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 Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:24 am
Brike watched as Aura's body flowed in beautiful patterns, one with the Force, but something kept nawing at the back of her mind. A disturbance? She didn't know, and the young Luke Amidala shifted in his sleep on her lap, the gentle waves that Aura had emitted through her dance had tranced the youngling into drowsiness. But the feeling of disturbance arose in her subconcious again, and she frowned. Something big was happening, but she didn't know what.
The image of a visored helmet flashed through her mind, and she jumped after it, only to have it disappear. She exhaled heavily at the lost chance. Her master told her her visions held significance, but they would never stay materialized long enough for Brike to know what they ment.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 8:40 am
It took a few days to actually get back to Cato Neimodia, by the time Dillon was done. The trip hadn't been made at the top speed of .5, but instead had been a modest 2. In that time, Nacre decided the results of his actions had already been fulfilled and were underway.
In the intervening time since then, he'd had several other holoconferences. The Head of State was second to know, and offered a relatively neutral response. He hadn't been too thrilled about the military build up, especially one so public as this, but he also knew that if they had to strike, now was the time, with the Republic weak, that they could finally return the favor by invading them.
Third in line was the Minister of War. The former lieutenant of Poggle the Lesser had replaced Sun Fac, and in the creation of the Confederate Council served as the paper pusher for all matters military, and bringing them to fruition. Though he served mainly an advisory role, and go between between the Confederate commanders and the civilian leaders, it had been his idea to modernize the military, and phase out the old Hardcells, Missile Frigates, and Escort Cruisers. He was more than pleased with the deal, and promised if anything else was needed, he'd provide it.
Fourth had been the Trade Federation. They had initially been in disfavor of the deal, seeing as a good many of their ships were being replaced or gotten rid of. What convinced them to support the deal was the promise that they'd get a chance to specialzie their products more and possibly receive new technologies. Chief among these were new droid models, smarter, hardier, and meaner than the useless B1.
These issues, he was now going to observe first hand, and make sure everything came together as plan. It was time to go down to the Capital.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:26 am
Kothis, Colony world of the Bothans. A tropical ocean world that served as a food producer and vacation spot for the Bothan homeworld.
It was a front of course, but few people were smart enough to know that. The real money was in the Spynet, of which Koth Melan, the head of the organization, discreetly made his home here, clue enough that it wasnt all fish and sun on Kothis.
Hiding amidst the asteroid field of the system in stealth mode, the Ruusan waited to meet with her contacts in the Spynet. They had been there for hours, discreetly monitoring subspace radio traffic and avoiding asteroid collisions. On the emergency light lit bridge, Jag could sense the crew was getting anxious. The asteroids weren't helping, but they could not land on Kothis for security reasons. The locals were adverse to letting someone else's warships land on their world.
Then, an Aggressor class Star Destroyer approached the field, the
Interstellar Commonwealth's banner displayed proudly on its box-like hull next to the Bothan Navy insignia.
As the ship neared the field, the sensor officer picked up unusual readings.
His operations officer reported.
The comm officer cut in, suddenly.
An image apeared on the holoviewer, a closeup of the command section of the Aggressor. The lights towards the back of the raised 'T' section were flickering.
Jag studdied the activity carefully, picking out a pattern in the flickering lightshow.
He said with a bit of relief.
Jag sat down in his captain's chair and leaned back.
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 10:06 am
Thwump. Thwump. Thwump.
Oriss felt her fist connect with a training stump. Ever since the war ended and the jedi moved, Oriss was a fighter without a war. Mace's death had hit the Jedi hard too. The order had a power vacuum for the best fighter in their ranks. Oriss couldn't match blades with the saber, but in terms of the Force and hand to hand she had honed herself well. The CIS had not yet taken over the Republic, not that she cared. She had fought that war already.
What good would the jedi be in an era that was doomed?
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Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 12:37 pm
In the Airlock of the Aggressor, Jag Rohtul and his Astromech were alone with the Bothan captain of the Star destroyer. The Bothan male was well dressed, with a uniform derived from the Separatist navy and dark brown fur that rippled with his emotions.
"So it seems you have recieved our message then, Mandalorian."
Jag nodded, his hands concealed beneath his poncho and his gaze locked firmly on the Bothan's eyes. "You have the data?"
"Indeed." The Bothan said, his fur rippling. "But it will cost you."
"It always does."
Jag tapped the astromech with his knuckle, producing a dull metal-on-metal clank.
The Bothan frowned. "You're paying with a droid?"
"The droid AND the data he's holding. Information collected over the last two months on Republic and Hydian traffic. Rather valuable to their rivals."
The bothan nodded and then produced a data chit, which he flicked to Jag.
Plucking it out of the air, the Mandalorian looked down at the droid and tapped it on the dome again.
"You work for him now."
The droid beeped a confirmation and scooted past the Bothan into the Aggressor.
"Our buisness is concluded." Jag said as he turned to face the airlock. "Time for me to go."
"Yes, we wouldn't want to have to destroy your little ship to preserve appearances." The Bothan remarked.
Jag didn't bother replying to the jab. The Bothan was unimportant. He had his data. Time was of the essence and he planned to make full use of it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:36 am
Vossa stood in the dressing room of her office, changing her robes. The rebuttal was to happen soon enough by the rest of the senate. It was times like these that she disliked the concept of democracy, the slow speed of how things proceeded. Even after a fairly loquatious moment, she'd still have to defend point after point after point from the rest of the senate. She had the ability to stun the other senators enough to shut them up for the end of the session, but the rebuttal was in the making. More than plenty of her opponents would find this as little more as a public chastizing of the entire senate.
"The speech gained mediocre reviews; with as little faith in the Republic have these days, that's quite a feat. Sometimes I think you're the reason that the the holochannel for the senate has any veiws at all," her advisor reported. Number games only made Vossa more testy.
"The numbers aren't what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a united Galaxy, one which the Confederacy and the Rebpulic can work together. To be honest, I somewhat believe they should both report to a higher authority, a stronger leader," Vossa retorted. She twirled around, looking at the back of the robes and inspecting how much she revealed when they had no back. "Does this robe make me look like a slut? Last thing I need is my opponents blaming my success on sex appeal. Oh, plan a course for the Jedi Enclave before we head to Dac. I have some interest in pleading for some help in keeping the galaxy together. I don't trust the hypermilitaristic Republic Knights. It's as if all the will to fight went from the senate into that fake Order."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:52 am
With a flash of pseudomotion the Kuati Government Transport dropped out of hyperspace, escorted by a pair of the new KDB-1 Broadside-class Corvettes. Giddean knew that to arrive with any more of an escort would have made the republic population nervous of his intentions, and if he'd arrived upon the Mandator II that served as the flagship of the Kuat Sector Authority it would have almost certainly made them suspect him of plotting to take over the republic.
It was a sad thing Giddean thought as the transport slid down through the atmosphere. The republic held the core, the heart of the galaxy and did not yet know how to use it. It was incompetent leadership and cowardice that had allowed the Republic to loose the war, not lack of military strength, economic muscle, or population. Slowly the ship slowed and began landing procedures at the Senate building, in the ambassadorial wing. Through the viewport he could see the red, black, and white banners of the Kuat Sector Authority hanging from the bay and the red carpet that had been laid out for his arrival.
As the ship touched down he wondered if the Republic had learned of the deal with Confederacy yet. Probably, but then he wondered if they knew the nature of the man that had conducted the negotiations and how much he'd over-charged the Confederacy. 300 Trillion credits looked normal on paper for such a deal but with the rampant deflation of the Confederate Credit it meant he'd asked them to overpay by several orders of magnitude, and they'd agreed.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:01 pm
In the hold of the Ruusan, Jag looked over the 30 some Mandalorians that made up her crew, all assembled for a briefing of the mission Jag had planned.
"Vode, what we are about to embark upon is a dirtside raid, a tactic many of you should be familiar with. In essence it will be a smash and grab job."
An astromech scooted before them and projected a holo-image of a watery world.
"This is Minntooine, a CIS planet owned by the Commerce Guild and the location of the Free Dac Volunteers Destroyer yards. With the shattering of Pammant, much of the Free Dac Ships are produced here at their submerged docks. Those docks are our target, specifically the Main Engineering Computer."
"Underwater Stardocks?!" One of the pirates exclaimed. "How the kark are we supposed to hit those?"
"Good question." Jag said as the Holoimage shifted to that of the shipyards. "The only way we can get to the docks to begin with is to use a Free Dac starship, a starship not only capable of atmospheric entry, but of submersible movement as well."
Jag gestured to the room around them as he continued. "Gentlemen, you are standing in such a vessel, a Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Akula-class Hunter Killer Corvette. It has been perhaps a decade since she has seen underwater action, but now is as good a time as any. We will approach under cloak and dive, switching to baffled drive to reduce our sonar and sensor profile. Using Separatist codes if necessary, we will get inside the dock and deploy a team to find the Engineering Databank. This Astromech will then download what we need and we fall back to the Ruusan. Then, we make our escape, blasting everything in our way."
"I will lead the landing party. Gorobe will head the ship and through him I will coordinate the mission. I want five of you with me on this. Everyone else, be prepared for action. Suits sealed up when we hit atmo. Any man who is not sealed up I will personally shoot for dereliction of duty."
"Alor'ad," Gorobe said suddenly, "What is the point of this? It sounds like we won't be making a credit off this. High risk, low profit. Unless the data itself is valuable."
"The Data IS valuable, but not in a monetary fashion." Jag said. "This Data could endanger us all if it fell into the wrong hands. The Separatists don't realize its value, but the Kuati are not so blind. It has come to my attention that KDY has gained control of a certain amount of the Free Dac company. If KDY discovered this data, they could use it to destroy us and ruin Mandalore. Therefore, it must be aquired at all costs."
"This is not a matter of money, vode." He said, his tone serious. "This is a matter of state. Neither the CIS nor the Kuati should possess this data. If any of you wished to show your loyalty to Mandalore, this is the time."
The Mandalorians around him said not a word.
"We drop out of hyperspace within three hours. Ready yourselves for battle. Dismissed."
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:01 pm
Instead of resting, or talking to loved ones on a break, Valkore slept. But this time, he was hyped. He was crowded by a few buddies in the barracks. Valkore was in his issued armor, face down on the floor doing push up's. As he went up, he took a quick breath, going down, he let it out and repeated. "Are you boys sure you want to make this bet? I can make a hundred easy," Valkore said, getting sore. He was only at eighty-five.
"Shut up and push," one of his friends said waving the twenty credits about teasingly. His other two friends kept their credits in their hands. He was now at ninety-five, and the burn was unbearable. He let out a loud groan at 99 and finished the last one slowly. The three friends all let out a disappointing grunt. Valkore dropped on his chest, panting.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:46 am
The meeting went almost exactly as Dillon had expected. The Technos and TF complained. The Free Dac representatives wanted to know what the Kuatis were going to do at the yards, and whether they were being compensated enough.
The major blow however came from the Muuns. They'd just received the report from the credit exchanges, and they'd finally figured out the exchange rates. It wasn't pretty. 1 Confed Credit = 10,000 Trade Alliance credits = 100,000,000 Republic credits. After calculating the value of the TA credits as the standard, then it was clearly seen that they paid as much as 500-750%. Combine that with the fact that they weren't selling nearly as many goods as they were producing, and it was clear something had to happen.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 7:19 am
Brike left the performance area after returning the young Luke to his mother. Something was troubling her and it wouldn't cease to bother her as she walked down the long corridor to her quarters. Recently she couldn't seem to conect with the Force of her own will, but rather, the Force would randomly push itself into her conciousness and give her these visions. Her lightsaber bounced against her hip, reminding her of her duty as a Jedi. She couldn't let her emotions cloud her judgement.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:06 pm
Giddean walked down the ramp of the diplomatic shuttle flanked by a pair of bodyguards dressed in the Kuati Sector Fleet uniforms. Each was an elite and experienced soldier marred by the Clone Wars, and each had the scars hidden beneath the blood red and black uniforms they wore.
A protocol droid and a squad of Senate Commandos served as an honor guard and welcoming party. As Giddean approached them he saw the helmets turn to follow him, and felt the glares from behind their visors.
"Protocol droid, could you inform Senator Vossa Kito that I wish to speak with her. There is a great deal I need to discuss."
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:37 pm
It was a grey, cold Minntooine day, the sky overcast and the waves crashing and heaving about.
Then, something large and unseen burst briefly through the clouds, basking the blue waters briefly with sunlight before the clouds swallowed up the hole.
The dull roar of something monstrous could heard though the source was unplaceable until an unseen sword, dozens of meters in length, stabbed the ocean itself and plunged into its depths.
Beneath the surface, what had been invisible was revealed: The fearsome Ruusan had performed a textbook stealth insertion into the ocean of Minntooine, passing by orbital and surface visuals and scanners to dive down into the water.
But the successful dive came with a cost: the Cloaking device could not function in the water. Now the ship would need to operate using her repulsors and her baffled drive to escape detection. Like a shark on the scent of blood, she pushed on, deeper into the looming darkness of Mintooine.
Inside the Ruusan, lit only by the red secondary lighting to conserve power, the Mandalorians were all holding their breath, ears straining to detect any sign of a possible leak. With every sound they tensed, half expecting the ship's amphibious systems to crash or give out and leave them trapped in a watery tomb.
Five minutes passed. Then Ten. Fifteen. Twenty. The Ruusan sank deeper and deeper, the currents flowing past the Transparisteel windows. The red lights of the warning systems were now a greenish blue, the ocean sucking up the color.
Then, she leveled out of her dive, her heading on par with the shipyards.
Nary a creak. Nary a groan. All systems green.
Collectively, the Mandalorians relaxed a bit. The Ruusan had withstood the test. Now to tackle the shipyard...
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 3:56 pm
By the time Dillon was done with the meeting, he had other business to turn to. Chief on his agenda were one of three visits:
First was to Mandalore, to meet with Fenn Shysa if he was there (or go elsewhere to find him) and try to broker a deal between Mandalore and KDY.
Secondly, he could pay a visit to Pammant, where most of Kuat's work was going to be done at the orbital shipyards, and oversee some of the initial meshing of Kuat's technicians with Free Dac's facilities.
And lastly was home to Jabiim, where he hadn't been for a good month. He was due back for a visit, especially considering he personally commanded the Jabiim Open Fleet.
In the end, he decided upon the last one. A quick trip to Jabiim where he could visit with the Govenor, then on to Mandalore. At most, it'd take a week.
Decisions made, the Alto Stratus left Cato Neimodia's gravity field, and leapt into hyperspace.
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Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 5:38 pm
In the Free Dac yards, much was under construction. The Quarren workers and droids were fastening hulls and parts to the frames of soon to be finished ships while cargo craft moved in and out, dropping off supplies and raw mat. Sentry Manta Droids patrolled the yards and the whole yard was running smoothly, if a bit sluggish.
In the south observation post, a Battle droid looked up from its consol to ave over his quarren officer.
"Sir, we have a ship comming in. Akula class. They say they're bringing a CIS security team for a random inspection."
The Quarren gurgled a reply.
"Its an older code, sir. But it checks out. I was about to clear them."
The Quarren gurgled again, confirming the ship permission to enter.
Soon, the predatory profile of the Akula, its hull a sensor dampening black with an angry red Mandalorian skull painted on the tower, slid by and docked to an airlock.
A security droid opened the lock on its side.
"Welcome aboard sirs. I'll need to see your identification before you can proceed."
In reply, a blaster bolt fried the B1's head, dropping it with a single shot.
"You don't need to see our identification." Jag Rohtul said as his squad stepped aboard, followed by their astromech.
With a motion of his blaster pistol, Jag and his squad moved into the shipyards, on the trail of the Engineering Data Computer.
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