Rancor Slam

Part 1

Cas walked through the Borleais Compound. This would be the last time she saw the place, she really wanted to remember it. She even gone so far as to speak to Tam and Tarc and got them to make copies of their recordings for her, for a small fee, of course.

Vua, Vo, Slee and Uun were already on the newly re-dubbed Shameless. They had a limit to how much attention they could take, so she hid them away from the scientists, on her personal ship. That way if the scientists really wanted them they would had two options.

One, ask Main Control to get permission from her to board. Which wasn't going to happen.

Or, two, break in. In which case Vua got the right to snap their necks because they were endangering his personal safety.

Vua was helping keep them all occupied by teaching the others self-defense and ground combat. It would be useful later she was sure. This was, after all, a war.

Some how she doubted anyone would be bothering them. Well, not for long, at least.

She saw a suspicious silver gleam out of the corner of her eye. She tried to ignore it.

"Cas!" It was Leia.

"Yes, Ma'am?" She said politely. Saved by the politician, she'd have to remember this one.

"I was informed that you wanted to speak with me. Threepio said something about your Protocol Droid calling?"

She nodded absently. "That would be Dec."

"Yes ma'am?" The silver blob had caught her, she restrained a curse.

Well, he was not blob. He looked humanoid, just like any other Protocol Droid. Except he was all silver with the few permanent groves from blaster scores.

It had taken him a while to learn not to walk between practice drones and Lightsabers.

"I had asked Dec to get me your comm code so that we could speak in space, not set up a meeting."

Leia smiled as they began walking. "Dec?"

"Decrepit." Cas supplied. Leia gave a surprised but wicked bark of laughter.

"Really, Mistress." The silver droid said, sounding a little miffed, "I prefer Decorous." He deadpanned. Not many droids, especially protocol droids, have mastered human humor like Dec.

Leia and Cas shared a smile. "Dec is my personal assistant and field secretary."

"If I may be so bold, milady, you are always in the field."

"Well, then that would make you the head of my secretarial staff. Now wouldn't it?"

"Well, I've never thought about it that way." The droid somehow managed to look embarrassed.

"Dec," Cas turned and looked at him and placed an hand on his shoulder, "as long as you go about the tasks I give you with your normal thoroughness and ferocity, and finish them promptly. I don't care what you think."

"Why, thank you madam." The droid said uncertainly.

"But, I didn't want to talk about you to Leia." She stopped not too far astern the Shameless. The droid shuffled along a head after dropping the ship's boarding ramp.

She looked at Leia. "I was asked to extend to Master Skywalker's for his apprentices an invitation to go to the Jedi Temple on my home planet. The Jedi Temple and the city around it is filled with the Jedi and their Houses."

"They could stay in the Youngling Barracks with Master Briin guarding them and Master Zinx could monitor them, giving guidance if needed. Or they could stay at my family's chateau with their own guardians. Whichever."

"Either way they'd be on a Force-Strong Planet, out of cold, hard space, which would be good for them and their Force development. And they'd have a planet of protectors that would guard them like their own flesh and blood."

"The only catch is that any one that finds out which planet is our home would either have to be sworn by the most serious Force-oath not to tell any one, or not allowed to leave. Until the end of this war, at least, when our planet will join the rebuilt New Republic, or help found the Newest Republic." Leia's comm beeped. "I'll let you go, it's probably Han."

"Thank you, and I will speak with Luke." The two women said their good byes and went to their separate ships.

"Okay, Dec, what do you got for me?" She asked, sitting on the base of the ramp, breathing deeply, and taking in the fresh air and sunshine around her. This was the last of this…living world stuff that she'd feel until Dathomir.

It would be the last she'd feel of this place that she had made into a temporary home... Maybe she could found another Academy here when all this craziness was over and she could grow old at a nice sedate pace, Instead of by leaps and bounds.

The droid dug into the bag that hung at his right hip from his left shoulder. He pulled out a data pad and hit a few buttons, reviewing a few files and opening a window to take notes on her responses.

She was glad she had had advanced human mannerisms programmed into the droid. It was strangely comforting, familiar.

"Well, Master Yue, advanced me a file, before leaving the system. It was all your mail." He made a show of skimming the files.

She smiled again, apparently she wasn't the only one who liked his human characteristics.

"There are plenty of reports from your subordinates back home. Mostly Data-files. A few voice files that I will have to convert for you. All in all, a lot of travel reading for you."

"Joy." She said, her voice flat. "How about you read them and leave me foot notes in the margins?" She looked up to him, smiling like a guilty five-year-old.

"Already done, milady." The droid did something like clearing his throat. He was going to change subjects. "Apparently your recommendation to the Life Council about your choice for Sire, Kir, has been approved as of the evacuation of Dathomir."

"No surprise there."

"The Higher Councils have approved your leading the ground attack and continued participation on the Insiders, as long as you continue to report your progress to them."

"As if I don't already."

"They also agree to let you participate in the Trickster-scheme and they agree to let you keep your 'pet Yuuzahn Vong' as they called them, though they would like to know what you plan to do with them when they war is over."

"Tell them: If we win they will stay with me, like Quwil does. If we loose we'll all be dead so it doesn't matter. And if we get boarded, I will order Vua to kill everyone and destroy everything on board the moment it is clear we will not escape."

"Hmm, very well, madam" The droid hesitated. "They have agreed to let your defense squadron fight in the space battle."

"What's My Personal Guard does or doesn't do is none of their business as long as they do what I tell them."

"Do you want me to send that back to them ?"

"Heh…" She hesitated, looking abashed. "No, no I guess you'd better not."

"Basically, they will let you continue in this engagement as you see fit until they feel they must intervene. "

"Very well," She sighed. "That was pretty much what I expected."

"Thanks Dec."