Private Murder Inc.

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna’s eyebrows rose, then sank together. She remained where she stood, her arms crossed over her chest, while Kahlil sat down.

“Tell me when you’re ready,” she said. She couldn’t quite keep the impatience out of her tone, though she tried to hide it. It probably didn’t matter, anyway—she was an open book, her feelings easy to read.

Kahlil Noble​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

The giant of a man plopped down with an audible groan, leaning back in the seat as he closed his eyes. Still surveyed around them. Really, he wasn't even bothering to take a break. "I'm sorry you're stuck bringing a Jedi around. I know you and yours don't want our help, but I'm glad you accepted it regardless."

Little heart to heart wouldn't hurt, right? It was getting hard not to notice how annoyed she was with him.

Inanna Harth

 

[Inanna Harth]

“That—” Is not the issue, she nearly said, but stopped herself. For most people in the camp, it probably was the case. Had he been receiving glares from refugees who glimpsed his Jedi robes as he passed them by? Had he sensed their contempt, their anger and bitterness?

Kahlil didn’t even belong to the same Jedi Order who had failed to liberate Lao-mon. Granted, many New Jedi had shown up as allies in the Battle of Goshen. But she suspected Kahlil wasn’t one of them.

“It’s the Jedi attitude that rattles people,” she explained. “The passionless serenity. It’s too easily mistaken for apathy. And your… reluctance to come up with a feasible solution, especially one that does no further harm. Insisting that you need to pry into more damaged minds, as many as you can, in order to detect the impostors—it doesn’t go over well, for obvious reasons.”

Kahlil Noble​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"If you had a better idea, I'd appreciate to know it." Kahlil frowned. In truth he had no idea what else he could do. There wasn't a sense evil power that he could just use to solve this whole mess. Without a comparison, it was finding a specific color of hay in a hay factory without even knowing what the color was.

This let him know the color at least. But it was still searching for hay.

"Apathy though, that's more on me than Jedi in general. Don't hold that against the others." The passionless smile came back. Back to serenity. "There's a lot of hate and fear here. If I don't detach myself from it, I'll just feel all of it as if it was my own. I don't think anyone wants a stranger to feel their emotions, good or bad." Or something. Kahlil would've gone on, but something caught his attention.

He stood at once, his gaze scanning through the crowd. Surprise first. Then a calm realization.

"I found one. Dormant. .. Should we approach them? I'm not sure what happens if you confront one before they're triggered."

Inanna Harth

 

[Inanna Harth]

"If you had a better idea, I'd appreciate to know it."

"I don't. I was hoping you'd be able to come up with more. I suppose my expectations were too high."

"There's a lot of hate and fear here. If I don't detach myself from it, I'll just feel all of it as if it was my own. I don't think anyone wants a stranger to feel their emotions, good or bad."

Inanna was silent at that. Her ability to sense the world around her had always been dulled, doubly so here in the camp where she had been exposed to these intense emotions all the time. She hadn’t really considered how much of it would affect someone more sensitive than her.

Kahlil jolted, announcing that he had found a Fleshtaker who remained untriggered. Inanna turned to look in the same direction he was.

And found Enkidu, her chief of security, walking toward her.

“Inanna, we need to get you to a safe location,” he said. “Things are getting worse. We have a serious situation on our hands.”

Inanna could only stare at him, endeavoring to keep her expression from betraying her shock. Enkidu was a Fleshtaker. How was that possible? How had she failed to notice?

Because he’s untriggered, lying in wait for the perfect time to strike.

“Can you wait a few minutes for us to finish up?” she asked, finding her voice.

Enkidu looked reluctant, but nodded. “Make it fast.”

Inanna turned back to Kahlil, then gestured for him to follow her somewhere private. Once they were out of earshot, she hissed, “My chief of security? Really?” Shaking her head, she asked, “How are you going to fix him? What should I do?”

Kahlil Noble​

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Her head of security?

Well, actually, that made more sense than he figured. If there were any positions to get into, that'd be one of them. Unknowing though, that was the worst part. Kahlil sighed, rubbing at his brow as he tried to sort some plan out. .. No, there was no real plan. If he triggered, who knew what he'd do. His gaze shifted to the market area around them, a frown on his lips.

"We bring him to the Benandanti, hopefully without him triggering. Then talk to them about where they want to go. I'm no mentalist or healer. At this point it's best to try and figure out if there is a way to undo it before he triggers, yeah?"

That was the only path he could see, anyway.

Inanna Harth

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Great. Another trip to visit the creepy telepaths.” She didn’t have anything against the Benandanti, but stressful situations tended to make her hate everyone equally. “Okay. Let’s do it…”

Heading back to where Enkidu stood waiting, flanked by a few other security officers, Inanna took a deep breath, then spoke to Enkidu.

“Let’s go to the Benandanti fortress underwater to wait out this storm. It’s one of the most secure locations in the camp, after all.”

Enkidu’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Er, well… I suppose you’re right. That’s a pretty good idea, actually…”

“It’ll give us a chance to regroup and come up with a strategy for dealing with this issue,” Inanna continued. “Unless, of course, our enemies have managed to strike at the Bendandanti as well.”

“No, they remain unscathed…” Enkidu’s brow furrowed, and he seemed confused for a moment, but it was brief. “Let’s go, then. I’ll cover you.”

“Master Noble, I think it would be best if you were to accompany us,” Inanna added, giving a nod to Kahlil.

That gave Enkidu pause. The Shi’ido security chief turned to glance Kahlil’s way, his gaze slightly wary.

Kahlil Noble​