Alderaan - Love and Intrigue

Once more, Niall had set up for a meeting in his office. So far as he knew, this time there would be no unexpected Hutt squeezing his way in through the door. The door would be just fine. It would just be Layne.

Layne...

Niall rose to his feet, going to the door, and pressing the controls to leave it open. That done, he returned to his desk. He didn't actually think that Layne was likely to bust through the door, but there was a better chance with her than with any of his other friends.

Layne was a friend. A daunting thought, but basically true. Niall chuckled to himself as he sipped tea and read, waiting for her arrival.

The message she'd gotten didn't have a whole lot of information in it; being little more than a request to meet and exchange information. Well, she supposed her time was a little bit more free now that there was no immediate risk of explosions, poisons, stabbings, or any kind of variation on those types of themes. And so she arrived more or less around the time they'd agreed to meet.

She wouldn't have bust through the door of course. Not unless there'd be a reason to. But some part of her was maybe a little disappointed that she didn't get to pull another 'you can't go in there m'am, oh yeah? *watch* me' today.

"General Alderaan," she said as she walked in.

Somehow he'd gotten a promotion, even if it didn't feel like one.

That actually got Niall's attention. "General?" Niall murmured, his eyebrows going up. "I don't think I've ever had you misaddress my rank in that direction before. Usually it's corporal or private or something.

He smiled at her as he rose, crossing to the credenza. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Kaf? Something stronger?" His gaze sharpened on her, growing mildly concerned. "You look as though you've had a day."

"No thanks," she said with a shrug, "I'm good. Most of my days are kind of like this anyway. Well, exploding and then freefalling from the edge of space is more of a weekly occurance rather than a daily one, but you'd be surprised how common that sort of thing is for a Jedi."

"I'm sure." Niall chuckled, topping up his own tea. There was a brief pause.

Blinking, he turned to face her. "Wait, what?"

She blinked in a similar manner. "What?"

Niall stared at her a moment and then shook his head. "I suppose if I need to know why you exploded and fell from the edge of space, you'll let me know."

He sat casually on the edge of the desk. "The reason I asked you here is because some interesting items have crossed my desk recently. You've heard about the protests, I imagine. One of the leaders, Tuvi, was just killed. My source tells me that he might have been killed at the order of someone called The Cunning Man."

He looked at Layne, eyebrows going up.

"Well, I'd say the whole blowing up thing is pretty related to that," she said, "in that we were chasing an agent of something called the Star Cabal, by which I mean the woman in the picture I showed you, by which I mean Delmi's mom. We also think the Cunning Man is a part of this cabal. They're basically your run-of-the-mill anti Jedi-slash-Sith group of covert terrorists and schemers."

She shrugged and found herself a comfortable seat. "Delmi got a warning from her mom not to investigate. We did it anyway. Mom tried to blow up her own daughter and me along with her. We lived. Mom showed up warned us to stop investigating again. We fell from the 764th floor. We lived. We didn't stop investigating so we showed up to a casino run by a Hutt we thought was working for the Cunning Man. We bully our way into the hutt's office. People screamed. Mom had shown up and killed the Hutt. Looked like she was gonna get away. One of us shot a thingie that caused a blackout. People died. We lived. We took mom into custody. Turned out her buddies had captured an agent who also happened to be a VIP's grandkid or something. So we... we let her go in exchange for the agent. And intel."

She frowned, and looked around. "Can I get that drink after all?"

Niall stared at her for a long moment. "Yeah. Yeah, that seems like a rather good idea, actually." Shaking his head, he went back to the credenza, where he poured her a drink. A moment, and he poured her a little more.

SIghing, he offered it to her. "So, let me get this straight. The Cunning Man, who it was already thought might be a group, is part of a larger group called the Star Cabal, who hate both Jedi and Sith. And Delmi's mom also worked for them."

He stood there, frowning for a few moments, as he considered that info. "Who was the agent? And what intel did you get?"

"Not a whole lot, unfortunately. Just two pictures. One of a young woman, labeled 'BackKat66', the other of an older man with a bird, white hair, and a tattoo on his neck, labelled House Rist. Now before you ask, my feud with them has ended because the house apparently doesn't think I killed more than the one of them anymore. By the way, turns out that guy I *did* kill at your summer estate back then was also involved with this cabal, as was the sister I was accused of having killed... who is actually still alive but her whereabouts are unknown right now."

She was just casually dropping more 'wait, what' revelations, it seemed.

"I *don't* think the Duchess was aware of exactly what her sister was up to, though. Or at least, her brother didn't when he informed me the feud was off. She has a brother right? Would be nice to know that part wasn't a lie at least. I don't know who the man is, but my thinking is these people are some of their operatives, plotting to cause civil unrest or, turn houses against each other somehow. Or both, who knows."

Niall rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Goodness." He murmured. "That's rather a lot." After a moment, he shook his head. "Can you get the information to me? I can have T7 see what he can find on them."

He nodded. "I'd come to the same conclusion. House Ulgo and House Thul might both have their own agendas, and might hope to come out on top, given the right circumstances. But I think that this group is trying to create this sort of dangerous circumstances, with the goal of destabilizing Alderaan." He grimaced. "Is that the sort of thing this Star Cabal wants?"

She would send the information over to his datapad.

"From my understanding their real aim is to destroy both the Sith and Jedi. They feel we have too much influence in galactic events, which given the Sith's machinations and our need to counter them I don't necessarily disagree with, but they seem to be laboring under the delusion that one, they *can* destroy us. Two, that this will somehow magically fix everything. And three, that the ends justify the means. Destabilizing Alderaan would certainly be among those means. Especially if they can blame it on the Sith and Jedi somehow. Turn public opinion against us."

Niall forwarded the info along to T7.

"Bring a planet to civil war because they think the Sith and Jedi have too much influence in galactic events." Niall grimaced. "Does the irony of that not pain them?" He shook his head.

"So what's your next move? Delmi's mother is going to help you?" Niall frowned. "In fact, I was working with Katarzyna to release one of the protestors, and try to track down a man named Julio. He was supposed to be Tuvi's violent counterpart."

"Well..." she frowned in that way people tended to do when they had *no idea whatsoever* what was next.

"...I'm very skeptical she's going to help us since we don't know where she is anymore. I think right now, my focus is going to be on the one on there labeled House Rist. I'm thinking of paying someone over there a visit tomorrow, maybe try and get some things straight. Of course, if Delmi needs me for anything on her end, I'll be there. And I'd like to extend that to your side of this too. I haven't really been keeping up to date on the whole protest angle of things, but yeah, sounds like that definitely fit into this. Or could anyway. If you get any leads on that, need another body with you for an operation, definitely keep me looped in."

She looked at the photo's on her own datapad.

"The other one... I have no idea who that is. Someone using the holonet to stir up trouble, maybe?"

"As soon as I know anything, I'll send you the info." Niall said. In fact, he would be doing so shortly.

He sat forward, nodding. "It sounds as though that should go both directions. Time permitting, I can accompany you to House Rist. Likewise, if our search really does lead to this Julio, we almost certainly could use your assistance. I expect that to be a dangerous one."

His eyebrows went up. "How is Delmi dealing with all of this?"

"Having Grand Marshall Alderaan with me would certainly make what I have to say to them more believable, so that'd be appreciated," she said with a nod. After which followed a shrug.

"Well, before we caught her mom she told me she was ready to kill her. Now? There were some awkward silences. It's complicated, I'm guessing. But whatever she's feeling about it, she's professional enough to not let it interfere with her mission."

"Goodness." Niall said, shaking his head.

Then he cleared his throat. "Perhaps the three of us should meet up tomorrow, then. Compare notes. There seems to be rather a lot going on here, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it before it's too late." He frowned. "And once the Queen chooses her heir, I suspect it will be too late. That's when someone will likely make their move."

Layne got a *look* on her face. Like she was slowly realizing something.

"...oooooh."

She blinked.

"Oh no. I may have told the queen to be wary of the wrong people. Well, the right people, but not the *right* right people."

Niall looked at Layne. Signed. Looked over at the credenza. Gave a tiny shake of his head, and then took another sip of his tea.

"What did you tell her?" He finally asked.

"I just... accidentally knocked her over into the mud I totally didn't mean to, and then I told her we suspected the Blackguard were... bad. Which they probably are. I mean, they've been trained by Zeno after all. But, now it's going to sound totally lame when we go like 'oh actually you should watch out for this other group too'."

Yep, she had hidden another 'wait, *what*' bit of info in the 'wait, what' bit of info.

It was quite possible that part of Layne really enjoyed springing these little moments on people.