Blood of Heroes, Part XVIII
Posted: 2004-10-19 06:23pm
The authorities had been called in to investigate at the club. Not the Ferengi authorities, of course; no one was that stupid. No, the Orion Syndicate had their own authorities to deal with their problems. Duwal, in this case, was in charge of handling things on Ferenginar, and that usually kept him busy. There are few things a criminal hates more than being cheated by businessmen, so the Orions and Ferengi often had a relationship comparable to the Klingons and Romulans, only without the polite banter.
The minute Duwal showed up he knew he'd have to update Luin, the man he answered to in the syndicate. Vorta slave girls were rare and high demand; their fanatical devotion to service made them an experience to remember. Whoever was responsible had no idea what they were bringing down on their heads. Duwal set up a small holoprojector in the room and contacted Luin on a secure line; he quickly informed him of the situation.
"Was the client in on it?" Luin asked right away.
"The Ferengi's pretty shaken up," Duwal said. "I don't think he's that good an actor, and whoever was here smacked him around pretty good. I don't think he'd go in for a beating."
"Why didn't the little creep call down to security?" Luin asked.
"He did; we found two Nossagins here, one dead, one out cold with no sign of stun weapons. To me, looks like a Vulcan and a Klingon, which mostly backs up his story."
"Mostly?"
"He says the other one was that Jedi the Empire's looking for, if you can believe anything that comes out of a Ferengi's mouth."
"Did they say what they were doing with her?" Luin asked.
"Something about the Founders, just some lines to get her to come along quietly. But he-"
"'Scuse me, Duwal?" said Brune. "You wanna take a look at this?"
Duwal glanced over then back to the hologram. Luin gave a quick but impatient nod, and he came over. "This better be important," he said in a low, menacing tone. Brune pointed to a hole in the floor, and Duwal looked it over. "What about it?"
"I ain't never seen a weapon that can do that," Brune said.
Anyone else and Duwal would've rebuke them on the spot for wasting his time, but Brune was an expert on weapons, especially on their application to people that crossed the Syndicate. "Phaser?"
"Not with that shape; bottom of the hole's full of hardened molten metal. You need tools to make a hole like this."
Duwal was thoughtful for a moment, then came back up to the hologram. "It looks like the Ferengi may have been right about this guy being a Jedi."
"I hope you're not playing a game with me, Duwal," Luin said coldly.
Duwal told him about the hole. "Those Jedi weapons are supposed to cut through anything, even armor."
Luin rolled this new idea around for a moment. Rising in the Orion Syndicate required a strong balance between ambition and caution. Too much of the former and you wind up dead, too much of the latter and you never make the big scores. It was very high stakes gambling. "The Empire wants this guy back, right?"
"That's the word," Duwal said.
"We know where this guy's going?"
"Yeah, Ferengi spilled his guts. You thinking about trying to catch this guy and ransom him back to the Empire?"
"Forget ransom," Luin said, "this could buy us a lot of favors from the regional governor if we let him bring this Jedi in."
Duwal shook his head a little. "I don't know... I saw this guy chop through a bunch of stormtroopers, I don't think we can take him down without leaving the body a smear on some wall."
"If that Cardassian pimple can pull it off, I'd think that we could."
"You're the boss," Duwal said, but he could hardly keep the defeated tone out of his voice. Capture a Jedi? Maybe he should steal Luin a star destroyer while he was at it. He turned off the holoprojector and slid it in his pocket. "All right boys," he said, "we've got some work to do. Oh, and Brune, remind the Ferengi why it’s important to keep your mouth shut."
--------------------------------------------------------------
By the time the Orion Syndicate had learned what had happened, the Raven was already in hyperspace. Gorren volunteered to handle the controls while Sebastian took some rest. He was still barely holding together in the wake of his accident on Earth, but the Jedi healing techniques were helping speed things along. He slipped out of his quarters and into the "dining hall," the term applied to what amounted to a food synthesizer and a table. Kilana was sitting at it at the moment, an empty tray in front of her. She looked up at him the moment he entered the room.
"You're going to take me to the Founder, yes?" Kilana asked. It was obvious she wasn't entirely convinced of Sebastian's honesty with her.
"Kilana," Sebastian said, taking a seat opposite from her, "I'll take you wherever you want to go, once we leave Trodendt."
"No, I need to meet the Founder right away."
"I understand how anxious you must feel-"
"Good, then take me to the Founder."
Sebastian waited a moment. "But I have to get to Trodendt before the Syndicate figures out I'm going there," he finished "If we wait, we could lose our only lead. The Founder will still be there for you when we are done."
"You are trying to trick me," she said sharply.
"Not at all. Like I said, wherever you want to go, that's where I'll take you."
"Then you will take me to the Founder," she said, leaning back and crossing her arms.
"Why?" Sebastian finally asked. "Why is it so important to you?"
Kilana looked at him like he'd just asked why people breathe. "My life is glory to the Founders," she said.
"I can't argue with that," Sebastian mumbled in defeat.
"Without the Founders I wouldn't have existed," she said emphatically. "My entire species would be some primate living in a tree somewhere. What other purpose would I have then to serve those who created me?"
Sebastian shrugged. "It seems to me that a just creator would have you serve only if it was what you wanted, rather than being compelled to."
"I am not compelled by anything except my love for the Founders," Kilana said.
"Yeah, except that you've never met them," Sebastian said. "It's been hard-wired into you to seek out and serve those you've never met."
She shook her head in pity. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"I understand better than you could imagine," Sebastian said. "Your whole life is there for a purpose, and so your every thought is on completing it. It's all you ever knew, all you ever expected."
"Yes," she conceded.
"But sometimes, it's too big a task before you; no sane person could stand before it and expect to succeed. And it's only then that you realize that by what right should any life be made to merely serve someone else's purpose? Life should exist for its own sake too, right? So, what you decide then is to do it for your sake, not for someone else's."
"Huh?" Kilana said, rather deflating Sebastian's attempt at grandeur.
"I'm out here on the run, fighting the good fight, because I have a wife, and a daughter on the way, and I want to make a better galaxy for them. That's how I get out of bed in the morning and face stormtroopers and Vong and Cardassians, because it's my choice. You have a choice too, Kilana."
"And I choose to serve the Founders," she said.
"If that's what you really want," Sebastian said, emphasizing the "you." "But I think you're basing this on Founder programming rather than your own desires."
"I am a Vorta," she said sharply. "I live only to serve the Founders."
Sebastian shook his head. "Little bits of proteins... all they tell you is what you are, not who you are. You don't have to listen to them."
"There is an order to things, Skywalker," she said. "The Vorta serve the Founders. Without the order, there would be chaos."
Sebastian got up. "I hate to break it to you, but if you take a look at the galaxy, you'll see the order was destroyed a long time ago."
"Then if it falls to me to help restore it, so be it."
Sebastian couldn't help but laugh. "You? You'll restore order to the galaxy by yourself?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't sound a little daunting?" he asked with a laugh.
"No more than your task, Skywalker," she said evenly. "And I have the Founder on my side. Who will help you restore order? The Klingon? I'm sure you two will present a formidable challenge." She paused. "I see you're not laughing any more."
"Hey, you want to live as a slave to some changeling, knock yourself out," Sebastian replied with a slight edge to his voice. "I hope it makes you happy." He headed for the cockpit.
"Which upsets you more?" she asked. "That I want to do it, or that it will make me happy?" Sebastian shut the cockpit door behind himself to... to let her think about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Volgo Terraine finished explaining the plan to Jacen and Jaina Solo. It was simple, nothing more involved than anything either one of them had done before for the Emperor. Still, both had a bad feeling about this job, and Jacen finally had to ask, “Is there another option? The academy really needs our presence, with Anakin gone.”
“Days could mean the difference,” he said frankly. “A coralship will take time, but the coralskippers mature very fast. Waiting that long would provide a boost to the Vong fleet.”
“Would it really make that much of a difference?” Jacen asked. “A few coralskippers-“
“Forgive me, master Jedi, but you must remember that this is a planet we’re talking about. There’s more than a mere few involved when it comes to matters of planetary scope.”
Jaina knew exactly what he was talking about. The size of the Empire and the scope of the war tended to make planets seem rather small. Take Chandrilla: the Empire had built even more cities around the world, and yet you hardly noticed the difference overall, because a planet is just such a large object that humanoid activities don’t really have an influence. It took superlasers or millennia of construction or serious terraforming efforts to have lasting influences. A whole planet devoted to Vong ships meant a great deal to their war effort. “I’ll go,” she said.
“No,” Jacen said.
She gave him a look of mild annoyance. “Field operations are my and Anakin’s job, remember?”
“Yes, but you’re needed here more than I am,” Jacen replied. “You’ve been doing the special training for your and Anakin’s students, I can’t pick up the slack for both of you.”
“I can take Alema,” Jaina said. “She’s ready for some field work.”
“I agree, but your place is here.”
Jaina was taken aback. “Who are you to tell me what my place is?”
“I’m just holding up the mirror, Jaina,” he said. “This may have been my idea, but you’ve really made it a reality. You have more of the patience for this than I do, and I should have realized that. I guess I wanted to think of myself as being one of the masters of the old age, making the big decisions. But I miss not having the dirt under my feet. I’m not cut out for this, you are.”
“I hope that’s not an attempt at flattery,” Jaina said, even though she could sense the truth. She had to admit, though, she liked the way it sounded, and she did enjoy working with the students. “Bring Alema,” she said. “It would be good work for her to try, and it would help her confront the Vong in a small way.”
“And it would allow you more time with the other students,” he said. “I’ll tell her right away; we don’t want that Vong fleet growing any bigger.” Neither of them voiced their feelings of doubt surrounding the mission.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Senator Alixus had a tightness in her stomach as she stepped onto the transporter. She had delayed things as best she could, but there was no chance of buying any more time. Tomorrow they would definitely approve the use of the superlaser on Nom Anor's world, and there was nothing more she could do to stop them. She could only hope that she'd bought him enough time.
This time the Sith was waiting in her garden, seated on the bench. The bodyguard's guns flew from their holsters before they could move and landed at his feet. Still, one of them tried charging him while the other reached for a hold-out weapon. With casual gestures the Sith lit his lightsaber and cut down the attacker even while he gestured at the other, causing him to cough and sputter until he collapsed on the ground with a death rattle. "I wish you would tell your men to stop this foolishness," he said. "I hate getting my hands dirty with such unbecoming enemies."
"What do you want?" she asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"I have more work for you," he said. "To our mutual advantage, again. There will be a Jedi traveling to the planet Provag on a mission of sabotage against the Vong. I will stop him. Tell your Vong allies that neither of us is to be interfered with. If they do their death's will be swift and without glory."
"Are you threatening the entire army of the Vong?" Alixus asked despite herself.
The Sith stood up. "The ability to terraform worlds, drop moons, grow ships, overrun the Empire... I laugh at the puny exertions the Vong call power. You have no idea what power is until you have tasted the dark side."
"I will pass along your message," Alixus said finally. Even though Nom Anor was trapped on the blockaded Vong world, his network was still in place for her to relay information to the Vong. It helped keep them up-to-date even when the Empire tried deviating from the plans the Hive had learned of through its infiltration. Whether they would listen to this idea was another matter, but all Alixus could do was pass it along.
"Good. Also, there is a group of petty criminals in your sector... the Orion Syndicate. They have decided to embark on a fool's errand, but it serves my interests that they do so. If they want to fight a Jedi, however, they had best come equipped for the challenge."
"Sebastian Skywalker," Alixus said quietly. "They know where he is?"
"Skywalker is mine," the Sith said with a voice that left no leeway for argument. "But to maintain this charade the battle must be short. They'll need the proper tool to face the Jedi in anticipation of my attack." A datapad flew across the garden and hung in the air before Alixus; she carefully took it.
"This?" she finally asked. "What difference will this creature make?"
"If you understood the Force, you would already know."
He slipped away, so quickly Alixus almost wondered if it was a personal transporter. She looked back to the datapad, wondering if the Sith was right about this. Of course, he had been right last time, impossibly right. Still, all of this was hard to fathom. She looked at the creature again, and said the name aloud. "Ysalamir."
The minute Duwal showed up he knew he'd have to update Luin, the man he answered to in the syndicate. Vorta slave girls were rare and high demand; their fanatical devotion to service made them an experience to remember. Whoever was responsible had no idea what they were bringing down on their heads. Duwal set up a small holoprojector in the room and contacted Luin on a secure line; he quickly informed him of the situation.
"Was the client in on it?" Luin asked right away.
"The Ferengi's pretty shaken up," Duwal said. "I don't think he's that good an actor, and whoever was here smacked him around pretty good. I don't think he'd go in for a beating."
"Why didn't the little creep call down to security?" Luin asked.
"He did; we found two Nossagins here, one dead, one out cold with no sign of stun weapons. To me, looks like a Vulcan and a Klingon, which mostly backs up his story."
"Mostly?"
"He says the other one was that Jedi the Empire's looking for, if you can believe anything that comes out of a Ferengi's mouth."
"Did they say what they were doing with her?" Luin asked.
"Something about the Founders, just some lines to get her to come along quietly. But he-"
"'Scuse me, Duwal?" said Brune. "You wanna take a look at this?"
Duwal glanced over then back to the hologram. Luin gave a quick but impatient nod, and he came over. "This better be important," he said in a low, menacing tone. Brune pointed to a hole in the floor, and Duwal looked it over. "What about it?"
"I ain't never seen a weapon that can do that," Brune said.
Anyone else and Duwal would've rebuke them on the spot for wasting his time, but Brune was an expert on weapons, especially on their application to people that crossed the Syndicate. "Phaser?"
"Not with that shape; bottom of the hole's full of hardened molten metal. You need tools to make a hole like this."
Duwal was thoughtful for a moment, then came back up to the hologram. "It looks like the Ferengi may have been right about this guy being a Jedi."
"I hope you're not playing a game with me, Duwal," Luin said coldly.
Duwal told him about the hole. "Those Jedi weapons are supposed to cut through anything, even armor."
Luin rolled this new idea around for a moment. Rising in the Orion Syndicate required a strong balance between ambition and caution. Too much of the former and you wind up dead, too much of the latter and you never make the big scores. It was very high stakes gambling. "The Empire wants this guy back, right?"
"That's the word," Duwal said.
"We know where this guy's going?"
"Yeah, Ferengi spilled his guts. You thinking about trying to catch this guy and ransom him back to the Empire?"
"Forget ransom," Luin said, "this could buy us a lot of favors from the regional governor if we let him bring this Jedi in."
Duwal shook his head a little. "I don't know... I saw this guy chop through a bunch of stormtroopers, I don't think we can take him down without leaving the body a smear on some wall."
"If that Cardassian pimple can pull it off, I'd think that we could."
"You're the boss," Duwal said, but he could hardly keep the defeated tone out of his voice. Capture a Jedi? Maybe he should steal Luin a star destroyer while he was at it. He turned off the holoprojector and slid it in his pocket. "All right boys," he said, "we've got some work to do. Oh, and Brune, remind the Ferengi why it’s important to keep your mouth shut."
--------------------------------------------------------------
By the time the Orion Syndicate had learned what had happened, the Raven was already in hyperspace. Gorren volunteered to handle the controls while Sebastian took some rest. He was still barely holding together in the wake of his accident on Earth, but the Jedi healing techniques were helping speed things along. He slipped out of his quarters and into the "dining hall," the term applied to what amounted to a food synthesizer and a table. Kilana was sitting at it at the moment, an empty tray in front of her. She looked up at him the moment he entered the room.
"You're going to take me to the Founder, yes?" Kilana asked. It was obvious she wasn't entirely convinced of Sebastian's honesty with her.
"Kilana," Sebastian said, taking a seat opposite from her, "I'll take you wherever you want to go, once we leave Trodendt."
"No, I need to meet the Founder right away."
"I understand how anxious you must feel-"
"Good, then take me to the Founder."
Sebastian waited a moment. "But I have to get to Trodendt before the Syndicate figures out I'm going there," he finished "If we wait, we could lose our only lead. The Founder will still be there for you when we are done."
"You are trying to trick me," she said sharply.
"Not at all. Like I said, wherever you want to go, that's where I'll take you."
"Then you will take me to the Founder," she said, leaning back and crossing her arms.
"Why?" Sebastian finally asked. "Why is it so important to you?"
Kilana looked at him like he'd just asked why people breathe. "My life is glory to the Founders," she said.
"I can't argue with that," Sebastian mumbled in defeat.
"Without the Founders I wouldn't have existed," she said emphatically. "My entire species would be some primate living in a tree somewhere. What other purpose would I have then to serve those who created me?"
Sebastian shrugged. "It seems to me that a just creator would have you serve only if it was what you wanted, rather than being compelled to."
"I am not compelled by anything except my love for the Founders," Kilana said.
"Yeah, except that you've never met them," Sebastian said. "It's been hard-wired into you to seek out and serve those you've never met."
She shook her head in pity. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"I understand better than you could imagine," Sebastian said. "Your whole life is there for a purpose, and so your every thought is on completing it. It's all you ever knew, all you ever expected."
"Yes," she conceded.
"But sometimes, it's too big a task before you; no sane person could stand before it and expect to succeed. And it's only then that you realize that by what right should any life be made to merely serve someone else's purpose? Life should exist for its own sake too, right? So, what you decide then is to do it for your sake, not for someone else's."
"Huh?" Kilana said, rather deflating Sebastian's attempt at grandeur.
"I'm out here on the run, fighting the good fight, because I have a wife, and a daughter on the way, and I want to make a better galaxy for them. That's how I get out of bed in the morning and face stormtroopers and Vong and Cardassians, because it's my choice. You have a choice too, Kilana."
"And I choose to serve the Founders," she said.
"If that's what you really want," Sebastian said, emphasizing the "you." "But I think you're basing this on Founder programming rather than your own desires."
"I am a Vorta," she said sharply. "I live only to serve the Founders."
Sebastian shook his head. "Little bits of proteins... all they tell you is what you are, not who you are. You don't have to listen to them."
"There is an order to things, Skywalker," she said. "The Vorta serve the Founders. Without the order, there would be chaos."
Sebastian got up. "I hate to break it to you, but if you take a look at the galaxy, you'll see the order was destroyed a long time ago."
"Then if it falls to me to help restore it, so be it."
Sebastian couldn't help but laugh. "You? You'll restore order to the galaxy by yourself?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't sound a little daunting?" he asked with a laugh.
"No more than your task, Skywalker," she said evenly. "And I have the Founder on my side. Who will help you restore order? The Klingon? I'm sure you two will present a formidable challenge." She paused. "I see you're not laughing any more."
"Hey, you want to live as a slave to some changeling, knock yourself out," Sebastian replied with a slight edge to his voice. "I hope it makes you happy." He headed for the cockpit.
"Which upsets you more?" she asked. "That I want to do it, or that it will make me happy?" Sebastian shut the cockpit door behind himself to... to let her think about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Volgo Terraine finished explaining the plan to Jacen and Jaina Solo. It was simple, nothing more involved than anything either one of them had done before for the Emperor. Still, both had a bad feeling about this job, and Jacen finally had to ask, “Is there another option? The academy really needs our presence, with Anakin gone.”
“Days could mean the difference,” he said frankly. “A coralship will take time, but the coralskippers mature very fast. Waiting that long would provide a boost to the Vong fleet.”
“Would it really make that much of a difference?” Jacen asked. “A few coralskippers-“
“Forgive me, master Jedi, but you must remember that this is a planet we’re talking about. There’s more than a mere few involved when it comes to matters of planetary scope.”
Jaina knew exactly what he was talking about. The size of the Empire and the scope of the war tended to make planets seem rather small. Take Chandrilla: the Empire had built even more cities around the world, and yet you hardly noticed the difference overall, because a planet is just such a large object that humanoid activities don’t really have an influence. It took superlasers or millennia of construction or serious terraforming efforts to have lasting influences. A whole planet devoted to Vong ships meant a great deal to their war effort. “I’ll go,” she said.
“No,” Jacen said.
She gave him a look of mild annoyance. “Field operations are my and Anakin’s job, remember?”
“Yes, but you’re needed here more than I am,” Jacen replied. “You’ve been doing the special training for your and Anakin’s students, I can’t pick up the slack for both of you.”
“I can take Alema,” Jaina said. “She’s ready for some field work.”
“I agree, but your place is here.”
Jaina was taken aback. “Who are you to tell me what my place is?”
“I’m just holding up the mirror, Jaina,” he said. “This may have been my idea, but you’ve really made it a reality. You have more of the patience for this than I do, and I should have realized that. I guess I wanted to think of myself as being one of the masters of the old age, making the big decisions. But I miss not having the dirt under my feet. I’m not cut out for this, you are.”
“I hope that’s not an attempt at flattery,” Jaina said, even though she could sense the truth. She had to admit, though, she liked the way it sounded, and she did enjoy working with the students. “Bring Alema,” she said. “It would be good work for her to try, and it would help her confront the Vong in a small way.”
“And it would allow you more time with the other students,” he said. “I’ll tell her right away; we don’t want that Vong fleet growing any bigger.” Neither of them voiced their feelings of doubt surrounding the mission.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Senator Alixus had a tightness in her stomach as she stepped onto the transporter. She had delayed things as best she could, but there was no chance of buying any more time. Tomorrow they would definitely approve the use of the superlaser on Nom Anor's world, and there was nothing more she could do to stop them. She could only hope that she'd bought him enough time.
This time the Sith was waiting in her garden, seated on the bench. The bodyguard's guns flew from their holsters before they could move and landed at his feet. Still, one of them tried charging him while the other reached for a hold-out weapon. With casual gestures the Sith lit his lightsaber and cut down the attacker even while he gestured at the other, causing him to cough and sputter until he collapsed on the ground with a death rattle. "I wish you would tell your men to stop this foolishness," he said. "I hate getting my hands dirty with such unbecoming enemies."
"What do you want?" she asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.
"I have more work for you," he said. "To our mutual advantage, again. There will be a Jedi traveling to the planet Provag on a mission of sabotage against the Vong. I will stop him. Tell your Vong allies that neither of us is to be interfered with. If they do their death's will be swift and without glory."
"Are you threatening the entire army of the Vong?" Alixus asked despite herself.
The Sith stood up. "The ability to terraform worlds, drop moons, grow ships, overrun the Empire... I laugh at the puny exertions the Vong call power. You have no idea what power is until you have tasted the dark side."
"I will pass along your message," Alixus said finally. Even though Nom Anor was trapped on the blockaded Vong world, his network was still in place for her to relay information to the Vong. It helped keep them up-to-date even when the Empire tried deviating from the plans the Hive had learned of through its infiltration. Whether they would listen to this idea was another matter, but all Alixus could do was pass it along.
"Good. Also, there is a group of petty criminals in your sector... the Orion Syndicate. They have decided to embark on a fool's errand, but it serves my interests that they do so. If they want to fight a Jedi, however, they had best come equipped for the challenge."
"Sebastian Skywalker," Alixus said quietly. "They know where he is?"
"Skywalker is mine," the Sith said with a voice that left no leeway for argument. "But to maintain this charade the battle must be short. They'll need the proper tool to face the Jedi in anticipation of my attack." A datapad flew across the garden and hung in the air before Alixus; she carefully took it.
"This?" she finally asked. "What difference will this creature make?"
"If you understood the Force, you would already know."
He slipped away, so quickly Alixus almost wondered if it was a personal transporter. She looked back to the datapad, wondering if the Sith was right about this. Of course, he had been right last time, impossibly right. Still, all of this was hard to fathom. She looked at the creature again, and said the name aloud. "Ysalamir."