Two days later, the Star Crusher slipped out of the orbital maintenance gantry and started to maneuver away from the orbital maintenance facility. The Star Crusher was maneuvered into a high orbit, pending new orders to leave the Mandalore Star System. Wrehn was allowed entry into the bridge.
"Good morning, Yehw'reh'nomai."
"Good morning, Captain Rennet Panand Fett," the Chiss woman replied, adding, "I see we're moving again. Did they find anything?"
"A tracking transponder was found magnetically attached to the hull of our ship," Rennet Panand confirmed with a nod of his head for emphasis, "We feared that removing it conventionally would cause it to activate a self destruct sequence that could potentially include a powerful detonation that could perforate the hull. So, it was decided to disable it with an EMP device.
"Precautions were taken to safeguard ship's sensors and other electronic systems, but some minor damage occurred to one of the ship's sensors. The damage was quickly repaired, however. We believe the transponder was put there while we were in orbit over Nar Shaddaa."
"Galactic Republic intelligence services work fast," Wrehn observed, "You guys weren't in orbit for longer than it took you guys to send the dropships to pick us up and take us to your ship."
"Three hours," Captain Rennet Panand confirmed, adding, "The SIS are watching you closely."
"That explains how that stealth ship was able to keep track of you the whole time," Wrehn noted. Then hoping for good news, asked, "Did they get that stealth ship?"
The captain's eyes changed on hearing her question.
"Come with me," he told Wrehn.
The captain led Wrehn towards a small office space next to the ship's bridge. Inside was a small metal desk, a chair and a cot. It was where the officer who was on duty commanding the ship took short naps. It was close to the bridge so that the officer who had the conn could respond quickly in case of emergencies.
The captain spoke as soon as the door slid shut.
"It was not a starship. It was a deep space probe droid."
"A probe droid as big as a starship?!" Wrehn asked in disbelief. Then it hit her, "A probe droid that could navigate through hyperspace without being told where to go?!"
"It had a crew of four maintenance droids to care for its engines and other systems, but the ship was the droid, piloting itself and gathering signals intelligence."
"How did they manage to capture it?"
"They recovered the wreckage of it."
"It will be a great opportunity to reverse engineer their stealth technology, and their droid AI brain technology," Wrehn speculated, before asking, "Will your command get some sort of bounty for leading it here and helping Mandalore to gain such a windfall?"
"Reverse engineering it will benefit the Mandalorian Empire greatly," Rennet Panand confirmed, opening the door to exit the small space and reenter the bridge, "The ship will not get any compensation, but Clan Fett will share in the new tech with Clan Lok. We brought it here as you say, but it was Clan Lok who hunted it down and destroyed it. So, the two clans will share."
Back on the bridge, Rennet spoke to his client again.
"We shall take a meandering route towards your final destination, but I will get us there in four days."
"Thank you, Captain," Wrehn answered before turning away to depart the bridge.
Wrehn was quite worried that the Chiss would decide their customer had changed her mind about the stealth ships for which she paid a sizable deposit. She was also worried about how many assets and how much effort the Galactic Republic was expending to keep an eye on her.
"I think they know what I'm up to," she thought, greatly worried. Then asking herself of the Sith, "I wonder if they'll quit? Well, Vindis can't, but Calaverous can."
On her way back to Officer's Country, she made a detour to the gym. There she found quite a few of Clan Sharratt's warriors, working out.
"Do any of you know where I might find your clan chief?" she asked, in Mando'a.
"Great Hunt Champion, you might find him on the hanger deck, where he's overseeing sparing matches," one of the men answered.
"Thank you," was her reply as she turned to leave the gym.
The hatch to the hanger deck slid open and immediately she could hear the raucous shouts and cheers as the spectators rooted for their favorite. The loud cheers were not, however, loud enough to drown out the voices of duty and the sounds of tools and of maintenance.
To make her way to the cheering spectators, she had to navigate her way through teams of maintenance crews who were industriously servicing shuttles and fighters. She had to make her way around teams of Mandalorians directing their droids as they unloaded cargo from the cargo bays of light cargo shuttles docked in the cavernous landing bay. Meanwhile, she also had to avoid other fast moving droids which transported the unloaded cargo deeper into the bowels of the massive heavy destroyer. She had to walk behind a formation of Mandalorian sailors in the midst of inspection of their uniforms, weapons, and tools.
Finally, Wrehn walked to the throng of Clan Sharratt spectators and pushed her way through them until she could see the grappling combatants on a thick padded mat set up for the competition. She swept her eyes across the thronging spectators until she found Ymmiir at the edge of the crowd.
He sat across the other side of the mat catty-corner from her. The clan chief was looking straight at her, after immediately spotting her emerge at the edge of the crowded spectators. The Chiss bounty hunter was hard to miss, with her cobalt blue skin.
Wrehn signaled with her thumb over her shoulder, and immediately pushed her way back out through the crowd. The Chiss woman waited a bit of time before spotting Ymmiir as he made his way to her from the crowd of cheering warriors.
"We have a big problem. Meet me in my quarters for dinner. We'll meet there with Vindis. I'll tell you two everything, then."
"Are you going to call off the mission?" Ymmiir asked, his stone face hiding whatever he might be thinking.
"I can't. I got partial pay in advance," Wrehn answered, "I don't know what the Sith will do, though."
Ymmiir nodded acknowledgment of Wrehn's dinner invitation.
"I'll be there for dinner," he said, "I'll want to renegotiate our contract."
"Yeah," Wrehn said, sourly, "So will Vindis."
Wrehn, Vindis, and Ymmiir stood at one side of Wrehn's stateroom, watching as the orderlies quickly and expertly set about their well choreographed tasks.
The orderlies set down, with precision and speed, the plates, the bowls, the eating utensils, and the various drinking glasses onto a table finely appointed with a very fine cloth covering. The durasteel table had been brought into the room earlier and then quickly assembled before it was covered with a luxurious, thick, white Dantooinian linenin table cloth. The orderlies completed their tasks with the final step of setting the chairs around the table. The Mandalorian orderlies exited the stateroom, having completed their tasks.
Another group of orderlies entered the spacious and well appointed room almost immediately after. They brought in carts laden with food, drinks, and deserts. The orderlies stood by their stations around the table. Their carts were loaded with highly polished stainless steal trays and pans covered with highly polished stainless steel domes.
When all was in readiness, the head orderly, invited Wrehn and her dinner guests to sit at the table. Wrehn was deeply surprised to see that it was an elderly, silver-haired, blue-grey-skinned Chiss woman.
"Champion of The Great Hunt," the old woman proclaimed in Galactic Basic with a faint Cheunh accent, "distinguished guests of the Great Hunt Champion, please, take your places at this bountiful table of feasting."
Wrehn and her two dinner guests approached the table and found name plates at the table. They took their places were they saw their names, written in Galactic Basic. As Wrehn sat, she snuck another look at the dignified looking elderly Chiss woman.
As soon as the dinner guests sat, the orderlies immediately began to uncover the trays and serving pans and immediately began carving slices from the roast traladon, plating the succulent meat and sauteed vegetables, baked yamma root, and other side dishes. Meanwhile, the soup bowls were ladled with Mandalorian cabbage soup.
"I don't see the orderly with the credit scanner," Vindis remarked, breaking the mood for Wrehn.
"I'm covering all of the costs for this," Wrehn said, successfully hiding her irritation at Vindis, "You're my dinner guests. Don't worry about it."
"Then things are much worse than I had imagined they'd be," Vindis thought, giving Wrehn a sidelong glance.
Earlier, when Wrehn invited Vindis to dinner, the Chiss bounty hunter explained to the Sith lord what to expect.
"Yeah, you look surprised that I'm inviting you to dinner, but there's business behind that invitation," Wrehn explained, smiling at Vindis' shocked expression, "I'm gonna tell you and Ymmiir some bad news. That's why I'm gonna butter you up for a bit before I drop a load of bricks on your good times."
"Why go through all of that?" Vindis asked, perplexed, "Just tell me."
"It's one of them old timey Mandalorian traditions for breaking bad news to business partners," Wrehn explained, "Ymmiir won't like it if I just up and told him what was going on. So, just enjoy yourself and have a good time. Don't worry, you'll be plenty upset when I break the news to you."
"Are you canceling the mission?" Vindis asked, pointedly.
"Nah," Wrehn answered, "It's not that. I'll tell you and Ymmiir at dinner, tonight. Be there. It's an invitation you can't refuse."
All of the orderlies left, save one, who remained behind in case seconds were asked for, and to top off their drinking glasses.
"We'll take care of ourselves," Wrehn told the Chiss woman orderly, in Mando'a, "You're dismissed."
"Yes, Great Hunt Champion."
The door slid shut and immediately Wrehn cut a piece of the roast traladon and lifted it to her mouth.
"Mmmm!" she declared, according to custom, "This traladon is tasty and fit for sentient beings to consume!"
Ymmiir applauded and looked at Vindis and gestured for her to applaud. Vindis rolled her eyes and clapped her hands, slowly.
"Now, we eat," Ymmiir said, smiling at the Sith lord. The two then dug in.
"It's quite good," Vindis agreed, after taking her first bite.
"Galley did good job!" Ymmiir seconded, in his Mandalorian accented Basic.
Wrehn rose from the table and walked to a cabinet, from which she pulled out a bottle of wine. Returning to her seat at the table, she showed it to Ymmiir, and then to Vindis.
Ymmiir nodded his acknowledgment of the wine being presented, but Vindis' eyes bugged open at what she saw on the label.
"Tython! Estate bottled on Tython! And it's two hundred thirty years old!" Vindis declared, after which she suddenly closed her eyes and held her hand towards the bottle, palm out. "I don't sense the presence of the Light Side in the bottle. So, I won't object to having some."
Wrehn smiled at Vindis' excitement as she began to open the bottle.
"Then wine has some value?" Ymmiir asked, now curious.
"This bottle is worth sixty two thousand credits - Hutt," Wrehn said, boasting with a smug grin, "I got a case of it as a bonus for completing a job for one of my clients."
"What was job?" Ymmiir asked, even more curious.
"Ship forty five thousand bottles of the stuff from Tython to Ziost."
"Shipped? Or smuggled?" Vindis asked, nearly scandalized, "I'm shocked that anyone on Ziost would want anything brought in from Tython," she giggled at the notion, "It must be for the thrill of the guilty pleasure."
Both Wrehn and Ymmiir were surprised by her display of humor.
"Imagine the guilty pleasure the exporter had shipping it out from Tython," Wrehn said, conspiratorially.
Wrehn poured the dark red wine into three wine glasses, passing one each to Ymmiir and to Vindis. Ymmiir sniffed at his wine and took a tiny sip. He made a face showing he was less than impressed.
"Swirl your wine like this," Vindis said, swirling her wine glass to demonstrate, "Let the wine get some air. That will bring out its best flavor."
"Huh! I never knew that," Wrehn confessed, starting to swirl her own glass.
"I not drink wine," Ymmiir admitted, adding, "I not know this."
"Let us make toast," Ymmiir proposed, "Vindis, then me, then Yehw'reh'nomai."
"Death to our enemies, and victory for us!" Vindis decreed.
"May we strike hard! May we strike true!" Ymmiir prayed.
"Glory, wealth, and fame to us!" Wrehn declared.
The three drank down their first glass.
"Stars!" Vindis gushed, "That was exceptional! And I didn't even give it time to entertain my taste buds!"
"Wow!" Wrehn said, smiling, "So, that's what sixty two thousand credits taste like!"
"Hmmmph," Ymmiir said, not particularly impressed, "Nice."
Wrehn poured another glass full for each of them. This time, they sipped their wine, savoring each sip.
In a short while, dinner was over and, sadly, the wine was gone, too. However, Ymmiir fixed that problem. He pulled a crystal glass flask from the inner pocket of his fabric military uniform jacket. The ornately crafted flask was filled with a spirituous amber colored liquid which he presented with a mischievous grin. Wrehn answered with a grin of her own.
"I'll get the shot glasses," she said, rising from her seat and walking to the cabinet.
She set the shot glasses down and Ymmiir proceeded to pour the amber liquid into each glass.
He returned the flask to the inner pocket of his uniform jacket and picked up his shot glass and proposed a toast.
"To future business!"
"To the future!" Vindis declared.
"May we have a future! Wrehn said, stunning Vindis with her toast.
The three sipped from their shot glasses.
"My! This is strong!" Vindis said, enjoying herself.
"Yet, so smooth," Wrehn added, "What is it called, and where do you get it?"
"I made whiskey," Ymmiir said with quiet pride, "It is side business. I make whiskey. I make many credits selling to cantinas on Nar Shaddaa."
"Your side business?" Vindis asked.
"Main business is military operations for customers," Ymmiir explained, waiving a hand towards Wrehn, "She is my customer. I have other units. They do other jobs on Nar Shaddaa, on Hutta. My customers are Hutts, and other customers. That is where credits are."
"Why do the side business, then?" Vindis asked, "Did you need the extra income?"
"Ha! No! I not need extra credits!" he found the question funny, "I like make whiskey. Soon, I retire. My son will be clan chief. He make his reputation, and he has strong experience. House patriarchs of clan respect him. He is ready to be clan chief.
"This," he said, gulping back a pang of emotion, "This my last big fight. Then I retire and make whiskey!"
"Didn't you just take over the clan from your father?" Wrehn asked, perplexed, "Why retire so soon?"
"I said they killed my father, and I took over. I did not say it was last week. It was five years ago."
"So, the Republic's merciless attack of your enclave was successful in stopping your raids against them?" Vindis asked.
This clearly rankled Ymmiir. He did his best to clear up the misunderstanding.
"My father died of wounds five years ago, after big raid against Republic base on Nar Shaddaa. I took over. Republic slaughtered non-combatants one month and a half ago."
"They not stop us. They slowed us. We must rebuild our families. We must rebuild our strength," he said more calmly than he felt.
"Make babies," Wrehn mouthed to Vindis, conspiratorially, causing the Sith lord to smile at the humor of Wrehn's antics.
"This raid…" Ymmiir had been saying, but emotion made the words catch in his throat for a moment before he continued, "We will show them. They hurt us, but they not stop us."
"It's time for me to stop beating around the bush," Wrehn finally declared, adding, "As you both know, there is a leak."
Vindis and Ymmiir both nodded acknowledgment of the fact.
Ymmiir told me that the Republic hadn't sent any spies to his enclave in years, until after I arrived to hire his clan."
"Captain Rennet Panand Fett told me that they'd only spent three hours in obit over Nar Shaddaa to pick us up. In that short time, the Republic planted a tracking beacon on the hull of this ship, which is how their deep space signals intelligence/scouting droid was able to track us in and out of hyperspace. "
Wrehn looked at the two in turn, lifted her shot glass and took another sip before continuing.
"I think they know what our objective is," she said, delivering the worst possible news, "They've known since we left the Spirit of Vengeance," turning her eyes towards Vindis, Wrehn concluded, "I think the leak is either within Mandalore's sphere, or Darth Tormen's."
"So, we should expect their security to be tripled?" Vindis asked, suddenly realizing that the chance of failure of their mission had gone up most considerately.
"Yeah."
"So," Ymmiir began speaking, his voice heavy with profound disappointment, "there is no more mission."
"I cannot call off the mission. I must see it through," Wrehn said, with heavy conviction, "The reputations of all the previous Grand Champions of the Great Hunt, and of mine, are on the line. Mandalore's reputation is on the line, too. He recommended me to Darth Tormen."
"So, what do you expect us to do?" Vindis asked, a bit perplexed.
"I need to know if you're going to quit or stay on?" Wrehn asked, looking Vindis in the eye.
Vindis became enraged and fairly jumped to her feet.
"Did you think I was some coward who would flee at the first sign of danger?!"
"This is business, Vindis," Ymmiir cut in, as he tried to calm the enraged Sith lord, "Conditions of objective is different. All our training is no good. This is time to renegotiate contracts. Before, we may lose five percent forces. Now, we may lose sixty percent forces. Maybe we escape. Maybe we not escape. We may still complete mission, but many Mandalorians will die, maybe Sith, too."
"It's business," Wrehn confirmed, reminding Vindis of the bounty hunter's strange dinner invitation earlier that evening, "It's why I treated you both to a fabulous dinner and to some very fine wine."
Vindis, greatly mollified, resumed her seat.
"I will increase both your pay by one hundred percent," Wrehn said, firmly, "not a credit more. Take it, or quit the job."
Ymmiir's face soured. He didn't like the terms.
"I demand more!"
"I'm not cutting any deeper into my profits," Wrehn said, with finality and shifting her gaze towards Vindis.
"Then Clan Sharratt will not fight!" Ymmiir shouted.
"Ymmiir Sharratt," Wrehn said, gently, "What will Mandalore think, after he had pledged to stand by your side to defend your enclave?" Turning to face Vindis, she added, "It might not be a good look for you, if you told Darth Tormen that you didn't participate in the mission after all. Especially, if he were to think that my mission failure resulted from your withdrawal."
"I must discus this with Lord Calaverous," Vindis said, disgustedly, "As you've said, I can't back out, but Calaverous can."
"Tell him the mission has become near suicidal, but we'll still have our dropships for escape." Wrehn said, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head, "That might be a sticking point for him," adding, "The escape plan is unchanged, but we'll be on higher alert and ready for immediate withdrawal. If it turns out they set up an ambush for us, then we can assume that the chancellor is not there and just bug out."
Vindis realized there was no haggling in this situation.
"Then, our easy secondary targets will not be so easy anymore," the Sith lord speculated, and still feeling greatly dissatisfied, she thought sourly, "At least she offered a hundred percent increase in my pay."
"I've got to talk to Lord Calaverous," Vindis said, rising to her feet.
"I must tell warriors," Ymmiir said, holding in his great anger, as he rose to his feet.
"Look on the bright side, guys," Wrehn said, feeling a bit foolish, "If I'm wrong, you'll get double pay for easy work."
Wrehn watched as her two subcontractors shook their heads in disbelief and then left her stateroom. When she resumed her seat, she noticed that both Vindis and Ymmiir had left their shot glasses, partly full.
"Can't let that go to waste," she told herself, selfishly.
She poured their unfinished shots into her shot glass before taking a healthy pull from her topped off glass.
"Damn! This is good stuff!" she declared loudly, to herself.
Calaverous opened the door to his quarters, and smiled pleasantly upon seeing Vindis at his door.
"Please, enter, Lord Vindis."
She entered as invited, walked to the caff table, and took a seat next to it. Calaverous sat on the chair at the opposite side of the small table. He detected a faint hint of whiskey emanating from her, greatly surprising him.
"She's starting to cut loose!" he told himself.
"I can tell from the look on your face that you have bad news to tell me," he said to her in a light tone.
Vindis told him about the suspected leaks, how quickly the Star Crusher had been compromised with the tracking beacon, and about the deep space SigInt (Signals Intelligence) gathering / scout droid.
"Yehw'reh'nomai believes that the Republic will be ready for us when we arrive to Coruscant," Vindis said, disgustedly. She reluctantly added what Wrehn said to tell him, "The mission has probably become nearly suicidal. Those are her words."
"Then the mission is called off," Calaverous guessed – incorrectly.
"The mission is not called off," Vindis replied, adding, "The escape plan is unchanged, but we'll be on higher alert and ready for immediate withdrawal if the situation proves to be an obvious ambush."
"Then, you must pay me more if you still want my services," Calaverous demanded resolutely.
"I'll pay you an additional thirty million," Vindis declared, "That is sixty million."
"Come now. Surely you can afford to pay more than that?"
"Yehw'reh'nomai has been in this business a long time and knows how to twist arms during negotiations. She is extraordinarily cheep, and exceptionally greedy," Vindis said, sourly, "She reminded me how embarrassing it would be for me if I were to report to Darth Tormen that I withdrew from the mission, after I'd practically begged him to let me go on it."
Calaverous had on a dubious expression.
"Originally, I was only to observe the preparations for the mission and see them off. But I convinced Darth Tormen to let me go on the mission. The Sith empire does not want to be associated with this mission. To explain our presence, we are Sith whom she has hired to deal with the Jedi on her hit list.
"She pretty much put me on the spot," Vindis continued her explanation, "Either I accepted what she offered, or I could walk from the mission."
"And walking from the mission would put you in a bad light with Darth Tormen," Calaverous said, concluding that she was not lying to him.
"You should have seen how she put Ymmiir Sharratt on the spot," Vindis continued her story, "Something about Mandalore having made a pledge to stand by his side. That shut him up fast, and he humbly accepted the deal without anymore objections."
"My arm shall not be twisted," Calaverous intoned, "You have nothing on me. Pay me more, or I shall walk."
"Lord Calaverous," Vindis spoke more calmly than she felt, "Have you ever been paid like this for any job you've ever done? I'll let you off the hook and pay you a mere fifty thousand credits for your troubles. Or you can stay on the job for sixty million credits."
She watched as Calaverous thought it over.
"You'll never see another opportunity to earn such sums ever again."
"Fine," he said, sourly, "You've made your point."
"And now your arm has been twisted," she said with a slight smirk, before changing the subject, "I wonder. Do you suppose they have a cantina aboard this ship? I could use a drink."
"You mean another drink, don't you?" Calaverous asked, with an arched eyebrow. He could tell she had a bit of a buzz going on, "If you don't mind, I'll be happy to join you."
"To the wardroom, then," Vindis declared, making her way to the door of his room.
"To the wardroom," Calaverous agreed aloud, following her out the door. To himself, he thought, "Whoa! She's really loosening up!"