Church Lady

[Billbo Swaggins]

Rothana
Location: RHE Headquarters, Rothana
Time: [REDACTED]
Most of RHE’s employee's place science above religion. They know the Force exists but do not hold to the religious tenets espoused by the Jedi or Sith. It is viewed more as an element, akin to gravity. That doesn’t mean all RHE’s employees share this view. There is a small sect of RHE engineers who are deeply religious. They are lead by a female engineer who is not fondly referred to as the “Church Lady.” Typically, this is has not created any issues within RHE, but as tensions have risen in the galaxy so have they risen in RHE. There is growing friction between the religious and nonreligious engineers. The icy relationships are beginning to affect the work product of the engineering departments. RHE’s efficiency and workplace morale will be greatly improved if that tension is eased. Discover the source of the growing issue and ease those problems.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
​

Eryn Stera sat patiently in the lounge area of the Consul Star Yacht as she waited for the ship to finish docking at the RHE Headquarters located on Rothana. She wondered about the Council's decision to send her on this mission. Both they and her knew that she wasn't exactly the best at negotiating or interacting with others, being as socially awkward as she was. Oh yes. She was more aware of her inability to properly interact with others than anyone else around her, contrary to popular opinion.

Perhaps it was because of her knowledge in both the Force and other topics like engineering and science? Given the nature of the mission she figured that having a comprehensive knowledge of both fields would prove incredibly beneficial. Yes, that was likely the reason.

She interrupted her own internal reverie as she glanced up towards her companion. He was older than her, although she couldn't tell by how much exactly, and seemed capable in his own right. He had a prosthetic arm which she noticed had several innovative modifications made to it, something she would likely ask him about later.

Speaking of asking him things, Eryn wondered if now was the best time for introductions. Afterall, they had spent most of the journey here separate, tending to their own needs and generally not interacting. Perhaps it was too late for that sort of thing?

She shook her head. No. How to Converse with Others by Rolled R. explicitly states that one should get to know his or her friends before doing something with each other. That started with introductions.

She cleared her throat,
"Err... Hi."

A moment of silence. She could feel the awkwardness permeate through the air,
"My name is Eryn. Eryn Stera... I don't think I've had the pleasure of getting to know you well yet."

Did she get it right? She would have to consult the book when she had the time later on. Hopefully it would be enough to start a conversation.

 

[Ravenofpoe]

Lucian Ravencroft was in in his own thoughts as he looked around. This was his type of place. The tech that was here was amazing he would love to just read up on it. Mission first though. HE glanced at his companion and felt her reluctance to speak. True he had been warned that she was a loner. Something he knew about all too well. He still hadn’t taken a padawan learner in the almost fifteen years since he became a knight.

When she spoke he turned the icy blue eyes sizing her up. “Lucian Ravencroft. No, we haven't but it seems like the best time to do that.”

He had spent the journey working on his droid and reading up on his own project. He was close he could feel it. It was just missing something. His thoughts were on the next project when he was summoned for the final docking procedures.

Everyone noticed the arm. True he did nothing to hide his mistake. Still, everyone was curious how a Jedi lost his arm. When he caught her glancing at it and he knew she would ask eventually. Everyone did, and so he said, “Sith Lord took it when I tangled with the power anger could give. I did not respect that power and I lost the arm as punishment. I did learn to stick with my strength after that. I had to adapt my normal fighting method to account for this.” He held the mechanical arm up and wiggled his fingers. They looked skeletal as if he was just missing flesh. Well, that and they were metal. “Soresu, by the way, is very effective against form seven you just have to trust in the force.”

He knew his place teach the younger Jedi to learn from mistakes. His was a big one, but one he came back from. Though he would not have traded a masters life to learn it, the force had other plans. “With that tid bit out of the way. I hope this goes well True believers in anything tend to be irrational.” He included Jedi with that. How many times had he heard it was impossible to put a pattern to a lightsaber blade yet he still was looking.

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

"Ah... I see." She fell silent again. He must have noticed her staring at his mechanical arm. However, it wasn't the fact that he had a mechanical arm itself but the innovated changes he had made to said arm. Eryn was no engineer, but she would never turn down an opportunity to learn something new, no matter the field.

At his mention of belief and irrationality, she chuckled slightly,
"Yes, I suppose many would be that way. Hopefully they won't be too unreasonable to us and hear us out."

The ship-wide intercom buzzed and the pilot's voiced resounded throughout the room,
"We've arrived. It look's like there's a RHE welcoming group waiting for you outside. May the Force be with you."

"Well then, I suppose we should probably go greet them, right?"

Eryn awkwardly picked herself up, dreading the coming interaction. Once again she started to doubt the Council's decision to send her. She was terrible with people and she knew it. Hopefully she wouldn't make a fool of both herself and the Jedi Order in the coming days.

As the two of them exited the ship, they were greeted by a group of six RHE employees. Four of them were dressed in regular engineer's fatigues while the other two were dressed in labcoats. It was obvious that there was some sort of rift between the ones wearing fatigues and the two wearing lab coats, and Eryn's best guess as to why was definitely the same reason that they, the Jedi, were here.

One of them, a labcoat-wearing rodian, spoke up,
"Greetings, Master Jedi. Welcome to RHE Headquarters. I am Zhei Kusko, a researcher here." She gestured towards the others around her,
"These are my... colleagues. We work together, most of the time."

@Raven 2552

 

[Ravenofpoe]

Nodding Lucian walked from the ship his droid staying as he felt he would not need him for this mission. Greeting the party he bowed. “The pleasure is ours.” Standing he watched and did not need the force to show him the rift.

The facility was his wheelhouse. He was a tech genius when it came to machines. Not much of a pilot but if you wanted an lightsaber pushed to the brink…. He looked around curiosity etched on his face. He watched from the corner of his eye the three scientists. They were friendly toward them but distant with each other. He remembered when somethings were just tainted by war. It seemed though that war was coming here in a different form.

Pulling his robes closed he shivered as he studied the two full on now. “This place is wonderful. I may have to book a visit to do some research at a later date.” HE was getting a feeling and quieted his thoughts. Something was off. Men of science in fatigues as if they were in a military. “Can we go inside and talk over tea perhaps and get out of the wind?”

He glanced at his companion and gave a smile. “You like tea?” The cold was always a problem with metal prosthetics but he had a synthetic plate between the steel and the flesh that helped but this place was still bloody cold. Once they were inside and seated he watched the scientists.

“What seems to be the problem? You mentioned you most of the time worked together?”

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Eryn bowed alongside Lucian, introducing both herself and the older Jedi.
"Thank you, Zhei... My name is Elyn Stera," she gestured to her side, "This is Lucian Ravencroft."

She nodded in silent agreement as her companion mused about returning at a later date. It seemed they shared a kindred interest in learning new things, which was nice.
"Erhm, yes. Tea is good." Truthfully, while she didn't hate it, she wasn't the fondest of tea, but her book said that refusing something offered in a social situation was taboo, so she didn't complain.

Zhei replied,
"Yes. I have been here for nearly a decade now and still haven't gotten used to the cold. Let us head inside." She glanced towards the others and the group turned and started for the warmth of the building.

Zhei slowed down until she was standing next to the two Jedi, and upon hearing Lucian's question, replied,
"Yes, yes. The men in the fatigues are engineers. I am a researcher. They build the things I think up."

Upon hearing the last part of her sentence, one of the aforementioned engineers glanced over his shoulder and gave her a dirty look. She stiffened slightly, the returned with a question of her own,
"Pray do tell, Master Jedi, what is your purpose in coming here? Management informed us of your arrival but not of the reason why..."

@Ravenofpoe

 

[Ravenofpoe]

He didn’t catch the look as they walked to a table and took a seat. Once the tea was served he stirred sugar into his and said, “It seems you have a...dispute among yourselves.” He sipped the warm liquid enjoying it and smiling. A dispute was the nice way of putting it. The tension was so thick he was sure his sabers could cut it.

Looking to Eyrn he continued, “We were sent here to see if we could broker an agreement between the two groups that are here now.” He sipped the tea again and set it down. “Thank you for this it is quite wonderful.”

He looked at the workers who seemed unhappy, to say the least. “We know more than a little bit about civil wars within institutions.” That was an understatement, the Jedi had had schisms but they were here to try and smooth things over before it got that far.

“Tell us about the one you call the church lady.” He watched the people on the other side of the table and smiled pleasantly as he picked up his tea again. He was looking for reactions. There were different ways to get to the bottom of things. While he preferred stealth to an outright fight he felt that this was the best way to get to it.

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Eryn looked at Lucian in both surprise and shock as he directly told Zhei the reason of their visit. Woah woah woah... isn't that a bit direct?

Her suspicions were confirmed as both Zhei and the rest of the group recoiled in a small amount of shock. After the initial surprise died down, Eryn decided to add in the Jedi Council's reasoning as well,
"RHE Management reached out to the Jedi - they thought that there was something going on here so they asked us to be mediators." She glanced at Lucian, if he chose to be direct, she would trust that he thought it would be the best way to go.

Zhei took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. After a moment, she spoke slowly,
"I... do not normally respond to that name, but since you asked about me I will comply." She glanced at the other employee in the labcoat,
"Go ahead and get back to work, I will be with you later."

Afterwards, she glanced towards the engineer who had glared at her earlier. He scowled and motioned for his lackeys to leave as well, then said,
"Listen, Jedi. There ain't nothing going on here. You and your Force can go play 'mediators' elsewhere. You're interrupting our work schedule."

Eryn wasn't entirely sure of the situation, but it seemed clear that Zhei was the Church Lady and the unnamed engineer the leader of those who disliked her and her ideals.
"I'm sorry, sir. But we have orders - we can't just leave now. So why don't you tell us what the problem is so that we can help you."

The engineer was clearly angry now, barely containing his frustration. Are we really this annoying? Why would he be so mad?

Zhei spoke up,
"Master Jedi, there has just been some... ideological differences between my friends and his. I recently admitted that it was through the Force in which I gained my inspiration - something that Rocre here," she gestured to the engineer, "and his friends didn't appreciate."

@Ravenofpoe

 

[Ravenofpoe]

He smiled and stirred the tea and drummed his fingers on the table. Looking at the woman he sized up the situation. Looking to the engineer he said, “Careful I may be missing an arm but that does not hinder my abilities in the least.” To make this point he raised his metallic hand and with it the teapot came up and refilled his cup and that of Eyrn. Before filling the others up.

“Now that the show of force is out of the way. Sit and talk. We can work through this and be on our way. We know the work you do here is important. We do not wish to interfere in your business but it is imperative we get to the bottom of this. Your work is being stopped because of a minor dispute.” He thought back on what he said about true believers. This also applied to non-believers. Sometimes he was in the gray but right now he was good with what he was doing.

Turning to his companion he smiled and said, “Sorry but I wanted to cut the room in two. Makes this easier.” He gestured to the others. “The force is with us and I sense it somewhere else.” He watched them now and continued, “The Force has a will of its own. It can be beneficial and harmful. Please sit and talk with us. Forgive my directness but it is best to get to the bottom of things.”

Lucian was now curious as to what happened here. It could be anything, near death brought religious experiences, or just a discovery. He liked stories and opening his robes he pulled out a notebook to write this one down.

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

The engineer paled, then looked away and huffed slightly,
"All this talk of the Force as if it's the ultimate power... You really think I believe that? Sure, you Jedi can levitate things with your mind, but for the rest of us, simple physics still apply."

To this, Zhei sharply looked over at the engineer,
"That is incorrect and we both know it. The Force is behind all - we are all pawns in its ultimate will. You just have yet to accept that fact."

The engineer scoffed,
"Whatever you say, Church Lady, you're too blinded by the Jedi's religion to see how things truly work."

In Eryn's eyes, it seemed as if the two people adhered to both sides of the belief spectrum. Zhei, or the Church Lady, seemed to believe that everything was as the Force willed it, and the engineer believed that the Force was something akin to a religion that the Jedi made up, albeit with some real effects for certain people. Perhaps it would be best to intervene and clarify,
"If I may interject-"

"Listen here," spittle was practically flying out of the engineer's mouth as he spat at Zhei, "I don't know how you can believe their rhetoric, but the rest of us are smart enough to trust the hard, cold, facts - not some hocus-pocus religion."

The two were effectively shouting at each other, in the heat of an argument. Eryn tried once more but was once again interrupted. She looked at Lucian in frustration,
"These people are way too irrational. Why don't they just think and realize that it's the middle ground that is correct?"

@Ravenofpoe

 

[Ravenofpoe]

He watched the two bicker back and forth. This was more entertaining than politics. It was a common notion the Jedi worshiped the force it was their religion. He had come here biased ready to reprimand the church lady but he was often surprised. “If you two will…” as the match continued he turned to Eyrn.

“Two sides of the same coin. I agree with her we are pawns in the force if we wish to be. It grants us that ability to choose to listen or not. Sith use it to get power while we use it to protect. Take him though he has no idea he is a fly in a tapestry that is being weaved because he like all men of science feels there has to be an answer for it. If he can’t study it then it doesn't seem to exist.”

Having grown tired he stood up and opened the conference room door seeing the hall was clear for the moment he walked back to the engineer and placed his steel hand on his shoulder. Trying to guide his attention away from the conversation was not working though and when he tried to brush the hand away to keep yelling Lucian in a rare moment of weakness used force. “Up you go.” He was strong and did not need to use the Force to move the man to the door and lock him out. “Your turn will come later or if I have my way someone else.” Sitting again he said, “Sorry he was rude. I see the issue. Is he the main problem making people worry that you will turn them from what they are currently doing? To perhaps something more religious?”

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Eryn had to stop herself from raising an objection when Lucian muscled the engineer out of the room. She could barely hear the muffled shouting coming from the engineer outside the door.
"Thank you, sir Jedi." Zhei said gratefully, "He and his merry band of followers seem to take offense to me and mine's views on the Force."

She shrugged slightly,
"I'll be honest, they're the ones who are lowering workplace productivity. My followers and I simply wish to believe what we believe, nothing else. However, they seem to believe that we are trying to force our beliefs onto them, and are attacking us for that."

Suddenly, hard banging came from the door, and a voice shouted,
"Open up!" The voice didn't wait for them to comply as the door burst open and the engineer from earlier stomped in, with several RHE security guards tailing him.

One of the guards spoke up,
"Zhei Kusko, you are now under investigation for attempting to influence the company through use of external forces." The security guard, who's face was obscured by a helmet, held a hand up as Eryn stood in objection,
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Master Jedi, but this is now an internal matter. Please, let us do our jobs."

"What is this?!" Zhei said in both alarm and fear, she looked sharply over at the engineer, "You! How dare you call security on me! You... just wait until the manager hears about this!"

"Shut it! The manager may be your little plaything, but I will never submit to your rules." He turned to the Lucian and Eryn, speaking quickly,
"This woman is trying to trick you! She's trying to climb the ranks like the snake she is by converting people to her own little religion, and I will not stand idly by."

More security flooded the room, around a half dozen in all. The same guard who had spoken earlier spoke to his men,
"C'mon, let's get her into the cell and wait for HQ to send an interrogator over."

 

[Ravenofpoe]

Nodding along he was about to drink his tea when the banging started. Standing as people flooded the room he let his robes fall into a pool behind him the twin sabers he wore glinting in the light. “She has done nothing wrong from what we have seen. She was not even the one that called for help in this matter.”

He arched a brow at the engineer. “You would know that if you did a little meditation and let go of your anger.” When the security forces tried to take Zhei he pulled his right blade and ignited it to its full length. The bright blue cast an eery glow and the blade looked as if it was fire. His latest attempt to making a patterned blade. IT was not the way he liked but put people on guard. Pointing it at the forces he said simply, “Please do not make us harm you.”

To Eryn he said, “Well this just got fun. I think we should do a little digging of our own. Something is not right and I do not like being a pawn for others schemes.”

Returning his gaze to the room that was giving a good show of force he raised his real hand and brought the lightsaber up igniting a second brilliant blue blade the energy seeming unhinged as it lit up the face shields. “Now you have two options you can back out of here let us finish or we will defend ourselves. Two Jedi can cut you all down and leave your families with just ghosts if you make us go that route.” He moved his right hand to the engineer so the blade was casting light over his him more now, and said, “Call them off. You do not want blood on your hands.”

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

As Lucian ignited his lightsabers, Eryn stood and held a halting hand up towards him. Fighting here would have negative effects on the Jedi's overall goal: killing or wounding a squad of security personnel would not help their cause, no matter the reason.
"Wait... Let's just... talk this out a bit."

Keeping her own lightsaber sheathed, she turned to the engineer and asked him,
"What do you mean? We cannot understand you unless you explain your plight."

Before the man could speak, Zhei shouted at the two Jedi as the guards lifted her up, with her hands cuffed behind her back, they weren't making any moves towards the door, however - likely due to the appearance of the older Jedi's lightsaber,
"Don't listen to him, Jedi! He's just an angry man who refuses to follow the will of the Force!"

Ignoring her, for the time being, Eryn pressed her point, staring intensely at the man,
"Explain."

The engineer shrunk slightly under Eryn's gaze, then commented,
"Er. You see. The Church Lady is trying to climb the corporate ranks by winning the higher-ups over to her version of your religion, and tricking them into believing that she is the best choice for a promotion. She already has the local manager in her pocket, as well as a few in HQ. She just wants to go and make as much money as possible while doing as little work as possible, and as Head Engineer, I cannot allow that."

"Lies!" Zhei practically screamed those last words. She addressed the two Jedi,
"Pay no heed to these men, I simply am a believer in the Force, like you two! All is as the Force wills, and he cannot change that!"

It seemed as though both sides had their own stories to present, and Eryn had no way of telling which side was true. Hell, it was possible neither of their sides were the correct one, but at this point, it was time to pick. She turned to Lucian,
"What do you think?"

 

[Ravenofpoe]

“I think we are being used as pawns by one or more people.” Hitting the switch on both his sabers he let them glide back to his belt as he waved the room. “Out all of you. Except you and the engineer.” He said to Zhei.

When the forces shuffled out he offed his hand to two chairs far away from each other. “Now I heard her side, explain yours now.” He arched a brow to the engineer. Now please do it in a calm voice. He went to the terminal in the room and began to type as he listened to the other side of the story. What he was looking for in the terminal was the records on who called the Jedi.

“Eryn look at this.” He said gesturing to the terminal. “I hate being used as a pawn in games by others people.”
@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Eryn took a quick look at the terminal, while keeping an eye on the two other occupants in the room. Meanwhile, the engineer explain his side of the story,
"Here at RHE, we value hard work. You work hard, you advance up the ladder. That's how it works." The gruff man pointed towards Zhei, "but Church Lady here doesn't seem to think that way. She's trying to climb the ladder by converting the higher ups to her own little religion and using that to weasel her way up. I know it, my men know it, the only people who don't are the ones who are blindly following her."

From what the engineer was saying, it seemed like Zhei was using the name of the Force in vain. However, she had stated in the contrary beforehand, saying that he was misunderstanding her and all she simply wanted was the freedom to preach what she believed.

Paying more attention to the terminal in front of her, she squinted,
"Does the name 'Zulimon Arche' ring a bell?"

The engineer simply tilted his head to the side, "Huh?"

Zhei's eyes lit up, "Yes! She's a friend of mine. She, too, believes in the Force."

The person in question was the one who had initially reached out to the Jedi asking for assistance. From the looks of it, the engineer wasn't familiar with the name, which belonged to a Product Director in Headquarters. However, Zhei seemed to be intimately familiar.

She turned towards Lucian. It was time to make a choice. She spoke quietly in his ear, "I'm not sure who to believe, what do you think?"

(OOC: We're nearing around 15 posts, make the next one your final post and then I'll post the ending and aftermath.)

 

[Ravenofpoe]

Lucian took out a coin and began to roll across the knuckles with one hand while he spoke. “We are going to take care of your issue. To prevent other issues from arising I suggest a compromise.”


He tossed the coin at the engineer. “First to make amends to her and her group you should build or set aside a place they can gather to practice their faith.” Turning to Church lady he said, “You will stop practicing during work hours and your followers will not browbeat or try to make people follow your beliefs if they do not wish to hear it.”


Taking a seat he smiled and said to everyone, “Call off the guards and we will take care of the problem.

@TheCalmOne

(occ: Sorry short post and delay work is killing me right now.)

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

The engineer grunted,
"Hrm. They can practice their faith in a trash compactor for all I care... but I'll let them be if," he glanced at Zhei, "and only if this snake stops her slithering up the corporate ladder and actually starts doing work."

Zhei snarled slightly at his comment, then made one of her own,
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I will make it clear to my followers to not preach during work hours, at the very least."

The two continued to glare at each other, but they seemed to at least have reached an impasse. According to How to Negotiate by Sacul Egroeg, one should try to make compromises. Eryn jumped upon this opportunity to solidify the uneasy peace that the two factions that just attained,
"Good! Then there is no need for us to alert RHE Headquarters of any suspicious activity, at least until something else problematic occurs, of course."

For the time being, it seemed that the factions would try to coexist with each other - at least on the surface. The Jedi had accomplished their mission here. As the RHE employees left the room, Eryn glanced at Lucian,
"Good work, I suppose. They certainly didn't seem to like each other, huh?"


Thread End

(@Valen Pelora - done!)