[Legacy Of The Force] - 08(128)

Mirta grinned at him and shoved him in the shoulder, all rough Mandalorian affection. “I can cook, I can dig trenches, I can stab a chakaar…” And she laughed. It was quite transformational; she was a different woman. She seemed far more at ease with her father-in-law than she ever did with her grandfather, and Jaina wondered if seeing that hurt Fett.

Fett just shook his head and walked off down the passage, stooping slightly because there was so little head-room. Jaina and the others trooped after him. Somehow it felt much harder to climb back down those shafts now the adrenaline had ebbed. They picked their way out of the citadel and into the ship itself, suddenly finding crew everywhere and shock troopers in white-some, not allbeing herded at blasterpoint along the main passage. Others, helmets under their arms, were talking to crewmates as if nothing had happened. Clearly not all of them felt obliged to die in a ditch for the Moffs. They might well have been more sympathetic to Pellaeon, after all.

“What a mess, “Fett said, head turning in a slow scan as he seemed to take in Bloodfin’s sorry condition. The ship was a mass of scorched paint and buckled hatches; it looked like every vertical surface had been damaged somehow. “Brand-new ship. Disgraceful.”

“Could have been much worse, “Carid said defensively. “We were pretty careful, under the circumstances. If Daala starts bleating about the paintwork, she can shove it.”

“I think she’s got other issues, “Fett said. “I’m going to find Pellaeon’s body. We’re not savages, after all.”

Jaina trailed after him at a discreet distance, knowing he could see her in his helmet’s 360-degree vision, but not wanting to crowd him. She let him enter Pellaeon’s day cabin and stood back to wait, but then she heard him talking to someone. The lighting was returning to normal all around the ship; machinery whined and hummed as systems came back online.

“It’s a dirty deal, Reige.”

“Is Daala coming?”

“Yeah. I’ll leave you two to sort this.”

Reige’s voice sounded shaky. “Well, this crew will serve her out of respect for the admiral. We’ll settle the score for him.”

Jaina edged forward. Fett was talking to a man in his thirties in naval uniform, a lieutenant commander, and there was a body under a blanket laid on the couch. Jaina noted the immaculate boots protruding. Poor old Pellaeon. This was hardly the first person she’d known well, lost touch with, and then next seen as a casualty of war, but it seemed a terrible thing to reach such an age and then be killed, alone and betrayed.

Reige nodded politely to her. Fett came out of the cabin and walked slowly away. Jaina caught up with him.

“After all those years, “she said. “What a terrible thing.” “It’s war, “Fett said.

“I meant that if you reach your nineties, you should have a reasonable expectation of dying peacefully at home.”

Fett sounded as if he’d snorted. “Not Pellaeon. He died well. Men like that don’t want to fade out quietly.”

Jaina wondered if Fett had that kind of end in mind. She couldn’t imagine him sitting on a porch in Keldabe in his dotage.

“Mirta’s handy in a fight, “Jaina said. Why am I trying to be sociable? “I hope you’re proud of her.”

Fett shrugged, still walking. “She’s a fighter. I know.” “I learned a lot today. I even found myself doing a Beviin. You know. Red mist, crazy, swinging away like a maniac.”

“He’ll be delighted.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that you’ve let me learn so much?” she asked. “I know a lot about how Mandalorians fight now.”

“So what have you really learned, Solo?” Fett recoiled his fibercord line. It vanished into a housing on his armor, and it didn’t seem possible that so much cord could fit in there. It reminded her of a conjuring trick. “Our weapons? Everything from a Bes’uliik to our bare hands. Our technology? We’re still using tech four thousand years old. Our secret headquarters? We’re everywhere. Our numbers? We don’t even know. How to assassinate our leaders? We don’t need any. If I got shot tomorrow, they’d all regroup and carry on without me. The only secret we have is how our metalworkers forge beskar. And we’re not even reliant on that.”

Jaina shrugged. “When you put it like that, it’s zero.”

“Everyone can see how we win, but it’s another thing to do it.”

“I was saying thank you, actually.”

“You’re welcome, Solo. By the way, did you know your brother can change his appearance in a fight, to look like someone else?”