Songbird's confessions

Posted on Sun Jun 13th, 2021 @ 1:19am by Lieutenant Kor' de'leia & Lieutenant Melvyn Kosta & Flight Officer Onyesonwu Zyd

Mission: Scoundrels, Cuttthroats and Rogues
Location: Nar Shaddaa - Rebel cell HQ
Timeline: Day 2 at 0700

Once the twi'lek was freed from her cuff Keskis led her out of the "interrogation room", so dubbed for the time being, and motioned for Onye to tag along. Her opinion on whether the twi'lek was speaking the truth - the whole truth - would be enlightening.

The "interrogation room", which really served a vast number of different purposes according to need, was in fact a spare room in the apartment that served as Keskis' current headquarters. They'd had to move once before, and probably would have to move again soon. In the meantime it served her purpose well enough. She led Onye and the twi'lek into the living room, which currently doubled as an operation center.

"Lovely place you got here." she gave as a throw away comment on entering the room. She paused a moment trying to straighten what was left of her no mini dress that had been riding up while she struggled in the chair.

"Please take a seat," Keskis waved at the cheap couch that occupied the angle of the room. An holovision on mute was displaying the news. Every so often the Imperial defector's face appeared on it ; the Empire hadn't given up the search yet. Keskis grabbed three cans of self-heating caf and handed two of them to Onye and her guest.

Kor gave the 'couch' a disagreeable one over. It didn't really matter, she had been in far less sanitary places already today. She took the can of caf from the Mon Calimari.

Onye accepted the can eagerly, treats were an expected perk of getting invited to Keskis' apartment. She leaned against the wall near the door, where she had a clear view of both the commander and her guest, able to at least slow down the twi'lek if she tried to escape. Then Onye opened her can of caf and inhaled the pleasant aroma as it heated.

"Things are a little tense, right now," Keskis admitted as she opened her can and it started to warm into her hand. She waved at the holovision news display. "The Empire arrested three of my best men yesterday. So you better have a good story to explain why a songbird would be gallivanting across Nar Shaddaa's seediest districts with an Imperial in toe."

Kor looked her over. Certainly she was tossing in her code name again, but Kor still wasn't sure if this wan't just another nest of bounty hunters looking for a cash out.

"This Songbird has been doing her job." her eyes narrowed and her lekku curled up onto her shoulders defiantly. "Let's start with a couple basics before we get to deep in conversation. Who the hell are you? What is this 'place'?"

Onye took a relaxed, neutral stance and assumed a polite facial expression whilst sipping her caf. The twi'lek had gone on the offensive, perhaps pretending to forget who was interrogating whom. Onye waited for the commander's reaction and observed, absorbing information conveyed both with and without intention. She'd be prepared when Keskis asked for her report.

Keskis stared at her guest unblinkingly, noting the defiant and defensive demeanor. The twi'lek was not nearly as confident as she wanted to appear, Keskis suspected, but projecting the appearance of strength when in a position of weakness was a good strategy.

"We are not the ones who need to prove ourselves to us," she said after she'd let the silence stretch uncomfortably. "You guessed enough to use code words, and the fact that we know those codes should tell you everything you need to know for the time being. Judging by the fact that we found you bumbling your way through Nar Shaddaa half-naked and cuffed to a wanted man, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you need our help more than we need yours." Keskis paused to take a sip of caf. "If you disagree, this conversation can be over very quickly."

The MonCal commander did not enjoy this skirting around the issue, but trusting others too easily carried a heavy price. And the twi'lek's codes, albeit genuine, were just old enough to have been discovered by Imperial officers - such as the one being interrogated next door. The only thing going in the twi'leks favor right now was the fact that if this was an Imperial undercover op, it was spectacularly ill-planned.

The Twi'lek sat up a little straighter on the couch. She continued looking hard into one of the bulbulous eyes of the Mon Calamari. "First thing I need to know is who you are. I appreciate that you may not be slavers afterall. I can't imagine a self respecting Wookie or a Mon Calamari would want anything to do with it. But times are hard, and Nar Shaddaa is harder than most places. You're not Imps, so I like you better already. You pick up on codewords and while I am quite happy to lie to you all day, I've got places to get to and that would be a lot easier if we clear up why we are all here."

Onye barely listened to the words exchanged. Her attention was on the body language of the twi'lek and her Mon Calamari commander. The twi'lek's shift in posture indicated her intention to attack. Onye maintained a polite, curious expression and slipped a hand into the pocket of her overalls and around the handle of her soldering torch. Expecting her caf to end up spilled on the floor, she gulped it down.

Her eyes shifted to Onye, "Im sorry about this, you seem like a good kid." she stated solemnly.

Kor didn't mind killing. She did prefer that she killed the right people, and this group did not feel like the right people. But safety for the Rebellion was paramount.

"The light of Alderaan shines forever...." she said slowly and deliberately. Codewords were made for moments like this to identify who was friend or foe. A friend would respond with the right phrase. If they didn't they would be unfortunate casualties in a large war. Kor was just a girl that had crossed the worst parts of Nar Shadda half naked cuffed to a wanted man. Her nails dug into her palms as she waited for an answer her body ready to take down the Mon Calimari first and then the girl.

Keskis stiffened and grew very still for a moment. Her eyes rested on the twi'lek's face as she processed what she had just heard, and what it meant. She exhaled a long, deliberate sigh, and allowed her body to relax from its formerly ready stance, feeling defeated.

"...and dispels the shadows that bind us," she said quietly in response. This particular code phrase was never good news. "Who are - who sends you - no. Forget I asked. I don't need to know. Hell, I don't want to know."

Unable to hide her agitation she stood, her hand clenched so tightly that she left finger marks in the thin duralumin of the caf can. She could no longer question the twi'lek's loyalties, only select operatives would know the phrase she had just spoken.

"I am Commander Keskis," she said slowly, as she began to pace. "I'm leading the rebel operations here on Nar Shaddaa." If she was fully honest she thought there may be at least one other cell operating on the moon but she chose to keep that loose suspicion to herself. "Our usual operations include, but are not limited to, information brokering, trade agreements to supply the fleet, fake ID manufacturing, and generally speaking being a pain in the Empire's huge stinking butt. It was all going fairly smoothly of late, up until yesterday. I suspect your presence is not unrelated to the commotion - the most excitement this moon has seen in a while, and that's saying something."

Keskis paused to swallow a mouthful of caf, still looking at the twi'lek's face, as if she would find answers there.

"An operative from higher-up came here a few days ago to meet with an informant. Somehow he got caught, so I'm guessing either the informant was a mole, or their communications were intercepted. Either way he was captured by the Empire, along with two of my best people. That happened almost at the same time as that little dogfight yesterday so I'm guessing the two may be related. And then you and your... friend... were spotted coming this way. Not very discreetly, I might add. So we decided to pick you up before the Empire did."

Keskis drank the last of her caf. There were a hundred questions going around in her head but she didn't want to ask them, because if she did the twi'lek might answer. And she wasn't sure she really wanted to know.

Onye wondered if the commander had forgotten she was there, or why she was there. So far, Keskis had revealed much more than the twi'lek, who hadn't even given herself a name. Onye didn't think the commander wanted her to know such sensitive information, and even more annoying, her cup of caf was empty and she'd burned her tongue. To remind Keskis of her presence, she said, "So you're the one who crashed that X-Wing in the undercity? You'll be happy to know the droid suffered minor damage and can be repaired. I had to erase its memory though, just in case."

"Feel free to junk it." Kor responded with no emotion. "I wouldn't call it a crash, just a very exciting landing when half your ship is missing." She gave Onye a slight smile and handed her the unopened can of Caf she had taken form the commander.

Onye slipped the unopened Caf into a pocket, to share with Haro later. "Your operation must be quite well-funded to junk a salvageable droid," she said, deadpan. To someone who didn't know her, she might have sounded sarcastic. "It's already at Arco's junkyard, along with your X-Wing."

She stretched her arms forward and crossed her leg over the other turning her attention back to the Mon Calamari. "As you correctly surmised, I work for Alliance Intelligence. You can call me Kor'de'leia, not that its my name, but it works. The Imperial in the next room claims to be a defector. I have spent most of the last day running to keep the two of us alive, so I have not been able to properly vet his claim. I do know he is a hell of a pilot, and that makes him valuable to me. I feel like he believes what he is saying, not to mention he killed several stormtroopers in our escape. Not that the Empire cares about a few expendable troopers, but if he is genuine, I need to get him of this moon."

"If he really is a defector that would explain why the Empire is so keen to make an example out of him I suppose. But it could also be a trap. He could be here to gain our trust, lure us out and..." Keskis made an evocative hand gesture, suggesting an abrupt and unpleasant end. "We need to be sure. Onye ?"

The twi'lek, Kor'de'leia, believed what she said according to Onye's observations, and was confident she would get whatever she wanted from Keskis. The commander thought so too. "Yes, Commander?"

"I want you to run a background check on the Imp. Service record and early life. I notice his last name is Kosta, which I find a funny coincidence." She glanced at Kor. "The operative I mentioned before ? His name was Kosta, too. Could be a coincidence, but my operative mentioned before that he was disowned by his family after his joining the rebellion became public. Apparently his aunt had to do an awful lot of grovelling to regain a decent standing in society. So this could also be a show of loyalty to the Empire. Serve their wayward relative to their masters on a platter to prove they are not traitors... So let's see what we can dig up, shall we ?"

The name was one of the reasons why Keskis had been interested in the Imperial in the first place, and why she'd kept him alive thus far. Friend or foe, he might have the information she needed to know what had actually happened to Elo. If he'd been betrayed, by family to boot... well, the Empire might get their pilot back. In as many pieces as necessary to make her point.

Onye sat in the commander's chair in front of her terminal. At least Keskis wasn't so completely enthralled by Kor'de'leia as to log in using her own credentials. Who know what Rebellion files Keskis had access to. At least the twi'lek was not planning to kill them, for now. Onye was not an exceptionally skilled slicer, so she started with public records.

"Family name Kosta, first name Melvyn. Temporary commander of the 311th squadron. Human from Onderon, male, twenty-seven standard years of age. Sister Siana, brother Caedin, and cousin Elo... Elo Kosta." Onye glanced up at the commander and wondered if the rumors about Elo and Keskis were true. "Looks likely he's who he says he is, but it'll take more digging to verify why he's here. Elo Kosta might have known the answer."

Keskis didn't blink. Someone who knew her species well might have guessed her expression to be sorrowful, but to most she'd look just as composed as ever. Elo's arrest was still raw, and she hadn't yet allowed herself to dwell on it ; to think about what it meant, and how unlikely it was that she'd ever see him again.

Well, she'd known that getting attached was a mistake, in the first place. She did wish Elo had confided in her about what he was plotting ; she'd have known how to handle the current situation better.

"So they are related." The prisoner next door did have that clipped Onderonian accent. "Which means either Elo convinced him to defect and he's genuine... or he fooled Elo into trusting him. Anything in his background to suggest disloyalty to the Empire prior to defecting ?"

Onye started skimming the limited public data, but she was looking for something vague and imprecise… and outside her areas of expertise. She made an unconscious sound in the back of her throat that was not unlike a wookie growl. "This'll take time. It's not like we're going to find voted most likely to defect by his cadet graduating class."

Keskis glanced at the twi'lek. She was usually decisive but she found herself hesitant, uncharacteristically so. "We need to find out for sure whose side he's really on. You're the one who wants to keep him - what do you suggest ?"

There was something odd going on with the Mon Calamari. Kor looked her over carefully. "The obvious answer would be to make him think he has been recaptured by imperials. Knock him out again, have him wake up with an interrogation droid ready to pump him full of nasty things and have one of your operatives he hasn't seen yet shake him down for information on the Rebellion. IF he spills, he's a spy. If he resists, we mostly know. Or we could threaten to torture his alleged cousin." Of course such duplicity might be considered cruel but it would most likely be effective, even if he hated them because of it.

"Mmmh." Keskis rubbed her chin with a webbed hand. Her skin felt dry and itchy, as it always did after a lengthy time out of the water. She'd need a long bath, though when she could afford that much time for personal care, she wasn't sure. "I suppose that would be the most effective method. Too bad he's already met Haro, but I have someone else who can pull a mean Imperial routine. The problem will be finding a place that looks like an Imperial holding cell. But we can circumvent that with a blindfold, or with drugs. If he's out of it he won't notice this sort of discrepancies, and will be more pliable." She nodded to herself as the plan unfolded in her mind. "Onye, tell Haro and Tawshii, they can knock him out however they think will best support our little deception." After a moment's thought she added, "so long as it causes no permanent damage. Kor, I'll need you to brief the fake Imperial."

"Kor'de'leia should at least buy the prisoner dinner first." Onye folded her arms and spoke in the language of lies, though without verbal inflection. This twi'lek believed what she was saying, but she was disturbingly fixated on torturing this particular human. Addressing the twi'lek she said, "Did you ask the prisoner why he chose this particular time to defect? What imperial secrets he was offering the resistance to prove he's valuable and loyal? That's information I can confirm." To the commander she said, "Are you really giving the order to allow this twi'lek to torture your prisoner, before you've even heard what information Tawshii and Haro have already gleaned?"

"Torture?! This is a psy-op honey." Kor hissed back at the suddenly rather opinionated young rebel. "He's not going to be physically harmed unless your wookie friend does it first." Her lekku relaxed and uncurled. "I admit its a nasty trick to play on someone, but we need to know who he is. I've just been cuffed to him since the Imps caught us in the lower levels. He did know details of the dogfight he claims he was running from that nobody should know but the pilot that was there. Doesn't prove anything, but he did seem legitimate since it was my x-wing he crashed into."

Keskis had been about to speak but Kor had beat her to the punch, the fire in her words betraying her exhaustion and tension. Keskis could not blame someone in her position for being doubly careful. Onye's reluctance was to her credit though.

"Kor'de'leia is right," she said quietly. "We cannot afford to take chances. I'm not risking this operation and all of our lives on the word of a deserter without testing him. Do you know what the Empire is doing to our people, as we speak ?" The question conjured up disturbing images in her own imagination. "I can assure you, it is much worse than what we are doing, and if the Imperial is who he says he is, then he will understand our caution. However, if you do not feel comfortable with this, I will not ask you to participate."

Onye shrugged with such exaggeration that even people deaf to nonverbal would understand. "My point is, you want to figure out how something's broken, you don't start a diagnostic then yank out the wiring before the diagnostic is finished." Simple logic. But Keskis was too worried about her lover to think for herself. And though Onye didn't trust the judgement of anyone who'd casually trash a useable droid, Keskis was taking orders from Kor'de'leia now so it seemed she was too. "I'll do what you need me to do." Especially if her presence meant Haro wasn't forced to watch the Imp get tortured.

"Good. Thank you." Keskis let out a deep, slow breath. She longed for the quiet depths of her homeworld. Letting herself drift with the current had always helped her focus wandering thoughts, and that was something she desesperately needed today. A long day, and not likely to end anytime soon.

"We'll wait for Tawshii and Haro to be done. Then we'll debrief them, see what the Imperial's story is. If it sounds convincing enough, we'll have Rapp do his gig and see if the Imperial sticks to his guns. If he does, I'm willing to chance it and believe he truly is on our side - though I'll expect him to be watched at first. If he doesn't..." Keskis' shrug was grim.

Kor nodded with the Mon Calimari's statement. "I want to give 'Melvyn' every chance to prove he is who he says. If he is an Imp spy I'll gladly put him down myself, but I feel for what the guy has been through today. Not much fun from my view either. Lets hear what the Wookie has to say."