BREAKING NEWS: Sith Rampage on Coruscant

[Jacob Tagger]

Thread marked open so that people can have fun with their character's reaction if they so choose. The time is 8:15am standard time.
News Report is based on the events of Teatime

HOLO NEWS NETWORK
MORNING NEWS​

"Good morning, this is the Holo News Network News Morning News with Nastia Vant," the dour visage of the female human anchor stared out of holodisplays and vidscreens the galaxy over. She paused for a moment, shuffling papers on her desk adding a beat of drama before she continued with the broadcast.

"We join you this morning with breaking news out of Courscant," she began. "Just an hour ago the early morning routine of Courscant was, for hundreds of thousands of beings, disrupted when a delivery vehicle narrowly missed striking a transit hub before crashing into a residential tower. Pedwalks and skylanes were shut down as a full scale investigation by the Courscant security and police force is underway.

"For the full report we go to Jacob Tagger who was on scene waiting for a tea when this all unfolded.

"Jacob? Would you mind telling us what is going on right now and what have you learned about the cause of the situation?"

The video feed cut from the newsdesk to a video of a man standing in the business levels of Courscant. Behind him there was a smoking wreck of a transport vehicle and a crowd of hysterical pedestrians still flooding the scene. Lights were flashing amid the chaos as the security force tried to impose calm in the vicinity. I didn't seem to be going well.

"Good Morning, Nastia, Jacob began, almost yelling to be heard over the din behind him. "You're right, I was sitting outside the tea shop waiting for my order as the truck came barreling from the sky.

"As you can see, the scene behind me is quite chaotic. We are hearing reports of injuries and one fatality, said to be the driver of the vehicle. However people on the ground here are crediting him with great heroism as he managed to pull up at the last second avoiding hitting the commuter crowd at the transit terminal.

"From what officials are telling us, the vehicle in question was a delivery vehicle based out of a warehouse a few kilometers away from here and was scheduled for delivery in this area. It was supposed to have been a routine delivery but something, clearly, went wildly amiss. Security investigators informed me that the cause of the accident was engine failure due to severing of internal components. As of this time, officals are saying that the engines were slice from the outside."

Jacob paused, turning to the side for a second and letting the camera pan over the front window of the smashed front window of the teashop. His voice continued over the image. "As you can see the shop sustained some damage and I was lucky enough to capture some footage of what transpired."

The feed cut again to a moment from earlier that morning. There was a fantastic shot of a young man in black robe lying in the wreckage of the window, struggling to get up. Jacob's voice could be heard over it offering assistance while the man picked himself up and identified himself as a Sith attache to the Coruscanti police force.

"The man you see here, identifying himself only as a Sith attache to the Coruscanti police force was thrown from the exterior of the vehicle into the window. How he survived is anyone's guess. He explained to me once he gathered himself that he had been on a warehouse raid when things went south. Apparently he was too impatient to wait for his backup since he inquired of their whereabouts on a comm shortly after requesting my aid and that of another citizen in apprehending his mark. I managed to ask him a few other questions as well. I'll play that recording now."

The video feed cut again, this time to the angry and disinterested face of the young Sith man as he looked beyond Jacob and the holocam to the chaos in the distance. Jacob's voice could be heard firing off questions.

"Could you explain to me how a 'simple warehouse raid', something in and of itself surprising to find a full Sith attache part of, turned into such a disaster? Were you responsible for the damage to the truck that caused it to almost crash into thousands of pedestrians? Are your actions and indication in a change of Coruscant law enforcement policy? Should we, the people of Coruscant be concerned of such escalation of situations in the future that could potentially damage our homes?"

The Sith's only response were bland denials and insincere assurances that the safety and well being of the Coruscanti population was, of course, the first and foremost concern of the Police Force and Sith. He gave no further statement and excused himself shortly thereafter.

The camera returned to Jacob.

"There you have it, the official statement of the Sith in direct conflict with the events around them. The actions taken by the Police and their affiliates--the Sith--are both wild and irresponsible. Is potential harm to the public really worth the benefit of catching small-time criminals? It would seem that some think it is. On that troubling note, I return to you Nastia."

The vidfeed switched back to the newsroom where Nastia's stern visage once again filled the screen.

"Thank you Jacob, it is a most upsetting situation indeed and we will be continuing to monitor the events and update the public as soon as we are able. Now onto our next story: Ithorian Pollen? The next great cure or new age hoax?"

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astrid really wasn't looking to wake up to the theme of the kriffing morning news blaring in her apartment.

She groaned, checking her watch and looking at the crumpled bundle of Imperial uniform at the foot of her couch, sitting up to rub her eyes while the live prompt played out. Sith causing trouble in the streets because of a random truck driver flipping them off? No surprise there. The woman was fine with Sith--excellent wartime fighters and good at maintaining order through cunning and force. But really...really terrible peacekeepers. Evident from the poor tea shop that was turned into an open-air ceremonial hall by an airspeeder. She checked her watch again, realizing the time and cursing out loud. 0815. That gave her...oh, a BRILLIANT 15 minutes to check into the base.

And she still had to wash her uniform.

At least the news intro music was loud enough to kriffing wake her up. Else the CO would have her head for being any later than she would be now.

Another day in the Shining City, then.

 

[Ner Giza]

Ner’Giza sat in the small mess tent peering into her data pad while sipping a hot cup of caf. It contained the details of her mission to Anoat and she touched the screen pulling up the star charts in order to locate the obscure planet. Her partner Aurelian was no doubt salving his disgruntlement over the assignment by pouring over some old tome. She really couldn’t fault him for his reaction, in all likelihood they might have to get physical in order to get the cooperation of their would be allies.

She too would prefer not to get violent but win them to the Alliance’s cause through making an offer that was appealing rather than not. However she knew the major objection troubling the man was not how they got the Order of Kohoun to throw in with the Alliance but what it would mean if they joined. The thought of allying with assassins offended his sense of morality, though he understood the need. It took all kinds of skills to win a rebellion and The Order were more than just killers. Their skills in applying blackmail and stirring political strife would serve them well if directed properly.

Her KLT-99Z astromech droid piped up excitedly when the vid screen started playing the news. Most places around the galaxy had rules against droids in their establishment but this didn’t apply at the rebel base. Ner’Giza looked up to see the news anchor Nastia Vant and chuckled. “Oh I see your sweetheart is on...”, she began before the droid’s rude remark to shut up cut off her words. She just laughed but made no sound afterward so he could hear the dour woman announce the next segment. As soon as the scene cut to their field reporter, the droid protested loudly. “Easy 99, she’ll be back at the end of the segment”, she said and patted the dome of his housing. With 99 grumbling through the whole report, she would have just went back to studying the charts only the minor disaster was hilarious. “Oh man...a Sith asking for the aid of civilians?”, she snorted.

Still it was troubling, as Tagger summed up the implications of what this might mean. Ridiculous, there was more going on there than a Sith slumming by tracking down some low level criminal. There were the sliced engines to consider. Had this been an Alliance mission gone wrong? Was the dead pilot one of their own? 99 bleeped in excitement as the crone came back on to segway into the next segment and she laughed. “Come on loverboy, we gotta get going”, she rose to her feet knocking back the rest of her caf and headed to the hanger. At the door she had to call out, “99 come on already!” Their walk back to her little freighter was punctuated by the grumbling of her droid.

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Diocletian rolled to one side and sat up on the cot that he called a bed. The small shop that he shared with Vu’thari was both work space and living space for the Mandalorian. He rubbed one hand over his mostly bald pate and then slid the hand down to rub at his face in an attempt to wake up. A quick shake of his head allowed him to knock some of the cobwebs loose from last night’s drinking.

Standing he made his way over to a small basin he kept in his living space and shoved his face into the cool water he had put there the night before. It was not the first time he had been out drinking with “clients” from the local Hutt cartel and knew beforehand he would need that refreshment in the morning. He padded over to his mini fridge, bare feet cold on the metal floor of the shop and squatted down to look at the contents. Two bottles of water and a Jaquira fruit were pulled from its cool depths and escorted to the nearby corner parts shelf that performed double duty as a table.

Dio pushed the various bits and parts off the shelf and pulled up a stool at his new dining experience. After carefully cutting the fruit and discarding the more poisonous parts, he opened a bottle of water and sat down to breakfast. After a moment of savoring the taste of the fruit and its almost immediate positive effect on his hangover, he reached over and pulled up his data pad from its satchel on the floor.

Holding the side button for several moments brought the old data pad to life, it was no where near the latest and greatest, but it still worked and downloaded his news feeds and that’s all he really used it for anymore. Tapping and scrolling, tapping and scrolling, eat some fruit, drink some water, on the cycle went until he happened across an interesting story from Corsucant.

Dio’s eyes scanned through the news story, his criminal mind working in tandem with his warrior’s mind to piece together the events behind what the reporter was stating as the story. A speculative smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth and he sat back from the data pad, placing it on the table in front of him, the story still open. The galaxy was starting to reject its Sith overlords like so much infection in a wound. Just because you can conquer a place, doesn’t mean that you can run it, that was evident.

Upon finishing his breakfast, Dio stood and stretched, still looking at the data pad out of the corner of his eye. He smiled when a thought came to him, yes, I think Vu’thari would enjoy seeing this particular article. It had come up more than once in and among their shop talk, their opinions about the state of the galaxy and the Sith ascension to power. Both had their own reasons for not enjoying that rise, both spoken and unspoken. Reaching out, with a few taps on the pad, Dio sent the article to Vu’thari’s pad and Cory's as well, the Eldar wife of his friend might find it amusing as well. With that done he turned to head to the refresher, stripping pieces of armor along the way.

@Mithias
@EmilyHuene

 

[Talo Geist]

Talo watched the screen on his small datapad, shaking his head at the mess. It was a miracle really though that so few people were injured, though he felt a little bad for the owners of the tea shop.

Then the reporter, this Jacob Tagger, spoke of the Sith and really the whole Coruscanti police force in general in an incredibly negative manner. The man had practically just said that he knew nothing of the case itself and then chalked it up to a small time criminal, either the news network knew more than he had initially said or he was just sayimg the right things to get ratings.

Either way the man was a hair's breadth away from crossing the line, he knew news reporters needed to be edgy but as far as Talo was concerned Tagger was damn near speaking treasonously.

He closed the HNN feed and flipped over to his notes section to put in a reminder to keep watch on the news to see what else Tagger said and decide if the man warranted an investigation. Talo certainly hoped not, but if there seemed to be a problem...any more downtalk like that. The agent would be morally obligated to look into it.

 

[Artarion Sekt]

Artarion made his way back to the living quarters he had been assigned on Korriban. To say that they were not what he was used to would be the grossest of understatements. On Rattatak, even the son of a minor noble had many comforts that allowed him to live better than most. Good food, wine, and even the occasional company of a female on his sleeping mat were not unheard of in Artarion’s life up to that point. When he came to Korriban to study, all of that changed.

Assigned to the acolytes’ quarters, Artarion was given a small cell that was spartan in furnishings. There was a small pallet where some fur bearing animal had sacrificed itself to provide a small amount of warmth to an occupant. A table and a chair filled one corner of the cell and a large pillow sat in another. A wardrobe dominated one wall and allowed for an occupant to have a place to securely store clothing, armor or anything valuable they felt needed storage.

This morning Artarion was sitting on the large pillow in simple robes. He had not donned his armor as yet and was meditating. A large pile of books sat on the table in the corner, most of them were discussions about meditation techniques and their application to the Force. Artarion had chosen a technique where one fasted and meditated for several days before entering the Force as one might dive into a river. He had been trying this method for a few days now and had so far had little success.

A dull beeping from behind the stack of books brought him out of his reverie. Angrily he snapped his eyes open and rose from the pillow. With a small gesture he slid the books to one side to expose the data pad sitting on the table, its news light blinking in the morning light. Petulantly he grabbed the pad and tapped the screen, starting the news feed from Coruscant. Although he was on the other side of the Sith Civil War from those on the Core world, he still kept up with news there, hoping for some tidbit that might be leveraged into favor here on Korriban.

Eyes moving quickly over the text, he hit the video button on one side and started the broadcast as he sat down in the chair. The chaos described by the anchor was beautiful, a true manifestation of the power of the dark side. Involuntarily, Artarion smiled as he continued to watch, eyes greedily devouring the information.

At the end of the broadcast Artarion lay the data pad back on the table and slid the power button to OFF. The news was interesting in that it called into question the power of the Sith on Coruscant. This intrigued Artarion as supposedly they were in total control of the planet and yet they allowed this news out. It was something to ponder for there had to be a certain finesse to allowing such information out. Artarion did not have time to ponder this all day and returned to his pillow, trying once more to fall into the river of the Force.