Tentacle Covered Chaos Chapter 16 Grand Efforts

Tentacle Covered Chaos

Chapter 16: Grand Efforts

<<<Shaak Ti>>>

Listening to Poppy's tale, she wondered if anyone really believed her when she said nothing happened after her attempted kidnapping. Not that she blamed the poor woman for being cagey with the Council; the woman had been living with a degree of wariness, paranoia, and existential dread that she’d only seen a handful of times since she was a Padawan herself.

Truly. a part of her wanted to comfort the young woman, assure her that everything would be fine. But she doubted it would do anything, her words would be like a splash of water trying to put out the heart of a star. Not a thing, if anything it could make it worse!

Stranger things had happened, after all.

Still, she kept her own counsel and thoughts as she watched Poppy leave, having finally been dismissed. No doubt she planned to immediately head to her apartment and sleep… or immediately get to work, she struck the Jedi Master as something of a workaholic honestly. Though her work could be how she vented her stress? Hardly the healthiest coping mechanism, but it wasn’t the worst by far.

“There is no way she was telling the truth,” Mace noted, “She is almost certainly lying.”

Master Yoda just hummed, as he frequently did, but nodded.

“Spooked, she is. Wary of everyone,” Master Yoda said with a sigh, “Sad it is, to see such wariness and distrust in a youngling.”

Master Plo Koon nodded in agreement, “If only we could see why she is like this.” He said, “But her odd Force presence makes it difficult…”

“Could it be due to the war?” Shaak Ti asked, “Maybe something more… perhaps she can somehow feel the Darkness clouding the Force?” She speculated.

“Her ship’s navigational data implies that she was in Republic aligned space the entire time,” Mace noted, “It’s unlike the Confederates to try something that blatant.”

“Saw or learned something that troubles her, mayhaps…” Master Yoda said.

“Or she’s a spy,” Mundi countered, “Not a particularly good one, but…”

“Maybe a reluctant spy…” Master Plo Koon added clearly toying with the idea, “It wouldn’t be the first time someone was forced into the role.”

“Spy, she is not,” Master Yoda said, “But fear is driving her… we will have to calm her fears lest she fall to the Dark in desperation.”

“Perhaps,” Shaak said, leaning forward onto her knees, “We’ll need someone to watch her closely for the foreseeable future regardless.”

Master Windu nodded in agreement, “Anakin is currently watching her, but she’s often called away on missions.” He said, rubbing his chin in thought, “Same with her padawan Ahsoka… has Knight Luminara and her padawan returned? I know Poppy is comfortable with them.”

“The risk with those two is addiction, Poppy herself warned us about that,” Plo said with a frown, “What of Adi Gallia? She’s quite skilled and with Poppy’s notable attraction to females she’d be more trusted on reflex.”

“True,” Windu said with a nod, “However, we have to show that we trust her. We have to trust she is responsible enough not to abuse that trust we’re giving her.”

“Accurate,” Mundi agreed, “But she may not intend to abuse the trust either. Imagine, if you will, that she does something questionable that the two jedi dismiss because they fool themselves into thinking it innocent. Or they don’t warn her of a mistake she made in ignorance because they simply assume she knows better as a result of their compromised mental state.”

Windu just nodded. “It’s a risk,” He said as he rubbed his forehead.

Yoda hummed, eyes closed in thought before nodding to himself. “Two jedi. One open, one in shadows. Knights Luminara or Gallia act in the open, Knight Vos watching from shadows.”

“He does have experience in watching paranoid targets,” Windu noted, “And his work with Coruscant's police forces would give him ample excuses to be nearby and running checks on her.”

“It could work,” Shaak said thoughtfully, “She may be cagey regardless, but I believe that may well be her default state,” She added with a faint chuckle.

After a few moments, with no one making any further comments, Mace nodded and said, “It’s decided then. Onto the next orders of business, there have been an unacceptable number of Knight casualties in the opening engagements. It’s my opinion…”

[hr][/hr]

<<<Knight Vos>>>

It wasn’t everyday Mace Windu contacted him, even odder still was asking him to watch over the Council’s latest project. He did, it wasn’t much trouble really and he already had a good reason to observe her anyway. And he thought Windu was exaggerating the girl’s paranoia, more the fool for him to even think that.

While Windu did have a rather dry sense of humor, the man didn’t exaggerate. And Vos thought he had trust issues, this woman had Force-damned subscriptions!

Case in point, she’d already swapped taxis. Three times. If he didn’t know she wasn’t aware of him he’d have assumed she knew she was being followed already, but he’d already confirmed her destination.

A bar. She was going to a public bar, and not one of the more discreet ones either.

“Just what sort of trouble am I walking into?” Vos wondered as he continued to discreetly observe Poppy, “What sort of secrets are you hiding that make you so wary?” It was his single greatest weakness; he’s a sucker for a good mystery.

Force, he’d gotten into so much trouble as a padawan because of said weakness.

“You said you could get me some probe droids for cheap?” Poppy asked, voice quiet enough that he had to strain even after force enhancement to hear her over the noise of music and the crowd. “How much each?”

“Probe droids? What’s she looking for?” He wondered, though it could simply be she planned to do some prospecting.

“Yes, yes, forty thousand credits each!” A rather shady man replied and though Poppy was visibly disgusted by something about him she nodded. “But they’ll only be good for a few jumps, how many did you want?”

“Can I get a bulk discount if I order two hundred at once?” She drawled, “I’m looking for something not easily missed, but which is well hidden.”

“Ah, that could be a problem,” Vos noted, eyes narrowing as he sipped a drink. Looking at her would be a mistake, she was anxious enough that she’d almost certainly notice.

“For you, my friend, I can drop it to thirty thousand each!” The man who must have been a black market dealer replied, “But, uh, can I get some assurances here? I don’t want the Republic looking too deeply into my business and if you’re…”

Poppy snorted. “If that was the case you wouldn’t wear that outfit. Dress like a normal person next time, kay? As for assurances, I can’t tell you what I’m looking for specifically but I can tell you that I’m employed by the very people you’re worried about.” That was… not a lie, but not the whole truth, Vos knew. “As long as you deliver the goods for the agreed upon price and don’t screw me on them, you’ll be fine.”

If Vos was interested before, he was invested now. What did she actually mean? Why did she need so many probe droids?

“Of course, of course! I would never deliver something that was faulty!” He replied, hands going up defensively, “But, ah, with such cheap droids there may be… manufacturing errors, shall we say?”

“If they can get two or three jumps in without having sensor or coms failures, they will suit my needs,” Poppy assured, “As for delivery location… I have a small freighter in orbit, it should suffice.”

“Interesting…” If she wasn’t so security conscious Vos probably could’ve bugged her communicator, maybe that would shed some more light on the mystery that was Poppy, but as it stood the Knight couldn’t help but feel impressed faintly.

“That… could work, yes. I’ll contact you when I have them,” The man said, “Through the usual channels.”

“I would be concerned if you thought they weren’t sufficient,” She replied as she stood up, finishing the last of her drink, “To good business.”

“To good business!” The man said as he raised his glass to her, “And may all our future dealing be just as profitable.”

“Indeed,” She replied before stepping away and leaving the bar. Vos gave her thirty seconds before following, if he was too close then she’d know right away but if he waited too long he wouldn’t be able to tail her.

“You should know better than to stalk a lady, dear Vos,~” Poppy purred as she appeared behind him, having hidden herself beside the door.

“And you should be aware why I’m doing it,” Vos responded, though he did feel a twinge of irritation at being found out.

“In truth, I’m rather confused,” She replied, “At first I thought you were there for the dealer, which would have been irritating but something I could adapt to… but then you perked up ever so slightly when I mentioned what I was buying. I already have one watcher, does the Council believe I’ve been compromised?” She was pushing him along the walkway and down an alley, looking all the world like she were merely drunk and leaning on him. “I could tell you what I’m doing, of course, but I’m not sure I can… trust you.”

“The Council doesn’t think you’re compromised, at least I don’t think so,” Vos said, “However the Council isn’t as foolish to believe what you told them what happened after you were abducted. It doesn’t help that you’re so massively cagey and paranoid, is it really surprising they had me watch you?”

Poppy laughed, head shaking in seeming disappointment. “It isn’t paranoia if people really are after you, dear Vos. If your Master wasn’t dead, he’d tell you the same…” He tensed up softly before immersing himself into the force to calm himself, the wound was still fresh. “Tell me, if you knew for a fact that there was a sith infiltrator in the Republic High Command, how many people would you trust? How many people would you let in on your plans? If you’d been personally attacked twice,” a tentacle snaked up around his neck, “would you let the noose tighten?”

“Damn my weakness…” He thought for a moment, “Fair enough, can’t really disagree with that. Force knows my Master was the same…” He admitted.

The tentacle released him. “And so, you know why I’m doing what I am. I’m aware of the risks, I fully expect those probe droids to have CIS spyware installed. I am also working to mitigate those risks as best I can. I wasn’t initially planning to involve you, but since you’re here already…”

Vos sighed, “And how can I trust that you’ll be doing this for the Republic?” He asked, frowning at her, “You haven’t exactly given me anything here.”

“True,” Poppy replied with a nod, “But how about I tell you, and you only, where I was after my impromptu kidnapping, hm? A gesture of trust from me to you. You tell no one, you let no one we even had this conversation. If you do either, I leave and consider the Jedi a lost cause.”

“Agreed,” Vos said.

Poppy told him.

Vos really wished he hadn’t agreed to her offer.

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