The Woxu homestead on Breshig was a slice of even plain about ten square kilometers in size, with a small residential cluster sitting islanded by grainfields. A series of ridges bounded the property on the eastern side, and after scanning the area from orbit it became clear that the nearby mountain valley was the only place where they could set down and approach Woxu without giving themselves away.
Ania's mother had yet to explain why they needed to sneak up on Woxu or what they'd do once they'd found him. She didn't like that, and she didn't like anything else about this. She was especially disturbed watching Marin and Liem suit up in Free Agent's hold. Those crates they'd loaded onto AG-37's freighter contained two full sets of beskar plating, and it was disconcerting to see her mother disappear bit by bit until she was sheathed from neck down in red Mandalorian armor. She had a red T-visor helmet too, but as yet kept it tucked underarm so her face was visible.
It was her first time seeing her mother like that, and it felt wrong. She was a woman well into her sixties, trim and healthy for her age but her face was still lined and her hair frazzled gray. War-plating looked unnatural on her in a way it didn't on young, sharp-eyed Liem.
"If I'd known you two were going in like this I'd have insisted you take more friends," Ania said as she, Sauk, and AG-37 watched the Mandalorians finished getting dressed.
"Two is all we'll need," Liem said with one of his white winning smiles.
"You don't even know what's waiting for you. Listen, I'll grab a blaster and come with you-"
"No," Marin said immediately. It was no surprise but still disappointing.
"I can take care of myself. I don't need fancy armor." Ania looked to Sauk. "Tell 'em about that time I killed Darth Wredd."
"Well, you-"
"It's not about that." Marin slapped the dome of her helmet. "We're doing this anonymously. Someone might spot you and even know who you are. We can't have that."
"Okay," Ania put hands on her hips. "Take A-gee along. They wouldn't know him from any other assassin droid, right?"
Marin looked uncomfortably at AG-37. It had been presumptuous for Ania to speak for him but the droid made no objection. Finally the older woman said, "Okay, but you'll stay back to cover us, understand? Liem and I will handle infiltration."
"I understand very well," AG-37 said. "Let me retrieve my weapons."
As the droid stomped off to get supplies, Marin looked to her daughter and Sauk. "Keep your comm lines open. I don't expect we'll need fast evac, but be ready just in case."
That hardly made Ania feel better. "Sure," she said. "I'll stay right here." Like a good little girl, she thought sourly.
Hardly for the first time, she wished Jao were here. She hadn't told him much about her predicament with her mother over the comm- too awkward- but he had a way of cutting through problems and seeing ways out of dilemmas that eluded her. At the same time, when the big important choices had to be made, they'd always been in accord.
It was what had made them a good team once, but no more. One day, she hoped, they could be again.
Once they'd both gotten their considerable problems sorted out.
-{}-
Marin hardly felt good about leaving her daughter behind, and worse still about the discontented frown on her face when she'd wished them luck. If Ania knew what she was going to do with Woxu the disapproval would run even deeper, so she'd made the best choice available.
They'd set down on Breshig an hour before drawn crept onto the Woxu homestead. Once they descended from the hill there was no place to hide except for the two-meter grain stalks, which were more effective at hiding Marin and Liem than AG-37. The assassin droid angled his entire torso until it was nearly perpendicular to the ground and charged through the field with his pointed head aimed forward like a battering ram. For humans his speed was just as impossible as his posture, and Marin and Liem hurried to keep close with him. By the time they got within clear visual range of Woxu's home Marin was panting for breath. Even young Liem was winded.
AG-37, who'd retracted most of his metal legs into his abdomen to hide his tall head, swung both photoreceptors on the humans. "I apologize if I was overly hasty. I assumed you wanted to get to Woxu while there was still cover of darkness."
Breathing hard inside her helmet, Marin looked at the sky. Night-black had faded to deep blues that would soon give way to daylight. "You made the right choice, A-gee. Just give me a minute."
"You insisted that I stay in the fields to cover you, correct?"
"That's right," said Liem. "I don't expect to get in trouble, but if we do, I'll hail you. Understand?"
"Very." Both halves of the droid's head rotated so twin photoreceptors faced Marin. "May the Force be with you, Marin Solo."
She stared at that inhuman face, uncertain what to say. She gave the droid a curt nod, then pushed through the remaining grass toward the house.
Marin and Liem emerged from the fields on the house's eastern flank. The entrance was to the south and they split up to curve around the west and north sides. She counted windows, imagined rooms, and gave herself a good guess of the interior layout. It was a simple two-storey home, which probably meant bedrooms in the upper level, kitchen and living areas beneath.
That probably meant Woxu had a family with him. That could make things complicated. She dropped to one knee beside Liem and asked, "Any movement?"
"Negative. Doesn't look like much of a lock on that front door. Want to try for silent entry?"
"Yes. You go up top. I'll clear the lower level quickly and join you."
"Copy that, ba'vodu. Ready to go?"
"Oya," she whispered, without any of the enthusiasm that usually accompanied the war cry.
Liem made a crouching sprint for the entrance. Marin followed. By the time she reached him he'd already gotten out a knife and started to jimmy open the primitive wooden door. He pried open the lock as quietly as he could and pushed the door open on its hinges, then pocketed the knife, grabbed his blaster pistol, and slipped inside.
Marin followed, her own pistol drawn and readied. They moved as quietly as their hard boots and armored bodies would allow; Liem stalked up the central stairwell while she circled around the lower floors, going through the kitchen, the dining room, and living room. She checked the refresher too, and when she was certain everything was clear she followed Liem upstairs.
She found him standing before cracked-open door, pistol halfway lowered. He stepped aside so Marin could look in and see a pair of bunk beds. She counted at least three small bodies tangled among the sheets, fast asleep.
When she looked back at Liem he jabbed a thumb over-shoulder to the door at the opposite end of the hall. Then he held up two fingers and tapped them on the dome of his helmet. Woxu was in his bedroom with his wife.
Still silent, Marin gestured for him to cover Woxu's bedroom while she handled the kids. As she peered at the bunkbeds again she felt something swim in her stomach. Better small children than adults who could fight, she thought, but it didn't make the next part easier. She double-checked that her blaster was set to stun, then looked back at the far door. Liem was ready, waiting on her.
Marin shouldered through the doorway and into the bedroom. Three stun blasts in rapid succession took the children in their beds. At the same time she heard one stun blast from the other side of the house. As she checked the fourth bed- empty and not made up for use- she heard a truncated shout and the sound of struggle. Weapon in hand she raced out down the hall to Woxu's room and saw Liem already on the bed, straddling a middle-aged man and trying to pin him down.
Marin circled around to the side of the bed and shoved her pistol in Woxu's face. It surprised the man so much Liem was able to grab him by both wrists and hold him steady. Woxu's wife, stunned and inert, lay beside them as though obliviously asleep.
"Who are you people?" Woxu groaned as he struggled vainly against the armored figure above him. "What do you want?"
"Udesii, we don't want to hurt you," said Liem.
"My family, what did you do to my-"
"They're not harmed," Marin said. "We just want to talk."
"Talk? You broke into my shabla house and-"
"What would you say if we told Yaga Auchs sent us?"
Woxu froze. "My business with Auchs is a long time over."
"Is that why you moved out here?" asked Liem.
"That's right."
"Didn't have anything to do with Govum Haugh and Bovar Shal ending up dead, did it?"
"No. It didn't."
Marin could tell he was lying. She nudged his mind with the Force, instilling him with extra fear. "Why'd Auchs kill Haugh and Shal?"
"You… You just said Auchs sent you."
"No, I didn't." Marin nudged him again. "Why did Haugh and Shal end up dead? What does it have to do with the time you three all went missing thirteen years ago?"
Woxu's eyes blinked in confusion. "I… I don't know what you're on about."
"Think back," Liem said. "You used to be a big deal on Mandalore. Might've gotten in Auchs' way when he replaced Chernan Ordo. Why'd you stand down?"
"Stand down? I didn't…. I don't kow what you're talking about…"
"Sure you do, ner vod," Liem growled. "Think real hard."
Liem thought he was faking. Marin, reading his surface thoughts in the Force, knew it was more complicated. Back when Woxu, Shal, and Haugh, among others, had suddenly changed their mind about supporting Auchs, Marin and two Imperial Knights had been there to investigate. The elder Knight, Eshkar Niin, had paid a visit to Woxu and Shal both. He'd reported that their memories of the kidnappings had been totally erased, likely with the Force.
She saw now it wasn't wholly true. Images clashed inside his head: dark bodies moving around in the night, an alien face in gold and black, the blank interior walls of a warehouse. His kidnapping and reprogramming had been repressed in memory but not erased. Shards merged like pieces of shattered glass not swept clear.
Maybe the Sith-installed mental blocks decayed in time. Maybe Haugh and Shal had been killed because they'd started to remember what had happened to them. Woxu, sensing some of it but not all, had fled his disjointed memories to Breshig and taken his family with him. For that reason, perhaps, he'd been spared.
Marin reached out with her free hand and placed it on Woxu's forehead. The man yelped, "Hey! What are you doing?"
"It's all right," she said soothingly. "I'll remember for you."
Marin had never been skilled at mnemotherapy during her time as a Jedi. They'd stressed that it was only to be used on willing patients to soothe traumatized minds, but that was hardly what she used it for now. She'd barely remembered, re-taught herself, then honed through trial and error since taking up the Force again. Because it was useful she'd gotten good at it, and she pried easily into his mind with invisible fingers.
She touched scattered memories and tried to grab hold. It wasn't just images anymore, it was smells and sounds. Most of all it was the raw terror and confusion that had filled Woxu at the time. Those feelings entered into her as easily as she'd entered into him and she struggled to keep them from unnerving her. She grasped hold of one memory: a helmeted figure leaning close, emanated ill will even through its mirror-black visor. Looming on either side was a fearsome figure: one humanoid in black and white, one tall alien in black and gold. The Mandalorian stepped back so the two Sith could move forward.
Woxu's mind revolted at what came next. It pushed back so hard that Marin nearly lost her place inside him. She'd tried to absorb his memories into hers but he was relieving the trauma; he moaned and tried to pull his head free of her grip. She held on tight, with hand and mind, and pried deeper still, hoping for a glimpse of the face behind the Mandalorian mask.
"Ba'vodu," Liem said as Woxu struggled beneath her. "You need to stop."
She didn't stop. She endured the agony Woxu had felt beneath Sith hands, all the while clinging to his blurred vision and the green-and-brown armored figure watching it all from the edges. She needed to see Auchs' face beneath the mask it but it wouldn't come, it wouldn't reveal itself no matter how hard she tried.
"Mar'ika, stop!"
The second Marin's grip on his mind weakened, she was ejected from it entirely. She stumbled back across the bedroom floor, breathing hard. Liem was still pinning the man to the bed but he no longer struggled. His head rolled from side to side and his eyelids twitched erratically. Woxu was a man stuck in the nightmare Marin had placed him in.
"What did you see in there?" Liem gasped.
Marin closed her shaking hand to a fist. "I was so close. Auchs… He was there. I saw him with the Sith." She remembered two figures: black and gold, black and white. "I saw… a Blood Carver. And something else. Maybe… a Nagai?"
Woxu was still trembling in his bed. His teeth clacked nosily together.
"Shab, ba'vodu, what did you do to him?" asked Liem.
There were no words to really explain it. It had been a brutal violation, and unlike the past times she'd done it, Woxu seemed trapped inside his recovered memories. A Jedi would have been aghast at a deed like that, as would Ania. A part of Marin was horrified too.
Mostly she was disappointed not to have seen the face of her enemy, the final confirmation of his deed.
Liem put hands on Woxu's shoulders to steady him. "What do we do now?"
She could go back in there and try to re-submerge his memories. It wouldn't be pleasant, but it would be easier for her and Woxu both than what she'd just done. She'd planned to use the Force to erase his memories of this entire evening; if she did everything right he still might wake up in bed beside his wife a few hours from now with a headache and nothing more. Or she may have done more permanent damage on her long quest to set things right.
Marin took a deep breath and reached out again. "I'll do what I can for him," she said. "And then we'll go."
-{}-
It was an auspicious day on Terminus, though the native inhabitants surely thought otherwise. The battle for the planet had been vicious, but it had largely left the world's surface undamaged. The locals seemed throughly cowed by the battle they'd witnessed and had volunteered their spaceports to repair the conquerors' damaged vessels. As a result, hundreds of Nagai and Mandalorian ships had set down on the planet. The Ssi-ruuvi vessels, which would probably confound Terminus' techs, remained in orbit to guard their prized new world.
Though their warships stayed high above, a delegation of the reptilian conquerors had descended to its surface. Rather than parade through any of its cities, which the Nagai were already doing, they landed on a clear plain well outside the capital. It was here that Yaga Auchs landed as well, and as promised, Darth Nihl was waiting for him.
"I'm glad you could come," the Nagai smiled, bearing sharp teeth. "You're in for quite a display."
Despite losing the Force his eyes were still a fierce red, and he retained the jagged tattoos on his face. Yaga remembered when they'd first met all those years ago on Mandalore, where Nihl had helped dispose of the new Mand'alor's enemies. He'd lacked the black-stained jaw but still had the intense gaze, the long black hair, the lean muscular body. He'd accompanied another Sith, that one a towering Blood Carver with three-jointed limbs and skin decorated black and gold. Yaga had realized then that he was a partner to monsters.
After thirteen years that seemed truer than ever. Dozens of Ssi-ruuk had gathered at the center of the field and moved as a tight-packed multi-colored mass. They seemed to be swarming in concentric circles, though Yaga couldn't see what lay at the center. Their powerful bodies stretched over three meters from the ends of their snouts to the tips of their thick tails, and they moved swiftly on three-clawed feet with small forelimbs tucked beneath their trunks. As they moved they released a cacophony of whistles and fluting sounds, and Yaga couldn't tell if they were speaking or singing.
Nihl stepped beside him. "The Ssi-ruuvi society is caste-based. Those you see with red scales are the warriors. Of course they're the most present here, but you'll also see blue-scaled administrators and yellow-scaled scientists. Look closely and you'll even spot a few brown-scaled P'w'eck from Bakura, come to join the holy crusade."
Yaga saw all those things but understood nothing. He wasn't sure he wanted to understand what kind of creatures he'd unknowingly made pact with.
Clearly, Nihl had called him here for an education, so he asked, "What are they doing here? This looks like some kind of… ceremony."
"Precisely. The Ssi-ruuk, you see, have an absolute terror of dying away from worlds they haven't consecrated as holy. Their fear their souls will spend eternity wandering the blackness of space."
It was an unpleasant concept. Yaga was glad to believe in nothing more than the Manda'yaim, a vague continuity of Mandalorian culture passed through generations. Death-after-life was an arueti concept, one most Mandos didn't favor, especially since it usually promised punishment for past sins.
"This religion presents a problem," Nihl went on. "The Ssi-ruuk are predators by birth, expansionists at heart. Yet they're afraid to go to worlds they haven't already conquered. Hence their reliance on droids."
"I've heard they… fuel their machines with life energy from slaves." He had no idea how it worked, nor did he want to.
"They've been having difficulties with entechment recently," the Nagai said as the reptiles whirled in faster and faster circles. "I arranged for them to be supplied with droid brains from Geonosis. I also promised them all of the planets we've already conquered, as a sign of good faith." He smiled again. "This ceremony is being repeated on a dozen worlds as we speak."
Yaga watched as the swirling mass of Ssi-ruuk cried louder and louder, until their chaotic wailing stabbed at his head. To shove his helmet on or cover his ears would be a show of weakness, so he ground his teeth and withstood the aliens' horrible noises until they suddenly stopped their whirling. Still keeping in circles of blue, red, yellow, and brown, they all stepped back, loosening formation so Yaga could see the giant gold-scaled alien at the center of the whorl. He watched as the creature stood high on its haunches and wailed, throwing open its spindly arms as if to embrace the blue sky, this whole new world.
When it finished, the surrounding Ssi-ruuk threw back their heads and joined in. Then they began running circles again, but this time they moved slower and less frantically. Yaga understood somehow that this was a procession of triumph.
"The ceremony… is it complete?"
"Yes," Nihl nodded. "Terminus is now consecrated as a holy world of the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium."
"What about the people who already live here?"
"As long as they continue to repair our ships- and build new ones when necessary- they won't be treated too harshly."
"Do the Ssi-ruuk understand that?"
"They're more perceptive than you think. They understand that the old ways no longer work. Bold, creative thinking is required to thrive in the galaxy today."
He sounded like a man congratulating himself. Yaga didn't begrudge him, not really. As an act of scripted drama, the Second Battle of Terminus had been masterful. "Coruscant has to react to this, and strongly."
"Coruscant has other problems to deal with. They won't ignore us… but I doubt their next response will be as coordinated as it was today."
Yaga had no idea what that meant, but after today he'd stopped doubting the Sith's abilities. Even without the Force he was something to be reckoned with.
"You have impressive allies," he told Nihl. "Do you still need the Mandalorians?"
Yaga's father hadn't raised him to run from fights, but he hoped the answer would be no. Of course, the Sith wouldn't throw away good tools so easily.
Nihl crossed his arms and said, "I understand your fighting fleet is limited compared to what the Ssi-ruuk can field, but there's a place for you in the new empire we're carving. The Ssi-ruuk will never land grounds troops on an unconsecrated planet, and while we Nagai are excellent melee fighters, Mandalorian supercommandos bring a special touch."
"We still need to be paid for our work."
"I'm sure a planet like Terminus has plenty of bullion stashed away. You're welcome to it."
"We're not just going to pillage our way through the Outer Rim. I want a contract."
Nihl didn't seem put-off by his impudence. "You'll get one before our next operation. Be patient."
"Where are we going after this?"
"That's to be decided." Nihl tilted his head skyward. "Go back to your ships. Congratulate your warriors on a job well done. Encourage them to rest and enjoy their spoils before going back to fighting."
A lot of his soldiers would enjoy that, but plenty would also want to know what came next. The decision to join the Nagai in their Outer Rim conquests had struck many Mandos as a full reversal from Yaga's normal policies as Mand'alor. Even Chernan Ordo would have balked at such adventurism, they were saying. It was more like something his long-dead uncle would have done. Being loyal servant to the Sith had gotten Gevern killed. Yaga was determined to avoid that end, even if he couldn't yet see a way out.
"I'm going to ask this plainly." He paused a second, waiting for an objection that didn't come. "Where does it stop? How far do you think you can get with this little… 'empire' of yours? You may grab some sectors, but eventually you'll run out of soldiers and resources. You'll be spread too thin to hold your territory and the Federation, no matter how messed-up it is, will start taking planets back."
"I think you'd be surprised by how much territory we can take, especially once word spreads that we're charitable in victory."
"That's not an answer."
"Be patient and you'll see what I can do," Nihl said firmly. "I promise you."
And the Sith, he knew, really did keep their promises.
When Yaga left the site of the ceremony he rode his shuttle back up to his flagship, which had endured the fighting with only minor damage. The Teroch-class frigate looked miniscule drifting beside a massive Ssi-ruuvi battle cruiser, and when he convened his lieutenants he made the mistake of doing so in a cabin that looked out on the alien vessel.
Yaga spoke loud and clear to draw their eyes away from the distracting ship. "The Nagai want us here for the duration," he explained. He refrained from using Nihl's name and title; the less who knew he was in bed with the Sith, the better. "They say to rest and patch up for now, but be ready for further action. Specifically, get ready for ground-pounding."
His lieutenants, most still in beskar, nodded. Some were more pleased than others, he knew. Thorum Rhal, sick of lying low after being nearly nabbed on Ord Mantell, was ready for more bruising. Vaun Zerimar, more cautious, asked, "Do we need to bring more troops from Mandalore?"
"I don't expect operations to either expand or contract just yet. We hold here, resupply, and get ready."
"And what about our new soul-sucking lizard friends?" She glanced out the window.
"Apparently souls are off the menu. Don't ask me to explain, I just know those tiny deadly fighters are being flown by droid brains from Geonosis now."
His lieutenants exchanged looks. Most seemed mildly relieved to know they weren't in danger of having their life forces sucked into machines. For that, Yaga didn't blame them at all.
Rhal asked, "Any idea what the next target is?"
"No. I think our client's been stirring up trouble on Coruscant and wants to see how that plays out."
"Heard someone almost killed the empress," another lieutenant said.
That explained Nihl's confident smile. "The Nagai are playing classic divide-and-conquer. I think they're going to keep going as far as they can."
"And how far do we go?" asked Zerimar.
Rhal gave her unexpected support. "When the going gets tough we can run back to Mandalore, no problem. I got a feeling the Nagai and Ssi-ruuk can handle themselves pretty well even without us."
The others nodded agreement. Apparently they thought it would be that easy.
"That's enough for today," Yaga said. "You're all dismissed. Go down to Terminus, check on your ships and people, and have a little fun while you can. We'll be fighting soon enough."
The last part stirred Rhal. He punched a fist against his chest plate and shouted, "Oya Mando!"
Several others repeated the battle cry, then filed out of the room. Soon it was empty of everyone except Yaga and his daughter, who'd been watching silently from the back corner. She pushed off from the wall and walked toward her father, flexing shoulders beneath her dark armor.
"Did you talk to a Sith down there, buir?"
"Darth Nihl himself. Got to watch our new lizard friends consecrate Terminus as holy ground."
Sora let her gaze turn toward the massive ship drift alongside theirs. "You really didn't know about them?"
"Not until they popped out in the middle of the drag field. Apparently they hijacked some Bakuran tech for that." He looked at her face and saw the bags under her eyes. "How was it in your Beskad?"
"We can handle TIE fighters. And Alliance snubs. Those Ssi-ruuvi droid fighters, though… They are nasty things, buir. They're like fleshgnats or piranha beetles. One second you're flying free and the next they overwhelm you, and they're so slippery your targeting computers can't even got a lock."
"Did any of them fire on our Beskads?"
"No. I guess their IFF software is on-point, but they didn't move out of way when we got close. And the way they tore up the Alliance fighters is gonna give my pilots nightmares." Sora forced her eyes off the alien cruiser. "Lucky they're on our side, I guess."
"Very lucky. And we'll keep it that way as long as we have to."
"Does Nihl really think he came make this last?"
"He seems confident."
"But what does he think he's doing? Is he trying to rebuild Krayt's shabla Sith Empire here on the Outer Rim? How can that even work without the Force?"
"I have no idea." Yaga crossed his arms. "But for now, while he's riding high, we ride with him."
"And when he's not?" When her father didn't answer right away, Sora asked, "How many Sith are there? Do you know?"
"No. And I get the impression he's spread them all throughout the Nagai fleet, probably in command positions."
She sighed. "Then I guess we can't get 'em all on one ship and blow 'em up."
"Afraid not, Sor'ika. But I like the creative thinking."
She smiled weakly and looked back at the passing Ssi-ruuvi ship. The cruiser had just passed in front of the Terminus system's primary, eclipsing the Mandalorian frigate within its shadow. That was too much symbolism for Yaga's liking and he led Sora out of the room and into the hallway beyond, where at least he could forget about it for a while.
-{}-
The clearer the situation offworld got, the more dangerous and confused the situation on Bakura became. Reports from Coruscant confirmed what had been unthinkable days before: the Ssi-ruuk had allied with the Nagai and Mandalorians to wage a war of pure conquest across a nearby slice of the Outer Rim. That alone cast the Ssi-ruuk's actions here in a new and disingenuous light, but the truly damning news was that the Ssi-ruuk warships at Terminus seemed to have been equipped with devices to counter interdiction fields, devices that behaved exactly like Bakuran-made HIMS.
The reaction of Bakura's human population had been swift and violent. Mobs had attacked the P'w'eck clusters in Salis D'aar and the other cities. President Recado ordered a planet-wide curfew and ordered the Bakuran Defense Forces to keep the peace in the cities. Rumors about P'w'eck collaboration with the Ssi-ruuk continued to swirl until most of the populace accepted them as fact.
With violence quelled, Recado did the only thing left: he ordered a meeting with the P'w'eck leader Vlothaw. He invited Shado and Storr to join; it seemed to Shado that the president was so boxed in by the situation that he was looking to Coruscant's representatives as a last chance for salvation. The unspoken need in his eyes weighed heavily on Shado, who now more than ever needed to stop observing and actually do something to stop the turmoil. He didn't know what he'd do, only that he'd be a poor Jedi if he didn't. And he needed to be a Jedi still.
Despite having neither the Force nor a good grasp of P'w'eck body language, he could tell Vlothaw was just as disturbed as the rest of them. His long brown tail twitched erratically and he kept blinking as he tried to explain himself in long musical wails.
"Legislator, even if you weren't personally working with the Ssi-ruuk behind our backs, some of your people- high-ranked elected P'w'eck, by your own admission- were collaborating with the enemy," Recado said. His anger mixed with weariness but he remained standing behind his desk as he faced off with the taller saurian. "Either you are lying to me or you can't control your own people. Either way you can't expect me to believe that all your people on Bakura now are loyal."
Vlothaw whistled again, and the translator nestled in Shado's ear said, "We are working to identify traitors as we speak."
"Not good enough." Recado placed two fists on the desk. "You're going to hand over all your information and let Bakuran Security detain any suspected traitors."
Vlothaw waved his head, emphatically mimicking the human gesture of denial. "We cannot hand them over to human justice."
"It's not human justice, it's Bakuran's justice. Legislator, you're asking me to trust you when you know damned well that you haven't earned it."
"Your human justice has not earned our trust."
Wearily, Recado looked to the Federation ambassadors. Storr said, "Naturally Coruscant is willing to act as arbitrator in any negotiations. Our people are investigating the Ssi-ruuvi offensive now and will share any relevant information they have."
Shado kept quiet, but he knew that was an exaggeration. With Hogrum Chalk at its helm, Federation intelligence was notoriously parsimonious about what it shared, and before this meeting Storr had admitted such information on the Ssi-ruuk was painfully scarce.
Vlothaw piped angrily, "Innocent P'w'eck have been killed. Justice starts with restitution."
"Then I'll authorize creation of an independent tribunal to find and punish those guilty of spreading violence against your people."
Recado glared at Storr, and the ambassador hurried to add, "This tribunal will be overseen by the Federation to make sure it's impartial."
The president asked Vlothaw. "Does that satisfy you?"
Vlothaw's tail thumped the carpet. "It is a start."
"Good. Now I expect cooperation from you. Let my security forces investigate for collaborators with the Ssi-ruuk. With Federation oversight."
The P'w'eck's twitched his head up and down. Shado had no idea how to read the alien gesture, but Vlothaw whistled, "That is acceptable. Once the Federation confirms it will oversee the investigation, we will cooperate."
Shado thought Recado might press for a faster timetable, but the man nodded. Vlothaw slapped his tail on the floor again, turned, and left the room.
When he was gone, the president sunk into his chair and sighed. "Ambassador Storr, get online with Coruscant and light a fire under them. We don't have time to waste."
"I'll do what I can."
Recado's eyes narrowed. "We need Federation promises and we need them now."
"I know, but frankly, Coruscant is something of a mess at the moment. At Bavinyar-"
"I know what happened at Bavinyar. And your empress has my sincerest sympathies. But we need help here and if the Federation can't give it, I don't know why we joined in the first place. Given the mess the Ssi-ruuk are making in other sectors, you'd think this would be a high priority."
"I know. And I'll make your case as fervently as I can. But realistically, this is an extreme situation for us all."
"I know. But my priority will always be my people."
Even if Bakura's gain costs others, Shado knew. When he thought on the president's belief in Cosmic Balance it seemed, intellectually, like a cruel faith that could be used to justify any selfishness. Yet there was nothing wicked about Recado; he was just a man, old and tired and overwhelmed by a problem with no apparent solution.
The president turned his eyes to Shado. "Do you have any insight, Master Jedi? Any read on Vlothaw?"
Without the Force or familiarity with P'w'eck body language he had none, but Shado said, "I think Vlothaw is just trying to protect his people. He's scared after what happened."
"So are the Bakurans. Some P'w'eck passed classified knowledge on HIMS creation to the Ssi-ruuk. They might have even given them the technology straight-up. That's treason, and even if Vlothaw didn't do it he's still culpable for failing to stop it."
Storr said, "Frankly, Mister President, I think you have to work with Vlothaw right now. Removing him would make the situation even more volatile."
"Oh, I'm aware. The demon we know and all that." Recado slumped further. "Now please, get online with your bosses and tell them how desperate we are. Even if Coruscant's in as big of a mess as Bakura, they're our only hope."