The Dark Academy on Korriban

"Good thing I'm not working with her then, I guess." She shrugged. Zash and her entourage had barely even shown up in her peripheral vision.

"Same." Another sip. "That Deathwright guy does though, apparently." He set the glass down, checked his comlink for messages, replaced it, and picked up the glass again.

"So you're thinking maybe he's complicit in Gerald's death?"

"Oh I'm sure he was." The beer was getting warm, but he didn't care. "Perhaps he'll suffer the same fate."

"I thought Gerald was with you? You saying you're going to leave things up to chance instead of doing something about it yourself?"

The Sith turned to look at Layne with a touch of exasperation and then very obviously looked around at all of the people on the bar.

"I'm saying, in this bar, that perhaps he will meet a horrible end." He sipped his beer. "Chance is for smugglers."

Well, hey now. It always helped to make sure, didn't it? In any case, she took a drink, seemingly unbothered by his exasperation.

"I hope there'll be pictures."

"Seems unlikely." He shrugged and sipped again. "We'll see how things turn out on Yavin."

"Hmmm..."

She shifted in her seat, making herself more comfortable.

"...what would you say if I said," she made sure the words were audible only to the two of them, "I actually know a bit more about what happened than I let on?"

Jo'ren looked at her and a thin smile crossed his face slowly. He raised his hand for another drink.

"I'd say you're full of surprises Layne Hoshin. I'm listening."

"Let's say that poor Gerry got sacrificed on purpose. For some kind of ritual that was discovered on an ancient holocron. And let's say he did not agree to the procedure. What would you think of that?"

He savoured the coldness of the beer, and the rage. "That would fit with some of the information I was given." He looked at her. "In more detail though. I did not know about the holocron, and guessed some of the rest." He gestured for her to continue.

"Well, I wasn't there myself. But I know the names of those who were. And I know that out of them, naturally, Deathwright was Zash's favorite. He was also the one who made sure Gerald was the one to die. All so that Zash could grow her power."

She leaned back, measuring his response.

His jaw clenched and he considered that for a few moments before replying. "Sounds right. Tragic and unnecessary, but believable." He raised an eyebrow at Layne. "So. Why are you sharing this with me?"

"He was your buddy, right?"

She shrugged and leaned back.

"I don't really care about Zash or Deathwright or whatever. But I thought you might want some revenge. I figured you might go and fight Deathwright. So then either he ends up dead, in which case there's one less pompous and annoying ass in this world... or you end up dead, in which case well, less competition and all. Same if you go after Zash, I guess. So I win either way, without really doing anything."

She closed her eyes for a moment as she stretched her neck.

"Besides, not even Gerry deserved what they turned him into."

"Yes, he was."

Jo'ren leaned a bit closer. "Just for future scheming, it generally works better when you don't give your cunning plan away from the get-go." He winked and sipped some more beer.

"Still, the honesty is refreshing, unlike this beer. Now: what do you mean by 'what they turned him into'? I heard he was disintegrated."

"Well for starters. I didn't give away anything at the start. And that was just me making sure you don't get distracted with pointless second-guessing about my motivations."

She took a sip again, finally.

"Also, you probably shouldn't chide people for telling you their cunning plans, then ask them for an explanation of a vital detail you missed out on."

Private Shim and his band take to the stage for the second time tonight and the crowd goes nuts as they start playing the crowd favorite, “We Are the Empire.” Shim takes lead hydro-guitar while Shyla does hydro-bass, they have an astromech droid to handle the drums and keyboard synth music.

“I've paid my dues,
Time after time,
I've done my sentence,
But committed no crime,
And bad mistakes,
I've made a few,
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face,
But I've come through!
We are the Empire, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end
We are the Empire,
We are the Empire,
No time for traitors,
'Cause we are the Empire of all worlds!”

He shrugged. "Probably not, but I'm trying to reciprocate your conversational style. Feel free to amaze me with your revelations though."

And then the band came on.

They rocked it.

It was Gerry's favourite song.

"You ever hear of a wound in the force?" She asked as the song played.

"Not until you said it." He sipped his beer.

"It's what she turned him into. It's how I know all this."

"A wound in the force. Guess I'll have to look that up in the library. Sounds bad though."

"He certainly didn't seem to enjoy it. It was like, a state of immortality. Locked between life and death. Only, with constant pain and suffering. I found him out in the valley."

"Worse than bad." He pulled out a data pad and set it on the bar. "Mind showing me where? If he's out there as some sort of weird force wound maybe there's something I can do."