Private Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

[Marya Werdegast]

Alicio may have decided to leave the lightsaber where it was embedded in the wall, but Griffin wasn't going to abandon such an elegant weapon. The blade was plucked out by his invisible hand, though it was clear he didn't quite know how to use it. He waited, unsure of what to do now, but fairly certain that he could—

Green lightning crackled, filling the air with the smell of burnt flesh and ozone. The bat creature collapsed, its insides fried. It was still twitching, still alive, when Griffin plunged the blade into its head and put it out of its misery.

"Well, that was... exciting," he remarked, cautiously offering Alicio his lightsaber back.

A broken-off chair leg shot toward the Senator of Alderaan's back, propelled by an unseen telekinetic hoping to impale him.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio finally allowed himself to relax as the creature went down, giving the room a frown as silence took it.

"Well, that was... exciting,"

"It certainly leaves me with a few questions," he said, reaching out his hand, and taking hold of his lightsaber. Thoughts were running rampant through his mind. How did that creature get on the ship? Was it sentient? Why was it after him?

Then, suddenly, pain.

Why didn't I sense that?

He'd been too distracted to notice the warning from the future, grunting out in pain as a broken chair pierced through cloth and skin, a mere breath from his spine. Shoving his thoughts, and the sensation of splinters in his back muscles, to the side for now, Alicio let his senses extend again, searching for the perpetrator.

Healing himself would have to wait. If he followed the flavors, he'd find his hidden enemy.

- Marya Werdegast -

 

[Marya Werdegast]

“No kidding,” Griffin had time to remark. “I don’t think this was her—”

The Bespinian broke off when Alicio was suddenly impaled. “Oh no.” While the piece of wood may have missed his spine, Griffin knew the human torso was crammed full of vital organs. It may have hit a lung, heart, or major artery. In the darkness it was impossible to tell how much blood Alicio was losing, but it couldn’t be an insignificant injury.

“Senator, you need a doctor.” But first they needed to deal with whatever was continuing to threaten their lives. Hearing a rattle coming from inside the vents, Griffin said, “I’m going after our discount poltergeist,” and dissipated through the grate.

Light streamed in through the wide open doorway to Alicio’s quarters. The bodies of the Abzu guards lay on the floor just outside, either unconscious or dead at the hands of the creature. Further down the hall, the door to another room slid open—and out stepped Marya Werdegast, dragging the bloodied corpse of another bat. She was dressed for bed, wearing a long gray silk robe over her nightclothes. Following close behind her was her aide Sandora, nose twitching and eyes darting around on high alert.

After depositing the body outside her room, Marya spotted Alicio across the hall. “Senator Organa, are you all right?” she asked, giving him a look of genuine concern. Sandora clutched a commlink in her tiny claw, ready to call for help.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio grit his teeth. He was still on his feet. A cursory check through his senses told him he wasn't in immediate danger of dying. He didn't need a doctor. Not yet.

But he nodded to the agent all the same, and limped out of his door, where he saw Marya and her aide. Alicio blinked once at them, before returning a clipped greeting. "S-senator."

That was all he said, before taking a knee at the bodies of the two Abzu that watched his door. They were Shi'ido, trained for battles such as this one, but Alicio was glad to discover they were alive, but heavily injured by heavy slashes across their melting grey bodies. The King of Alderaan reached out a hand over each one... and gave, immediately feeling pins and needles in his fingertips as he started healing them.

"I take it you had an unexpected visitor too, Ms. Werdegast." He found a grim smile.

- Marya Werdegast -

 

[Marya Werdegast]

“Indeed,” she replied, casting a cold glance down at the mangled body of her attacker. “It is a camazotz, a species native to Necropolis. The wealthy used to keep them as guard pets. They can be quite deadly.”

She turned to face Alicio again, her expression sympathetic. Despite all the blood matting the creature’s fur, she didn’t have so much as a droplet of red on her.

“It would seem my enemies have targeted you because of your association with me this evening. I… am truly sorry.” She held out her hands, but the gesture quickly became a reluctant, sober shrug as if she did not know what else to say in the face of such evil. “I understand Alderaanian politics are not quite so cutthroat,” she added, giving him a sad little smile.

“I found our poltergeist, but the bastard teleported away before I could—” Griffin’s disembodied voice could suddenly be heard within Alicio’s quarters, cutting off abruptly as the Bespinian realized Alicio had left the room. Marya raised an eyebrow at the sound, but didn’t seem to recognize the voice. Her left eye twitched almost imperceptibly at the word teleported, though.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio had half-expected the creatures to be sentient, but learning that they were likely someone's attack dogs only deepened the mystery. He felt he was close to a breakthrough...

"Alderaan is not without it's cruelties, either." Suddenly, Alicio grimaced, as if he'd gotten a bad taste in his mouth. He had a few seconds to recompose himself, before retracting his hands from his guards.

Don't look suspicious, don't look suspicious...

“I found our poltergeist, but the bastard teleported away before I could—”

"-Teleported?" Alicio cut in before Griffin could pause, covering up the awkward silence. Then, he looked at Marya, his frown severing, trying not to give her much time to wonder. "Ms. Werdegast, your predecessor, Sycorax Laveaux... She was attacked by an assassin from Dahrtag, who could teleport. I managed to stop him, before he could kill her."

"I think this enemy is mine, not yours."

- Marya Werdegast -

 

[Marya Werdegast]

"Ms. Werdegast, your predecessor, Sycorax Laveaux... She was attacked by an assassin from Dahrtag, who could teleport. I managed to stop him, before he could kill her."

"I think this enemy is mine, not yours."

While Alicio endeavored to not look suspicious, Marya allowed her expression to visibly darken as she connected the dots. “Byron Devorak,” she spat out the name contemptuously.

She had thought Papa would pose no threat to her plans. He seemed to have changed his mind once he realized how much he stood to gain from the refugees. But perhaps she should have known better than to trust him. He was a two-faced old man, promising with one hand and interfering with the other.

“I didn’t know he was the one who attacked Senator Laveaux,” she lied, her voice soft and subdued. “My father and I have been estranged for many years.” That part was true, at least. “I never thought he would stoop to this. Sending animals to attack his own kin...”

Alicio may have angered Han, but he stood to gain far more from not antagonizing the Vice Chancellor than satisfying some bestial desire for revenge. Marya thought she had gotten that point across to her father. Apparently the foolish old vampire hadn't listened.

“Do you intend to pursue Devorak yourself?” she asked, her tone shifting to a more businesslike air. “His teleportation is efficient, but limited. He can only do it three times in a single day, or else his Cloak will fall apart. We are still in hyperspace, so he could not have left the ship.” Her father’s treachery had angered her enough that she was willing to help Alicio kill Devorak. She never liked him very much anyway.

As for Griffin, he had gone totally silent, waiting to see what Alicio would do next.

Alicio Organa​

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio hoped Griffin had gotten the memo, and made himself scarce. If Marya got any inkling he suspected her, all his plans would fall through.

“Do you intend to pursue Devorak yourself?”

Alicio thought long and hard about that one. Now was perhaps his only chance to corner the teleporter. He tunneled into the future for a moment, before glowering, and shaking his head. "I'm not in any position to fight an assassin right now." He sat cross-legged on the ground. his face pale, yet stone-set. He used what wisps of concentration he had left to stem the bleeding from his own wound, but he was nearly spent from his lightshow, and then healing his unconscious guards. "I can point you in the right direction, if you want to try... but I'll be nothing but in the way, right now."

"In fact, I would appreciate... if you were to call for the medical staff on board."

- Marya Werdegast -

 

[Marya Werdegast]

Marya gave him an acknowledging nod and motioned to her aide, who promptly used her comlink to call the medical staff. “I will stay with you until help arrives,” she reassured him. “It would be unwise of me to go after Byron alone. He is a Force User. I am not.”

Sandora’s nose twitched indignantly at that. She was a decent bodyguard, but Marya was still on the hunt for a proper enforcer. Powerful and loyal bocors were hard to come by these days.

Griffin still had one final message for the Vice Chancellor, but leaving a note in his quarters was out of the question. The place was sure to be swarming with security as soon as word got out about the attack. So the Bespinian watched and waited until medics arrived to treat Alicio’s wounds. While they were whisking him away to the secure medbay, out of range of Marya's excellent hearing, he whispered in Alicio’s ear:

“We found a reluctant heir. If you want to help, go to Thelma's Tailoring.”

Alicio Organa​