Chapter 33: Ursi Ek'fon

Leritor

In the aftermath of her encounter with Garmr, the fur on Ursi's left ear was matted with scabs—the scabs following a line of stitches in the profile of Luugor's claw. Her formerly pointy and perky ear now flopped down at the top, giving a ridiculous juvenile Bothan appearance.

Before Ursi had found herself in a room with Vasa, a lunatic impersonating a demon, and two Sauvax, Ursi had held Vasa in some level of regard—she had viewed Vasa as a Bothan who did things very differently; an older Bothan who was bigoted, somewhat neurotic, but intelligent and organised. Vasa could see the bigger picture when Ursi couldn't.

All night long, Ursi sat up in bed awake in her quarters in one of the Kaminoan domes. When her fur was not twirling, it was bristling. When morning came, she got out of bed and stared out the window to Garmr's mysterious pyramid, sparkling under the orange-yellow sun.

Ursi's stomach rumbled, but she stayed put. Leaving her quarters meant going out and possibly facing the beings responsible for mutilating her ear. She could not possibly think of anything to say in such a situation. All she knew was that she wanted to go back to Atzerri.

o.o.o.o.o

An hour went by before someone knocked on her door.

"Ursi," Vasa's voice growled from beyond the durasteel. "Director Ursi Ek'fon? Are you there?"

Ursi did not want to speak with Vasa. There were other beings in Gnipahellir who she wanted to speak with even less, but only three. "Vasa, now is not a good time."

Bafflingly, Vasa opened Ursi's door regardless. She stood in the doorway, looking at Ursi by the window.

Ursi stared back with one floppy ear, fur bristling with fury.

Of course, Vasa's ear had fared better. Like Ursi, the elderly Bothan's ear was still scabbed and stitched 26 hours after Vruj had sliced through it. However Vasa's ear remained perky and pointed.

Before Ursi had quite decided on a plan of action, she was furiously digging through her duffel bag.

"What are you doing?!" Vasa snarled.

As if answering the question, Ursi shrieked, drawing a blaster pistol. "GIVE ME ONE REASON I SHOULDN'T!"

"How the hell did you get a blaster pistol in here?" Vasa snarled, fur swirling with nervousness.

Ursi had smuggled in a Synthmesh DE-10 blaster pistol that was invisible to most sensors. Atzerri was one place in the Galaxy where buying blasters that avoid scans was trivial.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Ursi yelped.

"If you kill me," Vasa growled calmly, turning her head away from the blaster, "Garmr will cut you to pieces and feed you to the Sauvax."

"Bullshtak," Ursi grunted. "He's angrier with you than he is with me."

"He's gotten over it," Vasa said matter of factly. "His mood today is great… Happier than I have seen him in twenty years."

Ursi snarled in frustration, lowering her blaster. "Great? Then why the kriff hasn't he let us leave?"

"He has big plans for us," Vasa explained, stepping up to Ursi's side at the window.

Ursi turned away from the window, walking up to the mirror. Her fur twirled unhappily as she regarded her own reflection. Garmr can't just do this to people.

"Matter of fact, I am uh… What was I here to tell you?" Vasa growled, looking down at the blaster in Ursi's hand.

"That you are sorry for making mistakes so big that I got caught in your vortex of blame," Ursi muttered bitterly. "Sorry you got a kriffing psychopath so angry he cut a hole in my ear."

"Garmr did not cut a hole in your ear. Luugor just… Clipped it," Vasa growled nervously, gingerly rubbing the stitches on her own mutilated ear. "And no, actually Garmr sent me. There is a strategic planning session of some sort that all present Directors are supposed to attend."

Ursi's ear burned with pain as it reflexively attempted to perk up in curiosity.

o.o.o.o.o

A salty-smelling breeze whipped through the air, howling into Ursi's ear. She winced in pain as she and Vasa crossed the bridge.

"You know, I would not bring a blaster if I were you Ursi," Vasa yelled over the breeze. "I can see the bulge in your pants so the Sauvax will probably notice too."

Ursi shrugged, continuing to trudge onward.

By the time they neared the statue of Garmr however, Ursi noted something very off about Vasa's claims.

"Wait… You said Directors are supposed to attend," Ursi hissed, fur swirling with suspicion.

Vasa gave Ursi a reproachful sideways glance. "Indeed. I am disappointed that you haven't put two and two together."

"You got reinstated," Ursi sighed. "Un-kriffing-believable. Here I am, doing the right thing—Wait, Director of what?" Between the feet of the statue of Garmr, Ursi stood in Vasa's path. "There's already a Director on Coruscant, so it couldn't be that. No Director has died…"

"Director of the Fortuity Objective," Vasa answered with a smirk.

"And just what is the Fortuity Objective?"

Vasa smiled with delight at Ursi's question. "That is need-to-know, Ursi. You do not need to know."

Ursi's fur swirled with nervousness. Something about Vasa's appointment did not sit well with her. So Garmr decided not to kill Vasa. Why did he promote her? She certainly did not exhibit competence in our meeting with him…

o.o.o.o.o

This so-called "strategic meeting" was held in yet another throne room, this one larger and gloomier than the room in which Ursi's ear had been clipped.

A huge wooden semi-circular table encircled Garmr's throne on three sides. Fourteen chairs were arranged along the side of the table, a meter shorter than the throne that towered over all other furnishings. The power imbalance displayed in the furnishings was once again bordering on the absurd.

Contrary to Vasa's claim, however, it was not only Spynet Directors in attendance. In fact, Ursi and Vasa were the only Spynet Directors there. Most of the attendees were scientists, Kaminoan and Bothan, with a few HoloNet experts and camera operators. The most mysterious attendee of all was the holopresence of former Jedi Master and Spynet asset Ras Andromias.

While Ursi did not know the details, she knew Ras Andromias had been murdered and overwritten some time ago by a Bothan operative. What Ras Andromias had to do with any of this, Ursi could not guess.

After surveying the room, Ursi took a seat on the left side of the throne, out of sight, trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible. To her dismay, Vasa followed and soon after, one Kaminoan female sat next to Vasa.

Ursi's fur gave one twitch of suspicion as she sniffed the air.

This Kaminoan female was unlike any other member of her species Ursi had ever seen. Rather than a pure pale white, this one had a purple hue to her skin. Like other Kaminoans, she had large almond shaped eyes with retina that looked like star clusters. However, her sclera were a dim lavender, as opposed to the typical Kaminoan black eyes.

"Apologies for my colleague," Vasa growled politely, her eyes darting down nervously for a moment to the bulge of Ursi's blaster. "I am Director—"

"—Vasa Ro'val, I know," the Kaminoan interjected. "I am Senator Halle Burtoni. We are going to be working a lot together."

"Oh yes," Vasa said with a bright toothy smile. "I look forward to it."

Ursi shifted in her seat, scowling. Often when the Spynet calls an organisation an 'objective,' it implies something collaborative—this means Vasa is working with the Kaminoans… On what?

"Who is your friend?" Burtoni asked.

"Director Ursi Ek'fon," Vasa answered, "she's just… Shy."

"Sorry, Senator," Ursi sighed. "I do not mean—"

"—What a momentous occasion we are gathered here for!" Garmr's voice yipped from the entrance to the room.

Everyone turned around, watching the shaggy cloaked Bothan cross the room. Notably, no Sauvax accompanied him for this meeting.

Ursi scowled as a growing hatred towards Garmr washed over her. For a moment, she considered drawing her blaster, but thought better of it.

Once Garmr sat upon his throne, he pulled out a remote control and turned on the holoprojector at the base of his throne. The somewhat familiar face of Lir Sey'les appeared, projected in thin air into the centre of the room.

Garmr addressed the attendees in a tone of regret and sorrow. "While many of you might not know this, I was born with a sensitivity to the Force."

Ursi blinked. She could fathom how any of this was relevant to anything.

"The Kaminoans have failed to produce a Force-sensitive body for—"

"—That is unfair, my Lord," one of the Kaminoans interrupted in a nervous stammer. "It is not our doing—"

"—I am not blaming you." Garmr narrowed his red eyes. "I am simply stating facts. You have failed. It has been many centuries since I felt a connection to the Force."

Ras Andromias's holopresence nodded.

The attendees continued listening to Garmr. No one asked about Sey'les's yet unexplained face being projected into the room.

"And on that topic…" Garmr pressed another button on his remote.

A rectangular display of holofootage appeared in front of Sey'les's face. Green and white footage, recorded with a night-vision camera, played. A chair, desk, boots, and various articles of clothing were floating in mid-air. Suddenly, the furnishings dropped with loud crashes. The sleeping figure in bed jolted up—even in night vision green and white, Ursi could tell this was obviously Sey'les.

Gasps rang out through the room. Ursi narrowed her eyes, suspecting where this was going.

"The traitor—the wasted opportunity," Garmr snarled, looking at Vasa, "is sensitive with the Force!"

Nervous muttering began amongst the Kaminoans and Bothan scientists. A scan of Sey'les's brain appeared where the holofootage had been.

"There is one matter, my Lord, before we get ahead of ourselves," Ras Andromias's holopresence said suddenly, drawing a quick glance from Ursi. "One of my adherents has asked me to request clemency."

"Clemency!" Garmr cackled mirthfully. "For that traitor? No. There will be no clemency. I have already made my decision."

"Very well," Ras Andromias replied with a smirk.

"Lir Sey'les, as I said before, has been a wasted opportunity," Garmr growled cautiously. "I do not want to continue wasting her. I want Sey'les. I want her body. Make this happen."

Disgusting, Ursi thought, flashing her teeth. All of this trouble just so you can inhabit a force-sensitive Bothan body. And you admit it. It's pure evil. Extending one's life was never the intent of essence transfer.

"But, my Lord!" Vasa gasped in affront. "You cannot possibly be considering this!"

Ursi looked over to Vasa, whose fur was bristling with anger. Does Vasa agree with me? "I agree with Vasa my Lord," she growled firmly. "Sey'les is still useful, whether or not Vasa and I properly utilised her. By murdering her, you will be eliminating all of her experience, losing all of her connections—I mean, would you really be able to fool the Wookiees? My Lord, with all due respect, can you even speak Shyriiwook?"

Vasa glowered at Ursi, then turned back to Garmr. "Sey'les is a woman!" she yelped. "You will be in a woman's body!"

"Do you really believe I have not considered that?!" Garmr snarled, flashing his teeth at Vasa.

Rubbing her eyes, Ursi exhaled despondently. Of course that's what upsets Vasa… So now, this Spynet operative impersonating a demon—who mutilated my ear—is going to murder a Bothan without a trial, possess her body, call it an execution, and gain force powers? How the hell did we ever get to this point?

"My Lord," one of the Kaminoan scientists exclaimed, "cloning your body to have its distinctive variegation pattern took six years of painstaking genetic manipulation. Sey'les not only is female, but she has a completely different fur pattern!"

"You know?" Garmr asked rhetorically. "There is a very cheap solution to that."