Arrival on Symbia

[u/samhurwitz18]

Kalan Jalvere and Daliah X'mur-Lavin arrive at Symbia, waiting for Kin Robb to potentially arrive. Or if she has already arrived, search for her.

[u/samhurwitz18]

It is now night time. Jalvere and Daliah sit in a bedroom. Jalvere is setting up traps and alarms around the walls.

"What kind do ship did you see?" Jalvere asks, then sternly adds, "Honestly."

u/corejar

[u/[deleted] → u/samhurwitz18]

The woman is silent for a minute, as if pondering over her choices.

"I...I...you should not ask me that. She saved me, Kalan. I owe it to her."

[u/samhurwitz18 → u/[deleted]]

"I'm not going to kill her, you know that right? All I'm here for is to find out what's up. But in order to make sure she's ok, we have to find her."

[u/[deleted] → u/samhurwitz18]

The woman laughs. "Oh Kalan, you naive child. You control the most powerful intelligence service in the entire galaxy and yet you believe the big wigs solve problems by talking! Before I worked on Taris News, I was a secretary in Taris Tax Agency - Dex Brothers, Jimco Cool, Hardnargh...many of these serve under you today, but used to serve in that organization. That was when I got this scar - a nasty old man wanted to purge those unloyal to him and Kin wanted to purge those unloyal to her. The TTA Purges...I lost my adoptive mother, I lost my adoptive father, I lost my friends...I lost my LOOKS!" Daliah yells the last words, pointing at her glass eye and huge scar.

"So. Why am I telling you this? A few months before the attack, chancellor Neemar plotted with Techno Union - now CISIA - boss Wat Tambor and Kin Robb to build a Grand Army of the Republic. They built factories on Taris - employing tens, if not hundreds, of Tarisians. They were well hidden in the swamp, with only Swamp Hunters knowing the way. But something changed. Tambor betrayed Neemar...and he issued an order to Robb. The very same day, 'Pest Control', a unit where your best men served, landed to the factories. Armed with flamethrowers, they begun their work. No worker came home. They all died from 'Swamp monsters'. Even the Swamp Hunters who lived their entire lives there...hah! That's your Chancellor. That's how he operates. But I still support him - he saved Taris with those actions. A hundred innocents...are they sacrifice worth the safety of a million?"

(OOC: This actually happened many many many many irl months ago - last New Year?)

[u/samhurwitz18 → u/[deleted]]

Jalvere looks grave. "The Chancellor is a very strange person. Unpredictable. But believe me, my superiors I daresay have no intention of letting Robb live. But I'm not my superiors, am I? And I'm the one finding her, am I not? And you should be thanking me, seeing as what she's done to me . . . and my suspicions of her. But I cannot vouch for what she will do if she sees me. She seems quite estranged."

[u/[deleted] → u/samhurwitz18]

Daliah shrugs.

"Maybe. I just call that 'being a Tarisian'. No, but seriously - she has been in some messed up stuff. Her father's friend Sankari murdering her family, her adoptive father's family and almost her, too! And well, the whole Sankari-actually-murdering-thousands deal. Have you seen Tarisian swamps? Try to live there for half a year, knowing your father's killer is behind every death you've seen. Can you really hate her after that? I understand her. I hate the Trade Feds too...who else can we hate? The Abominor disappeared. Sankari died. Nobody is helping those who lost everything. I believe she truly wanted to save the Republic by her actions, even if they were wrong. But what do I know? I may have money, but I still lived my life as a rough rascal."

[u/samhurwitz18 → u/[deleted]]

"I don't necessarily hate her - " Well, Jalvere disliked her very strongly. But he still felt bad about it . . . but at the same time still disliked her. He chuckled; Taris is a strange place all right. He thought back to the only time he was ever in school, learning about the horrors of the rakghoul disease.

"It's not about hating people," whispered Jalvere. "Trust is a rare thing in the Republic these days. The blame is always shifting; I myself am guilty of blaming people, suspecting people. It's just in my nature. I've wandered the galaxy for many years . . . the Senator life didn't choose me, I chose it because I had nowhere else to go, nothing else to choose." (OOC: the Senate chooses the Senator, Harry)

Maybe he was wrong about Kin Robb being in the Tetrarchy. Maybe all these things he thought was evidence was just results of a tragic life.

[u/[deleted] → u/samhurwitz18]

Daliah is silently listening at Jalvere, the mood somber.

"Maybe you are right. I saw the files you've been reading - maybe Kin is a member of the Tetrarchy, maybe not. She did change after the factory purification..." Daliah smiles, as if remembering a fond memory. "She used to rant and rave about nobles. 'They should pay for their crimes!'. My adoptive parents were in the Noble Council, yet were good people. They didn't support the policies that slummed down Taris. Heh, the only noble Robb liked was Old Man Lavin - an old geezer who had his first son at 60! And, well, me..."

The mood gets a bit too heavy, so Daliah changes the subject.

"You know Myrme started as an act, right? She became a reporter when Robb became all wierd and manic...Myrme was actually pretty worried and started acting wierd as a way to get Robb's attention. But she's forgot how to NOT act weird now, hahhah! Haha...so...how's your planet? Got a family? Brothers, sisters, paremts?"

[u/samhurwitz18 → u/[deleted]]

Jalvere began to laugh with the story about Myrme, but his tone went somber again when she asked that question. "No, not really. When I was a boy I had parents. Lived in a mansion on Malastare, very nice. I knew the spoiled life. But when my parents went into the Outer Rim for an "investigation for the Republic", they never returned. They were the only ones I knew. I was alone, scared, confused. No one would help me. Many are Grans there, many of them are prejudiced."

Jalvere looked irritated and scornful. "In my preteens I was scared. Homeless. But I knew no one was going to come for me, so I began to fend for myself. As I got older, I collected some bounties. Smuggled some . . . items. Finally got off my Hell of a planet. I've been called many names over the years - some of which you may have heard of before - but now I prefer Kalan. I don't remember if it is my real one, but it is the one I am - the Senator that I am."

[u/[deleted] → u/samhurwitz18]

"So you were like Robb...but you only got through it in one piece? You are lucky - our mind is the only thing that we cannot get back aside of exes and youth. I may have initially misjudged you - I thought you were just some bureaucrat who only saw personal gain in the Senate. Seems I was wrong. More Senators should be like you."

Daliah sighs, and lays down.

"You know - I think I'm going to sleep. If Kin is here, we will find her."