Chapter 21: Zerir Vri'skar

Aboard the Yu'tor

"Very well Yu'tor," a heavy Bothan accent growled in Basic into the comm, "proceed past the Botha'ahir Exclusion Zone. Keep your weapons powered down. Any attempt to—"

"—I've been here before!" Zerir snarled impatiently. "I esh just here to pick up my Grum. Nokiz wanna declare war on Botha'ahir. All friends here, kiz?"

The voice on the other end breathed into the comm and hung up. Zerir imagined he was now ranting about Askars to whomever would listen.

Hagin's fur swirled nervously.

Zerir glared at him.

"It esh a bit rude Captain," Eshka growled sternly. "All esh in order?"

"Jus' keep our weapons powered down," Zerir sighed. "Yeah, I am okay."

In truth, Zerir was on edge mostly because Raskyer was upset. Kothlis had been nice and everyone but Raskyer had a great time. Now, she was flying once again to the armpit of Bothan space, where rude military officers threaten visitors over the comm for approaching their awful world. They need to take some customer service lessons from Clan Askar, Zerir always thought.

o-o-o

Twenty minutes after crossing the Botha'ahir Military Exclusion Zone, the Yu'tor lined up next to the other ships that had been authorised to orbit the red planet, but not land. In the distance, visible from the hangar forcefield, a faint glow of Azi'skar's shuttle's engines grew brighter and brighter as it approached.

Zerir and Zoc stood in the hangar, alongside Nyir, waiting.

Zoc's fur swirled nervously as he stood there, wearing a cast. A reminder of just how much of a blasted idiot he was.

'Permission to come aboard, Captain?' Zerir imagined Azi'skar will ask. 'Permission granted, Grum,' she would reply. Permission to come aboard? Granted. As the shuttle drew nearer, the line repeatedly echoed in her mind over and over again.

The shuttle crossed the barrier of the forcefield and gracefully lowered to the deck. Twenty seconds later, a ramp lowered. Grum Azi'skar disembarked along with a Botha'ahir Bothan Zerir had never seen before. He had an amber eye and a blue eye. His fur was mostly tan but with black spots, including one patch of black fur around his blue eye.

Zerir was momentarily mesmerised with this colourful figure. All right. Focus. Permission to come aboard? Granted.

At the bottom of the ramp, Azi'skar extended his arms, and said in a breathy fatigued voice, "I am glad you are all right, all of you."

"Granted," Zerir growled confidently, then winced at her awkwardness. As she opened her snout to correct herself, Azi'skar squeezed both her and Zoc in a wide hug.

Okay. We are hugging now. Did not expect that, Zerir mused as she hugged him back. Is this going to be a thing now, Grum? She then wondered, is this how you are trying to start a thing?

Nyir stood there, her fur twirling with uncertainty and trepidation at the randomness. She appeared like she wanted to both look away and watch the spectacle unfold.

"This is Admiral Var'tannen," Azi'skar sighed as he let released Zerir and Zoc.

Var'tannen stood to the right of Azi'skar. "Permission to come aboard, uh… Captain Vri'skar," he growled gruffly.

"Granted Admiral. It is wonderful to have you aboard," Zerir said in relief. Good. Something is normal. "Admiral, what brings you to my ship?"

"He is here to give us all a tour of Yiyiz 'Dunor.It is not finished yet," Azi'skar explained, taking a step back from Zerir and his son.

Yiyiz 'Dunor means 'Thunder of the Gods,' Zerir thought to herself, now that's an edgy name. I am sure the Republic is just gonna love hailing 'Thunder of the Gods' when they speak with Clan Askar from the Dressel Legacy World Exclusion Zone.

o-o-o

On the bridge, Zerir, the bridge crew, Azi'skar, and Admiral Var'tannen sat at stations, observing the main viewer. Onscreen was Clan Askar's new flagship.

Huh. That was the word that came to Zerir's mind when she saw the Yiyiz 'Dunor. At a distance, it definitely looked like something the Botha'ahir Bothans would build. It was an ugly, unimaginative, trapezoid shape; squarer and pointier towards the back, slightly narrower and more rounded towards the front. It was almost like a miniature version of a TW speeder, but longer and over a hundred times bigger. At the moment, the ship was unpainted, but the Bothan Assault Cruiser floating around the spacedocks was painted black and bright white.

"Huh," Zerir muttered aloud as she pondered the beast. Her fur was calm.

"Huh?!" Azi'skar snarled. "Zerir! That cost us 36,000,000 Zav!"

"Sorry Grum!" Zerir yelped, her fur swirling nervously. "Nokiz meant it like 'huh,' yeah? Did wanna say the word interestin' instead," she growled nervously.

Admiral Var'tannen laughed as he sat in the guest chair next to the captain's seat. He put a consoling hand on Zerir's shoulder. "Grum, I like a Captain who speaks her mind," he said, growling at Azi'skar.

"You can certainly speak your mind Captain," Azi'skar growled cautiously. "Only, try not to sound rude. You will be the one flying that ship."

"My apologies," Zerir growled nervously once again.

"The Bothan Assault Cruisers may not look like much Captain," Var'tannen growled proudly, "but with 20 turbolasers, they have more firepower than a Munificent, only a little bit less firepower than a Venator, and about twice the firepower of an Acclamator. Unlike the Venator or Acclamator, our first model of Bothan Assault cruiser also has 2 ion canons. We also have 4 of the 20 turbolasers facing rear, so we can shoot as we retreat. Oh, and I almost forgot, it can fit up to 48 fighters. At 800 meters, it is also 50 meters longer than an Acclamator."

Zerir took note of the fact the Var'tannen listed not one, but two Republic ships to compare it with; he only listed one Separatist ship. Her fur swirled with suspicion for a brief moment as she thought of the battle of Bothawui. He must be thinking it's more likely we will be fighting the Republic in the near future.

"First model?" Azi'skar growled, his fur now swirled with suspicion.

"Classified," Var'tannen said with a feral grin. "Don't worry, we'll let you in on our new projects eventually, assuming, of course, you ratify the treaty."

"Treaty sir?" Eshka asked.

"Classifed," Azi'skar snarled.

Zerir, Eshka, Hagin, and Ben's fur swirled nervously.

Treaty? Treaty with Botha'ahir? Zerir scowled. These Bothans may be good-looking, but they are only good at bravado, being stagnant for three centuries, and making ugly vehicles.

o-o-o

With some reluctance, Zerir's fur began dancing with excitement once she saw the interior. Okay, maybe the outsides of their vehicles are ugly, Zerir thought to herself. The interior had dark grey durasteel flooring, with light grey walls. Near every door was an elegant white durasteel arch.

She and half of her crew of forty-six were now getting a tour of the Yiyiz 'Dunor.

"Gravity adjustments can be made, of course, from any wall terminal with the right access," Var'tannen said brightly. He adjusted the gravity in the hall.

Now it feels like I am on Tawa, Zerir thought to herself. She looked over the Admiral's shoulder. Whoa. It has a Таўа/Tawa button.

"Crew quarters also have adjustable gravplating settings," Var'tannen said with a smile as he opened the door to an empty crew room. On the wall was a similar control panel to the one in the hallway. "The floor is non-magnetic so only electromagnetic boots will work in zero gravity. I am sure you will find this handy if you ever get boarded."

Huh. Never even thought of that, Zerir mused as she looked around the grey and light grey halls, smiling.

"Hey!" Zerir snarled suddenly. All of this talk of amenities, weaponry, shields, combat—they forgot one important thing that Clan Askar uses the Yu'tor for: transporting goods. "How big is the cargo hold on this thing?"

"Glad you asked," Var'tannen said. "We replaced fifty of the crew quarters and one of the hangars on yours for storage space. In the end, we ended up with a 110% of the Yu'tor's cargo space."

"Rogue," Zerir growled in awe.

o-o-o

The bridge did not disappoint. It was a long rectangular room with large transparisteel windows on three sides, much like a munificent. At the front, a holoprojected screen could lower, blocking the front window and allowing for visuals onscreen. The sides of the bridge were still missing terminals, and there was a ladder on the right side of the mainviewer.

Ben yipped excitedly as he felt the fabric of the comm's station.

"Captain, your thoughts?" Azi'skar asked with a told you so smirk.

"Uh Grum," Zerir growled, "we esh gonna need more than 46 crew."

"Khįz." [Indeed,] Azi'skar growled. "Esh gonna need at least 300."

"What's the plan for the rest of the day, Grum?" Var'tannen asked in a somewhat casual tone.

"Picking up the Askars from Varnek," Azi'skar answered. "Too bad we couldn't surprise Thot Ni'mai, picking him up in this," he sighed.

Zerir sighed dreamily, imagining how fun it will be to captain this ship.

o-o-o

After two hours of excitement, exploring their ship under construction, Zerir and her crew returned to the Yu'tor. A four second in-system hyperspace microjump later, and they were in orbit of Bothawui-9.

Now I get to meet Thot Ni'mai, Zerir thought to herself. The only clan leaders she had met were her own Grum, Azi'skar, and the leader of Clan Otrek, Liska Gyar'trek, a positively terrifying old Bothan who also held the rank of Admiral in the Bothawui Navy.

o-o-o

"Permission to come aboard," growled a red-furred Bothan male with a patch of tan fur on his neck. Behind him stood four Bothans, Klaes, Olanir, and two Zerir did not recognise.

"Permission granted Grum Ni'mai," Zerir said, extending her hand.

Azi'skar and Nyir stood alongside Zerir, greeting the disembarking Bothans in the hangar. To Zerir's surprise, they had departed Varnek in a Botha'ahir Marine shuttle.

Moments after Zerir granted permission, the Marine shuttle unceremoniously levitated from the hangar floor, drifted to the force field, then fired its engines once it was safely in space.

Now in the hangar, it was just the eight Bothans and Azi'skar's shuttle.

After a brief pause, Thot started speaking again, pointing to the Bothans standing next to him. "This my husband, Hakorsk, and my son-in-law—"

"—My cousin Morst," Azi'skar interrupted with a feral grin. "Nice to see you again."

"—My cousin Morst," Azi'skar explained with a feral grin. "Nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too Grum," Morst said with a smile.

"Yes," Thot said in forced calm. "this is my niece Asir,"

"Nice to meet you Captain," Asir smiled politely.

"And we've met," Olanir said, "this is Klaes Oc'skar," she said, pointing to a heterochromatic Bothan with mainly tan fur, but brown patches here and there.

"Nice to meet you Klaes, Asir, and Morst," Zerir said efficiently, stooping forwards to shake all three of their hands concurrently. She sniffed the air curiously when she smelled something… Asir is pregnant, she realised. Huh. Morst an Askar is going to… huh.

"Where is Hakorsk?" Azi'skar asked as he shook Ni'mai's hand.

"I left him in charge of Varnek while I am away," Ni'mai said.

Azi'skar started laughing in earnest.

"Grum Azi'skar, we need to talk," Olanir groweld to Azi'skar, stepping up to him.

Zerir's ears perked up and so did Morst's, Ni'mai's and Asir's.

"I would like to petition Itoll Oc for Askar—"

"—The same Itoll who participated in the attack on Varnek?!" Azi'skar snarled. "It's bad enough that you are related to him Klaes."

Klaes's fur fell flat.

"Perhaps we should go," Morst urged to Zerir and the others, passive-aggressively pointing to the door.

"All right," Zerir whispered. On her way to the door, her fur continued swirling and her ears remained perked up. She could tell by Azi'skar's dramatic snarling that he was pretending to be angrier than he really was. More Botha'ahir log-heads will be joining our Clan. Hope he's good looking like Klaes, Zerir thought wryly to herself.

Thot muttered aloud, "Weird. Azi'skar felt sorry for Itoll when Liska told us about him. He was very concerned for his safety."

Yep. Knew it, Zerir smirked. All of these old Bothan men perfect the art of sounding pissed off.