Ashin Cardé Varanin
Possessor
Star Yacht Lanvarok Whisper
Unaffiliated Deep Space
"Does that rise to the level of rule for you, Captain?" said Jaccath, sensitively, as if hesitant to probe a wound, likely unsure what she was feeling or how strongly she felt it. "Not killing those you've worked with, unless they earned it?"
"Not a rule, dear," Ashin told the hulking Massassi in the pilot seat. For her part she sat in the commscan chair, hands folded in her lap, watching a nova's aftershock churn. It was a beautiful sight. "Not a rule. Certainly not a principle. I'd go so far as to call it a hesitation. I quite liked Castillon the one time we collaborated; I quite liked most of that Rebel Alliance crew. Good enemies. And yet this really is important enough to wrap up whoever's left of them, whoever might have known."
"Known the suddenly-critical old secret that I'm definitively not asking about?" Jaccath said.
"Quite." Ashin sighed briskly. "Let's move forward with this. You're certain all the rest are dead?"
"Captain Castillon is the last loose end. I've sent you the sourcing that confirmed the rest."
"And she's where?"
Jaccath smiled in a way that looked bemused or wry. "The Tingel Arm. Specifically, my homeworld."
Deserts, scrimshaw, scrappers, ruins, unspoiled budget Korriban — "What in Pomojema's name is someone like Delila Castillon doing on Tash-Taral?"
The bridge controls' general-purpose screen showed a map of Tash-Taral with icons depicting violence.
"It seems she's purging or defending an oasis two days from Lasaraleen. Something about past, present, or future environmental reclamation — that's the best I could do. She's signed on with an outfit called the..." Jaccath double-checked. "...Ithorian Foreign Legion."
"The same people who liberated Ruusan and claimed they purged the Core Worlds?"
"Claimed being the operative word on that one, Captain, but yes, it looks like the same crew."
"Well. For the Ithorians' sake, I hope they've been too busy to swap old war stories."
"Ma'am, I do need to say... it's been many years. Whatever the secret is, she could have told anyone. Assuming she even knows she knows it, knows the detail was meaningful — or remembers it at all."
"All you need to know is that I know nobody's grasped it, or a certain place would be a crater. So consider Castillon an unexploded bomb."
Unaffiliated Deep Space
"Does that rise to the level of rule for you, Captain?" said Jaccath, sensitively, as if hesitant to probe a wound, likely unsure what she was feeling or how strongly she felt it. "Not killing those you've worked with, unless they earned it?"
"Not a rule, dear," Ashin told the hulking Massassi in the pilot seat. For her part she sat in the commscan chair, hands folded in her lap, watching a nova's aftershock churn. It was a beautiful sight. "Not a rule. Certainly not a principle. I'd go so far as to call it a hesitation. I quite liked Castillon the one time we collaborated; I quite liked most of that Rebel Alliance crew. Good enemies. And yet this really is important enough to wrap up whoever's left of them, whoever might have known."
"Known the suddenly-critical old secret that I'm definitively not asking about?" Jaccath said.
"Quite." Ashin sighed briskly. "Let's move forward with this. You're certain all the rest are dead?"
"Captain Castillon is the last loose end. I've sent you the sourcing that confirmed the rest."
"And she's where?"
Jaccath smiled in a way that looked bemused or wry. "The Tingel Arm. Specifically, my homeworld."
Deserts, scrimshaw, scrappers, ruins, unspoiled budget Korriban — "What in Pomojema's name is someone like Delila Castillon doing on Tash-Taral?"
The bridge controls' general-purpose screen showed a map of Tash-Taral with icons depicting violence.
"It seems she's purging or defending an oasis two days from Lasaraleen. Something about past, present, or future environmental reclamation — that's the best I could do. She's signed on with an outfit called the..." Jaccath double-checked. "...Ithorian Foreign Legion."
"The same people who liberated Ruusan and claimed they purged the Core Worlds?"
"Claimed being the operative word on that one, Captain, but yes, it looks like the same crew."
"Well. For the Ithorians' sake, I hope they've been too busy to swap old war stories."
"Ma'am, I do need to say... it's been many years. Whatever the secret is, she could have told anyone. Assuming she even knows she knows it, knows the detail was meaningful — or remembers it at all."
"All you need to know is that I know nobody's grasped it, or a certain place would be a crater. So consider Castillon an unexploded bomb."