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Star Wars: The Crimson Covenant / Re: CC: Corporate Greed
« Last post by Syren on May 26, 2025, 03:15:24 PM »“Well do you see
The futures holidays are for me
Just let me know
Where to go
Where you go after the fall.”
-Zero 7
Corporate Sector
Etti IV: Mondder
They keep it together until they are alone.
A united front in the face of yet another tragedy and all the suspicion it arouses. Inside the masterfully decorated penthouse atop the Gellar tower is another story. Taarek has finally pieced together that despite his best efforts to spare the Force-sensitives he managed to get off the capital from the Republic’s unjust actions, it may have been a setup all along. He hates feeling as though he has been used. He put his own life and safety on the line for what he felt was the right thing, when in actuality it may have been a clever ruse in service to the prophecy. His eyes land on Shendo’s face, expression tight. He does not outright accuse him, but it is enough.
Shendo is at his breaking point. He stares wearily at the group.
“I do not know how else to prove myself to all of you! I have gone along with your insane schemes, fought alongside you, followed you through danger, and still chose to come here with you and Demaris. I chose this, no one else. What else must I do to convince you?”
“We do not know that much about you. You, like Lysette, have kept to the sidelines. Inconspicuous and watchful. Your contempt for us is barely concealed. Perhaps that is on us for not looking more closely at the company we kept, but you must admit you see the pattern we now do."
“This is what they want,” Demaris says calmly, wading into the fray between them. “To sow division. Make us turn on each other.”
“And if we trusted too blindly? What if we have only seen what we wanted to see?”
It comes not from a place of malice but of history. His father, Seneca Cirque, trusted blindly in a Masterton, too. Followed her right into the grave. Taarek thought he had come to terms with that, in his own ways, careful never to project the path Melanie took with the one Gemma charts for them now. Melanie Masterton did not know what they knew. Neither did his father. If the prophecy is to be believed, and he has witnessed so much evidence to indicate it is, they were all doomed to those fates. But now, traitors among them, and several are dead. His faith has begun to slip, and he wonders if they are dooming themselves as well.
“All I am saying is that Shendo could have been sent for us and not even know it. He could have fallen victim to whatever dark magics that grey-skinned woman has been working on us. We never saw it in the others because we did not want to see it.”
“Maybe so,” Dane offers carefully, drink already in hand. “It is a disturbing pattern, and a fair question. We are placing our lives in your hands.”
“Exactly.”
Roman removes his helmet, “What do you suggest we do? Lock him up? Send him away? They may be counting on that to further hinder our ability to provide security for those we were sent here to protect.”
“He is right, Taarek. When we are questioning each other, we are not questioning what is happening around us. With everything going on in the Corellian Sector, Riley put himself at risk to reach out to us. To give us the information we now have. It is a lot to process, but we cannot lose focus now.”
“So, we sleep with one eye open, wondering when he’ll turn on us? We would be fools if what happened did not inform our actions.”
“I am not turning on anyone!” Shendo growls sharply, his face twisted. “You think I wanted these powers? This connection to the Force? I was perfectly content with the life I had scraped together for myself on Chandaar when genetics made me a Republic target, something they needed to purge from their society and systems. It wasn’t much, but it was my own. You offered to help me, and I took that help because I had no other choice. Are you saying you would turn on me instead? Now? After everything?”
He frowns, “I want to be able to trust you.”
“Then trust me.”
It has become a showdown. The tension is palpable, rising into a terrifying crescendo when Alka’s com rings. Saved by the bleep. She excuses herself and steps out onto the deck to answer it. An amber sun, sinking toward the horizon, drapes the cityscape of Mondder in angular shadows. It seems everything is an ominous symbol these days. The air cools her flushed face as she brings the device up.
“Yes?”
“You never checked in,” Garron Prescott says tiredly.
She nearly chokes, lowering her voice to a tense hiss, “Are you out of your mind? Don’t answer that. We’ve been busy.”
“And I grew tired of waiting for your call. Don’t worry, it’s not traceable. How did it go?”
She tells him everything with the Direx Board went well, but not before Corinthos made his objections known.
“Not surprising considering what he has lost. What else? We need to be quick, Lady Dawning.”
“He has support,” she mutters dully, absently rubbing a temple. “Support, I fear, may grow into a coalition against Dane, if not properly managed. The vote to oust him failed, but we know who Corinthos has at his side.”
“Good, we can use that. Tell me.”
Alka swallows hard and names all three of them.
“Thank you, I’ll look into it. We will speak soon.”
The com line goes dead.
Garron had been Rutherford Gellar’s most trusted advisor and confidante, posing as a valet and hired hand. He knows the ins and outs of the Sector better than anyone, which is how he managed to escape custody and remain hidden. She knows she would have likely been killed at her estate on D’ian had he not intervened, and so she makes good on her promise to inform him, careful to leave out any proprietary or incriminating pieces of business discussed. He only has the details he needs…for now.
Dane startles her, “You good?”
She whirls around, “Always something with the company. Creative clashes, etcetera, etcetera. You know directors.”
“Surely they can spare you for a production.”
“I cannot shirk my prima duties for the Direx Board entirely. Besides, I love it. The feeling of the stage beneath the points of my toes. The thrill of it all.”
She shifts the conversation elsewhere.
“Everything okay in there? It was getting pretty heated.”
He shrugs, “A tenuous truce, but it is the best we can hope for. Shendo agreed to test in our labs to probe any signs of mental tampering. Taarek agreed to back off. Trust must go both ways, right?”
“Right.”
She hates lying to him, but it is the only way. Keep Garron away from him, focused on running interference that would clear their path, while laying the groundwork to lure him out when they must. Dane continues to struggle with this, but the Jedi made compelling points that she sees slowly settling over him. Garron Prescott is not a variable they can afford to run loose for long, and Dane knows it. He pulls her into his arms, and she rests her head against the crook of his shoulder.
“You look so hot when you’re troubled. I can barely contain myself.”
She sighs, annoyed, “Somehow, you manage. What a mess.”
“Yes, but it is our mess. We’ll deal.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself. I’m still a bit hazy on your focus now that we’ve been formally inducted into the Direx Board. That went better than it should have, but we are not out of the woods. Your veiled threats may only buy us some time. Some on that board are not cool with us being there, which could inspire…a more determined effort.”
“Haters gonna hate, babe. We do what we can do. We amass wealth to fund our little venture and maintain dominance in the markets. Contingencies aren’t cheap, you know.”
“Riley Patten has credits. Isn’t he, like, a bah-gillionaire or something?”
Dane huffs, smirking.
“True enough. Unfortunately, that Patten punks’ profile would make any movement of those credits or purchases subject to intense scrutiny, especially if he were allocating them toward, say, more morally ambiguous industries in the Corporate Sector. The Corellians are on high alert these days, and they have their own problems, which I am sure Gemma is only adding to. We need to raise capital ourselves and retain some liquidity in these uncertain times. Agility is key with this much ambiguity.”
“And if we do not need the contingency?”
He is sure they’d be able to package, market, and sell it as a solution to someone else, despite the obvious ethical objections. The highest echelon of the Sector would throw enough credits at him than he could spend in five lifetimes for the chance to secure their legacies so completely. Heirs and spares on tap to divide and conquer. His genetics have plenty of lethal applications, but better in his hands than anyone else’s.
“Something tells me it won't matter in the end.”
“But you do think it is possible? You think Gemma and Riley can stop the Voss-Ra’s plans?”
In truth, neither of them knows what that truly means. Although prophecy is a slippery, unstable thing - something to leverage and bend - can it ever really be thwarted? Dane tries not to sound as skeptical as he feels. She, like the others, needs something to hold on to.
“I know they will certainly try. This Adubell woman has attempted to skew things in her favor but failed to eliminate any of The Four so far. That, at least, works in our favor. We’ve proven ourselves more resourceful than she anticipated. Even Dahlia needs to play offense on this one, which I hope, for our sake, she does. Her death would doom all of us to a new cycle, so we either need to debunk the prophecy or fulfill it, whichever comes first. Abudell clearly has a lot of tricks up her delusional sleeve, and Shendo could be just another she pulls out.”
“Do you honestly believe that?”
“I believe in the possibility, however unlikely. Turning those who have ingratiated themselves with us is clever. Not something we expected. An opportunity to do both physical and emotional damage. A bit of a wager, trying that a third time without anyone comparing notes and taking action. I don’t want us at each other’s throats, but we must be sure, especially if he is someone overseeing your safety. We’re gambling enough with that as it is.”
“And my stalker? Could there be a connection? The Jedi seem to think there is a mystical element that tracks if Sirona was subject to a psychic attack.”
“Again, possible. She could have Force-sensitive agents at her disposal, similar to Lysette or Sirona, but the ones we know of were accounted for during that time. I admit the stalking could have been the start of a larger escalation that includes this kind of intimidation, but Irulan had a point. Someone knowing about the lie doesn’t necessarily mean they know the truth. They could be trying to get us to implicate ourselves.”
“Like do the right thing?” she laughs, stepping back to look up into his face. “Boy, have they misread their audience. That may be just as unlikely. If it’s not Garron or Shendo or someone on the Direx Board, who else is there? I mean, it could be more obvious than we think. What if Balthazar Nash returned to make us pay for what we did to him? He is the target of the lie, after all. Our testimony got him exiled, and Gellar Industries acquired Palace Arms in a hostile takeover. It would make the most sense.”
“We didn’t kill Preston, that’s for sure, but if Nash returned, he wouldn’t be able to stay hidden for long. I do see your point. If that is the case, what is he waiting for? Nash would waste no time dispatching us to reclaim what he lost.”
“Suffering is the point, Dane. That is what this all comes back to.”
“Suffering would be a luxury someone standing to profit in the Sector would not afford us. Not when time is money. Prolonging the process means they want more, and only one group comes to mind that has made several attempts over the years and failed to find a foothold in pulling our strings. If they are not waiting for us to confess, then escalation could be an attempt to make us fall in line. Someone just as obvious as the Chiss, and knows about the lie.”
“What? Who?”
A sly grin spreads across Dane’s face.
“It may be time to have that drink with Burke Pallus.”
-TBC
The futures holidays are for me
Just let me know
Where to go
Where you go after the fall.”
-Zero 7
Corporate Sector
Etti IV: Mondder
They keep it together until they are alone.
A united front in the face of yet another tragedy and all the suspicion it arouses. Inside the masterfully decorated penthouse atop the Gellar tower is another story. Taarek has finally pieced together that despite his best efforts to spare the Force-sensitives he managed to get off the capital from the Republic’s unjust actions, it may have been a setup all along. He hates feeling as though he has been used. He put his own life and safety on the line for what he felt was the right thing, when in actuality it may have been a clever ruse in service to the prophecy. His eyes land on Shendo’s face, expression tight. He does not outright accuse him, but it is enough.
Shendo is at his breaking point. He stares wearily at the group.
“I do not know how else to prove myself to all of you! I have gone along with your insane schemes, fought alongside you, followed you through danger, and still chose to come here with you and Demaris. I chose this, no one else. What else must I do to convince you?”
“We do not know that much about you. You, like Lysette, have kept to the sidelines. Inconspicuous and watchful. Your contempt for us is barely concealed. Perhaps that is on us for not looking more closely at the company we kept, but you must admit you see the pattern we now do."
“This is what they want,” Demaris says calmly, wading into the fray between them. “To sow division. Make us turn on each other.”
“And if we trusted too blindly? What if we have only seen what we wanted to see?”
It comes not from a place of malice but of history. His father, Seneca Cirque, trusted blindly in a Masterton, too. Followed her right into the grave. Taarek thought he had come to terms with that, in his own ways, careful never to project the path Melanie took with the one Gemma charts for them now. Melanie Masterton did not know what they knew. Neither did his father. If the prophecy is to be believed, and he has witnessed so much evidence to indicate it is, they were all doomed to those fates. But now, traitors among them, and several are dead. His faith has begun to slip, and he wonders if they are dooming themselves as well.
“All I am saying is that Shendo could have been sent for us and not even know it. He could have fallen victim to whatever dark magics that grey-skinned woman has been working on us. We never saw it in the others because we did not want to see it.”
“Maybe so,” Dane offers carefully, drink already in hand. “It is a disturbing pattern, and a fair question. We are placing our lives in your hands.”
“Exactly.”
Roman removes his helmet, “What do you suggest we do? Lock him up? Send him away? They may be counting on that to further hinder our ability to provide security for those we were sent here to protect.”
“He is right, Taarek. When we are questioning each other, we are not questioning what is happening around us. With everything going on in the Corellian Sector, Riley put himself at risk to reach out to us. To give us the information we now have. It is a lot to process, but we cannot lose focus now.”
“So, we sleep with one eye open, wondering when he’ll turn on us? We would be fools if what happened did not inform our actions.”
“I am not turning on anyone!” Shendo growls sharply, his face twisted. “You think I wanted these powers? This connection to the Force? I was perfectly content with the life I had scraped together for myself on Chandaar when genetics made me a Republic target, something they needed to purge from their society and systems. It wasn’t much, but it was my own. You offered to help me, and I took that help because I had no other choice. Are you saying you would turn on me instead? Now? After everything?”
He frowns, “I want to be able to trust you.”
“Then trust me.”
It has become a showdown. The tension is palpable, rising into a terrifying crescendo when Alka’s com rings. Saved by the bleep. She excuses herself and steps out onto the deck to answer it. An amber sun, sinking toward the horizon, drapes the cityscape of Mondder in angular shadows. It seems everything is an ominous symbol these days. The air cools her flushed face as she brings the device up.
“Yes?”
“You never checked in,” Garron Prescott says tiredly.
She nearly chokes, lowering her voice to a tense hiss, “Are you out of your mind? Don’t answer that. We’ve been busy.”
“And I grew tired of waiting for your call. Don’t worry, it’s not traceable. How did it go?”
She tells him everything with the Direx Board went well, but not before Corinthos made his objections known.
“Not surprising considering what he has lost. What else? We need to be quick, Lady Dawning.”
“He has support,” she mutters dully, absently rubbing a temple. “Support, I fear, may grow into a coalition against Dane, if not properly managed. The vote to oust him failed, but we know who Corinthos has at his side.”
“Good, we can use that. Tell me.”
Alka swallows hard and names all three of them.
“Thank you, I’ll look into it. We will speak soon.”
The com line goes dead.
Garron had been Rutherford Gellar’s most trusted advisor and confidante, posing as a valet and hired hand. He knows the ins and outs of the Sector better than anyone, which is how he managed to escape custody and remain hidden. She knows she would have likely been killed at her estate on D’ian had he not intervened, and so she makes good on her promise to inform him, careful to leave out any proprietary or incriminating pieces of business discussed. He only has the details he needs…for now.
Dane startles her, “You good?”
She whirls around, “Always something with the company. Creative clashes, etcetera, etcetera. You know directors.”
“Surely they can spare you for a production.”
“I cannot shirk my prima duties for the Direx Board entirely. Besides, I love it. The feeling of the stage beneath the points of my toes. The thrill of it all.”
She shifts the conversation elsewhere.
“Everything okay in there? It was getting pretty heated.”
He shrugs, “A tenuous truce, but it is the best we can hope for. Shendo agreed to test in our labs to probe any signs of mental tampering. Taarek agreed to back off. Trust must go both ways, right?”
“Right.”
She hates lying to him, but it is the only way. Keep Garron away from him, focused on running interference that would clear their path, while laying the groundwork to lure him out when they must. Dane continues to struggle with this, but the Jedi made compelling points that she sees slowly settling over him. Garron Prescott is not a variable they can afford to run loose for long, and Dane knows it. He pulls her into his arms, and she rests her head against the crook of his shoulder.
“You look so hot when you’re troubled. I can barely contain myself.”
She sighs, annoyed, “Somehow, you manage. What a mess.”
“Yes, but it is our mess. We’ll deal.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself. I’m still a bit hazy on your focus now that we’ve been formally inducted into the Direx Board. That went better than it should have, but we are not out of the woods. Your veiled threats may only buy us some time. Some on that board are not cool with us being there, which could inspire…a more determined effort.”
“Haters gonna hate, babe. We do what we can do. We amass wealth to fund our little venture and maintain dominance in the markets. Contingencies aren’t cheap, you know.”
“Riley Patten has credits. Isn’t he, like, a bah-gillionaire or something?”
Dane huffs, smirking.
“True enough. Unfortunately, that Patten punks’ profile would make any movement of those credits or purchases subject to intense scrutiny, especially if he were allocating them toward, say, more morally ambiguous industries in the Corporate Sector. The Corellians are on high alert these days, and they have their own problems, which I am sure Gemma is only adding to. We need to raise capital ourselves and retain some liquidity in these uncertain times. Agility is key with this much ambiguity.”
“And if we do not need the contingency?”
He is sure they’d be able to package, market, and sell it as a solution to someone else, despite the obvious ethical objections. The highest echelon of the Sector would throw enough credits at him than he could spend in five lifetimes for the chance to secure their legacies so completely. Heirs and spares on tap to divide and conquer. His genetics have plenty of lethal applications, but better in his hands than anyone else’s.
“Something tells me it won't matter in the end.”
“But you do think it is possible? You think Gemma and Riley can stop the Voss-Ra’s plans?”
In truth, neither of them knows what that truly means. Although prophecy is a slippery, unstable thing - something to leverage and bend - can it ever really be thwarted? Dane tries not to sound as skeptical as he feels. She, like the others, needs something to hold on to.
“I know they will certainly try. This Adubell woman has attempted to skew things in her favor but failed to eliminate any of The Four so far. That, at least, works in our favor. We’ve proven ourselves more resourceful than she anticipated. Even Dahlia needs to play offense on this one, which I hope, for our sake, she does. Her death would doom all of us to a new cycle, so we either need to debunk the prophecy or fulfill it, whichever comes first. Abudell clearly has a lot of tricks up her delusional sleeve, and Shendo could be just another she pulls out.”
“Do you honestly believe that?”
“I believe in the possibility, however unlikely. Turning those who have ingratiated themselves with us is clever. Not something we expected. An opportunity to do both physical and emotional damage. A bit of a wager, trying that a third time without anyone comparing notes and taking action. I don’t want us at each other’s throats, but we must be sure, especially if he is someone overseeing your safety. We’re gambling enough with that as it is.”
“And my stalker? Could there be a connection? The Jedi seem to think there is a mystical element that tracks if Sirona was subject to a psychic attack.”
“Again, possible. She could have Force-sensitive agents at her disposal, similar to Lysette or Sirona, but the ones we know of were accounted for during that time. I admit the stalking could have been the start of a larger escalation that includes this kind of intimidation, but Irulan had a point. Someone knowing about the lie doesn’t necessarily mean they know the truth. They could be trying to get us to implicate ourselves.”
“Like do the right thing?” she laughs, stepping back to look up into his face. “Boy, have they misread their audience. That may be just as unlikely. If it’s not Garron or Shendo or someone on the Direx Board, who else is there? I mean, it could be more obvious than we think. What if Balthazar Nash returned to make us pay for what we did to him? He is the target of the lie, after all. Our testimony got him exiled, and Gellar Industries acquired Palace Arms in a hostile takeover. It would make the most sense.”
“We didn’t kill Preston, that’s for sure, but if Nash returned, he wouldn’t be able to stay hidden for long. I do see your point. If that is the case, what is he waiting for? Nash would waste no time dispatching us to reclaim what he lost.”
“Suffering is the point, Dane. That is what this all comes back to.”
“Suffering would be a luxury someone standing to profit in the Sector would not afford us. Not when time is money. Prolonging the process means they want more, and only one group comes to mind that has made several attempts over the years and failed to find a foothold in pulling our strings. If they are not waiting for us to confess, then escalation could be an attempt to make us fall in line. Someone just as obvious as the Chiss, and knows about the lie.”
“What? Who?”
A sly grin spreads across Dane’s face.
“It may be time to have that drink with Burke Pallus.”
-TBC
? And then she shows emotion?! Every body has a breaking point.