[Republic Commando] - 03(129)

It wasn’t quite how Etain expected to find them, given what Ordo had told her was waiting below.

And this was the first time she’d seen Skirata since their blazing row when she told him she’d let herself conceive without Darman knowing, and he’d exiled her to Qiilura. She felt stupid and selfish now, looking back on how she expected him to be the instantly doting grandfather, but one thing remained certain: the Force showed her she was right to have this child.

She braced for either a frosty reception or a renewed rant on her shortcomings, one of which was being a Jedi. Skirata looked up.

“Ad’ika!” he said, not a hint that they’d ever argued. “How are you, girl?”

Oh. “I’m… okay, Kal, all things considered.”

“Look, I’m sorry Qiilura went to osik. I’d never have suggested it if I’d thought the vhette were going to put up a fight.” He stood up and faced her with the awkward air of someone trying not to notice or comment on her bump, but it seemed to trigger some anxiety in him. Mereel still looked as if he was meditating. “Jusik’s intercepted Delta. He can’t steer them away from Tropix, not since our chatty Twi’lek buddy mentioned it to them, but he’s giving them a very rambling and unspecific briefing on the geology of the islands.” Ordo’s comlink chirped, and he walked a few meters aft to sit on the cowling of the port drive to answer it. Mereel got to his feet and went to join him.

Etain had expected Skirata to get as far away from Dorumaa as he could. “Aren’t Delta going to be a little conspicuous in their full Katarn rig on a tropical island-in Sep space?”

“If you’ve seen some of the fashions we’ve seen parading by in the last hour, ad’ika, I’d say they might get away with it.”

“I don’t understand why you’re still here.”

“You think we’ll be any more secure on Coruscant?”

“Maybe…”

“Guess who Ko Sai was running from.” It took Etain a few moments before the light went on. “Oh. Our respected leader?”

“Head of the queue. Plus the Kaminoan government, the Seps, and us. Coruscant’s the last place I can stash her.”

Etain didn’t think that would be a problem for Skirata given his business contacts. “Can’t your Wookiee associate find her a soundproofed apartment where Vau can beat the living daylights out of her without upsetting the neighbors? Like last time?”

“She’s scoping out other locations, ad’ika. Besides, Vau won’t get a look in. My boys don’t have happy memories of Ko Sai.”

“I’m missing a few details in this, aren’t I?”

“That’s why I think we should go down below and have a quiet discussion, all of us.”

The hatch set abaft the cockpit turned out to have a ramp rather than the ladder Etain was dreading. A pungent scent of strill wafted up from below. She thought Skirata was right behind her, but when she looked, he was still up top, and Walon Vau was waiting for her with Mird, who seemed to remember her if the excited grumbling and snuffling were any guide. The crew cabin was oddly un-ship-like, with a square of scruffy sofas facing one another around a low table bolted to the deck. She sat down and Mird laid its head in her lap, slobbering happily.

But there was something else on board. Etain’s Force-senses detected what she could only articulate as a cold void: the three-dimensional shape it conjured up somewhere be-hind her eyes was a smooth concave, not the rippling, multi-layered, and colorful impressions she got from most beings. She didn’t need to be told who or what was in one of the crew cabins that opened onto the main crew lounge. Ko Sai was in one of the compartments, disdainful and unrepentant as she awaited her captors.

“My father would have called this the mess deck,” Vau said. When it suited him, he had an effortless patrician charm that was hard to square with how he disciplined his men. “I admit I still flinch when I hear Kal using terms like backward and on a ship. I also admit that it’s confusing to have a vessel that’s both a maritime and air asset, though.”

“So what do you plan to do with her?”

“Ko Sai or Aay’han?”

“Ko Sai.”

“It’s rather like watching a kragget rat chase a delivery speeder in the lower levels. If they catch one, they realize they have no idea what to do with it, and just sink their fangs into the fender.”

“Oh, I think Kal knows what to do.”

“Etain, I’m quite used to judging who’ll want to divulge their innermost thoughts to me after a little persuasion, and I don’t think her cooperation is likely.”