After A Meeting

This was originally published on Tumblr, for the Short Fiction Weekly Challenge prompt Boring Conversation Anyway - a prompt about the end, or as I interpreted it, the aftermath of a conversation. In game, the, er, bad ending for the earlyish Agent mission Dark Meeting is pretty much just shrugged off. More plausibly, however...

The air was cool and smelled faintly of kolto and antiseptic. An infirmary. Why…? Oh. Kyrian remembered now. Darth Jadus. He decided he didn’t much want to open his eyes after all. Keeper had been very specific about how to handle the Dark Councilor in charge of Intelligence. Not arguing with him and obeying him in all respects had definitely been on that list.

A sensible person wouldn’t have expressed even the mildest of doubts about Jadus’s plans for the Empire. A sensible person would have agreed to be Jadus’s inside person and simply reported the fact to Keeper. A sensible person would have accepted Jadus’s dark blessing, however ominous it sounded. A not-so-sensible person…

There were probably things in the galaxy that hurt worse than Force Lightning, but Kyrian never wanted to encounter them.

He remembered stumbling out of Jadus’s chambers and finding Kaliyo in the hallway. He didn’t remember much of anything after that. Clearly, she’d carried him back to Headquarters.

And was probably halfway to Hutt Space by now. He didn’t blame her. The rest of the galaxy was far from perfect, but it wasn’t run by people who thought hate and fear were good things. Funny how they don’t mention that in school.

A dangerous line of thought. Intelligence was all that stood between the people of the Empire and the Sith. Also a dangerous line of thought, if one Keeper had hinted at.

Keeper will be furious. I’ll be lucky if I’m still a field agent after this. Other unpleasant possibilities occurred to him. I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up here again.

Keeper had been remarkably lenient with his mistakes (and “mistakes”), so far. But he hadn’t quite so… so extravagantly messed up before. What did happen to failed field agents?

“You gonna pretend to be unconscious until your boss goes home?” Kaliyo asked, leaning over him. “I mean, it’s kinda cute watching you and all, but…”

“Kaliyo? You…” He stopped himself. She wasn’t likely to take surprise at her presence well. “Ah, thank you.”

“You always that stupid with Sith?”

“I…” Would it really have gone any different if he’d known what would happen? Keeper had warned him. Even Jadus had warned him. “I hopefully won’t have many opportunities,” he said at last. “You may want to make it a practice to wait in the hall.”

She snorted. “Gotta give you one thing, Agent. You’re never dull.”

“At least I’m doing something right.” He got up, carefully. He was fully healed, of course - kolto did wonders - but his mind hadn’t quite caught up to that fact.

She grinned and tossed him a bundle of clothes. “You’re supposed to report in when you wake up.”

He unfolded the bundle. A uniform. Not necessarily a bad sign. Not necessarily a good sign, either. “You may want to wait in the hall for that, as well.”

Kaliyo laughed. “I’m almost starting to like you.”