Chapter 7: Lir Sey'les
Murkhana
Twelve LAATs and two V-19 Torrents hovered over the grey and red upper hull of the Acclamator, using the massive ship as cover from the incoming Separatist flak.
In the lead LAAT, Sey'les's grey fur billowed in the salty ocean breeze blowing in from the open side hatch. Off the starboard side of the Acclamator cruiser, was Sey'les's objective: West Murkhana.
A familiar series of supersonic crackling noises descended ominously through the clouds. Gripping her hand grip tightly, Sey'les leaned towards the hatch, looking up at a black shape soaring down at supersonic speeds.
Knowing its target, she looked towards Murkhana City, then to the HoloNet node towering out of the edge of the city in the distance. She counted down in her head, anticipating when it would impact. Seven, six, five, four, three, two—
—The grey and blue HoloNet node splintered, sending fragments falling to the ground. Before the last fragments disappeared behind the horizon of skyscrapers, the Doonium Slug impacted the ground, sending up a poof of smoke. An even louder explosive sound pierced the air, causing the LAAT to momentarily shake in the turbulence.
"Liberator to Muun Leader," a human voice spoke into Sey'les's helmet comm, "we are reading a decrease in flak fire as expected."
Sey'les's eyes widened as an expanding cloud of dust slowly engulfed the section of city around where the HoloNet node once stood. Not as much dust as there was on Bothawui-9 because the swamplands are saturated with water, she reminded herself, recalling Tarkin's explanation.
"Muun Leader, you may begin your attack. Muun Leader?" the voice asked, beginning to speak in a worried tone. "Do you read me?"
"I read you," Sey'les stammered. "Commencing the attack." At that, she switched to the LAAT channel. "All transports, Separatist anti-air is falling into disarray. Vixen 2 and 3, spearhead the assault. All transports, fall in behind Vixen 2 and 3."
The V-19 torrents broke formation, turning towards the starboard side the Acclamator. The LAATs followed suit, forming a V-shaped formation to all slides of the LAAT Sey'les was standing in as they approached the beach.
Through the side hatch, she could see the LAATs she knew Itoll and Fojo were in, each leading a squad of eight Clones. At the last minute, Sey'les had begrudgingly agreed that it would be best to spread the officers of Team Muun around, instead of keeping them together on one LAAT.
"Pilot," Sey'les yelled towards the cockpit, "status report."
"There are hundreds of Koorivar still on the beach, they have—"
—A flak round exploded a few meters to the right of the LAAT, shaking the cabin violently.
"They still have operational flak cannons," the Clone pilot continued.
"Vixens, do you have visual on the anti-air?" Sey'les yelped into the comm.
"Yes Lieutenant Commander," a Clone voice reported. "Moving to engage."
The two V-19 torrents accelerated, causing the ocean to spray under their wakes. As they neared the beach, they let loose a salvo of blasterfire, and a proton torpedo each. In the distance, several black dots disappeared, replaced by plumes of smoke and fire.
"All transports, there are still Koorivar formations on the beach. Fire at will."
o.o.o.o.o
Itoll Oc'skar
"Visual on three targets, trying to move a blaster cannon!"
"Firing torpedoes, let 'er rip!"
"Still getting a lot of surface fire!"
"Evasive maneuvers!"
"We're taking fire from the treeline!"
"Four down! What a shot!"
"Marvellous!"
Listening in on the exotic accents of the Clones as they continued their exciting chatter, Itoll winced at the low humming sound of his own LAAT's beam turret. He looked through the side hatch, witnessing a group of six Koorivars cut to pieces by a beam cannon as they ran across a trench below.
Inaccurate small arms blasterfire flew into the sky, firing fruitlessly at the swarm of LAATs circling overhead.
"Got them sir," the co-pilot reported. "Moving back for another pass."
"Negative," Itoll growled, "we need to hit Pax's house while there is any chance he is there. Sey'les," he yelled into his helmet mic over the cacophony of explosions and shouting, "Muun 1 is moving to Zesh, would appreciate some overwatch, over."
"I read you. Muun three will join you. Vixens are oscar mike."
Wulf and another group of eight Clones… This'll be interesting. "Copy that," Itoll replied, then turned to the cockpit window. Down in the first street on top of the cliff overlooking the beach, a group of Gossam crouched around a police speeder, firing blasters up.
Big mistake, Itoll thought grimly as a beam scraped across the speeder, igniting its fuel supply. The blast flung the Gossams away amidst the debris and shrapnel.
"IS EVERYONE READY?!" Itoll yelled to the eight Clones in blue and white armour standing in the cabin.
They chanted a unanimous and eager "Yes sir!"
"Visual on dozens of targets, right on the lawn!" one of the turret gunners yelled through the internal comm. "Engaging!"
Stepping towards the hatch, Itoll saw a spray of turret fire sail down onto a group of Koorivar running up the lawn to Pax's house. Bits of previously bright green grass was blackened and charred wherever the bolts landed. Another ruthless emerald beam cut across the once-gleaming white marble exterior of Pax's home, slicing through a Chagrian who was taking cover behind a pillar.
"They're probably trying to evac Pax!" Itoll snarled, fur beginning to stand on end as the local forces scattered, fleeing in every direction. "Ignore the retreating Separatists! Set us down!"
As the LAAT lowered down, the Clones squad's commanding officer, Mack, leaned in, speaking in a low voice. "Sir, perhaps we should wait for reinforcements."
"Pax is getting away!" Itoll snarled, gripping his blaster as he stepped off the LAAT. While he had no way of even knowing whether Pax was on the planet, he felt certain it must be true. And he was absolutely livid about it.
"These Bothans are absolutely crazy," one of the Clones, Chalk, murmured in a low voice before begrudgingly stepping off the LAAT.
Itoll batted his ear in annoyance, but pretended not to hear as he jogged up to the smouldering front entrance. The torture victims on Praesitlyn, the lies the Shadowfeeds had disseminated about Bothans spreading diseases, sending an agent to seduce and abduct him on Skor II—all of it was going to end today.
With some trepidation, the Clones lined up along both sides of the doorway, six behind Itoll, two across from him.
The Bothan leaned forward, ears perked up as he sniffed the air. The air was too thick with the smell of dust and smoke to really make out anything useful. For a moment, he had an urge to yell into the doorway for Pax to surrender; an urge to say that he is under arrest for treason and sedition against the Galactic Republic.
Sey'les's voice suddenly echoed into his earpiece. "Hold position Itoll, Wulf's team is…" An LAAT swooped down over the lawn, briefly casting a shadow over Itoll and the Clones as it passed over, before coming to a hover at the opposite side of the mansion. "Wulf's team is breaching the rear entrance. Wait for them to get in position."
"TARGET, UPPER WINDOW!" a panicked Clone voice screamed into Itoll's comm. The Bothan looked up just in time to see a burst of laser cannon fire shatter a window overhead.
Itoll and the eight Clones crouched for cover as transparisteel rained down. A particularly large chunk slammed into the centre of his Itoll's green-grey helmet, splintering in two.
Shielding his helmeted head with his arms, Mack screamed furiously into the comm. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TROOPER?"
"Kriff it," Itoll croaked. Standing amidst the fallen transparisteel, he now felt less angry and more startled. He gingerly brushed glass shards out of neck fur which had fallen flat. "Danger-close anyone? Is everyone good? Sergeant, are you okay?"
"Yes sir," the Clones chanted, tones ranging from bitter and angry to bemused.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Sey'les snarled to everyone. "Itoll, status!"
"We're fine," Itoll sighed. "Muun 2, are you in position?" His ears twitched at the sound of a flashbang going off in the distance. The sounds of blasterfire and shattering glass rang out from the opposite side of the manor.
"Muun 2?!" Sey'les yelped. "WULF!"
"Sorry ma'am," the Ardennian's voice grunted, "breaching now. The kitchen is clear!"
Itoll swore under his breath, flashing the Spacer gesture for 'get in position' to the Clones. Once the Clones lined up on either side of the doorway, the Clone on the opposite side of Itoll threw a flashbang in.
Shortly after it detonated, Itoll charged through the doorway, turning to the right, aiming his blaster rifle to the corners. The foyer was filled with busts of Separatist dignitaries and leaders, a few of which had been shattered in the bombardment of the house.
"Clear!" Itoll yelped, looking around the room to the rest of his team's progress.
"Clear!" Mack yelled, then Core yelled "all clear."
At that, Itoll was already aiming his blaster around the corner of the closet under the stairs, then quickly rounding the corner—right into a blaster pistol, which jabbed into the side of his snout. A human would have been startled, but Itoll could smell a whiff of Ardennian before he felt the cold barrel of the blaster.
"Shassa Itoll!" Wulf yelled angrily, lowering the blaster. "Friendlies!"
"Friendlies!" Itoll yelled back to the Clones. "First floor is clear!"
Six of Wulf's squad of Clones slowly and cautiously edged forward, all getting a look at Itoll.
"Are you all right sir?" Wulf asked worriedly, getting uncomfortably close to the Bothan's face to get a look at where he had jabbed his blaster.
"Yeah," Itoll sighed, massaging his jaw slightly. "This whole communications thing. We need to watch out."
Wulf nodded in agreement, looking around at a bust of Count Dooku. "I am used to breaching a building on the same side as you."
"Yeah," Itoll said, rubbing his thumb over his canine tooth to make sure it wasn't loose. "Or breaching from the roof or something while you take the lower floor. This back door front door shtak is really confusing.
"—Lieutenants!" Mack whisper-yelled. "We still have the whole second floor to clear!"
"Right," Itoll gasped, then whisper-yelled back to Mack. "Sergeant, Wulf is an Ensign."
Shaking his head, Mack continued gazing up the stairway, cautiously aiming his blaster into the unknown. With the downstairs secure, there was no way Pax was escaping his house. If their suspicion that Pax were actually at his house were correct, that is.
o.o.o.o.o
Zuro Pax
Pax had relocated to a supply depot, hidden in the jungle ten kilometres outside the Murkhana City Limits. There had been less than half an hour to evacuate. Only a select few VIPs had made it out. With nothing to lose, Pax allowed Sskov to return to Murkhana City to quote "help the Fusiliers with an insurgency," whatever the hell that means.
The winds had blown a small rain of ash inland from the ocean, sprinkling the green leaves with a dusting of grey. On every viewscreen in the tent Pax, the Republic was advancing and the Fusiliers were melting.
Replicating scenes from Geonosis, LAATs swarmed the skies with impunity, raining fiery death down on all who resisted, and then some unfortunate to be caught in the crossfire.
Pax looked away from the screens to Danlos. The human, a fellow Judicial Defector, was seated at a desk in the corner of the tent, busily unscrewing the C-7PO's silver faceplate with a hydrospanner.
"What are you doing?" Pax asked, allowing himself to be distracted from the hell breaking loose in his city.
"Well sir," Danlos grunted with a strain, struggling to twist a particularly tight bolt. "You see it… There," he sighed in relief, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "The droid refused to translate that Sith name. If you're right and…" he lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Count Dooku really is working with the Republic, perhaps the name could connect us to him. Krataa kind of sounds like Dooku backwards, doesn't it?"
From that statement alone, Pax could surmise that Danlos was a monolingual Basic speaker. A typical techie with no idea what the hell he was dealing with unless it was a piece of technology. "Uh yeah," the Duros grimaced, scratching the back of his neck. "Keep at it," he sighed, squeezing Danlos's shoulder reassuringly.
"Sir, you are going to want to see this!" a Gossam analyst said in a panic, gesturing to the main viewer. "Managed to pull up the security feed you requested."
It took a moment for Pax to realise he was watching security footage of his house. His maids and his chef had been corralled into the kitchen and locked in a storage room along with a few Koorivar Fusiliers who had retreated into his house for shelter.
The view changed, revealing Itoll, Wulf and ten Clones tearing through his drawers, throwing clothes to the floor.
"Kriff it! He isn't anywhere!" Itoll snarled.
Pax was flummoxed. He began formulating a plan to send Sskov and the rest of Apex Security to West Murkhana to capture Itoll, but he lost his train of thought at what happened next.
"Sir, there's a camera," one of the Clones said, pointing his blaster up at it.
"PAX!" Itoll snarled, flashing his teeth. The Bothan's fur was so spiky and on end that he bore some resemblance to a tan, brown, and black Vulptex. "I HOPE YOU'RE WATCHING THIS!" he added, biting the air with each syllable. "YOU'RE DONE! DO YOU HEAR ME? FINISHED!"
Pax gasped as Itoll turned his blaster on a row of portraits on his wide dresser. Without warning, he squeezed the trigger, sending reckless blasterfire into portrait after portrait of Pax.
As paint chips fell from the wall and smoke filled the air, Wulf tackled Itoll the floor. "Calm down Itoll!" the Ardennian yelled, pushing Itoll's face to the carpet. "Pax is not here. This is not the end. There's only so much planet he could be hiding on."
"Get—Get off me!" Itoll yelped, tears in his eyes as he snapped his jaw at Wulf's hand.
Wulf got up, unstrapping Itoll's blaster rifle and picking it up. "I am gonna give you five minutes to calm down, or I am telling Sey'les, sir."
Itoll rolled onto his back, panting lividly as he stared up at the camera. Completely haunted, Pax realised that he did not really know that Bothan anymore.