Private Architects of Order

[Adon Sol]

A flicker of distaste crossed Adon's eyes at the word little — gone so quickly it might have been a trick of the light. He did not rise to the bait. Some memories were better left in childhood, buried exactly where they belonged.

"I have been well," he said, his tone carrying a flat formality that firmly closed the topic. "And I assure you, this is not a reunion."

He shifted his weight against the edge of the desk, studying her for a long moment before speaking again. "I have read the reports concerning the Vanguard. What they did, and what was murmured about them afterward. Most of it is remarkably cultivated."

"Very official."

His gaze hardened. "What those papers fail to explain, however, is how one actually reaches them." He let the deliberate weight of the question settle between them.

"I am not asking for names," he continued, keeping his voice even. "Nor locations. But factions like that do not survive on conviction alone. They require information. Logistics. People willing to make themselves useful."

Adon's face smoothed into an unreadable mask, though the admission felt dangerous. It was already more than he should have conceded.

"There are aspects of their position I find difficult to dismiss outright," he said, his eyes finally locking onto hers. "So I suppose my question is quite simple. How does someone offer help?"

Kitt Solo​

 

[Kitt Solo]

A careful, assessing look. Even as the force swirled around her. Picking up on his emotions as easily as reading a wide-open book. The problem was, Adon kept his emotions tightly guarded. Still, she didn't sense any subterfuge. And if the was the Adon from childhood. She wouldn't have to worry about any of that...right?

She let her eyes linger on his a moment longer after he finished speaking. The chrono on the wall ticking lightly away and filling the silence between them.

"You're right," she conceded and kicked her feet off the table. Leaning forward and resting her elbows on it, instead. "The Vanguard will not survive on its own. But Adon, this is dangerous business."

She motioned to his uniform.

"You saw the message the Grandmaster just put out. Those with the Vanguard will be criminals before tonight's Naboo sun sets."

A pause as she held his gaze.

"I will be a criminal. Though, you already guessed that." A scoundrel's smirk that briefly hit a corner of her mouth. "If you need to reach them to offer help, you can go through me. Don't take this the wrong way but you know what that means, right? I didn't think you'd want treason on your resume Mister Rule Follower."

Adon Sol

 

[Adon Sol]

His gaze followed her feet from the table, then returned to her face with perhaps a fraction more deliberation than was strictly necessary. Of course, always the troublesome ones.

His expression settled back into professional neutrality. "I am not proposing treason."

The distinction seemed important enough that he allowed it to stand for a moment. "I am proposing very small irregularities."

Adon stepped closer to the table, lowering his voice. "If the Vanguard needed a particular sector patrolled at a particular time, I could ensure circumstances made that assignment more likely. A training exercise moved forward. A navigation drill redirected. A routine patrol given a slightly different route."

He folded his hands behind his back. "Nothing classified. Nothing that survives scrutiny as anything more than the ordinary discretion afforded an officer."

His eyes narrowed slightly. There were other possibilities, certainly. Supply requisitions that happened to be approved quickly. Reports that reached the bottom of an administrative queue. Ships dispatched somewhere useful for entirely legitimate reasons.

"But I would need advance notice. Locations. Timing. Nothing more than necessary."

Adon's attention returned fully to Kitt. "And preferably nothing that requires explaining to a tribunal why Lieutenant Sol suddenly developed an adventurous personality."

Kitt Solo ​