Fiction - The Same Thing You Want

The Brigand's Den Cantina
Florrum

The place was full of Weequay pirates. Most ignored her after trying to get a peek at what was under the dark, hooded robes. Lhara went straight to the bar and ordered a drink, partly to blend in, but mostly just to steady her nerves while she looked around.

The cantina, like everything else she had seen of this barren rock, was covered in a thick film of dirt and dust. Most of the pirates had gone back to their drinks and gambling, but as the bartender handed Vash a cup of rancid-smelling liquor, she felt eyes fixated on her back. Turning to look, the Twi'lek saw a man in the very back corner of the cantina, seated at a table engulfed in shadow, his back to the wall. Unsure of what else to do, she approached him slowly.

"Hello, Ms. Vash," the man said dispassionately. "It's about time you showed up." Green eyes and alabaster skin peered out at her from beneath a black hood, and the man raised a small, steaming cup to his lips.

"Who are you?" Lhara asked,

"The less you know about that, the better," he answered, gently setting his cup back on the table. "For both of us. Would you like a drink?" He waved to the small, chipped porcelain pot next to his cup.

"What is it?"

"Some local root steeped in hot water. It's bitter, but that's…" He trailed off, lost in thought for a moment. "Appropriate, I guess. The last time I was here, I lost some very dear friends."

"What do you want from me?" Fear and frustration gave Vash's words an unintended edge, but if the man noticed, he certainly didn't care.

"The same thing you want. Kerrhat. Dead."

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes as Vash weighed her options. The man in black sipped at his tea. At last the Twi'lek spoke. "What do I do?"

The man reached down and pulled a small black satchel from a place hidden beneath the table. "The next time he travels out of the system, carry this beacon with you and activate it in hyperspace. Our understanding is that your master isn't very technical, but stay on the safe side and make sure no one sees you or the device."

"That's it?" the Sadowan asked, studying the device in the satchel. It was a small, fairly inconspicuous bit of machinery.

"That's it. Now run along back home before you're missed," the man said flatly, gesturing towards her head with his teacup. "Unless you want a few more scars."

Vash shuddered, but did as she was told.

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News

• Welcome to Nariah Jadon!
• COU turns six! See the competition section below for how we're celebrating. Thanks to Seraphol and V'yr for putting that together.
• Possessions Updates: See Regent Report 2 for a general status report, but the big news is that the system has entered open beta! In case you missed it, you should be able to buy items in stores and manage your possessions and loadouts from your admin page. One caveat, though: I haven't seen a definitive answer on whether custom aspects will be retained when the system is reset for final launch. I strongly suggest you keep a gdoc or something with any information you want to keep.
• Drac and staff have published two reports, a Gaming Gazette, and quick updates regarding TeamSpeak and Overwatch. Gamers, make sure you're up to date.
• The Star Chamber received a heartfelt thank you from across the Brotherhood. Pravus, Mav, Jac, and Muz, in addition to their long years of service on the Dark Council, pay for the infrastructure the DB relies upon.
• The latest GM report and Slag's Wiki report contain a variety of useful tidbits.
• In ACC news, Qyreia has joined the staff, making the "Antei" Combat Center slightly less Odanite-dominated. On a more serious note, I strongly suggest that all ACCers check out Atra's first CM report.
• Wally's inaugural Voice report outlines some recent policy changes, particularly to getting species (re)approved. Go check it out meow.
• Meanwhile, in the SA it's your last chance to take or improve your score in the two CoJ courses. CoJ 1 and 2 are some of, if not the most intense courses on the rolls right now. But if you want an understanding of how the Chamber and the DB function, you won't find better. Farrin also pushed out a news post, and yes - it's also your last chance to take IRC courses. Additionally, I'd like to give a big shout-out to Zirael, as the top two test takers were our very own Ka Tarvitz and Hiset Tval!
• Best Aiden is leading Taldryan down the road to opposing Pravus in recent fiction.
• And last, but certainly not least, Turel and Mar have stepped up to become our fearless leaders.

Competitions

Satele Shan

• Weekly Jigsaw Mania: Sera continues to produce some very challenging puzzles in his trendsetting series.

Clan Odan-Urr

• Last Voyage of the Charon, through November 21. This is the first co-op fiction I've seen in awhile. Grab a friend and kill some Rakghouls!
• Two Months of Jigsaws is now in its second, and presumably final, month. This is fun and easy participation, and participation makes Arch happy.
• Halloween Horror Nights, through November 7: because nothing is as spooky as catching a Ryn looting your underwear drawer. There's something for everyone in these eight competitions. Let's impress the #SistaCons and show the First Clan what we can do. This ends tomorrow and it's easy participation.
• Renewal of the Light is a series in honor of the Clan's sixth birthday, brought to you by our very own Aedile, Daniel Stephens, and Councilor V'yr Vorsa. Royal Shindig, specifically, is a fun opportunity for the entire Clan to do a casual run-on for funsies.

Brotherhood-wide

• Gorefest November 2016, November 11-13
• Unblock Me, a mobile game running through November 14. "You may know Unblock Me by its real-life name, Rush Hour." Yes, Ranarr. Yes, I do.

Activity Report for October 2016

Junazee

• Participated in 18 competitions
• 1 Crescent with Ruby Star
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 2 Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 2 Crescents with Topaz Star
• 126 Clusters of Fire
• Passed Comms 2: Telegram, Gaming 101, Graphics in the Brotherhood, Vendetta 1, Vendetta 2, Vendetta 3, and Cryptography 101
• Earned a Dark Pundit in Vendetta

Mako Henymory

• Participated in 20 competitions
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 3 Crescents with Emerald Star
• 1 Crescent with Topaz Star
• 2 Clusters of Ice
• 6 Clusters of Fire
• 3 Clusters of Graphite
• Passed Lightsaber Combat, Martial Arts: Form Studies, Diablo III - Basics, and Combat Tactics II
• Earned a Dark Maven in Combat

Korroth

• Participated in 18 competitions
• 2 Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 2 Crescents with Emerald Star
• 1 Crescent with Topaz Star
• 4 Clusters of Ice
• Passed Leadership Proposals, General Warfare, Dark Brotherhood Basics, Loyalist Order Core, Mercenary Order Core, Sith Order Core, Jedi Order Core, and Grey Jedi Order Core
• Earned a Dark Savant in Warfare

Alethia Archenksova

• Participated in 16 competitions
• 1 Crescent with Diamond Star
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 4 Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 1 Crescent with Emerald Star
• Passed Chamber of Justice I

Lithar Andaris

• Participated in 10 competitions
• 2 Crescents with Ruby Star
• 1 Crescent with Amethyst Star
• 1 Crescent with Topaz Star
• 9 Clusters of Ice
• Passed Galactic History I, Galactic History III, Galactic History IV, Martial Arts: Form Studies, Grey Jedi Order Core, Regions of the Galaxy, and Dark Brotherhood History I

Akaarn Tayl'cor

• Awarded a Dark Cross
• Participated in 7 competitions
• 1 Crescent with Emerald Star
• 1 Crescent with Topaz Star

Len Iode

• Participated in 5 competitions
• 10 Clusters of Earth

Daniel "Seraphol" Stephens

• Participated in 5 competitions
• 1 Crescent with Emerald Star
• Passed Lightsaber Combat

Sa Ool

• Awarded a Dark Cross
• Participated in 5 competitions
• 1 Crescent with Emerald Star
• Passed Lightsaber Combat
• Earned a Dark Maven in Combat

Talis DeMorte

• 1 Crescent with Ruby Star
• 8 Clusters of Ice

A'lora Kituri

• Participated in 2 competitions

Mauro Wynter

• Participated in 1 competitions
• 2 Crescents with Sapphire Star
• 2 Clusters of Ice

Aerwin Tribwell

• Participated in 1 competition

Ka-lel

• No activity recorded

leocadio

• No activity recorded

Gellm'arco'nuruodo

• No activity recorded

Aaleeshah

• No activity recorded

Gavriel Kadesh

• No activity recorded

Ihi Ariki

• No activity recorded

Jafits Skrumm

• No activity recorded

Krandon Lucian Firebringer

• No activity recorded

Droveth Kathera Vectivi

• No activity recorded

Ceballa LightBringer

• No activity recorded

Magnus Wolfson

• No activity recorded

#AskArch and Conclusion

Tarvitz asks:

#AskArch May I ask if your role retains any infuriating busywork, or general responsibilities, you would want sped up or made easier somehow?

I track pretty much every quantifiable metric by hand once a week for Shan. It's not something anyone else it's making me do, but it's probably the closest thing to busy work that I do. As far as things I don't like doing, I secretly hate managing staff. I'm just lucky that both Sera and Len are active members who always have an eye out for ways to help the House. I don't have to crack a whip.

Morgan Sorenn asks:

#AskArch So Alethia and Morgan are on a date... finish the story 😆

"We find the defendants guilty of all charges."

Christopher "Nero" Winchester asks:

#AskArch Can I helps with the buying of the forces?

Probably not with the buying. I'm not sure that building a huge spreadsheet will benefit from too many cooks in the kitchen. Naming ships and squadrons and units? Writing custom aspects for everything so that we have the coolest military in the DB? Showing off those units in fic? Developing NPCs to command our capital ships? Yes! There is plenty of room for people to take the new toys and give them their own spin. The more people we have pitching in with that, the more our military will represent COU as a unit. It'll probably be awhile before we can start soliciting that stuff, but trust me, we'll let you know.

Tisto Kingang asks:

#AskArch who is the true ice queen of COU, Aleetha or Arcia?

Arcia. Alethia is only an ice queen when it's useful. If Tisto's ever been around her she was probably very polite and charming.

Turel Sorenn asks:

#askArch what do Mar and Alethia do on date night? Im such a fangirl

If I can ever find the right artist I'm going to get a picture of Alethia dragging a horrified Mar onto a dance floor. You should get to see some Marlethia in Last Voyage of the Charon and possibly Royal Shindig, assuming he quits blowing me off in the name of higher education.

Kordath Bleu D'Tana asks:

what do they do after date night?

Suppress insurrection 'n' chill.

Alethia Archenksova
Quaestor, Satele Shan