Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Delmi sat back in her chair with her legs crossed and propped up on a table as the blue glow of hyperspace passed by the windows on the side of the vessel.

“So… me participating in the beauty contest of all these fancy people helps you… have something to laugh at while you serve out your time on Alderaan?”

She asked with a typical Delmi smirk that Theron would have seen any number of times over the past five years.

“It’s less a beauty contest and more a dating app, but the swipes are in real life,” she responded as he looked at a datapad.

“But it does get us inside the best circles, and close to people that either could be useful or could be targets.”

“You're lucky I’m such a titan of self-confidence. Getting swiped the wrong way in real life can scar a poor girl.” She said with a smile.

She sat up in her chair and put her feet down.

“So what’s all this ‘High Associate’ jazz the Thul are offering? And why me?”

"Seriously" he said to the swiping comment and then let it go. At the latter statement he said, "Just means that Thul think you have something they can use, which means we can better investigate them and their Imperial allies."

“Neat.” She said with a nod.

“I’m no spy… but uhh they totally have to be like suspicious of me, right? I mean I just show up one day talking about my dead mom right as they have like this imperial base on planet…”

“Well of course, you will have to earn their trust. I would be cautious about your intentions, and Thul has even more reasons than most to be suspicious. So expect a lot of tests, even when it seems like it isn’t a test,” he responded.

Her eyes darted left and then right. She paused for a good moment, "Is this a test?"

After moving her eyes back and forth a couple more times dramatically she smiled and looked back at him.

"Jokes aside though... You gotta coach me on that sneaky spy shit. So... like what's my angle? Sad daughter just trying to figure out herself by looking into her mother's past?"

"I find it easiest to stay as close to the truth as you can manage. The best lies are based on truths," he responded.

"Easier to lie if you are already in the right mindset. So figure out your mommy issues and go from there."

She laughed and nodded her head, "I mean... my biggest concern is that I wasn't the one who put her down in that grave... My next concern is... is she actually in that grave? Digging up graves and pulling out bones probably isn't proper Alderaanian etiquette if I had to guess."

“Start there, you have a reason to figure out what happened to your mom and get some cathartic release,” he responded.

“A pretty normal motivation for any child. Focus on that. Maybe we, and by we I mean not me, can dig her up if we find the grave and if that matters to you.”

“Ah, come on. You could use a bit of physical labor. Get you off that datapad for a hot moment.” She said with a smirk.

“I didn’t become a spy to dig ditches,” he responded looking up from the datapad.

“Really, it’s all a means to end, you find out about your mother, get some closure and we get closer to Ziandra Thul and her husband, the supposedly ex-Sith Lord. On top of the actual Sith Lord Lana Beniko and her influence on Jameela Panteer. I am not sure why anyone else is not more concerned that a future queen of Alderaan has a Sith best friend.”

"For sure man... Like we do realize we were just at war with these chumps, right? And we had a peace before with them... that then they decided didn't mean 'peace'. It just meant 'preparing'." She blasted a bit of exasperated air through her nose.

"Probably not the best idea to make friends with these folks... They tend to want to get something out of their friendships; not a lot of giving going on there."

“Well not everyone sees it that way, you would be surprised at the amount of Imperial sympathizers back on Coruscant, of all places. So it falls to people like us to make sure those preparations don’t go as planned, by any means possible,” he said returning his eyes back to the datapad.

“That’s why I’m on the ‘Havoc’ squad and not the ‘Play Nice’ squad.” She said with a smile.

“So you gonna show up at any of these fancy events? Or you leaving me to fend for myself among all these rich folks?”

"You're a big girl, I am sure you can handle a few nobles being Havoc squad and all," he responded dryly.

She chuckled, "Don't think it's a 'last woman standing' type affair. But I'll do what I can to impress the folks. Who could resist this vision of beauty and charm?"

She motioned towards herself before putting her feet up on the table again.

"And how are you gonna be fillin' your time out here? Or is that 'classified'?"

“I’ll check in with some contacts and try to stay busy. This might be a vacation for the locals but I am here strictly for business. If the big bad nobles do start bullying you, I am just one quick call away.”

At her mentioning classified that got him to look at her as if she knew the answer to that and then he said, “Try not to get distracted with the dashing prince and the luxury and high living.”

She leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head comfortably.

"I mean it's not as nice as being shelled in a bunker on Balmorra, but fancy parties, luxury, and princes are a close second."

She smirked, "After all, if you don't believe in love... really what's the point of living?"

“Yeah a shame that,” he said in response.

“I would honestly prefer Balmorra to all of this pomp and fantasy, but we all have to make sacrifices.”