The Drumhead

[Taataani Meorrrei]

"Cancel mjy appojintmentss."

The door to Senator Meorrrei's office had barely slid open and she immediately gave the word to Kallum, who she knew had been waiting on him to tend to an entire docket of work. Meeting a representative of the Chandrilan exile government. A power session with a group of industry magnates on Sullust. Then there was the tedium of tending to the demands of the Baroness Oligarchy back home. A half dozen fires in need of tending to, yet in the span of an afternoon these were all set aside as swiftly as the Cizerack Senator's overcoat, which was slung off her shoulders and passed to the understandably-confused Nar Shaddaan.

He'd become accustomed to reading his boss's mannerisms with an expert eye, and any notion of a witty comment was held in reserve as she immediately took a seat at her desk. Taataani didn't look in Mr. Romanoch's direction. Her computer monitor was already switched on, and she flicked through file after file. Some items were met with a tap on the glass monitor, and she dragged them into space with a clawed fingertip, where they retained their content suspended in air via holoprojector. Another uncomfortable minute ticked by. Kallum stood in the background, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Taataani reached into her handbag, pulling out a case which contained her glasses. Slipping them on, she browsed a few lines of Aurrebesh. Her demeanor seemed to darken a bit more.

"Wherre jiss Commodorre ss'jIlancjy?"

[Kallum Romanoch]

"Wi' deh fleet. Bein' escorted teh Bothawui as we speak."

Kallum was at her table in short order with a drink. He spared a glance for the ethereal floating documents, and then turned his attention towards his own datapad, on which he started to strike out each of Taataani's afternoon appointments. The cursory apologies followed and then the business was done.

"Are yeh gonna tell me wha' dis is about?"

[Taataani Meorrrei]

His response was the sound of repetitive claw-taps on the desk. A nervous sound. From behind one of the holo-screens, Taataani looked up at her assistant, her face bathed in pale blue light from the display. The glasses perched on her nose gave her a somewhat-owlish demeanor. She didn't even regard the drink placed upon the coaster adjacent.

"jI jusst rrecejived worrd that the Ssenate planss to hold an jinterrnal hearrjing overr the jincjident at Osssuss."

Incident was an extremely sanitized way to describe what had happened. A Sith ploy to infiltrate the top levels of the Alliance military in order to destroy the Jedi Order once and for all. That it had been stopped at the last moment was little solace to most, and there was a desire to make sure that more heads rolled than General Dan Thrule's own.

[Kallum Romanoch]

"Can't say I'm surprised. When yer top brass turns ou' teh be rotten, yeh gotta uproot some weeds."

Kallum frowned. Taataani's reaction was puzzling. She was tense, practically crackling with nervous energy as she prodded her way through a growing collection of holographic documents. And the seasick sway of her tail, not something he ever associated with matters as trivial as business and politics, was last seen prior to Taurrifar's funeral. Commodore s'Ilancy was an associate - a friend, maybe - but what was the friendship of a disgraced traitor worth to a woman like Taataani Meorrrei? Beneath the immaculate suit, his shrug was almost invisible.

"Yeh mean teh turn dis teh yer advantage some'ow?"

[Taataani Meorrrei]

"Ssjince when arre jyou a garrdenerr?"

Her retort was half-hearted, and the frustrating fact of the matter was that it was a dead-on analogy. It was like watching some ancient blood sacrifice play itself out among otherwise-rational people. Sacrifice a virgin to the old gods, and the like.

At Kallum's query, Taataani leaned back in her seat. Only now did she notice her drink, which she picked up, holding it before her. Not drinking, she simply watched the hues of the amber colored scotch create prismatic shifts of color in the etched crystal.

"Thjiss jissn't a matterr of gatherrjing poljitjical capjital, Kallum. jIt'ss a matterr of sspendjing jit. Therre'ss no good poljitjicss jin comjing to Loklorrjien ss'jIlancjy'ss ajid. But we wjill, becausse jit'ss the rrjight thjing to do."

[Kallum Romanoch]

"D'yeh reckon?" Kallum's questioned was coloured with surprise, "One good deed doesn' wipe deh slate clean, in my book. S'only right she face justice fer 'er crimes."

Taken by the subject at hand, and quite forgetting himself in the process, Kallum leaned against the desk, arms folded in thought. Before him stretched the twinkling skyline of Drev'starn, behind him, the blueish haze of holograms lent to the senator's office an unnatural chill.

"I think I can speak on be'alf o' the rest o' the proles when I say yer gonna 'ave an 'ard time tryin' teh sell dat particular brand o' morality, mam. Might as well advocate spice vendors in schools fer all deh good i' would do yeh."

[Taataani Meorrrei]

The Senator nodded. The restless twitch in her tail showed no signs of abating.

"Not exactljy ssomethjing jyou can sshout frrom a pulpjit, then. Agrreed. We can't sshow ourr hand too openljy, we'll be burrjied."

Taataani set her drink aside, again without a sip. Her mind was too busy trying to unravel the knot. She whirled in her seat to face Kallum, and rose to stand.

"jI need to meet herr, but morre jimporrtantljy jI need a prretensse. Ssomethjing to lajy open-faced on the table, asss jit werre. A rreassonable rrequesst of herr tjime. jI can't verrjy well jump the gun on the jinterrnal hearrjing. That would be sseen asss posssjibljy damagjing the jinvesstjigatjion."

[Kallum Romanoch]

"She 'as kids, doesn' she?" Once again, Kallum was flicking his way through a number of items on his datapad, until he arrived at something useful. "A girl an' a boy, wi' no dad, an' a mudder facin' criminal charges. Yeh could offer teh take care of 'em, bein' the wealthy bleedin' 'eart da' yeh are an all. Makes fer a pretense, a' least. Too personal?"

He didn't wait for a response, he was already digging for a second option, when he halted long enough to screw his face up into an expression of agonised contemplation, "If she 'as... 'ad connections wi' Admiral Tyree, can't we jus' use yer workin' relationship wi' 'im as a front fer deh meetin'?"

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Taataani's disdainful show of teeth said it all at the prospect of using Loklorien's children as casus belli, but she hung onto the notion of Kallum's second proposal, a thoughtful sidelong expression on her face.

"Not bjy jitsself, although jI am ssurre he can be perrssuaded to arrange ssomethjing."

So with Vansen as a go-between, what then? The Senator glanced at Kallum's face, seeing that he too was working on untangling the knot. There still remained the problem of motive. A meeting between her and s'Ilancy, even with Admiral Tyree's sanction, served no appreciable purpose to outside eyes. What would they discuss that the board of inquiry would not? Further, what would fall under her purview? While she certainly courted the Alliance's military industrial complex quite openly, this was more a matter of the military's policy and procedure - a domain that didn't directly draw her influence.

And then her full lips drew into a smile.

"That rrebujildjing prroject on Osssuss..."

Of course Kallum knew the one. It had been her own machination, and one for which he'd handled a fair amount of salesmanship. A bit of tribute to the Jedi (with a possible future leverage for influence) and a high profile posting for T'yeellaa. It was a fairly benign, publicly-sexy olive branch that dispensed warm fuzzies and good feelings aplenty without much risk. It got a few hisses from her usual enemies back home, but even the conservative wing of the government didn't figure it was a battle worth fighting. And now?

"...jI thjink the Huntrress Admjirraltjy would apprrecjiate a ssjituatjion rreporrt of Ssanctuarrjy One. We do have a vessted jinterresst jin jit'ss ssecurrjitjy and well-bejing now."

And the pretty bow was tied on top. A means of getting in touch with Loklorien s'Ilancy with entirely reasonable auspices to the public that wouldn't damage her own reputation.

What the Admiralty would do with such a report, Taataani couldn't care less. She would have it drafted on her volition, and they could ram it up their collective asses and whistle for all she cared. Feeling satisfied with the layout of her pieces on the dejarik board, the Senator's ears perked a bit and only now did she retrieve her drink.

"Contact the Admjirral and arrange thjingss."

Before Kallum could be dispensed, Taataani placed a hand on his arm.

"And Kallum..."

Even though she was in her sanctum and her privacy was as airtight as could be expected on Bothawui, the Senator still spoke her next words with a lower register.

"...jI want jyou to arrrange counssel forr Massterr ss'jIlancjy. Djisscrreteljy."

That meant a number of things to her right hand beyond just keeping quiet. Money talked in a language of its own, and the kind of money that Taataani intended to spend should be the sort with its tongue cut out.

[Kallum Romanoch]

"Understood."

Considering himself excused, Kallum left the senator in the company of her thoughts. The first of his assigned tasks was easy enough: the comm with the admiral was brief, and Kallum did most of the talking, electing to stick to the facts and swerve the flattery entirely. When they were done, he had a good idea of when to expect the commodore's arrival, and a means to set up a meeting.

The second task would require time, patience, and a considerable sum of credits. Patience, he had. Credits, his employer had. Time, however, was in short supply. It was a matter of days before Commodore s'Ilancy would arrive on Bothawui, and by then, Kallum was expected to find her legal representation that was both trustworthy and silent. On a world of spies, that wasn't going to be easy.

[Vansen Tyree]

There were not enough curse words in any of the languages with which Vansen was acquainted. Nor was the simple act of depressing a button to cut off a comm call sufficient enough to vent the tangle of rage and frustration that currently gripped him, leaving him a split second decision away from trying to wrench the holoprojector from his desk and hurl it towards the wall.

He eyeballed the bottle of brandy on his desk, ominously empty; the glass beside it was still damp, still smeared with fingerprints from where it had twirled in his fingers before each filling was dumped into his jaws. The words of the crisp-suited bureaucratic stooge with whom he'd just spoken rang in his ears, the entire conversation replaying through his mind as he poured himself another liberal dose.

Allowing you to advocate on behalf of Loklorien s'Ilancy represents a conflict of interest.

The Ministry of Justice feels that if the public were to see a senior military officer aiding in her defense, it would give the wrong impression. It might seem like the military was attempting to subvert the legal system to cover it's own ass.

What good would retiring do, Admiral? They still wouldn't let you defend her, and you'd have lost any chance of aiding her case in any way.

I'm sorry, sir. Request denied.

Those last words lingered on his tongue as he held the brandy aloft, staring into the liquid. He couldn't remember which Senator or politician had bought it for him. Alderaanian. Rarest drink in the galaxy. Drowning your sorrows with it seemed wasteful; disrespectful even. But then, this was what the Alliance did these days, wasn't it? Set aside all the suffering, all the sacrifice, all the promises and loyalty, all for the sake of a convenient treaty, a convenient verdict. Alderaan. Corellia. Chandrila. Duros. Ithor. Dozens of other worlds. Dozens of promises broken. Millions of friends abandoned.

"Frakking politics," he grumbled, wrapping his lips around the glass, draining the double in a single gulp. He grimaced against the burning sensation. Still not enough in his system to numb even that sensation, let alone the cloying, helpless guilt. He let out a grunt of contempt as the comm unit on his desk began to chime; almost ignored it. What right did the rest of the Alliance have to demand anything more of him today?

A sigh escaped as his resolve surrendered, button pressed, call answered. "Go ahead, Ensign," he grunted, no pretence of civility.

"You have visitor, Admiral. From the office of Senator Meorrrei."

Taataani. One of the few Senators who had earned something other than the otherwise universally negative opinion he had of the politician breed. Like all of them she had an angle, she had her wants, and she strove for them; but there was no dishonesty about it, and there was a strange integrity in her desire not to compromise on her wants. She was a politician you could trust, in so far as that you could be utterly sure that she would do whatever she felt was best. Probably wasn't the Senator herself, of course: she was a slave to formality and propriety, and approaching him herself was something far beneath her. Kirro perhaps, or one of her other underlings. He set the glass aside, returned the brandy to it's drawer; made a token effort of making himself look half-way presentable.

"Understood, Ensign," he replied. "Send them in."

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Handling the matter of meeting the Admiral was handled by delegation. To maintain the veneer of officialdom the event demanded, Kallum dressed up his boss's request in a missive from her office to the Huntress Admiralty on Carshoulis, who were more than willing to become a party of intervention as the Senator requested. To this purpose, they sent their own investigator to assist the Senator's probe.

The doors parted, and a bob-haired Cizerack officer entered, resplendent in her red jacket with tasseled epaulets.

"Ja irra korra'nai, Admjirral. jI am Su'taun'rrou Taainarroa, actjing ljiason on behalf of Ssenatorr Meorrrei'ss offjice."

In typical military fashion, the Cizerack liason extended a dataslip to Tyree with a curt economy of motion. It contained an official inquiry from the Huntress Admiralty, cosigned by Senator Meorrrei.

"The Ssenatorr ssummonss both jyou and Commodorre Loklorrjien ss'jIlancjy to an jinquesst to asscerrtajin the prressent ssjituatjion on Osssuss."