Faction An Agent of Change (EOTL NISB & Order of the Sith Lords)

[Relux]

LIANNA - NISB Headquarters
Office of Alicia Drey
​

"Sorry to disturb you, Sir," Senior Agent Dorgan said as he stood in the doorway of her office.

Dorgan was one of the ISB agents who hadn't taken up a specialization within the organization. His senior status enabled him to command the rank and file of the ISB, an army of the secret police that the Empire maintained to keep security and order within its borders. ISB basic training was extensive, so even a non-specialist was far more skilled that a normal planetary security officer. Someone like him was formidable, experienced, and commanded respect within the organization and throughout the Empire at large.

Still, the man was junior to even the greenest field agent or lowest Staff Agent. He was only two steps up from the lowest rank. Hence the 'Sir.'

"Some of the Agents patrolling the city picked up a-" He hesitated, seeming to have trouble articulating his thoughts.

"Initially, we thought it was a droid. Asking strange questions about the Empire, people in power. But when it proved resistant to a restraining bolt, we realized it was... something else."

He cleared his throat, explaining further, "We threw it in a cell until we could figure out what to do with it, but then it mentioned you by name, Sir.

It started talking about having hired a Slicer, hacking holonet transmissions within the GA, and even violently interrogating a Ministry of Inquiry officer working for House Mecetti. It said this was how it got your name. It said this was why it came to Lianna."

He paused, shifting on his feet somewhat uncertainly.

"Since it named you, I thought you'd want to know.

I was planning to assign an interrogator to it to divine more. We have provisionally identified it as a mineral-based life-form Sevetta, based on sensor scans and library records.

Some of the specialists think it might respond to strong electrical currents or high strength oxidizers. Experimentation on interrogation techniques could prove useful if we ever need to interrogate one of these in the future, so I'm sure the team would be glad to give it a go."

---

Alicia Drey @Open to additional involvement from EOTL NISB or Order of the Sith Lords Personnel

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

"Rarely did events play out as imagined, in any case. The order of future events was transient. In the same way that the past was reconfigured by selective memory, future events, too, were moving targets. One could only act on instinct, grab hold of an intuited perfect moment, and spring into action."
-- Darth Plagueis.

Alicia had been reclined in her seat, in a dark room illuminated only by a lamp placed on her desk, when Dorgan had entered her office. In front of her were detailed transcripts taken by the New Imperial Security Bureau of the latest communiques between Casteban and Maldor Mecetti. Alicia had made arrangements with her handlers for their communications to be monitored and passed along to her for study. It was, so far, an unfascinating read to say the least. It was clear from the reading that both men knew that they were being listened too, and as Alicia continued to read she wondered if both of them had developed another means of talking without someone like her listening.

Wordlessly Alicia averted her gaze from the manuscript when Dorgan explained the situation. As he spoke her mind turned from guesswork to handling the present situation. Calmly she waited for Dorgan to finish explaining before breaking her silence with an air of authority. "I want the identity and location of that Slicer in one hour," Alicia ordered as she rose up from her seat. Taking a moment to lock the manuscript into a drawer, Alicia pocketed the key as she led Dorgan out of the office.

"Send word to my handler to engage communications black out between the Mecetti. I also want the name of that Ministry Officer."

As Dorgan left to carry out his orders Alicia turned into the cell block where the prisoner was being kept. As she studied him Alicia said to the guards: "You are all dismissed. Lock the door behind you."

When the guards left Alicia said to Relux: "You have my attention."

 

[Relux]

LIANNA - NISB Headquarters
High Security Cell #13

​

Relux sat in his cell, an apparatus attached to 'his' hands which was meant to make the appendages useless. They contained a stun device designed to disrupt the nervous function of multicellular creatures that enjoyed the use of a nervous system.

Relux did not know what the stun-cuffs would do to him. Very little, he suspected.

He. Him. His. The consequent pronouns of his chosen form. He could as easily become a She. Or an It. But he had a slight preference for this shape, a mild attraction to the concept of presenting as male in humanoid society. Perhaps it was because the first humanoids he'd met had been male.

Clearly, the Imperial files on his kind were incomplete, or the NISB would not have attempted the stun-cuffs.

And they never would have allowed an NISB field agent to come within ten meters.

He sat for forty minutes before a figure approached, dismissed the guards, and came to speak to him. He did not get up. He did not move, except to create the facsimile of 'looking' at her.

And to speak.

"Field Agent Drey is described by the House Mecetti Ministry of Inquiry as a woman of uncommon beauty, even among Imperial operatives.

I do not fully understand the standards by which such things are judged. But I have sampled many faces and forms declared to be beautiful by human and near-human species. These studies leave me with a high likelihood probability that you are Field Agent Drey, as you match more physical points of reference than any other person I have seen since coming into the custody of the NISB.

Thank you for responding to my request for an audience."

He paused for a moment, considering his next words.

"Field Agent Drey is said to have manipulated circumstances within House Mecetti to advantage the senior members of that house while insinuating Imperial monitoring and influence of the most important House business. They note that incentives have been provided for compliance, and blackmail material collected to punish a lack of compliance.

The Ministry of Inquiry has marked Field Agent Drey as a high value acquisition target, if she can be lured to become a double agent. The Ministry of Inquiry has inserted an operative into the NISB for the purposes of learning more about Field Agent Drey, and also about the investigations of the NISB.

Early reports from this operative suggest that Field Agent Drey is proactively pursuing her own investigations without direction from the senior Imperial leadership or superiors within the NISB. This level of autonomous activity and initiative are seen as unusual within the Empire, which is oriented around command and control apparatus.

Field Agent Drey, you seem to be an exceptional individual who has already succeeded in manipulating galactic events, securing a lucrative relationship between a Galactic Alliance Institution and the Empire of the Lost, while maintaining control points along all points of contact that might compromise that relationship, and securing failsafe options to burn noncompliance.

I am Relux. I have come in search of a shaper to whom I can offer my service.

I have come for you, Field Agent Drey."

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

As Alicia listened to the prisoner's reply she found herself walking slowly along the edges of the cell that he inhabited. After the first few words were spoken a device in her left pocket activated with a push of her thumb. The NISB had just about every room, corridor and building across Lianna City taped, so, even though Alicia did not know it acutely, an educated guess would determine that Relux's cell was no different. If there was someone listening to their conversation they found their audio feed eerily silent all of a sudden leaving only visual footage of their encounter.

So the Mecetti had been making their own inquiries back on Obulette. That made sense. Casteban was a leader and had chosen to represent his home on the Galactic Senate. Therefore, now that an Imperial agent of the Imperial Security Bureau was making strides in affecting their business, it made sense that they would have taken their own steps to find out who exactly Alicia Drey was. A business tycoon of the 840s, Drey had disappeared sometime after the Omega War had come to a close, only resurfacing on Lianna mere weeks ago after a half-century of being an effective ghost: an anomaly who had seemingly made her splash in the business world, and then pulled out when she had made her money. Of course, that wasn't necessarily the truth.

What intrigued Alicia as she took a few moments to collect her thoughts (after Relux had finished talking) was why they were telling her all of this in the first place. Neither of the Mecetti seemed like the type to establish contact like this, and there was no need for it. Arrangements could have been made for Maldor to meet discreetly to discuss this double-agent proposal that either he or his father had planned to make. Deducing that this alien was not working for either man Alicia thought about his summarization of events. He was clearly the one who had interrogated the Ministry Official on Obulette, who had leaked classified intel that neither she nor the Mecetti wanted to be exposed to the Alliance, Empire nor their supporting organisations in the form of the NISB and Jedi. In fact, Alicia had taken great steps to avoid this type of scrutiny through her arrangements with Casteban.

Deciding to leave the other questions to the side, at least for the moment, Alicia asked: "What do you want with me?"

 

[Relux]

LIANNA - NISB Headquarters
High Security Cell #13​

Relux followed her movements as she paced across the room.

No, he thought, not merely pacing. Repositioning herself.

"It has come to my attention that the Galaxy is disordered.

This disorder is apparent everywhere, both in small governments and large ones. On the micro scale, and the macro scale.

I have been seeking powerful agents of change who might remedy this. Whether they are agents of change for constructive or destructive purposes matters not to me. Whether the system is reformed from within, or torn down, matters not to me. Both are adequate paths towards remedy.

I do not have the holistic understanding or deep charisma necessary to invoke appropriate change. I barely have the understanding necessary to notice the disorder at the foundation of things.

So I have been seeking Shapers.

Leaders with the power and intent to invoke change.

The GA Senate was a potential place.

Then from the Senate to a Lord operating within the Senate. One subverting the will of the Alliance for his own purposes.

Then I found someone influencing that Lord. Someone above him in the hierarchy of change, but from a very different place.

And that someone was not carrying out orders. They were creating orders. Making the change of their own volition.

Such a person is a Shaper.

You. You are the ultimate agent of change in this chain.

I can not become you.

So I ask to serve you.

I want to help you change the Galaxy.

Thereby correcting its disorder, either through constructive or destructive means.

May I serve you, Field Agent Drey? Empower your schemes and ploys with my own strengths and skills?

This is my only desire. I want to multiply your effect.

I wish to call you my Master."

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

As Alicia finished repositioning herself her face was almost consumed by shadow. The cell block was dark, and only the artificial light hanging above Relux was the only source of light. Only her mouth, and the long strands of blonde hair were visible now. Was it possible this alien had figured out the entire truth? That she was a Sith Lord, a follower of the dark side? Or had he come to this rationale based entirely on what he had discovered so far? Alicia decided that her real identity was not known to this being. As she thought about her recent steps undertaken for the Work, Alicia came to the conclusion that there was nothing to indicate that she was Sith, and so the Grand Scheme remained known only to her.

Shapers. That was what this person called someone such as herself, and he was right. The power of the dark side had been diluted among thousands, and the consequence had been a series of Star Wars that had failed to fulfil the promise of the Sith. The One Sith Purge, the Omega War, Imperial Civil Wars, the Second Hyperspace War and even more that Alicia had forgotten. To destroy the Jedi Alicia would have to adopt a new maxim.

Only through destruction can I breed creation.

"I am building a network," Alicia said from the shadows, her words careful and dangerous. Here they were, in the bowels of the New Imperial Security Bureau, who- if they discovered her deception- would undoubtedly change from useful interlopers to enemies in a heartbeat. "If what you say is true then I have use for someone like you." Next, a hand lifted from her side, and mysteriously- impossibly- the cuffs around Relux's wrists fell to the ground.

"Tell me your name, stranger, and when it is done we will change the Galaxy."

 

[Relux]

LIANNA - NISB Headquarters
High Security Cell #13​

Relux looked down at the cuffs which had fallen away, wondering what hidden tool she'd used to order it to unlock. The fact that the means was hidden suggested that she had a flair for the dramatic. An aspect of her charisma, no doubt, which allowed her to manipulate the people who manipulated the events that would invoke the change she demanded from the galaxy.

He took a step, and then sank to his knees before her, bowing forward in supplication and devotion.

"I am Relux. In our language, the third leg."

Ilux, the Monopod. Felux, the Bipod. Relux, the Tripod. The necessary third point of contact to bring stability to any object. One could only hope to sit securely if they had that third leg.

It was a good name, given to him by a hundred entities who had wished the best for his future. They had hoped he would find a way to improve the galaxy, and then return to teach them how.

Unfortunately, he had discovered what they had not suspected. The consuming fire was as vital to progress as the foundation poured in its wake.

Creation and Destruction were both mothers, and they were constantly birthing each other.

"But I shall become whatever you require, my Master."

---

Alicia Drey

​

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

"Rise."

Alicia stepped out of the shadows, lowering her hand, to open the door to the cell. Her uniform was white, crisp and held the rank of an Operative. Soon, in time, she would come to own the organisation that was the New Imperial Security Bureau. It would be the beginning of a network that would span the Galaxy to provide her with the means to influence Galactic events, and the NISB would be the perfect face of such a thing. If they ever fell under scrutiny, criticism, dare say attack then to the eye they were merely dealing with an intelligence apparatus serving the Empire of the Lost and not what it truly was.

"When we leave these cells there will be questions. Don't answer them, and direct them to me. Follow."

Leading Relux out of the cells Alicia entered the hallway to discover that the guards had taken up positions outside the door as sentries. When they saw her and Relux exiting the block they went to raise their weapons, but Alicia lifted a hand and said: "The asset is with me. As of now this entire incident is classified. Forget about it."

Walking down the hallway back to her office Alicia took her seat and gestured for Relux to sit down somewhere else in the room. Taking out her comlink Alicia spoke into it: "Tell me you have the name of the Slicer and Ministry Official?"

 

[Relux]

​

Relux accompanied her, prepared to ignore or redirect any inquiries that came his way.

However, none did.

Apparently, his new Master had enough authority and respect in this organization that its members were satisfied with querying looks, and no actual queries. Bafflement didn't need a response, however. Soon, they were ensconced within the confines of her office.

She spoke to someone on her communications device, "Tell me you have the name of the Slicer and Ministry Official?"

There was a pause, then a reply came, "Sir, we intercepted a municipal security transmission in the Obulette city of Trevari, to the House Mecetti Ministry of Inquiry area office. A man by the name of Drebo Menx was found disemboweled in his apartment. There were other signs of torture. It's... pretty grim, Sir.

Based on a priority code which was used in the transmission, we suspect the victim may be a Ministry of Inquiry member. We have no leads on the slicer, but we have a list of one-thousand candidates that we're trying to work through. It... may be hard to verify. Slicers use a lot of barriers between themselves and the government. It's how they stay in business."

Relux spoke softly, "He is correct on both counts. The Ministry official I interrogated was named Drebo Menx.

The slicer went by the alias 'Weaver' but I never met them in person.

The fee they charged was ten-thousand credits, to acquire the desired information. In this case, scouring holonet transmissions from Obulette to determine the name of a Ministry of Inquiry member with sufficient authority and clearance to access the information I desired."

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

Alicia listened carefully as she spoke with one her handlers. These were them men in the Bureau who did not go off world, and were stationed here on Lianna, where they monitored incoming intel, or operations in the field. They were useful because they could provide things to a field agent that they otherwise would be without when active. For example, if an agent needed a name, such as the Ministry Official, the handlers were in position to scour their databanks to find the name, contact an asset on Obulette and begin sweeping for their location.

As Relux explained that he was the one responsible for the death of the Ministry Official Alicia begun contemplating the events as they appeared. It was clear to her that the Mecetti had been looking into her. Whether it was Casteban or Maldor didn't interest her... or at least for the moment. What did intrigue Alicia- in the here and now- was how it had all played out so far.

There was a leak, and now that person was sat in her office, having just pledged their allegiance to her. Relux had spent a large sum of credits intercepting transmissions that he shouldn't have known about, and from there traced them to the late Drebo Menx, who had files on her indicating a new conspiracy that either Casteban or Mecetti were about to enter where their goal was to recruit Alicia as a new asset to their House.

Something was amiss here. Firstly, how did Relux know about the transmissions that both the Mecetti had been sending too each other? Secondly, who was this 'Weaver' that had allegedly helped Relux in uncovering the connection between Alicia and the Mecetti?

"Cover our presence in this death," Alicia spoke to the handler. "All assets on Obulette are to go dark. Leave the body to be found by authorities. I want Weaver found. I expect progress soon in finding them." Deactivating the commlink and setting it on the desk, Alicia turned in her seat and gazed upon Relux thoughtfully.

Have you really come to serve me? Do you know who I actually am? Alicia thought to herself quietly. The Mecetti come across as quite cunning. Perhaps this is a ploy by them to keep an eye on me? Maybe you are actually working for one of them? Casteban, probably. You know about the transmissions between son and father because one of them told you about it. Menx is your excuse, your reason for establishing contact. You 'use' him to find me, kill him for the trouble, and navigate your way to Lianna to meet me. If that is all true then what is your goal?

"Relux..." Alicia broke the silence between them with a soft tone. In complicated matters it was better to simplify them, and the simple way to find out the truth was to ask him directly. "For Weaver to slice the transmissions sent between both Mecetti either you, him or someone else had to know about them in the first place. Who leaked that they were still contacting each other? It's the only way Weaver would know where to slice in, and trace them to Menx."

 

[Relux]

​

Relux paused for a moment, the elemental interactions in its body processing her statement and question.

"You may misapprehend my process."

Another pause, then, "I was not initially aware of transmissions between members of the Mecetti household. I was simply seeking a high-level intelligence operative within the House Mecetti organization who could give me the answer to various questions I had about them."

He tilted his head, "Obulette, the Throne World of House Mecetti, is a paranoid and authoritarian regime. As such, they limit civilian encryption protocols to Level Three complexity, to ensure that government agencies can read the proverbial mail sent by their citizenry. This enables the Ministry of Inquiry to ensure loyal behavior and notice trends of thought in their population.

Government employees enjoy level Four encryption in their messages. This makes the message encryption too sophisticated for the common citizens to break. However, level Four encryption is still within the reach of the House Mecetti Ministry of Inquiry. This allows them- at slightly more inconvenience- to ensure that government personnel remain free of corruption and have continued loyalty to the House.

The Ministry of Inquiry itself uses Level Five encryption, the most sophisticated encryption method available.

However, it is necessary for some higher-ranking Ministry personnel to check on their subordinates from time to time. As such, Level Five encryption has specific and highly secret back doors built-in which allow senior agents of the Ministry to open junior members' files and messages.

The senior agents themselves employ Level Five-Alpha encryption. This is the same encryption, but without the aforementioned back doors. It is inviolable.

All messages, regardless of encryption, require unencrypted routing data so that message relay stations will know how to direct them. The routing data does not point to specific individuals. But it does point to specific servers. The messages also have unencrypted identifiers showing which encryption method is used, so that the recipient can employ the appropriate decryption protocols and read it.

Once the methods of data security within House Mecetti were understood, I realized that it was no longer important to decipher individual message content to find out what I wished to know.

I hired a slicer to access all messages passing through a local Obulette hyperspace relay node.

I asked the slicer to screen for Level Five-Alpha encryption messages.

Then I asked them to notify me which local server the message had been issued from.

The hyperspace messaging servers on Obulette are neighborhood specific, to ensure efficient message delivery. So by identifying the source server, I now had a geographical location of approximately one mile square.

I was able to observe citizens in that area, screening them for apparent income, level of home security, use of government vehicles, and visitations to government offices.

Eventually, I found a high probability that Drebo Menx was a senior-ranking Ministry of Inquiry agent in the target neighborhood.

Subsequent interrogation confirmed my supposition.

It is now confirmed that there is a sufficient amount of despair and pain which will convince even a senior Ministry of Inquiry member to violate their oaths of secrecy. Drebo Menx revealed substantial information about House Mecetti, and their contact with you, before succumbing to his injuries.

I might have learned even more, but my understanding of mammalian biology is... incomplete.

Once I knew you existed, and were operating at a higher level than even Lord Casteban Mecetti, I knew that the Lords of House Mecetti were not the Shapers I sought.

I knew that I had to come here."

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

Alicia listened carefully to Relux's explanation. As she listened Alicia gained insight into the protocols of Obulette's government. The similarities of House Mecetti to the Imperials who served the Empire were enormous. As Relux explained their security protocols, encryption methods, the Ministry and the surveillance that the Mecetti had in place on Obulette the more Alicia wondered why the were aligned to the Galactic Alliance. Since joining the Bureau and learning about the Mecetti-Totan conspiracy Alicia had seen an opportunity to introduce herself into Alliance politics with the Mecetti acting as her proxy.

She possessed the necessary dirt to end the political careers of either Casteban or Maldor, and they did not seem the type of men to allow everything they had worked for to be destroyed due to their ego, or refusal to align themselves to a paradigm that was not of their own creation, but nevertheless became a necessity for them to survive. Not since Humbarine had Alicia involved herself in the politics of the Core, but in the Mecetti there were the means to begin influencing matters within the Alliance. The intelligence apparatus of the NISB would be useful in this regard, and her motives were admissible to the Emperor and his Moffs. Effectively, Alicia was doing 'spy stuff' and so long as she remained clandestine in her approach, there was very little reason to put an end to the charade.

As Relux came to the end of his explanation Alicia realised he still hadn't answered the crux of her question. "Yes, but why were you looking through their transmissions in the first place? What were you looking for before you found out about me?"

 

[Relux]

​

Relux seemed to hesitate for a moment.

In fact, he had learned that it was periodically necessary to make adjustments of posture or invoke gestures when in the company of most humanoids, and he was choosing the next one. If he sat still for too long, it risked making others nervous.

He folded his hands in front of him.

"In my travels of the galaxy with a mining frigate-" this was the first he'd mentioned such a thing, "I paid special attention to galactic news and politics, and especially the ore trade, hoping to find a Shaper. I learned that the Obulette shipyards increased their importation of Duranium ore by two-hundred percent, and began exporting civilian transports and farming equipment to rimward territories occupied by the emerging Empire.

Shortly thereafter, Maldor Mecetti was brought up on charges of illegal trafficking in Sith artifacts. He fled custody, seemingly to Sith territory, and stole a number of ships in his flight.

However, not long afterrwards, our mining frigate made a large Duranium delivery to the Grand Architect Mobile Shipyard of House Mecetti, which was engaged in continuous construction. Not in Galactic Alliance space, but in the Rimward territories closest to the Empire.

It seemed likely to me that this was no accident. Instead, it must be a clever ruse by House Mecetti to insert a high level official into the Empire to supply the Imperials with illegal technology. Then, using the stolen fleet of House Mecetti, the Junior Mecetti could join the Imperial war machine and manipulate the Empire into warfare with the Galactic Alliance.

House Mecetti would sell war materiel to both parties, doubling their profit. With Casteban seeming to be loyal to the Alliance, and Maldor seeming to serve the Empire, House Mecetti stood to gain no matter which way a war might go.

When I realized this, I believed House Mecetti's leaders to be great Shapers, manipulating both business and politics to their benefit. But I had to be sure.

I had their communications sliced, and I fatally interrogated their Ministry of Inquiry officer, hoping to confirm my suspicions. I was hoping that Casteban Mecetti was the Shaper I sought. The Shaper I should serve.

But then I learned he was being manipulated into a position of vulnerability.

Manipulated by you.

The true Shaper of grand events.

Finding out about you was a happy accident. You were not the target of my inquiries until very recently."

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

"To say that the Force works in mysterious ways is to admit one's ignorance, for any mystery can be solved through the application of knowledge and unrelenting effort."
-- Darth Plagueis.

Alicia drew a cigarette from a pack and lifted the butt of it to her lips as Relux regaled in her with another explanation. So it was a mere co-incidence that had led the two of them together, or so he thought. Alicia knew better. The Force worked in mysterious ways and the Force-strong were the masters of it. Inhabiting an ethereal realm where the unexpected could happen- even for those things that well designed for such eventualities- those who mastered the ways of the dark side knew that there was no such thing as co-incidence. There were no accidents. Everything had a purpose to them, and with action came a butterfly effect that would pass it's way down like a ripple, causing an astronomical amount of anomalies that only those with cunning, and foresight could account for.

But even with these truths known there were always going to be the one constant overlooked, or missed. Although unexpected to her the ways of the Force were always transient, and it's will a mystery that the Sith had spent several millennia studying. Whereas the Jedi followed the ways of the Force, however, individuals like Darth Ayra sought to bend it's will to them: harnessing it's power to suit their own agenda in the same way a warrior could harness a weapon in their hands. Bent and shaped to her machinations, the Force served her and here sat Relux as proof of this: delivered to her as a means of destruction to the Grand Scheme only to be turned and corrupted to serve it instead.

Ramifications of the Force aside Relux had enlightened her to assets and plans that the Mecetti had that she had been unaware of. This only stirred up more questions. If Mecetti Nationalized Industries possessed the means of constructing assets in the rim then why had Casteban agreed to a change in the arrangement he had with the Empire? Santhe-Sienar had still not agreed to the proposal that she had made with Casteban, so until then the original arrangement made between Maldor Mecetti and Nimian Totan were still in place, but now that Alicia knew about this mobile shipyard she wondered why he had agreed to merely leasing the designs of the Obscurer-class (and other designs) to Vyllia Santhe if the Mecetti had the means to construct the ships without scrutiny from the Alliance?

Exhaling a plume of smoke into the air, Alicia gesture to Relux and explained: "I am not looking to orchestrate a war between the Alliance and the Empire. The idea is to gain influence on both sides, and use them to serve a scheme I am constructing here on Lianna. If the Mecetti are looking to orchestrate a conflict between both sides then we will stop them, and show them a better way."

Taking the butt of the cigarette between her teeth, Alicia stood up and picked up a datapad from the desk. She rounded the table and stopped in front of Relux. "I want to know every asset that Mecetti Industries owns on and off Obulette. Shipyards, ships, vehicles, buildings, land, where they are keeping their money, who works for them, subsidiaries, contacts that either work with them, or for them. I want to know who Casteban Mecetti is against politically in the Senate, who his allies are, and sympathisers to Imperial ideology who could potentially be convinced to form a block."

Lifting her gaze up from Relux to exhale another plume of smoke Alicia held the datapad out for him to take.

 

[Relux]

​

Relux reached out to take the datapad as he considered what she'd said.

She was playing both sides for influence. She didn't want a war. She had her own scheme.

It was all confirmation that she was, indeed, a Shaper. A skilled one.

"I have some of this data thanks to my previous inquiries.

However, I do not have all of it."

He began tapping information into the pad as he spoke.

"I can conduct a deeper investigation, if you wish.

In such a case, adding to the current data will take time. Most likely additional information will reveal itself in layers. Superficial data, followed by more and more depth as the investigation continues.

I will have to re-enter Galactic Alliance space and observe some activities close-in to be successful.

If you are prepared to authorize such an investigation, then how long am I allotted to this task, and do you have any limitations you wish me to observe?"

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

Alicia smoked her cigarette as she pondered the question. As smoke exhaled around her she caught it in between her teeth to say:

"Return to Obulette and this time be discreet. Murder is a necessary act in certain situations, but the act is to be a last resort. People are more useful alive than they are dead. Everyone has a cost. There is a ship in the Obredaan system called the Ayrix. I have people there who will relay your messages to me. Send any intel or data for them to redirect to me. I may recall you from Obulette before your investigation is complete. My work is always changing and opportunities always present themselves when you least expect them."

 

[Relux]

​

Relux tapped data into the pad as he listened to his instructions, marinating in the smoke his new Master blew out into the room.

It was fitting that she smoked. The miasma penetrated all things, leaving a faint residue behind.

Just as his Master surely did.

Perhaps she also left cancers inside of her targets. Time would tell.

Whether her aims were to build or break, it mattered not to Relux. He would follow her instructions to the letter, using the methodologies she preferred. He was an instrument, and his only goal now was to fit her purpose.

He slid the datapad back across to her.

"A preliminary report, along with my ship identifier, my comlink frequencies, and my electronic messaging address within the holonet.

I shall depart immediately, and see that your will is made manifest, my Master."

---

Alicia Drey

 

[Alicia Drey]

Tags: Relux

As Relux made his preparations to leave her Office Alicia made her way back to her desk. As she went to sit down Alicia paged the same Senior Agent who had informed her of Relux's capture. As Dorgan marched in a surprised look dawned on the elder mans face when he recognised the alien sitting there as he walked in. "Ma'am?" Dorgan asked nervously, his confusion as obvious to her by his reaction as it was in the Force.

"Well done on bringing in the asset," Alicia replied while the cigarette hung from her hand. Reclining in her seat, Alicia turned it away from Dorgan and Relux to look outside through the window. It was night time on Lianna and it was at this time of the day that the city was at it's most beautiful. Dystopian. She enjoyed the view as it spoke to her soul. "Escort the asset off premises and leave him at the entrance to the building. Before he leaves you will assign them a level-3 clearance and authorization codes so that in the future he can identify himself to the Bureau. When it is done I want you to head the search for the Weaver."

As the smoke of her cigarette continued to rise up from her left hand Alicia continued to look upon Lianna City. Though her eyes were following the passing vehicles that would fly by the window, and the neon strobing lights of advertisements, one could be fooled into thinking that someone was sitting there watching it all, and yet if someone were to look closer into those dark eyes they would see that Alicia Drey was not really there at all.