Residential Level: Jade's Quarters

"Euh, well, let's just say it doesn't reflect well upon a corrupt government when a decorated war hero that they have attempted to turn into a poster-child fights back on the side of those wishing for reformation and a return to simpler days where honor was actually a valid rule of life."

Jade's green eyes glittered in a semi-predatory fashion as she looked over at Z'har.

"It's worse when that individual is of a well-established aristocratic family. Add to that an arranged marriage with the son of the chief of the secret service."

She bit her lip, thinking for a moment before continuing.

"Towards the end, my life was hell. So, when my ship and crew were sent on a suicide mission, we fought back and took as many of them with us as possible. Unfortunately, I survived."

She wasn't intending that 'unfortunately' to reflect upon her current circumstances, though at the time for a dedicated ship captain with a closely-knit command crew that was more family than her own blood, it had indeed been the reason of curses laid at the foot of the universe. Finally, she looked over at Z'har a bit ruefully,

"Not the typical rebellion I suppose?"

"They had already made one prior attempt through trickery and betrayal."

She paused for a moment.

"I survived, but my ship and crew did not."

Finishing her drink, she set the glass down, shifted Selaya, and got up. Carefully she moved over to where the Zabrak was sitting in the opposite chair and sat down on the floor next to him, legs curled under her and her head resting against the side of his leg. The vornskr ponderously got to her feet, stretched lazily, and then padded over and draped herself across Jade's lap. The diminutive female was dwarfed by the vornskr at the moment, but one hand rested lightly on the predatory feline's head.

"I don't really remember much else after that. I woke up on a freighter of a style unfamiliar to me, and from there was trained by the Jedi navigator on board. Years later, here I am."

"For me life had always been strictly regimented. After the death of my crew, in many ways closer than family to me, I desperately needed something bigger to belong to. The Jedi filled that position."

She closed her eyes, thinking back to that time.

"Later I wandered the galaxy. Some years after I became a Master I grew disillusioned with mainstream Jedi teachings. It seemed to me that there could be solutions to things that orthodox Jedi overlook."

Ael shrugged, "It was then that I wandered the galaxy."

It was a good thing that he was not able to see the gleam in her eyes as she replied, "Before. Much before. And calling it a 'palace' is a bit of a stretch."

"Though, Galantos was the end of my career as a mercenary," she finished as she reached up with one hand and pulled out her hairsticks, his gift to her on Etti IV, letting her black hair fall loose down her back.

"Old habits are hard to break," she replied with a smile, leaning back into his touch as he wove his fingers through her hair. It was a small gesture, but she was comfortable with him in a way that she had not known herself capable of being.

"I have to admit the idea of myself as a Vong warlord is entertaining in the extreme."

"Evidently Vong records are misleading. I'd've thought you'd require a scalpel," she riposted with a chilling glare of her own as Selaya rumbled a growl.

She shrugged finally, "I was thinking more of the look that must have crossed Darth Saurn's face when he realized that I had 50,000 Vong warriors at my back," she finished nonchalantly, before twisting half-around to look up at him. "I hadn't realized this was a 'desire' you've been secretly keeping hidden."

"Hmmm, and just how many people would have noticed do you think?" she queried, before laughing. "I was thinking more of the look upon Darth Saurn's face when he realized that he had not taken the time to perform proper reconnaissance before launching an attack into the heart of Gal'fian'deprisi. I think he expected to find a corrupt bureaucracy ready to fall under its own weight...not a city ruled in a semi-military fashion with a warrior for a governor. A governor who just happened to have an army at her command, as well as a working alliance with his own superiors." 

A broad smile twitched at her lips, though it faded quickly. She had salvaged the situation speedily, but not before paying some heavy losses.

"Well, I seem to remember that some Imperial officers carried a riding crop... although for a full-blown light-whip, I think Lumiya was the only one." 

She smiled over at him slowly.

"And have you thoroughly explored, Z'har? Are you sure you know what you're getting into?"

She twisted around from where she was sitting on the floor against his chair, and placed her hand on his knee.

She smiled, thinking that distracting him was relatively easy, even though he was fighting it now.

"Well, I was working as a mercenary for an old commander named Vin-Tiale. His business interests were spread out too far for his personal supervision, so he finally asked me to take on the governorship of Galantos as one of his people. I agreed for a nice sum of money. It seemed like something to do. I had a Vong army at my command on a ridiculous gelatinous planet. I acquitted my job well enough that when he retired, he left me there as governor in my own right reporting to myself."

She sighed.

"That was before you dropped in asking about a trade agreement."