What is THY bidding, my Master?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena De'Ville activated the opal-like stone she wore around her neck, setting it down on the blanket in front of her. She was dressed in tight black shorts and grey tank top, and sitting cross legged on her bunk in the small room she had been assigned on Dac.

It took a moment for the connection to go through, and then the terrible mask of Darth Callidus shimmered into existence before her. "My master," she said, bowing her head for a respectable amount of time before straightening. "I have done as you bade me, and my apprentice has also been successful in her mission."

[Darth Callidus]

With his clawed fingertips steepled together, Darth Callidus sat forward and fixed his pale eyes on the faint image of his aprentice.

“Elaborate.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"I have been accepted into the Rebel Alliance. I have already participated in two missions and anticipate being called on for others, as I am most useful. I know a little about their fleet placements, and their strength, but this is not comprehensive, yet." Lilaena ticked off the items with her fingers.

"As for Akasha, she has been accepted among the Jedi and has been put underneath a Knight as a padawan learner. And she has given me a count of how many Jedi there are gathered together." She read off the numbers of Knights, Masters, and padawans.

The death mask facing her was disconcerting, but she met its baleful gaze anyway. "They are gathered in a moving convoy of ships. Ingenious, really, when it comes to hiding from such a large enemy as the Empire."

[Darth Callidus]

“...Remarkable.”

How long, he wondered, had they been hiding in what amounted to plain sight? One ill-timed jump to hyperspace could place the entire convoy in the line of fire, putting a swift end to the hopes of the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance, who must have valued their Force-wielding allies highly if they were willing to sacrifice military resources to protect them.

“Tell me about your... colleagues, your working relationships – and those of your apprentice.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"I have a working relationship with a few Intel agents, including the Director, Grace Van-Derveld." Her lips twisted a bit at the thought of that mission, but there was no need to elaborate further. "As of yet I have not been assigned a regular position, but I have a meeting tomorrow with Colonel Starborn of SpecForce for that purpose.

"My apprentice has a few sparring partners, and others that she is making friends with among the Jedi. Her master - Tionne Thanewulf, who she says encourages her to explore her passions and is skilled in deception and stealth. There is a young human Knight named Abarai Loki, and fellow padawans Corell Capstan and Shoda Kulan, a Togruta." She wasn't so much interested in the names as she was what else Akasha had told her.

"She also says that two Padawans have disappeared. The young ones are afraid there is something attacking and killing them, among the Jedi."

[Darth Callidus]

Few were the dark corners of the galaxy in which the name Grace Van-Derveld was unrecognisable in – but Callidus found a grain of familiarity in another of the names Malleus listed. He filed the thought away for later consideration.

“I see – and has your apprentice drawn any conclusions of her own about these... disappearances?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"I told her to find out what she could about them. Truth is a better weapon than rumor, when wielded correctly. And I instructed her to keep the fear running among the young ones." Lilaena turned her head from side to side, cracking her neck a bit. She'd been working out with some SpecForce soldiers, and her limbs needed more stretching.

"There was something else, too. Most of the senior Jedi are away from the convoy at the moment. They went to Imperial Center. Apparently they are attempting to rescue one of their own... a... Serena."

She looked up from her notes. "No last name that Akasha knew."

[Darth Callidus]

There hadn't been a hint of recognition in Lilaena, in either her voice or her expression. How much – or rather, how little – did she remember of their shared childhood? Were it not for a mis-match of personalities, Callidus himself would have become Serena Laran's apprentice. How would the events of his life have unfolded, if he had been under her guidance rather than A'na's? She was long-dead but her influence and teachings had shaped both of them.

His brows drawing together, Callidus tilted his head backwards.

“What do you make of the Rebellion, as you have seen it?”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

"It seems to have rebounded from the struggles it suffered directly after the battle at Endor. Leadership has been replaced, the fleet is rebuilt. It seems to be a strong and healthy organization."

Lilaena uncrossed her legs and stretched them out, leaning her body down over her right leg and reaching out past her toes with her fingers. Voice slightly muffled she added, "The Rebellion is put together better than I anticipated, to be honest. The Empire would have us-" she slowly sat up and stretched down over her left leg, "believe that the Alliance is a rag-tag group of rabble rousers."

She sat up and placed her hands behind her, arching her back and leaning her head back as her chest pushed up. "And they are not."

[Darth Callidus]

“I see. We may have some use for them yet.”

Callidus formed a steeple from his fingertips and pressed the point - his index fingertips - against his chin as he watched his apprentice, his gaze following the supple curve of her arched body. She didn't watch him in return. Even the look on her face, focused yet somehow distant, seemed to say that she was drawing conclusions of her own and perhaps even questioning how best she should proceed, independently. After all, unlike so many of the others under his thrall, De'Ville did not need him to survive. The thought made his upper lip curl into an unseen sneer.

“I want to meet with your apprentice's new teacher. You will use your connection to the agents of Rebel Intelligence to lead Akasha and her master to the Outer Rim world of Tund.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She paused in her stretch, and then slowly straightened, returning to a cross legged position in front of the holo emitter.

"I may not be up to date on my astronavigation but Tund is a radioactive wasteland." Before he could say anything in reply she added, "But I will do as you say. It may take some time to arrange the circumstances, and Akasha's master may not return from this trip to Coruscant."