[Republic Commando] - 03(37)

“We crush Eyat,” the lizard said. Her name was Cebz and she had a frill of scarlet skin under her chin, apparently a sign that she was dominant and wouldn’t take any backtalk from lesser lizards. She smelled of crushed leaves and carried a formidable SoroSuub blaster slung across her chest. “We concentrate our efforts on the capital, and when that falls, the regional governments can’t hold out, and we take the next tier of cities, and then the next smaller ones, and so on. We have numbers on our side.”

“I think our Chancellor could do with listening to you,” Atin said, more to himself than to her. “He likes to start everywhere at once, so nobody feels left out of the war.”

“That’s how we build, by cascade process,” said Cebz. “We can also unbuild the same way.”

Her tail swished from side to side to keep her balance as she walked. The whush-whush-whush and the current of air were noticeable. “Can you sneak up on people?” Darman asked.

Cebz stopped swinging her tail and her gait became slightly more lateral, but she was now moving silently. “Yes.”

“So you built the cities here.”

“Yes. The hired help.”

“But you don’t get a say in government.”

“We didn’t get paid as much as humans. We can’t live in the nice homes we built. If having a say means changing that, then yes, we want a say in government. Your other comrade in the skirt was very vexed about that, before he disappeared.”

“The first ARC? Yes, I can see how that would get Alpha-Thirty annoyed…”

“You understand. You don’t have any rights, either. If you ask me, it’s crazy to train an army and not keep it happy. It’ll turn on you in the end.”

Atin coughed discreetly. “You speak very good Basic.”

“Always pays to speak the customer’s language.”

She came to a sudden halt, motionless. Darman’s instinct was to crouch and draw his sidearm. Atin did the same. Cebz stared down at them, baffled.

“What’s up?”

“You stopped dead,” Darman whispered, missing his helmet’s sensors. “Enemy contact?”

“No, but this is as far as I go. Too close to the city. Marits stand out. Heads we can cover, but the tails are a problem.” She swung around and began walking back toward the camp. “Good luck.”

Reptilian species had that tendency to freeze and then burst into movement again, the GAR manual said. Knowing that didn’t stop Darman from reacting every time. Atin watched Cebz go and turned to Darman again with a shrug. “Just an initial recce and maybe vehicle acquisition, all right?” he said. “Just assess the place. Just look around.”

“I swear,” Darman said. He had fake ID, credits, and the Marits’ excellent plans of the city on his datapad. “Make sure nothing’s changed since the last time the data was updated. See how far into the government complex we can get legitimately.”

The first thing that struck him about the city was that it was clearly defined-no gradual thickening of suburbs, no ribbon development-and if he hadn’t been able to see the shapes of the perimeter buildings, he’d have thought it was a walled bastion. There was little traffic entering and leaving, and it was almost entirely made up of big vessels-repulsor trucks and shuttles. The citizens of Eyat didn’t venture far afield.

“Siege in all but name,” Atin said. “They’re scared of the Marits.”

“So how do we explain that we walked in?”

Atin tapped his blaster. “We’re young, tough, and crazy.”

“I’ll buy that.”

“And from out of town.”

“A’den could have mentioned it.”

“We overflew the area. We should have thought of it.”

“It’ll be easier next time, once we’ve got a vehicle.”

“Hire or buy?”

“I thought of liberating a crate, but it’s a small city, and they probably take speeder theft more seriously than on Triple Zero.”

“Dar, you actually like thieving stuff, don’t you?”

“It’s not stolen,” Darman said. “It’s differently procured.”

He didn’t own anything; no clone did, because everything the Kaminoans thought they needed had been provided for them. What he knew about property was learned from Sergeant Kal, and then the world of possession exploded on him when he was let loose in a galaxy where beings didn’t just own things, they wanted lots of things, more than they could ever possibly use, and their entire existence was about acquiring more by any means they could.

It was one thing to understand the theory and another to feel it. Darman was happy to have the best kit he could get, comfortable quarters, and as much food as he could eat, but nothing else material made him want to risk his life to get it.