The Rebel Faction

GX-1 Yacht Crescent Sun, Talcene system


The star yacht floated through the starry sea, edging ever closer to a world of mottled greens and browns. At the cockpit, Marie and Christina stood over the pilot's chair, watching the hundreds of vessel entering and leaving the system. Many of the ships were small time tramp freighters and shuttles whose owners just managed to eek out a living. But there were also bulk cargo vessels and drone barges, notably several Stellar Enterprise and Starstriker models among them. A good number of the vessels had civilian Confederation transponders, since it was the gateway to Metalorn and the Confederation trade worlds further rimward on the Perlemian. She even managed to spot a pair of Nebulon frigates in the world's local defense force markings plying around the space lanes, watching for pirates, or worse, Reavers. Yet the first vessel to near them was an old, angular Guardian-class Light Cruiser, a ship just barely bigger than the yacht.


Xi turned up to look at the women, “It's a customs vessel. Probably will want to board us, or at least do a scan for any illicit substances...”


The Talcene vessel hovered over them briefly before flitting away to check out a pair of newly arrived drone barges coming in on the same entry vector. But Christina's warm brown eyes were already focusing on Talcene itself. Xi began to mutter with port control as the two kashan women walked away to commons area just aft of the cockpit.


“Do you feel ready for this?” questioned the Pro-Consul.


Marie snorted, “Not really, but it shouldn't be too bad. I kind of think that York likes to talk things up a bit. But it could be that he's just a little too cautious for my tastes.”


“See, he sounds like Lucerne already...”


“Minus the talking up part...”


“Ok, but he seems like an obvious pick from Corise.”


Marie sighed, “Corise didn't personally pick him, but he definitely had some sort of interviewing process for this all...”


Thorn frowned as she sat down in one of the small seats, “He screened all of you?”


She hesitated, “Not exactly, but I think he set the standards for the screeners. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, Pro-Consul.”


“That's only slightly better than Lady for a pair of old friends...”


Marie winced, “If you say so.”


“I do,” smiled Thorn with a dismissive wave of a hand, “but enough about that. What have you been up to? Last I heard, they had deactivated your Company...”


“Officially.”


“Oh,” replied Christina with a sudden understanding, “I won't pry then.”


“Councilor, I know we used to be friends, maybe we still are, but things are different now. We're not just two little girls romping around Kashan any more, with a couple of terrified parents chasing after us. I'm a grunt of a soldier now, and well, you're a bit higher up. We're not equals...not that we ever really were, I guess...”


Thorn reached over and squeezed her hand, “I wouldn't say that. Look Marie, we might not be on the same scale of importance for this...visit. But I really want us to remain friends, even if we don't go out for tea or regularly raid the Lucerne orchard any more. I mean it. I want to do something with you when we get back, just like it used to be. Sometimes I envy you soldiers. Life might be rough sometimes, but at least you always know who your true friends are...”
 

“Well, we can't stay here then,” blurted out Marie.


“The ship probably isn't safe either,” mused Reid, pulling up his encrypted comlink to his mouth “sergeant, the op is bad. Someone knows who the ambassador is.”


“It's the ambassador's call on our next move.”


Christina eyed her two fellow Kashan citizens. We don't know enough to make much of a plan. Maybe the droid has only been programmed to lie to us about being from Colonel Young, or maybe someone slipped the word to the Colonel somehow, but nothing else is wrong...or it could be assassination attempt. She briefly narrowed her eyes. Did the kidnapping really make me this paranoid? She shook the thought away.


“I don't know what the right thing to do here is,” started Thorn, “but I do know that we need more information about what's going on Talcene in general, regardless of if Young is with us, or against us. I think we should leave two people here to contact Colonel Young if he does come by, or to deal with whoever is out there to get us. The rest of us go to nearest CSIS safe house on the world and link up with CSIS. We'll be safer there than here. Thoughts?”


“You're the boss,” reminded Marie, “or should I say Councilor?”


“And not a military or intelligence expert, that's why I'm going to be relying on the rest of you to get us through this.”


“We should move now,” decided Dash, “and talk on the way out of here before anyone else decides to show up...”


With that, the three Confederates exitted the room, with Dash ostensibly meandering twenty paces ahead of the two women to pick up potential threats, while the two women pretended to idly chatter and stroll through the path Dash had cleared. Where's Kitty when you need her? They made it back to the Crescent Sun without incident. Dash slapped the ramp button as soon as the two women had started walking up the ramp. Sergeant York greeted her with a curt nod as she stepped onboard.


“Councilor...”


“Sergeant York,” started Christina, “I want you and two other shock troopers in our hotel room, just to give the appearance so it looks like we're still there, and just in case someone else pops by for a visit. If it's Colonel Young, give him one of our comlinks, and I'll talk to him like that. Otherwise, use your best judgement. The rest of us are leaving to a safehouse.”


“Yes ma'am. Just let me grab a few of us and get our stuff. How long will you be away?”


Christina paused, “I don't know. Hopefully not too long, but I guess it'll depend on what we find....”


Minutes later, Sergeant York led two other soldiers with their bags to take possession of their room. As they walked towards the resort, a pillar of flame rose up from their section of the resort, engulfing half of the building in a deafening explosion that knocked the troopers off their feet and onto the hard sandstone landing pad. As Christina's jaw dropped, Marie began to steadily swear besides her. Dash slapped the ramp button one more time and rushed out to his fellow troopers.


“Councilor?”


“Yes Marie?”


“Lady Laurent is going to be pissed...”


“Don't worry. I don't think Lady Laurent planned on our luggage being exploded. She'll understand...”
 

Trade Party local campaign office, Maxence, Talcene


Thorn let a smile grow across her face as she greeted the secretary droid at the front desk. Behind her, a pair of junior Confederate diplomats, one of them actually a Jensaarai, idly glanced around the lobby of the office. There were several holos displaying a trim man dressed in a business suit with the captions “Tuman for Governor”. Several of the politicians' aides and interns greeted other people and volunteers as they entered the building. One of them, a dark-haired youth with a rash of stubble spread on his chin openly gawked at her. She stared him right back at him with a placid face before another volunteer dragged the man away.


“Excuse me ma'am?”


A man with a swarthy complexion came up from behind the secretary droid, “I must be seeing things. Councilor Thorn, of the Confederation?”


She nodded, “Yes. I was hoping to have a word with Mr. Tuman, or perhaps one of his aides. I'm sorry that the timing is not the best, not in the middle of a campaign, trust I understand that. I just would like five minutes with him, if that is possible.”


“Uh...uh...I'll see what I can do.”


“Thank you,” replied the brunette with a faint smile, “I really do appreciate that.”


“Uh...why don't I take you somewhere a little less...well...public, where you can relax while I get an answer for you.”


The man led the trio past a set of upholstered doors into the rear of the campaign office. Dozens of droids and volunteers darted around the cubicle farm, taking comlink calls and coordinating Tuman's campaign across the capital of Talcene, the ancient stone-walled city of Maxence. Several spared quick glances at her entourage. She spared a glance at the Jensaarai, a small-statured man named Anderson. The man's hazel eyes returned her gaze without emotion. Well, that's good so far, right? They rounded a corner to a small lounge area where several Trade Party volunteers snacked on a varied assortment of pastries and drank more caf than Thorn thought was healthy. The dark-haired youth was there. He immediately eyed her again, but the Jensaarai met his gaze and stepped in front of the councilor. Thorn turned to the man who had led them in.


“Thank you, mister?”


“Ah, call me Ken. Ken Graves.”


“Thank you Ken.”


“I'll get right back to you, I promise,” said the man, hustling out of the room.


Anderson cleared his throat, “I think this gentlemen has something to tell us, don't you?”


Thorn turned her gaze back to the youth, “Oh, is that so, Mr. Anderson?”


“Thomas, why don't you tell us about your friends you visited Havausa Falls. It would seem that you recall seeing Miss Thorn's holo there, right before your friends asked you to drive them back to the local shuttle area back to Maxence.”


“How'd you know my name?” blurted out Thomas, as Anderson walked towards him.


The other Confederate aide, a distant relative of House Kalaxas, managed to quickly engage the other aides in a conversation on the opposite side of the room about local politics and political theory. Thorn closed in behind the Anderson, the duo slowly pushing the young man into one of the corners of the room. Thorn eyed the Trade Party volunteer, noting the parting lips tugging towards his ears, the wide set focused eyes, and the tensed lower eyelids. Fear.


“What are you afraid of Thomas?” questioned Thorn, “it's not like you put a bomb there, is it?”


“Of course not.”


“You know who did though,” stated Anderson, “isn't that against Talcene law? Probably under some sort of aiding and abetting terrorists acts? I'll have to research it when we get back, Councilor...”


“How do you know my name?”


“Oh, we have a pretty good idea who set the bomb there,” noted Anderson.


“Is that so?” questioned a new voice from behind them.


Tuman stood behind them, along with Graves and a golden 3PO unit. Graves cocked his head to the side in bewilderment, while Graves coolly eyed the pair up and down. He forced a practiced smile across his face.


“I'll have you know, Mr. Anderson, that what you're doing right now is fairly close to harassment under Talcene law, though I suppose diplomatic immunity has its benefits, assuming that you are a registered diplomat...”


“Mr. Tuman,” said Thorn dryly, “perhaps you could spare us a few minutes to explain to us why your people tried to kill me.”


“That is a very heavy accusation, Councilor...”


“For a very heavy end to a political career, Mr. Tuman....”


“Is that so? Very well, let's all go up to my office and sort this out, shall we?”
 

After Thorn explained her theory to Tuman and the others present, the Confederates left his office to question the volunteer some more. The gold 3PO unit was waiting for them just outside the office doors, from where it lead the small group to a conference room where both Mr. Graves and Thomas were waiting for them. Both of them stared at the Councilor as she entered. Thorn plastered one of her practiced holo-cam smiles for the pair.


“Thomas, you weren't working for Mr. Tuman when took your friends down to the resort, were you?”


He shook his head, “No, well, not exactly...”


Thorn raised an eyebrow, “Did Mr. Tuman explicitly tell you to take them there, or anyone else in the party ask you to take them there?”


“No...”


“As I understand it, you're a bit of an outsider here...not a lot of friends within the Trade Party itself...”


“Well...I could see how some people might think that,” replied the man, “I'm just quiet though...”


“So who were these friends you were hanging out with that day you drove up to the Falls?”


“Ah...school friends. We're in the same economics class at the uni. They offered to pay me pretty well for taking them up there. They said it was just to chill out before the big exams, though one said she was also going to be writing a journalism story for the school news service there too. That's where I saw your holo.”


“So she knew I was going to be there.”


“No, she just knew some...ah...she said some 'Confederation bigwig' was going to show up, but that they had a way in. Her uncle's droid was set to greet ah, I guess it was going to be you, so she had a friend tamper with a bit...bugged it, per se, to see who it was and what it'd be about.”


“Interesting...”


“...but it wasn't her,” blurted out the man, “it couldn't be. She wouldn't do anything that'd hurt her uncle.”


“And who modified the droid?”


“Her...boyfriend.”


“Who is?”


“Ben Jodiah, the cousin of the Governor...” said the man, “but I won't tell you anything else unless you promise me Hannah, Hannah Young, won't be hurt by all this.”


Christina frowned, “You have feelings for her.”


He nodded, “Well, yeah.”


“I can't guarantee that Thomas, though I wish I could,” sighed Christina, “though perhaps we can work out a bargain together with the future governor of Talcene to fix that, to have her pardoned. I can't imagine that Governor Jodiah would want to believe your story, or he'd just cover it up he were involved...but why would he be involved?”


Thomas stared her incredously, “You hadn't heard of the Maxence Court scandals? He was caught trying to bribe a bunch of judges to lessen the sentences imposed on some of his friend's friends...if you know what I mean. Though they couldn't quite legally get him with it. They were sentenced for tampering with goods...”


“Probably our bacta too then,” suggested Anderson.


Thorn nodded, “Then I think it's time to make Mr. Tuman our new governor...”