(Hmm...)
"Merely to strengthen the bonds between the Empire of Pity and the Serpent," Rand says firmly. "While we ourselves are very powerful, we are not nearly as powerful as the Serpent. Should anyone approach the Empire with harmful intent, could the Serpent perhaps...slaughter...or...assassinate, the leaders of any such faction?"
Like trying to read one of Escher's drawings, Takuan. Saar's mind was not unlike this one; hers has not the benefit of the Force but obscurely that might keep her more focussed- as you remember, Saar was always worrying so much about the future he could sometimes skip the present.
She's afraid of failure, but her mind is too strong and twisty for you to quantify what that means.
But her surface emotions right now... she's not angry, at all. She's amused.
"So, you are asking me to kill someone, or some people, I have never met in return for this little laser sword here? Obviously your knowledge of the Serpent is not that great, else you would have tried one of my brothers, or even my father. They are the more immediately violent kind."
She pauses.
"You are Serpent members, aren't you?" she says, looking at all of you.
Dangerous moment here...
rand...remember...we only want time to access the tablet. so we need time inside the citadel. think of something to keep us in here for a few days. like... we're tired after a long trip...can we rest here for a while? and renegotiate our relations. perhaps the saber wasn't enough..is there something we can do for you to tighten our bonds?
something along those lines
The lucky thing for you guys is that you are phenomenally good liars- skills backed by force powers like Authority and Subterfuge. You are so convincing in what you say, Jena doesn't disbelieve your background. But there are limits, and she is suspicious, and she does, as you have seen, disbelieve your motives.
She stares at you, Rand.
"Then I have three questions," she says.
(and to speed things up, please, anyone answer these , so long as you put thought into it!)
"First, what was your man doing mixed up woth a Mecrossan?
"Secondly, why have we not heared from the Mecrossans about it? Or can we expect a dead sector enforcer being delivered to our door in the near futre?
"Thirdly... in such a matter, why are you petitioning me, and not my father?
"And once you have satisifed me on those counts... give me the details, and I will see what I can do to spare your lives, that being the kind of price the Mecrossans would demand. It would be a shame to waste so much effort to ingratiate, on your part..."
"I will answer your questions three."
"First, I do not know myself. All I know is that a Mecrossan was killed."
"Secondly, you have not heard from the Mecrossans because my Master sent them a message with the aid of a man who defected from the Mecrossa Order, therefore having the correction encryptions. The message was sent, telling them that he would send men to go to the Serpent to convince them of adding an extra amount of credits to their peace-keeping fee and that the Empire would never mettle in their affairs again. They gave my Master a week to convince you of such a thing. It has been two days."
"Thirdly, I am just following my Master's orders, which were 'Go to Mistress Jena.' Was it wrong of me to come to you? Should I instead go to your father?"