Bankor

Z relaxed into the pilots chair of three drinks, hyper space could be mighty boring, and honestly provided him far too much time to think. The more time passed the more things that seemed to rattle around in his head.

Taking a sip from his glass he placed it to the side before pulling up the ships Comms, scrolling through the list of people before landing on one labeled simply 'Princess'. Dmiling to himself, he placed the call. Wondering, one if she would pick up, and two if she would wonder how he got her contact info.

The call was answered in almost an instant. "Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?" she asked. Her voice was courteous but only just; anyone who knew her could tell that it was a fake warmth. Claire had always been a woman of business.

"Oh come on Claire, are you saying you don't already know who this is?" Zan replied, his own tone warm. "It's Z though, if you couldn't tell."

"It's been a while, so I figured I would check in on SIS's very own princess." A slight clinkcould be heard as he took a sip of his drink. "So, how have you been Claire?"

"I see," she said. All the friendly decorum vanished in her voice. "I have no idea where you get the 'princess' thing from. Anyways, I do have a lot of work to do... Although I imagine you have something important to tell me."

"Captain A, Niall." Z offered in response. "He told me you were a princess, I just took him at his word."

"Work? I figured you'd be off to Bankor by now, you are filling Matthias's shoes after all."

"Nothing you probably don't already know. Just how the republic is doing things might be bringing in some unsavory folks. Mercenaries, and not the type you can trust to stay bought."

"Captain Organa said that?" She remained silent on the line and then let out a sigh. "I suppose I will have to keep that in mind next time I see him.

"Now who told you that Bankor was my destination? That is correct, anyhow. I have no reason to deny it. As for the mercenaries, it's not my decision to include them or not. I would rather not worry about them at all but the job speaks otherwise."

"Tell him I said hi next time you see him." Zane returned cheerfully, before taking another sip of his drink.

"Do you really expect me to give to any names without any concessions Claire?" Though it was nice of her to confirm what he'd heard only by rumor. "That's how it goes from time to time. I'd name a few to be wary of if they show up, but you likely don't need my help with that."

"Uhuh," she said to the request. That was her way of saying no.

"I don't like any mercenaries, Zanebry. With them, you take all of the negative aspects of the military and leave out the good. That being said, yes, there are many that are of concern. That's part of the job, as you know."

He chuckled lightly at that. "I'd say the mercenaries are just more likely to be obvious about how they work. I've met more then enough military people over the years to know that most of them aren't much better. Enough are to make a difference, usually. But often enough the scum rise to the top."

"How else would we end up with a Senator like Durasay Mixo?"

"But yeah, you know the job as well as anyone. Just figured I'd warn you a bit, you don't tend to like surprises."

The woman stayed eerily silent on the topic of corruption within the Republic's ranks until she was ready to speak. "Well, no one is immune, Zanebry. I'm sure you heard what happened to Ras Urdo."

She let out a slight chuckle. "Are you really looking out for me or are you after something for yourself?"

"Yeah, I heard." That had been a cluster fuck all on it's own. "bad business from what I heard,but seems like it was taken care of before too much damage was done." He shook his head, though it obviously meant little to the woman on the other line. "Seems like there is always one fire or another to put out."

He had to laugh a bit himself at her question. "There is something to be gained from every conversation Claire, you should know that. But do I seem the type to try and gain information from a Lady that won't even say hi to a mutual acquaintance for me?"

"Nature of the job, Zanebry," she mused again. "By-the-book is the ideal but it rarely works out that way."

She wasn't able to hold back a laugh of her own. "Sometimes what you learn is that it isn't worth conversing with an someone again. But say this is out of the kindness of your heart or whatever. Why me, then? I figured you'd be looking out for Naveera." She scoffed. "I'm sure Vera Ordo would love the attention."

"Well, I cant say I've been doing anything by the book for years now. so I really can't comment on that." Even when he had been SIS, the book hardly ever got involved either though.

"Quite true, as for why I can't really say... Maybe because we were friends once? Kind of? Co-workers at the very least, and something just feels wrong about this. Bankor that is, not that I can put a finger of what exactly." He lifted his glass to his lips, the subtle clink of ice on glass giving away what he was doing. "Naveera and I haven't talked in a bit honestly... We had a bit of a disagreement about what retirement entailed, and so we parted ways..."

"As for Vera... Well. I thought it would be funner to surprise her."

"I'm a professional, Zanebry. You, on the other hand... I cannot quite place it. It's like a lifestyle for you." She let out a cynical chuckle. "It makes trouble follow you, wherever you go. And that, in turn, causes me trouble whenever you come along."

She sighed, her annoyance seeping through the call. "Don't tell you coming to Bankor too then? How else would you see Vera?" The SIS handler shifted tone, though, over their mutual friend Naveera. "She's too soft-hearted. I always found it strange to see her do so well as a field operative with that sort of compassion."

"It's not like I go out of the way to cause trouble for you Claire, you are right though... This like is quite a bit of who I am, I'm not entirely sure I can leave it behind. At this point I think it's follow me like all that trouble if I tried."

"I'm surprised it took you this long to put that together." Z replied with a soft chuckle. "I thought I was being pretty obvious." There was a few moments of silence as he he the time to formulate his own response. "You're right there, she was good at what she did despite her kindness. Though I am glad she retired when she did. Too much longer and she might be like some of the other operatives I've met, on the verge of being compromised."

"Here's hoping she can find something new, someone new. to make her happy."

"Of course you're not trying to burden me. But you still do." She shook her head, though like it had been for Zanebry, it was a moot point. "If you settled down on a planet like Dantooine, then it'd all be gone. The troubles would continue, sure, but you wouldn't be an omen anymore."

She scoffed. "This is exactly why I don't like you. You're a wild card. I had thought you might have just been feeling drunk and lonely."

The woman opened a bottle of her own and poured it into a glass. "For Naveera, I could do this. Only for her though." She flicked her drink for the man to hear and took a sip.

After a sigh, she took a deep breath. "If she asks how it is on Bankor, lie to her. Tell her it's one of the milk runs."

He repressed the urge to shudder. "You're going to give me nightmares with talk like that. What would I even do? Farm? I think I'd last an entire three weeks before I went stir crazy. Then I'd be playing spy games with the neighbors..."

"Lonely is part of the business." Zane replied with a amused smile. "I was just trying to be polite, and not surprise you."

He repeated the motion, so she could hear is before taking a sip of his own. "Of course, Claire." The gambler offered simply. "Last thing I want is her to rush here, she's not suited to a warzone."

"Yeah, a farm. And then there would be a ton of little versions of you running around the galaxy. On second thought, perhaps for the best that you'll never settle down."

The woman chucked. "Right. If I had the resources, I'd ask to keep tabs on you. But Imperial Intelligence gives me much more than I could ever ask for. So if you're listening in on this, you Imp bastards, then go fuck yourselves."

She took another pause to drink her own liquor. "Her speciality was always in infiltration and she is not the Mandalorian type. You and I were always more hands on, aren't we?" She then scoffed. "Yeah. We got results. But now you're a loose cannon."

"You never know, there might be a couple of those already." Zane replied teasingly. Though, he wasn't sure how he felt about that fact.

"I would hope they had better things to do, honestly speaking. You know how they are though. They'll listen in on anything."

"Yeah, she always tended to keep her hands clean." He agreed with a smirk. "Not a easy task either." Not when Matthias was in charge at least. "I suppose you're right, I am a bit of a loose cannon. At least until someone tries to hire me again."

"Leave it to you to be careless." She let out a soft sigh. Those kids, fictional or not, were never going to have much time with a father like Zanebry.

Claire shook her head, which meant nothing to the man on the other end. "They are fanatics. It makes them useful for the Imperial cause. The Republic operates differently though, both in goal and methods.

"Did she ever kill somebody? Logically she must have but I can't picture her doing that." She took a gulp, followed by an audible sigh. "Yeah, she definitely had. Hopefully never again. Anyways, who would even hire you?"

"In not really that careless, Claire. But you know how it is, sometimes people lie." She could likely understand that much. "At the very least, I've never got any calls."

"Yeah, you're right about that. The republic does operate differently." He smirked and shook his head. "I haven't seen it, but she's set some guys up. Had that sniper Luth take care of the actual kills, but yeah I can't imagine her never killing someone... Not that I let her go that far if I was around. But yeah, hopefully never again."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "All kinds of people hire me, at least temporarily. Hell, I could probably find my way back into the SIS, if I really wanted. Not that you would be happy about that would you."

"Some people are not right in the head." The woman cracked a smile, one unseen to the man. "One of us is in this conversation right now."

Claire set the glass back down, audible enough to be caught. "How could she, anyways? She always packed the smallest sidearms. I can't imagine she could take out anyone other than a Jawa.

"Are you mentioning a position at the SIS just to mess with me? You wouldn't come back."

"The who of that is likely entirely up to who you ask. I don't think I'd ever want your job..." He remarked with a shake of his head.

"Some of those pack more then a punch then you'd think. Not that she often had much of a place for anything larger though." The way she dressed had benefits, as well as drawbacks.

"Maybe... I considered it honestly, with Matthais gone, Naveera encouraged me to try at least. Coming back would of meant her staying though. I didn't want that."

Claire gave a small scoff and said nothing more on the topic of their sanity.

"It wouldn't do much good here, anyways. Some Mandalorians can take a blaster rifle as if it's a light punch. Thankfully, their reputation can often be overstated. The one's we hear about are on the higher end of their people's capabilities."

The SIS handler nodded along. "Right. Always the gentleman, Sir Zanebry Varliss. Did you see too many romantic holovids growing up?"

"Yeah, that's the truth. The right ones are a tough lot, the rest not much better then your common mercenary." Hopefully they wouldn't meet very many of the tough ones.

"You can blame my mother, Your Highness. She did her best to make us almost presentable in public. I imagine a little of it stuck." He smirked. "Of course it doesn't help that I respect the classics. Stuff like Vera Hawke just doesn't hold my interest."