Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Some meetings were done on the balcony, in pleasant weather, and with pastries. Some meetings had quiet music, finger food, and alcohol. Some meetings had T7 on hand to take notes and look up information as required, and enough tea to keep everyone awake and alert.

This was that last sort of meeting.

Although it was also friendly; Niall knew his guest liked tea, after all. Still, as he sat in one of the chairs arranged around the desk, conference room style, Niall's expression was serious. Serious was just how he expected the meeting to be.

Things to do, people to talk to. It was a busy day for Knight Ulgo, but there was a sense of purpose to keeping busy.

As she arrived, she was notified that she was expected, and was buzzed in to Captain Alderaan's office. Dressed in her usual Jedi-garb, she stopped to bow to Niall. "Good afternoon, major Organa. I hope you're doing alright after yesterday's sudden events?"

"I am, yes, thank you." Niall greeted her with one of his vague sorts of waves. He rose as she came in, gesturing to one of the seats around the table. "I was happy so many brave people were there to protect the prince."

He poured her a cup of tea, setting it by her place. "And please, Niall is fine. This sort of meeting isn't so formal that we need rank."

"Pardon the habit. With so many people of importance around, I just default to the habit of adressing people by title or rank," she chuckled a little so as to easen herself up a little.

Smoothing her clothes, Kat took the seat for her. A small smile graced her features as she saw the tea. "But yes, it was good that so many were there to help the situation. Both protecting his highness, and subduing the violent elements. But apart from that, how have you been? Keeping busy?"

"Quite." Niall said, smiling wryly. "I think that I may be slightly less busy than I was last year. You know, when I got married, and there was a war."

Chuckling, he poured a cup for himself, and sat down across from her; it was a small wooden table, suited for four people. "Although, I will have to remember my anniversary, even with all of this going on. And there is rather a lot going on." Setting down his cup, he spread his hands. "I scarcely know where to begin."

Quite the timing to have a wedding during a war, but she supposed they might've felt an impending sense of mortality and decided to go along with it so as to not have any regrets.

Or that's what holo-vids had told her.

"Mm... well, we can start somewhere. Let's see. I heard you had my cousin Yulastranza over to visit the other day? Something about a throw-down at the gym?" Kat felt that was a good place to start, as it would move into the topic she had on her heart, and Niall could tell she wanted to go somewhere with that line of questions.

For a moment, one of Niall's eyebrows went up. "Something like that. I wouldn't call it a throw-down. Although I wondered if it might be intended as a test. She brought along Olak of House Rist, who could probably have picked me up and carried me off before his arms were replaced with boosted cybernetics." Niall chuckled. "In any case, I decided not to compete with him in matters of strength."

He paused a moment, sipping tea. "But yes, we talked. I wanted to remind her of the virtues of a united Alderaan, and the traditions that have kept us together as a planet for thousands of years." Another sip of his tea, giving Kat a sidelong glance. "It was a fruitful conversation, I hope."

The door opened, and a familiar figure to both entered. Wearing an attire that is a weird cross between jedi robes and noble attire, se smiled to them. "Knight Ulgo, dear, I hope I am not intruding. I just hoped to join in.

Alysele was given a seated bow as she arrived. "Knight Organa. I'm honored to have you here."

Kat would at least have a sip of the tea before she would go on. "I hope your conversation with Yulastranza was fruitful... I haven't had much chance to talk to her lately the past days myself. She is busy with courting Prince Joran, and I'm doing what I can with... well, everything that is going on."

"I had the chance to speak with Duke Bouris a couple of days ago myself, as I wanted to bring it to his attention that these protestors have been using the Ulgo name to further their cause. I wasn't really surprised that he thought little of it and even said that he hoped it would make the Queen take action or 'realise she's holding a snake to her chest', meaning the Thuls of course. What surprised me more was that he seemed... pleased with it. Not openly so, and Duke Bouris is a difficult person to read, but I could tell from the small signs."

She paused a little. "State of readiness at his seat of power is pretty high too. I was speaking with him in the command center, where I think he's been spending pretty much all his time lately. When I was there he seemed tobe reviewing the territory around the Spring Palace, including standard flight plans around the palace and the region. I will give full transparancy that I'm not a military commander or a tactician, but I do have some field experience, and these seemed like exercise plans for sieging and holding the Palace in case of occupation by Thul forces, going by the brief details I saw showing positions for staging areas and estimated deployment times for soldiers and forces to hold the Palace. There were similar markups for if the Panteer Palace was compromised."

Taking a deep breath, Kat allowed herself a small sip of tea. "As I spoke with my cousins Brannis and Garth, I don't think that this is nescessarily any proof that there's a coup d'etat in the works, but the circumstances make me wary. Wary of what he might do if the festival does not end with the results he wants."

Niall listened, his expression troubled. As Kat finished, he grimaced, shifting uncomfortably.

"That is troubling. Very troubling." He said, glancing briefly at Aly. "It could be that he is simply planning for the worst; that he suspects Thul of being ready to orchestrate a coup, and he wants to deal with that if it happens."

He sat up straighter, shaking his head. "But I worry that it's worse than that. From the sounds of it, he has plans to secure the palace. How different would the plans need to be, to be dealing with Panteer forces instead of Thul forces? Flight plans has the sound of a surprise maneuver. If Thul struck first, flight plans would be suspended. And that he is pleased to have Ulgo popular support at the expense of the royal family..." Niall's expression was dark.

His gaze went again to Aly, and then back to Kat. "Unfortunately, I think you are very right to be concerned. Concerned is where I was before; I already thought that Duke Bouris might cause problems if he doesn't get his way." Niall smiled wryly. "Normally I like being right. I don't like this."

"Right. And I think confronting him about it, it could easily be brushed off as simply preparing for the worst. And it very well could happen to be true that he is preparing for the worst from Thuls - we all know he doesn't trust them. And... I can't really blame him either, considering the circumstances of their return, and he's fought off a Sith invasion twice in his lifetime here on Alderaan."

Kat really didn't want to think her uncle was a villain. He had always been a hard man, but he had never been cruel or evil that she knew of. He was a hero, after all. One that she had admired growing up.

"... I'm being very honest here when I say that I don't know how to approach this. He's my uncle, and while we haven't been particularly close due to my absence as a Jedi, I have always admired him as a hero and a good man."

"Yes." Niall grimaced. "I was too young to fight in the first Sith invasion here on Alderaan, although I took part in it, in a sense. A few of us noble children were kidnapped by the Sith, until we were rescued by a group of specialists." He reached out, briefly putting his hand over Aly's; she'd been one of the others.

He reclaimed his hand, linking his fingers on the table in front of him. "It would require some delicacy." He frowned, eyes distant. "Perhaps we should approach Yulastranza. She supports her father, but not without reservation. She may be willing to listen."

Shaking his head, he looked at Kat. "I also think that a confrontation is being pushed by someone. The protests and the aftermath, Ulgo and Thul. Not that there's not ample kindling there, but it rather feels like someone is trying to create a spark on purpose."

The story gave her a little pause. It wasn't often Kat thought about her parents, or rather... thinking of them as people she knew, and not only the heroes she had grown up thinking of them as. A part of her understood that they must've been part of that operation that saved Alysele and Niall.

"Cousin Yulastranza don't really like the Thuls either, but... I don't think she would want a civil war. Your suggestion is a good one. She might be the one who can talk to her father the easiest. Maybe even speak with her mother, and the two can approach it together." Her shoulders sank a little as some tension left them, feeling a little bit relaxed with this thought.

"And yes, I agree. It feels more like someone is poking the bear. Trying to make something happen. I just don't know who. I don't think the Thuls are responsible, and I don't think Ulgo is either. My gut says it's not really any of the Houses, but I don't know who. It's all just a feeling."

"I'm not fond of the Thuls." Niall smiled wryly. "But that Zeno fellow did put himself at risk yesterday to protect the prince. If House Thul is responsible for those riots, well, they're certainly playing a complicated game."

He frowned. "I've lately been asking why they choose such names for themselves, and adopt dark trappings. It may be a dark side connection, but I'm not sure it's the Sith. I suppose that's a Jedi question." Smiling, he looked at the two Jedi in the room.

"But I agree. It's not the houses." Niall's expression turned grim. "It could be The Empire. House Thul would be nothing more than a tool to them. If it served their purposes to let Ulgo crush them but damage Alderaanian unity, they very well might."

"The Blackguard? No... I do not think there is a Sith influence there. At least not from what I and Tethys Carrack have found so far. They have a pretty old history on Alderaan, though a lost one. No indication of it being a Force tradition, or one that dabbled in the Dark Side from what we've found. Though there's still a few more stones left to turn, perhaps. But for now, I'll say that the Blackguard is currently not a concern as possible fronts for the Sith or Sith-students in disguise, or anything like that."

Tethys was mostly handling that one, but that seemed to be the indications so far.

"I do agree that the Empire would probably discard Thul if it meant a destabilized Alderaan though. As one of the cornerstones of the Republic, losing Alderaan would certainly help in fracturing it as a whole - either due to civil war, or from withdrawing from the Republic. And these protestors have been vocal against the Republic."

Niall blinked in mild surprise. "So, they're likely not Sith? They're just..." Niall's lips twitched as he examined and then discarded a number of possibilities. "... edgy traditionalists?" He sighed. "Well, who am I to judge. My wife, on the other hand..." He shot Aly a quick smile.

"I expect they'd be quick to step in if Thul ended up on top, though." Niall said, smiling wryly. "Ulgo has traditionally been staunch supporters of the Republic. It seemed strange that the protesters were not. Although... hmmm..." After a moment, Niall shook his head. "Still, it explains it all rather neatly if there is an Empire partisan somewhere, influencing things."

Aly frowned at the talk.

"Is there someone, perhaps who could talk to some of the lower ranked members? Try and find out what are the standing orders exactly, that the soldiers and military know of?" It was underhanded, for sure, but information was desperately needed.

"I concur with your thoughts, Knight Ulgo. The Thuls have been remarkebly...consistent. While we cannot rule out Imperial influence, it has been a slow creep, if at all. But someone is wanting Alderaan to burst into activity. If Alderaan were to actually secede, it would be a huge blow to the Republic." She sighed. "I feel it might be the default, but maybe some Imperial influences are trying to push things? Either with the Thuls, or without them?"

"Yes, I suppose edgy traditionalists about sums it up," she agreed with some dry humor to her tone.

She thought about Aly's words for a moment. "Garth and Brannis would probably be better to talk to the various soldiers. Not that I'm not liked, I think, but they would be fellow military men and not 'master jedi'." Kat trusted Aly could understand that sentiment.

"While I think it's likely the Thuls have Imperial presence among them, and we can't rule out Lana Beniko either who is very close to the princess... I would be surprised if they are completely doing the Empire's bidding. I spoke briefly with duchess Ziandra yesterday, and while I can't discount that she is ambitious and cunning, I believe her when she said she wants stability for Alderaan."

Niall flashed a quick smile at that.

"Oh, Garth's here? Hmmm." Niall's eyes went up. "If I happen to run into him, perhaps I'll ask about that. But... perhaps." He shook his head, frowning thoughtfully.

"It all comes back to the protestors." He turned his thoughtful gaze on Kat. "Have you ever heard of The Cunning Man?"

Her expression darkened a little. Aly could probably pick up a sense of annoyance from her, though it was not directed at her or Niall.

"I am aware of that name, yes. A name I've only stumbled across in my travels, spoken of in fear by those left in their wake. Why? Do you have reason to believe this person is operating on Alderaan?"