Oh My, My, Kiss The Sky

[Itash Mecetti]

CORPORATE SECTOR​

ETTI IV​

From one day to the other Tash suddenly realized that they were spending much more time with one another than he had first been anticipating.

Surprising.

What was equally surprising was the fact that the Tapani didn't actually mind... much.

Oh, they weren't living together, they had their own toothbrushes in their own places, but they also had spares. Looking back at it it was a slow roll, rather than a quick descend. Perhaps that was why Itash hadn't felt like someone was setting a trap around him. Which ensured he didn't feel forced to look for a quick exit.

By design Tash surmised.

Part of him was impressed by [member="Cassandra Paige"].

It had been cautious, quiet, slow and most of all meticulous. No wonder she had put up with so many of his... eccentricities. He sat in the office of his apartment, she was elsewhere in the building. He wasn't sure what she was doing - both of them needed their own little moments.

Kept both of them sane.

"Cass, I got a thing we need to discuss." The Tapani finally called out from past his desk. Another flick of his finger and the holographic system in front of him shifted into the site of a building.

A very specific one.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Cass was curled on the couch, flipping through a virtual catalog. Not GenPals, thank heavens. Chase Fashions, as offered to her by one [member="Damian Starchaser"]. She was marking items she liked on a virtual wish list and intended to 'accidentally' leave the catalog here later when she headed out. If nothing came of it, no loss. But if it did, well.

She looked up from the hologram, a small frown flitting over her face. Well that was never good. Setting the catalog down on the coffee table (she was almost done anyway, and this was a perfectly natural way to 'forget' it there), she followed the sound of his voice into his office.

Tilting her head slightly, she paused, leaning against the door frame to look at him.

Things were progressing well, truly. She had been pleasantly surprised by the fact that (usually) she generally enjoyed his company. It made the whole thing easier, really. She had started this whole process because of what he was. A Mecetti. The threat of her mother echoed- attempt at business and fail and she would choose her future husband. But Cass knew that she could hardly object to a Mecetti. Besides the obvious benefit to the Paige family in general, if she managed to catch this one, her mother would think twice about trying to change it to not risk angering a noble house. It was a neat way to do as she pleased and also beat her mother.

Fortunately it had other perks beyond just that.

This would have made the entire thing deeply tedious otherwise.

"What is it Tash?" She said, pushing off of the door frame and moving over toward the desk.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

For once they were together without either a drink in their hand, some social function forcing them to keep up appearances or business making sure they'd have to keep on their toes for the extension of time.

They were in a private setting.

Thank the Lords for that, he was getting exhausted from all the work. That only made this subject he was broaching all the more ironic as far as Tash was concerned. It would be surprising, he assumed. Itash almost never pulled work into their private time. "We have been building our companies for quite a while, focusing mainly on the Corporate Sector with some attention going elsewhere." The Tapani began, making it known this was business he wanted - or needed - to discuss at his particular point in time.

"You know I have been rather busy with the security and mercenary arm of my business." But there was more to Didact than that and that's something Cassandra would know better than anyone else.

They had been the ones securing her complete digital infrastructure after all.

"I aim to... do something dangerous here, in the Corporate Sector." He leaned back, hand brushing his chin and beard. "I will need your help with it."

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Historically, it was easier for Cass than for Itash- keeping work and enjoyment separate. In fact she often insisted upon it, not that it often did much good. So the shift from 'casual' Cass to 'business' Cass came immediately. She had been coming around to lean on his shoulder, but instead she stopped beside the desk. Resting her hip on it, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the holo there critically for a moment, though she had no idea what it was of.

A building. What and where?

"Really?" She asked, tone a touch incredulous. "You do? I find that hard to believe."

She got the feeling he didn't mean in the normal ways she helped him. Flattering, cajoling, easing social requirements. This felt different, she just didn't know how yet.

"For something dangerous? Care to elaborate?"

She was interested, that much was clear. Interested and cautious. She had already learned to not leave assumptions dangling free.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

Surprisingly enough Tash hadn't been sure about this from the start.

Usually there wasn't any hesitation from him.

He wanted something.

He took it.

That was the end of the deal for him, but this was different. It didn't have anything to with her safety? Not in that sense anyway. Instead, Itash hadn't been sure if she would be secure. What if someone got to her to get to him? How much could Cass be trusted to know without breaking operational security? These were the things that the Tapani had to struggle with these days.

And Tash hated it.

Every single moment of it was a reminder of what he had lost. His freedom, his lack of care, his hunger for getting everything he wanted without any of the responsibilities he had to tackle now.

"This is the sector network hub of the Corporate Sector." Tash looked up at her, squinting just a bit to try and figure her out. "Every bit of information that flows through the Sector passes it. Whoever controls it? Controls the information within the Sector."

She knew where this was going.

"Do you want to know more?"

 

[Cassandra Paige]

When he squinted at her, he'd see calculation.

It wasn't something often let him see. That was kept private, behind those grey eyes. Sometimes a flash of it would escape but usually only when someone was looking away from her.

Oh, she understood immediately his intentions. Perhaps not the details but the broad strokes. But how she fit into it? That was the part that was muddier. They had met in a situation that could easily have been life or death- they had seen the way they both functioned under pressure. While she had been perfectly content to let him take charge in that moment she had not panicked and had even found ways to help. He also knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Cass did not have combat skills. Nor hacking, or anything else that might be useful in an endeavor such as this.

So just what did he think she could help him with?

She supposed he might need her to seduce someone but that seemed.... well, frankly unlikely. Both as a need and as a request.

"Yes," she said simply, tipping her eyes away from the holo to look at his face.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

That was that as far as Itash was concerned really.

She was smart enough to know the kind of risk that she might get herself into with an endeavor like this. Love? No, Itash didn't understand that, but respect? Yes. Certainly. And the Tapani was slowly starting to respect the woman next to him. Her wits, her sharpness, the raw calculation that she draped herself in while applying a silk glove around it. It were values that Tash could understand, even when it surprised him that she truly had them within her.

It wasn't often Itash found himself in someone else.

"Whoever controls the information within the Corporate Sector... well." That much was obvious to both of them. It was equally obvious that it would be Itash, as far as him was concerned. Didact handled information brokerage, just not... on this scale yet.

"You have been shrinking existing creatures into petform and you have made several custom ones already." Tash finally said with a thought. "If I give you certain traits and needs, would you be able to make me a special kind of creature? Not fragile, intelligent, basically sentient?" Oh, GenPals didn't do sentient creatures in public, but this was a private order and it was a necessary trait. The kind of creature that Itash needed couldn't be stupid.

It needed to be creative.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

"Well indeed," she murmured.

In truth, Cass wasn't that interested in the information, or more specifically, the control of the information, herself. She saw the value in it clearly, but it wasn't the sort of thing that held her interest. There were specific things that did, however, things she could use to improve GenPals, to expand their customer base, to expand, well, everything.

And that, surely, the access to that information, would be worth helping him.

Of course just what he needed wasn't clear until-

She blinked, a little surprised. In truth, while she hadn't know what she might be able to offer here, the idea that the help would come through GenPals hadn't even entered into her calculations.

She waved a hand dismissively.

"We've done orders like that before. Uncommon and off the books, but yes, sentience is no real *challenge*," she murmured, obviously thoughtful but not concerned. "The issue isn't the capacity, the issue is the legality. Cloners of intelligent creatures face significantly more corporate oversight, you understand. It keeps us off the radar by not."

It wasn't an admission she had made to him previously. The implication that it could be done but would not be, of course, but that they had already done so.

"Beyond intelligence, creativity, what other traits are necessary?"

Mentally she was pulling up the holographic spreadsheet from her desk in her office.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

This was good.

He wasn't a scientist and hadn't been certain if it was feasible for her company to do this thing, but apparently it was, if not trivial, than at least significantly easier than Tash had first expected it to be. That made things already more convenient.

"Small, it needs thumbs. Short lifespan. I would prefer for it to simply expire once the mission is over and done with." Dispose of the lose ends at the *end* of it all. Oh, Tash could just kill it afterwards, that wasn't a real concern.

But why leave things to fate when you could literally code it into their DNA?

"Hmm. Is it possible to give it some sort of telepathic ability? Low level mind tricks, messages relayed through the mind and things like that?" The more they stacked the deck against these enemies of his currently holding the place the better.

What else, what else?

Tash had been stuck on the need for its sentience, truth to be told.

Now Tash was considering what other options there could be.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

"Something that looks like something non-sentient," she mused, mostly to herself. "How long of a lifespan? A few days? A week? A month? The main concern is making sure it is *mature* enough in spirit to carry out your tasks, Itash. It can be flash coded with pure knowledge, but the capacity for real, creative thought comes in part from experience, which we cannot fake no matter how hard we try. However it would be childishly easy to put some sort of small device inside of it that released a small dose of poison," she added, almost as an after thought.

She paused, clearly focused entirely on the issue at hand.

"Things involving the Force are tricky," she said with a shake of her head. "It's unreliable in the lab setting we've found. Makes the creatures unstable when it's something more than a passive, uncontrolled ability. I believe communication might be possible, we've already toyed with impressions from one of our custom orders-"

She paused and actually suppressed a shudder.

"That one could have been full telepathy but it was agreed that no one wanted to know what it was thinking."

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

Tash didn't pry even though he was mildly curious.

"Communication alone would be helpful." It would be risky to try and give it any kind of tech. That could be detected and then it would be difficult to complain why a pet had a comm device stuck in its ear. No, this would be better. "I am moving relatively soon. Next two months. I know genetics aren't as fast as the snapping of your fingers and then you are done."

The Baron had been less acceptive.

"Is that timeframe suitable for what I am asking?" He didn't have a frame-of-reference after all. This was sentience he was asking and something of the Force as well.

It wouldn't surprise him if they needed more time than that.

But Itash couldn't postpone it indefinitely. Right now there was an opportunity, two months was already pushing it and taking a risk. But his plan would work better if they had this as their ace. Without it... things had the chance of becoming far more... messy.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

"If you're willing to pay the price, I believe I can deliver in two months, yes."

It wasn't about gouging money from him, he'd feel that in a heartbeat. Oh, sure, Cass was out to turn a profit, even on something for him (he had done the same with her, after all), but that kind of speed would require additional staff and putting aside other projects. All things that cost money to accomplish.

People wanted things cheap, fast and high quality. In reality you could only have two of those three things. If he wanted fast and high quality, it could not, by the very limits of production, be cheap.

She shifted so she was partially sitting on the desk now, looking down at him.

"How many will you need?"

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

"When has money ever been a problem?" Not a genuine question, because they both knew the answer to it already.

Never.

He had never spared any expenses when it came to her and presumably never would. Part of it was the *claim* that Tash was given by it. Every little purchase, every gift made, it coaxed her closer and closer into his embrace, until there was no clear way out anymore. Tash liked seeing her wear what he bought her for those reasons.

"One, if we are lucky. Three if we are not."

There were three people who had a penchant for cute and adorable pets. Three that he had been targeting for a while now.

Even without the network hub it was possible to gain information.

Tash stretched, while letting his gaze brush up her leg and further. Oh, Cass might not have intended it, but the show she was making was quite pleasant on the eye. Enjoying it was the least that Itash could do to repay her efforts.

Perhaps more.

"Oh. Right. They do need to be absolutely... adorable."

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Again she made that small, dismissive gesture with her hand.

"I don't think it's an issue," she murmured, mouth curved down in that thoughtful frown, grey eyes a little distant. He could almost see the wheels turning behind that gaze. "Merely a statement of fact."

In truth, this was one of the rare occasions she was not aware of the effect of her position on him. Oblivious to his gaze, she mused aloud, thumb coming up to her bottom lip as she mulled.

"Three is no more difficult than one, and changing it from one to three at the last minute would be impossible, so it may as well be three. Adorable is no hurdle at all, Tash, everything but that one thing was adorable. And that was hardly our fault anyway."

Chewing on her lower lip absently, she nodded finally.

"Yes. GenPals can deliver."

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

"Good."

He rose and his hand was on her leg all of a sudden. Looking down on her now, eyes roaming and his fingers squeezing tight around her knee. "Business is concluded for now." That was a statement and not a suggestion, it was a natural guidance towards the next thing.

Oh, Tash was very aware she hated to mix business and pleasure at once.

Usually the Tapani enjoyed to push her line here too. But today? Today Itash wasn't feeling that all that much and wanted something *else*.

His eyes dared her to deny him here in this moment as nails bit into the skin of her leg. Maybe this time Itash would actually allow it too. Not likely, but possibly. Stranger things had happened in the past after all and anything could happen.

He pulled her against him.

Or maybe that was a tall order now.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Two Weeks Later​

GenPals Labs​

Morellia​

​

​

The satellite office at the Morellia Labs was smaller than her main one on Etti IV. It was on the second floor of the squat, unattractive building and, until recently, Cass had thought that it was too far outside of the nearest city for convenience.

She'd clearly been wrong.

Pinching her nose, she looked up as Itash was shown in. The sound of a group of protesters outside, calling themselves SETA- Sentients for the Ethical Treatment of Animals- had been outside all morning. Chanting, waving signs ('Captivity is Wrong!' one proclaimed, the others were waved around so vigorously Cass couldn't have read the even if she had wanted to) and generally making a nuisance of themselves.

"Can't your men just.... bounce them half a block or something?" She grumped, but they both knew peaceful protest was allowed on Morellia. As long as the protesters didn't set foot inside of the facility, they couldn't be touched.

It didn't mean she couldn't imagine it however.

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

He was casually studying a lick of paint that had caught his sleeve outside.

His speed had surprised them.

The paint had surprised those standing behind him with their own signs as well. "Possibly." Itash retorted before looking up and meeting her eye. This was one of the few times that Cass would see something else in his eyes.

It wasn't his amusement, his wit, his neutrality or his desire.

No, it was ugly and it was hiding in plain view. "They need to become violent." Itash looked back over his shoulder and studied those thick crowds packed with people.

"That could be arranged."

It just needed a single spark and then they could handle them however they wanted. Oh, this planet allowed peaceful protests, but they equally allowed corporations to protect their own property. Giving them wide leeway in how to approach that too.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

It gave her pause, that look.

Oh not because it was strange, not really. Perhaps on his face yes. But she knew that look.

She'd seen it in the mirror.

"No," she said slowly. "As tempting as that is, I won't risk GenPals sparking it."

She had no idea he meant through the Force. The assumption on her part was that it would be manipulated in some more mundane fashion. Taunting them. Pouring water from the second story onto them. Baiting them in some fashion.

Standing up from behind the desk she moved over to him, putting her hand on his arm. There was nothing she wanted more than to grind their faces into the concrete. Cruelty indeed, these creatures wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for GenPals, they could do with them as they pleased, and besides they were not cruel even then. It benefited no one to mistreat their stock. That said, Cass knew all too well that letting that ugliness out was dangerous. She had worked hard, too hard, to build this to risk it because she was annoyed.

She'd learned that lesson years ago.

"Come on, we'll head into the labs. It'll be quieter down there."

Carefully, she pushed up, brushing her lips against the corner of his mouth.

"I'll show you what we have so far."

[member="Itash Mecetti"]

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Cassandra Paige"]

It would have been easy.

Thread some of his men through the crowd, a couple of faces amidst scores and slowly start to escalate the situation. Until they lost their sense and allowed themselves to be manoeuvred in a position that would be oh so unpleasant to them.

Mm, kiss.

Tash looked down and his hand wrapped around her wrist hard. Pulling her in for something deeper and more... involved.

Breath at the end and the ugly disappeared from his eye. The calculation remained, but that was safer for both of them. Calculation alone didn't mean anything. "Lead the way, miss Paige." He murmured against her lips before letting her go again.

One more look was cast over his shoulder and then he followed her into the elevator.

They descended.

A soft music jingle aired in the tight space.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

He couldn't control the situation so in that moment settled on what he could. Her.

She let him, small price. Besides, not that she'd ever admit it, she kind of liked it when he did that. She kissed him back, only breaking it when he stepped away. Carefully putting herself back to rights, as usual after his embrace, she nodded, setting off for the lift.

It was only two floors down, the labs in the basement. The building was long and wide, rather than tall, and it was jarring to someone accustomed to Coruscant, but she muddled through when business forced her to be here. She kept half her attention on Itash, standing close to him.

It wasn't possible to unsee that look in his eyes. And it made her wonder if it was a plus..... or a detriment.

The jury for the moment, was out.

The lift doors opened and the exited a moment later, Cass's heels tak tak takking on the tile floor as they headed down the hallway.

"We have the virtual mock up of the creature you requested," she said crisply. Down here it was easy to forget about the idiots upstairs for awhile and focus on the business at hand.

"Doctor Reisner can read a genetic code like you or I might read a newspaper, and she assures me of the accuracy based on that," she continued as they turned into one of the lab rooms.

[member="Itash Mecetti"]