Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

The Sunset Dawn had clearly not seen much in the way of care. She was maintained basically to the minimum state of being space-worthy, but it did not appear to have ever gotten any upgrades or anything like that. The interior wasn't really any better; a veritable mess of functional aesthetics mixed with the chaotic decor of a Jedi Knight who had accumulated a *lot* of junk over the years, which she did *not* take care enough with to store properly. Her padawan's presence onboard the ship probably hadn't helped much in that regard either.

Arriving at the ship, Delmi would be let in without much delay, and would find Layne lounging around in the common area of the ship; boots up on the table as she ate cereal straight from the box. She was going to have to restock one of these days.

"Sup?" She asked in between crunching noises, "You want anything to drink or something?"

Delmi walked in and gave a non-judgmental glance around the room.

She shook her head, “Nah, I dosed up on coffee before I left this morning.”

She found a seat, perhaps brushing off some misplaced something from the chair, “So… looks like we got something to talk about.”

"Maybe," she said, contorting her body in an uncomfortable manner just so she could reach a nearby datapad without having to move her feet off the table. Somehow, she managed the feat, and started pushing buttons on it.

"So uh... I told you about the thing with the vendetta between me and House Rist, right? Or did that slip my mind?"

“You mentioned it…” She said with a nod.

“Lemme guess… There’s a woman connected with the two Rists that got murdered?”

She raised a brow.

"...Yeah. Found a picture of the two Rist's from around back then, along with a woman they looked chummy with. Happened to show it to Captain Alderaan, and he told me she's an imperial spy or something and that I should talk to you. So... I guess that's what this is about."

She flipped the datapad around, so that Delmi could see a picture of three people.

Delmi nodded slowly with a look of fulfilled expectations on her face.

“Yuuup. I’m surprised he remembered. I only showed him the picture once.”

She crossed her legs and leaned back a bit in her chair.

“That’d be my mom.”

It was almost as if Layne's face started fading in and out over itself as her expression grew more and more amazed... and also fireworks were going off around her head. The Force had a way of producing the weirdest coincidences... but she was still routinely amazed at them despite them having kept stacking up for most of her life.

"...wait. What?"

She nodded, “She disappeared when I was a kid after getting my dad in trouble for stealing military secrets using his ID.”

She continued on with a voice that suggested disinterest, “Apparently her exploits ended up being the source material for some stupid spy show out in the Empire… I haven’t seen her since I was little.”

She popped her neck with a swift tilt to the left, “Reason I’m out here is that someone found out she was buried out on Thul lands a few years ago. House Thul seems super sketchy so the SIS asked me to come out and embed myself in there trying to earn their trust. ‘I’m just trying to learn about my mommy.’”

She feigned a little girl voice.

“So I’m runnin’ errands for them and trying to woo some prince to get them to think I’m important.”

She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, “They did let me dig up her grave last night… And guess what? There’s a body… but it’s not my mama.”

"That's some messed up shit," she said with a heavy nod. Part of her, probably the Jedi part, wanted to ask if she was okay, whether or not the fake little girl voice was some sort of attempt to hide the pain. But it'd probably come out wrong coming from her. And she thought Delmi would probably just be offended by the question anyway.

"So... this might throw some salt into the wound, but do you think it's possible she killed Vidara Rist and then faked her own death? There's... maybe something related. I mean, definitely related *somehow*. At least to my end of things. So, first off... Duchess Rist really did think I killed her sister. I'd thought that was just some political ploy at first, but her anger and need for revenge were real and personal. But, according to another Jedi who'se been helping me, the reason she thought it was me in the first place, was because she'd been told by an Ulgo. Bilyana Ulgo, to be specific. Whoever that is. I mean, look, I don't really know if your mother's faked death and my situation are even related. For all I know, one happened years after the other. But in my experience, coincidences like this don't just happen."

Delmi nodded as she listened, “It has become an interest thread to follow… must more interesting than I thought it would be before I showed up. There’s something going on here… what exactly I don’t know for sure.”

She added, “What I do know is that the grave they had for my mom was dug that same week as those two ended up dead.”

"*Definitely* connected then. I mean, there's just no other way, right? Your mom was... an imperial spy though? What do you know about that angle?"

“Not much more than I told you. She spent a few years with my dad. Lifted some important info and split.”

She tilted her head.

"Well... my old master wove an intricate web. Probably still does. Let's say, working theory here, your mom was the imperial handler for the Rist assassins on his payroll. Let's say, either Galen Rist, or his pupil Vidara Rist, uncovered something they weren't supposed to. Or, maybe they were just both loose threads to be taken care of. I get sent to kill the mentor. Your mom takes care of Vidara. Then disappears into thin air. Goes back to Imperial space to do whatever. Cut to now, my old master uses his connections to leak this new story to Duchess Rist. If he's lucky, it gets rid of me, another loose thread. But either way it goes, it causes *fractures* at a delicate time. Noble Alderaanian house picks a fight with the Jedi, or, alternative spin, Jedi picks fight with noble house? That's the sort of thing that doesn't help brewing civil war sentiments, right?"

There was a bit of a pause.

"And, because the Force likes coincidences, and recycled cast members, maybe this 'Bilyana' Ulgo is actually your mother pretending to be an Ulgo. Or working with or for her. And it might've worked too, if not for her meddlesome kid."

“That’s uhh… quite the theory.” She said simply not quite sure how to respond to it all.

“Tell me… you ever hear of someone called the ‘Cunning Man’?” She asked.

Well, she didn't mind being shot down on her working theory; though it certainly sounded plausible to her.

"No... don't think I have. Or I have and I've forgotten. Sounds like the kind of name my old master would like as a pseudonym, though. I assume you have a theory of your own regarding this cunning man?"

She shook her head, “Nah… SIS says they found my mom’s name connected to a file about some guy named ‘The Cunning Man’.”

She paused and thought for a moment, “I’m not saying your wrong… just gotta find something actionable to find more evidence. The way I see it… The threads we got right now are finding anybody who might’ve known the dead Rists and their ‘friend’, figuring out who this Cunning Man is, or learning more about this shady Ulgo you mentioned…”

"From what I've been told, she's a Baroness, and a soldier in the Duke's inner council of advisors. Supposedly like a daughter to him, and... in charge of security and intelligence operations for the house. Obviously if your mother's managed to infiltrate the house to that extent... well... I'd be very impressed to say the least. But either way, the intel she passed on to House Rist is false. Either *she* falsified it, or she got conned by someone else who falsified it. And I'm guessing there's not a whole lot of people who both know enough about those events to spin a convincing yarn, and who have actually have reason to do so. To me, it seems reasonable to assume your mother slots into that *somehow*."

She shrugged. "I've got someone who'se going to pay this Bilyana a visit. I've kept out of it myself, because... well... my presence'll probably screw things up. But I could maybe ask if you could attach yourself to that visit if you think you can gain any insight from it."

"Who do ya got going?" She asked.

"Funnily enough, a Jedi from House Rist," she said with a small smirk. "Zayne Rist. He could probably use a second ear and voice there, to be honest. He did get me this information... as did another Jedi... but he might miss things someone with your personal knowledge and insights might now. Should I send him a message?"

“You can send him my number, yeah. I mean… I don’t know how House Ulgo would like a ‘High Associate’ of House Thul poking around… Maybe my service can override some of that… but they seem pretty pissed at Thul right now.”