Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Giving Delmi some space to try and settle things with her mother as best she could, Layne found herself in the common room of the Sunset Dawn, typing up a report to send back to the Jedi ahead of their arrival. Yeah, she didn't think Delmi got square things in just a few hours, but it might be a start and she wasn't going to interfere with the process at this point.

She had just finished sending the report to her other 'religious fanatics', when the holocall-device; what *was* that thing called anyway?; beeped.

"Uh... hello?" she said to the figure that appeared when she answered.


[figure this can happen in two separate slots due to the nature of things]

A man appeared dressed smartly but not overly formal, well groomed and by many accounts quite handsome. "Hello you are Jedi Knight Layne Hoshin I presume? Yes you match the description," he seems like he was about to say something else but rather just smiles and continues on

In a much more official sounding voice "I am Dr. Omandri Rist, younger brother of Duchess Giandra Rist. New information has come to our attention and in light of this information House Rist has declared the feud against Layne Hoshin of the Jedi Order concluded. In addition House Rist would like to formally apologize for the incident." He finished.

She cocked her head at that introduction and subsequent words.

"Huh?" She sounded almost upset at this sudden change in plans. "What do you mean? I don't get to show you guys how badly prepared you are to face a Jedi of my calibre? And why isn't the Duchess herself telling me this? I have no way of knowing you are who you say are. For all I know this is some poor ploy to get me to think I don't have to be on guard anymore."

It was possible she was messing with him; but it was hard to tell especially for someone who only knew Layne by reputation. Certainly, she had an intimidating enough presence even over holo, that one could easily think she was being entirely serious.

Omandri simply chuckled at the bravado whether real or joking "Yes I'm certain House Rist in its storied history has never faced a target so fierce as you Knight Hoshin." He said less formal but still polite with only a touch of sarcasm.

"But more to your point you are free to look me up, I am, after all, no minor member of my house. As for my sister, she is unfortunately rather busy due to this change in events and asked me to represent the family in this matter. Likely because I advocated for this course of action."

She was pretty sure house Rist *hadn't* ever faced as fierce a target as Layne herself, and some part of her was genuinely disappointed she didn't get an excuse to tear her way through an entire noble house like some sort of angel of violence. Maybe she'd just gotten that part of herself reignited by that conversation with... well, herself. Still, it was only *one* part of her, one that was dwarfed by the rest of the person she now was.

That being the case, she managed to let that part of the conversation slide with nothing more than a shrug from her.

"You sure she isn't just too good to say sorry to me herself?"

Another shrug. "So? What brought on this change?"

She suspected they had some clue as to what Layne and Delmi had been up to, so it wasn't hard to imagine that they knew what the pair of them knew. But she still wanted to hear it from them, first.

At that Omandri laughed "I'm sure she thinks herself so. But she is very busy and I am essentially on vacation so it made more sense for me to handle this matter."

His smile turned a bit more apologetic "I'm sorry Knight Hoshin I don't know if I can give you details about the new revelations but suffice it to say we no longer believe you to have murdered Vidara Rist."

"Oh, you can't tell me you think your sister is still alive and possibly a ringleader in a secretive cabal dedicated to overthrowing the Jedi. I am shocked."

She shrugged. "Well, I guess I can't tell you what we've found then either."

Omandri looked shocked, straight up no holds bar floored. "W-what?" Was all he could muster in response "I, Vidara is alive and doing what?" There were a lot of emotions in that voice. Any polite veneer or charming attitude was washed away in an instant. This man was either being genuine or one of the best liars on the planet.

It was a shame her mastery of the Force wasn't so great that she could sense his emotions all the way from out here in space. Just to be sure. Certainly he *seemed* genuine enough. But he was also a member of a house of spies and assassins, and Layne was generally a skeptical and stubborn sort who was perfectly fine with continuing to believe games were being played even if all evidence pointed to the contrary.

"Plotting to overthrow the Jedi," she said, crossing her arms.

The hologram shorted as Omandri apparently flopped into a chair "Thats.....woah." He said slowly "as far as I knew we only found out that she didn't die that day. We weren't sure where she was or what she was up to or even if she was alive." He ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath.

"Well you certainly know more than we do you, well more than I do at any rate." He replied finally after taking a moment to collect himself.

The call ends unexpectedly for both.

"What the..." She got up and checked the holomessenger system to see if it could tell her what happened.

"Wilhelm!" She yelled... except there was no Wilhelm onboard, just the new crew none of whom carried that name. "We aren't like, under attack or anything are we?!"

Presumably if they were, a red alert would start sounding, at the very least.

It just fails to connect to that address, as if they have been blacklisted or blocked on the other end.

"Motherf-- this is my ship! Nobody blacklists anything here but me."

The first thing she was liable to do was try and circumvent it somehow using her vast; as if; knowledge of computer systems. She could try to contact someone else in the 'unlikely' event that didn't work.

Shortly after the door to the cargo bay opens and Delmi steps out. The door closes behind her as she walks towards the cockpit.

She sits down in the pilot's seat with a focused look as they fly through space towards the planet in the distance.

"Motherf-" the cursing came again as she just couldn't crack the security protocols. How!? She was like a super s-tier class slicerwizard!

Okay, maybe not. She ended up just kicking the device with an accompaying "stupid piece of junk" before sighing to herself and then wandering off to the cockpit as well. She'd heard the door hiss, so maybe not-Wilhelm had been checking on something. Or maybe he was afraid of telling her they were under attack.

"Hey so are we under attack or no-- Oh, Delmi. Done already?"

She nodded, "Yup... We gotta drop her off when we get to Alderaan."

She said it with very little emotion as she continued to stare out of the front of the ship.

"Yeah," she said, "I'm pretty sure the holocoms are still functioning, but they might be compromised. Still, if you use code or what not we can probably set it up with your SIS friends"

“Nope…” she replied.

“Out in a field. We’re trading her for that missing op.”

"I'm sorry, what?" She blinked. "You can *not* be serious."