Intervention - A Master Plan (Esalis)

[Leon Dagrelle]

Dren... It was times like these that the Sub-Inquisitor HATED above all else. Meetings with superiors other than the Grand Admiral, a close friend of Leons, was highly intoxicating. It was times like these that Dagrelle could really do without.

When he was in lower positions within the Remnant it was a everyday job. Your superiours were your life, do what they ordered or be cast aside, it was fully down to you. But when Dagrelle had held the position of High Inquisitor, before his near fatal illness, he had been his own commander, the only person above him was the Grand Admiral himself. Since his demotion to Sub-Inquisitor, second in command on the Inquisitrate, he had hated the blasted woman who took his position ever since and seeing her in formal meetings was damn near torture.

But it had to be done.

With the Grand Admirals permission the Commodore has based himself on the Cloud City upon Bespin ever since his demotion and continued his operation which was based upon Coruscant and also continued with his Inquisitrate orders not to mention the Reasearch Station project. Grudgingly he had to leave his base and travel to the Imperial Citadel to meet his succsessor, bloody woman.

His personal shuttle, which was despatched from personal Star Ship 'SS Markbourne', landed safetly within the storm that raged outside. The Commodore was rushed in with attempts to cover him with umbrellas and so forth but failed on the whole, luckily he wore his leather trenchcoat...his prized clothed posetion.

'Sub Inquisitor Leon Dagrelle...' One of the footman called as the Commodore marched in, his coat taken from him. The Commodore had, when he was the High Inquisitor, a very strict regiem. He was happy it was still in practice. The troops, footman and gaurds saltuted, he in turn did and he called for them to resume their work.

Making his way through the building, he was fianly escorted to the office of the High Inquisitor, the door was kncoked on and then opned by a footman who called the Commodors entrance.

For the firs time in quite a while he faced The High Inquisitor, a fake smile upon his face, he was about as happy as a lump of Sithspit, but he would not let he have the satisfaction of knowing.

' High Inquisitor, i hope you are well...'

[R. S. Esalis]

R. S. Esalis, High Inquisitor of the Imperial Inquisitoriate, was seated peacefully in her sparsely furnished office. She needed little, and wanted less - in the way of material possessions, at least. She craved order and conformity, and despised rebellion in any form. She was cold, sometimes cruel, and always calculating.

And so, when her predecessor, Commodore Leon Dagrelle stepped into her office, she let a thin smile grace her features. It was hollow, however. There was no emotion apparent in any way, and her very demeanor was one of tranquility.

"Ah, Commodore Dagrelle. So nice to see you again."

She stood. "I'm doing well, thank you."

Fingers grazing the top of the glossed surface of her desk, she inclined her head to one of the empty seats before her desk. "Please, take a seat.

"I trust your journey wasn't too taxing?"

[Leon Dagrelle]

' Fine, thank you...' He said this simply with not so much as a care in the world, her question was not appriciated in the slightest and to be frank it was taken in jest and sarcasem at its best.

She knew perfectly well his trip had been uncomfitable for the most part seeing as the storm outside had been the worst it had been in a Rodians age. He also knew that it was only a fleeting question, the woman was cold as a block of durasteel and only took warmth and pleasure in degrading and stripping apart somones life and emotions.

' Aprt from the horrible weather outside of course...' He added as she toyed with the smooth desk with her finger tips a habit the Commodore was not very fond of at all. His eyes rounded on her, he was waiting on an explination on why he was dragged away from his precious research on Bespin.

Every so often however a flicker of a blonde woman would strike his mind like a match in the dark, he knew all to well who it was, she had made an impact on him somehow..not love or lust, but a friendship had formed, atleast for his part. he had not had a friend since he flew in the Shadow Squadron 11 years previous to this day...a long time ago....a long time without friends.

[R. S. Esalis]

"Yes, it is rather dreadful outside - and yesterday was so pleasant, too."

The High Inquisitor sat down then, the leather of her chair creaking beneath her slim frame, and she rested both hands atop the desktop. The desk itself was sparse, only a datapad and a stylus sitting stop it; Esalis preferred as less clutter as possible, and it showed.

"Tell me, how is Bespin these days?"

[Leon Dagrelle]

He watched her expressions for a few moments before answering her groundless question, he hated her peircing stare, it not so much he was nervous under such looked as he hated people watching him period. he would feel uncomfortable like that person was trying to read his mind or read is expressions for feelings or signs of desception...fortunetly he was extremely good at lying.

' Not much, Grand Inquisitor. I have been continueing with my research, my operation concerning Coruscant at the Grand Admirals request and suchlike, nothing all to diffrent from the last time we spoke, Ma'am.' He entwined his fingers together just infront of his face ( much like the avatar picture) and sat casualy but formal. These questions of hers were to friendly for him, something else was in her plan and he wated to get to the bottom line.

And quickly

' May i ask, Ma'am, the basis of my calling to the Citidel this day?' He asked flatly without giving her the opertunity to contue with his activities on Bespin.

From a thrid party view it was very clear that these two disliked eacthother but were on the whole, a very good team togther at the spear head of the Inquisitrate. They were professonals at their positions.

[R. S. Esalis]

Esalis gave her subordinate a peculiar look, one eyebrow arched in mild surprise. Initiative...

"Why did I call you here?" She leaned back then, letting her hands slide from the desktop to rest on the armrests of her chair. She studied the Commodore, picking his demeanor bit by bit, piece by piece. He was a competent man, yes, but she knew he detested her. It was in his eyes, as easy to see as the desk in front of her, and she took a particular sense of satisfaction in that.

She smiled then, a thinly veiled expression of devious intention. "Commodore Dagrelle, I called you here to talk with you about your visit with the Duchess s'Ilancy."

[Leon Dagrelle]

'Oh?...' The Commodore said perking up slightly at the name of his new found friend. Her, the Grand Inquisitors face however seemed very deveous at the very mention of the Lupines name and he knew now that his appoitment had been set up purely to subtract any infomation from the woman as possible, this alone angred the Commodore, he was now a pawn in her game.

He did not take being 'used' very lightly.

Aside from that thought he grimmiced slightly at S'ilancy's title,' Dutchess, he knew after spending a night chatting to her in the most informal and comfortable way possible that she hated it, she detested the titel to its bone and a internal smile flared within his facial expressions, barely seeible.

He shifted in his seat.

' Yes i had a very pleasant evening with Lok, what has this got to do with me being here?' he asked already knowing the answer clearly, and it seemed that the Grand Inquisitor had picked up that the Commodore had used the Lupines real name in his words.

[R. S. Esalis]

"On a first name basis with her already, Commodore? That's rather unlike you to become so comfortable with a person after one night to already be speaking of them using their first name."

Esalis let her features settle into a neutral stare. It was apparent, just from the way he said the Duchess' name that it seemed he'd begun to form something of an attachment of sorts to the woman - an attachment that she intended to exploit.

"I'm glad that your time with her was enjoyable. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her myself, unfortunately. I shall have to rectify this."

Her gaze became sharp then, as she posed her next question.

"Were you graced with the experience of seeing her change... ?"

[Leon Dagrelle]

He reminded himself through a quick daydream of her changing her hand before him on the porch of the Mansion House, her esate. It was not a full transformation but it was something that, for him, was a new experience, in a way it had made them bond a little more as friends he thought, she had never done that apprently for anyone, but sha had for him, even if it was only her hand.

' Not fully, no....' He answered yet again flatly, without feeling. He still, even now, wondered why this question had been brought up,what an odd question to have been asked, infact what a very odd convosation they were having. ' She transformed her hand into that of her beast identity, nothing more...'

He returned now her hard stare, he would not give her the satisfaction of winning a mind over matter convosation, he had at one time, her job and knew what it was like, he was as hard as her once and when needed he could still bring up the coldness that was needed for the job.

[R. S. Esalis]

"Only her hand? Regardless, that must have been a rare treat for someone such as yourself."

Her eyes matched his, stare for stare.

"Rumor has it that there are only two men in the Sovereignty that she's fully transformed for. You must feel honored."

[Leon Dagrelle]

' I'm sure i've seen worse, Grand Inquisitor...' He said in a eerie coldness that even took him by suprise. They treated S'ilancy like a lab rat, something they studied, somthing to be intrigued by. Whatever she was, whatever she did, she was still a woman, still had feelings.


' I wished to see her transformation, even a little liked she showed me....' He began gesturing with his hands on where vaguely it had happned

' But i took little pleasure in seeing it in the end, seeing the beast 'within her'. Although i know she enjoys certain aspects of her transformation, its still a missfortune, and i, unlike others dont enjoy seeing, and marviling over others grave misfortunes...'

The Commodore said this with such accusation that what he was saying could have very well been refering to the Grand Inquisitor herself. ' Where is this convosation leading, Ma'am?'

[R. S. Esalis]

"I take no pleasure in seeing anything such as a seemingly normal human being change into an animal. It is a sad thing, I admit. I don't know how she came to be this way, but I'm sure it was not without its own price to pay."

At the Commodore's question, the High Inquisitor leaned forward, resting her arms on the desk. "Now. As for where this conversation is going, I called you here for a reason.

"I want you to get close to her. Do everything in your power to become her closest friend. Spend time with her, get to know her, find out what happened to her that resulted in her current state. Take her out to dinner, to the theatre, and anywhere else you can think of.

"I don't care how you do it, but I want you to become her confidant.

"And whatever she tells you, you will tell me."

Her eyes narrowed to slits. "Is that understood?"

[Leon Dagrelle]

Leon's eyebrows knitted together so furiously it looked as if the man was in complete and utter pain. What was her reason for going so besides the fact Lok was a unregistred Sub-Human? there were hundreds, thousands of Sub-Humans living within the Sovreignty, why S'ilancy? and why place such a high ranking member of the Agency to extract infomation?

Putting two and two together....

' May i ask why the Dutchess is under watch when the Grand Admiral knows of her Sub-Human ways and has granted her life upon Thyferra? though we act on our own accord we still report to Telan...' He regarded Telan as a friend and used his name on a first name basis.

He hated using the word 'sub-human' but he had to put it that way...

' I will do as ordered of course, but may i know your actions behind this concidering that even as we speak, thousands of sub-huamns inhabit our empire yet you pick on just one woman primarily to be taken into watch by the 2nd most ranked officer in the Inquisortrate?'

Stepping slightly out of line to question his orders he looked dead in her eye. It was a risk he was willing to take however...

[R. S. Esalis]

"I think you're stepping just a tad out of line, don't you?"

Esalis glared daggers at the man.

"My orders are just that. Orders. They are to be followed without question, is that understood? I understand that I now occupy your position as head of this department, but what is done is done. It's good to know that you are once more back in service, but do not make me question the Grand Admiral's choice of replacing you, in a sense, as my 2nd in command.

"I know you can do the job, else you wouldn't have been the High Inquisitor in the first place.

"Yes, I know that there are many sub-humans in the Empire, and most of them are registered. Loklorien s'Ilancy is not one of them, and not only that, but she is part of an outside government that was forcefully annexed by the Sovereignty. She is a potential security risk, and must be monitored.

"Do I make myself understood?"

[Leon Dagrelle]

Although he hated the damn woman to the ground, when she was angry she was incredibly pretty. He shifted uncomfortably within his seat for reasons its not worth going into and made himself alot more comfortable.

' Crystal...' He answered her stubbonly.

' Is their anything in perticuler you would have me tr and discuss with her?' He asked directly, bugger the formalities.

[R. S. Esalis]

"Anything and everything. I don't care what it is, I want to know it."

Once again her fingers drummed the surface of the desk. "My files on her contain too many holes. I want you to fill them in."

[Leon Dagrelle]

' I shall get on it right away, High Inquisitor...' He said standing and turning the chair back to its foward position. He now knew what he had to do and it was vital he got to S'ilancy before any other agent did, which he was sure others would be.

' I shall report via Com-unit when i have had any luck with the woman.' he smiled slighty, though it was fake, saluted and began to walk from the desk, slowly as possibly without attracting to much attention but enough to see if she would hae any last words.

[R. S. Esalis]

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Sliding the single datapad that had been on her desk to sit before her, the High Inquisitor switched it on, indifferent to Dagrelle's parting presence.

"Have a pleasant trip back to Bespin."