Private It's an Older Code... (Daiara)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"As you wish. The strength I took from you is payment enough." Ashin shifted over to a panel on the corridor wall and used an intraship communications function. "Lord Moran?"

"Captain?"

"I have need of the half an amulet we recovered. Can you have someone bring it to Bay Four?"

"Permanent need?"

"Yes."

"Understood. It'll be there in minutes." Barely a pause. If the master alchemist was displeased at losing the artifact, he didn't show it much, and frankly she kept him well supplied with similar artifacts. Besides, other local finds interested him more.

"Thank you." Ashin turned off the comm and refocused on Darth Daiara . "Are you operating independently these days, or part of a Sith order?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

The question earned a near indiscernible flinch.

"I carve my own way now." Her attention fixated on the hall, straining for the sound of foot steps or the first hint of an approaching shadow. Finally, after months, she would have it. Jori Daragon's remaining amulet.

The artifact that was common to Ashin was everything to her. She took a pressing step forward.

"And the holocron?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"You came for the armulet; you paid a price. If you want the broken holocron, we come to another arrangement. But this may be more interesting than a one-for-one bargain."

A wiry man in dark utilitarian clothes came down the corridor. He moved with confidence but avoided eye contact. He presented a hardshell case to Ashin; she opened it and offered its contents to Darth Daiara : the better part of a multi-millennium-old Sith amulet. It was of the segmented kind that fit on a hand and wrist, current five to six thousand years ago and older.

"To repair a holocron is a specialized skill, and it would take a specialist days or weeks. We have people here who know how, and very few do. Do you want to learn how to do it for yourself?"

 

[Darth Daiara]

"No." Daiara snatched the amulet from the box, her shaky fingers running over the hole of the missing crystal that should be fashioned there. It had broken off during the scuffle at the excavation site and rested securely in her ship. Re-securing it was another hurdle she'd have to manage, but that seemed easy in light of finding it.

"I have what I need now." She flicked a bitter look at Ashin. "And you took more than you should. We're done here."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin nodded firmly. "Yes, I think we are. You'll find this is the last time security lets you through, Daiara. The next time you set foot on my ship, for whatever bargains or arrangements the future might hold between us...hail me first, or I'll put you off through the nearest airlock. Do we understand each other?"

Darth Daiara

 

[Darth Daiara]

She smiled at that, then left.