Public Incursion at Varunda Nine (edge of GA territory)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Screens clear," said Jaccath, eyeing the shield window, a tense oblong gap in the city's bubble. "Are we taking what we asked for?"

"Yes, and thank you for not taking that for granted."

The damaged yacht skewed but Jaccath got it through the aperture with ease. Lines of beacon drones guided them into a repair bay while fire and medical vehicles stood by. Jaccath exchanged sufficient details to keep them off. He settled the yacht into an adaptive cradle used for ships unable to safely touch down.

While Jaccath handled the administrative side, Ashin finished tending her wounds and changed her clothes. Instead of heavily damaged black armourweave robes and the dull gold mask of Anger, she put on a comfortable civilian dress, loose, pale orange, excellent fabric and cut but unassuming in its way. Just another human woman, middle-aged, well-off. Not anonymous — not since she'd given her name — but not confrontational.

"Someone to meet you," Jaccath called down. "Man, Falleen maybe, no weapons I can see."

This body had its challenges at this age, and post-battle soreness set in heavily, aggravating her long-standing limp. From a secure compartment, Ashin took the glossy, knobbled black cane she'd used intermittently for over seventy years. She descended the yacht's shallow ramp carefully, faced Xun of Throne , and said nothing.


Kael Virex

 

[Xun of Throne]

Ashin Cardé Varanin | Kael Virex

Green eyes with slitted pupils watched the being with a cane descend the ramp. If not for the lengthy dossier, Xun might have wondered at how such a one might set an entire mercenary team to flight, but appearances - as ever - were deceiving.

He himself stood in the gossamer sheer robe, no real marker of his station beyond carriage and the way his security team stood nervously about him. Xun's scales remained a placid green. Raised on Throne and sold to Hutt clients, Xun knew what it was to maintain a vicinity about dangerous people. Carrying no obvious weapon and sporting rings upon his fingers and ears, the Falleen tucked the folds of his robe over one arm and made a short bow with the easy grace of years of palace training.

"Captain Varanin? Senator Xun of the Alliance, I would say welcome home, but..." he spread his hands in an open gesture of 'what are we to do.' His speaking gait showed similar signs of training as his movements, too smooth and curated, he knew.

Others in his position, hardline senators and Jedi fundamentalists, might have tried to arrest her. That seemed unwise. On the one hand, Xun truly did not have the assets to deal with this type of threat. On the other . . . it was not his business.

Who threatened who, who shot first. Inconsequential and diluted by perspective. Resolution always overshadowed incite.

"I extended the invitation for us to be joined by an OPEX representative to resolve this situation. I understand you have become recently... acquainted. They do not appear willing to accept, so I offer only the resources necessary to repair your ship," of course she could probably pay to have the spaceport locals do it, but what was the point of having a corporate expeditionary group at your fingertips if you did not use it.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

OPEX. Noted.

"I'll accept the offer, Senator." And Jaccath would watch the work crews like hawks, especially around the nav and comms, and sweep it all for tracking beacons and similar things out of basic prudence.

It occurred to her, belatedly, that he'd referred to her as Captain, no bloviation about past titles. The forty-odd years she'd spent as captain of the wandering academy ship Pomojema had, perhaps, finally sunk in so far as Alliance files were concerned. The last Alliance-affiliated crew had simply arrested her without the due diligence to learn that she'd been sentenced and punished for the acts in question. Being just Captain as a matter of course had been her preference for a long, long time.

A well-chosen detail, if this senator meant to put her at ease for a peaceful solution — or set her up for something more intensive.

"Are you Varunda Nine's representative? I'm told my homeworld has been...led to consider membership in your alliance. Imminently." A stray thought struck home, an amusing one that she mostly kept off her face. Senator Varanin...

...no. Absolutely not.


Xun of Throne

 

[Xun of Throne]

Ashin Cardé Varanin Kael Virex

A delicate brow arched above a too-polite smile.

“Alas, no. I am here on business for the commercial bloc. I represent Byss.”

The last time the inner world had made the news cycle it was for the violent purging of Mawite radicals by Marshal Tiberius, under the label of counter-insurgency.

Dark Side fanatics tended to be bad for business. A habit of wanton murder and the following lightside wroth.

Thankfully, Tiberius’ efforts seem to have stuck. No more Maw on Byss.

For now.

“But you raise a good point, if your world is to join the Alliance, it must have a representative. An individual to address affairs such as that of today. An individual with… connections and qualifications.”

He let the unspoken question hang in the air.

Absolutely yes.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

She'd once — sixty years back? — had a million souls from Byss dumped in her body and not by choice. This seemed an un-useful moment for that anecdote.

"Varunda Nine is my homeworld, as you know," she said, "which changes its risk profile for entering your government. I suspect that standing for public office would make that risk profile considerably worse. I like this place. It deserves to flourish on its own terms and it's more than capable of doing so. I'm sure there's some process in the works."

On the other hand, she'd effectively ruled here once, and ruled well, and she was retired now after a long career in, more or less, higher education. It couldn't hurt to have Jaccath talk to someone, maybe at the Timber Exchange or New Habat University, who could put a poll in the field—

But no. Absolutely a terrible idea.

Xun of Throne

 

[Xun of Throne]

Ashin Cardé Varanin

“Of course,” Xun nodded, pushing thoughts of the process under development by the Exotic Resource and Extraction Department out of his mind.

“A pleasantly optimistic outlook.”

He phrased it as delicately as he could, but ah.

“I share your hope for the future and enjoyed our meeting. I wish I could have proven more assistance with your mercenary problem. I have already taken up too much of your time. Farewell.” He bowed again and turned to go, but hadn’t taken more than a few paces before he stopped and looked over one shoulder.

“You know - with the right representative, one wonders at who else besides mercenaries might reevaluate their own risk profiles before meddling in this planet’s affairs. I know I would. Contact me if you change your mind.”

With that the Falleen glided away.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"And that's what they call a senator?" said Jaccath quietly, coming down the ramp. If cameras were pointed this way, which they had to be, there was no hiding what Jaccath was: a large, red, spiky Massassi in traditional clothes.

"Almost the quintessential." Xun of Throne and his security team had passed a good twenty or thirty yards away by this point, but Ashin spoke quietly too. "I did not like the subtext, if there was subtext at all. While you keep an eye on the repairs, I'm going to have a local word or two and see what the Alliance intends, especially with the Sith Blackwall so close."

The board chair at the university would be a start. There were bridges to un-scorch.

"But yes," she said, limping back into the yacht to secure her precious black rock, "that's what they call a senator."