[Day 4 - EA] Imperial Court: Cake or Death RP

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"Colonel." He said in a court but not aggressive tone "I would be open to a discussion, I assume you wish to speak in private if it is such a sensitive matter." He inquired with one raised eyebrow

She nodded again.

"I would, if you do not mind?"

[Xyll Vanth]

She chuckled. "I do not wish to be crass, but I rather think it is you who knows very little. And I do mean that with all due respect to your no doubt considerable strength. But there is strength, and then there is strength. You will need more than a mechanical arm and decent lightsaber skills to sit on the council as anything more than someone's puppet."

She looked out over court, jotting down a few words spoken by another on the floor.

"Surely that is not your ambition?"

[Kristal Serasai]

She chuckled. "I do not wish to be crass, but I rather think it is you who knows very little. And I do mean that with all due respect to your no doubt considerable strength. But there is strength, and then there is strength. You will need more than a mechanical arm and decent lightsaber skills to sit on the council as anything more than someone's puppet."

She looked out over court, jotting down a few words spoken by another on the floor.

"Surely that is not your ambition?"

"You believe me easily cowed and manipulated, but I am assured that neither of these things have any sway over myself," she said, "You think less of me for not knowing that of which I am capable, I will not fault you for this, but you will know and see that I am anything but the lesser woman, lesser Sith, you believe me to be."

[Lord Bellious]

"On that we are in full agreement then. My voice on the Council would be for total war. And by total I mean also on fronts the Republic doesn't even recognise as theatres for warfare."

"You will need explain that," he said giving her his attention.

"Advanced holowarfare, cascading communication nodes failures, political fragmentation through engineered unrest, provoking their central organs into adopting divisive policies that would alienate the Outer Rim. The more battlegrounds we open, the greater pressure on them to respond to every one, the greater their overload, and the more visible the failure. I could elaborate on any of those, and I will if you so wish My Lord, but the central theme is to weaken the integrated latticework of worlds from which they draw strength by exploiting their domestic vulnerabilities so that our military could cut right through the fraying seams and complete the partition by cutting the galactic hinterland off the nodes. If we sufficiently damage the commonalities on which they are founded, we will win. In addition, by sowing grievances, distrust, hate, anger, alienation between Core and Outer Rim and amid the subsidiary worlds themselves we strengthen the Dark Side." She paused. "For something a little extra, a promising isotope has been found on one of the Hutt-controlled worlds. It requires further research, but it looks like it could meet very elevated high-energy requirements."

[Jaheem Abasi]

She nodded again.

"I would, if you do not mind?"

He motioned "certainly, let us find a spot away from the rabble so we can talk more openly." He said in a rather neutral voice.

[Dapper Dog]

He just stared at her, it was obvious he didn’t understand anything she just uttered about holo warfare or lattices or anything and. He just said, “None of that sounds like warfare, but electronic trickery… if it proves useful then it has merit.”

“The Hutts must know about this isotope, whatever it does.”

[Dayana Valthren]

"Do you think so?" Lucinia's red lips curled back up, her green eyes glinting. "That sounds almost like a challenge. Perhaps someday we shall have to test each other."

Slowly, she inclined her head. "You are welcome, my dear." It seemed Dayana was forgiven. "I suppose politics is ever thus, isn't it? Endless minutiae, with something looming on the horizon." She gently shook her head. "The occasional price of our position, I suppose."

"Think? Perhaps. Know? Well, should I be so daring?" Dayana let out a practiced chuckle, one of perhaps dangerous allure. It did help to wear a mask.

She shrugged. "Such is the system we have created for ourselves. As it were, it seems like we've made a step towards progress today, darling."

[Lucinia Malveaux]

"Think? Perhaps. Know? Well, should I be so daring?" Dayana let out a practiced chuckle, one of perhaps dangerous allure. It did help to wear a mask.

She shrugged. "Such is the system we have created for ourselves. As it were, it seems like we've made a step towards progress today, darling."

Lucinia's eyes narrowed further. "We shall see, my dear. We shall see."

Ever so gently, she cleared her throat. "And we shall see that as well. Your political ambitions were always grander than mine." One eyebrow went up. "Just what do you see us as progressing towards?"

[Lord Bellious]

He just stared at her, it was obvious he didn’t understand anything she just uttered about holo warfare or lattices or anything and. He just said, “None of that sounds like warfare, but electronic trickery… if it proves useful then it has merit.”

“The Hutts must know about this isotope, whatever it does.”

And there it was, a competence gap. Darth Bellious' domain: unconventional warfare.

"This is indeed the point, My Lord. To lay the groundwork for victories in the field, just like you keep wounding the beast in clever ways before you go for the kill."

She nodded. "One or several may know, but they distrust each other not much less than anyone else, especially over something with much potential. It is still a seizable opportunity in my assessment."

[Xyll Vanth]

"You believe me easily cowed and manipulated, but I am assured that neither of these things have any sway over myself," she said, "You think less of me for not knowing that of which I am capable, I will not fault you for this, but you will know and see that I am anything but the lesser woman, lesser Sith, you believe me to be."

She chuckled again. "So quick to think I was denigrating you personally. And so quick to assert you will succeed at a task you do not even fully comprehend. You're not lacking in stubborness, at least. Though I fear it will not suffice."

Xyll turned to Kristal.

"Are you familiar with the story of Remulus Dreypa?"

[Dapper Dog]

"One enemy at a time, the Hutts are a minor threat but if pushed they have proven themselves quite capable. An invasion for a resource would need to be for something that could change the direction of the war," he responded.

[Kristal Serasai]

She chuckled again. "So quick to think I was denigrating you personally. And so quick to assert you will succeed at a task you do not even fully comprehend. You're not lacking in stubborness, at least. Though I fear it will not suffice."

Xyll turned to Kristal.

"Are you familiar with the story of Remulus Dreypa?"

"Speak your words, offer your point," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

[Xyll Vanth]

"I'll take that as a no," she said, "which *is* the point. You've thrown yourself into a fight where you don't even know the full extent of the dangers you face. Nor can you know from whence it comes. Yet you boldly declare that you are strong enough to deal with it no matter what. I don't know whether it is pride, or confidence, which leads you to assert as you do. Either way, it is misplaced, and will bring your cause nothing but misfortune in the end."

She turned away from Kristal again, to once more look at someone speaking, to record their words. Though she continued to offer her own.

"Tell me, if you are strong enough, then why have you not simply *taken* a seat already?"

[Kristal Serasai]

"Unlike most, I am not driven by the baser instincts of grabbing power wherever I see fit," she said, "and I do not require a lesson on a Sith's history to understand the workings of these seats and those who sit upon them. The games they play, the treachery they sow among one another."

"You find my confidence misplaced, perhaps. Yet I must believe in it ever still, this Empire requires a hand who will remember it so that it does not fall to pieces. Torn asunder by those who sit in power. Some who sit upon those seats even now fear more for their personal interest than the Empire itself, and perhaps in some view if I believed myself strong enough and of purpose enough to claim a seat regardless of these games I would not shy from stepping on those who only harm the Empire. Yet, if I do not do these things properly I may very well become the thing that I aim to remove. Example, is the way by which I will lead the Empire back upon its path to Order, to glory."

"My duty is to the Empire, and I will save it from itself."

[Xyll Vanth]

"Ah, but if you knew your history, you'd know that stepping on others *is* the proper way of ascending to the position. Whatever your reasons, you aim to ascend to a position of *power*. And yet you are submitting yourselves before the power of *others*, hoping that *they* will judge you worthy enough to sit among those who *took* their positions for themselves. Thus, in a very real way, you are *already* puppets. Dancing on strings you do not see. You might get to sit on the council, but will anyone call you a dark lord of the sith if you are only there through the mercy of others?"

[Kristal Serasai]

"What others may call me, what others may decide to think of my ascension, does not matter. What will matter, in the end, is what I am capable of doing with the power that will be granted to me by the seat upon which I will sit, a seat that I will see is claimed by no other, and certainly not another less qualified for the power it wields," she said, her voice ever the cold Imperial.

"If there are those that would seek to control me, they will find themselves without ability. If there are those who believe that already control me, as invisibly as they might, they are mistaken. I will claim the seat through the trials set before me, I will deny those others who seek the seat for their own, and the Empire will be better for it."

"Or, I will die," she finished, softening her stance only slightly. "I live, and serve, for the Empire."

[Xyll Vanth]

"Repetition works for some, I suppose."

She paused for a moment, seeming to consider something.

"You live and serve the Empire you say. And none control you. Then, what do you think of the Emperor?"

[Kristal Serasai]

"I have scarcely been afforded the opportunity to understand him, or his plans, but he is our Emperor," she said, guarded.

[Xyll Vanth]

"Does the Emperor not control you? As he does the council?"

[Kristal Serasai]

"The Emperor may command me," she said, "but he does not control me."