| As Long As There Is Hope by Jemmiah |
| "Well, are you going to sit down?" Nadine patted the bed, with its silky sheets and satin pillows, crinkling the fabric as alluringly as possible. "Or perhaps you have something else in mind?" "I do, as it happens." Admitted Qui-Gon, determined not to be phased by her routine. "Sounds entertaining." Nadine cocked a dark eyebrow. "Do elaborate." Qui-Gon walked slowly towards her, regarding the long, curled strands of hair and admiring the way it hung around either side of her pale neck like a caliginous, layered curtain. Here was somebody with a ready wit to match the attractive frame that housed it, someone whose eyes spoke of intelligence and knowledge. Not for the first time since arriving on Nargotria had he wondered how some of the flotsam - real people and not 'things' as the guards would believe - had ended up stranded here in the back of beyond. He stood immediately before her, seizing her up as best he could. "Direct and to the point." Qui-Gon countered with a grim smile. "I want to talk." "Talk?" Nadine frowned. "As in speak? Conversation?" "That is generally what the word means, yes." Qui-Gon made as if to sit down beside her on the bed. "May I?" "You know what they say. Talk is cheap. I'm not!" she grinned at him. "By all means be seated. You may as well be comfortable whilst you…probe away." She finished with a wink. "I mean what I say. I need to speak to you." Qui-Gon replied, not taking his eyes off her from one moment. "Your name was given to me by a lady within this establishment…" "Who?" Nadine asked sharply. "A woman by the name of Vernice." Qui-Gon made a study of Nadine's face as the name was mentioned. There was a flicker of recognition followed by a degree of puzzlement. "I know who you mean. New girl. Eyelashes out to here," she gestured appropriately, "chest out to here and legs up to here!" Nadine finished at the bottom of her ear lobes. "Although why she was 'good enough' to mention my name I don't know." "Because," Qui-Gon responded carefully, "she said you see things that go on and that you observe very well." "That's just common sense." Nadine shrugged. "Take it in and keep it to yourself." "That is a frightful waste of information if you don't mind me saying." Qui-Gon commented. "I do mind you saying." Nadine stood up. "I keep my head down and my eyes and ears open. That's the way I want it to stay." She began to walk towards the door before. "I have no intention of revealing anything to one of Merdan's spies, thank you. I don't have time to chat. I'm a prostitute, not a marriage guidance counselor." "I need your help." Qui-Gon insisted firmly, watching her slide to a halt. "My help?" she frowned. "Why do I smell a big and particularly nasty rat?" "No rats, I promise." Jinn held up his hand in defense. "The only rats you will find are the animals who keep you here." Nadine's frown deepened in consternation. This was not what she had been expecting when the call had first been put through to her. Usually customers were all over her like a rash within moments of their first meeting but this one only wanted to talk? Not that she wasn't grateful, but to say the least it had taken her by surprise. Why should someone deliberately seek her out? Why had her name been mentioned? If there was one thing that Nadine did not like it was a mystery… "Fine words from a stranger who buys women for pleasure." She raised her chin up in a high, imperious manner and placed her hands on her hips. "I have done nothing of the kind." Qui-Gon indicated the room with his hands. "All I have done is expressed a will to talk. All you have done is denigrated me for not doing what you expected me to." "A man with a sense of repartee." Nadine's lips held a certain amount of amusement. "A rare thing indeed." She walked back to where he still remained seated on the bed, looking him over. "What is it you wish to talk about?" she asked at length. "A woman by the name of Inga Calton. An envoy of the Chancellor." Qui-Gon gazed back at her unblinkingly. Nadine felt her mouth threatening to gape open until she stopped herself. "Who are you?" she insisted. "And don't give me any kriffing lies! I know enough about men to fill a thousand libraries and I can smell a lie at fifty paces!" "Along with the rats?" Qui-Gon asked sweetly. "I mean what I say." She continued, her voice a throaty growl completely devoid of her earlier playfulness. "What I can and won't tell you depends exactly on what you say to me next, so be warned." The man seemed to take his time in answering and Nadine realized he was already picking his way through the minefields of their future conversation. This one was not to be trifled with. "My name is Qui-Gon Jinn. I am a Jedi Master from Coruscant." He said eventually. "My mission was to find out what happened to Inga Calton. That is all: nothing more and nothing less. I mean no harm. I just need the answer to my question and then I can be on my way as if I had never been here on Nargotria." "No harm?" Nadine's face betrayed her skeptical feelings. "Just by being here you are putting us at risk! If what you are saying is true then you will not be the only one to suffer here, you may be assured of that." "You are afraid of Mr. Merdan?" Jinn asked her. "I hardly think you'd call me stupid if I admitted it. He's a different breed to the animals that populate this place. He's shrewd and sharp as a tack. He doesn't make mistakes. If he has problems then it's with the idiots he is forced to employ." "Interesting." Qui-Gon noted, casually. "But that doesn't help me very much. What about Inga Calton. You know about her, don't you?" Nadine nodded slowly, not particularly wanting to recollect the memory. "Didn't want to work with us. I can understand that…a nice lady from the Capital. Why should she? But others have had more sense in the past to know when to back down on their principles. Everyone here has done that in some form or other. Except for maybe…" "The Corellian girl." Interrupted Qui-Gon. "How did you know about her?" Nadine bristled protectively at the mention of Jemmiah. "I was told of her existence by Vernice…or Master Ashdal, if you prefer." He watched her face contort in surprise. "Another Jedi?" she blinked. "You'd never know it to look at her. Kriffing hell, pardon my vile Corellian tongue! She doesn't much look like a lady! There's someone who is obviously prepared to compromise on principles." She looked impressed. "She hasn't done anything of the sort." Qui-Gon stated calmly. "No? Well, maybe they do things differently in the temple from what I imagined!" Nadine tossed her hair behind her head. She leaned forward, hands clasped. "Listen to me, jedi master. Your envoy is dead. What is left of her is currently feeding the crows and the sniper birds at the bottom of Kilmartra. Better get used to it and better get out of here before you get us all killed." ******** Obi-Wan looked up at the chrono on the wall, feeling rather puzzled. The time that the Corellian girl had stipulated had passed by over fifteen minutes ago and there was STILL no sign of her. He supposed that she must somehow have been caught up with her chores, at least he hoped that was the case. The idea that she might have that brutish guard following her around made Obi-Wan's natural short temper spike alarmingly. Working hard to calm himself down he shot another look at the chrono to make certain that his eyes were not playing tricks on him before deciding to give her another ten minutes. Then he would worry. Picking up the stick in one hand, Obi-Wan rolled the balls back out of the pockets and onto the table again by using the force, praying that Jemmiah would appear soon. There was only so much Febbalo a person could stand. ********* "Let me understand this." Merdan regarded the utterly mortified looking Corellian girl, circling her as he talked in dangerously hushed tones. "You say that my property has been damaged?" "Yes, sir." Jemmy nodded humbly. "And perhaps you would like to explain how it came to be damaged?" Merdan didn't so much as blink. Jemmiah swallowed. "Mr. Keleskladt did it, sir." The answer seemingly did puzzle Rufus Merdan, because he was wearing an expression the like that Jemmiah had never seen on his face before. He appeared genuinely astonished but whether that was a good thing or a bad thing Jemmy didn't want to guess. It had taken five minutes of hovering outside the door before she had dared to knock, and even then it had been such a tentative effort that he hadn't even heard her first time. The look on his face when he had heard her instantly conveyed the fact that he was not happy with the disturbance and that her reason for causing such a clamor had better be very good indeed… "You saw this happen?" Merdan stared down at her with those piercing grey eyes that held Jemmiah mesmerized. "Yes, sir." "Explain. From the beginning." He demanded. "Sir," Jemmy tried to breathe as normally as she dared, willing herself not to stammer, "I went to your office. I…I had a message to give you from one of the guests. I didn't think you would be there but I thought that I might as well try first." "Which guest?" Merdan asked quickly. Jemmiah's throat felt very dry indeed. It was a blatant lie made in a state of near panic but Jemmiah knew it would get her caught eventually. Still, she was desperate to explain her presence in his office so early on. If she had no excuse then she was as good as dead now… "Logan." She swallowed. "He said he wanted to discuss something with you." "Did he say what?" Merdan asked her, a measure of slyness creeping into his voice. Jemmy shook her head and to her astonishment Merdan seemed to accept her story - for the time being. "Very well. Continue." He ordered her. "Well, sir. I could tell that you were not there and I was about to leave when I thought that I might as well put my cleaning things in your room, seeing as how I would be back there in an hour or so. I opened the door and went in. Then I went over to the shelves…then I heard this noise." Jemmiah caught her breath. "It was Mr. Keleskladt and two other men. I don't know how they got in, sir. I locked the door behind myself as usual but I heard the bolts draw back…and I got scared and hid under the desk." Merdan looked at her for what seemed like a lifetime. "Why were you scared?" he asked. "B-because I wasn't supposed to be there so early." Jemmy didn't quite meet his eyes and focussed more on his shoulder. She hoped she wasn't shaking, or if she were that Merdan wouldn't see it. "And then what happened?" Rufus hooked his fingers into the sides of his trouser pants and leaned back heavily on one leg, a gesture that screamed out to Jemmiah that he wasn't entirely convinced with her excuse as yet. She had many, many years of reading Merdan's body language. She could always tell when to hide and when to look away. How she wished she could look away right now. "I curled up and pulled my things with me so that I wouldn't be seen." Jemmiah almost failed to recall the sequence of events because she was so scared of what Merdan was going to say, and it took her a moment to straighten out her thoughts coherently. "Then the three of them came in and looked round your office. They started talking, sir." "What did they say?" he asked brusquely. This time Jemmiah could feel herself shaking. "Mr. Keleskladt said that they could take over the place if they managed to get to the armory. They were looking for guns and stuff to bargain with. He said he wanted to win the other men over and that you…" she felt her face drain of blood. "…wouldn't be missed if you weren't there." Merdan's whole body stiffened visibly as if he'd been electroshocked. Still the eyes didn't blink, only the tightening of his lips and the increased rise and fall of his chest giving away how he really felt. He'd had his eye on Keleskladt for quite a while now. The man was good for basic brutality and keeping order but very little else. He was another Levinstowe in the making: a small-minded, over confident and ambitious fool - only with less common sense. Then again, common sense had very little to do with organizing coups. Keleskladt had very little respect from the other men. Only those who saw him as a possible promotion ticket might side with him and Merdan decided he would soon put a stop to that… "Go on." Merdan frowned. "What next?" "They searched for the key to the armory but didn't find anything. They were about to search the desk," Jemmy quaked at the memory, "when Mr. Keleskladt thought he heard a noise and pushed the other men out. I think he thought maybe you had come back, sir." "Indeed." Merdan turned the information over in his mind, sifting it for flaws and faults. "What about the other two men. Did you see them?" "No, sir. I only heard them. I…I saw their boots." She added hopefully. "One of them had a big scratch across the front, in white." Merdan stood so still that Jemmiah wondered if he had actually died. What everyone said about him was true. He had a very quick mind and he truly trusted nobody. Nadine said that was what made him so dangerous. But if everyone stood against him, surely he would be beaten? Jemmiah guessed that this was exactly what Merdan was thinking right now. "You and I are the only people on this planet that have keys to my office. I keep mine on my person at all times. How do you account for Keleskladt getting in to the room?" Merdan asked her coldly. "I…I don't know sir. I keep mine with me when I work, and beside me night when I sleep…" she felt her white face begin to flame excruciatingly under his gaze. "Did Keleskladt ever get into your room?" Merdan's pale gaze continued to intimidate her. Jemmy bit her lip and nodded. "Could he have got the key and replaced it later on?" he persisted. "Yes, sir." Jemmiah almost turned away from him. "Our doors don't have locks, sir." "You should put a chair behind the door." Merdan snorted. "I do sir. It doesn't make him very happy though." She showed him the bruising down one side of her leg underneath the stockings she was forced to wear. "So I see." Was Merdan's only comment. He was a rational man and a cold man. Clinical. He hated unnecessary waste but when something needed to be done that was an end to it. He was a businessman, looking for a profit wherever possible. Nobody told him what to do or how to run his venture, or quite simply they were put out of the way. Levinstowe had learned the hard way. Merdan's only grievance was that the man still lived…but one day he would take care of that. Keleskladt was a thug who got things done but that was all. That made him replaceable and expendable. It made him dead. "You can prove your claims." Merdan asked her dispassionately. "Y-yes sir." Jemmiah nodded. "I left everything as it was. Their boot marks are on the floor." "Good." Merdan answered crisply, suddenly all business like. There was a fiery gleam in his eye that Jemmy did not care for one little bit. "Then I suggest that we go their to evaluate the evidence and then…" he stared directly at her, "I will decide how to act." Jemmiah didn't care if he saw her shiver or not. She was just too frightened to think. ************* "Let me tell you something about Rufus Merdan." Nadine lowered her voice not out of reverence but purely out of eight years of being extremely careful. "He's a phenomena. And I don't say that because I'm his biggest fan, believe me. He's an unusual man in this day and age. He's cold hearted and has very little in the way of compassion. He's committed some terrible crimes in this place." She tapped at the side of her head. "But he's got more brains and cunning than I have ever seen in one human being. He also has some standards." She saw Qui-Gon's brow wrinkle slightly. "Surprises you, does it?" "It does, frankly. Especially after the things I have been told." Jinn considered for a moment. "He doesn't strike me as particularly moral." "He isn't. He has his own rules. THAT'S his morality. No doubt it will see us all dead eventually." Nadine's face darkened at the thought. "But for all his seeming inhumanity he has been known to take our side against his guards if there is enough evidence to back us up. Not like that swine Keleskladt." Nadine spat in disgust. "His idea of chivalry is never to strike a woman across the face." She chuckled hollowly, running her fingers through her dark hair. "So he just kicks the hell out of people from the chest down. He'll get his one day, no doubt of it." "Does Merdan have any weaknesses?" Qui-Gon asked Nadine. "I need to know incase I find myself in a position where I have to bargain." "Merdan doesn't know the meaning of the word. He won't deal unless there's something major in it for him. He's like a child in that sense. He'd rather break his own toy than share it with another kid. Don't expect to make any deals with Merdan. Compromise is a word unknown to him. If he wants something he will go out of his way to make sure he gets it." "He sounds more and more enchanting with every moment that passes." Jinn said dryly. Nadine looked at him, trying to read his thoughts. "I'm sorry about your envoy." She shrugged slightly. "She did seem like a genuinely nice person. A real waste of life…" "Indeed it is." Qui-Gon sighed. "I believe the Chancellor will be genuinely grieved to hear of her demise." "Will he send people here to get us out?" Nadine asked him, hanging on his every word. "I don't know…it is a possibility." Qui-Gon agreed. "If this scandal was revealed to the senate I believe the Chancellor would be forced to do something. Although if rumors are to be believed there are those who consider the senate to be just as corrupt as any of your Keleskladts and Merdans." "Oh, I can well believe that." Nadine examined her exquisitely painted fingernails. "I was going to say that it would be best if nobody was sent to find us. The moment Merdan thinks we have been tumbled here I hate to think what he will do. It won't be pretty, that's for sure." Qui-Gon took a large breath before making his next inquiry. He'd seen the way that Nadine had reacted the last time he'd swung the conversation around. He had to tread carefully or risk losing his one source of information. "What about the girl?" he asked cautiously, watching Nadine's eyes begin to narrow. "Jemmiah, isn't it?" "What about her?" she asked guardedly. "What is she to you?" "I was wondering how it is that a child of what, nine? Ten, is it?" he tried to recollect Vernice's words, "came to be stranded in a place like this. I'll admit I was rather concerned to hear that somebody of that age was here at all. Has she nobody here at all to care for her?" "We all care for her." Nadine's words came so quickly on the tail of his own that they almost overlapped. "We've all cared for her ever since her mother died three years back. Each one of us has tried to watch out for her and make sure she comes to as little harm as possible." She wetted her lips nervously. "As you will appreciate that hasn't always been possible, but we have done our best. Even tried to give her a basic education, you know?" Nadine found herself laughing at that too. "Again, it wasn't always successful!" "She sounds like she's a credit to your hard work." Qui-Gon offered her a complimentary smile. "It would be better so if she were free to put our hard work to good use. That way I might feel I had actually achieved something with my life." She turned a pair of hopeful, begging eyes on him so suddenly that the transformation from protective guardian to pleading, incautious friend took him by surprise. "Take her with you." She entreated him with her eyes. "She's little and she won't be any bother…it's not right that she is suffering here with us. And she's sick." Her face became a mask of despair. "Once Merdan finds out for certain that will be an end to it. Please, take her out!" "Won't Merdan miss her?" Qui-Gon asked. "Not at first." She spends most of her time in the kitchens. Sometimes days can go by without her being noticed. We could make it look like she has somehow got away and hidden somewhere outside. They need never know…" "Would she want to go away with strangers?" Qui-Gon wondered. "Leave behind the people that she knows?" "She'll kriffing well do as I tell her!" Nadine laughed. "She won't want to shame me by staying behind. Besides which," her voice became a mere whisper, "she won't have a choice much longer." Qui-Gon had already decided to do what he could but the cold logic of her words and the way she had been prepared to sacrifice so much for the youngster might very well have tipped the balance in her favor. Nadine was correct: this was no place for a child to grow up. What choice did he have? Defy the council once more? That was no hardship for him, he had done that many times. If he did not and he and Obi-Wan and Vernice all got home safely would he be able to spend a single day from now until the rest of his life wondering what had ever become of the young lady that had so enchanted his colleague and befriended his padawan? He knew the answer would be a resounding 'no'. "What is this girl like?" Qui-Gon asked, curiously. "I've heard two separate accounts and as yet nothing that seems to fix her in my mind." "Jemmiah?" Nadine paused, considering. "She's usually full of ideas. Full of energy. Creative. Likes her own way but isn't afraid to back down if she knows she's wrong. A loyal sort of kid, but sometimes with a short fuse to go with it!" Nadine grinned broadly as if at some memory, and then just as quickly the smile faded away. "It's this place that brings out the worst in people. Do you know what I would like the most, if I could have anything at all granted to me right at this moment?" she asked Qui-Gon. "What would that be?" "I want her to smile again." Nadine began to twist her hair into a dark ringlet. "She has such a pretty smile. Recently it's become so painful to see her, just so hopeless, waiting for Merdan to catch her out. Please make sure she laughs like she used to do…if you take her with you?" Qui-Gon nodded curtly. There wasn't much else he could say. "I will do what I can to help her. I'm sure that - force willing - should we escape I can see that she is looked after well." "Then I will indeed owe you everything." Nadine leaned forward and placed a gentle, undemanding kiss on his lips, almost teasing his reluctance to do anything other than talk. "I will have to speak to her, let her know what has been decided. She'll be cleaning Merdan's office right now so it will have to wait for an hour or so." "I'll look forward to meeting her." Qui-Gon smiled. "It seems she has been most fortunate in her guardians." "And will be again, may it please the gods." Nadine grinned back. Qui-Gon, puzzled, wasn't sure he knew what she meant… "Sorry?" he asked. "Nothing!" the airy Corellian voice came back. "Nothing at all." ********** Merdan cast his eyes over his room, his expression a few degrees off brooding. He hated when people messed with his property. He hated the idea that Keleskladt had been in here pawing around when he shouldn't, touching things he shouldn't…the man would have done well to remember Levinstowe: a loose end still floating around. However, this particular loose end was going to be tidied up right here and now. He examined the footmarks on the floor and could almost read what had happened as if they had been words on a page. It seemed that the Corellian girl was telling the truth. "It seems I am indebted to you." Merdan continued to gaze at her, as he had done for the last five minutes virtually non-stop. "You really hate Keleskladt, don't you?" "Sir." Jemmy looked at her feet. "Then I will happily oblige your hatred." He summoned the two guards he had waiting outside, having first ascertained they were neither of the two men seen with Keleskladt. "You," he calmly commanded the first, "Invite Mr. Keleskladt to my office. Tell him I have an offer he can't refuse." The guard snapped to attention and then walked away, leaving the three remaining figures alone. Merdan continued to stare thoughtfully at Jemmiah. She was shaking slightly but was it through fear or something more sinister? The fine sheen of perspiration on her brow…the overly bright eyes and the pale skin combined with her natural skinniness: could this be an indication of the same sickness that had swept the place last year? Merdan wasn't sure. "My thanks to you." He nodded at her, not frowning or smiling: almost expressionless. "It's because of the good turn you have done me that I am now going to grant a similar favor for you." He beckoned the other guard over and Jemmiah froze completely. "I appreciate what you did." Merdan continued. "It's for that reason I am not going to have you removed, but you still disobeyed me. You were in my office before you should have been. I don't care for that very much." Merdan turned to the other guard to issue his orders. "Clamp her in restraints and put her in the wine cellar for two days." He smiled lazily as he watched the Corellian girl come very close to the edge of panic. He knew very well about how much she hated the wine cellar. He also knew how dark it was down there. If she had contracted the illness the symptoms would manifest themselves quicker in the dark than in the light. "We shall have to see what happens after that, won't we?" he acknowledged quietly as he watched the guard pull Jemmiah out of his office and away from his sight. *************** //Okay.// Obi-Wan pushed the stick back into the rack with a hiss of irritation. // Now it is time to get worried.// He'd only known her for one day but in that short amount of time he felt certain that he could trust the young girl implicitly, which was strange. Obi-Wan was never one to form opinions suddenly, even if his master did think him reckless on occasions. A person would have to be very annoying to earn his enmity, just in the same way he regarded the various friendships he had made over the years. Bant, Reeft, Kryztan, Simeon, Meri and Jay - just to name a few of his closer associates - had all taken their time to worm their way into his affections but once they had the padawan regarded them as friends for life, people whom he knew would never forsake his friendship or break his trust. Jemmiah he had known for less than 24 standard hours and yet Obi-Wan knew that she would never consciously let him down either. That was what bothered him. There was no reason for her non-appearance other than the fact she could not escape, but had she been held back due to work or had something else happened to prevent her from getting away? The bad feeling that had troubled Obi-Wan since he had first arrived was starting to plague him tremendously, gnawing away at his thoughts. Was it simply his imagination or did he really sense that something had gone wrong? Qui-Gon would not like it if he were to jeopardize the mission because of a gut feeling, a mere hunch that might not even be correct…but with every passing moment Obi-Wan became more and more convinced that something bad had either happened or was just about to. The force screamed it at him in a way it never had before. "I'll find her somehow." Obi-Wan muttered steadfastly, setting off for the kitchens. It was the logical place to start, after all. This occasion however there would be no snacking. Even if he had the time: Jemmiah might not. |