Chapter 50: Taniar Trav'nel

Krant

Taniar awoke in an intense angry pain. The stench of Muunyak was overwhelming.

On the other side of the barn, Zrask and the five engineers were speaking softly in a hushed conversation. Gurosk was wide awake, sitting on a hay bale. Neyar and Shkon were playing some sort of makeshift boardgame using an old quilt and a random assortment of objects. Lokesk and Veresk were looking up at the portal of daylight coming through a hole in the wall.

Sitting up, Taniar began brushing the strands of hay from her uniform and fur, then yelped when she accidentally used her left hand. Even through the cast, the pressure from touching any surface was unbearable.

["Are you all right?"] Varesk gasped in alarm, running across the barn towards her. His black and tan fur was flat. He began examining the handiwork of the cast.

Taniar swore under her breath, wincing as he pressed her wrist.

["Well Gunny, it does not look infected,"] Varesk growled hopefully.

Last night, after the Aeans wrapped Taniar's hand in a tight cast and gave her antibiotics, Zovir had a snarling match with the town's doctor. The doctor said it violated his Hippocratic oath not to give Taniar pain killers when they had them.

Ignoring this concern, Zovir took the antibiotics from him for Taniar and led all of the prisoners through town. Taniar's fur had twitched guiltily as she saw the Aeans put their grubby hands all over their walkers. Allowing Botha'ahir tech to fall into enemy hands felt wrong, even though Taniar was convinced those walkers were completely useless.

At the centre of town, they were brought to a farming commune and left in an old barn for the night. Natil had protested, telling Zovir that Taniar and her people could be housed in the town motel. Zovir snarled furiously, saying none of the prisoners deserve to sleep in a bed after what they did. Natil then offered to let the twelve prisoners stay at her place, saying she will make sure they sleep on the floor, reassuring Zovir that her floor was, in fact, quite firm. Zovir yelped in shock and outrage at that, angry tears in her eyes.

And so it was, that they ended up sleeping in the barn.

o.o.o.o.o

["I am not hungry,"] Taniar grunted, ignoring her bowl filled with cream of tallgrain.

In the early morning sunshine, dimmed from the town's shields, the twelve prisoners now sat around a wooden picnic table in front of the barn. Eight Aean guards loomed around them, armed and in full armour.

["You have to eat,"] Varesk protested.

["Corporal, did you just try giving me an order?"] Taniar grunted, then took a cautious bite. The thick flavourless gunk clung to the roof of her mouth, forcing her to take a sip of water.

["Well, it worked,"] Gurosk growled wryly. ["Gunny, there's something we need to discuss."]

Once the blob of cream of tallgrain landed in her stomach, she suddenly felt a bit hungry. The pain must be causing me to not notice when I am hungry, Taniar thought. She took another bite, looking into Gurosk's eyes as she chewed, ears perked up. I am listening.

["That cretin, Zovir, is almost certainly going to kill you if you do anything to set her off,"] Gurosk growled cautiously, fur swirling nervously.

Taniar looked over her shoulders to the guards. They did not move; just continued standing there, staring. When she was confident that they couldn't hear, she whispered in a quiet voice, ["I disagree. They put a cast on my hand. If they wanted to kill me, they would have done it last night when I charged them after activating my adrenaline."]

["I have never seen anyone this angry in my entire life,"] Gurosk whispered back. ["She wants to kill you. She just needs an excuse. This is all politics. I am going to think of something, I promise"] he growled, putting a hand on Taniar's shoulder.

Taniar relaxed slightly, realising her fur had been tight. You think of something Gurosk? Bullshtak. Taniar was less than reassured by Gurosk's promise, but it felt good to know he cared. Out of all of the members of her team, it was always Gurosk that was trying to one-up her; always him dancing at the edge of insubordination. On top of everything else, he was a complete, almost irredeemable asshole, and Taniar suspected he was also a raging sexist deep down.

Nonetheless Taniar was relieved, even that asshole cares.

o.o.o.o.o

Soon after finishing their mush, the prisoners were led from the barn to the edge of town.

In spite of the extreme pain, Taniar's fur danced with excitement. She could not help but smile. They are going to let us go. There will be consequences, major political ramifications, long tedious debriefings, a long medical recovery, but it's kriffing over!

Then, her fur twirled unhappily as they were led to a stash of construction equipment in the middle of the street—power saws, jackhammers, laser cutters, and twelve dorky-looking goggles hung from a rack, along with twelve construction helmets. It was the area of town their skirmish had occurred in.

Zovir stood before the equipment, tapping her foot impatiently.

"You've got to be kriffing kidding me," Taniar muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Zovir snarled, walking up to Taniar.

Taniar stood up straight, scowling defiantly.

Without warning, Zovir pulled out a WESTAR-35 blaster pistol, jamming the barrel into Taniar's temple.

Taniar yelped, raising her good arm defensively, crouching down as Zovir pressed the barrel into her head more and more firmly. Shtak. Gurosk is right. Taniar cautiously raised her tongue to the roof of her mouth, ready to activate her adrenal implants.

"One more insult from you and I will blow your skrogging brains out," Zovir snarled, sounding completely unhinged.

Gurosk and the rest of Taniar's team rushed forward but were ganged up on by ten Aeans who pushed them back and tackled them.

"Please," Taniar stammered. "I am sorry! Gurosk, stop!"

"SILENCE!" Zovir yelped. "You are not to give anyone any orders Taniar, am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Taniar croaked.

Zovir pulled the blaster back from her head.

Not entirely certain how to placate Zovir, Taniar stood back up, straight at attention.

"ENOUGH!" Zovir snarled to Taniar's team, all of whom were now caught in a wrestling match, outnumbered two to one by armoured Bothans. "STOP OR I WILL KILL THIS SKEEVER!" Zovir yelped aiming the blaster once again at Taniar's head.

Taniar gulped, her fur flat, tears in her eyes. Kriff it. Bithisk might have had the right idea.

Then Zovir lowered the blaster. "LINE UP OVER HERE!" Zovir yelled, "COME ON!"

The Engineers and Marines ran forwards and lined up alongside Taniar.

"Now, you are going to fix the damage you idiots did," Zovir growled cautiously. "You morons. You skrogging skeevers, you—"

"—I have a doctorate in material sciences and a master's degree in robotics," Zrask snarled. "I will not permit you to speak to me or my engineers this way."

Taniar licked her lips nervously. She wanted very much to say: Colonel. This deranged warlord doesn't give a shtak about what you think.

"Oh really," Zovir growled in an amused tone. "Am I to understand that you are not merely a pilot, but the designer of those… things." She pointed to the warehouse where Zrask's walkers were being stored.

"Yes," Zrask said proudly.

"Well, Colonel Zrask Oc'nel, I must say that I am completely unimpressed. If that is really your handiwork—"

"—my handiwork was the shielding," Zrask stammered defensively, "which, I should point out, did stop your blasts from entering the chasis."

Taniar exhaled in frustration through her snout. If there was one thing she and Zovir agreed on, it was that those walkers were unimpressive in just about every possible way. There were civilian speeder bikes out there which could have resisted a blast from a Guardian Lightning Cannon. The fact Zrask dropped down from orbit with unshielded sections on military vehicles was appalling to Taniar. However, she began quaking in fear, expecting Zovir to pull out her blaster and shoot Zrask in the head.

Instead, Zovir yelled "HA," in a sarcastic unamused tone. "They say that Spacer Bothans are only good for two things. Do you know what those two things are?"

No one said anything. "N—no ma'am," Taniar stammered, terrified that the answer was going to be target practice.

"Spacers are only good for kriffing and holding a wrench!" Zovir snarled with a feral grin, fur dancing with excitement at her own joke. "And I've been married for twenty-two years, so all I need you for is—"

"—Who the kriff says that?" Gurosk growled furiously.

Taniar was completely bewildered for a moment. That joke normally would have been something a Bothan like Gurosk would be proud of. 'Yeah? I'm good in bed and I can fix a speeder.' Then she realised what Gurosk was doing.

"What did you say to me?" Zovir growled cautiously.

"WHO THE KRIFF SAYS THAT?!" Gurosk snarled, kicking the pile of gravel in front of him. Loose pebbles bounced off Zovir's armour, some bounced off her snout and fell into the collar of her suit of armour.

Zovir's mouth hung open incredulously. She lowered her WESTAR-35 and unstrapped her Guardian Lightning Cannon from her shoulder.

Gurosk winced as she poked his nose with it menacingly.

"What did you say?" Zovir asked again.

"Who the kriff—" Gurosk started but didn't finish.

Zovir pulled the trigger, sending a ball of lightning directly onto Gurosk's nose. He contorted, writhing as he stood for a moment, then fell backwards onto the gravel, steaming.

Unable to move to catch Gurosk's fall, Taniar balled her good hand into a fist, tears of anger in her eyes. It was one thing to be zapped in the face by that contraption, quite another to watch this psychotic chieftain do it to one of her team.

"NATIL?!" Zovir yelled.

The treasonous armourer ran forwards from the tree line, fur flat in fear. "Please Zovir, stop hurting them. They—"

"—Isn't he the one who said he wanted to see how far down your tan stripe goes?" Zovir asked, pointing her blaster at the unconscious heterochromat.

"I—I don't remember," Natil stammered, somewhat defiantly.

"All right," Zovir growled. "Well, if any of them act up, kill him," she ordered to the nearest helmeted Aean.

"Very well ma'am," he said.

Wow. Gurosk's stupid plan worked, Taniar thought still standing perfectly still. I hope he can survive being Zovir's punching bag.

"Okay, you ten," Zovir growled to everyone but Taniar and Gurosk, who was still unconscious. "Collect ladders, jackhammers, calquing gel, canisters of ferrocrete—you are on street duty and net duty. You will repair every crack in this road and remove every one of your skrogging nets from every tree."

Taniar felt something cold, hard, and metal touch the palm of her good hand.

"Grab it," Zovir snarled.

Closing her fist, Taniar looked down and saw it was a wrench. She raised her injured hand incredulously, twirling her cast in front of Zovir's snout.

"I know you're injured," Zovir muttered. "You will use your good hand to repair Natil's speeder. You will obey all of Natil's instructions, understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Taniar said firmly. "We will cooperate. Please do not hurt us any—"

"—SHUT UP!" Zovir yelped. "I'll decide if you're cooperating. Anyways," she said loudly to the two armoured Aeans nearest to Taniar. "You two, go with Natil. If Taniar does not listen to her, if Taniar so much as looks at Natil the wrong way, kill her."

"Yes ma'am," they both said.

"Well, go!" Zovir snarled, shooing Taniar away.

As Taniar walked into Natil's yard, she marvelled at both the colours of the house, far more vibrant in daytime, and also at the sheer mess she and her team had left behind when they stripped Natil's speeder. The hood was up. Metal parts were thrown about everywhere.

Taniar got to work, gingerly popping a fastener into the turbofan, twisting it in part of the way with her thumb and pointer finger. Once it was in place, she pulled out her wrench and began twisting it.

"I'll get you a Kothtri," Natil said, fur swirling with guilt.

"Thanks," Taniar grunted. "It would be nice if—" if you could get one for everyone. The words died in Taniar's mouth as she remembered Zovir's psychotic orders.

"Don't worry," Natil growled reassuringly. "Yeah, I'll get one for the rest of your people too."

o.o.o.o.o

Ten minutes of unscrewing, Taniar thought bitterly. Ten minutes of digging through the engine compartment. Hours and hours of putting it back together. Although, I suppose this would go faster if I could use two hands.

Nearly finished, Taniar did a last sweep of the engine compartment. Everything looked to be in place, but then, in the most shaded part of the engine compartment, further from the hood… Shtak. Where is the second distributor valve?!

Taniar's fur swirled nervously as she got down on her knees and one hand, frantically crawling around Natil's speeder. It was a small part, the shape of a coin.

As she stuck her head under the speeder, the voice of one of her guards echoed from his helmet. "What are you doing?"

Taniar withdrew from the speeder and stood up straight. "Sir, I request permission to conduct a search of the yard for the second distributor valve."

"We'll have to discuss that with Zovir, come."

"Where are you taking her?" Natil growled.

"To see Zovir. She says she needs to waste time searching through your yard."

At that implication Taniar's fur fell flat.

"I don't think that's what she wants—hey, I'm coming," Natil snarled, following Taniar and the guard.

"Well, well," Zovir growled, lazing on an outdoor chair amidst the construction equipment. "Is she finished?"

"No—"

"—I told you to kill her if she gives you trouble," Zovir snarled. "I didn't tell you—"

"—She says she needs to find a component in the yard," the guard stammered, cutting Zovir off.

"Find a component? What component?"

"The second distributor valve ma'am," Taniar croaked. "I can't find it—"

"—You realise I am educated in tactics, right?" Zovir spoke with a dangerous edge in her voice. She got up from the chair and walked up to Taniar, standing comically on a small durasteel bucket to match Taniar's height.

Taniar gulped as Zovir leaned in close, eyes narrowed angrily.

"I think you lost the part intentionally. You are asking to conduct a search of the yard to waste time. Allow yourself more time outside, a bloc or two away from the shield boundary. Hell, maybe if I let you stay out here long enough, you'll escape."

At a complete loss for words, Taniar began quaking slightly.

"I don't think that's what's happening," Natil growled. "I have been watching her the whole time, two of your guards have been watching her, and—" she gasped, not finishing her sentence.

"Oh," Zovir said casually, flashing a toothy grin as she poked her nose in front of Taniar's face. "Reinforcements. Wait here. They'll want to meet you."

Two Basilisk War Droids waited patiently at the upper layer of the shield. A small square of empty sky appeared, disrupting the shield. The two droids floated down gracefully.

One of the floating droids was a majestic steel grey with brown trimmings, the colour seen on Basilisk War Droids in many history textbooks. The other however, sported a brilliant violet and pink paint job with a white lotus flower on the head. Fur still flat, Taniar's ears perked up curiously as she wondered what type of Mandalorian, or Mandalorian wannabee, would do something like that.

Natil and Zovir trotted over to where the Basilisk War Droids were landing. The guard remained standing next to Taniar.

In the distance, Taniar could see Zovir bow with a slight nod of the head, and heard her say, "Grum Vekor Ji'ean, I cannot describe what an honour it is for you to finally visit our town, but I was expecting the Aliit'alor."

"The Aliit'alor could not make it and it would be unwise for her to do so," Vekor explained, taking off her helmet.

"Why?" Zovir growled.

"In case Botha'ahir decides to launch a decapitating strike," Vekor growled, bitterness in her voice. "Now, where are these prisoners?"

"One of them, a real hut'uun with no honour, biggest skeever of them all, is standing right over there. Let me take you to her."

Taniar's fur pressed tightly against her body as the four approached, with two Basilisk War Droids walking slowly behind them. Vekor's bodyguard kept his helmet on, while the other three, Natil, Zovir, and Vekor, were now unhelmeted.

Grum Vekor Ji'ean had a clearly dyed light-blue mane, dark grey fur, and brilliant violet eyes. In any other context, she would have looked like some sort of celebrity or socialite.

In spite of the Grum's eccentric and disarming appearance, Taniar quaked harder than ever, tears formed in her eyes. Dark thoughts flooded her mind. She began thinking the way Bithisk offed himself at least was in his control.

She flinched as the much shorter Vekor reached up to her snout, pulling it down so she could look closer. "What happened to her nose?" she asked.

"Hit by a Guardian Lightning Cannon," Zovir growled proudly.

Taniar had not even noticed that her nose was visibly injured because the pain in her wrist and hand was so bad.

Vekor's fur twirled unhappily. "I need to see the other prisoners."

"Prisoners!" Zovir yelled. "Assemble!"

Within a minute, the rest of Taniar's team and the six engineers had assembled, lining up to Taniar's right.

"Was his nose also shot by a Guardian Lightning Cannon?" Vekor growled, tugging Gurosk's snout down to also get a closer look.

"You are worried about her nose when they paralysed one of my people with their confounded nets!" Zovir yelped.

"You are not being rational," Vekor muttered, fur standing on end.

"I am not being rational!" Zovir stammered indignantly. "We need to show strength—"

"—By torturing our prisoners? I can overlook your behaviour because you are quite upset, understandably so," Vekor sighed, flicking her head back to get her shaggy mane out of her eyes. "They abducted your armourer, damaged your town, crippled a family member…"

Taniar's fur fell flat. Well that's it then. This is just going to continue. We will continue being tortured. We—

"—but I cannot allow this to continue," Vekor said sternly, causing Taniar to become hopeful once more. "Not only does this behaviour make me very uneasy, the Marshals and the Red Sigil will be landing tomorrow. Getting the prisoners to clean up their mess is one thing. Imagine if the Red Sigil saw you threatening these prisoners? Electrocuting them? They would probably support Botha'ahir's push to deploy peacekeepers into our streets."

"Very well Grum," Zovir sighed. "I will stop electrocuting them and will only threaten them if they try to escape or assault my people."

"Good," Vekor grunted. "And you will give Gunnery Sergeant Taniar Trav'nel painkillers. When the Red Sigil arrives, they will be bringing gifts from Botha'ahir. We will check these gifts, of course, for weapons, but the prisoners will get their gifts so long as the gifts are safe."

"I will do as you command. Taniar will get her painkillers, and when the gifts arrive, they will be delivered to the barn."

"THE BARN?!" Vekor exclaimed in alarm.