Emperor's Business

[Cody Weadge]

To say things had not been on the rise for the Empire would be a bit of an understatement. The events that had forced the merger with the Fringe Confederacy had not gone as planned, and following Emperor Kahoshi's very public death many of the Empire's greatest assets had slipped away.

It was Cody's job to retrieve said assets.

In this case he found himself in a lab. The owner clearly did not have much respect for security, the special agent had not even been forced to utilize his more esoteric devices to gain entry. He arrived early, very early given the odd schedule he had observed in the week prior. Once he had gained entry and disabled the surveillance equipment, Cody simply had to wait.

When his target arrived he was in a corner that placed him out of immediate sight. His feet propped up. He wore a fairly standard suit, but she was smart enough to know what he was anyway. "Senior Prefect Amadis, I hope you've enjoyed your vacation."

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Yea, yeah, yeah Gil I get it, I get it, but I want those fuel samples and I want them now!" Aditya grit her teeth and paced into the lab with her arms full of toxins, fuel can parts and a beaker of something frothing. "Yes Ma'am I'll ah. . . make a trip out."

"Siphon tanks in the station docks if you have to, I want to know what Arceneau is putting in her fuel to make it last so long. We could save billions in fuel costs and that gets me in the wallet."

The woman walked by the lab without seeing [member="Cody Weadge"] until he spoke. "GAAH!" She threw the frothing beaker at him, "WHO ARE YOU!? OH GOSH THAT'S ACID! AUGH I KILLED HIM! GIIIILLLL! CLEAN UP IN LAB THREE!"

 

[Cody Weadge]

As the beaker left her hand Cody stood up and reached out in one motion catching it midair. He could not prevent some of the frothy liquid from escaping, but he managed to avoid the acid personally. Setting the beaker down he walked to the door and locked it. Only then did he return to facing the woman.

"I believe it is generally considered bad form to throw objects at your friends Prefect," he said coolly. "Now, you and I need to speak. It is a conversation that is better held with just the two of us."

[member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"I know my friends 'cause I ain't got any and you I'd like to think I'd at least remember a little. . Prefect, huh?" Prefect. He called her Prefect. . . Aditya put her hand on her chest and closed her eyes, taking a deep, deep, deeeeeep breath. "Yeah, we're gonna have to leave this lab anyway while a containment unit stops you from getting cancer. Gonna need to take a very aggressive shower in like, thirty seconds, dude."

Aditya put her stuff down and reached for [member="Cody Weadge"]'s hand. "Come come! Come! Hurry!" She bowled over her poor assistant, who had already started panicking and running in circles. IF he'd let her, Aditya would take him to a small decontamination chamber. "Strip! We can talk, no one comes in here no. . . no no no no one. What's worth this conversation huh? Why would you think it's a good idea to freak out an engineering chemist with vicious experiments?"

 

[Cody Weadge]

With muted exasperation the agent followed after her. None of the chemical, whatever it had been, had touched him. Or her for that matter. Why she was in a panic about it was beyond Cody. Still, in times like this he knew it would probably be quicker just to go along with her panicked demands rather than attempt to fight them. Luckily there were few things that embarrassed the season spy, and being naked in front of another person was not one of them.

With the minimum of movements he began to remove his suit. As he revealed his muscular form, she would see countless scars across his body. Nothing major or life threatening, but certainly the marks of someone who had seen many fights. "One would generally expect someone of your rank to have a bit more self control while handling potentially dangerous objects," he said as he stripped.

[member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

Into the contamination chamber, Aditya hit a big red button labelled "Gas-based pathogen" and the lights turned into a warm yellow. Aditya started stripping down, her body a litany of scars both grotesque and ill treated. How the woman had survived at all was a miracle of astronomical proportions.

"You spooked me. I didn't expect to see a . . . a whatever you are in my lab. I'm working on flammable gasses. They're more dangerous than a Sith with a Lightsaber and a penchant for playing people like dolls."

Groaning, Aditya rolled her black and red eyes, as a steam began to settle on the room. Any scar or slash on their bodies glowed. "Ok the surveillance and sound sources are disabled until the end of the decontamination. You've got twenty nine minutes before that door opens, and that's private time just like you wanted. The beaker was full of sulphuric acid. We're fine. What does an Agent of the Empire need of Akio's little Epicanthix Engineer?"

This was a far less spastic Aditya. The Amadis widow crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "I'm hours or days away from a new fuel source that will be the propriety of the Atrisian Empire. Could you imagine how much the Empire could bankroll if I got this working? Listen, bud. I promised Akio a more efficient fleet and a more fuel savvy empire, and I will deliver that, even if he's dead."

 

[Cody Weadge]

An appreciative eye passed once over the engineer, but he did not stare. To him the scars were a sign that she had lived a life of meaning, unlike those that stayed at home safe, happy, and dumb. "Sith are not so dangerous when you know how to deal with them," he said with a shrug.

When her attitude did a one-eighty he did not look surprised, but he did look a bit impressed. She was good. It was rare for someone to play a part believably enough that he did not at least suspect them. "I am pleased to hear your answer. No one had heard from you in awhile and some people were beginning to worry you had turned traitor. No need to worry though, I am not one of those brutes from the ISB. The Emperor chose to send someone a bit more... controlled."

[member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"I wish I knew how to deal with them. They scare me senseless. You know I saw a Sith use a man for a puppet once? True story. The guy was still alive with her hand up his gullet. Freaked me right out to crazy town. A couple of tips would be appreciated, or this little Epicanthix ballerina is hiding under her bed." She stomped out of her boots and rolled her ankles as a series of crackles purged each one of the tightness she'd felt there.

"You mean I'm not going to be drawn and quartered by a loony-tunes Echani woman who likes to play soldier? The awe. No, I'm not a traitor, although I do have access to the Mandalorians now. There's a lot to glean from their methods of construction and engineering. There's a . . ah, a particular Captain I'm trying to get introduced to. The man's insanely smart when it comes to ship building. Do you know that none of my staff really realize what they're doing all this engineering for? I keep it that way, thank you. Plausible deniability. There's a reason I've lived so long and Emperor Akio didn't recruit me from the ballet.

Wait." Aditya rubbed her face as it began to steam in the place. The steam was a cloying sort of heat, and the woman hated that much sticky precipitation. "Did you say Emperor? As in. . . no, [member="Akio Kahoshi"] died. Publicly and brutally died. You don't. . . what is going on?"

 

[Cody Weadge]

"He did indeed very publicly die. Far more useful than if he had quietly passed away in his sleep. News of the death of rulers travels much further when explosions are involved." Looking around Cody found a good spot to sit. Truth be told this was far from the most uncomfortable situation he had endured. Using a folded knee to prop up his arm he continue to talk. "That is as much as I can say on this topic however."

The agent made a small gesture, an invitation for her to sit as well. No need to be uncomfortable for the next twenty some odd minutes. "Do you have any other updates I can bring back to Atrisia? A restoration of power may soon be upon us, and you have been marked as critical to this process."

[member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"So he's 'dead', then." She made quotation marks with her fingers and plunked down beside [member="Cody Weadge"]. "Right, well if the dead feels like walking without that decomposing business, he can give me a call. I owe Akio a lot. . . which you probably already know."

Aditya untied her hair and let it loose with her fingers, digging through it as if they were a comb. "Critical!" She laughed. "And here I thought Akio only liked me 'cause I'd married a rebellious man. He's dead. Thew his body into a sun. . . after he died of course. . . I'm not that cruel. Not really. Critical. I've got an in with the Mandos. With a particular dangerous one, at that. If I can get working with another engineer or two, I can start banging out refits of ships for our people. AND if I can get this darn fuel to work! I think I know what it's missing, a plant protein from an Echani fruit. It's called an Irli and I haven't been able to find more than one or three. Not enough to do sample tests. Get the Atrisians to start hydroponically growing orchards on some feeder world and we'll be in the money. You can take that back with you. That, and the knowledge that I'm working to learn how the Mandos create their armour. Sure I won't be able to use Beskar, but I do have experience with Phrik."

 

[Cody Weadge]

Listening to her report in silence, he made mental notes of everything. How useful the information was he could not say, nor was it his place to decide such things. No, it was simply his job to collect the information and let the Powers-That-Be decide the next action.

"I am sorry for your loss," he said when she finished. "However you were chosen for more than just your husband. Admittedly with the collapse of the Sith Empire the Army of Light became less valuable to Atrisia so callous as it might be his death does not affect our future plans. I won't admit to being an expert on hydroponics, though I am fairly certain I could help with gathering samples."

[member="Aditya Amadis"]

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Thanks. He ended up being a douche. Glad he's dead, or at least now I am, what a relief you know? I digress. Thanks." The decontamination process continued on and Aditya wrung her hands through her hair, leaning back until her shoulders touched the wall. She didn't know what she was doing half the time and this was no different. Would any of this be useful to the grand and dinky Atrisian Empire?

"Nice to know it had more to do with me than I thought it did. Makes me feel like less dead weight. Samples. I need bushels of them. If I can isolate the enzyme I'm thinking about I can find a way to synthesize it in the lab and we're saving so much money on fuel costs we can afford to have another 10,000 m fleet. I ran the numbers. It's sizeable. Besides, it makes the Emperor look like a caring saint. . . tea. I miss having tea with Emperor Kahoshi. That was fun, you know? And the Sith came back, didn't they? Took over Coruscant if I recall. Like, the day I left Coruscant, seriously. I left and boom! Sith Invasion! Gosh, I'm so glad I missed that. Death to the puppets."

 

[Cody Weadge]

"The Emperor does enjoy his tea," Cody responded diplomatically. He did not comment on the fuel costs and fleet sizes, because frankly that was outside his field of expertise. He might understand the rudiments of such things, but he was a spy. Secrets and death were his trade. "This new group of sith are different from the Sith Empire, but perhaps much more dangerous despite their smaller size. Not to mention they now occupy space directly next to us rather than being safely across the Galaxy."

A shrug broke up his words, as he raised his hands partially palms up. "I am sure someone has a plan, or just hoping the Republic lasts long enough to be a good distraction. We can only control so much... though given our current location what we can control is a bit limited at the moment."

 

[Ginnie Dib]

"Yeah." Was that an admission of Akio's life? She didn't know, but Aditya would keep digging.

"What are we doing about that? The Sith, I mean. Just watching them for now? 'Cause I for one feel like it would be a good thing to keep pushing the Mandos at them until their attention is off little us. On the off chance it's ever on us." The curious sensation of being un clothed during this entire conversation just started hitting home.

Aditya gulped and kept her eyes ahead on the time left before they were done. "The Mandos love battle like I love my lab. Finding more new ways to throw the Mandos and the Republic at the Sith will give us time to maneuver. It helps that right now I'm pushing the Mandalorians to rescue a recent captive in an One Sith prison."

@Cody Wedge