Room 204 [afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

"Last load," Ben said from behind a pile of metal. "Think we could start our own branch of Stark's right here in the room?"

His side of his new room was already neatly organized--not that he had much that wasn't droid parts--and he was talking mostly to hide his nerves.

Given the room's other occupant, he wasn't sure why he was even trying.

[OOC: For the roommate, and then open!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"So which is worse? Having a personal reason to kill someone or having no reason to kill, save for orders? Or pay? How does an assassin know the victim then deserves the death?" Karla lowered her shields a bit so Ben would feel that her questions came from curiosity and a love of debate, instead of any kind of disapproval.

[momslilassassin]

Ben was quiet for a very long time. "At least at home, the assassin gets a dossier and reads what the target had done." There, nice and clinical and not about him. "And is given the option to take the job or not."

Not that Jacen had given him much of an option on either of them.

[glacial_queen]

The sendings of understanding, acceptance, and empathy were a bit stronger now.

"Ah, I see," Karla said gently. "That isn't how it works in my world. Children scare each other with stories of Marjong the Executioner, being sent by the High Lord to take them away."

Of course, now she knew her dear Uncle Saetan wouldn't send Marjong out for any reason but just ones, but not everyone knew that.

[momslilassassin]

"There were stories like that in our universe, too," Ben said, "but my father never used them."

Because the bad guy was generally Darth Vader, and Luke had views about that. "Political assassin...well, it happens. But it's supposed to be fixing a larger problem." He shrugged. "In my opinion, it causes more issues than it ever solved."

[glacial_queen]

"Unless the people ordering the assassin have a way to put someone else in power, it's going to cause more problems," Karla said with a fair bit of authority. She...might have given a lot of thought to this issue. "When there is a power vaccuum, people are going to fight tooth and nail to fill it. Civil war is a horrible thing to inflict upon a country. And what do you do if the next person to take the reins is just as bad as the first? Kill him, too, and start the cycle over again?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "Because once the option is used once, people start thinking of it as the logical response. Jacen had the leader of the Corellian separatist group assassinated, believing that cutting off the head would make the problem disappear. It didn't."

[glacial_queen]

Karla had a couple of things to say to Jacen, should the High Lord somehow get lucky enough to find Jacen in his grasp. Doubtful, what with the different universes and all, but that never stopped Karla before.

"I've Read about the Kaeleeran/Terreillian war from fifty thousand years ago and it seemed like in cases like that, the best outcome one could hope for would be a bit of confusion and dissention in the opposing ranks. What usually happened was that the next in command would come into power and use the death to martyr the fallen and incite new hatred and anger."

[momslilassassin]

"In this case, the Corellians spun into disarray, Jacen used the talks between the Corellian and the Galactic Alliance Chief of State to launch a coup against our chief, and had him assassinated too."

Ben had been busy.

[glacial_queen]

"That sounds...complicated. I feel for anyone stuck in the middle of such a situation. It sounds like an untenable and an unenviable position to be in."

Karla was helping herself to a bit more ice cream, keeping her eyes firmly on the task and not on Ben. They could be talking about anyone. And how else to say that she felt for him, but didn't pity or judge him? You know, other than actually saying it.

[momslilassassin]

Especially when Jacen had selectively edited the information Ben had been given access to.

He shrugged. "It's politics. It's going to be messy."

[glacial_queen]

That sounded like Ben for 'changing the subject might be nice, for I've reached the end of my willingness to share.'

"Which is a concept I'd never known--save in history books--until recently," Karla said. "Things work so differently at home. Sure, there can be some politicking on the Province Queen level, but Queens are so rare that having anything resembling a close race is nearly unheard of. And if there's a Queen doing a bad job, her males just resign their positions at the end of the contract and she's no longer a ruling Queen."

[momslilassassin]

"And at home, I think Aunt Leia has been the only Chief of State who was allowed to finish her terms and resign, rather than being killed," Ben replied. "That's...kind of depressing."

[glacial_queen]

Karla wondered if Ben would be okay with a resounding 'What the Hell is wrong with your universe?!?!' It was probably rude, but definitely accurate.

"I would agree," Karla said diplomatically. "Are things better now?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "We're now being run by a former Imperial admiral. We're almost back where we started when Dad was a rebel fifty years ago."

[glacial_queen]

"So there will be more wars." Even though these were not her people, Karla sounded truly saddened by that.

[momslilassassin]

"I hope not," Ben said vehemently. "No one's going to let her go back to the bad old days of the Empire." He smiled. "Granddad would have fits if he knew."

[glacial_queen]

"So, you're being ruled by an Imperial admiral, but one that you have enough power over to keep her from being as bad as the old Imperials?" Karla was kind of piecing this together bit by bit, since she lacked a thorough grounding in the history of the conflict. "But then wouldn't things be different than when your father first fought?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "What made the Imperials so bad was the exciting combination of hatred for non-humans, enormous military might, and complete lack of accountability to anyone." He paused. "Well, and exterminating the Jedi. We'd prefer that not happen again."

[glacial_queen]

The side of her mouth quirked up. "Yeah. No getting exterminated, hero. I'll be ticked off if Ender and I have to lead a charge into your universe just to save you."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, that would be very hard to live down," he agreed, snickering. "I'll try my best to remain unkilled to save you the hassle."

[glacial_queen]

"Because it would be," she assured him. "A total hassle. We'd be in the middle of doing something and then look at each other, sigh, and say 'Ben's in trouble. Again.' There would be lots of eye rolling."

[momslilassassin]

"At least I'm not as bad as Jaina," he said. "When she was younger, she spent a lot of time getting kidnapped."

[glacial_queen]

"Lots? Is that compared to your 'only sometimes'?" Karla teased. She had no idea whether or not Ben ever had been kidnapped, but he wasn't going to put it past him.

[momslilassassin]

"Only once," he corrected smugly.

Most people don't brag about that, Ben.

[glacial_queen]

"Congratulations," she said dryly. "Your parents must have been very proud. Most people brag about how early they learned to walk and talk and read, you know."