“Don’t the best of them bleed it out
While the rest of them peter out?
Truth of consequence, say it aloud
Use that evidence, race it around.”
-Foo Fighters
Corellia
Surface: Coronet
Riley, Riley, Riley.
Stepped in it again. What was he thinking, trying to smooth things over with the Senator? The shadow of his own legacy looms over anything he does. It would be easier if he kept his mouth shut and stayed out of the way. Let others handle it. This place is a part of him so he could never do that. He had been out of pocket long enough.
In CorSec headquarters, he trains with Veritaas instructing him from the sidelines. Knowing his spirit, keeping him out of the fray is a pipe dream. Best he is ready. The Director is moving more slowly than he once did but he is moving. The deep crimson gash along his throat serves as a painful reminder of his misplaced faith in seeing how things would play out. Trying to weaken CorSec with his death while using the ensuing chaos as a cover to free their captive Infiltrator is fairly clever, even if only one of those two goals had been achieved. He had slipped away to the prison beneath them, stared at the empty chamber, and buried two good men. The transgression now puts him at risk and so he focuses on guiding Riley through their combat protocols with an empathetic urgency.
He is best with a blaster in his hands. The bolts find their marks with refreshing accuracy. There is a frenetic energy between them, knowing the Republic is coming. So many things they could not say to one another in this place. Pressing matters, and all that. Moving quickly between targets, Riley feels the bite of guilt having asked his friends to run interference within their own agency. He hopes Corellia’s survival guides their path as it does his own. The fate of Centerpoint twists something inside him as his mind drifts to his mother, entombed among the collapsed ruins.
Kimber died for it so that Riley could save it.
What good is a loophole, he ponders, if not for this significant a purpose? He would die for it too, something edging ever closer to a guarantee should all else fail. He knows the others – Mara, Elon – would trade their lives for his in an instant. To prevent what is quickly becoming an inevitability. He has faith in them yet understands that the prophecy and the Voss-Ra have been operative for far too long for there not to be one or two surprises up their dingy, tattered sleeves. The effort expended on it, all the blood shed for it, is simply astounding. And so here Corellia is once again, a scapegoat and a target.
They would not stand for it.
He showers and parts ways with Veritaas for now, glancing past the statue of Valerie Gellar with the sun receding from a carved expression of determination on her nearly glowering face. Dane may be kind of a pill but the Gellar grit could come in handy right about now. They are all family anyway, right? He giggles to himself as he strolls up to his residence to meet Cassidy and Sixta. They needed to blow off some steam.
The ring sits in a box on the nightstand which he is quick to conceal by scooping it into a drawer. They are preoccupied but Riley redirects anyway, “And what of the investigation?”
Sixta makes a sour face, “No pleasantries? No refreshments? Some eccentric billionaire you turned out to be.”
“Help yourselves, there is pretty much anything you can think of. Droids keep it stocked.”
“Already on it,” Cassidy laughs, tossing him a bottle of ale. “Six?”
“Pass. I’m too wound up.”
“That’s kind of the point of drinking it.”
Riley cracks it open and taps the neck against Cassidy’s. She sighs, launching into it.
“Alright, so, despite the more, uh, immediate threat, Inspector Thekla left any Jedi connection out of the final report on the Kor Vella bombing. The evidence, scant as it may be, is suspicious but too convenient. Thekla knows that and is not about to give the Republic anything more they can use at this juncture.”
Cassidy clears his throat, “However, given Veritaas’s statement regarding his attack and the forensic evidence at the bombing, it implicates Doctor Cross as the perpetrator of both crimes.”
“They brought Veritaas in, of course, and he did not dispel Thekla’s suspicions but gave him enough to draw his own conclusions about a deeply disturbed woman who was traumatized by her ordeal which led to these ghastly events. The catch is that he still thinks Veritaas is foolish for not locking her down and debriefing before ever letting her near CorSec equipment and systems. I do not wish ill of the Director but his lapse in judgment here raises leadership concerns at very fundamental levels.”
“How much?”
Cassidy takes a hard swig, “Enough to raise an internal inquiry and investigation. That isn’t something we can prevent if that’s the course it takes.”
“Moreover, he is curious about you, Riley, and Veritaas’s connection to you. The presence of a potential trigger word or phrase, same as you said happened with Dane and his protector, provides a motive even if it was not her own. It also implies something deeper, more strategic. He believes you are hiding something. I think you are too.”
“Noted. How is this…good?”
“It cleared Della Avers, at least in the short-term, and we did what we could. A little gratitude goes a long way, Patten.”
He nods, “And I am grateful. So, so, grateful. Thank you both. I’ll flag it to Veritaas. He’ll think of something if and when the time comes.”
“He may not have to,” Cassidy quips. “Given our current predicament. Sounds like we may need all hands on deck.”
“I am hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
And for a moment, it becomes as it should be. Young friends catch up as they try to make sense of the world. They hang for a bit longer but as Cassidy and Sixta are heading for the door, a call comes through – unknown ID.
“I’ll catch you later, I’ve got to take this.”
Riley practically skips into his room, tapping on the projector. Gemma appears before him in a cloak and hood that conceals nearly her entire form. She glances up, revealing her face and he smiles.
“There you are.”
“Hi.”
“You look like you have a lot on your mind. How are you managing?”
“As well as can be expected. No one has strangled anyone…yet. Lots of training which, admittedly, is a welcome distraction. Soldys asked Mara to do something for him but she did not say what. If I am guessing; defense. We will need it. And you?”
“Productive, the People’s Council is spared for now. If he seeks defense of Corellia, I know Aunt Mara will guide him. She will help us if she can. I miss you.”
“Same, but there is something you should know…”
She recaps Lysette’s betrayal, the Infiltrator attack, and the resulting body count – carefully skirting around the extent of her injuries. So. They were being played all along. It hits him hard but he accepts that they knew their enemies would be both resourceful and vast. Then it occurs to him: does that mean they know about the contingency? They had been so careful around the others, keeping the Jedi away from that aspect of their plans. There is no telling what they know now. He voices as much to Gemma.
She pulls the cloak tighter around her, “I thought of that as well but do not believe it should deter us. We must remain steadfast if Adubell and the Voss-Ra cannot be stopped.”
“Yes,” he says. “But first, an idea. You remember that question I asked you?”
She grins, “Of course.”
“Then we elope. Something small but meaningful to us, I can arrange it. We will be together.”
“In the time we have. I remember.”
“Well, what do you think?”
She pushes aside a golden curl that falls across her face, “I think it is perfect. Talk soon. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Beaming, Riley watches the image of Gemma fade only to be replaced by Sixta leaning against the archway with Cassidy skulking sheepishly beside her.
He gasps, taking a step back.
“You know I wasn’t entirely convinced,” she says evenly. “You did mope around maker knows where for the better part of a year but you returned without the kind of resolve that comes from such a loss. Everyone grieves differently, I guess. But you? You show up simultaneously preaching the gospel of restoring order to Corellia while evading any specifics about your little adventures acting like you still have something to lose. Someone to lose, to be precise. Gemma Masterton never died in that explosion.”
“No,” he whispers. “She didn’t.”
Cassidy groans, “That’s fucked up, man.”
“It wasn’t like that!”
“We’ve grieved because you grieved! We spent months here thinking you were off on some self-destructive spiral over losing Gemma Masterton while what? The People’s Council smuggles Jedi in and out of Corellia like it doesn’t mean we wouldn't end up exactly where we are right now? The Republic is coming with garrisons to exert control over us! We are on the precipice of war!”
“We swore to defy those in power to do what is right.”
“Clearly we have been doing that long before our little pact. You lied to us.”
“Who else?” Cassidy asks carefully, side-stepping both of them. “Who else made it out of the Bolerathon Tower?”
“Cass…”
“Who, Riley?”
“Uh. Pretty much everyone except Ples. Trichelle, I heard, died later. She was injured in the crash.”
“Holy shit. What about the Imperials that were with you?”
“They…let us escape.”
“In exchange for what?” Sixta snips with an incredulous scoff, fingers instinctively stretching toward her blaster. He could be compromised after all and they are making the same mistake Veritaas made. Riley senses this is going south and shifts toward the appeal.
“At that moment? Three CSA heirs but Dane was right. They were in a much better position to negotiate with them than either Gemma or I but that is not the point. What happened then or after is not going to stop what is happening now. Some fates cannot be overcome with all the care, hope, and love in the worlds. We have a real fight with real enemies.”
Cassidy huffs, “You can’t honestly just gloss over that by waxing poetic all over your posh apartment!”
“Especially if these things are related and relevant which, I suspect with you, they are.”
“Subjectively speaking. This is not about evading accountability.”
"So not an apology, Riley. Also, it is total bullshit. No one wants to run around doing your little bidding. We know you, we can't know you, and that may be the biggest menace to us all."
He searches for words they can rally around. They are not wrong but now is not the time to argue correlation and causation. There is nothing either of them can do for him or Gemma in the end. As much as he wishes otherwise, their influence and path through these threats are not going to be resolved by further interference into an ancient and convoluted plot marking Masterton and Patten for certain doom. He appreciates that they would try, but their efforts are better spent elsewhere. He will have to let them go.
“The Empire needs the Republic to fall and they are going to use Corellia to do it. They didn’t find what they were looking for so they created a reason to move against us. Did you see the vids of Speaker Leeds on the Holo? That guy is off the rails! If they cross the line with us to enforce increasingly unpopular laws they will lose the support they need and the Empire will be primed to regain control. Corellia should never align with either faction if they conspire to commit genocide and subjugation so I need you two to get over whatever outrage you feel about not knowing a part of myself I would just as soon not share and focus on what we have to do.”
Sixta is livid over the smug point but Cassidy chimes in before she can chide him.
“And what are we doing to do?”
“We’re going to help save Corellia but first, I am going to marry Gemma Masterton.”
-TBC
