Toiling On Tabaqui [Levantine Sanctum Dominion of Tabaqui]

[Judah Dashiell]

Tabaqui - Free Space near Midvinter.


Location One : New Arrah, built on the shores of the Egan Sea. Once the wealthiest part of Tabaqui, secluded from the general population, it is now in a state of disrepair. Nature has slowly staked a claim in the once thriving city. Today New Arrah is in a constant state of battle between roving bandits, gangs, and local warlords looking to lay claim to more land. As Tabaqui grows as a hotspot for businesses and Free Space residents, a proper spaceport is needed for city growth. Objective : Build a spaceport, keep the riff-raff out, blowing things up, etc


Location Two : Small bands of families live outside the ruins of New Arrah, trying to survive on the land and sea while avoiding being taken by local criminals. Roughly fifty people have tried to make a small settlement and defend it. They live in crude huts with equally crude defensive measures. Their livestock is being stolen and their lives threatened. Objective : Humanitarian aid, rebuilding, outreach, farming, protection, etc.


-----------

Location One ; Atmosphere


Several freighters of various sizes slowly descended into the atmosphere. Brilliant green lands came into view, portions of it looking lumpy, like odd sized hills. It was nature taking back the city of New Arrah. The shoreline cut a golden ribbon between the greenery and the glittering sea. By all accounts from the air, the place looked abandoned. As if one could enter with little to no protection. Yet Judah knew differently. He had been here before with Firemane Industries. In fact both companies had a joint outpost. Judah a agricultural center and Firemane a outpost holding, a foothold in Free Space for them.


Yet landing in a field was difficult. While the Outpost was a deal away from New Arrah, it was still feasible to transport items via a convoy. A spaceport was needed to accommodate the growing trade on the planet. Judah had heard there was a farming operation set up as well. No doubt they needed to land properly. Yet some semblance of a city was also needed. Spaceport, hospital, grocer, residential block to say the least. Salacia Consolidated had put in some money for a spaceport. The Levantine Sanctum was funding the rest. Most likely in hopes of establishing more resources for the organization.


"Landing in five minutes, five minutes. Be prepared folks."

Spoiler

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"] [member="Kalizka"] [member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Valiens Nantaris"] [member="Maya Whitelight"] [member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Thessa Kai"] [member="Jericho"] [member="Tiland Kortun"] [member="Iella E'ron"]


OOC : Alright, lets have fun! I only gave two locations for a starting point for those who wish it. Otherwise make your own

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]


Location One; Atmosphere


Ahead of the Salacia freighters a number of heavily armoured dropships and gunships descended down into the atmosphere like a swarm of alien locusts. They were emblazoned with the logos of Firemane Industries & Techology, here to fulfil their contractual obligations by providing security for the operation Salacia Consolidated was carrying out. Siobhan was gazing out of the viewport, as usual clad in full beskar'gam armour, as the brilliant green lands came into view, seemingly stretching out as far as the eye could perceive and probably even further amid odd sized hills, for like so much upon Tabaqui nature had reclaimed New Arrah. It would not easily yield its conquest.


Siobhan had been there during her company's expedition to the planet. Native bandits had attacked them but been fought off with ease, then she and Eyrecae had paid the village and dome of a tribe of force-using Mirialans a visit. Surprisingly enough the talks had gone well and now Firemane maintained a joint outpost with Salacia, where the latter performed agricultural and pharmaceutical research while protected by the former's guards. Yet it had soon become clear that expansion would become necessary. Simple logistics demanded a spaceport and so they were coming to the city. Having a functioning spaceport demanded the the city...somewhat actually resemble one and have a functioning infrastructure.


This in turn would require reminding putting bandits and warlords down through the use of heavy firepower, setting up and training a local militia because security contractors and Levantine Patrollers could not do everything on their own and get something like an administration running, not to mention humanitarian aid. Doubtless there would be those who would decry all this as 'imperialism' and 'warmongering'. Siobhan was, you might have guessed it, dear reader indifferent to complaints like that.


"Be ready, boys, landing in two. Once we're down I want a perimeter secured. Expect hostiles in the city, but don't shoot at anything that moves. Only initiate contact when fired upon," she barked out to the contingent of troopers in the dropship as it shot down from the heavens. Once they were down mercenaries would fan out and set up perimeter security with the usual defence emplacements. Aside from the contingent of mercenaries that could help with putting bandits against the wall and perhaps training volunteers for something like a militia, Firemane could also provide state-of-the art turrets for the protection of the spaceport Salacia intended to construct.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

On dropship...flying somewhere.


Once again Kaida had been roped into what should be a Firemane operation. How this happened in probably not very interesting. Not that she minded getting away from Kaeshana since she could only put up with her fellow elves for so long before having the urge to punch one of them. Having to occasionally pay attention to what 'Lady Kerrigan' said was another history. At least the woman had not given a 'dramatic speech'.


In any case she was aboard a Silaqui-class Dropship, though fortunately not the same as the Lady's, when they broke through the atmosphere and swept across the land, having embarked upon a noble quest to deliver humanitarian aid, shoot 'bad guys' and make a bit of a profit. Oh, and, yes, help people since that gave you Paragon Points. Fortunately this would not involve travelling to a planet ravaged by devastating earthquakes like on Zonyu V, an Omega Pyre mission Kaida had participated in way back. Or a ridiculously lethal, hellish hothouse like Gehenna filled with monsters.


Anyhow, she went through the last minute checks to make sure everything was in order with her weapons, making sure her Cylix bolt pistol was fimly strapped to her hip. The gun was bloody heavy but packed a mean punch and looked badass if you were into that sort of thing. The Taegis shield was firmly secured to her back with leather straps, her lightsabre was tied to her belt as she looked over the contingent of soldiers that had come with her. Well, they had been ordered to do that sort of thing, whether they wanted or not. Going out and seeing the Galaxy did Eldorai soldiers some good. Perhaps eventually they would become less annoying, as fun as yelling at recruits was.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] - Location Two ; Small Settlements



Dropship rested in the tall grass, nestled half-way under some large trees. It rested a decent amount away from the small scattering of settlement that laid across the open lands. Domesticated livestock grazed, watched by school-aged children it seemed. Delila could feel their eyes on her even at this distance. During the briefing it was mentioned several times the locals were skittish. It was a good thing Delila wasn't doing any form out outreach. That rested on protocol droids, interpreters and low-level representatives from the Free Space area. The redhead was just here to provide some security for the humanitarian aid and support workers.


Standing out in the sunshine, Delila and several others were adjusting their H-harnesses and battle belts. By most accounts the local riff-raff did not have any form of slugthrowers or the like. Mainly bows, arrows. Rocks and sticks. This caused Delila to skip the body armor, instead opting for a camouflage tactical t-shirt and equally camouflaged cargo pants. Bolter rested on her thigh, a handy companion when things got rough. Extra ammo in the battle belt was itching to be used.


"Nice change of pace I suppose. Guarding, that is."


Lifting up her blaster rifle, she began to check out the scope of the horizon.

 

[Tiland Kortun]

Location Two- [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Kaida Taldir"]

Tiland gave a glance over towards the soldiers. They were well prepared, to be sure. Perhaps even over-prepared, if the reports were correct. Stone age peoples hardly needed modern technology to protect against. But then, no need for others to die them either. A balance was needed. Himself? He had his bag of herbs, staff, and coarse robes. Nowhere near as dangerous, but that was intentional. And it was unlikely any weapon they had could kill him anyways. Unless they had silver, which was unlikely. Nobody in their right mind made weapons out of silver.

So he would be unafraid, and reach out to locals. Perhaps do some small magic tricks or a few stories. Win the children's hearts, and the world's was yours. Win the adults, and you'd still have to win the children too. And if any brigands appeared, they would find themselves with a sore head. Or other limbs. It all depended on where the staff landed.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Tiland Kortun"][member="Delila Castillon"][member="Kaida Taldir"]

The edge of the dropship's ramp was corrugated durasteel. It bit into his butt like a gizka with a fetish, or your average Mnenchei R&D project. Jorus cleaned his shotgun in some discomfort. In a few minutes, he'd go walk the perimeter. In the meantime, he would suffer in silence while listening to Castillon snark at space elves, and be snarked thereby.

 

[Maya Carrick]

Location Two: Settlement[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Tiland Kortun"]


Knowing that she was going down in the drop ship that had some of the much need supplies on board on the side of the cargo boxes stamped.

Propertied of Silver Cross

Finding her hand on the head of her cute Akk dog after all he was a very much a protector of hers. Finding this odd to not have her baby bump any more. After all they was safely in their nest with the nanny droid to watch over them for the time. Finding her own clothing back to normal. In what looked to be some odd looking armor scale of the Akk dog. In truth it wouldn't be much protection in a fire fight but she wasn't here to do the warrior stuff there was other that had been given this task of being their protector.

Stepping off into the tall grass land that seem to surround the village or the poor shape that these homes was in. First thing was first that was to get their own tents set up. Her boots made their way only it was what she was doing while she was walking. Closing her eyes to on lookers this would be strange to not see where one was going. It was the hue that was seen in the force. Everything around her was a live with the force down to the very blade that her hand was touching. Whispering in the force to her AKK dog Hunter to stay by her side.

Opening up her eyes to find herself looking at one of the other aids. [member="Tiland Kortun"] @Jorus Merrill [member="Delila Castillon"]

"Greetings and please to see the ones that would join in such a noble cause as to help those that need to be looked after.", as she smile giving out her warmness to all looking on. As she was a bit different with her pink skin, dark pink eyes and purple hair. After all it seem the first little one coming out to her more so to stare at someone like her.

"Do you want to pet my puppy, she very sweet, likes to be scratched behind the ear here.", showing just how much Hunter enjoy being stretched. "That's a good boy.", as she gave off nothing but friendship about her.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

Location One

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Since her first visit to Tabaqui had gone smashingly well, Eyrecae was here again, alongside Siobhan. The scum didn't stand a chance. Nor did the ruined buildings.
Eyrecae was there, her silver Phrik armour shining in the sun, her hammer secured to her back. She also carried a Mk1 boltgun. Because, why not? It was the perfect weapon for her...until a heavy bolt-gun was invented anyway.
Hefting the weapon, she swept the approaches as they came in to land.
"You know I love it when you talk violent, Sio. Let's go smash something!" Dropping down from the descending ship, she landed. "We're here to bring order, if anyone wants to stop us, come and try! If you surrender now, I promise we'll be nice!"
She pulled back the slide on the bolter, priming it.
Siobhan was looking pretty diplomatic compared.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Location Two

[member="Kaida Taldir"], @Jorus Merril, [member="Delila Castillon"], [member="Maya Whitelight"], [member="Tiland Kortun"]

The village was peaceful, but there was tension in the air. The arrival of the outsiders had been noticed, and there was already a reaction. At least a dozen of the brigands were approaching from the rocks and bushes, using cover to mask their movement.

On a bluff overlooking it all a figure watched both attackers and attacked...and stroked his chin.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"], [member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Maya Whitelight"], [member="Tiland Kortun"], [member="Delila Castillon"]


Site Two.


The locals of the peaceful village could certainly not complain about lack of attention given how crowded the place was becoming! One might wonder whether they were afraid that the newcomers would eat up what little food they possessed. Or whether they were more afraid of the heavily armed, foreign soldiers than the bandits. If they were Kaida could not really blame them.


Anyhow, the elf soldiers had landed, crates with medical aid and other good humanitarian things were being delivered by the Sanctum people and after getting her unit organised Kaida found herself encountering one explosion-loving redhead. "Castillon, what a coincidence," she said very, very dryly. Which seemed to be the tone she used most of the time. When she was not speaking 'icily' or 'frostily' or a variation of that because for some reason her writer keeps seeing the need to remind everyone that she's a cryomancer and thus must have an an icy personality. There, this one said it again because redundancy is in.


Regardless Kaida had heard about the, how shall we put it, incident on Etti IV that had resulted in Dells losing her job and joining the space hippies. It struck her as a weird match, considering while the Sanctum was very decentralised it had been started by idealistic Jedi...and the redhead hated Jedi. And forcers in general. Besides, they were supposedly pacifists and the redhead liked to blow stuff up for fun. Then again, Kaida did not know that much about the inner workings of the Levantines so it was quite possible that her opinions were a bit ill-informed. But it was not really her problem so she would not judge or be a pest bring it up. Self-centred? Well, maybe, but she did not poke into other people's business.


She felt a prickling in the Force and even before it, her enhanced hearing guided her to the rocks and bushes from which bandits were advancing. As cover it might work for a while, but they could not hide from the Gunship that was flying overhead. Or from keen elf years, which contrary to certain non-PG-13 movies actually had practical use beyond being the subject of certain sexual fetishes. Suddenly from the bushes a brigand shot an arrow straight towards her. The arrow shattered against her armour. "I imagine now is the obligatory fight scene," she said, you might have guessed it dryly.


"Hostiles, coming from the woods. Section One load bolters and take up front. Blow away their cover," she barked out. They did not really need air power for this, though it was always useful. Then again the use of ridiculously brutal firepower was probably overkill. But Kaida was perfectly fine with using the high-tech equivalent of a Maxim to mow down death-charging native bandits.


As the brigands advanced, bearing primitive arms that would make slugthrowers of the Karabiner 98k type look mondern, and emerged from their cover, the Eldorai soldiers fired. BANG BANG BANG Bolters and blasters would blow their cover to bits and tear apart limbs and living tissue. Powerful explosions would be heard along with agonised screams of the wounded as they lay dying. Charge the brigands might, but they would fare poorly against weapons that had been the doom of Reavers, space orks, zombies and other vaguely plagiaristic monsters. As for Kaida, well, she summoned icicles out of thin air. Lots and lots of icicles. It went without saying that commonly these would not be efficient against someone even wearing something like stormtrooper armour. However, these icicles had a velocity as powerful as the slug shot from a sniper ripple. Moreover, the brigands would not be wearing anything that even remotely constituted proper armour by galactic standards.


So she manipulated the water molecules to radically drop their temperature down to ridiculously low levels as mayhem raged all around, icicles appeared and accelerated to a ridiculous high velocity to spear natives and brutally cut them down.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Site One
[member="Judah Dashiell"]


Many people probably found the immensely warlike attitude of [member="Eyrecae Alzari"] disturbing. Siobhan...could not help liking her. Perhaps partly because she saw a lot of herself in the primeval supersoldier. Her relentless desire for combat was at times exasperating, like on those very rare occasions when Siobhan wanted to talk things out, but also rather cute.


Yes, cute! Siobhan was sort of weird when you thought about it.


"Eyrecae, don't smash the first person you meet. If you hammer everyone, there'll be no one left to fangirl and fanboy over you!" Now that was a winning argumentation! "I'll make sure to send you in the right direction. Or chuck you into the fray. Plenty of warlords, bandits and riff-raff."


One wondered whether Eyrecae would encounter 'Dark Star' again. In any case the dropships touched down upon the ground and soldiers fanned out to secure the area, setting up a perimeter with e-webs and other heavy weapons that would provide security for the Salacia freighters when they landed. Speeder bikes leapt out of the bays of the dropships, bearing soldiers that would be used to scout ahead into the city. Intelligence was rather sparse on the place, but they had shiny guns and two demigoddesses, so Siobhan was not worried. Running a gloved hand through her long brown hair, which was already getting sweaty from the heat, she sent a message to Judah. "Mr. Dashiell, we're on the ground."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Eyrecae Alzari"] - Location One



"Copy that. We will be shortly as well"



The various vessels belonging to Salacia Consolidated and the Levantine Sanctum landed as best they could near the proposed spaceport site. After all, workers did have to get the job done without being killed or attacked by the local gangs. Ramps were lowered and soon workers and various forms of construction equipment were being unloaded. Firemane was already on patrol, which helped ease some of the issues with being attacked.


Judah disembarked with several engineers and architects. Immediately, the engineers and architects begun to set up a small site where the plans could be laid out and orders could be directed. Spotting one Miss Kerrigan, Judah made his way over to her.


"Looks quiet so far. Has Firemane explored the city ruins yet? We're looking to demo a portion for the spaceport."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] | [member="Maya Whitelight"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Tiland Kortun"]


"I see that look Merrill. No one is doing any snarking.....yet."


A dropship had arrived amongst the chaos with one space elf on it. Well, the one space elf in the galaxy that Delila could stand! Humanitarian aid was shaping up it seemed. If Dells wanted to, she could throw a stick and hit about twenty of them at one pass. It was crazy. Then again, reports indicated that this band of survivors were some of the only ones not hostile and needed help.


Of course, barely a greeting later and Kaida was ripping apart the natives. Sighing, Delila slowly walked to her location. She wasn't extremely concerned. Yes, they could possibly be violent. Yet Delila had been waiting to see just exactly what kinds of weapons these folks had. Sometimes a presence was good enough to scare little bands of idiots away.


"Great Kaida, massacre this folks in front of the children. Great first impression you've got going on."

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Delila Castillon"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


The natives Kaida had been shooting were a bunch of bunch of brigands sneaking up upon the village and had already fired. Of course, they were not much of a threat to the Eldorai and Sanctum soldiers given their primitive weaponry, but they were not nice fellows either. What with being bandits who came to pillage and murder and all that. In any case Kaida was unconcerned.


In response to Dells she shrugged. "Teaches the bandits a lesson and shows they can't raid at a whim anymore. I doubt the children will mourn them," she said. She was a soldier, not a space hippie. Some of the soldiers seemed about to pursue the bandits but she gestured to them to halt. "Let what's left of them go. If they're smart they learned a lesson. Keep your guard up though."

 

[Maya Carrick]

[member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Valiens Nantaris"] [member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Tiland Kortun"]

Popping her own head up more so then any other before. She after all Huntress that she was she could always feel all around her.It wasn't the best that she was feeling but hoping the security that was given to the humanitarian aid worker. Only one thing she had going for her she wasn't just your normal worker. With the armor being of scales of Akk dog she looked more like she fit in with these people then most that was working clothing. Picking up the small child in her arm letting her own empthany along with going in to make the child calm as she went to work.

Not worrying about anything else or what the others wold be doing all would work like it was to. Gathering up the rest of the children that was playing some simple game with sticks. Went to go get them into a area that would proved the most cover. Even those it wasn't much of cover but it was some. Knowing that she would at this point going to have to show something of what she was, this could either end badly and have those that they came to help be scared of her or they would warm up to her. Hoping it was the later part. Closing her own eyes as she did this she would be able to feeling the root system around the place. As this happen something begin to happen to the very force it self. The roots begin to grow up around them all form a little nest for protection. Still not the best in this situation but some more then what they had in those shabby huts and where they was at.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Kaida Taldir"], [member="Delila Castillon"]

It was whilst the merits of aggressive or passive defence were being debated, that a single figure approached the village. A robe of tattered grey and black covered him, and they walked up the road towards the barricade.
"Stop right there!" one of the militia troops called. He had a blaster which had seen better decades.
The figure stopped.
"Who are you?" Had he been genre-savvy he might have been more on his guard. Wandering black robed figures coming alone and seemingly unarmed were seldom bearers of good tidings.
Fortunately for the militiaman, the figure pushed back his hood to reveal a middle-aged man with slightly greying hair and beard.
"The name's Nantaris, lad. I'd like a word with your boss." When he looked uncertain, Nantaris sighed. "No fear, I'm sure your elf lass will protect you if I get rowdy. Come on, lad, I have all day, but I'd rather not wait."

And so a message was sent to Kaida and Delila asking them to come down and see this odd stranger.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Location One

"I'm heading towards the city centre. I'll find a site to demolish," Eyrecae said. As she walked the overgrown and ruined streets, the demi-goddess could feel she was being watched.
"I can sense enemies." That wasn't quite true. She could sense she was being observed...she naturally made them enemies in her mind. Her bolter swept the street, not firing, but ready to fire as she walked.

"It's too quiet..." she said softly. "Sio, let's demolish a few buildings and roust them into the open!" she demanded. Nothi ng like a bit of slaughter to earn the favour of the war goddess.

 

[Ordo]

The air was still and quiet on his little piece of the planet. The community he had helped set up worked the corporate fields and lived in the corporate owned homes. The nearly 400 acres was nothing compared to some farms but this one was the first of many planned. Fields of grains and vegetables and orchards of fruit occupied half while feilds for livestock took the rest. Roba, Nerf and Nuna all had areas to roam as free range animals. He had sworn to have clean produce and so he would.

He sat watching the area from his chair when a security cheif ran up.

"Sir there's trouble. A band of raiders are cutting through an old city on a path straight for us." the woman said grey just starting in her hair.

"Put them down Rally Master." he said not even batting an eye lash. It was harsh but was it dark? He had to consider how it would weigh on his conscience these days. "Wait, get a troop ship ready and load it. I'll take a small group and meet them in a speeder truck. If they can't be employed or talked down land and wipe them out. Take prisoners if they give up. Help our image."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Eyrecae Alzari"]


"Sent out a scout patrol on speeders and a Gunship's overflying the city. We'll keep you informed. I'll leave the bulk of our unit behind to cover your people. I'll have my demolition experts assist you in your work," Siobhan spoke to Judah. Eyrecae was already taking off and so she followed her, after having designated minions to keep the site of what should once be a spaceport safe.


E-webs and shattergun rotary cannons, the latter being the result of a deal of Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers, were set up around the site and manned by the mercenaries to form a barrier that should be impregnable against any of the natives that might death charge them. Overkill? Probably, but far as Siobhan was concerned the best way to ensure order was to make everyone understood what's what and where the power lay, thereby ensuring deterrence. They would not fire on anyone unless fired upon after all. Firemane engineers and soldiers would also be ready to perform demolition work to help out Salacia. Eventually some Javelin turrets could be set up to help protect the spaceport in the making. Presumably once they got electricity running.


While this took place Siobhan followed after Eyrecae. "Eyrecae, you know how things go. Hostiles are bound to blindly death charge you within moments." Siobhan said, being what might be considered genre-savvy. "And if we find a building packed with hostiles we'll demolish it. Not before," she added sternly. "Not that there's much left to demolish, the whole place is in ruins. Don't slaughter all hostiles who charge you though. We have little intel on this place and I'd like prisoners to question if possible. Intact prisoners." Then because Siobhan was a big troll and an even bigger showoff she leapt into the air and took to the sky, once again showing off her skill at Force Flight purely because she could. Well, it should give her a better view of the place and thus enable her to spot hostiles easier. She was still gliding close enough for Eyrecae to hear her and vice-versa though. Assuredly someone would attack them soon.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



"I know your type of demolition experts." Judah was a little concern they would crush the women and children. Not exactly the image he wanted to project for Salacia Consolidated. Either way, Siobhan and the white-haired battering ram known as Eyrecae were off in typical dramatic fashion. This left Judah with the workers and the sound of starships droning overhead.


Turning away, he turned to the pop-up tent that had been set up for operations. The sides were up, basically just giving them a roof right now. Sweat had broken out on most of the sentients assembled. The faint smell of the salty-sea was in the air. Naturally the Sanctum was concerned about pollution so the spaceport was going to be built in the center of the city, away from the sea.


"We start building the spaceport here." A finger of an architect went into about the middle of New Arrah. " Around the spaceport goes the downtown district. It will be scaled down for the planet and our ambitions. We're looking at setting up residential along the sea. Representatives from the Sanctum were concerned about history. We've brought archaeologists to preserve some things. A few parks have been set aside, we'll probably feature older stuff there."


"All in all, we're looking at an average Free Space city by the time we are finished."