The Liberator/Part 29

Day 97 of the Occupation of Milagro

Kadelle watched as Mali exchanged a final few words with his apprentice; she couldn't hear what was said over the wind, but the two clasped forearms and hugged with their other arms. Aldayr was of a height with Mali now and built with just as much muscle, and he looked every inch the soldier off to conquer worlds and slay monsters. When they parted, Aldayr took one last look at snow-covered Rogeum Spaceport; Kadelle waved, and even Nal gave the young man a chin nod. Aldayr smirked and nodded back, then turned and boarded his troop transport. The doors sealed up and it lifted off, bearing him away to the fleet in orbit.

The wind tugged at the tail of Mali's green robe as he rejoined them. "It'll be a couple hours, we might as well wait inside."

"So where's the fanfare?" Nal asked. "The big parade?"

"We're keeping things low-key; he's an administrator, not a war hero."

Kadelle thought Mali just didn't want to give dissidents a target to throw eggs at—or stones; foodstuffs were still coming in sporadically, and smart beings didn't waste eggs. Rather than voicing that, she said, "Gives us a chance to look through the latest deliveries."

Mali raised an eyebrow. "Not generally something I handle myself."

"Hey, it's good to show your face; people love you, remember? Besides, it'll show your privateers you respect the work they're doing and you don't just think of them as pirates."

Kadelle affected a shudder and grinned, and Mali rolled his eyes, but they tightened in thought, and Kadelle wondered if he was pondering the same complaints Kadelle had received from her contacts. The Republic had paid out—if not as quickly as some of them would've liked—but their contacts in the Navy and downside had treated them like a sewage collection team: dropping off something necessary, but disgusting. Profits could drive beings to suck up a lot of unpleasantness—Nal and Kadelle were experts in that—but the more the privateers were treated like dirt, the more they might decide that the Republic's bounties weren't worth the hassle and the constant threat of a hideous death at Vedya Gasald's hands. Kadelle had told Mali as much, and she was glad to see him take it seriously.

The bounty office—officially the Confiscation Assessment and Settlement Office, though every smuggler and pirate on Milagro just called it "the bounty office"—had a few grungy captains waiting for their cargo to be assessed. Both the privateers and the uniformed Republic agents on duty were stunned to see Mali Darakhan walk in, and they shook his offered hand in an automatic sort of way. The Chuns followed him through the operation as he supervised an assessment of captured transceiver parts, and Kadelle marveled at his ability to converse with even a Gamorrean pirate crewer who could barely string a sentence together in Basic. She had seen him hold his own with the high-and-mighty; watching him trade battle stories with beings that might've taken a bounty on him under other circumstances was surreal.

"He's like a one-man public relations operation," Nal muttered.

"He's a hero," Kadelle whispered back. "And it's not just a show, he really cares."

"…yeah, he does," Nal admitted. "If more Jedi were like him, maybe this war would be going differently."

Once Mali had watched a bounty being paid out and shaken hands again with the captain, he led the Chuns and his Marine guards back through the spaceport. Kadelle was just about to try wheedling some information about the Aresh campaign out of Mali when Nal started humming. It sounded innocuous—"If Tomorrow Never Comes", an ancient tune played in every cantina across the galaxy at one time or another—but Kadelle tensed at once. They had long ago made it a nonverbal signal between them, and as she looked around with a curious expression as if to take in the sights, she noticed a figure half-shadowed by a doorway across a docking bay. The being turned away from Kadelle's gaze at once, and she swallowed.

Strolling up to Mali's side as casually as she could, she breathed, "General—"

"I know," he replied, his voice low but calm. "Keep close, it'll be fine."

Kadelle noticed her sister unsnapping her blasters; after her grudging agreement to not shoot first, and over the fervent objections of his security team, Mali had allowed Nal to go armed around him too, though he had drawn the line at letting D-T0X accompany them. Kadelle made a show of adjusting her gunbelt as a cover for loosening her own pistol.

Nothing at Rogeum Spaceport could really be called "majestic", but the Republic had long since repaired the Sith-exclusive berths and bays which had been damaged in the invasion, and the Republic shuttle settled down there as squadrons of starfighter escorts roared by over head. A mix of RSAP officers and Republic Army troopers patrolled to ensure security, and Kadelle thought whoever had been keeping an eye on them would have a tough time making trouble here. She relaxed as the shuttle's ramp dropped.

"So you're sure he didn't kill the Chancellor?" she whispered.

She heard Mali growl in his throat. "Yeah, and please don't ask him about that, I'm told it's sort of a sore spot."

Marine Ceremonial Guards in their armor of scarlet and gold led the way down the ramp, carrying rifles and wearing sidearms at their hips. They spread out in a vigilant arc, leaving a gap for Mali; only when they had taken up their positions did their protectee follow. He wore thick, richly-embroidered robes over a fashionable suit, his hands were snugged into warm gloves, and a shenyi hat hid his hair, leaving only his narrow face exposed. He looked fit and strong, but there was some indefinable difference between his build and Mali's.

Mali bowed. "Welcome to Milagro, Administrator."

"Thank you, Master Jedi," he replied with a bow of his own. "Something of a roundabout journey, but we've arrived at last."

"Well, the direct path has the advantage of being direct, but there's the disadvantage of running into Lady Gasald," Mali noted. "Not that I don't think she'd love to see you, I just think you wouldn't enjoy the experience nearly as much."

"Just so. Better cautious than captured, of course.  But now we're here; shall we proceed?"

"Sure. Oh, Administrator, these are Nal and Kadelle Chun.  Ladies, Republic Administrator Khofin of Knylenn."

Nal nodded and Kadelle said, "A pleasure, Administrator."

"The pleasure is mine, I'm sure," he said, though his tone suggested otherwise. As they set out across the spaceport, he asked, "In what capacity do you serve the administration, ladies?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that," Nal answered.

Khofin was clearly not satisfied with that, and he looked at Mali, who said, "I brought the Chuns on as consultants for the government here. They've assisted me in bringing in supplies while Republic logistics…lagged."

"Yes, I've been told about the difficulties involved in adequately supplying Milagro; I hope to remedy that. My contacts in the Allocations Committee and the Trade Council may be of use there."

Mali nodded. "If it gets the job done, I'm on board."

A few other beings came down the ramp from the shuttle—all Human men, Kadelle noticed, except for a male Cerean. Khofin introduced them as his personal staff, though Kadelle promptly forgot all their names. Only Khofin stayed at Mali's side on the way out of the spaceport, though.

"We'll give you a lift," Mali offered. Kadelle and Nal traded glances, then nodded.

"So, Administrator," Kadelle said as the hovercade pulled away, "what made you want to come out to Milagro?"

"It was offered to me as an opportunity to employ my managerial talents in a way that would allow the Republic to be reborn where it was once allowed to die." Khofin's smile did not reach his eyes. "I served some years in the Chancellery bureaucracy on Coruscant, but I confess of late it's grown rather distasteful to me. And you ladies?  What led you to…what exactly is your primary field of speciality?"

"Cargo transport," Nal answered. "Though we've also agreed to participate in General Darakhan's outreach to the marginalized here."

Behind Khofin, Mali squeezed his eyes, clearly struggling not to laugh. Khofin showed a flicker of interest. "Indeed? I expect we'll be working together then, or at least some of my senior staff will work with you."

That sobered Mali at once, and Nal frowned. "Why?"

"My function as Republic Administrator is to assume control and direction of the Republic's civil administration here on Milagro, freeing General Darakhan to focus his efforts on security. Of course, I'll also oversee the negotiations for Milagro's entry into the Republic—"

"What's to negotiate?" Kadelle asked. "The Parliament voted to join, didn't it?"

"Of course, and the Senate looks forward to welcoming Milagro fully into the Republic's embrace, but there are a number of details to iron out first. Senatorial representation, of course, taxation policies, the movement of—"

"Something's wrong," Mali said. Kadelle wondered whether she had asked a question he didn't want discussed in front of them, but that idea was gone as soon as she thought it. Mali had sat up, and his eyes, green and warm as the sea on a summer's day, were narrowed and intense. Kadelle looked out the tinted windows at the exterior of the spaceport as they curved around its edge back toward downtown.

"General?" one of the Marines asked.

Before Mali could reply, a concussive explosion erupted somewhere outside, loud even through the speeder's reinforced armor. They hadn't been hit, but the speeder still wobbled, and the driver called, "Vehicle ahead just exploded, sir! Two escorts down!"

Mali took his lightsaber off his belt as he yelled, "Get us out of here, now!"

They were all flung to one side as the speeder cranked a hard turn, but there was another explosion, and the driver reported, "Explosion at the trailing vehicle, sir. We're boxed in!"

"Call it in! Get reinforcements here, and get a fighter squadron to run a flyby!"

No sooner had the order been relayed than blasterfire impacted the side of the speeder. Khofin and Kadelle cried out on reflex, but Mali put his face to the window, searching for the shooter, and Nal drew out her comlink and whispered, "Detox, we're under fire outside the spaceport. Get ready to come if I call you."

"Acknowledged," the mechanical voice called back.

Kadelle tried to warn her sister with a look, but more blasterfire hit the speeder; outside, Kadelle could see Marines and police returning fire, though several of them fell. The Marines inside started toward the door, and Mali led the way.

"Sir, you should take cover here."

Mali spared him a withering look before turning to the Marines who had arrived with Khofin. "Protect the Administrator and the Chuns."

Kadelle was so touched she couldn't form a reply before Mali opened the speeder door and ignited his lightsaber. At once he was deflecting blasterfire every which way; his Marines flooded out past him and started shooting, but there were only four of them, and they had to spread out to get away from his blade. One of them slammed into the speeder before sliding to the ground. Mali raised a hand, evidently doing something with the Force, and there was an answering scream out of Kadelle's sight, but he had to swing one-handed to catch the next shot aimed his way.

Kadelle drew her blaster, but Nal caught her by the wrist. "What are you doing?!"

"He needs help, Nal!"

"He has the Marines, just—wait, Kadelle—!"

But Kadelle was already half out the door. There was a thump and a hiss, and Kadelle had just enough time to see the rocket soaring toward them before Mali raised a hand. The rocket blew up in midair, but as Kadelle ducked away from the explosion, she saw a humanoid in a balaclava pop up at ground level five meters away, raising a rifle. She fired without hesitation; her first shot missed but startled the shooter enough that he missed too, and her second shot hit him in the head.

Mali glanced down at her and shouted over the din, "Missed me already?!"

"You stop being alive, we stop getting paid, and you know Nal wouldn't like that!" Kadelle replied.

Mali grinned, then turned back to deflection. Nal emerged from the speeder, pulling out her blasters and swearing profusely. "Thirty seconds!"

"Until what?"

"Detox!" She ducked under a shot, then fired a spray back with both her blasters. "This hero shtick of yours is getting old, Sis…"

Kadelle had to fire back rather than reply. Catching hold of Mali's collar, she used him as a shield as she shot past his shoulder. He looked back in surprise, but when she grinned at him, he answered with a smirk of his own.

"Incoming!" called one of the Marine escorts who had survived the first ambush, and Kadelle heard a high-pitched whistle just before the sidewalk on the other side of the speeder exploded. Water gushed from a ruptured main as broken duracrete pebbles rained down.

"Jam their comms, don't let them adjust fire!" Mali barked.

"Commo's dead, sir!" a Marine answered.

"Oh frak it, get out of the way!" Nal snarled. She threw herself on the ground beside the dead Marine, hauling his backpack out from under him and working the knobs and dials furiously. Kadelle ran to give her sister cover, and two Marines came to her aid.

An agonized scream wrenched Kadelle's attention away, and she looked in time to see a droid pitching a masked corpse aside. It had a boxy head with a single, green photoreceptor; a narrow waist with durasteel shielding around the internal components; heavy armor on arms and legs; and thick forearms ending in deft digits. It plodded sideways, pulling another guerrilla into view by the man's weapon arm. The guerrilla fired blindly into the sky until the droid backhanded him; his head twisted almost a complete circle from the force of the blow, and the bottom of his balaclava swelled where his jaw had splintered.

"Detox!" Kadelle called. The droid jogged her way; several of the Marines aimed on reflex, but Kadelle cried, "Don't shoot her, she's with us!"

"Hold fire," Mali commanded, but he gave Kadelle a look. "We talked about this, Kadelle…"

"We're being mortared!" she replied.

D-T0X arrived at Kadelle's side, fired over the speeder without looking, and turned her photoreceptor down to Nal. "Instructions?"

There was another whistle, and Mali raised a hand; Kadelle wasn't sure how much he had done, but the roof of a nearby building splintered. He sighed, but said, "Do it."

Nal looked up from the backpack. "Detox, kill everyone who's trying to kill us."

There wasn't much more for them to do after that; Mali stood guard over the speeder and the Marines shot at any guerrillas who exposed themselves, but D-T0X charged right into the nests, blaster bolts barely slowing her down. They heard the screams and blasterfire as D-T0X found new spots, but pretty soon there was nothing to hear. Then a roar filled the skies and Republic fighters flew past overhead; the concussion of dropped bombs followed seconds later.

Mali gave it a few seconds, and everyone remained tensed for action. When sirens grew audible in the distance, the Jedi closed down his lightsaber and looked around. "Get the wounded medevaced."

He opened the speeder door. "You okay, Khofin?"

"I'm fine." Kadelle saw the man sitting amidst his Marine guards, though she was surprised to see him holding a slender blaster pistol.

Apparently so was Mali. "Didn't know you brought your own firepower, Administrator."

"I've been caught defenseless in the middle of an assassination once already, General." Kadelle had to lean away from the mingled bitter iron in the man's voice. "Never again."

Mali nodded, then looked at Kadelle. "You all right?"

She holstered up and patted her body. "Yeah, I think so."

"Nal?"

"I'm fine." She walked up to Mali and held out a datapad in a businesslike way. "I got the mortars triangulated to this five-block radius, but I couldn't pin down their comms any more than that."

He stared. "I thought you were jamming their comms."

Nal snorted. "I did that in the first fifteen seconds. Figured while I was there, I might as well earn a bonus…?"

Mali groaned and rolled his eyes, but there were hints of a smirk at the edges of his mouth.

Only the communications NCO and the Marines hit by the initial rockets had been killed; everyone else would survive their injuries, Kadelle understood, though some of them had been badly burned when their armor had melted. Mali got the Administrator evacuated by armored troop transport, though he refused to leave himself, lingering to ensure his injured Marines received the proper care. When he returned, his eyes went to D-T0X, waiting silently at Nal's side.

"Er…so, this is Detox," Kadelle said.

Mali raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"

"Well, D-T0X, but that got boring to say."

"…why of course." He looked up at D-T0X, then sighed.

"She came to the rescue," Nal pointed out. "You decided to get out of the speeder, and my idiot sister decided to follow you—"

"Hey!" Kadelle protested.

"—so you didn't really leave me much of a choice, did you?"

"I provided timely assistance, General," D-T0X said, her voice a husky feminine purr that turned most men's heads before they saw she was a droid (and a few after). Even Darakhan looked briefly startled. "I terminated seven threatening flesh sacks."

"Wouldn't know it, looking at that chassis," Mali noted. D-T0X's armor had a few dents, but nothing a little buffing and a scoring scraper wouldn't fix.

"My photoreceptor is up here, General," D-T0X chided.

Mali blinked, then chuckled, shaking his head. "All right, we'll call this one a wash. But no more assassin droids on Milagro!"

"Then try not to walk into an ambush again—or if you do, don't bring us with next time," Nal retorted. "Let's go, Detox."

They walked off, but Kadelle lingered. "You okay?"

It took Mali a moment to answer, and he looked at the spot where Nal had taken up the comms equipment—where the Marine from his guard unit had died. "These Marines…the escort, and the guard unit…they were here to protect me. They died for me.  I didn't sense this in time."

"Hey, you can't think like that," Kadelle urged. "Maybe you weren't even the target. We had Khofin, remember.  Any idea who's behind this?"

"Underworld's more your area of expertise than mine," Mali pointed out. "And like you said, since we don't even know if they were targeting Khofin or me…"

"I'll keep an ear out, but this was pretty well-organized for an offworld syndicate," Kadelle said. "Remember how the Feld/Rufos group…er…didn't all appreciate the Jedi the last time you were here? Any of the Resistance groups…maybe not quite done resisting?"

Mali grimaced and didn't answer. Instead, he said, "You want a couple Marines to get back to the Gambit?"

Kadelle rolled her eyes. "We'd like to maintain at least some credibility with the Hutts, thanks."

Mali snorted, but said, "Thanks for the assist, Kadelle."

"Any time, Mali." She realized what she had said, but covered herself with a smirk. "But hopefully not soon."

He looked around at the ruined street, and Kadelle felt a pang as his gaze went far away. "Yeah. We can hope."