Unexpected Bonus (The Moross Crusade Dominion of Q-27)

[Crystal]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Crystal offered Jorus a smile. That was very true. She had more than one of course, as she'd had four hundred years to discover long forgotten techniques. But her talent was telepathy.

"It doesn't suck," she said with a grin.

 

[Ereza]

Inari waited patiently aboard the Aing-Tii ship, relaying messages and taking care to ensure she was up to date on all things Crusade and Moross. Her sojourn back to the alien planet often left her disconnected, and sometimes this was to her benefit. Other times it made catch-up a difficult game to play. Luckily for her she'd not been away from the capital long.

Entrenched in a response to issues on Demonsgate, the Reviver looked up as one of her Aing-Tii escorts moved to commune with her. Apparently a ship had very suddenly appeared out of hyperspace ... the last part she couldn't make out. A term ... word... idea - whatever one might use to describe the communication methods of the Aing-Tii, for it was nothing like the common method of speech, but what it was describing to her was falling short of her understanding of their vocabulary.

The ship was *cattywampus?

It made little sense to her, but what she understood is that something was amiss. Inari followed them to where she could see and allowed her concerns to settle when it was clear there was nothing wrong with the Morossian ship. For a moment she had feared for their safety. There was just no telling what the Horde might try next.

The Aesir turned her attention back to her personal comm and sent another message through - Clear the meeting area of non-essentials. I will arrive shortly.



*don't judge me.

 

[Crystal]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Amorella Mae"] [member="Siara Vorru"]

Crystal was certain once they'd arrived that the Aesir was nearby, simply by the Force signature. The communication system was not nearly as quick as her senses however. But, still there were protocols to follow on ships that were not hers.

Finally the transmission came from the bridge that the Aesir would be arriving shortly. She smiled. "Looks like we are right on time for dinner after all." She took a sip of her water.

 

[Siara Vorru]

As the ship came out of hyperspace and the crew re-established control over the vessel doing a complete check of all systems at the instruction of the Captain. He was obviously rattled by the sudden departure from their previous location as well as with the speed at which they travelled. Siara on the other hand was simply impressed, that was definitely a useful skill, she could just imagine how she could use such a skill but no doubt it was beyond her grasp. She didn’t have any need for the force, she had her own strengths though, they weren’t much use here at this very moment but that didn’t matter.

Getting on her comm Siara had to calm the Captain. “Download the data from that hyperspace jump to my pad and do a complete sensor sweep of the system once the system diagnostics are complete, we should be expecting contact from Aesir Inari’s vessel shortly, inform me the moment that happens.”

Curiosity had gotten to the Kiffar woman and she wanted to see exactly what the ship had done when under the control of their guest but that she would review later after all this was over.

“Next time we are going to do something like that I would appreciate a warning Commander, we wasted a great deal of time when we initially jumped trying to re-establish control we didn’t have a hope of gaining.” The Captain replied obviously angry.

“Don’t get your panties in a knot, if the ship was in any danger I would not have let it happen, remember who is in command here Captain.” Siara replied, she was much more accustomed to taking risks, sometimes unnecessary but often leading to all kinds of fun.

Turning her attention back to [member="Jorus Merrill"] the Captain chirped in her ear again, informing her of the message from the Aesir. The room was already cleared of all non-essentials, if the Aesir wished more people to leave when she arrived then she could always order such when she got here. Siara certainly wouldn’t mind leaving but this was her mission so she couldn’t very well step away from negotiations critical to its success.

“The Aesir will be joining us shortly.” Siara stated simply before tapping her earpiece to communicate with the bridge again. “Prepare for the Aesir’s arrival, I want all corridors between the arranged docking port and the conference room cleared of all personnel and a small security escort to guide your god here. Once the Aesir is in the room I want the security feed cut and no non-essential personnel are to set foot in here until they are called upon.”

When this whole trip was over she was going to have to take a contract with more action, the past couple weeks had been hard on her, diplomacy was certainly not her strong suit. She could put on a good show just the same as anyone but it was obviously taking its toll. If she didn’t get to shoot something soon she was going to go nuts.

*Ship is the Aurora btw
[member="Crystal"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Crystal]

Crystal wasn't entirely sure that it was necessary to clear the corridors, but she wasn't going to say anything in front of others about it. This wasn't her show after all. Siara's style was certainly different. And interesting. She took another sip of her water and set the glass down on the table.

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Ereza]

OOC - Sorry for the delay. Long week. Busy week. Sick week.

IC -

The Sanhedrim ship hung eerily still, having only appeared minutes before the uncustomary arrival of the Moross delegation. After receiving a message of all clear, Inari moved to join two Aing-Tii escorts awaiting her. Moments later, without forewarning of any sort, the trio simply appeared aboard the Aurora in a jolting snap of energy.

This was why the halls had been cleared.

Inari reached out to her escorts, touching upon what would be their muzzle and gently stroking up along their chin - offering her thanks in their language. When she withdrew, they disappeared.

The Aesir calmly stepped forth, following the sensation of powerful Force presences aboard the ship until she came upon the meeting chamber and let herself in. The lights in the room seemed to grow brighter; the air stilled, a certain sense of placidity arriving with her, permeating the chamber confines.

"Hello [member="Jorus Merrill"]," Inari offered warmly, "it is good to finally meet you, moreso under such extraordinary circumstances," blue eyes glinted behind her mask, holding a curiosity for the man. The woman smiled then, looking around to the assortment of Crusaders who kept the man's company, "shall we eat?" she asked with levity.

[member="Crystal"]
[member="Siara Vorru"]

 

[Crystal]

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

Crystal stood up and bowed slightly when the Aesir arrived. "Welcome, Aesir Inari."

When the Aesir began to greet their guest, Crystal resumed her seat and motioned for their meal to be served, now that the Aesir had arrived and was ready to eat.

 

[Siara Vorru]

Seeing the god arrive with her escorts startled Siara slightly, she stepped back her hand falling to her hip instinctively though she didn't actually touch the blaster, instead she stepped back another step and took a position as a guard during the proceedings. There was no reason she needed to actively participate in the discussion anymore, Inari could better negotiate the future of this system.

As she listened she formulated ideas of what to do with this system, she had been thinking about it since they had found the planet a couple of weeks ago. This planet was ideally placed to give them a good place to keep an eye on the horde discretely, it wouldn't be a bad refueling depot either, there were so many possibilities floating around her head.

[member="Crystal"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Crystal"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

Jorus stood as the living god entered the room. He'd felt no shiver of docking, but he knew a little of how the Monks did business. Which probably meant that the woman who'd just stepped through the door had some degree of access to something just as...out there...as what Jorus did. Teleportation. That was something else.

"Thankya, Aesir," he said, retaking his seat for the meal. "Glad to have you aboard."

 

[Ereza]

Nodding to the Crusaders as they rose to greet her, Inari moved to the head of the table, taking the seat Priestess Visl had pulled for her moments before. The meal promptly served, she enjoyed several moments of listening to them eat. Say what you will of openness and welcoming, Inari found that mealtime was what soothed the soul the best. Even if she barely touched her own meal.

She glanced over a dossier detailing the information of the voyage thus far, placing the datapad down beside her plate and breaking from it for a sip of viscous, dark wine.

Inari waited for a breadth of silence before speaking, her voice calm and low, "So we have stumbled across your sanctuary in our efforts to secure territories of space not already set aflame by The Horde. I understand you wish to seek exclusion from these pre-emptive measures," she paused, looking back to the datapad to scroll once more through the collected planetary intel. The Aesir's expression flattened as she considered their options.

"I would like to extend the same form of protection to your home as I have to that of the Aing-Tii, which effectively places it under restriction by highest authority. No visitations to be made by the Crusade without the explicit permission and presence of myself. Exact coordinates and location will be classified information. To maintain security we will install two communications relay towers, one on each moon, at their dark sides, to be maintained by droids. Outside of your system we will establish a refueling station capable of connecting to those relays in the case of Horde movement, set up on a direct route to Ceto. We already have intel that they have made it out as far as Ceto, though I daresay our presence there has buffered them from making any attempts on it."

[member="Siara Vorru"]
[member="Jorus Merrill"]
[member="Crystal"]

 

[Crystal]

Crystal ate silently, while her eyes wandered between each of the others at the table. The Aesir spoke first, offering protection and safety to the world they'd been at. The Sith had to admit, the Aesir was very reassuring, which Jorus needed if there was any hope of reaching an agreement with his world and the space surrounding it. She could only hope that it would be enough for him to trust the Crusade to act in the best interests of his people.

She kept on chewing as she listened. There was no reason for her to speak with the Aesir's presence. Inari could certainly speak for herself. And who better to speak to but a God of the Crusade. If she couldn't convince Jorus, what chance did the rest of them have?

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Siara Vorru"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Amorella Mae"] [member="Crystal"] [member="Siara Vorru"]

His hand inexpert on the fancy fork, he sampled the appetizers. You'd think I'd have picked up dinner etiquette when I was sellin' worlds.

"Glad to hear you've got procedure for this," he said, voice dry, and napkin'ed some spacespinach off his canine teeth. "That offer's pretty much ideal for my homeworld, and you strike me as someone who values a promise before witnesses."

 

[Siara Vorru]

As the discussions continued Siara couldn’t help but let her thoughts wander, she could easily negotiate herself, as she had done at Ceto but that had been a different situation, she could understand the motivations of the Cetians, they were afraid of the threat the Horde presented to them and anxious to cozy up to anyone who could potentially protect them without corrupting their way of life. Realistically though once the Crusade established a proper presence in the Ceto system their way of life would change, no doubt subtlety at first but eventually they would be like every other planet that followed the gods of Moross.

This man she couldn’t understand, at least not his apparent desire to be detached from the rest of the galaxy playing house with a bunch of primitives. Siara couldn’t imagine ever taking that point of view, or trying to protect a primitive culture, she simply saw the planet for the resources and advantages it presented. If she were in his position with the power he obviously wielded she would have used that power to establish influence over them and started stripping the planet of its natural resources to distribute it around the galaxy and make enough profit to last at least a couple decades.

Shaking her head she brought her thoughts back to the discussion in front of her, the fantasies Siara had been playing out in her head dissipating as she focused again. She apparently would not ever have the opportunity to profit from the planet, not as long as the Crusade paid the bills at least, the Aesir was negotiating a position that would basically allow this planet to be a protectorate. She didn’t let it show that she disagreed however, the cost of protecting this rock if they couldn’t exploit its resources was kind of prohibitive in her opinion. Realistically it didn’t matter, Ceto had been the real prize of this expedition and they had won that battle, and the profits it would generate with its trade routes would more than cover the cost of protecting this little planet for now, and how the Gods of the Crusade spent their credits was not her concern.

[member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Crystal"] [member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Crystal]

Crystal was pleased to hear that [member="Jorus Merrill"] was agreeable to the offered terms. [member="Siara Vorru"] seemed bored to the Sith Princess, which was not surprising considering her specialties. This would be rather dull work for her. Hell, diplomacy had always been dull for Crystal, but she'd been doing it for so long that it didn't even phase her anymore. She would have to come up with something more exciting for her companion to do, perhaps with her apprentice, or the females that she'd met recently on vacation...

But that was a thought for another time and place. For now, her attention remained on the discussion at hand, and the food in front of her face. The Sith Princess took another bite and smiled to her dinner companions.

[member="Amorella Mae"]

 

[Ereza]

"Most assuredly," Inari tipped her chin to Jorus, "I do."

"Crusader Vorru, the plans are set, you have my blessing to see them through. Alert me when the teams are ready to begin installation and construction of the communications relays. Jorus, is there anything more you wish to discuss on this matter? I would like a private audience with you, if you would do me the honor."

[member="Siara Vorru"]
[member="Crystal"]
[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Amorella Mae"]

"I think we're at a good place, yeah." He shifted in the chair, stretching a little, then chomped down a final forkful and stood, examining the living god. "And yeah, whatever you need to talk about, I'm down."

 

[Crystal]

All was settled, and would be taken care of. And the Aesir requested a private audience with [member="Jorus Merrill"], so she finished her meal quickly to make it so. She then looked to [member="Siara Vorru"] and [member="Loxa Visl"] and motioned for them to follow her out.

"We will leave you to your discussion." She bowed slightly. "Aesir Inari, Jorus, it was a pleasure to meet you. Don't hesitate to contact us if there is anything you require."

And with that said, she left, with Loxa and Siara in tow. When they had exited the room, she spoke again, to Siara and Loxa. "Is there anything you need assistance with?"

 

[Siara Vorru]

With the discussions finished Siara was thankful to be released from the responsibilities of any further negotiations. She could easily arrange construction efforts back at Q-27, there was no doubt a whole arm of the crusade dedicated to such efforts, and she would likely only have to act as an overseer of those efforts. Though it was likely the team that would take care of construction of the communications center would have to be small so as not to over expose the planet to undue risk considering the arrangement that was in place now.

Stepping out of the conference room behind [member="Loxa Visl"] and [member="Crystal"] Siara responded to the Sith’s question. “I am confident I can arrange for the necessary equipment to be delivered but I would appreciate it if someone could go through the process of organizing the people we will need and keeping the construction team as small as possible. If we are going to keep this planet a secret we will need to make sure that as few people know about it as possible. I would suggest trying to draw at least some of the people from the crew of this ship, I am sure that some of the crew has the necessary skills, not to mention they are already aware of the planet.”

“I don’t know if our guest will be taking us back or if we will have to arrange for our own transit, either way we can get things started before we depart.” Siara paused for a moment. “Is there anything else you need of me before we proceed?”

 

[Blackthorne]

"Technologically savvy, I am not," Loxa said to [member="Siara Vorru"], "but skilled with some dark methods of the mind, I am. The location of this secret planet are things I can erase from memory of those you call to do the Aesir's bidding, and a strong guard I can be to watch those who build. Place me where you will, Crusader Vorru, but mind my strengths and weaknesses, I need nothing more."

 

[Ereza]

Waiting until the room had cleared out, Inari turned back to Jorus as the door hissed shut.

"I cannot express what relief I feel to see you alive and well, Jorus. Our findings at Ceto and the new head of Silk was cause for concern. I had thought the Horde might have ... " she didn't finish the sentence, knowing full-well that with how soundly the Rebellion had operated to aid them on Manpha, the Horde stood little chance of outsmarting even their small team. Still, it had been some time since Moross had see hide or hair of the Rebels.

"What has become of your Alliance?"

[member="Jorus Merrill"]