#nebuleuse

The fear of seeing my father summon me to his office swelled in me as the next day passed. And yet, nothing came, to the point of seeing all my distrust extinguished and my shields lowered. But I had forgotten, with the months spent on Bonadan, his favorite tactic, which was to corner his prey when he was least suspicious.

—What are you doing up at this hour?"

His shadow had appeared in the door that connected our vast kitchen to his luxurious office. It was no earlier than four in the morning standard time, and I intended to set sail to join friends in an abandoned warehouse that once served as our epicenter for a whole host of illegal things. He must have anticipated my plans because he was wide awake and there was a gleam of sternness and satisfaction in his eyes that didn't bode well for me.

—Sit down.

I had tried to justify myself by presenting the glass of iced tea I was holding in my hand, but it was useless. Everything was superfluous with him and I knew that if I didn't carry out his request immediately I would end up in that chair that he was pointing to me one way or another.

—You should stop drinking this crap. He began as if to delay the moment when he would drop the ax on my head.

—It is beneath the Tarkins to enjoy the frivolities of such a drink. You need something more bitter.

— Yet you serve it to mother every evening when you are present. —Your mother is not a Tarkin and the only credit we can give her is having fathered two. You will drink caf, is that understood?

I was silenced, unable to spit my contempt at him for his way of controlling our lives. Father is not a man without feeling. He just loves us in a radically opposite way to my definition of love. As for my mother, the time is long gone when I am convinced that there is an ounce of affection that bound her to father. Her lust for prestige and power has locked her into a loveless marriage and she needs a few doctor droids and a good dose of medicine to accept it.

—It’s good that we meet, because I have to talk to you, Vicky. About you and your situation. —About my situation?

I raise my eyebrows. Until now, my situation had been of little interest to him. He let me work on Bonadan, hang out in the swanky spaces of Coruscant, and build racing ships to compete in illegal competitions. His impartial gaze told me, however, that tonight, party was over. — Your teenage crisis has gone on long enough. He began in a monotonous tone. Your mother and I agree that at your age, you need a job and a function within the Empire.

It wasn't a teenage crisis. I put my skills to the service of people who needed them. I helped. But I knew that all these arguments involving compassion and generosity had no impact on my father.

—I work, father.

—It is not a job to tamper with parts to build useless ships. You're an engineer, Vicky, in aerospace. It' is high's time to put your skills at the service of the empire.

—And if I refuse?

The smile that split her lips sent chills down my spine.

—So you know there will be consequences.

He knows. I immediately think. He knows my traffic does not only involve my skills. That I serve friends, that I help them meet their needs while they are illegal. And I know my father and his determination well enough to know that all he has to do is snap his fingers and send them all to jail.

I was trapped, cornered, and yet unable to hate him.

Because I understood it. That in his eyes he was doing what was best for me.

—And what is the program?" I imagine you have already planned everything.

— Somehow.

He left a certain mystery hanging over him. A sort of annoyance veiled for a moment his impassive air and his features carved coldly in the marble of his white skin.

—I spoke to the Emperor just this afternoon. He is delighted to see you back here and remembers your intelligence well. So I suggested that he get you into the advanced weapons program.

Did I hear correctly? He wanted to get me into one of the biggest science machines in the empire?

—Advanced weapons?" You want me to build destroyers?

—Currently only as a maintenance worker. It is out of the question that you benefit from my notoriety to make a name for yourself. I forged mine in blood and sweat, so will you.

I laughed. Literally. It was so huge that I couldn't come to my senses. My father was lying to me, he had another idea in mind, an idea so Machiavellian that he was ready to humiliate me by making me pick up spare parts in a hangar in the name of the Empire.

— Where is the scam? Make your real request.

And he gave me everything I liked he gave me. His smile. Not the scornful one he gave everyone, but the one that went with his mask of pride. My finesse reminded him that I was his child, his last born and undoubtedly his greatest success. Even though he couldn't articulate it, I knew it whenever he thought of me that way.

—Last night I witnessed a very interesting scene involving you and Orson Krennic. A small household scene of which I did not miss a beat, just like all of my guests.

I wanted to bury myself six feet underground. If he had found out that I had stolen Grandma's brooch from someone else's purse, I was finished definitly

—You know who Orson Krennic is, right?

He tried to reassure himself. I wanted to answer him something like the worst motherfucker in the galaxy, but I refrain. Seeing my lack of response and the question mark in my eyes, he saw fit to finish me off.

—Your future boss, starting tomorrow.

—No way.

I leaned back in the chair, palms out, rejecting the bonds that were forming in my head. I categorically refused to be my father's instrument in any of his despicable shenanigans, especially if it involved the man on whom I had thrown a glass of water and whose gaze I had found very too magnetic.

—I'm asking you to approach him and work your way up the ladder to get enough clearance to meddle in his business.

— I understood better his fine speech on merit. My father is smart enough to know that a meteoric promotion of his darling daughter into the higher echelons of the program would titillate mistrust as to my true function.

—That will never happen. Don't you think it's going to be okay after what happened?

—Krennic is currently working on a project that I can’t tell you about, but which belongs to me. And he wants to take credit for it. I cannot accept that my work is taken over in this way and meddling in it directly is not an option.

I sigh deeply. Divided between the desire to insult him and to slap him. I was finished and I knew it because there was no one more determined than my father in this world and elsewhere.

—It will take me years to level up enough for you to spy on him.

—I do not think so, no.

— And why this ?

—Because I saw the way he looked at you. It literally took my breath away. This sentence. These words. As if suddenly my brain had decided to come back to him, to his impassive face and pursed lips. To the curls of his water-soaked hair that I slapped in his face.

—You are a perfect target for him. And it's up to us to make him understand that his methods can turn against him. What do you say ? —I don't have the skills to watch him, ask to Ellie.

—Ellie is currently in a situation that does not allow me to trust her.

I understand that he won't delve into the subject, but the annoyance I see in his eyes is indescribable. I don't know what's going on for my sister, but it really upsets my father and I don't want to be there when the lightning strikes her shoulders.

— I don't have the skills to keep an eye on this man.

—Yes. More than you think. I'm not asking you to seduce him, I'm asking you to be close enough to the circles of authority to steal information for me and I know it's up your alley, right?

I take a deep breath, digesting the mess I've gotten myself into.

—He will never trust me. Right now he hates me and it's mutual.

This simple statement could have convinced him. Yet when I get up to turn back and go back to where I came from, defeated and defeated by someone stronger than me, he holds me back, gently pushing his hand on my wrist.

—It's in your genes to despise Orson Krennic, Vicky, and be sure to harbor that dislike."

I bow my head. My gaze struggles to fix it for more than a few seconds. Father saw the way Krennic looked at me, but I don't know if he saw the way I looked at him.

And this terrifies me.

Doubt shoots through me and the unsettling conviction he's warning me seeps through my veins as I let his fingers slide down my wrist and step away from him without looking back.

***

I had every intention of catching up with my friends failling them the day before. What could be more normal, then, to invite them to a prestigious evening organized by Exquise? This Coruscant bar is reputed to be the most upscale in town and to accept only a handpicked clientele based on prestige and bank account. None of them could afford this kind of luxury and it was the least we could do to offer them access to make me forgive.

I had put on a simple black dress that came to my knees, its scoop neck stopping at the birth of my chest. My look was enhanced with black lace gloves up to the wrist and contrasted with my leather ankle boots that could have walked the floor of a mechanical workshop.

My hairstyle was nothing but a chaotic bun in which I had fixed a dark velvet ribbon and the brooch removed a few days earlier from the bag of the bitch who was strutting on Krennic's arm. I did not know where this animosity towards this stranger came from apart from the fact that she had, in good faith, bought a stolen object and I had decided not to think about it any more when entering the effervescence of the place. There reigned here a warm and moist atmosphere, a penumbra attenuated by the multicolored neon lights which danced at the same rhythm as the customers on an insane electronic music.

— Shall we sit down?"

I nodded to Erkani as he grabbed my waist and pulled me to a bench set back from the dance floor. Tall and imposing, his emerald gaze contrasted with the darkness of his hair and his tattoo-riddled skin. He had sent Saiyan to get us a drink and was taking advantage of this little alone time to make up for lost time.

— You are beautiful, Vicky, really.

We exchange a soft look. Erkani is part of the same engineering class as me, but specialized in mathematics. He's the closest thing I've had to a friend since I was a teenager, with a few added perks. Benefits we regularly bestow on each other as two desperate souls in destiny were clearly incompatible.

—I guess we have Wilhuff to thank for your absence yesterday.

I chuckle, my mouth hidden behind my gloved hand. The idea of ​​him calling my father by his first name makes him the worst rebel in the whole empire. We do not discuss the subject further. Erkani being in a good position to know how uncomfortable discussing my family sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable, he rather prefers to tell me that we are now colleagues.

—I'm on Coruscant. Rather die than set foot on Geonosis and pray it never happens to you. he throws at me. The situation there is explosive and I'm not just talking about the natives. I wish he had told me more. Let me know in full detail what a mess my dad had just gotten me into, but Saiyan arrives just in time to take the ongoing conversation and add his two cents. Unlike us, she is not an engineer, but a scientist, which makes her an essential asset in the capital and she explains to me that she has worked on high-performance ionic shield formulas for larger surfaces.

We spend long minutes discussing this and that, including rumors implicating my sister in an adulterous relationship with a high-ranking empire officer. But seeing my ignorance, they refuse to provide me with the slightest detail and instead offer that we toast to our reunion.

It was then that the waiter came to place a glass of water on the table, right in front of me, as if it were for me, plunging my table into amazement.

—I didn't order anything. I said coldly, barely considering him. Do I have a head to drink water?

—It's offered

— By who ?

My head followed the gesture of his chin and my eyes landed on the bar, crashing violently into the electric blue of his gaze.

Him.

He was very busy. You could almost believe that he arranged for me to be in the front row of the pathetic spectacle he offers me. He wears a uniform, his high black leather boots and before removing his headgear to reveal his hair oscillating between darkness and greyness, contrasting with the electricity of his gaze and the mischievousness of his luminous smile.

It's not the same. I thought, scrutinizing the sublime beauty that hangs from his neck like one hangs from a rope. That was probably what she was doing by offering him her adoration. One of many on his long list of hopeless cases desperate for a little attention, money and sex.

Poor daughter.

—He says it's for the mess the other night and...

—Fuck that bastard. I said out loud without realizing it. I dodge Saijan's remarks about Orson Krennic buying me drinks and getting back to my business. At least I think so, because my eyes don't agree. I see his hand sliding down her spine, his fingertips teasing the bare skin she offers him and his lips so dangerously close to her ear it makes my stomach ache. My thighs squeeze together wondering what effect his touch can have and I'm practically sick of it.

I don't give in, refuse even to show him the slightest interest. Because I know it. I feel it. Despite everything that is happening, despite it being her body he is touching, his eyes are riveted to mine. Don't leave me, tracking down the slightest reaction that could betray my interest or my bitterness.

—Do you want another drink, honey?

Erkani leans towards me, whispers this proposal in a warm voice with a delicious accent. It was the opportunity I was waiting for, the one I dreamed of to give him the final blow. His arm rests on the back of the bench where we are sitting and I savor the moment when Krennic discovers it. I grab the glass he offered me and slowly put it to my lips and take a sip, crossing my legs under the table, knowing that from where he is, he doesn't miss anything.

What the fuck am I playing?

It doesn't take long for my friend to return with two glasses full of ocher, fizzy liquor. We toast, embracing our arms like an old couple after exchanging their vows and my eyes finally leave my main interest to dive into the emeralds of Erkani for a moment that seems to me forever and which was abruptly interrupted by a loud clearing of the throat.

—You're going to have to leave this table, young man. I have to discuss with miss.

His voice rumbles like thunder as his shadow looms over us, pulling me a little away from my friend and his hand too busy caressing my thigh. I may be a little drunk, but seeing him so close to me with such a somber expression on his face made me sober immediately.

—And if she doesn't want to?

—It s fine, Erkani. I handle.

I don't handle anything at all. My sitting position allows me to hide my trembling legs, but I am sure that my gaze and all that it betrays does not escape him. That he even loves it.

My friend gestures for me to call him if I feel the need and gives in to Krennic's blatant authority, who doesn't wait another second before sitting down.

—Nice brooch, baby Tarkin.

I want to slap him. Bad idea to start on a good professional relationshp.

—You have nothing better to do than taunt me, Orson?

—It’s Commander Krennic, but okay, I’ll settle for a thank you for the drink tonight.

—I'll call you whatever you want when you stop giving me stupid nicknames.

He chuckles, gestures to the waiter to serve us a round, placing his hand on the file just behind me. As if he definitively asserted his authority and his property. Bad idea, he will quickly understand that I am not a trophy.

—It's too bad you take it that way, I'm here to talk business.

— It must be very important if you have abandoned your evening pastime.

My words betray my contempt and arouse his amusement. This is shit. I really look like a poor girl.

— I am sure that my proposal will interest you.

—I'm not sure I want to hear it.

He lifts his glass to his mouth in such a slow and delicate way that I'm sure he's doing it on purpose. As for me, I remain hooked on his eyes and his proposal, mustering all the good will in the world to refuse it pronto. I'm almost ashamed to admit that being born Tarkin doesn't make me immune to his confusing magnetism.

—I heard your father was offering you a place in the Advanced Weapons Project, a place that doesn't suit your qualifications. I have other things for you, much more interesting. I blink to hide my surprise. Of all the possibilities considered, he chose to surprise me. —Are you bypassing my father's decision?

—I run this program, no matter what he think.

— Really ?

I barely hide the irony of my question, bursting into a laugh so powerful that I almost spill my drink. He turns his head away, pursing his lips sourly. It upsets him and I realize that hurting his ego is more exquisite than any candy, than the sweetest revenge.

— Why offer me a job when you don't know my skills?

—You're a Tarkin, isn't that enough to assure me of the quality of your work?

— My skills are not limited to my name.

— Really ?

He laughs, I focus on the contents of my glass in which I dip my lips, taking care to lower my eyes to better return to the charge.

—Which post ?

—Workshop chief.

—Workshop chief ? I repeat in disbelief. It's five grades above what my father offers me. My surprise seems to please him even if he compresses his jaw not to show me his satisfaction.

—You become a team leader, as an engineer that’s the minimum.

—In which unit?

— You will have to oscillate between Geonosis and here, it will allow you to change air when the need arises.

I digest the information, trying to hide my confusion in alcohol. I don't know how he manages to do this, but his offer is exactly what I need, what I'm looking for. It almost tastes like an escape.

—Geonosis is the planet you work on, isn't it?

It's his turn to raise his glass to his lips. He winces at the way I point out this detail to him and that's when I notice how the distance between us has shrunk considerably. I gave him ground without even realizing it.

—We may see each other there often and share our shuttles.

—Are you keeping an eye on me?

He doesn't respond immediately. Just batting his eyelashes at my hands hovering over the table. I have the impression that he wants to ask me which of us is going to watch the other and that he abstains, too amused by the little game that is taking place between us.

—I want to see what you are capable of.

—Let's be clear: I'm not the kind of person you buy, Orson.

On the other side of the room, his previous guest is staring at us with an evil eye. Krennic's head is tilted so hard towards me that he could kiss my neck and touch my shoulder with his fingertips. I don't know why I don't push him away, stay in his embrace and let my foot stick to his leg, my thigh pressing against his. In a final act of pure provocation, I see him grab my glass and put his lips to it to take a sip. I don't miss a thing of the show. The way his mouth envelops the crystal and hugs its shape, inviting me to imagine he's only doing this to give me a glimpse of what he might be doing to my own body.

—Oh, i know that. You're priceless, baby Tarkin.

I gently snatch my glass from his hand, brushing the lace against the leather of his gloves. Our eyes haven't been able to break contact for several minutes and his breath hangs on mine.

—She's getting impatient. I whisper, looking down, trying to put my lips on my drink exactly where he left the trace of his. I guessed the superhuman effort he had to make not to tip me over on this bench, because it was exactly the one I imposed on myself so as not to beg him to do it.

—Do you accept my offer?

— I'll think about it.

I whispered it so close to his mouth that my lips could have touched his effortlessly. But I had to leave before I ended up on his knees rubbing against his thighs, begging him to put an end to this desire that was bubbling in me, signing my death and my banishment from the Tarkin family.

—I'm not very patient, baby Tarkin.

—Well, time it's come for someone taught you how to be, Orson.