Due to time constraints on telephone use, Tara tried to limit her call to her parents to a very simple message; she was doing well, she was specializing in Surgery, and she needed them to call Dr. Gaines.
Naturally, they wanted far more details and as her father grabbed her cell phone, she talked to her mother.
She couldn't give details on her training or how they were practicing. The inmates were wrong in her opinion, but the dummies were classified to a point that it wasn't funny. The only reason she worked on the inmates was because they weren't purposefully causing them harm, but the guards were doing very little to prevent it. Either way, deaths were occurring in that prison due to the lawlessness that was allowed and more inmates were being brought in regularly.
So instead of her training, Tara chatted about studying and how much she hated the food. She was considering declaring herself a vegetarian just so she could skip whatever meat dishes were served and have an extra helping of vegetables. Surprisingly, whoever the cooks here were, they messed up everything with any sort of meat in it.
Tara in turn found out her younger sister was expecting. It wasn't unusual for a 27-year-old to be having a baby but it seemed odd to Tara in that moment. Thankfully the father, her sister's longtime boyfriend of five years, had proposed.
They hoped to marry soon, especially considering that he was an engineer that specialized in air conditioning and ventilation systems. Apparently word through the grape vine was that his company would be shipping out to West Virginia in a few months to aid with underground construction in the area. It would provide the two of them at least with almost a guaranteed slot in an underground sanctuary.
Tara's father returned then with her phone, asking for the password.
The following minute as her father looked through her contact list then selected the right number was excruciating for Tara as she glanced out of her current stall to check on any line that might be forming to use the phones. There was a small one so she might have a few minutes longer.
"I think he got him," her mother stated a moment later. "Your dad is giving him the number now."
"Good," Tara replied as she glanced out again. "Make sure to emphasize that he needs to call. Now."
"Will do. We love you dear. And try to see if you can make the wedding," her mother told her before Tara could hang up.
Setting down the receiver, Tara glanced out at the line and saw it was still small but some of them were getting visibly restless. One actually was beginning to walk down the row, his eyes searching each occupant of the booths.
Their eyes had just met, him making a move to try to get to the phone she guarded when the set began to ring. Tara whipped around so fast that she felt dizzy for a moment as she grabbed the hand set before the first ring had finished.
"Tara Burns?" Dr. Gaines voice asked over the line. "It's been a while. Why did your parents ask me to call?"
"Because I don't have my phone," Tara informed him shortly. "I was accepted into the accelerated medical school and-"
"Congratulations!" the doctor declared enthusiastically. "As I think you know, they sent me to oversee the bacta production and it's going well, we're still using those whiffle ball designs though!"
"About that," Tara broke in. "I have a suggestion for an experiment that some of my friends and I discussed today."
"I'm all ears!"
"Try to see if you can get the bacta to grow fetal stem cells."
The silence over the lie was deafening for a long moment. "Tara… Fetal stem cells are hard to come by and are severely restricted-"
"I don't care. We think we might need this!" Tara snapped. "They're not teaching particular fields of study."
"Some are touchy and I wouldn't try to include all branches of medicine in what they're-"
"Neurology isn't available at all."
"That one especially requires a LOT of practice, education, and a fellowship," Dr. Gaines pointed out.
"Pediatrics, Obstetrics. They aren't even being particular about certain fields, no distinction on surgical fields especially! If you can get the bacta to grow fetal stem cells, then you could give a lot of people a better chance!"
"You're not making sense."
"They're not offering Oncology," Tara finally hissed, uncertain how to better make her point. "They teach us to recognize and remove certain types of cancer, especially in surgical specialization, but no one is learning about cancer in particular. Or radiation therapy."
Dr. Gaines was a canny man and he understood in that moment what Tara was implying. People were going to die without treatment due to a lack of knowledgeable doctors.
"Where would I…? I'll look into this, but I don't know how far I can get," Dr. Gaines admitted. "People have issues with using fetal stem cells. If it works though…"
Tara didn't need to reply as she hung up the phone then left, walking past a rather shocked looking boy who had stopped behind her in the booth area.
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Leia Organa had been immensely proud when her father had decided to allow her to join the small Resistance that was forming, even more so that he allowed her to take part in the Senate proceedings.
When Dangor had addressed the Senate, explaining the delay in the appearance of Grand Moff Tarkin, the princess had realized that there was nothing that could be done by anyone present. More importantly, none would try. The anger she felt at that realization had almost caused her to yell at her father.
He couldn't openly oppose them and hope to win.
Which was why Leia was doing what she was doing now: trying her hand at investigating the matter. Finding out about Omwat and how a number of children were stolen by Tarkin had been sheer luck while she had been attempting this research previously, trying to get a feel for Tarkin's character before his scheduled appearance for the Senate.
It had been mentioned by a single refugee who managed to escape the planet, but since then the matter had been silent. No names were ever mentioned, not of the children at least, until Arns Dangor had spoken at the Senate. Now Leia had a name: Qwi Xux.
Searching for this person was proving fruitless though; Leia didn't even know if this person was male or female since her research on the species clearly indicated they were not hermaphrodites.
The Military Directory made no mention of Xux, nor did the Civil Registry since the registry of the population of Omwat only went back two years. She noted that the Xux clan had been suddenly wiped out shortly after the registry had been made and accessed the reports from the sector.
The family had apparently died in a horrible accident when an improperly installed heating unit to keep food on a table warm had exploded, tearing the legs of the gathered family to shreds before being incinerated by the explosion of a power cell in the adjacent wall. There was also a report that a mere week before this incident that the family had protested the registry since one of their children had not been included, though it included all 'known' members that were in the family home. The name of the missing child was not disclosed.
Leia made note of the article, saved a copy to her datapad, then continued her search. No matter how she searched, there was no trace of Qwi Xux. No bills, no taxes, no rent being paid anywhere.
Angrily, the Alderaanian Princess struck the side of the desk she was seated at, causing a small container of styluses to tip and scatter across the desk, one landing on the keypad portion of the desk. Leia swept it aside with a sweep of her hand and an agitated huff then glanced at the display again.
"Force," she breathed instantly at the sight of the face before her. Bevel Lemelisk, a leading weapon researcher under Grand Moff Tarkin. He was currently listed as away on a project but could be reached via message over the Holonet.
Bringing up a new window, Leia set to work immediately, using her fairly new skills at hacking in order to splice into the Imperial Family Services. It took only minutes to set up a messaging account and then she thought long and hard on the wording of the message.
'Esteemed architect,' she typed out carefully before backspacing quickly. She couldn't let this sound like it had been written by anyone other than a bored office worker with only a passing interest.
'Mr. Lemelisk,' she corrected the message to read. 'This is being written on the chance that you could help us get in touch with one: Qwi Xux. There was an emergency regarding her family some time ago, and records indicate she has not been informed. If you can contact this being, please have her contact us via this messaging address or contact the following comlink:'
Leia typed in the code for one of her disposable comlinks then signed the message with her new false identity; Padme Fulcrum. She hoped that wherever in the Force Senator Amidala and Jedi Tano had settled, that they didn't mind the use of their name and codename.
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Ylenic hated having to put something else on anyone's plate currently, so when he had requested the use of a ship from the Mothma house, he made it clear he didn't need company. He just needed to get out of the eerily quiet safe house that had emptied almost entirely after the visit of Senator Naberrie.
Apparently, most of the Earthlings had liked her offer to settle on Naboo and had taken it. The few who remained on Chandrila were those who were serious about education. They were learning as much as they could, much to the delight of several of the volunteers who felt that they might become capable agents yet. One of the final four Earthlings on Chandrila was talking about university classes for Engineering.
Ylenic It'kla wished him luck before his departure.
Now he sat at the controls of his borrowed ship, uncertain of where to go. He had heard of some Jedi who found refuge on various worlds, but it was dangerous to try to seek them out. Should he head for Dantooine? The ruins of a Jedi Enclave were there, there might be some leftover knowledge or imprint there. Or maybe Ossus? It seemed less likely that the Empire would be patrolling the ruined planet.
Tapping the charts, the Jedi glanced at the planets and habitable systems he could visit. As much as he wanted to visit a planet that had been important to the Jedi, he couldn't risk it. Perhaps being around untrained Force-sensitives was igniting an old wish for his life in the temple.
Ord Mantell was likely crawling with Black Sun operatives. Mandalorians were not renowned for being welcoming to Jedi, so not Mandalore.
Ylenic's eyes roved over the galactic map, momentarily stopping on Kashyyyk before continuing. He would not even allow the possibility of wookies being persecuted for interacting with him.
His eyes glanced at Hutt space for a moment before moving on. The Hutts might not be looking for him, but he wasn't going to even attempt to kick that nest.
Bothan space was next, technically a neutral area, but Ylenic found he didn't feel drawn there.
Arkanis sector was next and now Ylenic stared at the map for a good while. This was where Tarkin had been stationed, where his initial plans had begun. They hadn't found anything now, but a number of years ago, Geonosis had suffered some horrible cataclysm.
Staring, the Jedi felt a pull through the Force. Something had been in the Arkanis sector not long ago and Geonosis having a disaster without details being released seemed highly suspect to him. Even more so when one considered that it was once the base of the Separatists. Tarkin punished planets that were Separatist ruthlessly, so it was possible he might have started there, using the natives as slaves first, back when slavery would have been met with far more outrage.
Taking a deep breath, the Jedi began the checklist for takeoff.
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The United Nations had been given a list on possible security concerns to deal with. The assembly was made to understand very quickly that when the Empire arrived, the first thing they were likely to lose would be their satellites.
There wasn't much that could be done for that, but more important was what could be gained through the satellites: connection to Earth's various information networks.
Donald Trump glanced at his cell phone as he received the report from his Cabinet, informing him that their wifi networks could be easily infiltrated. Information networks that they needed would be open to the invaders and needed to be secured.
The only method their many engineers could think of that would be secure, at first, would be to step back into wired networks. Those would likely be compromised soon after the invaders landed.
"Are we supposed to use messenger pigeons or something?" he demanded angrily.
"Carriers might work for a while, but they can be intercepted," one of the men admitted. "Rather, we believe in several rather old tactics should be used."
Trump waited impatiently as the aide in front of him shuffled through a stack of folders then handed several to him.
"Navajo isn't written, so it can be used for code-talking just like in WWII and they won't find a translation. Since it is a language, they won't have the knowledge of the phonetics and speech to properly break it. And rather than emptying the airwaves, we should fill them with as much chatter as possible, make it harder for messages to be immediately picked up on."
Trump almost lost a grin. "So get every talk show and radio station to blast on every possible station 24/7. Rush Limbaugh is bound to have something interesting to say about that."
The tight smile he received in response lacked in humor. "The one suggested measure that is likely to give us the biggest problem is… Several Cabinet members have tried to talk to companies such as Google and Charter about collapsing Wifi."
"What?! No one would ever allow that! And would it even be possible?"
"No, but necessary to protect information for as long as possible. We should be able to disable public sources relatively fast, private ones not so much but I doubt those will cause much trouble."
Sitting back in thought, Trump mulled over the implications. Removing public internet was something he felt most could live with, especially if they kept private sources.
"So what of when they land, going to suggest pulling the plug on the internet?"
The Cabinet member shook his head. "The FBI director suggested trying to use it in another manner, namely misinformation."