Private Business To Settle

[Kristyl Arenais]

Alias: Kira Enalis.
Location: Celestia Station.
Attn: Judah Dashiell .

Gone were the days of public recognition, where Kris was often associated with the reputation behind House Arenais. Now, she was much more in favour of anonymity and isolation, simply caring for herself without the consistent company of her past affiliations. Today, that anonymity was paying off in full; she was seated within the waiting room across from the reception of Judah Dashiell 's personal assistant, as Kristyl Arenais waited patiently for her appointment with the man, under the alias of Kira Enalis.

There was an element of amusement hidden behind her calm expression as she sat with a datapad in hand, pretending to read the news article on the screen. However, she was truthfully paying more attention to the presence of life that moved about the general vicinity of her position. Her sensory ability in the Force allowed for an all-seeing eye of suspicion to be cast about her environment, never quite sure of who she might run into. Particularly aboard a Space-Station with security, easily triggered and prone to keeping her from leaving if things went to that extreme. Naturally, their last meeting had not gone smoothly in the least, yet she still had some business to settle with the senior Dashiell.

Had Kris known about the connection Judah had to the boy and the fact that the two were very much involved in each other's lives, she would not have taken such a ridiculous risk. Yet, the man had been dumbfounded by her appearance on Empress Teta, and even when she dropped some very blatant truths, he had been too pig-headed to realise who she was. With all of these things in mind, she had concluded that he remained entirely in the dark about what she had done, and that was something she would not go out of her way to change.

She sat in silence, dressed not in the robes of the exile that she was, but instead having come prepared to meet with him this time around. Fashioning a black business coat and pants, she wore a darker blouse underneath with a ribbon tie around the collar, looking every bit the part that she had intended on playing to acquire the man's time. She was here under the premise of a potential job of employment for Salacia Consolidated. She managed to land the interview with Judah himself, thanks to a little Jedi manipulation via the Force.

And despite the risks and the suspicion that he was in over his head with the Imperials, she couldn't help but feel a hint of satisfaction with the fact that she had managed to track him down and in a matter of moments, he be forced to look directly at her from across a desk.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

CELESTIA STATION

​

As much as he enjoyed Joiol there was something to be said about Celestia Station. He had lived here for years while Makai was in university, before that even. Business in the Tingel Arm was where he first expanded the business and it always held a special place. It was also where he had the most locations and biggest presence.

A busy docket of one-on-one meetings and conferences. He made a small note to come back to Celestia Station more often. Rubbing his eyes, next to his agenda was the hiring for a new personal assistant in the C-Suite. He was the one to do the final interview for all personal assistants after the Mrs.Datos debacle. It was key that the inner circle of assistants could be trusted to do the job and do it well.

Standing, he stretched from behind the desk, needing to move around. Normally he would call for one of the secretaries to send her in but being in a good mood there was no need to do a little legwork. Another stretch before he opened one of the massive double doors.

"Tabitha, who am I seeing next?"

A small frown from his lead assistant as she looked on her datapad.

"Kira Enalis. I've sent her information to your datapad so you can review as you interview."

"Thanks Tabitha...I'll let you know if I need anything."

As he drifted towards the lobby, an eyebrow perked. Wait, was that the homeless Jedi woman? Sort of looked like her, yet Judah couldn't say anything yet. If he was wrong it would be embarrassing.

Kristyl Arenais​

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

Judah Dashiell 's appearance within the lobby prompted her to rise to her feet, hands moving to lace at the fingers behind her back as she studied his initial reaction. There was a noticeable hint of apprehension, or perhaps it was uncertainty, though the lack of a defensive temper suggested that perhaps he hadn't yet recognised her.

This time, she looked quite different from when they had recently met. Her hair was tied in a ponytail at the back of her head, and her clothes were all pressed and professional-looking. She had safely tucked her Lightsaber away out of sight and presented herself as a harmless impression of a young aspiring businesswoman for precisely this purpose. Non-intimidating, non-confrontational.

As she moved across the lobby to meet the man, she reached into her pocket. She revealed a credit chip, which amounted to forty credits that he had previously given her, having first assumed she was homeless and without financial equity. Kristyl stopped within arm's reach of Judah, extending her hand to return the credits to him, a peculiar smile dancing upon the corner of her lips as she held his gaze; "Appearances aren't everything, Judah" she informed him as she placed the credit chip into his hand, and soon turned to look in the direction of his office.

Her movements were calm, yet intentional. She conveyed not a hint of aggression or discomfort, but instead appeared quite confident in her being there before him. She'd let Judah grapple with the realisation while she took in their surroundings, shortly making the first move in her approach to his office. Privacy away from the eyes and ears of his assistant was required, though she doubted Judah would be feeling entirely comfortable with the prospect of being one-on-one with her once more.

"Worry not. I come in peace," she added with a faint smirk as she walked towards the office, leaving him with the decision of whether to follow her or otherwise look for a way out of the position she was placing him in.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

It was important to not make a scene in public. Panicking would cause the entire station to panic, which could lead to a disaster. Work stoppage, evacuations, lockdowns. All undue stress upon the company and his workers. Instead he waited for her to enter his office and he shut the door. Drifting over to his bar cart, Judah began to pour two glasses of Whyren's Reserve.

"So you've come to finish the job? Don't worry, I've updated my last will an testament so I'm prepared this time."

No humor in his tone. Judah wasn't sure what Jedi he pissed off but apparently this one was here to finish the job. Taking both lowball glasses, Judah moved to his expansive desk that sat in front of a massive viewport overlooking the planet of Tabaqui. One lowball glass was set where guests sat in one of two chairs in front of the desk.

Moving to sit down, Judah relaxed against the fine leather of his chair and took a sip of the whisky. He then made a motion that was universally akin to go ahead and get on with it.

"I'm ready. Go ahead, cut off my head. Just make it quick, drawing out such a thing is a war crime.." Judah stopped to offer a humorless chuckle. "Then again you Jedi specialize in war crimes."

Kristyl Arenais​

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

Judah Dashiell

Kristyl snorted a short, dry laugh under her breath, soon shaking her head to herself and moving towards the desk where the seating for guests was set. She watched as Judah poured them both a glass, presumably alcohol, of which came as little surprise given her first impression of the man so many years ago; soon taking a seat opposite him when he did.

"I was a member of the Knights Obsidian once upon a time, never a Jedi despite my father's insistence", she replied, offering a glimpse of her past as though he hadn't just implied that she had come to take his life. She leaned forward to take the glass of Whyren's Reserve, giving the liquid a swirl before raising it to her lips and swallowing the lot of it back in one go. Despite her professional appearance, it seemed she too was an experienced consumer of alcohol and didn't waste any time in being polite. The drink would help set her at ease for the conversation soon to come.

"You truly have no recollection of who I am, do you?" she soon added with a faint smirk, glancing back across the desk at the man as though she were expecting him to wisen up somehow. While she hadn't exactly been upfront with him about who she was all those twenty-four years ago, she would have at least hoped she'd left an impression given that they had shared a night together; "I should feel insulted, really. Though anonymity has been my savior for so long, I suppose it's the Galaxies way of playing an ironic joke on me".

She turned to glance towards the window of the Office, which looked across Celestia Station and offered quite the marvellous view. The beauty of the vast Space Station didn't escape her, even though her purpose for the visit had little to do with any such notions of beauty.

"Empress Teta..." She soon spoke once more, mentioning their former place of meeting. "Emotions were high. I was tense, and on the tail of the ISB," she explained in short. With a small wave of her left hand, she offered something of an apprehensive and half-hearted gesture, "Perhaps I could have handled that better, but I've learned to go with my gut after so many years on the run. I merely intended to tap into your subconscious. 'A Jedi Trick' if you will. To discern the truth...".

"It would have been non-invasive. You haven't yet given me a reason to want to hurt you, and I would rather avoid it altogether".

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Walks like a duck, talks like a duck....Judah wasn't going to get into schematics just because she didn't call herself a Jedi didn't mean she wasn't one. He felt the same about Balun, despite his son claiming otherwise. Especially since the boy had been hanging out with the Jedi more often than not.

"Miss, I meet people every day. Your time stalking me in my lobby should be evidence of that. To say I remember an aggressive Jedi from who knows how many years ago...there's quite a number of you and frankly most just blur together. The only difference is the color of your sword."

Judah took another sip of his drink after she had slammed hers down like a cheap shot. Whyren's wasn't meant to be drunk as if they were at a common frat house party. Yet what did he expect. The woman was very hung up that he wasn't recalling her name or face. Typical Jedi with a typical ego to match. Apparently he was supposed to keep a roster of encounters.

"I am not some peon to be lorded over by Jedi. I don't care if you were tailing the new Emperor himself. My mind, my thoughts are my own. You're not an authority I'm required to submit to." He paused, growing irritated. "I have an entire legal team on this floor if you would like to be educated on basic rights across the galaxy."

Kristyl Arenais
​

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

Kristyl Arenais pursed her lips tightly as she listened to Judah Dashiell go on about his civil rights, all the while searching for her cigara that she had found within the interior pocket of the business coat she wore. Placing the smoke to her lips, her eyes glanced back to the man, a pensive look as she wondered whether he liked the sound of his own voice too much or truly believed that he could withstand the mental intrusion of a Force User, were one to exert their abilities upon him.

"And how many other Jedi have you fucked?" She asked outright, her words defiant in response to his comparing her to every other supposed Jedi out there.

She found her lighter and soon proceeded to ignite the tip of the cigara, crossing one leg over the other and returning her hands to her lap as she looked back at the man. She too liked the sound of her own voice, especially when it came with such a vulgar element of surprise, her language not what most expected from a 'Lady'. Even in the courts of Mnemosyne, her mouth as a young woman had often gotten her a share of filthy looks.

"Though that's not why I'm here, of course, so don't get any ideas. Once was more than enough" She added, soon realising he might think as much. Judah certainly was a stubborn type. He didn't strike her as the type to get on well with authority figures, not that she was anything of the kind. "Let's get back to the conversation we started on Empress Teta though. You're far less pleasant to talk to when you're sober".

"Veyrik Thalvar, the man you conveniently bumped into. You're one-hundred percent on the fact you've never seen him before" She asked, though it sounded more like an accusation laced with suspicion and distrust. She didn't have the luxury of relying on others, trusting them for that matter was even less likely.

"You have no idea how much easier this would be if I just read your mind. Why I'm being so polite with you is beyond me...Give me something I can believe so I can spare us both any further wasted time". Though it wouldn't change her way of life, she needed to confirm Judah's innocence. Otherwise, she could have easily been tracked the morning she had left him, and for stars knows how much longer thereafter. How many contacts had she inadvertently exposed, how many sources of intelligence had she compromised? The possibilities promoted her paranoia, and she didn't enjoy the feeling of being in the dark.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

CELESTIA STATION

"Though that's not why I'm here, of course, so don't get any ideas. Once was more than enough"

With that, Judah let out a sharp laugh. This woman was crazed for sure. He wasn't sure if she meant literally or figuratively but he assume literally considering her previous sentence. This fully cemented the fact that this woman was indeed crazy. One of those stalkers who inserted themselves into delusional fantasies with the person they were obsessed with.

Case in point.

Taking another sip of his whisky, liquid swirled in the glass as he stared at her from across his desk. This was the exact reason parents told their children to stay away from hardcore drugs. It addled the mind. Plus it seemed she was a member of some Jedi cult, probably wasn't helping her critical thinking skills.

"Miss." He paused for effect. "I would never spend an evening with you. Please don't flatter yourself. Its only going to make things worse."

Kristyl Arenais ​

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

Kristyl laughed softly to herself, soon glancing back across the desk to Judah Dashiell . He seemed pretty convinced of himself, though on the night as mentioned earlier, he had been well beyond sobriety. It appeared that his state of mind that night had been worse than she had anticipated.

"You have a scar below your waist, quite a decent one too," she reminded him, making it clear that she had seen more of him than he could correctly recall; "I thought you had atleast retained some self-control, but seeing as you clearly have no recollection of me then I suppose you were far more intoxicated than I had initially thought. You were all hung up about some other girl at the time, too".

"Truth be told, if my mark hadn't grown suspicious of me, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation", she soon added—As if the remark would save some of her dignity after Judah's apparent loss of the evening.

Naturally, she wouldn't tell him the rest of the story, the fact that she had birthed a Son. The boy was with the New Jedi Order now, out there doing some good in the Galaxy like so many others before him. She had come to terms with the decision long ago, at ease with the knowledge that he would be raised well and cared for during a time when she could not have provided him with the same.

"Now if we're done talking about the past, can we move on to discussing your run-in with the Imperial Security Bureau?".

 

[Judah Dashiell]

CELESTIA STATION

Slowly and with a small tremor in his hand, Judah quietly put down the lowball glass and sat up a little straighter.

After a horrible accident in the nanodroid invasion ages ago, he was left with a large scar below his waist, trailing along his hip and thigh. It had faded over the years and through treatments, but it had been a nasty one and was a completely different color then the rest of his skin. Given the location, only someone who had seen him stark naked would know about it. Since he didn't skinny dip, it greatly narrowed down the pool of potential candidates.

Since discovering Bale, Judah had thought what he would do if he tracked down the mother. All ungentlemanly thoughts of getting in a good punch at the bare minimum. Yet he couldn't do that - at least not here. This was a Salacia Headquarters, he had a reputation to uphold. His very livelihood depended on it.

Instead he leaned in, ocean blue eyes boring into the woman across from him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you." Rhetorical, he kept going. "You give birth to my son and didn't even have the common decency to tell me? To drop the boy off in my lap? I take full responsibility for my portion - yes, I shouldn't have been black out drunk. I regret that."

Stupid mistakes, trying to numb himself with alcohol. Not exactly the most shining or brightest of his moments.

"You seem to remember me in vivid detail but you couldn't be bothered to contact me? To contact the company? I'm quite an easy person to find....I get you didn't want the boy but you could have given me the option to take care of him. Instead you dropped him off at a cult to be brainwashed. Way to be selfish."

Shaking his head, he scoffed.

"I know you think you have me figured out but you don't. I would never shirk from responsibility, you and Balun would have been well taken care of even if we weren't together. Yet you just assumed, didn't you?"

Kristyl Arenais ​

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

"Ah...-You know".

As the words left her, Kristyl's hand lowered the cigara from her lips as she listened further to Judah Dashiell reveal the shocking twist that he was aware of their Son, going so far as to speak the boy's name and berate her for her decision. Her gaze shifted, glancing down for a long moment as she let him speak, no doubt as much out of shock as out of anger.

She knew that he couldn't be blamed for feeling the way that he did—Yet he also lacked the awareness of her situation at the time, nor did he have a mirror that drunken night to see just how unsteady he had appeared, both physically and emotionally.

"Well then..." She began, though paused quickly thereafter. Her gaze leapt back to Judah for a moment, studying him before she leaned back into her seat, crossing her arms and raising one leg over the other as she considered the best way to respond to the accusation. "This is an unexpected twist, I must say," she uttered, though it would be difficult to tell if she were merely speaking to herself or for both of their ears.

"The boy was left with the Jedi to be raised and cared for, " she replied, though she did not deign to explain her reasons, for there seemed little chance of Judah even trying to understand her; "You didn't strike me as particularly stable, and I certainly wasn't in the position to give the child the time and care that they deserved" she added, focusing on sharing the facts rather than allowing herself to show any emotion in front of him. Aside from their one stupid mistake that evening, a shared guilt, Judah wasn't close with her, and she did not feel comfortable being emotionally vulnerable in front of him, especially with the anger and the insult that immediately threatened to fuel her defiant side.

"The Jedi have taken in Force-Sensitive younglings for a millenia now. Once more youngling being allowed to live a good just life surrounded by an Order that would become their family seemed fitting" she shrugged her shoulders a little, soon taking another drag from her cigarra and exhaling the smoke through both nostrils in a subconcious habit; "It wasn't an easy choice but like it or not, it was the choice that made the most sense at the time".

 

[Judah Dashiell]

"You had nine, really ten, long months to come see if I was stable. Stalking seems to be a full time hobby of yours, could have took a few hours all those years ago to invest it in finding out."

Hearing her reasoning of turning in Balun incensed him. Somehow she had convinced herself that the Jedi would turn into his family. Judah didn't see how that was possible, just on sheer principle. He imagined the children didn't receive one-on-one care in the younger years but instead a group setting. It was impossible to take care of them all on a level young children required.

"Live a good life? Become his family?" Judah scoffed again. "Let me tell you about Balun from my perspective."

Perspective he had never uttered, not even to Danger Arceneau ,his closest friend and confidant. Judah wasn't one to bash his children but he was realistic. Any father wanted to see their children grow and thrive. As a father he wanted to see his sons turn into better men than he. Yet in his eyes Balun needed a lot of work - work he was resisting.

"He left this 'family' of Jedi at what....thirteen? Was homeless in the lower levels of Coruscant before finding some other group is what I can piece together. Joins their cause. Enter myself several years later. From there he's still fighting the cause, fine. Runs off and gets some Sith girl pregnant, the kid gets dropped off in my lap. The boy loves his son but where is he? Out swinging that damn stick and putting himself in danger for a group of people who let him eat scraps out of the garbage."

Judah shook his head.

"Balun has abandonment issues. Mother issues. Trust issues. He thinks he can do it all in some piss-poor attempt to please me. Meanwhile now your grandson is suffering all the same. Balun refuses to put in the work to be different because he has zero idea what different is. He was already a grown man by the time we encountered one another - I can't change a grown man's habits, especially when he refuses to be vulnerable and ask for help."

He didn't know why he was saying this, Kristyl Arenais seemed coldly detached about everything going on. Except the ISB, that she had a passion for.

"So yes, brilliant decision to give him away. Not to his father - not to flatter myself but I've been a damned decent one. Not to grow up with his half-brother. Not to grow up in safety and comfort and wealth, where he wouldn't have felt the need to run and try to strike it on his own. Not to have the best of everything poured into his growth and development so he could be a better man than I. Guess this artificial, war mongering family was so much better."

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

Judah Dashiell spoke of their son in a manner that implied they had spent years getting to know one another, the depth of their relationship of which Kristyl could only guess. To hear that Balun had a son of his own, mothered by a Sith of all types of people he could have fallen in love with, was a shocking truth that she didn't want to hear.

It wasn't just because of the Mothers path in life, but rather the fact that Kristyl had made the impossible choice the day that she had given her son up. She had never wished to know what his life had become, for that meant also thinking about what could have been, and what she had sacrificed.

"I don't want to hear this!" she snapped in retaliation, her emotions getting the better of her as Judah's speech invoked an influx of raw feelings to the surface. She rose from her chair in an abrupt and hurried standing, moving across the office floor towards the window that looked out across the space station.

"I didn't know anything about you beyond your name. You could have been anybody of any kind, none of whom I saw suggested a stable environment for a child" She soon started, her back to the man yet speaking aloud and clearly directed solely at him; "We're strangers to one another and while you were doing stars knows what, I've been on the run since the late Galactic Empire, Bounty Hunters and all kinds of violent manner of people all because of House Arenais' reputation and past deeds. You have no idea what I've been through, so take caution in how you choose to judge me".

Taking a moment to steady herself, she then continued with a more restrained tone; "You may have turned out to be more stable than I first gave you credit for, but first impressions didn't do you justice at the time, and after the things I've had to do in order to survive, the boy was better off with the Jedi than with me".

"He's alive, and by the sounds of it, he's strong-willed. Be thankful you're still able to share a life with him. If he's so eager to please you, then it sounds like he's still open to influence. Guided down a path you agree with, if that is your desire," She said, speaking in a manner that sounded more of an encouragement than she meant; "But spare me the details. I have no intention of endangering him with my involvement, nor can I afford to be distracted while there is so much at stake," she made her intentions clear—She would not be a part of their lives.

"As for you..." She turned back to look across the room at Judah, her left hand gesturing to the space between them; "And this", she added, emphasising their meeting. "With everything you've said, it's clear to me that Empress Teta was...-Well, let's put it down to coincidence and leave it at that. I'll not disturb you further," she concluded, sparing a glance at the entrance and moving towards it with the intent of leaving Judah to his business and his thoughts.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

The fact she only knew his name was an issue - but if she was a Jedi why didn't she flex her power and contact the convention, giving some false story about needing to contact 'Judah'. If he had to guess, it was due to the fact he wasn't an ISB agent. It seemed to be the only thing Kristyl Arenais had a deep passion for.

As she spoke, Judah wondered why every woman he had a child with (there were only two, but still) viewed him as incapable of providing safety to them but also their child. His pockets were deep. Credits had always been of little concern when it came to protecting his family or the mother of his child. An odd situation now that it had occurred twice in his life. At least Makai he had been able to raise.

"Leaving when the conversation gets hard. Balun really does take after you." Judah shook his head. "Go ahead, run. I won't be trying to convince you to stay."