Private "Lawyer."

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

The holocall, presumably, bounced through anonymizing relays to keep the Jedi station's location secret. Farsight had similar obstacles: Ashin wore Force-severing cuffs and ysalamiri slumbered behind at least two walls.

The call shivered to life, revealing Mercy .

"Hello, Ms. Cee," said Ashin. "As my lawyer, you're who I'm allowed to call." She held up the cuffs for ease of view. "I'm unsure whether this call is being monitored, but your favorite client would like to speak with you anyway."

 

[Mercy]

Ashin Cardé Varanin

The holocall reached Mercy right as she was cleaning out a sniper rifle.

One of Ashin's sniper rifles.

In Ashin's private gun-range.

Mercy at least had the decency to look a bit awkward. A fraction of awkward. What she did not look like was a lawyer however. She looked over the rims of her shades and stared at that figure of Ashin in front of her. "Ah." She coughed and pushed the sniper rifle out of the screen. "Y-yes, miss Varanin, I was wondering... where my... favorite client had run off to."

A beat.

"Are you being treated with dignity according to... Alliance humanitarian law?" A shot in the dark. Perhaps it were the Silvers that grabbed Ashin, it had been quite chaotic after all.

They only knew some random Master called 'Wyatt' was involved.

Whoever that was.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin looked from Mercy to the rifle and back again. She offered exactly zero expression.

At least Mercy was cleaning the guns after she used them. But people on the Pomojema were obviously taking liberties. That did not bode well.

"Unfortunately not. I haven't been abused, but there's no interest in rights or jurisdiction on this Jedi station. I had to ask to speak with legal counsel after the first round of my trial. I'm not being detained under any law or on any charge. It's just a dozen Jedi or near-Jedi of various allegiances, looking to set some kind of example. On the plus side, they've kept me locked away from the Force, so it's a nice break from the Drengir chase.

"Sadly, Ms. Cee, I doubt filing an appeal with the Galactic Alliance or the Silver Jedi would do any good — I don't know if I'm even in their space. What are your thoughts?"

 

[Mercy]

Ashin Cardé Varanin

Ashin didn't say anything and Mercy offered a grin.

Clearly the empress was okay with it, if she didn't give her chit about it, right? That's how it worked.

"I see. I be-" And then stopped herself and with difficulty forced her usual mannerisms back into the box. Time to whip out that gorram High Tionese court behavior that she so loathed. "I wish I was astonished by your captors lack of decency, miss Varanin." Spoken with gentle sotto murmur, delicate and diplomatic.

Entirely opposite of who Mercy always presents her to be.

"But we all know that the rule of law only matters to them when it is useful to them. Have you considered beating them over the head? With the rule of law, of course." She added quickly as Mercy tried to keep inside that hated persona she once had been.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Unlike the rifle issue, Mercy 's code-switching provoked a blink of real surprise.

"In this particular situation, I'm afraid arguments that blunt would be counterproductive. But don't think it hasn't crossed my mind.

"What I need from you, Counsel, is context. Updates on the safety and...stability of my wife, my home, and especially my darling little girl. I'd hate for any of the above to do anything rash when so much about my situation is unknown."

 

[Mercy]

Ashin Cardé Varanin

Context.

From a blunt instrument like Mercy?

That was a joke if there was ever one. Mercy grimaced there.... and that would tell Ashin everything she wanted to know. "Context... yes, of course." Recentering once again. This was hard. She hadn't been to court close to a decade now. People who said it was easy to fall into old habits never tried to go back to being a piece of chit Tionese noble on the fly.

"Your wife and home are safe, miss Varanin, as far as I know. You understand, I do my best to keep my distance from your... home." She pushed the sniper rifle a bit further out of the screen.

"But people seem to have faith that you will return in due course. Your..." Her nostrils flared. "...darling girl? She is besides herself of worry." Her head was starting to hurt with the double-speak and diplomacy.

"I suggest you do your best to return to them quickly, Ashin. Take too long and it might be that things turn to a course that can't be taken back."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Now that's a shade too cryptic even for me," said Ashin grimly. "The Pomojema. Is it at risk? Drengir, Jedi, Sith? Just tell me in general, simple terms and I can likely guess the rest."

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

"Oh, thank kark." She said with obvious relief as Mercy reverted back to plain-speaking gutter talk. "The Drengir suspect yar gone, they been probin' an' tryin'a catch us since yar got got. Been fine for now, but won't last. Especially if-" Then a pause there. A grimace. "Let's say, Av has a plan. It could put the Pomojema at risk... but I added mah own flourish with her help, which should keep the Drengir clear from yar home."

Oh, wow, did Mercy just give Avalore credit?

Yes, she did.

"Still risky. But if ya dun' come back soon, that be the only course o' action, m'Lord."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Some Sith Lords have private dreadnoughts," said Ashin with all the carefree kindness of a glacier. "Or fanatical cults, throne worlds, immortality labs, palaces, battlemoons, personal planes of reality. I have a solitary starship. I will take an irrevocably dim view of anyone who breaks my starship. Can I be clearer?"

Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Mercy swallowed.

"I dun' think ya gotta be, lady." Murmured carefully. "I... be sure to impress on yar lil' girl how much ya value yar ship." Truth be told Mercy didn't poke her nose into Avalore 's planning. She didn't care. As long as she would have something to smash at the end of the day. But at the same time, if they didn't go and rescue Ashin, it would be all the same to her.

"She won't just let it go tho. No matter what I, yar wife or anyone says. If need be, she will do it all alone, savvy? And unless ya want me to try an' break her kneecaps-"

A pause there, thoughtful about it.

"Nah, even that wouldn't stop her."

It was kinda funny. But also deeply stupid. Why would a person invest so much of their self-worth into another person? One thing that was clear from this conversation however? While Mercy was helping Avalore, she wasn't as motivated in getting Ashin out. She didn't make a secret out of that. It wasn't anything personal.

She just didn't give that much o' a chit about anyone that wasn't herself.

"They 'least feeding ya well? Yar always been a skinny stick o' a woman." Was that concern? Hologram-Mercy revealed a protein bar and took a big bite out of it.

Maybe it was just empathetic hunger.

Ashin Cardé Varanin