Auld Acquaintance ((RP for emperors_hand))

[the_starkiller]

OOC: Follows this thread.

Galen pulled at his collar, trying to get himself some breathing room. Ten seconds later, he did it again, to just as little effect. He understood that it was a losing battle, trying to get comfortable in this new skin, but it wasn't one he was willing to give up just yet. With more than a little chagrin, Galen realized just how well that idea summed up most of his life.

As he and Mara approached the hotel, Galen's eyes picked out at least two entry points they could have used without rousing the least bit of suspicion. A little push of the Force to influence a few lazy-looking security guards and they could have been inside the hotel and free to roam almost totally undetected. But no, for once, it was Mara whose plan involved a kind of frontal assault: walking in the front doors of the ballroom with forged invitations.

He felt like the country cousin, invited to the big city. If Galen had been from one of the backwater Rim planets like Tattooine , he couldn't have felt more out of place in his stiffly-ironed tunic and trousers, tall leather boots that were so new they almost creaked with every step, and a collar that felt as though it were digging into the skin under his chin. Mara, for her part, not only looked stunningly beautiful, but utterly at home. If he hadn't known better-- and, truth be told, have been having particularly enthusiastic sex with her on a regular basis since leaving the medical ship-- he would never have recognized her.

They were ushered into the main ballroom and Galen gratefully took an offered glass of some bubbling alcoholic drink. As he raised it to his lips, he thought he caught a familiar silhouette out of the corner of his eye. Shaking the phantom off to nerves, he glanced back at Mara. "I hear Rion VII isn't one hundred percent stable, tectonically. The whole hotel could be leveled in seconds and no one would suspect," he whispered, half-joking.

Comments

[emperors-hand.insanejournal.com]

Mara had smiled and curtsied to the right gentlemen on the way in, made notes of the entire floor plan compared to the one she'd memorized before going in, and then remembered Galen finally. It was his first mission undercover, and she felt the nerves running through him. She took a glass of the liquor and placed a hand over his reassuringly with a smile.

"You're doing great," she whispered so only he could hear, then answered his question. "And yes, I've heard those rumors, too. Simply rumors, sadly." After all, this was their main mission for the Emperor. He wanted them to work together and wanted this mission to see how the diplomats were acting in public compared to private, as well as their financial situations. Hence, the reason they were there at the ball instead of simply sneaking inside.

Mara's part was to act the role of the Duchess and learn what she could from certain men, distracting them as well so Galen could sneak into their offices. She'd had the plan the other way around at first, but figured he would be better at breaking and entering than mingling undercover.

"Stop playing with the collar," she added as she sipped her drink casually, then followed his eye line. Her eyes turned to his with an eyebrow raised. "Is something else the matter?"

[emperors-blade.insanejournal.com]

There was a new, unfamiliar and very different tension in the air of Mara's ship. Galen could feel it pulling taut between them, feeling different in almost every way from the hot, red vibrations when his Dark Side energies met hers. He didn't know it, didn't understand it, but didn't want to make it go away, either. Mara's touch was as light as a whisper over his closed eyes, and it made Galen's heart stop for a moment. What were they doing? What was going on?

All he knew was that even as questioned and now malleable as Mara's connection to Palpatine was, it was still there for her, along with her belief in the Empire. At least, that was his assumption. Galen had nothing and no one, and didn't know what he'd do without Mara.

Mara's lips against his warmed him, an entirely new warmth. He leaned away, glancing down only long enough to key in their destination into the navicomputer. He could feel the ship's engines beginning to hum and power up. "Thirty-two hours to R'alla," he whispered, then stood close enough again to Mara to feel her against his chest. "What would you... like to..." Galen's voice trailed off, uncertain.