Capítulo 87: A Moff's Work
I don't own Star Wars.
The troopers saluted as I walked through the halls, standing at attention as I passed to make my way to my office. My door opened immediately as I walked around my desk and sat in my very soft, and very practical chair.
Then I promptly lay back in my chair, and drank my tea…
I've been Moff now for almost twenty years… I can't say it hasn't been good to me. Sure, a few less-than-savory idiots tried to take advantage of my inexperience… how unfortunate for them. I had the Moffs, I had the staff, I had the people… my mother ruled Dromund Kaas through fear and manipulation. I ruled through honey and threats.
My door opened again and entered my most recently appointed secretary. I went through them so quickly. Some couldn't handle the job, some were simply poorly staffed, and others, like the last one, were foolishly selling information to my enemies, and voyeuristic pictures to a few tabloids. I did like looking at him, such a handsome fellow. But not very smart…
Aztali, a Zeltron, was my new secretary. Pink skinned, and flowing locks for blue hair I would have to keep her away from…
…I frowned… the thought was painful and ANNOYING…. Still, I needed to move forward as if nothing was wrong. "Aztali? Issues so early in the morning?" I added casually as she walked across the room in her, perfectly fitting uniform. Honestly, why did every other female officer seem to have a uniform a size too small?
"I'm sorry Ma'am." She began nervously, saluting half-heartedly as she began looking through a holo-screen of objectives. "But we need to get through this, you have a back log." She cleared her throat and waited. Watching me with bright pink eyes. I waved a hand with a smile, still sipping my tea as I watched the muted news on a holo-screen.
"Lady Kavilla has arranged for dinner tomorrow at the mansion, and wants to know if she should bring a plus one?"
"No to the plus one. Next." I mumbled, it annoyed me how often she tried to 'set me up' with one officer or another. Honestly, if I needed an heir, I'd go to Kamino and clone myself.
"Moff Degand has agreed to transfer 10 squads of troopers to his outposts as requested."
"Send flowers to his mistress and tell her to keep up the good work." I noted frankly with a smile. "Honestly she's better than a threatening cipher agent."
"Speaking of Cipher Agent's ma'am…" she cleared her throat and nervously pointed to a button on my desk. I stared at her for a moment, then pushed it. Instantly everything in the room was off, a temporary EMP that would allow us a few moments of complete security. "…Cipher 3 has brought disturbing news."
"Oh? What sort of news?" I asked curiously, I had sent Cipher 3 out on a small mission to huttspace. A simple recon of sorts to keep an eye on up-and-coming Hutts to make agreements with.
Aztali cleared her throat and said a little sheepishly as I sipped my tea. "…For a very brief period of time 4 days ago, there was a bounty placed on the head of a 'Roland Firemane?'"
My cup cracked in my hand and I stared at her, "What?"
"Well… I am aware of your family tree, and Roland Firemane was your grandfather but he died years ago when your mother-"
"I know the story Aztali its one of the reason's why I am MOFF." I said getting up and slamming the cup onto the desk, spilling my tea, "THE BOUNTY. Aztali is it still active?" I asked firmly as she shivered in place as everything turned back on.
"N-No. Ma'am it was dropped almost a day later, canceled by Torga the hutt." She added, and I ran my hand through my hair, just as she looked at the holo-screen. "…Oh wow…" she said. And I turned to look.
CIRCE BESSANA – ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING. Moved slowly across the bottom of the screen as a Nar Shaddaa skyline was framed by a reporter and several people, including a familiar face.
I stared at it, utterly horrified. "…I want Watcher 4 in my office as of ten minutes ago." I said firmly, glaring at my poor secretary, who knew full well what I did to people who upset me. "NOW" I said as she scrambled out of my office. I stared at the screen as the newsman gave his report as my niece was seen talking with several officers as dozens of wounded men were dragged out of a building.
"…Good girl." I noted and stared amazed as a young red-headed boy, and a large black-furred wookiee tried to stay in the shadows of the camera. Trying not to draw attention to themselves along with an obvious Twi'lek bounty hunter. and a beautiful Cathar woman who made me feel a sense of annoying Déjà vu. They were on screen for only a moment, then they were gone.
I stared at the report, scowling annoyed as I tapped the desk… then my door opened again. Tall, handsome, and stoic Watcher 4 entered my office. Blue like the sea, eyes like solid rubies, and blue hair greased cleanly back he half walked, half marched to my desk.
"Lady Tolara." He said as calm as the eye of a storm. "You wished to see me?" And then I pointed to the screen. And his eyes flicked in his sockets, he had a good pazaak face. But he knew instantly that he was in trouble.
I contained my fury rather well in my opinion. "…Years ago… you came to me with information that I took at face value. And then you informed my brother of the danger." I stood up and walked around my desk, "I told you, very specifically, that you were to keep an eye on my niece, and my nephew. Both of whom. APPARENTLY." I fiercely gestured to the screen, as I looked at him. "Were in danger."
He cleared his throat, "…It… seems to be." He said softly, not breaking my gaze.
"…Tell me then. Why exactly did my nephew have a bounty placed on his head and I've found out about it now?" I asked, glaring at him.
Watcher 4 took a deep breath, "…I believe, Lady Tolara, that another of your… agents was handling it." He said trying to remain calm.
"I don't care if another agent was handling it. YOU were supposed to tell me if my brother's children were in trouble!"
"The agent in question, watching over them both, as you know is extraordinarily competent…" he noted, very calmly, "And she did not tell me of any need to inform you… I am only as knowledgeable as my information Lady Tolara, I can only promise to try harder."
I wanted to strangle him, and his agent. But she was… rogue… officially, I couldn't contact her without huge risk. I couldn't contact any of them… I hated it. I vented my anger on my desk and sat back down in my chair. "…THIS." I pointed to the screen, showing Circe smiling and waving to many of the officers detaining the wounded. "Will not happen again under your watch Orin, is that understood?"
Orin cleared his throat, whether from nerves or his own disappointment, I didn't care, "I promise you as Watcher Four, Lady Tolara." He bowed and turned on his heels. "It will not happen again. I will keep you informed to the best of my ability, that is a promise." Walking out of the room. He was a smart, driven young man, achieving watcher status far faster than his father, the previous Watcher Zero. But he was still young and prone to mistakes and temptations of youth, but at least he tended to own up to them.
Aztali returned, and brought me a new cup of tea, watching the news with me for a moment. "…Good thing those kidnappers were foiled, she's a really good actress. I would miss her performances."
I sat in silence watching my secret niece as I sipped my perfectly made tea, "…Aztali. This is good tea…"
"Thank you, ma'am."
"You are the most competent at the job that I have had the pleasure of working with." I noted, meaning every word. "…Have a seat, join me, you could have a brief respite from the bullshit out there."
"Thank you, Ma'am…" she said a little prouder. She was sitting across for me and watching the news.
We watched in silence for a moment, then Aztali spoke a little hesitantly, "…I know she's with the republic but I'm glad she's alright." She said, watching Circe give an interview.
"…As am I Aztali." I added, "…I do love her work."
Aztali smiled with a nod, "…If you don't mind me asking ma'am? But why Watcher Four? You could have Watcher Zero or… anyone really."
"Because Aztali I like to think I'm a good judge of character when it comes to assignments." I said, conversationally. "…For instance, I selected you as my new secretary because you are a very intelligent and beautiful woman…"
"Oh… thank you Ma'am…" she said blushing a little ashamedly and not meeting my eyes.
"Yes. You're smart enough NOT to betray me and beautiful enough that men might assume you would." I said absently, and she looked at me. "…Don't be offended. Men see a beautiful woman and think, 'she can't possibly be as smart as she looks'…" I eyed her curiously and she frowned, knowing exactly what I meant. "I might be Moff, Aztali but men still outnumber us in power by 4 to 1. And they might like me better than my mother but that doesn't mean they won't want a way to get rid of me… Androw learned that the hard way when he tried to make a credit off of it…"
Androw being my former secretary. Handsome. But obviously very stupid in the long run… we're all allowed a mistake or two. And I was referring to myself… he used all of his mistakes at once. Aztali, knowing full well what HAPPENED to Androw nodded her head slowly.
"Oh… yes ma'am…" she said, unsure what to say.
"That being said Aztali, I hope you make the right decisions if other men of the Empire try to convince you to… slip them 'gossip'?" I added, and she nodded rigorously. "Good!" I smiled fondly at her, I would hate to lose her as a secretary. "At any rate as to why Watcher Four and not another one? He knows me. And my family, and he needs to learn to know better than to be an arrogant little shit… I don't care how good he is it won't save him if he keeps dropping the ball."
"Of course ma'am, I meant no-" she paused and eyed her holo-display suddenly"…That's odd, ma'am you have an encrypted message." She looked at me, she had access to my e-mail often filtering out the crap from the important. "Very encrypted. Cipher Level skill in fact aren't those supposed to go through the Watchers first?"
I grabbed her display and glared at it, rolling my eyes. "…It's a personal file from my Cipher. My eyes only, send it to my computer." I noted impatiently as if it was inconsequential. "Thank you Azatli you may leave."
She bowed her pretty head and made her way out of the room, "Aztali…" I added airily, "Delete the message after you send it to me." She nodded again, and I turned to my computer as the message appeared on my display…
I typed in the password and waited as the message slowly rewrote itself into a program.
Then another screen appeared, encrypted, and the message suddenly formed.
"…Did you need to yell at him?" the words typed silently and shimmered before vanishing.
"…What do you think?" I typed back, the words shimmering and vanishing.
"Fair enough." The words said, repeating the process.
"Why didn't you send me a message directly? I had to half lie to my secretary about you."
"I'm away from the base… I needed to inform you quickly about Circe and Roland. They're fine by the way, but I bet you knew that."
"It's all over the news. Even here. How is Circe so absurdly popular?"
"She looks like her mother and has her father's charm, it's a deadly combination." There was even a little smiley face at the end of that sentence functioning as a period.
I waited a moment, I couldn't help it any longer I had to ask. "Any progress?" I asked, hoping… even praying.
"…No. But that's good. It's not getting worse… she's working as hard as she can, but this is new territory and we have to be extra careful…" I slammed the desk angrily as I rubbed my hands through my red hair, "…It'll be okay. Don't hit anything." The message added far too late.
"Roland had a bounty. Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, moving on.
"Because you'd send a star destroyer that's why." The message said. Correctly. "It was handled, they've made their move, so we have to keep reacting until we can root them out." Then adding a little ashamedly, even though the screen "…I can only do so much…"
I stared for a very long time at the screen, it wasn't fair to her. "… I know. I'm just worried." I typed, trying to calm my nerves with tea, then on failing that retrieving my Corellian whiskey from my desk.
"…I'm doing my best. I'm putting the kids first and working my way up… Just like he wanted." I frowned and poured myself another shot into my tea.
"…Keep me informed." I typed taking a long, deep sip.
"Of course, try not to kill Orin, I'll do it if necessary…" then another smiley face as my screen turned off. I watched the news a little longer, it changed to something less interesting and I turned the channel… again, and again and again… then I found Race for the Kyber Crystals had just started rolling the opening credits and I leaned back fondly in my chair. Enjoying, not for the first time, my Niece's work…
End of Chapter
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