Runabout

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena smiled tightly. “I have been giving what you said a lot of thought.”

Behind her Choruk drew nearer, standing a few feet behind her with full armor on. He was about 6’5” and an imposing figure, if you didn’t know how jovial he was, and a surprisingly passable cook. He and Hel exchanged a nod, but other than that they almost appeared to be statues.

”I must make a living. The supplies that my people need do not come cheaply. We operate as mercenaries, and we will continue to do so. I can see the wisdom in leaving Imperial targets alone. We will cease all large scale assaults on the Empire’s military installations.

”In return for your life, and these concessions, you will keep the Empire off of our backs. This is the deal you wish to make, correct?”

Lilaena drew a small knife, holding it by the blade.

[Nelaa Kyris]

Nelaa narrowed her eyes at the obvious intimidation play. Hel was intimidating enough, as was De'Ville. The large Mandalorian in full battle armor was complete overkill. It suggested that De'Ville wasn't as secure in her position in the negotiation as she'd like to be. When you cut it down to basics, dead was dead no matter how many people you brought to do the deed. For a moment, Nelaa was tempted to just accept the deal as is then come back with a few Star Destroyers and call it a day but she quickly dismissed that idea. Play the long game.

"When you say 'large scale assaults' you leave the door open for a lot of funny business. I told you before, cease all hostilities against the Empire. Full stop."

She maintained eye contact with De'Ville, choosing to the ignore the knife in the woman's hand.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena raised an eyebrow, noticing the agent’s glance toward Choruk. He’d insisted on coming along, he was part of her honor guard after all, even if she needed very little actual protection.

She leaned forward a little, fiddling with the knife in her hands.

”Your Empire does a lot of extremely dark things. Experiments on children. On entire cities. Surely you heard of the incident on Sestooine a few years back. The city that was cleaned off the planet? I was there, when it happened. I know what your people did to those innocents. I reserve the right to cut the throat of whatever evil bastards I find who are doing shit like that, whether they belong to the Empire or not.”

[Nelaa Kyris]

"And when you decide that any person wearing an imperial uniform is responsible for any horrible thing that the empire has ever done, or you THINK they've done, then I'm supposed to stand by and let you go? Can you see how this entire thing falls apart?"

De'Ville was too quick to let passion override practicality. You may not survive this after all Nelaa...

[Lilaena De'Ville]

She flipped the knife and caught it again by the blade.

”Do you condone such actions, Agent Kyris? Experimentation on children? Is that the Empire you swore oaths to?”

[Nelaa Kyris]

Nelaa went deep into thought for a moment, completely ignoring how weak it would make her position look. Of course I do not condone something like that. The thought made her blood boil. But even with full knowledge that these things go on, what could she do? Get herself executed? Realizing she had been quiet for too long she spoke.

"Of course I don't..."

She was still obviously caught up in thought. Here was an outside force that was ready and willing to shoulder the repercussions of going after the worst people the Empire gave power to.

"If you find the Empire doing something like that, would you give me the chance to find out the truth before you act?"

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena's eyes tightened a little, but she nodded. "Yes."

A thought occurred to her, and a smile half-formed on her lips. "If you hear of anything in Alliance space, you could pass that on to us. I know that the current state of the galaxy prevents the Empire's agents from taking direct action in Alliance space."

[Nelaa Kyris]

Now, that is an interesting suggestion... Nelaa nodded her head.

"I think we can make a deal."

She stood to gain much more out of this arrangement then she had originally planned for, but she had the good manners to keep her elation in check.

"I'm assuming you have a secure line where I can reach you? It will take me some time when I get back to set up a proper back channel but it's easily doable."

[Lilaena De'Ville]

“We have something set up for the mercenary company. It is quite secure.” Lilaena was a talented slicer and had set up their communications herself.

She balanced the knife on her fingertip, the sharp blade dimpling the skin. “We cease operations against the Empire, unless it’s the sort of monster you agree should be removed. You pass on information to us that we can use against worthwhile targets in the Alliance - which will benefit us physically or simply remove pieces from the board that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Those that betray the trust of innocents. You keep the Empire off of our backs, permanently.

”This is the deal we strike, Nelaa Kyris, with Hel and Choruk as witness. Bound by honor and blood.”

Lilaena took the knife and made a shallow cut across her palm, handing the blade to the Imperial agent.

[Nelaa Kyris]

As De’Ville offered her the knife, it occurred to Nelaa that she wasn’t sure exactly what this ritual would entail. It seemed straight forward enough though. She removed the glove from her right hand before accepting the knife. Instinctively her mind measured the distance between them. “I’m fast enough”, she thought, smiling inwardly. She glanced over at Hel, who was doing a very good job of hiding the fact that she was fully prepared to intercept any foolishness that Nelaa may try. She realized these thoughts were the byproduct of her training mixed with a reluctance to take the next big step that lay in front of her. She looked up and made eye contact with De’Ville as she traced the tip of the knife across her palm.

”By honor and blood.”

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Lilaena reached out and the two women clasped hands to seal the oath.

She clenched her bloodied hand into a fist as she got to her feet. “You are free to wander the village if you wish. Hel will show you back to your room if you need help finding it again. We will take you back to your ship tomorrow. Oh, and ...” Lilaena nodded toward the knife, holding her left hand out for it.

Nelaa gave the blade a skillful twirl and handed it back, handle first. Lilaena smirked a little, using the Force to pluck it from the woman’s hand and transfer it to her own. “I will see you tomorrow before you head out.”

She turned to leave, Choruk proceeding her back toward the village.

[Nelaa Kyris]

It was deep into the evening before Nelaa decided to abandon her little tree in the field and go back to her quarters. Hel had left her almost immediately after De'Ville had, inquiring if she needed to be led back to the town, and leaving immediately when she wasn't. She spent the first hour just watching the stars go by, connecting them together in her mind and giving them little names. It was a meditative action that allowed her to completely clear her mind and entertain herself for a bit. Soon though, she was using the newfound organization in her mind to reconstruct and reflect on what she had seen and done that day.

"I've committed treason today." She thought to herself. There was a time when she could think of no worse action than the one she'd taken today. "But the events that De'Ville spoke of..." The nastier actions that the Empire took were rarely on an official record, but Nelaa knew they went on. There was nothing that couldn't be accomplished if the machine of government was allowed to function but the lure of power always drew out the psychopaths. Sadly, it was the psychopaths that the Empire would be judged by, and there was no good system in place to eliminate them. "But that may change soon..."

It occurred to her why she found her actions so unsettling. "All these years, I followed a simple formula: Receive mission, complete mission, repeat. My influence was based on how well I executed someone else's goals. I've just gained the ability to truly change the shape of this Empire." She looked down at the cut across her palm. "I don't really know what this means to De'Ville, but I know it's something her Mandalorians will take very seriously. She wouldn't have done such a gesture just to impress or intimidate me. She means this."

She stood up and pulled her glove over her right hand then dusted herself off. She felt that, after all this runabout, she was not just walking back to her quarters, but taking a step into a new galaxy.

"And this galaxy doesn't realize what is coming."