The Wheel
Mara was feeling annoyed enough by Karen's rather flipant behavior. Karen was a princess - she was an operative. Both were programmed in their own way. Karen, by how she was bred and raised. Mara - literally. Clash of the highest degree. It made Mara wonder, if her programming was based on Valerie, did that mean that Karen and Valerie clashed as well? What made them friends, or was it all just because they were thrown together by this giant conspiracy by Karen's father?
Mara's thoughts are interupted by Karen trying to flirt her way into the heart of some aging official.
"Hi! I'm Karen, Karen Winton. I was wondering if I might be able to take up just a few moments of your time. My colleague and I were looking to hold a rather large meeting for some clients in the surrounding systems. This location would be very convenient for all involved. We were wondering what you might be able to do for us."
"Karen Winton? Of the Empire?"
"That's the one."
Before even Mara could pull a blaster, B-1 Battle Droids appear, surround them, and point guns. That is what Karen gets for being so careless, and Mara's look was probably more dangerous than the blasters they now faced. How did they react so fast? Mara's eyes flickered over the official and noticed a small device in his hand. Not a remote - he wasn't controlling the droids - but it was sufficient to alert the central command to send the droids immediately. Mara counted them, turning her head slowly as she looked at them. Inferior cousins. Brain dead, literally.
Medivh had told her about the different levels of intelligence. At the lowest level, B1 Battle Droids, with no independent brain function at all. At the very top, those who were born with independent thought - alive. Mara was somewhere in the upper half of that spectrum, but at the top? Medivh had also told her how he himself had the power to command other droids, with his own transmitter built into his cyber-bionic form. Wouldn't that be a useful thing to have now.
"Guess they aren't fans."
Mara is not amused. For all her power, Karen lacks a certain ... something. The official meanwhile is speaking lowly into a communicator before again giving his attention to the women
"The Administrator would like to have a word."
"Lead the way."
B1 Battle Droids surrounding them, the official ahead of them, and crowds moving out of the way as they traveled. Mara could hear the whispers behind them. Karen's face was famous from tabloids. Mara's face was famous because she looked like the hero of Corellia. And the newly declared traitor of Corellia. Two sides of the same coin.
They traveled from the outer ring that gave the Wheel it's name through one of the spokes to the central axis before turning toward a series of executive turbolifts. To their right, they could see through several windows the trading floor of the Wheel's stock exchange, hundreds of computers flashing with activity as anxious beings tried to get ahead of the market.
Turbolift was large enough for the entire entourage, and the battle droids were not inconvenienced by being cramped inside, guns still pointed at their escortee.
Noise drowned away as they shot upward to the suite up top. Not quite as lavish as what the princess would prefer for herself, it carried with it a downplayed tastefulness. Several offices with closed doors on either side. And ahead of them a blast-shielded door.
Guarding the door on either side, Mara was suddenly taken aback. Two MagnaGuard Droids stood, electrostaffs at the ready, red eyes staring unblinking ahead. magnaguard had gone bankrupt, and all of their droids had been melted down - at least the ones that were found. Even here, in the upper chambers, hidden away, who would think to use the droid model that Phage was based off of? Wasn't that dangerous?
Almost immediately though, Mara's heart - if you could call it that - calmed. The two droids, unlike their original models, each had an antenna, small, durable, but noticeable, on the rear of their heads. These droids, like their weaker B1 brethren, were not independent thinkers. They were controlled by another.
Of course, the power to control an army with the push of a button was not the most wonderful thing to think about. Mara returned her focus to here and now.
Blast door opened to the suite, royal colors, but nothing over the top. No artwork at all on the durasteel walls.
And standing before them a proud man, probably in his lower 30s, semi-muscular build, cold blue eyes, watching them.
"It is not every day that we have guests from the Empire coming here. Certainly not the Lady Kyja herself. And certainly not without a more noticeable entourage."
His face was filled with suspicion, eyes flickering between the two women, still surrounded by droids.
"It was not that long ago that Counselor Winton was envoy to Contruun. That did not bode well for them, as I recall. And who is your companion?"
His attention turned solely on Mara now, curiosity, suspicion, trying to recognize. Mara too looked back at him, trying to match his face to some prior encounter, some news cycle.
Going through headlines, she finally found the name she was looking for.
Amir Faram. After the upper echelons of the old Trade Federation had been assassinated (by Mara), the board of directors had reconvened for the first time in years. Among the decisions made included downsizing the Trade Federation's military and industrial fleet, as well as their overall profile. And they put Amir Faram in place as administrator of the Wheel, to replace Vital Ezee. And because there was no viceroy - another decision by the board - Administrator Faram was the most powerful man in the dwindling Trade Federation. Here, if nowhere else, he was the boss.
Faram had started small, a smuggler during the war. But afterward, Medivh's fleets managed to outdo him in almost every way. But the Viceroy had made Faram an offer - join the Federation, and become a legitimate trader. And he had, taking a few small ships and slowly building his way up. During the time of Phage, Faram had been Vital Ezee's second in command at the Wheel, responsible for all entrepreneurial trading that happened at the Wheel. And now, he was the man in charge.
Mara decided to be (somewhat) direct with him.
"I am Mara Anna Gellar, of Corellia"
The man nodded
"Ah yes - traitor to Corellia, or so they say. And now apparently working with the Empire. But I sense there is more to you than meets the eyes, Ms. Gellar. I am not particularly fond of the High Commander Judec. But I don't want trouble following you here, whether it be Corellian, imperial ... or something else"
He had a piercing stare, like he could somehow see past them, and knew their purpose, that they were hiding something. or maybe it was just an illusion. Even if he knew something, he gave nothing away.
"Well, now that you are here, state your business. Or go somewhere else"
Mara spoke first.
"We have come for something ... not available to the public. We are here, not as representatives of any government, but as seekers of truth. You knew the Viceroy, Medivh. You knew him while he was in charge, and you were close to him, even after he retired from his role. You were also close with Viceroy Gesser. But now, there is no Viceroy, and no official who has the role that Medivh carried. But as Viceroy, Medivh had something. It may just be information, it may be more substantial than that. But we need access to Medivh's private archives"
Amir Faram's eyes went wide. Quite a suprising thing to request, especially considering the situation at hand. The Viceroy's private archives? What could they possibly want from that? He looked from Mara to Karen. What could the Empire possibly need from the Viceroy's private stores?
"He left no archive - there is nothing that remains here of him. He died on Corellia. At the hands of Phage. If he left anything anywhere, I know nothing of it"
TBD
