Log:Jedi Order: Byss - Confrontations
Jedi Order: Byss - Confrontations
OOC Date: December 13, 2020
Location: Byss
Participants: Jedi Order: Chani Tahn, Aryn Cole, Vhe Tenara, Zandra naMuriel, Kasia Ashkuri, Elrych Cometburn, and Rey Skywalker with Ben Solo
Following the doomed procession through the city, the urgency of their mission has become abundantly clear to the Jedi. They cannot linger in Byss much longer without risking further implication in suppressing uprisings that in reality they'd prefer to support. They knew there was information in the Spire relating to the Sentinels; there had to be, and the consoles they'd managed to briefly access in the throne room supported that idea. However, once Rey took up that area as her own, the access level of the consoles had changed.
And so, a new plan was formed; infiltrate Moff Pax's quarters and access his personal files. The only problem was getting access to one of his terminals. Luckily, scuttlebutt around the Spire was that he had a backup terminal in his private quarters, directly connected to his office. This was the Jedi's chance.
And so it is that a group of Royal Guards escort a pair of TIE pilots and the Empress herself through the halls, halting at the edge of one so that a red mask can peek out around the corner. <"Pax's office is down this corridor,"> Ben confirms, ducking his head back and resuming his spot in the formation. <"Rey will distract him and dismiss us. Then we'll use the opportunity to break into his quarters,"> he explains, gathering up his pike. <"Whatever happens, we cannot set off the alarms, or our cover is blown. Understood?">
Haft of the pike braced against the floor, Chani observes Ben glancing around the corner of the corridor to discern whether or not the way is clear. The lighting along the hallway glints off the polished red armor they've all donned, save for the black visors across the fronts of their helmets. There, it's as if the light is drawn in by a yawning abyss. As the man lays out their plan, Chani half twists at the waist to glance back the way they came. Once she straightens out again, she toggles the switch to speak on their internal communication net. <"I have no skills useful to this. I should stand guard with someone outside the quarters."> The arm concealed beneath her robes shifts, distorting the fabric for the briefest second before becoming still again.
"I hope someone is sufficiently better at sneaking, opening locked doors, and hacking information than I am," Aryn says with a good bit of worry. These were not her strong suits. "I can join Chani, and stand guard, or lookout." Aryn continues to follow along, becoming quiet now, and thoughtful to her assignment in this small adventure.
The coms buzz in Vhe's ear when the plan is given and she eye squints. A nod is offered, the gleam off the shiny helmet bouncing about before she remarks back. <"Is there anything to trip with her movements?"> But for the moment she seems ready to follow the group, her hand flexing on the pike. Adjusting her stance she turns her head to glance back at the others but keep as close to rank and file as she can. The cushion of her hair helps the weight of the helmet but her other hand liftsquickly rubbing the helmet back and forth on an itching spot. Quickly it disappears back beneath her cloak. She clears her throat. <"I can possibly get in and shut down whatever needs to be shut down but I have no...technical skills.">
<<"You know, Violet used to say that a lot... and now she's really good at a lot of thing.">> Elrych comments to Chani as they slink/walk down the hallway doing their best not to draw any attemtion to them selves. There's a look to Aryn, nodding to Vhe as she speaks, <<"She can work wonders and I'm not so bad myself.">> Though the silence of his movements would be difficult in this flight suit.
TIE pilot, there's a bit of swagger to Zan's steps that she did not use when in the red robes. She looks calm enough, her gaze staying where it should, but there's a sort of amused worry that she's struggling a bit with. Then Elrych's comment has her chuckle. <<That doesn't mean it wasn't true,>> she retorts. <<but give it time, If I can learn, you can too. >> She pauses, and then says, << that said, I'm not the best at sneaking around, truthfully. >> Go figure - when did the Jedi ever have time to learn that? << we should add that to the curriculum, maybe. >>
If there was a benefit to the parade debacle, it was that the Jedi had 'further proven themselves' to Moff Pax and the Imperial remnant in this spire, in the city, and so on. They'd benefited with a bit more breathing room since then, and this is showcased in their freedom of walking through the spire here and now.
Rey, at the center of the red clad guards, is aware of the plan and proceeds toward the Moff's office. She looks to the others. "I'll post you all outside, and ask Pax to walk with me. I do have questions for him, so many questions, so this should be... simplistic. I have my comm unit and you can beep me when your mission is complete." She tells, everyone really.
<"We just need to figure out where the Sentinels are coming from and then we can end this foolish charade,"> Ben assures the others, uncomfortably comfortable behind the red mask.
Rounding the corner as a group, they march to the office door, where the two troopers posted salute and open it to let them in.
Moff Pax looks up from his desk, a simple grey durasteel with a terminal uplink to one side. A thin smile stretches his aging face, and gloved fingers quickly snap up the access stick from its reader, tucking it back into the pocket on his chest. "Ah, the /Empress,/" he greets, the words tinged with that sly slant he seems to put on every sentence. "Welcome to my humble office. I've been expecting you, do show yourself in."
The office is not large, but there is enough space for the escort to enter, and when they do it is hard to escape noticing one of the freedom fighters from the parade ambush held in binders and slumped against the side wall. "You'll be happy to hear I kept one of them alive, as you ordered." The prisoner is recognizable as the young woman who threw down her weapon, and seems to be unconscious.
As the door opens to Pax's office, Rey stands on the other side. She steps within the office and her eyes instantly go to the prisoner slumped against the wall. She listens to Pax's response to her, and takes a moment to collect herself before she glides her glaring eyes over to him.
Rey's gloved hands flex outward, and lightning tendrils flicker across her fingers, filling the room with the sounds of electricity crackling and popping. All of the Jedi will feel anger inside of their 'Empress'.
"I told you to keep them all alive, Moff Pax." Rey says as she walks further in to the office, toward his desk which he resides on the opposite side of. "Through all of the knowledge they each had, the more likely would could piece together a greater understanding of who they are, who they work with, where we can find them and where we can..." She trails off, the lightning stops and she once more flexes her fingers inside of her red gloves.
"Death is an easy sentence. It yields someone an escape from retribution."
Rey starts to turn around then. "Walk with me, Moff Pax. I do not wish to linger in this office, as I find it to be unpleasant." She turns and starts to leave the room, expecting the man to follow her.
"Guards, remain here. Watch the Prisoner."
<"Understood."> Chani acknowledges Rey's confirmation of the plan, and merely nods once Ben offers his own assurances. The salutes rendered by the stormtroopers go unanswered. Chani's gaze is much more focused on the office that they come into. And the prisoner that is there. Her fingers tighten around the base of the pike where it's cradled, and clenched teeth might have given her away if not for the fact her face is conealed by the unfeatured visage of the red helmet keeping her identity a secret. The sudden sparking of electricty arcing around is enough to trigger her heart racing, but she thankfully doesn't start at the display. Instead, there is nothing but stoic silence and immobility as the 'Empress' commands her guards to stay and leads the Moff out.
When Rey says she is going to post them outside, Aryn is prepped for such. So she does not enter the office. She pauses and waits for Rey to pass, not really needing to turn her head to track her. When this has occurred, Aryn observes Rey's anger take form, the lightning reflecting off her helmet's visor and hitting Pax. Such power. It gave Aryn pause, and she held her breath without realizing it. When Rey gave the order to watch the prisoner, Aryn moved then to take her place to do just that. Perhaps when they were gone, Aryn could scan the prisoner for concerning medical ailments.
Vhe, the guard is without reaction to the sight or to the crackle of lightning. Its a measure of control of certain motions that keep her from being obvious. But beneath that helmet her eyes follow the light that springs forth in Rey's hands. There is a held breath but as soon as the Moff and Empress move on, she is given an order she intends to follow to a point. She glances aside at the others once there is enough distnace and the two are out of sight. <"The office then"> Her voice is soft and she moves to make their final destination a reality, careful in keeping her footfalls quiet should their walk be too short and not far enough away.
Elrych returns the salute towards the troopers, albeit a bit lazy, some of his natural personality showing through. It gave the hollow husk of TIE pilot a bit more depth, at least he felt. Rgardless, he takes his proper place flanking the empress as they make their way into the office. He notices the prisoner but says nothing. It's only when the sparking tendrils escape REy and the anger the resonates from her slides into his senses that he turns his head to look at her. THere's a slight worry there yet... just as quickly as it was conjured, it passes. A simple nod to aknowledge her command. THere is a nod to Vhe but he also nods towards the troopers, waiting to see if they will be a problem before they can access the office.
Zandra is really glad for helmets, as she holds her breath at the emotions felt, and that electricity flicking over Rey's fingers. She concentrates on staying centered, even though her own anger spurted just a bit as well. It's not easy, but Zan holds onto her center, thanks to the Force and the practice, practice, practice. She simply stays in her position, waiting to see what happens with the storm troopers, along with the others. Once the electricity settles, the sizzle eases in the room, and hopefully the Moff will take the warning.
Kasia is present, near the back of their procession down the hallway, offering no input about the plan beyond a simple, <"Understood."> And at the office she waits, silent and observant, as good guards ought to be. If there is any reaction to the light show, or anything else, it's all disguised by the delightfully inscrutable armor that she seems comfortable wearing.
"Please, there is no need for theatrics," Pax replies coolly, remaining behind his desk. "I know who they are and I know where they come from, and I have no interest in torture. When I said they would be shown your mercy, I meant it." His uniformed shoulders rise and fall in a short shrug. "This city has seen the consequences of rebellion before, your grace. I cannot allow it. It must be stamped out, immediately. Or more will take up the cause, and we will not SURVIVE a second Schism!" A gloved fish slams down abruptly on the desk. "The Sentinels have already informed me that this is so."
His dark eyes skim towards the guards. "Command your guards as you wish, it makes no difference to me. But it is not you that I live in fear of, and I will not leave them here unsupervised." There is a resolve there, with the moff seeming much like a part of the durasteel furniture.
The tallest guard is staring sharply at Rey, not from the peripheral but with his mask turned directly towards her.
Ben's voice pushes into her head with just a few words: "Send us out. We can do this."
Rey releases a soft exhale at the mouth of the office's entrance. She lingers there before she looks to the Royal Guards and nods once. "Wait in the corridor." She commands the Guards, before looking back to Pax. "Come along then, Moff. I want to show you something." She tells the rambling man before she starts to walk off toward the west, in the direction of an observation balcony that is a fair distance away on the other side of the spire. Or that's her intention at least.
She hears Ben's voice inside her head, but she doesn't respond to it, merely marches on, with her slim pointed chin angled up and high.
Chani doesn't hesitate once Rey directs them to wait in the corridor, but the plan flipping back and forth has her wondering how they'll carry out their objective when they're standing in front of stormtroopers watching them. Rather than questioning anything, Chani exits the office and assumes a place outside in the hall, gaze fixed on the office door to await the others filing out. If she'd been smarter, she'd have suggested going along with the Empress. It wouldn't do for her to be totally unguarded, especially when the Moff makes the appearance of carrying his own escort around. He seems to be making things difficult all around. Chani glances among those in white armor versus red, and starts to wonder how they'll manage this.
Commanded to leave the office, Aryn turns about and re-emerges from it to post outside. She sets her force pike down once stationed and takes a stance that is neutral and well balanced for comfort. She waits for further instruction then, content to play the part until told to do otherwise!
Vhe halts herself quickly as the conversation carries on and she glances to the others. She waits a breath or two before she moving away from the doors leading into the office and instead choosing to post herself at the door to the private quarters. <"I can't get into the room itself, but I can take a look around inside."> With no ability to bypass the controls or hack the system, she stands at ready, blocking view of the entrance from one angle. Her arms spread a little, taking advantage of that over sized red robe. Nothing to see here.
Elrych grew up as a Con Man travelling the galaxy conning people and cheating them out of hard earned sabbacc money. A Darkside use of his powers which meant the path of the Light must have been equally troublesome for him at the start. And likely still way. It's hard to break habits.
He also picked up some really useful skills smuggling and running cons with his old man. As Vhe takes a covering position by the door, as if on key and as if him and the Ysanna had done this before, he slinks his way over towards the keypad. He looks left, then right from behind the helmet before unsnapping a pocket and pullout out a data cylinder. <<"Lets see if Admiral D'trim works out here...">> He plugs the data cylinder in and presses a few of the buttons.
After the mechanism beeps the door unloatches. He pulls the cylinder and puts it away before opening the door slowly. HE nods his head inside, "Ladies first..."
Zandra glances at Elrych and Vhe, moving to stand where she can block hopefully a bit more than Vhe. Maybe? She's standing guard, the tie pilot, lookign bored. Or maybe bored. << Anyone know any dice games or something to distract those two with? >> she asks. <<< I mean, I don't, but Maybe there's soemthing? >> She positions herself to wehre she can dart in the room with Vhe and Elrych if they run into trouble, or need assistance with anything, but for the moment, she's standing guard.
It's impossible to properly read body language or expression when the body and face are concealed beneath a layer of armor, but there's a slight wince back by Kasia from the attention happening at the door to Pax's private quarters that might be visible. She wastes no time in taking a few swift steps over to the troopers stationed outside the office, trying to appear casual while also hustling until she's before one of them. It's following a subtle gesture of one hand that her voice is carried through the vocoder. "There is nothing of interest happening in this hallway." She hopes that is enough to dull the mind of the masked being beneath the trooper armor, but it's the best she's got in the moment.
"Come now, /your grace,/" Pax replies, not leaving his desk. "Anything you wish to discuss can be said right here. Or perhaps you have not yet come to grips with your place in this chain of command, as I have. The Sentinels still rule, and no trick of your blood or birth will change that." Seeing that Rey intends to leave, he calmly removes his access stick and replaces it in the terminal, getting back to work.
Out in the hallway, the pair of stormtroopers watch with some measure of confusion as one of the Royal Guards appears to be blocking the view of another, when the door to the Moff's chambers pops open behind them. "Hey, what the hell?" One of them steps forward to intervene, but a hand is in his face a moment later. "There's nothing of interest happening in this hallway," he announces, with a shrug, and begins strolling back to his partner. "Are you kidding? They're breaking into the Moff's private quarters!"
For his part, Ben had spent a moment staring after Rey before stepping hurriedly into the hallway and casually (panickedly) slapping the control panel to close the Moff's office door so none of this confusion would be overheard, although the last part of Pax's diatribe may have been cut short by the action. These are the sacrifices that must be made.
"Maybe you did not hear her," Aryn emphasizes, now to the other trooper taking offense to their breaking and entry. "/There is nothing of interest happening in this hallway./" This statement is followed with a subtle wave of Aryn's hand, marshalling the force to influence the mind of the trooper and convince him that there was nothing interesting going on!
With Aryn and Kasia dealing with the guards, Vhe lingers as the other two of her cohorts dive into the room. Her head turns this and that before she waits before turning and slipping inside. It is then that she takes stock of the room at large, her eyes darting here and there beneath that helmet that is getting a little hot. SHe lifts the edge, trying to afford herself some cool air. Finally she moves forward and and noting another door that does not lead to the side room that is the Moff's office. This drawns the Ysanna. <"Hey, look,"> she remarks and reaches out to touch the pad. <"Opening it."> She stays quiet otherwise, her weapon ready and in hand.
Elrych lets Zandra and Vhe in first before slinking in himself. He looks behind him, peeking outside the door just before it swishes closed just in time to see Kasia and Aryn distract the two troopers that could have caused them trouble. <<"We don't have long...">> Elrych says turning and moving into the room. He takes a look around, <<"This guy is really as boring as he seems. Uhg.">>
He lets Zandra take the terminal before moving to back up Vhe as she opens the mysterious door. <<"It's probably his closet or something... keeps all his sassy pants in here or something.">>
Zan heads in, and glances around. It takes a moment to head over to the terminal, and she figures out quickly how to access it. Only to hit a problem. <<Stupid terminal,>> she grouses. About 8.5 seconds later, her helmet is off, and she faces the terminal. There's a few moments, before a beep, and a green light. That done, Zan manages to get into the system.
Searching ... Searching ... "Personal files found here, and there's something called ProjectSentinel. Ooh." That merits Zan opening up that file, looking to see the same six sided room she'd found before, in the throne room at that terminal. "Oh, there's more here! There's a report about - the access tunnel being exposed by the Schism that cut through the city." Zan looks to find the location of that access tunnel as well, or at least a direction to go to find out how to get there.
Kasia experiences a moment of alarm, because while one of the troopers is handled, there's another one putting up a protest. She's rounding on him to do... something. Whatever that something was, she doesn't need to do it because Aryn steps in and handles it. A quiet sigh escapes, the tail end of which is caught over the comms as she activates her mic. <"Well done."> She's facing Aryn as she says it, stepping back and away from the now befuddled troopers, taking up position somewhere between where they are and the door to the Moff's private quarters are. Just in case anything else needs handled.
The back door in the Moff's chambers opens to reveal.....
An ordinary bedroom. With a closet that likely contains several pairs of sassy pants.
The internal comm crackles. <"Good enough. If it's exposed by that, that's where it is, we just have to find the spot in the gulf. Get out of there."> It's Ben's voice, gathering the guards in the hallway through hand gestures and signalling them to group up behind him. When the others slip back out of the room, they form up to wait for Rey, looking innocent and professional.
"/You/ are the situation," Pax replies flatly, looking up as Rey reenters the office, pulling the access key again. "Your arrival here sparked up feelings of resentment that have been under a lid for a decade. And I serve where the Sentinels see fit, as you will do, if you are wise." Reaching into a drawer, he pulls out a blaster, slides it to the other end of the desk. "They've ordered you to kill this prisoner. They want to know if you can follow instructions. Personally, I don't care how you do it, but this is the cleanest way." He sits back, then, watching her seriously.
On her way out though, Rey pauses and glances back to the Moff. "I have no intentions of following the words of those 'things'." She tells him, boldly. "They're not my grandfather. My grandfather is dead. His rule is over. It's my galaxy now. It's my Empire now." And with that said, she lingers her gaze a moment before turning to go find her guards once more.
"Perhaps you should be more careful with your intentions, /your majesty,/" Moff Pax replies, pushing himself up from his desk and collecting his blaster. He takes three steps out around it, levels it on the prisoner, and pulls the trigger before turning to give Rey a weary glance. "I only hope my city survives your avarice." The office door zips shut.
