Marasiah Fel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notconflicted) wrote2018-07-25 08:23 am
notconflicted) wrote2018-07-25 08:23 am
Coruscant- Wednesday
Sia had some extended family around, but she wasn't particularly close with them. They weren't her age, and several cousins she'd been closer to growing up had died during the war, so most of the family she had left weren't much more than ordinary Knights to her. The exception to this was Hogrum, her uncle on her mother's side, who had become one of Roan's most trusted advisors and had stayed on to help Sia. When she was feeling increasingly isolated, it was good to have someone who knew how this job went, and who got her, without having to worry about how she came off looking.
They were meeting over caf in Sia’s office, with him giving her a rundown of any news she would need. It was a much longer meeting than she'd anticipated, and when he finally stopped, she said, "What you're saying is, all the news is bad."
"All the news is complicated," Hogrum amended.
"I suppose I shouldn't expect that that should change anytime soon," Sia said, managing not to sigh. It wasn't as if things had gotten better over the months since she'd ascended the throne. Being the most powerful woman in the galaxy didn't mean you could just wish things to happen.
"No," he agreed. "It will take a long time to undo the damage that was done."
"I'm sure my father would have known the right things to do."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Sia. He was the one who led us into this," Hogrum pointed out.
"And led us through it. I fully understand his role in all of this." At least privately. Publicly was a different story. "I know where the blame lies. But he was at least prepared for what came after the war."
"If only he had been stronger," Hogrum said solemnly. "If it had not been for his business with Darth Maladi…"
Sia paused.
There were five people in the entire galaxy who knew the truth about the events surrounding her father's death: three were in the room where it happened, two had been told afterwards. Hogrum was not one of those people. "What business with Darth Maladi?"
He paused, too, for the briefest of moments. "His murder at her hands, of course."
Sia had a hollow feeling beginning in the pit of her stomach, a feeling she found way too familiar. It was too much to hope that something- just one, single thing- would ever work out okay. "His death was business?"
"You misunderstand me," Hogrum said firmly.
"Do I?" Sia asked, and sighed. "I'm running short on patience these days, so allow me to be blunt. Did you know about the business my father actually had with Maladi?" If he didn't know, then it was a risk admitting there was business there, but… she knew the answer. She’d had one very big question about the events surrounding Roan’s death, and if she pressed, she might get the answer.
"I have no idea what you mean," he said.
"My father was working with Darth Maladi to create a toxin that would wipe out the Sith, unbeknownst to me. Unbeknownst to everyone, actually," Sia continued, looking straight at him. "He was a powerful man, but I know firsthand now how many eyes were on him at all times. He couldn't have brought her onboard the Jagged Fel and kept her imprisoned and working without anyone knowing. He must have had an accomplice, to keep an eye on her, and to keep her working. He also wouldn't have done such a thing without talking to any of his advisors. Now, there were three of us that he asked to stay onboard the ship during the battle at Coruscant, that went with him when everything happened. The fourth was you, and you didn't even question why he asked us to go along with him. Did you never wonder what happened? Or did you already know what he was planning to do?"
This time the silence went on for what felt like an agonizing long time, but was probably only a few seconds. "I knew Darth Maladi was aboard the ship," he admitted finally.
As it turned out, it didn't make her feel any better hearing it. "And you knew what my father was planning?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't try to talk him out of it?"
"Of course I did. Roan would not be swayed."
"So you just went along with it, then," Sia said.
"I served the Emperor. Those were my oaths as an Imperial Knight."
"You serve the Force, as embodied by the Emperor, unless he falls to the dark side. Did you not believe that killing billions of innocents- and nearly all of our allies- was the dark side?"
"Roan believed it was the best chance of winning the war," Hogrum said evenly. "I tried to change his mind, but he was in charge."
"Would you do the same for me?" Sia asked carefully.
"Of course I would," he said. "You are my sister's daughter."
She hated that answer. Hated it. "Would you rather I think you incompetent, letting my father fall without so much as a warning to me because he said so, or should I guess a motivation for your actions?"
"Are you accusing me of setting Roan up to fall to the dark side?" Hogrum asked.
That hadn't even occurred to her until right now, not that she was letting him see that. "Did you?"
"Sia, I would never."
"I," she said coolly, "am your Empress. I know you're lying to me. If you'd like, we could resort to other methods of getting you to tell me the truth, but I'd much rather you respect me enough to tell me yourself."
He fixed her with a steely one-eyed glare. "Are you threatening me?"
Yep. "I'm trying to figure out why one of my father's most trusted advisors would allow something that could never be anything but disastrous to happen. The best case scenario would be that everyone on Coruscant died-"
She stopped, one new piece of the puzzle clicking into place. Maladi had made the deal with Roan in exchange for Cade’s head. Sia hadn't thought about it at the time, but even a Sith who had gone insane wouldn't just hand over a toxic agent to the enemy in exchange for one person who was on the planet to begin with.
"Omega Red didn't work, did it?" she said slowly. "She developed a toxin that the Sith would… what, be immune to?"
Hogrum shook his head. "I wouldn't know."
"Why wouldn't you? You were working with them." It was a guess. Maybe he was working with them through Veed and the other traitors currently awaiting their trials, but it was the same thing when those traitors answered to Sith.
"Of course I wouldn't." The way he said it, though… It was the answer he was supposed to give. And he was just throwing up walls against her in the Force.
Normally Sia would blow up. This was a case where it would be completely warranted for her to start yelling. Instead, she raised her chin and asked, way too calmly, "Why?"
"You know this already," he said, just a touch warily.
"Hapes still holds my father responsible for my mother's death," she recited. She'd heard it before, and supposedly they had looked past that to look for Antares when she'd requested it, because the problems they had with her father didn't apply to her. Now Sia was wondering if they'd even known about her request, and whether the Hapans had any hand in this. If they did, she had some very big problems on her hands.
"He wasn't very good at his job, Sia," Hogrum went on. "He allied with the Sith. You can argue that he didn't want to get into a war, but he allowed it. He allowed it, and he took what he could from it until they turned on him. It got Elliah killed, it nearly destroyed the Empire, and if he hadn't gone dark over this, it would have been something else."
"Shut up."
He fell silent for a moment, and asked, reaching casually for his caf, "What are you going to do?"
The thing was, Sia knew what she should do. This kind of crime was punishable by death. But, he was family. And her father’s death had been covered up, and Hogrum knew the truth that could make keeping the Empire together even harder. She might have to figure out how to avoid losing her biggest ally in Hapes if she lost him.
At the same time, they'd had continued problems with the Sith. They'd once come after Sia and the Triumvirate like they known where they would be. Had they?
When someone had already betrayed the Empire, could they ever be taken at their word that it wouldn't happen again?
“I will escort you back to your quarters,” she said, “where you will have ten minutes to gather your things before leaving for what we will tell everyone is a sudden diplomatic trip. You won’t be returning. Effective immediately, you are banished from Coruscant and all Imperial-controlled worlds for your treason.”
"I," he said, "have given everything in service of the Empire," Hogrum said. "And this is why you sit on the throne now."
"If you're waiting for my thanks, you won't get it," Sia said coldly. At least it didn't seem apparent to most people that this whole arrangement was actively ruining her life? "I know now what your loyalty means. What would I have to do before you turned on me, too?"
He set his drink back down, and stood. "Perhaps you have more of your father in you than I thought.”
Before recently, Sia never would have thought that to be an insult.
[Cleaning up the loose end that always bothered me from this series and finally biting that bullet, la la. NFB, NFI.]
They were meeting over caf in Sia’s office, with him giving her a rundown of any news she would need. It was a much longer meeting than she'd anticipated, and when he finally stopped, she said, "What you're saying is, all the news is bad."
"All the news is complicated," Hogrum amended.
"I suppose I shouldn't expect that that should change anytime soon," Sia said, managing not to sigh. It wasn't as if things had gotten better over the months since she'd ascended the throne. Being the most powerful woman in the galaxy didn't mean you could just wish things to happen.
"No," he agreed. "It will take a long time to undo the damage that was done."
"I'm sure my father would have known the right things to do."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Sia. He was the one who led us into this," Hogrum pointed out.
"And led us through it. I fully understand his role in all of this." At least privately. Publicly was a different story. "I know where the blame lies. But he was at least prepared for what came after the war."
"If only he had been stronger," Hogrum said solemnly. "If it had not been for his business with Darth Maladi…"
Sia paused.
There were five people in the entire galaxy who knew the truth about the events surrounding her father's death: three were in the room where it happened, two had been told afterwards. Hogrum was not one of those people. "What business with Darth Maladi?"
He paused, too, for the briefest of moments. "His murder at her hands, of course."
Sia had a hollow feeling beginning in the pit of her stomach, a feeling she found way too familiar. It was too much to hope that something- just one, single thing- would ever work out okay. "His death was business?"
"You misunderstand me," Hogrum said firmly.
"Do I?" Sia asked, and sighed. "I'm running short on patience these days, so allow me to be blunt. Did you know about the business my father actually had with Maladi?" If he didn't know, then it was a risk admitting there was business there, but… she knew the answer. She’d had one very big question about the events surrounding Roan’s death, and if she pressed, she might get the answer.
"I have no idea what you mean," he said.
"My father was working with Darth Maladi to create a toxin that would wipe out the Sith, unbeknownst to me. Unbeknownst to everyone, actually," Sia continued, looking straight at him. "He was a powerful man, but I know firsthand now how many eyes were on him at all times. He couldn't have brought her onboard the Jagged Fel and kept her imprisoned and working without anyone knowing. He must have had an accomplice, to keep an eye on her, and to keep her working. He also wouldn't have done such a thing without talking to any of his advisors. Now, there were three of us that he asked to stay onboard the ship during the battle at Coruscant, that went with him when everything happened. The fourth was you, and you didn't even question why he asked us to go along with him. Did you never wonder what happened? Or did you already know what he was planning to do?"
This time the silence went on for what felt like an agonizing long time, but was probably only a few seconds. "I knew Darth Maladi was aboard the ship," he admitted finally.
As it turned out, it didn't make her feel any better hearing it. "And you knew what my father was planning?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't try to talk him out of it?"
"Of course I did. Roan would not be swayed."
"So you just went along with it, then," Sia said.
"I served the Emperor. Those were my oaths as an Imperial Knight."
"You serve the Force, as embodied by the Emperor, unless he falls to the dark side. Did you not believe that killing billions of innocents- and nearly all of our allies- was the dark side?"
"Roan believed it was the best chance of winning the war," Hogrum said evenly. "I tried to change his mind, but he was in charge."
"Would you do the same for me?" Sia asked carefully.
"Of course I would," he said. "You are my sister's daughter."
She hated that answer. Hated it. "Would you rather I think you incompetent, letting my father fall without so much as a warning to me because he said so, or should I guess a motivation for your actions?"
"Are you accusing me of setting Roan up to fall to the dark side?" Hogrum asked.
That hadn't even occurred to her until right now, not that she was letting him see that. "Did you?"
"Sia, I would never."
"I," she said coolly, "am your Empress. I know you're lying to me. If you'd like, we could resort to other methods of getting you to tell me the truth, but I'd much rather you respect me enough to tell me yourself."
He fixed her with a steely one-eyed glare. "Are you threatening me?"
Yep. "I'm trying to figure out why one of my father's most trusted advisors would allow something that could never be anything but disastrous to happen. The best case scenario would be that everyone on Coruscant died-"
She stopped, one new piece of the puzzle clicking into place. Maladi had made the deal with Roan in exchange for Cade’s head. Sia hadn't thought about it at the time, but even a Sith who had gone insane wouldn't just hand over a toxic agent to the enemy in exchange for one person who was on the planet to begin with.
"Omega Red didn't work, did it?" she said slowly. "She developed a toxin that the Sith would… what, be immune to?"
Hogrum shook his head. "I wouldn't know."
"Why wouldn't you? You were working with them." It was a guess. Maybe he was working with them through Veed and the other traitors currently awaiting their trials, but it was the same thing when those traitors answered to Sith.
"Of course I wouldn't." The way he said it, though… It was the answer he was supposed to give. And he was just throwing up walls against her in the Force.
Normally Sia would blow up. This was a case where it would be completely warranted for her to start yelling. Instead, she raised her chin and asked, way too calmly, "Why?"
"You know this already," he said, just a touch warily.
"Hapes still holds my father responsible for my mother's death," she recited. She'd heard it before, and supposedly they had looked past that to look for Antares when she'd requested it, because the problems they had with her father didn't apply to her. Now Sia was wondering if they'd even known about her request, and whether the Hapans had any hand in this. If they did, she had some very big problems on her hands.
"He wasn't very good at his job, Sia," Hogrum went on. "He allied with the Sith. You can argue that he didn't want to get into a war, but he allowed it. He allowed it, and he took what he could from it until they turned on him. It got Elliah killed, it nearly destroyed the Empire, and if he hadn't gone dark over this, it would have been something else."
"Shut up."
He fell silent for a moment, and asked, reaching casually for his caf, "What are you going to do?"
The thing was, Sia knew what she should do. This kind of crime was punishable by death. But, he was family. And her father’s death had been covered up, and Hogrum knew the truth that could make keeping the Empire together even harder. She might have to figure out how to avoid losing her biggest ally in Hapes if she lost him.
At the same time, they'd had continued problems with the Sith. They'd once come after Sia and the Triumvirate like they known where they would be. Had they?
When someone had already betrayed the Empire, could they ever be taken at their word that it wouldn't happen again?
“I will escort you back to your quarters,” she said, “where you will have ten minutes to gather your things before leaving for what we will tell everyone is a sudden diplomatic trip. You won’t be returning. Effective immediately, you are banished from Coruscant and all Imperial-controlled worlds for your treason.”
"I," he said, "have given everything in service of the Empire," Hogrum said. "And this is why you sit on the throne now."
"If you're waiting for my thanks, you won't get it," Sia said coldly. At least it didn't seem apparent to most people that this whole arrangement was actively ruining her life? "I know now what your loyalty means. What would I have to do before you turned on me, too?"
He set his drink back down, and stood. "Perhaps you have more of your father in you than I thought.”
Before recently, Sia never would have thought that to be an insult.
[Cleaning up the loose end that always bothered me from this series and finally biting that bullet, la la. NFB, NFI.]