Exocron Ceremony

[Calgor Grim]

A frantic beeping hit his eardrum.

"Ouch damnit Sparky, do you mind? I'm trying to concentrate" He was stood with Sagoro, who was almost meditating, Grim also opposite cross legged. He was observing the former Seneschal of Astaroth to search for traces of the force when the droid beeped harshly in his ear.

"Oh what?! Christ he's here. Ok. Put out a general announcement to all military and security personnel and ask them to prepare for the arrival of Grand Seneschal Raleigh. Patch me through to his pilot. <Beep> Tempal Shuttle this is Director Grim aboard the Exocron Retreat. Receiving you loud and clear. Route has been secured and X wing patrols are in the area. You have a clean run to the station sir. You have permission to dock. I will be waiting for you personally at the docking bay. Give my regards to Lord Raleigh, it will be an honour to meet him in person for the first time as opposed to regular holocrons. "

The test had been completed, informing Sagoro of the result he quickly made haste to the command room to plot a safe landing trajectory and direct it to the pilot before quickly straightening the armour for the millionth time that day. Closing up the control room he made haste down to the Docking bay to wait for the arrival. Celestine had followed along, eager to see the face of the man who seemed to inspire so much nerves in a pilot who was capable of dangerous piloting without even a glimmer of worry.

[Corbin Freehand]

While working at moving materials for First Lord Ganner a message comes in from the First Lord.

The computer voice comes over the ships speakers,”Incoming message from command.”

Damn! He thought to himself. Right when I am in the middle of getting an accurate count on these materials. He hurries over to the message board and presses play for the message.

As the message starts he sees the First Lord's blonde hair and deep penetrating eyes and sits up straighter.

“Missionary Freehand. Good day. You presence is requested at the Exocon Ceremony. Be there as soon as possible. First Lord Ganner out.”

Doesn't that just beat all. He thought to himself. They expect me to get there as if I was in a ship that could go faster than hyperspace! As he sets the controls to get to orbit he thinks furiously on how to get to Exocon quickly and realizes he does not have the speediest craft but it is fast.

Getting onto the Persiphony he enters the coordinates into the hypercomp and heads out hoping got the engines tuned just right, but knowing he is probably going to need an overhaul after this speedy run.

As he enters hyper he sends up a prayer to Krath. Please let this ship stay together on this run.

After exiting hyper he breathes a sigh of relief knowing he might not have made it with how close he came to the hyper wall. Several times the ship could have disintegrated with how close he came to speeds that would have destroyed a lesser cared for ship. Thank you Persiphony for getting me here, you will be getting some good treatment as soon as I can arrange it. Hopefully nobody takes a look at your interior. Winces knowing that if anyone looked they would eject him planet side and keep him there. Especially at the smell of the burned electrical and metal smells coming from the engines.

Opening a channel to Exocron Station he reports his status,”Exocron Station, This is Minister Freehand of the Order. Awaiting landing instructions in YT-1300 Persiphony.”

Krath I hope that did not sound arrogant! Rethinking how he speaks and remembers to speak less and listen more.

As he sits waiting for clearance he realizes that he is going to be around those of the Krath that would and could make him a non-entity with just a glance. Hopefully he can stay quiet without being a nuisance. Realizing this he takes a sniff of himself and heads to the refresher to clean up.

As he is in the middle of cleaning himself up in the refresher the message he was waiting for comes in,“Minister Freehand of Persiphony, you are cleared to dock at Exocron station.”

Why is it every time I am doing something important things like this happen! He complains to nobody in particular finishing cleaning, putting his best clothing on and hopes it passes muster at the ceremony.

"Thank you Exocron Station on my way."

He heads back to the cockpit and heads over to the station watching all the activity, especially of the many T-65's in the area.

[Neva Balliol]

"...and the Mandalorian said, That's not what I ordered. Take it back, and this time, make it right." Neva and Luha both burst out laughing. Luha had just finished the punch line to her joke when Nevas comm system started to beep. Neva keyed a switch and spoke. "Balliol here. This better be good." He looked at Luha and smiled.

A voice came through the comm. "Sir, this is Crew Chief Manders. We have another incoming ship about to drop out of hyper in the southwest corner of the system."

"Alright, scan it and get back to me once it's in system."

"Sir, the transponder codes match those of a Lamda-Class Shuttle owned by Grand Seneschal Frezt Raleigh."

Neva and Luha both straightened at the sound of the name. "Let all the X-Wing squads know immediately, I want them to form an escort line to the station. I will take the Night and escort him as well.

Neva and Luha both got up and went to the cockpit. Luha spoke quietly to Neva. "You know, we're going to have to finish our drink after this."

"If we have any more time off over the next few days. Maybe Fred will be willing to have a few with us on our trip to the northern regions." Neva sat down on his seat in the cockpit and hit the controls to take off autopilot, keying in the system coordinates to meet up with the Grand Seneschal, who had just dropped out of hyper. "Luha, open communications with the Tempal Shuttle. Luha opened the hailing frequency and Neva spoke again. Tempal Shuttle, this is Deck Officer Neva Balliol, on board the YT-1300 Midsummer's Night. I am en route to escort you to the Exocron Station. Estimated time to your position is one hour. X-Wings squads are also on standby to form an escort line from your position to the station. Please acknowledge. Neva got his recently cleaned and newly painted YT-1300 going as fast as he could to the Tempal Shuttles location, hoping that they wouldn't take offense to having Nevas personal ship escort them in. Besides, Neva was already nervous enough about meeting Grand Seneschal Raleigh face to face for the first time in his two year career with the Krath Navy.

[Onasha Katr]

*Chime*
"Master, we are coming up on our destination.", the Padawan spoke over the intercom to the Master in meditation. She was sitting cross legged, hovering above the deck with her head bowed. Raising her head slowly she reaches out without looking and from across the room her lightsaber snaps across the room and lands softly in her hand. Clad in thin undergarments she stands and steps onto the floor for the first time that day. Doing the ceremonial stretches of Makashi specialist, she glides across the room... letting the Force flow through her and revitalize her.

After a time of gliding through her daily routine in her quarters, the Jedi Blade Master leaves her room clad in her armor battle dress and robe of a Jedi Council Member. Her stark severe face that of a white Twi'lek, she heads towards the bridge. Without incident or distraction she enters the the cockpit of the YT-1300 Astra Beauty, her personal vessel, the Naboo male in the cockpit looks up from his chair with a dashing smile at her. She gives him a pat on the head and reaches over and activates the sublight communications net.

:: This is Jedi Council Member Onasha Katr, requesting permission to dock ::

She then depresses a preset button with a code sequence submitting her authorization keys.

[Fred Berry]

Fred's Combadge was going nuts with several communications on standby. Fred thought several times to shut the damn thing off, but he knew security was of great essence during this ceremony. A few more moments passed when his combadge changed tone indicateing a priority message. "I hope this is important, I hate people using the priority channel when it isnt worth it." Fred tapped his combadge, "Report!" Fred listened to to the announcement. I thought this was directed to me specifically, this sounds more like a general notfication. Fred listened as the words "Grand Seneschal Raleigh" came accrossed. Fred quickly gathered his list of marines who have reported in. Once the announcement of Grand Seneschal Raleigh's arrival finshed he tapped his badge once again. "I want every room from the cordoor connecting the Docking port, to the ceremonial room covered. Grand Seneschal Raleigh has arrivaled and I want this placed locked down." ID: 10579 10580 and 10581 Fred used the same priority communcation channel used for the announcement.

The com traffic started to die out after the general notices were ending, so Fred just ignored the previous communications assuming they were likely further comments on the Grand Senshal. Fred glanced at his troops to see that they heard his announcement, and as he glanced at each of them their heads nodded and they straightened their posture and turned to face the entrance of the room. The four in charge of the exits, were split with two on the outside of the door and two on the inside of the door guarding hte room and carefully checking the identification of each member entering the room. Fred walked around the room the check the other eight troops. Fred was satisified with the results of his standard formation and took a seat in the one of the various seats in the middle of the room. Almost time for the ceremony, I just feel it. Fred thought as his postured became a bit relaxed knowing the room was secured.

[Frezt Raleigh]

After a safe journey to the Exocron Retreat escorted by the Krath Navy, the Tempal Shuttle had finally docked inside the station. Frezt walked down the ramp, accompanied by Peetza the Hutt and a Krath Destroyer. There the welcome comitee had been waiting for him, led by Calgor. They exchanged pleasantries, he also met Celestine.

"You are taller than I pictured from the holocrons, Director Grim" Frezt smiled. "What is the schedule? How soon will the ceremony begin? I'd like to meet everyone, either before or after."

The Krath Destroyer was following Calgor carefully, adapting to every slight move the Paladin made. It didn't seem to make Calgor nervous, but he wasn't at ease. "Back off, wait here." Frezt told the droid, while they slowly made their way to the ascending hall.

[Teenek Ta`ash]

Teenek had just finished a patrol of the station when it was clear some thing was up. The crew of the station seemed to have gone from a relaxed but ready status to a hurried, alerted and edgy one. His squad of troops followed closly behind him, ready and willing to rip apart any one who needed to be. So there was nothing to worry about there.

He was just returning back from his patrol to the main docking room when his comm unit went active. "I want every room from the corridor connecting the Docking port, to the ceremonial room covered. Grand Seneschal Raleigh has arrived and I want this placed locked down." "Well this is going to get interesting" he thought. Turning to his squad he begin to issue his orders.

"Alright. Like the man said, Grand Seneschal Raleigh has arrived. We need to lock down the path from the docking port to the Hall." He divided his troops into 3 groups and smiled. " Lyyr " he said to his Hutt heavy weapons specialist, "you take Ayva, Arlunia and August. I want the docking port room secured. If they dont have clearance, and they even smell funny, i wanna know about it." Then he turned to his right and spoke to the second group, "Tac, you take Jevan and Ula and keep watch on the Main Corridor. The rest of you follow me."

With precision and fluid movement, the team begin moving to their locations. Which , thought Teenek, was a rather surprising accomplishment. It wasn't easy for a Hutt heavy Weapons Specialist to move around. Stopping just west of the Main Corridor, Teenek finished his orders to the remaining 5 members. "Channa, Ysanne, Giran and Basca, you three stay here, Kruger your with me. We will be just outside the Ceremonial Hall." Turning from the group Teenek and Kruger, a Defel and a hothead, walked to the final room.

"Alright. Tuck in the shirt, No I dont care what it feels like. It could be made from ewok fur and rancor teeth for all I care, but the last thing I need is for people to start complaining that my squad looks like a group of lost boys" after making sure they were ready to go, Teenek pulled his DLT-20a Rifle from his shoulder, Loaded the weapon and clipped his stun cuffs to his belt. He quickly tapped his Comm Unit to report in the final ready.

"Orders acknowledged Sir. We have the each room from the Docking port to the Ceremonial hall covered. I am just outside of it." Turning to the door as people begin entering the room , "Teenek Out" and ended the communication. "Kira Al'fonz, Calgor Grim. Greetings. Please enter when you are ready" and he stepped aside from the door.

[Armitage Kurtz]

The air in the central hub of the station had stank, especially as more of them had arrived for the ceremony. Other than the floor crew, it was less crowded here too. Armitage squatted, flat footed behind a stack of containers in the docking bay clenching and unclenching his fists, not as tightly as he used to - the scars on his palms reminding him of the anxiety he once had such trouble controlling.

He'd enjoyed wandering the station, exploring the corners and secret places. He liked those the most, particularly the oldest ones, dust piled in the corners, random, unrecognisable detrius that might well have lain there undisturbed since the station was built. Surely Paladin Grimm would unlock the blast door to the upper floor when he required Armitage to attend the ceremony? He shuddered then, the smell off all that flesh stacked into one room would be difficult to bear.

Grunting in frustration he watched the force field flickering over the dark expanse outside. Hopefully if anyone else arrived they'd use the other bay. He wondered about the size of the ceremony room, how much they would see the need to decorate it, to obscure the function of this floating box. It seemed likely that many of the others were up there already. As he'd wandered the central hub for the sixth time the parties of recently arrived guards, apparently lacking their assigned dignitaries, had given him looks he couldn't interpret. Dislike perhaps. A week on the station and he'd still be unable to get access to the top floor. Such a strange irony - shuddering at the thought of being close to all those others, having to weave his way between all their clumsy forms during the socialisation, but feeling the insecurities around duty and social custom, and possibly even the personal needs he always denied, driving him up there.

He sighed, the guttaral gurgle escaping between his clenched rows of teeth. He'd wait here for a little longer, then check the central hub again. He wondered if Paladin Grimm would be angry if he didn't attend. Duty and honour were such inconvenient concepts.

[Ganner Groundrunner]

Ganner pushed the throttle to its max, maybe even a little further. He sank deeper into the seat. Suddenly a chime came over the board and he read the display. Ah, Frezt has made his appearance he thought to himself. "Guess its time to turn back and get ready." he said aloud to himself. He banked hard to the starboard side and could feel the inertial dampeners straining to keep things regulated in the small cockpit. Ganner grit his teeth a bit until he came out of the tight turn. "Whew, these things really can maneuver, and fast as anything too." he once again said to noone in particular. It was his first time behind the throttle of an A-Wing, and he was quite impressed.

Ganner had always enjoyed piloting himself as opposed to being shuttled around. He enjoyed the feel of yoke in his hand maneuvering through space and/or obstacles. He unfortunately was either stuck in the office or behind the controls of a BFF, lumbering along hauling materials for various projects. He did not mind his new duties per se, but it was really nice to get out and feel the speed of something faster than what equated to a flying brick of durasteel.

"Ganner to Star, im coming in, please make sure everything is in order, im docking, freshening up and changing quickly to get back to the station. I assume things will be progressing soon. Please send notice to Exocron Retreat of my arrival so that Cal knows I am on my way." He could see the station growing in the distance already. The A-wing certainly was making up ground quickly.

[Daz Raal]

Daz arrived at the Exocron Retreat Space Colony just in time. He was nervous because this was going to be the most important event he has attended since he joined the Order of Krath, and not only that, but he was part of the ceremony as well. “I need to get ready for the ceremony. Jeez! I wish they don’t expect me to say something at the promotion ceremony; if only I had more time I could have prepared a speech”

Once he was ready he decided it was time to go.“Let’s get this party started”. Daz walked out from his ship and into the station. He was surprised by the security that has been placed in and around the station. “This just shows how important this event is going to be”. He moved pass security and walked to the ceremonial hall.