Sins of the Father/Part 14

Darqyren Valt entered one of Runganna's business parlors from a side entrance, his pair of Gank bodyguards taking up stations at the door. Runganna was meeting with a group of other Hutts and their majordomos and advisors, though no guards were present. A single inhalation through his nose told Darqyren that none of the other advisors posed any threat to him, or to Runganna while he was present, even before he found them with his eyes. He caught the odor of the Bith and spared an instant of approval for Chubolgo the Hutt, who had the good sense to appoint a second smarter than Chubolgo himself; Darqyren wondered idly if Runganna appreciated the parallel between Chubolgo and herself. A Bith was not equal to a Sakiyan, of course, but at least they were peers, a far loftier designation than Darqyren could bestow upon any of the other seconds and lackeys present.

A few of the assembled beings glanced at him as he came in, but Darqyren slipped to his lady's side, his silk robes rustling so quietly he suspected only he could hear them.

"The Ruling Council's going to take notice if this goes on much longer, Runganna," Ruurka fretted—Ruurka Anjiliac Hrunta, in full, though of course Darqyren was not supposed to know that.

"Good," Runganna replied, grabbing a squirming amphibian from a bowl and tossing it into her mouth. She was not the only Shell Hutt present, though they were in the minority of her usual cabal. "It'll show them they need to take me—and, by extension, us—seriously."

"They might take us seriously enough to become disruptive," warned Gondro Urdosh Fremm.

"They won't touch us with my Jedi and Sith here. And once the weapon's gone—"

"They aren't your Jedi and Sith, Runganna," Madraal Gnuda Forasta said. Runganna squirmed, and Darqyren knew she resented being interrupted, but Madraal either did not notice or, as Darqyren thought more likely, did not care. "The Jedi belong to the Order, and the Twi'lek Sith to Hadan. They flatter you with their mouths, but their hands and their blades will not rise to defend you—or, by extension, us."

"Your fears are not baseless, Lady Madraal," Darqyren inserted. Runganna gave him a look, and Madraal wobbled her torso until she was facing him, but Darqyren continued, "But certainly the Jedi, at least, would not want a weapon of this sort in the Ruling Council's hands any more than in Hadan's. They may well stray to extremes for the chance of winning it for their Republic.  And faced with that excess, the Sith will have no choice but to answer."

"As if the Jedi would risk war with the Ruling Council," Ruurka scoffed. "They'd never chance our people allying with the Empire."

"Would we, though?" Gondro wondered. "If the Ruling Council throws in with the Empire, we become enemy to everyone else—the Jedi, yes, but also Aresh, and even Hadan and Lakalt."

Darqyren thought it the proverbial Mandalorian standoff, and that the Ruling Council would endure his master's transgressions rather than openly challenge the Republic's agents. He offered no more as the Hutts quibbled, though; he had served his purpose in disrupting the concerted opposition to Runganna's current course, and any further commentary risked weakening his position and the esteem in which both Runganna and the other Hutts held him. So many relations in Hutt business depended on the appearance of power, even more than power itself. It was true of Hutts, too—it was, Darqyren thought, how this auction had come about—but all the more for their servants, whose power grew from and could never eclipse that of their masters. At least not here, in Hutt Space itself.

Eventually Omalnya, one of Runganna's fellow Shell Hutts, clapped his armored hands together. "We've tossed the chance cube," he grunted. "We can't send the Jedi and the Sith home now—assuming they'd go, even if we told them to. Not without losing face."

Darqyren did not fail to note that Omalnya had used the plural as if he was part of the control group here in Runganna's palace, and he suspected Runganna had noticed too. Ruurka, however, gestured to his advisor, who sprayed his face with a mist bottle, before the Hutt said, "Nevertheless, the auction should be held soon. The sooner this weapon and the Force users are gone, the better."

"Tomorrow," Runganna said. "Perhaps the next day."

"Runganna, I'm assuming you have some plan for ensuring no one important suffers any losses when one faction wins and the others aren't happy about it?" asked Madraal.

"Of course," Runganna said. She did not elaborate, though, and Madraal took the hint not to pry.

The Hutts exchanged the usual parting pleasantries, and their advisors offered the formulaic toast to their masters' prosperity, and then Omalnya floated out on his armor's repulsors while the others slithered away; several of them seemed to still enjoy Circumtore's lighter gravity and the ability to propel themselves with reasonable speed. Darqyren waited until the door closed after the last of the fat tails, then stepped in front of Runganna and bowed.

"Your thoughts?" she asked.

"You were wise not to correct Omalnya, Master," Darqyren said. "The more he speaks of this as if it's a common enterprise, the likelier the rest of them are to view it in the same light. And even if they might betray you, they would never betray themselves."

Runganna chuckled as she swallowed another amphibian, its squeal fading as it disappeared down her gullet. "Ho ho ha ha. Caught that, did you?"

Of course. "You do not pay me for oversights, Master."

"And you've never given me cause to dock your pay," Runganna replied. "They'll keep their mouths shut for now; they stand to profit too much when I succeed."

"That said, Master, Ruurka isn't wrong; holding the auction sooner than later works to your advantage, and this cold war can not remain frozen forever."

"They'll behave," Runganna said with a dismissive wave. "Can't risk losing the bomb, can they?"

"I would have thought so too as recently as this morning, Master."

Runganna stopped in the act of reaching for a third frog, her big eyes narrowing. "But then…?"

Darqyren pulled out his holoprojector and showed a recording from the festival. Pipe smoke wafted across the camera's lens, and a pillar obstructed some of the view, but a Rodian lunged, then rose into the air, struggling for several seconds before being dropped on his bottom. Darqyren pulled up a second holorecording, this one from a serving droid, which showed the same event, but this time revealed Narasi Rican as the being hoisting the Rodian by the neck and tossing him to the ground as the Mandalorians looked on.

"Are these the best we have?" Runganna demanded.

"Unfortunately yes; I suspect the Mandalorians chose that spot for that very purpose. However, reports have pieced together the rest.  The Rodian attempted to stab the Jedi Padawan in the back with a vibroblade.  She stopped him, of course, and without killing him, but for reasons that aren't clear to me, she let him go."

"Do we have him?"

"No; he left the palace immediately after. I've alerted our people in nearby villages, but instructed them not to act without our leave."

"Who hired him?"

"I'm trying to find out. It's unclear whether he told Rican or the Mandalorians, but it seemed inadvisable to ask them directly."

Runganna rolled her eyes. "Obviously. What about other recordings?"

"I have the droids scanning them all now, trying to find the Rodian and any of his contacts. But that very search brought another, more serious matter to my attention."

Darqyren typed on his holoprojector for a moment, then produced a new recording. Runganna watched as Tirien Kal-Di and Narasi Rican confronted San Pavac in a hall; the Hutt's eyes widened as, without warning from the silent holo, Rican leapt for Pavac and almost sliced him in half before Kal-Di stopped her. Runganna watched the intense flurry that followed, then looked up when Pavac stirred, looking around in confusion that was obvious even with his face covered, and staggered off. "Was she waiting for Kal-Di to let his guard down?"

"It's possible, but a Jedi of Kal-Di's caliber? She would know better than any of us the things of which he's capable, and I can not believe she would underestimate him so badly with cold deliberation.  No, Master, I think this an entirely emotional reaction, which leads me to the conclusion that she didn't know until very recently—perhaps that conversation."

Runganna mused on that, lifting a hookah pipe from beside her dais and puffing on it for a few moments. "Did Pavac come to you?"

"No. I doubt he would have under any circumstances—he wouldn't risk his reputation or his pride—but you see here?" Darqyren rewound the holo, freezing it as Kal-Di knelt beside Pavac's limp form. "This touch? It's possible he was merely deepening Pavac's unconsciousness—it took him a few minutes to come around—but I think it more likely he was altering or erasing Pavac's memories of the incident."

Reactivating the holo and skipping ahead until the Jedi were gone, he added, "This posture speaks to me more of confusion than aborted reaction to attack."

Runganna clicked the armored fingers of one hand. "Bah. Humanoids.  You're the hunter, I trust your ability to read your prey.  Well, what of it?  She didn't kill Pavac.  Kal-Di will never give her up just to keep my good will, and if we kick the Jedi out, we throw off the balance.  You've told me enough times this gambit'll never work if we don't keep our guests balanced until the deal is done."

"You're entirely right, Master," Darqyren said, powering down the holoprojector with a small bow. "But it occurs to me we might enlighten Pavac about the circumstances of his unexplained blackout. It would be of interest to him, doubtless, and it provides us an additional layer of insurance should our primary plan fail…"

Darqyren outlined the plan that had occurred to him between the surveillance control center and his master's parlor. Many beings would not consider that brisk walk time enough for a well-considered amendment to a detailed and carefully-timed plan…but then, most beings were not Sakiyans. When he finished, Runganna smiled.

"Have I ever told you you're my kind of scum, Darqyren?"

"You've honored me with the compliment before, Master, but my ears shall never tire of hearing it."

Licking the slime off yet another frog before tossing it into her maw to join its fellows, Runganna said, "Give Pavac a call, and let's see if we can't expand his contract."