Chapter Eleven: Hostile Takeover
Din hated every second of his time on Telos IV so far. The food was literal mush slapped together for nutrition and nothing else. His 'work' consisted of standing around watching an Imperial bureaucrat filling out documents since Vader didn't want a simple kill mission. And to make matters worse he was homesick. The dark caves of Qiilura weren't exactly thrilling but, at least he had his vode to keep him company. No one would even talk to him here, though he didn't necessarily blame the locals for being tight lipped. He was private security for a woman who enslaved children for a mine. A part of him wanted to just kill Sister One and tell Vader nothing out of the ordinary was happening but, as time went on, Din wasn't sure if even he believed that.
Sarasha Kenobi was a curious woman with enough contradictions to write a thesis on. She often complained about the cold, how her bones were too old for it, and yet she was deliberately slowing down the operation here. Datapads requesting new drills for kyber crystals would mysteriously go missing without a trace. Droids suggesting faster drill paths to get to the center of the mine would be scheduled for decommission the next day. At the same time, children employed here only had a half hour for breakfast and dinner before going back to work mining in twelve-hour shifts. He had already seen three kids beaten just for talking to each other when drilling by local mercenaries. Sarasha's cruelty combined with her self sabotaging nature made Din suspect she was only in this for the credits. That said, Sarasha moved like a woman with something heavy weighing her down. A chip on her shoulder that she couldn't quite shake.
The old woman let out a sigh placing a datapad on her desk apparently finished with it, "Jarin, what made you come to Telos IV for work?"
It took a minute to register she was using his fake name that Luthen made him use, "Oh I umm, I guess it's because I needed to get away from the crowds in the Core. Find myself, I guess."
"Ha, if that was true, you'd be going on one of those 'nature hikes' on Dantooine. The ones that make you run your fingers through the wheat because it supposedly does something for the soul... Give me a break." She then looked back at him sympathetically, "Unless you were banned from going there because of the Mandalorian War?"
His first instinct was to just ignore her and stare out the viewport to the main mineshaft. His job wasn't to sate her curiosity whenever she was in the mood for a conversation. Osik, that wasn't even part of the pretend job of protecting her from threats. Din should be paying attention to Sister One's daily routine to figure out when the best time to strike was. Perhaps she lingered near a particularly dangerous shaft all the time he could push her off of. If not, there was the possibility she ate the same thing for dinner each night making her vulnerable to poison. The sooner he had a plan, the sooner he could return to the Watch. On the other hand, Vader had instructed him to get to the bottom of what's going on here as part of his mission. Despite not being a great conversationalist, opening up to her might be a good way to gain her trust.
"The Mandalorian War happened over a millennium ago, I don't think the people of Dantooine would still hold grudges against us ma'am." Din told her ignoring her question on his purpose here deliberately.
She grinned at him showing off her artificial perfect teeth, "Never underestimate the power of a grudge Jarin. I haven't been allowed on Coruscant for the past decade because I have the wrong last name. Even after I turned in my brother and his disgusting wife, nothing I can do to prove my loyalty all because of a grudge."
Din held his hands in front of his lap trying not to sound like he was lecturing her, "The Jedi Rebellion was only a decade ago. Give it time to fade into memory."
Sarasha let out a harsh laugh shaking her head, "Rebellion is certainly one word to describe what happened that day. Genocide is certainly another."
Din didn't quite know how to answer that since it was such a surprise. For the past month of working with her, he had never heard her say anything against Imperial authority. In fact, when she had meals with the rest of the staff here, Sarasha made a point of praising the Emperor's latest political moves. This kind of talk was definitely something Vader would be interested in. He might even give the bounty hunter extra credits for discovering a traitor within their midst. Although he wanted to leap at any opportunity to get food to the ad'ikas of the Watch, he agreed with her assessment of the situation. The Jedi had been systematically wiped out to extinction in the same way his own people had not a year later. It felt wrong to turn her into a murderer for just stating a fact.
He was about to ask if her belief translated into action when one of the chefs practically threw himself into the room, "Madam Kenobi, there's a protest going on at the front entrance that I think you need to see."
Sarasha waved a dismissive hand not feeling the same urgency he was clearly expressing, "We're protected by seventy-two feet of durasteel George. Tell me when they've found the entrance to the irrigation tunnels and then we can talk."
George frowned practically glaring at her from across the table, "You need to see this."
Sarasha sighed shakily getting to her feet, "Alright Jarin, looks like our work is never done." When George just stood there, she waved a hand again, "Well go on then! If it's so important, the least you can do is show an old woman the right direction."
"D...Down at the front of the mine... You need to hurry please!" George declared pointing towards the front door with a shaking finger.
Din tensed as he followed her always worried that she was going to collapse from the strain of walking down the stairs. He had offered to get her a cane or act as her go between, but she refused saying doing so would only show weakness. Sarasha refused to be ashamed of her advanced age which granted her some respect within the community. At least for the people outside the mine who didn't grasp the whole picture of putting teenagers to work in a place like this. Just now they passed what he thought was a ten-year-old picking at a random rock obviously having no idea what he was doing. He had to remind himself that no matter how she portrayed herself, Sarasha Kenobi was a terrible person inflicting untold suffering on behalf of the regime.
Which was why he was so surprised to see Stormtroopers greeting them at the front entrance to the mine. Well, they weren't traditional Stormtroopers that he spotted patrolling the streets of Coruscant. These troopers had a full 'T' visor on their helmets as well as golden paint on the armor. Were they special ops? If so, Din wasn't impressed with the way most of them had put on their armor. He could've sworn the chestplates were crooked. One of the soldiers' shoulder guards had a dent in it that wouldn't be acceptable to be presented in the Watch. Their leader on the other hand had shiny armor with several medals pinned to the chestplate signaling they were a veteran. Keeping a semi defensive posture inside the mine against an old woman made Din place a hand casually on his hip next to his new IB-94 that Luthen gave him.
Sarasha forced a smile with a hand outstretched to shake his own, "Commander Cody, what a pleasant surprise. I thought you died putting down Partisan's on D'Quar."
"I believe the official story was that I died on Taris against some bounty hunters but, like I always tell my men, never believe the official story." Cody declared while clearly refusing to shake her hand.
For a moment Din thought his helmet receiver was on the frits or he had accidentally accepted a call from home by mistake. He knew that voice, it was the same one who first taught him how to hold a blaster. The same voice who taught him how to hunt for work and to negotiate better commissions on a job. What was Commander Ordo doing all the way out here? Had The Armorer sent him to keep an eye on Din's first assignment? Did she really not trust him to be able to provide for every one of the Watch? He decided that as strange as it felt, the answer was no. Cody didn't acknowledge him whatsoever and he felt like Ordo wouldn't have been able to help himself from giving a little wave. His Commander certainly wouldn't allow the rest of the Watch to appear so disheveled wearing supposed beskar'gam. They might have the same voice, yet they were in no way near the same man.
Sarasha let her arm fall to her side while still smiling at him, "That's right! Forgive me, my memory isn't what it used to be anymore. Regardless, what has brought you to my mine of all places?"
"Me and my men just finished dealing with insurrectionists on Etti IV and came to Telos for a resupply on our way back to the Core. It's a good thing as well, you had a protest problem along the outer perimeter we took care of for you." Cody told her though his expression was impossible to read with his helmet on.
She pressed her lips together in a thin line shifting to stand up straighter, "I've made it a point to ignore protests as much as possible Commander. Unless they suddenly acquire a Tie Bomber, we have nothing to worry about within these walls."
Cody outstretched a hand to give her a datapad, "With all due respect, that line of thinking is part of the problem."
Din made no move to look on the datapad because his HUD was picking it up just fine. If he hadn't been manhandled a month ago by Vader, he might not have believed the footage that was on display. A kid not much younger than him was doing something to prevent blaster bolts from hitting their targets. Each blue ion charge hung in the air as though they were being held back by an invisible wall. Protesters started to march towards the panicked troopers until Cody fired a stun blast at the kid leading the assault. What followed was a shaky cam mess though Din noticed Cody dragging the kid into the mine. He felt a lot less safe now that he knew someone with that amount of raw power was trapped in the same four walls as him.
Her expression hadn't changed as she handed the datapad back to him, "Was it really necessary to fire on unarmed civilians? I do my best not to rile up crowds during my tenure to decrease tensions with the locals."
"The protesters were closing on my position, and I needed to secure the force sensitive. We did what was the only thing we could in that instance. That is if you do house force sensitives here?" Cody asked as though he was genuinely interested in an answer.
Sarasha bowed her head in acknowledgement though she didn't seem thrilled, "We do, they are about point one percent of the miner population dedicated on focusing their energy to get to the heart of the facility as fast as possible. I have to say though, none of my kids have the same experience as this fellow. Where is he now?"
Cody was blunt in his answer, "I told one of my men to take him to processing. Thought you could use an extra hand since you appear to be behind schedule. The Emperor wanted to reach the center of this Temple last Empire Day."
She shrugged acting as though she didn't have a care in the world, "If the Emperor continues to only send me children with an average age of twelve to work here, I'm not sure what he expects. They can only hit so many rocks in a day without giving out, they aren't droids."
"You don't use droids here?" Cody asked in surprise oddly interested in the operations of a random Outer Rim mine.
She shook her head pretending to be as disappointed as he might be feeling, "I know, that's what I said too when I got the job three years ago. The Emperor claims that the kyber crystals interfere with their sensors."
Din worried Sarasha was bald face lying to the Commander, not sure what the intent was. It wasn't that droids couldn't work here; it was that she didn't approve of their routes. If the Commander had any kind of droid with him, he would be able to verify she wasn't telling the truth. What was Din supposed to do in that scenario? Technically, his actual legitimate job was to merely kill one of the miner kids and get back out. However, to do that he had accepted work to protect her for the time being. He would be dishonorable if he just ignored a threat to her safety for his 'real' assignment. Then again, he was facing around twenty heavily armed mercenaries against him. Blasting his way out of this wasn't going to work and probably had major consequences attached. He had to come up with another solution and fast.
Before Sarasha could dig a deeper hole for them both, he stepped forward beside her, "As security chief, I just want to thank you again for dealing with the force sensitive out front. Who knows what would have happened if you weren't here. How long do you expect to be staying with us?"
"Until the center of the mountain is reached most likely. You don't have the tools to control the force sensitive protester, and I think all of you could use some motivation to get back on schedule." Cody declared as though there was no room for debate.
Sarasha stood defiantly anyways, "With all due respect Commander, I am the only one here with the experience running a mine. Go too quickly and the entire mountain could cave in ar-"
Cody interrupted her with a low voice, "Are you sure you want to go on record defying the will of the Emperor?"
"I thought you said that you came here by chance?" Sarasha countered trying to maintain control of the operation here.
Cody nodded placing a hand on his hip next to his blaster pistol, "I did yes, but wouldn't you agree that as the Commander of the 212th division, I operate with Imperial authority?"
Din's stomach grew uneasy as she continued to press the issue, "I was under the impression that the Imperial Senate still had to approve troop deployments, even within Imperial Space."
"Section C. 264 of the Military Readiness Act states garrisons under fifty personnel can act independently when an Imperial installation is under siege. Do not make a further issue of this ma'am. The law is on my side." Cody threatened seemingly ok with having a shootout in here despite young miners being everywhere.
Din was about to grab her to protect her and start shooting but she finally relented, "I suppose it is... George?" When the cook joined her side she continued, "Take Commander Cody here and the rest of his squad down to the staff accommodations. Anyone that needs to leave their rooms can go to the Inn and get a thirty percent discount. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to craft a statement to maintain the continuity of leadership within the mine. We don't want any of the miners thinking now is a good time to rebel."
Cody bowed his head motioning his men to follow the poor cook, "I look forward to hearing your statement at the start of the next shift."
Din couldn't help but feel frustrated by this whole assignment. If the Emperor was going to send thirty special ops troopers to control the mine, why the kriff did he have to be here going after one rogue inquisitor? If Vader was more interested in Sarasha's credit laundering than the inquisitor, why was he here and not an accountant? This felt like he was in a wild Gizka chase that showed no signs of slowing down. The problem was he couldn't just pick up and quit this horrible job even if he wanted to. Din was convinced that Darth Vader was vindictive enough to come after him as well as the entire Watch if he ran for the hills. Their patron Luthen would also be upset considering this job was his way into Imperial good graces. Unfortunately, the only way to get out of this mess was by going through it.
"Walk with me." Sarasha ordered in his direction turning to head back to her office.
Din stayed a foot behind her to make sure he could catch her if she fell, "Ok."
She lifted an eyebrow at him in frustration, "Ok? After that cluster all you have to say is, ok?"
Din coughed trying not to laugh from how right she was, "I guess I have to remind you that you pay me to be your personal security, not as a therapist you can vent to."
"This is absolutely about security!" She insisted pointing a finger at him wobbly, "I don't know who that man is but I sure as nine hells know he isn't Commander Cody."
Din made sure to pay more attention to her balance than she was apparently, "How can you be so sure? He looked a lot more put together than the rest of his squad."
"I know because the real Commander Cody died blowing up a Jedi over Nar Shadaa." Sarasha stated crossing the threshold into her office.
Din tilted his head in confusion, "But you sai-"
She cut him off almost immediately, "I was trying to see if he remembered the actual story around his own death. I may be old to your eyes Mandalorian but I am not senile yet. Someone is trying to take over the mine for their own ends."
"If that's true you aren't safe here any longer. I should take you back to the estate and you can let me do the investigating." Din told her taking his pretend job seriously.
She thought for a moment before eyeing him, "I need to write a few messages first...I'm running out of time... Can you do something for me for the next few hours?" Din nodded so she continued, "That force sensitive protester was far too powerful not to have a Master. I need you to look over Cody's security footage and see if there's a Jedi among them. We're going to need some help to get all the children out of here."
Din blinked under his helmet, "What did yo-"
"You heard me boy. I don't have the time to explain, just get to work and I'll fill you in as we go." Sarasha said hurriedly having no idea what she had just done.
