[member="Maja Vern"]
Vanity and desire for attention was noted. This writer notes that if Maja were not a Sith or Siobhan Kerrigan not so zealous in hating this particular cult, the two would probably get on well! After all, they both clearly loved being the centre of attention and having pretty clothes.
Anyhow, they were inside the Artefact Recovery Office now and faced the four officials in charge of it. Physically utterly unimpressive, but obviously very smart. The glass-wearing fellow who found himself on the receiving end of Maja's tender attentions stiffened and flushed slightly. Presumably the good man did not get out a lot and thus received very little in terms of physical attention. However, he managed to compose himself just slightly, though looking visibly embarrassed.
"Uh, ma'am...I...you must specify," he spluttered a bit. "Clearance levels to sensitive arcana are restricted."
The woman turned her gaze from her computer to the new arrivals, shooting her companion a disapproving look, which made him stiffen. "Jacen, do stop making a fool of yourself and embarrassing us in front of our visitors. Our division is in charge of funding expeditions to recover lost relics, artefacts and forgotten technological devices. Are you here for the Rhen Var expedition?" she asked politely but firmly.
"Yes, you can see our credentials here. I am on retainer for the Imperial Sith Reclamation Service. I must commend your office on its skill and efficiency. It is a laudable goal to play such a part in recovering lost knowledge, cataloguing and preserving it. After all the damage done by Velok and his ilk," she said. Always good to butter them up a bit. At that she passed some papers with forged credentials. To give them some extra weight, they were written in an elaborate and important-looking Sith script. Few people could actually read Sith, though it stood to reason that these minions could, but as the woman would find upon inspection this was the real deal.
She passed them over to one of the other men in the room, who checked the papers with some sort of scanning device. "They check out," he spoke after having ran a thorough check. When he was done oggling the delicious looking Maja. Then again, no one could blame him given those...wicked boots!
Abruptly the woman became a good deal friendlier. "Ah, yes, I remember the manager saying something about your coming. We have extensive files on Ulic Qel-Droma and Rhen Var. Though I hope you aware of the blasted Silvers taking the planet? Prying knowledge from it will not be easy anymore," she stated, passing the papers back.
Sumiko made a dismissive gesture.
"Truly, we have heard. But we have our means to stay below the radar and fool the holier than thou light side cultists. Besides, with all the chaos caused by Akala, they have more pressing concerns." That reminded her that she should seek to learn how to project a false light side aura. It would be very useful when dealing with Jedi who did not look past the surface and were fooled by an aura of radiant purity.
"That's reasonable, I believe, Ladies. Joran can give you accces to our files pertaining to Ulic."
"Thank you, kindly, but that do not suffice. I understand this is not conventional policy, but we require access to your entire database. For a very limited duration. Rhen Var is only the start of a larger quest. For the good of the One Sith. If you look through my papers, you'll find an endorsement from Lord Belial."
One of the men swallowed, clearly not wanting to antagonise two women who seemed to be force-users and Sith, but also intent on keeping his job. "I am sorry, my Ladies, but that would be a violation of our policy. Such access would have to be cleared in advance with our management. We have the deepest respect for you, but we have a standard procedure to follow. Such standards were instituted to keep acolytes from accessing knowledge their minds were not prepared for."
Sumiko nodded understandingly.
"Such as the Necronomicon or the Taurannik Codex. Perfectly reasonable. But do I look or feel like a mere Acolyte to you? And suffice to say our sponsors will not take kindly to our investigations being disrupted. I would say more, but information is classified. Imperial Intelligence has my record. Conversely, cooperation will be sensible for you," at that she discreetly passed over a couple credit chits.
"Would you kindly give us access?" A woman chooses, a slave obeys. As she spoke these words, her voice like as soft as silk that covered solid durasteel, she pulled upon the tangled web of infinite power that was the Force to exert her mentalist abilities upon them. It was nothing so blatant and crude like a simple command of the 'give us access now!' variety.
Rather it was a subtle probing in their back of their mind, starting with the suspicious woman, that should have the effect of inducing confidence and slowly but surely soothing distrust, stripping the layers of doubt away making the request seem so reasonable. Moreover, there would be the slowly growing certainty that they really had better things to do than argue over access. As a matter of fact, lunch break was coming up in a few minutes and they had already worked so hard. Did a steaming cup of stimcaf not sound absolutely delicious right now? Far safer than antagonising two dark force-users. So sweet. Just like [member="Mirien Valdier"] had once peeled away her layers and remade her.