[TSA] Builders Choice

[Seris Caine]

Bastion - 0730 hours

"It's early. Why did you wake me?"

He rubbed a hand at his face before turning to look towards the door where one of the Guard stood, the door half-open.

"You have an appointment, sir. As it stands, you're already late for it."

An appointment. When did he not have one of those? The Palace of Shadows was nearing completion, which was why he was staying within it, but there were other projects to see to. Now that he was somewhat awake he did recall something about a meeting in regards to the shipyards. The same reason he'd sent for crews from Surron to come to Bastion. They had a project that they needed to get taken care of, and that was only going to happen if he was actually awake to go and see things through. Damned responsibilities.

Sitting up, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and nodded his head at the Guard. The door shut once more and he went to use the Fresher and get cleaned up before getting dressed and heading down the stairs. He'd invited their Warmaster and others to come to the Palace for a chat. He descended the large tower to the second level of the Palace. Here was a large meeting hall, equipped with a powerful holoprojector and numerous seats at a round table that the projector sat within the center of. Here were the others, him being late to his own meeting at his own Palace. No, not late. Fashionably on time.

"Good morning," he said, taking a glass of water from the table and drinking half of it. "Thank you all for coming. I'm sure you wonder why I've invited you here, so I won't keep you guessing. We need a shipyard, and I need to know who has the funds to build it, and who will be in charge of its security. So, let's discuss."

| [member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Krest"] |​

 

[Poe]

​Halifax laid in his bed staring up at the ceiling. His head was swimming from the past week's events. First he lost his sister. Then he lost his brethren, though they were responsible for the death of his sister. The Force Hunters, whom he walked side-by-side with, had murdered his sister when he tried to free her. "Why did you come to Bastion, Fey?" ​His question was rhetorical in nature. He knew why she came. She fell to the Darkside after promising him the last time they spoke she would never embrace the Force, only to throw herself with the Sith to finally end up on Bastion. He blamed himself. After the death of their parents it was his duty to protect her, though she repeatedly told him it was not his burden to bear. Burden or not, he failed her. He should have never left Concord Dawn. Never!

​Tossing aside the covers, he removed himself from his bed. The former Force Hunter had been allowed to join the Sith Ascendancy, but he was watched daily; and he couldn't blame them. The atrocities he committed against their kind and the Jedi could never be forgotten, though the Sith would be pleased to know how many Jedi hilts he had tucked away. Sith hilts, those claimed here on Bastion by him, had been returned to the Sith. Regardless, he had much to prove to these Sith still, even after the fact he gave them several locations where Clans under the banner of Gorz Buruk made camp. He was held back when the Sith brought their brand of justice down upon them, and he couldn't blame them for that either. He was told of the aftermath, and Halifax stood proudly with a smile on his face.

​Halifax got dressed in basic armor, until he proved his undying loyalty to the Sith Ascendancy he was forbidden to wear his Mandalorian armor. This suited him fine. He would never wear that armor, decorated with the Force Hunter's symbol upon the left shoulder plate, ever again. When permitted to wear Mandalorian armor again, he would create a new one; and decorate that with symbols representing each Force Hunter he killed. No, murdered!

​Halifax entered the hall weaponless. He was forbidden to carry weapons in the presence of any Sith, regardless of rank, until again he proved loyalty. Halifax spoke, "If the Lords permit, I would like to assist in the security detail." ​Halifax had ran Gorz's security force, those sworn to protect him at all costs; but Halifax knew the man better than any Sith on Bastion. Halifax heard the Sith boasting how they would kill Gorz, but they were wrong. They wouldn't kill him, that was reserved for him; and as Gorz lied broken and dying, only then would his sister have peace.


[member="Ignus"] [member="Krest"] [member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Several of the new Xo'Xaan IIs meandered through Bastion's orbit, their hulls glistening with pride despite their relative infancy. One of them strayed away from the main block, its hull was marked with a great lidless eye and black trim decal and from its small ventral hangar emerged a single Upsilon-class shuttle flanked by two of the new Fury-class starfighters.

It was the Crestfallen, personal transport of the Ascendancy's infamous Warmaster; Darth Carnifex. As it descended through Bastion's atmosphere its shadow spread across the land, and its rumbling engines were like thunder upon the horizon. Before they laid the sprawling expanse of Ravelin city, and beyond that were the rolling hills that butted up against the towering mountain ranges that comprised the farthest horizon from end to end. Somewhere in those snow-capped peaks was his own private estate built long before the Ascendancy wrestled control away from the Mandalorian Force-Hunters that had taken up residence after the Crusader regime crumbled shortly before Mandalore's destruction.

But that was not his destination, he was to join his peers at the Palace of Shadows. It was currently the personal abode of Lord Ignus, who had personally called this meeting together of some of the more influential minds and voices within the nascent Ascendancy.

He wouldn't have dared to ignore such an invitation, not when they were on the cusp of greatness.

His shuttle came to a rest on a landing adjacent to the tuning fork shaped structure, the ramp lowered and Carnifex emerged wearing casual garb in the form of a traditional Sith cloak and fine silken maroon vestments. His lightsabers hung from his belt, but he didn't think he'd need them for a friendly chat, but when consorting among fellow Sith it was not unwise to carry visible weaponry even though he was confident that even when bereft of a physical weapon he possessed enough power to scatter his foes to the wind like leaves.

He entered the audience chamber, and found that only he and several others were on time for the meeting. The host was nowhere to be seen, but after a few minutes of patient waiting he revealed himself soon enough. He greeted them all magnanimously and laid out his purpose for this conclave right on the table, a purpose that Carnifex found most pleasing. "If it is a shipyard you require constructed then I have the requisite funds and workforce to accomplish such a task, although I may take time to assemble them on such short notice."

[member="Halifax McCade"] | [member="Krest"] | [member="Ignus"]​

 

[Darth Abyss]

The Mindeater sat in the last row of the seats placed for the meeting, a dark, inhuman figure with no face or body besides the metal armor that kept his spirit contained. That [member="Ignus"] arrived a bit to late didn't surprise him, since his transformation it had become far to easy for him to foresee little things like that. Talking about money, ships and all that bored him, his wealth had suffered a little under the fall of Malachor, but his hand was still everywhere in the underworld. Drugs, arms, slaves and a few other things created a constant flow of credits into his pockets, and without a whole world to lead and control the amount had grown instead of shrinking down to nothing, which had surprised him at first. For the first time the members of the Ascendancy would here the ethereal, otherworldly voice and the following echo in which he spoke now, a sound created without moving his mechanical jaw

"I have credits and workers to offer as well. The Tainted Legion are not the greater builders of all time, but they can make something out of nothing. They can lay the foundation until more specialized personal arrives."

His army was composed of the former gangs of Malachor, and as the people of Malachor they all had learned how to build things out of nothing other than scrap. And while not very beautiful, these things had turned out to be more than capable of being as stable and resilient as constructs build by people that actually knew what they did. The legion was still waiting at the edge of the city for further instructions, and a bit of work would be good for their moral.

"I can also offer slaves, free of charge of course."

Without Malachor his hand in the slave trade had become smaller, but he still trafficked horrendous amounts of mindless homeless people of the smuggler moon Nar Shaddaa, like he had done in the beginning of his rise as a criminal entrepreneur. They were an efficient and very cheap work force, but they could also lead to a bad image for the ascendancy.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Halifax McCade"] [member="Krest"]

 

[Seris Caine]

Leos first eyed the Mandalorian. Could he be trusted or was he a traitor in disguise? He could probe the mans mind and find out, but that wasn't really something he was interested in doing at the moment. There were more pressing matters at hand. That and [member="Halifax McCade"] was under watch by people good at their job so there wasn't really a reason to waste his time on such efforts. That and they could use people on the security detail that knew how to fight as well as a Mandalorian could.

"Very well," he said in response to him before turning his attention to [member="Darth Carnifex"] as the Lord spoke.

He nodded his head in response and tapped a few keys on the controls for the holoprojector, pulling up a galaxy map with two locations indicated.

"I have people coming from Surron where my shipyards are. They should arrive soon enough. They can get things started until your people arrive, Lord Carnifex." [member="Darth Abyss"] chimed in as well and he nodded. "The more help the better. It will be a long endeavor to get this constructed and require a lot of materials. With the capitol provided, we can begin acquisitions. I'll have my transport vessels begin picking up hauls immediately."

He motioned towards Carnifex.

"I trust you will also be in charge of security, meaning McCade will be under your thumb?"

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Security will be my focus. Splitting attention on a project this big can lead to oversights. Asides, I might as well do my job, right?" Krest chuckled as he stepped into the room. A bit late to the party, but still here none the less. "My agents will co-ordinate with any local enforcement as well as the Ascendancy forces. The Force Hunters will be the most likely to strike, and McCade will have his uses." [member="Halifax McCade"] would get an almost glare from the Sith Lord as he passed by him. While a defector from the rebel Mandos, he was still to be watched. He kept to the back of the group, nodding to [member="Ignus"] , [member="Darth Carnifex"] , and [member="Darth Abyss"] as a respectful gesture.

Other than security however, the Zabrak wouldn't be doing much here. Ships weren't his thing, and he has little he could offer.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Agreed, we will let Lord Krest handle security."

The Dark Lord examined the galactic map, noting the difference in distance between the Reach, Surron, and the Braxant Run. It would be quite a trip indeed for either of their respective workforces, undoubtedly fraught with peril at every turn. "We should put our new war galleys to work to protect the convoys from pirates and other unsavory bands, I recommend at least one Xo'Xaan II with frigate escort for each convoy. That way it'll make such brigands think twice before messing with ships carrying our transponders."

It was a solid plan, especially when one considered just how far his own people would have to travel; practically from one end of the galaxy to the other. Luckily the Alliance had yet encroached on the northern Inner Rim, any convoys he sends to Bastion could stop at Mindabaal to resupply before making the rest of the journey.

"And indeed, it will be our highest priority to minimize Force Hunter presence in the area. They will be our greatest hindrance."

[member="Ignus"] | [member="Halifax McCade"] | [member="Darth Abyss"] | [member="Krest"]​

 

[Seris Caine]

"Makes sense."

It was nice of [member="Krest"] to finally join them and speak up. The intelligence guy would be good for running security for them. It was inevitable that the yards would come under attack at some point during their effort to build them. There were still Mandalorians lurking about just waiting for an opportunity to stop them from continuing their conquest of the world. It wouldn't work, of course. No matter what they tried, they would inevitably be stopped by the combined efforts of the Sith forces.

His attention was then turned to [member="Darth Carnifex"] and he nodded. He could maintain security for his own ships, but he wouldn't argue against a bit of extra security for them when they were shipping in people and materials.

"I won't argue with the extra defenses for the cargo haulers. I don't think they will either. As for the Force Hunters, if it's wearing Mandalorian armor just kill it. Everyone else should be vetted and searched before being allowed to work. But I'm sure Krest already knows this."

[member="Darth Abyss"] [member="Halifax McCade"]