Archive for the 'Moneta' Category
After many weeks of organizing, packing, preparing, delivering things here and there, cleaning, ordering and generally working towards putting Moneta to rest…
I finally took a break. And what better way to unwind and relax than to go fishing?
Looking to avoid any crowds I decided to visit one of the remote outposts on Yavin IV. The weather wasn’t bad …but it’s Yavin IV so that’s not saying it was good either. It’s never been a favorite fishing spot for me. The water has an odor to it I can’t quite describe and the bottom of the rivers and lakes tend to be dark and muddy. You often find that if you stand in the same place too long you slowly start to sink.
But I set out with the goal of catching a rare fish found only in this place, so I went. After a few hours with little to show for it, I sat on the shore, nibbled at the lunch I’d brought with me and thought about my shop.
There’s still quite a bit of organizing I’d like to do. The inventory has slowly been dwindling… though not as quickly as I’d like. I won’t have room to store all that is left once I fire the vendors. I should really try to sell off those remaining components since I won’t need those for a while… if ever…
And that’s about when it hit me. When had it become a forgone conclusion that I was closing up shop for good? I don’t remember ever making the conscious decision about that.
Maybe it was preparing for Moneta’s end. Did I just naturally extend that to my personal life? Did I just assume that everyone else’s departure should lead me to do the same?
Perhaps it was that dream. No doubt, it changed my perspective on all I have here. It was both a surprise and a relief to find that the greatest joy in life really does reside in those simple pleasures - putting in a hard day’s work, time with old friends and the opportunity to meet new ones, meeting challenges and finding ways to overcome them, taking the hard road and feeling the satisfaction of looking back at how far you’ve come….
I realized that I don’t need the shop, the factory, the vendors, the fancy trinkets, the big house, … I don’t need any of that to live and be happy. There is a simpler life out there than the one I’ve been trapped in for so long. And I’m ready to give it a try. Ready to give up my comforts for a taste of it.
Is this forever? I don’t really know. I know enough about how life works to never say never. But for now? For now I’m satisfied to put aside the life I’ve been living and get back to the simple things that make me happy.
Like catching this silly fish.
It’s a strange thing for me to be so calm and certain about such a big change. I don’t know how to explain it except to say that it all feels as if it is happening just as it should be.
For weeks now, many of Moneta’s citizens have been away. We all found ourselves in that dream and many chose not to return. I’ve wandered back here every now and again… but not to live.
I’ve slowly been preparing Moneta for destruction.
I reorganized the guild supplies and packed away the gardens, cloning center, garage and bank. I’ve cleaned out the city hall and given away my desk, my chair and everything else that remained. Little by little, the city we all knew and loved ceased to exist.
As expected, the Planetary Civic Authority began harassing citizens, marking their houses for demolition. But it mattered little. I was prepared to do what needed to be done. My last act as Mayor of Moneta would be to destroy the city hall, erasing Moneta from the Civic Authority’s database and rescuing the remaining structures from it’s overbearing regulations.
Today was that day.
Everything was in place. I was ready. I stood in the empty city hall and listened to the echo of my voice as I whispered, “Goodbye, Moneta.”
I expected to be overwhelmed with sadness but instead was surprised to feel peace. Moneta became more than I’d ever imagined she could be. I was privileged to work with incredible citizens who made her the awesome community she was. I’m a little relieved to know my job here is done. I did my best to serve the citizens of Moneta, even as I pushed that self destruct button.
It was simply time for this to end. A new era has already begun… and now, with my responsibilities completed, I’m free to move on with my friends. I can walk away with my head held high, a smile on my face.
Moneta’s spirit will continue on, her legacy the friendships that transcend this place.
I was working in my office in city hall when my desk rattled slightly and the familiar sound of a ship flying low overhead passed . I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Kiwon was home.
I went out to greet her. I could tell something wasn’t quite right and she wasted no time relaying the bad news.
“You’re not going to like this, Bee. Regional governor is making a sweep. He wants the sector clear of all Rebel activity and I can’t keep them outta here this time.”, she confided.
I asked her to do what she could to help them complete their sweep while keeping all Moneta’s citizens safe. She understood exactly what I was asking of her and she did a wonderful job handling the situation. She directed the troops to inspect various sites and it wasn’t long before they were satisfied Moneta was secure.
Once the troops had moved on, life in Moneta quickly went back to normal. Neighbors who have diverging alliances behind closed doors exchange pleasantries in the town square, share resources and frequent one another’s businesses.
I admit that I often go about the business of my day successfully avoiding having to confront the reality of this terrible conflict. I know I’m not alone in this. My fellow citizens and I pass by troops all the time and, on occasion, even witness a skirmish. But we all go about our business as if none of it exists. It’s simply to much to consider the many hundreds of people on both sides, each actively involved in plotting the demise of the other.
This war has already gone on too long and claimed more lives than I can fathom. But this most recent intrusion makes me wonder if perhaps the worst is still yet to come…
MNETA recently had our Life Day party. Everyone managed to find gifts under the 1000 credit limit and they were anonymously distributed among all our guests. I also put together some gift bags for everyone with some decorative and useful items including a festive Life Day hat.
After the gifts were all handed out we enjoyed some drinks and music over at the Regal Beagle. Oceat did a wonderful job decorating just for the occasion. It was a lovely party and it seems everyone enjoyed themselves… some perhaps a bit too much….
But just as the festivities geared up, a frantic call from Doaba Guerfel came in on my comlink. The gifts collected for the less fortunate had been hijacked by a band of thugs! It didn’t take the Brigade very long at all to mobilize, track them down and recover the stolen presents, still wrapped and ready for distribution.
Happy Life Day!
It’s been a summer of comings and goings.
Several friends have recently been called away. Business trips, family obligations and various other reasons have taken good citizens away for a time. I really can’t put in words how much I miss them. To walk by Ioh’s bunker, for instance, knowing full well, he’s not inside crafting like he always was… it’s just very hard some days.
Then too, there’s been an influx of wonderful new citizens come to join us. Rarely is the guild channel void of good humor and interesting remarks. There’s been plenty to keep me busy as we work to settle everyone in and set them all up with the things they need.
And then there are those who are both coming and going all at once. Crafters who have fired their vendors and given away their inventory and walked away from their trade to learn another, more dangerous one. Others have hung their blaster on the wall and taken to the fields to sample for materials and tinker with schematics.
The upheaval brings a freshness and excitement to the guild for sure. But such so many changes all at once tend to leave me feeling a bit …unsettled.
It feels as if I’ve fallen out of my groove, rolling along in a very haphazard way. I’m behind in stocking my vendors and I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I’m forgetting important things. A search through my datapad reveals nothing pressing yet I can’t shake the feeling that I ought to be rushing somewhere to do something….
But not a moment too soon, this season is ending. And I look forward to a return to the calm, stability the next one should bring.
The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of news and activity. To sum up….
Our village became a town. We installed a cloning center, created a commercial district, registered on the map and gained a few new citizens in the process.
A huge army gathered outside our new town. Colonel Daenyathos Caeon led a small group of men, including MNETA Brigade’s finest, into battle and miraculously won.
Our town became city. We installed a shuttleport, added new decorations, finished creating city zones and increased our citizenship again.
Bermuda appeared unexpectedly and, in typical Bermuda fashion, skipped a romantic dinner with me in favor of going hunting, took dangerous missions across the galaxy and managed to appear completely unimpressed with my work in the city.
So that’s my past two weeks in a nutshell. I think I need a nap!
I left the emergency meeting feeling a whole lot better about having over a thousand troops sitting only a few hundred meters away…. but still entirely uncertain about what would happen next.
I watched in awe as Iohimais began calling in favors and friends from around the galaxy. Little by little a small army of our own began to appear right outside my house. Colonel Caeon was busy gathering MNETA’s finest, ordering buffs and discussing strategies. I watched the flurry of activity from my front step.
As the appointed time grew near you could feel the excitement build. How these folks can get excited about a looming battle is beyond my comprehension. But their eager anticipation of that first blaster fire helped to keep my fear at bay. Perhaps a win wasn’t such an impossible hope after all….
Just before they began I went in my house and locked the door. I could hear the blaster fire interspersed with loud explosions and yelling. As the minutes ticked by the sounds grew more and more faint. Hours went by and listening intensely to the quiet, I drifted off.
I awoke with a start the next morning. I ran to the door, pressed my ear to it and listened. There was nothing but silence. I opened it and stepped cautiously outside. I looked down toward the river. The only movement was the gentle swaying of the trees in the morning breeze.
I hopped on my swoop and made that same large arc around the area coming to rest where I’d first seen that droid army yesterday.
Nothing. Nothing but gears and metal shards scattered over the landscape to prove I hadn’t just dreamt the whole affair.
I raced back to town where I found Once. She told me all about the long, bloody battle. We’d experienced some casualties but no one had been seriously injured. And in the end…. we’d defeated hundreds of foes with little more than a handful of brave men and women.
With citizens scattered throughout the galaxy, only three were able to join me in city hall for the emergency meeting. As it turns out, it was the three I most needed to speak with.
Ioh was there, of course. I’d asked him to come early so I could speak with him in private. I felt it was only fair to warn him ahead of time of my plan to suggest that a possible solution to bring peace back to Moneta was to move Iohimais out of town and into hiding.
When the other two citizens arrived, I should have known right then that peace wasn’t in the cards. Colonel Caeon and one of his sharp new recruits went out and surveyed the situation. He agreed the situation was indeed, quite grave. But he remained remarkably calm and asked if any demands had been made yet.
In my panicked state of mind, the thought hadn’t even occurred to me.
He bravely offered to go and open a dialog to find out what it was they wanted even as he calculated what more we’d need to win a war and how long it would take us. Listening to him move smoothly through the various scenarios without so much as a tremor of fear in his voice, it suddenly occurred to me that this is exactly why I’d hired this man for the job.
He ended his list of possible outcomes with the worst case scenario - certain death for us all. But somehow he managed to deliver it with a chuckle and a smile that made even that seem like it wasn’t so bad.
When I first took this leadership position, I made it clear to everyone with me that day that although I had aptitude for certain parts of the job, it was only with a capable team at my side that I could succeed. Many times since, I’ve reminded myself and others of this irrefutable fact. Yet somehow hundreds and hundreds of battle droids caused me to panic and feel all alone in this mess…. when all the while a team of outstanding individuals stood waiting to do what they do best.
I sometimes wonder if I’m really cut out for this mayor job. Though it may be idealistic, in my mind I imagine a good mayor as someone who’s cool and calm in any circumstance. I imagine that she makes the right decisions with ease…. and never, no never, get’s caught up in emotion when considering what’s best for her citizens.
By that definition, I’m in the wrong line of work.
Today as I stood on my doorstep I spied movement in the trees down by the river. Moving closer to investigate I saw a few armed men and immediately retreated to a safe distance. Jumping on my swoop I made a large arc around the area where I’d seen them. I crossed the river and came to a dead stop. A droid army has been gathered within a stone’s throw of Moneta.
An army.
I turned the bike off and sat there peeking through tall grass. And I cried. No, I’m not that pillar of strength I imagine that ‘good mayor’ would be.
I contemplated what my next move should be. Even if our militia was fully formed and ready we’d be no match for an entire army. How did it come to this?!
Oh, yes. Iohimais.
I’ve been in denial for several weeks now. I know this is all happening because he’s here. I’ve tried to be firm. I’ve tried to be calm. I’ve spoken with him and then walked away crossing my fingers…. just hoping it would all resolve itself. I know I’ve given him more time and space than I should have. I know I’ve let my friendship with him keep me from making the difficult choice. And this is the result.
So I’ve called an emergency meeting at town hall this evening. The situation will be presented to Moneta’s citizens and I will ask them to decide if Ioh has crossed the line and betrayed Moneta or if we all stand behind him come what may.
I’m just glad I won’t be voting because at this point, I’m not sure what is the right thing to do…
It seems a need for increased security has accompanied our recent increase in size. Gone are the days of a safe, quaint little village.
Colonel Daenyathos Caeon is overseeing the initiation of a local security force called the 1st MNETA Brigade. His resume is impeccable, his knowledge and skill in the field impressive. I trust him implicitly to have a well trained militia up and running in no time.
Which is good, because it seems that thanks to Iohimais, we’ll need them sooner rather than later.
