Calaverous and Vindis were seated at a table next to a window. The restaurant was located on the seven hundred and twentieth story of the Hutt's Bounty Hotel and Suites. This hotel was located within the outer shell of one of the towers atop the Naggarrii The Hutt District Building.
Their view consisted of a horizon filled with towers and spires across a landscape of rooftops. Building rooftops, and therefore the building mega floors beneath them, averaged twenty kilometers by 30 kilometers, some much larger and some smaller.
Some buildings were taller, and so their rooftops rose above the other buildings around them and looked like rectangular plateaus. Other buildings were shorter than the other buildings around them, and so appeared like rectangular depressions or craters. In this way, blocked valleys and canyons were formed with the variable heights of the mega buildings which abutted the buildings next to them.
Rising from these enormous rooftops were the towers and spires. Very few rooftops had no towering structures rising from them, in those cases, the top floors of those buildings had spaceports, or gigantic freight handling facilities for the loading and unloading of the massive freight shipping barges.
Some rooftops sported towers or spires which were cylindrical, others had hexagonal towers, and other rooftops, still, had towers or spires that were triangular, or ovoid in shape. Some spires were as narrow as three kilometers across, while others were as many as six kilometers across. Each tower or spire also had mega floors.
One thing that each rooftop shared in common was that they had no more than ten of the gigantic towering structures rising from the tops of the mega buildings and no fewer than five, and that none of these towers or spires were situated at the corners or edges of the mega rooftops. Another common feature was that, although only the mega rooftops were visible, each building consisted of hundreds of mega floors, that were not visible below the rooftops.
Within each mega floor of the mega buildings, and of their towers and spires, were sub-buildings, roads, sidewalks, parks and other kinds of infrastructure. In essence, each mega floor was like a small city district filled with various types of zones, such as residential, financial, industrial, recreational, tourist, and many other kinds of zones, even industrialized agriculture.
The sub-buildings, within each mega floor of the mega buildings, and of the rooftop towers and spires, tended to rise from twenty to thirty stories high. However, there were also sub-buildings that passed through several mega floors. So, it was possible to have sub-buildings that were a hundred and twenty or more stories in height.
While the interiors of each mega spire, rising from the mega rooftops, had mega floors and sub-buildings on each mega floor, the outer shell of the spires were one contiguous structure that housed many businesses, residences, offices, hotels, and restaurants. For example, the Hutt's Bounty Hotel and Suites owned a section of the outer shell sixty stories high by thirty suites wide.
The interior wall of the shell was mostly transparisteel, which afforded a fabulous view of the mini cities on the two hundred thirty fifth and two hundred thirty sixth mega floors of the mega tower. The exterior of the shell also had huge transparisteel windows that allowed breath taking views of the vista outside of the tower or spire. Transparisteel allowed beautiful clear views while also providing strong structural support to the towers and spires.
The restaurant was on the fiftieth story of the hotel for that section of the spire's outer shell, the two hundred and thirty sixth mega floor of the tower. However, that particular floor was actually seven thousand and seventy stories (regular floors) up from the bottom of the tower. So, the hotel occupied the seven thousand and twentieth floor up to the seven thousand and eightieth floors for a section that was a city block wide.
The result was that Calaverous and Vindis enjoyed a view of thousands of spires, sparkling with lights of many colors and hues from tens of millions of windows in the dusk of Nar Shaddaa's evening sky.
"It's lovely!" Vindis gushed.
The red skinned Sith Pureblood became embarrassed when she realized that she must have sounded like a love struck adolescent girl to Calaverous. Calaverous smiled as he looked out the window. Somehow, his smile seemed different to Vindis. Not as though he were laughing, but as though he were content.
She found herself starting to relax in his presence. Then memories of him at the Sith Academy flooded back into her mind and she instantly put herself back on guard again.
"What is wrong with me?! This is Calaverous! Don't lose focus!" she cautioned herself, but then scolded herself, "I am a Lord of The Sith! I should fear no one!"
Even as she excoriated herself for fearing Calaverous, she remembered her fear of Tormen, and she remembered Calaverous' cautious hesitation when speaking of Nox.
"There is always someone we are wary of," she reminded herself.
When she finally decided to pick up and open her menu, she noticed Calaverous quietly looking at her. He seemed to be studying her.
"What is it?" she asked him, trying to hide her anxiety.
"We are allies in many ways," he told her, "We must be wary of each other's long term intentions, yet when we work together, we must work as allies."
"We must trust each other?" she asked, skeptical.
"We are no longer rivals," he said, repeating himself from before, "We don't have competing interests. We stand a chance at earning huge sums. We both stand to gain, and we both stand to lose everything.
"Remember," he cautioned, "we will be so deep in enemy territory that even our strength in The Force may not be enough to save us. We will need each other to pull through. To survive. And if everything goes wrong, we must rescue not only ourselves, but Yehw'reh'nomai. She is the source of our potential wealth."
"If we're having this talk," Vindis finally understood, "then she's had this talk with her inner circle."
Calaverous smiled and nodded his approval.
"Now you're thinking," he said, "Then we must make ourselves a part of whatever plans they have for escape and evasion."
Vindis nodded her concurrence as their waiter approached.
"We'll need more time to decide," Calaverous told the waiter before the Twi'lek could ask to take their orders.
"I'll return in a few moments," he said to Calaverous in very good, Huttese accented Basic, "In the meantime, shall I bring you anything to drink?"
"Cool water," Vindis ordered.
"The same for me," Calaverous answered.
The waiter nodded acknowledgment and then departed their table.
Vindis returned her eyes to her menu, as Calaverous opened his.
In a short while, the waiter returned with a tray, upon which stood two crystal glasses of cool water, a crystal carafe filled with cool water, and a tiny stainless bucket filled with spheres of ice and ornate tongs in the bucket for picking up the ice balls to place into their glasses, as the dinner guest desired.
"I'm ready to order if you are," Calaverous said to Vindis.
"Yes, I'm ready."
"We'll place our orders, now," Calaverous told the waiter.
Just as the waiter departed their table, after taking their orders, the lights in the dining area dimmed, to reduce the reflections in the windows, so that the view outside could still be appreciated by the dinner guests.
Calaverous and Vindis, both quickly turned to look into the dining hall to search for ambushers. When none were found, they both turned to look out the window beside their table.
Dusk had developed into a darkened purple sky high overhead and a lighter purple sky tinged with orange in the distant horizon. Thousands of glittering towers were silhouetted against the ever darkening evening purple sky. Despite the hazards to one's health, the smog provided for a picturesque dusky horizon.
"It's lovely," Vindis found herself repeating, embarrassed.
"I'm glad you're enjoying our second date," Calaverous said.
Vindis turned to look at the Sith lord with a stern look of disapproval. The faint signs of mischief she found on Calaverous' facade told her he was having fun teasing her, again.
"This is business, Lord Calaverous," she told him pointedly, "Business."
"Of course," he replied, his widening grin revealing the mischievous humor he seemed to enjoy, "but it's such a lovely business dinner. We shouldn't waste the pleasure we derive from it."
"Perhaps...," she said, vetting the validity of his logic, "but this is not a date," Lord Calaverous.
"No. You are correct, Lord Vindis," he replied, his grin slightly diminished, "I was only teasing."
The rest of their dinner conversation consisted of smalltalk and shoptalk, Sith politics, and whether Ymmiir Sharratt should be salvaged or eliminated in case things got bad.
Their taxi ride back to the small spaceport was mostly silent. The two walked silently across the expansive durasteel deck in the gargantuan space that was the local spaceport. They made their way to the back of Wrehn's starship.
Calaverous ventured a comment, just before they stepped foot onto the bottom of the wide ramp.
"If we do survive, I wouldn't mind returning to Nar Shaddaa with you, to enjoy a few days of your company, on The Promenade, or perhaps the Star Cluster Casino. We'll be able to afford it by then."
Vindis said nothing to that. She remained silent, as the two ascended the ramp. In the cargo bay, Calaverous turned towards his makeshift guest quarters in the durasteel shipping container, while Vindis made her way towards her guest quarters at the crew section.
"Good night, Lord Vindis."
"Good night, Lord Calaverous," she replied.
After taking several steps in the huge cargo bay towards her quarters, she stopped and turned to watch him make his way towards the shipping container. He was almost to the hatch. Just before he reached for the latch handle, Vindis called to him.
"Focus on the mission, Lord Calaverous," she said, speaking loudly, to be heard in the cavernous cargo bay. He stopped and turned to regard her, and for reasons she did not quite understand she added, "Perhaps, if we return from the mission, we can talk."
She immediately turned away and entered the crew section.
Calaverous said nothing, but smiled as he turned towards the hatch to open it.
"The ice is starting to melt," he thought, with a small chuckle.
The following morning, Wrehn stood next to Ymmiir, silently watching the Mandalorian mercenaries go through their attack sequences. She carefully swept her eyes across the training grounds taking note of the set up.
The combat training droids were set up on the opposite side of the string of training aids that simulated the chancellor's train of speeders, as though taking cover from the attacking Mandalorians. The droids fired their blasters on their lowest power levels which was used during training exercises. Another set of combat training droids, set up at the simulated mansion, also fired their blasters, helping to increase the difficulty of Vindis' team's approach to the chancellor's speeder motorcade.
She carefully scrutinized Vindis and Calaverous, well in front of the three droids they were escorting.
The two Sith lords deflected blaster bolts fired at them, and at the droids behind them which they were defending. The very few bolts that got through were absorbed by the ray shield projected by portable ray shield generators carried by two combat training droids assigned to this operation.
Clan Sharratt didn't have any war droids. In fact, very few Mandalorian clans owned war droids. War droids were thought of as cheating in combat, and so most clans turned their noses up at owning any. Thus, per Wrehn's request, two combat training droids had been repurposed as escort droids. Instead of blaster rifles, the training droids were equipped with portable ray shield generators. These ray shield generators provided excellent protection for themselves, the heavy duty work droid following in trace behind them, and a Clan Sharratt combat engineer giving direction to all three droids.
The combat engineer was the droid handler for this operation. He followed behind the three droids issuing commands, making sure the work droid stayed within the protection of the ray shield, while ensuring the war droids maintained a steady rate of forward movement. He made sure the group of droids didn't get too close to the Sith, while also not falling too far behind.
The squad of Mandalorians assigned to Vindis' team, were ahead of the Sith lords, in a line abreast formation. They quickly advanced towards the train of speeders in bounding rushes. The warriors fired their blaster rifles, rushing forward a few running strides before dropping to the prone, resuming fire as soon as they aimed in their weapons. Then they'd scramble back to their feet and rush forward again, blasting as they ran.
The warriors' advancing rushes were random. There was no pattern, not all of them rushed at once, and not all of them were prone at once, and one could not tell which would rise to their feet to rush forward nor who would dive to the deck.
Their blaster rifles were also set at their lowest power settings, since they were training and didn't want to destroy the combat training droids nor the training aids. In this manner, Vindis' warriors expeditiously advanced to close with the simulated enemy.
At the last possible moment, just next to the simulated speeders, opposite from the training droids, the war hardened fighters quickly secured their blaster rifles, and switched to their vibroknives, vibroswords, and electrostaves to engage their notional foes in melee combat. Adding to the realism of this training, the droids also secured their blaster rifles and drew and activated their training vibrobatons.
The droids and the Mandalorians scrambled on top of the simulated speeders as they charged against each other in the attack. The power, agility, and reaction speed settings of the combat training droids had been governed, in order to mimic the strength, agility, and reaction speed of the fittest human and humanoid alien warriors. Thus, the Mando fighters were not unfairly out performed in those three areas.
Some droids, knocked some Mandalorians back off the simulated speeders before jumping after them in the attack, and some Mandalorians had knocked the droids off the training aids, before jumping after their mechanical foes.
The melee combat was fierce! With Mandalorians being defeated and droids taken out of action. Upon being struck, the combat training droids calculated the lethality of those strikes. Based on their analysis, the droids would drop to the ground to play dead. Meanwhile, the Clan Sharratt warriors had to be honest with themselves, and acknowledge that they'd been "killed," and they'd drop to the deck.
In five minutes of combat, two droids remained, in the fight against three Clan Sharratt warriors. Vindis finally stepped forward and, using The Force, knocked the two remaining droids down, while Calaverous leapt forward, landing between the prone droids, and simulating a kill on both remaining training aids.
The reason the warriors and droids switched to melee combat at close quarters was because friendly fire was unavoidable at very close range. When blaster bolts destabilized and disbursed their energies at close quarters, both friend and foe could be gravely injured by the scattering high energies. So, both friend and foe switched to melee weapons at close quarters.
Thus, to simulate combat against biological foes, the combat training droids also switched to their training vibrobatons. Melee combat was unavoidable, and it could be a slaughter fest when the two sides were evenly matched, with high casualty rates on both sides.
"Again!" Ymmiir shouted at the top of his lungs.
He was deeply unsatisfied with those results, as was Wrehn.
"I thought you said, she was strong," Ymmiir said, his eyes directed at both Sith lords.
Wrehn felt stung by those words, but she held her piece.
The shrill shriek of a pyrotechnic sounded, as it left a column of red smoke in its climb to the mega ceiling.
Mandalorians and training droids playing dead, all got up from the durasteel deck and returned to their starting points. This was their third attempt at defeating the security forces to clear the way for the heavy duty work droid to get at the speeder and simulate pulling the door off.
The third attempt, which also ended up in a tie with the droids was not acceptable. The special team had to survive in numbers in order to protect the droid while it tore the armored door off of the armored limousine.
Wrehn approached the Sith lords with a question.
"Say Vindis, Calaverous," Wrehn began, "Is there a reason you guys don't go in and help clean out the droids? Your special squad got wiped all three times before you stepped in to do something."
"They are fodder," Vindis said, as though it was obvious, "Let them take out the trash while we keep alert for Jedi."
"When they've cleared enough of the trash we can step in to do our part to get at the chancellor," Calaverous said, backing Vindis up.
"It's just that you need the team to provide additional security while you're working on getting at the chancellor," Wrehn countered, "What if while you're cutting through the door, a team of reinforcements break through our perimeter defense, and a Jedi is with 'em? You gonna be able to fight the Jedi and protect the work droid from the security reinforcements, too?"
"Fine! Whatever!" Vindis replied, a bit exasperated, "We'll step in sooner."
An officer overseeing the training shouted something in Mando'a at the top of his lungs. The warriors began to move off the training area.
"Lunch time," Wrehn said to the Sith lords, "training will resume in an hour."
Wrehn, Vindis, and Calaverous began walking in the same direction as the warriors. That was where the chow line had been set up.
"Lunch was surprisingly tasty today," Wrehn said to Ymmiir, a little over an hour later, as they watched Vindis' team conduct another practice run of their attack.
"I spent a little extra to help morale," Ymmiir replied, then asked with a twinkle in his eye, "Did it help? Has your morale gone up a little?"
"Let's see what these Sith do, then I'll know," Wrehn replied, returning Ymmiir's smile.
Wrehn returned her attention to the Sith lords walking briskly ahead of the ray shielded droids and the droid handler. The portable ray shield generators could be carried by hand. However, normal operation required they be set on the ground immediately after activating them. Ray shield generators get really hot really fast, too hot for sentient beings to carry while in operation. With the droids carrying the activated generators, there were no worries of the droids getting burn injuries.
The ray shield covered a fairly large area, protecting all three droids and their handler. Additionally, the two ray shields, working together, doubled their ability to absorb blaster bolts completely.
Wrehn wondered why the Sith wouldn't want to take advantage of the ray shielding. Instead, the Sith seemed to prefer walking quickly while taking big strides ahead of the droids as they advanced on their objective, all while deflecting blaster bolts, which she noted mostly bounced right back at the droids that fired them.
"I'll have to ask them about that," she thought, as she pulled a small recording device from her utility belt to record a memo, "Ask droid handler if the ray shields could be configured to cover the Sith as well as the droids."
Wrehn nodded her satisfaction as she watched the Sith lords both leap over the heads of the Mandalorians and of the training droids, locked in melee combat. The Sith, in mid air deactivated their lightsabers, and activated their training vibrobatons just as they landed behind the droids, immediately attacking from behind. The combat training droids were quickly eliminated. This time, to Wrehn's satisfaction, Vindis had only lost two of her team, who quickly established defensive postures, in case of an enemy counter attack.
Meanwhile, Vindis' droids rushed the last meters to the chancellor's speeder. Vindis and Calaverous both leaped on top of the simulated speeder and remained at the ready, having switched back to their lightsabers. The heavy duty work droid stood motionless at the side of the speeder for a set amount of time, simulating the time it would take for the droid to rip the armored speeder door off its hinges.
Suddenly, the three droids stepped back away from the speeder, and Vindis leapt down to the side of the speeder and simulated killing the security detail inside, as well as the Chancellor, she grinned viciously, as she mimicked cutting his head off and using The Force to retrieve it.
"FALL BACK!" she commanded, stentoriously.
She, her assault team, the droids, and the warriors providing perimeter security, all performed a tactical retreat towards their various simulated dropships. Vindis and Calaverous piled into Wrehn's simulated dropship. Meanwhile, Vindis' squad joined the rest of their platoon in their durasteel shipping container.
One droid each squeezed into one of three shipping containers with a platoon of Mandalorians. The other platoons also retreated into their simulated dropships, which were other shipping containers arranged in various places on the simulated estate grounds.
Ymmiir, watching the performance of his warriors, too, nodded his satisfaction at the great improvement made by Vindis' team. However, he was less than pleased with House Bruuga's performance. They took too long inside the simulated mansion, and were dead last getting into their dropship, a whole twenty seconds behind. Ymmiir took a smoke grenade from his utility belt, activated the timer fuse and threw it into the center of the simulated estate grounds.
Red smoke billowed from the smoke canister, and an officer blew a whistle and blared out the signal indicating that it was break time. The troops began pouring out from their shipping containers and immediately spotted the billowing red smoke, which signaled an end to training for the day.
"Walk with me, Great Hunt Champion," Ymmiir invited Wrehn in a pleasant tone.
"I will," Wrehn replied with a friendly smile aimed at Ymmiir.
The two strolled towards House Bruuga's warriors.
House Bruuga was composed of Kaleesh who had settled on Nar Shaddaa generations ago. This clan of Kaleesh, were experienced and highly successful mercenaries operating from the Smuggler's Moon. The Kaleesh learned of Clan Sharratt when news reports circulated of their daring raids against Republic forces on Nar Shaddaa.
The Bruuga clan decided to challenge the Mandalorians to a competition of strength and skill. Both clans performed well, coming nearly to a draw. However, Clan Sharratt came out ahead in the end. Respectful and friendly relations developed between the two clans of warriors following these games.
Later, the Kaleesh learned that the Mandalorian philosophies and spiritual beliefs about warfare were compatible with the Kaleeshes' religious beliefs. They believed that warfare purified the soul.
The Kaleesh also found that Mandalorians' praised and elevated their champions and sang their praises after a glorious death. The Kaleesh also venerated their great war heroes, worshiping them as gods after they've gone to join their fathers to become gods.
They believed that, after death, the spirit of a deceased warrior would join their ancestors and that they would attain godhood. This honor would come to them after dying of old age, following a long life of victories, or after dying gloriously, heroically in battle.
One day, Clan Sharratt invited the Bruuga clan to join them in a raid against a Republic armory and munitions depot. The two clans would share in the plunder, dividing weapons and munitions between them and they would share in the glory of pitting their strength against a strong foe. The Bruuga clan were honored to accept.
Following a glorious victory, the Kaleesh observed the honor of Clan Sharratt, as they kept their promise and divided the spoils between them. The Kaleesh observed as the Mandalorians paid honor to their own dead AND to the Kaleesh dead.
This honor moved them, deeply. So, the Kaleesh of the Bruuga clan decided to join with Clan Sharratt. The Mandalorians welcomed them, and dubbed them House Bruuga of Clan Sharratt. This was House Bruuga's fifteenth year with Clan Sharratt.
When Wrehn and Ymmiir got within shouting range, Ymmiir growled out at them in Mando'a.
"What in the nine hells is taking you uninitiated saplings so damned long to complete your tasks in that shack?!" he bellowed, berating the highly experienced and accomplished mercenaries.
"That safe simulator is unreasonably hard to cut through without destroying the items inside, Clan Chief," their squad leader replied, embarrassed, "We'll get it! We'll get the time down, Clan Chief.
"You'd better! We've only three more days of this training and when the real thing happens, our enemies will be shooting at us. You know, Ceymon Bruuga Sharratt! You know how many enemies will descend on us if we take too long!"
"Yes, Clan Chief!"
"Your house patriarch, Kaymon Bruuga Sharratt, demanded this assignment, and rightly so! Do not shame him!" Ymmiir warned.
"Yes, Clan Chief! We will not bring dishonor to Kaymon Bruuga Sharratt!"
With that, Ymmiir and Yehw'reh'nomai both turned about and casually strolled towards the barracks.
Wrehn spotted Vindis and Calaverous, apparently in conference.
"Excuse me, Clan Chief. I need to speak with those two," she told him.
"I'll see you later," Ymmiir replied.
Calaverous spotted Wrehn's approach and signaled to Vindis. She turned about and greeted
Wrehn.
"What do you need?" Vindis demanded.
"As friendly and chipper, as always," Wrehn thought, biting back her urge to give a snippy reply.
"Good job, you two, on your coordination. Your approach to the objective went real smooth. Your team has their part down, Vindis."
"Of course my team is in order. You should expect nothing less," Vindis said, as though affronted by Wrehn's unneeded praise.
Calaverous, rolled his eyes and smirked silently, giving his head a brief shake. Vindis hadn't noticed.
"Well, anyway," Wrehn said, forcing a smile at Vindis, "I wanted to ask you a question."
"Ask," Vindis said, giving her permission to the wretched low life.
Wrehn's forced smile faltered, greatly, but she succeeded in maintaining her composure.
"I was watching you and Calaverous, and I couldn't get why you two stayed in front of the ray shield. Why didn't you take advantage of the ray shield's protection on your approach?"
For once, Vindis replied without the acidic attitude.
"Two reasons," she said, "Our lightsaber beams would get stuck in the ray shield as the shield absorbed their energies, the same as happens to blaster bolts. Secondly, out front, we can deflect blaster bolts directly back at the shooters. However, if we're inside the shielding, and a blaster bolt happened to get through the ray shield, any bolts we deflected would only disburse and hurt us.
When a blaster bolt passes through a ray shield, their energies are greatly reduced, but they are also destabilized. Any other disturbance, such as contact with our lightsaber beams, would set them off."
"Oh, I see," Wrehn replied, "The shielding is great for protection, but it takes away any advantage you might have offensively."
"It also makes responding to a Jedi tricky," Calaverous chipped in, "We'd have to activate our weapon inside of the ray shield and wait for the Jedi to come to us, but that would put them in range of the droids.
"Or we could go past the shielding to the Jedi, but we wouldn't be able to activate our weapons until after we crossed the shield. That would expose us to blaster bolts coming at the ray shield without our weapons activated. We would be rushing, with our weapons off, towards Jedi who'd have their weapons activated, and we'd also face the possibility of getting struck with a blaster bolt as we exited the shield," Calaverous explained.
"We're better off outside of the ray shield," Vindis agreed.
"Thanks, that cleared that up for me," Wrehn said, before telling them, "We've got three more days of training, and then we'll head to the spaceport where we'll board dropships that'll take us to a destroyer, and that destroyer will take us to our next destination."
"Our next destination?" Calaverous asked, "You mean as you've explained before, to meet up with the other starship?"
"That's right," Wrehn said, "We'll be linking up with my other subcontractor for this job. From there, we'll head to our objective."
Both Vindis and Calaverous nodded their acknowledgment of Wrehn's explanation.
Yehw'reh'nomai, Ymmiir, Vindis, and Calaverous watched as the reinforced company of hired mercenaries, as well as Wrehn's own crew, loaded the last of their equipment and supplies aboard six Mandalorian troop transports. These dropships belonged to a Mandalorian heavy destroyer waiting in orbit around the Smuggler's Moon, as Nar Shaddaa was affectionately called by those in the underworld.
The troops had finally loaded themselves aboard the transports, and the four platoon leaders and House Bruuga's squad leader, and Wrehn, completed their conference with the clan chief. The five leaders, Wrehn and Ymmiir all dispersed, making their separate ways to their respective transports.
"We shall meet again on Hammer and Anvil," Ymmiir growled happily in Mandalorian accented Basic, waving his goodbyes to the others as they moved off.
"See you soon," Wrehn replied making her way to the transport with her crew aboard.
Wrehn sat on the bench occupied by Mako towards the front of the troop compartment and strapped herself in. Each bench supported two fully armored warriors. After strapping herself in, Wrehn tried to lean forward from her seat back, but the chest restraint would not let her move. She pushed hard against her lap and leg restraints with her legs and those would not budge, either.
The load master then made his way through the troop compartment, inspecting each passengers' seat restraints, tugging at the harnesses and ensuring the harness locking mechanisms were fully engaged and locked.
Vindis and Calaverous followed Wrehn aboard, but sat on a bench well away from Wrehn and her crew, towards the back where they proceeded to secure themselves with their seat restraints.
"They're right sociable, those two," Gault quipped.
"You know," Mako said, "When that guy showed up, you could see how she kept her distance from him, like he was the plague or something. Now, look at them. They look like a couple of love birds."
Wrehn smirked at Mako's gross exaggeration. It was true that, at first, Vindis kept her distance from Calaverous, barely saying a word to him. Wrehn did notice, however, that over time Vindis seemed to warm up to him. The two sat together at the back of the transport, whispering to each other.
"Maybe he's won her over," Torian speculated, grinning suggestively.
The load master lowered his fold up seat from the side of the transport next to the ramp. After securing his safety harness, he spoke into the microphone on the side of his helmet. The transport engines started winding up, going from a low moan that quickly escalated into a high pitched banshee scream.
Inside the troop compartment, the engines sounded loud, but it wasn't deafeningly so. The transport lifted gently from the landing pad, and eased its way towards the huge landing bay entrance. Wrehn felt the transport begin to nose up and heard the engines wind up even higher in pitch.
Suddenly, Wrehn felt her body press back into her seat back from the g-forces exerted against her as the transport shot up towards space and its mother ship in orbit. Their destination was the Mandalorian heavy destroyer, Hammer and Anvil.
Wrehn thought about her own starship, Heaven's Cricket, docked for long term storage, and hoped no one would steal her ship. She'd hired a security firm to guard her ship. She contracted with the firm to post four heavily armed guards to watch her ship around the chronometer.
Wrehn thought about Vindis' unusual generosity, volunteering her droid to provide additional internal security as the last line of defense, in case Wrehn's hired security firm got wiped and failed to keep potential trouble makers from stealing her ship.
"My droid may as well make itself useful, if it will stay here, recharging its power cells from your ship's power," Vindis had said.
At the time, Wrehn didn't want to turn down the free security she'd get for her starship to augment what she was going to be paying through the nose for. However, the Chiss bounty hunter began to worry.
"What if the guards fall asleep on post and some kids sneak aboard?" Wrehn thought worriedly, "Their parents will sue, and I could get into legal trouble, too."
She realized she was stressing herself out.
"There's no sense worrying over what-ifs and maybe-it-coulds," she told herself, pushing the matter out of her mind.
A few moments later, the engines cut off and Wrehn suddenly felt weightless. It was the strangest sensation she'd ever experienced. Wrehn's fear was plainly evident, but she was not the only one.
"Hey, Mako!" Wrehn nearly shouted, her fear growing into panic, "What's going on?! Are we falling?!"
"This is what riding in a ship that doesn't have an artificial gravity system feels like, Wrehn," Gault said, almost flippantly, "I've experienced this in the past, but it can still catch you off guard when you've been used to artificial gravity on starships."
"Wrehn's going to spill chunks!" Skadge said, laughing.
"I'm not spilling nothing, Skadge!" Wrehn snapped back, embarrassed.
"This dropship must be pretty blasted old," Mako observed, coming down from her own sudden panic, "Who in all nine hells keeps a ship without artificial gravity? It's stupid!"
The load master, didn't say anything, but he'd been quietly enjoying the passengers' startled reactions, and cracked a grin at Mako's outburst.
"Nah," Torian, the only one who wasn't taken off guard, countered, "This transport model has an extra large shield generator, for vanguard landing operations. So, to make room for the shield generator, they leave out the gravity generator."
"What's vanguard operations?" Mako asked.
"During planetary invasions, the very first dropships are bringing in the vanguard forces," Torian explained, "They're the first ones on the ground and are the ones who establish landing zones, and defensive perimeters. They establish a safe foot hold for the rest of the invading army to get themselves set up for the fight ahead.
"During vanguard operations, there's no one on the ground to offer protection for the incoming dropships, so they rely on oversized shield generators," Torian waited for the next question.
"That sounds like a lot of fun," Skadge said, thinking out loud.
"What about orbital bombardment to soften the target before landing," Gault asked.
"That is after an orbital bombardment," Torian answered, "The enemy will have ray shields to soften the blow from an orbital bombardment, so the fighting will still be hard."
"That really does sound like a lot of fun!" Skadge declared.
"They're having a good time, over there," Calaverous said of Wrehn and her crew at the front of the troop compartment.
"They're the riff raff," Vindis said, "Pay them no mind."
"We still need to be let in on their getaway plan if things go wrong," Calaverous reminded Vindis.
"We'll have our chance after we've settled down in our quarters," Vindis assured Calaverous.
"We're sharing quarters?" Calaverous asked with a sly grin, "We haven't even had our first date."
Vindis glared at him, caustically.
"If it wasn't for the fact that I have personally seen you operate on Korriban, and knew of your power, I would not take you seriously as a Sith lord," Vindis spat out at him, "Perhaps this frivolous attitude of yours was why Darth Tormen passed you over."
"Ouch! That stung!" Calaverous said, smirking, "At least you acknowledge my power."
"I was under tremendous strain in those days, perhaps I was delirious and was delusional about your power," Vindis said, trying to sink in a painful verbal barb, "Likely, I imagined it all."
"If you were in such a bad state, I'm amazed you were chosen by Darth Tormen," Calaverous said, in his rejoinder, "His standards are surprisingly low."
Vindis felt her cheeks go hot as she struggled to reign in her sudden fury. Calaverous, she realized had gotten under her skin, once again.
Wrehn could hear the engines begin to wind up again, and her weight begin to return. She could feel the shuttle make maneuvers. Then suddenly she was pressed deeply into her seat back as the transport used it's main engines to brake the ship to a near halt. Her weight was gone again, with the engines cutting out again, but suddenly her weight returned, yet again, as the shuttle entered the destroyer's docking bay. The Star Crusher's artificial gravity had exerted itself on the occupants of the vanguard dropship.
Wrehn felt the gentle bump of the shuttle touching down on the landing deck. Almost immediately after touch down, the engines wound down and became silent. A moment later, the load master undid his safety harness and rose from his seat, which he folded up before operating the ramp, breaking the airtight seal and lowering the ramp.
Vindis and Calaverous had already exited the transport by the time Wrehn walked down the ramp past the load master who was counting passengers getting off of his ship.
When the last of them had stepped off of the ramp, he did a walk through to ensure they didn't leave any gear behind. Returning to the back of the troop compartment, he called out in his heavily accented Basic, "You take gear or leave gear? I sell all! Make profit! Ha! Ha!"
"Torian, Mako, Skadge go get our gear off the shuttle," Wrehn ordered. Then, pointing at her hired guns, she said, "Gault, find out where they're gonna store their gear and supplies, then find a different place for us to stow our gear. I don't want our stuff getting mixed up with their trash."
"You got it," Gault said, stepping off to accomplish his task.
Torian, Mako and Skadge had already walked off without a word to carry out their assignment.
Wrehn continued watching as her hired mercenaries unloaded their equipment and supplies. She noticed Ymmiir and his officers were in conference. Before she could step off to Ymmiir and his officers, Vindis called to her.
"Yehw'reh'nomai."
"Yeah, Vindis. What's up?"
"We need to talk. Not now, but soon. After we get ourselves sorted out and settled in our quarters. It's important."
"You got it, Vindis. I'll see you in a while."
Yehw'reh'nomai turned towards Ymmiir and made her way to him.
Ymmiir's brief meeting ended just as Wrehn arrived, so she missed the contents of their impromptu conference.
"Is everything going well?" Wrehn asked in Mando'a.
"As well as everything can be, but all we've done is leave Nar Shaddaa," Ymmiir replied, giving a sagely smile and nod.
"Good," Wrehn replied, "I will call Mandalore. I want you there for the call."
Ymmiir was caught off guard by her invitation.
"I would be most honored, Great Hunt Champion. Thank you."
The two proceeded to walk towards the main passageway leading out of the hanger deck and towards the main bank of turbolifts to access the bridge.
"I realize this is none of my business, Ymmiir, but I want to suggest you speak to Mandalore about resettling your clan. When we have ended the chancellor, the Republic will make the greatest effort to hunt down me and my crew. We can run and hide, but your clan is a sitting bori water foul."
"You're right Great Hunt Champion," Ymmiir agreed, but his voice shook from anger, "It is none of your business. Yet, you are absolutely correct. I wish I had thought of this sooner. I and my clan are so sure the Republic will strike at us that we have all resigned ourselves to a glorious death.
"Every man woman and child would fight to the death," he said, shaking his head, regretfully, "Taking as many Republic scum with us as we could. A most glorious end to our clan. If only I had thought of your suggestion sooner."
"I feel the same way, Ymmiir. I wish I had thought of it at the start," Wrehn said, "We still have about a month. You're people have the time to get everything packed and ready to load onto Mandalorian freighters and troop ships. Abandon whatever they cannot take with them."
The turbolift door slid open and the two stepped out. They were immediately stopped by two heavily armed Mandalorian warriors on guard defending the hatchway into the bridge.
"People not of bridge not permitted," the Mandalorian warrior declared in Mandalorian accented Basic, then firmly ordering, "Now, turn back!"
"I'm Yehw'reh'nomai," Wrehn replied in Mando'a, "I have hired this destroyer for a mission. I must speak to the captain. Tell him I am here."
The two warriors hesitated before one of them said, "Wait here, Sister."
He opened the sliding hatch and entered the bridge.
"You didn't call ahead to tell him you were coming?" Ymmiir teased.
"I am a paying customer," Wrehn said, a bit miffed, "I should have been recognized and given better treatment."
"If you want repeat business, you treat your paying customers right," Ymmiir agreed.
The warrior, who'd stayed back, looked visibly embarrassed at his failure.
A moment later an officer exited the bridge with the first warrior.
"I apologize," the officer said, in Mando'a, "No one is permitted on the bridge who isn't a part of the bridge crew."
Before Wrehn could protest, the officer added, "Please follow me to the wardroom. The captain will meet you there after we jump into hyperspace."
"Fine," Wrehn answered, resigned to be treated like an unwanted guest.
The wardroom, it turned out, was not far from the bridge.
"Please, sit. Rest yourselves," the officer bade the two, "If you're hungry, the orderlies and our chef will prepare something to please your palate."
With that, the officer was gone. A Mandalorian in a spotless white fabric uniform approached the two.
"We have prepared sandwiches and arkore seafood soup."
Wrehn and Ymmiir exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Very well," Wrehn said, in the stilted syntax of Mando'a, "It seems an appropriate meal."
The orderly guided the two to another space which contained the dining table and chairs. The two set their helmets onto the deck beneath their chairs and removed their armored gloves, setting those on the floor beside their helmets.
As Wrehn looked about the space, she felt a significant queasiness in her gut. A sure sign that the warship had jumped into hyperspace.
"We now make our journey to Csilla," Ymmiir said, as though making an announcement.
"I hope the captain remembered my request that he lose any potential Republic spying ships in Mandalorian space," Wrehn said, "I don't want to be followed to Csilla."
Two orderlies appeared and set the table for their ship's guests. Shortly after that their sandwiches and the soup was brought out. Wrehn and Ymmiir were both surprised and gratified to see the quality and generous proportions of the sandwiches and their soup.
"I hope meals like this are a regularity," Wrehn said, picking up a spoon to try out the soup.
"I have heard tell, that naval officers eat like kings aboard their warships. Now I see the truth of it," Ymmiir replied, feeling a bit envious.
The two ate in silence for a time before the door to the wardroom slid open and two officers walked in. The executive officer, otherwise known as the XO was a man in his late thirties or early forties with dark hair, cut and styled conservatively, and an equally conservatively trimmed beard and mustache. The other officer was a man in his fifties with a nicely trimmed grey beard and mustache. His grey hair was cut in a military style. He wore captain's rank on his uniform.
Wrehn and Ymmiir began to push their meals away to get to business. However, Wrehn was troubled because the officer with captain's rank was not whom she'd spoken to to make the contract for their services.
"No. Please, continue your meals," the man said, taking a seat at their table, "I'm Captain Rennet Panand Fett, commander of the heavy destroyer Star Crusher. This is the executive officer, Commander Chattef Tarnnar Fett.
"The Star Crusher? Not the Hammer and Anvil?" Wrehn asked, perplexed.
"The Hammer and Anvil was damaged in battle and has had to return to its home port for repairs. Fleet Admiral Ura Drasda Fett assigned my command for this mission. I am taking over the contract."
It was plain to see that Wrehn was not pleased.
"I will not renegotiate the terms for the contract," she said, firmly.
"This is not your fault. The fleet admiral recognizes this. We'll accept responsibility and will cover any additional costs that might result. Do not fret."
Wrehn visibly relaxed on hearing the captain's assurances. At that moment an orderly approached the table.
"Good afternoon, Captain. We have sandwiches and arkore seafood soup. Would you like some?"
"No, just bring me a cup of caff, black."
"XO?" the orderly asked.
"I'll just have a glass of chilled genwoo tea," Chattef Fett replied.
"Very, good, gentlemen. I'll return shortly with your drinks," with that, the orderly took his leave.
"You probably already know, from the contract, that I'm Yehw'reh'nomai. This is one of my subcontractors, Clan Chief Ymmiir Sharratt of Clan Sharratt."
"Clan Chief Ymmiir Sharratt, it is my honor to meet you," Captain Rennet Panand said, extending his hand towards the clan chief, "You will soon fight side by side with the Grand Champion of The Great Hunt."
Ymmiir extended his own hand and the two men shook.
"Your fame precedes you, Great Hunt Champion," Rennet Panand said, extending his hand towards her, which Wrehn shook, "It is my great honor to meet you. My young son's chest will swell with pride that his father shook your hand."
"You honor me, greatly," Wrehn said, with a pleasant smile.
Rennet Panand's smile faded as he went on.
"It is despicable what the Republic did to the former champions on Nar Shaddaa," Rennet Fett said, a tinge of fury showing through his otherwise pleasant demeanor.
"One day," Wrehn said, darkly, "they'll pay."
Ymmiir imperceptibly turned his head and shifted his eyes to regard his client, the primary contractor for this job, but said nothing.
News of the Republic's assassination of the three previous champions had already spread throughout the Mandalorian Empire, sparking great outrage. A debate had sparked among the clan chieftains whether to expand the war and invade Galactic Republic space, or to continue supporting the Sith Empire, but at a greater capacity. None, however, were aware of the secret plans for retaliation.
Clan Sharratt was isolated from the rest of the Mandalorian Empire and didn't get the news. It wasn't important news in Hutt Space, so they'd never known this had occurred right under their noses on Nar Shaddaa.
Ymmiir Sharratt was embarrassed for not knowing. In fact, it wasn't important news in Imperial Space, either, which was why Vindis and Calaverous didn't know either. The Sith lords' vague understanding of Mandalore's thirst for vengeance was understandably light on details.
"Is this why the Great Hunt Champion is on this mission?" Ymmiir asked himself, for the first time realizing that the Chiss woman was in it for more than just the money, "Is she avenging the other champions? Is she an avenger? What exactly happened to the champions?"
"May I ask what your mission on Csilla entails?" Captain Rennet Panand asked, curious, "Mandalorians have done work for the Chiss Ascendancy many times, but never in Chiss Ascendancy Space."
"Our mission isn't in Csilla," Wrehn corrected, "We're meeting with a Chiss Ascendancy warship. They are taking us to our objective."
"Is there a reason you felt that we couldn't be relied on to take you to your objective?" Rennet Panand asked, clearly offended.
"Their ships and dropships have stealth capabilities that Mandalorian naval ships lack," Wrehn replied, candidly, "A stealthy insertion is paramount to the mission's success."
"The Sith Empire have naval assets with stealth capabilities," Commander Chattef Tarnnar countered, "Why not hire one of those? Since you're doing a job for them, they probably would have offered cheap prices."
"Firstly, the Sith Empire does not hire out their ships," Wrehn said, counter-countering the XO. Then she lied, adding, "Secondly, I am not doing a job for the Sith Empire, and before you ask, I do not speak about my clients."
Chattef Tarnnar shrugged his shoulders, giving up further pursuit for any tidbits of gossip.
"It is fair and proper not to disclose your clients," the captain conceded, but then asked, "Where will these stealth ships take you and what will you be doing there?"
Wrehn knew that Mandalorians were nosy busy bodies. It was borne from the fact that Mandalorians liked to brag to each other about their feats of bravery and heroic accomplishments. So, she wasn't put off by the questions.
"I am sorry, Captain Rennet Panand Fett. I cannot talk about my mission," Wrehn said, in a business-like manner, "But I swear to you. You will know what my mission was when I've completed it."
"It will make news across the galaxy, eh?" Chattef Tarnnar asked, grinning with anticipation.
"If we succeed, we shall become legends among the Mandalorians," Ymmiir Sharratt replied with quiet pride.
"And our only part is to transport you to Csilla?" Captain Rennet Panand asked, sadly shaking his head with disappointment showing on his features.
"Your part is important in throwing our enemies, pursuing us, off the trail," Wrehn said, reminding the captain of the need to not navigate straight to Csilla, "You'll take a random route throughout Mandalorian space. Hopefully, Mandalorian naval forces on patrol will sniff out anyone following us around and flush them out."
"We had better flush them out long before then," Captain Rennet Panand Fett said, eyeing his XO.
"Do you expect to be followed?" Commander Chattef Tarnnar Fett asked Wrehn.
"Yes," Wrehn said, "Clan Sharratt has already detected and eliminated several spying devices in their enclave and had captured, interrogated and killed a spy within one of their military compounds. We believe there has been a leak."
"I will go make sure, Captain," Chattef Tarnnar said to Rennet Panand.
"Very good, XO."
Chattef Tarnnar rose from his seat and left the wardroom. Rennet Panand watched as the door to the wardroom slid shut again before returning his attention to his client.
"Please, feel free to use our wardroom. Do not refrain from joining us for meals, and do not worry for the costs," Rennet Panand said, magnanimously, "If there is anything else that I can do for you, please tell me. I shall be honored to see what can be done."
"Well, actually, there is something," Wrehn said.
Rennet Panand nodded once and looked intently at Wrehn to see what she would ask for.
"I have two other sub-contractors working for me. They are actually very important people," Wrehn said.
"You mean the Sith?" Rennet Panand asked.
"Yes. The Sith," Wrehn confirmed, "May they take their meals and take some leisure, in the wardroom?"
"They are welcome. However, they must pay for their meals. The costs of meals are reasonable, so they should have no complaints."
"Thank you," Wrehn said, "There is one last thing. Ymmiir Sharratt and I need to contact Mandalore on a reliable and securely encrypted channel," Wrehn said, "We must be alone when we speak to him."
"I will inform you when a stable, securely encrypted connection has been established," Captain Rennet Panand promised, while incorrectly surmising that Mandalore was Wrehn's client.
"Thank you," Wrehn said, nodding her head for emphasis.