...Terms of Release(Rognan, Council)

[Marga Alton]

Continued from here (http://www.sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34665)



Marga's frustrated beyond words. Not only is she frustrated, she's also angry and mad. A bad combination for her to be in since with just anger, she can do things she wouldn't want to do.

But today's different. Her and Rognan have just been given an option on what to pay to get Vista back. None of them are good, but one has to be paid in order to get her back. That's why she's heading directly to the Council with Rognan coming behind her.

As she reaches the big doors which lead into the Council chamber, she pushes them open and walks through, pushing down memories of her last visits here which didn't go to well for her. A few faces look up to her from the individual conversations that they were in when she entered since she came unannounced, again.

Honoured Council, we need help.

Marga says though telepathy, knowing that what she just said would be enough to get there attention.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "Well of course, Padawan. What is the trouble?"

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Yes, tell us what has happened Marga." Navaria also added telepathically, And steady your mind now. It will do you no good to be angry when times are troubling. A calm and steady mind is your ally and it will strengthen your connection to the Force. Her Master was gentle but firm within her pupil's mind.

[Marga Alton]

Marga takes a couple of deep breaths as she calms herself partially right now.

The child Vista Alor, who is in the care of Rognan Dar with my assistance has been captured by a Sith. I do not know all the details on how she got there, just that she's there. The Sith is asking a ransom for her return. He is being kind enough to give us a choice. A sum of credits, or some explosives, or Garen's Holocron, or one of our number named V'aelna to him in chains.

In my mind, the last two are not even options since I shall not hand over something that is not mine to give and I shall not hand a person over in chains to somebody else.

Marga pauses here to collect her thoughts, knowing that she hasn't even waited for Rognan to get here to start. At this pause, she manages to calm herself even more, knowing that she is doing something to help Vista out.

We need help to deal with this since I shall not allow Vista to remain in the custody of Sith.

[Figrin D'an]

"The Jedi, on principle, do not give in to threats of this nature," Figrin offered, as if quoting Jedi regulations. "This Sith will not receive anything of which he asks."

Though to avoid seeming stodgy and inflexible, Figrin continued the line of thought.

"However, this kidnapper need not know any of this, and it certainly doesn't mean that we cannot deceive him to give us time to mount a rescue operation. I have no doubt that this man will double-cross any agreement you make with him. For that reason alone, we should create our own option, and choose it instead."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei's eyebrow shot up at the mention of V'aelna's name. The name seemed familiar to him somehow.

"Marga, you wouldn't by chance happen to know this Sith's name, would you? I mean, if he's been bold enough to make contact with you, no doubt he's been arrogant enough to introduce himself to you."

[Marga Alton]

I'm sorry Vai Dom, but he did not give his name, though he did say that his men call him Master, and those of the lower level call him The Dark One.

Marga just nods to what Figrin says, knowing that she did make a good decision in coming to the Council for help on this matter.

[Rognan Dar]

"But I know who he is. In a manner of speaking."

Rognan slowly entered the room. He was in no hurry to come here. He had to many things on his mind. And he was not about to let himself break out infront of the Jedi Council. He used the time to collect his thoughts and steady his emotions. Though he was at the edge of the cliff, he was detirminded not to fall off without a fight.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei gave an inquisitive look to Rognan. "And who might this Sith be?"

[Rognan Dar]

"I do not know his direct name. And it seems that no-one ever finds out. But I know that he is the master of one that calls himself Lord Talzen. Talzen has been working with, what most call, the Master in plots against the Jedi... he has been infiltrating our compond with pitiful thugs that have all almost succeeded in their missions.

Master Wei I believe that you have fought with this so called 'master.' If I recall, when you rescued Neyasha, and Rena helped you escape, that you had to fight your way through him to get out. But not before you...lost your lightsabre, correct? I have reason to believe that this is the same man."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei's hand immediately went to his forehead. "Oh, no. Rognan, I think I know who you are talking about. His name is Rivin. And I also think that we had a council discussion once upon a time ago between you and Neyasha that you two were not to mess with that guy."

Well this was new, sort of. "Ok, so where are you two supposed to meet him for this ransom?"

[Marga Alton]

We are to reactivate the droid and tell him which option we shall use to pay the ransom, and then he shall give is instructions on what to do with the ransom.

Marga says through telepathy as she takes another deep breath to keep herself as calm as she's gotten.

[Rognan Dar]

"But we cant give him anything! He can't just be able to walk away from this. He has caused enough problems around here and has to be stopped or he will continue to do so."

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Before you arrived, Master D'an had made it clear that the Sith shall receive no such payment. More then likely we would be double crossed. What we need to do now is formulate a more favorable solution by using his demands and turn it into a rescue mission instead."

[Marga Alton]

But how do we rescue a person when we do not even know where they are? Vista has been in the custody of this mad man for two days already. I don't want her there any longer then she already has been.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei scratched an itch that had found a place on his elbow.

"Well, it would help if we knew the instructions. I know Pierce Tondry has had some experience in code slicing, or at least Intel. I think Master Evanar has mentioned before that he too has some experience with code slicing. Perhaps we could find a way to view the instructions without having to input a method of 'payment' as you put it."

[Rognan Dar]

"But he is waiting for us to choose something. Who is to say that he wont get cold feet and run? He has nothing to lose in this trade off and we have everything to lose. He has come to us through a droid, and I'm sure he is smart enough to know what we might be doing. If he thinks that we have gone off to talk with the council, all our plans might be to late."

[Marga Alton]

Marga nods in agreement with Rognan. She doesn't know much about this Rivin person, but she knows enough that she doesn't like him.

[Navaria Tarkin]

She closed her eyes, remaining silent for most of the exchange, trying to get a feel for the situation through the Force. "Unfortunately," Navaria opened her eyes, "I fear that we are going to have to go along with this Rivin's plans until a time presents itself to take the initiative."

[Marga Alton]

Marga nods, no disappointment can be seen or felt from her, just relief that Vista is going to be coming home. Hopefully soon.

[Rognan Dar]

"What? Your saying that we just go along with this? Haven't we all agreed that he most likely is not going to keep his word and give Vista back? We can't just go in blindfolded and give in to this man! Surely that can not be what your asking me to do."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Did we say we were going to go into this blindly?" Wei asked. "No, I don't believe we did. We are going to play his game for as long as is necessary. Then we will make him play our game. Do you understand? We will not be handing over anything to this man, and we will not be pursuing this endeavor without knowledge and caution."

[Rognan Dar]

"Alright. Please forgive my outburst. What is it then that you all would want my and Marga to do? You want us just to pick one of the options and just go along with it, or is their some kind of plan that you want us to follow?"

[Navaria Tarkin]

"I think following Rivin's instructions and seemingly going along with the plan would be good. You two should be 'alone', having one or two other Jedi in the area to closely follow your movements and watch for minions of this Sith. They would also be a link to the Temple would be wise. We can then act fast when the need arises."

[Marga Alton]

Marga nods in agreement to this. She doesn't care what needs to be done to get Vista back. She just wants her back where she's safe.

And what options would be best to go with for this?

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Do you mean which Jedi that will go with you?"

[Marga Alton]

No Domna, I mean which option of the demands should we tell the Sith we are going to do? We will need to know that when we contact him next.

[Navaria Tarkin]

"I would think monetary gains would suffice since he gave us a choice. He would be stupid to think that we would give up a member of our Order or a Holocron if a choice was given. I won't even comment on the explosives.

Besides, credits can be traced. We know a good many slicers that can get through anything."

She looked towards her fellow Council Members with a raised brow, "Do we agree that is the best course of action?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

When it came to these matters, Wei was mostly clueless. "Provided we have the means to trace the credits, yes. But what sort of planning would that involve?"

[Rognan Dar]

"And where are we going to get all these credits to make him think that we are doing what he says?"

[Navaria Tarkin]

"First of all, we will not so foolishly give him all the credits we are supposedly going to give him. We would give him a fair amount of our choosing. Besides, he didn't specify the amount from what Padawan Alton said.:

[Marga Alton]

I'm sorry Domna about not saying this before, but the Sith did state a specified amount which he wishes to have.

Marga says through telepathy. She's decided that she does not wish to speak the Sith's name because it would probably be hazerdous to her health.

[Navaria Tarkin]

And Navaria responded likewise through the Force. What was the sum?

[Marga Alton]

Marga is silent for a couple of moments before responding to Navaria's question.

I believe that it's around 521,000 credits. I can't remember the exact amount, I'm sorry.

[Navaria Tarkin]

Very well...

The conversation with her Padawan last merely seconds and the Knight continued, "Well, now that I've been privy to some new information," she nodded towards Marga, "setting up a dummy account and providing him with half of his proposed amount should be sufficient enough to get his attention."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"And what do we do once we are sure we've got this Darksider's attention? He won't wait on us long. And whatever we do will have to be done quick. With any luck, he'll be too arrogant to realize what we're up to. However, if he has some brains about him he'll more than likely grow suspicious."

Wei turned to look at the other Council members, hoping to find some ideas in his fellow Jedi.

[Rognan Dar]

"I'm sure by this time he has already begun to suspect that me and Marga are up to something. He did not give a time to reply back, but I'm sure he would more then likely know that it would not be hard to pick something. Even if we were not able to get it right away."

[Marga Alton]

He obviously has no brains because he's kidnapped Vista.

Marga says through telepathy, irritation in her telepathic voice.

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Wait, no time table?" Navaria frowned, "That's odd. Why would a kidnapper not provide you with a deadline? Granted, he knows we would want the child back quickly but the more I think of this.. the more this isn't making any sense.

Something else is obviously going on and we'll get the money together so we can deal with this soon. I don't like this at all."

[Rognan Dar]

"Because he is smart enough to know that if we do not reply soon with at lest a message saying that we need time that we are going to try and plan something? And that could very well be the case. We dont even know if he really has her or not, or if she is even still alive after such a wait.

Would the council see it fit that we try and contact him again and ask for where we are to meet and do our trade?"

[Marga Alton]

Marga feels that she doesn't need to state that she's not liking the fact that Vista isn't here. When Rognan asks if they can contact Rivin again and ask for the where to meet and trade, she looks at the Council, hoping that they'll answer with a yes here.

[Navaria Tarkin]

"Yes. Please do. Hopefully he'll provide us with more information and we can proceed further. We are just rehashing what we already know and what we plan to do. Inform us immediately after you have finished contacting Rivin."

[Marga Alton]

Thank-you Domna, we will.

Marga says through telepathy before turning and leaving the Council chamber to go and contact Rivin again.