Would you like some water with that sand? [Rhommamool]

[Ayden Cater]

Not everything in the galaxy was sunshine and teddy bears. Not every world could afford to be concerned with petty things like trade disputes and rigged elections. Some worlds just worried about the next day. Some worlds just worried about living. It was that distress that first caught Ayden's ear. Refugees arriving on Corellia were not uncommon, since it sat at a major hyperlane intersection. Usually they only arrived in pairs. Of late, however, more and more were arriving. And they were arriving from a very particular world along the Corellian Run.

For months now, people were showing up in tattered rags, leaving red dust all throughout the local spaceports. Some complained of the filth that was showing up, but for Ayden, the represented an old debt. One that he finally felt he would be able to repay.

"Rena?" Ayden pressed a com button to the receptionist that was obstinately employed for him. They did not mind each other, but both knew that he wasn't the type to typically need her services. "Yes, Mister Cater?" came the clipped voice on the other end. "If there's any meeting or some such nonsense in my future, cancel them. I'll be out of the office."

----------

"I know that our military forces are spread thin. However, what I'm proposing is not a military intervention, but a humanitarian one." Ayden stood on a platform, holo-conferencing with the Prex on Fondor. "I'll be tapping local resources here on Corellia and the nearby systems. All I ask for is some manpower to help me help their world. They suffer enough from the hardships of their world. I see no reason to let them continue to suffer in our backyard while we have cocktails. Figuratively speaking, of course."

It was rare that Ayden spoke so passionately, and without ulterior motive. It was clear that, no matter what the others would do, he was going to Rhommamool.

 

[Cira]

"How much humanitarian aid?" Cira shot back. She sat in her office upon Sigma Station, going through the numbers. She had just come from a meeting with Admiral Mare about the spreading thin of their forces. A slight throb shot through her temple. Omega Pyre still had much to do.

"And are we talking protective forces as well?"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Meanwhile, on the Gypsymoth, Jorus twiddled his thumbs and awaited the go order. Word had reached his figuratively large ears that the Rhommamool situation was making certain people uncomfortable. Jorus couldn't but confess that he felt similarly.

As a result, he had a direct line to OP's official provider of such things as relief supplies, and a set of binary load lifters was good to go. At the drop of a hat, if things proceeded as he had foreseen, the go order would come, well, whenever. Soon enough, anyway, that he wouldn't need to take the Gypsymoth elsewhere on one mission or another. The pit droid burbled happily beside him, displaying a wholly disproportional sense of civic duty and personal fulfillment.

 

[Ayden Cater]

"You misunderstand me, Prex." Ayden stood there and leveled a gaze that would have been smoldering had he been in person. "I'm going to Rhommamool. And I'll be there until I'm satisfied that the people there aren't suffering needlessly." It was clear from his tone that he was not going to be disuaded. "This is a world in genuine need, and I will not turn my back on them just because our military has their collective underwear in a knot."

He let that sink in before continuing. "I'm going to Rhommamool. I'll be working to improve their infrastructure in every way I can. This is not a neat little project to put a number on. As I said, I'll be tapping resources in my area for this. All I need are hands to put things in place. Will you send them to me or not?"

 

[Cira]

She did not miss the tone. An ebon brow rose in curiousity at the holographic image of the Exarch.

Something wasn't quite right.

"There are a great many worlds in need, Exarch." she said plainly, and there was. There were many worlds during their expeditions across the Corellian Spine and Hydian way revealed that there are many, many worlds that had been ravaged by the Gulag virus.


Why this one?

 

[Jorus Merrill]

A random associate, elsewhere in OP, pinged him.

Bro -- meeting in progress between Cater and Prex. Unscheduled. Big things afoot.

Perfect. There was no guarantee, of course, but whether it was Rhommamool or one of the other sad, tired worlds within OP's new space, the signs were right. Most of it, admittedly, was guesswork and wishful thinking.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

"And only one he feels the need to help....", Sarge whispered quietly behind Ayden, just low enough Cira wouldn't hear. It was he sort of amused tone that implied he knew more than he was letting on. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. It didn't matter. It would probably annoy Ayden, and that was good enough for him.

 

[Ayden Cater]

His eyebrow twitched. She was making this complicated. It was not something he intended to deal with right then, but it had to be done. "My reasons are my own." He wasn't about to dive into his own past and reveal to her the exacts of why. He didn't plan on doing that even for the for person he might find to try and settle down again. He certainly wasn't going to do so for her, with her own blank past. "I can cite a number of reasons for our intervention, and could give you a number of benefits for the project. Ultimately, I don't give a Dug's ass about any of that. I'm going." He gave a signal and sent word out across the planet to start the operations.

"I expect I'll be in the system within a few hours. You can send hands or not. Either way, I will see this done." And with that, he cut the channel. Turning, he left the room and walked out with his hat settled on his head. Without breaking stride, he gestured to someone standing against a far wall. "Come on, Aeron. Sarge. We've got work to do."

 

[Linna Beorht]

Meanwhile, a nice shiny new report was sitting on the Prex's desk. Bullet pointed, summarized, it ran something like this.

• In order to rectify image imbalance after Eriadu operation, recommend strong emphasis on rebuilding and community relations
• Examine potential locations for humanitarian intervention to prevent the 'apathy' angle of PR attack
• Several potential locations; prioritize proximity to core, Rhommamool optimal

 

[Cira]

Oh she caught that.

Caught that well even through the hologram.

"Oh Mr. Cater. Ever so dulcet with your words." there came a slight edge of mockery to it, but it wasn't meant to be harsh. He was emotionally tied to it. Why?

"Corellia is under your control as is the surrounding space, Ayden. But if you are going to do this, be honest about the reasons." there came a pause, " We are a profit organization; and while yes, we do our bit of humanitarian aid, there is more to it here than meets the eye."

"Why?"

 

[Anika Od'Manteiv]

@[member="Ayden Cater"]

"Your Majesty." came the abrupt call of Arielle's aid.

"Yes?" the dark haired Queen of Rydonni Prime lifted her head from her desk.

"The Exarch of Corellia wishes to talk to you."

Surprise flickered over her onyx eyes; but she kept it hidden.

"Patch him through."

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Jorus grimaced. Without the word, the official word, he wasn't about to start loading OP relief supplies into Gypsymoth. He could be patient. He really could.

Just not today. Feth. He wanted to do something for more than just a paycheck. The Warden life, the Warden instinct. He could wait. Even trust.

 

[Cira]

@[member="Linna Beorht"]

A small beep took Cira's attention towards her holographic data screen. From the Minister of Communication. While she waited for Ayden's reply, she clicked the message open, reading the bulleted points.

A small nerve twitched over her jaw. Linna had a point. And Cira paid her well to ensure the public image of the Protectorate was above par. She took note of that. But she still wanted to hear Ayden's reply.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Ayden growled as the comm unit in his ear buzzed. A technician had apparently routed the Prex's communications. "Cira, we can play twenty questions once I'm en route. Right now, I've got dozens of operations I need to see underway and ensure that instructions are properly relayed. If justification is what you want, I will give you all the justification you need. Just let me do my job first." It was clear that he was ready to draw a line with the Prex if need be; something he had not ever come close to doing so since their partnership began.

Briefly muting the comm, Ayden turned to Sarge on his right. "I need you to go oversee security. CorSec is willing to send a group of their own on the mission. They're treating this like a training exercise. Make sure that they understand that this is a humanitarian operation first, not a police action. If things do get rough, I'm sure we'll be glad they came with. Hopefully it won't come to that."

His ear buzzed against, and Ayden looked to a comm panel on his wrist and saw a second line of communication was coming in. Briefly tapping back to the Prex, Ayden was short. "I've got the Queen of Rydonni Prime on the line, Cira. I'll call you once we're in hyperspace." With that, he switched channels. "Queen Arielle. Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to speak with me. I have a small favor I must ask of you. Do you have any recyclers or materials that you could donate to an operation on Rhommamool?" It was gonna be a long day.

 

[Aeron Kreelan]

@[member="Ayden Cater"] @[member="Sarge Potteiger"]

Aeron stood silently at Ayden's side, out of view from the holographic recorder. Her hands were clasped at her front, her chin rising lightly to stretch the curve and decorative blue ink of her tattoo's lining her neck and lower jaw.

She didn't catch what Sarge said, but she had an inkling.

This was personal.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Work work work. Always work with Ayden. It's why they got along. "All work and no play means you lose your sabacc face.", Sarge opines blandly. Humanitarian aid wasn't something the Sergeant Major would ever be known for.

But protecting the supplies? He could do that. He could totally do that.

"Work it is!"

Time to go find CorSec.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Three things motivated Electrobe; those things were money, Lena, and sandwiches. He had just about everything in his little set up in a nice cool mine. He looked over at the men all being forced to work with bombs strapped round their torsos. He wanted whatever was in this mine for the guys that gave him the fat paycheck. Of course he needed the money; he decided to spend it all on booze on Nar Shaddaa. Was a good thing Lena got him off of that rock? Twirling a blaster pistol in his hand he shot at the ground of one of the natives.

"I'm hungry"

Several curse words slipped from one of the Rhommamoolian’s lips as he brought over a large sandwich with a glass of chilled alcohol.

"Ah thank you Now get the feth out of here and back to work before I blow all of you up"

Being quite the show boater he decided to broadcast his triumph.

One of the slaves moved over with a holorecorder which Electrobe had managed to wire up and hack into the holonet. With his experiences with Io he picked a few fun things, good thing he didn’t pick up the nanites...he's nanite freee! He was tested a few days ago...still just making sure.

The holonet would shut down just long enough for the broadcast to be spit out.

"Greetings EARTHLINGS...i don't know what that is but whatever. My name is Electrobe and I have taken over Rhommamool, I'm in a deep strong hold somewhere on the planet. Hint: I'm mining stuff - have funn looking eveywhere. Once I'm finished here everything will blow up including the workers Rod-re-go pan that way...okay"

The camera panned showing the men with bombs and other explosives strapped to them.

"Oh I plan on bombing the planet too once I leave."

Taking a bite from his sandwich he smirked.

"oh and there's bombs in the cities and like well...everywhere HAVE FUN"

 

[Cira]

@[member="Ayden Cater"]

"Twenty questions is required as the 10th man, Ayden," came the softer reply. He would know what that meant. The 10th man was implimented that if all desired to agree on a particular deal, then one would counter it to ensure all avenues were discussed.

"Why?"

 

[Anika Od'Manteiv]

@[member="Ayden Cater"]

The image of the Exarch bloom over the enormous high tech holography screen. The queen gave a curt nod.

"We have them, Exarch Cater." they were after all, a self sustaining planet when it came to their world. "Where do you want them?"

 

[Chloe Blake]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Big blue eyes locked on Jorus as Chloe gently rocked Mara in her arms. Cooing at her quietly, she glanced up from the baby over to Jorus, a question in her gaze.

"What is going on?"