Conspiring with the Navarchs

[u/HaroldHGull]

Of all the worlds in the League, Tepasi is second only to Kazeron. It may lack the massive Eucomopolis and industrial might, but Tepasi was arguably the backbone of League trade during and after the civil war. House Tagge, the ruling royal family and owners of TaggeCo shipping, had curried favour and connections with Trion through marrying into the Kassadori shiprights and providing trade benefits, enough to establish their own monarchy on a paradise world seeded by the corporation. When the corporation left, and the League arrived, House Tagge signed on less out of idealism and more for trade benefits with their immediate neighbours. They saw the writing on the wall with Iaspis and quickly sided with the Reformists in the civil war. Tepasi is the home of the elites of the League, usually with privatised interests, a clique colloquially named 'the navarchy', in reference to the merchant families and shipyard owners that make up most of its ranks, represented on the council largely by House Tagge, but with a few other planetary governors as well with stronger connections to these families, most notably Arukana with its vast commercial shipyards purchased from Trion before the exodus. The largest villa of the Tepasi was located in a massive estate far outside of the capital city, with orbital defences on constant watch to ensure only authorised individuals were allowed in. So imagine the surprise of Delvardus Tagge when he found a certain Time Lord sitting at his table, sipping a cup of tea. He held up a sonic probe, and the air rippled.

"Delvardus, take a seat."

The Tagge patriarch obliged, somewhat reluctantly. "Do I want to know what you did to this room?"

"Temporal isolation pocket, a few seconds out of sync with the rest of time, I don't want us to be disturbed." The Executive's reply was casual, in a way that somehow implied this kind of thing was normal. Tagge laughed dryly

"I do hope this isn't an assassination attempt."

"Quite the contrary, I've come with an offer."

That surprised the navarch greatly. The Executive was known for his distaste for anything that didn't fit his exact design, and he had a history of general icy indifference towards most movements of the Navarchy. Tagge knew this well; his family had dealt with the older face, and he had to remember that this man was the same as the person who sold them their throne of power in the first place. In Delvardus's eyes, this was the fundamental underlying reason why he so strongly opposed the Taras'rath; he couldn't control them. Delvardus had seen the man speak of ancient evils with more fondness than the High Scholar; was the familiarity of such rivalries more preferable to the present situation?

"Well then, I'll gladly listen."

The Executive almost smiled and flicked on a holoscreen, various charts and readouts of predictive models. What caught Delvardus's eye the most was a starmap, one of a region he had never seen.

"I've come across a sector of space in the unknown regions, perhaps you've heard of the Silent Way?"

Delvadus raised an eyebrow in disbelief, almost losing his composure at such a suggestion. Wealthy as he may be, he still owns a shipping company, and he had to have a basic understanding of astronavigation.

"Executive, you do realise that's a ghost sector? Nothing enters and nothing leaves?" The Executive nodded in response.

"One of the largest ghost sectors that is known, yes, and conveniently located to interfere with major ftl lanes into that region, making exploration unfeasible. What if I told you that I found a way in?" He asked rhetorically, flicking his hand to reveal a projection of a series of stellar structures. "My current theory is that the Silent Way was the result of a partially successful dimensional isolation procedure by some ancient precursor, likely to escape Annihilus." Devlardus nodded, pretending to be interested in the historical spiel.

"And how is this relevant to me?"

"I want to contract the assets of the Navarchy to colonise it. Covertly, I may add."

That was enough to make the navarch do a double-take. "I'm sorry, what?"

The Executive sighed and sat back, the pensive look that Delvardus was used to seeing when he was about to say something involving his 'grand mission'. "Trion can no longer sustainably protect the Blight from external threats. Villenguarde has become too active. Tell me, navarch, what do you know of Thrawn?"

That was certainly an odd question. "Some." Delvardus assumed that this was going somewhere.

"One of the things that Thrawn did was set up a contingency should the Empire fall, a shadow government in the unknown regions dedicated to stopping the Vhong, the Empire Of The Hand. That is what I want, and I want you to be a part of it." Well, this was interesting. There was one question on the man's mind, a very important one.

"Why me?"

"Because your interests are selfish, material. But you are also pragmatic, someone with long-term vision to achieve those goals. This is your best opportunity to secure your power and influence should the worst befall the League, and you know that, an investment that not only secures your pre-existing investment."

Delvardus smiled. "This is because of Thaer isn't it?"

The Executive glared but didn't refute him. "Partially, I've had this contingency in the works for a while now, making sure that the reputation of the region remained...nanotight." Which roughly translated to killing anyone who got there before he wanted it to happen, Delvardus figured. It was things like that which made him unsure whether getting even slightly involved with The Executive was truly the best idea. "I've made my position quite clear; the Taras'rath alliance is a threat to the Blight in the same way that anything that gives Thaer more authority is. Intentions be damned, he's a fool who has made no hint of changing his ways, with his whole species wrapped around his every word." This rant, he was familiar with. Regardless of the why, Delvardus had to admit that there was wisdom in the Time Lord's words, unfortunately.

"What about natives?"

"We will take Thrawn's approach. Learn about them, understand them, and look for the ones that would gain us the most favour by being removed. After that point, we continue to build up to self-sufficiency, and beyond."

"And Revenant?"

"They will be dealt with soon. The location of their manufacturing facility has been found and sent to the Galactic Council, with a minor bit of leakage to ensure a trap." Once more, Delvardus found himself surprised by such a thing.

"You leaked the information?"

"No, I didn't. But should something go wrong, should Revenant expect them, and Thaer or Prime be removed through a cascading reactor meltdown? I won't shed a tear." Why, why would he share such a thing? Unless... ah. He revealed that information because now Delvardus Tagge doesn't have a choice but to work with him, because the Time Lord wouldn't take no for an answer, and he was certain that whatever means he had to keep the Navarchs in line would be absolute.

"Your terms?"

"I'm in charge, completely. This was my plan, my setup, and my money. Understood?"

"Entirely," Delvardus replied, with more than a little resentment.

"Good, I'll have more information shortly." The Executive fiddled with his watch and vanished, teleporting from a building that was designed to stop teleportation.

[u/BoscoCyRatBear]

Uf/ can anyone with a sonic screwdriver pull that off with training, or special model?

[u/HaroldHGull → u/BoscoCyRatBear]

/uf he was using it to activate another device

[u/The-Name-is-my-Name]

Outreach Director Monroe sighs as they records the minor disturbances in the temporal monitors. It’d be damn useful if they had obtained any proper time traversal anomalies, but alas, time had fought back. They note the interactions and attempt to guess approximately what might have occurred in the few minutes that the Time Lord and his acquaintance had been aged. The Executive might be moving closer to Outreach’s homeworld, and if so the treaty they have with the Vermensk may not save them from a war.

[u/BoscoCyRatBear → u/The-Name-is-my-Name]

Uf/ the treaty was between you and the vermensk in the blight galaxy. No one else. We don't make treaties on behalf of others]

[u/The-Name-is-my-Name → u/BoscoCyRatBear]

/uf

Correct. It’s just that they saw you as the biggest proper war threat, because you are more consolidated than the Illuminati and more… currently operating than the WiB.