Fiction

Sector MS-5
Florrum

Barbarian. Scum. Traitor. Archenksova regarded the holofeed with cold contempt as Herald Morgan Sorenn droned on about Plagueis' noble efforts to bring Pravus' New Order to Florrum. New Order? Pravus wasn't worthy to discuss it, much less position himself as Palpatine's heir. He was an anarchist, bringing punishment without law, fear without discipline. Law and order meant no more to him than it did to the mercenary harlot he'd installed in Vorsa's place. It was, to say the least, vexing.

Alethia cut the feed without waiting for Sorenn to finish her little speech, and turned to face the three men who'd joined her in the root cellar that had become her makeshift headquarters. The portly Chiss in the spotless KUDF uniform and the tall, slightly weathered human - Len Iode and Droveth Kathera Vectivi - had been pulled away from relief work with the Disciples of Baas. The spindly Pau'an, Korroth, had been summoned specifically.

"Didn't care for the broadcast, Major?" Len asked. Alethia thought she noted a twinkle in his eyes, but it might just have been their normal red glow. At any rate, he asked the question with a straight face.

"It seems we have an ever-increasing number of enemies, Lieutenant," she replied evenly. It hadn't been that long ago that her crisp Imperial accent could bring a smile to that blue face, but smiles had been hard to come by lately. "No use concerning ourselves with the ones who are currently out of reach."

The words hung in the air for a moment before Droveth broke the silence. "I assume you didn't call us here to watch the news."

"Of course," Alethia smiled slightly. "I understand the Disciples have been taking the lead on getting the POWs and rescued natives to safety."

"Yes, sir," Eode answered, his posture stiffening slightly. "Though our efforts are just now getting properly underway."

"Excellent. Then it shouldn't be any trouble for you to thoroughly catalog everyone you process. Additionally, I want Korroth to perform a full medical evaluations while you handle triage and logistics. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," Droveth and Len answered in unison.

"Excellent. Relay these orders to Gresee and the rest of your unit face-to-face and try to keep it quiet. Dismissed."

The Pau’an had to discretion to wait until the door was closed shut behind the other two men. “So why all the secrecy, Major? I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t strike me as the type to run mercy missions.”

“You wound me,” Archenksova replied dryly. “But your assignment isn’t to tend to the casualties - the Disciples will see to that whether they’re ordered to or not. Your file indicates you have medical training and an affinity for the Jedi’s…” she fumbled for the right word. “Extrasensory perceptions?”

Korroth nodded, his long face and serene expression giving the gesture a regal air. “This is correct, Major.”

“Excellent,” Alethia said, rising from her seat and walking around her desk to hand the Jedi a datapad. “Our intelligence tells us that the Inquisitorius brands its agents with some sort of marking, only visible after some sort of interaction with the Force. Subtle, but still foolish.” She leaned back on the desk again, studying Korroth’s face as she continued. “You won’t be there to treat the wounded. I want you to examine everyone who comes through and report anything suspicious to me.”

The Pau’an’s serenity cracked, just barely. “Everyone? That could be thousands.”

"As many as you can, then. The Disciples can assist you.” She pinned him with chilly blue eyes, and Korroth got a sense of the steely determination beneath them. “We must find a way to identify Pravus’ agents, Korroth, whatever the cost. The price of survival is constant vigilance."

Intro

And the price of Feud is doing all the things! As you probably know, COU won the Prologue competition. As much as I love Shan, I have to give credit where it’s due: KoA killed it in that comp, with Tekk and Darro taking the top two places. That said, I look forward to seeing our two Battleteams give them a run for their money this phase.

It’s also crucial to remember that Plagueis is not a bunch of push-overs. They fought hard in the Prologue and I expect they’ll make us earn every victory. Complacency and apathy are, as always, our true enemies.

News

We’re halfway through March and Satelites have already claimed victory in several competitions. Congratulations to Mako Henymory, Lu`aisha Gresee, Turr Darvesh, Seridan Brehevik, Korroth, Krandon Lucian Firebringer, Talis, Akaarn Tayl’cor, and Junazee for winning crescents for the House in the last few weeks. In particular, I was delighted to see the results from the DJB-wide comp “Hole in… One?” this week: Akaarn, Turr, and Talis swept the top spots over a collection of Equites and Elders. Keep it up, gang! Our noble Proconsul also managed a second-place finish in Wally’s That’s My Jam! Comp with an entry he submitted “just for participation,” so remember that you don’t have to agonize over an entry for hours to get rewarded for it.

Speaking of doing all the things, you may have noticed by now that we’re in the midst of a feud. I was very happy with Shan’s participation in the Prologue (shoutout to Krandon for nabbing third place!), and I hope we’ll continue to see wide participation going forward. COU won the first round, but we need your entry to help us win the next phase!

We have four Feud competitions ending this Sunday:

• Backwater Brawl for PvP score.
• Sides of a Coin gives you your choice of four prompts for a fiction entry.
• One Pirate's Junk has you making a graphic.
• Decode The Message is exactly what it says on the tin.

Additionally, we’ve got another two comps that run all the way through April 10th. Contact A’lora and Turel if you’re still looking for a team.

• Transmissions from the Surface is a solo or group multimedia comp.
• Drawing the Line is a team battleplan.

In other news, the Shan summit is working on the planning document for our new home. We got some excellent feedback from our email chain and Discourse, but it’s not too late for you to pitch us an idea. The thread that Seridan kindly started for us is still live. We’ll be presenting our pitch to the House for feedback in the coming weeks.

Arch’s Special Corner

Today I’d like to talk about a very special thing indeed: wuv.

Ok, well, maybe not wuv so much as teamwork. As we move forward in the Feud, and really any other activity in the Brotherhood of beyond it, I want you to keep in mind that we - Shan, COU, even the entire DB - are on the same team. If someone needs a hand, help them out. Proof their fic. Bounce ideas around for character development. Give people a head’s up when you’ve got a great gaming group going. And the other side of this coin is that you’re strongly encouraged to ask for help if you need it with anything. If you need advice on tactics, or you’re stuck on a difficult choice on your new character sheet, ask around in Telegram or hit up your summit. We’re here to help.

Conclusion

Tl;dr: We can’t stop here. This is Feud country!