Chapter 19: Fraedrak Saxon
Thellus Asteroid, Dressel System
Fraedrak Saxon had now been deployed as Protector Captain to Mandalorian facilities in Bothan space for almost three years. Two years on Kothlis and now he was nearing the end of his first year on Thellus.
Embassy deployments to most worlds were very boring assignments. The Bothans however, had a unique ability to cause trouble or find themselves in trouble. Even in peace, their backstabbing, sleeping around, snarling, yelping, and general drama kept Fraedrak quite entertained. It was quite entertaining to watch.
Importantly, the New Mandalorians were watching.
What the Bothans did not know, was that the New Mandalorians had cracked all of their military and Spynet encryption five years ago. On a display terminal in the Strategic Operations Division, was a live feed of the Marshalcy Field Office's situation room. The crooked blonde-furred Colonel was pulling his fur in frustration.
Once again, it was amateur hour at the Marshalcy; one of their operatives was recording Ditmas Shar with a hand-held camera. Ditmas was alone, saying nothing, so the Bothans were getting no new intelligence and a few new reasons to panic.
In the Mandalorian Consulate's Strategic Operations Division, a dozen Mandalorian Protectors, along with dozens of intelligence personnel, technicians, and diplomats sat at terminals, going over everything they had on the KHGC—Kad Ha'arangir Gana Cuir. Eventually, the Protectors would either take action against KHGC themselves or tell the Bothans what was going on. The question is when.
The Marshals had figured out that there were eight KHGC terrorists on Thellus—seven not counting Taekidethay Yupor, an operative of the Mandalorian Secret Service. 'Score one for the Bothans,' had been the running joke in the Consulate three days ago.
The Marshals did not know there were actually at least sixteen KHGC terrorists. As usual, the stupid kriffing furballs were not sharing intelligence in a transparent way. Not with the local Bothan government, not with the New Mandalorians, and not even with other branches of their own Federal government.
While the Bothan Marshalcy was attempting a surveillance job on Ditmas Shar, mostly yelping and snarling in terror at their desks, other KHGC terrorists were active on the station that the Marshals did not know about—potentially ones even the Protectors did not know about. Clan Askar was one hundred percent out of the loop. They knew absolutely nothing.
Most incredibly to Fraedrak, the Bothans had not even figured out yet that one of their own citizens, Shidar Zhol'skar, had been abducted by one of the known KHGC terrorist cells—the very cell whose leader they were observing. Their leader, Colonel Mi'zya, had even sent a holomessage to Shidar, but just not followed up.
Several times over the last few days, Fraedrak had argued in favour of filing a missing person's report anonymously on her behalf, but his chain of command thought this was a bad idea. It was looking increasingly like the Mandalorian Protectors would break her out themselves.
o-o-o
Today, unlike the bumbling bamboozled Bothans, the New Mandalorian Protectors had a new piece of intel. On the largest display screen was an image of Shidar. She wore a confused and worried look on her face and stood in the cockpit window of the Mandalorian shuttle with a mirror; a creepy-looking Protocol droid sat in front of her.
Several screens were visible on the mirror, covered in Mandalorian writing.
"Alor'ad, ibac schutta cuyi mirdala'ne Bothan." [Captain, that schutta must be the smartest Bothan ever,] chuckled Argoyl Wren to Fraedrak.
[I agree,] Fraedrak sighed, zooming in on a set of the words on his datapad. [Can't believe that a Bothan actually did something right on the first try that did not involve eating something, kriffing someone, or holding a wrench. I still think she's undercover Spynet.]
[Don't think so sir. She's not on our list of Spynet operatives,] mumbled First Lieutenant Ruusan Peers as she chewed a wafer. She was repeating the same argument others had voiced yesterday when they were debating who she might be.
[Yeah but she might be using a fake name,] Fraedrak muttered with suspicion.
[But sir, she also doesn't have more than a 60% match to any of our profile images of Spynet operatives. We have them all remember?] Peers said.
Well, maybe she had cosmetic surgery, Fraedrak thought, but the Mandalorian was getting tired of this argument. [In any case, whoever she is, we need to get her out of there. Bothan or not, she doesn't deserve to be stuck there with those psychopaths.] He turned to his commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Hoshap Murt, [sir, how far along are we on the plan to get Shidar out?]
A worried crease crossed Murt's forehead as he spun in his chair. [That might be a tertiary priority now. Turns out Clan Amai's leader is coming to Futures Symposium too and have evidence that there may be a third cell in the Agkaworza 'Yobod District.]
Fraedrak swore under his breath.
[We'll have to get someone over there,] Murt said. [We always suspected they were targeting the Futures Symposium. We need to make sure we nab them all. Don't worry, we'll get Shidar out eventually.]
o-o-o
The most mysterious thing about the KHGC's operation thus far, was that they had come to Thellus without their Beskar armour. The New Mandalorians suspected that whatever it was the KHGC was planning here, was low risk enough for them to not have to do battle. Either that, or they had changed their whole religious beliefs.
Fraedrak found the latter possibility quite unlikely.
The next morning, he was on perimeter duty again. Standing alone on the edge of the desolate sand, under his helmet, he clenched his jaw.
Ditmas showed up again, sitting in a speeder this time. He gave a friendly wave.
Fraedrak stood stoically. I know who you are. If you only step out of your vehicle, walk past yellow line marking the border, I would kick your teeth in and take you into custody you homicidal, abusive, kidnapping piece of—
[—Captain Saxon,] Sergeant Magdine Kryze said into his helmet comm.
[What's the situation?] Fraedrak asked.
[Sending Corporal Rand out to relieve you sir, there is… a situation.]
o-o-o
[At least five cells?] Fraedrak exclaimed in horror. [There is no way we can take them out all at once without alerting the Marshalcy or Clan Askar.]
On the largest screen, were camera views of five different airlock doors. Beyond each airlock, a cell of unarmed and unarmoured KHGC terrorists were planning who knows what.
The Strategic Operations Division devolved into arguing, yelling, muttering, and sheer panic. One of the engineers was screaming at the top of his lungs, gesturing wildly with a laser pointer.
Fraedrak groaned. This reminded him of the view of the Bothan Marshalcy's situation room. All of the yelping, snarling, arguing. The drama. "STOP IT!" he yelled in Basic over the commotion. "We are not Bothans are we? Are we snarling little furballs?"
"No sir!" twenty voices chanted. The chatter died down.
"Well put Captain," Murt said with a chuckle. "He is right, we need to remain calm."
"I suggest we inform the Diplomatic Corps and strike now, take out one cell at a time if we have to," Fraedrak said once everyone had calmed down.
Murt opened his mouth to say something and stopped.
"Getting a call from the ambassador sir!" a technician yelled suddenly.
"Put her through."
Ambassador Kai Rook's holopresence appeared. She wore a grim and determined expression on her aging face. Her short, silvery hair brushed to one side, typical of many female Mandalorians from the northern hemisphere.
"Good afternoon Madame Ambassador," Lieutenant Commander Murt said.
"Good afternoon." The Ambassador looked around the room to see if anyone had anything to say at the moment. After no one said anything, she started speaking in a grave voice. "I have spoken with the twelve chiefs of the Bothan Diplomatic Corps."
Fraedrak fought the urge to snort. He imagined how that must have been. A dozen Bothans yelping, their fur flat; they probably snarled, blaming Mandalore, and bitterly muttered phrases like 'we have no choice but to trust you.' However, if the choice was dealing with the crooked, inept, and completely screwed up Bothan military and law enforcement, or else dealing with their terrified, yelping, snarling Diplomatic Corps, New Mandalore always went through the Diplomatic Corps. The Diplomatic Corps did not have hidden agendas.
"The Diplomatic Corps has given us permission to bring in reinforcements so we can capture all five cells at once. They have agreed that we can take them into Mandalorian Custody. Reinforcements are now coming from Concord Dawn—"
"—Seven days away!" Fraedrak exclaimed in shock.
"Yes Captain, a day before the Futures' symposium," the Ambassador said grimly. "Is there any reason to believe the KHGC will strike before then?"
"No ma'am," Murt said, glaring at Fraedrak.
"Very well," Ambassador Rook sighed. "In that case, we will stay the course and not proceed to arrest any of the terrorists for seven days."
The Rancor in the room—another reason the government of New Mandalore was unwilling to just cooperate with the Bothan forces, was that the Bothans had the death penalty. It was New Mandalore's official stance to not cooperate with any government in arresting their citizens when their citizens would potentially be subjected to such a barbaric punishment. Mercenary work and terrorism both potentially could result in a death sentence in Bothan space. Most planetary governments were fairly cooperative, and would make compromises, such as promising the accused would not be sentenced to death; the Bothans were stubborn.
Still, Fraedrak really did not like this plan. Keeping the Marshals and Clan Askar in the dark was one thing. This was quite another. "Respectfully, Madame Ambassador, are we sure this is the right call? This is not just one Mandalorian terrorist. There are millions of Thellus citizens in danger here, they have abducted a Bothan who is in grave danger the longer we leave her. I know we oppose the death penalty, but with the Marshals, we could—"
"—Captain!" Murt barked angrily, "if we tell the Marshalcy, there is a good chance it will compromise our entire intelligence apparatus here. There are many more considerations too. Do you not think fewer Mandalorians would resort to terrorism if the Bothan Diplomatic Corps were sending us food aid?"
"Sorry sir, wait…" Fraedrak muttered. His eyes went wide as realisation dawned. We are doing this for a price. Bothan food. These people are starting to sound like kriffing Bothans. "Wait! The Diplomatic Corps—"
"—Colonel!" the Ambassador yelled, shifting her stance. "The details of that deal are classified."
Fraedrak closed his eyes as the arguing resumed. Seven days! The behaviour of his people, putting others' lives at risk to protect Mandalorian criminals from the local justice system! It was absurd. Ditmas Shar made his own choice when he came here. He knew the risks.
