Chapter 11
Aggressive Negotiations
The time was up, the lunch break was over, and Vader still hadn't made it back. The mediations would have to start without him. Taking a cleansing breath, Obi-Wan sharpened his focus before leading the incredibly tense crowd back into the spacious meeting room.
Prince Escal took his seat first at the far end of the room, and Obi-Wan sat to the prince's right. The Patriarchs and their respective families and employees sat down next. The only seat not filled was at Obi-Wan's right, since Vader was still missing. Within minutes, everyone noticed.
"Master Jedi, where is your apprentice?" Patriarch Capullon frowned, throwing his question onto the floor before Prince Escal had officially opened the proceedings.
When the prince did not object to the question, Obi-Wan had no choice but to answer. "He is investigating a lead for me."
"What sort of lead?" Patriarch Montaigne demanded.
"Shouldn't we wait until this meeting is called to order before we throw questions around?" Obi-Wan countered.
"Jedi Kenobi is quite right," the prince agreed. "Please hold any further questions until after the summary of our previous discussion. Now let the mediations resume."
With that order, a protocol droid that spent its day tucked away in a corner of the room shuffled forward and recited its summary of the previous discussions. This particular unit stood from most other droids that Obi-Wan was familiar with in that it lacked the over-exaggerated personalities usually programmed into protocol droids. In fact, this droid didn't seem to have any personality at all as it dully rattled off its report.
As the room listened to the droid drone, Obi-Wan let his gaze drift over to Tybal Capullon. The hot-tempered young man wasn't the least bit interested in the droid's report, though he pretended that he was. He was still smirking, but there was worry flickering in his eyes now. Tybal's eyes darted over towards Vader's empty chair a few times.
What are you up to?
Vader strolled through the capital back towards the hotel with several people in tow. Romero and Julia were hand in hand, wearing concealing cloaks. He guessed they wanted to do some kind of dramatic reveal or something. Balthazar the bodyguard brought up the rear.
The end is near, Vader grinned to himself. As soon as these lovebirds sing their respective songs, all that's left to do is sweep up the pieces. Hopefully that won't take too long…
"Where would you like to go after this, love?" Romero asked.
"I don't know," Julia giggled. "Why don't you name some places?"
"Balmorra?" he suggested.
"Where else?" she shrugged.
Romero dumped a respectable list of planets stretching from the Core to the Inner Rim. "Carida? Humbarine? Commenor? Fondor? Kuat? Alderaan? Corellia? Borleias? Bilbringi? Bestine?"
"Alright, that's enough!" Julia laughed. "Let's pick from those."
Vader struggled not to roll his eyes at them. Are all newlyweds so disgusting? he wondered. If they keep this up I might be sick.
"Hey, Jedi, what do you think?" Romero inquired.
"What?" Vader blinked, pretending not to have heard a word they said.
"Where do you think we should go?" Romero repeated, adding on every planet that he'd named.
"I don't know," Vader shrugged, "I haven't been to many of those systems."
"Well just tell us what you think about what you know," Julia grinned.
Great. "Um…" Vader glanced around at their surroundings. They were still several blocks away from their destination. He was stuck answering. "Corellia is known for its wide-open spaces. Corellia, Bilbringi, and Kuat are all known for their shipyards. Commenor is a city-planet similar to Coruscant. Alderaan is peaceful and environmentally conscious, its also a center for learning…" He rambled on a little longer about a few other worlds, but he had even less to say about them.
"What about Naboo?" Julia added thoughtfully.
"Naboo?" Vader frowned. I know I've heard that name somewhere before… "I may have heard of it."
"Oh, what have you heard?" Romero asked.
"Um…that it exists?" Vader gulped. "We haven't covered the entire galaxy in class yet."
"Oh," Julia blinked. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen," Vader shrugged.
"I thought you looked young," Julia muttered.
"You're only fifteen?" Romero choked.
"Yes," Vader answered. "So what?"
"I'm almost twenty and my father still won't let me walk anywhere alone," Romero groused. "Not that I don't like you Balthazar, but sometimes I'd like to not have to pay you to look the other way when I want alone-time with Julia."
"No offense taken, my Lord," Balthazar chuckled. "My poor sick mother loves the extra credits."
"Well my father isn't a wealthy business man," Vader replied. For all I know, I don't have a father.
"I guess that would do it," Romero grumbled. "It still doesn't seem fair, though. At fifteen, I was practically under house arrest and here you are running around the streets of the city, free as a bird."
"I'm not quite 'free as a bird,'" Vader sighed. "The only reason I was allowed to run around the streets of the city was to find you two. If I didn't have to track you runaways down, I'd still be stuck in a room with both your families and my Master." It was so hard not to hesitate on the word 'master,' he swore he'd never get used to saying it as easily as a real Padawan.
"It's still better than being locked up, a prisoner in your own home." Romero asserted. "Your parents say that they love you and that it's for your own good, but all you want to do is get away."
"That doesn't sound legal," Vader remarked.
"It's what all the rich people do," Julia shrugged. "They lock their children up in their homes and educate them with private tutors. What I wouldn't give to be middle-class instead of rich."
I wish I was middle-class too. "Well that's all over now," Vader commented. "All that's left is to tell them off and leave."
"Yes," Julia cheered up some, "I can't wait!"
"Me neither," Romero agreed.
Me neither, Vader silently added. I want to get out of here, away from all the yelling.
The massive hotel finally came into view and Vader relaxed a bit. The end was still a ways off, but now within sight. Once he delivered these two, his work was done. All he had to do after that was sit back and wait.
When he reached the grand front doors, he spied the hovercam droid hovering nearby. Toggling the control on the remote/screen, he called the droid down to him as he slipped inside. The happy couple was quite oblivious to the droid's presence, but Vader was pretty sure that Balthazar caught it. However, the bodyguard said nothing.
Five steps inside the door, Vader froze. The clerks that manned the front desk were nowhere to be seen and the grand foyer was eerily empty and silent. Something was very wrong. He could feel it.
Wary and alert, Vader slowly led the way to the meeting room. Julia and Romero continued to chat, though more quietly now, and they seemed unaware of any problems. Balthazar, being the good bodyguard that he was, was alert and scanning for threats as he brought up the rear.
As Vader came around the corner and saw the doors that led to the meeting room, he swallowed a curse. The two peace officers who normally stood guard outside the doors were, like the desk clerks, missing. In their place stood a grungy-looking green male Twi'lek and a bald Human man with lots of scars and tattoos. Both of them had large knives and heavy blasters strapped to their waists.
Vader couldn't help but mutter the first thing that came to his mind. "Well shit."
It had all happened so fast.
Obi-Wan had barely felt any warning at all before the doors to the meeting room slammed open and the mercenaries stormed in. It was a motley crew of rough-looking Humans, a trio of Twi'leks, a Rodian, and a Dug. They marched in, weapons drawn, and took control of the room before the Montaignes and Capullons knew what was going on.
The leader, a dark-skinned man with an ugly scar across the bridge of his nose, marched right up to Prince Escal and casually pointed his blaster at the nobleman. "Hello princey," he sneered.
"What is the meaning of this?" the prince sputtered.
"You don't need to know the meaning," the mercenary grunted. "All you need to do is pay up or I blow you away."
"What?" Tybal yelped. "That's not what I hired you to do!"
"Quit your whining!" the leader snapped. "We'll go and kill this 'Patriarch Montaigne' for you soon enough. But first, we're going to squeeze as much money out of this job as possible."
Well that's let everyone know what he's been up to, Obi-Wan sighed to himself as he carefully tucked his lightsaber hilt into his voluminous sleeve.
"I won't pay," Prince Escal scowled. "Put your weapons down and surrender immediately before I have you all arrested!"
"You'll be long dead before any cops show up," the mercenary laughed. He sobered immediately and clicked the safety off his blaster. "Now get out your princely checkbook or prepare to have your gray matter splattered."
Obi-Wan took the opportunity to move then, capitalizing on the mercenaries' fatal mistake: ignoring the Jedi in the room.
In one fluid motion he leapt over the table, drew his lightsaber, lit it, and sliced through the barrel of the lead mercenaries' gun. Next he brought his elbow around and smashed it into the mercenaries face, stunning him and pushing him back, away from the prince. And after that, Obi-Wan was kept busy trying to take out the mercenaries as quickly as possible without sacrificing any Talasean lives.
He almost succeeded. But 'almost' wasn't enough. The agile Dug brought everything to a standstill when he tackled Patriarch Montaigne and pressed his b'hedda blade, the tradition Dug weapon, against the elderly man's throat and barked something rough and angry in Huttese.
"Surrender Jedi, before Duraka puts his blade into the old man's neck," one of the Twi'lek hissed as he staggered up from the floor where Obi-Wan had shoved him.
Glancing around the room, Obi-Wan could see no way out. While he had disabled over half of the mercenaries enough that they wouldn't be a problem for several minutes, the rest were recovering quickly. The distance was too great for him to get the Dug safely off the patriarch, and if he tried he would leave himself open to attack from closer foes. Taking a cleansing breath, he put his trust in the Force, extinguished his saber, and tossed it aside.
"Very good," the leader croaked through bloody lips as he lay on the floor. "Now kill him."
The Dug snarled, raised his scooped b'hedda in one clawed foot, started to bring it down on Patriarch Montaigne's neck—
Duraka the Dug went flying as a dark leather boot crashed into his side and his b'hedda clattered uselessly to the floor. Vader zipped through the space where the Dug had just been as he vaulted over the tables and down onto the open floor at the center of the room. The instant he landed, he was moving again, throwing himself bodily at the nearest foe, a troubling, feral sort of glint in his eyes.
Taking advantage of the mercenaries' shock at the unexpected appearance of a second Jedi, Obi-Wan recalled his saber hilt to his hand and jumped back into action. He had to get things under control quickly before Vader completely lost his head and crossed the line. Obi-Wan didn't want to think that the fifteen-year-old was capable of killing someone with his bare hands, but he wasn't going to risk it.
Within a few seconds, it was all over. All the mercenaries were knocked out, knocked down, or cowering in surrender. The Montaignes, Capullons, and other (mostly) innocent parties were safe, though decidedly shaken. Vader was no longer on the warpath. And the authorities were on the way.
And to think that Romero and Julia haven't even shown up yet…
There was a lot of nervous mutterings and even some soft crying from the assembled families and employees by the time the squad of peace officers arrived to cart the defeated mercenaries away. When he was certain that things weren't going to collapse into another fight, Vader slunk off to retrieve Romero, Julia, and Balthazar from where he'd stashed them. He tucked his hands into his sleeves to hide the fact that they were shaking.
"What happened?" Julia whispered when he opened the storage closet door.
"A fight," Vader shrugged tensely. "Why don't you ask your cousin Tybal about it?" he suggested as he started to lead them into the meeting room.
"Tybal?" Julia frowned. "What does he have to do with it?"
"Ask him and see," Vader muttered. Ugh, I feel like crap.
She did just that. As soon as they were inside, she marched right up to Tybal as a peace officer was binding his wrists and tossed back her hood. "Cousin, what's going on?" she blinked. Then Julia noticed he was being arrested. "What-you're being arrested?"
"Julia?" Tybal squeaked. "What-wh-where have you been?"
"Answer my question first, Tybal," Julia demanded sharply.
"I-I hired mercenaries to take revenge for your kidnapping." Tybal stuttered.
"You did what?" Julia shrieked. Her shock quickly turned to fury and she slapped him across the face so hard that the room almost instantly fell silent. "You idiot! I wasn't kidnapped!"
"You weren't?" Tybal choked. "But…but then why did you disappear? You were about to get married. We all thought the worst!"
"Oh my darling!" Matriarch Capullon – who had done little but alternately curse the Montaignes and weep for her lost daughter up to this point – cried as she rushed over to embrace Julia. "I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Oh my daughter!" Patriarch Capullon sighed in deep relief as he joined his wife in hugging Julia. "Stars be praised, you're safe!"
"Of course I'm safe, father," Julia muttered as she tried to squirm free. "I was always fine. Now let me go."
"I'm so glad," Matriarch Capullon sniffled. "Parin dear, come here. We have a wedding to reschedule."
Julia broke free from her parents and retreated to Romero's side in the blink of an eye. "No!" she snapped. "I'm not marrying him! I'm never marrying him!"
"But-but dear, why not?" Patriarch Capullon gaped. "You said yes befor—"
"No I did not!" Julia interrupted. "I never said yes. I didn't say anything at all! None of you ever gave me a chance to answer, you only assumed that my answer was yes and forged ahead with your plans!"
"Julia, why didn't you say anything to us?" Matriarch Capullon frowned.
"Would it have made any difference?" Julia countered. "No, it wouldn't have; especially when I told you who I was going to marry."
"And who would that be?" a rather crushed-looking Parin asked.
"Romero Montaigne," Julia announced proudly as Romero shed his own hood.
Cries of horror echoed around the room from both sides.
"You can't be serious!" Matriarch Capullon wailed.
"Romero!" Patriarch Montaigne bellowed. "What are you doing with her? Come here at once and explain yourself!"
"No," Romero retorted. "I'm here to say my piece and then I'll be leaving forever with Julia."
"What?" Patriarch Montaigne choked.
"Julia, no!" Matriarch Capullon cried. "Come home at once!"
"I will not," Julia scowled. "I've already married Romero and once we're done here, we'll be leaving Talasea."
"Where will you go?" Parin inquired quietly.
"Anywhere as long as it's far, far away from all of you," Julia declared. "I'm tired of all the fighting and bad-mouthing. I'm tired of you trying to run my life for me. I'm tired of your stupid prejudices making it impossible to see the man that I love openly and freely!"
"Julia, sweetheart," Patriarch Capullon pleaded. "Come home, we'll get you some help, the finest psychiatrists that money can buy—"
"I'm not the one who needs counseling!" Julia snapped. "You can't change my mind and you can't stop me."
"But Julia, this Romero scoundrel has obviously brainwashed you," Patriarch Capullon insisted desperately.
"I think you've got it the other way around," Patriarch Montaigne called from across the room. "Your 'precious' Julia has corrupted my son!"
"Would you stop this fighting?" Romero shouted before another round of cursing and yelling broke out. "No one has brainwashed either of us!"
"How can I trust you, you're a Montaigne!" Patriarch Capullon sneered.
"If you don't trust him," Vader interrupted, "trust this."
Vader fiddled with the remote to the hovercam droid and a selected portion of what it had recorded started to play on the room's large holo-screen. He set it to run from just before he appeared and interrupted them until they decided to come with him, leaving out as much of the making-out as possible. The entire room, Romero and Julia included, gaped at it.
While they were busy gaping, Vader tried to calm himself down. Ever since the adrenalin high from the fight had worn off, he'd felt all shaky and kind of sick. The Jedi had promised him that they would send him on dull, but safe missions. They were all a bunch of liars.
This sucks! he fumed. I am not supposed to get into dangerous fights! I hate this!
When the clip ran its course, Julia and Romero took turns blasting their respective families. Vader barely listened to them. He just stared down at his boots and waited for it to be over.
I hate this place. I hate these people. …I want to go home.
Much later that day, well into the night, Obi-Wan settled down on the edge of his bed in the hotel suite and reviewed the very eventful day. Vader had located the missing Romero and Julia and convinced them to return and face their families one last time. Tybal's plan had caused a lot of chaos, but was ultimately stopped. The Montaignes and Capullons were forced to see the truth of Romero and Julia's relationship. And now Prince Escal had formally dismissed them to finish up the mediations himself, so he and Vader would be catching a flight back to Coruscant in the morning.
In regards to Vader's actions, Obi-Wan couldn't help but be impressed. The teenager had handled things quite well for the most part. He displayed great intelligence in discovering Julia and Romero's hiding place, and great skill in persuading them to return. He had gone a bit overboard during the fight, punt-kicking the Dug just seemed a bit extreme, though his intervention was appreciated.
Looking over at Vader now, he found the young man curled up on his own bed with his back towards Obi-Wan. Once the fight had wound down, Obi-Wan noticed that Vader had appeared miserable, pale, almost sickly at times. Now he just seemed quietly upset and sullen, much closer to his normal mood. The hovercam droid that he'd tricked the Capullons into giving him idly hovered over his bed, its camera inactive.
"So are you glad to be returning to Coruscant?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I expect a very nice lunch after we land," Vader growled.
Ah, the bet, right. "After we deliver our repot to the Council I'll take you out," Obi-Wan promised. I've been meaning to visit Dex anyway.
"Fine," Vader muttered. There was a long pause. "Do I get to keep the droid?"
"If the Capullons don't object, I don't see why not," Obi-Wan sighed.
"They won't," Vader snorted. "They already told me that I could keep it."
"Ah," Obi-Wan muttered. Shaking his head, he began to prepare for bed. Wonderful. There will now be a camera droid lurking around our quarters… "Did you get all your homework done?"
There was a long pause. "No," Vader muttered.
"What do you have left to do?" Obi-Wan asked, dreading the answer.
"Just the report," Vader grumbled.
"Well get on it as soon as we get back," Obi-Wan instructed.
The boy muttered some incoherent response that Obi-Wan decided to take as a "yes."
"Hey Kenobi?" Vader spoke up just as Obi-Wan switched off the lights.
"Yes?" Obi-Wan prompted.
"Do all the 'safe' missions turn out this way?" the young man asked.
"No," Obi-Wan assured him. "This is a relatively uncommon result."
"It'd better be," Vader grumbled. "This really sucked."
"Language, please." Obi-Wan chided.
"Whatever," Vader sighed and then fell silent.
Force help me, Obi-Wan sighed to himself. This boy is going to be the death of me someday…
