Public Walks of Life - Ithorian Herdship Festival [Coruscant]

[Cato Harth]

"More a 'rest of our lives' kind of ponderance," Cato's fingers intertwined around blades of grass. A chuckle, "Oh, I'm sure we will," He leaned over and bumped Inanna with his shoulder. His gaze fell to Serena for a moment, fast asleep in the garden, despite the din of city celebrations not so far away.

"Let's say we did decide it was time to get a new kid. You got something in mind? Maybe someone from old Maw territory?" He had figured as much, given how they had talked about it before. And knowing that Inanna experienced that same hardship firsthand made it all the more relevant, "I guess either way a kid is gonna need a home, right?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Smiling when Cato bumped her shoulder, Inanna leaned over and kissed his cheek, settling her head against his shoulder.

"Let's say we did decide it was time to get a new kid. You got something in mind? Maybe someone from old Maw territory?"

Something about his phrasing or the way he said it made her snort a little. “Probably. You can’t really afford to be choosy when it comes to adoption. No picking a species or gender or whatever, we’d have to just take whatever they’ve got. Although they might be more inclined to give us a Shi’ido, because I’m a Shi’ido.” The reasons for that were fairly obvious. “As you know, Shi’ido age much more slowly than humans. If we adopted a newborn, they would not come of age until you were in your eighties. More than likely it would be an older child—but you’re still looking at thirty years of childhood and another thirty of adolescence.”

Clearly there was a lot to consider if they were going to adopt one of the numerous alien species that had been attacked by the Maw. Unless they just wound up with a Chiss baby, anyway. Then they'd have pink and blue.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cordé Sabo]

______________________________________________________________
D U L C E T
MISSION FILE://SAPERE_AUDE
THE VONNUVI | INNER CITY | CITY COMMERCE SECTOR
______________________________________________________________​

Hurt that was physical, Cordé was licensed to treat. Emotional or psychological damage rendered her incapable. Her teeth clicked together into a thin grimace, and dismay crept into her bones. Her steps felt heavier, but she continued to walk.

Time was supposed to heal all wounds, wasn’t it? Was there any choice but to be resilient? The rapid erosion of peace demanded endurance that…she had to build slowly. It sucked. She made a noise of understanding at the back of her throat.

Then, he dropped a doozy. Cordé stopped walking.

“What?” The disbelief hopped out before she could stop it. Staccatoed and light, like a pop.

Left behind?

“That doesn’t make sense.” Cordé filled in the silence with the bits of her thought process that continued to slip out unencumbered and unfiltered.

"The agency doesn't..." M always prioritised her agents' survival and safety. Didn't she? They were the greatest assets of the agency. That’s why Cordé and other Null agents had to undergo the invasive, quantum surgery that made them as close to telepathic as possible, so even in undercover missions they could communicate.

“How..?” Her questions remained inconclusive, and through the stammering she sorted out the most neutral way to approach her morbid curiosity: “Do you want to talk about it? Have you talked about it?”

______________________________________________________________
Jaqu'n Boiv | OPEN FOR INTERACTION
______________________________________________________________​

 

[Cato Harth]

Inannas more or less expounded on his thoughts. Adopting a kid decidedly wasn’t the same as adopting a pet or something. It was just a matter of finding a kid a new home, and family. But the chances of adopting a kid of another species was something to prepare for ahead of time. As Inanna pointed out, even just another Shi’id would be a pretty big deviation from the human “norm”. Cato hadn’t even fully considered that aspect, “Gee, that’s a little… intimidating.” Becoming old or dying before ever even getting close to seeing his kid grow up. He scratched his head.

“Do you think we’re ready for this yet?” There was a bit of doubt in his voice. Cato was only just getting the hang of raising one baby. Serena had only just hit a year old. But obviously, Inanna had more experience than him.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Do you think we’re ready for this yet?”

"No," she said. "But you weren't ready for Serena either, and things turned out all right." Her fingers had begun to drift through Cato's dark hair in slow, gentle strokes from brow to crown. "Like I said, I can wait a while if you aren't sure. Right now we should probably take the sleeping baby home and put her to bed." Inanna leaned in closer, but stopped just short of kissing his mouth, her lips curling in a smile. "Then maybe put ourselves to bed, too."

Cato Harth

 

[Jaqu'n Boiv]

​

Sapere Aude

Operative "Sable"
Special Intelligence Agency
Location: The Vonnuvi | Inner City | City Commerce Sector
Assignment: 'Sightseeing'
Tags: Cordé Sabo | Open for Interactions

The weight building had been eased. If for now, the plumes of deathstick-less smoke had helped ease the operator's mind in a more manageable state of affairs. Even that growing cyst of anxiety and pain in his chest had slowly started to disappear, and could soon be replaced with focus of his assignment aboard this station.

Or that's what Andrew hoped to get back to- something to preoccupy his mind instead of the brain-rattling questions. Telling the truth had not been the issue. It was only the issue of if he should speak about it. For her, she saw it as a traumatic event. Sable only saw boundaries in security levels that were never crossed if you valued your life. Project Zircon made no exceptions when operation security had been compromised on any crucial part.

The expanse had turned from open view to limited field by transparisteel windows surrounded by durasteel plating. Slowly coming to a stop in his stroll, Cole ended somewhere a couple feet in front of Cordé while letting out another sigh. A deep one, followed by silence. Because there was a commitment to what choice he could make, one that wouldn't be held lightly thereon. Even the smoke that billowed out really didn't do much to help him.

"This was well before your agency came into the picture. Or, before I came into it's purview." He started slowly, leaving it there for her to take her pick. The stoicism was still present, almost with solemnness hidden within it somewhere. Yet those green eyes stared onto her like a hawk, clearly the operator taking a note of caution to where this could lead.

Better not have made the wrong decision, Sable.​

"Their last known whereabouts in their cryo stations have them dated to being pulled out some time in the Republic's last days. Don't know where they are now, nor why I'm not there with them. Instead I'm in an unfamiliar galaxy doing what I did best for Dark Ops. Evident from recent operations, still do."

His hand nonchalantly lowered to a convenient position along his waistline as the thumb hitched onto his belt. Instincts were hard to curb, and the potential for this to turn nasty was something he considered. Even in a moment of revelation, instincts for him were hard to curb. Especially when he could only rely on himself in a vast galaxy that might have a bad past with Republic Dark Operations.

 

[Cordé Sabo]

______________________________________________________________
D U L C E T
MISSION FILE://SAPERE_AUDE
THE VONNUVI | INNER CITY | CITY COMMERCE SECTOR
______________________________________________________________​

He stopped walking, and while he turned to face her, it seemed like he was made of more than flesh and bone. Something heavier. All that weight crushed out in a sigh that sounded like a door opening to deliberation.

The slowness of everything forced Cordé into respectful reverence, the air between them was like a solid thing, charged and potent. Did he want to talk about it?

Did she…want to hear about it? What would that mean? All she knew was that this was some Andrew Cole who’d taken out a Jedi in the Outer Rim, had a loyal team and lost them to the unknown and that pain would never disappear.

Her thick brows sloped toward one another when he started with a timeline that existed before..The Agency? Her mouth opened partway, and then there was that dumbfounded “What?” again. Quieter this time.

The Strategic Intelligence Agency was there right alongside the dawn of The Galactic Alliance itself. That was years and years ago, long enough that Agent Cole didn’t look old enough to match the years he suggested he’d been impacted by.

“Pulled out..” She repeated the words he said, as if hearing them again in a familiar voice might make more sense of them. “The Republic..” Something about being faced directly by the shape of a century? Old? Agent? Subconsciously influenced the need to whisper.

“You were the one left behind. I assumed.. You left them but..”

Thoughts looped from one to the other, tumbling over rationalisation, alignment, years lost, the disorientation he felt daily was compounded into a shred of seconds while Cordé stood there and tried to understand.

She filled the space with a medical observation and a whistle: “Your immune system must have been absolutely karked.”

Quickly followed by: "You haven't been able to access any of their files, or nobody can answer your questions?" She wanted to ask ten more — what was it like, waking up in the future? Who released him from the cyro chamber? What was the first thing he did? Which vaccines did he have to take? How out of date were his medical records — but retained enough tact to keep it to less than the number of fingers on her hands.

Okay, one more.

"Doing what you did best back then, is it what you want now?"

______________________________________________________________
Jaqu'n Boiv | OPEN FOR INTERACTION
______________________________________________________________​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato blinked, "True enough." It maybe wasn't the best cornerstone by which to measure success, but the potential was there. "Well, we've got some time to think about it," Adding a child to the family was no small decision, and making sure they were readily-equipped for it was just as much for the child's sake as their own.

He leaned in for the kiss, but it never came. Cato smirked back, "Sounds like a plan to me," He stood up and stretched, before carefully reaching back down to pick Serena up off the grass. She wasn't quite as light a sleeper as she used to be, when it used to seem like the slightest breeze would make her wake up in a fit. Or maybe he had just gotten that much better and handling the sleeping baby. Upon his success, Cato winked, and took the long path away from the market crowds.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Jaqu'n Boiv]

​

Sapere Aude

Operative "Sable"
Special Intelligence Agency
Location: The Vonnuvi | Inner City | City Commerce Sector
Assignment: 'Sightseeing'
Tags: Cordé Sabo | Open for Interactions

Andrew was almost relieved, in an odd way. Other than having to make for a lethal draw of his sidearm, or shot with the whole 'brain damaged' insanity assessment, he was just met with confusion. A perplexing manner that led to a manner of intrigue and questions that eroded his own wary tension. The certainty of whether the right choice had been made was still lost in the fog of the future, that one reminder being enough to not ease the barrier of discretion just yet.

Now, where to begin.

"Immuno boosters help while you're in between." The out-of-place operator gave a subtle shrug of his shoulders, with the more obvious gesture of his hand rising. The cigarra plucked from his lips, another smog released from his lips.

In truth, he was technically far older than just a century. He may look and feel the better part of his mid-thirties, but much like the boosters, there was a lot at play- Gene therapy being a big part of the program's unique qualities to retain an operator's physique at their best. The techniques behind what brought Sable to this day was far older however, almost ancient considering Dark Ops' emergence in the center of a war torn galaxy.

"But, no. Beyond what files I could still access in the site I was stationed on, there weren't any further answers to discover. As far as I'm aware, I could be the last of my organization that's beyond dissolution." Hells, he still had questions of his own. While this Agate Contingency was placed upon him to complete, from bringing back this 'Orion', and finding the Stellar Wolverines. At least he knew the latter, if they hadn't changed as much as the galaxy had around him.

There was a pause at the final question he came across to answer. What did he really want? Of course, in his hayday, he knew what he wanted- his team, an assignment to complete and the one to come after that. Rinse and repeat. Sable had a tight leash so to speak, and compared that to now, well. He really didn't know how to comprehend independent autonomy outside of Zircon.

As if having been noted in that soft sigh of his, he didn't like that. "More than that and what the galaxy could offer in return. What I need is Dee-Oh back at operational capacity."

 

[Cordé Sabo]

It was like entering an abandoned home through a door that creaked open inch by inch. Andrew's story careful and cautious, and while he smoked, he shared glimpses of decisions.

Bit by bit, more was revealed. Dee-Oh was the abbreviation for specialists of a sinister and precise nature. A revered acronym for operators who got in, got it done, and got out. Their missions could have parallels to some of Null's morally grey nature; but she imagined they were bloodier. She'd met The Empire's version of dark troopers on Neshtab and barely survived. Or, wouldn't have without Verin.

Cordé made a fsce and tilted her head to the side.

"Did you find the SIA, or did they find you?"

They'd wandered a bit, but along the perimeter still with a railing. She ran her hand along the cylindrical surface and looked up at the shadow of the city on the outside of the ship. The security assessment they'd conducted had documented most of the Vontruvi's major assets, and the wargame could be included in the report of strengths and exploitable weakenesses.

"What's it take for Dee Oh to be operational? Especially in the state of.." she gestured to the affable environment, one that thrummed and thrived under the concept of peace and repair within The Alliance. "Just your opinion, of course."

Jaqu'n Boiv

 

[Jaqu'n Boiv]

​

Sapere Aude

Operative "Sable"
Special Intelligence Agency
Location: The Vonnuvi | Inner City | City Commerce Sector
Assignment: 'Sightseeing'
Tags: Cordé Sabo | Open for Interactions

So there was some recognition with the abbreviation.

Perhaps there were rumors still circulating around, then. Of boogeymen of the night that took children that were problems into the dark, kicking and screaming. Because for them, being found wasn't the scariest part. They had heard the stories and took it for fiction just to set them straight, but before that haunting view of the crimson visor, well. You didn't know what they were going to do, but not for a lack of methods. There were too many to guess which way they'd start you out with, and if you really believed the stories, they weren’t going to end there. No lessons learned, only consequences to be paid.

Until the story about the rogue Padawan being hunted down by a Kill Team, these stories were probably just made up. Yet when it comes from one of those same boogeymen himself that the stories echoed around... Words had to mean what they mean.

"More like we sort of 'bumped' into each other." He offered for answer, and of course, he was genuine about that. He hadn't intended to come forward nor were the SIA, or anyone for that matter, aware of his existence. For a time, anyway. One thing led to another, and here he was now. Perhaps it was still a mystery to how he had been introduced to the Agency in the first place.

Compared to moments prior, it was as if he hadn't had that episode. He was the only one aware of it, most definitely, now clear out of mind like a small headache that came and went only to bother you just a moment. A reminder that it was still there, even if it had to go shortly and wouldn't stay the night. He retained that collected figure, especially as the question came to him while glancing to the skylight for only a brief moment. The view was beginning to lose the luster, he thought.

Not the one she asked, actually. He had an idea of how to get the organization back on its own two feet. The task would be possible, yet long and arduous as many things needed doing beyond what a Kill Teamer could perform alone. The core of an operator relied on the foundation of their upbringing, training, cultural mindset, and above all else- dedication. Not to the 'cause' or any grandstand objective viewpoint, but what would and will be asked of a Dark Operator to perform. Foundation relied on core fundamentals, and vice versa.

No. Another question came to mind that he now voiced in that familiar monotone gruff. As if to answer a question with another question that might provide an idea as to what it might entail to resurrect an organization of killer boogeyman of the void. "What is it that you know about Dark Ops."

 

[Cordé Sabo]

Rose-gray started to deepen into crushed cobalt through the station’s simulation of the sky. Slowly, as though it were real, the ship’s ceiling leveraged artistic license to mimic hours passing.

Dark Operations were a world of story and whispers. Only agents themselves knew the truth. Being the daughter of Humbarine, a world run by a dictator, gave her perspective into the shadows.

“Enough to know that less is better.” Cordé grinned coyly. She wanted to say that she’d been prey to The Imperial’s answer to dark ops, but that wasn’t allowed. Officially, Cordé Sabo was never on Neshtab.

“Unless…?”

Jaqu'n Boiv

 

[Jaqu'n Boiv]

​

Sapere Aude

Operative "Sable"
Special Intelligence Agency
Location: The Vonnuvi | Inner City | City Commerce Sector
Assignment: 'Sightseeing'
Tags: Cordé Sabo | Open for Interactions

"Ignorance is bliss."

He finished the question to the undying statement that seemed to last through the ages. If one didn't know the dark secrets that put to question how karked the galaxy really was, then they didn't have much to worry about. If they did, well then ignorance was the only better option if they caught the glimpse of what they didn't want to see.

He let out a sigh as the cigarra between his lips lied dead, embers fading from orange sparks to dull ash as the stub was flicked onto the durasteel panels the pair walked on. It didn't seem the passing of the hours simulated in the environmental dome of the station had bothered him.

"But I guess it doesn't matter when Dee-Oh's practically nonexistent as far as the greater galaxy's concerned. Easy to be blissful when the Repub's cover arm is little more than a mummified corpse."

A matter of fact, one that showed his dislike to the reality with the annoyance of it tipping his tongue. Subtle enough to give a viewpoint to how he thought of the matter, while also showing he wasn't in of denial. Whether he liked it or not, he had to work with what he had. Again, not even his elbow grease and Kill Team attitude would get it done alone for long.

The trimmed, bushy stache over his lips twitched as he pondered, green eyes staring forward as if watching the path they travelled. Lighting from the walls and even panels trimming the corner between wall and floor slow dimmed to life. Much like the realization that came to mind of another organization that was more... brazen, so to say. Instead of being shrouded in shadow in mystery, war and glory was their mastery of craft.

They made sure anyone knew that much. Again, the question came in deadpan delivery, even if it might elude to some sudden swapping of topic. "What of the Stellar Wolverines."

 

[Arcadian]

:// ... LOCATION > THE VONNUVI ... :// ... SOUNDTRACK > EXOFLASH ... :// ... WALKS OF LIFE > THE CITY ...

​

"800 Credits," the Ithorian elder said, a thick note of finality in his inflection. Arcadian remained stoic beneath the visage of his helmet.

"No," the Ubese said, pulling the canvas covering back over his haul. The old man waved for him to stop.

"Wait, wait!" he said. "Do you barter? I can trade you for the rest."

Cade looked the gentlebeing over as he weighed the offer. He preferred selling to trading. Cold hard Talons, or Credits, if he were as close to the Core as he was now. The cart full of leathers and hides he had with him would easily go for a thousand, maybe more, given their exotic nature. Panthacs, mynocks, nexu; each of them dangerous beasts, and all of them in very nice condition.

But still, the Ubese had an allure for interesting gambits.

"What do you offer?" Cade asked. He saw no cart or wagon belonging to the old man. Certainly nothing small enough to fit in his pocket could be worth the loss in hard coin. The Ithorian curled his mouths into what the hunter presumed to be a devious grin. It seems not all in this 'herdship' were simple sheep. The flock had a wolf.

Arcadian was a wolf, too.

"Information," the old man said. "Valuable information."

"Valuable to whom?"

"Anyone with eyes for good opportunities."

Cade squinted. Did this old man really take him for a fool? He grumbled a throaty curse in his guttural native tongue. 'Damn these hammerheads.'

"Where?" the Ubese demanded. There had to be more to go on than 'good opportunities.' What was 'good' or 'opportunistic' to a race of peace-loving poltroons was likely not the same to a roaming wolf like Arcadian.

"Outer Rim," the old man replied.

Cade mulled it over for a long moment, cutting his eyes between the cart of animal goods and the leathery hammerhead beside him. When he finally came to a place of inner peace with the offering, he extended a hand to the elder.

"900 Credits, and the data."

The Ithorian cracked another wry smile. Cade's lips did the same.