Part 7 (2/2)
”Okay, we've got to cut through that ice now.”
”Heat it,” Skirata said.
”We can vent the melt.w.a.ter through the tanks.”
”About eighty cubic meters. Maybe less.”
”Okay.” Ordo hiked the thermostat on the environmental controls: they needed to raise the temperature of the exposed ice on the other side of the air lock any way they could. ”Maybe a combination of heat and cutting.”
”And Mygeeto TC wants us out of here in ... about an hour and a half.”
Ordo extended the outer docking ring until he felt it embed in the lake wall. ”Come out of the air lock, Kal'buir. I need to test for leaks. Clear?”
”Clear. I'm going to see what we've got in the tool locker.”
”Okay, closing inner air lock.” The status light changed to green again. He put Aay'han on autohelm to hold her steady against the ice wall. ”Opening outer hatch.”
The sensors showed no leaks. When Ordo maneuvered the safety cam inside the air lock chamber, he saw a smooth gla.s.sy disc of dirty ice. A few meters on the other side of that lay Walon Vau. If they got it wrong while they tried to cut through the wall, the water would flood in and sink Aay'han. It was a lot of trouble to go to for a few credits and a man both of them disliked.
On too many occasions, Ordo had wished Vau dead. Now he found himself willing the chakaar to stay alive.
Special Operations Brigade HQ, Coruscant, General Arligan Zey's office, 471 days after Geonosis Sev thought it was just as well he had a reputation for being uncommunicative. General Zey walked up and down the short line of four commandos as if he was doing an inspection, pausing occasionally to stare at a detail of their armor or look into their eyes.
If the Jedi thought that would psych out Delta Squad, he'd have a long, long walk ahead of him.
Sev stared straight ahead, hands clasped behind his back, boots planted firmly at shoulder width. In his peripheral vision, General Jusik sat on a table swinging his legs. His disheveled Padawan image didn't fool anyone. Sev had been on enough operations with him to know that he could make Scorch look overcautious. Zey's ARC trooper aide, Captain Maze, prowled the room as if he wasn't listening to the debriefing. On balance, Sev preferred the Null ARCs. They understood in a way that the men trained by Fett simply didn't.
Zey came to a halt in front of Boss and stood with his nose almost touching his. ”I'm not stupid,” he said quietly. ”Am I, Sergeant?”
”Sir, no sir!” Boss barked.
”Want to tell me what went wrong with your exfiltration?”
”Sir, we encountered some resistance and were forced to exit the complex via an unreconnoitered pa.s.sage, sir.”
Sev felt for Boss. They'd all made the decision to stick with Vau, but Boss was... the boss. So he got it in the neck. Sev found the occasional trips back to HQ unsettling. He wanted to be back out in the field with just his brothers for company, because Coruscant wasn't their world, and he'd already had enough of it.
Zey was still in Boss's face. ”This wouldn't have anything to do with Skirata, would it, Three-Eight?”
”Sir, no sir!”
Well, that much was true. n.o.body had actually lied to Zey yet, because Jedi had a way of telling if someone was lying. Zey took a pace back, seemed to be suppressing a smile, and then shook his head.
”Well,” he said at last, sitting down behind his fancy lapiz-inlaid desk. ”Good result on Mygeeto. General Ki-Adi-Mundi has sent his commendation.”
Don't care. What's happened to Sergeant Vau?
”Can we eat it, sir?” Scorch asked, straight-faced.
”I realize you returned with indecent haste, Delta.” Zey turned to Maze. ”Captain, once I'm through with this briefing, take Delta straight to the mess and stand over them while they eat the recommended daily intake.”
Maze, looking less than thrilled by his nursemaid duties, grunted, ”Sir.” Jusik, who'd been staring out the window, suddenly flinched as if someone unseen had walked up be-hind him. Jedi were weird.
”But before you eat, gentlemen, here's your new brief.” Zey flicked a holochart into life, and the familiar planet-studded grid settled in the air over the briefing table. ”And this comes straight from the Chancellor-a direct personal order. Find Chief Scientist Ko Sai.”
Boss was still doing the talking, which suited Sev just fine, because he was far more interested in Vau's fate and was now watching Jusik carefully. The kid was like a holoreceiver. He picked up all kinds of stuff from distant events. Maybe he'd detected something now. He certainly looked distracted.
”And when we find her, sir?”
”Bring her back in one piece.”
”b.u.mmer,” Fixer muttered. ”Sir.”
Zey managed a smile. ”I know you have little to love the Kaminoans for, gentlemen, but I don't make the rules. Lama Su is adamant that Ko Sai defected and that she didn't die. He won't give his reasons, but that probably doesn't matter because the Chancellor wants a tame Kaminoan scientist for our own use so we aren't beholden to Tipoca, should they ever change their minds about our favored-customer status.” The general shook his head as if he was arguing with him-self. ”So haul her back here. Top priority. He ordered me to put the best team on it.”
Sev accepted that it was true. They were better than Omega because they didn't go soft and get diverted by personal issues. They had Vau to thank for that.
”She's been gone a year, sir. Why make the move so late in the day?” Boss asked.
”I'm not privy to that information, Sergeant,” Zey said carefully. ”But the intel we do have, via the Kaminoans, suggests that she's pa.s.sed through Vaynai within the last six months.”
Sev didn't know the Kaminoans had any kind of intelligence, seeing as they almost never left their homeworld, but they could clearly buy it in from outside. He chalked Ko Sai up to the long list of objectives that Delta had been set and tried to come to terms with his fears about Vau.
Boss broke position and wandered over to the holochart to locate Vaynai. ”Who's tracking her, sir?”
”You.”
”Understood.”
”The report came from Ryn who do occasional work for the Republic. She's probably long gone, but this is the first positive lead we've had.”
Sev sneaked a look at Jusik. Something had definitely distracted him, and it wasn't what was happening on the parade ground. The Jedi looked at him and gave him a discreet thumbs-up.
What does that mean? Cheer up? His gravball team won? Vau's okay?
Boss, Scorch, and Fixer were engrossed in the discussion on the significance of Vaynai-plenty of ocean, and she wasn't likely to be hiding out on Tatooine-and Sev just stood there, eyes pointing in the appropriate direction to look like he was following the debate.
Fear. Yes, it was fear. Everyone got scared, but this was different: a gnawing, hollow void in his stomach. He'd let Vau down when it mattered. If Vau survived, he'd beat Sev within a breath of his life. If he didn't-he'd haunt him. Try harder, Sev. You let your brothers down, you let me down, you let the whole shabla army down. Try harder, you lazy little chakaar, or next time it really will hurt.
Sev had tried so hard that he'd collapsed on his bunk most nights without even getting his fatigues off, and then had to catch up on his laundry in the early hours when reveille made his heart nearly leap out of his chest and he got up with his head still buzzing with lack of sleep.
He was five years old. He hadn't forgotten.
Sev was now the best sniper in the Grand Army because he didn't want to let anyone down.
”. . . and this stays within this room, gentlemen, because this is the Chancellor's pet peeve.” Zey's tone jerked Sev back to the present. ”n.o.body else in Special Operations knows about this, and I really don't want Skirata to know, be-cause ... fine man though he might be, he does have an issue with Kaminoans. Any man who refers to them as tatsus.h.i.+ and actually boasts of recipes is probably best kept out of the loop. Dismissed.”
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