Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Zeno invited a few people that had shown interest when he sent out feelers among those involved in the peace summit. The Cunning Man was still a threat, and information was still not centralized enough. Resources were not fully dedicated and people that could be more effective if involved were out of the loop.

Time to fix that.

It was near enough to her room that she could take a break from her extensive packing regiment and see what the folks here had to say.

Once admitted she nodded politely, “Evenin’ Duke Consort.”

Having received the Duke-consort's invitation, Kat arrived at the appointed hour. Rather than wearing her usual jedi-attire, she wore more civilian clothing today, with only the plain brown robe over to give that first-identifier of "jedi"... the lightsaber was still present, of course.

"Good evening," she said calmly, greeting the first two with a bow.

"Talk about a room filled with the most unlikely sorts," she said, coming in not too long after Kat but most certainly having arrived alone. As to counter her usual Riss was dressed in a far nicer jacket than folk were used to seeing her wearing. Something which had the accented colors of her House worked into it, though it wasn't blaringly obvious without previous knowledge. Striding in with her hand resting against the blaster pistol at her hip she makes her way into the room as allowed.

Finding her way, first and most notably, over to Kat and leaning in to give her one of those simple cheek kiss greetings. Before looking to the main man of the hour, and offering him a nod. Delmi got one too, but there was more focus in Zeno's.

This was something that interested Prince Unther and he arrived to see what he could learn.


Thy had felt that this was a place she should be, so here she was sitting on a cushion eyes closed. Listening.

After having a late lunch with her sister and setting her loose on the Fair Grounds, Jocasta set out to Zeno's suite. She was happily surprised to see it well populated by the time she arrived.

He nods to all those gathered so far and bowed his head. He wasn't looking to greet everyone individually because this wasn't a party or a banquet. He gave Prince Unther the traditionally expected bow but did not go into niceties. The first thing he addressed was Thy, who he does not remember ever seeing before, but she had that Jedi look. "I am not certain we've met before. But I am guessing you are here to observe on behalf of the order? If so, then thank you for coming," he says with a nod, giving her a pause so she can introduce herself.

"And thank everyone else for accepting my invitation as well. We have an issue in the Cunning man. It's only become apparent to everyone here in the past week. People have shared things as they've come to light, but not without a certain amount of trepidation about who they might be giving that information to. The summit arranged by Prince Gaul revealed the issue, but it did not come quick enough and we did not have time to organize a response. I believe that how we handle this issue needs to change and requires cooperation that traditional house politics can only interfere with."

"I have a proposal for that. A task force that would be organized under the purview of the Crown, funded by those houses with the means and desire to help see this threat to our way of life ended, and with cooperation, assistance and oversight from the Jedi order to help keep the political concerns out of the flow of information... assuming they are willing to provide their expertise, which I suspect they are."

[OOC: Anyone not already present here, please feel free to say you were in attendance and heard everything from this point on if you pop in.]

Thy was given a nod and a smile, and the prince a bow as was proper for his status.

As Zeno spoke, Kat listened with interest and nodded. "I am in agreement with you, duke-consort. We began the thought with the peace summit, but after what has happened, we see even more the need for action. I will give my support to this initiative."

Assuming Zeno and Layne hadn't tried murdering each other during their earlier meeting; and assuming that the invitation had indeed been extended, Layne would've shown up... fashionably late. She was still pretty seriously injured; or at least that's what Omandri had told her. And of course there were lingering feelings. Resentments. Suspicions. Etcetera, etcetera. But she was there.

"They hurt Alderaan. They hurt me," she says, hand brushing over Kat's shoulder as she finds herself a place to sit. Naturally, as this was Riss, the surface in which she chose to sit was not a surface meant for sitting. Leg kicking up onto the side of a lower table she hooks the heel of her boot against it

"So, me? House Lanar? I'm here for any shot at hurting them back."

He nodded in thanks to both Riss and Kat for their words of support for the plan. With no immediate questions popping up he adds an additional point.

"There are many in this room that would question me. And I doubt the order would be too pleased with me holding any type of leadership role in any organization they might choose to involve themselves with. Too much history and understandable mistrust," he says looking to Layne.

"So while I will do what I can to help with the initial provisioning and setup, I will step aside for someone more qualified and with the confidence of more people to take charge. I'll still provide what expertise and resources I can personally in addition to those I can muster for helping finance this endeavor, but I have no qualms with or illusions about what many think of me. And this is too important a mission for too many people to squabble over it. The whole point is to avoid such things as much as possible."

"Does anyone have any suggestions or nominations for potential candidates? I would guess someone with either a special forces or intelligence gathering background would be well suited."

"They should be an Alderaanian, of course. Someone the people can trust.." she muses, though the slight furrow of her brow relaxes and she looks over toward Unther. Rumors suggested a lot of things, helpful things. While she had a pretty good feeling on whom would be the right person for the task, she wasn't here to speak for herself.

Unther of course, very much could weigh his own opinion in on this matter. Though she wasn't going to put him too much on the spot. Just the casual glance that would plant the thought and nothing more.

Dapper Dog wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 11, 2021 11:09 am

This was something that interested Prince Unther and he arrived to see what he could learn.

Omandri had of course been there more or less on time. He was dressed similarly to the peace summit wearing an all black suit with an emerald green tie gold cufflinks and a gold tie pin with house Rist insignia on it. He nodded to those he knew Riss and Kat both got smiles from him and he would find a seat near them.

He listened to everyone talk and nodded along "House Rist will support this endeavor, the Cunning Man has been a thorn in the side of Alderaan and his organization made it personal when he came after my family. We will offer as much aid as we can financial and otherwise."

When it came to the matter of leading the task force he listened to Riss with another nod "Yes I agree Countess," he said the honorific with a small smile "and there are many who could do the job, someone capable. The man we are hunting is dangerous and well connected. We have to make sure the leader of this task force won't be bought or intimidated."

Delmi looked around the room and tried to gauge what was happening.

“So… sorry. What is this task force’s purpose and how does it go about accomplishing its objectives? I get the rationale… but Alderaan is just one system in a wide galaxy. If y’all are planning on rooting out what remains of the cells here, I think that’s a great idea… But what exactly is the scope y’all are aiming for?”

"There are options for capture and extradition of fugitives and criminals of any government. This is a Republic wide threat, and so the Jedi should have some authority for collecting identified members of the organization that is operated by the fugitive known as the cunning man. In the absence of any such republic support, the more expensive option of contracting with the bounty hunter's guild who are well versed in extradition law in different regions would allow us to bring those operatives into custody. This can all be handled as a stopgap while political attempts are made with the senate to categorized the Cunning Man as an enemy of the Republic. There are plenty of legal means to seek justice for the people that lost their lives to this plot," Zeno says, understanding where Delmi was probably coming from. "But Alderaan can be the first to officially recognize his organization as a criminal syndicate or terrorist organization, bringing them just a bit more out of the shadows and into the light."

She raised a hand.

"Just as Delmi pointed out how this goes beyond just Alderaan, you should realize that this goes beyond the Cunning Man. I have seen no reason to suspect he is anything more than just middle management. One leader of one cell of who knows how many. You should not make the mistake of focusing on him and thinking you've accomplished anything when he is finally apprehended. He will just be replaced by another."

She nodded, “Jurisdiction is a nightmare across the galaxy. Alderaanian money, Alderaanian assets, Alderaanian personnel all can contribute greatly… but speed and resolve are imperative for catching bad guys like this. They are in one place one second and on the other side of the galaxy the next. They can go dark for years without a trace, and know how to pick places like here where things are easy to push over an edge without having to commit any of their own assets. They are just as willing to support their cells and agents as they are to put a blaster bolt through their throats.”

She leaned forward, “I’m not sure a new task force will be all that helpful unless it can find a way to streamline the information that the Jedi, SIS, and anybody else have and be able to act on a moment’s notice. The Jedi and the SIS can move like that… but an Alderaanian task force might meet any number of obstacles.”

She leaned back, “I’m not trying to shoot down the idea… I know my friends in the SIS are welcome to all the skilled help we can get. But figuring out what it is and what it’s supposed to do will probably help y’all figure out who should run it.”

"I.. think we're getting a little carried away with ourselves," she says, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the nearby wall.

"Let's keep this more simple. Goal? Hunt down the Cunning Man. Simple enough to get us started, mm?" she says, looking between those present. "Fitting enough, because he's the one who attacked Alderaan. Alderaan gets to respond to that."

"And, I think the whole point of assembling a group is so that they can figure out how? Isn't it?"

Delmi nodded, “So… ideas? What leads do y’all have?”

She added, “Most of the Blackkat’s stuff was for here on Alderaan and was small fish. And Bryson Rist got killed… probably by the bad guys… What else we got? First steps…”

"I think... at first, we should look to make sure there are no more double-agents within our own homes. Clean house before we turn our attention outwards," Kat suggested from her observations. There was no point in rooting out conspiracies elsewhere if they still had hostile forces in their own home that could still manipulate them where they were supposed to be safe.

"From there, the Houses might also uncover from what's left behind of the Cunning Man's agents, and this organization they belong to. It will provide us some guidance of where to go." It would also be a testament to the Houses' commitment to share their findings with eachother.

Her hands folded together in her lap. "All things must start somewhere. For now, it starts with us, with Alderaan. Where it goes from there, we will see."