The Puppeteer

[leb]

The QIA Headquarters were always buzzing, the building was an anthill like no other, but often the halls of the admin wing were dark after-hours, but today, was different, and the Director's office had a desklight on...

Inside the dark office, Gareth Ryyne sat at his desk over a datapad, a filter-less cigarette burnt nearly to his fingertips smouldering, his tie loosened and his top-button undone, and his hair, slightly disheveled, as he looked at the pad pensively.

After long moments of reading Gareth looked forward to the high-backed chair, where another cloud of thick smoke arose from, Gareth put the cigarette, one of a great many, out in the ashtray, and then spilled another out of the rumpled softpack that sat at his elbow, it was the last one, and he pulled a beam lighter and brought it to his lips, the lighter in his other had as he looked at the other smoker...

"This is quite a lot you ask for...with the Nubian Government in a state of flux, this request is going to put us on the edge"

The high-backed chair only yielded more smoke...

"Tell me...what is it I could possibly offer you...", Gareth stopped to light the cigarette, inhaling rather deeply as he layed the light down, "...that you can't get from the Jedi?"

The high-backed chair yielded somke, and then a deep-baritone voice...

"Everything..."

[leb]

Gareth Ryyne had to drag himself back into his office after a rather unnerving encounter, and he sat down in his desk, opening a drawer to pull out a bottle of eight year old whiskey from Dantooine, pouring it into a glass from his desk, it was a juice glass, but who cared? He needed, NEEDED a drink at the moment. He was far too close to what the old man wanted...a darksider, one of immense power no less. He was used to getting into close calls, he had been shot, but this was insane, even for him...

...Rahll...fracking RAHLL! He had run into one of the most dangerous men, if not THE most dangerous man in the galaxy...

After gathering himself a little and formulating the info...he began typing a report...and he would make sure that the old man knew...this was too close, but the frightening part was, Rahll was not the target....if not him, who...?