Predator or Prey...

It is realized that hunting cannot be a sport. For it is agreed that in a sport, both sides should know they're in the game
-Veridian proverb of unknown origins.

Mos Eisley, Tatooine...

The three men entered the bar mostly inconspicuous and found a booth out of the way that wasn't being claimed. They weren't regulars in the bar but then again, in this part of space, who was? They were human and most overlooked them as they were dressed like any individuals of any importance. Scanning the room, the three men took in as much of the atmosphere as they could as none of them had ever been in this part of the galaxy before. The band near the other end of the bar was playing some rather colorful music, a tune none of the men had heard before and at the moment they weren't really interested in it. Only moments after sitting did a waitress approach the men to see what she got get them. Making small take with the waitress, they asked what was the best drink in the house for their kind. The waitress, of some alien species, was paid to play nice with the customers so long as they played nice with her. Look but don't touch was the rule and if anyone got fresh, the muscles were brought in. Smiling, she offered her advice for which the men promptly took and ordered a round.

The waitress didn't waste anytime making the drinks and bringing them to the table. "New to the region" she asked, still making small talk and hoping for a good tip. "You could say something like that" said one of the men. Say, is it true that all kinds come through this space sport?" The waitress smile and raised and eyebrow, "All kinds......I'm not sure what you mean. All kinds of species? or..." The man shook his head and tried to clarify himself before he insulted her. "No, no...what I mean was, all types of personalities. See me and my friends here are looking for a certain type of....individual and we're willing to pay." The talk of money always caught the waitress's attention and she leaned in. "What are you looking for, we get all....types in here. Maybe I have help point someone your way, for a fee." Placing some currency used on the planet in her hand as well as paying for the drinks, the man leaned in. "We're looking for bounty hunters or well, hunters in general. If there are anyone we can speak with about this, we'd like to right away."

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A day earlier...

"This is a meeting of the Triumvirate, Triumvir Marcus Flaven speaking. Under the powers of the Necessary Classification Act, this meeting is classified and shall be recorded for the archives of the Dominion only, priority one. Level 10 clearance shall be necessary to access the proceedings of this meeting." Marcus motioned for everyone to look at their pads in front of them as he continued. "Our projections show that trade with the Centauri is going well, both through means of the stargate as well as through cargo ships. We've already begun regular trips to the Rhean's region of space as well though we require escorts from their navy once in the system due to random attacks by enemies of that state. If our calculations are correct, our economy will gain well from the transactions by the end of the year. We have also finalized deals with Kuat Drive Yards to begin construction of their shipyard, to benefit our people. Already we've purchased several pre-built models offered by the company for commercial use. In short, our first diplomatic stretches into the galaxy have been profitable both economically as well as intelligence wise."

The other Triumvirs shook their heads in agreement before Supreme Commander and Triumvir, Flavian Sabinus spoke. "We've been pouring over the information given to use by the Rheans, some of which overlaps information given to use by the Centauri. Neither power seem outwardly hostile nor do either seem they are entirely in a position to make conflict with us if that was an ulterior motive of theirs. The Centauri are politically divided and its our best estimate that it would be difficult for them to reach the consensus necessary to launch an effective offense against another power. The Rheans are more politically solidified but have internal problems fighting the sith, a race we know only preliminary information on. While the war as we are aware of it is over, the Rheans remained engaged in having to clean up what remains of sith forces in their system. Beyond that, we believe the Rheans are committed to other Galactic powers we have yet interacted with. Still, both powers do pose a certain threat to the Dominion were they to be agitated by our actions in the galaxy. I would suggest we continue to move cautiously as we continued to improve and strengthen ourselves. Such a topic is what brings us to this particular meeting."

Marcus gave a nod of agreement. "Yes, security is our main concern right now as we begin to spread out into the wider galaxy. The Centauri and Rheans have opened our eyes to a plethora of potential threats, threats we know so little about. We've had our eyes open to alien races with the power to wipe out civilizations with nothing more than a simply ring, some races even less than that. If we are to protect ourselves and preserve the Dominion from all threats, we must gain a better understanding of all these aliens and their technology. Triumvir Sabinus will agree with me, that as Supreme Commander he understands that to create a solid defense we must know and understand the weaknesses of potential enemies." Pressing a few buttons on his control panel, a image was shown before the group along with several lines of information. "According the Rheans, two subgroups of their species and presumably all species exists. Divided by their ideology, both agree in the existence of a mystical energy force which existence in and around everything in the universe. They call this energy field, the force, and both groups use this energy to preform remarkable acts of strength and ability."

"Sounds like dangerous mysticism, and archaic beliefs to me" said Triumvir Alexandria Gentianus as she crossed her arms. "Religion and religious beliefs have always brought chaos and we should know that first hand." Marcus shook his head in agreement, "Yes I have to agree that much of the information is indeed more religiously motivated than base in scientific information. This force, may well be an energy field that pervades the universe, perhaps something that can be tapped and used as a renewable energy source. Perhaps even it gives of radiation that has mutate these Jedi and Sith as well as the other alien species we've been made aware of that had preform super-human like acts. Our scientists who I've given access to this information have postulated as much but our problem is, is that we cannot know for certain unless we can experiment and find out for ourselves. Naturally, I believe it would be politically damaging to ask the Rheans to handover Jedi willing to submit to our experiments given the risks involved. This, naturally, leaves us with only one option and that is to experiment on a Sith."

"A sith" said Triumvir Gentianus raising an eyebrow, "I highly doubt a sith will submit to experiments." "This is very true Triumvir Gentianus" said Triumvir Sabinus, "but we believe we have a plan to take on hostage. The Rheans information shows us that the Sith are a ideological group, not a species themselves but a collection of species that includes humans. While we're naturally different from our counterparts in other parts of the universe given our centuries of evolution in different environments, our scientists feel confident we remains genetically close. Close enough that we can forumlate a proper sedative to knock out a human sith and keep them sedated while we experiment. Per request, I have already assembled a team of three that represents some of our finest."

"An how are we to find this sith?" Triumvir Gentianus said doubtfully.

"The Rheans have given us information on what region of the Galaxy they believe the Sith are hiding in for our safety" said Marcus. "Since gaining that information we've found a planet and have successful made a gate connection from Veridia Prime to that location, just outside believed Sith space. We've setup a crash site on the planet and will soon activate a distress signal that Sith should surely pick up. It will tell that a human cargo vessel has crash landed and needs assistance. Its a risk, but we believe the Sith will use deception and should likely send a human sith to deceive the crew and kill them to take the contents of the ship, which will be said to be volatile chemicals. We are assigning a team of three to oversee the mission to hunt the Sith on the planet and take him alive. However, we've deiced to bring in outside help to assure the missions success. We're sending the team first to the planet the Rheans call Tatooine. Situated along a popular trade route, the planet has become a popular destination for all sorts, including bounty hunters. The team will employ a bounty hunter or two and use their expertise to track the Sith a capture him. Naturally, the we're covering all angles to ensure the Dominion isn't implicated should this operation fail."

"Bold plan Triumvir Flaven" said Triumvir Gentianus, 'but there is much that we cannot calculate with certainty and its that, that I worry over."

"There is margins of error I will agree Triumvir" said Marcus, "but times like these call for bold plans and if we don't understand individuals like the Sith and learn their weaknesses, we cannot hope to survive the terrors of the Galaxy."

OOC: This is open to everyone who want to get involved. I imagine you'll want to get in on it Pan

(OOC: Do you mean the full-fledged Sith Empire bigger than all of us combined by a few orders of magnitude or the Sith remnant of the expeditionary force? Please tell me you're not poking the full-fledged Empire. There's a reason I'm waiting for about 300-500 years in RP time for them to show up, that reason being that their population is in the trillions, minimum. If it's the latter, congratulations, you're about to meet Darth Valefar and the rest of the Sith triumvirate. Valefar is an Elder Scrolls-type high elf picked up by the Sith when they send a few shuttles to P'Taria and came across an island with the ruins of a crashed Star Destroyer on it. Yes, he is a Dovahkiin and every bit a match for Johan Luther, the former Darth Lanius.)

Meanwhile, Darth Valefar, ruler of the Sith triumvirate, and his fellow triumvirs, Darth Thanatos and Darth Carnifex, brood over methods of destroying the Jedi order and the Imperial Knights in the ruins of Malachor. The direct approach advocated by Carnifex was clearly not working. Furious, Valefar declares the end of that method and called for the withdrawal of the Sith entirely to force the Jedi and the Imperial Knights to come to them. From there, they can strike from the shadows at their enemies. After lots of shouts and denouncements, Valefar puts his foot down. The Sith forces cease their attacks to re-consolidate. The Rheans transmit the rough area where they believe the remnants are hiding out in to their allies as warning for travelers.

(OOC: The Imperial Knights are a separate organization that refused to integrate with the other megastates' Force users' organizations. Also, this is a much smoother running organization than the original universe's Sith triumvirate. It's still not going to last, though. It's just how the Sith function.)

(OOC: I meant more the Sith remnant then, and actually I'm not intending to interact with the whole force of that either. The Dominion is hoping that the Sith will send a scout to the crash and that they can capture the scout. Of course if they send a full squad or task-force then they're screwed but I'll just have to wait and see lol.)

(OOC: Ah. Well, hopefully, that ship has cameras with live feed in top secret Dominion offices.)

An apprentice walks in. Bowing, he says, "My lords, we have detected an intruder nearby. They're claiming to be from the Veridian Dominion."

"The Dominion, here? It can't be coincidence. Rhea has indeed informed them," says Carnifex.

"It is suspicious. Lord Thanatos, investigate this disturbance."

An eerie but quiet shriek emerges from Thanatos. Within the hour, an Interdictor-class cruiser arrives near the ship. Thanatos desends, seemingly alone, to enter the wreck. A very observant opponent will see the occasion shimmer, however.

(OOC: I actually meant for the Sith to believe it was from some other human civilization and not the Veridians as I thought knowing it was from us would prompt them coming after us...and we're in no shape to fight the Sith lol. But then again, its one thing to know of us and another to know exactly where we are so its fine. I'll reply to this properly tomorrow, I was hoping someone else might want to jump in like Sel or something but either way I'll reply tomorrow.)

(OOC: I can't really reply to this because I have no IC way of knowing what is going on, and even if I did so my nation ICly would not have too much incentive to participate, sorry.)

(OOC: @Sela: Noted, though Luther may want to jump in on this if he manages to hear ICly.

@Ver: Yeah, you may want some backup there because Thanatos could single-handedly mop the floor with the bounty hunters that were hired, not to mention the plentiful invisible backup he brought with him.)

OOC: I guess I just thought that there might be some centauri bounty hunters out in the galaxy since your people are space-faring now and have a relationship with Rheans if I'm not mistaken. That or that it was open for you just to create a bounty hunter character of ambiguous origins lol Its ok though, I guess I should have contacted you prior, anyways I'll move the story along.

IC:

"We weren't able to procure any help from the spaceport" Captain Agori declared while salute Supreme Commander Sabinus over a secure communications link. "I fear we simply did not blend in well enough with the local crowd to allow for anyone to approach us. More than likely they feared we were apart of the local authorities or worse."

"It was fear that might be the case Captain" said the Supreme Commander. "The Triumvirate had a contingency plan in place if this turn out to the case, which is has. I've already briefed two squads of the operation (OOC: Veridian squads contains 8 soldiers exactly with no deviation) and they're on a transport to P1429. They'll be awaiting you when you arrive at the planet and ready to go with you through the Stargate. They'll be under your command from their Captain....an Captain....I need not remind you that either you bring the team home without incident or no one comes home...understood?"

"Affirmative Supreme Commander"

With the communications was severed and the Captain returned to the bridge of the small ship the Veridians were using. With the coordinates of P1429 in their navigation computer, the ships hyperdrive was activated. Given it was a small ship that the Veridians had bought from Kuat Drive, the ship was equipped with a much more powerful engine than anything the Veridians had thus far and as such, the ship arrived at its destination within a few minutes time rather than a few hours time. The planet the Veridians designated as P1429 was located within a star system not far from their home system. It had been located in the ancestor's archives, as a planet address discovered on Earth. Veridians dialed the gate only to discover the planet was a frozen waste land not suitable for colonization but one that could hold mineral resources they'd wish to exploit.

While the Dominion had yet to begin such test, Dominion Military Command believe the planet would be the best place to dial from to reach the planet of the crash site. Captain Agori and the other two officers landed their small transport on the planet not far from where the squads had landed, and feet from the gate itself. Exiting their transport, the Captain and other two were salute and together the entire team approached the gate. Having some knowledge of the gate and its workings from their ancestors, the Dominion had developed a remote dial device which allowed an individual to remotely dial any stargate. This was particularly necessary for those planets whose gates did not possess a dialing device. Entering the gate address, the gate powered up and soon a wormhole was established and the team walked through. Instantaneously the team emerged on the planet, a jungle paradise.

"The crash site is a few miles in that direction" Captain Agori told the teams. He pulled out a pad device and activated a senior program. "Sensors are indicating movement around the crash site boys, seems we've got something in our net. Make sure your weapons are at the ready, and be prepared for anything." With that the team moved out...
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"So we have monitoring devices correct?" Triumvir Flaven asked as he turned to Triumvir Sabinus.

"Yes" he said as he nodded. "However, it was thought to be too risky to install devices that directly linked back to the homeworld as we feared the signal could be traced. Instead the devices can be remotely activated by sending a signal through an active wormhole via the gate. The team should be there by now, and in a few minutes we'll dial the world from here and receive the first amounts of data from the monitoring devices."

"Good" said the Triumvir.

(OOC: I assumed whoever was there were those you hired. If you want to go back and change it, go ahead. If not, oh well.)

The Veridian troops would have vague feeling of being followed. If they were really observant, they would notice nearly two dozen shimmering figures walking near them. Suddenly, out of the wreck walks a cloaked figure. What appears to be a silver baton is clipped to his belt. Those familiar with such weapons would instantly recognize it as a lightsaber. He waves a hand and feeling of great terror should sweep through all but the most strong-willed of them. He follows through by blasting the squad member closest to him with Force drain.

OOC: Well the bar scene was my three Dominion agents trying to sniff out help from somewhere else, the idea being that it would create a chance for anyone to join in as I figured Tatoonie would have a bit of people from everywhere, well at least of the space-faring civilizations lol. Its cool though, I've written that it was a failure so I don't think there's a reason to re-write unless I've made anyone confused.

IC:

The Veridians were cautious when the approached the wreckage, taking their time through the jungle until they were at the clearing. First believing they were alone they approached the wreckage where they believed they'd find the lone life-form, a life-form they hoped was the prey they were expecting. However, the Captain couldn't help but notice that there was several prints in the softer ground around the wreckage, prints that couldn't have come all from this one person. The technicians would have combed the perimeter of the wreckage after setting up, to sow the deception. This lead to the Captain having the funny feeling that they were not alone with the individual before them.

The the sith attacked and young Veridian in battle uniform fell to his knees in agony as the Sith began to drain the very life from his body. A sense of stun, shock, and fear swept over the men before and was enforced by this attack. Verteran among them were Captain Agori and his fellow two officers but even they were shaken by the attack. Composing themselves as the life was all but drain from the Veridians body, Captain Agori began barking orders in the Veridian tongue.

"Defense posture delta" he barked, the men raised their riffles some men along either flank of their grouping turning outward and into the apparent clearing where they could see little but jungle, men in the rear did the same. "FIRE!"

The weapons used by the Dominioon are micro-scaled mass accelerators, using mass-reducing fields and magnetic force to propel miniature slugs to lethal speeds. To generate ammunition a weapon shaves a projectile the size of a sand grain from a dense block of metal contained within the weapon's body. Earlier designs of such weapons technology allowed for ammunition to never become a problem but sadly heat was. Earlier designs would overheat, causing Veridians to have to maintain smaller bursts of fire from weapons such as their assault riffle models. Luckily attachable heat sinks solved the heat problem in later models.

The men around the perimeter fired into the open jungle, a spraying motion in small controlled bursts. The men at the front, whose weapons were aimed at the Sith, fired directly towards the Sith though they aimed more at its extremities than any area that would be a lethal hit.

Using carefully controlled bursts of Force speed and a good deal of precognition, he manages to start dodging the rounds fired at him. It's hard enough hitting a moving target as it is. But when that target starts dashing around at highway speeds and leaping like a madman, it really makes it a damn hard task. It also doesn't help that in between the saber slashes and lightning bursts thrown around, there are also those cloaked figures decloaking behind the Veridian troops and stabbing them in the back with their force pikes. Still, they will try to keep the captain alive. When the Sith lord reaches him, he only lops off one of his arms.

(OOC: Mass Effect?)

OOC: Yes, mass effect, element zero and its uses area primary resource for the Dominion at this point. I imagine we'll go blaster/phaser/etc. eventually, just not anytime soon. The soldiers armor would have had Kinetic barriers but from what I understand in the way of lightsabers and these types of shields as used in Mass Effect, it wouldn't have really done much to save the soldiers anyways lol So the fact that I failed to mention them doesn't really change anything.

IC: Captain Agori watched it all, as if every event had happened in slow motion. The movement of the sith was so perfect, so beautiful, it looked almost choreographer in comparison to his troops movement against these individual. That they failed to hit a single cloaked assailant had really damaged their chances of success it seemed in this mission. The Dominion had overestimated themselves, this fact was a simply deduction at this point. The Sith proved that they were far superior to anything the Dominion could throw at this at this point, and even alone a single Sith proved their weight in terms of military power.

Collapsing to his knees, the total shock of the attack and the cauterization of the wound, left the Captain stunned but without pain. The Sith had taken his less dominant hand, well really his entire left arm. Though he clutched his riffle in his right hand he did not, at this point, have the energy or capacity to attack. Perhaps he did but logically understood that resistance in this case was futile. The Sith kept him alive for reason and it was doubtful that such a reason was to let him get one good shot in. Instead, Captain Agori released his grip and allowed the riffle to hit the dirt beneath him. His head lowered, he said nothing and simply awaited either a word from the sith or the final blow.

(OOC: Maybe. Maybe not. I use energy weapons only because I'm based mostly around Star Wars. IRL, I'm a firm believer of the idea that kinetic energy weapons are better. In-universe, the Rutians get along just fine with Gauss weapons. Also, they probably shouldn't feel too bad about it. The guy they're going after is one of the most powerful living Sith. Against a typical Sith warrior alone, he'd be dead after taking out half the squad.)

Darth Thanatos telekinetically lifts him up. In a cold, high voice, he starts speaking. "Fool. Did you truly believe your ambush would work? That you could take a Dark Lord of the Sith?" Without waiting for him to answer, he flings him aside. Lightsaber at the captain's throat, he says, "Dial the gate."

(OOC: Johan Luther to the rescue? )

(OOC: Possibly.)

The Sith marches the dazed captain towards the gate, a few miles from the wreckage. When they approached the gate it was already active, an in coming wormhole. It was the Dominion, accessing the monitoring devices of the wreckage. While they'd soon learn the fate of the men they sent to the planet, it would be regrettably too late. As the gate deactivated, the sith gave his order.

Captain Agori still dazed and confused, could make out from his translator strapped to his only arm left, that the Sith wanted him to dial the gate. Where though was never specified, so after clearing his throat he responded.

"We were simply responding to our people's distress signal."

Darth Thanatos raises a hand and Captain Agor will start choking. He releases him a few seconds later. "Do not lie to Darth Thanatos. He knows. Now dial the gate to your previous location."

He then directs one of the Sith assassins to contact his ship. Within minutes, a few more shuttles land. They regurgitate a whole platoon of Sith troopers and two of Thanatos' apprentices.

(OOC: Veridia Prime itself won't come under attack.)

OOC: I figured you'd PM me or something along those lines if that's where this was heading. That said, I'm never opposed to just going with the flow, unless its flowing towards my nation's under extinction lol.

IC:

Slowly the Captain raised his arm, looking at a small pocket attached around his upper arm. Darth Thanatos looks at the Captain and with a simply twist of his hand, the pocket is opened and the small device inside is pulled out and dropped in the Captain lap.

Slugishly, the Captain maneuvers through the various functions of the pad-like device, with the Sith watching closely and ready to punish the Captain at the first sign of betrayal. Finally, the remote dialing function is brought up and the captain locks in the address to P1429. While the gate began its dialing sequence, the Captain found some solace in the fact that they would not be traveling to his homeworld. A a frozen wasteland, all the Sith would find would be the ships the Veridians used to reach the planet, ships probably buried by now my several feet of snow and ice.

Still, P1429 was in a star system not far from the home system, a light years away from any civilization that could stand int he way of the Sith. The captain feared the worst....
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"We've reviewed the records several times already Triumvir Flaven " said Supreme Commander Sabinus, a fellow Triumvir. "I fear this mission is a complete failure."

"It would appear so" said Marcus as he review the recording himself. "However, the Captain...He was still alive before this recording was downloaded. He may still be live, still being used by the Sith for something."

"Its a possibility yes, but what they'd use him for I have no idea..."

"Can we dispatch a contingent to p1429?" ask Marcus.

"I will look into it at once...."

(OOC: Thanatos was just going to erase the outpost at P1429 as punishment. Attacking Veridia Prime itself would draw too much attention. I plan on having them try to hunker down in P'Taria.)

The Sith forces walk through the gate. They start scouring the ships the Veridians used to arrive and decided to set up their own ambush inside when they found no one there.

The Veridians had no military to speak of, when it came to galactic affairs. No grand armada of starships and certainly no vast legion of armored soldiers. Though point of the expedition was to gauge the enemy, to gauge a species believed to be of great threat to the Veridians and the rest of the galaxy. The idea was to gain as much information as was possible and more important, it had been hoped that they could have attained a Sith prisoner for study. That plan was over now and instead the Veridians felt they were now on clean up detail. After all, as far as they knew they'd just open the gate to their neck of the galaxy to the Sith.

Having few options the Veridians put together a expedition team and sent them out in one of the last starships they had to spare to P1429. Approaching the planet the recon ship radio the ships on the planet's surface and naturally got no response. It seemed the ship would have no choice but to land of the harsh, cold surface and investigate the ships locally, to see if the Sith had come through the gate.

As Veridian search parties enter the ships, the doors behind them seal. As they search, the occasional soldier would get impaled by force pike wielded by a Sith assassin followed by a full attack from any Sith troopers in ambush zones. The standard procedure is to try to disorient them first with impalement and then flash-bang and smoke grenades. The battle-hardened veterans of the Sith would likely suffer few losses. When they were done, any survivors would be thrown aside and left alive to tell the tale. The captain is among them. They dial the gate back and leave.

Cold.....so cold

Thought is prevalent in his mind, over and over he thinks about it and can't think of anything else. Then things go dark, so dark and so cold. Looking up at the cold grey sky he can't seem to find the fate outline of the sun. He's not sure how long he's been laying there, in what he now believes will be the cold grave for which he dies in. Thoughts of his family now come to mind, of his daughter now nearing her teen years or his son who just a few years younger. For a moment he thinks he sees them but no its just snow, so much snow....and things go dark again.

If as in an instant he sees the outline of the sun or at least he thinks its the sun. But there's voice, so many voices that it can't been the sun. They're talking about him, or at least he thinks they are but can't hear for certain because everything seems so muffled. He wants to open his eyes but he can't, they're seal or he doesn't have the strength, he can't tell which. He calls out, but nothing, nothing seems to come out when he opens his mouth. Nothing that he himself can understand anyways so he just lays there but it seem not so cold now but then again, he can't seem to feel anything really. He wonders now as he can feel himself drifting back, he wonders if he's dead.....
_____________________________________________________


"It seems your little operation was less than successful gentlemen" Triumvir Alexandria Gentianus comments with a smirk on her face, as if to say I told you so. Both Marcus and Flaven say nothing as the three go over the reports. Over fifty Veridians had died in the operation, five it seemed were the only survivors and were in critical condition. Captain Agori was the worst off and at first estimate the doctors weren't entirely sure he'd survive. Having not heard back from the last expedition team sent to P1429, the Veridians dialed the planet and sent a probe through. When they discovered survivors barely alive out in the snow just beyond the gate, military command ordered that a team be sent through the gate to retrieve them. Stripped of their clothing and other belongs on the planet, they were brought back in pods. The Dominion couldn't risk the survivors having any sort of tracking devices placed on them when it was determined the Sith were no longer with them.

Indeed, it was a gamble to bring them home at all as a device could have been implanted in them but the Veridians weren't the type to leave men behind. So they took the risk and brought the men back home, taking them straight for medical care as well as a complete scan to determine if they were bugged or not. Luckily, they weren't and in fact nor were their clothing or the devices or ships left behind on the planet but the Veridians weren't going to take that chance. Everything was compiled together and the ships were set on auto-destruct, everything was destroyed.

"The loss of life" Marcus said finally, "was a calculated risk of the operation. Need I remind my fellow Triumvir, that these Sith do pose a significant risk to our freedom given that our world is beyond their territory and far from any other race that could pose them a threat so far as we know at present. Should they so choose, they could easily begin exploring this region of the Galaxy and find Veridia Prime. We would be helpless against them at our present technological level and this operation proves it. That said, I must say it is a shame we could not procure a Sith warrior. They are far more remarkable than we have previously estimate as the records and data show. Just one seems to be worth a thousands or more of a own soldiers, we could indeed benefit greatly from an army of train Sith warriors."

"Be that as it may Triumvir" said Alexandria, "We were not successful in capturing a Sith and instead gave them the means of traveling through the gate and into our relatively neighborhood, compromising the security of this planet!"

"If I may object to that" Flaven said, finally speaking up. "We've already in the process of moving the stargate off P1429. You will remember the gate address of any stargate correlates to its position in space. Off P1429, the gate takes on a new address and therefore the old one will not work to activate it. The Sith will not be able to use the address to get back to P1429 and it is doubtful, given their level of technology and reliance of FTL space travel, that they have any great interest in the understanding of gate travel. Therefore we feel safe in the assumption that they have no idea how to calculate our planet's gate address nor how to decipher the gate symbols to activate the address."

"An I suppose that should comfort me but the fact remains, my esteemed Triumvirs that such a fact does little to convince me that this operation was worth both the cost of life as well as the thousands of Velons it will have costed in the long run."

"Then my dear Triumvir, you are simply thinking too narrow minded" Marcus state in a cold and direct tone. "We did not procure a Sith, that much is painfully obvious to all seat at this table today. However, the data we did procure from the murder of our own has given us insight into weaknesses among the Sith. For example, the Sith were not wearing any sort of environment gear that we can ascertain at this time. This naturally, suggests that some if not all Sith, can survive and do require an oxygen based atmosphere. This also suggests that they could very well have an intolerance to air-born pathogens, meaning we could very well take out a great deal of Sith, in a first strike situation involving a air-born bioweapon. Might I also remind you that while our instruments were taking readings the Sith warrior used this so-called 'force' against our forces."

"A yes" said Alexandria, less than amused. "that energy field believed to exist by both the Jedi and Sith factions. How are we to use such information?"

"Again my dear Triumvir you are thinking far too small" said Marcus. "The Sith have shown us their reliance on this as a source of their strength. Our scientists fully believe it possible that if we can isolate the energy frequency used by this field, we could perhaps build a device to neutralize it. This would indeed give us a significant tactical advantage against their forces. So in short my Triumvirs, while we were not capable of procuring a Sith for examination we were able to record some very precious data for our understanding."

Alexandria said nothing, she could tell that her voice in this matter was waning, both Marcus and Flaven seemed convinced that though costly, the operation had some margin success to speak of. Sitting back, she said nothing but her body language said what the others were hoping to hear, her compliance and willingness to drop the point. Hearing no further objections from his fellow Triumvir, Marcus continued.

"We will be suspending exploration of the galaxy via FTL space flight for now" he said, pointing out a new report. "Before we met the Centauri and the Rheans, we'd had plans to create a exploration program to use the stargate and the begin exploring through the gate addresses known by the ancestors as well as those we could extrapolate through our own calculations. Until we have a fleet capable of defending this planet, we will forgo the construction of exploration ships and instead use the gate. We will be building a base of operations on the third moon of Harumf and its there that we'll place the gate from P1429. By using an off-world base we will ensure Veridia Prime's safety. Naturally, our main priority of the program will be to procure advanced technology to ensure our ability to protect ourselves. We've already begun drilling into the moon, we hope to have a structure built and ready within the moon within the next few months. Until then, gate travel from Veridia Prime will be restricted to simply keeping good relations with the Centauri."

Flaven began shaking his head agreement, so did Alexandria although perhaps not due to their agreement with the situation but more as a means to follow suit for now.

(OOC: "For example, the Sith were not wearing any sort of environment gear that we can ascertain at this time." Oh, that was so incorrect. Of course, that was an in-character assessment, like the bit on how powerful a Sith warrior really is. Overwhelming fire from a squad or two with automatic weapons could take the average Sith. The troopers, on the other hand, while probably better trained and equipped than the Veridians at the time, are markedly inferior to Rhean or Rutian soldiers in equipment and training.)

OOC: Yeah after writing that bit about environmental suites, I thought that may indeed be a mistake as I couldn't remember if you'd describe a suit or not and was admittedly too lazy to look back lol I think I will keep it though to highlight the inaccuracy of the Veridian's knowledge of things. After all we're very much still in our infancy when it comes to galactic matters such as this.