Nar Shaddaa

Once again, Niall found himself in front of Colonel Garza's room. Even if it was an entirely different room. And once again, he was sharply dressed in his Republic military uniform.

Standing at attention, he reached out to press the door chime.

Garza has the door opened and inside her room had been adjusted into something of a command center with a few soldiers looking over consoles and the woman staring at a holographic model of the region around the Republic Compound.

Garza looks up and says, “Organa, come in. I wanted to ask you a few things about your report.”

Niall came forward, not quite at attention; he was gathering that Garza had a rather casual attitude. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be happy to clarify on any points."

"So you feel this Mandalorian criminal will value honor and not simply turn his weapons to butchery and violence?" she asks.

Niall thought for a moment. "No, ma'am. He may value honor, but I think he seeks glory and conquest more than that. I rather think that he'll find honor in victory, rather than seek honorable victory. Or such was my impression."

"If you had to choose between arming or removing him from the picture which is the better path for the Republic," she says.

Niall's expression turned very bland indeed. "Ma'am." He temporized for a moment. He cleared his throat. "He said that he expected that he would combat either the Republic or the Empire. I expect that, given enough time, he would combat both. Could we keep him otherwise occupied for forty years, until he is tired of war? I rather doubt it."

“Then we are in agreement,” she says.

“There was an attack on his person today, hopefully the Mandalorians have sorted this problem out and we can get back to the business of fighting one enemy. The last thing we need is a third state to contend with.”

"Yes, ma'am." Niall agreed with a sign.

"Ma'am, I also encountered a Mandalorian mercenary with some talent. And a Sith took notice of my activities there, and sought to drive a wedge between me and the mercenary, rather aggressively. I think she is courting the Mandalorian's favor, and has some experience with their culture. The Red Wraith, she called herself." Niall's lips twitched at this last.

“Another reason we need to take this Fett out of the picture. Sue for peace and arm the Mandalorians in a proxy war is exactly what I would do if I wanted to keep us off balance,” she says.

Niall's expression went bland again. The colonel's school of warfare was a little bit rougher than what he'd learned. Perhaps time would change him.

"Yes, ma'am." He cleared his throat. "Although Mister Fett is seeking a cause. And an enemy would do very well, for a cause. Any move against him would have to succeed, and swiftly, or it would be worse than not trying. In my assessment." Niall's expression had gone from bland to mildly glum.

“As long as it looks like an internal power struggle, I don’t care what happens. Republic keeps their hands clean and I keep our people safe. I’ve done worse work in the name of democracy. As it stands we have a golden opportunity here to really hit the Sith where it hurts,” she says bringing up reports.

“We have a Dark Councilor here on Nar Shaddaa, losing one of them would put that whole council into disarray.”

"Ma'am..." Niall said, shifting a little as he stood. "I can't imagine that the peace talks would survive the loss of a Dark Councilor, whether the Republic was responsible or not."

"You think the Imps are serious about peace?" she counters.

"I suppose not, ma'am." Niall admitted reluctantly. "I met three Sith yesterday. The... most helpful of them said that it could only be for a time, at best, because 'peace is a lie' is part of the Sith code." He sighed. "I met a military officer, non-Sith, who seemed much more fond of the idea. If only people like her were in charge of the Empire."

"But they are not the ones in charge; there are far more people like that Sith. At the top of that is the Dark Council," she responds.

"It's an option, one I might take if these talks go nowhere. We already have credible intel that a top Sith assassin is here on Nar Shaddaa."

"Really?" Niall said, pouncing on that piece of information. "Do we know anything else about the assassin? The information should certainly be passed on to Lieutenant Varra. Assuming she's authorized, and that she doesn't already know."

“Her name is Layne Hoshin, she has targeted folks here on Nar Shaddaa, Alderran, and Makeb at the minimum. An informant has given us intel that she might be here to kill Senator Herresh. Not on my watch, she won’t,” Garza replies brining up a holo-projection of Layne.

“We are working with SIS to get everything we can, but she is a priority target.”

"Her? Really?" Niall said.

He straightened a little, remembering himself. "That is, I know she's killed before. She killed a man on my family's estate not so long ago, in fact. But I actually spoke to her at the dinner reception. She certainly didn't seem like the stereotypical deadly Sith. Killing aside, and I recognize that that's a fairly large aside, I knew girls like her in prep school."

"I trust nothing about the Sith," Garza counters.

"Appearances included." Niall sighed. "Yes, ma'am. I shall be on my guard. I'll also pass that along to the Lieutenant with your permission. The Jedi, Alysele Cortess also has a personal stake in the matter, and could be of great assistance."

"I didn't think Jedi got personal was against there Code," she says dismissively.

"Jedi are still people, ma'am." Niall said. "I trust Alysele."

Niall Organa wrote:"Jedi are still people, ma'am." Niall said. "I trust Alysele."

"But they are not soldiers. I need soldiers who will follow orders, kill our objectives, and not whine about the consequences. War is a messy business and it's not a place to debate about the morality of killing an enemy. War is my business and I don't need protesters messing with my bottom line," she says looking at reports.

"Yes, ma'am." Niall acknowledged, his tone neutral. This did not seem like a time when argument would be productive. He waited patiently to see if there was anything she had to add.