Chapter Six: End Transmission

HOLONET TRANSMISSION ARCHIVE::CORUSCANT HUB::16ATC/2/33::LOG#ID10984TI31276::ACCESSING...

01:16 [unknown#blocked] hey. not sure if this is the right address. if it is… thanks? you know what for.

01:18 [IX#imperial*emp] Not sure you have the right address, either. If this is regarding a problem with your dinner order, you ought to contact the restaurant as I have no idea what you're talking about.

01:20 [unknown] right address, then. good to know.

[[CHANNEL SETTINGS::ENCRYPTION::ON::user(IX#imperial*emp)]]

01:22 [IX] Hi to you, too, Theron.

01:23 [TShan#SIS*republic*gov] and here i thought i was just their best customer. never gotten a free implant with my delivery before.

01:23 [TShan] slow, sorry. hard to type with immobilizer on.

01:24 [IX] How's your shoulder?

01:25 [TShan] getting better. two weeks down, so one more week until allowed to move it. getting reports done in the meantime… this one's taking a while. can't figure out how say "i screwed up" in a way that doesn't make me look like a complete idiot.

01:26 [IX] I know what you mean. Feel free to blame bad intel on Kovach. He's officially burned, so no one on our end's going to argue with you.

01:27 [TShan] planning on it. you're up late.

01:27 [IX] I haven't been sleeping well.

01:28 [TShan] you, either?

01:28 [IX] I keep seeing Ziost when I close my eyes. Lana won't even talk about it. I can't imagine what it must have felt like, seeing it through the Force. How's Master Surro?

01:29 [TShan] not great. they're doing some dream work with her, but when she wakes up… well. you heard her.

01:30 [IX] I'm sorry.

01:31 [TShan] me, too.

01:31 [IX] Back to your original point- you're welcome, but what makes you think it's from me?

01:32 [TShan] the note.

01:32 [TShan] i sort of assumed it wasn't actually from the ziost board of tourism, unless they've got a sideline in fried noodles.

01:32 [IX] And they're all dead, but yes, fair. You tracked me down fast. I must be getting sloppy.

01:33 [TShan] didn't have to- i've had your holonet address since rishi. lana left her commpad out on the table.

01:33 [IX] Time to scrap this address, then. Shame. I had to wait for Watcher Nine to retire to get it.

01:34 [TShan] i didn't turn it in.

01:34 [IX] Why? I would have, in your position.

01:35 [TShan] i was going to, but i'd hung onto it. figured i'd submit with the debrief.

01:35 [TShan] then yavin happened. like you said, objectivity compromised.

01:36 [IX] Lana's phrase, not mine. I think it's a little more complicated than that, don't you?

01:36 [TShan] yes. yes, i do.

01:36 [IX] And now I have your 'net address, too. Shall we call it a détente?

01:37 [TShan] maybe, but you know where I live. holo's one thing, but i'd like to be able to sleep without worrying about waking up in a cell.

01:38 [IX] I don't actually know where you live. I mean, I do, roughly, since you're clearly on Coruscant somewhere in Goodvalor's delivery zone, but I don't know your actual address.

01:38 [IX] They've got really good dumplings if you ever get tired of noodles, by the way.

01:39 [TShan] ...and you know my usual restaurant how? you're scary, you know.

01:39 [IX] I prefer to think of myself as thorough, but honestly? You talk in your sleep.

01:40 [TShan] i WHAT?

01:40 [IX] That came out wrong.

01:41 [IX] You probably don't remember- after we got you out of Revan's stronghold on Rishi, waiting for Lana to come back with more supplies. I thought you'd gone unconscious, but then you started rambling about takeaway. You must have been starving.

01:41 [TShan] getting tortured works up an appetite. at least i didn't say anything embarrassing. did i?

01:42 [IX] No. It was… cute.

01:42 [IX] On that note, I need another drink. Hold on.

01:43 [TShan] guess that answers my question from the other week.

01:44 [TShan] me too, actually.

01:47 [IX] That's better.

01:47 [TShan] i'd offer to share but i'm guessing you aren't here. don't know what you usually drink, either.

01:48 [IX] Today? Whyren's.

01:48 [TShan] rocks?

01:48 [IX] Blasphemy. Neat.

01:49 [TShan] i approve. you've got expensive taste.

01:49 [IX] Damn right I do. And no, I'm not anywhere near Coruscant. I used a courier- she holo'ed me an hour ago to tell me it'd been handled.

01:50 [IX] I figured if you were home, you'd order from there eventually. Old habits, etc.

01:51 [TShan] why, though?

01:51 [TShan] i don't want to sound like i don't appreciate the gesture, but things being what they are…

01:52 [IX] No, valid question. Guilty conscience, I guess? Mostly I had credits to burn- I made bounties off all four of you from Ziost. Which is weird, given that you were voluntaries, and really fucking sick given everything else that happened.

01:52 [IX] Sorry. That's the whiskey talking.

01:53 [TShan] it's okay. i have to admit i'm a little curious how much i'm worth, though.

01:53 [IX] 1.5 total- I think it was 500 for you, 500 for Surro and 250 each for the other two? I stopped listening after a while.

01:54 [TShan] only 500? that's a little disappointing.

01:54 [IX] 500,000.

01:54 [TShan] oh.

01:55 [TShan] well, shit. i'm definitely underpaid, then. might just let you catch me once a year and sell me back if you promise to split the profits.

01:56 [IX] Very funny.

01:57 [TShan] only about 95% joking. and why guilty?

01:57 [IX] He- the Emperor, I mean- was gunning for me, not you. If you'd just gotten out of the way, you'd have been fine.

01:58 [TShan] not going to leave you hanging like that.

01:58 [TShan] especially then. i thought i could talk her down. i was wrong, obviously, but not your fault.

01:59 [IX] Still.

01:59 [IX] Anyway, I needed new armor and a resupply, so I made a side trip. One of my usual armorers designed the implant- new prototype. He meant it for me, actually, but he'd forgotten I don't use them. Then I realized I still had yours.

02:00 [TShan] i wondered where it'd gone.

02:00 [IX] It was on the counter in medbay. I was going to put it back in your pocket before the exchange, but I got distracted.

02:01 [TShan] the emperor killing an entire planet'll do that, yeah.

02:01 [IX] I meant before that.

02:02 [TShan] right. that was… inappropriate of me. chalk it up to head trauma.

02:02 [IX] Maybe. Or we've got poor impulse control.

02:02 [TShan] we?

02:03 [IX] Damn it.

02:03 [IX] Whiskey again. Anyway, I had him template it off your old one, so it ought to fit. Nar Shaddaa black market's finest, not Imperial-made. No tethers, no trackers, and he's a damned good tech. Consider it your share of your bounty.

02:04 [TShan] it's an impressive design. light, too. automatic attachment. a lot nicer than what i had.

02:04 [IX] No idea- not my thing.

02:05 [TShan] should i try it out?

02:05 [IX] That's up to you.

02:06 [TShan] i'm trusting you on this, but if i come out brain-damaged i'm siccing my mother on you.

02:06 [IX] Perish the thought.

02:07 [TShan] hold on, then. need a mirror to do this one-handed.

02:11 [TShan] !

02:11 [IX] That good?

02:12 [TShan] better than good. thing's unbelievable. i… wow. thanks.

02:12 [IX] You're welcome.

02:13 [IX] I donated the rest of the credits to the survivors' fund. I may be growing a conscience in my old age.

02:14 [TShan] old age? you're younger than me, unless your dossier's wrong.

02:15 [IX] Not by much, and I hit my five-year mark as a Cipher next month. Statistically, my life expectancy's rapidly approaching zero.

02:16 [TShan] you're one of the best agents i've ever seen, you know, and that includes my people. i have a feeling you'll beat those odds.

02:16 [IX] It'd make your job a lot easier if I didn't, wouldn't it?

02:17 [TShan] easier, yeah, but way less interesting.

02:17 [TShan] five years is quite a milestone. tell you what. next time we're in the same system i'll buy you a drink.

02:18 [IX] Next time we're in the same system, we'll probably be trying to kill each other.

02:19 [TShan] drinks first, then. definitely.

02:19 [IX] I don't think-

02:20 [IX] Oh, screw it. Drinks first, then pistols at dawn? It'll be terribly civilized.

02:20 [TShan] it's a date.

02:21 [IX] Then I hope I never see you again, Theron, if you understand what I mean.

02:21 [TShan] yeah. i do.

02:22 [TShan] be careful out there, okay?

02:22 [IX] You too.

02:23 [TShan] i'm always careful.

02:23 [IX] Good night.

02:24 [TShan] g'night, nine.

[END TRANSMISSION::TERMINATING LOG...]