Chapter 17: Sey'les
Aboard the Judicator
Sey'les awoke to a bang on her door. She looked at her chronometer and it said "0500." What the… Sniffing the air, Sey'les smelled the scaly humid skin of a Trandoshan. WHAT!
The door knocked more furiously and a familiar voiced hissed in an angry whisper "Sey'les!"
Sey'les gulped in terror. With increasing alarm, she thought, Is Hrelduussk here to eat my soul or something?!
"SEY'LES," the whisper got louder turning into a pointless shout-whisper, as loud as modal speech.
Blinking, Sey'les slapped herself. No this is not a dream.
"I'm… coming?" she said in a question.
All of the blasters on the ship were stored in the armoury but Sey'les kept a taser in her the top pouch of her rucksack, just in case. She held the taser in one hand and put it behind her back.
"Sey'les," Hrelduussk said impatiently.
Sey'les opened the door. As she did, it occurred to her that she could have called security.
"Come, I need your help!" he hissed urgently.
"What?" Sey'les yawned in relief, "What! How did you… wha—"
"—I have no time to explain Bothan," Hrelduussk whispered back walking urgently out.
Sey'les followed but then realised she was following without shoes, while wearing pyjamas. "Uh, Hrelduussk!" she tugged on his wrist, "let me get dressed!"
"Okay, don't tarry!" he commanded.
Sey'les closed her door and began hurriedly putting on a clean uniform, sliding on her socks, and putting on her boots. As she became more awake, she realised more and more how completely stupid it was that she was obeying Hrelduussk with no explanation. The whole situation made no sense. Okay, so he doesn't want to hurt me. Why I am I listening to him?!
"Hrelduussk," she said after she opened her door, now dressed in blues.
"Yesss?"
"Where are we going?" she demanded in a loud voice.
"Shhhh," hissed in an angry whisper, moving one dry clawed finger over her snout. "To my patrol craft."
She followed him down the hallway and decided: I will ask a few more questions, and if I don't get satisfactory answers, I will call security.
"Uh, why are we going to your patrol craft? How did you breach our security?"
"We need to rescue my family!" he whispered in an angry hiss, not answering Sey'les's second question.
Sey'les stopped and blinked twice. "Wha—What?! I thought they were being evacuated to Skyhook 1?"
"No," Hrelduussk hissed. "After the Assembly leaked every cop in Port Semba's address, almost everyone deserted."
"Deserted?!"
"Yesss, they got in the next transport and left. It is anarchy on the ground," Hrelduussk explained. "I went home to get my wife and hatchlings and they were gone. The house had been broken into."
Sey'les snapped awake. "What?! How are we going to rescue them? Do you know where they are?"
Hrelduussk hissed "a group of thugs are saying if I pay double their bounty, they will release my family. When I told this to my superiors, they said they were being held too far outside of the city to mount a rescue at the moment. Tomorrow they are sending in the Antarian military, but I will not wait that long."
"Do you have that many credits on hand?"
"No, but I have stolen 20,000 Separatist Credits worth of spice from the evidence locker."
Sey'les gasped in shock, fur flat in fear as she followed the Trandoshan. Stepping into one of the Judicator's hangar, she saw a small cargo transport painted in police colours. It looked like one of the ones police often used to haul groups prisoners for short distances. The cockpit doors were external to the ship and the rear could be opened, allowing for pilots to enter and leave without having to walk through a group of prisoners locked in the rear.
Hrelduussk stepped in and Sey'les followed.
"Wait I don't even have a—"
Hrelduussk handed her a small DC-17 blaster.
Sey'les took it, instinctively checking the power bank. It's full, good! She thought, Hey! None of this is good! I have to wake up in two hours for the mission brief—hey! I didn't ask for permission to leave the ship, didn't tell anyone I was going, didn't—BLAST.
"Wait!" Sey'les yelled in alarm as Hrelduussk engaged the engine. He pulled out of the hangar ignoring her. Soon they were flying up and over the Judicator. "I need to tell my chain of command where I am going, and I need to ask for authorisation! This is crazy Hrelduussk!"
"No one is keeping you from using the comm Sey'les," Hrelduussk hissed in annoyance. "It is a waste of time. They don't even know you are gone."
Yeah, they don't know I am gone. Sey'les dialled in the channel to call the operations desk. She had no idea who would be in charge at this hour.
A male voice asked, "Who is this?!"
"This is Muun Leader," Sey'les growled nervously. "I am requesting permission to conduct a rescue in… Where are we going?"
"Port Ahard," Hrelduussk answered.
"Port Ahard," Sey'les growled.
"This is Judicator 1-3, Muun Leader, what is your current position?"
"Um…" Sey'les croaked while wincing. Her fur swirled with guilt and nervousness. "Judicator 1-3, I am in an Antar police cruiser with Lieutenant Hrelduussk. We are flying right by the bridge. Perhaps you can see us on your monitor."
"Muun Leader you did not have permission to leave the ship!" the alarmed voice yelled.
"I am really sorry," Sey'les said with a wave of embarrassment washing over her. I am so stupid. How did this even happen? How could I do this?!
"Muun Leader, I do not have permission to authorise any Republic presence on the surface. I will have to clear with Judicator Actual. Who has uh left their post with you?" the male voice said, emphasising 'left their post.'
"It's," Sey'les sighed, "it's just me and an Antarian police officer named Hrelduussk; Lieutenant Hrelduussk as I said."
"Solid copy," the voice from the bridge said.
As they neared the moon, Sey'les could see dozens of lights from vessels leaving Temba Port. Some areas of Antar 4 still had light visible from space, but the area Temba Port was in was dark. One Antarian vessel, and then another, passed them by on their way into the atmosphere. It felt very much like Hrelduussk was flying against traffic.
Hrelduussk said nothing and Sey'les was waiting with dread. I'm so screwed… I'm so screwed… I'm so screwed… I'm—
"—AGENT! WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Captian Ozzel's voice boomed into the comm.
Hrelduussk hissed a cynical exasperated laugh. "Told you, useless."
"I am so sorry Actual. Hrelduussk, he… He seemed like he needed help. They got his family." As she explained herself, her actions felt even more insane.
"Are you on Spice Agent?!"
"Of course not, Captain!" We have many tens of thousands of credits worth of spice in the back, she wanted to admit, but didn't.
Sey'les started realising something. "Captain, with all due respect, did you not have any plan in place to help our Antarian allies who were so crucial for the whole taskforce?"
"Well Agent, I—uh," Captain Ozzel stuttered into the open channel.
"Exactly," Sey'les growled cautiously.
"That task is for the Antarian police to—" Ozzel started.
"—The whole police force has practically melted away, Captain," Hrelduussk hissed angrily.
"You are?" Captain Ozzel asked.
"Lieutenant Hrelduussk."
"Well I—uh…" Captain Ozzel started again.
Sey'les could hear a discussion happening in the background.
"Well Captain, it may very well save our Public Relations outlook if Sey'les rescues that cop's family! The Chancellor would be very happy."
"This is either insubordination or—"
"—Sheer unadulterated stupidity."
"Do you think she will be safe?!"
"No—"
"—Well she is one of our best marksmen. I'd bet she could best—"
"—Without a team?!"
"You have a point."
"Very well Muun Leader. Agent Sey'les, I am going to be frank," Ozzel said in a wavering voice. "This is insanity, insubordination, incredibly stupid and bordering on desertion. I cannot believe it, but I am authorising this. If you end up needing a rescue Agent prepare to be dragged to a Senate hearing, along with me."
"Solid copy Actual, and thanks!" Sey'les said with a beaming smile of relief. "Muun Leader will be comm silent until we finish rescuing Hrelduussk's family."
"Very well, Agent, bring them back to Hangar 7 when you finish."
"I think your Captain is even stupider than Wulf," Hrelduussk hissed in frustration after Sey'les hung up. He banged his hands on the steering wheel.
"Hey! I will not tolerate you bad-mouthing my team or my captain. We are helping you. He just authorised me to help you, and I am risking my career and he is risking his. We left without you even telling me all of the details! You should be grateful Hre—"
"—You fools got us all into this mess! Not you specifically Sey'les, but that Suldor… your ssstupid Jedi Master, I don't see him volunteering to help at all, do you? Blood is on his hands Sey'les," Hrelduussk hissed completely incensed.
"Master Suldor had a… A mental breakdown and a…" Sey'les sighed, "A heart attack. I am not sure he is even alive anymore." Sey'les felt guilty that she had not asked about Suldor's status. She sighed. "You are right Hrelduussk. What Suldor did was irresponsible and—"
"—You were right too Sey'les. That Master Jedi lacked any… perssspective. It was all 'the Force' this and 'the Force' that. Everyone, even you Sey'les, could see something was wrong but he could not because the Force did not tell him something was wrong. He was no longer using his own two eyes."
"I… I know." Sey'les admitted. "I am sorry we put your family in danger," she said almost with a sob.
"At leassst you are helping," Hrelduussk hissed. "Thank you."
"Hrelduussk, maybe if we hung around longer… Maybe the Captain could have authorised us more help."
"Maybe, but he might have also locked me in the brig for breaking in, and he might have waited until morning. I will not wait that long."
"So, what's the plan?" Sey'les asked.
"Well, it is obviousss that the thugs just want to kill me and are using them as bait."
"Why do you say that?" Sey'les asked.
"It is obviousss…" Hrelduussk hissed angrily once again, as if that answered Sey'les's question. "There is a bounty on my head. These thugs will kill me, take my bounty, and try to steal whatever ransom I brought them. I told them I was coming alone to meet them at the Star One storage units. You, my tiny, sneaky, Bothan friend, will sneak into the storage unit while I dissstract them. They probably won't even be able to see you."
Sey'les gulped. Her fur pressed in on her in fear.
"WHAT?!" Hrelduussk hissed impatiently.
"So, it is just you and me? How many of them are there?!"
"Only three Sey'les, only three." Hrelduussk hissed reassuringly.
"All right… So I'm still confused…" Great. A bad plan too!
"Here," Hrelduussk hissed handing her a datapad. It had a map on it, three figures outside, and then a storage unit emanating a lighter whitish infrared heat signature in comparison to the other storage units.
"Where did you get this intel?!" Sey'les demanded to know.
"Before I flew up to get you, I snapped a picture from my patrol craft. All of them are equipped with an infrared camera and night-vision scopes," Hrelduussk hissed.
"Impressive," Sey'les admitted.
Hrelduussk pointed forward towards the cockpit window, "there."
The whole city except for Skyhook 1 was dark, save for a few fires burning on the streets. They crossed over the bay behind the Temba Port peninsula towards another dark city.
"Uh Hrelduussk…"
"Yesss?" he hissed.
"Bothans can't see as well as Trandoshans in the dark."
Hrelduussk dropped something on her.
Sey'les said "Ooof!" as she caught it, but not soon enough to prevent it from landing hard on her sternum and breasts.
"Infrared," Hrelduussk hissed. "Now you'll be able to see better than a Trandoshan in the dark."
Rude. "Um… thanks," she said as she picked these awkwardly heavy goggles up and set them on her snout in front of her eyes. Now she could make out white heat-colours emanating from the ground. It was clearly not made for a Bothan's face.
"Yesss, I know all Bothan females are Tetrachromats and so are most Bothan males," Hrelduussk explained.
"Tetrachromats?" Sey'les asked in shock.
Hrelduussk put his claw on his head in frustration. "It means you have four colour rods in your eyes. It makes you better at differentiating colours but worse at seeing in the dark than a dichromat or trichromat. Despite this, most ultraviolet can't be perceived because your Bothan lens evolved—"
"—lens?!"
"Why are we talking about this? Quit it with your Bothan yammering—"
"—Quit being such an ass," Sey'les snarled lifting her binoculars off her snout and glaring at Hrelduussk. "I came along to help. I didn't have to help. How the kriff do you know this stuff about Bothans that I don't even know?!"
Hrelduussk gave a weary chuckle. "On Trandosha, I was not a cop but a science teacher. The fact Bothans are tetrachromats is literally in every children's science textbook. If you read a book—"
"—I said quit being an ass," Sey'les growled.
Hrelduussk lowered the ship towards the ground in an empty spot one street over from the water, but near enough for Sey'les to notice the sloshing noise of water splashing on the docks. The storage facility was across the street from the cargo haulers lined up along the docks, which were behind Sey'les.
"Get out here and approach the storage unit from this side. I'll land over on the other side and distract them."
"What! I thought I was sneaking out and around—"
"—Sey'les, I showed you a map with your approach highlighted. You need to pay attention and stop arguing about Bothan eyes. Here, keep it!" Hrelduussk hissed angrily handing her the datapad.
Reluctantly, Sey'les hopped out and landed with onto the pavement behind an abandoned roadblock.
Hrelduussk's ship flew overhead, raising a little bit higher to clear the storage units about 100 meters away, then landed on the other side. Through her infrared, Sey'les could see several pale white lit-up figures in between the storage units. One of the storage units was glowing a ghostly white. Well, that's definitely more than three!
Ugh this is sooooo stupid. I am so stupid! How did this happen? With Hrelduussk's huge domineering presence gone, renewed doubts began flooding Sey'les's mind. Why am I listening to that big lizard? I am a team leader for crying out loud!
Sey'les looked both ways up and down the street and saw no one. She then ran towards the fence to the storage units, the infrared binoculars awkwardly forcing her snout down to the ground from the weight. An annoying logo appeared in the righthand corner of her vision: Nightvision—Powered by StrataCorp.Okay let's focus…
Hrelduussk was beginning to land and all of the figures turned to look at his ship. Sey'les ran down the alleyway between all of the storage units and could see six or seven figures walking towards Hrelduussk's ship. No one seemed to notice her. Hrelduussk's plan is working, all right.
Sey'les turned into the open storage unit that was glowing with heat—no—a light blast! Lifting her binoculars up onto her head, she looked and could see a Gotal facing away from her, staring into a modular cage used to divide storage units. In the cage were four Trandoshans, a green Trandoshan female, a big red Trandoshan girl, and two big Trandoshan boys about Sey'les's size, one a bit taller—one was red, one was green. They were all sleeping in a wild-looking lizard pile.
Hmmm… Sharing heat… Sey'les suspected. Approaching the Gotal from behind, she stood about 2 meters behind him, outside of his immediate reach, and whisper-yelled "DROP YOUR BLASTER! TURN AROUND!"
The Gotal immediately spun around aiming his blaster straight into her face.
Sey'les fired twice into his chest and he yelled, going down with two burning holes. Sey'les had only ever killed two other beings in her entire career.
Outside someone yelled "HEY! Check that out—Wait, Hrelduussk, we only wanna negotiate. Wait—ahhh!" blaster fire went off from six blasters at once. Sey'les could hear it ricocheting off storage units and Hrelduussk's speeder.
At the same time, the female Trandoshan awoke and hissed "Who?"
Ignoring her, Sey'les pulled her infrared back on and peered around the corner. Hrelduussk had taken out two of them. Two Koorivars and two Gotals stood in the entryway to shut storage units, taking cover in their doorframes. Sey'les felt her legs trembling from adrenaline. Snap out of it! She took a deep breath and began methodically shooting them in the back. She had never shot anyone in the back before.
The last one realised what was happening and let off a scream as she spun around to face Sey'les. A blaster shot went right through the female Koorivar's face and she collapsed silently, slumping below a smoking hole in the doorframe of the storage unit.
"All clear!" Sey'les yelled.
"Shusshhhh!" Hrelduussk hissed furiously.
Hrelduussk cautiously approached Sey'les and gave her a scratchy clawed pat on the head. "Good job Sey'les."
Sey'les felt preoccupied. Should I feel guilty? I just gunned down five beings… four in the back.
"Sey'les, come on," he hissed "It gets easier."
She followed him back to the cage.
"Hrelduussk!"
"Dad!"
"Yay—"
"—Shush!" Hrelduussk whispered furiously.
Hrelduussk's family did not seem bothered by the violence at all, just relieved to be rescued and reunited.
Do Trandoshans feel fear or remorse?! Sey'les wondered in alarm. Well… I suppose Hrelduussk sounded scared on the Judicator.
Sey'les looked up and Hrelduussk was in a big lizard hug with his whole family. "This is—" Hrelduussk started hissing.
"—Agent Sey'les," she interjected.
"Nice to meet you, I am Shosseth, my daughter Yasska, and my sons Krisss, and Drenk."
Drenk… Such an un-Trandoshan name!
"What is she?" Drenk asked pointing at Sey'les.
"She's a Bothan," Shosseth said. "and she helped—
"—That's a Bothan?" Yasska asked in alarmed voice.
"Yes," Shosseth answered. "Wait till I am finished talking please Yasska. She helped save us. Thank the Bothan," she said sternly.
"Thank you Bothan," Drenk said.
"Thank you Sey'les," Yasska and Krisss said.
Shosseth squeezed Sey'les in the hardest hug she had ever felt.
o.o.o.o.o
When they got back to the police cruiser, to Sey'les's annoyance, Shosseth climbed into the front seat right next to Hrelduussk without even asking Sey'les if she was okay with sitting in the back. Sey'les took a seat in the back with the kids.
As they lifted off, Hrelduussk began explaining their situation. "I have some of your things packed in the back next to the… Next to the…" he paused as if not wanting to admit there was illicit spice back there, "next to the stuff."
"Hrelduussk, we should return to the Judicator," Sey'les said. "I am supposed to be at a briefing in an hour. You'll be safe there. I am sure Captain Ozzel just has some questions."
"Sey'les," Hrelduussk hissed, "this is my family and I…"
Sey'les stopped paying attention for a second. What is that itching? "OW!" she yelped and shook her head, a Trandoshan finger was caught in her ashy shaggy mane. "Get your claws out of my fur Krisss!"
"Hey! Krisss! Be nice to the Bothan!" Shosseth yelled.
"We used to have a Corellian Slice Hound just like you Sey'les, but she didn't have very nice fur… It was pokey and spiny." Drenk explained unironically, without a hint of sarcasm or cheekiness. He continued patting her hair without permission, but nicely without digging his claws in.
Sey'les tried ignoring it to get back to what she was saying before. "Like I said—"
"—Can we keep her dad?" Yasska asked in a serious voice.
"No Yasska you claw-brain! Sey'les is sentient. Remember what I taught you about tetrachromats?" Hrelduussk hissed.
"You're sentient?!" Yasska asked in shock.
"Yes," Sey'les growled. "Hrelduussk, take the blaster. I am worried one of your feral kids is gonna grab it out of my holster!"
"Drenk, Krisss, Yasska, Claws off her!"
Drenk and Krisss obeyed, but Yasska still had more hiss about.
"You don't sssmell sentient."
"What does that mean?!" Sey'les asked the Trandoshan child as big as she was.
"Well, I dunno… smell like… well okay. If you're sentient, then who is the main character in Memories of Jabiim?" Yasska asked.
"I've never read it…" Sey'les growled remembering Hrelduussk's obnoxious comment about her needing to read more books. "That doesn't prove anything!"
"It's an opera!" Yasska exclaimed.
"That's enough Yasska!" Hrelduussk hissed. "She's sentient," he said with finality.
Sey'les sat still for a second and collected her bearings. Hrelduussk woke me up and took me on an unauthorised mission to rescue his family. My eyes have four colour rods—damn I am becoming Wulf! I shot five Antarian insurgents and now I am sitting in the back of a ship with a brood of huge rude Trandoshan cop-brats I have never seen before. Could be worse. I could be… crippled. "Shosseth, could you sit back here? I need to use the subspace radio and talk to Hrelduussk."
"Sure Sey'les," Shosseth said, getting out of her chair.
Sey'les climbed over Krisss and scrunched into the corner of the cockpit as Shosseth squeezed by her. Sey'les then plopped down next to Hrelduussk.
"Hrelduussk, we are going back to the Judicator. It is safe."
"Sey'les, if it is so sssafe on the Judicator, then how was I able to just fly aboard?!" Hrelduussk demanded.
"How were you able to fly—" she snapped "Never mind! That's not important. Hrelduussk. You owe it to me. I helped you save Shosseth and the kids. Maybe you could have done it on your own, but you obviously didn't think you could. Besides, I know you are leaving for Trandosha, but I am sure it would be safer for you to fly there on a Republic vessel from Coruscant than in a stolen Antarian police vessel. It's one thing to quit in the middle of a crisis when half of your planet is leaving, and it is another to fly in a vessel full of spice—"
—Shosseth gasped in shock.
Sey'les was completely bewildered by Shosseth's reaction. That frightened you?! Being locked in a cage next to a firefight didn't scare you but that did!
"It was part of a distraction I had—" Hrelduussk started.
"—What's spice daddy?" Yasska asked.
"Never mind," Hrelduussk hissed as he glared at Sey'les.
"You…. You…" Sey'les stuttered, "You aren't thinking straight Hrelduussk. We got lucky. Those thugs were not expecting you to ambush them, and you were right that they wouldn't notice me slip in, but we got lucky okay? I really don't think you should push your luck," and I am not about to throw away my career, abandon my team, and accompany you to a hot mucky world.
After a few seconds of silence, Sey'les spoke again, "I am certain the Captain will let you go to Trandosha. He has no authority over the Antarian police. And… you know what? If he doesn't provide you passage to Trandosha I will buy you and your family tickets myself once we get back to Coruscant. I have a lot saved up."
"Really?" Hrelduussk hissed in a sarcastic voice.
"Yes. Really. Hrelduussk, I literally… UGH. You don't trust me after all I did for you?!" Sey'les snarled.
"Okay okay," Hrelduussk sighed. "I suppose the Wookiee blockade over Trandosha might not like the… stuff, I have in the back of our ship anyways."
Sey'les turned around and could see Shosseth glaring angrily at Hrelduussk.
Sey'les sighed "that's another thing. I think we could turn the ship back over to the Captain, and he could turn it back over to the Antarians…" She turned on the subspace radio and dialled the bridge of the Judicator. "This is Muun Leader. We have rescued Hrelduussk's family."
"Very good! We never doubted you for a second Agent! You are cleared to land in Hangar 7."
Sey'les rolled her eyes. Hrelduussk gave a hiss.
o.o.o.o.o
The Hangar was nearly empty. On the right side of the Hangar, the shape of two Z-95s could be made out from under tarps that covered them. Several figures stood near where Hrelduussk's ship was landing.
Captain Ozzel looked weary and relieved as he stood in the hangar with Savit, several Judicator crew Sey'les did not know, a blue hologram of a human she had never met, and… Clahra. Clahra? Why is she everywhere?!
Sey'les stared out the window at Clahra as if she were pure magic. Is that HoloPhotography equipment?
"What is she doing here?" Hrelduussk asked Sey'les.
"I have no idea," Sey'les admitted.
As the police cruiser's door opened, Sey'les could hear the middle of an argument. Rather than greeting Hrelduussk's family, Captain Ozzel and Clahra were arguing.
"Captain, Director, I am not a photographer in the least."
"Well Clahra, you do have HoloVideo experience and I know you are currently making a documentary—" the blue hologram said.
"—That's different. My narration makes up for any shortcomings I have shooting footage, I also have help editing the footage, and—"
"—You're all we have Miss Fair," Captain Ozzel said sternly.
"Welcome Aboard," Savit said awkwardly as Sey'les and the Trandoshans clambered down from doors to the cockpit.
"What is going on Captain?!" Sey'les asked in alarm.
"Greetings. I am Byno Doubton, Director of the newly-formed Strategic Advisory Cell or SAC," the hologram said while nodding curtly in Sey'les's direction.
Director? He's important. "Sir, I am so sorry. We saved Hrelduussk's family. I should have told the Captain—" Sey'les said in her most apologetic voice.
"—Nonsense Agent! You will get a medal for this! Now? I did not catch your names?"
"I am Hrelduussk and I just resigned from the Antarian police—"
"—I am dreadfully sorry for the chaos that is—" the hologram stammered.
"—This is my wife Shosseth, and my hatchlings Krisss, Drenk, and Yasska," Hrelduussk interrupted gesturing to his family, then hissed "What is thisss about?"
"Is there anything you or your family want or need?" the hologram asked.
"Passage to Trandosha and clearance to get through the Wookiee blockade."
"You would rather be on Trandosha despite all that's happening there than on Coruscant? We can set you up with an apartment and anything you need."
"Ressspecfully, Mr Doubton, we want to go back to Trandosha," Shosseth said.
"Very well Hrelduussk, Shosseth, for now you are welcome to stay on the Judicator and Captain Ozzel has allowed one of the guest suites for your use. We will get you home within a week, the Judicator just has to finish some work here first." The hologram paused with a sigh and looked down and back up. "There is something I wish to ask of you. It is a bit awkward, but would you and your family, and you Agent Sey'les, would you be willing to pose for a photo?"
"A photo?!" Sey'les gasped in shock.
"I am not doing some media ssstunt that will put my family in danger," Hrelduussk hissed sternly.
"Well, Hrelduussk, if I may say your photo is splashed all over Gotal Assembly wanted posters and—"
"—And will eventually be forgotten. Old news." Hrelduussk hissed. "I don't want to get more attention on—"
"—Mr Hrelduussk, very well, we can change your colour patterns to anything you want."
"Really?!" Yasska yelled with joy so loudly it made Sey'les give a startled jump. "Can I be pink in the photo daddy?"
"Whoa! Dad can I be blue?!" Drenk yelled.
"No I want to be—" Krisss started.
"—Enough!" Hrelduussk hissed. "Very well, we will do it but only if you manipulate the photo to make us unrecognisable."
"Excellent!" the hologram yelled in excitement. "Now, are you okay with this Agent Sey'les?"
"I… um."She wanted to yell: what! "Sir, I have no idea what SAC is. I don't understand what is going on," she admitted.
"Haven't you—" the hologram asked.
"—Agent Sey'les has been fairly out of the loop," Captain Ozzel interjected. "Sey'les, the Supreme Chancellor created a new cabinet of information personnel. A new project they have begun is putting a positive light on all of the good work we do, and don't worry, the briefing has been postponed for two more hours."
"Positive light? So, like… the opposite of Defamat?" Sey'les asked. "Hmm… Profamat," Sey'les growled. She was now deep in thought, looking up towards the roof of the hangar. "Profamat…"
Hrelduussk's hatchlings were getting rowdy in the background and hissing.
"Defamat? Profamat?" Captain Ozzel asked.
"Defamation Material. Sorry sir, it's a Bothan phrase," Sey'les said quickly.
"Okay, Sey'les, are you in?" the hologram asked again.
"Yes," she said with a grin. "Yes Captain, yes Director, I'm in."
Savit and one of the crewmen moved a giant green wall behind them while Captain Ozzel stepped out of the way.
The hologram pondered Sey'les and the Trandoshans for a moment, pausing with his thumb on his chin. "Alright Agent, you stand in the front. Trandoshan children, hug her, and Hrelduussk and Shosseth, how about you stand on the left and right and put your arms around the kids—yes! That's it! Everyone smile! Face the camera. Agent Sey'les?"
"Yes sir?"
"Smile but look to the left—No! no! Your other left! Perfect!"
Sey'les heard Clahra take the photo. All of the Trandoshan hatchlings immediately ran forth, competing for a view of the photo on Clahra's datapad.
"Wait a second!" Clahra yelled. "I need to digitally retouch this. Mhhmmm… Hmmm… Hrelduussk what do you think?"
"Acceptable," he hissed. "What will you use for the background?"
"Whatever we need to use as the background," the hologram said. "Clahra when you finish, show them an example."
"All right…. Okay, here."
Sey'les approached curiously and popped her face between Krisss and Drenk, at the level of their shoulders.
The picture showed her and the Trandoshan family standing before a pile of rubble with Skyhook 1 floating in the background. All of their scale colours had been changed completely. Sey'les saw how chaotic her shaggy head hair and fur was after the hatchlings had run their claws through it—it was a mess, but that only made the photo look more authentic. Her Judicial uniform was a bit dirty, but that also only added to the effect. She looked positively heroic like she had just pulled these Trandoshans out of a pile of rubble all by herself.
"Well, Sey'les what do you think?" Clahra asked.
Sey'les growled just one word in a completely awed voice: "Rogue."