Chapter Four: A Friendly Little Chat
Mira woke to the face of a middle-aged fat man. From the smirk on his face, and the presence of guards flanking him, she guessed he must be Dareg.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Captain Mirana Kahl."
She took stock. She was cuffed, as was Corso beside her. She felt a bit woozy from the head blow, but was fairly sure she was otherwise uninjured. Her wrists were cuffed behind her, but her legs were free. As starting points went, this wasn't ideal, but it could certainly be a lot worse.
"I've had warmer welcomes," she grunted.
Dareg spat in her face.
"Be glad you aren't dead, Republic scum!" he shouted. "Skavak warned us you would be coming. He told us you were in league with the oppressors. But we didn't expect you to announce yourself with a full military onslaught!"
He slapped her, then again.
"Hey!" Corso shouted. "You don't raise your hand to a lady."
Mira and Dareg flashed nearly identical looks of disbelief at Corso. Dareg laughed.
"A 'lady,' is she?" Then he put his face right next to Corso's and shouted: "How many of my brothers-in-arms lie dead because of this tool, this criminal vermin, this 'lady'?"
He turned back to Mira. "You wallow in degradation and sin!"
Mira shrugged as well as her cuffed wrists would allow. "I kind of wish I did," she admitted. "Most days, I'm too tired and beat up to do much wallowing."
Dareg leveled his forefinger at her. "Your Republic may have won today, but our revolution is not over yet. Even now, our people are preparing our arsenal at Mannett Point. We will rise again!"
"Great," Mira sighed. "You're monologuing. While I'm cuffed. Inside your volcano lair. What's next? Are you going to bring out a particularly slow-moving laser? Or lock us in a cage with a ravenous tarvix?"
"The tarvix can be arranged!" Dareg snapped.
"No it can't," Mira said confidently. "Because there's a reason Corso and I are still alive. You said it yourself – We're in league with the Republic. The same Republic that's taking out your base. We're your ticket out of here."
Kalikori Village was in mourning.
Caecinius returned with Master Kiwiks and Kira to a procession of grim-faced Twi'leks. They had built up a pyre. A beautiful young Twi'lek woman stood at the front of the procession, watching as four priests carefully placed onto the pyre the body of an old woman, wrapped in a colorful gown. The old matriarch, Caecinius guessed – The one whose death Grandmaster Shan had come to witness. The young woman must be her daughter.
One of the priests passed her a lit torch. She inclined her head gravely, then used the torch to light the pyre.
The straw caught instantly, the wood not long after. The Twi'leks said a prayer. The young woman did not speak it with them, but stood with her back to the flame, almost close enough for the fire to touch her. The heat must have been tremendous, but the woman did not falter.
He and the other Jedi stood respectfully at the back, waiting for the ceremony to end. The Twi'leks remained in place for more than an hour, until the flames began slowly to die.
A priest stepped forward, holding a circlet of intricately woven leaves and sprigs. "Matriarch Sumari has passed beyond," she declared. "Let us give thanks for her wise reign. Now let us bow our heads in prayer for her successor, Matriarch Ranna Tao'ven."
Ranna bowed her head. The priest positioned the circlet around her lekku, then kissed her forehead. Ranna walked slowly back, along the line of her people. Each man, woman, and child took a turn bowing or kneeling, many of them kissing her fingers.
She eventually reached the Jedi, bowed to them.
"Thank you for paying respects to my mother," she said. "Grandmaster Satele was a great comfort to her at the end. Before she passed, she told her 'There is no death, there is only The Force.' That our essence lives on when we die. I hope that's true. And I hope we can establish better relations moving forward."
"We hope that as well," Master Kiwiks said, returning her bow. "But this is not the time to speak of such things."
"No," Ranna agreed sadly. "But let's make the time soon. We've held off properly speaking for far too long."
She moved on, slowly winding her way toward the matriarch's house – Now hers, as part of her new burden.
"We must go," Master Kiwiks told Caecinius. "Kira and I have been given an assignment to Coruscant."
"Coruscant?" Caecinius was surprised.
"Grandmaster Shan believes that our current crisis – Bengel Morr, the Flesh Raiders, Calief – that it is part of a greater pattern. All of us have sensed disturbances in The Force recently. Haven't you?"
When Caecinius closed his eyes at night, and sometimes even during the day, he saw the flames of the Jedi Temple. Master Gos, falling to the Sith. The bodies of his fellow students and instructors. A new disturbance would barely register alongside that daily burden.
"My senses are not well attuned in that area," he said. "So why Coruscant?"
"It is a special mission," Master Kiwiks replied.
"Let's just say she thinks Coruscant might be the source of our problems," Kira added, then fell silent as her Master fixed her with a glare.
They would say no more – and in the midst of the Twi'lek village, Caecinius supposed they had already said more than they should have. He bowed to Master Kiwiks, wished her luck. Then he settled next to the speeder to wait for Grandmaster Shan. She would doubtless have some private words of comfort for the new matriarch; and knowing her, that could take a while.
Cress, in full body armor, led a group of twenty soldiers into the separatist base. Tavus' attack had been all speed and chaos, counting on the element of surprise to minimize resistance. That had been more than an hour ago, however, and any chance of surprise had long passed.
Republic troops had taken up positions outside the separatist stronghold even before Tavus had gone in. As soon as the operation went south, Jorgan's first order had been to reinforce that position. "No one gets out of there unless it's in restraints or a bodybag!" he had barked to the field commander.
A few dozen separatists had emerged since then. A trickle at first, then a rush. All with hands held high, desperate to surrender. If Tavus's charge proved to be his last act, then at least it appeared to have shut down the separatists as a serious threat.
Cress had no illusions that everyone had surrendered, however. There would be resistance. He had his men inspect every corner, progressing only when a shaft or a corridor had been declared clear. It was slow work, particularly with all the dead end shafts that extended from the main hall. But the last thing they needed was an enemy flanking them, or coming in from behind.
"Don't shoot!" a man's voice called.
A group of armed separatists emerged from a cave, holding two hostages as shields before them. Cress recognized them immediately.
Mira Kahl and her beefy local contact. What was his name. Conrad something?
"Hi, Cress!" Mira called. "We still on for that drink?"
The drink she had declined because Cress wasn't "her type." It was a signal – To be ready for whatever deception she was about to run.
A fat separatist held onto Mira, one hand on her waist, the other clutching a handful of her hair.
"I suppose this is your boyfriend," he hissed at her. "Not just a jackbooted Republic thug, but an alien."
"Dareg, my friend, you haven't lived until you've been with a Twi'lek," Mira replied. "The feeling when one of their lekku tickles your – "
"Silence!" the fat man hollered, yanking on her hair.
Mira winced. "Squeamish?" she asked. She glanced at Cress. "I think Dareg is a bit squeamish."
Cress gestured to his men to lower their weapons. He continued to keep his pointed at the separatist guards, making sure they understood that if they fired, he would take one of them out immediately.
"Dareg," Jorgan's voice sounded in his earpiece, along with the clicks of the keyboard as he searched for the name. "A minor sep leader. Small fry, but he might have info. about what happened upstairs."
"What do you want?" Cress called.
Dareg laughed. "What do I want?" he exclaimed. "I want Ord Mantell free of its chains, free to trade as we please, to live as we please. Free of taxes to a corrupt Chancellor and a degenerate Senate."
Mira rolled her eyes.
"He's big on the corrupt degenerates," she told Cress. "What he wants is to get out alive. He seems to think the seps will rally with their stash at Mannett Point."
Jorgan's voice again. "Wraith should have that covered, but she's radio silent."
"I say send a couple squads in, hit them hard and hot." Cress didn't care that Dareg could hear. "The seps are finished. Let's not risk leaving the survivors with supplies to come back."
Dareg looked wildly at Cress. "Who are you talking to?" he howled. "What's going on?"
Cress glanced at the man like he was a particularly troublesome insect.
"I'm talking to my lieutenant," he said. "We've had eyes on Mannett Point since yesterday. Now we're going in, and we're breaking all your toys."
Dareg stared incredulously.
Mira chose that moment to stomp down on his foot as hard as she could. "Down, Corso!" she shouted.
Cress' soldiers brought up their guns and fired. In seconds, the armed separatists were dead, shot a couple of dozen times each.
Dareg stood frozen, eyes wide. From the smell, it was clear that he had soiled himself.
Mira's legs circled the man's throat, bringing him to the ground. "Where is Skavak?" she shouted. "Where's my ship?"
"Gone!" Dareg gasped. "Skavak left hours ago!"
"Where are the guns?" She flexed her leg, cutting off his airway.
"There are no guns!" he croaked. "Skavak showed up to deliver them, but it was a trick. He pretended to be on our side to get his hands on some rusty, antique droid!"
"A droid?" Mira so surprised, she almost forgot to keep hold of the fat man.
"Just a worthless pile of scrap," he rasped. "Skavak grabbed it like some big treasure. Then a bunch of Imperials showed up and held us at gunpoint while he just waltzed out of here."
Imperials! Cress felt a surge of energy in his body. They had suspected as much after seeing the equipment at Mannett Point. But this was confirmation. More than that. His suit cam had recorded the exchange – And that made it evidence.
"Where did Skavak go?" Mira demanded.
"I don't know, but I can guess who does." Dareg grinned. "He has a nice piece at Fort Garnik. Not alien scum, a proper human woman. Syreena."
Mira felt herself flush with anger. She flexed her leg, full strength, cutting off the man's airway.
"Liar!" she shouted. "You filthy, disgusting liar!"
Cress nodded to two troopers, who pulled Mira off the prisoner. Dareg rubbed his throat, sneering at her.
"Did I touch a nerve?" Dareg gloated. "Skavak used to brag that he had her completely wrapped around his finger. She'd do anything for him, he could get her to bark like a dog if he wanted her to. Literally – He showed us a holovid, and laughed."
Mira absorbed this.
"Get Corso out of these restraints," she told Cress.
"I can't let you kill him. He has information we need."
"Don't worry, I'm done with this worm. But if what he says is true, my friend is in danger. Please let me save him."
Cress nodded to his men, who began cutting Mira and Corso free of their cuffs.
He walked up to Dareg, knelt before the gasping prisoner.
"Now," he said. "You and I are going to have a friendly little chat about Imperials. About a bomb I'm looking for. And about what we're going to find on the third floor."
He laid a hand gently on Dareg's sore throat. He applied no pressure – But with that touch and a look, he made clear that if the man didn't cooperate, then Mira's treatment would soon be a pleasant memory.