Tentacle Covered Chaos Chapter 18: Consequences of Fear

Tentacle Covered Chaos

Chapter 18: Consequences of Fear

<<<Poppy>>>

As much as she hated working on anything suggested by or even remotely connected to Palps, it didn’t change the fact that there is a good amount of credits to earn. And it was a pleasant change, as much as Poppy hated to admit it, at least with Palps funding the project there wouldn’t be any corners cut by greedy politicians looking to line their pockets.

Well, hopefully. Honestly she wouldn’t be surprised if he slipped in little things to test if she could catch them.

But she didn’t think he’d test her like that, sure a Biodome was a very large investment, both financially and in resources, but the long term benefits were simply too good to deny. A single Biodome could reduce the planet’s reliance on imported foodstuffs and organic materials.

Not by much, granted. It would only, at peak production, produce enough for about two billion people over a year… but that was just one of them. In time, they could make a lot more. The world would always be vulnerable to a siege, but they would help and make sure the planet wasn’t just a massive money sink.

Granted, she also knew (or suspected anyway) that all these Biodomes were purely for the sake of his future Empire. But the intentions of the Chief Bastard didn’t matter, the Biodomes were going to help a lot of people regardless.

Hell, if they made enough Biodomes, a portion of the food surplus could be sold or something. Poppy wouldn’t put it past the bastard to donate the surplus for good will.

It would take a lot of them, but… maybe.

“No, you need to have the power generators inside, and only exhaust the air outside!” She yelled at a contractor. “This is no laughing matter, it’s easier to damage and destroy it instead of the shielded dome of steel and glass.” She tossed the white hat’s clipboard to a clone soldier. “Review that for any other obvious fuckups, please.”

Honestly, were people stupid or is this some sort of twisted test by Palpatine to see how far her tolerance and patience goes? Wouldn’t put it past the fucker, but imbeciles aside things were still well within projected deadlines

The soldier justs sorted faintly but nodded, honestly the guy didn’t look too amused with the fuck up either.

“Ma’am,” The soldier said, curt and professional.

Personally, she preferred interacting with members of the military that had their boots on the ground and skin in the game. History taught her that arm-chair generals and military strategists were a nightmare to deal with.

And experience…

“Please tell me you aren’t about to complain about the price…” She groaned as one of those very administrators started walking over to her, “If you are, I didn’t set the budget. The Senate and Palpatine did, please direct complaints about my behavior or other things their way.”

It was only fair, they were the ones that hired her.

“A-ah, no,” He replied, head shaking, “But… are you sure all of this is necessary? It’s just a food production facility.”

Ah yes, the other kinds of incompetence. Those of little vision.

“It is not just a food production facility,” She replied, “It will also be a tourist destination and a very tempting target for terrorists. Imagine the headlines, ‘Republic vanity project collapsed, killing thousands and wasting billions of credits.’ No, if that type of headline appears, I want it surrounded by headlines about an orbital bombardment and military campaign,” She shrugged, “No one could blame me for not planning around that.” Poppy smiled at him, “But there’s a reason I vetoed the pop up automated turbolasers too. We want the protection to be there and visible, to reassure the public, but we don’t want them to scare them.”

It would also triple the price for the entire project. Not the turbolasers themselves, those were relatively cheap in comparison to the dome itself, but it would require re-routing multiple power lines and purchasing a larger portion of the arcology it was being built inside of, which was already the largest part of the price.

“Also imagine the praise you would get if you thwarted a terrorist attack targeting the Biodomes?” Poppy asked with a smile, “Promotions galore!” She’d be mostly invisible to the public. She’d get… maybe a single interview, maybe two, but nothing beyond that.

She would get more contract opportunities though.

“Ah, um yes… that would be rather nice,” The idiot said, “Well, carry on!”

“Captain?” She started as she turned to another clone, “Please assign someone to watch him… and Minister Harp. Him because I don’t want any bad ideas to pop into his skull, and the second… I think he’s trying to embezzle money. I’ve seen him trying to talk to the ferrocrete guys about pricing and some of em have come to me, thinking I control the construction side of things, bout him trying to get them to use cheaper materials.”

Poppy paused and tried to parse her own sentence for a second before deciding that it was probably fine.

“Yes, ma’am,” The captain said, his stoicism giving way to a very unpleasant frown.

Which made sense, when the higher ups were trying to save on resources or money it was always the ones on the ground that suffered for it. The one thing a soldier relied on (aside from skill and training) was their equipment. And having shoddy equipment because a CO wanted to be thrifty simply lowered the chances of them surviving an engagement.

Never mind the possibility of thermal grenades detonating prematurely, taking only a limb if you’re lucky.

“As an aside, your slicers haven’t gotten back to me about the computers?” She asked, “Any problems on that front?”

The last thing she needed was the CIS hacking into things to cause the generators to explode or something. Or hack into the air filters to fill the dome with poison. Or a dozen other war crimes they could commit.

“I’ll have some of our men look over their work,” The captain said with a nod.

“All I can ask. I’m good, but I’m far from experienced in these systems,” Understatement of the century, that. She could barely program an email virus because everything was so different.

“Why can’t I just code in C? That would make things easier…” She mentally complained.

Honestly, the fact that she was so successful thus far was a miracle in her opinion but, then again, she figured security was security no matter what. Though she wouldn’t mind if the programming wasn’t so damn different than what she was familiar with!

Her stomach tensed for a moment before relaxing. “... I’m going to take my lunch break,” She announced, “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the cafe.” She didn’t bother clocking out as she went, she was on a salary so it didn’t matter.

[hr][/hr]

Lunch was still an adventure in itself, but despite some near misses with some foods she couldn’t say it was terrible either. And she’s sure, given a few months, she’d look back on the ‘adventure’ with amusement. 

But now she was on her way to her apartment, her tolerance for stupidity having reached a new record, and she desperately needed something to distract her from what seems like the institutionalized failures she found herself dealing with. Was it unfair of her to think it? Probably, she wouldn’t think it if they just stopped doing stupid shit! Was her common sense just that alien, or did no one have any common sense to begin with?

Or they just had no comprehension of there being a war going on.

But then again the war is happening ‘elsewhere’ and not ‘here’ so it’s not actually real! Honestly that kind of thinking just frustrates the hell out of Poppy, and made her think that civilizations couldn’t properly develop and thrive without some periods of hardship and conflict. She’s pretty sure if the Republic got its eye blacked a time or two since its creation they wouldn’t be currently going through a slow and steady downfall into stagnation.

It wasn’t like her own homeworld was immune to that…

“Let’s see… no mail that isn’t spam…” She mumbled, looking through her emails and mailbox, “Let’s see if I can’t get Luminara to visit…” She’d try Vos, but that still needed a few days to cook.

He wouldn’t realize he ‘missed’ her until the pheromones ran out for a few hours.

Was it evil of her? Maybe. But it was necessary.

“Hey,” She said as what must have been a secretary picked up the phone at the temple, “It’s Poppy. Is Master Luminara or Padawan Baris there?”

“Ah, I’m sorry you just missed them,” The secretary said, sounding apologetic, “But I can connect you to someone else, provided they’re present.”

She hummed, eyes closed, “Alright, and I know Anakin is out…” A thought came to her, “Is Master Tii in today? I’ll come in to see her if she is, and assuming she isn’t too busy. Just need to follow up on things.”

“Let me check,” The secretary said, “Oh, it looks like she got out of a meeting with some of the other Masters. Should I tell her you’re coming?”

“Please do,” She replied, tentacles reaching out to get her coat on, “I’ll be there in about half an hour. Thanks!”

Was it a pure excuse to just… talk with someone? Maybe. But she did need to talk to someone on the council about her suggestions and security advice. Just to ensure they were still taking them into account…

Honestly, so far the council seems receptive to her suggestions, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that only Master Yoda and Windu were taking her seriously sometimes. Maybe she was just being pessimistic, but she couldn’t help but feel like it sometimes. 

Still she had enough time to freshen up and make sure she didn’t have anything stuck in her teeth.

[hr][/hr]

“Poppy reporting for duty!” She said as she slipped into the temple, “Here to see Master Tii!” She didn’t expect an entirely warm welcome, but being greeted by Master Tii and Ki-Adi-Mundi looking less than pleased with her was… a little more than she’d bargained for. “... Did I come at a bad time?” She asked, “I can leave, it’s not that urgent, but we do need to follow up on that construction job at some point.”

“Just a disagreement with Master Mundi,” Master Ti said with a smile.

That did not calm her worries. “This…” She paused, “This is about Vos, isn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Master Mundi said coldly, “Why my fellow Masters continue this farce is beyond me. The extent to which a person as paranoid and afraid as you will go to feel safe is crystal clear. I believe stricter observational standards should be put in place and you should be under quarantine.”

“If you put me in quarantine I break out within forty-two hours,” She replied, bluntly, “My last emotional meal was two days ago, shortly after my interaction with Vos, and it was a smaller one. I will start feeling hungry in twelve hours and every hour after that point would simply increase that. I’d be near feral at the forty-two hour mark. If you somehow managed to keep me there longer, I would die.” Her stance shifted, she didn’t know if she was preparing to fight or to run. “Thus, I would resist such a thing. Violently.”

“Master Mundi, please!” Master Ti said, “While your logic is accurate, you can’t just dismiss the emotional aspect of this! We want her to trust us and trust is a two way street.” Honestly the other Master seemed on Poppy’s side, despite clearly understanding where Master Mundi was coming from.

“Physical,” Poppy noted, “Depression and anxiety disorders are the result of poor chemical receptor behavior. Paranoia is the result of a high level of connection forming, which is also one of the things that causes paranoid schizophrenia.” Then she shrugged. “On top of knowing that the proper methods to contain me fully would end up killing me… I think I have a lot of good and logical reasons to be cagey.”

Mundi was staring at her as her breathing became more shallow.

It was a fear response, she knew that. She was terrified. She was also hating herself, her own actions had made other people afraid. She’d made a mistake, she wasn’t allowed to make mistakes. She had to be perfect.

“Master Mundi, I believe you should leave,” Master Ti said softly, “You’re just scaring her.” She added with a stern frown on her face.

Master Mundi stared for a moment longer. “Very well, but keep in mind young lady that this council won’t tolerate you addicting and manipulating all Jedi,” He said before taking his leave.

“It’s not like I can control that…” She mumbled, “No more than a Zeltron can. I… Vos even compared me to one after our kiss, he didn’t even say to not do it again… or say no as I went for it…” Her eyes were darting around the room, marking weapons systems and defense implements. Some she’d even suggested be added, others were newer. “... I see you took my advice for the shield projectors…”

Master Ti nodded, “Only fools would dismiss wise advice from someone knowledgeable.” She said, “And don’t let Master Mundi get to you. His kind favor logic over emotion, which makes them seem cold and even cruel. Please, come and sit with me.”

“... the sad thing is, he’s almost right,” Poppy whispered as she started walking with the jedi master, “I was… slightly lying, about when I’d start to feel hungry. I’m always hungry, it just gets worse over time.”

Master Ti just giggled faintly, “Bold of you to assume the council was fooled, child,” She said but not in a scolding manner but like an amused guardian, “Your presence in the Force makes your intentions hard to read, but we don’t solely rely on the Force to read people.”

“I don’t think with my stomach that often…” She mumbled, “Just sometimes. And I’ll admit, one of those times was with Vos, but I wasn’t trying to hurt him!”

Master Ti just smiled indulgently and ran her hand through Poppy’s hair, “We know that, and Vos knows that. Force knows that man, despite his own paranoia, is the most sympathetic and empathetic knight in the Order. Don’t let his reaction fool you Poppy, he certainly didn’t regret what happened after you two busted up the Black Sun’s station.”

Her head shook as she sighed, “I have… reasons to be paranoid. Reasons I can’t tell you because if I told you, you could die. I…” A shudder went through her, “Maybe Yoda, or Windu. But no one else is strong enough.”

Master Ti just placed her hand on her shoulder and guided her to a private room, and gestured her to take a seat. Poppy did and Master Ti soon joined right across from her, only then she put her hands on Poppy’s shoulders.

“Then speak to me. Tell me what you can,” Master Tii said gently, “This burden, whatever it is, is eating you alive child.”

“Every time I feed I have the urge to implant a bud of myself into the person I’m feeding from,” Poppy’s voice was flat, “Doing so would allow me to control their bodies at will and feed on them remotely.” Was it the most diplomatic way to say it? Not really.

Was the look on Master Tii’s face funny as hell? Also yes.

“Ah, I can see how that would be troublesome,” Master Ti said eventually, “But the question is Poppy, would you control them?”

She shrugged. “Depends on the situation. If I felt them committing a crime or something, I would. Or if it was needed to save them from something they didn’t see, like an assassin or something.”

“But would you abuse your power?” Master Ti asked, “I don’t believe so, not without just cause.”

“Can I trust other people to feel the same?” She replied, “I don’t think I could. And doing it with someone that they would trust would inherently damage that trust because I could be doing it at almost any time and no one would know.” Poppy’s head bounced a bit, “Except Jedi, I think. They, you, might be able to see the difference between the parasite and the host?”

“Disappointingly, I do believe you’re right in that regard,” Master Tii said with a sigh, “It’s a shame so many Sentients are closed minded.”

“I truly can’t blame them for not trusting a sapient self propagating self learning evolutionary algorithm that can take control over the bodies of… effectively any animal in the galaxy with exponential spread capabilities,” Poppy noted with a cough.

“Very true,” Master Tii said, “Do you feel better, getting some of your secrets off your chest?”

She thought it over for a moment before… “Not really. Now comes the anxiety over ‘what happens if it gets out’ and ‘who will she tell’ and ‘I can’t give a list of everyone I’ve fed from if asked’...” Her hand waved lazily, “It’s not something that goes away, really. It’s… a trained response.”

“Well, nothing’s wrong with hoping,” Master Tii commented with a faint chuckle, “And I won’t tell, it is not my secret after all. You will tell those you trust when you are ready.”

“Thanks…” She sighed, “Now then… When will Yoda and Windu be available?” She asked, “Oh, and if you have any contacts with the Corellian Jedi, could you send a message for me?” She might as well extend a touch more trust to them.

“Hmmm, I can’t say when they’ll be available. But I can pass on that you wish to meet with them,” Master Tii said, “And I do have a few contacts with the Corellian Jedi, I’m actually planning on meeting with them in a few days. I wouldn’t mind passing a message for you.”

She nodded, “Tell them that I think I ‘found what I was looking for.’ I’d elaborate, but… I’m going to be honest here, it would make me look crazy. And I’m not one hundred percent sure yet, the images were a bit blurry so I need to redirect some things.”

She’d have sent her own message once she’d done that and gotten confirmation, but this was better.

“Cryptic, but I can pass it along,” She said with a faint smile, “And to my contacts?”

“No, that was for your contacts,” Poppy clarified, “For Yoda and Windu… tell them I have a lead on some powerful sith.”

“Ah, very well,” Master Tii said, “Unless you have any more pressing business to attend to? I would like to get to know you better.”

Poppy mentally double checked that she was restraining her pheromones. She was, but that certainly left her… more than a little confused about the jedi’s desire. “I… suppose I could spare a few hours?” She ventured, “Did you have any specific questions?”

As it turned out, she did. A lot of them.

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