Chapter 37: Grar Mik'tiv
Republic Station, Dressel Legacy World Exclusion Zone
Grar's normally calm demeanour was shattered. The Jedi Master's fur continued twirling unhappily as she sat alone in her room. Forty minutes ago, she had called the Jedi High Council, requesting permission to assist Clan Askar against whomever it was who was attacking them. Her request had been denied. 'The radiation levels are too high. It is far too risky.'
Hundreds of millions of kilometres away, on the other side of the system, a few dozen Tawa police cruisers hovered around Thellus, along with a few Marshalcy fighters and one Botha'ahir frigate. Most of the ships seemed to be doing nothing, all far too afraid to risk whatever environment awaited them on the other side of the airlock.
Still every few minutes, she sensed beings being shot, dying. Whatever levels of radiation contamination were really on the asteroid, the attack was still ongoing. I need to meditate… Chaos, yet harmony—
—searing pain from a blaster shot cuts through her stomach. She yelps in pain. Standing over her, a Mandalorian in red and black armour. He aims for the head—Grar snapped out of it, the image of a faceless armoured figure still seared into her eyes as she looked around the room. Shaken, she began dialling Coruscant again. This is unacceptable.
"General?" a Clone's voice came from her comm.
"What is it?" Grar replied in a testy voice.
"Tredessa. She's in one of the Nu-Class shuttles, starting up take-off procedures."
Grar snarled, changing her comm channel, "Padawan, what do you think you are doing?"
"I am going to Thellus," the human said sternly. "Master, we cannot sit by and allow this slaughter to continue."
"Tredessa, wait. I agree. I am coming," Grar sighed.
o.o.o.o.o
Taniar Trav'nel
Aboard the Melan, Dressel System
The Melan was now the largest ship combing the debris field of the Ovesk. The brand-new Bothan Assault Cruiser brought with it a complement of 800 sailors, including 145 of Botha'ahir's best pilots, and 40 Botha'ahir Marines. The minutes after word had come out that the Ovesk was being attacked by unknown pirates, the Melan aborted its training mission and jumped straight to Dressel.
"Nokiz ko horseya, sasa kat mu pomonta do korn Thellus." ["I don't understand why we are even here,"]growled Corporal Varesk Pol'nel, their medic, a tan and black furred heterochromat. Like the other Marines in the airlock preparation room, he wore his RIS armour up to his torso but had not yet donned his helmet.
Much to Taniar's annoyance, this was the fifteenth time someone on her squad had grumbled about this. No one wants to help out Thellus. It's just a stinky space station.
"Dhąkhrįl yągh korn Sphąsįskh Sęrzųdhęs." ["Because of the Spacer Treaty,"] Private Lokask Lan'nel growled with a Spacer hand shrug.
By this point, Taniar was scowling. Her rusty tan and black fur stood on end. Her heterochromatic eyes, one brown, one blue, flashed dangerously as she looked around the compartment.
["They are really milking the treaty,"] Private Shkon Kev'tannen remarked. ["We sign it a week ago and already we are floating around here."]
["Are you done kriffing whinging?"] Taniar snarled.
["Sorry Gunny,"] Lokask growled. ["It's just… These lazy Askars sit around doing nothing. Most of them cannot even hold a blaster. They sit here for 25 years doing nothing, then the day they get attacked—"]
["—ENOUGH!"] Taniar stood up, grabbing onto a handgrip as she glared down the compartment. ["If I had my way, Spacer treaty or no, we would already be on Thellus. This is ridiculous. It's ridiculous that none of you see the bigger kriffing picture!"]
["Haha, always looking forwards to action,"] Sergeant Neyar Fav'nel chortled as she continued meticulously checking her assault pack to make sure the breaching charges were where they should be.
["I am looking forwards to some action too,"] sighed Sergeant Gurosk Lon'tannen as he scrubbed some grime from the barrel of his sniper rifle.
["That is not what this is about at all,"] Taniar growled cautiously, deciding to explain everything to her squad as if they were five or ten years old. ["We have a few shtak headed humans come into a city of over 20,000,000 Bothans, kill 10,000 Bothawui troops with a bomb, and massacre the local police. This isn't just a walk in the kriffing canyon. These humans are killing us like animals! It is easy for them. It makes us look vulnerable. IT MAKES US LOOK KRIFFING WEAK!"] She kicked the metal bench furiously with her RIS armour boot.
All of her squad suddenly looked more nervous. Even Gurosk's fur gave a nervous twitch.
["20,000,000 Bothans are getting steam rolled by some Mandalorians. Maybe 100 of them tops."]
Shkon's fur fell flat in fear.
Kriffing great. Gotta do a pep-talk now. ["Are we going to let this continue? ARE WE GOING TO TOLERATE THIS HAPPENING ANYWHERE IN THE BOTHAN SLICE?!"]
["No!"] everyone chanted. Even Shkon and Lokask's fur was standing on end in rage.
Taniar fought the urge to smirk, disguising it with a toothy feral grin. ["WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WHEN WE FIND THESE MANDALORIANS?"]
["Eliminate them with precision and limited collateral damage,"] Gurosk said calmly with a smirk, completely ruining Taniar's screaming and snarling rally call.
Taniar scowled.
["Captain on deck!"] Pol'nel yelped, standing at attention.
["At ease, and well put Sergeant,"] Uk Biad'tannen said with a smirk very much like Gurosk's. He and their boarding team leader, Lieutenant Bithisk Klir'tannen, entered the room.
Gurosk's fur danced at the praise, a very odd sight in combination with his sniper rifle.
["What—sir what's that?"] Taniar growled, noticing Bithisk's odd-looking tan satchel.
Uk reached over and opened the Lieutenant's satchel revealing paint rounds.
Paint rounds?! What are we—
["—You are each going to load one of these to the bottom of your blasters,"] Uk said, handing Taniar a paint attachment. ["I have war-gamed this out many times."]
["War gamed what sir? An attack on Thellus?"] Gurosk asked curiously, taking a paint attachment.
["No, a war with Mandalorians,"] Uk sighed. ["Mandalorians wear helmets with a faceplate that is relatively flat."]
["Oh, I understand sir,"] Taniar gasped. ["Blind them!"]
["Yes Gunny,"] Uk said. ["That's the idea."]
["It's a bit more complicated than attack any Mandalorian,"] Bithisk growled cautiously. ["There may be Mandalorian Protectors and I hope they are on our side."]
["How do we know which ones are which sir?"] Varesk growled.
"Othask." ["Easy,"] Uk answered. "Klokaka pana Manadalor koran zhizukul at risokul." ["These allied Mandalorians all wear periwinkle and resolute blue."]
The Bothan Marines all nodded in understanding, even the most uncultured among them knowing exactly what periwinkle and resolute blue looked like; two colours as different to Bothans as orange and green are to humans.
["We are boarding Thellus once we have confirmation that the radiation levels are safe enough,"] Bithisk growled. ["From the Gal'skar Docks."]
["All right everyone!"] Taniar said in a raised voice, ["you heard the Captain and the Lieutenant, get the ink attachments on in preparation. We need…"] Her voice died and her ears perked up.
["What?"] Uk snarled into his comm.
["Captain the Republic Jedi Ambassador Grar Mik'tiv is at full thrust towards the Gal'skar Docks,"] a panicky voice echoed out.
["Put me through to her!"] Uk ordered.
"This is Jedi General Grar Mik'tiv, to whom am I speaking?"
"Ma'am," Uk growled in his best Basic, "this is Captain Uk Biad'tannen, you are approaching a potentially hazardous environment. We strongly advise you to wait until we have verified that the radiation is indeed low enough to safely operate."
"Ah," Grar said serenely. "I understand why you are orbiting Thellus. My superiors have similar reservations. Perhaps I can make the process of verifying the environmental safety go faster for you too."
"General, I strongly advise against this course!" Uk yelped, his fur swirling nervously. He swore under his breath when Grar hung up.
All right, Taniar thought, fully aware of the political ramifications of this. So now they are going to order us expendable Marines to—
["Bridge!"] Uk snarled in Bothese, changing the channel. ["Full thrust to Thellus! Our Marines are not going to be the second ones to come to the rescue!"]
Taniar clucked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, then put her snouted RIS helmet on. ["ALL RIGHT EVERYONE, SUIT UP! WE ARE GO FOR BOARDING ACTION IN TWO MINUTES!"]
The rest of the boarding team, including the Lieutenant, looked completely taken aback. Their snouts hung open in shock.
Taniar snorted and shook her head at their surprise. ["The Jedi are not suicidal,"] she growled consolingly. ["If they knew the environment was unsafe, they wouldn't be going."] Under her RIS armour, her fur gave one guilty twitch her team never saw. If they knew for sure the environment is unsafe. Many Jedi are risk takers.
o.o.o.o.o
Grar Mik'tiv
Dressel System
"Master, your people are in pursuit!" Tredessa exclaimed in a panic, pointing to the object rapidly increasing speed on their sensors.
Those particular Bothans are not exactly 'my people,' nor are the ones in Thellus 'my people,' Grar thought. "Don't worry. They are not trying to stop us."
"I don't understand," Tredessa muttered.
"They are trying to be the first onto Thellus," Grar sighed, shaking her head at the pettiness.
"I still don't understand," Tredessa said worriedly. "Master! They are closing, bearing—"
—The massive Botha'ahir vessel flew past the tiny Nu-Class. Its ion engines burned brightly outside the cockpit window.
"See," Grar said serenely. Tredessa is more of a visual learner.
"They—they said it was too dangerous!" Tredessa yelled indignantly. "They only decided to care because we did?!"
"It's not that they didn't care," Grar growled, unsurprised that her Padawan now understood their actions, but not their motives. "Our presence here, however, changed their calculations. Clans Onel and Tannen want to come out of this mess looking like a powerful ally to the smaller clans. They would have cared, even if we weren't here, but more importantly, they want to be everyone's favourite clans."
Tredessa looked up at the sky thoughtfully for a moment. "Merely caring is not enough."
"No, Padawan, it is not."
