AN: This update is not betaed yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Worm. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial purpose. I make no money from it.


Chapter 11

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Part 1

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8 January 2011

PRT HQ

Brockton Bay

Earth Bet

In Brockton Bay there were days that made Director Piggot sorely wish for a drink, on a few particularly bad occasions, ten. Then there were days like this one, when Emily was genuinely tempted to track down everyone who recommended her for her post and shoot them repeatedly with anti-brute ordnance.

"What do we have so far?" It was the high amount of practice that allowed her to keep her tone somewhat civil, she was sure of it.

"We have confirmed six locations struck. Tomas Calvert's house, his office at Fortes Construction, a flat owned by said company, a pair of its warehouses, one conference room…" Armsmaster droned on, while Miss Militia and Dauntless listened.

"Is Calvert the one common factor?" Rennick looked up from his tabled and asked.

"He is the primary variable we've managed to find so far." Dragon's image answered from a flat screen hanging from the ceiling. "However, it's most curious that the Mandalorians mobilized and attacked after Coil's mercenaries attempted to grab a civilian girl..."

"Who we now believe might be Tattletale from the Undersiders, and thus contracted to work for them." Armsmaster grumbled. "The Mandalorian representative will arrive shortly, Director. What are our orders?"

"To ask politely for an explanation, relay it up the chain of command." And pray the city doesn't become a literal warzone, Emily didn't add.

Director Piggot knew that there were assets mobilizing to try and contain the Mandalorians if it came to it, it was even likely they could overwhelm the alien contingent on the ground with the right Capes and enough numbers. The big problem was that doing so wouldn't really matter in the long run. The Director had to fight not to glance at the ceiling and the warship hanging innocently up in orbit.

"Are we going to let them get away with something like this?" Miss Militia exclaimed. "I know our situation isn't stellar, however..."

"However, this isn't exactly without precedent, here in the Bay." That conclusion came from Dauntless. "The ABB, Lung, our very own Nazi infestation..." He sighed and looked at the Director. "This isn't much different in spirit, is it?"

"Too much trouble to deal with available resources, especially if we fail in neutralizing them?" Emily smiled without showing any joy. "Too big of a risk?" She chuckled mirthlessly. "In the coming days and weeks we're about to receive all the support we've been asking for years now, and it might not matter at all. More than anything, we can't afford to act rashly on this one. Best case scenario, we might be able to take them in with reasonable casualties and collateral damage. Worst case, well..." Alien warships raining death from orbit with the only realistic counters being the Simurgh, if it took offense at someone breaking its toys, and Scion, who might be too busy saving a kitten from a tree or something to bother responding promptly to someone burning cities from orbit.

Hopefully all that would remain only a worst case scenario and one of her nightmares, Emily prayed to a God she no longer believed in.


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Aria arrived flanked by a pair of towering power armoured troopers, while she wore only a simple dark green uniform with a rank badge above the heart. The first thing that struck Emily was how mundane the uniform was – there was nothing elaborate in the design, in fact whoever made it might have gone out of their way to keep it simple and functional. The second thing that Piggot noted was the obvious fact that Aria arrived unarmoured this time around. Was it arrogance or a simple message that she wasn't here to cause trouble?

"Good morning!" The alien woman waved cheerfully. "I come bringing gifts and explanations!"

The Chiss looked too chipper and happy considering what they were gathered to discuss, which immediately rubbed Emily wrong. She had to clamp on her feelings, grit her teeth and force herself to remain civil.

"That is quite right, Commander Astra. Your people conducted unprovoked strikes throughout my city. Please explain yourself." Director Piggot said. That was an explanation that should be given from the inside of an interrogation room, but then again, the same was true for many other people in this cursed city. Hell, some of them even had places in the Birdcage waiting for them, yet they were free to cause more trouble, and that depressingly enough might be something the Mandalorians would use. At least that was one fear Emily and the Thinker Think tank shared.

"First things first," The Chiss smiled and sat at the far end of the conference table. "We can all blame one of your errant children for yesterday's entertainment. One Thomas Calvert who spent his spare time cosplaying as Coil."

If Astra was human, Piggot was sure she would be beaming at her and her eyes would be sparkling in amusement.

"Calvert?" The Director asked flatly.

"Calvert. Thin slimy bastard, had a thing for form fitting suits with a snake motif, had the bright idea to send a grab squad after one of our employees. He was a really, bad boy." Aria confirmed. "He had his fingers everywhere in this city, from legal businesses, to blackmail, bribes, drug running, weapon smuggling, kidnapping, torture… its a long list and our Intelligence specialists are still adding to it."

"You have proof of these claims?" Emily demanded while seething inside. She knew that Calvert was a slime-ball, but this… "Not to mention, despite what Calvert or Coil did or haven't done, your response was out of any proportion."

"I'll answer your second question first. You can consider our little exercise in target practice a lesson and a warning. Neither the Mandalorian Freehold, nor the Federated Empire takes lightly to their interests being attacked. Neither do we let people get away with conducting deniable operations against us. Our neighbors should keep their rowdy elements in check or we'll do it for them."

"And if said neighbors can't keep their problem children in check?"

"Then they should be grateful for our benevolent assistance in putting their house in order." How the Chiss said that with a straight face, Emily would never know.

Still, the Director did receive the warning loud and clear, it was something that made the government's plans of clearing Brockton Bay a high priority before either the ABB or the Empire decided to rock the boat and saw large parts of the city burned to the ground around everyone's ears.

"Let's get back to Calvert and Coil for now. As of this moment we lack credible evidence that the latter is really a Parahuman in the first place, much less his identity or the breadth of his alleged crimes." Piggot pointed out.

"Well, I can confirm that he is a Parahuman and has a very curious ability – for most intents and purposes he can live two timelines, chose one and still remember the events of the second. He can be at home or in the office in one, doing perfectly legal and mundane things, while he could order someone kidnapped and taken apart in the other so he could learn all their secrets, then collapse it and retain the information." Aria continued to smile pleasantly as she delivered her news. "Further, I do have a list with his agents in your organization..." The Chiss trailed off and waited for her words to properly sink in.


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Part 2

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8 January 2011

PRT HQ

Brockton Bay

Earth Bet

The implications weren't lost on Emily. If what the Chiss told her was true… She felt the beginning of a throbbing headache forming at her temples. With power like that a snake like Calvert could do almost anything. Who hadn't he grabbed and tortured in a throw away timeline? Piggot suspected that they had believed Coil to be a small fish because he allowed them to. He could simply erase any major mistake, conduct operations in reality only if they actually succeeded… Which begged the question, what changed? How did the Mandalorians get him?

And the answer was obvious, wasn't it? Whatever struck the precogs worldwide, and Coil's power was of that type, was still effecting him to some extent… and no one sane would go to the lengths the Mandalorians just did even in a place like Brockton Bay. Was Coil simply tasting the waters, the aliens' responses as well when something went terribly wrong for him? Did it matter at this point?

Emily stared at the blue alien, while thinking furiously about what they knew about the Force and what it might allow a Sith to do. About how much reality as they now knew it differed from fiction. More often than not in this business it was the unknown that got you, because you weren't prepared, because you were blindsided, with often fatal consequences.

How did Force related precog worked compared to Parahuman one? Was it effected as well? Was it the reasons why Parahuman precogs had their issues now?

"What do you intent to do with Calvert, Commander Astra? Will you provide us with list of these alleged moles and the proof about their crimes?" Those weren't the questions Emily wanted to ask. In fact, right now, she didn't feel like speaking with the alien at all and instead dearly wished to wrap her hands around Calvert's neck and strangle the life out of him for creating this mess in the first place.

"An acquaintance of mine would be interested in studying him. With any luck, we might finally get her safely away from Coruscant." Aria smirked. "Perhaps even convince her to visit and study Parahumans in their natural environment."

Despite the conversational tone used by the Chiss, something told Emily that Calvert wasn't going to enjoy meeting the person Astra spoke about. In fact, she was also sure that she would rather be retired or fired before said person decided to visit Earth Bet in general and Brockton Bay in particular.

"As far as the list goes," Aria removed a thumb drive from a well concealed pocket and levitated it until it lightly landed in front of Armsmaster.

"Thank you." The Tinker spoke gruffly. His hand struck like a snake, snatched the small drive and pocketed it for later.

"You're welcome. From what we gathered so far, your errand boy have been quite ambitious. He wanted your post, Director Piggot, so he could control the PRT and Protectorate openly as Calvert and use them to destroy any syndicate his Coil persona couldn't easily subvert. For example, he did have the civilian identities of most of the so called Nazi Parahumans ready to be exposed, with the blame going to whoever would be most convenient, including the PRT."

"Identities you now have?" That was more than a question than a statement.

"Identities that we now have." Aria answered with a small amused smile.

Piggot swallowed a groan as her headache practically exploded. She wouldn't be surprised that if the PRT and Protectorate failed in eliminating the Empire 88 in short order, the Mandalorians would use their newfound knowledge to help them subvert and take over said gang. It was confirmed that the aliens had received "envoys" from the Nazis and said envoys had been allowed to leave peacefully. At least that happened before the Coil debacle, though now Emily was sure there would be more meetings. It wasn't like the Mandalorians were likely to care much about the unwritten rules, they were among the very few people on the planet who could get away with openly disregarding those at a whim and damn the consequences.

Why wouldn't they? Any risk of retaliation, well ultimately the aliens could afford to lose their whole contingent on Earth and it would mean next to nothing for them. After all, for a state operating on a galactic scale, the Mandalorians' involvement on Earth didn't have a meaningful impact on their resources. It wasn't even a drop in the ocean. And that was just the Mandalorians and then there was that Federated Empire of theirs. Emily knew the score, knew it was vital for Earth to send a delegation to the other side so their people could see first hand exactly how outclassed they were and try and figure out any political restrain that might be used to shield Earth.

On the other hand, the loss or preferably capture of Commander Astra might have an impact, yet that was the one thing most likely to be answered with orbital fire, if for no other reason but to make a point.

Fucking Sith.

"As far as further explanation of our actions go, such is not necessary. You've allowed mere syndicates to run unchecked throughout your city, Director. I don't really care about the reasoning, neither does our parent corporation, much less the Freehold's government. We will be receiving more of a consideration than a mere syndicate."

Even for someone accustomed to taking bitter pills as a matter of course, this one was hard to sell. Until recently, this was just one city left to die on the vine as Parahuman crime tore it asunder, while Emily and her people did their best to keep everything from imploding. Even worse, the precedent that the PRT and Protectorate allowed to fester in Brockton Bay, was shamelessly used by the aliens. Because what could she really say to them? That the United States government would allow an interstellar power that held almost all the cards less latitude to act and defend its interest than mere gangs… even if for most intents and purposes that seemed to be what the powers that be wanted. The sheer hypocrisy of the idea was stunning and Piggot did have the sense not to even imply that this was the case.

Miss Militia on the other hand bristled at the very idea, yet thankfully she managed to keep her mouth shut, something that obviously greatly amused the Chiss.

"Now with these unpleasantries out of the way, there is another reason I'm here today. I'm to officially offer an invitation to Earth Bet's stable governments to send representatives for the celebrations of Empire and Victory day, both on Coruscant and Mandalore. We'll offer transportation, lodging and security to said delegation for the duration, which should be between nine and ten days, accounting for the week long celebrations and travel time. More details should be forthcoming some time tomorrow local time and I'll have someone relay them to you in person. We'll be scheduling a press-conference to announce this development once we hear from the Empire's Diplomatic Corps."