Chapter 34: Sanda Krit'skar
Thellus Asteroid, Dressel System
The Summit had become much louder. Askar Heavy Permacrete music snarled away, echoes roaring off the walls. While Sanda, Q'afillip, and Zoc rocked their heads to the music, Hakorsk was making dorky robotic moves with his arms.
Then, the ground shook beneath their feet. The Bothans yelped in terror as furniture fell over, bottles shattered, and lamps fell. An avalanche of snow spilled off the pinnacle, thundering down the sides in every direction towards the bottom of the club.
The lights went out, the polar sun display turned off and, for a moment, everything was in complete darkness. Sanda covered her ears as dozens of patrons screamed in terror, then, the emergency lights turned on.
"Okay everyone, relax. Gin-relax!" the bartender snarled.
The screams died down and became nervous chattering.
"What the kriff was that?!" Hakorsk yelped.
Zoc started, "It sounds like—"
—The ominous radiation emergency alarm went off prompting the yelps and screams to resume.
"CALM DOMN!" the bartender yelled over the pandemonium. "We have a radiation emergency. You all know the drill. We need to get out of here," he said, walking towards the stairs, "and oh—"
Sanda walked to the edge of the pinnacle and nervously looked down. Her fur fell flat.
An avalanche had rained down from the pinnacle on all sides and buried everything at the base. Everything including the exit.
"So…" the bartender growled more nervously, "we jus' gotta… yeah… dig."
"Anyone have a snow shovel?" Hakorsk growled helpfully.
The bartender sighed. "They are in the closet down there, buried under the snow."
o-o-o
"You don't have to keep digging," Sanda growled consolingly to Q'afillip. Even in the dim light, the skin on his poor human hands was red from the cold.
"I want to help," Q'afillip protested.
Sanda grabbed his hands and blew on them with her hot breath. "You didn't evolve in the cold."
Around them, thirty patrons and the bartender were furiously digging with their bare furry hands.
"Kiz, well you did see snow, for the first time, the day I did," Q'afillip retorted.
"Esh the yas." [That's the truth], Sanda sighed in Askar Creole.
"At least I don't have to wear these stupid glasses anymore," Q'afillip snorted taking off his sunglasses.
Sanda resumed digging into the cold snow along the wall. Her fur swirled nervously as doubts began to flood her mind. What is on the other side of the airlock? What happens when we get through this snow?
o-o-o
An hour of digging through the snow and Sanda's fingers were numb; the cuffs of her sleeves were soaked. She continued to dig, crouched down over a hole that was becoming almost denlike the longer time went on. Until an ominous crunching sound shifted beneath her shoes. Her ears perked up. What could—
"—SHTAK!" she yelped as the snow at the bottom of the hole gave way. Her head banged the Summit's doorframe as she rolled onto the street. The stench of smoke was overwhelming.
"Sanda!" Q'afillip yelled, sliding through the snow after her. "Are you—holy shtak…" Q'afillip croaked.
Sanda's fur was flat. She had a splitting headache that had nothing to do with her fear.
Other patrons gasped as they arrived on the street. The power was completely out. Practically the only lights illuminating the darkness were emergency lights, spotlights, speeder headlights. The lone building with lights on was the Agkaworza 'Yobod Hospital.
The air was filled with smoke. The zero-gravity area towards the centre of the district's interior was filled with floating debris. A fiery glow reflected from the broken glass on the street.
Fort Otrek was gone. Where the green vines of Fort Otrek had once been visible almost directly opposite the sphere from the Summit, was a fiery crater.
"Hey!" yelled an extinguisher in a muffled voice from behind a transpirator. "You need to get to the shelter, kiz!"
"What happened?!" Hakorsk yelped.
Sanda saw something in the debris that, at first, she thought was transparisteel or glass. Then, when squinting hard, she could make out an RIS-armoured figure floating amidst the debris. She gulped as her mouth went dry.
o-o-o
Fraedrak Saxon
On the main viewer now was the worst destruction Fraedrak had seen in his entire life. Nearly half of the Agkaworza 'Yabod district was engulfed in an inferno. Radiation alarms were going off all over the station. The working assumption was that it was nuclear.
Murt swore under his breath as he entered the room. "How the kriff did these cultists get a nuclear weapon onto Thellus?"
"There's some indications that it is not nuclear sir," Lieutenant Jefor said in a nasally voice. "The heat was not—"
"—It's destroyed half of… holy shab," Murt croaked, sitting down in his chair defeated.
Fraedrak had enough. When Ditmas had failed to assassinate Gavin Azi'skar, this was just a slip up. Something they needed to cover up. When the Bothan flagship was destroyed, it was just something that happened outside of the station, completely out of their control. Now however, tens of thousands were dead. Just a few blocks away, Gavin Azi'skar, Liska Gyar'trek, and their entourage, including children, were going to be massacred unless the New Mandalorians did something.
"Sir, we need to help the Bothans," Fraedrak said sternly, waving at the screen in dismay. "We cannot sit back and watch this happen any longer. This is… appalling. We know Ditmas Shar is on his way to New Aroo Station. We know Azi'skar and Admiral Gyar'trek are also on their way there. We know it will be a complete and utter bloodbath. They have already killed Grum Ni'mai, they have already blown up Fort Otrek. The Bothans are dying left and right and we are just sitting here burning plastisheet! This is appalling!"
By the end, Fraedrak was shouting in complete outrage. He had not intended to shout. Realising how many people in the room were staring at him, he added a belated "sir."
"All right Captain," Murt sighed, wiping the nervous sweat from his forehead. "I agree."
"Sir, that is—you agree?!" Fraedrak exclaimed.
"Yes. Assemble a strike-force to rescue Gavin Azi'skar and his entourage now."
o-o-o
Ditmas Shar
Ditmas's eyes widened as the maglev pulled up to the platform in New Aroo. On the platform were more than a dozen Bothans, mostly military but with a few civilians and children. Amongst them were Gavin Azi'skar himself and Liska Gyar'trek.
"IT'S THEM!" Ditmas screamed, firing his blaster at the window. The blasts flashed, scorching the transparisteel surface, but did not get through. Shab, should have thought of that. These are maglevs on a space station. "QUICK!"
A few of the Bothans raised their blasters, most of them yelped and snarled, retreating down the platform out of view of the window.
Stepping out of the maglev, Ditmas shot a Marine in RIS armour crouched to the right, trying to ambush him. The Marine collapsed. Ditmas stepped up to him, shooting him several more times on the ground.
A hail of blasts flew down the platform in Ditmas's direction. He slid to the right, taking cover behind a news kiosk and returned fire. The other Mandalorians disembarked, quickly overwhelming the remaining Bothans on the platform. Several Bothans in green and blue uniforms went down.
Ditmas's hand shook from exhaustion as he held his blaster.
Echoing around the corner, from the staircase, he could hear Bothans yelling, yelping, and snarling in Bothese. Azi'skar is getting away. "MOVE!" Ditmas yelled, standing up.
He staggered forward, trying to keep up with their retreat.
As he neared the corner, a blue uniform cuff holding a blaster peaked around the corner. A Bothan with red and white fur stood her ground, blasting away at them, then rolled a thermal detonator.
Ditmas swore under his breath and jumped behind another kiosk. Parts of the kiosk blew away in a deafening explosion. Parts of the kiosk slammed into the back of Ditmas's helmet. Getting his bearings, Ditmas turned to Lox and Ubak. "We need to—SHAB!"
—Suddenly, a purple fire ignited in the gap between Ubak's helmet and his chestplate. His body slumped forward onto the tiled floor.
Lox screamed, and too took a shot to the neck.
Ditmas looked up. Less than a meter away the red and white furred Bothan Marshal stood, aiming her blaster at him.
She fired.
Ditmas screamed as the shot hit the top of his chest plate, right next to the joint. The purple tracer round burned, melting the rubber joint. He aimed his blaster up and squeezed the trigger, blasting the Bothan centre mass.
She collapsed onto her back, yelping in pain. Her fur fell flat.
Ditmas walked up to her and aimed his blaster at her head. All right, well this one is a warrior. "Tell Kad Ha'rangir I sent you," Ditmas instructed. He squeezed the trigger.
o-o-o~
Tav Mi'zya
"KLAYER!" Miz'ya yelped. Grafisk and Mayer pulled him back from the edge of the stairs.
"Kąth mų phųmųntą sįr!" [We have to go sir!] Grafisk snarled, tears in his eyes. [She's dead!]
The Mandalorian at the bottom of the stairs raised his blaster from Klayer's smouldering body and aimed it them. He fired at the Bothans, barely missing, nailing the ceiling with several shots.
A fruit-sized piece of the ceiling landed on Mi'zya's head as he backed up. His fur was so flat that he barely felt it.
As they neared the top of the stairs, getting nearer to the exit, Tav saw Azi'skar, Gyar'trek, three surviving sailors, and his family standing in the doorway. The last two surviving Marines stood at the top of the stairs, aiming their blasters down.
Okay. We can make it. The ABN is right there.
[Admiral,] a voice on Gyar'trek's comm said, [Eight contacts! One them has—]
—The ABN exploded right outside the doorway, flipping over.
[We need to do what Klayer did,] Tav snarled. [Activate your adrenaline!]
[But sir, it will only give us a few minutes of—]
[—The Colonel is right,] Gyar'trek snarled cynically, aiming her blaster down the stairs. [We only have a few minutes to live anyways at this rate, if things don't turn around. Nezir, kids, follow us.]
[I don't have adrenal implants,] Azi'skar growled nervously.
[You stay with Nezir,] Gyar'trek ordered. [Follow us. We are going to run to the Marshalcy field office.]
Tav began moving his tongue in an Aurek shape on the roof of his mouth. His fur stood on end. A voice echoed in his head. "Adrenal program three activated. Adrenal production will be increased 80%. This level will only be maintained for three minutes. To abort in the next five seconds, move your tongue in movement Resh." His golden-speckled amber eyes dilated. He felt very much like biting someone.
Gyar'trek threw a thermal detonator down the stairs. A few human voices screamed, yelling Mandalorian obscenities. [Outside now, remember, they are flying overhead.]
The instant Tav stepped outside, blasterfire narrowly missed his head. He returned fire on the figure flying with a jetpack overhead.
He and Grafisk returned fire, both landing a few shots with the Boola Carbines on the Mandalorian. They seemed to have no effect, then, the Mandalorian's jetpack caught fire.
Tav cackled with a feral adrenaline-induced smile as the Mandalorian screamed, plummeting thirty meters to the ground.
Several shots narrowly missed Azi'skar, Nezir, and Tav's kids.
Tav yelped. Maybe having them run right next to the Bothan these humans are trying to kill was a very bad idea grandma.
Gyar'trek seemed to take no notice. She continued returning fire into the sky, along with the two Marines.
After another Mandalorian hurdled to the ground in a screaming ball of fire, the Mandalorians seemed to have enough flying for their liking. Five of them landed across the street, cutting of the Bothan's retreat.
The sixth dropped from the sky, tackling Azi'skar. Nezir turned, snarling [RUN!] to the kids, then began attacking the Mandalorian.
Tav ran towards them, snarling.
[Dad!] Ralosk yelped in terror.
[Stay behind me!] Tav snarled, running in the opposite direction, towards Nezir and Azi'skar.
Azi'skar stood up as Nezir attracted the Mandalorian's attention. With an uppercut, Nezir ripped off the Mandalorian's mask, revealing a bald man with a brown moustache. Seeing Tav approach with a blaster, Nezir dove out of the way.
Tav fought the urge to bite him, and instead dispatched him with a clean blastershot to the head. [Are you all right?!] he asked Nezir with an extremely enthusiastic energy.
[Yes, come on,] Nezir snarled, as if Tav had been the one holding up the group.
The Mandalorians began firing rapidly down the street.
[Get down,] Tav snarled, crawling to a prone position. He returned fire, struggling to hit the gap between the Mandalorian chestplates and their helmets. Wait… where's Gyar'trek—shtak.
Tav's fur fell flat. Up ahead, Gyar'trek laid on the permacrete, next to the corpses of two of her sailors, steam emitting from her body.
Azi'skar was running frantically around the corner of the building, struggling to get away. Grafisk was running behind him, trying to cover his retreat.
Then Tav's adrenaline began wearing off. He began quaking involuntarily.
[Oh my… NO!] Nezir yelped, noticing Gyar'trek's corpse.
[There's more of them,] Tav croaked despondently, pointing a shaky finger up at the sky. His vision began blurring.
A dozen fiery streaks, more Mandalorians, swooped down. They circled around and then began firing on the other Mandalorians.
[WAIT!] Glazir yelped. [They are fighting each other!]
A strange police car pulled up to them, not of a Bothan design. "Get in!" a human shouted in Basic.
"What?" Tav growled in slurry confusion.
"Come on honey," Nezir pulled him up by his arm, and led him to the car.
"I need a water," Tav gasped, sitting in the back seat next to Nezir and the kids. "Gonna get into problems again. Trouble. Coma."
"Here Colonel," a familiar voice said, handing Tav a water bottle.
"Thįkųyų." [Thanks,] Tav growled, taking the water bottle. Before he could take a sip, he vomited all over the floor.
"Holy shab!" the driver yelled. "ALL OVER THE FLOOR!"
"Calm down," the familiar voice said. "This is the smallest problem we've run into all night."
As the adrenaline wore off, tears formed in Tav's eyes. Less than thirty minutes ago, he had been happy and optimistic after the Marshals took no casualties. Without a doubt, thousands of Marshals had died in Fort Otrek; Bothans under his command. Now Klayer, Gavresk, Malazor... they're dead. Klayer's death felt like a cut to the soul. He had spent the last two weeks playing passive-aggressive power games against her. Now she's dead. She died saving us.
"It's okay dad," Glazir said, tears in her eyes. "I'm sad about grandma too."
Oh. Grandma. Gyar'trek. Tav gave a teary snotty snort. "Yeah I'm sad about her too," he muttered, mussing Glazir's hair, grateful that his family had survived. Yep. My kids definitely are Shistavanen, the thought to himself. Most Bothan children would have been completely distraught at the death and carnage they had just narrowly survived.
A guilty twitch rippled through his unhappily twirling fur at how un-saddened he was by Gyar'trek's passing. He was fearful of what would come next without her leadership, but not particularly saddened that such a vile being had fallen.
