Fett didn’t cake offense at anyone thinking he needed backup. He’d never needed anyone to cover his back, but Mandalorians always had a plan B “just in case.”
It was almost a reflex, the kind that was ingrained in a militarized society.
Fett thought it was a courteous precaution even if he didn’t need it. He activated Slave I’s weapons panel via his helmet link, calculated the coordinates of Udelen’s ship, and let her do the rest. The icon in his HUD told him the port laser cannon had swiveled to the forward position to rest its aim on the blue airspeeder. His jetpack was primed for evasive action. Just in case was deeply ingrained in Fett, too.
He stood in front of the vessel at a sensible distance and waited for his potential client to come down the ramp.
“I hadn’t expected Mandalore to be so … unspoiled,” said Udelen. “Somehow I thought it would be more industrialized. You even have some dwellings set in trees.”
“We have all kinds of housing,” Fett said. What is be, a tourist? “Some locals still prefer trees to ground level.”
“Who runs your government? Who are the administrators?”
Why do you care? “Mandalorians like things informal and friendly. What did you want to discuss?”
Udelen stopped for a fraction of a heartbeat so barely noticeable that even Fett nearly missed it. Maybe he didn’t like his questions being dismissed. He recovered instantly. “1 came to tell you that your people can expect to be busy in the next few months. A war is coming.”
“You must be new in this galaxy,” Fett said, totally unsurprised. “There’s always a war going on somewhere, always has been, always will be. It’s why Mandalorians have never gone out of business.”
“It could escalate.”
“Will it affect the Mandalore sector?”
Udelen paused, and Fett didn’t care for his suddenly satisfied expression. “We can hope that it won’t.”
Don’t play mind-games with me. I know blackmail when I bear it. “Whoever might be thinking of fighting here better hope so, too.”
Fett didn’t think Udelen was quite as ugly as Beviin had described; there was a faint hut distinctive smell about him, though. It reminded Fett of the sea spray churned up by the storms on Kamino in his childhood. Smells could always take you back.
“I assume our arrangement extends to mercenary work, then,” Udelen said. “Usual rates.”
“Not all Mandalotians are mercs. They choose the work they take.”
“Then I’ll be asking you and a few troops of your choosing to stand by for rendezvous in two weeks’ time.”
“Better tell me what to expect, so we bring the right tools for the job.” I’m not your army, chum. I’m my own boss. “We reserve the right to decline your offer, as always.”
“You haven’t asked who the combatants will be.”
“You weren’t going to tell me.”
“True.”
“So I’ll assume the worst.”
Udelen almost smiled. Fett didn’t like that, either. Even while the credits kept coming, he decided he’d keep an open mind about his client’s largesse.
The core of Mandalorian bounty hunters and troops Udelen seemed to like to have on call were doing okay financially. That was fine-as long as Udelen understood that the legendary Mandalorian discipline wasn’t dumb obedience. Even a Mandalore had to understand that.
Fett watched the airspeeder lift off and disarmed Slave 1’s cannon via his helmet link.
But he knew the spaceport control tower would be tracking it until it left Mandalore’s orbit. Just in case.
Nom Anor’s notes: final intelligence assessment. ETA for vanguard of Yuuzhan Vong fleet: two days.
Some days I almost find kinship with Mandalorians. Some of them actually prefer living homes, not built-things like other infidels. They create homes on platforms in the branches of trees. And then I see them as they are, with their passion for wholly artificial technology. Yes, I blow hot and cold over them, as the infidels say. But I don’t need to like them, only to understand how useful they are for the subtle things in war that the sheer force of our fleet can’t always achieve. They’ve helped me prepare the battlefield: now we’ll see how they respond to the prospect of the battle itself.
I’ve asked Fett to rendezvous with me at a point on our invasion route. I want the Mandatorians to be among the first to see their new masters as we enter this galaxy.
The fleet is nearly here. I won’t have to disguise myself and hide any longer.
Rendezvous point with Udelen’s forces, strength and type unspecified, for a briefing at Outer Rim: 25 A.B.V.