A message had come through in the early hours of the morning. From where Sriana was located at the time of receiving, it took a moment of thought before she put together the time difference. The transmission had to have come in immediately after the finding, because end of the night restocking took place around 11:30. The time on the message was 11:41. She wasn’t sure how they would have discovered what they had without opening boxes, a chore that would have waited until the morning, and then only if the food or dish stock had greatly depleted the night prior. But that was all left to be figured out later. Right then, Sriana had to take action. She sat with the blankets pooled around her hips, tapping the edge of the datapad with a long index finger that should have been twitching in the midst of dreams. A yawn and a few blinks later, she set the communicator on the bed sheets in front of her lap and brought her face down into the palms of her hands.
Neutral. It was perhaps the easiest way to say you didn’t want to be involved, but that didn’t mean you never were. Here she faced a dilemma. Tell the Imperials what had been found and let them deal with the issue? It was tempting…unbelievably so. But whether from past interactions with corruption or a bias toward the Jedi, perhaps as a result of her late husband, Sriana didn’t like the idea of leaving out the people who should know the most about this. Then again, if she did go ahead and tell the Jedi, what kind of repercussions might she face if it went public? The best of the Senators and players in the Imperial Empire wined and dined themselves at her establishment and to bias it unnecessarily would throw her customer base on a tilt. More than that, the Jedi deserved to take care of their own.
With the issue dancing through her mind, which was warming to the prospect of telling both parties, Sriana grabbed up the datapad and slowly sank to her back on the space-foam mattress again. She wouldn’t be home for at least a day, but the least she could do was to put in motion things that might not otherwise work out so well were she already present in her restaurant on Coruscant. She felt old.. And uniquely concerned over the outcome. But more than that, she hoped her staff were the type of people to keep their mouths shut and follow orders.
“Mr. Alloto, I would kindly ask that you instruct the discoverers to share our findings with no one. We will put out the information as we deem it necessary and should they follow orders, they will not be required to take any responsibility for the findings. If anyone who saw the evidence is on duty the next day, ask them to stay home, as we will not be opening for business the following morning. Please contact the Jedi first thing and have them send over only one of their own to pick up the remnants. I will not be home until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, but it is crucial that you have this exchange completed by the morning. Keep it quiet and bring the messenger through the backdoor. Send them with the property and the boxes – I don’t want the evidence in our restaurant. Request discretion. Next, at precisely 11:45 the next morning, call up CorSec. I want the Imperials notified of the discovery. On arrival, be courteous and forthcoming in-as-much-as the details are concerned. These are the details: The boxes were found at 11:41 that morning and you called them straight away. When the boxes cannot be found, you will tell the agents that you instructed the staff away from the freezers and never opened for business. Let them deal with how the boxes might have disappeared. Put up some resistance if they ask to question the staff. Act calmly and cooperatively, but remind them, if they get too pushy, that I will be there in the afternoon. I will take it from there. Thank you kindly, Alloto. I regret the difficulties that have arisen and will see you soon, my friend.”
The screen glowed green for two beats, then faded slowly away to black. And Sriana closed her eyes, breathing into the cold room. Two boxes sat in The Golden Crescent’s freezer space, each holding the remains of a Jedi Padawan. Who would have done it? And why send them to her? Why kill them at all? Why two?
The small tinkling of chimes encouraged her to look at another incoming message from Alloto: Why tell the Imperials at all if you aren’t going to give them anything?
“You and I might have our thinking aligned, but I’m not so certain on the loyalty of our staff. Better to report the discovery and protect our image amongst the employees, than to draw suspicion and have one of them go to the Imperials. We’re being proactive. Follow my instructions to the letter and this will all pan out. I promise you. Good night, Alloto.”
