Chapter 36: Lir Sey'les
Skor II
After twelve hours of bombardment, the Serwald shield still held. The dark polar sky now glowed a dull smoky orange, with bright blue Actinium flashes briefly flickering in the inferno. Sey'les hadn't minded the turbolaser blasts on the shields, but the spicy garlic smell from the burning viscous defoliator fluid was awful.
Despite the fireball ignited in every direction over the entire autonomous community, it was freezing outside.
Only two days till the Republic comes to the rescue, Sey'les thought hopefully, sipping a cup of Hoth Chocolate with Bith milk as she stared out the hospital window. In the distance, far below, she could make out the lines of defenders on the sea walls, awaiting a Separatist amphibious attack that was yet to come.
"He doesn't look happy," Fojo muttered from behind Sey'les.
Turning around, Sey'les scowled at Shiptar disapprovingly. So much trouble for one Shistavanen.
After Shiptar's latest attack, the Squibs relocated him to room they turned makeshift prison cell at the top of the Red Sigil hospital and doubled his guard—This time the guards also had weapons more useful than garbage grapplers and tasers. Further, they rigged the room with tranquilizer spray to knock the Shistavanen out in the event he failed to put on his muzzle.
"Put it on!" a lilac-furred Squib cop squeaked, banging the bars of Shiptar's cage with a garbage grappler.
Flashing his teeth, Shiptar held his muzzle in one hand, snarling at Sey'les and Fojo.
"Wulf, do you copy?" Sey'les asked into her wrist comm, turning back towards the window.
"Read you loud and clear ma'am," Wulf answered. "Nebhir and Trajan have almost got the interceptor ready for takeoff."
The plan was for Wulf and Itoll to fly the police interceptor from the hangar of the Avaricious Snaltowg into the centre of town, over the Red Sigil Hospital. Then, land on pad over the top floor, to accept delivery of one very dangerous prisoner and one recovering Clone.
"Good, get over here quick," Sey'les spoke with a hint of worry. She heard a hiss of gas behind her, then a loud thud. "Kriff it!" she growled, storming up to the transparisteel divider in front of Shiptar's cage. "Of course, he's going to make us carry him. Put that asshole in a straitjacket!"
The Shistavanen was now knocked out cold, lying on the ground in front of the door. The tiny Squib cops beyond the glass were now wearing transpirators.
o.o.o.o.o
Sey'les groaned, fur twitching in annoyance as she, Fojo, and two Squibs heaved the Shistavanen onto a levitating stretcher.
Shiptar was now wrapped up in a straitjacket with his snout encompassed in a brown synth-leather muzzle. His clawed bare feet still looked quite dangerous on the end of the stretcher.
"Can't we de-claw him," a yellow-furred Squib growled, staring at Shiptar's feet as Sey'les pushed the stretcher along.
"He's not a lothcat," Fojo retorted angrily. "We can't just 'de-claw' him. That's kriffing insane!"
The yellow Squib's ears hung sadly as he continued trotting along behind Sey'les and Fojo.
Sey'les snorted to herself, smiling deviously. Her fur danced with excitement about the idea. Trim those claws right off. Now that's an idea… It would make him a lot less of a threat.
o.o.o.o.o
A smoky gust of wind blew from the LAAT/le police interceptor as it hovered over the hospital roof. Sey'les squinted, pushing Shiptar's stretcher forward, her fur blowing every which way.
Loud emergency klaxons sounded in every direction.
"That's the flood warning!" a Squib cop exclaimed worriedly.
"We have to hurry!" Wulf yelled over the hum of the repulsor generators, extending all four outstretched arms to the edge of the stretcher. With a heave, he pulled it aboard.
"What's going on?!" Sey'les asked, looking around. If the city is flooding, we need to move Nebhir's ship to higher ground.
A separate group of Squibs emerged onto the rooftop landing pad pushing a second stretcher. This one carried the recovering Clone, Sesh.
As if in answer to Sey'les's question, the defenders perched atop the flood barriers in the distance began firing their blasters and laser cannons down at something. Bright lights flashed back from the direction of the sea beyond the wall.
The Squib nurses pushed Sech up to the edge of the Interceptor. Sey'les looked down at him. The human had visible scars all over his face and a few red scabs where the hemorrhaging had not quite healed. An intense five o'clock shadow had grown to the point it was now almost a beard.
"I just wanted to thank you again, Captain," he murmered as Wulf pulled him onto the interceptor.
"Glad you're feeling better!" Sey'les growled, stepping aboard. "Let's get in the air and see what's going on. Are the missiles still loaded?"
"Yes, ma'am," Itoll yelled from the cockpit.
"Excellent," Sey'les smirked.
Nebhir's father, Damaysk Traf'lab emerged from the stairwell, holding a metal briefcase. "Captain wait!" he yelped over the noise of the engines.
"Itoll, hold position!" Sey'les yelled to the cockpit, then reached through the interceptor's open door, grabbing the item Daymask was holding.
"It's how we cured Sesh," he growled cautiously, still holding the briefcase. "It's not a cure really, just a treatment. We used nanoprobes to push the virus into his blood platelets. There they stopped being contagious and they—"
"—Thank you for everything," Sey'les interrupted with a professional smile. "The Republic should be able to use these… Nanoprobes. If the virus ever gets used that is." She tried to tug the briefcase from Daymask's hands, but he was not yet ready to let go.
"Oh, I very much doubt it. Not on a scale large enough to stop an outbreak," Daymask cautioned, firmly gripping the briefcase. "It took 6% of the Red Sigil's total supply to cure just one Clone."
Sey'les sighed. She knew that the platelets were the gooey bits that formed scabs, but she did not quite understand how a virus getting stuck in blood platelets would do anything, nor why, after it saved the Clone, it still wasn't a cure. "Well, I am sure our scientists will get a look at it!"
"Make sure that they do, Captain," Daymask growled, narrowing his eyes as he let go of the briefcase.
Once the briefcase was safely in Sey'les's hands, the interceptor took off, leaving the Red Sigil Hospital behind. Daymask and the Squibs down below waved.
Wulf leaned up towards the open LAAT door, giving the beings down below an awkward salute with his upper right arm as the wind blew through his fur.
"All right, Itoll," Sey'les growled, stepping towards the cockpit. She plopped down in the co-pilot seat. "Let's do a flyby over the Squib defenses on our way back to the Avaricious Snaltowg."
"Copy that, ma'am," Itoll said, steering the LAAT/le towards the seafront. He took a sip of water from his canteen, then cautiously set it back into the cupholder between the seats.
Sey'les grabbed the co-pilot targeting assist helmet from beneath her seat, plopping it on her head. Designed for a human, the helmet was a much too big, but her snout stopped it from falling all the way down.
Helmet resting on her snout, Sey'les looked ahead through the cockpit window. She tried to perk her ears up, but they squashed against the foam interior of the helmet. She had monochrome nightvision and could see an infrared laser projecting from the front of the interceptor.
There seemed to be some activity on down below, but from her vantage point, it was impossible to make out what the Squib and Freedom's Sons defenders were fighting. Blasts were nailing the top of the sea wall, setting off explosions. In her monochrome vision, the white outlines of the defenders were visible against the white flames and black background, running to and fro.
"Increase altitude!" she yelped, grabbing the weapon's guidance stick with two hands.
The laser, only visible on infrared, moved in front of the interceptor to the ground, following the direction Sey'les pushed and pulled the stick.
"Captain," Itoll growled worriedly. "Shouldn't we get back to the Avaricious Snaltowg?"
"I said increase altitude!" she snarled furiously, fur now dancing with excitement. While Sey'les had now flown several ships, this was the first time she had ever found herself behind the trigger, let alone controlling a weapon system this advanced.
"Increasing altitude," Itoll sighed. "Wulf, Fojo, make sure the prisoner is secure."
"On it," the Ardennian grunted, wrapping bungie cord around Shiptar's chest, further binding him to the stretcher. "Which one of these is a sedative?"
"The yellow-capped one," Fojo answered from the back.
As the LAAT/le increased altitude, the ocean behind the sea wall panned into view. Dozens of amphibious droid NR-N99 tanks were surfacing on the beach front, blasting their laser cannons up at the sea wall. An OGM-9 spider droid surfaced from the sea in the distance, sticking its round body out of the water.
Squib defenders responded from the top of the sea wall with a laser barrage, rockets, and blasterfire, impacting the droid tanks below.
Moving the targeting stick, Sey'les lased the spider droid in the distance. "I have a firing solution!" she yipped excitedly. That's the correct verbiage, right? Firing solution.
"All right," Itoll said calmly. "You have a firing solution."
"Firing laser cannons!" she screamed. She pinched the buttons on the side of the stick. A missile sailed forth dramatically, its rocket plume growing smaller and smaller as it soared into the distance. "I mean missile! Firing a missile!"
Snorting angrily, Itoll glared at Sey'les, whose hot pink fur momentarily swirled with embarrassment. A moment later however, her eyes widened, a feral grin of satisfaction forming on the tip of her snout.
The missile made contact with the spider droid. In Sey'les's monochrome helmet display, a black and white swirl of explosion and smoke emanated from the front of the spider droid—Directly where her laser pointed. The dimly glowing spider droid collapsed into the sea, submerging in the cold blackness. Moments later, a white hot blast splashed from the sea, encompassing several NR-N99s in a tidal wave.
"We really need to—"
"—I have a targeting solution on a snail!" she yipped excitedly, lasing one of the remaining NR-N99 with her targeting laser.
"Ma'am, are you asking for my permissionto fire?" Itoll asked incredulously. "You're the Captain."
"BOMBS AWAY!" Sey'les snarled, squeezing the trigger at the front of the weapons control stick. A barrage of laser fire nailed the treads on the NR-N99, shredding the rubber to pieces. The remains of the tread splatted around uselessly on the surface of the water as the droid spun. This is… This is my life's calling, she thought, feeling a surge of adrenaline.
For the first time since the implants had been removed from her brain, she felt a rush of jittery excitement. Not just confidence, contentment or pleasure when someone's attention was on her—Excitement.
Nebhir's voice yelped into the comm. "Guys! Where the kriff are you? We are under attack. Droid tanks are everywhere and—Shassa! There goes the hyperdrive!"
"This is Muun Leader, lift off! Get some altitude!" Sey'les yelped back.
"Already on it," Trajan said. "But we've lost one engine."
Sey'les turned turned to Itoll, who was already steering the interceptor away from the sea wall. A sensation of danger started going off, making her fur swirl. "Kriff it! We need to get to the Avaracious Snaltowg now!"
"Yes. Yes, we do, Captain," Wulf said with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Don't worry," Sey'les growled unconvincingly, fur flat in fear as her danger sense intensified. "We'll—We'll get—I'll make this right!"
o.o.o.o.o
The interceptor emerged from the smoke, zipping over the outskirts of Prosstäd as, thousands of meters overhead, Defoliator embers continued burning on the Serwald shields. The spaceport loomed into view, blasterfire and green and red laserfire lighting up all around it.
In Sey'les's monochrome helmet display, the 450-meter-long Avaricious Snaltowg floated over the spaceport, ablaze white hot in several spots. Smoke and sparks plumed from the rear engine.
Down below, a group of seven NR-N99 enforcers rolled down the highway at their fastest speed, shooting up at the Baleen-class frigate as it floated along.
"Proceed towards Prosstäd!" Sey'les snarled into her helmet comm. "We are oscar mike and have you covered!" Angling the targeting laser at the lead tank, Sey'les squeezed the trigger, letting loose another barrage of fire.
The cheap tank built for quick crowd control came apart, sparks flying as it exploded in an inferno.
"They're coming up on a bridge!" Itoll yelped, pointing out the cockpit window.
Understanding Itoll's suggestion, Sey'les aimed at the bridge over a frozen river, then squeezed the buttons on the side. A missile arced down onto the bridge, exploding in the centre lane.
The bridge still stood, seemingly unaffected by the missile impact.
"Firing again!" Sey'les announced unnecessarily, before firing another. This time, chunks of permacrete fell from the bridge, crashing down into the ravine below. The column of droid tanks braked, spinning out of control on the snowy road. Five tanks slid to a stop, headlights pointing in different directions. The lead tank tipped over the edge, dropping twenty meters onto the ice where it came to a rest on its side.
Her danger sense was still sending chills down her spine. What the hell could still be—
—In Sey'les's helmet view, an explosion ripped through the aft section of the Avaricious Snaltowg, glowing bright white against the darkness of the ship's hull. The freighter quickly lost altitude, dropping out of control onto the dark snowy field.
"Kriff everything," Nebhir snarled. "Making an emergency landing. All hands, brace for impact, we're going—"
The transmission from the Avaricious Snaltowg cut out as the Baleen-class frigate slammed into the ground, sliding across the snow and ice.
Unable to believe what she was seeing through monochrome scopes, Sey'les ripped her helmet off, gasping in shock at wreckage. "Nebhir, Trajan?! Do you read me?"
There was only static in response.
While the bridge and the upper decks of the freighter looked relatively intact, the lower decks of the freighter had collapsed. Through the broken hangar doors, flames erupted, lapping over the exterior of the ship.
"Lower us down onto the bridge!" Sey'les barked, fur pressing tightly into her body. Even though they had not responded, she could sense Nebhir and Trajan were alive, but they were in imminent danger and needed to be extracted from the wreckage now.
Once their interceptor lowered in front of the bridge, through the windows, Sey'les could see nothing but smoke. Her gut told her that Nebhir and Trajan were behind the middle window.
Putting her helmet back on, she lased the window on the left.
"Are you insane?" Itoll yelped. "You could hit—"
—Ignoring Itoll, Sey'les squeezed the trigger, sending a burst of laser fire into the bridge window. The transparisteel shattered, letting clouds of smoke out. Sey'les got out of the passenger seat, yanking off her helmet as she rushed back into the passenger compartment.
"What are you doing?!" Wulf asked incredulously.
Digging through her bag, Sey'les yanked out her transpirator and slipped it on. She turned to Itoll, mumbling through the filter. "Angle us to the side. I'm going in."
"Like hell you are!" Itoll yelped. "They're dead. There's no way anyone could be alive in there."
"As chief medical officer," Fojo said, "I am declaring you mentally… unfit…" The Rodian's voice died as the Bothan ignored him completely, walking to the side hatch controls.
Sey'les slammed her first on the hatch control panel with a snarl. Smoke from the freighter filled the Interceptor's cabin as the side door slid open. "ANGLE US STARBOARD!" she yelped, voice muffled by the transpirator filter. "I'm jumping. Whether it'll be a jump that ship, or a 200 meter fall the ground, is your choice Itoll." At that, she stepped onto the ledge defiantly.
"Holy shassa," Wulf gasped in alarm. He ran towards Sey'les through the smoke as the LAAT/le turned starboard.
Right as all four of the Ardennian's arms reached forward to grapple her and stop her from jumping into the smoky inferno, Sey'les jumped, crouching onto the roof of the freighter with an oof.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING SEY'LES?!" Wulf screamed. "ITOLL! BRING US IN CLOSER!"
Sey'les stood up on the roof of the bridge, brushing off her knees. "Lower the interceptor down in front of the window!" the Bothan yelled back in a loud mumble, the top and bottom of her snout banging the inside of her transpirator with each syllable.
She sat on the edge of rooftop of the bridge, feet dangling in front of the broken window. She could feel the heat of the smoke lapping against her legs.
Yet, she reached her left hand over her right, twisting her body around so she was facing the window, then dropped. For a moment, she dangled in front of the broken window, groaning as she struggled to hold onto the top of the window frame with her hands. Then, without a word, she swung herself inside.