Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Delmi had spent a considerable amount of the pleasure cruise staring outside the windows… watching carefully and silently hoping that the boat sped up to get her back down planet side as quickly as possible.

Realizing that a watched boat seems to travel much slower… She turned her back on the window and looked out across the crowd and let out a sigh.

Her handlers Biff and Griff were nearby and seemed to be chatting amongst themselves while the boring woman was doing boring things.

Incoming communication message from <null>.

Delmi tapped her earpiece and leaned back on the railing.

“This is Delmi.”

"I delivered on my end of the bargain," the voice responded.

“You delivered a couple of faces with no context and no way of confirming that anything you gave us is true…” She replied.

“I don’t see you guy’s evil plan magically falling apart now… Do you?”

“I gave you all you need, nothing more. This is how this works, get used to it,” she responded.

Delmi replied nothing for a moment. She blinked in an unamused fashion as she continued staring out over the crowd.

“So you’re calling to see if I caught a cold from all the freezing thin air yesterday?”

“Checking in on an investment. By now the other cells have probably reacted,” she responded.

“Don’t misunderstand I am not here to help, I am only upholding my side of our agreement.”

“The deal was Alderaan for future considerations. We’ll do our part… but your end has not been paid quite yet.” She replied.

“What does checking up on an investment entail to you?”

“I guess you are not as good as I thought you were,” she responded.

“Ooh, the stinging rebuke.” She replied.

“Whatever shall I do? My mother doesn’t acknowledge me.”

She leaned onto one side a bit as she relaxed, “We’ll deal with your friends soon enough.”

“And? You are fumbling in the dark. We didn’t start this; this was always going to be this way. And if you seek motherly advice, then the first rule of espionage, assets are not friends,” she responded.

“Some assets are more important than your enemies think. Besides… I struck a deal with someone who wasn’t gonna do jack squat for an SIS or Jedi interrogator. Unless you’re telling me you’re blowing smoke up my ass?” She replied calmly.

“You don’t have to start problems… they are everywhere. Look anywhere in the galaxy. But y’all are in the business of making problems worse for the weakest types. That’s not a way anyone worth anything acts.”

“Tell that to the hundreds you killed,” she responded.

“I didn’t say I was a saint.” She replied.

“A girl does some outlandish things for some one on one time with her mommy.”

“This is just a joke to you, but to me this is a life’s work. If flippancy works for you, so be it,” she responded calmly.

“It seems to get a reaction out of you so far… So I’ve been hitting it pretty hard. Probably gonna need to throw in a curveball every once and a while to keep you on your toes…” She replied.

“I’m a straight-shooter when the other person is willing to be equally honest with me.”

She paused and returned back to the conversation of the dead people, “I didn’t like doing that… but you gave me so few options.”

“I have been honest, I provided you what you requested,” she said.

“And then there’s the whole massive black cloud of mystery behind the past 30 years before yesterday.” She replied.

“The personal story… not the doctrine.”

“Why should any of that matter right now? Is this about you or Alderaan?” she asked.