Just wait 'til you hear my pitch, Darlin.'

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Janus"]

Coruscant (pre-invasion 'cause ain't nobody know how that'll turn out).

Kitt leaned casually against the reception counter. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. So you're telling me, this is Darth Janus' office?" She expected a lot when she heard of sith. Heck, she was romantically involved with one but even this caught her off guard.

"Yes it is," cold and not-so-friendly face met hers. "Do you have an appointment?"

Kitt rubbed the back of her neck, awkwardly. "Uh, no, I didn't realize..."

"Well, Mister Darth Janus only sees people by appointment."

"Can I make an appointment now?"

The prudish secretary stared at Kitt long and hard. "We only take appointments by phone."

"Yeah, probably only on full-moon Saturdays too," she grumbled, pushing slightly back from the receptionist.

"What was that?" This time she got a glare.

"Oh nothing." Time for some force. The empath silently began to manipulate the sour attitude of the secretary into something more workable. "Could you make an exception, just this one time for little ol' me? Please?" Kitt melted her hardened emotions like softened butter.

"We really can't---I---uh....you know, I'll...let me see what I can do. Please take a seat."

"Sure," the bounty hunter smiled and plopped down into one of the plush, waiting room chairs, picking up a copy of Corellian Mechanics Weekly.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Kitt Solo"]

There were three reasons Darth Janus had elected to hire Sheila as his secretary. One was that she wasn't hard to look at. Two was that she was competent enough to warrant keeping her around. Three was that she was just the right kind of surly to be able to flatly and remorselessly reject any attempts at circumventing Darth Janus' carefully constructed appointment system. With this in mind, Janus was a special kind of surprised when she informed him that a walk-in was here to see him and that it was urgent.

Surprise did not overrule what his response would be.

Really, if whoever was out there was actually important enough to see, they would have at least called in advanced and explained the nature of their urgency. From the looks of it, this was just a nobody. From the description Shiela had provided, it was certainly not Darth Junra or Darth Mierin, the only two female Sithlings he knew of with high enough stature to warrant a walk-in.

"If whatever she needs to see me in regards to is all that important, she should have scheduled an appointment. Send her away." Came Janus' voice from the two-way intercom located on Sheila's desk. Naturally, this was just of the right volume that Kitt could hear it from where she was sitting.

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Janus"]

It was hard to miss the voice over the intercom. Now somebody was starting to sound sithly, yet, unusually patient for one. A lopsided grin pulled at her lips. At least she hadn't mistaken this Darth Janus for another one. She was beginning to have her doubts.

She calmly turned the page on the magazine. Without looking up, the Fringe High Councilor manipulated the emotions of Darth Janus' prized secretary to give her boldness and a strong sense that she was doing the right thing by contradicting the dark lord.

The expensively manicured nail of the secretary hit the button back to Janus' intercom. "But Sir. I think you'll want to see her. She seems really, really important. Sending her away would be a-uh...mistake," the woman shook her head as if trying to awake from a bad dream. She did just contradict her boss.

Kitt kicked her booted feet up on the reception area coffee table and continued to read the article about the latest hydrospanner.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Kitt Solo"]

What in the Galaxy had gotten into her? This was rather atypical. Gritting his teeth and ignoring the continued bad judgement of his hireling, Darth Janus depressed the button of the intercom one more time. He had very important bureaucratic work to be conducting. Spending time going back and forth with his secretary over the exact importance of a walk-in appointment was cutting into his already busy schedule. Whoever was out there had better been carrying trays of gold bars and Sith holocrons if they wanted to get in here.

"Sheila, enough. Please ask her to vacate the building, or I shall instead ask security to handle it." He paused for a moment. "I may also request that security send you outside along with her, seeing as you seem to hold this person in really, really high esteems."

Security in the offices Tyrin handled his paperwork in generally amounted to uncompromising droids that were not so easily persuaded. This is to say that they were not at all able to be persuaded or manipulated emotionally, seeing as they lacked emotions or coherent thoughts of their own. The droid security teams would also be backed up by the duo of IG-88 MagnaGuards that stood silently outside of Tyrin's office. Because what kind of Sith didn't have guards outside of any room they happened to be in?

A lame one.

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Janus"]

"Ah, that's a shame," she murmured to herself as she hit the last page of the magazine, "that was a good article." Taking her sweet-time, she uncrossed her lengthy legs and stood and meandered her way back over to Sheila. She sent the poor, flustered cherry-lipsticked woman some soothing tones while sending a subtle-wave of intrigue throughout the floor, hoping those empathic tingles would rub-up against the one and only Darth Janus.

She leaned over the counter, "Do you mind Sheila?"

"Well, I---," she offered the woman an encouraging smile with another nudge of submission. Sheila scooted back her chair. "I guess it's okay."

Kitt's index finger was already on the intercom button. "Excuse me, Mister Darth Janus? Kitt Solo here. I turned the bounty in on Mikhail Shorn, captured a dragon, and fought a beast greater than the size of a star destroyer. I know this is inconvenient for you, but I'd like to talk. I have a proposal I think you'd like to hear, darlin.'"

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Kitt Solo"]

Just when Darth Janus had thought he had been done hearing this nonsense, his intercom activated again. He was about ready to use the Force to slap Sheila despite being in a different room, but refrained from doing so when it was instead the voice of a stranger who filtered through. The voice, which identified itself as a Kitt Solo, proceeded to list its accomplishments. Primary among them were turning in a bounty on the despicable Mikhail Shorn, the capture of a dragon, and doing battle with a beast the size of a star destroyer. She acknowledged that this was inconvenient and requested once more to talk, even going so far as to call him darling.

Well, he supposed there was no harm in-

Wait.

What was that?

Umbarans, and Darth Janus was indeed an Umbaran, could sense deception and trickery far better than most. They were not immune to Mind Tricks and empathetic waves, but one that was sufficiently perceptive and strong with the Force could easily tell when such displays were being utilized. He could feel it now, this Kitt Solo was trying to tug at his emotions. It worked. Almost. He knew what was going on. He was not about to be fooled by some harlot that wandered into his office building. At least, though, he would hear what she had to say. Whether or not it was the empathy manipulation that led him to that decision was difficult to ascertain.

Before replying, Darth Janus took the time to hit a couple buttons on the underside of his desk. One to lock his office doors and one to put the building's security on alert. He doubted Solo's boasts, but it never hurt to be cautious. With this settled, he activated the intercom once again.

"I will hear it from here." Was all Janus had to say.

 

[Kitt Solo]

It wasn't hard for the empath to sense the sith lord's caution...maybe even fear. Her invisible tendrils slowly withdrew. She needed to build trust, not suspicion.

Lips pursed in thought as she pondered how far she was willing to go for this.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, darlin.' There are too many...," myrtle-ellipses flicked around the lobby, "ears and eyes out here." Sheila sighed and turned her chair, happily filing her manicured nails and probably checking her spacebook account on her i-Comm.

"I need to meet with you face-to-face, privately. And don't worry, I ain't here to collect a bounty on you. I'm willing to see you unarmed with as many of these droid things you want, as long as they ain't recording. How 'bout it?"

[member="Darth Janus"]

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Kitt Solo"]

If there was one thing Janus had taught himself over the years, it was that these kind of compromises almost always ended up backfiring on the antagonist. They would have a lapse of judgement. Decide to let it slide- after all, what could possibly happen to them? Then the next thing he knew, he would be chucked in a holding cell on some abysmal Jedi planet, waiting to stand trial for crimes his underlings took it upon themselves to commit during his tenure as Emperor. No, he was not leaving this office, nor was he about to open it up for some stranger who just tried to empathy him into complacency.

"I'm afraid this is non-negotiable." Janus said, rather matter-of-factly. "I do not need to see you. Whatever offer you have is likely not something I immediately need. You, however, seem keen on seeing me."

He tapped his free hand impatiently. He really wished she would just leave. "You may speak through the intercom or you may leave. Please be prompt in your decision, I am a busy man."

 

[Kitt Solo]

[member="Darth Janus"]

"I am keen on seeing you; you're a very powerful man." Flattery never hurt. "But I would be a fool to see you haphazardly and without caution. I am a professional, after all." A smile he couldn't see spread on her lips before disappearing.

She gnawed on her lower lip in thought.

"I'm going after a big bounty and I was hoping to get your endorsement. The bounty is worth a million credits and half of that is yours if you sign on with me as a partner. That's all I'm willing to say out here. If you'd like to discuss further we can do so - privately. If not, I hope you have a good afternoon Mister Darth Janus."

She shifted her weight to one foot as her elbows dug into the edge of the reception counter. The ticking chrono in the corner filled the relative silence of the lobby area as she waited for the sith's response.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Kitt Solo"]

If there was one thing Janus liked, it was money. Five hundred thousand credits certainly did sound nice, not to mention it would be a major boon to his operations here. The One Sith typically liked spending money on war machines and soldiers rather than social welfare projects. It was at least better than the budget the environmental preservation department got, though. He couldn't imagine who was being hunted that they had one million credits on their head. Obviously he would refuse to help if the target were a member of the One Sith, the Hegemony, or simply someone Janus did not look upon unfavorably.

"I am curious as to why you would need my endorsement. We'll discuss that when you're in my office." Janus said.

His finger hovered tantalizingly over the button to unlock his office doors.

"Of course, you will need to tell me the name of your intended target first."

 

[Kitt Solo]

Shoulders perked-up when the Sith Lord began to sound more reasonable. But the tension immediately returned when he rattled off his ultimatum. Palm came up to run down the length of her face. She knew it was a long-shot coming here.

Well, kriff, she didn't even know if this guy had allegiances with her target. He probably did. Then again, sith usually back-stabbed each other according to stereotypes. Luckily, she hadn't experienced that yet with her lover-errr-whatever-he-was.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that out here."

What was she supposed to say?

It rhymes with Marth Lornskr?

Hannibal taught her better than that. "I wish you luck in your future endeavors but this half-a-mil is walking out." The best she could hope for was that he would forget this encounter ever happened and not chat it up to his buddies, if her target was indeed, one of his buddies. She relinquished control of the intercom system and straightened-up. She swiped the copy of Corellian Mechanics Weekly as she began to go for the door.

Sheila was a bit dazed, but she would be alright.

[member="Darth Janus"]