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Post by kharivestra on Nov 2, 2011 11:23:12 GMT -5
It was as if the galaxy was out to get her today. First this trip, then Tress, then Tyber forgetting himself and now an interrogation from all sides. Wonderful, just karking wonderful, it really wasn't her day. Escaping it all was looking more appealing by the second. But she wouldn't have been very good at her job if she just ducked for cover each time a pointed question was foist her way. She could sidestep them easily enough. Sometimes the best method of defence was offence. Regardless of what Tyber imagined, the Senator had done her best not to let slip that small fact at the end there though.
"Show me a being that speaks the truth one hundred percent of the time, and I will take my hat off to them, dear." Anara replied with a flourish, "When you are without fault, then perhaps you can cast the first stone. Never before." His number was up, she wanted him so gone there would be no trace left to follow.
"Excuse me a second...did you just say 'wife'?" This from Khari, who had all but sputtered the title in astonishment, the disbelief written all over her face for everyone to see. Then, just as quickly, she held her head in her hands, pacing away and then back again, torn between a state of apathy and confusion. "My life has turned into a holodrama, but worse. I don't have the off switch."
"Oh do shut up. He's making a big deal out of very little. It's not what it seems. Do you really think anyone could talk me into something I have been against my entire life?" Apparently, Anara had had just about enough of this melodrama as Khari had, and she was back and fighting fit.
"Nothing you do surprises me anymore." The younger woman responded snidely, and she was telling the truth.
Anara had decided that the same could have been said of Khari, she had taken on a life of her own in a way that she would never have dreamed, nor did she want, the girl to do. Had she failed that abismally? No...it wasn't her fault, not entirely. At the time she had always known it would be a struggle, her becoming a mother had been sudden and unexpected news. One of lifes little inevitabilities she had chosen to take on, daunted or not, and strive for the best. Sadly, that was not the case, but she could pull this back, even now.
The eventual arrival and presence of the meddroid had thrown everyone into a different mode alltogether. Concern for Tyber's wellbeing being at the forefront of it all. While the man had been putting on a brave front, like only he could do, it had been obvious to the eyes of them all that he had been struggling with something a little worse than anyone else who'd taken a momentary beating.
Currently, the droid was attempting to get Tyber to sit in one of the comfortable bar seats, offering softly spoken kind words and encouragements along with it's usually upbeat form of analysis.
"Not too bad, I trust?" Khari asked, hopeful in her assessment, she preferred to air on the side of optimism during times like this, mostly for Tress' sake. She knew how much the old man meant to him and that was important to her.
The droid swiveled unnaturally at the waist, and turned it's photoreceptors towards her, oddly unsettling as it was. "A fracture, some bruising to the tissue around the impact points and a mild concussion. Rest and a submersion in bacta is recommended."
Khari sighed. If Tyber was anything like Tress, that was going to be interesting. What was with the aversion to it anyway?
It was during the discussion concerning Logan Prescott's presence that Anara had managed to slip passed them all into the hallway that lead away from their room. Hoping that everyone would be more concerned with getting their injuries seen to, thus distracting Khari as well, she had made her casual bid for freedom forthwidth. Upon hearing the conversation going on behind her, however, Anara knew that her luck had, once again, taken a turn for the unbelievably annoying.
Persistent little whelp, why couldn't she just get this over with right now? One moment of peace, that was all she was asking for!
Pivoting round sharply, she had spun to face Tress again, and her daughter sitting on the arm of the chair he was situated in, both people looking in her direction. The senator's heart sank so low it was almost audible.
"By 'you' I presume you mean me?" Asked the older woman, raising one manicured eyebrow ever so slightly. Of course he was asking her, and he would get an answer. "Yes, as a matter of fact he was." Now it was their turn to gape, ah if only she could have immortalised that moment in a holorecording. She could have heard a pin drop as the pair sat there in slack-jawed silence.
Slowly, making a point of punctuating each precise step with a casual saunter, Anara wandered back towards the threshold of the door, and stood there, hand on hip just observing them for a second more.
"...Why?" Came the inevitable question. Now there was an explaination that was going to be good.
"He is a business associate of mine, and a very credible one, too. Though I admit I knew nothing of his connection to your fine figure of a husband here - you'll forgive me if I overlook one or two of your choice crimes here, which does include assassination, does it not? " She had turned to look directly at Tress at that point, "And in the spirit of this honesty you seem to cling to so tightly, I did know of his past, yes. But is everyone not entitled to a second chance?.......Tress?"
Khari bit her tongue, Anara was baiting him and she knew it. He would know it. Unfortunately, the blasted hawkbat had a point if one were simply comparing the facts.
"You knew he was part of the peace brigade? Those people sold out their own just to appease a people who could not be reasoned with..."
Anara shook her head and with a wave of her hand brushed off the comment like it were grains of nuisance sand.
"A minor detail, Khari dear. The past is the past and he has paid for his crimes. Oh...but I forgot, he killed a relative of your's didn't he, Tress? Well not exactly, the Vong killed your brother, what Prescott did was business, just as I am sure all the people who wronged your little criminal organization back in the day had family, their deaths were rendered insignificant for the sake of business. You understand." For someone who wasn't trying to make things personal, it certainly veered off in that direction.
Khari already had both hands clamped down none too lightly on her husband's shoulders preemptively. Not that she would have been able to hold him if he decided to go after her mother. While she trusted he wouldn't have beat the woman, he had a code of honour after all, blasting Anara wasn't beyond him.
"Go, please....we can continue this later when the dust has settled."
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Post by tress on Nov 2, 2011 17:32:28 GMT -5
Tyber looked over with a bored look, she was trying to excuse her behavior and seem like the wronged one. Didn't change the fact that he couldn't trust her, not that he blamed her....they had never gotten to the 'I wont share' part of their marriage. Seemed it was time to cut strings, he tried, but it was to late it seemed. She was to stuck in her ways to ever change, she wanted other things and always would.
"Ex-wife, it seems." he said nonchallantly hissing as the droid poked and prodded his side. He hadn't liked the way she stood aside and let him suffer, while her daughter who showed her love and concern with action was the better woman. The marriage was over, it seemed, for both of them. "Though how it came about was one to remember, a wedding that turned into an orgy..." he said with a smile on his face remembering.
That set off some cursing from his grandfather, the notion of being dinked into bacta had tress smiling. "Prepare yourself for bacta breathe, it will seep out of your pores, your every breathe will be infused with it for weeks after...." he smirked as best he could at the old man without hurting his split lip. "You wee bacta, too." it was a lie but it worked on Tyber.
"The nine hells i will !" He shouted and tried to stand to make an escape. "I will not be going in there, not without a fight." he couldn't do anything really when every movement hurt him, then he glared at Tress. "Go check him out, he might need a dunking, too." but he stopped all of it, when he heard Tress's last question and they all looked at Anara.
"Assassination?" he looked mildly amused by that as he looked at her trying to dig herself out of something that damned her in the eyes of all present. "I faught and saved hundreds if not thousands of people from the Vong. I used every asset, every resource available to me to put a force big enough to help refugees escape death at the invaders hands.....I didn't not betray them to gain something." he had been in control until then. "I fought for a second chance, unlike him who used friends, family and anyone else to gain favor and when things went bad for him and the peace brigade....hid for the rest of the war. All this while others died everyday. Even while one of your own kuati betrayed the galaxy even bigger. So dont talk to me about second chances...."
"A minor detail, Khari dear. The past is the past and he has paid for his crimes. Oh...but I forgot, he killed a relative of your's didn't he, Tress? Well not exactly, the Vong killed your brother, what Prescott did was business, just as I am sure all the people who wronged your little criminal organization back in the day had family, their deaths were rendered insignificant for the sake of business. You understand." It was only Khari's hands on his shoulders that held him down, that held his rage to kill the woman.
"Dont bother coming back, If i ever see you again it will be with a blaster bolt." he shook off Khari's hands and stood. "You want to push me, you just did. What comes next is on your head..." he dismissed her as he turned, didnt care if she shot back some threats or not. Though to Khari, he said. "Shes out, you have to make your choice....us or her." he didnt have to bring up how she tried to blackmail her or guilt her every day since she took office. It was her choice as it always was.
"Lets go, old man. Droid help him we are going to the med center...." he turned and shouted, "Boys lets go your coming with us."
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 2, 2011 19:15:47 GMT -5
When Khari blinked and looked at him like he'd just had some kind of digestive accident on the floor, she didn't even have to look over at Anara to know that it really was probably true. There she went again, ruining the family name all in the name of getting whatever perverse or self centered thing it was she wanted. One day, she would be too old for all that, Khari looked forward to that day.
Wisely, Anara said nothing at all at first, treating that offhanded comment with the contempt it deserved. Tyber was either musing, supposing he could get revenge that way - his earlier words attesting to as much - or he had never truly understood that this, whatever it was, between them was a sham. He had to have known, really,
"Look to yourself when you place the blame for that one." She hadn't denied nor confirmed it in so many words, but what was the point, they'd think what they wanted to anyway.
Things were becoming heated though, and little did she realize it, but Khari was about to get caught in the crossfire.
He was angry, Khari understood, she was every bit as angry that it had come down to this, that Anara would cut right to the bone on the one matter she knew could make him lose it. But it wasn't just Anara that Tress was insulting here, he was digging up parts of the past that Khari had worked tirelessly to bury. She'd known nothing of Prescott, though, not that her mother knew him nor what he'd done, the second she did he wasn't exactly number one in her books. An understatement if ever there was one, she thought.
The subject of the yuuzhan vong war was very much a touchy one politically, as well as personally. Did Tress know that Kuat had eventually fallen to the vong too? That the world had been occupied during the later years of the invasion? He had to have, the galaxy was literally torn in two, you couldn't move without another report of a world falling to the invading zealots. Silently she was imploring her mother not to bite any further, but when she was on a roll she couldn't help herself. So Khari got there first.
"Not another word!" This to Anara, jabbing her index finger in the older woman's direction with such conviction that she was sure she saw her take a step back. But she wasn't done with either of them yet, turning that scorn on Tress. "And you know better than to go there for the sake of a cheap shot. She's wrong, I don't blame you for hating her, half the galaxy wouldn't blame you. But don't cast such generalisations and lump me in with the rest of them!" Realising that her hand was now shaking, she let it fall to her side, but her glare didn't fade, didn't so much as waver.
In that instant, Anara knew she'd pretty much won. Threat or no, she had actually done better than expected out of this whole thing and she only needed to look at Khari to see that. This was the wedge that could drive them apart, it just needed a tap to anchor it truly. Though she would be keeping extra security close for the forseeable future, just until she could be sure Tress wasn't going to make good of that threat.
So it was with a smug air that she held herself aloft and imperious as ever, something close to viggor glimmering in her eyes. "Impossible...you're even more delusional when you're irate. You really think it is that simple, don't you? She couldn't get rid of me even if she wanted to. And I would think very carefully about that blaster bolt, were I you. We have witnesses."
The younger woman on the other hand looked as if she had been winded by some speeding object, brows beetled in confusion, had he just said what she thought he had said? As if he even had to ask her to make that choice he should have known that she...no. It didn't matter now.
Slowly, Khari withdrew, her hands slipping from where they had rested on Tress' shoulders, and yet her composure somehow remained intact. She could feel Anara's eyes on her, knew what she must be thinking but she had no place being here anymore than the other two did right now. Tyber's only saving grace was that he had mildly attempted to dispell the tension with a small piece of sarcastic humour.
"Take your grandfather to the medbay, I don't want to find out later that his concussion bore complications and that you'd feel the need to blame that on 'all of us' too."
"They stay here." She called after the group, concerning the two Knylenn boys, whatever was going on here they were not getting dragged into this mess. "Whatever you think of me and 'my kind', I would hate to prove you right again by not honouring the terms of an agreement. A kuati agreement if I remember correctly, so they. stay. here."
And if Anara was looking smug, then she was about to get a wake up call herself.
"Go see to your murdering associate." Khari sneered at her, meaning Prescott. " I don't want to see him or you here either."
Prior to turning away, making sure the boys stayed right where they were, it was a crying shame they'd had to have listened to all this anyway, she fixed Tress with a look that said it all, really. She was hurt, she understood why he had reacted that way, oh she had, but what he'd just asked was low. Really low, especially knowing what had become of her father, and that just reignited the guilt. If he thought, for one second, that she would have let Anara get away with what she'd said, he was bitterly wrong.
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Post by tress on Nov 5, 2011 3:23:25 GMT -5
That only made, tyber grin slightly. Yes, he had been to blame, had set things up to get his own way or make things....hard on her. A surprising turn of events if he said so himself. Though now wasn't the time to think on such matters. There were things happening now that risked unraveling months of planning.
His grandson was taking a lashing from the tongue of an uppity Kuati and was taking it very well for someone who had been slapped earlier by said woman.
He would have laughed at the sheer stupidity of it all had he not been favoring his side. The droid had done a good job for all good he did by poking and prodding his side. He had known his ribs were broken, it had been a unprotected punch that had done it. Before him he had a mother trying to talk the daughter onto her side, or excusing slight things what to others were huge insults. Now what came next was where things got...interesting.
An ultimatum thrown in the heat of anger, one that should never have been said, but he had seen something. There for a less than a micro-second and if you hadn't known Tress as long as he had, it would have gone missed or overlooked. Now was not the time so he let it play out.
The threat, was more than an idle promise to Tress, the slap added to it making light of his brothers death and excusing it as business, had even ended his future plans for her, tyber thought. She thought she was untouchable, that she was above such things and emitted. They were made of such, that they did it frequently, they did it with careful planning. If they wanted it done,...which seemed like the case, it would happen.
Khari on the other hand was hurt, he had seen that look. The astonishment of what had been said. Her telling Tress to take him to the medbay was to simmer...to calm down before she chose her path, she was his match, more than it by what he had seen. Though his grandson had a few surprises up his sleeve when the time was right.
So they left together, the med droid and Tress helping him down the corridor to the turbo lifts. Waiting, he thought of what he had seen and heard, and as the lift doors opened he asked, "You did that on purpose...why?"
Helping his grandfather inside the lift, Tress shook his head. "They rattled your brain more than i thought." though truth was he had done everything for a purpose. One not so easily explained and one that could backfire.
The lift moving down gave Tress some time to think on what he'd done. Of the choice he had forced upon the woman he loved, one she would soon realized was nothing but a ploy, an old used one to them. Would Anara fall for it? They seemed angry enough and showed it in the way they spoke and moved at each other. It was real for the most part, but not directed at the woman, but at Logan Prescott.
Khari on her own, distancing herself from him over the ultimatum he had given her, Anara would be true to form and use it to see if she could get Khari on her side. Prescott was where it got tricky, what was his plan? Had Anara told him theirs? He thought about it until the lift doors opened and they reached the medical ward. All the while thinking of things in his head and answering his grandfather and his Doctor.
"What are you planning?" Tress heard from his grandfather.
"Hurry and get better, I might need you to watch my back soon..." Tress tells him as he moves away to sign some medical files.
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 5, 2011 12:51:23 GMT -5
As she watched the door slide closed, Khari managed just barely to hold that breath of her's in - and with it, the plethora of harshly spoken words she wanted to hurl in the direction of everyone leaving. Seething didn't quite cover it, yet somehow she kept a shred of dignity. What Tress had said to her had hurt, and he'd know it, why he'd said it, however, hurt that little bit more. He was understandably touchy about his brother's death, she would have been in his position. Knowing that it still brought him that much pain caused her some via extension, that he'd even think she condoned what Anara had said.
He wasn't yet too accustomed to her faceious and sometimes cutting ways, no one, save for those who had spent time with her over an extended period of years, could really understand the woman. But that didn't make what she had said right.
Tress need not have worried about her choice though, it was him, it had always been him, if he thought for a second she would have sided with Anara simply because the old saying went blood was thicker than water, then he was very mistaken. Blood meant very little when it came to rivalries and Anara had spent too long trying to live her ideals out through her daughter. Khari, on the other hand, had been wise to it for some time.
The soft hiss of exchanging air signalled the door had closed fully, and the Kuati slumped down into a chair tiredly, leaning forth just a tad and massaging her temples with either index finger. What a ruddy mess this was...and just ahead of a meeting where they needed to show a united front. So much for domestic bliss. Tyber, hopefully, could calm his grandson down.
Hearing the soft 'pad, pad, pad' of feet on the polished floor, Khari glanced up and saw the younger of the Knylenn kids peering at her cautiously. He was probably worried he might catch it too were he to intrude. At least that was what she thought until he came over, chitlik in hand, peering over the edges of his palms much like he had been around the side of the door frame. They were really going to have to find that thing it's owner, unless they were long gone by now.
Khari smiled when he handed her the small furry creature and it simply curled up to sleep in her palm, happily contented with whatever warm surface it could catch a few zee's on. There was a lot to be said about being that easily pleased.
"I told you she was mean." Rufus said in such a way it was too good not to be serious, and therefore quite humerous. Khari actually laughed - out of the mouthes of babes
He then pointed at the chitlik and added, "Viqtor says he saw a holo show that said animals make people less angry."
Ah - so this was what this was about, she felt guilty now.
"I'm not angry, Rufus, at least...not with you, either of you." Then smiling knowingly, she nodded her head in the direction of the room the child had just come from, "Unless your brother is in there causing several thousand credits worth of damage?"
The kid seemed to get the joke, and smiled, then shook his head exaggeratedly. Subconsciously, she had been stroking the chitlik's silken fur, but it didn't stir, merely stayed curled up chittering peacefully. She had to admit, it was quite cute, and it wasn't like her to think it. Such a good thing no one was here to read her mind then, unless the Knylenn's were secret force users.
"Thank you, but you know if it has an owner, we can't keep it." Anara probably wouldn't sanction it either, the old woman has sometimes kept a felinx or two, but generally frowned on most things akin to a rodent like species. Funny, for one who was so sneaky herself.
Carefully, she handed the little creature back to him, oddly, she felt calmer already. Rufus nodded in reply, he was a smart kid, if a little hyperactive at the worst possible times, but he knew she was right.
"Until then, look after it, the owner will probably be very thankful you took good care of it."
And speaking of taking care of things, she had something she must now do, but it involved her getting Anara out of the way before she did it. So she needed a distraction. The older Vestra couldn't have gotten far, and if she was thinking of asking security to free Prescott ahead of time, she had another thing coming. Khari wasn't done here yet.
Picking up her comlink, she tried to raise her mother...it didn't take long for her to answer, too. Not unexpected, the old fool probably thought she had called to say that she was seeing things her way. Poor deluded fool then.
"I need you to come back up to the suite, don't worry, the Zann's have gone, they left when you did." Khari was saying, not giving her mother any room to reply, that way, she'd not be given the option, "I'm going out for a while, someone needs to prepare for this meeting, and since the rest of you are content to simply fight amongst yourselves, I would probably get this done far quicker alone."
As expected, it hadn't taken Anara long to get there at all. By which time, both the boys had taken refuge in the suite's expensive bedrooms, all keen to escape the mean old lady who smelled of old flowers - their words, not her own, but it never ceased to amaze Khari just how accurate kids could be. Every bit as cutting as the woman now standing in the same living space as her.
"Do I take it, by this sudden askence, that you have finally decided to see things my way?" The politician asked, oddly straight to the point for once, but it wouldn't last, it never did. Even now she still thought she held all the chips, she was wrong, or there was something more going on here. The younger woman intended to find out what.
Unfolding her hands from where they rested in her lap, Khari placed one on each arm of the chair and rose elegantly from her seated position. She preferred being at an equal height with anyone she was speaking to. "I need you to watch the children while I go ahead and arrange this, it won't be long before the Jedi arrive and I don't wish this to completely go to waste. I won't be long." Another lie, she didn't know how long she was going to be, and her deliberate evasiveness had irked Anara just enough to get her thinking as Khari moved passed her and rushed out the door. At her back she heard the faint sembalnce of a question from the senator, but she didn't have time nor the inclination to answer. No, she knew exactly where she was going and who she was going to talk to. Better that she hear it straight from the eopie's mouth.
****
When Khari arrived at the floor below their own, the security were more than accomodating. Ever since the scuffle on the level above, they had been on high alert, perhaps waiting for the moment the order would come in and they could finally take some action regarding the three men they still had in their custody. Each one had been separated, of course, held in rooms each far away from the other on the four corners of the floor and kept heavily guarded. It was overkill, Khari knew that when she saw it, but it made for good practice for those who were new to the job. There were going to be many more jobs like this for them in the coming days, hopefully without hitches though.
She was lead down one of the richly decorated corridors, by one of the senior officers assigned to the journey, in silence, neither one of them saying more than they absolutely had to. He more out of strict regiment than her, she was going over just what she was going to ask this man when she got there - or more accurately, how she was going to hold back from simply blasting him for the crimes he had committed in the past. Few could take sympathy with the Kuati after all their one time senator had done collaborating with the Vong during the war, but that didn't mean loyal citizens of the New Republic hadn't suffered, and that those loyalists were not Kuati too. It was a taboo that was rarely spoken of in the media, much less social circles. The inapropriateness of the subject had seen citizens locked up for their hate campaigns before now. But Logan Prescott had taken things just one step too far when he'd joined the peace brigade. They were every bit as much to blame as Viqi Shesh had been when she stabbed them all in the back and doomed the galaxy's capital.
They arrived at the door shortly after, and the officer opened the door for her. When it slid back, it revealed Prescott, sitting at the far end of the room looking out one of the expansive windows, a glass of what Khari assumed was water, rested on a small table beside him. Stationed both inside and outside the door, were two of KSF's troops. With a flick of her hand, she dismissed the pair in the room, knowing they would wait outside. Naturally, the space was being monitored, if anything went awry, they would be in there like a shot. But Khari didn't think it would come to that.
He was apparently not expecting to see her, and why wouldn't he be? She'd not exactly be his number one fan after what she'd seen him and his goons do to her husband and his grandfather. And now he has to know, she thought to herself, that Tress will have told me about what he did to his brother.
"Hello Logan...it is Logan, isn't it?" A thin smile graced her lips and she took a few more steps into the room, causing the door to finally slide shut behind her. She wound her way over towards a seat that sat opposite his own, but she did not sit down, deciding that she preferred to remain standing for this one. If it bothered him, he didn't seem to show it.
"We can drop all the pretenses, just so you are aware, they told me everything. " By 'they' he could assume either Anara, the Zann's or both, it didn't matter to her which one he took as a given, and she wasn't about to give him the luxury of knowing. Despite the warmth of the colour in her eyes, even they seemed to grow cold now, hard and edgy. "Don't feel too bad, neither gave up the information too willingly. What I am curious about is just how you believed this would pan out? And more to the point, just how you assumed you could lie your way out of that little situation back there. How long has this been going on?" They could dance around the issue all day, but eventually he might let something slip and Khari needed to know just how deeply this plot ran. Anara was unlikely to tell her so he was her best chance.
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Post by tress on Nov 5, 2011 16:13:40 GMT -5
Stuck in his cell, Logan Prescott, was steaming in anger. Here he was stuck and passing the small room when he was the one that was attacked. He would destroy those Zann's if it was the last thing he ever did.
Where was Anara, she should have been here getting him out or vouching for him. When he next got his hands on her he would make her pay.
Everything had taken a turn for the worse, one thing after another and now this predicament he was in. He finally sat down and was thinking about how to get himself out when the doorway slide open. One look at who was standing there, had him questioning why it wasn't Anara.
All he could do was nod his answer to his name, wondering what she was doing here again. He watched her, silently safe in the knowledge she wouldn't try to kill him here of all places.
"Everything?" he asked, not willing to give away anything at present. Who had spoken? Anara? What had she said to her. Then he realized it was the Zann's who could have told her who he was.
The 'neither gave up willing' had him mentally cursing, what had they really said to her. How can he talk himself out of things or make it seem like it was nothing but a personal vendetta on their end.
"I still have no idea of what your talking about. The Zann's attacked me over past mistakes, there is no reasoning with them. Yet, here i sit the one blamed for everything. I am the wronged party, i was attacked, not the other way around...." abotu her mother he said nothing, still not sure of what she knew or not. Why give away something when it could be secret still.
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 5, 2011 17:26:00 GMT -5
She had expected that: Ignorance. But she wasn't going to give up that easily, nor did she believe him in the slightest. Standing her ground, she offered him a smug little smirk, it was meant to be unsettling, if that had actually worked, she couldn't be sure. He didn't strike her as the type to just hand over or volunteer the information, but he would be wanting to get out of here sooner or later. Her best bet was holding off Anara until that happened, and as long as her mother wasn't here to grease the wheels a little, he was none the wiser. For all he knew, she wasn't coming.
"Congratulations, you can hear." It had always been like her to be abrupt, it was one small facet of her mother she did carry around with her, though she dispised the political ducking and diving that usually prompted it. Like right now in fact. She would have done some further research on the guy if she had had more time.
"Now we have established that, perhaps you can furnish some of the details. Very interesting facts that prompt them too. "
Idly, she drummed her fingertips on the back of the chair, still not prepared to sit in it, she could make it to the door before he even got up. Not that she thought he would, that would be the most monumentally stupid mistake of his life, he wanted to get out of here there were better ways to do it than taking a hostage. Besides, she'd not exactly turned up here unprepared either.
A small scoff eminated from her direction and she shook her head. Here they went again, he was going to find out that this wouldn't work, that she knew more - or at least would allow him to think she knew more - than he thought.
"I wasn't talking about the Zann's, but don't worry, I'll get to them in a moment." This time, she made her voice precise enough for him to have heard every sylable, she wanted it to sink in, as if he needed help, being here and all. It was certainly a 'cell' with a view, his potential downgrade wouldn't be nearly as nice. "You knew who I was when I encountered you in that suite, and you know why, too. As do I. She told us you were here to meet her, openly admitted it as it goes. Need I go on?"
It was pretty convenient timing as timing went, so why now of all times? What had Anara and he been planning, she highly doubted that this was another of her dirty little liasons, and if it was, why go to all the trouble of making it here? By the looks of him he'd gone out of his way to be here, the way he was dressed wasn't concurrent with this side of the galaxy, he looked official of all things.
"Since you mentioned the Zann's, I would say condemning several thousand lives to death at the hands of the Vong would see you in very bad stead if found to be true....or I could just hand you over to them, Tress is in a wonderful mood right now, I'm sure you can imagine." Letting that have time to sink in, her gaze wandered around the room, it wasn't bad as places to be held went, though she wasn't for a second lost in those thoughts. Her attention was still on him, even if it didn't appear to be.
And just like that she snapped it back to him.
"So I have to ask, when were either of you going to inform me of this...plan?" She had to assume there was one, her mother always had a plan, she'd never known her not to. And it had become abundantly obvious that her eagerness to keep this little meeting from everyone else aboard, had to be for a reason. Liason it simply couldn't be, Anara never hid things like that, she loved to lord that over people, she was a high born Kuati woman expressing her lavish lifestyle in a way many of them did. There was no need to hide it.
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Post by Caitlin Windancer on Nov 6, 2011 12:59:20 GMT -5
A message is sent from the Baron Administrator to Khari that is routed to her comlink's voice messaging system. He sends his greetings and offers to help expedite her plans for her upcoming meeting. He offers his services to both her and the Jedi for the arrangements of the upcoming meeting and as a neutral arbitrator/mediator if it is felt one is needed.
He informs her of the Jedi's arrival and that they have agreed to let him handle the arrangements for the meeting if that is agreeable to Khari as well. He asks that she or one of her party contact him to the day and time they would like the meeting to take place. He offers suggestions on places for the meeting's location up to and including his own private meeting room in the administration buildings.
He thanks her for coming to Cloud City and again expresses his desire to accommodate her wishes in regards to the meeting and anything else to make her stay more comfortable and enjoyable. He then says goodbye and ends the call.
He does not mention that he was asked to do this as a special favor by the Prime Minister of Bakura.
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Post by tress on Nov 7, 2011 17:55:12 GMT -5
He raised a brow at that, what did she expect for him to spill everything as if it was nothing. "Sarcasm? Please don't waste my time with your simpleton ploy to get me to talk. Your a business woman, you never just show your hand in a meeting. Say what you want and leave, i have to wait for my attorney to arrive and secure my release over this Zann's injustice..."
He hated that she hadn't sat, yet. Her standing making him look up to her was a tactic he had used before. Mind games. He stilled when he heard her say the next part.
So Anara had blathered and spoke of secrets. What sort of fool was she, he raged, he would deal with her later after she had made good her promises. "So what of it? I have business acquaintances all over the place, as i am sure you do, too." he tried to turn things around and even standing. His hands were in stun cuffs so he was always aware of moving to fast least he get a shock.
"What now its a conspiracy over be being her to meet her. Your mother and i share,... certain things we wish to keep secret. Me being married and her...well, you know. " he smirked at her.
Let her deal with that info, it would bring on a change of subject or more answers of her mothers love life would be spoken of to her. It worked as she spoke of the Zann's now, which had him giving her a smirk.
"Since you mentioned the Zann's, I would say condemning several thousand lives to death at the hands of the Vong would see you in very bad stead if found to be true....or I could just hand you over to them, Tress is in a wonderful mood right now, I'm sure you can imagine." Letting that have time to sink in, her gaze wandered around the room, it wasn't bad as places to be held went, though she wasn't for a second lost in those thoughts. Her attention was still on him, even if it didn't appear to be.
"What do you know of anything?" he spat venomously at her. "You weren't there, you weren't trying to survive. You more than likely never had to worry about anything, but sit prettily in your office and push papers around. I on the other hand had to make choices, hard choices that got people killed on a daily bases. Don't presume to know anything others had to do, if you weren't there living each second thinking its your last."
"Tress will be getting his soon enough, you had best make you friends more carefully in the future. His days are numbered...." he got himself under control and sat again, he places his hands on the table relaxed and collected again.
"So whats this about really? Want to know the nature of your mothers and my business....?" he shrugged. "Its of a sexual nature. So you can see why we try to keep things quiet, and I'm sure you would want it that way." he awkwardly brushed his fingertips through the front of his hair and smiled for effect. "Shes instatible honestly..."
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 7, 2011 20:34:08 GMT -5
His attempts to rebuke her wouldn't get him far, he knew he wasn't quite in the worst possible place yet and so it afforded him some measure of freedom. It was unwise to irk her, but not impossible, without consequence. The mention of it being an injustice, though, was almost too much not to bite at. Only by sheer force of will did she refrain, if he knew he had gotten under her skin, it would be handing all the power back to him. That wasn't going to happen.
"You've waited this long, a few moments more isn't going to do you any harm. And who knows, maybe I just came down here for a chat, maybe I like talking to you?" a non commital shrug had her looking as nonchalant as they came, inside she was resisting. Her patience only had so far to go before it reached it's tethers end. He'd be pushing for that every step of the way.
Hand on her hip, she appeared thoughtful for a few moments, although the actual processes hadn't taken that long to consider at all. He had a point but there was no progress to be made in admitting it, or was there?
"You're right, why would I show my hand? After all you seem to think you have the measure of me, so why bother with all the pretenses at all, is that it? So if you're so confident that I am trying to ascertain more than I actually know, why don't you just come out and say it?" Ironically, that was exactly what he'd been trying to get her to do, that was the idea.
Her stance here was starting to irk him, she could tell by the way he shifted uncomfortably in the seat, like he should be the one towering over her. Highly amusing, to the outsider, no doubt. She would have sat, had he been more civilized, and suddenly she was wishing she actually had. What did he mean, 'well you know' ? It didn't take much guessing, Khari knew her mother and her mother was well...herself. Prescott? You're bedding Prescott now? Is no male in this galaxy safe? Her inner voice hissed in dismay. He was enjoying her reaction, yet another reason to silently curse, the split second it had taken for her to realize what he was hinting at he'd spotted instantly. Perfidious bastard had one small victory then, but it would be his only one. The kuati was about to strike back with a little home truth of her own.
"I can imagine adequately enough without the details, thank you. She seems to keep a lot of those 'secrets' lately, shall we say." Her derisive tone was purposeful, even if he knew it, it didn't matter, the facts were still the same. Would it even matter, Khari wondered, if she rubbed salt into his potential wound? He seemed every bit as bad as Anara was. Would telling him that one of those conquests had been a Zann, his enemy, actually matter? She would save that trump card for later. What surprised her was that he'd stated he was married, his wife couldn't know about his past then, she didn't imagine many would have taken that tidbit of info lightly...unless she, too, was like Anara? Match made in heaven, then.
Leaving that subject, things had begun to get heated, which was exactly what she wanted. Angry people let things slip in the heat of the moment, small factoids that could be put together in order to be used against them. Not that he needed to incriminate himself further, she just needed to find out what he and Anara had on the agenda, it couldn't seriously be just sex...not the way her mother was being so facecious about everything.
Now the cracks had begun to show around the edges, but she could never have imagined she would get angry herself. A swell of hot disdain found it's way through the fissures in her mind, seeking to take control and formulate a snappy response, bite back and put him straight. What did she know?! She knew enough.
"So what? You bow to your new masters and give them what they ask of you, until one day their supply of fresh sacrifices runs out and they turn on you too? Did you really think the vong would uphold their end of the bargain?" It was a joke, a ridiculously sick joke. The Yuuzhan Vong had never kept their word on anything, Kuat had paid the price as well as many other core worlds. He was speaking nonsense and that was what caused her to issue a bark of sharp laughter. "Perhaps you were too busy kissing the boots of the one that held your leash to notice, but Kuat fell to vong occupation too. We couldn't evacuate everyone in time, and yes, we took losses just like everyone else in the galaxy...that makes you guilty by association, their blood is as much on your hands as the vong. " Arguing over that aspect of the past would get them knowhere closer to finding out what it was he was plotting with Anara, and it wasn't as if she could go to the woman and ask her.
"I had to make enough choices, and you can bet your life on it that I didn't choose surrendering the lives of others to those monsters to save my own skin!"
Khari hadn't been CEO then, that duty had been another's, someone she had later subsequentially, murdered. Maybe she was a hypocrite after all, then? No...what she had done, she had done out of petty revenge, and there wasn't a day that went by where she didn't regret her decision.
She stared at him coldly from across the room, holding a dignified silence that was every bit as icy as the precision-fixed glare in her eyes. Nothing such as that would ever come to pass, unless he really did want to try her and see where it got him. Was this Prescott all talk, though, when he had been more than prepared to expend the lives of innocents just to keep himself alive that little bit longer?
"Funny..." Khari said with absolutely no mirth whatsoever, "...that's exactly what he said about you." That was it, let him talk himself into a corner, he was going to need that Attourney alright, especially if he kept making threats.
This time, the smirk was all her's to bear, and she found herself sliding into the chair opposite him, settling every bit as calmly collected as he, placing her hands in much the same arrangement. "Only...he's out there making good of it and you...are in here. I know who's chances I would favour."
Daring to go that little bit further, if only to unsettle him, she leaned in a little conspiratorially - any false moves from him and those stuncuffs would shock him so hard he'd be a twitching mass on the floor in seconds. Even so, she was prepared to scoot back fast if he tried anything.
"It would be a shame if I had to ask security to look the other way for a few moments." Let him believe she was going to do that, if she actually did, that was another thing entirely. But planting the seed of doubt was going to make it grow eventually.
Drawing back to lean against the backrest of the chair, it was less than comfortable, she really hadn't needed the extra information, nor did she believe him this time around either. He was telling the truth alright, but not the one she had asked for, the details that were crucial were missing. This was about more than conquest, he was here because Anara had requested it...or so the old woman had said. Drumming her slender fingertips on the table top for just a moment or two, Khari realized she was going to have to throw him a proverbial bone here. It might even take him aback.
"You know exactly what this is about, we both do, and it has nothing to do with your dirty weekend. You know why my mother is here, you know why I am here, I may as well come clean with you as it will soon be public knowledge anyway. The ten recently expressed their desire to leave the galactic alliance for the reasons mostly covered in the media, I am sure you are aware of them. And, since we consider the empire no longer trustworthy, that leaves Kuat in a very interesting place politically. Interesting, I say, and vulnerable both. It doesn't take a genius to work that out. Now I am assuming also, then, that this opens up many more doors to independent factions already peacefully coexisting in the galaxy at large and if I am not mistaken..." The dark haired woman paused to glance down at the interesting array of insignia's on the lapel of the man's suit jacket (especially the hello kitty one) before catching his eye again, "...Mr. Prescott, you happen to be a part of one such faction..do you not?" She'd noticed that upon recalling the moment they had unexpectedly met, there had been enough unsettling about that encounter to make her take in as much of the scene as she could possibly remember, but it was only now that the cred chip had finally dropped, and she remembered where she'd seen one particular symbol before.
Kuat drive yards had even put in an offer to buy up some of their ship building facilities.
Her comlink began to sound furiously, causing her to raise her hands slightly and then sigh for added effect. It was all cheap theatrics, but she felt so much better knowing he'd be wracking his brains right about now. Perhaps it was time for that trump card she had been saving?
One look at her comlink told her that this was one call she couldn't afford to miss, so she made it quick.
"Apologies, but I do have to take this. I will be otherwise engaged for the next few hours, but if you finally wish to talk, inform one of the security team and they will pass the message on to me. " Having risen, she began to make her way towards the door, suddenly feeling a lot better for it, the more steps in this direction she took, the lesser chance that she would throttle the man for threatening revenge on Tress. That, she might not be able to cover up.
"You're right about one thing, though." Khari said over her shoulder, but she didn't look at him this time, simply turning her head slightly to the side, "Her being insatiable...Tyber Zann was telling me the exact same thing barely an hour ago."
Buzzing to leave the room, security opened the door and allowed her to pass through. Outside the room in the corridoor, she receieved the comminque direct from the Baron Administrator - the Jedi were here, and he was dealing with the logistics side of things. At least something was now going according to plan.
"Thank you, Baron Administrator, your help and hospitality has been greatly appreciated, however, we will not require the services of a mediator on this particular occasion. It is to be a discussion, not a debate." How very politically minded of her, Khari thought, and cringed immediately after, Logan was right, she was business woman not a politican, and yet the two merged so indescribably well on Kuat. What she had said was true, though, this wasn't a heated debate, it was to find answers to questions she'd had for some time, to reach a joint solution that would be of benefit...to them. She held Kuat's best interests at heart, while the Jedi - that remained to be seen.
"I have merely requested the Grand Master's council on a matter I know she will wish to have some say in. I will be along shortly, once the other members of my attending party are informed."
She only hoped that Tyber had managed to calm Tress down enough that he wouldn't start a domestic at the worst time possible. And if she wasn't mistaken, she had a decision to inform him of.
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Post by tress on Nov 8, 2011 18:03:59 GMT -5
"Again don't insult my intelligence. What is it you really want, stop beating around the bushes and come out with it. All i can do is sit here bleeding over my expensive suit.... as you skirt around the insure that brought you here. " no medical attention other than a quick check up had been offered to him, then shut into this interrogation room to wait. "I am confident you will tell me sooner or later what you really want, i hope, unless you came for...other things." he hinted at winking unexpectedly at her. A ploy to disarm, or enrage. He didn't stop there, he went on hinting at his purpose being solely to see her mother for more intimate matters. It kept her guessing and trying to decipher which was true and which he was just saying to get to her. .
"You have no idea, its why i like her. She is discreet..." he almost smirked at that. Was that hinting at her knowing more? Was it bait enough or would he need to push for more. He appeared bored, "Yes, safe with your family you had so many choices. Letting Kuati soldiers die while you did what? Stayed at home? You dont know war, you were at the Array or planet side pushing papers while others made choices for you. The worst choice you possibly made was what you had that morning for breakfast. Don't assume to know what i went through, while you slept safe in your bubble....""Ah, yes. Kuat bore the brunt of the attack, and you were shuttled off away from all the danger. " he was baiting her, making her seem like what she went through was nothing in the end. "I was in the thick of things, I was at the front lines dodging bugs and i sent people to die to save others. Business plain and simple."
"Your mother came here to see me, you asked that i not divulge to much information about that." he said innocently. "Though if your willing I can show you what we were going to be doing...fruit doesn't fall far from the tree." oh, that was low, but purposes needs must be taken care of. Let her take that as she would and see what pressure point he hit if any. "As to your reasoning for being here, i keep in touch with things. Holonews is open with the attack by force users. As are they reporting on other things connected to Kuat." He saw her looking at his medals and raised a questioning brow. (THEY WERE ALL EARNED !  ) "I do belong to a faction like that, yes." the beeping of her commlink stopped discussion of moments. He shrugged not caring one way or the other about her leaving or not. He would soon be out of his unlawful custody anyway. "Dont hold your breathe, but if you need me all you have to do is ask around." he smirked, making it sound like an invitation. "Tyber Zann?" he said looking surprised and confused. "He's been dead for years...." he questioned her with his eyes, looking at her trying to make out things. "He's alive !?" he said standing up suddenly. He had know, made it his business to know everything about the Zann's. So of course he had info of the situation and faked death. Anyone could have put two and two together and pieced the puzzle together. Would she know...that he knew? That's the question. Make her believe she said some secret, the guilt would eat her. |
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 8, 2011 20:36:10 GMT -5
There was little more she could do save for look agape at him for that little suggestion. Why she had expected anything else, she wasn't sure, somehow, the friendly and polite demeanour she'd seen from him much prior to this was thrown to the wind, much like his desire to be helpful, and crass behavior had taken it's place. As tarnishes went, this one was on a par with that of Anara when the mood took her the wrong way. Definitely a match made in heaven, she could suddenly see what the woman saw in him - he was like her and she did so love herself.
"Don't flatter yourself, the only thing I want from you is compliance. If you gave me that much you might save yourself the cleaning bill." She gestured uncaringly at the sizable blood stain that spattered the front of his suit jacket, Khari wondered if his nose was broken...and debated finding out.
Suddenly the Kuati was glad she hadn't a mouthful of water, she might have spat it everywhere in a bid to release the laughter bubbling up from her throat. In the end, she just let it fly - that had to be the most ludicrous thing she had heard in some time. Her mother, discreet?! Oh there was so much double meaning in the sentence, but it was easy to overlook in the face of hilarious literal terms.
The connotations it held otherwise, on the other hand, were not so good, it just reestablished the fact she didn't know the full story - he was mocking her, tempting her along only to deny her the information. Well that wouldn't do him much good.
"Are we still speaking about the same person?" Was all she said to that, treating it with the contempt it deserved. Shamefully, though, he really was starting to irk her -she could see why Tress could have had cause enough just to attack him if only for that. If he was this smug about handing over information, what had he been like about sending Tress' brother to his death?
One more reason to hate the man.
"If you have something useful to say, then I suggest you say it. If not, you won't mind if I leave now. I have important things to be doing aside from watching you sully this room with your presence whilst dallying in innuendo and sarcasm."
She had been in the midst of answering the call when he'd said that to her, and it had struck her like a bolt from the blue. Her head turned, eyes locking with his as if she had been slapped round the face. He really knew how to cross the line, and now he knew he'd gotten to her. That was the worst thing of all, she was actually more angry at herself for reacting to that comment than she was at him for saying it! Looking away, she took a calming breath and finished what she had to say to the Baron Administrator as cordial as she could make it.
In her little bubble - what did Prescott know about how things had been for her then? He didn't, he was just making wild prejudiced assumptions for the sake of making her angry...and it was working!
Khari had lost family during the war, she'd lost friends, associates, just like anyone else. It had been a war that hadn't discriminated against the priveledged or poor alike, no one was safe. Jedi, Business person, Moisture farmer, everyone had been affected. She had ended up in a refugee camp, just like the rest of them...why should she be treated any differently, sticking out often targeted you by your own. He knew nothing of what had happened to her, plain and simple.
"To save them? You only delayed the inevitable, they'd have come back for you, too, in the end." And i'd have shaken the hand of the vong that did it. As for business, she scoffed inwardly, now she knew he sounded just like Anara.
As if that was all it was, here they were again, they were going round in circles. Painfully irksome circles at that. Logan had struck her again immediately after though - how long had he been storing that one up? It wasn't the comment that stung, it was the fact it was a shadow she had borne for some time. People, namely delusional souls, who had dealt with Anara, only to assume she was much the same - and to their detriment too. It didn't make the notion any less insulting, she wasn't one of those daughters who had grown up looking up to her mother. Even Rhy had made a pass at her once or twice, that thought made her force down a shiver of reproach and ensure it was firmly under control before she even deigned to deal with this.
Smiling plaintive, yet plesantly at him, she just watched him for a second or two - perhaps he thought she was actually considering it. His disappointment then, when she looked away disinterested.
"I wouldn't want to get more blood on that expensive suit of yours." Khari commented blandly, letting him mull that one over and leaving it ambiguous enough that it couldn't quite be construde as a threat.
(Earned? Sure they were *cough* Intergalactic-ebay *cough*)
Then finally he did give her something she wanted, a small confirmation - they were getting somewhere at last. Which was a pity, because now she had to leave for that meeting. And so did Anara, which meant that unless Prescott could get an Attourney here in that time, he'd be staying put for the duration. She'd have them hold him on every security quibble possible to keep it within the realms of legality. How could she go back and tell Tress that she'd just let his brother's killer go without at least trying to keep him here until he said something?
Watching him sit there smug as a kowakian monkeylizard was infuriating, yet there was very little she could do about it. If he wouldn't talk then they were stumped for the short while. Stars, she really needed to talk to Tress...
When he said Tyber's name questioningly, Khari stilled completely, holding her breath in cold unadulterated dread. The bastard, she'd been so caught up in her anger, her fury at those blasted assumptions that she'd let that slip!
Short of holding her head in her hands or beating the heel of her palms against it, she couldn't afford to seem rattled by this, it would only make things worse. Fool...they can't get much worse! So what was left to do then?
Tell the truth.
"...you don't - " she laughed a little disparigingly "-ohh...she didn't tell you, did she? Shaking her head, she had neither denied nor confirmed it, but he would understand that the 'she' she was talking about was Anara, and that was enough. Let him live with that for a little while then, the least she could do, was give Tyber the heads up. Walking out, she left Logan there, then put a call out to Tress...and Tyber, just in case the former wasn't in the answering mood. The younger Zann needed to be at this meeting if just to observe, he was a part of this.
"It's me, the Baron Administrator has informed me that the Jedi are here, I'm on my way to the room he has set aside for us....and there was something else, I can't really talk about it here though. I'd like it if you were there..." Her voice softened at the end, it was more a question than a demand, if he even wanted to speak to her at all. She shouldn't have been feeling guilty about this, it was Anara that was the issue, but she could cut him some slack for the subject matter, she loved him, it mattered.
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Post by tress on Nov 10, 2011 5:06:40 GMT -5
"Compliance!?" he sounded surprisingly amused by her uttering that word to him. "You seem to think you have some control over me her, Vestra." He leaned forward glaring at her. "Let me disway you of that notion right now, yes, I might be here in lock up. Though that in no way makes me subservient of your orders or commands."
"The very same, trust me." He still had that gloating feel to him. As if he was enjoying her lack of grasp of the whole picture she had found herself in.
"Again, don't dictate to me just because I'm in here. I owe you nothing." when she went on, he just shrugged and motioned to the doorway with his chin. "There is the exit...leave." He was expecting more, for her to stick around to really find out what she came her to know. She would leave here at the end more driven to find out what really was happening, so he knew he hadn't seen the last of her.
The call she took seemed important enough to interrupt their talk of the Vong war and its choices, but he wasn't finished. He had to really let his words take root and as he said them he knew he had hit his mark.
He shrugged, he and his associated had known in the end they would be doubled crossed after witnessing certain things. Though the extra time helped them plan while everyone was running for their lives.
Though he was admittedly having fun at her expense, baiting and watching each time he scored a hit. It was all to easy really. One after another, he had done it in the past baited forces others to lose their temper and in that rage they would get sloppy and he won.
He sat back looking smug, its all he really had to do knowing it would add to the insult knowing he got her. The act of that smile she gave him was answer enough for him. (Not even! War time medals from various...uh, groups.)
He learned alot from this small talk with her. He knew she was susceptible to insults. That she was embarrassed of her mothers actions in certain categories. If she got mad enough she let things slip, but also in knowing all this he knew there were problem areas, too. He couldn't really count on them working again now, she would steel herself to his taunts. Could possibly go out of her way to allow him to think he had won and give some useless information out now like she did with the Tyber tidbit.
He looked at her playing along, studying her for longer than he should trying to gage her telling him the truth or not. The little minx even redirected things to her mother. He would have to keep his eye on this one.
He was still smiling as she left, ten minutes after she left. Logan was free and let go himself.....
****
Tress already walking back to Khari from leaving his grandfather at the medical center was brought out of his musing by the beeping. Pulling out his comlink he hears Khari.
"...I wouldn't miss it." was all he said as he changed course. "Where is it going to be at?" He was already questioning things. Baron Administrator? What did he have to do with things? Did the Jedi just really bring in the Baron for their cause. It was suppose to be a private meeting between two parties, now things would get leaked. Some Cloud City aide in the Baron Administers office looking to make a quick cred coin would call some news service and before long this would be on every report from here to the Core.
"Meet me at our room first and bring in a protocol droid, please." he said a plan already working in his head. He hoped by saying 'our room' and saying please that it was a good sign to her, but as an after thought. "Alone, Khari. This is between you and me before we go to the meeting...." The Jedi could wait a few more minutes.
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 10, 2011 14:08:17 GMT -5
Even several minutes after departing the makeshift cell, she had been going over that encounter in her mind with utter disappointment. Not because she hadn't come away with what she'd wanted, but because she had let slip a few things in the heat of the moment. What was wrong with her? She was better than this and that was just a foolish error. Unacceptable, particularly since she had chided a one Colonel Klask for something similar weeks earlier. Was that the problem then? That she hadn't stopped for more than a couple of minutes since the mess on the array. Stars, she hadn't even had a full nights sleep the day prior to this, was it any wonder she wasn't exactly functioning at 'optimum?'
It still wasn't an excuse, she needed to be sharp for what was coming up, the Jedi would surely exploit such a weakness and there could be no room for silly mistakes. This Grand Master of theirs seemed a lot more aimiable than Prescott, but that wasn't difficult. The lack of smugness would go over well with her, however.
Another little stress she could let go of, though, was the argument with Tress, when he answered the comlink, he appeared to be back to his usual self and none worse the wear. Khari knew him well enough to know that all was not said and done, though, but she was thankful for this much at least.
There was a tell tale curiousness to his voice that she picked up on instantly, he was just as suspicious as to why the Jedi had sought to involve the Administrator as much as she had been. It was why she had requested that he not be in attendance. They didn't need a mediator because this wasn't going to turn into a debate. It remained to be seen if the Jedi actually realised that, it would become obvious soon enough.
"A business suite on the ground floor, they have set aside a small conference room, it's more than adequate for what we require." She told him plainly enough, still a little rankled from her encounter with Prescott, the thought of what he'd 'suggested' making her shift uncomfortably, "They requested a mediator, I informed them that this would not be necessary. It seems our Jedi friends are calling in a few favours, dragging the Baron away from his important work, we can't have our meeting inconveniencing him." He could have heard the polite, but no less forced smile in her words without seeing her face. She knew what she was doing.
Reaching the turbolift, she let the doors slide shut, then leaned against the handrail tiredly, taking the weight off her feet a little, she hadn't realized she was so tense back there.
"Kuat bore the brunt of the attack, and you were shuttled off away from all the danger. " The words Prescott had spoken ran through her mind again, and she silently cursed herself for being that damn angry. What should it matter? She knew that wasn't the truth and the last thing she should have done was bitten - that was exactly what he wanted! A pity they wouldn't be able to hold him when that call went through to his people, she would have liked to have given Tress his 15 minutes alone with the man.
Blinking to clear her vision she found a frown creasing her otherwise smooth brow - what did he need a protocol droid for?
"I will see what I can acquire, I suppose...what are you up to? Never mind, I'll talk it over with you when I return with one. " Asking the Administrator for one couldn't hurt, but if he was in kahoots with the Jedi, that could compromise the droid and whatever Tress was cooking up.
The alone part already had her wincing. She had left Anara in their suite looking after the two boys, if the woman was still there then Tress wasn't likely to get a warm reception anymore than she would get a friendly greeting.
"I'm not currently in our room, I had my mother watch Viqtor and Rufus for a bit, there was something I needed to do." However off key she was feeling, she knew better than to take the boys with her when she had just done what she had. It would have placed them in unnecessary danger, herself was another matter, she was old enough to handle that if it became an issue.
"But the whole floor is ours for the duration of our stay, we can meet in the one we were going to allot to your grandfather." Pausing there, she appeared to just remember something, but it was only for emphasis. All along her plan had been to speak with him, just the two of them. Interference was where things got a little punchy, thus defeating the point of talking to begin with. "Alone. I will see you there when I locate us a protocol droid."
*****
Finding the droid hadn't been an issue, her mother often had a few in attendance for translation purposes whenever she went anywhere on business. Now had been no exception, and these ones, Khari could be sure, would be thoroughly memory wiped after. So there she was, making her way back to their floor, an immacualtely polished silver chromium droid shuffling along behind her, trying to keep up. Every so often, it would voice it's protests, that she was walking too fast for it to catch up, in that tinny vocabulated sound that was synonymous with the 3PO series.
The dark haired woman had lost count of how many times she had been required to stop and wait for it to catch up, her impatience was legendary and she wanted to get there this side of the hour...not least of all because she needed to speak to Tress before this went down.
Some moments later, she arrived at the room in question, acknowledging security stationed outside the main floor entrance, and passed through into the space beyond. The droid, shuffled through a good ten paces behind her.
The Jedi would be getting settled in themselves, so that left them a few precious minutes to get this done and dusted. Even so, tensions were high and Khari being Khari, highly strung. For one thing, standing still for too long just made her jittery, she felt like there was something she had to be doing, and sitting around was not going to get anything done - not that moving for the sake of it was much better, she lamented with a hint of humour. But her persistent pacing was starting to irk her, and confuse the protocol droid.
When she didn't immediately see Tress in the main living space, she wondered if she had actually beaten him here. But he'd only gone to the med center, he had to be here ahead of her.
"Tress? Where are you?" Walking around the room, checking out all the adjoining spaces, she searched for him. This wasn't a good time to be giving her the runaround.
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Post by tress on Nov 10, 2011 15:59:26 GMT -5
Exiting the turbolift, Tress moves with purpose towards the other turbolift that would get him to the floor that was theirs.
"What do they expect some sort of legal action or this their way of stacking the favor in their stead?"
Mediator? What a waste of a favor to ask the Baron of all people to mediate for them. KDY was the leading manufacture of starships, he wondered if the Jedi had thought about putting the Baron in such a uncomfortable position as to choice between lucrative lost deals selling their tabanna gas or siding with the jedi. Either way he expected the Baron wouldn't be doing any more "favors" for the Jedi.
What was he up to? She was talking about the protocol unit of course but that question brought up other things. One was apologizing to her, the one person besides his family and he mistreated her and crossed lines with her. How to tell her he was sorry, was eating at him. How to fix things, cause she was the last person he wanted to lose.
She had needed to do something? Now he worried about her safety. "Please have a care for yourself. Prescott is still out there and a huge threat and would use you to hurt me...." the worry was sincere, but for her protection and not his own. He would give up willingly forgoing his vow of vengeance to save her. Thats how much she meant to him.
The whole floor was theirs, so he nodded and then realized she couldn't see that. "OK, i will meet you there.." and by that he meant his grandfathers rooms. He was already pretty close anyway. Given that she would have to acquire a droid along the way he would have time to wait and think on things. Once inside the room he waited by the expansive window in the bedroom and thought of things.
About Anara he had no feelings for one way or the other, she was just a obstacle in his way to killing Prescott or a tool. Tied in what she had done to Khari, there was little if no chance he would ever forgive her or get along with her now.
Turning he says, "In here..." he was already walking to the open doorway and then saw her there. She was so beautiful, that he just stared for the moment. Taking her in and wondering which of the apologies he would use, in the end he said the the simplest one. "I sorry."
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 10, 2011 17:37:16 GMT -5
Still out there wasn't the term she would have used, he looked pretty stuck in one place when she had last seen him. She could tell him all about that when she got in too, if she kept it quiet it would look perfidious and that wasn't her intention. It hadn't been long after she had left that cell that she had received word that security no longer had due cause to hold Prescott. He was, unfortunately, a free man. Khari and those she held dear were in one of the safer places to be if the man did take it upon himself to do the stupid, and attack one of them out of petty revenge.
It didn't mean she wasn't going to be any the less aware, though. There were just more pressing matters at hand.
Upon arrival at their suite, it hadn't taken long for Tress to realize she was there, Protocol droid in tow - though the latter was next to invisible as far as conversation and acknowledgements went. The almost awkward look in his eyes were what had her keep her silence, she wanted to just come out with something and tell him that he didn't have to concern himself with what she thought, or if she forgave him for the earlier outburst, but it would have made it worse. No point in embarrassing him for nothing.
Smiling at him a little wistfully, she shook her head, dark tresses jostled slightly with the movement before she swept them back over one shoulder. "Don't be, you were upset about your brother, things were said in the heat of the moment. That's all." But was it? She thought, or did he really mean what he'd said, it was Anara or him? It was a no brainer, but officially it would mean a lot of political difficulty - the Ten had voted Anara in office, ousting her would mean a lot of skullduggery and subterfuge that could take months to implement. And at any given moment, she could divulge her secrets.
"I love you, I just want you to know that. There was never any question who I would choose." She told him, stepping closer, now might not have been the time for lengthy apologies, but she'd make time whatever the situation if it meant he knew without a doubt that was how she felt about it all. But she also had some truthes to tell him, such as where she had been all this time. He was going to be furious, wasn't he?
"You also need to be aware of something..." An untimely grumble eminated from her stomach and she frowned hatefully at her own body for divulging the fact she was nervous ahead of time. "I went to see Prescott after you left with Tyber. I thought I might be able to find out what he and my mother are up to. She would never tell me in a million years, so I had to try..." A sigh left her in a long tension relieving breath, "...It was a fruitless exercise, all he did was taunt me and wind me up, I'm an idiot. I know better than that, I meet people like him daily and if he hadn't said what he did I would never-" This wasn't getting her anywhere, it also wasn't getting to the point. Stilling for a moment, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath in and then out again. Thoughts collected, she knew she had to tell him this.
"I let slip that your grandfather was alive...well, Implied. I never gave him a definitive answer, but I know he saw it on my face. It was stupid of me, I shouldn't have gone at all. He can't prove a thing, though." It then occurred to her, that she hadn't seen Tyber since the incident earlier, he hadn't exactly seemed pleased with Anara either - not that this came as a surprise - so unless he was with her, he had to be around here. Unless...
"Where is he, by the way?" He hadn't seemed in that bad a state to be left at the medcenter, but she could have been wrong. That grumbling had turned into a cramp that now felt like it was twisting her insides like wringing out a damp cloth when she remembered the message she had gotten from security. But even that smug crystalsnake down in the cell couldn't be that audacious, right? Sithspit, Tyber better be out of sight.
"Please tell me you didn't leave him at the medcenter."
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Post by tress on Nov 10, 2011 18:36:27 GMT -5
"Still I shouldn't have said what i had." that was the truth really, she could have asked him to chose between her or his grandfather. "I was in the wrong and for that i am sorry..." He was still walking closer wanting to reach out, but stopping before he did.
"I love you, too and because of that i should never have made your chose. I wont make you chose...." unless she endangers us further. That was the truth, he still had the idea of getting her in some sort of chemically induced coma. Could Khari forgive him? Would it stop him from protecting those he loved, her included.
That she went to go see Prescott had him bracing for effect, not angry really. More concerned about protecting her than anything else. She was trying to help them in the long run, but wished she hadn't put herself in danger to do it. "Yes, he does seem to have a knack for that, doesn't he? Its best to ignore it all on a personal level and just strike back where it hurts him the most....his business dealings with the Peace Brigade." He always felt a need to excuse or rationalize his involvement and damning him for it always sent him into a rage of being a victim in the end.
He saw her remorse for letting it slip and even worried about tyber, that alone meant everything to him. He did offer his hand to her and pulled her closer just to hold her "Shocked was he?" he said against her temple as he kissed her there. "Couple of years ago we got word someone was searching, asking around and basically waving red flags around. It was about Tyber, we followed back the trail and while not fully certain it was Prescott, we are quite sure it was him." he told her about something she wouldn't have known. "Must have been a shock...."
The MedCenter. "He wouldn't, try anything like harming him in public. Not while everyone was around working." he was trying to settle her fears, but reached for his comlink and made a call. "I would like a two person detachment to go and supervise security of a patient at the MediCenter." he told the Guard Captain at the other end. "His name is Shaw, Mr. Shaw. Bacta room room M-14 for internal injuries. No one gets in other than medical personnel and never without our people present." He was worried for him, but he no one got into a medical facility just like that and kill someone. Not without planning and means, he would know.
That taken care of he looked at her, "Did you bring that droid...?" he then went on to discuss what the plan was in a nutshell.
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 10, 2011 20:18:54 GMT -5
Khari relaxed visibly, much of the tension that had been there draining away from her muscles, though she still held herself up perfectly well. She hadn't been looking forward to ousting her mother, nor the headache it was going to be trying to find a unsuspicious and viable way of doing it. The legalities of it all would need to be passed under the scrutiny of the Ten, and that was where her biggest problem would lay. As a known supporter of her predecessor, she wasn't exactly popular among many of the ruling households anymore than those houses that had also supported him - and her via the same means - were.
Measures would need to be taken, though, if Anara proved a big problem, and now that she knew she was openly meeting with Prescott, they were measures that needed looking into a little more deeply.
"And here was I looking forward to shoving her out of an airlock." Hardly the time for jokes or sarcasm, but the relief had done that to her. Release often made her giddy.
When matters turned to Prescott, she couldn't have looked more displeased if she tried. Contempt was a mild term for what she felt, the man was detestable, speaking to her like that. She didn't care who he thought he was, nobody spoke to her like that! "That would explain why he was so forthcoming with his criticisms then. I may have touched on the subject." A small chuckle escaped her, but it was humourless and dry, "Once or twice, never can be too liberal with those touchy subjects, especially when he was also."
And just what had fallen from his forked tongue was the problem, very little in the way of information. If she hadn't have known better, Khari could have sworn he enjoyed that part of the exchange. She could see what her mother found so interesting in him, his personality was the spitting example of her own. Facecious, evasive and didn't much care for those he hurt along the way.
So long as you're kept well, what does it matter, hmm? She thought, with a healthy dose of the sarcasm she'd been storing up all this time.
"He went as far as to say that he'd come here to meet my mother for some sort of sexual liason...one of her flings, I presume. She has so many I try desparately not to pay attention, you know how it goes by now. He also deigned to suggest, and I quote 'the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree'" Khari wrinkled her nose in disgust. Such a lifestyle was common for women in positions of power on her homeworld, it was just an extension of their opulence, much like it was a crimelord's to keep around one too many twi'lek dancing girls. But it wasn't one that had interested Khari for some time now, not since Tress.
"A pity violence is frowned upon, I would have liked to see that smirk wiped off his face."
Shocked? Well she certainly was! Tress sounded as though he had been expecting this. Not that she had let slip that little detail, but that Prescott would know or have heard something by now. He went on to explain why, to the degree she was too shocked to kiss him back there for a second, responding as soon as the information sunk in, just glad that things weren't quite as bad as she had thought they would be. And then there was the anger...That kriffing man, Prescott, had acted so aloof, he wanted her to think she'd put her foot in it - though his initial surprise could have been genuine, the rest he was sitting there, laughing at her for tripping over her own words.
"I don't think shocked quite covers his reaction..." Was all she said, still inwardly wrestling with her own temper. Now she was almost certain she should have had them hold him longer on a technicality. As it was they had been skating on thin ice holding him that long.
There was little point in getting wound up over it again, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself.
"...Astounded, pleased with himself, most definitely. Which was why I was concerned about where Tyber was now, they had no choice but to release Prescott a short while ago. "
Just because he would be noticed walking into a place like that full of people, didn't mean he couldn't bribe someone else into doing his dirty work for him. It all depended on how far that man's reach was, and if she knew her mother, she wouldn't have picked one that didn't have some sort of impressive acumen. Question was, for what?
It put her mind at rest, when Tress opted to have some security for the old man in the end.
Khari looked back towards the door, and saw the droid standing there patiently, she had almost forgotten that it was with her, thankfully, it wasn't one of those over talkative ones that never knew how to shut up unless it was specifically asked.
"Yes, I have it on loan from the 'senate' as it were. We can wipe it's memory after if need be. Can you explain things here, or on the way? I wouldn't want our guests thinking we were tardy in our timekeeping." He was going to need to don his disguise again, if the Ten got even an inkling of the fact she was doing this with his cooperation, there would be hell to pay, all nine of them.
*****
Where in the name of all things sane was Khari? She had tried her comlink several times, only for the blasted thing to be out of range or her daughter simply wasn't answering. Could she really blame her for that after what had happened though? Of course she could, this wasn't the time to be messing around playing stupid mind games. Nor was it the time to be getting your head in a muddle over that Zann boy, but when had Khari ever listened to her lately? It was a decision she was going to regret in the long run. Anara could see it now.
At present, she was stuck in their suite, watching the two Knylenn boys while Khari went out and did...well she didn't know what she was doing, but she hadn't expected it to take more than a few moments, she had been sat here over an hour. Thankfully, for whatever reason, the two children had been relatively quiet since they'd acquired their new pet. A pet that was most certainly not staying in her house when she had first heard of it, but if it kept them this quiet in the long run, they could have fifty of the hairy little vermin. She was only sorry she hadn't thought of this sooner, perhaps she wouldn't be paying for damages to a cafe back on Kuat, nor the trauma councilling she was expecting to hear about from their shuttle pilots.
She had been informed that Logan had been let out of custody though, it had just taken a small call to their security detail to find that out. That was both a relief and a weight off her mind, perhaps now plans could get back on track. But with this meeting looming dangerously close, and no sign of Khari, the older Vestra was beginning to think that the girl had stupidly listened to that idle threat Tress had issued, and chosen one way or the other. Her life wouldn't be worth living if she had. After everything she had done for her too, ungrateful didn't cover it.
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Post by tress on Nov 11, 2011 4:07:39 GMT -5
He wisely held his tongue on that one, though nothing would have pleased him better...well, one thing would have but now was not the time. Right now he needed Khari, they were better together than apart and right now for this meeting it would be nice to have them focused.
Prescott was always going to be a sore subject with him, the mere mention of his name had him wanting to plan some just punishment. He listened to her, imagining how things went for the meeting, him smug as he always was almost superior, and her cool and collected. Though things had changed as it seemed, both testing the other in small word games. "He only defense, I have heard it all before. Him trying to justify his actions by bringing up my own." he really looked at her, wondering if Prescott had said something more. "Anything else? You know anything he said is just to turn the tables. Make you second guess yourself."
Oh, that must have gone off quite well with her. Prescott made himself look the worst all on his own. Tress had expected him to try to spin things, make it as he was innocent and try to covert Khari to his side. He could see how that would have worked, even if he didn't know how much they were in love. "We can swing by and end things, a quick explosive and off to the Jedi meeting as if nothing had happened." he was thinking already in his head of their small fleet in orbit. Of how the Empire had once taken over the entire sector years before. He was pretty confidant they could do the same now if forced to.
"Maybe some more planning is in order..." he said after awhile.
Tress sighed and relaxed against her. "I'm surprised they held them this long really. " Sithspit!
"You think crew members would be alright with some leave while we are here...?" he had know idea where he was going with this one, but he liked the idea of their men everywhere. "Maybe some security personnel undercover mixed in there and working for us. I want him trailed and it will take to long for the consortium to come out here." the Hotel could accommodate more guests, a holopic of Prescott and an order to report a visual contact of him back to HQ would help alot.
"Things have just gotten much more complicated...." he muttered. Her, the boys, his grandfather. He couldn't do it all himself. Now with a traitorous mother in law.
"Good good. On the way if you want..." The droid, yes he had plans for the droids. Most barely even bothered to pay attention to them. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a tiny box. "You know what a fly eye is..?" he asked. She had no doubt heard of them. He had a plan for this one and all it really had to do was attach itself against the droid.
****
First chance he got once released was check into a hotel and sent for a medical droid for himself. No way would be be walking out with Zann out there on the loose.
Pulling his comlink out he called Anara and got right to the point. "Your told them !?" he was more than angry, he wanted to lash out. He wanted her around to berate her like some amateur.
From the space of time it took for the Cloud Police to take him to the detention tower to wait like some criminal on no charges. Anara had lost her wits and told her daughter something. Does Tress know now, too? If she wasn't needed he would have had her killed for such actions. "If you have jeopardized our goals, i swear...."
****
Far from the lively places he had been before and missed, Rhy Knylenn, was nothing but happy now. Work. It was always some tedious job they had need of him to do. Sign this. Order that. It was only the administrative droid and office personnel that Tress had hired for him that gave him enough time to relax at the spa. Party all night with some of the local woman.
He hoped this went by faster, the meeting of the Direx Board meeting was scheduled soon and he would be one step closer to being able to go home again. Come back praised and respected like his family had before their disgrace. Soon....
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Post by kharivestra on Nov 11, 2011 14:36:34 GMT -5
She hadn't really wanted to broach the subject with him, since his connection to Prescott was a very personally sensative one. Speaking to him now, though, was better than having Tress find out she'd gone to the man later, she feared he might have seen that as some sort of betrayal, whatever her intentions.
"Constantly, but I have told you all that I said to him, he wasn't prepared to do much save for gloat and boast about his involvement in the war. Provocation doesn't look good on him, someone ought to tell him that." By the sour nature of her words, he would be able to tell that something he'd said had rattled her enough to be snippy about it. In the long run, Tress was right about him, he'd said what he could just to get under her skin, it didn't make it true.
They travsersed the floor to the hallway outside, and with a beckon crook of one index finger, the protocol droid followed them, still keeping it's respectful distance while it tried to keep up with them.
The nervousness she had felt on the way here had now dissipated almost completely. Anticipation had since taken it's place and now Khari was in business mode, what lay in store for the Jedi would be a series of key points she wished to bring up in person only. Hopefully the Grand Master would be receptive to them, if not, well that would be a terrible shame, she wished for this to go expediently, without too many hitches along the way. What Tress had planned would have to fit with the plan seamlessly, and Khari didn't doubt him when he implied that it would be.
Barely, her dark eyes narrowed as she considered that option, there was no reason why not, but it was hardly leave if they were working, station bound or not. She would find a way to give them incentives for doing this, that should take the edge off most annoyances or disputes.
Tress was right though, things had gotten far more complicated than they needed to be right now. They would have to do something to remedy that.
"I am sure we can come to some arrangement, our own floor is protected well enough, and now your grandfather has his own personal guard - whether he likes it or not - I think we have covered all our weak points. Save for one..." That one needed no introduction; Anara, she had been and would be their one little loophole. Khari couldn't stop her from fraternizing with Prescott, especially if it appeared as innocent as the man had made out to be, though perhaps innocent wasn't the correct word to be using there. She shuddered at the thought, and was suddenly thankful that for whatever reason, the powers that were had chosen to ensure that he wasn't her father and Kholis was. She could have turned out a lot worse.
A chemically enduced coma was looking better all the time.
"We're going to have to address that, too. I wish I could have gotten Prescott to tell me what they were doing, really doing I mean. I would have thought he'd want to try and persuade me that whatever it was was a good idea. But perhaps I am thinking along the wrong lines." Khari sighed tiredly, that ship had long but sailed, for the time being at least, and she wouldn't go chasing after Prescott when she wasn't surrounded by a company of security personnel, she didn't trust him in the slightest. He was ex peace brigade, why should she?
The Kuati frowned, she did know what one was, but why would they be using it in a meeting they would both be present in? Unless, of course, the plan wasn't to use it in the meeting at all, and that sounded underhanded to say the least. She wasn't adverse to that, and it didn't clash with their plans, but if caught...
Resolving to hear him out, she nodded simply, and waited while they walked.
"Yes, I'm listening." She intoned, then reached out for his hand. Here, at least, they were free enough to show eachother affection without the concerns of others putting two and two together, making the inevitable. The added bonus was his disguise, and while few high born Kuati showed their Telbun much 'affection' outside of the purpose for which they were intended, it wasn't exactly against the rules to do so either.
The business suite was on the ground floor, just a short trip away by turbolift, and the Jedi were set to arrive some minutes after they did, they'd have time to discuss things. But before they got there, if the Jedi had spoken with the Baron administrator prior to this, there was every chance they had arranged for the room to be bugged. And any good sabac player never showed their hand until the crucial moment.
*****
Anara couldn't believe her ears, Khari had gone to see Logan? She knew the girl took risks, ridiculous ones at times, but going there and just telling the man that she knew he was here to meet her... Had she no sense at all!?
And now Prescott was on the other end of the transmission, threatening her like only he knew how. It was a wasted effort, did he really think she wouldn't have thought about what she was doing before she divulged to Khari that little tidbit of information? So it would come as little surprise then, that she had done so with good intent - evidently not as far as he was concerned.
Issuing the man a little exasperated sigh, that was about as flappable as she was willing to get at present, she glared at the comlink as if he could actually see her.
"Save your threats for when you actually need them. I have everything in hand." He, more than likely, wouldn't believe her - he never did. "Consider this, dear. What does she actually know? That you and I know eachother, this is nothing remarkable. She also knows that I invited you here, I am assuming you furnished the reason, so I would ask for that for future reference. In any case, Khari is nothing to worry about as well she knows, herself."
She had never told Logan about that, the deal with Khari's father, though she had hinted at it over the time they had known eachother. That one thing that would keep her daughter in line, and herself in good stead. If she went down for this, so too would Khari, it was that simple. The Senator couldn't imagine that even Tress knew, and if he did, well then her daughter had really disappointed her, if their marriage broke up, she could forsee that getting out, but she wagered she could dismiss it as slander. She'd even had evidence planted on a one Kaur of Kuhlvult to the contrary, absolving herself of any connection...save for Khari, of course. But no one knew of her true parentage. If she had her way, that would remain the case.
"You paid for your crimes, there is nothing she can do to stop me speaking with you, nor anyone for that matter. Let her throw her weight around, she's good at that, but it will be ultimately fruitless." He was worrying about nothing as far as she was concerned.
"Now, apologies for not getting to you before she did, I have a feeling that was her plan, as is not coming back for me prior to this meeting. I think it's time we had one of our own, however. It's been too long."
The Knylenn's were amusing themselves, she could get someone to watch them for an hour or so, they might not even be any trouble since they seemed the quietest she had ever seen them in their entire time together. Anara wondered if she should pass this knowledge onto Rhy, assuming he'd known exactly what they could be like first hand. And then again, maybe he hadn't, he'd been exactly the same when he was younger...perhaps this was the norm for Knylenns. A hideous thought.
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) "I do belong to a faction like that, yes." the beeping of her commlink stopped discussion of moments.