I'att Armaments
Il Avali City
Druckenwell, Doldur Sector
Sovereign Alliance of Systems
"Well, I think we have a winner," Chief Executive Director Tristan I'att said, looking at the soldier modeling his latest product: new-made, new-designed Trooper Armor, using Stormtrooper advanced technology and the traditional Clone Trooper Mk-II baseline design style. "How's in feel?" he asked the soldier.
"Very comfortable," the soldier said, going through a few combat moves. "I like it."
"Would you be willing to give up your Stormtrooper-style armor for it?" Director Rafael Sharran asked.
"In a heartbeat," the soldier said, "This is a vast improvement over that first prototype, the one based off the Phase-I clone armor," he assured them, "That was too stiff; couldn't sit down... but this stuff flows smooth. Free range of motion. I like it."
"Very well, then," Director Sharran said, "I have to admit, I feel a lot better about this armor than continuing with the Stormtrooper-style stuff."
"And all the better," Prince Nizarr said, "Much of the Stormtrooper armor can be re-moulded rather than having to be destroyed entirely. A major advantage, cost-wise."
"Excellent, then," I'att said, "I suppose we have a contract. And I understand that you intend to outfit as many different models and sub-variants as the original Grand Army of the Republic did? BARC troopers, paratroopers, all that?"
"Not quite as many," Director Sharran said with a smile, "But as many specialized types as actually needed. Infantry, BARC, scout, ARC, snow variants, and so on. Just keep the base color a sort of flat grey instead of the shiny white so that local units can camouflage them according to local conditions."
"This will go a long way towards removing the Palpatine-era appearance of the military," Prince Nizarr said, "Hearken back to an earlier age, before the dark time... before the Empire."
The visitors and chiefs admired the armor-- Republic Trooper appearance; with the more modern Stormtrooper Armor internals.
"An excellent choice," Director Sharrn muttered his agreement. "The Queen has given her approval, to be implemented once we have a chosen model. And since that seems to be the case, then, Director I'att, then you have your orders-- and your contract."
Results:
SAS Stormtrooper-style armor will be replaced with newer versions of the Clone Trooper style.
More advanced Stormtrooper electronics will be fit in.
Move made to further 'de-Imperialize' the appearance of the military.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
Arc Hammer
Scrap Processing center
Director Una Poot nodded as she looked at the Royal decree. The wreckage of the Arc Hammer, the once-mighty mobile foundry ship, had processed its last scrap. Now, the giant, free-floating wreck was, itself, going to be cut up as scrap instead.
"What's the word, then, ma'am?" Tech Chief Villy Koun asked as he stopped by to see Director Poot. She'd called him as soon as she got the decree.
"I was wondering if you could clarify this," she said, handing him the printout.
"Oh, yes," he said, "That. We've been cutting up scrap here for years, and transporting the useful bits to the shipyards to recycle into new ship construction," he said, "But now, these operations are going to be moved to Kira and Shadda-bi-Baran stations instead, and the facility here on this ship will start to process itself into scrap until every last bit is gone."
"But why?" Poot asked, "Has there been dissatisfaction with the way I ran the operation here?"
"No, ma'am," Tech-5 Kouns assured, "It's just the Queen's way of making things more efficient. The wreckage of the Arc Hammer is a wealth of potentially useful metals, and there's no point leaving this running when we can more easily scrap ships at the Shield stations. They have shipyards on-site that can better exploit the scrap, rather than have to transport it to a yard somewhere else."
"I see," Poot said, thinking about it, "I suppose I can see the point.. still, I'll miss this giant trashcan. How long will it take to break this down?"
"I estimated about 34 months or so, so it'll be awhile. But then you're skies will be clear again," Koun said.
"Yeah," Poot sid, sighing, "I suppose so. But it'll be kinda quiet, too..."
Results:
Wreckage of the Arc Hammer to be scrapped.
Ship scrapping facilities to be moved to Shied of Aridus stations at Kira and Shadda-Bi-Baran systems.
*** *** *** *** *** ***
90th Planetary Assault Group
RADM. Nila Rau, Commanding
Nav Point 125/40.01
Outside Bothan Space/Pii System
"Alright then" she said as she sat down at the holo-comm unit, "Are we all here?"
"The UAP force has arrived," Jedi Streen said via the holo. Admiral Halpo didn't want to be too visible in the planning and operation stages of the plan, considering his legal status among certain Bothans-- especially since so many minor Bothan potentates had popped up since their government was whittled down to nothing by the New Empire. There was just no way to know who might pop up and try to assert themselves as a 'legitimate Bothan government' by trying to raise trouble with Halpo.
"I admit, I am curious," Streen said, "The SAS is sending a planetary assault fleet. Is Her Majesty expecting trouble?"
"No, we have no particular intelligence about any sort of trouble that may be there," the female Rear-Admiral said. Her lekku twitched slightly, however: she knew that one of the reasons she'd been chosen for the mission was because she was laregely seen as too junior among the established ranks of Admiralty, and that she needed somemor experience.
Rear-Admiral Nila Rau did not really argue with that sentiment. She knew that she'd been advanced in rank ahead of her peers, and not because she was especially good at what she did. Rather, she knew all too painfully that she'd been promoted by King Hadiss primarily because he considered her to be 'ideologically acceptable'-- in other words, she held a dim view of the Empire, and so he favored her over more capable officers who were either Empire-neutral or Empire-friendly.
She'd accepted the rank but tried to keep a low profile; while it took awhile for her new peers on the Admiralty to accept her, she knew she'd be an outsider for awhile. What made it particularly difficult was that no one seemed to hold her personally responsible, nor did they take it out on her individually-- they blamed the former King, and at times treated her as something of a victim... something that she found equally distasteful, but bore stoically.
In a contest between pity or contempt, I guess I'd rather have pity, she decided, It is an easier hole to crawl out of --all you have to do is earn some respect. Contempt tends to stay shackled to you no matter what...
"The Queen --and the General Staff-- simply felt that it was better to be safe, since we don't know if anyone has already shown up to stake a claim. After all, if that is indeed the case, then they'll have a lot of resources available to make this difficult..."
"Good point," Streen said, "Then if we're all ready, let's get underway..."
"Very well," RADM Rau said, smiling, "Let us set our cource for... Kamino!"
Results:
Joint UAP/SAS/Fed task force goes to secure the planet Kamino for the Pact.
SAS Contingent:
90th Planetary Assault Group: 90th Starborne Army Group
3 Allegiance Star Defenders (w/ Composite Support squadron elements each)
18 Venator Starfighter Carriers (1 N3A Wg. & 1 N2A Wg. each)
10 Queen Tasia Cruisers
10 Monarch frigates
10 Regent Anti-Starfighter frigates
30 Senex Corvettes
30 Acclamator troop carriers (LXXXV Corps)
*** *** *** *** *** ***
Senex/J-class Jedi Support Corvette
RMS Stryker-II
Citadel Station
"Stryker-II, you care cleared for landing in bay 442."
The modified Senex-class Corvette, itself a modified New Repuclic class --the replacement for the venerable CR-90-- glided to a graceful landing in the massive docking port of Citadel Station. Word had reached them about the Victory of Yaga Minor, and so Alec Syfardos wasn't surprised to see optimism in the tired faces of the ground crews. But the pressure of battle was still palpable in the air; there was still a job to be done, even if it at least seemed to have gotten a little easier.
The ramp opened and Jedi Knight Alec Syfardos came down the ramp, his Padawans Kenzcee Kittrex and Lorakk'chi in tow, with K4P0, Rohrchakka, and EV-9D9 behind them. They made quite an interesting sight, and no few of the Imperial dockhands stopped to stare at the unlikely entourage.
While Alec went to go find his sister, the rest of them went to go catch up on the latest news at the spacer's bar. He reached her door and, noting that it was late morning, station time, knocked loudly. There was no answer, so he knocke again, and put his ear to the door and concentrated. He heard something stirring, so he knocked again. Is she really this lazy? he wondered.
Finally, his sister answered the door-- bleary-eyed, disheveled hair, and in a robe. She blinked at him, her eyes straining in th ebright light of the corridor, before snapping fully awake.
"Alec!" she called, and jumped into his arms. He held her for a moment, shooting a glare at a crewman who walked by and gave him the 'thumbs up' and a leering smile of appreciation.
He decided not to make things worse by identifying her as his sister.
"Let's get inside," he said, and shoved her back in through her door. "So, what's up, sis?" he asked, "You on your own schedule?"
"I am," Irena said, "I run recon after recon after recon, and I have completely lost sense of day and night. I come back to the station and I have no idea what time it is since they don't dim the lights to synchronise time. Not on a full combat alert."
"What's with the schedule?" Alec asked, "Who's flight group do you belong to?"
"No one," she said, "I'm independent. I fly Noora's FP-31 on long-range reconnaissance and collect data on the enemy. I come back and hand over my datachips to the local intel guys, they process it and share with the flight groups, and we see what we did right, did wrong, and what the enemy did."
"Well, you're keeping yourself employed, then," Alec said. Before Irena could say anything, the door to the bedroom opened again.
"Irena, what's up? Who's...?" the man looked up at Alec as he, too, blinked in an attempt to recognise him. "Oh," he said, his face turning red for a moment. He, too, had a bathrobe on.
"Ganner?" Alec asked, stunned. He looked at his sister, who was bright red.
"Uhh..." Alec said, looking around, feeling his own face go flush with the awkward moment.
"Want some coffiene?" Irena asked, changing the subject.
"Sure," Alec said, grateful for the misdirection. Ganner slipped back into the bedroom and pretty soon, the sound of a shower could be heard.
"So," Alec said. "Ganner."
"Alec..."
"I didn't say anything was wrong with it," Alec said, a little too quickly, "Just... it was a little unexpected, was all."
"I..." Irena stumpled, "I guess I should have said something. I don't know, it wasn't some big secret, it's just that we were here..."
"Sis, you don't have to justify anything," Alec said, "I was just surprised, is all. Ganner's a good guy. I guess I would have just expected... more lead-in. 'Alec, Ganner and I are going out...', or something."
"It just sort of... happened," Irena said. Alec nodded, sipping at his coffiene.
"Hey, like I said, it's okay."
"I suppose I was going to say something..."
"It's okay, sis, I mean... I'm not your... boss. Or whatever."
They sat and drank coffiene for a bit, and started second cups when Ganner came out, awake, showered, and dressed in a clean flight suit.
"Hey," he said to Irena.
"Hey, yourself," she said, and reached up to his hand, pulling him towards her, and giving him a quick kiss. "You've met my brother," she said. Ganner managed an awkward smile. Alec felt that it must have matched the one on his own face.
"Yo," Alec said, as they shook hands.
"Whassup?" Ganner replied. He went to get his own coffiene.
"So, when did you get in?" Irena asked.
"Just now," Alec said, "Me, the Padawans, some droids, a Wookiee bounty hunter." They both gave him odd looks. "Yeah, it's... it just doesn't sound right, all casual like that, huh? But anyhow, we're here."
"How long are you staying?" Irena asked.
"Just a day or two," Alec said, "I wanted to stop by and say hello to you, and then we're off again. But we'll be back."
"Where to?" Ganner asked, joining them. Alec suddenly grew tight-lipped.
"Ah," Ganner said, understanding. "Don't worry; OPSEC. I don't think there's anyone on this station that can actually tell anyone else what he or she does. Whatever it is, stay safe."
"Thanks, we will," Alec said. "How about you guys? Irena does recon, what are you up to?"
"Search and destroy," Ganner said, "Using my Jedi skills to blast as many of those bastards out of the sky as I possibly can."
"Good," Alec said, "Were you at Yaga Minor?"
"We both were," Irena said, "Intel's still going over the stuff I caught with my gun cameras. I think they're trying to find out how much of that worldship's death can be put out to the public."
"I'd think the public would love to see that," Alec said. Irena frowned.
"That's the first thought," his sister said, "But there are a lot of people who think it could give a false impression that the war is being won. It isn't."
The words hung in the air, putting a noticeable chill on the mood. Alec sighed.
"That bad?"
"That bad."
"Is the Queen going to devote forces to this?" Ganner finally asked. "The word is that the Pact will jump in any day now. People are waiting for massive reinforcements from the Federation, the UAP, and the SAS. Some UAP ships are up here, but... it's been an Imperial thing. They're glad for the good PR it gives them, but upper echelons are getting weary, and a bit resentful of carrying the load." Alec looked down at the floor for a moment.
"Right now," he admitted, "There are only vague notions at the Palace about getting involved. The people back home are tired of war, they've recently been invaded by the New Empire and suffered catastrophic losses at Carida; only to have to suffer the humiliation of having a coup right at home. Most of the people know that at some point we'll have to get involved, but until they absolutely have no choice... they want to sit it out as long as they can before getting pulled in."
Ganner and Irena exchanged glances.
"People keep asking us when the rest of our people are going to commit," Ganner said, running a hand through his hair in a subconscious gesture, "I just wish we had good news. Have you heard anything about my government?"
"The Cundertol administration is as quiet as Queen Apailana's," Alec admitted. "We're watching the Bothans, the Union, the Hutts and the New Empire fall apart all around us, and the Pact is just trying to keep the chaos from spreading."
"Chaos is spreading here," Irena said.
"I don't have an answer for you," Alec said. They sat in silence for a moment, the mood glum. Finally, Ganner got up.
"S'cuse me," he said, "But I Have to go. I have a mission brief in a few minutes."
"Be careful," Irena said as they kissed quickly.
"Yeah," Alec said, "Take care."
Ganner smiled and was out the door.
"So, where are you going?" Irena asked. "Tell your sister, so at least I'll know where to retrieve the remains."
"Thanks. We're going to try to re-establish contact with the Remnant Starlight Kingdom," he revealed. "We're going to Bastion."
Results:
Jedi Alec and his crew reveal destination to Irena.
Alec finds out about Ganner and Irena.
Politics discussed very awkwardly.
***
