Toiling On Tabaqui [Levantine Sanctum Dominion of Tabaqui]

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]


Lenora glanced over the plans for the hotel, thinking.


"We could always have a large security force as well. Work with the Levantines, see if we can't spring for extra patrols in the area. I am not sure what they are doing but with a city comes basic services of some sort. How far would this be off the coast? I have not seen boats by these natives, although it wouldn't be hard to make one. I assume it would be safe given its location."


"What of typhoons? Storms?"

 

[Danger Arceneau]

"Hmm... storms," that was a good question, "Perhaps installing pillars that may sink the hotel in itself underwater for security?"

Incoming reports from Alisha'ven would state that so far, they haven't meet any kind of resistance. It didn't take five minutes before that would change.

Reports of a stray band of pirates would come in. So this would take a bit more work than expected, especially if the facility had been turned into a shadowport of sorts.

What manner of fight that would commence would be heavily observed by Danger in between nods and suggestions for the ritzy hotel on Tabaqui.

She'd glance up from her datapad, " Should there be an orbital docking area for all ships and instead shuttle residents via a Silk HALCYON transport... or shuttle craft? That way to keep our footprint small?"

 

[Kaida Taldir]

The bandits were on the run, medical supplies and components were being unloaded from dropships and soldiers were setting up perimeter security. Everything was shiny and happy. At least once you ignored the dead bodies that were being feasted on by vultured a couple miles away. The lower ranking soldiers were as excited about their duties as you might expect.


"Hey, Tara, we can chill. The dominion's over. We won. Let's go have a drink," one Eldorai grunt said to her comrade. Apparently she was not particularly motivated about the tremendously fascinating task of putting the perimeter in place.

"What in the blazes is a dominion? Some kinky game with Domino the blue Twi'lek? I don't see her here. And that scruffy Scottish manling yammered something about a bandit army," the other Eldorai minion responded. Apparently she was being prim and proper.


The first grunt made a dismissive gesture. "Oh, don't worry your pretty head about that. We have more than one hundred posts. The rules say that's all you need for a dominion! So let's go and have a drink. There's got to be something here. Sure the Captain won't notice we're gone."


"What the blazes have you been smoking? Those weird roleplaying holonet sites those human monkeighs have are not reality!"


"What in Ashira's name do you think you're doing? Lazing on the sodding job! You two do some actual bloody work before I teach you some discipline. Or send you to TGC!" Their Sergeant barked angrily in the eternal tradition of sergeants. Or at least Hollywood war movies would have you believe that. The two minions shuddered and looked suitably contrite upon being called to order. No one wanted to go to TGC! They might have to participate in a plot about Celestials who looked like Reaper expies.


While the grunts were doing their best to break the 4th wall Kaida ended up meeting [member="Delila Castillon"] again. "Castillon, raiders have pulled back. It appears I'm finishing up here. Town's under control for now or so I'm told." Kaeshana called again and so she would probably be chewing out Angelii recruits soon. Presumably the Levantines would be deploying more Patrollers to set up an outpost or something of that nature. Whether the third world planet would really come around and rise from the ashes was another question.

 

[Tamara]

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

It might be considered a blind spot in Tegaea’s otherwise very solid common sense, but she found Siobhan’s corny lines to be endearing. If she didn’t, it’s doubtful their marriage would have lasted long at all!

Regardless, Tamara swum with Judah and Siobhan to the rock wall and then dived under it, leading them through an underwater stone tunnel and into a cave. And what a cave it was.

The pools of water evidently rose quite high with the tide, but now it was fairly low. It was a beautiful place, set with colourful crystals and old stone constructions of ancient design.

“I suspect you could drill down from above to get easier access in,” Tamara commented. “But it’s beautiful.”

She turned to them. “There is however, a reason why I needed two other people to come with me down here. There’s an ancient crypt, and it can only be opened by three people working together. We can leave it, of course, but we should probably investigate it before you make more plans. Not that I suspect it contains a cosmic horror of course,” she said, smiling.
“But I suspect it contains an ancient storehouse, potentially precious items, maybe something to give us a clue of how and why this place was built, and who did so.”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tamara"], [member="Judah Dashiell"]


And so our three protagonists had gone cave diving, had a swim and gotten rather wet. Just not in the way Siobhan kept trying to imply with her corny jokes because this is not that sort of tale! Now as they emerged through the pool of water into the cave, they beheld a sight of breathtaking beauty. Even Siobhan looked awed for a moment.


"It is beautiful." she echoed the words Tamara had said. At the mention of an ancient crypt she brightened.


"You really take me to nice places, Tamara," she trolled, once again making a lame attempt at flirtation. This one wonders whether Tegaea would be down for scuba diving because the spot was so romantic! Well, it would not be so if it really had cosmic horrors. The mention of an ancient storehouse piqued her curiosity, as did the mention of precious items. Assuming they fell under her idea of precious and not under what say Phylis Alince would think. "Ancient storehouse? Count me interested. So where's this crypt?"

 

[Alisha'ven]

Peragus Mining Facility

Meanwhile, things were about to get interesting. Alisha wasn't kidding about the squatting pirates, and above the volatile space surrounding the Peragus Mining Facility, things were getting a bit--- explosive.

The small renegade pirate fleet would be at full force with that of the Arceneau Trade Merchant Fleet. But this was no mere merchant fleet -- with enough Xoxan's, starfighter support, and peragine's, they would be giving as much as they got.

The key issue, however, was making sure that they didn't destroy the highly volatile fuel mining facility in their engagement.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Danger Arceneau"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Tamara"]


Judah ran a hand through wet-slick hair, causing it to stick up like a unkempt forest creature. He looked between the woman as he bobbed on the surface of the warm water, taking in the cavern sights. It was truly beautiful. Maybe more than beautiful, words were hard to describe the interior. He hadn't expected to go on an exploration assignment for relics. Wasn't good at that type of thing. Judah normally found his type of relics in scrap heaps or ancient crash sites.


"Alright, I'm in against my better judgement."


=============


"I am sure we could anchor the system easily. Most likely rocks underneath the ocean waters. Maybe have automatic shutters or a system in place for when the storms do roll through. As for transport, we should keep our foot print small. How many do we expect to arrive on a daily basis? We could build an orbital docking center and shuttle guests down privately. Catered service from sky to sea."


"If we build a big enough orbital station we could also profit from docking fees from others besides our guests."

 

[Tamara]

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

"My dear Siobhan, you have a strange concept of what a nice place is. I admit this is pretty, but not necessarily 'nice'."

Still, they were in so she led them across the floor to sloping set of slippery stone stairs. At the top was a blank wall. After careful inspection of the wall and floor Tamara uncovered two slightly raised tiles on the ground.

"Could I get each of you to stand on one of these when I say, please? I have to try and find the final switch. This all needs to be done at the same time to open the door."

Tamara looked at Siobhan and winked slightly and appeared to just pass her hand over the stones, but Siobhan would sense her using the Force. She was using her power to look for hidden sigils and there on the stone she found it.

"Alright...on my mark...."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Tamara"]


And so we're back on the exciting quest in the underwater cave. So far no tentacled eldritch abominations and unspeakable horrors had magically spawned and attempted to eat them. Or do...naughty things with their tentacles.



"Sure. No chance of a cliched trap suddenly being sprung." Needless to say Siobhan sensed Tamara using the Force upon the stones. It was blatant enough even for someone who did not excel at Force Sense. When Tamara spoke Siobhan quickly moved to the slightly raised title and stood upon it. Who knew what would happen when the mechanism was activated...maybe the Terror from the Deep would suddenly manifest! There might be drums, drums in the deep...

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Now they were talking.

"An orbital station could be perfect --" she would give a pause. "And actually, a quick question. Is the weather on Tabaqui consistent? Is it prone to storms? Changes?"

She'd ask, mainly due to the face she'd recently acquired an interesting set of orbital moon schematics for a weather control station. Depending on what they would need, that could become part of this orbital station --- not a moon, but if required a weather control facility within it.

"We can start listing just what we will need in this orbital trade station, and determine just how much space we require.

Selling the lots within it would certainly bring a nice investment from those who would want to sell to tourists or wealthier clientele."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Danger Arceneau"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Tamara"]



"Yeah, this just screams safe." Judah commented from his side of things. He didn't have the force, just muscle power. Apparently it wasn't going to be used though, as the two women were busy using their wands to move the rock. Rather useless and bored, he shifted uncomfortably in the wetsuit as dust and bits of pebbles went flying off as the ancient thing was removed.


"The smell wafting out is already lovely. Can't imagine what we're going to find."

-----------


Lenora looked over her file. "I'm not seeing anything violent. Basic seasonal changes. Standard storms. I don't see a violent or rainy season like some have. That isn't to rule out a fluke though. Of course we don't know much about this planet."


"As for the space station, we're going to have to build away from the old space stations. We sent explorers out. Nothing but tombs, filled to the brim with dead bodies. Some folks are saying it looks like stuff from the Plague. We don't need Buffy's offspring catching a glimpse of floating old corpses. I don't see it happening, but you know this types. Make a big to-do over nothing."

 

[Nina Heavenshield]

Rashemen Village

For once, Nina was actually enjoying herself in the company of another her age. Her exposure to other children was not non-existing; she'd accompanied her father on his many visits to the Seren Sanctuary several times, but she'd rarely interact with any of them. Too shy and too awkward due to her being mute, she couldn't help feeling out of place. She wouldn't understand what they said, anyway, as she only knows Umbaran with the exception of a few words and phrases in Basic she'd picked up from her father.

This girl, Gretta, was different. Neither of them even shared a single word, yet they both knew exactly what the other was thinking of as if able to read eachother's minds. While still very shy and introvert, Nina at least joined in the games Gretta had set up for them. She even broke a smile at the girl, moments before the front door opened and a woman showed herself. The woman's eyes widened more so in fear rather than the surprise of finding her daughter playing alongside a girl she'd never seen before.

"Mom, look! This is Nina, and..." Gretta greeted her mother. She was not as amused as her daughter, proceeding to grab hold of her and lift her up off the ground. "Come, Gretta. What have I told you about talking to strangers?" she told her, keeping her daughter close to her chest as she eyed Nina and the other woman. "You should not be here. Get your daughter away from here, before they..." she addressed Coci, yet faltered in explaining further before turning back inside their hovel and shutting the door behind her, not even waiting for a response from either Coci or the girl. Gretta managed a wave at Nina just as the door closed.

Nina could only stand and watch as Gretta was being brought inside, still clutching her newfound friend's toy in both hands. While saddened at the interrupted playtime, she walked up to the door and placed the toy upon the threshold. It was not hers to keep, after all. She then turned and let the tears forming in the corner of her eyes roll down her cheeks as she found Coci, threw her arms around her legs and wept.

[member="Coci Sinopi"]

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Danger's lips would purse. Floating tombs were not a good thing for business.

"What ideas do you have for a custom built station?" here was an idea, go big and go all out there. Make a singular custom space station of a ritz that had ever been seen.

"If we are going to do this, best we go full on out. It is an investment -- and if we can end up renting or selling out space for the more tourist type kind of shops... we can make a killing."

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Nina Heavenshield"] | [member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

She stood as the woman come out of her home, and greeted her with a smile. However, her face dropped it's expression as she sensed an over riding fear from the mother, that same fear she had sensed earlier. Clearly something plagues this village and Coci wanted to find out what.

Coci's eyes looked down at Nina as she placed the toy back on the door step for Gretta, her mind on what the woman had said, partly, as she seemed to frightened to even voice her concerns. As Nina grabbed hold of her legs and wept, Coci gently removed her from her grip and crouched down to wrap her in her arms. She held Nina for a moment for comfort before speaking to her.

No tears Nina, something is wrong here and we will find out what that is. Coci leaned back slightly to see Nina's face and wiped away her tears with a smile.

Standing once more, Coci took Nina by the hand and approached the door of the home and knocked. She waited only a few moments, before speaking as she suspected the woman was too afraid to answer it.

"Please open the door, I want to speak to you", she said in a soft tone. "I can help .. if something or someone is causing problems I can help". Coci spoke to a closed door.

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"Coci..." came the voice of her fiancé, having witnessed the end of the scene play out from afar as he and the elder made it back a few minutes ago. Nina, upon hearing her father's voice, turned and hurried over to him as he walked towards them. Soon she was safe and sound in his arms as he picked her up and carried her back to where Coci was stood outside the cottage. "Come. We need to talk."

Finding a quiet spot on the outskirt of Rashemen, Thurion put Nina down in the grass and then joined her, inviting Coci to do the same. "These people are scared. The various crime lords in the area come here to demand what they call 'tributes'. Food, water, supplies... and when they don't have any to give up, they take one of their women." He hoped he wouldn't have to go into any more detail, mostly because he wasn't sure how much of it Nina would pick up on, despite her poor knowledge of the language. Nina herself was now happily relishing her father's presence, as well as her growing adoration of Coci.

"They're not likely to want to speak of it, you see. I promised Obrion we will do what we can to stop it." His hand found hers, letting their fingers entwine while keeping a concerned face the entire time. "If anything like that was to happen to you or Nina..."

[member="Coci Sinopi"]

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

[member="Thurion Heavenshield"]

She was pleased to hear Thurion's voice, Coci wanted to tell him what she had been sensing and the actions of the mother toward them. But he had seen it and knew more then she. Her face darkened as she followed him to the grassy patch and looked back at the village, now it was clear only the men seemed to walk in the open and very few children played if at all.

He did not need to give details, Coci understood clearly what probably had befallen these woman and she would not stand by and let another be taken. In fact Coci wanted to find these thugs and bring back the woman if they are still alive.

"We will stop it Thurion, this is simply not acceptable and so close to our home. How could we live there knowing what plagues these people and live in peace?". A plan had already began to form in her mind. "We should stay in this village until the crime lords return for their tributes. We need to get Nina somewhere safe. When they come, you are to give them me". She looked him in his eyes with pure sense of purpose, this is what she does and she is good at it.

"I know you will object to this, but it is the only way to get the woman back home, if they still live and find the location of the crime lords".

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

"You're right", he said in response to her plan. "I do object." His grip of her hand grew firmer, as if afraid to let go. "But I also know there's no swaying your mind when it's made up", he continued, managing a faint smile followed by a slight nod of reluctant approval. Nina luckily remained blissfully unaware of what the two had just agreed to, watching the sky turn orange as night approached. She'd curled up in her father's lap and pointed to the setting sun, to which Thurion leaned in to kiss the top of her head. While doing so, his arm wrapped around Coci and pulled her close. Together the family of three watched the sunset cast an array of colours across the sky, ranging from gold to pink to crimson.

"Almost as beautiful as you two jewels of my life..."

[member="Coci Sinopi"]

 

[Tamara]

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

Tamara looked at her two companions. She smiled.
“Not much chance, no…the builder would never do something like that,” she said.

And thus, the three of them combined to open the door. With a sliding of rock the cliff-face parted to reveal a small room within. Water and damp had not escaped the interior, but the large stone box within seemed unaffected.

“After you, Siobhan. You’ve got the magic touch,” she said. Whilst she could have removed the lid with her own powers she was loathe to use them and show her hand with Judah present unless it was necessary.

After Siobhan had obligingly used her TK Goddess +4 skills to remove the lid Tamara led them both to peer inside.

As the dice rolled in this case (since this writer prefers them to coins) were generous, there was the glint of gold and silver inside. The silver was unfortunately tarnished by the damp and imperfect seals, but could be buffed up a treat. The gold though was magnificent, all the pieces designed in a rather angular style.

Tamara removed a golden ring from the chest and handed it to Judah. “I think your wife would like that,” she said with a smile.

“Well, treasure is always fun. There’s a few pieces I want from here for myself, and some I’ll sell for some easy credits. The majority you two may split amongst yourselves as you wish.”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Tamara"]


At first Siobhan looked a bit disappointed when she realised that the large stone box did not contain powerful Force artefacts. There was that cool darkside power she really wanted to learn! But then she stopped being sulky and smiled when she actually bothered to look and saw the glint of gold and silver.


The silver might be tarnished a bit, but was still shiny and the gold was magnificient. "Oh, it's shiny," she said happily as she fished into the treasure trove and retrieved a golden necklace. She might give to wifey, neatly gift-wrapped with a ribbon. Or use it herself. Well, there were plenty of golden trinkets for both of them.