Greatly Exaggerated

[Ashin Varanin]

[SIZE=14.6667px][member="Dissero"][/SIZE]


[SIZE=14.6667px]Ajira’s encryption protocols of choice didn’t confine themselves to the electronic. At various stages along the way, people on one side of a given wall passed a message to people on the other side of the wall, for transcription or transmission or handoff. On occasion, one, both, or neither of those people knew or remembered they were doing anything out of the ordinary. Her aide Shambleau was instrumental in such arrangements. On the other hand, some of her messages were quite direct, hidden behind Theed Hangar digital security and not a lot else. That was part and parcel of the life she’d picked. The [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]specific [/SIZE][SIZE=14.6667px]life. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Prince Amadeus Darke,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I hope Your Highness will forgive the unsolicited approach. Our last meeting at your wedding left me in no doubt as to your interest in my future projects. Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps is at your service, as ever. I trust your sister Cerusia appreciated the J-type Apailana-class vessel you purchased. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Be assured that my associates and I are as capable as ever. We feel that we’ve transferred the essence of great things into our work. Our offices are located near the Naboo Centre of Cultural Arts, Sciences, and History, the great library which Ayden Cater endowed. I’m told the Hapan trees there are exquisite. I seem to recall you expressing interest in the dissemination of learning, and I felt I’d be doing you a disservice if I failed to recommend the Centre. I hope married life has treated you well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Your old acquaintance,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Lady Ajira Cardei[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14.6667px]Noble House of Cardé[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14.6667px]Theed Hangar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14.6667px]Naboo[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[SIZE=14.6667px][member="Sochi Ru"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Master Ru,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I trust [member="Lady Shambleau"] and Master Ordavo have been useful to you in keeping Ke’dem in line. I wanted to thank you for standing with me at Lujo. You demonstrated an impressive level of commitment to our shared goal.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=14.6667px]Due to my unforeseen and irritating death, I’m currently not in a position to lead Ke’dem openly. I believe that position should fall to you. I will be able to provide assistance and resources, and will send Lady Shambleau to send and receive further messages. Ke’dem is by nature a decentralized beast, requiring nothing in the way of paperwork or business administration. The men and women I’ve accumulated want nothing more than the destruction of the One Sith and a degree of personal profit and glory. Give those to them and they will follow you into Chaos itself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I apologize for dying unexpectedly. Take a lesson from my overconfidence, just as I take comfort in the fact that I neutralized my killer. But there is no reason why my current condition can’t lend itself well to our goals, and there is reason for hope. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Every empire, you see, carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Put another way, every star on ascent will descend in time; every great government is already falling. Every mandala’s destiny is to be swept clean. The One Sith are failing. A succession of weak leaders has represented the Dark Lord with flagging initiative and sapped energy. We, Ke’dem, successfully raided the Sith Academy on Crina, the Sith Temple on Erida, and the Sith-dominated Walpurgis Order temples on Mayferria. We stole the Waldstein Academy from Mayferria as well, and we razed Lujo’s Sith Temple to the ground. All, for the most part, unopposed. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]We have never been friends; I am by nature cold and distant, and there is nobody I can call a genuine friend as others define the term. Nevertheless, of all of Ke’dem’s raiders, you are the most powerful, and there is no question of your hatred for the One Sith. If you accept leadership of Ke’dem, you will be given an army of mercenaries and Dark Jedi who share your hatred, both in magnitude and direction. All they ask is a share of your success. Despite my death, Shambleau and Ordavo have kept them together, but Ordavo has no taste for leadership and Shambleau has other responsibilities. If you take the reins of Ke’dem, organize it and use it as you see fit, ally with whom you see fit -- all I ask is that you make the One Sith hurt as they decline and fall. Trust in [member="Ijaat Akun"], who is also committed: he destroyed their temple on Coruscant, and though he doesn’t have the Force, he’s a skilled combatant and creator. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Through Shambleau, I will still participate in the destruction of the One Sith, and I’m laying plans to take a more personal hand when I’m capable of it. You already have access to our secret crypt under Jurgoran Prison on Dromund Kaas; be wary about who you share that secret with, outside the most senior and trusted members of Ke’dem. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Good hunting,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Ashin Varanin[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[SIZE=14.6667px][member="Ayden Cater"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Ayden,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I tossed and turned trying to think about how to say all this. What we shared at Kayri all those years ago was just so special to me. We had a beautiful thing going, Ayden, we really did. Theed isn’t the same without you. I live in someone else’s house now, and I’m just so frustrated and bored, no matter how much technology he brings home or how united he thinks we are even when he just does nothing. I want to do all the things we used to do together -- everywhere. I’m thinking hard about getting myself together and trying to find a way to make a difference again. I know you’ll laugh -- I was never much of a philanthropist -- but even working this closely with the palace, I don’t always feel like I’m doing what the universe wants me to do. Time is fleeting, after all, and we all have our calling.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I’m sorry to drop this rant on you. There’s just so much I want to say, but I can’t. You remember those drawings I sent you once, and how I just wanted to be free? It’s that same kind of frustration. Now when I look in the mirror, I don’t even recognize myself anymore. It was probably that trip to Lujo that I always said I’d take. I got what I went shopping for, so that’s something, but it was really pricey and the trip home just wore me out. Still, it made me think of you. Come find me someday, and we can talk under that nice tree at the library.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]In memory,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]XOXO Ajira[/SIZE]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[SIZE=14.6667px][member="Darth Vornskr"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Kaine,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I understand you’ve renamed your demesne again. I’d congratulate you, my old vizier, but it’s a little like complimenting a rebellious teenager on her hair colour. I also understand you’re in the process of putting a torch to Coruscant again. I wish you quite a bit of luck. The Dark Lord is a worthless prick. I begrudge you the kill, but if it had to be anyone except me, I think it’s fitting that it be you. You suffered under that jackass’s servitude for entirely too long, no matter how much autonomy you carved out in the Panthakainian Tyrantatorship.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]As I’m sure you’re aware, I’ve had a bit of a grudge against the One Sith for a while -- Crina, Erida, Mayferria twice, Lujo and so forth. I’m also sure you’re aware that I came out of retirement because the One Sith captured and tortured my wife. Likewise, I’m reasonably sure you knew that Spencer was the captive of a giggly man with one eye and a sneering young woman who looks much like I used to. I can’t say as I admire your taste in peers, but I suppose the One Sith’s principles still forbid natural selection, so your hands have been tied. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]I trust that will no longer be the case. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Your fellow revenant,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=14.6667px]Ashin[/SIZE]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

[member="Ajira Cardei"]

Ashin,

I'm not surprised in the slightest that you've managed to abscond after your unfortunate run in with [member="Sage Bane"] on Lujo, although I must say I am somewhat jealous than a worm like Sage was able to deliver such a lethal blow. I won't lie, ever since the Clockwork Rebellion I've been itching to be the one to put you in the ground, although my last attempt was nothing to be proud of. But, like me, you've found ways to maneuver around the finality of death, but if you are so determined to use your second chance to cause damage to the Empire I'm afraid I must stand in your way at every turn possible! You know it's nothing personal, for me anyways, but you've never known me to willfully acquiesce to anarchy to the scale you might possibly envision.

And while that little mishap on Selvaris with [member="Spencer Varanin"] may have been unfortunate, it is the nature of war. But I suppose Miss Spencer should be fortunate that she has someone as willful and resourceful as you to come to her daring rescue at the drop of a hat. If only the others that have been imprisoned and deliciously mistreated in a manner similar or vastly greater to her's had someone so valiant, but I guess not everyone can be as lucky.

Oh, please give my regards to Miss Spencer as well, will you? I heard she became unglued after your 'death'. It was highly amusing, or so my sources tell me.

Best wishes,

Kaine Zambrano

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darth Vornskr"]

Bane was my apprentice's apprentice's apprentice's apprentice. But it was three against one and, what can I say, I was pining for you. So distracting.

An Empire, you say. Well, you did a decent job running part of mine, and I'm sure you'll rise to the occasion. Just try not to misplace this one, would you?

As for anarchy -- I confess I don't care what happens after I bring my own shade of justice to play, any more than I especially care about your other victims. But really, Kaine, your people should have known better than to torture my wife. The consequences have been disproportional. So far my people and I have raided four of your temples and academies, and outright stolen a fifth. We've perpetrated butchery on a scale you can't help but approve. Now how does that balance out against the momentary satisfaction your people enjoyed when they were trying to break my wife? I think it's safe to say that it's in your best interests to kill off the people responsible, for two reasons. For one, they're clearly idiots. For another, it turns my wroth away to other goals. Goals that don't necessarily involve burning everything.

Do let me know if you're smarter than Eyepatch and Crabs.

All my best,

Ashin

 

[Raziel]

Somewhere, on Bothawui, some serious data mining was initiated. The phrase "Ke’dem" was passed between a number of the most sophisticated analytical data processing supercomputers in the known Galaxy rather frequently.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

That data mining facility on Bothawui would turn up all manner of tidbits. Ke'dem was Olys Corellisi for 'condemned' or 'fallen'; colloquially, it meant 'Dark Jedi.' In a modern context, it was associated with various minor Dark Side artifacts -- gently used lightsabres and so forth -- that kept turning up in the aftermath of raids on One Sith temples. Crina, Mayferria, Lujo, and so forth. It wouldn't be hard at all to connect Ke'dem with one Ashin Varanin, who'd died during that Lujo raid. Nor would it be hard for the Techno Union data miners to learn that Ashin Cardé Desmius Ordo Varanin had family on Naboo. Her birth mother had been a careless young noble scion of the House of Cardé -- young half a century ago. That much was public record. From there, Varanin had been adopted offworld. Her mother had remained a spinster until her death two decades back. There were other relatives still alive on Naboo, notably one Ajira Cardei of Theed Hangar, formerly an ODF naval officer. Lady Ajira's security measures, perhaps, hadn't been sufficient to keep her message to Sochi Ru from being noted at some point along the way.

If the Techno Union's SIGINT people had cracked that message, it all but said that Ajira Cardei -- despite her thoroughly verifiable life -- was Ashin Varanin. Host to her spirit, at least, though that technique generally wasn't on the radar of most SIGINT analysts.

Most.

 

[Raziel]

[member="Ajira Cardei"]

“Now there's a challenge…” Raziel wasn't much in the habit of talking to himself, but recently he'd found himself somewhat trapped in the mundanity of his current position. The Techno Union hadn't been expanding, Republic Intelligence had all but stopped creating mischief for him to quash and internal - and typically corporate - affairs failed to grasp his interest. He thrived on the big problems. Socially engineering a whole culture to become receptive to the Union’s advances, tearing down a GRIM operation cell by cell. Left too long alone he would only have the thoughts and memories that swirled around his own head for company. A significant fraction of those were not his own, and he has no interest in reliving them.

Something like hastening the destabilisation of the most aggressive Empire the Galaxy had seen in a millennia? That piqued his interest. Ashin Varanin had caught his interest on Coruscant. She had very, very nearly killed him. Likely would have if not for his final roll of the dice. In the end he was ‘rescued’ from the prison by the renowned warrior and got a good up close look. He composed a lie on his holonet connected terminal, after having read the analyst's reports on the Black network.

Dear Lady Cardei,

As you are no doubt aware, internal network security is the responsibility of Abrion Intelligence to maintain on behalf of the member corporations. Whilst we take measures to secure this traffic, we cannot do the same for anything leaving out boundaries.

Would it be possible to schedule in a discussion with one of our security awareness leads to dicuss procedural matters and the nature of some recent communications. This would be a simple one hour discussion on one of our secure premises on Naboo, during which some general advice would be imparted and a few questions asked.

This is not a mandatory request. You are not being summoned.

Abrion Network Security.

The message was cryptographically signed by Theed Engineering the themselves. That should not have been possible using any known exploits. But then, if Spynet operated on public exploits, they'd be making a poor return on the corporate funds dumped into their operations to keep Union territory safe and peaceful. War was great for business, but generally when it was somewhere else in the Galaxy.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

Colleagues,

Lady Cardei will be available to meet from 1430 to 1600 next Taungsday, if that is convenient for you. Will Lady Cardei or I need to bring any documents or devices?

Lady Shambleau
Administrative Assistant
G374 Theed Hangar
Office of Lady Cardei
Theed, Naboo, Techno Union

 

[Raziel]

Dear [member="Lady Shambleau"],

That is perfectly convenient. If you could both please bring TU identity cards, as these will be required to enter grey zone of the Andrana Centre. You won't be permitted to bring any electronic devices into grey zone, so please bring any note making material you wish to bring. Details on the centre, parking facilities and transport attached.

Kind regards,

AI Administration Team.




In the middle of an industrial estate, nestled amongst a number of well known defence contractor's offices was a facility with a fence just slightly higher than its neighbours. It had a TU military insignia on the sign and a statement regarding various official acts and clauses on punishments for compromising a government facility. There was nothing particularly interesting about the site from the outside, but all the neighbours were well aware who actually reside her. Spynet had a team in the business park's weekly sports evening.

A guard would wave them in through the outer gates and they'd be directed to a manned reception. White lines were quite apparent painted where the wall met the ceiling.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

At 1412 hours, Taungsday, two women passed the guards and entered the reception area. One was Lady Ajira Cardei, a functionary of Theed Hangar. The other was shorter, slimmer, with dusty purple skin that could have been Zeltron, Umbaran, or Omwati: Lady Shambleau, the aide. Neither was armed or carrying personal electronics. No implants, no note-taking material, no conveniently reinforced stylus or datapad, no Omega DUST transmitters, nothing. Clean.

Insofar as there was an exception, it was a small birthmark on Lady Cardei's breastbone, a reddish-brown dot that didn't appear on medical records. In keeping with Naboo fashion, both women wore a high neckline, so the Dathomiri blood trail was basically irrelevant at this stage.

To a telepathic or empathic observer, Lady Cardei would come across as...collected. An undercurrent of cold anger might or might not have had anything to do with the situation at hand. Lady Shambleau, by contrast, was nervous, on edge. She'd served in Ke'dem before Lady Cardei hired her. She'd noticed the impossible digital signature, and Lady Cardei hadn't wanted to discuss it. She knew that her employer was secretly a Force-sensitive, probably independent, certainly neck-deep in the Dark Side. She had her reasons to be nervous, and not enough experience to lock down her surface thoughts against an observer.

 

[Raziel]

[member="Ajira Cardei"]

There was a simple sign in procedure to enter the white zone. It was only as they entered grey that it was expressed that they had to be escorted at all times and that they would need to pass through a security scanner to check for any electronics.

There were many ways Raziel could read someone. Most naturally came absorbing everything they gave off through the Force: thoughts and raw emotions. But his keen eyes also watched for body language, micro expressions, the way the hands were used to express. He knew that the way to hide one's own intentions was not maintain a stoic visage, but to project something over the surface. The closer that projection was to expectations, the easier it was to swallow. He mimicked the expectations he soaked up from those around him with a natural ease. It had been years since he had realised that there was no defined sense of self hidden beneath those creations, just a blank canvas.

He sensed them approach. His fingers drummed lightly on the table in heightened expectation. As the two representatives were led to the room he slightly readjusted the suit to make it appear slightly ill fitting and then slouched in his chair. Clearly they expected less professionalism from someone on the government payroll.

"Ah good afternoon," he said, looking up from behind the table as they entered. First interesting discovery of the day: would she recognise the bruised and battered prisoner she'd carted out from that Sith facility on Coruscant. The room was relatively bland. Typical AV suite and ports in the centre of the oval desk, a notable absence of windows. A grey band ran along the walls that matched the stickers on the equipment in the room.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

There'd been a time, several years back, when she'd been severed from the Force. Long story. As she'd worked her way back, she'd acquired a facility for reading people, mainly for survival purposes. According to everything she could sense and intuit, the man across from her was exactly what he appeared to be: your average midgrade intelligence officer. Qualitatively comparable to the sort attached to unimportant consular missions to run embassy SIGINT collection programs. If someone more serious was monitoring this interview in real-time -- and given the context and content of the leak she'd issued, that was virtually certain -- that someone likely wasn't in the room. But she didn't have the ranged Force senses to determine that. In the age-old balance between insight and power, she'd chosen power every time.

"Good afternoon," she said, taking a seat. "I'm Lady Cardei, and this is my aide, Lady Shambleau." The girl's nervousness rolled off her, tangible even to Ajira. Ajira smiled, and knew it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I understand your office wanted to talk with me about the context behind some personal communications with foreign parties. What can I help you with?"

 

[Raziel]

[member="Ajira Cardei"]

“A pleasure to meet you both,” he said with just the right amount of nervous stain in his smile. He offered a relatively weak handshake across the table before taking his seat again. There was a pause as his eyes flicked up and down the screen of his datapad, as if pretending to check some notes as he gathered his thoughts.

“Yes, some communications…obviously we don’t wish to open personal communications unless absolutely necessary. Such is written in law, but certain legislative agreements make exception for autonomous checks,” he explained. The Techno Union was a region of space where efficiency and hard work were valued above personal freedoms. The vast number of security drones that patrolled its streets were testament to that. Automation had hit the lower classes hard and they needed careful monitoring.

“In the case of individuals orchestrating the disruption of foreign parties –foreign parties with military agreements with the Techno Union – it is quite easy to obtain the correct waiver to put the message contents before limited eyes and start an investigation. However, in this case we’re willing to be lenient…”

The analyst looked down to the table. The change was subtle. Posture changed, hands clasped together slowly on the table before him. When emerald eyes turned up to regard Aijra once more they belonged to an entirely different creature. His presence slowly unfurled in the Force around them as he released his control.

“…because it sounds like so much fun,” he added, a twitch of mirth in the corner of his smile.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

Shambleau's sudden terror poured into the Force, and under the table, Ajira gripped the Mikan's thigh hard enough to bruise. She counted to five, slower than her racing heart or the Mikan's arrythmic pulse.

"I've got to give you credit on two accounts," said Ajira, unable to help the tension in her voice. "For one thing, I couldn't read you, and I can read most people. And for another, you're the first person in a very long time to trigger my fight-or-flight response in the latter direction. Congratulations: you've scared Ashin Varanin."

Shambleau's shock redoubled, tangible even to Ajira's stunted senses. She ignored her aide's wide red eyes.

"Admittedly, not as exclusive a club as I'd like. I have a teenage daughter, after all. So." Ajira spread her hands. "Let's talk about how closely our definitions of fun resemble each other."

 

[Raziel]

[member="Ajira Cardei"]

"Well then, I'm exceedingly pleased to join a group primarily comprised of hormonal teenagers with wandering eyes. However, in the interests of not having one if my little facilities torn down around me, let me reassure you that this is entirely an off the record discussion and nothing more," Raziel said, holding her gaze. He spoke clearly, and slowly with careful annunciation. He seemed to pay no heed to her assistant, but in truth his other senses were more focused on the less controlled Force user.

Looking down to the table once more, when he looked up again his demeanour had shifted. There was a tight smile on his face. He leant back in his chair in a casual manner. Now he wasn't playing off the preconceptions of those opposite him he would keep shifting his outward behaviour to keep them from settling into a rhythm. A guarded conversation was much like a lightsaber duel in manner ways.

"Internal affairs can be so very boring." Tone light, almost jovial, he bounced between syllables. "Now, disrupting the inner workings of an external organisation, particularly the greatest war machine seen in half a millenia...that sounds like a challenge. I enjoy a challenge," he explained with a curt nod of the head.

"The Techno Union finds itself surrounded by fundamentalists. If they're not kept occupied it'll end up being bad for business. If they stop fighting entirely, that would be even worse."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

"There's nothing I like less than a fundamentalist, of whatever stripe. I admit I've been known to sacrifice my own sense of proportion when things get personal. But that's less about fundamental beliefs than it is about organizations having the common sense to refrain from torturing or ostracizing my wife. All those fundamentalists, to one extent or another, are right in my crosshairs. I agree with your assessment, and I'd be willing to offer covert support of one kind or another, for some fairly broad values of 'covert.' Wearing a mask while leveling Sith temples, for example. I'm comfortable with false-flag, and capable of faking a Jedi's signature in the Force."

Ajira leaned back and laced her fingers over her midriff, eyes narrowing in thought. "You know, you're pretty much exactly what I was hoping to net with those messages." Another mental twitch of surprise from Shambleau. Ajira smiled faintly. "I've lost track of the rebranding initiatives. You're not still called the Templars, are you?"

 

[Raziel]

[member="Ajira Cardei"]

"I see our interpretations of the word 'covert' may vary slightly," he replied. His eyebrow arched an almost imperceptible amount with the comment. Being able to mimick a Jedi's signature was an incredibly interesting bit of information. His face gave nothing of the sort away. He could think of many ways such a talent could be abused. That was perhaps what he spent more time doing these days. Putting the right people in the wrong places. The personal nature of the vendetta was perhaps troublesome, but could be managed. Now just to keep her from starting one against him. That was the problem with stepping forward, much more difficult to be exposed when you kept to the shadows.

"I don't think 'The Templars' is all that appropriate as a name any more. But there is the Obsidian Order, as well as a rather large intelligence gathering network that draws upon, but does not rely upon Force Users.

"Direct action is good, especially when they don't see it coming and don't know where to direct their rather invincible military. Or direct it in the wrong direction. However I'm quite keen on applying some pressure from within. Economic drain from having to deal with an unhappy populace, even rebellion, would put a dent in their capability."

He liked that she'd mentioned temples. Like beacons as a reminder of where the strength in the Sith Empire lay. Or objects of hatred for the local populace under the right conditions.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Raziel"]

"I see that our definitions of covert may vary slightly."

"That's the joke," she said, deadpan.

"However I'm quite keen on applying some pressure from within. Economic drain from having to deal with an unhappy populace, even rebellion, would put a dent in their capability."

"Constructing your average Sith temple is a seven-to-eight-figure enterprise," she said with a nod. "Peanuts in the grand scheme of things, but there's no more visible symbol of waste. My sources indicate the One Sith have built or assimilated over a dozen temples and academies outside the Core. My people and I have raided four of them. Frankly, I'm not sure how much effort they've put into renovation, rebuilding, or expansion in recent months, but I see possibilities in that direction.

"If we're talking really systemic unhappiness, I've had quite a bit of success with diaspora groups. Selkath, Togorian, Mon Calamari and so forth -- for obvious reasons. They're disproportionately represented in Ke'dem, so through Shambleau and others, I have any number of contacts along those lines.

"I'm also more than a little interested in Iron Crown Enterprises. Through shell companies and so forth, it seems they've acquired every One Sith shipyard. Do you have anything on a small group called the Foundation Trust? It's come up in relation to a former Republic senator named Rel Connory, who was in love with me a good twenty years ago. Of interest mainly because the Foundation Trust is reputed to own a controlling interest in Iron Crown."