Onderin Starlisk

((We'd better move.)) "We shouldn't need an invasion force... but then we don't know what we're up against," Onderin said. "The shuttle we came in should be fine for Ads, Arleigh and myself. I assume Qaela and Black will want to take their own ships." Qaela would, of course, have even more freedom to leave whenever she wanted now that she had her vessel back, but she'd always had that option and he anticipated she would see this through. The threat posed by Faust was equally felt by all. His commlink buzzed again. This time it a short text-based message showed up on the screen: CHECK THE HOLONET. TRIPLE ZERO UNDER ATTACK. "Change of plans," he announced. "We're heading to Coruscant." So saying, he gestured for Ads and Arleigh to follow him and made haste back to their shuttle. As soon as he was aboard, he got departure clearance and took off. On their way toward deep space, he drafted a message to be sent out to all the planetary governments that were on the list of those who had received RAGE shipments. As soon as they hit hyperspace, he tuned into the holonet to see just what Faust was up to.

"Qaela," Onderin greeted her as she was brought to their location. "I've learned of a dark side alchemical substance called RAGE which Black Sun was distributing to various worlds for Faust. The Vigo here is retrieving what additional information he can about the substance while recalling what shipments are possible. I believe that it is linked to the rituals that Faust is performing, and that you might have the knowledge to gain additional insight if you could study it." Unless he was mistaken, the Nightsisters knew quite a bit about dark side alchemy, even if the Sith version wasn't going to be quite the same. "Unfortunately, all we really have beyond that is a list of planets where the substance was delivered..." His voice trailed off, but then his comm beeped. "Pardon me a moment," he said, stepping off to the side to take the call. A minute later he returned. "I've just received a tip that there is something going on over Iziz which seems to relate to Faust or his followers. I think we should go there and see if we can pick up the trail."

Onderin nodded approvingly at Delta. It was a good step to take against Faust, even if it wouldn't completely stop his plans. Meanwhile, he had felt some pretty strange things from Qaela through the Force, and made a note to ask her about them when they got a minute. It seemed that for the moment Delta was having her brought to them to fill her in, so for now he just waited. Once he was back at the shuttle, he could start sending the necessary communications out to the planetary governments that were on the list. He hoped he still had enough credibility for the warning to be taken seriously.

((Not sure if you were just being snarky, but character interaction is absolutely fine as long as they're not teaming up tactically or you're posting back and forth with yourself.)) Onderin followed the Vigo into the well-guarded vault that was apparently some sort of access hub to the Black Sun information infrastructure. "Understood," he said in response to the note about not copying data. The supposed fact that there were security systems unknown to a Vigo regarding simply accessing company data sounded bogus to him, but Delta was probably more concerned about the Jedi Master copying large amounts of criminal secrets and having them as physical evidence if he decided at any point to prosecute Black Sun for their illicit activities. The former fleet admiral did rather wish to do that, but it wasn't what he was here for now. He started running some queries on the name Faust, and it quickly came to light that the infamous mass-murderer did have a history of associating with Black Sun, whether it was running jobs with them, borrowing their agents for his own schemes, or simply coordinated crime activity from time to time. A lot of the timestamps on the data were old, but Onderin soon came across something that seemed much more relevant to their current predicament -- entries on the distribution of a drug called RAGE. It seemed that the Black Sun had been shipping large quantities out to civilized planets all over the galaxy in partnership with Faust. There was a large list of planets where the drug had been exported, many of which were influential and highly populated worlds. He started reading the description of RAGE itself and immediately linked it with Faust's rituals -- it was a Sith poison that suffused those subjected to it with the dark side, intensifying their negative emotions and ultimately destroying them. It had been released on the Senate, and could easily be used to aid the dark side ritual Faust had performed on Dubrillion and Kuat. "Vigo Delta -- Black Sun shipped out a drug called RAGE all over the galaxy. I believe neutralizing this drug may be the key to limting the effectiveness of Faust's attacks," he said. "I ask you for two things that could save many lives: I would like you to recall as many shipments of RAGE as possible, and I would like a copy of the chemical formula to aid planetary governments in isolating and disposing of these shipments themselves."

((I think at some point in all this you should bring her back around; whether that's now is up to you. I think her path has plenty of options going forward once Faust's plot resolves, and how she interacts with the rest of the group in the meantime can help form it.)) "And to think I had almost forgotten Black Sun's role in that," Onderin said dryly in response to Delta's statement. He held no illusions about Black Sun, even though they had been paired with the Sith on that particular act of terrorism. Fortunately, CoreSec's investigation into the matter had ultimately brought Ar-Pharazon to justice. Black Sun had yet to pay the price for their crimes there, and now providing Faust with many of the resources he was now using to wage war on the galaxy was another such misdeed to add to the list. They wouldn't be getting their comeuppance today, at any rate, although he wasn't certain why CoreSec hadn't taken action against known installations such as this.

Onderin and Ads arrived shortly after the other ship, and the Jedi Master put the ship in orbit while they awaited word from their local Vigo on where to go next. Meanwhile, he remembered the last time he had been here. Back during the war, the Alliance had had a few run-ins with the Black Sun, which had been able to field a small fleet in those days. Following an incident at Haruun Kal, he had come here with several ships intent on removing this very installation. Things hadn't gone exactly as he had expected, the Black Sun calling themselves the "Red Dawn" and claiming to have turned over a new leaf of legitimate business enterprising. For a time, the organization continued that masquerade, and there had been insufficient grounds for the Alliance to wipe this installation off the face of Dubrillion. Of course, ultimately it didn't last long and Black Sun had turned back to their true color -- Black, he supposed, rather than Red. This time he had no fleet and no intent to eradicate this installation, but whether the Black Sun was going to play games remained to be seen.

Onderin nodded. His third call had been to alert Thyferran security about the possible threat from Faust. They had assured him that since the Sith Lord's grand proclamation of war on the galaxy, they had taken great precautions to assure that bacta would continue flowing out of this world's plants no matter how bad things got. He supposed he didn't have any additional, more specific information to offer them, so he had done all he could short of launching a full investigation himself. And for that, they simply didn't have the time. The Jedi Master immediately started to head back to the ship. Thyferra was an inner rim world, and it sounded like they had three days before they were to meet with their Sith contact. He could use the downtime once they reached Coruscant to finally get Ads some lightsaber training -- they might have an extra day or so. It didn't take them long to get back to the ship, as they had not left the spaceport. Soon, they were off again. ((Feel free to add anything. I'm sure you know by now that I hate making arrival posts. Let's shoot for the Upper Levels or something rather than heading straight to the Last Call.))

Onderin finished making his three calls. "I have people looking into both leads," he said. "We should be free to meet with the Sith. I will let you decide the details -- the sooner the meeting, the better. We don't know how much time we have before Faust's next terrorist attack occurs." He was hoping that the Sith would be a little bit civil. He wasn't sure who the Dark Lord was at the moment, and the Sith had been rather quiet as of late. He generally thought of that as a good thing. Maybe they were still licking their wounds from the destruction of their temple on Coruscant. Whatever they were doing, he certainly hoped they weren't gathering strength and scheming for a big move in the future, as he wasn't positive the Jedi would have the strength to oppose a unified Sith Order. At any rate, he would remain on his guard as always when dealing with their kind. Too many times before had he been betrayed when attempting to negotiate, but this time the stakes were higher for both parties.

((Ads PMed me saying he probably won't have time to post this week.)) Onderin drew a deep breathe and let it out slowly, trying to focus his mind. Qaela seemed fixated on trying to draw Faust out by assuming that he had loyalties, even though Onderin had tried to explain to her that Faust certainly didn't care enough about Black Sun to come to their aid should they fall under attack. He wanted her to be a part of this investigation, but she couldn't seem to get past her initial idea. He wondered if she was trying to prove something. Unfortunately, he just didn't think they had the time to waste on leads that had a low chance of panning out--not while Faust was loose and planning his next attack. Going to the Sith as potential allies was another interesting thought. Onderin hardly thought he would be welcome among them--and he rather preferred it that way--but it would not perhaps be so bad a thing since they had to share this galaxy that Faust wanted to cripple. "I still do not think Faust would respond to a threat on the Black Sun," he said. "Even the crime syndicate will suffer do to Faust's destruction. I'm willing to bet the losses are already adding up from the collapse of the Corellian stock exchange and Black Sun assets there that were lost. Faust bears no allegiance to them or anyone else. "I do think that the Sith might be necessary allies in this fight," he said with just a bit of hesitation. "Of course, I don't know where to find them, and I would be reticent to drop off these Van Isel and Kuat leads altogether." He paused to check the comm that he had received, furrowed his eyebrows at its crudeness, and checked to see if he could estimate the origin of the signal. "We're going to need more people. Let's head back to the ship," he said. "I'm going to make a few calls. I wasn't the only Jedi present on Onderon when we met Van Isel..."

Onderin took a moment to consider both hints, all the while wondering whether this mysterious agent was trustworthy enough for his suggestions to be acted upon. On one hand, it was indeed too late of an hour to be following Faust's bread trail when moves could potentially be made to head him off. On the other hand, this could just be another agent of the powerful Sith Master, leading them away from the place where they were most needed based off vague directives. Nonetheless, the Jedi Master knew what both clues meant. They both took him back to the war, and to times where he could now see his judgment had been clouded. It had taken him a long time to get over his wartime mentality; Qaela's presence here and the conviction of Kirlocca for his actions against her were evidence that he could move on, however. As the agent walked away, Onderin turned to Qaela and Ads. "The first reference is to the bombardment of the Kuat Drive Yards. As perhaps the largest source of capital ships for the Galactic Alliance, it is a valuable but well defended target," he explained. "Van Isel... was a man I met on Onderon and was purportedly a professor studying Sith artifacts. I remember feeling a little uneasy about him, but he helped us evade a terrorist attack during our stay there, in which we were negotiating with Mandalorians. I have absolutely no idea why his name should come up now, but I imagine I could find him again if we were to go to Iziz." He narrowed his eyes. He had no idea who he could trust, or which leads were worth following. Should they split up and tackle both, or was that too risky? Perhaps other members of the Council--or some higher up agents from CoreSec--could investigate Kuat while his team went to Iziz. Kuat was one place in the galaxy where he felt... particularly unwelcome. Perhaps equally to other such strongly traditional Imperial worlds as Carida. "Thoughts?"

Onderin turned to face the strange figure. Definitely not a Vratix, dressed differently from most of Faust's agents, but clearly informed to approach the Jedi knowing just why they had come. That almost certainly made him one of the Sith's minions anyway, despite the conspiratory tone he adopted. He almost certainly could not be trusted... but right now he was Onderin's best lead to learning what he needed. "Faust's movements are difficult to predict, and there are few of us to hunt him," the Jedi Master said to the black-garbed man by way of explanation. "Who do you represent? What is your interest in the matter?" He focused on the being with the Force, determined to catch a lie if one were to be told.

Onderin looked about. He had chosen to set down in the capital city of Xozhixi, a city which had a population dominated by the native insectoid Vratix but also had a minority human population. It contained the headquarters for the two major bacta producing titans, the Xucphra and Zaltin Corporations. There was a long history of bad blood between the Xucphra and Zaltin, with the former often supporting the Empire but the latter sympathetic to their enemies and more loyal to the planet's own interests. During the first Galactic Civil War and its aftershocks, the planet had been liberated more than once from the Empire, but the Rebellion/New Republic had never settled there, allowing Thyferra to remain neutral--as it should have been. During the more recent war, it had also managed to stay neutral, so Onderin had not needed to fight over it -- although for some years he had taken on a lot of the administrative tasks in running the Alliance's war machine which involved dealing with the Zaltin Corporation and their delegates. Perhaps the Empire had finally come to understand that trying to horde bacta and keep it out of the hands of its enemies was both impractical and inhumane. Onderin could think of no galactic target that he would fight as hard to liberate. And now Faust was making threats. "The local government will not be aware that Faust indicated them as a target," he said. "But they will have heard the threats he made to the Senate. We should get in touch with them and the two major corporations and put them on alert -- if Faust has not struck yet, the least we can do is make it more difficult for him and his agents by putting security on alert." Xozhixi was a large city, of course. Onderin headed for the local public transport network, which was close to the spaceport for obvious reasons. There were many Vratix milling about, and the two Jedi with their unusual colleagues drew some stares. As they were in transit, he almost expected Faust's plan to reveal itself in some way. After all, it had been Faust himself who had led them here, and he expected it wasn't just to get them out of the way.

As they were getting ready to depart from the ship on Thyferra, having let the Force and some reasoning guide them to which part of the planet they had landed upon, Qaela came to Onderin with a proposition. He considered it for a moment. "It is true that Ads is very close to being ready," he said. "Unfortunately, he doesn't have any formal lightsaber instruction yet, although with Faust's agents gunning for us it's becoming all the more pressing that he gets just that." He paused in thought for a moment. He hadn't made any specific plans for Ads' trials, but he felt the will of the Force working through these circumstances. That Ads would be here, with him, close to finishing his training and exposed to such unusual circumstances -- it seemed easy to see that most of Ads' trials were already being presented to him. Or perhaps they would be soon. "I will keep your offer in mind," he said. "Depending on what we find here and if we end up with any downtime, I may take you up on your offer." Of course, he had utmost faith on his apprentice's ability to resist the lure of the dark side. He had shown no interest in anything Qaela had said thus far, and had brushed off temptation on Dantooine with little trouble. "Shall we get moving, then?" he asked, lowering the boarding ramp.

Onderin raised his eyebrows at Ads. "I guess I missed that in all the excitement," he said. "Still, I would think the Corellian infrastructure sound enough to quickly recover from his disruption." The Corellian Jedi, in his green Corellian Jedi robes, started to head back to the shuttle. "We must press on," he said. "Qaela, we can drop a comm to CoreSec en route to Thyferra." And if we're walking into a trap, then may the Force be with us. Informing the local authorities that he was on his way out, Onderin reached the shuttle with the rest of the group and soon they were off. ((Someone else can post our arrival on Thyferra--in case you want to add anything before then.))

Onderin sent Ads an encouraging look. "That's exactly what the Council is starting to wonder," he said. "Master Trevelian informed me that they're beginning to suspect Faust is not simply seeking the destruction of everything around him. It's rather bizarre -- other than a half-baked pair of attempts on our lives, what has he actually done here in Coronet? If the missile was really the intended terrorist attack, why would he lure the people who could stop it here first?" The Jedi Master knit his brow in thought. "So far Faust has done a lot of work to get our attention but hasn't really made good on his threats. He performed that dark side ritual which, although destructive, was done on a remote world where the amount of damage done was extremely limited compared to if he had picked a more heavily populated world. Plus whatever he did with the Senate, which isn't very clear. He has extensive resources, stockpiles of weapons and a network of loyal agents," he reasoned, "and yet there are no reports of mass terrorist attacks on major galactic cities. So far all he's done is call a lot of attention to himself and drop not-so-subtle hints about where he wants us to go next." He grew even more thoughtful. "Faust's threats are credible due to his history, which means that CoreSec will be stepping up security everywhere, and the galaxy's leaders are not going to remain vulnerable. By announcing his intentions, he has made his plan significantly more difficult to pull off, even with his resources," he continued. "And let's face it. If he actually has a plan grand enough to seriously Thyferra's bacta output -- unlikely given the size, value, and resilience of its industry -- it's unlikely that a few Jedi are going to make a difference there. And yet why lure us there if he already knows where we are?" Onderin shook his head. "I think we have to assume that there's something else going on here," he said. "I think we have to go to Thyferra and see what else we can learn. Maybe putting some pressure on Black Sun would help too, but attacking criminal installations isn't the job of a small team of Jedi, it's work for CoreSec. They've seemed willing enough to mobilize against Black Sun and the Sith in the past, so I think it seems reasonable to send intelligence to them like the specific locations of any installations you happen to know about." This last bit was aimed at Qaela. As far as Onderin was aware, CoreSec did not know any such details, with the exception perhaps of Cloud City's recent takeover.