8
Chapter Nine: The Visit
Marney led the way out of the underwater abode's exit tube. He needed no gear to help him breathe underwater and he required no wet suit in particular, although because the currents were extra-cold at this time of year he put on his winter water-suit. He was followed by his son Salken who, since he was hatched of parents from a tropical locale, had thinner blood and needed to wear a special protective wet-suit in these frigid waters. Salken's twi'lek sister Rixxi was completely decked out in protective wear and breathing apparatus from head to toe, of course. She was not from a "water-world", and although she loved to swim she could not possibly survive underwater without the aid of her gear. Together, the odd trio swam down to the City Square, where a statue of the sea god Thorus watched over the population.
Marney Raddek had been out-of-water for so long during his sojourn away that he had almost forgotten what it was to swim in a large body of salt-water. He and Salken had swum a great deal at the lake by their home back on Ryloth, but it was a small lake with only sunken logs and stones for aquatic infrastructure.
Here in Nystullum, the great city's aqua-structures were meticulously designed and stretched as far as the eye could see. Many of the governmental buildings had been converted into space-worthy structures and launched into space during the exodus, and as long as the Empire was a threat to their world the "space-city-ships" were to stay there in case some attack disabled the remaining planetary government.
While Charcorr Raddus had been mayor of Nystullum, he had overseen the city governance tower being transferred to The Profundity, where it had operated independently of the Empire-enslaved world. Now that Mon Cala was free of direct Empire influence for the time being, however, certain elements of the municipal government had been allowed to return to the underwater city from which they had sprung and The Profundity was being used at present mainly as a war cruiser. A great deal of credit had been given to Mayor Raddus' "large-scale" and forward-thinking mind-set, which had helped to pull off one of the most spectacular escape-capers ever in the history of the galaxy.
The mon calamari technological expertise had managed to win the day eventually, but they all knew that they could not take their freedom for granted. Every citizen on Mon Cala had taken mandatory training classes in order to prepare them for any attack from any direction. The mon cals were skilled at working together as a team and it had turned them into a formidable asset for the Rebel Alliance, which was led by a human woman named Mon Mothma.
Marney led his two children into one of the remaining governmental structures in order to give them an educational tour. All the other buildings were used for businesses or were residential. The main governmental building was the Nystullum City Hall, and it was fully submersed in water. They swam in through the front door and were given a quick scan by the guards' underwater scanning device. As soon as they were all cleared, they swam over to the observers' gallery. Marney led them to a bench where they all sat down quietly. Although they were not able to speak their surface dialect, Marney and Sal could speak their original mon calimari language underwater using vocalizations such as high-frequency whistles and pulsed calls to communicate. The pulse waves were transmitted and translated into Rixxi's cone-shaped ears through a sound device inside her helmet. Rixxi in turn used a tiny sonar device to emit her own tones and pulse waves in order to communicate back to the two males. Although her ability to speak the language in this fashion was only at a very basic level, she seemed to manage to get her point across to them more often than not.
"This is where all the devious little politicians gather," Marney explained to them, "I think today they're debating whether to initiate a city-wide tax grab."
"[Click] them," Rixxi transmitted.
"She means, 'kick them', Papa," Sal translated on behalf of his sister.
Rixxi had practiced right along with her brother and step-father when they used to use the equipment in the small lake back on Ryloth. Marney had wanted her to be able to communicate to his people should she ever come to Mon Cala, as she finally had during this past week. It had also been important to teach Salken the old language, because he had not used it since he was a tiny tad. It had taken a while, but now Marney was glad that he had taken the time to teach his children their underwater language skills.
They listened to the politicians drone on for about ten minutes about taxes. Sal gave Marney a look which suggested they take off before they all fell asleep. Marney agreed whole-heartedly, but as they were swimming away a mon cal male in civilian attire suddenly darted up from the floor of the assembly hall. To his surprise, he realized that it was his father.
"Papa?" he called, "I thought that you were aboard The Profundity shielding our planet from attack."
"The Profundity and the other ships are in place and battle-ready," Raddus explained, "and I have sent out some gunships to scout the area to make sure there are no threats. At present, we're safe; and so I took the time to come down to Nystullum to brief the municipal politicians on the situation. I wanted to make sure that their city defenses are operating at full capacity, as our Fleet could be called upon to fight for the Rebel Alliance at any time. Mon Cala must be prepared to defend itself, Rad."
"You could have briefed them from the ship, Papa...is there some other reason that you're down here in civilian clothes at this time?"
"Yes, there is," Raddus replied irritably, "unfortunately, I can't spare the time to spend a whole week here visiting your mother, as you and your little family have been doing; but she wanted me to come down for at least one dinner with you, and so I used the City Hall briefing in my home town as an excuse...although I suppose as the admiral I don't really need one. I have something to tell you, Rad, and I owe it to your mother to do so in person. I'm sorry to cut the kids' city tour short, but I need you to return home and help your mother to prepare an early supper. I will be along after I have finished with these idiotic, tax-grabbing politicians."
"Didn't you used to be one of those idiot politicians, Papa?" Marney asked in a mischievous tone, "When you were Mayor, I think they used to call you 'Charc the Shark Raddus', if I'm not mistaken?"
"Shut up, boy, and get home to your mother," Raddus grumbled as he swam back down to the floor of the hall.
Marney gestured to Rixxi and Sal to follow him, which they did reluctantly. They did not appear to be overly enthusiastic about their grandfather's order, but they knew that he called the shots on this world.
They swam back the way that they had come and arrived through the tube into Rallen Marne's home entrance pool. Rixxi surfaced first, taking off her diving paraphernalia before following her father and brother out of the pool. They walked through the dryer and stepped into what the polar mon cal people called "The Dry Lair" section of the house. Its grey walls were made of craggy stone, giving it the appearance of a cave. It was well lighted, however, and had many glassy windows through which one could gaze at the myriad of fish and other marine creatures that swam by.
As they trooped in, a surprise awaited them: Jalleck, Yabecca, the younglings, Qualle, and the newly programmed droid Trash-T2 had just arrived, only a few minutes before their Captain's return from the Nystullum City Hall.
The group had finally been invited down to the air-breathing portion of Rallen Marne's home, after Jalleck had hinted to Marney that he wanted to come down for a visit as a reward for his hard work. In the time that they had been working, Jalleck, Qualle, and Yabecca had made great progress with regard to overhauling and repairing "The Polar Carp". The re-programming of the old droid, Trash-T2, had also been a success. Qualle and Jalleck had together given "TT2" as they called it, her own distinct, feminine personality.
Jalleck and the others had been doing a great deal of work during the past week—and all Marney had done was to supervise the process over the communication channel. He felt strangely about taking a holiday while his new crew members were working. He had not done that for a long, long time, but he knew that he owed his mother a good, solid visit after all the worry that he had put her through for probably close to twenty-five years.
To his surprise, Rallen had been more than happy to invite his new crew-mates to come down for a visit as well. She seemed to be much more open to other life forms now than she used to be when he was growing up; but he supposed that Nystullum, like everywhere else on Mon Cala, was changing from what it had been in the past. The more they became involved in the politics and wars of the Galaxy, the less parochial the mon calamari and even the quarren people could afford to be. Nonetheless, Rallen had given her permission for the crew to visit, and so the human, wookiees, ewoks, quarren, and droid had all arrived down via a special space-faring/submarine shuttle.
Rallen was the essence of hospitality, and was also fascinated by the new, other-worldly people. Rallen Marne was not a space traveler, and therefore had not had much contact with "other-worlders", other than the odd human or two.
"Madam Marne, it's an honor to be here," Jalleck told her politely, shaking her webbed hand.
"The honor is mine, Master Braxton," she returned his greeting, "and this wookiee is your wife?"
"Yes, Ma'am—Yabecca is her name...and please, call me Jalleck. These are our newly adopted kids, Woolonn and Chakreech the wookiee younglings, and the ewoks Tob, Mika, and Tinu," Jalleck explained, "Tob, Mika, and Tinu love me already, but Woolonn is not so sure. It'll take him a while to overcome his mistrust of humans after what they did to him at the prison camp. Chakreech is starting to come around, though...I think she at least knows that I'm not here to harm her."
"I'm sure that they will soon realize that you both care for them greatly," Rallen encouraged the couple, "I can see that immediately in your spirits."
"Uh-oh, Cap'n," Jalleck noted, "You never told me your Mom was a Spirit-Seer! I hope you can't see everything about me, Ma'am."
Yabecca grunted in response to her human husband's hope, slapping Braxton on the rear.
"I'm glad to see that you keep him in line, Yabecca," Rallen opined, "and no, Jalleck, you needn't worry...I can't see every little detail about you, although I'm quite sure your wife will enlighten me throughout our visit."
Jalleck peered at his wife in mock terror as the three ewoks jumped all over him excitedly. Woolonn and Chakreech, meanwhile, were sniffing at the unfamiliar surroundings. Yabecca yowled at them, pointing at the fish that were swimming by the window. The wookiees all put their noses to the window, as if trying to catch the scent of the odd creatures. While Yabecca and her younglings stared in fascination at the countless varieties of fish that populated the surrounding seascape, Marney decided to try communicating with the Droid to determine its level of sophistication.
"So, TT2," Marney said to it, "This is my mother, Rallen Marne. Mama—this is TT2, the droid Qualle and Jal have been working on."
"Yes," Rallen replied, looking at the droid with somewhat more trepidation than she did with the biological beings, "How do you do, TT2."
"Good day, Madam Marne," TT2 answered politely, "I am indeed glad to make your acquaintance. I can compact your trash for you, if you wish."
"You can compact rubbish, TT2?" asked Rallen, surprised, "Well, I think I'll give you mine, then."
Rallen ran off to collect her trash for TT2. The droid obviously operated at a very basic service level, which was how it had operated before the re-programming. That was fine with Marney, because the last thing he needed was a smart-ass droid on his ship. He was about to ignore the machine, but she spoke again without being cued.
"Captain Marney Raddek, you ought to tuck your shirt in," she said in a scolding tone of voice, "Show some respect when you're in your mother's household."
"What?" Marney exploded, "Hey, look, you can of nuts n' bolts..."
At that point in the mechanical conversation, Rallen returned with the trash. Qualle showed her how to feed it into TT2, and within minutes the trash had been worked down into a small chip.
"We recycle the chips to use them as energy for various ship functions," Qualle explained, "TT2 can compact and recycle just about any material."
"Amazing, Mr. Qualle!" Rallen exclaimed, "and did I hear TT2 scolding my son just now, about tucking his shirt inside his trousers?"
"Yes, Madam Marne, I did," TT2 answered on her own behalf, "Mr. Qualle programmed me to behave like his mother."
"Great!" Marney muttered, tucking in his shirt, "so I guess we've got a Mama-Droid, then!"
"I am not your mother, Marney," the Droid corrected him, "If I were, I'd kick you in the pants."
Rallen chuckled at the little Droid's bossy features. Marney was rather less enchanted by it, but at least TT2 had been programmed for some practical tasks. Lyna quickly recruited the droid to help them bring items to the dinner table.
He was grateful when his mother decided to stop waiting for her husband the admiral and went ahead with the supper. The group collected around a small, stadium-like mini-tub which could be either filled with water from below or kept dry. Tonight, it was dry and they all sat on the circular bench around a wooden table. Marney, TT2, and Lyna had aided Rallen in heaping the table with all sorts of seafood delicacies, sea-berries, kelp chips, seeds, and home-grown vegetables of every sort. It was arranged as a buffet so that people could take what they wanted and leave the things that they did not want. Marney was so hungry that he brought a big pile over to his section of the table and began to munch ravenously.
"Radka!" his mother admonished him, "You will say the blessing before you eat!"
Marney ducked his head, embarrassed. Of course, he was expected to chant the ancient sea blessing to Thorus. He thought a moment, trying to remember the words of the old prayer. Before he could remember anything, however, there was a clanging sound which announced the arrival of someone coming into the house from the entrance tubes below. A dark, slate-blue form arose from the pool entrance to the house. Out of the water, Charcorr Raddus climbed the steps to stand dripping wet before them.
"Well, well, look who's here at last!" Rallen greeted him with a trace of irony in her voice, "You finally decided to join us, Charcorr?"
"Yes, Wife," he concurred gruffly, "I have a message for Radka, but it will wait until you are finished with your dinner. May I join you?"
"Step through the dryer, please," Rallen replied, "Our otherworldly guests aren't accustomed to sharing a meal with a dripping wet fish."
Raddus obeyed his mate, stepping through the Quick-Dry door and removing his jacket as he moved to join them. Without being asked, he took over his son's role as Blessing-Chanter and sung a whistle-like tune of gratitude to Thorus before unceremoniously helping himself to a huge pile of food and wolfing it down.
"Have you not eaten today, Dear?" she asked him pointedly.
Raddus grunted as a response, while Rallen introduced him to the guests.
"He already met them, Mama, on The Profundity," Marney explained as he finished his own meal.
The others ate their meals somewhat more slowly, except for Yabecca and Woolonn, who continued to eat ravenously as they took more and more food from the diminishing buffet. Woolonn's little sister Chakreech, on the other hand, nibbled uncertainly at the strange food which had been placed in front of her. When they had all finished eating, Rallen swept the remaining table scraps from the table and deposited them neatly into TT2. She arose to go and clean up in the kitchen, but Charcorr motioned to her to remain seated.
"I'm sorry, Ral, I don't mean to be rude," he apologized to his wife, "But I need to tell our son something, and I need to get right down to it."
"Aha," Rallen replied approvingly, "I see he's back to being 'our' son again, Charcorr! Have you finally gotten over your stubborn-as-a-sea-slug grudge-tantrum?"
"All right, Rallen, that will do," Raddus chided her, "Radka. Has your Engineer nearly completed the repairs to your ship?"
Marney's heart began to pound. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next.
"It'll be ship-shape in the next week or so, Admiral," Jalleck reported.
"All right," Raddus replied, "Radka Marne Raddus, I'm drafting you into service for the Rebel Alliance, on the authority of the Mon Cala Naval Forces, Space Division. You're going to be using The Polar Carp to spy on the Empire."
"Oh, no you don't, Charcorr Raddus!" Rallen stood up, enraged, "How dare you draft Radka after having banished him from his home community for almost fifteen years?"
Rallen Marne was an imposing figure when her ire was aroused, and because of her greater height she towered over her husband. Charcorr sighed, and rose to meet his wife's stern gaze with an iron determination reflected in his yellow eyes.
"I'm sorry, Ral," he said to her, "The Calamari Council, in consultation with the War Council, has ordered it. If he doesn't go, he and his crew will be thrown in jail."
"The Councils have no authority over Radka's crew!" Rallen barked furiously.
"Uh..." Jalleck interjected, "I'm sorry to contradict you, Madam Rallen, but...actually, they do...at least, over me. I've fought for the Rebel Forces in the Reserve Army of Andillon—that's the little moon that I'm from—and so I must accompany Captain Raddek on his mission. Yab, I'm sorry, Hon, but I'm gonna have to find someplace for you and the kids to stay while..."
Before Jalleck could finish his sentence, Yabecca stood up and roared at him.
"Now, listen, Sweetie, be reasonable!" Jalleck argued, far less forcibly than his mate, "You know I can't bring you and the kids along..."
Woolonn and Chakreech stood up and yowled, joining their adoptive mother.
"Uh...Cap'n, they all want to join us," Jalleck explained, "Yabecca hates the Empire and so do Woolonn and Chakreech, having just come from a prison camp. But we can't bring the ewok kits along, Yab..."
"I'll look after the ewok babies," Rallen told them, resigning herself to the fact that the mission was going ahead, "it will give me something noble to contribute while my dearest son and his crew risk their lives for a scrap of information...but Lyna, Rixxi and Sal, my cherished daughter-in-law and grandchildren! Surely you will stay here and help me with the tiny creatures?"
Lyna put her arm around Marney and shook her head sadly. Rixxi and Sal, who had been silent up until now, stood up.
"If our brother and sister wookiees are going, we must go too, Grandmother Marne," Rixxi announced to her devastated new grandmother, with whom she and Salken had been building a close bond within the past week, "We're seventeen and eighteen years old, so we're old enough to make our own decision about it."
"I'm sorry, Rallen," Charcorr apologized as his wife buried her head in her hands, "for all of this."
"Get out, Raddus," Rallen ordered him, "I don't want to see you right now...and you're not welcome to enter into my water-den. You'll have to find another pool to sleep in tonight."
"I have duties aboard my ship anyways, Wife," Raddus told her sadly as he stood up and departed the family home.