Chapter 3: Sey'les
Aboard the Judicator
Out of all of the dead represented at the memorial, it was Thaddeus Savit who sent her over the edge again. For some reason Sey'les did not understand, Savit had put in his will that various pieces of his music were to be played at his memorials or funerals.
Shortly after getting condolences from Hrelduussk and Clahra, and learning that Suldor had been placed into stasis, Savit's bellowing opera voice started echoing out of the intercoms. Sey'les had to duck out at this point.
Now, she was standing in front of a refrigerator in the empty kitchen. Pulling out her datapad, she read the code 8422 and dialled it into the keypad with her patchy furry fingers. This is such a stupid idea.
Sure enough, her 30-litre keg of Adumari Beer was in the refrigerator.
She tried lifting it. Not only was it far too heavy for her, but she could barely fit her arms around it. Well, that was even stupider. It must be 80 kilos.
Sey'les searched frantically for something to help. There was a load lifter on the opposite side of the room. She pushed it across the kitchen, popped it under the keg, and stepped backwards dragging it out of the refrigerator, then spun the load lifter around, and pushed it through the kitchen and into the hallway.
Even pulling the keg along using a utility trolley was tiring.
A few crewmembers in the hallway got out of the way, pushing their backs up against the walls.
Sey'les smiled as best she could and said, "thank you," eventually reaching the turbolift.
She took the turbolift up five decks to deck eleven, the level her quarters were on. As the turbolift doors opened, she heard a conversation. Cas, Fenron, Wulf, Archard, and Rigel were arguing, calling for her, and arguing with some voices she did not know.
"Sey'les, can you please open up?" Cas pleaded.
"We only want to make sure you are okay Sey'les. We care about you," Rigel added.
"She probably doesn't want to be bothered Cas," Wulf said sternly.
"Sey'les, if you are in there, we are authorised to do a wellness check. We are coming in on the count of five," an unfamiliar voice said.
Turning around the corner, Sey'les saw two security officers in grey Judicator uniforms and five of the Antar 4 survivors in blue. The security officers were attempting to override her door.
Eventually, Sey'les was planning on inviting all of the survivors to her place but this was not how she intended things to be. Kriff. What do I do? What do I say? Mulling over potential things to say in her mind, she finally settled on "hey everyone! I am right here."
They all turned, shocked expressions on their faces. Even Wulf had his mouth hung open in a surprise. A few of the humans gasped.
The Bothan pushed the keg closer to her door as the crowd parted. "Well, I am alive," she said to the security officers.
"Very well Agent, I am glad to hear it," one of them said unironically before they both walked away.
Sighing, Sey'les put her thumb on the door key. She pushed the keg into her room once her door opened.
"Uh, Sey'les," Cas mumbled, "what is that giant barrel and where did you get it? Is that explosive or something?"
"It's Adumari beer," Sey'les sighed. "Alcohol is flammable I suppose," she said thoughtfully, then added "but Adumari beer definitely isn't."
Wulf suddenly had an amused smirk.
This must look so stupid. "Did Captain Ozzel say when the Judicator was going back to Coruscant?"
"Tomorrow night," Rigel answered.
"Well I am going to—" Sey'les started.
"—Sey'les, there's no way you, or even all of us, could drink all of that. That must be—"
"—Thirty litres," Sey'les interjected proudly with her first toothy feral grin since Skyhook 1 fell.
Rather than rolling her eyes this time, Cas looked worried.
"If you want to join me, all of you are welcome. I have lots of backpacks you can sit on, a bed, a desk, and one chair."
"I'll get another chair and some glasses," Wulf said. He did not sound as excited as he would have usually, but he did sound happy about the prospect of getting completely drunk before returning to Coruscant.
Sey'les entered her room and pushed the keg against the wall, took the black hose connected to it, put her canteen under it, and squirted some Adumari beer into the then took a sip and savoured the flavour and smell.
The humans were arguing in the hallway in worried whispers. She sipped her beer and listened to the conversation with mild amusement waiting for them to decide to come in.
"We can't possibly just leave her!" Archard yell-whispered.
"I agree," Fenron said.
"I think we should get the Captain," Cas whispered.
"No, he's getting pretty drunk himself lately in case you didn't notice," Rigel replied. "Do you guys think you can handle this? I want to get caught up on my application—"
"Rigel," Fenron whispered harshly, "the newly-formed Navy is just going to assign us to wherever they need us. They probably won't even consider your application to Republic Intelligence. But fine, go if you wish."
"All right," Rigel whispered. "I shall see you all later."
"See you," everyone else whispered back.
To Sey'les's surprise, the fact the humans were worried about her no longer amused her and made her feel like crying. She did not quite understand why and worried that she was going to choke up. While Sey'les stopped herself from sobbing, she could not stop a few tears from forming. She wiped the tears out of her eyes, hoping none of them saw.
"Do you play Pazaak Sey'les?" Archard asked from the hallway.
"I've played it once but—"
"—all right I will get my set," Archard interrupted.
Sey'les sighed. Card games… Yay.
When Cas entered, she took a seat on Sey'les's backpack containing a roll-up mat. Fenron sat on the floor next to her with his back against the wall.
"So, what are you all planning when we get back to Coruscant?" Sey'les asked.
"I've discussed this with the rest of Team Aurek. I think I am resigning Sey'les, rather than accepting a commission in the Navy," Cas said frankly. "I always knew there was a possibility of dying at this job but…" her voice died, replaced with a saddened sigh.
"Yeah, I get it," Sey'les replied, spinning in her chair to face them. "If I had kids, I think I'd quit too while I was ahead," she admitted before gulping down some more Adumari beer. "I think I'll take up a Navy commission though and keep at it until this Separatist shtak is handled. I feel like I am in it—in it too deep to quit right now," she stammered.
Sey'les realised she was beginning to snarl in anger as she talked about Separatists and straightened out her face. She said as neutrally as possible controlling her voice, "after then, I'll have to think about it. I already have eight years with the Judicial Department. Hopefully, they'll rebuild the Judicial Department into something better and there'll be something for me to return to. I really don't want to go back to Bothan space at this point in my life… How about you Fenron?"
"I think I'll take a commission in the Navy," he said simply, adding with a shrug, "I don't really have much else to do at this point."
Wulf arrived suddenly holding a chair with two of his lower hands and three glasses in each of his upper hands. Silently striding up to Sey'les, Wulf put the glasses on her desk.
Sey'les brought the black hose up from the keg and angled it over the first glass on the desk.
"Sey'les," Fenron added in a concerned voice. "I think we are ignoring the reason we are all here."
"Oh, I know why you are here," Sey'les said as she began filling the glasses Wulf handed to her.
"You do?" Cas asked.
"Yeah, you are worried because I cried earlier and left the memorial early."
"And…" Wulf added bluntly, "Sey'les, you also lugged a whole keg of Adumari beer I did not even know existed, right into your room."
Archard returned in the middle of their conversation with a metal briefcase. He popped it open and began sorting cards and pieces that represent money.
"I know," Sey'les croaked. "To be honest guys, hearing Savit's voice at this point was just a bit much. I didn't expect that."
"I didn't either," Archard said consolingly.
"The beer though. I know getting drunk won't make me feel okay about losing people. To be honest, I just kind of want to get drunk to celebrate like… Survival, and to celebrate finally getting to leave this shtak hole. That was the whole reason I reserved the beer in the first place. I just wish Nor, Weequi, F'laro, Tonkins, Savit were here, and Hashtivar too."
"Me too," Wulf said. "Sey'les? Should we maybe wait until Hashtivar is feeling better?"
"Maybe, but realistically, Wulf I don't think—" Sey'les started.
"—Wulf, there is no way Hashtivar can drink anything alcoholic, at least for a few months," Cas said. "I don't know Chelidae anatomy, but his body is going to be dealing with painkillers antibiotics, all sorts of medication and he is going to need to stay hydrated. He is not going to be all better the second he pops out of the Bacta, not even close."
Sey'les sighed. It was basically what she was thinking but hearing that assessment aloud from someone else made her almost afraid of it. Hashtivar was crippled. They might be able to jury-rig some mechanical suit for him if he is lucky.
"Well, I suppose I could drink to survival," Archard sighed as he stood up and grabbed a glass.
Cas and Fenron stood up and approached Sey'les's desk, along with Wulf, each grabbing a glass.
"To survival," Fenron said grimly.
I did not say you can steal my toast Fenron, Sey'les thought angrily with a scowl, but ignored it. That was grimmer than I would have made it!
"To survival," everyone else said, including Sey'les, and banged their glasses onto her canteen.
Wulf drank it and looked like he was savouring the taste. The humans mostly had varying degrees of wincing on their faces.
Cas plugged her nose as she took a sip.
"Don't be so dramatic Cas," Sey'les growled sternly.
"I didn't mean—thanks for the beer Sey'les," Cas said quickly.
Archard took a swig of beer from his class, then washed it out with something from his canteen.
"What's that?" Wulf asked.
"Oh, it's a system I invented," Archard said. He paused thoughtfully and looked around the room as if searching for words to explain this system. "You see, I drink a volume of water equal to the proportion of alcohol I consume. This helps me avoid becoming hung over."
Wulf started laughing.
Sey'les accidentally spat some beer onto her desk she began laughing so hard.
The Core World humans all looked completely flabbergasted.
"What is so funny?!" Archard demanded in a stern Coruscanti accent.
Sey'les strained, struggling to stop laughing.
"Well, it does sound a bit timid Archard," Fenron said thoughtfully.
"Timid?!"
"A hangover is not a big deal. It shouldn't be a hazard you avoid like the plague," Cas said. "But seriously you two clowns. Sey'les, Wulf, this is not that funny."
Wulf caught his breath and stopped laughing.
Sey'les could not stop laughing and Wulf started again.
"This is very rude," Archard said impatiently. "Sey'les, if you do not stop teasing me, I am leaving."
Sey'les took a deep breath and got her laughing under control. "I am sorry Archard. I didn't mean to make you feel bad," she said with a hint of a chuckle. "That just sounded funny to me. This Adumari beer is also some percent water… Dunno how much."
"Apology accepted, and, I knew that already," Archard said as he went back to shuffling his cards.
"I am sorry too Archard," Wulf said. "Sometimes when Sey'les laughs though, I can't stop laughing."
Pulling out a cloth from her top drawer, Sey'les began drying up the beer on top of her desk. I'll wash it off later.
Fenron returned to Sey'les with two glasses.
Sey'les filled them both.
Archard finished setting up the Pazaak. "All right, who's in?"
o.o.o.o.o
Sey'les looked around the room in a proud drunken stupor at all of the faces. Wulf looked a bit distant, but everyone else was much more fun. I managed to get all of the humans to drink with me. Shtak they are so drunk… except Archard.
"You know what's funny about this beer?" Fenron slurred.
"No," Sey'les slurred.
"It tastes good, but it smells like a wet Bothan."
Sey'les replied in a slurry snarl, "it does not smell like a wet Bothan!"
Cas giggled and collapsed back into the pile of backpacks on the floor. "Why, it does shmell like a wet Bothan," she replied laughing harder, teasing Sey'les's accent. Struggling to stay seated, the human stretched out her arms like a bird, as if to balance herself.
"Don't worry Sey'les, I like the way Bothans smell," Wulf slurred as he put one of his upper arms around Sey'les.
Blinking twice Sey'les tensed up. She wondered, for a moment, am I comfortable with Wulf putting his arm around me? Yes. This is quite nice! She relaxed.
"I kind of like the way Bothans smell too," Archard said unironically as he took another sip of beer, then a sip of water. "It's like… Well it's funky."
Kriffing humans, Sey'les thought frustratedly and she gulped more beer. We do not smell like Adumari beer. I suppose we smell kind of like Adumari beer… But not all Bothan clans even smell the same.
"A funky shmell," Cas corrected with a cackle.
Sey'les felt like she was beginning to get tunnel vision as her periphery got darker. "Stop teasing me, that's an order," Sey'les snapped. She looked down at her cards. "Whose turn is it?"
"Sey'les, I think I am gonna sleep this one out," Wulf slurred. His head swayed dangerously.
"What?" Sey'les asked as Wulf lifted his arm off her shoulder, set his empty glass down next to her thigh, and just laid down on her bed.
Well that's weird. Guess he's had too much to drink, Sey'les thought. She picked up the glass and started walking to her bathroom. The floor felt like it was wobbling away.
"Sey'les, be careful!" Archard warned.
"I'll help her," Fenron slurred as he tried to stand. He fell backwards onto his buttocks and his back hit the wall with a thud.
"Remain seated Fenron," Archard ordered sternly. "You are even drunker than Sey'les. You too Cas."
Sey'les felt an arm slip under her left arm and pull her upright before she could tumble forwards.
"I've got you Sey'les," Archard said.
"I can walk myself," Sey'les slurred.
Archard laughed and took Wulf's glass out of her hand.
Sey'les and Archard reached the sink and she turned the cold water on and started slurping it into your snout.
"Ah, trying the water trick I taught—"
"—No, I am thirsty," Sey'les slurred with water in her mouth. "Thanks though."
"I think I am… I'm… gonna sleep this off," Sey'les mumbled and started stumbling back towards her bed. She had taken her boots off earlier, along with everyone else, but was otherwise still in uniform.
"Okay," Archard said. "I suppose I am now going to have to haul Cas and Fenron back to their rooms."
"I think I wanna sleep here," Fenron slurred.
"Yeah, I'm just gonna take a quick nap," Cas said. "Could you get me some water Archard?"
Archard looked completely puzzled. "Well, this is weird."
"I guess they can sleep here," Sey'les slurred as she plopped onto her bed next to Wulf. She laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep under the covers but couldn't because Wulf's heavy body was on them.
"Um… Okay then. I guess I will check on you all in the morning," Archard said in a worried tone as he gave Cas a glass of water.
"Thank you," Cas slurred.
Sey'les fell asleep.
o.o.o.o.o
Sey'les opened her eyes. Things looked odd, a bit distorted, and she did not understand where she was. Looking around the room, she was in a room full of Bothans in military uniforms from all services.
She sniffed the air and could smell mostly musky Bothans from her moon, and some other familiar-smelling Bothawui Bothans. None of them smelled like Onels, Tannens, or Askars. Curiously, there was a slightly musky-sugar-smelling exotic aroma that could only be an Kothlis Bothan, or a Bothan with significant Kothlis ancestry. One of you is from Kothlis, Thoran, or a colony world, she thought. Am I at the Martial Academy?
"Leytenant?" ["Lieutenant?"] saida yellow-eyed elderly Bothan male. He was coated in grey and wore a blue uniform covered in badges. Sey'les sniffed the air curiously. He was the one who smelled like an Alya.
To Sey'les's own surprise, she replied in a respectful voice "Kiz Thri?" ["Yes General?"] Sey'les thought with alarm: How do I know him? I have never even smelled him before! Looking down, Sey'les realised she was wearing a tan, brown, and orange-red Bothawui marine uniform. What is going on?!
The General growled "Ęrz zhųl thąm." ["They are here."]
Sey'les turned around. On the other side of the room, automatic metal doors parted ways. To her complete astonishment, Master Suldor walked in, smelling like stinky salty Mon Calamari. Something about him was different—far more sinister. Everything about his presence, other than his smell, felt wrong to Sey'les, but she had no idea what it was. He was wearing a very strange looking black armour suit and his shoulders each had a six-pronged Sigil on them. Sey'les had never seen anything like the suit Suldor was wearing, nor had she seen a flag like that.
Behind Suldor came a Chagrian dressed in an eccentric red and black robe. He held a giant staff. Sey'les swore she had seen that Chagrian on the HoloNet, but she did not know who he was.
Next emerged three humans, two wearing black military uniforms with unfamiliar ranks, and one wearing a green uniform with an unfamiliar rank. The human in green had blonde hair and a blonde-brown moustache, the others in black were clean shaven. One was darker skinned with black hair, and the other lighter skinned with red hair.
Behind them was the most curious figure Sey'les had ever seen: a pitch-black armoured being, he smelled human, stood well over two meters tall, and wore a cape and a pitch-black helmet with a ventilator. He was the most frightening of the group and towered over all of the Bothans even more than his companions did. If Suldor felt scary and wrong, this figure felt far more so.
All chatter stopped and every Bothan snapped to attention. Sey'les instinctively did so too.
Suldor chuckled, turning his head to remark the entire group.
"Sirs," the Bothan General saluted, speaking Basic in a thick Bothan accent. He lowered his salute when none of the arrivals returned it. They just approached silently. "Gentlemen, we have the telemetry you sent us. Your forces are on display right here."
Sey'les turned around and on display on one screen were twelve human life signs. One of their helmet cameras was on displayed on another screen. All of the humans on display wore black and red armour, including black helmets with red paint.
The bottom of the telemetry screen was bilingual. In Basic High Galactic letters it said "TELEMETRY 13," and in Bothese Cyrillic "ТЭЛЭМЭТРИ 13."
"Very good," the dark figure replied.
Sey'les whispered "Thri, nokiz ko kat bola panan Onel." ["General, I don't want to hurt the Onels."]
"Only speak Basic when we are present!" Suldor hissed with venom.
Sey'les's snout was shut by an unseen force. Suldor was not only pinching it shut with as he had done to her in the past, but painfully squeezing it. "MMMHHHMMHM!" Sey'les moaned.
Suldor would not let go and held a constant painful pressure.
Sey'les stood still shaking with nervousness unsure what was wrong with Suldor. Her fur fell flat against her body in fear. Does he remember me? He must. Everything about him was wrong.
The dark figure looked down at Suldor and Sey'les and said "Interesting…" Several more Bothans experienced their snouts being forced closed and gave nasally yelps. "It doesn't work well with humans unfortunately," the dark figure noted. "Interesting non-lethal punishment you have learned to inflict twelfth brother."
"Thank you, my Lord," Suldor said.
Sey'les stood helplessly. All she could do was watch the screen and wait for Suldor to let go.
"You are go for breach Lieutenant," the dark figure said into a small comm unit he held.
One of the armour-clad humans put a detonator of some sort on a hatch. It started sizzling, cutting through the door.
It's a space breach,Sey'les realised suddenly. We are helping these humans do a space breach! Why?
From the helmet camera, Sey'les could see the figures in black and red armour rushing forth. Their tactics were non-existent. None of them were checking their corners and they held their blasters high instead of low. The humans just rushed forth as fast as possible.
Sey'les would have said something had her snout not been forced shut. The human incompetence infuriated her. Even ten seconds of watching this was as painful as her snout pinch.
On the telemetry, the gravity turned off. All of the black and red armoured humans on screen floated. They panicked and screamed. Sey'les could hear them yelling in terror saying things like: "We are floating my Lord!" "MY LORD! WHAT DO WE DO!" "SIR, OUR MAGNETIC BOOTS ARE NOT FUNCTIONING!"
The dark figure in the room did not reply but looked up at the screen curiously.
Two figures with Bothan proportions, but taller than most, with slightly bigger heads, walked into view on the screen. They were probably Spacer Bothans. They wore black Reactive Interceptor Armour and carried durasteel Bothan Boola Carbines. Black slugthrower ammunition clips poked from the bottom the carbines. While their faces were hidden by RIS armour masks, the helmet shape was certainly snouted. The figures stepped towards the humans, wearing magnetic boots that somehow functioned.
The floating armoured humans tried shooting them, but every blaster shot recoiled, pushing the armoured humans backwards into each other and into walls. Not a single shot even hit close to the Bothans. The humans screamed louder than ever.
Their voices sounded eerily similar. Sey'les could not figure out why, but it was like the humans all had the same voice. Sometimes human men sounded very similar to Sey'les, but this was more similar than usual.
The RIS armoured figures both took cover around the corner as stray shots flew down the hallway.
A voice came into the dark figure's comm—the one the humans were calling 'My Lord.'
"My Lord! We can't hit them! The Bothans are wearing electromagnetic boots! The surfaces are not magnetic! OUR MAGNETIC BOOTS ARE USELESS! I am sorry, my Lord."
The two Bothans wearing RIS armour eventually came out from cover and emerged in the hallway.
One of the humans managed to push himself into a ceiling corner, braced himself, and shot one of the Bothans in their shoulder armour causing the RIS shoulder pad to glow.
The Bothan snarled loudly and squeezed a single burst into the human.
The human gave a blood-curdling scream as three slugs cut through his armour, one of them illuminated as a purple streak. One of the bodies displayed on the Telemetry flashed yellow, indicating critical injury or a compromised suit.
Both of the figures in RIS armour began giving the spacer sign to surrender and drop their weapons without saying a word.
Some of the humans did as instructed and their weapons began floating freely.
One of the voices in the dark figure's comm was begging for permission to surrender to the Bothans. The dark figure they called 'Lord' seemed unable to process what was happening and just squeezed the comm frustratedly in his hand.
It was as if the humans were facing cowardly Bothan tactics which were so unexpected it left them flabbergasted.
The Chagrian was wide-eyed and two of the three human officer's faces were progressively becoming more and more red with anger. The third was becoming paler with fear.
"My Lord, those two Bothans aren't speaking. We cannot ID them!" one of the humans accompanying the Chagrian said as he tapped buttons furiously on his datapad.
The Lieutenant leading the breach continued asking for permission to surrender.
"My Lord," the Chagrian finally said. "It would be wise to let your men surrender. We could perhaps learn more information on these Bothans when they release demands in exchange for our personnel."
One of the armour-clad humans on the screen in the front of the group pulled out a thermal detonator.
The RIS-clad Bothans had enough. They aimed their weapons into the crowd and began ruthlessly blasting the floating humans. Forevery third shot, a tracer travelled through the air in a dark purple streak.
This is not a firefight. This is not a space breach or a breach of any kind, Sey'les thought grimly—this is an execution.
The humans screamed in terror as invisible slugs and very visible purple tracer rounds cut through them, their telemetry on the screen changing from green to yellow or red. Soon all remaining eleven bio-readings were red without a heartbeat. So much blood began filling the room it was impossible to make out anything through the dead human's helmet camera.
"They knew!" the dark figure called 'Lord' exclaimed. "You incompetent Bothans have not terminated Botha'ahir's Spynet feed have you?" he demanded to the room.
"My Lord," the General stammered, "we have no control over that. If Kothliss is giving them information, we cannot—" he gasped.
Suddenly, Sey'les felt her throat squeeze painfully. She gasped for air through her nose but could not breath.
Every Bothan in the room was choking to death.
Sey'les gave a choking moan, tears running through her eyes.
The Chagrian began banging his metal staff loudly on the ground yelling "STOP! STOP THIS AT ONCE! WE NEED THESE BOTHANS!"
One of the human officers also pleaded "My Lord, as a clan warfare expert I must protest. If you kill these Bothans you will unite the clans all against us. My Lord..."
They are going to kill me. They are going to kill us all! Sey'les thought in a panic. She struggled to exhale as hard as possible. "MMHHMMM!"
"I am the voice of the Emperor!" the Chagrian screamed. "Release them at once!"
The periphery of Sey'les's sight began getting darker.