Why Must the Show Go On? [Ludolf Vaas]

[Natasi Fortan]

Forty-eight hours of leave time was altogether insufficient, Natasi thought as she rode the elevator towards her apartment. For a bit of fun, a little drink-and-dance-and-overnight-visit, something that some head-shaven soldier would need, not someone in the civil service. But that was life in the civil service, and so Natasi had raced halfway across the galaxy, attended her father's funeral, collected his ashes, and raced back to the capital without so much as a how-d'you-do to the county folk. Not that it mattered much to them; she was not the mistress at Herevan any longer; the title fell to a distant cousin thanks to a tiresome ancient law requiring real property to rest in the hands of a male heir.

Stuff and nonsense, really.

According to her chronometer, Natasi had roughly forty-three minutes left of her leave of absence when she unlocked the door to the apartment she shared with her cousin [member="Imogen Fortan"]. She set her father, in his tasteful and masculine urn, on the table next to her keys and turned to see her cousin approaching. "Oh, are you back?" They exchanged kisses and Imogen glanced at the urn. "Is that where he'll stay?"

"Don't be stupid," Natasi said, rolling her eyes. "I don't have a proper mantle to keep him on yet. And I couldn't very well leave him with Cousin Max, he doesn't even know Papa. Didn't."

"I'll do my best not to knock him off the table," Imogen said.

"For heaven's sake." Natasi stifled an eyeroll. It was going to be one of those days; she was tired, having slept poorly and not much on the trip back to Coruscant. "I'll put him in the study."

"Before you go, this arrived a little while ago." Imogent indicated a note on the sideboard, then handed it over to Natasi. "It was urgent, apparently."

Natasi took it, read it, and clenched her teeth as she glanced at her watch. Forty-seven hours and nineteen minutes of leave. Shameful. Fifteen minutes later she was exiting a turbolift at headquarters with instructions to meet one [member="Ludolf Vaas"] on a matter of some importance. Apparently she would be assigned to his staff going forward on what was apparently an urgent project.

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

Officially, Ludolf's project was of significant importance to the Empire, otherwise the encoded documents he had been given would not read top secret. But Ludolf wasn't fooled. If this foray were of real importance to the One Sith, they would have assigned someone of a much higher rank than he to carry it out.

In fact, Ludolf had volunteered for the project. Perhaps that was why the One Sith leadership had acquiesced and given it to him; could it be that he was the only one who cared enough to attempt it?

Ludolf would not stew on these thoughts as he awaited the arrival of [member="Natasi Fortan"] in an office room overlooking the Coruscant cityscape. The office was not his own; in fact, since being transferred out of Intelligence and into the Army, Vaas had no office to speak of. Perhaps that would be remedied after this mission. This room was simply the closest to Ms. Fortan's living quarters, and so it would do nicely.

He sat on a high-backed chair with his back to the grey skyscrapers of Coruscant, which clawed at the orange hue of the dimming sky. Ludolf had already arranged everything on the desk to be perfectly symmetrical. Just as he heard the turbolift coming up, he instinctively reached out and adjusted the holopad on the desk. He had calculated from a glance that the holopad was resting at about an 88-degree angle relative to the desk. He breathed a sigh of relief as he once again adjusted it to a perfect ninety degrees.

He called across the room to the turbolift doors as they swung open. "Ms. Fortan. I have been expecting you."

 

[Natasi Fortan]

What an officious little man, Natasi observed as she entered, noticing at once how pristine the desk had been laid out. Not a thing was out of place. She was neither unsurprised, nor surprised. Natasi Fortan had never heard of Ludolf Vaas before; to her knowledge, his name had never crossed her desk, so naturally, she knew nothing about his organizational tendencies.

"Here I am," Natasi answered shortly. "What is the meaning of this... summons?" she asked, brandishing the note. Her patience was running exceptionally low this afternoon, and she was just reaching the end of her rope when she had received the rather brusque order to make herself available here. She was not a member of the military, not accustomed to being ordered around like a soldier, and yet here she was.

[member="Ludolf Vaas"]

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

Vaas had expected a slightly warmer greeting from the Imperial functionary. Perhaps [member="Natasi Fortan"] saved her niceties only for her diplomatic meetings, and forsook them once she was back on home turf, as it were. Ludolf suspected other matters at play, however. He had to wait a few days to arrange a meeting with Natasi; word had it that she was enclaved on Galidraan attending to personal matters. Whatever those matters were, Ludolf would not make it his business to know, so long as they did not interfere with the task at hand.

"I was going to offer you a drink, Ms. Fortan, but it seems you would rather skip the pleasantries," He cracked what could almost be considered a smile. "I like that."

Ludolf reclined in his chair slightly. "As you may have guessed, I am Captain Ludolf Vaas of the OS Army. The purpose of this summons did not come directly from me, however. This was handed down to me directly from the Council itself. I merely... sought your participation."

Tenting his black, gloved hands on the spotless table, he inquired, "I will start by asking what you know of the marauding government that calls itself the Imperial Remnant."