Unknown Coordinates
Diplomatic Hauler 'Kola'

Frigid and mostly alone, Dek favored the company of his droids and the occasional Gungan whom he had befriended on a recent mission to a space sport. Surrounding his ship was a nebula that made it difficult for scanning and tracking devices to seek through with. This made it easier for him to hide. Dek recently had abandoned his posting as the Aedile to the Imperator of House Imperium. He had uncovered a low level form of corruption that he had brought to the attention of his superiors. In response, he had an assassin droid sent to kill him. Attempting to corral the members of Crucesignatis Imperialis, Dek had discovered that the organization had been disbanded and a bounty set out for him.

Not knowing exactly why this small form of corruption entailed, Dek ran from his House and known space. Now he waited deciding his next move. He wouldn't abandon the Empire, but he couldn't return to it in the current state it was in.

thump

A slight knock hit the hull of the ship. It was soft...very soft. The communications panel spit to life, "shhhhhtttttzzzzziiitttttrrrrrppp..." but only static and random noise came from the panel.

"Sir," 9TP, Dek's pilot droid for the Kola, started, "that may be Madam Gorona..."

Dek interrupted him, "Just Gorona. She's not related to me in that way."

"Of course, sir. I will let her know that she cannot order me to call her that any longer."

Dek stood and walked to the remote pilot pod bay and entered the code for pod reception. A couple seconds later, and a female Gungan pulled herself out of the pod itself.

"A little bettar dis is," her thick Basic streamed through the billed lips.

"Still not used to the gravity, Madam Gorona?" Dek smiled slyly.

"I see you'va been talking to 9TP." She stumbled slightly but instantly regained her balance.

They both walked back to the center of the ship and sat around a large circular table full of datapads, disks, and a map of the Caperion system.

"Still living in da past, I see." Gorona spit at the holographic map.

"One day it won't be," responded the Human.

"Well den I'd guess you'd wanta dis," Gorona pulled out a datadisk and placed it into the holoprojector.

"What are you doi..." started Dek, suddenly stopping at the hologram of a Nautolan. The hologram paused, as if looking straight into Dek's eyes. Then it spoke.

"Dek Ironius the second. I always wondered why you kept the second part, especially considering whatever grave the first was buried in now lies in a tomb of fire and magma. But that's beside the point."

This sounds bad, Dek remised.

"This message is for one purpose and one purpose only: I, Imperator Raiju Kang, demand you return to your post. The hunt for you is over. The Empire..."

Gorona interrupted the Imperial diatribe, "It's probably a trap."

"No, the Quarren wouldn't allow a Nautolan to do this. Maybe a Human, or a Twilek, but certainly not a Nautolan. If it's a trap, then..." Dek continued to hear it.

"...invigorated with new purpose and a new destiny. Join us once again, Commander Ironius, and bring a new duty to our Empire!"

The hologram faded. Gorona looked Dek square in the face.

Dek smiled.

Gorona let out a sigh, "9TP!"

"Gorona, I must inform you..." answered the droid.

"Set a course to the Caperion System!" She shouted over his explanations.

"I'm sorry, Gorona, but..."

"You heard her, 9TP!" Dek shouted.

Confused, the droid responded, "At once, Commander!"

---

Yes, it's another report in such a short time. This one is more of a refresher of some of the competitions that we're having before the Great Jedi War.

Firstly though, after showing my desire to wait until the Herald's office was done with the GJW to have report graphics done, Alara approached me and designed some headers to my weird specifications. Yes, I'm going with the gold/red/black theme for my own personal branding (feel free to join me in that though). Anyways, a big thank you to Alara Deathbane, Executor of House Excidium, for her aid!

I won't do official recognitions this time, but will say that some of you may have received some Dark Mavens, Dark Savants, and Dark Sages because of the rework of the Shadow Academy. So if you suddenly received some SA degrees without doing anything, it's not a mistake! I believe 3-4 of you have received the Dark Sage in Law overnight!

We had a plethora of competitions end in the past week, but there are still so many that are going on. Here are some of them now:

Ends within a week:

Down the Rabbit Hole Part 1: BT Events
Brother From Another Mother
The Gizka Mystery

Ends before the GJW:

Stronghold Siege!
From Behind the Tides of War
Destiny Calls
Build a Bad Guy 1
Build a Bad Guy 2

Before and After the GJW:

The Great Heirloom Dagger of My Ancestors
Character Development Workshops

All the competitions can be found here. While all of these competitions are for fun, some of them influence the plot and people within our future storylines. Build a Bad Guy gives you the power of influencing the future plot lines of the House. Other competitions may influence your characters and how you approach others in the future.

The Voice and his office are really cracking down on Physical Descriptions on our CSs. If you're having problems with your CS or description follow some of these tips.

1. Go through our own face or a face of the species of your character and describe every level of detail you can that sets you apart.

2. Be concise. You don't need to elaborate on things unless the elaboration is legitimately part of the description.

3. Leave off the clothes and objects. You can describe your clothing, weapons, objects, and ship in your possessions. They have their own space for that.

4. If you are having trouble, contact a member of the Voice staff or your summit and ask for help (or Braecen, since he's both).

Speaking of fictional development, within the next few days expect a major fiction update in terms of what has happened over the last few months and some of the events that transpired from Lex's stepping down and Raiju's rise. Expect it...soon.

Also, GAMING. As a House we've been touch and go with this subject. We have some good gamers here, but we also recognize that they probably aren't internally challenged as much as they'd like to be. We're not only working on solutions, but we're hoping that our members can talk more about gaming with other members either in the gaming chat or individually. This GJW will be a great litmus test for gaming within our Clan and House.

On the topic of the GJW, it's coming. October 13th is the day to look out for. For those who've never been in a GJW, it's an insanely large event. It's not a Clan vs. Clan. Rather it's a Clan vs. Clan vs. Clan vs. Clan vs. Clan vs. Clan vs. Clan. That means all of our members vs. all the members of every other Clan. That's 200-300 people participating in these competitions.

You may be thinking: "This is overwhelming. I could never beat all these experts in any of the competitions. The best of the best are competing."

I'll be the first to say that you're wrong. I myself have two Bronze Nova. I got one when I was a Guardian (now Journeyman 2) for superior Run On entries and another for a Multimedia event (3rd place for both) as a Knight. Respectively, I was 16 and 19 in the events, and I wasn't even an Equite yet. Others have done the same. It will require a bit more hard work than usual, but that's when you pull on your fellow Clan members. They will motivate you and you can motivate them!

Furthermore, rank is usually irrelevant when it comes to these events. It's how good you are compared to others, not how good you are compared to the rank. Past GMs, Dark Prophets, Masters, and Adepts have been beaten easily in these events. There is literally no wrong you can do here. If you don't get the win, you get participation points for your Clan, which helps in every bit possible. The GJW is created for the members. The DC holds this competition for you. And we will claim the right to victory...

Glory to the Empire!

Dek Ironius II