[Republic Commando] - 03(82)

“Corrupted data,” Ordo said casually. It was true, from one perspective anyway. He’d definitely corrupted it, so much that it was unrecoverable. “I rebooted you. You’re on Qiilura. They’re a little short of medical support, so I assigned you to Commander Levet. You might have to deal with the local militia’s casualties, too.”

“A patient is a patient, Captain.” He pressed the diagnostic panels on his arm. “Most disturbing. I hope I haven’t lost any significant data.”

Too-One sounded a little humbler than he’d been prewipe. If Ordo hadn’t known better, he would have said the droid was worried about his lapse of memory-scared, even. Everyone said droids couldn’t feel fear.

What’s fear anyway? A mechanism to save you from danger and destruction. All droids were programmed to avoid unnecessary risk to themselves, and only the level of necessity varied according to model. If that wasn’t fear, Ordo didn’t know what was.

He’d have to think about droids differently from now on.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t blow them to shrapnel if they got in his way.

He handed Too-One over to Levet, who was still waiting downstairs, and the commander dispatched the droid to the landing area to await incoming vessels.

“I’d like to keep the general’s condition between the two of us, to spare her embarrassment,” Ordo said. “The droid’s been wiped. You can never be too careful. Funny people, Jedi.”

“Indeed they are.” Levet projected the holochart above the table in the cramped room he used as an office. It still smelled too strongly of Trandoshans for Ordo’s liking. “Now, what was this about the general? Sorry. I have a terrible memory.”

Levet knew, and there was only one way of permanently scrubbing a human memory that Ordo trusted. But his conscience, the rules of decency that Kal’buir had instilled in him, said to leave the man-this brother-alone.

“I’m going to have to remove her for a while. I assume you’re happy to continue the removal of the colonists here on your own.”

“Oh, I think we can blunder along …”

“How long until the planet’s cleared?”

“Another week, maybe, depending on how they react. We’re losing too many men to mines. The locals are very good at concealing them from sensors with metal chaff, so we’re adjusting our tactics.”

“Either they come out quietly and board the transports…”

“Or we’ll call in air support.” Levet traced his fingertip through the three-dimensional representation of the Tingel Arm and the northeast quadrants. “The Thirty-fifth is due to take part in the assault on Gaftikar, so we need to clean up here, even if that means getting a little heavy-handed.”

There wasn’t a better time to move Etain. Once she knew how tough things were getting for Darman, she’d be tempted to seek him out. Gaftikar was relatively close to Qiilura.

Ordo paused in the hallway to check the messages on his datapad. Jusik had reported Delta’s latest position on their way to Da Soocha; Kal’buir was on his way to Dorumaa.

Ordo thought of calling Besany, but it seemed a selfish indulgence while Etain and Darman were denied routine contact. And Kal’buir had left one more message:

Suggest that the name Venku is quite nice, son.

Naming the child seemed to be a harmless concession to Etain’s anxiety. If Darman or the child himself didn’t like the name in due course, then it could always be changed. Ordo tried to imagine how Darman would react when he found out that nobody had told him about the baby, and that he was the last to know. Ordo was sure he would have been upset if he’d been in the same situation, however necessary it might have been.

“General?” Ordo thudded up the stairs. “Are you ready to leave?”

Etain emerged with a rough bag over her shoulder that looked like it had one change of clothes in it. Jedi didn’t have much by way of possessions, just like clones.

“I need to say good-bye to Levet,” she said.

“He knows you’re pregnant, by the way. He’s not blind or stupid.”

Etain paused on the stairs for a moment. “Oh.”

“And…” Come on, the name’s important to her, and it’s important to Kal’buir, or he wouldn’t have passed it to you. “Kal says Venku is a good name.”

Etain looked totally distracted for a second and her lips moved. “Venku,” she said at last. “Venku. Does it have a meaning?”

“It’s derived from the word for ‘future,’ vencuyot.”

“In the sense of…”