eastbound | un: what a load of pollocks

That's a start. Best bets for survival are usually on those who hang together and stay organized. We at least need a few people on night watch, if nothing else.

[He had no idea what that title meant.] My name's Slick, formerly a sergeant, Republic army. Not quite catching your dialect, but it's good to hear something familiar at least. Where are you from?

Hm. Interesting. A Republic officer who doesn't mind speaking to a Darth. I've not had that experience too many times in my life, and if you are ex-military... I imagine I'm not so astoundingly lucky as to hear you're with the Yavin Coalition, or once were?

I call Dromund Kaas home at the moment...previously Korriban, I suppose. I am a Dark Councilor of the Sith Empire. But I would consider alliance-building to be my business, so if you don't have a problem with that, then I have none either. With that dialect -- I imagine you must have served far out of the Core Worlds yourself...?

Doesn't sound familiar. But I'm very firmly ex-military. If you make trouble for the Republic, that's a plus as far as I'm concerned. They need to lose their war as fast as possible.

Not sure what you mean. We got taught Republic Standard Basic. Couldn't let anything inconvenience them about the war, after all. [But then he'd never heard of the Sith Empire either. Might be a regional power somewhere outside of Republic territory.]

[ and now it's Arche's turn to have half of what Slick is implying sail straight over his head, but it's certainly crystal clear the man is no friend of the Republic, so... good enough for now. That last bit, though-- ]

...I've heard a lot of Republic soldiers speak Republic Standard Basic, and it sounds a great deal more like me than it does you, as far as I've ever noticed. [ giving a sigh, sounding decidedly perplexed now ] Well, this is a conundrum. Can't believe I'm going to have to tell Mingyu he was apparently right-- [ that bit is grumbled out for a second before he moves on ]

Have you been informed already about the various theories on where exactly we were all pulled from? I was convinced when I came here that I'd just been kidnapped offworld straight out of my latest posting, of course, but it seems increasingly likely that such can't be the case. Some of us are convinced that the laws of timespace are warped here such that we come from different... dimensions, or different timelines, or something of the sort. One of the other refugees is here with his boyfriend, and informed me that through corroborating of personal details they were able to determine one of them came from a point in time a standard year or two before the other.

[ pausing ]

...and actually, now that I say that, suppose we might as well check-- What is the date where you come from?

...

No, I hadn't heard any of that. And I'm not inclined to believe it when there's simpler explanations.

[There's an audible sigh.]

It's 13:7 GRS, maybe 13:8. I've lost track of the exact date. Two months after the Battle of Geonosis?

[He could believe a lot, but this was just insane. It still just made more sense if they were from different parts of the galaxy.] If you're on the old system it's Ruusan Reformation year 978.

[ he definitely doesn't want it to be true either, it makes everything vastly more complicated. But he's never been the type to deny the truth in front of his face, no matter how annoying.

And this is certainly... a very annoying truth indeed, considering what it might imply. There's a long moment of silence from the other end of the line. ]

.......well I must confess I'm more than a little concerned that I haven't heard of either of those entire systems, or a Reformation, or that battle. I didn't think Geonosis had even taken official sides in the war. At least, at this point, assuming we're even talking about the same war--...

...at any rate, if it means anything to you -- I am from year 21416 on the Galactic Standard Calendar, about 16 standard years since the Treaty of Coruscant.

None of that sounds familiar. [None of this is making any sense at all. And he's starting to get suspicious.]

There's people out there who think clones are stupid. That we'll believe anything. You wouldn't happen to be one of those people, would you? Because I'm not fond of them.

You're -- a clone?

[ this is just getting weirder by the second, honestly. The whole security discussion is forgotten at this point, at least on Archeval's part, as he turns to trying to puzzle out this bizarre mystery. He catches that note of warning in Slick's voice, that the other man thinks he's being fucked with, but for his own part he's so completely baffled by now that it's hard to even know what to say back. ]

I'm not sure I quite follow what you mean. You don't strike me as a stupid man, otherwise I would not be bothering to have this conversation...

Hm, and I'm not sure I knew cloning techniques had advanced so far as to produce a full sentient being such as yourself. I've heard tell of cloning body parts for when kolto healing doesn't suffice, but I am no scientist, so I may just be uninformed--... [ Is this some kind of secret Republic breakthrough?? Usually that sort of major intelligence makes its way to the Council, but it's not like he's held his seat for that long... ]

Still, something is not adding up here. You are the first person I've met over two standard months in this place who even speaks any form of Basic, but it seems hard to attribute these discrepancies to mere planetary or system distance.

Edited 2021-06-13 16:36 (UTC)

[Oh for--This is just getting more confusing.]

If you're telling the truth, you've been missing a lot lately. The Republic rolled us out a few months ago, at the start of the war. There was a massive, boring parade on Coruscant and everything. [The fact that the people of the Republic seemed to just accept that their government now owned clones had been infuriating.]

Look, there's definitely some weird stuff going on around here, but I don't know you. Until I get some proper confirmation on this, I'm not convinced.

Fair enough. Previous to being dragged here I was on a joint op quite tangential to the larger war, so I won't even say it's impossible I might have missed something, but -- surely some of my colleagues would have been made aware... [ Arche probably delegates to his staff in favor of hieing off after ancient sites and buried secrets more than would be strictly wise if he actually gave two shits about Sith politics, but Darth Marr on the other hand never misses a trick ] And I don't really know what the Republic would even need with -- I take it you were part of some kind of clone squadron? I never got the impression they were hurting for recruits, and [ dryly ] as the party who started this whole damned war in the first place, we do try to pay attention to that sort of thing.

Anyway, look. If you don't believe any of this that is your prerogative. Obviously you can only tell me the facts as you understand them, and I can only do the same. I've been stuck in the middle of the stupid war for nearer to a decade than I'd like by now, and I know far more details about it than I ever wanted to. I could keep spouting off intelligence until you hopefully find something recognizable, but all of that is really immaterial. I have no interest in bullshitting anyone here when it seems our little group are the only ones we might remotely hope to rely on if we're to successfully escape this rock.

...So if you prefer I will simply pass you the roster we have thus far and leave you be for now. If you do plan to start some kind of organized patrol rotation, I am at your disposal.

War's only been going since we joined it, unless the Republic didn't tell us that either. They did leave out a lot. [This was an absolute mess, one so bad it put a Hutt's bathtub to shame.]

As long as you're no friend to the Republic or the Jedi, I can work with this. [The roster would at least give him something practical to work on, rather than whatever the hells was going on here.]

You have to ask whether a Darth is friend to the Jedi? [ there's a brief, sharp, unpleasant laugh from the other end of the line ]

The answer to that is a resounding no. I would say the Republic left out a few things, indeed. And here I'd always thought the more outrageous tales of corruption were our side's propaganda.

At any rate, I suppose we've confused each other enough for one day. If I come across anything else relevant to this conundrum I shall let you know, but... Where may I meet you in person to deliver this roster? Not something I much like to trust to the open network. I don't suppose you made it here with any kind of comlink or personal tech I can copy to, or else should I scrounge up some more of the local flimsi? [ he doesn't exactly sound excited about hand copying the whole list to paper, but one does what one must in this hopelessly medieval environment. ]

Never even heard of a Darth. [A sigh.] So, the only things we can agree on are that Coruscant exists, the Republic exists, and Jedi are the worst. [And a few random words of Basic. Sad thing was, that seemed to be more in common than he'd found with anybody else here.]

I was on my way to prison or a firing squad, so no. Don't have much on me. [No weapons, no belt, no helmet. Just the rest of his plates.] I'm in the north common area.

All right, flimsi it is then. [ sigh, at least he's got some extra paper sitting around, though it's not exactly free to come by in a place like this -- Slick will have to deal with notes written on the back of some of the stolen documents Arche's been using to try to puzzle out the local language. ]

Should I ask?... [ his voice is a wry drawl again ] Not that I'm surprised to hear of the Jedi turning on someone who's done them service. For all I know they might be the culprits who sent me here.

At any rate, I'll be along in a few minutes once I've copied this all down.

Short of it is they're keeping us as slaves. [His tone's gone a bit more tense. Speaking about it here's been freeing in its own right, but that doesn't change the emotion behind it.]

I'm not going anywhere. [He's half out of his armor at the moment, using a scrap of cloth to clean off some of the accumulated gunk from the plates. Sitting beside him is a small collection of sticks scratched with tally marks, each labeled with alternating angled notches. He's been out making records of his own, using whatever he had to hand.]

They're what-- [ There's a sharp noise on the other end of the transmission that sounds suspiciously like a stylus snapping in half, and then several moments of silence before Arche lets out a long, low, seething sigh. ]

Of all the things th--... ......never mind, I shouldn't get started. I'll be by.

[ With that, a little abruptly, the transmission cuts. At the very least, whether he's trying to manipulate Slick somehow or not, it sounds like the weird stranger probably isn't too excited about the idea of the Republic practicing slavery.

And a few minutes later, just as promised, there's an unfamiliar face wandering up to Slick's chosen spot holding several sheets of slightly battered paper. He's not dressed in anything particularly recognizable -- dark robes with armored accents, clearly of a style and make unseen elsewhere on this planet and a far cry from the typical Jedi garb, but -- the plain, battered lightsaber that hangs from his hip is probably an all-too-familiar sight. ]

Slick, I presume?... [ not that there's really any need to ask, since it's not like anybody else in Sa-Hareth walks around in what he can clearly place as some variant of Republic trooper armor. ] I have here our roster, or as complete a one as we've managed so far. Includes some notes about individual skills and who I imagine would be most willing and effective joining in on a guard rotation.

[ he ventures over to hold out the little packet of papers, glancing Slick up and down a little curiously. So...an ex-slave clone from the Republic army, once part of an entire group of such? Arche's vaguely heard tell of a few super-soldier projects on both sides of the conflict, but at least to outward appearances, this man looks normal enough. ]

...Hopefully it's even intelligible, though. I haven't found these local devices quite as helpful with writing. [ sigh ]

[ the documents are, at the very least, in readable Aurebesh, though once again some of the letters are written a little strangely. ]

Edited 2021-06-13 21:45 (UTC)

[Well that got a reaction. Maybe even a genuine one. That's... thrown him for a bit of a loop. He's on alert after that, looking up as soon as he hears approaching footsteps outside the room.]

Yeah. [He gives the stranger a once-over, though his eyes stop on the lightsaber hilt. Great. Well, he's only ever met one other non-Jedi with a lightsaber. And Ventress was pretty happy with the idea of killing Jedi. Seems like it might just be a thing with these people, one he's happy to take advantage of.

He takes the packet, skimming through it. Spelling's not quite how he'd render them, but it's enough to puzzle it out.]

I can at least get the names, though the rest is a little foggy. [He sets the roster down next to the tally sticks, giving this Darth another look.] So. Sounds like you're not a fan of the slave thing either. [That's depressingly rare.]

[ he wasn't expecting Slick to want to talk about it, but perhaps he should have been, given he knows his own reaction was probably telling. Stupid, really. Embarrassing. Should have been able to clamp down on it, but he'd simply been caught by surprise just enough--

Darth Imperius certainly has no illusions about the so-called moral high ground of the Galactic Republic or the Jedi, but. ...at the very least he'd always thought the other side preferred not to stoop so far as to conscript slave labor. Who knew a member of the Dark Council could still have a naive bone left in his body? It's laughable. And to hear this after everything he just went through with Shan's Republic forces in the name of alliance-building--...

His already vaguely dour expression darkens further just about instantly as Slick speaks the words, and there's a long moment of silence before he finally gives a shrug, glancing off with another deep sigh. ]

Not particularly, no. But I doubt you want to hear any life stories. [ he could just -- say it, it hardly matters around here who knows, but the man is suspicious enough of him already. An instant reply of 'Oh yeah, me too!' would surely just sound like a transparent attempt to ingratiate himself. ]

Mostly just feeling thoroughly the fool that I'm even surprised. I've heard enough tales of the Jedi kidnapping infants, should've been obvious that their allies would be no better.

[ he moves in just a little closer so he can lean over next to Slick, pointing down at a couple of annotations on those papers ] This here is to mark those I know to be seasoned combatants. We've seen a few skirmishes here, just one major battle, but we have some talent among us at least.

[Hah. Nice trick the Jedi had there. Even when people knew they were in the wrong, they didn't seem to think they were capable of worse. He'd leave off on that, just for now. Practical stuff... it should come first. But he was going to correct that assumption. The Jedi weren't just complicit, they were the worst part of it all.]

I've met one or two of these ones. [He studies the list, trying to think above his rank for a minute. He might be just a sergeant a few months out from Kamino, but his deployments had been in enough populated areas that he'd had to get used to trying to coordinate with system defense forces and herd civilians around.] It'd be worth getting all the baggage sorted out--getting non-combatants assigned to somebody who can watch out for them, secure rendezvous points in case of another battle where we can take a head count, that sort of thing.

[ Though this has been a thoroughly stressful and confusing conversation for them both, at least it seems Archeval is quite willing to get down to business -- and, indeed, certainly prefers this over the previous line of conversation. He'll spend a few minutes discussing the head count written out on the papers with Slick, just to fill in the gaps where the written Basic isn't quite intelligible, as well as answering logistics questions to the best of his ability.

It's sort of refreshing, honestly -- it's not as though he's trained military himself, there were all sorts of standard procedures he'd picked up on among the Imperial army that the Academy hadn't found worth covering, but he's spent quite a few years working with soldiers by this point and having a competent trooper to hash things out with feels light-years different from planning with most of the other refugees. ]

Hm, as far as guarding non-combatants -- have you met Eleven? [ he taps another name on one of the papers. ] Possibly a good choice. He can handle combat or medic duties, he's the personable type, and happens to come with a very large shadow with a vested interest in following his orders. [ thoughtful hum ] Oh, and speaking of him, actually. You mentioned earlier you arrived here with no weapons? Have you managed to get ahold of anything yet?

[There's still the queasy feeling that something's wrong about the gaps in their knowledge. It might be real. Archeval might still be lying. Or, who knows, he might be delusional. But he's also competent, which makes it all the more confusing.]

Don't think I've met Eleven, [which sounds like a clone name, but everybody's told him there's no one like him here.] But I know the other guy. Sparred with him--we aren't trained on swords and all that, so I need the practice.

[He glances down at the lightsaber.] You might want to as well, in case that thing fails. [Sure, indestructible blade and all that, but all tech can break.]

[ So -- 'Darth' and 'Sith' don't ring a bell with this guy, but at least Jedi apparently still carry lightsabers where he comes from. Arche gives a one-armed shrug at the words, looking vaguely amused. ]

Put any sharp object in my hand and I do all right. Though I admit, a blade with actual heft isn't my usual wheelhouse, but I've been trying to keep my hand in now that we're someplace with space to practice. You can find me in the barn most mornings if you care for a spar against someone of different size.

[ he's significantly smaller and scrawnier in stature than Slick, but then a Force-user's appearance can be quite deceiving. ]

Eleven often joins in as well. He knows his way around a saber, but I mainly meant to mention, he's also familiar with the ancient techniques they use for forging weapons around here. I believe he's made swords for several of the other refugees at this point -- possible he might be able to provide you with something roughly to your specifications, depending.

I'll take you up on that. The sooner I'm up to speed on it, the better. [And all the rest, too. That big guy did good work with an axe.]

[They had some metal fabrication going here? He hadn't expected that.] A sword would be good. A proper knife would serve me better right now, though. And there's a lot of practical work for a knife that a sword can't match. [Preferably, he'd want both. Never go anywhere without a backup plan.]

If we've got any capacity for it, any leftover metal might want to go towards reinforcing doors and windows on a defensible part of this compound. If this place gets attacked, we've got limited fallback positions here. Best not to run through them too quickly. [No idea how much that would take, but this place being made mostly of wood was not his favorite thing in the world.]

Mm, it is a problem. [ he agrees with a thoughtful stroke of his chin ] Resources are quite thin on the ground, but if we have any extra metal available at all, he'd certainly be the one to know. At worst I suppose some of us could try to sneak back to the mine and see if we can salvage anything else vaguely usable to melt down, though I hesitate to draw extra attention while the warlords' forces are busy going at one another.

And I'm sure Eleven could make you a knife as well. Made me quite a decent specimen, as a matter of fact. For now, though-- [ he digs inside the front of his robes for a moment before coming up with a smallish knife that he flips in Slick's direction, expecting the other can certainly catch. It's of local make, weathered and has clearly seen better days, but it's cleaned and rust-free and has been recently sharpened. ]

I happen to have an extra. [ he says dryly ]

Then I'll have to go find Eleven and run the numbers. [He needed a decent count on what weapons they had anyway.]

[Someone sticking a hand into their robe was a motion that made him go on alert, so he wasn't surprised when a knife came his way. Just obviously not the happiest.] It'll do. But I don't think our relationship's gotten to this point yet. [He gives the knife a toss, catching it again.] That requires a bit more trust.

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darkeststars - 2021-06-14 03:27 (UTC) - Expand