Chapter 12: Zuro Pax

Raxus

Director Zuro Pax was now on his first outing away from Murkhana since arriving there from Coruscant the day before the war began. If Pax had his way, he would have never left.

A week ago, sitting in his office in Argente Tower on Murkana, Pax had received a Situational Update—the Corporate Alliance's way of keeping the Shadowfeed operators in the loop about real facts on the ground. These facts may be pertinent to the propaganda mission of the Shadowfeeds, but, at the same time, may disrupt the propaganda mission if too many propagandists knew.

Pax had received a confusing Director's Eyes Only update that contained two seemingly unrelated facts. First, that, for reasons the Corporate Alliance did not yet understand, a Republic Admiral named Titus Tarkin was responsible for the Thellus Attack. Second, that a Commerce Guild planet besieged by the Republic had jumped into hyperspace.

The Duros still did not understand how these disparate facts could possibly be related, but he played along and boarded a transport bound for Raxus, along with Shiptar Tovrak, his Shistavanen chief of security.

Seven hours later, they set down in Raxulon, where Pax and Shiptar were escorted to a hoverspeeder.

o.o.o.o.o

"Are we going to that building?" Pax asked, pointing towards an imposing structure drawing nearer and nearer through the transparisteel windscreen.

Around their hoverspeeder, droids on STAPs floated around in an escort.

"No sir," a pilot droid droned. "That is the Separatist Senate building."

The Duros hmm'd to himself impatiently. Blasted droids.

The Shistavanen leaned forwards. "I believe what the Director wants to know is, where we are going."

"Oh," the droid said and began scratching his head with a confused pose. "We are going to the Raxus Joint-Corporate Cyber Center. Your accommodations will be ready there."

"Huh," Pax said in genuine surprise. The Director had never heard of that building before. He stared ahead out the front window down the wide empty streets. Traffic had clearly been cleared from the main road to allow the corporate VIPs quick access.

o.o.o.o.o

Shuddering for a moment as he stepped out into the chilly winter air, Pax pulled his coat tight.

Shiptar seemed completely unphased.

I wish I had a coat of fur right about now, Pax thought with a scowl.

He turned around and looked at the Cyber Center. It was a grey, mostly brick skyscraper, much shorter than Argente Tower or man of the apartment complexes on Coruscant. It looked particularly old-fashioned, with very few windows. However, affixed atop the building, was a massive antenna array consisting of three antennae, each poking in different directions. The building had no exterior markings.

At the base of the skyscraper, squads of battle droids and droideka loomed in formation, silently guarding the structure with patience only a droid could master.

"About ready to go in sir?" Shiptar asked as the droid drove away without even a goodbye.

"Yeah," Pax sighed. Personally, he found Passel Argente to be the most agreeable of the Separatist big wigs he had met thus far. San Hill disgusted Pax and, while he had never met the cyborg, Grievous's reputation disgusted the Duros all the same. I really hope Grievous isn't here in the flesh.

For a moment, Pax stood still, exhaling a puff of visible cold breath. Then a harsh breeze blew over the Duros. With another shudder, he decided that meeting more Separatist Separatist big wigs was preferable to standing in the cold.

o.o.o.o.o

"I would like you to meet my Director of Shadowfeed Operations, Zuro Pax," Passel Argente said, introducing Pax with an open hand gesture.

The typical diverse multispecies gathering of Separatist personnel gathered on the fortieth floor of the Cyber Center. It turned out that every window on the building's exterior was cosmetic. The viewscreen along the wall played tranquil scenes from numerous Separatist worlds, transitioning from one landscape to another, giving the momentary illusion that a beautiful view was outside.

In the high-ceilinged hall, dozens of species mingled, drank, and ate tapas served on small plates.

"It is nice to meet you Pax," a Nemoidian said, bowing politely. "I am Senator Lott Dod."

"It's an honour to meet you, Senator." Pax gave his best bow, unable to mask his bewildered expression. Senator Lott Dod… the Lott Dodd?

"Pax!" San Hill exclaimed, approaching the trio with an excited expression. From his tone, a naïve observer would have thought Pax and San Hill were lifelong friends.

"Nice to see you again sir," Pax replied with a polite smile.

"Nice hat, as usual." San Hill smirked heavily on his left side as he reached out his lanky arm and bopped the rim of Pax's hat.

Damn it. Hands off my hat, Pax thought as he angrily straightened it. Kriff San Hill. Kriff the Banking Clan. Kriff—

"—Nice hat," a thick drawl said from behind Pax.

Spinning around shock, Pax stared at a member of his own kind.

This Duros was slightly taller, and, like Pax, in his brown cloak with coattails, looked dishevelled and very much out of place compared to the rest of the Separatists in attendance. "The name's Cad Bane," he said in a cybernetically-modified death-stick smoker voice, extending a hand.

Pax took his hand, then blinked in shock for a moment when he noticed the tubes in the side of this Duros' neck. "I'm Director Zuro Pax," he stammered, focusing his gaze back on Bane's face.

"So, you're the Shadowfeed Director then," Bane drawled in an accent even thicker than Pax's. "I was wondering when I would make acquaintances."

"Cad Bane is the second-best Bounty Hunter in the Galaxy," Passel Argente said proudly. "One of the Separatist Navy's best covert operatives."

Bane frowned at the phrase 'second best,' but then smirked. "I do what I can," he drawled in a humble tone, but his mouth wore a gleeful proud toothy smile.

"And I am Cydon Prax," said a voice from behind Pax.

Pax spun around, remarking a species he had never encountered before. Cydon Prax was probably reptilian, with scaly skin and a fat snout, mostly orange, but had a wide purple stripe beginning above his upper lip. The stripe continued up his forehead extending over his head down his neck.

The Duros extended his blue hand, shaking Cydon Prax's four-clawed hand. "Nice to meet you."

o.o.o.o.o

That evening, twenty Separatists met at the top floor Raxus Joint-Corporate Cyber Center. The most prominent names in attendance were Senator Lott Dod, Magistrate Passel Argente, Chairman San Hill, and a human named Bedroth Pertris—Raxus's Ambassador to Bothawui. Most of the beings in attendance were various sorts of cyber specialists, with two mercenaries, Cad Bane, and Cydon Prax.

From the fact most of the Separatist leaders in attendance were ambassadors and senators, or former senators, Pax suspected this would not be a military operation. No. We are doing something else… I don't know what, but something.

"Esteemed magistrates, chairmen, directors, cyber specialists, senators, and diplomats, greetings to you all," Ambassador Bedroth Pertris started.

Pax blinked in shock. With three powerful Separatists in attendance, he expected San Hill, Passel Argente, or even Lott Dod to be in charge of this operation.

"With the intelligence gathered by Corporate Alliance Operatives," Bedroth continued, pacing around the table from his chair to the holoprojector at the end, "verified by transactional data provided by the Banking Clan…"

San Hill waved his hand with a smirk.

"…We now know that a Republic Admiral slaughtered over fourteen thousand Bothans on Thellus. Furthermore, we can be sure the Bothans don't know this fact."

Can we now? Pax wondered to himself.

"With three Bothan serving in the Republic Navy missing, along with the entire 12th Army," Bedroth switched the holoprojector from transactional data, to an image of a planet jumping to hyperspace, "we have not only the propaganda opportunity of the millennia, but—"

—Bothans missing. 12th Army. Shassa! Pax clicked the personnel icon on his datapad, the last burst the Separatists had gotten from Coruscant, about two months prior. The Duros had secretly been keeping an eye on Itoll Oc's status and deployments.

In his fantasies where everything in the universe worked out, Pax imagined Itoll being deployed to a planet relatively near to Murkana—then, he would send in Shiptar to grab the silly Bothan and bring him back to Murkhana as a POW, saving him from the Republic and the possibility of being killed in the war.

The 12th Army was deployed to MGX-93776… Pax looked up at the projector. MGX-93776 jumped to hyperspace, clipping dozens of Republic vessels. "Holy shassa!"

"What is it Director?!" Lott Dod yelled from across the table.

"Sorry Senator," Pax muttered, minimising the personnel profiles. "Do we know whether or not it was survivable?"

"We think perhaps it…" a Skakoan scientist warbled. His voice cut out and was replaced by a horrible static noise for a moment. After a series of electronic rebooting noises, he got back to answering Pax's question. "We think perhaps it was untethered in Hyperspace. Hypothetically, beings on the planet would experience time faster or slower than the rest—"

"—That's besides the point," Passel interrupted with a scoff. "Director, the focus is on getting the Bothans to reconsidering their neutrality. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," Pax said stoically.

"Yes, thank you Magistrate," Bedroth said with a nod in Passel Argente's Direction. "As I was saying, in my dealings with the Bothans, a major impediment for Clan Askar is the amount of sway the Jedi Grar Mik'tiv holds in the Dressel System. She helped them during the Thellus attack and has made numerous inroads. Our consular on Thellus believes she is now a personal friend of Grum Gavin Azi'skar's."

A coloured image of a greying Bothan wearing Jedi Robes appeared floating above the centre of the table.

Pax groaned, predicting where this was going. That's why we have Cad Bane and Cydon Prax here.