In All Things, Balance

[Jiang Winters]

Naboo's northern pole wasn't the most hospitable of places. Freezing cold and covered twice over with snow and ice, the pole was almost entirely devoid of sentient life, save for a few hardy souls who chose to scratch out a living amongst the windswept mountains and the frigid plains. It was a winter wasteland, and its isolation made it a perfect for hiding away from the eyes of the galaxy. As such, it was only natural that Sonam had chosen it for his upcoming meeting.

It was nothing terrible or dangerous - merely a deal with the Jedi Order, one conducted between the Order and Sonam's new employer, CARD. The corporation had deemed it necessary to offer infantry armor to the Order, in light of the Jedi's recent string of tragic defeats. A design had been worked up with the help of a rogue Jedi, it had been mass produced in sufficient quantities to equip an entire army, and the first production run had been sent with Sonam to Naboo aboard an AD-38 Firewalker.

Upon arrival, the ship had landed in a level spot between several hills. Mottled gray camouflage netting had been stretched across the warship's hull for concealment, while a pair of scout droids flew a patrol pattern several kilometers away from the ship. Their overlapping patterns ensured that anyone attempting to sneak in on the Firewalker would be discovered in time for the ship to take off and punch out of the atmosphere. The ship itself was heavily guarded, with 20 Legionnaires armed with shotguns and submachineguns patrolling the ship's interior, and a pair of Ishikawa's OCELOT troopers equipped with LANCE armor acting as Sonam's bodyguards.

He'd tried to refuse the two soldiers, but he was in no shape to fight himself. He'd undergone extensive surgery to repair his outdated cybernetics, and was still healing from the repairs. As such, he was forced to wear a Dynamic Muscle Suit. The suit compensated for his current physical weakness and kept him functional, albeit not quite combat ready. As a bonus, it completely concealed his appearance; even his tail was hidden, for it was wrapped about his waist!

The kasa horansi pulled his helmet on and walked towards the Firewalker's cargo aft cargo ramp. He walked halfway down it, then sat down and draped his forearms across his knees and stared out into the howling gale whipping around the ship. Visibility was terrible - snow filled the sky, making it impossible to see more than a hundred yards in any direction. He frowned and shook his head. At least the co-ordinates that had been given to the Jedi were very specific, so, with the help of the radio beacon that the pilot had set up, the Order would likely have little difficulty finding Sonam's merry band of mercenaries despite the weather.

 

[Sreeya]

Jedi Knight Arvin Daker was quite surprised when he was briefed on the details of this 'deal'. He was only told he would be picking up a massive amount of cargo that was to be distributed to everyone within the Order. The details weren't too clear, though something about armor was mentioned. He had Jedi accompanying him, no doubt needing aid in hauling everything onto their ship. Arvin was thankful for having the radio beacon to guide him, as visibility was absolutely horrendous. Several times he was asked why the company chose to meet in such a dreadful spot, but Arvin knew better than to ask questions.

At long last, the Jedi ship pulled into view, landing shortly thereafter. Arvin was the spokesperson for the trip, along with the pilot. He had his lightsabers strapped at his hips, though he had no problem shedding them if they desired it. He had two other Jedi join him. Several of his crew consisted of padawans, as this counted slightly towards missions involving going out of Jedi temples.

It took Arvin no time to find who he was looking for. The amount of security surrounding the Firewalker was daunting. He had no idea exactly what kind of corporation this was, but it sounded important. Arvin found a tall figure already waiting for him. He smiled and approached him.

"Hello! I apologize for the delay. As you can see, it's not exactly a day for a picnic.."

 

[Jiang Winters]

Sonam didn't bother standing when the Jedi first approached, and merely hitched his shoulders at the Knight's apology. "The Battalion's not a library. We won't charge you a fee for being late," he replied with a laugh. The armored feline pushed himself to his feet and raised himself to his full height. In his armor, he gained roughly four inches, and so he stood at about six feet and four inches. With the total lack of visible or audible exhalation from his mask and no real motion of his chest and shoulders to indicate breathing, the Jedi before him might be lead to wonder if the dealer was even a living being and not a battle droid.

"I'm Commander Matterson, of the CSB. C'mon, let's get this deal done before you freeze to death, Jedi."

He gestured for the man to follow as he headed back up the ramp. Just past the top of the ramp was the cargo bay, loaded to the gills with crate upon crate of armor - as had been promised, there was indeed enough to equip an army twice over. It'd be more than enough to supply the Order, at least until a second production run could be finished and put through quality control testing. "As promised, just over 20,000 units of Guardian Armor. A rogue Jedi designed it - it won't restrict movement in a saber fight or the use of the Force in any way."

A Legionnaire wheeled over a mannequin that had been dressed in the armor. Sonam thumped the suit's chest plate with his fist. "The hard armor plating is an ultrachrome-titanium composite. Lightweight and highly durable. Very resistant to anything short of a sniper rifle with armor-piercing ammo. Mid and low power blasters, like rifles and handguns, are virtually useless against it because of the ultrachrome top layer, as are lightsabers. It takes a lot of constant contact from a saber to melt through."

He pointed towards the fabric 'suit' covering everything not protected by hard armor paneling. "This is a pretty typical armorweave body shell. It's fairly tough, it'll stop a bullet from a handgun or a blaster pistol bolt dead in its tracks. Shotgun blasts are still somewhat effective, though. Last thing; the armor has a synthetic muscle base layer. It's not much, but it's just enough to remove all perceived weight from the suit, making this very light, fast armor. Good for just about anything."

The feline turned back towards the Jedi and folded his arms across his chest. "We've been ordered to sell this armor at our cost, so the price tag for the entire shipment is about 50 million - a fourth of the cost that you'd pay at full price. So, you still interested, Jedi?"

 

[Sreeya]

Arvin nodded, hanging onto each word. He was absolutely fascinated at the prospect of this kind of armor. The Jedi seldom wore armor, having been primarily pacifistic. However, recent changes dictated that everyone be able and ready to fight. He felt excitement rise as the mannequin was rolled over. A collective chorus of "ooooh" and "aaaah" resounded from the padawans. Arvin himself had to go over to investigate, truly impressed by the build of the armor.

"Lightsaber resistant? That's amazing!"

He ran his fingers over the material. It looked form fitting, and easy to adjust to. He could already tell it would offer maximum mobility if utilized. One of the padawans came up and lightly punched the armor, withdrawing his hand immediately.

"This is the real deal, all right!"

Arvin rolled his eyes, biting back from reminding him about proper Jedi behavior. Then again, Jedi wearing armor was far from normal. When necessity called, it was always important to answer, however. As the tall figure named the price, Arvin nodded.

"Sounds about right. We're very interested."

He produced a card that was tied to the account that held all the credits for the deal. Arvin handed it over to Sonam.

"The money should be wired instantly. I hope loading all of this up won't take too long..."

 

[Jiang Winters]

A handful of Legionnaires laughed at the Padawan's display. "Easy kid!" hollered one of the LANCE troopers, a female shistavaren wearing blue armor. "Don't want to break your fist, after all!"

Sonam chuckled and shook his head, then, once the deal was concluded, took the credit chit from the Jedi's hand. The nanites covering his gloves interfaced with it, assimilated all its data and software architecture, then absorbed the chit itself! Sonam blinked and frowned as it quite literally melted into his hand and disappeared entirely. "...Oops. This suit's gonna take a little getting used to," he sighed, before a voice in his head sprang up. He recognized the harsh synthesized voice as belonging to DOC - his suit's computer system and AI.

Data assimilated. Account transfer pending... Pending... Complete. 20 million galactic standard credits transferred to CSB for laundering, pending final transfer to CARD corporate banks. Addendum: Approximately 1 gram of useful material recycled from credit chit. Placing remaining material in storage buffers. Will purge in 3.34 hours.

"...Scratch that, this suit is gonna take a lot of getting used to," Sonam sighed, before shaking his head and looking down at the Jedi. "The money's been transferred. You're free to start unloading the materials... Unless you'd rather just escort us in to Ossus, and we can dump everything off on the tarmac there. It'd take a tenth of the time, and it's on our route anyways."

 

[Sreeya]

Arvin almost jumped back as the credit chit disappeared into his hand. He looked shocked, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah..um..I only had one of those..."

When he announced the money was transferred, he looked wide-eyed at his fellow Jedi. As if on cue, there was another chorus of "oooh" and "aaah". Arvin scowled and turned back to the monstrous sentient before him. He smiled politely.

"We can handl-"

Just in case, he glanced over at the crew with him: Several padawan were still poking away at the armor, one was picking his nose, and the Knights looked completely confused. Jedi were not cut out for this. Arvin grinned.

"On second thought, we could probably escort you. Let's go, kids!"

He started walking away, the padawans obediently following in tow. One of them stopped in front of Sonam, her eyes wide. She didn't even reach up to his chest. She blinked a few times.

"W-What are you exactly?"

 

[Jiang Winters]

Sonam chuckled and motioned for the crew to start packing up, only to pause as a relatively short female Padawan stopped before him and asked what he was. The feline smiled behind his mask and crouched slightly, bringing himself down to her level. He simultaneously lowered his barriers in the Force, allowing her to sense his presence - a presence that she would find to be quite powerful indeed, though it was neither a 'light' nor 'dark' presence, but rather somewhere right between.

"I was a man, once, but I'm more machine now than I am flesh and blood. I suppose that, in the simplest possible terms, you could call me an unholy fusion of life and technology... Or, perhaps, a holy fusion. Really, it's all personal taste there. But to answer your question, kiddo, I'm a synthetically augmented advanced combat entity."

Deciding to take a risk, he unsealed his helmet and removed it, revealing the soft and richly marked sienna-and-white fur of his face. The feline's ebony lips pulling back in a warm smile as he reached out and gently 'punched' the girl's shoulder. "Alternatively, you could just think of me as a big ol' kitten. I think that suits me better, considering how I spend most of my time curled up in bed nomming cookies."

 

[Sreeya]

"Ellie, come ON!"

She ignored the other padawan, her blue eyes still huge in shock. She was fearful as he lowered his face, though his aura was very warm. She had enough teachings to be perceptive to Force energies. As he described what he was, her face was scrunched up in confusion.

"Synthetic...combat..entity.."

As he unsealed his helmet, she gasped in surprise.

"You're ADORABLE!"

Ignoring how out of character she was being, she immediately reached out and began scratching behind his ears. His fur was so soft! She couldn't help but giggle at the results. Meanwhile, she could feel the gazes of her crew on her, along with others in the area. She quickly withdrew her hands, looking down and blushing.

"I..I'm sorry. I lost control."

Meanwhile, everyone had boarded the ship already. She got a transmission from Arvin saying they would leave without her. Ellie thought for a long moment, looking back and forth. She decided to be brave, after always being made fun of for being an overly polite, mousy young girl. She blinked up at Sonam.

"S-Since we're going to the same place...can I ride with you guys?!"

She couldn't believe what had possessed her to ask that. Truth was, she had never met anyone of his species before and was completely fascinated. On top of that, she had never done much exploring outside of the temples. Her friends would be so jealous! Maybe it could count as some brownie points towards Knighthood...

 

[Jiang Winters]

CARD's personnel roared with laughter as they watched Ellie pet Sonam. The Kasa Horansi mewed in surprise at first, then purred and bowed his head. He nuzzled against her palms as the Padawan scritched behind his ears, then laughed softly as the teenaged girl apologized. "Hey, no worries," he remarked cheerily. The cat rose to his full height once more and planted his free hand on his hip, while rolling his helmet around in his other hand.

His brow momentarily furrowed as she asked to tag along, then he shrugged and nodded. "Well, alright. But it's nearly two days to Ossus from Naboo, y'know. Hrm... I guess you could split quarters with Sheila." The cargo bay door shut as he spoke, and the ship shuddered and groaned as it took off. Sonam chuckled. "Guess it's done now. You are stuck with us... It's Ellie, right?"

He held a gloved hand out to her and smiled. "I'm Sonam. Nice t'meet ya."

 

[Sreeya]

Ellie nodded vigorously, excited that he remembered her name. She extended her hand to shake his, her dainty fingers minuscule in his paw. Ellie was secretly glad that the Jedi hadn't fussed over her riding with the corporation instead. She happily followed.

"Sheila huh? She's that Shis..ta..Shivar...wolf!"

Satisfied, she nodded, following in tow. As soon as she entered the ship, she had to look around, marveling at everything. Ellie was a bubbly individual, fascinated by virtually the smallest things. For her to be completely out of her element like this was a rush. She walked through the doors that led to her quarters, the doors hissing as they opened. Ellie shyly nodded at the crew, glancing over at Sonam.

"So..what do you guys do exactly, if you don't mind me asking? Just armor and weapons?"

She hoped she wasn't overstepping her boundaries. She had a habit of being overly curious. They had been given very little information about this group, and her being a padawan meant she knew absolutely nothing.