Then Elvee will hug him.

"I don't think Minuial Vashtar was a very nice person."

"I never interacted with him much, but — no. I don't think so either." 

"We can keep Seku safe."

"We can. And I can keep you safe." 

Elvee is concerned.

"Who is going to keep you safe?"

"Seku did a pretty good job." 

Bounce bounce bounce. 

Hugging Elvee is very very good, and Marlo — for once — isn't thinking about what he should be doing. 

A ping arrives on Marlo's console.

Senator Palpatine has requested him as a guard at a diplomatic mission off-planet. 

He agrees easily, of course. 

Elvee has to stay on Coruscant, because his skillset is not even a little bit relevant for a diplomatic mission.

Marlo hugs him extra long and extra tight before he goes. 

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." Squeeze. "But I'll be back." 

Elvee does not want to stop hugging him.

That's fair. Marlo doesn't want to stop hugging him either. 

Eventually he's going to have to, though. 

:(

When Marlo arrives on Palpatine's ship, he says, "Marlo, my boy. How have you been?"

"I've been good," he says, instead of saying literally anything about the details of the last week. "And you?" 

"Excellent, excellent. We'll be meeting with House Thoris."

He nods and keeps listening. 

"The Hapan political system is complex and difficult to explain, but I will gain respect if I am shown to be allied with Princess Dejah Thoris's savior."

There is approximately no sense in which he is Princess Dejah Thoris's savior. Marlo nods anyway. 

"You seem troubled."

"Nothing important. What is this meeting about?"