Her apprentice is very diligent when they don't have to pretend they don't care about literally anything at all ever. This is actually—gasp—kind of fun.

Today it's combat training with Khem Val, who has grudgingly consented to not eating Occlus's apprentice.

Occlus' apprentice is very thankful!

He is ready.

Khem Val is big, and hard to hurt, and has been fighting basically continuously for his entire life. Rafa has his work cut out for him.

Well. He's okay with bruises. And failing a lot. He's diligent and tenacious and stubborn and he pays attention to Khem Val's moves and tries to anticipate and/or imitate them.

Khem has much more height and muscle mass. Rafa's better off trying be tricksy against him.

He'll get that soon enough, yeah.

Then eventually he can start scoring some hits.

Occlus shows up in time to watch the last round.

He's not really the kind who'd be slacking just because she wasn't watching before and would shape up with her there. He's also not the kind to get nervous when watched. So he just continues doing the same thing he's doing—or, rather, improving the thing he's doing by the same process he's been using.

"Good improvement. Remember to mind your footwork."

"Will do."

She nods at Khem, and he leaves. "Did you finish the reading?"

"Yes, ma'am! And I picked a couple more stuff that looked interestingly related—"

A training dummy floats over.

"Run through the first three forms and explain it to me."

He does it nearly perfectly where the 'near' part is not being acquainted enough with the material to recite it completely accurately.

She nods at the end of it. "We're done for today. Tomorrow we are going to Nar Shaddaa to meet with one of the Moffs I've been courting. You will attend as well, to project power."

"Yes, ma'am. Should I do anything in particular or prepare in any special way?"

"Dress neatly. And look for information on the Orrishid Group and the CN-12 chip."

"Yes, ma'am."

And then he's left to his own devices for a while.

He will look for information on those things for a while, then!

The Orrishid Group, based out of Nar Shaddaa, is a microchip manufacturing consortium noted for their innovative nanocircuitry designs and, in the CN line, targeting algorithms. The latest model is the CN-10, but there's some buzz on the Holonet about a revolutionary next generation.

Anything on this CN-12?

Not readily available. Is he any good at slicing?

...not particularly, no.

Then whatever juicy information is locked away on Orrishid's servers will remain unknown to him.

...does anyone on this ship have any skill with that?

Andronikos might?

He asks him.

He investigates. "That some pretty serious encryption. Don't think I can crack it, huh."

"How certain is that 'don't think'?"

"Gimme a week, I might get it. Can't say I won't trip any flags, though."

He sighs. "We'll probably need that for tomorrow, don't think a week'll cut it."

"Sorry, huh. What for?"

"We're going to Nar Shaddaa tomorrow and Lord Occlus asked me to look this up."

"Good luck."

"Thanks," he sighs. Maybe he can figure out how to do that splicing thing today.

...no he can't. He goes up to Occlus.

"Yes?"

"So er how did you hear of this CN-12? I can't really find any references to it."

"Imperial Intelligence keeps an eye on such technologies."

"—oh. And—can I have access to that?"

She flicks at her datapad. "I've sent you the files."

"Thank you!"

And he goes off to read them.

The CN-12 is going to be a quantitative leap in this class of processors, outdoing its competition in size and power draw by a factor of five. It will potentially enable more powerful and faster turbolasers, more accurate firing solutions more quickly. See also the report on the proposed "Eradicator"-class weapon family. Securing an exclusive contract with Orrishid is a priority, secondarily securing a prototype to reverse-engineer, thirdly to prevent the Republic from achieving the same.

...stupid war. Is there any more to read?

Lots of arcane technical stuff, about half of it marked "hypothetical".

Well he's smart enough to at least sort of get what the arcane technical stuff is maybe getting at.

Then he might have a better idea of what's being talked about tomorrow.

Okay good. He'll read and try to understand as much as possible and be prim and ready tomorrow.

There's also a brief on Orrisid Group. They've stayed mostly under the radar thus far, preferring to use the Hutts as intermediaries to deal with governments. The founder is a reclusive Bith; hasn't been publicly seen in almost five years.

Ah huh. Useful information. He'll keep it in mind.

And that's everything in the files.

Then it's just waiting for the next day.

Which arrives soon enough, and so do they.

They meet a man in a white Imperial uniform, with an impressive number of colored rank tabs across his left breast. "Lord Occlus. Good to see you."

"Moff Pyron. A pleasure. I don't believe you met my apprentice."

"Rafa. It is an honour."

"Of course. I do hope you share your master's... practicality."

"I certainly hope so, as well."

"Good. This Empire needs more forward-thinking Sith."

"Darth Thanaton is too enmeshed with concern for the appearance of traditionality in his role with the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. He does not recognize that it is possible to respect the past without becoming blinded to modern innovations."

Yeah he'll stay here and look pretty and pay a lot of attention to what's going on.

There's a bit of talking around the point, but it turns out that Moff Pyron wants access to the CN-12 for a weapons research project he's invested in and he'll support Occlus if she gets it to him.

How droll. Does Occlus want his support?

Seems like it.

Oh good, is there any way he can actually help or should he just look smart and pay attention?

Not right now, but it sounds like Occlus is going to be arranging a meeting with Orrishid Group. One way or another.

...he'll see if he can make that way be as bloodless as possible.

The meeting wraps up amicably.

"Thoughts?"

"He seems to pretty straightforwardly agree with you that Darth Thanaton should be gone and that you might be a good way to get that, and I think he mostly cares about the weapon because he's got his rep invested in it, are my main ones."

"I agree. But I think it's worth pursuing. What did you learn about the Orrishid Group?"

"Seem very secretive. Their founder—a Bith—hasn't been seen in five years, and they mostly deal with governments through Hutts."

"And what does that suggest to you?"

"...about what? It's—weird—that they'd go through the Hutts unless they're, like, only serving as suppliers for stuff the governments don't want known but..."

"Or they could be indentured or enthralled in some fashion."

"—oh. Yes, they could, couldn't they?"

Nod.

"And you believe they are?"

"If they are, that suggests an avenue to acquiring both their resources and cooperation. I believe it's likely enough to investigate."

He nods. "Do you know of avenues of investigation that are particularly likely to be fruitful?"

"The pirate will have an idea."

"Thank you. I will ask him."

Then they can go back to the ship.

And he looks for the pirate.

"Need something?"

"Occlus suggested it was not unlikely the Orrisid Group might be, and I quote, 'indentured or enthralled in some fashion,' and that I should talk to you about looking into that."

"Huh. By who, the Hutts? It's not like the Cartel keeps a list of their interests."

"It's what Occlus suspects, yeah."

He shakes his head. "Dunno why she thinks I run the underworld. I guess I can at least narrow down the possibilities. They operate out of Nar Shaddaa, right?"

"Yeah."

"You coming with?"

"Yeah."

They set out to a cantina that is perhaps familiar.

Ooh this place, yeah, okay. He can hang out quietly.

Andronikos talks with a different subset of people this time. Rougher, less friendly.

And Rafa—looms. He's not that tall, but he looks tall, and threatening, and very much like someone you do not want to cross.

On most of the gangsters, this is effective. One particularly ugly Houk sneers and puffs himself up.

Rafa regards him impassively.

He doesn't choose to make an issue of it.

A couple more interviews, and then Andronikos is done. "That didn't go as badly as I thought it would."

"Oh?"

"No one tried to rip our heads off, huh."

He smiles. "Love to see them try."

"Heh. We should get back to the ship."

"Yeah do let's."

They settle up the tab and head outside.

The Houk is waiting for them, and looks like he wants to rip their heads off.

"Hello."

He pounds a fist into the other hand, looking at Rafa.

Andronikos takes a subtle step to the side.

"How're you doing?" he continues.

"You gonna die, little human."

"Aren't we all, someday?"

He takes a roundhouse swing at Rafa's head.

Who dodges and takes a couple of steps back. "Big guy, you don't want to pick a fight with me, you're going to lose."

The Houk bellows, and charges

Fine, if the Houk wants to get hurt so much, be it. He steps to the side again and electrocutes that fucker.

That is a hurting Houk right there, yep. It gets hit by a blue stun bolt and drops to the ground.

He straightens up.

Andronikos holsters his blaster.

"Well. Almost, huh."

"I should get one of those."

"You types don't normally go in for them."

"Well, they're useful and I'm not in love with actually fighting."

"This is as good a planet as any to pick one up. We could stop before going back."

"Sounds good. Do you know where I could find one?"

"Sure do."

To a gun shop! Does he want a big gun or a small gun?

Is there a non-aesthetic difference?

Ease of concealment. Also, big guns tend to be cheaper than small guns for the same amount of oomph.

Small one, then, and he'll accept Andronikos' advice on oomph.

Then he gets one that'll probably put down most things in a couple shots with holster that fits under his robes.

Useful! Although it does mean the ones he can't shoot down will probably not be super amenable to lightning either but well, he's been fighting.

And then back to the ship.

"So, find anything useful?" he asks the pirate.

"The Hutt who mostly deals with Orrishid's stuff is called Beeadu. No idea if he's actually got them enslaved or what, but if you want the chips, that's who you talk to."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Try not to piss the whole Cartel off, huh."

"I'll try to limit myself to only half of it."

"Heh."

He informs Occlus of their findings and subsequent happenings.

"Are you proficient with a blaster?"

"Not yet."

"A weapon you do not know how to use is a weapon that belongs to your enemy. If you are going to carry a blaster, make learning to use it a priority."

"Yes, ma'am. Might I ask—why do other Force users not carry blasters?"

"Tradition and pride, for the most part. For myself, my strength in the Force is such that I have no need of one."

"Of course."

"As to the matter of the Hutt- I will first see if Intelligence has any relevant information. Officially, Imperial policy is to maintain a cordial relationship with the Cartel. Given the overall goal, we will move cautiously in this."

"That's sensible. I'll see if Andronikos can teach me how to wield this blaster safely."

Nod.

Andronikos?

He can show Rafa how to hold it and stand and aim and so forth.

Is there any technique to it?

There's some, yeah.

Then he'll practise until he's got it down.

He can get pretty good before he has to stop for the day.

He will keep studying and practising as Lord Occlus sees fit.

There's a chime that indicates a visitor is requesting entry to the ship.

...who is it?

The monitor shows Imperial Intelligence's crest, rather than a helpful view of the visitor.

...that's probably for Occlus.

Oh, it probably is.

"Go and greet our guest."

He goes to do that.

It's a young woman with a bright smile and a crisp Dromund Kaas accent.

"Hello. You must be Rafa. Cipher Nine, Imperial Intelligence."

"It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. May I come in?"

"Be our guest." He stands aside.

She smiles at him as she passes.

Occlus meets them in the common area.

"My lord. Cipher Nine, at your service."

"What are you doing here?"

"Minder Seventeen flagged your request for information on Beeadu the Hutt. He's currently a person of interest in one of our ongoing operations."

Ah huh.

"And you are here to?"

"To help, of course. The Orrishid Group is not one of our areas of interest."

"Might I ask why he is of interest and in what operation?"

"You might!"

"Consider it asked."

She laughs. "It's classified."

"Pity."

"Strictly need-to-know. And you two- don't."

"Oh, really?"

"That's how it goes, I'm afraid."

"Fine."

Shrug. "Expected as much. Thanks anyway."

Smile.

"So. You're looking to secure the CN-12 for Moff Pyron's pet project, and you wanted to know about Beeadu because he's the middleman between Orrishid and the rest of the galaxy. Is that right?"

"More or less."

"Unfortunately, the personal attention of a Sith is going to put entirely the wrong sort of fear into him."

"Do you have a plan, then?"

"In fact, I do. Beeadu has no personal investment in Orrishid. It would be fairly simple to convince him to sell his interest in the Group to a dummy corporation."

"I don't have those kinds of resources."

"Yes, actually following through on the deal would be a bit beyond my operating budget as well. But I do have enough to fake it."

"Why are they going through Beeadu?"

"The Cartel provided a substantial fraction of their startup capital."

"Ah. Naturally."

"Why are you doing this?"

"It's my duty as a loyal citizen of the Empire, my lord."

"And I need Beeadu angry. He's surprisingly unflappable, for a Hutt. But if he sells off something valuable for a payment that never materializes, well. That should do the trick. And it will benefit the Empire to have exclusive access to the CN-12."

"And it won't hurt to have you slightly more kindly disposed towards me in the future."

"Do you expect to need that?"

"Not concretely."

"Fair enough, I suppose."

"So what do you require from me?"

"Mostly an assurance that you're not going to do anything... premature. And I may need to borrow your apprentice for a while."

"...what for?"

"Just to be another face for people to talk to. I can't be everywhere at once. It won't be dangerous. Or difficult. I'll tell you what to say."

"Okay, I can do that."

"Wonderful."

"Do you have any interest in personally managing the group?"

"No. Assign them to Pyron." Pause. "And see that they set up on Hyrdil."

"Heh. I can do that. Any other special instructions?"

"No."

"Then I'll be in touch."

"It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise."

And off she goes.

"So that happened."

"Yes, it did. Surprising."

"I don't expect those to be the entirety of her motivations, for some reason."

"Wise of you. It's hard to underestimate a Cipher."

"Do you have any ideas what else could be?"

"I don't have nearly enough information. But that she showed up in person implies tacit support at least of our short-term goals."

"How well-known are your long-term ones?"

"Fairly."

"So people will in fact at least wonder whether she approves of those, too."

"Her superiors, perhaps. I doubt anyone else will ever know."

"But then at least her superiors must be mostly okay with this."

"Let us hope so."

"How trivially could they stop you otherwise?"

"I'd give that Cipher agent even odds of killing me, if she were allowed to choose the fight."

"—wow."

"She is well-trained, and has extraordinary mental discipline."

...nod.

"Not even a Sith is invincible. It is important to recognize limits."

"I understand."

"With that in mind, let us proceed with your training."

"Yes, ma'am."

Meditation discipline! He attempts to focus, she tries to distract him.

He is much better at focusing when the thing he's focusing on isn't "nothing at all matters don't get attached to anything."

Occlus can get creative with her distractions. And insistent.

Well, he's not perfect.

Yet.

Yes, good. That's exactly the sort of attitude he needs to cultivate.

It's good it comes so naturally to him, then.

Stupid Jedi.

Cipher Nine calls again.

"Hello again."

"Hi. Ready to defraud a Hutt?"

"I definitely am."

"Great. So, everything's prepared, the deal is all set to go through. Beeadu just wants to finalize it in person. Perfectly normal, don't worry. You are going to be Clonic Acquisitions' representative for this; I'm sending you a dossier with background information."

She looks at it.

It's very thorough. She even has a work history.

Cool.

"When do we start?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"I'll be there."

"Good."

And two days later: she's there.

Cipher Nine is waiting, with two wardroids.

"Greetings," she says, using body language to include them all.

The droids don't respond.

"Hi."

"Where to and is there anything in particular I should do or know?"

"Beeadu's private barge. The droids are your bodyguards."

"Noted. Shall we?"

"Oh, I'm not going."

"—oh. Okay." To the droids. "Shall we?"

They make no response, but board the waiting speeder.

"Remember, just stick to the briefing and you'll be fine."

"Will do, thanks."

Oh why does she think something is going to go wrong.

Things often do.

She's not ambushed on the way, at least.

Okay that's relieving at least.

And here's the barge. Gilt trim features heavily in the decor, along with wildly colorful neon lights liberally festooned across all of the everything.

There's a place to park the speeder over on the side.

She parks. Now where's she supposed to meet him?

His Rodian majordomo has come to escort her.

She and her bodyguards are glad to be escorted.

Beeadu is reclining on a dais, eating live eels from a glass bowl next to him. The majordomo leads Rafa up to him and bows obsequiously.

"Illustrious Executive, I humbly present Antin Wellis of Clonics Acquisitions, here to seek your blessing for the transfer of the Orrishid Group."

She bows. "It is a pleasure and an honour to finally make your acquaintance, Illustrious Executive."

The Hutt smacks his lips vigorously and belches. It's quite pungent.

"Yes, it is. Show me again the offer you bring me."

She can project a holo of it.

"Yes, yes, Munificent One," squeaks the Rodian. "You see, it is exactly as was promised."

Beeadu harrumphs.

"Is anything wrong with it, Gracious One?"

"Brrmm. It is as promised." He waves a hand dismissively. "But I will not sign yet."

"Is anything displeasing Your Excellent Eminence?"

Because she's rolling with it.

"I require more." A chubby hand points at Rafa. "You will dance. If you are pleasing, then I will sign."

She bows again, looking shy but slightly proud, as if he's offered a great compliment and this is all she daren't hope for. "If it please Your Highest Eminence, I shall do so."

The Hutt claps his hands together, and the majordomo makes frantic gestures at the band, who start playing.

Well. She hasn't actually ever danced, but she was a Jedi and is now a Sith, she's fit and she can play up the sexy mixing in some coy and some shy stolen glances as if seeking the Hutt's approval.

Seems like he approves.

Oh good. She becomes gradually bolder, as if his approval's filling her with confidence.

By the time the dance is over he is laughing.

"Good, good. I will sign, yes. Give it here."

She does.

(This is going to go wrong she just knows it.)

The Hutt signs with a flourish, and gives her a big sloppy kiss on the cheek when she leans in.

She giggles and fails to blush because she can't blush but boy she wishes she could.

(Ew ew ew ew eeeeeewwwww.)

She should probably make good her escape at this point.

Yyyep. She does.

Aaand she still doesn't get ambushed on her way back.

Oh wow okay good so the worst part was the kiss.

The Cipher agent meets her at the rendezvous.

"Nicely done. You've got some good moves, by the way."

"Thanks. Now I need to shower for five hours."

"I don't blame you."

"I was honestly expecting him to want to keep me or something."

"Wasn't much risk of that. Beeadu's still more of a "business" Hutt than a "pointless luxuries" Hutt."

"I'm so relieved."

"You handled it well."

"Thank you. What's next?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. You can go back and give Lord Occlus the good news."

"I will, then. Thank you."

Smile and a wave to see her off.

And she returns to the ship.

"Well?"

"He signed it after I danced for him and he kissed my cheek. I have no idea why he's even interested in females of a completely different species, but well, no accounting for taste."

"Typical for Hutts. No complications?"

"Other than having to pretend I had a lovely time dancing for him, no, not really."

"Good."

"What are our next steps?"

"Confirm that the Group is moving, finalize the arrangement with Pyron, then leave Nar Shaddaa before the Cipher's deceptions catch up with us."

"Can I help with anything?"

"Your aid so far will suffice. We should return to your training."

"Okay."

More lightsaber sparring.

That part she was already practising as a Jedi, she's decent and improving at it.

Occlus is always half a step ahead of her, with some hitherto-unseen trick or flourish.

This is fun, and she laughs when Occlus does a new thing and starts expecting it.

She never does the same thing twice in a row, but she does bring it back until Rafa can consistently counter it.

Rafa is a fast learner and is having so much fun.

"Good. That's all for now. Be sure your studies with the blaster do not fall behind. I will be sending you another set of glyphs to translate; inform me when you have done so."

"Yes, ma'am."

She interprets this as a dismissal and goes off to study something interesting.

She's not interrupted from doing so.

When she gets the glyphs she sets to translating them.

The translation is fiendishly complex, and highly context-dependent.

...she's not super good at this. She does her best but languages are definitely not her forte.

As long as she's not giving up.

Excuse her, narration, but have you met her.

She does not give up.

Then she still doesn't have a complete translation by the time she really should think about sleeping.

...yes she really should huh.

She can do that after a very thorough shower.

The ship is quiet overnight.

She sleeps for precisely eight hours and resumes translation work after that.

After about four more hours of work, she has what is probably a sufficient translation.

...she's not gonna go with probably, she'll check her whole work.

Another hour and it will be as complete as she can make it.

She looks it over a couple more times then goes to Occlus with it.

Occlus looks it over, and points out a few quirks of tonal shading Rafa had missed. She springboards off that into a lesson on the topic, rearranging the original passage and stepping quickly through how that affects the translation.

Ooh okay interesting.

(If complicated.)

"We will be visiting Korriban, in the near future."

"Okay. Should I study or practise anything in particular?"

"Brush up on the Sith Code. And the associated mindset. You must present an appropriate image."

"Yes, ma'am."

And that's all for the official day.

She studies! And practises! And rereads the Sith Code!

Peace is a lie; there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

...it's amazing how the Jedi made that sound horrible. That's not horrible. That's—beautiful, soaring, freeing, that's life, that's—that's what you protect other people for, is so they can feel, so they can live. And how can you properly value life if you don't live? How can you properly understand what it is you're giving your life for if you don't have it, if you deny it's useful, if you say it's an obstacle in your mission?

There being no Jedi present, she may have to come up with her own answers.

Yeah fuck the Jedi. She's ready for whatever.

Planet full of Sith trainees eager to prove their worth in the most vicious manner possible, steeped in the dark side for centuries uncounted. Yeah, piece of cake.

She can play the part.

Good, because they're leaving as soon as Occlus gets back from her meeting with Moff Pyron.

Oh cool, he's interested in how that goes.

She doesn't seem angry when she comes back, so probably well.

Does she share more details?

Not if he doesn't ask.

He does! He does ask.

"The Moff has his prototype, and assurances of a continued supply. I have his military support, if and when that becomes necessary."

"Awesome."

"Quite."

"Do you have a concrete plan for what to do when you finally—do it?"

"Not yet. There are some references on Korriban I wish to consult, in addition to my other business there."

"References about what?"