Crescent Rising (EE6)

[Col. Hala Moraal]

After the excitement in the afternoon, once the situation was secure and the bodies counted, Hala headed back out of town to try and pick up the trail while it was still hot...

[Zanebry Varliss]

Zanebry was there as well, though he looked much more worse for wear. He had managed a little time to freshen up on his ship though. The tracking was going much better as well. Apparently the earlier experience had helped get him in tune with the wildlife.

Catching the crescent The hunt! Attempt 2 added difficulty boost from hala: 4eA+1eB+5eD 2 successes, 2 advantage

[Col. Hala Moraal]

Zane's instincts proved excellent and they found their way to a cave which Toss had been holed up in. She peeked inside and nodded to Zane, then pulled out a tiny pistol from within her sleeve, checked the power status, and put it back in the holster. She then stepped inside, worked her way quietly despite her highly polished boots, until she stepped into line of sight of the evocii.

"Toss!" Hala called, her voice hardening instantly and becoming chilly, "Do not touch a weapon. If you do, then this will escalate quickly. Stay put, cease, and desist. Your criminal activity with Crescent Shadow will come to an end. Submit and this will be relatively painless. Submit, and this might end with you. Now.... come along with us."

Talking phase of Bounty. Upgraded by destiny, downgraded by Intimidating. one boost, +1 for assist, +1 from previous roll, ignore one setback: 2eP+2eA+3eB+4eD+1eS 5 successes, 1 Triumph


(( Not sure what to do with the Triumph. Potentially recover some valuable intel or if she was hiding with a cache of supplies for the Crescent Shadow in one of their safehouses, etc.? ))

[Zanebry Varliss]

Zanebry loomed behind Hala, the man in the black hat adding a small measure of intimidation to the words of his associate. He hadn't drawn his blaster yet, though he knew he could reach it in but a moment if that's what was required. He'd made only a whisper of sound on his approach even in his dress shoes, and even now remained silent.

[Col. Hala Moraal]

(( going to fastforward past this, but among the limited survival supplies is a datapad which Hala will pocket for later reading ))

"So you want to talk about what happened? How are you doing, by the way?" she asked after she had finished securing the prisoner.

[Zanebry Varliss]

"If you like, first I'll offer and Apology though. Shouldn't of pointed my blaster at you, it wasn't proper." He reached into his pocket and produced his pack of cigarettes, flicking one into his mouth before lighting it. "And I'm fine, but thanks for asking. More worn out then anything really."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"I appreciate it, though maybe not for the reason you'd think. Or maybe it is.... the senator had just blown up a bunch of terrorists, possibly a civilian, maybe more, and then struck me. I very intently did not strike her back, nor did I go for a weapon, and when you chose to, it had the very easy possibility of escalating the situation. Imagine if it had been Sgt. Gunnar, the trooper, who'd come out first and raised his weapon at the two of us? Not so bad for you, but still bad, yes?" she said ruefully.

"What she had was a military grade hacking rig, and she just used it to blow up something she had no way to know exactly what or how big... that's not how the military operates and I used to handle shit like that before I got blown up doing it and then didn't heal properly. She didn't have any authority in the area, though authority doesn't matter so much if the situation needs addressing... and she'd already shown she didn't know how to handle hostage negotiations nor did she have a clear concept of rules of engagement. Either she didn't have one, she didn't care, or she might have only considered Republic civilians as a concern when everyone else would simply be collateral or a dead Imp...."

Her jaw tightened as she spoke, frustration and anger invading her usual calm.

"And that fucking Jedi," she said harshly, "Just kept grabbing me and grabbing me, going on and on about authority when that senator had no authority to do what she did, potentially murdering civilians, certainly getting Talara maimed and killed if she didn't just die in the blast, and she's worried about my authority to secure evidence? And called it theft, when someone else was guilty of assault and reckless manslaughter? Concerned about little things, rather than the terrorist's victims or with justice. Hraa!"

She kicked at the dirt before moving over to lean against the cave wall. A bit too violently, and she hissed as she leaned against her right shoulder rather than her back. A slight adjustment and she pulled out her water bottle again. She drank from it, then poured out some on her gloved hands and splashed her face. She wiped the still wet palms against the underside of her chin and neck then swept her hat off and curled it in her hand. Her eyes rolled closed and her jaw tightened again. She stood silently for a few moments, then jerkily extended the water bottle with her right hand.

[Zanebry Varliss]

"Oh, you certainly didn't use a weapon, you did use that suit of yours though, and a attack need not be a physical one. You countered her, in your own way." He took a drag from his cigarette, savoring the flavor for a moment. "Half the reason I drew my weapon, seeing a punch when I enter a room then having my ears half blasted off by a microphone. Not really what your expecting when you're fleeing a room full of people wanting to kill you. Still it was a bad decision on my part."

"I won't argue with you about the Seneator what she did was wrong, I do wonder if it was the best way to handle it though. I think perhaps you were relying too much on your military training, instead of taking into account your position as a diplomat. I'm no expert of those matters though."

"Which brings us to the next part, you are a diplomat here Hala. That's why you have those fancy papers and authorizations don't you? Last I checked diplomats aren't in charge of investigations, or gathering evidence, and when you said you were going to take it and deliver the evidence to the hutts, it let your motivations come under suspicion." He frowned. "I'm not taking sides here, but I think you let your emotions get the better of you. You're here for the peace talks after all, a politician, not a solider. Nothing done out there earlier today helped with that, on either side. I think you could of won a lot of points if you twisted this another way."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"In my case, I am though. I've already been asked to look into the nikto murders, something that affects both Sith and Jedi, and dealing with a few missing persons cases... Hutt Security and I have already had numerous conversations about other matters, so I wanted to preserve what I saw as potential evidence from a Jedi who I already knew to be a hacker and the senator who seems to know more of shadow arts than one in her position should.... Besides, I thought what's right matters instead of what's political."

She walked over to him and stiffly bent over, smelling the scent of his burning cigarette.

"Odd...," she said, sniffing again, "What would you have done in my case, if this were just about scoring points?"

[Zanebry Varliss]

"That makes you a outside consultant on a few cases, or that's how I'd see it. That's likely just nitpicking though. Still, that's a numbers of things you admitted that I didn't know Hala. I'll have to file that all away." He took the cigarette from his mouth and offered it her way. "It's not a deathstick, if that's what you're thinking."

"Hrm, after you shouted her down. I probably would of thrown the device at her feet, maybe make a statement about the peace talks and everything like that. Add in there were better things to do at the moment then be arguing here, maybe ask one of the Jedi their to make sure it's given into the hands of the hutts. As a way of showing some trust. Let them see like the petty ones. and then go and lend a hand with the wounded."

"It would of been painful for you, helping with something like that, but it'd serve to make a point. Or at least that's how I see it."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"If I remember it correctly, there were only two Jedi there, weren't there? The one who went looking for a way to cut into the building and the one who assaulted me. And I tried to ask Senator Seir'oto since he's the head of their delegation to intervene but he seemed deaf as a post.... I tried to bridge to someone who wasn't an aggressor Zane. All it got me was someone who was going to put a lightsaber through my back if I resisted physically... And yes, perhaps I could have done that if I were trying to just score points and make the Republic look petty. And as for earning their trust, I was trying to build a dialog with Niall and console his guilt before Morindal walked over, crowing about how she did what had to be done and how right she was."

She shrugged.

"Maybe I could have gone over and tended to the wounded myself rather than trying to call for supplies from our embassy, but that too would have been simply for the cameras rather than getting more good done. Have you seen how hard it is for me to use my right hand? Well? And I can't remember the last time I applied a field dressing. Probably done it less than five times in the past 15 years? That's not how I could help best, even if it's not what looks the best. I suppose, anyway..."

[Zanebry Varliss]

"There were at least three." He replied simply. "Jedi that is." He shrugged and seeing as she didn't accept the smoke took another drag of it himself. "I'm not here to argue with you though, I saw things a little differently, and I think that's going to be how a lot of people see it. Perhaps I'm too concerned with appearances though." He said with a smirk as he brushed his hand across his shoulder, perhaps to brush off some dust.

"Well.... One last thing. As for how you could help best... Did you consider using some of those leadership skills of yours on anything other then a phone call? In these kind of tragedies, people need someone to take charge. No one else stepped up to do so."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"Perhaps I should have. As it was, I was more worried about someone trying to organize once contact was made with the terrorists and that this might provoke them. I was explaining to Niall - Captain Organa - that I knew there were several Sith who had been at the wedding reception earlier and were as of yet uncounted. I made a mental calculation that they should be able to handle what was inside, though gas didn't occur to me I confess. I assumed the Crescent might have some kind of explosive or failsafe in case their assassination attempt failed and hoped that the lords within would work quick enough to counteract that.... especially when reinforcements were too far away to call on," she explained before sniffing at the cigarette again, "As for afterwards, I did. I used my contacts and connections to get help as soon as it could get there."

"Changed my mind, if it's not too late?" she said, her voice lifting a bit as she came out of her head and the earlier conflict.

[Zanebry Varliss]

She was really good at trying to justify her actions, it was perhaps a bit sad that Z didn't really respect that sort of thing too much. Still he took another pull from his cig before passing it her way.

"You probably won't like it. But here ya go, just be a bit careful and don't try and breath in too much."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

She did anyway. She spluttered and coughed, waving her hand in front of her face.

[Zanebry Varliss]

"So what did you think?" He asked as he reached out his hand for the cigarette, there was perhaps a touch of mischief behind his eyes, but he was hidden away after only a moment.

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"S-smokey," she stammered, tapping her chest. She gave him a bashful smile and shook her head.

[Zanebry Varliss]

"That it is." He replied taking another drag, letting the smoke linger in his lungs before he let in out. "They'll kill you as well, eventually. Not nearly in as bad a way as some things in the galaxy though."

"After you've smoked enough of them, it does become something of a habit as well."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"Then why do you?" she asked, watching the smoke billow and curl.

[Zanebry Varliss]

"It's probably a control thing? Or could be I just kinda like it?." He paused thoughtfully. "Also they calm me down, especially after a fight. Slows down time a bit I guess you could say."

He took one last drag, before putting it out, snuffing the lit end out between his gloved fingers, and putting it in the small box he kept for such things. "Honestly I don't think too much about the reason."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

Hala nodded and moved her left hand to massage her right elbow.

"That's certainly a skill I don't have. Turning off thinking about things."

[Zanebry Varliss]

"It's just something I picked up along the way. Might have a little to do with playing music." It was as likely as explanation as anything else.

"I suppose it has its uses though."

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"How'd your date go your musician lady friend?" she asked, changing the subject while she continued to assuage her elbow.

[Zanebry Varliss]

"Fair." He offered after a moment. "I believe we both figured out we have a fair amount of baggage." More then fair at least in his case.

"Taking more interest in my romantic life?"

[Col. Hala Moraal]

"Seemed like a fair connection from 'music' to the other day," she said with a shrug.

"Seemed like a nice couple, I was hoping things went well for you."