The politician took a deep breath as he stared at the screen that showed the press room next door. It was packed. His own fate in danger in the upcoming election, the people still cared about him and still believed him when he said he had a very important announcement.
Representative Maflay knew he was risking his life by continuing with this conference. He had to trust that increased security could protect him, and beyond that, hope that after the news was out, the Sith who had visited him in the middle of the night and caused him to soil himself would have nothing to gain from killing him. If anything, it would only implicate Helwae further.
He hoped that was what would happen.
More realistically, he was going to die... but the people deserved to know what he did.
His assistant approached from the hallway. "Sir, it's time. Are you positive this is what you want to do?"
Maflay stood and straightened out his suit. He stared into the mirror on the wall and at his own visage staring back. Without a word, he walked slowly but with a purpose towards the hallway.
No. He admitted to himself.
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Trychon plopped down on their new comfortable Siskriskin couch, and waved a motion in the air to turn on the flatscreen display and holoemiter combo he had just finished installing. He hadn't had a chance to meet with the investment broker Mon Muhnn, who had agreed to manage their new assets for them for all the time they are off planet... but the previous owner of the Farrian Arms Hotel had a pretty decent allowance set up for himself in the monthly budget. Without instructions otherwise, the accounting department had kept things the same and just shifted where the allowance went.
Raezyr had made a heck of an investment in getting their hands on this business, not that Trychon wanted or needed to tell him that.
Knowing that the press conference was about to start, his brother joined him on the couch with a couple of ales and some bar snacks from the hotel lounge, and they found the local news channel that was covering it.
They had a good laugh about the idiocy of carrying on with the press conference, right up to the time Representative Maflay walked up to the podium.
The hologram miniature of the man looked extremely tired, and the two Sith knew why. The rest of the world was about to find out too. He waved to the assembled journalist crowd for quiet so he could begin. He seemed more likely to lose his breakfast.
He nervously cleared his throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen..." then he paused to clear his throat again. "I have come here today to share a warning of a grave danger with you all."
Raezyr looked at his brother to see him restraining a chuckle so they didn't have to turn up the volume.
The representative continued, his voice cracking slightly. "I originally set this conference so I could clear the air with honesty about my opponent, local businessman Zhan Helwae. Instead, I have even more troubling news that I am risking my life to bring to you all, and to my constituents whom I have humbly served these many years."
There was quite a bit of noise in the background now as the crowd began to talk amongst themselves. Maflay waited for the ruckus to die down a bit before continuing. His eyes were darting around the room with paranoia.
"Please listen, everyone. I confronted Mr. Helwae and pleaded with him to drop out of the race because he would not be honest about his past, and he would not. I had evidence that I warned him I would have to share."
The buzz grew quickly again. Rather than wait for it to die down this time, Maflay began speaking louder, and sounding more frantic as he continued. "Please! Listen! I need you to understand, and I'm going to need protection, just for bringing this public! Helwae has hired a Sith to scare me out of the race! I was visited just last night by a man at least two and a half meters tall going by the name 'Sith Lord Vulcanus Tiberius'."
The crowd as well as the two brothers enjoying in the privacy of their own suite was now laughing, rather than talking.
"This is not a joke! He nearly killed me, and likely will now! My only hope is that Helwae is brought to justice even if something happens to me! My building security promises me that they are working on securing evidence of all of this, but are simply delayed by red tape and requirements for procuring security footage."
Trychon barked out a single laugh at that comment. "Well, that's a clever excuse for why they can't give him anything. They're probably hoping this will all go away because the guy seems nuts. In reality, they simply can't find one tiny drop of corroborating evidence."
Raezyr smiled. He knew that if there was video evidence of their visit with the politician, it would be interesting, because while the costume Trychon forced him to wear did change his appearance, the Force also helped him project the inhuman size.
Voice now cracking entirely, likely out of a mixture of fear and because of the response he was getting, the representative went on. "Lord Vulcanis Tiberius made me delete the evidence of Helwae's past! That's proof enough of his collaboration for me, and for any court on our wonderful planet!"
Raezyr rolled his eyes. "Only if you have proof that happened, dimwit."
"What the Sith Lord didn't know... was that I have video of my meeting with Helwae. I know that it is illegal to secretly record as such, and I am more than willing to make a plea in return for security. However, I beg you to watch this."
With a nod to his campaign manager, a giant vidscreen popped up behind the podium.
Then a video played. The room got silent for the first several moments as the crowd deciphered what they were looking at. Maflay looked dumbfounded and had ran over to the control panel to gesture and argue with his manager.
Then the video's lighting began to improve, and it became slowly clearer that they were looking at the inside of a bedroom. Maflay was horrified as he stared at what he surely recognized as his home. There was a lump under the covers that was moving restlessly and soon the representative heard his own voice mumbling through his sleep. The voice was panic stricken and went from mumbling to shrieking.
Words like 'No!', 'Sith!', 'Stop' were easily audible, but the rest was just fearful crying. He never seemed to break out of his slumber, though.
The two Sith were hysterically laughing at the impromptu end to the press conference, as the representative began yelling at the crowd and screaming that he needed protection and wasn't crazy. His own security had to restrain him and pull him away.
After Trychon managed to catch his breath, he managed to speak in between chuckles. "It's smart to have backups of information that you're using to blackmail someone, and even better to have videos of meetings, like he thought he had... but it was retarded of him to think the files were safe while he had them on his datapad, which was plugged into his main network."
Raezyr just shook his head and laughed again.
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