A year has passed and the New Allinace Transcendence Organization, otherwise called N.A.T.O. has secured most of the Omniverse for order, peace, protection, and stability. The Conglomerate Sith Alliance Triumvirate, also called C.S.A.T. is heavily a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The great entry doors to the repulsorlift factory outside Salis D'aar are spread wide, and a thousand people were filing out into planet Bakura's noon light. After days kept as hostages inside the factory they shambled wearily ahead, squinting into the sun their faces grew soft with relief. Some of them had never expected to see the sky again.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Eternal Master Shado Vao felt a flush of pride as he watched them move. The sun shone down on his head too, warming his scalp and lekku. He stood at the open gate that warded the factory grounds, and though two human security guards stood on either side of him he felt he was in no danger. Vlothaw and his P'w'eck could have hurt him at any time while he was in the factory as their voluntary hostage. In the end he'd convinced them to let him go, along with all of the human hostages and the most valuable prize of all.
As the tail of the hostage column marched through the gate, Vlothaw's final relinquishment left the factory. Four P'w'eck ringed by a full dozen human security guards plodded along, tasting the air with flicking tongues but betraying no emotion Shado could read.
These, Vlothaw had said, were the ones who'd passed HIMS technology to the Ssi-ruuk. He'd presented some evidence as well, though it would take time for neutral investigators to verify it. Help promised by the Federation had yet to arrive, which meant a final resolution for the standoff was still far away, but what the P'w'eck had done today was an unmistakable sign of goodwill. Shado knew that most of it was his doing, and though it may not have been Jedi-like, he allowed himself to indulge in pride for what he'd accomplished. Even without touching the Force he was still working its will.
Once the captive P'w'eck were loaded into a secure airspeeder and whisked away, Shado got into another vehicle and allowed the guards to take him to the presidential pyramid on the other side of Salis D'aar. Flying high in bright daylight, he could see the P'w'eck districts marked by scars of violence and the security vehicles forming rings around them. The city was still halfway under siege, and it was a sobering reminder that while progress had been made, they still had a long way to go.
