Ask Naboo Boy Do I Have a Story For You

[Nahri Nalju]

Talvid.

Everyone who visited Naboo went to one of two places: Theed or the Lake Country. Nahri had no suspicions why. Theed's waterside charm and the Lake Country's unmolested splendor were unrivaled anywhere in the galaxy. But Nahri preferred the mountain sanctuary of Talvid for her visits. It drew less attention when one visited this city. And she would need discretion for the purpose of today's visit. She had long considered what to do about the Wildfire she and her fellow Sith had discovered being used by the traitorous board of her company.

But now she did.

The tabloid press was taken far more seriously in the galaxy than most were willing to give it credit. It had the power to raise someone to stardom or crush their reputation, miring it in fraud and corruption. Nahri did not underestimate this power like most. She saw a value in a well-timed leak. The power it could grant her. With her family's money in her pocket, all she needed was a journalist who was willing to take it. And she had finally found such a person.

The door to the suite of her hotel opened. She smiled warmly at the woman in the frame of the door. "Ah, Ms. Hanivel. Welcome." @LouJo

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

Naboo was a nice planet, with its beautiful architecture and lakes. Many sentients across the Galaxy used to choose this world as a vacation spot. However, Lîsabé wasn’t here because she wanted to know its tourist spots. No, she had work to do here. When you are a journalist who wants to discover the dirtiest secrets of the celebrities of the Galaxy, you barely have time to relax.

She had been contacted by Nahri Nalju to meet her in a hotel room in the city of Talvid. Lîsabé was surprised with the reason behind such an invitation. She never expected that a woman like Nahri would want to contact a journalist like her. This type of person seemed to avoid the woman as if she had AMS. It wasn’t her fault if they were too sensible to read her Tabloids.

Lîsabé loved to discover and reveal secrets. She loved even more when others gave it to her, this made her tabloids far more spicy. Due to that, the Journalist was quick to accept Nahri's invitation. She was also going to use this opportunity to study the other woman. Who knows the dark secrets that the Corporate heiress could be hiding? Nothing stays hidden from her for too long.

When she arrived at the hotel, Lîsabé stopped at the counter to identify herself and went straight toward the elevator. At the correct floor, the Journalist waited for the door to the suite to be open. Once it happened, she walked inside.

A smile appeared on her lips when she was welcomed by Nahri. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Nalju! I hope that everything is fine with you." Lîsabé said, while offering a hand for the other woman to shake. She couldn’t wait for their conversation to start.

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

"I am well, all things considered," Nahri replied sweetly. "And please, call me Nahri." She gestured for the reporter to take a seat. "Please. And help yourself to refreshments. My droids make them just right." She had merely brought along a couple of protocol droids to serve them as they talked. The droids moved about in the background as Nahri took her seat opposite the reporter.

"Before we get started," she continued. "I want to make sure we're clear on the terms. When this piece is written, I would like any quotes you take from me to presented as being 'from an anonymous insider.' Second, I would like it said that, in light of the news, Nalju Technologies employees you spoke to have expressed a wish for my return as the rightful head of my family's company." She crossed her hands in front of her. While it was not especially genius of her, both were actually the truth. Nahri was both an anonymous insider and an employee. Not that the press would care about who. "Lastly, I would like there to be no recording of this meeting—visually or audibly. In exchange, the payment we agreed upon will be forwarded to you and I will grant you exclusive access to interview me however you like when I take back my corporate throne."

She sipped at the tea her droid poured for her. Nahri knew who she was dealing with. What she did for a living. What she had said about other public figures. She wasn't about to spring a trap of her own setting. Besides, she expected the exclusive access would tempt the reporter away from evoking her wrath. The press did so love their access, and it would be access Nahri would weaponize to curate her circle smartly. "Are we agreed?" @LouJoVi

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

”Of course, Nahri! Now is only fair if you call Lîsabé!” she said, shaking the woman’s hand. These small pleasantries were always good to start a conversation. The Journalist walked toward a seat and sat here. When one of the droids approached her with the trail of beverages, she accepted the tea. “Thank you!”

The Journalist paid close attention to the terms that Nahri established. She already expected that the woman was going to present something like that. The Heiress would be an idiot if she would ask someone like Lîsabé to cover a story without wanting to maintain her identity as a secret. Because she would without any doubt reveal such details if she hadn't received a previous warning.

“Of course! I’ll maintain any details about our conversation coming from an anonymous source.” she said, trying to reassure Nahri that she was going to do it. Of course, if Lîsabé discovered anything about the heiress that wasn’t related to this story, she would publish. At least some months after this one.

After sipping some of the tea, Lîsabé placed her cup on the table. Then, she opened the bag that she brought and picked a Datapad from there. It had an obnoxious shade of green, the same as the dress that she used to wear when presenting her talk show. “Can we begin? I’m eager to hear this story.” she smiled, the device prepared for her to start typing the information.

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

"Yes," Nahri said, sitting down her cup of tea. "I suppose we'd better."

She had thought about how she might relay this story. She had to do it without revealing her ties to the Sith, so an eyewitness version of the events was out. But she didn't need an eyewitness for the story to stick. She just needed the dirt on paper somewhere. The press and the public would do the rest. "The first thing you should know is that the current board of Nalju Technologies is made from murderers who took it from mine... when they killed them," she explained. "This is, of course, not known to the general public. Only some insiders within the corporation. But that isn't the real tea."

No, the real tea was actually worse—well, if you believed violating Imperial law was a bad thing. "Since their hostile takeover, they have used their newfound wealth to purchase a villa on Lianna in the Sith Empire." She picked up her steaming cup and sipped briefly before continuing. "From there, I have heard it said that they frequently import drugs—Wildfire, my sources have said, chief among them. And you know how the Sith Empire views such things." She did her best impression of looking scandalized, as if she could hardly believe the report herself. But it was true. A quick scan of Imperial news would show the recent seizure by Sith authorities. "I could hardly believe such stories about my father's once proud company."

Here, she did a brilliant bit of acting. She summoned tears on command, reaching for a kerchief to dab them away from her eyes without smearing her makeup. "The few friends I still have within the company are beside themselves," she went on, her voice cracking. "If I'm not allowed to return... I don't know what will befall my family's legacy." @LouJoVi

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

As soon as Nahri started to talk, Lîsabé started to type everything that was said on her Datapad. The story of the secret takeover of a company was amazing. This movie-like situation would attract the interest of many people. Even more after she added her special touch on it. Through dark maneuvers, they assassinated the family. the Journalist would put more details on it later.

If the Heiress looked at the Journalist, she would notice how the woman’s hand moved fast across the screen of the device. Lîsabé looked like a droid, typing without even stopping a bit to rest. Without being able to record what Nahri was saying, she needed to be fast to not lose any detail of what she was hearing.

During her years on this job, she learned that any small detail was important. Like how she could see the horror in the anonymous insider's eyes while they described the horror of what happened. It was like they were being haunted by ghosts of the past. Oh, this one was good, she would find a way to use this in the article.

When Nahri mentioned the Wildfire, Lîsabé briefly turned to look at the other woman. This was becoming better at every second. She had heard about how this drug was so terrible that it was outlawed even in the Sith Empire. Maybe this could giver the opportunity to approach the public in this part of the Galaxy.

She saw that some tears were running through Nahri’s cheeks, but said nothing. Lîsabé wasn’t moved by such acts. If she was, the woman would never have started to work with tabloids. She had caused this reaction with many people before. “Tell me, are there any other spicy details? The public always love some gossip behind these scandals. This will help them find sympathy with you.”

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

In truth, there were none but speculation. But a good story needed a little bit of exaggeration, and she was sure Lîsabé didn't truly care about the veracity of these claims. Just the claims themselves. Nahri seized on that.

"Well," she said, chewing on her lip and looking down so that she appeared to be debating whether she wanted to say something or not. Then, she huffed, pretending to have come to a conclusion. "I didn't hear this from a source. But I saw it in the news." The truth, it had come from the Imperial state media who had investigated the villa incident. "Apparently, they were killing the smugglers that they were hiring so that there would be no trace of their illegal behavior." She sniffled, and a droid, dutifully, handed her a tissue into which she blew her nose. "Such a horrible thing. To think my family's legacy is being marred by drug trafficking and murder. They have to be stopped."

Of course, she left out the part where she and the other Sith had murdered the men she found at the villa. That part had also not made it into the Sith media's accounts of the incident. But there were still board survivors that needed to be removed, hence the story. Once the full breadth of it hit the tabloids, they would have no choice but to accept her takeover bid. @LouJoVi

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

After Nahri started to say the details that she asked for, the Journalist typed more eagerly on her Datapad. Assassination of smugglers, this was exactly what a criminal organization would do. The story was becoming better and better. She could use this detail to make some parallels between the operations of the crime syndicates and the modus operandi of some corporations.

“Of course, no one deserves to have a legacy linked to such operations.” she said, trying to sound sympathetic with what the Heiress was suffering. However, she didn’t care for the woman. She only wanted the story that Nahri could give to her. “With these revelations, I think that we will be able to make them face justice.” and she would be able to make a very good tabloid, both would win with it.

“Tell me, could you say the name of some of the members of this board? This would help bring the public to your side. People like to know who they are hating.” she paused from typing. “See, even with you being an anonymous source telling this story, Nahri Nalju is still a character in it. You are the protagonist that people need to cheer for, while the board members are the antagonists.”

“For a story to be a success, the public needs to love the protagonist and hate the antagonist. However, all of that depends on good characterizations. If you provide their names to me, I’ll paint them in a way that would make even the Sith Empress look like a Saint.” Lîsabé was writing tabloids for years, she was an expert in doing it.

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

Oh, she could name names alright. She had been waiting for Lîsabé to ask. "Oh, yes," she feigned wiping her eyes of tears again. "How silly of me. You would need names, wouldn't you?" She tapped her chin again. "Let's see, there's Alizayd el-Alanni, a Devaronian man; Priscilla Porchenip, a human woman from Serenno; and Lexor Welch, another human. Those are the big three."

And the ones that would have the most purchase. She could spend all day naming various people she would like outed to the public; but when she was CEO, it would be easy enough to simply remove these people and ruin their careers on their way out of her new doors.

"All of them were rivals of my father and jealous of his wealth and influence," she continued. "They thought they had ruined him by taking him out of the picture and seizing control of his company; only allowing his one surviving daughter—the lone survivor of their plot—to hold a meager position in Archives to keep my mouth shut about their crimes." She tried now to sound indignant. "But I've stayed silent long enough." @LouJoVi

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

When Nahri started to tell the names, Lîsabé once again typed furiously on her Datapad. The Journalist already had some ideas for how she could paint these people as the “villains” of the tabloid. While she worked, the woman noticed how the other was wiping tears.

“Oh dear, I understand how difficult it must be for you to talk about it.” Lîsabé said, trying to comfort the Heiress. It was only her attempt to not have Nahri falling in tears. She didn’t care for how the woman was feeling at all, the Journalist only didn't want the other woman to end the interview because of it.

To her relief, Nahri continued talking. Now she was saying how she had decided to not remain in silence anymore about what they did with her. Lîsabé’s smile grew on her lips, the public loved the idea of someone that was wronged heroically rising against those that oppressed them.

It was a shame that she couldn’t mention the Heiress’ name in the tabloid. Lîsabé was certain that she would be able to turn Nahri into a heroine that had the sympathy of all those that saw it. However, she would find a way to still show the young woman as being this way. Even if in a less explicit way.

“It must have been terrible. Did they ever try to kill you while you worked in the Archives? Because if I was in our place, I would live afraid of working in a place owned by the assassins of my parents.” depending of Nahri’s answer, Lîsabé could make her look like as a princess out of a fairy tale. A fair maiden that was oppressed by the villains. The people would love that too.

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

Oh.

Nahri had not thought to mention that. But, yes, indeed, they had. She briefly mulled over how best to frame their assassination attempt. She immediately ruled out mentioning the presence of the now-Chancellor of the Republic. If she spilled those details, the story would quickly get out of hand, and she couldn't risk the tenuous alliance she had built with Alex.

"Yes," she replied carefully, though it came off more as her not wanting to talk about a particularly traumatizing incident. "They sent assassins for me when I announced my intentions to try and buy up shares of my family's company. I think they were afraid I would use House Nalju's wealth to buy most of the shares and take over what they had stollen." She wiped a few stray tears from her cheek. "They failed, thanks to a friend of mine who was with me at the time."

Internally, she could almost laugh. Vex wasn't a friend. Vex was who she truly was. The night to Nahri's day. But the story would check out if the reporter decided to dig. Nahri had her assistant, Ranami, with her during the meeting. So long as she didn't specify which friend did the ass-kicking, she would be free of any cross examination. "I live in fear every day they will make attempt on my life again," she added for dramatic effect. @LouJoVi

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

”Poor girl, this is terrible!” Lîsabè said after Nahri mentioned that she suffered assassiantion attempts. “I can’t imagine how difficult your life was. Without your parents and in constant danger of these people!” the Journalist couldn’t believe how lucky she was for being able to cover this story.

“I can’t even imagine how afraid you must live, but as soon as I publish this, the Galaxy will know about your suffering and the authorities will do something to help you.” the Journalist didn’t really care if something like that would happen or not. She was more interested in the reaction of the people with this tabloid.

After she finished typing her conclusions about this last revelation, the Journalist turned to look at Nahri. “Well, is there anything else that should be added in the text? Maybe any detail that could paint them in an even worse way for the public. Remember, while bringing the attention of the government is important, we want even more awareness of the public. Their opinion is even more important.”

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

Nahri shook her head. In truth, there was no other detail that she could add. The damning accusations had already been presented. The public could do the rest on their own. But there was one final note she wanted to make to capstone this little project of hers. "Only that these men cannot be allowed to continue leading my family's company," she said. "It must be returned to its rightful owner, and they dealt with by the proper authorities."

Yes, that was all. That final push should do it.

"I'm sure a woman of your talents can put words to my urgency," she continued. For once, she was telling the full truth. As she had said, she was aware of the reporter's reputation. The fire she could light under people's feet. With any luck, this special report would have a similar effect. @LouJoVi

 

[Lîsabé Hanivel]

”Alright!” Lîsabé said, typing Nahri’s last comment on her Datapad. While it wasn’t what she wanted to add in the tabloid, what the heiress said would be good to give a last sentimental twist to the text. She would only need to give it her special touch and perhaps even the Sith Empress would cry with it.

“Of course, my dear! After I publish it, everyone will know what happened and without any doubt will be at your side.” the Journalist smiled at the Heiress. This was going to be one of her best tabloids ever. Better than it only if he found some dirty secret about the new Chancellor.

“Well, if that's all, I think that we can finish our interview. I need to go back to Coruscant and start to make this tabloid!” she said, after having finished her tea. Then, she got up from her seat. “This was a lovely meeting, my dear! The tabloid will be coming in the next few days. I’ll even start to work on it during my trip back!”

@Mockingjay

 

[Nahri Nalju]

Nahri wiped away the last of her crocodile tears and stood to see the reporter out, bowing respectfully as she did. "You've been most kind, Ms. Hanivel. Thank you for hearing my story," she said. "I look forward to reading your work in the days to come."

Almost as much as I look forward to sitting at the top of my company again, she added, though she did not voice such a thought out loud.

Once the journalist was gone, the door shut firmly behind her, Nahri reached for her phone and prepared to make a call. She would need to prepare a statement of her own once this story hit the press. After that, it was time to make a trip home.

/End Thread