News of the election of a new supreme chancellor was still breaking across the galaxy. Republic citizens were just starting to learn that a new supreme chancellor had been elected by the senators appointed by their local planetary governors. Even before this new information had been fully digested by the citizenry, the ambassador to Hutta from the Galactic Republic was already sitting before the Supreme Mogul making a request.
Political pundits from news networks in tens of thousands of news markets throughout the Galactic Republic were just starting to discuss what impact the election of Leontyne Saresh could have for their republic, and tens of thousands of other pundits in Hutta and Sith Empire space were having discussions of how her election would impact their empires, economically and in the war, respectively.
Yet, before anyone had a chance to make their predictions of what kind of leader Leontyne Saresh was going to be, the ambassador was already bribing the Supreme Mogul with luxurious gifts of the highest quality and expense.
The ambassador even presented the Supreme Mogul with an unsolicited mining contract proposal that would bring in a new source of great wealth to the Supreme Mogul. All that was needed was the mogul's agreement and signature for the lucrative deals to go into effect.
"I am grateful to the Supreme Mogul for his ever gracious courtesy in allowing me an audience before him on such short notice," Ambassador Terrelance Modrick, a Human male, intoned with a joyful smile.
"Kharactamu babbehnamaweh dumobobba nah," the Hutt's interpreter, a female Weequay said to the supreme mogul of the Hutt Cartel.
Nodding his massive, ugly, amphibian-like head, and gesturing with his tiny arms, ridiculous in their proportions to the rest of his corpulent slug-like body, the supreme mogul spoke.
"Ahhh! Mahhadda mugumbudah wahmahmewah," Karagga, The Unyielding replied.
"The ever glorious supreme mogul extends his thanks for your very gracious offer to help us be rid of those very dangerous criminals," his interpreter, smiling happily, said to Ambassador Modrick.
"We are happy to be granted permission for this chance to clean out these dangerous terrorists," the ambassador replied, smiling broadly, "It will be a benefit to every peaceful being in the galaxy to see their blight removed from existence."
The interpreter relayed Terrelance's words, and then relayed Karagga's reply.
"The ever generous Karagga, The Unyielding, is especially grateful for the Galactic Republic's promise to exactly target the enclave and to prevent the action from spreading to the neighboring buildings, and if possible to keep the action from spreading to the other mega floors of the building."
"We have allocated enough forces to ensure the fighting is restricted to that one mega floor in that one building," ambassador Terrelance Modrick solemnly assured the Supreme Mogul, "and to complete the operation in a day, if not in hours, and to ensure that there will be no survivors to launch retaliations against the Hutt Cartel."
After the interpreter relayed the dialogue between the principals in the conference, happy and polite platitudes were exchanged, and the ambassador was allowed to take his leave.
The Hutt had given what the Republic craved, his blessing to proceed with the very limited, exactly targeted raid of Clan Sharratt's enclave. Those Mandalorians had become a sore subject for the Supreme Mogul of the Hutt Cartel. He had tired of the constant complaining from the Republic about those trouble makers on the Smuggler's Moon.
"At last! I shall have peace from the Republic's constant whining," Karagga thought to himself.
The Hutt Cartel's space traffic controllers had gotten word to begin clearing the agreed upon section of space over Nar Shaddaa. It was this section of space that the Republic fleet would drop into from hyperspace and then exclusively occupy to conduct their raid.
The difficult work of closing traffic lanes and rerouting speeder traffic had also begun in the Raah'hetaahn Precinct, where the Naggarrii The Hutt district building was located. All traffic leading to the mega building was redirected, so that the airspace above the mega building was cleared. This entailed a meticulous process that, hopefully would be completed on time, in three days.
The owners of the Naggarrii The Hutt district building were made responsible for clearing traffic lanes within the mega structure leading to the Lower Industrial Sector which comprised the three hundred and fifteenth, three hundred and sixteenth, and three hundred and seventeenth mega floors. The target was Enclave Sharratt on the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor, the lowest of the three mega floors of the Industrial Sector. The pressure to shut down a corridor of very heavy traffic within their mega building was very high. They were only given three days to have the way cleared.
Once the Galactic Republic ambassador had entered his armored speeder limousine, the driver immediately pulled away from the palace entrance. The train of limousines, with the ambassador and his entire security detail, quickly accelerated away on their way to the Ambassador's mansion, which was at the top floor of a spire on one of the more reputable mega buildings on the Smuggler's Moon.
The top two mega floors of the spire were exclusively occupied by the Galactic Republic's diplomatic mission and several thousand private Galactic Republic contractors that did work for the Galactic Republic's Diplomatic Mission to The Hutt Cartel.
In the limousine, as it sped along, Ambassador Terrelance Mordrick was not smiling, nor did he appear to be filled with joy, as he looked out the window on the passenger side back seat. He wore a dour expression as he dialed a special frequency on his highly encrypted intragalactic capable holo-transceiver.
His facial expression reflected what he really felt. He was tired, worn down by hours of alternating bouts of crushing grief and unbridled fury over the Galactic Republic's loss. Ambassador Mordrick took in a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh.
When the connection had been established, he spoke a single word to the holographic image of a Galactic Republic naval officer projected over his device. The naval officer at the other end of the connection beheld the image of a hate-filled man who growled out his code word.
"Retribution."
Without waiting for a reply, the ambassador, now scowling with fury, cut the connection.
Mandalore's naval intelligence officers had hired two small-time mercenary contractors to provide scout ships. One contractor took a high orbit, as stipulated in the contract. The other, according to their contract, took a low orbit.
The scout starships were from local bounty hunter groups who regularly operated on Nar Shaddaa and on Hutta. The two bounty hunter groups were not associated with each other, and neither group knew of the other group's participation. As far as they knew, they were working alone on this job.
"Don't you think this is a strange job, Harl?" Tegg, a female Neimoidian asked, in Huttese.
"The job's too easy, and the pay's too good to ask too many questions, Tegg," Harl, a male Rodian replied, also in Huttese.
"I mean, you'd think the Hutts would be on top of this," Tegg insisted, "You'd think they would be getting ready for a fight, but they're not even lifting a finger, it seems."
"I think it's one of them scheduled port of calls that naval fleets do," Harl suggested, "You know, a friendly visit scheduled way in advance to let the galaxy know how big their fleet is. Don't you see that big hunk of space Space Traffic Control cleared up for 'em? Now, stop the chatter and keep your eyes on the scope, Tegg."
"Yeah, yeah, Harl," Tegg replied, shaking her head, then adding a bit snarkily, "You know, I can watch the scope and talk at the same time, Harl."
"Only, I'm paying you to watch the scope, not to talk, Tegg," Harl replied, matching her snarky tone.
"Yeah, yeah, Harl," Tegg replied, annoyed at her boss.
A small stretch of time later…
"You think that bounty hunter is gonna tell the Empire about the Pubs' ships?" Tegg asked her boss.
"Why else would he want know the ship type and number, Tegg?" Harl replied, as though it was a stupid question, "What'd you think, that it's some sort of a hobby for him? Anyway, keep your eyes on the scope, and I want a count."
"You think the Empire's waiting for the Pubs to show up?" Tegg asked, "You know, to do an ambush."
"I don't know, Tegg," Harl replied, exasperated, and then repeated for the umpteenth time, "Don't take your eyes off of that scope, Tegg. As soon as those Republic dogs show up, I want to know about it. And give me a count. I want to know how many there are..."
"… And I want to know the ship type and their orientation and each ship's position within their formation," Tegg said, mimicking her employer, "You're worse than a broken holovid, Harl."
"I'll say it again anyway, Tegg," Harl said, "And I want to know the ship type and…"
"They're here! Harl, the Pubs are here!" Tegg shouted in excitement.
Tegg quickly counted the ships, recording how many of each ship type, and noting their orbital orientation on a twelve by twelve centimeter square of flimsiplast. On the back side of the square of flimsi, she drew a series of dashes, depicting the formation of the warships and printing the ship type just above each dash. She handed the flimsi over to her employer.
Harl immediately got to work transferring the data to a computerized messaging application. Harl then quickly encrypted the message using the encryption key supplied to him by his client. Then he transmitted the strongly encrypted message over the hyperwave relay to the outer reaches of the Y'Toub star system. Just beyond Y'Toub's Oort cloud.
"That bounty hunter better pay up," Harl snarled, just above a whisper to himself, but Tegg heard him.
"That Mando bounty hunter could have done this himself," Tegg observed, "He could have saved his credits."
"He probably didn't want to spend the time staring at the scope, Tegg. So, he spent the credits for us to do it for him," Harl replied, adding excitedly, "Ha! We got paid!"
"Alright!" Tegg cheered, "Easy credits!"
A moment later, after the celebratory mood had waned.
"Harl?"
"Yeah, Tegg?"
"You think we should get out of here? You know, in case the Imps show up to blast the Pubs."
"Waaaay ahead of you, Tegg," her employer replied.
He'd already accelerated his tiny starship, to go into a higher orbit in preparation for a sub-light speed sprint to Hutta.
"Way ahead of you, there."
"Mandalore, both scouts have reported. We received their report two hours ago and made positive confirmation thirty minutes ago," the Admiral commanding the fleet reported, "Our confirmation matches the hired scouts' information. We out number them, four to one. Targets have already been assigned. Of the ten Republic warships, four of them are divisional troop transports. We've just completed plotting the exact drop point for our fleet."
"I felt that queasy feeling in my gut," Mandalore said, "I take it the fleet is already in hyperspace?"
"In just over eight hours, we shall drop out of hyperspace in an orbit higher than the Republic fleet, and per your orders, shall blast each ship with targeting sensors, as a warning. Your flagship shall fire one ion cannon beam pulse onto their flagship, then cease firing. A communication channel shall then be opened, ready for your use."
Seven hours and fifty minutes later, Mandalore saved his work on his computer. He stood from his desk in his stateroom, smiling in anticipation of the coming battle and of the glory that comes with victory in battle. Resplendent in his ceremonial golden armor, he stomped his way to the bridge of the Spirit of Vengeance.
On the bridge, ten minutes later, he stomped his way to the commander's chair. Then he sat, strapped himself in, and waited. Artus Lok could see on the chronometer, there were only five minutes remaining before the fleet dropped out of hyperspace, but waiting was still going to be a challenge for him.
"Four divisions of heavy infantry?!" Mandalore thought to himself, "I hope Clan Sharratt can hold them off. I hope I won't be too late to join them."
Three days after receiving the coded order to begin operations, the Republic fleet dropped out of hyperspace and slowed to a virtual stop, anchoring in place and occupying the agreed upon section of space over Nar Shaddaa.
Admiral Rechan Pierry, sat in his commander's chair aboard his flagship, listening to reports. The first wave of troop carriers immediately launched from their hanger bays the instant their mother ships dropped out of hyperspace.
Three squadrons of fighter ships also launched, to provide escort to the moon's thin upper atmosphere. Then down to the mega building's rooftop where dozens of streams of speeder traffic, which were notably absent, would normally enter and exit.
In less than fifty minutes, the first wave of troop dropships left their hanger bays, traversed the distance from their ships to Nar Shaddaa's atmosphere. After entering the rooftop of the mega building, the dropships quickly navigated the maze of mega floors of the gigantic building until it reached the enclave of Clan Sharratt on the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor.
The Chiss' troop transports had to deal with the heavy, hectic, and at times congested Nar Shaddaa speeder traffic. Thus their commute from the rooftop was a long and slow hours long struggle to reach Clan Sharratt's enclave. Then later, another couple of hours to return to the rooftop of the mega building before making their stealthy way back to the Nova Star.
On the other hand, the Galactic Republic troop transports moved swiftly through the emptied traffic lanes. Not only did the Hutts clear the way for the Galactic Republic's raid forces, Hutt security forces also guided them to their landing zones at the outskirts of Sharratt's enclave.
On the crowded sidewalks below the abnormally empty speeder traffic lanes in between the sub-buildings, the residents of each mega floor looked up at the Hutt security speeders, lights flashing and sirens blaring, as they led long lines of what the people initially thought were very large speeder lorries.
The long trains of police speeders and strangely oversized speeder lorries with their unusual uniform appearance sped through their mega floor on their way down to the lower levels of the mega building.
From rooftop to landing, their commute was only twenty minutes. The police units veered away from the large traffic opening between the three hundred and sixteenth mega floor and the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor. The Republic transports immediately found that the traffic lanes between the sub-buildings had all been blocked with webs of durasteel beams that forced them all to land in the large park almost directly below the opening between the mega floors.
General Gahred Stahn reported what their first contact with the clan of Mandalorians was like.
"They were ready for us," the heavy infantry corps commander reported, "It's like they knew we were coming all along. Well, we'll win, but it won't all go our way as we thought. Surprise was never there, so that's out, and you can forget about quick and easy, too."
"Is it going to be a battle of attrition?" Admiral Pierry asked, hiding his deep concern.
"At first, yes," the corps commander replied, "The Hutts gave me a good schematic of the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor. We've identified several closed off sections of the floor plan that we may be able to exploit.
"In essence, certain areas on the mega floor have false floors used for maintenance access to utility infrastructure, plumbing, electric, data, sewage, etc. Once we get some of our forces in those areas, we'll be able to get past, underneath their front lines, to their rear areas. The attrition for us will end, and become worse for them, especially when the second and third waves get here."
"You don't think Clan Sharratt has booby trapped those spaces?" Admiral Pierry asked.
"So far, my scouts have found no evidence of traps down in those spaces. What's more, there are no Clan Sharratt fighters down there," General Stahn replied, adding, "Of course, we'll keep our eyes open, but it seems that they've either hidden their traps very well, or have failed to take those spaces into consideration in their defensive posture. If it's the latter, they'll pay for that mistake."
"Good luck General. I'll let you concentrate on your work," Pierry said, before signaling for the connection to be cut.
Admiral Pierry trusted the operation would succeed, he just worried that the casualty rate for the Republic would be much higher than was initially calculated and presented to the Senate on Coruscant. General Stahn had four divisions – a full corps – to command.
"Clan Sharratt's forces are estimated to be below divisional strength. Even if they call up their retired reservists for active duty, they shouldn't be able to field more than a division. They probably decided they don't have the manpower to spare to guard against attacks in those spaces," Admiral Pierry told himself, before thinking, "They are not going to win this. It doesn't matter what legendary reputation these Mandalorians have built up for themselves."
Meanwhile, General Gahred Stahn looked forward to pitting his accumulated tactical and strategic knowledge and his wartime experience to the test against these Mandalorians. He fully expected the Mandalorian warriors to give him a hard test, but he was confident the outcome would be his inevitable victory. How hard fought his victory would be was the test for him.
"If I have to work too hard to beat them, outnumbering them the way that I do," General Stahn told himself, "and if victory for me is too costly, then even when I win, their defeat will be a heroic one – for them. I have to beat them with almost no cost to me for this to be a clean victory for me, and a clear disaster for them."
General Stahn was well read on Mandalorian history. He studied historic accounts of the Republic's ancient wars against the Mandalorian Empire centuries ago.
He studied the complete history, paying attention to the tactics and strategies that were used when the Mandalorians were defeated by the Jedi knight, Revan, when he led Republic Forces against them.
General Stahn also carefully analyzed the decidedly different tactics and strategies employed against Republic forces by the Mandalorians when they were led by the same Jedi knight, after he fell to the Dark Side and became Darth Revan.
He'd also read many after action reports from the Republic forces' many encounters against Mandalorian mercenary forces in the current war against the Sith Empire.
While these encounters were scattered and limited in scale to no more than battalion and sometimes regimental level raids, these encounters provided an insight into how the Mandalorians fought and why they did things the way they did. He could see that they retained the lessons learned from the long ago wars, and had even added new refinements to those highly effective tactics and strategies.
There were, however, some very curiously odd choices that Mandalorians made when it came to war fighting. In short, the Mandalorians did things the way they did, not simply because it worked quite well for them, they did them because it was baked into their religion.
However, General Stahn could not deny their effectiveness. So far, the Republic had been embarrassed in sixty four percent of their encounters with the Mandalorians, meaning the Mandalorians achieved their objectives, whether suffering light or heavy losses. Meanwhile, Republic forces, even when suffering light losses, still suffered tremendously when strategic assets were successfully destroyed, or captured by Mandalorian units.
The remaining thirty six percent were costly wins for Galactic Forces, meaning that not only did the Mandalorians fail to achieve their objectives, but that Republic forces still suffered extensive losses while winning those battles.
Religion also played a very important role in Mandalorian battle and war doctrines.
For example, Mandalorians refused to use war droids in combat to do the most dangerous parts of operations, or to augment their numbers. They even hated fighting against war droids, not because the Mandalorians feared war droids' extreme lethality, but because the droids weren't risking their lives.
The machines had no lives to lose. For Mandalorians, there was a spirituality involved in battle. For a warrior, no matter if friend or foe, to die to a machine was to be robbed of a proper death given by another who also risked dying. For Mandalorians to use war droids was tantamount to sacrilege, not just cowardly.
They viewed their enemies' use of them as cowardly, heathenish behavior. Reality and necessity forced Mandalorians to combat war droids when faced with them, but one could be assured that these warriors would not use them against their enemies.
Warriors living or dying in battle was a spiritual rite to them. Mandalorians hated their enemies, but they also venerated their strongest foes and gave them a place of honor in their folklore. War droids, however, had no honor. They were not thinking and feeling beings that gave everything they had, even their lives. They were only machines that were manufactured and then programmed to do whatever it was their creators deemed necessary for the machines' functions.
All of this was true in every known example of Mandalorian society, customs, and traditions, and in every known Republic encounter against Mandalorians, these beliefs were seen to be put into practice.
The only trouble was that General Stahn was reviewing holographic video of Clan Sharratt employing the use of three droids in the raid against the deceased Supreme Chancellor at his official residence. To be sure, the droids did not use weapons of any kind, nor did they do any of the fighting, but droids were used in a Mandalorian raid, a notable anomaly.
The droids all appeared to be general purpose droids. Two were models used in light to medium security work, and the third was obviously a heavy duty general purpose work droid. This was an eye opening revelation to General Stahn. He wondered if he would see such anomalous behavior with droids here.
General Gahred Stahn observed that while the Mandalorian droid operator was armed with a blaster rifle, he did not participate in the final assault against the occupants of the Chancellor's speeder. He withdrew his droids and shepherded them back to their dropships after their work was done. The droid handler then reported to the defensive perimeter and assumed normal defensive duties.
The fourth wave of raid forces was well on its way. The Republic dropships were in the moon's atmosphere, greatly decelerating, and nearing the traffic opening on the roof of the mega building and the waiting Hutt police escorts.
Nearly eight hours had past since his conference with the general. Admiral Pierry barely shook his head at the latest report, doing his best to hide his great disappointment. General Stahn was meeting with much greater resistance than what was anticipated. Certainly, the report showed that General Stahn had made progress, but every bit of that progress was costly. However, the report also detailed the high costs the Mandalorians had also paid for their resistance.
"We outnumber them, and we still can't get an easy win against them," Admiral Rechan Pierry thought angrily to himself.
Admiral Pierry began hearing excited voices come from the sensor station, and set the datapad with the report aside to see what the commotion was about. He looked on as the sensor operators went over their readings with their superior officers. He waited patiently for the report to work its way up the chain of command, to him. However, his wait was brief.
An officer, walked briskly to the admiral's command chair and began to report.
"We are picking up distortions consistent with a very large mass about to exit hyperspace," the officer reported.
"What is a very large mass? What does that mean?" Admiral Pierry demanded, plainly dissatisfied with the vague wording the officer used.
"The signature is consistent with what would be produced when a sizable number of ships are about to exit hyperspace, all at once, Admiral."
"Alert the fleet to be ready for Imperial warship incursions. All ships are to hold fire and wait for my direction."
"Yes, Admiral," the officer replied.
However, other officers overheard the exchange and immediately relayed Admiral Pierry's orders to the fleet.
"Hyperspace incursion alert!" a technician shouted, "A large formation of unidentified ships! They're in high orbit directly overhead!"
Only seconds after the report, Admiral Rechan Pierry was shaken violently out of his command chair. The normal bright white lights shut off and the glaring red lights came on as alarms began their loud clamoring warnings of fires, electrical shorts, and other bad things that could befall a starship of war.
The admiral picked himself up, dusted off his trousers and straightened his tunic, and resumed his seat. This time, however, he strapped himself in.
"Admiral Pierry!" one officer reported, "We've taken one hit from high orbit. None of the other ships have reported taking hits, but they are being aggressively scanned and locked onto with targeting sensors!"
"Admiral!" another officer reported, "We're being hailed! It's the Mandalorians! They're using an unencrypted open channel!"
"Put it through," Rechan Pierry ordered, "I want to hear what that Ymmiir Sharratt has to say."
Galactic Republic Navy intelligence gave him a report that the stealth ship that operated within Coruscant's star system was Mandalorian. He mistakenly believed that this Mandalorian group of starships was likely the fleet that operated in Coruscanti space, but his assumptions were immediately proven wrong.
"Admiral!" yet another officer reported, "There are forty warships! Ten dreadnoughts, a mix of heavy and light destroyers, and seven divisional troop transports! They are launching fighters, already exceeding one hundred craft! They are directly overhead and matching our orbital trajectory!" After a brief pause, during which he received an update, he added, soberly, "Seven hundred troop dropships have launched, Admiral."
"We're effectively pinned! Did they plan for our arrival? How would they know we were coming?" Rechan Pierry thought, disgustedly, and furiously thinking, "Intelligence never mentioned Clan Sharratt having any warships! Why are there Mandalorian warships, here?!" and then, grimly, "With thirty five thousand Mando infantry in their first wave. General Stahn will become trapped in the building. Wait a minute! Where did Ymmiir Sharratt get thirty five thousand troops?!"
The holographic image of a Mandalorian warlord did appear before him, but it was not Ymmiir Sharratt. It was the holographic image of Mandalore The Vindicated, resplendent in his golden armor, who appeared in the center of the bridge in front of the Admiral's command chair.
"So! The Republic has chosen to begin war with Mandalore in Hutt Space?! Very good! Let us commence with war, Admiral!" Mandalore proclaimed, "We shall wage war, here, in Hutt Space, and shall make Nar Shaddaa and Hutta the prize of war! Now then! Let me hear your declarations of war, Admiral of Republic fleets! I have heard none from your leaderless Republic Government! HA! HA! HA! HA!"
A Hutt official immediately cut in, however. This Hutt official had been charged by Karagga The Unyielding to closely monitor the situation and to swiftly take any action necessary to keep the Republic forces in line.
"Magumda muhatmema!" the Hutt grunted in its guttural tongue, "Baddahme Magumda muhatmema!"
"Illustrious Granuda declares, 'No wars here!'" a male Twi'lek said, interpreting the Hutt's message into his Huttese accented broken Galactic Basic, "You will no wars here!"
"Udda hatme meggammda mah!" the Hutt grunted, angrily, "D'oh ma! Hatnabapne ma!"
"Magnificent Granuda says, Republic fight here, we kick Republic out!" the Twi'lek said, translating the Hutts angry words, "We make friends with Sith Empire! No more Republic, here!"
"We negotiated an agreement, Granuda," Admiral Pierry replied, sharply, "Our operations are well underway! You can't renege now!"
"Uddahmeh happanneh ma!" the Hutt official replied, after hearing his interpreter's translation, "Gabbahma wahnehma ma!"
"Mighty Granuda reminds Republic's agent, agreement was for quick raid on one floor in one building! Not big war in Hutt space!"
Off channel, where neither Hutt nor Mandalorian ears could hear, Admiral Rechan Pierry, issued new orders.
"Recall the fourth wave," he said, furry boiling through his veins, adding with deep regret, "Order General Stahn to begin withdrawing his forces. The operation is a failure."
"Yes, Admiral," an officer answered, equally enraged at the Hutts' perceived breaking of the agreement.
From different places within the star system and throughout Hutt controlled space, Hutt war ships on their routine patrols combating unauthorized pirate incursions, began to respond to their new and highly urgent orders.
"Admiral," an officer reported, "Signals intelligence reports that the Hutts are going to mass their ships in orbit over Hutta.
"Very well," Rechan Pierry replied, more calmly than he felt.
The admiral then spoke on channel.
"Granuda, I am recalling my raid forces," he said to the Hutt official, "Then, we will leave." Then to the Mandalorian emperor, he said, "Mandalore, I have been given very strict orders not to start any wars within Hutt Space. So, I must decline your invitation to engage in one. However, if you open fire on my ships, I will order my ships to defend themselves, and we will fight back."
Mandalore laughed at what he heard.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! I see! Then we shall have no war, but a duel between fleets! We shall only battle one another, fleet against fleet! Let us see who is the best fleet tactician!"
"Mubaggeh! Mubabbu!" the Hutt official grunted furiously, "Haddamehame guddug umema!"
"Mighty Granuda commands, No duel! No battle!" the Twi'lek declared on behalf of the Hutt official, "Sith will pay price! We kick Sith out!"
"Mandalore will do what it wants to do! We do not need the Sith Empire's permission to do anything!" Mandalore declared, angrily, "We are equal allies of the Sith Empire, not it's vassal state! You shall pay for that insult, Hutt!"
Mandalore sighed. The Hutt's words were a deep insult to him. It brought back painful memories of Mandalore the Lesser, and the puppet that he was of Sith Intelligence. He couldn't let this insult slide, but he knew the Sith would be furious at him for harming their relations with the Hutts.
"All ships, prepare to fire on my command!" Mandalore ordered over his fleet's encrypted channel, "The target, for now, is the Republic fleet before us! If the Hutts decide they wish to join in the fun, then we shall slaughter them, too!"
As the communications section aboard his flagship received the acknowledgments to their orders from the captains of the forty warships of his fleet, he received a report.
"We are detecting a very large signature indicating a fleet about to exit hyperspace, Mandalore!"
Aboard Admiral Pierry's flagship.
"Hyperspace incursion alert!" a technician shouted, "It's another large formation of unidentified ships! They're in high orbit directly behind the Mandalorian fleet!"
Sixty Imperial warships dropped out of hyperspace behind Mandalore's fleet, at the same orbital track. Admiral Pierry now had one hundred enemy warships pinning down his ten warships.
A moment later, Darth Tormen's holographic image appeared, joining the others on the open, unencrypted channel.
"The Sith Empire does not wish to see our friends hurt, Mandalore," the Sith lord, more machine than man, rasped, "The Dark Council counts the Hutt Cartel as our friends. As allies, the Sith Empire and the Mandalorian Empire should respect their space."
Mandalore almost laughed in Tormen's face. He knew Tormen's words were absolutely disingenuous.
"So! The Empire can listen to local communications from within hyperspace!" Mandalore thought, discovering a new capability that the Empire had, which Mandalorian fleets did not have.
Admiral Pierry also took note of it. Communicating from within hyperspace was not new, but it had to be done using hyperwave relays. These were local communications, not hyperwave communications. Darth Tormen should not have been able to hear their local communications.
"We can't do that," the admiral thought.
"Ah! But to ignore such a prize as this fleet of Republic ships…" Mandalore seemed to complain to Tormen.
"Leave them as a token of friendship between the Sith Empire, the Mandalorian Empire, and with the Hutt Cartel," Tormen said with his ruined voice.
"Baahmeh hatmatmammeh ma!" Granuda grunted, "Taahmda wannabba dubabba, nahwannabe ma!"
"Illustrious Granuda welcomes sincere words of Sith Empire's agent," the Hutt's interpreter relayed, "We are three friends, three equal friends that do not fight one another."
One glaring fact that was studiously ignored by the Hutt official was that the Sith Empire brought a massive fleet into Hutt Space without their permission, but those were minor details that could be addressed quietly at a later time. For the time being, the Sith were saying things the Hutts wanted to hear.
The other glaring fact, not lost on Admiral Pierry was that the Galactic Republic was not counted among those friends who do not fight one another. The potential for a diplomatic and militarily strategic disaster to occur was unmistakable to the Admiral.
"Fine!" Mandalore said, throwing up his hands and feigning disgust, "In the interest of maintaining our alliance. I'll let them go."
"How did the Imperials know we would be here?" Admiral Rechan Pierry asked himself, in astonishment, "There must be a leak within our chain of command, for both Mandalore and the Empire to know we would be here!"
"Admiral," an officer reported to Pierry, "We've General Stahn's reply."
"And?!" Pierry snapped, clearly annoyed the officer would leave him hanging.
"He has acknowledged his orders under vehement protest. He demands an explanation as soon as possible," the officer replied, then waited for the admiral to become incensed at the general's disrespectful tone.
"Very well," Admiral Pierry replied, subdued, surprising the officer, "Please advise General Stahn of the overwhelming presence of Mandalorian and Imperial warships over my fleet, and that at my earliest opportunity, I shall apprise him of the full situation."
The admiral shook his head in disgust after giving his reply. His ire was not directed at the general, however, but at the political mess he found himself mired in.
He would have to swallow his pride, the pride of the Galactic Republic Navy, and that of the Galactic Republic and withdraw in disgrace from before the face of the enemy. He would have to endure this disgrace because the cowards in the Senate didn't want to anger the warmongering Mandalorian emperor by not directly attacking at Mandalore. Neither did the Senate want to alienate the criminal Supreme Mogul of The Hutt Cartel by sending an overwhelming naval force for this raid.
"If I had gotten the forces I requested, I wouldn't have to retreat!" Admiral Pierry raged to himself.
Several long hours had passed in tense suspense, as the Republic admiral waited for the return of his ground forces. The very uneasy, truce that had been worked out between the fleets in orbit did not apply to the fighting on the ground.
General Stahn had to fight his way out of Clan Sharratt's enclave. Despite Clan Sharratt's terrible losses, they fought fiercely, inflicting great damage to Republic forces as they did so.
"Admiral," an officer reported, "all troop dropships have returned, completing their final round trip. All of the ground raid forces have been brought back, along with their equipment, wounded, and their dead."
"Order the fleet to weigh anchor, execute fleet acceleration at seven gravitational units. Get us out of orbit and when the fleet reaches point zero zero zero zero three percent light speed, execute a fleet formation emergency hyperspace jump," he ordered, "Set hyperspace coordinates for fleet rally point Four, Seven, Three, Zero hyphen Besh."
"Yes, Admiral."
Three days earlier, the Chiss stealth dropships had deployed from their stealthed heavy cruiser, Nova Star. They easily, quietly penetrated Hutt security. The Mandalorians of Clan Sharratt and Wrehn's team, and the Sith lords were all being transported directly to Clan Sharratt's enclave.
Space traffic seemed normal, which was unexpected.
"Funny," Gault observed, "I expected to see Mandalorian fleets here in orbit over Nar Shaddaa."
"Yeah," Wrehn replied, "I expected to see the place lousy with dropships going down to the moon to hit Republic bases all over the moon."
"They will come," Torian assured them, "We are fortunate that we've arrived in time to see Mandalore's arrival."
As had been successfully carried out on Coruscant, the stealth dropships infiltrated Nar Shaddaa's mega buildings. It was, however, much more dangerous. To the Chiss pilots, it seemed that Nar Shaddaans took traffic laws, safety rules, and traffic lanes as recommendations to consider rather than requirements to adhere to. It seemed that Nar Shaddaans drove as though reaching their destinations alive and in one piece was just a nice bonus.
With the stealth field generators turned on, Nar Shaddaans nearly drove into their dropships, as the crazy speeder operators hurried to occupy seemingly empty spaces in traffic lanes. The reckless speeder operators missed crashing into the dropships as the harried Chiss pilots desperately maneuvered to avoid collisions. By the time the train of six invisible dropships had gotten three mega floors down from the roof, the pilots had all decided to drop stealth and travel in a tight slow convoy the rest of the way down.
With stealth turned off there were a lot fewer close calls, but the pilots still had to keep their eyes peeled for the reckless local sports speeder operators who, without care of consequence, stupidly cut right in front of their much larger and much heavier dropships, which had the appearance of commercial heavy transport lorries thanks to their creative paint work.
When they'd finally reached their destinations, the pilots and copilots had all gotten off their ships to stretch their legs, take a short rest, and calm their nerves. To a man, none of the pilots relished their coming trip back to the roof of the mega building.
The pilots rested, sitting on benches at the picnic tables in the large park at the west end of Clan Sharratt's enclave. The stealth dropship crews broke out their meals and began to have a leisurely lunch.
Wrehn hugged Astrid as the siblings said their tearful goodbyes.
"Mother will want to see you, soon. Come and visit as soon as you can," Astrid told Wrehn, promising, "I will tell her about you."
"You don't think Mother won't be angry with me?" Wrehn asked, apprehensive, but then adding with a laugh, "We made galaxy wide news. You don't think Mother's seen me on the holo-viewer?"
"If you don't come home soon to see her, she will be heartbroken, and so will I," Astrid replied, smiling at her elder sister's joke.
"I'm scared Astrid." Wrehn confessed, her voice slightly quavered, "What if she doesn't want to see me?"
"Mother will be devastated if you don't come home to see her," Astrid said, without any doubt.
"I'll come home as fast as I can," Wrehn promised, tears freely escaping her eyes.
The six crews of the stealth dropships watched as the siblings gave each other a final embrace before the elder sister turned away to depart, wiping away any evidence that any tears had actually managed to escape. They watched as she hurried her steps to catch up with her crew.
Her crew of bounty hunters, the Sith lords, and the Mandalorian warriors had already walked out of the park. They walked towards speeder vans parked and waiting for them in the streets of the residential district on the other side of the speeder barrier.
The dropship crews exchanged idle chatter as they watched construction crews using massive cranes to maneuver long durasteel beams into place in the spaces between the residential sub-buildings, which faced the boundaries of the park. Once the durasteel beams had been maneuvered into place, workers got busy welding the beams into place.
The beams were installed in between all of the sub-buildings facing the park. They were installed all up and down the full height of the sub-buildings, creating a barrier that would stop all large sized speeder traffic from driving beyond the huge park and into the rest of the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor. It was the reason their dropships were forced to land in the park instead of at their combat training facility.
Above the west end of the park was a very large rectangular opening in the mega ceiling. This opening is what allowed speeder traffic to pass down from the mega floor above. It was the same opening the stealth dropships used to enter Enclave Sharratt and then land in the park. Ordinarily, speeder traffic would then be able to proceed beyond the park, and drive through the traffic lanes between the sub-buildings. However, the long horizontal beams welded into place between the structures now blocked access to those traffic lanes.
"It would appear that the residents of Clan Sharratt have been readying themselves for the coming invasion," Edrik observed of the barriers being erected, "Clan Sharratt's enemy will be forced to land in the park, as we have. They will have a very hard fight getting out of the park and into the residential streets and buildings."
"The only way out of the park and past those buildings is on foot," Gunter agreed.
Edrik and Gunter silently watched the warriors of Clan Sharratt march from their six dropships, then out of the park and into the residential district of the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor.
"I wonder what other surprises have Clan Sharratt prepared?" Astrid asked her cousins, adding her own observation.
It was not lost on the brothers that their young cousin's cheeks still seemed wet with tears, though she did wipe at them.
They looked in the direction she did, and realized that all of the picnic tables and benches had been removed from most of the park. The space was large enough to support a very large activity. Listening to Wrehn and her crew talk, they seemed to expect all of the Republic military units stationed on Nar Shaddaa to attack.
This park would likely be where they would set up for operations. Their six ships took up a tiny spot, near the edge of the park, close to the residential towers.
"You'd think Clan Sharratt was setting up a giant game board and cordially set aside a place for their opponent to set up his game pieces," Gunter said, smirking at the notion.
Thanks to Gunter's comment, Edrik and Astrid had finally noticed that the absence of the picnic tables in most of the park was recent. The six pitch field lines painted onto the cushioned nonslip surface of the park was all new, and there were small circular patches, presumably where the tables and benches used to be attached to the metallic park grounds.
"Do you think those covered utility holes have mines in them?" Astrid asked.
"Don't wander out there to find out," Edrik warned.
A load master from one of the other dropship crews finally worked up the courage to address Astrid, to ask a personal question, a behavior almost unheard of among the Chiss outside of close family members, close relatives, and close friends.
"I hope you'll indulge me as I ask a few questions about your personal life, Dela'stri'domai," Bruel'udol'fomai, core name Ludolf said, by way of introduction.
"I'll allow it, for now," Astrid replied cautiously.
She, and her cousins were surprised by Ludolf's boldness. Edrik and Gunter remained silent, since Astrid allowed the frank familiarity.
Professional interactions were not uncommon, and made up most of Chiss interpersonal interactions outside of their close circles. Among the Chiss, you had family, and deep friendships. Acquaintances, and casual relations did not exist.
Outsiders asking personal questions could only be motivated for one of a very few reasons, such as the beginnings of a new friendship, a long courtship, or hostile behavior.
"How long did your family know she was a Mandalorian?" he asked in a neutral tone.
Hostility it was.
Astrid became uncomfortable, looking as though she realized he was going to be trouble. Edrik and Gunter acted as though nothing were amiss and kept silent, but the way their shoulders stiffened, Astrid could tell they'd taken offense.
"I think we only found out when she approached the sales agent with a request for services," she replied, sneaking a glance at her eldest cousin for confirmation that she'd gotten that right.
He gave a tiny nod of confirmation.
"Before that," Astrid continued, "We all believed she was dead."
"Well, it turns out that not only is she not dead, she is also a notorious Mandalorian. She is a brutish Mandalorian and a brutal killer!" Ludolf said, laughing as though it were the funniest thing, "I've never heard of any Chiss so violent in all of my days! Granted, she did accomplish her mission, but… decapitating him, and holding up his head like that?"
Astrid adopted a neutral expression as she answered.
"If one has never had combat experience, then a firm slap on the wrist might seem quite violent to him," she said.
Gunter cracked the tiniest smirk on hearing her reply.
"So, how does it feel, having a sister like that?" Ludolf asked, his expression showing that Astrid's reply stung him, "She abandoned her responsibility and failed to take up her father's role as armsman. And she is so violent, beyond what an honorable warrior would find acceptable, so much so that she is now a wanted criminal in half the galaxy. Aren't you ashamed?"
"Father trained her well," Astrid answered in an even voice that did not betray the outrage she felt, adding, "Father would be proud of how well she has applied all of his tactics and techniques. Yehw'reh'nomai has not shamed him."
"You really think that?" he asked, not hiding his deep shock, then adding with great disdain, "Have you lost all sense of shame?"
Gunter began to rise to his feet, but Edrik held him back.
"You're jealous of her prowess in combat and in her genus in leading troops in combat," Edrik said, obviously mocking Ludolf, "You lack those qualities. Of course you're jealous."
"Aren't you angry that you have to have this…, this outcast as a member of your crew?" he asked Edrik, aghast.
Ludolf was surprised that Edrik would stand up for Astrid.
"I must confess, that I did feel that way at the start," Edrik said, looking Astrid in the eye, "Now, however, I am proud of my cousins. Yehw'reh'nomai and Dela'stri'domai.
"Think about it, Bruel'udol'fomai. Yehw'reh'nomai left at a very young age. She could have succumbed to the violent, unforgiving life of a street urchin, begging for scraps, sold into slavery, made the toy of the most depraved ilk of those warrens deep in Coruscant.
"Instead, she conquered that world, emerged victorious over it! This, before even joining the Mandalorians! Now, look at her. With proper logistical support, and experience gleaned over her short years, with the training her father has given her, Yehw'reh'nomai has become a champion among the most feared warriors in the galaxy.
"Now she has made history. She has put her mark on the galactic stage," Edrik said, concluding his argument, "How many Chiss do you know that can make that claim, Bruel'udol'fomai?
"Astrid, works hard," Gunter said, adding his two credits, "Before she knew her sister was alive, she did her job exceptionally well. Her attention to detail, professionalism, and her ability to focus on her tasks, despite the dangers we've encountered speak highly of her own commitment to excellence. All of this, despite how poorly she is treated by her peers. She hasn't let the likes of you get her down. I too, am proud of my cousins."
"Well, heh," Ludolf said, quite surprised at Edrik's and Gunter's reaction, and realizing that all of the other crews were listening intently to the exchange, "When you put it like that, I suppose it makes some sense that you feel the way you do."
"To be honest," Astrid said, "I thought that an honorable Chiss would have had the courage to say all that you've said to her face. Instead, you waited for her to leave to speak ill of her. You have no honor and are a coward."
Edrik and Gunter both exchanged looks of shocked surprise that Astrid would say such a direct thing. She was usually a demure girl. The two then waited quietly for Ludolf's answer. However, the copilot from one of the other dropships decided to put in his two credits.
"To be fair, Dela'stri'domai," he said, as though in Ludolf's defense, "if he'd have said any of that to Yehw'reh'nomai's face, she probably would have pummeled him mercilessly and beat him into a bloody pulp."
There were a few chuckles from some of the others at the other tables, but none of the others said anything else.
Great anger showed on Ludolf's face, but he kept silent. Instead, he turned away and returned to his crew's picnic table.
A short while later, Edrik looked at the chronometer on his wrist. Then he looked at each of the six picnic tables and took note that the crews had finished their meals and were now just engaged in idle chatter.
"Rest time is over," Edrik announced, to all of the crews, "It's time to make our way back to the Nova Star."
The crews all began rising from their picnic tables, gathering their trash to be deposited in the nearby waste bins, which they discovered had powerful explosives hidden within them.
"We should probably hold off on turning stealth back on," Gunter recommended with great urgency, "Perhaps wait until we're at the top floor right before exiting through the roof."
His fellow pilots' and copilots' heartily agreed, and so Edrik ordered that's what they would do.
Clan Sharratt was in its third day of grand celebrations, which began upon their fellow clan folks' return from their dangerous mission. Each night they held a huge feast, played drinking games, and sang old songs about great heroism in the face of great danger and powerful foes.
They watched the news reports of the strike against the Galactic Republic, and cheered each time the video was shown of Wrehn hoisting the chancellor's head, and laughed at the gut wrenching reactions of the office workers when they saw his lifeless head.
When the clan members weren't feasting and celebrating, each following day, they were fortifying their enclave's defenses, training for war, and preparing themselves for the Galactic Republic's inevitable counter attack.
The Galactic Republic's dishonorable slaughter of their non-combatant families in their last counter raid prompted Ymmiir to leave instructions for the preparations for a strong defense, before he departed on their mission.
This time the non-combatant families would be armed and trained to fight as teams in the hallways and stairwells, and not just from within their individual homes, as in simple home defense. The children – and those elderly, still able to move about, were given basic combat training for Clan Sharratt's last stand – in their residential sub-buildings. There were no illusions about what was coming.
Scouts, disguised in plain clothing, kept watch of the Galactic Republic's military installations throughout Nar Shaddaa, watching for signs of mobilizations. Wrehn and her crew, remained in their armor and kept their weapons on them at all times. It was understood that at any moment, the Republic would send forces from these military facilities to attack Clan Sharratt's enclave.
However, these Republic facilities were strangely quiet and didn't seem to do more than to increase their own security. Perhaps believing that Clan Sharratt would launch a surprise strike against them just to rub salt into their already painful wound of having lost their chancellor.
Ymmiir began to worry that something seemed off. Then it occurred to him. The Galactic Republic forces on Nar Shaddaa were mostly light infantry, policing, investigative, and military intelligence services.
"They are going to send heavy infantry, and shock forces from off world," he said, in Mando'a, to his chief officers and for the benefit of his guest, The Grand Champion of The Great Hunt.
"Will Mandalore's forces get here in time?" Gormahtt Sharratt asked.
Gormahtt Sharratt was Ymmiir's son and heir apparent to the chieftainship over Clan Sharratt. It was he who organized the people of Clan Sharratt to prepare for the coming counter offensive. His father, had gone off on the operation with their client, Yehw'reh'nomai.
Days before leaving, Ymmiir counseled his son about what would be needed to prepare for the counter offensive that would have to come, especially if their mission was a success.
The non-combatants had been receiving training, and preparations for their defenses were made, including booby trapping the park at the western end of the enclave.
However, it was only after seeing Yehw'reh'nomai hoist the chancellor's head on the news, for the first time, that he began the work of installing the barriers to block traffic from both the mega floor above at the western end, and from the mega floor below, at the eastern end of the three hundred and fifteenth mega floor.
The enemy were expected to approach from above, at the western end, but just in case they took the more difficult approach from the mega floor below, the traffic lanes on the eastern end of the mega floor were also blocked off with long durasteel beams between the sub buildings.
After a short few hours of rest after his return, Ymmiir began inspecting the preparations that were made, and was largely pleased by what he found.
"Clan Chief?" Gormahtt Sharratt said, prompting his father for a reply.
Ymmiir thought about his son's question, and realized he had no good answer for him. However, he answered for the benefit of his officers.
"Mandalore will come," Ymmiir declared solemnly, "He will fight by our side, or he will avenge our glorious deaths."
A runner, in full armor, came running, clankingly and stompingly loud, and came to a crashing metallic rattling halt before Ymmiir Sharratt. She stomped her armored boot and saluted in the Mandalorian style. The young woman was obviously an inexperienced newly inducted warrior.
"I have a message for the Clan Chief!" the messenger declared, slightly out of breath.
"I could hear your approach for the last ten minutes, noisy gizka pup!" Ymmiir growled at her, "Learn to properly wear your armor, how to properly secure it to keep the noise down!"
"Yes, Clan Chief!" the teen aged girl barked her reply, embarrassed by her failure.
"I'll hear the message," Ymmiir told her, calmly.
The messenger handed Ymmiir a datapad, which Ymmiir took and then activated. He then made a show of silently reading the display screen. His hardened expression did not change very much with the information that confronted him.
"I have received the message," Ymmiir told the girl in combat armor, "You are dismissed."
When she'd left the headquarters, he told the others what he'd read.
"Ten Republic warships have appeared over Nar Shaddaa," he told his chief officers, with Wrehn present. Then gravely adding, "Four of those are divisional troop transports."
"Four divisions of infantry!" Wrehn thought to herself, shaking her head slowly.
"Four hundred dropships have deployed, one hundred from each divisional troop transport," Ymmiir said, his voice heavy, as he calculated the number of troops involved, "That is twenty thousand troops. A regiment from each of the four divisions is coming down."
He got his audio only communicator and contacted the duty officer.
"Yes, Clan Chief. What are your orders?"
"The Republic is coming," Ymmiir said, with iron in his voice, "Sound the alarm. All units deploy to defensive positions. It is time to make the dirty Republic scum bleed!"
"Yes, Clan Chief!"
Shortly after, an alarm began to wail, alerting all of Clan Sharratt of the coming battle.
"Yehw'reh'nomai," Ymmiir said, "I know you want to stay and fight. I can see the thirst for Republic blood in your eyes."
In actuality, Wrehn was trying hard to think of an excuse to leave without appearing to be a thankless coward who abandoned their friends when times got tough.
"Yet, I must insist that you leave. The Republic killed our former Great Hunt Champions, and if they kill you, here, they will gloat at Mandalore over your death.
"Sharratt can die and Mandalore will go on, but if the last Hunt Champion is killed by those Republic scum, it will bring our heads down in shame. Killing their chancellor and taking his head would be for nothing."
Wrehn put on a pretty convincing act of thinking hard about Ymmiir's words. Finally, she nodded her head once and looked Ymmiir in the eye.
"It was glorious, fighting by your side on Coruscant, Clan Chief Ymmiir Sharratt. Die well. Take many with you."
Strangely, Wrehn felt dirty as the words left her mouth.
"I'm not a warrior, and the contract is completed!" she told herself to justify her actions to her guilty conscious, "I paid them in full, and I don't have to be here for any of this!"
Ymmiir smiled proudly and stuck his hand out. Wrehn extended her own hand and grasped his forearm, just beyond the wrist, as he grasped hers. This was a special Mandalorian handshake that was only shared by combatants that had become close friends. Wrehn felt even dirtier, and her guilty conscious only grew stronger.
Wrehn got out her audio only communicator and contacted her team.
"We're leaving now, people. The Republic is coming and we've got to leave before they get here. Everyone, get to the ship. Gault, Torian, get our coolers with Orlo Borlan and the chancellor's head to the ship."
She waited and listened to the replies from her crew. Then she contacted the Sith.
"Yes, Yehw'reh'nomai," Vindis asked, curtly, as though that fun dinner party on the Nova Star never happened, "What is it?"
"The Republic is coming. They'll be here soon. Meet me at my ship so that I can get you off the moon. Also, please, tell Calaverous."
"Very well. We shall make our way to your starship," Vindis replied, crisply, and cut the connection.
Wrehn, along with Skadge and Mako, alighted from the taxi. She paid the Devaronian taxi driver the fare, and left him a standard tip. The driver waved his thanks and got the taxi slowly gliding away. Wrehn turned about and hurried her steps to catch up with Mako and Skadge.
She saw Torian and Gault speaking with one of the security officers on duty. The portable refrigeration units, loaded onto a grav-sled sat on the metal plate floor that made up the deck of the massive spaceport hanger. The other three heavily armed and armored security guards kept a close eye on their comrade and made sure nothing untoward would happen to their coworker.
Gault spotted Wrehn as she made her way to her ship, Heaven's Cricket. He signaled to Torian, who turned about to look.
"Here she comes, now," the Mandalorian traditionalist said to the heavily armed and armored guard.
"Just wait until you hear what happened while we were gone, Wrehn," Gault said, laughing, "You're gonna really love this!"
The four heavily armored and armed guards were wary, of surprise attacks. Although, Gault and Torian had done much to ease their heightened state of tension, the approach of more Mandalorian warriors, caused their stress levels to rise again. They were ready for ambush, and were on a hair trigger, ready to start blasting Wrehn and her people.
Another taxi arrived at that moment, and this time, two ordinary civilians had alighted. The whole thing was becoming surreal for the four hired security team members. The two civilians were actually Vindis and Calaverous. The two had decided to disguise themselves, dressing in common Nar Shaddaan apparel. Mako found herself doing a double take at the sight. The two looked like a normal couple in those clothes.
Wrehn took out her datapad and brought up her contract with the security company, and read out the pertinent information to the guards.
"I am Yehw'reh'nomai, owner of this starship," she said, before referring to the datapad for the rest, "My account number is Usk four three seven dash Jenth two four two dash Yirt five six nine."
Then she read her pass phrase to the security team, who were looking at their datapads as they verified what Wrehn was saying to them.
"I only do this stuff for the credits," she read aloud, which reminded her of her cowardly abandonment of Ymmiir and his people.
"I'm doing the right thing, dammit!" she scolded her nagging guilty conscious.
The guards all visibly relaxed, all of the tension and stress melting away in an instant.
"You have no idea how glad we are dat you's are back!" the guard that was speaking with Torian said, elation showing in his features, "Dis job's almost done!"
The other guards showed their relief as they exchanged smiles and nods with each other.
"Tell her what you told us," Gault said, a big grin on his face.
Clearly, the heavily armored and heavily armed guard did not care for Gault's glib tone about what had happened to his coworkers. However, his disgust was replaced by his professional demeanor as he began to give Wrehn his report.
"Dee original graveyard team dat was posted to guard dis here ship were massacred by an unknown force. We couldn't identify dem, so dere's no info on dem. Our guys killed half o' dem before dey got wiped. Da rest were decommissioned by your security droid inside."
"Wow…," Wrehn said, stunned, before asking, "So, some crazy powerful pirates tried stealing my ship?"
Wrehn knew it had to be Republic SIS, or some other Republic special operations unit, not ordinary thieves, but she played dumb, and felt dumber when Gault spoke to that.
"We already told them it was Republic SIS, Wrehn."
"Well, the two of you have very big mouths," she said, embarrassed that she got caught playing dumb.
"Well, officially we don't know who deez people were," the guard said, shaking his head, "Dey couldn't be I-D'd. Our investigators, at our head office, looked at all of dee official identification indexes, Republic, Imperial, Hutt, Chiss. You name it, our guys looked, and so did da spaceport's Security Investigations Unit. By da way, dey wanna to talk to you, ask you some questions dat might give dem a clue to who doze guys were."
"It's a strong chance they were Republic, for sure," Wrehn said, "Whether they were SIS or some other Special Ops unit is hard to say."
Then she realized that the guard had said something that she'd missed.
"Wait a minute! Did you say, my security droid got the rest – inside?" she asked, incredulous.
"Yeah," the guard said, admiringly adding, "Dat droid o' yours is a serious piece o' work!"
He went on, adding with a bit of melancholy.
"Our guys took out six o' 'em before dey got wiped, but your droid took out dee udder six when dey got inside."
Wrehn looked at the small hatch at the center bottom of the ramp. It was closed.
"How'd you get the bodies out?" she asked.
Gault burst into a good round of laughter at her question. Torian gave a mirthful grin, as well.
"Da droid wouldna let dee spaceport's Security Investigations Unit in to investigate, and it wouldna let da coroners in to get dee bodies eedder," he told her, adding apologetically, "Dey're gonna want you to let dem get da bodies when you come back."
Wrehn walked to the back of her starship and put her hand on the palm reader. Then she tapped the combination code onto the numeric pad display that came up on the screen. The small hatches sunk into the ramp before rolling, the outer hatch rolled left, and the inner hatch to the right, while a small set of stairs also deployed.
"Yehw'reh'nomai," Vindis called to her, in a slightly urgent manner, "Allow me to disarm my droid before you go in. I didn't give my droid any special parameters that would allow it to recognize you."
Wrehn stepped back and Vindis climbed up the stairs and passed through the small entryway. She immediately stepped right back out, coughing and gagging. When Vindis caught her breath, she yelled instructions into the hatch for her droid to stand down and to exit the starship.
Vindis turned to Wrehn.
"It stinks of death and rot in there. I don't know how we'll be able to use your starship."
The droid came out as ordered. The stench of corruption wafted off the droid. Vindis ordered the befouled droid back into the ship. Wrehn ordered everyone away from the back of the starship, taking several steps back as she took out her audio only communicator.
"Starship, unlock ramp, break seal, and lower," she said into the device.
The small stairs retracted into its stowage position, and the small round hatches rolled back and moved outward from within the ramp, to seal themselves tightly shut and flush with the surfaces of the ramp. Then, four loud and solid metallic clanks emanated from within the corners of the massive ramp.
A massive square shaped section of the back of the starship moved outward a few centimeters before the ramp began tilting outward from the top, and slowly swung down until it came to a rest on the durasteel deck of the enormous hanger space.
The stench that escaped the starship was overwhelming, causing most to wretch, and everyone to escape upwind from Heaven's Cricket.
"Mako," Wrehn said, "Get us a charter on a starship from this spaceport."
"How much do you wanna pay?" the cybernetically enhanced petite woman asked.
"We need to get going, now," Wrehn answered grimly, "Pay whatever."
"Whoa," Mako said, amazed at the normally tight-fisted Chiss woman, "You got it. Where are we going?"
"Hutta," Wrehn said, "We're gonna pay Nemro a visit. Also, after you get us a chartered starship, find a company that can sanitize and clean the stench out of my ship."
"Do you suppose," Vindis asked, Mako, "you could find a company that will clean the stink out of my droid, too?"
"Sure," Mako replied, adding, "The chartered starship will be ready for departure in twenty minutes. A mobile cleaning service will arrive this evening to begin the process. They ask we remove the bodies before their arrival. They'll also clean your droid for no extra charge. As far as they know, it belongs with the ship."
"Wonderful!" Vindis said, in delight.
"Which hanger bay?" Wrehn asked.
Mako pointed, "That ship, right there."
"We could walk to it in five minutes," Gault noted.
"Sorry, you guys are gonna have to stay on the job a bit longer," Wrehn said to her hired security team before asking the team leader, "Also, can you guys talk to the spaceport security people, ask them to come get the bodies?"
"Sure," the team leader replied, as he got his holo-transceiver out to place a call.
"I'll pay you a hundred thousand credits a month," Calaverous said to Mako, quite seriously, "with two weeks paid vacations every six months, and free medical care. Work as my secretary. Think about my offer. You will live in opulence in Kaas City. Working for me will give you great prestige and great privilege, because I work for a dark lord on the Dark Council."
"A hundred thousand a month!" Gault exclaimed, "That's not something you can easily turn your nose up on, Mako."
"Can it, Gault," Wrehn said, quite grumpily, "Let's start walking to the starship, everybody."
Torian and Gault started pushing the portable refrigeration unit, with the smaller one on top of it, to get it to the starship.
"There will be some who will arrive to take the corpses away!" Vindis shouted her orders from a distance to her droid, "They are authorized to take the dead away! Show them where all of the bodies are!"
"Yes, Master."
Also, a cleaning service will come to decontaminate the starship!" Vindis told her droid, "They will also clean and decontaminate you, as well! You will allow them access to all areas of the starship and to your chassis for the purpose of cleaning and disinfection! Keep all others out!"
"Yes, Master."
"Stay out of the starship, Vindis told Wrehn's contracted security guards, "My droid will attack you if you step foot onto the ship, even the ramp. Ensure the cleaning service properly identify themselves to the droid before they step foot onto the ship. When they come to take the bodies, make sure they identify themselves and the purpose of their presence to the droid, as well."
"Yes, ma'am," the lead guard replied, "Tanks for da heads up."
With that, Vindis hurried her steps to catch up to the others as they walked to the chartered starship docked a quarter mile away.
"Who's the captain?" Wrehn asked, as they approached the bottom of the starship's ramp.
"Tha' be me," a Sullustan male said in a strong, nasally accented, yet easy to understand, Basic.
"We chartered your starship for a trip to Hutta," Wrehn announced, then asked, "You guys ready to go?"
"You wanna come back this spacepor'?" the Sullustan asked, wanting to be sure.
He needed to know if he should reserve his current landing spot for his return trip when he submitted his flight plan.
"When I'm done with my business on Hutta, you'll bring us back here," Wrehn confirmed with a nod.
The eyes of one of the crew, a Twi'lek, bugged open.
"Hey! Hey! That's her!" he declared greatly excited, "She's that Mandalorian that took out the Republic chancellor!"
The other crew member, a Bith male did a double take of the Mandalorian in front of him and then looked worriedly at his foolish loudmouthed crew mate.
"I can see tha'," the Sullustan said, sounding annoyed with his pilot. To Wrehn, he said, "Don' cause drouble on my ship."
"We're professionals," Wrehn replied with a straight face, "We only cause trouble when it's stipulated on a contract, and only after the appropriate fees have been paid."
"The Republic's looking for you," the Sullustan said, pointedly, before asking, "Are they gonna come af'er my ship?"
"Are you gonna tell 'em we're on your starship?" Wrehn asked, straight faced.
"As long as they don' know you're on my ship, I don' mind you on my ship," he told her evenly.
"As long as you don't tell them I'm on your ship, they won't know I'm on your ship," Wrehn replied just as evenly.
Unsaid, by Wrehn, in that exchange was, "If you report us to the Republic, you'll all die."
"You got a place we can store those?" Wrehn asked, instead, pointing at the two portable refrigeration units.
"I have room," the starship captain said, then asked, "Wha' are they?"
"They're my bounty heads. They're dead, so I'm keeping them in the coolers."
"Are we really, only gonna charge 'em a hundred twenty five thousand, Captain?" his pilot asked, then suggesting, "I'm thinking that since we know who they are, we could charge them a million credits!"
The Bith shook his head in disbelief as he planted his face into the palm of his hand.
"Save your thinking for piloding the ship!" the captain said, chastising his employee, "Your thinking does'nah work for anything else! Open your eyes! There are five armed Mandalorians and dwo Sith with them! Do'nah anger them!"
"Sorry, Captain," the pilot said, embarrassed that those facts had to be pointed out to him.
"We're in disguise!" Vindis declared, outraged that they'd been found out so easily, then demanding, "How did you know that we're Sith?!"
The Bith, still shaking his head at the sheer stupidity of his crew mate, sighed deeply. He worried that perhaps his ship commander might have said too much, himself.
"Ligh'sabers, nah well hidden," the Sullustan answered, "Jedi don' work with Mandalorians. Nah many Sith Purebloods in Jedi Order, probably none."
"That makes a certain kind of sense," Calaverous said, laughing at the captain's answer, "and you've got a sharp eye. Well done."
"Why nah go in your own ship?" the Sullustan asked, nodding his head in the direction Wrehn and her crew had come, "Tha's your ship, yeah?"
"Some thieves tried stealing my ship a while back. They got themselves killed by her security droid," Wrehn answered, nodding towards Vindis, before adding, "Their bodies rotted in the ship and stank it up. A crew's gonna come and clean it up."
As Wrehn gave her explanation, the Sullustan watched as two coroner's speeders approached Wrehn's starship as though on cue.
"Both you, geh these refrigeradors indo the cargo hold," the captain ordered his pilot and copilot. Returning his attention to Wrehn, he finally introduced himself to his paying passenger, "I'm Jaggeh.
"I'm Yehw'reh'nomai," she replied, as she finally introduced herself to the ship's captain.