The Final Judgment/Part III: The Chiss

There was nothing to see in the hold of the Wanderlust, its heavy armor plating leaving no room for viewports, but Selkee didn't need to look out; the Force was with her and saw for her. She could feel the alien Kritocracy Navy, assembled to screen its capital, and the familiar mass of the Prime Fleet arrayed to match them. She could sense the guns trained from each side on the other, and a few tracking the shuttles. She knew, distantly, Sorrik's tension as the Wanderlust and her companion craft passed through the vast no-being's-land between the opposing forces, and she felt Tamlok, flying nearby at the head of the Redblades, his ever-ready reflexes tight as a string on Jinyx's viol. Sound and smell and atmosphere might never pass through vacuum, but tension sped along as easily as light; one misstep, one hastily triggered gun, and the Wanderlust would find itself in the middle of sudden armageddon.

Traveling with the Queen could be stressful, trying, vexing, and occasionally baffling, but Selkee had never yet known it to be boring.

The Queen sat opposite her, between Tarzg and Corr Shaasa. A Duros who had devoted his career to diplomacy rather than frontline warfare, Corr Shaasa had adopted Noelle's old habit of wearing a black robe over his Centurion's uniform, rather than the cape Selkee and the Royal Guards were wearing. Shaasa was almost half a meter taller than the Queen and taller still than Tarzg; the gruff old Bothan would have looked comical so close to his enormous brother if Selkee hadn't known Tarzg could defeat the Duros one-handed.

There had been a time when, tiny as he was, Tarzg could beat Selkee, too. Not anymore, though. Now, Selkee was close to being the best, and still getting better. When she had first worn a Royal Guard's uniform herself, she had struggled against Vem and Malyri, and Tarzg had been beyond her. Five years later, she had left all three of them behind. Every day her command of the Force grew just that little bit stronger, her blade flashed a fraction of a second faster, another incremental mark of distance separated her from most of her brothers and sisters.

One day, not too far in in the future, there would be no "close to". She would be the best, the most powerful Centurion who had ever lived. Queen Rin had told her, but Selkee had known it all along.

She wondered if that was why the Queen had brought her along on this mission. Even as the Force opened more vistas into the future for her, Selkee couldn't foresee what would come the way the Queen could—her body in the present, her mind a second or a day or a decade further along. Selkee was forced to guess, and she wondered if the Queen had envisioned some calamity waiting on the surface.

It would explain why Jinyx was along for the ride, too.

The Drakonus sat two seats away, on the other side of Hataphri, still in her Human form and looking and feeling antsy. Probably just her claustrophobia, Selkee suspected; neither Jinyx nor any other Drakonus Selkee had seen seemed entirely comfortable in compact spaces. Part of her wondered why Drakonus bothered building houses.

Or perhaps it was the company that unsettled Jinyx. Selkee had been raised in the Citadel since she was seven years old, and even before she joined the Royal Guard she had a healthy respect for how very powerful Queen Rin was. But she had grown accustomed to that feeling, as much as anyone ever could—Queen Rin was not the sort of person one ever really got used to—and four years as the Queen's quasi-protégé during her time in the Guard had made her comfortable in the presence of the great and mighty.

Jinyx, as Selkee understood it, had been in the Queen's presence a handful of times in her life, and for all the time the Drakonus spent with Breek, it really wasn't the same thing. Now, summoned from Breek's side to the Sith Star without any explanation, then or since, she was probably terrified of making a mistake, desperate to prove herself. Much as the other woman frustrated Selkee, and often, the Chiss couldn't criticize her for that concern; in her private heart, the place a Chiss never shows to any being but those closest of all to her, Selkee could admit she knew the feeling.

It was about as far as her empathy went, though. Selkee was much less interested in what Jinyx was feeling than why she was here. She was less confident than Selkee, less experienced and skillful, but her potential was great. The only being in the Empire who had the ability to equal Selkee herself with time and training, as others insisted on reminding them both with annoying frequency. Whether Jinyx would live up to it, Selkee wasn't sure, but she had the raw talent, and that Queen Rin—a supernova of power herself—had brought them both along with her was intriguing. What in the galaxy was she expecting on this world?

The Wanderlust was well-built and extensively modified, so it trembled only slightly as it knifed through the atmosphere.

"First wing of fighters is through the atmosphere," Jhawleesh called back from the cockpit. Selkee couldn't imagine how he had talked Tarzg out of flying. "No signs of trouble yet."

"There wouldn't be," Tarzg growled, his tough, scarred hands squeezing into fists rhythmically like he was keeping up a blood flow during a transfusion. "They'd save their firepower for the prime targets, not the escorts."

"That's why we have decoys," Selkee reminded him. Four other shuttles and two troop transports were accompanying them down, and Selkee could feel them passing through the atmosphere too.

"Hmph," Tarzg grunted, grimacing. Selkee restrained a smile, keeping her Chiss sabacc face, but she felt a brief touch of amused affection from the Queen, too.

"Please allow my troops to spread out first when we land, goddess," Colonel Hwurzahk requested in Sith. Most of the 14th Massassi Cohort that was going—only a few companies, after the Queen flatly denied Hwurzahk's request to bring all 10,000 of them—were riding on the troop transports, but Hwurzahk himself and two enormously muscled Massassi who made Corr Shaasa look tiny had insisted on riding with the Queen.

"To land too many troops first without presenting ourselves might suggest invasion, rather than negotiation," Corr Shaasa warned.

"We must secure the landing site in case we have to defend it," Hwurzahk insisted.

The Queen raised a hand to forestall any further debate. "The 14th can move out first," she decided. "The rest come out with us."

They both nodded, and Selkee heard Jhawleesh relaying the order over the shipboard comlink. "The ground is directing us to a landing site," he called back. "Tamlok's taking Redblade for a flypast to check it out."

And sensing for traps, Selkee guessed. Once a Royal Guard, always a Royal Guard.

Nodding, the Queen rose, and everyone in the hold stood with her. It was a bit cramped, but the Queen moved toward the ramp, Tarzg right at her side.

"Goddess," Hwurzahk complained.

"Peace, Colonel," the Queen called over her shoulder. "Have faith."

The Massassi looked like what he really wanted to have was a portable shield generator and a few thousands more troops, but he clomped forward obediently, taking his wicked-looking double-bladed glaive in both powerful hands. His enormous troops were right behind him, and Selkee could sense their coiled ferocity, like sleeping snakes ready to strike with lethality at the slightest hint of danger.

The Chiss herself fell in with the back of the pack, beside Jinyx. The Drakonus's face was smoothly expressionless, but Selkee could feel her anxiety.

"Calm," she said in Huttese.

"I am calm," Jinyx hissed back in the same language. Her face remained unreadable, but her jaw tightened.

"You look calm," Selkee corrected. "It's not the same thing."

The taller woman took a deep breath, letting it out. Her darkened glasses made it impossible for Selkee to read her radioactive green eyes, but perhaps that merely put them on even footing. "I'm not going to let the Queen down."

"Who said you were?" Selkee asked, though she felt privately vindicated.

Before they could bicker further, Jhawleesh's voice rang through the cabin. "We're clear. Coming in to land now."

"Let two of the decoys land first," Tarzg reminded him.

Jhawleesh had better control than to sigh aloud, but Selkee sensed his exasperation. He had been in the Guard since Selkee herself had left, almost two years ago. "Yes, Tarzg."

Selkee heard the Bothan grumbling to himself—apparently he had caught Jhawleesh's mental sigh too—but the Queen cut him off before he could get going. "We're nearly there. Get ready."

"Will it be safe?" Tarzg asked quietly.

Selkee could sense the change as Queen Rin looked into the future; her body grew very still, Tarzg laying one powerful hand under her elbow to support her. In the Force, Selkee felt a blurring of time and space as the Queen's mind extended beyond them. She was vaguely conscious of Jinyx looking forward with focused interested, but Selkee's glowing red eyes were fixed on the Queen as well. She tried to reach into the Force too, to get some sense of what was coming, but it was over before she had a chance, and Selkee frowned in disappointment.

"They're very proud," the Queen said slowly. She did not sound wary, but serious, and Selkee could sense her siblings tensing in response, and Jinyx tensing in response to them. "They don't like feeling under the gun."

"Do they intend to take us hostage?" Hataphri asked.

The Queen shook her head, her veil swaying. "I don't know. Corr and I will handle it.  Be vigilant, but don't offend."

"We're here," Jhawleesh called.

The shuttle touched down gently, and the ramp lowered. Selkee could sense the opposing forces outside, the familiar Massassi and the unfamiliar aliens, a wave of distrust and hostility washing over her. She took a deep breath, letting her instinctive edginess pass through that cold, clear crystal of the Force in her mind, splitting her emotions into their composite segments and letting her examine each in turn. It was natural to be edgy, when a false move could turn the greeting party into the enemy; it was the way of a Centurion to think through it.

The Queen headed down the ramp as soon as Jhawleesh fell in, he and Tarzg leading, Hataphri and Cambis on rearguard, Corr Shaasa mixed in among them. The Massassi were right behind them, and Jinyx and Selkee brought up the rear.

"What do you sense?" she asked the Drakonus quietly.

Jinyx swallowed; her eyes were wide enough that a faint hint of green glow peeked past the edges of her glasses. "They're…not happy we're here," she said blandly. She frowned. "We should be up there to protect the Queen…"

"You're as bad as Hwurzahk," Selkee muttered, but she fell silent as she heard a familiar voice not with her ears, but with her mind.

Come along, but stay out of sight, Queen Rin spoke into her mind.

Selkee frowned, but as she glanced up at the gargantuan Massassi soldier in front of her, it seemed suddenly more feasible. Yes, my lady.

She stayed in the Massassi's shadow as they stepped onto the surface. The landing platform was a mosaic of metal tiles, arranged in concentric circles. The Queen's retinue of diplomats and military aides issued from the shuttles nearby. Jhawleesh had touched down next to the center shuttle, and it was clear the Exoi had expected the Queen to be there; Selkee could see the Deputy Ministry of Internal Affairs and Integration and Souv Tanake, the blind Arkanian Centurion, both stepping down from the shuttle and banking toward them, ignoring the Exoi party massed before the shuttle's ramp. Looking and feeling wrong-footed, the aliens hurried in their wake.

Selkee had seen some unusual aliens, but the Exoi were among the strangest. They were incredibly tall, some even taller than the Massassi, but thin and willowy, with none of the bulk of the Queen's warrior guards; Selkee suspected even she could knock one of them over if she hit it hard enough. Their faces were two crescents back-to-back and one their sides, an eye at each of the four ends, a long mouth in the middle. Their long necks extended down into even longer torsos which made up most of their height; three pairs of slender arms jutted from each side, ending in four-fingered hands. They wore form-fitting tunics and long skirts that covered their legs when they were still, but the hands and faces she could see were shades of brown and orange.

As the Exoi walked, Selkee found herself briefly mesmerized. Their skirts billowed when they moved, revealing a number of legs, all thin, all moving rapidly, each ending in a circular foot. Those in Souv's wake were scuttling quickly, but the ones farther away, moving more slowly, almost seemed to drift, their movements were so smooth.

Selkee took in the docking area with a glance, her own former Royal Guard training kicking in, and she saw the 14th had taken up positions around each of the shuttles, with a secondary guard now coming to the Queen's shuttle. Twice as many Exoi faced them, all carrying thin blaster weapons suited to their spindly arms. They were accompanied by what Selkee initially took for war droids; three meters tall, the mechanical contraptions had arms with laser cannons mounted on them, and what she suspected were rocket launchers on their shoulders. But she could feel the Force in them, and as she concentrated harder, the Force saw through the armored shell to the Exoi pilots within.

It was some sort of mechanized armor, like a walker scaled down for an individual pilot, albeit one as tall as an Exoi. It made sense, Selkee thought; the Exoi approaching the Queen looked like a strong breeze might send them toppling sideways.

"In the name of Her Glorious Imperial Majesty, Queen Rin the Invincible, we bring you greetings," Corr Shaasa said in Minnisiat.

"It would seem that is not all you bring us, alien," Selkee heard the Exoi reply; she could no longer see them from behind her Massassi shield. Jinyx was giving her a strange look as she hid there, almost touching the Massassi's back, and Selkee resisted the urge to glower at her. She wondered what the Queen had in mind. "This force is a direct threat to the sovereignty of the Exoi Kritocracy."

Selkee thought privately he was picking his battles strangely, with a war fleet hanging in orbit over the Kritocracy capital, but she kept silent. Souv had arrived now, and Selkee saw the Deputy Minister had thought to bring along a protocol droid. Selkee hoped the Exoi became more accommodating before it started translating; she could sense Tarzg's annoyance just at the alien's tone of voice.

"This force is merely Her Majesty's honor guard," Corr soothed, and the protocol droid started running a simultaneous translation.

Selkee sensed the alien was not placated. "Surely there isn't precedent for this," he complained to those beside him.

"Precedent?" Corr asked, catching the word.

Selkee recognized condescension, even in an alien mind; it was the native state of most of her own species when dealing with the Empire. "We are a race and a government of laws, alien, not sentiment and emotion," he snapped. "The divine law of the Exoi Kritocracy governs all beings and all things. Our law clearly states that militant forces aside from the Kritocracy's military must not operate on this our homeworld.  Have you some precedent case to suggest otherwise?"

Corr hesitated, and Selkee sensed the Exoi falling into agreement with their leader. She could see the Massassi tensing around them, feel the mech pilots targeting them.

Selkee.

Wondering exactly what the Queen had in mind, Selkee took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the Massassi, her face expressionless and her bearing straight, all Chiss, all Centurion.

The sienna-colored Exoi at the head of the reception party, wearing a uniform of purple and amber, had been about to say something more, but all four of his eyes fixed on Selkee, and the sudden flare of indignation and anger in his mind made her hand drift toward her lightsaber until she caught herself. The feeling was apparently shared by all the other Exoi, some of whom began to speak to one another in their own tongue. Selkee had passed through the four Royal Guards to the Queen's side before the alien managed to speak.

"Is this what you bring us?!" the leader snarled. "Treachery?! Barbarians and infidels and destroyers of worlds?!"

"Excuse me?" Selkee demanded before she could check herself.

The Exoi leader seemed all the more incensed as she spoke to them. "You dare to come here, Chiss? You blaspheme our homeworld with your presence!"

Selkee frowned. He had recognized her instantly as a Chiss, and they had come here with information from the Expeditionary Library on Csilla…the repository of the conquests and explorations of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force in the old days of the Ascendancy…

"The Chiss defeated you," she guessed, her ruby eyes narrowed. "They fought the Kritocracy?"

Several Exoi hissed things Selkee suspected she was glad the droid couldn't translate, and the leader, now shaking with anger, barked, "You have the audacity to pretend you do not know of the wrongs your Chiss Ascendancy wreaked upon the glorious Kritocracy?!"

Selkee bit back her instinctive response…but only for a moment. At her side, she sensed Queen Rin sending her…encouragement? Permission? It seemed impossible the Queen would antagonize the Exoi even further, but she got another, more insistent nudge, and, with a shrug, adopted her most lofty, disdainful Chiss tone to say, "The Ascendancy broke a thousand lesser species and pretenders to greatness. You can't expect us to remember them all."

If the Queen was going for shocked fury, Selkee mused, she had gotten it. The Exoi's mouth fell open; he seemed too enraged to speak. To the Queen's other side, beside Hataphri, Jinyx put her hand over her face after the droid had translated. What are you doing?! she demanded in the Force. Corr Shaasa looked appalled as well, his red eyes staring down at her as if she had lost her mind.

Queen Rin, by contrast, looked entirely calm; through the veil, Selkee saw her face was only mildly interested. Even as she risked another covert glance, Selkee felt an encouraging touch in the Force.

The Exoi eventually recovered enough to say, "I…you…this is too many outrages! You come to our world with an armada of invasion, and now you reveal you are allied to the Chiss Ascendancy—"

"We are not allies," the Queen interrupted, using the Force to make her voice carry. "The Chiss are part of the Empire now, conquered and absorbed."

Selkee fought down instinctive annoyance, knowing it was nothing but youthful pride. The Chiss had been defeated, and much as it had vexed her then, she had to admit her species might have had it coming, lording over all those nearby, viewing themselves as masters of all. She suspected many of the Chiss who resented the Empire did so not because they were made less than their neighbors, but because the Queen had dared to make them equals.

She did not resent the Queen for the conquest anymore, but as the Exoi leader's Force signature lit up with glee, she did have to repress an urge to draw her lightsaber and cut his face in half.

"Conquered?" he asked eagerly, looking at his fellows, then scrutinizing Selkee more carefully. He looked from her to the Royal Guards and back, comparing their uniforms. "Can this be so? The Chiss defeated at last!  The Gods Beyond Galaxies are not to be mocked, Chiss!  Their wrath is of their own time and design!"

Selkee said nothing. The Exoi looked at her a moment longer, but then looked back at the Queen, then around at the Massassi, and Selkee sensed something belatedly occurring to his alien mind.

"Conquered?" he said again, but this time it was a question directed at the Queen, and even in his alien voice Selkee could hear uneasiness.

"Conquered," Corr Shaasa confirmed. Selkee could sense the telepathy connecting him to the Queen, and could almost hear her words in his voice. "The Chiss Expansionary Defense Force was defeated by the Armada, and the Ascendancy Colonies brought into the Empire."

The Exoi was wary now, and at last Selkee understood the ploy. The Exoi had been beaten by the Chiss, apparently, though Selkee had never heard of them before this mission. And that same force which had conquered the Exoi had itself been conquered by the Golden Empire. And an armada strong enough for that was now parked in orbit.

"But the Chiss conflicts, ours and yours, are the past now," Corr added more gently. "We are here to discuss the future of our peoples. The Queen is the voice of the Empire.  We would speak with those who have that power for the Kritocracy.  Is that you?"

It was clearly not, but the reminder helped bring the Exoi back to focus. "It is not," he admitted reluctantly. His eyes shifted to Selkee again, tightening with loathing. "But even if we were to permit your…honor guard, to allow a Chiss here…"

The Queen raised a hand. "The Chiss is among my counselors," she said firmly, passing her hand through the air casually. "I will answer for her conduct."

Selkee felt the touch of the Force, and the Exoi leader hissed briefly before saying, "You must answer for the Chiss's conduct!"

The Queen nodded, and Selkee managed not to smirk. Corr Shaasa smiled disarmingly and asked, "Shall we go, then?"

The Exoi hesitated. "The forces…there is still no precedent…"

There was a chime Selkee couldn't track, five musical notes, and the Exoi turned to see a party of other Exoi approaching, accompanied by more piloting suits of armor. In their midst was an Exoi who looked older, his skin the color of rust, several Exoi surrounding him protectively with the air of bodyguards Selkee recognized immediately.

"War Judge Offastup," the Exoi leader who had met them called, clearly surprised.

The War Judge glanced at the junior Exoi as he approached. "Supervisor of Sentries," he greeted, then looked at the Queen. "You will come with us."

The Supervisor of Sentries spoke even as Selkee felt Tarzg bristle. It was in his own language, and the War Judge responded in kind. The two seemed to have some argument, the Supervisor trying to be deferential but insistent at the same time, the War Judge growing more impatient.

"I'm sorry, our droid doesn't yet speak your language," Corr said in Minnisiat, drawing their attention back to him.

The War Judge narrowed his dark green eyes. "When we wish you to understand, you will, alien," he said sharply in Minnisiat. "When we do not, you won't."

When the droid had translated, the Massassi Selkee had been hiding behind snarled, and even Colonel Hwurzahk took a step forward. The War Judge turned to face them, his guards stepping up to his sides. Selkee laid her hand on her lightsaber, but was distracted by a disturbance in the Force.

She looked at the Queen and found the woman's eyes closed behind her veil, her face strained. Selkee glanced the other way and saw one of the uniformed Exoi behind War Judge Offastup wobbling on his seven legs, his eyes glazed over. Some extraordinary exercise of telepathy, information flowing from mind-to-mind…

"You will remember your place, alien," the War Judge said to Hwurzahk. "We will not tolerate hostilities in the city of the God-King!"

The Exoi behind him gasped, blinking. A few of his fellows looked at him askance, but the Queen took a step forward even as Tarzg moved in front of her protectively. She said, Then let us not be hostile, but be on our way.

It took Selkee a half-second to realize she had heard the familiar voice in her head, not her ears; the Queen was telepathically translating for her companions' benefit. She saw the shocked disbelief on the faces of their Exoi greeting party, and Selkee realized the Queen had spoken aloud in their tongue. The Chiss shook her head slowly, lips pressed together so she didn't grin. She had been on the receiving end of this power once—even now, she could speak Ti`kaaz fluently—but she had never before seen it from this angle.

After a long moment of stunned silence, the War Judge managed in Minnisiat, "You…speak Exhacte…?"

"Why should we not?" the Queen replied. "You were saying about supporting precedent?"

The War Judge took a step back, startled, then seemed to remember that all the Exoi were looking at him and straightened. "I…yes," he said, clearing his throat; his long neck made it sound like a high-pitched roll of thunder as the cough traversed its length. "The law states that alien heads of state who confer with our leadership are to be accorded the honors customary to beings of their rank and position."

"You say these forces are an honor guard?" he asked the Supervisor of Sentries, who was looking at the Queen from the corner of two of his eyes and trying to hide it.

"So they say, War Judge, but—"

"There is precedent," the War Judge interrupted gravely. "In the one thousand three hundred and twenty-fourth year of the Kritocracy's great reign, the eighth year of the God-King Mastuyuul III, the Biarchs of Ozo were allowed to bring their personal bodyguards to await the pleasure of the Governing Judges. 305 of the Governing Judges so ruled; the precedent is binding."

The Supervisor of Sentries seemed to deflate. "I was not familiar with this precedent, War Judge," he conceded sullenly. "Forgive my ignorance."

The War Judge gave him a look, then turned his double-crescent face on the Royal party. "If, as you say, your government had vanquished the Chiss, then surely you are a ruler of greater stature than the Biarchs." He hesitated, looking out over the Massassi and other soldiers, then nodded. "It is my judgment that the precedent governs my decision here and, by analogy, your greater station allows you a greater escort. Your troops may accompany you, so long as they respect our laws and keep peace."

Queen Rin nodded. "We accept your terms. Lead on, War Judge."

The Exoi, on foot and piloting the armored suits, formed a loose bracket around them as the 14th moved to flank the Queen's party. Other soldiers moved to fill in around them; they were dressed in standard, unadorned armor, but Selkee knew every one of them came from the elite Assault Commandos. The War Judge and his party mixed in with the Queen and her Guards as the entire entourage started forward.

Selkee slipped to the Queen's side and whispered in Cheunh, "Is this why you brought me, my lady? To throw them off their balance?"

She wasn't sure how she felt about that; it had certainly been effective, and she had enjoyed watching the Supervisor of Sentries's glee replaced by extreme disquiet, but she had hoped to be more than a key to unlock the path to someone more important.

The Queen did not look at her, but Selkee sensed her attention. "It did seem to have that effect."

"You knew they'd react that way?"

"They're mentioned in the annals of the CEDF, and they've not been a regional power since. I suspected."

"You planned this?" Selkee marveled.

She chanced a glance sideways, and saw the Queen smile behind her veil, just for a moment. "Vos'elk'eetash," she whispered back, "I always have a plan."