Secrets and Truths (Raziel)

[Jairus Starvald]

Bothawui​

Neutral Zone​

An open room, one table with two chairs, a man sitting on one of them. This man was not Darth Carach, or at the very least he did not look like the Voice of the Dark Lord.

He had short hair, for one, groomed and exhaled nobility through every movement made. This man was the chosen representative of the Hegemony, though it wasn’t made clear that the Hegemony had anything to do with this meeting.

[member="Raziel"] would get a simple message, delivered through the same channels he once monitored to try and find the truth. It invited the Spymaster for a simply meeting, to discuss… business.

[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Raziel]

[member="Darth Carach"]

This was interesting. Interesting and concerning. It was possible that the company’s whose message Spynet had syphoned out of the backbone network of the ACA had noticed the tracing undertaken by the Cyber wing of Abrion Intelligence. It would have been hard to spot it, especially given the skills of the slicers involved, and the amount of monitoring and interference Abrion Intelligence unashamedly undertook on the network. It was well known that the price of corporate and personal freedom in ACA space was an overbearing intelligence program and a lack of welfare support.

However, the message had called for him personally. Concerning. There were two possibilities: Marek Starchaser had revealed him to his corporate allies, or they had people within the intelligence agency. The super-corporations were the power behind the ACA. Their employees certainly footed the Spynet bill in taxes.

Salem Norongachi had been a straightforward man. The kind of powerhouse that trusted his abilities implicitly and spoke plainly. Raziel had hoped to find an equivalent in the new power behind the ACA, but Marek Starchaser was different. A plotting, scheming man who hid his secret identity as an apprentice of Ket Van-Derveld. It wouldn’t surprise the Spymaster to find out that they had people within his agency. There was a chance that it would soon be the time to call upon the web of contacts and influence he’d been quietly building these last years. It might even be time for Raziel to disappear again.

Still, as he walked down the street towards the meeting place he didn’t sense any immediate danger. It was either a good sign, or exceedingly bad. As sensitive as he was it would take an exceedingly powerful Jedi to cloud his senses. These were the kind of companies that could afford to put Jedi Knights on the books. A curtain twitched on the opposite street. He knew that was where one of his agents had set themselves up. Raziel himself was essentially unarmed. Sure, there was a brace of splinter knives around his ankle and a hold-out blaster in his pocket, but for him that was essentially unarmed.

The door opened inwards and he took a moment to take in the scene. He nodded curtly to the man sat at the table: “Good evening.”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

In this world there were many men and women of power, each and every one was more distinct than the last, and yet there were constants in the current. Parallels which allowed you to compare them against each other, in this situation you would have found that some, if not most of them, would have tried to exercise control over the situation. They would have either removed the agents, or at the very least showed their knowledge of them, showing off to a degree, needless postering in which your advantage was removed.

Of course every rule had an exception, few if any people would be surprised to realize that Darth Carach was one of those exceptions. When [member="Raziel"] entered the room the man at the table would simply nod with a curtness that radiated business and acceptance of the greeting.

‘Evening.’ the man would simply state, more as an agreement of the fact that it was an evening, but that he wasn’t entirely too sure yet if it was a good evening. An arm would rise, beckoning for the Spymaster to join him at the table.

‘Mister Raziel.’ the businessman finally began. ‘You have been quite busy these days, haven’t you.’

With a click the individual at the table turned on a non-descript device currently resting on the table. ‘Don’t worry, Mister Raziel.’ the man repeated his name, cadance a bit off. ‘A simple precaution, we wouldn’t want anyone to listen into our conversation, would we now?’

A bubble would appear around the table and the two men seated, no sound would be able to penetrate the shield; in or out.

 

[Raziel]

Very slowly, Raziel took his comm unit from his top pocket. Whilst not being obvious, he ensured the other man could see what it was as he rolled it outside of the bubble. Acoustic dampeners didn’t stop electromagnetic fields afterall.

“Omega intelligence have been getting more troublesome recently,” he said plainly. Of course, the risk of that was remarkably slim. The chance of someone in Spynet overhearing something he didn’t want known was considerably higher. He hadn’t worn the unit when meeting with Norongachi or Starchaser afterall. The small unit rolled a short distance away, maybe a metre or two. Whilst Raziel was a cautious man, there came a time when you had to trust your own abilities. The distance to the comm unit, or to the man on the opposite side of the table, would take almost no time to cover.

There were many parts he had flawlessly played over the years. Right now, he would put his money on this man being an associate of Starchaser’s, possibly even part of a wider conspiracy with Ket Van-derwald. For now, he chose not to play any roles.

“I am busy in a great deal of matters, Mr…?”

[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Raziel]

[member="Darth Carach"] The Spymaster drummed his fingers across the table, waiting for a reply...

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Raziel"]

“Call me… mister Artic.” A smile, warm, no mock and an open invitation to relax, yet the situation suggested more. As did the scenery. Caution would be good. “At least until we have figured out the current situation.”

“You make a living out of secrets and shadows, mister Raziel and recently you have been poking around in a direction that… does not need any more poking.” one shrug, followed by another smile. “Your employer.” Raziel would get the distinct image of [member="Marek Starchaser"] in his mind. “is a good friend of mine.”

Another shrug.

“It is in your nature, part of your job description even, to be suspicious. To expect traps behind each and every corner, you are good at it too. It is why we are having this discussion right now.”

“You must have seen it already, realized, that the Abrion Corporate Alliance is slowly dying. You can see the signs of decay, the disuse and laxness. With your employer indisposed men and women are getting too comfortable. It is hard to properly work and protect your ideals in such an atmosphere, would you not agree, mister Raziel?”

 

[Raziel]

Raziel regarded the other man very carefully. He kept is thoughts guarded as he digested his words. He'd not dug particularly deep into Starchaser's affairs since the little incident on Morje. And yet here they were, having this conversion. That in itself was interesting, a valuable little nugget of information to store for another day.

"The war is being lost," Raziel agreed. "The Obsidian Order lost heavily during both Salem's revolution and Naboo, and the Navy is still reeling."

Hardly giving much away, he thought. This was an odd situation, and not one of his design. He'd been played a much smaller hand than his opponent today, he would have to be cautious.

[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Raziel"]

Not-Carach kept his pleasant smile, giving a nod of agreement when [member="Raziel"] didn’t try and deny the current state of the Abrion Corporate Alliance. Truthfully, he had come here today to see if it was possible to reintegrate the nation into the Hegemony, more firm control and stability, inserting power players within the structure of leadership.

But he was getting more and more the idea that this might not fix the situation, as much as simply delay the inevitable. Once a nation reaches that particular point beneath critical mass? It’s rather hard to keep it going all the same.

Some people understood this fact, they saw the truths spreading out before their eyes and decide to make contingency plans. They wouldn’t allow themselves to go down with the boat, aspiring feelings of nationalistic pride aside. But then there were others… who were less rational, who would cling to the dead carcass of a bygone nation until it literally got swallowed up by the vultures of this world.

The real question then was… what was Raziel? Not-Carach had a vague notion, but one could only get so much from outside sources. So this was more a Hail Mary then anything else. Truthfully, he wouldn’t lose anything by a refusal, and he would get some interesting benefits from having him on his team.

‘Have you been thinking about the future, mister Raziel?’ the not-Sith Lord finally replied. ‘What it will bring once-’ and he said once, not if. For Carach it was clear that the ACA wouldn’t have long, before it died the final death. ‘the Abrion Corporate Alliance goes belly up?’

 

[Raziel]

Another direct question, not one Raziel had been expecting. No cards had been shown from his opponent’s hand, and yet he was expected to lay down one of his own. It was a leading question though, the suggestion was there that the other man might offer some opinions on the end-game. Raziel was being tempted to lay down one of his cards, to gamble on his opponent giving him a cheeky peak at his hand. Very well, he could play this game a while longer.

“I might expect…” I know. “That the corporations at the heart of the ACA will stick close no matter what. The Techno Union and other arrangements seem to keep them close. The Bothans are always fairly independently minded, as are the Falleen, I wouldn’t want to place a bet on what they’re doing,” but I’m making arrangements so I can decided what they do.

“The Obsidian Order is the odd-ball in this. Powerful, forged in battle, yet few alliances made. I wouldn’t guess where they will stand at the end of this. Would you?”

He deliberately shied away from offering any opinion on what he would be doing in all this.


[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

‘With the powerful.’ the Sith Lord replied, it was a reply made by a man who only respected power and so it was not strange that such a reply would be forthcoming. It was to be expected and it gave [member="Raziel"] a glimpse of what kind of man he was speaking with right now, or perhaps it was all just a ruse, a common misdirection to make Raziel think he knew what this man was all about.

That being said, it was time to show just a figment of his own hand. Because otherwise the Spymaster might consider it prudent to abandon this conversation, a man can only be pushed and shoved to a direction so much, before he decides that enough… was actually enough.

The man pondered for a while, before going for the straightway out. Had he been Ovmar he would have played more with his words, tried to make things as vague and elusive as possible… but he wasn’t Ovmar anymore. That too created options. ‘I represent interests.’ not-Carach finally spoke. ‘Interests which have, for a long time, been entwined with the Abrion Corporate Alliance and its predecessors.’ He was speaking about the Abrion Systems Authority and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

‘and I am here to propose an arrangement of mutual benefit.’

 

[Raziel]

Raziel leant forwards in his chair marginally, content to display an outward sign of his interest. Being a part of someone else's web was never ideal, but then since Salem had left the region he'd been lacking a truly powerful sponsor, and he was still building his own power base, strand by strand.

"Are you an associate of Mr Van-derwald?" he decided to guess.

[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Finally a snort, mixed with a chuckle of genuine amusement and perhaps just a figment of contempt. This was all that [member="Raziel"] needed to know about the man’s opinion on ‘Mister Van-Derwald’.

‘No.’ the Sith Lord answered, still with a bemused smile on his lips. ‘No, I am not. My associates are largely more terrifying, respected and diplomatic than the likes of him.’

Men and women like Janus, a Sith Emperor, Talion, one of the foremost Alchemists in the ‘verse before she decided to swap herself out of the space-time continuum. Zambrano, Dark Tyrant. Starchaser, entrepreneur and millionaire.

Xiangu, one of the most competents hands he had ever had the pleasure of working with. Velok… well, you don’t really need to say anything more. There were many more than that, in the grand scheme of things one could say that Darth Carach had build up quite the network of friends, associates and retainers.

 

[Raziel]

Raziel shifted in his seat, trying to look uncomfortable, but also carefully placing his feet and hands to allow himself to get up from the chair quickly. He was beginning to feel deeply uncomfortable, exposed sat here being watched by someone who perhaps knew a great deal about him. There were no warnings in the Force, but that didn't mean much, he was keeping his presence fairly subdued. He also knew first hand it was possible to shroud someone in the Dark Side and cloud their prescience. Raziel was at a disadvantage here, he'd potentially poked something much more dangerous than himself. Still, he could be quite unpleasant when backed into a corner.

The words "mutually beneficial" had been used, but Raziel had an almost instinctive paranoia. Whatever the outcome today, he resolve to improve the quality and number of his boltholes, just in case he had to disappear down one soon.

"My grandmother's flatulent backside is more diplomatic than that man, but I will consider your other points," he replied. He kept his hands flat to the table, non-threatening, but ready to push himself upwards with great speed. "If you have a proposal, I would be pleased to hear it."


[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Raziel"]

It was the prerogative of a man such as him to be able to read a person flawlessly, in the Force and outside of it. At the moment it was becoming increasingly more hard to read [member="Raziel"] and yet… sometimes when a man can’t be read, that’s all you need to know about the situation at hand.

‘No need to be so tense, Mister Raziel.’ the not-Sith Lord replied, his expression neutral. ‘If we wished you dead we wouldn’t be having this pleasant conversation.’

Everything spoke of a trust in these words, that if he or his wanted someone dead? It would happen with the snap of the fingers. Was this hubris? or where these people that powerful? A ponder worth considering.

‘In this Galaxy of ours there are movers and shakers, they are the ones initiating events and influence them. But they cannot work without proper intelligence, without a keen understanding of what lies behind the obvious and straight-up.’ a shrug. ‘This was a job interview, and if you want it… the job is yours.’

The benefits were clear, they did not need any explanation. These people… this… Hegemony. They were everywhere, it seemed, they were powerful beyond count and this one was one of their heralds. Working for the Hegemony meant access to resources beyond Raziel’s dreams, it meant protection and shelter by men and women who nobody could touch.

It meant freedom to focus himself on his work, without having to worry about politics and trying to keep a dead horse running.

 

[Raziel]

[member="Darth Carach"]

Very, very, slowly Razil reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a small data crystal. “If meeting in person is difficult, use the crypto on this disk for your request and leave a message at the indicated address,” he explained sliding it across the table. He didn’t even bother to respond that he was in agreement.

“If your request is particularly onerous, or requires resource we don’t have free I’ll get back to you for discussion in the same manner. It seems you already know how to find me,” he continued, started to edge up from his seat. “I’ll make the appropriate arrangements to keep things running smoothly if certain events come to pass. The Bothans have their claws in deep, there influence is liable to remain regardless of what happens to the ACA, but I can make sure we keep the operation running and point it in the right direction.”