Three New Faces

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Adder"]

Aela rushed through the halls of the New Jedi Temple on Sullust. She wore her Vanguard armor, her lightsaber clipped to her belt, her bracers wrapped around her forearms, and her hair wrapped in a tight braid. The eldest Talith was ready for battle, ready for war. She moved with haste, urgency in her step. Several padawans and Knights seemed to leap out of her path, a few of her fellow masters stepping aside with eyebrows raised. They looked at her with an odd sort of wonder in their eyes, curious what had her moving with such haste.

Of course, the answer was simple.

Master Omai Rhen had sent her a message, one that was filled with urgency.

Aela had assumed the worst, thought that the Sith were attacking or perhaps that the Final Order had returned once again. She had donned gear for war and battle, dressed to fight and bring down whatever was coming. That was her roll after all, to fight. She was not the wisest Marshall, not the most knowledgeable, nor the most intelligent, but she knew how to fight. So why else would Master Rhen summon her?

Eventually she forged her path through the temple, finding the turbo-lift to Master Rhen's chamber.

Her face turned to shock and surprise when she saw who already stood in front the lift, her feet coming to a full stomping stop as she spotted Jacen and Adder standing before the door.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Adder"]
“Ah, Master Talith,” Jacen said with a deferential nod of the head. In stark contrast to the young Marshal he was garbed in simple robes. For the past year he had been less involved in direct offensive operations with the New Jedi Order than he had been. Instead he had been working to aid refugees along the swathe of space abandoned by the Republic. The One Sith had been attempting to disrupt their operations through a variety of means and he been called on as much as an Investigator as a warrior.

He saw a look of recognition in the woman stood beside him. He hadn't exchanged any words with her so far; they were just two people stood by a lift. However, he had been wondering who she was. She neither looked a Jedi or a GADF soldier. She had looked a touch affronted for a moment when he leant forwards to look at her chest and check she had ID to be in this area of the Temple.

“I don't suppose Master Rhen saw fit to divulge the details to you? I fear I have arrived underdressed,” he said. His eyes twitched towards the woman next to him in a look that said: and this is?

 

[Adder]

Given how little time she'd spent with the Alliance — mostly keeping to herself, too — the summons to Omai Rhen's office was unexpected to say the least. Nonetheless, Adder had responded appropriately and rushed out of the small apartment she shared with another newcomer, but not before strapping her trusty Westar to her belt. As far as she knew, Master Rhen wasn't one to throw quaint tea parties, and if he did, she doubted an invitation would find a way to her door; no, this was something else, and it likely required a particular skillset that she possessed.

The ride to the temple was spent pondering what could possibly the reason she was picked for this, but the redhead kept drawing blanks until finally, the woman simply gave up. She was going to find out in a few minutes anyway.

Surprisingly enough, she didn't get completely lost in the many corridors of the building, and soon enough, Adder arrived in front of reinforced elevator doors, joining a tall, hard-faced man. He kept glancing at her over the course of their wait, and finally, the redhead had enough.

"Can I help you?" she asked, a touch curtness sneaking into her tone. She'd been woken up by the summons, and considering she worked night shift, the lingering crankiness was to be expected.

Before the man could offer a reply, however, loud footsteps grabbed their attention, and Adder turned on her heel to see the fast-approaching form of [member="Aela Talith"]. The Jedi came to an abrupt stop in front of the awkward pair, and her staid companion addressed the blonde with distinct familiarity. She bit back her own greeting patiently, lips pulling into a tired smile as she nodded to the younger woman.

"Nice to see you again," she spoke simply, then turned to [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]. "I'm Adder."

"When do we go up?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

This was odd.

Very odd.

She had hardly expected to see Jacen here, less so Adder. The former made sense, in a way. He was a Jedi Marshall like she was, it would make sense that Master Rhen would call for the two of them, though Chevu and Gabe were missing. Adder on the other hand? She wasn't a Marshall, or even a Jedi. The woman had fought for the Alliance a few times, had even been at a meeting with Master Rhen before, but that hardly explained why she would be here. Aela could only assume that this meant Master Rhen needed more resources than either she or Jacen could offer.

That made her nervous.

"No, I have no idea." She said to Jacen, though looking at his clothes it did appear that one of the two of them was dressed entirely incorrectly. "I...uhh."

For a moment her brain seemed to stall, staring at the turbo-lift and not saying anything. The situation was odd to her, she felt...out of place. Her lips thinned for a moment, and then she stepped between the two of them. "Yes."

Making the decision was better then standing there like a Nuna frozen in headlights. The two others quickly followed Aela inside, stepping so that each of them held to their own small space within the circular lift. The young woman reached forward and pressed the button for Master Rhen's office, the doors sealing shut immediately and the lift rocketing up. A pit formed in her stomach for half a second, that odd feeling of ascension that one got. She frowned, her mind still trying to connect the dots as the Turbo-lift let out a loud bing and the doors slid open.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

“Jacen Voidstalker,” he replied to [member="Adder"] with an a curt nod. “It's a tatooine name,” he added with an apologetic wince. “And sorry, I was trying to check you had ID. Simply hadn't seen you around the Temple and we've had a few recent…issues,” he explained, referring to the recent attempt to break Kana Truden out of her cell. The culprit had turned out to be an old apprentice of the fallen Jedi Master who had simply grasped the wrong end of the stick.

There had been a void between himself and Aela ever since she had brought him down for calling on the Dark Side. Even now after all this time he would occasionally feel the cold touch of shame when he met her eyes. The din of battle from all direction as he laid there, bleeding out, on the fortress walls as she cuffed him. The disappointment in those golden eyes as she pinned him down.

His adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed down that memory. They were at least perfectly cordial again now, perhaps even friendly. Jacen hadn't stumbled since taking up arms for the Alliance's cause once again and he hoped that had restored a modicum of trust at least.

He stepped out of the lift into Master Rhen's abode. It was relatively sparsely decorated as most Jedi residences were. The veteran Master was a simple enough man. Jacen held him in high esteem. He could think of no better man to leader the fight back against the One Sith. Very rarely did he waste words, yet when he spoke he usually imparted more meaning in a few seconds that others did in hours of discussion.

Jacen paused on the threshold to give a formal half-bow to the Grand Marshal.

 

[Adder]

She shook her head and gave a dismissive wave of her hand, her hard expression melting away to give way to a more genuine smile.
"It's fine," she added, unnecessarily, and slipped into the elevator after the pair of Jedi.

Sticking out like a sore thumb, and feeling like it too, Adder simply held back for the duration of the ride, back against the wall of the elevator with such ferocity that she might've sunk into the metal, had they needed any longer. Exactly to what end remained unclear, but they stopped with another bing, and the redhead stepped out after the pair with that same half-smile.

What in Nether am I doing here?

Following suit, Adder nodded deferentially to the Grand Marshal as well, hoping that this whole debacle would soon come to an end. She could go back to Sulon and beat the rest of the lazy asses at the station into shape, and the big boys could continue playing war with the Sith, and everyone would be happy.

Right?

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Aela ducked into the office, her head bowing respectfully as Master Rhen turned to the three figures and greeted them. The old man seemed to smile warmly, his eyes lighting up. The man had a way about him, a strange charisma that spoke of wisdom and knowledge untold. Omai Rhen was a relic to some, a piece of the old Order that had helped take down the Sith Empire. Some thought that he was out dated, a bit too zealous. For Aela, she has always thought the old man simply did what he thought was right.

What more could you ask?

"Ahh."

The old man spoke with warmth, rounding his desk and regarding the three.

"I'm glad you could all join me. I apologize if my message seemed rather urgent." He glanced towards Aela in her armor. "But I assure you what I have to tell you is of the utmost importance."

Aela looked at her feet for a moment, her face flaring a bit red. She had expected to be rushing into combat, not standing here with Adder and Jacen dressed as though they were headed out for Sunday Brunch. It couldn't be helped now of course, but it was still a source of slight embarrassment for the young woman. She shuffled her feet and then looked back up at Master Rhen who had retreated behind his desk and begun to enter a code into the datapad upon it.

"Have any of you ever heard of the Shadow Syndicate?"

Aela looked puzzled for a moment. She was no expert in Criminal enterprises, about the only names in that regard that she knew was Black Sun. "No."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Adder"]
Jacen's brow furrowed as he took a chair. At least having his interest piqued by the mention of the Syndicate brought an end to the battle against the smile that had been threatening to break out since Aela’s face flushed.

One thing that was useful about Jedi Robes was that allowed one to carry an awful lot of items out of sight. Jacen reached into his robes as he replied to the Grand Marshal: “Their name has appeared a few times attached to cases in Alliance space, but I don't anyone knows much about them. They're certainly not as open and gaudy as the Cartel or Sun.”

From within his robes a data pad and a leather wallet appeared. Within the wallet were a number of slender encrypted datacards. The secure terminal was blank and allowed Jacen to run a wide number of systems on it. With one Alliance terminal he had the ability to browse the Holonet and carry out personal business, arrange training sessions with Padawans, manage cases and carry out operational planning. He left the green military card in the wallet and pulled out a yellow one, sliding it into his data pad and entering several sets of credentials to get through the encryption.

On the screen appeared a case management system that would be familiar to most people who had worked in law enforcement. A few taps of the screen and a number of linked cases appeared in a visual web that showed the nature of the connections between them all. Most were faded red to show that Jacen did not have access. Given this and the fact that Rhen did not typically deal with domestic matters, Jacen formed a theory.

“State sponsored?” he asked. If they were connected to a foreign body it would explain a lot.

 

[Adder]

Ah, there we go.

Suddenly, it was all clear as day, as if a ray of sunlight had lit up the room. Of course, there were no windows underground, but the effect was pretty much the same.

The Shadow Syndicate.

She hadn't told anyone much of anything when she'd joined the Alliance, perfectly quiet to sit in the back and cheer occasionally without marching off into the spotlight. That was the Jedi's job; she was better off helping with the day-to-day minutia than shooting up people on battlefields. Part of it was that she was a cop, not a karking soldier, but most of it owed to the fact that she'd been involved in one too many a crossfire to throw herself at them with the zeal of a youngster.

[member="Aela Talith"] was still young and idealistic — that much she'd managed to garner from their brief talks — and while [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] looked far more seasoned, he also gave off the vibe of a military type. Something in the way he was standing. Or maybe it was the haircut. Either way, the pair of them were likely bent on a warring mindset.

Adder, on the other hand…

"Yes."

She was a cop. Or, well, used to be, at least. Part of what got her detective was helping clean up some of the trash from Coruscant's lower levels, and as it so happened — though where Jedi were involved, you could bet your sweet ass that coincidence was not — it was one organisation in particular; the Shadow Syndicate.

"And no. They've just got zillions of money stashed away in places no government can reach."
Oh, was there ever a tone of bitterness to her voice. Sure, they eventually got pushed out of Coruscant, but it was mostly due to something bigger moving in, and not so much the efforts of the law enforcement.

"Though they might've switched up their game since I've last… dealt with them. Trying times, and all that crap." Adder scowled, and realized that this will likely turn into an attempt to drag her into something big, and dangerous, and probably convoluted.

Karking Jedi.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Adder"]

For a minute, Master Omai Rhen paused. There was something that he had to tell them, obviously, though Aela didn't really know what it was. She could guess of course, and by the way that Adder spoke and Jacen held himself it was obvious that it wouldn't be a good thing.

She had never really had much experience with criminal syndicates, none at all in fact. Most of her crusades had been against the Dark Side or Slavers, sure the latter were sometimes organized, but more often then not they worked in small cells that were easier to break up. That was how she and Adder had met funnily enough, though this time it seemed like it would be something much bigger. For a moment the young Marshall shifted her gaze, looking at Adder as she explained a small bit about the Shadow Syndicate.

"Not exactly, or so we think."

Master Rhen corrected Adder, though it was obvious that it pained him to do so. The old man didn't like this, and that made Aela more nervous than before.

"The Shadow Syndicate...well, it seems that they have garnered the attention of something else. Recently, several of our investigators have discovered that the Syndicate has been paying political groups within the Alliance, buying up support, polluting markets, and even supplying arms to rebel groups."

Aela looked to Adder for a moment, curious to see the woman's reaction to that. By the scowl on her lips it was clear there was a distaste.

Master Rhen on the other hand looked more concerned than anything.

"This isn't their usual MO, they've never been interested in politics before and they've certainly never showed an interest in the affairs of Governments."

Oh. Aela understood, partly at least. The implication was a rather simple one really, she felt foolish for not understanding before. The Shadow Syndicate was getting involved with political affairs, pushing an agenda that apparently they had never been interested in before. That change of tune and direction implied that there was someone else pulling the strings, someone who would benefit from destabilizing the Galactic Alliance and pushing it off balance.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adder"] [member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen’s hand swiped across his tablet as he navigated his way through case files. Someone had clearly locked his access to some of the recent events involving the syndicate. That would have to be rectified if he was going to be of any use. What he was able to see what the surveillance operations had been taken up a notch on a number of political figures within the Alliance. That was tricky business. It was all too easy to cross that line into becoming a police state that put safety above the freedom of its citizens.

Jacen had been working as an Investigators for just a few years now. That experience fell a long way short of giving him the right to call himself a seasoned professional within law enforcement. Mostly he was there to bring his particular skills to the table: reading minds, dodging blaster bolts and the occasional bit of psychometry. Yet immersing himself in that environment, first in the Republic and then in the Alliance, had taught him a few things. Most prominent among those lessons were that he had a knack for observing and reading people and that he was useless at undercover work. He was a naturally expressive individual and was certainly not adept at constructing a lie. The time he had done it to try and dig out a Spynet operation in Republic space he had taken on the role of silent enforcer to minimise the risk of him compromising the operation.

“The Alliance is new,” he observed. “Perhaps their change in tack is more to do with the new climate and trying to keep their hold, rather than outside influence? Or is that perhaps why we’re here?” he asked.

 

[Adder]

Adder felt blood drain from her face at the words that left Omai Rhen's mouth, their impact only tripled by his slow, sorrowful cadence.

Kark.

"Yes, the Alliance is new," the woman echoed [member="Jacen Voidstalker"], expression turning grim as she turned to look at him from the corner of her eye. The implants noticed things the normal eye couldn't, such as the increased pulse on his neck. [member="Aela Talith"], on her right, seemed to be in a similar state of concern, and while the Grand Marshal didn't seem quite so troubled physically, worry was written all over his aging features. She didn't have to be a detective to see that this was heading nowhere pretty.

"Which is why they'll try to destabilise it. Fresh, uncertain government… you lot are a prime target. They might not be used to politics, but they know how to play this game, and have been doing it for years."

Despite herself, Adder felt old instincts kicking in; those tense hours of preparation and planning at the precinct, the double- and triple-checking to see if they got all their nunas in a row… only to have the Syndicate give them the slip at the last moment. Memories knocked on the doors unbidden, but the redhead set her jaw and continued.

"I'd look for bribery. Insiders, imposters, that sort of thing. The bastards are good at it."

Old grudges started stirring up in the back of her mind, and Adder couldn't help but feel a bit of that ancient thrill of the hunt seep into her again.

It wasn't like she had any more eyes to lose.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Adder"]​

Rhen nodded.

"The argument holds weight, and in truth we had considered that to be the gist of it. It would make sense if the Syndicate sincerely didn't want another stabilizing force in the galaxy. The motivation fit the crime, but..."

Aela narrowed her eyes as Master Rhen paused for a moment. The Old man motioned for the three to come closer towards the desk. Aela was the first to approach, naturally curious about the situation and why exactly she was here. The two others followed quickly behind her, Adder flanking her left and Jacen her right. The Grand Marshall keyed in a few short command prompts into the console, and in an instant a small hologram appeared on the the table in front of them.

The image was blurry, hazy at best and broken. Two figures stood within the dark, one looked very much like a Twi'lek, his Lekku reaching down to the small of his back. The other wore a heavy hooded robe.

"One of our investigators found this recording while looking through security footage at the nearby government building."

Aela looked at Master Rhen oddly, curious why an investigator would be looking through security footage, though she didn't feel the need to ask.

Instead she simply watched the recording. Master Rhen pressed play, and the holographic figures began to move and speak in hushed tones. The twi'lek spoke in native Huttese, a guttural language that Aela had learned quite some time ago. He spoke about bribes, small payments to local government and swaying their votes against joining the Galactic Alliance. Aela nodded, as though she had been expecting that. Then the hooded man spoke, this time in basic.

"Good. The Allia-" The Message broke up, the recording half garbled. "-You have been most helpful in this task. My Mast-...-ill be pleased. The Syndicate has been most hel-...-cause."

Her ears perked up.

That was about as nefarious as one could get, in fact if Aela didn't know any better she would guess that Master Rhen had taken this right out of a bad holo-flick. Her eyebrow perked for a second, face scrunching as she tried to make sense of it. "The Sith?"

It was the first time she had spoken in a while.

"We don't know, but we can't rule anything out either. This might just be a slip up, a way to throw our investigators off, or it could be something more."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Adder"]
[member="Aela Talith"]


One long slow breath and Jacen had run through a quick mental routine of focus. Two facets of his past combined to put him in his current state of mind. There was a decade of experience at Company command level. Regardless of the situation an officer was trained to work through the steps of generating and distributing orders. This had to be done in a calm and efficient manner. Though it did often come to something far less organised with the kriff hit the fan. At that point command was down on the ground at voice level though.

His Jedi training, most notable with [member="Adele Adonai"], meant he could now go through a quick metal exercise and stiffly all emotional reaction. It left him focussed and immersed in the Force, open to its guidance. When Jacen spoke next it was in the business-like manner of an officer with a job at hand.

“What are you intending the three of us to do? I’d like all the case files opened up so I can review them. We need to work out what we know, then as we draw up the operational plan we need to work out what we need to know and put out the requests for information to the right parties. Or are we at the stage were you already have a specific task at hand Master Rhen?”

Jacen crossed his arms over his broad chest and stood straight. His expression was passive as he waited to see if the others had more to add. Adder, the woman with a slight build and a half shaven head on the other side of Aela seemed to know her business. He had thrown her an appreciative look at her line of questioning just moments ago.

 

[Adder]

Adder tapped her chin in thought as she slowly stalked closer to the table, slipping into the old motions completely unconsciously. It was so, so easy, going back to that state of mind, and right now, she was too focused on what the Grand Marshal was saying to notice what was happening.

"That looks like amateur hour to me, honestly," she spoke slowly, skepticism dripping from her voice as she eyed the frozen holoimages with a critical eye. "And the Syndicate aren't amateurs by a long shot. If I had to guess, I'd say this was intentional." And Detective Ad Yrá Kjormenkaur Traficit had gotten damn good at guessing before it had cost her both eyes, an arm, and a job.

"In any case, I have to agree with Master [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]. We need information, or we need directions. Preferably, we need both. Three people against the Syndicate is long odds even if we draw up a solid plan." Maybe this time, they wouldn't be sold out for a pittance by some two-bit motherkarker.

[member="Aela Talith"]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

​

"I am inclined to agree."

Master Rhen sounded almost to happy for a second. Perhaps the old man was pleased that the three were skeptical, or at least, two out of three. Aela had not said much, though that was simply because she had nothing to add. Adder and Jacen were both far more versed in this sort of thing than she was, why add something to the conversation that wouldn't help? Her father had taught her that, sometimes it was better to listen than to speak. She had already learned quite a bit, though now she suspected they would come to the meat of it.

"This."

An image flashed to replace the faded holo-gram on the table.

"Is Elizabeth Sabine Castille."

Aela looked at the image briefly. It was faded, and an odd color that didn't lend itself to proper viewing. Her eyes glazed over for a moment then looked back to Master Rhen. She didn't particularly care what the woman looked like, more how she was relevant to all of this.

"She is a Lieutenant within the Shadow Syndicate, last week we managed to capture her. She held a wealth of information about who the Syndicate has bribed, when meetings were scheduled, but no true knowledge on why the Syndicate was doing any of this. Of course, over the course of our interrogation she Miss Castille also divulged that within two weeks time she was to be made an Underboss."

So they had caught her, and now they intended to use her to infiltrate the Syndicate.

"Unfortunately, Miss Castille has shown that she is less than cooperative, or trustworthy."

Oh. Aela thought to herself. Then how was any of this relevant at all. The young Marhsall frowned sightly, then let her gaze fall down to the photograph once more. For a second she looked at it, and then her skin began to pale. It only took her a few seconds, but slowly Aela began to recognize the stark and almost exact resemblance that the woman held to herself. She had the same facial structure, the same color hair, even her build was the same as Aela's. Of course the color of her eyes were hidden in the photgraph, and there was no accounting for taste, but it quickly became clear what the intent of this entire meeting was.

Aela may not have been well versed in this subject, but she wasn't stupid.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

@Adder [member="Aela Talith"]

Jacen leant forwards at the waist, looking closely at the image of Castille. His head turned towards Aela excruciatingly slowly. Realization dawned at almost the same moment and he watched the young Jedi Master blanch. He turned back towards the image and the corner of his mouth twitched. His jaw visibly tightened as he focused on what was an incredibly serious matter.

Don’t picture Aela in hot pants. Don’t picture Aela in hot pants.

“So…” he started, before his mouth snapped shut again. A slow breath and his mental walls were back and he allowed the calm to wash over him. He turned to Adder, deliberately not meeting Aela’s eye. “That dialogue sounded pretty stilted, but have you ever heard a Sith monologue? If it’s not a fake they were just playing to the ego of some angsty teen with a god complex. I’m an Investigator, not undercover agent,” Jacen stated, looking back to Rhen. He sighed. With a bit of help from the Force they could perhaps smooth things over and they could probably stop the gangs from putting one in the back of Aela’s head. Or they might all end up being brutally murdered at an unimaginably slow pace before making the news.

“How long do we have for Aela to become…that,” Jacen said, a wave of his hand encompassing the ridiculously attired Syndicate member.

 

[Adder]

She pursed her lips in a doomed attempt to stifle a chortle, then realized with a dreadful finality that she wasn't possessed of Jedi-like capacity for self-restraint, and promptly gave up. It wasn't terribly mocking, now was it?

I mean, that attire was just so ridiculously over-the-top that it was almost believable that it was someone's actual choice of wear… not that anyone remotely sane would want to go out looking like that, but hey, all colors and stripes.

Adder shook her head and managed to straighten her face to listen to the rest of what the Grand Marshal had to say, at which point laughter nearly overtook her again. This time, it wasn't an egregious outfit that invited the reaction, but the look ob abject terror creeping into [member="Aela Talith"]'s expression. Sure, their situation was serious, but if long hours stuck in shootouts had taught her anything, it was that humor almost always helped.

Especially when it was something as absurd as trying to imagine a righteous Jedi playing the part of what looked to be a rambunctious crime diva. Thankfully, [member="Jacen Voidstalker"] chimed in with a question at the right moment to stop the undignified snort, and Adder grabbed the opportunity to reply instead.

"I've heard… one. Big bad, Coruscant invasion. He was pretty full of himself, but turns out he was also right." Suddenly, she didn't feel like laughing anymore.

"I hope you're not serious, Master Rhen. Infiltrating a criminal outfit is difficult enough without… stilted acting skills." To put it mildly.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Adder"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]​

​

She didn't even hear the other two respond to Master Rhen, instead she simply stared at the picture. The prospect was of course downright ludicrous, ridiculous even. She was supposed to pose as this woman? She was supposed to be a criminal? The most criminal thing that she had ever done in her entire life was sneak into a zoo, and even then her father had surprised her with going to that zoo later anyway. What the heck was she supposed to do as a Lieutenant to a Crime Syndicate. That wasn't her, she wasn't capable of that.

Not to mention how the woman dressed.

Aela eyed the attire in the picture.

It was outlandishly over the top, fluffy coat, large glasses, her breasts nearly hanging out and her belly button showing as thought she didn't care that she might get stabbed there in any moment. The young Marshall shuddered at the thought of what the womans underwear looked like, she could only assume it was the most uncomfortable string like tissue paper imaginable. Her lips thinned, her face getting even more white as many thoughts just kept running through her head.

It all kept building until eventually the young woman simply burst out into wild laughter.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

“Oh thank hell,” Jacen exhaled the words without warning. When Aela broke he could permit the stupid grin out. “I was dying inside,” he admitted, as he wiped a tear from the inside of his eye with his middle finger.

Omai Rhen’s stony expression quickly sobered him up again. Jacen wished for the control of the Grand Marshal. Jacen had worked in a military where in the dark times the army marched on its sense of humour.

“Hot pants,” he said under his breath incredulously.

“I’m sorry?” Omai replied with a turn of the head. He looked to Jacen expectantly.

“I said…how long have we got before we need to move?” Jacen asked, his expression a stoic mask once more.

“Two weeks. I already told you that. Ms. Castille is on holiday but about to have an unfortunately security breach. There’s going to be a change of staff which is where you two come in. I’m looking to you both to watch Aela’s back here. You’ve got the easy jobs however. We’ve set up the chain of contacts that will provide Elizabeth’s new security so you’ll have simple backstories to learn.

“Fortunately for Marshal Talith, Ms. Castille is known for spending a great deal of time lounging and hiding behind sunglasses whilst her business associate, a Rodian by the name of Jando Faas, does the talking. She is however the brains of her little organisation and renowned for a very short temper and a very long cruel streak," Omai explained. With a wave of his hand he dismissed the holo images. Bright eyes that did not match his aging features darted between the three before him, daring them to laugh again.

“As for information we’ve got dossiers on some of the network around her. Fortunately the people we need you to interact with – the bosses and underbosses of the Syndicate – keep out of the public eye. Not even Ms. Castille will have met them before. Your first meeting is going to be at the…Wild Ways nightclub in a human dominated city on Sluis Van,” it was clear from his tone that he found the location distasteful.

"Now the other thing our ears on the ground tell us is that the Hutt Cartel is planning an attack on that location, probably on that night to try and kill off the assembled Syndicate under-bosses. Unfortunately Ms Castille doesn't know this and if she doesn't show we've lost the opportunity. So step one is to get into favour with her new peers. After that you're going to be in deep and contact will be limited. You've got to move up the chain and find how what's driving them."

[member="Adder"]
[member="Aela Talith"]