Nar Shaddaa

Hala, after her call, changed into her dress uniform and full ceremonial attire. Passing more familiar doors and corners, she walked through the corridor until she reached the private wing of the compound reserves for the more privileged Sith. When she came to Haydriss', she smoothed her clothing, removed her cap, and keyed the pad to chime that her visitor had arrived.

It took awhile for Hala's call to be addressed. Eventually, Lord Haydriss came back, not hurried but not dawdling. "You must Colonel Moraal." The Sith gave her a curt nod and opened up the meticulously organized room. "I want to hear your account of the battle. All of it." She waited until they were completely inside to continue. "Sith often embellish details or overlook those they do not favor."

"Of course, my lord," she said with a deferential nod. She stiffened to attention and then began her presentation.

"Your troops were directed to establish a beachhead. The effort was spearheaded by Lord Jo'ren after the initial artillery bombardment ceased in proper accordance with standard military doctrine. Given the location of the conflict, heavier artillery and close air support could not be efficiently brought to bear, increasing the need for street to street fighting. Several Sith lords made notable contributions supported by effective surpressing and sniper fire. I advanced to the forward command center once the outcome of the battle seemed clear and attempted to limit the number of unnecessary casualties in bringing the fight to a close. This was less successful that I had hoped, but at least the surviving troops know they were offered quarter and that will aid with their reintegration.

"Lord Nemerosch was likewise offered quarter, subject to your final decision for the rules of Kaggath, but he pressed an attack instead. Lord Shaisha managed to disarm him and then incapacitated him with a stun grenade. He had begun to flee though and leapt up to a high balcony to effect his escape, and as he lost consciousness he fell and was crushed in the fall. His armor was claimed by Lord Jo'ren, his saber by Lord Shaisha. He also carried with him an encrypted datapad which I turned over to a Fixer from Intelligence. I am to be informed when it has been successfully sliced, but I have not yet been notified of that accomplishment. The loss of life was unfortunate, given the need for manpower and resources for the war with the Republic but the conflict was pushed for, so one is only able to do as one must while mitigating consequences. This concludes my general summary, but I can forward you my official report for completeness unless you have any further questions my Lord."

Her right shoulder rolled uncomfortably as she concluded, and she rocked it back and forth an inch or so to soothe it before returning to attention.

Lord Haydriss looked to her cabinet and waited for a moment. She then fashioned her guest a drink and placed the glass on her table. "A drink for you," she stated before taking a seat. "Excellent report, Colonel. As I had said before, the Sith had much less formal accounts of the proceedings. I expect you to deliver the full reports from Lord Nemerosch's datapad when its slicing is complete."

"You will have it, my lord."

The colonel dipped her head deferentially and took the few steps forward needed to fetch the glass. Once she had it in her gloved hands, she took a step back to cede the room back to the Sith lord. She lifted the glass towards the Sith and took a polite sip before letting it rest between both hands.

"Thank you."

"You will tell me more about your background. I am curious and I will see that need satiated."

"As you wish, my lord," the colonel answered deferentially, her voice warming noticably.

"As you can likely tell from my accent, I was born on Dromond Kass. My accent isn't pure Kass though, because my parents were administrators for one of the civilian spaceports and I spent more time than a child should playing on the docks and visiting the pilots and crews that came through. I have an older brother who took over for my parents when they retired and a younger sister who shipped out with a freighter crew after I left home... we barely speak any more."

She paused a bit and sighed, sipped her drink, then continued.

"I joined the military because I felt it was my duty, one that I could do more good with than simply operating a commercial landing pad and loading operation. Given my familiarity with ships, I became a marine in the Imperial Navy. Thanks to my human heritage and a relative photogenic appearance in my youth, I was assigned to a quick response team operating in sectors that were recent acquisitions for the Empire but were neither war zones nor fully adjusted to the yoke of Imperial rule. We focused on pockets of resistance, spearheading actions against rebels, insurgents, and the occasional black-ops team and specialized in areas of high population density where precision was important and cameras were always rolling. It made for good PR. Saving people, helping babies, the like. I was pretty good at it too, until someone rigged the rooftop landing pad to explode. Tore our dropship in half, killed at least as many troopers, and left me heavily wounded.

"We succeeded, but the injuries I sustained never completely healed and yet the limbs were still usable and non-threatening so I wasn't given any cybernetic replacements. Since a stiff leg and shaky arm are liabilities in combat, the brass saw fit to pin a pair of medals on my chest, promote me, and give me a desk job while I recovered. I did a bit of analysis work from the hospital bed, researched several different characteristics and psych profiles for a number of species in the sector at the time, and was reassigned as diplomatic liaison to one base, an embassy, some ambassadorial delegation, or the like. I did a tour on Balmorra hunting insurgents, cycled home to Dromond Kass to serve as adjunct for the admiral of the Home fleet, and now I am here. What more may I tell you my lord?" she answered, still speaking in an inviting, attentive tone.

Lord Haydriss took her place behind her desk. She stayed silent on the matter of family and spoke up after the talk of military. "An excellent service record. It is not a mystery how you did so well in the field yesterday. And it appears your skills have also transferred to you being able to to do efficient work despite your setbacks. I only have one inquiry at the moment:"

She tilted her head.

"How is your drink?"

"It's a whiskey, I think my lord. I don't usually partake so I couldn't tell you what it is specifically. It does have a very smokey taste with a sharp afte-" she said before immediately stopping and fixing her eyes coldly on Haydriss as fire ripped through her veins and seared her thoughts.

(( Hala takes 5 wounds, 1 strain ))

"It is good whiskey," she agreed before standing up. She held out a syringe in one hand with her other tucked behind her back. "What a shame it would be for you to perish after a great victory. If you wish to survive, you will follow my instructions:

"Muster what strength you have left and shoot me. The shock will cause me to drop the antidote." The Sith Lord walked around the desk and maintained her regal posture. "Simple instructions, Colonel. Enact them."

A flip switched behind the Watchers eyes. Though wracked with pain, her left hand flexed awkwardly and down tumbled a tiny blaster. Her fingers curled to catch it, though not quickly enough and the black metal frame tumbled through her shaking fingers. She grunted, breathing heavily, and tried to bend down to pick it up. Inching downwards, closer and closer. She shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet to help her gently towards the floor, but her right knee gave out and she collapsed.

She writhed on the floor, cursing as her weakened and already weak right arm struggled to break her fall. It took several long, haggard breathes but she regained some measure of calm. Rolling over and over, forcing herself to dig her crippled elbow into the slick deck plating beneath them so that she might wriggle her way over to where the tiny blaster had skittered.

"A pity your superiors did not supply you with replacement limbs. That may have made your current task easier." The Sith Lord did not move from her position. Only her head turned to address the Watcher's movements. "Time will only make it more difficult, Colonel."

Colonel Moraal hauled herself stiffly across the floor. Each time, she slapped the deck plating with her left hand and Drew herself forward a little but until her limbs began sliding instead of her torso. When each lost purchase, she began again.

Agonizing moments creeped by and finally her fingers trembled against the textured grip of her pistol. Shaking, she fumbled it the first time but the second it remained within her grasp. Her thumb rose, flicking the side of the gun over and over when the fire selector clicked from standard to stun. Still trembling as the poison coursed through her veins, she carefully lined up a shot without placing her finger on the trigger til she was at last ready.

"I am starting to lose patience," Lord Haydriss mused, clearly enjoying the sight. She tilted her head at the pistol. "I told you to shoot me. You would deny me?"

Hala groaned and flipped onto her stomach once more. She kicked one leg to the side to stabilize her torso and limit further spasming. Finally, she painstakingly wrenched her ruined arm from her side. First underneath her body, then along the deck in front of her. Her left hand moved over to join the right, dragging the pistol with her, then with her body co-aligned she carefully, deliberately exhaled to neutralize her breathing and sent a tiny arc of blue directly at the Sith lord.

Shooting Haydriss! Double aim: 2eA+2eB+2eD 1 success, 1 advantage

Lord Haydriss took the shot and felt her chest afterwards. "Stun? How disappointing." She walked over and drove the antidote into her guest. "I suppose I may have not been clear enough."

When she saw the stun bolt strike home, Hala collapsed onto the floor. She jittered perceptibly while the toxin still flooded through her bloodstream, causing spasms and bursting blood vessels. Without turning her head back towards her host, she stuttered.

"If you wish my lord, it can be replaced with blaster fire. You did not specify though, and I aim to inflict as little harm as required. Injury and death, when avoidable, is inefficient and wasteful. Were you not what you are, you could potentially be remade into an informant, an operative, a bargaining chip. With lethal alternatives, you are only dead."

"Fascinating. I viewed your usage of stun weapons as a half measure. I believed you afraid of my wrath. But rather, you view eliminating me, any enemy, as a waste, despite the risks to yourself. In a way, eliminating your target is the half measure."

"If there is a better outcome to be accomplished and if it does not compromise the mission, then yes. Witnesses are to be eliminated. Bad actors, the complicit, those can be leveraged, repurposed, salvaged.... If you wished me to shoot and all that was on hand was a slug thrower or a blaster without a stun setting, I would have simply fired. Your orders, your will be done."

Lord Haydriss nodded. "I underestimated your resourcefulness." The Sith Lord went back to her desk and took her seat. "What an amusing exercise for us. I learned more about the non-Force Sensitives that drive our Empire." A pause. "What did you learn from me?"

"That my ruined flesh can still be forced to respond when required, if I apply more force than it resists with," she said blandly.

She paused for a bit, scrambled forward to set the nearly untouched glass back on the table, then added, "And that my believe that those around me might try to poison me with drink is well founded."

"Excellent. I am grateful that you learn quickly. Otherwise I would have to poison you again." The Sith Lord looked to the glass and back to Hala. "That is another lesson. However, in this instance I have the excuse of my mask."

"I have little doubt you could devise some excuse to not drink, even without the mask," she answered, using her left arm to push herself up into a hunched but vertical posture while her right still twitched from the after effects of the toxin.

"Even if it was simply that you 'did not will it', is that not so my lord? And presuming that is so, then why the mask at all?" she asked, her voice warming from the blunt Watcher coolness, "What purpose does it serve when one recognizes your authority without need for trappings of office or ceremony, nor the compulsion to obey with an austere appearance or intimidation?"

"Are you questioning my usage of this mask?" She shook her head and let out a small laugh. "I ordered you to shoot me, not insult my decisions." Her right hand went up to caress the mask in front of her face. "I wear this mask because it pleases me, Colonel. Because 'I will it.'"

"I am not questioning, nor contradicting my lord. Merely seeking to understand you. To know what about the mask pleases you, rather than to say you should or should not do one thing or another. Unless my opinion is asked, it is not my place. You are Sith. If you will it, then it will be," she explained and reassured, inching stiffly towards Haydriss. Her eyes watched the Sith lord's fingers dancing over the mask, narrowing slightly as she analyzed and recorded the sound to try and determine what it was made of, what characteristics it might possess, and what lay beyond it.