"Are we gonna hit the Net any time soon?"
"Hold your banthas. I'm still doing research."
"Okay. Just let me know when you're done. Can't wait to raise some hell."
Krev hears it behind the glee in Sorval's voice: the demonman is glad he's not needed yet.
Nothing to be surprised about. He didn't come here to play your games. Maybe it was an argument he needed — your invitation. But if it was, it was only the last push towards the decision — not the first and not the biggest.
"I found something," Krev says. It sounds stupid — as something just one man in a conversation is interested in can only sound.
"Something you wanna give Alnam Junior?"
"Maybe. Eh, I don't know. I don't understand it yet. Don't understand what the significance is."
"Oooh, some technical mumbo-jumbo? Now I see why you came to me."
"No, imagine that. It's about someone."
"And who's that special someone? It's someone special, innit?"
It's ten in the evening. Sorval's been reading for his courses in the monorail, sitting through the courses, and then reading for the next class on the way back. Krev still hears the levity in his voice. Sorval's having a blast. Krev can understand that: he was this way himself when he first went to Coruscant. He wishes Sorval could see that Coruscant, undimmed by war.
"Ever heard of Damask?"
"Damask who?"
"Hego Damask and his Damask Holdings."
Sorval furrows his brow. "Sounds kinda familiar. What's the deal with him?"
"Sounds kinda familiar? That's what the Holonet thinks about him as well."
"How's that?"
"I've seen more expansive articles on The Republic Encyclopedia about small-time conmen than him, and Damask was a high-ranking IGBC member for decades."
"And how do you know that?"
"That's pretty much the extent of detail the article goes into."
"Okay. So what's the big deal?"
"It just smells... bad. Strange. Like somebody's been mopping the info up. Holdings was a big thing — you can see that. There should be lots more about it by any metric. But there isn't."
Sorval rolls his eyes up. "You can check previous versions of any page on The Encyclopedia. It's—"
"I know that, I'm not completely illiterate. Only they don't save the versions older than ten years."
"And you want those? I mean, if something was scrapped out more than ten years ago, chances are, there wasn't anything that special there in the first place. Well, you can always check on the Shadowfeed."
"I might. I tried not to hog up too much energy."
"Smart. Maybe best leave it at that. Do you think this Damask is really that important?"
"Hill used to work for him. San Hill."
"So what?"
"He used to work for Damask when he met with Alnam at Ulmis Systems. I think he was there on Damask's orders."
Sorval gets up from the table. "Man, I don't know about that."
"About what?"
Krev sees where this is going — and why. Sounds harsher than he should be.
"Your fixation on Alnam. It's not Alnam prolonging the war."
"Oh, for fuck's sake. We've been over this."
"It's not Alnam doing fucking lobotomies and whatnot."
"He's fucking in it, I told you."
"Yeah, okay! But don't you think we have more important things to focus on? He can wait. Your revenge can wait. I understand—"
Now Krev gets up too. "No you fucking don't. It's not about revenge. He sent people to kill me — alright, fine. That's just how the game is. Fine. Fair enough. I... It's why he sent them. That's what's important. He's in it — neck-fucking-deep. All the stuff: lobotomies, the war industry, the tax schemes. He needs to go down with all the rest of them. He's no better than Dangor or Dooku or whoever runs ConCare. And you, my friend, have your loyalty seriously misplaced if you put it with Vygo fucking Alnam."
"I don't have any loyalty to him. What the fuck, he just hired me to set up a secure line in his creepy-ass base on Telos."
"Alright," Krev sighs, "I'll say it how it is."
"Oh yeah? How is it, then?"
"It's all about Fadrina. You're scared she won't have you if you go against her boss. Go on, tell me I'm wrong."
"Fuck that shit, man. You don't know shit about me."
Krev looks at him. A pitiful sight. Krev could take on him now.
"Whatever you say," Krev says. Picks up his jacket. "Good luck with the courses."
They will reconcile with Sorval — he knows that. But Fadrina... she'll always remain a factor. Would be nice to talk to her. To see if she's serious about Alnam's ideas. Chances are, she is. Why else would she follow him? She wants for nothing. A comfy position. A nice salary. Got a child — being a revolutionary usually stops at this point. She is serious.
Going home, Krev wonders if it will become a problem. Looks like it's shaping into one: conflicting loyalties are never good. Doubly so when there is a woman involved.
He turns the HB on — the lights in the room go paler for a split second. He didn't tell it to Sorval, but he had checked Damask on the Feed. Only a brief look — but it was enough to scare him.
That look was enough to tell there's no way Damask would go unnoticed on the Holonet. How can Palpatine's main donor for his first Chancellorship campaign be barely mentioned in The Encyclopedia?
There's no way in universe or in hell that no one would argue about that on the Holonet forums. The Banking Clan wasn't an enemy back then, sure — but it was never particularly trusted in the wider Republic. Call it an anti-Muun sentiment — but the fact is the fact: the populace wouldn't take kindly to a Muun seemingly installing his own man as the fucking Chancellor.
Magister Damask wasn't just any Muun. From what the Feed has on him, he seems a Muun Vygo Alnam: reclusive and obscenely rich. If Alnam was forced into seclusion by his own shenanigans, for Damask, it was an airspeeder crash in 17 BrS, here on Coruscant. Grievous injuries.
Even the Shadowfeed doesn't know what Damask was up to since then and up until the vote of no confidence that put Valorum out of the office. Then the Magister reappeared in public: check his breath mask. He rallied support for Palpatine for a while — not that Palpatine needed his help that much — and then promptly died on the day of Palpatine's election.
Krev whistles at that, but it checks out: the Encyclopedia article agrees on the date of death. Krev suspects banthashit. It sounds too good. Too much like a story. But there's a problem with that line of thinking: there wasn't a story. Nobody cared about Damask's death. The public clamored over his sudden appearance for a day and then went back to discussing Valorum's impotence and Palpatine's greatness.
So maybe he really died that day? How convenient is that, though?
That's a serious question, Krev realizes. Would it really be convenient for anybody? Well, Palpatine could stand to gain from it. With his benefactor dead, he wouldn't have to do whatever he'd promised him. But how hard would it be to have a man who can get you the top position in the Republic killed?
Hard. Impossible. How should Krev know? He can only take a guess. If he had to, he'd lean towards 'impossible.'
To summarize: Damask died on a questionably convenient day. Of natural causes, most likely. That's not super important.
Damask paid for Palpatine's campaign. If you mind the timeframe, it's only logical that he had known about the no-confidence vote before it happened — the elections were an emergency. No way would Palpatine be able to get hold of Damask's money in a matter of days. Sure — it requires a special kind of stupid to believe the vote was unprepared in the first place. Krev always thought many senators had known. Maybe even Valorum himself. Here's new information: Damask had to know it as well.
It's pretty obvious why Palpatine needed him, but what did he need Palpatine for?
Not something you can tell — not in this timeline. Damask died, so you can say Palpatine had promised him absolutely anything. A more interesting question: could Palpatine promise it not to Damask but to some larger entity?
The InterGalactic Banking Clan — maybe. Krev reviews its history during Palpatine's chancellorship, both on the Net and the Feed. Looks like the Senate hasn't done anything super favorable for it.
What about Damask Holdings? Its activities seem to have ceased after Damask's crash — but what if he devised to bring it back with Palpatine's ascension?
Krev calls himself to order. How Damask is connected to Palpatine can wait.
It's his relation to Alnam that matters now.
The year is late 3. Chancellor Valorum's standing with the Republic at large is very bad. Krev remembers the holotables that were circulating during that time: The Finesse of Valorum: No Promise Kept or something along those lines. Dozens upon dozens of rows with holovids of the Chancellor making a promise in each. The column on the right bristles with red crosses. A green mark here and there, against things like "I will definitely be at the opera season opening" cut from tabloid interviews.
Valorum is doing bad. He tries to save his face with the Eriadu Summit. That's a fucking disaster. His approval sinks twenty points — to regain four when the Senate taxes the Trade Federation's zones.
But, of course, that turns out an even bigger fuckup. The Trade Federation blockades Naboo. The underage queen thereof comes to the Senate and initiates the vote of no confidence.
Vygo Alnam is Valorum's big friend. Would he move to protect him? To sway the elections in his favor? Sounds likely. Damask's capital wins, though: Valorum gets less than five percent of the senatorial vote. The popular polling: one-point-one percent with the people of Coruscant. Naught-point-naught-naught-four with the rest of the Republic.
Damask and Alnam duke it out behind the scenes — just a year after the Ulmis meeting on Artesia. Both online spaces keep awkward silence on it: neither knows about any Damask Holdings operations there.
Up to your assumption, Krev Devin. What were Alnam and Damask's goons doing on Artesia?
Could be: meeting on a business conference. Unlikely — there are no other Artesian pictures available of Hill, Tum, or Alnam with anyone else.
Could be: discussing their shared interests in Ulmis. Could be — but how are you gonna check it? They won't show you any internal-use documents — and this shit screams internal use.
Could be: Hill and Tum were there on their own volition. Maybe: probing the ground for betraying Damask? Impossible to prove either way.
Krev combines names and organizations. Feeds them to both search systems. Crosses out the pairings he's worked out.
The IGBC used to do business with Dangor Industries, TaggeCo, and Neuro-Saav — obviously. ConCare itself isn't mentioned. Dragoon Merchandise isn't mentioned.
Damask isn't mentioned together with anything or anyone.
On the Shadowfeed, too, they don't talk all that much about him. It weirds Krev out: Damask's totally someone who should have been discussed all the time when he was alive — especially when he came back from exile. Especially when he died days after.
But no.
References to his financial projects. Some discussions of Damask Holdings — but mostly of its dissolution following the speeder accident.
The more Krev looks into it, the more it looks like residue from a large chunk of data being classified and taken down.
It looks like that to the point where Krev stops before asking the forums. He tries to convince himself it's retarded and nobody's going to track him down because he's asking questions about a long-dead Muun magnate.
Tying his — Mr. Kossar's — ID to Damask's name in any way feels horribly wrong, though. The only time Krev has ever felt anything like it was back on Kessel: he was drinking at the top of a crane. For the hundredth time or so. He knew the bloody thing, right? Maybe he had one can too many. Maybe believed it too much — that he knew the crane. He was leaving, walking to the ladder on its side when this feeling hit him — the one he's feeling now. The one that told his legs to stop moving. So strong that he turned his flashlight on — something you shouldn't do at the crane top if you know it and probably not even if you don't: you don't want to signal the custodian you're up there. But Krev turned it on then, and he saw that just a single step separated him from falling sixty meters down. This is the feeling he gets now. Maybe it's wrong, but Krev will listen — if only out of gratitude for the last time.
He muses if he should disregard it — for days. Sometimes, when he's lying sleepless at night, he promises himself to get to it in the morning — to put an end to his worrying, if nothing else. Not the battle that scares, huh? His feet are always phenomenally cold the next day. Maybe it's not the battle that scares, but it is definitely what kills.
Hego Damask isn't that important, he tells himself. He died way before the Sep crisis even began. You should focus on the modern shit like ConCare and Ulmis and the Dangors' engineers and firms.
It sounds good and logical and nice for maybe half an hour. Then the endorphin starts going down, and Krev is back to round one. No, Damask is the key to all of this, he tells himself. Thanks to him, Alnam lost his cushy position of the Chancellor's friend. Thanks to him, Alnam supported the right to secession. Thanks to him, you killed Brate and got entangled in this mess. You need to pursue this trail.
Now this sounds logical and good and nice. That's the truth — Krev's sure. It lasts for half an hour, and then he's back to rejecting Damask's importance.
Several days are spent waiting for Sorval to let go of his grievance. The demonman never calls. Krev is partly glad: feels wrong dragging him further into this. The demonman's got his entire life in front of him.
Sorval will see the truth — in time. But how long is that gonna take? Maybe tone down your anti-Alnam rhetoric for now. Maybe bring Sorval in when you go after other people.
Nothing better than being alone on Coruscant. Nothing more horrific than being alone on Coruscant.
You gotta get a new partner, buddy. You know it. Someone who has every reason to confront Vygo Alnam. Someone who has access to archives you don't.
Someone who is a damn fine fellow for an Alnam.