[D8 ME Rist Estates] Secrets and Family (closed)

[Omandri Rist]

The shuttle dropped Omandri off at the gates to the estate and he moved into the place carefully. He was bandaged and able to walk without limping but he was clearly worse for wear. His suit had a hole in it where the sword went in, it was torn in several places and had blood in various states of drying on it. He would have to send Ulgo the bill to replace it, it was his favorite suit after all.

As he entered the building proper he set about his task of tracking down his sister. They were overdue for a talk.

[Dapper Dog]

It looked like business as almost usual but with less people and many in varying states of health. He found his sister in her office with a bottle of something strong. She had a mean slash on her arm that was bandaged at least and her favorite blades sitting on the table next to her in varying states of cleanliness.

“Good morning, evening, night? Does it matter?” she said and then took a drink. “I heard you went off to save Alderaan, be a big damn hero? That’s not very pacifist of you. Someone could have gotten… hurt.”

“Spoke to the queen, not really sure what they will do on the one hand, we might have tried to kill her? On the other technically I disavowed them, claimed it was uhh… what was the wording, rogue elements at work that Bryson Rist alerted me to before he died… partly true,” she said.

“Good news, bad news kind of day.”

[Omandri Rist]

Part of him was happy glad to see she was ok, hurt but ok. Then another part was furious now that he knew she was ok, and sounding none too remorseful about what happened. "Giandra what the hell?" Was all he could say at first, incredulity in his tone "you conspired to assassinate the royal family. You committed treason or at the very least conspired to. What the kriff were you thinking? How long had you been planning this?"

[Dapper Dog]

“That's a complicated answer, officially I am just a surprised as anyone but take full responsibility for my House’s actions and those that believed they were acting in my name. I only became aware of this plot when Bryson Rist exposed it to me before his death,” she said rattling off some practiced lines.

“The Queen probably didn’t buy it, but… it was convenient, and we do have some leverage on members of House Panteer, I had to burn a lot of bridges, including bringing someone on board to help right the ship. Congrats, you get a semi-promotion, brother,” she said gesturing towards him and poured a second glass.

“Unofficially, I am not sure, the pieces came together in the last year or so but the Duke, ahem just Bouris kept things close to the chest. I’ll deny it publicly, and I am a good liar. Not a great one but, good enough. I was thinking at the time, Duke Ulgo could pull this off and if he did I didn’t want to be on the wrong side of that.”

“But I am not sure he expected so many distinguished guests to also be big damn heroes who instead of cowering in their apartments decided to… free the spaceport, or take a bolt for the Queen? Or face the Duke in combat? You can’t plan for that,” she said with mild remorse.

“I currently have my job for one reason, well two reasons, I have the loyalty of the House and that the Queen wants to make changes. Our reputation is about what it was, better than Ulgo by far, poor Duchess. But Duke Omandri Rist, we get to work towards ending sanctioned mortality. Ugh, it sounds awful just saying it,” she said honestly.

“Also I have one more thing, something more important than that.”

[Omandri Rist]

Omandri's eyebrows went up that, that was a lot of information to process "A year....wait Duke....?" He formed two incomplete sentences as he was reeling and sat taking the drink. Working towards ending mortality was something he would have loved hearing if his brain was functioning right.

"Wait what's more important?" He snapped to focus at her last statement.

[Dapper Dog]

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She put a picture on the table and said, “This was passed along by Xero Thul, said it might be of use. This came to him from contacts in Imperial space. Says that this woman is a good candidate for being our sister.”

“I am not sure I believe him or her… they whatever; this was on an Imperial world. I am not sure what to think.”

[Omandri Rist]

Omandri looked at the picture for a minute, he was too tired to be excited but he could still focus "It could be her, looks like her at least enough like her that could be six years and a change of style." he mused while looking at the photo "And if she does work for the cunning man we know that organization doesn't have known political ties so could feasibly move between borders easily." he paused while he thought about it a little more "If she's in Imperial spec permanently that'll make her harder to get to." he looked up to Giandra "How many assets do we have on the other side?"

[Dapper Dog]

“Not as many as I would like, according to Xero she may have been active in Bankor so maybe she goes back and forth. We know this conspiracy is far ranging. I am getting word to our field agents, of which we may have a great deal more, new faces and identities are needed,” she gestured to a stack of paperwork.

“I am going to need you to run day to day operations while I oversee our Intelligence operations, which will be a boon for me. I mean if you intend to stay if not well, I understand.”

She sighed and added, “But it would be nice to have well family nearby after this crazy festival.”

[Omandri Rist]

Omandri was quiet for a moment again thinking about his answer running scenarios in his mind. A constant dull roar was in the background as his pain mess started to wear off. He pulled a pill bottle from his jacket and popped a couple "remind me to never get run through by a sword again." He said as he took a drink to wash down the pills.

After a few more seconds he nodded "I'll do it." He said with a serious expression "I don't really want to but I have a responsibility here, to Alderaan, to be active in keeping it stable." He fixed her with an unwavering stare, tired as he was he mustered the will for it "But if im here, if im doing it im the head of this House Giandra. I don't want to just oversee day to day operations. I want clear leadership, I want to know I can steer this ship where it needs to go and I want your intelligence operations going through me." While he said it he sat up straighter and his eyes locked onto hers.

[Dapper Dog]

"Look who found their big boy pants, I'm keeping my rank but if the Organas can do it, then sure. I'll play second seat. Just don't get all micro-manager on me, I need room to breathe," she responded.

[Omandri Rist]

With that he nodded and relaxed a little "don't worry I trust you. Some." He said "I just want to know what it is you're doing, hard to play the game without all the cards. You have years of experience and training I'd be a fool not to let you do your own thing."

He sat back and took a drink "how will the operatives take it? That their jobs just got a lot less violent?"

[Dapper Dog]

"Mixed bag, really. It's been our identity for a long time, that's going to be a shock to the system," she said honestly. "But I won't give them much time to worry about that. But it's going to be a shock."

[Omandri Rist]

Omandri nodded "makes sense, hopefully most are here for the house and not just what we do." He shrugged "those who can't adjust will just have to be let go." He said taking another drink.

"Oh kriff there's a lot of work to do." He said slumping slightly "but that'll be problems for tomorrow."

[Dapper Dog]

"Maybe we ease them into it, and transition the willing to other roles and give people a chance to adjust," she said. "This has been our identity for a long term, even I am unsure of how I feel about it."

[Omandri Rist]

He gave her a little look slightly amused a bit of doubt "And how exactly do we ease people out of assassination?" He raised an eyebrow "the skill set for espionage and assassination are pretty similar stalk, observe, gather information. The main difference is the take down. We're really just taking that last part out." He said "How do we ease that transition?" He wasn't patronizing but genuinely curious about her thoughts.

[Dapper Dog]

“In time, we really push our espionage base forward and offer our skills to other Houses to ferret out the secrets of their rivals. Acolades and merited positons go to those that achieve the goals with the least amount of violence and bloodshed, instead of the current standard,” she said with a shrug.

“But it’s a slow ramp, and as the Queen moves to that, we will look like we are anticipating her changes and they can see that they won’t be left in the dust with the changes. Deception for a good cause.”

[Omandri Rist]

He frowned a little but took a breath and nodded "I guess that can work. I still don't love it but this is about more than me." If he just did what he wanted he would just institute a no kill rule immediately and any use of lethal force would be reviewed thoroughly but that would cause uproar and destabilize his popularity and trust in the house.

"Alright we can take it slow, but I want new operatives trained primarily in nonlethal takedowns. You already know how I feel about this sort of thing but I trust your judgment."

[Dapper Dog]

“House Rist will be a gentler, happier House, that knows all your secrets,” she said with a smirk.

“I think we can make this happen and people will come around, those that don’t well… get used to not everybody liking you. I won't miss that.”

[Omandri Rist]

Omandri shrugged "I'm plenty used to not getting along with me. They don't have to like me as long as they eventually get with the program. And like I said if it is a major issue then they will be free to find employment elsewhere."

He raised his glass "To facing the future, together." He said with a tired but slightly hopeful smile.

[Dapper Dog]

The glasses clinked to a new future.

/scene