A grand announcement.

[Nightmare Moon]

Open to GA members and rich indies.

Duchess Kastaria Ixfort Valstrum de Coruscant was well known for her opulent parties. Indeed the one she was holding presently was no exception. The halls of her vast mansion were filled with the Alliances upper crust and indeed several others for wealthy independent families such as the Hutt cartels. No expense had been spared on entertainment and Echani acrobats displayed feats of astounding martial prowess while Zeltron musicians and singers entranced others with their melodies. Behind closed doors Diathim and other stranger creatures meted out deviant pleasures.

In the foyer Kastaria herself was hovering around one of the monolithic drinks tables. With her long white hair highlighted with one blood red streak and her lithe but accentuated form decked out in the most expensive and fashionable of dresses the Dutchess was most certainly the prime gem of the party. She had just explained to one of her guests (An oil baron from Tatooine ) exactly how star dragons were vicious beasts and how utterly disgusted she was that the Alliance had allowed them citizenship when his wife (an withered old hag if there ever was one - Kastataria expected she had about as much dust in her draws as one of her home planets ) had dared to insinuate that she was speciesist. Her Butler (A Mandellian giant named Caruthers) had tossed them both into the fountain.

Now she was busy drinking away the minutes till she made her announcement.

 

[Lupe]

Jolla didn't know exactly why he was at Kastria's party, he didn't really have a connection to Kastria, but he guessed the reason he was there was because there was good booze and it was probably the reason why, since he was located at the bar drinking his fill of Vodka as he smoked his cigar. Still he watched the proceedings of the party, observing the various political parties mingle as he simply relaxed in his barstool. He heard of the party through an old friend of his, saying that there would be some sort of big reveal, and since Jolla really just wanted to relax after what happened on Corellia with the Imperial Sentinels, he decided to indulge himself. Some of the women of the party had already approached him, flirting with him, some of them even wanting to rub his beard...., but of course Jolla just shrugged them off as he always had, never really finding any of them acceptable or his 'type'. For now he just drank his vodka, and relaxed, not really having a care in the world.

 

[Nightmare Moon]

Drawing and inspecting a platinum pocket watch from the folds of her dress Kastaria yawned and proceeded to the front of the party where the stage was set to make an announcement. Ascending onto the platform she surveyed the partygoers as a queen would her subjects and then with a slight clearing of her throat began her speech.

"As some of the more astute amongst you know I have for some time been rather displeased with the utterly wretched state that the Alliance is in. Certain ignorant and foolish elements amongst the congressmen have polluted the minds of the ignorant masses with their talk of morals and ethics. This is utter dreck and I shudder to think about what will happen to the universe If such plebs as this get their way. Thus I myself shall try my hand at politics and bring some sense to their wretched head s the Sith are a filthy pack of mongrels who have got it in their heads that they are in fact nobility and even now are trying to ape civilised people. They must be put down by any means possible along with their asinine compatriots the Madalorians. The Tuang were little more then brutes and neither are their successors.

I shall force those spineless cowards to do something about this threat to the Alliances prosperity under my guidance we shall bring them to bare.

In short I am going to sign up for a position in the galactic congress. I am sure you shall agree with my sentiments.

 

[Niklas]

Matthew was invited to the event that the Duchess had thrown. Well, technically. There was an invitatation, but it wasn't directly to Matthew. It was more like an invitation to the Alliance itself. Either way, Matthew had shown. He was wearing a slim, fitted tuxedo. He didn't really like wearing it. He wished he was back in his engineering clothes. So he had found himself at the front door. He walked in.

He soon found himself in the grand hall. Oh great. There are... so many... people. Matthew started to sweat. He had to hold it in. He fought it. He thought a drink might help. He walked iver to the bar, ordering a Firewhiskey on the Rocks. He knocked it back pretty fast. But he could still feel his panic flowing through his system. His anxiety was strong, and it was coming through. Some women had made a note of it. They giggled a bit. But something caught Matthew's eyes, as he completely ignored the Duchess's speech.

What the hell...? He was looking at the bartender. That shouldn't happen. That's not kriffing right. the bartender looked like he was rotting away almost. Matthew struggled to keep himself calm and looked away. But it was obvious: Matthew was having a panic attack. He felt his heart rate boom. He continued to sweat and hyperventilate. He was noticing others like the bartender. They're all... oh God...

 

[TAC]

It had been a long time since the young man had donned the tuxedo. There weren't that many formal occasions for a member of the New Jedi Order to attend that robes weren't at least acceptable for, and while the Jedi assumed he might be able to do so, he decided that it would be interesting opportunity to dress and act as a member of upper Coruscanti society. The man had gotten his old tuxedo from his many formal occasions on Corellia. Tonight he adopted to a seamless Coruscanti accent, moving around the room as if he was one of them, and unrecognizable to many as a Jedi. None would see the lightsaber tucked in one of his inside pockets.

He joined in the thunderous applause that most of the room erupted into, although there were several beings that chose to abstain from the celebration. Moving his way through the crowd, the attractive young man made his way to the Duchess. "Milady," he said, bowing slightly, and taking her hands and kissing it gently. Elegantly rising from the bow, the man favored the Coruscanti with a charming smile, "Senatorial Adviser De'Jaques Geelan, at your service," he introduced himself. His accent was, of course, impeccable.

 

[Lupe]

Jolla scoffed as he downed another glass of Tethan Vodka, asking another from the zombified bartender, watching to make sure nothing 'special' got in his drink as the bartender served. Meanwhile he smoked his cigar, chuckling at the duchess and her suitor, yet another hopeful wanting to join the Senate of a doomed civilization. Of course Jolla was still pro-GA, but he was a smuggler first and he knew when things were going awry, thus the reason why he had not gotten involved in GA politics outside of the Slayer Initiative. Thinking about things like that made Jolla frown, thus the reason he was drinking so much that day, you could hear it in the voices of the party guests, everyone knew the Galactic Alliance was doomed, in fact some of them were moving their assets to Chiss or Imperium banks. Even the fact that the Duchess was running for senate was a sign of desperation. With Brentaal and Endor falling, the fact that the Galactic Alliance was taking its last breaths was apparent, but still Jolla said nothing, not really wanting to ruin the party nor really wanting to stand out more than he already was, since he was already the only poor looking person at the party with his duster coat on and ruffled hair, but then again he was never one to appeal to the Aristocracy of the galaxy, not really caring what they thought of him, since in the end they all bled like him.

 

[Nightmare Moon]

Kastaria looked over 'De'Jaques Geelan' with a sour expression on her pretty face. She stopped for a few seconds hesitated and then finally replied.

"All right then you're hired. Your first task as my new Senatorial Adviser is to help me catch a Diathim in order to legitimise my claim to being Congresses representative to Iego. I have brought a considerable amount of land there but apparently the law states that I must also have confirmation from a high standing member of the planets inhabitants."

Caruthers Kastaria's immaculately dressed Kasa Horansai butler placed a pith helmet firmly on 'Geelans' head and a tranquiliser gun in his hands.

Kastara turned to the zombies.

"You lot make with the luggage and be snappy! I do not wish to go to that primitive hellhole unprepared"

Spying Jolla and Matthew Kastiaria motioned to them in turn.

"You two are also hired. The Diathim leader may resist capture and unfortunately reanimated corpses make for damn terrible shots.

Carruthers placed something that looked like a tranquiliser blunderbuss in Matthews hands and with near unmatched efficiency dumped an immensely full backpack on him.

Jolla would up with a tranq pistol and the portable liquor cabinet.

The expedition to kidnap and brainwash an important member of the Diathim was already well underway.

 

[Lupe]

It took Jolla a few seconds to realize that the Duchess was talking to him, due to his slightly 'distracted' state. First he scoffed and chuckled, thinking the woman was joking, to capture a Diathim was not only hard, but stupid, even if she wanted the planet, but soon he realized that she was serious. Though that fact did not change his demeanor, as he sipped more Tethan Vodka from his recently filled glass he looked straight into the Duchess' eyes "I don't know if you're stupid or crazy, maybe you're both, but I am not only not for hire by the likes of you, but I am also not a slaver." he said, stopping for a second as he smoked his cigar, his accent thick, but soothing instead of annoying "So you can go ******* yourself if you think I'm going to capture a Diathim, or try to" he said, the drink doing most of the talking, though then again he probably would have said the same thing in a sober state, just in a more respectable fashion. With that said, he turned once more to the bar and continued to drink, he could almost feel the stares of onlookers who overheard what he said to the duchess, politicians were all one big dysfunctional family and he wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow he had a bounty on his head, but at that moment he didn't much care.

He wasn't much to impress the higher classes of the Galactic Alliance, he found them all to be useless and snobs. They don't know what it's like to live outside of fortified dwellings, or even live a life that isn't as safe as possible. Most never learned anything the hard way, being taught by those who are experienced hardened and should lead, but are unable to. It was shame, for Jolla knew personally that those hardened by experience have a more realistic view of the galaxy, something politicians lacked on every level. Even now this Duchess was trying to control things way beyond her grasp, as if her title gave her any authority on the people of Iego, or even Jolla. What people truly respect is someone who has proven themselves to not only be benevolent, but someone who is worth following, to the grave if must be. That's why people followed Jolla when he was in the military, but thinking back on those days as a leader always brought him sorrow for when he thought about being a leader, he thought about Corellia and how he failed everyone on his team.

Needless to say, Jolla was done with this 'party' and arose from his seat at the bar, not necessarily drunk but just lightheaded. He then glanced at the Duchess and her friend "Now would you kindly get out of my way" he said, his hand sliding down to his hip, setting his pistol to stun, just in case things got kind of iffy, hopefully they wouldn't, it would be a cold day in Hell when he defeats a Mandellian giant and an even colder day when he kills one.

 

[TAC]

'De'Jaques Geelan' did not miss a beat. He wasn't sure exactly what to think of the odd woman who had publicly said she was going to kidnap and brainwash an important dignitary, but he knew who she was, what she was, and what her reputation was. The sorceress had evaded the arms of the law for far too long, and if they couldn't do it the traditional way, he'd have to see what he could do from the inside. 'I could get in a lot of trouble for this, he thought to himself. Mentally shrugging it off, he watched as the drunk man who refused the job stand and face them.

The being's first mistake was putting his hand on his blaster. His second, and most important, mistakes was that he did it while intoxicated. Completely sober, and aided by extensive training on Corellia, the tranquilizer was up, aimed, and shot before the gun had even been switched to stun. The dart thud into the holster between the man's spread fingers. De'Jaques's arm wavered ever so much, and a smile flashed across his face.

"Don't be so hasty, my friend," he said in his Coruscanti accent. He was ready for any more sudden movements, and would hit the man in the heart with a dart if he tried anything funny. De'Jaques was on edge, totally aware of his situation and the factors, paying attention to movement form the crowd out of the corner of his eyes as well, in case the human had any friends accompanying him.

 

[Niklas]

All that went through Matthew's brain was:

Wait... What?

There was a gun in his hands and,oh dear god, a massively heavy backpack. It weighed him down so much that he fell with a very loud Crash. It echoed through the room, and Matthew's ears rang. He didn't know what the hell was going on, or rather, why he hadn't even left. He tried to stand. Oh wait. Nevermind. the pack was too heavy. He struggled immensely, and found success. He was on his feet. He looked at Duchess. You're out of your ******* mind."Uh... You know... I think I'm alright ehehe. N-no thanks..."

He set The pack and the rifle down and started to make his way to the restroom.