Private The Price of a Favor

[Aurelian Veruna]

Location: Jedi Cells
Tags: Her

Whispers of her sudden imprisonment by the Jedi Order made for the first entertaining intelligence report in months. Securing "Her" a Republic citizenship at his family estate was supposed to yield a massive return, yet she had consistently failed to deliver. The rival factions she swore to pit against each other collapsed into irrelevance before he could profit from the chaos. A single compliant vote in the Senate was a poor return on investment, considering his personal favor carried an exorbitant price.

Boot heels clicked rhythmically against the polished floors of the Jedi detention block, a sector far too comfortable for criminals. The escorting Jedi kept a cautious distance, clearly aware of the noble blood and sharp edges beneath his tailored coat. This unscheduled visit was a calculated move to determine if she was orchestrating a deeper gamble from the inside, or if she was genuinely out of her depth. Stopping directly before the shimmering energy barrier, a smile crept across his face as he looked down at her.

"This is hardly what we had discussed," Aurelian said, his voice dripping with aristocratic mockery. "I must admit, seeing you locked away by a flock of peacekeepers is not what I expected of you. Tell me, are we executing a brilliant master plan, or did I severely overestimate your intelligence?"

​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Aurelian Veruna

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"This is hardly what we had discussed... I must admit, seeing you locked away by a flock of peacekeepers is not what I expected of you. Tell me, are we executing a brilliant master plan, or did I severely overestimate your intelligence?"

"We spoke about an impending invasion of Naboo," Her replied as a reminder to Aurelian as he entered into the cell block. It was good that the Imperial on the other side of the bar had their back turned to the King as her small smile was hidden from view as she listened to his mocking voice with a sense of someone who knew more than she would let on. Her did enjoy the scion of House Veruna immensely. "I hear New Cov is great at this time of year."

Her was cunning, or at the very least, she tried to be. She also thought that she knew enough about the man-- who had walked into Shiraya's Sanctuary to see whether or not it was time to cut off the cancer that he had brought into Theed-- that Aurelian would understand about what she was alluding too. Her wasn't certainly talking about New Cov weather. Pertinently it raised the question: how did a prisoner know about the attack on New Cov when they were being detained by the Jedi Order?

Wiping the small, satisfied grin from their face, Her turned around in the centre of the cell to look upon Aurelian as he was left to think about the subtle implication she had made about the Sith attack on New Cov. He was as handsome as ever, she summarized. Smug and intelligent. Cunning. These were potent elements when properly fostered and guided. That was she had made the move to enter into a political alliance with the young King. In exchange had garnered her naturalized citizenship in the High Republic, and in return, Her was supposed to raise the banners of the Imperial remnants to support Aurelian's economics, politics and aspirations to raise a defence against the impending, inevitable tides of Sith invasion as well as dealing with the-then threat of the criminal syndicates on Nar Shaddaa.

But there was no Imperial Confederation anymore. The Final Dawn were building in the shadows of Cholganna. Certainly Mahporeem had more issues with dealing with it's seemingly endless fields of scrap and junk than raising military arms to suit Her's political needs in the Mid Rim systems. They would not be ready for years and who was to say that the Thandon-Sith were not done after Lianna? At any given moment the leftover remnants of Imperial power along the Outer Rim Territories could be given the final deathblow wrought by a combination of Sith and Mandalorian might. Then Her would surely have nothing left to offer Veruna's scion. His majesty might as well cut his losses now before the blowback hit him square in his smug, satisfied face. There would always be a threat when Her dealt with this man, she quietly feared.

The galaxy seemed to feel smaller somehow. Constricting. As if the proverbial knife were at Her's throat and ready to administer a gash that would send them into that certain final abyss. She somehow doubted that she would pass onto and into the Force like the other Jedi were said to do in death. There was only a blackness that was waiting for Her by the end of this. One that was far darker and permanent than any dark canvas where the stars, the moons, and the planets were painted over to give colour to this chaotic, spiralling galaxy.

Perhaps it would be Aurelian that would be the one to slice.

He was, indeed, a cutthroat man.

Ruthless.

You need only look back on the holo-vids to see what had become of old Remus and what his son would do in order to acquire power.

"The truth prevails over everything else, don't you agree with that, Aurelian?" Her asked as she took a step towards the bars.

If what the Jedi said claimed to be true then this enigmatic woman was not an Imperial expat as their records claimed Her to be and nor was she a former Jedi looking to return back into the fold of the Jedi Order. Indeed, if the allegations were true, then Her was a Sith Lord no matter how much she would deny Ala Quin or Sela Basran 's assertions to the contrary. Did Aurelian share the same opinion that these walls and the bars raised between them were enough to keep Her in if she really wanted to get out?

"On the contrary," Her said barely above a whisper as she raised both hands to the bars and seductively moved their face to rest between the grills. "I have filled my share of the relationship that we have fostered together so far. When I put the wheels in motion to attack Brosi, twice no less, it was to your advantage. To cut off all of those strongholds in the Stygian Caldera off from Jutrand would have been a hammer blow for our movement. Alas, the Imperial remnants are not what they were compared to their heroics in the hyperspace wars. Such is the cost of war."

Rapping their knuckles upon the cell-door, Her peered into Aurelian's eyes and proclaimed: "When the time comes the Jedi Grandmaster will open this door for me and I will walk out of here free again. I just so happen to be looking at the man who will make that become a frightening reality."

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[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Her

A slow, deliberate chuckle rippled through the quiet of the detention block. Mentioning New Cov was a clever touch, considering the planet's isolation made the attack a tightly guarded secret. Processing the sudden shift in the political landscape required a moment of calculated silence, balancing her cryptic hints against the reality of her broken promises. The grand alliance of Imperial remnants she had peddled was nothing but dust and scrap, leaving her with zero leverage and a potential death sentence.

Stepping closer to the energy barrier, Aurelian met her seductive gaze with a look of frozen skepticism. The woman who once claimed she could manipulate fleets was now reduced to rattling the bars of a Jedi cage, trying to sell him a fresh set of illusions. It mattered little if she was an Imperial fraud; she was currently a liability trapped behind bars.

Leaning in until his face was inches from hers on the other side, Aurelian let the dangerous smile return.

"You boast about ashes while sitting in a cage, darling," Aurelian whispered, his eyes scanning for any sign of genuine leverage. "The Sith are burning the Core, your Imperial allies are a myth, and you expect me to play the jailbreaker based on a few parlor tricks and broken promises? Give me something tangible, or I leave you to the peacekeepers."

​

 

[Her]

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"You're right. I could arrange your naturalization quietly..."
-- Aurelian Veruna to Ella Nova in ' Veruna's Gift ' .

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Tag: Aurelian Veruna

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"You boast about ashes while sitting in a cage, darling... The Sith are burning the Core, your Imperial allies are a myth, and you expect me to play the jailbreaker based on a few parlor tricks and broken promises? Give me something tangible, or I leave you to the peacekeepers."

"I don't believe you," Her replied curtly as Aurelian made his threat to leave them to the whims of the Jedi. "Otherwise you would not be here, would you, handsome?"

It was a brave roll-of-the-dice. There is every bit of chance that Aurelian could leave Her here. But doubt is a cancerous thing. Once it infects the mind and burrows into the soul it tends to distract or bring the subject away from their own morality. Yes, Aurelian would be justified in leaving this strange, dark woman to the Jedi's persecution. Her hadn't yielded nearly anything as close to what she had offered to him when they had met in The Rainspire to arrange their naturalized citizenship into the High Republic; and what was it that Aurelian had told to Her when they were making the arrangement in the first place?

"Make no mistake. That means you are a citizen of the High Republic. Subject to its laws. If I learn that your actions endanger my people, my worlds, or Naboo itself, I will not hesitate. I can give. I can also take away."

"If you run the tabulations and calculations through you will come to the conclusion that, when it comes to me, the best thing to do would be nothing," Her explained to Aurelian as he stared into those red eyes that mere inches away from where they were standing both standing either side of the cell.

"On the contrary... The truth is that leaving me here to the whims of Jedi persecution would be disadvantageous to you and your political career, particularly, when their reasons for my confinement are lax at best. The allegations that are being made against me, if they were to be litigated in the High Republic, would be dismissed very quickly. I am sure of that. It is only by the good grace and trust of the Jedi's knowledge in the Force that my detention has been this long in the first place. Inevitably, the allegation that I am a Sith Lord-- as they claim me to be-- will fall to the wayside when the pertinent facts establish that I am, in fact, one of their own..."

Her starred deeply into this gorgeous, handsome eyes that were searching for any form of leverage over his unwitting partner as she spoke. She endeavoured not to give him much more else to use over them. Her had ran their own calculations before ever stepping foot into Shiraya's Sanctuary. She knew that the meeting with the Jedi Council would end in incarceration. Ala Quin had been wanting to arrest and detain Her ever since the Larkspur Crescent and so, after the revelations which Her have given to the Jedi Grandmaster and the other Councillors, it would only end one way.

Her also knew, or at least she thought that she did, that when the arrest came that Aurelian would be the one to release them after it was done. He is the King of Naboo, after all. They couldn't stop him from taking Her into his custody even if they tried to stop it. Naboo was his and Shiraya's Sanctuary so happened to be on the very same world that Veruna was the reigning monarch of. It was only about jurisdiction, laws, and rights. Her was a subject to the same rights as any citizen and Naboo law took precedence over Jedi thoughts or feelings on any day of the week, particularly, when there was no evidence to suggest that their allegations were true in the first place.

"If the Jedi begun tugging upon the right strings then it would expose certain things that neither of us want them to know," Her continued to explain as Aurelian considered everything. "For you to leave me here would make you as vulnerable as I am. We are at war, Aurelian. Nobody is clean at a time like this. Don't tell me you are going to fall at the first hurdle?"

Her climbed off the cell bars and withdrew their face back into the confines of the cell. Lips curling into a smug, satisfied expression, Her inquired: "Did you bring me a cigarette?"

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[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Her

A genuine laugh shattered the tense silence of the detention block. Amusement carried the young monarch across the polished floor toward a lone durasteel chair resting against the far wall. Dropping into the seat, Aurelian crossed one leg over the other, watching her through narrowed eyes. The sheer absurdity of her claiming to be a Jedi was almost worth the trip alone.

Listening to her spin her web of political consequence elicited only slow, deliberate nods. Her thinly veiled threats of exposure failed to stir a single tremor of panic; the opinion of these robed mystics meant absolutely nothing to him. The Crown did not answer to the Jedi Order, and walking away from a broken agreement carried zero risk to his standing. It would be incredibly easy to leave her to rot in this cage and simply strike her name from the ledger of assets.

"No, I did not bring you a cigarette," Aurelian scoffed, folding his hands over his knee as his smile settled back into place. "You talk of jurisdiction and strings as if you hold them. Let us be entirely clear: I have nothing to lose by leaving you here, while you lose everything. So explain the play before my boredom gets the better of me. How could you possibly think getting caught by a handful of peacekeepers was a good idea?"

​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Aurelian Veruna

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"No, I did not bring you a cigarette... You talk of jurisdiction and strings as if you hold them. Let us be entirely clear: I have nothing to lose by leaving you here, while you lose everything."

That sly, satisfied smile Her wore drained slowly as Aurelian made it absolutely, crystal clear that if she didn't bite and start telling the truth, then he was going to walk out right there and then. In essence Aurelian already had one foot out of the door, Her feared. Up until now everything had gone to plan ranging from the meeting with the Jedi Council (and the subsequent leaks that she had released to the Jedi about the Trade Federation and Mand'alor the Iron) to the incarceration in these cells while they deliberated and debated on what to do with their new prisoner.

If Aurelian walked out of this cell and left Her to the persecution of the Jedi Order then it would all stop going to plan.

Her couldn't afford that.

She needed the King of Naboo to do what he did best: to exercise control over the situation and use that uncanny ability to get what he wanted.

Her needed Aurelian to want what she wanted, or she was as good as dead.

"So explain the play before my boredom gets the better of me. How could you possibly think getting caught by a handful of peacekeepers was a good idea?"

"I am sorry," Her admitted to Aurelian. "I forgot who I was talking too. I do need your help."

The slow drainage of that smugness, and the satisfied smile Her wore merely a minute ago, as she genuinely thought that Aurelian would capitulate to their manipulations (as so many had beforehand), was now replaced by the look of a woman who was about to be hurt badly. Amid the tension in the cellblock there was now a sense of desperateness which Aurelian inspired in Her as she tried to convince him to bring Her out of the Jedi's custody and into his own.

Gingerly Her climbed back onto the grates of their cell and looked at Aurelian with a sense of longing as she started to speak again. "It was better than the alternative. You see I am on the run."

Look at how quickly that smug, sly attitude drains away when she is faced with real, life-threatening consequences. Sela Basran could learn a thing or two from the King when it came to getting some answers.

"It seems to me that the Mandalorian's and Sith already knew that I was involved in the think-tank behind the attacks on Brosi by the time they attacked Lianna. As I speak there are people looking for me, and if they find me Aurelian, then they are going to hurt me. Kill me. It could be what is left of the Diarchs, or it could be the Mandalorian's, or the Sith themselves... Hell, I think even the Inqusitorius could be after me as well for all I know..."

Indeed, the Rule of Two have extracted a heavy toll on Lianna. Everyone involved had their reasons for desecrating the planet over the last fifty-years. So many players that have come and gone that it would take several weeks just to explain all of it. For the likes of Her it was all simplified and bogged down to something dark, and twisted. Another chapter in a revenge tale that, if Aurelian left it to the way things were going, would surely end soon enough.

You see, when the Sith Order reformed itself back into the Outer Rim systems, after it had lost the Core Worlds when the One Sith were dissolved, Lianna had been their capital: the very place that they had rebuilt into what would eventually become the Sith Empire that we all know today. Therefore Her had always intended for a dystopia to befall the planet in recompense for it's contribution to the Sith. She had just never imagined that it would come about due to the Mandalorian-Sith attack on the planet. Dreams of the jackboots of the Imperial Stormtrooper keeping the Liann crushed beneath their heels, certainly. Never the fire and brimstone Prazutis had brought to the world while Mandalorian warriors and cunning Sith Lords took the city streets to lay waste to everything that was the Imperial Confederation. Indeed, the dystopia which Vūm aimed to put into place (before it migrated to Enarc) did come to pass. It just came in a way that was different to what Her had ever imagined.

But these are the consequences when you make the Kainite your enemy, you see?

Rapping a knuckle against the railing next to them, Her admitted: "As I was returning to the High Republic I had a long time to think about where to hide. To go somewhere that I would be safe. A place that they would not be looking for me. In the end I thought about Shiraya's Sanctuary. It is secluded, hidden, and safe from all those people who want to hurt me because of my work in the Imperial remnants. The Jedi would never tell them where I am. Coming here was a safe haven from certain death."

Her audibly sighed. It was a rare thing for them to tell the truth. She was so used to lying after-all. But was it the right choice to admit such things to Aurelian?

Yes, lies came to Her so quickly that she had even tried to trick a man who couldn't be tricked. Perhaps Her had lost all of their edge since she begun hiding in Shiraya's Sanctuary under the cover of a Jedi detention and incarceration. Maybe Ala Quin had started getting to the Jedi that she used to be. Her quickly dismissed the thought. There was no redemption at the end of this road. It would only end when the work was finished. That would be enough, Her summarized, for everything that has happened.

"You see," Her continued to say as she tried to squeeze every ounce of cunning to convince Aurelian to free them. "When I landed here I also thought to myself that I knew this man, who is my friend, and that when he heard that the Jedi Council were holding me captive, that he would eventually intervene on my behalf."

Brushing their fingertips against the bars of the cell, Her begun to walk along the edges of the cell while she peered through the bars at Aurelian as he sat there on the other side. "I reasoned that my friend would see the reasons for why the Jedi were holding me captive and that he would want to do something about it. You see, I never attacked the Jedi Grandmaster like they are saying I did. I never threatened her. What they are saying to keep me here are lies, Aurelian. They have abused their trust to keep me as a captive and it isn't the first time that Ala Quin has tried to throw the book at me for things I am neither responsible for nor what she says that I am."

Her stopped at the end of the cell next to the door that would lead them out into freedom. As she studied the lock, Her muttered: "They can keep alleging that I am a Sith Lord all they want. But the truth outweighs their thoughts and feelings. I conspired with the Imperials for five years against the Sith Order. What they are saying does not make sense..."

Looking away from the lock and back to Aurelian, Her brought the conversation back to why he was here. "If you leave me in this cell then eventually they are going to make a decision which would be catastrophic for our mutual cause. But I can still be someone useful when it comes to the war against the Sith. It is true that my project in the Imperial Confederation did not end in success. That the Imperials failed to take Brosi as I planned with them to do. The Thandon Cluster is the catalyst for why I am in this predicament in the first place."

"If Sularen and von Strauss were half the men that the N.I.O were then you and I would be celebrating the demise of the Sith vassal state together. We would be planning what to do about the Sith Covenant next. They failed but that does not mean that my work is either obsolete, or must be put to an end, because of the superstitions and feelings of the Jedi Council. We can continue to work towards the demise of the Sith before they ever set foot on Naboo..."

With a voice full of yearning and need, Her pleaded with Aurelian to make the right choice.

"Please save me. You are my only hope."

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[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Her

Gazing down at his hands, the young monarch casually picked at his fingernails, feigning an unbothered indifference. Every subtle shift in her posture and every tremor of desperation in her voice remained under his intense scrutiny. The moment she finally stripped away the layers of smug manipulation and began speaking the truth, or at least the version of it she thought he wanted to hear, Aurelian looked up. His expression remained entirely blank, showing only a cold curiosity.

"See? Now was that so hard?" Aurelian asked, his voice smooth and even.

In truth, her frantic defense against the Jedi's allegations meant very little. The insular, self-destructive nature of the Sith was legendary; fighting against her own kind for five years was hardly definitive proof of innocence against the charge of being a Sith Lord. Yet, her tangible efforts against the plagues of the galaxy could not be entirely denied. Her strategic work against the Sith and within the Thandon Cluster spoke for itself, even if she had foolishly relied on Imperial fanatics who only chased their own fleeting glory.

If those Imperial remnants had failed her, the Crown of Naboo was a vastly superior apparatus. Processing the sheer political weight of her request, Aurelian let out a slow, deliberate sigh. Moving against the Jedi Order to claim an accused Sith prisoner would undoubtedly fracture the fragile relationship between the Republic and the monastic order.

"We will call it a grave miscalculation then, seeking out the help of these peacekeepers," Aurelian said, rising from the durasteel chair. "I am actually a bit hurt. You did not come directly to me when I have always been an open ear, especially in matters relating to the end of these Imperials and Sith. All you have to do is ask and be honest."

A second heavy sigh escaped him as a potential play began to ruminate in his mind, drawing on specific rumors that had recently traveled back to his kingdom. A secure, deeply isolated location already existed where she could be placed, but the logistical nightmare of arranging her extraction had to be worth the inevitable fallout. Walking back to the energy barrier, he held up a single, warning finger before she could speak.

"Say I do save you," Aurelian murmured. "What exactly comes next? What is your grand plan? And remember, honesty is the only policy left to you."

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[Her]

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Tag: Aurelian Veruna

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"We will call it a grave miscalculation then, seeking out the help of these peacekeepers..."

The conman was often the man who was neither trusted or held to a degree of honesty.

They always assume, on some level, that the man is a liar, and while that is the truth, it is also the trick. It's the knowledge he knows what you know before you know it. Then he uses that against you to work out whatever misdeed they have up their sleeve. But if you were to really talk to the person behind the mask, and ask them how they do it, perhaps they would let you in on the secret:

You have to make them think your ideas are their ideas.

That's the trick.

"I am actually a bit hurt. You did not come directly to me when I have always been an open ear, especially in matters relating to the end of these Imperials and Sith. All you have to do is ask and be honest..."

She's being honest now, don't you think?

"Say I do save you... What exactly comes next? What is your grand plan? And remember, honesty is the only policy left to you."

As Aurelian posed his question, as he and Her stood there on the precipice of change, she looked between both eyes as if searching for something in those gorgeous, amber rims and into the mind of a man who was calculating the odds and factors surrounding the idea in question.

Like every other citizen of the High Republic, Her was an avid viewer on the day where old Remus Veruna had been exposed by his heir in front of all those cameras for everyone to see the truth about the man and his alleged plot. The debacle surrounding the attempted assassination of Sibylla Abrantes was something that had been forgotten by the more pressing matters of the day by now. What was this type of scandal compared to the downfall of the Galactic Empire, or the Sith incursion on New Cov?

There were more pressing matters to consider. War, famine, disease. Anarchy in the Core Worlds. Was it coming to the Mid Rim systems next? Was Naboo going to meet the same fate as Coruscant?

It's not surprising that everyone else moved on.

They've all forgot to the point where people forget who was really in line to become the next Monarch before the Abrantes Scandal was played out in the public eye. Forgotten that it was Remus who was at the head of House Veruna up until he had been caught as a conspirator against a rival family and displaced by his prodigy. People are so sure of themselves too. The public were so certain that justice had been dispensed to the point that they trusted that, not only had the old man been incarcerated as punishment for his crime, but his son was above reproach, and that Aurelian was a wise and noble man worthy of the most powerful position in all of the land. That he was such a morale man that even the crimes of the father could not stop King Veruna from doing the right thing.

Now, here he was, calculating what to do with a woman that a good, truly morale person would have nothing to do with. Where others were either gladdened by the idea that a son would turn over his own father to save a life, and to dispense justice at a great, personal cost cost, or as some others were disgusted by the idea that a man would turn on on his father, no matter the context, Her was tertiary to the commoner viewpoint. She saw a ruthless man, in the mid of the second most powerful office to the High Chancellorship itself, who took a noble house which sat on the fringes of the Nabooian aristocracy and made himself King of Naboo. She wanted to work with him desperately, particularly, after he had spoken so candidly about the Sith Order during his tenure as interim Chancellor of the High Republic.

Aurelian is the perfect collaborator.

Cunning, excellent, intelligent.

Wealthy, powerful, influential.

Cutthroat.

Regicide was in his blood.

Her saw it all in those gorgeous, amber eyes. It was almost intoxicating.

Life threatening.

"Aurelian," Her said, barely above a whisper, as she begun to construct the next lie. "You are right. I should have come to you first. The Jedi are not who they say they are. All the things I told them about the Trade Federation of Planets. About how the leader of the Mandalorian Empire and Empress Talon are connected via an arrangement and relationship which threatens the very core of the Treaty of Twin Suns that, as I understand it, you helped to pioneer."

"But they haven't acted on any of it. Instead they want to persecute me. Who am I compared to such people?"

A truly cunning man would put the pieces together and quickly ask themselves how someone, who was locked away in the depths of Shiraya's Sanctuary, could possibly know what the Jedi Council had done, or hadn't done, as it pertained to these alleged conspirators to the Sith Order? But that wasn't what was pertinent here. It wasn't the most important question.

"I want to tell you everything. Everything that I know about the Sith Order. About all of the traitors and saboteurs in the High Republic. But I cannot do it here because the Jedi are listening to us as we speak. This is their place and so long as I am in here I cannot help you. I truly, desperately want to help, Aurelian. I don't want what happened to the Imperial Confederation to be my last attempt to destroy the Sith Order..."

Gesturing with their hand, Her motioned for Aurelian to lean closer so she could whisper something to him that would make his up mind, once and for all, as to what he would do about her.

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[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Her

Curiosity finally won the evening. Obliging her silent gesture, Aurelian leaned in close against the partition, genuinely amused by the intricate psychological games she continued to play. Entertainment value alone made it worth humoring her claims of wanting to protect the Republic and serve his crown. Whether this sudden urge to cooperate was a genuine revelation or merely a desperate gamble for survival remained to be seen, but the sheer audacity of her position earned her his brief attention.

Leaning back after her whispered revelation, a rare flash of genuine surprise widened his amber eyes before one sleek eyebrow arched upward. The implications of what she claimed were exceptionally valuably, presenting a scenario far more interesting than standard espionage. Searching her gaze for a tremor of deceit, he balanced the weight of her secret against her established history of broken promises. This could easily be her final, desperate card to play, yet the raw potential of the information was impossible to ignore.

"Do you have any proof?" Aurelian asked, his voice a low. "Give me a single piece of corroborating data, and I will pull the trigger on your release before my boots even leave these halls."

Taking her word at face value was a mistake he had no intention of repeating, especially after her previous grand promises yielded nothing but dust. The power dynamic inside the detention block remained entirely one-sided. She was the one trapped behind the peacekeepers' walls, while the King held every single card that mattered.

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[Her]

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"The SANTHE-1 ' Vigilance ' "Transmitter" was originally designed by the deceased Liann industrialist (and former CEO of the Santhe Corporation) Eirys Santhe after she reopened the company in 902 ABY. It's design was then stolen by the N&Z Umbrella Corporation (and became circulated into it's vast catalogue of technology) who would become it's primary manufacturer and distributor to Imperial organisations or characters."
-- A description of the SANTHE-1 ' Vigilance ' "Transmitter".

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Tag: Aurelian Veruna

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Self-destruction was a verse Her was all too self-aware of. Another blight, nay say a remnant, of the Jedi curriculum where self-reflection and introspection were one of the stand-out lessons which she had retained, even now, as she traversed the galaxy as the Dark Lord of the Sith. Since she begun the work amid the Imperial remnants of the Empire of the Lost five years ago, Her knew that what she was working towards would ultimately end in catastrophe. This was what happens to anyone and everyone who ever followed the Rule of Two. It was inevitable. Axiomatic.

Was Her staring at the face of the man who would bring about the end?

"Do you have any proof? Give me a single piece of corroborating data, and I will pull the trigger on your release before my boots even leave these halls."

"I find myself curious again at the prospect of the question," Her muttered as she looked up towards where her ear was and begun fiddling with an earring to take it off. "Out of all the things you have ever asked me you haven't asked the one question that I thought would have been one of the first: why do I want to work with you?"

With the earring in her fist, Her admired the device that she had been hiding from the Jedi ever since she had entered Shiraya's Sanctuary, pausing to second-guess herself as to whether or not she should give it to Aurelian. The earring is called the Vigilance. It was a prototype device, that was invented by the late Santhe Corporation, in the early ninth-century. Imperial grade espionage tech. As a transmitter it was useful for short and long-range communication with other third parties while crucially remaining discreet allowing the user to obfuscate it's existence from others. Like any device that allowed for communication it also possessed an ability to record and replay transmissions. It was very useful for someone playing spy.

Ever since the beginning of her incarceration, Her had been using the device to conduct business and other political endeavours under the nose of the Jedi Order. It had been most useful in this regard, up until now, as Her extended the palm of her hand towards Aurelian after making their mind up. Sometimes you had to put yourself into the hands of fate and roll the dice.

"Here. Put this on."

With the other hand, Her gestured to what Aurelian should do with the earring. "Press this button and then wait."

As the rhetorical question from before lingered in the air, Her wrapped both arms around her chest and glared at Aurelian from the other side of the cell. On one hand she had given the Monarch the proof that he had asked for, and on the other hand, Her had also given him what Ala Quin , Sela Basran and the other members of the Jedi Council had been looking for this entire time: irrefutable proof that Her was the Sith Lord that they claimed her to be.

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[ FRAGILE ]
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I'm the worse thing,
You are the wings, drawn in scorn.

We are all falling, turning blue,
Beyond the ground, soaring high,
Where we can never be found.

Never be found.

​

"What morsel have you dredged up for me, my little Shadowling?"

It was an audio recording. A gruff, menacing voice played through the transmitter and into Aurelian's ear.

"My Lord... I have been incarcerated by the Jedi Council in a place called Shiraya's Sanctuary. They are keeping me detained here and from conversations with their members I have deduced that still have not figured out what to do with me. This confusion has been deliberate..."

A familiar voice replies. She sounds nervous. Anxious. Significantly Her makes a startling confession.

"You have done well... The Jedi are right to mistrust what you say, for have you not traded in actions that the most righteous among them may deem distasteful?"

The way that the man spoke... It was as if he were in control of Her and not the other way around.

"They will soon have no choice but to believe you, when the words you seed in their minds begin to bear fruit."

"I will bestow upon them a sacrifice, one that you will aid in facilitating."

"Am I understood?"

The menacing voice continued to speak. Laying out the seeds for some type of plan. Was it Her's plan or His?

"Your obeisance pleases me, shadowling. Imagine all that we could have accomplished had your own folly not kept you from my sight? We will make up for such lost time, I am sure."

A response to Her's silence. Was she being quiet, so as to let the man on the other end of the transmission speak, or was she frozen by a fear that He found most pleasing?

"Remember that you are nothing, that you are alone. You have no name, no purpose, save for that which is bestowed. There is only the Dark Side, and you serve the dark eternally."

The irrefutable evidence that the Jedi Council crave for.

"I will show you a way through the Blackwall, and you will deliver this not to the Grandmaster, but to those who thrash against her restraint."

There is a conspiracy brewing in the High Republic. It was as Her foretold the Jedi, and now, in Aurelian's possession was the proof of it...

"...Why do I want to work with you?"

...and the lingering question sitting between prisoner and... Her liberator?

---

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Tags: Her

Pondering her lingering question, Aurelian allowed a faint, knowing smirk to touch his lips. Her motivation was obvious enough: he was a man who got things done, someone who operated comfortably in the vast gray space between the simplistic notions of good and evil that blinded these Jedi mystics. Yet, intrigue swiftly derailed his thoughts as she produced a small piece of contraband from her ear.

Reaching for it, he took the prototype earpiece and fitted the device into place. The recorded audio clicked to life, filling his ear with a conversation laced with dark, menacing declarations. Listening to the dark master speak down to her like a obedient servant confirmed every suspicion regarding her Sith connections, while exposing a far deeper conspiracy brewing within the High Republic. Turning this over to the Jedi Order would secure her perpetual imprisonment, but such a righteous move yielded zero practical value. A far better play lay in holding a highly capable pawn on the board, even if trusting her was entirely out of the question.

Masking any potential shock, his face remained a mask of cool, aristocratic composure. Aurelian casually removed the tiny transmitter, slipping the device directly into his tailored coat pocket.

"I never pegged you as the puppet," Aurelian mused, stepping back from the cell wall as he straightened his lapels. "I always thought you were the one pulling the strings."

Without giving her the satisfaction of a direct answer or a immediate rescue, the young monarch turned on his heel and began walking toward the exit. The visit had drawn on long enough, and orchestrating her extraction from Jedi custody required careful political maneuvering and deliberate thought. Glancing over his shoulder just before the heavy blast doors parted, a dangerous smile flashed across his features.

"I will see you soon, puppet."

​

 

[Her]

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Tag: Aurelian Veruna

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"I never pegged you as the puppet... I always thought you were the one pulling the strings."

Her lowered their gaze from Veruna as he chastised her. The woman looked shameful. Crestfallen. Beaten by the truth of it. Indeed, the King was becoming well known for his ability to shoot barbs, which cut right to the point, and in doing so, left the target hurt. It was the tone of voice which Aurelian managed to find and seemed so natural to him, which of course, left him as someone considered to be loathsome by most.

The aristocracy, here on Naboo, often gossiped behind Aurelian's back as they would anyone. Sibylla Abrantes 's name kept coming up, Her knew. People wondered what she saw in Aurelian. Everyone knew they were close. Story goes that Aurelian saved her life from his own father. Sent him packing to prison in front of the lights for all to see. As Veruna walked away Her found themselves contemplating about Remus Veruna. He would know things that others would not. Especially now that Remus' son had leverage over Her.

Would it be enough to keep Aurelian forever quiet about what he had just learned?

"I will see you soon, puppet."

"Goodbye," Her muttered as Aurelian's footsteps grew more distant.

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