In a blur of pseudo motion the Wandering Star emerged from hyperspace over the desert planet of Tatooine. Ar’lissa yawned as she started guiding the ship towards the planet. In the co-pilot's seat Iz’aphine stretched her arms out in the small cockpit as she double checked the displays, this had been one of their most challenging cargo runs yet with a crazy deadline that forced Ar’lissa to be in a Skywalker trance for a good majority of it, taking breaks only when she was ready to pass out. “Jump complete. Combat range clear. Midrange...we’ve got four midsized contacts. ID’s are coming up now but it looks like transports, split between heading to the planet and heading out.”
Ar’lissa glanced at the scanner, “No patrol ships, not even an Imperial Navy ship.”
Iz’aphine shook her head, “This isn’t Selvaris, Governor Grayson indicated that the Huts control the planet with Jabba Desilijic Tiure, AKA Jabba the Hutt, effectively ruling from his palace. Apparently, our cargo is for him.”
Ar’lissa gave a quick look back at Iz’aphine, “So how sure are we that these cases are exotic Selvaris fruits and aged Wine?”
Iz’aphine shrugged, “About as good as we can be with pouring out the wine and cutting open the fruit. They have to eat and drink as well, plus I think I read those vintage bottles can fetch well over a thousand credits each out of system.”
Ar’lissa wrinkled her nose as looked at the chrono timer for their delivery yawning again, “That’s a crime unto itself. Looks like we’re a few hours ahead of the deadline. I thought we’d need to bring Val in for help meeting it, really pushed myself on this one.”
Iz’aphine smiled as she leaned forward and reassuringly put a hand on Ar’lissa’s shoulder, “You did really good. Let’s head for Mos Espa space port, maybe stretch our legs a bit in the bay before we’ll call the contact we were given.”
Ar’lissa nodded as she guided the ship past the other freighters and into the atmosphere, “Sounds like a plan.”
Thirty minutes later Ar’lissa and Iz’aphine both stepped off the ramp of the ship and into the hot, dusty bay holding the datasheet Two-Vee had prepared, “...was it me or did space port control sound strangely surprised that we were here early?”
Ar’lissa shrugged, “Wasn’t sure if it was because it took them so long to detect us.” Ar’lissa took a moment to collect herself, taking a few calming breaths, she closed her eyes and tried to tap into the Force. Quick visions of four Weequays with weapons along with blaster fire flashed in her mind. She immediately unslung her rifle, keeping it at a low ready. “Signs point to possible Weequay trouble.”
Iz’aphine nodded to her as she flipped the catch off of her holster just as an older man in dirty coveralls walked over to them arms outstretched to his sides in a welcoming greeting. “Welcome to Mos Espa young mistress! My name is Renizz, what can I do for you?”
Iz’aphine smiled politely to him. “We just need to refuel 4 cells and replenish our supplies.”
“Very good, I’ll have the droids hook up the lines. It’s 55 credits for the landing fees and 25 credits per cell for refueling. We just got a fresh shipment of standard consumables. How many days do you need?”
Iz’aphine looked down at the sheet, “12 days' worth.”
Renizz scrached his chin for a moment, “Right, that’ll come to, oh let's say 180.”
Iz’aphine nodded as she pulled the credits out of a pouch, “Sounds good. Imperial credits ok?”
Renizz pulled out his datapad from his pouch and typed in a few numbers before turning it towards her. “Sure are.”
Iz’aphine quickly double checked the numbers making sure there were no hidden items and hit accept as she handed him the credits. “Thank you kindly ma’am.” He turned and gestured to the maintenance droids standing off to the side, “Shake the rust lose, we’ve got paying customers!” He turned back to Iz’aphine as the droids scrambled around grabbing the refueling lines and dragging them to the ship, “If you don’t mind me asking how long are ya here for?”
Iz’aphine shrugged, “Not too long, we’re dropping off a shipment for a client. I’m not even sure the recipient knows we’re here yet. We’re way ahead of schedule.”
“Ah, always nice when that happens...” He glanced past Iz’aphine and grimaced. “Those Weequay your recipients?”
Iz’aphine quickly turned around to see four Weequay walking into the bay. Two were holding nasty looking vibro axes while the other two were carrying blaster rifles. She made a slight face, “I doubt it unless Jabba the Hutt decided to send them as his reps.”
Renizz looked nervous as he shook his head, “I’d tread lightly, the Foolgerd brothers have got a body count behind them.”
Iz’aphine nodded, “Thanks for the warning. You may want to take cover in case this goes sideways.” She started walking over towards them as Renizz quickly scrambled to his office, “Can I help you fine beings?”
The Weequay in the lead looked over at her, “Depends on what your business is here.”
Ar’lissa’s eyes narrowed behind her visor as she adjusted her stance, “You first.”
“Well, you see there’s a shipment coming in for Jabba’s party. We were sent here to pick it up and thought you might be the ship carrying it.”
Iz’aphine put on her best fake smile, “Ah excellent. I thought we’d have to wait because we arrived early. You Clem?”
The Weequay nodded giving his best fake friendly smile in return, “Yep.”
Iz’aphine casually reached down for her pistol, sliding it out of her holster, “Well that’s a shame because Clem isn’t the name of the being picking up the shipment for Jabba.”
The Weequay scowled at her, angry that she had so easily tricked him, “Clever.”
Iz’aphine smirked, “Thanks. Now I’m sure you know we don’t want to face the wrath of Jabba for losing his shipment so is there something else we can do for you?”
The Weequay smirked, “Well, that’s between you and Jabba. We’ll be taking that cargo, by force if we have to.”
Iz’aphine shook her head, “I don’t think so. I’d suggest it would be healthier for you to turn around and head to the nearest cantina for a drink.”
The Weequay looked at each other in slight disbelief for a moment wondering if these two women were for real, “I don’t know if you can count but we outnumber you.”
Iz’aphine took a slow step back putting herself on Ar’lissa’s flank in a makeshift firing line, “Numbers don’t always matter. Now if you had a Droideka or two this would be a whole different conversation. Are you sure you want to do this?”
The lead Weequay smirked as the two with rifles started to bring them up, “Oh we’re going to enjoy this, boys make it...”
Before he could finish Ar’lissa, in a single smooth motion, brought her rifle up to her shoulder, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. The Weequay with the rifle behind the leader nearly flew backward, his armor smoking from the shot as he landed unmoving. The remaining Weequay rifleman quickly shook of his shock and quickly took aim, firing back at Ar’lissa with a rapid series of shots. Ar’lissa tried to maneuver out of the way, but one of the shots burned into her armor causing her to flinch slightly in pain as the armor was unable to absorb all of it. Iz’aphine quickly took aim and fired at the lead Weequay as he charged at her, the blast burning deep into his side and nearly dropping him but the badly wounded Weequay still managed to close the distance and lashed out with his vibro ax grazing her in the side as she tried to dodge out of the way of his wild swings. The third Weequay charged Ar’lissa, swinging his vibro ax in an effort to disembowel her but she managed to twist at the last moment and the ax deflected off of her armor barely grazing it as she retreated back out of his reach, giving her a brief clear shot at the rifle armed Weequay before he could respond. Taking a moment to aim she let lose another devastating shot that sent him sprawling to the ground before having to duck under the wild swing of her attacker as he charged back into melee with her.
Iz’aphine quickly backpaddled out her attackers reach as well giving her enough room to bring her pistol cleanly up and with a quick pull of the trigger she fired a blast into his chest dropping him in a heap. She turned just in time to see Ar’lissa smash the butt of her rifle into the remaining Weequay’s face and as he recoiled back in pain Ar’lissa quickly backup up and brought her rifle back around and up to her shoulder taking a quick yet extremely precise shot that sent the Weequay sprawling to the ground unmoving. They both reflexively scanned their surroundings for a moment before calling out almost simultaneously. “Clear!”
Ar’lissa looked over at Iz’aphine and the blood trickling down her side from the gash, “You alright?”
Iz’aphine nodded as she checked her side, “Think so, just got grazed. Bio-support dispenser just kicked in. You?”
Ar’lissa reflexively checked her side, still feeling a twinge of pain, “Same.”
Renizz carefully peered out of his office, eyes briefly going wide at the fact that the fight was over so quickly and that the Foolgerd brothers were all lying dead in his bay. Iz’aphine spotted him peeking out and gestured to the bodies as she holstered her pistol, “Sorry about the mess.”
He carefully stepped out still looking shocked, “Uh yeah, no problem. They’ve been a collective thorn in a lot of our sides for a while now. Harassing and extorting us when they thought they could get away with it.”
Ar’lissa seemed to remain on alert as she scanned the bay entrance, “We going to have a problem with the authorities?”
Renizz shook his head, “The ones they’ve been bribing might be slightly upset, but thugs like them come and go around here all the time. I’ll have a couple of my droids take care of the bodies.” He turned back to three droids standing near a group of crates. “Junker, J2, Spud: you three are on body detail.”
Iz’aphine raised an eyebrow as the droids quickly went to work removing anything that looked valuable from the bodies and put them into a pile as if they had done this before. Renizz gave her a sly smile, “You two of course have first claim but I’d like something from them to help with the ‘cleanup costs’.”
Iz’aphine nodded as Ar’lissa shouldered her rifle and inspected the weapons, “Of course.”
She watched as Ar’lissa gathered up the weapons as well as four pouches from the pile which she tossed over to Iz’aphine one at a time. Each came with the jingling with the sound of coins as she caught them. She quickly inspected the bags and found a mix of credits in them. From their weight she guessed they had recently split up some ‘earnings’. Quickly tucking three of the pouches under one arm she did a quick count of what was in one of the bags trying to keep her expression neutral as she turned back to Renizz holding the pouch out to him, “I think this and the remaining equipment in the pile should cover any ‘cleanup costs.’
Renizz took the open pouch and took a quick look inside before giving a respectful nod as he closed it and tucked it away, “Aye it certainly will, that’s more than generous of you.”
Ar’lissa looked over at Iz’aphine for a moment and then she walked up the ramp with the weapons and put them in the weapons locker in the cargo hold. Two-Vee looked over at her as he placed the last crate on the load lifter. “I take it those are the offending weapons I heard.”
Ar’lissa nodded, a slight smirk on her face. “Yeah, they weren’t pushovers, but we managed to do alright. Glad you convinced me to take the Nightstinger with me.”
Two-Vee nodded back to her, “When dealing with Huts you can’t be too cautious ma’am.”
Ar’lissa tilted her head slightly, “Can you translate Huttese?”
“Of course, that is one of my programed languages. Huts can understand Galactic Basic but not all of them speak it.”
“It might be handy if you joined us when he does show up, or at least be in a position to hear and translate for us.”
“I would be happy to.”
Their coms beeped on, Iz’aphine’s voice sounded slightly surprised, “Guys, Jabba the Hut is here with some help. Apparently, he was dealing with a group in another bay when we arrived. Two-Vee, could you please bring the cargo down, if you have it ready?”
Ar’lissa keyed her headset while closing her visor and faceguard as she unshouldered her rifle and quickly headed to the ramp, “I’ll be right down.”
Two-Vee pulled out his com, “I will bring the cargo down momentarily ma’am.”
As Ar’lissa walked down the ramp she could see Iz’aphine looking at Jabba and an armed Trandoshan along with a Twi’lek male standing with what she guessed were servant Weequays. If they were concerned about the four dead Weequays the droids were dragging away they weren’t showing it. Jabba stretched his arms out wide speaking in Huttese. <Ah this must be your pilot. I was just telling your partner how impressed I was that you arrived so early. I was told it would be a near impossible deadline.>
The translator droid tilted its head slightly, “The Exalted Jabba the Hut wishes to pass on to you as well that he is impressed with your ability to arrive early on what he was informed to be a near impossible deadline.”
Ar’lissa bowed her head slightly in respect as Two-Vee brought down the crates on the load lifter behind her. “Thank you. It was a team effort.”
Iz’aphine quickly walked over to the crates and pulled the datasheet off of it. She turned it on and walked back towards Jabba holding up the datasheet. “Here’s the inventory list if you would like to double check it.”
He gave a dismissive wave towards the Twi’lek and he stepped forward, taking the datasheet from her with a nod. He looked over the list as he walked with her over to the crates. He quickly checked the labels on the crates as well as the seals before turning to Jabba and nodding, marking the datasheet that they were accepting the shipment and handing it back to Iz’aphine. Jabba looked over at Iz’aphine, <Unaltered, excellent.> He turned to the Weequay servants. <Well don’t just stand there, get to work!> He turned back to Iz’aphine gesturing to the translation droid. <See if they would work for me. Tell them I’m impressed with their work and will pay them well.>
The droid nodded as the Weequay quickly moved over to the crates and start to remove them from the lifter and placing it on their own lifter, “The illustrious Jabba is impressed with your professionalism and would like to offer you further employment with generous pay.”
Iz’aphine smiled politely, “While we appreciate the offer, we must respectfully decline.”
The droid seemed nervous as Jabba gave a low chuckle, <Grayson must have something over them. Ask them droid.>
“The Mighty Jaba was wondering what Governor Grayson is using as an incentive to retain your services?”
Iz’aphine looked over at Ar’lissa whose head was now moving back and forth as if sizing up target priorities. She looked over at Two-Vee for a moment before turning back to Jabba, “His incentive is that he pays extremely well. With that we are currently allowed to maintain a non-entangled transport service and still be relatively comfortable in our lifestyle.”
Jabba let out a low laugh, <I like this one, courteous but not believing I’m some sort of fool to her diplomatic speak. Droid; tell her my offer will remain open for now and I hope to see them again.>
“The Mighty Jaba’s offer will remain open for the foreseeable future. He believes that concludes this transaction and he hopes to see you again in the future.”
Iz’aphine gave a polite partial bow, “Fortune’s favor to you.” The Trandoshan kept his eyes on them as Jabba’s skiff turned and left the bay along with the rest of his entourage before turning and heading out behind them. Iz’aphine took a long breath, “Well that’s done.”
Renizz nodded, “Jabba seemed impressed. He doesn’t put those offers out lightly.”
Ar’lissa looked back over at him, “I’m sure, but I don’t want to end up being at a being like that’s beck and call.”
Iz’aphine nodded in agreement, “Jabba seems like someone who would at some point force us to take cargo we don’t wish to take on that would involve the very entanglements we seek to avoid.”
Renizz shrugged, “Yeah, Jabba isn’t one to take no from anyone on his crew. Anyway, it’s going to be bit before refueling finishes, unless you want to take off sooner?”
Two-Vee looked at the others, “I can lock down the ship, why don’t the two of you enjoy some time stretching your legs.”
Iz’aphine stretched her neck a little, the stress of the recent situations finally starting to drain from her. “Thanks Two-Vee. I could definitely go for a drink after all of this.” She turned to Ar’lissa, “Let’s go to the nearest cantina and grab a drink or two.”
A few minutes later after grabbing drinks from the bartender they found a partially out of the way table in the busy cantina and sat down. Ar’lissa retracted her lower faceguard but left her visor in place as she took a sip of her drink as Iz’aphine raised her glass to her. “To beating the deadline in style.”
Ar’lissa smirked and raised her glass back in salute. “To beating tight deadlines.” They both clinked glasses and took a drink. “Let’s not take any more crazy ones like this for a bit.”
Iz’aphine smirked, “This ‘crazy one’ is paying for your heavily modified DH-X rifle and our other equipment needs, along with keeping the ‘star flying.”
Ar’lissa nodded, “I know it seems crazy, but the carbine just doesn’t have the punch to end fights quickly. The DH-X is in a bit more widespread use than the Nightstinger...”
Iz’aphine nudged Ar’lissa under the table and subtly gestured over to the bar as a familiar figure with short cut crimson hair started conversing with the gruff bartender as she took her drink politely from him while adjusting her duffle bag hanging over her shoulder with her free hand. While they could see the blaster pistol strapped to the thigh portion of her N97 armor they were sure a double-bladed lightsaber was attached to the back of it, hidden the bulky leather jacket she was wearing. The bartender gestured to a few of the tables and booths in the bar as he seemed to answer her question. Her emerald eyes looked around the room briefly before they locked on them, and her smile broadened a little bit. She seemed to pass what was probably a few extra credits over to the bartender before heading over to them. She grinned, looking cheery, “Well this is a welcome surprise! Mind if I join you?”
Iz’aphine gestured to one of the two empty chairs and Moria sat down, setting her duffle bag beside her chair. “What brings the two of you to this cheery part of the galaxy?”
Ar’lissa shrugged, “Cargo run for Governor Grayson to Jabba the Hutt.”
Moria raised an eyebrow, “Ooh Selvaris aged wine? Some exotic fruits maybe?”
“It was both.”
Moria nodded, “Nice and very lucrative, if you can deliver them before they spoil. Hopefully the good Governor is paying you well for it.”
Iz’aphine gestured to her while taking a drink, “He is. What brings you here?”
Moria shrugged, “Work. Tatooine is surprisingly a popular spot for all sorts of interesting people.” She took a swig of her drink before continuing, “I brought my work clothes just in case I needed them, but I find that at times it’s easier and less messy if I do some of my work in more, casual clothes.”
Ar’lissa nodded taking a sip of her drink, “Are you still on the clock?”
Moria crossed her legs as she leaned back in her chair taking another swig, “Jobs done thankfully. This was a long track and bag that my other ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ didn’t want, felt it was beneath them. I came here to have a drink to celebrate, but to also find transport off-world.” She raised an eyebrow, “You guys wouldn’t happen to be heading out soon?”
Iz’aphine took a sip of her drink before responding, “We’re in the process of refueling. We were planning on heading back to Selvaris.”
Moria nodded, “I don’t suppose I could convince you to detour to Kuat to drop off a passenger?”
Ar’lissa and Iz’aphine looked at each other for a moment before they both shrugged as neither could think of a reason not to. Iz’aphine looked back at Moria. “I think we can do that.”
Moria’s smile broadened, “Excellent! I will of course cover all the docking, restock, and refueling fees on the shipyard plus another two grand for the detour.”
Ar’lissa’s eyes widened a little under her visor, Moria noted that Iz’aphine’s expression changed more subtlety as she responded, “That’s very generous of you.”
Moria smirked, “Well, now I don’t have to worry about some jerk pawing through my stuff trying to steal something or finding my work clothes. Definitely makes for a much more relaxing trip. By the way have you talked at all with Dr. Xan since our adventures?”
Iz’aphine nodded, “She’s opened a medical clinic specializing in cyber replacements. Deals mainly with the underprivileged.”
Moria made a face, “That seems a waste of her considerable talents. She should be working as a surgeon in a trauma center, but I’m not one to judge after what happened. Hopefully she’s also continuing her other research in her downtime.”
Ar’lissa nodded after taking a swig of her drink, “She’s poked and prodded at my arm enough. Thankfully she doesn’t have to work on unwilling test subjects anymore.”
Moria gave a small sigh of relief, “That’s good, it’s nice to know she’s out there if I get severely disarmed.” She smirked slightly, “Va’lana’s still trying to keep a low profile I hope?”
Ar’lissa’s eyes narrowed a little and Moria could make out the tenseness in the part of her face she could see. “She is.”
Moria nodded gesturing casually to her, “Good. Look, while she used a lightsaber, I didn’t see her use the Force in any way so as far as I’m concerned, she’s not force sensitive. She is however carrying and using a weapon that will get her into trouble if caught with it by the wrong people.” She gave Ar’lissa a look, her smirk growing, “Kind of like you could be if you’re still carrying two of them as backups.”
Ar’lissa shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she took a swig of her drink, “Understood.”
Moria gave a small gesture as if trying to wave Ar’lissa’s discomfort away with her free hand, “Anyway I thought you’d also like to know I’ve done do some digging into who convinced Commander Barson to carry out the heist you aptly stopped and so far those I’ve found have all been human or near human, but my gut just can’t let go of it.” She leaned in lowering her voice, “That item you helped recover was a Jedi artifact, while extremely valuable to the right collector I found out it has some serious religious significance in a couple of systems at the border between the Empire and the Unknown Region. If I were part of some group of aliens wanting to take those systems using deception and manipulation it would definitely help me pull off something like that.” Moria saw the concerned look on both of their faces, “By those looks I’m even more sure the feeling in my gut isn’t the spicy noodles.”
Iz’aphine leaned in, “Quite possibly, do you remember the systems?”
Moria nodded, “I can show you on the ‘Star as I don’t think this is something we should be discussing in public.”
Ar’lissa nodded back to Moria and looked around the cantina, “Good idea.”
Moria smirked, “I’d normally say that all my ideas are good but you both saw me strung up. Let’s finish our drinks and then we can go back to the ‘Star and compare notes.”
A few minutes later the three of them returned to the bay as Renizz’s droids were dragging the hoses from the ship. Renizz smiled to them, “Ship’s all fueled and restocked.”
Iz’aphine nodded, “Ah good timing on our part.
He gestured to Moria, “I see you picked up a passenger.”
Moria nodded smiling, “I lucked out, their heading in the direction I need to go.”
Renizz nodded, “Very fortuitous.” he turned back to Iz’aphine, “Safe travels, and if you’re ever back this way please remember my bay.”
Iz’aphine smiled politely back, “We will, and thank you.”
40 minutes later the Wandering Star was traveling through hyperspace. Moria sat in the lounge area as Two-Vee approached her, “Is there something I can get for you ma’am?”
Moria looked up and asked half-jokingly, “I don’t suppose you have any tea?”
Two-Vee nodded, “While nothing exotic we have three types. A relaxing Selvaris blend, an invigorating Alderaan blend, and if you're looking for something with a kick, a Corellian blend.”
Moria looked surprised for a moment, “I’ll take a cup of the Selvaris blend, please.”
Two-Vee gave a polite nod, “I will fix that right away.”
She watched as Two-Vee walked into the galley as Ar’lissa and Iz’aphine made their way out of the cockpit and into the lounge area, “First leg of the course is set.”
Moria nodded. “Two-Vee is making some tea if you want some.”
Ar’lissa chuckled slightly as she sat down, “He’s probably already fixing what he likes to call our ‘entered hyperspace after a long day’ drinks.”
Moria raised an eyebrow, “Dealing with Jabba that bad?”
Iz’aphine shrugged as she sat down, “We also had an incident with some Weequay trying to steal the cargo that ended in a brief shootout.”
Moria chuckled, “If Ar’lissa had her rifle at the ready I’m guessing it was very brief.”
Ar’lissa gave a casual shrug as she responded, “These guys were a bit more skilled, and the fight started at close range, so it took a little more work.”
Moria nodded, “Kind of like fighting those Rackghouls, brief but dangerous.”
Two-Vee came out with their drinks on a tray and set them down on the table in front of each person. “Enjoy.”
Both Ar’lissa and Iz’aphine responded almost simultaneously, “Thanks.” as Moria picked up her drink and took a sip. She was surprised at how good the flavor was so she took another longer sip savoring it for a moment. “Expertly prepared and very good flavor. Thank you.”
Two-Vee gave a polite head tilt, “You’re welcome, I’ll be in the galley if you need anything.”
Moria watched him walk away and turned to the others, “I don’t recognize the model but I’m starting to think I need to find one.”
Ar’lissa gestured to Two-Vee as she picked up her drink, “He’s a Seneshal-Series Factotum Droid. As far as I know he’s the last of his line and has been for a long time. The design might be in an archive somewhere, though I doubt they would even be half as capable as Two-Vee.”
Moria took another sip of her tea, “We’ll even if they are close to half as capable it would be better than a lot of the service droids out there, I’ll have to do some digging through the archives in my free time.”
Ar’lissa took a long drink and then looked over at Moria, “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up becoming an Inquisitor?”
Moria gave a half smile, “How about a deal, I tell you a bit about myself and you do the same?”
Ar’llissa seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding in response. “Ok.”
Moria leaned back, “Well, Dad was an archeologist with the Republic and mom was a researcher dealing in strange Force phenomena and artifacts. Dad didn’t have the connection to the Force like mom and I did, but otherwise we were pretty much a typical archeologist family traveling from site to sight. One evening on an archeological find some thugs using Force abilities brutally murdered my father when they broke into our ship looking for valuables while Mom and I were at the dig site. Imagine a kid excitedly running up a ramp and finding your dad broken, bleeding, gasping out his last breath as he reached for you.” Moria’s face contorted into a mixture of emotions as the memory flooded through her mind of the events. She took a couple of breaths before trying to continue in the same nonchalant voice but there was an edge to it, “Mom and I hunted them down and we took our revenge. That’s when I learned that I had a natural gift for investigating and tracking. My mom nurtured it as I grew up and we became known in certain circles for our ability to find and categorize rare and unique artifacts. During this time, we caught the eye of then Senator Palpatine. He began to personally sponsor some of our more interesting recoveries and when he became Chancelor our archeology jobs only got more interesting though at times we had to deal with the Jedi Order and their arrogancy.” She pauses for a moment, “Don’t get me wrong, there were some decent beings in the Order, but they were the exception in my experience.” Moria shrugged casually as she continued, “Anyway for a bit I feared that my mom and I were going to end up being hunted ourselves, but Emperor Palpatine invited me to join the Inquisitors and my mom continued her work for him with a specialized team. She was looking into something that she told me was incredible when she disappeared. The fragmented info I was given indicated that a rogue Jedi may have been involved but so far, I haven’t been able to find much else.”
Both Ar’lissa and Iz’aphine both seemed taken back for a moment by how much Moria had offered and how wistful she seemed while talking, it almost sounded like she had been looking for someone to open up to. Moria’s expression quickly changed back to the mixture of smug playfulness they were used to. “Anyway, so what about you Ar’lissa?”
Ar’lissa seemed to take a moment to collect her thoughts, “Well my mother was part of my people’s navy, and I never knew my father, I was told he died in a crash. Honestly, I don’t remember a lot of my childhood other than when I ended up qualifying for a special program sponsored by the military and the government. I went into the service after my time in the program was over. I served as what you would call a Marine aboard a couple of warships and then as security for our people’s diplomats. During a diplomatic mission I stopped a threat that looked to be tied to the Grysk and found some disturbing data that the Grysk’s surrogates failed to delete about the possibility that the Grysk were looking at Imperial space.” She looked over at Iz’aphine, “Some of us were concerned enough to look into it.”
Moria could tell she wasn’t truly lying but she also wasn’t telling the whole story, but there would be time to pull more details out, and she was looking forward to it. “Interesting, so I take it neither of you are fully sanctioned by your government?”
Iz’aphine nodded, “That’s correct. Our government tends to be a bit isolationist so to speak.”
Moria smiled, “Well I’m glad both of you didn’t feel the same way, it would have made things a lot more difficult on the Demios.” She took a sip of her tea and looked over at Iz’aphine, “So anything you feel like sharing about growing up?”
Iz’aphine shrugged, “Both my parents were part of the diplomatic core and I grew up moving around in those circles, part of that was learning to observe and blend in so I wouldn’t get into trouble or cause a diplomatic incident. I found that kind of job really wasn’t for me so I took various classes and I ended up working in an analysis department for our government. That’s when I came across the report from Ar’lissa’s actions and coupled with a couple of other reports became concerned at what I was seeing but given my youth and ‘inexperience’ I wasn’t taken seriously. I was maybe a little too vocal to the wrong people about my concerns. Long story short I decided to investigate and ended up joining Ar’lissa.”
Moria nodded as she gestured to them, “You don’t happen to have that data you mentioned?”
Iz’aphine shook her head, “Unfortunately no, it was reclassified after I came across the reports, and I didn’t have the clearance to copy them.” She shrugged a little, “Let’s just say my attempt to ‘circumvent’ that was not looked kindly upon.”
Moria smirked, “Heh, I knew I liked you guys for a reason...”
Two hours later Moria made herself comfortable in the co-pilot's seat dressed in her Inquisitor uniform as she first keyed the code Ar’lissa gave her to access the encryptions loaded into the Advanced Subspace Encryption Array and selected personal encryption before activating the Array. The Grand Inquisitor’s face appeared on the screen looking at her expectantly, “11th Sister. I take it you have good news?”
Moria nodded holding up a damaged lightsaber with flecks of dried blood on it, looking almost cheery, “I found and eliminated the young jedi that had eluded the others. I’m on my way back to Kuat to pick up my ship.”
He smiled, “Excellent. I knew I could count on you...” His expression furrowed as he realized what she had said, “What do you mean you need to pick up your ship?”
Moria nodded, her expression not changing, “I didn’t want to announce my presence as the target seemed to pay special attention to Inquisitor’s ships and uniforms. She was quite surprised and thus easy to deal with.”
The Grand Inquisitor studied her for a moment and then smiled again, “Cunning and resourceful. I look forward to your full report.”
Moria nodded as the screen went blank. She checked to make sure the connection was truly closed before smirking. She knew that the other Inquisitors looked down on her but those that counted couldn’t argue with her results. She leaned back and sighed, while she enjoyed the cat and mouse of ferreting out the secrets of the crews she hired while hiding her true identity when she was traveling incognito it was nice for once to just relax on a non-Imperial ship, especially on such a long trip. She thought about the conversation earlier and how she would normally lie or deflect about her past; she had a dozen stories that were inspiring, heartbreaking, or both depending on what would make her listeners sympathetic to giving her what she wanted. What made it different this time? She took off her helmet and stared out into the swirl of hyperspace trying to sort through her thoughts, there was no doubt in her mind now that the Force had brought them together on the Demios and set the wheels in motion for something, what it was, well that would be the interesting part to find out. She smiled as she got up from the co-pilot's seat, she definitely needed to get another cup of that tea from Two-Vee and perhaps maybe coax a little information out of him about his past before turning in.
