Chapter 31: Tav Mi'zya
Thellus Asteroid, Dressel System
Tav Mi'zya and all of the other Bothan's ears perked up. Akapu Dest stood just beyond the entryway to the restaurant, speaking into a wrist comm.
"All right, I have sight on Gavin Azi'skar and Liska Gyar'trek," Akapu said.
"What is he saying?!" Gyar'trek snarled furiously in a hushed whisper.
"Zega pa yuman par ta, pam wor'wor." ["The human is talking about you, grandma,"] Glazir said excitedly. ["Can you not hear them?"]
["Old age,"] Gyar'trek growled, patting her on the head.
In actuality, while Shistavanen noses were as sensitive as Bothans, their hearing was less than half as sharp. An average young human could hear almost as well as Liska Gyar'trek. She had required medical waivers her entire life to remain in the Navy. Nezir also had hearing nearly as bad. Fortunately, her children had hearing normal for Bothans.
By this point, four of Gyar'trek's sailors had their hands on their blaster holsters.
"He's… he's going away," Tav sighed in relief.
"Shore leave is over!" Gyar'trek snarled, pulling out her comm. "This is Ovesk Actual to Ovesk three, I am declaring Martial Law on Thellus. Dock with Thellus immediately. Shore leave is over, we need every Marine activated immediately. Call the garrison at Fort Otrek."
"What?!" Azi'skar yelped. "We have the Futures'—"
"—We need checkpoints on every street," she snarled, "with overlapping lines of fire, kill zones on every corner—"
"—Kill zones?" Azi'skar yelped, his fur falling flat. "There are only eight of them!"
"Very well Ovesk Actual," a voice said on the comm.
"Also, get me an armoured transport at the Black Hide Steakhouse."
"Very well, is there anything else?" the voice asked.
"That's all for now. Get on it," Gyar'trek added, hanging up. "Colonel Tav Mi?" she snarled.
"Yes Admiral?" Tav growled nervously, his fur still flat. What is she going to do to me?
"I am putting you back in command of the Marshalcy Field—" she stopped talking and began dialling the number for the Marshalcy Field Office, swearing under her breath as she missed buttons.
Shistavanens were colour blind even by human standards. While Bothans were tetrachromats who could see into the ultraviolet spectrum, Shistavanens were dichromats, unable to distinguish red from green. On the one hand, this gave Shistavanens far better night vision than Bothans. On the other, Gyar'trek could not make out the shape of the green buttons against the red background of her datapad. To her, it all looked like black numbers suspended on a dark yellow background.
"I am going to use the refresher," Nezir said suddenly.
"The bathroom! At a time like this?" Tav growled.
"Yes. It sounds like whatever the hell you troopers are doing is going to take a long time," Nezir snarled, standing up.
Tav started to stand—
"—No," Nezir growled in a warning. "I don't need you to escort me. Watch the kids!"
Tav's blonde fur swirled nervously he sat back down. At least I am in charge of the Marshalcy, he thought optimistically.
Azi'skar furiously threw a basket of breadsticks off the table and threw down his small holopad in its place.
A human woman, Thellus's Mayor, Aliz Tamari, appeared.
While Gyar'trek snarled at Major Warosh, who was now the acting Marshal in charge, Azi'skar snarled at Aliz Tamari. The table devolved quickly into multiple conversations.
They still have Shidar. The Mandalorians and Diplomatic Corps, whatever they were planning—
"Ouch!" Tav yelped, glaring at Glazir who had pulled one of his whiskers.
"Dad, you weren't—"
"—Tap my shoulder next time," Tav growled. "You can't just pull my whiskers. What is it?"
"What's happening?" Glazir asked.
Tav's fur swirled guiltily. There is a Bothan, who happens to have fur the same colour as your mother's named Shidar; she happens to be a prostitute—that means someone who has sex for money. Like the birds and the bees, but for profit. Shidar gave us human hair and her own fur. When we sent it in for analysis, the Marshalcy lied and said it belonged to only Shidar. We found out, through the Mandalorians, that the hair actually belonged to some Mandalorians. Shidar went missing. It turns out someone is covering this up—someone who probably wants to kill that Bothan right across the table from you, who is snarling at that human, who is the mayor of this hellhole. No we are on—"OUCH!" Tav yelped.
"Dad, why do you look so naughty?" Glazir asked, once again tugging on his whiskers.
"Stop that," Tav snarled, his fur twitching impatiently. "What's happening is a long story that daddy cannot talk about because it involves secret stuff."
"Secret stuff?" Ralosk asked.
Tav's fur swirled guiltily.
"You look like when we found you in the hospital," Ralosk muttered. "Mom said you had been naughty, which is why you were handcuffed."
"There's some stuff…" I am very not proud of. Bothans I let down. Tav drank a gulp of water to give himself an excuse to stop talking. "Some stuff," he gasped. "Oh shtak!" he yelped, his fur falling flat.
A Mandalorian now stood in the doorway in a full suit of armour. His soulless helmet looked across the room.
"MANDALORIAN!" Tav yelped.
Every Bothan in the room except for Tav and his two kids drew blasters. Gavin Azi'skar pulled an Abokul-11 pistol from his Clan Leader Cloak. They flipped the large round table over for cover.
Tav grabbed Ralosk and Glazir's hands, pulling them into the corner of the room out of the line of fire. In his orange jumpsuit, without a blaster in this situation, he felt naked.
The Mandalorian began firing across the restaurant. Screaming patrons ran out of the way.
Over the blasts, Gyar'trek cackled madly. "Gavin! You carry a blaster on your own station? Shtak this place is a slum!"
"Shut—AH!" Azi'skar yelped when a shot cracked the large table.
Gyar'trek's fur danced with excitement as she fired shot after shot into the Mandalorian's chestplate. Purple tracer rounds burned brightly on its surface. Then, her fur swirled nervously. "NO EFFECT!" she snarled. "Our shots—HOLD YOUR FIRE!" she yelped.
Tav looked up and gasped.
Nezir had returned from the bathroom. Her fur stood on end as she approached the fully-armoured Mandalorian holding a tray.
Tav clenched his jaw so hard his teeth nearly broke.
Nezir swung the metal tray onto the Mandalorian's hand, knocking his blaster out. With super-Bothan strength, she grabbed his armoured hand and broke his thumb with a crack Tav could hear.
The Mandalorian screamed, punching her in the ribcage with a gauntlet.
Azi'skar, Freyir, and several of the sailors gasped in shock.
Any normal Bothan's ribs would have broken at that point, but Nezir snarled and began pulling his other fingers backwards.
Collapsing to his knees, the Mandalorian yelled.
"KRIFFING SOLDIERS!" Nezir snarled, grunting as the Mandalorian continued punching her chest and stomach with a gauntlet. "Tav? Mom? Little soldiers? A little help! How do I explain? I need cover fire? Is that the right term? KRIFFING HELP! DO YOUR KRIFFING JOBS! THIS KRIFFING HURTS!" she yelped as another hard gauntlet blow hit her chest.
Tav ran forward, his fur flat in fear, even more frightened of his wife than of the Mandalorian. Gyar'trek and her sailors followed.
With a snarl, Tav tackled the Mandalorian, holding down his right arm. The sailors joined in, forming a snarling dogpile.
"MEDIC!" Gyar'trek snarled, opening Nezir's shirt.
"Oh Nezir!" Tav groaned, getting closer to have a look.
"Huh," one of the sailors muttered, scanning her chest. "I can see, Admiral, why you are so scared of your…" he gulped, killing his final words. "She's fine! Definitely bruised, but no broken bones. Amazing."
"Thank you," Nezir scoffed. "And thank you Tav, it's always—"
"—I am sorry," Tav stammered, hugging her. "I was just shocked. I thought I lost you until you started talking," he sniffled.
"Colonel," Gyar'trek scoffed.
"Oh, like you did any better, mom," Nezir snarled. "Tav was at least the first one here."
"We don't have time for this," Gyar'trek growled, suddenly regaining focus. "We need to get to the Buli. We need your team out of prison. We need to then meet… Come on! It's here!"
Outside of the restaurant, a Bothan ABN-67 armoured personnel carrier pulled up. It was painted in Bothawui Marine colours with a Clan Otrek Sigil.
o.o.o.o.o
Gyar'trek and her sailors, Gavin Azi'skar, Trigger, Feyir, Tav Mi'zya, Nezir, and their kids now rode in the transport with four Bothawui Marines.
A now de-helmeted Akapu Dest sat despondently next to Gyar'trek, his broken fingers swelling.
On the floor, in the middle of this, the hologram of the Mandalorian Ambassador Kai Rook stood defiantly. "I am sorry for the attempt on your life. Now that it is over, we respectfully request that you render Akapu Dest to us. I have instructed the Consulate—"
"—This is an act of war," Azi'skar snarled furiously. "Through your incompetence, you have allowed known terrorists to run around in my streets for weeks. You interfered with Bothan law enforcement—"
"—Might I remind you," Ambassador Rook said angrily, raising her voice, "that you were more than happy to take those Marshals into custody, Grum. They—"
"—I did not have any information," Azi'skar snarled, his fur now standing on end. "You have put the lives of millions of Bothans in danger, just because your shtak hole Jogan Fruit Republic cannot keep its own trash inside! You—"
"—JOGAN FRUIT REPUBLIC!" Rook yelled furiously.
Gyar'trek scoffed.
"Yes," Azi'skar growled, biting the air furiously with each word. "Mandalore is a Jogan Fruit Republic. You pretend to be so moral, but you are really just an impoverished world that is completely out of control. You want me to extradite these would-be murderers because you would rather have them sit around in prison, until the next revolution topples your government and breaks them out."
Tav sighed. We are no closer to fixing this mess. Now we have one Mandalorian out of seven in custody, but the others are still loose.
"Honey?" Nezir spoke softly, turning to Tav.
"What is it?" Tav asked.
"Is every day like this?"
"Nope," Tav said simply. "It's usually not this bad. Normally—"
"—THE AUDACITY!" Rook shrieked. "We, and the diplomatic corps, have the situation nearly under control! All of this will be fixed before your precious Futures' Symposium."
The transport slowed to a stop.
"Come on," Gyar'trek snarled to Tav, opening the back hatch.
o.o.o.o.o
"Sir!" Klayer yelped. "Mayer said you had been killed. She said—oh," her voice died as she saw Gyar'trek emerge in front of the cell alongside Tav. Her fur fell flat.
Tav's fur swirled nervously.
"I decided not to kill him," Gyar'trek growled. "Tav—get… Where are your Marshalcy uniforms?!" she snarled. Then she turned to the guard station, "GET THEM THEIR UNIFORMS!"
"Yes Admiral!" the Thellus cop growled nervously, trotting down the hallway.
Mayer sniffed the air curiously. "Sir, why do you smell like steak?"
Tav took a mental note of how Mayer did not think it strange that he smelled like garbage. I guess that isn't the strange part after all. "I—well I had steak."
"What?!" Malazor growled indignantly. "I mean… what sir?"
"Marshals," Gyar'trek grumbled. "Always worried about who's getting the nice things."
o.o.o.o.o
The Marshals now all wore blue instead of orange. With Klayer and her team on board, the transport was much more crowded.
Upon meeting Nezir, Klayer said politely, "It is nice to meet you."
Tav's fur swirled nervously. It felt like the universe might explode. The only worse possible scenario would be Shidar meeting the two.
"Take us to dock seven," Gyar'trek ordered to the driver.
"Dock seven?" Azi'skar growled. "Why?"
"I am getting you, Nezir, and my grandchildren off Thellus until it is safe, and I am deploying 2,000 Marines from my ship into the streets."
"I never agreed to be evacuated!" Azi'skar snarled. "It's one thing to declare martial law, it's—"
"—Oh, shut up!" Gyar'trek snarled back.
"What about my kids and grandkids?" Azi'skar growled in a tiny voice.
"They are in Grav'shtarn right?" Gyar'trek asked. "Should be perfectly safe there."
o.o.o.o.o
The armoured transport was now parked next to the airlock. Gyar'trek's flagship, the Ovesk, a Munificent-class cruiser, drew nearer out the airlock.
Four Bothawui Marines in blue and red RIS armour formed a perimeter, standing guard in front of the transport as passers-by nervously walked past.
In the airlock window, it still looked quite small from a distance.
"Admiral," a voice said in Gyar'trek's comm.
"Yes?" she growled impatiently.
"We are detecting numerous hyperspace jumps, 20 Dunlizards just jumped out and are heading right for us," a voice said in alarm.
"Well, you know what to do, Captain" Gyar'trek muttered.
"Yes ma'am," the voice yelped. Tav could hear the fear in his voice. "Scrambling all fighters."
"I have pilots too Admiral," Tav growled in a tiny voice.
Gyar'trek grunted dismissively.
Numerous explosions flashed all around the Ovesk. The Bothan fighters, mostly Y-Wings, were engaging the unknown Dunelizards. The blue flashes from the Y-Wings ion cannons cut through the red streaks in the distance.
"Wow," Ralosk growled in awe.
"Admiral," a different voice said into the comm. "This is Lieutenant—"
"—I know who you are Zhi'fon," Gyar'trek growled. "Get to it!"
"Ma'am, sending you facial recognition data. You'll want to see this."
Tav nervously looked over her shoulder.
A photo of a human male inside of a Dunelizard, one of the ships attacking right now, appeared on Gyar'trek's datapad. She swore under her breath, pulling the datapad out of Tav's view. "Tav Mi!"
"I am sorry ma'am," Tav growled, his fur flat in fear.
Gyar'trek continued hitting buttons, snarling angrily, whispering curses. Her fur too fell flat. "Colonel, scramble the Marshalcy fighters now."
Tav nervously dialled Captain Borsk Mey'lab. On the fourth ring, Borsk Mey picked up.
"Captain Borsk Mey here," a male voice game out of Tav's comm.
"Colonel Tav Mi here, how many fighters can we scramble right now?"
"At this hour of the evening sir, I have three pilots who are combat ready. In fifteen minutes, I can get you ten, in forty, I can get you thirty plus lots of Thellus cops."
"Scramble as many as you can right now. The Ovesk is under attack."
"Very well sir, scrambling the fighters to render aid to the Ovesk."
"Keep this line open," Tav ordered.
"Very well sir," Borsk replied.
Gyar'trek's comm went off again. "Ma'am, the enemy is breaking off, but we have movement from the asteroid field."
"Put it on my comm," Gyar'trek ordered.
Tav's fur swirled nervously as he caged his eyes forward. Every fibre of his being wanted to see what was happening outside of the station. What his own pilots were flying into. What was happening with the ship that Gyar'trek wanted to stick Nezir and the kids in.
Suddenly, a station-wide alarm went off in an ominous tone.
Azi'skar swore under his breath, his fur falling flat.
"What is it?!" Gyar'trek yelped.
"Collision alert. That's the alarm for when the asteroids start doing unexpected things."
Tav did not need to sneak a peak of Gyar'trek's battle-feed to see what was happening. Through the transparisteel, a wave of asteroids was visible to the naked eye, tumbling down onto the Ovesk. Some bounced off its hull, a few flashes could be seen—no doubt fighters colliding with the loose rocks.
"We are clearing some asteroids ma'am," a voice said confidently in Gyar'trek's comm. "Those pirates seem to have thrown asteroids—"
"—Withdraw to the edge of the system!" Gyar'trek ordered, seeming to know something Tav did not. "Damn, a Tarkin manoeuvre… It's a trap."
"You're right, several bombers… Damn."
Several voices screamed for a moment from Gyar'trek's comm. The fighters and bombers were too small to make out, but in the distance, the Ovesk's bridge exploded. Smaller explosions rippled across the ship.
Tav picked up his datapad. "GET OUR SHIPS OUT OF THE BLAST RADIUS!"
"Shtak!" Borsk yelped. "I am trying to."
Within seconds, the Ovesk exploded in a brilliant flash.
All of the sailors' fur was flat. The Bothans snarled helpless obscenities as thousands of their friends and colleagues, their entire social circles, exploded ingloriously fifteen kilometres away. Completely senseless deaths. Killed because they stood in the way of some convoluted plan to kill Gavin Azi'skar.
"Status report!" Tav yelped into the line. A sinking feeling hit the pit of his stomach. I lost people too. Kolo… he might be dead. He took a deep breath.
"Our pilots got out," Borsk sighed in relief.
Tav began sighing in relief too but, upon realising how insensitive that would be, he disguised his exhaling through punching the airlock door.
"Ųmyęką ų ųmshtęręlįzą phąną shįstįsk Thąrkįn yąg." ["All Tarkins will be killed or sterilised,"] Gyar'trek snarled, showing Azi'skar her datapad.
For the first time Tav could ever remember, the Admiral had tears in her eyes. Tav had no idea what a Tarkin was and did not dare ask.
