...and hope what we have to show the Imperials will be of some interest to them."

--------------------

Time that Sarontogo and Landarian had spent in private discussion, letting endless cups of tea cool untouched before them, to be replaced, only to be once more ignored as together they sought to make sense of the tragedy the Imperial blockade had been hit with in the mysterious space surrounding the even more mysterious worlds of the Sith. Landarian, worried sick for the sake of their third in command, had been all for immediate retaliation; his fire-edged words of retribution had time and time again been tempered by Sarontogo's more cautious approach as that Captain repeatedly reminded him of the one fact that kept them, at least for the moment, immobilized:

What the hell had destroyed Landarian's fleet?

"If that kind of power has been used once, it will surely be used again," Sarontogo pointed out as he had set yet another cup of tea on the desk of his ready room. To this wisdom Landarian could only agree...

...an agreement joined by Admiral Swatzi upon his arrival from the Empire's own secreted base. Words had flown, ideas bandied about, arguments ensued, until the Admiral finally made a command decision that nothing be done until more data could be gathered.

Then, he had promised silently to himself as, after boarding his craft, he blasted off to return to Ambria and Actar and fill him in on the Empire's current tribulations.

Then, all hell will surely break loose.

So Landarian had returned to ISD Relentless, there to remain in orbit about Coruscant, uniting the last remnant of power under his command to Sarontogo's to do his part in assuring that the stroke that had blind-sided him would not happen to this world.

Then a miracle occurred: from the distant world of Tatooine came the message that Lt. General Tarnus had appeared from nowhere...

Landarian had immediately sent a courier to fetch him, sending a message of the fact to the base the Empire had left in the wake of their squelching the Hutt's iron-fisted rule. A single messenger was likewise sent out to Ambria, travelling in a modified, heavily shielded interceptor, that Actar and Swatzi would be informed of this news and send instructions as what they wished the Empire to do next.

All he could do then was sit on pins and needles, pacing endlessly in his ready room, drinking endless cups of tea, letting pent-up anger and energies build up within him, coiling therein like a lurking serpent ready to strike at the least provocation.

Waiting to attack the Sith worlds in a full-out strike, an order he was certain would soon come riding down the celestial pike on a rancor of war...

((OOC: For events regarding Sorben Tarnus and his appearance on Tatooine, please see the thread Round and Round and Round She Goes in the "CSWU" forums (and backtrack from there, lol!). For reference to Swatzi and Actar, please see post dated 7-27-2007 in the thread Root, Root, Root for the Home Team in the "Empire/New Republic" forums, thank you.))

[ 11-12-2008 12:39 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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"I want to know if anyone truly intends to speak with me here or not," she growled, falling silent and waiting, her intense eyes boring through the armored pair of the stormtroopers.

--------------------

Stupid female, he took a moment to think to himself. She thinks this ship will just jump and run at her beck and call.

Attitudes like that don't win any favors from us, and we DO have ways to get what we want from otherwise recalcitrant people.

Now he let his lids droop in one long, luxurious blink.

"I'm sure you will be summoned when the time is appropriate," he replied, before falling back into a silence as stark and stiff as was his highly muscled, heavily armored body.

[ 12-05-2008 10:52 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

--------------------

...and she had a sneaking suspicion he hadn't moved a milimeter from that place since they had been escorted inside. Rico hunkered impatiently nearby, eyeing Bon, seeming to expect him to explode at any moment. Cardissa wasn't so certain he would be incorrect in that assessment, either.

Standing up, she came and sat next to the blue-furred alien, smiling sweetly. "All will reveal itself in due course," she then said to him, knowing that he was no doubt questioning why they were offering to aid the Imperials. Especially considering he believed he was working for a Rebellion.

If only he knew, the black thought popped into Cardissa's mind. As quickly as it had come, however, the thought passed, and not a hint of it showed on her face. She turned then to Rico. "Get him something to drink," she orderd rather than asking, motioning to the refreshments the Imperials had been at least kind enough to provide.

The time for this foolish silence has passed, came the final mental rejoinder as Cardissa waited for her order to be fullfilled.

[ 08-05-2009 10:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cardissa Mitra ]

--------------------

And now Cardissa wanted him to stand up and get that little blue ball of grimy fluff something to drink. Hell, did that thing even drink? He hadn’t moved, not gotten up to drink, or eat, or even slink off to the cramped little lav hidden in the corner. Cripes, did he not have a bladder?

Bluebell’s head lifted a tiny bit, just enough for Rico to catch his eyes. A little smirk crossed the blue face, just for a brief split second, but that was enough for Rico. He stood up quickly, red streaking across his vision.

“Yeah,” he said. “A drink! That’s what he needs.” Rico moved quickly, not to the drink try but directly over to the startled Bon. Before the little furry creature could move, Rico had him by the scruff and lifted into the air. In an instant Rico had moved to the lav and turned the hapless Ryn upside down and dumped his head into the water.

Rico let Bon drop to his knees and turned back to the others. He then calmly walked to the drink tray and opened a can of bubbling water. He raised the can to his lips then paused, raising his eyebrows.

“Anyone else want a drink?” he asked.

--------------------

For the strange little ship, the one who had so boldly approached them, coming out of nowhere, identifying themselves as the United Sith...

Had vanished from their screens.

Poof.

Frantic, immediate short-range scans followed by more intense long-range ones had turned up nothing. As far as ISS Catalytic knew, it hadn't managed to land anywhere on Coruscant. No other ship had tractored it in. No one reported any sort of "oops, sorry about that, Chief" mishap involving weaponry of any sort being levied against it.

It had simply... vanished.

He sighed again, wondering if Landarian had come up with any answers yet. But communications from Relentless had remained obstinately quiet; he could only assume they were as stumped as he was.

And where the hell was Lt. General Tarnus? The courier was taking far, far too long to retrieve him; was there something going on distant Tatooine that he should be made aware of, something he didn't know about? Should he send another, larger ship to investigate?

Dare he risk that?

He sighed, his thoughts turning full circle back to the initial cause of all his newfound worry and frustration: Landarian's report of the mysterious power that had eliminated his mega-fleet with the unthinking ease of one casually squishing a gleeberfly. He sighed again, shaking his head.

I don't dare waste men and materiel taking such a risk. Maybe I can find someone who might be willing to investigate for us...?

This provoked another sigh. From what intelligence had relayed to him, the popularity of the Empire still remained frighteningly low, despite Actar's care in (for the most part) letting systems run their own governments, in not placing too many blockades in too many places, but merely around those systems with the notoriety of historically acting before thinking, for the most part.

Then the question slammed full-bore into a thought he had placed on a burner so far back in his mind that it was a wonder he recalled it at all.

There was a new wrinkle to events here, "visitors" aboard ISS Sormontato who stated they had something to offer the Empire...

He sat back a moment, reached for his tea, and took a small sip of the liquid. Grimacing, he set the cup down quickly, then with an affirmative nod to himself opened a comm to the Officer on Deck.

"Open a transmission to General Ahem," he commanded, then had only the time to straighten an imaginary wrinkle from his uniform before that elder man's crisp features filled his screen.

"Have you spoken to those who have come to you?" he asked simply, knowing that Ahem would know of whom he meant. When answer came in the negative, undoubtedly due to the more pressing circumstances all had been witness to, he went on.

"Interrogate them... gently, my friend. Find out what it is they have to offer. And see if you can... persuade them into contracting with us. We haven't yet heard if Lt. General Tarnus's extraction from Tatooine has been a success or not."

Closing the link, he rose to his feet and freshened his tea. Then he moved to his viewport, there to contemplate the hulking shadows which were the ships encompassing the city-world below.

-----------------------------------------

Aboard Sormontato...

The officer in charge of "watching" the strangers straightened involuntarily as his comm-link came into sudden life at his belt.

"You may now send in the newcomers," it said in the voice of none other than General Ahem himself. Even though he new the captain wouldn't see it, he nodded as he squawked an affirmative. Then he turned to their "guests," motioning that they accompany him, saying nothing else to explain the reasons behind their rather lengthy wait. He well knew that during that hiatus General Ahem's attentions had understandably been busy elsewhere...

But that was really none of these peoples' business.

[ 08-06-2009 01:59 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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...taking the opportunity in his unsteady moment to take possession of the book he had been clutching for herself. Ignoring his quietly uttered protests, she gently led him to where they stormtrooper stood waiting. It came as no surprise that, as the door before them opened, a squad of stormtroopers had already formed up, likewise waiting. Cardissa, wrapped in an envelope of utter confidence, stepped out of the room, keeping a hand on Bon's shoulder to steady him...

...and to keep him nearby. The stormtrooper that was their guard stayed nearby as well, and nodded to the others, no doubt communicating with them that they should get moving. Without further ado the stormtroopers began moving to an unannounced destination, keeping their charges centralized as they did.

--------------------

"I am General Ahem," the warhorse introduced himself, rising half-way to his feet before settling back into his chair. He let a ghostly smile flick about his mouth.

"I apologize for not seeing you sooner; now, I believe there was something of import you wished to state to me? Something that might be of importance to the Empire?"

He kept his tone carefully pleasant yet neutral, as if the drawing of the ship he had been shown earlier, a memory of which now triggered as the group came to assembly before him, wasn't sending the hairs on the back of his neck to dancing like a Twi'lek slave girl chained to Jabba the Hutt.

For it had been very, very similar in appearance to the strange little ship that had so boldly approached the hulking Imperial blockade... to then vanish from beneath their noses as if it had been made of nothing but dreamfluff.

"I am the daughter of Tigris and the grandchild of Hethrir and Rillao, thus have some interest in the continuing growth of the Empire," she opened with. "I am also quite interested in research, and have teams who have visited many worlds. My friend here," she paused, indicating a now trembling Bon, "Came upon this book with specs to an amazing ship, one with capabilities I cannot imagine, along with other various drawings of unknown and frankly unbelievable technologies. I would like to continue my research and invest further in the growth of the Empire...

...but the world I would need to visit in order to continue my research has been blockaded by your forces. I am willing to share anything I might find if you allow me access..."

She paused, "At a price, of course."

--------------------

The carefully copied words therein would keep Linguistics busy for months; the images drawn with as equal care...

He closed the book quietly, and just as quietly keyed a lock in his desk. A drawer slid open; with no further ado he placed the book therein and closed it. The locking mechanism filled his ready room with a final click.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Miss," he said carefully as he settled a bit more into his seat. Behind Mitra, the blue furry thing was starting to moan; a nod from him, and the Trooper had it by the arm, thus reminding it to keep still.

"As for your request, the Empire feels that allowing you access to the world in question is repayment enough for your continued... studies there. And as the daughter of Tigris and grandaugher of Hethrir and Rillao, as you claim to be, we feel equally that any information gleaned from said world... any at all... would be handily offered freely to us.

"Call it a gesture of goodwill."

He smiled a touch more broadly, but that smile never came close to touching his eyes. They merely grew a tad bit colder, a touch harder; whether as a result of being filled with growing impatience, flaring anger, budding disbelief or simply just an aura similar to that spilled forth by the sandcat who eats the womprat, none present could tell.

Or perhaps preferred to ignore out of their own heightened desires for continued well-being.

Apparently he didn't fully appreciate the subtlties of keeping one's enemies close...

"With your permission, I would like to proceed with my research...

...personally."

She fell silent, waiting for the General to respond.

--------------------

"The book is of interest to the Empire," he said carefully, letting his words carry to the others on the back of a rancor's smile.

"You and your abilities, therefore, are as well."

His eyes swung back to Foyagee, arrowed into the fuzzball's startled pair.

"As for your... research..."

Now he smiled back at Mitra.

"A team of our best... scientists shall be dispatched to, ahh-- assist you. You shall be escorted with them to this world you allude to, and allowed access to its surface. There you will continue your research; you may communicate with this one--"

He waved offhandedly at the now nearly apopletic Bon.

"...by transmission. You discover, holograph, sketch, however you go about your research. What glyphs you might find can be scanned and sent to us, that this new assistant of ours may in turn assist you in their translation.

His eyes flickered back and forth from person to person, the panic within wanting to rise and break loose. But he held shakily together and gulped deeply.

They would send a team of their best scientists with them. Yeah, right...

But her thoughts then stopped short as clarity finally emerged.

Maybe there was something here she could still use...

Her dark black eyes snapped alert as Foyagee begged to not be left behind. And really, she was honestly surprised that the Imperials would want him there.

They hated aliens so, and they'd yet to see some of Bon's fits...

Cardissa squatted to be on eye level with Bon, smiling sweetly. "I'm certain you will be safe here," she began. "The Imperials will give you everything you need and will be certain to take care of you in every way."

She paused, her dark eyes pinning Foyagee's alarmed pair. Then she stood in one smooth motion, turning to the General once more. "Very well, we will comply with the...

... arrangement," she said, lingering on the last word ever-so-slightly, knowing that perhaps not all of her party would be quite so willing to comply.

--------------------

General Ahem rose to his feet, but held a staying hand up toward the party as he did so, indicating that they stay put.

"I will show our new... assistant to quarters aboardship." He nodded toward the Trooper, whose head immediately jerked in a manner telling of toggles being flipped, orders being sent. It didn't take long for another stormtrooper to arrive, one who after coming to a smart salute quickly escorted the little Foyagee away from Mitra and Rico. The hapless bluebell's wailing squalls lingered long after his somewhat abrupt departure to "holding quarters."

"Now, as for you..." Ahem nodded pleasantly, flipped open a comm-link and spoke quietly into it.

"A research vessel is being readied, complete with our scientists and crew. For of course not all will comfortably fit aboard the ship which carried you here; that shall remained safely berthed aboard Sormontato until you return with whatever, ahh-- discoveries you have made on this world of yours."

He blinked, smiled again.

"Of course all of you need to be aboard the same ship, to more easily allow for scientific discourse when said discoveries would be made. Not to mention the equipment is much more complete than what you more than likely have; I trust this-- arrangement..."

His eyes darkened imperceptibly.

"Meets with your full approval?

"Good. You will be taken to quarters to relax a bit until our vessel is fully ready to leave. I estimate that to be in, oh--

"Eight standard hours."

He nodded to the Trooper in charge, who saluted crisply before turning to the remaining pair, herding them from the General's ready room and into the corridor without. There they were encircled by the remaining stormtroopers, who formed an "honor guard" of sorts about them. Surrounded thus, they were escorted to an area of ISS Sormontato that was far from anything of a sensitive nature, shown the 'fresher and food replicator, and thus ushered into a single room.

Of course the door closed behind them with a locking click...

Once the party had left his ready room, the General wasted no time in contacting Sarontogo aboard ISS Catalytic, the link that he opened being highly encrypted and secured.

"My friend, I believe I have something which might be of some interest to you. Contact Landarian, a meeting is in order."

A bit of quiet back-and-forth ensued, after which Ahem chopped communications with his sister ship. Pausing for a moment, his eyes closed in thought, he then left his ready room for his personal quarters.

In his hand he carried the journal of one Bon Foyagee, a journal which he planned on scouring from cover to cover in the safety of his suites. Not too long thereafter he was in fact implementing those very intentions, secure in the knowledge that guards stood ready at his door, at strategic places in the corridor, and at equally strategic T-intersections with other such corridors. Nothing would interrupt his study of the strange little book with such strange little drawings.

The more they tighten their grip...

Finally, she turned smoothly to face Rico, all traces of darkness hidden from her face. Mostly, at least.

"Well?" she finally said, arching one brow at him, keenly aware of the fact that he hadn't said a single word or made a peep since they had been escorted to the General's ready room.

--------------------

"How can this be?" He was spluttering. "How can something like this happen to us, remain unknown to us, while these-- these-- beings stumble on it themselves? Where the hell were we?!?"

Ahem sighed, took a sip of his drink, and was about to reply when Sarontogo did that for him.

"It's a big universe, my friend; there is much to maintain, and few of us. Relatively speaking, of course."

Ahem set his tea down at that, and leaned forward to interject.

"And a lot has been happening in that universe, if you recall," he said smoothly. Landarian began to splutter even more, but managed to refrain from saying anything else as Ahem continued.

"Our first mandate is to the safety of the Empire," he reminded them, raising a hand to tick this off on one finger. "Yes, it is of dire importance to retrieve Lt. General Tarnus safely, but the key word in that is safely. What the hell happened to him, why he was held on the Sith worlds, how he disappeared from them, this we really have no idea.

"All we know is that he was effectively blockading those worlds, disappeared, and then Landarian's fleet was utterly destroyed by some strange power."

He cast a look to Landarian, whose face now showed a warring admixture of utter grief and utter rage. A brief smile of pity graced Ahem's lips before he went on.

"According to Sarontogo, a strange ship claiming to belong to the United Sith suddenly appears within his protective blockade around Coruscant. Then, poof! It just as mysteriously disappears."

He paused a moment, hand upraised, another finger ticking off this second link in what was suddenly begin to form into a very suspicious chain of events. His smile grew dark.

"The Sith. Not quite what we expected them to be, ey? Not the dark Force-users of history, but something else. Something just as elusive, just as mysterious. And something perhaps a tad bit more powerful. I've not heard of any power great enough to destroy in the manner of whatever it was that took Landarian's fleet, other than our old Death Star. No one has reported anything about one of those being created by anyone. So--"

He paused to take a genteel sip of his tea, hoping someone would jump in. This was supposed to be a conference, after all, and it seemed he was leading the brunt of the discussion.

Sarontogo finally spoke.

"It does seem that these, ahh... new Sith might be behind all this, doesn't it? I mean, it was on one of their worlds that Lt. General Tarnus disappeared -- if indeed we are to believe what they stated to us in their transmission! -- and around their world an entire fleet was unimaginably destroyed. A strange ship pops into being here over Coruscant, and just as strangely disappears. It shows the same configuration as one of the drawings in that book you retrieved from your pris- your new assistant." He dipped his head, then went on.

"That's enough circumstantial evidence for me."

Landarian finally calmed down enough to bring up another point.

"There was another strange incident reported to me by Lt. General Tarnus, something that happened several years ago. It seemed we had been holding some prisoners, let me see, I believe it was a Mr. Terrin Danner and another man, can't remember the name offhand. At any rate, they poof, just up and vanished from Imperial detention, on Coruscant! The word Graysith was left behind, somehow scored into the durasteel walls of their cell.

"Gray... SITH.

Ahem frowned a bit at this tidbit, then set down his tea.

"I believe all the evidence we have points to one thing: there really is a race called the Sith. They are hiding, keeping themselves aloof from the remainder of the Galaxy, and seem to be wielding a power which dwarfs that of our combined strengths. But--"

He settled back again, now holding up the book he had appropriated from Mitra, and waggled it meaningfully.

"It is my belief that this journal contains information of ships and other technology discovered in an archeological dig on a world unbeknownst to us. I spent the best portion of eight hours studying this journal; while I cannot decipher the alien portion of the notes, from the drawings herein I can only conclude that somewhere on this world that technology exists, or at the very least remnants of it do. If we could learn from it, learn to use it, then we'd have a defense against these Sith, and would be able to... remind them that even though they think themselves above the Empire, their system is within our Galaxy. Which we govern.

"I cannot believe that any race who did what they did to us would remain silent, not expecting contact or retribution of any kind."

The faces before him frowned a moment, as both men digested Ahem's logic. At length first Sarontogo, and then Landarian nodded in affirmation.

"This is why I chose the course of action that I did concerning Mitra et. al. Besides, when do we really bargain with ruffians? That is a shadow of the Empire of old, not the new one Admiral Actar wishes for us to maintain."

He paused, taking another sip of his tea, and quieted a moment to let the others assimilate all he had just presented to them.

“Well,” I said, “I guess we won’t be little bluebell again. Even if he survives their torture, he’ll go crazy in there. I can’t believe it! I mean, I’ve seen some pretty cold moves in my day, even done some pretty low stuff myself. But THAT…”

I was actually on the verge of being mad! Huh, who’da thought I’d feel sorry for that little fuzzball? But man, just think of it.

“I mean, damn! What’s the one thing he felt passionate about all this short time I’ve known him? Who’s the enemy to him? You just dropped him off, gift wrapped, in front of the targ and smellin’ like bantha burger.”

I turned and paced a bit at that, not sure now if I was really upset about Bon or that all this transpired without me being able to stop it. I had a bad feeling about this all the way, and it just kept getting worse.

“Well, anyway, all we can do now is wait and then head out with the scientists. I’m sure they’ll be well trained, well armed scientists. Funny word, that, I hear it means ‘soldier’ in some languages. But what choice do we have? Bon is gonna freak out, and we’ll be on our own.”

--------------------

Feeling no further need to explain herself and as though there were too many eyes and ears to see and hear, Cardissa fell silent and headed for a small couch on the other side of the room. She seated herself, her eyes defocusing as she considered just how, in fact, she could make the best of this situation.

[ 08-25-2009 07:52 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cardissa Mitra ]

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Me, I’ll keep my nose clean and maybe still be able to come out of this all right. I mean, I wasn’t no revolutionary or nothing, and I still had contracts with the Impys. Which, by the way, I needed to report. Ah hell, how do I explain that one? Ace in the hole, buddy, that’s what that is.

“Anyway, lead and I’ll follow, babe.”

Yeah, I guess I would.

“Sounds like we got 8 hours to kill, what’s on your mind?”

--------------------

“Bah,” he spat. “Humans. Not them, not them. Beasts, that’s what they are. Wild beasts bent on conquering everything they see, man. No better than the Vong, man. No better. We oughtta let them come back, man, yeah, that would teach them.”

Bon continued to pace, his hands wringing together frantically as he walked.

“Why, man, why? It’s my book. Well, OK, not my book, but I found it man. And it’s all in code, man.”

All right, man, yeah, I worked out the code. I know the secrets, man. But they don’t know that, do they? Not even the lady knows it, man. The lady – oh, what is she doing to me man? What is she thinking?

Bon paced some more, then stopped.

“What IS she doing, man? This can’t be part of the plan, to let the beasts in like this. We shouldn’t have come here man, just should’ve stayed away. But I guess she knows that now, right? Well, I guess if I play along maybe I can figure out--”

For a short moment he even brought himself to wonder why in all the known galaxy the Empire would find this... thing... to be of any use to them. But his was not to question why, his was but to follow orders.

Or die.

"You will please come with us," he said, his manner the very epitome of civility as he turned his own body slightly to the side, one gauntleted hand gesturing toward the corridor without where the remainder of his squadron waited to escort the alien to General Ahem.

"Please do not tarry; the General is awaiting the pleasure of your company."

[ 12-28-2009 10:47 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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Then her look darkened and deepened somewhat and turned inward. For a long few minutes, the room fell into utter silence, much to Rico's discomfiture.

But suddenly, Cardissa's dark eyes snapped into alertness and fell into his, seeking something within as she asked a seemingly innocent question. "What do you know of my grandfather Hethrir, and of my father Tigris and his mother Rillao? And what do you know of my race?"

--------------------