you look like you fit, everybody assumes they already know you. And, well, it's impossible not to fit in with a group like this." That last statement was only slightly exaggerated; after all, if somebody like Raven Ashe was allowed around, then there'd be no issues with the taller man Cotan had brought.

Except if Romi decided to try and spin Cotan's bringing 'Ven' along in an entirely different light, anyways.

He kicked back in his chair, relaxing and listening as Coren started to speak. Only to quickly be brought back out of the listening by his guest.

"Eh?"

He followed the man's gesture, only to, coincidentally, find it pointing at Romi. Going from worrying about her potentially making bad jokes about his guest to his guest asking after her in such a short time was almost comical. "Romi Jade," he replied. "One of the Jedi from the group that Veiere Arenais started ages ago. Good fighter—both with her fists and with her words."

Thankfully, he'd never truly been on the receiving end of it—normally, it was him and Romi working together to give Coren hell. Not that he was going to let that slip; otherwise, it might give 'Ven' ideas that would make Cotan's life much harder in the very near future. "Try not to get too distracted by her, man." He turned slightly towards 'Ven', a smirk on his face.

"There's much safer women for you to be pining after."

[member="Vaulkhar"] [member="Romi Jade"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Zak Amroth]

"What the hell are y'all doing on my planet?"

A young kiffar male had been passed out behind the bar. He straightened up a dilapidated looking brimmed hat and buttoned back up his tunic. Zak Amroth was the Sheriff of Terminus, and he had arrived at this meeting ahead of everyone else to 'inspect casino security'. It had all been going so well until he began inspecting the spirits available for quality assurance purposes. The Judge hiccuped loudly, the details of this meeting slowly coming back to him along with a splitting hangover. He started to crawl over the bar before losing his balance and ending up in a heap on the other side.

"Deputy," he tipped his brim at [member="Yula Perl"] after stumbling to his feet, "I meant to comm you about the change in venue."

He hadn't. In fact Zak gave his 'protege' bad directions on purpose. It was nothing personal, but Yula had a habit of interrupting his awesome stories with trivial semantics like 'who rescued who' and 'whose fault it was in the first place'. [member="Coren Starchaser"] was running this meeting, the legend himself. Sheriff Amroth didn't need a debbie downer ruining his first impressions with the galaxy's finest.

"Did you tell them about the thing?" the Judge asked Coren.

He indicated he was just getting to that.

"Don't let it fool ya," Zak crossed his arms in an attempt to seem stern, "Terminus may look alright, but its a kriffin' mess out here. Cultists in the undercity, the Exclusion Zone's constantly on fire. Now we've got rogue sheriffs to worry about..."

The First Order Exclusion Zone was if possible worse off than most of the Coalition. Anarchy reigned over much of their old territory, and not the good kind. Both Imperial werewolves and Ssi-ruuvi holdouts lurked in remote systems waiting for any opportunity to hurt their foes, and that included the Underground. It was starting to filter into their space, Terminus was merely first to be seriously afflicted as a trade hub on the old border.

Then of course there were Sith attacks in the east...

"Goes without saying that Zambrano's a threat. Anyone who thinks otherwise would have to be crazy to walk in here."

[member="Julius Sedaire"] | [member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Kale Seleare"]​

[member="Morteg"] | [member="Cotan Sar'andor"] | [member="Diana McClaine"] | [member="Janick Beauchamp"]​

[member="Raven Ashe"] | [member="Vaulkhar"]​

 

[Vaulkhar]

"Yeah, no," though his face flushed a bit, he simply shook his head. "Not to discredit her or her charm, but that's not why I'm interested, pal. I just recognize her from somewhere. I'm not sure where yet, but I'm sure it'll come back to me," that was a lie. Ven had hoped the majority of his memories stayed as far away from him as possible. For whatever reason, he felt as if this second chance was something he couldn't waste. "Not going to lie to you, but I thought this was going to be more exciting. When are we getting out of here?" his hands rose up and joined together behind his head as he leaned back. It was more comfortable than before, sure, but it had quickly become uncomfortable for other reasons. Mainly the uneasy feeling eating at him every time he looked over at Romi.

As if to make matters worse, a drunk stumbled out from behind the bar and moved towards the gathering. Ven always found those a bit too deep in the bottle obnoxious to be around, but who was he to judge? He had quite the collection of empty bottle gathering up in his apartment. The encounter somehow grew stranger as time ticked forward, the drunk apparently had some connection to those gathered and quickly joined the host in sharing information.

While Zak prattled on about the various threats to the galaxy, Ven closed his eyes and hoped the meeting would come to an end sometime soon. However, his peaceful moment was ruined by a familiar name. A thin layer of sweat formed on his flesh as a pair of hate-filled eyes bore deep into his very being. In that moment, it felt like he could not open his eyes to escape the spiteful gaze. Panic rose in his chest as he struggled to breath. He said nothing as he suffered through whatever strange vision he experienced.

Sometime later, Ven's eyes opened once more.

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"] | [member="Zak Amroth"]​

 

[Coren Starchaser]

What he did appreciate here, was people understood him. They understood a balance. It wasn’t the balance of the Jedi, but he didn’t expect it to be. The time of the Alliance and her Jedi has changed. The Silver Jedi were the leaders of the Order now. He was doing his best to make sure the Light worked together, and that meant bridging the gaps. Here he had a lot of different people, Jedi, Judges, Jensaarai. It was a group most don’t tend to see. The data provided was showing why they were all here.

A gathering against the threats on the Rim. The threats in the Force.

“What I have called you here for, is you all represent a group within the Outer Rim Coalition. Meetings such as this tend to be reserved for the core.” He looked over at the Sherriff of Terminus. “I was just getting to that.

“What Sherriff Amroth is asking about is the purpose of this meeting. The Rim is protected by our Judges and their handcannons, much like the Jedi and their lightsabers, just with more… aggressive tactics. But it doesn’t matter, they serve the people. What we have found, what we have called Dark Judges… They do not defend. They are using their skills to take and destroy, to make the Rim a place of harm and not of freedom.”

A bit of a twinge hit in the Force just then, and he knew many would feel it, something was coming.

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Dark Judges?" *hic* "We may never know... there are as many of them and they can be anywhere. Locating them... hic! may not be easy" Janick replied the other folk after the mention of the Dark Judges has been made.

Janick went on to drink much more than just a tablespoon of tihaar. [member="Zak Amroth"] and [member="Coren Starchaser"] only seemed to have that on their minds. Yet, she wouldn't want to fae a Dark Judge head-on until absolutely necessary. To be honest, Griet would probably be more useful at different stages or for dealing with a different type of Dark Judge than she is. Most Dark Judges, I feel, would probably wish for a tool to evade law enforcement, and how Memory Rub or Drain Knowledge ties into this would be, for me the way to go out and find them. For that I would probably need a shell corporation, a few staffers to make it look legitimate in what this shell corporation is supposed to offer up for sale, and separate premises, she thought, while, of course, that shell corporation wouldn't be used for tax evasion, unlike what so many think about when it came to tax evasion. Then again, buying a failing shell corporation would imply the need to consolidate its financial statements with the Circle's. The question being: what sort of legitimate business would a Dark Judge need to buy from, and that isn't a weapons vendor or armorer?

"We may need a" hic! "covert approach"

 

[Kaleleon]

More people began to fill in. All coming from different walks of life and different places. So many different people that it was hard to take it all in. These people all grew up within the galaxy. People who knew the ins-and-outs of what all came before. I had no clue. About the best I could do was assume things from what little knowledge I had. So for that, I was steps behind everyone. Even more so when I could feel the presence of so many powerful force users. So many of them were daunting to me. It was like I was convening in a great council. Which made me feel great for how far I have come, but also made me feel nervous as all of these people were clearly leagues above me.

Many spoke of these Dark Judges. People going around, assuming the mantle of Outer Rim Judges, people who were considered the galactic police of these parts, and were performing deeds for selfish intent, or outright going against their code. What got me even more so, was the look over Coren's face. It was the same look I had seen of Romi when she felt something. Looking to her for a second, as she was here now, I then could feel something within.

A "gut" feeling of mine that many have told me to trust. Something was going bad. Something, someone, was coming. I closed my eyes. Clenching them shut and grinding my teeth closed within my mouth. It was not right. I opened them up and slowly began to place my hand upon the saber at my hip.

"I hope I am not the only one who felt that."

Turning to the others in the room, currently arguing over who my Mentor was, I shook my head.

"Doesn't matter if you know or don't know her. Talk after when we have problems solved."

[member="Janick Beauchamp"], [member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Vaulkhar"], [member="Zak Amroth"], [member="Cotan Sar'andor"], [member="Yula Perl"] [member="Diana McClaine"], [member="Veino Garn"], [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"], [member="Raven Ashe"], [member="Laura"], [member="Romi Jade"],

 

[Raven Ashe]

Raven nodded at the young woman, [member="Laura"], if she deigned to acknowledge the armored one present. Young people could be damn picky about who they chose to acknowledge. Good thing there weren't any Sith from the Empire around or there'd be a lot more bodies laying on the floor from the lack of 'due respect.' Well whatever she chose to do, at least [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] conducted himself with dignity. Something about him though...

I could kill her.

Yes, yes you could, Raven answered the ravenous creature within. But you won't, because she's not my enemy.

Then a man graced them all with his splendor after rising from behind the bar. A sharp clack followed the glass striking the countertop. "Your planet?" A bark of laughter followed the Pantoran's response to [member="Zak Amroth"] claiming the world for himself. Of course she left him to wander off and ramble on drunkenly however he saw fit. Really couldn't be bother checking on him so long as the man stayed out of her way.

And that's when the good Sherriff and the meeting's lead, [member="Coren Starchaser"], got to the karking point. Finally. And what was the karking point?

Dark Judges. They took some things, destroyed others, and caused harm.

I'm going to eat that one's face.

Really at this point Raven wasn't of the mind to argue when a little tickle warned something was coming. Wait.

I felt it as well, it growled. Of course, it being some manner of Force monster could not miss a disturbance in the Force itself.

 

[Light Rises]

What people were aware of, if they were looking in the Force, was something big coming. The Dark Judge were out there. But they were operating in secret, as they did. The guise of the Judge, the badge, and the hand cannon. It wasn’t as easy to tell a Judge from their more vile counterparts, as it could be with most Jedi and Sith. These all operated differently. Some Judges used less that outstanding means to achieve their ends, ends which are normally for the betterment of their colony, or the Coalition as a whole.

Dark Judges, though, they wanted to upset the balance. They had their hands in the pockets of corporations, or deep seeded political parties looking to break away from the Coalition. It was why Starchaser called the group together. To discuss what was going on, to provide data on where the Dark Judges were moving, and what their tactics were. But there was only a small part of the Jedi Master that suspected they would try something during this meeting.

But that was exactly what they were going to do. A shuttle passing by overhead, the same as any other day, traffic in the sky, but this one was different, it was diverting course. It was heading right for the casino. No pilot at the controls, but a clear feeling of Force protection over the shuttle as it crashed, into he casino, behind the security section, close to the vault. Unloading from the ruined shuttle were more gunshots than anything, blaster fire and even the snap hiss of a blue lightsaber.

“The Coalition cannot protect you from us. We can slip past their defenses!” The damage they were causing wasn’t against the people, but it still was causing fear to erupt out into the Force.

[member="Raven Ashe"] | [member="Kale Seleare"] |[member="Janick Beauchamp"] | [member="Vaulkhar"] | [member="Zak Amroth"] |[member="Cotan Sar'andor"] | [member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Yula Perl"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Julius Sedaire"] | [member="Morteg"] | [member="Laura"]

 

[Dhalinar Greystar]

Morteg's ears twitched slightly as his danger sense began tingling like mad. He wasn't the only one it seemed to sense something was off. His small, green eyes looked at [member="Julius Sedaire"] and he sent his fellow Corellian Jedi a nudge in the Force. The sense kept getting louder and louder until the point where his ears were twitching wildly, screaming at him to leap into action.

He reacted as was only expected of a Jedi Master. His lightsaber leaped to his three fingered hand and jumped onto one of the casino tables, his green blade weaving a defensive tapestry as he attempted to keep the shots from hitting any of the bystanders. He growled a Corellian curse when he saw the enemy's blue lightsaber. The "Dark Judges" as Coren had called them seemed to be a tad more organized than the younger Master had given them credit for.

"Master Sedaire!" he called out to his comrade, though he didn't need to. His lightsaber batted one of the bolts right back into one of the assailant's heads. A lucky shot.

[member="Starbird Rises"] [member="Raven Ashe"] [member="Kale Seleare"] [member="Janick Beauchamp"][member="Coren Starchaser"]@Vaulkhar @Zak Amroth [member="Cotan Sar'andor"] [member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The strike came but it was a few seconds, if that before it hit that Starchaser had sprung into action. As perhaps the most combat tested Jedi Master living among the Rim, he was already reaching out to guard himself and those in his immediate vicinity from… something. He couldn’t find it quite yet, but when the strike hit, he knew what he was looking for.

Dark Judges. Exactly what he was here, gathering people, to defend against. Lawkeepers who were anything but. As their ship crashed into the structure, he was already going for his saber as the Force washed over him. It took a second for him to grab the lightsaber, and he saw the other one, blue, and almost mocking the gathered Jedi and allies here. They were sending a message, scattering the trust.

“We need to take them down. Protect the civilians, and put a stop to them!” Starchaser barked out. As he did, he could feel the tinge that there was more to this, other Dark Judges and associates moving upon the safe in the casino. Not good. But first, he had to put himself between the Dark and the civilians, leaping into action, he landed into a group of Dark Judges who were forcing casino patrons who were hiding to a corner, igniting his lightsaber as he landed.

|[member="Raven Ashe"] | [member="Kale Seleare"] | [member="Janick Beauchamp"] | [member="Vaulkhar"] | [member="Zak Amroth"] | @Cotan Sar’andor | [member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Yula Perl"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Julius Sedaire"] | [member="Morteg"] | [member="Laura"] |

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Sure, Janick wasn't the most battle-tested of the gang, but the sudden, (un)provoked attack on the casino made her hatred levels boil, enough to contemplate using Bolts of Hatred. But for this she needed to have an appropriate mental "lock" on those Dark Judges whose ship had crashed into the casino, while simultaneously avoid hitting [member="Coren Starchaser"] by accident: she had enough skill in that spell to consider using the Bolts as some sort of guided Force-ammunition. As the Dark Judges seemed headed towards the safe, she needed to make adjustments before letting those homing bolts loose. About those Dark Judges she essentially knew nothing and she needed to be prepared for anything, even another Judge fighting at range. After all, she knew better than to assume Force-users to be more adept at point-blank regardless of alignment or denomination. And the civilians were another variable to take into account for plotting a bolt trajectory; however, the more the targets moved and pranced around, the less effective the bolts would likely end up being. How would [member="Morteg"], [member="Julius Sedaire"], [member="Yula Perl"] et al react is yet to be seen.