Back on the Wanderer

(( The following is converted from RP that took place on 4/18. As always, my eternal gratitude goes to the player of Selus for being so much fun to RP with. ))

Selus found Aittera waiting in the cockpit when he returned to the Wanderer. He walked over to her, bending down to kiss her cheek, then put a bottle of Corellian Whiskey on a nearby table. "Gift from Renn'a's sister of all people."

She looked up at him with that look that said she was sure she was losing her mind. "Renn'a has a sister?"

"Apparently so.  Got my name from a Black Sun contact.  Just met with her.  Wanted me...or us really, to facilitate a meeting with her sister, and also whatever information we had on Kiabe.  Told her we didn't have much on the wife."

"She expects us to just put in a holocall---" Aittera stopped mid-sentence as a thought occurred to her. "Does Ragious know about this sister?" She was on her feet in a heartbeat, though there was no room to really pace in the cockpit. She found herself walking to the viewport window instead as she contemplated the ways this new information could be used against her enemy. She wouldn't actually put the woman at risk, of course, but the potential of using Renna's sister to either compromise the slave's loyalties or even tempt the Darth into a vulnerable position was too much not to consider.

"No.  Kiabe did.  Will'a was apparently her guest for a time.  I tried to explain how loyal Renn'a is to her master, but she still wants to meet her.  Not our concern though, after speaking to me she decided that she didn't want our help after all."

"What?" She wheeled around to look at him. "Why not?"

"Because she understood how full we already have our hands."

Aittera opened her mouth to form a protest, but stopped short with a scowl, realizing that she'd be arguing with a person who wasn't even present. A sense of impotent rage had been building since she'd left Khor'deth's lavish hotel room with the feeling that she'd somehow been conned, and now, it had formed a full head of steam. Rubbing three fingers against her forehead, she stomped past him and out of the cockpit, heading for the liquor cabinet. 

Selus followed her, carrying the bottle of whiskey he'd brought back.  "How was whatever you were doing?"

She had already pulled a bottle from the cabinet when she spied the one in his hand and remembered its existence. With a frustrated sigh, she rocked her head back to roll her eyes at herself and the obsessive swirl of jumbled thoughts that were plaguing her. When she looked back to him, it was with a charmingly sheepish grin and held out the bottle in her hand. "Trade you?"

He handed over the bottle to her and took the one in her hand. "I am guessing that it went okay if you're that distracted."

"I am waiting for risk analysis projections for Ragious's activities from an old friend who owed me a favor." She opened the bottle he'd handed her and took a deep drink as she walked over to the couch. "I met Khor'deth."

The cathar paused when she mentioned Ragious's son, stopping in his tracks for a moment. "How did that go?"  He recovered quickly and moved to join her, plopping down next to her to slide an arm onto the back of the couch behind her shoulders.

"Weird," she scowled. "I don't know what to think of him."

"What does your gut tell you?"

"It doesn't. That's part of the problem." She took another hefty drink from the bottle, then shook her head. "If he wasn't a pureblood and a Sith, I might actually like him."

He looked over at her with a shocked expression that quickly formed into a grin. "That's some high praise coming from you."

Aittera smirked, giving him that look that said she could either kiss him or smack him. "Ran into someone I haven't seen since my SIS days at the party. Apparently, he's a pirate now."

Selus grumbled something about pirates. "I hope he's at least going to be a useful pirate."

"If he's not, I'll shoot him."

"Oh!  Can I help?"

She laughed. "If you're really good."

He gave her a grin. "I promise."  Laughing, he leaned over to kiss her cheek again. "What about the pureblood though?  Is he like Ragious?"

The question wiped the grin from her face, prompting another long, deep drink before she answered. "Nothing like him. He's charming, rational, even-tempered and eloquent."

"That is...a surprise.  Truly.  I don't think I've ever heard of an even-tempered prueblood.  Charming sure, rational, even eloquent, but I didn't think even-tempered was possible for any Sith."

"If I hadn't seen it for myself, I wouldn't believe it."

"Guess I really do learn something new every day."  Selus once again looked over, this time with another grin. "What the hell did he say to get you so riled?"

"He offered to broker a truce."

"Come again, I don't think I heard you right."

Aittera took another drink, glaring straight ahead as she watched the conversation in her mind yet again, having been replaying it in such a way several times since she'd left the casino. "He would be more than willing to help me cease the hostilities. His words."

"Do you believe him?  Do you think he can do that? If so Aittera, I want you to take his offer."

She gave him an incredulous look. "You're joking."

"Not even a little.  Angel Girl, you and I are too smart to not know how this ends.  Even if we kill Ragious and somehow both manage to survive, which isn't very likely, we then deal with Kiabe, and then someone else, and someone else.  I'd rather just go back to living our lives without dealing with the Sith."

She stared at him for a long, silent minute. When she finally spoke, there was an edge to her otherwise quiet voice. "Even if he's telling the truth, what happens if we're in a firefight and realize that it's Ragious's ships we're fighting? Do we tuck tail and run and leave the Republic with two---" She corrected herself with a bitter note--"one less ship working in its defense, or risk breaking whatever treaty we've negotiated?"

"That is why we negotiate.  No more personal vendetta."

"He made it personal when he raped me."

"I know, and he deserves to die for that, but not if it means killing ourselves."

"I don't care if it kills me."

"I care.  Don't you see that, I don't know how to live without you."

That broke through her stubborn demeanor so easily, it left her with a stricken expression, forcing her to look away from him and down at the bottle in her hand. She almost hated him for saying it and for knowing that it was the one thing he could say that could cut as deeply as it did. The Aittera that walked away from the SIS hadn't survived Davin's death, and Selus knew that.

"What if it is me, Angel Girl?  What if it is my life you have to trade to kill him?"

"I wouldn't let that happen."

"But we can't know for certain that it wouldn't.  We have an opportunity to end this.  Now.  We negotiate an end to hostilities, we go back to this being only about the Republic and Empire's war, and get the personal crap out of it."

"Until the next time one of us is captured? In the meantime, he's one of the most effective leaders they have. Think of how many people we could save if we stop his campaigns." Every argument sounded weak in the wake of his statement, and she knew it. 'He's already won,' she thought, and for a moment, she really did hate him.

"As I said, we negotiate.  We cease the personal vendetta, not our defense of the Republic. I don't want to take away from the hurt he caused you.  It was bad, we both know exactly how much, and what came after.  But if we can stop this here and now, with both of us alive, then I think we win."

"He won't see it that way. I'm not sure I can either."

Selus sighed. "I won't make you do this.  I couldn't even if I wanted to, but I can't see any downside Aittera."

She took another drink as she contemplated just how much it felt like he was making her give in. "No. No downside at all." The fight drained completely from her, leaving her glaring resentfully down at the bottle in her lap as she gave in. "I'll set up the meeting. You'll want to be there." Defeat number two.

He nodded, cautiously reaching over to take her hand. "I know this isn't the outcome you wanted, but it is the outcome that keeps you safe."

She didn't look at him as he took her hand. "Right."