The news do nothing to boost the demonman's spirits.
"Well, fuck me," he says, "I preferred it when the two of them weren't all chummy with each other. It was giving me an illusion they had someone other than us to go after."
Krev won't have this raining on his parade, though. Outside, it's raining enough.
"Weird thing to say," he says. "They aren't our enemies. Senior might not be our friend, but he ain't our enemy, either."
"Not so sure about that, buddy." Sorval's horn hits the handrail — again — and he twitches — again. "And you shouldn't be, too. He's one vile old cocksucker, I'll tell you this."
"You'd been working for him way before I was, so..."
"It makes me an expert, if anything. You know, I've met few people who could make you feel like you don't know what you're doing even though what you're doing is what you've been doing for years and know like the back of your hand. Ah, you should've heard him complain about the lag on the line I set up for him back on T. It was, mind you, like a thousandth of a millisecond higher than acceptable. Acceptable by whom? Some pre-ReSynch guidebook, I'm sure, and the only one he's read on the subject."
"How did you ever survive?"
Sorval attempts to shake his head in disbelief, but the handrail is still there — and the bus is too full for him to move away. It's like the entire planet is going to The Wall Mall instead of working.
"He got me hooked with his ramblings," Sorval admits. "He's got that mad prophet vibe, hasn't he? Working for someone like him — for someone famous, I mean — was... unique. I don't wanna sound like an easy-to-impress retard, but it was. And I was, if I'm being honest."
"Some other benefits, too?"
"I don't know what you're getting at."
"I think you do."
"Fadrina?" That comes off as too casual, but Krev keeps himself from smiling. "Man, I don't even know what got to me."
"Well, she's not too hard to look at."
"And she has a kid. Seriously, what was I thinking?"
"I'm not judging, you know."
"I am. I'm judging myself for the poor choices I've made. If I didn't fall for her, I wouldn't be doing all this now, perhaps. Maybe I would've quitted before you came into picture."
"You regretting where it all got you?"
"Uhhhh, not really. I'm scared to be where I am. I'm terrified. But... it's better to be here than anywhere else."
Krev can only nod to that.
"Are we actually going with the plan?" Sorval asks him a stop later (even more people get on the bus). "I mean, I'm not sure if the jolly gang has anything to offer. Now that we know what Damask's role was..."
"We don't. Not entirely. Yes, we know how he's connected to Ulmis," even thinking about it makes Krev giddy, "but we still don't know what the deal with the Double-C is. Maybe he wasn't on it — but maybe he was. Maybe the Sep intel knows something about whatever the engineers were doing on Geonosis."
"I don't even care too much about the details, man. I just want to do stuff. So the young man still okayed it?"
"Nothing really changed, eh? There's still stuff we can get out of bankers — about Damask and all that. Unless, of course, you're under the impression that the old man is some supreme source of wisdom."
"Or that he was straight with the young man."
"That too."
In truth, Krev doesn't want to follow that line of thought. Alnam really wants to atone for what he's done, he tells himself. Maybe he's done more than he let out so far, but he wants to do something right for a change.
If you believe him, yes.
Vad does.
Then — if you believe Vad's the best judge of character when it comes to his father.
"It's crazy, huh?" he says. "That we are the ones doing all this. That we happened upon it. Who could've thought."
"I've always known I was destined for greatness."
"I didn't promise you greatness. I promised you... this."
As I didn't promise you safety, he thinks.
But it's just Bnagen. It'll be alright. At least today, it will be.
Coruscant is trying to get even taller: check the construction site beyond The Mall. Already surpasses the upper levels by at least fifty floors — and there's no telling how many more are to come. How long until the upper levels are not so upper anymore?
They cross the plaza under an annoyingly inconsistent rain. Krev can't help but notice the panic rising in his gut as the drops fall on his face — five years on Telos IV don't go without a trace.
"This'd better be worth it," Sorval says as they enter The Mall.
"You've been here before?"
"No. A fucking mall wasn't high on my list of priorities."
"Neither have I. I mean, since I came back."
"Oh yeah? And before? I sense a story coming."
Krev shrugs. "I used to meet here with an old friend of mine."
"Why do I get the feeling it ended with one of you in a garbage truck?"
"It ended with me going to a war and him being entombed in Coruscant's best ossuary next to a couple of supreme chancellors. Neither event was our doing — or plan."
Hardly any people inside — it's half past three, and it's a week day. Krev and Sorval take travelling stairs two floors up.
Everything has changed in here. If then The Mall was dimly — almost intimately — lit, now it's sterile white light coming from everywhere and nowhere. The Betting Bar — it was right here, by the southwestern entrance — is gone. They even put up huge, four-floor tall holoads in the atrium. Fucking idiots — those cover the curve of the building, aka its most prominent feature.
"Man, you alright?" Sorval asks him.
"Yeah. Just a stupid thing."
Bnagen calls him — a hidden number, what a surprise — twenty minutes after they take sits in a small mall café.
"She'll be here soon," Krev relays to Sorval. "You remember the plan?"
"Yes, yes. I won't talk about relevant shit until she asks me."
Despite her promises, Bnagen isn't there at 4 PM and neither is she at 4:10. Krev knows she must be watching them. Maybe brought Kadrur and the Quarren along to guard the exits. She wants to make sure there's no danger.
Only, obviously, Krev knows this — and so he's made sure there's no danger here today.
He's getting used to being a scumbag.
She gets there at 4:26.
"Krev," she says like she's here on her usual Primeday shopping tour. Krev is glad she doesn't go in for a peck.
"This is my friend Batur," he says.
"Almost like butter, but I'm smoother," Sorval smiles.
Damn, Krev thinks, he might be a natural.
They sit down. Krev introduces Bnagen as his old acquaintance Tuu Bnagen — she insisted on using the real name. They order a teapot of some fancy tea. It's blue and radiant, but its glow goes away as it grows colder.
"What do you do, Tuu?" Sorval asks.
"I work at a refugee help center," the Aqualish says. "We help the disenfranchised. Or we try to."
"That's cool," Sorval says. Krev has to admire that he sounds slightly at a loss — Bnagen said her piece way too dramatically. "Yeah, I think it's really cool. The Galaxy needs some more kindness."
"What about you?"
"I do too." Sorval laughs. "No, I get it. Currently, uh, I'm studying computer science."
"He's a fucking genius, this kid, let me tell you," Krev says.
"Well, no, not really." An awkward smile and anticipation of something unpleasant in his eyes.
Fuck, he's a really good actor. Should've considered that career path instead of that of a conspiracy practitioner.
"Well," Bnagen says, "I think you may be underestimating yourself."
"No, I mean it. That's why I'm studying, right? To get better at it."
"Okay. Let it be your way. So what exactly are you studying?"
"Communication lines, mostly."
"Oh."
"Yeah. It may a little too broad, but... well, sorry I have to bring it up, but for us non-Humans, it's not that easy to find good education prospects, you know."
Bnagen looks at him without blinking — or however it works with the Aqualish.
"What do you think about the term?" she asks. "Non-Human?"
Was he right to bring it up?
Guess he was — she's biting.
"I don't really mind," Sorval says. "I mean — no offense — but why should I? I'm not a Human, so whatever. Yeah, yeah, I get it, they judge us based on themselves — well, some of them, I'm not talking about you, Krev — but, uh, it's fine by me. I'm more concerned I can't find good courses because everything has been sold out months in advance, apparently. But," he quickly adds, "what I can't stand is the word 'near-Humans.' Like, fuck off — I don't want to be nearly normal or whatever it implies."
Bnagen sits back. Krev is not very good at reading Aqualish facial expressions — about as good as the Holonet is at distinguishing Muuns — but he thinks she looks satisfied.
They do small talk: weather, city transportation, fucking sports. Turns out, Bnagen likes limmie. Sorval gets a laugh out of it. Krev is too busy convincing himself his anxiety isn't any worse than usual to get one as well. Their teapot is half-empty now. Krev can't find other words to describe the taste than "bright".
"But really, Batur, what do you do for a living? Studying on Coruscant — I mean, it's not cheap, even the programs they still let the likes of you and me on."
"Well, I moonlight as a computer technician."
"It cannot be paying all that well, or am I wrong?"
"It depends. Some clients are assholes. Some are okay. Some think 'computer technician' means 'repairs and reprograms droids and runs airspeeder diagnostics.' Those are the hardest to deal with. They are so certain they're doing you a service by offering you an opportunity. Hard to disappoint them, you know."
"Would you say Humans are generally more assholish than others?"
"I can't really say. I mean, I have a picture of my face on my ads, so those Humans who call me already know who they're gonna see."
"But don't you think it's fucked up you have to go to such lengths just to work comfortably? So that you don't have to justify being Devaronian to your clients?"
"I mean... I've seen Human techs also post their mugshots. It's more of a general practice, you know."
"Batur," Krev intervenes, "she's Aqualish, for fuck's sake. I'm the only Human around here — and you've told me already what you really think about all this."
Sorval feigns indecisiveness. Then he says, "It really is fucked up. And you know what's the most fucking ridiculous thing about it? I can't even complain. I don't have these problems. Like, can you imagine some speciesist fag shouting at me in the street? Yeah, it doesn't happen to me. And, I mean, people fucking realize it. So when I start talking about real issues — like displacement, law enforcement profiling, all that — people tend to, you know, ignore me. By people I mean my friends. I mean, seriously, I have nothing against Humans. Krev is my best friend. I don't... I don't hate them. And those people I'm talking about — the Humans, my friends — they are not bad people. They are not bad people. They're just like any other species. But, you know, maybe, maybe thanks to me — to my presence, you know, to, to me being this wholesome fucking Devaronian dude who's so cool and all, you know — maybe thanks to that, my friends have a very skewed perspective. On how things really are. You know, when I try to talk to them about deportations — and even when I give them facts, like, real facts from the Republic government's press releases and such, they just don't take it seriously. Like, if I'm still here, then what's the big deal? Their fucking token alien friend is okay, so I guess, everyone else also is. That's some fucked up logic. And I'm sure I'm not the only one like that. I mean... Yeah, like, and now you're looking at me and probably thinking, 'What the fuck is this guy even on about? He has it easy, like, just cut your horns, dude, and you'll pass for a Human.' I mean no disrespect to you, but, like... it's hard to put to words, but... I think it's these fucking... gradations of suffering that keep us divided. Oh, you have it better, oh, you have it worse — and people don't team up, like... You probably think I'm a fucking loser who tries to ride the coattails of your people's tragedy — and I mean it seriously, it's a tragedy, what's happening to you. But I think that's part of the problem and part of what they want — to make us hate each other because the suffering isn't evenly spread. Fuck, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... whatever."
Krev catches himself holding his breath.
"Batur," Tuu says, "you're an outstanding young man."
"Really?"
The hope that glimpses in Sorval's eyes is so genuine Krev feels sorry for all three of them present.
"I mean really no disrespect to your species when I say what I say. I know you have it so much worse than we do. I just... My point is, maybe we should listen to what people who have it better have to say as well — we on both sides of this conflict."
"And I agree with you. They want to keep us apart — and that's their greatest weapon against us. Not deportations — those are just a means to an end."
"Right," Sorval says, "that's what I'm... And then, there's people — some of them are also my friends — who think I shouldn't even talk about it because I'm not a citizen. And I'm, like, man, what the fuck, I want to be a citizen! I came here legally and I wanna stay legally. I want to be a citizen of the Republic — and you already are. It has more meaning to me than it does to you, because for me, it's a goal, and for you, it's just a fact."
"The Republic in its current state is a quagmire of lies and hypocrisy. It does everything it can to drive a wedge between Humans and other species — yet it didn't allow the Confederacy worlds to secede."
"Yes, the worlds where mostly non-Humans live. Why not just let them go? I don't approve of the war, but come on."
"The war instigated by the Republic. All it let us know is that the casus belli was the attempted execution of a senator and two Jedi. It's very easy for an average citizen — especially a Human one, and especially when it's shown that the senator and the Jedi were all conveniently Human — to believe that the poor senator was there on a diplomatic mission and the Jedi tagged along as her protectors. This is the narrative they've been feeding us for centuries: the Jedi are our guardians and we should trust them and, by proxy, we should trust everything about them. But the Jedi are not these warrior monks we've been told they are. Look no further than at the war. They are just warriors."
"Allow me to disagree with you on one thing," Sorval says. "You still shift all the blame to Humans — collectively."
"No, I put it on the corrupt government that uses them to applaud its every decision."
"You said 'especially Human.' This is something I don't agree with. I don't agree that the government only uses Humans — it uses all of us."
"I never said it doesn't."
"Okay then. What I said about listening to people regardless of how bad they have it, I think — I believe — it also is true for Humans. We need to listen to them. No — to what they have to say. I mean, most of the Galaxy's population are Humans."
There's something important in what they've said — either Tuu or Sorval — and Krev is frenetically trying to grasp it. It's somewhere there, beneath the endless dancing around suffering and oppression and whatnot.
What is it? Think. The war. They said something about...
His own thoughts get in the way just like the sounds of the conversation. He can feel perspiration forming on his forehead. He should've taken some spice before coming here.
The Jedi. Is it how that one was killed? No, it must something else. The senator?
Yes. Yes, it is the senator.
She fought so hard to prevent the creation of the army, that Amidala. Hard enough for the news of her struggle to reach Telos constantly. And then she was the one the Seps took hostage and... tried to kill? Why? If the Republic didn't have an army... Maybe they wanted to give the Republic a cause to attack them? To appear the victims of the conflict? But is it really a better plan than attacking a defenseless opponent? Wouldn't the rest of the Galaxy just follow strength?
Maybe they decided to kill the senator because she had failed? The army was created — well, had been years before. It was appropriated by the Republic, and the CIS decided Senator Amidala served no further purpose.
Some retarded thinking on their part. She's gotta be more valuable alive. Just show her how awful the Reps are with their newfound army — and you'll have an ally in the Senate. She's a bleeding heart — must be, what with her opposition to the military creation act. Hell, maybe she'd even bring her sector to your cause. Some additional ones — why not? Her seeing the horrors the Republic subjected the CIS to would sure move a few hearts that were not bleeding enough yet. But they decided to kill her instead. Why?
To give the Republic a reason to attack first? But how would executing a foreign diplomat look to potential members? Doesn't scream "peaceful until the last straw." Not to mention the Republic did attack quickly enough to save Amidala. No way the CIS didn't have intelligence of at least an approximate date.
She was more useful alive to them than dead. Could've sent her back to the Republic for her to talk about the Republic's invasion. She could've been kicked off the Senate for that, maybe. Maybe even imprisoned for anti-Rep propaganda. (Imagine going to the same prison with her. Makes you wanna go surrender, doesn't it?) Would've made her a great martyr for the CIS. She didn't even had to know anything — the events would've played out...
That's it.
She knew something. Saw something she shouldn't have.
What could it be? There, on Geonosis?
Krev tries not to hyperventilate.
That's insane. It can't be, right?
Why not? It makes sense. Yes, it does: Brate's maniacs took over whatever the Separatists were doing there. Whatever they wanted to kill Senator Amidala for seeing.
There's no proof of that.
Yes — and its absence, you just have to go with logic.
What could it be? Some virus only supposed to get Humans, but now reworked the other way around? That's some shit from cheap holofeatures. Nobody wants to destroy everyone on the other side — you can't tax dead people.
What if it's data? Dirt on the Separatist Parliament? Sounds more reasonable — but it's not a "project." The Republic, having taken it, would've released the dirt, not keep it secret.
The rest of the meeting is spent waiting for it to end. Sorval and Tuu are still going — and keep going almost for another hour. Krev feels as if he needed to go to the bathroom real bad.
"What do you think?"
He barely musters enough concentration to ask it. Sorval is away — visiting a bathroom, ironically.
Tuu's bulging eyes are shinier than usual.
"Where have you been hiding him? He's prime material for us."
"Don't call people material. Leaves a bad taste, you know."
"You get my meaning," she waves at him.
"Are you gonna tell him now or..?"
"Let's not hurry."
"Why not? I thought he was perfect material."
"And he is. I'm thinking... maybe it'll be better if you tell him first."
"Me?"
"You're his friend. Tell him about the operation you ran with that clone."
"Fuck. I didn't expect that. I was kinda thinking you'd tell him everything."
"Trust me — it will be better if you prepare him for my offer."
"So I don't tell him about you and your—"
"No, no, no. Let's make it gradual."
"Uh-huh."
"You tell him about the clone. And then, we'll meet again and I'll mention that I know about him."
"I don't know. Aren't we overcomplicating it? I mean, I'll have to explain to him why I didn't tell him about the clone earlier." Krev tsks. "He was way too young. Fuck, he still is."
"You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"
"No. It will be up to him to decide. Alright. When and where do we meet next time?"
They agree on Gran Symposium at the Grand Symposium this Zhellday.
Krev can't wait to drop Sorval as they make the back trip. Then: he can't wait to get home and share his thoughts.
Vad doesn't pick up that day, though. Krev spends the Taungsday riling himself up. He doesn't fucking care, he makes sure to think. It's nothing to him.
When Vad calls him back, he picks up immediately, though, and his anger is gone.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Five missed calls, man."
"Everything's fine. I just need to talk to you."
"A crazy week; I couldn't find a moment to call you. They have me chasing a senator who — reportedly — badmouthed the Chancellor at a private party. Someone grassed him up — and now I have to question twenty people to make any sense of it. Anyway. You didn't call to listen to this shit. How did the thing go?"
"She liked him. A lot, actually."
"That's good."
"He's worried what he's doing won't make a difference."
"Maybe it won't."
"I know. The kid's heart is in the right place, though. He's not gonna turn away."
"Did you learn," after a suitable pause, Vad asks, "what Bnagen is planning?"
"No. Didn't have an opportunity to ask her without breaking the character."
"Okay. Did she tell Sorval about what she's up to?"
"No." Krev tells him about their planned course of action.
"So what did she tell him?"
"They mostly talked about how aliens are oppressed and... that sorta thing. Saw right eye to fucking eye."
"How did you introduce her?"
"Just as my friend. She went by her real name."
"And occupation? Did Sorval ask what she does?"
"She told him she works at a refugee center."
"Really? She told him that?"
"She did."
Vad falls silent. Krev can't wait to tell him about the real stuff, but has to suffer through the silence.
"Can you ask her," Vad says, "in an inconspicuous way — what she's currently doing in the CHT? The center?"
"Nothing, I guess. Mer — that's the Gossam guy — said she can't do shit with it anymore, since her patron went missing."
"Yeeeeah... But can you ask her how she used it before? Like, what she spent the money she was embezzling on?"
"Well, I can ask her if you want. On the crew, probably?"
You didn't say: her crew.
"The crew she's running is six people. That's counting you, Krev. And the money she got out of the CHT... let's say, unless you are all flying RM-3070s, I'm having a hard time putting my finger on where that money went, exactly. Well, I can hazard a guess. The man she used to work with — her patron — that'd be Giburin Fozatta. The guy I almost got for spewing CIS propaganda at workers on Skados VI. Since he got missing, we can't prove the money he was laundering through the CHT was going to the Confederacy and not his own pocket, but I have some damn heavy suspicions it was. I need to know how they used to use that money."
"I'll try to get it out of her. Inconspicuously, you know."
"Thank you. I get a feeling you want to tell me something, and I just keep running my mouth. Sorry about that."
"Yeah, well, it's fine. But you're right — there's something I wanted to discuss with you."
And so Krev tells him about his Amidala thoughts. Be careful not to tell him what you think about his wife, a voice pulses in his head throughout.
"Amidala going along with the government? Nah, I can't see that happening," Vad replies.
"It's something so insane even she keeps her mouth shut. A wild fucking guess, I know, but it's something I thought I'd share with you."
"Keeps her mouth shut? I doubt she's familiar with the concept. They almost killed her — with wild beasts, no less — and she's still going on about how we should make the first step to end the war. She's brain-dead — but, you know, in a way that makes me kind of respect her. She stands by what she believes in. No way would she throw her principles away."
"I don't know about that, man. I mean, we don't really know her. We don't know what about her is banthashit. Maybe everything is. Maybe it's just a narrative. Easy to make you believe a narrative about someone you've never met."
"Come to think of it," Vad says slyly, "I might... no."
"What?"
"Nothing. No. Really, it's, it's nothing."
"Oh, come on, spit it out."
"I miiiiight have a way to get a hold on her."
"No way in the universe you do."
"Your mind is wandering places. Take a cold shower, my friend. I'll talk to Senator Amidala and see if she hides anything."
"You just have to hog all the best stuff for yourself, don't you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you wanted to be the one to question my father. You should've told me!"
It's still raining on the Zhellday morning. Cloudy almost around the entire globe — the weather control mechanisms must be on their last legs.
Gran Symposium is really the former Gran Symposium — now, the place is called Clear! It still stands in the shadow — nonexistent today — of the Grand Symposium observation wheel. The damn thing brings some good memories, and Krev can't stop smiling the moment he gets out of the subway. Ahhh: cotton candy, cider, and a blissfully empty wheel.
Today's company is less pleasant. Sorval's being late — and Sorval isn't really observation-wheel material, so he cannot afford being late, but he still is. Krev has no desire to go and face Bnagen on his own, but the drizzle is getting on his nerves, so he walks in.
Just his luck — Bnagen is being late, too.
The place has changed — to be sure. They didn't just get a new sign. No, the whole deal looks like a hospital now. Nobody is going to tell you how he killed his own mother in this place anymore. It's no place for this sort of people — insane or criminally insane, take your pick. Not a place for the Gran now, either.
It's been so long since your last visit that memories don't carry any weight now.
Krev sits down at a table. A waiter comes to serve him. He's a vaguely pink humanoid — Krev can't tell more specifically. Got a holobadge on his chest: Sentients for Sentients. Krev asks for a cup of cafstim and sends him back to the kitchen.
That people distrust droids is natural. But take a guess how they're gonna feel about clones going to the same bars and cafes as them when the war's over.
Whoever fucking made this army was the most fucked-up individual in history.
Sure, but it exists now. There's no point shaking fists at hypothetical entities. You bet your ass it was just the Republic. That Vad's commission? Just a way to show the herd something's being done where nothing has to be done. You bet your ass they had this army thing going for decades if not centuries — just in case something bad would happen, and now it did. Probably laundered a shitton of money while they were at it — with their secret programs and everything.
But the problem is, the Grand Army exists — and now average Joe knows it does, so they'll have to account for it somehow. Settle the clones somewhere. And you bet your ass, there'll be blood — lots and lots of it.
That is, if the Republic wins. If it loses, the problem is gone, right? The clones can return to their nonexistence, and average Joe can return to his beer and holovision after work.
Only the CIS stands no chance.
The outcome for the clone army isn't going to be changed by this fact. The only thing that can change it is the commission Vad sits on.
They killed a Jedi — just so that you remember. You think they won't kill an RDS operative if he gets too cocky? If as much as an allusion to a threat is made? Think again, Krev Devin. Think again.
But it is the only chance — old Krev Devin realizes it. You gotta stop thinking of everybody around you as children you need to protect. What happened to you since Atnakis? You weren't like this before.
Manaan did, Krev thinks, and Telos IV. And now Coruscant is happening. What's your point?
Bnagen arrives first. The pink waiter looks like he's going to have a heart attack when she walks in. How fucking Human are you, anyway? Krev thinks at him. Not enough for real Humans to count you as one, anyway.
"You told the boy?" Tuu asks.
Krev uh-huhs.
"How did he react?"
"Why don't you ask him that?"
"I need to know what to ask."
"He got all pissed at me that I hadn't told him earlier."
"Do you think he's going to take my offer?"
"I think he is."
"So, Krev... What actually happened to that clone pal of yours?"
Feels like a gut punch, huh?
But Krev's prepared for this question.
"Why are you only asking it now?"
"Let's say I didn't like you very much before."
Krev smiles. "That's not an answer."
"Why not? I didn't care for your friends before. Now I do — now that I've seen one of them."
"There's something else to it, isn't there? You wanna know whose else tail you might be stepping on now if you spin the clone tail, don't you?"
She looks at him quizzically.
"Let's make it a Quarren pro team," he says.
"A what now?"
"Uh... a squid pro squad? Whatever the fuck. I'll tell you if you tell me about your something big."
"Don't you think you're out of line a bit, no?"
"Not really. Matter of fact, I think you are out of line not telling me about your plans after I didn't rat you when the government — or COMPOR, whatever you want it to be — grabbed me by the balls. And you know, frankly, it's disappointing — it's like I'm not good enough. If I didn't know you, I'd think it's because I'm Human."
She lowers her gaze. "It kind of is. It's not my idea, Krev. I don't know if it makes it any better..."
"Whose idea is that, then?"
Tuu thinks for a long while. "An associate's. But you first."
"An associate's? We got any? I thought His Illustrious Highness was supremely fucked."
"You first, Krev."
"Okay. My pal, he..." It's suddenly hard to keep talking. Krev pretends he's busy with his cafstim. "He deserted, alright? Ran across half the Galaxy before he ended up on Telos. Well... that's where he ran into me. Some chance, don't you think? Well, it wasn't. We got brought together by Vygo Alnam."
"Vygo Alnam? The industrialist?"
"The one and only. He wanted to use Brate's story for his own ends. I don't know, he wanted to become the chancellor or something. He never told me. So we started doing the ConCare posts. Little by little, though... we realized how much of a sleazebag he was. No better than... you know. We tried running away, but... he sent some goons after us. Brate died. I didn't."
He's checked: his name — his real name — doesn't come up on the Net in any of the articles about the Telos IV showdown. Feels good to be a fugitive criminal in an ongoing RDS case.
"Vygo Alnam knows about... ConCare? The contingency orders?"
"He does. He doesn't have shit, though. Nothing concrete. Brate sent him some kind of synopsis, but that was it. I have the only surviving copy of the real diaries."
"What else is there? Besides the orders and ConCare?"
"Some shit they call the Geonosis project. I have no clue what it is, it's not specified in the notes."
"You never asked him?"
"We didn't have a chance to talk much."
"And Alnam? Does Alnam know what it is?"
"Unless Brate told him more in the synopsis than there is in the actual file, I guess no. Although the old man does have other sources, I imagine."
"Does he know you're here? On Coruscant?"
"I fucking hope not."
"It's a liability. For all of us."
"Hey, I'm still alive, aren't I? Why would he wait for so long to whack me if he knew where I moved?"
"He could learn."
"He could. That's a thought I gotta deal with every day. Welcome to the club."
"Oh, fuck. What does Alnam want out of it?"
"Told you, don't know. Get back at the people who put him away on his shitty planet. Well, as shitty as personal planets go. He never told me, 'Oh, you know, old buddy, I want to pull a great prank on the Senate,' or some such."
"Fuck. I bet he figured it out it was you using Brate's material when you posted about the orders."
"Most likely. Good thing he doesn't know what planet they were coming from."
"Okay," Tuu says in the voice that makes it obvious it's not okay.
"Relax," Krev says. "If it comes to it, I'll fix it."
"How, thought?"
"Don't forget," he smiles, "I managed to outwit Alnam's goons once."
She looks like she wants to keep doubting him, but Sorval can be here any moment, and Krev doesn't want to lose the momentum.
"Your turn," he says.
"I have a friend," Tuu says, "I helped to get off Coruscant."
Ask her about the fund money, Krev thinks but hushes himself.
"She's a Rodian. I got her on a ship to Gamorr."
"Couldn't be easy."
"It wasn't a direct flight. Anyway. I know people on Gamorr, and I asked them to take care of her. Help her find a job, a place to live — that kind of thing. The thing about Gamorr is that it's one of Rothana's main food suppliers."
"A Hutt planet?"
"Why do you think they do all the things they do on Rothana? It's covered by the Hutt space, so if the Separatists want to attack it, they are going to pay the Hutts more than the Republic does, which so far they couldn't do.
"So you're following me? I had someone on a planet tied to Rothana — someone who owed me. So I gave her a call and told her she could repay her debt. Ah. It felt horrible, but I did it."
"You told her to... do what? Go to Rothana, and..?"
"To go to Rothana and get a job at ConCare."
"What? How's she gonna be—"
"It's her problem, really. But it's not like she needs to get on the board or something. Just get inside. If she manages to find us real proof of what they're doing there—"
"Right. But why would they employ a Rodian at that supposedly top secret facility?"
"Come on, Krev. It's a medical firm. They always need people who can discern smells well."
"And who's a better sniffer than a Rodian," Krev nods. "I only see one problem with it: ConCare doesn't actually make drugs — at least, not from what I've been able to find. They... they just cut people's brains up."
"Sorry I didn't have a lobotomy expert ready on Gamorr. Dulida is our best shot."
And the only one, Krev thinks.
"If they don't hire her, oh well. We'll have to look for something else. But she doesn't lack motivation, I can guarantee that — it's either ConCare or back to slavery for her."
Krev chuckles. "Excuse me?"
"Shit. Trust me, I regret how it came out. I mean, I regret what we had to do with her to get her off planet much more, but... the way I said it was... fuck me. Yeah, the only way Jorad would have her was this."
"Jorad?"
"My contact on Gamorr. My mother told me he was our distant cousin, but I don't quite believe her. Or maybe it's just that he's lived all his life among Gamorreans... He doesn't care for anything but money. He treats his slaves well — I know it, I visited their barracks and talked to them while I was staying at his villa once — but it's still so fucked up."
"Hey," Krev decides not to pat her hand, "don't be so hard on yourself. Knowing you, this Rodian girl would've been in some serious shit if she didn't leave Coruscant."
"She would. She worked as a housemaid for a senator who was accused of leaking confidential data to the Confederacy. The bitch just blamed everything on Dulida! She had to leave, but... now I'm sure there was a different way. If only I looked harder..."
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Krev repeats. "At least, she has some prospects now." What the fuck, woman, he thinks, might've killed your friend while you were at it. How's that not a way to save her from a trial if slavery fucking is? "So this cousin of yours... is he the associate?"
"He is." Tuu raises her head. "He doesn't care about anything but money, but fuck, does he like to pretend he's conscious about our plight! Always with big words about justice and how you Humans are keeping us down."
"Well, I've never owned a slave, although I am a filthy Human."
Neither have I made any of my friends one.
Tuu makes a sad laugh. "Jarod wouldn't believe you. He makes it a point not to trust any Human. He explicitly told me to keep Dulida's trip secret from my Human acquaintances — and had the guts to talk down to me because he knows I do have some Human acquaintances!"
"Not like he can enforce it."
"He's best buddies with Kadrur — so don't tell anyone in the group what I told you."
"Okay, but... I thought we were friends — the lizardman and I."
"He's also friends with Jarod — and if he has to choose between a Human and an Aqualish..."
She struggles to finish, so Krev raises his hands:
"I got it. I appreciate that you told me about... something big."
And I appreciate bringing Sorval into the picture even more, he thinks, watching the entrance.