Private Upper Management Will See You Now

[Ala Quin]

Sixteen Days Ago - The Five Veils Route​

The Larkspur Crescent was a civilian freighter, old by some standards, but lovingly maintained. Its hull bore the paint of a Cerea-based shipping family—a stylized crescent moon cradling a leaf. It had made dozens of runs without incident. That ended today.

The Vigil patrol ship came from nowhere. A dull hum of interdiction rippled the stars. Within seconds, four boarding pods struck with precision, sealing to the airlocks like wasps to a dying creature.

"They’re not pirates," whispered Raelin Juno, holding her daughter tight beneath a table in the ship's mess. "They’re official. Look—those uniforms."

Her husband, Hal, was arguing near the cargo bay.

"This is illegal! We’re under Cerea trade protections. You have no right—"

"Contraband confirmed in hold six. Biological trace patterns indicate restricted transmission tags." A Vigil enforcer—Threaded, his cloak pristine—ignored the protests, signaling to his squad. "Detain them all. By Directive Three, they're to be questioned indefinitely."

A warning shot cracked the bulkhead as Hal stepped forward. Then screaming. One of the deckhands ran. An explosion—shrapnel, steam, blood.

The little girl whimpered.

The Larkspur Crescent fell silent not long after.

A partial signal escaped the blast, like a ghost—just enough.

Present Day - Tarsai Vigil Regional Admin Office, Enarc​

"So to summarize," Ala said with restrained patience, perched elegantly on the edge of a very uncomfortable chair, "you’ve reviewed the complaint, the ship registry, the black box fragment, and a witness statement... and still, no record of this incident exists in your system?"

"That’s correct," said the middle manager across from her, a flawlessly average man named Cint Druve. His haircut was one millimeter too neat, and his teeth had the artificial shine of too many promotions. He smiled wide—an immovable smile.

"We at the Tarsai Vigil take all allegations very seriously. I understand your concern, Jedi Quin. However, there's no evidence of wrongdoing by any of our patrols during the alleged date and coordinates. In fact, the Larkspur Crescent does not appear in our logs. Perhaps a clerical error on Cerea’s side?"

"Cint, the signal came from a Vigil-patrolled zone. The black box fragment was authenticated by Naboo forensic analysis. And—"

She hesitated. The Threaded operative from Strand of Echoes. Day two. A sliver of corrupted log. A whisper: "They buried it. Not all of us agree." Then nothing. Disconnected. Vanished.

"—there’s more than enough to warrant a deeper investigation."

Cint blinked slowly.

"We appreciate your diligence. Truly. And in light of your... persistence, the matter has been escalated."

Ala leaned forward slightly. "Escalated? To who?"

Cint’s smile never moved, but his fingers tapped the console once.

"Upper Management will be speaking with you directly. Please remain seated."

The silence that followed was not procedural. It was anticipatory.

| Her |​

 

[Her]

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Enarc, Enarc system, Alui Sector, Mid Rim;
The Tarsai Vigil, Regional Admin Office;
Within the realms of The Royal Naboo Republic.
Tags: Ala Quin

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"The Tarsai Vigil is a subsidiary of Cortessan Finance Group. It operates along the Five Veils Route following the aftermath of the Planetshift event and was created to provide security to the trading route. As part of it's protocol it ran inspections of other ships using the route to check for contraband, illegal items or criminal activity while enforcing tolls on others using the trading route for commercial or civilian transportation. It also serves in the capacity of bringing about the re-establishment of the route on the behalf of Wend Marcion and their megacorp. Tarsai Vigil is headquartered on the planet Enarc."
-- Description of The Tarsai Vigil.

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THE FIVE VEILS CONSPIRACY.​

A master never reveals him or herself, The Nomad had once said.

The formation of The Tarsai Vigil had been quick, and effective. Suspiciously so. As hyperlanes across the galaxy were either collapsed, or irreversibly changed with thanks to the PLANETSHIFT, a new force found its way along the Five Veils Route owned and subsequently backed by THE CORTESSAN FINANCE GROUP.

Fresh new tolls extracted a heavy burden among the commercial trading route, robbing blind transports for use of this hyperlane which is being backed and re-established to rival the great Corellian Run by the mysterious, powerful WEND MARICON, while the people of THE ROYAL NABOO REPUBLIC reel from the effects of the much despised BLACKWALL raised by The Sith Empire and their adopted period of ISOLATION thereby cutting off goods and services from THE MID RIM into THE OUTER RIM TERRITORIES.

The incident involving the Larkspur Crescent was one of several coming out of the Five Veils since the formation of this security force. It was becoming too much for some to bear. Exceptionally high tariffs on imports and exports in several star systems; frequent inspections or detainments which robbed citizens of their basic rights; cargo becoming damage, and in the case of foodstuffs, spoiled as ships were held up for days in starports, or stations now located along the route manned by the security force responsible for it all: The Tarsai Vigil.

A seemingly neutral organisation, designed to fill it's roll as one of several subsidiaries owned and backed by the megacorp behind it, there was something beneath the surface that didn't feel right. Crime and illegal activity is at an all time low along the route.

Yet something reeks of corruption.

In the off-drop of the office, behind where Ala Quin was arguing with one of The Threaded, a report emanating from The Tion Hegemony played detailing the closure of DREY INCORPORATED while she deliberated about what happened to The Larkspur Crescent.

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CLOSURE OF DREY INCORPORATED; LIANN GLOBAL NEWS COVERAGE; THE TION HEGEMONY, LIANNA, LIANNA CITY. Following weeks of speculation, since the end of the IMPERIAL OCCUPATION, it has now been substantiated by reputable sources tied to the late KILRAN ADMINISTRATION that DREY INCORPORATED-- the agricultural, and mining company founded by the traitor Alicia Drey -- has been closed following odd behaviour in the LIANN market where the company liquidated its assets and stocks in what many have deemed to be suspicious trading. The closure of DREY coincides with an economic depression of many than thirty worlds, including our great LIANNA, which led to the riots that have spread among the former territories of THE EMPIRE OF THE LOST since the end of the OCCUPATION. DREY INCORPORATED, now a former supplier, and exporter of FOODSTUFFS, DOONIUM and CORTOSIS, was founded by Alicia Drey -- the former STAFF DIRECTOR of THE NEW IMPERIAL SECURITY BUREAU (NISB)-- who was tried last year by HIS MAJESTY OF ALL IMPERIAL KIND, Velran Kilran , for acts of treason, conspiracy, and sedition against THE EMPIRE OF THE LOST following the catastrophic SIEGE OF TION which resulted in the destruction of the TION SYSTEM. DIRECTOR DREY, who was mercifully found NOT GUILTY by the late EMPEROR OF THE LOST, was found dead last year in their apartment--​

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"Enough of that."

A voice behind Ala Quin announces themselves, and with a flick of their finger, the broadcast playing in the background ends bringing an uncomfortable, tension filled silence as Her enters the office. Cint visibly tenses up before rising from his chair, and without another word, quietly exits the room while the mysterious woman watches him leave. Turning her gaze back to the Jedi, Her focuses her powers in the force deep within her to keep them concealed.

She wasn't ready to reveal herself to The Order of Shiraya.

Not yet.

Walking around Ala, Her lowers herself down to the seat on the other side of the desk. Turning her gaze up to the ceiling above them, she says:

"Silence."​

An eerie, white light engulfs both the MASTER JEDI and the enigmatic, concealed DARK LORD OF THE SITH as a Cone of Silence is activated via Her voice command. Meeting the gaze of her adversary, she then says: "Now, what does a Jedi from The Order of Shiraya want with the likes of us?"

Little do either of them realise that this meeting, in an office upon Enarc of all places, was the beginning of a long, convoluted feud that both would come to regret entering into that would end up costing them dearly for the rest of their lives.

---

 

[Ala Quin]

There was something eerily beautiful about the silence.

Ala sat still, her back straight, legs crossed neatly, fingers gently linked in her lap. The cone of soundlessness shimmered faintly, wrapping the office in a sterile hush. Her senses reached for the Force, brushing against its currents not for power—but for presence. And what she found unsettled her.

Not fear. Not rage. Not even malice.

Control.

The woman across from her—elegant, poised, unreadable—radiated a calm so deep it bordered on void. Whoever she was, this wasn't her first time dancing with fire. She hadn't come to intimidate Ala. She'd come to measure her.

Ala didn't blink. Her thoughts stayed fluid, quiet beneath the surface.

The middle manager knew who she was. He ran. Didn't speak. That's not policy—that's reverence. Or fear.

Her clothing... plain. Unremarkable. Yet every movement is deliberate. She is not mid-level administration.

The cone of silence. Activated vocally. Command clearance. Or something else?

She studied the stranger's face with that wide-eyed poise people always mistook for naivety. But inside, her mind clicked through every tell, every rhythm, every anomaly.

There was no deception in her own voice when she finally replied—only steady grace.

"I'd like to know why a family of seven, hauling art supplies and meditation beads from Cerea, is no longer listed in any record kept by the Vigil."

Ala leaned forward slightly. Her curls shifted as she tilted her head, soft eyes never leaving the other woman's.

"Why their ship black-boxed a distress signal—why it detonated. Why I was handed a corrupt fragment from your own ranks. And why that person hasn't been seen since."

She paused, letting that quiet breath between truths stretch out.

"That's what a Jedi of Shiraya wants. Answers. Not silence."

A whisper of tension entered her posture—like a string quietly drawn taut. But still, her tone remained serene. This was not a declaration of battle.

It was the first step of a very long walk toward the truth.

| Her |​

 

[Her]

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Enarc, Enarc system, Alui Sector, Mid Rim;
The Tarsai Vigil, Regional Admin Office;
Within the realms of The Royal Naboo Republic.
Tag: Ala Quin

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"For the present, the more covert we remain, the more influence we can have."
-- Darth Tenebrous.

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"I'd like to know why a family of seven, hauling art supplies and meditation beads from Cerea, is no longer listed in any record kept by the Vigil."

As Her listened to Ala, she lowered her hand into her tunic and produced a pair of glasses. Sliding them onto the rim of her nose, before pushing them up to her eyes to cast them behind a dark shade, Her averted their gaze away from the Jedi to Cint's desk, and with both hands, she accessed the directories of the Vigil to search for The Larkspur Cresent.

Then she began to read.

"Why their ship black-boxed a distress signal—why it detonated? Why I was handed a corrupt fragment from your own ranks? And why that person hasn't been seen since?"

I wonder why?

THE TARSAI VIGIL; DIRECTORY.​ //ACCESSING THE TARSAI VIGIL, DIRECTORY. //LOADING DIRECTORY. //LOADING COMPLETE. //OPERATING NUMBER REQUIRED. //INPUT: LAETOR, PASSWORD: S1D1OVS. //PASSWORD ACCEPTED. WELCOME, LAETOR. //INPUT: SEARCH QUERY: THE LARKSPUR CRESENT. //PROCESSING QUERY. //PROCESSING. . . //SEARCHING. . . //SEARCHING. . . //QUERY NOT FOUND. //INPUT: CLARIFICATION. //PROCESSING. . . //GENERATING PACKETS. . . //CLARIFICATION: "NO RECORDS OR DATA EXISTS IN THIS DIRECTORY PERTAINING TO THE SEARCH QUERY, 'THE LARKSPUR CRESENT'. EITHER NO RECORD OR DATA WAS INPUT TO THIS DIRECTORY, OR THE FILES WERE REMOVED." //INPUT: CLASSIFY QUERIES REGARDING 'THE LARKSPUR CRESENT'. MONITOR AND LOG ACTIVITY FOR USERS LOOKING FOR THIS QUERY IN THE SYSTEM AS WELL AS QUEIRIES PERTAINING TO THE PLANET CEREA. WIPE PACKETS AND TRACE DATA REGARDING THIS SESSION THEN LOG-OUT. //PROCESSING INPUT. //CLASSIFYING QUERY 'THE LARKSPUR CRESENT'. //WIPING TRACE. //UPLOADING TRACE, TARGET: 'THE LARKSPUR CRESENT'. //UPLOADING TRACE, TARGET: 'CEREA'. //'THE LARKSPUR CRESENT' TRACED. //'CEREA' TRACED. //LOGGING OUT . . . //GOODBYE, LAETOR.​

"That's what a Jedi of Shiraya wants. Answers. Not silence."

Her kept her gaze upon the monitor in front of her as she thought about the situation. One of the Fractals had debriefed her about The Larkspur Cresent after she had reached out to The Council of Fractals when she learned that a member from The Order of Shiraya had been making inquiries into the missing ship (and the family that had been on board) for the past three weeks. Such was her concern regarding the presence of a possible Jedi investigation concerning The Tarsai Vigil that Her had made the long, perilous journey from the Outer Rim Territories into the Mid Rim through Mandalorian occupied space to deal with the situation herself.

According to them the family were currently missing and so was the ship. Feelers had been sent out to other patrols navigating The Five Veils for any possible sightings and word had spread to starports where a search was said to have been conducted looking for the ship. The last places that had been looked into were docking stations now located along the hyperlane where tolls were paid, searches conducted and crews were often detained until they were processed and transported to a nearby system to be given to the authorities for evaluation of any alleged crimes that had been committed in Nabooian space.

The ship was not found. None of the family were being detained or had been transported back to Cerea, or another world in the Republic, so thar they could be evaluated by Nabooian authorities. It was as if they suddenly apparated. Still missing. Ghosts.

Yet the ship did clearly exist, or at least it had sixteen days ago. It had been intercepted, stopped and no less interfered by the Vigil. Such an event would have been logged onto the directory and delivered to Her when she had made her inquiries regarding the ship just now. But no such logs had ever been made, or if they had been, then they had been deleted by someone. She pouted in thought. There was only one group that had the ability to pull something like that off that was above Her and the subsidiary that she had delivered to them.

Someone from The Cortessan Finance Group must be involved. A cover-up? As Her turned their gaze back to Ala she frowned as her cunning mind drew up possibilities. If she desired to learn what had really happened to the ship and the missing family then she could offer her services to the Jedi sat in front of her. Explain that when she made her search into The Tarsai Vigil directory that the ship would have been logged after it had been stopped; that the file was missing, or had been deleted by someone; and that she would co-operate with The Order of Shiraya to help find out what had happened.

But if there was someone within the parent company of the Vigil who did not want the ship or family to be found then it was in her best interests to help them. It could be Wend Maricon themselves for all that she knew. As Her considered her options she came to the conclusion that it was in her best interests to help obfuscate from The Order of Shiraya regarding this incident rather than helping them dig deeper into it. In this way her own involvement in the expansion of The Five Veils Route would be far more influential as she supported the actions of the finance group allowing her more leverage among the new associates that she was cultivating within THE ROYAL NABOO REPUBLIC.

Later, after she had dealt with the Jedi sat before her, she could launch her own investigation discreetly into the incident to find out what really happened so as to keep herself one step ahead, and her adversaries in the dark. As she moulded her powers in the dark side to spread beyond the war-torn lands of Imperial space in the Outer Rim Territories and into the luxurious, rich realms of the Mid Rim, supporting the likes of Wend Maricon was in her best interests as she discreetly worked to undo the themes of peace and justice that the The Order of Shiraya had helped usher in through the Nabooian Republic.

"I am afraid the Vigil cannot help you today," Her lied through her teeth as she responded to Ala's questions. "When a ship, such as this Larkspur Cresent, are intercepted and searched then the incident is logged into our directory for evaluation. This is done without fail. Therefore I can only come to the conclusion that the distress signal you are referring to must be spoofed data or a fabrication because if the Vigil had ever come across the ship then it would be here in our system."

"It also comes to mind that I must ask whether or not The Order of Shiraya has jurisdiction or the authority to make inquiries with the likes of us regarding this incident. This could be taken up with The Royal Assembly as an overstep which conflicts with the autonomy of the Vigil which has the jurisdiction and credentials to search for this Larkspur Cresent as part of our duties to secure The Five Veils Route. With this in mind I must demand that the fragment be turned over into my custody while we make our inquires into our missing colleague, and investigate the whereabouts of the allegedly missing Larkspur Cresent and it's crew... if they exist at all."

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