[IC] SWS/DnD5, Star Wars the Old Republic – A Gathering Darkness

[Shayuri]

Kacela eyes the cathar curiously and replies, "We're here to find a peaceful solution to the situation, yes. Something provoked the Kwi, but without communications we can't find out what. It's imperative we discover the cause of this problem so it can be resolved."

 

[GreenKarl]

The cathar looks over a Kacela, glancing down at her belt for a moment. He then gives a dismissive snort and shrug, adding "HA, save a bunch of barely sentient creatures. I told Vivian this was a waste of time, but did she listen to me? Noooo. And now our bosses send you people to fix something that wasn't broken. But who ever listens to Kardo?? No one, that's who."

He finishes the rest of a recaff, sets the empty on the desk next to him and stands up looking like he is heading back upstairs when the human tech mentions "Ah Kardo, you were suppose to have the landspeeder checked this morning in case our guest need it. Vivian told you yesterday..."

With another snort the cathar adds "Yea I will go get my tool belts... still a waste..."

 

[Sezarious]

Jihahna continues to work on the droid and winces in momentary irritation at the comment of the Cathar. "I'm running diagnostics, making sure neither the droid nor the AI have been", she turns about swiftly, glancing at the Czerka reps, then the Cathar "sabotaged..."

Afterwards, Jihahna goes back to the droid. "I know when the opposing team plays dirty... What tells me that Czerka is hiding something is the inconsistency see? You guys CLAIM the kwi lack sentience, yet you are more than willing to offer an increase in pay to any merc who hesitates. If you were truly confident the Kwi were NOT sentient on the other hand, you would be digging for evidence for everyone to see! That in fact CONFIRMS to me that the Kwi ARE sentient and that you guys probably have all the evidence needed... Your behaviour further indicates that proof that the Kwi are sentient will have such a negative impact on Czerka mining operations, that you HAVE to try and encourage the Survey Team to cease."

She smiles now as she continues to work.

 

[GreenKarl]

The gran nods sagely as Jihahna speaks, and he seems to think deeply about what she is saying... and yet he never speaks a word, nor does his smile waver in the least bit. The cathar returns from upstairs with a tool kit, still swaying a bit and heads outside but not before giving Jihahna the 'stink-eye-treatment' (although he makes sure she is not looking at him when he does this).

A few moments later the human Czerka rep stomps out of Vivian's officer and leaves the building without another word. The gran stands slows, bows to Jihahna and Vivian and then walks out himself, although with no rush or care it were appear in the world.

Vivian, leaning on the door of her office says "Well that was unpleasant..." shaking her head she comes out and addresses the team. "OK we might have less time than I hoped. Czerka Corp has filed an injunction on Coruscant to try and block any and all actions by the Survey Corp here. It appears that they have not yet had a ruling... and so we still have some time. Maybe. Anyway, if what Halina Yass just told me is true, Czerka has moved the mercenaries too the mountain mining facility. We got two missions now - prove the Kwi are sentient and stop the mercenaries by any means possible. What Czerka is doing is technically not illegal, it isn't legal either. I am not sure what you all expected when you hired on with us, but I really need you to go to the mining facility and somehow stop the mercs there. There are no roads or access ways to there but we have a supply jumper that we used and it can carry you, your gear and our landspeeder. Any questions??"

It is about then that Jihahna finishes running here diagnostics tests on the droid, everything comes back as clear and no recorders of any tampering...

 

[Shayuri]

Kacela sighed. Stop the mercenaries by any means necessary. So much for civilized times. Still, if it was necessary to protect a sentient species...

"Does the Survey group have intelligence on the facility?" she asked. "Maps from orbitals, estimates on numbers of mercenaries and so on?"

 

[Binder Fred]

The gran nods sagely as Jihahna speaks, and he seems to think deeply about what she is saying... and yet he never speaks a word, nor does his smile waver in the least bit.

The gand shifts her body around, somewhere under all that covering, legs folded under itself as usual. guttural drone click drone click. (It comes out as a whisper before he clicks something on the edge of the vocoder and repeats herself "How does Gall Doogota see the Kwi situation, is what these ones are asking." guttural drone burr clacketty hum drone "Does Gall Doogota have any insights?"


OOC: You're going too fast GreenKarl. Please leave us enough time to react to things? A post for the rest coming up.

 

[Binder Fred]

"Does the Survey group have intelligence on the facility?" she asked. "Maps from orbitals, estimates on numbers of mercenaries and so on?"

guttural clickclacketty drone jumble hum "This gand suggests quiet sabotage of their vehicles?" buzzing clack "And/Or rations." An off-hand, philosophical gesture, jumble click mumble click drone waver hum "Open violence will turn all hands on the planet against theses ones, and their employer."

For all that, the gand seems strangely comfortable with foul play. Matter-of-fact even.

 

[Sezarious]

Jihahna gives a hearty laugh to Vivian after Vivian's complaint about the conversation being unpleasant. "Oh Vivian, I can assure you that the conversation was far less comfortable for them than it was for us!" She stand and looks her in the eye as she wipes her hands. "You will have seen nocturnal bugs and animals at some point in your life that scatter when you shine a light onto them?" She points to the door the Czerka reps exited through... "They're scared of you, but they don't think you have what it takes to handle them, because they're willing to pull dirty tactics. The mercs you've brought in though... We're an unknown!"

She smiles slyly at the Gands suggestion "But sabotage? That would be illegal! The Republic couldn't possibly be CAUGHT doing such a thing! That may be as out off the question as say... Disrupting their communications?" Her sly smile gets slightly bigger as she says this, complementing it with a wink.

Her hands clean, she offers her hand to the Gand first. "Jihahna Darut. Nice to make an introduction at last. You're one hell of a shot!" She then moves to the others and offers to shake their hands respectively. When she gets to the jedi, she pauses before speaking once again. "Sorry about before, but i had a bad fee-". She stops and rewords herself. "I used to work in the cartels, where it was common practice to distract your enemy with one hand and strike with the other. I had to be sure."

She turns to Vivian again. "Listen, I couldn't see any signs of sabotage to my knowledge, but hell, i've been wrong before. I suggest from now on, one of us should stay around thirteen at all times", i'm happy to do so, but maybe you may wish to pick one of us at random. She points to each of the jedi. "Or, these guys are normally a pretty safe bet right? Any of us could be a plant by Czerka including me! But a jedi..." She shrugs again.... "Well less so I assume."

Jihahna packs up her kit and informs thirteen he seems to be fully functional.

 

[Binder Fred]

Her hands clean, she offers her hand to the Gand first. "Jihahna Darut. Nice to make an introduction at last. You're one hell of a shot!"

A pause, but the insectile one has obviously seen this custom in action before and responds appropriately. (Her three-fingered hand is harder than usual under the heavy glove, but quite agile). guttural jumble slurr crack hum "This nameless one offers gratitude."

It actually looks... quite pleased.

Can gand's blush?

 

[GreenKarl]

"How does Gall Doogota see the Kwi situation, is what these ones are asking." guttural drone burr clacketty hum drone "Does Gall Doogota have any insights?"

The Grad shifts his triple vision over onto this Gand and seems to think about it for a while. After a moment he simply smiles and shakes his head in a negative. He then goes back to watching Jihahna and then leaves without saying a word when the other Czerka rep leaves. This Gand is not sure if the man was a simpleton or just acting weird for some reason. It was very odd behavior whatever it was…

GM: You can make an Wisdom (Insight) check if you wish, but part of the reason I moved along was also knowing he was not planning and speaking with the group at all… for his own reasons of course

"Does the Survey group have intelligence on the facility?" she asked. "Maps from orbitals, estimates on numbers of mercenaries and so on?"

Vivian gives over a basic survey map of the mining town (a datapad will keep it but you can’t get to details, while a mapreader pad works better). There are basically ten large buildings at the mining camp. Three of them are living quarters for the miners, six are for storage and processing of the mineral crystals, one is a Czerka Corp administration building, and the last two are for storage, maintenance and extra equipment. The map also shows what seem to be some sort of beast corrals along the edges of the camp. The mining camp is set up in the northern part of a narrow valley in the mountains, surrounded by forests and steep cliffs. Most of the mines are to the west of the mining camp but there are a few in the mountains to the north and east also. Each of the mine entrances has a big production stack building built on the outside. To the south the valley opens up into a wider valley jungle basin, running maybe 20km. There are really high narrow passes leading into the valley but otherwise the only accesses in is by air.

She adds “I’m not sure how many mercs Czerka has brought it right now… I would guess around twenty. Sorry, I did not except them to move so fast on this issue when I informed them that the Kwi might be sentient. They sure seem to want to have the problem go away as fast as possible for them. I think either the corp or one of the mercs brought some vehicles along also, mostly combat speederbikes.”

Vivian then says to Jihahna (and the rest of the team) “I think it best if Thirteen goes with you and the team. Myself and my group will see what we can do to run interference with Czerka Corp here and I will send a message back to Coruscant to push for a legal protective status of the Kwi. As we don’t have a holovid boosters here I have to send it via the hyperspace beacon but that is out on the edge of the system, it will take at least a day for the message to get there by tight beam and a day to hear back. Czerka has a booster but I doubt they will let us use it right now…”