Prequel Bao-Dur: Defeat at Malachor V
Chapter 1: Planet Lorista on the Outer Rim.
The Mandalorians were heavily bombarding the Zabrak colonies, forcing their inhabitants to defend themselves at a higher and higher cost. Many of the resisting worlds surrendered under the increasing force, while others waited valiantly for a Republic response that didn't seem to be coming.
This particular military base wasn't different from any of the thousands of others. It was hastily put together, but fulfilled its purpose of holding this strategic location. The Mandalorians had yet to find it, because it blended into the natural landscape of the planet well. There were only two ways that the Mandalorians were going to find it… an uncloaked ship that landed or took-off from the base or if it was stumbled upon by accident.
The activity level of the base was high, as usual; Bao-Dur looked at the combat soldiers drilling as he wiped grease from his hands with an already too-soiled cloth. He had been working for hours on the repairs of this strike-craft and wanted nothing more than to get some sleep. It was almost hypnotic watching the soldiers train in unison, but then something caught his attention. A human female… here? he thought. Even from this distance he could see the way she moved marked her as a solider… A most intriguing soldier, from this distance he could see that her hair was long and brown with streaks of gold in it. Tightly set in a ponytail, wagging as she walked. A tiny, petite woman, but her stance said otherwise: looks were deceiving. Her presence piqued his curiosity. What would a human solider be doing on a Zabrak base? There were some other races out here on the Outer Rim and even some on this particular base, but not many humans and definitely no women. Bao-Dur shrugged. Our paths will probably cross at some point. He scrubbed his face with a now clean palm. I must really be tired. This shouldn't be that big of a deal! Even after that mental rebuke, he continued to follow the woman with his eyes until he lost sight of her in a crowd. He put the cloth down on the workbench and headed off towards his quarters, the remote quietly following in his trail.
Upon entering his quarters, Bao-Dur was relieved to see that his roommate wasn't there. It wasn't that he didn't like him; he just really wanted to be alone. He was still thinking of that woman and, strangely enough, he couldn't seem to get her out of his mind. That bothered him. He had always thought of himself as a tech-minded man, not the emotional type at all. Certainly not the type to see a face in the crowd and become obsessed. Bao shook his head, spinning with these feelings, as he turned on the remote's stand by mode for the night. He sighed while undressing and got into bed, her face still lingering behind his closed eyelids. Slowly he drifted into sleep.
Bao-Dur was awaken by his roommate, Alk Zoth, who was drunk again and having some trouble wrestling himself out of his own clothing. Amidst the loud thumps and curses, Bao-Dur half sat up in bed. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, asked: "Why the big celebration, Alk?"
"Didn't you hear? We beat a battalion of Mandalorians! Sent them running with their tails between their legs… hic… that is if they had tails. You missed out on a hic great party, Bao!"
Bao-Dur sighed. He hadn't been in any shape for a serious celebration tonight that was for sure. He would have probably fallen asleep on the bar after his first glass of juma.
"And," Alk continued, "… you should have seen this girl!"
Bao-Dur suddenly looked up at his roommate and his heart gave a little jump. It couldn't be!
"What girl?"
"There was this fabulous hic girl dancing for everyone. All the guys are just crazy about her!"
He couldn't believe his ears! Was every male on the base as taken with this human woman as he was? She really must have some strange effect on Zabrak males! He felt a strange pain, as if he had lost something that he had never even had the chance to get.
"So," he began, "… did she dance as well as Zabrak women?"
"Huh?" Alk gave Bao-Dur frown. "She was Zabrak! What did you expect? A Rodian?"
Bao-Dur didn't answer. He felt rather stupid. He really couldn't get this woman out of his mind and had just taken it for granted that neither would anyone else who laid eyes on her. I need to do something about this… I can't go around making a fool of myself! So, he did what he always did when he couldn't sleep. He went down to the hangars, the remote floating in his backwater, and wandered to droid maintenance to get some work done.
He found some droids that needed their memories wiped, so he started in on that. The first astromech droid protested, beeping wildly. Bao-Dur spoke calmly to the droid, reassuring it as he hooked it to the terminal. The work made him feel calm, so he concentrated on it. It took him longer than usual to lose himself in the work, but finally he felt almost normal.
"Hey Bao-Dur! Wake up!" One of his fellow techs shook his shoulder harshly. Bao-Dur tried to focus his eyes and found that he'd fallen asleep by the terminal. His body felt stiff and sore, and he had an imprint of the terminal keyboard on his left cheek. For once he was happy he didn't have any hair, because if he had, it would surely be sticking up in all directions. The co-worker was watching him impatiently. The remote was chirping excitedly to get his attention, floating back and forth beside him.
"What is it?" Bao-Dur snapped, still a bit groggy after his sudden awakening.
"The commander wants to see you this in his office. ASAP!"
Wasn't this typical? He tried to pull himself together, stretched to get rid of some of the stiffness, and looked around. It felt like someone had hit him in the stomach; the woman who had invaded his dreams… waking and sleeping… was standing just behind the other tech. How could I not have seen her? Probably because I am still not fully awake... he winced when he thought of how he must look in her eyes. He hardly dared look at her, but he just couldn't seem to be able to help himself. Their gaze met, a smile glittering in her eyes, and yet her mouth was a firm line. But those eyes... brown with a hint of green in them he sighed… Now they were sparkling, clearly showing how amused she was by the situation and that somehow she was aware of my predicament. But how could she know what I have been thinking? They'd never met before, so somehow he must be projecting his feelings without knowing it. But then, this situation would be considered comical even without knowing how he felt...
"I'm Nabriah Drakken," she offered reaching out her hand; Bao-Dur looked blankly at her hand as if he had no idea what he was supposed to do with it.
"Oh," Nabriah gasped, "I keep forgetting you Zabrak don't have the same customs as my people. Sorry, it wasn't my intention to insult you." She started to draw her hand back when Bao-Dur finally realized that he was supposed to take her hand in his. Quickly he reached out for her, grabbing and pressing her hand hard to his; a bit harder than perhaps he realized, from the look in her eyes. But she never made a sound or protest. She was still smiling, except her jaw was just but a bit more clenched than before. Bao-Dur felt really stupid now. This day was becoming one of those you just wanted to end as soon as possible. He had a feeling this wasn't the last thing that'd go wrong today and just wanted to rewind to the point where he'd gone to sleep in his bed last night.
"Well, we'd better go see the commander now, he's waiting for us," Nabriah said looking at Bao-Dur. She completely ignored the curious looks from Bao-Dur and the other Zabrak tech. Whether they were at a loss as to why the commander wanted to see Bao-Dur…or why a human female was ordering them around…she couldn't tell. But she didn't have time to figure it out or worry about it now.
"Ok, let's get going then," Bao-Dur all but stammered. He fell in along side of her when she turned to leave, neither of them looking; you could almost touch the tension between them as they walked in silence. Even the remote kept its distance and hovered quietly behind them.
"So how did you end up here?" he dared ask after a couple of minutes of painful silence. She turned her head and looked straight into his eyes.
"I volunteered, I wanted to fight the Mandalorians." The look on her face was fierce. He could almost feel her anger and wondered what had caused it. She turned her face away with a jerk, as if she were putting a period on this line of questioning. Bao-Dur respected her wish, but was even more curious of her reasons for being in the Zabrak army.
"And you?" she asked him, looking at him sideways.
"Me? Same story as many others here. My family was killed during a Mandalorian assault... and I just couldn't let them get away with it."
"I'm sorry," she said in a low voice." I know the feeling...first the grief and then...the anger... it's just... so... consuming..." Silence fell again, but this time the tension was gone; instead there was some kind of understanding between them. All too soon, as far as Bao-Dur was concerned, their walk was over and they stood in front of the door leading to the commander's chambers. Nabriah opened the door and entered and Bao-Dur followed. The commander was reading a data pad and barely looked up as they entered.
They stood there waiting; finally the commander put the data pad aside.
"Good to see you," he said, eyes sweeping from one to the other. "I will come right to the point. I need the two of you for a special assignment." Bao-Dur felt a sudden jolt of anticipation about working closely with this woman who had taken over his thoughts. He just wondered what kind of mission the commander had in mind...
"I don't know how much you know about each other," the commander continued, "so I'll just make a brief sum up for you. Nabriah, you were chosen due to your exceptional stealth skills and knowledge of the Mandalorian command ship orbiting this planet."
She is a spy... the thought ran though his brain as the words were spoken. She must be, otherwise she wouldn't have that kind of knowledge… How close to the Mandalorians had she been? Had she infiltrated their ranks? A series of questions popped up and floated around, wanting answers and making it hard for Bao-Dur to concentrate on the commander as he continued to speak.
"Bao-Dur…You've been chosen due to your exceptional technical skills and knowledge of explosives." What kind of mission is this? he thought, but he didn't have to wonder for long before the commander went on. "We have to take out their command ship to hinder them from occupying and thus prevent the evacuation of this planet. Nabriah has been gathering information about how to make this possible. The intelligence points to a small team infiltration as having the best chance of accomplishing this mission. Your job will be to board the ship and plant thorium charges in their ion drive, hopefully without getting detected by the crew."
Oh that's a piece of cake, Bao-Dur ironically thought to himself. He glanced sideways at Nabriah and found she looked almost amused… a hint of a smile playing in the corners of her mouth and her eyes were glittering. She seemed to enjoy living dangerously… this woman really was a mystery.
"Well, will you take the assignment or will I have to look for other candidates?" The commander scrutinized them both as if to see if he could find any signs of reluctance in either of them.
"I'm in, Sir!" Nabriah answered without hesitation. "I'm prepared and willing to take the risk. The question is if Bao-Dur will be able to master the essentials of using stealth well enough within the limited time we have to prepare for this." Bao-Dur felt a bit insulted but had to admit that he was better at repairing stealth generators than using them. He'd only tried them to see how they worked.
"You will have two days to prepare him for stealth and go through the basics." This is really getting better and better all the time, Bao-Dur sighed, but well it is war after all. He just wasn't used to being on the front lines, or behind the enemy lines... Nabriah looked expectantly at him waiting for his answer. He nodded "Yes Commander!"
"Good! Nabriah will teach you how to use stealth and you should also practice some hand-to-hand combat. She will also fill you in on the mission plan. You may leave now."
"Come," Nabriah said to him and took the lead as she set out for the training grounds. He'd no choice but to follow.
"What shall we practice first, stealth or combat: Your choice." There it was again that twinkle in her eyes… It was as if she considered him fearful of doing combat drills with a woman. Well, I'll show her... I'm proficient in most forms of combat. I have certainly sparred with women before. She'll be no different, he thought. I have the advantage in both height and weight. I can take her easily. Bao-Dur puffed up as he these thoughts raced through his head. But then the image of her body pinned under his on the mat flashed in his mind. He shook himself mentally to clear the image. I will have to control those thoughts or she will have me at a real disadvantage!
"I say you show me the basics of using stealth first," he stammered uncomfortably. "I'm trained in combat so that doesn't feel as… ummm… urgent."
"Ok, stealth it is then." She walked over to a locker at the end of the training ground, searched for a minute and then pulled out a stealth generator belt. "Here, put this around your waist; but don't turn it on just yet. I want to show you something first. First rule in using stealth is to move while making as little noise as possible. Walk slowly… sneak. Don't run unless you are able keep your breathing to a minimum. Panting always reveals you. Second, certain types of light can make you more visible… artificial sunlight for example. Third, always keep your belt charged or you'll end up visible at the worst moment possible. Not to be recommended, believe me!" She looked at him intently for a moment. "And that remote of yours will pose a problem if you intend to bring it with you. I've never seen the likes of it with the Mandalorians, so I'd appreciate if you could leave it behind on this mission. Is that ok?"
As the remote started beeping in a most annoyed fashion, Bao-Dur turned to the tiny floating droid. "She's right you know, you might cause us to be detected and it isn't as if I'd be gone for ever." He received a prolonged beep of resignation followed by a whirr as an answer." It's ok; the remote will stay here on the base. He can keep an eye on the other techs so they don't mess up things while I'm gone." This suggestion was met with a self-important sounding twitter, which made them both smile.
"I've never seen someone treat droids like you do. You seem to communicate with them without trouble, and you show them great respect," she said in a soft voice that was filled with admiration and wonder.
"I've always liked droids, almost better than people. They are loyal and easy to understand. They never have any ulterior motives. I like that. You know where you stand with them. And if they malfunction I can always repair or re-program them." He laughed. "That's a bit harder to do with people… to reprogram them, I mean."
Her smile broadened. "I agree to that. I've met some people I'd like to re-program," she muttered with a wink
"Ok, let's do some stealth ability tests. I'm going to leave the room for a few minutes and when I return, I want you to use stealth and sneak up behind me without me noticing it. Well, at least not too much," she added still smiling at him. "Just succeed in placing your hand on my shoulder, and you'll have passed the first test."
Nabriah walked out of the room, leaving Bao-Dur alone with the remote. Blast! He had to keep the remote from following him around while he was in stealth mode, otherwise it'd be like having a great arrow pointing at him yelling here I am!
"Please stay here by the door and don't follow me, ok? She's not supposed to detect me or I'll be doing this the rest of the day." A series of beeps acknowledged his request. The tiny sphere floated to the doorway where it hovered contentedly, beeping softly to itself.
"Great," Bao mumbled under his breath, "now I only have to switch on the belt and keep quiet." He moved away from the entrance and stood still, trying to control his breathing and remain as quiet as possible. The more he tried the harder it got. Relax, he told himself, don't think about it, and just stay calm.
Nabriah entered again looking around to see if she could catch any sight of him. Stealth fields could be detected by a slight blur as the person using stealth passed in front of objects. She saw nothing and began to slowly walk around the room.
Bao-Dur all but held his breath as he waited for her to turn her back to him. Finally she stood right in front of him, just some feet away barely out of reach. It seemed like she was looking straight at him, but then she turned around still searching the room for his presence. Slowly he reached out his hand and touched her shoulder.
"Got you!" he couldn't help himself from exclaiming. This was just like playing hide and seek as a child … only with far more expensive equipment than the rocks of Iridonia!
"Good! Actually I couldn't hear you breathe nor did you make any un-necessary movements. Seems like you've got this lesson down. Now we'll do something a little more difficult."
They kept practicing all afternoon, Bao-Dur pretty soon got the hang of how to move while any bystanders would least notice. He also worked on moving through doorways, especially when others were walking through them at the same time. Using stealth meant that there was a lot to keep in mind; so when they were finished, his brain felt overwhelmed with new impressions and things to remember. Nabriah complemented him on being a fast learner and he replied by saying she was a good teacher.
"Oh," she said "we've completely forgotten to eat! I'm starving! How about you?"
"I could probably eat a Krag right now. Let's go to the cantina and get some food or what it is they serve there."
"Bao-Dur, don't you know that the worse food you give your soldiers the better they fight?" She teased him. "Even the Tusken Raiders knew that."
"Tusken Raiders?" He raised an eyebrow.
"An ancient people that lives on Tatooine, a planet very far away. Never mind. Let's go."
There were a lot of people at the cantina, but they managed to find some seats and sat down to eat. "Oh Sith's blood!" Nabriah spat as she took the first bite of her food. She was astounded at how horrible it was. "Our army must be invincible if they eat this!" she flinched, then chuckled.
Bao-Dur laughed at her
"This isn't the worst they've served here, believe me!" He winked at her, shaking his head. She laughed too and they started discussing what do next. She had their mission plans available in a briefing room down at headquarters and wondered if he felt up to going through them or if he wanted to quit for the night.
"Actually, I can't help but wonder what they are doing down in the hangar," he admitted guiltily. "I seem to have a problem trusting others to take care of the repairs."
The remote added some whirrs and beeps as if it wanted to agree with him.
"It's ok," Nabriah replied. "We need to get down there anyway at some point to have a look at the vessel we're going to use to get on board that command ship."
Bao-Dur had completely overlooked the fact that they needed to get some kind of transport from the planet to the ship. He just hadn't given it a single thought. Well, it seems I'm about to find out now.
"I've got a little surprise for you in one of those hangars," she said; her eyes were now beaming with sheer joy. This doesn't look too good... Bao-Dur thought; the look on her face probably meant some kind of transportation he wasn't going to like at all... Then he remembered... no, it couldn't be... please don't let it be THAT ship... He'd been repairing it some time ago, just out of pure curiosity and to get to know how it worked. Its design wasn't anything like the Zabrak ships and it was purely built for warfare nothing else. He really hoped it wasn't that one... But judging by her enthusiasm it couldn't be any other...