Private Postcards From the Edge | Lysander

[Verity Stuyveris]

TO: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
FROM: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
SUBJECT: Is this a hazing?

To whom it may concern ('goldenboy'),

I hesitated to reach out using this method of contact for a few reasons. First, my assumption was that you had probably had enough of me (accurately) describing your little band of sociopaths as genocidal lunatics bent on total destruction of the rules-based order at our first meeting, and beyond that I'm not sure what else there is to say. Second, I assumed it was some sort of trap to get me to say something that your people could then leak in an attempt to discredit me. Then I remembered that everything I say is objectively correct and the only people who could possibly be discredited by it are you and your friends. Third, it seemed like it could be a ruse to get me to expose my location, but my location is generally public knowledge anyway, and in any event, good luck I'm behind seven anonymizing relays.

Finally, I thought it couldn't possibly be serious because goldenboy is one of the stupidest handles I have ever heard of, so it was probably a hazing. Then I remembered that my holo address in high school was based on a candy I had a particular affection for at that age. So perhaps it is authentic after all.

If by handing me your contact information you were signaling I should reach out to negotiate the Covenant's unconditional surrender, I can help, but it should really involve the Chancellor. If you're looking for help defecting with some kind of redemption arc, I can probably help, but I would need many, many assurances. I suspect based on the vigor behind your responses in our discussion that neither is the case, so frankly I'm stumped.

Please explain.

With all due contempt,

FSG15

Lysander von Ascania​

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

TO: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
FROM: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
SUBJECT: RE: Is this a hazing?

To the party identifying as “fizzersweetgirl15,”

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you opened by attempting to assassinate me rather than with usual pleasantries. Your attentiveness is impressive.

But of course, your letter also opens, predictably, in the moral register. We seemed to have resumed our conversation where we left it. You in the moral one, and I in the economic. I suppose that's the Republic's usual currency, no? Personally, I prefer dealing in numbers. They have the advantage of describing this little thing we call reality. I won't fault you for it. Afterall, habit it a powerful thing. But it does make your critique of the Covenant somewhat predictable. If my sensibilities have offended you, just remember, the markets still remain unchanged.

You may keep your seven relays. I won’t trouble myself to follow you through even one. The Covenant doesn’t rely on tracing signals to locate Republic officials. Schedules and public appearances do the work for us. Or anyone, really. The Republic has always been quite fond about broadcasting its movements, no?

In any case, you may relax.

As for the matter of my handle, I regret to inform you it is in fact, very authentic. I do wish I could blame adolescence or say it's some decade old holo account. But no, my training partner coined it somewhat recently. I trust this satisfies your inquiry into my nomenclature?

I almost admire the bravery required to admit your own. Most would have taken that to the grave, or at least to a data‑wipe. It is a rather curious contradiction, given how intent you seemed on drawing blood in every exchange back at Summer Palace. I’ve survived worse, though usually there were at least refreshments involved.

I handed you a contact line, not a thermal detonator, and you’ve already managed to build three theories. The third one was quite bold; I’ll give you that. Are you suggesting I’m in the middle of some personal crisis? Well, it’s far too late for redemption, and I wasn’t asking for it anyway. None of them were close.

Sometimes a message is simply a message.

What if I just wanted to talk without a committee listening in?

I await your reply. You don’t exactly radiate obligations. Certainly not in the way other Senators do.

With my most cordial contempt,

Goldenboy

 

[Verity Stuyveris]

TO: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
FROM: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
SUBJECT: RE: RE: Is this a hazing?

Dear Footnote Awaiting Redaction,

Appreciating (as I always do) your flattery, I must correct you on one point: If I had tried to assassinate you, you would simply be assassinated. That's not to say that your continued existence is within my gift; I was going to say I tend to leave that kind of egomania to your sort but fair is fair and I recognize that it is present in more-than-healthy measures in my sort as well. Is this my 'we're not so different, you and I' moment? Doubtful -- but to return to the point, I am not inclined to solve problems by personal violence, and in any event if I was there are a half dozen more credible threats to be handled before you.

Try not to take that personally. You're a very menacing man, I promise.

But as far as morality and economics, not for the first time, you've got the wrong end of the stick. An empire -- or Covenant, if that's what we are going to pretend it is -- founded on a pile of corpses is good for neither one. Numbers are helpful, it is true, but reality is not their exclusive preserve. There is a little thing called context. As far as markets go, when the blockades begin, when the sanctions bite, when the credit streams dry up, will you be singing the same tune? One must wonder. Then again, I have always understood self-delusion to be one of the primary skillsets of the Sith, so maybe you'll be fine.

The clarification on your handle is enlightening. I can now replace 'youthful indiscretion' in my reading of it and replace it with 'dripping with thinly-veiled contempt.' As far as my own, it will come as a shock to many that I was once young and foolish. To my credit, I have grown out of both. They aren't paying me to say this, but if you ever come across a Fizzer Sweet, you owe it to yourself to try it. You can thank me later.

Regarding my intent to draw blood, I hope you won't take it personally. I was merely trying to prevent the man from making a terrible mistake. He seemed the type to respond to strength, but absent making more explicit my threats -- well, less threats than observations of what I will ensure comes to pass if he does the foolish thing -- which I fear might have turned him off the whole thing, you were the nearest thing. You bore it well, for what it's worth. And I don't believe I did draw blood; if I did, it didn't show. You really would do well in the Senate.

Pity.

At any rate, anyone who can brush off murders in the numbers you have while speaking calmly of markets and stability is, by definition, in the middle of some personal crisis. I am a firm believer that it is never too late for redemption. Perhaps I will make it my pet project to convince you, because ensuring the moral integrity of my organization and its economic domination of the galaxy isn't taking up enough of my time. But I fear the consequences will only get more unpleasant the longer you let it go on. History teaches that Darth Vader himself repented in the end, but an hour later his body was on a funeral pyre. What a cheerful thought.

I did wonder if you were able to convey my message to your superiors in the Triumvirate. I'm sure they will not have been intimidated by it -- especially the big woman whose name, regrettably, escapes me -- but I'm curious if there was any response. I'd be interested to hear it, even if it is a suggestion about what I can do with myself.

As diverting as this has been -- and it has been, truly, much more stimulating than the usual morning crossword to keep me awake during the usual morning administrative tasks, for which I offer begrudging thanks -- I draw this missive to a close by noting that there are no committees listening in here. What is it you'd like to discuss? I would like to add to the agenda that ridiculous bird. Don't think I didn't catch you eyeing it covetously. Your taste in birds is almost as poor as your taste in compatriots.

In retrospect, that last bit is something of a reach. As a show of good faith I'm going to leave it in anyway, as a reminder to both of us that I -- however rarely -- can miss the mark.

Faithfully yours in plausible deniability,

FSG15

Lysander von Ascania​

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

TO: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
FROM: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE: Is this a hazing?

Dear Senator of Curated Ethics,

Your message lands much like the last. Sort of a swift jab first, then a bow afterwards. I’m beginning to believe this might be your signature way of saying hello. It's curious, really; like you’re staking your claim on the conversation before anyone ever gets a foot in the door.

I’ll take your word for it that I’m not at the top of your assassination queue. It’s a crowded field, I’m sure.

The idea that there might be any similarity barely even occurred to me. It was so clearly dismissed from the start. Too inconvenient for the story you want to tell, I suppose. A familiar political trick, remove whatever doesn't fit the narrative and pretend it was never raised.

I don't consider a pile of corpses an economic liability, Verity. That is one of many historical constants. Every government you've ever admired stands on one. Life goes on. People adapt. Markets adjust. They always have. The Covenant did not invent that reality. Others trade with us because it is profitable, not because it is virtuous. As for these blockades and sanctions you're so certain of, from whom do you imagine we seek credit? You’re describing the Republic’s tools as though they apply universally. We both know they don’t. They apply to systems that require permission for stability.

You know, I can't say I have the sweet tooth I used to. Recent campaigns have dulled that indulgence. For what it's worth, if I happen to cross one out of the blue, I won't shy away from the experiment. Is that recommendation born of nostalgia, or is it possibly a vice you’ve allowed yourself to keep?

Since we’re trading confections, have you ever tried a Wookiee-Ookiee? Curious little things, much better than their funny name might lead you to believe.

I’d dare say strength is the tongue he speaks best. He only hears a point once it’s delivered with real weight, and you gave just enough to keep him from stepping off a cliff. Enough to make him reconsider.

You make the Senate’s path sound almost tempting, but I’m afraid mine veers another way entirely. I need to follow the course that rings true within, even if it strays from what’s expected. The stakes are clearer.

Besides, I’m not sure your schedule nor your patience could survive trying to make me repentant.

Redemption is a story people sell themselves when they want the galaxy to make moral sense. In truth, I don't begrudge them that. But I don’t find it practical either. Maybe that will shed more ‘light’ on why I don't fit the Senate's idea of virtue? I’m past the point where guilt is useful. I know what I’ve done. I know what I’ll do again.

Darth Vader repented because he had nothing left to lose.

Darth Malgus held that an empire dies the moment it becomes comfortable. A sense of direction that didn’t depend on anyone else’s approval. That, I understand.

Your message was conveyed to the Triumvirate. The “big woman” you mentioned laughed. That’s all the response you’re getting for now. You should consider it a diplomatic victory though; she doesn’t laugh often.

I don’t have an administrative gauntlet in the mornings. My regimen at that hour sharpens the body, rather than the mind. So yes, something for the other half isn’t entirely unwelcome. This does imply I'm using you. Which in fairness, I am. It's very unlikely I'll apologize for it. What sort of Sith would I be if I did?

I have to admit, when it became obvious that the negotiations were falling apart beyond hope, a wild thought crossed my mind. What if I just took the bird? Returning to Coruscant empty handed, for a moment, sounded dangerous.

We could discuss our own worlds. That feels more real than asking what you meant to ask before hiding it behind a bird and a crossword. So, tell me, what was the last decision that was yours alone, not the chamber’s. Or, what it costs to maintain alliances you don’t believe in.

You could also try asking me something you don’t already know the answer to.

With the requisite contempt,

Goldenboy

 

[Verity Stuyveris]

TO: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
FROM: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
SUBJECT: RE: RE: Is this a hazing?

Dear Witness for the Prosecution,

You score another point -- not that I'm keeping score, because I'm not foolish enough to take notes on what could be titled Exhibit A in the People v. VS. I do stake my claim early. It saves time, don't you find? I work with a lot of people (men, usually, but not exclusively) who tend to confuse politeness with agreement. I don't want anyone making that mistake. You, on the other hand, seem to enjoy the friction. We all have our quirks, I suppose.

While I will concede that at the roots of all governments are corpses. Two important distinctions, though: first, yours are victims of a carnival of carnage with no discernable purpose but to instill terror (but do feel free to enlighten me), while others may be enemies, oppressors, imperialists, etc. Not always; because I am not a freshman political science student I am not foolish enough to make such a claim. Second, better governments make efforts to acknowledge and repair their sins, where you seemed all too happy to treat the Tapani bloodbath as not a bug but a feature. Your economic theology is as bleak as ever. Efficient and bloody. It costs me nothing to say I understand it; you know where I'm from, after all. But I also understand how useful that kind of worldview must be when one must launder moral abdication through market resilience to have a hope of stopping the part of one's brain that understands the inherent value of sentient life from screaming while one is trying to sleep.

I would say that in the free marketplace of ideas, let the best government win. But for all your talk it, the Covenant offers no such thing as free markets. And anyone who trades with your lot, or facilitates your squatting in the Core, will not find a free market anywhere I have something to say about it. Some people, it seems, must be taught that there are some consequences they cannot buy themselves out of, even if they own a senator (or two, or six).

Speaking of Senators -- you are perhaps more idealistic than you allow yourself credit for. The idea that there is such a thing as the "Senate's idea of virtue" falls apart like wet paper on first contact with a Senator. I guarantee you there are at least as many of them who agree with you about the value of sentient life -- or lack thereof -- as who agree with me. Whether they would defend such a view so passionately as you in public... well, they're politicians, so I suspect they would lie.

I would hesitate to talk about my homeworld, given that it would tend to identify me in what is, admittedly, probably a very foolish (if not borderline illegal) line of correspondence -- but you helpfully relieved me of that burden by calling me out already. I thought you people were supposed to be good at this cloak-and-dagger thing. Tsk. So, fine: Druckenwell is... challenging. Many noble houses (like my own) who think they know the best (or the only) way to run a planet, fighting for influence and control. Luckily, not one of them has enough votes in our complicated system to pull all the strings themselves. It's a game of bargaining and compromises, sometimes blackmail and coercion, and for some of them, intrigue (social, political, economic, sexual -- it's shocking). But it is a lovely place. Rainy this time of year, and cold, but not impossible. The rain makes the air taste clean, which is nice.

The last decision I made on my own? I could say responding to this holomail. Then again I didn't consult anyone, so maybe that doesn't count. The sanctions bill was probably the last significant one. There was no one who wanted that to happen. My security advisers warned me that my speech decrying the moral failure of allowing your merry band to camp out in the ruins of Coruscant had generated an uptick in concerning security chatter and urged me to cool my jets. My office staff and my peers in Druckenwell society thought the bill would be an escalation and I suppose it was. I'm afraid if they didn't like that, they're definitely not going to like what comes next. I guess we're all in for a lifetime of heartache.

Well I showed you mine. You know the rule.

I try to avoid maintaining alliances I don't believe in. If nothing else, an alliance that stands as a bulwark against the worse thing is worth believing in -- at least until it's not. These hypothetical allies aren't my political soulmates (or any other kind). But if they're willing to stand against butchery, depravity, terror -- all the worse things -- then there's room in the trenches for them.

I think by answering I've earned a turn at asking some impertinent questions of my own, to wit: how much of your worldview survives if it succeeds? Without an enemy, an other, inevitably you will turn on each other, no? It has happened even with enemies on all sides. Or do you, in the flush of foolish youth, think that this time you can somehow manage to throw off the shackles of all of Sith history since records began?

How do you think that is going to go?

I chipped a molar on a Wookiee-ookiee once. It served me right for trying to eat something designed for them. If you like a snack that bites back (and something tells me you absolutely do) try Cavaellin Creams. They're delicate while also being robustly well-spiced (not unlike myself).

The conversation has suddenly given me a sweet tooth, so I'm going to spend the next hour on a treadmill instead.

With regard (for the implications),

FSG15

P.S. Read a book -- any book -- on skullduggery, for heaven's sake.

Lysander von Ascania​

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

TO: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
FROM: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE: Is this a hazing?

Dear Future Exhibit B,

If there were a scoreboard, it would be blinking Goldenboy, and you know it. Since you’re the one whose colleagues can subpoena a lunch receipt, let’s not pretend Exhibit A only endangers you. It cuts both ways. I wouldn’t be testifying in the People v. VS. I’d be most likely seated beside you as the co‑conspirator of record. The Republic loves a spectacle as much as anyone, and I’d make a fantastic choice.

I’m only at risk because you keep writing back.

You cling to this fragile line between purposeful violence and senseless violence. I don't recall the cosmos ever paying homage to such distinctions. Tapani was no mistake. This was the result of a marauder culture finding a sector that fancied itself untouchable. They believed safety was a birthright. You only call it a carnival because you need the brutality of it to look irrational. The alternative is admitting that purpose doesn't always resemble policy papers and the chamber of Senate subcommittees.

The fantasy of ‘better governments’ correcting their sins might comfort the naive. Your Senate waits decades to mumble some weak apology, then commissions a report, and declares the ledger balanced, no? Don’t forget the commemorative plaques and calling the results 'progress.'

Tell me, who in this 'mess' is truly honest?

You want your violence to fit all neatly into fictional stories. I don't. That's the difference between us, and if I had to guess, it's why Tapani keeps you awake at night more than me.

Your markets are only free for those who can afford the entry fee. Your ideas circulate only as far as your committees permit. The Covenant only promised clarity. We don’t pretend our markets are open. We make them honest. Violence is the buy in. You warn that anyone who trades with us will find no free market where you have something to say about it. They already know that. They understand the game they’re entering. Nothing but raw opportunity. The Covenant built an entire economy on the premise that consequences are the only true universal law. If you’d like to understand the system you’re threatening, perhaps I can educate you. But first you should be very certain you want to know how it actually works.

Idealistic is your word, not mine. Did we forget about self interest in all this talk? Some of those appetites align with mine, others with yours, and most.. well, most are just tied to whatever keeps their careers intact. If a Sith lies, it’s because the lie is useful, or serves a purpose. A tool..

I haven’t lied to you yet.

In retrospect, I suppose I'll award you a point as well, maybe two. You’ve already pushed harder than anyone else in the Mid Rim to shift my thinking. But it won’t be enough to sway me.

What you’re describing isn’t independence. You acted against everyone around you. Was that clarity, or the need to prove yourself right? You were willing to burn your own house down to make a point. Call it passion if you like. This belief that alliances are moral bulwarks.. that just so happens to be the purest idealism you’ve shown me yet.

If you're so sure, then say it. What comes next? The slightest clue will do.

I admit, my knowledge of Druckenwell is limited, but the way you paint it with noble houses jockeying for influence, a political economy built on bargaining.. it calls my home to mind more than I expected. Ukatis had fewer houses but stricter hierarchies, and our markets bent to scarcity rather than compromise. I grew up on fables of valiant knights and witnessed more grand tournaments than most could ever dream of. Traditions, perhaps, long abandoned beyond their borders. Before I ever fenced intellectually, it was with a foil at my academy. Some passions burrow themselves so deeply, they become part of who you are. When I was an acolyte, I promised myself I would become the greatest lightsaber duelist of my generation. I never let go of that.

You won’t use my truths against me, will you?

And, by the way, your sentences carry the rain.

There will always be a foe to fight, at least within the span of my own life. What unfolds beyond my time is a mystery I dare not claim. Much of Sith history is a lack of structure where ambition is only forced inward. Conflict with nowhere to go. This shall always persist. Control is the only variable. Could this be nothing more than projection? The Republic needs a monster in the dark to keep its contradictions from collapsing. Take away the Covenant, and the Senate may very well unravel. Endless debates of who holds the moral high ground. Sounds terrible, really.

Can your Senate contain anything? Or just react?

It will persist for as long as I do.

You're very confident in your resemblance to candy. That's a high bar to clear.

Ok. I did search them. Cinnamon is a feature. I don't mind a little heat.

Sweet isn't my vice. But an hour with my students will take care of removing curiosity from other people.

With my predictable contempt,

Goldenboy

P.S. Try ditching the archives and immerse yourself in the real world. True insight awaits.

 

[Verity Stuyveris]

TO: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
FROM: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE: RE: Is this a hazing?

To whom I may regret corresponding:

I can tell that you need a win right now, so I'll let you have it. As far as who stands witness against whom, I can see it going either way. You, being a Sith and therefore lacking entirely in scruples, would probably turn state evidence against me to get out of trouble. I, being naturally charismatic and eloquent (not to mention modest), would take my chances with a jury. Besides, it's not a criminal offense to talk to a Sith -- yet. Just a social one.

But out of curiosity -- call it another icebreaker -- in the holodrama they will inevitably make about this hypothetical trial, who would you want to play you? Piers Antaro could do it, if the dye-job was right, but it's tricky to match your shade (or mine for that matter). Daric Venn would be good, too. It could be his breakthrough role into what they call serious acting. With my luck I'd be played by Sabria Kell during one of her heavy phases. Pure villain casting.

I'm afraid I've done a poor job of expressing myself. My line is not between violence that is senseless and violence that is purposeful. You've already admitted that what you did to the Tapani Sector was fully intentional. That makes it worse, not better. No, the distinction is between violence that is justified -- a just war, violence in defense of innocents or civilization itself -- and that which is unjustified -- what your team of maniacs did to Tapani. I'm surprised you haven't tried to skewer me with what I think is the more interesting conversation: Coruscant. Do you know why?

You're preaching to the choir when you lambast the Senate. I love my job -- truly -- but I am not blind to the flaws of democracy, or the particular flavor of representative government offered by my. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they move toward justice. Your wheels move fast, like a runaway truck towards the cliff of butchery. There's no justice at the bottom of that cliff. Even acknowledging, as I do, that my worldview is no guarantee against evil, it is still superior and I'll tell you why: it identifies evil for what it is, while you try to say what you've done is Good, Actually™. That's the problem with cults: they prohibit free thought and perspective. You should try some, it's more satisfying than a Cavaellin Cream -- but only just.

And hey: don't knock a commemorative plaque. If you ever achieve something worthy of one, you might change your mind. Do they give plaques for the best lightsaber duelist of a generation, or is that more of a trophy situation? At any rate, marble monuments and brass plaques are prettier than abattoirs. That ambition does explain your posture; you move like someone expecting to be judged. Ask me how I know.

As for your alleged "intellectual fencing" -- is it in the room with us now? (You left the door wide open on that and therefore I'm not sorry.)

Ukatis. I admit I did wonder. The surname might have been a coincidence, but that shade of blonde? Nothing is that coincidental. No disrespect intended, but do you find it as curious as I do what prominence Ukatis has had in galactic affairs over the last several years? You never know what backwards backwater is going to be pivotal, I guess. Tatooine, Jakku, Ukatis. It sounds idyllic if you're born into the right class, and rather nightmarish if you aren't. So not very different from Druckenwell or anywhere else.

I prefer your truths, so of course I shan't weaponize them against you. I assume everything else is fair game. Wouldn't want this correspondence to become dull, would we? While you're telling truths, explain this one: "And, by the way, your sentences carry the rain." I'm of two minds. It could mean that my natural turn of phrase is so descriptive as to be poetry (which, I suspect, is my ego talking). It could mean that the alert of a new message in your inbox is a dark cloud over your day (probably closer to the truth). Or it could be something else entirely -- some kind of Sith roast with which I'm not familiar.

I don't say this to wound you (again, you're a very scary man) but the Covenant is replaceable, especially to the Senate. You were doing so well with realpolitik (I'm impressed), but you've missed a fundamental lesson: Senators will always have an opponent. Usually it's another Senator -- oftentimes it's the Chancellor -- occasionally it's the electorate. We don't need you. You merely offer a rare moment of unity, where the Senate -- or, at least, those exhibiting good sense and good taste -- turns in unison to face one threat. Perhaps this era of some semblance of unity will die when you do (the royal you, in this case, the Covenant), but the Senate won't. Take comfort in the knowledge that when things catch up to you and your friends, I will be sipping cocktails on a terrace, thriving and very much alive, with a comprehensively wiped hard drive.

You should listen to me about -- well, everything -- but about the cookies especially. Live a little. Treat yourself. Life is short for your kind of people. (That's not a threat. It's also not not a threat.)

With regards from the heights of a moral ground so dizzying I will soon seek treatment for altitude sickness,

FSG15

P.S. What is the real world, anyway? What do you recommend?

Lysander von Ascania​

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

TO: fizzersweetgirl15@d-well-anonyrelay7.holo
FROM: goldenboy@ukatismail.holo
SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE RE: RE: Is this a hazing?

Dear Still Two Steps Behind,

Perhaps if you invoke regret one more time that will make the word true.

As for your theory that I’d turn state’s evidence would be to assume all Sith are alike. I assure you, not all of us are just rage and lightning. I don’t crumble under scrutiny. In truth, it’s possible I become quite bored without it. If the Republic does decide to drag us into some courtroom, it won’t be I in the witness box. And it won’t be me whispering to a lawyer about plea deals like some spooked porg. No, I'd most likely be beside you at the defense table, calculating how to turn the entire proceeding into something much more interesting than the prosecution ever dared to dream of.

Odds stacked against me (as usual). A gallery hungrier than Sith for blood? More weak-minded Senators whispering behind closed doors. Please. I always thrive when my chances are doubted.

How did you know I like holodramas? Well, if we’re assigning roles, I’d consider myself closer to a Daric Venn type between those. I’d certainly get the posture right, at least. The rest I could improvise. Though if we’re being honest, the closest match would be Caelan Mescarr. For you, Senator, Aria Talorien comes to mind. You’ll say she’s the wrong choice, I’m positive of it. Close enough, in my estimation.

Not to wander too far off topic, but you strike me as someone who'd appreciate Nuna Shop Date. I never miss an episode.

If Coruscant were as simple for you as Tapani, you wouldn't find yourself orbiting it like this. There's a wrinkle in the narrative about yourself, something about this planet that won't fit neatly into the story you keep telling. What is it, exactly, that you’re trying to deny? Or perhaps it’s nothing more than my imagination running further than you’d prefer?

I’m not the type to collect souvenirs. Plaques are usually for people who need to be remembered. But me? I believe being truly understood is a far better legacy. If anyone ever carves my name into stone, it’ll be long after I’m gone. You’re right about the way I stand; that’s just someone who’s been weighed and knows it will happen again. So, I have to ask: which part of that story resonated with you enough to give it a name?

Yes. And if you hadn’t stepped onto the piste, I wouldn’t have engaged. I’m particular about where I spend my time.

Ukatis is far from backwater. You don’t need to read hair color like tea leaves to place me. My family’s prominence is public record, even in your circles.

Among the three, maybe one rings true. Some people’s words fall neatly in obedient, straight, and all too predictable lines. But yours, they’re different. You could say they arrive with a change in the air, the kind you recognize only if you were shaped by a sky that never reveals its intentions outright.

As for dullness? That’s not something I worry about. If ever our exchange grew flat, I’d just let the silence speak for itself.

Reassurance comes in the form of replacement. Of course, one must convince themselves their institution functions, even when the outcomes don't. Even I find it disheartening to witness the Senate sustain its existence only by cycling through new faces and forever avoiding that hard work of addressing failures. Would you consider this continuity, or stasis? Pick one.

True progress requires transformation at the core.

You’ve misread the Covenant. Again. What if we’re the consequence of what your opponents failed to address? True unity cannot arise from fear; what you have, is only a reaction. They too, are often short lived. The moment they ease, bonds begin to unravel, the old divisions resurface. That's the part of realpolitik you left out. My people perfected this pattern. And you don't stand outside the Senate's reflexes. You're shaped by them as much as anyone. Would you call this distance, or a vantage point? Because you're clearly flattered into thinking you're somehow different.

I'm uncertain on taking your advice. Try speaking with honesty to the reflection in the mirror first.

I reckon I ought to express a bit of gratitude that you’re holding onto my truths. For now, at least, if you haven’t spun me a tale. Here’s an interesting one to ponder as I map out a little journey. Tell me, have you ever set foot in New Alderaan? They once dubbed it a safeworld, but believe me, it’s anything but safe.

Hard to threaten something I've long since come to accept. I do like carbohydrates. Your sales pitch, less so.

With my contempt in its standard dosage,

Goldenboy

P.S. Anywhere behind the Blackwall.