Chapter 10: Zuro Pax
Murkhana
"Sir," said a Chagrian intelligence officer seated near the entrance of the tent, "we breached the Republic communication system."
"Great," Pax sighed wearily. "Maybe we can figure out who this Krataa is. Any luck on getting a message out of the system?"
"No sir," answered a Koorivar Fusilier seated next to the Chagrian. "We managed to reach some of the disabled ships in orbit. One of them was responsible for the brief reactivation of the droids."
Pax frowned. He felt a sudden urge to put another being—any being—on the task of re-establishing communication. Ever since Fusilier incompetence had nearly resulted in his abduction during the first attempt on his life, to say the Duros distrusted the Koorivar military would be an understatement.
Instead, Pax replied "thank you," struggling to hide the unease in his voice. He turned to the Chagrian, looking at the various Republic communications frequencies displayed on the screen.
"They seem to be searching for civilians," another Koorivar reported.
"What?" Pax asked, turning away from the communications and looking at the main viewer at the back of the tent.
"I've ID'd their leader," the Chagrian said excitedly. "Wilhuff Tarkin."
"Willhuf Tarkin…" Pax whispered aloud. Rounding up civilians… No, they can't. Even the Republic hasn't fallen that far…
"We are picking up chatter about an 'Order 37,'" added another technician, this one a male Gossam. "We can't work out what it is but everyone is chatting about it."
On security footage being fed to the main viewer, shiny white armoured Clones were leading civilians out onto the streets in front of the seaside apartment blocks. The view changed and the same thing was occurring in residential areas, with Clones kicking down doors.
"Incoming RF video transmission!"
"Radio frequency..." Pax muttered. "Can they trace our location if we accept?"
"It shouldn't be possible sir," Danlos answered, still tinkering with the protocol droid.
Pax looked at the distracted human, somewhat unsettled before turning back to the main viewer. "All right, let's see this."
Harkening back to historical archives, a grainy video image appeared on the main viewer. The gaunt face of a brown haired human, whom Pax instantly recognised as Tarkin, dominated the centre of the frame.
"Zuro Pax," Tarkin's voice boomed from the console, prompting the Koorivars to turn the volume down. "I know you are watching this, wherever you may be."
The camera view panned out, showing the rounded interior of the Shadowfeed HQ, somewhat damaged by blasterfire. The damaged remains of droids were scattered about on the floor. A few Republic Naval officers and Clones were in the background, combing through the wall panels.
"I have given the order to round up every being in the city," Tarkin continued, pacing around the room with his hands behind his back. "Anyone who is found to be guilty of sedition against the Galactic Republic, or to have interfered with a lawful arrest warrant levied against Zuro Pax—they are—you are," Tarkin stammered for a moment, correcting himself as if he had forgotten who it was he was supposed to be addressing. "You should be annihilated. And will be, in groups, until such time as Zuro Pax has been captured or one of you has given us his whereabouts."
Gasps and yells of alarm filled the tent. Someone behind Pax yelled "they're the traitors!" Everyone in the tent was now staring at the screen in horror. Even Danlos had looked up from the protocol droid he had been tinkering with.
Pax stood straighter, feeling cold and clammy. This cannot be happening. Tarkin has killed people but this… This is genocide. Just to achieve my capture.
Tarkin beckoned for something off-screen. A moment later, a Clone trooper pushed a badly bruised green Twi'lek into the centre of the frame. It took a moment for Pax to realise he recognised her. Kryssie Logera.
"I thought we evacuated everyone from Argente Tower!" Pax yelled, spinning to General Pavlok.
"We did," Pavlok sighed. "Miss Logera must have failed to leave the city."
"We shall begin with Ryloth Resa," Tarkin said smugly, "who has spent the last nine months encouraging acts of sedition and desertion."
A few of the Republic Naval officers standing in the background spun around, horrified expressions on their faces as they looked at Tarkin.
Kryssie looked Tarkin in the eyes defiantly. "You are proving my point," she yelled, seething in rage. "Talk about government overreach. Murdering us in cold blood without a trial. I had no thought even the Republic would tolerate—"
"Murder? Like how Zuro Pax stood by on Praesitlyn less than two months ago, allowing Admiral Tonith to cut civilians to pieces… All to obtain the information necessary to do this!" Tarkin spun around, gesturing to the various devices in the room, none of which had anything to do with the actual Separatist hack on the HoloNet. "No, miss Resa, this is a lawful execution."
"I don't know where you are getting your information," Kryssie spat in a thick Twi'lek accent, tucking her Lekkus back tightly behind her head. "Director Pax has been on Murkhana all year. Look at where your hard-earned credits have been going—straight to so-called 'intelligence' agencies. What a waste. Zuro Pax was right here in this room during the Liberation of Praesitlyn. Just listening to you is killing my brain cells, human."
"Liberation," Tarkin scoffed, drawing a DC-17 blaster pistol. "I shall show you what actually kills brain cells."
What the hell is Tarkin talking about? Pax wondered to himself in alarm. I have never been to Praesitlyn and certainly knew nothing about murder or torture. Is he really lying that badly? This makes no sense… Unless… "Cad Bane!" Pax gasped, realising the fellow Duros he had hired must have been mis-identified. "That blasted son of—"
—A blaster shot, accompanied by screams throughout the tent, cut Pax's utterance short and caught his attention. He grimaced bitterly as the smouldering figure of Kryssie Logera fell off-camera with a thud.
"Cut the feed!" a Gossam in the tent shrieked in disgust. "No sense in—"
"—Do you think Count Dooku or Zuro Pax will come to your aid?" Tarkin's voice interrupted as he casually turned to face the camera. "Disloyalty and treason are the heart and soul of the Separatist movement. They feel no loyalty to you, which is why you die alone. Unless you tell me where I can find Zuro Pax."
Saying nothing more, Tarkin nodded, prompting them to escort in three more beings Pax thought had been evacuated from Argente Tower, Yerlosh, a Separatist Wookiee, Ull Haber, a human, and a Skakoan, Shorux Drek.
In the tent, a dozen different panicked and angry conversations broke out at once. Pax could not focus on any of them. Soon he could hear nothing but ringing in his ears as he looked around from being to being, some teary eyed, others pointing at terminals strategizing.
After a few moments, someone turned off the feed. Pax felt someone tapping his shoulder. He opened his red eyes, blinking tears out, surprised that he had been crying.
"Director," Pavlok whispered into Pax's ear. "This situation is intolerable. We need to disrupt it."
"I agree," Pax croaked, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "Easier said than done."
o.o.o.o.o
Fen Kar'fon (CT-0099 'Buzz')
The execution of Ull Haber was oddly cathartic to Fen. The not-Clone occupying a Clone body had viewed all of this unpleasantness as a matter of business. When Tarkin shot that geneticist who had caused so much problem for the image of Bothans all over the Galaxy however, he felt relief.
After that, his feelings went back to where they were before Tarkin had started shooting people. If Fen had known Tarkin's plan, he would have suggested they conducted their executions somewhere else. With only emergency generators powering the turbolifts, Argente Tower was certainly not the easiest location to execute high profile Corporate Alliance personnel.
While the thousands of lower ranking Corporate Alliance workers, Koorivar Fusiliers, and Separatist Navy personnel were being shot by firing squads all over the city, Tarkin was exerting a vast amount of logistical manpower transporting high profile ones into Argente Tower. The building was centrally-located, making it a good spot to hoste executions, but more often than not, they were being captured in the suburbs or even in the jungle itself. Adding to the difficulty, the Trandoshan with a rail gun was still on the loose, occasionally popping shots through the armour of Republic convoys.
Worse still, the building was beginning to stink of death. There was only so much floor space in a skyscraper to host public executions and put the bodies.
And I would have definitely advised against bringing Team Cresh, Fen noted to himself, looking at Miralo Tarkin. The young Captain was once again vomiting on the floor.
Fen felt that the presence of Team Cresh would also make Tarkin's eventual assassination much more difficult to explain. It is one thing convincing a group of ten year olds in adult bodies that yes, the Jedi, Jazal is right. It is good to follow orders, even when those orders are to kill an Admiral. It is another thing entirely to convince Tarkin's nephew and his nephew's team.
Now the tricky thing is going to be to somehow get a message up to Jazal… I think that will work once Team Muun inevitably shows up. Or… Is Team Muun expected to contact her? How can they do that with Tarkin controlling ship to ground communications?
o.o.o.o.o
Lir Sey'les
Sey'les found it surprisingly easy to disobey Tarkin's orders when they were downright murderous. Her fur did not give one twitch of guilt. Even more surprisingly, convincing the Clones that Order 37 was unlawful was trivial. She asked them, on the battalion-wide channel, what Protocol 3 of the Red Sigil Convention said. 100% of them seemed immediately convinced.
Unfortunately, the Clones then posed her far more difficult questions.
"Since Order 37 is unlawful ma'am," Knot said pointedly as he followed her, "is it not unlawful for us to allow it to be carried out?"
"Uh…" Sey'les moaned, looking towards Murkana City across the bay.
"He has a point," Wulf muttered.
"I am sure General Jazal would be most displeased," Grath added.
The Spynet plan Buzz had told her about kept playing out in her head. She knew this was what the Spynet wanted her to do. From what she understood, the plan was to get involved, thereby getting Jazal involved, uncovering Tarkin's massacre of civilians. Jazal would be very angry then… Then what? Jazal kills Tarkin? Jazal kills us? Jazal kills everyone? There is no way I am going to risk my life to save Pax's or those Corporate Alliance psychopath's. Not after Skor II. Not after Praesitlyn.
The more she mulled over this plan, the stupider it sounded. Vasa Ro'Val's "plan," if it could be called one, hinged on a Jedi breaking out of her mental conditioning, going mad, and killing a sitting Admiral. The plan sounded downright suicidal, and the more Sey'les thought about it, the more she was convinced that was the plan. Itoll and I are just loose ends.
"I need your attention!" Sey'les yelled loudly in her rallying voice as she entered the ferrocrete plaza in front of West Murkhana Memorial Park.
On the lush grass, two LAATs were landed, with dozens of Clones standing around them. In the centre of the plaza were 393 captured Koorivar POWs and 6,139 civilians of all ages. Behind them in the distance, loomed a bronze statue of Count Dooku.
Wulf handed her a megaphone disk.
She took it, then moved her thumb to activate it and address the crowd—
—"Ma'am," Fojo said abruptly, coming up behind her.
Sey'les turned around, regarding the Rodian for a moment. In the midst of all the happenings, she had forgotten Fojo's task. "Report, Ensign," she barked, "but make it quick."
"All units reporting in," Fojo muttered looking back down at his datapad. "We suffered 19 fatalities, 73 walking wounded, 13 critical. Around fifty locals are receiving medical treatment. We're expecting casualties to rise.
Sey'les sighed in relief. It was far better than she had expected. "All right, thank you."
Fojo looked down at his feet for a moment, then right into Sey'les's eyes. "Sey'les, I am as angry at Pax as you, but Tarkin—"
"—Not right now," Sey'les snarled, looking around.
Many of the locals corralled in the plaza looked terrified. Parents held their children close. Some of the civilians and POWs darted their eyes each way, towards gaps in the Clones' formation. Looking for an escape.
Gotta hurry on this. Sey'les activated the megaphone disk with her thumb, holding it in a cupped hand. "Greetings. I am Lieutenant Commander Lir Sey'les. You might have noticed all of the hooks and lines of rope on the ground—"
—Several beings in the crowd cried out, as if suddenly realising they were standing on snakes.
"No. No! calm down!" Sey'les yelled angrily. "What we are all going to do is take some of the rope, throw it on Count Dooku's statue over there, and pull it to the ground."
Most in the crowd looked around uneasily at that. A few looked relieved.
"Now, if you have a problem with this… Too bad," Sey'les snarled, flashing a feral grin. "Everyone, pick up some rope… Well, I mean… Unless you are crippled," she noted, making eye contact with a Neimoidian in a wheelchair. "Or… Or five years old," she added, meeting the terrified eyes of a Chagrian toddler. "LET'S GET TO IT!"
Amidst hundreds of mumbles and angry grumbles, most in the crowd began stirring, picking up bits of rope with hooks.
At the edges of the crowds, shiny white armoured Clones jabbed lackluster locals with stun batons. One of them yelled "you heard the Commander! Pick up some rope!"
Sey'les smiled as she surveyed the scene, then frowned as she thought of Vasa Ro'val and Buzz again. If those idiots want to get Jazal to kill Tarkin, I am sure they can do it themselves.
o.o.o.o.o
Zuro Pax
What had started off as a suicide mission quickly evolved into a coherent plan in the crafty Duros's mind. As the jungle brush at the edge of Murkhana thinned, he continued walking towards his inevitable capture.
The fact of the matter was, no matter how willing his troops were willing to go along with Tarkin's plan, the human was behaving psychopathically. Pax was certain that many of Tarkin's men did not want to follow his orders, but felt afraid. Or perhaps loyal.
The more Pax considered the last year though, the more he realised more than one thing about this entire situation was very wrong. First, the mission that led to Pax's defection from the Galactic Republic began because Tarkin told the Republic that Count Dooku was encouraging him to secede. It cannot be a coincidence that Tarkin is here now… It can't be. Second, whoever attacked Murkhana used a legitimate Permissive Action Link ascribed to a user with a Sith name. Rumours were abound that Dooku was a Sith Lord.
The general outline of Tarkin's dastardly plan quickly fell to place in the Duros's head. First Tarkin sends me after Dooku. Then, after I join the Corporate Alliance, he shows up here using my actions as an excuse to kill people. Fortunately for him, he can just turn off all of my droids because he secretly works with Dooku.
Pax had grown up hearing the same ghost stories about Sith every Duros hears. They are not good news. After witnessing Tarkin commit cold-blooded murder on camera, Pax had convinced himself that Tarkin must be a Sith Lord. He must be in cahoots with Dooku. If I can convince everyone else there that Tarkin is a traitor, point out the evidence, they will turn on him. There is no way they'll let me go, but maybe Tarkin and I will both come to Coruscant in orange jumpsuits. This whole war… It is a sham.
At the end of the hiking trail, Pax stood on the sidewalk in the warehouse district of Murkhana. A Clone checkpoint was a few hundred meters down the road. Odds are they already sighted me.
He pulled out his wrist-comm. "I am in position. If the Republic does not stop killing people in twenty minutes, commence counter strike."
"Very well Director," Pavlok said somberly. "I think this is a mistake."
"You're probably right," Pax gulped, trembling with nervousness as a TX-130 began hovering down the street towards his position. "I am sorry about all of this, we should have never trusted a centrally-managed droid control system. This… This…"
"Director, it's been an honour working with you," Danlos said suddenly. "Also, I got the translation of the Sith word you were looking for."
"Uh…" Pax said as a Clone hopped off the hull, waving a blaster rifle at him
"PUT YOUR COMMLINK DOWN!"
Pax slowly reached forward, relaxing his grip on the comm-link.
"Death," Danlos's voice said from the comm-link. "Krataa means 'Death,' so the username is just nonsense. Not re-identifiable."
Frowning angrily, Pax dropped the commlink. You sure know how to time your news, Danlos.