Chapter 25: Lir Sey'les

Aboard the Caellus

"Permission to come aboard Admiral?" Tarkin asked, leading the Rangers into the hangar.

"Permission granted," Admiral Alecto said.

Sey'les looked around the hangar getting off the Allanteen. She was surprised by how many ground vehicles were present. There were sixteen AT-TEs and many more TX-130s. Her ARC Troopers all wore different coloured armour—Buzz was in grey and yellow, Isaac in green and brown, Dawn in yellow and red, and Scorch in grey and red. The Rangers all wore green working uniforms with their combat gear in their bags.

[Awful lot of tanks,] Oc'nel growled cautiously in Bothese.

"Kįz," Sey'les growled in agreement, her fur swirled nervously.

Tarkin and the Admiral walked off chatting with each other like old friends.

"Well, I always did want to see Bothawui," Wulf said optimistically.

A Clone Navigation officer in a grey uniform approached. "Ma'am, gentlemen, I am Ensign NN-9824. I will show you to your quarters."

At least I get my own room, Sey'les thought. Although it was half the size of her room on the Judicator, Sey'les was glad. The Bothan hated sharing a room with anyone she was not sleeping with.

Wulf also got his own, Fojo and Oc'nel shared a room, and the four Clones bunked together in a single room. Their rooms, and Ranger Team 2's, were all located together in the same hallway towards the aft section of the ship.

Sey'les smiled as she hung up the poster of herself rescuing Hrelduussk's family. The only personal touch she would give her room—hopefully this will not be a long deployment. Just jump in, violate Bothan neutrality briefly, then jump out.

The Caellus shuddered as it jumped into hyperspace. Sey'les's fur swirled nervously.

"Captain Sey'les, Captain Seegers, Commander Stone, Captain Ike, report to Caellus Command," a Clone's voice chimed in over the intercom.

Sey'les sighed. Here we go.

Captain Ike and Commander Stone were both Clones, holding their helmets at their sides. Ike wore grey and blue ARC Trooper Armour while Commander Stone wore Coruscant Guard armour, but with far more red than a typical member of the Coruscant Guard. Sey'les stood next to Seegers.

"The second phase of our mission will commence after we exit hyperspace," Tarkin said, pointing at the route they will take. "I will be embedding myself with Captain Ike and Gala Squad."

"After we exit from hyperspace, our LAATs, escorted by the Allanteen and fighters, which has been retrofitted to fire Doonium slugs," the viewer changed to an image of dozens of LAATs flying beneath the larger Consular-cruiser with six V-19s flying around the swarm of Republic vessels.

"Assuming Thot Ni'mai does not surrender himself, the Allanteen will fire Doonium slugs into the North Slopeof Mount Thrask." Tarkin clicked his remote. The viewscreen displayed a massive rockslide and avalanche rolling through the shield of Varnek—a mountainous Clan Amai research village located in the Gol Alps of Bothawui-9, one of the more distant moons of Bothawui. Tarkin stepped back from the main viewer.

This time of year, the gas giant of Bothawui was still more than 150 days away from summer in its wide orbit of Both.

A Corps of Engineer human, Lieutenant Commander Turner, stepped into Tarkin's place. "We anticipate a 56% chance the shield generator will be destroyed by the first geological cascade. Assuming it doesn't, we predict a 97% chance the second will destroy it. There is some risk to the planet's crust though, if we continue to—"

"—Civilian casualties sir?" Sey'les growled nervously, noticing all of the snow and boulders raining through houses.

"We estimate fewer than sixty," Turner said matter of factly.

Sey'les shook her head.

"Do you have a problem with this, Captain?" Tarkin asked coldly.

"To be honest sir, I do," Sey'les continued growling nervously. "We are attacking a neutral moon—"

"—a moon that armed insurgents on Coruscant!" Tarkin hissed. "A world that armed the Lurmen who killed 38 Clones—human beings. Had they killed Bothans, would you be angrier?"

"Governor," Sey'les stammered, "this is not about the species of the victims. Someone on my team was shot. You were shot. I am angry too, but we have no proof that Clan Amai knew. We have no proof they knew what the Banking Clan would do with their weapons. They are—"

"—they are war profiteers! Arms manufacturers selling to both sides! This will send a message to all arms manufacturers that the Galactic Republic will not tolerate insurgents on our capital city being armed by any outside power."

"Governor, what if this makes the other Bothan Clans… what if it makes even some of them go over to the Separatists?" Seegers asked in a concerned voice.

"Captain Seegers, you have a problem with this too?" Tarkin asked in a dangerous tone.

"Sir it seems unwise—"

"—Anakin Skywalker is positioning a Republic Fleet in the system. Collectively, all of the Bothan governments have eight capital ships, but they are old and would not stand a chance against our Venators. Some of them are in the Kothlis system."

"Very well, Governor," Seegers said nervously.

"I just," Sey'les growled nervously. "I still disagree with this course of action Governor, but I will obey your lawful orders."

"GOOD!" Tarkin yelled dramatically. "Your objection has been noted in my records."

"There must be a way to inform the civilians and get them out of harm's way" Commander Stone said.

Sey'les was almost surprised that a Clone was worried about this.

"No, there is not." Tarkin retorted icily. "If we warn them, then Thot Ni'mai may go into hiding."

"How do we know the Bothans won't detect us? How do we—"

"All of the fleet is equipped with radar absorbent technology," Lieutenant Commander Turner said. "We expect them to be able to see the main fleet visually, but it is also equipped with radar absorption. The main fleet should pose a significant distraction as it blockades the system in preparation for General Grievous. It is theoretically possible that the Bothans could modify their space-based radar detection grid to employ a lower bandwidth transmission. These would give them a delayed location of our ships—it would not be accurate enough for a weapons lock, but they would be able to find our rough location. However, we have no reason to think that they know this."

"This is insane ma'am," Wulf said, pulling on his hair neurotically.

Fojo exhaled angrily.

Oc'nel hung his head sadly.

"Insane or not, I am just glad we get to see action again," Scorch muttered. "Been real boring since Geonosis."

Sey'les and Oc'nel glared angrily at Scorch.

"How do we prevent the locals from freezing to death?" Fojo asked.

"There will be food and blankets aboard the Allanteen," Sey'les sighed. "Once we secure the settlement, it will land and give supplies to anyone who needs them."

"Blankets?!" Oc'nel scoffed. "It is -15 degrees this time of year—in the day."

"Well, hopefully these Bothans have grown winter coats," Sey'les said sadly. "I hope that we will be out quickly and the other moons, or perhaps other settlements on Bothawui-9, will be able to render assistance. Let's just get in quick, capture Thot Ni'mai quickly, and get out."

Normally, Sey'les would have expected an excited shout or hooah after finishing a briefing. She did not feel excited about it herself. Even Buzz looked worried, although, his other three ARC Troopers looked excited. Dawn was grinning with eagerness. At this moment, Sey'les thought Dawn had the most punchable face in the entire Galaxy.

Sey'les stared at the ceiling, laying in her bed. All of her gear was ready to go. They would be dropping out of hyperspace in less than three hours. How did we get here? How the kriff did we ever get here?

She blamed herself from ever accepting Tarkin's offer but realised, even if she hadn't, someone else would have. The problem is Tarkin. Ro'val was right.

While she had been disappointed that her people had deserted the Republic in its time of need, Sey'les was not angry at them for it. The Bothan worlds were just trying to do what was best for them, like how Sey'les mostly did things that were best for herself.

At the time, accepting Tarkin's offer to join the Rangers seemed like it was best for her. It had been fun and fulfilling at times, but, on every level, this felt completely icky. Civilian casualties over arms dealing? Bothan casualties over arms dealing?

It was a hugely disproportional response. She thought Tarkin was delirious when he told her the Bothans who did this 'must be obliterated,' but now she realised he was lucid. The more she thought about Tarkin, the more she realised he was not a necessary evil—just an evil.

The mission, if it could be called a mission, was go. The moment the Venators jumped out of hyperspace, Ranger Team 2's LAAT was out, flying towards Bothawui. The Republic fleet continued in the opposite direction—their final destination, and intended point of the blockade, was the midpoint in the circumstellar habitable zone; precisely halfway between Bothawui and Botha'ahir.

On the LAAT, the general fleet channel was broadcasting to all aboard.

"Ęrz thagh phą Ądhthrį Thų'nęl. Dhų khųrnąn Ręphųbhlįsk sąsąkh, ghįnręsphųndą. This is Admiral To'nel. To the Republic vessels, please respond," a snarling Botha'ahir accent roared into the general channel in Bothese and Basic.

Sey'les's fur swirled nervously just hearing how angry that Admiral was.

"Greetings Admiral To'nel. This is General Skywalker. We are peacekeepers from the Galactic Republic executing our right of navigation in free space and—"

"—General Skywalker," To'nel snarled angrily. "Your fleet is approaching the Botha'ahir military exclusion zone without authorisation. Your ships will cross the border in ten seconds. You will stop now, or you will be fired upon."

"Do you think he will really do it?!" Dawn asked the Bothans nervously.

"No, it's just for show," Sey'les sighed.

"Uh, yeah he will," Oc'nel growled.

"What?!" Sey'les gasped.

"You've never been to Botha'ahir. We don't like military forces any closer to us than Bothawui."

"Why are the Bothans so angry?!" a female child's voice asked on the comm. "We are fighting for freedom! We are trying to stop the Separatists from taking their planets!"

"I dunno Snips," Anakin's voice said sadly. "It's really stupid—"

"—FAST MOVERS INCOMMING!" a clone voice yelled in panic. "Impact in forty seconds!"

"Move us away from them then," Yularen said calmly over the comm.

"Erz tag pa Adthri To'nel. Do kornan sivilyansk sasak, ginpomonta vor korm kombask zona. This is Admiral To'nel. To all civilian vessels, withdraw to a safe distance from the combat zone," the Bothan's voice stated gravely.

"Well, this is a bit more of a distraction than I reckon Tarkin bargained for," Oc'nel chuckled cynically. "I just hope Anakin isn't stupid enough to stay there."

"Stupid enough to stay there? Sir, that sounds very disrespectful," Dawn said.

"Dawn," Oc'nel growled impatiently, "my people just fired nuclear warheads. General or not, it would be—"

"—what?!" Fojo gasped.

"Yep," Oc'nel said with a cocky proud grin.

Ugh you idiot, Sey'les thought. She glared at Oc'nel angrily. Don't look happy!

Oc'nel saw her gaze and straightened his face. His fur still danced excitedly.

"We have a detonation off our—BLAST!" Yularen's voice screamed. Static crackled into the general channel accompanied by a sickening electronic squeak. Sey'les and Oc'nel winced in pain from the noise.

A bright light, brighter than a star, shone in through the windows illuminating the whole cabin.

The Bothans could see an intense ultraviolet light that was closest to whitish purple. For a brief moment, Sey'les could see all of the dark organic stains in the LAAT, contrasting with the bright light, where sweat, hair, perhaps even urine or blood had splashed on the walls and seats. Hundreds of dark spots amongst the brightness, on the walls, seats, windows. GROSS!

The Rangers hopped up from their seats and looked out the window. Sey'les, shorter than the Clones, squished up in front of them.

Towards the mean red planet of Botha'ahir, the three Venators were silhouetted behind a light as bright as the Coruscant sun.

"This is General Skywalker *STATIC* we *STATIC* peacekeepers from the Galactic Republic!" he yelled again frantically. "You have fired on peacekeepers from the Galactic Republic! If you do not hold your *STATIC* we may consider it an act of war."

"DAMN! They tried to nuke us! They *STATIC* The Bothans tried to nuke us!" the girl called 'Snips' yelled angrily in the background. "They tried to kill us. Those Bothans are as bad as the Separatists!"

"Snips *STATIC* down. Calm down Padawan. I think that was a warning shot, they weren't targeting us specifically. We aren't detecting any targeting systems."

"*STATIC* BLASTED BOTHANS! They *STATIC*! General, they are painting us with targeting lasers!" a Clone voice yelled.

"SIX MORE FAST-MOVERS INCOMMING!" Admiral Yularen screamed.

"This General Skywalker *STATIC* to all Republic vessels. Electromagnetic interference from nuclear blasts is making our position *STATIC* untenable. All vessels, execute a micro-jump towards Bothawui."

Sey'les shook her head. Out the window, the Republic blockade jumped away from the mean red planet. Away from Oc'nel's home and closer to hers.

"Guys, you are really going to not want to be looking right out the window as six nuclear warheads explode in space. The brightness will blind you," Oc'nel chuckled.

Just as everyone turned away from the window, a series of bright flashes, each brighter than a star, shone through. This time, from the side, Sey'les could see the fingerprints of the Clones on the window, contrasting against the bright ultraviolet light.