Technicolor Beat: Sharing the Supplies

[Primula Peyvand]

Primula was back in her old GAR uniform from when she had been an prosecutor for the republic forces, although now it held no insignia or medals, but was just worn as a more formal wear for the mission she was going on. It was also her first humanitarian mission for the republic.

She was going to meet several representatives from the Foerost system about the government supposedly withholding medical aid and supplies from certain groups on the planet. She and fellow senator Antilles were on their way there to clarify the issue and see if they could make some sort of arrangement out of the whole thing.

As her shuttle touched down she made her way to the door and descended down the ramp as it extended to the floor. She could see the small party of representivtives already waiting for her and the other senator.

Greetings gentlemen, I hope we have not kept you all waiting very long? I am senator Primula Peyvand of Taanab and this is senator Antilles of Bestine. Pleasure to meet you all.

@Nor'baal

 

[Kyp Durant]

Kyp was beginning to get accustomed to the company of Senators, at least as much as it was possible to get used to it. He was escorting two of them today, how he had earned that misfortune was beyond him. But at least one of them was a little more palatable than the others, she had actually served in the army before moving on to the Senate. Sure, she had been a lawyer, but at least she knew how things worked in the military. He could respect that, he could work with that.

The other one though, well, he wasn't sure what to make of him. He wasn't sure if the fellow had had one drink too many on the flight here, or was simply too old for the job. But he was knocked out cold, and despite Kyp's best efforts he wasn't able to wake the man. So it was with growing dread, realizing that as the next highest ranking member of this party he would probably have to fill in for the Senator and help the young lass who had already stepped out complete this mission. He had signed up to fly and make sure the Senators got here safely, not this.

Still shaking his head, he slowly made his way down the ship's ramp and came to a stop besides the Senator. He smiled at the welcoming party as he folded his hands behind his back. "Lieutenant Kyp Durant of the Grand Army of the Republic."

Nodding at their somewhat confused expressions, he leaned towards the Senator and whispered in her ears as the representatives began whispering amongst themselves. "Sorry lass, the old man's out cold. You're dancing with me on this one."

@anzat17

 

[Primula Peyvand]

Prim wanted to face palm. She wanted to face palm so hard right now. She managed to control herself however as the GAR officer came out instead of the senator and informed her it was just the two of them now.

My apologies, ambassadors. This is actually preferable in a way however. Now you have a chance to speak to both a member of the Senate and an officer of our military.

Now, as it were, we have received reports that the government has been withholding supplies from select groups of it's people, in particular medical supplies. It goes without saying that this is a heinous crime. One that, under normal curcumstances would carry serious punishments. As it is however, we wish to resolve this issue as quickly as possible today, and not proceed with a criminal prosecution of anyone.

Instead, we want you to simply open up your medical care facilities to those people, regardless of race or sect, who need it. Along with providing all other basic measures of supplies to them as well. Someone much wiser than I once said "judge a man not by the color of his skin by by the merits of his character". Can't we all hold this to be the best way?

It appeared her opening statements went over quite well. The representatives from both sides nodding and agreeing with her. She shifted her gaze then over to the lieutenant, Kyp Durant, implying she'd like him to say a few words as well. Hopefully he was as well received as she was.

 

[Kyp Durant]

Kyp was silent as the group began walking, the representatives leading them towards the accommodations that had been arranged for them. The Senator spoke well, that was her job after all, words were her weapon just as ships were his. He might have a great many opinions about bureaucrats, but he would not deny that things like this were what they excelled at.

Careful to not make a fool of himself by breaking protocol in some way, Kyp tried to appear as professional as he could as one of the representatives finally spoke up. "That was never our intention Senator. We treat all our citizens equally, but.." She turned sideways to glance at her companions before continuing, "but we will not deny that there is possibility that some irregularities might have creeped into our supply shipments. Not at the government's behest of course, we do not discriminate among our citizens in any way."

Kyp could see that the opening salvo had gone well, but then the Senator turned to him and he visibly gulped as he realized she meant for him to speak up as well. Of course she did, he couldn't really fill in on a diplomatic mission without being diplomatic. Oh how much easier it would have been if they had simply declared war. This would be so much easier from inside a cockpit.

"The first squadron I was assigned to on joining the army was all humans. All humans and me. But not once did they make feel like I didn't belong, we were all in the same boat, often literally. What I'm trying to say is, the only reason I survived to stand here before you today is because we were all treated as equals. We.."

He as cut short by one of the other representatives making a sudden huffing noise. As he turned to look at him the man began speaking, sounded angry and irritated. "Do not patronize us lieutenant, we knew very well the equality you speak off." The woman who had spoken earlier tried to calm him, but he shrugged her off and continued speaking. "You say you survived the war because of equality? Where was the Republic when our people were getting killed by the exiles, hmm? I'll tell you, off on Coruscant, and Corellia, and Kuat. Protecting humans. Wonderful that you can accuse us what you yourself have been doing for centuries." The other representatives managed to calm him down at that point, but Kyp got the distinct feeling that the damage was already done.

@anzat17

 

[Primula Peyvand]

Primula nodded as the woman spoke, politely smiling at her and doing her best to keep things running as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately the GAR officer did not seem to go over well with the representatives. She was going to have to start doing damage control, she could already tell as the male representative cut off her partner.

We will not deny that the republic was stretched thin during that time and made so e poor choices. However, they did not do so based on any race related issue I assure you. The reasoning was to protect our shipyards that was all.

The fact of the matter remains. We ask for you cooperation in assuring that all members of your planet, citizens and noncitizens alike are met with decent care and hospitality. Don't see each other as a separate species, but being of one galaxy trying our best to make it a better place for us all. Aren't we all brothers and sisters? Mother and fathers? Sons and daughters?

While it seemed things were going well, the male representative still seemed to fine a bit, while the female representative pondered what she had said. She sighed slightly in her own head. This wasn't going to be an easy endeavour she was realizing. As the two sides sat in a bit of an awkward silence, she smiled pleasantly at them before glancing at the GAR officer again. Hoping that this time he have a bit more to add, and hopefully not be cut off again of course.

 

[Kyp Durant]

Kyp prayed that the Senator would somehow be able to salvage the situation, after all wasn't talking their way out of tricky situations part of a Senator's job profile? And while her words did seem to resonate with the female representative, the grumpy fellow didn't seem satisfied. While he didn't break out into a rant once more, he still seemed displeased.

Letting out a sigh, realizing that it was his turn to salvage the situation, he decided to forgo attempts at diplomacy and try what he did know. Speaking to the point, and being more than blunt about it. "If you think things were bad back then, I have bad news for you. They will be much worse this time. And yes, there will be a this time. You saw what they did on Jedha, you saw that monstrous ship they have built. Ya think it's for sightseeing? No, they are preparing for war, and when they are ready they'll come for us all." He paused for a moment to take measure of the reactions of the representatives, noticing that thankfully this time his words were having the desired effect. "When they come you can either have the might of the Republic by your side, or you can face them alone. Now by the laws of the Republic there can be no discrimination amongst its citizens. So whether or not the Republic considers you to be law abiding citizens worthy of their protection is entirely up to you."

He folded his arms and leaned back in his seat, a stern look on his face as he stared down the representative, especially the grumpy one. The fellow was about to speak up when the woman placed a hand on his arm and glared at him to shut him down. Looked like she was the senior one.

"I assure you we are totally committed to upholding all laws of the republic. Whatever we can do to comply with these laws, we are willing. "

Kyp turned to the Senator and gave her a nod of the head, he had teed up the ball for her, now it was on her to strike it home.

@anzat17

 

[Primula Peyvand]

Just as prim was about to say something she literally tripped and fell right on her face. Busting her nose on the concrete she embarrassingly ran away as quickly as she could to take care of it

 

[Kyp Durant]

"Uhh..." The grumpy fella stared openly with his mouth hanging open as the Senator darted off, at least till his female companions smacked him one the arm to make him regain his composure. But Kyp shared in his reaction and wished someone would smack him and wake him up from what was surely a very weird reaction to a night of drinks that he was still to wake up from.

Reaching out with a hand, he picked up the glass of water placed in front of him and took a sip, which turned into two sips, then three sips and finally ended with him gulping the whole thing down. This was beginning to remind him of his first days in the GAR's officer's academy. All the naval cadets were given a test, one hell of a humdinger at that. They called it the Kobayashi Maru, and it was quite literally a no-win situation. It wasn't supposed to be won, there had been some psychological mumbo-jumbo that their trainers had thrown at them after everyone had failed the test, but Kyp had of course ignored them. It was a stupid test, and that was all he needed to know.

This though, this was beginning to remind him of that, and he kinda wished he had heard what those trainers had said after the test, maybe there was some hint in there that might have helped him today. Or maybe he just needed a drink to push such idiotic thoughts out of his head. As far as he was concerned Kyp had passed that test, he had kicked his crew out in escape pods and crashed into the enemy vessels to blow them all up and ensured his crew's survival. Of course the poor sods he was supposed to rescue died in the explosions, but he was never going to save them, the crew were all anyone could have saved. Well, the Senator was out in her escape pod, whatever he said now would be on him. Plausible deniability, that's what they called it. She had plausible deniability.


"You must be doin' something right if you make a Senator facepalm so hard that they slam their face into the floor. Or something very, very wrong." He stared down the outspoken one at that point, making sure it was evident that he was speaking about his earlier outburst, before continuing. "You've probably lost her support, you don't want to lose mine. I don't care what the Senate says, you don't want to make an enemy of the GAR, and treating folks the way you have is one surefire way to do that. So here's what you're going to do. You will stop withholding supplies from people because of what species they are, and begin distributing them supplies fairly to one and all. And in exchange, I'll make sure your planet doesn't get run over when the war begins. Savvy?"

He had tried to put on his best impression of this old General he had known, crazy lady, but also had the most intimidating presence. Could get things done with sheer force of will. "That.." The representative paused as she glanced around at her companions, only continuing after she a few of the others finished whispering amongst themselves and nodded at her. "That is acceptable to us."

Almost surprised that it had worked, Kyp didn't want to give them more time to think on it and come to some new conclusion that might just screw things over once more. He clapped his hands, both pairs, together and jumped out of his seat. Walking around the table he extended his hands to the representatives and began shaking multiple hands at once. "Excellent, excellent! Now why don't you send someone to bring back the Senator and we can get this all formalized and we can all begin preparing for the coming war."

@anzat17

 

[Primula Peyvand]

Primula couldn't believe her luck to be honest as she looked in the mirror with a considerable red lump on her forehead. To say she was upset about it would be an understatement. That was until one of the representatives of the planet came in and informed her that the GAR officer had done exceedingly well in spite of her rather embarrassing trip and fall.

If anything maybe it had helped that it had happened in the end, she could only imagine how awkward the stares were from everyone thereafter to be honest. After leaving the refresher she went back to the small group and gave the lieutenant an approving nod. She'd have to make sure he got a medal or something for this, or maybe just a relaxing stay on Taanab. Whatever though she felt like he deserved it for the outstanding job he had done pulling the mission back together.

Sorry for my sudden departure representives, I feel as though my legs may have still been a little weak from all the hyperspace travel I've been on this week. I'm very pleased to hear that the lietentant here has taken care of things in my absence. I have the agreements here on this datapad. If I could please, i need all of you to sign.

She said before handing it to the first of the representatives. He signed then handed it around to the others, all putting their seal of approval on the datapad.

With all the signatures collected she retrieved it before giving a polite smile and nod to the representatives and said her goodbyes. With that she turned to the lieutenant and smiled at him rather gleefully.

Count have done it without you lieutenant, I greatly appreciate your help. On a lighter note, want to go draw on the too tired to get up senators face? I blame him for my stupid luck today!

[End Thread]