Mercenary Politique Pt 10

By Armand Banooni and Dora Furlong



"Good"

"Where do I take it when I have it.  Here?"

Once again Tara scrolled through the Holo Maps, "You will rendezvous with me 
here."  

Lon noted the position on the map.  "I see." He also noted it was a
small, low population, out of the way planet. 

"Do you have plans to the building?  Information on
security protocols?"

She looked at him with a sideways stare, "No." The not able to hold
back her irritation with the question, "you aren't breaking into the
place...just picking up the package you dangers lie elsewhere."

"So you don't think knowing the place well in case of a problem, and
knowing an alternate route out is a good idea?" He shot back at her.

She thought about the things her father would have done to her if she
had requested security plans and building maps from her employers.
Good mercs always obtained that info on their own, unless the
employer owned or had other similar interests in the building. Then
it would make sense for the employer to have the building
information. Suddenly Tara smiled, deciding to cover her lost temper,
"Forgive me Solo...I am a force user so I have certain...advantages
on these issues...you will, of course do what you think is best. I do
not have the plans to this building. I am certain you will manage to
find them."

Lon waved her off.  "No apology necessary.  Like I said, I believe in
being cautious.  What are these other dangers?"

'Good.' She thought to herself, 'back on track.' and aloud, "Well
someone may try to stop you after you make pick up."

"What level of opposition should I expect?  Is this something that
would be handled discreetly or with an all out force?"

Tara laughed, imagining the CSA sending a fleet after him, not
likely, "Not an all out force as you might expect from the empire it
would be more discreet.  That does not mean that there would or would
not be a rather large number of individuals to contend with. I
honestly have no idea. But then we have covered this ground already."

Lon smiled mischeviously.  "Anything else I should know?" 

Tara chuckled, knowing what was coming next, "I have told you everything I 
can."

"So," He began, "I guess just one thing remains."

"Yes?"  

"Oh come now Tara you know."

She chuckled again, "One and a half times the going rate."

"For something that both the Empire and Alliance want?" 

Tara's smile widened, "I never said that both wanted it. I said it
was larger than both of them."

"Very well." He replied, "Something they both would want."

Tara dropped the smile, her features now turning into annoyance,
"Again you misinterpret what I say...very well   you aren't
interested.."

He interrupted her, this time he was annoyed, "You keep saying that."

"You keep making it sound as if you aren't." She retorted.

"Isn't this the part when we negotiate?"  

Many different cynicisms touched her tongue, but she bit them all
back, then smiled. He was either intentionally trying to manipulate
her by twisting her words or he was very new to the game, "I wasn't
aware twisting my words around was part of the negotiation process."

"I like to think of it as adding interpretation not
to what you do say but to what you don't...er...can't"

"Yes well you don't do the interpretation
justice...the threat is not from the empire or the alliance."

Lon Shrugged, "Hey," he started, "I'm just making it up.  So now there is
one party definitely interested, aside from you, and two that could
be.  How am I doing?" 

Tara's heart stopped cold, he had just confirmed her suspicions.  Now how
to gracefully withdraw the offerâ^À¦ "I see...making it up..." 

Lon could tell that he may have hit too close to the mark, or at least was 
making Tara begin to feel like he might have other plans for the box once her 
got it.  It would be well within the M.O of some mercs to turn around as 
resell something of value, cutting out the middle man.  With a look more 
serious than he had adopted since they had met and a tone devoid of his 
general humor he turned to her.  "Tara. I would not even consider picking 
this up
and trying to resell it.  I don't work that way.  And this is beside
the fact that I wouldn't want to have you as an enemy."

She watched him closely as he spoke and remained quiet for some time.
She was hardly concerned about him reselling it...but now that he had
mentioned it...no, she was more concerned about something else,  "Are
you sure this is something you can handle?"

"Which answer do you want.  The Bravado one or the
truthful one?" 

Avoiding anything that might resemble a glare, she looked at him
levelly, "I'd know if you were lying."

"Then you'll know that I believe I stand a reasonable chance of pulling
this off.  I'm confident that I'm good at what I do and I will do my
best if I am hired.  Beyond that, unlike some force users, I can't
tell the future."

She chuckled at his last comment and found irony, unknown to him, in
it, "And if I thought this was beyond your ability, then I wouldn't
have suggested I would hire you..." She breathed in deeply, hoping
she wasn't about to make a mistake.  "Fine twice the going rate...and
I am NOT open to more negotiations on this." She was tired and wanted
this conversation over with," You are either interested or you aren't."

He considered saluting her but it wasn't quite the time to push things.  
Maybe a little bit later.  "Yes ma'am." He replied.



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