501st: An Imperial Commando Novel (36 page)

It had taken seconds, and it had been almost silent. Everyone froze. Then Ny hit the console, bringing up the instrument panel lights. It was enough to see what had happened.

“Ah … ,” she said, staring. “Ah,
stang … 
”

“I’ll dump them,” Mereel whispered. “Don’t worry.”

Sounds drifted up through the hatch. An engine
revved before dropping to idle speed. A vehicle door opened and closed quietly.

“Hey, what’s happening?” It was a loud, nervous whisper. “Forrie? Kimm? I lost your comm, guys … guys?”

The Bothan didn’t try to enter the hatch.
Crunch … crunch
. He took two steps, sounding as if he was backing off. He knew something was wrong. A metal door catch snapped shut.

Niner looked at Ordo. Everything had changed. Ordo hated to quit on this, but they had brand-new problems.

“I’ve got to stop him.” Niner slipped the grenade launcher attachment onto his Deece. “Sorry. When I fire, just bang out, because there’ll be cops here in minutes. Just get clear. Oh, and ask your tinnie to mod Dar’s helmet like mine, okay?”

“Will do,” Ordo said.
“K’oyacyi, ner vod.
”

Niner dropped down the hatch and landed with a thud. Ordo’s decision had been made for him. The last thing he heard before the belly hatch sealed was a repulsortruck engine roaring away.

“Abort,” he said. “Ny, get us out. Niner, are you clear of the vessel?”

Ordo heard him panting as he ran. “I am now.”

“Secure all hatches. Stand by.” Ny hit the ignition and the repulsor maneuvering drives rumbled into life. “You sure he’s clear, Ordo?”

A loud explosion cut her short as the grenade found its target. The vessels visible on the monitors lit up yellow for a few moments before settling back into reflected flames. Niner was a reliable shot.

“I think he’s got a problem with his gearbox.” Niner’s forced cheerfulness didn’t fool anyone. “It’s just gone fifty meters into the air.”

“Head down,
ner vod,”
Ordo said. “Clear to take off, Ny.”

Ny took
Cornucopia
up in a steep climb, sending loose items skidding down the deck. Two of them were
bodies. They’d have to be dumped, but that had to wait now.

“This is going to be bumpy,” Ny said. “And if ATC spots us, we’re borked.”

Ordo buckled himself into the copilot’s seat, catching Mereel’s eye as he twisted around. He felt ashamed and useless. Things shouldn’t have gone this wrong. It wasn’t all Darman’s fault, either.

“They’ll be fine.” Mereel could read his thoughts. “Besides, intel from the source is priceless. As is the ability to reach out and touch the Empire.”

“You know what? I’ve abandoned two brothers. You can shove your intel.”

“Just trying to make you feel better,
Ord’ika … 
”

“Don’t. I blew it.”

“We
all
blew it,” Ny said. “Ordo, prep to jump on my mark.”

Ordo pressed the comlink bead in his ear and listened. Niner was calling in CSF and fire crews. He sounded absolutely calm, reporting a stop-and-search that had escalated.

“Isn’t that going to look suspicious on the compound security cams?” Ny’s voice shook. “How’s he going to explain all that to Holy Roly? Is he really going to be okay?”

“He’ll think of something,” Jaing said. He slipped a datapad back in his pocket. “Of course, the problem with security and traffic cams is that certain antiterrorism officers have access to them, and they tend to erase the recordings. Don’t you just hate it when that happens?”

“You called in another favor from Obrim.”

“Fair exchange. We’ll save his
shebs
when he runs out of luck and needs to vanish with his family.”

The freighter had now climbed enough to safely engage the sublight drive. It streaked high over the city, as far from Niner’s location as possible before Ny got Air Traffic Control’s attention by climbing vertically to a safe hyperjump altitude. It was a maneuver that
screamed
look at me, I’m in a real hurry to escape
. How long did it take to scramble enforcement fighters? Long enough. Ordo counted down the seconds until Imperial City ATC cut in on the ship’s comm.

“ATC calling
Cornucopia
, you do not have customs or flight clearance, I repeat, you do not—”

“Shut it.” Ny smacked her fist down hard on the audio control to silence it. “Revoke my license. Good luck with fining me, too. Ordo, you ready?”

“Ready.”

“Okay, in five … 
jump.
”

Cornucopia
shuddered. Familiar constellations vanished instantly. And so did the chance to bring Niner and Darman home, for the time being at least. Ordo couldn’t decide whose disappointment would haunt him most—
Kal’buir’
s or Kad’s. He’d find out soon enough. At least jumping to hyperspace before he could comm Kyrimorut gave him time to prepare for the reaction.

“He seems like a nice lad,” Ny said, staring ahead into the featureless void. She patted Ordo’s knee. “Solid. Dependable.”

“Niner?”

“Yes. I never met him before. I didn’t even get a chance to introduce myself.”

That stung Ordo. He hadn’t realized. “He’s
mandokarla
. Got the right Mando stuff.”

“Free men make their own decisions, Ordo. Just remember that. Even if it upsets us, both of them are doing what they want to do, not what someone
made
them do.”

Free men also faced up to the consequences of their actions.
I could have done this all differently. I didn’t
. He’d sit Kad down and explain as best he could to a toddler that his daddy wanted to come home, but Uncle Ordo,
Ba’vodu Ord’ika
, had got things all wrong and had to leave him behind.

If Kad was going to feel let down by anyone, it wouldn’t be his
buir
.

“I
let you down,
Kal’buir.
”

Ordo stepped down off
Cornucopia
’s ramp, chin lowered, looking as if he was expecting a good hiding. Skirata threw his arms around him and gave him a fierce hug.

“Don’t you even
think
that,” he scolded. “You hear? You
never
let me down. We can still get them back anytime we like. Come on.” He broke off to embrace the other Nulls one by one. “Let’s get this stuff inside. Eat.”

Ny emerged from the freighter carrying a tray of eggs. She gave Skirata a sympathetic look and shrugged.

“He was worrying how you’d take the news,” she whispered. “He’s always so confident about everything else, but he’s scared stiff of you.”

She sounded as if she was asking what Skirata had done to make him that way. “I love that boy more than my own life,” Skirata said indignantly. “He knows I’d never blame him for this. For
anything.
”

“I know. It’s just sad to watch it.”

Ordo’s need to please him always broke Skirata’s heart. He’d never given Ordo any cause to fear him, but the Kaminoans had already burned the idea into the Nulls’ psyches that failure was never tolerated. Failures had to be reconditioned—terminated. However many times Skirata told Ordo he was perfect, it never erased that lesson from infancy.

“You believe me, don’t you?” Skirata said. Here he was, scared in turn of Ny’s disapproval. “He did the right thing. Pull out, rethink, try again later.”

“I
believe
you.” Ny put a box down on the deck and caught his face in both hands, giving him a little shake. “You’re a bad boy, Shortie, but nobody doubts your devotion to your kids.”

She held on to him for a few seconds more than needed to make the point. He realized he had no idea how to respond. He’d forgotten the moves after all these years. Ny suddenly let go and picked up the box again, and he was left to wonder if he’d missed the cues and disappointed her.

“I think I over-ordered,” she said, looking at the crates still to be moved. “But if everyone gets sick of eggs, we can pickle them for the store.”

Fi and Atin bounded up the ramp, making a show of being cheerful. They’d been desperate to see Niner and Darman again.

“We never get sick of
anything,”
Fi said, rummaging through the cargo. “Our favorite flavor is second helpings. Ooh, you got us some warra nuts! Hot ’n’ spicy,
and
salt ’n’ sour!
Kandosii!
”

“Ten kilos of each.” She gave him an indulgent smile. Skirata noted that she fell into the maternal role with Fi without a moment’s hesitation. “And if you eat them all
in one go, Parja will make you sleep in the barn. On your own head be it.”

“I’ll ration myself.”

“Hey, Fi—I’m sorry we didn’t get Dar and Niner back. But we will. It’ll all be fine. I promise.”

“Maybe we can talk to them somehow.” Fi sounded wistful, like a lost child, and he wasn’t putting it on. “Niner’s got a secure link. We can talk to him, right?”

“Yes, you can.” Ny’s eyes suddenly looked glassy. “Jaing can make it happen.”

Atin stood back to let Fi move the laden repulsor off the ship. “I’m going to go with Mij to pick up the equipment for Uthan,” he said. “We’ll be back in a day or so. Anything else we need?”

“You might want to wander back via Keldabe and see what Dred
shabla
Priest is up to …”
I really don’t need to collect more problems now. Priest can wait, surely
? “See if Vau wants a trip out, too. Poor old
chakaar
needs to take his mind off Sev for a while.”

“That means taking Mird as well.”

“So? Vent the aircon twice an hour.”

Atin slapped Skirata on the shoulder. “Will do. See you later.”

“That’s a little miracle, too,” Skirata said as he walked away. “Him and Vau—real death grudge. Vau gave him those scars. But they called a truce. Anything’s possible.”

Ny rubbed her nose discreetly as if she thought Skirata hadn’t noticed the tears. “But not reconciliation with the Death Watch.”

“That comes under the water-flowing-uphill section of possibility. No.”

Skirata steered her down the ramp with the last of the egg crates and closed the hatch. Where could he start? But she had to know if she was going to truly fit in. Even without discussion, there seemed to be a tacit acceptance that Ny was a permanent fixture.

“Do you want to settle here?” Skirata asked.

Ny blinked a couple of times. “I think I already have.”

“I mean become a Mando. Properly.” He realized that
he’d opened a delicate topic that begged the question of what he was actually asking her. He skipped over it, unable to deal with more emotional complications right then. “I mean that there’s such bad blood between us and them that you need to be aware of it.”

“Of course.” Ny reached into her jacket and took out something—a stack of cash credits. She opened one of his belt pouches and dropped the chips into it. Every time she laid hands on him he was rooted to the spot and didn’t know how to react. “I’d hate to make any social gaffes at the Keldabe country club.”

Skirata longed to be at ease with her. “I told you to keep the creds. Nobody thinks you’re sponging.”

“And I’m handing them back. Nice pickpocket job, though. Now, Death Watch. Tried to oust Jaster Mereel because he liked law and order, and that crimped their game. Big turf war. And they killed Arla’s parents for sheltering Jaster. How am I doing?”

Skirata was glad she didn’t say
civil war
. War was for soldiers, folks with discipline and honor. The Death Watch were just criminal scum who happened to share the same system, not real Mandalorians at all.

“Not bad,” he said. “They dressed themselves up as patriots wanting a return to the good old days of the Mando empire, but it was just a cover for organized crime.”

“But you lot don’t have a proper government like other species. You’ve got this loose arrangement of clans, and you’ve got a head of state who only shows up part-time and doesn’t make the rules. How can the Death Watch overthrow anything? There’s nothing to overthrow.”

“They can destroy our backbone.”

Ny snorted. “Yeah? Good luck with that.”

“We’ve had times in our past when we let rotten Mandalores steer us down some ugly paths. It happens, Ny. Ideas take root. Whole societies get swept up in things without thinking, because they’re just ideas, right? Just harmless things. But they’d fight to the death to resist if an invading army showed up and tried to force those
changes on us. We don’t see bad ideas coming until they’ve done the damage.”

It was all he needed to say for the time being. Ny had seen enough of Arla to get the idea that the Death Watch committed atrocities, and that was enough on its own.

Inside the house, the veshok table was laid with an impressive spread of
skraan’ikase
, an assortment of small fancy snacks that could be lingered over for hours. It was a spread for special occasions, from weddings to funerals, and sometimes both at the same time. Jilka, Corr, and Ruu were already munching on crisply fried meat. Skirata opened one of the bottles of
tihaar
on the table.

Ny stared at the bounty. “Won’t Uthan find this a little … inappropriate? I mean … it’s a bit
festive.
”

“It’s how we do things.” Skirata tried one of the pastries.
“Shereshoy bal aay’han
. You can’t separate the two.”

This should have been a welcome-home party for Darman and Niner. Skirata saw nothing odd about combining it with some respectable mourning for Uthan’s people. Life was all sharp contrasts; you couldn’t appreciate joy without understanding sorrow. Happy guests at this kind of meal were a reminder to the unhappy that life would be good again one day, and the mourners reminded those celebrating not to take a moment of life for granted. The act was one of assertion, of looking for the positive side of the moment.