Chapter 33: Klayer To'lya

Thellus Asteroid, Dressel System

Outside of Airlock 1 in New Aroo, Gavin Azi'skar and Liska Gyar'trek had discovered something that seemed to change everything. Whatever they had discovered however, was a secret they were not divulging. From their angry snarls, Klayer surmised that they were now focusing on brutally exterminating whomever was ultimately responsible for this attempt on Azi'skar's life.

While Azi'skar and the Navy worked out how they might take revenge, Tav and Klayer continued staring out the airlock window to watch the search and rescue operations underway. The rest of Klayer's team stood around nervously. Gyar'trek's sailors stood around stoically, for the most part, their fur twirling unhappily.

Bothan Extinction. A few days ago, Klayer had scoffed at the tabloidish idea, yet a mere eight Mandalorians had somehow done all of this. In the middle of the chaos, all Azi'skar and Admiral Gyar'trek can think about is revenge. She had scoffed at the idea of needing to be proficient with a blaster. The irony did not escape her. We are so badly prepared for what's out there. I am badly prepared.

"Nodo mu ba pomonta?" [Shouldn't we be moving?] Nezir whispered to Tav.

[Yeah,] Tav whispered back thoughtfully.

Klayer snorted.

[You find this funny?!] asked of Gyar'trek's sailors.

"No, I don't," Klayer replied in Basic. "I find the fact they are whispering about whether we should move when—Admiral!" she growled.

"Lieutenant," Gyar'trek snarled, turning to Klayer, "this does not concern you or any Marshal. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Klayer said as calmly. "But we should consider relocating, so you and Grum Azi'skar can have your conversation in a secure location."

"You're right," Gyar'trek huffed. "Everyone! Back in the ABN!"

Klayer, Tav and the Marshals, the Marines, Tav's family, and Gyar'trek and her sailors joined the captured Mandalorian on the ABN personnel carrier once again. This time Klayer took a seat closer to the cockpit.

"Now that evacuating you is no longer a sensible option," Gyar'trek muttered to Azi'skar, "we need to get you and the civilians to Grav'shtarn."

"Yeah I—" Azi'skar started, then his datapad buzzed. "What is it?"

Klayer's ears perked up. She could hear Mayor Tamari's voice on the line. "There has been a shooting at the auction. We still haven't been able to get teams into the building—"

"—A shooting?!" Azi'skar yelped. "At the—are Olanir, Klaes and Grum Ni'mai all right?"

"We have no idea. The Agkaworza 'Yobod precinct has hostage negotiators on the scene," Tamari explained.

"Thank you for the update," Azi'skar sighed.

"It is the least I can do," Tamari said solemnly.

"Agkaworza Yobod is being hit too," Gyar'trek groaned. "This complicates matters. We need—"

"Zhara kontak!" [Contacts!] the pilot yelped. "Erz pana zevisk Mandalor mid zharam dzhet pak!""There are seven Mandalorians with jetpacks!"

The ABN dinged as small arms fire hit it from above. Klayer looked out the cockpit window and saw three fly by, each carrying blaster rifles.

[Return fire!] Gyar'trek snarled.

The top turret began spraying a wave of armour piercing slugs at the Mandalorians flying overhead.

[Cover your ears!] Tav snarled to his kids.

[But dad, your ears—]

[—Do as he says!] Nezir growled.

Through the cockpit window, a Mandalorian flew in an arc, trying to avoid the glowing stream of dark-purple tracer slugs. As he crossed by the centre of the Klayer's view, dozens of slugs nailed the flying Mandalorian in the shoulder and chest. His jetpack burst into flames, propelling him straight into the ground.

On the other side of the sphere, rooftops were being clearly hit. A few were smoking.

[Fire more carefully!] Gyar'trek ordered. [Sustained bursts, we don't want to wreck the whole station.]

[Yes ma'am,] the gunner yelled down into the passenger compartment.

Klayer's fur stopped swirling nervously as the firefight went on. The Mandalorians did not stand a chance against a tank.

[All right, we got six! The final two are breaking off.]

[Very good job corporal,] Gyar'trek said proudly.

The Mandalorian POW sighed despondently.

Klayer wondered, for a wild moment, whether he understood Bothese. No, he can probably just tell they lost because they are no longer shooting at us. But then, her fur began to swirl nervously again. The Mandalorians attacked the auction in the Agkaworza 'Yobod District. This means… Shtak.

"Do I still need to be evacuated?" Azi'skar asked hopefully. "Perhaps I can help run things from the Marshalcy Field Office. If we killed six of them, and have one here, then there is only one Mandalorian left right? That means—oh…" He gasped suddenly; his snout fell open in shock.

"Yeah, there are definitely more than six," Tav grunted. "We were… We underestimated—"

"—You were wrong," Gyar'trek snarled.

"Yes Admiral," Tav said, is fur swirling nervously. "We were wrong."

o-o-o

Ditmas Shar

Things seldom go precisely according to plan, Ditmas thought to himself. While Baci and Pul had successfully dispatched Olanir Krit'skar, Klaes Oc'skar, Thot Ni'mai, and all of the attendees who dared to buy Mandaorian armour, Akapu Dest had been captured, and—

"—Val gana beskaryc'iviin?!" [They have a tank?!] Ditmas asked incredulously into the comm as he took the turbolift to the ground level.

[Yes, almost all of Hacker team is dead. We lost six warriors,] said Gorvi, the operations coordinator.

How the kriff did the Bothans get a tank on this station? How—you know what, never mind. [All right, I will lead an immediate incursion into New Aroo. Give me all of Orion team] Ditmas ordered.

[Detonate the—]

[—No can do], Ditmas muttered bitterly. Damn I want to see that explosion. [If I detonate the bomb, it will destroy the Fort Otrek Maglev Station. The Agkaworza 'Yobod Maglev Station will then not be able to reach New Aroo because it is one stop further away down the line.]

[Take a speeder!] Gorvi yelled. [The longer we wait—]

[A speeder will take too long. If we want to kill Gavin Azi'skar and Liska Gyar'trek we have to move now!] Ditmas yelled. [I will detonate the bomb after we make our exit.]

He hung up, then switched channels. [Baci, Pul?]

[Yes?] Baci asked.

[Get back to the ship,] Ditmas ordered. [We need to be ready to leave as soon as Azi'skar is dead.]

[You can't go after him alone,] Baci retorted.

[True. Which I am not doing,] Ditmas said gruffly. [Taking seven from Orion team. We'll disrupt the troop movements from Fort Otrek on our way out, hopefully trapping more of them there, then detonate the device behind us.]

[Very well,] Baci sighed. [We are on the move.]

o-o-o

Ditmas now stood in red and black armour with seven members of Orion team. Surprisingly, they had met no resistance as they flew across the sphere's interior towards Fort Otrek. The green kavris vined rooftops came closer and closer.

Between two barracks, a formation of thirty or so Bothawui Marines had assembled in blue and red RIS armour.

[Wait till I fire,] Ditmas ordered into the comm.

One of the Bothans looked up, no doubt hearing the jet packs. Ditmas aimed his Westar M5-heavy repeater straight ahead and squeezed the trigger as he swooped down on the formation like a terrifying hawk.

Through the blasts, smoke, and commotion he could hear the Bothans yelping and snarling. A few began returning fire while most ran for cover. Once the formation was sufficiently disrupted, Ditmas yelled "Break off! Rally on the Maglev Station."

They flew through the main street of Fort Otrek leaving smouldering Bothan bodies in their wake, most unarmoured.

Now, to get through here before 6,000 Bothan Marines, 10,000 Sailors, and 3,000 Marshals swarm us.

Three police cruisers sat in front of the Maglev Station. A group of Marines and Thellus cops took cover behind barricades, aiming their blasters forward. All right, they predicted where we were going. "Ke'tracy gadi'be'senaare." [Fire your wrist rockets,] he ordered.

[Gladly,] Vhae Shar said, unleashing her salvo.

The three cruisers exploded, one of them flipping over.

The Bothans returned fire. A burst of three shots hit Ditmas's shoulder.

"BLAST!" Ditmas yelled, mowing down the Bothans with controlled methodical sprays of blasterfire. That was awfully close to my jetpack. Dark purple tracer rounds flew past him, so dark his eyes could hardly make them out. Ditmas pulled up to get out of their line of fire, then began shooting the Bothans from overhead, completely nullifying their cover.

The Bothans scattered in every direction, returning fire upwards as they ran.

The more Bothans Ditmas killed, the more annoyed he was. These Bothans just don't die easily. They were not particularly adept warriors. They were so outclassed that Ditmas and his men could easily mow down dozens of them. However, killing each one individually was more challenging than killing the average human. Bothans moved. They took cover. They wasted his time staying alive as he blasted them, clinging to life even though it was hopeless. Some of them continued running even after being hit, probably wounded mortally anyways. More than anything, Ditmas wished these Bothans would just stand still like regular soldiers around the Galaxy.

o-o-o

After finishing their massacre in front of the Maglev Station, the Mandalorians quickly landed and ran inside. Alarms were going off in every direction. All of Fort Otrek was mobilising against them. It was time to go.

Even if the Bothans were somehow unable to eliminate Ditmas and his team, Ditmas knew that he would simply run out of blaster energy well before he fired even 600 shots.

None of them could read any of the Bothese Cyrillic as they retreated deeper and deeper into the Maglev Station, but fortunately, the maps were bilingual with Basic directions too.

"Sweet, Platform 4 is just over here!" Ditmas yelled, running past several terrified civilians crouching against the walls. His footsteps and voiced echoed on all of the walls.

The eight Mandalorians stood on Platform 4. The sign said that the next maglev was coming in one minute.

"What if they simply stop the trains?" Lox asked, hesitation in his voice.

"Never thought of that possibility," Ditmas said with a shrug.

Soon however, the wind from the oncoming maglev was blowing from the tunnel.

"It's coming all right!" Ditmas said excitedly.

The dim lights of the maglev drew closer and closer.

"Behind us!" Chanzie yelled.

Ditmas turned around just in time for a flashbang to detonate in front of his helmet. His visor protected his eyes from the light, but the sound was deafening.

A group of Bothan sailors stormed down the staircase in solid green RIS armour, spraying the Mandalorians with blasts. Without being able to fly, the Mandalorians were being hit constantly.

Ditmas returned fire, blasting two Bothans who fell down yelping.

Several shots sprayed his chest-plate. A purple flame ignited on it from the tracer rounds.

One of the Bothans managed to squeeze a shot off directly into the joint between Chanzie's helmet and torso armour. She fell without saying a word.

Vhae began firing wrist-rockets. The Bothans who were not hit by the explosions themselves were crushed under rubble raining down from the ceiling.

Ditmas backed up away from the falling debris and slipped on the gap before the maglev tracks. Swearing under his breath, he fell to his knees, then crawled away back towards the falling rubble.

The maglev pulled up. Ditmas turned around and gasped. Every compartment was full of cops. Bothan cops, human cops, dozens of cops. Most were in tactical response armour.

"CHARGE!" Ditmas yelled to the six surviving members of Orion team. "Hit the cops, kill the driver, we need to move!"

o-o-o

Ditmas looked down at his remote detonator, completely exhausted. On the floor of the maglev were the bodies of over 40 Thellus cops. Probably half their crisis response team.

Under his helmet, his forehead was caked in sweat from the sheer effort of murdering so many.

The maglev began moving forward with Janack at the controls.

"Can I do the honours, Ditmas?" Vhae asked pleadingly.

"No," Ditmas scoffed. "You already got to blow up stuff with rockets." He looked back down the cart over the dead bodies, towards the rearmost window. When the light of the Fort Otrek Maglev Station faded into darkness, he presumed this was far enough from the blast radius and squeezed the trigger.