Conflict

Conflict
Date of Scene:	19 January 2025
Location:
Synopsis:	The tension between leadership at the Tenoo colony comes to a head.
Cast of Characters:	159, Pike Windu, Navi, Annelia Belask, Syralana, Cayde Alexis

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Athena (159) has posed:
It's a sunny afternoon on Tenoo and the end of the colony's first week on Tenoo. All things considered -- things hadn't gone too poorly. There'd been a slight inventory mixup, but other than that, all resources and assets had been accounted for. The temporary housing units had been set up without much trouble, and despite the initial weather reports about it being windy that week, they'd received none, so getting everyone settled in had gone quite smoothly.

Really, the only bad news was that a large number of the colonists had become infected with a mild virus that was rather contagious, which had caused a number of the colonists (those with weaker immune systems) to end up in the infirmary. Yet, most were looking to make a successful recovery within a week or so.

Consequently, the leadership of the Tenoo initiative plus a few more, had decided to meet formally to recap the week's activities, and speak about upcoming tasks and missions, including the pending trip to Ilum for the Jedi.

Pike Windu has posed:
    Jedi Master PIKE WINDU is seated. Though he appears outwardly tranquil, those who can tell (hint hint) can sense the master's internal unease.

Navi has posed:
"One week in and nobody's dead. I'd call that a very successful week," Navi murmurs as she enters the meeting venue. She looks a bit more pale than usual, having caught the virus the day after the trip to the temple ruins and been sick for several days. The illness had cleared up only yesterday, and she still felt a bit dizzy from time to time.

She takes a seat beside Master Windu, taking a deep breath and waiting for the room to stop swaying gently. "Hello, Master," she says softly in greeting. A pause, and then a concerned look. "You're not looking forward to this meeting either, are you?"

Athena (159) has posed:
Xera, Taryn, the two Arkanians, plus the pilot and navigator of the Legacy II, Yvon and Jahni, arrive the lounge area of Xera's penthouse shaped temporary housing unit. They seat themselves, though both Xera and Taryn make a concerted effort to avoid Navi, who is clearly still ill, and probably contagious.

After a moment's pause, Xera looks around at everyone gathered, and offers a tight lipped smile. "Thank you all for coming," she says. "I'll have the droids bring refreshments, shortly."

A beat, and then she scans the room. Her pretty brow crease slightly. "... where's the doctor?"

Pike Windu has posed:
    Windu offers, "I saw the doctor in the infirmary with Cayde."

    The Jedi looks at Navi. "How are you feeling?"

Annelia Belask has posed:
    Annelia walks into the room at her usual rapid pace- apparently none the worse for wear from whatever illness is going around. Either thoroughly unaffected or powering through it like it's not even there.

    "Why are we talking about the doctor? I miss a turn in this bug going around?"

Navi has posed:
Navi tries not to roll her eyes as Taryn and Xera avoid her. She probably looks sicker than she actually is and, in these quarters, everyone's likely to get the virus sooner or later. At least, that's what she thinks. Hearing any comments at all about Dr. Cassias isn't likely to help her mood, though.

"Still a little weak and dizzy," she replies softly to Master Windu. "But the fever's been gone almost two days now."

Syralana has posed:
     "I said the PENThouse!" Syralana can be heard just as the question was being asked about the Doctor. Not that she /is/ the Doctor, not by any stretch. But she seems to be arguing with someone. Until she walks into the area, datapad in hand and half looking at it while making sure she doesn't run into anything. Muttering under her breath, "Kriffin' droids..."

     Freezing in place for a moment as she looks up, she's just about to back out of the room when she spots people that she knows. Yep! Right place. Might as well check - "Err, meeting right with the leadership?" She is the Chief Comms Officer after all.

Athena (159) has posed:
Trailing Anne will be a face familiar to Master Windu - the doctor's associate, Hedge Niklas, whom he'd met at the preliminary seminars for the initiative.

"Oh," Xera says, when Pike says that the doctor is in the infirmary with Cayde. "Well. Indeed. Why are we talking about the doctor, I don't think he has anything important to contribute to this--"

Her comments seem to earn disdainful looks from both Taryn and Hedge, and before she can finish, Taryn interjects. "You heard what Chancellor Rie wanted for leadership. 'No major decisions or discussions will happen without all of leadership present, unless the specified member is indisposed.' Those were his exact words."

Xera looks annoyed, but concedes. "Fine, then. We'll go the infirmary. It's not the most ideal spot for a meeting, but I suppose it will just have to do." She stands, smoothing her shimmersilk pants.

Then Syralana makes her dilatory appearance. She looks the Echani woman up and down disapprovingly. "You're late," she huffs, "and we're not meeting here anymore. We're headed to the infirmary." Then she brushes her way past Syra and starts heading for the medic tent.

Pike Windu has posed:
    "I am not going to the infirmary. I have no desire to catch what is going around. If we need a quorum, we should postpone the meeting." The Jedi seems adamant.

Navi has posed:
"That rule could make for some long meetings. Or long run-ups to meetings, at least," Navi observes softly to Anne and Pike. Until Syralana enters, with more sound and fury than most of those already present. She feels an urge to chuckle that quickly dies as Xera dresses the woman down for her late arrival.

"She wants to dodge the sick girl first thing, and now she suddenly wants to go to the /infirmary/? I suddenly feel /so/ much safer with her in charge," she says, rising. Maybe rising too quickly, because the room sways again, and she hastily plants a hand on the back of her chair to steady herself. "I'll catch up. Just need a moment..."

Annelia Belask has posed:
    "Oh for the love of- does nobody actually go where they need to go around here? Where in the galaxy is my -padawan- even? If we end up walking back and forth even one more time I'll be -dragging- the recalcitrant parties myself if I have to," grumbles Ann irritably, shaking her head as she looks around the room. "Not like we have holo-comms or anything we could use if not for all this specific wording and nonsense..." she mutters further to herself.

Navi has posed:
"Don't look at us... we go /everywhere/ we need to go," Navi opines softly, steadying herself before letting go of the back of the chair. "Cayde may actually be an overachiever on that... he goes everywhere we need to go /before/ we need to go there..."

Syralana has posed:
     "Well, not my fault the droids seem to think house is the same thing as penthouse?" Syralana mutters and rolling her eyes to Xera, then a flick of her eyes over to Pike Windu, "I'm kinda with him though, not keen on 'visiting the sick' I still have 4 more reports to collate and trying to kick the shebs out of whoever is messing with the holocomms system."

    She glances toward Annelia, shrugging, "Apparently the techs say that someone is trying to run an illegal feed through to their house by bypassing the network protocols-yadda yadda, I dunno. That's why we have someone who knows all the techno garble. Point is, someones a nuisance."

Athena (159) has posed:
Taryn's expression hardens when Pike and Syralana insist on not going to the infirmary. "We can stay in the lobby," he says, "that area is partitioned off. But I suppose if you two are so concerned about getting ill, you can stay here and join via holocall."

Xera shoots a pointed look at Anne. "It isn't my fault the doctor has refused to respond to any of the messages or holocalls I've sent him in the past hour notifying him about this planned meeting," she says, sounding annoyed. Then she regains her composure and offers Anne a placating smile as they start heading towards the infirmary. "I read Master Yutelli's report about the Jedi Temple ruins. She detailed to me her proposition to send a team of Jedi to Ilum, to recover the required kyber crystals to open the inner sanctum and rendezvous with Grandmaster Yoda and the younglings after they finish their training exercise. And I was thinking," she says, "my family is sending one of their prototypical vessels from a brand new fleet here in a few days. You could take it to Ilum. Hypothetically, it should be able to cut travel time down by twenty five percent."

When the group arrives in the infirmary, a droid ushers them into the lobby - an area within the medic tent that's separated from the rest of the building via a portable energy barrier. Inside, they'll be able to see several medical staff and droids hurrying about, tending to the patients. And yes, the doctor is in there as well, clearly missing his comm unit while he examines a blood sample.

Pike Windu has posed:
    Windu grumbles. The Jedi follows the others and fortifies himself against infection as best he can.

    "The Order should be the final authority..."

Navi has posed:
"The Order's not always right, Master," Navi points out softly. "If they were, I wouldn't have left. But in this case you're /very/ right." She reluctantly goes with the leadership to the lobby area of the infirmary. "Just because we're all going to get this stuff sooner or later doesn't mean it's a good idea to spend so much time close to the epicenter of the sick population of the colony."

Noting the doctor's missing comm unit, she rolls her eyes. "And of /course/ the guy who lectures and guilts people over 'responsibility' leaves him comlink out of reach..."

Syralana has posed:
     There's more tapping on the datapad as she makes her way at the rear of the group, still tapping away at the datapad as she gives a little frown. "Odd." Then more tapping, "Oh, right." She glances up, pauses a second, her eyes flicking up and to the side, "Err. Oh! Nono, lobby is fine. Just, you know, don't cough on me or something." She shoots a look to Taryn as if they might be the one to cough on her.

     She looks over at Navi, "Well, it's probably not /missing/. Just... you know, elsewhere." Syralana is on a ROLL! Especially as she goes back to looking at her datapad and frowning, muttering, "What...? Why would they need 10 yards of cabling for that?"

Annelia Belask has posed:
    "I'm sure we'll get on great if you take my grumbling out loud personally," says Ann with a faint smirk at Xera's comment, shaking her head as she moves along with the rest.

    "Doctor! Few things to work off the docket, don't have your comms on you? I get that studying foreign pathogens is important but we've been shackled here, hard to get other things done without you chiming in."

Athena (159) has posed:
Xera frowns at Pike's comment about the Order being the final authority. "Not here," she says to the Jedi Master sharply. "Just because you share responsibility with Dr. Cassias and Annelia is Marshal doesn't mean the Order gets to make the final call regarding -anything- having to do with the Initiative," she huffs. Anne's comment goes largely goes ignored, since Annelia subsequently starts barking at the doctor through the energy barrier about responsibility and what not. He seems to be paying her no attention - either he doesn't hear her, or doesn't want to.

Taryn looks irritated. "'Don't cough on me or something?' You were going inside the penthouse while it was obvious that someone ill was there," he scoffed. "If you were going to get infected, your chances have already been heightened by increasing your proximity to Navi." Then he rudely brushes past her.

Pike Windu has posed:
    Windu is not going to argue. The Jedi stands easy and waits for the meeting to proceed.

Annelia Belask has posed:
    Ann exhales slowly, and one can practically -see- the patience escape her as she does. She steps over to the side of the tent, and grabs a fistful of it... shaking it back and forth to send the shaking through the tent wall well past the barrier to grab attention.

    "Just always finding new and inventive ways to waste time, aren't we..." she grumbles as she does so, eyes locked onto the doctor. "New Marshal's orders- everyone have a comm handy at -all times- out in the -not fully tested frontier-, hm?"

Navi has posed:
"Well, /this/ meeting's just going like a well-made wristchrono..." Navi grumbles, glaring into the infirmary. "/I can hear you, you know/!" she calls irritably after Taryn. "/And for the record, my fever broke almost two days ago/!"

Syralana has posed:
     And with the fact that Taryn is telling her that Navi is sick. Wait... Navi. Her head snaps up, looking around before settling on the one she guesses is Navi. She thinks. Maybe? Yeah! That's Navi! A beat, her eyes wandering up and to the side, "OH! NAVI!" The woman even confirms it by calling at Taryn! She looks at Navi and uses the ancient symbol to ward off someone from getting too close. She uses her hand to make a shooing gesture at her. "Stay over there, don't cough on me either."

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Supposedly Cayde was here in the infirmary, at least per Pike's statement earlier. Yet, he is nowhere to be seen. There are a few empty beds, and some of them are clean and clearly unoccupied, while some have rumpled sheets.

    One of them has monitoring equipment and nutrient bags around it, but the tubes are lying on the floor squirting the fluid out everywhere.

Athena (159) has posed:
Taryn doesn't dignify Navi with a response. Instead, he just rolls his eyes and folds his arms.

When Anne starts shaking the wall of the tent, the doctor pauses what he's doing for the briefest moment to glance over at Anne placidly, then summarily goes back to what he's doing.

Xera's brows crash together. "He's ignoring us."

Then, Windu's displeasure might be eased (or increased) when he sees that Tommy is inside the infirmary and has spotted him. It would appear the young Nikto boy had hurt his wrist somehow (it's wrapped). When he sees Master Windu, he waves enthusiastically, and hurries over to the energy barrier. It disappears once the boy comes close enough, allowing him exit the infirmary. The young Nikto immediately goes to embrace Pike's leg. "Master Windu...!"

Upon Tommy exiting the infirmary, the doctor finally puts what he's doing down and comes over to extract the boy, tugging on his arm gently. "Tommy, I told you, you're not supposed to leave the medic tent."

Then he stands, and matches Anne's intense gaze. "I suppose you've finally come looking for your padawan. Well, apologies in advance, but you just missed him, and you're not supposed to be in here, anyway. None of you are, actually save for Pike. I requested a public transmission be sent to all the colonists that no one save for medical staff be allowed in the infirmary." His gaze flicks briefly to Syralana, but he makes no comment.

Navi has posed:
"He's /ignoring/ you?" Navi asks, glancing at Xera Graf. "Lucky you."

"Technically I'm medical staff, too, but that's fine. I'll just take the week off," she replies, off the doctor's comments, shrugging with forced nonchalance. "Hi, Tommy," she adds, to the Nikto boy.

Annelia Belask has posed:
    "Can't tell if I should see about having him removed from the expedition or if he'd -prefer- that," muses Ann aloud, head shaking a little. "Good job looking after Cayde by the way, doctor!" she adds, certainly loud enough to be very much intended for him to hear. "Way to take your own advice there!"

Pike Windu has posed:
    Pike looks down at Tommy with concern. The Jedi nods in agreement at the doctor's admonishment of non-medical personnel who aren't patients being in the tent.

    "The Jedi do not have final authority here. But it would seem good sense doesn't either."

Syralana has posed:
     You know what? Why not. Just for the heck of it. Syralana pulls out her comm from her jacket pocket, and taps on it to call the Doctor's number. Let's see if he'll pick up now that they're in the same building - practically the same room. Putting the volume up so that they can hear it as it tries to connect to his communication device. Heck, might even point out where he's hidden it.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    No one is looking for Cayde yet, apparently. So it would appear that no one is yet aware that he's one of the freshly-unloaded shipping containers near the back, messing with one of the droids assigned to the infirmary. Some of its circuitry seems to have been burnt out.

    However, when he senses his master's presence near, he reaches out to her mind, and Ann will immediately become aware of his location.

Athena (159) has posed:
Tommy looks up at Navi and clings to Pike's cloak. He waves shyly to the young Sephi girl.

The doctor ignores Navi, but nods in agreement with Pike. His eyes narrow slightly at Anne. "Look, I admire your absolute dedication to the Order, but I don't recommend you taking Cayde anywhere, for at least two months. And I'm sorry, but during those two months, I'm going to mandate that he reduce his training sessions to once a week, for only one hour."

"You want to point fingers at me for not doing my job, fine, but at least admit that you -aren't- doing yours, -Marshal-. Perhaps if you'd been a little more attentive to Cayde's needs, he wouldn't have ended up in the infirmary at all. Perhaps no one would have had to fear that he might suffer anaphylactic shock after getting a terrible rash on his hands. Perhaps, just perhaps, you might consider that if he'd been taught to communicate and socialize properly, he wouldn't be missing right now. We'd know where he was, because he would have told us where he was going."

Then Syralana starts pinging his commlink, which is on a mediberth all the way across the room. He glances at it, and then one of the droids, griping in binary about how it's noisy and disruptive, silences it.

The doctor's gaze hardens, and he turns back to the others. "Now, if you don't have any other pressing matters to present to me -- kindly get out. Master Windu may stay if he likes, and Navi as well if she has Pike's permission to. I have a lot of work to do, and -Marshal-, I do believe you should be looking for your padawan and making sure he doesn't further damage himself or anyone else, physically or emotionally."

Annelia Belask has posed:
    "We have meetings, they are required, and you didn't show and ignored your comms, -and- at the same time let Cayde wander out of this infirmary under -your- watch during this outbreak. You sure you want to throw stones back right now, -Doctor-? Because you also have a history of borderline obstruction of justice and similar that makes me wonder how you were -ever- appointed here. -And- a history of avoiding Cayde despite apparently knowing everything he needs. Yes, he's a boy with challenges- he's also a teenager. They get into scrapes. Keeping him on a short leash for the last six years clearly didn't work back on coruscant, so why in the name of -the galaxy- would you even begin to think doing more of it would help more out here?" questions Ann, apparently thoroughly unfazed by his retort.

    "Now speaking of me being marshal, I'm instituting a ruling that at least until this epidemic blows over, keeping on hand and answering one's comms is mandatory. -Especially- for leadership who are required to be there for noteworthy decisions, no matter what a -petulant child- with a medical degree they may actually be. Am I understood, Doctor?"

    She turns on her heel, shaking her head. "And for the record? He -does- communicate. Just not -your- way. He just told me where he is, which is more than I can say for some in this room." And with that she's out of the tent.

Pike Windu has posed:
    Windu pats Tommy's head and smiles. But when the doctor takes a hard line with Ann, the master scowls.

    "Doctor, you seem to be in a position of authority here. If you are unable to fulfill your duty, resign and devote yourself to care. The Chancellor seems to have put requirements on decision-making here and we need your participation."

Navi has posed:
"Thank you, Master, Marshal," Navi says softly. She had been on the verge of either exploding or leaving in a seriously bad mood until the two Jedi had spoken up. "And you can deny me permission to stay in the infirmary after the meeting's done with if you prefer, Master, even if my name's on the medical personnel roster. I promise I won't mind a bit. I'll probably just go with the Marshal to check on Cayde."

Syralana has posed:
     As the Doctor's droid turns the comm off, Syralana just stares at the Doctor non-plussed. A tilt of her head and a raise of her eyebrows. "Oh... Huh. So, you were going to talk and give the announcement, when?" She's walking backward as she says this. Then as she turns, still holding up the comm she taps to 're call' the doctor on the comm. That way the droid hopefully has silence it again. Her other hand coming up to wave over her shoulder at the Doctor while she's heading out of the tent to follow after Annelia.

Athena (159) has posed:
The doctor doesn't seem intimidated by Anne, either, and the growing tension and disunity in the room is ... palpable. "Who am I to to ignore the orders of a righteous, all powerful, sinless god..." He watches Anne go, then nods to a couple of security droids, who go out of the tent and tail Anne from a distance. Then he turns back to finish whatever task he'd been working on previously.

The doctor gives Pike a pained look. "You have no idea," he says. "If I could, I would. By the light, what I would give to just be a plain medic or hell, just one of the colonists, with no authority or responsibility..." He ignores Syra, and when his commlink pings again, that same cantankerous droid comes over and smashes the commlink to bits...

Taryn and Xera follow Anne out of the infirmary, and though Xera looks thoroughly displeased with the entire situation, she refrains from commenting, for now. Taryn, however, catches up to Anne, brows furrowed. "That was unacceptable," he says sourly. "You don't have to like the doctor, or even get along with him, but for light's sake, don't explode into an angry tirade in front of the colonists," he says. "It's bad for morale. We didn't ask for you to be a diplomat, but you can't just bulldoze every single person who disagrees with you!"

Pike Windu has posed:
    Pike ignores the doctor's self-pity for the moment and lifts Tommy up. "What have you up to, whipper-snapper? Are you hurt?"

Annelia Belask has posed:
    "Last I checked, bulldozing is exactly what people do to brick walls," Ann shoots back, shaking her head. "Someone wanted me on this thing, this is what they get- I never claimed to be perfect. Today could have been a five minute meeting and instead we're running around the encampment wasting the best part of a day because a man refuses to follow protocol. Part of being Marshal is keeping order- which means that if he's actively sabotaging our ability to get our tasks done, there will have to be consequences. And from all -I've- ever experienced with the man, it takes a lot to get that through his skull. Now, do we need to stop and dress down my lack of qualifications for this post in full, or can I go find my padawan? Because I promise you, I'm all too aware of my shortcomings here."

    Worth noting she hasn't stopped walking yet.

Navi has posed:
Navi rolls her eyes as she watches the cranky droid. "Now I know where to look if I find anything broken in here," she observes sardonically. "Remind me to bill the medical budget for a comlink... and to schedule that droid for a memory wipe. Maybe five good memory wipes. We don't need smashed-up medical equipment a few million light-years from the nearest Medics-R-Us."

"Master? If you have things in hand here, I'm going to help Anne with Cayde," she adds softly to Pike.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde has actually managed to make some progress with the droid, re-directing some of the signals through different wiring that isn't damaged. But it's hard to concentrate with all of these arguments raging and emotions consequently roiling. Thankfully, it seems the worst of it is over as Ann has stormed off. There is another mental nudge from him, as he tries to show her that he has -almost- fixed up this damaged droid. Granted, he was the one who damaged it. But he hadn't meant to...!

Athena (159) has posed:
"I'm okay," Tommy says, softly, though the young Nikto boy seems rather stressed by what had just happened. "Master Windu, don't be mad at the doctor, please." he says, "He's a good man. If it weren't for him, my mom would be dead." He rests his head on Pike's shoulder. "I'm scared," he says suddenly. "Why does everyone have to fight so much?" he says sadly. "Can't everyone just get along..."

Taryn scowls. "Not when they're trying to build a damn city! You're calling him thick skulled, well, you're as close minded and stubborn as he is! You're not even kriffing trying to be less like a piece of sandpaper! And speaking of protocol, you didn't even ask us what we thought before you went ahead and ordered a colony wide mandate." He shakes his head, then peels away from Anne, storming off.

Annelia Belask has posed:
    "It's a safety mandate, not an administrative direction one, my exact -purpose- here... Or are you going to tell me that Marshal is just a title for show?" questions Ann after Taryn as he storms off, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists a moment.

    She takes a moment, inhaling deeply before looking over to Xera as she stops walking for the moment. "Well, Xera. You look like you'd like to admonish me for losing my patience when -all of our time- is wasted too- go ahead then. I'm sure Yutelli will be around before long for similar."

Pike Windu has posed:
    Pike smiles at the boy affectionately. "You're right, young man. But sometimes we forger our responsibilities and must be reminded of them."

Navi has posed:
"I'll take that as a yes, Master. Try not to smack the doctor while I'm gone," Navi says softly to Pike. She manages not to say that she wants to be there to watch that, but it's hard... "See you, Tommy," she adds, pausing to kiss the Nikto boy's cheek before leaving the lobby and following Anne.

Possibly just in time to watch Taryn flounce off, and to witness the interaction between Anne and Xera. For the moment she keeps quiet, but she doesn't stop following them, giving the doctor's two security droids a glance apiece. Now just why would they be sent after Anne? It merits thought.

Syralana has posed:
     I mean, Syralana is hanging by Anne. Mostly so she can write this all down... Murmuring softly under her breath.

     "And so... the Marshal is trying to overrule and dictate mandates as the Administrator fights back. A show of sheer will and force as the two of them fight for supremacy over the fate of the colony." A flick of her eyes up and to the side, then back down to the pad, "Hrm. Maybe: A clash of titans beating their wills against one another as they fight for supremacy over the fate of the colony. Yeah. I think I like that better." She taps at her chin, looking up to the confrontation still, moving along behind Annelia.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    There! Cayde has managed to get the droid to boot back up again. However, it still isn't moving in spite of being online. He sighs, deflating a bit. He had been hoping he'd be able to get it functional again by the time Ann arrived. Oh well, it was something, right? But it seems she's already here. Along with...security droids? Now what did they want? He gets up and turns around, pushing the door to the shipping container open.

Athena (159) has posed:
"Okay, but don't stay mad at him, okay?" he says. "The fighting has to stop..." He waves goodbye to Navi as she hurries off.

Xera smiles thinly at Anne, and smoothes her shimmersilk pants again. "Marshal." She says, her tone dangerously even. "Of course I'd never say such a thing. But may I remind you that Taryn and I are your pocketbook. And I'd hate for you to never see your lovely Jedi Temple get rebuilt simply because the effort lacked the funds."

She glares at Syralana. "By the gods, will you -stop- that? It's obnoxious. Are you -incapable- of becoming unglued from that damn thing?!" Just like Anne, it seems even Xera's ability to pretend is... unraveling.

Just then, Xera's commlink pings, and she frowns. "One of the engineers just reported one of tech droids as offline--" she looks up, and notices that the droids Soren had sent after Anne are pushing past them, towards where Cayde is working hard on trying to repair the droid he'd accidentally damaged. She frowns, then hesitantly begins to follow them.

"RETURN TO INFIRMARY. RETURN TO INFIRMARY." And then one of them reaches out and tries to grab Cayde by the arm, to take him back to the medic tent!

Annelia Belask has posed:
    Ann sighs slowly, deflating slightly- apparently too distracted to pick up on what Syra's muttering.

    "I'd honestly rather you just call me a fyrnock or something. Hit me straight. For what it's worth- I just want to make sure we keep moving and stay safe. We -should- have comms on us at all times. This place isn't mapped well yet, and we have an unknown virus going around. If we -can't- contact someone we need to assume they're in danger, not just screening our calls. Maybe that makes more sense."

    She rubs at the bridge of her nose. "Alright, time to go get Cayde- I'm sure he's around this droid somehow. But for now, if I'm the problem, I'd rather you get rid of me than harm the rest of the order. I'm hardly a strong representative of Jedi values, these days."

    And with that she starts moving again after Navi and... the droids? Huh.

    "At ease, droids- no need to drag him. Cayde, come with me would you? I get the feeling the doctor's making some injured-pride power play with these buckets of bolts."

Navi has posed:
"And /this/ is why I thought this initiative was a bad idea," Navi observes at the exchange between Anne and Xera. Especially Xera's threats of withholding funds for the rebuilding of the Jedi Temple on-world. "We can't even go to the butt-end of the galaxy without getting sideswiped by politics. If half the people in the galaxy that I care about weren't on this dirtball, I'd say we all should just go to Ilum and then hop a budget starliner back to-..."

And then the droids grab Cayde! "What the /frell/ do you tin cans thing you're doing?!" she cries, resting a hand on her lightsaber. Just in case...

Pike Windu has posed:
    Pike sets Tommy back down. "Anger leads to the Dark Side. Remember that."

Syralana has posed:
     "As the Administrator threatens the Marshal to pull funding for the promised temple if she will not capitulate for the demands. Engineers interrupt to report further problems with the droid." She taps her chin again, rolls her eyes at Xara and murmurs, "Need to rework that last line. Engineers call in a panic as the Administrator responds to the growing tension. Tech droids offline while the medical droids seek to restrain one of the sick Jedi. Y-y-yeah, that sounds better." She nods her head and looks back up at Xera and Anne.

     "Who likes being on the evening holoreel? You know... I run the Communications." She taps her datapad into her hand and then looks pointedly at Xera, "Does everyone want to know about how the Administrator is dealing with panicked engineers while threatening the Jedi to remove their reason for being here? /I/ think they might! Or, ya know, you could take the peg down a little and we can try again?"

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    As the droids try to grab him, Cayde pushes them back with a Force-fueled kinetic burst, although it's not terribly strong. But perhaps that's for the best, as last time he'd unintentionally done too much damage. However, he tries to hold them back as best as he can without utterly crushing them to bits...

Athena (159) has posed:
"What's the dark side?" Tommy asks. "Because it doesn't sound nice, and it seems like a lot of people are really angry..." he rocks back and forth on his heels uncomfortably. "Master Windu, I have a really bad feeling inside. No one here is getting along. You don't like the doctor, and a lot of the colonists don't even like each other, either. It's how I got my sprained wrist..."

But it seems that Cayde's Force push was still a little strong. Suddenly, the droids are toppling, toppling!! Unfortunately, they'd been standing very close to the edge of the ridge that the colony is located, and now, they're just falling down into the valley below, their circuits and limbs sparking!

"N--" Xera's eyes go wide with absolute horror. "Those were...prototypes!! I -paid- for them and they were one of a kind, brand new...!" She whirls around and notices the droid Cayde had been working on but had ultimately failed in repairing.

And then Syra is yammering about some stupid holoarticle she's going to send back to the Core.

It's too much.

She unleashes a feral, unhinged, shriek. "SHUT THE KRIFF UP!" she screams at Syra.

Then she whirls on Cayde. "YOU!! This is -all- your fault. You just can't stay out of trouble, can't stop playing the light-damned hero even though you have no kriffing idea what you're doing! And then you land yourself in the infirmary, and the doctor has go and get all stupidly protective of you and ruin the meeting we were supposed to have. Because for all your proclaimed Jedi self control, you have none. NONE!!! It's pathetic. You're hopeless! You, and Annelia, and Pike..." she trails off, her face redder than a jogan fruit. "You all proclaim to have such discipline and serenity, where is that?? WHERE?? Damn you kriffing hypocrites! Damn you!!!" Then she does something unexpected -- lashing out in an attempt to slap Cayde across the cheek.

Annelia Belask has posed:
    And then, a moment after, a very different tone of Annelia steps in behind Xera, clapping a hand down on the woman's shoulder. To call it un-gentle would be... an understatement.

    "I will thank you, Xera, to not strike my padawan. A very interesting thing to do when complaining -we- lack self-control, don't you think?"

    Her voice isn't yelling in any way this time- it's low, firm, and rather cold in fact. "If you try again, under my remit as Marshal you will be charged with assault. Now, explain to me why your oh-so-precious prototype droids are trying to manhandle Cayde, if they're so special to you, wouldn't you?"

    It's definitely not a request.

Navi has posed:
Well... THAT escalated quickly! Navi lowers her hand from her lightsaber as violence erupts from a completely unexpected direction. She stares for a moment as Anne restrains Xera in the wake of her attack on Cayde. Then she moves to assist Cayde if he seems to need it.

"Miss Xera?" she asks gently. "Do you need a hug right now? 'Cause you're kind of acting crazy."

Pike Windu has posed:
    Windu hears his name. "The Dark Side is something you don't have to worry about. Stay here where I can find you. We'll talk more later, I promise."

    The Jedi Master exits the med-tent. "What's going on here? Perhaps the Jedi need to take control. So far I've seen only chaos."

    Dramatically, Windu pulls his great coat open, showing the lightsaber hanging from his belt.

Syralana has posed:
     And with a roll of her eyes, she looks back down at the datapad, sighing. "And so the unhinged Administrator screamed in a panic and attempted to assault one of the peacekeepers. Unable to cope with things, the Administrator appears to be unhinged. So ends the 5th day of this endeavor. A Doctor who fails to communicate. An Administrator who can't administrate, but only threaten to have her way. And the Jedi who keep trying to bring some semblance of order." She stares at the words, looking up and to the side.

     "Hmm... I hate it. This is gonna take a lot of work." Tucking the datapad into her pocket, she looks back up at them all and keeps close. Though not too close to Navi, she's sick after all.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde stares in horror as the droids fall. But, he hadn't pushed them -that- hard...

    His countenance falls as Xera rips into him. Well, she wasn't wrong. He was the reason for Dr. Cassias' aberrant behavior, although he isn't sure why the man has suddenly become so protective of him when he'd simply been avoidant before.

    And then she slaps him. He rubs his face as it stings from the strike, then looks back up at her, attempting to enter her mind and calm her down. If he has to erase her memories of the past hour to make that happen, then he'll do it.

Athena (159) has posed:
Xera is shaking. Though whether it's due to fear, or anger, or both, is unclear. The unfiltered rage on her face is blatant. "Do not. Touch me," she says, her tone thin and icy. "I'll do what I like. And if you don't like what I do, then I pity you. Remember, you're not getting your Temple unless I say so."

She glares at Navi. "Get away," she snarls. "You people sicken me."

Then she twists away from Anne, the fury trailing behind her palpable in the Force. She glares at Pike as he exits the tent. "Leash your uncontrollable animals," she hisses, then sweeps past him, back towards her penthouse. Tommy whimpers. "No more fighting... please..."

Cayde's attempt to calm Xera seems to have worked, she's now no longer acting aggressively, but she's still visibly upset.

Once she's inside, the doors slam shut.

The group might notice that a small crowd of colonists have gathered by now, to watch the debacle. And anyone with even an inkling of telepathy will be able to sense the emotion that's drenching the air.

Fear.

Fear of their new Marshal, fear of Xera cutting their funding, fear for the future of the colony, if leadership was this disunited this early on...

Navi has posed:
Navi would guess it's anger. "Well... glad you got /that/ off your chest," she observes sarcastically, watching Xera leave. "All this over a /meeting/?"

She looks from Anne to Cayde, to Pike, to Syra, and then to Xera, just before the door slams behind her. Slowly she becomes aware of the gathering crowd. And their fear.

Pike Windu has posed:
    Windu step forward to address the colonists.

    "I am Jedi Master Pike Windu. I am here at the behest of the Chancellor himself. The Force is with us, you have my word. Go back to your duties. It's the best thing you can do right now."

Annelia Belask has posed:
    Ann looks around the space, frowning for a moment... then exhales a deep sigh, slowly.

    But after a moment, perhaps in the wake of a number of hours spent tourguiding at the Temple to her own chagrin... she speaks up to the crowd

    "People of the initiative, my apologies for what you've witnessed here today. The dangers and unknown pathogens of this new world are wearing on us all, I think. I'm guilty of it, certainly. There are dangerous things out there, both visible and unseen. Having this many people to keep safe... all with our own thoughts on how it should be done... it's quite a bit. At the end of the day, all I want is to see everyone finish this project just as healthy as they left to join it. I'm not much for words- I'm a fighter, and I came to make sure pirates and wild animals don't hurt any of you. So I'm frustrated. But for the sake of everyone here, I'm going to work to be... calmer. More straightforward. Keep things smoother. I hope others can join me in that." She glances at Cayde, with that last.

Cayde Alexis has posed:
    Cayde watches Xera go, looking worried. Had that worked? She still seemed very upset. Maybe he really needed to erase her memories of today...maybe tonight.

    As Ann addresses the colonists who have gathered, he attempts to reach into their minds as well, and help her calm them down by inserting the idea that for the most part, everything is going smoothly. Just a few rocky moments among leadership that were bound to happen anyway. Maybe next time, they ought to have the meetings privately and not discuss matters in the open.

Syralana has posed:
     You know what? "Ehhh, why not let them do the work for me." And that's when the datapad comes back out, when she sees Anne approach with a purpose toward the people crowded about. And then a couple settings to set it on record and...

     You go girl!

     Cuttin' down on your work hours!

     And Annelia too. With the speech finishing, she ticks the camera back off and then tucks the datapad away once more. A few nods of her head and a shrug, "Yeah. That was a days work? Right?" She's not asking anyone in particular, "Yeah. Perfectly great time to go check on the Comm Relay here soon I bet... and get a drink."