5
Chapter Five: Admiral Raddus' Flagship
Yabecca, the wife of Raddek's new chief engineer, was yowling in recognition at the two wookiee younglings in front of her. The wookiee understood Basic, the lingua franca of the galaxy, but like most of her kind could not speak it. Instead, she used a series of low rumblings and growls to communicate. Most non-wookiees who did not understand their language might make the mistake of considering them "lower" forms of life. Those who did, however, soon learned that wookiees were exceedingly intelligent and adaptable in spite of the "primitive" level of their technology.
The younglings stared at her, clearly befuddled. The older one held out his hand and in a cautious, exploratory manner sniffed Yabecca's arm. They had determined that his name was Woolonn, and his younger sister's name was Chakreech. Chakreech was clutching Woolonn's free arm tightly, as though she intended to hold onto him no matter how much force was applied to separate them. Fortunately, however, no one here would ever consider such a cruel action; but Chakreech did not know that. Her experience of humans like Jalleck Braxton was that they had taken her away from her parents, put her in chains and beat her until she did what they wanted.
"Yabecca knows these younglings," Jalleck Braxton explained, "They grew up in a village near hers on Kashyyk."
Marney stood at a distance with Lyna, Jalleck, and Qualle in order to give the new family space to re-acquaint themselves with each other. They were aboard Admiral Raddus' large flagship, The Profundity, where they had been shown briskly by a busy ensign to the rather spacious Civilians' Living Room. It was a large, cavernous space which looked more like a park than a room. It was filled with trees, plants, ponds, chairs, sofas, pools, playgrounds, games, and other activities evidently aimed at keeping guests occupied so that they did not bother the crew. It would have been especially interesting for the children, except for the fact that they were still traumatized from their experiences at the slave camp and were therefore not given to exploration of new places at the moment. The human and twi'lek children were seated silently on the grass, staring up at their odd elders.
"I'm not sure these wookiee kids are going to accept me as their new father, though," Jalleck continued, "their experience of humans has been of the Evil Empire variety."
"You have a very big task ahead of you, Jalleck," Marney told Braxton, "but at least we know the two kids will be in good hands."
"But what about the three ewok kits, Tob, Mika, and Tinu?" Lyna asked as she held tiny Tinu, who was clinging to her in terror, "We can't get to their world right now as it's under Empire influence..."
Admiral Raddus, accompanied by his granddaughter Kyara, entered the room in time to hear the last portion of Lyna's comment. Tob and Mika were sniffing the ground, taking care to stay near Lyna's feet in case they needed to climb up her to join their little sister.
"You could collect the trash for them and drop the ewoks off at the same time," Raddus suggested with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "After all, you and him work for the Empire."
Lyna turned on her newly-met father-in-law ferociously.
"We don't make any runs to Endor; but nonetheless, you are wrong, Admiral Raddus!" Lyna cried, "We do not work for the Empire any more than these young children do. Your son has done more to re-unite families in his fifteen years of service as a trash-captain than your whole fleet of warships has done in the same amount of time."
"Our job is to fight battles, my Lady Kooloo," Raddus retorted, "Not to run around collecting odd orphans here and there after the Empire has already done extensive damage to their worlds. You and my son have done much to aid the Empire, merely by disposing of their rubbish. It's an essential service for them, as they accumulate an inordinate amount of rubbish through their arrogant conquests."
Lyna's two head-tentacles, or lekku, were fairly writhing in anger. She and the admiral had been clashing frequently since she had come aboard The Profundity. Raddus had been studiously ignoring his son since The Polar Carp's Captain had come aboard to check on the status of the children, and so Lyna had fiercely taken up his defense.
"How dare you accuse us of aiding the Empire, Sir!" Lyna growled at him, "My world was one of those conquered by them. Do you think that Marney and I enjoyed raising our family under its iron fist? If we had not served them through our trash collection business, they would have enslaved us—and the mon cal orphans that we brought to this world would not have come home today."
"You are paid by the Empire, little dancer," Raddus retorted furiously, "Don't try to tell me that you and—Marney, as you call him—are slaves who have no choice! Radka could have come and fought with us, but he chose not to do so. In my books that makes him a coward, and it causes me great embarrassment to even have him aboard my ship."
"He is not a coward!" Lyna argued, baring her teeth at him, "Just because his courage finds another path to walk along other than yours does not mean that he has none..."
"Courage does not 'walk along a path', my dear twi'lek girl," Raddus lectured her, "It takes up a weapon and fights for what is right!"
"Perhaps his weapon is compassion," Lyna countered, "of which you seem to have precious little...you should be proud of your son, My Lord Admiral, and you should save the embarrassment for yourself."
Raddus' big, telescopic eyes grew even bigger as his eyelids opened all the way. He was about to make a rebuttal, but his granddaughter Kyara put her arm around him.
"Grandpapa," she told him gently, "I wonder if you could keep your voice down, just a bit? You're frightening the ewoks."
"The ewoks!" Raddus snorted as Tob and Mika dashed around screeching madly, "They're barely sentient, Granddaughter! Even more primitive than the wookiees."
"Grandpapa, stop it!" Kyara chided him, "That sort of talk is beneath your dignity. Isn't that the kind of thing the power-mongers of the Empire said to our people when they enslaved us for a time?"
Raddus grunted, shifting his gaze slightly towards the floor; and he wisely decided to stop arguing with Lyna Kooloo.
"Come on, my dear clan members," Raddek chided them, "Remember what Mama said: 'Candies and sea-shells for everyone, but only if you get along'. Jal, I don't suppose you and your wife would be interested in adopting the ewoks?"
Yabecca answered by yowling at them as she pointed towards the baby ewoks.
"Yab says she'll adopt the three ewoks," Jalleck translated for his wife, "They're a species which is distantly related to the wookiees, anyways. She doesn't want them getting lost in the mix—she's got a good heart."
"Good work, Yabecca," Admiral Raddus affirmed the female wookiee crisply, "I think that takes care of all the young ones, then. My lieutenant has helped Kyara to make inquiries and they have found five human families living on Mon Cala who are on their way up here to pick up the rest of the kids. They will foster them until it's been determined whether or not they have any surviving family members...and they're willing to take the two twi'lek tots as well."
"Yes, thank you, Grandpapa, for your help," Kyara enthused, "You've redeemed yourself enough that I can forgive your comments about the ewok kits. But Lyna, what about you? The twi'lek kids might feel more comfortable with a member of their own kind."
"No, I'm afraid that I can't raise them aboard a garbage scow," Lyna replied sadly, "They're very young. Sal and Rixxi didn't start working with us until they arrived at their adolescence...before that they stayed with my parents on Ryloth while Marney and I made trash runs. But I can't ask my parents to do that again, as they are growing older and my planet is not free at present. I will, of course, continue to search for the children's surviving clan members, but it may take some time. Since Ryloth is under the influence of the Empire right now, I must make the next best choice for them, which would be to stay here on Mon Cala for now with a human foster family."
Marney knew that it pained Lyna deeply to leave the twi'lek children behind with a completely different species than her own. She had been forced to make similar decisions before, because the ship was not equipped to keep young children on board for long. Because of this, he and Lyna kept their distance from the children after they had rescued them so that they would not begin to form a bond with any of them. Sal and Rixxi generally performed the "baby-sitting" task until a placement was found for the kids because the teens were young and not as likely to be viewed by the kids as possible parent figures. Still, Marney realized, their children were growing up, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to let go of their charges when the time arrived to do so. This run was no exception.
Salken Rale, Raddek's mon calamari son, was ushered in to the Civilians' Room followed by his clan-sister Rixxi, a light-green skinned twi'lek girl dressed in brown leather pants and a yellow shirt. Admiral Raddus had arranged for the two teens to take a tour of the ship as a reward for their work with the orphans.
"Papa," Sal said to Raddek, addressing him in the familiar now that he was not currently commanding The Polar Carp, "Rixxi and I want to meet the families that will be taking our kids. We want to make sure that they're okay before we leave anyone with them."
"Of course, Rixxi, and Sal," Raddek responded, "You know we'll all do that for them."
"I have to admit, Radka," Raddus broke into their conversation, "You've got a good son here...even though he is an adopted orphan. I was showing him around the ship myself, and I've told him that if he ever wants a position in the space division of the Mon Cala Fleet that he should contact me."
"Thank you, Grandfather," Sal responded, "But I've told you, I'm working for my father at the moment. He saved my life, and my loyalty is to him."
"Yes, I know," the old admiral concurred, "Your loyalty is somewhat misplaced, Salken, but it is a good trait nonetheless; and it's why I'd like you to apply to our military one day. We need good soldiers to fight for the freedom of Mon Cala and the galaxy."
Marney felt the old anger arising within him at his father. Here he was, trying to lure his son away from him again! The admiral had already turned his older son from his first marriage, Brynn Melka, against him. The boy had joined the military at his grandfather Raddus' behest and had made it clear through infrequent communications with Marney that he no longer considered him his father.
Raddek could not blame his eldest son, for he had not seen him since he was seventeen years old. His eldest daughter Kyara, on the other hand, had made gargantuan efforts to keep track of her prodigal father by tracing him through the social services agencies that he visited with his rescued orphans. She had on occasion even traveled to remote areas to help him with the more difficult placements, trained as she was in social work and childrens' services. He knew how fortunate he was to have a daughter who was as devoted to him as Kyara; and Lyna's daughter Rixxi seemed to be emulating her older step-sister more as she came to know her.
"Sal wants to stay with us, Grandpapa," Rixxi said to The Admiral in an assertive manner, calling him by the same name as Kyara did, "because he wants to work with kids, not guns and things."
Raddus bobbed his head, and Raddek could tell that he was uncomfortable with a twi'lek girl calling him "Grandpapa". His father's discomfort caused him some degree of pleasure, he had to admit.
"Serves him right," he muttered to Lyna in a smugly victorious manner, "for being such a miserable old jellyfish."
The words were no sooner out of his mouth when the ship suddenly shuddered and shook violently, as though it had been hit by a blaster cannon's charge. Admiral Raddus was gone in a flash, having run up to the command deck to take charge of the ship.