Chapter 17: Unrest on Kalaan
Obi-wan Jakoby was always bored when traveling through hyperspace. Before the war, he used the free time to meditate, but there was too much excitement going on to do that anymore. Jakoby was restless knowing others were fighting and dying while he fiddled away his time traveling faster than the speed of light, which was too slow for his tastes.
Jakoby was a good field commander, and an even better fighter. There were few Jedi that had adapted to war as successfully as Jakoby had. Yet despite his great skill and ability, the Jedi Council somehow thought it appropriate to send him on a diplomatic mission during the most dangerous and destructive war the galaxy had ever seen.
Perhaps things were worse on Kalaan than Jakoby realized, but he severely doubted it. The Jedi Weapon Master hoped he could resolve the situation quickly, and if he couldn't, he didn't mind it devolving into another crash and smash fight against the Separatist Droid Army.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" the Jedi anxiously paced up and down the command bridge.
"Just be glad we're not riding in one of those old Dreadnaught heavy cruisers," the clone commander Lancer said.
"A Class 2 hyperdrive rating? If I had to travel in one of those old clunkers I'd go insane." Jakoby had opted to take his single Venator star destroyer and leave the rest of his forces behind. They could catch up later; Jakoby severely doubted that he'd need them immediately. And if it turned out that he would, then he'd just have to grin and deal with the challenge of being heavily outnumbered.
Venator star destroyers were superior to both the Galactic Republic's Dreadnaught cruisers and Acclamator assault ships. They were larger than both of the other ships and were better armed. Equipped with eight DBY-827 heavy dual turbolaser turrets, medium dual turbolaser cannons, point-defense laser cannons, and heavy proton torpedo tubes, a Venator was capable of taking on multiple CIS capital ships on its own. It was the best ship in the Republic Navy and Jakoby had finally gotten his hands on one.
"Twenty minutes until we reach the planet," a crewman said.
"I'm going down to the shuttle."
"A bit early General?" Lancer asked. "We have more than enough time, sir."
"The sooner this gets done the sooner we can leave and get back to fighting. You don't need me on the bridge for anything do you?"
"No sir."
"Then I'll be on my way."
Lancer shook his head in dismay as the Jedi Weapon Master left the bridge. He didn't understand his general's impatience, it's not as if the war was going anywhere.
Jakoby brought his four clone commandos and a red 3PO protocol droid named R-3PO with him. The droid would ensure that the proceedings went well and the clones were there if things got bad.
A squadron of twelve gunship fighters cut through the air ahead of the shuttle's predetermined flight path. Two Torrent fighters escorted the Nu shuttle. It looked more like an Imperial procession than a diplomatic envoy. It looked bad, but Jakoby had no intention of being blown up on the shuttle ride down to a potentially hostile planet.
Separatist supporters claimed that the current government made a deal with the Republic to host a secret military base on the planet. If there was some such base, Jakoby had not been informed of its existence. If he were fortunate, Jakoby could dispel the rumor and the planet would fall back in line.
The Nu attack shuttle set down on a small air pad, with the Republic fighters flying in a holding pattern above.
A group of seven Kalaanites waited as Jakoby and his entourage departed from the shuttle. Kalaanites were reddish-orange humanoids with large red eyes and blunt, nose-less snouts. Kalaanites were known for stubbornly sticking to their native language in lieu of Basic.
Of the seven Kalaanites present, six looked like soldiers and the seventh was dressed in a formal, brown colored robe. Jakoby assumed the robbed one was the diplomat, though when he greeted Jakoby, it was in the Kalaanite language.
Obi-wan Jakoby was disappointed that even their diplomatic officials lacked the ability to speak Basic, but this was precisely the reason he brought R-3PO along with him.
The red protocol droid translated the Kalaanite's formal greeting. Jakoby politely responded, and R-3PO translated again. From what Jakoby could tell from the diplomat listening intently to the droid, which meant that he lacked not only the ability to speak Basic, but to understand it was well. Terrific.
The Republic group was taken to a limousine speeder and sent to the capital building. As they went, Jakoby was worried that the limo didn't have any sort of escort, leaving the Jedi vulnerable to a surprise attack from a rocket or mine. However, Jakoby chose not to voice his concern to his host, who was probably no happier about it either.
From what Jakoby had heard, Kalaan was a lust, green world, though he saw none of that on his ride through the bustling city. It was a rather typical city, and nothing much caught his attention except for the fact that he saw no other species other than Kalaanites.
Must be a pretty insular society, Jakoby though to himself. One had to wonder why they were intervening in the affairs of a people who seemed so disconnected from the rest of galactic society. Kalaan wasn't known for any great manufacturing capability, so its not as if they could build a sustainable army of battle droids.
If Kalaan were apart of the CIS, it would more likely be a dependant than a provider. Of course if the planet were loyal, that would mean it was a dependant sucking at the resources of the Galactic Republic. Either way Kalaan seemed to make an annoyance out of itself.
The capital building itself was an extremely wide structure made out of some white marble. The Jedi, his protocol droid, and his four clones were quickly shuffled to be presented to the legislature. This was all done in much haste. "Looks like the aliens are ready to be rid of you just as you are of them," Ace whispered to his general.
"Then this should go smoothly and we'll be on our way."
They were set before two hundred seated delegates and were given some rather disturbing news. Apparently some of the delegates had gotten it into their heads that the Republic had set up a base on their planet without their permission. Jakoby was aware of the rumor but apparently there was an actual structure, which would complicate matters. Of course, those that supported the Republic denied this claim as ridiculous. After all, how could the good and honest Galactic Republic do such a deceitful and despicable thing?
The entire meeting was long, drawn out, and hard to understand as R-3PO had to translate for multiple Kalaanites, who were almost always talking at the same time. Jakoby was becoming fed up with their childish bickering, especially since they seemed to be getting nowhere.
Jakoby proposed that he see proof of a Republic base. The Kalaanites agreed to allow the Jedi to poke around the base to see for himself. The Kalaanites were glad to see the Jedi go.
Jakoby and his clones were taken back to the limo speeder. A wave of relief washed over Obi-wan, he couldn't stand politicians. They went the way they came, back to the parked Nu shuttle, which then took them to the abandoned Republic base.
The trip took several hours, and there was an uncomfortable silence between the Republic personnel and the Kalaanite diplomat. They finally arrived at the tattered remains of the formerly secret Republic listening post without any time to spare. Jakoby was going crazy trying to figure out how Kalaanites ate, it seemed that their faces didn't have mouths.
There was no denying that the listening post was made by the Republic. Two Kalaanite guards approached the shuttle as it landed. The guards addressed the Kalaanite diplomat and then waved Jakoby, R-3PO, and the four clone commandos inside the complex.
The diplomat said something and R-3PO translated. "Guards have been set up to keep the general populace out. A great many people want to know what's in here. It has been a most unwelcome inconvenience to the government."
"An army of battle droids would be more of inconvenience," Jakoby replied.
"An army of battle droids would be fun to fight," Kicker added.
"Don't translate that," Jakoby cut off the protocol droid.
"Then I suggest you say what you mean," R-3PO scolded.
"I did mean it," Kicker replied truthfully.
Jakoby shot the clone a look that told the soldier to zip his lip.
The interior was littered with Republic supplies, weapons, and corpses. The base's computers had all been wiped clean, but by whom, no one knew.
"This doesn't look good sir. Maybe there was a base here," Ace looked around.
"No," Jakoby continued to look around.
"Sir?"
"Something's wrong."
"These men deserve proper burials. But the locals just left their bodies to rot," Ace was disgusted.
"Cowardly aliens know nothing about respecting war heroes," Kicker cut in.
"Its not the clone corpses that concern me. Where are the droid bodies?"
Ace was silent for a moment. He hadn't even noticed the lack of battle droid remains. "Uh….I don't know, sir. What does it mean?"
"I don't think the locals attacked this base. Pirates couldn't do this. It has to be the Separatists, despite the fact that their battle droids are pathetic weaklings."
"But sir, you just said that only the Seppers could have done this. If they're weak, which they are, what is this all about?" Ace waved his hand at a trio of clone bodies.
"There are no droid bodies. And I don't think Count Dooku decided to start tearing apart Republic bases on his own."
"So what then? Some elite organic troops maybe? Neimoidian soldiers? Geonosian warriors? Gossam commandos?"
"We'd still see some bodies. I don't know how the Seppers got the drop on these men."
All the while R-3PO translated the conversation for the Kalaanite.
"An inside job?" the protocol droid translated the diplomats theory.
"Clones do not betray," Ace made it clear to their alien escort.
"Maybe it was non-clone personnel that switched sides," Jack said. "They can't be fully trusted."
"The Separatists may have put this base here themselves and littered it with dead clones to make it look like a firefight took place in a secret Republic facility. The Seppers slipped up when they forgot to add droid bodies."
"You expect us to believe that the Confederacy secretly built this base to frame the Republic?" the droid translated the Kalaanite's disbelief.
"You think they lack the ability?" Jakoby asked.
"They probably lack the intelligence," Kicker joked.
"You're not helping," Jakoby pointed at the clone.
"How would the Confederacy plant an entire base without detection?" R-3PO translated.
"How would the Republic build a base without detection?" Jack countered.
"I know it sounds odd, but I'm willing to bet that's what happened. The Seppers are responsible for this," Jakoby did his best to blame the CIS. The Republic had put him in a bad position and if they really were innocent, then Jakoby's theory was true.
"Is there anywhere else you would like to see?"
"No, I've seen enough. We're not getting anything else out of this place. Let's go back."
"Hey, ask him if we can collect the bodies," Jakoby told R-3PO as they exited the base.
There were two Kalaanites at the outside the base, but they were not the same guards as before. In fact, they didn't seem like guards at all. Though they wore some light armor, they had no discernable weapons. Jakoby thought something was amiss.
"Calyee caloo?" one of the Kalaanites said as they approached.
Jakoby had no idea what was being said, nor did he have any inkling as to what tone of inflection he was hearing.
"Luka too." The other Kalaanite responded. Jakoby's diplomat hit the deck.
The two Kalaanites revealed concealed blaster pistols and shot at Tai. His shields protected him and confused the attackers.
"Weren't expecting us to have shields huh?" Tai said rather smugly.
The two orange-skinned aliens seemed to argue with each other for a moment, and then one pulled out a thermal detonator. The four clone commandos opened fire and cut the two Kalaanites down in a storm of blue blaster bolts.
"Why I never!" R-3PO exclaimed.
"Never what? Be useful in a firefight?" Kicker teased the protocol droid.
"The locals aren't going to be happy about this," Jack said.
"It was self-defense. I'm sure we can work this out," Jakoby was confident.
"That or we'll be put on trial for murder," Ace said.
"We likely just killed some Separatist supporters, how mad could they be?"
The diplomat was frantic, failing his arms around and speaking very fast. R-3PO translated that he had no knowledge of the assassination attempt. Obi-wan Jakoby was inclined to believe him, given his utter cowardice during the entire event.
"I wonder what happened to the guards?" Jack asked.
"Found them," Kicker pointed. "They didn't even bother to hide the bodies very well. What a bunch of second-rate assassins."
The ride back in the shuttle was even more awkward and trying. The Kalaanite wouldn't shut up the whole time and Jakoby just wanted to return to the legislature and end the whole ordeal.
Obi-wan Jakoby and his party were immediately admitted. Word had spread fast and now the Jedi was faced with an entire legislative branch of panicking Kalaanites. Some seemed to be fearful of a Republic retaliation for the assassination attempt while others accused each other of treason. It was difficult for R-3PO to sort out and explain to his Jedi master.
Eventually the Kalaanites calmed down and started grilling Jakoby on why there was a Republic base there in the first place. Jakoby offered his theory that the Confederacy had planted the base there in order to frame the Galactic Republic.
"What proof have you of these charges?" R-3PO translated for a Kalaanite.
"None. But it cannot be disproven. All I can promise is that I can assure you that I did not know about that base."
"That doesn't inspire confidence," R-3PO translated.
"My honest ignorance of the situation is all I can offer on the situation. But can the Confederacy say the same? Has the CIS sent any diplomatic envoys?" Jakoby was hopeful that maybe he could start a fight with an actual Separatist. Such an action would absolve him of having to try to solve this conundrum peacefully.
"No Separatist diplomats have been received," R-3PO provided the answer.
The Kalaanites started to bicker with each other, much louder than before.
"What's going on with them?" Jakoby asked R-3PO.
"I'm having difficulty understanding them. They appear to be using a lot of slang not in my databanks."
The yelling and finger pointed started to target a specific Kalaanite. After he seemed to lose an argument, security guards swarmed in.
"What? Are they going to arrest that guy?" Tai asked.
The targeted Kalaanite procured a time bomb and blew himself up, taking a quarter of the assembly with him.
Jakoby and his commandos dived to the floor while R-3PO was knocked off his feet by the blast.
"I guess we know who the Separatist is," Jack said.
"Was," Kicker corrected.
Despite the moaning and groaning of the injured and dying, the unscathed Kalaanites still didn't shut up.
"They say the Separatists are coming," R-3PO explained.
"Perfect," Kicker was pleased. "Where are they?"
"Right outside the building."
Jakoby and his commandos rushed outside to greet an army of Kalaanite Separatists. Their assigned diplomat didn't bother following them this time. Jakoby called in for backup, but it was unlikely that anything substantial would reach them anytime soon.
"That's a lot of aliens," Kicker observed.
"How do we tell them apart from civilians?" Jack asked.
"We kill the ones that shoot at us," Jakoby activated his lightsabers.
"That's a big help," Ace started firing his anti-armor rockets randomly into the crowd.
Jakoby started deflecting blaster bolts away from his clone commandos.
The two Torrent fighters that escorted the Nu shuttle appeared in the sky and lightly sprinkled the street below with blaster fire. The pilots didn't want to cause too much damage and had their hands full avoiding the few Kalaanites that were equipped with anti-air rocket launchers.
Jakoby threw one of his lightsabers and cut through twenty Kalaanites in one stroke. A Kalaanite retaliated by tossing a thermal detonator the Jedi's way. Jakoby grabbed the explosive with the Force and returned it to its sender. Kicker and Tai helped create more of a mess by throwing thermal detonators of their own.
With the street more open the Separatist supporters brought up their vehicles, a pair of flash speeders.
The first flash speeder came in fast, trying to run over the clones. Jack shot the driver and hopped in as it came near him. The commando then reached over and slit the throat of the gunner with his wrist blade. Jack then turned the speeder towards the biggest grouping of Kalaanites and accelerated.
Jack set a time bomb in the speeder and rolled out. The flash speeder exploded amongst a large group of Kalaanites.
The two V-19 Torrent fighters swung around again and blasted the Kalaanites' second flash speeder.
A herd of Republic AT-RTs and LAAT/i gunships finally approached the scene as Jakoby finished off the last of their attackers. One of the recon walkers trampled up to the Jedi general.
Lancer hopped off the AT-RT. "General, if you're going to call us in, at least leave something for us to shoot."
"Sorry about that. I guess we got carried away. These guys are even more pathetic than the Separatist's battle droids, if you can believe that."
"I believe it, sir."
The cleanup was easy in that they allowed the locals to deal with the mess of bloody bodies.
"So, what's the situation?" Jakoby asked R-3PO as the protocol droid approached him with the Kalaanite diplomat.
"They considered imprisoning you and your commandos for the civilian casualties," R-3PO answered.
"Great," Kicker whined.
"But they decided they couldn't incarcerate such powerful warriors. They have instead decided to side with the Republic and are willing to officially host a Republic base."
"Good for them. I knew this planet would have a happy ending," Jakoby grinned.