Chapter 22: Klayer To'lya

Thellus Asteroid, Dressel System

The next morning, Klayer walked from her dormitory, along the sidewalk on the wide streets of Fort Otrek towards the Fort Otrek Maglev Station.

About 40% of the total area of the Agkaworza 'Yobod District was occupied by Fort Otrek, Bothawui's 4 square kilometre naval base built on the wall of Thellus's largest district. It was built on the land the human pirate gang, the Lithium Lancers, had once lived. Twenty-five years ago, Republic Judicial, Jedi, and Bothawui Naval forces obliterated the gang after days of intense urban warfare. In the aftermath, Gavin Azi'skar allowed Clan Otrek to develop the land and they turned it into a military base.

On the one hand, this created a point of political tension between Bothawui and Clan Askar: their naval base occupied almost half of Thellus's nicest district and almost all of the docking ports of that district. Civilian ships had to dock in the older and more dangerous outlying docking districts, such as the Gal'skar Docks. On the other hand, those poorer districts would be even poorer still if it were not for that civilian traffic.

With Bothawui Kavris vines lining the tops of every building in Fort Otrek, the fort itself was a square of green against the otherwise mostly grey city scape in every direction of the grav-plated sphere's interior.

Halfway from her abode to the Maglev Station, Klayer stepped into the Battle Caf. It was a caf shop on-base. The owners decorated the front of the shop with an absurd painting of a caf bean.

The bean on the painting had two arms and two legs, was dressed in a Bothawui Marine Uniform, and held a Boola Carbine, blasting a purple tracer rounds, wearing a look of angry powerful determination. Ah, those enlisted knuckle-draggers must really love something like this, Klayer had secretly thought to herself the first time she saw the painting.

"I'd like a Bith cafacino please," Klayer said with a polite smile to the barista, a Thellus human woman with brown-red hair. She's new.

"You speak Basic really well," she remarked.

"Thanks," Klayer said with her ears perked up. The patches fur not covered by her blue Marshal Uniform danced happily. She once again wondered to herself, why can't we just put the Marshalcy headquarters here?

o-o-o

A brand-new series of prefabricated structures had been dropped in front of the Maglev Station. Clan Otrek had given the Askars permission to set them up here for free, to be used to house guests during the Futures' Symposium. Afterwards, they would be transferred to Bothawui Navy custody, to be used to house Sailors and Marines while they tore down the oldest barracks.

Klayer was not complaining. The Marshalcy dormitory here was ten times nicer than anything the Bothawui Navy or Marines had. We deserve it, she thought to herself. It is harder work becoming a Marshal, we have to deal with the scum and villainy of the Galaxy, and we behave ourselves a lot better than those Marines—she thought suddenly of Colonel Tav Mi'zya's brothel escapades with a derisive snort. Well, most Marshals behave better.

As she climbed down the steps to the Maglev Platform, the artificial full-spectrum light of the outside dimming, her thoughts drifted to the Futures' Symposium. It will be weird though having a bunch of non-Bothans living on-base for a few days, she admitted to herself. Really weird. A human working at the Battle Caf was weird enough to her.

o-o-o

"Awesome," Klayer whispered to herself when she saw the roster after turning on her terminal. Her fur danced excitedly. Her entire division had next Zheliday and Benduday off. Six days till the Symposium and we don't have to pull security for it.

"Kita ko, yag kita woks korn shkedzhul, ma'am." [I see you see the schedule, ma'am,] Grafisk said with a smile across the room from his station.

"Kiz." [Yep,] Klayer yipped excitedly. [We can focus on Intelligence Analysis. No need to put on a helmet or hold a riot shield this deployment.]

Corporal Mayer Ta'trek scoffed.

[Is there a problem Corporal?] Klayer snarled impatiently.

[Sorry ma'am, just that stuff you mentioned is actually interesting to me.]

[Well, maybe…] Maybe being in an intelligence unit is too cerebral for you, Klayer was going to say. She thought better of it. [All right. Fair enough,] she shrugged. Just don't look so kriffing bored all the time!

Klayer's comm buzzed. It was Colonel Tav Mi'zya. She answered it with a nervous growl [Lieutenant Klayer To, is there something I can help you with Colonel?]

[Yes, I wanted to speak with you in my office,] he said in a calm voice. [In the meantime, your team is to report to the Special Action Room.]

[Yes sir,] Klayer growled. Her fur now swirled nervously. All right. Maybe Corporal Mayer will get her way.

o-o-o

Standing outside Tav's office, Klayer could hear a conversation inside. A very angry old Bothan male was snarling at Tav in a gravelly voice, saying that the amount of evidence Tav had provided for an implantation warrant was insufficient and that Tav must not mess this up.

Klayer's fur swirled with suspicion. Implantation warrant… this is serious. No wait, I shouldn't be eavesdropping. She knocked on the office door.

"Gin-durato woks yov sa korn yeda second." [Wait a moment,] Tav growled.

Standing quietly outside the door, Klayer tried to focus on something else for a moment. She pulled out her datapad and—

"—Gin-pomonta woks ar." [Come in, Tav] beckoned.

[Good afternoon sir,] Klayer growled, giving a salute. She held her salute until Tav returned it.

[Good afternoon Lieutenant. At ease. Take a seat,] Tav sighed.

Klayer nervously took a seat. She looked around the room for some clue as to why Tav might have called her in, but nothing obvious came to mind.

[I just wanted to thank you for your help yesterday,] Tav said. [And to apologise. I should not have embarrassed you like that.]

Klayer blinked in amazement. Her snout hung open. All right, maybe you are not as big of a piece of shtak as I thought. [Thank you, sir. I want to apologise again, as well, for sounding like I was prying.]

His fur began twirling unhappily. [It's… well. Let's leave it at that.]

[Is everything all right sir?] she growled, shifting herself back in her chair. Damn. I shouldn't slouch.

[This whole abduction, or murder,] he snarled. [Whatever they did to Shidar—When I get my hands on those Mandalorians…] His snarls died into silence as his fur stood on end. [They have Shidar. This escalates things Lieutenant.]

[I agree sir,] Klayer said professionally. [They abducted a Bothan. Once we tell the Thellus police, and show them evidence that Shidar has been—]

[—We are keeping Thellus out of the loop for now,] Tav growled cautiously. [This is a delicate situation. I don't want… well I want the best trained personnel rescuing Shidar.]

Klayer's fur swirled nervously now. My team is not the best trained for this situation. We are intelligence. [Sir, just to make sure we are on the same page, you are not suggesting MY TEAM rescues Shidar?] Her question started calmly but ended in a panicked yelp.

[No,] Tav snorted, shaking his head. [No Lieutenant. Things are escalating though. I have an Implantation Warrant for Ditmas Shar.]

All right, so something my team is trained for, she thought. Still, her fur swirled nervously. "Sir, may I ask," she growled suddenly in Basic. Should I have spoken Bothese? Pausing for a moment until her fur stopped swirling, she continued. "Why are we doing an implantation on Ditmas? Why not just arrest them all?"

"Because, I want Ditmas to feel it," Tav snarled, his fur once again standing on end. "During his trial, I want him to be wearing a cast. I want him in a jail cell, drinking soup through a straw. I want him to feel pain. Is there a problem with that?"

"No—no sir!" Klayer yelped. You are kriffing feral, she thought in alarm.

o-o-o

Klayer and her team were now assembled in the Special Action Room, along with Lieutenant Dzeshka Po'trek, her team of material specialists, and Colonel Tav Mi'zya.

Sergeant Grafisk was on the main viewer, once again having established surveliance on Ditmas Shar. Corporal Mayer and Sergeant Gavresk were dressed in civilian clothes, with elbow and kneepads.

Dzeshka's team was busy attaching a battering ram to the front of a Hover-scoot with a welding torch. To a naïve observer, it would look like the Bothans had modified this relatively harmless electric scooter to ram pedestrians.

In this case, the naïve observer would be correct.