STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Broken

"You are young," Akro comments. "I am sure you will see many places unlike anywhere you have ever been, especially as a Jedi Knight."

"We should discuss the matter at hand," General Hirget reminds him. "You were just about to tell me what is going on amongst the miners."

Akro looks sullenly at General Hirget.

"I've lost control of them, General," Akro says. "This recent scandal by the mining corporations has driven them farther than I would have ever expected. I always promote peaceful negotiations to get what we need and want, but there is talk of rioting."

"The scandal would be the mining corporations refusing to pay, correct?"

"Yes," Akro says. "Something that they have never done before."

"You should not have underestimated them," General Hirget says. "The mining corporations are rife with greed and corruption. You see this better than most."

"But this is too extreme for them," Akro reasons. "They lose their work force if they don't pay us."

"Are they employing replacements?" Vera-Kin asks. "Surely they do not want to stop all mining efforts by not paying any of you. Who started the motion of not paying up?"

"What reasons are they giving to hold back payment?"

"They are employing those who are willing to take lower pay, yes," Arko says. "Some cannot afford to stop work, but even then this reduces the work force to a bare minimum. The mining corporations are citing our recent efforts to get raises to our daily pay, but our stance was not so extreme as the one they are responding with.

"And it was the Dame Astrune, m'am."

"Astrune? We had just met with her on other business..."

"I trust it went as I suspected it would," General Hirget comments, eyeing Rianna's bruised face and arms.

Akro frowns. "Did you fight her?"

"Yes," Rianna says shortly, tucking her arms and hands into her robes. "It was something personal."

Akro smiles.

"About time someone challenged that *****," he says.

"Akro," General Hirget says. "Let's keep this official, shall we?"

"Sorry, General. Perhaps you should inform the Jedi about my request. They could be of help."

Rianna is slightly confused yet amused by Akro's reaction.

"What is the request? Though you do need to be aware that we are here for a specific reason," she replies.

"Before I explain, I will tell you that Akro and I are on very good terms," Hirget says. "He keeps me informed about the state of the mining unions so that protests can be conducted peacefully and riots can be preemptively averted."

"But not this time," Akro says. "The miners are restless. They won't heed me."

"Indeed," Hirget says. He pauses to take a drink of water from a cup on the table. "Akro has come to me with a request. Two requests, actually. The first was that, if the miners began a riot at their next protest, I would not take military action to subdue them. This I cannot do; my dislike for the mining corporations is obvious, but I cannot go so far as to allow rioting against them. His second request, though, was that I uncover the dissenters within the mining unions and arrest them on conspiracy to riot."

"My hope is that with the dissenters gone, I can get control of the unions back," Akro states. "It's obvious that someone else has gotten their ear, and if that person goes, it may stop any rioting from happening."

"I hope you can see how this may relate to your mission," Hirget says, looking at you knowingly.

"Yes, I certainly see. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the...criminals we are looking for have a hand in this. Especially hearing that Astrune was the first to pull payments for the miners. I have strong evidence that the ones we are here for know that she has what they want," Rianna replies, nodding.

"Would this be the sort of thing Rand would attempt?" Rianna asks Vera-Kin. "You would know much better than I would."

"I'm not sure," Vera-Kin says. "He is not the boy that I raised any longer, obviously..."

Vera-Kin will Scan our friend Akro, who seems to like us already. She will also Scan the General. No points spent please.

"How can we help you uncover your dissenters?" Vera-Kin asks. "I'm sure we can set things straight for your miners, Akro, if we can figure out who is causing you trouble."

"The only time that all the miners get together is normally when we're working," Akro says, "or at the Stain. It's the bar that has been made into the makeshift headquarters for the miner unions. And since we're not working, I figured whoever the General sent to sort things out would be showing up at the Stain."

Akro is stressed out but the appearance of a pair of Jedi seems to have lifted his spirits. Hirget seems nonchalant.

"That would likely be the best place to start, though of course it may be difficult to get your miners to trust us."

Vera-Kin, your comlink is beeping.

"I am very in tune with the minds of others," Vera-Kin says, giving Akro a reassuring smile to ease him. "I am sure we can do great good by going to this bar and finding a link to our criminals. We want to prevent rioting just as much as you do, even if it is not our mandate."

Vera-Kin will step away to answer her comlink, saying "Excuse me" to the General and Akro, then answering with "Yes?"

"And while I personally am no expert in dealing with other people...if it does come to a riot, I would think that my skills may useful there. Though I certainly hope that it does not come to that."

Rianna glances over, assuming that Barker has info to relay to them.

(I'm almost hoping it isn't.)