[D1, ME] Lost and Found

[Raela Ausar]

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and rubbing one hand across her mouth thoughtfully as she processed the information. "Do you have any preliminary research results I could look at?" This was exactly the sort of thing that engaged her mind... and an early victory would do a lot to either secure her seat or keep her from being killed afterward.

[Sylvain Torsin]

"I have a planet's worth of research victims." He replied with a nod.

"Is this something you have interest in?" He asked with a noticeable amount of interest.

[Raela Ausar]

Raela leaned back and nodded. "Even if I wasn't interested in the well being of the Outer Rim because, you know, I live there, the subject is interesting and I think it would be useful to have a big accomplishment soon whether I get a seat or not."

"In short, it's very much in my interest for a variety of reasons. I would be happy to help. The sooner you can send me as much data as you have, the faster I can start work."

[Sylvain Torsin]

He nodded, "I will simply require proprietary access to any formula you discover were there to be a breakthrough."

He then tilted his head, "So you are aiming for one of the open seats then?"

[Raela Ausar]

She nodded. "You'll owe me a favor or two, but that's only if I make it happen. I'm reasonably confident in it."

"I am."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"An ambitious gambit." He replied with a nod.

"For what purpose do you attempt it?" He said as a droid brought some warm tea for the two of them.

[Raela Ausar]

"Multiple reasons. First and primarily, there are too many people in our leadership either working with bad data or believing whatever is convenient for themselves. That has consequences for the rest of the Empire, and I don't intend to let them continue. We need more people who can act like adults on the Council, as well. I also want to counteract the influence of Darth Hurn specifically," she explained. "There are a few personal reasons, as well, of course."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"Those are not bad aspirations... what is the convenient truth that drives you though? Bad data can lead to bad results, but what are the parameters of your observations? What types of behavior do you think are the wrong type of convenience?" He asked with interest as the plate with the tea was put in front of her to take the cup.

[Raela Ausar]

"The situation that made me fully latch onto the situation was Darth Hurn, the woman whose thinking is so inconsistent that she can lose an argument with herself based on her own criteria," she replied, accepting the cup and taking a sip. "The Empire is not such a convenient place that we can continue allowing that sort of thing to waste our resources... and it happens a lot. We have errors built into our very foundations, and buildings collapse when that happens."

[Sylvain Torsin]

He nodded, "And how is it that you intent to repair the foundations built on said imperfections? Removing the faulty plaster can be just as destructive as allowing it to decay away."

[Raela Ausar]

"That's why it's important to work carefully. But if it's so bad that the house has to be rebuilt, it's better to do that than to wait for it to surprise you by collapsing," she replied with a shrug. The metaphor still worked.

[Sylvain Torsin]

He nodded, “I was merely pointing to the fact that the devil will be in the details. I know a great many Sith with grandiose aims. Many I agree with, like yourself. I tend to be interested in minutiae, however, because to me it is the small incremental things that create lasting change.”

He smiled, “Your willingness to participate in solving an actual problem speaks well for you.”

[Raela Ausar]

"I tend to prefer action over words and dealing with facts. I think we need to understand the deepest source of the problem. Without a full understanding of that, it's hard to formulate a proper plan for addressing the issues at their source." She replied, tilting her head to the side. "And it's always more complicated to do that than to solve problems on a surface level. Right now I'm working on research regarding our xenophobia and obsession with breeding and bloodlines."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"Oh? What have you discovered?" He asked with interest.

[Raela Ausar]

"Well, Force users tend to produce more Force users. That's demonstrably true, I can show you the graphs. But my hypothesis is that it has more to do with the bonds forged in the Force by the parents and between parent and child than anything specifically bloodline-related.," she explained. "I also hypothesize that this is no less true with other species who demonstrate Force ability, and to not particularly less a degree. I need to decide how to quantify power to work on that, and I'm still generally gathering data, and I need to create a model of what the numbers would look like if it is more genetic and other species are really weaker so I can compare those models to the data."

She coughs awkwardly after a moment. "So you see."

"Of course, without using propaganda to push culture to be more interested in facts over whatever is most convenient to believe, it won't mean much. And also there are people who would come after me just for challenging the status quo."

[Sylvain Torsin]

"Indeed. Much of the early Empire's early community building efforts were based on the Republic's policy of extermination of the Sith... It's easy to see how the opposite came to be the answer for the Republic's attacks on the Sith bloodlines. 'We aren't vermin! We are the greatest!' -Type approach."

He nodded, "Hard to turn that back and replace it with something that offers the same degree of cohesion, however."

[Raela Ausar]

"Indeed... There are a lot of people invested in the Empire continuing now, but you can't really count on that," she replied with a nod. "There needs to be more."