Coruscant- Thursday

[notconflicted]

When Sia became empress, one of the things that surprised her the most was just how much there was to always be aware of. She'd caught glimpses of it that she thought was more like the whole picture, and now she felt like half of her job was trying to keep up on everything that was happening.

(The other half, of course, was meetings, which may or may not have had anything to do with the first half.)

That was going to be most of her day today. The daily meeting was done, now it was just a matter of reading reports until something terrible happened or she slowly lost her mind, whichever came first, typically.


[Expecting one but open!]

Comments

[craftyladyparts]

And here came Jessica to interrupt reports with a report. “Hey Sia? Have a minute or forty?”

She continued to do a great job staying official around her head of state.

[notconflicted]

Please never be official when people weren't around.

"I'll even give you forty-five," Sia said, waving her in.

[craftyladyparts]

Jessica made her way in and took a seat. “How’s it going? How’s life in Sia-world? I ask this because I’m going to be asking a lot of questions to do with me stuff for apparently forty-four minutes, so it’s probably kind to give you at least one for you stuff.”

[notconflicted]

"Constantly frustrating. And if I go into it I'll take up thirty of those forty-four."

They were friends for a reason.

[craftyladyparts]

“Got it,” Jessica said. “Speaking of something potentially frustrating, how much do you know about the old Moffs from the previous, way less good version of the Empire?”

Jessica was a master of segues and the haphazard use thereof.

[notconflicted]

"Unfortunately far too much," Sia said with a sigh, a little worried now. "I grew up around them."

[craftyladyparts]

“I have reason to believe that one of them, Fehlaaur, is part of a group called the Church of the Dark Side,” Jessica said. “My best intelligence is that they not Force users, but they’re people who had a little too much stake in Krayt’s Empire, went underground, and are delving into Sith mysticism. I thought they were fairly benign until I started getting pieces of information - nothing concrete - that he’s involved, and also when a giant Sith war bug tried to melt me in acid. Do you have any kind of read on him?”

[notconflicted]

Sia frowned really hard at the mention of the acid bug.

"He's been even-keeled enough," she said. "His opinions might not have always aligned with ours, but he at least puts thought into them. One of the less problematic of the Moffs, actually."

Though the bar for that was.... sigh.

[craftyladyparts]

“Apparently the Chiss Ascendancy cut him loose when the Sith were overthrown,” Jessica said. “I guess ‘less problematic’ was still too much for them. Do you think he’d be capable of organizing something like this? Not morally since, you know, he wouldn’t be the first person pushed to extremes. But in terms of actual ability to start up a secret group like this.”

[notconflicted]

"I think if they've made it to the level to be a Moff then they absolutely have the capability," Sia said. "Which has been most of our problem with them."

[craftyladyparts]

“Kind of related... You’re not the first person I talked to about him. I was working with Captain Gunn Yage, and she took me to see Morrigan Corde who knows some things about the Moffs.” Jessica was giving Sia a look that basically said ‘Go ahead and tell me that you know about Corde’s alter ego so I don’t have to be careful.’ “Inside knowledge, if you will.”

If Sia didn’t actually know, then Jessica was going to appear to be deranged. She was comfortable with this.

[notconflicted]

Really, the only thing keeping her from looking deranged anyway was the fact that Sia was used to her. (Love ya, Jess.)

Sia arched an eyebrow, but nodded and said, "I believe I've seen some of that inside knowledge for myself, yes."

And then had more of it confirmed later because she found out everything.

[craftyladyparts]

“So you know the thing so I don’t have to keep talking around it in a way that would probably give you enough information to figure it out if you didn’t already know? Cool,” Jessica said. “Is she at all trustworthy? Gunn had some thoughts, but I don’t know her well yet and her perception could be biased.”

[notconflicted]

"What were Captain Yage'a opinions?" Sia asked.

Which was mostly to see if her own thoughts lined up, and also because that could be good information to know.

[craftyladyparts]

“She’l be working some angle based on information we won’t have and she’ll probably get involved in the action eventually,” Jessica said. “But she should be helpful to the overall goal.”

[notconflicted]

Sia nodded, very slowly. "I'm not sure I would use the word 'trustworthy.' She was, of course, gathering inside knowledge for years," she said. "I believe she would help as long as and in whatever way it was of benefit to her."

[craftyladyparts]

“To what degree should I be cautious with her?” Jessica asked. “Like, if she shows up when I get to wherever the Church is keeping Sith artifacts, do I have to be concerned that she’s going to take a magic armband and get possessed by something to gain ancient power? Or more that she might just bail out to suit her interests?”

“She reminds me a lot of one of my mentors, but I pretty much knew exactly what kind of bastard he was, you know?”

Nick Fury would take the magic armband, but he would put it into deep storage so YOU didn’t have it. ... And so that he could use it sometime later to save the world through really nasty means. But he would have a way out of that, too.

[notconflicted]

"The second option, most likely," Sia said. "Don't hinge your plan on her and I would think you could handle the rest."

She had faith in Jessica that way.

[craftyladyparts]

“Okay, that helps,” Jessica said. “And then any thoughts on Captain Yage? Kind of seems like she’ll be involved in all of this going forward, especially with Morrigan getting in on it. She seems resourceful. Sure doesn’t seem like it’ll be a bad thing to have her around.”

[notconflicted]

"I mostly know her father, but I have no issue with either of them. They were a great help in taking the Empire back from the Sith," Sia said. "I think she would be good to keep on your side."

[craftyladyparts]

“If nothing else, she’s definitely been a help with figuring out how to pilot my ship like an actual flyer,” Jessica said. “I owe her for that.”

“Thanks for the input. It helps confirm that I’m on a good track here.”

[notconflicted]

"You seem to be. Even if that track has to do with Sith mysticism."

She was so over Sith everything. So over it.

[craftyladyparts]

“I’ll take some disgraced politicians cosplaying as Sith wizards over the real thing,” Jessica said. “And don’t worry, if I find out I’m out of my depth, I will call in for reinforcements.”

[notconflicted]

"I'll make sure to have them on hand if needed," Sia promised. "Though, if at all possible, please don't need them."

[craftyladyparts]

“That’s the goal,” Jessica said. “But just as a head’s up, I didn’t actually kill that giant war bug, so if they managed to make any more of those, Gunn is going to at least need her ship. It has to have better lasers than mine.”

[notconflicted]

Sia hated all of those words, Jessica.

"I may have you debriefed by one of my people who's familiar with Yuuzhaan Vong technology. It sounds like something they'd be able to better prepare for."

[craftyladyparts]

“Ooh. I’ll take it,” Jessica said.

[notconflicted]

"We'll make sure you're set up properly," Sia said.

Not just because she was a little protective. Shh.